Secrets Gone South (Crimson Romance)

by Pace, Alicia Hunter

  “Game face, Arabelle,” he said. “Dislike me all you want but game face. Don’t forget it.”

  “Did anyone ever tell you your eyes are the color of moldy bread?”

  “All the time,” he said as he turned away from her to open the car door. “Crowned heads from small island countries email me daily to tell me that information.”

  Then he was out, headed to her side of the car before she could reply. She hurried to get out before he had a chance to open her door.

  “We go to the back door,” Arabelle said as Will headed up the front steps.

  “Lead on,” he said. “Just be cheerful about it.”

  Arabelle crossed the screened-in porch to the back door. Since this house had become Lanie’s home, Arabelle never knew quite what to do about entering. Time was, she would have just gone in. That didn’t seem right now but neither did ringing the bell of the house that had been her home. She compromised by rapping sharply before opening the door.

  “Anyone home?” she called. The kitchen was empty but clearly a meal had been cooked here recently. The various dirty pots and pans sat on the counter and there was a cooling peach cobbler on the range top. Great. They had come at lunchtime.

  “I didn’t realize it was so early,” she said.

  “When did you think we were going to get back?” Will asked. “You insisted on having our breakfast delivered at seven o’clock.”

  She had. If you weren’t going to have sex, there wasn’t anything to do in that tree house except throw logs on the fire, and she’d had enough of that.

  It was beyond bizarre to see Luke and Lanie at the head and foot of the dining room table, with her parents sitting across from each other.

  But this was Lanie’s table now, Lanie’s house. Gail Avery had been clear on that. They all chattered and laughed; Gail was cutting up Emma’s meat while Luke fed John Luke and Lanie fed Avery.

  “Mama!” Avery noticed them first and Arabelle took a little mean pleasure in that he called out for her first. But the mean feeling didn’t last. How could it when he was smiling and reaching for her?

  And suddenly, they were all on their feet, hugging, back patting, and carrying on like they hadn’t seen each other in twenty years.

  The laughter and welcomes faded to the background as Arabelle fought her way through her family and lifted Avery from the high chair. Clearly, Grandma had been shopping. Avery and John Luke were wearing matching blue smocked shortalls and Emma had the companion dress.

  “I missed you!” She covered his cheeks with kisses and reached to smooth his hair—just as Will bent to kiss his head. The kiss landed on her hand like a lighting bolt, or maybe a snakebite. She wondered if he’d felt it too. Their heads jerked up and their eyes locked. Oh, yeah. He’d felt it.

  Oblivious, Lanie closed in. “Sit down. We just started. I’ll get more plates.”

  “We already ate,” Arabelle said. She wanted out.

  Unfortunately, at the same time, Will said, “Thanks! I’m starving.”

  The room went silent.

  “Uh, we ate breakfast,” Arabelle said, shifting Avery to her hip.

  Will smiled and nodded. “It only seems to you like we just ate because you slept all the way back.”

  So he saved her from a lie.

  Lanie met her eyes and winked. She might as well have said, “So you didn’t get much sleep last night, huh?” But she didn’t, of course. “I’ll just get some plates.”

  “Aunt Belle! Aunt Belle!” Emma pulled on her sweater. “What did you bring?”

  Bring? Damn. It was a fair question. She always brought Emma a present. She had a five in her purse … Maybe that would do.

  “Emma!” Luke knelt down and took Emma by the shoulders. “We’ve talked about this, honeybee.”

  Will stroked Emma’s head. “Aunt Belle did bring you something. We forgot it in the car. What do you say, you eat your lunch and then I’ll go get it?”

  Saved again. He must have bought it at Cracker Barrel when he’d stopped for coffee.

  Finally, they were all settled at the table again, with Will waxing eloquent about the tree house and everyone telling wedding stories. They didn’t even notice that Arabelle had little to say. Gail and Lanie were too busy fetching cheese for Will and making sure he had enough vegetables. Gail even offered to make him an omelet—which resulted in much laughter from Luke and the senator.

  “And just when have you ever made an omelet?” Sanders Avery asked. “Ever? I’d like to remind you Susie hasn’t come back from church and lunch with her friends so she can’t save you.”

  More laughter. Gail just shrugged.

  Arabelle wanted Avery to sit on her lap while she finished feeding him, but he kept trying to get down, get in Will’s lap, get on the table, and then go back to Arabelle.

  “Here, Arabelle,” Lanie said reaching for Avery. “Let me. I’m finished. I know what a rare treat it is to be able to eat without feeding someone else.”

  Oh, she did, did she? But there was nothing to do but hand him over and let Lanie put him back in the highchair.

  You have a talent for collecting children that don’t belong to you, don’t you, Lanie? Hot shame for that thought washed over Arabelle and she looked down at her roast beef, asparagus, and potatoes.

  Now Will was passing around his phone showing the pictures he’d made of the tree houses. If anyone noticed there were no pictures of the two of them together, they didn’t mention it. In fact, Luke was all excited, talking about having a “guy and kid” weekend up there when it got warmer.

  Luke smiled down the table to Lanie. “Maybe y’all could go do some spa thing. Or shop.”

  Lanie laughed. “We’d love that, wouldn’t we, Arabelle? Maybe some time before Easter? We could go to Birmingham or Nashville and buy their Easter clothes. Missy knows the best places for children’s clothes.”

  Love that? Love Will taking Avery away for a whole weekend? No. Not going to happen.

  “I’m not sure it would be warm enough for them to go by then,” Arabelle said.

  “Oh, honey!” Sanders Avery said. “I took you and Luke camping in the dead of winter and it didn’t hurt you a bit.”

  So he thought. The way she remembered it, there had been hurt, and plenty of it.

  “We’ll see,” Will said.

  Lanie rose. “Who wants ice cream with their cobbler?”

  “OHHHHHH!” Avery laughed and slapped his hands to his cheeks, his mouth a perfect O.

  Everyone laughed.

  “I believe Avery would like some ice cream,” Gail said rising. “I’ll help you.”

  Lanie stroked Avery’s cheek and Avery looked at her adoringly and laughed. “Aunt Lanie will fix you right up.”

  No doubt. Arabelle tried to swallow her jealousy. Hadn’t she moved to Merritt so Avery would have family? Hadn’t she chosen his childcare because Lanie could pop in every so often during the day? Would she like it better if Lanie didn’t love him?

  They truth was, at least in this moment, she might. “I’ll help too.” She’d get Avery’s ice cream herself.

  “No!” Lanie smiled at her. “I insist. You get one more day of being a bride.”

  Was that what she was?

  Would she never get out of here? Cobbler, ice cream, coffee. Will went to the car and came back with a large bag from Cracker Barrel. But did he distribute the gifts? No. Saint Will handed them to her so she could be queen of the moment. She had no idea what Will intended but she gave the large sock monkey to Emma and the identical beanbag elephants to John Luke and Avery.

  “Oh, Aunt Belle!” Emma danced around hugging the monkey. “I love him. I have been wanting him for a really long time. He’s Purr Kitty’s best friend. But only after me.”

  Avery and John Luke were less enthusiastic about their elephants. In fact, Avery had focused in on Will and was demanding, “Up, Daddy!”

  During the great exodus from the dining room to the family room, Arabelle said, “I’m
going upstairs to get the things I left from getting ready yesterday.” Was it only yesterday that she’d gone in her old room as herself and come out Will Garrett’s bride?

  “Arabelle,” Lanie said. “I took your wedding dress to the dry cleaners yesterday afternoon. I asked them to clean it and pack it in a preservation box. I hope that’s okay.” And in what world should that not be okay? What kind of person didn’t appreciate that? A mean, unhappy person, that’s who—a person who was not fit to raise Avery. She had to do better. Lanie went on. “I had the same done with my dress and they did a beautiful job.”

  And now Lanie’s dress would be all pristine and ready for Emma in a few decades. Where was Carrie’s dress? She wondered if anyone even knew.

  Arabelle’s room was still the same—same white French Country furniture, same bulletin board with pictures and memorabilia, same pink sprigged ruffled curtains and comforter. She picked up the canvas boat bag she’d left and began to gather her clothes, extra cosmetics, and flat iron.

  In all fairness to Lanie, she should clear out the debris from her teenage and college years. Lanie might want to turn it into another guest room or maybe a room for Emma later on.

  She felt Will’s presence behind her before she heard him.

  “I came to see if you needed any help.”

  “I’ve got it. There isn’t much. Looks like someone even washed and folded the clothes I wore over yesterday.”

  “They’re good to you,” he said with some wistfulness. He looked around and then wandered over to the dresser and surveyed the little things there, touching the crystal perfume bottle that had been a gift from a sorority sister, the box of outdated jewelry that she didn’t wear anymore, the teddy bear holding the heart that some boy had given her on some long ago Valentine’s Day. Why had she even kept this stuff?

  “They are good to me.” Better than she deserved. “How did you know I always bring Emma a gift?”

  He turned to face her. “I didn’t. I wanted to bring something for Avery so, of course, I got something for the other kids, too.”

  She nodded. “Why did you let me take credit? Why do you keep saving me?”

  While another man might have denied that he knew what she meant, he leaned on the bedpost and considered the question.

  “I guess because I’ve turned your life upside down. You’re a good person, even though you aren’t acting much like it right now. I don’t even blame you. I’m a better person than my behavior would indicate right now, too. We need to keep it covered up until who we really are gets control of how we’re acting.”

  But what if this was really who she was, what she had become? Worse, what if she had driven the sweet, kind man who used to be Will Garrett to this quick to anger man with eyes that spoke of suffering?

  Yet she felt compelled to argue. “I think it’s hardly a character flaw that for one time, I forgot to get my niece a bring-back gift.”

  “No,” he agreed. “But the reason you didn’t think about it is because you pretended to sleep in the car because—for whatever reason—you didn’t want to talk to me. Otherwise, you would have gone into Cracker Barrel with me to stretch your legs, maybe used the restroom. You would have seen the toys and thought to bring something to the kids—just like I did. It’s not like I stopped with the intention of buying an ugly monkey and some stuffed dogs.”

  “Elephants. You got elephants for Avery and John Luke.”

  “Whatever. They didn’t have any trucks.” He walked over to the bookcase and idly ran his finger over the framed picture of her with Sheridan and Carrie at her debutante ball. “The point is everything we do has a domino effect.” He turned back to face her. “And, Arabelle, we can’t let those dominos slam into Avery.”

  And he saved her from needing to reply to that. He turned his eyes to the ceiling and when he saw the little crystal chandelier with pink crystal hearts, he smiled. “This is just the kind of room I imagined you in back when we first knew each other, back when we were kids.” He picked up a pillow from the upholstered cushion on the window seat. “Just the kind of room I pictured you in when I thought about you.”

  “You thought about me back then?”

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice deadpan, matter of fact. “I did.” His eyes were as wide and open as a door meant to be entered.

  She might have taken a step toward him. She thought about it. But he tossed the pillow on the widow seat. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.

  Chapter Eleven

  Will did not like Arabelle’s car—didn’t like driving it and he particularly didn’t like riding in it, like he was now. She was behind the wheel, in control, her mouth a hard line. Was there no pleasing this woman? She hadn’t wanted to make love, so they hadn’t. She had wanted to get up and leave at an ungodly hour, so they had. She wanted to live in that little apartment and they were going to. Truly, there was nothing he could think of, short of his death, that might make her happy.

  She pulled into his driveway and finally broke the silence. “What’s the plan?”

  “Plan? I’m going to get a few things together and be right behind you. You mean that plan?”

  “I wasn’t sure—”

  “Out!” Avery exploded from the backseat. “Out! Daddy’s truck!”

  Will looked back at him.

  “Out, Daddy. Pweeze.” And he smiled that sweet smile, the one that in years to come would get him girls, get him in trouble, and get him out of trouble again. Avery hadn’t been to the house in the woods before and there was nothing Will would have liked better than to show the place he loved best to the person he loved best—just like he’d wanted to show it to Arabelle that night. He let his eyes slide to her.

  “I could bring him when I come,” Will said. Even he could hear the plea in his voice. “I’d like to try and show him a deer. They graze out in the grove. Sometimes you can see them from the window in the living room … ” He trailed off. It wasn’t going to happen. He could see it in her face. She didn’t trust him, didn’t trust him to keep Avery safe, to not take off for the border with him.

  She shook her head. “He needs to go home. It’s almost nap time.”

  Will nodded and opened the door. Avery began to cry and reach for him. “Avery get out!”

  Will opened the back door and Arabelle swung around, venom in her eyes, reaching a hand toward Avery. Will silenced her with a look before she got a chance to speak. Then he turned his attention to Avery.

  “Listen, pal. You go on home with Mama. I’ll be there before you know it.”

  Avery twisted in his car seat and reached. “Jiffy needs out!”

  “I know.” He kissed the boy’s head. “You and Jiffy can get out as soon as you get home. Then I’ll come and we’ll have fun. We’ll play trucks.”

  “Trucks?”

  “Yeah! Trucks. You and me.”

  “Want to ride in Daddy’s truck!”

  Arabelle glared at him.

  There was nothing to do but close the door and walk away from his son. That was hard.

  • • •

  Avery wailed all the way back to town. She should have let Will keep him. At least the two of them would have been happy, even if she wasn’t. All Will had wanted was to show his son a deer. Was that so bad? Trouble was, she would have liked to see Avery see his first deer too, but she hadn’t been invited. In a better world, Will would have asked her in and she would have helped him pack. But there wasn’t a better world; there was only this one that she had created.

  But maybe she could make it better. She turned the car around and headed toward the Publix out by the highway. There was no food to speak of in the house and Big Starr wasn’t open on Sunday. She pulled into the parking lot and Avery yowled on as she pulled her phone out and searched a vegetarian recipe site for something they all would eat.

  Maybe the black bean chili. It didn’t sound too hard and she could take some out for Avery before adding the hot peppers. She’d noticed that Will liked spicy food. She
could make cornbread and salad. Maybe even an apple crisp. Will liked sweets. She made a quick list, even as Avery screamed. Where had her quiet, sweet child gone? To the land of big trucks, Daddy, and magical testosterone, courtesy of Will Garrett, thank you very much.

  “You wanted out, you’re getting out,” she said as she lifted him from the car seat.

  “Want my daddy!”

  “Don’t we all?” She stopped short. Where had that come from? Hating herself, she went straight to the candy aisle and, after carefully reading labels for peanut products, she stuck a chocolate bar in Avery’s mouth. She’d never done such a thing before. Now all she needed was to forget to pay for the candy and she’d be a thief and a bad mother.

  By the time she got to the checkout, over an hour had passed and Avery was a sleeping, chocolate mess. Her original list had been relatively short but after the week of wedding chaos, she had seen so many things they didn’t have. Milk, bread, fresh fruit, and vegetables. And wouldn’t they need extra cheese and eggs for Will? Maybe he would like some tofu. In that vein, she added beans, nuts, and a tub of hummus to her buggy. Those were all healthy, high protein foods.

  In spite of bribing her child with chocolate, she was pretty pleased with herself. They had a long way to go but she’d cook dinner while Will played with Avery. She wouldn’t even be jealous. Maybe in a few days, she would suggest that they take Avery out to Will’s property together.

  • • •

  Where were they? Will had been at the apartment for forty-five minutes and they should have already been there when he arrived. They hadn’t been there and left again either. The heat hadn’t been turned on, the newspaper had still been on the back step, and Avery’s trucks were still in the basket by the hearth. He looked at the fireplace with disdain. Gas logs!

  He could do better for them than gas logs. He had the real thing at his house.

  He dialed her cell phone but it went straight to voice mail. It was either dead or she’d turned it off. He’d paced, inspected closets for missing clothes, and almost called Luke to see if she’d gone back there. More than likely Arabelle had turned off her phone and was somewhere pouting, trying to show him who was in charge—like he didn’t know. Would Arabelle take Avery and run without so much as packing a bag? Or maybe she had packed a bag. Sure, he’d looked in their closets but what did he know about what was supposed to be there? Maybe she had packed a bag and hidden it days ago. Women did, when they wanted to protect a child from his father. But that wasn’t fair. He wasn’t abusive or neglectful.