The Winding Road Home (34 page)

Kate intended to do her fly-on-the-wall routine and simply take the photos. Somehow a man eating birthday cake with his seventeen-year-old granddaughter for the first time made that stance impossible.

“Kate, I'll take some.” Eagle-eye Tanner must have noticed her blinking back tears and not clicking. “You're never in the pictures.”

She let him take the camera from her hands. At least he knew how to use it.

It was as festive an affair as possible under the circumstances. Balloons and flowers filled the small room. Adele and Graham stood together. Chelsea sat beside Rand on the edge of the bed. His bare feet, which appeared abnormally large, were flat on the tile floor. Unlike the other times when Kate had stopped by, he wore a robe rather than daytime clothing. He gallantly ate two bites of the cake and three of ice cream. It took him 40 minutes. Afterwards, they helped him lie back down.

Four weeks had passed since Adele first learned her father's identity. Kate had watched her transition from angry to tense to gentle. Along the way she and Graham had reconnected and were now seldom out of each other's company as far as Kate could tell. Chelsea had blossomed into a young woman, taking over chores at home and daily visiting her grandfather.

Kate watched the four of them now. Despite the passage of years and Graham's strange role, they were a family.

“Tanner,” she said, “let's do a family photo.”

He waited while she posed the four of them, Rand in the center, the others leaning, surrounding him.

“Okay, one, two, three, say cheese!”

They cooperated and Tanner snapped a few shots. Kate knew they would be precious.

Rand said something, his raspy voice more difficult to understand.

“What, Grandpops?” Chelsea asked.

“Open. Mine.” He smiled.

The man possessed one incredibly strong constitution. From what Kate understood, his pain should be unbearable without drugs keeping him asleep most of the time.

Chelsea sat on the edge of the bed and accepted a business size envelope from Graham.

Standing off to the side of their little circle, Kate backed against Tanner, wanting the comfort his physical presence offered. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and settled his chin lightly on top of her head. She brought her hands up to clasp his arms, imagining he must be comparing his own distant father to the scene before them.

Chelsea pulled a piece of paper from the envelope and gasped. “Mom! It's a deposit slip for my bank account.” Her eyes widened. “For five hundred thousand dollars!
Five hundred—
Grandpops!”

“Multiply that…by a hundredfold. That would be the number of times…I regretted…not knowing you.”

The girl buried her face in his shoulder. Adele, on his other side, kissed his face and murmured something.

Kate figured they should slip away, but Graham cleared his throat.

“You old coot, you're always stealing the show.”

Tanner laughed. Chelsea and Adele sat up smiling and wiped their eyes.

Graham said, “Chels, I have something for you too.” He walked around the bed to Adele's side and took her hand. “It involves your mother. And,” he turned to Rand, “with your permission, sir?”

The old man smiled and gave a half nod.

Graham returned the smile. “Dearest Adele, will you be my wife?”

Chelsea squealed and Adele started crying. As Graham leaned over and kissed her tears, Chelsea shouted, “Mom! You're supposed to answer!”

Adele smiled at her new fiancé. “She thinks I don't know anything.” She pulled Graham nearer and whispered in his ear.

He whispered something back and then straightened. “She said yes.”

Rand beamed and Chelsea clapped.

Tanner whooped quietly for only Kate to hear.

“Now, Chelsea.” Graham walked around the bed again and took her hand. “I love your mother very much. And I love you because you are an extension of her. I promise to do my best at being a dad. Will you be my daughter?”

His words silenced her.

“You're supposed to answer.”

Now Chelsea started crying.

Graham hugged her. “I hope that means yes. Kids these days don't know a thing. Nobody move.” He went to his sport coat draped over the back of a chair and dug into its pockets. Out came two small, foil-wrapped gifts. Grinning, he handed the gold one to Adele, the silver to Chelsea.

The women, still speechless, unwrapped…lifted tops off boxes…pulled out smaller, velvet boxes, pushed back lids. Rings sparkled. The mouths of mother and daughter formed round O's.

Even from across the room, Kate could see Adele's ring was of diamonds, a large central one with chips along the band.

“Oh, Graham. It's beautiful.” She slipped it on. “It fits!”

“I called Will. He seemed to know your size.”

They laughed, but Kate wondered if he teased. The guy knew how to get information.

“Mom, look at mine. Is this an emerald? My birthstone!” She tried it on the ring finger of her right hand. “It fits too! Graham. Thank you!”

Tanner raised his chin from Kate's head. “One more picture, everyone? With ring fingers held high?”

The family laughingly agreed.

Kate leaned against the wall as Tanner the photographer went to work. A deep sense of belonging bubbled inside of her.

Washington, DC, couldn't hold a candle to the magic of Valley Oaks.

Adele sat beside her father on the edge of the bed, facing him. Graham and Chelsea had left to take the cake and ice cream to the kitchen.

“R.J.
Pops.
Don't go to sleep yet.” She touched his shoulder.

He opened his eyes and smiled.

“I didn't thank you.”

He waited, an expectant look on his face.

Adele gave up trying to swallow away the tears. She whispered, “Thank you for bringing Graham into my life.”

“It's where…I always wanted him.”

She kissed her father's face. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Addie.”

In the predawn hour of a glorious Sunday in May, Randall Jefferson Chandler passed quietly away, surrounded by his loving family.

Kate's hands literally itched to pick up her cell phone and call Tanner. Instead, she scratched first one palm and then the other. After weeks of blossoming love, it was second nature to turn to him whenever she needed to talk. Like now.

The newspaper publisher's best—make that
only
— prospect for a new editor sat at Kate's desk, working on the computer. His name was Murray. He was sixty-ish, tall, slender, a retired Rockville dentist who wanted to be a writer.

Kate chewed her thumbnail, reading a lead paragraph. He'd spent 15 minutes agonizing over the writing of it.

At last she said, “This isn't bad.”

“If you weren't staring over my shoulder, it could be better.” He smiled at her, softening the complaint.

“You're going to have people staring over your shoulder all the time. Like after it's in print and all of your readers are next door or just down the street. You see them at the store, at the post office. You will move to town, won't you?”

“Well, my wife's opposed to the idea. She's still working at an office in Rockville, so we'll probably stay put for a while.”

“These are long hours out here.”

“That shouldn't be a problem.”

The bell over the door jangled. Kate turned to see Joel enter.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Kate.” He eyed the stranger at the desk.

“This is Murray. He's thinking of taking over as editor here. Murray, this is Joel Kingsley, high school principal.”

Murray loped over to the counter and shook his hand.

Joel said, “Nice to meet you. Kate, I'd like to buy a page.”

“You mean a full-page ad?”

“I guess. Though it's not exactly an ad.”

Kate sensed a story. She smiled. “What are you up to now?”

The cool, calm, ex-military man returned her smile. “It's just between us, okay? Until the paper comes out.”

“Sure.”

“I'm proposing.”

“Marriage?” Kate clapped her hands. “In a full-page ad?”

“Gotta keep it public, you know.”

“You are bonkers.”

He crossed his arms. “I don't recall ever being referred to as bonkers.”

She laughed at his sudden military demeanor. “Not to your face. Sorry, but I've seen you on one knee in the commons and hugging a teacher in your office. You're bonkers. What makes you think she'll respond favorably?”

“That's personal.”

“Okay. What do you have in mind?” She grabbed a piece of paper and laid it on the counter between them.

“The usual.”

She cocked her head.

“Miss O, will you marry me?”

“Signed Joel. Or Mr. Kingsley?”

“Mr. Kingsley. Big print.”

“How about inserting the photo from the other time? We could enlarge it.” She sketched on the paper. “Put it here. Maybe some floral border here. Don't you want to put something about love in it?”

“Well…”

“Joel, if you're going public, you're going public. If you're not going to be there when she reads it to say it in private, it better be in here.”

“Excuse me.”

They turned to look at Murray.

“What are you two talking about?”

Kate answered, “Joel is asking Britte the math teacher to marry him. Since he's a public servant, he wants to do everything possible in public.”

“So he's taking out an
ad?”

“Sure. Only it's not really an ad. Now, Joel, we could do this.” She wrote on the paper. “Dear Britte. You are the light of my life. I would be honored to have you as my wife. Hey, that rhymes.”

Joel's chin jutted out. “Kate. I want it simple. Miss O, will you marry me? Mr. Kingsley. Bold print. No flowers. No pictures. No extra words. I'll tell her the rest in private.”

“Okaaay.” She pulled out a fresh piece of paper. “Short and sweet it is.”

Murray leaned across the counter. “You're both joking, aren't you?”

Joel narrowed his eyes at him.

Kate said, “Murray, this is just the way things are done in Valley Oaks.”

Chelsea opened the front door for Tanner, talking into the cordless phone while smiling at him. She pointed toward Kate's rooms and promptly headed upstairs.

“Knock, knock,” he called out and went into Kate's sitting room.

She entered from her bedroom. “Hi. You're early.”

He gathered her in his arms and held her a long moment, nuzzling against her neck. It was her last night in Valley Oaks. “All packed?”

In reply, she kissed him. “Tell me what happened at school. I haven't heard.”

He laughed. “Nobody said a word to Britte. There were about six of us in the teachers' lounge when she came in. She saw the paper lying there and sat down to read it.” He laughed again. “She turned all red and snapped the paper shut. Like none of us had seen it, right? Of course I had to say something. I asked if there was anything interesting in the
Times.
Man, if looks could kill. She marched out the door and muttered something about him paying big time for this one.”

Kate chuckled. “The guy is merciless.”

“Trust me, she can match him in that department. So…” Their arms were still around each other. “I came early to give you your gift. Tomorrow's the big day.”

He and her family were accompanying her to Iowa City in the morning for her graduation ceremony.

“Yeah. It's hard to believe I finally did it. But you weren't supposed to get me anything, Carlucci. After the laptop and the trip—”

“Sorry, I haven't kicked that habit yet. Can't pass up an excuse to buy a gift for my girl. It's outside.”

“Outside?”

“Close your eyes. Tighter. Hold my hand.” He pulled her through the house and opened the front door. “Now you can look. Ta-da!”

When the volume of her squeal surpassed Chelsea's the night she received the ring from Graham, Tanner was quite pleased with himself. Her face did its Christmas-tree–light number, green eyes wide.

“Tanner!” She flew out the door, and then raced back to give him a quick hug. “You can't do this!” She ran to the curb.

A spanking new sunburst yellow Volkswagen convertible sat there, its top down, revealing a creamy interior.

He joined her beside it. “What do you think?”

“Oh, Tanner, it's beautiful. It's so bright and shiny!” She danced around it, oohing and ahhing. “I cannot accept this! Can I drive it?”

“Of course.” He handed her the keys. “But not with me in it.”

“You chicken.” She got into the driver's seat and turned on the engine. “Oh, she even
sounds
beautiful. What do we name her? If I keep her, that is. You can't give me something this extravagant!”

“Who says?”

“Conventional society.”

“Like I care.”

“I'll look like a kept woman.”

He winked. “I'd like to keep you a kept woman.”

She ignored him and shifted into first. “Come on, Tanner. Come with me. I'll tell you a secret if you do.”

He eyed her skeptically.

“It's true. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but now— oh, I can't believe you did this! Hop in. We'll just go out to the baseball fields.”

How much harm could she get into in that short distance? He climbed in. She roared away from the curb and he questioned his decision, hurriedly snapping on the seat belt. He held his breath for five minutes while she laughed, waving to every driver and pedestrian they passed. She slowed as they neared the ball diamonds, all occupied with teams and fans. The lot and side street were full of cars. Shouts could be heard even from a distance.

“This is too crowded. Let's just go down the road a bit.” Before he could protest, off they went. A few minutes later she stopped along the side of a little used country lane bordered by newly planted cornfields. She cut the engine.

“Kate, from here on out, I'm driving. I can't handle Mr. Toad's Wild Ride outside of Disneyland.”

“I'm not that bad. We made it, didn't we? Not even one close call.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you so much.”

He returned the hug. “You are so welcome. Happy graduation.”

She kissed him and sat back, gazing at him, her feelings undisguised. It never ceased to astound him that she truly cared for him. What was he going to do without her nearby?

Carefully, he undid the hair clip, freeing her hair, and smoothing it back from her face. “Well, what's the big secret, Kilpatrick?”

“You know I can't think straight when you do that.”

“And you know I can't think straight when you look at me like that.”

She wrinkled her nose and laughed. “We are disgustingly sappy.”

“So.” Reluctantly he stopped caressing her hair. “Go ahead.”

“I fired Murray today.”

“You fired Murray,” he repeated in disbelief. “The temporary editor fired the newly hired permanent, for-real managing editor.”

“Yep.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course I can. The man just did not get it. No way was he ever going to get it.”

“Get what?”

“The magic, Tanner. The Valley Oaks magic.”

“But that's not your problem.”

“Of course it is. How could I let someone like
that
take over? I'd feel guilty for the rest of my life! Not to mention I'd be without a job.”

He waited, hoping he wasn't reading too much into her words.

She smiled. “Why would I go to DC when my life is here?”

“But what of your dream? Of recording history? Of influencing people?”

“My goodness, that's been happening on a weekly basis right under my nose since I wrote my first article for the
Times.
But that's only icing on the cake. You're the real reason. You're the essence of Valley Oaks magic for me.”

He brushed away a tear pooling in the corner of her eye. “Kate, I love you so much I would let you go if it's best for you.”

“I know. That's why I'm staying.”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“I am
so
sure, Tanner. Watching Adele with her father, I realized how quickly time passes. I don't want to waste any of it. My life has been a long winding road. God kept throwing in one curve after another. He sure went to an awful lot of trouble to get me here. I think I should stay put.”

“It ain't DC, kid.”

“No, it ain't.” She grinned. “But it's home.”