Building a Family

by Lyn Cote

  Done with setting the floor joist, Eleanor came over to Cassie. She knelt on one knee. “Hey, there, Cassie. How’s your arm?”

  Cassie unfolded her arm, revealing the healing sting. “See, it’s getting all better.”

  Kerry Ann moved closer. “Hello, Eleanor.”

  After returning the greeting, Eleanor turned to Mavis, who stood at her side. “This is my honorary aunt, Mavis Caldwell. She’s just retired and moved here from Madison.” Thunder sounded in the distance, and Eleanor looked concerned.

  Kerry Ann smiled and offered her hand to Mavis. “Nice to meet you. Welcome to Hope.”

  Pete stood there, looking up at the sky, wondering how long before it rained.

  “Thank you. I’m a little tired from the move but exhilarated by the work here.”

  Kevan came over. “Hey, who are these new ladies?” Pete introduced the three. Mavis shook hands with Kerry Ann and Kevan.

  “What are your interests, Mavis?” Kerry Ann asked. “Maybe I can hook you up with someone who shares yours. And we have a senior center in town where there are congregate meals, if you’re interested.”

  “Well, thank you.” Mavis beamed. “I’ve already stopped at the library, got my card and signed up for a book club.”

  “Excellent. I’m too busy in the summer to read as much as I’d like, but I do the book club in winter.”

  Kevan wished Mavis well and returned to his job.

  Pete continued hovering, listening to this, hoping his mom would finish and head home. He wanted to prevent another bonding experience between Cassie and Eleanor from occurring. It wouldn’t be good for Cassie. Eleanor was not a part of their lives and, after this house was done, would no longer be around. He couldn’t set Cassie up for another loss.

  “Why don’t you two ladies go sit on the lawn chairs in the shade and chat for a moment?” Eleanor suggested.

  Pete’s jaw tightened at this invitation.

  “But I came to work,” Mavis objected.

  “You can take a break,” Eleanor said. “Pete and I can work together. Go on.”

  Pete did not appreciate this suggestion, but how could he refuse? His mom, Mavis and Cassie walked over to the lawn chairs provided for those who needed to take a break.

  Eleanor moved closer to him as they walked to the stack of floor joists. “That’s really nice of your mom to be so welcoming to my aunt.”

  “I’ve got a nice mom.”

  “You’re lucky, then.”

  Pete cocked an eyebrow at this odd comment. But he didn’t ask what she meant. They arrived at the stack of wood. He lifted one end of the joist, and she lifted the other. Then he was walking slowly backward toward the foundation. Though thick, fast-moving clouds blocked the sun, perspiration had begun to collect around his hairline.

  Eleanor glanced up. “I think that front is moving in faster than expected.”

  “Are you prepared for it, if it hits?”

  “Yes, that’s my job.” She sighed. “But if it doesn’t hold off, that will shut us down without much accomplished today.” She then began calling out encouragement to the other volunteers, urging them to work as quickly as possible.

  He and Eleanor, along with the others, soon had the sill and joists in place. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Jenelle Paxton and her little girl park at the curb and walk to the lawn chairs to join his mom, Mavis and Cassie. He heard his daughter’s squeal of joy. She hugged Tiesha.

  He’d have to be cut out of stone not to be happy for Cassie. She’d hit the jackpot today—Miss Ellie and Tiesha and now Mavis doting on her. The two girls began playing with some little Fisher-Price figures in the wild grass.

  “Don’t they look sweet with each other?” Eleanor murmured from close beside him.

  He turned, and her expression caught him by surprise. Her tender heart shone through her eyes and the soft smile that touched her lips.

  She frowned, suddenly looking pensive. “Cassie’s mother doesn’t live nearby, does she?”

  “She couldn’t care less about her children.” The ugly words plopped out of his mouth and twisted his stomach.

  Eleanor looked shocked. “I’m so sorry. That must be hard.”

  He didn’t want to talk about this, but he’d added more. He changed his tone. “We manage. My parents help me.”

  Eleanor tilted her head to one side as if trying to see him in a different way. “I’m glad you have help. And you have a lovely mother.”

  He nodded. And more thunder, not so distant now, rolled, echoed in the distance.

  “Oh, dear, the storm’s upon us,” Eleanor complained.

  “We can’t take any chances,” he said.

  “Right. We’ve got heavy-duty tarps to put over the raw lumber joists so they don’t suck up the rain. Would you get everybody together and show them how to spread and secure them?”

  He sent her a questioning look. She was turning leadership over to him?

  “I’d like to spend a few minutes with Cassie. Is that all right?”

  “Sure.” What else could he say? “Are those the tarps?” He pointed to a stack of large, blue plastic squares still in their wrappers.

  “Yes, and there are bricks and rocks to hold them down.” Eleanor started away from him at a trot.

  The wind was already whipping up. Tree branches swayed. Another storm was nipping them, moving into action. Pete called out instructions and soon the volunteers swarmed around the tarps, opening the cellophane wrapping and unfolding them. In pairs, they stretched the tarps over the foundation and unused wood. Then they positioned the bricks and rocks to hold the tarps down in the growing, buffeting wind.

  By the time this was done, the first cold raindrops plopped around Pete’s head and shoulders. He hustled toward his mom with Kevan close behind. “We should get you two on the road home.”

  “Pete, Mavis has invited us, including you and the Paxtons, to come to her house for an impromptu lunch,” his mom replied, rising from the lawn chair and snapping it shut.

  Excusing himself from the lunch, Kevan kissed Jenelle goodbye and headed off for his part-time job.

  Pete realized that he would have to explain to his mom why he didn’t want Cassie becoming so attached to Eleanor. The Habitat house would be built by fall, and then Eleanor would no longer be a daily part of their life.

  “Pete, these lawn chairs belong to Eleanor,” Kerry Ann continued. “Would you carry them to her Trailblazer and load them in her rear hatch?”

  Again, what could he say? He nodded, hiding his frustration. Luis and Colby helped him snap the lawn chairs shut, and through the increasing rain, they hurried to Eleanor’s SUV. She had the hatch open and was standing under it for cover from the pelting downpour.

  “I’m going to drive Luis and Colby to Dairy Queen.” He raised his voice over the din from the storm. “They’re supposed to train there today. Where’s Mavis’s house?”

  Eleanor told him the address. He ran straight out for his pickup, Luis and Colby right behind him. Inside the warm cab, he steamed physically from the rain on his wet skin and mentally from how the day had betrayed him. He’d had two fixed purposes today—to work at the Habitat site with the teens and to keep Cassie away from Eleanor. He’d succeeded at one and failed at the other.

  Was his mom just being nice to Cassie and Mavis, a newcomer? Or was she trying to get him and Eleanor together? Since his divorce, his mom hadn’t been the matchmaking or plotting kind of mother. But that appeared to be changing.

  Chapter Four

  Thrilled that Aunt Mavis hadn’t wasted any time getting to know people, Eleanor wanted to be a part of the luncheon. But she hadn’t missed Pete’s hesitation at this invitation. Thinking over meeting Kerry Ann the other evening, Eleanor wondered if Pete’s mother was into matchmaking. Was that why he’d hesitated over coming here today? That—or was this about Cassie? She tried to put herself in Pete’s place.

  Under a black umbrella and these swirling questions, she hurried to
Mavis’s back door, thunder booming in the distance. On such a gloomy day, she usually would have gone to the office earlier than expected. Now she ran up the three porch steps and entered the snug kitchen. Cheerful chatter greeted her and lifted her heart. Outside, the leaden gray skies poured rain; inside, every light downstairs shone bright. Lightning flickered at the windows, unnoticed.

  Kerry Ann and Mavis were looking into the fridge and discussing the impromptu lunch menu. Mavis bent to pull out her large freezer drawer. “How about ham sandwiches and potato salad?”

  “That sounds yummy,” Eleanor said. “Do you have deli potato salad, or should I offer to peel potatoes?”

  “I boiled potatoes and eggs last night,” Mavis said. “I planned to invite you for a cookout tonight.” She pointedly looked toward the rain pouring down the windows like someone outside held a hose to the panes. “Scratch that.”

  Eleanor shrugged. “I need to go into my office later today to catch up on paperwork. But I’ll help—”

  “Why don’t you go into the living room where Jenelle is watching the girls?” Kerry Ann suggested. “She can probably use a hand.”

  Again, Eleanor hesitated for a second. Should she do this? Earlier in the week, Pete had shown subtle signs that he didn’t want Cassie forming an attachment to her. Or that was what she had thought his body language had broadcasted. I could be wrong about that.

  “Go on,” Mavis said, waving her hands toward Eleanor. “You know you don’t really want to be in the kitchen.”

  Squeals from the living room beckoned. Eleanor shrugged and followed the sound. Jenelle sat on the couch with Mavis’s large marmalade cat on her lap. Tiesha stood on one side of Jenelle with Cassie on the other. Both little girls were petting the feline.

  Jenelle looked up. “I’ve rarely seen such a laid-back cat.”

  Eleanor knelt down by Tiesha, subtly distancing herself from Cassie. “Dabney’s great, isn’t he?” She stroked the long cat who was stretched out like a baby. Dabney opened one eye and purred more loudly in greeting for a few seconds. Eleanor rubbed her nose into his soft fur, murmuring her affection.

  “I’ve been wanting a cat,” Jenelle said, “but Kevan and Tiesha have been talking dog.”

  “I want both!” Tiesha said, bouncing on her toes.

  “I got kittens in our barn,” Cassie said. “And we got golden retrievers that live in a big doghouse. But they can’t come inside except in the winter. Then they sleep on the back porch.”

  “That’s because we live on a farm,” Kerry Ann added from the kitchen doorway. “My husband says animals don’t live in the house.” She made a funny face. “But I love the old grump.” She turned back to Mavis.

  “How are you liking Hope?” Eleanor asked Jenelle. She wondered when Pete would get here. Maybe he’d call his regrets?

  “I like Hope. We didn’t want to return to Chicago after Kevan got back from Iraq. We wanted to move out of the city. Kevan had met a few soldiers from this area. Kevan came up and stayed with one of them and went around applying for jobs. He got picked up at the paper mill, and we’re very grateful.”

  “I grew up in Madison,” Eleanor said. “That’s not Chicago-size. But after I got out of law school, I came here to be one of the county’s public defenders to get courtroom experience. I liked it and set up my office here for good.”

  Someone was knocking on the front door.

  “Get that please!” Mavis called from the kitchen.

  Eleanor hurried to the door and threw it open, wondering how Pete would behave.

  Pete didn’t wait for an invitation. He rushed inside and stood, water dripping down his face. “I’m nearly soaked to the skin.”

  “Come to the bathroom,” Eleanor said. “I’ll give you a towel to dry yourself with.” Eleanor led him to the small bathroom and gave him a fresh towel. She left him there and joined Jenelle and the girls in the living room. She sat down beside Jenelle, and immediately Cassie climbed onto her lap.

  That cozy sensation swept through her, the same cozy sensation that she’d experienced the first time she’d lifted Cassie into her arms. Eleanor didn’t have the heart to discourage her. What could Pete do to her, after all?

  Jenelle was reciting a fun rhyme with hand actions. “No more monkeys jumping on the bed.”

  Eleanor watched the repeating rhyme and joined in. The girls were giggling. Eleanor took a deep breath. She tried not to think of all the work waiting for her back at the office. She could work this evening. This was too much fun to miss.

  Pete, still with damp hair, joined them, just sitting and listening to the females. Soon the impromptu lunch had been set on the dining room table. Eleanor tried to eat her meal, trying to ignore how Pete watched her and Cassie like an irritated hawk. Did he have to make it so obvious that he didn’t want his daughter getting attached to her?

  At the end of the meal, Pete rose. “I need to go pick up Luis and Colby.” He hesitated.

  Eleanor could almost see the cogs turning in his mind. He was asking himself how he could get Cassie away from her. Suddenly irritated with him, she stood. “I’ll walk you to the door. You may borrow one of the umbrellas and return it to me the next time I see you.” What could he say?

  He thanked Mavis for lunch and bid everyone goodbye.

  In the small foyer, Eleanor whispered hotly, “I’m not going to encourage your daughter to become attached to me. But I think if you keep making a big deal out of it, you’ll just make her more determined.”

  Pete looked as if he was chewing on a reply, but finally he merely nodded. “Okay.”

  Eleanor didn’t want to beat him over the head, so she just nodded, too. “See you at the Habitat site on the next workday?”

  “Right.” He opened the door, opened the umbrella, and then his cell phone rang. He halted and answered. His expression mixed glad, surprise and caution. He hung up and shut the umbrella. “Luis and Colby are working today. Two kids that were scheduled didn’t show.”

  “Well, that’s good, right?”

  He nodded. A new round of thunder pounded outside. “I guess I can stay.”

  “I guess you can.” Despite his agreement, Eleanor didn’t know if she was happy about this or not. Would he lighten up or continue giving her the discouraging eye?

  When they joined the group at the table, Pete sat down, murmuring he didn’t need to pick up the teens. Then he stopped speaking abruptly and stared upward.

  Eleanor, along with everybody else at the table, followed his gaze. She saw the problem immediately. A wet line had formed on the white ceiling toward the little chandelier, which looked original to the house.

  “Did you have a home inspection, Mavis?” Pete asked.

  “I bought the house as is,” Mavis admitted. “I guess the county just let the old woman who owned it finish her days here. She was a couple of years behind in taxes. And now I see that I must have a leak, right?” Mavis sighed.

  Eleanor worried her lower lip.

  At that moment, what appeared to be a tear dropped from the chandelier and plunked onto an empty plate.

  “Uh-oh. I better go up and see where the leak is,” Pete said, rising. “Where’s your access opening?”

  Mavis led him to it, with Eleanor trailing behind, worried. Jenelle and Kerry Ann kept the girls at the table. Pete pulled down the cord to the trapdoor in the small hallway. With the opening of the hatch, an ancient, drop-down stepladder appeared automatically.

  “That doesn’t look very substantial,” Eleanor murmured.

  “It’ll hold me.” Still, Pete tested his weight on each step. Then he disappeared up into the attic.

  Eleanor moved closer to Mavis, and they both craned their necks toward the dark hole above.

  “Bulb must be burnt out,” Pete called down. “Got a flashlight?”

  Mavis turned and hurried into her bedroom off the hallway. But when she moved to put a foot on the bottom step, Eleanor intervened. “I’ll go up, Auntie.”

  Mavi
s looked momentarily disgruntled, and then handed the large lantern flashlight to Eleanor. “No comments about those old stairs not holding my weight, girl.”

  Eleanor chuckled, snapping on the flashlight and ascending the rungs. As soon as her head cleared the floor, she peered into the near blackness of the attic. Flashing around the light, she illuminated Pete’s feet in soggy Nikes.

  He reached down and pulled her up. “Shine the beam at the roof.”

  Standing now, she did, aiming the light at the old, wooden beams and joists section by section.

  “There.” Pete touched her elbow. “Let’s get a closer look.” They minced along, balancing on top of the floor beams, not stepping on the raggedy insulation that lay between each. “There,” Pete muttered.

  Eleanor saw the wet mark on the weathered wood above their heads and the dripping water coming in. “Oh, dear.”

  Pete took the flashlight. “We need something to catch the drips in.” He raised his voice. “Mavis, hand us up a few large pans to catch the water!”

  “Oh, no!” Mavis wailed from below.

  But within a few minutes, from the hatch, Eleanor was accepting a large sauce pan and a turkey roaster. “Which one do you want?” she asked Pete.

  “Both. Here’s a second leak.”

  Mavis grumbled something and then must have left the hallway in disgust.

  Pete pointed the light onto another section of roofing. Then he shone the light so Eleanor could walk over and position the pans where they were needed.

  Thunder exploded overhead. The faint light shining up from the hatch flickered and went out. Tiesha and Cassie, below, squealed with fright. And then the flashlight flickered off. Instinctively Eleanor reached for Pete.

  He pulled her closer and whispered, “Just don’t move. The lights will probably come right back on.”

  So they stood motionless, listening to the rain pounding against the windows. Thunder hammered overhead. In the darkness, Eleanor became aware of Pete’s steady breathing and the warmth of his hands on her arms. She fought the urge to move even closer. She knew logically she didn’t need his protection. There was really no danger. But she wanted to be nearer to him, his palpable warmth and strength.