Only Her Heart

by Lyn Cote

  As soon as the back door shut behind them, Annie whirled to face him.

  Jack bumped into her.

  Her pulse raced, making her feel out of breath. “What brought you here tonight?” she asked with an effort to hide her response to him. “Did Tom call back or has something happened with Hope?”

  “No.” Jack brushed her questions away with a wave of his hand. Without warning, he claimed her shoulders with both hands.

  She held her breath, thoughts ricocheting through her mind.

  “I wanted to ask you a question,” he said, gazing into her eyes as never before.

  With his full attention on her, she waited. Finally, when he didn’t speak, she prompted, “What question?”

  Jack looked away. “Would you take over Tom’s job?”

  She gaped at him, open-mouthed.

  “Well?” he coaxed, gripping her shoulders more firmly. “Would you?”

  She jerked out of his hold and swept into the kitchen. She flung open the refrigerator door. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

  “No.” He trailed right behind her. “I’ve thought over what Tom said earlier. He said you could do part of his job—”

  Insulted, Annie felt more than the stifling heat from the day. She burned with irritation. “I don’t have a business degree in marketing and sales like Tom does.” She sloshed Jack a glass of lemonade and shoved it into his hand.

  “Well, LIT has an established reputation now. Tom said that we didn’t need an office on Michigan Avenue anymore to impress customers. And I don’t need a marketing genius like Tom anymore. He was right. Word of mouth brings us most of our customers now. That’s why he must want to leave LIT. I get it now. Remember, Hope Medical came to us.”

  “But there was a family connection,” she snapped. “They knew that you were Cliff’s son.”

  “That wasn’t why they hired me!” Jack raised his voice, too. “You’re good with people.” He tossed this compliment at her even in the midst of arguing with her. “You know the business as well as Tom does. You’re perfect for the position.”

  Annie’s heart thudded with dread. “I’m just your executive assistant. I can’t do Tom’s job.” She turned her back to him and folded her arms. And I was going to quit. This will only bring me closer to you.

  “Well, you’re going to,” he said. “I don’t have time to look for another partner.” His tone became gritty. “This Hope project is going to consume me until I get the system cleaned up and secure again.”

  “Jack—”

  “Annie, there’s no time.” He swung her around to face him.

  “I’m not—”

  “I’m not taking no for an answer.” Jack pulled her toward him.

  “Then, I quit.” She pushed him away.

  Mike opened the door and stepped into the kitchen. “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

  Jack’s expression was stormy, almost belligerent. “I want Annie to move up in LIT and take on more responsibility—”

  “I can’t,” Annie persisted. “Don’t ask me—”

  “Let Jack talk, Annie. What are you offering her?”

  Annie clenched her fists at her sides. Jack’s nearness heightened her negative reaction to this preposterous suggestion.

  Jack turned to Mike. “I want her to meet with customers, negotiate deals and help with customer relations.”

  “Dad, Tom has quit—” Annie started.

  “That sounds like a job you’d be good at, Annie,” her dad said. “Why don’t you want to take it?”

  She brushed past Jack. His bare arm grazed her. Her pulse spiked. “Dad,” she said, appealing directly to him, “it takes a business degree in marketing and sales to do the job—”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Jack said, his tone becoming urgent, “You think that’s why I took Tom on as a partner?”

  “Wasn’t it?” Annie looked up into his intense eyes.

  “No, Tom and I went to high school and college together. We were friends, good ones.”

  Jack’s tone implored her. “When we were seniors, I told him what I wanted to do and he said, ‘Let’s go for it’ He found us a few backers and then went out and drummed up our first client.”

  “I can’t... I couldn’t...” Annie stammered.

  “I don’t need you to do that starting-up stuff now,” Jack said. “LIT is a known business. You just need to represent LIT with people who seek us out. I can hire a publicist if I need one. Annie, no one knows our business better than you. I need you. And you can do it.”

  “He’s right,” Mike said, and left them, closing the door behind him.

  Annie didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t let LIT go down. Or Jack. Still, her heart told her to run.

  After dark, Jack drove his mother to her house.

  “That was quite an evening,” his mom commented, then sighed. “I’ve never seen Annie so worked up. She could barely sit still.”

  “Yeah.” But Annie’s negative reaction didn’t claim Jack’s attention. He wanted to ask, So what’s with you turning up at Annie’s house? But he couldn’t. He didn’t know what his mom would answer and he was afraid she’d say something he didn’t want to hear. His stomach clenched.

  “Mike’s almost ready to start on my addition.” Sandy released her seat belt seeming oblivious to Jack’s agitation.

  “Let me know the amount of the deposit he needs to get started,” Jack managed to say as he opened his door. He’d meant to discuss this with her, but he’d been inundated with other concerns.

  “Oh, I won’t need any help from you, dear. I’ve been saving up for this for a long time and I’ve already applied for a home equity loan to make up the difference.”

  Jack froze, heat shooting up his neck to his forehead. I should have spoken up earlier. Let her know that’s why I took the Hope job. How could he get her to let him take care of this?

  Chapter 6

  The next morning at Melissa’s college, Annie eased inside the cool brick and marble building. Like a spy in a foreign land. Melissa wouldn’t come to her so she’d come to Melissa. Laughing, giggling and chatting, college kids in shorts, sandals, halter tops and T-shirts streamed around her, entering and leaving the student union building.

  Inside the entrance she halted, feeling extremely out of place in her dark business suit. She scouted the area and found a directory. Then she headed downstairs to the cafeteria in the basement. According to their dad, Melissa should be finishing up her part-time job there about now.

  Annie waited in the cafeteria entrance, scanning the sparsely populated tables for her sister. The twin scents of frying bacon and cinnamon rolls filled the air.

  Then Annie’s eyes widened. Melissa sauntered toward her. But her sister was not alone. Her face turned away from Annie, she strolled beside a handsome young man. She was looking up at him and laughing. As though she didn’t have two little boys at home crying for their mother.

  “Melissa.” The name sounded and felt wrenched from Annie.

  Melissa halted, antagonism replacing shock in her expression.

  Plainly ill at ease, the young man hovered. He cleared his throat. “Anything wrong,?”

  Melissa smiled at him. “No, go on. I’ll see you in class.”

  The young man loped off.

  Melissa closed the gap between them, stopping right in front of Annie. “What are you doing here?”

  To say the question sounded hostile was an understatement Annie stalled. She sent a prayer to God for wisdom and grace. What could she say to ease past her sister’s obvious annoyance? She’d come to persuade not antagonize. But what was Melissa thinking? “I miss you.” The words slipped off Annie’s tongue before she thought them through, but they were the right words. Annie recalled one of her mother’s favorite verses: “A soft word turns away wrath.”

  Melissa’s face softened. “I miss you, too, Annie.” The two sisters who’d lived under the same roof all their lives stared at one another, both uncomfortable and
uncertain. Annie saw this in Melissa’s eyes and felt it inside herself. “How are you, Melissa?” I can’t believe I’m saying this to Melissa.

  “I’m fine, Sis. How are you?” Melissa replied, sounding like a mere acquaintance, not her sister.

  Reeling with the unreality of this moment, Annie shrugged. How was she? “Jack’s gone crazy. He wants me to take over Tom’s position at LIT.” That’s not what I meant to say. Words seemed to be bubbling up without warning. She had come to talk some sense into her sister, not to talk about her own problems.

  “Wow, that is some news.” Melissa waved to Annie. “Come on. Walk me to class.”

  Annie fell into step beside her sister.

  “What happened to Tom?” Melissa had changed her hair, which used to fall loose to her shoulders, into two spiky pigtails.

  Annie wondered where Melissa had come up with her new outfit too. She never wore short shorts and loose tank tops. “Tom’s taking on the launch of another hi-tech company. And he’s leaving LIT.”

  “When did that happen?” In her Birkenstock sandals, Melissa set a brisk pace.

  “Yesterday.” Too brisk a pace for Annie. She wished she weren’t wearing a new pair of business heels.

  “This is so cool, Sis. It’s about time you crawled out of your shell.” Melissa grinned at her. “You’ll do great—”

  “Melissa, you know I’m not qualified for the position,” Annie said with as much force as she could muster. I’m not brilliant like you and Jack.

  “Why not take it?” Melissa lifted her newly plucked eyebrows. “Jack must think you’re qualified.”

  Melissa was wearing eye makeup. Troy hated makeup.

  “I don’t have the education I’d need to be Jack’s representative. I only have a piddly two-year associate degree.”

  “So what? You’ve been with LIT from day one. You know more than you think you do.” Melissa punctuated her words with a gentle punch to Annie’s shoulder.

  Melissa’s praise and confidence in Annie were unexpected and persuasive, but... “I couldn’t do it. Jack asked me because he just doesn’t want to take the time and energy to locate a replacement for Tom.”

  “Stop.” Melissa frowned and shook her head at Annie. “If you start trying to find someone to replace you, I’ll bean you. You’ve got to start believing in yourself and just do it. I know. I speak from experience.”

  “What experience?” Annie asked in a cautious tone. Melissa, tell me why you left.

  Melissa shut down before her eyes. “You don’t need to know,” she said through tight lips. “That’s between me and Troy.”

  “What’s going on? You never said anything to me or Dad to warn us. Why did you have to leave?” Melissa sped up. “Don’t mother me, Annie. I’m twenty-three now and an adult.”

  Annie kept up with her. The new shoes chafed her heels the way Melissa’s attitude chafed her heart. Of course Annie had tried to mother Melissa, who’d only been twelve when their mother died. I did my best for you, Melissa.

  “This is between me and Troy,” Melissa repeated.

  “But what about the twins? It concerns them.” Annie heard the pleading in her tone.

  “Tell that to Troy,” Melissa said, eyes blazing. “He tried to guilt me into dropping my classes and coming home. But it won’t work. He didn’t send you, did he?”

  “No one had to send me. I’m concerned. About the twins and Troy and you. Why did you have to leave? Why couldn’t you just go to school this fall like you’d planned?” Why is all this happening? Can’t anything go right this summer?

  “Because I couldn’t take it anymore!” Melissa rounded on her. “Troy and I had a deal and he reneged. In fact, he reneged twice.”

  “Twice?”

  “Yes, you know—” Melissa held the books in her arms like a shield, “—he promised before we married that I’d go to college the fall after my high school graduation—”

  Annie recalled the conflict over Melissa marrying so young. Their dad had not been happy and neither had she. “But he didn’t know you’d get...you’d be expecting the boys so soon,” Annie pointed out.

  “The heck he didn’t—”

  “Melissa, you’re not serious?”

  “Yes, I am. I heard, overheard...something...” Melissa fell silent. She started walking again, nearly marching.

  Annie clicked along, her heels raw. The hot sunshine caused a trickle of perspiration down the side of her face.

  With a clenched jaw, Melissa continued in a dark tone. “And ever since I knew I was pregnant, Troy has done everything he could to keep me home, and for what? I’ve sacrificed my goals for the boys, while Troy thinks just bringing home a paycheck is all he has to do as their father. He wants me to be his ‘house-frau.’ He thinks that’s funny. It’s medieval.” Melissa paused in front of an imposing limestone building. “My class is in here. I’m late.” She turned and raced up the steps.

  “Melissa,” Annie called after her, “your sons need you. Won’t you come for supper tonight and see them?”

  “Can’t.” Melissa turned back and glared at her. “Troy says I shouldn’t visit until I’m ready to come home for good and get back to being his wife again. He says my visit would just upset Austin and Andy—” Melissa’s voice broke with tears.

  “He said that?” Annie asked.

  But Melissa disappeared inside the heavy metal and glass double doors.

  Annie slowly walked toward an empty park bench a few feet away. She sank down onto it. Melissa’s words whirled, revolved, spun in her mind...

  “Are you okay, lady?”

  Annie looked up.

  A student, whose arms were filled with books, glanced down at her. His brow furrowed. “You look like you’re not feeling too good.”

  “Thanks.” Annie sat up straighter. “I’m fine. I just got some bad news and it shook me up a little.”

  He nodded, still eyeing her. “Would you like me to walk you to the visitor parking, ma’am?”

  Ma’am? I look like a ma’am? Must be the suit. “Thanks, no. I came on the bus.”

  “Okay, but you should drink something. This heat can dehydrate you pretty fast.”

  Nodding, Annie rose. Lord, what’s going on? Is Melissa telling the truth—or just what she thinks is the truth?

  “Troy, I don’t get why you don’t understand. How can I persuade you to try to get Melissa to come back home?” Annie couldn’t keep frustration out of her voice. On her way to LIT after getting off the final bus, she’d decided to call Troy.

  “Listen, Annie, I appreciate how you stepped in to help out with the twins. But this is between me and Melissa.”

  She could hear the sounds of a construction crew behind his voice—hammering, the roar of a distant engine.

  “I know that. But Melissa said some things to me this morning and, meddling or not, I need to know if they’re true.”

  “All right,” Troy barked. “What things?”

  “Did you really get her pregnant on purpose?”

  “No! It just happened. Is that what Melissa told you?”

  “I think that’s what she thinks.” The day was suffocatingly hot. Annie fluffed her hair away from the perspiration on her face.

  “Well, she’s wrong. And I don’t know how she could have gotten that idea.”

  Annie didn’t know what she should say. What had Melissa said—that she’d “overheard” something? These were deep waters and Annie needed to wade back to firm ground.

  “Troy, if you want to get Melissa home, you’re going to have to convince her that you want her to go ahead and get her education—”

  “I’ve already heard that,” he snapped. “From Melissa. But I won’t be blackmailed into changing what I think just because she’s left me. If we have a difference of opinion, she should stay and fight it out.”

  Annie couldn’t help but agree.

  “Things change.” A different tone came into Troy’s voice. “And people change.”

  W
hat was it? Was he departing from the truth or did he sense that this was the weak point of his argument? Annie listened for his next words and their intonation.

  “I still think it will be better in the long run if Melissa postpones college until she finishes our family by having one more child. And right now—” Troy’s voice picked up speed “—she belongs at home with our kids. When they’re in school all day, then she can go to school.”

  Annie listened to Troy, but this time, as her sister might hear these words. And things change. If her sister came home today and had another child, would Troy change his mind in a few years and come up with another excuse to keep her home? What was the real issue here? Melissa’s education or Troy’s desire for control?

  “Melissa has a lot of anger toward you, Troy,” Annie said, choosing her own words with care. “I think she feels you have been taking her for granted and not really hearing her.”

  “Well, I have a lot of anger toward her now! She left me. How do you think that makes me feel?” Click. Troy had hung up on her.

  Annie hung up, too, and then plodded down the block toward LIT. Well, Lord, that accomplished exactly nothing. What’s wrong with them? Don’t they see that this doesn’t have to be like this? Annie tried to figure out why Troy was adamant about this. Many young mothers worked outside the home. What was the real issue separating the two of them?

  When she could put it off no longer, Annie walked into the LIT office and looked around for signs of life. The digital wall clock read 11:57. Hearing the tapping of keys from Jack’s inner office, she eyed her desk and the flashing red light on the answering machine.

  Instead of checking the messages, she walked to Jack’s doorway and leaned against the doorjamb.

  As usual, Jack was bent over his computer keyboard. She studied his profile, his intense pose. She recalled how having fun with the twins had shown her a side of him she’d never seen. It was obvious that he had effortlessly become one of their favorites. She’d never guessed he would be good with children.

  “Hi,” she said in a quiet voice. Would he ever know that she’d wanted him to be the father of her children? Right.