“I thought it might,” Kate said. “I don’t know. His leaving us is something I still haven’t come to terms with. Even all these years later. I think it is part of my problem—why I have a hard time committing to situations like the spa.”
And Aidan and Chloe.
“You know he can’t take the inn away from us,” Jane said. “The judge made that final. And the spa doesn’t mean prison. Just have a plan and work it. Mom and Gigi will respect you.”
Kate gave a one-shoulder shrug. Jane might be right.
“What do you think will happen if you go see him?” Elle asked. “Are you looking to reestablish a relationship with him...as in letting him back into your life?”
Kate shook her head. “No, that’s not what I’m looking for.”
“Good,” said Elle. “It would be one thing if he had contacted us...or you, but he hasn’t, Kate. The sad truth of it is it’s been years and he hasn’t cared enough to get in touch with us. He’s moved on. Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, so have I. That door is closed.”
“Forever?” Kate asked. “Even though you’re married and have the baby?”
Elle pursed her lips and looked thoughtful for several beats, as if she was deeply contemplating the question. Finally she said, “Especially because of Daniel and the baby.”
They were quiet for a moment. Kate let her sister’s declaration sink in.
“I have a confession to make.” Elle folded her hands and stared at them, clearly gathering her thoughts and maybe her courage. “Daniel and I ran into Fred right before Maggie was born. We were in Pooler at the outlet mall shopping for the baby. I turned a corner and nearly bumped into him. My stomach was out to here and we literally almost ran into each other.”
“Are you serious?” Jane said. “Did you talk to him?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Kate asked.
“I didn’t tell you because other than a mumbled excuse me, we didn’t talk. He was with Bev and they just kept right on walking.”
Beverly was the woman for whom he had left his wife and family.
“Wow,” said Jane.
“They’re still together, huh?” Kate asked.
“Apparently so,” Elle said. “And his actions spoke loud and clear about where his loyalties lie. There’s no relationship left to salvage.”
Elle’s voice broke, but her words hung in the air.
“I’m not saying the door is nailed shut. If he came to me or to one of us, I’d try to meet him halfway, but until then, out of self-preservation, I had to quit letting him live in my head rent-free. I have a family—a great husband, a sweet daughter. I have the two of you and Mom and Gigi. I have a wonderful, full life. So many blessings. I had to make a conscious decision that I wasn’t going to let him rob me of current sweet, happy moments.”
“Yoo-hoo!” someone called. Kate looked over her shoulder and saw her mother and Stephen standing at the entrance to the tearoom. Zelda had Bear, the corgi puppy, on a leash. “We’ve just returned from a walk. I’m going to take Bear upstairs to the apartment since dogs aren’t allowed in the tearoom. Honey, why don’t you wait down here and talk to the girls. I’ll be right back.”
Zelda tilted her face up and Stephen planted a kiss on her lips and whispered something in Zelda’s ear that made her giggle like a schoolgirl. After another quick peck, she walked away with her puppy and Stephen made his way to their table.
“I’m not interrupting, am I?”
His interruption was welcome after the heavy turn their conversation had taken.
“Not at all.” Kate patted the empty chair next to her. “Join us.”
Stephen looked handsome in khaki pants and an expensive-looking cobalt blue button-down. He was clean-shaven, and his thick brown hair was cut short. Despite the hint of gray at the temples, Kate wondered if he might not be a few years younger than her mother. Maybe even as much as five or seven years.
You go, girl.
Age aside, he seemed nice and he was clearly crazy about Zelda. He made her happy and that was all that mattered.
“Would you like some tea or something else to drink?” Jane stood.
“No. Thanks, though,” he said. “Please sit down. I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“Really, it is no trouble,” Jane said.
Stephen glanced over his shoulder at the place where he and Zelda had stood. “I was hoping to speak with the three of you. I need to ask you something before your mother returns. It is fortuitous that the three of you are here right now.”
The sisters exchanged looks. Kate had a feeling she knew what Stephen was going to say even before he said it. Although she hadn’t quite expected it the way he delivered it.
“I would like to ask the three of you for your mother’s hand in marriage.”
Jane gasped. Elle’s hand flew to her mouth. Kate opened her mouth to say something, but Stephen said, “Family is important to both of us and the three of you are so important to your mother. I want you to know how important it is to me to have your blessing. I love her.”
Jane and Elle were making the appropriate happy noises, murmuring things like Yes, of course, and She’s going to be so happy, and When will you propose? and Where will you live?
Kate was silently beating herself up because the first thing that crossed her mind after she heard the news was Mom said she never wanted to get married again. Her sisters seemed to have forgotten that declaration because they were all but planning the wedding.
“Shhh,” Elle said. “Here she comes.”
Stephen stood. “Thanks, ladies. We’re going to get a bite to eat. I would invite you to join us, but—” he winked “—I have something I have to do. More very soon.”
The sisters nodded and watched him walk away toward their mother, who was standing at the entrance of the tearoom.
“That was so sweet of him to ask for our blessing,” Elle gushed. “Oh, and speaking of things that are sweet, Kate, didn’t you say that Chloe was involved in some sort of rock-painting club?”
“Yes, it is with friends from her school. Why?”
Elle fished in her pocket and pulled out a pink painted stone. “I think she left this for you on the kitchen steps at the inn. It is so cute. I’m sure she wanted you to find it. I saw it this afternoon on my way back from the art walk, and I was afraid if I put it back someone else would pick it up. Look, she wrote her name on the back—Chloe Quindlin. On the other side is a message for you.”
Elle held up the rock and Kate took it from her, first examining the side with Chloe’s name lettered in gold paint, then flipping it over and seeing the message: “Come home soon, Mommy. I miss you.”
Kate’s heart leaped into her throat, lodging there. Her hand fluttered to her mouth.
“What does that mean?” Jane said. “You’re still living with them, aren’t you? Wait—Kate, are you crying? Why are you crying?”
“Kate? What’s going on,” Elle asked.
Kate gave her head a sharp shake. If she uttered one word right now, she knew she’d lose it.
Suddenly, it was as if everything snapped into sharp focus. She was an idiot for allowing her father to hold her heart hostage all these years. With the way her heart ached at the thought of Chloe missing her—and Aidan, no doubt, taking her to the inn to leave the stone, there was no way that she was like her own father, who clearly didn’t give a damn about his own flesh and blood. The truly perverse thing was that he had moved on. He and Beverly were still together. They were probably happy, in their own way, in their own little world, which did not include them. If he had come face-to-face with Elle, the sweetest and most forgiving of his daughters, and had treated her like a stranger, he had made a choice.
Now, the question wasn’t why she had given him so much power over her all these years, but how she would move forward.
&
nbsp; “I have to go,” Kate said.
“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” her sisters asked as Kate scooted out of her chair and gathered her purse, all the while holding tight to the rock.
“I’ll explain later, but right now, I have to go.”
* * *
Ten minutes later, Kate steered her car onto Aidan’s street. Since it was difficult to find street parking, she parked in the first space she could find, which was about three houses down, and got out and walked. Maybe she should have called, but she needed to see Aidan and talk to him face-to-face. She needed to tell him she loved him, and she was sorry she had let this ridiculousness go on too long. She finally knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to waste another day.
When she cleared the mammoth azalea bush that separated Aidan’s yard from his neighbor’s, she stopped short. Dori Watson and Beatrice were walking hand in hand up the walk that led to Aidan’s door. Dori looked cute in a red sundress that showed off her figure and offset her tan. She was wearing matching high-heeled wedge sandals that added to her height and made her look like a glamazon.
She set down the picnic basket she was carrying and knocked on the red lacquered door. When Chloe answered and threw her arms around Beatrice, Kate stepped back into the cover of the azaleas. The little girl looked so happy to see her friend.
That was a good thing. The last thing Kate wanted was for Chloe to look dejected or as if she had been pining away in Kate’s absence.
However, her heart had a different thought when she saw Aidan appear in the doorway after the two little girls had disappeared inside. When he leaned down to pick up the picnic basket, Dori flipped her glossy long, brown hair over her toned shoulder, leaned in and planted a kiss on Aidan’s cheek.
Kate couldn’t see his reaction because she didn’t want to get caught sneaking a peek and she would have melted in a puddle of mortification if he’d seen her lurking in the bushes. But as it ended up, her heart began dying a long, slow death after Aidan invited Dori inside and closed the door behind them.
Chapter Eleven
“After I got home from the park today,” Doris said from her seat at Aidan’s kitchen island, where she had settled herself to unpack the picnic basket she had brought. “I thought to myself, Aidan looked so sad. I think he could use a little help tonight. You know, a little pick-me-up, even though he would never ask. So I went home and packed a picnic supper for us.”
He must’ve made a face, because she quickly amended, “Or just for you and Chloe, of course, if you’re not up for company. And there’s plenty for Kate if she’ll be back later?”
When Aidan didn’t bite, she continued, “I brought some fried chicken. I whipped up some mashed potatoes and sautéed some green beans. And for dessert, I have homemade brownies.”
This time she waited for a response.
“This is nice of you, Doris,” he said. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble, but thank you.”
“Oh, call me Dori, please.” She crossed her legs at the ankles. Aidan realized she had changed clothes since they were at the park. He didn’t remember what she had been wearing, but it wasn’t this red dress. It made him a little uncomfortable.
“And really, it was absolutely no trouble at all.”
“Well, thanks, again, Dori—” Aidan cleared his throat. “How did you pull all of this together so fast?”
Dori laughed and flipped her hair back over her shoulder.
“Okay, you caught me,” she confessed. “I might have had a little help, but what matters is that you and Chloe are taken care of while Kate is away. When will she be back?”
Doris’s eyes shone a little too brightly. Her questions, coupled with the red dress and heels, made Aidan wonder if she had an ulterior motive or, at the very least, she was here on an info-gathering mission. He couldn’t figure out what she wanted. Was she being sincere? Or, worst-case scenario, was she fishing for something he just couldn’t give her? Beatrice was Chloe’s best friend, one of the constants in an ever-changing sea of uncertainty. He would not allow himself to ruin that for his daughter.
“I appreciate you going to all this trouble, but I have to be honest, I’m not up for company tonight.”
“Oh.” The shine in Doris’s eyes dimmed a bit. She pursed her lips. “Of course. Bea and I don’t have to stay. I just thought it might be fun for the girls to play for a while. You know, a distraction for Chloe.”
How was she so certain that there was trouble in paradise after Kate’s absence from one rock group?
A text came in and Aidan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked to see if it was Kate. Once Doris left, he was going to call Kate and ask her to come home.
The text wasn’t from Kate, but he noticed there was a missed call from her. When had she called? It must’ve been when he and Chloe were at the park. How had he missed her?
“Dori, I’m sorry, I have to make a phone call. Will you please excuse me?”
He started to leave the room.
“Aidan, I hope I haven’t given you the wrong impression. Um... I don’t mean to pry, but you really do look so sad. If you need some time... I mean, if you need to go...somewhere. What if Chloe came over tonight and spent the night with Beatrice? I know Beatrice would love to have her best friend over. And for the record, Aidan, I like Kate a lot. I just want to make sure she’s okay. That everything is okay. It is obvious how much you love her.” She shrugged and smiled. “I guess this is me trying to help. Admittedly, not very eloquently.”
Aidan glanced at his phone again, at the alert reminding him that Kate had called, and he had missed her. She hadn’t left a message, but obviously she had wanted to talk to him. She had reached out. He hated to impose on Doris. But she was offering, and after her admission, she did seem sincere. If she had come here for...whatever...he hoped he had made it perfectly clear that he had nothing to offer because his heart belonged to Kate.
Chloe would love to stay over at Beatrice’s and play with her. It would be a safe place for his daughter, and if Chloe was there, it would give him a chance to go see Kate face-to-face. It would give them a chance to talk things out. Chloe didn’t need to be there for that.
But he needed to tell Kate how he felt. The sooner the better.
He loved her.
He had never told her that before. They were married. They were having a baby. But he had never allowed himself to express the depth of his feelings. Maybe it was because after the losses he had suffered—his parents dying, Veronica walking out—he didn’t want to spend those sacred words like small change.
But Kate deserved the wealth of his feelings. After all that she had been through with her dad, she needed to know how he felt. How could he expect her to feel safe if he had never told her that she and the child growing inside of her and Chloe were what anchored his life? It was time he made things right.
* * *
It certainly hadn’t taken Dori long to scope out the situation and move in for the kill. Had it?
As Kate washed a handful of arugula under cold water, she mentally kicked herself because she knew it was her own fault. Dori had made it clear that she found Aidan wildly attractive—what woman with a libido would not? What hurt the most was that she had finally made up her mind to open her heart to Aidan. She was willing to believe his “actions speak louder than words” philosophy and accept it.
She had even been ready to keep an open mind when she saw Dori in her sexy red dress and little Beatrice walking up the path to Aidan’s door, but it was that kiss on the cheek that ruined everything. It wasn’t flagrant, and admittedly she hadn’t witnessed Aidan’s reaction. It had been intimate, and he had invited her in.
That kiss was an action that spoke much louder than the three words Aidan couldn’t speak to her.
Kate’s phone sounded an incoming text. Even after everything that had gone down
, her heart leaped. Aidan?
No. It was a group text from her mother.
Stephen proposed and I SAID YES!
Oh! That was fast. Well, good.
They must still be at the restaurant, because Kate had only been home from Aidan’s house for about a half hour.
She pushed aside the vegetables she had been chopping to add to her arugula salad, dried her hands and picked up her phone.
Congratulations! This is such wonderful news!
Kate added her good wishes to the texts pinging through from her sisters and Gigi.
She was so happy for her mother. Really, she was. Zelda was finally moving on with her life.
Zelda was in love.
Kate was, too. But per usual, it was so complicated she couldn’t see how it could work out. Maybe some people just weren’t destined for traditional relationships. She grappled with the mixed emotions boomeranging through her stomach, ricocheting off her broken heart. It was strange how one part of her could be elated for her mother. Because she really was truly thrilled that Zelda had found happiness. Zelda deserved to be with a man who treated her right. She had devoted so many years to raising her daughters, trying her best to be both mother and father to them, putting her own life on hold to cocoon her children from their father’s misdeeds. This was her time.
The part of Kate that was heartsick shifted a bit. It was clear that she needed to borrow a page from her mother and stop worrying about love. All these years, she had allowed her father to hold her hostage. And for what? It was finally clear that instead of protecting herself from the hurt he had caused—or inadvertently inflicting her father’s brand of pain on someone else—she had let him continue ruining her life. Only, the adult years that she had allowed him to color weren’t his fault. That was all on Kate.
It was time for a change.
This little baby already had a leg up from Kate’s own upbringing. Aidan would be part of his child’s life, even if Kate and Aidan couldn’t sort out things well enough to make a life together.
Her Savannah Surprise Page 18
