“I just wanted it to all be so perfect.”
“It will be, and not because of some cake. It’s going to be perfect because of us, and having our family there to spend the time with.”
“Thanks, Gage. I love you.”
“I love you. Now, I think I should go get our daughter before some little boy is mean to her because he likes her. I’m not letting her spend a moment extra at that school.”
“Ask her what’s going on. Take her for ice cream if you have to, but get to the bottom of it.” I didn’t care if he had to bribe it out of her. I needed to know.
“Will do.” He gave me a wink and headed out.
Chloe came into the room once he was gone. “I’m sorry you’re worried about everything, and thanks again for the job. I called my mother and told her, and she’s actually very happy for me.”
“That’s wonderful news. I’m glad you got to speak to her.” She and her mother had a rocky relationship since she’d run off from home years ago to follow her heart and be with the man of her dreams. At least things were looking up for Chloe, and I knew that if I just hung in there, Gage and I would make it down the aisle, too.
Chapter 10
Gage
I couldn’t help but think of how upset Lauren was over everything. I had to admit, the pressures at home were plenty, and with her being back at the office most of the day, it was piling up on her. I hated to tell her, but the real issue was her trying to do too much. Going back to work was something I wanted to be supportive of, and I would never ask her to quit, but it was the source of her stress, not the wedding. I figured she’d see that soon enough when after the wedding, some of the work-related problems didn’t change.
I turned into the school parking lot and saw the kids lined up outside. The busy stream of cars had me stopping and going as usual, and as I approached, I looked over to see if anyone was messing with my daughter from across the way. I couldn’t make her out at first, but when I got closer, there she was, sitting in her line with the other kids. Her head was turned up and stayed that way for so long, I couldn’t help but look and see who she was staring at.
Helen.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. They’re letting that old battle ax into the school!” I nearly rear-ended the car in front of me, and as I hit my brakes, a few cars honked their horns. I cursed out the cars, even though they couldn’t hear me.
Once I got to the pick-up point, I stopped the car and unlocked the door. Ollie jumped up from her place, and without taking the teacher’s hand, as usual, she rushed to the car.
“Ollie!” her teacher called out with a concerned tone. “You’re not supposed to approach the car without holding my hand. That’s the rule, and it’s for safety, remember?”
“Yes, Ms. Tanner.”
I rolled down the window closest to the curb. “Ms. Tanner, might I ask you a question?”
“Sure, Mr. Riley. How are you today?”
“Good, thank you. Could you please tell me how long that woman has been working at the school?”
“Oh, she’s been here for about two months, but she was mostly working as an office assistant. Now, she’s helping with the children.”
I got a sour look on my face. “Well, if you want my opinion, someone should have checked her credentials before hiring her. She doesn’t belong around children.”
“She’s mean,” Ollie spoke up.
Ms. Tanner looked like she didn’t know what to say or do. “The school requires a background check, Mr. Riley. We all have to undergo an evaluation as well.” She turned to Ollie. “Has she been mean to you on the school grounds?”
Ollie shook her head. “No, but when she used to work at my house, she was mean.”
“Is this why you didn’t want to come to school today?” I asked.
“Is that true, Ollie? You didn’t want to come to school?”
“She faked sick and everything.” I had never seen her like that.
“Come to think of it, Ollie, you’ve been a bit quiet.” She turned her attention to me. “I can’t do anything about her employment, and I’m not really supposed to be talking to you like this about another member of staff, but I’ll make sure that she’s not a monitor for our class and that her lunch and recess duty doesn’t include Ollie’s.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“Thank you. Have a nice day.” She shut the car door, and then as soon as she stepped away from the curb, I drove away.
“Ollie, has Helen said anything to you?”
“No, Daddy. But she looked at me.”
I realized then that a comforting hello, at the very least, might have done wonders to put Ollie at ease with the situation, but that was never Helen’s style. She’d probably looked down her birdlike nose and glared with her beady eyes. How my father had ever found her to hire her in the first place was beyond me, and I hadn’t ever had the sense to see how she was until I brought Ollie home. She was never the comforting, nurturing type. But I guess there was no crime in being cold.
As long as they didn’t give her a strap. Thinking of her chasing Ollie around with one still got me angry.
“Do I have to go back?”
“Yes, you can’t quit school because of one person you don’t like. You’ll find in life that you have to learn to deal with people. But you hold your head up.” I reached over and lifted her chin, and she smiled. “You keep that chin up, and you look her in the eye, and don’t let her think she’s intimidating you. Then you stay close to your teacher. She’ll make sure that Helen isn’t mean to you.”
“My teacher is a nice lady. Pretty too. She’s getting married soon, and she got a big ring. Not as big as Mama’s, but it’s pretty. She said if we’re good, she’ll bring us some cake; she’s going to make it herself.”
“She makes cakes, too?” I wondered if she’d take on a wedding cake at the last minute for a large sum of money. “Do you know if she’s any good at it?”
“She makes all the cakes for our parties, and they are always good. I like the icing best. It’s so yummy. I traded Billy Tucker a candy bar for his. I don’t like Billy, but everyone else had already eaten theirs.”
“Then it must be good.” I couldn’t wait to tell Lauren. The news would be another great solution if Ms. Tanner would go for it.
But then in all the happiness, I saw my daughter smiling and realized I still had to talk to her about Edna.
“You know, kiddo, your grandmother is really serious about wanting to spend some time with you. It may come down to her having the law say that I have to let you.” She turned to give me a sideward glance. “Now, before you go getting all upset, I don’t think she’s got a chance in making that happen, but it might be that a judge will want to take a look at our situation and ask you your opinion.”
“I want to see Grandma Edna, but I don’t want to go there all the time.” She picked at the door lock beside her.
“Well, I was wrong telling you that I’d never let it happen. What I should have said is that I will do everything in my power not to make it happen, but you know your mommy is a lawyer, and she wants you to understand that we have to follow the law.”
“The law stinks. I don’t like being made to do things.”
“Me neither, baby, but you might have to tell the judge that you don’t want to go. Do you think you could tell him with Edna there?”
She looked like she was thinking about it for a minute, and then she nodded. “I could tell anyone.”
“It might make Edna sad.”
“Yeah, but if I have to go, then you and Mommy and Wade would all be sad.” She looked out the window beside her and began to cry. “I don’t want to have to go.”
“As I said, I’ll do all I can, baby girl. Don’t cry. You’re going to make Mommy sad and Wade too, baby.” Not to mention it was the worst thing in the world for me, right next to Lauren crying or the two of them being in pain.
I turned onto our private road, and when I got out to go inside
, she tried to dry her tears. When I opened the door, she ran inside and went straight to her room. Usually, she would greet Lauren, but I knew she was upset, so I let her go.
I had another crying woman to deal with. I went into the nursery where Lauren had been and found her lying on the floor, playing with Wade and his toys.
“Where’s Olivia?”
“She’s in her room. I had a talk with her about Edna.”
“Didn’t go too well, did it?”
“No, it didn’t. But that’s our luck, right?”
“Right.” She squeaked Wade’s toy and let out a long sigh. “So, tell me. There’s more bad news, isn’t there?”
I knew I had to tell her about Helen.
Chapter 11
Lauren
“I can’t believe they let that woman around kids. What kind of job is she doing?” I was floored when Gage told me that Helen was working at the school. “So, this is why Ollie is scared to go.”
“Yeah, it would seem so. She was working the pick-up line today, and Ms. Tanner said she’s been in the office as an assistant mostly, but she does recess duty.”
“We can’t make Ollie be around her. What if she tries to retaliate for losing her job? You know she wasn’t in the most pleasant mood over that.”
“Ms. Tanner said she’d look after Ollie. I explained, in not so many words, what Helen was like. I think she caught on and realized there’s some tension between the woman and Ollie. She’ll help however she can.”
“I swear, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.”
“But wait. There is a little light in the tunnel. While talking to Ollie about this, she mentioned that Ms. Tanner makes cakes.”
I wasn’t even going to ask how cakes ended up in this conversation, but I was glad it had. “Oh? I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, apparently, she’s getting married soon, and she told the kids that she’s even going to bake her own cake. She does all the parties at the school.”
“Oh, if she could make our cake, that would take a lot of the stress off. I called around, and no one is willing to take an order this close to the wedding.”
“Well, I hope if I throw enough money at her, she won’t say no.”
“I could call to ask her about it and then maybe explain the Helen thing more clearly. I really want to make sure that woman isn’t alone with Ollie. It’s bad enough she has to see her every single day.”
“She’ll be fine, baby. She’s strong like her daddy, and I don’t think we need to make a stink about this. It could make things worse for Ollie in the end.”
“You’re probably right.” I knew he was, but I still didn’t like the situation. I hoped that Ms. Tanner would be on board, and for the first time that day, I had hope. “I’ll call her later and see.”
“See? Everything is working out. I told you it would all be okay.” He came over from the door and sat down with me and Wade, and then he pulled our son into his lap and kissed his little head. It was so nice to see him with our children, knowing he would protect us all by any means necessary, even if it was only to give us hope for a happy ending.
The thing with Edna was eating away at me. I knew she didn’t have a chance; I kept telling myself that, but I’d seen things go south before. Not every judge had the same morals and state of mind, and all of that could matter in a case like Ollie’s.
It was hard for me to speak up and say what I felt. Even though I was the only mother Ollie remembered, not being her biological mother put me at a disadvantage when trying to go up against Edna, her maternal grandmother.
What we needed to do was call her and make a plea. Have Ollie tell her she didn’t want to go back and forth and ask her to reconsider. I knew Gage wasn’t going to want to beg her, but if it’s what it took, he just might. I had no idea if she’d actually go for it, but it had to be worth a shot.
I looked up at Gage, who had a teddy bear and was shaking it in Wade’s face to make him smile and coo. I’d feel him out on the idea. “What are you going to do about Edna?”
He reached out and stroked my hair. “That’s what’s really got you worried, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but everything else, too. We’ve gotten to a good place over the past year, and things have been so comfortable. I just feel guilty for disrupting them with wanting a big wedding and going back to work.”
“Look, the wedding is going to happen. We’re at the finish line with that project, and look, I even found a solution to the wedding cake situation.”
“Hopefully.”
“Well, let’s call her, but that’s not the point. As for Edna, I think I need to call her and try to make a deal, or I don’t know. She’s got to know this isn’t going to be easy on Ollie.”
“You’d do that? You’d call and make a plea?” I was a little surprised, considering that I knew he wasn’t a man who begged often, unless it was for morning sex.
“I’d walk through fire for my daughter. Begging Edna is going to be a blow to my ego, sure, because of our past, but it’s worth it to make all of this easier on Ollie.”
“She’s all that matters.” I didn’t want it to be hard on Ollie like it had in the past. I didn’t ever want to see her upset over saying goodbye for weeks at a time, and I didn’t want to have to explain to Wade why his sister had to go so often. They would miss out on important time together.
“No, we’re all that matters. This affects us all. Don’t forget that. We’re in this together; a family.” He urged me closer, and I scooted across the floor to sit with him. His hand fell lightly on my shoulder. “Give me a kiss, baby.”
I leaned over and kissed him, while Wade laid his head against his chest. When I looked up, the little fella was already back asleep, playtime wearing him out. “Let’s put him down.”
“So, we can go fool around?” He kissed me again, a nice soft peck.
“No, so we can go call Ms. Tanner. I want to ask her about this cake before it gets too late. I’m so afraid she’ll say she won’t have time as it is.”
“How long could it take to make a couple of cakes? A few hours?”
I had tried to make a simple layer cake that had taken longer than that, but I tried not to laugh. He obviously didn’t bake much.
“No, silly. They take longer than that. At least a day, and then delivery. I hope she has the time to take on this big of a project. The last home baker I talked to didn’t have an oven big enough for the size I wanted. I already know I’ll have to make it smaller.”
“Why wouldn’t she have a big enough oven?” He stood up and placed Wade into his little bed, and then pulled his blanket up.
I lowered my voice. “Because she doesn’t have a commercial kitchen. I’m going to bet that this teacher doesn’t have a commercial kitchen, either.”
“Right, I guess that makes sense. You could compromise though, can’t you? Since this is an emergency.” We walked out into the hall, and he took my hand and led me into the office.
I took a seat near the window that looked out to Wade’s Creek. “Yes, I can compromise, and I will. I was only getting the fourth tier for looks anyway, so I can downsize.”
“For looks? You mean I was paying for too much cake so it would look better?” He sat next to me and put his arm around me.
“Yes, I wanted it bigger. I have a picture I was going for. I wanted to send it home with people.” I had even asked for tiny boxes where the guests could take their cake with them. I hated to think of those going up in flames with everything else at Jazzy’s.
“Do you want to give her a call?”
“Yes, I feel bad, though, about Jasmine’s business. Do you think we could let her keep the money for the deposit to help her out? She’s lost enough.” I knew it was a nice sum, but it seemed wrong to take it at a time when she was suffering.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Now, let’s call Ms. Tanner before she elopes and skips town.”
“Elopes and skips town?” I didn’t know where he had gotten that idea.<
br />
“Hey, the way our luck’s going, anything’s possible. Earthquakes, fires—well, I suppose that a fire has already tried to take us out—but I’m not going to let it. Even if Chloe and Ollie have to bake cupcakes, we’re getting married as planned.”
That was a picture. I could see Chloe, the exploding soup girl, trying to bake me a cake with my five-year-old daughter. I took out my phone. “Well, before we get to talking too crazy, let’s make sure we can’t get Ms. Tanner to do it.” I gave a little laugh as I looked through my directory and found her number. “Here goes nothing. Wish us luck.”
Gage gave a little laugh and stroked my back for support.
“Ms. Tanner? This is Lauren Patrick, I’m Ollie, um, Olivia Riley’s stepmother.” I waited as she processed what I’d said and wondered if she would bring up the fact that I hadn’t yet married her father. Of course, she wouldn’t. I was just so nervous.
“Oh, yes. Ms. Patrick. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Call me Lauren, actually, and yes. I hope there is. You see, Ollie’s dad and I, we’re finally getting to have our wedding, and we heard that you make cakes.”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I do. When is the big occasion?” Her voice was so sweet, and I already felt more at ease.
“It’s on the fourteenth.”
“This next weekend?” Her tone got a little higher, as if she were surprised.
“Yes, I’m afraid it’s late notice, but I’m sure you heard about Jazzy’s Cakes burning down?”
“Yes, ma’am. I did. And I’d love to help, but I’m supposed to be going to a bed and breakfast with my fiancé. We were given a free stay from his aunt, who owns the place. We’re really excited. We wanted a little getaway before the wedding, you know, to finish making plans.”
“Oh, it sounds like you’re planning a lovely wedding.”
“It’s small actually. We’re not even planning a honeymoon after, and I’m doing most everything myself. That’s why we’re taking some time before.”
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