Mitch ran his hand over his jaw. “They want to offer me a promotion.”
“That’s wonderful! What would you be doing?”
“I’d be working in the field in Montana, living in a tent miles from civilization. He said with all my wildlife studies and my zoology degree, I’m exactly what they need.”
“Oh, Mitch!” Amanda dropped her needles and smiled at him. “Exactly what you’ve always wanted! I’m so happy for you. I mean, I’m going to miss you like crazy, but it’s not forever, and Montana’s not that far away. We’ll visit a lot. More than a lot.”
Mitch smiled sadly. “To think after all this time.”
Her smile vanished. “Hey, I know that look. What’d you tell them? You didn’t turn them down, did you?” Her green eyes were huge in her suddenly flushed face.
“Not yet. But I will.”
“Now why on earth would you do that?”
“I couldn’t take Emily Jane, and I won’t leave her behind.”
“Oh!” Amanda put her hand to her mouth. “I forgot. But I could watch her for you.”
“For two years?” He shook his head. “It wouldn’t be fair to your family or to Emily Jane. She needs at least one steady parent—not a weekend one. The only person I could leave her with is Cory, if things were different.”
“You mean, if she were a member.”
He sighed and sat back against the couch. “Women give up advancements all the time for the sake of their children. Why should I be any different?”
“I’m sorry, Mitch. Really sorry.”
“Me, too, Uncle Mitch.” Kevin had come to stand by him and patted him on the arm.
“Thanks, Kevin.” Mitch hugged him, trying to squish his own stark disappointment into a remote corner of his mind. “Hey, do you guys want to hold some rabbits out back?”
That was where they were a few minutes later when Cory came through the side gate with Emily Jane in her arms. Mitch went to meet them, and Emily Jane clapped her hands and lunged toward him. “Whoa, girl,” he said. “One of these days you might fall!” The baby giggled at his tone, and Mitch found himself grinning. He didn’t feel as upset as he had even two minutes ago. Her smile had worked its usual magic. He had this beautiful, precious baby, and that was all that really mattered.
“Take a lot of pictures?” he asked Cory. She smiled up at him, and his chest tightened. She looked wonderful in blue jeans and green top, her hair as bright as ever.
“We had a great time,” she said. “Your mountains are incredible.”
“You should see them in the winter.”
Emily Jane spied the children behind him and kicked to get down. Mitch kissed her cheek before releasing her. “I don’t like the cold, but you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen snow fall among the trees up there.” He followed Emily Jane across the lawn, Cory at his side.
“I’ll bet it’s better than a Christmas card,” she said.
Amanda stood awkwardly from a lawn chair. “Hi, Cory,” she called as they approached the patio.
“Hi.” Cory shifted her weight several times, and Mitch wondered why his sister made her nervous.
“Mitch, dear, I should get going,” Amanda said.
Mitch hugged his sister. “Let me know when you’ll need the house.”
“I will. But I think you ought to talk to your boss more about that job before you turn it down. They may have some accommodations you’re not aware of. Promise?”
Mitch wished she hadn’t brought it up in front of Cory, but he tried to act casual. “I will. Don’t worry about it.” He helped Amanda round up the children and get them into her van. When he finished, he returned to the backyard, where Cory and Emily Jane were playing with a white rabbit. He wondered why Cory didn’t get up to leave but was glad she didn’t.
“What new job were you offered?” she asked as he dropped onto the grass next to her.
“It’s nothing.”
“Your sister seemed to think it was important.”
He picked up the escaping rabbit and held it closer to Emily Jane. “Listen,” he said. “She learned a new word. Emily Jane, say bunny.” Emily Jane grinned but didn’t speak. “Oh, come on.” Mitch shook his head in mock disgust.
“Is this job going to affect EmJay?”
Mitch sighed. Apparently Cory wasn’t going to let it go.
“If so,” she added, “I have a right to know.”
Mitch wanted to question her right to know anything concerning him or Emily Jane. As far as he knew, she was still planning to leave Utah in little more than a week. He felt a sense of desperation at the thought. Please stay with me, he wanted to say. With him, not only with Emily Jane. But he knew he shouldn’t even be thinking this way.
“It’s a job in the field studying wolves,” he said aloud.
Cory’s face became animated. “That’s wonderful, Mitch! When does it start?”
He looked away and plucked at the grass. “I’m not taking the job.”
“Why not?”
Mitch was becoming irritated. What was it with these women? He decided what was best for Emily Jane—period. “I’m not going to do that to Emily Jane. I can’t be away from her for two years.”
Cory’s face paled, making her freckles stand out more noticeably on her cheeks and nose. “EmJay could be with me.”
“While you’re out stomping around in a jungle?” Mitch faced her. “Come on, Cory. Let’s be honest. You can take your job because you know you can leave her with me.”
“That’s not true!” Cory jumped to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides. “I’ll do anything I can to have EmJay with me! Anything! But that doesn’t mean I have to give up what I’ve worked so hard for all these years. Do you have any idea how many photographers I had to apprentice with to get where I am? How many overtime hours I worked? How often I risked disapproval from my own fa—” She broke off without finishing.
“I’m happy for you,” Mitch retorted, looking up into her flushed face. “I really am. I’m glad you worked hard and got everything you wanted. I’ll tell you what, I’ve worked hard, too. I’ve stuck it out at this job a whole year because I knew it could turn into something I really wanted, and believe me when I say that I’m still going to check out the options, but I think it’s just not going to be right for me right now. That doesn’t mean I won’t have a chance to do something even better in the future.”
She shook her head. “I think you’re afraid. You’re using Emily Jane as an excuse. And before EmJay, I bet you used something else. Didn’t you? Was it your allergy to cold?”
She had come way too close with that blow. Memory came to him of a dozen times that he’d put off an idea for his career because of his allergy. Truthfully, he had allowed his illness to color his choices, but had his fear written him into this box? No, it wasn’t a box yet. He wouldn’t let it be.
“Face it,” she continued. “You could have pursued another career, but you chose this one, even knowing the chances were that you might have to work behind a desk for most of your life.”
His hands balled up in the grass. “Unlike you, I’m just beginning my career. Yes, I could take this job if I was married and had someone I trusted to look after Emily Jane while I was working. Or if I could leave her with you. But I can’t. I don’t have that luxury. And in the end, it really doesn’t matter that much. Don’t you see? I’m willing to do whatever it takes to give Emily Jane what she needs.”
“I think you should take it,” she challenged.
He rose slowly to his feet. “Why, because you would if you were me? Tell me, Cory, what comes after this photo shoot? Will you stay in the Amazon, or will you go to the next place National Geographic chooses to send you? What if that’s in a country with civil unrest? What if you’re gone months and months? Will they pay you enough to lose out on Emily Jane’s life?”
“This is about religion again, isn’t it!” Cory glared at him.
“Not really. It’s about what it’s all
worth. It’s one thing to be in the fast lane when it only involves you, but now there’s Emily Jane. I’ll tell you the truth—I really thought about taking that job. I thought about what it would mean to me and my career. But you know, I find that when it gets right down to it, I don’t want the job. Not if it means putting my family at risk. And that’s what Emily Jane is to me—family. She’s my choice. While someday I might regret not having accepted the job for what it could have taught me, I have faith that I will never regret giving it up for Emily Jane. Yes, the gospel teaches us about priorities, but when it boils down to it, we’re the only thing standing in the way of being with the ones we love.”
Cory shook her head. “You are so infuriating!”
“Well, at least you’re being honest now with your feelings,” he retorted, “instead of batting your eyes and smiling sweetly at everything I say!” He meant it, too. He preferred arguing to her fake emotions. He preferred screaming from a distance to being close enough to smell her scent.
“Forget it!” With that she turned and started for the gate in the fence. But before she’d taken more than a few steps, Emily Jane stumbled after her. “Moncree! Moncree!”
Cory turned around and bent to hug the baby. Her eyes flitted to him briefly and then away again. Still fuming and not trusting himself to refrain from either yelling at her or taking her into his arms to kiss her, Mitch scooped up Emily Jane in one arm and the white rabbit in the other and started for the pens by the shed.
Cory was gone when he returned, and Mitch went into the house feeling mean and grouchy. What was with that woman, anyway? He tried to make a stable life for her niece, and all she did was challenge him at every turn.
He settled Emily Jane in the high chair and cut up little bits of meat, potatoes, and carrots for her dinner. Then he got out a bottle of pears and a baby spoon. When his doorbell rang, he tensed, unsure that he was ready to talk to anyone at the moment.
Tyler was at the door. “Hey,” Mitch said. “Come on in.”
“So,” Tyler asked casually—too casually—as he followed Mitch back to the kitchen where the baby was making a big mess. “Have you talked to Cory lately?”
Mitch whirled on him. “She’s impossible! I tell you, I’m really considering not letting her spend so much time with Emily Jane.” He didn’t mean it, but it felt good to say.
“You can’t do that, not when it’s going so well! If you’re going to make trouble, can’t it wait until after the baptism?”
The spoon Mitch held clattered to the linoleum. “What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know?” Tyler’s green eyes widened. “I thought . . . I mean, she told me not to tell you at first, but last night when we met with the missionaries, she said she’d tell you today.”
“Tell me what!” Mitch growled. He grabbed his brother’s T-shirt in his fist and pulled him close.
“She’s getting baptized!” Tyler voice rose to a squeal as Mitch’s hand tightened the neck on his shirt.
Mitch released him so fast that Tyler stumbled backward. “When? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She didn’t want me to! Probably didn’t want you to obsess about it. As for when, she decided on that Saturday after the Fourth. I think that whole bit with you being in the hospital and spending time with our family really helped.”
Mitch rubbed his jaw, feeling smothered in heat. Perhaps that’s why Cory had lingered after dropping Emily Jane off today—because she planned to tell him of her decision.
But what game is she playing? he wondered. It all came rushing back, their argument and his offer to share custody if she became a member. But not like this. She was supposed to really mean it.
He looked at Emily Jane in her high chair, so innocent and unaware of his turmoil. Was it lip service Cory planned to give to the Church, or had she really felt the Spirit and been converted? He believed wholeheartedly in miraculous conversions, but the timing indicated otherwise.
He gave a disgusted growl. “She’s doing this to share custody.”
Tyler shook his head violently. “No, I really think she means it. We had a little trouble with her the first couple times we met, but lately, it’s been really smooth.”
“Since that Saturday, I bet.”
“Well, maybe.”
Mitch nodded. “I still don’t see how she thinks we can share custody if she’s in Brazil.” A ripple of fear shuddered up his spine. This was wrong. All wrong. He felt it more strongly than anything he’d ever felt before.
Yet he wanted to believe. If Cory had somehow recognized the truth, maybe there could be something more between them. Maybe he could explore the feelings that threatened to overcome him every time he saw her.
Tyler looked at him askance. “I’m sorry, Mitch. I thought you’d be excited about it. Look, I’d better get to Cory’s. Savvy and the missionaries are meeting me there for her last lesson. I was going to ask you to come, but maybe you’d better not this time.”
Mitch watched his brother back out of the kitchen and head for the door. He started to follow, but an impatient grunt from Emily Jane in the high chair prevented him. He took a deep breath and bent to pick up the spoon.
Could Cory’s conversion be real?
He hoped so. Oh, please, let it be real. Maybe he should go to her. Maybe he should take her in his arms and tell her how he felt once and for all. She might have feelings for him, despite what she’d told Evan.
He was pulling Emily Jane from the high chair when the phone rang. He hurried to the counter to pick it up. “Hello?”
“Son, where’ve you been? I called three times. I left a message.”
“Sorry, Dad, I was outside. Amanda was over.” The baby in his arms kicked to get down, and Mitch placed her by the toy piano his mother had bought.
“Look, I got a call from our lawyer. He tried to call you several times as well, but there wasn’t an answer, and he was leaving for the weekend.”
The fear he’d experienced earlier with Tyler turned into a shiver of dread. “What’s happened?”
“Late this afternoon, Cory’s lawyer filed a petition for a custody change based on some wording in the Grayson’s will. Unfortunately, our lawyer thinks she might actually have a shot.”
“But those papers are solid! He said so. Cory’s lawyer even said so.”
“Apparently there was a part that mentioned a possible change in custody if Cory were to become a member of the Church.”
Mitch’s fear was a lead ball in his stomach. “Tyler was just here,” he said without emotion. “Cory has been seeing the missionaries. She told them she wants to be baptized.”
There was a brief silence on the phone and then, “I was afraid something like that would happen.” His father let out a long sigh. “Our lawyer said that we can argue that the change would have to happen while your friends were alive. Plus, the estrangement between Ashley and Cory gives us a lot of weight. Since the courts are reluctant to change status quo, especially when the child is doing so well and has so much support, we have an excellent case. Still, there is always the possibility you might lose.”
Mitch couldn’t believe her methods, but at least he was getting what he wanted—Cory was becoming a member.
Even if she doesn’t mean it?
He shook the thought away. Aloud, he said, “So you’re saying there’s a good possibility I might have to share custody.” He thought it overkill that she was going through a lawyer when he had already promised to share custody if she joined the Church.
“No, Mitch,” his father said. “You don’t understand. She isn’t asking to share custody. She is suing for full custody.”
A moment of shocked disbelief filled Mitch’s heart, followed swiftly by burning anger. Fury. How could she do this to him? He’d been so nice to her, allowing her to see Emily Jane, even giving her time alone.
“Son?” came his father’s voice.
“I feel so . . . betrayed,” Mitch managed to say through the hurt and ang
er.
“Well, let’s look at the good side. She is getting baptized. And that means she’ll have to listen and learn, to make a good showing for the court. There’s always the chance that her heart will be softened.”
Mitch didn’t bet on it. He knew she’d planned this all along. He picked up Emily Jane and hugged her tight, tears leaking from the orners of his eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tonight was Cory’s last official meeting with the missionaries, though they assured her they would continue to visit after she was baptized on Saturday. Cory didn’t really care. EmJay was all the commitment she needed.
Her attorney had advised her to wait to file legal papers until after her baptism, but Cory couldn’t wait. She had been able to delay her job with National Geographic for a few weeks and could possibly delay it longer, but she was hoping not to do that. If necessary, she’d go to the Amazon and spend some of her exorbitant wages to fly back for any custody hearings. She had conceded to the attorney’s wishes by a week so that while the papers were filed when she was not a member, she would be one when she appeared at the initial hearing. The attorney had also expressed a concern that the judge might not like the idea of her taking EmJay out of the country. Cory decided to face that challenge if and when it came.
“Tyler’s back,” Elder Savage said, coming into the kitchen where she was eating a piece of toast to tide her over until they left and she could have dinner. “Should we begin?”
“Let’s wait until Savvy gets here.”
He nodded and went back to the living room. She could hear them talking and joking together like the boys they were. Amazing that they considered themselves messengers of God.
Yet sometimes Cory found herself forgetting their inexperience as well. They seemed so sure at times, so forceful. Still, whatever else she must do, she refused to allow them to dictate her internal spirituality. She’d done that with her father for too long.
Not AshDee. No, her sister had managed to get free despite their father, and in a way had freed Cory as well, since her father’s death was hastened by her traumatic departure. But that didn’t mean AshDee had found the truth.
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