by Clare Hexom
“She was our friend, my friend.” In that moment, I realized Lance and Ronnie’s suspicions were true. “She still wants me gone. That hasn’t changed.”
“You’re not going anywhere, babe. Not this time.” He cupped my face in his hands and thumbed away my tears. “So help me, you will never hurt like this again.” He held me close and nestled his lips against my ear. “After I believed you left me, I packed up and went to my sister’s.”
“I remember her, but I forgot their last name.”
“Bowe.”
I laughed a little. “How simple. Amazing I forgot.”
“You need to know what she did back then.” He held me at arm’s length and looked into my face. “Dana bought me gifts that I dumped in the trash, even ones that cost a few bucks. She showed up at Beth’s all hours, day and night. I had no interest in anybody, definitely not her. I wanted you back so much I couldn’t think straight.”
“You went home to Canada.”
“To live with my parents. The miles and a different country made it tougher on her to get to me.”
“Staying here was obviously out.”
“It was. I moved a few times after she’d found me again. Stalking. Watching everything I did. Where I went. Hard to prove when I only caught a glimpse of her behind the wheel of a car driving by or standing on a street corner.”
“That’s sick.”
“Big-time sick. I finished my education in Manitoba and ended up in Pullman, Washington, where I worked in sports rehab until a few months ago.”
Caleb dropped his bike and ran to me. He stretched to rest his fingertips against my cheek. “Mommy.”
“It’s okay, baby. Nothing’s wrong. Not anymore.”
Caleb whispered, “He’s the man who asked Pam if the house was on fire.”
“Of course he did, because he is a nice man.”
“You hugged him.” He touched my chin. “You were crying.”
I stooped down and pulled him into my arms. “I was crying because I’m happy.” I let him step back. “But Caleb sweetie, we need to talk about—”
Ben interrupted. “What did you call him?”
“Caleb.”
He studied Caleb’s face. “Whose boy is he?”
“Yours. Ours.” I grinned. “Chad never knew your middle name.”
Ben rested his palm against his forehead.
I stood up beside him. His eyes filled with tears and he pulled me close.
“Forgive me. Mallory, I am truly sorry I told you what she called you. I never should have repeated such a thing. I thought he was Chad’s son. I was angry. I am so, so sorry.”
He studied his son’s face and smiled. “Caleb. Now that I see you up close, I see how you do look a lot like me.” He turned to me. “I suspected you might be pregnant when you got sick and passed out. That was my reason for wanting to talk with your dad right away. Wish we’d talked about it.”
“I wasn’t sure if I was, and I was scared.” He once loved me, and I hoped he could love me again.
I turned to Caleb, whose innocent expression made what I had to say next difficult. “Honey, sometimes grownups tell real bad lies. Terrible lies.”
“She’s right, pal. Somebody lied to your mom and me a long time ago, before you were born. They told your mom I was dead.”
“You aren’t dead,” said Caleb. “That was a hor-ri-ble lie.”
I brushed Caleb’s hair off his forehead. “The worst. You know who this man is?”
Caleb grinned ear to ear. “My dad. Ben Holland.”
“He knows me,” said Ben.
I nodded to both of them.
Ben picked him up and cradled him against his hip. “You must be about six, eh?”
“I turn seven January eighteen.”
“You’re in school already.”
“First grade. Gavin’s in my class. We like dinosaurs.”
“No kidding. Me, too. T-Rex, raptors, Triceratops?”
Caleb grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. “Oh, yeah! And the long-neck guys!”
“Caleb, I never knew you were born. If I had, I’d have searched the ends of the earth to find you.”
Caleb bobbed his head. “Uh-huh.”
“That person who lied said your Mom didn’t love me anymore, when your mom really did.” Ben pulled me close again with his free hand. “She and I will fix this for you, pal. We promise.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my cheek against his. He smelled good, a mix of salty scented soap and fresh air.
“There is nothing preventing me from fixing this the way we intended in the first place,” he whispered to me.
I beamed with happiness. “And nothing preventing me.”
“Then we never had to live with creepy, mean Chad,” said Caleb. “We coulda been a family when I was a baby.”
My heart nearly exploded with love. Our son had already made the transition. He readily accepted Ben as his father.
“Creepy, mean Chad?” Ben whispered in my ear.
I straightened the twisted sleeve on Caleb’s jacket. “Creepy is misleading. He’s been using creepy words lately because Halloween is coming. But the past three years, especially the last two—not good.”
Caleb bobbed his head. “He ran over my bike on purpose. He wrecked it bad but Mom got me a new one when she sold the washer.”
“I hope Chad isn’t here.”
I shook my head into his shoulder. “We’re divorced. He stayed in Memphis and hopes we stay here.”
“You bet you will.” Ben shook his head. “It’s hard to believe what she’s done.”
“She almost got away with it,” I added.
“She left my family with a monster and me stumbling through life without them for seven years.” He blew out a heavy breath. “I cannot begin to sort this out and I can’t let it go. There has to be a law . . .” his voice trailed.
“I doubt there’s a law to protect innocent young adults from bald-faced liars.”
I hoped he wouldn’t make any threats against Dana in front of Caleb, not that Ben had ever been vengeful. People change. As much as I loved him, reason reminded me to be cautious.
I stroked his hair. “You called us your family.”
He chuckled. “Having a family was our plan before she broke us up. I hadn’t given you your ring but we were engaged.” He kissed me again, and then leaned back. “I saved your ring, like part of me knew I’d be needing it.”
“Good thing, because you will. You must be living close. We see you on your bike all the time.”
Ben chuckled. “Believe it or not, I’m staying with Jack Grant. He moved back last spring. He’s housesitting for his sister and it’s close to his parents.”
“I thought they were in Iowa.”
“That was temporary. They stayed less than a year. When I told Jack I wanted to move back, he offered me a place to stay until I settled in.”
“Ever a wife?”
“None for Jack. Almost one for me.” Ben uttered a slight laugh. “Which is why I moved to Pullman. She actually did run off with another guy, like what our former friend said about you. I’ve always loved you, Mallory, even when I thought you hated me.”
“I never hated you. I’ve always loved you and always will.” I turned my head upward. “And I am really glad you are not dead.”
He grinned. “Not as much as me.”
I considered Ben’s pain after two women rejected him and how Lance had felt when his brother’s wife jilted him. Chad definitely had his counterparts.
“Are you guys gonna keep huggin’ and smoochin’?” Caleb asked with a wrinkled nose and a giggle. “I gotta get my bike.”
“Smoochin’!” Ben chuckled and set Caleb back down. “Go on. Get your bike.” Standing arm in arm, we watched our son run for his bike laying at the edge of the King’s front yard.
“He’s a cool kid,” Ben grinned. “You’re doing great with him.”
“Thank you. He is adjusting in spite of the pr
oblems I created when I married Chad.”
“When he falls asleep tonight, you tell me about creepy, mean Chad. But first, we need to decide what to do about Dana.”
“She married Erik.”
“What a mess Eeyore got himself into.”
I shook my head. “Lying is only one of her sins. Wait until I tell you what’s been happening.”
Our son walked his bike ahead us. Ben picked up the portable compressor and unplugged it from my car. I stored it back in the trunk. He then set my bike upright and started rolling it up the driveway.
“Grant and I know nothing about anybody,” he said.
“Nice you stayed friends.”
“And you’ve kept in touch with Jack Harwood.”
“Not him. The last I saw Harwood was the morning after our cookout.”
“There were a lot of cars parked here one Sunday afternoon. I was riding home and I swore Harwood was standing by the side porch looking at the kitchen door. I stopped to talk, but he walked into your backyard. The front door opened and you were coming outside, so I took off.”
I tried recalling if any of the men that Sunday resembled Jack.
“You didn’t see Jack. My cousin Will, maybe.”
“Sure looked like Harwood. You still talk to Ronnie?”
“Now I do. She was living in Boston until last spring. She moved back after her divorce.”
“You should have tried to find Grant. He would have told you I was alive.”
“We just found his Chicago address, but we hadn’t gotten any further.” I’d tell Ben about Lance later. I kept my end of the conversation simple for the time being. “I went to your apartment in early June after your graduation. You probably had moved back to Canada already. The place was for rent.”
“Which means Brian skipped out on the lease and pocketed my cash.”
“The guy was a jerk.”
“Never said he wasn’t, but had he been there, he’d have told you where to find me.”
My heart sank at how close I’d come to learning the truth had I found Brian or Jack Grant. Had I stayed in Minneapolis with Mom and Dad, I might have run into Jack Grant’s parents or his sister. Caleb and I could have avoided the misery of Chad.
“The building manager had no clue what had happened to you or your belongings,” I said. “He ignored me when I asked about Brian, but he felt awful you were dead.”
“I had my things sent home and my diploma mailed to me. I imagine life got tough for you after I supposedly died.”
“It did.” I felt ashamed, embarrassed, but I refused to lie. “Dana insisted I call Chad right away. I think she had already told him, because he didn’t sound all that surprised. He got on a plane and came here.”
“He saw his chance with me out of the way.”
“He offered friendship, Ben. He kept me from falling apart. For a while, anyway. But he never told me you called.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. He had you right where he wanted you.”
Thinking Chad had played me, too, sickened me more.
“I had no reason to keep calling him,” said Ben. “Dana’s lie was believable enough. Her timing perfect.”
He parked my bike inside the garage. Caleb was already spinning on the tire swing. Ben strolled over and gave him pushes before joining me on the white bench.
He pointed to an area in front of us. “I stood right there on that spot the day she told me you ran off with Chad. Your dad was levelling the ground for this patio.”
“My dad knew where I was.”
“He was angry. He ranted on how a dog dug up the dirt where the patio was going in. They couldn’t lay stone until the area was level, and he wasn’t paying anybody to screed again.”
“I suppose he was angry that his mother was dying and business commitments kept him here until the day before she died.”
“He never mentioned your grandmother. But I offered to tamp the ground for him once I connected the pallets of stone sitting in the driveway to what he was doing. I told him tamping and screeding was heavy work for him to do alone.”
“My dad was stubborn.”
“And talking to me a major inconvenience. He shouted at me, ‘She’s not home!’
I laughed. “You sound just like him.”
“I asked if you ran off with Chad Powers. He tossed the two by four into the yard and yelled, ‘How the hell do I know who she’s run off with? She runs off with you on the back of that damn motorcycle. She was up in Duluth. Wherever she’s at, she’s not home.’”
“Then you left.”
“Then I left. He never liked me much.”
“He didn’t like your bike.”
“His face turned beet red. Any idiot could see the slightest provocation would give the guy a stroke.”
“Because he mentioned Duluth, too, must be why you believe me now.”
Ben nodded. “Partly. Your story matched his.”
I looped my fingers around his. “We jumped to conclusions and made stupid mistakes. Our son has paid an awful price for our gullibility.”
“Not anymore.” He pulled up our joined hands and kissed my fingertips. “I should have stayed on it until we talked face to face.”
“Every bit of it is Dana’s fault.”
“I’m sorry for thinking you ran off with Chad, because your baby was his. That made me sick.”
“It’s behind us, except I don’t understand how you could believe I’d do that.”
“You were gone, and Dana spun her lie like a pro.”
“I think Harwood realized how mad she is,” I said.
“I agree. Grant and I’ve been wondering about him for months, especially after I thought I saw him in your driveway.” “The Fowlers say he’s fine.”
“Can’t believe them,” said Ben. “My guess is he’s not.”
“You moving to Canada would have made more sense. Why are you here?”
“Grant and I were compelled to find Jack. Our lives were in flux so we decided to start looking where we last saw him. Grant was convinced he’s dead.”
“‘Compelled’ means more than you know.”
“How so?”
“Ronnie and I have had strange experiences over the spring and summer. Caleb, too. All three of us have been compelled to do things, say things, move back here.”
“Then you and Ronnie think Harwood is dead?”
“He has to be, since you and Grant are alive.”
“Grant has been searching for years. Harwood is not out there.”
I frowned, realizing the more I heard, the more I believed our friend was dead. “Dana and Erik insist he’s not in the United States.”
“The Internet is everywhere; Harwood is nowhere.”
“Maybe he’s isolated. Freelancing.”
Ben furrowed his brow and shook his head. “Knowing Jack, he’d go where news is happening.”
“Unless he’s embedded.”
“Not for seven years.” His jaw set. His voice was firm. “Grant and I last saw him walk out your front door with a rolled-up newspaper under his arm. He and Erik got into Dana’s car and drove off.”
I swallowed hard. “A rolled-up newspaper.”
“Yeah. That mean something?”
Goosebumps covered my arms. “The morning of my divorce, I saw a man carrying a rolled newspaper. Maybe a ghost, because he was dressed in white. I thought then he dressed in white for the hot day.” I paused a moment, remembering. “My attorney finagled my car at the last minute for Caleb and me. Now I think the man in white compelled my attorney to ask Chad for the car. I keep dreaming about a man carrying a rolled newspaper under his arm.”
“Strange.”
“Even more now that I’m certain the man in my dreams really is a ghost. Caleb carried a newspaper like that once. He said a man told him to carry it. Nobody ever sees this man he sees.” I recalled Caleb’s words and repeated them to Ben. “Caleb said, “‘he said my dad will understand.’”
“I do unders
tand.” Ben rubbed his palms on his pant legs. “We think Jack died and he’s been trying to talk to Grant and me.”
“And Ronnie, and Caleb, and me, too.”
Ben squeezed my hand. “Which means he brought all of us together again.”
“My aunt Judith says he has a message.”
“That may be, but we’re not connecting.”
“My aunt claims she’s a medium. She also claims the spirit has a warning that we’re in danger of being killed and he wants justice.”
Ben paused a moment and cleared his throat. “Here’s the deal, Mallory. I just got you back, with that great, added little bonus over there on the tire. When I tell you all that’s been happening to Grant and me, I’m thinking you’ll call me crazy and send me packing.”
I patted his arm. “Not a chance. When it concerns ghost phenomena, your son and I are in deep.”
“I don’t want to be apart from you two.”
“We’re living here for now. You can, too.”
Ben chortled. “There are your parents. Your dad will call my bike a reckless hunk of junk again. He’ll probably lock the doors on me.”
“My dad wouldn’t do that.” I intertwined my fingers with his. “But you don’t know. Dad died the month Caleb was born. Mom is seeing Carl now.”
“Carl is?”
I laughed. “Sort of a friend.”
“Then I hope she’ll agree to my staying here.”
“And she’ll be glad you’re alive. She liked you best, you know.”
Ben gestured toward the tire swing. “I hope he does, too.”
“Of course. You’re his dad.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Carl was sorting drapery hooks at the kitchen table when I walked into the house. Mom stood at the stove across the room with her back to us.
“You kids almost missed lunch.” Carl separated a pile of smaller hooks from the larger ones.
I left the door open behind me. “I hope we’re not late.”
“Nope. I take it you’ve been busy.”
“You will never guess.” Ben and Caleb were kidding around on the porch. “Mom, you need to come over here and sit down a minute.”
“Something good, I hope.”
“Fantastic.” I opened the storm door, and Caleb jumped into the house. Ben followed. “Remember him?”