by LoRee Peery
Once Geneva felt Mia grasp the fabric, she led the parade and took them to the service area in the center of the shop, pausing at the end stool before going behind the counter.
“Mia, you can sit on this tall chair while I get you something special. But I can’t move until you let go of my skirt, all right?”
Rainn and Geneva exchanged that familiar look that said “whew,” and she served him steaming black coffee. After filling Mia’s glass with frothy milk, Geneva plunked a maraschino cherry on top.
From where he leaned on the end of the counter, Rainn reached for Geneva’s hand. He kept an eye on Mia, grazed his fingers from Geneva’s wrist to her elbow, just light enough to raise the hairs.
While his touch brushed over her skin, she sensed him waiting for her to look at him. When she did, he winked a promise of some kind before releasing his hold on her to grasp the mug.
Shaken, Geneva tried to act natural.
“Mia is finished. Thank you for the cherry and the funny milk, Geneva.”
“You’re very welcome, Mia. Did you know you have a milk mustache?”
Mia swiped her arm across her face with serious intent.
“And Uncle Rainn thanks you for the coffee, Geneva.” His voice thrilled her.
She wet the tip of her finger and crooked it in the air, giving him an imaginary checkmark for referring to himself in the third person. “You’re welcome, Rainn.”
Fumbling as she picked up the glass and oversized mug, she couldn’t meet his gaze for fear hers would reveal too much. She needed him to leave so she could concentrate on work.
“Mia, would you like to come with me and see some things in our store?” Moselle invited.
Geneva had been so wrapped up in Rainn that she forgot Moselle. What would Moselle make of Rainn’s freshness with her mother?
“What a good idea,” Rainn agreed. And turned to Mia. “Sweetheart, you can go with Moselle. Remember, she is Geneva’s daughter so she is our friend.”
The next thing Geneva knew, Moselle was leading Mia up the stairs to the loft, quietly explaining where they were going.
“Why does Moselle live in a store?” Mia asked.
Geneva didn’t hear the answer because Rainn had moved into her personal space.
“Alone at last,” he said low, with a mocking expression.
Every nerve ending felt jittery and quivery. Geneva tried to step back, but there wasn’t enough room with both of them behind the counter.
She raised her hands. Awareness buzzed through her.
Then she touched him.
Too warm, too solid, too male beneath her fingertips.
“Your scent stays with me after we part.” His voice was low and husky and traveled through Geneva in a rush. “The memory of you lingers.”
All sensible thinking left her in a whoosh.
“Looks like we have a babysitter for Mia.” His brows touched the shank of hair that dangled. “Dinner tonight?”
Geneva made the mistake of meeting his hungry gaze. And she was lost. In all of her fifty years, no man had made her feel this way.
Bret was safe.
Rainn is dangerous.
He stood in all his masculinity, heavy-lidded gaze locked with hers, and she wondered what he saw. His gaze searched her face as though willing her to reveal all her secrets.
She gulped, mesmerized. “Sure. Dinner. Tonight.”
He kissed her nose, then swung out from behind the counter at the same time the bell announced a customer.
“Yoo-hoo, Geneva, you back there?” Kate Rawlins. If there was ever gossip about town, Kate sniffed it out.
Geneva peeked at her from behind the espresso maker, curious to see how Rainn would greet the town’s loose-tongued busybody.
“Well, a person doesn’t see many men come here to shop. How are you, Rainn? And when can I meet this niece I’ve heard about?” Kate’s tone grated.
Geneva stiffened her spine. The last thing she’d want is the autistic child to become a source of town gossip.
“Morning, Kate,” Geneva offered.
“Ms. Rawlins.” Rainn nodded to the stairs. “Mia is upst—guess not, there she is now.”
Moselle and Mia wore identical pink hearts on their cheeks when they appeared on the bottom step. Mia balanced a picture frame in the palm of her hand.
“Look, Uncle Rainn. Moselle Carson made this for me. She glued special purple stuff all over the front.”
“I see. Thank you, Moselle. Mia, it’s time for me to get to work on a window for the church. This is Ms. Rawlins. Please say goodbye to all the ladies.”
Mia stared, as though glued to the picture frame. “Bye,” she whispered.
“Hold on tight,” Rainn said. His gentle voice soothed Geneva as well as Mia.
“I’ll pick you up and carry you so we don’t bump into anything on our way out.” He wrapped Mia’s arms around his neck so she could hold the frame. Geneva wondered if a sharp corner dug into Rainn’s skin.
He pointed to a garden pinwheel ornament. “Now, would you look at that, Mia? You lost the butterfly for your hair.”
Geneva snuffed a laugh and took her first deep breath in what seemed like an hour. “Kate, is there anything in particular I can get for you?”
“Not a thing. You know I don’t go for any of this stuff you sell except those quilts you seem too busy to make anymore. Just wanted to see that child.” She turned on her heel with what sounded like, “Humph!” and took her leave.
Geneva refused to let Kate’s negative attitude erase her joy over the visit from Rainn. And Mia.
Before Geneva could make her own escape to check on the accounting numbers from the day before, Moselle turned to her with a face-splitting smile and extra flash in her eyes. “So, Mom, what was that all about?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. You’ve never shown so much interest in a little girl.”
“I’m not talking about Mia, and you know it.” She was no doubt pleased with her astuteness. “The way Rainn was looking at you, I thought you needed a private moment.”
“Oh, posh.”
“I’m serious. I think he’s interested in you. Man to woman. Romantically.”
“Moselle, get real. I’m old. He’s young.”
“Meee thinkie you protest way toooo much.”
Geneva pretended interest in the sunflower garland above her head. “Maybe.”
She looked around before meeting Moselle’s gaze again. “Yeah. I think he wants to get something going.”
Geneva could easily picture herself as an old woman. But in her imagination, Rainn remained ever young. She mentally ran down the list again: the whole older-woman/younger-man scenario; the possibility of Lindsay being permanently out of the picture; the age thing yet again; and Mia hanging around in Frivolities.
Then, the most sobering thought of all: when Rainn was finished with the windows for the church, he’d move on to the next project. He wasn’t in town for the duration.
She absolutely could not risk getting emotionally attached to this man and his beautiful niece.
“Earth to Mom.” Moselle waved a hand in front of Geneva’s face. “Go for it. If Rainn wants to romance you, let him. I agree with Aunt Lanae. It’s time you lived a little.”
“Would you listen to yourself? I don’t have time for a man in my life. I have responsibilities. I—”
“You need a life of your own. I’ll be married soon. Aunt Lanae won’t be sick forever. Frivolities will be in the black, good and strong, once the Christmas rush is over. Look how well we’ve done this summer. With kids back in school, the moms will be shopping more.”
“Oh, my.”
“What’s wrong with women shopping while their kids are in school?”
“Not a thing. But that reminds me, what’s Rainn going to do about Mia and school?”
“There you go. You’re thinking about him and Mia.” Moselle walked her fingers along a lime green hippopotamus holding an array of wooden k
itchen utensils. “Has he asked you out?”
“For dinner.” Geneva grabbed for the nonexistent collar that choked her. “Tonight.”
Moselle beamed.
Geneva giggled. “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”
“Like I said, go for it, Mom.”
“Well, think you can stay with Mia?”
“No problem. Eric and I can get to know her. Tell Rainn to please bring her here, up the back entrance since she seems to like the loft. She’ll probably get a kick out of the outside stairs.”
What have I done?
“I’ll see if that’s a problem. She needs structure, so I’m sure Rainn will want to set a bedtime for her.”
“If that’s the case, we’ll go to Rainn’s house.”
Geneva glanced at the clock. “We need to talk business. If Lanae is unable to keep up with baking her cheesecakes and other goodies, did you find someone in town to fill in, or will we need to order from Lincoln?”
“I did find someone. I also left messages on the desk regarding everything that I did while you were gone. All the monetary transactions are in the computer as usual.”
“Thanks for covering for me. I guess I’ll go check out those notes.”
At the desk, Geneva found everything in order. She flipped to her daily scripture calendar for the message of the day. One of her favorites, Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’”
Well, Lord, if Your plan is for me to spend time with Rainn, then I’m all for it. But if it’s not Your plan, I sure hope it doesn’t turn out to be a calamity.
Would her heart, her life, ever be the same?
Rainn on My Parade
6
Rainn tried to work in his studio, but Mia distracted him. At this rate, getting ready early for his date with Geneva might be a good idea.
Mia studied the array of colors, captivated by the multicolored pieces of glass. It proved too much for her not to touch.
“This is my favorite color,” she announced, and held a glass that matched the pony from Geneva.
It took every ounce of restraint not to startle her so she wouldn’t drop it or get cut. Mia then became mesmerized by a piece of iridized purple that in the light reflected a rainbow oil-on-water effect.
Fearful that she would touch a sharp edge and get hurt, he kept his voice steady. “Mia, glass can be dangerous, it can break and cut because it’s sharp like a knife. So please, don’t touch my tools or glass, unless I’m right here with you.”
Her lip quivered. She set down the glass, and started rubbing at her sides, palms up and wrists flapping.
He knelt down and brushed curly red bangs off to the side. “Tell you what. You may touch my artwork only with your eyes. That will show me what a big girl you are. Can you try?”
“OK.”
“That’s my girl. I know you can do it.”
The sun hit the glass in the cross design dangling at the window, forming a reflected prism in aqua and blue surrounding the golden cross encircled by his rendition of a hibiscus. Maybe Mia would like a sun catcher of her own. He’d let her pick out the colors and what flower to accent the cross.
Terrific idea. He mentally patted himself on the back.
“Now, if you can keep that promise for, say, one week, I’ll make you something special. I can turn a glass piece into the shape of a pony, wrapped in foil. But you can help me choose what glass. All right?”
At her nod, he wondered if she could comprehend, able to fix an imagined object in her mind’s eye.
Initially, he’d thought it cute, the way she’d tried to reorganize his studio tools. After some coaxing about his materials—the soldering tools, grinder, saws—he got through to her that she needed to play quietly while he worked.
“Mia, we’re going to have company soon. Moselle and Eric won’t be able to walk through the room with your ponies scattered on the floor.”
The ponies in question were arrayed single file on the geometric pattern of the living-room rug from small to large and by color. He tried to step over a large pony, but knocked it over.
“No, Uncle Rainn.” Mia screamed into a fit.
The battle began.
He picked up the pastel pony he tripped on. “But sweetie, we’re going to have company so the ponies have to be moved to a safe place.”
“OK,” came her standard answer. But instead of picking them up, she replaced the misaligned one.
She did have a method. Like colors went side by side. The pony from Geneva, since it was shiny and more iridescent than a specific color, stood apart like a princess holding court. She eventually moved them to the end of the couch.
As he now finished in the bathroom, music rose in a crescendo from the living room. How much television or DVDs should a child see each day? He poked his head around the bathroom door. Mia lay curled in the corner of the couch with a stuffed pony, the prized pony from Geneva at Mia’s shoulder.
He continued to prep for his date. The phone rang.
“Hey, buddy, just checking to see if there’s any change in tonight’s plans,” Eric greeted.
“We’re still on.”
“Any change in the situation with your sister’s disappearance?”
“No sign of Lindsay yet. Her landlady left my phone number, and Geneva’s, with Fort Worth authorities.” Rainn’s breath hitched. “What if she’s gone forever, Eric? What if she’s in such deep trouble there’s no way out?”
“Give it to the Lord, man.”
All right, calm my anxious thoughts. And Lord, wherever Lindsay is, please enfold her in Your loving arms.
“You’re right. See you shortly.” He put down his comb and shut out the light.
What if Mia is with me permanently?
His life would change big time.
He’d already talked to Chief Kory Schaeffer and put his work for the Platteville Volunteer Fire Department on hold. He wouldn’t be answering calls unless the manpower was short.
Were Geneva and Moselle going to be willing to care for Mia when he needed them?
The uncertainty of the situation unnerved him.
Oh, boy. His next thought blasted into him. School. He had to contact the proper authorities and get that underway.
Lord, I need Your help. Show me what Mia needs. I am willing to learn how to parent. I believe that You don’t make mistakes when You place people in their families or among those who cross our paths, but I need You to show me the way. And I really could care for Geneva for the long haul. If she is someone I’m meant to spend a lot of time with, I’m counting on You to guide us both.
“Amen” was on his lips when he heard voices and footsteps, followed by a loud knock.
Mia paid him no mind when he excused himself to walk between her and the movie, but she did sit up straight.
He had eyes only for Geneva when the threesome walked in.
“Since Eric was stopping for me to come watch Mia,” Moselle said. “We brought Mom, too. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Uh. Sure.”
Eric grabbed Rainn’s hand and they shook in passing. Moselle had already asked Mia to look at her while she introduced Eric.
Geneva smelled as great as usual, and looked even better. His mouth went dry. He licked his lips. He’d never seen her in solid colors. Most of her clothes seemed to be decorated with colorful quilted-looking things, or sported a hundred buttons. Tonight, she wore sage green with a sparkly, airy kind of scarf in bright purple. Her toes were polished a shiny and soft-looking color, poking out from gold sandals.
She did a little spontaneous pose, but it must have embarrassed her because she turned beet red and focused on Mia. “Hello, Mia. What are you watching?”
“Princess and the Swan. There’s a bad guy in the movie that flies.”
“Almost every story has a bad guy. Even the stories in the Bible. There’s a good guy in this stor
y, though, isn’t there?”
“Yes. A hero. He’s a hunter, but he can’t shoot the swan.”
Eric joined in. “Do you like stories at bedtime, Mia?”
“Mia likes stories.”
“Tonight then, I’ll tell you a story about how Rainn was the hero, and he saved Geneva.”
Mia turned her big blue-green eyes on Rainn. “Is that really true, Uncle Rainn? Are you a hero for real?”
“Sweet thing, I will always be your hero.” Rainn swooped her into his arms and swung her around before he remembered that she didn’t do well with sudden movements. Aside from her wide frown and straight mouth, she didn’t react. This time.
He set her down as gently as possible. She started rubbing her wrists against her hip bones in delayed reaction.
“I’m sorry if you didn’t like that. I’ll try to remember before I grab you again.”
“Mia misses Penny Shake’s rocking chair.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that.” He ruffled her hair and brushed a kiss on her nose. “Well, it’s about time for us to go, so you will be asleep when I get back. But don’t worry, because Moselle and Eric are here with you. And if you want, you could call Penny in Texas.”
He kissed her again, this time on the forehead.
Geneva knelt down. “May I hug you, Mia?”
Mia didn’t answer with words, but she lifted her arms and hugged Geneva around her neck. “Mia likes the way Geneva smells.”
“Uncle Rainn does too. Night all.” Rainn waved, reminded Mia about bedtime routine, placed his hand on the small of Geneva’s back, and guided her out the door.
“You look truly lovely tonight, Geneva. I’m proud to be going out with you.”
“Thank you, Rainn. But I have to be up front and tell you how uncertain I am about all this. I about died when Kate Rawlins walked in this morning. I felt like a fourth grader whose teacher had just caught the best-looking boy in class grabbing me in the coat corner.”
“Hey, I’m glad you think I’m the best-lookin’ guy in the class.” He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. He liked the way she looked up at him, her lashes and lids accented with shimmering color. “I don’t care what Kate Rawlins or anyone else in town thinks. I want to spend time with you.”