A Mother's Secret

by Gabrielle Meyer

  It had been making that noise for weeks, and Joy would be grateful to have it fixed, but she didn’t want Chase in the house, if she could help it. “I can take care of it.”

  “It’s why I came, Joy.” He went to the French doors that led from the fountain room into the dining room and ran his hand over a piece of trim that had come loose. “If you have time tomorrow, I’d like to go through the whole house and make a list of the minor repairs that need attention. If there’s something major, I’ll call a professional.”

  Joy was conscious of being alone with Chase, even if her kids and Mrs. Thompson were on the other side of the butler’s pantry. While Chase had called his father, she had run up to her room, pulled her hair out of the messy bun, changed into some cuffed jeggings and put on a nice shirt. She’d even touched up her makeup and slipped on a pair of sandals. She told herself she had done it because he was a guest, and she usually tried to look nice when she entertained—but she knew she had done it because there was still a part of her that didn’t feel worthy of Chase Asher. It was a part that had been with her since she was a child in her first foster home. She was always viewed as the dirty, unlovable kid that no one wanted. When Chase left her, it only confirmed that belief.

  “I didn’t realize you were the handy type,” Joy said, wanting to change the course of her thoughts. She was now a respectable adult, raising a houseful of kids. She didn’t have anything to prove to anyone.

  He smiled as he continued around the dining room inspecting the trim, the windows, even the wallpaper. “When I was here last time—” He paused and glanced at her, regret on his face. “About that, Joy. I’d like to explain why—”

  She lifted her hand to stop him. “Please don’t.” There was nothing he could say to make up for what he had done to her. She’d rather they not discuss it.

  Chase let out a long sigh. “Mr. Thompson took me under his wing that summer and taught me a lot. I helped him with several projects and found I had the knack for handiwork. You can trust me.”

  Trust him. How could she ever trust him again?

  “Dinner’s ready.” Mrs. Thompson poked her head into the dining room. “Come and get it.”

  “Aren’t we eating in here?” Chase asked.

  Joy wrinkled her nose. “We prefer to eat in the kitchen. The dining room feels too formal.”

  She led him into the butler’s pantry and through another swinging door into the kitchen. The room wasn’t overly large, but it was big enough for a table and chairs. A large window looked out at the river, displaying the late evening sun glistening off the water.

  “It smells delicious, Mrs. Thompson.” Chase went to the sink and washed his hands. “I remember your lasagna well.”

  Mrs. Thompson grinned. “I thought you would. I once made a pan, just for you.” Her eyes grew wide when she looked at the children. “And he ate the whole thing in one sitting!”

  “Whoa!” Ryan said, clearly impressed by such a feat.

  “Hello again,” Chase said to Harper and Kinsley, who were seated in their booster chairs at the table, large bibs covering their pink and purple overalls.

  Joy held her breath while her pulse ticked in her wrists. Would he recognize them as his daughters now?

  “Sit here,” Kinsley ordered Chase, pointing to the chair beside her.

  “Please,” Joy reminded her, watching Chase closely. If he had any suspicions, he didn’t show them.

  “I’d be happy to sit beside you,” Chase answered, “but you better not try to steal my lasagna.”

  Kinsley’s dimpled grin lit up her face. “I eat all your lasagna!”

  “Not if I can help it.” Chase laughed with the little girl and Joy’s heart squeezed at the sight. From the moment she knew the girls were on their way, to this moment now, she had always wondered what it would have been like if Chase had chosen her over his family money. All throughout her uncertain pregnancy, while she was giving birth and in the long months afterward when she was trying to finish college and get a job, she had been so angry at him. As a child, she had promised herself a different life for her children than the one she had been dealt—yet here she was, a single woman, trying to do the work of both mom and dad. She couldn’t even guarantee a place for the kids to live.

  Harper sat across the table from Kinsley and Chase, uncertainty in her dark brown eyes. She was the least likely of Joy’s children to embrace a stranger, but when she allowed someone into her heart, she held on to them fiercely. Joy had witnessed it in the Sunday school classroom, in her preschool classroom and in their interactions with neighbors and friends. Would Harper ever embrace Chase?

  “Hello, Harper.” Chase must have noticed the little girl’s frown as she stared at him.

  Harper didn’t respond, but put her head down on her folded arms.

  The food was already on the table, so Joy took a seat beside Harper and laid her hand on her back. “Harper is just a little shy around strangers,” she tried to explain—though why she felt the need to clarify anything to Chase was a mystery to her. After the way he had left her, he deserved very little from her or the children.

  “Let’s say grace.” Joy took Harper’s and Jordan’s hands and bowed her head, but she kept her eyes open to see how Chase would handle praying with the family. When he had been in Timber Falls the last time, they had spent hours talking about their questions concerning God. It wasn’t until after the girls were born, and Mrs. Thompson had introduced Joy to the members of her church, that Joy had embraced her faith. Had Chase become a believer, too?

  He didn’t hesitate, but took Kinsley’s hand in one and Ryan’s hand in the other. He also bowed his head, but caught her watching him before he closed his eyes. His smile was soft and gentle, but it made her cheeks burn.

  Closing her eyes tight, she prayed, “Lord, thank You for this meal, this family and all Your provisions. Amen.”

  “And thank You for Chase,” Kodi added quickly. “And the tree fort he’s going to build us.”

  “Amen,” everyone else echoed.

  “Tree fort?” Kinsley’s eyes grew wide. “I come to your tree fort?”

  “No, Kinney, you’re too little,” Kodi told her as he took a piece of bread from the basket passing by.

  “I not too little!” She frowned indignantly, crossing her arms.

  Chase smiled. “Would you like some salad, Miss Kinsley?”

  Her frown deepened and she wrinkled her nose. “Carrots are yucky.”

  “Then pick them out,” Joy told her daughter.

  Kinsley started to pick out the carrot sticks on her plate. While Chase was helping Jordan, she quietly set the offensive vegetables on Chase’s plate.

  “What’s this?” Chase asked when he finished with Jordan. He hadn’t placed anything on his plate yet, so the carrots were obviously not his.

  Kinsley took a bite out of her garlic bread. “They’re yucky.”

  “Then why would I want them?” he asked.

  “Because you’re an adult,” Kodi supplied, as if the answer was obvious. “And adults eat their vegetables. Right, Mom?”

  Joy nodded, hiding a smile. “Kids should eat their vegetables, too.”

  A chorus of complaints filled the kitchen and then the conversation shifted in a dozen different directions. Since Chase was new to the kids, he was the center of their attention, and he answered all their questions patiently.

  Joy watched him interact with the kids while a deep sadness overtook her. Why couldn’t things have been different? Why had he told her he loved her four years ago, when he didn’t plan to stick around and prove it to her? Were they just flowery words, used to get what he wanted?

  It didn’t matter anymore. She had learned her lesson.

  She’d never trust Chase Asher again.

  Chapter Three

  “It’s getting late,” Mrs. Thompson sa
id as she set her coffee cup in the sink. “Here I’ve been, talking your ear off, and you’re probably tired from all your traveling today.” She set her hand on Chase’s shoulder as she took his dirty plate. “You should head on down to the carriage house and get some sleep.”

  The sooner he was out of the mansion, the better. Joy stood and took her plate to the sink. The kids were watching TV in the front parlor while Mrs. Thompson and Chase had visited. Over the past thirty minutes, she had discovered that Chase graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, the year after he left Timber Falls, had gone on to work with his father directly after college and was now living in Seattle. When Mrs. Thompson had asked if there was a special lady in his life, he had evaded the question and changed the subject.

  Was there someone else in his life now? Did that someone know he was in Timber Falls with the mother of his children at this very moment?

  Joy checked her thoughts and forced herself to stop thinking about Chase’s love life.

  “Let me help clear the table,” Chase said.

  “Nonsense.” Mrs. Thompson took a dirty glass out of his hand. “I’ll call the kids back in and they can help with the dishes. You should go with Joy and she’ll show you around the carriage house.”

  The sun had already set, so the last streaks of daylight were splayed against the sky in pinks and purples. If she wanted to get him settled before it grew completely dark, they’d need to hurry. She’d prefer to send him there alone, but she still didn’t know how his conversation had gone with his father and she hadn’t wanted to ask in front of the children or Mrs. Thompson. If it hadn’t gone well, she’d find a way to tell them herself.

  “I’ll grab the keys to the carriage house, if you want to drive your car down the hill,” she said to Chase.

  He nodded and cleared another plate off the table, despite Mrs. Thompson’s protests. “Thank you for the delicious meal.”

  The older lady’s cheeks glowed at the praise. “Anytime.”

  While Chase went out to his car, Joy grabbed the keys from a drawer in the foyer.

  Stepping outside, she inhaled the fresh scent of early summer. Ducks quacked in a nearby pond, birds chirped from the treetops and squirrels pranced around the lawn. Deep green foliage filled in the space between branches, offering lushness to the great outdoors.

  She walked down the hill to the white carriage house at the bottom and waited for Chase to park his rented Jeep Wrangler. The canvas top was down and he looked every bit the carefree son of a millionaire.

  What would he think of her silver minivan, with dried french fries and cheesy fish crackers littering the floor? They were definitely living in two different worlds.

  He jumped out of the Jeep and took his suitcase from the back seat.

  “It’s amazing how little this place has changed,” he said as he followed her up the steep set of stairs outside the carriage house. The apartment was on the upper level, while the original carriages were stored in the garage on the main level. When Uncle Morgan had lived here, they had installed a chair lift to take him up and down the stairs, though he didn’t leave the house often.

  “Why change something that’s already perfect?” she asked.

  “I couldn’t agree more.” His voice had dropped an octave and Joy forced herself not to assume a deeper meaning behind his words.

  When she reached the top of the steps, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. The apartment was dark, but she knew her way around. She and the kids had visited Uncle Morgan often, and he was always ready to hear about their lives. The place wasn’t the same without him.

  She flipped on the light switch as they stepped into the kitchen.

  “Here are the keys.” Joy turned and found Chase right behind her—much too close. She took a step back and handed him the keys. Their fingertips brushed against each other and she pulled away quickly. She remembered his touch all too well. “You should have everything you need,” she went on. “We didn’t move anything out after Uncle Morgan died, so you’ll find all the necessities.” Joy started to step around him to leave the apartment.

  “Are you going?” he asked, setting his suitcase on the tile floor. “I had hoped to talk to you about the conversation with my dad.”

  How had she forgotten so quickly? “Okay.”

  He pulled one of the chairs out from the table. “Why don’t you sit down?”

  Joy did as he asked and took the seat. Unease crept into her stomach as she watched him settle into the chair opposite her. Why didn’t he just get it over with? Tell her what she was dealing with.

  “My father agreed to let you stay until the end of July.” Chase’s forehead wrinkled in dismay as he spoke to her. “I told him what you said about Uncle Morgan’s wishes, but he won’t budge.” He swallowed and reached across the table to touch Joy’s hand.

  She pulled away, like she had just been burned.

  Chase nodded, as if he understood that he had no right to touch her anymore. “He wanted to give you a week, but I talked him into letting you stay for two months.”

  Joy couldn’t sit. Standing, she walked over to the counter and turned to face him. Had he fought hard for them, or simply given in to his father again? “I love Bee Tree Hill.” She looked down at the floor, afraid she might cry. It was the last thing she wanted. She’d told herself years ago she would never let someone else see her pain. They just used it to hurt her. “I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere in my life—and the kids—” She couldn’t continue.

  Chase rose from his chair and crossed the room. “I’m sorry, Joy. If I had a choice, I’d let you and the kids stay here forever.”

  His words and voice were so genuine, she almost believed he cared. But she knew better.

  She moved away from him again and stood by the sink. “There has to be a way we can keep Bee Tree Hill.”

  “I wish there was, but I have no choice. I have to put it up for sale.”

  “Why can’t I buy it?”

  He frowned. “You?”

  Indignation rose in her gut. “Why not?”

  “Joy, it’s worth millions of dollars. Do you have that kind of cash?”

  “Of course not—but it’s not impossible.” Her mind started to race with possibilities. “I can apply for grants, ask service organizations for donations, hold fund-raisers and apply for a loan.” If she’d learned anything in life, she had learned how to fight for what she wanted. “If you give me enough time, I can come up with the money.”

  “I don’t know...”

  “Just give me a chance. I have to try.”

  He didn’t look convinced, but he nodded. “If you think you can do it...”

  “I know I can.” She crossed the room and turned when she got to the door. Desperation tinged her voice, but she didn’t care. She had to fight for Bee Tree Hill. If she didn’t, she couldn’t face her kids. “I’ll do everything in my power to raise enough money.”

  “I still have a job to do here,” Chase said. “My father is expecting reports, so I’m going to have an appraiser come in and let me know what everything is worth. I’m also going to make all the necessary repairs and go through Uncle Morgan’s personal items.”

  “I know.” She didn’t care what Chase had to do. All she cared about was raising the money. “And I’ll meet with you tomorrow to go through the house and grounds to make a list of repairs.” She needed to reassure him that she wouldn’t be a hindrance to him, but would cooperate. If she was amiable and easy to work with, maybe he could convince his father to lower the price for the property—or give her more time. Anything would help.

  “Okay.” His smile looked sad and it made his blue eyes soften at the corners. “I hope you raise the money, Joy. I wouldn’t want anyone else to own Bee Tree Hill.”

  His words brought a lump to her throat and she turned to leave. She was
going to cry and she couldn’t let him see.

  * * *

  The next afternoon, Chase sat in the Jeep outside the mansion as he waited for Joy. Sunshine warmed his shoulders, while the breeze off the river was just enough to keep him from getting too hot. Up above, the tops of the pine trees swayed in the wind, while white cumulus clouds drifted by in the bright blue sky.

  He had forgotten how much he loved Minnesota in the summer, especially here in Timber Falls, where life had a slower pace and neighbors still took the time to visit one another. Back in Seattle, he hardly knew the names of the people who lived in his apartment building, and he never visited with them. It was strange if they shared more than a brief hello in the hallway.

  “Sorry.” Joy stepped out of the house and came to the Jeep, her purse over her shoulder. “I had a harder time than usual putting Kinsley down for a nap. I try not to leave all five children with Mrs. Thompson, unless the girls are sleeping.”

  She grabbed the roll bar and pulled herself into the Jeep. He was astonished all over again that this young, attractive woman was the mother of five children. She was trim, stylish and had more energy than anyone he’d ever met. Her dark blond hair was a little longer than he remembered, but still as silky and thick. She tucked one side of it behind her ear like she used to, and let the rest fall over her shoulders.

  A memory from their summer together hit him like it was yesterday. They had taken a picnic basket to the riverside and spent hours lying on a blanket, watching the water flow by, talking about what they wanted out of life. Chase had run his fingers through her hair as it lay splayed on the blanket and she had smiled up at him, love, trust and hope in her beautiful brown eyes. And that’s when he knew he had wanted to marry her. Later that evening, he had called his father to tell him he wouldn’t be returning to Seattle after graduation that year. He had wanted to marry Joy and move to Timber Falls.

  But Dad had other plans, and he was in Timber Falls less than twenty-four hours later, giving Chase the ultimatum.