Southern Comfort (28 page)

“I’m fine, Bitty. Really.”

He looked around the table. Aubie was sitting across from him eating breakfast as he prepared to go to school.

“Do I really have to go to school today?” he whined.

“A good education builds a good mind,” Bitty quoted.

Newland shook his head. What exactly did that mean?

“But so much has happened,” Aubie said.

“Aubie,” Newland said. “Go to school today. Just think of all the stories you can tell at lunch.”

Aubie’s eyes lit up. “Okay then. Fine.”

Bitty shot him a thankful glance, and Newland nodded in return. Aubie was a good boy; he just needed someone to direct him. Thank heavens that someone wasn’t going to be Gerald Davenport.

And it’s not going to be you either.

He pushed that voice away. As much as he wanted it to be him, it couldn’t be. How could he stay here in Turtle Creek? The one thing that had been holding him and Natalie together was gone. There was no ghost on Bitty’s property, the moonshine ring had been taken down, his story was written, and life went on.

He’d loved his time here in Turtle Creek, Mississippi. But he couldn’t borrow someone else’s life. He loved having an Aunt Bitty to fuss over him and Aubie to help with school and manly things. He loved having Natalie sit across from him at the dinner table, hand tools down into the cellar, and cry out his name in ecstasy underneath him. But this wasn’t his family. That was all he wanted his entire life: a family of his very own. Yet as much as he wished these fine people were that family, they weren’t. And the sooner he realized that the sooner he could mend his broken heart, his broken ribs, and get on with the business of living his life. Not someone else’s.

He looked to Natalie’s empty seat. A part of him wanted to ask where she was, but there was another part that knew she had gone about her business. Their time together was over. She’d gone to work like she had every day this week. She had a foundation to run. Wasn’t that what she was always telling him? She had businesses to take care of, lots of people to boss around, and money to oversee.

He eased into his chair as Bitty passed him a plate full of biscuits. “Grab yourself a couple, dear. Then I’ll hand you the butter.”

Newland made his plate, realizing this was probably the last time he would have a breakfast like this. How often would he make it to the South where he could eat biscuits every day with homemade jelly, bacon or sausage, eggs, and all the other wonderful stuff that was in front of him?

Okay so he could get bacon and sausage in the North too. The main thing was the company. This would be the last time he would sit across from Bitty, sit next to Aubie, and stare at Natalie’s empty chair.

Somehow he managed to squeeze his breakfast past the lump in his throat. He took his time eating, hoping that Natalie would show up.

His bag was packed on his bed, his laptop all put away. Letters had all been sent, proposals and storylines. Now all he had to do was go on back to Chicago.

The thought of his empty apartment saddened him. Okay, it made him downright miserable. But what was a guy to do?

He lingered as long as he could, then stood. “I guess I better hit the road.”

Bitty was on her feet in an instant. “Hit the road? To where?”

“Chicago.”

Aubie stood as well. “Will you come back?”

Newland squelched the urge to ruffle Aubie’s hair. First of all, he was far too big for that, and second of all, Newland wasn’t sure that one should ruffle the mayor’s hair.

“I’m not.” Somehow the words were spoken, by him. Maybe it was one of the miracles of the New World. But he did say it and managed to say it without his voice cracking. Not even once.

“Are you kidding?” Aubie asked.

Newland shook his head.

“Why that’s just silliness,” Bitty said. “You can’t go back to Chicago forever.”

“I sort of have to. See, that’s where my apartment is. All my stuff is there.” Yeah, his stuff. A closet full of concert t-shirts and an extra razor in the bathroom cabinet. That was about all that was left in Chicago right now. It was all he had.

“You really can’t leave,” Aubie said.

“Is that a decree from the mayor?”

“No, it’s a request from a friend.” Aubie’s voice turned sad and soft.

Newland’s heart hurt. Who knew leaving would cause so much pain?

“I wish it were that simple, buddy,” he said. “But it’s time I left.” Without waiting for anyone else to protest or say another word, Newland retrieved his bags from his room and started out the front door.

He hardened his heart as Bitty and Aubie followed him outside.

The day was turning out beautiful, a perfect day in the South. A perfect day to be driving around in a fancy, little red convertible Jag.

Natalie pulled up, tires squealing as she ran over the curb and braked.

She got out, car still running, and ran over to where Bitty and Aubie stood on the thick concrete steps leading to the house. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? I came as fast as I could.”

Aubie had the decency to turn bright pink. “Fire?”

She smacked her brother on the arm. “Don’t ever do that to me again. Why did you call me and tell me that we have a huge emergency, then when I get here I find out there’s no emergency at all?”

“But there is an emergency,” Bitty said.

Newland tore his gaze from the scene and threw his duffel bag into the backseat. He couldn’t stay here a minute more. This morning he had wanted the opportunity to say goodbye to Natalie. And now that he had it, he didn’t want it. He didn’t want to tell her goodbye. That was just something he couldn’t do.

“Emergency? What emergency?”

Newland slipped into his car and started the engine.

“Newland’s leaving,” Bitty said.

Natalie stopped and turned to face him. Newland gave her a jaunty little salute and pulled his car out of the drive.

He checked his rearview mirror to make sure it was in the sweet spot, only to see Natalie running after him. He braked. “What the hell?” Thank goodness for small towns. He put the car in park and waited on her to catch up with him. It took a few minutes considering she was running in four-inch heels. But he had time. Even though he didn’t want to tell her goodbye, he really couldn’t leave without seeing her one more time.

She was breathless when she reached the window. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting here?”

She smacked him on the arm. “Why are you leaving?”

“Because I don’t live here.” He said the words without his voice cracking, which was good, but he knew he couldn’t mask the pain of his expression. He wanted to live here. He wanted to belong here, to be a part of this silly little town, to worry about school mascots and Harvey Johnson’s hound dog. He wanted to live in a town with the sixteen-year-old mayor and buckled sidewalks and haunted cemeteries and a sheriff who supported illegal moonshine. Never before had he been to a place like Turtle Creek. But more than that, more than Aubie and Aunt Bitty and Selma and Myrtle and Josephine, more than all of that combined, he wanted the woman in front of him.

“Will you get out of there and talk to me?”

He shook his head.

“Why not?”

The truth was always the best way to go, right? “Because if I get out of this car, I don’t know if I can get back in it.”

“Newland,” she breathed. Her voice changed from urgent to pleading. His gaze searched her face. “I love you.”

• • •

Natalie sighed as she said the words. It was the only thing she could say to make him stay. And she wasn’t even sure that would work. He seemed convinced that he didn’t belong in Turtle Creek. That he belonged somewhere up north. But couldn’t he see how much they needed him, how much Turtle Creek needed him? And beyond just need, there was love.

“What?”

“I said I love you.” Her voice grew stronger as she said the words out loud. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” She grinned from ear to ear, her heart feeling light for the first time in a long, long time. “I love you, Newland Tran, and I don’t want you to leave.”

She opened the door to his car and held it for him. He seemed to think about it a minute and in that instance her heart constricted. Then he slipped out of the car, shut the door behind him, and pressed her into the front fender.

Arms braced behind her, he leaned in close. “You love me?” His eyes twinkled.

Natalie nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Really?”

Natalie slipped her arms around his neck and held him close. “Really. Now what do we do about it?”

He swooped in and captured her mouth with his, kissing her until she lost all breath. “How about that?”

Natalie’s eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, this man she had fallen in love with. How strange love was and how wondrous and joyful and exciting. “Does that mean you love me back?”

He pressed his forehead to hers. “Yeah, it does. I love you, Natalie Coleman, even though you try to boss everybody around and run everything and make everything perfect and crazy. I love you.”

“And you’re not leaving.” It wasn’t a question. She needed to hear him say the words that he was staying here in Turtle Creek with her forever and ever.

“I do need to go get my stuff from Chicago … ”

“That can wait.” She pulled his mouth back to hers for another soul-searching, love-binding kiss that curled her toes and made her want him even more.

“There’s just one thing,” he said, breaking their kiss.

“What’s that?”

“If I stay here, you’re going to have to marry me.”

Natalie had never heard sweeter words. “Of course.”

“And we’re going to stay with Bitty, Mr. Piddles, and Aubie, and Bitty won’t go to a home.”

“And maybe in a couple years we can have a baby?” She pinkened at the thought. But it had been one of her most secret desires for as long as she could remember. A little baby all her own with the man she loved. What could be better than that?

Newland nodded. “Okay,” he said, “but let’s give it five years. I’m sure by then you’ll need somebody new to boss around.”

She started to reprimand him, but he kissed her instead. And she decided that was a more satisfactory way to end the conversation.

His first Christmas in Turtle Creek. Newland couldn’t wipe the smile from his face as he lugged the freshly cut pine across the buckled sidewalk and up the concrete steps leading to Bitty’s house. Well, their house now. Just as he’d wanted, he and Natalie had moved in with Bitty, bringing Aubie with them. It’d taken a little while. He’d moved to Turtle Creek and taken up in her apartment until they could officially get married. Bitty insisted. Newland sort of liked the idea of living apart until they actually became man and wife. Now two weeks into married bliss, he was more than ready to see his wife again.

Even with all the time he’d been in Turtle Creek, he and Natalie still hadn’t convinced Bitty that she was the one responsible for the times when the stove was left on and the refrigerator door left open. Finally, they had given up and just kept a watchful eye on such matters. Even with the ghost gone from the cemetery. Bitty still swore a spirit was up to mischief in her house.

He juggled the tree and managed to open the door. “I’m home!” He loved saying those words. Loved knowing that his family was on the other side of that door.

The first one to greet him was Mr. Piddles. Bitty said it was a shame that he seemed to love Newland more than he loved her, but as far as Newland could tell that was just the way of cats. They did what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. Which sounded a lot like Bitty herself.

“Do you have the Christmas tree?” Aubie stuck his head out of the parlor. He was dressed in an ugly green Christmas sweater and tan corduroy slacks.

“I do, but I don’t understand why we need the tree for pictures. It’s not even going to be decorated.”

“Trust me on this. It’ll still give the feeling of Christmas to have a pine tree behind us.”

Newland supposed he came by it honestly. Just look at his sister. But as mayor Aubie did spend a lot of time bossing people around; Newland forgave him.

He lugged the tree into the parlor where everyone waited. Bitty was there wearing her own patchwork Christmas cardigan that was even uglier than the reindeer sweater that Aubie wore. And his Natalie. He smiled as she came toward him brandishing a twig of the mistletoe. “It’s good to have you home, hubby.”

“It’s good to be home.” And it surely was. Never in a million years had he dreamed that all this could be his.

“Now,” Natalie started in that voice he knew all too well. “Aubie will set up the tree. You need to go change into your sweater.”

He started to protest, but she cut him off with one swift “hup,” and he decided that refusing to put on the ugly sweater for the Christmas picture was not worth sleeping on the couch tonight.

He loped up the stairs, grabbed the sweater, and pulled it over his head as he ran back down. How he had managed to get the ugliest sweater of them all he wasn’t certain. But the red snowflake-covered monstrosity that he had been presented with was definitely the worst sweater of them all.

“Why do we have to do this again?” he asked, smoothing down his hair as he came back into the room. Natalie’s sweater was baby blue and strewn with crystals, which sounded fairly decent. Except the crystals were part of the white Santa Claus beard on her shirt.

“Because all families take a Christmas picture,” Bitty told him. That was one thing they were doing, teaching him how to be a part of a real family. Though Newland was sure most real families were as eccentric as his. But he didn’t care. They were his and that was all that mattered.

“Yeah but why ugly sweaters?”

“Because I said.” Aubie grinned. “And I am the mayor.”

“Touché,” Newland returned.

Bitty waved everybody over to the divan that had been pushed against the bookcase, the freshly cut tree squished in between. “Everybody on the sofa. I’ve got the timer set. Aubie, all you have to do is hit this button here and then come around the front and sit down in front of Newland. You got that?”

Aubie nodded and waited until everyone arranged themselves on the divan.