Chapter Twenty-Six

A week later, Jack decided he needed to have his head read for thinking adding a baby to their family was a good idea. With the bakery back up and running, Grace had been inundated with orders for her sugar plum cake. Despite the promise she’d made to him, she worked from morning to night and had an excuse at the ready every time he approached her about bringing in more help. Add her parents’ impending arrival to the mix, and her stress levels were through the roof. She was driving him crazy.

“Stop.” He took the cloth from her hand. “You wiped down the counter twenty minutes ago.”

“Maybe if you’d cleaned up after you made little Jack’s lunch, I wouldn’t have to.” When he didn’t release the cloth, she tried to tug it from his hand. When that didn’t work, she got another one from the drawer, slamming it shut.

At the end of his patience, Jack threw the cloth in the sink. “I did. And I loaded the dishwasher, only you had to reload it. I also threw in a load of wash, and you redid that, too.”

“You put little Jack’s clothes in with the sheets. I told you—”

He gritted his teeth, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned her to face him. “Look, I get that you’re tired and stressed, but I’m tired of you giving me hell when all I’m doing is trying to help out.”

“I appreciate your help. It’s just that…” She trailed off, looking at him from under her lashes.

“Just what… that I’m not doing it to your standards? Well, let me tell you something, princess, no one can live up to your standards.”

Her shoulders sagged under his hands. “I just want everything to be perfect.”

Some of his anger faded at the sight of her blinking back tears. “Baby, they’re your parents. They don’t care if the house is spotless. Little Jack and I sure as hell don’t. We’d rather have you happy and relaxed than stressing out over a few crumbs on the counter and tie-dyed sheets.”

“My dad doesn’t care, but my mother does. I’ll never hear the end of it if everything doesn’t meet her expectations. I wish she weren’t coming,” she murmured into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. She looked up at him. “I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been easy to live with the last couple of days.”

Try a week. “Why don’t we go for a walk once little Jack’s up from his nap? It’s just drizzling out. The fresh air would do you good.”

“I wish I could, but with the tourists starting to arrive for the Fourth of July celebration, it’s really busy today, and the Pines doubled their order for this week.” When he gave her an exasperated look, she wrinkled her nose, something he used to think was cute. “I promise, as soon as we slow down, I’m going to advertise for another baker. Skye and the girls are great with the customers, but I need help with the sugar plum cakes. And now we can afford someone with experience.” She gave him a hopeful smile. “That’s good, isn’t it? We’re making money now.”

And that was another thing that was starting to get to him. His wife was providing for the family, not him. He decided to talk to the general about his options tonight. Because as much as Jack enjoyed spending time with his son and Grace, when she wasn’t acting like a Stepford wife, which admittedly had been much of the time lately, he needed to be doing something productive. He needed a job. At least when he’d been working on the house or the book, he’d felt like he was contributing something.

Grace looked at him expectantly, waiting, he imagined, for an enthusiastic response. “If you’re able to hire someone to take the load off you, then yeah, it’s good.” But he wasn’t holding his breath. He doubted his wife would be able to give up control to anyone, no matter how experienced they were.

A crash came from little Jack’s bedroom. Grace sighed, her arms dropping to her sides. “I’ve got it,” he said, heading to his son’s room. He opened the door. “Okay, Houdini, what did you do now?”

Little Jack, who’d escaped from his crib, tossed a basket from his change table onto the floor and pulled off his diaper. “Me go pee.”

Jack didn’t need to look at Grace to know what her reaction would be. He steered her from the room. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks,” she said wearily. Halfway out the door, she turned. “Um, Jack, do you think you could take him to the park or visit with Jill until my parents get here? They’re supposed to be here around two.”

Right, because God forbid there was a pillow out of place when they arrived.

*     *     *

“Hey, Jack,” Matt Trainer called out as Jack buckled his son into his car seat. He’d decided to take little Jack to Jill’s instead of taking him to the park to play. With the rain they’d had, the playground would be a giant mud puddle. All he’d need was to bring little Jack home dirty for his visit with his grandparents.

Jack straightened. “Hey, Matt. How’s it going?” The thirtysomething-year-old doctor reminded Jack of Sawyer. He liked the guy. So did most of the women in town. They’d nicknamed him Doctor McSexy.

“Not bad.” Matt looked like he had more to say, but was weighing whether to tell him or not. Jack had an uneasy feeling it had to do with Maria.

She’d waited a couple of days after the auction to get in touch with him. By that point, Jack figured she’d done him a favor by screwing up his bid on the house, so he didn’t walk away when she caught up with him on Main Street. Besides that, no matter what she’d done, he couldn’t help worrying about her.

They’d met for coffee a couple of times—she’d completed the first draft of the book and wanted his opinion—and everything was good… until yesterday. Madison had come over to their table at the diner and teased him about working on baby number two. And that’d been it: Maria had had a meltdown.

Little Jack fired a ball at Matt through the open window. “Good arm.” Matt smiled, tossing it back before he glanced at Jack. “You hear from Maria today?”

“No, why?” Oh yeah, something was definitely up, Jack thought, feeling the electrical buzz at the back of his neck.

“She didn’t show up for her appointment this morning.”

“You’re worried about her?”

“You more than anybody knows what she’s dealing with. So yeah, I am. And up until today, she’s kept her appointments.”

Remembering the shape she’d been in only a few weeks ago, Jack took out his cell. “I’ll give her a call.” An uneasy feeling came over him when she didn’t pick up. If she answered for anyone, it would be him. “I’ll head over and check on her.”

“Thanks, Jack. I’d go myself, but I’m due back at the hospital.”

“No problem. I’ll give you a shout once I talk to her.”

“Appreciate it.”

“Okay, buddy, change of plans. Got an errand to run and then we’ll go see Auntie Jill,” Jack said as he pulled onto Main Street. Once he made sure Maria was all right, he’d have Jill do some checking for him. The best thing he could do for Maria was to find her friends and family. She needed ongoing support, and he knew it couldn’t be him who gave it to her.

As he pulled into the parking lot of the lodge, Jack spotted the candy-apple-red Mustang in front of her unit. He tried her cell again. When she didn’t respond, he got little Jack out of his car seat and walked to the door, turning the knob. Locked. “Maria, open up.”

“ ’Ria open,” little Jack echoed, banging his small fist on the door.

“You’re pretty damn cute, you know that?” he said to his son.

Little Jack nodded, pulling on his orange T-shirt. “Me cute.”

When another round of loud knocking didn’t draw a response, Jack set his son down beside a planter. “Okay, buddy, you pick some flowers for Mommy while Daddy opens the door.”

The short hairs on the back of his neck had been standing on end since his conversation with Matt, and Jack knew he didn’t have time to hunt down the manager for a key. He put his shoulder to the door and, when it didn’t budge, kicked it in. Scooping up little Jack, he entered the dark room, once again overwhelmed by the smell of stale wine and vomit. Maria was in bed, wine bottles cluttering the nightstand, one lying empty on the floor.

“Maria,” he called out.

Closing the door behind him, he set little Jack on the floor and approached the bed. Images from the day he discovered his mother assaulted him. He froze. Fighting back the memories, he forced himself to put a hand on Maria’s chest and his cheek to her mouth. A faint, shallow breath whispered across his face. He shook her, shouting her name. Like a rag doll’s, her head fell back. He got on the bed, moving in behind her to prop her against his chest. Her head lolled onto his shoulder. With an arm around her, he continued calling to her as he dialed 9-1-1. Her eyes opened to slits.

“What did you take, Maria? Open your eyes. Come on, that’s a girl. The ambulance is on the way. Hang in there.” He wouldn’t let her die like his mother. If she did, it was on him.

At the thought, he scanned the nightstand for a pill bottle. When he didn’t find one, he swept his hand over the comforter, his fingers closing around a plastic container. He shoved the prescription bottle in his pocket to give to the paramedics. At least they’d have a better idea what they were dealing with. In the distance, he heard the scream of the siren, and his body sagged in relief.

And that’s when he remembered his son.

“Jack.” His gaze shot to where he left him. He wasn’t there. Lowering Maria to the bed, he did a quick, panicked scan of the room. “Jack,” he called out again, about to race to the front door when he saw the drapes by the patio door flutter. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it was going to explode from his chest. He whipped open the drapes, the curtain rod falling off the wall. Through the misty rain, he made out something orange in the pool.

*     *     *

Grace cast a critical eye on the wildflower garden she’d just finished up on the sugar plum cake. The sunflowers weren’t as perfect as she’d wanted.

Skye, who’d been watching her as part of her training, grabbed her hand. “No, not again. There is not a single thing wrong with the sunflowers.”

“But…”

“No buts.” Skye put her hands on Grace’s shoulders and brought her face close to hers. “We’re friends, right?”

“Yes, of course we are.”

“Okay, so I’m saying this to you as a friend, as someone who cares about you… sweetie, you’ve got a problem, and you’ve gotta deal with it before you drive yourself and everyone around you crazy.”

Grace closed her eyes and bowed her head. After how Grace had acted with Jack, Skye wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t know. She was overwhelmed and out of control. Nothing she did seemed to help. “I know,” she said on a choked whisper.

“Maybe if you talk to me, it’ll help. I know how busy you’ve been, but it’s more than that, isn’t it?”

She sniffed and nodded. “My mother’s coming. No matter how hard I try, I can’t please her.”

“Heard your phone call, remember? You’re thirty, Grace. It’s time to cut the apron strings. If she makes you feel this bad, she doesn’t deserve to be a part of your life.” Skye’s eyes narrowed at her. “You’re holding something back. What is it?”

Grace’s fingers unconsciously latched on to the gum paste and cutter. She couldn’t tell Skye what had happened to Faith. How, even after all these years, being around her mother brought everything back.

Skye covered her hand with hers. “Okay, your problems with your mother aside, is there anything else?”

“Jack and I are trying to have another baby.”

“I know, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“It would be if I knew Jack’s plans. Every time I ask him, he tells me we’ve got lots of time to figure it out. I’m afraid if I push him for an answer, he’ll feel pressured and shut me out like last time. But I need to know if he’s going back to active duty, if he’ll be deployed again, if he’s willing to live here or he wants to move back to Fort Carson. It was hard enough raising one child on my own. How would I raise two?”

“What do you want, Grace?”

“I don’t want him to return to active duty.” As the daughter of a general, she felt guilty and selfish for even thinking that, let alone voicing it out loud. But she knew Skye wouldn’t judge her, and she felt a little better being able to confide her fears to someone. “I don’t know if I can do it again, Skye. The last seventeen months…” She twisted her wedding band, her heart racing as all the emotions she’d battled while Jack was missing came back to haunt her. “I don’t know how I’d cope if he was deployed again.” She gave a brittle laugh and held out her trembling hand. “Just thinking about it makes me feel faint. How do I pretend everything’s okay, that I’m okay, if he leaves again? But I want him to be happy, I wouldn’t be if he wasn’t, and I’m afraid the only thing that will make him feel truly fulfilled is remaining in the military and flying a Black Hawk.”

“I’m not sure it’s my place, since it’s obvious Jack hasn’t told you, but given how you’re feeling, I think you need to know. He bid on the house for you, Grace.”

“My… I mean, the house on Sugar Plum Lane?”

“Yeah. Everyone in town knew he was going to. That’s why they planted the wildflower garden. It’s why Sawyer thought the house should be purple instead of pink.”

Grace covered her mouth, holding back a sob. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe Jack would do that for her. She’d already been feeling guilty for how she’d been acting, and this just made her feel worse. She didn’t deserve him. “Thank you,” she said around the thick lump in her throat. “Thank you so much for telling me. I wish Jack had.”

“He was probably afraid of getting your hopes up. And then when he lost the bid, he knew you’d be disappointed.”

“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “It doesn’t matter. Just knowing he did that for me…” She shrugged helplessly, unable to continue, afraid she’d start crying and wouldn’t be able to stop.

Skye smiled and rubbed her shoulder. “Take it from me, everything’s going to work out for you and Jack. But honestly, Grace, whatever issues you have with your mother, deal with them when she’s here. And if you can’t work it out with her, let both your mother and whatever hurt you in the past go.”

Skye was right. Her mother had punished her long enough. It was time for Grace to let go of her past before it ruined her future. “Do you think you guys would be okay without me for an hour? Jack asked me to join them for a walk earlier.”

“Definitely. And while you’re gone, I’ll try my hand at making a sugar plum cake.”

“Oh, I-I don’t think…”

“Just checking.” Skye grinned. “Progress, but you still have some work to do on your control issues.”

“Thanks for pointing that out. I…” Smiling, Grace turned as Madison and Gage came through the doors. Her smile faltered at the grim expression on Gage’s face and Madison’s red-rimmed eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Grace.” Gage came and took her hand. “There’s been an accident. Little Jack’s in the hospital. He fell in the pool at…”

Gage’s face went out of focus, his words garbled as the room spun around her. From a distance, she heard someone say, “… in shock.” Something warm enveloped her body at the same time everything went black.