Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (61 page)

“
What about it?” H
is tone turned
surly.

“
Jimmy
died.”

David
looked
at his wife, his face registering his shock. “Then I guess
Danni
’s coming bac
k home?
I told her she could come home when she got rid of the kid.”

Anna scowled. “
He wasn’t a piece of trash
, David
.
Jimmy
died of SIDS.
Danni wa
s devastated
. We all
were
,
and she
’
s still grieving for that beautiful
child. He was your first grandson.
Named
after you
.
Danni
insisted on that
in spite of
your hatefulness
.
She’s staying in
a
little house
in the woods
. She’s
with
Ben
.
”

“You mean that
young vet
,
who got her pregnant?”

“He di
d not!
How many times do you have to hear that he was not the baby’s father
,
though I wish he were
!” She pointed toward the door. “You owe your daughter an apology and it’s high time you gave it to her.”

“What for? I didn’t get her pregnant! The
way I see it, it’s for the best
the kid’s
gone.” H
e walked toward the door. “Now she can go back to school and save her future,” he mu
ttered
.

“
I am disgusted with you and your attitude.
After she started college
…
e
ven
before you knew she was pregnant, you barely
said boo to
her.
It was like you resented that she got to go when you didn’t. And w
hen you found out about her grades last year, all y
ou did was growl at her. I
nstead of letting her know that you recognized how
terrible
she felt. You never said how proud you were of her for her
good
grades. All you did was focus on the
few
bad ones.”
She
took a deep
breath and
continued
. “
Where is your love for your only child? A
ll I
, or
Dannilynn
,
have seen from you
—ever since she went away to school
—
is hate and disgust
.”

Anna
took
off her sweater and tossed it on the chair. “
You need to apologize to
Danni
and to that wonderful young man who stood by her through all this. Until you
do that, don’t come back.
You won’t be we
lcome.
”
S
he
motioned for
David
to leave
.

He hesitated, studied her face for a moment, then slowly turned and walked out the door.

She locked the door behind him.

Anna
called Pastor Peter
,
told him what she had done
and asked whether he could get through to
her husband
. 

“Anna, I want you
to reach out to
David
one more time
. Perhaps with
your
help, he’
ll see it in his heart to
reconcile with his daughter
.
M
aybe away f
rom the house.
”

Anna went to bed
,
distraught that her family seemed to have fallen apart no
matte
r what she did.
When she
woke
the next morning, she
dro
ve down to see
her husband
.
One last time
.
I’ll give him one more chance
.
If
it
doesn’t work
this time
, I’m done.

It
took
her
a while
before she
located
where her husband was working.
At the supervisor’s shack, s
he
asked,
“
Would it be al
l
right if
I
took
him off-site for a
little while
?
”

“Sure, just make sure he’s back here by
the
lunch
whistle
.” 

As David walked out of the warehouse, she
wav
ed
to
him and
watched as he
slowly
approached
her
. “I’m at work. W
e can’t talk here.”

“I
just
talked to your boss.
As
long as you’re back
by the whistle
, I c
an
take you off-site
.  We
can sit
here
,
for privacy.” S
he pointed to
the car
.

She
climbed
into the back
seat
,
waited until he slid in next to her and shut the door
.
She took a
dee
p breath,
hoping he couldn’t see
her nervousness.
“I have something to
say
and I don’t want you to interrupt until I’m done. Agreed?”

He nodded.

“You know how I feel about your
behavior
toward
Danni
.
” She
held her
breath and
waited
,
will
ing her
heart
to stop thumping so wildly
.
What’s he going to think of me
now
?
“
I knew you were raised strictly when I married you. What you don’t know is you weren’t the first
for me
.”

“What?”
His brow furrowed.

“I
had a baby
two years
before I married you
.
I didn’t tell you or y
our family because I knew you
wouldn’t marry me if you kne
w. And, u
nlike
Danni
,
I didn’t
have the courage to
keep the baby. I gave him away—something I’ve regretted
every day of my life
.
You know how I get weepy every year in November?”

He nodded, his eyes
riveted to
her face.

“November 10—t
hat’
s his birth
day.
I
usually go down
by the fishing boats
—
I always imagined he would like
to fish
—
and wish him a happy birthday
.” Her chin trembled
and she wiped her eyes
. “I wonder
about him
all the time
. I dream about him
whenever I see a young man about his age
.
Is that him?
H
as
he
ever wanted t
o know his birth mother?
The
adopt
ion agency I used
sealed
th
e records
.
I’m not
even
sure
they’
re in business anymore.
I tried to find them about ten years ago, but I came up empty.
So, you see, you didn’t marry the innocent virgin you thought you did.”

“But I thought—”

“You didn’t know because yo
u were a virgin and I pretended.” S
he
bit her lower lip
,
remembering
his fumbling efforts on
their wedding night
. “I was afraid to tell you.
I
love
d you
so
much
, David,
and I
wanted to marry you
and have a family with you
.
” She wrung her hands.

When he
said nothing
, she continued.
“
I know you wanted another
child
after
Dannilynn
was born. A
son, you said.
But
I couldn’t get pregnant again.
I wanted to
, and we tried
. For a long time, I figured i
t was God’s way of punishing me
for being dishonest with you. A
nd now you’ve deni
ed your only daughter her birthright,
to be
a
member
of
our
family.
”
She let her tears come.

He sat
unmoving
,
his shock
at her confession
obvious
.

“A
fter what yo
u went through with
Ly
nn
,
I just couldn’t tell you
what I had done
. I kne
w you
fe
lt guilty about
what happened
when you
took
her to the hospital
. But y
ou didn’t plan for
that driver to hit your car
and kill her and her baby
.
”

He opened his mouth
to say something
, and closed it again
when she
pressed her fingers against his lips
.

“
Let me finish
, David
.
When
young girls are in a situation they can’t completely control, things sometimes
happen. N
ot because they are bad or evil, like you’ve
said
, more than once
. It’s just that they are the ones who get pregnant, even though the boy is just as guilty as they
are
. Somet
imes
more so,
because
he
can get away with it.
Like the man who got me pregnant, and the one who conv
inced
Danni
that he
love
d her
when
he really didn’t.
”
She paused. “
Dannilynn
told me how it happened.
That
awful
boy
lied to her
. Y
ou know s
he
hardly ever
dated
before she went away to
college
. H
e used her innocence
against her—
to get what
he
wanted
.”

David
lowered
his head
into
his hands.

“Did you know that
Danni
actually thought about
getting an abortion
?
S
he was
so
desperate that you not
find out
. Pastor Wheeler
begged her to tell us
.
So did
Joe
l
Taylor
,
who made sure she saw a doctor
.
” She wiped her eyes.
“
E
ven Ben told her that
, many times. S
he
was certain
you would kill her. That’s how frightened she was of you.”