When a car filled with a rowdy crowd of kids from the nearby high school pulled up, she stood up to go back inside.
“Well, if it isn’t the little mama,” Parnell Hutchins said, sliding out from behind the wheel with a sneer on his face. He was eighteen and already mean enough to be known to most of the cops in town. Mary Louise was one of his favorite targets. She had been ever since she’d turned him down flat when he asked her out. He’d accused her of thinking she was too good for him, told her she was out of her mind to think she was good enough for Danny Marshall.
Mary Louise walked inside, ignoring the gibe, and took her place behind the counter. These boys scared her, but she wasn’t about to let them see it. The only way to deal with bullies was to give as good as she got. She had her cell phone behind the counter programmed to call 911 if they ever got to be more than she could handle. Up till now that had never happened. They were usually happy enough to hassle her with words. Cruel words, but still just words.
“So, Mary Louise, who’s the daddy?” Parnell asked, his gaze on her slightly rounded belly. “You gonna have one of them little coffee-colored babies, courtesy of Willie Ron? Is that why Danny ain’t in no hurry to get hitched to you?”
The other boys snickered. Mary Louise stared them down. There was no use trying to tell them the truth.
Infuriated by her refusal to rise to his baiting, Parnell started to reach across the counter to grab her, but she backed up a step.
“You answer me, girl,” he said heatedly. “I’m a customer in here and you don’t want me tellin’ your boss you’re ignoring a payin’ customer, do you?”
“You haven’t bought anything yet,” she said calmly. “When you do…”
“Grab a six-pack,” Parnell ordered one of the other boys.
“Forget it,” Mary Louise said. “Not a one of you is over twenty-one. I can’t sell you beer.”
“Then I suppose we’ll just have to take it,” Parnell retorted. “Make it a coupla six-packs, Jason. Rodney, you grab one, too.”
“You will not get away with stealing from here,” Mary Louise said. “I know exactly who to tell the police to chase down.”
“You do, and you’ll live to regret it,” Parnell retorted, his expression filled with venom.
Just then he was grabbed from behind by Cord Beaufort, who’d come into the store without any of them noticing. Cord spun Parnell around and held him a couple of inches off the ground. “You watch who you threaten, punk.”
Parnell’s eyes were bulging. “Let me go,” he croaked furiously, wriggling in a futile attempt to break free of Cord’s grip.
“Not until you apologize to the lady,” Cord said mildly. His searching gaze studied Mary Louise, as if to reassure himself that she was okay. She gave him a faint nod, trying to hide her relief at his arrival.
“I’m not hearing that apology, Parnell,” Cord said.
“I’ll apologize to the likes of her when hell freezes over,” Parnell spit out.
“Then that’s how long we’ll stay here,” Cord said, implying that it didn’t matter a bit to him. “Mary Louise, you want to call the police and invite them to join us?”
She picked up her cell phone from under the counter, but before she could punch the button, Parnell said, “Wait.”
Cord regarded him expectantly. “Well?”
“I apologize, Mary Louise. I didn’t mean nothin’ by what I said before.”
The apology lacked sincerity, but she didn’t care. She only wanted him gone. “Fine. Just get out of here,” she said.
“And don’t come back,” Cord advised. “Mary Louise, you see any of these boys heading in this direction again, you call the police, you hear?”
She nodded.
Cord released Parnell and gave him an insincere smile. “I think we understand each other, don’t we?”
“Yeah,” Parnell said sullenly.
“That’s ‘yes, sir,’” Cord told him, an intimidating scowl on his face.
“Yes, sir,” Parnell mocked, then turned and left, the other boys trailing along behind him.
Cord faced her. “Are you okay?”
“Just a little shaky,” she said.
“Do they come in here often?”
“Often enough,” she said with a shrug.
“Well, I meant what I told them. Next time don’t wait for them to cross the threshold. Call the police. I know that boy’s kind. Always looking for a fight, and I don’t want you caught in the middle of it.”
She gave him a shaky smile. “Thanks. Usually I can handle Parnell okay, but today he was meaner than usual. He was saying all sorts of stuff, trying to make me mad.”
“What sort of stuff?”
She didn’t want to repeat it. “It doesn’t matter, really.”
“You sure about that?”
She crossed her arms protectively over her stomach. “It was about the baby, that’s all. He’s trying to make something out of me being friends with Willie Ron. He was saying the baby is Willie Ron’s, not Danny’s. It’s just a bunch of trash talk, that’s all.”
To her dismay, Cord looked more alarmed than ever. “Mary Louise, maybe you ought to think about quitting this job. I’m sure Dinah or I could help you find something else.”
“Why? Just because Parnell’s a bully? I won’t let him run me off. I need this job.”
“No, but he could get folks worked up about you being involved with Willie Ron. People around here are more enlightened these days, but that doesn’t mean a certain crowd of folks as backward as Parnell might not want to make trouble for you and Willie Ron.”
“But this baby is Danny’s,” she protested.
“It only takes one person spreading a lie to cause trouble,” Cord said. “Just think about it, okay? Promise me. I’ll send Dinah by to talk to you.”
“I think you’re worrying about nothing,” she said, but she was beginning to feel shaky again.
“Maybe so,” he said. “Where’s your cell phone?”
She gave him a puzzled look. “Right here,” she said, retrieving it from beneath the counter. “Why?”
“I’m programming my number in here, along with Dinah’s. If these boys come back and you start getting any kind of bad vibes, you call the police first, then me and Dinah. Do not try to handle them on your own. And you’d better warn Willie Ron about them, too. You don’t want him to be caught by surprise.”
“You’re scaring me,” she said.
“I mean to,” he replied. “I don’t want you to take this lightly. I know these punks. They’re not happy unless they’re stirring up trouble.”
“How come you showed up here in the first place?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before in all the time I’ve worked here.”
“I was hoping you could put me in touch with Danny,” he said.
She stared at him. “Danny? How come?”
“Caleb—Reverend Webb—told me he’s interested in historic preservation. I’ve got a couple of jobs coming up I thought he might be interested in.”
“Really?” she asked excitedly. “That’s so cool.” She grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down Danny’s number, then glanced at the clock. “He’s at work now and his boss doesn’t like him getting personal calls, but he should be off in about an hour.”
“Then I’ll wait to call him,” Cord promised. “You want me to hang around a while in case those kids come back?”
A part of her wanted to say yes, but she refused to give in to cowardice. “Nah, I’ll be fine. They’ve more ’n likely had their fun for the night. And Willie Ron should be here any minute. He’s been coming in early lately. He claims he likes to get a head start on things, but I know it’s because he wants to get me off my feet.”
Cord chuckled. “Sounds like he’s a good friend. I wish Dinah would listen to me when I try to get her off her feet.”
“She’s having a baby, too?” Mary Louise asked. She didn’t know the TV reporter that well, but she was
fascinated by her. Dinah Davis Beaufort was famous. She’d been all over the world. She’d even covered war zones for a big cable network. Mary Louise didn’t know how anyone could do that. She’d pee in her pants if she ever saw someone getting killed or a car bomb going off.
“Our baby’s due around the same time as yours,” Cord told her. “Maybe you and Dinah can compare notes.”
She grinned. “Sure. I’d like that. My mom had me so long ago, she’s practically forgotten everything.”
“Oh, I imagine she remembers the important stuff,” Cord said. “You take care, Mary Louise.”
“You, too.” She smiled shyly. “Thanks, you know, for what you did tonight.”
“No problem. Just remember what I said. Give Willie Ron a heads-up and call the police if those boys come back around here.”
“Sure.”
“And think about looking for a different job.”
She couldn’t imagine another job she could get, especially with a baby on the way, but she nodded. “I will.”
As soon as Cord was out the door, her knees seemed to give way. She sat down hard on the stool behind the counter and thought about just how close a call she’d had. It wasn’t so much that Parnell might have stolen several six-packs of beer right in front of her eyes. It was the nastiness in his voice when he’d talked about Willie Ron and her. As much as she hated to admit it, Cord was right. There could be trouble and she’d inadvertently dragged Willie Ron right into the thick of it just by being his friend.
Caleb left Amanda’s and headed to his office. There was no point in going home. He’d just toss restlessly, kicking himself for turning her down. What kind of idiot said no to the chance to sleep with a woman he was in love with?
The kind of idiot who knew that it would only complicate things, he reminded himself wearily. Much as he tried to tell himself he was taking the moral high ground, though, the more a little voice inside his head howled with laughter.
The truth wasn’t half that noble. Ever since his divorce, he’d turned into an emotional recluse. All the bitterness and recriminations had taken a toll. No matter how many times he’d smoothed things over for couples going through a divorce, he’d been completely inept when it came to his own.
It didn’t seem to matter that his wife’s fury had been an extreme reaction under the circumstances. It wasn’t as if he’d set out to deny her the child they both wanted. Hell, he hadn’t even known till they’d been trying for three years that the fault was his. When the test results had come back, he’d been as shattered as she had been.
But Tess had acted as if he’d done it deliberately. Until then he’d only had an inkling of how spoiled and self-absorbed she was, but after the diagnosis, he’d borne the full brunt of her selfishness. She’d ranted for hours, demeaning him, oblivious to the pain he was suffering. She’d done everything she could to strip away his self-esteem on her way out the door.
And even though in the rational part of his mind he’d known her accusations were absurd, they’d found their way into his heart and left him feeling ashamed and inadequate.
And it was all over something that wasn’t even his fault. The doctor had assured him that nothing he’d done—or hadn’t done—had caused his infertility. Sometimes a low sperm count was just the hand a man was dealt. That diagnosis had given Caleb scant comfort when his marriage—and all of his dreams for a family—had been ripped apart because of it.
When his supposedly perfect marriage blew up, he’d struggled to endure the whispers of gossip, the pitying looks. Even those who didn’t know what had happened—and few did—seemed to regard him differently. He’d withstood it as long as he could and then sought a transfer to a new parish. He’d hoped a fresh start would enable him to forget and move on with his life.
And slowly, since coming to Charleston, he’d healed. He’d felt more like the confident, optimistic man he’d once been. And in Amanda’s family, he’d found the one thing that had been missing from his life.
Then he’d heard her offhand comment about wanting more children and he’d run headlong into reality. If he told her the truth—that he couldn’t give her a child—would she regard him with the same disdain Tess had? He wasn’t sure he could bear it if she did.
He was glumly pondering that when Big Max walked into his office. Caleb stared at him with surprise.
“What on earth are you doing here at this hour? It must be almost midnight.”
“Time doesn’t mean much these days,” Max said. “I couldn’t get to sleep, so I decided to test my luck and take a drive.” He regarded Caleb with the pride of a kid who’d accomplished a brand-new feat. “Made it here without a hitch.”
“Good for you,” Caleb enthused, hiding his concern. Max desperately needed these triumphs to feel like a man. Caleb could relate to that. “What made you decide to come by the church? You normally wouldn’t find me here at this hour.”
“Just driving around, to tell you the truth, and saw the light. Figured you must be having trouble sleeping, too.” Max studied him knowingly. “Want to tell me why that is?”
Tell Max about his quandary over loving Amanda? Not a chance, Caleb thought. He had a healthy instinct for self-preservation.
“I had a lot of paperwork piling up,” he said instead.
Max gave him a chiding look. “I thought preachers didn’t lie.”
Caleb gestured toward the papers on his desk. “What lie?”
“Oh, I’m not saying you don’t have paperwork, but I don’t see much evidence you’re doing it. Looked to me like you were staring into space when I got here.”
Caleb deliberately changed the subject. “How did your visit with Amanda go?”
Max gave him a long, speculative look. “She tell you her version?”
“Briefly,” Caleb acknowledged.
“That’s pretty much how it was,” Max grumbled. “Brief. One minute she was sitting there with a glass of tea, the next she was running away and bursting into tears.”
“It had to be emotional for both of you,” Caleb said. “How did it feel to you having her back?”
“She’s too skinny,” Max observed. “She could use some of Jessie’s baking.”
Caleb bit back a grin. “That’s what you noticed about the daughter you’ve hardly seen for ten years, that she’s too skinny?”
“Well, it’s not like she gave me much time to get into anything important.” He regarded Caleb warily. “You think she’ll come back?”
Caleb nodded. “I think the ice has been broken now. She’ll be back.” He regarded Max intently. “Or you could visit her.”
“And let her have the satisfaction of slamming the door in my face?” Max scoffed. “No, she’ll have to come to me.”
“Spoken like the unyielding man we’ve all come to know,” Caleb commented.
“A man has his pride,” Max countered.
“Some would say pride’s the last thing you can afford these days,” Caleb responded. It surely hadn’t done much for him.
Max frowned. “I suppose. Okay, if she doesn’t show her face around there in another week or so, I’ll think about going by her place.” He shook a finger at Caleb. “Remember now, I said I’d think about it. Don’t go nagging me if I don’t do it fast enough to suit you.”
“It’s not about me,” Caleb said. “Or my timetable.”
“Ha!” Max snorted. “If you’re gonna set wheels in motion, boy, you’d better be prepared to accept responsibility when the train starts barreling down the track.”
Caleb laughed. “Maybe I’ll just jump out of the way.” He stood up. “Come on, old man. I’ll follow you home.”
“I don’t need you trailing along behind me like some baby-sitter,” Max complained.
“Maybe I’m just hoping for a midnight snack,” Caleb countered. “Jessie bake today?”
“Sweet-potato pie,” Max said, his grim expression brightening at the memory. “Wouldn’t mind having some of that myself. Come on, boy. Seems
to me there might be some cold roast beef in the refrigerator, too. It’d make a mighty fine sandwich to go with that pie.”
“Now you’re talking,” Caleb said, leading the way.
For all his blustering and his contrary ways, Max was the perfect antidote to the sour mood Caleb had been in earlier. Maybe he could even win a few hands of poker before the night was over. That would turn the day around.
15
When Amanda looked up after wrapping a package for one of the boutique’s more demanding clients, Nadine was next in line. She had two incredibly sedate outfits in hand.
Amanda regarded the black linen pantsuit and lightweight pastel-blue wool dress with surprise. “Changing your style?” she asked.
“George insists on taking me to all these stuffy restaurants and country club parties,” Nadine complained. “Even I’m bright enough to figure out that the clothes I like are unsuitable for that crowd.”
Amanda bit back a grin. Nadine had the fashion sense of a Vegas showgirl. With her huge hoop earrings, display of cleavage and short skirts, she’d probably shocked the dickens out of some of Charleston’s society matrons. In Amanda’s opinion, it was probably good for them, something to keep their blue blood flowing.
“Has George complained?” Amanda asked, though she doubted he had. He seemed to have fallen for Nadine exactly as she was, probably because she was a refreshing change from the women who traveled in his usual social circle.
“No, he’s never said a word, bless his heart, but I’m getting enough stares that it’s embarrassing,” Nadine admitted. “It might not matter a bit to me, but I don’t ever want tongues wagging about his taste in women. He’s been too good to me.” She held up the clothes. “What do you think? Are these conservative enough?”
“They’re conservative and boring,” Amanda decreed. “Come on, Nadine. Let’s see if we can’t improve on those. You can be more conservative and still be yourself. I’m thinking something in red, especially with the holidays coming up soon.”
Nadine’s eyes lit up. “Red? You think so? There was a dress over on the rack that caught my eye.”
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