by Lori Wilde
He retrieved the newspaper from its box and then checked the mail. Phone bill, advertising circular, magazine. And an envelope addressed to April—from the fertility clinic.
The light-headedness that he’d suffered for the past several days returned in full force, and he felt sick to his stomach. Colton knew the symptoms had nothing to do with the mumps and everything to do with the envelope he held in his hand. Turning it over, he saw that the seal wasn’t firm.
He debated for a moment. Although he’d never opened her mail without her consent, he felt like this concerned him as much as it did her. Even so, he experienced a twinge of guilt as he lifted two sheets of paper from the envelope.
The cover letter confirmed her appointment for several weeks from now. The attached sheet gave a listing of potential donors. Identification number, height, weight, and hair and eye color. Even their education and careers were listed. April had everything she needed here for a custom-ordered baby. And none of it included him.
The postmark was Monday, barely three days after he’d come down with the mumps. She obviously hadn’t wasted any time adjusting her plans. Too bad she couldn’t have been bothered to discuss it with him.
Maybe she thought she was sparing his feelings. After all, most guys would get pretty testy about having their virility questioned.
He refolded the papers and stuffed them back into the envelope, fighting the temptation to ball it all up and toss it into the garbage can. Instead, he resealed the envelope and tucked it under his arm with the rest of the mail.
With a weary heart, Colton knew he couldn’t continue this marriage charade any longer. As soon as he got to a phone, he decided, he would call up an old friend of his. Without a doubt, Yvonne could help him through this.
But first he’d have to find his little black book.
The very second Colton was cleared to return to work, he returned to the campground, throwing himself into his work with more zeal than April thought he was ready for. But when she tried to caution him to take it easy at first, he laughed off her concern by saying that she no longer needed to mother him.
Nevertheless, she was trying to get him to sit down for a rest and a cold drink when the bell jangled on the door. April didn’t need a doctor to tell her that her blood pressure rose when Alexander Dugg walked into the camp store. She had hoped that the temporary truce they’d established at the dance last week would mean the end of his snooping into their business. But, as usual, he appeared to be looking for something, as though if he searched hard enough, he might find a criminal lurking around the corner.
Today, however, he wasn’t dressed for duty. In place of his uniform, he wore new jeans and a crisp, plaid shirt that was buttoned all the way up to the collar. He reeked of aftershave.
Colton flopped onto the pew bench with his back to the deputy and snapped open a soda can. “If you’re trying to go undercover, it isn’t working,” he said, pausing to sip his drink. “We can see through your ‘disguise.’”
“I’m not on duty today.” Dugg strolled over to the counter. Selecting a package of beef jerky, he handed some cash to April. “I’m looking for someone.”
Maybelline strolled over from her napping spot under the window and sat at Dugg’s feet in hopes of a handout.
April plunked his change down on the counter. “Why don’t you ease up on Steven? He’s trying his best to get his life straight.”
Dugg took a bite of the jerky. Then, noticing the golden-haired beggar, he tore off a small piece and dropped it. The meat never hit the floor. “I know he is.”
Colton sat up straighter on the bench and turned toward them. It was obvious he was as surprised by the deputy’s statement as she was.
“We had a long talk on the way back to the youth facility last week,” he continued. “He’s not a bad kid.”
To say April was pleased would have been an understatement. “So, you believe us? You agree he didn’t have anything to do with the fire or the missing items?”
Dugg paused as if searching for the right words. “I believe he won’t do it again,” he said gently.
It wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear, but it was better than his previous attitude. “Then why did you come here today?”
The man who stood in front of her, staring down at the floor and scuffing his toe against the tile, was nothing like the arrogant deputy with the puffed-out chest and even bigger head. He looked almost … bashful.
“I was wondering if you might give me your cousin’s phone number. They’re having a bluegrass festival over in Lakewood this evening, and since I’m not working, I thought I’d ask Ardath to do some clogging with me.”
April couldn’t help staring at the little man. What would he surprise them with next?
“Well, okay,” she said, searching for a scrap of paper. “As long as clogging is all you plan to do. Oh, and undo that top button on your shirt.”
His face split into a huge smile of relief, and for the first time since she’d met him, April actually thought he looked rather cute.
The door swung open again, and one of their regular campers entered. Only it looked like he had something on his mind other than buying supplies. “I need to talk to you,” he said, addressing both April and Colton.
To her chagrin, the deputy loitered and fed the four-footed mooch while Mr. Quesenberry described the items that were missing from his campsite. Odd items with no apparent value.
“I didn’t bother to mention it after my wife’s hairbrush disappeared because I figured she might have put it down somewhere and forgot about it,” he told them. “But then someone took our spark lighter and the metal fitting to our cookstove while we were at the lake, and the man camping beside us told me he was missing a cooking fork.”
Colton got up from where he’d been listening to this unfortunate news. “Mr. Quesenberry, we’re sorry your things are missing. Why don’t you let us replace what was taken? No charge, of course.”
The elderly gentleman smoothed back the strand of white hair that had fallen across his face. “It’s not the cost that bothers me. It’s the principle.”
“Believe me,” Colton assured the man, “we’re going to find out who’s doing this.”
When Mr. Quesenberry left the store, April hoped Dugg would go with him. Instead, he stayed behind, acting like he and Maybelline were the best of friends.
“I don’t understand why anyone would steal a bunch of useless stuff,” she mused.
Dugg cleared his throat. “I hate to say it, but down at the youth facility, they can turn all kinds of junk into weapons.”
“A hairbrush?”
The deputy shrugged. “You’d be amazed.”
A few hours later, April received a phone call from one of Colton’s old girlfriends.
“There’s no need for you to disturb him,” Yvonne Jackson said. “Just tell him that the bank has approved his loan to refurbish his house. I’ll send him a confirmation letter in the mail.”
April’s hand shook as she hung up the phone. “The Bachelor House,” he’d always called it.
With a heavy heart, she reluctantly acknowledged that her temporary husband was anxious to get back to his bachelor life. Unbidden, a memory returned to her of the time she’d asked him why he never settled down and got married. His response—that he enjoyed the chase too much— had been promptly followed by a flirting invitation to go out with him.
She had been fooling herself when she thought she could seduce him into wanting to stay married to her. The love he had for her was obviously the love of one lifelong friend for another. He was a man who enjoyed his freedom, and her wish to make him love her in a romantic sense was a selfish one. He had already given her so much by agreeing to their marriage of convenience and trying to give her the baby she wanted. It wasn’t fair of her to ask for more.
Brushing away the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, she supposed she wasn’t the first woman to think she could make him want to be married an
d start a family together.
It was just as well that she found out now, she decided, for at this point she would not be able to watch him step out of her life if he fathered a baby with her. With a sadness that permeated her soul, she conceded that the longer she stayed married to Colton, the harder it would be to let him go.
Taking a key from the ring at her belt, she opened the box on the wall in the game room and refilled it with tokens. Just like the fake metal coins, their marriage had been an insincere copy of the real thing. She’d used that token marriage in a game she played, and the prize would have been a baby.
But while she’d been playing the game, she had fallen in love with Colton. And while that was happening, the prize had somehow lost its luster.
No matter how much she wanted a baby, she knew it just wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t Colton’s. Remaining childless, agonizing though it might be, was a less painful option than raising his child without him. Less painful than looking into that child’s precious face and being reminded daily of the love that would never be hers.
11
That evening, Colton seemed surprised by her sudden decision to call off their baby making plan. When he tried to convince her that he was willing to complete their agreement, it took every ounce of courage April possessed to insist that he take back his freedom.
“If it’s because of the mumps…”
“No, it’s not that.”
“I’ve been given a clean bill of health.”
How could she explain this to him when it was so hard for her to accept the reality of it herself?
“All my life, you’ve come to my rescue,” she told him. “On more occasions than I can count, you’ve bailed me out of trouble, given me a comforting shoulder to lean on, and set aside your own plans in order to take care of me.”
She paced the floor while he sat on the bed they had shared until now.
“I’ve already taken advantage of your good nature more than I should have,” she continued. “I can’t let you, out of a sense of obligation, continue putting my needs before your own happiness. Let’s just call an end to the marriage and get on with the rest of our lives.”
Colton stood and tried to take her in his arms, but she wouldn’t let him. If she allowed herself to step inside the safe circle of his arms, she would never be able to leave it.
“What about the baby?” he asked. “I thought you wanted a child more than anything else in the world.”
Once, that had been true. But now April knew that even a hundred children wouldn’t fill the aching void left in her heart.
When she didn’t say anything, Colton lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to gaze up into his pale-brown eyes. “April, honey, I want to give you a baby. I want you to be happy.”
She could tell he was sincere, proving once again that he was the best friend a person could ever ask for. Unable to face the questions in his eyes, she turned away from him.
“I’m as happy now as I’ll ever be,” she said in all honesty.
That night Colton didn’t sleep at her apartment but returned the next day to collect his things and take them back to his house.
A few days later he launched wholeheartedly into fixing up his bachelor house. In its location off the driveway into the campground, April passed it twice every day going to work and returning home. Unwilling to witness the evidence of Colton’s new life without her, she averted her eyes from the construction site. April saw the remodeling as proof that he was happy to go back to his single life.
The same couldn’t be said for her. The apartment they had shared, which once rang with laughter, was now depressingly quiet without Colton.
To make matters worse, an awkwardness had settled over them. To avoid the painful stretches of silence, they put distance between them by working in different areas of the campground. When they were required to work side by side, silence echoed in the space that was once filled with lively conversation. And when they did talk, it was about the latest theft.
The tension was enough to make her physically sick.
Although she blamed it on the heat, she knew it was one of the symptoms of a broken heart.
As summer neared its end, April was relieved to hear the fire investigator’s report that the blaze behind Mrs. Turner’s house had not been deliberately set.
“Spontaneous combustion,” he’d said. “Green hay, dry weather, and the sun providing heat, all contributed to the fire. It’s a wonder it doesn’t happen more often.”
It did her heart good to know that Steven had had nothing to do with the fire. But April was baffled by the continuing disappearance of various items. Even the cell phone that she often carried in her back pocket had disappeared.
Until the phone disappeared, the missing objects seemed to be selected randomly, with no thought given to their value or usefulness. The main consistency had been that the missing belongings were all small.
Small enough to be stuffed into a pocket, perhaps? Small enough to be smuggled past a youth facility guardian?
“I told you I didn’t set that fire,” Steven said the next day as she checked the chemicals in the pool.
April replaced the cover over the filter and stretched the kink out of her back. “Yes, you did,” she agreed, “and I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“It’s okay.” He picked up the bucket of pool supplies and fell into step beside her as they returned to the camp store. “If I was you, I would’ve thought the same thing.”
When they reached the store, however, April didn’t go inside. She needed another few moments to talk to Steven in private. Stalling, she opened the vending machine and counted the empty drink slots.
Steven sat on the bench and wrote down the inventory numbers she called out for each flavor. Maybelline joined them and sat on the boy’s foot. During the few months he’d been working at Cozy Acres, the pair had become practically inseparable. Whenever he was around, the dog was right beside him, making it clear she thought he could do no wrong.
April hated to bring the subject up, but she hated even more the thought that the thefts would go unsolved and her young employee would carry the burden of suspicion. Swallowing hard, she decided to just come right out and say it.
“You know, Steven, because of your past some people naturally assume you’re the one who took the missing stuff.”
“Yeah, I know. Once a convict, always a convict.” He reached down and scratched the dog’s ears. Maybelline might not be bright enough to fetch a newspaper, April noted, but her pet knew how to comfort a lonely boy. “At least Mrs. Turner isn’t bugging me anymore.”
He was right about that. It was amazing how much their elderly neighbor’s attitude had changed since she’d started working at the campground, teaching crafts to youngsters. And whenever Clyde was near, Mrs. T—as she was affectionately called by the young campers—acted almost girlish.
Closing the drink machine door, April locked it and sat on the bench beside the boy. “You were never a convict,” she said emphatically. “The trouble you got into was minor, and sending you to the youth facility was an attempt to prevent you from getting into worse situations.” Spreading her arms wide, she added, “And look how well it’s working. Colton and I couldn’t ask for a better employee. We’ve even come to think of you as part of the Cozy Acres family.”
She hadn’t thought it possible, but Steven actually blushed.
“I’d like to solve this problem of the stuff disappearing,” she continued, “and I especially want to clear your name. If you know anything about it or can give us some suggestions as to what’s going on, it would be a great help.”
“I know!” He sat forward on the bench and snapped his fingers. “I bet Rocky’s been taking the stuff. Remember how he loved to take junk off the counter and stash it under the blanket in his box?”
For a moment April’s hopes soared. And then reality kicked in. “No, all he did was swipe some food from a couple of picnic tables.”
Steven laughed at the memory. “Yeah, he just sat down and helped himself while that family from Georgia was saying grace. Imagine their shock when they opened their eyes and saw a squirrel eating off their plates.”
It had been funny to hear them tell of the crazed squirrel that refused to be shooed away from their picnic. But as much as she wished the rodent could have provided the explanation, she knew he wasn’t the answer. “Things started disappearing before we set Rocky free.”
He looked crestfallen, and April fought the urge to wrap her arms around the boy and hug him.
“Oh, I forgot about that.”
“Don’t worry,” she assured him with a pat on the knee. “We’ll figure it out soon. Let’s go inside—this heat is enough to make a person puke.”
She was reaching for the pool supplies when Steven stopped her.
“April?”
“Yes.”
“I’m real sorry things didn’t work out between you and Colton.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Me, too.”
A cicada whirred its wings in the treetop and soon others joined in the chorus, creating a din that matched the unrest in April’s spirit.
“What you said about me feeling like a part of the Cozy Acres family,” he began with hesitation. “Did you really mean that?”
“Of course I meant it.” April leaned against the bench back and studied the boy she had come to care so much about these past few months.
He slouched in response to a growth spurt that had rocketed his height to six feet. As he leaned forward, gently pulling Maybelline’s jowls into comical expressions, his brown hair fell across his forehead. Dark specks shadowed his upper lip, giving evidence that it had been several days since he’d shaved away his newly sprouted whiskers.