A Mom's New Start (Love Inspired)

by Margaret Daley

  At the steps he said, “After you,” then followed her up to the back door that led into the game room. “When will Zane and his crew be finished with this house?”

  “By the end of July. We may be family now, but there are so many people in worse need in Hope. He’s hiring another crew so he can meet the demands. He seems to be doing that every few months.”

  “And I thought I worked long hours.”

  At the door she turned toward him. “You do. What were you doing at your office at six o’clock on Saturday?”

  He laughed. “Catching up on work.”

  “See, what did I tell you? My job is just that. Work. I have too many other things I want to do with my life.” She opened the door and entered the crowded room.

  “Like what?”

  “Being the best mom I can to Brady. That garden out there doesn’t just happen, and I love to knit and read.”

  As Keith Sommerfield welcomed everyone to his home, Cody leaned close to Maggie and whispered, “I’ve heard about your prayer shawls.”

  “It’s a great way to knit and help someone at the same time. When I get through with the needs in this town, I’ll move on to the surrounding ones. I want everyone to be wrapped in God’s love when they put on one of my shawls. They are given to people who need comfort and prayer.” She weaved her way through the throng of people to get her camera for the cake cutting.

  He liked how she thought. Why hadn’t he noticed before? Because this assignment was temporary like all his others. It was better not to get emotional or notice someone he could be attracted to. That only made it harder to leave in the end, and he was afraid if he got too involved in Maggie’s life, she would make him want to stay. Not good in the long run. Not after what he’d gone through with Beth.

  As guests surged forward for a taste of the cake, Zane approached him. “What are you doing back here in the corner? Don’t tell me you’re going to escape before the party really gets going.”

  With an attempted suicide of one of his patients, it had been a long week. Cody was looking forward to doing nothing tomorrow except go to church then crash afterward. “Parties aren’t my thing.”

  Zane’s eyes widened. “I’m surprised you say that. You’re always so at ease with people.”

  At a cost to himself. “I have to be or no one would tell me their worries.”

  “Personally I’m glad they do. What you did for Keith was great. We actually have a relationship. Something I never thought would happen.”

  “The way you feel about Kim, I’m sure you would have found a way.”

  “Before you skip out, let’s set up a meeting early next week to discuss the housing project.”

  “How about Wednesday?”

  “The Fourth of July? You aren’t working, are you?”

  “I forgot that’s next week. I don’t have my calendar with me, but I’m sure I didn’t plan anything for the Fourth.”

  A slow grin spread across Zane’s face. “I’ve found someone who works as much as I do. Tell you what, we’ll talk on the Fourth while we’re on my boat. I’m taking the family out to Eagle Island. We’ll be back in time to see the fireworks off the Point.”

  “I don’t want to intrude.” He particularly kept his distance with families. Sometimes he wished...

  “Nonsense. You’ve been around enough to know we don’t stand on ceremony. We’ll be leaving bright and early. I’m not taking no for an answer. On the boat you’ll actually be able to relax, and you of all people know how important relaxation is for a person’s mental health.”

  “You’re playing dirty.” Cody laughed. “Okay. What can I bring?”

  “Nothing. You’re a guest. We’ll even have towels if you decide to go swimming at the island.”

  “Fine—” The ping of Cody’s cell phone interrupted the rest of his sentence. He withdrew it from his pocket and saw another text from his kid sister. Where are you? He looked at his friend. “I’ve got to take this.”

  “Everything all right?”

  “Just my sister.” Cody headed for the back door to step outside onto the gallery where it was quiet. His sister only texted him when she was having problems. The last one was her way of asking him to call her. Now.

  Hannah answered on the first ring. “Am I glad you called!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Everything. Where are you? I thought you would be at your apartment.”

  “At my apartment? Where are you?”

  “Outside your door, getting funny looks from your neighbors.”

  Chapter Two

  “What do you mean you’re outside my door? You’re here in Hope?” Cody’s hand tightened around his cell. Hannah had never done something like this. They’d talked over the phone and worked out her problems.

  “Yes, I’m here. What else would standing outside your door mean?” Hannah’s exasperation matched his.

  “I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

  “Hurry. The mosquitoes are feasting on me.”

  Cody went back inside to say good-night and found Maggie standing with her uncle, Ruth and Kim near the cake table.

  Maggie smiled as he came up to them. “Do you want a slice?”

  “Can’t. I have to leave and wanted to thank you all for the invite.”

  “Is everything all right?” Ruth Sommerfield asked, taking hold of her husband’s arm.

  “My sister has shown up at my apartment without telling me she was coming.”

  “Where does she live?” Kim turned toward the table and cut two slices of the cake.

  “Los Angeles.”

  Keith whistled. “She came a fair piece to see you, and you didn’t know about it?”

  “No. That’s my sister.”

  Kim handed him the paper plate with the cake on it. “Take this and enjoy it. Both of you.”

  Cody smiled his thanks. “Hannah has a sweet tooth. She’ll appreciate this. Good night and congratulations again, Keith and Ruth.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” Maggie said and fell into step beside him.

  “You don’t need to do that.”

  “No, I don’t, but I want to.” She peered over her shoulder as they walked toward the staircase leading down to the first floor of the antebellum house. “It’s so nice not to have large sheets of plastic cordoning off the areas that needed renovating. It’s looking more and more like home again.”

  “That’s so much a part of the problem with disasters. Seeing the effects for months later. Rebuilding takes time but sometimes people need immediate results or depression sets in.”

  “I know that was part of Uncle Keith’s problem. I’ve seen it with so many others. There are still people who are homeless, a lot thankfully living in trailers they received from the government.”

  “But it isn’t the same. They don’t look at the trailer as their home.”

  “Then we could get into a discussion about what makes a home.”

  He grinned. “We better avoid that this time. My sister is expecting me this evening.” He didn’t think his definition would be what Maggie’s was. She saw it as a physical place; he thought of it as a mental one.

  “You’re right. Home means different things to different people.” Maggie stopped at the front entrance. “I wanted to thank you again for helping me on the elevator and understanding about me freaking out.”

  “I’ve seen it before. It takes a lot more than that to get to me.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. Good night.”

  Cody left Bienville, his steps light, thanks to Maggie’s warm smile. It hadn’t been a bad evening after all, especially out in the garden. At times like that, when he was with someone intriguing like Maggie, he wanted to reconsider his plans. But he was doing what he was supposed to. He couldn’t turn his back on the people he helped. Still, thoughts of Maggie stayed with him until he pulled into the parking space in front of his apartment and saw his sister on his doorstep.

  Pregnant.

  * * *
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  Maggie leaned against one of the opened double doors after Cody drove away. Sounds of the party—laughter and voices—floated down to her, but she wasn’t in any hurry to return. The smile Cody gave her when he had left caused flutters in her stomach like the wings of the hummingbirds that visited her garden every day.

  She sighed. Too bad he would be leaving Hope in a few months. It would be interesting to get to know him better.

  She shut the door and ascended the staircase to the second floor. But instead of rejoining the party, she went to look for her son. She hadn’t seen Brady for a while. Was he in his room?

  Maggie made a detour toward her son’s bedroom. When he said, “Come in,” she found him on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  “You okay?”

  With his gaze still fixed on a spot above him, he murmured, “Yeah.”

  But the way he said that one word told her he was far from all right. “What happened?”

  Finally Brady looked at her. “Nothin’. I’m tired.”

  She crossed to his bed and sat. “Hon, you’ve been tired a lot lately. Sleeping all the time. Are you feeling okay?”

  “Mom! Don’t get on my case about sleeping. It’s not like I’m out doing anything I shouldn’t.” He rolled away from her.

  “After church tomorrow we’re going to Nathan’s. He needs help painting the last few rooms in his house. He’ll finally be through with all the repairs after Hurricane Naomi. I’m sure there will be time for you to ride Jersey.”

  “I don’t wanna go.”

  “You don’t?” This was a first. He always loved going to his cousin’s farm just north of Hope, especially riding the gelding. He even tolerated Carly, Nathan’s daughter, following him around even though she was only six years old.

  “I said I didn’t.”

  “Has something happened?”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Brady, what’s wrong?”

  He turned back to her. “What’s wrong is that you keep asking me that. I’m fine. I just want to be left alone.”

  Having her son lash out at her hurt. They had always been so close until the past few months. Was this what it was like to have a teenage boy? She really didn’t have anyone to talk to about this. Uncle Keith had already told her that, when he was a teenager, life had been different.

  Brady turned on his side away from her. “I’m tired, Mom. Good night.”

  She started to say, “But it’s only nine o’clock.” Biting her bottom lip, she rose and left the room.

  Something was wrong. Yes, it could be Brady’s age, but she didn’t really think that was it. He usually spent most of his free time with his best friends, Adam and Jesse, but lately he wasn’t doing that. More and more she would find him here in his room, alone. Scrubbing her hands down her face, she wished she had a man to turn to. Being a single mom was getting harder and harder. Her son needed a father. And his was dead. Killed in action while serving his country.

  Thirteen years ago she’d been marking off the days on the calendar for when her fiancé, Robbie, would return from serving overseas and they could finally marry. His unit had been deployed unexpectedly to reinforce a troubled area off the coast of Africa. They hadn’t wanted to elope or have a quickie marriage, so they were going to wait until he came home. In the meantime, she had been planning the wedding—a wedding that never occurred. Instead, she went to a funeral. Only a couple weeks after that, she discovered she was pregnant.

  Pregnant and mourning the death of her fiancé had left her devastated and full of anger. She’d made some mistakes, but later, as she’d learned when she’d become a Christian, God didn’t care. He loved her no matter what. It was Kim who had insisted Maggie go to church with her a couple Sundays after Maggie had discovered she was going to have Robbie’s child. That had been the beginning. As she’d learned to be a Christian, she’d learned to be a mother, too, with a lot of trials and errors because her mother had never been a good role model.

  If it hadn’t been for the Lord, she would have fallen apart when her mother had turned her back on her, embarrassed that she was going to have a baby out of wedlock and even worse, she was going to keep her child. In the depth of Maggie’s despair, God’s words reached her. When Brady had been born, she welcomed him into this world as part of Robbie that lived on. She vowed she would do what she could to love and protect their son.

  Now something wasn’t right, and she didn’t know what to do. Lord, I need You. What’s going on with Brady? You’ve always been here for me. Help me again now.

  * * *

  “Who’s the father, Hannah?” Cody paced from one end of his living room to the other.

  “Aaron, of course.”

  “Then why did he leave you?”

  “He told me he didn’t want to be a father, packed his bags and walked out the door. He left me to pay the rent. I couldn’t afford it by myself. I didn’t know what else to do so I came to see you. I’m broke. Seeing the doctor took all my money. I want to do what’s best for the baby, but I don’t even have enough to see the doctor again.” His twenty-two-year-old sister rattled off her reply, barely taking a breath between sentences. Standing by the kitchen bar that opened into the living room, she clutched one of the tall stools with her left hand while the right rubbed her large stomach.

  “How many months are you? Eight? Why didn’t you tell me this before now?”

  “I’m almost five months.”

  “Are you sure?” She looked much farther along than that, but then he wasn’t an expert on pregnant women.

  “Yes, as sure as you can be.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I was hoping Aaron would want to get married before the baby came. Instead he ran away as fast as he could.”

  “When did that happen?”

  She lifted her face, tears glistening in her eyes. “Two months ago. I knew how disappointed you would be with me. I was trying to make a go of it alone. But I can’t.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m a failure and I don’t know what to do.”

  He came to her and drew her into his arms, her sobs punching a hole in his heart. “I’ll help. You know I will. You’re all the family I have.” As he said those words in the calmest voice he could muster, panic zipped through him. He could counsel others, but he’d always had a hard time with his little sister. When their parents died, first their mother then five years later their father, Hannah had turned more and more to him. And the one time she should have come to him right away, she hadn’t.

  “I let you down.” She tightened her hold on him.

  As he stroked her back, trying to give her all the support he could, he listened to her sobs. What do I do, Lord? Suddenly all those times he’d helped others didn’t mean anything if he couldn’t help his own sister.

  Finally she pulled away, wiping her tears from her cheeks. “All I do anymore is cry. I’m big as a house. I guess that’s what happens when you’re gonna have twins.”

  Cody felt the color drain from his face as he stared at Hannah. “Twins?” Maybe he hadn’t heard correctly.

  “Yeah, what did you think? I look like I’m seven or eight months along.”

  Cody sank onto his couch, his head ringing as though he’d been a punching bag for a boxer. “Is that why Aaron left?”

  “No, I didn’t even get a chance to tell him that. When he heard I was going to have a baby, he hung up on me.”

  “You told him that news over the phone?”

  “Yeah, I was upset. I thought I had indigestion or heartburn or both. Then when I went to the doctor and found out I was going to have a baby, I had to talk to him right away. I can’t do this alone. I can’t.”

  “You’re not alone. I’ll think of something.” But the panic that had gripped him earlier still had a firm hold on him. He was so out of his element.

  * * *

  “Do I hafta go?” Brady asked for the second time as he lugged the cooler of food down the pier early the Fourth of July morning. “I can walk home from
here.”

  “And what are you gonna do when you get there?” Maggie stepped onto Zane’s sixty-foot boat.

  Her son shrugged. “Nothin’.”

  “You can do nothing here and maybe, just maybe, you’ll have some fun.”

  Brady frowned and passed the cooler to her, then hopped onto the deck. “You can’t make someone have fun.”

  “Sure I can.” She forced a smile to her lips. “Your mother has spoken.”

  He looked at her as though she were crazy and stomped into the cabin.

  “Not a bad technique. I’m gonna have to try that with Anna,” Kim said as she came aboard the Blue Runner.

  “You wait. Anna only has a few more years and then she’ll be a teenager.”

  “Technically Brady isn’t one for a few weeks.”

  “Tell that to his raging hormones. At least I hope that’s what it is. Otherwise, I don’t know what to do.”

  “And you know what to do about raging hormones?”

  “Good point.”

  “I’m sure that’s all it is. I wish some parent would come up with a way our kids can skip the teenage years.”

  Maggie scanned the dock. “Where’s Zane and Anna?”

  “They’re coming with half the kitchen.”

  “Who else is coming?”

  “Well, Dad and Ruth—”

  Maggie’s gaze strayed to the end of the pier. “Ah, I see them with—Cody. I didn’t realize Zane had asked him.” She’d glimpsed him a couple of times at City Hall earlier in the week but hadn’t had a chance to say anything to him. She’d noticed he looked tired and wondered why. His job should be getting easier as people put their lives back together.

  Kim’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Zane and Cody need to talk about the housing project, and they are both so busy they decided to combine business and pleasure. They don’t know I’m declaring a day of no work.”

  Maggie chuckled. “Oh, this will be entertaining.”

  “Anna wants to deep-sea fish.”