“It was. Max threw a temper tantrum, partially about not seeing his son for Christmas… but mostly about Noah spending time with me. He said some not-so-nice things to Lindsay, knowing exactly where to hit her to cause the most damage. And then Noah lashed out at her instead of at Max.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Yeah. It wasn’t fun. But we dealt with it, and she called Max back to tell him that Christmas in Montana was non-negotiable, so she and Noah and her parents are still coming.”
“I’m glad to hear that. We’re quite looking forward to it. With them and Skye and her family joining us, it’ll be the kind of raucous Christmas we used to have when your father’s brothers and their families all came home.”
“You going to tell him about the phone messages from Mel?” Henry heard his father ask.
“I think maybe I should wait,” Tracie replied away from the phone.
Not far enough away, Henry thought. “Too late for that now. What messages from Mel?”
“I stopped up to check on your house this afternoon, and I saw the light on your answering machine flashing, which I thought was odd because everyone who would call you knows you’re in Washington and has the number there. I didn’t think you’d mind, so I listened to the messages. They were all from Mel—sixteen of them—and all she said was that she needs to talk to you.”
“She left sixteen messages? Holy Christ. And she didn’t say in even one of them what was so urgent that she would call me sixteen times?”
“No, she didn’t.”
What the hell could be so important? He’d made sure she and Doug both understood that he would be away from home for an extended period of time and that they had until Christmas to figure out what to do about Dylan and each other before he started searching for a lawyer for Mel, and he had purposefully not given either of them the phone number of the cottage because he’d wanted to focus solely on Lindsay.
“Well, thanks for letting me know.”
Henry ended the call and wandered into the living room, slumping into the canvas-colored couch with his legs stretched out in front of him. For a while, he stared out the broad windows at the lights scattered along the shore of Bainbridge Island across the water and debated calling Mel. After the kerfuffle with Max and Noah, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything that was sure to add more stress, but she wouldn’t have called him sixteen times if it wasn’t important… would she? She’d been struggling since he’d left, but he had hoped Doug would either let go of his anger and willingly step up to the plate or do it because he didn’t want to incur the expenses and frustration of a court battle. What if Doug was still fighting it? The memory of Lindsay crying spurred him to action. He dialed Mel’s number.
“Hello?” she answered.
“It’s Henry.”
“Oh, hi! I didn’t recognize the area code.”
“I’m still in Washington. My mom said you’ve left a bunch of messages on my answering machine. What do you need?”
“I don’t need anything.”
“Then why did you leave sixteen messages?”
“Well, for one, I have good news. Dough and I are back together.”
Henry jerked his head back. That was good news—better than he’d expected when he’d last talked to Doug. “That’s great, Mel.”
“Yeah. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re working through our issues, and I think we’re going to make it. I’m hopeful, anyhow. He and Dylan are bonding pretty quickly.”
Relief surged through Henry, and he tipped his head back to rest it on the back of the couch. Thank God. “That is a huge weight off me, Mel. You have no idea.”
“Actually, I do, which brings me to my other reason for trying to get in touch with you. Doug and I want to come to Northstar for a few days over Christmas. We have a couple things to talk to you about that should be done in person. I know you’ll like one of them, and I’m hoping you’ll like the second.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“For one, my girlfriend and her family are coming out to the ranch for Christmas.”
“You have a new girlfriend? Is it serious?”
“Very, but she’s not a new girlfriend.”
For a while, Mel said nothing, and he wondered what was going through her mind. Then he decided he didn’t care. She wasn’t his concern anymore, and he certainly didn’t need her approval.
“Do you love her?” Mel finally asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“Not even the slightest hesitation. It is serious.”
A knock on the front door yanked his attention from the call. Who would be visiting so late? Standing, he strode across the living room to the front door and peered out the window beside it. When he saw Noah, he immediately opened the door and stepped back to let the boy in, glancing outside into the darkness but seeing neither Lindsay nor her car. Noah must have come by himself, which was worrisome.
“Mel, I have to go. Noah just showed up without Lindsay.”
“Who’s Noah? And who’s Lindsay?”
“Lindsay is my girlfriend, and Noah is her son. I gotta go.”
“Henry, wait. What about Christmas?”
“Why can’t you just tell me over the phone?”
“I already told you. It’s something we need to do face to face. So… what do you say?”
“I need to think about it.”
He hung up right then and regarded Noah with arms crossed and brows lifted expectantly. The phone still in his hand rang, and he glanced at the small screen. Seeing Lindsay’s number, he answered it.
“Is Noah there?”
“He just showed up.” Henry eyed her son, who refused to meet his gaze. “Do you want me to send him home?”
“No. Not until he’s ready.”
“I’ll walk him home when he is.”
“Thank you, Henry.”
For the second time in as many minutes, Henry hung up the phone. This time, he walked into the kitchen and set it on the counter, then gestured for Noah to have a seat on the couch. Henry sat on the couch perpendicular to him, angling his body so he faced the kid, and leaned forward to wait for Noah to speak. Surprisingly, it didn’t take the boy long.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Thank you, but I’m not the one you need to apologize to. That was an incredibly hurtful thing you said to your mother, Noah.”
“I know it was. I didn’t mean to say it, and I didn’t mean it. I never do.” At last, he lifted his gaze to meet Henry’s. “Honest.”
“I believe you, but I’m curious to hear why you think you do it.”
“Because I can’t help it.”
“Why not?”
“Because… because I get so mad and I have to get it out. I hate that my dad says things like that to hurt her, but every time I try to tell him so, he just does it more, and I get angrier until I say the same kinds of things to Mom that he says. I don’t like it.”
“I’m not hearing what I need to hear from you, Noah. Why do you say those things to your mother, who loves you unconditionally, who gives up so much to make sure you have what you need?”
“I don’t know!”
“Try harder.”
“I do it… because I can, I guess. Because I know she loves me even when I’m a jerk to her.”
“In other words, she’s the only one who makes you feel safe enough to vent.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad we cleared that up. I’m also glad to know that you do understand and appreciate everything she does for you.”
“Why do you think I do it?”
“You’re frustrated without a way to make the person who frustrates you understand that.”
Noah braced his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t want to spend Christmas with my dad. I’d rather spend it in Montana with Mom and you and Grandma and Grandpa.”
“That’s still the plan, Noah.”
“Bu
t, Dad said—”
“Your mother called him back and stood her ground about Christmas.”
“But what about Dad?”
“We’ll leave Northstar a few days early and spend a couple nights in Spokane so you can see your dad. That all right with you?”
“I don’t want to see him at all.”
“Maybe not right now, but you need to. He is your father.”
Noah snorted. “Barely. How come he can’t be more like you? I bet you’d be a great dad.”
“Well, thank you,” Henry replied. He didn’t dare say anything else because the innocent comment felt like a punch to the gut, and he wasn’t sure he could hide that it simultaneously made him miss Dylan and hope Noah would accept him as his stepfather should it come to that.
“Do you love my mom?” the boy asked abruptly.
“Yes, I do. Very much.”
“Like… enough to marry her?”
“I’m beginning to believe so, yes, but let’s give time a chance to do its thing, all right? Your mom and I have both been hurt, and she especially needs to know that this isn’t another mistake.”
“How were you hurt?”
That particular topic was surrounded by landmines, but Henry had promised he’d be honest with Noah. “It’s complicated and maybe a bit much for you to understand just yet, but I thought I was the father of a beautiful little boy—his mother made me believe I was—but it turned out I wasn’t.”
“Did you love her?”
“On some level I did, but it was nothing like how I love your mom. Compared to that, no, I didn’t love her.”
“Kinda like my dad didn’t love my mom.”
“I guess so, yes.”
“Except that you loved the boy you thought was your son.”
“I still do even though he isn’t.” Henry watched as Noah’s face fell, and his heart went out to the kid. “Your dad loves you, too, Noah. Maybe he doesn’t show it. Maybe he doesn’t know how.”
“Or maybe he’s just a selfish asshole.” As soon as the words were out, Noah clamped his hand over his mouth and stared at Henry with rounded eyes. “Please don’t tell my mom I said that word!”
“I should,” Henry replied, pausing just long enough to make the kid nervous. “But I won’t.”
“I don’t mind if you kiss her, you know.”
Chuckling, Henry said, “Thanks, bud.”
“If you marry my mom, please don’t send me to live with my dad.”
“Never. You remember what I said to you that day at the mall about you and your mom being a packaged deal? I mean that, Noah. Every word of it. In fact, even if you wanted to go live with your dad, I’d probably beg you to stay with us.”
“You mean it?”
“Yes, I do. You’re a great kid, and I love you as much as I love your mother.”
Without warning, Noah launched himself at Henry, wrapping his arm’s tightly around Henry’s neck. Henry hugged him back and murmured, “You know that it won’t be all fun and games, though, right? You live in my house, you’ll have to follow my rules, and rule number one is you treat your mother with absolute respect… starting with finding a new way to vent your anger because she doesn’t deserve to be the target of it. Let it out on me if you have to, but not on her. All right, bud?”
Noah only nodded. It was a long time before he loosened his hold on Henry, and when he did, he drew himself up with a deliberate composure. “I’m ready.”
“All right.”
They didn’t speak on the walk home, but Noah gripped Henry’s hand. For once, it wasn’t raining, but a thick layer of clouds blocked out the stars, plunging the areas not illuminated by the orange glow of the streetlamps into pitch-blackness. It was a quiet town, and in Henry’s time here, he’d seen and heard nothing to make him believe otherwise, but it terrified him a little to picture Noah making the walk from his grandparents’ house to the cottage alone, and he knew there was no way Lindsay would have let him go by himself if she’d had a say in the matter. Unsurprisingly, when they reached the Millers’ house, she was furious with her son, but she waited until they were inside before she said anything.
“Go easy on him,” Henry said gently.
“Go easy? He walked out with little more than ‘I’m gonna go talk to Henry’ and—”
“Lindsay. He has something he needs to say to you. Please give him a chance to say it.”
She snapped her mouth shut, folded her arms, and turned to her son. “Well, out with it.”
“I’m sorry,” Noah said. “I’m sorry for leaving like I did, and I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I’m sorry, too, for being such a butthead all the time. I don’t ever mean what I say.”
By now, tears slipped down Noah’s cheeks, and he threw his arms around his mother’s waist. When Lindsay’s fear-driven anger fizzled and she returned the embrace, Henry stepped outside to give them some privacy.
Because the step was damp from the rain earlier in the day, he leaned against the post supporting the small roof over the front door and exhaled slowly. The door opened behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder to watch Lindsay step outside. Without a word, she tucked her arms around him and leaned into him, sighing.
“Whatever you said to him, thank you,” she murmured.
“You’re welcome, but I’m not sure it was so much what I said as what he did. Your son has a good heart, Lindsay. He’s just frustrated with Max, like you are.”
“Did you tell him about New Year’s?”
He nodded. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Why would I mind? I think this trip will be as good for him as it will be for me. He could really use the Hammond brand of love to show him what a family should be.” She looked up at him and smiled sheepishly. “Not to pile the pressure on you or anything.”
Chuckling, he kissed the top of her head. “I’ll do my best to prove that your faith in my isn’t misplaced. Speaking of Christmas… Mel and Doug want to come up for a couple days.”
“To Northstar?”
Lindsay leaned away, frowning.
“Supposedly they have something—something I’ll supposedly like—that they need to talk to me about in person.”
“Mel and Doug?”
“Yep. They’re back together.”
“That’s good news, right?”
“I would think so. I need your opinion, Lindsay. I’m not inclined to agree to them coming.”
“But you’re curious to know what they want.”
He nodded.
“It’s not my place to tell you what to do.”
“Yes, it is.” He touched his lips lightly to hers. “It’s your place because I say it is. I love you, and I care what you think.”
“You said a while back that a friend of her partner’s wanted to buy her out. Could this be about that? Maybe she’s agreed to it and has the funds to pay you back. That’d be something you like, wouldn’t it?”
“Could be, but why would she need to tell me that in person?”
“Maybe she needs you to sign paperwork.”
“So you’re saying I should tell her to come? Are you okay with that?”
“I guess I’ll find out.”
Henry searched her face intently for any sign that she was only saying he should tell Mel and Doug it was okay to come to Northstar for Christmas to humor him. She wasn’t entirely comfortable, that was for sure, but neither did she seem overly worried about it, and it was possible the unenthusiastic response had more to do with her recovering from the emotional strain of the evening. He decided to ask. “Talk to me, love.”
She smiled at that, but it didn’t last long enough. “I’m just wondering how long she plans to keep jerking you around like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“She knows just what buttons to push to get what she wants out of you. Just like Max and me. It’s a bad cycle, Henry, and we both need to get out of it. I think I took a pretty big step tonight when I refused to let him ruin Christmas fo
r us… and maybe sitting down with Mel and Doug will be that first big step for you. So, no, I’m not entirely comfortable with them coming to Northstar over Christmas, but it needs to happen.”
“You’re sure?”
She nodded.
“You’re an amazing woman, Lindsay Miller,” Henry said, pulling her close. “And while it pisses me off to no end how Max treats you, I’m glad he was too stupid to see how wonderful you are because I might never have met you if he’d realized it.”
She rested her head on his chest, and he felt the tension leave her body. “I believe it now.”
“Believe what?”
“That I love you, too.”
He gave her one last squeeze to acknowledge her admission, then took her hand and led her inside. Noah was sitting on the couch with a thoughtful expression, but when he spotted them, he grinned broadly. Lindsay sat on one side of him and Henry on the other, squishing him between them in a big hug. In this moment, they were a family… a family like Henry hadn’t known he’d wanted until Mel had told him she was pregnant. Only this time, he was in love.
Chapter Fifteen
AFTER TWO NERVE-WRACKING DAYS on the road driving through a monster winter storm that had turned all seven hundred or so miles into a sloppy nightmare of sleet, ice, and snow and a night spent in an uncomfortable hotel bed, Lindsay shouldn’t have the energy left to be awed by the sight of the Northstar Valley and its guarding mountains under a thick blanket of snow and a thicker ceiling of dark clouds, but as Henry drove north on the scenic byway and that view unfolded before her, all traces of weariness fled, and she leaned forward in her seat to better see out the windshield. Plumes of snow wafted over the mountains and foothills, and all the color had been leeched from the world but the hint of gray-blue that was the pine and fir forests and the deep red bark of the leafless willows along the streams. The shades of gray and white lent a stark but staggering beauty and otherworldliness that transformed Northstar.
“Noah, wake up,” she breathed, reaching into the narrow back seat of Henry’s truck to nudge her snoozing son. “We’re almost home.”
“Yes, we are,” Henry murmured, glancing at her with a tender smile as he navigated the snow-covered road with the ease of a lifetime of practice.
Once Burned Page 25