Читать книгу Second Chance Mom - Mary Holder Kate - Страница 10

He discovered her in the laundry room moments later. “We have a clothes dryer and a line outside. I don’t know which you prefer.”

Annie smiled. “I hated doing my laundry in the city. Those dryers do their job but that crisp, new scent of outside is missing.”

Jared nodded though he didn’t reply. To him, dry clothes were dry clothes. As long as they were clean and accessible he was happy.

“This is where the kids play.” He led the way outside. “The trampoline is Caroline’s favorite.”

Annie had asked Santa for a trampoline for many Christmases growing up. Then at age nine, her mother had given up all pretense of there even being a bearded gift giver. After that little bombshell, Annie had stopped wishing.

There was a large swing set that combined aspects of a jungle gym, as well. “You put sand around the bottom of the play set.”

“James did. I swear they were the most safety-conscious parents of all time.” Annie heard the pride in his statement.

“The chicken coop is past the vegetable garden. We let them roam free every day and they get housed at night.”

Annie smiled. “Free range eggs.”

“They’re the best.” He walked a few more steps. “That row of coops over there houses what my mother calls ‘the critters.’”

“Should I ask?”

“Remember the rabbits and guinea pigs I mentioned before?” She nodded. “James put a lot of work into their living quarters.”

“I’ll bet the boys love their guinea pigs.”

“Actually the boys have the rabbits. The guinea pigs belong to Caroline. Now she’s bugging me for a ferret.”

Annie stopped. “Aren’t they dangerous?”

“They are if they get near the rabbits.”

“Is she getting one?”

“I might be able to divert her. She wants a scarecrow now…and she mentioned ducks a few weeks ago.” He walked a little farther. “The flower beds need to be replanted in places and the seasonal vegetables are going to be ready in a month of so.”

In twenty minutes, Annie’s life had changed. This was where she was meant to be. It didn’t matter what reasons had brought her here, what events had transpired to bring her into Jared’s life.

“I could make a home here,” she said honestly, taking in a deep breath of clean country air.

Jared turned and looked at her, a satisfied expression on his face. “I’m glad you think so.”

Annie wasn’t about to rush over any bridges only to have them burn behind her. “We’ll see how things go in the next few days.”

Jared nodded. “Come on. We don’t want to be late for dinner.”

The ride to his parents’ farm took her past stretches of road and landmarks she remembered.

“You look nervous.”

She nodded reluctantly. “I am a little…okay, a lot.”

“You know my parents already.”

“Do they know you’re thinking of marrying me…to keep the children together?”

“Yes.”

Annie felt even more nervous now. His parents were good, kind people who in recent years had been through their share of struggles. But for them to know their son was marrying and not for love…

“Annie, they will support me in any decision I make if it’s what I want.” He slowed the vehicle and smiled. “Besides, it’s too late to back out now. We’re here.”

The Campbell farm was as she remembered. The house was small and neatly kept, the gardens just as tidy, though now they were full of what would probably be the last blooms of the season.

This is where the circle of love had started. The Campbells, unable to have children of their own, had adopted Sara and Jared. And so had begun the events that had brought Annie here today. She took a deep breath as they pulled to a stop and got out as the front door of the house opened.

“You’re just in time for dinner.”

Eve Campbell looked a little older but was still a petite, casually dressed farmer’s wife. Annie felt a little of her anxiety ease as the smiling woman came toward her and enveloped her in a hug the likes of which Annie hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Welcome home.” She looked at Annie just like a mother hen checking her chick. “We’ve missed you.”

Annie had been waiting to say something to this woman for a long time. “I’ve never forgotten how kind you were to me, the dinners I had here and the gifts you bought me,” she said, squeezing the woman’s hand. “I want to say thank you.”

Eve blinked back moisture in her eyes. “Your smile told me that a million times over.” She took a good look at Annie. “You’ve grown into a very beautiful young woman.”

Annie blushed, not even trying to stop the heat that surged into her cheeks. She touched the end of her ponytail where it lay over one shoulder.

“I never did get the blonde hair I longed for as a girl, or the brown eyes…and the freckles didn’t go away.”

“Child, your beauty is natural. Your skin is so smooth and flawless and those green eyes…just striking.”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“And freckles?” She scoffed as if it were a minor concern. “It’s features like that which make people truly interesting…make them stand out from the crowd.”

Jared came around the truck and hugged his mother. “What’s for dinner?”

“A lamb roast, with vegetables and homemade damper.”

He laughed. “I should bring company home more often.”

“I haven’t had a home-cooked lamb roast since I left Guthrie. And I’ve forgotten how damper tastes.”

“Your taste buds are about to get a refresher course. Mum makes the best bread.”

Eve led the way into the house and before Annie even walked into the homey, aroma-filled kitchen she could hear the laughter of children—a boy and a girl—and the voice of an older man.

Suddenly her palms were sweating and her heart felt as if it were lodged somewhere in her throat. It was pounding so loud she was afraid it would just stop beating.

On legs that were threatening to go numb, as the realization of what lay ahead tonight hit her, Annie followed Eve into the kitchen, Jared behind her.

“Toby got hungry and after I fed him he just went out like a light,” said Eve. “He’ll be awake soon, I expect.”

Another reprieve—or torture—Annie couldn’t decide which.

Was she really ready to see her child? No, not her child—maybe biologically, but she had to remember that if she remained in these children’s lives that was the way it had to be.

At the table sat Mick Campbell. To his left sat Caroline and Luke, and there were three empty chairs waiting to be filled.

Jared could feel the tension radiating from Annie. “Dad, you remember Annie Dawson from Rivers End Road?”

Mick stood up.

“Nice to meet you again, sir.”

He chuckled, though it ended in a cough that had Annie wondering just how long it was taking him to get over his illness.

“Nobody’s called me sir since…I can’t remember when. Call me Mick.”

“Okay.”

Jared turned his attention to Caroline, who sat with her head down and eyes glued to the plate in front of her.

He began with the easiest task.

“Luke, say hello to Annie.”

The little boy used the back of his hand to wipe a milk mustache from his top lip and grinned, showing that his two front teeth were missing.

“Hi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Luke.”

“Are you our new mummy?”

The question exploded into the silence of the room.

Nobody spoke. Annie could feel their unease at the implications of that innocent question.

It was Caroline who broke the silence. “Mummy died. We aren’t getting another mummy.” She raised her eyes to look at Annie. “We don’t need a mother.”

It was as much of a warning as Annie would have needed had she been the kind to try and come into their lives and take Sara’s place.

“Caroline—”

Annie put a hand on Jared’s arm and he fell silent. “Well, how about a friend?” She slid into a chair opposite the girl who glared at her with a militant expression. “Could you use a friend?”

Her expression didn’t change. “I have friends.”

Eve made a quiet sound of distress. Mick sighed heavily and Jared took the situation in hand. “Annie is going to be here for the weekend.”

“You’re going to marry her, you said so,” Caroline accused. Eve moved about the kitchen busying herself serving dinner and Mick shot Annie a smile of support.

“We won’t be getting married unless Annie likes it here.”

One little eyebrow raised and Annie knew the gaunt-let had been unwittingly thrown down. Something told her Caroline would do her best to make sure Annie didn’t like it here. What Caroline didn’t know was that Annie had been a scared, lonely little girl once.

“This looks wonderful,” Annie said as Eve put the roast in the middle of the table and Mick handed the carving knife to his son.

After a brief prayer, Jared carved it with expert movements and precision before taking a seat alongside her. The roast was complemented by fresh damper, hot out of the oven, and a casserole dish filled with what Annie knew were farm-fresh vegetables.

Eve put the juice on the table and filled Annie’s glass. “Dig in, everyone. We don’t want it to get cold.”

The meal was enjoyable except for Caroline’s stony silence. If she were asked a question she would nod for yes or shake her head for no. If the question required an actual answer, she would shrug.

Luke however had no such qualms. “Do you like to play?”

Annie smiled at the boy whose blue eyes held mischief more playful than problematic. “I sure do.”

“What games do you like?”

“Are we talking inside or outside games?”

“Outside.”

“Um…horseshoes, cricket and building sand castles.”

Luke’s eyes went wide. “We have a sandpit and I can teach you to build really great castles.”

“I’d like that.”

He smiled so wide Annie wondered if he would hurt his face. But he had such wonderfully expressive features. He was a beautiful child.

Mick cleared his throat. “So Annie, Jared tells us you’ve been working in the city since you left Guthrie.”

“Yes, s—” She caught herself just in time and smiled. “Yes, Mick. I’m a waitress at one of the more popular restaurants down there.”

Annie wasn’t worried about admitting she didn’t have a job requiring a degree or diploma. The Campbells weren’t the type to look down on others for any reason.

“Tough job, waitressing. Mother did it for a while after we were first married,” he said, looking at his wife.

“I didn’t like it,” Eve admitted with a soft smile. “But we were newlyweds and back then we worked together for what we wanted.”

As it should be, Jared thought, watching the tender byplay between his parents, longing unfurling in him for something he knew he would never have, something he desperately wanted to experience. If he was honest with himself, and Jared always tried to be, he could let himself have feelings for the woman he was thinking of taking as a wife.

She was everything a man could want in a wife. Sweet and gentle, intelligent and caring. And there was a kindness about her that was as genuine as she was. Yes, she had a past but so did he, and Jared had no doubt that her past had molded her into the woman she was as much as his had molded him.

Jared ate dinner, glancing at Caroline now and again and listening as Annie and his parents kept the conversation going. Even Luke listened intently to what was being said and every now and then he would ask Annie a question. Caroline preferred to eat her dinner in silence.

He remembered how wary she had been of everyone when Sara and James had first brought her home. The changes had been achingly slow, but each one had been celebrated.

Patience and love had brought Caroline through the nightmares and out of the darkness into the sunshine where little girls belonged.

Jared recalled the first time she had hugged him voluntarily. Up until that day she had always tensed when someone—anyone—hugged her.

Luke had been so different. He had thrived in the attention from a loving family. He was an affectionate child at heart and would warm to anyone.

And Toby, well, Jared loved them all, but the baby had taught him a lot about what it took to be a parent, even a fill-in guardian.

Annie would work at developing a relationship with Caroline…it was just her nature. He could tell Luke had already befriended her the way they talked about adventures they had yet to have.

But he wanted to see her with Toby. He was so young and confused by the sudden loss of his parents. There was something about Annie that told him she would be a good mother.

He wondered how much of that shy little girl still lived within Annie. Did she remember the times when his mother had taken out homemade pies and casseroles to her house, trying to make sure she had something in her belly before bedtime?

Jared remembered. He remembered going out to that dingy old house with his mother, seeing the sad little girl sitting on the broken porch steps in grubby clothes and shoes that were falling apart. He remembered walking into this house and seeing her sitting with Sara, the two of them pouring over a book or some project. He remembered with a smile the day his mother had bought her a brand-new dress to wear to a mentor meeting with Sara.

The tears welling in her eyes didn’t start to fall until she saw the brand-new shoes to go with it. It was a credit to her that she had survived and become the person sitting here with his family now.

Mick said something funny and they all laughed. Jared found he liked the sound of her laughter. In fact he hadn’t yet found anything he didn’t like about Annie.

These children were relying on him to do what was best for them all. He felt it very strongly that Annie would fit in here.

He had prayed over his decision to take a wife for reasons other than love. He had prayed and he had found a peace with his decision to go ahead with his plan. He knew of marriages that were based on nothing but passion or, worse still, monetary gain. How could a marriage based on friendship and family be wrong?

Jared knew in his heart that Sara would approve.

“You got quiet all of a sudden, son.”

He was dragged back to the present in time to see that Annie and his mother had cleared the table. All except his plate.

“Just thinking, Dad.”

Annie almost dropped the plate in her hands when a fussing noise came from the other room. Eve dried her hands and left the kitchen.

Annie took a deep breath and she heard the woman come back in. “You finally get to meet the youngest member of Sara’s brood.”

Time had never stood still for her. Not when her mother had screamed in anger and sent her to bed hungry. Not even when the welfare people had come and put her into temporary foster care until her mother dried out. But now time stopped.

She had counted every day since his birth. Standing there in the Campbell kitchen, her heart hammering like a runaway freight train, she stared into the beautiful face of the little boy who had changed her life.

Annie couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. The beating of her heart was no longer a thundering cadence.

His hair was a deep brown and he was dressed much like his brother and sister, in blue jeans and a T-shirt. He wore socks but not shoes. Annie reached out and took one of his little hands in hers, wiggling it gently. “Hello, Toby.”

For all intents and purposes this child was a stranger to her. Yet she had carried him inside her. She had given him life. But it was Sara and James who had shaped him into the little boy he was. Toby eventually giggled and in shyness pulled his hand back.

Eve put him on the floor and on wobbly legs he ran to his grandfather. Mick picked him up and set him on his knee.

“I swear, this boy gets bigger every day. He’ll keep you on your toes this weekend, Annie.”

She returned to helping Eve clear dishes, unable to stop from stealing glances at Toby now and then. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Grandma, may I be excused?”

Eve kissed the top of Caroline’s head, ignoring the cool tone of her voice. “Of course, dear. You and Luke can go watch television if you like.”

The girl slid off the chair, pushing it in. “Are you coming, Toby?”

Instantly the boy wriggled down off his grandpa’s knee and chased after his siblings as they disappeared into the living room.

In less than a minute, Annie heard the distinctive introduction for one of the more popular cartoon channels.

“I’m sorry about Caroline.”

“Jared, it’s okay. We both knew she was going to have a tough time with this.”

Mick sat back in his chair and sipped his coffee. “We really appreciate what you’re offering to do, Annie.”

“I appreciate the chance Jared is giving me to have a family to care for and a place to belong.”

“It must have been very lonely for you in the city,” said Eve, coming to sit beside her husband, her eyes as soft as her smile. “I often wondered about you.”

Annie couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been lonely. Even with Chris in her life she had felt alone—deep inside where nobody ever saw. “I learned a lot about inner strength and I learned to rely on my faith.”

“Would you like to come to church on Sunday? Jared always brings the children.”

Annie nodded. “I’d like that very much.”

The older woman smiled back. “I think it’s time for some homemade peach pie.”

The rest of the evening was enjoyable for Jared. He talked with his dad about crops while Annie helped his mother. In the back of his mind, worries persisted about Caroline but he hoped her fears could be worked through with time and love.

Annie fit in well here. His parents liked her, that was plain to see. Jared could imagine her back at the homestead, working in the kitchen, helping the children with their baths and homework.

He could imagine coming home every evening to the aroma of a home-cooked meal, without having to come in from the fields and throw something together.

His mother often came over and surprised him with something in the oven, and it usually lasted a few days but he had tried to be self-sufficient to a point.

When family services had started reviewing Caroline and Luke’s placement, Jared had prayed for help. God had worked through Lewis and had found him Annie. He knew a lot of women these days wanted careers outside the home and if that made them happy he had no problem with it.

But it made him smile to think there were still some women out there who wanted to take care of a family. He knew some men dismissed it as an easy job. Jared had never made that mistake. Watching his mother raise two children, keep the house running smoothly and pay the bills while making ends meet had taught him about love and family.

On top of all that Eve had even gotten out in the fields and shearing shed at different times to help out where she could.

That was what life on the land was all about, he thought, watching Annie now. It was a partnership, a mutual goal and a willingness to work for that goal. He couldn’t promise her the trappings of a real marriage but he could promise her the most important things.

Jared made the move to head off home a little before nine that evening. The kids, all still wide-awake, took their time saying goodbye.

“Caroline, you can sit in the back with the boys tonight.”

The little girl paused on the way out the front door and turned to look at him.

“But Uncle Jared, I always sit up front with you.”

Annie came up behind him. “Jared, I don’t mind sitting in the back. This is just the first day. We’ll take it slowly.”

Jared didn’t see the look of triumph Caroline gave Annie as she climbed into the front seat. The girl was letting her know that the first round had been played and won.

Annie wanted to pull her close and hug her, to let Caroline know it wasn’t a contest—that no matter what happened after this weekend she would always come first with her uncle. But Annie knew her hugs would not be welcomed, not yet. It would be a slow process. Perhaps even a painful one for Caroline, if Jared agreed to the marriage.

Annie remembered what one of the nurses had told her the morning Toby was born. You do what you are able with hope in your heart and leave the rest in the Lord’s hands.

Her heart squeezed tight the moment Toby came up to her and held out his arms. He was ready to go in the car and he wanted her to put him there.

Annie reached down and caught him securely in her arms, hugging him close to her, inhaling that sweet baby smell that all little ones seemed to have. He was so soft in her arms, warm and yet quite heavy though he was an average size for his age. At one point he looked straight into her eyes and smiled.

Annie smoothed a hand over his forehead and gathered herself. “Let’s get you in the truck, little man.”

“Tuck!”

She smiled at him and tickled his belly as she settled him in the car seat. “Very good.”

His giggle melted her heart. Soon they were headed home. Luke was talkative. Annie asked one question about his pets and the little boy had come alive, telling her all kinds of details.

Toby was content to play with the teddy bear he clutched in his hands and Caroline tuned the radio to a music station and stayed silent all the way home.

Back at the farm, Caroline and Luke were waiting on the porch for the adults by the time Annie managed to get Toby out. She set him on the ground and he made his way up the steps in what had to be record time. Jared unlocked the front door and they raced inside, heading straight for the laundry.

Moments later Annie heard the slamming of the back door.

“They always check the animals before bed. I think it would be okay if we skipped baths tonight.”