“We have to get going. We still have to pick Margaret up and will be traveling for about five hours today. I’ll text you all and let you know when we’re stopped for the night. Then you can send out a family news bulletin so everyone will know I’m still alive.” She rolled her eyes in his direction. “I apologize for my family. Being the youngest sometimes has its perks, but this isn’t one of them. They don’t seem to think I can take care of myself.”
“Now, Vicki, that’s not true. We just wanted to make sure we saw you before you left, that’s all.” Grandma Gertie was looking at him with her head slightly tilted as though she was contemplating something. Finally, she nodded and gave him a smile. “And I wanted to be sure this young man knew not to try any funny business with my granddaughter, but I think he can be trusted.”
“Grams!” Vicki grabbed his arm and pushed him toward the front of the van. “Let’s go before the rest of the family shows up.”
He laughed as he walked around to the driver’s door. “I promise to bring her back in one piece.”
As they got inside the van and closed the doors, she leaned back and sighed loudly. “I swear, my family goes out of their way to drive me crazy. A week away from them might do me good.”
He started the van and drove away, waving to the women who stood watching them go. “Oh, they’re not all bad. They just wanted to make sure you weren’t driving off with a serial killer or anything like that.”
“Well, considering the fact that Robyn told me I was exaggerating when I mentioned something about you possibly being a mass murderer, I find it funny she showed up to see for herself.”
He shot a look in her direction. “You seriously thought I was a murderer?”
She shrugged, and he turned back to look at the road ahead as they drove to the nursing home. “Man, usually women think I’m quite charming, so I’m not sure what to think about this new development.”
Vicki laughed beside him, and he was glad to lighten the moment a bit. He knew there was no way he could repay her for going on this trip with them, so he wanted her to at least enjoy herself.
“Well, don’t take it personally. I generally mistrust anyone until they prove me wrong. I’ve watched too many horror movies and cop dramas, I think.”
“Okay, so if it will make you feel better and more sure that I’m not some crazed killer, I’m going to confess something to you. But you can’t laugh.”
He quickly glanced at her to make sure she was listening. Her face was excited as she waited to see what bombshell he was going to drop.
“You say you watch a lot of horror movies. So, maybe I’m the one who should be scared of you. Because…and now remember, you promised not to laugh…I can’t watch horror movies. At all. I’m terrified of them. I watched one when I was a kid and it scared me so badly for life, that I’ve never even been able to watch a preview when it comes up for a horror movie. I can’t do the spooky houses at carnivals and if I even hear a noise at night that could potentially be something sinister, I spend the rest of the night sitting up with all the lights on.”
He pulled up in front of the nursing home door and turned to face her. Her mouth was partially open, but when their eyes met, she quickly closed it and pulled her lips together tightly in an attempt not to laugh.
“You’re kidding me.”
He shook his head seriously. “Nope. And one more thing I should mention before we head off on the road. I’m also deathly afraid of spiders, so if any show up, you’re going to have to take care of things.”
Normally, these were secrets he would never admit to anyone, but seeing the reaction Vicki was having as she struggled not to laugh, made his own humiliation worthwhile.
Hopefully, it would put her mind at ease enough to be comfortable with him. Because if she spent the whole time on edge, thinking the worst could happen, it was going to be a long week ahead.
Chapter Six
“Vicki, you don’t need to sit in here and babysit me all night. I know it’s early, so if you want to go out for a walk or something, I’m sure Mitch would be more than happy to go with you.”
They’d arrived at the hotel after their first day of driving, and Margaret was visibly tired. She’d had difficulty walking and had required a lot of care when they got into the room. It broke Vicki’s heart to see how the disease was progressing, but it helped her to know she’d done the right thing by coming on this trip with the older woman. Hopefully, the memory of seeing home would carry Margaret through the trials of the days ahead.
“I’m not babysitting you. I’m tired too, so an early night will be good for both of us.” She was sharing a room with Margaret, not wanting to be too far away if she was needed. Mitch had a room across the hall, and while Vicki really wasn’t that tired, the thought of knocking on his door and spending time alone with him made her nervous.
It was safer if she just stayed here with Margaret. She was being paid to take care of her, after all.
Margaret was in bed, sitting up against the pillows watching Vicki. It seemed strange to see the woman getting ready to go to sleep outside of her usual surroundings.
“I’m glad to see that you and Mitch seem to have come to a sort of truce. I know you weren’t happy with him, but you searched and found him for me anyway when I asked you to. And then meeting like you did, might have caused some embarrassment, I suppose.”
Vicki cringed as the memory of “the incident” hit her. Some embarrassment was putting it mildly.
“It’s obvious to me that you still don’t really trust him, or even like him very much, so I want you to know how much I appreciate you agreeing to come with me.”
“It’s not that I don’t like him. It’s just…” Vicki racked her brain to think of what she wanted to say. What was it just?
The truth was, ever since she’d met him, Mitch had actually been a pretty decent guy. He’d never given her any reason to hate him, and in fact seemed to be taking everything in his stride. She’d tried to pay for her supper today, but he’d insisted she stick to the agreement that he’d cover all costs.
And, during the hours on the road, he’d turned out to be a tolerable traveling companion. Margaret sat in the back so they could recline her seat slightly, and she’d nodded off a few times, leaving them having to make small talk on their own.
“It’s okay, Vicki. I know you have your reasons to doubt his sincerity, and it’s hard to understand everything that might have happened for him to have avoided visiting me all these years. I’m not sure I will ever even understand it myself. But the thing is, with family, you just have to believe and trust that they’re the same people you’ve always known and loved.” She fidgeted a bit, trying to move her pillow to get more comfortable. Vicki quickly went over to give her a hand, pulling it over slightly.
Margaret reached up and took her hand, patting it between her own. “Thank you, dear. You always take such good care of me. Just give Mitch a chance. He hasn’t had the easiest go in life, and someday, maybe he will trust us enough to explain himself. All I know, is that in my heart, the man who showed up and has now taken the time to give me this trip, is the same little boy I’ve loved all those years ago.”
Vicki sat back on the edge of her own bed facing Margaret. Guilt washed over her that she’d let her own mistrust and emotions show enough for Margaret to have noticed. This was her grandson, and he was the only family the woman had.
She decided then and there that she would do her best to give him a proper chance to prove he was a good man. And, if something happened and he proved otherwise, she’d know she had at least tried. She would do it for Margaret.
* * *
Mitch fiddled with his coffee, trying to focus on the conversation he was reluctantly having.
“Mom, I told you I was going. It’s not like I really had much time to prepare or anything. Was I supposed to wait until you were back from California before I left?”
“Well, it would have been nice, Mitchell. You know I wasn�
�t happy about you going on this trip in the first place. If I’d have known you were leaving so quickly, I would have forbidden it.”
“And how exactly would you do that, Mom? You can’t forbid me to do anything anymore. You seem to forget that.”
His mother sniffed loudly into the other end of the phone, making sure he heard he’d made her cry. “So, this is the thank you I get for the years of raising you on my own? For everything I gave up for you?”
Nothing ever changed with his mom. She always pulled the guilt card at how she’d been a single mom, had gone without so he could have the best life she could give him, and how he didn’t show his appreciation enough now for everything she’d done.
He was so tired of it. All his life, his mother had played the victim so well that he didn’t think she knew how else to act.
Why had he even bothered to tell her he was doing this in the first place? He knew she was going to hate it. But he hadn’t seen her in a while, and he’d hoped that maybe she would be happier now that she’d found a man and remarried. Her new husband had money and he seemed to genuinely love her, so Mitch had thought maybe she would finally let go of all the bitterness from her past.
A part of him almost wondered if he hadn’t told her because he knew she would be upset. The thought of him spending time with her ex-husband’s family after all these years was going to be like a slap in the face to her. In her mind, he was betraying her.
“Mom, I don’t want to argue. What’s done is done, and I’m already on this trip. It has nothing to do with you, or me not appreciating you raising me on my own. Dad is gone. Grandma Margaret is the only family I have left on that side.”
“Well, she certainly never stepped up to visit you all those years ago, so I don’t know why you’re so easy to just forgive and forget.”
He sighed loudly and leaned back in his chair, clenching his eyes shut in frustration. He’d come down to the lobby of the hotel to grab a coffee when his mother had called, and thankfully there wasn’t anyone else here listening to his conversation.
“Why do you even care anymore, Mom? Can’t you just be happy for me that I have a chance to connect with Dad’s family?”
Sitting here talking to her, he felt like he was that little boy again in the middle of all the fighting. No matter how much he wanted to have a normal family, it would never happen. It was far too late for that.
“Because your father or his family didn’t do anything to help you over the years, so why do you have this silly need to connect? Margaret never liked me, and because of that, she had nothing to do with you. Yet, there you are having fun and pretending nothing happened. Now she thinks she can just swoop in and take you from me.”
“Mom, I’m done talking to you. Seriously, you’re acting like I’m ten years old again. I can’t do this right now.” He hung the phone up and leaned his elbows on the table, resting his head in his hands.
After all these years, his mom still couldn’t let any of the past go. And she was determined not to let him either.
“Is everything okay?”
Vicki’s voice startled him, and he quickly lifted his head to meet her concerned gaze. Of all the people he didn’t want to have heard his conversation, it was her.
“Yes, just my mom giving me some of her special tough love.” He laughed and tried to make it into a joke so Vicki wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.
She looked like she didn’t quite believe him but must have also understood it wasn’t something he was willing to talk about, so she smiled and sat down in the chair across from him.
“Your grandma is asleep already. Her snoring was rattling the windows so I decided to come down and get myself a cup of tea in hopes it will help me to sleep with all the racket.”
He laughed as he pictured his grandma comfortably sleeping while she kept everyone else around her wide awake. “Well, I can trade rooms with you if you want. But if she needs anything overnight, I’m afraid I’d have to come get you.”
She shook her head, strands of her hair falling down around her face. He’d never seen a woman who could look so disheveled and so beautiful at the same time.
“No, it’s fine. It’s best if you get a good night’s sleep since you’re insisting on driving the whole way.”
Vicki had offered to drive part of the way today, but he’d refused. He enjoyed driving and was used to putting in long hours behind the wheel when he needed to travel for work. Flying wasn’t on his list of favorite things either.
Plus, he was willing to admit he was a bit funny when it came to driving. He preferred driving himself because then he was in control of the vehicle. And after seeing how Vicki was with a shopping cart, he thought it might be best to just stay behind the wheel himself.
“Did Grandma seem all right tonight? I’m worried that we might have overdone it the first day. I know if it was just us, we could make the trip in one day if we wanted to. But we have to make sure we don’t do too much driving in a day for her.”
Vicki nodded, sitting back in her chair and wrapping her arms around herself. It was a bit chilly in the lobby, but she was wearing an oversized sweatshirt, so she tucked her hands underneath as she hugged herself. “She was actually quite good, considering she was stuck in a vehicle all day. Your grandma is pretty tough. If it was anyone else, I might be more worried.”
He had to laugh as she talked about his grandmother. “Considering your own grandma seems like she might be able to lead an army into battle, I’d say you know all about having a tough one.”
She laughed. “I don’t know about leading an army anywhere, but she seems to be able to wrangle her entire family and know exactly what is going on in everyone’s life without batting an eye.”
“Plus, she makes the best banana bread I’ve ever tasted.”
Vicki had opened the bag with their lunch from Grandma Gertie when they’d stopped at a park earlier in the day, and they’d been surprised at how much food she’d packed inside. There were likely enough sandwiches and cookies to feed everyone in the hotel.
But the banana bread had quickly been eaten by the three of them, and he was wishing Gertie had packed an extra loaf of the moist, rich bread.
The whirring of the ice machine in the corner was the only noise in the lobby as they sat together in comfortable silence. He desperately wanted to think of something they could talk about so he could keep Vicki here longer, but she looked tired. It had been a long day and they’d have to be up early tomorrow to get back on the road.
He realized suddenly how glad he was to have Vicki here with them, and it wasn’t just because she was a nurse.
Whatever it was, he was going to just let himself enjoy it and worry about everything else when the trip was over.
Chapter Seven
“Do you think we should stop and let her stretch her legs? She’s sleeping, so I hate to wake her.”
Vicki looked into the backseat at Mitch’s question. Margaret was reclined and looked to be sleeping comfortably, with only minimal snoring. She made a mental note to perhaps prop the woman up more tonight so that things might be a little quieter. Vicki had barely slept last night, jerking awake every time Margaret’s snoring had reached a crescendo. But she hadn’t wanted to let Margaret know how tired she was this morning, especially when she saw how excited she was to get on the road again.
They’d decided to only do about six hours of actual driving time again today, with frequent stops for Margaret to get out and stretch her legs a bit. The last thing they wanted to do was have her so played out, or worse, end up being sick, by the time they got there that she couldn’t even enjoy it. By tonight, they would be in South Dakota and only have a couple more hours of driving in the morning to get to their destination.
“She looks fine. I wouldn’t worry about stopping just yet. If she gets uncomfortable, she’ll let us know.”
Mitch had been so attentive to his grandma, and if not for the fact she knew he’d pretty much abandoned the woman for y
ears, she’d think he was the perfect, doting grandson.
She still wasn’t sure what to think of him, but she was enjoying the trip so far. He’d been pleasant to talk to along the way, and true to his word, he hadn’t brought up anything about her shopping cart accident.
When she’d come down to the lobby last night and seen him talking on the phone, she’d held herself back so she didn’t intrude. She could tell from his body language that it was an intense conversation and she didn’t think he’d want anyone to overhear.
She’d thought it must have been a girlfriend he hadn’t mentioned, or maybe someone from work, but had been surprised to hear it was his mother he’d been talking to. Vicki and her mom had their share of disagreements over the years, but she couldn’t remember any time when she would have been that upset by an argument with her.
Vicki thought back to what Margaret had said about giving him a chance, and how she didn’t know the whole story about Mitch’s life.
“So, I guess if we’re going to be sharing a vehicle for this long, it might not be a bad idea to get to know each other a little better. I mean, I know you’ve mentioned being a software developer, but that’s about all I know. Do you have your own business? Are you married, or have a girlfriend?”
Her cheeks burned as soon as she blurted the questions out. What did it even matter? And she was pretty sure she’d have at least heard him mention a wife by now if he had one.
He took his eyes off the road for a second to look at her with an eyebrow raised. Why did she always feel like she was doing or saying something to embarrass herself around this man?
Finally, he turned back to the road, the dimple on his cheek giving away his smile.
Healing Hearts: Quinn Valley Ranch Book 27 Page 4