Candice walked ahead as if she expected them to follow.
Suddenly shy, Chloe clung to Kate’s hand and pressed her cheek against Kate’s hip, half hiding behind her. Kate gave the little girl’s hand a gentle and reassuring double squeeze, hoping to telegraph, No worries. I’m here for you.
Kate felt a bit nervous herself. Like she was walking into the lioness’s den.
Chloe had always seemed like such a good-natured child. Even during the time that Aidan had been in the hospital and she, Elle and Daniel had cared for her, she had seemed remarkably well adjusted. This was the first time she was noticing the more reticent side of Chloe.
Until now, it hadn’t dawned on Kate that this brave little girl had previously had no choice but to boldly march into mother-daughter get-togethers like this one alone, without a mother at her side. Or, at best, as the guest of another mother-daughter duo.
For Kate, being surrounded by the protective love and support of her sisters, mother and Gigi had always been such a given that sometimes she unwittingly took it for granted. She couldn’t imagine what it was like not to have them in her life, on her side. To be a motherless daughter with no feminine guidance.
Something shifted inside Kate. A fierce, protective feeling bloomed and her heart was promising to be there for Chloe. To love her and guard her. She would never have to walk alone in this world again.
“Are you okay?” she asked Chloe.
“I think we’re late,” she said.
Kate remembered that uneasy feeling of walking into a party that had already started. Especially when she was a girl. Alliances shifted, and new bonds formed in the blink of an eye. At this age it felt awful to be the odd person out.
“Naaa,” Kate said, bending down so that she was eye level with Chloe. “The party doesn’t start until we get here.”
Chloe’s eyes got large.
“It is true.” Kate nodded. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”
Chloe laughed and visibly relaxed. Kate squared her shoulders and raised her chin a notch. “Ready?”
The little girl did the same, standing a bit taller and looking more confident, holding Kate’s hand as they found their way to the kitchen.
Candice was standing next to Beatrice at the largest kitchen island that Kate had ever seen. The older woman appeared to be helping Beatrice with something.
“Chloe’s here!” Beatrice got down from her stool at the kitchen island.
“There you are,” Candice said. “Did I lose you? I was just about to come look for you.”
“We just needed a moment.” Kate smiled at the woman.
The kitchen at her family’s inn was roomy, but this one, which looked like it had been remodeled to include every top-of-the-line modern convenience, was vast. Five other little girls, each wearing a painter smock, were seated at the island, painting rocks. Five women, presumably, the girls’ mothers, were clustered in the kitchen, each of them holding wine glasses, talking and picking at a spread of food arranged on one of the counters.
Beatrice hugged Chloe and then took her hand and led her to the stool next to hers. “I saved this seat for you so you could sit next to me.”
She seemed like a sweet little girl. Kate felt bad for expecting less of her. She had to be careful not to project her own vulnerabilities onto Chloe. Such as how she felt out of place standing there by herself as the women continued to talk.
“Dori, look who’s here,” Candice said as Doris entered the room carrying a handful of paint tubes, which she deposited on the island.
Dori—er—Doris—yeah, she did seem more like a Dori, Kate decided. That name suited her better.
Dori smiled at Kate, but there was no mistaking the way her gaze swept beyond Kate. Dori’s eyes searched the room and flashed disappointment when she didn’t find what—or who—she was looking for. But to her credit, she recovered quickly.
She cocked her head to the side, reminding Kate of Zelda’s corgi puppy for an instant. “Kate, isn’t it?” She had managed to muster a sincere-looking smile, all traces of her disappointment at finding her instead of Aidan neatly vanishing without a trace of animosity. “Welcome. I’m so glad you could come.” She walked toward Kate, arms outstretched, palms upturned. Was it a sign of greeting or of conceding? You married Aidan, I accept. When she reached her, she planted a double kiss on Kate’s cheeks, an intimate gesture for not being sure she remembered her name.
The women who had previously been unaware of Kate’s presence had turned to see the newcomer.
“Everyone,” Dori said, “this is Kate... Quindlin? Did you take Aidan’s last name?”
They hadn’t really talked about it. She had been so busy moving in and making life as normal as possible for Chloe that she hadn’t really thought about it.
“It is Kate Clark...”
Kate saw two of the women exchange glances, which made her feel as if this wasn’t the first Dori and her friends had discussed Aidan’s surprise marriage.
“Um... Kate Clark Quindlin,” she amended. Saying the words aloud made her realize that the double name did have a nice ring to it.
Dori put an arm around her and walked her over to her friends, and made the introductions. There was a Pam and a Heather, and Janet, or was she Janelle? And because she had been pondering the Janet-Janelle question, she had missed the last introduction completely. She was opening her mouth to ask for clarifications and redo, but Dori said, “Everyone, this is Kate. Kate, I’m sort of the new girl, too. Beatrice and I moved here from Charleston a couple of months ago. I started this rock-painting group so Beatrice could make friends, and, okay, if I’m perfectly honest, I want to make friends, too. I know everyone is busy, but I’m hoping we can make this a weekly after-school thing.”
The other women nodded their enthusiasm.
Did they work? Probably not—Kate reminded herself not to jump to conclusions.
“I work,” Kate said, wanting to establish that up front. “My schedule can be flexible, but it all depends on my clients.”
“What do you do?” asked Janet, or Janelle.
“I do hair.” Kate punctuated the declaration with a rise of her chin.
There was a chorus of oohs and “I see”s. Pam said, “I know how valuable a good hairdresser is. I’ve been going to my girl for ten years. If she left, I think I’d have to leave my husband and follow her.”
Kate was tempted to say that she wasn’t there to recruit, but she bit her lip instead.
“So you and Aidan are newlyweds?” the one whose name she had missed asked.
“We are.”
“Congratulations,” Heather said. “You got yourself quite a catch with that one.”
Kate’s gaze dropped to Heather’s hand. She was wearing a big, fat halo diamond with ring guards. Married, she noted, and wondered why she was so up on Aidan’s catch-worthiness.
Maybe Heather read it on Kate’s face, though she had never thought she was quite that transparent, but the woman said, “Okay, we have to confess. We had no idea that Aidan had anyone special in his life. We had our eye on him for Dori. Her husband died and we think it is time for her to get back in the saddle.”
Dori snort-laughed. “Well, let’s just usher that big elephant right out of the room. Now that that’s out of the way, I hope we can all be great friends.”
That was probably one of the most awkward conversations she had ever had, but the raw honesty of it was refreshing.
Chapter Nine
Later that night, after the girls had gotten back from the rock group and they had put Chloe to bed, Aidan and Kate sat together on the sofa.
“After everything that has been going on,” said Aidan, “it feels like this is the first chance we’ve had to be alone in a long time.”
He put his arm around Kate and pulled her close, leaning in for a gentle kiss, testing the
waters. Things were still so uncertain between them, but he realized they were never going to move forward if he kept acting like he was walking on eggshells. He wanted her. He wanted this life with her, and he believed she wanted it, too. Especially given the way she was kissing him back.
They stayed like that for hours, or maybe it was minutes. Time seemed irrelevant when they were like this, because they were so good together. As one, rather than fighting each other. Right now, for the life of him, he couldn’t remember why he ever doubted that they could make it. When the kiss ended, he leaned his forehead against hers, keeping his arms around her.
“That was nice.”
She made an agreeable sound. Her eyes looked dreamy, and for a moment, he was tempted to scoop her up and carry her into the bedroom—their bedroom—and show her exactly how happy he was that things had turned out this way. The right way.
In an effort to make himself slow down, he said, “Are you thirsty? I picked up some freshly squeezed orange juice from Brighter Day on the way home.”
Brighter Day was the health food store on Bull Street that supplied fresh orange juice to the Forsyth Galloway Inn.
Kate smiled and put her hand on her still-flat belly. “That sounds delicious. Thanks for picking it up.”
She seemed a little subdued tonight. If not for the unmistakable way she had returned his kiss, he might’ve worried that something was wrong. Of course, she might be tired. That was why he had to stop jumping to conclusions like that. There would be ebbs and flows in their conversations. Even someone as strong and outgoing as Kate needed time to herself to recharge. As the quieter of the two, so did he.
“How was the rock painting?” he asked from the kitchen as he got the container out of the refrigerator and juice glasses from the cabinet.
“It was...nice. Dori and her friends are really...nice. Did you know, that’s what they call her? Dori?”
“No,” he called. “I didn’t know that. She introduced herself to me as Doris. I’m not in the habit of giving people nicknames.” He laughed to make sure she knew he was joking.
He could imagine her rolling her eyes in that way she so often did when he cracked a corny joke.
“Well, yeah, that’s what they call her. I met her mother, Candice. Their house is just around the corner from the inn. But I’m sure you know that.”
“I did,” he said.
“Of course,” Kate said. “You would not let Chloe go off with a stranger without knowing where she was going. Anyway, Dori and her friends were so welcoming to Chloe and me. I mean, you never know what you’re walking into in a situation like that. Where people already know each other. I mean, I wasn’t exactly invited.”
He entered the room, carrying two glasses of juice. He handed her one and sat down next to her.
“Actually, I think she was counting on you coming over rather than me.” Aidan didn’t know what to say and he was glad when Kate shrugged. “Until she got her mind wrapped around the fact that you and I really are married. You know she had her eye on you?”
“No. I didn’t know that. And yes, you and I really are married. As far as I’m concerned, you are the only woman in the world for me.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.”
He couldn’t read the look in Kate’s eyes.
“The kids seem nice,” she said, “which is important. This is a good group of friends for Chloe. I was watching them interact and they really were very sweet to each other. I know you would approve.”
“That’s good to know,” he said. “But why are you changing the subject?” he asked.
“I’m not changing the subject. I was telling you about the play date. Fair warning, I think we’ll eventually have to offer to host this rock-painting group over here. They’re meeting in the park next time, but they want to start a rotating schedule.”
“That’s fine, but I need you to know that you really are the only woman I care about having her eye on me.”
Kate sipped her juice. He saw her throat work. She licked her lips. “I just don’t want you to feel trapped in this marriage.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing when I said ‘I do.’ Kate?”
She met his eyes. “Are you the one who feels trapped?” he asked.
“No.”
She smiled. “Apparently, my mother has a boyfriend. Had you heard about that?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No.”
“I didn’t know if you would have heard through Elle and Daniel.”
Again, he shook his head. “Good for Zelda. Who is he?”
“I have no idea. He’s some sort of mystery man. She wants everyone to meet him Friday night. Do you have plans?”
“If I did, I’d cancel them.”
“Me, too. I haven’t seen her this happy in ages. Not since—” her eyes darkened “—not since before my dad left.”
Fred Clark was such a thorn in her side. Aidan wished there was some way that he could take away the pain that even the mere mention of Fred’s name caused her. He had given Fred Clark’s name to Randy Ponder, his PI friend, but he hadn’t heard whether or not he had been able to locate him. He made a mental note to follow up with Randy.
“I’m sorry,” Aidan said.
“Don’t be sorry,” Kate said. “Zelda is so happy, there’s absolutely no reason to be sorry.”
“I just hate it that it caused you pain when you think of him.”
“Here’s the thing.” Kate leaned forward. “Zelda’s happiness is such an inspiration. If she can be happy after going through hell, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us.”
Aidan blinked. He loved the sound of that.
She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out something.
“Chloe made this for me tonight,” Kate said. “While all the other little girls were painting rocks to leave in Forsyth Park, Chloe came up to me and pressed this into my hand. She told me she had painted it for me and wanted me to keep it.”
Kate handed the small, colorful stone to Aidan.
On one side, it said, “I love my family,” in rudimentary bold blue letters. On the other side, Chloe had painted a man, and a woman with flowing red hair. Between the two of them was a little girl with curly blond hair holding the hands of the man and woman. The three were encircled by the outline of a red heart.
“This is just....” Her eyes glistened with tears, but she was smiling as she looked at the rock. “You and Chloe mean the world to me, Aidan.” She put her hand on her stomach. “This little baby and I are so lucky to be part of this family. It is overwhelming, really.”
“We’re lucky to have you. You complete us. Or maybe we should say that we complete each other. Let’s never forget how fortunate we are.”
Kate closed her fingers around the rock and nodded. He pulled her into his arms and held her like that for a long time.
“I know you wanted things to be different. You wished that the wedding could have been more traditional.”
“At the very least, I wish I could remember our wedding rather than waking up married. It is as if I wasn’t even there.”
“I want you to remember it, too. You deserve that and a real proposal. Let’s do it again. Let’s have a real wedding. I will surprise you with a proposal. I want you to buy bridal magazines and pick out the dress of your dreams and have your sisters next to you as bridesmaids.”
“Chloe can be our flower girl,” she said, her head still resting on his shoulder.
He was going to make that happen. He was going to make sure Kate had a proposal she would never forget and the wedding of her dreams.
* * *
The tall man exiting Aidan‘s office looked familiar, but Kate couldn’t place him as she watched him walk to his car, which was parked ahead of her car, on the street in front of the Victorian townhouse that housed Quindlin Brothers Renovations.<
br />
It was after 6:00. She had just dropped off Chloe at Dori’s house.
Dori had invited Chloe to join her and Beatrice for dinner.
Since Chloe would have a much better time with her best friend than attending the formal dinner to meet Zelda’s mystery man, Kate had taken Dori up on the offer, with a promise to reciprocate as soon as things settled down.
She watched the man get into his car and then texted Aidan to let him know she was waiting for him outside. Two minutes later, he greeted her with a kiss that curled her toes in the pointy flats she was wearing.
When they came up for air, she asked, “Who was that guy that just left? He looks so familiar.”
“That’s my friend Randy Ponder.”
“The private investigator?”
“The one and only.”
Kate frowned. “Please tell me you are designing a house for him or he has some other business here because I still haven’t made up my mind about whether I want to open the Pandora’s box that is my father.”
Aidan grimaced. “Yeah, about that. He, uh, found your father.” Aidan opened the folio he had brought with him and took out a sealed manila envelope He tried to hand it to her, but she held up her hands and refused it as if the missive would burn her fingers.
“I don’t want this, Aidan.”
“Then put it away, because you might change your mind.”
“I am not going to change my mind and it was presumptuous of you to do this since I never gave you the go ahead. In fact, I thought I asked you to drop it.”
Aidan frowned. Kate’s heart was beating so fast she thought it might break through her breastbone and fall into her lap.
“You didn’t ask me to drop it. You didn’t make a decision at all. But you did acknowledged that you needed to sort out your feelings so we can both get on with our lives. Since you were having such a hard time deciding what to do, I took matters into my own hands.”
“I told you I did not want to find him.”
Her Savannah Surprise Page 14
