When Love Arrives

by Johnnie Alexander

  Her eyes brightened, and she gave him a quick hug. “You’ll be the best uncle ever.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ll be your only uncle ever, so I guess that’s not too hard.”

  “Even if I had a million uncles, you’d be the best.”

  “Remind me to give you a dollar later for that one,” he said as he straightened and glanced at Dani who stood by the hood. “I want you two to meet Dani. She’s a friend of mine, so you have to be nice to her. And look. We brought the pizza.”

  Tabby piped up. “It’s tradition.”

  “I guess it is.” Brett took the boxes from Dani and herded the group up the patio steps while Tabby showed Dani a scrape on her leg and bombarded her with questions.

  Dani hesitated as they reached the kitchen’s screen door. Brett rested his hand on the small of her back and whispered, “They don’t bite.”

  From the tightness of her smile, he wasn’t sure she believed him. “If they do,” he said, “I’ll bite them back.”

  Her spontaneous smile radiated through him. Not that it meant anything.

  Inside the kitchen, Shelby greeted Brett with a quick hug, then shooed the girls out of the room with instructions to wash their hands. In their rush, they almost knocked over AJ, who entered from the hall with a tall glass of iced tea.

  “Careful there,” AJ said as he balanced the glass. “Don’t make me spill this.”

  Brett caught Dani’s gaze. She didn’t seem to know whether to be embarrassed or amused. He squeezed her elbow, then made the introductions.

  “I’m so glad to meet you, Dani.” Shelby shot a teasing look at him. “It’s not often Brett introduces us to his friends.”

  “Friend? She’s a hitchhiker I picked up on my way here. Never saw her before this morning.”

  “Stick with that story if you want,” Shelby said. “You aren’t working for him, are you, Dani?”

  “No . . .” She drew out the syllable.

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Shelby placed a large salad on the table. “Would you like something to drink? Tea, soda, water?”

  “Tea is fine. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Do you mind getting the napkins? They’re in that drawer over there.”

  AJ edged closer to Brett and elbowed him. “Hitchhiker, huh? What happened to dating your receptionists?”

  “Have you seen my latest?” Brett pretended to shudder. “Ancient, I tell you. Must be at least thirty-five.”

  “We’re not dating,” Dani jumped in. “Just spending the day together. The electricity is out at my place.”

  “So you’re ‘not dating’?” Shelby asked pointedly, though she feigned utter innocence.

  “I’m good at that,” Brett said. “As you know so well.”

  “We’re not dating and we’re not not-dating.” Dani’s voice held a nervous edge, and she shrugged self-consciously. “We’re just . . . hanging out.”

  “Well, whatever you’re doing, I’m glad you’re here.” Shelby smiled warmly at Dani, then caught Brett’s gaze. He read the question in her eyes and slightly shook his head.

  He and Dani weren’t a couple, would never be a couple.

  She was a minor diversion for a lonely weekend.

  Besides, love and romance weren’t in his immediate future. Too many other things demanded his focus.

  Like the small boy lying in a coma. The son he wasn’t allowed to see.

  – 13 –

  After lunch, Brett and AJ took the girls outside to play croquet. Dani started to stack the plates, but Shelby touched her arm. “I can do this. Go on out with Brett.”

  “I’d rather help if that’s okay.” She’d enjoyed the mealtime banter and even endured Brett’s version of how she had drenched his pants at the movies. To hear him tell the story, she’d dumped a gallon of soda on him. Though he’d made up for it by glossing over her deplorable housing situation. He’d also downplayed her unemployment and made it sound like her senior thesis had been worthy of an Emmy.

  Regretfully two more people were now snared in her budget-cut lie. The dishonesty she hated cast a gloom in this sunlit kitchen where their easygoing conversation and laughter seemed to linger.

  “Help is always appreciated.” Shelby dumped melting ice in the sink and placed the glasses in the dishwasher. “So I won’t say no.”

  Dani reached for another plate. “Your house is so lovely. Brett told me it was in pretty bad shape before you restored it.”

  “The worst was the dead things in the attic.” Shelby shuddered. “It made me sick. Literally.”

  “Dead things?”

  “Pigeons. Raccoons. It was awful. Thankfully one of our neighbors and his son cleared them all away. I couldn’t have done it.”

  “I can’t even imagine.”

  “I advise you not to try.” She shivered again.

  Dani picked up the plates and paused by the window overlooking the oval lawn. Elizabeth smacked a striped ball with her mallet, then chased after it.

  “This is a great place to raise a family,” she said, unable to keep the wistfulness from her voice. She’d have loved to have grown up in a place like this. Huge and warm and comfortable.

  “I moved here to give my girls the kind of childhood I had,” Shelby said. “It’s not going to be easy to leave.”

  “You’re moving?”

  “Didn’t Brett tell you about the archaeological project?”

  “The what?” Dani focused on Shelby, her interest piqued. “No, he didn’t.”

  “This house was once a station for the Underground Railroad. There’s a secret room underneath the study where the runaways were hidden.” Shelby hesitated, as if momentarily lost in thought. “A few weeks ago, I had an old barn torn down, and we found the opening of a tunnel.”

  “Where does it go?”

  “We’re not sure. My grandfather always said there was a tunnel leading from the creek beyond the back pasture. But whether it could be the same tunnel . . .” She shrugged. “We just don’t know.”

  Images of midnight meetings, of secret boat trips and runaways scurrying to safety played in Dani’s mind. This house wasn’t simply a home. It was history.

  “So there’s a real archaeological dig happening right here?”

  “The beginnings of one. The plan is to open a Civil War museum and research center. Here in the house.” Something odd tinged the pride in Shelby’s voice. Regret? Sadness?

  Or maybe my overactive imagination.

  “It sounds like an incredible project. I’d love to . . .”

  The familiar heart-tug stirred deep inside Dani’s spirit. It always did when she found an interesting tidbit or fascinating topic that beckoned her to explore, to discover. All through college, she had done her best work on the assignments where the spark had accompanied her research.

  But she hadn’t felt it since graduating. Perhaps because she had cloaked herself in boredom. And self-pity.

  “Love to what?” Shelby asked.

  “I don’t know. Be part of something so important. You must be thrilled.”

  “I suppose,” Shelby said.

  Dani heard it again. The hint of something not quite right.

  “What is it?” She pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry. Brett says I’m nosy, and I guess he’s right.”

  The tense lines around Shelby’s eyes relaxed. “No need to apologize. It’s just that for so much of my life, all I wanted to do was come back here. I’m glad about the museum, really I am. But we’ve barely settled in. It’s hard to think of leaving.”

  “You’re moving in with AJ?”

  “Oh no. He lives in a one-bedroom cottage with a kitchen no bigger than my bathroom.” Shelby added the tableware to the dishwasher, then rinsed her hands. “After the wedding, we’re moving to the cutest bungalow you’ve ever seen. It belonged to AJ’s grandmother.”

  Another family house, probably bursting with happy memories, waited to become a home for Shelby and her daughters. Dani tensed
, anticipating the pierce of the jealousy spear. But her green-eyed monster must be sleeping.

  “Brett said you’re getting married around Christmas.”

  “That’s the plan. AJ and the girls will be out of school.” Shelby loaded the last of the tableware and shut the dishwasher door with her foot. “Four months, and we still haven’t decided on a color scheme or decorations. Sometimes I wish we could just elope.”

  “Why don’t you?”

  Shelby released a deep sigh. “Because my parents are coming. All the way from Mozambique.”

  “They’re missionaries, right?”

  “This is their first trip back since Tabby was a baby. So it’s more than a wedding, it’s like a reunion too. Then there’s AJ’s students and their families. We can’t invite everybody, but he’s been part of this community for a long time.”

  Shelby glanced around, a quick inspection of the kitchen. Apparently satisfied, she leaned against the counter. “From what I gather, folks around here didn’t think he’d ever get married, especially not to a Lassiter, and they’re not about to miss the grand event.”

  “Lassiter?”

  “That’s my maiden name. Our grandfathers weren’t exactly friends.”

  Dani thought about what Brett had said about Sully. The situation with Meghan had changed everything for AJ—his inheritance, his career choice. If Meghan was the reason he’d never married . . . Dani brushed away the thought. Anyone who saw AJ with Shelby could see how much he loved her. Meghan’s reappearance wasn’t going to change that.

  But what about Brett? Was Meghan the reason he had never settled down? He said he pursued her only because she was dating AJ.

  Dani pictured Brett staring up at the hospital’s colored windows. He longed to see his son. Did he long to see Meghan too?

  “It’s so hard to believe you only met Brett last night,” Shelby said, breaking into Dani’s thoughts.

  “Why’s that?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it’s because you seem so relaxed with each other.” Shelby pulled out a chair and motioned Dani to join her at the table. “He seldom introduces the women he’s dating to the family. At least that’s what AJ told me.”

  “We’re just hanging out, remember?” Dani said lightly, but her stomach knotted. She didn’t want to be lumped in with Brett’s women even if he did treat her differently than the rest. Besides, there was a good chance he considered her a distraction while his heart mended from his last breakup. The amethyst ring in her pocket seemed to burn against her leg.

  Maybe he had bought the ring for Meghan but hadn’t given it to her yet. The idea rooted, sprouted, and flourished in the time it took Dani to pull her chair up to the table.

  “Even in the short time I’ve known him,” Shelby said, “he’s changed.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Shelby tilted her head as if in thought. “He spends more time with AJ now than with his Monday night buddies.”

  “Who are his Monday night buddies?”

  “A bunch of unmarried men trying to hang on to their college days. Least that’s what it seems like to me. They have this weird game where they get points for breaking some poor woman’s heart.” A crestfallen expression crossed Shelby’s face. “I shouldn’t have told you that. He’s not that guy anymore. At least, he’s trying not to be.”

  “Why not?” Dani could guess the answer, but she wanted to hear it from Shelby.

  For a long moment, Shelby stared out the kitchen window. Dani followed her gaze. In the room’s silence, the gleeful shouts of two delightfully exuberant children called to Dani’s own miserable childhood. The spear-wielding monster stirred.

  “I think his past caught up with him.”

  Their eyes met across the table.

  “You mean Jonah?”

  “He told you?”

  “He didn’t want me to hear it from someone else.”

  “That was amazingly thoughtful of him.”

  Shelby was right. But he’d been amazingly thoughtful, considerate even, since Dani had met him. She wanted to bask in the warmth he’d shown her, the friendly welcome she’d received from Shelby and AJ.

  She turned back to the window. When they were grown, Elizabeth and Tabby probably wouldn’t remember this particular day. But the joyful glow of moments like this would never leave them.

  Or me.

  Brett placed his mallet in front of his ball to block Shelby’s shot. Only the two of them remained. Shelby had completed the course, but he still needed to go through the last wickets before she hit his ball and won the game.

  “Cheater,” she snarled.

  “A guy does what a guy’s gotta do.”

  “You’re only delaying the inevitable. There’s no way you can win.”

  “I never lose.”

  “Famous last words.” Shelby shouldered her mallet and stepped closer. “If you move out of the way, you can help me with dessert.”

  “Appealing to my stomach? That’s a cheap shot.”

  “Cupcakes,” she singsonged, then hesitated and lowered her voice. “I went to the hospital this morning.”

  Brett bit the inside of his lip and glanced around the yard. AJ perched on top of the picnic table, his face shaded by the bill of his OSU cap. Around the back of the house, just barely in sight, Dani and the girls were swinging on the wooden monstrosity he and AJ had built a couple weeks ago for Elizabeth’s birthday. At this distance, Dani looked more like a teen than a college graduate.

  “You want to talk to me alone, don’t you?”

  “Only for a minute.”

  He nodded, then moved out of her way. Shelby lined up her shot and smacked her ball into Brett’s.

  Game over.

  “Way to go, Shelby,” AJ cheered and bounded from the table toward them.

  She flashed him a smile. “Brett and I are going to bring out dessert. Why don’t you get the girls settled at the picnic table?”

  “Gotcha.” He reversed direction and loped toward the giant swing set.

  When Brett and Shelby reached the house, he opened the screen door. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”

  “About what?”

  “Marrying AJ,” he teased.

  “You know that’s not going to happen.”

  “I’ll never forget how angry you used to get at him.”

  “I’ll never forget how you neglected to tell me he was your cousin. You just let me complain about him.”

  “And all the while, I was thinking, ‘The lady doth protest too much.’” He reached for her left hand. The diamond in her engagement ring flashed a spectrum of light as it caught the sun’s rays from the window. “Turns out I was right. As usual.”

  “I wish you’d find the right person. I pray you do.”

  “You actually pray that?”

  “Of course I do.” Shelby retrieved the box of cupcakes from the pantry and set them on the table. “And not someone like Tracie, either. Though you weren’t very nice to her.”

  “I don’t want to talk about Tracie. Or my love life.” Brett turned a chair around and straddled it. No use in avoiding the unavoidable any longer. “So how’s Meghan?”

  “As well as she can be.” Shelby grabbed more napkins from the drawer. “She gave me the cupcakes so we could celebrate Jonah’s birthday.”

  He peeked inside the box. “Chocolate. My favorite.”

  “Jonah’s too.”

  “That’s my boy.” The words slid out easily enough but left an odd aftertaste, as if they weren’t quite true. Or as if he didn’t have the right to say them.

  “I took him a few presents.”

  “That was kind. Thank you.”

  “Someone else gave Jonah a present too. A little monkey wearing an OSU sweatshirt.”

  “Sounds like someone with good taste.”

  Shelby’s expression had “Are you kidding me?” written all over it. “Meghan knows it was from you.”

  “Why would she think that?”
<
br />   “Brett, she’s not stupid.”

  “I never said—”

  “I know you didn’t.”

  “Is she mad?”

  Shelby shook her head. “I think she’s softening toward you. Just a little.”

  “What about Jonah? How is he?”

  “Poor little guy. Nothing’s changed.”

  “I only want to see him. Just once.”

  “Give her time. I promise if there’s anything I can do or say to get her to change her mind, I will.”

  Suddenly weary, he rested his chin against his crossed arms on the chair back. Meghan had built an unrelenting wall between them, as strong as any fortress. Never had he felt so helpless.

  “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Trust God to work it out.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “Believe me, I know that. But you can’t force her.”

  “I won’t. Next time you see her, tell her that.”

  She rested her hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” He stood and picked up the bakery box. “Let’s go celebrate my son’s birthday.”

  – 14 –

  The oak tree’s spreading canopy cooled the picnic table, offering welcome shade from the glare of the summer sun. The leaves swayed, only lightly touched by a slight breeze. As if caught in an enchantment, Dani closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh fragrance of flowers touched by sunshine. Sitting between Brett and Elizabeth, basking in the peacefulness of the day—could this gorgeous Saturday afternoon be any more perfect?

  From the moment she’d arrived, her anxiety had been soothed by the warm welcome she’d received. Shelby and AJ treated her like a long-lost friend instead of a stranger. As if she could be a part of this family’s circle instead of an outsider yearning to be let in. The only awkward moment occurred when Brett and Shelby brought out the cupcakes. Tabby had been dissuaded from her notion that they light candles but not from singing “Happy Birthday” to Jonah. Brett had started out fine, his voice a rich timbre that blended with her soft soprano melody. But his body tensed beside her, and he barely choked out Jonah’s name. He didn’t sing the last line.

  She spontaneously reached for his hand under the table. He clasped her fingers, and her skin tingled at his touch. Then Shelby had passed out the cupcakes, and the private moment had ended.