by Tina Leonard
She lowered her gaze for a moment. “I don’t think I can tell you.”
Sam was astonished. “I’ve known you for six years! There were times I thought I knew you better than I knew myself. What could you possibly have hidden from me?” Besides a pregnancy, but he decided this was not the moment to qualify his question.
She blushed, a becoming pink that flooded the skin around the neckline of her white-and-navy sundress. He took the rocker next to her, checking the agitated motion of her chair with his foot so she’d have to meet his gaze.
Slowly, she raised her eyelashes to look at him. The look was pure mischief. “There are some skeletons that like the darkness of the family closet.”
He blinked. “I dread to think what might be hanging out in there with the cobwebs. But let’s shine the light of day on it, anyway.”
“I don’t think I can. I’ve never told anyone.”
“Maddie! You are not allowed to keep secrets from your husband!” he mock roared.
“Shh!” She sat up to see if the napping babies had stirred, but the bunny-blanket-covered bodies remained peaceful.
He caught her hand. “No more avoiding the truth.”
A light smile played at her mouth. “Did you ever think there were an awful lot of years between Joey and me?”
“Nineteen years isn’t all that unusual,” he said, avoiding the point. “Joey was a late-in-life baby.”
“That’s what everyone supposes. The truth is,” she said, taking a deep breath and giving him a cagey look, “is that Mom and Dad weren’t married when they found out I was on the way.”
Sam’s eyebrow slid upward. “Imagine that. Unprotected passion in the fifties.” He grimaced. “Why do I have trouble imagining Franny and Virgil as randy teenagers?”
“They were planning on getting married,” Maddie said hurriedly. “But they were very young, and their parents objected.”
“How young?”
“Sixteen. Which wasn’t terribly young back then, truly, but Mom’s parents wanted her to get a college education, and so did Dad’s. They didn’t want them to sweat out life on farms the way they had. My grandparents were tough pioneer stock who had always lived in the country and never had any luxuries.” She sighed heavily. “So their parents wanted more for their children. All parents do. But Dad met Mom at a church social and it was love at first sight, and a little bit more than was considered proper at the time.”
“Particularly at a church social!”
“No!” Maddie laughed, tapping his wrist to make him pay attention.
Of its own accord, it seemed, his hand covered hers and lingered. She didn’t pull away, and Sam liked the feeling of the two of them sitting together, so he hoped she wouldn’t notice what he was up to.
“They didn’t fall that fast, but it was fast enough that I was pretty much a fact by the next time the preacher came to town. Mom and Dad were married quickly and quietly. No fuss, no parties, no nothing.” Maddie leaned her head back on the rocker before turning to make certain Sam was listening.
He most certainly was. “Go on.”
“Well, it might have been love at first sight, but even love can flicker when a family is poor and young and can’t make ends meet. They started wondering what might have happened had they gotten those college educations, and my grandparents were there to encourage them to give it a try.”
“Really? That was supportive.”
“Not exactly. They would send only one of them. And college was very far from small towns back then. A bus ride and a train ride, at least.”
“But your father was trying to make a better way for his family.”
“They sent my mother. It was her parents who offered to help out.”
“But they weren’t really helping at all, then.”
“No. They wanted her to see what she’d missed out on by getting married young and having a baby. They wanted her to find a man who could give her more than poverty and a farm that faced ruin almost every year.”
Now Maddie’s fingers curled into his. Sam welcomed the closeness.
“My father couldn’t handle being alone. He didn’t like her parents raising me, and he felt left out. The story he’d been given was that he needed to stay behind and take care of the farm, but after a while, he figured it out. And he was hurt that Mom had left him.”
“Did she go back to him?”
Maddie shook her head. “He gave her an ultimatum—come home or we get a divorce. By then, Mom was deep into her third quarter and realized she had a talent for learning. She was smart and quick thinking, and she’d decided to become a trained nurse. Dad said she could be a nurse for any local doctor near the cotton farm, but by then she wanted to see what else she could do. I know that sounds selfish, but Mom had never done anything for herself. She’d been manipulated by her parents into being a small-town beauty queen, their shining diamond out in the sticks. She was a dutiful daughter. Falling in love with my dad was her first rebellion. Finding out she could make it at college and wanting to stick it out was her second. It was a different world for women then.”
Sam didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help thinking how fortunate he was that his parents had known they wanted each other for good when he was born.
He also decided that any ultimatum issued to a Brady woman probably didn’t turn out best for the male involved. He’d given Maddie one of his own and found himself alone in France, cooling his heels. Fortunately, he’d had a compelling reason to return, or he’d still be over there, trying to convince himself he was happy.
He had not been happy without her.
“So they divorced.” Maddie shrugged, as if it didn’t matter, but he knew it must have hurt her terribly if she’d kept it hidden from him. “Mom went on to get her degree, and Dad kept the farm. I rotated among the three households, and I guess I resented it. I couldn’t understand why other kids had normal families and I didn’t have a sibling, or parents under one roof. They stayed apart for six years,” Maddie said softly. “I know, because on my sixth birthday, neither of my parents made it to my birthday. My mother’s train was stuck in Dallas, and my father’s cotton crop had been hit by boll weevils. He had no money for a ticket. I wouldn’t blow out the birthday candles on the lovely cake my grandparents had made me until my parents came and watched me.” She slipped him a glance. “I sat and waited, until I finally fell asleep by my beautiful cake. It was pink and white, and had Happy Birthday, Maddie written on it.”
“Oh, Maddie.” Sam pulled her into his arms, edging her around on the rocker so he could hold her close. “That breaks my heart.”
“Apparently, it broke my grandparents’, too, because they decided their meddling had backfired. They bought bus tickets for my mom and my dad to come, and they were there in two days, in time for a slightly stale cake. A small talk with my grandparents convinced my parents that the family needed to be together—and then Grandma and Grandpa stayed out of my parents’ decision. They said they’d support them no matter what they wanted.” Maddie smiled at her husband. “Mom and I went home with Dad, and it was the best birthday I ever had.”
“I’m so glad this story had a happy ending.” He nuzzled her neck, wondering if theirs was going to have one, too.
“Me, too. Mom’s education paid off and she got a good job in town. Dad’s cotton never did do that well, until one day Mom decided she’d be better off staying home and doctoring him and the plants instead of patients. They resolved never to meddle in my life, except with good intentions.”
Sam and Maddie shared a grin.
“Ah, the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he said wryly.
“Exactly. I think that’s why they went to France, initially.”
“Far, far away from temptation.”
“Yes. And they’d never traveled anywhere together. I think they’ll always be conscious of the years they lost. And though they grew a lot when they were apart, and ultimately found their way back to each other, that separation
is always at the back of their minds. It makes them take very good care of each other.”
Sam squeezed her fingers lightly. His separation from Maddie had been hellish—mainly because he had known it was over between them. The pain of still wanting her was something he’d thought would ease in time.
It had not diminished, instead growing worse. That was a period of his life he didn’t want to revisit. “So, about Joey,” he prompted.
“Well, Joey was an unexpected blessing they never thought they’d see. I suppose after the years of separation, they thought their childlessness was a sort of penance.”
He remembered that ache very well, too.
“There I was, going off to college. And my mom was pregnant.” A soft, whimsical smile lit Maddie’s face as she looked at him. “Do you realize my parents were younger when they had Joey than I was when I became pregnant?”
“Let’s not talk like that,” he said gruffly. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“It means we don’t have nineteen years of childbearing for lightning to strike,” she murmured.
“It means,” Sam said decisively, “that we better not linger too long over our mistakes.”
They stared at each other. Maddie’s eyes were wide as she took in what he’d said.
“I’m serious,” he insisted huskily. “If the second time is the charm, as your mother seems to believe, I want to start rubbing the rabbit’s foot now.”
Maddie looked away for an instant. “I don’t think I ever looked at it like that.”
He used her fingers, which were still entwined with his, to tap his chest. “If they can do it, so can we. Right?”
“It sounds reasonable,” she said slowly, her thoughts somewhere far away. “I suppose they’re good role models.”
“Maybe in a sense. But we have to blaze our own trail.”
“You just don’t want to identify with my parents.”
“I don’t want to identify that much with mine,” Sam admitted. “However, this whole thing makes sense now. Your parents aren’t happy about Joey blowing what they see as his big chance. They don’t want to interfere, in case this is the love of his life. So they want to send you in, hoping you’ll be able to steer Joey back onto the right path.”
“The notion does make a certain amount of sense,” Maddie said with a sigh. “Joey’s very young, and they would remember their indiscreet love. No doubt they’re panicking at the very thought of another pregnancy—”
“Maddie!” Franny softly called up the stairs.
Sam stared at Maddie. “Why did that sound a little desperate?”
“She’s your mother-in-law. You’ve learned to read her pretty well.” Maddie rose, crossing to the stairwell to peer down. “Yes?”
“I was wondering if the babies are asleep, if maybe we could have a family caucus.”
“Sure.” She glanced over her shoulder at Sam. “Family caucus time. You remember those, don’t you?”
“Last time your family called one in which I was included it was to discuss what Aunt Berol should be buried in, funeral parlor clothes or something of her own, since she was a notorious tightwad.”
“Shh!” Maddie shushed him, not wanting to get her mother started on that subject all over again. “She wasn’t a tightwad, she was frugal. During the Depression, it was a learned survival tactic. She learned it well.”
Sam took Maddie’s hand as he came to the stairwell. “I promise that, no matter what, I won’t say a word during this caucus. No matter how your mother tries to draw me in.”
“It would have helped if you hadn’t decided to play devil’s advocate over Aunt Berol’s attire,” Maddie grumbled. “Mother wasn’t used to thinking with logic instead of sentiment. As far as she was concerned, Aunt Berol never parted with a penny in her life so why should she start in death?”
Kissing Maddie’s hand, Sam said, “This time you and I stand together. Think of me as your secret weapon. Whatever you say goes. Period.”
“No matter what?”
He stared down at her. “If I make so much as a contrary peep, I’ll pay you back in service. I’ll stay up with the babies. I’ll rub your feet. Or buy tickets for your parents to fly to Singapore.”
She raised her brow. “I love my parents.”
“I know you do. So do I.”
He guided her down the stairs, reassuring himself that everyone in this house had learned from their past mistakes. This family caucus would be a bonding, democratic, decision-making process—without any input from him that his wife didn’t want.
Chapter Eighteen
Maddie warily approached the family members seated around the kitchen table. Severn and Sara were sitting across from her parents. She knew the subject had to be about Joey.
Of course, she wasn’t going to France. There was no way she would leave Sam at this critical juncture. That was something she had learned from her parents.
One separation was enough.
Joey’s life was his own. She knew enough about minding one’s own business not to dabble in anyone else’s.
“You asked us to keep an eye on the family business while we were in France,” Sara began when everyone was seated.
Maddie perked up. This topic was unexpected.
“Well, yes,” Sam hesitantly agreed, knowing that it had been a ruse he’d cooked up to get their parents out of their hair for a while. Maddie smiled at him reassuringly. They would play along.
“We have reason to believe matters are not going as you would wish,” Severn said.
“Oh?” Sam raised a brow.
“We think the books are being cooked,” Franny said without further skirting. “We think Vivi may have married Martin to keep you from being suspicious of what she and her brother, Jean-Luc, were up to with Jardin.”
Maddie’s eyes widened. “Martin is Sam’s best friend.”
“Exactly. The perfect foil,” Virgil said. “The stooge. The lovestruck schnook. Maybe even the fall guy,” he finished dramatically.
“Dad!” Maddie exclaimed. “You don’t believe we’re going to buy this, do you? I mean, Mom, you never stop trying to make things work, even though you try to mind your own business. But you, Dad. Honestly, I’m ashamed.” She shook her head at her father. “I thought everyone understood that Sam and I have to do this without you trying to push us together.”
He didn’t wither under her censure. “I know what I saw,” he insisted. “There are shipments that aren’t accounted for. Payroll that isn’t being recorded properly. I know I’m just a cotton farmer,” he said, his tone belligerent as his brows drew together, “but one thing I know is books. They gotta be kept just so, or there’s unaccounted shortages and overages that end up as a loss in someone’s pocket. Yours,” he said to Sam. “Because you think Martin’s going to keep everything kosher for you. What are best friends for, anyway?”
“But you’re here, Son,” Severn said. “We may be crazy, but we think you’d best go take a look.”
Sam scratched at his chin. Maddie’s lips were parted. She didn’t know what to say. Her parents had never recommended a separation, never encouraged them to be apart. In fact, they had gone embarrassingly overboard to shove them into each other’s arms.
Why would they now—unless they really believed there was a problem?
Sam didn’t say a word. He seemed puzzled and concerned. But mostly, he seemed to be waiting for her to speak.
She blinked at him, wondering why he didn’t say anything.
And then she realized he had promised to support her, no matter what. His silence was loud and clear. Whatever she wanted, he would do.
But that’s when I thought this was all about Joey! she wanted to cry. She had been determined not to be separated from Sam; she had wanted to spend time with him and their babies.
After what she’d just told him about her parents, he might not feel comfortable saying he would leave. She swallowed. “Sam, you have to do what’s best for Jardin.”
“I have to do what’s best for you,” he replied. “For our family.”
“Can we have a moment?” she asked the assembled family.
They all got up and filed out silently.
“I get the terrible feeling they’re not bluffing,” Maddie said quietly.
“So do I. This time, they’re serious.”
“They wouldn’t want you to leave me right now—not while they want so badly for us to work out our marriage—unless there was truly a problem. I think they’re upset about Joey, but it’s more than that.” She reached out and took his fingers in hers. “Sam, we have plenty of time to work out our situation.”
“It’s not a situation. It’s our marriage, and no company is worth forfeiting this time with my family. We know this is only going to happen for us once. I’m not going to blow it by not being here.”
“I love the way you talk to me,” she said, pressing her lips to his fingers. “You became very adept at romance after your trip to France.”
He frowned. “I became very adept at romance after I discovered my wife had two babies and I was missing out on everything that mattered.” Clearing his throat, he said, “I will always romance you, Maddie.”
“I’ll let you,” she said softly. “Let’s go to our room and further discuss this unexpected dilemma.”
“From every angle,” he confirmed.
“I want you to know that no matter what you decide, I’ll support you,” she said as he took her hand to lead her down the hall toward their room. “Sam, I honestly want you to do whatever you need to. This is important.”
He closed the bedroom door behind them. “This is important,” he said, kissing her lips.
“And this is important,” she said, returning his kiss.
“And this is just as necessary.” He pressed gentle kisses along her shoulders.
“And I find that this part of you demands my utmost attention.” She glided her fingers along his shoulders, to his chest, where she enjoyed the tight muscles under his skin.
“And these,” he said huskily, kissing down her breasts toward her nipples, “are of paramount importance.” He licked each one, then suckled more intently.
