Heart of the Family

by Margaret Daley

  Good. That should put an end to the doctor’s visit. Hannah wheeled around and called out to the nearest two girls who were standing off to the side, watching the melee with the boys. “Let’s get everyone inside to wash their hands for dinner.”

  Shortly the group on the ground untangled their limbs and leaped to their feet. They raced toward the door while Jacob moved slowly to rise, his shirttail pulled from his pants, his brown hair lying at odd angles. He tucked in his top and finger combed his short strands.

  Andy, who had been standing off to the side watching the fun, shuffled toward Jacob, taking his hand. “Why don’t you eat with us, Dr. Jacob?”

  The too-handsome man glanced toward her. The child followed the direction of his gaze and asked, “Can he, Hannah?” When she didn’t immediately answer, he quickly added, “He’d better check me out before bedtime to make sure I’m okay.”

  Having stayed behind, too, Gabe took Jacob’s other hand. “Yeah. Don’t forget you promised me the last time you were here that you’d read a story to me before I went to bed.”

  That trapped feeling gripped Hannah again. She really didn’t have a reason to tell the man no, and yet to spend the whole evening with him wasn’t her idea of fun.

  Hannah shifted from one foot to the other, realizing everyone was staring at her, waiting for an answer she didn’t want to give. She pasted a full-fledged smile on her face that she fought to maintain. “Sure, he can—if he doesn’t mind hamburgers, coleslaw and baked beans.”

  He returned her grin. “Sounds wonderful to a man who doesn’t cook. Meg can make anything taste great, even cabbage.”

  His warm expression, directed totally at her, tempted her cold heart to thaw. “Cabbage is good for you,” was all she could think of to say.

  “Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t mean it tastes good.”

  “Yuck. I don’t like it, either.” Gabe puffed out his chest as though he was proud of the fact he and Dr. Jacob were alike in their food preferences.

  “Me, neither.” Andy followed suit, straightening his thin frame.

  Jacob peered down at both boys. “But Meg makes it taste great, and Hannah is right. It’s good for you. I’ll play a board game with you guys if you finish all your coleslaw. Okay?”

  “Yes,” the two shouted, then rushed toward the door.

  Oh, great. The evening was going to be a long drawn-out affair with games and reading. Maybe she could gracefully escape to her room after dinner while he entertained the children. Hannah waited until he had mounted the porch steps before saying, “Nice recovery.”

  He gave her another heart-melting grin. “I keep forgetting how impressionable these children can be. They’re so hungry for attention and love. I wish I had more time to spend with them.”

  No! Please don’t! She pressed her lips together to keep from saying those words aloud. But she couldn’t keep from asking, “Just how involved are you with the refuge?”

  He chuckled. “Worried you’ll have to be around me a lot?”

  Heat scored her cheeks. Obviously she wasn’t a very good actress, a fact she already knew. She forced a semi-smile to her lips. “I was curious. I just thought you were the refuge’s doctor and that’s all.”

  He planted himself in front of her. “I’m more than that. Peter, Noah and I were the ones who started this. Peter is the one in charge because he lives on the property, but I keep very involved. I’m on the foundation board. This project is important to me.”

  His words and expression laid down a challenge to her. “It’s important to me, too.” She took one step back. He’s on the foundation board. It’s worse than I thought.

  “Why?”

  Although the space between them was a few feet, Hannah suddenly had a hard time thinking clearly. A good half a minute passed before she replied, “I went into social work because I want to make a difference, especially with children who need someone to be their champion. Stone’s Refuge gives me a wonderful opportunity to do my heart’s desire.” If I can manage my feelings concerning you.

  “Then we have something in common, because that’s why I’m involved with the refuge.”

  The idea they had anything in common stunned Hannah into silence.

  The front door opened, and Gabe stuck his head out. “Dr. Jacob, are you coming?”

  “Sure. I’ll be there in a sec.” When the door closed, he turned back to her, intensity in his brown gaze. “I sense we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Somehow we’ll have to manage to work together. I won’t have the children put in the middle.”

  She tilted up her chin. “They won’t be.”

  “Good. Then we understand each other.”

  He left her alone on the porch to gather her frazzled composure. He was absolutely right about never letting the children know how she really felt about their “Dr. Jacob.” She had two choices. She could quit the perfect job or she could stay and deal with her feelings about him, come to some kind of resolution concerning Jacob Hartman. Maybe even manage to forgive him.

  There really is only one choice.

  Trembling with the magnitude of her decision, Hannah sank back against the railing and folded her arms across her chest. She’d never run from a problem in the past, and she wasn’t going to now. She didn’t quit, either. But most of all, these children needed her. She had so much love to give them. A lifetime of emotions that she’d kept bottled up inside of her while she had been observing life go by her—always an outsider yearning to be included.

  So there’s no choice. Lord, I need Your help more now than ever before. I want this to work and I can’t do it without You. How do I forgive the man who killed my brother because I can’t expose his past to the others? The children adore him, and I won’t hurt them.

  Jacob finished the last bite of his hamburger and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “So next week is fall break. What kind of plans do you all have for the extra two days off from school?”

  Several of the children launched into a description of their plans at the same time.

  He held up his hand. “One at a time. I think you were first, Gabe.”

  “Peter wants us to help him when he takes some of the animals to several nursing homes on Thursday.”

  “And there’s a lot of work to be done on the barn expansion.” Susie, the oldest child in this cottage, which housed the younger kids, piped up the second Gabe stopped talking.

  “He’s getting new animals all the time.” Terry, a boy with bright red-orange hair, stuffed the last of his burger into his mouth.

  Jacob laughed. “True. Word has gotten around about this place.”

  Nancy nodded. “Yep. I found a kitten the other day in the trash can outside.”

  Jacob caught Hannah’s attention at the other end of the long table. “Do you have any activities planned that you need a chaperone for next week? Maybe I—”

  “I think I’ve got it covered.” She looked down at her plate, using her fork to stir the baked beans around in a circle as if it were the most important thing to do.

  “I’m sorry, Hannah, I didn’t get a chance to tell you I won’t be able to go to the zoo with you on Friday.” Meg, the cook and helper, stood and removed some of the dishes from the center of the table. “That was the only time I could get in to see the doctor about the arthritis in my knees.”

  Nancy’s blond pigtails bounced as she clapped her hands. “Then Dr. Jacob can go with us!”

  Hannah lifted her head and glanced from Meg to Nancy before her regard lit upon him. For a few seconds anxiety clouded her gaze. He started to tell her he didn’t have to go when a smile slowly curved her lips, although it never quite touched her eyes.

  “You’re welcome to come with us to the zoo. It’ll be an all-day trip. We leave at ten and probably won’t get home until four.” Her stare stayed fixed upon him.

  The intensity in her look almost made Jacob squirm like Andy, who had a hard time keeping still. She might not have meant it, but deep in her eyes he saw a
challenge. Determined to break down the barrier she’d erected between them, he nodded. “I’ll be here bright and early next Friday, and I even know how to drive the minibus.”

  “That’s great, since I don’t think Hannah’s had a chance to learn yet. If you aren’t used to it, it can be a bit awkward.” Meg stacked several more plates, then headed for the kitchen.

  “You can take that kind of time off just like that?” Hannah snapped her fingers.

  “I always leave some time during a break or the holidays for the kids.”

  “Yep.” Terry, the child who had been at the cottage the longest, stood to help Meg take the dishes into the kitchen.

  “Well, then it’s settled. I appreciate the help, especially with the minibus.” Hannah rose. “Who has homework still to do tonight?” She scanned the faces of the eight children at the dining-room table.

  Several of them confessed to having to do more homework and left to get their books.

  Gabe, short for his nine years, held up his empty plate. “I ate all my coleslaw.”

  “Me, too.” Andy gestured toward his as Susie took it.

  “You two aren’t part of the cleanup crew?” Jacob gave the girl his dishes.

  Both boys shook their heads.

  “Then get a game out, and I’ll be in there in a minute.”

  “Can I play, too?” Nancy leaped to her feet. “I don’t have to clean up.”

  Gabe frowned and started to say something, but Jacob cut him off with, “Sure you can.”

  Nancy, being in kindergarten, was the youngest in the house. Jacob suspected that and the fact she was a girl didn’t set well with Gabe, and judging by Andy’s pout, him, either. But Jacob knew the importance of bonding as a family and that meant every child, regardless of sex or age, should have an opportunity to play.

  Gabe and Andy stomped off with Nancy right behind them, her pigtails swinging as she hurried to keep up. Jacob turned toward Hannah and noticed the dining-room table had been cleared and they were totally alone now. That fact registered on her face at the same time. Her eyes flared for a second, then an indecipherable expression descended as though a door had been shut on him.

  “I’m glad we have a few minutes alone.” The look of surprise that flashed into her eyes made him smile. “I forgot to tell you earlier that Andy’s mother is fighting to get him back. Peter just found out today.”

  “She is?”

  “And I’m not going to let that happen. I’ve seen his injuries.” I’ve been there. I know the horror. “He’s better off without her.”

  “If she cleans up her act and stops taking drugs, he might be all right going back home. In the short time I’ve been around him, I’ve seen how determined he is to get back there.”

  “He isn’t better off if he returns to her. Believe me.”

  A puzzled look creased her forehead. “Then why does he want to go home?”

  He shook his head slowly. “You’re new at this. Take my word in this situation—he shouldn’t go back to his mother. He’s the caretaker in that family of two and he feels responsibility as a parent would. Certainly his mother doesn’t.”

  Hannah’s face reddened. She came around the side of the table within a few feet of him. “How do you know this for a fact? Has Andy said anything to you?”

  “No, I just know. I was in foster care for many years. I’ve seen and heard many things you’ve never dreamed of. Give yourself a year. Your attitude that the birth parent is best will change.”

  “I believe if it’s possible a family should be together. Tearing one apart can be devastating to a child.”

  The ardent tone in her voice prodded his anger. His past dangled before him in all its pain and anguish. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, momentarily drowning out the sounds of the children in the other room. “Keeping a family together sometimes can be just as devastating.” He balled his hands at his sides. “Why did you really go into social work?” he asked as though her earlier reason wasn’t enough.

  Her own temper blazed, if the narrowing of her eyes was any indication. “As I told you earlier, to help repair damaged families. But if that isn’t possible, to make sure the children involved are put in the best situation possible.”

  His anger, fed by his memories, sizzled. Before he said anything else to make their relationship even rockier, he spun around and left her standing in the dining room.

  The children’s laughter, coming from the common living area, drew him. He needed that. For years he’d dealt successfully with the wounds of his childhood by suppressing them. Why were they coming to the surface now?

  Lord, what are You trying to tell me? Aren’t I doing enough to make up for what I did? What do You want of me?

  Jacob stepped into the room and immediately Gabe and Andy surrounded him and pulled him toward the table in front of the bay window where the game was set up. Nancy sat primly, toying with a yellow game piece. Her huge grin wiped the past few minutes from his mind as he took his chair between the boys.

  He lost himself in the fun and laughter as the three kids came gunning for him. He kept being sent back to the start and loving every second of it. Until he felt someone watching him. Jacob glanced up and found Hannah in the doorway, a question in her eyes—as though she couldn’t believe a grown man was having so much fun playing a kid’s game. He certainly hadn’t done much of this as a child.

  Across the expanse of the living room that challenge he had sensed earlier reared up. If she was staying at the refuge as its manager, then he would have to find a way for this situation to work. He didn’t want the kids to feel any animosity between him and Hannah. They’d had enough of that in their short lives. Before he left tonight, he would find out exactly why she was wary of him.

  Chapter Three

  Hannah stood in the entrance into the living room and observed the children interacting with Jacob. She hadn’t intended to stay and watch them play, but for some reason she couldn’t walk away. Jacob had a way with the kids, as if he knew exactly where they were coming from and could relate to them on a level she didn’t know she would ever reach.

  The bottom line: he was good with them. Very good.

  When the trip to the zoo had come up at dinner, she hadn’t wanted Jacob to come. Now though, she saw the value in him being a part of the outing.

  A fact: if she stayed, Jacob would be in her life whether she wanted him to or not. She was a realist, if nothing else, and she would come to terms with her feelings concerning him for the children’s sake.

  Andy yawned and tried to cover it up with his palm over his mouth. When he dropped his hand away, however, his face radiated with a smile as Jacob directed a comment to him.

  “Gotcha! Sorry but you’ve got to go back to the start, buddy.” Jacob triumphantly removed Andy’s peg from its slot and put it at the beginning.

  Gabe took his turn and brought one of his pieces home. He pumped the air and shouted his glee. “I’ve only got one more out. I’m gonna win!”

  Hannah needed to check to see if the others were doing their homework. But she found she couldn’t leave. There was something about Jacob that kept her watching—after years of hating the man for what he’d done to her family.

  At Gabe’s next turn he jumped up and pranced about in a victory dance as if he’d crossed the goal line. “I finally won!”

  Andy tried to grin but couldn’t manage it. Instead he blinked his eyes open wide and yawned again—and again.

  Hannah entered the room. “Gabe, please put the game up. It’s time for bed.”

  “But we haven’t played enough.” Gabe stopped, a pout pushing his lips out.

  Jacob began removing the pegs from the board. “You’d better do as she says or I might not get to read you a story. If there’s not enough—”

  Gabe leaped toward the table and scrambled to put up the game. Andy’s head nodded forward. Nancy stifled her own yawn.

  Hannah made her way to Andy’s side and knelt next to him. “Time for
bed.”

  His head snapped up, his eyes round as saucers. “No. No, another game. I haven’t won yet.”

  “Sorry. You’ll have to wait for another day.” Hannah straightened.

  “Andy, I’ll make you a promise, and you know I don’t go back on them. The next time I’m here, we’ll play any game you want.” Jacob stood and moved to the boy, saying to Hannah, “Here, I’ll take him to his room,” then to Andy, “I think everything has finally caught up with you, buddy. You’ve been great! I can’t believe you went this long. Most kids would have been asleep hours ago after the day you had.”

  As Jacob scooped up the eight-year-old into his arms and headed to the boys’ side of the house, Andy beamed up at him, then rested his head on Jacob’s shoulder.

  After hurriedly putting the game away, Gabe raced to catch up with them. “We share a room.”

  Nancy looked sleepily up at Hannah. “I want a story, too.”

  “How about if I read one to you? You get ready for bed while I check on the others finishing their homework.”

  Nancy plodded toward the girls’ side while Hannah went back into the dining room where Terry and Susie were the only ones still doing their work. “How’s it coming?”

  Susie looked up, a seriousness in her green eyes. “We’re almost done.”

  “Need any help?”

  “Nope.” After scratching his fingers through his red hair, Terry erased an answer to a math problem on his paper. “Susie had this last year in school. She’s been helping me.”

  Leaving the two oldest children, Hannah walked to Nancy’s room and found the little girl in her pajamas, stretched out asleep on her twin bed’s pink coverlet. Her clothes were in a pile on the floor beside her. Her roommate was tucked under her sheets, sleeping, too. Hannah gently pulled the comforter from under Nancy and covered her, then picked up the child’s clothes and placed them on a chair nearby.

  With the youngest girls in bed, Hannah made her way to the boys’ side to see how Gabe and Andy were doing. The evening before, her first night in the cottage, both of them had been a handful to get to bed. Even with Andy half asleep, Jacob could be having trouble.