Annie studied Cooper’s face for a sign. He was holding his breath. Getting married was not his preferred option. Realizing it wasn’t what she wanted either offered her a huge sense of relief. “You can breathe, Cooper. I don’t want to get married either.” She play-punched him in the arm like she used to do when they were still just friends.
“Are you sure?” His body relaxed, and then stiffened again. “Because if you change your mind, the offer is still on the table.”
She reached for his hand and squeezed. “Maybe one day, when we’re both living our dreams, we’ll find a way to be together. But for now, I’m happy being just friends again. We are friends again, right?”
“Hell yeah!” He punched the air. “And it feels so good. I’ve really missed you these past few weeks.”
Annie choked back tears. “Same.” She sat back in her chair. “So… by process of elimination, it appears as though we’ve arrived at adoption. Question is, should we let Faith and Mike adopt the baby or use an agency?”
Cooper frowned. “I’d have to give that some thought, honestly. She’s my aunt. It would be kind of weird, watching the kid grow up knowing it’s mine. What if, God forbid, he or she ends up with my coloring? I mean, let’s face it. My features are pretty distinct. What would we do if the kid figures out you and I are the biological parents? That sounds like a recipe for heartache to me. Especially for Faith and Mike. And what about Bitsy? How would you explain the situation to her? She knows you’re pregnant. Asking a seven-year-old kid to comprehend that scenario is asking a lot.”
“Faith and Mike are good parents. They’ll know how to handle Bitsy if that time comes.” Annie fingered the sugar packets in the container in the center of the table. “I plan to leave town after the baby is born, Cooper. I’ve decided to apply to culinary school.” Now that they made the decision to put the baby up for adoption, there was nothing keeping her there. She locked eyes with him. “I won’t be coming back to Prospect. Especially if Faith and Mike end up with the baby. It’s gonna be really hard for me to give it up after carrying it for nine months. I don’t think I’d be able to handle seeing it again.”
He ran his finger down her cheek. “So what you’re saying is, ten years from now when we’re both living our dreams, we’ll have to find our way back to one another in New York?”
Annie nodded. “That’s where I’ll be. Waiting for you.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Faith
Faith dreaded the meeting ahead of her. When Jackie got into one of her moods, she made certain everyone paid. If she was miserable, she wanted everyone else to suffer with her.
As they drove down the tree-lined, cobblestone driveway at Moss Creek Farm, she turned around to face Annie in the back. “Just remember. We don’t have to make a decision about anything today.”
Annie’s smile reached her warm brown eyes. “I know.”
She seemed in better spirits today than she had since before the accident. The color had returned to her cheeks and the circles under her eyes had disappeared. Faith had been tempted to wake her for dinner the night before, but she was glad she had let Annie sleep. She’d been ravenous at breakfast, though, devouring a stack of blueberry pancakes and several links of sausage.
Jackie met them at the door. “Thank God you left Bitsy at home.” She stepped out of the way and waved them in.
Faith’s stomach churned. Her sister’s mood was worse than she’d anticipated. “Give me some credit, Jackie. I realize my child is better off at a friend’s house than here with us, discussing a very sensitive grown-up issue.”
Jackie ushered them into the dining room where Bill, Cooper, and Sam stood around the antique double-pedestal table.
Faith greeted Sam with an air kiss beside her cheek. “Where’s Eli? Any news on his case?”
Eli had called Mike the previous evening and warned them to keep close tabs on Annie until Thea’s brothers were in custody. “The Bell brothers are out for revenge. I don’t want Annie getting caught in the cross fire.”
“Understood,” Mike had said. “But you don’t need to worry about Annie. At least not tonight. She’s sound asleep in bed. Has been since she got home from school.”
Sam cast a quick glance at Annie to make sure she was out of earshot. “Not yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something. It’s probably best if she doesn’t hang out with Thea until this is over.”
Faith and Sam watched Annie walk around the table to speak to Cooper. Annie said something to him, and he leaned down and whispered something in return.
“Watch out. The kettle is about to boil.” Sam nodded at Jackie who was standing next to them, glaring at Annie.
When Annie covered her mouth to hide her smile, Jackie’s face turned purple. “There is nothing funny about this situation.”
“Geez, Mom. Lighten up,” Cooper said.
“I’ll lighten up when this unpleasant business is behind us.”
Sam tossed her hands in the air. “I almost forgot. I have something for you, Annie.” She removed a gift-wrapped package the size of a small book from her bag and walked it around the table. Sam said something to Annie that Faith couldn’t hear.
“Thanks,” Annie said, her face now serious as she slipped the gift inside her own bag.
“If you’re finished with this little gift exchange, I’d like to get started.” Jackie pulled out the chair in front of her. “Annie, you sit here with Mike and Faith, and I’ll sit across from you with my husband and son.” She circled the table to the other side.
“I guess that leaves me down here.” Sam took a seat at the head of the table. “Does that mean I’m the mediator?”
Faith relaxed a little at the idea of Sam acting as referee.
“We probably need a mediator,” Jackie said. “Just make sure your vote is impartial.”
Cooper stared at her in disbelief. “What is wrong with you, Mom? This is not an election. We’re not going to cast votes.”
Bill rested a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Why don’t we all have a seat and talk about the situation in a calm manner?”
Everyone sat down in their appointed chairs.
“Before we begin,” Sam said, eyeing their older sister, “I suggest we retract the claws and the fangs, and remember that we’re a family. We love both of you very much.” She looked first at Annie and then at Cooper. “The purpose of this meeting, as I understand it anyway, is to voice our feelings and come up with a solution that works for everyone.”
Everyone nodded their agreement.
Sam rested her arms on the table and steepled her fingers. “Then let’s start by looking at the big picture. We have two options—terminating the pregnancy or carrying the baby to term.” She focused her attention on Annie. “When we spoke last weekend, you were thinking about terminating the pregnancy. Is this still a consideration?”
“Not anymore.” Annie looked over at Cooper who nodded for her to continue. “I’ve had a chance to think about it, and that is not what I want for this baby.”
“You don’t get to make that decision alone,” Jackie said.
“Actually, she does,” Faith said. “It’s her body. Mike and I are Annie’s legal guardians. We agree it’s in her best interest to see the pregnancy through, whether she raises the baby on her own or places it up for adoption.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Faith, but the three of us”—Jackie gestured at her husband and son—“are adamantly opposed to marriage. Cooper and Annie are still children themselves. Having this baby will ruin their lives.”
“Then it sounds to me like adoption is the most viable solution,” Faith said.
When Annie tapped Faith on the arm and whispered, “I’m going to the bathroom,” Faith scooted her chair over to make room for Annie to get out.
“You can’t wait to get your hands on this baby, can you, Faith? Well I have news for you. This is not about your desire for another child.”
Cooper gritted his teeth. “I hate to say
it, Mom, but adoption makes the most sense.”
“What are you saying?” Jackie shifted to face her son. “We talked about this at length last night, and we agreed that an abortion is the best solution for everybody. We will pay for the procedure, get her the best medical care, and then the two of you can move on with your lives.”
“I never agreed to that. You agreed to that for me.” He looked down the table at Sam. “For the record, Aunt Sam, terminating the pregnancy is not what I want.”
Faith’s heart pounded against her ribcage. “I don’t believe you, Jackie. You’re saying you’d rather kill an innocent fetus than give some loving parents a chance at having a baby. I’m not talking about Mike and me specifically, although us adopting the baby makes the most sense.”
“And have my grandchild raised by my sister?” Jackie cried. “I don’t think so.”
“Quiet!” Sam yelled, pounding her fist on the table. “Fighting about it is not making this any easier for Annie.” Her eyes traveled to Annie’s empty chair. “Where is she anyway?”
“She went to the bathroom,” Faith said.
They glared across the table at one another while they waited for Annie to return. When five minutes passed and still no Annie, Faith got up to check on her.
She checked the bathrooms downstairs, but they were all empty. When she didn’t find her in any of the family rooms, she ran upstairs and searched the bedroom floor. She returned to the table. “I can’t find her anywhere. She must have left. I hope you’re happy, Jackie. You ran the poor kid off to God knows where. She has broken ribs, a wounded shoulder, and she’s pregnant. She’s already scared to death. You only made it worse by ranting and raving like some kind of lunatic.”
Cooper pushed back from the table and went to stand behind Sam. “This is all my fault for letting things get out of hand. I should have told you sooner. Annie and I have already made our decision. We went to Sandy’s last night for ice cream and had a serious heart-to-heart talk about every possible option. We agreed that the best thing for this baby, our baby, is to find loving parents who can provide a good home.”
“But—” Jackie started to protest.
He turned his back on his mother. “Honestly, Aunt Faith, I have mixed emotions about you and Mike raising my child. But that doesn’t mean Annie and I aren’t willing to consider the possibility. We have plenty of time for that later. For now, I need to find Annie.” And with that, Cooper turned around and headed straight for the door.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Annie
Annie knew the minute she sat down at the table that things would not go her way at Jackie’s so-called meeting. She removed her phone from her bag and texted Thea under the table: “Help! Can you come pick me up?” She typed out Jackie’s address and added: “I’ll meet you at the end of the driveway.”
She waited ten minutes, until the real bickering began, before sneaking out the front door. She removed her vial of painkillers from her bag and popped two, twice the recommended dosage, into her mouth. She swallowed them with saliva. She’d stopped taking the meds days ago, but she was desperate for the pain to stop. The throbbing in her shoulder and ribs had eased up days ago. But the pangs she experienced in her chest were unbearable. She was single-handedly tearing the Sweeney family apart, and that felt like a knife ripping her heart to pieces.
Annie hurried down the long driveway with tears flooding her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. She was relieved to see Thea’s clunker parked on the side of the road. She winced at the pain in her shoulder as she climbed in the car.
“What’s wrong?” Thea asked when she saw Annie’s tears. She dug in the center console for a travel package of tissues. “Did someone die?”
“Just drive!” Annie pointed at the road in front of them.
“You got it.” Thea threw the car in gear and spun out toward town.
“This baby is ruining my life.” Annie wrapped her arms around her belly and sobbed into a wad of tissues for the next several miles.
Finally, spent, she blinked away the tears. The road ahead of her stared back. Annie accessed the message app on her phone and clicked on the text she’d received from Heidi late Thursday afternoon: “I met with Sam today on business. She shared your news with me. Don’t be angry with her. She’s concerned. I won’t interfere unless you want me to. But know I’m here for you if you need anything at all.”
She removed the brightly wrapped package from her bag.
“What’s that?” Thea asked, eyeing the gift.
“I’m not sure. Heidi asked Sam to give it to me.”
She tore open the attached note.
My dearest Annie,
I am so terribly sorry about your accident. I take full responsibility for making you angry. If only I could relive those hours, that day, the past sixteen years. I will leave you alone for now, to give you the space you need to work through your feelings. My hope is we will one day reconcile our relationship, and forge the friendship we’d begun before all this happened.
The happiest time of my life was planning Sam’s wedding with you back in December. Explore your talents. You have so many. My dream is for us to one day work together, a mother and daughter event planning team. I wanted you to have this photo album, a portfolio of my work. We can do great things together, if only you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
Heidi
Annie ripped the paper off the small album, a miniature portfolio of Heidi’s work in California, and thumbed through the index-sized photographs. The glitzy events Heidi had planned for her movie star clients didn’t surprise her. She knew her mother had talent. Isn’t that where she’d gotten hers?
She snapped the album shut. Annie had reached the end of her rope and had no one else to turn to. This baby had created a rift between the Sweeney sisters the size of the Grand Canyon. And it hadn’t even been born yet. One wanted adoption. One insisted on abortion. Which left Sam to cast the deciding vote. Sam would take her side if Annie asked her to, but Annie refused to put her in the middle. She’d been wrong in thinking she could count on Cooper. Why hadn’t he defended her against his mother? Jackie was mean and vicious and determined to get her way. But Annie didn’t blame him. She was his mother.
“I see your parents haven’t kicked you out of the house yet,” she’d said to Cooper when she arrived at the meeting.
He’d smiled and said, “They’re thinking of enlisting me in the Marines.” His attempt at lightening the mood had made her laugh. Which, in turn, had infuriated Jackie.
His mother would stop at nothing to get her way, even if it meant cutting him off without a penny. Cooper was committed to doing the right thing, not because it was expected of him but because he was good and honest. He would sacrifice everything for her—his future, his inheritance, his family. But Annie couldn’t let him do that.
“Which way?” Thea asked when she slowed to a stop at the light at the intersection of Creekside and Main.
“That way.” Annie aimed her thumb at Main Street. “To the bus station.”
Thea clicked on her left turn signal. “Where are you going once you get to the bus station, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“To Charleston. To see Heidi.”
Thea’s amber eyes bulged. “Are you sure that’s what you wanna do?”
Annie sat straight up in her seat. “I’m positive.”
“In that case, I’ll drive you,” Thea said, placing both hands on the steering wheel as though preparing for a long road trip.
“I can’t ask you to do that, Thea.” She noticed her friend’s uniform beneath her coat. “Don’t you have to work, anyway?”
“I worked the morning shift. I was leaving The Grill when you texted.”
“Are you sure?”
Thea nodded. “Positive.”
Annie smiled. “In that case, I accept your offer.”
They spent the forty-minute drive to Charleston strategizing on how best to handle her problem. Thea offered suggest
ions on alternative solutions, but without the support of the Sweeney family, none of them seemed feasible. Annie felt numb all over from the painkillers. She had enough pills to last her until Tuesday. Enough to get the job done and catch the next bus to New York City.
Ten minutes outside of Charleston, Annie sent Heidi a text: “What is your address?”
Heidi responded immediately with an address on Broad Street.
Annie plugged the address into her maps app, and Thea followed the voice navigation with ease. She pulled up against the curb across the street from the two story-house, the kind with the narrow side facing the street and the longer side stretching deep into the property.
Annie saw Heidi waiting for her on the second-floor side porch with a man, nice-looking with salt-and-pepper hair, standing next to her. Her lip curled up. “I wasn’t expecting a boyfriend.”
Heidi waved a cheerful greeting as though welcoming home her daughter from her first semester at college.
“You don’t have to do this, you know.” Thea said.
Annie gave an affirmative nod. “Yes, I do.”
Thea put the car in neutral and killed the engine. “In that case, I’ll wait for you here.”
“If Heidi agrees to help me, I won’t be going back to Prospect.”
“Text me either way.” Thea held up her cell phone. “I won’t leave until I hear from you.”
“You’re a good friend, Thea. I hope one day I can repay the favor.” Annie then maneuvered herself out of the sedan.
As Annie was crossing the street, Heidi cupped her hands around her mouth and called down to her, “Invite your friend to come up with you.”
She kept walking. In a voice loud enough for Heidi to hear, she said, “Sorry to disappoint you. But this isn’t a social call.”
TWENTY-NINE
Heidi
“Look at you, you poor thing.” Heidi reached for Annie’s good hand and felt her body quivering beneath her touch. “How’re you feeling?”
Tangle of Strings (Sweeney Sisters Series Book 4) Page 14