Sweet Baklava (16 page)

After they left, Nick turned to Paula, and the laughter that had been threatening to bubble up slipped out. "They are truly unique."

"Yep, my family is one of a kind." He stood back up and reached for her hand. "Let's get out of here before the violin guy comes back."

They walked along the sponge docks until Paula reminded Nick that it was getting late. Back at her house, she was glad when he walked her to her door but didn't ask to come in. It had been a long day, and she was exhausted.

"I had a nice time today, Paula."

"Yeah, me too."

He leaned over and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you for being such a great sport about everything."

"Is that what I am? A good sport?"

He snickered. With a wave and a hop off the porch, Nick was gone. She went inside and got ready for bed.

That night she fell asleep with a smile on her face and a familiar old floaty feeling she used to have after being with Nick. She slept until the sound of the phone jolted her awake.

"I need your help, Paula."

"Mom?" Paula sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "What happened?"

"It's Mack. He's threatening me."

P
aula tossed back the covers and sat all the way up. "Are you in danger?"

Her mother sniffled. "No . . . well, yes, sort of."

"It'll take me all day to get there. Have you called the police?"

"Not that kind of danger, Paula. He's threatening to leave me."

Relief flooded Paula, quickly replaced by frustration. "What happened?"

"Well . . . he found out that I wasn't working, and he's even more furious about the private investigator I hired."

"Private investigator? I'm confused. Would you care to start at the beginning and explain?"

"It's so complicated, Paula. Why do men have to be so difficult?"

"Just tell me."

Her mother started at the beginning, when she told Mack she was bored. He suggested getting a job to stay busy and bring in some extra money. "He said he wanted to make sure we had enough money when we retired." She laughed between sniffles. "You'd think we were getting old or something."

"Why did you hire a private investigator?"

Her mother sighed. "Mack was away from home so much, and I remembered when your father did that he had a girlfriend."

"Is that why you needed the money all this time?" Paula's chest constricted. "You were taking money from me to have someone follow Mack?"

"You don't have to sound so shocked. I was trying to protect myself. You would have done the same thing if you'd been in my shoes."

No she wouldn't. Paula took a deep breath so she could move on and find out more. "So you told him you had a job?"

"Don't be so impatient. Let me tell my story." She went on to explain how she applied for a few jobs, but none of them would pay her enough to justify getting dressed up every day. "I had that kind of job for years, and after you grew up I swore I'd never do that to myself again."

"Why did he think you had a job?" Paula didn't have to ask, but she needed her mother to come out and tell her the truth.

"I didn't actually tell him I had a job . . ."

"But?"

"I sort of mentioned there was one I liked, and they liked me, and I got dressed the next day and left early, so he assumed . . ."

"And you didn't set him straight?"

"Paula, you should have seen him. I don't think I've ever seen Mack so happy—at least not since I accepted his proposal. He always loved me back in high school, but when we split up and I got pregnant . . . I don't know, I just sort of blew him off—"

"Whoa. Back up. You were pregnant in high school? With me?"

"Yes, with you."

"I thought you graduated and married Dad right away."

"I did . . . we did. Fortunately, I was only a couple of months along, so I was able to get through the rest of school without anyone else knowing." She sniffled again. "That was so long ago, and we were incredibly foolish. Back to Mack."

Paula listened to her mother drone on and on about how she'd deceived Mack, but her mind was still wrapped around the fact that her mother was pregnant with her before she got married, and that she'd taken money to have Mack tailed. Finally, she stopped yammering.

"Are you listening to me, Paula?"

"Yes, of course. What do you want me to do?" She held her breath, waiting for that all too frequent request for a check.

"I'm thinking about coming down there and staying with you."

Paula didn't want another complication in her life, but how could she turn down her mother? "When?"

"I'm not sure. I need to see how serious Mack is about what he said this morning."

"Would you like for me to talk to him?"

"About what?"

Paula thought for a few seconds. "Never mind. It's probably not such a good idea anyway."

"No, actually it might work out. Maybe you can tell him how hard I've worked all my life so you could go to college and have everything you needed. I don't think he realizes how many sacrifices I've had to make."

Paula bit her lip to keep from reminding her mother that she'd gone to school on full scholarship, and she'd worked hard to pay for everything else. "I have another idea. Why don't you find a part-time job that won't take up too much of your time and start trusting Mack? That way you'll still have a lot of time to yourself, and you'll appease Mack—at least a little." Unless it was too late. "How did you explain the private investigator?"

"It wasn't easy, but after he calmed down a little I reminded him of what your father did to me. I don't think he's completely over it, but he said he'd try if I did my part to make our marriage work. Then he started in on me about the job again."

"Mom, you might actually enjoy having your own money, and if it helps your marriage, it makes sense."

"Part-time jobs pay peanuts. You know that. I don't want to work at some minimum wage job where no one respects me."

Paula thought about all the minimum wage jobs she'd had when she needed them. "Maybe you can find something good."

"No, I don't want to do that." Paula heard the muffled sound of her mother covering the phone and muted voices. She came back on the phone. "I gotta run. I'll call you later."

After she hung up, Paula flopped back down on her bed. Just when she thought she had her life figured out, it flipped upside down again. First Nick and now her mother. And the issue with Nick was a walk in the park next to what she'd just learned about her mom.

Church wasn't for another couple of hours, but no way could she go back to sleep.

After coffee and a bowl of cereal, she showered and got ready for church. She was a little surprised Nick hadn't called to see if he could pick her up.

The first thing she did when she got to church was look around for the Town Car. Steph came running toward her as she was about to go into the Bible study room.

"Nick told me to give you this," Steph said as she thrust an envelope toward her. "He said to tell you he'll be here in time for church and to save him a seat. He went to early services at St. Nick's with the family, and now he's helping Aunt Ursa."

"Are you going to the Bible study?" Paula asked.

"No, Alexa and I agreed to work in the nursery so the babies' parents can go."

Paula nodded then went on inside. Drew approached her. "Where's your guy?"

"I don't know, but his cousin said he'd be here for church."

"Good."

Drew's fiancée Molly walked up from behind and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Ready to get started, hon?"

He took her hand and nodded. "See ya later, Paula."

Paula sat in the back by the door, while Drew and Molly went to the front of the room to lead the Bible study. Before it began, she unfolded the note and read the puzzling comments, which read like a travelogue. When the class ended, Paula darted out of the room before anyone else could ask her where Nick was.

She stood at the back of the church sanctuary scanning the rows. Nick wanted her to save him a seat, but she wasn't sure when he'd get there, so she found a spot on the side, about a third of the way from the back.

Nick got to the church barely on time. His mother had asked him to help her get some things out of the shed when they got home from St. Nick's, so when Steph stopped by on her way to church, he'd handed her a note to give Paula.

He made it through the double doors about three seconds before the music started. After a skimming glance around the room, he spotted Paula over on the side—not where they'd ever sat before. He slid into the empty space next to her.

"Hey," he said softly.

She held up his note. "What's this all about?"

"It's some information about where I live in Texas."

"Why?"

"We'll talk about it later." Nick pointed to the front of the church, where the pastor stood with his hands lifted to get everyone's attention.

Something was bugging Paula; Nick sensed it. Normally very calm in church, today she fidgeted— first with the corner of the service bulletin and then with the edge of her sleeve, something he knew she did when she was worried.

Nick felt Paula's presence throughout church. As they stood together, he had to resist the temptation to put his arm around her. And when they sat, he wanted to grab her hand and savor the softness of her skin. As she turned, he caught the fragrant scent of her hair and longed to bury his nose in it. But he didn't do any of that. He remained sitting there. Like a soldier. Without feelings.

Every so often Paula cut a glance his way. He smiled every time she did, but she never held the look long enough for him to have any idea what was going on between them.

After the last hymn, Paula seemed antsy to get out of there. "Whoa, Paula, what's going on? Did I do something wrong?"

She shook her head and glanced down. "I'm not feelin' so good."

"Are you sick?" He placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her off to the side so people could pass.

"I don't know, Nick. It's just . . ." She lifted her free hand and let it fall down to her side.

"What happened?"

When she finally looked at him, he saw that her eyes were bloodshot and her skin looked pale. "I got a call early this morning."

"Your mother?"

She nodded. "I'm so confused about everything."

"C'mon, let's go for a walk. You need to talk about this."

"I don't know, Nick. You have enough on your plate."

"Stop." Nick stepped in front of her and tipped her face up to his. "The only thing I want on my plate is you, Paula. If you're upset, I need to know what it's all about. I want to help you." He tweaked her nose. "I'm here for you."

He knew her well enough to know that when she tilted her head like that, she was thinking about what to do next. He held his breath until she nodded.

"Okay, let's go outside."

The church property sat on one of the natural beaches, so they put their things in their cars and headed down the shell-covered trail. "So what's going on with your mother?"

Paula recapped the early morning call from her mother. As she talked, anger welled inside him. Nick refrained from saying anything until Paula finished. She'd just said that her mother got pregnant before she finished high school, and Nick realized how this must have hit her.

"You never had any idea before?"

She shook her head. "I knew they got married young, but I thought they did that and
then
got pregnant. This was the first I'd ever heard that Mom and Dad had to get married."

"They didn't have to."

"I know, but back then wasn't like it is now."

"Well, at least they had you. There were options, even back then."

"True."

Nick thought for a moment. "Okay, so this is quite shocking to you since it was your parents. If you'd heard this about someone else, how would you have felt?"

She shrugged. "Not as upset."

"So your parents did what they thought was right. What's so bad about that?" He stopped and turned Paula around, taking both of her hands in his.

"I don't know." She blinked, but a tear fell anyway.

"They had you because the Lord had plans for you."

"But they didn't know that."

"It doesn't matter," Nick said. "What does matter is that you are your own person. You're a beautiful, kind, loving, successful businesswoman. You love the Lord."

Paula didn't say a word. She just listened.

"Don't forget that your mother is the one who first brought you to church here."

She nodded. "The only reason she did that was because the church ladies kept coming around, and she wanted to get them off her back."

"But she did it. She brought you here, and this is where you made friends and found your faith."

Paula grinned. "Now that you've shown me how ridiculous I'm being, I'm starting to get hungry."

Nick gave an answering smile. "Now that you're back to your old self, me too. Want some avgolemono soup?"

"Where?"

"Mama made it. She said to bring you home for lunch."

She paused only for a second. "Okay, sounds good. You know how much I love her avgolemono."

He laughed. "I remember when you refused to eat it because you didn't like chicken noodle soup."

"How was I supposed to know it would be so good?" She did an about-face. "Let's go now. I'm starving."

Nick walked Paula to her car then climbed into his uncle's car. He felt ridiculous driving around in such a humongous vehicle, but he couldn't very well say anything since it was free wheels while he was in town.

They reached his parents' house in fifteen minutes. His mother had left a note for them on the kitchen counter.

"Mama said she had to go help Phoebe and Ophelia, so we should just help ourselves." Nick pointed to the cupboard. "Would you mind getting a couple of bowls? I need to grab the butter and bread."