A Year of Extraordinary Moments (A Magnolia Grove Novel)
Page 21
“And just how do you plan to find the time?” Lila asked.
“I won’t see patients in the afternoon, and I’ll work evenings.”
“Oh? Aren’t you and Tom building a business? Now that you have your technician’s license, he’ll be counting on you to be an equal partner, the kind who shares the load instead of dumping it off on him.”
“I do my share.”
“Now, maybe, but if you go back to handling the Snip ’n Save—”
Meghan’s eyes grew misty. “I can do both.”
“Maybe so, but you won’t be doing either job well.”
“Tracy’s not going to quit; she’ll still be helping out.”
“Tracy and Gabriel are getting married in a few months, and she’ll want to move to Barrington. What then?”
“I’ll take the laptop and do the design work from Barrington,” Tracy offered.
“If you can’t keep up now, what makes you think you can do it when you’re married and have additional responsibilities?”
“Gabriel can take Lucas to school, and I’ll stay home to work.”
“Really?” Lila said with an air of cynicism. “I thought Gabriel just asked you to work at the—”
“Mama! I told you not to say anything about that.”
“Wait, what?” Meghan asked.
“Girls, things change,” Lila said, not answering Meghan for the moment, “and people have to change with them. There was a time when we needed the Snip ’n Save, but that time has passed. You girls are grown up now and both blessed with men who will love you and care for you the way your daddy did for me. You can hang on to the sweet memories you have of your daddy without letting them weigh you down like an anchor.”
Tears rolled down Meghan’s face. “Please don’t say we’ve got to sell the Snip ’n Save. I can’t lose that part of Daddy.”
Lila reached across the table and took Meghan’s hand in hers. “I know you think your daddy loved the Snip ’n Save, but the truth is he didn’t. He cared for it the same way he cared about his black dress shoes. At times they pinched and were uncomfortable, but they served a purpose. The magazine also served a purpose. It allowed your daddy to work from home and be close to his family.”
A faraway look of sadness settled on Lila’s face. “After George died, I kept those black dress shoes for almost three years, because I couldn’t bring myself to let go of them. I felt like they were a part of your daddy I needed to hold on to . . .”
“Do you still have them?” Meghan asked.
Lila shook her head. “When Tracy came home from Philadelphia, I cleaned out the closets to make room for her and Lucas. I took the shoes and a bunch of clothes I’d been keeping to Goodwill. The woman at the counter told me George’s things would make some needy soul very happy.”
“But didn’t you feel sad losing that last little bit of Daddy?”
Lila gave a bittersweet smile. “Yes, I did, but the thought of somebody else being happy to have those things helped me feel better. And then after a while, I got so caught up in the happiness of having your sister and Lucas around, I forgot about them altogether. Well, maybe not altogether, but the thought of them went from being a weight I carried to a sweet memory.”
“But, Mama, those were just shoes. It’s different with the Snip ’n Save.”
“It’s not all that different,” Lila said. “The shoes were to me what the Snip ’n Save is to you.”
Meghan gave a deep sigh, pulled up from the bottom of her soul.
“I know how difficult this is for you,” Lila continued, “but if you keep the past in there, crowding your closet, you won’t have room for what you need for the future. Tom and the veterinary practice are your future, Meghan.”
“But, Mama—”
“Letting go of the Snip ’n Save isn’t the same as letting go of your memories. You’ll always have those. Even when you’re an old lady with snow-white hair and grandbabies in college, you’ll still remember how much your daddy loved you.”
“Keeping the Snip ’n Save isn’t just because of memories,” Meghan argued. “It provides an income for you and pays Tracy’s salary.”
Lila chuckled. “The income I get from it isn’t enough to keep me in cookie dough. And Tracy already has a job offer from the school. The only reason she didn’t take it was because of the promise she’d made to you.”
Meghan turned to Tracy. “Is that true?”
Tracy gave a reluctant nod. “Knowing how you feel about the Snip ‘n Save, I wouldn’t feel right about going back on my promise. If it weren’t for you, we might never have discovered that Lucas . . .” Her voice faltered, and the rest of the thought was left unspoken.
Lila reached across, squeezed Tracy’s shoulder, then moved on to talking about the possibility of selling the Snip ’n Save.
“I’m not saying we have to come to a decision right this minute,” she said. “But you need to think about it, Meghan. Maybe there’s someone out there interested in owning a magazine, and they might be as happy to get the Snip ’n Save as that needy person was to get your daddy’s shoes.”
After a long moment of silence, Meghan said, “I’ll think about it,” but the words coming from her mouth felt as sharp and cutting as razor blades.
60
Lila Briggs
You might think this decision is easy, but it isn’t. I cried a bucket of tears the day I took George’s things over to Goodwill, so I understand how Meghan is feeling. If on that day someone had told me that a year later I’d be all the happier for having done it, I’d have laughed in their face.
The thing is, I’m a mama with two girls, and I can’t allow one to suffer because I’m humoring the wants of the other. Tracy deserves to live her own life, and she can’t do it sitting at that computer. She’s got a mama’s heart. I can see it, and I know Gabriel can, too. She’ll be an asset to the school if for no other reason than she loves working with children.
I know Meghan can’t see it now, but she’ll be better off, too, once the Snip ’n Save is gone. She loves Tom, and she’s happy to be working with him. Sometimes she’ll stop by, bubbling over with stories of the animals she’s treated or with the general happiness of being married.
I could insist we just go ahead and sell the magazine, but I won’t do that. I’ve given Meghan enough to think about, and I believe, in the end, she’ll make the right decision. She loves Tracy as much as I do, and I’m trusting she won’t choose her own happiness over her sister’s.
61
As Days Moved On
Matthew McGinley hadn’t taken a vacation in three years. The law practice had more than doubled in that time, and he’d worked long into the night more often than he cared to remember. This year, he vowed it would be different. This year, he was taking a full three weeks off for the family trip to Ireland. He had a great-grandmother about to celebrate her one hundredth birthday, and relatives he’d never met were planning a party to end all parties.
For two solid months, he’d stayed late at the office and worked from home on Saturdays so he’d be caught up enough to take the time off without worrying about this, that, or the other thing waiting to be done. Before he left, he’d given his assistant, Pamela, the phone number where he could be reached but suggested she use it only in the direst circumstance.
“I know you can handle anything that comes up,” he said.
Matthew, his wife, and his two girls were boarding the plane when Charlie Barnes called Pamela to notify him that Alice DeLuca had passed away.
Pamela offered her condolences, promised they’d get right on it, and hung up the phone. She sat there for a few seconds considering whether or not this was the direst of circumstances and decided it was not. The probate filing of Alice DeLuca’s will was one of those things that could wait. Probate usually took several months and in some cases a year or more, so three weeks hardly made a difference. She typed a memo with the necessary details and slid it into the in-box on Matthew’s desk.
The morning she was scheduled to interview Tracy started out with a blue sky and bright sun, but before Kathleen turned onto Baker Street, the rain began. At first it was just a few large splashes against the windshield, but moments later, the wind picked up and the granddaddy of all storms rolled in. It was almost impossible to see out the windshield, so she missed the Briggses’ driveway and had to back up. When she did make the turn, she came within an inch of taking down the mailbox.
Lila saw the car pull into the driveway and opened the garage door.
“Come this way, it’s shorter!” she yelled.
It was not much more than ten feet from where she parked the car to the garage, but by the time Kathleen made it inside she was soaked. Leaving a trail of water behind, she followed Lila back to the kitchen.
“You’re Tracy Briggs?”
“Heavens, no, I’m her mama,” Lila said with a smile. “Wait here, I’ll call Tracy.”
She disappeared down the hall, and moments later returned with Tracy and two fluffy white towels. She spread one across the seat of the chair and handed the other to Kathleen. “You might want to dry off a bit.”
“Thanks.”
Kathleen had taken special care to look the part on her first day as an independent; she’d worn her new wool suit and was now regretting it. She removed her jacket and hung it on the back of the chair, but no matter how much she blotted and dabbed at the skirt, it remained wet and was starting to take on the smell of a wet dog. Trying to move past her discomfort, Kathleen sat across from Tracy and pulled out her notepad.
“Now, if you can just tell me a bit about yourself.”
Tracy said she was a single mom presently working at the Snip ’n Save, a family business, but her situation would likely be changing soon.
“Oh, and why is that?”
“Well, Mama would like to sell the magazine, and once Gabriel and I are married, I’ll move to Barrington—”
“Married?” Kathleen flipped through the pages in her folder. “Hmm. There’s no mention of that in here. If your fiancé is going to be part of Lucas’s life, then I’ll need to interview him, too.”
She scribbled fiancé on the top of the last page, then started over. “This fiancé, did you have a relationship with him before you left Philadelphia?”
“No, definitely not! He operates a school for deaf children here in Georgia; I met him just before Lucas had his cochlear implant.”
A rather confused look settled on Kathleen’s face. She again opened the folder and flipped through the pages. “Does Lucas have a hearing problem?”
“Yes, we believe he was born deaf, but because he wasn’t tested until he was almost fifteen months old, we don’t know for sure.”
Kathleen twitched her mouth to one side, looking perturbed. “Odd; there’s no mention of that in the file, either.”
She turned back to the first page and recapped the complaint.
“Mr. DeLuca claims he came home from work one day to discover you and the child both missing. He says it was months before he finally tracked you down here, and when he did, you refused to let him see or speak to Lucas.”
“That’s a flat-out lie!” Tracy heard the anger in her voice and tried to dial it back. “What I mean is, that’s not what happened.”
Kathleen closed the folder. “Why don’t you tell me your version of the story?”
Tracy explained how she’d come home from work to find Dominic in bed with the babysitter and Lucas toddling around the apartment with no supervision.
“He was fourteen months old! He could have pulled something over on top of himself or wandered off. I was horrified.”
“And then what?”
“I left the next day and came home where I had family to help out.”
She continued, telling Kathleen how by that point Lucas hadn’t started talking yet, and she was becoming more and more concerned.
“My sister set up an appointment with the pediatrician, but then that same week, Dominic canceled our health insurance.”
“Did he know Lucas needed care?”
Tracy had to hold back from screaming, “You bet your ass he did!” The one thing she couldn’t afford to do was alienate this interviewer.
“Yes, he did,” she said. “I told him, but he seemed to not care.”
“You must have been pretty angry about that,” Kathleen said, throwing the thought out and waiting for her to respond. It was a tactic she’d watched her coworker Monica use on the first case they’d worked together.
“Of course I was angry!” Tracy said, a bit of testiness woven through her words. “Wouldn’t you be?”
“So because you felt angry that he’d canceled the insurance, you didn’t allow Dominic to see or talk to his son?”
“No, no, that’s not it at all! He never even tried to see Lucas!”
“Wasn’t that because he didn’t know where you were?”
“He knew exactly where I was. He sent his goon friend here to tell me he wanted his car back.”
Kathleen nodded knowingly. “Yes, the file does say you stole his car.”
Tracy’s cheeks grew red, and her jaw stiffened. “I didn’t steal it,” she said. “I borrowed it to bring Lucas back here where I could get help and find out why he wasn’t talking. I shipped the car back to Dominic a few days after I got here, and I can prove it.”
“Prove it how?”
Tracy excused herself, hurried into the office, and returned with the transport company’s receipt.
“Can I hang on to this?” Kathleen asked.
Tracy nodded. “Yes, it’s a copy.”
At that point, they moved on to talking about Lucas. Tracy explained how Meghan put her and Lucas on the Snip ’n Save insurance policy, helped find the resources for having Lucas tested, and ultimately introduced her to Gabriel.
“It’s a great school, and Lucas loves it there. He still has trouble with a few sounds, but that’s normal for his condition. In about a year, he’ll be able to speak as well as any other six-year-old.”
“Wonderful,” Kathleen said, giving what might have been the first smile Tracy had seen since they sat down. “I’d like to chat with him if you don’t mind.”
Tracy went to the hallway and called up the stairs for her mama to bring Lucas down. Kathleen spent a half hour talking to both Lila and Lucas. Then she asked if she might speak to Lucas alone.
Tracy and Lila stepped out of the kitchen, and Lucas stood there, looking apprehensive.
“Why do Mama and Gwandma have to go away?” he asked.
Kathleen smiled. “Because sometimes little kids feel they can’t tell the truth if their mama or daddy is watching.”
“Oh.” He hesitated a second, then his face brightened. “Mama says I gotta tell the twuth all the time.”
“She’s right, kids should always tell the truth.”
After a few questions about his favorite toys and storybooks, Kathleen moved on. “Lucas, have you ever met your daddy?”
He shook his head. “I meeted Gwammy Awice.”
“Who’s Grammy Alice?”
He grinned. “Daddy’s gwandma, but she’s my gwandma, too.” Without being prodded, he continued on. “I miss Gwammy Awice. She buyed me toys, and we pwayed games.”
“Oh?” Kathleen’s left eye twitched, a sure sign there was more to this than she’d been told. “So where’s Grammy Alice now?” she asked suspiciously.
For a moment it seemed as though Lucas wasn’t going to answer, then h
e slowly lifted his arm and pointed a finger upward. “Gwammy’s in heaven wif a Gwampa I never meeted.”
His little-boy sadness tugged at Kathleen’s heart. “I’m so sorry,” she said. Then she scribbled a margin note to ask Dominic about his grandma, underlined it twice, and continued. “What about your daddy? Has your mama told you anything about him?”
He shook his head. “My daddy lives faw away and is busy.”
“Did your mama say if he was a nice man or a bad man?”
Lucas stood there thinking, then shook his head again.
Once she ran through her list of things to ask about, Kathleen asked Lucas if he could go and get his mama. He darted out of the room and returned with Tracy.
“I need to get Gabriel Hawke’s phone number,” Kathleen said.
She jotted down the number, said it had been a pleasure, and left.
Tracy began to worry the moment the door shut behind Kathleen. In the whole two hours she’d been there, she’d smiled maybe three times. Tracy had hoped the interviewer would be a man or at the very least an older woman, someone who’d be less vulnerable to Dominic’s charm.
She gave a weary sigh and dropped into the chair.
Kathleen carried her jacket from the house and tossed it into the back seat. The sky had turned blue again, and the sun was back, but the wet-dog smell of her suit was making her nauseous. There was no way she could spend the rest of the day in these clothes. She had to go home and change, and by then, it would be too late to conduct another interview.
She called Dominic and rescheduled for the next morning. Gabriel, she scheduled for the afternoon.
62
The Interviews
Dominic had been sitting around waiting for Kathleen Miller for a good hour before she called. He’d cleared the magazines from the table, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, shaved, then dressed in a sport shirt and his good slacks. He’d thought through what he wanted to say and planned on using the unassuming laugh that women found irresistible.