Chapter Fourteen

Hello, Charlotte. Fancy meeting you here.” Kevin stood beside them, the dusting of snow on his leather jacket melting in the heat of the restaurant. His hair was damp and his cheeks red from the chill. He gave Charlotte a tight smile and then glanced over at Melody.

“Melody, you remember Kevin Slater,” Charlotte said.

“And I remember you, Melody,” Kevin said, shaking Melody’s hand, his brow puckered in a thoughtful frown. “You were friends with Denise, right?”

Melody looked up at him, her eyes narrowing. “I was sorry to hear about her death. And very sad. We were close at one time.”

Kevin nodded, looking solemn. “Thank you. It’s still kind of hard to believe that she’s gone.”

Charlotte did not honestly know whether he was simply mouthing platitudes or if he sincerely meant what he was saying. His previous actions certainly didn’t show the remorse he seemed to be showing now.

“She was a good friend,” Melody said.

In the moment of silence following Mel’s statement, Charlotte felt once again the pain of her own loss. Even though it had been more than a year and a half since that horrible phone call shattered her life and Bob’s, there were times the sorrow snuck up on her, unaware.

And seeing Kevin again seemed to underscore the pain.

“So what brings you back to Bedford?” Melody asked, looking up at Kevin.

Kevin smiled. “Well, my kids of course.”

“Your kids?” Melody’s incredulous tone seemed to cut through the air.

Kevin pulled back. “Yeah. My kids.”

Melody raised her eyebrows and Charlotte sensed a confrontation coming on. Melody wasn’t one to mince words, and she had made her own feelings about Kevin fairly clear from time to time.

Though Charlotte tended to agree with her assessment of Kevin’s behavior, she didn’t want to antagonize him.

“Kevin, what have you been keeping busy with?” Charlotte asked, intervening before Melody gave him the piece of her mind she had always threatened she would share if she ever ran into him again.

Kevin grabbed a chair and straddled it, his smile slipping so easily back in place it made Charlotte uncomfortable.

“I just went wandering around town. Checked out some of the places Denise and I used to go to. Went by the school.”

Charlotte nodded. “That’s where the kids are now.”

The door chimes rang out again, and Melody glanced over her shoulder.

“That Ginny,” she muttered. “Still hasn’t helped all the customers.”

Melody shot Charlotte an apologetic look. “Sorry. I gotta take care of business.”

“Of course. You go ahead,” Charlotte said, though she was very sorry to see Melody leave. Right now she could use the moral support.

As Melody left, Kevin turned back to Charlotte. “I, uh, figured on picking the kids up from school today. Maybe take them out again.”

Charlotte suffered a moment of confusion but knew she had to hold her ground. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Well … for one thing, you didn’t tell me or Bob.”

“They’re my kids. I wouldn’t think I have to run everything by you.” Kevin’s tone took on an angry edge that increased Charlotte’s discomfort.

“I think telling me your plans would be best,” Charlotte said. “Your return into their lives is new and strange for them. They still don’t know you that well.”

“I’m their father. And the only way they’ll get to know me is if I spend time with them.”

“I realize that,” Charlotte said, trying to placate him. “But at the same time, they have their own lives and their own responsibilities here, and they need routine.”

Goodness knows it had been hard enough to get the kids settled into a routine when they moved to the farm. At times, Charlotte felt like she still struggled to find a new normal to their lives.

“I have my rights, you know,” Kevin shot back, rocking back and forth on the chair.

Please, Lord, don’t let me get angry, Charlotte prayed, struggling to find the right way to say what needed to be said.

“I’m sure you do. But right now, the most important thing we have to be concerned about is the children and what they need.” She sat back, folding her arms across her chest.

“They need their dad,” Kevin blustered. “They’ve already lost their mother.”

“They’ve needed their dad for a whole lot longer than the past few days.”

The words spilled out before she could stop them, and from the way Kevin’s face darkened, Charlotte knew she had just made an enemy out of their son-in-law.

Kevin swung his leg over the chair and stood, gripping the back of it. “You think I’m a lousy father, don’t you?”

Charlotte took a moment to gather her thoughts, to find exactly the right thing to say.

“I think it’s important that the children have you in their lives,” she replied, trying to hold his gaze. “But I also think it’s important that they maintain their routine.”

Kevin snorted at that, his eyes darting around, looking anywhere but at her. “I remember Denise talking about your precious routine.” He made quotation marks with his fingers around the last word. “She hated it. Said that was why she ran away. With me. And I don’t think I want my kids living like that.” This time he did look at her, and Charlotte fought to keep the pain his words had inflicted from showing.

“But just to keep the peace,” Kevin continued, “I’ll leave them alone today and figure on picking them up on Saturday at five.”

Charlotte simply nodded, not trusting herself to speak as her heart pounded with a mixture of fear and sorrow.

He held her gaze a moment, as if to challenge her. She forced herself not to look away.

Then, at last, Kevin left.

Charlotte’s breath left her, like air out of a stale balloon. She pressed her fingers to her temples, massaging away the tension that had gripped her since Kevin walked into the restaurant.

Could she and Bob see this through to the end?

And what would be the end? Kevin out of the children’s lives?

Kevin showing up, testing and pushing the boundaries they had set in place?

The children out of their lives?

That she couldn’t bear.

Please, Lord, she prayed, help us find the wisdom to deal with Kevin. Help us show him that the children need to stay with us. That they need to be on the farm. I can’t lose them, Lord. I simply can’t.

She took another breath as her heart slowly settled. She had to get in touch with Marcus Lindstrom, their lawyer in Harding. She had to get things settled as quickly as she could. She should have done that the first time they thought Kevin was coming back into the children’s lives, but she had let sentimentality override her common sense. She wasn’t going to let that happen again. She hoped he would be available to help them soon.

“Charlotte, are you okay?” Bob’s voice broke into her scrambled thoughts.

Charlotte jumped, then gave Bob a quick smile. “Yes. I’m fine.”

“That’s good,” he said, slipping into the chair across from her. He glanced down at Melody’s coffee cup. “Who was sitting here?”

“Melody. But she’s busy with her customers,” Charlotte said. She took another breath. “Did you see Kevin?”

Bob frowned. “No. Was he here?”

Charlotte nodded. “He just left. He said he was picking up the children after school.”

“He can’t do that. Not without running it by us first.”

Relief seeped through her. She wasn’t being controlling. Bob agreed with her. “That’s what I told him.”

Bob pushed the coffee cup aside, leaning his elbows on the table. “We need to lay down some ground rules. He may think he’s getting the kids, but we still need to set out when and where he can see them in the meantime.”

“I agree.” She was about to say more when Melody bustled up to the table and pulled forward the same chair Kevin had just vacated.

“That Kevin’s a piece of work.” She shook her head. “Sorry I had to bail on you, but Ginny was being an air-head again.” Melody glanced from Bob to Charlotte. “I was telling Charlotte you should hire that lawyer again. Get him to fight for you.”

Bob nodded briefly. “That’s a possibility.”

“You can’t let Kevin get away with this,” Melody said. “You have to fight fire with fire. Come at him with what you’ve got—and you’ve got a lot. He hasn’t seen the kids since he left Denise. He never sent her money. If it goes to court, no judge on earth would award him custody over you.”

“We have a few decisions to make,” Bob said, his tone cryptic.

Charlotte gave her friend’s arm a gentle squeeze of warning. In some ways, her husband could be very old-fashioned, and receiving vociferous advice from a woman closer to his daughter’s age than his might not sit well with him.

Melody seemed to take the hint, but Charlotte could see from the way she pinched her lips that she wasn’t finished yet.

“Well, if there’s anything Russ or I can do, let us know,” Melody said. “We’d like to help.”

“Thanks, Melody. I really appreciate the support.”

They gave their orders and when she left, Bob and Charlotte were alone again.

“I’m going to call the lawyer again,” Charlotte said.

“His office said he isn’t going to be back for awhile yet, so I doubt he’s going to return your call. We’ll have to see how hard Kevin pushes before we decide what we’re doing.”

Panic clawed at Charlotte. “He told us very clearly what he wants. He said he was going to fight us for the children.”

Bob scratched the side of his face with a forefinger as he thought. His cuticles were edged with grease from the work he had been doing on the tractor. It seemed there was always something to fix, something that needed money spent on it.

The thought of going to a lawyer, of spending more money just to stake their claim on the children, bothered her on one level. Yet they couldn’t afford to simply stand aside and let Kevin do what he wanted without fighting back as, it seemed, Bob was suggesting.

“Kevin hasn’t always followed through on what he has said he would do,” Bob said, his voice growing quiet.

Charlotte knew, on one level, that Bob was right, but to simply sit back and wait … she didn’t know if she could do that. Her mothering instinct was to fight tooth and nail for her grandchildren.

Then Melody appeared with their order and the conversation ended. It seemed nothing more needed to be said, but Charlotte didn’t enjoy her food at all. A few minutes later she pushed it away and wiped her mouth. “I better get back home,” she said. “I need to bake bread and get the laundry done. And I want to get ready for Saturday.”

“What’s Saturday?” Bob asked.

“Bill, Anna, and the children are coming over. I wanted to have a little lunch party to welcome Will to the family.”

“Why don’t you have a dinner?”

“Because Kevin is coming at five to take the kids out again; that’s why.”

Bob simply nodded, still eating his sandwich.

Charlotte slipped her purse over her shoulder. “Are you coming home soon?”

“I was going to stop and see the guys at the fire hall. But I’ll be home after that.”

Charlotte nodded, wishing, for once, that she could as easily keep the various parts of her life separate as Bob seemed to.

The afternoon slipped by, and the routine of her work brought Charlotte some peace of mind. The yeasty scent of bread baking, the warmth of the stove steaming up the windows, creating a haze between the cozy kitchen and the cold outside, soothed her worries away.

The door of the porch banged open, and chilly winter air crept across the floor.

“Are the kids home?” Pete asked loudly. His words were accompanied by the rustling of plastic bags.

“Not yet.” Curious, Charlotte walked to the porch in time to meet Pete coming into the kitchen, his arms laden with bags.

“What’s this?”

Pete’s cheeks were red, his eyes bright. He set the parcels on the kitchen table, their contents spilling out. “Christmas presents for the kids. I want you to let me know what you think.”

Charlotte frowned. “But we drew names this year, Pete. And we promised we were buying only for the person whose name we drew.”

Pete waved away Charlotte’s protests. “I know, but I wanted to get the kids something special from their Uncle Pete.” He opened one bag and pulled out a box. “These are for Emily. I don’t know if they’re the right size, but she can exchange them if she doesn’t like them.” He pulled a pair of knee-length leather boots out of the box. “The lady at the store in Harding told me this is exactly what girls like Emily go for these days.” He flashed Charlotte a cheeky grin. “Told her that she dresses kind of strange.”

He grabbed another bag and pulled out a gray-and-green hooded sweatshirt. “This is for Sam, and I got a matching one for Christopher. Thought that would be kinda neat. I also got a bunch of DVDs …” He pawed through the bags, looking, as Charlotte put her hand on his arm, stopping him mid-search.

“Pete, what are you trying to do?”

Pete reared back. “I’m trying to be an uncle. Trying to have some fun with my nephews and niece. That’s all.”

He sounded all blustery and defensive, and though Charlotte appreciated the generosity, she wasn’t so sure of the motives. She was careful as she formulated her words. “This isn’t about the expensive things that Kevin bought the children the other day?”

Pete shook his head, his hand slicing through the air as if cutting that idea off. “No way. No how. I just thought it was time I did something for the kids. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me giving them a few things from time to time. Don’t do it often enough, I think.”

“And what about Jennifer, Madison, and Will? Did you think it was time to do something for them?”

That stopped Pete mid-bluster. His blush grew, and he glanced away. “Well, I could get them something tomorrow.”

Charlotte sighed and placed her hand on Pete’s arm. “Pete, I think it’s wonderful that you want to give gifts to the kids, but I don’t think you should be buying them such expensive things.”

“You don’t think I can afford it?”

Charlotte paused, praying for wisdom.

“I don’t think you should afford it. Right now your first priority is Dana and the life you are planning to make with her.”

Pete slumped into a chair, pushing aside a bag on the table. He sighed. “And that’s the trouble,” he said, dismay edging his voice. “I feel like I don’t even know what kind of life I can plan for Dana and me. That Kevin dude is throwing money around like there’s no end in sight, and I know he’s buying the kids stuff they like. And on top of all of that, I feel like I can’t even provide a home for my future wife. It’s not a good feeling, Mom.”

Charlotte sat down across from him, resisting the urge to stroke his head like she used to when he was younger and his problems were so much easier to solve.

“It wasn’t your fault that we had that fire. You were making a lovely place for Dana, and something happened. Now you have to adapt to the change in plans.” Charlotte hoped he would understand. All his life Pete had struggled with feelings of inadequacy. He often felt less successful than his older brother, and now that Pete was getting married, she guessed he was once again comparing his situation to Bill’s.

And now, on top of all that, he was trying to compete with Kevin as well.

Pete slouched back into his chair, his hand brushing one of the bags on the table. He pulled it toward him and took out a large plastic container holding a cell-phone case covered in bright yellow daisies. “This was for Emily,” he said quietly. “For her cell phone.” He dropped it on the table with a sigh. “I was mad. That’s why I bought this stuff.”

“Mad at Kevin?” Charlotte prompted.

Pete shook his head. “Mad at myself. Here’s this guy only a few years older than me and he’s got a fancy truck, a great job, he travels, and he makes enough money that he can buy the kids whatever he wants.”

“His money can only buy things,” Charlotte said.

“And any minute now you’re going to tell me that money can’t buy love,” Pete said, flipping the container over and over in his hands.

“It can’t, Pete. Kevin is not a happy person, and he only has his money. He doesn’t seem to have much else. He doesn’t have family, and he certainly doesn’t have someone like Dana.”

“Bet if he did, he could buy her a house.”

“He had someone like Dana. Your sister. And look what he did to her. They lived in an apartment their entire married life, and then he left her alone with three children.” Charlotte’s anger with Kevin spilled out into her voice. “So don’t you even begin to start comparing yourself to that man. You are ten times the man he is, and I’m very proud of what you’ve done with your life. You’ve been responsible. You’ve helped us out in so many ways, and now you’re going to marry a wonderful woman and start your own life together. You can hold your head up high for who you are and what you’ve accomplished.”

She stopped, surprised herself at how vehement she had been, how emotional. That wasn’t like her.

But her son was putting himself down, and that wasn’t right.

Pete gave her a funny look. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t. And I know your father, even though he might not tell you in so many words, feels the same way.” Charlotte knew that Pete and his father shared an awkward affection for each other. But she also knew they seldom let each other know.

As Pete put the plastic container back in the bag, he said, “I guess the short answer is, I shouldn’t give these to the kids?”

Charlotte shook her head. “Please don’t. Their father is already spending far too much on them. They don’t need any more presents.”

Pete sighed and looked over at the bags. “So what should I do with this stuff?”

“If you have the receipts, you could take them back.”

Pete snorted. “That’s embarrassing.”

“Well, maybe, but I think it’s hard to justify this expense when you and Dana are planning a wedding.”

“I suppose.” He shook his head as if trying to understand where his priorities should be.

“Getting them all these things was a wonderful idea in its own way, Pete,” Charlotte said, covering his hand, trying to assure him. “And you showed amazing ingenuity. But it isn’t necessary. In ten years the kids will have better memories about the rides you gave them on the snowmobile than they will about the presents their dad or even you bought for them.”

A reluctant smile crept across Pete’s face, and Charlotte sensed that he finally believed what she was telling him and was taking it to heart.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to return this stuff for me?” Pete said, picking up one of the bags.

Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t have time.” Then she held her hand up. “But wait a minute. I have Christopher’s name. I have absolutely no idea what to get him. What did you get for him? Maybe I can pay you back for it?”

So they went through the gifts and Charlotte chose the hoodie that was supposed to match Sam’s. That meant one less item Pete would have to return, and one more thing off Charlotte’s to-do list.

Pete put the rest of the items back in the bags and then sighed. “It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but you’re probably right.”

Charlotte put her hand on Pete’s shoulder. “You need to save your money for your wedding and your future with Dana. And the children certainly don’t need more presents that can get in the way of the real meaning of Christmas.”

Pete chuckled. “Once again you’ve proven that Mom knows best.”

“Sometimes,” she said with a laugh. “Only sometimes.”