by Holly Jacobs
The kids needed her. They needed to know that they were important and not forgotten. They needed to be here in this house that was built on memories and love. They needed to be in this town, surrounded by people who knew them and loved them.
She thought about her family telling stories about her and Bridget. The kids needed that, too. A connection to their mother through stories, through other people who’d known her, who remembered her, who’d loved her.
They needed to go to school tomorrow and be with the same classmates they’d been with since starting school. They needed to spend their allowances at MarVee’s Quarters, to go to story time with Maeve at the library and say hi to Hank Bennington in the diner. They needed to know if they had to run away, they could run as far as JoAnn Rose’s B and B and be safe.
Yes, that’s what she could give them.
She could give the kids Valley Ridge.
Even if it meant clipping her own wings for the next dozen or so years to do it.
CHAPTER FIVE
ON WEDNESDAY, after a horribly depressing meeting with H. T. Aston, attorney-at-law, Mattie glanced at the dashboard clock and noted she only had an hour until school finished. Since it had appeared so precariously close to raining this morning, she’d told the kids that she would pick them up, even though their schools were within walking distance of both the coffee shop and home. She’d managed the meeting with the lawyer by asking Rich to cover for her because she had an appointment about a female thing. It wasn’t a lie...exactly. She did have an appointment, and she was female.
Okay, so it was near enough to a lie and karma had bitten her in the butt, because the meeting had gone horribly. That’s what happened with lies—even near lies—you got bad results.
Her lawyer’s advice kept playing over and over again in her head. She didn’t know what to do. Once the kids got out of school, chaos would reign and she could avoid thinking about it, but now? It was simply too quiet. What she really needed was a sounding board and some advice.
Without planning to, or meaning to, Mattie stopped the car in front of the two-story white house that she had grown up in.
Mattie sat for a moment and stared longingly at her bedroom window. She knew her mom had packed up her childhood toys, books and that “Waltzing Matilda” poster. Her mother had even repainted. But it was still Mattie’s room. The bed she’d slept in since the day her mother had brought her home was still underneath the window. The dresser that she’d kept her clothes in was on the south wall. The quilt that had covered the bed the first time she’d seen the room still covered it.
That first day, she’d been so scared. Her parents were gone, and some stranger had taken her from the hospital and brought her here. She didn’t know it then, but this was supposed to be temporary placement. A foster home.
At four she hadn’t know what a foster family was. She wasn’t sure she’d even really understood that her parents were gone forever. She remembered waking up in the hospital, and a nice lady telling her that there had been a car accident and her parents were in heaven.
Well, she thought she remembered it. In her mind’s eye, she could see a woman with a warm smile sitting next to her and holding her, telling her it was okay. Everything would be all right.
But maybe she just remembered hearing about that day and had turned the retelling into a memory. Sort of like Abbey remembering the now-infamous bath time.
Either way, the Keiths had adopted her and made her their own. The kind woman who’d sat on her bed and reassured her had become a mother to her. Maybe not the mother who’d given birth to her, but the only mother she really remembered.
Her birth parents had loved her, too. She was so young that Mattie didn’t remember much about them, but she knew that. She remembered her mom smiling, handing her a doll.
She’d had the doll when the car accident happened, and it came with her when she moved to the Keiths’ house. Somewhere in her boxes in the attic, that doll was tucked away.
Like the memories of her first family.
Mattie knew she’d been lucky to have found a new family.
Her mother liked to tell the story of her friend Deborah Keller. Mrs. Keller and her husband hadn’t been able to have children of their own. They’d adopted many, and after listening to Mrs. Keller rhapsodize about her growing family, her mom had talked to her dad, and they’d decided to try and foster a child.
Obviously, Mattie didn’t know any of that when she first came home. And she didn’t know that right after they’d brought her home, they’d gotten pregnant with Ray.
Then Rich.
Despite the fact they had two biological children, Mattie had never felt as if she were less loved than her brothers.
Her parents often told her how special she was. Every year on October 15, they celebrated her Homecoming Day, a tradition that was inspired, once again, by Mrs. Keller. Her mother’s friend said everyone had a birthday, but only very special children were chosen, and the day they came home was a day to celebrate.
After the boys were born, her mom told her all the time that she was so grateful to have a daughter. Recalling these details should have lightened her mood, but it didn’t.
Mattie sat in the car lost in the past, wrestling with the present and worrying about the future.
Suddenly, the front door opened and her mom stepped out on the porch and waved at her.
Mind made up, Mattie got out of her car and tried to smile. “Hi, Mom.”
Her mom drew her into a big hug, then inside, away from the gloom. “Honey, aren’t you supposed to be at work? Did you and Rich argue?”
“No on both counts,” she replied, feeling a bit sheepish about lying to her brother.
Rich talked about expanding the coffee shop’s menu and hours, but so far, he was satisfied with the coffees, pastries and closing in the afternoon. He was hot on some new project. Some secret new project. That’s why he’d needed to hire Mattie for Park Perks. He wasn’t talking yet about his next plan, and she’d learned not to ask.
Rich didn’t give up his secrets until he was good and ready.
Except to their mother. If their mom asked, Rich would cave. Grace Keith could ferret information out of any of them, and had a well-honed ability to tell if one of her children was stretching the truth. She gave Mattie that look now. “Mathilda, what’s going on? Rich said you went to see the doctor.”
“That was an exaggeration. But Rich didn’t ask questions because I told him it was a female thing. No man asks questions about female things.”
Her mother didn’t crack a smile.
“I did have an appointment,” Mattie continued, “though not with a doctor, which I knew he’d assume I meant. I had an appointment with a lawyer. I wasn’t going to say anything to anyone, but I need your advice.” More than that, Mattie needed her mother to hug her and assure her that everything would be all right. “But, I don’t want you to say anything to anyone else, Mom.”
Her mother led her to the couch and sat next to her. Then her always prim and proper mother mock spit into her palm, and made a cross over her heart, causing Mattie to smile, just as it always had. The boys used to do that when they were little. Mattie could remember screaming à la Zoe about how gross they were. So much about her little brothers she’d considered annoying or disgusting.
“You can tell me anything, Mattie. You know that. I could sense something was bothering you at dinner on Sunday. When I called yesterday, you told me it was nothing...but I didn’t believe it then and I certainly don’t believe it now.”
“Finn still wants the kids,” she blurted out. Hearing the words spoken out loud eased some of the tension in her.
“Oh.” Her mother digested that fact a moment, then asked, “But you said no?”
“I said no again, the same way I said no when he asked after Bridget’s funeral. So, rather than asking this time, he’s suing me. I mean, a stranger came to my door and handed me the official pap
ers. Finn’s taking me to court. And there’s no way anyone with a lick of sense would give me custody of the kids over Dr. Finn Wallace. He saves lives on a regular basis. Me? I pour a good cup of coffee, and can put an excellent froth on your cappuccino.”
“Mattie...” Her mother didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t need to, because what else could she say? You’ve always been a disappointment to us? Your brothers excelled at everything and you...well, there were a few weeks that you didn’t have detention back in school, and for the most part, you were an unimpressive student. Your father and I worry that you’re never going to find where you belong.
No, her mother would never say any of that, but Mattie always worried she thought it, probably because Mattie often felt as if she might believe it herself. She’d tried so many cities, so many jobs....
“Mattie, I wish you saw yourself the way I do. You are so special. Bridget saw that in you, and that’s why she left custody of the kids to you.”
Mattie didn’t comment on her specialness, or lack thereof. “Finn thinks I’m going to get tired of taking care of the kids and pack my bags and waltz off again. So do the boys. Everyone keeps watching me, as if expecting to see a suitcase in my hand.”
“I don’t,” her mother declared. “I know you think everyone’s looking at you, and they probably are.”
Mattie slumped back on the couch. “Gee, thanks, Mom.”
“But it’s not because they’re waiting for you to leave,” her mother hastened to add. “It’s that they’re as impressed as I am by the woman you’ve become.”
“A woman who hasn’t stayed in the same place for more than a year since graduation?” Mattie figured that she was looking for something, but the problem was, she didn’t have a clue what. The right job? The right place?
The right person?
Her mother took her hand. “What they see is a woman who would put her whole life aside in order to care for a friend. A woman who came home and took over for Bridget. Do you know how much comfort you gave her? She was able to die—” her mother choked on the word, but continued “—knowing her children were going to be loved and taken care of. She never doubted that you’d keep your word, that you’d stay and take care of them with all the love you’d always given her.”
“But Finn wants custody, and you and I both know, what Dr. Finn Wallace wants, he generally gets.”
Finn was taking away her chance to give Bridget this last gift. Mattie distinctly remembered meeting Bridget for the first time. It was day one of kindergarten and the teacher had announced, “Playtime.” Mattie wasn’t sure what to play with or who to play with, when a dark-haired girl with glasses that engulfed her face came over, took her hand and said, “Let’s play house.”
And that was it. That one kind gesture by another kindergartner, who must have been as nervous as she was, had won Mattie’s heart and friendship.
A friendship that had never wavered.
When her husband left her, Bridget had cried about not having anyone to grow old with. This time Mattie had taken her hand and described a scene where they were old and gray. They’d be sitting in rockers together on the front porch. Bridget would probably be blind by then—she had always been halfway to it anyway. And Mattie would be hard of hearing. But they’d have each other.
Bridget had laughed through her tears and said she knew that’s not how it would be when they got old. Mattie would be talking her into skydiving for their eightieth birthdays or something equally crazy.
Either way, Mattie had assured Bridget that she’d never be alone. The point was, they were friends and knew they’d be friends until the end.
They simply hadn’t known the end would come so soon. There would be no gray-haired skydiving or rocking on the porch for Bridget.
“What did the lawyer say?” her mother asked gently.
“I went to see the same guy Rich uses,” Mattie said, not really answering her mother’s question.
It was enough to sidetrack her mother for a minute. “Why does Rich have a lawyer?”
“I don’t know. He’s got some new business thing in the works. This guy, my attorney, told me that family law wasn’t his specialty but since I was paying for his time I might as well get his opinion.”
“And that was?” her mother pressed.
Mattie sighed and felt her eyes well up with tears she refused to shed. “He suggested arbitration. He told me to find some way to work it out with Finn because the odds aren’t in my favor. Finn’s blood family and I’m not.”
“You know that family isn’t measured by how much DNA you share,” her mother scolded. That was another Mrs. Keller-ism that her mother used. It was a shame that Finn wasn’t aware of Mrs. Keller-isms.
Mattie shook her head. “You know that, and I know that, but Dr. Finn Wallace doesn’t seem to know that. And I’m not sure the court will know it, either. Mom, no matter how much I want to fight for the kids, bankrolling a custody case, even if it goes smoothly and quickly, isn’t in the cards for me.”
After paying today’s fee, she knew the nest egg that had once felt ample wasn’t really. “I haven’t wanted to ask,” her mother said, “but didn’t Bridget leave you money for the kids?”
“Bridget had money from her parents, enough that she could have lived a lot of years without worry. But her illness took a big bite out of those savings. And what’s left is in a trust for the kids. I have access to it for their expenses, but I don’t want to touch it at all.” It felt like that money was their mother’s last gift to them. Bridget had college dreams for the kids, and that was their avenue toward achieving them.
“And I’d never touch any of it for something like this,” Mattie added. “This is between me and Finn.”
“So what are you going to do?” That was her mom in a nutshell—offer some sympathy, and then get to the heart of the matter and encourage some positive action.
Unfortunately, Mattie couldn’t think of any positive action. She could give up, let Finn take the kids and leave Valley Ridge. He’d move them to Buffalo, away from everyone and everything they knew and loved.
If Mattie gave the kids to him she would be betraying her final promise to Bridget. Still, if she thought it was best for the kids, she’d consider it. But she didn’t think it was best for them. Being in their home, surrounded by the continuity of the familiar—that was what was best for them.
So, she could stay and fight a legal battle with money she didn’t have for an outcome that probably wouldn’t be in her favor. Or she could...she wasn’t sure what to do anymore.
“Mattie, you’ve never been shy of a fight,” her mother said. “Do you remember Hermie Walker?”
Mattie smiled at the memory, although at the time, it hadn’t seemed funny at all. “How could I forget Hermie? After I got done with him I bet he never tried to look at another girl’s underwear again, the little perv.” She reached for her mom’s hand. “Thanks for bailing me out.”
“It was my pleasure, dear.” Her mom grinned.
“There’s a picture of him in the yearbook sporting that split lip.” Mattie chuckled. “I’m a pacifist by nature, and I shouldn’t feel pride at that, but...”
Her mom patted her knee. “I’ll confess—I love that picture, too.”
“Mom, you’re kind of bloodthirsty.” She paused. “And it looks good on you.”
They both laughed and then her mother said, “I don’t think decking Finn Wallace would be a good plan. And we’ve already established that you can’t—won’t—leave. So?”
“Mom...” Mattie didn’t know. That’s why she’d come to her mother, trusting that she would point her in the right direction. Her mother didn’t disappoint. “Fight, flight, or there’s a third option.”
Mattie knew what her mom was encouraging. She’d probably known it all along, but she didn’t like it. This was the option the lawyer had suggested, and in her heart, she knew it made the most sense, but that didn’t m
ake it any easier. It was even harder because Finn had asked to talk to her again and she’d turned him down, telling him she’d let the lawyers handle it. If she had unlimited wealth, that’s what she’d do, but she didn’t. “So I talk to him again?”
Her mother nodded. “So you talk to him again. And if you two can’t talk it out, you try arbitration and let someone else facilitate the talking.”
“It is the logical thing to do. I guess I knew that all along,” she admitted. But knowing and acting on something were two very different things.
“I know you did—sometimes you like to hear people say things out loud. On that note, let me say this out loud—you are what those kids need, and if Finn Wallace can’t see that...if he can’t see that Bridget’s children need to stay here in Valley Ridge, among people who love them, that they need you...well, I’d be happy to let him know.”
Despite her fear of letting down Bridget and the kids, she smiled. “Like I said, you’re kind of bloodthirsty, Mom.”
“But it looks good on me, right?”
“Right.”
Her mother hugged her and Mattie knew that her mother believed in her. Her mom truly thought this would all work out. And for that one moment, Mattie could almost believe it, too.
Almost.
* * *
“ALMOST DONE,” FINN SAID the next day. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“The woman’s been on hold for ten minutes now, Doctor.” The receptionist’s disapproval was evident in her tone.
Finn pushed the paperwork back and picked up the phone. He stared at the three lit-up numbers and looked up.
“Line one,” she said, understanding his unasked question.
He punched the corresponding button and said, “Hello?”
“I was about to hang up.”
He didn’t need the person to introduce herself. “Mattie.”
“Yes. I was wondering if you’re still planning to come back to town this weekend.”
He glanced at the paperwork he’d been going over. “Yes.”
“Then is there any way you and I could meet without the kids present?”