by Emily March
“Sure.”
He grabbed a note pad and pen from the table beside the front door and placed it before her, then opened the fridge. “Milk. Whole milk. None of that sissy skim stuff. Butter. Real butter. Cheese. Eggs. Red meat.”
“Not one to worry about cholesterol, hmm?”
Devin shrugged. “If you’re one of those granola and tofu girls, more power to you. Just don’t expect me to exist eating twigs.”
Her lips twitched. “What about fruit?”
“I’m a fan of fruit. Berries and bananas are my favorites. But I’ll warn you, we probably won’t do much cooking here. My mother will insist on us joining them for supper, and on nights that she’s not cooking, we’ll be invited elsewhere. We should stock up on breakfast food and stuff for sandwiches, but beyond that, we’ll be good.”
Jenna glanced around the kitchen, her expression a little wistful. “When we lived in Nashville, I had an awesome kitchen. I make an excellent roast and a fabulous chicken parm, but I never had the time to invest in learning to cook the way I wanted. Maybe once I’m off the crutches, I can invite—”
Devin’s phone rang, interrupting her thought. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the number. “Hey, Lori.”
“Devin, Chase phoned and he needs me to run a couple of puppies up to the Rocking L. Reilly and Michael would like to ride up with me and hold the dogs. Is that all right with Reilly’s mother?”
He relayed the question to Jenna who signaled her permission and asked to speak to her son. Devin grinned to hear her speak the usual mother-cautions like “Behave” and “Mind your manners.” When she handed the phone back to Devin, he arranged for Lori to drop Reilly off at the Stockton’s camper at Stardance Ranch upon their return to town.
Devin studied Jenna as he wrapped up the call, noting the weary lines around her eyes and between her brows. “How about we wrap up here and I take you back to Stardance? You should have time to get in a nap before Lori brings Reilly back.”
“That sounds fabulous.”
Devin made one final inventory circuit around the cottage and added “paper goods” and “coffee” to the shopping list. Then they exited the house and together picked a key code they would both remember. He helped her negotiate the three steps that led down from the porch. “If you’re by yourself, there’s a ramp to access the back porch so you won’t have to worry about steps with the crutches.” “I suspect I’ll be able to discard the crutches within a few days.”
Jenna grew quiet during the drive through town that took longer than usual due to streets crowded with tourists. Devin noticed her pensive look and said, “Dollar for your thoughts.”
“What happened to a penny?”
“Inflation.”
Her lips twisted in a crooked grin. “I think I’m a little shellshocked. This all happened so fast and I’m having a hard time processing it.”
“You’re accustomed to playing your cards close to the vest. I can understand why laying them down could be disconcerting.”
“‘Disconcerting’ is a mild word for it. It’s terrifying. I made a little small snowball of a decision to bring Reilly back to Eternity Springs for a summer visit, only the snowball started rolling downhill getting bigger and bigger, and now it’s big enough to be the base of a snowman built by a giant. After months of going to great lengths to hide and remain hidden, I not only shared our entire story with a group of virtual strangers, I handed over control of our lives to them. This morning I wouldn’t take Reilly into town to buy a cinnamon roll at the bakery. By suppertime, I’m sending him off to summer camp and moving in with Santa Claus? This isn’t me, Devin. At least, not the ‘me’ who I’ve become since the first batch of pizzas arrived at my door.”
Because he wasn’t stupid, Devin bit back a suggestive comment about Santa’s lap. Instead, he gently chided. “No one is trying to control you, Jenna. We’re trying to help you.”
“I know. And I appreciate it. I do. Don’t get me wrong. But my actions today are completely out of character, and I’m wondering why I—oh.”
She broke off abruptly and shifted her gaze away from him. She sat still and silent, and Devin could all but see the wheels turning in her mind. They’d traveled half a city block and were approaching the intersection of Spruce and First streets when she repeated a pained, “Oh.”
“Jenna? Everything okay? Is the ankle bothering you?” She glanced around as though trying to get her bearings. “Where are we? Are we near Angel’s Rest?”
He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “That way.”
“I think . . . can I go back. Please? Would you take me to Angel’s Rest?”
Along with not being stupid, Devin had enough experience with women to know the best course of action to take at times such as this. Without protest, he made a left at the corner onto Spruce, headed north, and waited for further explanation.
And waited. And waited.
“Oh,” she said a third time as they approached the entrance to the resort.
Devin spared her a quick glance and saw that her focus was directed inward. Patience, Murphy. He gave a friendly wave to guests fishing from the bridge over Angel Creek and slowed the truck to a crawl as they approached a fork in the road. “We’re here, Jenna. Is there a particular part of the resort you want to visit?”
“Yes, please. Take me to Blitzen.”
At his clueless stare, she grimaced. “Sorry. The cottages at the back. Celeste said she renamed them for the holidays. We stayed in Blitzen. If you’ll drive around to the cottages, that would be perfect.”
He did as she asked and stopped in front of the cottage she indicated. “Looks like someone is staying there, Jenna. Angel’s Rest cottages stay booked all summer long as a rule.”
“I don’t need to go in.” She opened her door and started to reach for a crutch.
“Hold your horses!” Devin said. “I’ll help. Let me help.” He scrambled from the truck and hurried around to assist her. Moments later, she was hobbling across the resort grounds, going exactly where he hadn’t a clue.
She was acting peculiar. Had they given her something stronger than Tylenol at the doctor’s office?
When she entered the forest, he fell in behind her. Twice he started to ask her what she was up to and twice he thought better of it, silently repeating his new mantra. Patience.
Then she veered off the trail and his concern grew. “Jenna . . .”
“Almost there.”
“Okay,” he murmured, half beneath his breath.
She finally stopped . . . somewhere. In the middle of the forest. She was staring at a tree. One of millions of trees.
Devin shoved his hands into his pockets, rocked back on his heels, and glanced around. Okay, she officially has me baffled. Then she started mumbling and his bewilderment only grew.
“. . . can’t believe . . . mumble mumble . . . clueless . . . mumble mumble . . . ostrich . . . mumble mumble mumble. Seriously, I actually believe this . . . this . . . what, am I a seven-year-old?”
Devin cleared his throat. “Um, Jenna, this is getting a little strange. Want to tell me what we’re doing here?”
The look she gave him was faintly accusing. “I’m a scientist.”
“You are?”
“A physician. I’m a doctor.”
“Cool.” Devin nodded thoughtfully. “Although, I’ve always considered doctors to be part artist.”
“I believe in what I see before my face. Not . . .” She waved her hand around in little circles.
Devin had no clue what the hand circles meant. “The stress must have taken its toll.”
“That’s understandable.”
“I’ve been delusional.”
“Did Dr. Cicero give you something for pain? You’re seeing things? Maybe you’re having a reaction.”
“Oh, I’m having a reaction, all right,” she said, a note of hysteria hovering at the edge of her voice. “My brain freeze finally thawed.”
“I don’t mean
to be dense, but I’m lost. I don’t have a clue about what you’re trying to tell me.”
“I’m telling you that I am a fool. I got the wool pulled over my eyes. Conned by a flimflam artist.”
Devin frowned. Did she think someone from Eternity had screwed her around?
“I suppose you think that today’s events occurred by chance, that our meeting you at Hummingbird Lake was spur-of-the-moment happenstance? Nothing more than coincidence?”
He rolled his tongue around his mouth. Did she really want him to answer or was this simply a rant?
Well, it was one thing to go along to get along, but that scornful note in her tone rubbed him wrong. “I don’t see how it could have been anything but chance. When I went out for my run, I almost took the route that goes up Cemetery Road, not around the lake. I wouldn’t have seen you two fishing. I wouldn’t have taken you up to our fishing hole. Michael wouldn’t have run like a heathen and knocked you down. What is that if not happenstance?”
“See, that’s what’s sneaky about it. I tried to tell myself too. It’s safe to go to Eternity Springs. The Murphys will be visiting Michael’s brother in Australia. We won’t run into them. They won’t be around to recognize us. No one else knows us well enough to see past colored contacts and purple tips.”
Distracted, he asked, “Reilly wears colored contacts?”
“No. I do. And I don’t like them. I don’t need them to see and my eyes are dry all the time. I won’t be sad to ditch them, I’ll tell you that. They were a lie. Another lie. Here’s the deal, Devin. What happened today wasn’t coincidence. It wasn’t happenstance.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No! What we have here is the power of suggestion at work. That sweet, but ditzy woman’s power of suggestion and I—a scientist—fell for it.”
That woman? When anybody in town said “that woman” in that tone of voice, they invariably referred to one person—Celeste Blessing. Suddenly, Jenna’s nonsensical ramblings began to make a little sense. Celeste had her fingers in this. Exactly how, he didn’t know, but something told him he was about to find out.
“I can’t believe I was so dishonest with myself,” Jenna continued. “I’m deliberate in my decisions and calculated in my actions. I don’t lie to Reilly and I never ever lie to myself. But I’ve been lying to myself for the past four months. This morning if you had asked me when I made the decision to come to Eternity Springs this summer, I’d have said a week ago last Thursday. That’s when I called Stardance Ranch searching for a campsite. But that’s not the truth. I see that now. Do you know when I really decided to come here, Devin? When I heard Reilly’s screams and saw broken hearts lying on my kitchen floor, that’s when.”
“Oh, Jenna.”
“You see, above all else, I must protect my child. I had done my best. I had used logic and reason and followed the rules, and I failed him. I failed him miserably. He was terrorized while decorating cookies in his own kitchen.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Jenna.”
“Wasn’t it? I did something, sometime, to cause a crazy person to fixate on me. Who knows what? Maybe it’s something as random as I cut him off in traffic. So, in a very real way, what happened to us was my fault. My fault, and my sweet boy had gone from decorating cookies to non-medical shock. I knew how to diagnose and treat that, but I didn’t know how to neutralize the threat.”
“I’ll bet you were so frightened.”
“Yes. But on top of being scared, I was angry. Furious. In the aftermath, Reilly was exhausted and fell asleep. I put him to bed, but he was restless and I didn’t want to leave him. I paced his bedroom like a caged tiger, and I didn’t know what to do or where to turn. When I get nervous or angry or scared, I clean. I needed to clean the kitchen and deal with the cookie mess, but I needed to be with Reilly more so I started cleaning his room.
Tears pooled in the eyes she turned toward Devin. “I straightened his bookshelf. You want to know what book I found? The Christmas Angel Waiting Room.”
He recognized the title, of course. The Christmas Angel Waiting Room was a children’s book written by Eternity Spring’s own Claire Lancaster. Hollywood had made a movie out of the story that had become an instant Christmas classic. “I’m not surprised. Claire has sold a bazillion books.”
Jenna nodded. “I didn’t put it together. Not until ten minutes ago. I stood in Reilly’s bedroom that evening and swore I was done asking anyone else for help. From then on, we would take care of ourselves, by ourselves. We couldn’t . . . we wouldn’t . . . depend on anyone else. It was Reilly and me against the world. Self-sufficient. Self-dependent.”
“That’s completely understandable.”
“I planned how we would disappear, and we hit the road. We made no reservations. Followed no set itinerary. Going where the wind blew us. I was so . . . smug. So stupid. What I did was drive halfway across the country with my head buried in the sand. I was lying to myself and to Reilly, and that’s inexcusable.”
“Lying about what, Jenna?”
“I bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. I picked up The Christmas Angel Waiting Room and I bought”—she waved her hand toward him in a flourish—“Santa! And I bought Celeste and her”—she hooked her thumb over her shoulder pointing toward a fir tree she stood before—“Christmas wishing tree!”
“What’s the Christmas wishing tree?”
“A myth. A fairy tale. It’s a fairy tale just like Santa and safety and a CIA agent who runs a children’s camp! Oh, no.” She closed her eyes. “What have I done?”
Had a meltdown, that’s what. The woman still wasn’t making sense, but Devin recognized when someone needed a hug. Careful of her crutches, he put his arms around her and guided her head onto his shoulder. “You’ve done an amazing job, that’s what you’ve done.”
“Because I bought into the myth? Because this small town is somehow going to make everything right again?”
“Because your son is safe, Jenna. He has food on his table and shoes on his feet and a roof over his head—even if it does roll. Now, I’m not sure what this wishing tree business is, but I take my Santa duties seriously. You need to believe it when I tell you that you made the right choice today. You’ve put your faith in a group of men who are worthy of your trust. We will keep you and Reilly safe while we locate your tormentor and eliminate the threat he poses.”
Jenna remained silent for a long moment. Finally, in a small voice, she asked, “Why? Why would you do that for us? We’re nobody to you.”
“Ah, now, that’s where you are wrong.” Devin tilted up her chin and stared down into her eyes. “You are Reilly’s Mom. You’ve been important to me for a year a half. Now that I know your story, I can understand why trust might be a scarce commodity. But how or why it happened aside, you are in Eternity Springs now. You’re not alone anymore.”
He sealed the promise with a kiss.
Eleven
After Devin helped her climb the steps of her camper and said goodbye, Jenna removed the blasted contact lenses, dug the hair color remover shampoo from the back of her cabinet, and took a long hot shower. She pulled on her favorite yoga pants and a Hot Springs National Park T-shirt, dried her hair, and crawled into bed for a nap. Exhausted, she fell right to sleep and didn’t wake up until . . .
Something licked her cheek.
She let out a screech and her heart pounded and her eyes flew open. She stared into the blue eyes of a little black and white bundle of fur and heard her son’s delighted giggles. The sound was so welcome, such music to her ears, that she smiled instead of scolded.
“What do we have here?” she asked, sitting up.
“Isn’t he cute? I wanted to show you because he has eyes like yours. I’ve never seen a dog with blue eyes before. He’s one of the puppies Dr. Lori took up to the summer camp. She did show-and-tell on how to give dogs a bath. It was fun.”
“Oh yeah?” She scratched the pup behind his ears. “Is this a puppy from the animal shelter?”
“He’s a doll. What’s his name?”
“Sinatra. It’s a weird name, but so is Mortimer. That’s Michael’s dog. Do you remember him, Mom?”
“I do.” Mortimer, bless his heart, had to be the ugliest Boston terrier ever born. “Frank Sinatra was a singer whose nickname was ‘Old Blue Eyes.’ Maybe that’s why his owner picked it.”
“Maybe. Whatever. But he’s cute, isn’t he? Mom, when I get back from taking Sinatra home, can we talk about my birthday present?”
“Sure, buddy. We’ll do that.”
“And can I make my hair normal again too?”
“Absolutely.”
“Great.” His eyes bright with happiness, Reilly scooped the puppy into his arms and headed for the door. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Hold on a minute, buddy. I’d like to talk to Dr. Lori before she leaves.”
Jenna managed to make it out of the camper with her crutches without hurting herself, and followed her son toward the van sporting an Eternity Springs Animal Clinic logo on the side. With her attention on Reilly, she was slow to notice that the van didn’t appear to be occupied. Michael lay on his belly in a swing on the swing set, twisting the chains so he’d spin like a top when he lifted his legs. Lori Timberlake was on the Stardance Ranch office porch, bent over and vigorously rubbing the Callahans’ dog’s golden coat as she spoke with Devin, Brick and Lili Callahan, and Boone McBride—Jenna’s New Year’s Eve midnight kiss.
“Well,” Jenna murmured. “This could be awkward. Would Boone remember her? Recognize her? Lori had been informed about the day’s developments, but what about the Callahans? Had Brick’s father or uncles given them the lowdown?
Devin noticed her first and his eyes went wide. He made a thumping motion over his heart and said, “Wow, Reilly’s Mom. You were gorgeous as a brunette with brown eyes, but now . . . whoa. I’m speechless. Did you get to rest? Feel better?”