by Holly Jacobs
A light came on inside the shop and Finn could see Rich through the giant front windows as he bustled around, probably getting ready to catch the pre- and post-church crowds. A giant stack of newspapers sat outside the door.
Finn dumped the now-cold remains of JoAnn’s coffee and arrived at Rich’s just as the owner flipped the sign to Open. Mattie’s brother held the door open for him to enter. “Well, if it isn’t Valley Ridge’s own Doctor Finn, medicine man.”
“Rich Keith.” Finn extended his hand and shook Rich’s. “It’s good to see you. I’m out of coffee and in need. I was hoping you had some ready.”
Rich was the younger of Mattie’s brothers. Finn had very few memories of him as a kid. There was enough of an age gap that they’d never run in the same circles. But with the high school and grade schools next to each other, older kids and younger kids walked or were bussed together.
Finn had one distinct memory of Rich, though. A first day of school with Bridget, Mattie and her little brothers. Mattie had held her brothers’ hands. He’d tried to hold Bridget’s and, with what he’d always suspected was Mattie’s instigation, she’d slugged him.
There was nothing little about Mattie’s brother anymore. He was at least a couple inches taller than Finn’s own six feet.
Rich took Finn’s cup. “Here at Park Perks we aim to please.” He refilled it and handed it back. “I caught a glimpse of you last night at the big party, but didn’t make it over to say hi. Can you believe the turnout?”
“It was sort of overwhelming.” After Mattie went to take care of the kids fighting, he’d tried to follow, but he’d been waylaid by old friends and acquaintances, passed from one to another and grilled about his life in Buffalo.
The recurring question of the evening was, was he seeing anyone? At Bridget’s funeral, the town had established he wasn’t married and didn’t have kids. It seemed his friends were keen for him to find someone. And he probably would find someone who was compatible someday, but the idea of a soul mate? Well, he wasn’t sure he believed in that kind of all-consuming love.
His sister thought she’d found it, but her ex, Alton Langley, had gotten tired of playing the family man and simply left...without looking back. He’d signed over his parental rights, as if signing a piece of paper could erase the kids and the life he’d promised Bridget.
No, if that’s what a soul mate meant, Finn was happy to count himself out of the quest for one. He’d happily settle for finding someone who shared his likes and dislikes, and whose temperament suited his own. Someone who would fit in his life without causing any ripples.
“I’m sure the kids were glad to see you,” Rich said, thankfully interrupting his thoughts about soul mates.
Finn snorted. “Not really. No one was really overjoyed.”
Rich leaned into the bar. “I hear my sister’s name hidden beneath that no one.”
“I don’t think I’m her favorite person.” He pushed his glasses up higher on his nose, then took a long, slow sip of the coffee. “Good stuff,” he said, hoping to turn the tide of the conversation.
Rich was unturnable. “You wanted to take the kids from her. I seem to remember you telling Mattie that she couldn’t cut it as a guardian, and it seems to me I recall hearing that you told Mattie that Bridget had probably signed the papers making her guardian when she was high on pain meds.”
“Finding out Bridget left custody to Mattie was a shock, and afterward was not my finest moment. Mattie didn’t deserve the way I treated her. I was grieving and said things I regret, not that grief is a good excuse, but it’s all I have. And I did apologize.”
One month. It had only been one month since Bridget died. Sometimes Finn still forgot that she was gone.
With Bridget here, Finn had always known he had somewhere he belonged. He knew he had someone who was in his corner. He knew he had someone who loved him unconditionally.
He hadn’t realized how much he relied on his sister...until he lost her.
The pain was suddenly overwhelming. Fresh and fierce.
He pushed it away, burying it as deeply as possible and forced himself to focus on Mattie’s brother. From the way Rich was talking, she hadn’t told him about the papers that had been served yesterday. She hadn’t told her brother that Finn was more than talking about custody now, that he was actively pursuing it.
“You and I both know that no matter how much she loves the kids, Mattie’s not the staying kind,” Finn said, justifying his suit if only to himself.
“She does love those kids” was all Rich said in response.
“I do, too.” And he did. He knew they had no reason to believe it, that he hadn’t been around as much as he should have, but he’d do anything for the kids. They were the only family he had left.
Rich simply nodded.
The conversation had turned too painful, so Finn checked out the pastries in the nearby case. “Speaking of the kids, why don’t you load up a dozen doughnuts. I’ll surprise them for breakfast.”
Rich frowned. “Mattie won’t like that. She’s very particular about food.”
“The same Mattie who once ate an entire birthday cake by herself?” He remembered Bridget coming home from Mattie’s party. They’d been maybe eight or nine, and he’d asked how the party was. Bridget had burst out laughing and said that it was fine except there was no cake.
“Yeah, that Mattie. My mom wanted to kill her when she found out she’d eaten the whole thing. Mattie really, really likes whipped-cream frosting. But she swears she’s reformed since she spent some time in California working in a Whole Foods Grocery store. She’s more nutritious-minded now. She’s why I have this case.” He pointed to a large tray filled with muffins. “If you want to get a few brownie points show up with these instead. She likes the whole-wheat banana blueberry, the younger kids like the carob-chip and Zoe’s big on the cinnamon carrot cake ones.”
Smoothing things over with Mattie was a good idea. Maybe he could still convince her to let him have custody without taking the matter to court. “Some of those and mix up the rest of the dozen.”
He paid for the muffins and coffee, and was almost at the door when Rich called to him.
“Hey, Finn.”
He turned around.
“About that fight you and Mattie had at the wake, I hope you’re leaving the kids where they are. Frankly, they’re good for her. She seems more—” he paused, obviously searching for the right word to describe his sister “—settled. And it’s not only her. I know that she’s good for them, too. They need to be here in Valley Ridge, surrounded by people who knew and loved their mom, and know and love them. Buffalo’s a great city, don’t get me wrong, but they’re part of Valley Ridge. They need to be here.”
Finn didn’t know what to say. He should probably tell Rich that he was seeking custody. When he won, the whole town would know anyway. He should just put it out there now.
He wasn’t sure why he didn’t.
He didn’t even know why he’d come into the coffee shop, so he opted to simply say, “Thanks for the muffin tips, Rich,” and hurried out the door before Mattie’s brother could offer him any more sage advice.
He headed toward Bridget’s house, a bag of muffins in one hand, his coffee in the other, and a lot on his mind.
Why hadn’t Mattie said anything about the lawsuit to her family? One word from her and they would rally round her.
Probably a lot of the rest of the town, as well.
Despite
her traveling, Mattie had been back to Valley Ridge far more often than he had, and she still had a lot of family here.
So why wasn’t she mustering all the support she could? Why wasn’t she bad-mouthing him and trying to build a case for herself?
Maybe, secretly, she was hoping he’d win and give her an out?
It would ease his guilt if that were the truth, but he didn’t believe it. Oh, he didn’t think Mattie relished the thought of settling down, but he knew she’d loved his sister and would do anything for her...even if that meant trying to stay in Valley Ridge with the kids.
No matter what Mattie said, Finn knew that it was practical and sensible to have the kids with him. He could almost hear his sister’s objection. He pushed the guilty thought away and fell back on a surgeon’s confidence that he knew he was doing the right thing.
* * *
ONLY A FEW MONTHS AGO, if asked, Mattie would have said that mornings were her favorite time of the day. Sunday mornings in particular. The paper was thick and took longer than normal to read. A quiet hour or so with it and a cup of coffee was utter bliss, in her book.
She stared at the carton of eggs that sat next to today’s unread newspaper and her barely touched coffee cup and acknowledged that Sunday mornings were no longer quiet, paper-filled, coffeefests, at least not for her.
“Mickey,” Abbey shrieked. “Give it to me.”
“You gotta catch me,” Mickey screamed back.
To intervene, or not to intervene? That was the question.
“You two, shut up,” Zoe screamed with more volume than either of her younger siblings had managed.
No, Sunday mornings were not what they used to be.
Mattie knew where this was going. Abbey and Mickey allied themselves and screamed, “You can’t make us.”
“Aunt Mattie,” Zoe screeched as the doorbell rang.
Odds were it was some neighbor complaining about the noise so early on a Sunday. “Don’t make me come up there.” Those words had basically become her mantra. She opened the door and found her less than perfect morning was suddenly even less than less than perfect. “Finn.”
He held out a bag from Park Perks. “I brought a peace offering. I was going to walk around longer, but I saw the lights were on and heard...” He paused as if looking for a description.
“Welcome to Sunday. Sometimes I think Rich has the better part of the deal working the weekend mornings. He gets a quiet Sunday crowd and I get this.” As if on cue, Zoe screeched.
Mattie glanced up the stairs. “Getting everyone ready for a nine o’clock service is interesting at best, impossible at worst.” If she was lucky she’d finish her coffee by lunch, and the paper sometime before bedtime tonight.
But only if she was lucky.
“Maybe the muffins will help?” Finn asked.
“Maybe.” She stepped back and let him in. “I suppose you’d like one?”
“JoAnn offered me breakfast, but I’m the only one staying there right now, and it seemed like a waste of time to make her cook for only me, so if you don’t share, I’ll go hungry.”
He shot her a pathetic smile and batted his obscenely long eyelashes from behind his glasses at her in a way that had probably won over countless women. “Whatever” was as gracious as she could manage.
“I thought we were going to try to get along.” He came into the entry and shut the door behind him.
“When the kids are around, I’ll be all sweetness and light,” she assured him, “but I can only carry on the charade for so long without throwing up, so when we’re alone, don’t expect much.”
“Mattie, listen...”
“No, I don’t think I want to listen. I have to go out tomorrow and find a lawyer, spend money that I don’t have in order to have someone who knows what they’re doing at my side when you take me to court and try to prove what an unfit guardian I am.”
“I never said unfit, and I never would. It’s that I’m more equipped to meet the kids’ needs. It’s not personal.”
“You can tell yourself that all you like, but it is. And I don’t think discussing it will help anyway. Now that you’ve made it a legal issue, I think we’ll let our lawyers and the court decide things. I don’t want to say something that you’ll file away to use against me later out of context.” She nodded at the bag he’d set on the kitchen counter. “And while it’s lovely you brought the kids muffins, please note that I had eggs out to make their breakfast.” She pointed to the egg carton that sat next to the pristine, unread paper on the counter. “They wouldn’t have starved. I may not be as rich as Croesus, or a certain prominent Buffalo surgeon, but the kids have never, and will never go hungry while they’re in my care.”
“Come on, Mattie, that’s not what I thought. It’s not what I meant by bringing muffins. I simply thought you all might enjoy the treat.”
His protest sounded sincere, but Mattie knew he was probably taking note of the fact the kids were still hollering, though they’d obviously moved the argument into a bedroom because she could no longer make out the words.
“Sure. You’re such an upright, honorable man that you’d never think about using a missed breakfast against me—not that the kids were going to miss breakfast. I mean, you’re so honorable you’d never go against your sister’s last wishes....” She let that sentence hang there for a long, dramatic pause and then added, “Oops. You don’t give a damn what your sister or anyone else wants, right? It’s all about Dr. Finn Wallace—about what he wants. Your wants are all that matters.”
“That’s not fair.”
Before he could say anything else, Mattie spat out, “No? When your sister was dying, where were you again?”
He blanched, and Mattie grimaced. That had been a low blow. He’d come to see Bridget when he could.
Unfortunately Bridget hadn’t died in a way that accommodated Finn’s schedule. “Really, Finn, I’m sorry I... That wasn’t fair and I won’t throw that in your face again.”
He didn’t respond, and she didn’t know what else to say, so she went and called up the stairs, “Breakfast.”
She put the eggs away and pulled out orange juice, milk and butter. “Do you want something to go with your muffin?”
She wasn’t sure he was going to answer her. Her pissy comment had obviously hit home.
He did answer eventually, but without meeting her eyes. “Juice, please.”
“Fine.”
The kids thundered into the room. “Aunt Mattie, you’ve got to tell Mickey he can’t wear those jeans to church. I’ll just die of embarrassment,” Zoe said dramatically.
Mattie looked at Mickey’s torn-up jeans that were splattered with paint and shook her head. “Try again, bud.”
“But, Aunt Mattie, they’re holey jeans. Get it? H-o-l-y? H-o-l-e-y? That’s funny.”
He’d had a test on homophones last week in school, and she couldn’t resist a small smile. “I definitely get it. And it is funny, but you’re still not wearing those pants to church. Now, eat your breakfast and then change into unholey jeans.”
Zoe looked at her uncle, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “How come you’re here again?”
“I brought the muffins.” Finn nodded at the Park Perks bag.
“Yeah, but why are you here?” Zoe asked again. “I figured you’d be back in Buffalo now that Colton and Sophie’s party is over. You must want something more than to see we got muffins for breakfast.”
“What could I want?” he cou
ntered.
Mattie wanted to mutter, the kids, but she didn’t. Or maybe she’d hit closer to home saying, to win. She’d like to think that the lawsuit was about Finn believing that he was the better choice of guardian. Honestly, on paper, he was the better choice. He was more educated, had more money... Yeah, he had a lot going for him. And if the kids were his primary concern, she liked to think she’d consider his request. But she suspected Finn Wallace, captain of this, president of that, straight A student, Dr. Finn Wallace, surgeon extraordinaire wasn’t accustomed to someone telling him no, much less indicating that he wasn’t the best choice for something.
Finn had built a life around being the best.
Mattie felt as if she’d built her life around being mediocre. Still, it was her hand her friend had taken, and said, I know you’ll love the kids as fiercely as you’ve always loved me. You’d throw your life into upheaval for them...that’s what they need. They need that kind of unconditional love, more than money or things.
Maybe she was an expert at something other than moving...loving fiercely. That’s what Bridget had said. Mattie would hold on to that, and she’d fight for the kids with all the fierceness she could muster. Whatever happened she’d make sure they knew they were loved.
She looked at Zoe, staring her uncle down. “What could you want?” Zoe echoed. “Gee, I don’t know, but like I said, when Mom was sick you weren’t around much, and she’s gone now, so what are doing here? Yesterday was about your friends. What’s going on today?”
Finn seemed uncomfortable with Zoe’s cross-examination. “I have to go home tonight, but I wanted to spend time with you guys before I left.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t like us,” Zoe said.
“He likes us. Right, Uncle Finn?” Mickey asked.