Sugar Springs (40 page)

Lee Ann hadn’t considered the idea. But now that she thought about it, she supposed it was a possibility. Gina would stoop to any level to get what she wanted.

“What did she say?” Kendra asked.

Shaking her head, Lee Ann rose and motioned for them to lead the way. They’d better finish talking on the walk or they would end up in the dark. “It doesn’t matter. She may want him herself, but telling a lie that could so easily be checked out makes no sense. All I’d have to do is ask.”

“But you didn’t.” This drifted back from Candy, and Lee Ann’s head spun at the maturity of the simple declaration.

No, she hadn’t asked. But it couldn’t be fixed as easy as that. He’d skipped out on the party. Stood them all up. It had to be because of Holly. “Then why didn’t he show up?”

“He’s scared. He ran. He just didn’t run all the way out of town this time.” Kendra shrugged. “Maybe he managed to control his fear enough to keep him in town.”

Lee Ann stopped in the middle of the path until both girls faced her, questioning looks on their faces. “How do you know so much about him?”

Candy gave her an incredulous look. “Anybody who knows anything about his past knows he’s running from something that scares him.”

Lee Ann shook her head as if to remove the cobwebs. “And how do you know so much about his past?” Other than an overview, she and Cody had chosen not to tell the girls too much.

Even in the dimming light, Lee Ann made out the blushes covering both their faces and she knew.

“The vents in the house?”

They nodded, sheepish, before both spoke quietly, “Sorry.”

For the first time since this conversation began, Lee Ann laughed. If she’d been in their shoes, she would have kept an ear to the vent, too. “You’re forgiven.”

They began walking again, and Kendra asked, “So what’s he running from?”

Lee Ann dropped back and snapped pictures of the girls as they walked ahead of her, scuffing their toes in the leaves too shielded from the overhead branches to have received any snow. “A misguided notion that everyone he gets close to will eventually want him to leave.”

“Are you kidding me?” Both girls gawked at her.

Lee Ann snapped their incredulous expressions. With a grin, she silently thanked her sister for leaving her such terrific girls. They were part Stephanie, part Reba, part Cody, and a whole lot her. She couldn’t ask for a better combination. “Nope. That’s his theory. He did have a bad childhood, so he’s got some reasons, I suppose.”

Kendra began walking again as Candy shook her head at her mother. “Well, when’s he going to grow up? You can’t blame everything in your life on your childhood. Even we know that.”

Lee Ann reached Candy’s side and looped an arm through hers. “Tell me about it,” she grumbled.

“So we just prove him wrong.” They came out of the woods at a paved road, and Kendra stopped to wait for the others. “That’s the answer, we stick to his side long enough to prove him wrong.”

“But how?” Candy scrunched up her face in confusion. “He’s leaving.”

Lee Ann slowed her steps as she considered making the suggestion. If it wasn’t for the unresolved Holly issue, it might be the thing to do. She pulled the stocking cap off her head and fingered her flattened hair.

“What is it, Mom?”

She had to put it out there. “He did suggest we follow him to Florida and then figure out from there where to go next. You could see him more often if we did that.”

Of course, it would only add years of misery to her life, but for her girls, she would do that. She would spend the time working hard to make a name for herself and just let Cody pay the girls’ way for a while. She had pride when it came to taking care of them, but over the last few days she’d realized that if nothing else, he owed her the chance to get on with her life. She’d put parts of it on hold years ago, but she wasn’t doing that anymore. For anyone.

“More often?” Confusion flitted across Candy’s face. “But not all the time? Is that because he doesn’t want to be around all the time?”

Lee Ann lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “He and I would have to be together for that to happen. I’m sorry, hon, but I don’t see how that can happen.”

Kendra frowned. “That makes sense. Not if he cheated on you again.”

“Yeah,” Lee Ann agreed. “Not if he cheated on me again. I’ll go if you want, but we’ll both have to give a little. You’ll have him near, but I won’t have him in my house.”

They were both quiet for several minutes as they thought through the options. Glances were exchanged, and once again she saw the connection between the two that she had never had with her sister. It made her glad that they’d been born together, no matter how hard it had been on her in the beginning.

Candy turned to her and stated. “But I love Sugar Springs.”

“Me, too.” Kendra sighed.

“How about another compromise, then?” Both girls regarded her when she spoke. “Maybe we could try something temporarily?
At the end of the school year we could move to wherever he is for the summer. If it works out, we reconsider where you’ll go to school next year, but if it doesn’t we come back.”

Hope flashed across their faces, and though the thought of seeing Cody but having no relationship hurt, it would be worth it if the girls got the father they so desperately wanted.

Just as quickly as the hope had shown on Kendra’s face, it disappeared. “But we can’t do that to you unless you work out whatever happened the night of the party.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Lee Ann slipped both her arms through the girls’ as they headed up the last hill. “I’ll be all right. Let’s just worry about you two right now.”

“No, she’s right,” Candy said. “We don’t want to do it if he really did that to you. You deserve better.” She paused before continuing. “And we deserve better. We don’t want him in our life if he’s really that bad of a person.”

Lee Ann had never been so proud of her girls. They refused to either desert their mother or lower their standards. They were turning out pretty good.

“Who was it he was supposedly seen with anyway?” Kendra asked, kicking at a clump of snow as they walked.

“Holly.”

Kendra gasped and stopped in the middle of the now-dark road, the streetlight throwing shadows over her face. “Holly?” She shook her head. “Mom, Holly is not the type to do that to you.”

“Yeah, she’s not the type to do that to anyone, no matter how she much she flirts,” her other daughter agreed.

Lee Ann hadn’t thought so, either. But still, it was hard to say nothing was going on if he had her butt gripped in both hands.

“Nothing about it makes sense. We need to go back so you can ask Holly what happened.” Kendra marched up the road, a young lady on a mission. “Maybe we should go home when Grandma goes tomorrow.”

“That way we can see Dad on Christmas...” Candy stopped, probably thinking she sounded selfish for wanting to see her father on Christmas Day.

“You’re right,” Lee Ann said, nodding. “I need answers, and you two need to see your dad.”

They reached the top of the hill, and the first thing Lee Ann noticed was her mother’s car wasn’t the only new vehicle in the driveway. Cody’s SUV was also parked there. Her heartbeat sped up—she couldn’t help it—and then she tamped down her excitement. He was probably there for the girls. She was happy about that, but she wouldn’t let him see how bad she wanted him to be here for her, too. To tell her Gina had somehow been mistaken.

And then they saw him standing on the deck in the glow of light from the house. He stood unmoving, looking out over the woods. Kendra was the first to shout. “Dad!”

He didn’t turn. Instead, it took Candy shouting at him again before he finally turned his head toward them, a look on his face as if there was no recognition whatsoever. He then glanced at the back door and said something she couldn’t make out.

They reached the stairs to the deck, Lee Ann hanging back as both girls hurried up the steps. When Cody didn’t come toward them, they stopped twenty feet away and stared. They rounded on Lee Ann and whispered, “What’s wrong with him?”

Something was definitely not right. Lee Ann squeezed their hands and stepped in the middle of them. They would face
Cody together. They moved forward as the back door opened and more light spilled onto the wooden slats.

And then Cody stepped out.

Lee Ann’s gaze bounced from one man to the other. She quickly picked up on the fact the real Cody was the man who’d just walked through the door. The girls seemed to catch on only seconds later, and they released her and hurried to his side.

His twin brother? Goose bumps covered her body. When had this happened? How?

Lee Ann glanced from one man to the other until the newcomer stepped forward and introduced himself. “Nick Dalton.”

She nodded but couldn’t keep her eyes from welling up. As she wrapped her fingers around Nick’s strong hand, the puzzle piece fell into place and the bars she’d built around her heart years ago sprang free. This was the man who’d held Holly in his arms. Not Cody.

She looked to Cody for confirmation. As he held both girls in a hug, he peered over their shoulders at Lee Ann. When they made eye contact, he gave her a tight smile.

“Yes,” he seemed to say. “I know I did wrong but I didn’t do nearly as bad as you believed.”

Reba emerged from the house. “Come on girls, your father and uncle have been helping in the kitchen for the last couple
of hours. Let’s give them a break now. You two can help me finish dinner.”

If her mother was cooking dinner, it might be as good as Cody’s spaghetti.

“Uncle?” Two sets of brown eyes sparkled in Nick’s direction when the realization set in. Apparently it hadn’t occurred to them that they now had an uncle.

Nick pushed away from the deck railing, clapping his brother on the shoulder as he passed. “That’s right.” He smiled at the girls. “Your favorite uncle.”

Both girls giggled as they made their way into the house. “You’re our only one.”

When the door closed behind them, the light dimmed and the silence became deafening. Cody stepped to Lee Ann, and she let him snag her hands in his. She couldn’t have stopped him.

“Lee Ann, I’m sorry.”

“It was Nick, wasn’t it?”

He hung his head for a second before looking back at her. “Of course it was Nick.”

His back was to the light, so she couldn’t see what was really in his eyes, and she felt vulnerable knowing he could so easily read hers. She shifted deeper into the shadows. “I knew it as soon as I saw him.”

Her admission was as much as telling him she believed in him. Which meant she also still wanted it to work out between them.

“How did that...he...happen? Did you go find him?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I probably never would have gone searching for him. But he found out about me last week and came looking for me. He’s a good man. I was floored when I opened my door and saw him standing there.”

“I’m sure,” she said. “Must have been quite the shock.”

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed.

“And you’re okay with this?” She motioned to the house where Nick now was. “I guess you are or you wouldn’t have brought him out here, but really? You’re okay with this?”

He nodded slowly, and she got the sense he’d been moved by his brother showing up. “I never thought I’d want it, but just in the few days he’s been around I’ve already seen what Candy and Kendra have together. I won’t lose contact with him now, Lee. He’s my brother. And there’s even another one out there we haven’t found yet.”

She gasped, both at the level of depth coming from him and also the fact he’d gone from having no one in his life a few weeks ago to having two brothers, two kids, and her—if he still wanted her.

“When did this happen exactly?” It had to have been Saturday. Or maybe Friday night after she’d left.

“About thirty minutes before I was supposed to be with you and the girls at the party.” He released a heavy breath and pulled her against him. She allowed it but didn’t soften. “I’m so sorry I let you all down. I’ll make it up to the girls, I swear. I’ll never do anything like that again.” He peered down at her. “And I’ll never do anything like that to you again, either.”

The thought was bittersweet. “I get how having Nick show up at your door could knock you on your butt—I do, really. Maybe not exactly enough to go out drinking and forget to make an appearance at your daughters’ party, but I get it.”

“I didn’t forget,” he stated quietly.

She nodded. “You just chose not to go. Because you were looking for an excuse again, weren’t you? And you found a good one. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t leave town that night.”

With little light to see each other, Cody pulled her tight against his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head. They stood that way for several seconds, until he tilted her face up and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Then he separated their bodies.

“I love how you don’t hide from the truth,” he said.

She heard the smile in his voice.

“It’s probably the thing I love most about you,” he continued.

“That’s nice to know, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

He chuckled. “It’s hard to sidetrack you, too, isn’t it?” He moved to the railing and propped against it. “I think last Saturday shamed me more than what I did with Stephanie.”