A Future for His Twins

by Susanne Dietze

  She moved on, fast, peering in the shop windows on their side of the street. Every store was closed, except for the eating establishments, but quick check-ins told her they weren’t there. Back on the sidewalk, she cupped her hands around her mouth. “Nora? Logan?”

  Angie burst from The World Outside, brow furrowed. “Find them?”

  Faith shook her head, swiping her damp eyes while she was at it. “Where could they have gone?”

  “Roberto is driving the route to Tom’s house right now in case they’re walking there—see, there’s his car.” Angie pointed as a silver sedan turned out of the corner parking lot. “Ender’s calling the sheriff, and Kellan and a few others are searching around back. They can’t have gone far. It’s only been a few minutes.”

  Maybe they couldn’t have gone far, but what if someone had taken them? Just because Widow’s Peak Creek was a safe community, didn’t mean it wasn’t possible. Faith couldn’t give voice to the awful thought. Stay positive. Trust in the Lord.

  “Oh, Lord, please help us find them.”

  When she and Angie reentered the store, Tom looked up, his agonized expression lifting a fraction when he saw her. She shook her head, and he buried his face in his hands. The few guests who remained at the party looked inside the display tent, the clothes racks and the stock room at the back.

  “We’re here for you, Tom.” Maeve lowered her hand to his forearm.

  “Thank you.” His voice was anguish itself.

  She wanted to wrap her arms around him, promise him they’d be found, assure him he wasn’t losing his kids the way he’d lost his wife, but it wouldn’t help. Tom had borne so much, and expected so much from himself. He achieved—or overachieved—to prove to his parents, and himself, that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes he’d made in San Francisco. Yet, now the kids were out of his sight, his hands.

  And she was so scared, she wanted to retch.

  Hand to her stomach, she bent to peek under the cloth-covered refreshment table. It would have been her choice of hiding spots as a child. “Not here, Lord. Where are they?”

  She was praying aloud, but she didn’t care if it seemed odd to anyone. Up and down rows of merchandise, she searched, praying. “Draw my eyes to them, Lord. Or someone else’s eyes. You know how much this family has been through. Please show these kids how loved they are, no matter where they are or how they’re feeling.”

  She gripped the side of the empty playset, clinging to a blue plastic foothold as if it could bear her weight. Her mind raced, scrounging to think of potential hiding spots. “Lord, show us. Show us.”

  Something inside the playset moved. Just a little, fleeting as a mouse. Faith dropped to her knees and peered in one of the tiny openings. A brown eye blinked at her.

  Nora’s.

  She didn’t know she cried out until Tom came alongside her. She didn’t remember Nora scooting out, just that she was in her arms, smelling like sweat and the plastic of the playset, crying hard.

  “Sweetheart, we were so worried.” Now that her heart was beating again, she kissed the top of Nora’s head, then relinquished the little girl to Tom. Faith then ducked to look in the tiny hidey-hole for Nora’s twin. “Logan?”

  “He’s not here,” Nora managed between hiccups.

  Faith’s heart stopped again. “Where is he, Nora?”

  * * *

  “I don’t know. He was running away.”

  Faith’s heart resumed pounding, hard and fast in her chest. “Where did he go, honey?” Tom’s tone for his daughter was gentle, but Faith could nevertheless detect a note of panic in it.

  “I don’t know.” Nora resumed sobbing.

  Tom stroked Nora’s hair, even as his fearful gaze met Faith’s.

  She had to find Logan. Now.

  The store had been thoroughly searched, which meant she might have missed him when she looked around Main Street earlier. She ran back out into the late afternoon light.

  Running away. To a six-year-old boy, that could mean anything from the bus stop to a spot in his backyard.

  Which had a creek behind it. What if he’d gone to the creek and fallen in?

  Roberto was on his way there. She could ask Elena to text him to be sure he looked in the yard, but he’d do that, wouldn’t he? Other people she recognized from the party were getting in cars, assigning themselves and others areas to search, including the creek trail.

  But the creek didn’t just run behind the Santos home. It also ran through town here. Faith ran south, past the schoolhouse site, over the footbridge, past the restaurants, turning at the old church and entering the grassy expanse of Hughes Park. Ahead was the big boulder, a place of fascination for Logan. He wanted to roll his toy cars off it. He wanted to climb it. It was the biggest rock in the world, right?

  “Logan?” Her call was just shy of a scream, but fighting off her panic was proving harder and harder. “Logan, honey, are you here?”

  There was no reply, but a small orange sneaker stuck out from behind the boulder.

  “Logan!”

  He scooched around to see her. She burst into tears and gripped him in a ferocious hug. Thank you, Lord. Thank you.

  His little chest heaved from crying. “Why are you moving away, Miss Faith?”

  Oh, Logan. She kissed his dark hair and squeezed even tighter. “I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here. I—”

  She couldn’t finish when someone tugged him from her arms. Elena. Faith had no choice but to relinquish Logan to his grandmother, but immediately, Elena handed Logan to Tom. Someone must have seen Faith running and followed. It was a good thing they did—now Tom was freed of the terror he must be feeling, knowing both kids were safe. Tom’s eyes shut as he gripped his boy to his chest, murmuring loving words.

  It was beautiful, this reunion, an answer to prayer that the kids were safe. She reached for Elena. “I’m so glad.”

  Elena stepped away. “Thanks for your help, Faith.”

  Faith’s mouth went dry. Clearly Elena didn’t want her here. This was not her family. Elena was making sure Faith knew it, too.

  Wiping her eyes, she slipped away.

  Thank You that they’re safe, Lord. Thank You.

  Her heart was full and breaking at the same time.

  * * *

  Once the kids were in bed that night, Tom allowed himself to fall apart. As much as he could with his parents over, anyway. He flopped onto the loveseat, kitty corner to his parents on the sofa, and rested his elbows on his knees, hanging his head.

  “I thought I’d lost them.”

  Mom moved to sit beside him and scratched his back with her long fingernails. “After Lourdes died, we all realized how fast things can happen. Today was a fresh reminder.”

  Tom understood the implication, that he had not been an attentive father today. “I should never have taken my eyes off them.”

  Dad sighed. “It’s not your fault, Tom. Your mother and I said we’d watch them while you attended to customers, remember?”

  Mom stopped scratching. “Customers, yes. But you shouldn’t have hid in your office with Faith Latham, Tom.”

  Tom bolted to his feet. “That’s enough about Faith, Mom.”

  “What?” Mom’s eyes bugged. “I haven’t said anything wrong.”

  “You didn’t say you want her to move away?”

  “Not in so many words, no, but just think what it would mean for your store if she did.”

  “I doubt it’s my store that’s foremost on your mind. You’re more interested in keeping her away from me, but she’s our friend, Mom. The kids care about her. They hid because you and the mayor let loose some unfounded rumor about her leaving town. The kids’ affection for her is mutual, too. Did you see Faith’s face when she found Nora? Did you see her crying when she was with Logan?”

  “Pushy, if you ask me. They’re
your children and our grandchildren. If anyone comforts them, it should be us.”

  “Faith didn’t cut in some imaginary line to hug the kids. She found them.” Tom rubbed his temple. “My point is, Faith cares about Logan and Nora.”

  “Okay, so?” Mom pursed her lips.

  Dad rubbed the back of his neck. “Come on, Elena.”

  “What, Rob?” She shot him the look of death.

  “Faith was borderline-hysterical when we couldn’t find the kids,” Dad said.

  “We were all scared.”

  “Not like that, Mom.” Tom started pacing. “Faith is good to them. Good for them. And while I promised you I wouldn’t get involved with a woman who would distract me from the kids, Faith hasn’t done that.”

  “You’re involved with her, then? You admit it?”

  “Not like that. But I—”

  Tom stopped pacing. He hadn’t named it, in his thoughts. Hadn’t admitted it to himself.

  But this was no small thing happening to him.

  “I appreciate all you’ve done to help with the kids. I couldn’t work or—or have survived the past several months without your support. The kids and I needed you. Still need you.”

  “But?” Dad gestured that Tom should go on.

  “I’ve spent the last two weeks avoiding Faith because of the way my feelings have grown, to keep my promise to you and to myself, and because the kids asked me to make Faith their mom. She doesn’t know, and I changed the subject with the kids, but at that point I put distance between us.”

  Mom muttered something about them having a mom. And a grandma.

  “I put all this distance between me and Faith, Mom, but it hasn’t changed how I feel. She’s important to me. To the kids. You saw proof of that today.” Breathing a prayer, he met his mother’s gaze. “How can I be distracted loving a woman who cares about the kids as much as I do? Who makes me a better dad?”

  Dad stood up, eyes suspiciously damp. “You love her, son?”

  “I do.” It felt amazing to admit it at last. “And I hope you can trust me from here on out.”

  “Tom, this is crazy.” Mom rubbed her temples.

  Tom dropped to his mom’s side. “I love you so much, Mom, and I appreciate how hard you’ve worked to help and protect me and the kids, but I don’t like how you’ve treated Faith.”

  “What’s she said?”

  “Not much. But she knows you want her to leave town. Whatever the mayor was talking about, me expanding into her store, it’s utterly false. And it hurt Faith. I have a lot to do to make things right with her, but you need to know where I stand with her. If she’s willing to forgive me, I’m going to do my best to convince her not to go to San Francisco unless that’s what she really wants to do.” He’d hate it if she left, but he wanted God’s best for her. Whatever it was.

  “I’ve been mean to her.” Mom sniffled. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want her getting in the way of you focusing on the kids.”

  “I know, Mom.” He’d pray for full reconciliation between her and Faith, who was the one who still needed to hear Mom’s apology.

  “Maybe there’s still hope for a museum here.” Dad stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. “Granted, you need a spacious place, and you have to consider things like security, cleaning, that sort of thing. Seems like all the shopkeepers on Main Street have experience with those things. Can you ask them for ideas?”

  Something clicked in Tom’s brain. “Maybe that’s it.”

  “What is?” Mom’s eyes dried up somewhat.

  Tom glanced at his watch. Too late to call Maeve, but first thing tomorrow?

  “It might not work. But I have to try.”

  To put a museum in town. And try to keep Faith here. Close. Where he could show her how much she’d come to mean to him.

  If it wasn’t already too late.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Monday afternoon saw a steady stream of customers at Faith’s Finds, mainly tourists who took advantage of the fine weather to visit the area. A few mentioned renting bicycles next door at The World Outside. Good for Tom. His business was off to a healthy start.

  Not that she’d seen him. She’d hurried from church on Sunday, waving to the kids, but that was all. After what happened when she found Logan, she wasn’t ready to talk to Elena. Or Tom, but he was so busy chatting with Maeve that he didn’t seem to notice her hasty retreat.

  Since then, she’d kept up a near-constant internal dialogue with God about everything. Should she check in on the kids? Should she stay put in town or should she join Chloe? Would she ever get over Tom?

  It might be easier to move past her feelings for him if he wasn’t her next-door neighbor. Thinking of him literally ached.

  Then again, she loved running an antiques store in her hometown. Today was a perfect example, because the family perusing the store right now—a balding dad, a mom with a graying bob, plus two lanky teens who’d mentioned they were homeschoolers—seemed interested in almost everything in the store. Their sense of joy warmed her aching heart.

  “Mick, look at this.” The wife beckoned her husband to show him the curved silver in her hand. “My grandma had one just like this.”

  “What is it, Grace?” Mick pushed his glasses up his nose.

  The teens looked up from the vinyl LPs. “What’d you find, Mom?”

  “A baby spoon, or training spoon. Is that right?” The woman looked to Faith, who’d been dusting the buffet.

  “Exactly. Designed for a child to curve her fingers through the handle.”

  “I ate off one of these at Grandma’s house until I was probably twelve, because I thought it was so cute. I wish I had it. This sure makes me think of Grandma.” Grace looked wistful. “She was such a fun lady. I wish you’d known her. All of you.”

  “Why was she fun?” The daughter took a turn with the spoon.

  “Well, for one thing, she never turned down a chance to play with me,” Grace began.

  Faith wandered back to the counter, smiling. This was why she’d opened the store. The stories that accompanied historical objects could bring folks together. Objects like that little spoon, since it set off a chain of memories for this woman, and now she was sharing those stories with her family.

  Thanks, God, for reminding me why I do this. Whether it’s here or elsewhere, I know You’ll be with me. Please show me if You want me to move. I’ll go wherever You want, even though I confess it’ll hurt leaving my home and friends. And Tom and the kids. I wish I didn’t care about them this much, but I have to trust that You have a purpose for it, even if it’s a reminder to place You first. You have a plan, and I want to submit to it, wherever You take me.

  The woman laid the spoon on the counter with a soft thud. “I’m definitely buying this, but we aren’t finished looking around. I may find something else we can’t live without.”

  “Take your time.” Faith pulled out a sheet of tissue paper to wrap the spoon in.

  “These buildings are original to the town, right?” The husband glanced up at the ceiling.

  “They sure are. This particular building was a seed and feed. An opening right over there connected it with the livery next door, which is now The World Outside. The two businesses were owned by relatives back then.”

  “We ate lunch at Del’s Café. What did that start out as?”

  “A bathhouse and barber shop. I still have the scissors the first barber used, too. They’re over in the display case over there.”

  “It’s like a little museum in here,” the daughter said. She and her younger brother wandered over to look at the cases.

  “Is there a map for a walking tour?” Grace peered over the counter as if she’d find a pile of them. “Or is it at the welcome center?”

  “We don’t have a welcome center, or a map, but those are great ideas.
” She’d always thought of distributing a map like that at the museum. Maybe she could still do it here, though. It wouldn’t be hard to sketch something up, labeling the historic buildings.

  Angie slipped in the open front door, returning a few minutes early from her break. “How are things?”

  “Great. You’ve got more time, if you want it.”

  Instead, Angie tapped the tissue-wrapped bundle with a buffed fingernail. “What is it?”

  “A silver training spoon.”

  “Which one?”

  “The one with the bird etched on the handle. They’re still shopping, though.” She tipped her head at the family, perusing the display cabinets. “Super sweet folks.”

  “Why don’t you take your break? I’ll ring them up when they’re ready.”

  “It’s okay. I’ve got this covered.”

  “Actually, you’re about to be too busy to help customers.” Angie stared at her. Hard.

  This was beyond weird. “What’s going on?”

  Rolling her eyes, Angie took Faith by the shoulders and turned her so she faced the door.

  Tom—his full lips parted in a hesitant smile—stood in the open threshold. “Hi, Faith.”

  “Tom. Hi. How are the kids? Are they okay?” It blurted out before she could stop herself.

  “They’re great. Really. They’d love to see you later, if you have time.”

  “I’d love to see them.”

  “They’re at the store.”

  “Oh, you mean now. Okay.” No wonder Angie was pushing her to take a break. She must have been next door, visiting Ender, and known Tom would be coming. “I’ll be back in a minute, Angie.”

  “Take your time.” It almost sounded like a command.

  Faith preceded Tom out the door and turned left toward his store. The bright afternoon sun blinded her, and she had to cup her hand over her eyes.

  “Actually, wait.” Tom’s voice pulled her up short. “Do you mind if we talk without the kids first? It’s important.”