A Mother's Conviction (Secrets Series Book 3)

by Karen Lenfestey

  His smoky blue eyes seemed to turn down at the edges in sympathy. “I’m sorry. Being unemployed sucks.”

  A staccato laugh burst from her. “Yes, it does.” She took a breath and corralled her feelings. “The truth is I didn’t even want the job. I needed it, but I didn’t want it. You know what I mean?”

  He nodded. “You probably figure you put in all of those years in college, you deserve to work somewhere that you like.”

  Wow. “Exactly.”

  “Some people think if they make a lot of money, that will satisfy them, but I suspect it’s not true. I mean, I barely have enough to get by, but I’m fine with that. What about you?”

  “What? Am I content?” This guy had a way of cutting through all the layers that unnerved her. “Well, I liked the law, but once I became a mom, my priorities shifted.”

  “Of course.” Their conversation lagged. “Got any more interviews lined up?”

  “Just one. I’ll probably blow that, too.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I used to be so confident. An interview is like the courtroom. It has a script; the other side tries to throw you, but a good attorney never lets them see her sweat. Sitting in that chair today, I realized that’s not who I am anymore. I like being a stay-at-home mom. I like fixing dinner with vegetables my daughter and I picked from my garden and I like going for walks with her in the woods. That’s what I want to spend my days doing, not suing people.”

  “Then why don’t you?”

  Pressure formed in her forehead. “Because I have a huge mortgage to pay. My husband thought it would be great to raise our daughter in the country—even though neither of us knew anything about farming. Your grandfather was nice enough to share some of his equipment and teach us about the crop cycle. But now he’s gone and my husband’s gone. . . .” She pressed her fingers into her throbbing temples before she blurted out about her $100,000 in student loans, too.

  “Your husband left you?”

  “He died.”

  “Oh.” His posture changed and he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “I’m sorry.”

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. Everyone in town knew so she hadn’t needed to tell the story often. “He was chopping wood and he had a heart attack.”

  “That explains you and the ax this morning.”

  “I saw it there, right where he’d put it and I pictured his body lying on the ground. I guess I lost it. I’m so angry that he left me and Zoe. . .” She squeezed her eyes tight to push back the tears. What was it about this man that made her spill her guts? “You must’ve thought I was crazy.” Her lips attempted a small smile.

  “Well, I made a mental note never to cross you, that’s for sure.”

  They shared a quick chuckle before she sobered. As a farmer, her husband hadn’t had employer benefits and due to a congenital heart defect, he couldn’t get much life insurance. It had covered funeral expenses and partially funded the past two years of her being a stay-at-home mom. “Anyway, my savings account has run out so I need to find something.”

  “Now that your daughter’s in school, don’t you get bored during the day? Maybe work will be a good distraction.”

  The pounding continued in her forehead. “Sure. I wish I could only work while she’s in school, but being a lawyer means putting in 70 or 80 hour weeks.”

  “What about the farm? When will you have the time to take care of your crops?”

  “I don’t know anything about it really. My husband did that.” Black spots formed in front of her eyes. If she didn’t lie down soon, the migraine would make her sick. And she still needed to make Zoe’s birthday cake. “I’ve got to go.” She turned away without saying another word.

  After she went home, she kicked off her pumps, popped two aspirin and mixed up a Duncan Hines cherry chip cake mix. While it baked, she put a cold wash cloth on her head and lay down on the couch. The sun was too bright, so she pulled all of the curtains before curling up on the couch again. Her headache swallowed her. She worried about finding a job and told herself she should get up and clean the house before her family arrived for the weekend, but she couldn’t move.

  The blaring of the smoke alarm woke her. Bolting upright, she ran through the darkened room and opened the oven. The cakes were black. Gray smoke swirled around her, making her cough. Shoot! This day couldn’t get any worse!

  She decided to let the cakes cool before she dumped them in the trash. Turning off the oven, she glanced at its clock and saw that it was a little after four. She started lifting the windows on the first floor to try and clear the stinky smoke. A cool breeze wafted in as she heard the loud engine of Zoe’s school bus driving away.

  Just as she opened the last pane, the front door opened to reveal her towheaded daughter biting into a cookie dotted with blobs of chocolate. She reached out and gave her a hug, which sent warmth and joy through her body. It almost made her forget what a lousy day she’d been having.

  Melodie closed the door and the dreadful smell of burnt cake encircled them. “Where’d you get the cookie?”

  “A nice man gave it to me.”

  Her heart jerked. “Was it a teacher or the bus driver?”

  The girl shook her head. “Neither. He said it’s for my birthday.”

  “How many times have I told you not to eat anything a stranger gives you?” She thought about grabbing the cookie away. Was she overreacting?

  “He wasn’t a stranger. He’s Bella’s daddy.”

  She didn’t recall hearing about a girl named Bella in her daughter’s class. “Did you make a new friend today named Bella?”

  Nodding and another bite. Crumbs clung to the corner of her lips. “Best of all, she rides the bus with me all the way home. We’re the last two to get off.”

  “So she lives close by?”

  “She’s our neighbor. Mr. Walker was her great-granddad.”

  The headache threatened to return. Did that mean the man who said it was no big deal about forgetting to take Zoe’s picture had a daughter? How had that not come up in their conversation? Of course now that she thought about it, she still didn’t even know his first name.

  She went to the window and saw a man and a little girl walking along the river toward a white clap-board house. “Is that her?”

  “Yes. And even though she’s two years older than me, she was nice. She said I could come over for a playdate. Can I, Mom?”

  “Uh. Maybe sometime.” She hardly knew her neighbor well enough to let him chaperone a playdate.

  “I mean now. She invited me over today.” She wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?”

  “I tried to bake you a birthday cake, but I’m afraid it burned. Sorry. We can go to the store to buy another mix.”

  “That’s all right. I’d rather play with Bella. Can I? Huh? Please?” She finished off her cookie.

  A deep breath bought her time. Who was this strange man anyway? He rode a motorcycle and repaired doors and baked cookies? She felt compelled to find out more. Especially if Zoe was going to beg to play with his little girl. “I think we could go over for a little visit.”

  Her daughter jumped up. “Yippee!”

  “First let me change.” She slipped on a pair of dark jeans and her University of Michigan law school sweatshirt. “I’m not promising that we’ll stay very long.” She grabbed her purse and made sure her checkbook was inside. “Let’s go.”

  Her daughter skipped while she walked along the river. Melodie couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Zoe so excited. Ever since Paul had died, living there seemed to have a permanent shadow over it. There weren’t any kids on their street because most everyone around was old enough to retire. It seemed that farmers never did, though. The younger generation left for jobs in the city while the older folks remained to care for the land that had been in their families for generations.

  She knocked on the screen door to her neighbor’s house for the second time in one day.

  Wh
en he opened the door, his expression went from closed to open. “Well, hello there.”

  “What are you doing giving a five-year-old you don’t know a cookie?”

  “I’m six, Mommy,” Zoe’s voice piped up. “Today I turned six.”

  “Yes, I mean, six.” Melodie nodded. “She’s only in kindergarten. I’m trying to teach her to be safe, you know.”

  Zoe gazed up at her with a worried look on her face. “Don’t be mad, Mommy. I told you he wasn’t a stranger. You said don’t take candy from strangers, but he’s Bella’s daddy.”

  Feeling guilty for always being so quick to anger, Melodie touched her daughter’s blonde crown. Anger seemed to be her go-to emotion ever since Paul had died. Part of her still couldn’t believe she’d chopped down her own front door. “I’m not mad at you. Next time, check with me before you eat something someone gives you.”

  “What about the school lunch?”

  “That’s okay. You don’t have to check with me then.”

  “What about snack time at school?”

  “That’s okay, too.”

  Just then a girl with pudgy cheeks and nearly-black hair pushed past Mr. Walker’s hip. “Zoe!” Her sapphire eyes lit up. “Wanna see my room?”

  Zoe grinned. “Can I, Mom?”

  “Sure.” Her daughter hadn’t been on a lot of playdates with anyone except her cousins. Not too many girls wanted to build things with Legos and blocks, so Zoe had said she’d rather play by herself. Melodie was surprised to hear her daughter giggling as she and her new friend ran deep into the house. She turned her focus on the man with the hair that curled past his ears. “Anyway, why didn’t you tell me you had a daughter?”

  “You never asked.” One side of his lips quirked up.

  She would not let him work his magic on her. Opening her purse, she reached for her checkbook and pen. “I insist on paying you for the door. To whom should I make out the check?”

  He held up his hand in protest. “Seriously. It was no big deal. If I hadn’t done that, I would’ve had no excuse to avoid going through my grandfather’s stuff. It’s so hard sorting through another person’s prized possessions and deciding what to do with them.”

  She swallowed. “Yeah.” That’s exactly what she’d been avoiding for two years now. Paul’s clothes still hung in the closet and his watch rested on the night stand. “Well, at least tell me your name.”

  “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

  Was he flirting with her? It had been so long, she wasn’t sure. “Melodie. And you are?”

  He seemed to hesitate. “I’m Conner. Won’t you come in?”

  Hearing the squeals of little girls’ laughter from inside, she didn’t want to drag Zoe away quite yet. “I guess so.” Once she stepped onto the scuffed hardwood floor in the small living room, the sweet scent of cookies teased her nose. “Mmm, it smells good in here.” Much better than the burnt cake smell of her house.

  “I’ll get you some.”

  “I wasn’t hinting.” But it had been a long time since she’d had a homemade cookie. Baking, clearly, wasn’t her forte. While he disappeared into the kitchen, she wrote him a check for what she figured a new door would cost and left it on a stack of outdated Field & Stream magazines. A dining room with a tarnished chandelier, pine table and a gun rack was visible in the adjoining room. She recognized all of the humble furnishings as belonging to the elder Mr. Walker.

  Conner returned with a saucer of cookies and a mug of milk. He gestured for them to sit on the red and black buffalo plaid couch, which reminded her of one of Paul’s flannel shirts.

  Shaking away the memory, she took a bite and focused on how the warm cookie dissolved in her mouth. “You really know what you’re doing.”

  “I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants.”

  “What did you put in here? It’s like a chocolate chip cookie, but it’s not.”

  “I used some left-over Halloween candy. Chopped up Snickers and Reese’s.”

  She took another bite. “I can cook as long as I follow a recipe.”

  “I think it’s more fun to invent my own recipes.”

  “So you’re a chef.”

  He shrugged. “Among other things.”

  She cocked her head at him before devouring the rest of her cookie. She couldn’t stop eating. It occurred to her that she’d missed lunch. “Like what?”

  “Nothing important.”

  “Are you working at a restaurant now?”

  “For the first time since I was a kid, I’m not working or looking for work. I’ve inherited a bit of money from my grandfather so I’m taking a break while I sort through his things.”

  “Do you have any other family?”

  His forehead wrinkled. “I have a few half-siblings, but we’re not close. My parents died a while ago. My grandparents raised me and now that they’re gone, it’s just me and. . . Bella.”

  It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but caught himself. Something about him was mysterious but also she sensed he had a good heart.

  Just then someone knocked on the door.

  A pretty woman with over-processed blonde hair peered through the screen. “Conner, I have something important to tell you.”

  He jumped up and opened the door. “What is it, Sunny?”

  “I was shopping at the mall in Kalamazoo and a strange man showed me your picture. He asked if I’d seen you around.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kalamazoo. That was an hour north of there. Conner’s heartbeat quickened as he turned to his neighbor. “Hey, I’m sorry but I need to talk to Sunny in private. Can we do this another time?”

  “Sure.” Melodie popped up and raised her voice. “Zoe! Time to go.”

  A duet of disappointed awwww ‘s came from down the hall. A minute passed, but the girls did not appear.

  “I’ll get them.” He walked to his daughter’s room, the one that had been his when he’d been a child. The blue walls still held posters of rock bands, but he’d removed the ones of bikini-clad women on motorcycles. Having a daughter sure did make him feel guilty for the way he’d thought of the opposite sex as a teenager. “Girls, Zoe’s mom has to leave.”

  “Can’t she stay for dinner?” Bella asked.

  “Not today.”

  His daughter put down her American Girl doll, the one with dark hair and blue eyes that was supposed to look just like her. It had cost a fortune, but it was worth it. To try and make up for everything.

  “Wait.” Bella ran to her bookshelf and pulled out a paperback. “Here’s my favorite Rescue Princess book. Read it and we can talk about it on the school bus.”

  Zoe took the book. “Thanks.” The girls followed him to the living room. They hugged as if they were sisters and it made his chest ache. He tousled Bella’s hair to distract her from her sadness.

  After the neighbors left, Bella scowled at Sunny. “Who’s this?”

  “This is someone I went to high school with. Sunny, this is my daughter, Bella.”

  Jangling the many bracelets on her wrist, Sunny offered a chipper “Hi.” Bella mumbled one in response and then went to play in her room.

  Shrugging, he suggested they sit. “Sorry.” Was Bella jealous that he had a female friend? Was she worried he might be interested in Sunny? Ha. Not a chance. He would never be interested in any woman—no matter how much he liked getting a rise out of her or watching her curvy hips when she walked away from him. He shook his head to get Melodie out of his thoughts.

  He leaned forward on the lumpy couch and noticed that Sunny had her nose pierced. Personally, he didn’t understand why anyone would pierce that particular body part. “So, what were you saying?”

  “A man who looked about forty years old was standing by the mall entrance. He showed me a picture of you and asked if I’d seen you. He said he was a private investigator.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “Nothing. I figure if you’ve come home to hide from something, I’m not tell
ing no outsider that you’re here.”

  He swallowed as a small wave of relief rippled through him. If the P.I. was in Michigan, how long before he made his way to this town? “Did he say anything else? Like who he’s working for?”

  “No. But he gave me this.” She handed him a folded business card with a Tennessee address.

  “I was worried about this.”

  “What’s going on? Are you in trouble with the law or something?”

  “No.” Well, he might be. “The less you know, the better.” He stood and ushered her to the door. “Thanks for not ratting me out. I appreciate it.”

  “You always walked on the edge, Conner Walker. That’s what made all the girls want you.”

  “I don’t remember it that way.” He hadn’t slept with that many girls in high school.

  Her face turned red. “Well, I guess what I meant to say was that’s what made me want you.” She rose on her toes and kissed him. On the lips.

  He didn’t respond but he didn’t pull away either. It had been two years since he’d been with a woman and his body had almost forgotten how intoxicating it could be.

  “Daddy!” Bella screamed. Somehow his daughter had returned to the living room under his radar. “Don’t kiss her. I hate her!” She pushed Sunny’s hip then ran down the hall.

  The crimson returned to Sunny’s face. “I guess I shouldn’t have done that. When I saw you today, I thought this was my chance. To go after what I’d been too shy to go for in high school.” She looked down and toyed with her bracelets. “I’m so embarrassed.”

  “Don’t be. I need to talk to my daughter, though. Catch up with ya later?” He opened the door wider.

  After she left, he went to check on Bella. Her American Girl doll was kissing Ken and then they started slapping each other. He cringed. “Bella.” He sat down beside her on the floor. “Why are your dolls fighting?”

  “Because that’s what grown-ups do.”

  He had never dated anyone since his daughter had come to live with him, so what was she talking about? “Who did you see fighting?”