Mending Hearts (14 page)

“
If she wants to see it, you
can,” Emma says, “Alec’s in the shower; he’ll be down in a few
minutes.” 

“
Thank you, Emma,” I say and
I hope she knows how much this means to me. Raelynn takes my hand
and we walk up the stairs to her bedroom. I am surprised to see
that she still has the same bedroom suite that Alec and I had
picked out for her. I look around her room, and I recognize a lot
of the items in there.

“
Mommy, look outside. You
can see the water.”

I walk to the large bay window; Raelynn
probably has the best view in the entire house. She has a view of
the entire backyard and of the lake. “Raelynn, this is absolutely
beautiful.” 

“
Come on, Sissy. It’s snack
time.”

I turn around and James is running past the
bedroom. “Come on, Rae. Let’s go so you can eat.” 

“
I want you to see Bubby’s
room, too,” Rae says. 

“
I will, after you eat. I’ll
still be here; we have plenty of time.” Raelynn and I walk
downstairs and Emma has five cups of milk and some graham crackers
out on the dining room table.

“
We have snacks with the
kids at bedtime. I hope you like graham crackers and milk,” Emma
says as she lifts James up onto the chair.

“
I do, thank
you.” 

Alec walks downstairs and looks around the
room. “Hi, Molly.” 

“
Thanks for letting me come
over. I really appreciate it,” I say as I sit beside Raelynn. James
is seated across from her, Emma sits beside James, and Alec sits on
the other side of Raelynn.

“
It’s ok, Raelynn was really
excited about having you over. We always have a snack with the kids
before bed, then they brush their teeth and say their prayers
before we tuck them in,” Alec says. 

“
It’s nothing fancy, but it
works for us,” Emma says as she dunks her graham crackers in her
milk.

After we eat, Raelynn and I use the kids’
bathroom for her to get ready for bed while Emma and James use the
master bath. After Rae brushes her teeth and gets dressed in her
pajamas, I brush her long brown hair and braid it for her. “What
bedtime story do you want tonight?” I ask as we walk into the
bedroom. Alec already has the lamp on and the bed covers are turned
down. 

“
I like
Rapunzel.” 

“
Good, I like Rapunzel,
too,” I say, lifting the blankets up for her to climb
under. 

Rae scoots under the covers and pulls them
up to her chin. “The book is on the dresser.”

“
I don’t need the book;
mommy remembers it by heart.” 

“
You do?” she
asks.

“
I do. Rapunzel was always
your favorite story,” I say as I brush her bangs back away from her
face. 

“
I love her hair and I think
she is so pretty,” Raelynn says. 

“
You know, daddy always said
Rapunzel looked like you.” 

“
He did?” 

“
He sure did. Ask
him?” 

“
Kiddo, are you all right?”
Alec asks as he walks by the bedroom. 

“
Yes, daddy. Do you think I
look like Rapunzel?” 

Alec looks at me and I nod to the book on
the dresser. I watch as he walks over and picks it up. “I do. Her
long brown hair and her big eyes. I think you look just like her,
Raelynn.” 

“
Thank you,
daddy.” 

“
Good night, Rae. I love
you.” He walks over and hugs her. 

“
I love you, too,
Daddy.” 

He places the book back on
the dresser before leaving the room. I recite the story to her and
she falls asleep in the middle of it. I kiss her goodnight and
thank Emma and Alec for allowing me to come over to spend time with
my daughter
.

On the way home, I call Adam to see if he
wants to meet me for coffee and pancakes. When he agrees to meet
me, I call mom and dad and ask them if they want to come. I don’t
want them to wonder if I’ll be where I say I am. I have put them
through enough as it is. They decline and tell me to have a good
time. Dad also tells me he’ll be up waiting on me when I get
there.

I pull into the parking lot of the small
diner and spot Adam right away. He is leaning against his F150 red
pickup truck wearing a pair of holey jeans, work boots, and a red
flannel shirt left open exposing his white tee-shirt. His blond
hair is spikey and his face is scruffy. He sees me and a smile
forms instantly on his lips. He walks over to me before I park the
car. I haven’t seen him in over a month and he looks even better
than I remember. Before I have time to remove the keys from the
ignition and gather my purse, he is holding the car door open for
me.

“
Look at you!” he says
excitedly. “You look amazing.” 

I get out of the car and smile. “Thank
you.”

Before I even shut the car door, Adam leans
in and hugs me. “Molly, you look incredible. How have you
been?” 

“
I’m good, thank you for
meeting me,” I say as he closes the car door. 

“
I’m glad you called. I
wanted to see you, but at the same time I wanted to give you some
time.” 

“
I went to my daughter’s
house and tucked her into bed, and I wasn’t quite ready to go home
yet,” I say as he opens the diner’s door for me. 

“
Hi, Adam, a table for
two?” 

“
Please, Jenni, thank
you.” 

“
Your table’s available, if
you want it.” 

“
Great.” 

We follow the waitress to the back of the
diner on the opposite side of the restrooms. We also sit at the
same table we sat at the last time. I wait as Adam pulls out my
chair for me. “I can’t get over how great you look. I mean, I
always thought you looked great, but now you have a sparkle in your
eyes that wasn’t there before,” he says as he sits across from me
at the table.

“
Thank you. I have to admit,
it feels good. I feel good.” 

“
Almost two months clean,
now that’s something to be proud of.” 

“
Thank you, Adam. I was kind
of incarcerated for those 45 days, so I guess the real test starts
now.” 

The waitress comes over with a Coke for Adam
and sets it down in front of him. “Hi, I knew what Adam drank, but
I’m not sure what you’ll have.” 

“
I’ll have the same,
please.” I watch as the waitress turns to leave. “I guess you do
come here a lot.” 

Adam smiles and takes a large drink of his
Coke. “I’m here about once a day, but this is my second time
today.” 

“
Oh, I didn’t realize. We
could have gone somewhere else,” I say.

“
Nah, I like this
place.” 

The waitress comes back and places my drink
in front of me. “Have you decided?” 

Neither of us has looked at the menu, but I
have a feeling that Adam already knows what he’s having. “I’ll have
whatever you’re having.” 

Adam looks over at me and says, “Are you
sure? I’m not ordering a salad.” 

I can see the smirk on his
face and I have to smile. “Good, I don’t like
salads
.
My idea of
something green that’s good to eat is lime Jell-O.”

“
Mmm, that’s my kind of
girl,” he winks. He looks away from me and looks up at Jenni.
“We’ll have two of my regulars.” 

Jenni laughs and says, “Do you want to make
one a smaller size?” 

I look from Jenni the waitress, to Adam with
a raised brow. Adam shows lots of white teeth as he smiles before
saying, “No, she said she’ll have what I’m having. We’ll see if she
can hang with the big dogs.” 

“
Two of the Adam McDaniels
specials coming right up.” She smiles and me and walks
away. 

“
I’m going to regret this,
aren’t I?” I ask, half-jokingly. 

Adam laughs and says, “Or you’ll thank
me.” 

We sit and talk until our meal arrives. He
tells me about working construction for his uncle and about being a
deacon at his family’s church. I tell him about tucking Raelynn
into bed for the first time in almost a year.

The waitress arrives with
our dinner and sets them down in front of us. My eyes grow big as I
look at the large ¼ lb.
cheeseburger with
everything and a large order of seasoned fries on the side. I have
no idea how I’ll eat everything, but I have to admit, this smells
delicious.

“
Do you need anything else?”
Jenni asks. 

“
Another Coke for me. Do you
need anything, Molly?” Adam asks.

“
No, I think I have
everything I need, thank you.”

I watch as the waitress leaves and Adam
takes a large bite of his cheeseburger. I look at my plate of food
to decide the main course of action. I decide to cut my sandwich in
half before attempting to eat it. I take a bite and close my eyes.
He laughs as he watches me. “It’s good, right?” he asks. 

I can only nod. After I swallow the food I
say, “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I had one of
these?” 

“
Two months?” he
laughs. 

I laugh too. “Yes, almost two long
months.” 

We eat our meal mostly in silence because I
can’t talk with my mouth full. To my amazement, I eat almost all of
my food. “Come on, Molly, you need to get home before your parents
worry.” I didn’t tell him I was staying at my parents and I have to
wonder how he knew that. Adam pays the bill although I offered. He
walks me out to my car and holds the car door open for me. “I’d
like to see you again,” he says.

“
You will, I’ll be at the
meeting tomorrow night.” I fasten my seatbelt and put the key into
the ignition.

“
I’d really like to see you
away from the meetings.” 

“
Oh,” is the only thing I
can say.
A date? Is he asking me out on a
date?
 

“
Would you like to do
something this weekend? I promise to have you home
early.” 

“
I can’t this weekend, I’m
sorry. A friend and his wife asked me to go to his house for a
cookout.” 

“
That’s all right. Maybe
some other time. The weather is supposed to be beautiful this
weekend. It’ll be perfect for a cookout,” he says,
smiling. 

“
Would you like to come with
me?” 

“
When is
it?” 

“
I’m not sure; he’s going to
get back with me.” 

“
I’d love to, but I have
church on Sunday morning and again Sunday night, but any other
time, I’m free.” 

“
Ok, I’ll let you know when
after he calls.” 

We say our goodbyes and I drive home
smiling. I saw my daughter, I had a delicious meal, and I have no
drug cravings, but I do have a possible date. Life is beginning to
look up. 

Emma

Alec and I check on the kids, and I whisper,
“I think Raelynn liked having her mom here to tuck her into
bed.” 

“
I’m sure she did. During
happier times, it was one of her favorite times of the
day.” 

“
Really, how so?” I ask as I
get into bed. 

“
I think it was because it
was stress free. Molly always read a bedtime story to Rae, and Rae
would always fall asleep while being read to.” 

“
Maybe we can have Molly
over again. Raelynn liked having her here.” 

Alec gets into bed and I snuggle into him.
“We’ll see,” he says. 

The next day Alec takes the kids to school
on his way to work, and I stop by and get muffins for Sara, Brea,
and me. I walk into the office and hear Sara and Brea talking about
Sara’s wedding.

“
It sounds like you guys
have picked a wedding date,” I say as I lay the muffins next to the
coffee pot.

“
We did; we decided on
Valentine’s Day,” Sara beams.

“
Valentine’s Day is a
perfect day for a wedding,” I say as I get a cup of
coffee. 

Sara walks over to me. Brea is right behind
her.

Sara says, “I wanted to ask you to be my
bridesmaid. I mean, I would be honored if you would be my
bridesmaid.” 

“
Sara, thank you. I would be
honored to be your bridesmaid.” 

Sara hugs me and says, “I was thinking of
asking Raelynn to be the flower girl. Do you think that would be
all right?” 

“
I think that would be a
great idea. I’m sure she would love that.” 

“
Good, we’ll set up a dinner
where I can personally ask her.” 

“
Sounds good,” I say as I
take a sip of my hot coffee. 

We talk about my wedding date, venues for
the wedding, bands, flowers, and food. We also talk about Mason,
Angel, and the twins. Although Angel is home, the twins still
remain in the hospital. Sara, Brea, and I decide to go over this
week separately with a pre-cooked dinner for Mason and Angel. With
the three of us, it will give them three home-cooked meals. The
phone starts ringing, reminding us that we are at work.

“
When duty calls,” Brea
says, laughing, and then she answers the phone. 

Later in the day, right before lunch I get a
call. “Hello, Thank you for calling R.K. Insurance, Emma
speaking.” 

“
Mrs. Greyson, this is the
school calling.”