A Boy to Remember

by Cynthia Thomason

  Alex had suffered for days when she considered whether or not she would tell Daniel about the pregnancy. In the end, she didn’t tell him for several reasons. He had a bright future ahead of him and the scholarships and part-time jobs to see him through his university education. His finances would have been much different if he’d had a baby to support.

  Also, she really believed that she was just a summer fling for him, and when she discovered she was going to have his baby, he was probably already thinking about next summer’s conquest. And last, she had lied to him about being on the pill, and to tell him a baby was on the way was to admit she’d purposely deceived him. She was afraid he’d think she’d trapped him.

  And then Teddy, gallant, thoughtful Teddy, gave her the path to make her troubles go away. He promised her a secure and happy life, and he had provided that. He said he’d raise her child as his own, and no one would ever know that he wasn’t the father. He’d kept that promise, too. Sometimes he treated her so well, so carefully, that she believed he thought she might break. If Teddy hadn’t died, she would be married to him today. She wouldn’t be on a picnic in the rain with the man she’d never forgotten.

  Alex looked into Daniel’s eyes now.

  He reached for her hand. “Are you crying, Alex?”

  His question shocked her. She hadn’t been aware that her eyes were filling with tears over so many mistakes, so many regrets, so many promises not kept.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess I just didn’t believe that the promises meant that much to you.”

  “I’ve never been one to say what I don’t mean. I don’t make empty promises to the people of this district, and I didn’t make any empty promises to you.” He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “I cared for you, Alex. What we shared that summer was real. As real as this...”

  He reached up and cradled her chin in his hand and then bent lower until their foreheads touched. Alex told herself to stop him before this went any further, but just like so many nights in the moonlight, words failed her on this gray afternoon on a covered bridge.

  His lips touched hers, lightly at first. When she didn’t pull away, he increased the pressure of his mouth, and the kiss became demanding, needy. They might have been kids again, experiencing the splendor of that first kiss, frightened, excited and wanting more. She leaned into him as his arm came around her, and with simmering emotions rising to the surface, she kissed him back with all the passion she’d kept buried for eighteen years—passion that she’d never quite been able to feel for Teddy.

  She didn’t know how long the kiss lasted. Maybe a minute, maybe just a few sparkling seconds, but in that short time, the feelings of that long-ago summer came rushing back, enveloping her in a flowing warmth that made her wish for an eternity of Daniel’s kisses.

  But scruples, especially for a woman like Alex, had a way of restoring logic. Breathless and dizzy, she managed to say, “We’d better go.”

  “Okay.” He stood, offered his hand and she got up. Her legs felt weak and insubstantial. He wrapped his hands around her arms. “You felt it, too, just now, Alex. I know you did. Whatever we once had, it’s still there.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m still grieving, adjusting. I shouldn’t have...”

  “It’s all right. No explanations necessary.” He picked up the lunch bag and slung it over his shoulder. “But for the rest of the time I have here, I’m going to keep asking to see you. I think we owe it to each other.”

  They emerged from the bridge into spears of sunlight breaking through the clouds. Daniel took her hand as they walked in the fresh, moist air to the car. They didn’t talk, each occupied with their thoughts. And Alex remembered what he’d told her. The time I have here... Just under two weeks. The realization made her sad, but really, wasn’t Daniel’s return to the capital what she should hope for?

  CHAPTER TEN

  ON TUESDAY ALEX drove Lizzie to the theater. Her mind was occupied so that she barely kept up with Lizzie’s chatter. Daniel hadn’t called the day before, but that wasn’t so strange, especially when he had so much going on with his father, his town hall meetings, the theater. And she’d done nothing to encourage him to contact her.

  Alex found out from Lizzie that Daniel had come to the Red Barn late Monday afternoon. She cleverly, or so she thought, questioned her daughter and discovered that Daniel hadn’t mentioned her or their date. Again, not so strange. Why would he talk to her daughter about something that didn’t concern her?

  Still, Alex was feeling out of sorts as she drove into the parking lot. A bit moody, a bit sullen, maybe even disappointed.

  Until she saw Daniel’s SUV and his tall, imposing form stepping from the driver’s side. In tune with the warm day, he wore denim shorts and a Cleveland Indians T-shirt. Funny, she’d never known that he was a sports fan.

  “Look, Mom, there’s Daniel,” Lizzie said. “I’m glad he was able to come this morning. We’re running out of time to get the gazebo built for the country dance scene.”

  “If you need an extra hand, I can stop by later,” Alex said. “I can wield a mean paintbrush, but I’m not much good with a hammer.”

  “We’d love your help, Mom. I wasn’t much good, either, until Daniel gave me a carpentry lesson. I swear, he knows how to do everything.”

  Daniel stopped at the door and turned at the sound of their approaching car. He smiled and waved.

  Lizzie jumped out of the passenger side and headed quickly to the entrance. After speaking to Daniel, she went inside. Daniel came over to Alex, who had remained in her vehicle.

  “Hey, Alex, how’re you doing?” he asked.

  She expelled the breath she’d been holding. He wasn’t angry or avoiding her. “Great. You?” For one fleeting, anxious moment she felt as if she were back at Birch Shore.

  He leaned on her open window. “I’d be even better if I knew you were going out to dinner with me tomorrow night.”

  She swallowed. “You never asked me.”

  The smile widened. “No? Must have slipped my mind. Alex, will you go out to dinner with me tomorrow night? How about the Bristol Falls Inn? It’d be perfect. A little candlelight. A little music.”

  The possible consequences of a wrong decision raced through her mind. Anticipation at just the thought of spending more time with Daniel raced through her blood. Alarm bells rang. She knew what she should say.

  “That sounds lovely,” she said instead.

  “Super. Pick you up at seven.”

  He tapped on the hood of her car as a goodbye and then waited while she backed up, turned around and zoomed out of the parking lot. Only when she was rounding the curve that would hide the Red Barn from view did she see him go inside.

  “What are you doing, Alexis?” she said aloud. “You know this is trouble. You know seeing Daniel can only mean more risk, more complications.”

  But then the other side had its say, convincing her that she only had to watch her words, think before she spoke. She could be with Daniel without revealing the one bit of information that could seriously affect all their lives. Her conscience tugged at her. Should she keep silent? Should she tell him the truth? Could she tell him? When would the time ever be right? She knew she should tell the truth, but she’d held back for so long, she could do it for a while longer. And didn’t she deserve some happiness? Shouldn’t she explore these feelings she had for Daniel? How could she do that if she didn’t see him? And so, as she drove back to Dancing Falls, she contemplated the choices in her closet, wondered how she would wear her hair. She might as well be a pretty little liar.

  * * *

  DANIEL AND LIZZIE took a break from painting the gazebo and went outside for a breath of air. They sat together on the redbrick planter box in front of the theater. Daniel had a pair of energy bars in his pocket and offered one to
Lizzie.

  “Thanks.” She unwrapped the treat and took a small bite.

  “Are you getting nervous about opening night?” he asked her.

  “Yes, but in a good way. I don’t have that many lines, so I’m not worried about forgetting them. But I could still use some help with the dance numbers.” She gave him a rueful smile. “I’ve never been especially coordinated.”

  “I hear ya,” he said. “I cringe whenever I have to go to an official function where dancing is involved, although when I was your age I wasn’t too bad. But my feet have obviously given up on me lately.”

  “My mom says you were a good performer.”

  “That’s kind of her. I enjoyed it, but now I’m a performer of a different sort. Being a politician is like being under a microscope. I never know when someone’s cell phone camera is catching me with a frown on my face or when a reporter is looking for a juicy story.”

  Lizzie crumpled the empty wrapper in her hand. “But you’re one of the good guys, aren’t you? You’re genuinely concerned about the people of Ohio.”

  “I try to be, and for the most part, I’d say I am a good guy. But you never know when someone could uncover a detail from the past, which might drop a bomb on all my plans.”

  She giggled and made the sound of an explosion. “Now you’ve made me wonder what’s in your past that could be so damaging.”

  He laughed. “I’m a man of mystery and I intend to stay that way.” He knew he shouldn’t pry, but he felt a compelling need to learn more about Teddy Pope. “Speaking of mysteries, Lizzie, how about your father? He was a doctor, wasn’t he?”

  “Yeah. His patients really liked him.”

  “So he was one of the good guys, too?”

  “He was.”

  “I’ll bet you really miss him.”

  She only nodded.

  “Do you look like your father?” he asked.

  “Not so much. No one knows where I got this dark hair, though my grandma Maggie’s hair is light brown. My dad had blond hair until it fell out. He was kind of bald when he died.”

  “Sometimes traits can skip a generation, or so I’m told,” he said. “I look more like my mother than I do my father, and Mom told me once that I look even more like her mother. Weird, I guess, being told you look like a woman.”

  “Not really,” she said. “A man can have eyes like his mother’s or the shape of her mouth. Your eyes are really pretty, kind of like mine—the color’s hard to describe.”

  Yes, he’d thought that, too. He’d always put the word hazel on ID forms when asked for eye color. That was as close as he could come to a description. He wondered what Lizzie put on her forms.

  “So how long were your parents married?” he asked.

  “Eighteen years.” She smiled. “Mom must have gotten pregnant while they were on their honeymoon. I was born before they’d been married a year.”

  He wanted to ask for specific dates but didn’t want Lizzie to think he was probing too deeply into her family’s history. But more and more he was starting to wonder...

  He put the thought out of his mind. Alex was the most genuine, honest woman he’d ever met. She wouldn’t, couldn’t hide something like this from him. And she had to have known how he felt about her. He would have supported whatever she decided to do. No, Lizzie was definitely Teddy’s daughter. And it was the only scenario he could live with.

  He stood. “Guess we’d better get back to work. Glen is starting to look anxious about pulling the sets together.”

  “Only nine more days to the dress rehearsal.” She stood, as well, and gave him a grin. “My mom said she’d come help us this afternoon.”

  “That’s nice of her. Unfortunately, I have to leave in a few minutes and go to the hardware store.”

  The grin faded. “Are you planning to see her again?”

  He feigned surprise. “My, aren’t we nosy. But, since you asked, yes. We’re going out to dinner tomorrow night.”

  “That’s good. She needs to have some fun. Even before Daddy died I was starting to worry about her.”

  “How so?”

  “Mom always had so much energy, and Daddy was much older. He was slowing down, and Mom had to cut back on some of her activities to be home with him more often.” She shrugged. “She loved him and all, so it was okay, but now she has a chance to start over.”

  “Are you thinking she might start over with me?” It was a blunt question, and Daniel realized that he shouldn’t have asked.

  “Couldn’t say. Depends how you treat her, I guess.”

  Daniel held the door for Lizzie, but before she went in, he added, “I like your mother, Lizzie. I don’t want you to worry about her when she’s with me.”

  “I don’t. But I wonder what will happen when I go away to college and she’s back in Chicago. Who will worry about her then?”

  He didn’t answer, but hope flared that maybe it would be him.

  * * *

  DANIEL WAS IN a good mood as he drove to the hardware store and he knew why. If Alex had turned down his invitation, he would have conceded that she wasn’t interested in him. But she had not only accepted, she had also seemed glad that he’d asked.

  He parked behind the store and went in the back entrance and through the warehouse to the front. He expected to see his father behind the counter, but instead he found Jerry Miller, the young man Gus had hired to help out on occasion. There was only one customer wandering the aisles.

  “Hey, Danny, how’s it going?” Jerry called.

  “Good. Where’s Pop?”

  “He didn’t call you?”

  The first tingle of alarm skidded down Daniel’s spine. “No, why? Is something wrong?”

  “Not wrong. Right. Your dad thinks he’s going to accept an offer for the inventory. Some guy from Steubenville who is opening up his own shop was here all morning checking the list you made. He said everything looked in order and he made an offer pretty close to what Gus wanted.”

  Grateful he wasn’t facing bad news about his father, Daniel sighed with relief. “That’s terrific,” he said. “So why didn’t Pop tell me himself?”

  “I don’t know,” Jerry said. “He was fine one minute, and the next he handed me the key to the cash register and said he was going home. Maybe he needed to think things through.”

  Daniel scratched the back of his neck. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but Gus Chandler never left work early unless there was a family emergency or he was really sick. “How long ago did he leave?”

  “About an hour.”

  “You okay here?”

  “Sure. I’ll drop the keys and cash at your place later. Tell Gus I’ve got everything under control.”

  Daniel thanked Jerry and headed back to his car. In ten minutes he turned onto Elm Street, where he’d grown up, and pulled into the single drive behind his father’s car. He went in the back door. “Pop!”

  No answer.

  “Pop, where are you?” He opened the door to the basement since his dad often puttered around there and called down. No answer.

  Still calling out for him, Daniel walked through the dining room and into the parlor. He could no longer ignore the feeling of dread that threatened to banish all logical thought.

  “Pop, answer me...”

  Daniel stopped just inside the living room, and his heart leaped into his throat. His father lay on his back on the sofa, a familiar photo frame clutched to his chest. His other arm hung over the cushions, the fingers almost touching the floor.

  Panic spurred Daniel across the room. Blood pounded in his head. He told himself to breathe. “No, not like this. Not alone,” he said.

  He crouched beside the sofa and lifted the frame from his dad’s hand. The smiling face of his mother didn’t bring him a
ny comfort like it usually did. He set the portrait on the floor and laid his head on his dad’s chest. If there was a heartbeat, he couldn’t hear it. Tears clogged Daniel’s eyes and burned in his throat.

  And then there was a sputter and a cough. A few seconds later Gus lifted his arm from his chest and swatted the air around his face as if he was battling a pesky fly. Daniel jerked away, landing on his backside. “Pop?”

  “What are you doing, Danny?” Gus said. “Why were you leaning over me like that?”

  Daniel clutched his own chest. “Good grief, Pop, you scared me half to death. I thought you were...” He couldn’t say the word.

  Gus sat up. “Dead, Danny? You thought I was dead?”

  “Well, you had that picture of Mom over your heart, and I assumed...”

  “I often nap with your mother’s picture,” Gus said.

  “And I called you a bunch of times. You didn’t answer.”

  “I was sleeping on my good ear,” Gus said. “Been supposed to get a hearing aid for the other one for almost a year now.” He smiled. Smiled? “Under the circumstances, I didn’t see the point.”

  “This isn’t funny, Pop,” Daniel said.

  His dad’s face grew serious. “No one knows that better than I do, son, but you’ve got to lighten up a little. You’re not the one dying.”

  “But when I walked in here, saw you on the couch... I thought you’d been alone, and I don’t want that to happen.”

  “I promise you, Danny, when my time comes, I won’t let you miss it. I’ll go out with you by my side, and we’ll have one last laugh for old times’ sake.”

  Daniel felt a grin spread across his face. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. Now, why don’t you tell me about the deal you made to sell the inventory? And I guess it’s time for us to call the Realtor and get the building listed.”