A Love Rekindled

by Margaret Daley

  “But you told him not to.”

  “Yeah, and that was one of the few times my dad ever listened to me.” He shook his head. “He told me the other day he’d made a mistake about you.”

  Kim turned to leave, but Zane held his position in the doorway. “The furniture is in the room down the hall.”

  “I know.”

  “Well, we…” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she lifted huge eyes to his. Her teeth worried her bottom lip.

  The need to kiss her overwhelmed him. Ever since two weeks ago when he’d kissed her onstage, he’d wanted to again. He’d forgotten how good he felt when he did. She made him feel like he was the only one.

  But he knew differently.

  She’d married Scott, not a year after he left. And because of that relationship, she held a part of herself back from others, from him.

  She moved toward him as though to push him back to let herself out into the corridor. But a half a foot from him, she came to a stop, lifted her hand and touched his chest. “I’ll admit I have a hard time accepting help from others. I’ve always been the fixer around here, the person others came to. When I can’t make something better, it makes me feel like I’ve failed.”

  He cupped her jaw. “So you feel you have to have all the right answers all the time?”

  “Is that the way it seems?”

  With a nod, he slid his palm around to the back of her head and tugged her close. “You think that asking for help means you’re not strong, you’re not in control. Your dad isn’t the only one who feels that way.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be in control of your own life.”

  “Control. That’s an illusion.” He snapped his fingers. “Life can change at any second.”

  “Yeah, the hurricane brought that home to me.”

  “It did to a lot of people.”

  “I know.”

  The resignation in her voice touched him. She was trying to make sense of something that couldn’t always be explained in a neat little package. He roped her against him, her head tilted up toward his. “We’ve done a lot today. Why don’t I come over tomorrow and help you move everything back into here? Rest tonight.”

  “No, I want to put my room in order. I’m tired, but I can’t rest until it is done.”

  His concern grew as he stared at her. She was pushing herself too hard. “Okay, then let me call Dad and have him come back and help me while you rest.”

  “I can’t ask—”

  “Shh. You’re not asking. I am. He won’t mind. He’ll get a kick out of helping put the room together. You have some beautiful pieces of old furniture.”

  “They’re called antiques. They have been in the family for a long time. A lot of history.”

  Tightening his arms about her, he dipped his head toward her and settled his mouth over hers, pouring his growing feelings for her into the kiss. She responded, embracing him as though she wasn’t going to let him go.

  A cough behind him alerted him they weren’t alone. He reluctantly lessened the pressure of his lips on hers until they parted. Slowly he shifted partway to find Maggie standing in the hallway with amusement on her face.

  “I could go back and bake a cake if y’all want.”

  A twinkle in Maggie’s eyes brought forth a chuckle as he released Kim. “Why don’t you two do that while I get Dad over here to help me?”

  Maggie’s forehead creased. “You really want one?”

  “That or go watch TV or knit or whatever you want. In other words, you two aren’t needed.”

  Maggie’s shoulders slumped. “And I was so looking forward to lifting heavy pieces of furniture. But if you insist, I think I can manage to knit. And, Kim, we haven’t talked about what we’re going to wear to Kathleen and Gideon’s wedding next Saturday.”

  When Maggie returned to the game room, Zane withdrew his cell, made a call to his dad then pocketed his phone. “Tell me where you want everything,” he told Kim, “then go do something else.”

  “You’re mighty bossy.”

  “I’ve gotten in the habit since I run my own company. It’s one of those necessary things an owner has to do.”

  She pivoted back into her room and pointed along the east wall. “My bed goes there with the bedside tables. My dresser over there and the armoire across from it.” When she finished showing him where she wanted her furniture, she thought for a moment then frowned. “Maybe I should stay in here, at least, just in case you need me.”

  Zane went through the list of furniture and where she wanted it. “Is that right?”

  “Yes, but—”

  He took her hand and headed for the game room. “Relax. Stop worrying. When Dad arrives send him to me. I’m going to start with the smaller pieces.”

  “How about dinner?”

  “Call us. We’ll come when it’s ready. I don’t want you stepping foot in your bedroom until we’ve got it set up. Okay?”

  “Fine. But I’m declaring right now, I don’t like this.”

  He tweaked her nose. “I know. Live dangerously. Give control over to me.”

  * * *

  Maggie leaned around Zane sitting between her and Kim. “You know it’s very telling that Uncle Keith is sitting up on the front pew with Ruth as if he is a member of the bride’s family.”

  Kim found her father, looking handsome in his black suit and sky-blue silk tie. The smile on his face brought a tear to her eye. She quickly blinked it away. “I was surprised when he told me last night after he escorted Ruth to the rehearsal dinner.”

  “Yeah, I know they’re spending a lot of time together on the campaign, but—”

  Zane bent toward them conversing across his lap. “Ladies, I think the wedding is about to start.”

  Kim straightened at the same time Maggie did and murmured, “Spoilsport.”

  “Someone’s gotta keep order in the masses.”

  The music started, and one of Kathleen’s cousins, Sally, stood at the front and began singing “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” Zane covered Kim’s hand with his. The warmth of his palm only added to the moment as Sally finished the song and the “Wedding March” started.

  The congregation rose. Zane kept her hand within his and tugged her close as Kathleen glided down the aisle toward Gideon. Dressed in an ivory silk suit, Kathleen looked beautiful. More tears lodged in Kim’s throat. She usually cried at weddings, though she was never sure why.

  When they took their seats again, Kim fixed her attention on the couple in front of the pastor at Hope Community Church, but she couldn’t really focus on the wedding or what was being said. She tried to figure out why she cried at a happy occasion because Kathleen and Gideon were very much in love. Anyone looking at them could see that.

  Then toward the end of the ceremony, the reason came to her. She’d had such high hopes for her own marriage, and they had been dashed within the first six months she was Scott’s wife. They had met their families’ expectations for them but not their own. If she’d known that while walking down the aisle, she would have hiked up her skirt and hightailed it in the opposite direction. She hadn’t, and the repercussions were still affecting her today, fourteen years later.

  “Ready to go to the reception?” Zane whispered in her ear when she finally noticed people beginning to leave the church.

  She gave him a nod, tightly clamping a lid on her emotions. She was happy for Kathleen and Gideon. This was their day. I refuse to think about my situation.

  “I’m going ahead. I’ll grab a table for us.” Maggie plowed through the crowd.

  In the reception hall, Kim spied Maggie waving to them across the room. Brady and Anna darted forward toward the area where the kids were hanging out. Cody broke from the
throng and grabbed a chair next to Kim. Zane’s secretary, Susan, saw them and made a beeline toward the table.

  “Did they invite everyone in town?” she said, sinking into a seat across from Kim. “Boss, I hardly see you dressed up. You look good.”

  Kim glanced at Zane in a navy blue suit that highlighted the blue of his eyes. She had to totally agree with Susan’s assessment, but she would never tell Zane. She was already caring for him too much. This wedding only reconfirmed her need to keep her distance. As if that was going to happen with him and his dad renovating Bienville.

  After a few more guests sat at the table and filled every seat, Maggie said, “Kim, I forgot to tell you a couple of Sundays ago I volunteered you for clean-up duty after the reception.”

  “How could you forget to tell me something like that?”

  Maggie offered Kim a sheepish grin. “If I remember correctly, that was the day you were setting up your classroom. With all that’s happened, it slipped my mind. Sorry. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “I can do it,” she said, slanting a look at Zane. “That is if you don’t mind waiting.”

  “I’ll help, too. Then it’ll get done quicker.”

  “I can stay,” Susan said. “I don’t have anything to do after this.”

  “Me, too,” Cody added.

  Kim thanked everyone for their help. “With all of you, we won’t take long at all.”

  “Do you see Dad with Ruth?” she asked Cody. “He’s hanging on her every word.”

  Cody chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me. He’s had a lot to say about the campaign and her. I didn’t realize he’d been a councilman at one time. He sounds like he loved it. I’ve encouraged him to get involved again.”

  “So that’s why he’s thinking of running for the council next year.”

  Zane slid his arm along the back of Kim’s chair. “They would make a dynamite pair running the town.”

  Kim swung her gaze to him. “You mean that?”

  He stared at her. “I wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t meant it.”

  The people around them faded from Kim’s consciousness. The electric connection between them intensified, his face close to hers, their breath mingling.

  Maggie elbowed Zane. “Gideon is removing the garter. You should see if you can catch it.”

  He shook his head. “No way.”

  But when Miss Alice and Ruth began recruiting the single men to come up, Kim’s dad appeared at the table. “Come on, Cody and Zane. That includes you.”

  “How about you, Dad?” Kim asked him.

  “Ruth has threatened me within an inch of my life if I’m not in the front of the group. But I’m not standing alone. If I have to, you two can, too.”

  Groaning, Zane rose, bent down and whispered to Kim, “You’re gonna owe me.”

  Five minutes later when Gideon shot the garter into the cluster of single males in the middle of the large room, Kim tried to follow its projection but lost sight of it as a few men fled the garter while a couple dove for it. Her father didn’t move, and it landed square in the middle of his chest. With his slow reflexes, he barely caught it before it fell to the floor.

  Ruth laughed and kissed Kim’s dad on the cheek. Bright red flooded his face.

  As Zane and Cody made their way back to the table, Kim’s dad said, “Now it’s the single women’s time. Come on. I want every female over the age of eighteen up here.” He looked straight at Maggie then Kim.

  Zane stopped behind Kim’s chair. “Let me help you up.”

  “Oh, that’s okay. I’m fine right here.”

  He scooted the seat back from the table. “Give me the pleasure of escorting you up there.”

  Kim’s father snapped the garter on the upper arm of his jacket then honed in on Kim. Standing, she ignored Zane and cut the distance between her and the single women gathering. Kim positioned herself between Susan and Maggie.

  Kathleen turned her back on the group of women and tossed the bouquet over her head. It came right for Kim. She stepped back as Susan jumped in the air and caught the flowers.

  Maggie sidled closer to Kim. “I noticed you got out of the way of the bouquet. I thought you and Zane were getting serious.”

  “What gave you that idea?”

  “Oh, let me see—” her cousin tapped her chin with a finger “—the kiss last Saturday night or the one on the stage. That didn’t look like two people who weren’t interested in each other.”

  “Okay, I care about him. Is that what you want to hear?”

  “Why so defensive?”

  “Because I don’t want to care about Zane. My track record with men isn’t too good, and he was one of the men.”

  “Then you’d better stop kissing him because, honey, you’re only getting yourself in deeper each time you do. You’ve never been a woman who does anything lightly, and that includes kissing.”

  Over Maggie’s shoulder Kim noticed Zane heading for them. “Shh. He’s coming.”

  But what her cousin said never left Kim throughout the rest of the reception. By the time she stayed to clean up with Maggie, Cody, Susan and Zane, she felt more confused than ever. How could she trust her judgment after what had happened between them?

  As the reception hall began to look like it had before the wedding, Kim slipped out of the room and went into the sanctuary. Taking a seat on the back pew, she stared at the cross hanging above the altar. I need help, Lord. I don’t know what to do. Can You help me?

  * * *

  “Another week and your upstairs will be finished,” Zane said as he applied the last of the polyurethane finish to the hardwood floor in her dad’s bedroom, backing himself out of the doorway. He peered up at Kim a few feet behind him and noted the wet clothes and hair. “Is it raining?”

  “Yes, it started about five minutes ago. Just enough to get me wet while I ran to the house.”

  “It’ll probably take a little longer for this to dry, then, but your dad should be back in his own room in a few days.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that.”

  Zane rose, putting the roller on top of the empty can of finish. “Maggie told me he went to see Cody today. How’s the counseling going?”

  “Each week he’s getting better.”

  “Where is he?” Though Keith Sommerfield no longer left the room when Zane appeared, they weren’t friends, either. When around the man, Zane felt like he was constantly being assessed, and he wasn’t quite sure what Kim’s father thought of him now.

  “He’s in the game room. He’s telling the kids about how successful the neighborhood sweeps were a few weekends ago. Next he’s going to ask me to pat him on the back.”

  “I don’t know about you, but he deserves it. The election is next Tuesday, and Ruth is way ahead of her opponent in the poll the newspaper ran.”

  Kim grinned. “Yeah, I know. He told me that all the way to Cody’s office.”

  Thunder rumbled in the air. Zane glanced toward the open window across the room. “I’m glad there’s an overhang, but we’ll need to keep track of the direction the rain is falling. I’d rather not have to walk on the floor until it’s dry, but if it changes, I might have to close that window.”

  “I didn’t realize it was going to rain today. It was sunny when I took Dad then went grocery shopping. Now that our roof is fixed, I’m not as obsessed with the weather.”

  “Living dangerously?”

  “Yup. Left the house without an umbrella.”

  Zane sniffed the air. “Ah, coffee. Maggie must be making some more.”

  Kim scanned the hallway. “Where’s your dad?”

  “AA meeting. He’d planned to come back after it if it’s not too late. Sometim
es they go out to eat afterward.”

  “I feel guilty. He’s here when I leave in the morning for school and stays until it’s dark. I can’t get him to stay for dinner. A few times he’s taken some food with him.”

  “And I have appreciated it. Delicious.” Zane led Kim toward the game room.

  “The first room I want renovated downstairs is the kitchen.”

  “Then that’s what Dad and I will tackle first.”

  “When are you leaving for Nashville and the meeting with the Christian Assistance Coalition?”

  “Wednesday.” Maggie poured some coffee into a mug and turned toward Zane. He walked straight for it, arm outstretched. “I’m in your debt, Maggie.”

  “No, the fact that I’m getting my own bedroom back far outweighs a cup of coffee.”

  “Not when you didn’t have your quota for the day.”

  “Where’s Dad?” Kim chimed in to ask of Maggie. “I didn’t see him go to his room.”

  “Anna is on the gallery watching the storm move in. He went out to see if she was all right.”

  “Is something wrong?” Kim started for the door to the outside.

  “She came home from Polly’s a little while ago and didn’t say much. Just went out onto the gallery.”

  “She must be in front since I didn’t see her when I got home.”

  Zane hung back with Maggie, sipping his coffee. “I’ll stay here and wheedle a dinner invitation out of Maggie.”

  As Kim left the house, Keith entered, his gaze pausing on Zane for a few extra seconds before he grinned at Maggie. “I could use a cup of coffee. It’s getting cold out there. The wind is whipping up, but I can’t get Anna to come in.”

  Maggie stood in front of a cabinet selecting some spices, and Zane moved to the pot to fill a mug. He held it out to Keith.

  Keith stared at the coffee, not making a move to take it. Zane wasn’t sure what he should do and started to place it on the counter and join Kim on the gallery when Keith finally reached for the mug, his hand shaking.

  Keith took it, cradling it between his hands. “It’s been a long day. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”