Finding Forever: Treading Water Series, Book 5

by Force, Marie

  “We will.”

  “By the way, I wanted to let you know I’ve hired Brayden Thomas to run our equine therapy program.”

  “Glad to hear it. Seemed like a nice young man.”

  “He’ll be bringing his horse with him.”

  “We’ll make him feel welcome, ma’am.”

  “Appreciate that.”

  Maggie went back to the main house, amused at being called ma’am by a man fifty years older than her, but since moving to Tennessee, she’d learned not to question the manners of Southern gentlemen. She appreciated the attention Derek gave to each of the children, who were fascinated by horses the way she’d been as a child. She’d begged for riding lessons at eight. Her parents had finally relented when she turned nine, and she’d been hooked ever since.

  One of the things that had most appealed to her about this job opportunity was the close proximity to horses and the chance to ride any time she wanted. Although, as it had turned out, she was far too busy to ride most days. If she got to do it once during the workweek, that was a great week. Despite the frenetic pace of her days, the move to Tennessee had been a good one. She loved the job, the horses and having her sisters nearby.

  Her biggest challenge was protecting her own heart from some of the horrible things that happened to the people who came to them for help. She’d had the same issue when she’d provided interpretation for the hearing impaired at criminal trials in New York. Some of the things she’d seen and heard then would stay with her forever.

  It was a relief to be away from that and other things she’d left behind there, things she tried not to think about so she could stay focused on the present rather than the past. Too bad that was easier said than done sometimes. Some things could never be forgotten.

  Chapter 4

  Maggie’s day got busy when a new family arrived via Uber, in need of temporary shelter because the mother’s cancer diagnosis made it impossible for her to work during treatment. After getting a call from a local social services agency, Maggie was ready to meet Trish Lawson and her three children, Lily, Jimmy and Chloe, ages six, five and two. She set up the children to have snacks in the kitchen so she could meet with Trish in the conference room they’d made out of the former dining room. Maggie could hear Trish’s sobs as she approached the conference room.

  Maggie ducked into her office to grab a box of tissues and brought that and the coffee Trish had asked for when Maggie offered her something to drink. “Here we go,” Maggie said, trying to project cool competence in the midst of Trish’s despair.

  “Thank you.”

  At about five-foot-five, the woman’s lovely light-brown face was streaked with tears, and the scarf on her head had slid to the left side, making her look lopsided.

  Maggie wanted to put her arms around her and tell her everything would be all right, except she’d learned not to make promises she couldn’t keep. She had no way to know if everything would work out for their clientele. All she could do was give them her very best effort during the time she had with them.

  Trish dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Please don’t be. We’re here to help.”

  “Thank God for that, because I didn’t know where else to turn. I heard about your program from a friend, and when the landlord told me to be out by today or he was bringing the police, I had nowhere else to go. I contacted one agency, but they couldn’t take us all. They referred me to you.”

  Maggie handed her another tissue. “I’m very glad you came here and that we had an opening available for you and your children.”

  “I never thought this would happen to me,” she said softly. “I had a decent job. I paid my rent every month and took care of my kids. But when I got sick with ovarian cancer… I just couldn’t keep up.”

  “Of course you couldn’t. No one could.”

  “My friends have helped so much, but none of them have room for four of us, and my family lives in Texas. My doctors are here. I just… I don’t know…”

  Maggie put her hand over Trish’s. “Take a deep breath. You and your children are safe here.”

  Trish broke down into deep sobs.

  Maggie got up to hug the other woman. “Our staff nurse, Arnelle, will be able to help you with side effects of treatment, coordinating with doctors and anything else you need.”

  Trish clung to her. “Thank you so, so much. You have no idea what a godsend you are to me.”

  Over the next hour, Maggie went back and forth between checking the children, who were now in the playroom with several of the other kids and their mothers, and helping Trish complete intake paperwork. By the time she got them settled in their room upstairs, it was after three o’clock, and her plan to visit Corey in the hospital before dinner was in jeopardy.

  She would go later.

  While she had one minute to herself, she sat in her desk chair and closed her eyes, breathing through the emotional storm that each new heartbreaking story brought into her life. She loved the job, loved the people, loved the challenge, loved that she was making a real difference for people in crisis. But sometimes… Sometimes it was too much for her to handle. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone.

  God forbid Reid and Kate ever have second thoughts about giving her the job of a lifetime. She wanted to make them proud and help as many people as she could.

  The sound of a throat clearing had Maggie opening her eyes to find Brayden Thomas standing in her doorway.

  “Sorry to interrupt.”

  “You’re not. I was taking five after a difficult intake.”

  “No need to explain yourself to me.” Holding the worn cowboy hat in his hands, he looked ridiculously large and hopelessly sexy standing in the doorway. “I was told to come check in with you.”

  Maggie pulled herself together and stood. “Yes, I can walk you through the onboarding process.” She reached for the clipboard she’d put together earlier and set him up in the conference room. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

  “Some water would be great.”

  “Coming right up.” She checked on the children in the playroom on the way to the kitchen and was pleased to see Trish’s children happily playing with the wide assortment of toys that Reid and Kate had sprung for. They’d spared no expense when it came to ensuring the children had everything they could possibly want. Maggie had joked that the playroom resembled an FAO Schwarz store. Every one of the children who walked through their doors marveled at the toys in that room.

  Kate had said that shopping trip had been among the most fun things she’d ever done.

  Maggie took a tall glass of ice water back to the conference room. “Here you are.”

  “Thanks a lot.” Brayden drank half the glass in one big gulp. “Starting to get hot out there.”

  It’s starting to get hot in here, too, Maggie thought, holding back the ridiculous need to giggle like an eighth-grade girl.

  The man was too handsome for words. In addition to broad shoulders, he had silky dark hair that had a tendency to slide down over his brow, golden brown eyes and lashes every woman she knew would kill for. His cheekbones were prominent, his jaw chiseled and covered with the perfect amount of stubble. As he filled out the forms, Maggie discovered he was left-handed, and his plush lips moved adorably as he wrote. Shifting her gaze to his right hand, which was flat on the table, she noted that his hands were as big as the rest of him.

  “I feel like I’m being watched,” he said without lifting his gaze from the paperwork.

  Maggie’s face went warm with embarrassment. “Sorry. I was thinking about something else.” Liar.

  “I can bring these in to you when I’m finished if you have other stuff to do.”

  “Sure. Thanks.” Mortified, she got up and left the room. So far, he’d caught her taking what looked to be a nap in the middle of the workday and had called her out for staring at him. “Great way to start a professional relationship.”

  “What was that?” M
itch, the cook, asked as he came in the kitchen door carrying shopping bags. He made dinner for the residents each evening and provided instruction for those who wished to learn basic cooking skills. In his mid-fifties, Mitch was retired from the Marine Corps and wore his gray hair in a buzz cut.

  “Just talking to myself.”

  “First sign of senility.”

  “Very funny.”

  “Heard you’re bringing in some more testosterone.”

  “You heard right.”

  “He’s some kind of horse whisperer or something, right?”

  “That’s what they say. I’ve hired him to run a therapeutic riding program for the children.”

  “It’ll be good for the kids to have access to that. The things some of them talk about…” He shook his head. “Hard to hear.”

  “I know. If you need support—”

  “I’m okay. I just worry about them, about the long-term fallout.”

  “We’ll do everything we can for them, now and into the future. My sister and brother-in-law want Matthews House to be a long-term source of support for our families. They have so many plans to expand into scholarships and other forms of support long after they’ve moved on from here. We’re going to be there for them, Mitch.”

  “It’s a really good thing y’all are doing here. I’m glad to be part of it.”

  “We’re happy to have you. I’ll let you get back to work.”

  “It’s taco night,” he called over his shoulder as he continued toward the kitchen. “The kids will be happy. It’s their favorite.”

  Maggie smiled. Happy, safe kids were what they were all about. Her cell phone rang, and she took the call from Jill. “Hey.”

  “What’s up?” Jill asked.

  “The usual chaos. You?”

  “Wedding madness. I think Mom is more excited about this wedding than I am.”

  “That’s absolutely not true.”

  Jill laughed. “She and Andi are having too much fun planning it.” Their mom was working with Andi, who, as the manager of the Infinity Newport Hotel where the wedding would take place, was seeing to most of the details herself.

  “Can a person have too much fun?”

  “If they can, Mom is.”

  “Well, good for her,” Maggie said. “Whatever she wants, right?”

  “You said it.”

  Ever since their mother had miraculously recovered from a three-year coma that doctors had once said was irreversible, her daughters had indulged her every whim. They were so damned happy to have Clare back in their lives, they didn’t care what she asked of them.

  “I’m calling to remind you about the interview tomorrow.”

  For a brief second, Maggie’s brain went completely blank as she stood in her office, facing the window that looked over the back side of the vast property. “Uh, what interview?”

  “Maggie! Come on! You said you’d do it with us. We’re counting on you.”

  The details came back to her all of a sudden, a sit-down with one of the local news shows with Kate and Jill. Apparently, people were interested in how Kate Harrington had both her sisters working with her in Nashville, and Kate had agreed to the interview, provided they got it done before the baby arrived. “Stand down, Counselor. I said I’d do it, and I will.” Even if it would require hair and makeup before noon, something that rarely happened these days.

  “They’re coming to Kate’s at ten tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “At nine, for hair and makeup.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Ashton said you found someone for your therapeutic riding program?”

  “I did. He’s starting today.”

  “Congratulations, Maggie. You worked so hard to make that happen. I’m happy for you.”

  As the baby sister of two insanely accomplished women, Maggie basked in the glow of her eldest sister’s praise. “Thanks. I’m excited about it.”

  “It’s such an amazing thing you, Kate and Reid are doing there.”

  “Mostly them. Without their support, I couldn’t do what I do.”

  “It’s mostly you, Maggie. They would say the same thing. Don’t sell yourself short. You’re changing people’s lives with that program.”

  “That’s the goal.”

  “You sound down. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing at all. I’m not down. Just busy.”

  “You swear? You’d tell me or Kate or both of us if you weren’t okay, wouldn’t you?”

  “I would.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yes, Jill,” Maggie said, exasperated. “I promise. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “See you then. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.” She ended the call, muttering about overprotective older sisters who felt the need to constantly mother her. That, too, was a holdover from their mother’s accident, when Jill and Kate had become much more than older sisters to Maggie. They, along with their stepmother, Andi, had been the ones to see Maggie though adolescence, puberty, her first period, her first date and many other milestones.

  They were much more than siblings to her, and she was so happy to be able to see them all the time again. She loved them even more than the horses. “But sometimes they drive me crazy with their mothering. I have a mother. I have two mothers, counting Andi.”

  From the doorway came the deep sound of a male clearing his throat. Maggie closed her eyes and counted to five. Dear God, now the man had heard her talking to herself, too? She opened her eyes and turned to him, forcing a smile. “All set with the paperwork?”

  To his credit, he didn’t mention what he’d overheard. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “You’re not going to ma’am me.” She glanced at his paperwork, which listed his date of birth. “You’re four years older than me. I’m Maggie. Not ma’am.”

  “Sorry, ma’am… Er, I mean Maggie.” And the accent… Sigh. It was on the same dreaminess level as Reid’s and Ashton’s. God help her, but he was temptation personified.

  Maggie scowled at him, trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism. “Being called ma’am makes me feel like I’m eighty.”

  He smiled, and holy wow. That smile took him from handsome to staring-at-the-sun gorgeous.

  She blinked, forcing herself to act somewhat professional in the face of unreasonable male beauty. Taking the clipboard from him, she put it on her desk. “Let me show you to your accommodations.” She gestured for him to lead the way, and after locking her office door, she followed him to the driveway, where a huge black pickup truck and horse trailer were parked.

  They walked to the stables, where Maggie introduced Brayden to Derek.

  “Welcome,” Derek said as the two men shook hands. “I’ll get you set up with a stall for your horse.”

  “That’d be great. Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Maggie gestured to a set of stairs. “The apartment is up there.”

  She led the way up the stairs, aware of him behind her and thankful for the jeans she’d splurged on in New York that flattered her figure, even as she told herself to quit having such stupid thoughts in a professional situation. Hadn’t she learned her lesson with the last guy she’d met through her work?

  The memories came over her in a flood of images, things she would never forget. She shuddered in revulsion, and for a terrifying second, she feared she might be sick in front of her new employee. At the top of the stairs, she paused, took a deep breath, tried to find her equilibrium.

  “Are you all right?” Brayden asked.

  Damn it, Maggie thought. The last thing she needed was a new employee seeing her undone over things that happened months ago and should’ve been long forgotten by now. It’d been a while since she’d awoken in a cold sweat after having dreamed about that night and months since she’d moved hundreds of miles away from him. Why was he resurfacing now, in the middle of an ordinary workd
ay? “Yes,” she said, “I’m fine.”

  Taking another deep breath, she released it and gestured to the door on the right. “Derek lives there. Your place is here.” She opened the door on the left side of the landing and led the way inside to a cozy studio apartment with a combined living area/kitchen, a bathroom and bedroom. “It’s not much, but it’s clean, and the furniture is new.”

  “It’s more than enough for me. I don’t need much.”

  He was so tall, he could reach up and touch the seven-foot ceiling. The small apartment seemed smaller with him standing in the living area.

  She handed him a set of keys. “You’ll find sheets and towels in the bathroom closet, and there’s a laundry room off the kitchen that you’re welcome to use.”

  “Sounds great. Thank you.”

  “I’ll leave you to get settled. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “I will. Thanks again.”

  Maggie went down the stairs, eager for some fresh air and a moment alone to recover her equilibrium. Why now? Why when she was showing Brayden to his quarters had those memories popped into her mind to remind her that she could run but she could not hide from the nightmare she’d left behind in New York? Tears burned her eyes as she walked to the back side of the stables to a well-worn path, beaten down by years of feet and hooves traversing it.

  She put her head down and walked toward a meadow that Kate had told her was among her favorite places on the vast property. In the distance, Maggie could see the windsock that marked one end of the runway and the hangar where Reid and Ashton kept their Cessna. When Maggie had fallen off a ladder and been badly injured years ago, Reid had flown Kate home to Rhode Island to be with her.

  Keep thinking about things like that, how surprised she’d been to see Kate there when she woke up from hours of being unconscious, how her mother, stepmother and sisters had helped her with everything for months as she grappled with two broken arms. Think about that. At the time, Maggie had thought having two broken arms was the worst thing that would ever happen to her. She’d since learned it could get so much worse.

  Think about the boys… Eric, John and Rob, who were her father’s sons with Andi, and Max and Nick, her mother’s sons with Aidan. Her brothers had brought her endless amounts of love and joy, especially Eric, who was not only her brother but one of her closest friends. The two of them had shared a special bond since Andi and Eric first came to live with her family, and that bond had only deepened over the years.