Heart Echoes (16 page)

“That's hard, Maiya. Um, at least you've got River. Who needs a piece of paper? From what I hear about him, I might ask him to be my stepdad too.”

“I would too if I were you. I mean, don't get offended, but I wouldn't want Owen for a dad. I got freaked out yesterday because I thought he might be.”

Lacey felt a sudden hollowness. “Why did you think that?”

“His earlobes.” She yanked on one of hers. “They're attached like mine, and Mom's aren't. It's a hereditary thing.”

“Did you ask her?”

“Yeah, and she said it was not a possibility, no way.”

Whew. Thank You, Lord.
“I'm glad to hear that. I didn't think he . . .” But how could she know for sure? Owen treated Teal so horribly. “He was not at all kind to her.”

“He scared me to death the last time we were here. What was he like to you?”

“Oh, normal, I guess. As normal as any run-of-the-mill dysfunctional dad can be. I sensed that he loved me because I was his daughter, even if he couldn't show it. There were no major traumas. He clearly resented your mom, maybe because she wasn't his. After she left for college, he seemed less angry, but then he drank more.”

Maiya busied herself with the photos. “River's cool. But inside I feel like something's not . . . finished.” She gazed up at Lacey, her eyes unblinking. “You really don't know who he is?”

“No. Your mom never told me.”

“Don't you have a clue? Who were her boyfriends? Who did she hang out with?”

“Honey, I was twelve when she left for college. I seldom saw her after that. She stayed up in Portland most holidays and summers, working and going to school. Then she moved to LA before you were born.”

Maiya looked down again and her hair fell about her face, hiding it. “She had to have some friends she kept in touch with here.”

Lacey leaned back in her chair, unsure what the aunt's rule book said about revealing a sister's flaws.

To her knowledge, Teal did not have friends to keep in touch with. She never spoke of anyone close at home. If she hung out with anyone, it was with other outsiders. They were like shadows to Lacey; town gossip labeled them wild. The adjective seemed to fit her sister. They came from nearby towns, were older, and had cars so Teal was able to hitch rides and spend very little time at home.

She had been an unhappy, prickly loner who pushed people away. Lacey figured no one was born like that. Owen probably mistreated her from the start, beginning when she was only four years old.

That Teal would get pregnant out of wedlock seemed a given. The shock was that it didn't happen until she was in college. To everyone's further surprise, she graduated from college six months before Maiya's birth, went on to grad school, and got a great job. At some point she proclaimed a newfound faith in God. Afterward she seemed happy and settled, although still relationally distant from Lacey and their mother.

Lacey shut her eyes and listened to the clock tick. A faint sound of Will's voice drifted down the hallway. Who was he talking to at this late hour? A familiar fear niggled at the back of her mind. Given their nightmare of a year and an uncertain future, she couldn't blame him for looking elsewhere for companionship.

A sudden hopelessness filled her.
Why, why, why?

She heard a sniff and a soft
splat
. She opened her eyes and saw Maiya wiping a photograph across her sweatshirt.

“Sorry.”

“Oh, Maiya. Come here.”

The girl scooted closer to the chair and laid her head on the armrest.

Lacey drew her fingers through Maiya's long, dark hair. “Have you told your mom how much it hurts not knowing?”

“Yeah.” She took a shaky breath. “She says she'll tell me when it's time.”

“Then we have to wait.” Lacey leaned over and kissed the back of Maiya's head. “Life stinks, hon. No two ways about it. It just does.”

Lacey felt Will's weight sink into the mattress beside her but did not have the energy to open her eyes. “Hi.”

“You're supposed to be asleep.” He reached for her hand and held it.

“Maiya get home okay?”

“Yes, worrywart aunt. I walked her inside the cottage like you ordered. Teal was still up, working on her laptop.”

“What are we going to do about her cell and Internet service in the cottage?”

“Happy Grounds Coffee Shop opens at six thirty with free Wi-Fi and great cell reception.” He kissed her cheek. “Maiya says you're awesome.”

“She thinks you're the bomb, Uncle Will.”

“That's good, right?”

“Almost as good as awesome.” She smiled. “Isn't it wonderful having her here?”

“Yeah. She's easy to be with. She seems so familiar.”

“She's a Teal clone.”

“It's not just her looks. There's something about her.” He yawned. “Maybe it's because she's your niece. 'Night, Lace.”

“'Night.”

His breathing evened out.

Lacey's did not.

She opened her eyes. The bathroom night-light filtered into the room. Will's face was at rest. He was such a good guy. Steady and solid.

Her doubts made no sense.

But cancer taught her to live in the moment. There were none to waste, none to fritter away with fear and worry. What was there to lose? It was already gone.

“Will.”

His eyelids blinked open. He was instantly alert. “What?”

“Were you on the phone tonight?”

“Phone? Oh yeah. Holly called. She's got next Monday off too. She offered to fill in for you. I said you'd get back to her.”

It wasn't the first time her friend had called in the evening after what had become Lacey's normal bedtime.

Holly and Will? Stories like that abounded. The sick wife's best friend and husband get it on. It was almost too hackneyed to consider. Almost.

“Lace, you're shaking. What's wrong?”

“I'm so cold.”

He pulled her to himself and held her close. “You're overtired, sweetheart.”

Her teeth chattered. She felt herself falling as if into a dark abyss.

“Shh.” Will kissed her forehead. “It's okay. I'm here.”

Chapter 28

LOS ANGELES

Talking on the phone with Teal, River stood in the garage where the month before he had lain under a pile of bins. “You're going to love them.” He referred to the newly constructed wooden shelves secured to the wall.

“How did you finish them already?”

“It's Labor Day. What can I say?” He walked to the doorway, switched off the light, and went into the house. “How was your day?”

“I said, ‘How did you finish them already?'”

“Had help.” Tucking the phone between his chin and shoulder, he crossed the kitchen, grabbed a piece of cold pizza from a box on the counter, and pulled a plate from the cupboard. “I want you to know I am using a plate for my pizza.” He took a soda from the fridge. “And I am going to sit at the table, like a civilized person.”

“Why do you keep changing the subject?”

“I'm tired and hungry and would prefer to ease into a touchy subject.” He set his things on the table, took a bite, and sat.

Teal did not say anything.

He chewed and swallowed and took another bite.

“Oh, River.” Her edgy tone said it all. Disbelief, disappointment, a hint of anger. She had figured out the touchy subject.

He swallowed and plunged into it. “Jake's a good worker and he was available. The school guys were committed to a slew of projects there. You and Maiya weren't here. I saw no problem with him helping me.”

“No problem? He gets to carry on his relationship with you and be in our home while Maiya and I have to run away? That's a problem with me.”

River shoved pizza into his mouth rather than vent his retort; he popped open the soda can. Running away had been Teal's choice. Understandable in a wacky sense but still, in his opinion, unnecessary . . . if not downright idiotic.

She blew out a breath. “I cannot believe you did that.”

He took a swig from the can. “I won't give up on him.”

“That doesn't mean you communicate that what he did with our daughter was acceptable!”

“I'm not doing that. He knows he's on a short leash and has to earn back my trust.”

“There is no earning it back.”

“That's where we disagree. This is how I operate. Been doing it for fifteen years.”

“But now you have a family to think about.”

It hit him, a punch to the solar plexus. He had had a family before—a wife, plans for children, the first on his way. They were not part of Teal's reality. At times, she seemed to totally forget about them.

She said, “What am I supposed to tell Maiya?”

“That the shelves are up.”

“I'm serious. If I tell her Jake is buddy-buddy with you, she'll think the whole incident has blown over.”

“She's stuck up in Camp Poppycock. I doubt she'll think that.”

“I don't want to talk about this anymore.”

Her silly remark goaded. She wanted to talk as long as she heard what she wanted to hear.

He threw out his idea to keep the details from her and said, with too much heat, “Tell Maiya I promised the judge that I'd spend time with Jake when he wasn't working at the garage.”

“That's how he got out.” There was accusation in her flat tone. “Unbelievable.”

She wasn't talking about the judge's decision, but that River would offer such a thing. He forced himself to explain in a neutral tone the rest of the story. “His boss posted bail and vouched for Jake's excellent work record.”

She did not reply.

“Tell Maiya I wouldn't hurt her for the world. Tell her this is not about her. It's my job.”

“I don't like you.”

“Feeling is mutual.”

A long, silent moment passed. Her breathing sounded as if she'd run a mile. His own wasn't all that steady.

But she wasn't one of his students. He broke the silence and stated quietly what needed to be said. “But I do love you and I want the best for you. Tell me about your day. Any Owen sightings?”

“River, at the moment, I am sitting on a cushion on a linoleum floor, exactly fifteen inches from the front door that was white when I closed it, but now all I see is red. I think it's best I say good-bye.”

“Gotcha. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Good night.”

River turned off the phone and smiled grimly. For all of her insistence that they agree to disagree, she hated not bagging a clear win.

That was all right. He could live with her wrath. What he couldn't live with was turning his back on a kid who needed another round of second chances.

Chapter 29

CEDAR POINTE

“Mom?”

Cell phone clenched in her fist, Teal blinked at the front door and tried to focus through the reddish haze. She had never been so angry at River. How dare he bring Jake back into their home!

“Mom! You okay?”

Teal spun around on the cushion and did not even attempt to smile. “I'm fine. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“I was still reading.” She stood leaning at the hall opening, a dark-green fleece throw over her pajamas. “Kind of hard not to hear your hissy voice.”

Shoot.
She had kept her voice as low as she could. Stupid tiny cottage with paper-thin walls.

“Were you and Riv fighting?”

“Just having a little disagreement.”

“About Jake and me?”

Teal sighed. “What did you hear?”

“‘Jake' this, ‘Maiya' that.”

“It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. River said Jake is doing fine, out on bail and back to work.”

Maiya's face lit up, all grin and sparkling eyes. “Sweet.”

Teal's heart sank. What did she see in this boy? She reminded her of Lacey as a teen, crazy about a guy who had nothing going for him.

Maiya said, “So what's with the arguing?”

Teal stood and picked up the cushion and carried it to the couch. “Nothing.” River could explain his actions to her himself. “He wanted you to know and honestly—” she slid the cushion into place and headed across the room to the table—“I didn't think you needed to know.”

“How come?”

Teal plugged her phone into its power cord, shut her laptop, and gathered papers. A little less use of the word
honestly
with Maiya would be a good thing. She did not need to clue her daughter in on every jot and tittle about her and River's relationship. “Given the fact that you and Jake are no longer an item, it simply did not seem necessary to tell you.”

“It's not like he doesn't exist. It's not like I don't think about him or don't love—”

“Spare me, Mai.” Good grief! Did she need to hear again how in love they were? “It's late.” She sat at the table and began organizing the papers. “You should get to bed. I'm almost done here.”

Maiya shuffled over to the table, pulled out a chair across from her, and sat.

Teal glanced at her sad face and briefly considered apologizing for whatever put that expression there.

“I miss Riv.”

“He'd say the same thing.”

“‘Spare me'?”

She couldn't help but smile. “No. That you should go to bed.”

“Do you think he'll come for my birthday?”

“Hon, he said he'd try.”

Maiya rested her head in her arms atop the table. “You could talk him into it.”

Not tonight. Tonight she would not be able to talk him into a romantic candlelit dinner with herself for dessert.

She noticed Maiya eyeing her.

And suddenly she heard the tape of her own hissy voice in her head, fussing at her husband, the daddy to this child who stood on wobbly adolescent terrain.

Teal said in a soft voice, “I will do my best to talk him into it. We know he wants to come. It depends on his schedule. If he gets the auction prep work under control, he'll feel freed up to take time off.”

“I'm going to marry a rich man who inherited all his billions and has nothing to do except give to charitable causes and show me the world.”

Thank goodness. That left Jake Ford out of the picture.

“It's raining!” Maiya's whine rang out from her bedroom as a morning greeting.

Teal, working at the kitchen table since very early, called back, “A day late. It's supposed to start on Labor Day.”

Maiya emerged from the hallway, still in her pajamas. “Uncle Will said that's an old wives' tale. Labor Day falls on a different date every year.”

Teal shrugged.

“Mom, the real rain doesn't start until October.”

She shrugged again, eyes on her screen as her fingers tapped out legalese for the countersuit in the Hannah Walton case.

“Mom.”

“Yeah? One sec.” It took more like sixty to finish her paragraph. Then she looked up and forced herself to pull her hands from the keyboard. She clenched them on her lap. “Good morning.”

Maiya was sitting across the table drinking orange juice, her eyes puffy, her long hair sticking every which way. “It's not even seven o'clock.”

“I know, and I am impressed to see you up and raring to go.”

“I mean, you're working already.”

“This part has to be done first thing today.”

“Is it related to yesterday's emergency?”

“Yes.” Her line of sight drifted toward the laptop.

“Can you tell me about it?”

“Can I ever?” She spotted a typo and mentally corrected it.

“I just want to know what can be so important that you don't talk to anybody.”

Teal could take a hint. She shut the laptop and picked up her coffee mug. “Without going into details, the case is about parental rights.”

“How old is the kid?”

“Little.”

“You'll make sure he gets to be with the best parent?”

“Always.” She smiled. “Uncle Will dropped off the bicycle he said you can use.” The shop was only six blocks away, but Maiya had told Will she preferred not to walk.

“But it's raining! Hard! Can't I just drive myself to Happy Grounds? It's not like there's any traffic or cops between here and there.”

“There are cops, and they don't have much else to do except lie in wait for drivers who are breaking the law.”

“Ha-ha.”

“Aunt Lacey can pick you up later. Didn't you decide to start with the tutoring this afternoon?”

“But Baker's working now before he goes to school. He said he'd take a look at where I am in my trig book. He wants to ask his teacher for some help.”

“Wow. I'm really impressed now.”

“What do you expect from a couple of geeks?” She yawned, propped an elbow on the table, and squished her cheek against her palm.

Despite the previous night's bout with regrets, Teal felt again the coziness of their situation. When Will stopped by on his way to work earlier, he helped her start a fire in the pellet stove. It sizzled now and warmed the small area. Lacey had thoughtfully stocked the kitchen for them with juice, bread, milk, cereal, eggs—the basics. Maiya really was a bit on the geeky side. She had books and her trumpet. They need not go anywhere.

Maiya pushed her chair from the table. “I told Baker I'd be there by seven thirty.”

Teal blinked away the cozy image. “I'll take you.”

“No, that's okay.” She shuffled away toward the hall. “Aunt Lacey said to call her when I got up. She'll come get me.”

“I think she's been skipping the early shift since her illness.”

“It's okay.” Maiya looked over her shoulder and grinned. “She told me it was going to rain today. She'd be ready.”

Teal smiled.

It was a tight smile.

As Maiya disappeared into the bathroom, Teal called out, “Do you want breakfast?”

“Are you kidding?” Maiya called back. “Aunt Lacey's got quiche, croissants, muffins, scones, juice, fruit—not to mention coffee, which I may take up . . .”

The door clicked shut.

‘Aunt Lacey' this, ‘Aunt Lacey' that.

A mishmash of feelings struck so violently Teal could not ignore them.

Resentment spoke, loud and clear. What was with this instant superglue bond between Maiya and Lacey? Teal's plans to mommy her daughter were being derailed because Maiya would rather hang out with Lacey.

Teal felt ashamed. She should blame her obsession with Hannah Walton's case for taking her out of the picture. She should be happy that Maiya and Lacey liked each other. The truth was, with Maiya's needs taken care of, Teal could get back to work without further interruption.

She blew out a breath. “This does not make me the world's worst mom.”

Enough with the pep talk. She took a swig of coffee and opened her laptop.

Teal was again seated on a cushion less than two feet inside the front door, talking on her phone, laptop open before her on the floor, legal pad on her lap.

The bright white door was shut against the rain that lashed at the window on the upper half of the door. With the yellow café curtain pushed to the sides, the wet pane was visible if she craned her neck. Cold air seeped in around the door's edges.

She listened to her client's rendition of the ex-boyfriend's visit. Hannah Walton sounded less strung out than she had yesterday, which added cohesiveness but also red flags.

Teal looked at her handwritten notes, unable to glean facts that warranted a restraining order. “Let me recap to make sure I have everything I need. First off, without advance warning, James Parkhurst rang your doorbell yesterday about 10 a.m., you opened the door, and he said he wanted to see his child.”

“He demanded it.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“N-no, not exactly.”

“Did you feel threatened?”

“Definitely. He was belligerent.”

“How so?”

“Teal, the man is six-four and all muscle. He has a deep bass voice, bushy eyebrows, and beady eyes, and enough money to make anyone kowtow.”

“So he always comes across as belligerent?”

“I-I guess. Well, not when I was with him. You know, when we were seeing each other. He was, he was . . .”

“A sweet-talker who made you feel safe.”

“Exactly.”

“Was it his tone of voice that frightened you?”

“No. He was polite, I guess. He said, ‘I'd like to meet my daughter, please.'”

“Did little Maddie see him?”

“No. She was out in the backyard with my mother-in-law.”

“All right. So you said to Parkhurst, ‘No way.' He said, ‘If she's mine, I have visitation rights.' You said, ‘Over my dead body.'”

“Yes.”

“And then your husband, Ryan, joined you at the door and asked him to leave.”

“Sort of. He told him to get the blankety-blank off our property.”

Teal figured she was going to like this hero Ryan. “And Parkhurst replied what precisely?”

“‘No problemo.'”

“Then he left.”

“Yes. Teal, I was so shaken up.”

“Of course you were. Do you feel that he might harm Maddie or try to forcefully take her away?”

“Yes!”

“All right.” Teal paused. “I'm not sure that we have enough to go on for a judge to sign off on a restraining order—”

“But he's a threat to us!”

“It feels like he is, but the facts don't show it. And he has no past record of similar actions with you or others. I will talk to his attorney today and inform him that this behavior is unacceptable.”

“Okay.” She didn't sound happy.

“Hannah, that's just one aspect. We are moving forward to file the countersuit to terminate his parental rights. A no-show for five years after you told him you were pregnant is, without question, abandonment according to the California Family Code.”