Jarod's Heart (King Brothers Stories #2) (16 page)

Thankfully, the people at his church were honest folks because his truck was still running when he got outside. He removed the keys from the ignition before grabbing two more bins. Once he was back inside, he quickly dropped them off with Lauren while his mom had Jessica distracted, and turned to head back out for more when he saw Josh and Jason walking in the doors with the rest of the bins.

“We saw your truck and decided to help,” Josh said with a smile.

THE BROTHERS HAD
dumped out the bins, and now the paper sacks were in a large, unorganized pile in the middle of the floor. They were heading back out with the empty bins when Jarod caught Lauren’s eye.

“I need to move my truck. Will you keep an eye on Jessica? Mom looks a little overwhelmed,” he pointed out.

Lauren had done well at keeping Jarod at arm’s length over the past two weeks, while she sorted out her feelings. However, keeping Jessica at a distance had been impossible.

How do you distance yourself from a child whom you already cared deeply for, but who also has lost so much in her short life?

The answer: You don’t.

If Lauren had been at the estate and Jessica had known she was there, she was on Lauren’s lap, in her arms, or holding her hand, and Lauren happily complied with her every demand. Not that she demanded much—she only needed love and attention. Lauren had oodles of love to give her.

It also pleased Lauren greatly that Jarod was impressed with the design of the kids’ play area. She supposed that she should’ve been insulted by his surprise, but any time Jarod found something she did pleasing, it only increased her desire to please him more, sad and pathetic as that was.

She glanced over at Camille, who was surrounded by volunteers needing more direction. Dinner was about to begin, but Camille was running late with the sacks. Then Lauren noticed Jessica keeping a death grip on Camille’s legs. She gave Jarod a reassuring pat on the shoulder and made a beeline to the little girl.

After excusing herself to the people congregated around Camille, she knelt down to Jessica’s level and asked, “Your uncles brought in more sacks. Can you help me get them ready before dinner starts?” She smiled, trying not to baby Jessica but not wanting to scare her, either. The girl’s earlier fright had been disconcerting. Not knowing what Jessica had gone through before she had come to live with Jarod meant that everyone had to exercise a little discretion when dealing with her behavior.

Lauren held out her hand, but Jessica reached up with both hands to be picked up, fear still in her eyes. What on earth had frightened her so?

Snatching her up again, Lauren met Camille’s eyes; the older woman nodded gratefully. She walked back to the pile of sacks just as she heard a familiar, sweet giggle.

“Need an extra pair of hands?” Julie asked.

“Oh, thank God,” Lauren answered with a relieved sigh. She felt Jessica relax a bit at the sight of Julie, who kissed the little girl on the forehead.

“All done in the kitchen?”

“They’ve got it handled, but you look a little behind. They’re just getting the buffet set up now.”

“Hi, Joojee.” Jessica finally gave up her fear for a small smile.

Relieved that she was willing to be on her own two feet, the three women began to scatter the sacks on the bales of hay, while the guests began to form a line at the buffet tables.

Soon, Jason was back, not wanting to be away from Julie too long, and, with everyone’s help, the mock pumpkin patch was quickly finished.

Father O’Keefe tapped on the microphone. “If everah one will stop whatcher doin’ and bow yer heads, I’ll give the blessin’,” he announced in his soft Irish lilt.

As they bowed their heads to pray, Lauren watched Julie reach for Jason with a love in her eyes that made Lauren’s heart ache, mostly because Jason was returning the look. Jason and Julie only had eyes for each other, and Lauren longed for a relationship like theirs.

“Lauren, dear, why don’t you get in line for dinner,” Camille suggested when the prayer was over. James was holding her hand.

“Oh no. I’m not sitting down until I know you’re eating, too,” she replied.

“I am, Lauren. I want us all to go together as one big family,” Camille smiled as she ushered Lauren into the line behind Jarod and Jessica. The little girl turned her big blue eyes up to Lauren’s face and reached for her hand. Jarod had her blue blanket hanging over his shoulder.

Josh squeezed Lauren’s shoulder playfully, saying, “I’m cutting, so step aside.”

“Rule breaker,” she teased, giving him a playful shove with the hand that was not holding Jessica’s.

Charlie swooped in next to Josh, saying, “Me too!” while making a silly face at Jessica.

“You’re funny, Char-lee,” she giggled, emphasizing the last syllable of his name.

“Oh yeah? Well you’re pretty, Jess-ee,” he mimicked back, rubbing the top of her head, making her giggle.

Charlie knuckle-bumped Jarod as he passed him by, something Lauren hadn’t seen them do in years.

Jason and Julie, oblivious to everyone around them, released each other long enough to grab plates and head through the buffet line. Josh and Charlie followed suit, simultaneously goofing off and placing food on their plates. Honestly, Lauren wondered how they kept their food from falling all over the floor.

When it was the trio’s turn to take their plates, Jarod handed two, stacked one on top of the other, to Jessica, saying, “Hold these with both hands, Darlin’.” Then he bent down and scooped her up in his arms. “Now you can see what’s for dinner,” he explained with a smile and pointed to the first dish on the buffet table.

Lauren took a plate of her own and followed them, knowing that he was going to need a little help. She glanced at Camille, who merely shrugged.

As they moved down the line, Jessica would choose a dish, Jarod would put a helping on the plate, and they’d move on. When Jessica’s plate was too full to hold any more items, Jarod began placing their choices on Lauren’s plate.

Jessica wasn’t usually picky, and tonight was no exception. Lauren also suspected that Jessica was trying to please her father because every time she picked something out, Jarod would quietly praise her with phrases like “You bet!” or “Ooh, that’s a good choice.”

Two huge plates later, they made their way to the table reserved for the Kings. Camille had rented round tables that seated ten each for this event, so the family had a table to themselves, plus one chair. Lauren sat down next to Julie, whose chair was touching Jason’s. They were so close that Julie was almost in his lap.

Jarod sat Jessica in the chair between himself and Lauren. Before Jessica could put her giant plate of food down, he lifted it up and retrieved the spare plate from the bottom.

“Good thinkin’, Daddy,” Lauren smirked.

“I have my moments,” he deadpanned.

Jarod left the full plate of food in front of his daughter, transferring what he’d picked for himself onto his own plate. Then he scooted his plate near Lauren’s and winked. She laughed as she added the few things that they’d needed space for onto his plate from her own.

Jessica wriggled around to get comfortable, settling on her knees. Jarod gave her back a rub but said nothing more as his daughter dug into her plate with gusto.

“Are you feeling better, Jessie?” Charlie asked with a wink.

She gave him her serious eyes while chewing up her noodles. “Uh huh.” She immediately gave her attention back to the food in front of her, which only reinforced Lauren’s guess that she had eaten sparingly when Miranda had been alive.

Jarod got his mom’s attention and asked, “Do you know what set her off?”

“I’m sorry, honey. I wish I did. I can only tell you that one minute she was playing well with the other children, and then, suddenly, she was glued to Lauren’s legs.” Camille shrugged her shoulders and looked to Lauren.

Jarod glared at her. “Did someone scare her?”

“Honestly, I didn’t see anything untoward happen to her. Brad had stopped by to let us know that he couldn’t stay for the dinner, that something had come up and he needed to go out of town. One minute Jessie was fine, and the next she was upset. I’m sorry, Jarod, but I really don’t know what happened. We were all busy putting things together for tonight,” she explained, clearly feeling that she was in trouble.

He continued to stare her down until he released his breath and looked at Jessica.

“Looks to me like she was just hungry,” Jason said.

Jessica had polished off all of her “Spook-etti.” Most of the food items were Halloween themed. She had chosen two “Franken-dogs” for herself and Jarod and some Casper salad, which was an ambrosia. Lauren thought it was all very cute.

“All done, Jessie?” she asked.

“Yup!” Jessica was grinning ear to ear and had more color in her cheeks. “Can I have a cookie, Jar’d?” she asked, putting her little hand on his massive shoulder, looking him directly in the eye.

Lauren laughed at the sweet, sing-song voice she was using on her dad.

“As soon as we’re all done, we’ll go get a dessert plate,” he said softly to her.

She clapped her hands and smiled, then turned to face Lauren in the same way that she had just done with Jarod. “Hurry, Lorn, so we can getta d’sert plate,” she said with excitement.

Glad to be included, Lauren laughed, “I’m doing the best I can, sweet pea.”

After dessert, Father O’Keefe introduced the youth ministry, who were putting on a short performance of choral music and a couple of skits on the small stage. Jessica crawled into Lauren’s lap for a better view. Jarod had gotten up to mingle with some of the other parishioners, including Derek Lawlor and his wife, Debbie.

Eli walked in at the same time and approached the Lawlors as well, before heading back to their table with Jarod.

Lauren felt the little girl tense up in her arms. Jarod, unaware of his daughter’s distress, reached for her, saying, “Darlin’, come meet Eli.”

Jessica shook her head, hiding her face in Lauren’s neck and wrapping her tiny body around her like a vine. Trying to reassure her of the stranger, she offered, “He works with your daddy, sweet pea.”

“Still not feeling good, Jessica?” Eli asked.

Jarod turned to his deputy. “Still? You were here earlier?”

Eli immediately went on alert. “Yes, sir. I came in with Brad before he took off for parts unknown. Why?”

Jarod said nothing.

“I think she’s overwhelmed with all the new faces,” Lauren said, reassuring Eli. He was nervous enough about being a new dad. She didn’t want him thinking kids didn’t like him. “Let’s go get ready to do your pumpkins,” she said, smoothly standing up with her burden.

Camille and Julie followed her to the bales of hay.

“That was rude, Jessica. I think you hurt Eli’s feelings,” she scolded.

Jessica finally lifted her head to look at Lauren with her big, scared eyes and whispered, “Sorry.”

Not wanting to prolong her discomfort, Lauren patted her back and said, “Are you ready for this?”

Jessica looked at all three women and then the bales of hay with the sacks of pumpkin material in them. When she turned back to them, she grinned and kicked her feet, the universal signal used by children everywhere indicating that they want to be let back down to the ground.

Father O’Keefe, seeing that Camille and Lauren were ready to begin, introduced them to the parishioners. Dozens of children gathered around the hay bales to listen to Lauren, with Jessica’s help, explain the project.

Camille and Julie offered help where it was needed, but, in the end, the kids were happy with their project, laughing at the toilet paper and enjoying the candy corns and gummy worms that were in a plastic baggy at the bottom of each sack.

Jessica interacted well with the other kids with no further signs of stress or shyness, and she had no other panic attacks before they left for the evening.

Lauren didn’t know what to make of her behavior, but she knew real fear when she saw it, and Jessica had definitely been afraid of something. Whatever it was, it wasn’t there anymore. She hoped the episode was random and due to the stress of meeting new faces, but something in her gut told her that not all of those faces were new to Jessica.