Along the Cane River: Books 1-5 in the Inspirational Cane River Romance Series

by Mary Jane Hathaway

  “Thank you,” he said, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The fake dating was supposed to be simple. Now he felt like he was lying to everyone, including the people who had always treated him with nothing but sincerity. He tried to think of some way to backtrack on what everyone assumed was a done deal. Because after what just happened, Blue was afraid their fake relationship wasn’t going to progress to a real one. “It’s just that… We’re taking things slow.”

  “Well, Bix will be glad to hear it. Did I tell you that he gave me a big talk when I started dating Roxie? It was all about treating her like a lady and respecting her boundaries. Lots of advice about taking a run or playing basketball when I was tempted to act on my baser instincts. The worst part was the details he shared about Ruby. Things I can never unhear. Most uncomfortable talk I’ve ever had in my life.”

  “Oh, yeah, I got that one, too.” Blue said, imagining Bix giving his speech to every male of marrying age in Natchitoches. “Excruciating. I wonder if Ruby knows what he’s sharing.”

  “If she doesn’t, I don’t want to be around when she finds out,” Andy said. “But anyway, good idea to take it slow. I know you two have lots in common, but no sense in rushing anything.”

  “In common?” He glimpsed Rose in the doorway behind Andy and remembered their first conversation. They were named after colors, and they were both Creole, but other than those two things, what he liked about Rose wasn’t anything he could list on paper. “You mean how we both read thrillers?”

  Andy shook his head, as if Blue was being purposefully obtuse. “No, because you’re both lawyers.”

  Rose had frozen in place, eyes wide. She carried a Raggedy Andy doll in her arms and for a moment she looked like a scared little kid.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.”

  ― Mercedes Lackey

  “Lawyer,” Blue repeated, hoping he’d misheard.

  Rose dropped her gaze to the floor and said nothing.

  Rose was a lawyer and hadn’t bothered to mention it. More than that, when Blue had asked, she’d evaded his question. Whatever had happened in Rose’s life, he’d been able to accept it because everyone makes mistakes, but going through law school, being accepted into the bar, and practicing law was very different. It was part of who she was. Unless she felt that being a lawyer was something despicable and had left that part of her behind for something better.

  All the lawyer jokes he’d ever heard clamored in Blue’s head. It was part of his identity, part of his purpose in life and Rose had shared his profession at some point. Now, apparently, she’d seen the light.

  Andy looked from Blue to Rose. “Thanks,” he said, reaching out for the doll. “I’ll take this right down.”

  Seconds later they heard the front door close and silence fell between them. Rose was looking at her feet, hands in her pockets.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Part of him had gone sharp and bitter inside.

  She closed her eyes for a moment. “Because I didn’t want to see that look on your face.”

  He scoffed. “What look? Shock? Sure, because after all this time, I find out you’re a lawyer, like me? That’s completely understandable.”

  She turned and walked down the hallway. He followed, waiting for her to explain.

  All this time. It hadn’t been very long at all but it had felt like months and he wasn’t sure why. Maybe that was the way he was with women. A soft touch. All it took was a few dates, a kiss or two, and he was a goner. Blue gritted his teeth, hating the way he had walked right into another painful situation. He would never learn.

  She stopped at the front door and held out the book. “Hate to tell you this, but it wasn’t that great.”

  He took it, anger flaring inside. “That’s it?”

  “The book by Marcus Sakey about the terrorists was better.” She met his eyes and he saw the glimmer of tears.

  In a moment, his righteous anger folded in on itself, compacting into a small pebble of pain. He’d told her that she didn’t need to explain. He’d been wrong. He needed to understand. “You were disbarred for a DUI? That sounds extreme. Or was it a repeat offense?”

  She opened the door. Blue knew that he was ignoring the blatant social cue to walk out and stop pestering her but he couldn’t go, not yet. His father’s glee at smearing Rose’s reputation must not be anywhere close to the secret she actually held.

  “You said I didn’t have to tell you.”

  “I changed my mind.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t owe you any explanations.”

  He stood there, chest tight with hurt and disappointment. He couldn’t argue with her logic. She truly didn’t owe him the time of day. Not one look. Not one word.

  “Okay,” he said. He struggled to find something normal to say so that it didn’t end on such a bitter note. “Thanks for the book.”

  She nodded and dropped her gaze to the floor. He walked by her and she closed the door softly behind him. Making his way down the hallway, he barely saw the pale green walls and wooden floors. He wanted to go back in time and knock on her door, wait for her to open it and start all over.

  His phone rang and he dug it out of his pocket, almost letting out a groan at the name on the screen. He’d barely been gone twenty minutes.

  “Hi Cyndi,” he said.

  “Your father’s here,” she responded and there was something in her voice that made him stop walking.

  “He needs to see me?”

  “He didn’t say that, but he’s in your office.” Again that careful note.

  Blue stared at the ceiling a moment. “Did he say he’d wait until I got back?”

  “No sir. He asked me when you’d be back and I told him an hour or so. He said that was fine, and went right in.”

  His stomach dropped like a lead fishing weight in Red River. “I’ll be right there.”

  ***

  Rose walked to the couch and lowered herself to the cushion, folding her hands in her lap and staring into space. She wanted to cry, to sob like Aurora when she couldn’t find her favorite red crayon and it was an hour past her bedtime. She wanted to go back in time and interrupt Andy before he ever said anything about her being a lawyer. She wanted to go further back to that moment in her bedroom.

  She’d stood up and walked right into his arms without a thought. It hadn’t been planned. That was the scariest part, really. It was like a storm blowing in without any warning, she was completely unprepared. It was only at the very last moment they’d remembered how much Blue didn’t know about her past.

  Elizabeth let out a soft cry and Rose heaved herself off the couch. As she lifted the tiny baby from the bassinet, she felt like the world was still turning around her, but she was frozen in place. Elizabeth cried lustily in her ear and Rose barely noticed. She rocked her, shushing the little girl, and finally decided it was time to call Alice.

  Just as she pulled out her phone, she heard someone at the door. Aurora ran straight in and waved what looked like a six legged unicorn made out of glued-on construction paper. “Look, Miss Rose! A ‘corn!”

  Rose gushed over the picture with an appropriate amount of enthusiasm but Elizabeth didn’t care to admire it, and kept crying.

  Bix stepped through the doorway. Patty wagged her tail at the sight of Rose but stayed at his side. “I can hear Elizabeth all the way down the hallway,” he said in Creole. Alice must have told him about their rule for the apartment. “She’s got some good lungs, non? Anyway, we’ve run out of coffee downstairs and Alice keeps the extra in your pantry.”

  “Oh, of course. Let me get it for you,” she said, heading for the kitchen.

  “I saw Blue headed up here a little while ago,” Bix called.

  Rose paused, her hand half way to the pantry doorknob. Did Bix think Blue was hidden somewhere in the apartment? Had Bix come to check on them? “How do you know he was coming up to see me? He lives right next
door.”

  She heard a low chuckle and Bix said, “Because he kept fixin’ his tie. He’s not a fidgeter. Always real relaxed unless he’s around you.”

  Rose pulled a can of Beau Monde from the bottom shelf. She couldn’t help a flush of pleasure at the thought of a nervous Blue, but then it faded away into a fog of regret. Whatever he’d felt for her surely had changed to suspicion and anger.

  “He came to borrow a book,” she said and held out the can. Aurora pulled a toy vacuum from the pile in the corner and was carefully cleaning the area rug by the bassinets. Elizabeth was really crying now, her legs stiff and arms rigid. Emily Jane let out a couple of soft coughs and shifted in her bassinet.

  Bix put his hand out, palm up, and Rose place the can in it, mentally grimacing for forgetting his blindness. Bix got around so well it was easy to forget, even with Patty at his side. “A special book? Rare?”

  “Well, no. It was the new… It was one I’d borrowed from Alice.”

  “Huh,” he said, smiling. “Man works hard. Can’t blame him for taking his lunch break for a little―”

  “He was only here for a few minutes,” Rose said. She thought of the security cameras and how they only covered the living room. All it would show was them moving to the bedroom. “Andy came up here, too. Lots of visitors today.”

  The door opened and Alice walked in. She held out her arms for Elizabeth. “My spidey sense was tingling,” she said in English. She settled in the rocking chair and grabbed a nursing blanket. “I thought somebody might be hungry.”

  “I love your spidey sense,” Rose said, following Alice’s lead and speaking English, too. She loved the way Alice switched languages back and forth, as if she would pick the very best from each. ‘Spidey sense’ just wouldn’t sound the same in Creole.

  “You get it in the delivery room,” Alice said. She breathed a sigh of relief as Elizabeth latched on and went silent.

  “Well, I better run. Ruby’s waitin’ for me over at The Red Hen. They always have biscuits and gravy special on Monday,” Bix said. “Oh, that reminds me. Henry was in today and told me to tell you that she’s talked to Fr. Tom about givin’ you a tour of St. Augustine’s.”

  Rose blinked. It was as if they’d all decided she had to visit the little church at Isle Brevelle and there was no escaping. She shrugged inwardly. It didn’t hurt her any. Especially since she knew Blue wouldn’t be there. It could be very awkward between them. She had no idea how he would react the next time she saw him.

  “Thank you. Blue mentioned it, too.” She glanced at Alice. “I was thinking I’d come with y’all this Sunday. I could help out with the girls.”

  “You don’t have to help out. It’s your day off,” Alice said. “But we’d love it if you sat with us.”

  “Or with Ruby and me. We’re just the pew ahead.” Bix smiled in the direction of Aurora. “We get small visitors sometimes. Reminds me of when my kids were young. Never hear a word of the homily.”

  Emily Jane made it known that she wanted to be picked up and Rose obliged. “It will be nice to put some names to faces. I haven’t met Austin or Fr. Tom yet. Gideon, either,” she added as an afterthought.

  “Oh,” Alice said. She looked down at Elizabeth and straightened the blanket. She was very carefully not saying anything.

  “Is there― Is Gideon nice?” Rose asked.

  “Nice? Well, sure he’s nice,” Bix said. “And if you head over to June’s little BBQ shack after Mass, you’ll meet all the Masons. They don’t come in to town much, but lots of ‘em around. Shake a tree and a Mason falls out. Usually followed by a sixpack, ‘course.”

  Bix didn’t usually gossip about folks and Rose got the impression that he was trying to distract her.

  He turned toward the sound of Aurora’s vacuuming. “I’ve gotta scat, kitty cat.”

  Aurora looked up from her housework. Her little brows drew down. “Umm.”

  Bix leaned over and whispered, “Out the door, dinosaur.”

  “Outta door, dinosaur,” she repeated.

  “Sure thing, chicken wing,” he said over his shoulder.

  Aurora watched Bix and Patty leave, then after a few more minutes said, “Bye bye, butterfly.”

  Alice sighed. “I know I said we’d speak Creole only up here, but I have to admit that’s adorable.”

  “It is,” Rose agreed. “Until she calls you a baboon.”

  Alice laughed. “Been there, unfortunately.”

  Emily Jane scrunched up her face and started to cry.

  “Pass her over,” Alice said, shifting Elizabeth so her feet were pointing at Alice’s back. The little nursing pillow kept her steady and she didn’t even protest at the temporary loss of lunch. Rose placed Emily Jane on Alice’s other side. Within a few moments, she’d managed to get both girls settled.

  “You’re a nursing ninja. Or nursing Jedi. Something,” Rose said, shaking her head.

  “Well, I did have a little practice with Aurora,” Alice reminded her. “It looks harder than it is. I mean, there’s definitely a learning curve with each one. It’s frustrating in the beginning because they’re so hungry but so helpless, and even though it’s right there in front of them, they can’t seem to figure it out. After a few weeks they do pick it up, and after a few months they’re total pros. I can read and everything.”

  “How was the first month? Before I got here, I mean?”

  “Paul’s mama was here the first month. She was a huge help. Even though Paul’s an only child, a baby is a baby, and some things you don’t forget,” Alice said.

  “She’s still a huge help,” Rose said, sitting down on the couch. Paul’s mother had been in town almost every weekend, giving them all a hand, and taking Aurora on trips to the bakery and walks to the river. She wondered why Alice had never really mentioned her parents. Maybe they didn’t live close, or didn’t get along. Alice told stories about her mamere, funny bits from her childhood, and talked quite a bit about Mr. Perrualt, who had left her the bookstore when she was in college.

  Alice looked from one baby to the other. “As hard as it is, they’re so worth it.” She glanced up. “Like everything in life. Sometimes we have to fight for what we want.”

  Rose nodded. She had the sudden feeling that Alice was sharing her mother knowledge with the idea that Rose might someday use it.

  “We can’t just give up at the first sign of trouble,” Alice said.

  “You saw Blue on the way up here.”

  “I did,” she said and her expression was sympathetic.

  Rose felt her face go warm and was irritated with herself for the reaction. “What did he tell you?”

  “Nothing. But we’re practically kinfolk, I’ve known him so long.”

  Rose wondered what Alice had seen in Blue’s expression. Fury? Frustration? Betrayal?

  Aurora vacuumed around Rose’s feet, oblivious to their conversation. After a few close calls, Rose finally lifted them out of the way. She tried to think of something to say but ended up simply saying nothing, awkwardly perched on the edge of the couch with her legs out straight. She felt her stomach muscles straining as Aurora endlessly vacuumed invisible dirt from under her feet.

  “Since we were kids, Blue has been one of the nicest, most loyal, most genuine guys I know. But he’s more than a nice guy.” Alice shifted Elizabeth a little bit. “He’s different. Always has been. I think it’s hard on him, being the kind of person he is.”

  “What kind is that?” Rose could think of a dozen adjectives for Blue, but none of them would cause a hardship.

  “He’s a thinker, and he feels deeply. It’s kind of a double whammy,” Alice sounded almost sad. “It would be so much better for him if he didn’t consider every little angle of a problem, if he didn’t think of how each action would affect every person.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” Rose wished she’d considered how their fake relationship would affect her, all the problems it would cause and all the way her heart would ache for Blue
after just one kiss.

  “Not with his father, not the way he’s roped into doing what his family wants.”

  Rose shook her head. “He doesn’t roll over for his father. I saw him stand up to him just the other day.”

  Her eyes opened wide. “When was this?”

  “Last week, when we were sitting on the bench. I didn’t ask for him to defend me. I was ready to leave. But Blue made it clear that his father’s accusations weren’t welcome and he needed to go.”

  Alice looked so surprised that Rose almost laughed. “Blue told his father to leave? In public?”

  Rose nodded. “It was bad.”

  Aurora ditched the vacuum and pulled out the toy laptop from the stack of toys. The sounds of a digitally created ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ filled the room.

  “No, no it wasn’t,” Alice said, a huge smile breaking over her face. “And it was over you?”

  “I don’t want to get in between anybody and their parents. I know you think that was a good thing somehow, but I bet you he’ll regret it, and then I’ll be the one to blame.” Her chin dropped to her chest. “I feel like I’m making a mess out of everything.” And by everything, she meant everything to do with Blue.

  “Exactly the opposite,” Alice said softly. “And as for Blue’s other main quality, I know he needs someone just like him, someone with a soft heart. Like you.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m asking you to look past the fact the plaintiff has young children to provide for and a pregnant wife. Look past his counsel’s obvious attempt to manipulate your feelings. Look at the facts and the facts alone. The plaintiff is not entitled to anything from our client. Not a cent.”

  She felt tears burn at the corners of her eyes. Alice misunderstood her. She wasn’t naturally a soft-hearted person at all. She had no mercy, no sympathy. She swallowed hard. It would always be her first instinct to assess someone’s weakness and then want to exploit it for her own gain. Her chest tightened with the thought. She was born that way, and her whole life would be spent trying to act against those impulses.