Coming Home: (Contemporary Christian Romance Boxed Set): Three Stories of Love, Faith, Struggle & Hope

by Debra Ullrick

  “You’re good with them,” Keith said when they were both asleep, and he had ambled back over to the little group from his trip to check the horses.

  “Yeah, well. They’re easy to be good with.” She twirled one finger through Isabella’s curl.

  Keith sat down and wound his arms around the backs of his knees which were Indian-style under him. “You wouldn’t believe the nightmare those two have been through. Those other nannies were…” He exhaled his disgust.

  “Yeah, I figured as much.” Her gaze fell to Peter.

  “What does that mean?”

  Maggie’s gaze came up to his, and Keith didn’t like what he was reading there at all. “The other day… yogurt day. Peter kept cringing away from me like I was going to hit him.” Her gaze fell. “I’ve seen that look before with kids that have grown up being beaten.”

  Real, honest concern swept through him. “You don’t think they’ve ever…”

  She shrugged slightly. “I wouldn’t be surprised the way he was acting, and he’s so quiet. He’s terrified to get dirty. Any little wiggle throws him into terror.” She exhaled. “Lots of signs. Lots of pieces, and when you put them all together…”

  Somehow Keith had never realized this could be a possibility. Yes, the kids weren’t treated like kids but beaten? That wasn’t something he’d ever thought was happening to them.

  “You should’ve seen him petting the cat the other day,” she continued. “It was like he was petting it with one hand, and watching out of his eye for the reprimand he knew was coming. They have them on such a tight schedule. You get chewed out for being two minutes early. I don’t know. They’ve got everything, you know. The playhouse, the toys, the nice house, but they aren’t allowed to be kids.”

  Deep in the middle of his heart, at that moment, Keith made the solemn promise to himself that whatever he had to do to keep her here, he would do it. For their sakes. They deserved that much.

  “Having everything isn’t what makes you feel loved,” she continued although his heart already felt like it was overflowing like the falls. “It’s knowing that you’re loved just because you’re you.” She slid her fingers over Peter’s hair. “Every kid deserves that.” The words stopped so she could take a breath. “I wish I could give that to every kid alive. Just the solid, unshakable knowledge that they are good enough just the way they are, that they are loved for who they are. Just that much… it could change the world.”

  Had the world quaked out of existence at that very moment, Keith couldn’t have moved. Finally he understood the attraction of her. She cared—not about the money and the cars and the status. She cared about the person.

  “Well, I for one, hope you get that chance,” he said softly.

  Her gaze slid up to his, and she smiled gratefully. It was the most perfect moment of his life.

  “It’s about time you get back,” Ike said, stepping up as Keith put Buck into his stall.

  Instinctively Maggie backed away without really moving. She cradled Isabella a bit closer and reached down to shield Peter as well.

  “I took the day off. I told you that,” Keith said, and there was a bite to his words.

  “Well, the operation didn’t. Hodges’ truck showed up, and they only have half the load.”

  Not really understanding but wanting to not get in the way just the same, Maggie shrank back. If she could’ve thought of a way to get the kids back to the mansion without riding in the pickup, she would have done it.

  Keith exhaled. “Fine.” He turned to her slightly. “This’ll just take a minute.”

  “No problem,” she said so softly, she wasn’t sure he’d heard. Keith and Ike started to the office, and Maggie followed with the kids, very cautiously and hanging back as much as possible. She considered telling him they would wait in the pickup, but he and Ike were in a heated discussion, and she didn’t want to break in and add more stress to the already tense situation.

  At the office, Keith yanked the door open and stomped inside. Ike followed him but stood at the door with it open. Maggie, careful to shield the children, stood ten steps back and faded against the shadows next to the hard, gray wood of the barn.

  She could hear the angry voices rising as the tension stretched over them.

  “Maggie, why is Keith so mad?” Peter asked at her knee.

  “Shh,” she said, pulling him closer. “Don’t worry. They’re just trying to get some things settled.” How do you explain something you don’t even understand?

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Ayer,” the young driver said, backing past Ike out the office door. “It won’t happen again.”

  “You darn right it won’t happen again. Tell Hodges we get jerked around one more time like this, and we’ll find a different supplier permanently.” Keith whacked the clipboard into the young man’s chest. “You understand that?”

  “Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir, Mr. Ayer. I’ll tell him.”

  “Good. Now get off my property.”

  The words spun through Maggie’s brain in a whirlwind of concern and incomprehension. Mr. Ayer? Why did he keep calling Keith that? And why had Ike let Keith handle that when he was obviously the most senior of the two? Mr. Ayer. Mr. Ayer. The name twisted through her, and she pulled Peter closer to her, trying to make time run backward even as she swayed under the reordering of the world around her.

  “They’ll do it again,” Ike said when the young man was gone. He put one hand on his hip where his brown belt went through the loops just so.

  “I know they will.” Keith looked so mad, Maggie wasn’t sure what he would do next. “Get Mac on the line and tell him we’ll start buying from them on Friday. Then call Hodges and tell him they’re out.”

  The glance that Ike sent in her direction did nothing to settle Maggie’s nerves, which were in knots inside her. “What about your dad?”

  “Let me worry about Dad. He doesn’t have to put up with this junk every day like we do. Friends don’t jerk friends around like that. Hodges just barked up the wrong tree.” Keith stomped back into the office, and Ike followed. Once inside, the voices were too indistinct to make out, and with her head pressed against the barn wall, Maggie fought to block them out altogether.

  Keith was Mr. Ayer’s son. Mr. Ayer, Conrad Ayer was Keith’s father. Her breathing became shallow to the point of being non-existent as her heart broke through that understanding. Slowly her mind traced through the last week. Over and over again, she had humiliated herself in front of the boss’s son. She had leaned on him when her own stupidity caught up with her. Worse, she had told him things, things you didn’t tell people who could get you fired.

  She felt like the biggest idiot on the planet. Her eyes fell closed against the thoughts. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Tears came to her eyes, stinging and harsh, but she beat them back. Sniffing, she squared her shoulders. He must think she was the most gullible imbecile to grace the planet. Yeah, right, he worked so hard out here. What a joke. He was the crown prince of a billion dollar estate!

  At that moment the voices approached the door, and Maggie sucked in the emotions swirling around her. She wouldn’t let him win. He would never know that she hadn’t known. More than that, she would never let him so close again.

  He was Keith Ayer. She was the hired hand, and for her heart and her sanity—not to mention her job, she’d better remember that.

  “I’ll be up at the mansion ‘til morning,” Keith said to Ike who followed him out. At the office door, Ike stopped, holding the door open with his back. “Dad and Vivian will be back bright and early tomorrow.”

  His voice had a hard edge to it that pulled up fear in Maggie’s chest, and it wasn’t only her. Peter’s fingers dug into her jeans in a crunch. Isabella whimpered at her chest, and Maggie pulled her closer. “Shh. Little one. Shh.”

  “Maggie, you ready?” Keith asked, looking past Ike.

  “Oh, y-yeah.” Her voice cracked, and she shook her head in aggravation at herself.

  He turned in the direction of
the pickup, and Maggie stepped that direction as well. When she passed Ike, he looked at her with a mix of disgust and revulsion she couldn’t miss. She ducked her head, lest he see the tears in her eyes. Hurt piled over hurt the farther she walked. When they walked out of the barn and she saw Keith standing at the truck, her heart cracked in two.

  She closed her eyes and then pulled them back open, fighting the hurt with everything in her. “We’d better get back. I’ve got to give the kids a bath before dinner. They smell like horse.” At her side Maggie opened her door and then Isabella’s, but Peter never moved from her knee. “Patty Ann will toss me out on my ear if she gets wind of them.”

  “Pete, come over here,” Keith said, his anger dissipated.

  But Peter was going nowhere. Quickly Maggie latched Isabella in and then took hold of Peter’s hand. Around the back of the pickup she strode, purposefully raking the hair out of her face. On his side, Keith stood solidly by his door, waiting for Peter; however, Maggie never gave him the chance to so much as touch the child. “I’ll get it.”

  He backed into the space of his door, but only that. She didn’t care. Anger snapped through the hurt, and at the moment that was a far better choice. At least that way she didn’t have to worry about crying in front of him and completely humiliating herself.

  When Peter was latched, she reached up and ruffled his hair. “Good boy.” Then she stepped back and slammed the door. “What’re you standing around for? You want Patty Ann to fire me?”

  Keith seemed not to have a good answer for that as he stared at her in concerned incredulousness. “No. Why would I want that?”

  Maggie swallowed every word she wanted to yell at him. Instead she stomped around the front of the truck and got in on her side. On his, Keith got in too. He started the pickup and backed out.

  All the way home, she felt his gaze chance on her every so often, but she kept hers planted outside the side window. If she just kept her distance, tomorrow would be here in no time, and by tomorrow, she was sure she would never have to worry about getting too close to him again. Once he told them everything he knew, she would never again be welcome at the Ayer mansion. Of that much, she was one-hundred percent positive.

  She was mad. Furious. Livid. That much Keith was absolutely sure. Why, he was having trouble getting his brain to figure out. Okay, so he’d lost his temper at the stables, surely she wasn’t so naïve as to think you could never get angry. After all, he did run a multi-million dollar operation. That meant he had to make some decisions and that sometimes things needed a serious adjusting. Like Hodges and his manipulations. That was one that needed rectified in a flat hurry.

  When they pulled up to the house, Keith barely had a chance to get Peter out of the back before she was around the pickup to get him. Whatever had happened to their nice day together had been soul-splittingly triumphant in ruining everything. Maggie wouldn’t even look at him.

  Everything in him wanted to make her look at him like she didn’t want to jump off the side of the earth to get away from him. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

  “Whatever.”

  It was all he would get as she turned and stomped up the steps. Consternation such that he had never felt crashed around him. She acted like she hated him, but only an hour before, they were under the tree watching the kids sleep. The aggravating issue stayed with him the rest of the afternoon and through dinner, during which she hardly said two words and never so much as looked at him, and right through her taking the kids upstairs.

  He had never felt so panicked in his life. Whatever it was, it was major, and the question of why she had done such a drastic 180 kept drifting through him. At first he wrote it off to mood swings, but when he was in his room later, his thoughts fought to put the whole puzzle together, and no matter how hard he tried, it just didn’t fit. Finally, although it was taking his life in his hands, he knew he had to go ask. His heart slammed into his chest, warning him that this might make it worse, but in truth, he couldn’t see how it could get any worse. Quietly he left his side of the mansion and made his way to hers.

  The soft light of the hallway nightlight guided his steps until he was standing at Peter’s door. Keith pushed it in slightly, not wanting to disturb their already-in-progress ritual.

  “And please help us have a good day tomorrow,” Maggie prayed, her head down, bending over Peter’s bed. Keith heard the struggle in her voice, and he knew without a doubt that she was worried about the coming morning. He wasn’t looking forward to it either. If things could just stay like this, he would be perfectly content to live here forever.

  “Guide us, protect us, keep us, help us, and love us. Amen.”

  There was a soft rustle of blankets.

  “I love you, Maggie.” The words drifted to Keith, and he peered in. Peter was in her arms, hugging her like he never wanted to let her go.

  “I love you, too, little one.” The hug lasted a few more moments, and then she pulled him away. “Now you get some sleep.” She pushed to her feet and stopped. Softly she kissed her two fingers and then pressed them to his forehead. “Good night, little prince. Sleep well.” Even after she was finished, she didn’t move for a long moment, and out of respect for her privacy, Keith backed out into the hallway to wait for her.

  When she came out, he heard the sniffle and felt the anguish pouring from her even though he couldn’t clearly see her face. In the soft light she shut the door before wiping her eyes and letting out a long, slow breath.

  “Maggie,” he said softly, and she jumped a foot and spun to face him.

  Her face fell into a glowering distrust even though he was leaning against the wall, not exactly poised to pounce on her. Bitterness scrawled across her face as she turned slightly away from him. “What do you want?”

  “Can we talk?”

  Head down, she headed across the hall to her door. “We don’t have anything to talk about.”

  He pushed away from the wall and stepped over to her door. There, he again leaned against the wall and lowered his head so he could look at her. “I think we do.”

  She shook her head and reached for her doorknob. “It’s late. I need to get to bed.”

  Gently he reached out and touched her wrist, praying she wouldn’t leave. “Maggie, please. I know you’re mad. I want to know why.”

  “I’m not mad.” She shook her hair back defiantly and looked at him. Chin up, that unmistakable air of determination flowing through every fiber of her. “Why would I be mad?”

  The middle of him ached with the hate in her eyes. “I don’t know. Why are you?”

  Her gaze broke from his and darted across the hall. “Look, I get it. Okay? I know the score. It took me awhile, but you don’t have to worry. I get it now.”

  Concerned incomprehension traced through him. “Maggie, you’re not making any sense. What are you talking about?”

  When she smiled at him, there was nothing in him that liked it. She looked cold and hateful and detached. “You’re the prince of Conrad Ayer Industries. My bad. I thought you were just a nice guy who cared.”

  The words hit him like punches, and he dropped his hand from her wrist. “You… you didn’t know.”

  With her jaw set, she shook her head. “No, and you didn’t bother to tell me that little detail either.”

  His head dropped as understanding poured through him. No wonder she’d seemed so unnaturally normal around him. That explained a lot. Too much really. He sighed that understanding into his heart. “I’m sorry. Really I am. I just… I assumed you knew.”

  “No. I didn’t know.” Abhorrence and hurt dripped from the statement. Her gaze dropped from him to the carpet. “Well, you got what you wanted. Congratulations. Mission accomplished.”

  Panic plowed into him. “What does that mean?”

  “Oh, come on, Keith. I’m not stupid. I know a spy when I see one.”

  That punch just about leveled him. “What…? A spy? I wasn’t spying on you.”

  She laced
her arms over themselves. “Oh, yeah? Then why’ve you been hanging around all week? Why’ve you been asking me about my past? Why’ve you watched my every move with the kids—even coming up here at night to check on us?” She put air quote marks around the last three words with her fingers. “I’m not completely stupid, you know.”

  Hurt and hate bled through her gaze. “I just hope you can explain it to Pete and Izzy when I’m gone tomorrow because they’re going to be crushed thanks to you—not that you ever really cared anyway.”

  That one brought his defenses up. “Okay, now that’s not fair. You know I love those two.”

  “Yeah. So you say. But how do I know that’s the truth? How do I know anything you say is the truth?”

  With determination he turned full on her. “Okay. That’s it. Look at me.” When she didn’t, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “I said, look at me, Maggie.” Her gaze met his, but there wasn’t an ounce of trust anywhere in them. “I love those two kids like they were my own. I don’t like what’s been happening to them any more than you do, and despite what you think about me, I do not want you to leave. I have not been spying. Watching, yes. Spying, no. Now, you can hate me forever, that’s fine, but don’t you dare use that as an excuse to leave them because they need you… more than you can know.”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, what about your dad and Mrs. Ayer? They’ll be back tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure Patty Ann and Inez will have plenty of stories to relate when they get back.” She set her mouth. “Let’s face it. Like it or not, I’ll be out tomorrow.”

  His hands dropped from her shoulders, and he leaned back against the wall. “You don’t know that.”