“Are you mad at me?” Rex crossed his arms.
“Why should I be? You haven’t done anything to me.” Her eyes were stinging.
“Right. You’re absolutely right.” Rex turned and walked into the house.
Cora slapped the water. “Ooh, that man!” Why didn’t she tell him what she thought of him when she'd had the chance? Why did she clam up instead? Because...he was, after all, her boss.
Why did it have to be so difficult to work for him? Because she didn't approve of his personal life, that's why. She inhaled deeply. She had to let it go. He liked the job she was doing with Susie, and that’s what mattered.
Cora climbed out of the pool, wringing her hair. She dried off with her towel, reapplied sunscreen, and stretched out on the chaise. She closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, letting the sun heal her soul. She had to learn to keep her big nose out of Rex’s affairs. As long as she did a good job with Susie, that was all that mattered.
Then fierce thrashing in the pool startled Cora out of her peacefulness. She jumped from her chair tripping over her towel. She stumbled to her feet, and there in front of her, Rex splashed in the pool, arms and legs flailing all over the place.
“Help! Help! I can’t swim; I’m drowning!”
Cora jumped into the pool to save him without hesitation. There was no time to think. As she reached Rex, he almost drowned her, along with himself. She finally got him calmed down. Then Rex burst into laughter. Cora stared at him with her jaw dropped. She’d been conned. She shoved him away and swam to the shallow end of the pool.
“Cora, come on, lighten up. I just wanted you to come in and swim with me.”
“Well, that wasn’t funny. I really thought you were drowning. What if that had been Susie? What if I’d thought she was joking? It isn’t funny!” Cora’s head spun from the adrenaline rushing through her veins.
Rex swam over to Cora. “Hey, I’m sorry. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to frighten you like that. I was only playing.” Rex’s face was now inches away.
Cora stared into Rex’s eyes—black as midnight, intense, and spellbinding. “I’m fine, but I can’t believe you did that. You know, I should drown you right now. Then you’d learn your lesson.” Cora pushed Rex away again, playfully this time.
“Come here.” Rex gently pulled Cora back.
For a moment, neither spoke. Cora couldn’t help feeling tingly around him. He was so mesmeric and even more terrific-looking wet than dry. Even though she’d been mad at him a lot lately, her opinion had definitely changed since first seeing him at Ms. Lottie’s. He’d do anything to protect Susie, and he was a hard-working man. Plus, he looked great after working on the ranch, all dusty and smelling like the horses.
“What?” Cora felt herself slipping into Rex’s arms.
“I said I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” Rex pulled her closer.
“I hope not.” Their eyes locked, and Rex’s hold on her tightened. Her heart throbbed. She could feel it coming... “No.” She pushed away from Rex.
“What is it?” Rex asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Rex, you’re my boss…and you have a girlfriend.” Whom he’d been with in this very pool. What was he, some kind of Don Juan?
“Cora. You think too much. Veronica isn’t my steady girlfriend. Besides, I’m not your boss.” Rex came after Cora.
Cora reached the side of the pool and lifted herself out of it before Rex could catch her. “You are my boss.” She turned around toward Rex and then pattered across the deck.
Rex climbed out of the pool after Cora. “I’m Susie’s father. You’re her nanny. But my father employs you. Not me.”
Cora sat in her lounge chair, and Rex sat in the one beside her. Their knees touched.
“So I’m not your employee...but you do have a girlfriend. Anyway, I don’t care if you think you’re not steady. Veronica obviously thinks you are. She doesn’t like me. I know she doesn’t want me around.” Cora towel-dried her hair.
“She doesn’t matter right now. I want you around. You’re great with Susie.”
“Thanks.” Cora gazed into Rex’s chocolate eyes. She loved chocolate. She looked away before she lost herself in them. A hot breeze wafted across them.
“Why won’t you look at me?” Rex pulled on the corner of her towel.
“It isn’t you. I can’t get close to anyone right now. It’s too soon. I’m still sorting out Clark’s death.”
“He’s been gone a year, Cora.” A bull snorted in the pasture.
“Yeah, well, he’s been gone, but not dead. And I guess I don’t get over things as quickly as you seem to. I can’t just find someone, hop into bed with him, and forget all my troubles.” Cora shot daggers at Rex with her eyes.
“Ooh, that hurt. Is that what you think I’m doing? Do you think you’re my next conquest?” He huffed and ran his fingers through his dripping hair. “You’re wrong, you know. I told you how I feel about Patricia. But you can’t go to the grave with them. You have to move on.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do. But I can’t do it the way you do. I couldn’t leave my child for someone else to raise while I was out playing around with a wild woman. I mean…” She reached out to touch Rex in apology.
He jerked away. “So that’s how you see it? Well, at least I know what you think of me.”
“Rex, let’s drop it. I didn’t mean it to sound the way it did.”
“Tell me what you think.” Rex demanded. “Tell me!”
Cora sat in silence for a few moments, collecting her thoughts. She straightened her shoulders and pulled her towel closer to her chest. “I think you’re a great guy, very charming, nice when you want to be.” She smiled. “But I also think you aren’t living as you should. You never spend time with Susie, and you’re off at bars every chance you get. You don’t even come home until morning. Staying out all night with a woman isn’t exactly my idea of a good example.” Cora crinkled her brow, waiting.
“You know very little about me.” Rex bolted from the chair and stared down at her. The silence was deafening. Even the cows were silent. “Raising Susie is now your responsibility. My parents knew I couldn’t do it alone. That’s why they hired you. You set the example for her and leave my life for me to worry about. Is that understood?” Rex glared at her, then walked away, not giving her a chance to respond.
“Rex!” Cora was open-mouthed. Did he really think she was now solely responsible for the raising of his daughter? Precious as Susie may be, Cora couldn’t do what Rex demanded of her. The child needed her father. She’d already lost her mother.
Chapter 7
That night, after Cora bathed Susie and got her to bed, she went downstairs to the family room where R.L. and Pearl usually sat before bedtime. The lights were dim, and the television’s glow flickered across the room. R.L. flipped through a crossword puzzle book while Pearl cross-stitched. Pearl’s popcorn and R.L.’s coffee made it feel like home.
Cora hesitated before she interrupted, but then plunged right in. “Excuse me. Have you guys got a minute?”
“Sure. Come on in and have a seat. What is it?” Pearl said.
Studying their attentive faces, Cora fidgeted. “I don’t know how to tell you this….”
“Oh, please don’t tell us you’re leaving,” R.L. said.
“No. I don’t want to, but…it’s Rex. I don’t think I can work for him. Earlier today, we had a confrontation. I may have overstepped my boundaries. I let him know how I feel about his personal life. I told him of my concerns about the type of father he is. He told me I shouldn’t worry about how he lives his life, because I am now solely responsible for raising Susie. He said I should be the one to worry about being a good influence. I agree to a certain extent, but his influence matters most. It really bothers me that he stays out all night and never spends any time with Susie.”
Pearl shook her head, and R.L.’s neck stiffened. “We understand. Honey, we told you he’d be difficult. The reason we asked you t
o come here was that we knew Rex wasn’t doing his job as a parent, and we couldn’t raise Susie properly because of our age.”
Cora squeezed her hands together. “But I think this is doing both Rex and Susie an injustice. It’s enabling him to stay uninvolved in her life. Susie already won’t know her mother. Now she isn’t getting to spend time with the only parent she has. Rex is being relieved of his fatherly duties. It isn’t fair to Susie.” She pounded her fists on her knees. “One day she’ll be grown, and she won’t have any respect or feelings for her father.” Tears puddled in Cora’s eyes.
“You really care for her, don’t you?” R.L. asked.
Cora walked to the mantel, taking in the family pictures. “Yes, I do. I care about Rex also. I want him to love his daughter. I want him to get over Patricia. I want him to find love for himself again one day.”
“We wish he’d find love. He has to find someone better than Veronica,” Pearl said.
Cora nodded. “Before he can find love though, he’s got to get his life straightened out. He’s got to stop running. Believe me, I’ve been there. I know.”
“He hasn’t been to church since Patricia died. It really pains us to see him living as he does. His life is so empty right now,” R.L. added.
“Church isn’t always the answer though, R.L. Before Rex can hear the Word, he’s got to start listening. And he’s nowhere near ready to do that.”
“You’re right, Cora. His life is in shambles. He hasn’t even been home in over ten months. Right after Patricia died, he moved himself and Susie back to the ranch,” Pearl continued.
“Home? He has a house?” That’s right. Veronica had asked Rex to take her to his cabin.
“Yes, of course. He built a house when he started dating Patricia. When they got married, he moved her in there. When she died, he came home. He’s only been back to get things he needed. Most of the time, he sends one of us to get necessities,” Pearl answered.
“I had no idea he’d lived away. Where is his house?” Cora sat on the loveseat.
“You have to go behind the stables and over the hill. He put the cabin back in the woods. He loved that place so much,” R.L. said, sadness brewing in his eyes.
So he hadn’t lived off the ranch. “I’m so sorry. At least I had a year without Clark before finding out he was dead. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain Rex has suffered.” Cora buried her face in her hands. “I have wounded him so badly.”
“Please, consider staying with us. It would do you some good to be with Susie. We love you so much already. We would hate it if you left,” Pearl pleaded.
“I’ll stay a little longer. I just don’t know what to do about Rex, but I’ll try to think of something. I’m going to bed. Susie will be up before I know it.” Cora walked out of the room, straightening her shoulders. Tomorrow would have to be a better day.
The foyer was dark, but she found her way to the stairs by the small lamp on the round table at the foot of the stairs. As she went up the steps, Rex came down the upstairs hall. Maybe he’d pass her by.
She ascended; Rex descended. They met in the middle. She looked at him and him at her.
“Hi.” Rex stopped.
“Hi.” Cora nervously halted in front of the O’Reilly family portrait.
“Cora, I wanted to say...”
“Please, don’t.” Cora held her hand up in protest.
Gently taking her hand in his, Rex continued, “Thanks for what you said today.”
“Thanks?”
“Yes. Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me. I want to apologize to you.”
“No. Don’t. You struck a nerve. I didn’t realize I’d been avoiding Susie.”
“Oh,” Cora meekly replied.
Then he shuffled his boots on the hardwood stair and continued. “I’ve been thinking. How ’bout you and me take Susie to Calloway Gardens tomorrow? It’s so nice this time of year.” Rex still held her hand.
“Us? Just the three of us?” Cora looked at their hands.
“Sorry.” Rex released her hand.
“No, it’s okay.” Feeling awkward about their contact, she leaned against the wall. “I think it’d be fun. I’ve heard about it and passed the road signs before on the highway, but haven’t ever been.”
“Great, let’s go after breakfast. I can get some men to cover for me tomorrow.”
“Fine. We’ll be ready after breakfast.”
Rex tipped his hat and headed down the stairs.
“Rex?”
He turned around. “Yeah?”
“Thanks.” She smiled, then headed to her room.
* * *
“Susie, today we’re going to Calloway Gardens.” Cora buttered Susie’s toast.
“Yay!” The girl threw her arms up in the air in a cheer, lost her balance, and almost slipped out of the kitchen chair.
“Be careful. So I take it you’ve gone there before?” Cora tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“Yeah. There’s lots of butterflies there.” Susie took a big bite of her eggs.
“Butterflies, huh?” Cora pulled the waist of her jeans up. Over the past year, with all of the stress over Clark, her clothes had started to sag.
Rex came into the kitchen. “There’s a butterfly house there. Butterflies hatch and fly all around freely.”
“Wow! I can’t wait to see them.” Cora tried to ignore Rex’s tanned skin and obvious change in his mood.
“As soon as you ladies are finished with breakfast, we can go. I’ve loaded the truck.” Rex shoved his hands into his front pockets.
Pearl and R.L. smiled at each other as Rex lifted Susie up into the big cab of his Ford pickup and buckled her in. He helped Cora in and shut her door. She shifted her feet on the dirt-covered floorboard around a few energy drink cans and an empty box that once contained donuts. She pushed aside a t-shirt on the seat and buckled her seatbelt. He must live in his truck.
As Rex walked around to his side, he yelled, “See you this afternoon, Mom and Dad.” His smile was a genuinely happy one…the first Cora had ever seen.
As they drove down the long drive, however, a sports car zoomed toward them. Rex’s joy turned to obvious exasperation. His neck stiffened, and he held his breath. The car pulled up to the truck. Veronica sat behind the wheel. Cora let out a heavy sigh at the imminent change about to occur in Rex and the change to their plans for the day.
“What are you doing?” Veronica looked from Rex to Cora and back again with the eyes of a snake.
“We’re going on an outing.” Rex averted her stare.
“Excuse me?” Veronica blurted, slamming her hand on the steering wheel.
“Veronica! Relax, Susie is right here beside me. I thought it’d be a good idea for Cora and me to spend some time with Susie.” Rex winked at Cora.
Cora giggled, delighted that Rex had not altered his personality or their plans this time, and that Veronica was so steamed. Susie followed with a squeal.
“I just bet you did. Well, don’t bother calling me tonight. I won’t be home.” Veronica sped away, scattering gravel and dust everywhere.
“Hmm, I guess she’s mad.” Rex put the truck in gear and continued down the drive.
* * *
As they pulled through the admission gate of Calloway Gardens, Cora gasped at the flowering trees, plants, and green grass spread out as far as she could see. She couldn’t take her eyes off the azaleas and other flowers. “Rex, it’s beautiful. I don’t know why my family never came here.”
“You probably didn’t come here because you had the beach.”
“You’re right. Well, thank you for bringing us here.”
“My pleasure.” Rex found a parking spot near the Whippoorwill Lake. “Come on, Susie, let’s go find a spot to have our picnic.” Rex put the truck into park, grabbed the picnic blanket, and lifted Susie up and out of the truck.
“Let’s go!” Susie shouted.
Cora laughed and hopped down from the truck. She grab
bed the cooler and followed Rex and Susie to the lake.
“This looks like a good spot. “Rex set Susie down and spread the blanket out on the ground.
Cora helped him prepare the picnic site right at the edge of the lake. A gentle breeze blew, making it cool enough not to worry about blistering in the sun. Susie began running with her arms held out to her sides imitating an airplane and chased butterflies. Her sundress sported butterflies of all types. Cora sat on the blanket, and Rex chased after Susie. Cora couldn’t stop smiling. Her speech seemed to have worked.
Rex and Susie settled down on the blanket. “Susie sure does love the butterflies.”
“Yep, she sure does. Wait ’til you see her in the butterfly house. We’ll stop by before we head home. It’s really cool. There are examples of every life cycle and then, when they hatch, the butterflies fly all over the place.” Rex opened the cooler and pulled out some bottled waters for them and juice for Susie. He took out sandwiches, fruit, chips, and dip.
After Susie ate, she lay down on the blanket in the warm sunshine, flopping her legs back and forth. When Rex and Cora became aware that Susie had drifted into a nap, the two adults made themselves more comfortable. Rex lay on his left side and Cora on her right.
She picked a blade of grass. “Susie is so precious, Rex.”
“Yeah. She really is a handful at times, though.”
“I don’t know of a small child who isn’t a handful.”
He groaned. “So, tell me about when you were kidnapped. What was it like?”
“It was pretty awful. I still can’t believe it happened to me.” Cora took a sip of her soda. “I had picked up my car from Bobby Millburn’s shop and was heading home through some backroads he told me about. Cook—Jimmy had also told me about the backroads. I started to get creeped out because the roads didn’t seem like how they’d described them. So I turned around. But when I did, I blew a tire.”
“You had to be scared. I wish Cook had followed you home.”
“I know, but Jimmy had errands and I did too. Our schedules didn’t mesh. Anyway, after my tire blew and that truck rammed into me, I got out to walk back to the main road and started to feel like I was being watched. Woods are so eerie when you’re alone. That’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in that disgusting cabin.”
Song of the Meadowlark (Intertwined Book 1) Page 7