A Mother's Gift (Love Inspired) (13 page)

“A
re you okay, Dad?”

Something must have shown on his face because Beth’s eyes rounded in alarm.

Nick wasn’t sure how to answer that particular question. So he avoided it by asking one of his own. “How did everything go?”

Beth grinned. “Good. We finished reading today’s devotion and we were just about to pray.”

Daily devotional readings. Prayer.
They were an everyday benediction in the Delaney household, but what had Julia thought about the unexpected additions to her responsibilities? Which reminded Nick how late it was. How late
he
was.

He dared a quick look in Julia’s direction. “I’m sorry you had to bring Beth back here for bedtime.”

“We never went to my house. We decided it would be easier to stay here.” Nothing in Julia’s expression gave Nick a clue how she felt about the change in venue. Or anything else, for that matter.

Beth nodded vigorously. “We took Belle for a walk. And I had to feed the rabbits and put fresh bedding in their hutch.”

Nick had forgotten about the rabbits. They’d recently adopted Sam and Walter from the second-grade teacher, who had come to the conclusion that twenty-four students and two bunnies was not a good ratio.

“Did you finish your homework?”

“I didn’t have any tonight.” Beth shrugged and caught the devotional book as it started to slide off her knees.

Nick’s vision of Beth spending the evening engrossed in her homework while Julia went about her own business dissolved as swiftly as the apology he’d rehearsed on the way home. “What did you do?” He was almost afraid to ask.

“After supper we made chocolate-chip cookies for your lunch and Julia put up the curtains in my room.” Beth’s expression brightened. “Oh, we talked to Gran, too.”

His mother had called?

Wait a second. Had Beth just said, “
We
talked to Gran”?

“She said she’ll call again when they reach the next port,” Julia said briskly as she slid off the bed.

Right. If Nick knew his mother, she’d be calling a lot sooner than that.

Julia looked poised for flight but Nick stood between her and the door. “Thank you again for keeping an eye on Beth.”

“And Belle and Sam and Walter,” his daughter chimed in.

Nick winced. There should have been an apology, chocolate
and
flowers.

“Thank you for taking care of…everyone,” he amended.

“We had fun, didn’t we, Julia?” Beth gave a contented sigh.

“Yes, we did.” The flicker of vulnerability in Julia’s eyes tugged at Nick’s heart. As if she had surprised herself by admitting it.

“Night. You can keep the necklace….” Beth’s words dissolved into a yawn.

Julia glanced down, as if she’d forgotten that a colorful garland of ribbon circled her neck. For a split second, the elusive dimple surfaced. “Thank you.”

“I’ll give you a ride home.” Now that Nick thought about it, he hadn’t noticed her car parked by the house.

“I don’t mind walking.” Julia politely but firmly rejected his offer. “I can cut across the pasture.”

“It’s no…”
Trouble.

Nick found himself talking to empty air.

He caught up to her at the door.

“I really don’t mind walking.” Julia refused to look at him.
Couldn’t
look at him. “It’s a beautiful night.”

“You’re right about that.” Nick’s shoulders lifted in an easy shrug as he fell in step beside her. “Which is exactly why I don’t mind walking you home.”

“Beth—”

“Is watching us from the bedroom window. She and Belle will be fine for a few minutes.”

Julia was glad the shadows concealed her panic. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Nick Delaney. All she wanted to do was put the evening behind her and go home….

Liar.

She stumbled a little, as if the truth had knocked her off balance. Because the truth wasn’t that she wanted to go home. She’d wanted to stay.

An evening with Beth had given Julia a bittersweet glimpse of the kind of life she’d stopped dreaming about a long time ago.

They had done all the things Beth had told her father about, and a few more besides. The only awkward moment was when Granna Claire had asked to speak with her. Julia had reluctantly taken the phone from Beth, certain she’d be subjected to an interrogation.

Instead, Claire had expressed her gratitude that Julia had come to her son’s rescue.

“I’m so thankful they have a neighbor like you,”
Claire had gushed.
“I have to admit I’ve struggled with guilt over being so far away but it helps to be reminded that God is looking out for them. I hope I get a chance to meet you when Robert and I come for a visit.”

Julia had squirmed under the praise. She had no doubt that if Nick’s mother knew what had transpired with the house, she wouldn’t be so quick to believe Julia was an answer to her prayers.

She wasn’t an answer to anyone’s prayers.

Especially someone like Nick. Not only was he incredibly attractive on the outside, Julia was discovering that his insides were just as appealing. He was a devoted family man. A man who opened his home to a growing menagerie of animals. A man who would eventually remarry and fill the house with brothers and sisters for Beth….

This time, the pain surging through her had nothing to do with the tiny spasms that shot up her leg as Julia quickened her pace.

“Hey, slow down.” The husky amusement in Nick’s voice rubbed against her already raw defenses. “Are you training for a marathon or something?”

The irony of the “or something” made Julia wince. Afraid he would see her expression, she stopped at the edge of the yard, where the moonlight merged with the shadows. “You don’t have to go any farther. Beth will be waiting up for you and it’s getting late.”

Nick’s chiseled features were washed in silver, his jade eyes searching as he stared down at her. For one heart-stopping moment, Julia thought he would insist.

“All right.” She breathed a sigh of relief when he gave in. “Listen, I really do appreciate you putting aside your plans tonight to watch Beth.”

Plans?

If the idea hadn’t been so laughable, Julia might have smiled. Her plans for the evening had included cleaning out one of the outbuildings and then curling up on the sofa with the book she’d been reading. Nothing that couldn’t be put off until the following day. Or the next.

A week ago, if anyone had asked, she would have insisted she was content with her solitary life. The life she’d chosen. But a few hours in the Delaney household had made that life seem boring. Empty.

There’s no place for you there,
she reminded herself ruthlessly as she pivoted away from Nick.

“What can I do to thank you?” Nick called after her. “I grill a great steak. And I’ve been told I make a mean hot fudge sundae, too.”

More time spent in his company. Another evening being reminded of what she couldn’t have. So why did a wave of longing rush through her? It took all Julia’s will to keep walking, her frayed emotions unraveling with each step she took away from him.

“If you won’t tell me, then I’ll just have to think of something,” Nick called after her.

Julia knew she should turn around and tell him that he didn’t have to do anything. But she didn’t. She found herself smiling instead.

And that was what frightened her the most.

“J
ulia helped me make necklaces for all the horses,” Beth said between bites of pancake. “And she held Walter and Sam while I cleaned out their cage.”

Okay. Nick
really
had to find a way to make it up to her.

The trouble was, every time Beth said Julia’s name—and so far their entire breakfast conversation had revolved around the evening she and Beth had spent together—Nick swore he heard the sound of yet another wall crumbling around his heart.

He’d lain awake half the night, asking God why Julia Windham was the one who’d managed, in the brief time he’d known her, to resurrect feelings he’d thought had died with Liz.

“More pancakes?” Nick tried to distract Beth from any more talk about their next-door neighbor.

“Nope.” Beth swallowed the last of her orange juice. “Julia said—”

“The bus will be here in a few minutes, Tig.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “I’ll be eleven on Friday, Dad. Remember?”

Nick smiled. How could he forget, when she reminded him at least twice a day? At least he’d hit upon a topic guaranteed to turn Beth’s attention away from Julia.

“Have you decided how we should celebrate your birthday?”

“Can Julia come over and have cake with us? You said I could invite some friends over.”

Give me patience, Lord. Right now would be great.
“I meant friends from school.”

“I don’t have any friends yet.”

“No friends?” Nick raised an eyebrow. Both the principal and Beth’s teachers had assured him that she’d adjusted well to her new school and was popular with her classmates.

“Maybe a few.” Beth stirred a pool of maple syrup around with her fork. “But it’s tough being the new kid.” Sorrowful eyes peered up at him.

Nick was tempted to ask if the school had a drama club she could join.

“Julia might have other plans,” he said carefully. “Remember what we talked about—”

“Bus is coming!” Beth dove for the pink backpack at her feet. “Gotta go. Love ya, Dad!” She paused when she reached the door and tossed a smile over her shoulder. “By the way, Julia doesn’t have a boyfriend. I asked her.”

The door snapped shut but Nick’s lower jaw was still hanging open.

A few seconds later, his cell rang, jarring him out of the near-catatonic state that Beth’s parting words had put him in.

“Nick—I was hoping I’d catch you before you left for work.”

He knew it. “Hi, Mom. You weren’t supposed to call until the weekend. Is everything all right?”

“That’s my line.” Claire chuckled. “You sound a little dazed.”

That about summed it up, Nick thought. “Just trying to figure something—”
someone
“—out.”

“Beth.”

“Bingo.” Nick decided it was best not to mention the other woman in his life he couldn’t figure out. Whoa. Wait a second. There
was
no other woman in his life. “I’m not sure what to do with her.”

“What’s going on?”

“She’s getting a little attached to our new neighbor.” And there, Nick thought with a shake of his head, was the perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black.

“Ah, Julia Windham.” Was it his imagination, or did his mother sound a bit smug? “She seems like a very nice young woman. What’s the problem?”

So Nick told her. Everything. How Julia had planned to buy the property. Her assertion that she didn’t need distractions, then not hesitating to give up an evening to keep an eye on Beth. About Beth’s insistence that Julia was lonely.

When he finished, there was absolute silence on the other end of the line. Nick waited. His mother not only knew her granddaughter well but she practically oozed wisdom. He was confident she could shed some light on the situation.

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Nick repeated the word in disbelief. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?”

“I…” Claire hesitated. “I think I might know why Beth is so determined to befriend Julia.”

Relief poured through Nick. “Great.”

“You might not think so when you hear my theory,” she murmured. “Normally, I wouldn’t share a confidence, but in this case I should probably make an exception. Beth told you about her special prayer—”

“For the house.”

“Yes. That was one of them.”

“One of them? There’s more than one?”

A sigh unfurled on the other end of the line. “You know Beth keeps a list of the things she prays for in her diary. Before Robert and I left on our honeymoon, she shared her top three with me. A house in the country…”

Nick waited. And waited. “Mom, I’m a big boy, remember? Let’s hear number two.”

“A horse.”

Nick relaxed a little. So far, no surprises. Beth’s love for that particular animal was no secret. “I know all about that one, too.”

“Yes, well…”

“Come on, Mom. Give it to me straight,” Nick teased. “I think I can take—”

“Beth has been asking God for a mother.”

“What?”

“That’s not all.”

How, Nick wondered in disbelief, could there possibly be more?

“I have a feeling she thinks that God took care of two requests at the same time.”

“Two requests?”

“Look at it from her perspective,” Claire said, and for the first time Nick heard an undercurrent of amusement in her voice. “God provided the house in the country…and Julia, an attractive, young—and I might add, conveniently single—woman who happens to live right next door.”

Julia retreated to the woods right after breakfast to clear her head. And to escape the verse she’d read in Beth’s devotional book the night before.

It didn’t work. If anything, it seemed as if everything around her kept repeating the words like a chorus. The breeze that whispered through the hardwoods. The birds singing in the branches above her head.

Trust in the Lord and do good…dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Had she ever truly trusted Him?

At one point in her life, she would have said she did.

But then, Julia thought bitterly, she also would have claimed she had everything her heart desired.

As the only child of the wealthiest family in the area, Julia grew up believing that Wind River Farm was the equivalent of a tiny kingdom. And from the moment Julia had been placed on the back of a horse at the age of four, she’d been expected to carry on the legacy that her mother, a former superstar in eventing competitions, had begun.

To a girl whose baby book claimed that one of her first words was “horsey,” the hours she’d spent caring for the horses and taking riding lessons had never seemed like a burden. Julia preferred spending time in the barn to hanging out with her classmates, who mistook her shyness for arrogance. Not only that, but the barn offered a refuge when her parents’ arguing escalated to the point that her father had walked out the door one day and never come back.

After he left, Tara had pushed her even harder. As trophies began to line the mantel, life became more about the exacting requirements of the ring and less about the simple pleasures Julia had found in a leisurely ride along the river. It hadn’t taken long for her to realize that a judge’s approval rating earned approval in her mother’s eyes—something she longed for more than another ribbon or trophy.

Julia continued to meet every challenge, and her fearless confidence both in and out of the ring cemented her reputation as the golden girl of the horse show circuit. The reigning princess from Wind River Farm.

And then she’d met her prince.

Julia closed her eyes but it didn’t prevent an image of Steve Ballad’s handsome face from invading her memories. Their paths had crossed at a weekend cross-country event and, although Julia had beaten him, he’d asked her to dinner. Three months later, he’d proposed.

She’d had everything. Until the accident.

Julia had returned to Wind River Farm, not at the top of the world but in pieces at the bottom of it. Everything had changed. Tara had accepted a position teaching at a prestigious riding academy in Kentucky and Steve had broken off their engagement.

But her fiancé wasn’t all she’d lost.

Julia sank against a tree.

When Beth had read the words in the devotional book the night before, a surge of longing had swept through her. And Julia knew why. She was tired of going through the motions of each day, alive but not really living. To anyone watching, she appeared to have everything together. Only Julia knew the truth. The injuries may have healed but the wounds on her heart hadn’t.

Trust in the Lord…trust in the Lord.

Could she?

Julia closed her eyes and her heart formed the words before her mind could shut them down.

Please tell me that You’re here, God. And that You care about me.

When she opened them again, she could see the faint outline of Nick’s house beyond the trees.

Nick’s house.

A smile curved her lips.

When had she stopped thinking of it as the old Kramer place?

When had she’d stopped thinking of it as hers?

Maybe when she’d realized that she loved seeing lights glow in the windows at night. Watching Belle chase squirrels around the yard. Hearing Nick’s tuneless whistle when he was outside working. Witnessing the slow transformation that was turning a weary-looking house into a home.

Knowing that Nick and Beth belonged there.

Beth believed the house was an answer to prayer but was it possible it was the answer to hers, too?