For Her Son's Love

by Kathryn Springer

  “Hey, champ.” Andrew knelt down in front of him. “Where’s your mom this morning?”

  Daniel ducked his head and his legs began to swing rhythmically back and forth. “Working.”

  Questions lined up in his mind but Andrew noticed Zoe standing in the doorway behind him, clearly fascinated at the scene unfolding in front of her.

  “Zoe, are there still some pastries left in the break room?”

  “Uh-huh.” Her head bobbed.

  “Could you bring them to my office? And a glass of milk.”

  “Milk?” Zoe’s nose wrinkled as if she’d never heard the word.

  He lifted an eyebrow.

  “Yes, Mr. Noble. Milk.” Zoe backed out the door and disappeared.

  When the sharp clip of her stilettos faded, he turned back to Daniel. “Let’s go into my office.”

  Daniel jumped down and Andrew noticed the swimming goggles looped around his arm.

  “How did you get here, Daniel? Did Hallie bring you?” He knew Miranda was working and Sonshine Camp had officially ended. The next logical assumption was that Daniel should be with his babysitter.

  Daniel shook his head. “I…walked. From the park.”

  Andrew quickly calculated the distance between Winchester Park and the Noble Foundation and his blood chilled. “By yourself?”

  The look Daniel slid in his direction was weighted with fear but he nodded. “Mom showed me where you worked when we took a walk. And I saw your car in the parking lot.”

  “Does your mother know you’re here?”

  Tears filled Daniel’s eyes and he shook his head mutely.

  Andrew blew out a quiet breath. The shadows in Daniel’s eyes warned him to tread carefully. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Hallie this morning?”

  Daniel’s eyes darkened to the color of espresso behind the thick lenses of his glasses, searching for the answer to a silent question. Could he trust him? It was the same expression Andrew had seen on Miranda’s face the night before. And it made him wonder all over again what they’d gone through.

  “We met some of her friends at the park,” Daniel said in a low voice. “She said I’d have fun. They had some cool stuff but if I wanted to try it, I couldn’t tattle.”

  A code straight from the troublemaker’s handbook. And ruthlessly effective on someone Daniel’s age who wanted to fit in with the “big” kids. Andrew tamped down his rising anger.

  “Tattling is telling on someone to get them into trouble. If a person might get hurt, telling someone is the best thing you can do. It shows you’re a true friend.” His mother would be thrilled to know he’d remembered one of her lectures. And it seemed to work. The shadows lifted slightly as Daniel digested the words. “What kind of cool stuff did they have?”

  “Fireworks,” he whispered.

  Relief pulsed through Andrew. Not because fireworks weren’t dangerous but because he’d automatically assumed it was something worse. Considering the Fourth of July celebration the day before, it shouldn’t have surprised him that Hallie’s friends had a surplus of fireworks. But it didn’t explain why Daniel had left the park without Hallie. And why he’d come to him instead of going to Miranda at the diner.

  “You shouldn’t have left the park,” Andrew said, as gently as he could. “Hallie is probably worried about you—”

  “One of the kids was being mean to a dog.” The words came out in a rush. “And he got mad when I let it go. He said he was going to find it again and put it in a box and drop the firecrackers inside. I told him we wouldn’t let him.”

  We.

  The absolute certainty that Andrew was going to help him right a wrong humbled him. Daniel didn’t know Andrew’s reputation. He didn’t know that Andrew Noble supposedly looked after only one person—himself. What was it that Miranda had told him after the closing program for Sonshine Camp? That Daniel viewed him as some kind of hero?

  The faith the kid had in him was humbling. Time to don his invisible cape.

  He held out his hand and Daniel grabbed it. “We better get back there, then.”

  On their way out, they almost bowled down Zoe.

  “Hold my calls, please, Zoe.” He snagged a pastry off the tray as they went past her and handed it to Daniel.

  “Mr. Chrone said if you aren’t on his veranda by noon with an apology and a good excuse, he’s going to call Rachel at home and tell her…” Zoe craned her neck to read the piece of paper clutched in her hand “…you’ll have to sell all your fancy cars to make up for the scholarship money the Foundation is going to lose.”

  Andrew laughed. “Call Mr. Chrone and tell him there’ll be two of us…for lunch.”

  Miranda had given up on Andrew when he’d missed the breakfast rush. She didn’t expect to see him sneak into the kitchen through the back door. With Daniel. And a tiny animal with laughing shoe-button eyes and stringy brown fur that looked as if it hadn’t had a bath in months.

  “Daniel, what’s going on? Where is Hallie? Yuck!” Miranda yelped as the dog’s tongue unrolled and took a friendly swipe at her cheek.

  “Is that a dog?” Darcy, who’d just swept into the kitchen, stopped dead in her tracks and stared. Not at Andrew but at the furry thing in his arms.

  “It’s six health-code violations.” Isaac’s scowl was as dark as a December morning. “Get it out of my kitchen.”

  “Can you take five, Miranda?” One of Andrew’s hands trapped the wriggling dog in the crook of his arm, the other rested on Daniel’s shoulder.

  “Sure she can.” Sandra breezed in and cheerfully answered the question, not at all taken aback by the strange gathering in the kitchen. “Things won’t pick up for another hour or so. Take your time.”

  Isaac rolled his eyes and flipped a pancake onto a plate. “Daniel? Do you want this one?”

  “I can’t. Me and Andrew have a lunch meeting. It’s Take-a-Friend-to-Work Day, isn’t it, Andrew?”

  Miranda sagged against the counter. Smelling salts would have come in handy if they were still in fashion.

  Without ceremony, Andrew took hold of her elbow and pulled her into the alley. When the screen door snapped shut behind them, Miranda put her hands on her hips.

  “Explain. Why. You. Have. My. Son.”

  He did. By the time he was finished, Miranda wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. So she did a little of both.

  “But Hallie didn’t tell me Daniel was gone.”

  “She thought he was hiding. She and her friends were still looking for him when I got there.”

  “But something could have happened. He’s only seven years old!”

  “We discussed that before she quit.” The edge in Andrew’s voice made her blink.

  “She quit?”

  He plowed his lean fingers through his hair, leaving it in casual disarray. “Actually, I think I fired her.”

  “You fired my son’s babysitter.”

  He shot her an apologetic look. “She tried to make excuses when there weren’t any. Hinted that Daniel overreacted. Said the dog was an ugly stray. Which is probably true, but that’s beside the point.”

  “Why did he go to the Noble Foundation?” It was a poor substitute for the question she wanted to ask. Why did he go to you?

  “He wanted me to rescue the dog.”

  Miranda wanted to argue that she was capable of rescuing a dog, too, but it would have sounded petty. She went for coolly polite instead. “I appreciate you taking the time from work. I’ll call Hallie. Daniel can stay with me until my shift ends.”

  If she’d paid attention to her doubts about Hallie in the first place, Daniel wouldn’t have been in a potentially dangerous situation. Even now, the thought of him walking alone to the Noble Foundation gave her a queasy feeling. There was no doubt she’d have to find someone else to care for Daniel in the mornings but she didn’t know where to begin. She didn’t have a network of friends to give her recommendations. She’d found Hallie by putting an advertisement in the newspaper and that had take
n several weeks.

  “He’s more than welcome to stay with me for a few more hours. It’s Take-a-Friend-to-Work Day, you know.” Andrew looked so innocent, she almost believed him.

  “You made that up.”

  “You’re giving me way too much credit.” Andrew winced as his tie became too much of a temptation for the dog, who gave it a sharp tug. “I have a lunch meeting with a potential client who happens to know as many baseball statistics as your son. They’ll have a lot to talk about. Mr. Chrone doesn’t like me so I’m hoping Daniel will win him over.”

  “You’ve done enough for us,” she argued, thoroughly charmed by the sight of Andrew’s silk tie being shredded by a dog no larger than a loaf of bread. “I can’t let you—”

  “Miranda, it’s time you let someone.”

  The quiet statement battered her already weakening defenses. She didn’t know how he’d gained such a foothold in their life. It wasn’t only Daniel’s attachment to Andrew that worried her. For the first time she recognized the truth. Her heart was at risk, too.

  “I’ll have him back to you by three. I promise.”

  Two words she’d heard before. Two words she’d stopped believing. At least, she thought she had. Until now.

  Reminding herself that keeping promises didn’t mean a thing in Andrew Noble’s world didn’t help, either. Her traitorous heart no longer lined up with her head. Every time she tried to put Andrew into the same category with Hal, her memory stubbornly refused to cooperate. Instead, it replayed a series of images. Images of Andrew carrying Daniel up the stairs after the fireworks. The tender look in his eyes when he’d brushed the hair away from her face. His calm acceptance of a morning disrupted by a runaway boy and a stray dog.

  She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat.

  “Three o’clock.”

  At two minutes to three, Daniel bounded into the kitchen. Alone.

  Miranda caught a glimpse of Andrew’s Ferrari pulling away from the curb.

  “Andrew couldn’t stay, Mom,” Daniel said, oblivious to the war going on inside his mother as disappointment battled against relief. “He said to give you this, though.”

  He handed her a single white rose.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Are you sure Mrs. Enderby isn’t going to get mad?” Daniel eyed the paintbrush in Miranda’s hand as if he wasn’t quite ready to believe they had permission for the project.

  “I’m sure,” Miranda answered patiently. Even though it had to be the tenth time she’d heard the question.

  But she could understand Daniel’s caution. Miranda had been ready to plead her case to get their landlady’s permission to make changes to the apartment, so Mrs. Enderby’s response had surprised her, too. The elderly woman’s eyes had narrowed as she’d given Miranda a measured look and finally she’d muttered, “It’s about time.” She’d shocked Miranda even further by offering to reimburse her for the cost of the paint because Miranda had volunteered to do all the work.

  Sandra would have smiled and declared it was God’s provision. Just like Daniel’s new babysitter. Leah Cavanaugh.

  If Mrs. Enderby’s easy acceptance of the home improvements hadn’t stunned her enough, Leah had called her less than an hour later. She’d taken Olivia to the diner for ice cream, where Sandra had filled her in on Miranda’s babysitter dilemma. Leah had called Ben and he’d agreed she should get in touch with Miranda as soon as possible. Since Olivia and Daniel got along so well, Leah claimed she’d be happy to watch over him while Miranda worked at the diner. And she wouldn’t take no for an answer, making it sound as if Miranda would be doing her a favor. Joseph kept her busy and close to home, so Olivia would be thrilled to have someone to play with every day.

  Daniel’s excited whoop when he’d overheard parts of the conversation had convinced her that Leah and Olivia weren’t the only ones who thought it was a good idea. Overwhelmed at Leah’s generosity, Miranda had agreed. Starting Monday, Daniel would be going to the Cavanaughs’.

  Those two bright spots managed to push back the shadow of Andrew’s absence over the past two days. Her quiet little boy had turned into a chatterbox and Andrew had become his favorite topic.

  Andrew had talked Mr. Chrone into adopting the stray dog.

  Andrew’s rearview mirror had a smiley face sticker on it.

  Andrew had taken half an hour to pick out one flower.

  Miranda’s heart had stumbled over the last one. When Daniel had given her the rose, she’d assumed it was simply a casual token Andrew bestowed on all the women he knew. Or an apology for dropping Daniel off and leaving without a word.

  It wasn’t possible he’d chosen it especially for her because he’d noticed she loved fresh flowers. Was it?

  “Let’s play tic-tac-toe.” Miranda needed something to take her wayward thoughts off Andrew. She dipped her brush in the paint can and laughed at the expression on her son’s face.

  “On the wall?” Daniel gulped and glanced over his shoulder, as if afraid Mrs. Enderby would appear in the doorway, wielding her “scolding broom.”

  “We’re going to paint over it anyway. Come on, young man. Lighten up a little.” While her mood had lifted at the thought of the work ahead of them, Daniel had gotten quieter as the morning progressed.

  Daniel gifted her with a small smile and carefully painted an X on the grid she swiped on the wall.

  Although she’d been tempted to attack the anemic beige kitchen with a gallon of paint called Primrose, she decided to paint Daniel’s bedroom first. He’d lived with lavender walls long enough. It was her weekend off from the diner, which gave her a perfect opportunity to devote a large chunk of time to the project.

  At the hardware store earlier that morning, Daniel had picked out a shade in an eye-popping lily-pad green. A perfect backdrop for the new comforter set they’d found at a discount store in Richmond.

  “Your turn.” Miranda nudged him after painting an O in the upper corner. They’d played tic-tac-toe enough for her to know that Daniel, a keen strategist, was usually two moves ahead of her.

  Daniel dropped the brush back into the paint can. “I don’t feel like playing.”

  “Okay.” Miranda sat back on her heels, concerned. Daniel was thoughtful but rarely moody. “Let’s start painting, then. If we finish by five o’clock, we’ll order pizza from Gabriella’s. How does that sound?”

  Daniel shrugged.

  Not a good sign. Thanks to Andrew and their impromptu picnic in the park that day, Daniel adored pizza from the quaint Italian restaurant.

  She tried again. “Aren’t you anxious to finish your new room, Danny? I thought—”

  “When are we leaving?”

  Miranda was confused—not only by the question but by the flash of sorrow in Daniel’s eyes. “Leaving where?”

  “Here.” Daniel slumped on the bed and picked up Lily, snuggling the stuffed animal against his chest. “That’s why we’re fixing things up, isn’t it?”

  The air whooshed out of her lungs.

  Oh, Daniel.

  “Is that what you thought?” She gathered Daniel into her lap and wrapped her arms around him. “We’re fixing things up for us. And for Lily. She hates the color lavender, you know. She’s going to be much happier with green.”

  Daniel didn’t smile. “But you moved the suitcases. I saw you.”

  Miranda’s breath snagged in her throat. She hadn’t realized Daniel knew about the suitcases stashed in the closet.

  What other insecurities had Daniel been harboring the last few years? He’d been three years old when they’d left Atlanta. As far as she knew, he had no memories of the place. Or the man he’d toddled after, trying to replace the father he’d lost.

  “The suitcases don’t mean we’re leaving, Daniel.” She hoped she wasn’t making a promise she couldn’t keep. “Chestnut Grove is…home.”

  Daniel sagged against her, as if hearing the words lifted a tremendous weight from his shoulders.

  The strang
e thing was Miranda felt it, too. As if saying the words set something free inside of her.

  Chestnut Grove had simply been a dot on the map the night they’d left Georgia. She’d tried to convince herself the name of the town had come to her because of Daniel’s ties to Tiny Blessings, but maybe it had been the answer to the desperate cry of her heart. That she’d find a safe place for her and Daniel.

  If she was brave enough to believe what Sandra said—that God hadn’t forgotten her—maybe it meant He’d led them to Chestnut Grove. To the Starlight Diner. And Sandra and Isaac.

  Sandra’s words cycled back in her mind.

  The safest place to be is in God’s hands. People who run away never leave their problems behind… They only bring them along.

  She’d never embraced the town as home. Had stubbornly resisted viewing it as anything more than a temporary resting place. The packed suitcases in the closet held more than their clothes. They held the memory of Hal’s threats to find her if she tried to leave him and the fear of trusting the wrong people. And in many ways, herself.

  “Can we unpack them?” The hopeful look in Daniel’s eyes made her wince.

  She didn’t think she was ready for that. Maybe the fragile bonds holding her to Chestnut Grove weren’t strong enough to stand against her insecurities and fear.

  The safest place to be is in God’s hands.

  She shook the thought away, still afraid to reach out and claim it as her own. “We’re all ready to paint, Daniel. We can unpack the suitcases later.”

  “Please, Mom. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

  “I suppose—” Daniel’s whoop drowned out the rest of the words and he scampered from the bedroom. By the time she rounded the corner seconds later, he’d already dragged the suitcases into the living room.

  “Here is yours. And this one is mine.” Unerringly, he pushed the plain blue suitcase toward her.

  Miranda determined never to underestimate her son again. To know which one belonged to him, he must have looked inside it. How long had he known about them? Wondered about them? Worried about them?

  Daniel flopped down onto his knees and unzipped the red case.