Love on Mimosa Lane (A Seasons of the Heart Novel)

by Anna DeStefano

  “Hey, Chloe!” Fin called from the pack of kids rounding the far side of the field. “No laps, no play.” It was something Law had said each time the three of them worked out. “Get out here!”

  Chloe looked up at Law, unsure.

  “I’m sorry the divorce has been so hard,” he said. “I’m going to do everything I can to make things right from now on. No more not talking about stuff like this. No more hiding or avoiding it.”

  “Even stuff like you being friends with Ms. Hemmings?”

  “Even stuff like that. You’ll always have your mother, as long as she stays healthy. You’ll always have me. But for all of us to get better, our family has to change. We have to start doing things differently, and…move on from where we’ve been for so long. Do you think you can be okay with that?”

  Chloe looked at him for a long time without answering. He reached to hug her. She took off after her team before he could—leaving him to pull himself together so he could organize the scrimmage match he’d planned for tonight. The kids needed to get used to being teammates first, before they worked on improving their individual skills.

  It was a principle he’d followed every season he’d coached—he introduced teamwork first, and only then did they focus on player performance. It was the philosophy that had kept him hooked on team sports his entire adult life. Fitting together and fighting together was what made his teams unbeatable. The whole of them were stronger than any one player on his roster. That was why his kids beat even more skilled opponents week after week.

  It was the same with a family, he realized. A good family that the parents and kids could depend on even when things seemed at their worst.

  He looked across the field to the parents’ cars parked at the curb, either on Main or Baxter, depending on what part of town they’d come from. It was a good thing to see Kristen standing there now, too, talking with Dan and Marsha near Marsha’s van.

  It was a good change.

  He was going to fight for the family he’d talked with Chloe about—one that would help her feel safe and loved, not terrified of doing something wrong or making someone angry. A family he could imagine creating with a woman like Kristen. Assuming he could convince her to stick things out with him long enough, to see if she could want that kind of forever, too.

  “Great game last night,” Dan said to Kristen, toward the end of practice.

  Law was still on the field, still running with the kids, an agile, breathtaking man who made the competitive athlete inside her drool—even if a more cowardly part of her had thought up an array of excuses for slipping away from Dan and Marsha before last night came up in conversation.

  They’d already covered the weather and which kids on the team they knew and the growing community excitement for next week’s Valentine’s party at Pockets—where Julia and Walter Davis were renewing their vows, with their sons and everyone in town watching on. They’d talked their way around every topic they had in common except Law and Chloe and Libby. Evidently Marsha’s stepping away to make a call on her cell had been the opening Dan had been waiting for.

  “Sally’s blocking out and rebounding like a demon,” Kristen said. “She might be one of the smallest players on my team, but she’s making up for it by asserting herself. She’s rebuilt so much confidence since you signed her up after the shooting. Her defense is a big part of why we’re still in the play-offs.”

  Dan smiled. Kristen saw him and Charlotte and Sally smiling more and more these days. “She keeps telling her mother and me she wants to grow up to be as tall as you, so she can play center in college ‘just like Ms. Hemmings.’ ”

  He laughed at that. Though he was almost as big as Law, Sally was taking after her petite mother. Not that Kristen had any intention of letting that dampen the girl’s enthusiasm.

  “Sally’s got the makings of a fine guard,” she said. “And she works hard. The extra practice time you’re spending with her on the weekends is paying off, in more ways than just on the basketball court. She loves you very much, Dan. You’re…”

  The words tugged at Kristen’s voice and her heart, refusing to come out.

  “I’m a lucky man,” he said. “And so is my brother. You got him and Chloe out here with Fin. I suspect you’re the reason, at least part of it, that Law’s taking a stand with Libby. And—”

  “He did this for Chloe.” Kristen glanced over to see Marsha still on the phone, standing several yards away.

  “He did. But he came to find you last night for himself.” Dan’s expression hardened. “And even though I suspect Libby’s already retaliating, spreading the gossip that’s upsetting Chloe, I’m glad my brother’s stepping out of the shell he’s been determined to live in—thinking he has to, to keep his daughter happy.”

  “I…” Kristen shook her head. Dan made it sound as if Law were choosing her over Chloe. “I’m not…”

  “You’re not as in love with my brother as he is with you? Of course you are. Anyone can see that, especially Libby.”

  Kristen opened her mouth to deny it. She couldn’t say a word.

  Oh, my God.

  She couldn’t be. Not this soon. Not with so much still confused and unsettled and threatening not to work between them.

  “What do you think Libby’s going to do?” she asked.

  “I think she’s going to do whatever gets her the most attention. I don’t know much more about my brother and ex-sister-in-law than most people in town do. Law has never let me close enough before now to really understand what happened between them when they first got married, around the time they were in the accident that sent him away. I think she tried to be a good mother to Chloe at first. But some people just shouldn’t be parents. Libby’s always wanted everything, all of Law, for herself. I don’t think there’d ever have been enough for her. He moved here for her, when he didn’t want to. He’s spent nearly a decade in a joyless marriage, trying to make it work. He put up with a contentious divorce that didn’t have to be, because he’d already agreed to give up everything Libby wanted except for his time with Chloe. He’s done his best to atone for the mistakes he made before his daughter was born. But still, Libby couldn’t manage to keep herself sober.”

  “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” Kristen said. “And the most amazing.”

  “When I think of the kind of father I want to be for Sally,” Dan said, “I hope I can be half as selfless as my brother has been.”

  Kristen turned back to the scrimmage match as a whoop went up on the field from the direction of one of the goals. She watched Fin and Chloe high-five—they’d scored on Thomas Kilpatrick’s team. They took off running in a mad victory lap, with all the kids, including Thomas, giving chase and celebrating with them. Many of the parents on the sidelines joined in, clapping and shouting. Chloe and Fin looked transformed by their love for the game that Law was sharing with them, just as Kristen felt transformed each time he touched her.

  Ex-con, rebel, bad-boy Law Beaumont was that…magical. And he’d been shutting huge parts of himself away for years—to be the kind of father any daughter would dream of having. What couldn’t a selfless, powerful man like that do? What wouldn’t Kristen do to stay part of his life for as long as he’d let her?

  “Law needs someone who’s as strong and responsible and sensitive as he is by his side while he finishes this,” Dan said.

  “Finishes it?”

  “I think things are going to get worse with Libby. I don’t think she’s through self-destructing.” Dan stared over Kristen’s shoulder, in the direction of Baxter Street. Kristen could hear another parent’s car approaching to pick up their sweaty, grass-covered player. “I don’t think she’s capable of letting Law go without completely imploding. Tell me you’re in this for the long haul, Kristen, and my money’s on my brother. I don’t care how low Libby’s determined to sink.”

  At the ange
r creeping into Dan’s expression, the hair rose on the back of Kristen’s neck. She turned to see who he was watching approach from behind her.

  “I’ll call when we head home,” Marsha said to Joe.

  She closed her phone and said a silent prayer.

  This wasn’t going to be pretty.

  She glanced worriedly toward the kids still running around on the field, and then watched Libby walk up to Kristen, where Chandler’s AP had been talking with Dan.

  “Isn’t this a cozy family scene,” Libby said, as lavender twilight deepened around them, even though it was barely five thirty. “I bet you like this model a hell of a lot better than you ever did me, Dan. She’s got some kind of fancy pedigree, from what I hear, even if she slums it here in Chandlerville with the rest of us. Too bad that means she’ll get her fill of my husband before spring shows its face.” When Kristen’s only response was to stare at Libby with as much loathing as Dan was showing, Libby’s smile grew sickeningly sweet. “Law might be a lot to look at, honey, but he’s hell on his women. You’re flirting with trouble. Stay away from my family, if you know what’s good for you.”

  “You gave up your family”—Law had made it to Kristen’s side in a flash, when he’d been running down the field with the team moments ago—“because you wanted to kick me around more than you wanted to grow up and help me keep us together. And now you’ve lost your daughter because you want to drink and feel sorry for yourself more than you wanted Chloe with you. You said we were done with this, Libby.”

  “We’re not done with a damn thing, buddy.” Libby didn’t sound or look drunk, but she was definitely losing control. “I don’t care how much money you wheedle out of your brother to pay off his shark of a lawyer. You don’t intimidate me. Is this why you refused to talk about letting me have my little girl back, no matter how much I’ve done to prove myself? So you can get your groove on again with Ms. Perfect here, and start a whole new, ready-made family with my daughter?”

  Marsha watched Dan step closer to Kristen, flanking her other side. The Beaumont brothers were a united wall of menace, glaring down at Libby.

  “I’d sell my house and everything I own,” Dan said, “before I’d let you take my niece back until we’re certain you’re sober. Law’s not fighting you alone anymore. That’s what’s got you scared. Not Kristen. You know you’re beat. And you don’t want to do what you have to, to make the best of what you have left.”

  Chloe and Fin and the other kids made their way over, along with several sets of parents. Chloe walked up to Law and Kristen and her uncle. Fin went with her, instead of coming to stand next to Marsha.

  Law’s entire team grouped around his daughter—Thomas Kilpatrick included, whom Marsha had heard hadn’t exactly been the best of friends the last few months to either Fin or Chloe. They all stood there, silently staring at Libby. No one was snickering or making jokes, nothing that would make this harder than it already was for Law or his daughter.

  “You sure do know how to draw a crowd, Ms. Hemmings.” Libby’s smile trembled. “Are you gonna kiss my husband again, like you did last night? Is that what gets you off, when you’re not prancing around, pretending to be our perfect paragon of academic excellence?”

  “I should go.” Kristen looked furious, but worried. She cupped the back of Chloe’s head and smiled sadly down at the little girl.

  Law took Kristen’s elbow. “Stay, please. Libby’s beef is with me, not you. Not Chloe.”

  “You betcha it’s with you. And don’t think I’m going to stand by while you embarrass our daughter by—”

  “Leave Daddy alone!” Chloe cried, leaning back against her father. Kristen patted her shoulder. “Just leave him and Ms. Hemmings alone. You’re the one who’s embarrassing. You always are. Go home, Mom. Why can’t you just go home and stop being so…”

  “So what?” Libby’s demeanor shifted into a parody of a loving mother: sweet and caring, but empty. “I’m the fun one, honey. You and me, we have a blast together with all your friends and their mothers. You can’t tell me you really want to be with your dad out here. Not like you want to be with me. Just tell him. Tell your uncle and all of your friends that you want to come home with me now. Tell the judge, and we’ll have fun again soon, I promise.”

  Chloe looked around at the crowd of friends and parents that had gathered, at the support Law had pulled around the two of them. Everyone, even the kids, looked angry at the way Libby was trying to manipulate her. For an instant, Chloe looked ready to run. Then Fin shoved her arm with his elbow. It was the same gesture of support Marsha had seen Chloe use at school in November, the morning after Fin had gotten himself into so much trouble.

  “Please go home, Mom.” Chloe sounded sad, but she also sounded sure. “Until you get better enough to be part of our family again, we can’t have fun together. And I…” She looked up to her dad, two tiny tears rolling down her cheek. “I don’t want to, not the way you are. You ruin everything for us like this, while Dad’s trying to make us better. I want my real mom back.”

  Libby’s expression grew absolutely ashen. For the first time since she’d arrived, she seemed to be experiencing honest-to-God emotion.

  “I’m still your mom, honey.” She looked to where Law was holding Kristen’s arm. Kristen’s hand still rested on Chloe’s shoulder. “I’ll always be your mommy.”

  “Not when you’re sick.” Chloe crossed her arms, more brave, more mad than she was sad now. “And you’ve been sick a long time. You have to get better. That’s all Dad and me want. Right, Dad?”

  Law nodded.

  To his ex, he said, “And you’re not spending another unsupervised moment with Chloe until you’ve proven to the court that you’re ready—no matter how many times you call and beg, or how much of a spectacle you make of yourself. Look around. No one’s buying your act anymore. Not when you’re like this. You’re just making yourself look desperate.”

  Libby rocked on her heels as if she’d been slapped.

  No one said a word. No one rushed to comfort her. She edged away, her eyes glassy with fury, and hopefully not from the effects of drinking anything before she’d come to the park. She drove away in anticlimactic silence, looking as if she were crying behind the wheel.

  The February moon and a sky full of stars seemed to shine brighter in her wake. After an overly warm day, things were cooling down fast. Marsha watched parents motion quietly to their kids, handing them jackets and sweatpants to put on over their dirty shorts and T-shirts.

  Families waved at Law and Chloe. One or two of the dads patted Law’s and then Dan’s shoulders in silent support until, with the sound of more cars starting and heading out, it was finally just Marsha and Fin and Kristen and the Beaumonts standing there looking a little shell-shocked.

  “You okay?” Law knelt in front of Chloe. “I’m so sorry, darlin’.”

  Chloe gazed around at the people still there—her uncle and her friend and one of the staff at her school. Marsha could almost see her figuring out that everyone already knew the worst, so why keep pretending that things weren’t as bad as they really were?

  “Is Mom ever going to get better?” Chloe asked. “Is she ever going to really stop drinking?”

  “If she wants to, she will.” Law’s gaze connected with Dan’s. “I got better. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time.”

  “For me…” Chloe looked up, her gaze stalling on Kristen, as if she wanted to be sure Kristen knew most of all. “You got better for me, right? You’re happy because of me?”

  Law crushed her in a hug so beautiful, even Dan wiped at his eyes.

  “It’s all for you, Chloe,” he said. “Everything’s always been for you.”

  Kristen reached for Law’s hand while he still held his daughter. Fin kicked the dirt at his feet and rolled his eyes at Marsha. Because what else was a nine-year-old boy to do when things were g
etting entirely too serious?

  “I’m hungry,” he said.

  “Me, too.” Chloe pushed away from Law.

  Her dad let her go, though it looked as if it just about killed him to.

  “Milk shakes?” he asked with a watery smile. The fingers of his left hand were still tangled with Kristen’s. “How does that sound?”

  Chloe looked up at how close Law and Kristen were standing, then at their intertwined fingers, and nodded.

  “Yeah!” Fin chimed in.

  “Would you mind if Kristen joined us?” Law asked his daughter.

  Slowly, she shook her head. “I guess not.”

  “The Dream Whip’s got the best burgers and fries in town,” Marsha suggested. “It’s my treat.” When Law inhaled to argue, she rushed on. “It’s the least I can do, after the personal time you’ve given Fin. I won’t take no for an answer. Chloe, why don’t you ride over with us? Maybe your dad can give Ms. Hemmings a ride, since we’re going in the opposite direction of her place?”

  “Dad?”

  “I can—” was all Kristen got out.

  “We’ll be right behind you, darlin’,” Law said. “As long as you’re feeling okay enough to ride with Fin. I’d like a few minutes to talk with Kristen alone.”

  Chloe hugged her dad’s waist, standing between him and Kristen for another moment before she let him go.

  “Beat you to the van,” she said to Fin, both of them taking off for Marsha’s ancient, always-in-the-shop Chevy.

  “We’ll meet you there,” Marsha said.

  “I can give Chloe a ride home after,” Dan added, “if you two need a little more time.”

  Law nodded, sharing a silent moment with his brother. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll get the kids started,” Marsha said. “We’ll keep Chloe occupied until you join us. Do what you need to do, and don’t worry. We’ll make sure she has a good time.”