Rita took it, smiling. “Rita Tomlinson. Good to meet you.”
“Yasmin runs the women’s program here,” Claire explained. “Helping women who’ve been battered or abused. This town is kind of known for that, and these days, it’s all on Yasmin’s shoulders.”
“You’re always talking me up bigger than I am. How’s your mama?”
As the two women talked, Rita zoned out of the conversation and paid attention to a couple of scraps of memory floating in her head. This street, this place, seemed more familiar than anywhere else she’d been in Safe Haven.
But along with the surprising familiarity came feelings of fear and distress, vague but so unpleasant that she wrapped her arms around her stomach. Part of her didn’t want to feel this, didn’t want to remember. Deliberately, she focused on the clouds gathering darker overhead, the sun sinking down behind a bank of them to the west. A breeze whipped up, and although she was sweating from their exercise, goose bumps rose on Rita’s arms.
“I know, it’s practically falling down around me,” Yasmin was saying when Rita tuned back in to the conversation. “If we don’t raise some money soon, we may just have to shut down.”
“That would be a shame,” Claire said. “It’d be nice if it could go back to actually being a shelter, you know? So women in trouble could stay here.”
Something deep inside Rita clicked into place.
It had been a shelter. Had she been one of those women in trouble? Had she stayed here?
She looked at Yasmin, opened her mouth to ask if they had old records and then snapped it shut.
It was a story line that would make sense, given that T-Bone had found her beaten senseless on the edge of the highway.
A wisp of pain and heartache rose inside her, but she shook it off. At least for today, her mind veered hard away from the truth. She really didn’t want to remember how she’d gotten that way.
* * *
LATE THAT NIGHT, Sean lost the battle with himself and headed over to Anna’s cabin. He’d just do the little fix he’d jerry-rigged for the spray painting on her car, until they could figure out a real solution, and then hustle right back to his own place. A couple of beers and a hockey game would be fine entertainment for a loner.
Except her light was on.
He couldn’t see inside the cabin. She’d closed the shades, which was smart. But if she were jumpy, and he was out here messing with her car, he was likely to get pepper sprayed. Again.
The thought of that first night made him grin a little, now. Although Anna was a sweet, quiet woman, she was fierce when it came to keeping her girls safe.
Beneath the toughness, though, was another layer of vulnerability. She was on her own, doing her best, but she was young and without a lot of resources.
He couldn’t stand to see a woman in trouble. Couldn’t let her suffer alone when he could find a way to help.
After a moment’s consideration, he climbed the steps and tapped on the door. “Hey, Anna,” he called quietly through the slightly open window. “It’s me, Sean.”
After a moment, she unlocked the door and opened it, and he swallowed.
She wore short, frayed cutoffs and a thin T-shirt. No bra, if he wasn’t mistaken.
Which was not his business. He kept his eyes pinned to her face, refusing to let them stray lower. “I, uh, I have a temporary fix for your car.” He held up the car magnets he’d dug out of storage. “It’s not perfect, but it’ll cover up most of the, well, the writing. Until you can get it fixed. Okay if I put ’em on there?”
“Um, sure. Thank you.” She looked blankly at the rectangles. “Bayou Brothers Construction? Is that your company?”
“Was.” He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Tony and I tried to start a company just out of high school. Things didn’t work out, but we still have some of the promo stuff.”
“Oh. Well, thank you.” She looked past him toward the car, worry crossing her face. “I don’t want the girls to see it and start asking what that word means. Or remember that’s what their daddy used to call me,” she added bitterly.
Sean had to work to keep his fists from clenching. He didn’t want to scare her, but the idea that any man would call her that name... He swallowed. “Do you think it’s him who did it?”
“I don’t know. I feel like it must be, since nobody around here even knows me, so why would they do this? But my friend swears he’s still back in Montana.” Her shoulders sagged.
“This friend,” he said. “Did he—or she—help you get away?”
She shook her head. “We weren’t close that way. Somehow, I ended up without a lot of friends back there. But she was a neighbor, and we helped each other out every now and then.”
She didn’t notice him hitting you? Some friend.
“I’m kind of at my wit’s end. I appreciate your kindness.” She glanced back into the cabin, then shut the door behind her. “I’ll come out and help. The girls are sound asleep.”
He didn’t need the help, but it seemed like she needed the company, so he stepped down and moved toward her car to make room for her to follow. “So...you’re pretty sure your ex is behind this? I thought he was working through a lawyer.”
“I imagine he had a falling-out with his lawyer,” she said. “He usually does. And he probably doesn’t have money to pay the guy. So it’s possible he’s gone rogue.” Her recitation held dreary certainty.
He knelt beside her car, handed her one of the car magnets and fitted the other to the door. “There. That’s a part of it. Let me see the other magnet.” He fitted it over the rest of the word.
A few drips of spray paint still showed, but at least the word itself was hidden. “What were you doing with a guy this classless?” he asked before he could think better of it. But it just didn’t make sense. She seemed to have it together, especially considering how young she was.
Her sigh broke into his thoughts. “I was immature,” she said. “Leave it at that. Can I get you something to drink? I have Kool-Aid and water.” She wrinkled her nose and she did look young. Young, and impossibly cute.
“I’m picky about my Kool-Aid. Is it cherry?”
“Of course. Though I could mix up some grape if you’d prefer it.” She arched an eyebrow like she was offering him the finest wine, then spoiled the effect with a giggle.
“Cherry’s fine,” he said. And please don’t get cuter than you already are.
She went inside and came back out a minute later with two plastic cups. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m limited in glassware.”
He saluted her with his cartoon-character mug. “I love Scooby-Doo.” He waved a hand toward the cabin. “You said the girls are sacked out?”
She nodded. “They had fun today. But, Sean, I don’t expect you to entertain them every day like you did today. And honestly... I’m not sure how well it’s going to work for me to have them with me while I work. They’ll do it, they’re used to holding back and behaving, but I want better for them.”
He nodded, inhaling deeply of the warm ocean air. At night, the sound of the waves traveled better, and he could dimly hear the rhythmic sound of the surf. They were in a world of their own.
She was looking out into the trees, and the moon cast a silvery light on her face. As he watched her in profile, an overwhelming urge to protect came over him, along with a familiar ache. His mother had wanted to protect Sean and his brothers; she’d spent their drive from one home to the next talking to him about it. She’d wanted better for her boys.
He guessed, in a way, she’d found it. Except he’d never have gone for it at the expense of her life.
He shook away that memory and focused on Anna. Her short-chopped hair and big eyes, her flawless skin kissed with a few freckles, her lush lips... She took his breath away. But he shouldn’t be focusing on her beauty, not when she needed his help.
She glanced over and caught his eyes on her. He expected her to freak out or criticize, but instead, she met his eyes in a speculative way. Was she thinking the same thing about him that he was thinking about her?
He grabbed for some businesslike thread of conversation. “There are some day cares in town you might check out, if you don’t want to enroll them in kindergarten. But kindergarten would be free.”
She sighed, the breath making her bangs fly up. “I know. And even though the pay you’re offering is more than generous, I can’t afford much. It’s just...” She broke off, picked up a stick and started tracing patterns in the sandy soil.
“What?”
“They haven’t spent much time with other kids. And they’ve had so much change lately, I hate to add a big classroom situation to it.” She looked over at him, her expression vulnerable. “Do you think I’m making a mistake?”
He let out a chuckle. “You’re asking the wrong guy. I have zero experience with kids.”
“Really? You did well with them today. I thought maybe you were somebody’s favorite uncle, at least.”
“Nope.” None of his brothers had kids yet, at least not Liam or Cash. He guessed they’d all struggled with relationships, given how they’d grown up. Although both of his younger brothers had sowed more wild oats than he had.
“Well, anyway. Because they don’t talk, I’m afraid they’ll struggle. Get teased.”
“All kids get teased.” Still, he hated to think of that happening to Hope and Hayley.
“Yeah. Believe me, I know. But it’s just...when it’s your own kids, and you haven’t been able to provide them with the life you wanted to...” She crossed her arms and leaned forward on the porch step, kind of hugging herself.
The glimmerings of a possible solution came to him. “Are they able to be away from you? Did they ever stay at a babysitter’s house, say?”
“We had a neighbor back in Montana. An older lady who took care of her grandson. In a pinch, I could leave the twins with her. In fact, they loved going over there because she had a dog, and parakeets, and more toys than we had.”
Perfect. “I have an idea.”
“Yeah?” She looked over at him, her eyes hopeful.
“Yeah.” Then he nearly forgot it, looking at her face. He had the most ridiculous desire to put his arms around her and tell her everything would be all right. To take care of her and help her carry her burdens.
He shook it off. “Look, I’ll follow you to town when you drive the twins to their after-school program tomorrow. We can take your car to the garage, at least get an estimate on fixing the paint job. And later this week... Well. I’ll take you and the girls somewhere that might solve your problem.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You expect me to just trust you?”
Yeah, I was hoping... “I think you’ll have fun. You’ll get a good low country dinner, anyway. And maybe, a babysitter.”
She tilted her head to one side, studying him. Her stormy eyes seemed to ask whether she could take him at his word.
As for him, he couldn’t believe he was offering to do what he’d only ever done with Gabby: taking her home to Ma Dixie.
Ma was special. She’d been his port in the storm of his adolescence, and her bayou home had been the place he and his brothers were able to hang out together and be themselves.
No casual dates and precious few friends ever got invited. He just liked to keep the place private, for family.
Plus, the one woman he’d taken to Ma’s, Gabby, had hated it. Too humble, too down-home, full of fattening food and unsophisticated conversation.
But that was Gabby. He couldn’t imagine Anna having the same snobbish reaction.
As if to prove him right, she smiled and shrugged. “As long as my girls will be safe, and not scared by whatever you have in store...sure, okay.”
“Great. We’re on.” But uneasiness nipped at Sean’s gut.
Bringing Anna home to Ma’s place meant something, in his world. It brought her into his life and made him vulnerable in a way he wasn’t sure he was ready for.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“WHERE, EXACTLY, ARE you taking us?” From the passenger side of Sean’s truck, Anna took in the vegetation on either side of the road, thick as a jungle. The trees met overhead, dripping with Spanish moss. She couldn’t keep the nerves out of her voice, but at least she’d pitched it low, so the girls couldn’t hear her anxiety from the back seat.
“You’ll see.” Sean guided the truck onto an even-narrower gravel-and-mud road.
She checked the back seat. Hope was asleep, and Hayley was playing some kind of finger game, singing to herself. Good.
“It’s dark here. Spooky.”
“You’re safer here than in a city or even a town. And I won’t let any harm come to you or your girls.”
His confident words warmed her, soothed a hollow, lonely place inside. Sean was strong and capable and protective. She knew he’d keep her safe.
They drove on, bumping over an increasingly uneven road, and Anna clutched the truck’s door handle. She was starting to trust Sean, and that was even more dangerous than the swampy bayou around them.
Yes, he was kind. But why was he being kind? And encouraging her to feel at home in the community, when odds were that they’d just have to leave?
“Here we are.” He pulled into a sort of driveway, and suddenly the jungle opened up to reveal a ramshackle cabin on stilts, surrounded by several vehicles, some ancient, some newer, and one a downright luxurious Lexus.
Sean parked and, without being asked, guided Hayley out of the back seat, leaving Anna to wake up Hope. To Anna’s complete shock, by the time she got Hope out and standing, Hayley was on Sean’s shoulders, giggling at the unaccustomed high perch.
The smell of grilling meats filled the air, and voices rang from the screened porch. A couple of kids ran up, looked curiously at Hope and Hayley, and then rushed back down to a creek.
Warm, damp air brushed Anna’s face, seeming to come straight from the fertile swampland surrounding the cabin.
“Come meet Ma.” Sean put a hand on Anna’s back to usher her in. He seemed looser, more mellow all of a sudden; the shadows that normally haunted his eyes absent.
They walked into a low-ceilinged, hot kitchen, Sean swinging Hayley down to the ground next to Hope. The smell of something baking made Anna’s mouth water.
Sean’s hand touched her back now, lightly, in a way that felt just a little bit possessive. But strangely enough, she didn’t mind. In fact, his touch made her warm all over.
A short, round-faced woman was removing a big pan of corn bread from the oven. Aha, the source of the scent. She had curly white hair and coppery skin, and when she smiled, her face creased into a thousand wrinkles.
“There’s my boy,” she said, lifting her cheek for a kiss, which Sean delivered, bending down.
Hayley giggled and pointed at Sean, obviously amused at the notion of a big grown-up being a boy.
“Now, who’s this?” The woman knelt with some difficulty, holding on to the back of a kitchen chair and looking expectantly at the twins.
“This is Hayley—” Sean touched Hayley’s head lightly “—and that’s Hope.” He pointed in Hope’s direction.
“Welcome, ladies.” She looked into both faces, giving the impression that she could read behind the twins’ wide eyes. “You’re right pretty, and I’ll bet you’re smart, too.” Then she looked up at Anna. “You must be Mama, and I want to meet you. But it’s kids first around here.”
Anna laughed, already liking her. “Of course! I agree with that philosophy.”
Ma straightened, moved to the window and called outside. “Toby, come on in and show these girls your frog.” She turned back to the twins. “You’re not afraid of frogs, are you?”
They both shook their heads, although Hop
e’s wrinkled forehead indicated she wasn’t so sure of her answer.
Ma came to stand between them and ran a gentle finger over each blond head. “If you want to grow up tough, you gotta learn to play boys’ games, too. Not just dolls and books.”
A little boy came running inside, one of the ones who’d looked at them before, maybe a year older than the twins. He was holding a squat, wide-mouthed jar. Inside it were some weeds, some water—and, yes, a frog, big and green with lazy red eyes.
The twins might not be afraid of frogs, but Anna could do without them. She took a step backward and Sean caught her by the elbows, keeping her from running right into him.
Ma was back at the stove, speaking to the children over her shoulder. “Toby, you know you’ve got to let that creature go in...” She looked shrewdly at the boy. “How much time did we say?”
The boy studied the clock. “When the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand’s on the seven?”
“That’s right. Now, you kids sit over there on the floor where I can see you, and, Toby, you keep the frog in the jar.”
“I will! C’mon!”
The twins looked a little overwhelmed, but they followed Toby to a corner of the kitchen and sat down to examine the jar he thrust at them.
Ma dredged tomato slices in flour, then egg, then some other kind of crumbs. “I don’t believe in digital time-telling,” she explained. “Nor in letting a kid like Toby too far out of my sight. He’s a handful. You gonna introduce me to your friend?” The last comment was directed at Sean.
“If I can get a word in.” He urged Anna forward, again with a hand on the small of her back, again making her feel even warmer than the hot kitchen warranted. “Ma, this is Anna George. Anna, Ma Dixie. Ma pretty much deserves canonization for raising me from thirteen.”
“You weren’t the worst I’ve raised,” Ma said, patting Sean’s arm with a hand covered in flour. The look she gave him was pure motherly love. And then she looked thoughtfully at Anna. “Anyone Sean brings here, I’m pleased to meet.”
Low Country Hero Page 10