“Sure. She says it doesn’t matter. She’s a doctor, too, but her parents footed her bill.”
That’s how Beth was, too. She didn’t care about money. What she cared about was him. And yesterday he’d made her cry. He bit the inside of his mouth to distract himself from the remorse welling up inside of him. “Sounds like you’ve got a good woman.”
“She is. I’ll send the nurse in to give you the vaccinations.” He set the form on the small desk in the corner and headed for the door.
“Go home and tell your fiancé that you love her. Then set the wedding date. You owe her that much.”
“Maybe I will.” Dr. Olsen grinned and saluted him. “Bon voyage!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kaylee handed Beth a book with a princess and a rabbit on the cover. “Hold this please. It’s my favorite in the series.” Kneeling on the floor of Beth’s foyer, Kaylee continued digging in her school backpack. “A-ha!” She pulled out a ceramic mug painted with blobs of paint to resemble flowers. “This is for you.”
A lump formed in Beth’s throat as she turned the mug around. The flowers were orange and blue and the stems were thick green strokes. “Did you make this?”
Kaylee nodded. “It’s supposed to be for Mother’s Day. Since you’re kinda like my mom, I want you to have it.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, she resisted the tears. No one had ever given her a Mother’s Day gift. In fact, the holiday always sent her into a funk. After she spent the obligatory two hours with her own mom at the church tea, Beth would lie on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, reflecting on her past.
This Mother’s Day would be different. Holding the mug’s handle, Beth reached her arms out and wrapped Kaylee in a tight hug. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” When she inhaled, she took in the scent of peach shampoo. She wanted to tell Kaylee that she would gladly stand-in for her mother, but her real mother was out there. Beth swallowed. “Has your Dad said anything about your mom lately?”
Kaylee shook her head. “No. Do you think I can go to that thing at the church on Mother’s Day?”
“I’d like that.” She put the mug down on the coffee table. “Did you ask him for permission?”
“I’m afraid to.”
Was there any validity to that order of protection that Gola had filed against the man? “What are you afraid of exactly?”
The girl sighed. “That he’ll get mad and say bad things about my mom. That’s what he usually does if I mention Mother’s Day.” Her lower lip quivered. “I know she made mistakes, but I still loved her.”
“Of course.” Beth pulled her in for another hug. They both needed it today. “It’s natural to love your parents.” Every time Beth tried to talk to Jim lately, he was either too tired or Kaylee wouldn’t give them any privacy, but they seriously needed to have a talk. “What time is your Dad getting home from work tonight?”
Kaylee shrugged, just as Beth expected. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I’ll ask him if you can go to the Mother’s Day Tea with me, if you’d like.”
Her eyes seemed to light up. “Would you? You’re the best.”
# # #
When Jim stopped by around seven p.m. to pick up Kaylee, Beth was a woman on a mission to make a little girl’s day. “We need to talk.”
He adjusted the Cubs baseball cap on his head. “Some other time. It’s been a long day. I had to drive to Detroit and back.”
Having never been there, Beth guessed it was between a six and eight-hour drive roundtrip. She wondered if he kept a gun in his glove box like Parker had said. “I understand, but you’re always tired.” She saw anger flash in his eyes, but she pressed forward. “Can’t you tell Kaylee to get ready for bed and then come back?” She glanced at Kaylee who was absorbed in another episode of Star Trek Voyager. “It’s important.”
He rubbed his scruffy chin. “If you’re sure it can’t wait.”
“Positive.”
“Come on, Kaylee.” He raised his voice to compete with the television. “It’s time to go.”
“Awww,” the little girl replied. As usual, she rose and when she walked closer to her father, it was as if she was caught in his gravitational pull. She ran to him and hugged his waist. “I missed you.”
He tousled her dark hair. “I missed you, too.” He led her next door and Beth paced while she waited for him to return.
About five minutes later, he knocked on her door. He stood on her stoop as if he didn’t want to step inside. “Can you make this quick? I really am beat.”
Nodding, she waved him toward the living room. She closed the door. “You might want to sit down for this.”
“I don’t think so. Just talk.” The gruffness had returned from their earlier encounters.
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I have a couple of things to say. First, before I forget, Kaylee would like to go with me to the Mother’s Day Tea on Sunday. It’s at the First Church. Is that all right with you?”
His eyes looked tired. “That’s what’s so important that I can’t go eat my dinner and put my feet up?”
“Well, that and something else.”
“I think she’s spending too much time at that church. She’s starting to ask why we don’t worship God for making the plants and animals.” He shook his head. “She doesn’t seem to realize that same God allowed her sister to die.”
Beth took a deep breath. “But that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I did some investigating and it turns out Willow didn’t die in that car accident.”
His jaw twitched. “What?”
“Her sister. A girl named Willow Moon, I’m assuming Moon was Gola’s maiden name?” She waited for him to nod, but he just stared at her with steely eyes. “A Willow Moon is currently living in foster care. Isn’t that wonderful?”
He lowered his eyebrows. “You’re telling me no one died in that accident? If that’s true, why is Gola serving eight years for vehicular homicide?”
“She killed a man and a girl in the other vehicle.”
Shaking his head, he rubbed his chin again. “It can’t be.”
“It looks like Kaylee is lucky. Both her mother and her sister are alive.”
He took a few steps away as if he needed space to gather his thoughts. “I’ve decided to wait until she’s older to tell her about Gola.”
That struck Beth as wrong. “But you could make this Mother’s Day the best ever for Kaylee.”
His focus remained somewhere in the distance. “I’m her father and I get to decide what’s best for her. Visiting her mother in prison is hardly an experience for an eight-year-old girl. Trust me.”
But you wouldn’t have to visit her. Just knowing her mother’s alive would be enough. Plus her sister’s out there. You could bring Willow to live with you guys.”
His shoulders rose in a frustrated sigh. “I can barely manage being a father to Kaylee. Have you forgotten CPS is breathing down my neck? I don’t need to add another child to our household.”
“But she’s Kaylee’s sister! You have to take her in.”
“I don’t have to do anything except raise my daughter. Willow isn’t my responsibility. Let her father step up to the plate.”
“Her father’s in prison.”
A burst of bitter laughter came from his throat. “Of course.”
“You can’t let her stay in foster care. Hasn’t Kaylee told you how horrible the other kids were to her when she was in the system?”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” He clenched his hands. “I’m Kaylee’s father and I’m taking care of her. End of story.”
“Seriously?” Beth squinted at him in disbelief.
His fist slammed against the wall and Beth jumped. Her heart took off like a jack rabbit.
“Damn it! You need to mind your own business, Woman.” The door slammed behind him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Beth’s mother stood at the podium in a peach dress. “Welcome to our annual Mother’s Day Tea.
It’s such a pleasure to see so many mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and children here together. Let us bow our heads in prayer. Thank you, God, for this opportunity to celebrate the importance of family in all its forms. We know that blood is not what matters, but love. Thank you for teaching us about love through your son Jesus Christ and thank you for the food which we are about to receive. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”
When she looked up, Beth noticed clouds had blocked the sun from shining through the windows of the fellowship hall. The gray sky represented the way Beth usually felt on this holiday, but she was trying hard not to be depressed this year.
Mrs. Wilson, who sat beside her at the long banquet table, smiled at her. Her thin face had tanned from working in the garden, giving her a healthy glow. “Happy Mother’s Day.”
Beth cringed. Did Mrs. Wilson know about Hannah or was she just trying to make pleasant conversation? “Same to you.”
Across from them sat three-year-old Jamal and six-year-old Jaxson, the Wilsons’s newest foster kids. They chattered and bickered the way brothers did.
Waving at Maria and her mother as they walked by, Beth picked up her paper napkin, then placed it in her lap. She turned toward Mrs. Wilson. “Where’s the rest of the family today?”
“Melina has a softball game and Sam had a research paper he needed to work on. Once they’re teenagers, I’ve learned to give them their space.”
Nodding, Beth considered her plate. A slice of ham, a roll, potato salad and baked beans. Nothing appealed to her. All she could do was think about a little girl she’d never met and the one she’d learned to love. “How do you do it?”
Mrs. Wilson cocked her head at her. “Excuse me?”
“How do you do it?” Beth looked at the boys to make sure they weren’t paying attention. They were playing some kind of hand-held video game and making gunfire sounds, so she continued in a soft voice. “You take kids into your home and then give them back whenever their parents are ready for them. Doesn’t it break your heart?”
“I’ll tell you what I told Melina when her pet cat died. Whenever you allow a living thing into your world, you know that both joy and pain will be part of the package.”
Of course.
The woman with the laugh lines stirred sugar into her tea. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Sharing our days with others is what makes it all worthwhile. If I didn’t fill my house with children, I’d have no reason to get out of bed in the morning.”
Beth nodded. “But why do you foster? Why not adopt?”
“Because they need me. Especially the older ones. Everyone wants to adopt a baby. Very few people are willing to take on kids who have been around the block.” Glancing at the boys, she’d obviously chosen her words carefully. What she hadn’t said was “kids with baggage.”
That’s what Willow was. A kid with emotional baggage that possibly no one would want. Did Willow know her mother was alive? Did she know about Kaylee? Beth sent up a silent addendum to the earlier prayer: Please let Willow be in a loving home like the Wilsons’s.
Even if she was, how could Jim leave Kaylee’s little sister there? Kaylee needed Willow. She needed to know she wasn’t alone in this world.
Mrs. Wilson directed her attention to the boys. “It’s time to put away the game and eat your food.” They groaned quietly and Jamal tucked the game into his pocket.
Beth’s mom greeted the parishioners at the table as she made her way to sit next to Beth. She glanced at the plate Beth had prepared for her filled with a small sampling of everything on the buffet. “I thought you were bringing Kaylee today.”
“Jim wouldn’t let me. He’s mad that I dug into his past and found out about Gola and Willow.”
Her mom took a sip of her lemonade. “It must be quite a shock to him. Maybe in time he’ll come around.” Picking up her plastic silverware, she started cutting the meat.
“I don’t think so. He was furious when I said he should take in Willow. I think he’s purposely keeping Kaylee away from me as if he’s afraid I’ll tell her everything. And the truth is, I just might.”
Her mom’s silver hair swung as she turned toward her. “It would be better if her father told her.”
“I know, but if he won’t do it, someone should. Don’t you think?” Beth pictured her Aunt Allison, her mom’s younger sister, with dishwater blonde hair and fair skin like Beth’s. A few years ago, Aunt Allison had had a breast cancer scare, but she was now in remission. “I mean, if you thought your sister was dead and it turned out she was alive, wouldn’t you want to know?”
Her mom pressed her hand to her chest as if it were painful just considering the scenario. “Of course.”
“Kaylee’s still a child. Her only friend is Maria. If she had Willow, it would mean the world to her.” A picture of Kaylee playing on the swings in the apartment complex with the girl in pigtails formed in her mind. There was hope for Kaylee to start making more friends, at least. But a sister was so much more than a friend.
Her mom took a bite and finished chewing before she spoke. “Beth, you have such a big heart, I worry about you. I think you’ve become even more attached to Kaylee than you were to your ex’s niece.”
Thinking about Emma, the three-year-old she’d left behind when she’d broken up with her ex, still made her feel guilty. They’d lived together like a real family and Beth had assumed they’d continue that way. Eventually she realized that her ex only wanted to play house and had no intentions of ever making it legal. He didn’t want to marry her and he didn’t want to put her name on the mortgage. That’s when she knew she had to move on. Yet here she was again. Attached to a little girl that would never be hers.
Melancholy seeped into her. She wanted to get home before anyone noticed. After she cleaned her plate, she reached an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Happy Mother’s Day. I’ve gotta go.”
“Don’t you want some cake?”
“No thanks.” No more empty calories for her.
Her mom rose. “I’d better go slice the cake before everyone leaves.”
Jamal and Jaxson looked up at Mrs. Wilson, but only the older boy spoke. “Can we get some cake?”
Mrs. Wilson put down her fork. “Can you?”
“I mean, may we?” Jaxson corrected himself.
Nodding, Mrs. Wilson pointed at Jamal. “Tuck in your shirt, young man. You represent not only the Freeman family, but also the Wilsons.”
The boy tucked in his collared shirt, then ran with his brother to the dessert table.
Mrs. Wilson leaned toward Beth. “It’s important to teach them to take pride in their appearance.”
“I never thought about that. How’s Sabrina, by the way?” She was one of the Wilson foster kids when Beth had been a teenager.
“She graduated from Purdue and works at NASA now.”
“Wow.”
“Did you know only half of foster kids finish high school and only five percent graduate from college?”
Beth shook her head. “That’s terrible.”
“Coming from a dysfunctional family can erode a child’s self-esteem. That’s why I take my role as a foster parent so seriously. Every single one of my kids has graduated from high school and gone on to either college or vocational school.”
“You’re amazing.” Suddenly, she longed to see Kaylee even more. Maybe Beth should start asking to see her homework and encourage her to talk about careers. Hearing the rumble of thunder, she picked up her dishes. “It was nice talking to you.”
Less than ten minutes later, she parked her car. It started to sprinkle on her walk between the lot and her apartment, so she picked up the pace. As she approached her door, she noticed a basket sitting on her stoop. It was the basket Jim always used to deliver his home-baked goods to her. With a spring in her step, she contemplated what might be inside. Granola? Oatmeal raisin cookies? Brownies? Everything he made, with the exception of the prune cookies, was delicious. It was a miracle that Kaylee seemed to be
slimming down with such constant temptation.
A card with a child’s pencil drawing of girls playing jump rope on the front topped the basket’s contents. Kaylee had labeled the stick figures with the names Beth, Kaylee and Maria. The one named Beth stood taller than the others and didn’t have her hair shaded in. Lifting the flap, Beth read “Happy Mother’s Day!” in Kaylee’s big print letters and in cursive, she assumed from Jim, it said “Thanks for everything.”
Her eyes started to mist as she lifted the red and white checked cloth to reveal a ball of pizza dough, a jar of homemade marinara, fresh mushrooms, pepperoni and a recipe card for how to bake the pizza. This had been the first meal Jim had ever prepared for her. He probably didn’t know it, but pizza had always been her favorite, an indulgence she rarely allowed herself. She looped the basket handle over her arm and knocked on their door to thank them.
No one answered. Her eyes scanned the nearby playground, but the swings were empty. Jim parked his truck in a back lot, so she couldn’t see if his vehicle was there. She knocked on the door again. She had no idea what Jim and Kaylee did on the days when they didn’t need Beth to babysit.
An elderly lady with a beagle walked by and Beth recognized her from the day Kaylee had broken her arm. The woman, holding a black umbrella, stopped and turned around to face her. “If you’re looking for the people who live there, they moved out this afternoon.”
“What?” The old woman must be mistaken. “That can’t be. They just left me this basket.”
The woman reached down and scratched her dog’s back. “There was a big semi parked right out front and I saw them loading furniture.”
Beth raced to their picture window. Cupping her hands, she peered into an empty living room as raindrops landed in her hair. Beige carpet and white walls stared back at her. The couch and chairs were gone. Tightness squeezed her chest and she stepped back. “I can’t believe it.”
“Didn’t they say good-bye?” the woman asked.
“No.” Beth’s eyes wouldn’t focus. She dropped the basket.
“For shame.” The lady continued walking down the sidewalk and her dog’s claws clicked along happily under the shelter of her umbrella.
Next Door Secrets (Secrets Series Book 2) Page 20
