Child of Her Heart

by Cheryl St. John

  The sand was deliciously warm from the sun, and though she knew the water was freezing cold, a few die-hard surfers in wet suits rode the waves onto the beach.

  Anna slept peacefully on a thick blanket under the umbrella, and by late morning Meredith was a third of the way through a mystery novel she’d been wanting to read. She poured herself hot decaf coffee from the thermos, sipped leisurely and her eyes grew heavy.

  “I think her baby’s sleeping.”

  “She’s sleeping, too, Lamond. Don’t bother them.”

  “I’m not bothering them, I’m just lookin’.”

  The soft voices brought her out of her restful state, and she opened her eyes to find two handsome young black boys in jeans and T-shirts peering at Anna.

  “Hi,” she said.

  The oldest boy glanced at her with eyes widened in surprise, but the younger one gave her a friendly smile. “Hi. That your baby?”

  “Yes. Her name’s Anna. I’m Meredith.”

  “I’m Lamond and I’m four.” He held up the appropriate number of fingers. “This is my big brother, Jonah.” He’s seven.

  “Nice to meet you both.”

  “Can your baby swim?”

  With a smile, Meredith shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “I saw babies on TV what could swim,” Lamond said matter-of-factly. “The moms and dads just put ’em in. They had a camera underneath the water so you could see ’em with their little faces all scrunched up.” He demonstrated and giggled. “It was cool.”

  “It sounds cool,” she replied. “I’ve heard of teaching infants to swim.”

  Taking a step back, he pointed toward the ocean. “Maybe you could put her in the water and see if she can do it,” he suggested.

  “I’m pretty sure you’d have to teach a baby in a heated pool,” she replied with a grin. “The ocean’s too cold.”

  “It’s too cold for me,” Jonah said with a shudder.

  “Not for me,” Lamond said, puffing his chest out. “I’m tough. My dad says so.”

  “I’ll bet you are.”

  “Your baby’s real pretty,” he said. “Can I look at her up close?”

  “Sure.” Meredith got out of her chair and knelt beside the baby, peeling back the blanket that protected her cheek from the elements.

  Anna’s rosy lips puckered and she made an instinctive little sucking motion.

  “Aw.” Lamond chuckled. “That’s so cute.”

  Meredith smiled at the child who had captured her heart in record time. She thought everything Anna did was darling, too.

  “D’you live around here?” Jonah asked.

  “No, we’re vacationing.”

  “Us, too,” he replied. “We’re staying at the Lighthouse Inn, but the only lighthouse is on the sign.”

  “There’s a painting in the foyer,” she told him. “We’re staying there, too.”

  “We’re going to see a real lighthouse,” Lamond added.

  “That sounds like fun.”

  “Are you boys bothering the lady?” The rich timbre of a male voice interrupted their discussion.

  Both boys turned toward the tall man who had approached and bent to peer under the umbrella.

  “We’re not bothering her, Dad,” Lamond said. “This is Meredith. We was just lookin’ at her baby, Anna. Isn’t she cute?”

  Khaki trousers and a pale yellow shirt contrasted with the man’s dark skin. The hands he placed on his knees as he bent forward were large, his nails blunt and pink. “She’s a beauty all right,” he replied with a grin. He had an energy and masculine presence that Meredith could almost feel. When he directed his attention to her, his gaze was like a physical touch.

  She waited for censure in his expression…a question….

  “Are these guys driving you crazy?” It wasn’t the question she’d been anticipating.

  His voice melted her senses like hot fudge on ice cream. “Not at all. I was glad for someone to talk to. Anna is a joy, but she doesn’t have much to say.”

  He grinned. “Give her a couple of years and you won’t be able to get a thought in edgewise.”

  “The voice of experience, I take it?”

  He nodded good-naturedly.

  “They’re staying at the Lighthouse Inn, too, Dad,” Lamond said.

  “I guess we’re neighbors, then. Temporarily anyway. Justin Weber,” he introduced himself politely, “father to these two rascals.”

  She raised a hand and he shook it, his fingers warm, his grip firm, but gentle. The simple handshake shouldn’t have given her butterflies in the pit of her stomach, but it did. “Nice to meet you.”

  He released her hand. Immediately, she wondered if there was a Mrs. Justin Weber, but she didn’t ask because she didn’t want to answer questions posed to her.

  “Where’s your dad?” Lamond asked.

  Meredith blinked, but understood momentarily.

  “Her husband you mean,” Jonah corrected.

  “I don’t have a husband,” she replied. It was a relief to be asked an easy question for a change, one she didn’t mind answering. Most people asked probing questions about Anna’s parentage, and Meredith found them offensive and rude.

  “Did he die?” Lamond’s young face took on a sad expression. “Our mom died.”

  The answer to her wondering was a disturbingly sad one and her heart extended even further to the motherless boys. “No, honey,” she said, her voice soft with sympathy. “I never had a husband. I’m sorry about your mom.”

  Her gaze was drawn to the man’s, but his dark one didn’t reveal emotion.

  “We have a nanny,” Jonah said. “She’s sort of like a mom.”

  Not knowing what to say, Meredith simply listened.

  “Her name’s Mauli,” Lamond supplied. “It’s Hawaiian. She knows how to do cartwheels.”

  Jonah nodded. “And she can multiply and divide in her head. Without a calculator.”

  “And she makes macaroni and cheese without a box.” Jonah looked up at his dad. “Doesn’t she, Dad?”

  Justin nodded.

  Meredith smiled at their exuberant praise of their nanny. “She sounds like a prize.”

  “Couldn’t get along without her,” the man said.

  “Is she traveling with you?”

  “Oh, yes.” Justin glanced in the direction of the road that led away from the beach. “She’s shopping. She gets plenty of time to herself while we’re on vacation. Trips are one of her job perks.”

  “That’s nice for her.”

  He nodded. “Well, boys, we’d better leave Miss…Meredith to her book and finish our walk. It was nice to meet you.”

  “You, too.”

  “We’re going to see the lighthouse now,” Lamond said.

  “Have a good time.”

  “You could come with us,” Lamond added, in the innocent fashion of a child. “It’ll be really cool.”

  Again she met their father’s eyes, but the man seemed a little uncomfortable this time.

  She smiled. “Thank you, but I’ve planned to rest today. Anna and I are enjoying the beach. You have a good time.”

  “When we see you, we’ll tell you all about it.”

  His innocent assumption that she would just naturally be interested in his account of their sight-seeing trip was endearing. “I’ll look forward to it.”

  They said their goodbyes, and Justin straightened to walk away. Lamond tugged on his arm, and he swept the boy up onto his shoulders.

  Meredith watched the small family as they strolled away on the tawny sand, and couldn’t help noticing Justin Weber’s fine form—broad shoulders, narrow hips and long legs. Sad that they’d lost their wife and mother. Nice that they were all the same color.

  Whoa! Where that thought had come from, she didn’t know, but she’d surprised herself with it.

  Anna made tiny waking noises, and Meredith glanced at her watch. She’d planned to stay on the beach for another couple of hours, so she changed Anna and nursed h
er.

  Occasionally someone on the beach nodded a hello, but she enjoyed the tranquility of the crashing waves and the solitude. She’d left her cell phone in her room because she didn’t want Veronica to reach her and ask where she was.

  Finally getting hungry, she packed up her belongings, slid Anna into the sling she wore to carry her and made her way back to the inn. As she kicked off her shoes and shook out sand at the entrance, a young male employee hurried to help her and store her beach rentals.

  Meredith went to her room where she locked the door and placed Anna in the crib the inn had provided. There were four messages on her cell phone, all from Veronica, all pleading with her to call and listen to reason. Meredith deleted them, turned off her phone and took a nap.

  Waking rested, she fed Anna, took a quick shower and dressed in trousers and a silky blouse. She carried Anna out to the car and glanced at the food and entertainment guide she’d discovered in a rack inside the inn. They all looked good and the addresses were meaningless, so she headed down a main street.

  The first restaurant she found was a seafood place with weathered clapboard siding, a wooden walk-way with posts and rope strung between them to mimic a wharf, and a shark’s jawbone over the door. Meredith liked the authentic look and it had a good rating in the guidebook, so she parked and entered.

  A hostess asked her seating preferences just as a young voice called, “Miss Meredith! Miss Meredith!”

  She turned to discover Lamond Weber racing across the foyer toward her. She shifted Anna’s seat to her other hand. “Well, hello.”

  Dressed in a fresh white sport shirt, Justin walked forward and greeted her with a warm smile. “We were just being shown to a table. Will you join us?”

  Meredith glanced from Justin to Lamond to the hostess and couldn’t think of a single reason not to accept his offer. “Thank you. I’d love to.”

  “Great. We’ll need another chair, miss,” he said. “And one of those bases to put the car seat on.”

  “What’s that?” Meredith asked.

  He stepped beside her and touched his hand to the small of her back to guide her through the tables. She was keenly aware of his warm touch through her clothing.

  “They have high chairs that flip over so you can fasten your infant seat on top,” Justin explained. “Some places have an aluminum or wooden frame for the same purpose. Gets the baby up on your level, and you don’t have to leave her in her seat on the floor or try to hold her while you eat.”

  The hostess appeared then with just such an invention and showed Meredith how to safely place Anna’s carrier into the base.

  “Isn’t that ingenious?” Feeling like the novice she was, Meredith smiled and thanked the young woman.

  In a gentlemanly gesture, Justin held Meredith’s chair, then helped Lamond get settled on a booster seat.

  “I take it you haven’t been out to eat much since Anna’s arrival,” he said with a good-natured smile.

  “If you don’t count carryout or drive through, this is my first dinner out.” She picked up a menu and glanced at the selections. The list of grilled salmon, albacore tuna and fresh salads made her mouth water.

  “What’s Anna going to eat?” Lamond asked.

  “She won’t be hungry for a while,” Meredith replied. “I fed her right before we came here.”

  “Oh. Read me the kids’ food, Dad. Please?”

  Justin opened his menu and read the selection of children’s dinners.

  “I want the tuna melt. Can I have two?”

  Justin raised an ebony brow at his son. “You’re going to be growing out of all your clothes again, you keep eating so much.”

  Lamond giggled.

  Jonah opened a backpack he’d carried in and took out two coloring books and a box of crayons. The boys settled down to color brightly hued racing cars.

  Meredith thanked the waitress who set glasses of water before them. She took a sip. “What a good idea to bring along something to entertain them.”

  Justin had a nice smile that revealed even white teeth and disturbed her comfort level. He had a manner of looking at her that made her feel he was thinking more than he was saying. “It’s either that or constantly be nagging them not to play with the silverware and the condiments. Mauli’s great about picking up things to amuse them. She seems to know just what they like.”

  “Where is Mauli tonight?”

  “Taking in a movie with a girlfriend she met yesterday.”

  Studying the menu, Meredith intuitively sensed stares from a nearby table and glanced in that direction. A couple with three children were seated at a round table. The youngest of the children played with an action figure on the tabletop, but the other two, a boy and girl of about seven and nine, stared at Jonah and Lamond, then at Anna in her seat and gave Meredith and Justin inquiring looks.

  Their mother caught their attention and whispered something Meredith could only partially hear, but they reluctantly turned away. Meredith locked gazes with the woman momentarily, and seeming embarrassed, the young mother looked away quickly.

  It was all those two children could do not to turn their heads and stare again. The woman had taken hold of the younger boy’s wrist on the tabletop as though warning him.

  Discomfort at being the center of attention flooded Meredith, and warmth rose in her cheeks. Her stomach dipped nervously. She glanced around to see how many other people were looking at them, but didn’t notice anything unusual.

  Returning her gaze to the menu but not able to concentrate, she glanced up and found Justin studying her solemnly.

  Justin had seen the children’s curious gazes and hadn’t thought much of it. People probably saw them and assumed they were a family. His boys were quite dark-skinned, but if an onlooker thought Meredith was his wife, then they would just quite naturally think Anna was their child together.

  He didn’t really care much what people thought, but it was apparent that Meredith did. The expression on her face and the tilt of her chin clearly showed a defensiveness that surprised him.

  She was obviously uncomfortable with the attention that her child—and probably Justin’s company—drew. He didn’t need any complications in his life, in fact had vowed not to take on any, but for some reason he had the feeling that this young woman could use a friend.

  Hell, everyone could use a friend. Even him—especially one this lovely. Though he surprised himself with the thought, he admitted he wouldn’t mind getting to know her better.

  A whole lot better.

  Three

  The boys were happily coloring and hadn’t noticed the curious looks they’d received. Obviously embarrassed, Meredith took a calming breath.

  Justin gauged her reactions.

  Meredith seemed at a loss for words, her cheeks pink, her eyes overly shiny.

  “What are you feeling?” he asked softly.

  “Embarrassed.” She glanced to the side. “Defensive.”

  “Deep down?” he asked. “What are you feeling underneath all that?”

  Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked, holding her lips in a stiff line. “Disappointed. And hurt,” she said softly.

  They’d only just met, but he knew it had been difficult to reveal those very private feelings.

  Justin nodded and studied Meredith’s delicate features, her trembling lips. “Children are just naturally curious.”

  It was difficult enough adjusting to a new baby and the changes that a child brought to one’s life, but she was apparently doing it on her own. As the mother of a half-black child, she’d no doubt already experienced her share of prejudice. She was feeling defensive with good reason. But that baby had been conceived by a black man. Hadn’t she ever gone out to dinner with the baby’s father, hadn’t she seen people’s reactions before?

  She was struggling, hurting, and he didn’t know whether it had been a good idea to subject her to his company and the stares that accompanied it. She hadn’t seemed to mind their company on the beach,
but being with other people was a different matter.

  Meredith seemed tenderhearted and vulnerable, and that combination of innocence intrigued him. “I think you’re extraordinarily sensitive right now,” he said. “Possibly reading things into what’s merely simple curiosity.”

  “You’re probably right. Thanks.”

  He liked the way her smile lit up her hazel eyes. Today they’d seemed lit by the sun, but now they were dark and almost green. “Shall we enjoy ourselves?”

  She nodded, grateful for his sensible and reassuring words. When the waitress returned, Meredith ordered and Justine ordered for himself and the boys. “Would you care for wine?” he inquired.

  “Thank you, but I can’t,” she replied. “You go ahead.”

  “Just a glass for me,” he said to the waitress. “You’re nursing,” he said after she’d gone.

  She nodded, a little surprised at his frankness, but not embarrassed.

  “Wise choice. How do you manage when you go to work?”

  “I’ve taken a leave of absence from my job.”

  “That’s great. What do you do?”

  “I’m a pediatric physical therapist.”

  One side of his lips quirked in a half smile. “No wonder you’re so good with kids.”

  Her fair skin blushed prettily. “I love kids.”

  “They like you, too.”

  The waitress brought his wine and refilled Meredith’s water glass.

  “What about you?” she asked. “What do you do?”

  “I’m an attorney.” He raised a palm as though to ward off her reaction. “No lawyer jokes, now.”

  “I don’t think I know any.”

  “That’s refreshing.”

  “You hear a lot of lawyer jokes?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Like what? Tell me one.”

  She was serious. He chuckled. “No.”

  “Not dignified enough for you, I suppose? I’m trying to picture you in your three-piece suit.”

  “I look pretty good.”

  She laughed. “You’re one of those GQ guys, aren’t you? You have a dozen suits and a hundred color-coordinated ties and matching socks.”