by T. L. Haddix
For a moment, he didn’t move, just stared at her in shock. Slowly, a delighted grin spread across his face, and he stepped out onto the porch to wrap her in a bear hug. Beth felt a silly grin split her own face as tears blurred her vision, and she laughed, hugging him awkwardly with one arm.
Chase hollered from the back of the house. “Is it the pizza?”
Jason had to clear his throat before he could respond. “Yeah, it’s the pizza.” Taking the boxes, he put his finger to his lips and jerked his head toward the dining room. Beth nodded and walked down the hall, stopping just shy of the door.
Going in and setting the pizza on the table, Jason was unable to hide his grin. Chase picked up on his excitement and shot him a questioning look. As realization dawned, a broad smile spread across his face. When their father saw the happy expressions, Richard shook his head, mistaking the reason for the boys’ excitement.
He opened the first box and folded the lid underneath. “I’ve never seen anyone get so excited over pizza. At least, not since you were teenagers.”
Poking her head around the door, Beth saw her family for the first time in months. Her mother and grandfather had their backs to the door, and she stood there for a moment, just taking the sight in. A happy tear slid down her cheek, and she reached up to wipe it away.
Catching the movement from the corner of his eye, Richard looked up with a frown. When he saw Beth standing in the door, he froze for an instant, hand hovering over the pizza, his expression going blank with shock. She gave him a little wave, and he gave his head a little shake of disbelief. When he looked down at the pizza and then back up to Beth, Jackie reached a hand out toward him.
“Honey, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She turned in her seat to see what he was looking at. When she saw Beth, she gave a loud shriek and stood up so quickly her chair toppled over. Jackie just stood there for an instant with her hands clasped over her mouth before she ran across the room toward her daughter. Beth met her halfway and the two embraced, holding on to each other, laughing and crying.
“Oh, thank God, thank God,” Jackie said as tears raced down her cheeks. She pulled back to look at Beth, cupping her face and touching her hair before pulling her back in for another hug. As everyone else crowded around them, hugs and kisses were peppered by questions and giddy laughter.
“All right, now, let me see my girl.” Sampson’s voice was choked. Richard stood back as Beth held her hands out to her grandfather. He took them in his own and held them out to the side. “Looks like New Mexico agreed with you. Are you really here, girl?”
Beth nodded. She walked into his arms and rested her head on his chest. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the familiar scent of his Old Spice, and let the sounds of her family wash over her. She was unable to stop smiling. It had been a long, hard journey, but she was back where she had started, and it felt good to be home.
~ * * * ~
Sitting with her family in the sunroom after they’d eaten supper, Beth was still smiling. The shadows that had been on her heart for months were now gone. The room was filled with emotion, laughter, and teasing, and as she answered their questions and asked her own, she relaxed. She had feared that when she returned, her detachment would follow, and the longer the evening wore on, the more confident she was that the melancholy was gone for good. During a lull in the conversation, she saw Jason eyeing Chase with speculation.
“You knew,” Jason stated, narrowing his gaze and pointing at Chase with an accusing finger. “You knew all along that she was coming home. That’s why you wanted to have a family dinner tonight.”
Chase gave an abashed grin as Richard spoke. “I thought you both knew.” He was surprised when Jason shook his head.
“Nope, I didn’t have a clue until I opened the front door. All these years you’ve all thought I was the sneaky one. That guy right there, he’s the one you have to worry about.”
Chase rolled his eyes at Jason’s declaration. “I just followed the instructions I was given. Beth asked me to not tell anyone she was coming back, and I kept my word. Besides, how could I resist seeing the look on everyone’s faces when she walked in? I couldn’t pass an opportunity like that up.” He endured some gentle teasing before he stood up and stretched.
“As much as I’d like to stay and catch up, I’ve got to be in court early tomorrow morning, and Murphy’s waiting at home for his dinner. Do you need help carrying your things in?” he asked Beth.
“I just need to bring a couple of things in tonight. I can get the rest tomorrow. Mom, where do you want me tonight? Is the guest house ready or should I stay here?”
“I changed the sheets in here last week, if you don’t mind staying in the house. The guest house might be a little dusty.”
The group headed to the front door, and Chase and Sampson gave her big hugs before they left.
“I’ll see both of you tomorrow. Oh, and make sure you don’t mention my being back to anyone. I have a surprise planned for Annie and Lauren, and I don’t want word to get out until after I pull it off.”
With promises of secrecy they left, waving as Chase’s car headed down the driveway. Jackie shivered and hurried back inside, pulling Richard along with her.
“We’ll get the room ready.”
“Mom, I can do that.”
She waved off Beth’s protestations. “Go get your stuff.”
“I’ll help you carry it in,” Jason told her and they hurried to the Beast. She unlocked the hatch and told him which bags to grab. As she was closing it back, she gazed up at the stars overhead. Her breath came out in puffs of steam in the cool air.
“It’s good to have you back.” His voice was quiet as they went back to the house. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I think so. I feel like myself again.”
“Good.”
There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again. “Jason, how is Ethan?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, but was certain she had to ask. He studied her for a minute, then turned back to the walkway.
“He’s okay. Different. Less reckless, I suppose you could say. He’s changed a lot since you’ve been gone.” They stopped on the edge of the porch, neither of them wanting to take the conversation inside where their parents could hear it.
“How has he changed? In a good way or a bad way?”
Jason shrugged. “I don’t know how to answer that. He’s quieter if you can believe it, but not in an angry way like he used to be. He keeps to himself pretty much, doesn’t go out, doesn’t date. I think what happened hit him hard, a big-time reality check. Made him stop and reevaluate himself. Does that make sense?”
“Oh, yes, that makes perfect sense. I’m a little surprised to hear that he’s changed like that, though.” She carefully chose her next words. “You sound like you’ve forgiven him, at least enough to talk to him.”
He moved his shoulders restlessly. “It’s hard to hold a grudge against someone you work with, especially doing the kind of job we have. Especially when I look at him and see how much he’s suffered from this whole debacle. If he had gone on with his life and pretended like it had never happened, I’d had to have transferred out to a different department or I’d have ended up killing him. That’s not how it was, though. Ethan hurt himself as much as he hurt you, Beth. I’m sure of it.”
“How do you mean?”
He blew out a breath, searching for words. “He hurt all of us, but he lost the friendship he’d had with me and Chase, and the relationship with the rest of the family, as well. We’ve all been a big part of each other’s lives for a long time now. Sure, you’ve been gone, but we’ve had at least a semblance of normalcy. He’s not even had that.
“I just can’t hold what he did against him any longer. I’m not ready to invite him back into the fold, but he’s paying his own penance. We’ve been friends for more than a decade. I’m not willing to just write that off because he was an idiot. Plus, he had a serious dri
nking problem. I have to give him a second chance. I hope you can understand that.”
Setting her bag down, Beth turned away and walked down the porch a short distance. As she gazed over the front lawn and across the road to the field beyond, she nodded. “I can’t be angry with you for feeling like that. You’ve always been the most forgiving of us all.”
Jason sat the bags he carried down and walked over to where she stood. “I haven’t forgiven him easily, don’t think that. I’m only willing to do it now because I can see that he’s suffering. If it hadn’t affected him so much, I’d probably never forgive him. As it is, I don’t think Chase ever will. The few times they’ve encountered each other in town, it’s been unpleasant, to say the least. To his credit, Ethan’s taken every bit of the abuse Chase has given him.”
When the front door opened and Jackie stepped outside, they turned. “It’s too cold for you to be standing out here without jackets,” she scolded. “Get in here before you catch your death.”
Grabbing the bags, Jason sat them inside the door and kissed his mother on the cheek, then hugged Beth. “I’ll see you soon. I’d better head on home.”
They watched as he walked to his jeep, and Jackie closed the door and locked it. She assessed Beth critically. “You’re probably exhausted.”
Bags in hand, Beth preceded her mother down the hall. “I could rest.” She stopped at the foot of the stairs, and Jackie grabbed her close for one last hug.
“I can’t believe you’re actually here. I’m so glad you are.”
Beth gave her a weary, but happy smile. “So am I, Mom. I’ll see you in the morning.” She walked down the hall into the guest bedroom, then closed the door behind her and sat her bags in the corner. She thought briefly about showering, but decided that she was just too tired. Getting ready for bed as quickly as she could, she returned to the bedroom and collapsed on the mattress. As she closed her eyes, she heard the familiar sounds of her childhood home settling around her, and she fell into sleep.
Chapter Fifty Three
When she realized her first full day back was going to fall on Annie’s birthday, Beth had put plans into play which she was eager to see come to fruition. She came up with an idea of how to surprise her two best friends, and she called Lauren when she was halfway home to set the wheels into motion.
“Would it be too much trouble for you to bake a small cake for Annie? Her favorite? And then somehow, could you get her to come to the Brown Bag and pick it up at closing?”
“Of course it’s not too much trouble. But why have her show up at the shop? I can deliver the cake to her the morning of her birthday.”
“Yes, but we always celebrated birthdays together at the shop, just the three of us with our own little cake. I know I won’t be there, but I’d really love it if you guys could keep that tradition. I’ll call you around three o’clock, and I’ll get a cupcake here. That way we can sort of celebrate together.”
Lauren had laughed. “Okay. Sounds like a plan.”
Now that Annie’s birthday had arrived, Beth just hoped she could wait until that afternoon to see her friends. After having breakfast with her grandfather, she had spent the morning and early afternoon working in the guest house, airing it out and getting it habitable again. She also took the time to set up the loft area as a home office, finally unpacking boxes that had been in storage since she had moved out of her apartment months ago. When she came across the vase that had belonged to her grandmother, she smiled and touched the delicate porcelain with a loving hand. She sat it on a high shelf in the loft, more thankful than she could imagine that it had personal meaning to her once again.
As two o’clock approached, she stopped her work to get cleaned up. After grabbing the two gift bags she had set aside earlier, she dashed out to the Beast. She reached the main road within a few minutes. Checking the dashboard clock, she saw that she had a little time to play with before she had to be on the road, and she turned opposite the direction of town, heading instead toward the Moore farm.
When she came to the end of Ethan’s driveway, she slowed down. Making sure there was no traffic coming up behind her, she stopped. The house looked essentially the same as when she had left town, but Beth felt as though she were seeing it through different eyes. Since his truck was not in the driveway, she pulled in and sat there for a few minutes, just remembering.
Shaking off the reverie, she backed out and headed on toward town. As she drove past all the familiar landmarks, she took in the changes the past few months had wrought. For an instant, she felt regret that she hadn’t been home and able to see each of the changes as they occurred. The regret was fleeting, however, since she realized that the only reason she was able to appreciate her surroundings now was because she had gone when she did.
She passed the newspaper, feeling a few butterflies take wing. At breakfast, she had coerced her grandfather into making her a secret appointment tomorrow with Marshall. Sampson had been only too happy to comply, and she could hardly wait to surprise her editor. Only a few of the staff would be working on Saturday, and she thought it would be best to make her return with as little splash as possible. Even though her grandfather had assured her Marshall would be thrilled to have her back, she couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Once on the square, she parked on the street near the Brown Bag and grabbed her phone to call Lauren.
Lauren answered, then put the phone on speaker. “Hey, we were wondering if you were going to call or if we were going to have to eat this cake without you.”
Beth laughed. “You know I like to cut things close. Happy Birthday, Annie!”
Grabbing the gift bags, she hurried up the sidewalk to the café as her friends laughed and joked on the phone. She peeked in the window, and saw them sitting at a small table, the cake in front of them.
Lauren’s back was partially to the door, and she was lighting the candles. “Okay. The candles are lit. Annie, make a wish and blow ‘em out before the fire alarm goes off.”
She gave a countdown, and as she got to one, Beth disconnected the call and quickly slipped inside. Annie’s eyes were still closed from blowing out the candles, but Lauren turned toward the door when it opened. When she saw Beth standing there, she gave a joyous yell and grabbed wildly for Annie’s hand, startling her eyes open. She shrieked as well, and with a flurry of movement, the three women met for a noisy, giddy group hug.
The commotion attracted the attention of Janet Evans, Lauren’s assistant manager, who hurried in from the kitchen to see what was going on. When she saw Beth, she waved and went back into the kitchen, leaving them to their reunion.
It was several minutes before the women calmed down enough to behave rationally, and Beth was the first one to speak. She drew back and stared at Lauren with surprise. “You’re pregnant!” She wiped tears from her eyes as she laughed with joy. “Oh, my God, you’re pregnant!”
Lauren was glowing, radiating happiness, and she placed a hand on her slightly rounded belly. “Four months,” she confirmed. “What are you doing here? When did you get in? Are you staying?” She and Annie waited, breathless, as Beth answered her questions.
“I’m here to celebrate Annie’s birthday, I got in last night, and I am staying, yes.” As she spoke, Annie jumped up and down, dancing around the empty dining room with more energy than grace.
“Hallelujah! This is officially the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten.”
Laughing at Annie’s antics, Lauren asked Beth what she wanted to drink.
“Water’s fine.”
Annie headed behind the counter. “You sit down, Mama. I’m perfectly capable of getting something for her. I think.”
Lauren held her hands up in surrender and eased down into her chair, unable to hide a relieved sigh. Beth pulled up a chair and joined her as Annie waited.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?” Beth asked Lauren softly.
“We’ve just started telling people, and haven’t told that many ye
t. We wanted to be cautious, just in case anything happened.”
Beth squeezed her hand. “That’s pretty sensible. Thanks,” she told Annie as she returned to the table with her water. “I bet Charlie’s excited, and Ava.”
Lauren’s smile was brilliant. “Oh, just a little.”
“I’m glad. So what else is new in town?”
“Annie has a new boyfriend.” Lauren blinked innocently as she cut the cake. “Have you seen Chase yet?”
“He is not my boyfriend, damn it! We’re not dating,” she told Beth, arms crossed. “We’re just friends.”
Beth snickered. “That’s not the rumor I heard.”
Annie's jaw dropped. “You heard about us in New Mexico?” When Beth nodded, Annie just rolled her eyes, and they all laughed.
For the next hour, the three friends talked, ate the cake, and caught up on each other’s lives. Beth gave them their gift bags, smiling as they opened the gag gifts, as well as the real presents she had brought. Glancing at her watch, she groaned when she saw the time.
“You have somewhere you need to be?” Annie asked. “We aren’t letting you go, sorry. You’ve been gone for months, and we’re keeping you here with us for a while longer if we have to tie you to the chair.”
“I wish you would.” She stood up with a sigh. “I have to go see my dad’s parents. I’m hoping to surprise them, which they hate, and thus get out of a long visit. Is it wrong to feel that way about blood kin?”
Annie’s response was impertinent. “Not if they act like your grandparents do. Relationships are a two-way street, blood or not.”
“They didn’t even deign to come see you after you’d been shot.” Lauren walked to the counter for an empty tray to load the dishes onto, her movements betraying her anger. “Why bother going to see them now?”
Beth raised her eyebrows. She was surprised by her friend’s attitude, as Lauren was usually extremely forgiving. She sent Annie a questioning look.
