Walking Away (The Walking Together Series Book 2)

by T. E. Killian

  He looked a little closer at Kent’s face. “Yep, I’d be willing to bet that it is.”

  Kent was so shocked that he didn’t know what to say. “No. Yes. I don’t know. I mean....”

  Matt laughed one of his booming laughs. “It’s my sister all right.” He slapped Kent on the shoulder almost knocking him out of his chair.

  “I’ll tell you right now Kent. I won’t stand between you and Grace ever again. I sure learned my lesson the first time.” He seemed to think about that for a moment. “That is, as long as you treat her right. You understand?”

  Kent didn’t want to question Matt on any of that. He felt that he was lucky to get that much. Then it hit him. How had Matt known he wanted to talk about Grace?

  When he asked Matt that question, he was greeted with another loud laugh as Matt slapped his knee again.

  “Man, if you could see it when the two of you are in the same room. It’s downright funny. You’re always looking at her when you don’t think she’s looking and she’s always looking at you when she thinks you’re not looking.”

  He laughed yet again. “Then when you two actually look at each other, man you wouldn’t believe the sparks that fly.”

  Kent left Matt’s shop with more unanswered questions than when he’d arrived. But he did feel better knowing that he had Matt’s blessing, even if it was with one slight condition. He sure didn’t plan on hurting Grace, no way.

  But now what? How should he proceed with trying to win Grace. Wow! Was that what he wanted to do? Yes, he now realized, that was exactly what he wanted to do. Talking with her brother had just solidified that fact in his mind. And he wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything else.

  He looked at his watch and realized he just had time now to pick up Michelle at Grace’s house and head for the airport. He still wasn’t looking forward to it though. But on the other hand, at least the trip there might give him a little more time to get to know his daughter. Great!

  Michelle wasn’t happy about having to stop playing with Brianna to go with Kent, but he was able to persuade her by telling her that grandma had told him that she had a present for her.

  That got her in the car, but Kent wasn’t too sure about how the conversation would go on the way to the airport. At first, all he could get out of her were one-word answers.

  Then he hit upon the brilliant idea of asking her about what all she and Brianna had been doing. That really got her going and she chattered all the rest of the way to the airport.

  * * *

  Grace had tried to keep an ear on what was going on in Brianna’s bedroom all afternoon as the two new friends played with all of Brianna’s things. She was beginning to feel quite certain that Michelle was just a good girl who had been subjected to some less than stellar parenting up to this point in her life.

  Actually, the little girl seemed to be one of those who could go through all sorts of things and come out virtually unscathed. Grace thanked God for how He’d taken care of Michelle for the past five years.

  It really did her heart good to hear the girls singing VBS songs every once in a while.

  She was somewhat disappointed when Kent came to get Michelle so they could go to the airport to pick up her grandparents. The girls were both disappointed too, but Kent seemed to know how to get around Michelle’s objections gently and effectively. The mention of her grandma having a gift for her had certainly done the trick.

  Once they were gone, Brianna came into the kitchen where Grace was starting to get things out for their supper.

  “Mommy, I wish I had a sister just like Michelle.”

  Oh my! What could she say to that?

  “Oh Sweetie, I’m so sorry you don’t have any brothers or sisters. But think of it this way. You and Michelle can pretend that you’re sisters when you play. Can’t you?”

  Brianna placed her hands on her hips. “Oh Mommy, we already do that.”

  Grace figured she’d just been put in her place. But that seemed to satisfy Brianna for the time being. Any further discussion was interrupted when the doorbell rang. Brianna ran to the front door.

  “Brianna, don’t forget to look through the little window by the door to see who it is before you open the door. Okay?”

  “Okay Mommy.” After a brief pause, she called out, “It’s that nice lady from next door.”

  “Go ahead and let her in. I’ll be right there.”

  As soon as Grace entered the living room, Mrs. Anderson said, “I hope I’m not interrupting your supper Dear.”

  “Oh no, Mrs. Anderson, I was just about to start on it, but it can wait a while. Is something wrong?”

  Mrs. Anderson shook her head with her usual smile brightening up her face. “No, nothing is wrong Dear. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute.”

  Grace looked down at Brianna. “Why don’t you go back into your room and play for a little while, Sweetie?”

  Brianna skipped out of the room singing and Grace motioned for Mrs. Anderson to sit.

  As soon as they were both situated, Mrs. Anderson began. “Well, Grace, I couldn’t help noticing last night that something seemed to be bothering you quite a bit. Would you like to talk about it? After all, I have lived for seventy-five years, and I think I’ve been around in this old world enough to have gone through something close to whatever is troubling you.”

  Grace didn’t realize it at first, but as Mrs. Anderson talked, tears began to fill her eyes. She tried to stop them but finally had to reach for a tissue and she knew that only confirmed Mrs. Anderson’s suspicions.

  “Do you feel like talking about it Dear?”

  Grace wasn’t sure at first. She’d talked to Judy about it that morning but other than giving her comfort, Judy really hadn’t given her any solutions.

  However, when she looked into the dear sweet lady’s still clear blue eyes, she knew she needed to tell her.

  “Okay, Mrs. Anderson, I’m just so concerned about Brianna. Not for anything she’s doing or even her adjustment to Strawberry or to the new school. All of those things are coming along even better than I’d hoped.”

  She paused to gather her thoughts.

  “I doubt if you know much about me since I moved to St. Louis after college.” She took a fortifying breath. “Well, I met Randy in college. He graduated two years ahead of me but we waited until I graduated to get married.”

  She could feel more tears threatening but she forged on. “Well, Randy’s family is very wealthy and I don’t exactly know how it happened but they simply took over our lives. No, I guess I should say my life. That was when I realized that they’d always had almost total control over Randy’s life.”

  She looked toward the hallway to make sure Brianna was still in her room.

  “I was thoroughly miserable there. His mother was constantly criticizing me for every little thing that I ever did. She was always telling me what I should do or should have done.”

  She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes. “It didn’t take me very long to figure out that not only was I not good enough for her son, but there was a girl from another wealthy family like them that his parents had always planned for Randy to marry. They certainly hadn’t wanted him to marry me.”

  She stopped to gather her thoughts. “His parents began right away to compare me to that other woman and of course, I always failed miserably in the comparison. Then it wasn’t very long before Randy was comparing me to her too.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, dabbed at her eyes again and forged on. “Well, after a few years of that, I began to suspect that Randy was having an affair with her and didn’t really know what to do about it. I was afraid that if I divorced him, his family would hire a powerful lawyer and take Brianna away from me. It all seemed so hopeless.”

  “Finally, one night just over a year ago, Randy had a car wreck on a wet road. She was with him that night and they were both killed.”

  She had to stop now to compose herself or she’d start bawlin
g. “After Randy died, every time Brianna would be with them for any time at all, she’d come back almost depressed. Then they took me to court to get custody of Brianna.”

  She paused so long this time that Mrs. Anderson prompted her. “So what did actually happen? I see that you do indeed have custody of Brianna now.”

  Grace tried to smile through her tears. “Well, thankfully, we drew a judge who apparently knew them and didn’t like them.”

  Mrs. Anderson seemed to realize that there was still more and just sat there waiting.

  “As soon as I could, I put in my application at the high school here.”

  Mrs. Anderson made tutting sounds and reached out to pat Grace’s hand. “Oh dear, what an ordeal to have gone through, especially for Brianna.”

  “Yes, well, thankfully, during that last part, I was able to keep them away from her except once and I was with her the whole time and wouldn’t let them talk about the case or anything about custody of her.”

  “You did well, Hon, you did well.” Mrs. Anderson looked toward the bedrooms. “She seems to be quite well adjusted now.”

  “Yes, she is now, but for a while there, she was one sad little girl.”

  Grace took a deep breath and continued, “Well, it took a while but I finally got the job here so we could move back home. I can’t tell you how happy I was to be able to get both of us away from Randy’s parents.”

  Mrs. Anderson made a huffing sound. “Well, I’m certainly glad you’re away from those people. They sound quite dreadful.”

  Grace shook her head. “But that’s just the point Mrs. Anderson. We’re not away from them anymore. They just bought a house down here so they can come down here and interfere with our lives all over again.”

  “Oh dear. That’s not good. No, that’s not good at all.”

  Grace knew that if she didn’t do something with her hands right away, she might fall apart. She jumped up and said, “How about a glass of iced tea?”

  Before Mrs. Anderson could even answer, Grace was in the kitchen getting the drinks.

  When she sat the glasses down on the coffee table between them, Grace was surprised to see Mrs. Anderson actually grinning at her.

  After she took a sip of her tea, the dear lady began. “Grace, I’m sure you remember my George. After all, he was the elementary principal all the time you were there.”

  “Oh yes. He was such a wonderful man.”

  A faraway look came across the dear sweet lady’s face and her eyes misted for a moment. Then she shook her head as if to clear it. “Yes, he certainly was. He was just like his father who was one of the finest men I’ve ever known.”

  She chuckled which came out sounding more like a snort. “But I certainly couldn’t say the same thing about George’s mother.” Her eyes twinkled then. “Why, I think that woman could have given lessons to the devil himself.”

  Grace was so startled at that uncharacteristic remark that a giggle burst out of her but then she caught herself. She’d never heard Mrs. Anderson say anything bad about anyone.

  “Well, your mother-in-law sounds just like her.” She waved a hand in the air between them. “But hearing that isn’t going to help you one little bit now is it Dear?”

  Mrs. Anderson sipped her tea again, set it back on the table, and leaned back in her chair. After crossing her arms, she said, “You know what I did to get that woman off my back?”

  Grace shook her head.

  “Well, I chose a time when it was just her and me in her big, fancy house.” She was grinning again. “I told her that if she didn’t behave, I’d not only take George and our three daughters far away and she’d never see them again, but I also told her that if that didn’t work I’d take a baseball bat to her.”

  Grace was shocked. “You didn’t?” She couldn’t believe this small, sweet lady could do something like that.

  “Oh yes, I most certainly did.” She cackled then. “You should have seen her eyes too. I thought they were going to pop right out of her head.”

  While Grace was still processing all of that, Mrs. Anderson finished with, “It worked too. Let me tell you, that woman was so nice to me after that, it was simply unbelievable.”

  Chapter Eight

  Kent’s dad had called him on his cell phone and told him which baggage area they were going to so he and Michelle were there to meet them when they got there.

  As soon as Kent’s mom saw them, she began running toward them. Kent was shocked. He couldn’t ever remember seeing his mom run. He quickly leaned down to Michelle and said, “That’s your other grandma, Michelle. She’s going to want to hug you. Please let her do that.”

  Michelle barely had time to look up at him before her grandma scooped her up into her arms. But the look she gave him made him feel good all over. His long lost daughter had just given him what he was sure had to be a trusting look. Wow!

  In the car, Kent’s mom immediately climbed into the backseat with Michelle. His dad, of course, sat in the front passenger seat and said very little to Kent all the way home. Well, had he expected anything else?

  But it certainly wasn’t quiet in the backseat. Kent had cringed at first, thinking that Michelle might clam up and not talk to her grandma at all. But he was surprised at the fact that Michelle seemed to take to her grandma from the first hug. Then it dawned on him that the poor little girl probably hadn’t had very many hugs in the past five years. He almost snorted. Shelly was far from being an affectionate person and he couldn’t remember her actually hugging Michelle, at least not like most mothers hug their children.

  They had barely made it out of the airport onto the interstate when he heard Michelle say in a loud voice, “Grandma, Daddy said you had a present for me.”

  Kent was embarrassed at first but his mother seemed to take it right in stride. Not only that, but he could tell that his mom was smiling when she said, “I certainly do Michelle.”

  He heard some rustling sounds and then, “Here it is Honey. You may open it now if you want.”

  First, he heard tearing sounds then Michelle squealed. “Wow! It’s a complete Barbie and Ken set. Thanks Grandma.”

  Kent could see enough out of the corner of his eye to know that Michelle had hugged her grandma this time. He drove the rest of the way feeling fantastic. His little girl didn’t seem adversely affected by the last five years at all. Great!

  As they were nearing Strawberry, Kent remembered what he needed to tell his parents. “Hey Mom, Sheila’s planning a late supper for all of us over at her house tonight. That okay with you?”

  “Sure it is Son. You know I want to see my grandsons too, even though I want to spend most of my time getting to know my little Michelle.”

  Kent winced when she called Michelle little. He was sure Michelle would complain about it. But he couldn’t believe it when he heard a soft giggle coming from the back seat following that announcement. He was even more shocked when he heard what his daughter said next.

  “Oh Grandma, did you know that Roger is in my class at school. And so is Brianna. She’s my best friend in all the world.”

  Kent wasn’t sure his mom knew who Brianna was so he said, “Brianna is Grace’s daughter.”

  Michelle interrupted. “She’s the same age as me.” She giggled then added. “And she looks just like me.”

  For the rest of the drive, Kent enjoyed listening to his mom and Michelle talking in the back seat. It sure was great the way Michelle was adapting to living with him. Wow!

  Kent was still in shock later as they all eight gathered in Sheila’s dining room. He looked around the big table and realized that Sheila had purposely seated the three kids together at one end of the table. But his mom had taken the seat next to Michelle and was telling her all about their home in Arizona.

  Kent just knew that Michelle would turn her grandma off, especially with that topic of conversation. But he was pleasantly surprised again to see the little girl looking up at her grandma and she was actually grinning. Wow! That no
t only made him proud of Michelle but it also made him want to get to know his long lost daughter that much more. She certainly wasn’t anything like her mother.

  The first time Kent had taken Shelly to visit his parents, it had turned out to be a fiasco. Shelly had insulted his mom in some way that neither one of them would ever explain to him. But from then on, the two women didn’t get along very well at all.

  But not Michelle? No way. She was beginning to remind him of Sheila. After all, she looked so much like her aunt, didn’t she? Her personality seemed to be much like Sheila’s too. Kent had always marveled at how his sister was able to sell many houses quite easily with just her natural charm.

  Things seemed to be going well around the table. Kent’s dad was talking real estate with Aaron, and the kids were fairly quiet, at least Sheila’s boys were. Michelle, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the spotlight that her newly discovered grandmother had placed on her.

  The little girl was telling her grandma stories about her life with her mother and the various boyfriends who’d passed through their lives. She didn’t seem to realize how angry it was making Kent and his mom both to hear what all Shelly had subjected Michelle to over the last five years.

  Again, Kent found himself wanting to throttle his ex-wife. It made him wonder again, what he’d ever seen in her to have married her. He just shook his head.

  He was almost glad, for once, that his brother chose that particular moment to make one of his grand entrances. Of course, their dad stopped everything and gave his son a hug. As usual, Kent wondered where his hug had been. There had only been a stiff greeting from his dad at the airport and very little conversation on the way home. Oh well, he was used to it.

  The rest of the evening was rather uncomfortable for Kent, as usual. His dad, Aaron and Larry were all in the family room talking and Kent found himself in the living room with his mom, Sheila, and the three kids.

  He couldn’t believe how Michelle seemed to be blossoming with all the attention that her grandma and aunt were giving her. He wasn’t surprised to discover that his little girl was starved for attention and also quite the ham.