Home in Carolina (19 page)

Apparently today hadn’t been so hot for her mother, either. Flo had been in too much pain to make her way downstairs, which meant she was more bored and difficult than usual. Within an hour of her arrival home, Helen swore if she heard the ringing of that blasted little bell she’d put beside her mother’s bed one more time, she was going to throw it out the window.

During the day Letitia Lowell saw to her mother’s needs, took her to her physical therapy appointments, catered to her every whim, in fact. At the end of the day, all the catering fell to Helen, along with looking after Sarah Beth and getting her ready for bed.

She’d managed to get through her daughter’s bath, put on her favorite jammies and coax her into bed, when the bell rang yet again.

“Gamma needs us,” Sarah Beth said, hearing the bell. She scrambled right back out of her bed and darted past Helen, dragging her favorite stuffed dog behind her.

Helen heaved a sigh and followed. At this rate her
daughter was going to be wide-awake when Erik got home from Sullivan’s, which would cut into the little bit of time Helen actually got to spend with her husband these days.

By the time she reached her mother’s room, Sarah Beth had climbed into bed with her grandmother and was snuggled down beside her. Seeing the two of them like that should have filled her with contentment. Instead, what she felt was a sharp stab of jealousy. She chided herself for the selfish reaction, but the feeling didn’t diminish.

“Mom, did you need something?” she asked. “I was trying to get Sarah Beth settled for the night. It’s already past her bedtime.”

“Now, whose fault is that?” Flo chided. “You were late getting home.”

Helen bit back a sharp retort. “Did you need something?” she repeated.

“I need to spend a little more time with my granddaughter,” Flo said, brushing a silky strand of hair away from Sarah Beth’s cheek. “I’ll read her a story while you get me some ginger ale, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Even as she spoke, she reached for the stack of children’s books next to her bed. She let Sarah Beth make her choice and, in the process, left Helen with none.

“No trouble,” Helen said tightly. She whirled around and left the room before she could start an argument that would lead nowhere.

As she went downstairs, she tried to recall one single occasion when her mother had ever read to her as a child. She came up blank. In the chaos that had been their life back then, there hadn’t been time for cozy moments like the one she’d just witnessed between her daughter and her
mother. Even when her mom had been home, she’d been doing the ironing that brought in a few extra dollars. Those dollars had been stashed in an old coffee tin, then eventually deposited in the bank, in the account Helen later learned had been set aside for her college education.

She was standing in the kitchen, thinking about how pathetic it was to resent the growing relationship between these two important people in her life, when Erik walked in. He kissed her distractedly, reached around her to grab the bottle of wine from the counter and poured a glass, then finally really looked at her.

“Uh-oh, I know that expression. What’s your mother done now?”

“Nothing,” she said. “I’m being petty and ridiculous.” The admission was made grudgingly.

“Okay,” Erik said carefully. “About what?”

Tears spilled over as she met his gaze. “My mom’s reading a story to Sarah Beth.”

Erik looked bewildered. “Why is that a problem?”

“She never did that with me. Not once.”

He tucked a finger under her chin. “Then isn’t it wonderful that she’s getting a second chance with Sarah Beth?”

She sighed. “I know you’re right. I even realize it wasn’t that she didn’t want to read to me. There was no time back then. Sometimes she went straight from one job to the next. I was lucky if I saw her for an hour. I knew Mrs. Melrose, the babysitter who lived next door, better than I knew my own mother.”

“Then this is a second chance for the two of you, too,” he said. “Take advantage of it, Helen. This time is a blessing.”

“When I’m being rational, I realize that. It’s just that
some days it’s overwhelming having her here. I come home exhausted. I want time with my daughter and instead I’m interrupted every two seconds by my mother ringing that stupid bell.”

“You could hire another caregiver for a couple of hours in the evening,” he suggested. “Or have Mrs. Lowell start later. I’m here in the morning. She could come in when I leave for the restaurant and stay for an hour or two after you get home. And the reality is that it’s only going to be for a little while longer, anyway. Your mom’s making terrific progress.”

Helen scowled at him. “Why do you have to be so calm and reasonable? All I need right this second is sympathy.”

Wisely, Erik didn’t allow the smile on his lips to fully form. Instead, he reached for her and pulled her into his arms. “I can be sympathetic,” he said, holding her close.

Helen rested her head on his shoulder and let herself relax. How had she gotten so lucky? She wasn’t an easy woman. She’d been on her own way too long and was far too set in her ways when she and Erik had married, but it worked. He was exactly the man she’d needed in her life. He was strong and patient and mostly knew what she needed before she did. Just as important, he knew when to call her on it when she was being ridiculous, like tonight.

“Have I mentioned lately how much I love you?” she murmured.

“Have I mentioned that I love you more?”

She lifted her face for a kiss, the kind that stole breath and usually led to a frantic dash for their bedroom, only to hear the sound of the maddening little bell.

“I’m going to kill her,” she said. “I really am.”

Erik merely chuckled and gestured toward the glass of ginger ale. “Is that what she sent you down here for?”

She nodded.

“I’ll take it to her and get Sarah Beth into bed. Why don’t you take a long bubble bath and meet me in our room.” He winked. “We can finish what we almost got started.”

“You’re a saint,” she declared.

“I hope not, darlin’, because I surely was hoping to indulge in a little wickedness before the night’s over.”

Helen laughed at his eagerness and suddenly felt rejuvenated. In just a few minutes he’d set everything right in her world. She knew it might not last past daybreak, but for tonight she intended to enjoy every second.

T
he kids had been exhausted on the ride back from the beach. All three of them fell asleep in the car. After helping Ty to carry them inside, Annie decided to walk home.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until I can give you a ride?” Ty asked. “Mom or Cal should be home soon and they can take over here.”

Annie shook her head. She needed to process everything that had happened. Until she’d replayed the wonderful day in her head—even discussed it with Sarah—it wouldn’t seem entirely real.

Ty studied her with a frown. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“About us? No,” she said truthfully.

“Were the kids too much? I warned you that three of them all at once could be a little daunting.”

He looked so genuinely concerned that she stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek. “Stop fretting. Everything’s fine. I had an absolutely fantastic time. It was perfect.”

“Perfect, huh? Even though we never…” He winked as he let his voice trail off.

“In a way, that almost made it better,” she told him. “It was real. It wasn’t about the two of us not being able to keep our hands off each other. It reminded me how good we are together, how in sync we are.”

His expression immediately turned serious. “It’s true, you know. What we have, not many people ever find it. There’s all that history and being friends and really getting each other. I’ve missed sleeping with you, don’t get me wrong, but I think what I missed just as much is talking. We used to talk every single day, even when we were at separate colleges and even when I first signed with the Braves. Talking things over with you kept me grounded.”

“I remember,” she said softly, slipping her hand into his, loving the strength of his grip and the feel of the calluses that reminded her of who he was, what he did for a living. Baseball had taken him away from her, but he’d always been so passionate about it. She’d never been able to begrudge him the success, despite its inadvertent role in their breakup. “Sometimes, after we split up, I’d lie awake at night thinking of all the things I wanted to tell you.”

“Me, too.” He shook his head. “Maybe if I’d just picked up a phone—”

She cut him off. “I wouldn’t have listened. You know that. I was too hurt and angry. We finally have a chance now, because enough time has passed. It feels right.”

Ty brushed a wisp of hair from her overheated cheek. “It really does feel right,” he said before lowering his mouth to claim hers.

Annie could have stood there like that forever with Ty’s persuasive lips kissing her like there was no tomorrow, but a cry from inside had them jerking apart.

“Cole’s awake,” he said unnecessarily. “I have to go.”

“Go,” she said at once, even though her heart was still hammering in her chest. “You’ll be okay on your own with all three of them?”

He grinned, his attitude cocky. “Piece of cake.”

“Okay, then,” she said, still not moving, suddenly reluctant to leave, after all.

“I’ll call you later, okay?” he said, apparently equally reluctant to end the day.

“Sounds good,” she said, recalling too many nights when parting had been unbearable, when weekends together at her college or his had been unsatisfactorily short. It had been so sweetly innocent back then. “Talk to you later.”

She forced herself to turn and go and not look back. She made it all the way to the corner before she allowed herself to give a little whoop of pure exhilaration. She and Ty were together again. Really together.

And this time, she was determined to let nothing tear them apart.

Ty actually managed to get all three kids fed and settled in front of the TV in their upstairs playroom before Cal and his mother got home.

“You’re late,” he noted, then grinned at the immediately guilty flush on their cheeks.

“We played hooky, too,” Maddie said.

“Hey,” Cal protested. “Don’t give away all our secrets.”

Maddie chuckled. “We don’t have any. Everyone in town knows the comings and goings at the Serenity Inn.”

Ty clapped his hands over his ears. “Too much information,” he told them emphatically. “And now I really am thankful that Annie and I steered clear of that place.”

The comment drew his mother’s gaze away from Cal. “You and Annie? You’re back together for real?”

“We’re getting there,” Ty said, a note of caution in his voice. “Don’t go blabbing it around, though, especially not to Dana Sue. Let Annie tell her whatever she wants her to know.”

“But—”

Ty cut her off. “I know, you, Dana Sue and Helen tell one another everything,” he said. “Not this time, please. And don’t go cross-examining Annie at work tomorrow, either.”

Maddie regarded him with exasperation. “Now, that’s just plain mean. What’s the fun of knowing about this if I can’t mention it to anyone?”

“How about the satisfaction of knowing a secret?” Cal suggested. “That ought to keep you contented for a day or two, and I imagine that’s just about how long it will be before the news leaks out, anyway.”

“I suppose,” Maddie grumbled, her disappointment plain.

Ty gave her a hug. “Thanks, Mom. And for being so understanding, I will keep what I know about the two of you behaving like teenagers to myself.”

Cal gave him a disgruntled look. “According to your mother, everyone already knows about that. Face it, you have no leverage over us.”

Ty shrugged. “Too bad.”

“Not from where I stand,” Cal said. “I’m going up to check on the kids and take a shower. I have to be at school early tomorrow. I scheduled a team meeting before classes begin.”

“Uh-oh,” Ty said. He knew what that meant. Cal was
about to come down hard on somebody for breaking the rules. “What’s the problem?”

“Grades,” Cal said succinctly. “We’re just days from the end of the season and the school year and I’ve just learned that I have players in danger of flunking some of their core classes.”

“It’s too late to disqualify them, isn’t it?” Ty asked. “You said yourself the season’s just about over. How many games are left?”

“Two,” Cal said. “But I know about their grades, which means I need to deal with it. And I really need to lay down the law for the benefit of the sophomores and juniors, who don’t take this seriously. Otherwise, they won’t be eligible next season. Somehow the fact that there’s a zero tolerance policy for failing escaped them. It’s even worse because a couple of them could be athletic scholarship candidates for college as long as they don’t blow it.”

“Is there time for them to get their act together?” Ty asked. “The sophomores and juniors, I mean.”

“Sure, there’s plenty of time, but at the moment they seem to lack the motivation. I need to remind them what’s at stake.”

“Want me to come in and explain to them why all their classes matter and not just how well they can hit and throw the ball? They might get the importance of a well-rounded education if it comes from me.”

Cal looked intrigued. “You could have something there. I’ve told them that, but let’s face it, my pro career was short-lived. They figure I’m revising history. You’re a current local hero. Do you mind doing this?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I did. I owe you. You dragged me back from the brink of self-destruction more
than once.” In fact, that out-of-control period after his parents’ divorce was the reason his mom and Cal had been thrown together so often. They’d formed a bond while trying to change Ty’s unpredictable and moody behavior.

“Indeed, he did,” Maddie confirmed. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“Okay, then,” Ty said. “What time do we need to leave? I’ll be ready.”

“Six-thirty too early? I have the team scheduled to be there at seven.”

“I’ll be ready,” Ty promised. “I guess I should head up, too. Those kids wore me out today.”

“Welcome to the joy of parenting multiple preschoolers,” Maddie said. “The only thing I have to say to you is that you do survive it. At least I did with you, Kyle and Katie. I’m not so sure yet about Jessie and Cole.”

“Hey, those are my little angels you’re talking about,” Cal protested.

Maddie nodded. “Believe me, I am well aware of that. They have their daddy’s energy and wild streak.”

“Which you love,” Cal said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Maddie turned her face up to his. “I do,” she admitted.

Ty swallowed hard at the adoration shining in her eyes. He couldn’t recall a single time in all the years of her marriage to his dad when she’d looked at Bill Townsend like that. Maybe he’d just been oblivious, but he thought otherwise. He thought Cal Maddox had come along at just the right time and given her back the joy that Ty’s father had taken from her. For that, Ty would be forever indebted to him.

He just hoped that someday soon Annie would look at
him that way again. They were almost there, but no matter how close they came, he couldn’t ignore the faint flicker of caution that came into her eyes from time to time. Nor could he blame her.

“For a woman who just spent an entire day with the man she obviously loves, you don’t look very happy,” Sarah said to Annie as they sipped margaritas. “And not ten minutes ago, I thought you were going to float away. What changed?”

“I’m wondering if I’m deluding myself that we can work this out,” Annie admitted. “Sure, all the elements are there. I love him. He loves me. But what if it’s not enough?”

Sarah sighed heavily. “I know just what you mean.”

Annie regarded her with surprise. In recent days Sarah had been thoroughly upbeat about her reconciliation with her husband. “I thought everything was going well with you and Walter. You said your first session with Dr. McDaniels was fantastic.”

“It was,” Sarah said glumly.

“It’s not unusual in counseling to hit a rough patch, maybe even to backslide a little,” Annie told her.

“I could live with a rough patch,” Sarah said.

Annie regarded her with bewilderment. “I’m not following here. Is it the margarita, or am I missing something?”

“Walter refused to go to the last two sessions,” she confessed. “I’m at my wit’s end, Annie. I don’t know what to do next.”

Annie was stunned. “But you told me how much you loved Dr. McDaniels, that your sessions had been great.”

“They have been, but I was the only one there,” Sarah revealed despondently. “Walter had an excuse both times.
Bottom line, he figured he was ‘cured’ after one visit, and that going back was a waste of time and money.”

“If you’re still going, then the money’s still being spent,” Annie said.

“I’m taking it out of the money he gives me for groceries. If he knew, he’d give me less money.”

“Oh, sweetie, this isn’t good,” Annie said.

“Tell me about it. I think we’re right back to where we started. All Walter can think about is getting us back home to Alabama, where we belong, he says.”

“What do you think?”

“That I’m not going back there if we haven’t worked out the issues that sent me here in the first place. He still demeans me at every turn, but I’m finally able to see that for what it is, a form of bullying meant to destroy my self-esteem.”

Annie was surprised and pleased by Sarah’s determination. “Good for you!”

“It probably means the end of my marriage,” Sarah said glumly. “I don’t see any way around it. We can’t fix it if Walter doesn’t even think it’s broken.”

“Is he coming back this weekend?”

Sarah nodded.

“Want me to ask my dad to talk to him again? He seemed to connect with him last time.”

Sarah managed a faint smile. “I’m not so sure you could call it a connection. Ronnie scared Walter half to death.”

“How? I know he didn’t hit him,” Annie said. “Did he threaten him?”

“According to Walter, it was a come-to-Jesus talk.”

“Well, maybe he needs another one.”

Sarah shook her head. “It’s like anything else, Annie.
Walter’s going to have to lose the kids and me before any of this will really sink in. And, I swear, it will be too late. I’m not going to keep trying and trying, when the end result will be the same.”

Annie saw the look of resignation on her face and wanted to cry for her. “I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.” She took another sip of margarita, then lifted it in a mocking toast. “Hey, it could be worse—I could be in denial like Raylene.”

Annie regarded her with surprise. “Why do you say that? Have you been in touch with her again?”

“Oh, gosh, I guess I didn’t tell you. I felt so bad after you called her that night and she blew you off that I decided to try one more time to plan a get-together. You know, you and me driving over to Charleston for lunch or something.”

“And?”

“She pretty much told me what she’d told you, that she was so busy and had so many demands on her time, she couldn’t even think about a thing like that until after Christmas. Can you imagine? That’s months and months from now, and she doesn’t have one single day free for lunch? Whose calendar, except maybe the president’s, is that booked up?”

“I suppose if you’re all caught up in the Charleston social scene and on a dozen different committees, it’s possible,” Annie said, though she didn’t believe Raylene, either.

“Well, I asked her about that. I asked what committees she’s on, just showing an interest, if you know what I mean. She stumbled all over herself trying to think of one. There is something wrong with her. Or with her marriage. Whatever it is, she doesn’t want us to know. I’m sure of it.”

“I felt the same way,” Annie said. She grabbed her cell phone, found Raylene’s number and dialed. “My turn to try again.”

She waited and waited, but when the phone was eventually answered, the voice was unfamiliar.

“This is Annie Sullivan, an old friend of Raylene’s,” she told the woman on the other end. “Is she available?”

“Mrs. Hammond isn’t home,” the voice said stiffly.

“When do you expect her back?” Annie persisted.

There was a discernible hesitation before the woman responded, “I’m not entirely sure. She was called away suddenly. When she returns, I’ll tell her you called.”

“Raylene was called away? Where? Has something happened to one of her parents?”