The hardened line of his jaw emphasized the emotions Michael held locked inside. “Mary Lou called a few days ago. Now that she is remarried and lives so close, she wants to share custody of Garrett. She left us. Granted, she has kept in touch with Garrett lately, but our lives are just fine without any changes.”
“What did you say to her?” Rachel finished washing the last plate and put it in the drain for Michael.
“My first impulse was to slam the phone down. I didn’t. We’re going to see her this weekend in Jackson.”
The steel edge to his voice underscored his displeasure at the prospect of seeing his ex-wife. Rachel knew only a few tidbits about Michael’s marriage to Mary Lou. When Amy or Shaun had wanted to talk about him, Rachel had changed the subject. She’d refused to let Aunt Flora mention him after his marriage. Rachel couldn’t shake the feeling of betrayal she’d experienced. Even though Mary Lou and Michael’s marriage hadn’t worked out, he’d married her, loved her and had a son with her. Rachel emptied the water from the sink and kept her face averted, realizing she had no right to feel that way. Michael deserved to be happy, and Rachel had always known being a father and having a family were two important things he’d wanted in life. She couldn’t begrudge him following his dream. She knew how important that was.
“How’s Garrett feel about it?” Rachel remembered Mary Lou. She had been beautiful in high school and very popular. She’d grown up in Magnolia Blossom but had talked of moving to the big city after she graduated.
“I haven’t said anything to him yet.” One corner of Michael’s mouth lifted. “I’m hoping the problem will go away. I don’t trust Mary Lou. When she left us, she made it perfectly clear she didn’t want to be a mother. Why is she suddenly wanting to change our arrangement? It’s been working well.”
“For whom?” Rachel asked, realizing she sounded like she was sticking up for Mary Lou.
Michael scowled at her. “Me! Garrett!” His voice was rough and grim. “Why can’t things stay the same?”
Rachel wished she could control her life better, too. “That’s not the way life is. You know that.” She tilted her head so she could look at Michael. “What happened between you two?”
He slung the towel over his shoulder and began to put the plates in the cabinet. His back was to her, his movements restrained. “It seems Magnolia Blossom wasn’t what Mary Lou wanted. I have a habit of picking women who don’t like small towns. She wanted more from life than what I or Garrett could offer her. She started drinking. Finally, after she nearly killed herself driving the car, she realized she couldn’t stay any longer. She left to pull her life together.”
“How does Garrett feel about her living so close?”
“He’s excited to see her. That worries me.”
Rachel faced Michael. “Are you worried he’ll want to be with Mary Lou all the time?”
His smile was rueful “Yeah. Being a parent isn’t easy. I have to be tough at times, set down rules.”
“Tell me about it. I’m finding that out.” She reached out and touched his arm, her fingers closing around it. “You’re a great dad. He knows that.”
“I don’t want to lose him.”
“You won’t. Garrett knows who has stood by him.” Suddenly aware that she was grasping him, she dropped her hand and stepped away.
Michael rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. “Garrett’s my life. I thank the Lord every day for him. I know God will provide me with the right answers when the time comes.”
Michael’s strong faith had always sustained him. When they had been friends years ago, he’d shown his love of God in many ways. And while in Magnolia Blossom, she’d believed she wasn’t alone in the world and that she was one of the Lord’s children, too. What had happened to her budding faith? “Are you still involved in your church like you used to be?”
“Yes. Amy and Shaun are, too. I hope you’ll come to the service one Sunday. Reverend Williams is still the minister.”
“I always enjoyed his sermons.”
“Me, too. He has a strong belief in family. When I’m at church, I feel a part of a larger family. It helps to put my life in perspective. The people of this town are good people. My son and I can count on them in times of trouble.”
Michael’s words made Rachel wish she had that with her own brother and sister. It was her fault there was such a distance between her and her siblings. She had the summer to change that. “Well, right now I could use some pointers on being a parent. I wish parenting came as easily to me as it does to you.”
“Came easily? Whatever gave you that idea? It’s hard work, but I wouldn’t trade my years with Garrett for anything. I want more children. I want to give him brothers and sisters.”
Rachel didn’t want to consider Michael remarrying and having more children. But she realized that was a purely selfish feeling because Michael was a great father.
He glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late. I’d better go and pick up the boys.”
“Thanks for your help tonight.”
“I don’t mind doing a few dishes.”
“Not the dishes. With Amy.”
“It was no big deal. I didn’t need the pies, anyway.”
“I hope that isn’t because you feel you’re overweight? If so, the rest of us are in big trouble. There isn’t an ounce of extra weight on you.”
He chuckled. “No, I just don’t need the sugar.”
“But you used to love chocolate and anything else sweet.”
“I still do. I just refrain from indulging too much.”
Rachel eyed him. “Are you a health-food nut?”
“No, but I have to set a good example for my son. I try not to eat too much junk food.”
“Now that’s something all cooks love to hear.”
He cocked his head, a tiny frown creasing his brow. “It really does fulfill you, doesn’t it?”
“I think everyone needs a way to express herself. A creative outlet. Cooking is mine.”
“No regrets then?”
“None.” She answered too quickly, her throat closing at the intensity in his expression. How could she tell him the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life was walk away from him? But she’d made her decision ten years before and she would stick by it. Her life was her work. “I’ll walk you to your truck.”
“You don’t have to. I know my way.”
“That’s the least I can do for you since you came tonight to help me with Amy.” She began to move toward the front door.
“Tell her, Rachel.”
His words halted her, and she turned to face him, the length of the kitchen between them. “You saw what happened when I mentioned New York. We’ve been through this, Michael. I need more time.”
He held up his hand, palm outward. “Okay. I won’t mention it again.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Really. You’ve made your point.”
“This doesn’t sound like the Michael I used to know. The guy I knew wouldn’t have given up trying to convince me his way was the best way.”
“Gee, you make me sound like a nag, or worse, a dictator.”
“Never. Opinionated, yes. We did have some lively debates.”
He crossed the kitchen and strode past her into the living room. “I guess raising a son has mellowed me. Besides, no one stays the same. People change, grow up. We were young back then.”
“Yeah, babes in the woods.”
Peering over his shoulder, he placed his hand on the front doorknob. “I see your cynicism hasn’t changed.”
“You forget that at the age of sixteen, when I turned up in Magnolia Blossom, I’d seen more of the world than most people, and the places I’d seen were not your typical tourist spots.”
“Where? You’ve never talked much about your past.”
“Because it is the past, and that’s where it belongs.” It was one of her cardinal rules. She would not look back. It was a hard rule to follow, though, when a person returned home after being gone for a long time.
Michael stared at her for a moment, then yanked the door open. The air vibrated with his tension. Even ten years ago, he’d wanted to delve into her life as though he had a right to know every minute detail. She sighed and pushed the screen door open.
Out on the front porch, the night air was still hot and humid. It bathed her face in a blast of moist heat that, she kept reminding herself, was one of the reasons she liked living closer to the North Pole than the equator. She watched Michael descend the steps and head for his truck, his movements agile, fluid. She had always loved to watch him. That had not changed, she realized as she followed him to his truck.
With his hand on the door handle, he threw her a glance over his shoulder. “I’ll bring Shaun home tomorrow afternoon.”
“Fine.” For a reason she couldn’t account for, she didn’t want him to leave just yet. “I realize we’re two different people, that we’ve changed in the past ten years.”
He pivoted, crossing his arms over his chest, and regarded her with the intensity she’d come to expect from him. “What you mean is that we don’t know each other like we used to, that we’re really strangers?”
“Exactly.” She looked away, then at him. “But we can make this…friendship work.”
“So long as I play by your rules?”
“Michael, you’ve never played by anyone’s rules but your own. I know that hasn’t changed.”
He leaned on his truck. “I think that was a compliment.”
She smiled, relishing the light breeze that had kicked up, cooling her flushed cheeks. “Yes. I’ve always admired your independence, your loyalty and honor.”
“My gosh, you make me sound like a Boy Scout.”
Rachel laughed. “Not you.”
“Now, that didn’t sound like a compliment. If I stay too much longer, I probably won’t have an ego left. I need to go. The boys are waiting.”
“Are you kidding? They haven’t thought once about you picking them up.”
“True. I’ll have to drag them away and listen to them whine all the way to Whispering Oaks.”
“The things parents have to put up with. I’ve come to the quick conclusion everyone who wants to be a parent needs to go to school, then take a long, exhausting exam before they can have children.”
He dropped his arms to his side. “Tough, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, tough.” She hadn’t meant there to be a note of vulnerability in her voice, but she heard it and so did Michael.
He took her hand in his and pulled her closer, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll help you for as long as you need me to.”
Her heart fluttered. “I appreciate it.”
His hands tightened about hers. A warmth suffused her. The world spun, and she leaned into him to steady herself.
“Are you okay?” He gripped her by the arms.
“I’m fine. Just not enough sleep. Amy gets in late. Shaun gets up early.” She would never tell Michael his nearness still did strange things to her insides.
“I’ve spent a few sleepless nights worrying about Garrett, and he isn’t even a teenager yet.” Michael drew her into his embrace. “I’ll walk you to the house.”
She shook her head against his chest, said, “Really. I’m fine,” but she didn’t move out of his arms. Instead, she listened to the strong beat of his heart, its tempo increasing. The realization that she was having an effect on him made her bolder and probably, she would decide later, foolish. She wrapped her arms about him and tilted her face to look into his eyes. The illumination from the streetlight cast shadows on his features, but she could read the concern in his expression.
He threaded his fingers through her hair, his gaze fastened on to hers. “You need to take care of yourself.”
“I will,” she murmured, licking her dry lips. “Strange bed. Strange house.”
“Flora’s?”
She nodded.
Silence engulfed them.
Her leaving Magnolia Blossom would always stand in their way. Suddenly, she didn’t want that between them, at least not at the moment. She could get very comfortable in his embrace. That knowledge sent a bolt of panic through her, and she pushed away.
An electrified silence crackled between them like heat lightning.
Finally, he opened his truck door and slid inside. Hugging herself, she stood in her aunt’s driveway while he backed out and drove toward the park. Coldness embedded itself in the marrow of her bones. She wasn’t sure if she could make it to the end of summer living in the same town as Michael. He made her feel things she was determined she would never feel. He made her remember—something she tried very hard not to do.
* * *
Rachel rolled over and peered at the clock on her bedside table. Five in the morning. She groaned and snuggled under the covers, hoping to go back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later she gave up and climbed out of bed.
She slipped on a robe and headed for the kitchen to fix a large pot of coffee. She had a suspicion she would need it. She’d only had a few hours of sleep. Thoughts kept tumbling through her mind, and she couldn’t stop herself from thinking—about Magnolia Blossom, Amy and Shaun, but, most of all, about Michael.
She switched on the light in the living room and gasped. Amy sat on the couch in the dark, a surprised expression on her face before her usual sullen countenance fell into place.
“What are you doing up?” Amy asked, bringing her legs to her chest and hugging them.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
Amy wrapped her arms about her legs. “I like to sit in the dark.”
Rachel came farther into the room. “It’s soothing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, well, it’s time for me to go to bed.”
“You’ve been up all night?”
“Yeah, what of it?” Tension whipped through Amy’s words.
Rachel shrugged. “Nothing. Just wondering.”
“Well, you can stop wondering if I snuck out of the house. I’ve been right here for the past few hours.”
“I wasn’t wondering.”
“Why are you up so early?”
“Couldn’t sleep. In fact, I was heading into the kitchen to make some coffee. Do you want to join me? We could talk. We haven’t—”
Amy jumped to her feet. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
She hurried toward her bedroom, leaving Rachel standing in the middle of the living room wondering if she’d even had a conversation with her younger sister. Maybe she had been dreaming, Rachel thought as she padded toward the kitchen and that pot of coffee she so desperately needed.
As the coffee brewed, its wonderful aroma filling the air, Rachel sank onto a chair at the kitchen table and rested her chin in her palm. Her eyelids drooped. The blare of the phone caused her to shoot to her feet, nearly toppling over her chair.
She snatched up the receiver. “Hello, Rachel speaking.”
Static greeted her words.
“Hello, is anyone there?”
“Rachel, it’s me, your mother. Sorry about this connection. It isn’t the best in the world. Is everything all right?”
Through the bad connection Rachel heard the question and closed her eyes. No, my world is changing. “Aunt Flora died a few weeks ago.”
“I know. I received your letter and the lawyer’s. That’s why I’m calling.”
“Are you coming back to the States?” When are you and Daddy going to be the parents?
“Not for a while. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get away, but I’m sure you’re taking care of everything. I know I need to sign some papers about guardianship and I will as soon as I can. I’ll call you and let you know when I can come.”
Rachel’s grip tightened. “But, Mom—”
More static. “I don’t have long before I have to head back to camp. We’re moving it to another location. What are your plans?”
This woman was my role model. No wonder I can’t make a commitment or stay in any one place for long. No wonder I’m afraid to be a mother. “We’re staying in Magnolia Blossom until the end of the summer. Do you want me to wake Amy and Shaun so you can speak to them?”
“Can’t.” The static on the phone got worse. “I’ll talk to them another time. We’re heading out now. Goodbye, Rachel.”
“Goodbye, Mother,” Rachel said to a dead line.
Her hands quivered as she replaced the phone on the wall. She was so cold. She hugged her arms to her, feeling the anger building inside her. She had been discarded twelve years ago and rarely thought about since. She felt as though she had lost more than Aunt Flora.
* * *
Rachel closed the oven door, set the timer on the stove, then began to stack the dirty dishes by the sink. Cooking was her therapy, she thought as she ran her finger around the inside of the metal mixing bowl and popped it into her mouth to savor the chocolate batter. She had been cooking for a long time and still loved to lick the bowl.
As she placed the dirty bowl into the water, she heard the front door bang open, the pounding of sneakers on the hardwood floor, then the door to a bedroom slam shut. Rachel shook her head. Quiet didn’t exist in a household with children, something she would have to get used to.
She picked up a paring knife and was about to wash it when she heard pounding on the front screen door. She raced into the living room and saw a giant. A giant with a look to kill and a baseball bat in his hand.
“Where are those two brats?” Harold Moon’s words filled the space between them like thunder filled a stormy sky.
“Who?” she squeaked.
“Your brother and that Hunter kid.”
“What’s the problem?”
“The problem is those two.” His face red, Harold raised the baseball bat as though he was going to smash the screen door.
Show no fear, she chanted silently while she looked to see if either of the boys had at least thought to lock the screen behind them when they had fled into the house. No, there was nothing between her and Harold but a piece of flimsy screen with its latch unhooked.
“If you’ll just put that bat down, we can talk about this calmly and rationally,” she said, pointing with her knife.
He glared at her, the bat still in his hand. “Only if you get rid of that knife, lady.”
“Knife?” Peering at her hand, she saw the parer and was surprised by the fact she had it in her grasp. They must look a sight, she with her small knife and he with his big baseball bat. Finally, she found some humor in the situation and smiled. She stepped to the table in the entrance hall and placed the parer on it. “Now it’s your turn,” she said in a soothing voice meant to placate a raging bull.
After tossing the bat into the yard, he turned, a frown etched deeply into his face. “Those two boys hit a ball through my picture window and missed hitting me by mere inches.” A vein in his temple throbbed, the red flush in his cheeks deepened, and his already loud voice was getting louder with each word.
“Please come in and let’s discuss this calmly.” She managed to speak around the dryness in her mouth.
He stormed into the house, his bulk making the entrance hall awfully small. “Where are they?”
Now that she was facing him, she could see no humor in the situation. She didn’t know if she could appease this man and she certainly wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing anything he chose to. She pasted a calm expression on her face and waved her arm toward the living room. “Let’s have a seat in here and talk about this picture window the boys allegedly shattered.”
“There is no allegedly about it, lady. I saw them. Plain and simple.”
Rachel moved past Harold and sat on the couch, hoping he would do likewise. “Well, then, with that settled we can discuss how to fix it.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Shaun and Garrett peeking into the room.
“They should have to pay for it.” He remained standing with his eyes narrowed to slits.
Thankfully, the man’s back was to the boys. There was no telling what Harold would do if he saw Shaun and Garrett. “I totally agree with you, Mr. Moon. The boys will pay to have the window fixed. Please get it replaced and send me the bill.” Her neck was sore from looking up at the man. She finally stood when she realized he was not going to sit. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” She heard the pounding sneakers making a beeline for Shaun’s room as she and Harold approached the entrance hall.
The man started to go after the boys. She placed herself in front of him. Show no fear, she repeated as she felt the anger emanating off him in waves.
“I believe we have concluded our business. I’ll be expecting the bill, Mr. Moon. Good day.” She began inching herself and him toward the front door.
He threw one last glare toward where the boys had been only a moment before, then stalked to the screen door. “I will. It will cost you a pretty penny.”
“I’m sure it will,” Rachel muttered as she watched the man storm across the street.
She gripped the screen to steady her trembling body. Shock was definitely setting in as the seconds of silence ticked away. She used the silence to calm her nerves. She glanced at the gaping hole in Harold Moon’s picture window.
“I can’t believe you stood up to him, Rachel,” Shaun said behind her.
Slowly, she turned. Garrett stared at the polished hardwood floor by his feet as if he could see his reflection and was amazed with the discovery. Her brother’s eyes were round, a look of awe on his face.
“He was gonna kill us.” Garrett’s gaze remained fixed on the floor while he scuffed the toe of his tennis shoe into the hardwood.
“Nonsense. I wasn’t going to let him.” Rachel closed the thick wooden door, locked it, then walked toward the couch before she collapsed.
“Yeah, I know,” Shaun said in that awestruck voice.
Garrett finally looked up. “We didn’t mean to hit the ball through his picture window.”
“Of course not. No one intends to do that. But it did happen, and you two have to pay for it.”
“How? My allowance is only five dollars a week. I’d be in debt until I graduate from high school.” Shaun plopped down in the chair across from her.
Rachel smiled, relief finally sweeping through her. “Nah. Not that long. I’ll talk with Garrett’s dad, and we’ll work something out.”
“When?” Shaun asked, sitting on the edge of the chair.
“I don’t know.”
“Do it now,” Garrett said. “I want to get this over with. Dad isn’t gonna be too happy about this. It’s best if he knows right away. Will ya tell him for us?”
Rachel wanted to groan. “I think you two should be the ones to tell him.”
“We will, but please come with us,” Shaun said as he jumped to his feet.
“We’ll have to wait a few minutes until the cake is finished. I’ll be there for moral support only. It’s your job to explain what happened.”
Both boys nodded.
As Rachel left the room to see about the German chocolate cake, she felt apprehensive about this meeting with Michael. Her emotions were still raw from the evening before and the phone call from her mother earlier that morning. She needed time between meetings with him in order to recuperate. But she couldn’t turn down Shaun’s request. The very fact that he’d made it gave her hope that she was making progress with her little brother. Now if only Amy would hit a ball through Harold Moon’s picture window and live to tell about it.
* * *
Rachel pulled up to Whispering Oaks and parked in the circular drive. When she climbed from her car, she took a moment to look at the place that had once been a familiar favorite haunt of hers. Michael had taken good care of the plantation. The house was freshly painted, and the black fences that kept his horses and cattle in were well tended. The red azalea bushes that ringed his home were beautiful.
She turned slowly as memories inundated her. She could remember watching him ride a stallion in the paddock to the left. She could remember their first kiss on the veranda. From the beginning Michael had been very determined, knowing exactly what he wanted. Rachel looked away, and her gaze fell upon a stone bench in the rose garden to the right of the house. That was where he had told her he loved her. That had been where her panic began to grow. Those words had made her feel tied down to Magnolia Blossom. They had threatened her dream.
Rachel heard the sound of a horse approaching and swung around to see Michael riding toward her. He dismounted. While he strode to her, she shoved the memories to the back of her mind.
“What brings you out here? I thought Garrett was spending the night with Shaun,” he said, worry creasing his brow as he glanced at his son to make sure he was all right.
“Harold Moon paid me a visit this afternoon, and he wasn’t too happy.”
“The man never is.” Michael removed his leather work gloves and tapped his leg with them.
“I’ll let the boys tell you why.”
Garrett stared at his left shoe, which he was digging into the dirt. Shaun looked away as though the horse in the paddock was the most fascinating creature he’d ever seen.
“Okay, what happened?” Michael asked with a sigh.
Shaun looked at Michael. “We were practicing. You should have seen Garrett’s hit. The best ever.”
“And where did that hit land?” Michael relaxed his stern expression, some of the tension siphoning out of him. “Garrett?”
Garrett quit digging the hole and mumbled, “Through Mr. Moon’s picture window.” He finally raised his head. “I got under that ball, and you should have seen it sail through the air.”
“Yeah, right into someone’s living room. Whatever possessed you two to toss a ball near that man’s house?”
“You should have seen Rachel. Mr. Moon came over to the house furious. If she hadn’t been there, no telling what he would have done to us,” Shaun said, awe still in his voice.
Michael’s jaw clenched, his regard on Rachel’s face. “What happened?”
“Why don’t you two go get the computer game you wanted earlier from Garrett’s room?”
After the boys raced into the house, Rachel said, “Nothing happened. Mr. Moon was just a little angry that his window was broken. I took care of him.”
“Harold Moon is always just a little angry about nothing, so I suspect it was more than a little.” Michael shook his head. “They had no business in Harold’s yard. They know he doesn’t like anyone trespassing on his property.”
“They weren’t in his yard. They were playing in Aunt Flora’s.”
“Garrett hit the ball across the street? That’s several hundred feet.”
“Yeah,” Rachel said, remembering she, too, had been impressed when she had pulled out of the driveway and had looked at the distance. The houses in the neighborhood sat on lots of several acres.
Michael whistled. “For him, that is far.”
“Well, quit being impressed. We need to come up with a solution to how the boys will pay for the window.”
He thought a moment, his head cocked. “I have some chores on the riverboat that need to be done. I was going to hire temporary help, but it might as well be the boys. But Shaun really doesn’t have to do anything, since Garrett’s the one who hit the ball.”
“No, both of them were playing. Shaun pitched the ball to your son, so he’s as guilty as Garrett. Besides, it won’t hurt either one to do some work this summer.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll pay for the window, and they can work it off with me. Anything else?” Michael began to put his leather gloves on.
Wishing desperately for the ease they used to have between them, she looked toward the paddock, almost showing as much interest in the horse as Shaun had earlier. “Do you get to ride much?”
“Usually every day.”
“I remember that time Ladybug threw me. My bottom was sore for a good week.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “Rachel, I’m shocked. I can’t believe you would dwell in the past. I thought it wasn’t important to you.”
She speared him with a glance she hoped conveyed her displeasure. “It’s hard not to think about the past when you return home after ten years and every time you turn around you’re slapped in the face with it.”
“No one ever stopped you from coming back to Magnolia Blossom. Flora, Amy and Shaun would have loved it.”
But not you? She wanted to ask but kept her mouth shut by clamping down so hard her jaw hurt. “It would have done no good,” she finally said.
“Seeing your family or seeing me?”