Titus pictured his dad seated on the back deck and closing his eyes the way he did when he wanted to fully concentrate on what someone said. He’d never appreciated his father’s ability for objective analysis more than now. So he thought through the important aspects of what was going on in his life and started with, “The hospital where Nan died sent a box of her things.”
“Okay,” his dad said slowly, “and I take it that something in that box disturbed you.”
Titus frowned. “I have no idea. I haven’t opened it.”
Silence echoed through the line, and he could almost see his father nodding, putting the pieces together and knowing Titus well enough that he probably knew why that box was still sealed.
“Afraid of what’s inside?” he finally asked.
The sun crept higher, the brilliant light somehow adding even more intensity to his father’s question. “That’s pretty much it.”
“And until you know what’s in that box, and what really happened with Nan, you can’t move forward with this Isabella, who, according to your mother, is perfect for you.” He made the last part of the statement with another hint of humor.
“Kind of hard for her to determine, don’t you think, since she’s never met Isabella,” Titus said.
“Yeah, but you know your mom. She gets it in her head that something’s a certain way, and nothing shakes that.”
“She’d also been certain Nan was coming back, Dad,” Titus reminded him. In fact, his mother hadn’t given up on Nan returning until well past the second year.
His father heaved a sigh. “I think deep down she knew Nan wasn’t coming back, but she just hated seeing you and Savannah hurt so badly.”
“I know.” Titus appreciated the depth of his mother’s love but also needed advice from the parent that wouldn’t sugarcoat the truth. “But Nan didn’t come back, and now I may have a chance to find out why.”
“I see.” His father did see, Titus was certain, and probably already knew how he would handle this situation, which was the whole reason Titus had called. He needed someone to tell him what he already knew in his heart.
“So what would you do?” he asked.
“You don’t really have a choice, do you? If you want to move forward—and you and I both know that you can’t stay stuck in the past and live a productive life—then you’ve got to open that box, deal with whatever is inside and move ahead. Maybe with Isabella, if your mother’s intuition is still alive and well.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Titus admitted.
“And, of course, you should pray. You are keeping God in this equation, aren’t you?”
This time, the silence that echoed through the line came from Titus.
His dad gave him a couple of beats to answer, and when he didn’t, he said, “Don’t give up on Him, son. You need Him now, whether you realize it or not.”
Titus had the answer he’d wanted to gain from this conversation, and he didn’t want to get into a faith discussion with his dad. “Nan wasn’t the only one who let me down, Dad.”
“Titus...”
“But I appreciate the advice. Tell Mom I said Happy Fourth.”
“Take the advice, son, and not merely the part about opening the box,” his father said. “And Happy Fourth to you, too.”
Titus disconnected and continued watching the sun rise, bathing Main Street and bringing attention to the red, white and blue bunting decorating each of the antebellum homes, his included. Though he wasn’t ready to take all of his father’s advice yet, he would take care of the one thing causing him the most grief. Nan’s box. Before the day ended, he’d find out what was inside and deal with it. Today was Independence Day, after all. Time to say goodbye to the things of the past and maybe, just maybe, say hello to the future.
* * *
“About time you decided to show up,” Savvy said, as Isabella climbed the bleachers at the Hydrangea Park baseball field. “I saved you a seat, but I was about to think you weren’t going to need it.”
Isabella knew the seat was saved, since Savvy had included that in one of the many text messages she’d sent over the past hour and a half.
“You didn’t forget about the game, did you?” Savvy asked.
Saying hello to the other people she knew in the stands, Isabella continued weaving through the seated spectators on her way to get to Savvy, who’d selected a spot in the center of the top row. She held up her phone as she neared her friend. “How could I? You’ve been texting me nonstop since it started.”
Savvy, as well as everyone seated around her, laughed. “Well, it took you long enough. This is the last bat of the last inning.”
Isabella could remind her that her texts had focused more on one particular player than on the actual game.
Titus is here.
He’s scanning the stands. I think he’s looking for you.
He just hit a triple, and YOU MISSED IT.
Savannah wants you to braid her hair. I could do it, but she’s asking for you.
You missed him hitting a double this time.
And then the last text, the one that caused Isabella to finally get in the car and drive to Hydrangea Park.
Get here now!
Isabella wedged into the tiny space Savvy had saved between her and Dana. “Where are all of the kids?”
“Over there, on the playground,” Savvy said, pointing toward the children’s area in the center of all the fields without taking her eyes off the guy coming up to bat. “I’ve gotta say, there’s something about a man in uniform.”
Dana giggled. “You’ve been saying it every time Brodie comes up to bat.”
“Hey, I feel the same way when I watch him bat now as I did every time he batted in high school. Still makes my heart race.” She whistled loudly, the sound so shrill that Isabella winced, and then she yelled, “You’ve got this, babe!”
He grinned and winked at his wife, which caused her to whistle again and earn another round of laughs from those seated around her in the stands.
Isabella had known she’d feel out of place at the game. As she suspected, the bleachers were filled with couples cheering on the local team, or with the wives and girlfriends of the guys on the field. Plus, she had no idea whether Titus would want her here watching or not, in spite of the fact that Savvy seemed convinced he was looking for her.
Yesterday, she’d tried to follow Savvy’s advice and tell him the truth about knowing Nan. But then she’d messed up, making him angry when she mentioned Nan’s things again. She should have told him the truth and forgotten about the box. Then maybe they could have dealt with it and moved past it.
Or maybe he’d have gotten even angrier and told her he never wanted to see her again.
“Here comes your guy,” Savvy whispered in her ear, as Titus moved from the dugout to the warm-up circle.
“He isn’t my guy,” Isabella said, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him, wearing a crimson-and-gray Claremont baseball jersey and white baseball pants. Though she wouldn’t verbalize it, she totally agreed with Savvy. There was something about a man in uniform.
He took a couple of swings with the bat and then stopped, pivoted toward the stands...and looked directly at Isabella. He had a swipe of black beneath each eye and a bit more of a beard shadow than she’d ever noticed before, making him look ruggedly handsome and undeniably masculine. Startled, she held up her hand and waved her fingers. He nodded, grinned and sent her heart into overdrive.
“He’s not your guy?” Savvy continued, thankfully still at a whisper.
“I didn’t tell him,” Isabella whispered back.
“Didn’t tell him what?”
“The truth,” she said. “That secret I told you about.”
Still staring at the field, probably since Brodie was h
anging off third and contemplating stealing home, Savvy frowned. “Well, you have got to take care of that today. There’s something going on between you two, and you need to get those old problems out of the way so you can make this thing work. He’s too good of a catch for you to miss out on.” Then she shoved Isabella’s shoulder with hers. “And you’re too good of a catch for him to miss out on, too.”
“He may not want to catch me once I tell him,” Isabella mumbled, tired of denying the truth that kept staring her in the face and kicking her in the heart. As much as she fought it and as much as she wanted to keep her guard up after what had happened with Richard, each and every time she was around Titus Jameson, she realized how very opposite he was to her ex. And how amazing it’d be to be on the receiving end of his love.
No longer paying attention to anything beyond the game, Savvy didn’t hear her comment. “If he knocks Brodie in, we’ll win. We haven’t beaten the Stockville team in three years, and we’re about to do it now.” She yelled, “Come on, Titus! You’ve got this. Bring Brodie in!”
Isabella also watched the man at the plate, the bat held high and his stance quite impressive. The baseball uniform did do amazing things to his fit physique. His back muscles, usually displayed in the soft cotton of his work shirt, were even more prominent in the jersey fabric. She watched as his hands opened and closed around the bat as he got a better grip and prepared for the pitch, and she recalled how capable those hands were at handling wood, a hammer, nails...and at hugging his little girl.
And even when she’d warned her heart that there could never be anything between them beyond friendship, she’d still found herself wondering several times over the past week what it’d feel like to be in those arms.
The first two pitches were balls, and Savvy was none too happy about it. “Come on! Throw him something he can hit!”
Though the pitcher didn’t seem to notice her, Titus stepped out of the batter’s box, looked to the stands and grinned. Then he stepped back into the box and waited for the next pitch.
“Yell something for him,” Savvy urged.
Isabella had never been the type to yell at a ball game. Richard would have thought she’d gone crazy to act that way in public. But she did want to encourage him now, so she cupped her hands and yelled, “You can do it, Titus!”
And she saw his shoulders lift, watched his hands open and flex around the bat again, and knew that he’d actually heard her cheering him on. Then the pitcher threw the ball and the crack of the bat hitting it was earsplitting, as was the sound of the crowd cheering as the ball soared over center field toward the pine trees well beyond the fence.
“Home run!” the announcer called over the crackly PA system. “Claremont wins!”
Savvy grabbed Isabella in a hug that nearly took her breath away. “See what happens when you yell for your man!” Then she started down the stands to find Brodie, laughing and high-fiving the other guys on the team, and all of them clapping Titus on the back as he crossed home plate or shoving him the way guys do when they’ve gained a victory.
The stands cleared out as the townsfolk went down to congratulate the team, and she followed suit. She didn’t want to stand there by herself, but she also wasn’t certain about the appropriate thing for her to do or say to Titus. As she’d told Savvy, Titus wasn’t her guy, and she was pretty sure she’d made him angry yesterday. And then there was the fact that she’d been crying when she left him last night, and she hadn’t told him why.
He might not even want her to say anything to him now.
That notion disintegrated when he left the team and headed directly toward Isabella.
“Thanks for coming,” he said, then grinned, “and for yelling.”
“I had no idea what to yell,” she said, then shrugged at how peculiar that sounded. “I’ve never yelled at ball games.”
He laughed. “It doesn’t matter what you yell. What matters is that you’re heard by the team.” He pulled at the Velcro on his batting glove, yanked it off and stuffed it in his back pocket.
She hadn’t been yelling for the team. She’d been yelling for him specifically, but she was grateful he didn’t choose to point that out. “It was a good game,” she said.
“Yes, it was, even if you only saw the end of the last inning.”
Isabella swallowed. How would he know that if he hadn’t been looking for her in the stands? Savvy had been right.
He removed his hat, wiped at the dust on his forehead with the back of his hand and then slid it back on. “Why was that? Why’d you wait until the end?”
Isabella had promised herself that she would no longer lie to him, and she’d start keeping that promise right now. “I wasn’t sure you’d want me here.”
He took a step closer. “Well, I do,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. “I didn’t think you’d come after last night, with me making you cry, but I’m glad you did.”
“I’m glad I did, too.” Very glad, in fact.
“I need to apologize for getting mad when you mentioned that box of Nan’s things. I wasn’t ready to talk about it, wasn’t ready to think about it, and I took that out on you. I’m sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have mentioned it again,” she said.
“Good game, Titus,” John Cutter said as he and Dana passed nearby.
“Thanks. You, too,” Titus said, then waited until they were out of earshot before saying, “the thing is, you were right. The only way I’ll ever have any chance of knowing what happened three years ago is to open that box.”
Isabella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’ve decided to open it?”
“I have,” he said, “but I haven’t done it yet. I don’t want to do it when Savannah’s at home, don’t want to risk her seeing something that might upset her...” He let the word hang, and Isabella thought she knew why.
“And you don’t want her to see you get upset,” she guessed.
“The truth is, I don’t know what Nan left behind. It could be something that tells me exactly why she left, or it could tell me nothing.” He shrugged. “Just in case it’s something that doesn’t sit well, I’d rather her not be around for that revelation.”
Isabella nodded, impressed at how he always put Savannah first. “So when are you going to open it?”
“Tonight, after I drop her off at the dude ranch to spend the night.”
“I’ll pray that everything goes well.” She’d also pray that Nan did leave something behind to let him know that she loved him and hopefully that she loved Savannah, too. Then maybe Isabella would never have to tell him that she’d withheld the truth about his wife.
His jaw tensed. “You can pray if you want to,” he said, reminding her that he still wasn’t all that keen on God at the moment, “but there’s something else that you can do, too, something that would mean a lot to me.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“You could be there when I open it.”
Memories of Nan rushed in with a vengeance. Nan, talking about her ex-husband and how much she loved him. Nan, telling Isabella about the mistake she’d made when she’d walked out on him. And then Nan, knowing she was dying and asking Isabella to find Titus and tell him how very much she cared. If Isabella was with him when he opened that box, she’d have to go through all of those emotions again, losing her dear friend again. “I’m not sure I should be there.”
“Isabella, I haven’t told anyone else in town about it. No one knows how much this thing has been haunting me ever since it arrived at my door last week except you.” He moved a little closer. “And I want you there.”
“I don’t understand why.” Why would he need to have her there when it had nothing to do with her? This was about Nan, and he didn’t know that Isabella had a relationship with her, too. Or did he? “Why would you want me there?” she asked, tryi
ng to keep the anxiety out of her tone. Surely he hadn’t learned the truth.
“Because you’re a big part of the reason I want to close the door on my past,” he said.
She blinked, surprised at his answer. “I am?”
He touched his finger to her chin, his mouth lifting in a smile that sent a tremor all the way to her soul. “I can’t move forward until I close the door on the past.”
Isabella thought he might kiss her here, by the baseball field with almost everyone in Claremont watching, and right now, she didn’t see a thing in the world wrong with that. But then he moved his finger away and pointed behind her.
“Get ready,” he said, “she’s been waiting to see you all morning.”
She turned to see Savannah sprinting toward them, her knees dirty from the playground and her smile absolutely contagious. Or maybe Isabella really, really wanted to smile. Because she found herself practically beaming at the little girl headed their way.
“Miss Isabella! I need you to fix this, because Daddy left it so messy.” She pointed to the pitiful ponytail, uncaptured strands sticking out in several directions and clumps of hair protruding on the top of her head.
“It isn’t too bad,” she said, which would probably count as a lie, and the look on Titus’s face said he knew it, “but I think I can make it a little better.”
“The bar isn’t that high,” Titus said, laughing, and Isabella laughed, too. It felt great to be beside him and with the two of them again.
It felt right.
“Here’s my brush and stuff,” Savannah said, handing over the small pink bag that she seemed to carry everywhere.
Isabella had the messy ponytail taken down in no time at all, and then she worked to ease the brush through the tangles, gather Savannah’s hair neatly at her crown and contain it with a pink hair band that matched her T-shirt.
“I like it when you fix my hair,” Savannah said, hugging Isabella.
Isabella always loved receiving a hug from Savannah, but this one felt even better than usual, because of Titus, looking at her as though he were ready to move forward. And maybe because he was ready to move forward...with her. Maybe there was a place for her in his and Savannah’s world and maybe that place went beyond friendship.
Family Wanted (Willow's Haven Book 1) Page 14