Tempest Torn

by Nicole Andrews Moore

  “Da da!” The little boy exclaimed happily.

  Bending, he picked up the kid so he could close the door without worrying about catching little fingers. “Sorry, little man. I’m definitely not your daddy. Let’s go find your mama.” Then he carried the little guy into the kitchen. “Look what I found,” he announced.

  There was a young woman with the same dark brown hair color as the tot in his arms, the same blue eyes, sitting at the bar, fawning all over Brantley. He sucked in a breath, barely hiding his disgust. What was it with this guy? Then he caught Marti’s eyes. She was staring at him, her lips on the mug, frozen in place. What was it he saw there? Could she be imagining the kind of daddy he’d be to their child? Secretly, he hoped so. Somehow, he had to get through to her. Just when he thought he had made some kind of breakthrough, she set her mug down hard on the island and rushed past him to her room.

  Without considering what he was doing, he passed the baby off to his mother without so much as an introduction. Then he went after Marti. Unsure of what he would find when he entered her room, he pushed the door open slowly. She wasn’t sobbing on the bed. He shut the door quietly behind him. Instead, she was doubled over the toilet. There were tears in her eyes. “Oh babe,” he murmured sympathetically. “Nauseous?”

  Nodding, Marti grabbed for a wad of toilet paper to swab her nose and dab at her eyes. “Sorry,” she whispered, then clamped her lips tightly shut. It was as though she was afraid to talk, concerned with what might come out of her mouth next.

  Holding out a hand, Joey nodded for her to take it. “Come here. I know a trick.”

  Slowly, she reached out and knotted her fingers with his. Silently, he directed her until she was standing between him and the vanity. Reaching around her, Joey turned on the sink to cool water. Then with both hands, he held her wrists under the water. “I don’t know why, but this always works,” he assured her.

  Tentatively, Joey wrapped himself around her to offer comfort and support. She seemed so weak and fragile lately, so unlike the woman he had fallen for. Even thinking that made him swallow hard. After a minute or so, he felt her relax some.

  Finally, she spoke. “Thank you. It did the trick.” Then when he hadn’t moved, hadn’t let go, hadn’t stopped holding her, she turned to face him. “We should get going.”

  “Right.” His response sounded sad, even to his ears. Joey had no desire to share her with anyone, not Reagan, not the town, and especially not Brantley. He just wanted some time alone with her to have the serious conversation she so desperately needed to hear. Nothing came out right the other night. He knew that. Never one to work well under pressure, he had come to rely on her to manage him. At the moment, she couldn’t even manage her own emotions. She was in no condition to help him with his. Reluctantly he let go, afraid of the physical distance between them.

  Wiping at her eyes, Marti slowly turned and looked up at him. Her face was serious, her lips pursed, ready to speak. Out of fear, he wanted to beat her to the punch. Shaking her head, she put a finger over his lips. “Wait. Not now. We’ll say everything that needs to be said later.”

  Brow furrowed, as much as he hated to admit it, she was right. They had people waiting on them. Reaching up, Joey removed her finger. “Okay,” he quietly agreed.

  Soon they were all loaded into Marti’s minivan. While Joey was busy being helpful loading the kid’s car seat, Brantley was sneaking his way into riding shotgun next to Marti. This, of course, left him to sit in the third row. He might as well have been in Tasmania for the distance between them.

  When they parked at Hope House, Keely was sitting on the porch, drinking her coffee. She watched Marti pull in with a smile on her face. As she realized Joey was sitting in the way back, she covered her mouth to hide what he guessed was a chuckle. Brantley, for his part, was looking super pleased with himself. He started to throw an arm around Marti’s waist, but she expertly outmaneuvered him and turned to wait for Joey, who was pulling up the rear.

  “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” he managed through gritted teeth. The alpha in him wanted to rip the limbs off Brantley and beat him with them.

  “Behave.” That was all Marti said. Was this why she had waited for him? Had she anticipated his mood? Really, she should be giving him more than that. Did she just not want a scene? Hell, not knowing how she felt or what she wanted was what was causing all of this.

  Standing at the bottom of the steps, Joey shook his head. “I don’t think I can do this. Maybe you should just go on without me. At the rate things are going, I’m probably gonna put my fist through his face.”

  Staring at him a moment, he waited for a reaction. Marti stiffened then shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Then she turned and walked up the steps, her back ramrod straight. The most telling part of her mood was the lack of swing in her step. Her hips were as immobile as any mans.

  Sighing, Joey struggled with what to do. He crossed his arms over his chest as he paced back and forth on the concrete pad. Stepping off it, he kicked a stone that flew and hit a fence post before bouncing back and coming dangerously close to hitting one of the parked cars.

  “I’d be careful, if I were you, Joseph Masters,” Keely warned.

  Whipping around where he stood, Joey realized he had forgotten he had an audience. While everyone else had headed in for food, she had remained outside. “Sorry, Keely,” he grumbled. “That guy really knows how to get under my skin.”

  “Yeah. I can see that. Seems like he’s pretty good at it too,” she agreed, arms crossed over her chest. “Why don’t you get up here and we’ll talk about it like calm civilized adults, instead of the caged beast you are behaving like at the moment.”

  It wasn’t just a request. Joey had been alive long enough to recognize the difference. Still, she was right. He didn’t need to be shouting about his private business in front of her public one. Trudging up the steps, he stopped when he reached the top. Scratching his head, he wondered how he had ended up here, like this. Marti was driving him crazier than Finn ever had.

  “So what happened to upset you, besides being relegated to the back seat?” she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

  Sitting heavily in one of the rocking chairs, Joey leaned his elbows on his thighs and studied the ground while he contemplated the answer. “I don’t know. He just acts like they’re together. They’re not together. There’s no way I’m gonna let another man raise my baby. Suddenly I wake up this morning and they’re going to the festival together and he’s acting like he’s doing me a favor inviting me because I’m living with them. Only I’m not living with them, he’s living with us. And I really just want to beat his ass. And Marti isn’t speaking to me. And I don’t know what to do.” His words had come out in an almost nonsensical rush. With that purge, he sat up and looked at Keely sadly. “Can I stay here? If she doesn’t want me, I can’t be around her anymore. I can’t watch her be with some other man.” The pending attack was almost out of control. He was suddenly short of breath, holding his chest.

  Keely looked at him with such sorrow in her eyes. It only made him feel worse. “Oh, Joey. You know this is a terrible time of year for me. Next Saturday is Valentine’s Day. I’m booked all week.” She smiled and elbowed him as she spoke. “There’s nothing more romantic than a bed and breakfast, right?”

  Swallowing hard, he responded. “Right.” He felt weak. Wiping his brow with the back of his hand, he realized he had broken out into a sweat.

  “Listen,” Keely began carefully, “I think you need to stay there. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Fight for her. If you really want her in a forever kind of way, then let her know because, I have to tell you, Marti is a forever kind of girl. She’s not like anyone you’ve ever been with before.” Reaching over, she rubbed his shoulder. “Now why don’t we go inside?” She stood and tried to urge him toward the door, but it was absolutely useless.

  Shaking his head, Joey sighed. “I think I’m going to walk home. It’ll do me good to
clear my head. Then I’m going to go to Lowe’s and pick up a few things for projects on Marti’s list.” He smiled shyly at that admission. “In some ways, it makes me feel like her bitch, but I’d rather be her bitch than be anyone else’s lover.” Standing, he shrugged at his own explanation. Then he reached out and gave Keely a hug. When he released her, he simply turned and walked down the steps.

  It didn’t take more than twenty minutes to reach the house. Joey felt better the more distance he put between himself and Brantley. He kept comforting himself with the knowledge he and Marti would talk later. They’d work through this. They had to.

  Once in the driveway, he went straight for his truck. He didn’t even go inside. The list Marti had made for him was one he had recorded in an app on his phone. Every time she added to it, he altered the note. Really, Joey loved working with his hands, especially for her. Feeling lighter and incredibly calm, he drove towards Fort Mill. He’d pick a project when he arrived.

  In the meantime, he was finally hungry. With no time schedule and no one to report to, Joey stopped at Chick-fil-A and ate a chicken biscuit. When he left, he brought his sweet tea with him. It wasn’t as good as Bojangles tea, but it was darn close.

  Hopping back in his truck, he finally ended up at his original destination. Like most Saturdays, the place was packed. Unlike the rest of the customers, Joey knew right where everything was. In no time at all, he had headed to the check out. Behind him, he could overhear a couple arguing about whether or not to get tarps for the upcoming storm.

  He couldn’t help himself. Marti had already started planting her garden. If there was a storm heading their way, he needed to prepare for it. Turning around he looked at them, “There’s a storm coming?”

  The husband was first to respond. “Yeah. They didn’t think it was going to make it past the mountains, but now it is. Going to dump right on the piedmont.” He frowned at his wife.

  “Yeah. It’s supposed to be a winter mix. Not cold enough for snow, but predicting lots of hail, which is why I want to get tarps.” She crossed her arms and glared at her husband.

  Biting his lower lip in thought, Joey brightened. “We still have tarps in the garage from before they fixed the roof. I’ll get her garden covered before she even gets back home.” Then he looked at the couple again. “Thank you!”

  A few minutes later, he had finished checking out, thrown the lumber and wire for her silly chicken coop into the bed of the truck. A grin broke on his face when he imagined Marti caring for chickens. “That crazy woman.”

  Climbing back into the cab of the vehicle, he considered what else they might need around the house. After all, sometimes, with these hailstorms the power could go out, trees might be down, and they could end up trapped for a few days. Hot chocolate. Joey started the list in his mind. Yeah, some nice dark chocolate hot cocoa, some marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars. They should always keep S’mores supplies on hand now that he’d built her a fire pit, and even if she hadn’t yet used it. Keely was right. She had spurred him to action. He needed to fight for her. No matter what, he wasn’t going to give up.

  Making one last stop on the way home, Joey parked at the Harris Teeter. Since he’d been shopping for years, he was in and out of there in less than half an hour, despite the number of people who had also decided this was the ideal time to do their storm shopping. He felt lighter than he had in days as he imagined snuggling Marti near the fire while they roasted marshmallows. He had even decided to make the cocoa super special by picking up a can of Reddi Whip.

  It was on the drive home that the sky began to darken. Joey hoped Marti and her friends made it out of the festival before the weather hit. When he pulled into the driveway, her minivan wasn’t there. Walking purposefully into the house, he put away the bag of groceries he had picked up, then he turned his attention to emptying out the bed of the truck in the carriage house. Smiling, he realized he still had yet to convert it into the garage she had requested, but honestly, he was giving her time to rethink the decision. She might change her mind after she finished some of the other projects. Personally, at the rate she was going, he was thinking it might be a better barn.

  Looking out the big opening, Joey discovered the sky had gone completely dark. The rain was already falling in huge intermittent drops. It wouldn’t be long before the storm would cause damage to her tender seedlings. “Time to find those tarps,” he murmured. Walking to the back workbench area, he looked on the shelves. He opened every cabinet. For some reason, he couldn’t find them when he would have sworn they were last on the workbench.

  The drops started to increase in intensity, bits of hail started to bounce off the driveway. “Thank God we replaced her roof. It never would have survived this storm.” One final thought occurred to him. Maybe the guys had needed the tarps upstairs for some reason. Joey rushed to the back door and entered the house. After drying his feet on the mat, he headed through the house and took the stairs by two. As he looked through the second floor, he couldn’t find the damn tarps anywhere.

  Checking the windows to make sure they were all shut and locked, he reached the ones in the back bedroom overlooking the garden. That’s when he saw the tarps. They were flapping around. It took him a moment to understand what was going on. “Dammit!” he growled. “She’s in the garden in this weather. She’s already seemed run down from the pregnancy. She doesn’t need to get sick.” Suddenly running down the stairs and out to help her was the most important thought in his mind.

  Rushing out the door, he found Marti struggling to cover the garden and protect her fragile plants. “Get inside!” Joey ordered. She didn’t even look up. Maybe she didn’t hear him over the howling winds. “Get up! You need to get in the house!” This time he yelled at the top of his lungs.

  All it earned him was a headshake. “I need to finish,” she explained stubbornly.

  “I’ll do it. Just go. Get dried off. You’re gonna get sick.” Bending down, he gripped her under her elbows and started to lift her up off the ground where she had been kneeling.

  Struggling against him, she just kept mumbling, “I need to save them.”

  Shaking his head, Joey protested. “You need to take care of yourself and our baby.” Glancing back at the driveway, he realized her vehicle still wasn’t here. “How did you get here anyway? Where’s the minivan?” Setting her on her feet, he waited until she had her balance before releasing her. Branches and old leaves were whipping around. Hail was bouncing off the ground around them. He had been hit periodically, so she had to be getting nailed too.

  “What do you care?” Marti demanded, as she wiped at the water streaming down her face, a combination of tears and rain.

  “You don’t have to get all mean about it. I was just curious about your mode of transportation. I didn’t want you overdoing it. That’s all.” He frowned at her, wondering where all the hostility stemmed from.

  “I never went to the festival. I came home after breakfast. I had them drop me off and let them take the vehicle since the car seat was already strapped in it.” She sighed heavily at him, obviously frustrated. “And I meant the baby. What do you care about this baby?” She swiped at her nose as she bent over to wrestle with the last tarp.

  Clearly she wasn’t going to budge on the tarps. Grabbing a couple of cinderblocks from a pile behind the carriage house, he helped secure the tarp. All the while he worked, he tried to figure out how to respond. Every time he looked at her, he was almost too shocked to speak. It was like she didn’t know him at all. Finally, he just blurted out his thoughts. “What do you mean? Of course I care. That’s my child you’re carrying. You get that, right?”

  Closing her eyes, Marti shook her head. Wet hair plastered itself to her face. Without thinking he reached out and smoothed it back behind her ears.

  Coming closer so he wouldn’t have to shout to speak, Joey calmly spoke. “I care. How do you not see that?” Just then, a huge hailstone hit him in the shoulder. It stung like a moth
erfucker. Bending slightly, he scooped her up and carried up the steps and onto the protection of the back porch. “I just wish…” His voice trailed off. He was frustrated with her, with the situation. Worse, he had no idea how to fix it.

  “You wish what?” Marti asked. For a moment he looked at her, unsure of how to respond. Then she snapped at him. “What! Answer me! We haven’t really talked in days. You’ve been skulking around the house. Fucking talk to me! I can’t handle this. What do you want?” Her face clouded over with anger, but Joey was angry too.

  “Choose!” he shouted without considering the ramifications. “I want you to choose,” he added more quietly. The ache in his chest started again, the pain he bore from the mistake he made. Joey wanted it to go away. Only Marti could take away his pain. She just had to pick him, be with him and only him.

  “I have to choose?” Marti shook her head. “What? I should choose like you did?” Her cheeks reddened.

  Throwing his hands up in the air, he growled. “It was a mistake. I’m allowed to make a mistake or two.”