The Red Hat Society's Acting Their Age (26 page)
As for Mia, she spent more and more time with Cade, and less time involved in mental conversations with Dan. Her husband had embraced life. He would not have wanted her to stop living because he died; she knew that.
But, though Dan was gone, Christy still lived.
Mia also knew that her life would never be truly complete until her daughter was part of it again. So she made calls that were never returned and wrote letters that didn’t garner responses.
Mia persisted, prayed, and learned to be patient.
When the ten o’clock news ended, Cade turned off the television and Mia snuggled closer to him. They lay stretched out, side by side on the couch, Cade’s front against her back, his arms around her. “I hate to break this up, but if I’m going to get up at the crack of dawn and go to work, I’d better head home for some shut-eye.”
“Stay over tonight, okay?” Mia sounded half asleep already. “It’s supposed to get cold again.” Her bare toes wiggled against his ankle.
“So I’m only a bed warmer to you now, is that it?”
The throaty texture of her laughter made him forget about sleep. “I can think of worse things to be,” she said.
“You’ve got that right.” Cade nuzzled her neck.
Like alone in bed without you
. “If I stay, the whole town will be abuzz about us tomorrow. You okay with that?”
“Your truck’s in the garage.”
“That’s never fooled Buck Miller before. Or Aubrey Ricketts. I’d have to leave your house before four-thirty in the morning to slip past him.”
Mia yawned. “Let them talk. I don’t care anymore.”
Cade smiled. Without suspicions and secrets between them, their relationship had quickly blossomed into something they’d both hoped for, but hadn’t dared to expect—love. A second chance at happiness. They had been cautious at first. But when life handed you a gift, you took it and held on tight.
Mia told him, time and again, his love was enough, all she needed to be content the rest of her life.
Cade knew better.
Though she never mentioned it, he knew she had tried every night for the past month to reach Christy by phone. Christy never answered or returned the calls. Mia wrote countless letters to her daughter’s last known address in New York City. Since the letters didn’t come back in the mail, Cade assumed the girl received them, but she didn’t write back.
So Cade had taken it upon himself to do a little investigative work on the side. He found out the name of the restaurant in New York where Christy waited tables. He didn’t tell Mia, though. He hoped to give her one more gift.
“Twist my arm,” Cade said. “Maybe I’ll stay.”
Mia shifted to face him, snuggled so close that an ant couldn’t squeeze between them, pressed a slow, sultry kiss against his lips. She teased and taunted him, promising more to come with a whisper and a sigh.
“Okay,” he murmured against her mouth. “If you insist. I’ll stay.”
She laughed. “I never had a doubt.”
“I need something to remember you by since I’m leaving town in a couple of days,” he joked.
“You’re leaving?” She leaned away from him, looked up into his face.
“That law enforcement conference in Austin, remember?”
“That’s right.” Mia brushed her lips across his again. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too. How about I bring you back a surprise?”
Her eyes sparkled. “I love surprises.”
On the Saturday Cade was in Austin, Mia drove to Brister to spend the day with Brent, Sherry and the grandkids. She took presents. Spoiling her son’s children was one of the very best things about being a grandparent. Mia loved their laughter, loved seeing how much they’d grown.
When she and Brent had a moment alone, he asked her about her relationship with Cade. Brent was her direct child. He saw no point in subtlety. If he wanted to know something, he asked, and always had.
“What’s up with you and the sheriff, Mom?” Brent handed her an iced tea then sat in the lawn chair beside hers, where she watched the children jump on the backyard trampoline. “I called your house the other day and he answered. You weren’t even home.”
Mia studied her oldest son. Six foot three inches, two hundred pounds of solid muscle. And still her baby. He didn’t know that, though. When Dan died, Brent took on the role of protector in her life. She loved him for it, though he sometimes drove her crazy with his worries.
“Cade didn’t tell me you called. I guess he forgot.”
“So?” Brent prodded.
“I told you and your brother that Cade and I are dating.”
“The man hangs out at your house while you’re at work. He answers your phone.” Brent frowned. “You ask me, that indicates you’ve moved past the dating stage.”
“Cade doesn’t
hang out
at my house.” Mia’s stomach fluttered. “He was fixing the toilet.”
Brent scowled. “A man doesn’t volunteer to fix a woman’s toilet without ulterior motives.”
Mia sipped her tea and avoided his eyes. She didn’t want her sons to resent Cade, to view him as a threat to Dan’s memory. She wanted them to accept him. The thought of anything tarnishing this unexpected bright spot in her life was unacceptable. Mia loved her kids, but she would not allow them to force her to choose between them and Cade.
She took a deep breath. “We’re serious.”
Brent lowered his glass. “Marriage serious?”
“For the moment we’re happy to take one day at a time.”
Behind her son’s solemn expression, she glimpsed the rambunctious little boy who had given her so much joy while running her ragged. “You’re happy?” he asked.
“Very.”
Nothing could have surprised Mia more than the tears she saw glistening in his eyes. Setting his tea glass down on the bricked patio beside his chair, Brent leaned over and hugged her.
Her entire body exhaled, leaving behind the gentlest sense of peace. “I hope Trey is as accepting of this as you are,” she said, pulling back.
“He is. We’ve talked.”
Mia nodded, looked down at her lap. “You haven’t heard from Christy, have you?”
“No, Mom. Sorry. If she contacted anyone, it would be Trey, and he hasn’t talked to her in months. We’ve both tried, though.”
Sherry stuck her head out the back door. “Lunch is ready,” she called.
Mia smiled at her daughter-in-law. “Sorry I didn’t help. Sign me up for dishwashing duty after we eat.”
“You just relax and enjoy the kids,” Sherry said.
At the sound of her mother’s voice, five-year-old Lindsey climbed off the trampoline, ran over and grabbed Mia in a bear hug. “Whoa there, sweetie!” Mia scooped the girl up. “You’ve gotten so big you almost knocked your poor grandmother over.” When six-year-old Alex joined them, Mia took both kids’ hands and stood. “Come on. Let’s see what your mother cooked up for us.”
On the way back to Muddy Creek later that afternoon, Mia stopped at a shop in Amarillo where, a week ago, she’d left four pieces of Christy’s artwork to be matted and framed. She stacked the two sketches and two paintings on the seat beside her, resisting the urge to tear off the brown paper wrappers and peek.
Once home, she ate a bowl of soup for supper then poured a glass of wine. She carried it into the living room, put the Carole King
Tapestry
CD Cade had given her into the player, then sat on the couch. The frames lay on the coffee table. One by one, Mia unwrapped them.
Lovely. Incredible. Unique.
No word seemed adequate to describe what she saw. The matting and frames she had chosen only added to the beauty of Christy’s work. The “bruised heart,” as Rachel had called it. The haunted eyes of the disappearing girl, lost in a swarm of people.
Hope and pride brought a familiar ache to Mia’s throat. She held on to what her heart told her: Some day, she and Christy would reunite. She would win back her daughter’s love. It was only a matter of time.
Aggie finally had a second chance to be a grandmother.
Leanne had a second chance to be a mother.
Surely, Mia thought, God would grant her a second chance with Christy.
As she had done so many times before, Mia studied each painting, each sketch, memorizing every detail, every stroke.
Soon, Christy would come home again. When that day arrived, she would find her artwork on the living room wall alongside her brothers’ photographs in their sports uniforms and graduation gowns.
Mia held the sketch of the vanishing girl to her chest and whispered, “I see you, honey. And I’m so proud of you.”
In her mind, she heard Rachel’s voice saying,
If my mom was alive, I’d want to see her. Even if I pretended I didn’t.
Mia hoped Christy felt the same.
She would find her daughter and ask for forgiveness.
Maybe, like Mia, Christy yearned for a new beginning.
T
he early morning rush subsided, leaving behind echoes of gossip, the scents of sweet roll crumbs and leftover coffee. As customers headed for work and school, the shop quieted. The Coots parted ways, off to their various daily activities.
Mia straightened the tables, and Aggie wiped down the counter and workstation while humming along with Patsy Cline.
“Did I tell you the twins called last night?”
Mia loved the perkiness in Aggie’s voice. “Really? What’re they up to these days?”
“They said they’re excited their grandpa and I are coming for their graduation. Jimmy and Sheila are having a dinner party after the ceremony to celebrate. They wanted to know if we like Italian. I lied and said yes.”
“You don’t?”
“I do,” Aggie said. “Roy says the pasta served at fancy Italian cafes is nothin’ but dressed-up spaghetti.”
Mia laughed. “I’m happy for you, Ag. You’re going to have so much fun.”
One of Aggie’s brows arched over the top of her red reading glasses. “’Course Jimmy or Sheila probably told the girls to call, but it’s a start.”
The front door opened and Leanne walked in. “Sorry I’m late. Had to run the packrat’s books up to the school again. Second time this week. If that kid’s head wasn’t attached, I swear she’d forget it, too.”
Leanne’s smile stayed firmly in place as she strolled across the dining room then through the swinging doors to the kitchen. It did Mia’s heart good to see her friend so happy. Eddie, too.
After a few weeks of adjustment, Rachel hit her stride at Muddy Creek High. The smaller atmosphere suited her. The girl had told Leanne that she felt like a “somebody” there.
Duh
, Mia thought with a smile. Muddy Creek’s schools didn’t often see a new student. Rachel was a novelty, and all the kids were anxious to get to know her better. Of course, the fact that she was a “city kid” didn’t hurt, either. Rachel knew every trendy clothing style, and Leanne made sure they hung in the girl’s closet.
Again, the doorbell jingled. Mia glanced up.
Cade stood on the welcome mat, wearing an ear-to-ear smile beneath his Stetson.
“You’re home!” Mia met him halfway and threw her arms around his neck. Snatching off his hat, she tossed it atop the nearest table. She didn’t care that Aggie watched them, or that the squeak of the swinging door hinges meant Leanne was up front again, too. “I thought you weren’t due back until tonight.”
When she stepped away from him, Cade said, “I finished up sooner than I expected and caught an earlier flight.”
The curious light in his eyes accelerated the pace of Mia’s heartbeat. Something was up. “How was Austin?”
“I didn’t go to Austin, Mia. I went to New York City.”
“New York? But the conference—”
“There wasn’t a conference.”
“Then what?” Her heart dipped. Mia looked into his eyes and knew the truth.
Cade pulled an envelope from his pocket, handed it to her and said quietly, “Here’s that surprise I promised you.”
Gripping the table’s edge, Mia sat. She couldn’t speak; she could barely breathe. Dizzy with anticipation, she glanced across the room to where Aggie and Leanne stood behind the counter, side by side. In their faces, she saw the same hope and nervousness she felt.
The envelope shook in Mia’s hand. She looked at it, opened the flap, pulled a card from inside it: an engraved invitation to an art exhibit in New York City next month.
As she scanned the featured artists’ names, Mia’s breath caught. “Christine MacAfee,” she whispered. “Oh, Cade.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she read the words scrawled across the bottom in her daughter’s handwriting.
Mom, I’d love for you to come.
I love you,
Christy.