The Comeback Girl
Page 22
“I can’t. I have six massages—”
He leaned over, bracing one hand beside her head. “Lillian will have to reschedule. You and I are playing hooky.”
“We are?”
He nodded. “We’ll go hiking or something. And we’re taking the boys with us—so wipe that gleam out of your eye. We need a family day.”
She sighed. “Your heart is in the right place, but it isn’t going to happen. Didn’t I hear Jonathan say something about a meeting you have scheduled with city planners and the highway people?”
He groaned and dove across her to plop down with a sigh. “Maybe it’s not too late to cancel.”
She turned on her side and raised up on one elbow to look at him. “It’s too late. Besides, we can’t put off doing something about Lucas’s problem. I feel terrible that I didn’t pick up on it before this.”
He rolled his eyes. “You? What about me? I’m a trained professional.”
She drew her finger across his furrowed brow. “As you—and my sister—pointed out, we’re human. We make mistakes. When I told Jenny about it tonight on the phone, she said, ‘We’re parents, not psychics.’ She’s still beating herself up about missing Lara’s ear infection. She thought it was just a cold until Lara spiked a fever and the doctor told Jen this had been developing for at least a week.”
Donnie smiled. “Your sisters are great.”
“I know. I’m really lucky.”
“Speaking of getting lucky…” he added with a playful wink that made her laugh.
“Uh-huh,” she teased. “What about it?”
He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both to the center of the bed. “I’m the luckiest man on the planet, and I’d be happy to demonstrate why if you’re interested.”
Kris knew why—because they loved each other, but she wasn’t about to pass up the kind of proof he had in mind.
“Prove it.”
IT SNOWED THANKSGIVING morning. A fact that made the history books in Gold Creek and was on the lips of every visitor to the Old Bordello Antique Shop and Coffee Parlor.
Normally, the doors would have been closed on a holiday, but today was special.
This would probably be Ida Jane Montgomery’s last Thanksgiving, and she had a town full of old friends who wanted to say goodbye.
Kristin had spent the night at her great-aunt’s side on a small cot Donnie had set up for her. Ida’s breathing had turned labored just before dawn, and Kristin had called her sisters.
Jenny arrived at seven. Andi only beat her downstairs by a few minutes. With just a few weeks to go before Daisy Jane Newhall was due to arrive, Andi moved with an awkward grace that made her sisters laugh.
Jenny and Kristin had tried to talk Andi out of naming her baby after a dog, but Andi resolutely maintained that Ida herself had suggested it. “Our dog was named after Ida’s great-aunt, Daisy. There’s something poetic about it, don’t you think? Besides, I loved that dog.”
Apparently word went out in a hurry, because not long after Jenny arrived, four Garden Club ladies appeared—laden with food. Andi had unlocked the coffee parlor doors, just in time to greet her helper, Linda McCloskey, who’d started brewing the shop’s newest coffee blend, pumpkin-spice.
Donnie brought Lucas and Zach with him. Lucas was doing much better in school and had decided to try out for wrestling. He was a completely different boy from the angry, sullen, unhappy kid he’d been. Although Kristin hadn’t been able to spend a great deal of time at home during the past couple of weeks, Donnie reported that the two boys seemed to be getting along pretty well. They were even talking about playing music together again.
Donnie’s victory three weeks earlier had been nip and tuck. He credited Jonathan’s investigative reporting, which led to a Grand Jury indictment against Magnus for alleged bribery charges, as the deciding factor, but Kristin believed the citizens of Gold Creek chose Donnie for the same reason she did—because they knew a hero when they saw one.
Donnie wouldn’t take office until January so he was using the time to help finalize plans for the Old Bordello Historic Center. This past week had been filled with highs and lows for Kristin. She knew Ida Jane’s time was near. And although she was heart-sore at their impending loss, she knew her great-aunt would have been proud of the way every member of her family had pitched in to help.
Ida was never alone—even if the person at her side was a ten-year-old boy doing his homework.
“How’s she doing?”
Kristin straightened as her sisters entered the room. She’d been gently washing Ida’s face with a warm cloth. “Pretty good. I think she’s rallying a little. Probably from all the activity around here.”
Jenny handed Kristin a cup of coffee. The smell brought back memories of a Thanksgiving in the not too distant past—when Ida Jane wore purple, and Josh had been alive. So many changes. Some wonderful. Some sad.
She blinked back her tears and took a sip of the fragrant brew.
Jenny moved to the far side of the bed. Andi sat down near Ida and took her hand.
“We’re right here with you, Auntie,” Andi said, leaning down to kiss Ida’s cheek.
To Kristin’s surprise, Ida’s eyes opened.
Kris stepped closer. She saw a crystal lucidity in the china-blue eyes that had been lacking for days.
“My girls,” she whispered. In her eyes was a look of such love and Serenity that Kristin knew her great-aunt’s time was near. “You were a gift I didn’t deserve.
“I was a poor excuse for a sister. I didn’t get Suzy the help she needed in time to save her, but I loved her daughter as if she were my own.”
Her breathing was shallow, and the words came with each exhale. “My sweet Lorena. She left us too soon. But what a treasure she gave me. Three perfect babies.”
Jenny’s sob filled the space when Ida took another breath.
Andi lifted Ida’s hand to her lips. “Oh, Ida, you were the best mother any girl could hope for. We love you. You know that, don’t you?”
Ida’s focus was elsewhere, but her beatific smile seemed content and filled with peace. “She called me Mama. Before she went to heaven…to be with Suzy. ‘Take care of my babies, Mama,’ she said. ‘Just like you took care of me.’”
The end came an hour or so later. Ida’s girls were at her side. Their husbands and children were nearby.
From the front parlor, Kristin could hear Gold Creek’s citizens as they shared their memories of the “grand old gal.”
Donnie joined Kris. She leaned into the comforting warmth of his arms and closed her eyes.
“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Donnie said. “It won’t be the same without her.”
“We know what we want written on her head-stone,” Kristin said. “Ida Jane Montgomery—a remarkable woman, a true pioneer spirit, beloved by all—especially her granddaughters, Jenny, Andi and Kristin.”
Donnie kissed her temple. “She would be touched.”
They had so much to talk about. His job, her business, their sons, the future. But at the moment, they were content to celebrate the past. “I couldn’t have made it through this without you,” she told her husband.
“Not true. You’re Ida Jane Montgomery’s granddaughter. You can do anything. But I’m awful glad you think you need me. And I’m even more glad you came back to me.”
She looked out the window. At the bird feeder. At their sons playing tag in the snow with a wet puppy and a patient hound. It had taken her too long and too many miles to find what had always been in her heart—home.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3627-1
THE COMEBACK GIRL
Copyright © 2003 by Debra K. Salonen.
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