He followed her over to Jeremy and Abby.
“Are you okay?”
Jeremy cut his eyes toward Abby and stood up. “Yes, I’m fine. Abby flips out at the sight of blood.”
“I did not flip out. I was worried about you. You were bleeding, a lot.”
“I’m fine now.” Jeremy shook his head at them.
“All right, we believe you.” Nick held his hands up. “Since you feel so fine, do you two want to join us for lunch?”
They both shook their heads, no.
“Your loss.” Nick reached for his gym bag and offered his hand to Katherine.
She stared at his open palm for a few seconds before placing hers in his grasp. She threw a nervous look over her shoulder at Abby as Nick led her out of the gym.
He held the car door for her then stowed his bag in the trunk. He hesitated before starting the car. “Do you mind if we swing by my apartment? I’d really like to grab a shower before we go eat.” When she started to answer, he cut her off. “Ten minutes tops, I promise. With Jeremy out the last part of the game, I had to play longer than usual. I feel extra grungy.”
She hesitated, taking in his soaked T-shirt and wet hair. “Sure, and I’ll give you fifteen minutes if you need it.”
They pulled into the underground parking garage of a twelve-story glass-encased complex. His apartment was on the top floor. In the elevator, she reminded herself today was about proving they’d moved on, that she’d forgiven him. And she had.
“We’re here.” He unlocked his door and let her step inside, before motioning her toward the living room. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”
After Katherine heard the shower running, she got up and wandered around the room, admiring his photos. Nick with his father at graduation. Nick and what looked like Jeremy with a trophy blocking his face, and one of Nick at a Boys and Girls Club function.
A few minutes later, his house phone rang, startling her away from the windows overlooking the park across the street. His machine clicked on after the fourth ring, his casual tone asking the caller to leave a message filled the room.
“Son, I don’t think cozying up to the little orphan girl is the way to convince her not to run against you. Call me when you get in. We need to meet with Jeff tomorrow and come up with a strategy to neutralize her before she can do any real damage to your campaign.”
Katherine stared at the blinking light on the machine, Edward’s words reviving the anger she thought she was free of after she’d forgiven Nick. But the truth was clear and it was ugly. His father had put Nick in the middle again. Edward would force Nick to choose between her and him. She was never anyone’s first choice. Nothing had changed.
Edward would always try to control Nick’s life. And Nick would let him, because he loved his father and was blind to the hate that lived in his father’s heart. She had to stop him. She was the only one who could. The loss of what might have been before it had a chance to start doubled her over in pain.
She would never ask Nick to choose between them because family should come first. She fought for that every day. She was frantic to escape, before she changed her mind and did something selfish that could create an eternal rift between Nick and Edward.
Nick picked that moment to come out of the bedroom dressed in jeans, a polo shirt, and sneakers. He took one look at her and led her to the couch. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut against the stinging tears, and prayed for strength. “Nothing, I...” She swallowed past the lump of sorrow in her throat. This hurt as much as watching them lower Alice’s casket into the ground. “I need to go home. I don’t feel well.”
“Are you sure? Is there anything I can do?” He reached for her.
She jerked away from him and moved toward the door. “No, I’ll be fine. Can you take me home, please?” She hated the pleading in her voice, but she needed to sever all contact.
“If that’s what you want.” The concern in his voice matched the look on his face. He went into the bedroom and came back with his keys.
In the car, she was silent, sitting as close to the passenger door as possible, her gaze straight ahead until they pulled into her driveway. She was out of the car the second he stopped and bolted up the front steps. She flinched when his fingers brushed hers as he took the keys from her unsteady hand and unlocked the door. She squeezed her eyes closed. Hang on another minute and he’ll be gone. If her composure would hold out that long.
“Katherine.”
“Goodbye, Nick.” She stepped inside and closed the door. She didn’t slam it in his face in a show of finality this time. She didn’t have the strength.
With legs as firm as water, she leaned against the door. Funny how the tears wouldn’t come, now that no one else could see. She stayed there for a long time, letting the pain of a hope that was lost forever tear her heart to shreds.
Then the words Alice had said to her the morning they met were there, pulling her out of her misery. Helping her find her purpose. “Are you going to wait around and see if someone else steps in and does what needs doing? Or are you going to take charge and make sure it’s done right?”
The burning ache in her chest changed to a searing jolt. She pulled herself up and took the stairs two at a time. Her briefcase was in her bedroom. She rummaged through the contents until she found the phone number she wanted. Then snatched the cordless phone from its cradle on her nightstand and punched in the number before she changed her mind.
“Corinne? Hi, it’s Katherine Harper.” She didn’t give the other woman time to respond. “Listen, I’m sorry to bother you on a Saturday, but I didn’t want to wait another minute before I let you know my decision regarding the city council race.”
* * *
Nick sat in Kat’s driveway, staring at her front door. It stood as impenetrable as a vault door at Fort Knox. The ten inches between their seats in his car as he’d driven her home had seemed like a chasm ten miles wide. He visualized everything in his living room. Nothing there should have offended or upset her.
In frustrated anguish, he’d watched her struggle to put the key in the lock. She’d almost dropped it twice. It had ripped his heart out when she’d flinched away from his touch when he tried to help. No matter what he did or said, he hurt the one person he never wanted to cause any kind of pain. His plan had been to inject himself into her life a little at a time until she got used to him. Then she’d see how much he cared about her. But anytime he gained ground, it crumbled beneath his feet.
His first thought was to find Jeremy and seek his advice, but somehow Nick knew he needed to figure this latest problem out for himself. He closed his eyes and prayed. “Please God, I know I don’t always do what makes you smile, but I honestly don’t know where I went wrong this time. I didn’t see her cry, but I know I’ve hurt her even worse than before. Show me how to fix this, or at least help me understand what’s happening. Please, God.” He opened his eyes and backed out of her drive.
At his apartment, the red message light was blinking on his answering machine. Not fit for conversation, he went into the kitchen in search of lunch. His breakfast had worn off during the game. He made a sandwich, but the light on the machine drew him like a beacon until he hit “play.” His father’s voice boomed into the room accusing him of trying to talk Katherine out of running for office.
Nick wasn’t up for a fight with his father right now and if he called him, their conversation would turn into an argument. It always did. His father had his eyes on this council seat and he wouldn’t let anything stand between Nick and winning the election. At the end of the message, the time stamp announced when the call had come in. Nick stopped on his way back to the kitchen and checked his watch.
“Aaaggghhh,” he growled and hurled the sandwich at the garbage can. He grabbe
d his phone to call Katherine but paused. She wouldn’t believe anything he said. His father had seen to that. This ended today!
* * *
The spot under the oak tree still had parallel ruts from where he’d parked his first car at his father’s house. Nick climbed out and bounded up the steps. He jabbed his finger against the doorbell and kept it there. The ringing chime pealed incessantly throughout the massive house until his father snatched the door open with a snarl on his face for whoever had dared to be so demanding of him.
“Nick, what are you doing?” His father looked at him coldly before stepping aside so he could enter.
“I’m here to tell you that if you so much as say Katherine’s name or even think it, I will withdraw from this election and won’t allow my name to be printed on another ballot for as long as I live.”
Edward turned to glare at him and left the door wide open. “What is it with that little do-gooder that makes you go stupid when you’re around her?”
“That do-gooder,” Nick ground out, “is one of the kindest, sweetest, most caring people I’ve ever met. And if you don’t leave her alone, I won’t speak to you again. I mean it Dad. Leave. Her. Alone.” The quiet intensity of his words held more steel than if he’d shouted them.
“What hold does she have over you? Don’t you understand she and her background could keep you from reaching your goal?”
“What about her background? Because she grew up in foster care and lived in a children’s home? She didn’t kill her parents.” Nick prowled the foyer like a lion with a thorn in his paw, itching to lash out at anything within striking distance before settling a contemptuous look on his father.
“I thought I was supposed to consider people for their accomplishments and shortcomings, not their parents.”
“Since you’re so friendly with that pastor, let me remind you, there’s a scripture in the Bible about sins of the parents being visited on their children.”
Nick stared at his father. Was his rationale that warped? “You honestly believe Katherine is responsible for her mother’s death? That’s crazy.”
His father didn’t dispute his question and Nick’s hold on his temper snapped. “Then why don’t I call the state attorney’s office and we’ll bring charges. Surely, I can get her convicted. Or why don’t I go down to the police station and turn myself in for killing Mom. Never mind that the doctors said it was cancer. I’m sure she died because she carried me to term instead of seeking treatment earlier!” His entire body was numb. Because if he felt anything, he would have to feel the torment of not knowing a mother, and he didn’t think he was strong enough to suffer all the pain that brought on along with this.
Edward stood frozen, staring at him as if he were a stranger. “Don’t talk about your mother that way. And don’t ever say anything about her in the same breath as that...” he sputtered.
“That sweet, beautiful, caring woman I’m in love with?” Nick filled in for him.
“You are not in love with her!” his father screamed. “You’re doing this to get even with me for sending her away, aren’t you?”
Nick’s stomach clenched, squeezing the churning bile upwards until he felt it sear the back of his throat. He fought the urge to vomit. “You sent her away? My promise that I wouldn’t see her again wasn’t enough. You made her start over with strangers.” No wonder she couldn’t get past what he—no, what his father—had done to her.
“Son, now you know I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. She was a distraction you couldn’t afford. Remember how much you had going on. You had to retake your SATs because your math scores weren’t high enough the first time,” he said in a desperate scramble to justify his actions.
“My math scores? Well, here’s a news flash for you, Dad. The only reason I scored high enough to get into the college you wanted me to attend was because that foster kid, as you keep referring to her, agreed to tutor me so I could pass the test. Without her, I wouldn’t have gotten in.” The blood that had burned hot and fast through his veins suddenly turned icy, sluggish.
“I think I hate you. I’m not supposed to, but God’s going to have to let me commit this sin for now until I can stand the sight of you again.” Nick turned and walked out of the open front door, slamming it shut and blocking out the image of his father. He couldn’t get away from the evil in that house fast enough.
Nick gunned the engine when he pulled out into traffic, leaving a black line of rubber as tangible proof of his temper. The house he’d grown up in looked so foreign to him right now it could have belonged to a stranger. And if he was honest, it did. He pulled off the road and reached for his cell phone.
Jeremy answered on the second ring.
“Hey, Pastor. I could use a friend right now. One with a better vertical connection than I have.”
“Are you driving?” Nick heard the concern in his voice.
“No, I’m sitting on the side of the road. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He paused before he disconnected. “And Jeremy, thanks.”
Jeremy was out in his front yard when Nick pulled up. He opened the car door for him before Nick got the engine turned off.
“What happened at lunch?”
“We didn’t make it to lunch.” He followed Jeremy up the sidewalk toward the front door.
“Why not? You both seemed fine when you left the gym.”
Nick recapped what had happened and how pale and shaky Katherine had looked when he’d driven her home. “Knowing what I know now, no wonder she hates me.” He hissed a hot breath through his teeth.
“She doesn’t hate you, Nick.”
He pinned his friend with a disbelieving glare. “She has every reason in the world to hate me. Whenever I come near her, I inflict some sort of pain. If not me, then my father and his perverse sense of protection over me.” He paced, his misery and guilt driving his restlessness.
“I think the reason you hurt her is because her feelings for you run deeper than even she realizes.”
“I might have believed you this morning, but not since I took her home.” Nick pounded his fist on the bookshelf. “No matter what I do or say, I end up hurting her. I’m not running for city council. I’m going down to the elections office Monday morning and removing my name from the ballot.”
“Don’t do that. You said this has been your dream since you were a little kid. It won’t solve anything if you pull out now. And it sounds more like you want to run away instead of fixing the problem.”
“Running for public office was always my father’s dream for me. He thought it would bring more power and influence to the Delaney name. I bought into it because I thought I could help people. And I thought he’d be proud of me. Now, I don’t care what he thinks of me. I’m ashamed to have him as my father.”
“Nick, you can’t feel that way,” Jeremy argued. “As upset as you were with him for trying to hold Katherine accountable for her mother’s sins, you can’t disown your father because of his behavior. You are two separate people making your own choices in life. Granted, those choices sometimes affect the other because you’re related. But that’s the difference between you and him. He only thinks of himself, whereas you think of others first.”
“If I think of others, then why do I keep hurting Kat?” Nick asked. Confusion and a loss as to how to fix things gripped him by the throat.
“We only hurt the ones we love,” Jeremy explained. “We try too hard and get overzealous in our attempts to please them and we forget to enjoy the small things that bring them happiness.”
“I don’t get what you mean by that.”
“You love her. You’re overeager and nervous when you talk to her. The wrong words fly out of your mouth and ruin your efforts. And she’s sensitive where you’re concerned. Maybe it’s because she loves you, too.”
Jeremy stopped him
before he knocked his theory. “That’s speculation on my part. I don’t know for sure if she does or doesn’t. She might not know herself. But you have a place in her heart and you’ll have to treat her gently while you mend the rift your father has put between you. Dropping out of the race won’t help, and this community needs someone like you. Stay in the race and pray. Ask God to guide your steps from here on out. Let Him lead you and your path will be blessed, whatever the direction.”
Jeremy came up beside him, and clapped him on the shoulder. He said a prayer of peace and guidance over Nick before he let him leave. Nick drove home with a lighter heart than he thought possible since he’d walked into his living room to find Kat anxious and desperate to be anywhere but near him.
He took another shower, then fell back across his bed and stared at the ceiling. If he and God were going to talk about his life, and what needed work, he might as well turn his eyes in the right direction. Up.
* * *
The chime of the doorbell caused Katherine to put down her devotional. A glance at her watch made her wonder who would stop by this late on a Saturday night. She looked through the glass fan light before she opened the door.
“Jeremy, what brings you by?”
“Can I come in?”
The anguished look on his face brought her defenses up. “If you’re here to plead for anyone with the last name of Delaney, I’m not up for it tonight.”
“Katherine.” Jeremy reached out and caught her arm before she turned away. “I’m not here for anyone but you. I did speak to Nick today after he argued with his father.”
Her eye roll gained her a disapproving frown. “He doesn’t know I’m here. I’ve been in prayer all afternoon, seeking God’s guidance about what I’m supposed to do to help mend the hearts of two of my closest friends. I know what happened today and I know what you think happened. I knew you’d try to handle this alone. I care too much for you to let you face this by yourself.”
She inhaled a deep breath and ignored the sudden wetness blurring her vision. “I thank you for your concern, but I’m fine.”
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