Building a Family

by Lyn Cote

  His mother propped her hands on her hips and said with palpable indignation, “Eleanor is not Suzann. Anybody could see that.”

  Harry folded his arms and glared at the world in general. “That’s your opinion.”

  Shaking her head to indicate disagreement with Harry, Kerry Ann looked at Pete. “You’ve looked in all the obvious places on the farm?”

  “Yes,” Pete said. Landon and Harry nodded.

  “Then, you all comb the places that aren’t obvious and—” She broke off as Pete’s son appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Nicky, we can’t find your sister. Do you have any idea where she would be?”

  “No, Grandma. She went to ask Dad if she could have a friend over and I stayed on the playset.”

  Kerry Ann held out her hand. “Very well. You come stay with me, and we’ll start calling our friends.” Nicky obeyed, heading toward his grandmother.

  “But, Mom,” Pete objected. “She wouldn’t have left the farm.”

  With Nicky holding her hand, Kerry Ann glanced over her shoulder. “She might, if she was upset.” She pressed her lips together. “We’ll find her. Don’t start thinking the worst. And pray!”

  Pete wanted to argue, wanted to yell in frustration and helpless rage.

  “Don’t worry,” his dad said with an attempt at heartiness. “We’ll find her.”

  “Yeah,” Landon agreed. “Let’s try to think like a little girl. Where would I go if I were unhappy?”

  Holding it all in, Pete closed his eyes. Dear Lord, where’s my daughter?

  “Eleanor,” Kerry Ann’s voice came over the phone, sounding urgent. “We can’t find Cassie.”

  Eleanor stood in the room that would be Jenna’s. She wore her paint clothes, and Mavis knelt nearby masking the baseboards.

  “You can’t find Cassie?” Eleanor repeated.

  “We think she overheard Pete and his dad talking about her mother calling from Las Vegas last night.”

  Why would Pete’s ex call? And what had been said that upset Cassie? Was Pete’s ex trying to come back into his life?

  “Cassie’s missing?” Mavis asked, rising, her knees creaking.

  “Yes.” Eleanor spoke into the phone again. “What can we do?”

  “I think it’s possible that Cassie might try to go to your house. Under the circumstances.” Kerry Ann emphasized the last phrase.

  “But we live over two miles from you. Would Cassie know the way?”

  “Yes, fortunately or unfortunately, you live on the way to the public pool and baseball diamond. We always wave at your house as we pass. And that’s been a few times a week this summer.”

  “What can we do?” Mavis asked, her ear now on the other side of the receiver, close to Eleanor.

  “Would you please drive slowly toward our place?” Kerry Ann asked. “I’m setting out from our place to another house. And so are Pete, Harry and Landon, to different destinations. We’re trying to cover the routes to every house Cassie would be able to find on her own. Storm’s coming fast.”

  “Okay.” Thunder rumbled ominously. They exchanged cell phone numbers and hung up.

  “We’ll take my car,” Mavis said, already running down the hall toward the back door. She snatched up her purse from a kitchen chair.

  Eleanor ran right behind her, grabbing her purse from its hook in the back hall and slamming the door behind her. “I won’t lock it in case we miss Cassie and she gets here before we get back!”

  “Good idea!” Mavis folded herself behind the wheel and Eleanor jumped into the passenger seat. Lightning streaked overhead.

  “I’ll drive,” Mavis commanded. “You look and pray!”

  Eleanor began a silent chant. “Please, Lord, let Cassie be safe. Let someone find her. Keep her safe.”

  Mavis’s bright red hybrid crept down the road with Eleanor scanning both sides. The rain poured down, nearly defeating the flapping windshield wipers. Looking out through the veil of pouring rain made Eleanor feel like she was drowning.

  She opened the window a crack, raindrops flying inside, and began calling, “Cassie! Cassie!”

  The thunder swallowed her pathetic voice. Her inward chant became a ribbon of words, of worry. In that moment, she knew without a doubt that she loved Cassie as much as if she were her own flesh. God, keep her safe. Please. Don’t let anything bad happen to her.

  Eleanor pinned her intense gaze on the road, alternately switching from one side to the other. The distance between her house and the Beck farm had never seemed as long before.

  Then Mavis slammed on the brakes. “There! Under those oak trees!” Cassie was huddled under the thrashing branches. “Oh, no, the worst place for her!”

  Stopping Mavis by gripping her arm, Eleanor said, “I’ll go.” She tossed Mavis her cell phone. “Call Kerry Ann!”

  She burst out of the car. The deluge soaked her to the skin. “Cassie!” she screamed, the effort scoring her throat. “Cassie!”

  Suddenly the thunder became uninterrupted, pounding, throbbing, deafening. Lighting streaked around them, stunningly bright. Cassie ran toward her. Eleanor raced to her, her arms outstretched. She felt herself still screaming, “Cassie!” But couldn’t hear anything save the thunder.

  Cassie lunged into her arms, shaking with sobs. Eleanor lifted her and ran toward the car, the safest place in a lightning storm. In the maelstrom, she glimpsed Pete’s pickup zooming up the road toward Mavis’s car. Pete, help!

  The world exploded. Eleanor was slammed to the earth, still clutching Cassie. Burning debris fell around them, hitting Eleanor as she shielded Cassie under her. She felt herself screaming into the maelstrom. Lord! Help! Pete! Help!

  Something hard and heavy hit her shoulder. It burned. She turned and saw that her shoulder was aflame. Before she could react, rain doused the orange fire. And then on the top of her head—a blow. Oh! She slumped, lost consciousness.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Eleanor swam upward from some dark, silent place. She tried to open her eyes, but the light around her was painfully bright.

  “Eleanor, Ellie.” A familiar voice repeated her name over and over. She knew that voice.

  She forced herself to open her eyes a tiny bit.

  Pete stood over her, repeating her name.

  “Pete?” she whispered, relief shining through her as if she were transparent. That’s how she felt thin, transparent, ready to blow away.

  “Ellie?” He gripped her hand tighter. “Ellie, wake up.”

  “I’m awake,” she whispered, bringing his distraught face into focus. Something had sprinkled her body with pain. “What happened?”

  Her simple words seemed to unleash a torrent of words.

  “What were you thinking?” Pete demanded. “You could have been killed. I could have lost you! And Cassie! Don’t you ever go out in a storm like that again.”

  She could feel his hand shaking even as it clutched hers.

  “I could have lost both of you,” he repeated and fell silent. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Ellie, I nearly died when I saw you running in the rain and then…the lightning…” he murmured brokenly.

  “Cassie?” she asked, still unable to lift her voice above a whisper.

  “She’s fine.” His voice shook. “Just soaking wet and scared.”

  A memory pricked her and burning pain sparked a grimace. “My shoulder?”

  “You have first degree burns on your shoulder, and smaller ones, dotting various other places. One of the oak trees behind you took a direct lightning strike and exploded around you. You could have been hurt really bad, Ellie. Really bad.”

  “Had to. Cassie…under the oak trees. Worst place,” Eleanor replied, straining to make herself heard. “Saw you, too.”

  “I should have gotten there first,” he said.

  “Where’s my daughter?” A loud voice from somewhere beyond Pete intruded.

  Then her mother and father bustled to her other side.

  “Eleanor,” her mother
exclaimed. “You look awful. Mavis told us what you did. If the tree had been any closer, you could have been killed.” Her mother burst into tears and covered her face with her hands.

  Eleanor watched, too stunned to speak.

  Her father lifted Eleanor’s free hand and squeezed it. “If you hadn’t gotten Cassie out from under that tree, she could have been killed. That’s my girl.”

  Her mother turned her face into John’s shoulder, obviously still shaking with tears.

  Pete squeezed Eleanor’s hand again. “My sweet, brave Ellie.” He tried to smile but his chin still trembled.

  “Want to see Miss Ellie!” Cassie ran into the room, followed by Kerry Ann who caught up with her and lifted her into her arms.

  “Well, Eleanor,” Kerry Ann said, “looks like you’re going to make it. See, Cassie, Miss Ellie is going to be fine.”

  “Pardon me,” a white-coated doctor edged into the E.R. examining area. “I know you’re all concerned about the patient, but I need all but one of you to go out to the waiting area. In fact, how did you all get by the receptionist?” He looked accusingly at each of them in turn.

  “Come along, Delia,” John coaxed. “We’ll go sit in the waiting room. We can fuss over our girl when we get her home,” he said, and departed.

  “That will be very soon,” the doctor said. “We just need to watch her to see if she shows any sign of concussion. Otherwise, she has only suffered scattered first degree burns and minor lacerations. She’ll be fine.”

  The crowd ebbed, but Pete remained, gripping her hand. He listened also as the doctor finished his assessment of her and then told her that she would be there for a few more hours of observation. He prescribed a pain reliever.

  When they were alone again, Pete leaned down and kissed her. “Now I’m going to talk to Mavis about my bringing fresh clothing for you from home. What you were wearing was mud-smeared, drenched and singed.”

  “I always try to look my best,” Eleanor said, lowering her eyelids demurely.

  Pete laughed out loud and it felt good to expand his lungs, release his anxiety. “You look beautiful. Always.” He leaned down and stole another kiss. “But I know you’ll feel better in clean clothes.”

  Later Eleanor sat in a wheelchair, and Pete pushed her out to the exit, her family and his following, too. It wasn’t long before they were all gathered in Eleanor’s living room. Kerry Ann had brought Cassie, too.

  With Eleanor safely at home, Pete found he could finally breathe normally. Eleanor had refused to lie down and sat in a comfortable armchair in her beige-and-white living room in her blue, cotton robe and matching slippers. He sat on the wide arm of the comfortable, overstuffed tweed chair, needing to be touching her. Her parents also remained, hovering close.

  Mavis motioned toward the work clothing she wore as she sank into another armchair. “We were going to paint Jenna’s room. She chose a pale peach shade last weekend.”

  The commonplace words somehow released the tension in the room. Cassie climbed onto John’s lap, sighed and almost instantly collapsed into deep sleep.

  “Too much excitement,” John said, stroking Cassie’s tear-streaked face.

  Delia reached over and also touched the child’s hair and face. “I’m so glad she wasn’t hurt. Whenever I think of her standing under trees during such a storm…” She shuddered visibly.

  “Children push us to the edge,” Kerry Ann agreed, sounding exhausted.

  “I remember when, as a child, Eleanor was hit by a car while she was riding her bike,” Delia said, her eyes on Cassie. “I couldn’t stay in the hospital room, I was crying so hard. I was terrified by the fact that we could have lost her.”

  Pete watched Eleanor’s face turn pink. He squeezed her hand.

  “I remember,” Eleanor murmured. “Dad told me you were out in the hall calling your office.”

  “That’s what she told me to tell you,” John said.

  “I didn’t want my tears to weaken you. You had to be strong,” Delia said, her voice firming.

  Eleanor wiped away a tear, suddenly feeling light enough to rise from where she sat and hover near the ceiling. My mother loves me, has always loved me—in her way. “I’m just glad I found Cassie in time. And no real harm done. The doctor said my injuries will heal up in a week.”

  “You got off light,” Pete said, the thought of the possible tragedy evidently still shaking him.

  Eleanor sighed, leaning her head back against the soft chair. “All’s well that ends well. And thank goodness I don’t have to appear in court anytime soon.” She glanced down at the burns and cuts that were scattered over her arms and hands.

  Kerry Ann rose. “I’m going into the kitchen to get Ellie something to eat and drink. And then I think we should all go home—except for Pete—and let Eleanor get some rest.” She walked out of the room before anyone could react to her announcement.

  John lifted an eyebrow. “Should I be asking you about your intentions, young man?”

  Pete snorted. “I’m not that young. But I am wiser, this time. Eleanor and I have an understanding about the future, don’t we?”

  Eleanor nodded but looked sleepy.

  “Eleanor and I are going to take our time to do this right,” Pete continued. “She’s going to be in the process of adopting Jenna, and we need to plan our course so that our blended family comes together with tender care.”

  Pete was glad that no one here had asked why Cassie had run out into the storm. He didn’t want to reveal this before he discussed it privately with Eleanor.

  Kerry Ann returned from the kitchen. “I’ve put some lasagna I found in the freezer into the oven and have set the timer. When it dings, Pete, be sure to get it out.” Kerry Ann then lifted Cassie, carrying her toward the door and shooing the rest of the gathering out the door. Waving farewell, Pete didn’t move from the arm of the chair close to Eleanor.

  When they were alone, Eleanor asked, “Why did Cassie run away?”

  Pete pressed his lips together for a moment. The anger he felt at Suzann flared and then began to ebb. Eleanor rested against his arm. That’s what counted now. “She overheard my dad warning me away from you. My ex, Suzann, called last night.”

  “After four years of nothing?” Eleanor was flabbergasted. What nerve!

  “After not even sending a Christmas card in all these years.” Pete nodded glumly. “She has finally come to the realization that she has children. And that her actions have affected them. She wants to figure out how to be a long-distance mom.”

  “How does one do that?” Eleanor touched Pete’s cheek, needing to be in contact with this man, this man she loved so.

  “She suggested sending presents and coming for a visit every year.” His expression and tone were dry.

  “What do you think of that?” Eleanor stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.

  He shrugged. “I guess we should let her. The kids should know their birth mother. I know they wonder why she stayed in Las Vegas and we live here. I’ve never come up with an adequate reason for that—one that I could tell them.”

  Eleanor nodded pensively but again her heart lightened. “You said ‘we.’ I’m glad.”

  He drew her hand up to his lips to press another kiss there. “And I’m sorry. After I told my dad about Suzann’s call, he made me doubt you—for about three seconds. Then I remembered that he doesn’t approve of anything or anybody at first. He likes you. He just worries a lot.” Pete paused. “He has reason I guess. My marrying Suzann ended up hurting not only my children but also my whole family.”

  “That can’t be helped. ‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’” she recited.

  He nodded as he leaned over to steal a kiss. “Yes, just living through today’s drama and trauma is definitely enough.”

  “I don’t really understand what kind of woman your ex is. And I love Nicky and Cassie already.”

  “I know. I see it in the way you look at them, your tone of voice. You talk to the
m like a mom. And you love Jenna, too.”

  “I want to be a good mom like Mavis was to me.” Eleanor wondered if she’d seen and heard right. “Did my mother really come in and cry over me?”

  He grinned, nodding. “Yeah, she did.”

  “I never thought she loved me.” Eleanor still felt disoriented. Too much had transpired in much too short of a time. She was glad she didn’t have to do anything but sit.

  “She just has a funny way of showing it,” Pete said. “Like my dad.”

  “Guess we’ll just have to take them as they come,” Eleanor said, grinning wryly, feeling old chains of doubt fall away, crumble, disappear. If only she weren’t so tired and achy. Pain leaked through the pills they gave her at the hospital. She sighed.

  “We have to accept our families the way they love us—”

  “And vice versa. Our kids will have to take us as we are.” She leaned against Pete’s solid form.

  “Just like God loves us and all his children. No matter what. You are a very special woman and I love you.”

  At this revelation, she glanced up. His eyes spoke not of kindness and friendship, but of love. Joy filled her so that she couldn’t speak. Instead, she stroked his cheek with her index finger.

  He turned and kissed the inside of her palm. “I love you, Eleanor,” he repeated, grinning. “Ellie.”

  His voice caressed her and she closed her eyes. “I love you, too, Pete.” Her voice betrayed her by squeaking at the end.

  He chuckled as if she’d said something uproarious and lowered his mouth to claim hers again. She let herself ride the wave of the kiss and then sighed. “I can’t believe it’s real. How did all our fears of loving again disappear? How could everything change in one day?”

  “God used a lightning bolt to wake us up. We must really be dense,” Pete teased. This time he drew her gently up to stand against him, his arms around her, and then he was kissing her again. She lost herself in the moment, not trying to figure out where her lips ended and his began, and certainly not denying that she wanted Pete Beck to kiss her.