“Cedar Grove.” With the resources at his fingertips, Bradford knew exactly where Mariah and Noah were, so why this game? “Yes, sir, that’s a thought.”
“I make it a point to get to know my employees and their families. I’d like to meet them sometime.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged.”
“Good.”
Employee. Excitement surged through Matt’s veins, but he contained himself until he was on the other side of the door and inside Ms. Jones’s office. Evidently the secretary had stepped out, and he allowed the reality of what had just happened to wash over him. His fingers curled into fists, and he pumped the air. Yes! Home run, touchdown, slam dunk. All rolled into one. At this second, he could drop a basketball through the hoop and not even have to jump.
“Be careful you don’t bump the ceiling.” Ms. Jones’s calm voice penetrated his haze. She’d slipped in the other door and now walked to her desk.
“You knew,” he said, turning to her.
She gave a slight nod and handed him a white packet.
“Then why did you tell me to be sure and stop by your desk when I left?”
She took her seat and indicated a chair for him. “I wasn’t completely sure you would answer in the affirmative.”
He was too jumpy to sit and elected to pace. “If I’d said no, were you going to try to change my mind?”
“Oh, no,” she replied with a somber smile.
A little of the excitement dimmed, and he paused to stare at her. “You were going to congratulate me for turning his offer down?”
“No.”
“Then, what?” The words came out edgier than he’d meant.
“I had thought you might ask for time to consider the offer.”
Matt detected...not disappointment in her voice, but something else. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “If I had done that, ask for time, what would your advice have been?”
“But you said yes, so it’s of no consequence.”
Ms. Jones reminded him of his mother when she wanted him to figure out something for himself. He was curious to know what advice she would have given him. “Please?”
Tapping her lips, she seemed to consider his question. “All right, but you have too many stars in your eyes, so you probably won’t agree with what I have to say.
“First I want you to know I’ve been J. Phillip Bradford’s secretary since he went into business. We’re friends, and I was friends with his wife. While I haven’t always agreed with his decisions, I admire and respect him. However, I saw what happened to him and his family when work became the most important thing to him. And you will have that same choice—at some point, you will have to choose between your job and your family.”
“I know I’ll be working a lot of hours,” Matt said. “I think I know what I’m getting into.”
“Are you sure? J. Phillip Bradford is a generous, compassionate person. His standards are higher than most, but he expects no more than he gives.” She smiled. “The problem is he gives two hundred percent. He’s married to his job and will expect the same from you. Make sure that’s what you want, Matthew. He will accept no excuses, especially since he’s taken you under his wing.”
“But, why me?”
“Obviously, you have impressed him. If you think there are other reasons, my dear Matthew, you will have to ask him.” She slapped her palms on the desk and stood. “I have to get back to work.”
Matt all but bounced on his feet as he waited at the elevator, the portfolio tucked securely in his briefcase. In less than an hour, his life had changed. The downside was telling his current boss he was quitting. And Jessica. His excitement dampened slightly. She might not be happy he was leaving her father’s corporation.
He willed the elevator to hurry. Next on his agenda was a drive out east to the register of deeds archive office to apply for a copy of his parents’ marriage license. Maybe he should let it go for today. No, he’d penciled the time in, and if he didn’t go ahead and do it, he wouldn’t have time later.
Matt shifted his briefcase to his right hand. Lots of puzzles today...like Ms. Jones’s tone when she found out he’d accepted Bradford’s offer. The door to the elevator slid silently open, and as he stepped into the glass cage, it came to him.
Sadness.
That was the tone he hadn’t been able to identify.
* * *
ALLIE HESITATED OUTSIDE the hospital door. Matt should be the one talking to his sister about entering rehab. But Mariah had called Allie. Now if she could find the right words. She pushed open the door and halted inside the room, her pulse racing at the sight of the empty bed. Mariah had resisted any talk of getting help. What if she had run away? “Mariah?”
“In here.” She emerged from the bathroom wearing the clothes Allie had bought the day before. Mariah’s long black hair was pulled into a ponytail. She straightened the new shirt. “Thanks for getting these. I’ll pay you as soon as I get back to work.”
The breathy words matched Mariah’s pale face. Allie winced at the size-two jeans that hung loosely on her thin frame. “Don’t worry about it.”
Mariah’s lips formed a thin line. “I don’t accept charity.”
Allie had seen that same streak of independence in Noah. “Matt gave me money to buy anything you or Noah needed.”
The tight lines eased. Evidently help from Matt didn’t constitute charity.
“Well, thanks for taking the time to buy them.”
“You look nice.” For an instant, Mariah reminded Allie of the girl she’d known in high school—before drugs and alcohol took their toll. “How do you feel?”
Mariah collapsed in a chair by the window and stared out. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead. A strand of hair had escaped the ponytail, and her right hand shook as she tucked it behind her ear. She turned from the window and leveled her gaze at Allie. “I don’t have enough energy to swat a fly, I hurt all over and I could use something for pain.”
Allie frowned.
“Don’t worry, I’m not taking anything stronger than aspirin.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m scared. If I go to rehab, I’ll be locked away from Noah for no telling how long.”
“Rehab isn’t jail, Mariah.”
“It’ll seem like it. That’s...what I wanted to talk to you about.” She wiped her forehead then rolled her lips in, pressing them together as she looked upward. “You’re a psychologist, can’t you help me?”
“Mariah, I’m only an elementary school counselor, and I’m not trained in drug rehab.”
Her thin shoulders sagged. “I just don’t want to be locked away where I can’t see Noah.”
Allie knelt beside her and took her hands. Mariah’s body shook. “If you don’t go into rehab, I have it on good authority that the state will not release Noah to your care.”
Mariah’s eyes widened. “Would they do that?”
“I’m afraid so. You need to get help, Mariah. For your sake and for Noah’s.” Allie moved from her kneeling position to the chair beside Mariah. “I talked with the administrator of the program here at the hospital. It has one of the lowest rates of recidivism in the state, and you’d be able to stay in the building behind the hospital for the ninety-day program.”
“Ninety days?” Her face became even paler than before. “I can’t afford to stay here that long.”
“You can’t afford not to. And Matt’s paying for it.”
Again, Mariah stared out the window. A minute passed. “Can Noah come see me?”
“After two weeks.”
Mariah closed her eyes and shuddered as she took another deep breath and let it out. “I can’t go on like I am now, but I know I can’t do it by myself...I’ve tried before.”
Abruptly, she squared her should
ers. “Okay. The doc said he’d release me today if I had somewhere to live. I might as well go straight to the facility...would you set it up?”
Allie reached for her hand again and squeezed it. “You’re doing the right thing. I’ll call the administrator on my way back to school. She’s already said if you agreed, she’d take care of the paperwork.”
“Thanks.” Mariah’s voice cracked as she whispered the word and her chin quivered as she blinked back tears. “Would you...” She took another shaky breath. “I’d like to tell Noah myself. Is there any chance you can bring him to the hospital before I leave?”
Tears stung Allie’s own eyes as she nodded. “It’s almost his lunchtime, and then I think he has recess. We’ll see you within the hour.”
“Allie?” Mariah gave her a tremulous smile. “Thanks for everything you’ve done.”
Allie grinned. “I haven’t done anything.”
“Oh, but you have. You took Noah in and now you’re helping me get clean. And you put up with my brother. There for a while, I thought maybe the two of you...” Mariah leaned back in the chair. “What happened to you and Matt?”
Allie had asked herself that same question a dozen times lately and always came up with the same answer. “He wanted a different kind of life than I do. Still does. He wanted me to leave Cedar Grove, and I couldn’t, not—”
“But if you loved him, you would have gone with him,” Mariah said.
“Mariah, think back. Matt was so driven to change, to become this...this other person that he believed he had to be.”
“He has changed—look how he’s helped me and Noah.”
“I’ll give him that, but he’s marrying someone else.”
“No, Matt still loves you. I can see it in his eyes when he’s around you.”
Allie shook her head. “It’s too late for us. Matt’s all set to marry Jessica Winthrop. It’s a done deal.”
“I don’t know who this Jessica is, but I know she can’t hold a candle to you.”
“You’re sweet, Mariah.” She opened the door. “And now I have to go pick up your son.”
* * *
ALLIE CONTACTED THE rehab administrator as soon as she was in her car and set up Mariah’s transfer. When Allie reached her office she dialed Matt’s number. She hadn’t talked to him since he’d dropped off Noah on Sunday, and they hadn’t really talked then. She pressed his number before she could change her mind.
“This is Matthew Jefferies. Sorry I missed your—”
She ended the call. At least she tried. She noticed a memo from the school secretary. Noah’s essay on drugs was one of three that had been selected to be read at the end of assembly on Friday. He would be so excited. His English teacher had shown it to Allie and she’d been surprised at how good it was. But it was a subject he knew well. She wished Mariah could be there—then again, maybe not. Maybe she could record it and let her watch it in private.
Her cell rang, and she answered, expecting it to be Matt. “Thanks for getting back to me.”
“What?”
Allie held her phone out. Peter. “Oh, sorry, thought you were someone else. What’s going on?”
“Lunch, maybe? Me and you?”
“Afraid not. I’m taking Noah to see his mom during lunch. How about lunch tomorrow?”
“I have appointments. How about dinner tonight?”
“Fine, if you’re up for mac and cheese and hot dogs. It’s Noah’s favorites.”
“Why don’t I bring barbecue for the two of us?”
Sunday with Peter had been fun. After they left Norma Jean’s, they’d brought Logan and Lucas back to her house to get their things and Peter had actually gotten the boys to play Scrabble, after a game of Wii football. Later she and Peter had walked in the park. Another call beeped in, and she checked the phone. Matt. He’d have to wait. “Barbecue sounds wonderful. See you at six?”
“Absolutely.”
She ended the call and switched to Matt. “Hello.”
“Sorry I missed your call, but I was tied up with a clerk at the register’s office.”
Why did his voice have to send shivers down her spine? “What in the world were you doing there?”
“Trying to get a copy of my parents’ marriage license.”
“Whatever for?”
“It’s too long a story to get into now. Has something happened? Is that why you called?”
“I talked to Mariah today, and she’s agreed to enter the rehab program at the hospital. They’re accepting her today.”
“Allie, that’s great. Does Noah know?”
It surprised her that he’d thought of Noah. “Not yet. I’m taking him to see her as soon as this next class period ends. She wants to tell him herself.”
“I wish I could be there.”
“So do I. Are you coming Friday?”
“Planning on it. Why?”
She picked up the memo. “Noah’s essay was picked to be read at the school assembly Friday afternoon, and since his mom can’t be here...”
“What time?”
She could almost hear his brain working on the excuse he’d have to not be there. “Two-fifteen, last period of the day.”
“I think I can make that.”
There shouldn’t be any thinking to it. “It’ll be important to Noah.”
“I’ll be there. And, thanks for everything you’re doing. I doubt I could’ve talked Mariah into rehab. I’ll give her a call in a minute.”
Matt sounded different today, upbeat and energetic. “Mariah probably would have listened to you. She wants to get custody of Noah again, and she knows this is the only way.”
“Well, thanks, anyway.” He hesitated. “Look, I’ve got to tell someone—Bradford offered me a job with the foundation, at twice my current salary. He said my talent and abilities were being wasted.”
So that was it. Maybe Matt would be satisfied now. A job with the world-renowned Bradford Foundation leapfrogged him from somewhere near the middle of the corporate ladder to practically the top rung.
“Well? Don’t you have anything to say?”
An arrow loaded with guilt pierced her conscience. She should be happy for him—his dreams were coming true. So they weren’t her dreams, but if making more money was what made him happy, so be it. She just hoped one day he would realize that life wasn’t about the salary a person made. “Congratulations. I’m excited for you, Matt. Have you told Jessica?”
“Not yet. But I think she’ll understand, although her dad might not be as understanding.”
The door to her office opened, and Noah lingered in the entryway. She waved him in. “Look, I have an appointment. I’ll see you Friday.” She ended the call and smiled at the boy. “How would you like to go see your mom?”
His eyes grew round. “Is she sick again?”
“No, she wants to see you.” She herded him out the door, stopping long enough to sign him out. In the car, Noah seemed quieter than usual. “Everything okay?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I guess.”
Must be her day to pick up on undertones. Unlike Matt’s, Noah’s voice clearly expressed a problem. “So, everything okay with you and the twins?”
Instead of answering, Noah kept silent for two blocks. “Miss Allie, if somebody tells you something and you cross-your-heart-and-hope-to-die promise you won’t tell, will you die if you do?”
Allie pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. Children were so literal. “No, you won’t die. Did the twins tell you something that you promised not to tell?”
He nodded.
Oh, boy. There were so many directions she could go here. They approached the hospital, and she bought time as she scanned the area and found a parking spot. Once she switched off the ignition, she turned to him.
“Promises are important, but sometimes you have to break them.”
His face pinched in a frown. “But if I tell, Logan will be really angry.”
There had to be a way to help him understand. “Let me ask you a question. Let’s say it was really cold, and you and Logan found a pond that was frozen over, and you played on it. And let’s say you both promised you wouldn’t tell anyone because you knew adults wouldn’t want you to do that. You go back the next day and while you’re skating on the ice, it cracks and Logan falls into the water. Should you keep your promise not to tell anybody?”
“No! He might die.” Then his worry lines smoothed, and his eyes lightened. “Oh, yeah, I get it. If somebody might get hurt bad, you don’t have to keep your promise.”
“Something like that.” She smiled at him. “You want to share what Logan told you?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I want to think about it a little longer.”
“Okay.” She patted his arm. “Let’s go see your mom.”
Just outside Mariah’s door, Allie gestured to Noah. “Why don’t you go in? I need to, uh, make a call to the school.”
He gave her a curious glance.
Allie took her cell phone from her purse as she waved him in with her hand. “Go ahead. I’ll be in shortly.”
Noah shrugged and pushed open the door. She slipped the phone back in her purse and walked up to the waiting area near the nurses’ station. Mother and son needed time to themselves.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NOAH STILL FELT CONFUSED. Was Miss Allie right? He didn’t really think he’d die if he told Logan’s secret, but it didn’t seem right. He’d promised, and his mom always said you kept your promises. But what if the twins’ dad took them and something terrible happened? Maybe his mom would know what to do. If she told him the same thing that Miss Allie did, then he’d tell. With a lighter heart, he pushed open the door. His mom sat in a chair by the window. “Mom! You’re better! You’re dressed.”
A smile stretched across her face. “I’m going to be okay, Noah. Better than okay. Come give me a hug.”
He ran to her outstretched arm, not caring at the moment that she’d said that before. He buried his head in her shoulder. “I was so worried about you.”
Matthew's Choice Page 18