A Mother's Heart (Sweet Hearts of Sweet Creek Book 6)

by Carolyne Aarsen

  Thankfully Tess had offered to come in that morning and do the baking to give Claire a welcome break but she was now behind her schedule. Instead of bringing Emma to her mother’s she would have to bring her directly to school herself, then drop Mooch off.

  She walked her daughter through the doors right as the bell rang for class. Claire had hoped to talk to the teacher to see how Emma was doing. Since she’d started Grade One, Emma had complained about a sore stomach and headaches. Vague symptoms even their family doctor had a tough time diagnosing.

  But she had no time today.

  As she hurried back to her car she dug in her purse for her cell phone to explain to her mother the change in plans.

  But her phone wasn’t there.

  She frowned and scrabbled in her purse more, then checked the car. She remembered putting the phone in her purse before she made Emma’s lunch.

  Then she realized where it was.

  Lying in the yard where she dropped her purse when she ran to help her daughter.

  The yard she had hoped would be hers one day.

  The yard that Nik Austen, Cory’s brother, might end up owning.

  So, that wasn’t the best first impression, Nik thought as he raked up the dirt that ridiculous dog had spread all over the grass.

  He could only imagine what was going through the mother’s mind. Claire’s he corrected, allowing himself a moment of appreciation for the lovely woman.

  Who had landed on top of him.

  She smelled like almonds and honey and her hair was silky soft.

  And stop there, he told himself, dismissing his wayward thoughts, raking harder. Though his plans had changed the past month, they still didn’t include a woman. Especially not one with a child.

  For now, he had to take care of this flower bed.

  Normally, plants weren’t high on his radar. For the past ten years he had never lived in a house long enough to concern himself with the landscaping. That was done after he’d either done the renos on the purchase or torn it down and infilled. And then sold again.

  But he’d been feeling melancholy the past couple of days. Two months ago, Rebecca Huizinga, the elderly woman whose home had been a haven to him after the dark chaos of living with the Baley foster family, had passed away.

  And he missed her.

  She always had such beautiful flower gardens and encouraged Nik to help her take care of them. Rebecca would have been impressed by this one. Though fall was approaching, and some of the plants were brown or dead, he recognized many of them. At least the ones that still stood — no thanks to that undisciplined dog.

  Which made him think of the little girl.

  When he saw her playing on the swing, his heart clenched. Emma was the same age his baby would have been.

  The baby his ex-girlfriend had swept out of her womb and their life without a second thought. And without telling him.

  He had never understood how Theresa didn’t think he should have any say in the matter. In fact, he had found out after the fact. He would gladly have taken care of their baby, even if Theresa didn’t want to. He knew what it was like to be abandoned.

  His own mother had given him up for adoption when he was four years old.

  The same mother who now lived here in Sweet Creek and who had, through a lawyer, reached out to Nik to connect with him.

  Nik finished raking the dirt, glancing at his watch just as his cell phone rang.

  He checked the screen. His buddy, Chance.

  “So what bad news do you have for me now?” Nik asked, walking back to the porch to sit in the shade. Though fall was coming the sun still had a lot of strength.

  “Hey, that’s no way to talk to your oldest friend.”

  “Some friend. Ducking out a trip we’ve planned for months. We were supposed to be diving in Cozumel right now.”

  “I had asked for that time off. I was told it was a done deal. Not my fault my father-in-law said he made a scheduling mistake and told me I couldn’t leave.” Chance sighed.

  “You need to work somewhere else,” Nik said. “That’s not the first time he’s gouged you like that.”

  “I’d work with you if you weren’t such a flake,” Chance returned. “Or if you’d be willing to stick around in one place longer than six months.”

  Nik ignored the jab. While Nik had always found regular work as a carpenter/contractor every place he worked, he never found a place where he’d wanted to stay and put down roots. Nor did he have any desire to. Easier to be the one to leave than to be the one left behind.

  “So, where are you now?” Chance asked.

  “Sweet Creek.”

  “Where is Sweet Creek?”

  As Nik tried to find the best way to answer, his knee jittered. He stopped himself, angry at the nervous gesture he’d developed when he turned eight. When, for the second time in his short life, his world had fallen apart.

  “Apparently, it’s where my biological mother lives.”

  Nik had never any desire to look for his biological mother. He was four when she dropped him off at Social Services, gave him a hug and warned him to be a good boy. Waiting for him were Audry and Karl Jensen. A couple who hoped that adopting him would ease their unhappiness. However, taking in Nik only increased the tension between them and it burst out into the open when Nik was eight. They divorced, and Nik was tossed into the foster system.

  It took three homes before, at the age of nine, he ended up at the Baleys' place. They moved to this town, Sweet Creek. Into the house behind him.

  And thus began one of the darkest periods of Nik’s life. Abuse, neglect, nights spent banished to the basement, being yelled at, hit — all this became his new normal. Until he got moved at age twelve to Rebecca Huizinga’s house. He lived with her until he turned eighteen.

  But he never forgot his birth mother. Never forgot that day when his life became a dark, lonely place for so long.

  He never forgave her, either.

  “Sweet Creek is in the Kootenay mountains.” Nik stood and walked away from the house, turning so he could see the mountains that rose above the valley where the town nestled. Mountains he used to stare at from his window when he was banished to his room. Mountains he’d dreamed of climbing up and over to get away from there.

  And now he was back.

  “So you found her?”

  “Actually, she found me. Now, after all these years she wants to connect.”

  “And she lives in Sweet Creek?”

  “Her and a sister whom I never knew I had.”

  Chance exhaled, his confusion easy to read even over the phone. “A sister. You have a sister.”

  “Shades of Luke Skywalker, right?”

  “Is the force strong with her?”

  “Haven’t met her yet. Or my mother. Cory was out of town when I got here. I called my… called Joyce when I came here but she was rather flabbergasted. Told me she wasn’t feeling well, and could I come another time. That was Saturday, shortly after I got here. She gave me Cory, my sister’s number, then hung up. Cory’s next on my people-to-call list.” Her and the real estate agent who he was dealing with on this property.

  “It might have been a good idea to let them know you were coming,” Chance said. “She might not have been as much with the flabbergasted.”

  “I suppose. But still, Joyce was the one who reached out to me. I thought she was ready to see me.”

  “Seriously, dude, you need to do better prep work. You can’t just jump into someone’s life and expect them to switch gears that fast. It’s been a lot of years, you know.”

  “I know. I guess I should have called,” Nik conceded, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand, the pangs of a headache forming. “Didn’t think that would make much difference.”

  “So are you sticking around there? Spending time with her?”

  “Well, now that I’m not going on this long-planned trip with my best buddy, Chance, I've got all this free time—“

  “Stop
hassling me about that. I’ve apologized enough about it. I lost out on an amazing trip of a lifetime, too, you know.” Chance was quiet a moment. “So, what you gonna do there? In Sweet Creek?”

  “I have a project.”

  “Of course you do. Tell me about it.”

  “I talked to a real estate agent to see if there were any short-term rentals. I chatted with this Alan Andrews guy. He told me about this place. How it’s for sale.” Nik paused, surprised at the rush of anger and fear this house could still create. At first, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Asked Alan to find him something else, but then he drove there and parked in front of the house, looking at — annoyed at — the hold the Baley family and that house still had on him.

  When he saw the condition of the house and the size of the yard, he made potential plans.

  “Don’t tell me. You bought it.”

  “It was a steal. Sweet Creek is becoming a premier resort town. It’s close to an awesome ski hill and some great fishing and swimming lakes. Lots of hiking and mountain biking trails. I gave the owner a low-ball offer, and he said he would take it. It’s not a done deal, though. There’s someone else who has an Agreement for Sale but the owner doesn’t think they can meet the conditions. I’ll know on Monday. Less than a week away.”

  “And there’s no way you’d fix it up? Stay there? You’ve got two good reasons to put down roots.”

  “Not a hope.” His answer burst out of him, harsher than he’d meant it to be.

  When Nik first entered the house, he was annoyed at how all the old fears and fury returned. The helplessness, the deep, choking anger.

  Though it was furnished with leftovers from the previous owner, Nik had slept on the couch in the living room. There was no way he was going anywhere near the rooms upstairs. The room where he would spend hours locked inside after he was bad. The room where he suffered too many blows from a drunk foster father. Too many angry tirades from a foster mother who often said she regretted taking him in.

  He found out later that the only reason they took him in was for the money.

  Chance sighed his disappointment. “I guess I keep hoping that one of these days you’ll find-“

  “My forever home?” Nik returned with a sardonic tone.

  Chance had been married once and though his wife passed away he often talked about finding someone someday. He encouraged Nik to do the same. Settle down. Make a home.

  Nik’s thoughts slipped to the little girl he saw a few moments ago, and he felt another unwelcome stab of sorrow. And another reminder of why it was best to stay single. Pain, loss and disappointment were part of every relationship he’d ever had.

  “Anyhow, I’m here now and if everything goes through I’ve got work for the next few months. Months I was supposed to be holidaying with my friend.”

  “You can still do it.”

  “By myself.”

  “Will you fix it and flip it?”

  “Nope. I’ll do a tear down. I can put two houses on this lot or a fourplex, it’s that big.”

  The thought of taking the house down gave him a peculiar satisfaction. It could be symbolic. A breaking down of the old. A way of eradicating memories that still haunted him.

  He could give this property a fresh start. Better memories.

  “How long will it take?”

  “Nine months if I can get the sub-trades lined up.”

  This way he could give his mother and his sister an opportunity to get to know each other. And he could be on his way, free from all the entanglements of his lonely, empty past.

  “So what if you and your mother don’t hit it off?” Chance asked.

  The same sinister thought had occurred to Nik. “If not, it will give me a good chance to get to know my sister at least.”

  “Is she your full sister or half?”

  “I don’t know. Other than my mother, she’s the closest thing I have to a relative. I’d like to get to know her better. And, this property was too good a chance to pass up.”

  “Too bad I can’t help you out with the work.”

  He and Chance had done a few house flips and renovations together in their heyday. Before Chance got married to Donna and started working at his father-in-law’s business.

  “Like I said, you could quit your job.” Nik leaned back against the step, looking out over the yard and the mess in the corner, still annoyed with that silly dog.

  “I could.”

  “You should. Your boss was the one who ix-nayed the dive drip.”

  “I know. I guess I like security.”

  A gentle dig at the lack of stability in Nik’s life and future plans.

  “Anyway, I’ve got enough going here to keep me busy awhile,” Nik said. “If this deal goes through.”

  “So how will you manage all this? A tear down and rebuild?”

  “I’ll move my trailer on the yard. You should see this place. The yard is so big I could start an RV park and still have space. Besides, if I’m on site, I can keep a better eye on the sub-trades.”

  “I can’t believe you like living in that thing. Cramped and temporary—“

  “And cheap.” Nik got up and walked over to the now-destroyed flower bed. It hadn’t been there when he’d lived in the house. And he wanted to make sure it stayed because it reminded him of his now-gone foster mother.

  “Someday you need to settle down, mister. Find a place and make a home for yourself.”

  And share it with who?

  “I should go,” Nik said, his tone abrupt. “And if you need a job.”

  “Only if you’re looking at settling down.”

  Nik knew enough to leave that alone. “Anyway, take care.”

  This was usually Chance’s moment to tell Nik he was praying for him. Something Nik’s foster mother always said, but this time around, Chance just said goodbye and ended the call.

  Nik held his phone, frowning at it, wishing his friend would lay off the hints about settling down.

  He dropped his phone in his pocket, grabbed the shovel and finished fixing up the dirt in the flower bed. When he was done he straightened, noticing the gap in the fence. That would be the next thing he would fix. Last thing he needed was the dog and that little girl sneaking into the yard again.

  He was about to head to the house when he caught the glint of something in the grass by the play center. Curious, he walked over to check.

  It was a phone. As he picked it up he saw the pictures on the case. They were of the little girl that had just been in the yard. He guessed the phone belonged to Claire. He held it a moment, wondering what to do. Then it quacked like a duck and a text message flashed on the screen.

  Hey sis, are you playing hooky today or are you coming? Coffee Creek is crazy right now. Get your adorable self here quick. Cory is helping but I have to duck out.

  His heart did a small jolt when he saw Cory’s name.

  The same name as his sister’s. And he guessed, in a town the size of Sweet Creek, there weren’t an abundance of girls named Cory.

  Nik angle-parked his truck on Main Street, taking the first empty spot. He wasn’t sure where Coffee Creek was located but it was a nice day for a walk and he didn’t think it would take long to find the cafe in the small town.

  Grabbing the keys, he jumped out of the truck then paused, struggling with second thoughts. He thought of what Chance had said. He hadn't told Cory he was coming. But he pushed them aside. He had to deliver Claire’s phone anyway.

  Before he could change his mind, he strode down the sidewalk, past other town residents who didn’t seem to be in any rush. Large concrete planters full of flowers that still bloomed bright pink, blue and yellow were interspersed along the street and more prominently on the corners at the intersection. The streetlights were older, Victorian style, which blended well with the inlaid, brick sidewalks and brick buildings lining the street. Multicolored flowers spilled out of large pots suspended from the streetlights.

  Sweet Creek looked
better than it had when he and the Baley family lived here.

  Which meant he should have no trouble selling the houses he hoped to build.

  He passed the hardware store, a couple of women’s clothing shops, Allen Andrew’s real estate office, a bookstore, a store that sold bikes, a bakery, a pharmacy and a variety of other stores, all busy. No boarded-up windows, and there were lots of people on the street coming in and out of the businesses. Some he recalled from his time in Sweet Creek, but other than the hardware store, the pharmacy and the Stop ’n Shop at the end of Main street, he didn’t recognize the rest.

  Just ahead of him a couple of metal chairs and tables huddled under a yellow and white-striped awning and as he came nearer, Nik saw the name, Coffee Creek, etched in silver on the double doors.

  His sister was inside that building.

  His palms were damp and his knee jittered once again. Angry with his reaction, he stepped forward and pushed open one of the doors. A jingle of bells announced his arrival.

  First, he noticed the long counter running along the far end with glass cases full of sandwiches, wraps and pastries. On the wall above the counter was a large chalkboard with the prices and offerings written out in fancy lettering. A few flourishes decorated the corners. Clearly a woman’s touch.

  Wooden tables with mis-matched chairs filled the space. Other than an older couple at one table, drinking coffee, the place was cozy but empty.

  However, it was the woman behind the counter who caught his full attention.

  Claire handed a man a paper cup of coffee, smiling at something he said. Her brown hair was held back with a bandana which emphasized the arch of her eyebrows and the exotic tilt of her eyes.

  And just as he was about to approach the counter to hand over her phone, she looked his way. As her eyes found and held his, he remembered the scent of her hair, the weight of her on him. And an unwanted jolt of attraction ran through him.

  But her smile slipped and then became forced.

  “So, we meet again,” she said, her voice holding a faint edge. He guessed she was still angry with him over how he’d made her daughter cry. And how he’d treated that silly dog of hers.