Midnight Promises (31 page)

When she opened her eyes, Elliott was frowning.

“You’re still opposed, aren’t you?” he asked, his expression dismayed, maybe even angry.

“Not opposed exactly. You’re an amazing stepfather. The kids couldn’t possibly have anyone better in their lives.” She gave him a plaintive look. “Why isn’t that enough?”

“Maybe you should ask them how they feel about that,” he said tightly. “I’m not so sure they’d tell you they’re thrilled not to have the clarity of knowing I will always be there for them. Kids need stability. Like I told you before, if Ray were around, I wouldn’t push this, but he’s not. He hasn’t seen them in years. He hasn’t even called or sent a birthday card.”

“It’s not about Ray,” she protested.

“Then it’s about you and how you feel,” he concluded. “For some reason, you don’t want to legalize my relationship with them. Do you like having them all to yourself and keeping me on the fringes of the family?”

She winced at the hurt in his voice and at the characterization that she’d deliberately made him an outsider. “You’re as much the heart of this family as I am,” she countered.

“It doesn’t feel that way.”

“And a piece of paper will change that?” she asked.

“For me, it will,” he said. “And if you’re honest with yourself, I think you know it will change it for Daisy and Mack, as well. We need to do this, Karen. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but soon, and definitely before we have any child of our own. And that’s not just because it will make discipline more difficult if we have two sets of standards, two different authority figures, but because it will make Daisy and Mack feel less secure if they think I care more about our baby than I do about them, just because I fathered the baby.”

Karen knew he was right. Her head was shouting at her that it was the right thing to do, but the part of her that still felt as if every day with Elliott was a gift she didn’t entirely deserve, a gift likely to be snatched away,
that
part couldn’t bring herself to take a step that would only be more difficult to undo when things eventually fell apart.

“Don’t be mad at me,” she begged him. “I just need a little more time to wrap my head around all the implications.”

“Explain these implications to me,” he requested.

“I will, once I’ve given this more thought.”

“Please tell me it’s not about the cost of hiring Helen to handle this,” he said. “Whatever she charges, it would be a small price to pay for settling this matter once and for all.”

“It’s not the money,” she said.

He studied her, obviously unhappy with her evasion, but eventually he nodded. “Just don’t take too long, okay?”

“How long is too long?” she asked.

He met her gaze. “I don’t know.”

Left unsaid was what would happen if she decided she couldn’t do as he’d asked.

17

A
delia was proud of herself for sticking to the routine of workouts at the spa several days a week. She only worked with the trainer one of those days, but Jeff kept a close eye on her when she was there for her additional sessions and always managed a minute or two to encourage her.

She’d lost ten pounds now and was almost ready for a smaller size in clothes, but she decided to wait a little longer before going on the shopping spree she felt she’d soon deserve.

“You look good,” Elliott noted, stopping her on her way out one morning. He grinned. “So, are you addicted yet?”

“I have to admit I like the way I feel after an hour of exercise,” Adelia conceded. “But I will never enjoy the workout itself.”

“You wouldn’t admit it to me if you did,” he teased.

She laughed. “Probably not. How are you? It’s only another week before your fancy new gym will open. Are you excited?”

“You have no idea. Do you have time to take a quick walk over there? I’ll show you around.”

She could see the excitement in his eyes. “Of course I’ll come.”

The exterior of Fit for Anything was not dissimilar to that of The Corner Spa, a Victorian house that had been renovated and put to a new use. Inside, there were certain similarities, as well. The equipment was the same high quality, but the walls were a soothing shade of green, rather than the sunshiny yellow at the spa. It was clean and ever-so-slightly more masculine. New floor-to-ceiling windows let in lots of sunlight and a similar view of the woods and ravine out back. In place of the brick patio, there was a wooden deck with tables and chairs that were less fussy than the wrought iron at the spa. A café menu posted hearty soups and healthy sandwich wraps, rather than salads and smoothies.

“Elliott, it’s incredible,” she said. “How are the memberships going?”

“Maddie says we’re already ahead of projections, and that’s even before we have the open house this weekend. And I have a nice, solid client list here, in addition to the women I’ll continue training over at the spa. Dexter’s actually been sending people to me. It’s very gracious of him, all things considered.”

She beamed at him, happy to see him so enthused about his career. For too long he’d been a little defensive about his chosen field, probably due to entirely too much family torment.

“I am so proud of you.”

He shrugged modestly. “It wasn’t even my idea. Some of the Sweet Magnolia husbands came up with it.”

“But they’ve made you a partner, and they’re trusting you to make it a success,” she said. “Congratulations! I know we all gave you a lot of grief when you said you wanted to be a fitness instructor and personal trainer, especially in a town the size of Serenity, but you’ve made it work.”

“I’ve also taken on a lot of debt,” he admitted. “It makes me nervous. We were all brought up to pay as we go. And it terrifies Karen. What if I wind up letting her down?”

“Doubts are understandable, especially before you get going, but from everything you just told me, all the signs are pointing to a huge success. Stay focused on that.”

“I know once the cash actually starts coming in, I’ll feel a lot better.” He glanced at her. “Thanks for letting me admit how I’m feeling. I can’t say a word about any doubts to Karen. She’s scared to death as it is. I invested just about every dime we’d been saving for a baby.”

Adelia couldn’t keep herself from wincing at that. “No wonder she’s terrified.” She studied him. “And that’s why you keep putting Mama and me off about when you two will have a child of your own.”

He nodded. “That’s one reason.”

She frowned at his bleak tone. “And another reason?”

“I want to adopt Daisy and Mack officially before we have our own baby. I don’t want them ever to feel they’re not as important to me as a new child that Karen and I have together. There are other reasons, too, but I think they deserve that stability.”

Adelia nodded. “Which is exactly why you’re such an amazing stepdad. You put them first. Is Karen balking?”

“Yes, and I wish I knew exactly why. It’s not about Ray being their biological dad. He’s long since out of the picture. She’s hesitant for some reason, and she won’t get into it with me.”

Adelia considered offering to talk to Karen, but once again felt it would be unwise given their shaky history. “You’ll work it out,” she said instead. “She knows how much you love Daisy and Mack and how much they love you.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said. He seemed to visibly shake off his dark mood and gave her a look of brotherly concern, one she knew was likely to precede a cross-examination about her life.

“Now, I’d better run,” she said hurriedly. “I have an appointment.”

Elliott regarded her skeptically. “Do you really? Or are you just trying to avoid my questions?”

She grinned at him. “Does it really matter? Either way, I’m out of here.” She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” he called after her as she all but sprinted toward the front door.

Once she reached her car, though, she sat back with a sigh. There wasn’t anyplace at all she needed to be, and it was hours before the kids would be home from school. Once the prospect of uninterrupted hours on her own would have stretched out like an unexpected vacation. Now it meant she’d have too much time to think about the sorry state of her marriage and how much more humiliation she intended to take.

She drove to Wharton’s, picked up the local weekly from the newsstand and settled in a booth with a tall glass of sweet tea. Reading the paper took far too little of her spare time. She found herself glancing at the local classified ads. When she saw that Raylene Rollins was advertising for a clerk at her new boutique on Main Street, she glanced out the window and across the square.

It was right there, straight across the green. Was that some sort of a sign?

Before she could talk herself out of it or convince herself that she should at least go home and put on more presentable attire before going to a job interview, she took the shortcut across the grass and walked inside.

Raylene was handling a sale at the register, while several other customers browsed. Adelia recognized one of the women from a PTA committee at school.

“That red would look amazing with your coloring,” she told Lydia Green. “Not everyone can wear a color that bold.”

Lydia grinned at her. “I fell in love with it the minute I saw it, but I wasn’t sure.” She held it up in front of her. “You really think so?”

“I know so,” Adelia said confidently. “Try it on and see for yourself. And I just saw the perfect scarf to accessorize it. I’ll grab it and bring it to the dressing room.”

Lydia gave her an odd look. “Do you even work here?”

Adelia leaned close. “No, but I’m hoping to. I’m giving it a test run with you. Maybe it will impress Raylene more than the lack of experience on my résumé.”

Lydia laughed. “A very bold move.”

Adelia brought her the scarf, but by then Lydia was already sold on the dress. She added the scarf and a bracelet that Adelia had also spotted.

When she reached the counter, Lydia told Raylene. “She’s a very good salesperson. You need to hire her.”

Raylene gave Adelia a startled look. “Are you applying?”

Adelia took a deep breath and nodded. “When you have the time, maybe we can talk about it. I’ll just keep pitching in till you’re free.”

An hour and several sales later, Raylene led the way into her tiny office in the back.

“You’re good,” she complimented Adelia. “You have a real eye for what works and doesn’t work with a woman’s shape and coloring. Those women left here very happy. I know clothes and style, but matching them with the right people can be infinitely trickier. You steer them in the right direction without offending them.”

Adelia basked in the praise. “It was fun.” She glanced down at her own attire. “Obviously my own sense of style could use a little attention. I was working out at The Corner Spa, stopped at Wharton’s and saw your ad. I came over on impulse.”

“It was a good impulse,” Raylene said. “Are you seriously interested in the job? I know you’re on lots of committees in town. Do you have the time?”

Adelia hesitated. “I need to work…” she admitted eventually.

Raylene looked puzzled. “I thought—”

“That my husband was a hotshot developer?” Adelia supplied. “He is.”

“Then why do you need to work? You didn’t say you wanted to. You said you
needed
to.”

“My kids are in school. My days are increasingly empty. And I want something of my own. I’m trying to work on my self-respect.”

Raylene nodded. “Those are all things I can understand.” She hesitated, then smiled. “The job’s yours if you want it.” She mentioned the salary. “We can work the hours around your schedule and mine. Will that work for you?”

Adelia nodded eagerly. “I’ll make it work.”

“Want to start tomorrow? Say, when we open at ten? I’ll have you here when I’m here initially till you’re trained on the register and know the stock system. After that we’ll divvy up the early and late shifts and Saturdays. I have a part-timer who fills in, as well.”

“Thank you,” Raylene said, trying to contain her exuberance. “Thank you so much.”

“Hey, if you keep selling the way you were today before I even hired you, you’re going to be a great addition.”

“I’ll do my best,” Adelia promised.

When she left, it was all she could do to keep from skipping down the block. She’d gotten herself a job! It might not be a calling or a career, but it was one more step in the right direction. Pretty soon she was going to be able to look in the mirror and genuinely like the woman she’d become.

* * *

Karen was stirring the batter for an apple cake, one of the few desserts Erik would allow her to attempt, while Raylene sipped her morning coffee.

“I hired Elliott’s sister Adelia yesterday,” Raylene said, almost causing Karen to drop the bowl of batter.

“Adelia’s going to work for you?” Karen repeated, just to make sure she’d heard correctly.

“She starts this morning, in fact,” Raylene confirmed. “She walked in the door out of the blue yesterday and managed to sell two outrageously expensive dresses, a suit and some accessories while I was busy working the register. You should have seen her. She has an amazing instinct for what clothes make a woman look her best.”

“Adelia?” Karen repeated skeptically. Not that her sister-in-law couldn’t look stylish when she tried. She just didn’t try very often.

“It was impressive, I’ll tell you that,” Raylene said. “If she keeps it up, my bottom line is going to be very, very good.”

She studied Karen, then frowned. “Why do you sound so shocked?”