Sweet Southern Hearts

by Susan Schild

  “I can’t get any time with him. Mother has been hogging him since we walked in the door,” he groused. “Now how about my boy Neal? I was real sorry to hear the way Vera’s been acting.”

  “Everything is settling down in that department,” Linny said, hoping what she was saying was true.

  “Good,” Rush said briskly. “Can I fix you a little restorative drink?” He pointed to the cocktail shaker. “Brought my own equipment and ingredients. I’m still working my magic with the old-timey drinks in the Mr. Boston guide.”

  Linny grinned. Rush took his mixology seriously.

  “I can whip you up your favorite,” he coaxed with a mischievous grin and reached for the crème de menthe bottle.

  The Grasshopper he thought she loved tasted like spearmint mouthwash, but she always drank it because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She was quitting that say-yes-when-you-mean-no habit. “I’m going to pass tonight. Sometimes those fancy drinks are a little too sweet for me.”

  “Sure, sweetheart,” he said, looking not the least bit offended. He nodded toward his shaker. “I’m fixing Ceecee one of my newest. It’s called a Battery Charger and it’s a crowd pleaser,” he said with a canny nod. “She and the boys are in the kitchen. If you change your mind, just holler.”

  Linny smiled. Turning down one of his concoctions was easier than she’d thought it would be. She poked her head into the kitchen. With Lucas in the baby sling resting on her chest, Ceecee sat at the kitchen table facing Neal. Each stared at their hand of cards, looking as flat-eyed and serious as the people on the poker TV shows.

  With a triumphant grin, Neal laid down his hand and called, “Gin!”

  Laughing, Ceecee glanced up, saw Linny, and smiled with delight. “Hello, sugar. Come give me a kiss.”

  “Welcome home!” Linny stepped over and hugged her mother-in-law, genuinely glad to see her. Kissing Lucas’s head, Linny put her hands on Neal’s shoulders to give them a squeeze. “Hey, buddy.”

  “I just showed this little so-and-so how to play the game not long ago and now he’s beating me!” Ceecee pretended to complain, looking flushed and girlish despite her snowy white hair.

  “You turning into a card shark?” Linny asked Neal.

  “Yeah,” he admitted, grinning. He hopped up to open the refrigerator door and stare inside.

  “Supper in about half an hour,” Linny said. “There are apples on the counter.”

  He closed the door and gave her an as-if look as he sauntered away.

  Linny slid into a chair and fought another pang of possessiveness as she watched Ceecee jingle her charm bracelet for a fascinated Lucas and gaze at him cooing something about precious wescious and Gwammy’s good boy.

  Ceecee glanced at her and flushed. “I’m being greedy with this darling boy. Let me let him say hello to you.” She unwrapped the baby and gently handed him over.

  Linny started to say, Oh, no, you go ahead, but she really did want to hold Lucas. “Thanks,” she said and hugged her boy, feeling an almost overwhelming rush of love.

  Rush stepped into the room, handed Ceecee her green frothy drink, and sat down with them, sipping his Rob Roy and looking as affable and unflappable as ever.

  Ceecee took a bracing sip of her Battery Charger and gave Linny a steely look. Doting Grammy had morphed into General MacArthur. “So what do we need to do to keep this precious child and get him away from his trashy mama?”

  Linny broke into a smile and updated them both on Lucas’s status. Though she’d expected shocked looks and pursed lips from her mother-in-law, all she got was kindness and determination. Rush would contact one of his old colleagues who’d worked with a private investigator on a custody case in the Bahamas. A bridge partner friend of Ceecee’s from the club had adopted a baby from her crack-addict granddaughter and might have some advice. Linny’s eyes widened at this last bit of news, though she knew that money couldn’t insulate people from addictions or evil or sadness.

  “Jack will be back from the barn in a few minutes and I need to get supper going. We’d love for you all to stay and eat with us,” Linny said, meaning it.

  “’Course we’ll stay.” Rush smiled and shook his head knowingly. “I wouldn’t want to be the one who tried to pry Mama away from her grandbabies.”

  Feeling lighter than she had in weeks, Linny rose and handed Lucas to a delighted Rush. “Do you two mind getting this guy fed for me? The bottle is in the fridge and the warmer is on the counter.”

  Ceecee hopped up and began to bustle around the kitchen, her kitten heels clacking on the hard wood.

  “We’re having chicken enchiladas that a friend brought by,” Linny said, grateful she could offer them more than a family-size pack of frozen mac and cheese.

  Neal had wandered back in and stood in the doorway. “Linny’s not that good a cook. She’s just learning. My mom makes excellent enchiladas.”

  Ceecee turned from the bottle warmer and walked over to Neal. She put her hands on his shoulders and waited until he looked at her. She smiled sweetly, but her voice was steely as she said, “Darlin’, that’s no kind of talk I want to hear from you again. We need to be grateful for all the many things Linny does for you, your daddy, and the baby.”

  Neal flushed and met Linny’s eyes. “Sorry.”

  Linny gave him a quick nod and tried to hide her shock. Ceecee had caught the dig and stood up for her. Hallelujah!

  Rush met her eyes and said quietly, “Mama and I talked about it and we’re going to walk beside you and Jack every step of the way. No matter how things turn out with this young man, you all need us, and we need family.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Happily Ever Afters

  Linny dragged an Adirondack chair into the yard and pulled it up next to Kate in her wheelchair. Handing her sister a cup of her favorite peppermint tea, Linny sat beside Kate, sipping her own tea and marveling at the peace of the morning. Lucas and Ivy lay dozing side by side in the playpen she’d positioned just a few feet away from them in the shade of the white oak tree. They looked so adorable that Linny had been compelled to take fifteen or so photos of them. Roy had forgiven her for her inattention over the past two months and was sleeping at their feet, his feet twitching as he chased a rabbit in his dreams.

  “How’s it feel to be a stay-at-home mom?” Kate asked, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

  Linny grinned and glanced at her watch. “Well, I’ve only officially been at it three hours, but so far it’s been great. No frantic juggling of schedules, no packing poor Jack off to the clinic with kids in tow. I actually made us all breakfast this morning.” She decided not to mention that she’d lost her meal shortly after she’d eaten it. Linny studied her sister, sloe-eyed, creamy skinned, and remarkably lithe for a newish mama. She looked charming in her vintage pink floral sundress. “You look so rested and pretty,” Linny said.

  “I showered this morning, too,” Kate said. “Mostly on my own. Washed my hair and everything,” she said proudly. “Soon I’ll be able to get around my house on the scooter instead of this bulky chair. Yesterday Jerry got a cleaning service to come scrub the house from top to bottom. Everything smells good. The clutter is put away. Life is finally getting back to normal.” Kate smiled, stretched luxuriously, and tucked curls behind her ears. Her face had lost the pallid, pinched look of a woman carrying too much worry on her shoulders. She turned her head and smiled at Linny. “So Mama and Mack made it home safely from South Dakota late last night?”

  “They did,” Linny said. “And I talked with Ruby this morning. After the girls and Perry drop the RV off in Omaha, the three of them will catch a flight back to Raleigh.”

  “Good. I’ve missed those women.” Kate stuck a finger inside her walking boot to scratch her leg. “Mama can be a handful, but I’m so glad she’s home. It’s not just the practical help I know she’ll give us. Somehow I feel safer having her back home.”

  Linny thought about it. “Me too.”

  Kate ga
ve her a sideways glance. “So she says she’s treating us all to a kind of welcome home to the SWAT Team supper at Marnie’s Café on Saturday night. She’s splashing out.”

  “Yup,” Linny said. “Sounds like fun. It will be the SWAT girls, their beaus, and family and friends. She even booked the private room so we won’t bother other diners with the babies.”

  Kate grinned. “I like the way she’s eased into having money. If I ever win a bucket of money on the nickel slots remind me to be as gracious.” She pointed to Neal, who was in the saddle atop his favorite horse, Reggie, and chatting away to the big bay as they made slow circles around the paddock. “How is that young man doing?”

  “Better. All sorts of good news on that front. The grandparents are back and Neal loves all of them. He played golf with Rush yesterday, Ceecee’s taking him to the pool at the club, and as soon as Mama recovers from her trip and gets caught up on her smooching with Curtis, she’ll go full bore into spoiling him.”

  “How about his mama and Chaz?” Kate asked as she kicked off her sandal and rubbed Roy’s back with her good foot.

  “We’re guardedly optimistic. Since Jack’s come-to-Jesus meeting with Vera, things have calmed down on that front. She and Chaz are doing the Save Your Marriage Boot Camp this weekend and she sounds determined to get her life straightened out.” Linny held up crossed fingers and leaned her head back in the chair.

  “Maybe the boot camp will work. Calm things down in that household.” Kate glanced over at Linny. “Is it ten o’clock?”

  Linny picked up the phone on the arm of her chair. “It’s 9:59. Thanks for being with me for the Kandi update. I need the moral support.” She grimaced. Mary Catherine’s text had come early that morning and read: IN COURT NOW BUT CALL ME AT 10. NEWS!!

  Mary Catherine never used large caps or exclamation points. Add a bad-gut feeling to those aberrations and Linny was plain scared. “What if she tells me Kandi’s coming for the baby? What if she says Buck’s not the father?” Her heart lurched. “I don’t think I could take either one.”

  Kate patted her arm and got that faraway Zen look in her eyes. “Things are going to work out according to God’s plan.”

  Linny gazed at her sister, willing herself to try to believe her. Picking up the phone, her hand trembled as she dialed her friend’s office. When chirpy Shania put her through Linny said, “Hey, just calling to . . .”

  But Mary Catherine interrupted. “I found her.”

  Linny froze and her heart and breathing stopped. The next words out of her friend’s mouth would change the course of her and Jack’s life forever.

  “Kandi and her prince charming are living in Eleuthera. He’s running a dive shop and she’s waitressing. She has zero interest in taking that baby back. Not a real domestic-type woman,” Mary Catherine said dryly.

  “Thank God.” Linny gave her sister a radiant smile.

  Wide-eyed and grinning, Kate grabbed Linny’s free hand and squeezed it until it hurt.

  “I thought she’d try to shake you down for money but sounds like she’d pay you to take the baby. She’s ready to relinquish parental rights and transfer custody of the baby to you and Jack,” Mary Catherine said, sounding exultant. “I finally tracked down Buck’s family members, too, and none of them have any interest in the baby. If all goes well Lucas is going to be yours.”

  Barely able to contain her joy, Linny thrust the phone at Kate, put her face in her hands, and burst into tears.

  * * *

  Saturday evening Linny stood on the brick sidewalk outside the restaurant and gazed up at the soaring windows of the deep pink Victorian home that housed the restaurant. She breathed out, happy, and shifted Lucas in his sling while the boys unloaded baby gear from the truck. Linny loved Marnie’s Café. Housed on the outskirts of one of Raleigh’s oldest neighborhoods, the home had once been crumbling and ready for the wrecking ball. Her friend Marnie, the proprietress, had seen the home’s potential and lovingly restored it, bringing it back from the brink of oblivion.

  With a rotating menu of farm-fresh but not fancy Southern cuisine, Marnie’s had been discovered by the restaurant critics and the foodies and was now a five-star restaurant. Greeting her guests warmly from the door, slim, lovely Marnie was looking very Ava Gardner in a vintage scarlet dress, her glossy black hair pulled back in her usual high ponytail. “Welcome, Linny, Jack, and baby.” She gave them both a quick hug and smiled at Neal. “You must be Neal. I’ve heard so many nice things about you.”

  Neal blushed and mumbled, “Nice to meet you.”

  Linny watched, grinning. Hard for a twelve-year-old boy to take in all that glamour. “Where is Mama’s little party going to be?”

  “We have you out back. It’s nice and private,” Marnie said.

  “Is it in the garden?” Linny asked hopefully. She’d heard Marnie had just finished adding a walled garden for private parties but had never seen it.

  “I’m afraid another party has reserved that for this evening,” Marnie said regretfully. “But we have you all in another charming space we’ve just added for private parties. We took the original kitchen house and added to it a good-sized banquet room.” With Jack trying not to bump diners with the portable playpen he carried and Neal being equally careful with the giant diaper bag he lugged, Marnie led them through the crowded restaurant and into a sunny, high-ceilinged room lined with French doors that framed a Monet-inspired view. The flowerbeds outside were filled with a riot of colorful delphiniums, hollyhocks, and lavender. The inside of the room was equally appealing. Tall ivory candles flickered softly and the tables were adorned with sumptuous bouquets of flowers. “Have a lovely evening,” the proprietress called and swayed gracefully away.

  Linny leaned into Jack, admiring a tall vase overflowing with lush pink roses and peonies. She leaned over, closed her eyes, and breathed in the sweet scent. “Beautiful,” she murmured and smiled up at Jack.

  But he was studying her. “You’re beautiful,” he said quietly.

  “Gross.” Neal pretended to stick a finger down his throat and gag.

  Jack put a hand on the top of Neal’s head and grinned at him. “Come on, buddy. Let’s get things set up for Lucas and Ivy.” The two walked off, glancing around appraisingly and discussing where would be the best spot for the playpen.

  Mama bustled in, wearing a deep violet number with cute espadrilles. Thank goodness not the white Velcro sandals she usually wore with dresses. Maybe Linny could root them out one day while Mama was at church and burn them. Dottie’s hair was pushed softly back from her face and her eyes sparkled. Linny raised a brow. “Mama, you look so pretty.”

  “Thanks, honey.” Mama colored at the compliment. “Must be all that fresh air, sunshine, and adventure.”

  Mack stepped into the room, looking spiffy in a blue blazer and a white button-down shirt. With an arm linked companionably through his was a woman who looked to be in her midthirties with smoky dark eyes, a smattering of freckles, and a shining sweep of chestnut hair.

  Linny watched her mother’s face light up when she saw Mack. Love was why her mother looked so incandescent.

  “Here’s Mack, and that’s his daughter. I want to introduce the two of you,” Mama said and beckoned them with a wave.

  Mack kissed Mama’s cheek and leaned in to give Linny a peck. With a flourish, he held his hands out to the young woman at his side. “Linny, this is my daughter, Callie. You two might have quite a bit in common. She runs a small business, just like you do.”

  Her eyes bright with interest, Callie shot out a hand and Linny shook it, liking the woman’s firm handshake and direct gaze. “Who is this guy?” the woman asked, tilting her head toward Lucas.

  “One of my many men,” Linny said, grinning at Callie. “This is Lucas.”

  “Looking sharp, Mack.” Jack strode up and gave the older man a one-armed man hug.

  Mack broke into a grin. “Hey, Jack. Meet my daughter, Callie. I think you and Linny might be seeing more of her in
the future,” he said mysteriously, looking like he had a happy secret.

  Dessie and Perry arrived and Ruby stepped into the room, wearing a pink sheath with a plum-colored feathered pashmina swathed dramatically around her shoulders. Then Marnie ushered in another familiar figure. Looking dapper in a seersucker jacket, Hal stood in the doorway, blushing and jingling the change in his pants pockets as his eyes swept the room. He saw Ruby, broke into a smile, and hurried to her side.

  Linny glanced at her own skirt and flats and whispered to Jack, “Everybody looks so nice. Maybe we should have dressed up more.”

  “You look fine, Lin,” Jack reassured her and gave her shoulder a squeeze. As guests greeted each other, Linny glanced outside. With clear skies, low humidity, and a slight breeze, whoever had booked the private party in the garden had gotten lucky and landed one of the prettiest nights of the entire summer.

  With Ivy swaddled in her arms Jerry rolled Kate in and expertly wheeled her into a spot beside Linny’s chair. The two held their babies in their laps while Jack and Jerry caught up. Lucas and Ivy were guest magnets, charming everyone who came to meet them as they burbled, waved, and reached for noses, hair, and earrings. Linny knew this run of charm could go south fast and devolve into cranky, tired crying, but she jiggled Lucas on her knees and smiled proudly, enjoying every moment of his and Ivy’s happy mood while she could.

  Dessie, Perry, Ruby, and Hal greeted the sisters and cooed their hellos to the babies. Hal cleared his throat, looking nervous, and gazed at Linny. “My dear, I have an apology to make.” He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a box, and pressed it into her hand.

  Linny cocked her head at him, searching her mind for any reason why Hal would feel the need to apologize. As she pulled open the box and lifted the tissue paper, she put a hand to her mouth and blinked back tears. She looked at him wonderingly. “How did you find my rings?”

  He shook his head, looking pained. “My sister had them. She had your ceramic cat, too.” Ruby gave his shoulder an encouraging little squeeze. “Letty has a mood disorder, and when she gets off her medication she does impulsive things she’d never do if she was in her right mind,” he explained. “We have Dessie to thank for finding these items.”