“You sure it’s Autumn you’re concerned about, not Annie?” Ted hesitated. “And her little guy? Even I couldn’t miss the way you looked at them at church last week. Or the way her eyes were on you all though the children’s story.”
“Not you, too, Dad.”
“What?” His father hit a pothole in the road and frowned.
“I’m not blind. I saw everyone smiling when we walked Ian up to the altar steps. On the way out, Pastor Joel thanked me for my ‘evangelism’ in Anne’s decision to join our church. At coffee hour, Mom told Ian he could call her Grandma Mary. Said everyone does. And when Anne stopped by the day care to get her gloves, Jennifer assumed Anne and Ian and I were spending the day together.”
“You do make a good-looking family. Like us when you and Emily were small.” His father chuckled. “Not that we aren’t still a good-looking family.”
For what it was worth, Neal glared at his father.
“I call it as I see it. You like Annie.”
Neal started to protest.
“Don’t argue. It looked to me like Annie doesn’t mind you being around, either. If you ask me...”
“Which I didn’t.” Neal stopped. “Sorry, Dad. No disrespect intended.”
“None taken. What I was going to say is that you might want to take her out. See where things go from there.”
Neal focused on a stone on the floor mat and shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Ian. He’s a great little guy. But I’ve done the raising-kids thing. When I got back from my tour, I promised myself I’d take some time for me. Go back to school.” He shrugged. “You know. That plan doesn’t include starting over with kids, which I’d be doing if Anne and I get together.”
“And how’s that plan going?” his father challenged him. “Doesn’t sound like you’re getting what you expected out of your college classes.”
He met his father’s gaze. “No, I’m not.” Saying it aloud felt unexpectedly good, like a weight had been lifted off his chest.
“Maybe you should reconsider my advice.”
What was his father talking about?
“As far as I can see, you’re the only one holding you to that plan. Give it up to God. He may have a better plan for you, one that has room for Annie and Ian.”
“Yeah.” A picture of Anne smoothing Ian’s red curls from his forehead flashed in his head, unleashing an unexpected flow of warmth that he had no strength to fight. “I’ll do that.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Come on. Please pick up.” Anne tapped her foot in time to the ringing phone.
“Hello,” Jamie said breathlessly.
“Jamie. I’m so glad you’re home. I’m in a jam, and I need a big favor. I’d completely forgotten about the zoning board meeting tonight at the town hall until the alert sounded on my phone. The local attorney Green Spaces hired to represent us said the meeting is just a formality, but I think I should be there. Is there any chance you could watch Ian for me?”
Jamie hesitated and Anne’s heart sank. She was imposing, and Jamie was probably too polite to say so. How had she forgotten the meeting? It had been scheduled for weeks, since before Ian came into her life. She glanced at him seated on the floor near her feet, head bent, concentrating on putting together the ten pieces of his wooden fire truck puzzle. He turned and smiled up at her and her heart swelled with love.
“I’m sorry.” Jamie’s voice drew her back to the phone. “I was on my way out to choir practice with Emily, for the Christmas concert. It’s the first one.”
“I understand.” Anne checked her watch. She’d have to try to get ahold of the attorney.
“Wait. Mary is watching my kids and Isabelle. Drew is down in New York City for a couple of days. I’m sure she won’t mind watching Ian, too, if you think he’ll be comfortable with her.”
If Neal was going to be there, Ian would be just fine. But she wasn’t going to say that. Jamie might get the wrong idea, like Pastor Joel’s wife. From some of the things Jennifer had said to Anne this week when she’d picked up Ian, it was apparent Jennifer thought she and Neal were a couple. Anne knew she should have set her straight, but she hadn’t. Nor did she want to delve into why she’d kept silent.
“Ian met Mary at church the other Sunday. She even told him to call her Grandma Mary, that all of the kids do.”
“Yeah,” Jamie confirmed. “Mine do, from Autumn and from the past two summers when I worked as the camp nurse. Mary helps out a lot. She loves kids.”
Anne waffled. She needed to make this meeting, but she didn’t want to impose. It was her own fault she hadn’t made arrangements. “You don’t think she’ll mind?”
“I know she won’t mind. But the choir director will if Emily and I are late to practice. She’s a stickler for punctuality.”
“Sorry. I’ll grab Ian’s backpack. I have it packed for day care tomorrow. And we’ll be right out.”
Anne hung up and checked her watch again. She’d have just enough time to do her hair and touch up her makeup before she had to leave. She picked up the backpack and headed toward the door.
“Nee Nee?”
The high-pitched question stopped her in her tracks. Ian! She’d forgotten Ian. Anne could imagine the laugh Jamie would have gotten out of her delivering the bag without the baby.
“Sweetie, Mo...” Anne stopped. She’d almost called herself Mommy. “Aunt Annie,” she corrected herself, “has to go to a meeting tonight. Jamie is going to take you with Rose and Opal to play at Mrs. Hazard’s house until I’m done. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
His brow wrinkled.
“You remember. Mrs. Hazard talked to you at church.” Anne took a breath. “Neal’s mommy.” She almost laughed at her words. It sounded like she was talking about one of Ian’s playmates.
“Okay. Can I bring my puzzle? Show Neal?”
“Sure.” She hoped he wouldn’t be too disappointed if Neal wasn’t there. “Let’s put the pieces in your backpack so we don’t drop any.”
Anne bent down to retrieve the puzzle.
“Ian do it.”
Holding the backpack open, she waited patiently while he dropped the pieces in one by one. A knock sounded at the door. She picked up Ian and went to answer it.
“Mommy said I could come over and see if you needed any help. Opal is already in her car seat,” Rose said with seven-year-old superiority.
“No, we’re all set. If you can walk Ian across the yard, I’ll get his seat out of my car.” Until Rose had mentioned car seats, she hadn’t even thought about Ian needing his. Being a single parent was hard. She couldn’t imagine how Neal had managed Autumn. He’d been barely more than a kid himself.
“I can do that,” Rose said.
Anne put Ian down. “Go with Rose. I’m going to get your seat.”
Ian stuck his thumb in his mouth and didn’t move. What would she do if he refused to go? The childcare book she’d been reading said toddlers liked routine. Her forgetting the meeting and having to make last-minute babysitting arrangements had certainly upset the little bit of a routine they’d been able to establish.
Rose took Ian’s other hand. “Come on. Grandma Mary said we could bake cookies with her.”
“Cookies? Grandma’s Ria bakes cookies for Ian.”
Rose shot her funny look.
“Ian’s grandmother in Boston. Maria is her housekeeper.”
“Oh,” Rose said, still looking confused. She tugged on Ian’s hand and he trotted across the lawn with her. Anne followed with the car seat.
“I’ll take that.” Jamie strapped Ian’s seat in the back between Opal’s and Rose’s. “In, guys,” she said.
Anne held Ian close as she lifted him into his seat. “I’ll be back soon. Have fun with the gi
rls.”
“Here’s his backpack.” She handed it to Jamie, who stashed it behind the seat, snapped Ian’s car seat buckle and checked Rose’s belt.
Anne stood behind her marveling at how efficiently Jamie had everyone in and ready to go. “You make it look so easy.”
“What?” Jamie stepped back from the SUV and closed the door.
“Everything.” Anne waved her hand at the three kids in the vehicle.
Jamie shrugged. “It gets easier with practice. And much easier with two parents.”
The passenger-side window rolled down. “Mom,” Myles said, “I told Tanner I’d be there by now.”
“Tanner’s dad is helping them with their science project. I can’t wait until John gets back. Eight more months and counting.”
Anne’s heart went out to Jamie, managing her family on her own. But it wouldn’t be forever, not like... Anne halted her thought. She had no cause to be feeling sorry for herself. She was so lucky to have Ian and given time she’d get the hang of juggling work and parenthood.
“Should I bring Ian back with me or do you want to pick him up at the Hazards’ after your meeting?”
“I’ll pick him up. My meeting shouldn’t last long.”
Jamie walked around the front of the SUV to the driver’s side. “And you might run into Neal if you do,” she shot over the hood before climbing in and slamming the door.
Anne refused to dignify Jamie’s tease with an answer because she might give away that she was thinking exactly the same thing.
* * *
“About time you got here,” Emily said as Jamie herded Rose, Opal and Ian into the Hazards’ home.
“I had to wait for Anne to get Ian’s things together and drop Myles off at Tanner’s house to work on his science project. Anne had an important meeting that she’d forgotten about and needed someone to watch Ian. I told her your mother wouldn’t mind.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t if she were here. She and Dad drove Mrs. Donnelly to her cardiac appointment in Saranac. I guess her doctor didn’t like something he saw and sent them up to a specialist in Plattsburgh.”
“I guess that means no choir practice.”
Emily shook her head. “I texted Autumn, but she’s working at the nursing home this evening.”
Behind Jamie, the outside door clicked open. “Hi, what’s up?”
“Neal. Perfect.”
“Yes, I am.” He grinned. “But I never thought I’d get you to admit it, little sister.”
“Here, take the baby. Mom was supposed to babysit for us so we could go to the special choir practice, but she got delayed.”
Emily thrust Isabelle into his arms, grabbed her coat from the back of one of the kitchen chairs and she and Jamie were out the door before he could get a word out.
Isabelle patted his cheek and he rubbed noses with her. “How’s my best girl?”
She gave him a drooly grin.
“Let’s go see what I’m in for here.” Neal carried her through the doorway into the dining room.
“Neal!” Opal squealed. “Where’s Grandma Mary?”
“She had to do something and isn’t home yet.”
“So you’re going to watch us?” Opal said, all smiles. “We brought Ian with us.”
Neal followed her finger pointing under the dining room table. There sat Ian surrounded by wooden puzzle pieces.
“Ne-al!” The little boy glanced upward at Opal. His little lips worked. “Neal.” He corrected himself.
Neal’s chest expanded with pride at the child’s effort. “Hey, buddy. Want to come out and help me with Isabelle?”
“Puzzle,” Ian said, patting his completed picture.
“It’s a fire truck,” Opal said with a touch of disgust. “I have a Dora the Explorer puzzle that has a lot more pieces.”
Neal looked from Opal to her sister, who was seated at the table, to his niece in his arms. “We’re outnumbered, buddy. We have to stick together. Bring your puzzle up here on the table and show me how you put it together.”
“Stick to Neal.”
More like Neal’s stuck on Ian, Neal thought as he watched without the least bit of impatience as Ian crawled back and forth from under the table and placed his puzzle pieces on the table one by one. And on Ian’s Aunt Annie, if the truth be told.
“Got them all?”
“One, two, three, seven, five.” Ian touched the pieces.
“I’ll count them for you,” Opal said and counted the ten pieces. “They’re all there,” she said with authority.
“All there,” Ian echoed.
“Hop up on a chair and we’ll get to work,” Neal said. The little boy scrambled up.
“Can you help me?” Rose asked from the chair on his other side. “We have to make sentences with our spelling words and I don’t know how to spell deployed.”
“D-e-p-l-o-y-e-d.”
The little girl carefully wrote each letter on her worksheet.
“What’s your sentence?”
“My daddy’s unit is deployed. The spelling word is unit.”
“Good sentence.”
“Puzzle.” Ian patted the table.
Not to be left out, Opal wedged herself between him and Rose and pushed a DVD in front of him. “I have a movie, The Lion King.”
“Mommy said we’re not supposed to watch the movie until I finish my homework.” Rose pulled a coloring book and crayons out of the backpack next to her on table and pushed them toward Opal. “Here’s your coloring stuff. I have three more words to do.”
Opal flipped her coloring book open on Rose’s paper and Neal’s hand.
“Opal! I have to do my homework.”
Neal lifted the book and placed it on the table across from him. “Opal, you can color on the other side of the table.”
The little girl stuck out her lower lip and Ian patted the table again.
“Puzzle.”
“If you sit on the other side of the table, Opal, you’ll be able to show me your pictures better.”
“Okay.” She curled her fingers around the box and crayons, ducked under the table, and appeared on the other side.
Ian clapped, climbed off the chair and disappeared under the table. He popped up on the other side, grinned and crawled back to Neal.
He grabbed the toddler and lifted him to his lap. “Whoa. I thought we were going to do your puzzle.”
Opal lifted her coloring book. “Look, Neal.” She held up a hastily colored giraffe.
“How do you spell tank?” Rose asked.
“Puzzle,” Ian said.
He was too old for this. Wooden puzzles, coloring books and second-grade homework were all things from his distant past, at least thirteen years distant. Neal looked around the table. Who was he kidding? He was enjoying himself far more than he would be reading his Western civilization assignment.
“Neal,” Rose asked again, “how do you spell tank?”
“T-a-n-k. Are all of your sentences about your daddy?”
Rose nodded as she wrote the word. “I miss him.”
“Me, too,” Opal said.
Ian pushed his puzzle away. “Ian’s daddy is gone.”
“Is he in the army, too? Is that why you’re living with Anne? Our daddy is coming home in the summer.”
Neal tensed. Hadn’t Jamie told the kids?
“No,” Ian said, his wide eyes bright. “Mommy, Daddy gone.”
“Opal, don’t you remember what Mommy said?”
Opal’s eyes went round and her mouth formed a perfect O. “Oh, yeah.” She turned to Ian. “Neal told us that while our daddy is gone he could be our sub...sub...”
“Substitute,” Rose filled in.
“Substitute daddy. Mayb
e he could be yours, too.” She looked expectantly at Neal.
His heart stopped with the wanting. Wasn’t that what he’d told himself he could do? Help Anne with Ian with no strings attached, like he helped Jamie.
Ian sniffled. Except there were strings, lots of strings, wrapped tightly around his heart tying him to Ian and Anne.
* * *
Anne couldn’t believe how long the meeting had lasted. It was way past Ian’s bedtime. Fortunately, she had late classes tomorrow morning. But what would Mary Hazard think? Jamie had probably picked her kids up an hour ago.
The only lights Anne saw on at the Hazards’ as she approached were in the front, so she parked her car on the side of the road and went to the front door. Mary opened the door on the first knock.
Mary held her index finger to her lips as she let her in. “Shh.” Mary motioned to the recliner where Neal sat snoozing with a sleeping Ian and a book on his lap. Anne’s heart flip-flopped. They looked so natural together.
“Ted and I got home a few minutes ago and found them like that. They must have worn themselves out,” she said, as if it were perfectly normal to come home to Ian being at her house.
“I had to go to a planning board meeting. I’d forgotten,” Anne stammered, “and didn’t have a babysitter. Jamie said you wouldn’t mind since you were watching her kids and Isabelle anyway.”
Mary nodded at her son. “I don’t think Neal minded at all.”
Anne didn’t want to admit, even to herself, how much she’d like to hear those words from Neal.
Mary walked over and shook Neal’s shoulder.
He opened his eyes. “Mom. I must have dozed off. Anne.” He smiled sheepishly as he noticed her behind his mother. “We were reading The Littlest Angel. It was in a box of Autumn’s books I have.”
“We have it at home.” Anne paused at how easily home rolled off her lips. “My grandmother gave it to me when I was little.”
“I’ll leave you guys alone.”
Neal’s gaze caught Anne’s and when she broke the contact Mary had left.
Small-Town Dad Page 16
