Backward Blessings

by Rachel A Andersen

  He kissed her cheek. “Something tells me I’m going to have a date I’ll never forget tonight.”

  Lilian’s laugh became a cough in an instant. Exhaustion lined her face as she leaned back on the pillows. Jake helped center her on the bed before he wrapped her in her quilt for warmth.

  Her breathing deepened as she closed her eyes, and he brushed back a strand of her white hair.

  Just be happy, Jake. Just be happy.

  He kissed her forehead. “I’ll try, Lilian. I can only promise that I’ll try.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Teresa

  Teresa’s hands hovered over her stomach as if they had the power to quell the anxiety bubbling there. How her grandmother had talked her into doing this, she’d never know...

  “Mommy, are you ready yet?”

  Not even a little.

  She bit down the temptation to suck in a breath for courage and turned to her son. “I think so. What do you think?”

  The boy’s eyes widened. “Mom, you’re beautiful.”

  If she had been in a more playful mood, she might have teased him for being so surprised, but she wasn’t going to do that. It was too nice to hear—it had been too long since anyone had said that to her.

  She kissed the top of her son’s head. “Thank you, sweetheart. You don’t think it’s too much?”

  He shook his head. “Boy, is Mr. Jake going to be surprised.”

  She turned her attention back to the mirror and applied another coat of pink lip gloss. “I’m not going to the Harvest Ball so I can see Mr. Jake. Grandma Lilian reminded me that it’s important to go out and have fun. That’s the only reason I’m going.”

  Liar.

  The pilot had slipped out of the bed and breakfast sometime after she and Logan had left for the parade, but that hadn’t stopped her from scanning the crowd for his chiseled features or that crooked smile he flashed at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

  She’d even left the muffins out a little longer than she’d planned when he hadn’t come down for breakfast. Her heart sank when she found them untouched after the parade.

  Even now, as she dressed for the Harvest Ball, she caught herself wondering which of her dresses would match the navy blue of his dress uniform best or which color he’d prefer. She’d even caught herself applying a second coat of mascara and fluffing her hair to accentuate its natural bounce.

  And then there was the lip gloss...

  Her stomach did a little flip as she remembered the vial of pout perfecter she’d stashed in her clutch just in case... It just wouldn’t do to have smudged lip gloss when she came home for the night, but oh, how she ached to be in his arms again for just one more moment.

  Never going to happen.

  Her cell phone vibrated on the vanity, stealing her attention. She stared at the caller ID, her mind struggling to wrap itself around the call.

  Colin.

  Why would he—? Her heart plummeted into her stomach. Anxiety spun her thoughts around like a tornado. He’d changed his mind. He wanted Logan for Thanksgiving. No, he was dying. She’d have to break it to her son and be in the awkward divorced-widow crowd. Maybe it was the police calling to tell her that he’d been in an accident, and he hadn’t changed his emergency contact information. She’d go to him instead of the Harvest Ball, just like she had all during their married life. She’d just have to find someone to manage things while she was gone...

  The possibilities threatened her sanity. If she had a hope of enjoying herself at the dance tonight, she had to find out what the call was about.

  She flicked her thumb across the home screen and put the phone to her ear. “Colin?”

  “Teresa.”

  She sank into the chair at the vanity, the sound of his voice bringing a thousand memories to the front of her mind.

  Logan perked up. “Is that Dad?”

  Teresa ignored him. “Colin, now’s not a great time. Can I call you back?”

  Her shoulders ached with tension as she waited for Colin’s response. Was he going to yell at her? Was he going to ask her what was so important that she couldn’t talk to him?

  “It won’t take a minute. I just wanted to see when I can pick Logan up for Thanksgiving.”

  Her throat thickened as she glanced back at her son. The boy’s eyes watched her for any sign that Colin wanted to talk to him.

  Which, of course, he wouldn’t.

  She hid the speaker in the crook of her neck as she turned to Logan. “Sweetheart, why don’t you go downstairs and see if Penny’s here yet?”

  The boy opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced it with one of her patented “mom” looks.

  Though his shoulders slumped, Logan’s eyes filled with hope. “Ask Dad if I can talk to him when you’re done?”

  She nodded once. She couldn’t promise that Colin would give in, but she could ask.

  As Logan slipped out of the room, she turned her attention back to her ex-husband. “We discussed this, Colin. You weren’t sure what your plans were for Thanksgiving, so you wanted him to stay with me this year. We switched Thanksgiving for New Year.”

  “No, we didn’t.”

  His voice oozed confidence. It was like he’d never been wrong in his life. He wasn’t about to start now.

  There had been a time when she would have cowered at the words, a time when she would have rationalized in her mind that maybe she was mistaken.

  Funny how learning about one’s husband’s marriage-ending affair changed one’s perspective. Things seemed so much clearer.

  “Yes, Colin, we did.”

  Pride swelled in her; six months ago, it would have been impossible for her to say those words without them feeling hollow or shaky.

  Colin was quiet for a moment. She could almost picture his beady eyes narrow as he came up with another strategy on how to handle her. She was too confident now. He’d have to try another way to get what he wanted. “Well, I’m having Thanksgiving with my folks here in Kansas City. I can swing by and pick him up Wednesday when he gets out of school for the break.”

  Beneath her feet, she could hear the front door open and close as two voices exchanged muffled greetings.

  Penny was here.

  Teresa got to her feet, grateful for an excuse to end the conversation before she said something she’d regret. “Colin, I have to go, but I’ll call you this week. I just don’t have time to go through this right now.”

  “Oh, you don’t have time for this? What kind of a mother are you?”

  Teresa broke into a cold sweat. She gripped the phone in her hand like it was a lifeline. I am a good mother. Colin always says things like this when he doesn’t get what he wants. Getting a babysitter for a couple of hours for the first time in years doesn’t make me a bad person.

  “I didn’t say we couldn’t discuss it. I just said we can’t discuss it now.”

  She trembled from head to foot, and it sounded in her voice again. She hated that Colin was going to use her shaky voice to prove to himself that he was superior to her.

  “Of course we can’t discuss it now. You’re getting emotional.”

  Her heart hammered in her chest so hard that she had a fleeting thought she was having a heart attack. She had to be dying for her heart to react that way.

  Be strong. Be strong.

  She inhaled and straightened her posture. Even if she didn’t feel strong, she could pretend. “Colin, I’m not being emotional. I have plans. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Hallelujah! Strong voice came back.

  “Oh ho ho, you’ve got a date. No wonder you can’t talk right now. Is he getting impatient?”

  Why did he have to say it like he’d found a nugget of evidence for his supposition that she was an unfit mother?

  She clenched her jaw. She should hang up. One little click. That’s all it would take. “Colin, I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you tomorrow afternoon. Then, we’ll talk about where Logan will spend Thanksgiving.”

 
; “Put the kid on so I can say goodbye.”

  Not on your life.

  She didn’t trust Colin right now. The last thing she or Logan needed was her ex-husband poisoning their son’s mind. “He’s unavailable right now. I’ll have him call you tomorrow.”

  “Chatting with your mystery date, huh? Do you really think that’s appropriate?”

  It is when he’s a bigger fan of your date than you are.

  The words leapt into her thoughts even though she didn’t have a date. That didn’t stop her brain from conjuring an image of Logan and Jake in the scenario Colin described. She may have reservations about Logan interacting with his father, but she had no such reservations about Jake. He might only be in town for a week, but he’d be a better father-figure to Logan than Colin had ever been.

  “Goodbye, Colin. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  She ended the call before he could attempt to keep her on the phone any longer. She’d pay for that. Colin would either torture her tomorrow after he’d recovered from her newfound assertiveness or he’d ring back every few seconds so that her ringer would go off in the middle of the dance.

  She should just cancel her plans.

  Her grandmother’s brilliant blue eyes appeared in her mind. Don’t you dare, Teresa Lilian Rampton. Don’t you dare let Colin win this one.

  She stole a peek at the full-length mirror in the corner of the room, her son’s gasp at her beauty replaying in her mind. It was enough to steel her nerves against any catastrophe she could imagine for the evening.

  She smoothed the bodice of her dress more out of nervousness than out of any need. “Okay, Teresa. You can do this. You remember what fun is, right?”

  Her smile fell as she looked at the mirror. She wouldn’t recognize fun if it handed her twenty dollars at a carnival and let her run free with no consequences or commentary.

  She was doomed.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jake

  Jake tugged at the collar of his pilot’s uniform. “I’m having a hard time forgiving my sister for not telling me about this before I left Denver. I feel like I wore a costume to a formal dance.”

  Georgie laughed as she took Jake’s arm. “Let them stare. I want everyone to know I’m on the arm of the most handsome man at the ball.”

  Jake’s ears turned pink, but he smiled down at the woman on his arm. “If they’re staring at anyone here, it’s you. Georgie, you look wonderful in that dress.”

  She beamed. “I knew there was a reason I kept you around. Now, where is your young lady?”

  Jake filled one of the clear plastic cups with the pink punch. “First of all, she isn’t my young lady, and secondly, she’s not planning on coming. She said she wanted to spend time with her son.

  She threw him a look that seemed to contradict his words. “You invited me here because you didn’t want to upset your young lady. Lilian was there. I have witnesses.”

  Amusement tugged at his lips as he handed her the cup. “Is that why you said yes to being my date? So you could play matchmaker?”

  She didn’t waste time playing innocent. “Yes, and my dance card is full on that score so if you’d get on with it, I’d appreciate it.”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “Who else are you trying to match up, Georgie?”

  “Me.”

  Jake turned to find a tall man with a dark complexion eying Georgie as if he knew what she was up to. He had a hand in one pocket of his tuxedo and held the clear punch cup as if it was a dry martini.

  Good to know he wasn’t the only one who looked out of place here.

  The other man extended his unused hand in greeting. “I’m Greyson Able. You must be Jake Littlefield.”

  Georgie leaned toward Jake. “He’s my grandson.”

  Understanding dawned. The grandson. “You’re the one who wanted to put her in a home, I understand.”

  The man’s face darkened as a suspicious glance darted toward Georgie. “I just want my grandmother taken care of. That’s all.”

  Jake took the man’s hand and shook it. “Well, I promise to be a perfect gentleman.”

  “Not too perfect, I hope!” Georgie giggled as she winked at him.

  A look of horror crossed Greyson’s face which seemed incongruous with his smooth features.

  Jake zoned out as they walked to one of the scattered tables around the edges of the dance floor. Greyson and Georgie talked about someone named Hope and how the relationship was progressing. As he surveyed the room, he tried to tell himself that it was just habit for a former Marine. He had been trained to anticipate any threats around him.

  Unfortunately, even he knew he was lying. He was looking for her.

  He had told Georgie she wasn’t coming—and as far as he could tell that was true—so why was he looking for her?

  His eye caught on a figure at the front entrance. She seemed taller than she’d been last night. Maybe she was wearing heels. Golden brown waves cascaded over her shoulders, the navy color of her dress making her hair even more radiant than it had been yesterday. Though she was several feet away, he suspected she’d even put on a little makeup given the care she’d taken with her dress and hair.

  It was like looking at a different woman, but the way she shied away from the crowd told him that the impossible had occurred. Teresa had shown up at the dance.

  Their gazes met, and relief gave way to a smile.

  Georgie sidled up to him. “Go on. Ask her to dance.”

  Jake gulped, his attention still captured by the woman walking through the crowd toward him. “I can’t do that. You’re my date. What would it look like it I gave her the first dance of the evening?”

  Georgie nudged him with her elbow, and the slight pain turned his attention to the older woman. “Jacob, as cute as you are, I didn’t say yes so that you’d feel any obligation to keep me company. I can make my own fun. Chester Hamilton—he’s the owner of the movie theater—is a good dancer. In my circles, he’s the closest thing we have to an eligible bachelor.”

  Though nerves churned in his stomach, he managed a smile for Georgie. “Sounds like quite a catch.”

  “Not unlike your young lady. I thought you said she wasn’t coming.”

  “That’s what she told me.”

  Every muscle in his body seized up as his thoughts warred. Had she brought a date? He would have noticed if she’d been on the arm of some small-town hick, right? Besides, she’d said that she wasn’t going because she didn’t want a date. He’d brushed it aside as something a woman who hadn’t been asked would say, but what if he was wrong? What if the only reason she was here was to prove to him that she had no desire to date him?

  The room swam in his vision. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to be sick.

  “Jake, is something wrong?”

  He tossed down a cup of punch like it was a shot of something stronger. “What was I thinking? She’s healing after a breakup. There are some girls I wouldn’t mind being the rebound guy for, but...”

  Georgie brushed the hair back from his face like his mother used to do when he was scared or sick. “Oh, honey, you’ve fallen hard.”

  “I can’t have fallen. Love at first sight isn’t a thing!”

  Georgie sat across from him and took his hand in hers. “On the one hand, you’re right. Love is more than just thinking that a person is attractive. True love isn’t fleeting. It takes years of care and trust to cultivate to its fullest. It’s what I shared with my husband before he passed. But that doesn’t mean it can’t knock you flat on your bum every now and again. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the matchmaking business, it’s that love is full of surprises.”

  Jake’s eyes flew back to where Teresa had been in the crowd. She’d been waylaid by an older man in a three-piece green suit. He looked like he’d stepped out of time with his hair styled and his mustache trimmed. Some octogenarians let go of their appearance, but not this man.

  They were deep in conversation, and he wondered if
the older man was asking after the health of her grandmother.

  Surprises. This trip had been full of them, from the trip itself to the addendum Melissa added to the bet, to asking Georgie instead of Teresa to the ball.

  But was it love?

  Teresa caught his eye from across the room, and she shared a warm smile with him. From here, he could see the light glow of pink lip gloss on her lips and the thickness of her mascaraed lashes.

  The vision of the woman in leggings from yesterday flashed in his vision. She’d worn little (if any) makeup, and fire had blazed in her eyes on more than one occasion, but she’d been no less beautiful than the woman in front of him now.

  His heart leapt into his throat.

  Was it love? Maybe not now, but it could be.

  Last night while she’d put Logan to bed, he’d wondered if he’d wanted to ask Teresa to the ball because she was the first woman he’d met in this small town or if she was the first one of any consequence. Surrounded by all the women who lived in Blessings, he knew it was the latter. Even in a crowded room filled with the other women in the town, his eye was still drawn to her.

  But how was he supposed to get close to her knowing that he was going to leave and never come back? How was he supposed to act like he was part of the family only to go back to his one-bedroom apartment in Denver?

  “Georgie, I can’t. It’s not fair to her.”

  The eighty-something year old woman quirked an eyebrow at him. “It’s not fair? Jake, did you ask her what she thought? Or did you just make this decision on your own?”

  He frowned. “Georgie, I can’t date her. She has a kid.”

  He thought he heard a gasp behind him, but when he looked back to find the startled party, no one seemed to have heard him.

  Georgie looked down her nose at him. “Really, Jacob?”

  His jaw worked. “Listen, I thought it made sense. She can’t be eager to start something that can only end in missed phone calls and jealous accusations, can she? Especially not when she has a kid to think about in the mix.”