A Family for Easter

by Lee Tobin McClain

That evening, Eduardo sat outside on the grass, warm in the setting sun, watching his two kids and Fiona’s four play with Brownie and Sparkles.

  The grey-muzzled mama dog barked from a seated position, and Brownie kept bounding in circles around his mother. When he got close enough, she sniffed and licked him. Their obvious happiness about being together made Eduardo glad he’d given in to his kids’ pleas.

  Fiona approached, looking in the same direction and then smiling down at him.

  He started to get to his feet, but she waved a hand and sat down beside him. “Sorry you caved?” she asked, a dimple tugging at the corner of her mouth.

  He dragged his gaze away from it and shook his head. “Once I saw how excited Sparkles was to see Brownie, I was a goner.”

  “She gets around well on three legs.” She hesitated, then added, “Did you know Sofia is making a connection between Sparkles and your wife?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She had cancer and was separated from her child. Sofia told me she thought Sparkles wanted to be with Brownie the way your wife would have wanted to be with her and Diego, if she could.”

  The words hit him unexpectedly hard, and he couldn’t speak.

  Fiona seemed to read his emotions. She touched his hand and then shifted into a more comfortable position. “You okay?”

  He nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. Boys don’t cry. He could remember his father saying it, but it was a lie and one he’d never repeated to Diego.

  Still, he didn’t want to break down in front of her just because his daughter had compared a hurt mama dog to Elizabeth. He was relieved when she changed the subject. “Sparkles is a sweet dog. If you hadn’t adopted her, I might have done it myself. So, I’m really glad you did.”

  “I didn’t know I could have shifted the burden onto you.” He smiled at her and she smiled back, and they were just two parents sharing the humor and the challenges of raising kids.

  It was lighthearted. And then it wasn’t.

  Fiona’s eyes were green with gold flecks, and as he held her gaze, they seemed to darken.

  His heart stirred in ways it hadn’t since he was courting Elizabeth.

  She must have detected the intensity, because she looked away. “I...I shouldn’t take on any more responsibility, like another dog, because I need to think about what to do next,” she said quickly. “After the dog-walking business failed, I thought I would never start another one, but all of a sudden now, I’ve been considering it again.” She still wasn’t looking at him.

  “What...” He cleared his throat. “What would you do?”

  “I keep looking at that barn back behind us. I’m wondering... Could I buy it and make it into a wedding venue? Barn weddings are so popular now, and I love weddings.” She met his eyes, looked away and blushed furiously.

  He pushed out a chuckle. “Most women do. Have you researched the business side of it?”

  A muscle twitched in the side of her face, the same side where the dimple had been. “Yes, but probably not enough. It’s not my strong suit.”

  “Hey.” He leaned a little closer, just to try to make her feel better. “No entrepreneur loves the research side of it, at least nobody I know. You have to do it, but that’s not the most important skill.”

  “You think not?” She looked past him toward the old barn behind her property. “I like the idea of a wedding business because I could manage the hours. Do the prep work when I have time, or when the kids are in bed. Slow it down when things are busy at home. So, it would work with raising the kids. And it’s a lot of the skills I am good at—organizing parties, decorating, caterers and food.”

  “And romance?” he asked teasingly, and then he could have kicked himself. What kind of a joker said something like that to a lady?

  She didn’t take it badly, though; she just snorted out a little laugh. “That, I’m not so good at. But I’m not the one who has to be romantic. I’d leave that to my clients.”

  “Wise.”

  She leaned back on her elbows. “I don’t have much patience, though. Never been able to pay a whole lot of attention to details. So...” She shook her head. “I really shouldn’t be planning another business endeavor.”

  “It takes time,” he said. “When I started doing landscaping on the side, it seemed to take forever to get from two clients to five. I must have given out hundreds of business cards. I put up flyers everywhere. I came close to giving up, cashing in the equipment I’d bought and just taking more overtime at Hinton instead.”

  “How’d you stick with it?” She actually sounded interested.

  He leaned over and plucked a blade of grass, held it up to the sun. “I started to realize a business is like a garden. You can’t just put in the seeds and expect to be harvesting tomorrow. There’s a growth process. Plants need sun and air and water. And time.”

  “Yeah.” She looked over at her terraced vegetable garden, sat up straight to look again and then jumped up and ran over there. “Hey! Eduardo, c’mere!”

  He followed, bemused to see her squatting in the grass in front of the terraces, studying the soil like a little kid. “Look! Something’s coming up already!”

  He studied the ground. “Yep. That’s the lettuce. We planted it, what, nine days ago? And it’s been nice and warm.”

  “I’m so excited!” She laughed up at him, her smile broad, eyes dancing.

  “What’s that, Mommy?” Poppy ran and banged into Fiona, then crouched to stare at the ground. The two of them looked so cute together, like the cover of a seed catalog.

  An impression that was instantly broken when Brownie came loping over and ran carelessly through the garden, taking out a good six inches of lettuce seedlings just on the one pass.

  He put his fingers to his lips and gave a loud whistle. Brownie stopped, and Sparkles, who’d been following her son, froze as did all the kids.

  “Okay, everyone. I need your help keeping the dogs out of the garden until we get a fence up.”

  “We need a fence?” Fiona frowned. “I’d rather have it be open.”

  “We weren’t anticipating two active dogs,” he said.

  “Yeah, that’s true, I guess.” She studied the ground Brownie had torn up, picked up a tiny broken seedling. “Guess these little babies aren’t going to make it.”

  “A fence will fix it,” he reassured her. “It’ll keep the critters out, too.”

  “Okay,” she said with instant trust in his judgment. Then Ryan and Maya tugged at her hands and she followed them across the yard, laughing at some story they were telling. Sofia ran over, and Fiona reached out an arm to include his daughter in with her kids.

  He watched them in the twilight, in the guise of replanting a couple of seedlings. Couldn’t stop himself, not really.

  He only wished he could put up a fence around his heart to keep out the uncomfortable feelings he was having toward the very pretty mother who grew more appealing the more time he spent with her.

  Chapter Seven

  “Are you sure it’s okay to leave all four of them with you?” Fiona asked Daisy the next Saturday. Colorful kids’ crafts lined the tables in the activity room of the Senior Towers. Fiona’s four kids had never been here before, but Maya had already sat down with a couple of other kids, clearly intrigued by their egg-painting project. A woman with short, stylish white hair and a colorful caftan held up an egg and demonstrated how to paint it.

  “Absolutely,” Daisy said. “We want kids. That’s what this is all about. Right, Adele?”

  “Right,” the caftan-clad woman said, smiling. “Come on over.”

  Poppy clung to Lauren and Ryan looked from Fiona to the tables, his brow wrinkled.

  “Go ahead, guys,” Fiona encouraged them, walking over to the tables with Daisy. Her kids followed. Moments later, Adele had them all set up with mate
rials and she was showing them different ways they could color their eggs.

  “They’ll be fine,” Daisy assured Fiona. “A couple of other kids are coming, I think. We’ll keep them entertained, and you can help decorate the lobby and cafeteria. They really need some adult volunteers out there.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.” Truthfully, a couple of hours working and talking with adults sounded blissful.

  Behind them, a deep chuckle. “Well, well. Look who’s here.”

  Chief Dion. Fiona looked over at Daisy and saw her friend suck in a breath, her face reddening.

  Fiona extended a hand in greeting. “Hey, Chief Dion, what are you doing here?” she asked. “Are you going to paint Easter eggs?”

  “If I’m needed,” he said, then looked at Daisy. “I didn’t know you were volunteering today.”

  “I didn’t know you were.” Daisy crossed her arms over her chest.

  Wanting to ease the awkwardness between the two of them, Fiona cast around in her mind for conversation. “I didn’t know you liked working with kids. You don’t have any, do you?”

  Something flashed in the police chief’s eyes. “I... No. No, I don’t.”

  Way to muck things up, Fiona. “I’m sorry, that was a rude question.” She glanced over at Daisy, who gave her a half smile and a rueful shrug.

  Dion patted Fiona’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry,” he said. “There’s a reason I keep getting invited. Every year, I say I won’t do it—” he held open a large bag to display a fuzzy costume “—and every year, they talk me into it.”

  Fiona held back a laugh at the idea of the tall manly police chief in a bunny suit. “The kids will love it.”

  “Yes, they will,” Daisy said, her voice unusually flat.

  The sound of more kids’ voices made them all turn toward the door, where Sofia and Diego were coming in. “Hey,” they both said to the adults and then hurried to the table where Fiona’s kids were already deep into wax pencils and egg dye.

  Fiona looked to the doorway, and sure enough, there was Eduardo still dressed in the Hinton Enterprises polo shirt and work pants. “Sorry we’re late,” he said and then looked past Daisy and Dion to focus on Fiona. One dark eyebrow lifted a fraction. “Let me guess,” he said slowly, “you’re here to decorate the cafeteria.”

  Dion touched Daisy’s arm and nodded toward the kids’ table. “Want me to help you supervise?”

  “That would be...great.” Daisy sounded just a little breathless.

  Eduardo’s eyes narrowed a little as he looked after them.

  “There you are!” Nonna D’Angelo came into the room, her eyes sparkling behind thick glasses. “Come on, the cafeteria decorating is getting started and we need some youngsters to climb ladders and lift heavy boxes.” Slyly, she reached up and patted Eduardo’s biceps. “I think you’re almost as strong as my Vito.”

  “I doubt that.” Eduardo smiled down at the much shorter woman. “But I’m a hard worker. Lead on.”

  Fiona followed, musing about the interactions she’d just witnessed. Daisy and Dion were rumored to be a couple, but they both claimed to be nothing but friends. Something about the sparkle in Nonna D’Angelo’s eyes, though, suggested that the matchmaking seniors had been involved in making sure the two volunteered together.

  Was there a similar effort going on with Fiona and Eduardo?

  In the cafeteria, chairs had been moved aside to allow those using wheelchairs to access the tables. A group of three women and a man in a red flannel shirt worked on what looked like centerpieces, consisting of low narrow baskets with colored grass, small figurines of rabbits and hens, and colorful ribbons. As they worked, they argued loudly.

  “An Easter decoration isn’t an Easter decoration without candy,” the man said. “We oughta put chocolate eggs all through that grass.”

  “Kirk, you know that half the people here have diabetes, and the kids who are visiting shouldn’t be getting all sugared up.” The woman who spoke wove ribbon through a basket’s rim and held it up for the others to see. “Do it like this, only with all different colors, and tie it in a pretty bow. I can help if you’re not on board,” she said to the red-shirted man.

  “Kids are supposed to get sugared up at Easter,” he grumbled, but he obediently took a ribbon and cardboard and followed the woman’s lead.

  “Over here.” Nonna bustled over to a tall stepladder and a couple of baskets of crepe paper, with scissors and tape beside the baskets. She beckoned to Fiona and Eduardo. “Could you two be in charge of making streamers?”

  “Sure,” Eduardo said. “Right?” He looked at Fiona.

  “Right.” Her sense of being pushed together with Eduardo was increasing. The disconcerting thing was the little jump in her pulse at the thought of working with him. She clenched her teeth, trying to get back to business.

  “Eight or ten of them, meeting at the middle and then back to the opposite wall. And maybe some kind of backdrop for the dessert table.” Nonna patted Fiona’s arm, then Eduardo’s. “Take your time.”

  Fiona picked up a bright pink roll of crepe paper. “Do you want to climb or twist?” she asked Eduardo. Contrary to Nonna’s advice to take their time, she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. She couldn’t believe that she was now volunteering with Eduardo, in addition to living on the same property and working on the garden together. Attending the same church. Was there a day of the week when they didn’t see each other?

  And unfortunately, the more she saw of him, the more she liked him. He’d spoken truthfully—he was a hard worker, and she admired that. But he was never too busy to listen to a child’s story or clean up the pews after services or help carry a heavy package. He had a ready laugh that drew people to him. His faith didn’t just show up on Sundays but was an integral part of his life, as she’d seen in the way he talked to Sofia and Diego, guiding them toward being good Christians and good people.

  Not to mention that the man was gorgeous. As he climbed the ladder, reached up to examine the ceiling and then looked down at her, eyes sparkling, she had to restrain herself from simpering like a middle schooler on her first crush.

  “So,” he said, “if I twist it around these braces, do you think it’ll hold? I’m not exactly an expert at crepe paper streamers. In school, it was the girls who decorated for the prom.”

  “I’d say tape it.” She handed him up the crepe paper and the roll of tape. “Did you go? To your prom, I mean?” Then she felt heat rise in her face. Why had she asked that question? Was it any of her business?

  “I did,” he said. “I took Elizabeth. It was one of our first dates.” His hands went still for a moment, and then he smiled down at her. “Good times.”

  “That’s nice. Nice to know high school sweethearts can make it last.” She’d been awkward in high school and hadn’t had a real boyfriend.

  “We were together since age fifteen,” he said. “Not that our parents let us date that young, but we ate lunch together at school and held hands in the hallways when we could get away with it.” He shook his head as if shaking off the memories. “How about you? Did you go to prom?”

  She nodded. “I went. With a boy who was at least a foot shorter than me. I wore flats and tried to hunch down for the photos, and he was practically on tiptoe. We got ourselves closer to the same height for the picture, but the expressions on our faces!” She gave a fake wince. “Totally miserable.”

  He chuckled. “I had the same problem. I was already six-three in tenth grade, and Elizabeth was a foot shorter. Dancing was a little awkward.” He smiled. “But we figured it out.”

  And they’d been very happy together, from the sound of things.

  “Was your husband tall?” he asked. “Not that it’s any of my business,” he added quickly, attaching the paper on one end and handing the streamer down to her. “Here. You twist, and I’ll move the ladd
er to the center.”

  “He was about my height,” she said, walking backward beside him, twisting the paper. “He didn’t like for me to wear heels.”

  Eduardo laughed. “We men. We get our egos caught up in all the wrong things.”

  Miss Minnie Falcon approached, pushing her walker. She watched as they attached the next loop of crepe paper to a crossbar in the center of the ceiling.

  “Do you think it looks okay?” Fiona asked her.

  Miss Minnie waved a wrinkled hand. “It’s fine. As long as the residents see some color, they’ll be happy, and the same with the children. They’ll all be busy playing games and eating candy.”

  “No candy, Minnie,” said the same woman who’d restricted the man from adding it to the centerpieces.

  Miss Minnie waved a hand and turned away. “There’ll be candy, don’t you worry,” she said quietly to Fiona and Eduardo. “Your kids will have a wonderful time. They’re coming, aren’t they?”

  “Our kids are here now,” Eduardo said, climbing down from the ladder. “I think they’re part of the practice drill for the big party next week. Daisy and Adele are in charge.”

  “And Dion,” Fiona reminded them. “He’s dressing up as the Easter bunny later. I would guess he’ll at least have a few jelly beans to pass around.”

  “Sugar-free,” said the woman at the table.

  “Sugar-free candy gives me gas,” said Kirk, the red-shirted man.

  Fiona looked at Eduardo. His dark eyes twinkled with the same suppressed laughter that threatened to bubble up inside of her. He jerked his head sideways toward the next corner of the room and she nodded and took the roll of crepe paper from him, twisting it as she backed away from the now-lively altercation between Miss Minnie and the table decorators.

  “I’m glad we’re just on ceiling duty,” he said as soon as they were out of the elders’ earshot. “Wouldn’t want to get in the middle of the sugar versus sugar-free debate.”

  “Me, either.” She waited while he set up the ladder and then handed him the roll. “I do my best to keep a balance with my kids, food-wise, but Easter is no-holds-barred candy at my place. Hope that won’t be a problem for you, because I’m sure our kids will want to share the wealth.”