A Change of Heart: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 1)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  When Bennett turned his attention to his phone, Ethan lay back in the bed of the truck and stared up at the bright blue sky. Though it was mainly clear, there were a few wisps of clouds present. It had gotten hotter as the day progressed, but he welcomed the warmth of the sun on his skin. He knew he needed to enjoy it while he could because winter would be back before he knew it, and the sun would be anything but warm.

  Bennett nudged his leg. “It looks like they’re coming back.”

  Ethan sat up and saw that, indeed, Tami and Makayla were heading toward the truck. Makayla pushed her bike through the grass, appearing to carry on a conversation with her friend as they walked. He thought he saw a smile on her face, but from this distance, it was difficult to tell.

  When Bennett slid off the tailgate, Ethan did the same. Once the women approached them, Bennett took Makayla’s bike from her and lifted it into the bed of the truck then closed the tailgate. Tami and Makayla climbed into the back seat, so this time Ethan got into the front with Bennett.

  He found it strange that nobody brought up the fact that Makayla had been missing for two hours. Was this something she did on a regular basis? Instead, their conversation was on the planned fireworks for later that evening.

  “Do the people who came from Winnipeg today usually stay until after the fireworks?” Ethan asked.

  Bennett guided the truck past the marina and up the slight incline. “Yes. James, Erin, and Lee will head back once the fireworks are over. They all need to be at work tomorrow, so they can only come out for the day.”

  It wasn’t long before they were back at the cabin. Bennett lifted Makayla’s bike out of the truck and took it to a shed next to the cabin. Ethan followed Makayla and Tami into the house where Makayla greeted her mom with a hug and an apology.

  “Sorry, Mom. I forgot that I had turned my phone down when we ate lunch, then I left it in my pack on the bicycle so I wasn’t close enough to hear it vibrate.”

  Emily brushed a strand of hair back from Makayla’s face then pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know you needed the time by yourself, sweetheart, but I was just worried when I couldn’t get hold of you.”

  Makayla nodded. “I understand. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  And that appeared to be the end of the whole situation. Ethan wasn’t sure how he felt right then. Since arriving in Winnipeg and being drawn into the Callaghan-McFadden family, he understood more than he might have previously about the need for some solitude. Something told him, however, that Makayla’s time at the beach had been about more than just getting some quiet. After all, they’d all been out on the boats, and she could have returned to the cabin if all she’d wanted was a break from people. He wanted to ask her about it but knew that wasn’t his place.

  Once again chaos surrounded him, though now Ethan recognized that it was a controlled chaos. Emily controlled what was going on in the kitchen with the people who had either volunteered or been conscripted for their services, while Steve controlled the people who were helping to set up more chairs around the long dining table. Because he and Bennett had been away from the cabin, they had not been drawn into either duty. Ethan decided to take advantage of that and retreat to the room upstairs for a few minutes.

  Before he could head in that direction, however, his phone rang. He stared at the display, not happy to see his father’s name flash across the screen. He was half tempted to ignore the call but knew that his dad would likely just keep calling until he got what he wanted.

  He tapped the screen to accept the call as he walked towards the door leading out to the deck. Moving to the part of the deck furthest from the house, Ethan pressed the phone to his ear.

  “Hello, Dad. What can I do for you?”

  23

  H is father’s voice was harsh and demanding as he said, “We need to pick up Sierra, boy.”

  The boy hurt more than it had in the past since he now had someone who called him son. Ethan frowned. “Why?”

  “My boss is having a barbecue at their house for the staff. We are supposed to bring our families, so we need Sierra.”

  “That’s not possible.” Ethan pressed his fingers against his forehead as he stared down at his feet. “Sierra and I already made plans to spend the day with the owner of the company where I work. He and his family invited Sierra and me to join them for Canada Day. Since you hadn’t contacted me about plans, I already accepted, and we’re here with them now.”

  “I don’t really care about what plans you’ve made,” his dad said, a familiar anger underlying his words. “Give me the address where you are so we can come get Sierra.”

  Ethan knew he needed to tread carefully where his dad was concerned. After all, he didn’t have formal custody of Sierra and had no right to refuse her parents access to her.

  “We’re not actually in the city at the moment. My boss owns a cabin up on Hecla Island, so we’re here with other people from the company.”

  There was a beat of silence before his dad replied. “Who gave you permission to take her out of the city? You should have asked us first.”

  Ethan rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “You’re right. I should’ve contacted you first to make sure you didn’t have other plans and to make sure it was okay for her to come with me to this gathering.”

  “That still doesn’t change the fact that we want her, and you have her out of the city. How long will it take you to get back to Winnipeg?”

  Imagining the look on Sierra’s face when he told her they would have to leave, Ethan felt his stomach clench. “It took us about two hours to get here. Could you just please let me keep her here for the rest of the day? I’ll make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”

  “Of course it won’t happen again,” his dad agreed, the words clipped and sharp with anger. “I want her back here tomorrow at our place. You’ve had her long enough, and I think she needs to be here at the apartment for a while.”

  Ethan fought the urge to fling his phone far away from him. He didn’t want them to make him take Sierra back to their place. She would be upset to have to go there and stay alone while her parents were at work. And even more than that, he was pretty sure she would be devastated to have to leave Danica and their planned time together that weekend.

  “I understand that you haven’t seen her in a while, but is it really necessary for her to go back to your place to stay? She would just be alone all day when you guys are at work. Maybe we could meet and do dinner, or I could drop her by for you guys to spend some time together this weekend.”

  “What difference does it make? She’s alone at your apartment while you work too.”

  “Actually, she’s only alone for a few hours in the morning. She uses that time to work on her art. At lunch time, I come and get her and bring her to the office where I work. The owner’s daughter is a year or two older than Sierra, and she works there so Sierra hangs out with her.” Ethan struggled to present his argument to his dad, fearful that if he didn’t do a good enough job, he was going to have to return Sierra to them. “The company is very family-friendly, so they have no problem with Sierra spending time there as long as she doesn’t interfere with anyone’s job.”

  “I think Sierra needs to be reminded of who her parents are. I want you to bring her home tomorrow evening, and she will stay here for the weekend, at the very least. Come Sunday, we’ll give you a call to let you know if we want you to pick her up or if she’ll continue to stay with us. I’m not arguing with you about this anymore, Ethan. Just bring her home.”

  Before Ethan could reply, his dad ended the call. Ethan lowered the phone from his ear, gripping it tightly as he stared blankly at the water. There was nothing he could do now except take Sierra back. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t put it past his dad to file some sort of kidnapping charge against him. He hated how disappointed Sierra was going to be that their time here was cut short.

  He desperately needed to get custody of her so this would nev
er happen again. He still had well over a month to go before he would know whether his job was secure with C&M Builders. He needed to go into any custody battle with the certainty of employment. He and his dad and stepmom would all be on equal footing when it came to length of employment, but he hoped that the many years that he’d spent working for Bob would be a point in his favor. However, he really had no idea what the people who made the decisions about custody really looked for.

  “Everything okay, Ethan?”

  Ethan turned his head to see that Steve had joined him on the deck, concern clear on the man’s face. He debated telling him about the phone call, but he knew he needed to let Steve know about the change in plans for the weekend.

  “I’m afraid that Sierra and I will need to cut our time here short. My dad and stepmom want Sierra back with them for the weekend. They actually wanted her back today, but I didn’t realize that they had plans since I didn’t check with them before bringing her here.” Ethan tapped his phone against his thigh, his gaze once again on the water. “I don’t want to tell her about it tonight. I’d rather just have her enjoy everything today, and then I’ll let her know tomorrow that we need to head back to the city.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that you have to leave early. I won’t say anything to anyone about your change in plans. Hopefully, you’ll still be able to enjoy the rest of today. This will not be our last time up here throughout the summer, so you’re more than welcome to join us another time.”

  Ethan glanced at the older man and nodded. He desperately wanted to ask him if he thought that there would be any doubt of his job with them becoming permanent. But he couldn’t find the words, so all he was left with was the desperation of doing whatever he could to make a good enough impression on this man and his family so that they would keep him on.

  All things considered, he thought he was doing a decent job, but he knew that when push came to shove, Steve would do what was best for the company, and if he felt that wasn’t Ethan, he had no doubt that he’d be back looking for another job.

  So that meant he needed to stay more focused on the job and think less about how he wanted to get to know Makayla on a more personal level. Never in his life had he experienced the amount of stress that he currently felt weighing him down. When he’d done his job for Bob, he had been confident in his skills which meant that the stress—when it had come—had been something he could handle. Whether it had been a deadline on a project or a mix-up on the job, he had been able to manage it and still get the job done.

  With this new position, he’d felt out of his depth from day one. So not only was he trying to balance the stress of doing a hard job to the standards Steve and Bennett wanted, but now he also had the added pressure of needing to keep this job so he could give his sister the life she deserved.

  “I’m very grateful that you invited Sierra and me to join your family here for the holiday. I know Sierra’s had a lot of fun, and so have I.”

  Steve rested a hand on his shoulder. “Like I said, you’re welcome to come back with us the next time we’re here.”

  Ethan stood in companionable silence with Steve, both of them staring out at the lake. He could hear the distant roar of boats on the water and felt a pang of regret that he wouldn’t be experiencing that again that weekend as he had hoped.

  “Time to eat, guys,” someone yelled from the house.

  Ethan followed Steve as they headed for the back door and then stepped inside. People were taking seats around the long table, and Ethan found himself sandwiched between Gabe and Grace. Since Grace gave him a big smile as he settled next to her, he had to assume that she hadn’t heard yet of his interaction with her husband. Franklin sat on her other side but didn’t look in his direction as Steve clapped his hands and waited for them to settle down.

  After the prayer for the food, Ethan found himself answering rapid-fire questions from Gabe while Grace laughed and teased him. It was clear that Grace knew Gabe well, and Ethan found it interesting how very different the man was from his twin. It was obvious that they were identical, even though there were slight differences in their appearances, but there was a sense of untapped energy rippling inside Gabe that was missing in Mitch. While it appeared that Gabe was happy to travel the world over, Mitch seemed much more of a homebody, enjoying his stable job with the company. And from what Ethan had seen so far, Mitch excelled at what he did.

  He sat back a bit to allow Gabe and Grace to converse as his gaze drifted along the people seated at the table. He spotted Sierra between Dalton and Danica, and he felt his heart clench as he watched her animated conversation with the two teens. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her like that before. At least not with anyone besides him. He loved seeing her interact with them that way, and he felt anger and frustration towards his father for wanting to rip her away from it.

  Sierra leaned forward to say something to the person on the other side of Danica. Following her movement, Ethan’s gaze came to rest on Makayla as she smiled in response to something Sierra said. He watched them for a minute, trying to remind himself that Makayla would still be a good influence on Sierra’s life even if she and Ethan were never anything more than coworkers. And maybe friends.

  As if sensing him watching her, Makayla looked up and met his gaze. For a moment, the smile that she had on her face for Sierra faded away. Ethan told himself to look somewhere else, to not stare at her, but when she didn’t look away from him either, there was no way he was going to be the one to break their connection. Slowly, another smile curved the corners of her mouth, and Ethan felt his heart skip a beat. He gave her what he hoped was a friendly smile in return and nodded his head, before she turned her attention back to Danica and Sierra.

  Ethan felt as if something had changed in that moment in his world. He looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but people were engaged in conversation all around the table, none paying any attention to him or to what had just passed between him and Makayla. If in fact, something had…

  As the meal progressed, Ethan continued to interact with Gabe and Grace. The emotions rolling around inside him were things he’d never experienced before. None of the women he dated had ever made him feel the way Makayla did. But he had a feeling that the moment that had passed between them had been more significant to him than it was to her. Add to that the anger he felt toward his dad and the apprehension regarding the conversation he would need to have with Sierra, and Ethan was struggling to figure out which emotion to deal with in order to get past the confusion he was feeling.

  In the end, as the meal finished and desserts and games were brought out once again, Ethan decided to just shove it all aside for the time being. This was his last night there, and he wanted to just be able to enjoy it without thinking about what the next day held.

  It didn’t take long for him to recall Makayla’s words from the previous night about how Kenton and Gabe would liven up any party. That was definitely true as the group decided to divide up into two smaller groups to play a round of charades. Kenton and Gabe ended up on different teams which only served to ramp up their competitiveness.

  Ethan declined to participate himself, still not having been completely successful with shaking off the feelings he’d been left with after his dad’s call. And as he sat watching the game, the feelings still wouldn’t leave him because even though a part of him was thrilled to see Sierra laughing and smiling, another part dreaded what was to come. More than anything, he hated knowing that he would be the one to wipe the smile from her face.

  24

  A short time later as they gathered out on the deck, Ethan tried to keep himself centered in the moment, enjoying the beautiful fireworks display that lit up the night sky. The display ended up lasting almost twenty minutes and had been clearly visible from their vantage point, especially since Steve had shut off all the lights inside and outside the cabin. In the darkness surrounding them, the explosions stood out in brilliant colors against the black night sky.

 
; He looked over at Sierra, her face tipped up to watch the fireworks. Her smile of wonder illuminated by flashes of light brought another bout of conflicting emotions for Ethan. Lately, it seemed everything brought conflicting emotions. It was like an emotional roller coaster, and he was more than ready to get off that particular ride.

  Things in Calgary had settled into a reliable pattern for him and Sierra, so there had been none of this other stuff to deal with. Or if something had popped up, it had been just one thing at a time. Ever since arriving in Winnipeg, it had been one thing after another. Some good. Some bad. All of it taking a toll on him. He just wanted some peace, but he was pretty sure he was wishing for the moon.

  Once the display was over, he lingered on the deck, looking at the moon where it hung in the sky, just a sliver of light. Maybe he didn’t so much wish for the moon as he wished to live on the moon. It had to be less stressful than his current life.

  Smiling at the thought, Ethan wandered back into the cabin. He got himself a drink then sat down at the table where several people were playing games once again. Though he didn’t want to play any himself, he didn’t mind watching, especially since this was where Makayla had chosen to come after the fireworks display.

  While Makayla had settled down at the table to play a game along with Tami, Grace, and a few others, Sierra had disappeared upstairs with Danica. He really hoped she enjoyed her time tonight since he knew she was going to be upset as soon as she found out that they were going back not just to the city, but that she was going to her parents’ apartment.

  “How are you doing, Ethan?”

  Ethan glanced across the table to see James sitting there with a drink in his hands. He wondered if it was possible to talk to James about Sierra’s situation even though they weren’t at his office.

  “I’m doing alright.” He rolled his can of soda between his hands. “Something’s come up though in regards to Sierra. Would I be able to talk to you about it for couple of minutes? Your office can bill me for this time since it is regarding what we spoke about before.”