Reese breathed a sigh of relief as the applause died down and people started heading to the back of the room, where the cookies, hot chocolate and excited boys were.
Judging from Mr. Romano’s reluctantly impressed face, they’d pulled it off. After that initial series of glitches, the presentation had gone well. The boys were endearing and talented, and Paige had brought both beauty and dignity to her role. The dogs had behaved as well as could be expected, and even Biff, firmly restrained by Jacob, had earned applause by raising a paw to the congregation to wave goodbye.
Gabby was talking to Bernadette Williams and another board member Reese didn’t know. It looked like a lovefest, and Gabby was smiling ear to ear, obviously enjoying herself. So when one of the teenage helpers came in from the nursery with Izzy, Reese offered to take charge of her. He walked through the gathering with the baby against his chest, greeting people, accepting their congratulations and questions, but always aware of Gabby.
The weight of little Izzy, the clean, baby-shampoo smell of her, the way she laughed and pulled at his ear, all of it tugged at his heart. He’d never been one of those guys who was a natural with babies, but Izzy was special. Extra sweet, just like her mama. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
He couldn’t wait to share with Gabby his thoughts and opinions about how the show had gone, to laugh with her and hear what people had said.
All of a sudden Marla Evans, one of his aunt’s friends, stepped directly in front of him, blocking his path. “I admire you, Reese,” she said.
The compliment was surprising enough that he didn’t back away immediately as he might otherwise have. He’d seen Marla stir up trouble too often to be one of her fans, and he’d certainly never heard her say anything positive about him. But maybe the show had affected her. “What would cause you to admire me, Marla? It’s the boys who deserve your admiration, not me.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” She pursed her artificially enhanced lips. “I don’t know if I should say what I am talking about.”
“Up to you.” Reese guessed he had to be nice to the woman. After all, they were in church. He inhaled the scent of pine and candles and sugar cookies, listened to the sound of people talking happily. Everyone was excited about the holiday, and it was good to see.
“You’re so forgiving,” Marla said.
He frowned. “Am I?” He looked over her head, scanning for Gabby, not wanting her out of his sight.
“To be so friendly with the girl who was with your cousin the night he died.”
“Say what?” He was only half listening.
“Oh, I don’t blame her for it the way a lot of people do, but if she hadn’t fought with poor dear Brock...who knows? He might be here with us now.”
“Wait a minute.” Reese focused on what Marla was saying. “Gabby was with Brock on the night he...”
“Oh, you didn’t know?” The delight of a natural gossip crossed her face. “Yes, apparently they had quite an argument. Lovers’ quarrel, I guess. Such a shame.”
Brock and Gabby hadn’t had a lovers’ quarrel. They hadn’t been lovers. The very idea of Marla saying that annoyed Reese. Perhaps sensing his tension, Izzy stirred in his arms, arching her back as she looked around. She must want her mother.
And Reese wanted away from this conversation.
Marla held out a hand toward Izzy and patted her head. When Izzy twisted away from the unfamiliar touch, Marla ran a finger over the baby’s face. “Poor little fatherless thing. She looks so much like her—like Brock.”
Reese had been turning away, but he stopped. “What did you say?”
Marla looked him directly in the eyes. “She looks a lot like Brock.”
Time itself seemed to stop, and the room seemed to go silent, and all he could see was Izzy’s face.
A face that looked so much like his cousin’s that he was amazed at his own stupidity for never having seen it before.
He hadn’t realized that Gabby had been with Brock on the night he’d died. It made sense; after all, Brock had posted a photo of himself with Gabby not long before that night.
But the fact that Izzy looked so much like him...
He mumbled out some kind of a “see you later” to Marla. As if he were moving through thick cotton, he made his way over to Gabby, who now stood on the edge of the crowd. People still spoke to him, but he couldn’t process their words, couldn’t take the time to respond in a socially correct manner.
When he reached Gabby, now standing a little apart from everyone else, she brushed back her hair and smiled up at him, that sweet, intimate smile.
It made him furious.
He thrust Izzy into her arms. “Why did you lie to me?”
“About what?” The smile slid from her face.
“You know what.” He gestured toward the baby. “About her.” Then, when she still looked confused, he spelled it out. “About her father. He wasn’t a college boy at all, was he?”
A part of him hoped she’d get angry, defend herself, ask him what he was talking about. But she didn’t, of course. Instead, she looked at the floor, half turned away. “Reese, I...” She broke off.
Heat surged from his cracked-open heart. “What everyone says is right,” he spat out. “You’re a liar, from a family of liars.”
He’d thought he was speaking softly, but the murmurs around him started to come through. If people couldn’t hear what they were saying, they could probably detect the tone. He looked around at a blur of faces and homed in on one: Jacob’s, closer than the rest, full of raw pain.
That made his heart lurch, but he couldn’t be bothered with worry for the boy when his fury at Gabby was so fresh, so sharp.
He looked at Gabby again. Tears were leaking from her eyes. Crocodile tears. But she was saying nothing in her own defense.
“Aren’t you even going to answer me?” he demanded.
She brushed the tears from her face and lifted her chin. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said loud and clear, “and no right to ask me questions.”
What an amazing amount of gall she had. “We’re through.” He wanted to say more, but he didn’t trust himself to stop if he got started. Instead, he turned and stormed out of the church.
Gabby’s heart felt torn in two as she watched Reese go. There had been fury in every line in his face, and now, his rigid back and fast strides spelled out control on the very edge.
Izzy shifted and arched her back, then broke into a loud cry. If every eye in the church hadn’t been on Gabby before, it was now as she tried without success to calm her baby.
She just wanted to curl in on herself and weep. Weep for the loss of what she’d foolishly allowed herself to hope for: that Reese cared about her, the real her. That he would accept her and might with time be able to hear and deal with the truth.
But she couldn’t think about her own pain, because Izzy was wailing inconsolably now, no doubt picking up on the tension in the room. She propped her daughter on her shoulder and headed toward the ladies’ room, head down, avoiding people’s eyes. Maybe she just needed a diaper change. And maybe time away from all these people would calm Gabby down, too.
As she reached the edge of the room, someone tapped on her shoulder.
It was Hannah, studying her with concern on her face. “Hey, you okay?”
Gabby nodded, not trusting her voice.
Hannah fell into step beside her, and Gabby didn’t know how to tell her she wanted to be alone.
“Listen, this is none of my business,” Hannah said, “but Marla Evans was talking to Reese a few minutes ago, and the two of them had words.”
So that was how Reese had found out. From a town gossip.
“Whatever they were arguing about,” Hannah continued, “it didn’t just upset Reese, it upset your brother, Jacob. He came over to talk to you, but then Reese got there first. Jacob heard everything you were talking about, and it looked like he got even more upset. You might want to talk to him.”
“Okay. Thanks for telling me.” They were in the ladies’ room now, and Gabby put Izzy down onto the changing table and did a quick diaper change without looking at Hannah.
Why didn’t the woman leave so Gabby could cry?
Hannah cleared her throat. “I mean, really upset him. You might want to find him sooner rather than later. Do you want me to hold the baby?”
She looked so doubtful that Gabby almost smiled. “It’s okay, I can take her with, but thanks.” She wondered what Reese and Marla had been talking about. Was Jacob upset because they’d been trashing Gabby or talking in a mean way about Izzy’s parentage?
She thanked Hannah again as she left the bathroom, then started searching the church halls. Just as well that she had something to do, someone to take care of, so she didn’t have to go over and over the things Reese had said to her.
The church was quieting down now; most people had gone home. Back in the fellowship hall where the show and reception had taken place, she could hear murmuring voices, the sound of dishes clinking and chairs being stacked. People were cleaning up.
She turned a corner and there was Jacob by the coatrack, shrugging into his coat. His lips were pressed in a tight line and the freckles stood out on his pale face. “Hey,” she said. “You okay?”
She expected him to deny his feelings like most fifteen-year-old boys would. Instead, he faced her, eyes blazing. “Reese said our family is a bunch of liars.”
Her heart lurched and she reached out to touch Jacob’s arm. “I know it hurts to be accused like that, but he wasn’t talking about you. He was talking about me.”
Jacob shook his head. “Don’t cover it over. We’re losers. You, me and Mom, at least.”
“Jacob—”
But he shook off her arm and spun away.
“You can walk home, but nowhere else,” she called after him as he ran out of the church.
Gabby pulled Izzy close and sank down onto a chair beside the door. She’d handled all of this terribly, and now Jacob, too, was being hurt by it. In trying to protect Reese and his family from the truth about Brock, she’d hurt others who didn’t deserve it.
She needed to find Reese and talk with him, but her heart sank at the impossibility of making him understand. She shouldn’t give in to the shame that kept wanting to wash over her. In her head, she knew the fault lay with Brock and not with her, that her mistake of trusting him didn’t mean she deserved what had happened. But her strength and belief in herself were so shaky. A scornful look and angry words from Reese had swept them away.
Reese. His fury felt worse than anyone else’s ever could, because she’d felt so close to him. She’d started to let him into her heart.
A mistake she couldn’t make again.
Izzy against her shoulder, she bowed her head and prayed for discernment and wisdom and the right action to take next.