“Yes, sir.”
Ethan squeezed his shoulders once more. “Okay then, ready to head back to the pier?”
“Yes, sir.”
Still overwhelmed at hearing his son call him daddy for the first time, Ethan paddled toward the pier. Lindy also paddled, but the two of them didn’t speak. He assumed she was probably consumed with the same thoughts, that they’d just heard Jerry call him what he’d be calling him forever...in two short weeks.
Ethan couldn’t wait.
By the time they reached the pier, Lindy had wiped countless tears away, always turning her head so that Jerry didn’t notice. But Ethan did. And he thought even more of her for her sensitive heart.
Mr. Bowers stood at the pier, directing each of the mentors as he instructed them on how to get their pedal boats out of the water. They waited their turn at the end of the line, but Ethan didn’t want Jerry and Lindy to have to remain in the boat in the heat, so he eased closer to the pier. “Why don’t y’all go get a couple of those Popsicles from the store while you’re waiting for me to put the pedal boat away?”
“Okay!” Jerry said, grinning, and Ethan was glad to see a genuine, nonfearful smile on his little face.
“What flavor do you want?” Lindy asked.
“Grape,” Ethan said.
“Grape for Daddy,” Jerry said, and no one corrected him. Then he turned to Lindy. “What flavor do you want, Mommy?”
Ethan watched her face as she went through the same emotions he’d experienced merely a moment ago. Shock. Happiness. Joy.
And then he watched her reel it all in and answer.
“Um, I think I want strawberry, Jerry,” she said throatily. “Thank you for asking.”
Ethan smiled at her and saw that her eyes were swimming with tears once again, but she kept them unshed for the little boy who had touched them both so much.
And he no longer held any doubt. This incredible lady, the one who’d captured his interest that very first day at the fountain and captured his heart in the days and weeks since, was meant to be a part of his life...and Jerry’s.
“We’ll go get the Popsicles and meet you at the picnic area under the trees,” Lindy said, her voice still thick with emotion. “Sound good?”
He nodded. Somehow, he needed Lindy Burnett in his life. He just had to determine how to make that happen.
“Sounds great.”
* * *
Mommy. Lindy had prayed to hear that term of endearment, from that precious little voice, for three long years. And the emotions she felt now were as poignant as she’d expected. Her heart yearned to hold that special place in her son’s life once more, to have him look to her for safety, for comfort, for love.
Love. Love overpowered her right now, flooding through every part of her being, so much that her mouth trembled, her eyes beckoned with tears, her soul rejoiced.
Mommy. Such a beautiful, beautiful word.
She walked beside this little man, her son, and went through the motions of buying the Popsicles, then walking alongside him while they moved toward the picnic tables, Jerry chatting about how awesome the pedal boat had been and Lindy replaying the moment she’d finally heard him call her what she desperately longed to be once more.
By the time they reached the table and started eating their Popsicles, she hadn’t been able to hold back the tears.
But Jerry, so wrapped up in the excitement of the day, didn’t notice that she’d swiped at each cheek repeatedly while nibbling at the cold treat.
Until he’d finished his Popsicle. “Why are you sad?” he asked, frowning.
“I—I’m not sad,” she managed. “I promise.”
His mouth quirked to the side, and he scrambled off the concrete bench to dart toward a tree nearby. Then he leaned down and yanked something from the ground.
Lindy watched as he turned, his mouth lifting in a grin, and walked toward her with the most beautiful golden daffodil clutched between his hands.
“This will make you happy,” he said.
She blinked, more tears spilling over, but she also found a smile. “You know what? You’re right,” she said. “It does, Jerry. It makes me so very happy. You make me happy, more than you could ever know.”
“I love you, Mommy.”
As if him calling her Mommy wasn’t enough, he’d just given her the most exquisite gift of all. He loved her.
And she loved him.
She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to tell him the truth.
* * *
It took a good ten minutes for Ethan to get his pedal boat maneuvered onto the trailer with the other boats, and he figured his Popsicle had probably melted. As he made his way to the picnic table, he saw just two empty wrappers and Popsicle sticks on the table.
Lindy’s back was to him as he neared, and she leaned toward Jerry and talked softly to him. It was a beautiful image, so similar to that of mother and child.
He hadn’t lied to her. She would make an excellent mother. He was certain of it. In fact, she’d make an excellent mother for the little boy beside her now.
Ethan stepped slowly toward them, not wanting to break the tender moment.
“This will make you happy,” Jerry said, smiling as he handed her a bright yellow daffodil.
Her back trembled, as though she might be crying, or holding back tears. “You know what? You’re right,” she said, and Ethan heard the heartfelt emotion in her voice. “It does, Jerry. It makes me so very happy. You make me happy, more than you could ever know.”
“I love you, Mommy.”
Ethan’s heart pulsed rapidly. Jerry loved her. And, Ethan realized with extreme clarity...so did he.
He started to step forward and tell them both how he felt, but he stopped when she continued talking.
“Do you remember who I am, Jerry?” she asked, her voice unsteady and weak from emotion.
Jerry had given her the flower, but he touched the soft petals as he grinned. “You’re Miss Lindy.”
Lindy’s head moved slowly as she nodded, and then she sucked in an audible breath. “That’s right, sweetie, I am. But—but I’m someone else, too, or something else, for you.”
Ethan had no idea what she was about to say, but he couldn’t wait to hear. Would she tell Jerry that she wanted him to think of her that way, like a mommy, and that she wanted to be there for him always, like a real mother would? Because that’s what Ethan thought he wanted, too, for Lindy to be a part of Jerry’s life—a real part—and for her to be a part of Ethan’s life, too.
He held his breath and waited to see what this woman, who continued to touch him more and more deeply each day, would say to his future son.
“Do you know what else I am, just for you?” Lindy asked.
Jerry’s eyebrows dipped, and his lips rolled in as though he was thinking hard about her statement. He shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
“Jerry,” she said, then inhaled deeply and leaned forward, so that her forehead nearly touched Jerry’s, and so that Ethan could no longer see his son’s face—but he still heard Lindy’s words. “Jerry... I am your mommy. Your real mommy, honey. And I love you so very much. I never, ever stopped loving you or wanting you. I promise.”
The world around Ethan—the trees and the ground and the bizarre scene unfolding before him—swirled madly, spinning out of control as his mind reeled from the shock of her words. Her confession. His stomach pitched, skin burned. And all he could think was Lindy...
Melinda.
Melinda Sue Flinn.
How? And...why?
But he had no doubt. It all made sense now. The way she’d shown up in Claremont. No job. No place to live.
No family.
How had she found her way into Jerry’s world? And his? And why hadn’t he
realized who she was, what she wanted? He’d been played...and painfully so. Disgustingly so. Again. And by a woman who could keep him from having the boy he wanted so very much. The boy he loved!
While he stood there, trying to determine what to say that wouldn’t hurt or shock the little guy who’d been hurt enough, he saw Jerry’s arms wrap around her.
“You’re going to be my mommy!” he said, practically cheering,—and then he spotted Ethan over her shoulder, and his smile brightened. “And you’re going to be my daddy!”
Still hugging Jerry, she jerked around to see Ethan, her eyes wide with the realization that he’d heard every word she’d said, and knew exactly who she was.
“Melinda.” He said the name quietly, pushed from his clamped jaw and his angered soul, and blessedly, Jerry was still too wrapped up in thoughts of a forever mommy and daddy to notice.
“Ethan,” she whispered, tears streaming. “I need to tell you—I need to explain.”
“Jerry, they’re boarding the bus, honey!” Mrs. Bowers called from the back deck.
Jerry tilted forward and squeezed Lindy tightly again. “Bye, Mommy.” Then he tilted his head. “Did my flower not make you happy?”
“Oh, yes, sweetie. It did,” she said, returning his hug and then whispering against his ear, “You—you always make me happy.”
Jerry wiggled out of her arms and then ran straight to Ethan.
Ethan pulled him close, kissed his cheek and thought about how he could save this little boy from the woman who’d fooled them both. “I love you, buddy.”
“I love you, too, Daddy,” he answered, hugging Ethan and then running toward the rest of his friends, all heading for the bus.
Ethan remained rooted where he stood, anger rippling through him—so much anger that he knew better than to turn around and face the woman who had been lying to him since the day they met.
A moment passed, while he struggled between walking away without speaking and telling her exactly what he thought about her deceit.
“I was going to tell you today,” she said, her voice so faint it was almost inaudible. He assumed her tears were still falling. But he wouldn’t look at her, not now. Not ever. Didn’t want to be drawn into, or moved by, any more of her lies.
“I didn’t mean for you to hear about it like that,” she said, her voice coming across as though she were tortured to speak—as though she were tortured, period—and it was all Ethan could do not to sneer. “But I just had to let him know. Today was so important, because he went on the boat when I knew he was scared. He did that because of us, don’t you see? He needs us, both of us. And he can feel it, that I’m his mommy. I know he can. And he sees you as his daddy, Ethan. It’s—it’s everything I’ve prayed for.”
He shook his head, disbelieving. How could she believe anything about this was an answered prayer? “You,” he exhaled, letting it out and fighting to control the fury enough to speak, “You didn’t protect him. You stood by, and you let—”
“I didn’t, Ethan,” she interrupted. “Every time Gil tried to hurt him, I didn’t let him. I always got between them. He’d hit me, not Jerry. I promise. He never hurt Jerry, not until...”
Not until? “Not until what?” He couldn’t stop himself; he turned and glared directly at her, crying and pushing at her cheeks to swipe the tears away, and for the briefest moment, he wanted to comfort this woman that he’d actually thought he loved. But this wasn’t Lindy. This was Melinda Sue Flinn, and she’d stood by and let a little boy be hurt by his father, just like Ethan’s own mother had done to him. “Not until what, Lindy?” he repeated, and then corrected himself. “Melinda?”
“Not until that last night,” she whispered. “Gil was giving him his bath, and Jerry stopped splashing, stopped making any noise at all, and I thought—I was so scared—I still don’t know what happened behind that locked door before he finally brought Jerry out and threw him at me on the couch.” She shook her head, pressed her hands to her eyes. “I was so glad he was alive, and so—so scared that something would happen again where I wouldn’t be able to get to him.”
Rage tore through him. What had Gil Flinn done to his little boy? “So you didn’t protect him.”
“I couldn’t get to him,” she said. “It was the only time I couldn’t get to him, and so I left. That night. Gil was drinking and passed out...and I left. I went to a shelter. And the next morning, the police came. Gil was dead, and I was arrested. But I didn’t do it. You know that now. I didn’t do it.”
Ethan didn’t know what he knew. Because everything about Lindy Burnett—Melinda Sue Flinn—was a lie.
“And that’s why I thought he was afraid of the water, of the boats, but he did that today, with us. He did it, Ethan.” She was shaking now, her words coming out in spurts as she tried to get Ethan to understand.
But there was no understanding. Her son—the son he wanted—had been hurt. Maybe she couldn’t have gotten to him that night, but how many times before that could she have gotten away from the man she knew was capable of hurting Jerry?
“I am his mother, Ethan. And I love him. I want him. He needs me.” She swiped at more tears, and as she did, the flower she’d clutched in one hand snapped in two, the bloom that’d been so beautiful a moment ago plummeting to the ground.
The memory of himself at six years old, buckling to the floor after his father tore his knee apart, pushed through him as distinctly as if it were happening all over again.
No child should ever be hurt by his father. And no mother should ever allow it to happen.
“You’ll never have him.”
Chapter Twelve
“I miss Miss Lindy.” Jerry held his fishing pole and frowned at the bobber that had refused to go under since they’d sat beneath this willow tree an hour ago. He’d made the statement at least three times every day Ethan had seen him for the past four weeks. And, as usual, Jerry followed it with words that really gave Ethan a punch to the gut. “I miss my mommy.”
“I know, buddy,” he said, willing a fish to bite their line, or something else to happen to break the tension that had only seemed to escalate since the court had proclaimed this precious boy as Ethan’s son two weeks ago.
Lindy hadn’t even shown up in court, nor had she sent any correspondence to be shared at the hearing. According to her attorney, when she’d learned that the assigned judge was known for situational rulings, she’d given up.
Given up. On raising the little boy Ethan knew she loved more than life itself.
Given up...because of Ethan.
“Someone’s here,” Jerry said, pointing toward the back deck of the store, where a man waved.
“Right. Well, let’s go see what he needs. Sound good?”
Jerry nodded but then said, for probably the tenth time today, “Miss Lindy is supposed to do the store. She’s really good at it.”
“I know, bud. I know.” Ethan led him toward the fellow, David Presley, the owner of the bookstore on the town square.
David frowned as they neared. “Still no sign of her?”
The entire town, particularly those at church, knew how Lindy had left, and how Ethan had offered to stay and work at the fishing hole until he had to go back to teach. One reason was that he didn’t want Mr. and Mrs. Bowers to be in a bind because of his stupidity. And another was that this was the only place he could think of for Lindy to return to.
And he needed to see her again. Desperately.
“Still no sign of her,” he said, while Jerry huffed out a breath beside him.
“I miss Mommy.”
David shook his head, and so did Ethan. Jerry’s references to her alternated between Miss Lindy and Mommy, and Ethan didn’t correct him on either count. One day he’d figure it out, that Miss Lindy actually was his real mommy.
And if that day ca
me without Ethan finding her and making things right, he feared how much his son would blame him for taking the woman they both loved out of his world.
Because in the month that had transpired since he’d told her she would never have her son, Ethan had plenty of time to realize just how horribly he’d messed up. And he’d tried to find out where she’d gone. But no one knew. And she wouldn’t answer her phone.
So he was left with a sad little boy, a new but temporary job at the fishing hole...and a boatload of guilt.
“I’ll be praying for you to find her,” David said, handing Ethan money for the bucket of minnows he had in hand.
“I appreciate that,” Ethan said while David started toward the pond and Jerry walked toward the rear entrance of the store.
“Can I get a Popsicle, Daddy?”
Ethan’s heart still thudded hard in his chest every time he called him that, and it ached because he knew how much it’d meant to Lindy when he’d called her mommy. “Sure. Get whatever flavor you want, but wash your hands first, okay?”
“Yes, sir.” He disappeared into the store while Ethan looked at the flowers that needed watering and remembered the day he’d walked up to see the most beautiful woman in the world watering those flowers...and claiming his heart.
He’d told her that her past didn’t matter to him. Assured her that it wasn’t a prison. But it was. It literally had been a prison for Lindy, for a crime she hadn’t committed. And Ethan hadn’t done any better than the jury that had put an innocent woman behind bars. He’d accused and condemned her without considering that she could be telling him the truth. Unlike Ethan’s mother, Lindy had done her best to protect her little boy, and Ethan had been so angry—and so immersed in the pain of his own past—that he hadn’t believed her.
He needed to beg her forgiveness. And he needed to get his little man’s mommy back in his life. But he couldn’t find her. Mrs. Bowers said she hadn’t revealed where she was going.
He kept thinking about how her life had changed over the past month because of him. She no longer had her job at the fishing hole, and since she’d been living above the sporting goods store, she also didn’t have a place to live.
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