by Judy Baer
“Are you planning to do anything to change that?”
His voice was bland, but the question sent up flares in her mind.
“What could I do?” She suddenly felt off-kilter.
“Get out more. Live your life. Make friends.”
“I must look like a real loser to you, Ty.”
“Not at all. In every aspect of your life—except your driving, of course—I think you’re a winner. I find it odd that you don’t realize it yourself. It’s not my business, Hannah, but maybe it’s time for you to have some fun in your life.”
“What with raising Danny and Trisha, my sister’s financial immaturity, paying the bills, losing my job...”
“My point exactly.” Ty gave her an enigmatic look and shrugged those wide shoulders of his.
“Maybe you should take some of your own advice,” she pointed out bluntly.
“Touché.”
She was still considering her conversation with Ty at bedtime. He asked too many questions for which she had no answers. How did she feel about her widowhood after so many years? She’d tried not to think too much about it until she’d met Ty. She slept restlessly that night and woke up feeling ragged and weary. It was Ty’s fault, Hannah decided. He asked too many questions.
* * *
The next morning when Ty returned from his run Danny, Irene and Lily, in her wheelchair, were in the kitchen.
His grandmother was managing to leave her room more often lately, probably because Hannah insisted on having her do therapy exercises three times a day. She was almost back to her old self.
“What’s going on here?”
“We’re making breakfast for Mom,” Danny said proudly. “Did you get the flowers?”
“I did. Three dozen. I’ll put them on the table. I also got a card. I’ll sign it from Lily and me.” If anyone deserved flowers, it was Hannah. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty about not solving her curiosity of last night.
“Don’t put my name on the card. I already have a present for her,” Lily told him.
“Shh,” Irene said. “I hear her coming down the stairs. Everyone in their seats. Sing when she walks in.”
Doing as they were told, they scrambled into chairs and began singing when a disheveled Hannah stepped into the kitchen. She clapped her hands to her face and a sweet smile spread over her features.
“So this is what you were planning.”
“Irene made your favorites, Mom. Baked French toast, turkey sausage and yogurt parfaits.” Danny patted the chair beside his. “Sit here.”
Irene began to serve, while Lily regaled them with a story about the birthday party Ty had organized for her when he was Danny’s age. Ty had thought that Lily would love having a party with all his young friends, and Lily had found herself playing softball and ruining her outfit when she slid into third base.
That was, Lily reminded them all, when she was just a spring chick—still in her 60s.
“Now it’s time for my present,” Danny announced. “You’re going to love it, Mom. Lily helped me with it, but it was my idea.”
The child jumped up and ran to the far end of the room, opened a cupboard and pulled out a wicker suitcase. It was obviously heavy, but he was determined to present it to his mother by himself. He dragged it across the kitchen and set it at Hannah’s feet.
“What’s this?”
Danny hopped on his tiptoes excitedly. “Open it, Mom. Open it!”
Ty felt his curiosity increase. If Lily was involved in this, that small case could hold just about anything.
Hannah lifted it to the table and slowly opened her gift.
It wasn’t a suitcase at all, Ty realized. It was a picnic basket. A packed picnic basket. There were plastic containers labeled chicken, potato salad, pickles, strawberries and dessert. At least that was all he could see. The thing was chockablock full.
“How lovely!” Hannah picked up a brightly colored plastic plate. “You and I are going on a picnic.”
“Yeah. Lily said the mountains are great and that she and Ty used to go there.” Danny’s smile was wide.
“You want to go on a picnic today?” Hannah looked confused. “What about school?”
“I thought you could let me skip school today. Please? Your birthday is special.”
She looked at him sadly. “But yesterday you brought home a note from your teacher saying that today everyone would be testing, remember? You can’t miss that.”
Danny’s eager expression dissolved. “That’s today?”
“I didn’t mention it, honey, because I thought it wouldn’t matter. I’m sorry. We can go on our picnic this weekend. Maybe after church?”
“But the basket is full now!”
“I have an idea,” Lily said. “This way your mom can have two birthdays. Ty needs a break as much as you do, Hannah. Why don’t the two of you go and enjoy the picnic?
“Irene will pack another lunch when you and Danny want to go. We want you to have a wonderful day. Isn’t that right, Danny?”
Hannah saw Danny relax. Poor little guy. He’d worked so hard on this only to have it fail over something he didn’t anticipate.
“Ty, will you?” Danny’s eyes were so pleading that Ty would have agreed to any of Lily’s machinations. Besides, spending the day with Hannah was appealing.
“I can swing it.”
“But you have so much work to do,” Hannah protested. “You don’t have to—”
“Where did you plan to go on your picnic, Danny?” Ty asked.
Before the child could answer, Lily jumped in smoothly. “I think the two of you should go to the mountains. Then Danny can take his mother to the park just as he’d planned.”
Ty wondered fleetingly if Lily had somehow finagled all this, but he discarded the notion. She had, however, definitely taken advantage of the moment.
The clouds on Danny’s face fled. “Two picnics? That’s even better, right, Mom?”
He looked so hopeful that it nearly broke Hannah’s heart. “The best, sweetheart. Twice as wonderful as one picnic.” She glanced uncertainly at Ty but couldn’t read his features.
Hannah jumped to her feet and made her way around the table, giving each person a grateful hug. “I’ll go upstairs and get showered right away.” She pressed a kiss onto the top of Danny’s head and hurried away.
“Are you mad at me?” Danny’s eyes were wide as he addressed Ty. “I really forgot about the testing.”
“No, Danny, I’m not mad. It will be a privilege to take your mom on a birthday picnic.” If he were to admit how he really felt about the change in plans, he’d be smiling himself silly.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ty backed his BMW convertible out of the garage. Top down, music playing on the radio, he yelled teasingly, “I’ve got a need for speed. Hop in.” He flashed a boyish grin. Only one word came to Hannah’s mind. Hunk.
She put the picnic basket in the backseat, rounded the silver car and jumped in.
They caught I-70 and wound their way toward and up the mountain. The slopes grew gradually steeper and the landscape greener. She could even feel the air change. The higher they climbed, the more lighthearted Hannah became.
Impulsively, she put her hands in the air. “Wheee!”
“What kind of driver am I if you think you’re on a roller coaster?” Ty asked with a grin.
“This is as close as I’ve come to a roller coaster for a while. Trisha and I went on one once and I threw up all over her.”
“Then you are wise to err on the side of caution.”
The air grew cooler and thinner as they climbed and Hannah’s excitement grew.
“I love to come up here. It’s so beautiful and so grand,” she said. “It’s a snapshot of what our Creator can do.”
“When I was a kid, we came to the mountains a lot. My grandfather always said he could have been a mountain man given half a chance. He was a big, strong fellow.”
“Not exactly a place for Lily, however.”
Ty laughed out loud. “Now there’s a picture.” He turned to look at her. “Is there someplace special you want to go?”
“Take me to the place you and your grandparents used to go for picnics.”
“It’s been so many years. We spent a lot of time around Evergreen. If you take this road far enough, you’ll end up in Vale.”
“Do you ski?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, when I have time. I’m particularly fond of black diamonds.”
“And I’m on the other end of the spectrum. Give me a bunny hill any day. Steve and I never had a lot of extra money to spend, so my abilities are pretty limited. My parents were excellent skiers, though.”
“Then someday I’ll teach you.”
Pleased, Hannah closed her eyes against the sunlight and enjoyed the feel of the wind whipping through her hair.
She must have dozed off because when she awoke, the car was parked and Ty was spreading a quilt on the ground beneath a canopy of trees. The picnic basket was at his feet.
She stretched sinuously as she got out of the car and walked toward him. “I don’t know why I’m so sleepy. I didn’t think I was that far behind on rest.”
“You’re relaxing. We have all day. Take a siesta if you like.” Ty sat down on the blanket and pulled the basket into the center of it. “It’s your birthday.”
Her curiosity got the best of her. “Let’s see what Irene put in that basket.”
As she was removing containers from the basket, Ty reached for the largest one. “If this is Irene’s fried chicken, we’re in luck. Best I’ve ever tasted.” He popped the lid to reveal crusty golden pieces. “Perfect.”
There was a mound of potato salad, crisp pickle wedges and fresh strawberries with a creamy fruit dip.
They filled their plates and ate in comfortable silence.
“This mountain air makes me ravenous,” Hannah helped herself to a third piece of chicken and another scoop of salad. “This is embarrassing. I usually don’t eat like a hard laborer.”
“I’d think something was wrong with you if you didn’t.” Ty stretched out along one side of the blanket, one hand propped beneath his head and the other forking food into his mouth. He looked like a model for a Ralph Lauren photo shoot—a sophisticated man of the manor lounging against the lush, green background of his estate.
How had she found herself in such close proximity to such a nearly perfect specimen of manhood after all these long, lean years of widowhood? Hannah wondered this as she dug deeper into the basket.
“This is still half-full. What else could Irene have packed in here?” She lifted a 9 X 13 pan from the flat bottom of the basket and carefully lifted the lid.
“Chocolate cake!”
Happy Birthday, Hannah! was emblazoned in pale buttercream frosting across the chocolate fudge.
“And more chocolate. The whole bottom of the basket is covered with candy bars.”
“Danny’s contribution, no doubt. He knows my weaknesses.”
“You have weaknesses?” Ty acted shocked. “Other than your driving abilities, I mean.”
She swatted at him playfully. “You should act more surprised that I have strengths,” she teased.
“I have no doubt of that, Hannah. In fact, I...” He bit off whatever he was about to say and instead pointed at the cake. “Cut me a slice of that, will you?”
She probably had chocolate all over herself and she didn’t care. The nice thing about Ty—and something she’d appreciated in Steve—was that he liked her without artifice.
When she’d announced once that she was going to the drug store to refill some prescriptions for Lily and buy herself some makeup, he’d asked her why. “You look good the way you are. Don’t mess it up.”
He’d blushed and backtracked immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you what to do. I just think being natural... Go ahead, don’t listen to me.”
In the end, all she’d purchased was some soft pink lip gloss and a new clip with which to tie back her hair. If Ty, Danny, Lily and Irene all liked her the way she was, why, as Ty had said, should she mess it up?
“Want to take a walk?” Ty inquired.
“Actually, what I’d love to do is wade in that brook.” She pointed to the burbling stream a few yards behind them.
“The rocks are slippery.”
“I brought pool shoes along. They have excellent treads.”
“And I have tennis shoes in the trunk that will grip the rock. I guess we’re all set then.” He rose languidly and held out his hand to her. “Let’s go.”
They each changed shoes, then his hand engulfed her smaller one as he led her toward the water. She felt delicate and feminine next to him. Oddly, she also felt safe. That was how it had been with Steve. As if nothing could touch her when she was with him.
The water, which was mountain runoff, felt colder than she’d expected as it swirled around Hannah’s ankles. Once, a small silvery fish swam over the top of her foot and she would have sworn another nibbled at her toe. She romped and frolicked like an otter until she felt the bottoms of her rolled-up pants getting damp. Her already-curly hair was a mass of red ringlets. And if she was a playful otter, then Ty was a big, calm golden retriever, patient, tolerant, vigilant, watching her with pleasure. They hiked in the stream as far as they could before growing too cold and turning around and returning to their picnic spot. He kept her hand tight in his.
She dropped onto the blanket spread on a bed of pine needles, puffing. “That was hard work, keeping my balance in all that water!”
“Tired?” Ty took off his wet shoes and squeezed the water out of his socks.
“I am. Maybe I will take that siesta after all.”
“You do that.” He dropped onto the blanket beside her and to her surprise, pulled her close and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Happy birthday, Hannah.”
“Very,” she purred as she curled on one corner of the coverlet and laid her head on her folded hands—and then nothing.
* * *
He watched her sleep. She made little faces as she catnapped, smiling softly, wiggling her nose, once even arching her eyebrows. It was as entertaining as a dozen movies. She reminded him of Danny as she slept, a beguiling innocence radiated from her.
Hannah captivated him. She was steady and strong for Lily, understanding and helpful to Irene, patient and loving with Danny and far more compassionate and tolerant with Trisha than Ty thought he could ever be in her situation. And uncomplaining. Whatever any of them dished out, including him, she took in her stride. She was fragile and bold, delicate and sturdy, funny and serious, a most complex personality.
He shouldn’t try to analyze it, but that was easier than admitting the realization that he was falling in love.
He groaned a little and she squirmed in her sleep before going still again.
Anita was still there, drifting on the edges of his consciousness, but he’d thought about her less lately. It was as if she was releasing the hold she had on him. But he knew it wasn’t that. Anita would never have wished for him to grieve as he had, to shut off that part of his life. She’d loved him too much. He’d done that to himself.
And now there was Hannah.
They’d had an inauspicious beginning. But her natural beauty and subtly beguiling ways had charmed him since the moment she’d moved into his house.
Ty tucked his hands beneath his head and closed his eyes. God’s ways were not man’s ways. This was just one more bit of proof of that.
He awoke to a tickle under his nose.
Hannah was there, fanning a bit of green fern in his face and humming. He sat up sharply.
“What time is it?”
“Almost five.”
“Have you been awake long?”
“About a half hour. I had another piece of my birthday cake. This mountain air makes me famished. I could eat a steak right now and still not be full!”
“We didn’t pass all that many restaurants on the way up, but
we’ll go down another way. I know just the spot.”
She must be really hungry, he thought, for she immediately began gathering things up to put in the car. She had dirty feet, tangled hair and a smudge of chocolate frosting on her nose. She was beautiful.
The road down the mountain that he chose was far more winding and precarious than the way they’d come up. He found himself thinking of ways to keep Hannah in his company just a little bit longer, before he had to share her with the rest of his household. Ty found the spot he was looking for and pulled into the parking lot of a low, rambling wooden building with a faded sign that said EATS on it. The building hung just on the edge of a fast-moving creek, which they could hear when Ty opened his window.
“This doesn’t look very promising,” Hannah said, squinting in the oncoming dusk. Once the sun set it was very dark in the mountains.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Ty turned off the motor and hopped out. “Come on.”
The building didn’t look much more promising on the inside, Ty thought, but he remembered it as his grandfather’s favorite restaurant. He was willing to give it a chance for old times’ sake. A tiny woman wearing an enormous apron and white orthopedic shoes exited the kitchen. She was followed by man in his late fifties wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. The shirt didn’t quite make it over his generous belly.
“Tyler Matthews! Is that you?” The woman ripped off her eyeglasses and began to polish them on a corner of the apron. “It’s been a month of Sundays since I’ve seen you.”
“Hi, Rita,” Ty said.
“You’re still a picture of your grandfather only even more handsome! I knew you were going to be that way from the time you were a little boy. You remember my son, Jerome, don’t you?”
The man waved a spatula at them.
“I certainly do. Is Eddy here?”
Rita looked sad. “He passed on four years ago. We miss him, but he’s having more fun in heaven than the rest of us here on earth. And your grandparents?”
“Gramps is gone, but Lily’s still Lily.”
“Did you come here for dinner? Or just out of curiosity?”
