Mabe's Burden (28 page)

“
Wow,” her daughter spoke
from inside the car.

“
Wow indeed,” she echoed.
She let herself fall back against the vehicle while she absorbed
the loss.

“
Meg? Is that you?” A man’s
voice spoke from the rear of the car.

She
stiffened
. Oh shit. I know that voice. Why
didn’t someone tell me he was back?
She
never dreamed with all his ambitions that she’d ever have to see
him again.

He stepped around to face
her.

“
It is you. I thought
so.”

“
Um…hi, Rod.”

“
Oh, my God.” He swept her
up in a huge bear hug. The cold metal of a walking cane smacked
against her leg.
Had he been injured? What
had he been through during his tours of duty?
He still looked the same, yet there were subtle differences.
His arms gripped her with vice-like strength. His body was hard,
and the closeness of him warmed her. Memories of dancing with him
at prom stirred through her mind.

Rod released her. She
stepped back, appraising the rugged face. Not as boyish now, but
still very handsome. He wore a tight black T-shirt, which clung to
a well-toned chest which was slightly thinner than she remembered.
His jeans were a little loose, but she could still see the muscular
outline of his legs, all the way down the pair of sturdy work boots
he wore on his feet.
And,
yep, those same robin’s egg blue eyes. Oh,
boy.

“
How have you been?” he
asked. “I can’t believe how many times I thought about you. I guess
you’re home for your Dad’s funeral?”

She nodded, using that as an excuse not
to say anything.

“
How are you all
doing?”

She gestured toward to pub and it’s
smoking remains. “Not so great.”

He held his cane in front of his body.
“Yeah, that sucks. I’m so sorry. I overheard one of the firemen say
it was definitely arson. I hope to hell they catch whoever did this
to your family.”

Meg nodded. “How are you?” The words
emerged steadier than she imagined they would.

He smiled, tapping his right leg with
the cane. “I’m coming along. Took some shrapnel from a car bomb in
Afghanistan. I was out of commission for a while until they
discharged me. It sucks, but what’re you gonna do. Been home about
a week now.”

She glanced down at his leg. She knew
how that must hurt him. All through high school the only thing he
ever talked about was joining the army, making it his career. “I’m
so sorry, Rod.”

“
Ah, no big deal. I’ll
finish healing and then find something for my sorry ass to do. It’s
so good to see you.”

Her heart pounded.
I need to get away from him. I was not prepared
for this. I need time.

“
We were headed to the
hospital to check on Mabe.” She winced the minute the word “we” was
out of her mouth.
Shit.

“
We?” He ducked down to peer
inside the car, and Meg could have kicked her own ass. Now she’d
drawn attention to her daughter—
his
daughter. “Hi there, young lady.”

“
Hello.”

“
Emma, this is Mr. Owens.
Mr. Owens, my daughter Emma.”

Rod stared at her, eyes wide, brows
raised. “Your daughter?” Then his expression grew sober. “You got
married?”

Panic seized her. She couldn’t think
straight. She blurted “Yes and no...I mean, yes, she’s my daughter
and no, I’m not married.” She cursed the heat flooding her cheeks.
“Listen, we’ve got to get to the hospital. I’ll see you around?”
She climbed into the driver’s seat.

“
God, I hope so.”

“
Well, it was nice to see
you. We’ve got to go.”

“
Okay. I’d love to take you
out to dinner soon. We can go to the Pizza Kitchen like old times.
You can even bring Emma.”

Oh God. That’s all I
need.
“Maybe. We’ve got to go, Rod. See you
later.”

“
Take care.” He bent down
and stared into the car. “Bye, Emma.”

“
Bye, Mr. Owens.”

“
She’s cute,” he told her,
leaning into the window after Meg closed the door.

“
Thanks, gotta
go.”

Rod drew his brows together, an
expression of bewilderment on his face, but he backed up, balancing
with his cane. He held one palm up. “Okay, okay. Don’t run over
me.”

She pulled into the street,
offering a brief wave. Her hands shook, so she gripped the steering
wheel
. Oh hell no. Why did he have to be
back in town? What am I going to do now? I can’t avoid him
forever.
She glanced over at her
daughter.
My little girl deserves to know
the truth, but they’ll both hate me for it. Well, in the words of
Scarlet O’Hara, I’ll think about that tomorrow. Right now I need to
see to Mabe.

“
Mom, did you know that man
with the cane?” Emma asked.

“
Yes, honey. We went to
school together a long time ago.”

“
He seems nice.”

“
He is, honey, very
nice.”

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Mabe heard her name being called from a
distance. She liked it here—wherever here was. It was dark, quiet,
and painless. Anytime she got too close to the voices, the pain
would return, so it was so much easier to remain in the dark. Her
memory betrayed her. She wasn’t sure what had put her in this
state, but something wasn’t right. She was somewhere she shouldn’t
be. There was somewhere she needed to return.

“
Mabe?” a voice spoke into
her ear. “Come on, honey. We need you to come back to us. A lot of
people here are worried about you. Emma’s worried about you. Come
on back to us.”

Emma. My niece. Why would
she be worried about me? What...?
Events
rushed back. Seeing the man in dark clothes in the pub messing with
the stove, the painful whack on the head, a brief moment in the
ambulance when she thought she’d seen...Aaron?
Did I see him?

She struggled her way to the
surface of consciousness. She opened her eyes to slits because the
light sent shock waves of pain through her skull.
Damn it, my head hurts. I must have a
concussion.

“
Come on,” said the
voice.

Who was that? Mara?
Meg?
She tried to open her eyes a little
more. The throbbing caused her stomach to roll.
Oh God, I’m going to throw up.
She
opened her mouth to take a deep breath to quell the nausea. Another
voice spoke. This time it was much younger.

“
Aunt Mabe, please wake
up.”

Emma.

“
Please? We need
you.”

Something sparked in her brain. She
opened one eye all the way. Her vision was slightly blurred but she
could make out four figures standing around her bed. She blinked to
clear the fog. Emma, Meg and Mara stood one side of the bed. She
shifted her glance, and there he stood. Aaron reached out, his
large warm hand closed around hers. The strength of it gave her
courage, but she was so tired. She closed her eyes again fading
into peaceful blackness.

****

The next time she woke, the room was
blessedly dark. Her head still pounded, but it wasn’t quite as bad.
She gently rolled her head to the right. There, next to her bed
splayed out in a visitor’s chair, sat Aaron. His head tilted back
against the rear of the chair, and he snored softly, his mouth
hanging open.

How long had she been in the hospital?
Had it been only hours, days, weeks? She rolled her head back to
the center, a razor sharp pain rocketing through her
skull.

She made a sound, which in her head
reverberated like a trumpet blast, but in reality must have only
been a squeak. But it was enough to rouse Aaron from his slumber.
He bolted upright.

“
Mabe? You
awake?”

She tried to speak, but her throat was
dry. She’d kill for a sip of water.

“
Hey.” He leaned in closer.
“There you are.” He took a finger, lightly brushed a strand of hair
behind her ear. She blinked. “Want some water?”

“
Yes,” she
croaked.

He stood, pouring some into a small cup
with a bendable straw. He held it down, so she wouldn’t have to
move her head to sip. The cool liquid sliding down her raw throat
was a glorious sensation.

“
Mmm,” she
managed.

“
It’s so good to see your
beautiful green eyes open. I’ve been so worried about
you.”

“
Am I okay?”

He grinned. “You’re going to be fine.
Someone conked you on the head, gave you a concussion, but it’s not
too bad. Will probably make you feel worse than it is. You’ve got
some burns on your hands and arms, but other than that, you should
be up and around in no time.”

“
Shenanigans?”

“
Hey, don’t you worry. It
took a beating from the fire, but it wasn’t a total loss. Jake’s
already making plans to fix it up. He and Mara are at each other’s
throats over it. It might not be open for a few months while he
gets it fixed up, but you can do something temporarily till then. I
hear food trucks are all the rage.”

She offered him a weak smile, and
searched his worried face. Her throat hurt dreadfully, probably
from the smoke she’d inhaled during the fire, but she needed to
know. “Did they…catch the guy…who did this?”

Aaron shook his head. “They didn’t. But
don’t you worry about a thing. The loan’s been set right.
Shenanigan’s belongs to you, free and clear.”

“
How?”

“
Don’t worry about it. You
just concentrate on healing that hard head of yours.”

“
Aaron…I need—” She reached
out for his hand.

He closed his fingers around hers.
“Shhh. Don’t try so hard to talk. Get some rest. We can fill you in
later.”

“
I’m so sorry,” she
whispered.

“
Stop,” he murmured. “I’m
the one who’s sorry. I never should have kept the truth from to
you. I should have told you up front who I was, but I promise you
I’m not connected to the mob in any way. I’ve spent years trying
to—”

She squeezed his hand hard. “I know. I
read…your letter.” She cleared her throat, wincing.

“
Stop trying to talk, honey.
I know it hurts. Want some more water?”

She took another sip and sighed. She
needed to get this out. She needed him to know what was on her
heart. “Aaron…I love you.”

Tears sprang to his eyes. “Oh, God. You
don’t know how much I’ve wanted to hear you say those words. I was
afraid when you woke up and saw me here, you’d smack my face with
your cast.”

She offered a feeble laugh. “I still
might.”

He grinned. “I’d deserve it. Oh honey,
I love you, too.” He leaned in, kissed her softly on the lips.
“When I found you crumpled in that burning kitchen, I was so afraid
I’d never get to tell you how much. Mabe, if you can forgive me,
I’d like to spend the rest of my life making this up to
you.”

She waved him closer with the fingers
poking out of her cast. When he leaned in again, pressing his mouth
lightly to hers, she muttered against his lips, “Is that a
proposal?”

“
You’d better believe it,
baby.” He kissed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoyed Mabe’s Burden, then you
can’t miss the rest of this captivating series.

Read on for the first chapter
in

Book Two of Saving
Shenanigans...

Meg’s Secret

Meg’s Secret

Book Two

Saving Shenanigans
Series

By

Kelly Abell

Chapter One

Meg rocked on the front porch swing
late in the evening, the cool end of summer air swirling around
her. She shivered, but not because of the breeze

Mara, her sister, stepped outside
carrying two wine glasses.

“
Emma’s asleep, finally.”
She handed Meg a glass of Merlot.

“
Thanks. It’s been a long
day.”

“
It has. You holding up
okay?”

She nodded. “I’m tired, but the pain is
tolerable. I’m worried about Mabe.”

Mara smiled. “Our sister’s tough. It
will take more than a concussion to keep her down. I’m glad Aaron
was able to take care of Toreni, and we can keep the bar. Such that
it is.”

“
Very true. What we thought
was a problem in Aaron turned out to be a blessing. I’m so glad
that mobster got his money. Mabe won’t be happy once she finds out
what he’s done.”

Mara raised her wine glass in a mock
toast. “From the lip lock I saw between them tonight, I think
she’ll be okay with it.”