by Holly Jacobs
“That’s what the chief meant.”
“Pardon?” Laura asked.
Seth dried the bowl he’d nuked the potatoes in. “The chief told me to tell you that you and Jamie were at the top of their list.”
“Oh.” She didn’t say anything else.
“Do you have a list this year?”
“No, I didn’t make a list because I wasn’t feeling very thankful, but today wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be…thanks to you.” She jumped up and grabbed a Post-it from the kitchen drawer and scribbled a few words on it. “There. Now I can put it in the box with the rest of my lists. And to make it official, I’ll read it. I want to say I’m thankful for Jamie, for my time with Jay and for you. You’ve made everything easier.”
She passed him the Post-it pad and pen and eyed him expectantly.
It had been a long time since Seth had concentrated on what he was thankful for. “I’m game. I’m thankful for finding my way back to old memories that give more pleasure than pain, and for making new memories that I’ll treasure. I’m thankful for good friends and family.”
He felt rather hypocritical saying he was thankful for his family. He could have gone to dinner with them, but working was easier. It suddenly felt like an excuse.
“About tomorrow?” he asked.
“You’re sure your family wants someone else tagging along?”
He was sure he wanted someone else there. It was selfish of him, but he knew the Keller clan would be so enthralled with the baby and Laura, they’d forget all about him and he could fade comfortably into the background, which is where he preferred to be.
“I’m sure.”
“Then yes, a night out would be nice. I’ll drive myself and meet you there. That way if it’s too much with Jamie I can go and not interrupt your time with your family.”
Seth wanted to tell her he’d welcome the interruption, but in light of the Post-it he still held, he didn’t.
He was thankful for his family. More specifically for his parents.
He was going to go tomorrow and try to show them all that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LAURA RECONSIDERED agreeing to dinner with Seth’s family. All day she’d thought about calling him and telling him that Jamie was too fussy. But the thing was, she sensed he wanted her there. And after everything he’d done for her, she couldn’t walk away from that, so she went.
The Keller family was meeting at Joe Root’s, one of her favorite Erie restaurants. It used to be at the base of the peninsula, but a few years ago, it had moved about half a mile up Peninsula Drive. Though it was in a new building, the owner had recreated the same hometown place she loved. She’d come here often with Jay.
Laura waited for the pain to follow the happy thought, but it never happened. The hostess pointed her to a sectioned-off area.
“Which table?” Laura asked.
“All of them.”
Laura felt overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of people.
Seth spotted her right off. “Everyone, this is Laura Watson. Laura, this is…”
He gestured to a man wearing braces on his legs. “My brother, Dom.”
“My sisters Layla,” a smiling woman with curly auburn hair and skin a warm, bronze tone. “And May,” who was older-looking than Layla, possibly Laura’s own age of twenty-seven. She had long, straight coal-black hair and rather than smiling at Laura, she studied her.
Seth nodded at a younger girl with very curly dark hair, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with a basketball team logo. “This is Cessy, who had the basketball game in town tonight.”
“That’s Cecily,” his youngest sister said. “None of them can remember I’m not six anymore.” She sounded totally exasperated, but winked at Laura to let her know she wasn’t.
Laura laughed. “I’ll try to remember that, Cecily,” she promised.
Seth indicated a couple in the corner, the brown-haired man held a little boy on his lap. “That’s my brother, Zac, and his wife Eli.” Eli waved at Laura.
“Eli and I have met,” Laura told Seth. She’d meant to tell him before, but kept getting sidetracked.
He nodded and said, “Nice. So you know one person other than me. That’s their son, Johnny. And that’s Colm. He works for my brother.”
“I hadda come, ’cause me and Cessy is friends, and she needed me to cheer for her at her game. She’s a rock star.” Laura recognized immediately that Colm had special needs.
Seth laughed. “I used that term to describe my sister once, and Colm latched on to it.”
“Yeah, ’cause Cessy’s a rock star.”
“That’s Ariel and her daughter, Nora.”
Ariel called out, “I’m not officially a Keller, but they’ve sort of adopted me and Nora, as well. Cessy’s my best friend. And she likes it when I come to games to protect her from her brothers’ abuse.”
“Hey, we don’t abuse her, do we, guys?” Zac and Dom echoed Seth’s contention. “If anything, she’s the bane of our existence.”
“Don’t push me, Seth,” Cessy warned. “When you’re the youngest, you learn to rely on family stories and gossip, otherwise you’d never have all the dirt you need to survive so many siblings.”
“Yup, we feel for you, Cessy.” Seth laughed. Then abruptly stopped. His genuine happiness was suddenly dimmed. “And finally, that’s my mom and dad, Abe and Deborah Keller.”
Mr. Keller looked as if he’d ridden straight out of a Western. Not a cowboy, but rather a mountain man. He was big, and his gray hair and beard were grizzly-looking. Mrs. Keller, on the other hand, was tiny and impeccably dressed. “Nice to meet you, Laura,” she said, then she turned her gaze from Laura to Seth, and Laura saw pain in her eyes.
“I’ll try to keep everyone straight,” Laura vowed, though she knew it wouldn’t be easy, and probably not even possible.
Seth showed her and Jamie to two empty seats on the opposite end of the table from his parents.
“Do you mind if I take Jamie out of his seat?” he asked.
“No, that’s fine.” That was the last she saw of her son for the next hour. He passed from Keller to Keller, being utterly adored as they all talked to and over each other in turn.
Laura took it all in and wondered what it would be like to have grown up in a family like the Kellers. Loud. Laughing. And loving. Their love for each other was palpable.
She ate her fish and chips and enjoyed listening to the snippets of conversation.
“…and I got into Mercyhurst College, too. Now, I have to decide where to go.”
“…and yes, I’m a barista in Cleveland now. I liked Pittsburgh fine, but it was time to try a new city. I’m heading to Ireland this summer. I’ve got my backpack ready to go.”
“…it’s hard to see the guys come through the VA. They’ve done so much for our country, and I feel like my job is to put the pieces back together for them.”
“Hey, lady.” She looked up and Colm was standing there.
“I like to think I’m a lady, but you can call me Laura.” She smiled at him.
“Yeah, and I’m Colm. I wanna hold the baby and Eli said she’d help me, but I told her I gotta ask first. Some moms get all worried that ’cause I’m special I can’t hold babies, but I’m real careful, and I ain’t never dropped one once. I held Nora and Johnny when they was little, and I hold ’em now sometimes, but they’re a lot more squiggly and that makes it harder, but I still ain’t never dropped ’em. Zac and Eli will watch me, I promise.”
She looked up at Zac, who nodded as if he could hear their conversation from the far end of the room.
“Colm, you may definitely hold Jamie. He’s not very squiggly at all yet.”
“Hey, thanks, lady. I’m gonna go take my turn before I miss it. If Mrs. Keller gets that baby, I ain’t never gonna get to hold him. She likes babies. A lot. And she likes me, too, so I like her, even if she is a baby-hog.” Colm hurried to the other side of the room and intercepted Jamie before Mrs. Keller, aka the baby-hog
, got him.
Seth turned away from his conversation with his sisters and said, “And that whirlwind was Colm. He will be very careful with Jamie.”
“Your brother gave me a nod that basically said the same thing. So tell me, how is he part of the family?”
“Colm works at Keller’s Market. It’s the family business. When my father retired, Zac started running it. The store works with a lot of Whedon’s school and community programs. Colm was placed through the Sunrise Foundation, who helps special needs people in town. Mom and Dad might not be legally adopting new kids, but they can’t seem to help themselves and keep adding to the family anyway.”
“Speaking of family…” Laura knew she should leave it alone, but knowing and doing were two very different things. “Are you going to talk to your mom and dad? I’ve noticed you’ve visited with everyone except them. And you’re as far away from them as you can humanly get and still be in the same room.”
As she spoke, Seth’s smile faded, and by the time she finished the last sentence he was frowning. “Leave it alone, Laura. My parents and I have an under standing.”
“Which is?”
“I come to family functions and they cut me a wide berth.”
“But—”
“Our relationship is what it is. We’ve all come to accept that, so it’s fine.” His tone brooked no argument.
She started to say, Seth if you ever need to talk, I’m here, but she didn’t get any further than, “Seth—”
“Leave it.” It wasn’t his tone that said let it go, it was his body language. Tense and stiff, so unlike the normally easygoing man she’d come to know.
“If you change your mind and want to talk—” was all the further she got as he cut her off again with a flat, “I don’t and I won’t.”
She saw his mother head their way with Jamie, and Seth got up and moved down the table to be next to his brother—she searched for the name. Dom.
“I believe this belongs to you.” Mrs. Keller handed the baby back to her.
Laura took him into her arms and realized how right he felt there. She’d been so nervous, and now, she felt almost naked without him. “Thanks, Mrs. Keller.”
“He’s a good baby.”
“He is—as long as he’s being held. I’ll confess, this is the first meal since he was born that I’ve managed to eat without juggling him, too.”
“Well, any time you need an extra pair of hands, you can call on the Kellers. I’ll confess, I’ve passed my love of babies and kids on to my kids. Every one of them is a baby magnet.”
“I saw that.”
“So, you and Seth are…friends?”
Laura heard the innuendo in those few words. “Yes, ma’am. My fiancé, Jamie’s father, was a cop, too. I know you read about cops and their brotherhood in books and things like that, but I didn’t really get it. Even when I was planning our wedding, I didn’t get it. They have a fierce loyalty to each other, and to each other’s families. Even though Jay and I didn’t make it to the wedding…” Her voice hitched, and she took a deep breath to regain control. “Jay’s group have dropped off home-cooked meals, shoveled when necessary and every Thursday, someone drags the trash cans to the curb and back. They look after me, no matter how much I protest.”
“Did Seth and Jay work together?” Mrs. Keller asked.
“No, ma’am. Seth barely knew Jay. I met him when I went to the station because of one of my students. We sort of banded together to help her, and he’s stuck around ever since.”
“But just as friends.” It was a statement, but Mrs. Keller managed to hint at a question.
“Yes,” Laura assured her. “He was there the night Jamie was born. I don’t think I could have done it without him.”
“He was there when you gave birth?” Seth’s mom’s expression wasn’t one of surprise, but rather shock.
“Yes.” Wishing she hadn’t mentioned it, and hoping to keep his mom from getting the wrong idea, Laura hastily added, “It’s not as if we planned it.”
“I wouldn’t have thought he’d have been able to do that,” Mrs. Keller mused.
“I didn’t, either. He shouldn’t have stayed, but as you probably know, Seth doesn’t always listen. He had to be thinking about—”
Mrs. Keller interrupted. “He told you about Allie and the babies?”
“Yes. And the fact that he stayed shows me what kind of man he is—just what kind of man you raised.”
Mrs. Keller’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “Seth has always had a deep need to protect and help people. I think that’s why he went into law enforcement. When May was little, she was a wild child. Always running off and exploring. Seth is four years older, and he appointed himself her guardian. One day, a few months after she came to live with us, she got mad that I told her to clean her room and she packed her bag to run away. Seth followed her all the way downtown and coaxed her into the burger joint. He knew they didn’t have any money to pay for their meals, but he ordered them burgers and shakes anyway. Then he told his sister they’d have to either wash dishes to pay for the meals, or call me to come get them and pay, which I did. Then he offered to help her clean her room. And Seth at that age was allergic to cleaning.”
“Even then he took care of people.”
“Even then.” Her voice sounded watery.
“Mrs. Keller?”
“I miss his trust. He was so angry with us when we didn’t support his marriage to Allie. Even though they were obviously meant for each other. But we got along, and we admitted we were wrong and apologized. We were rebuilding a relationship, and Allie was really pushing for it. She wanted her children—their children—to know us, to be a part of our lives. And then she died, and…” She nodded at her son on the opposite side of the room. “He’s still upset. We just couldn’t seem to find the right words to make it better.”
Mrs. Keller wiped at her eyes. “And saying all that to you was highly inappropriate. I’m sorry. And I’m glad Seth brought you.”
“I’m glad, too, ma’am.”
“He looks like he’d like to come back over, and probably won’t if I’m here, so I’m going to make myself scarce. I hope we see you again soon, Laura. And I’m not just saying that in order to get a new baby fix.”
Laura laughed. “Thank you, Mrs. Keller.”
Mrs. Keller moved to sit next to Eli and Zac, scooping up their son…Johnny. Yes, that was his name.
Seth reclaimed his seat. “So, what did my mother want?”
“She introduced herself and said hi.” Laura didn’t want to let it end there, so she added, “She misses you. Not that you’re not here, obviously, but she feels your distance.”
He didn’t respond. Didn’t say anything. Although his expression told her that this was not a topic he cared to discuss. “And on that note, I think it’s time I get this little guy home to bed.”
“Listen, Laura, I didn’t mean—”
“No, it’s okay, Seth. It really is time to go home. Jamie’s not used to parties.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
Laura bundled up the baby, got ready herself and thanked everyone again for including her. “And, Cecily, congrats on the game. I heard you won…almost single-handedly.”
Cessy laughed and scoffed. “We’re really a team—we have each other’s backs.”
Laura wasn’t sure if Cessy was talking about the family or her basketball team, but she smiled.
Seth took Jamie’s carrier and escorted her to her car.
“Your family seems very nice.”
“They are,” was his short response.
Laura knew she’d pushed too much about his parents. “Tonight was fun. I think I needed that.”
“I didn’t have a chance to ask, how are things with JT?”
“They’re progressing. I gave her a test that Kaelee, our special service teacher, gave me. I don’t think it’s a learning disability. Neither does Kaelee. JT and her mom moved around a lot when she was younger. She went
to four different grade schools. That’s a lot of transition. A lot of moving from one curriculum to another. I think it’s more gaps in her education than learning disability. The trick is to fill in the gaps.”
“If there’s anything I can do, let me know,” he offered in his serious tough-guy voice. Softening his tone, he said, “I’m off Wednesday night. We could get together?”
“Seth, I don’t want you to feel like you have to babysit me. Your mom seemed surprised that you were comfortable…” She tried to search for the right word. “Being my friend. And I know you say it’s not because of the chief, but I don’t want to be anyone’s obligation.”
“You’re not an obligation, at least not more than any other friend would be. I mean, if I were sick and needed a ride to the hospital, would you do it?”
She nodded. “Yes, of course, but—”
“How about if I got tossed in jail and needed someone to make my bail?”
She laughed because the idea of Seth doing anything to warrant being in jail was funny. “Sure, I’d find your bail money.”
“So ask yourself, if I, your friend, needed to perhaps visit with you next week, can you say no? You should indulge me, because we’re friends, and that’s what friends do.”
“You know, there’s a chance you should have been a lawyer instead of a cop. You’re very persuasive.”
“Some of my best friends are lawyers. And judges. I had to learn to argue and hold my own, or they’d have done me in by now.”
He opened the back passenger door for her, and she snapped Jamie’s carrier into its base.
He shut the door and opened her driver’s door. She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
Seth recalled the spot where Laura had kissed him. It didn’t have to mean anything more than he wanted it to mean.
Looking at her standing there, so vulnerable, he realized he wanted it to mean more than something safe.
He knew his family was still inside Joe Root’s, but despite knowing they would always be there for him, he’d felt alone—totally alone—since Allie died. Until now. Until Laura.