Time to Heal (Harlequin Heartwarming) (5 page)

He set the fish food on the shelf. His gaze, meeting hers, was hesitant. “Is it all right to call you Miss Rachel? I thought about names and all, and Miss Rachel seemed the best thing.”

Rachel stared at him, her heart beating with pain and confusion and a fierce desire to reject Jake’s illegitimate son no matter how appealing he was, no matter how disadvantaged a life he’d had.

“I know it’s kind of hard for you,” he went on
in a low tone when she didn’t reply right away. “Me showing up here like this and you not even knowing I was ever born. I mean, it’s different for Jake since he’s my dad and all.” His expression as he met her eyes held regret and apology. Then he straightened up, as though bracing for the worst. “You’re probably real upset.”

“It is difficult,” Rachel murmured, rubbing a temple that suddenly throbbed. For a moment, she and Michael simply looked at each other, much as she and Jake had done a few minutes ago in the hall. From the fish tank came the soft gurgling sounds that both found comforting. None of this was the boy’s fault. Surely she still had enough compassion left in her soul to acknowledge that.

“Call me Miss Rachel,” she told him. “That will be just fine.”

He smiled with relief. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

In the den, Jake was just replacing the receiver. He looked up in the act of reaching for his drink. Seeing her expression, he downed a good half of it before answering. “What is it?”

“You’ll have to go in there, Jake.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

She looked away as though searching the room for patience. With a deep breath, she faced him again. “Michael is ready to go to bed, Jake. As you asked, I went in to see if he needed anything.”

His brows lifted. “Yeah, so?”

“He does need something. He needs pajamas.”

“Pajamas?”

“Yes, Jake,” she repeated with measured patience. “As in clothing, something to cover his body. Pajamas, Jake!”

“Well…” He glanced toward the laundry room, then clapped his head with one hand. “Hell! I forgot to put that stuff in the dryer, didn’t I?”

“There are no pajamas in the laundry, Jake. He doesn’t have any.”

“No kidding?”

“Go see for yourself.” She made an exasperated sound. “He seemed to think it was okay.”

“Hey…” His tone was meant to soothe. “Don’t worry, I’ll go get him some clothes and then I’ll talk to him. He’s only behaving as he’s been reared to behave, Rachel. He wants to please us—he’d probably sleep in a three-piece suit if I ask him to.”

“Fine.” She turned away. “I’ll wait for you on the patio.”

T
HE DOOR WAS SLIGHTLY
ajar when Jake reached Michael’s room. He held an old T-shirt in one hand. With the other, he rapped softly before stepping inside. “Hey, everything okay in here?”

“Yes, sir. Everything’s fine.”

The glow of the aquarium bathed the room in
soft light. Michael lay on the bed on his side, one arm crooked beneath his head. His only covering was a sheet draped partially over his middle. As Jake approached, he scrambled up until his shoulders rested against the headboard. He was whip-cord lean, his skin winter pale, but the promise of strength and power was there, just as it had been in Jake at the same age.

Recognizing it, Jake felt sudden fierce father love. It gave him a shock. It was so quick, so…elemental, that he simply stood there at the bed for a moment, his errand forgotten. The boy had walked into his life less than fourteen hours ago and already he felt a kinship that could only be compared with his first moments with Scotty. Scotty had been tiny and discolored and squalling, outraged by the harsh reality of birth and the bright lights and chill of the delivery room. But just one look and Jake’s chest had swelled with emotion, a reaction that went beyond pride, beyond simple joy. It had been instantaneous and profound, and he’d never thought to experience it again.

He’d been wrong.

“You, uh…” Jake laughed softly and pinched the skin at the bridge of his nose. “You found everything you needed in the bathroom?”

“Yes, sir. More than I needed. I had my own
toothbrush and stuff, but I’ve been out of toothpaste for a few days.”

Jake sat on the edge of the bed. “What were you using?”

Michael happily shifted over. “Oh, you know, soap or whatever else was handy. Pepsi.” He gave Jake a quick look. “That works pretty good. It foams and all.”

Jake could only imagine. “Here, I brought you something.” He handed him the T-shirt.

Michael took it, holding it out to read the words on it. “Kinard County Sheriff’s Department, 1990 Champions.” He looked up eagerly. “Champions of what? Baseball? Basketball?”

Jake smiled. “Would you believe waterskiing?”

“Waterskiing! Oh, man, I’ve always wanted to water-ski. Do you think I could learn?”

“Sure. First week in June, we’ll take the boat out and you’ll get your first lesson.”

Michael stared, mute for a second or two. Then he shook his head. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”

“Want me to pinch you?” Jake asked, taking pleasure in the boy’s uncomplicated delight.

Michael laughed softly and began carefully folding the T-shirt. “I’ll wear this tomorrow.”

Jake reached out and touched his shoulder. “We’ll find something else tomorrow, Mike. This is to sleep in tonight.”

“Huh?”

There was such complete bewilderment on his face that Jake had to hide his smile. “I guess you’re not used to sleeping in pajamas back in Iowa.”

“No, sir.” He shrugged. “Nobody sees ’em, so what’s the point?”

“That’s true.”

“It saves having to do laundry, and since I was the one who had to go to the laundromat, it made a lot of sense.”

“You’ve definitely got a point there.”

“But I guess things are different here, huh?”

Jake took a breath. “Well, we do have Rachel to think about. Women have certain ideas about these things.”

Michael nodded, suddenly full of understanding. “I sure wouldn’t want to do anything to make her mad.”

“It’ll take more than a little misunderstanding over wearing pajamas to make her mad, Mike.”

Michael stared at the lettering on the T-shirt. When he spoke, his tone was solemn. “I know she’s already mad. Who could blame her? Having a kid you never even heard of walk in and having to let him live with you.” He shook his head. “It’s a wonder she didn’t toss me out right on my, uh, my tail.”

Jake took a minute before replying. “It was a shock to her, Michael. I won’t deny that. But you
don’t have to worry about anything now. You’re my son, and wherever I am, you’ll be with me.”

Michael just stared at him.

“What is it, Mike?”

“Do you mean that?”

“Yes. Absolutely. You have my word on it.”

Tears welled in Michael’s eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Words, Jake could see, were beyond him. Seeking to ease the moment, he asked, “While you were on the road, where did you sleep, Mike?”

“Truck stops, mostly.”

“I mean where specifically? Not in a motel room at a truck stop. I know you couldn’t afford that.”

“No, sir. Mostly in the back of trucks or sometimes at rest stops on the interstate.”

He spoke offhandedly, but Jake knew the situations a fourteen-year-old faced hitchhiking twelve hundred miles. His experience in dealing with runaways filled in the blanks all too well. Something twisted in the pit of his stomach. Why was it that his children, first Scotty and now Michael, seemed fated to experience such hardship? For a moment, he felt a depth of rage that rendered him speechless.

“It’s okay, Dad. I made it.” Michael grinned suddenly and pulled the T-shirt over his head. “Not that I’d recommend traveling like that, you
understand. A couple of times, I almost freaked. You gotta be tough.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jake reached for him, succumbing to a need to touch him. He caught him around the neck, playfully locking Michael’s head in the crook of his arm. With his other hand, he ruffled the boy’s dark hair. “What’s the matter? Don’t you know not to leave home without your credit card?”

“I wish!” Michael laughed, then his arms tightened around Jake’s middle, and just for a few seconds they held fast to each other. When Michael settled back against the headboard, his smile faded. “Will you thank Miss Rachel for the meal and for giving me this room?”

“Yeah.” Smiling faintly, Jake added, “But remember what I told you. You don’t have to feel grateful. You’re my son. This is your home. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

“I’ll try not to bug her too much.”

“I’ll tell her.”

After a moment, Michael crossed his arms over his chest. “It seems almost too good to be true.”

“It’s about time some good things came your way. Right?”

For a second, two pairs of gray eyes met and held. Then Michael said softly, fervently, “I don’t want you to ever be sorry you let me stay.”

Jake reached out and wrapped a hand around his son’s neck, bringing the dark head close. “No
matter what,” he told Michael, meaning it from the bottom of his heart, “that’ll never happen.”

“No kidding?” The words came out muffled, a little thick.

“It’s a promise.” Jake felt the slight shoulders relax before releasing him. He stood up. “Now. Lights out. You’ve got a big day tomorrow—school, shopping, because you need some new clothes—and you need to check out the neighborhood. I want you to feel at home here.”

Michael scooted down, making himself comfortable. “Will you go with me or Miss Rachel?”

“Me, probably,” Jake replied, looking at him. Smiling faintly, he watched as Michael’s eyes grew heavy. Exhaustion finally overtaking him, his breathing evened out, deepened. Jake reached over and snapped off the aquarium light, plunging the room into total darkness. He wondered how long it had been since Michael had slept in a real bed with a full belly and a sense of security. Looking around, he changed his mind and turned the tank light back on. If his son woke up in the middle of the night, Jake wanted him to see something that made him happy.

F
ROM THE PATIO
Rachel watched the light go out in Michael’s bedroom, then after only a second or two, come on again. With an impatient sigh, she got out of her chair and began pacing. She wanted
the confrontation with Jake over with. How long did it take to give a kid a T-shirt and explain a few basic points of etiquette? Stopping before a bed of daylilies, she pulled off a few dead blooms, her movements abrupt. It would take a long time if Michael opened up to Jake the way he’d seemed willing to do with her.

She tossed a handful of withered yellow blooms into the flower bed. He was probably full of horror stories from his travels across the country. As shocked as she was at having Michael show up on her doorstep, she couldn’t help but admire him for having the grit to undertake such a quest. Six weeks of searching for a father who was a total stranger living twelve hundred miles away couldn’t have been easy. Nor homelessness. Fortunately for Michael, there had been a happy ending. For Scotty…

Her thoughts scattered with the sound of the patio door opening.

Spotting her in the shadows, Jake closed the door softly. “Michael wanted me to thank you.”

“Whatever for?” she said coolly.

“For taking him in, I suppose,” Jake said, wearily rubbing a hand over his face. “For giving him the first square meal he’s had in six weeks. For treating him decently when you could have refused even to speak to him. He’s well aware that his appearance is a shock.”

“None of this is his fault.”

Jake dropped down in the chair she had just vacated. “I’m happy to hear you say that.”

“I’ll bet you are.” With a hard twist of her wrist, she snapped a flower from its stem.

For a long moment, he studied her rigid back. When he spoke, it was in a soft, almost defeated tone. “Okay, Rachel, let’s get it over with.”

She whirled to face him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She kept her voice low, but its very softness underlined her rage and sense of betrayal. “You’d like it if we could have a simple shouting match, just say everything there is to say about what you’ve done and then go on as if nothing’s changed. Well, you can just think again, Jake! A few questions and answers aren’t going to make everything peachy. Whether you think so or not, everything
is
changed. You were unfaithful. You cheated. You—”

“It was fifteen years ago, Rachel! I’ve already said I was wrong. I made a mistake. We need to—”

“Carry on?” Her tone was heavy with sarcasm.

He drew in a deep breath before lifting his eyes to hers. “I know that’s not possible.” He reached over and pulled another chair close. “Come over here and let’s try to sort this out.”

For a moment, she hesitated. Then she tossed the flower away and sat down.

“I told him I’d get him enrolled in school tomorrow.”

“He needs clothes, Jake. If those rags he wore today are the best he has, then you’d better take him shopping first and then see about enrolling him in school.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jake agreed with a sigh. He looked at Rachel. “What do you think, a couple of pairs of jeans and some shirts?” Suddenly he got out of the chair. “I don’t know what kind of stuff fourteen-year-olds wear nowadays! The only thing I’m sure about is sneakers. I haven’t seen a kid in years wearing a real pair of shoes.”

“Clothes are the least of it. It’ll take more than a spiffy wardrobe to make Michael fit in.”

He glanced at her. “What does that mean?”

“You saw him at the dinner table. He didn’t think to wash up. He ate with his elbow propped on the table. He wouldn’t have used his napkin if I hadn’t said something.” She stared off in the distance, her expression stony. “His manners are deplorable.”

“Only because he hasn’t had the advantages other kids have.”

She shrugged. “Anyway, it’s your problem.”

“I don’t see it as a problem, Rachel.” Jake struggled to control his temper. “Manners can be taught. He’s a good kid, he’s got a good heart. And
he’s my son. Hell, I feel lucky that he managed to find me.”

“Congratulations, then.” Rachel stood up abruptly. “I’m going in. You know where the extra linens are.”