A Year of Extraordinary Moments (A Magnolia Grove Novel)

by Bette Lee Crosby

  When she said she had to reschedule, it had thrown him off his stride, and he’d given a snap-back answer, which was precisely what he’d hoped to avoid. Aggravated with both himself and Kathleen, he figured he could use a drink and headed down to Murphy’s. One thing led to another, and it ended up being well after one in the morning when he returned home. At that point, he was so exhausted he never even made it up the stairs to his bedroom.

  When the doorbell bonged at nine o’clock the next morning, Dominic had all but forgotten about Kathleen Miller. She stood there for a full five minutes before he opened the door, and when he finally did, he looked like he’d slept in his clothes—which is precisely what had happened.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Dominic ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been better.” Trying to salvage the impression he was making, he added, “What with losing my grandma and all, I haven’t been myself. Losing her was just . . .” He let the rest of the sentence trail off as if there weren’t enough words to describe the terrible pain.

  Kathleen placed her hand on Dominic’s arm.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. Leaving her hand in place, she asked, “Your grandma, was she Lucas’s Grammy Alice?”

  Dominic nodded. He hadn’t counted on this and wasn’t prepared, so he had to wing it.

  “Yes,” he said, giving a deep sigh. “She loved Lucas almost as much as I do.”

  Kathleen nodded and pulled her hand back. Thankful she’d spent two weeks working alongside Monica, she’d found it was prudent to be suspicious of what certain people offered up freely and worthwhile to dig deeper and find the things they hadn’t intended to tell. When Dominic dropped down on the sofa, she sat in the club chair opposite him and took the folder from her bag.

  “This won’t take long,” she said and smiled. “Your grandmother sounds like she was a wonderful woman,” she went on, acting as though the interview hadn’t yet started. “Were the two of you able to visit Lucas together?”

  Dominic shook his head. “Afraid not. With her declining health, it just wasn’t possible. I asked Tracy if we could bring Lucas here for a visit, but unfortunately . . .” He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  That’s when Kathleen first began to be suspicious. She thought about the questions she’d asked Lucas. Lucas didn’t know his daddy, but he knew the grandma.

  It’s possible for an adult to look you in the eye and tell a barefaced lie, but it’s less likely a child will do it.

  After fifteen minutes of back and forth with not a single answer falling into place properly, Kathleen figured that was all she was going to get. She closed the folder and reached for her bag.

  Seeing the deadpan look on her face, Dominic gave a mournful groan and dropped his head into his hands.

  “It’s no use,” he said. “I can’t go on pretending. The truth is I’ve never actually spent time with Lucas. Tracy won’t allow it. I’ve parked down the street hundreds of times and watched him from the car, but that’s it.” With his voice quivering as if he’d been pushed to the brink of tears, he added, “Seeing my boy grow up without me is what made me realize I had to ask for guardianship.”

  Kathleen reopened the folder and started to write. “Can you recall the first time you tried to see Lucas and were turned away?”

  “It’s been so many years, it’s almost impossible to say exactly . . .”

  Gabriel Hawke was Kathleen’s last interview of the day. She arrived at the school late in the afternoon, thinking maybe she could wrap it up in an hour or so. She wasn’t prepared for a half-hour tour of the school and the detailed description that went along with it. As they walked from room to room, Gabriel told of how it was when Lucas first came there and explained the progress they’d made.

  “The first time he ever heard the sound of his mama’s voice was in our audiology studio. Michelle worked with him.” Gabriel pushed open the office door and stuck his head in. “Michelle, Miss Miller has a few questions about Lucas Briggs; can you spare a few minutes to talk with her?”

  Gabriel smiled and stepped back, allowing Kathleen to enter.

  “I have a phone call to make; Michelle will bring you up to my office when you’re ready.”

  As soon as she sat, Kathleen whipped out her notebook, copied down Michelle’s name, and began making notes. For the first few minutes, she scribbled as fast as she could, but Michelle was impossible to keep up with. After a while she simply sat and listened. In the end, she wrote that it was only the Briggs family involved in Lucas’s treatment.

  Once she finished with Michelle, Kathleen rejoined Gabriel in his office. She learned that although Dominic had never visited the school, his grandmother had.

  “Barrington’s close to fifty miles from Magnolia Grove,” Kathleen said. “My understanding is that Alice was sickly, so how did she get here?”

  “Charlie Barnes drove her, and we met them with a wheelchair.” He told her about their lunch in the conference room and what a fine time Alice had had that day.

  “It was one of her last good days,” he said sadly.

  “This Charlie Barnes, he lives in Magnolia Grove?”

  Gabriel nodded, and Kathleen wrote the name in her notebook with a question mark alongside it.

  “Do you know that Alice’s grandson, Dominic, has petitioned the court for joint custody and guardianship of Lucas?”

  Gabriel again gave a nod. “Yes, Tracy told me.”

  “Why do you think he did that?”

  Gabriel sat silent for a long moment before he answered. “I don’t know that anyone can say why another person does something, but since Dominic has never made an effort to have a relationship with Lucas, it surprises me.”

  “Have you ever known Tracy to deny Dominic access to Lucas?”

  “Once. Four years ago. It was Thanksgiving Day, and he showed up at the Briggses’ house drunk. I wasn’t outside, but even inside the house, you could hear him cussing and screaming.”

  “What did Tracy do?”

  “As I said, I wasn’t outside with them; I was at the dinner table with the other guests. If you want to know exactly what happened, ask her sister, Meghan. She was there.”

  Kathleen wrote “ask Meghan about Thanksgiving” in her notebook, then thanked Gabriel for his time and left.

  In the days that followed, Kathleen interviewed Meghan and Tom, and they corroborated Gabriel’s story. Meghan told how Tracy had pushed Dominic off the porch after he’d grabbed her, and Tom shared with a sheepish look the incident of punching Dominic because he wouldn’t leave Tracy alone. When Kathleen finished with them, she found Charlie Barnes, and he told the whole story of how Alice had struggled with Dominic’s behavior and begged him to take responsibility for his son.

  “I guess she’d be pretty glad to know he finally has,” he said sadly.

  A look of doubt swept across Kathleen’s face. “I don’t know if I’d say that.”

  When she asked if he knew of any other reason why Dominic would have taken a sudden interest in the boy, Charlie shrugged.

  “I can’t say what’s going on in his mind, but I suspect it’s because of the will.”

  “She had a will?”

  Kathleen copied down the name of the lawyer who’d drawn it up, then thanked Charlie for his time.

  “You’ve been helpful,” she said. “Very helpful.”

  The following day she called McGinley & Hudson only to find out that Matthew McGinley was in Ireland and not due back for another nine days.

  63

  Meghan’s Decision

  In the days following the family meeting, Meghan did as she’d promised her mama. She thought about what they might do with the Snip ’n Save. There were times when she reasoned her mama’s logic was sound and other times when the thought of letting go of that one last piece of her daddy brought on a loneliness not even Tom could fill.

  On Sunday morning, she sat across the breakfast table from him, her shoulders slumped and
her mouth downturned as she ignored the platter of eggs growing cold and sprinkled salt into her coffee.

  “What’s wrong?” Tom asked, but she shrugged.

  “Nothing.”

  The sound of happiness in her voice had all but disappeared, and Sox, it seemed, sensed it. He remained by her side night and day, following her from one room to another. Rubbing against her leg, offering up a ball, or pleading to be noticed with a soft, melancholy whine. In the evening, when she moved about the kitchen preparing dinner, he lay beneath her chair, his body flattened to the floor, but his eyes following her every movement.

  On evenings when that faraway look settled in Meghan’s eyes, the dog would jump onto the sofa and snuggle alongside her, but she hardly noticed. After a while, he’d paw her hand, a signal that he was waiting to be petted. She’d lift her hand onto his back or tummy and leave it lying still as a stone as though she’d forgotten what it was there for.

  After nearly two weeks of watching her mope around as sorrowful as a person who was already dead and buried, Tom insisted she needed to take a break. He closed the office early, and they went to the lake.

  “We’ll have supper here,” he said as he set the picnic basket down and stretched a blanket across the grass. After they sat, he took a bottle of wine from the basket and poured them each a glass. For a while they simply sat there, watching Sox frolic along the edge of the lake but never getting close enough to touch the water.

  Meghan gave a barely perceptible chuckle. “It’s been years since he almost drowned, but he’s still afraid to get close to the water.”

  Tom turned, and his eyes connected with hers. For a moment, he held her gaze; then she blinked and turned back to looking out over the lake.

  “Sox isn’t the only one who’s scared,” he said.

  Tilting her head to the side, she eyed him with a curious expression. “Meaning what?”

  “I’m scared, too. Scared you don’t trust me enough to share what’s bothering you.”

  Meghan gave a soft sigh and leaned her head against his shoulder. “It’s not about you, Tom. It’s about the Snip ’n Save.”

  “Anything that affects you has an effect on me too, Meghan. Joined as one, remember?”

  She slid her hand into his, and he squeezed it just as he always did. That was one of the things she loved about Tom; he was dependable, always there for her. He was the touchstone she could return to when anything went awry.

  They stayed that way for several minutes; then she said, “Mama says maybe we should sell it. She thinks it might be better for everybody.”

  “And what do you think?”

  There was a heavy silence before she answered. “I can’t help feeling it’s the only part of Daddy I can still hold on to.”

  As they sat and talked, the sun dropped behind the roofs on the far side of the lake and the sky turned dusky. Sox curled on the blanket and dozed as Meghan explained her mama’s reasoning and told how she herself was torn between wanting to keep the life she now had and preserving the life she’d once known.

  “I never thought I’d have to deal with this kind of situation. When Tracy came home, I gave her a job working with the Snip ’n Save, and she promised to run it forever. Now she seems to think forever is too long.”

  “Maybe it is,” Tom replied. “It definitely seems a lot longer if you’re stuck in a place that doesn’t make you happy.”

  The thought settled in Meghan’s heart with a heavy thud. She had never considered working at the Snip ’n Save as being stuck. For her, it had been a labor of love, and she’d always believed it was the same for Tracy. “I guess you’re right,” she replied sadly. “Anyway, Gabriel has offered her a job at the school. It’s what she enjoys doing, and I think she wants to take it.”

  “You think?”

  Meghan gave a smile tinged with sadness. “Okay, I know she wants to take it.”

  “What about you?” Tom asked. “What would you rather be doing?”

  “Well, of course I’d rather be working at the clinic.” She listed the reasons, then said, “This may sound strange, but when I’m taking care of an animal and they look at me with those big trusting eyes, I feel like I’m exactly where God wants me to be. Like this is what I was always meant to do. Yes, it’s special to be working alongside you, but being at the clinic is so much more than that.”

  “What about your mama? Do you know what she wants?”

  “Mama’s never said exactly, but I can tell you one thing for sure. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Snip ’n Save. She made that clear right from the start.”

  “Do you think it’s because she loved your daddy less than you did?”

  “No way! Mama adored Daddy. She said they were soul mates, that they knew each other’s thoughts even before the words popped out of their mouths.”

  “So she must have a pretty good idea of what your daddy would say if he were still here, right? Remind me again what she thought about selling the Snip ’n Save.”

  Meghan slid him a sideways glance, and the corner of her mouth curled. “Mama said I should quit imagining I’d be letting Daddy down. She claims he liked the Snip ’n Save well enough as a job, but the thing he loved was his three girls.”

  She allowed her mama’s words to linger at the edge of her thoughts before continuing. The answer was there; it had always been there. She’d just failed to see it until Tom shined a light on it.

  “I guess Mama and Daddy both want the same thing. They want their girls to be happy.”

  “For what it’s worth, Meghan, I’ll support you in whatever decision you make, whether it’s staying at the clinic or going back to the Snip ’n Save. But the truth is I hope you’ll stay. You have a unique way with animals; it’s as if they know you love them, and they respond to that. If you left, our clients would really miss you.” He pulled her closer and tilted her face to his. “And so would I.”

  He eased her onto her back, then covered her mouth with his.

  That night, Meghan made her decision.

  The following day, Meghan called Sheldon Markowitz and asked if he was still interested in buying the Snip ’n Save.

  “Depends,” he said. “How much are you asking?”

  “Thirty thousand, and you take over everything.”

  “I’m not arguing about the cost, but I don’t have that much cash. I can do fifteen down and pay off the balance in installments.”

  They talked through the terms of a three-year payout, and Meghan said that seemed acceptable, but there was one more stipulation. Sheldon listened to what she wanted, then agreed.

  “I would have done it anyway,” he said, “just because it’s good business.”

  After they’d gone back and forth on a few sticky points, Meghan told him this didn’t mean they had a deal.

  “I’m just feeling out the market,” she said. “Mama’s already said this isn’t just my decision, so the only thing I can do right now is promise to talk it over with her and Tracy. Give me some time, and when I know more, I’ll get back to you.”

  “Trust me, you won’t regret this,” Sheldon said.

  “Hopefully not,” she replied.

  64

  Meghan Whitely

  You might think that once I’d reached a decision my mind would be at rest, but it’s not. The truth is I feel like all our memories of Daddy are about to be flushed down the drain and Mama wants me to be the one to do it.

  She says this decision about the Snip ’n Save isn’t mine alone, but it feels like it is. It feels like it’s always been mine.

  Even though I’ve already talked to Sheldon and he’s agreed to buy the magazine, I keep thinking maybe there’s another way out. There isn’t. I know that. If there were, I would have come up with it days ago. I’ve looked at this situation a million ways from Sunday, and what it always boils down to is that either Tracy would have to give up her life or I’d have to give up mine.

  I can’t do that, because Tom needs me to hel
p him build a business. And it’s not fair to ask Tracy to do what I won’t do myself. She wants to do something more meaningful with her life by working with kids and building places where children with hearing disabilities can learn. Her life has changed, and she’s changed, I understand that. My life changed when I found Sox. In rescuing him, I rescued myself. The same thing happened to Tracy. She found herself in finding a voice for Lucas. Now she wants to work with kids, and she wants it just as much as I want to work at the clinic.

  The bottom line is that I’ll do what I have to do. I just hope Daddy can find it in his heart to forgive me.

  65

  The Way It Is

  On the surface, Kathleen Miller’s first case seemed to be a simple “him versus her” analysis, but once she got involved, she found it was far more complicated. When she sat down to write her report, there were a dozen different questions picking at her mind.

  She’d expected to interview two people, then make a judgment, but a number of other factors crept into the story. First there was Tracy’s fiancé. With an impending marriage, she couldn’t discount the effect Gabriel Hawke might have on the boy’s life. Then there was the fraternal grandmother, dead and buried, taking the truth of what was or wasn’t along with her. Alice DeLuca was the one person who would have known whether Dominic actually pursued a relationship with his son.

  Meghan swore Dominic came to the house only once—that Thanksgiving Day when he was drunk and abusive. But after hearing it was her husband, Tom, who pulled Dominic off Tracy and knocked him to the ground, that story also had scraps of doubt clinging to it.

  As if the waters weren’t muddy enough, a will had suddenly surfaced. Charlie claimed Matthew McGinley of McGinley & Hudson drew it up, but she’d called his office only to discover McGinley was out of the country and no one could speak for him.

  The only person Kathleen could absolutely trust was the child: Lucas.

  She read through the notebook of testimonies a second and then third time. Each time she found another niggling little detail worthy of concern. She flipped the pages back and forth for well over an hour, then pulled a packet of index cards from her desk and wrote the name of each person on a card. Beneath their names she wrote the facts in black ink. Opinions and observations she pushed to the bottom and wrote in blue ink. The glaring questions she wrote in red, and on Dominic’s card she circled the one word that presented the biggest question of all: Why?