Virgin River 09 - Angel's Peak

by Robyn Carr

  And when she woke hours later in the predawn, she found Rosie curled against his chest, sleeping between them, safe and content.

  Francine cut out of school a little on the early side on Monday. Her classes were finished and she didn’t have any appointments, and she knew that Sean would be at the house with Rosie. Maureen would probably be there, too. She found herself anxious to hear about their day. Rosie was having a circus with a new daddy and grandma.

  Franci had to hand it to Maureen; she was coming off very relaxed and accepting. If memory served, Franci knew her to be rather stiff in her morals—she did not, for example, approve of unmarried people having sex. For Sean and Franci, that ship had sailed long ago. And Maureen would notice that Sean had not gone back to Luke’s last night.

  Franci had called Sean between her classes and asked, “Did your mother say anything about you spending the night?”

  “Of course,” he said with a laugh. “She can’t keep her mouth shut about anything!”

  “What did she say?”

  “She asked me if I wasn’t complicating an already complicated situation. And I told her I wasn’t discussing it with her, so if she wanted to enjoy her time with Rosie she’d better drop it. And to my amazement, she did. Grandchildren, I discovered, provide amazing leverage.”

  When Franci walked in the house a few hours later, she encountered one of the biggest messes she’d ever seen. Newspapers were spread over the island in the kitchen, covered with pumpkin guts. She could see the spills on the floor—seeds that had gotten away—and three pumpkins were in the middle of the carving process on the dining room table. One huge, one large and one small. The pumpkin family.

  “Nuts,” Sean said. “You’re home early. We were going to surprise you. We’ve gotta have jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween!”

  “Mama!” Rosie shouted excitedly. Then pointing, she said, “Daddy, Mommy, Rosie!”

  “Were you going to surprise me with the cleanup?” she asked hopefully.

  “Of course,” he said. “Maybe you should just go to your room and read or something until I have a chance to get things under control.”

  “I’ll go change and then come and help,” she said. Briefcase in hand, she went to her bedroom and within five seconds she was immediately back in the dining room. “There appears to be a large duffel bag in my bedroom.”

  “I’m moving in for a while, unless you throw me out. My mom is at Luke’s for the evening. She and I will spend tomorrow afternoon with Rosie while you’re in Redding at work. I thought I’d take babysitting duty while you do your twenty-four-hour shift. If that’s okay with you. Wednesday morning, while Rosie’s at preschool and day care, I’m driving my mom to the airport. She’s going home to get some things done around her condo so she can come right back. I guess the plants are dying, and the bills need to be paid. On the way over here this afternoon, after picking up my things at Luke’s, I scoped out the pumpkin patch and bought new pajamas.” He grinned at her. “I thought you might be annoyed we didn’t invite you along, so I took lots of pictures.”

  “Weren’t you going to ask?” she said.

  “About the pumpkin patch?” he returned.

  “About the pajamas,” she stressed.

  He straightened and his expression was serious. “I was going to beg. I have four weeks of leave, if they don’t call me in early. Can you put up with me? If I’m neat?”

  Her heart swelled, but she was afraid to let it show. He’d always been neat. In fact, he was a little on the fussy side. Things he valued had to be perfectly maintained—his home, his car, his man toys. Put up with him?

  “We’ve never actually done this before, you know,” she pointed out to him. “We’ve never really lived together.”

  The look in his eyes was tender. “We should have.”

  Rosie was a princess for Halloween, big surprise. There was a battle about wearing the plastic high heels without socks, and Sean was relieved when Franci handled that war without getting him involved. She let Sean take Rosie around the neighborhood for candy while she stayed home to hand it out to the goblins who came to her door. And then the tussle over how much candy Rosie could eat was handled again by Franci.

  Franci thought she’d won the battle. Rosie was allowed two and a half pieces of candy, followed by bath and bed. The combination of the cold weather, the trek around the neighborhood and the excitement of the whole thing wore her out and Rosie crashed by seven-thirty. However, she sprang awake and was ready to party at 2:00 a.m. She was suddenly standing right beside Sean, wearing her princess dress. “Daddy?” she asked. “Are you still on bacation?”

  “What are you doing up? And in your fancy dress?”

  “I dunno,” she answered with a shrug. “Can we twick or tweet again?”

  “It’s two in the morning, Rose. Everyone is in bed. Everyone but you.”

  “The candy,” Franci moaned. “A sugar charge, then a sugar drop-off, and then a recharge.” She lifted up on an elbow and looked down at Sean. “Your turn, Daddy. You’re on bacation.”

  Franci was a little surprised by how much relief she felt when Maureen left town; she hadn’t realized that Sean’s mother made her tense. Once it was back to just the three of them, life seemed calmer. Simpler and easier. When Franci worked, Sean was in charge; when Franci was home, Vivian didn’t interfere, but left them to what passed for family life. It wasn’t as though she and Sean had made concrete plans, though they couldn’t until Sean had some idea what was next for him with the air force. They were still rolling along, one day at a time. They did a lot of talking about the possibilities, but so much was up in the air until Sean had some idea what his next assignment would be.

  They hadn’t said the I love you’s yet, at least not in the clear light of day. She’d heard him whisper it in the dark of night when he thought she was asleep. But everything they talked about had them moving forward as a team as best they could under such uncertain circumstances.

  Franci decided that when Maureen came back to town, which she was planning to do fairly soon, she would make the time to have a private conversation with her, make sure they were on the same page, so their relationship could be as smooth and tension free as possible—for all their sakes.

  One thing that she had to deal with immediately, however, was T.J. She hadn’t spoken to him in more than a week—ever since that last call he’d made to her cell phone while she was working in Redding. She could almost feel the trouble brewing like a storm cloud—he had stopped calling and she had made no effort to get in touch with him. It was a standoff. She had to put it to rest. Even if she and Sean didn’t go one step further in their relationship, she’d never again spend time with T.J.

  She knew he kept office hours on Thursdays when he was in town, so after teaching her two classes she went to his office. She found he was in conference with a student when she arrived, so she jotted a note on the clipboard hanging outside the closed door. Went to get a soda, she wrote. Be back in ten minutes to see you. When she returned, his door was ajar and he was seated at his desk in the small campus office. She tapped on the open door and he looked up. Then he sat back in the chair, pulled off his reading glasses and swiveled in her direction. “Come in, Francine. Close the door. I’ve been wondering when you’d show up.”

  “I should have stopped by sooner, but life got real hectic,” she said, entering and pulling the door closed. There was one chair beside his desk and she sat there.

  “I can imagine,” he said. “How’s the new guy working out?”

  She laughed uncomfortably. “That was direct,” she said. “He’s not new, as you already know. And he came with a mother and four brothers and lots of other complications. But we’re getting along just fine, thank you.”

  “I can see that,” he said.

  She tilted her head and frowned a little bit. “You can?”

  He leaned toward her. “I used to be the one to put that shine in your eyes.” Then he laughed when she took on a s
light blush. “So…I guess it’s all settled. You’re taking the leap. You’ve moved on.”

  She didn’t know what to say for a moment. She was frankly surprised to find he was as pleasant as that. “I guess you’re letting me off without any explanation.”

  “Don’t waste your breath. No matter what you say, Francine, we both know you’re making a big mistake here. And we both know you’re going to do it, anyway.”

  “Mistake? Do you have any idea what it is I’m doing? Because I don’t recall explaining my plans to you.”

  “As if that’s necessary,” he said with a harsh laugh. “You’re going to give up everything you’ve established here—the stability of your job, your friends, the option of a normal relationship with a man you can count on who will make sure your happiness comes first. And you’re going to do that for some flyboy kid who wouldn’t commit to you in the first place. You’ll end up sorry. Unhappy and full of regrets. He let you down before and he’ll let you down again.”

  Ah. Now that was what she expected. She almost smiled—she’d never seen this side of T.J. when he was ordering her meals and asking her to grow out her hair, and she wondered now how she could have been so naive. Undoubtedly he thought he had been doing her a great service. But the second Sean turned up, he’d let his true colors come out. He must have thought she would defer to him forever. He thought he owned her. She leaned toward him. “When did you turn into this person?” she asked, her voice rather soft under the circumstances. “Were you always like this and I just didn’t realize it? When you were telling me what to eat and how to wear my hair—was that just the tip of the iceberg and I was too accommodating to understand what a mistake it was to allow that behavior?”

  He actually sneered at her. “How like you to see the worst in a good situation. I should have known better than to get mixed up with someone like you. You’re a child.”

  “Oh, T.J., when did you become this kind of man? What did I miss? We dated for a few months, and in fact no more often than once a week, but I don’t recall that we had the kind of relationship that would invite this kind of anger from you. We didn’t have future plans, you and I.”

  “Our relationship was stable. This thing you’re trading it for, it’ll be a disaster because he isn’t moving to Humboldt County. Even if he could, you and I both know he isn’t the kind of man who will give up anything for you. Or for his daughter. You’ll have to give up everything you value and go chasing him around the world if you want to be with him. Trust me, you’ll be right back where you started. Abandoned.”

  “Whoa,” she said, affronted. “I’m not even going to ask you how you came to all these conclusions. I’m not going to defend Sean to you, but have you ever met him?”

  “I know that any man who cared about you would have made it his business to find you a long time ago. I would have. If I thought you had any feelings for me whatsoever, I’d tear up the country looking for you. And he never even tried.”

  Well, she thought, she had told him the whole, sad story. “There are things to resolve about that, but—”

  “Before you pull up stakes, you’d better try to think clearly, Franci. There’s still time for you to be smart, use that little tiny brain of yours. You know how I feel about you. And you know I can keep the blush on your cheeks, too. He might seem a little dangerous and daring and have that sex appeal that goes with jets and secret missions, but that will wear thin. He’s a young idiot who likes living on the edge, and that isn’t father material. You’re going to be very disappointed.”

  A huff of laughter escaped her in spite of herself. “Sean? Dangerous?” Then she laughed outright. “My tiny brain?” She stood. “I guess I’m a little confused, T.J. I thought you liked me, but I had no idea you took our relationship as seriously as that, nor did I realize you didn’t think I was smart. I’m sorry you’re angry. But I can’t possibly describe how positively relieved I am that I won’t be spending time with you ever again.”

  He stood as well. “If I’m angry at all, it’s because you led me on. I’m not a kid anymore, Francine, and I know what works and what doesn’t. A lot of that I learned the hard way, through my own mistakes. Just the way you will.”

  “Best of luck, T.J.,” she said, turning to leave his office.

  “If you come to your senses soon, get in touch. But I won’t wait around long.”

  Well, that’s a good thing, she thought. She turned back to look at him. “Don’t wait for me. In fact, go ahead and delete my phone number.” And then she left the building.

  It hit her that something about that little confrontation was all wrong! What was this talk about being the one to put the shine in her eyes? Hadn’t he complained that they needed to “turn up the heat”? And how in the world had she led him on? By not complaining when he wanted to order for both of them? When going along with his plans for a date, though he never once asked her what she’d like to do? She hadn’t questioned the relationship because it had worked for her. And it had worked for her because she hadn’t been emotionally invested. But neither had he!

  She left the campus. All the way home she was asking herself how she had missed who he really was. And why hadn’t the relationship grated on her more? You’re a child, rang in her ears.

  And then something occurred to her—she’d lost her father when she was only seven. She’d always longed for her father, for any father. The loss had devastated her! It was one of the many reasons she was so protective of Rosie—she didn’t want her hurt by a loss like that! In some convoluted way it seemed safer to raise Rosie alone rather than watch her little heart break with longing for a father she couldn’t have!

  And maybe it was that same sense of loss that allowed her to be so cooperative with a man like Professor Hottie! He took charge; he made as many decisions for her as she would allow! And if Sean hadn’t come back into her life, who knows how far she would have let him go with his controlling, manipulative behavior.

  He was right; she had been a child. She had allowed the whole thing to happen; she had no one to blame but herself. She hadn’t realized what was happening.

  But she had never behaved that way with Sean; she had been strong, independent and convicted. And to his credit, Sean had never tried to control or manipulate her. He didn’t always bend to her desires, but neither did he act as if he owned her. It was with great relief that she realized that, even in the worst of times, they didn’t have that kind of relationship.

  Oh, if they could ever get everything straight, she thought they had a chance of having the right kind of relationship. She almost laughed! As hard as things had been for them, they were healthy, well-adjusted people—unlike T.J.

  When she got home, she found Sean in the kitchen. He was turning thick pork chops over in a marinade and Franci could hear Rosie in the bedroom playing.

  Sean grinned at her. “How was your day, dear?” he asked, tilting his head in the direction of Rosie’s room.

  “Surreal,” she said in a whisper. “Did you by any chance deal with that girl who’s been texting you night and day?”

  “Didn’t I tell you? I finally got around to that a few days ago.”

  “How’d it go?”

  “As expected. I asked her not to text or call anymore because I was back with my old girlfriend and she told me to go to hell.”

  “That’s all?”

  “No. She said if she saw me again she’d kill me, and if she had a chance to loosen a few bolts on my airplane she’d do it. She called me some choice names and hung up. Why?”

  “Nothing,” she said, shaking her head, looking away.

  “You had a meeting with him,” he said. “Let me guess, he listed my shortcomings even though he doesn’t know me.”

  “How’d you know?”

  Sean pulled her close and, on his way to whisper in her ear, he gently sucked on her lobe. “He doesn’t want to give you up, because you’re you. Now, let’s not talk about why. It makes me want to kill him.”

&n
bsp; “I saw a side of him that’s always been there, but I completely overlooked it. It was very disturbing,” she said. “Guess what I just realized? You’re the devil I know…”

  “Good,” he said. “Let’s stick with that.”

  Maureen had gone home to Phoenix as planned. She only stayed in her condo for a week, during which time she gave away her houseplants, stopped the paper, forwarded her mail, closed up her condo and headed back, her trunk and backseat full of her essentials.

  Maureen and Vivian had worked things out; Maureen was going back to Humboldt County for a rather long visit. She would stay through Thanksgiving—a good three weeks. Although she would make use of Vivian’s second bedroom, usually reserved for Rosie’s overnights, and having her own car would allow her to spend quality time with Rosie, and everyone else. This arrangement would also allow her to give them all their space. In fact, not being dependent on her sons or her new friend Vivian for transportation would enable her to come and go as she pleased. After all, Vivian had a man in her life and would surely appreciate time alone with him now and then.

  Other than telling Luke and Sean that she’d be back for a visit and that she planned to stay through Thanksgiving, they didn’t know her plans. They would no doubt be secretly thrilled to learn she wouldn’t be staying with them! Vivian was a remarkable woman who wanted to assist Maureen in getting better acquainted with their mutual granddaughter, a gesture generous beyond belief. But as it turned out, different as they were, the women enjoyed each other’s company.

  While she was headed north, driving through the Arizona desert, she decided to check in with all her sons. Of course, she only had to call one to do so. “You’re doing what?” Aiden demanded.

  “Driving to Virgin River. So I’ll have a car while I’m there. And I’m staying with Rosie’s other grandma so I don’t become an annoying mother-in-law. I like Vivian. She’s too liberal, but very sincere.”