Sweet Carolina Morning

by Susan Schild

  His warm, strong arm around her shoulders, Jack squeezed her. Neal tilted his head and studied her, his eyes wide and serious behind his tortoiseshell glasses. Wordlessly, he reached over and slipped his hand in hers.

  Dr. Grace strode into the waiting room in her white coat, a tablet in her hand. Scanning the waiting room with her intelligent eyes, she saw Linny and beckoned her and Jack to follow her down a quiet hallway. Linny sent Jack a beseeching look and his eyes telegraphed reassurance and love. “Stay here, Son,” Jack said to Neal as they rose and the boy nodded.

  As they walked, Linny prayed, Please God, don’t let this be the hallway where they deliver bad news. She barely breathed, braced for the worst.

  Dr. Grace glanced at the notes on her screen and gave Linny a kind look. “I’ve examined your sister and can tell you with certainty that she is not miscarrying or going into premature labor.”

  “Thank goodness,” Linny said and sagged, weak with relief.

  Jack squeezed her shoulder, steadying her.

  “I’d like to keep her overnight for observation, but Kate’s discomfort was most likely caused by Braxton-Hicks contractions. Very normal. Just her body’s way of gearing up for the big day,” Dr. Grace said reassuringly. “The deep breathing and having her drink water were helpful. Good thinking.”

  Linny nodded. At least she’d done something right. But she thought again of her foolishness in taking her very pregnant sister hiking in the middle of nowhere and felt ashamed.

  Dr. Grace gave Linny and Jack a wry smile. “I might suggest she stay away from cole slaw, too, or any other gas-producing foods.”

  Jack chuckled. “We’ll tell her.”

  “I’ll see to it personally,” Linny promised.

  Dr. Grace arched an elegant brow. “Her husband is en route?”

  “He should be here in the next two or three hours,” Jack said. “And Kate’s mother should be here any minute.”

  “Good,” she said, nodding briskly. “You two may pop in to see her, but please limit your visit to ten minutes.”

  Her voice catching, Linny said, “I can’t tell you how grateful we all are.”

  “Glad to help,” Dr. Grace said, flashed them a quick smile and turned to go.

  * * *

  The next day Linny lounged on the couch at Jack’s farm and relished letting the two Avery men wait on her. The harrowing episode at Lake Constance had left her feeling weak, but she was giddy, too, that she and Kate and the baby had come through the ordeal unscathed. She put the back of her wrist to her forehead and called out in an exaggeratedly tremulous voice, “I’ll have a little broth, kind sirs.”

  “Canned chicken noodle soup coming right up,” Jack called and walked toward the kitchen, grinning.

  Neal walked in and stood beside the sofa. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and gazed at her. “Would you like any more ice water, Linny?”

  “I’m fine, thanks, Neal.”

  He hesitated. “Would you mind company?” he asked, pointing to the end of the couch.

  Touched, she smiled at him, “Not at all.” She curled her legs up under the down throw and made room for him. She gestured toward the third, now empty cushion on the couch. “Come keep me company.”

  He sat down, his posture erect, and cocked his head at her. “Now you said you were going to try to drive the houseboat if you had to. How were you going to do that?” He settled back against his cushion, crossed his leg, and waited.

  Linny hid her grin. “That wasn’t my best option. I’ve never driven a boat before, so I wasn’t sure how to even start the engine or unhook it from the dock.”

  “I don’t think unhook is the correct nautical term.” Looking thoughtful, he added, “Plus it would have been hard to see and steer at night.”

  “True. There was a half-moon, though,” Linny reminded him.

  Neal nodded. “The moon was actually at a ninety-degree angle with respect to the earth and sun, but that wouldn’t have been a lot of light to see by.”

  “True,” Linny said, nodding sagely.

  “Always have a Plan B, Son,” Jack called, as he walked into the room carrying a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich on a tray.

  “Thank you, sir.” Linny sat up and took the tray. Breathing in the aroma of the soup, she sighed happily and picked up her spoon. “You and Dad were the ones who saved the day, though.”

  Neal ducked his head, but grinned. “It was Dad mostly. When he heard your voice message, it was breaking up, but he heard some words.” He gazed at Jack, who sat in the wing chair. Neal wanted to hear the story retold for the third time. “What words, Dad?”

  “I heard Kate and I, I heard trouble, and I heard boat, and that’s when the call dropped,” Jack said patiently. “So I called Dottie and then I called Diamond, and that’s when the Avery men took off to find Linny.”

  “That’s when the caper started,” Neal chortled.

  “Right,” Jack said.

  “How fast did we drive on the way to the hospital?” Neal asked, his eyes sparkling.

  “We may have exceeded the posted speed limit,” Jack said with a solemn nod.

  “And what’s going to happen to Linny’s car?” Neal asked. “She needs her car.”

  “She does,” Jack agreed. “A tow truck came to get it this morning. We’ll go pick it up on Saturday.”

  “How did they pull it out, though?” Neal persisted. “That hill was steep.”

  “Well, the ground is more dried out now, but they had to use a cable and a winch,” Jack explained.

  “I’d have liked to watch that,” Neal said wistfully.

  “Me too,” Jack said, and the two were silent, looking regretful that they’d missed seeing that tow.

  Neal pushed himself up from the sofa and announced, “I’m going to play XBox.” As he walked from the room, he stopped beside Linny and leveled a gaze at her. “I’m glad you’re okay. I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you, or to Kate.” He laid his small, grubby hand on her shoulder for a brief moment and was gone.

  Linny’s eyes pricked with tears and she looked at Jack. “Your son is a sweet guy.”

  “He is, underneath it all,” Jack said. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking rueful. “I am, too, underneath it all.”

  Linny put the tray aside and patted the couch cushion beside her. “Come over here.”

  Jack rose and sat beside her. He put an arm around her and pulled her into his arms, murmuring in her ear, “I’m sorry, Lin. So sorry. I got too focused on the wrong things. I was trying to be a good dad and make everything go smoothly. I didn’t take care of you . . . or us.”

  Linny sighed deeply and felt a rush of feelings: safety, belonging, bliss. After a moment she pulled away so she could look directly into his deep green eyes. “I’m sorrier, Jack. For a lot of reasons, I was scared of loving you so much, but instead of talking with you about it, I made a big deal about things we could have managed.”

  “Based on my behavior, I’d say I was scared, too,” Jack said ruefully. “You need to tell me when I’m messing up, Lin, not just pull away.”

  “I’m going to,” she said. “You might not always like it, but I’m going to.”

  “I need it.” He nodded, looking serious. “My cousin Jodi and the other women at work tell me I can be an absentminded professor type. They say I miss nuance. Can you believe that?” he asked, feigning indignation.

  “Unbelievable,” Linny said and grinned, but a noise startled her: a clattering sound that came from the front porch. She stared at Jack. “What was that?”

  Someone rapped on the front door and a woman’s voice called, “Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!”

  Linny’s eyes widened. It was Ceecee, and the clomping was kitten heels on a plank floor.

  Jack groaned. “Mama called earlier and said she and Daddy wanted to stop by to see you. I told them I’d see if you were up for company, but I forgot to get back to them.”

  “Okay,” Linny said flatly, but her
lips twitched. “You said to tell you when you mess up. You messed up.” She pinched him hard on the arm but broke into a smile. “Go let them in.”

  Jack gave her a relieved smile and rose. “I’ll do better, Linny. I promise.”

  What could they want and what was so urgent? Hurriedly, Linny stowed her lunch tray on a high bookshelf and folded the down throw. Wishing she was wearing something crisp and striped from the Talbots catalogue, Linny tried to brush dog hair from her fleece. She pulled down her sweatpants legs, which had hiked up over her socks, and finger combed her hair. There.

  “Oh, you brave little thing,” Ceecee trilled as she clip-clopped into the room, threw open her arms, and air-kissed Linny first on one cheek and then the other. “I was so sorry to hear of your ordeal and am just so happy that your sister is well, and that you came back to us in one piece. I was so worried! I couldn’t sleep a wink last night until Jack called us and told us that all was well, isn’t that right, Daddy?”

  “That’s right, peaches,” Rush said as he gave Linny a bracing bear hug. “How are you, sugar pie?” he asked, real concern in his eyes.

  “I’m fine, Rush.” Linny squeezed his hand, touched by the big man’s tenderness. “Won’t you all sit down?” she asked.

  “We won’t stay but a minute because I can just imagine how tired you are, but we just had to come by to . . . well . . . explain ourselves and to apologize,” Ceecee said and sat on the sofa, her posture erect and her purse in her lap. Rush settled in beside her and crossed his mile-long legs, looking as comfortable as an old shoe.

  Linny and Jack sat and looked at them expectantly.

  Ceecee began, “We owe you both an apology . . .”

  As if on cue, Rush spoke at the same time. “We had a darned uncomfortable situation come up . . .”

  Linny forgot to be curious about why they’d come and just marveled at their knack for simultaneous conversation. How did they do it? How did they know to speak the second their spouse opened their mouth to speak?

  Jack held up a hand to stop them. “Maybe it’d be best if y’all talked one at a time so we can be sure we understand you.”

  Linny gave him an encouraging look.

  Rush nodded and turned to his wife. “You go ahead, Mama.”

  Ceecee fiddled with the strands of pearls around her neck and breathed a shuddering sigh. “Our friends, the Suttons . . .”

  “Vera’s parents,” Linny said helpfully.

  “Well, yes.” Ceecee’s eyes widened and she looked flustered. “Well, Macy and Dickie just got back from Captiva, and we’d planned to meet them for supper at the club on Thursday.” She gripped the handles of her purse. “A half hour before we were to meet, out of the blue I got a phone call from Vera. She said that, coincidentally, she and that new husband of hers were also planning to eat at the club and asked if we minded if they joined us. She said she hoped it wouldn’t be awkward.” Ceecee hesitated and glanced at Rush. He gave her a supportive little nod and she went on. “It did seem like it would be awkward, but I didn’t have a chance to think through what to say, so I just said something silly like, Oh, heavens to Betsy, no. Please join us.”

  Linny folded her hands in her lap and tried not to think about throttling Vera.

  In a taut voice, Ceecee continued. “While her mama, Macy, was in the ladies’ room, Vera told me she’d missed our girl talk since the divorce. Then she started to ask a lot of questions about you all’s wedding. I didn’t tell her a thing of course, partly because I hardly know a thing. . . .” She shot Jack a reproachful look. “Then she asked me to be her doubles partner in the club’s ladies spring tennis tournament. Thank goodness this time I had the sense to say I needed to check my calendar because I was just so busy.” Ceecee paused and tightened her lips. “The whole conversation was odd, and I started to get the feeling she was trying to get me to be disloyal to you and Jack.” Ceecee sent Jack and Linny an apologetic look and nodded at her husband. “You tell the part next, Daddy.”

  Rush put his hands on his barrel chest and laced his fingers together. “While the ladies were chatting, Dickie stepped up to the bar to order us drinks. Charles or Chaz or whatever he calls himself, took those moments to tell me about a ground-floor opportunity to invest money with him in a private hedge fund he operates. Options and futures.” Rush’s face darkened. “He said he only offered the opportunity to certain people and guaranteed double-digit returns. He was talking about real money, too; big money.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “That was bad form. The man hardly knows us, but he solicits me to invest money with him.”

  “Of course Daddy said no,” Ceecee chimed in, sounding breathless.

  He rubbed his bald head and gave them a shrewd look. “When I got home I got on the horn with Arthur, my financial guy, who knows everybody in town. He said he knew of Chaz and had heard he’d gotten in trouble with his investing. I don’t know if the trouble is with his investors or the SEC or the IRS and I don’t want to know, but Charles is in hot water.”

  Linny’s eyes widened as what he’d said sunk in. Money trouble. That could explain the tension in their home that was making Neal anxious. With all their Vail skiing, Mercedes driving, and diamond buying, Vera and Chaz were in over their heads. She felt meanly glad that Vera had to learn to pinch a penny, but she tried to arrange her features in a sympathetic look.

  Ceecee went on. “The next day I called Jack because I knew we had misstepped. He said our eating supper with Vera and Chaz had upset you, and I’m so sorry,” Ceecee said in a beseeching tone. “Jack also told me more about his divorce from Vera, and I was shocked. We weren’t aware that Vera had just up and left him.” Her eyes sparked outrage and her mouth was a thin line of disapproval. She explained, “Their divorce just seemed so willy-nilly. I thought the two of them just gave up too easily, especially with a child involved. But if one partner is bound and determined to leave the marriage, there’s not much the other can do.” She gave Linny a pleading look. “Linny, please forgive me for being silly and naïve and for having trouble letting go of the past. You and Jack and Neal are our family, and families need to love each other and stick together.” She put a softly jingling, charm braceleted hand to her throat and, blinking back tears, gazed at Linny. “We welcome you to our family.”

  Jack slid an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. Linny looked up at him and saw in his eyes how important it was that she forgive his parents. Glancing at Ceecee, Linny saw the tremulous attempt at a smile and the pleading look in her eyes. Her heart melted. “Thank you, Ceecee,” she said softly. She got up and gave her a quick hug.

  EPILOGUE

  Two months later

  Mary Catherine popped her head in the wooden door and grinned at Linny. “Kate asked me to keep you company until things got started.” She glanced around, one hand on her hip. “Kate called this the bridal staging area, but it looks like a horse stall to me.”

  Linny gave her friend a hug. “It’s the horse stall/waiting area. Kate watches too many of those bridal shows.” She gestured toward the makeshift makeup table and the bales of hay topped with a chenille bedspread that served as a couch. “It’s worked out fine, though.”

  Mary Catherine looked appraisingly at Linny’s gown: the Audrey Hepburn retro-looking satin number with the split tulle skirt over slim cigarette pants. “Amazing dress.”

  “Thanks.” Linny gazed at her friend and flushed, feeling guilty. “I’m so sorry I’ve been so out of touch for the past few weeks. We’ve had so much to do.”

  “It’s my fault, too. I’ve been busy with two big cases and working crazy hours,” Mary Catherine said, waving away Linny’s apology. “Did you get your things moved over here to the farm?”

  “Jack and Neal brought over the last truckload last night.” Linny rolled her eyes. “Even living in that small trailer, I’d accumulated so much stuff. We donated a lot to the thrift store.”

  “Good. Fresh starts and clean slates,” Mary Catherine said, bobbing h
er head. Her eyes narrowed and she whistled as she picked up Linny’s hand to admire the band of emeralds. “You finally picked a ring. It’s just perfect. Where did you find it?”

  Linny smiled and shook her head, still thrilled at the ring-finding story. “Jack and Neal went on a father-son weekend adventure trip to a gem mine in Little Switzerland, up in the mountains of western Carolina. They’d put their heads together and come up with a secret mission to find a stone for my ring. They dug up these emerald beauties in the side of a hill, and had the gem shop cut them and make the ring for me.” Linny held out her hand to watch the sunlight sparkle on the stones. She sighed happily. “I just love it, and it means so much more to me that they looked for it and found it for me.”

  “Very romantic. I need to talk to Mike, tell him he needs to step up his game.” Mary Catherine shook her head. She glanced at her watch. “Wedding starts in half an hour. Are you nervous?”

  “A little,” Linny admitted. “Just normal jitters, though. Not runaway bride nerves.”

  “Good. Let’s chill out. I’m reading this mindfulness meditation book, and they say to just lie there and breathe deeply and concentrate on the air going in and out of your lungs. That’s all there is to it.” She gestured toward the hay bale couch. “Want to try?”

  “Sure.” Linny sat, pulled the tulle to one side to avoid crushing it, and leaned back.

  Mary Catherine flopped down beside her and began to noisily breathe in and out. After a few moments she muttered, “I’m breathing, but I’m writing a brief in my head.”

  “I’m picturing forgetting my vows and calling Jack the wrong name,” Linny admitted, popping open her eyes and leaning up on her elbow to look at her friend. “Talk to me. Distract me.”