Barefoot Brides Page 10

  “Trust me, Mom, these are never going to come back in style,” she could hear perfectionist Jo assuring the pragmatic and sometimes penny-pinching Dodie.

  Sometimes penny-pinching? Kate gave her collar a shake to create a stir of air over her neck. She wanted to go crank the air-conditioning up but knew it would only bring the wrath of Dodie down on her head.

  She shut her eyes and told herself not to think about the rising heat and humidity. She kicked off her lone shoe, wriggled the toes on her one uninjured foot and sighed, feeling cooler despite knowing that the temperature had not dropped a fraction of a degree.

  If only she could shut out the constant chaos in her heart and mind so easily. If only…

  “This house is too quiet.” Dodie pulled aside the dingy old curtain to peer out the front window, sighed then let it fall shut again.

  Kate did not open her eyes. “Well, Mom, you were the one who wanted to move down here and live in our vacation cottage full-time.”

  “Yes, but when I first came up with that idea, I expected some friends would move down here with me.” She came to the couch and plopped down on the end opposite Kate. “And then—”

  Kate held her hand up to cut her mother off. She peered through one eye at her getting-grubbier-by-the-minute cast. “I know what happened next.”

  One hospital stay, two surgeries, numerous doctors and countless bills later, Jo got the brilliant plan to come to their old vacation home for a long, uneventful recovery.

  Except when had anything the Cromwell women tried to do in life been uneventful? She placed her hand on her forehead.

  “I was going to say, then you girls found your true loves down here and decided to stay.” Dodie shifted her weight. The couch groaned then jostled Kate like a wave as the cushions redistributed their bulk.

  Clunk. Clunk. Thump.

  “Ahhhh.”

  Kate did not have to look to know Dodie’s bargain shoes, the ones that did not quite fit—“but for that price, you squeeze your toes in and hope the uppers stretch”—hit the floor. Then her feet came up to rest on the battered coffee table.

  “You have, haven’t you?” Dodie asked at last, sounding physically contented and comfortable but emotionally tentative.

  That was a sound Kate knew by heart. In fact, she thought, that was the closest her mother ever came to sounding actually happy since the night Molly Christina had disappeared from their lives.

  “Have what, Mom?” Kate knew what her mother was driving at but she wanted to play it out. Of course, Dodie wanted to know if Vince had proposed. Or, barring that, at least if Travis had made his intentions clear to Jo. Kate smiled. Some of the things that did not change gave her great peace of mind, she decided. A bit of maternal nosiness was one of those things. “Found our true loves?”

  “Decided to stay put, Scat-Kat Katie.” The contentment all but left her mother’s voice and apprehension subdued it to a quiet murmur.

  Suddenly Kate’s head hurt. She winced and turned her face away. “Mom, I asked you not to call me that.”

  “That’s not an answer.” Dodie gave Kate’s ankle a nudge with her bare toe.

  “It’s not as though she has moved back to Atlanta. As soon as she gets her money issues sorted out there, she’ll be back.”

  “I wasn’t asking you to speak for Jo, Kate.”

  Kate. Not Scat-Kat Katie. She felt she had to dignify that concession with an answer. And she had one.

  If she ever hoped to walk without a cane again, she would need at least two more surgeries. That meant more hospital time, a lot of recovery time and loads more bills. More bills meant she had to keep making money and the only way to do that was to honor her commitment to Lionel and the Urgent Care Clinic.

  Yes, Gentry and Pera were taking Fabbie and moving to Miami. That very well meant that Vince might pick up and follow his family. His family.

  Not hers.

  Kate’s family was all here in Santa Sofia—or would eventually be when Jo came back. Unless Vince did something to change the definition of what Kate considered constituted her family, this was where she belonged. Even if he did ask…well, she’d have to think about that later.

  “Mom, as far as I know, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “That’s all I wanted to hear.” She gave Kate’s leg a pat and sprang up from the couch.

  Kate’s eyes flew open in time to see her go clip-clopping toward the kitchen, trying to wriggle her feet into her too-small shoes as she went. “Where are you going?”

  Dodie snatched up the car keys and her handbag. “See you later!”

  “But, when will you—”

  The slamming back door cut her off.

  Kate tried to lumber up to her feet but the propped-up position of her injured foot hampered any speedy movement. “Wait a minute! Come back here! It’s not right that you make me promise not to leave Santa Sofia then just up and—”

  “Going someplace, Kate?” The back door swung open and a large, dark figure stepped into the brightly lit kitchen.

  “Vince! What, are you in cahoots with my mom about something?”

  “Cahoots?” He snorted a laugh and came into the front room, smelling of Florida sunshine, his hair windswept and his eyes gleaming. “Next I guess you’ll ask me if I’m getting up to some kind of crazy shenanigans.”

  “I would never ask any such thing!” she protested.

  “Yeah?” He looked down at her, his smile hinting at piqued curiosity as he demanded to know, “Why not?”

  “Because I always know that if you ever got up to any crazy shenanigans, I wouldn’t have to ask you about them. I’d be right there beside you knee-deep in the mayhem.”

  He laughed. “Now that is the measure of a true friend.”

  Friend? Was that how he thought of her? She wanted to ask but since she couldn’t say for sure that she wanted to hear the answer, she pushed herself up into a more upright position and asked instead, “Did you see my mom as you came in? Do you know what she’s up to? And if you don’t, would you please run out there to see if you can catch her and—”

  “Not much point in that.” He lifted his head as if listening.

  Nothing. No car engine. No tires on the gravel drive.

  Vince shook his head. “You mom is long gone.”

  Kate laid her head back and covered her eyes with one hand. “Sometimes I think my mom was long gone before she ever even arrived!”

  “Give her a break. She’s in a hurry to go see Billy J.”

  “Billy J? I thought they were running tests. Moxie asked that we stay clear until they finished.”

  “Yep, she called me earlier today and gave the all-clear.”

  “Called you?”

  He nodded. “And I called your mom.”

  “When?”

  “Half an hour ago.” He picked his way around the coffee table then sat gingerly beside her, careful not to jar her foot. “She told me then she planned to take off to see him as soon as I could get here.”

  “Get here?” Kate pointed to the floor beneath them. “She asked you to come over and do what? Babysit me?”

  “She didn’t hire me as a babysitter, Kate. She just didn’t want to leave you stranded. I just didn’t think you’d mind a couple hours alone with me.”

  “Oh, no. That’s great. I just…”

  “What?”

  She couldn’t confess what she suspected—that her mother had gotten her to promise to stay in Santa Sofia because she knew Vince was on his way over. Mom knew about the situation with Gentry and his job. She knew Vince thought the world of his son and granddaughter, and might just be tempted to tag along if the young family moved to Miami.

  Dodie had to fear that, given the choice, Kate would never let Vince go again.

  What her mother didn’t know was that Kate wasn’t convinced she actually had Vince or that if he left, he’d ask her to come, too.

  “Never mind. It was sweet of her, I suppose, in a very Dodie-esque way.” She sm
iled at him. “So what’s the news on Gentry’s job offer?”

  Vince laced his fingers in his lap and cast his gaze down. “He and Pera want to go to Miami for a weekend to see if they even want to live there before he accepts any offers.”

  She wanted to go to him, put her arms around his neck and tell him not to borrow trouble by assuming his son and beloved grandchild would move away for certain. But she couldn’t move. For once Scat-Kat Katie couldn’t move.

  And she certainly couldn’t offer advice about not borrowing trouble to anyone, not where family was concerned.

  She let her shoulders sink back into the softness of a cushion and exhaled slowly. “When will they have time to go to Miami before the job is filled?”

  “They won’t.” He rubbed his hand up the back of his neck, still not meeting her eyes as he said, “Not unless they go this weekend.”

  “This weekend?” That was fast. This was all happening so fast. She felt she’d just gotten her chance at love at long last and now it could all slip away. “As in two days from now?”

  He nodded, moved his hand around to rub his knuckles under his chin and stared across the room. “They want me to watch Fabbie.”

  “They do?”

  She hated to seem skeptical, but Gentry and his wife had had a very stormy relationship up until a couple of months ago when Kate had come to town and played a part in helping Gentry accept his role as the man of the family. Until then Vince had made it easy for his son to avoid his responsibilities. He’d made excuses for him, bailed him out financially and generally allowed him to remain a kid for far too long. Pera knew all these things.

  She knew that without Vince’s enabling, Gentry might have worked harder to make their marriage work from the very start instead of seeing it as one more thing he could walk away from if it proved too hard. It might even be a reason one of her own relatives had suddenly turned up with a job offer, to create space between father and son and make a place for their own little family to flourish.

  Pera loved Vince. But she knew he had spoiled Gentry almost to the point of ruining his life. Of course, she wouldn’t think the man could do the same for Fabbie in a couple of days, but Kate had a hard time thinking she’d reward him for his past transgressions by setting a precedent of him taking the child on his own for extended stays.

  “Are you sure about that? You’re going to watch Fabbie by yourself for a whole weekend?”

  “Sure they…No.” He finally looked up at her and grinned sheepishly. “Actually, Pera wants to take Fabbie with them, but Gentry feels like they won’t get as much done with the baby along.”

  “Get as much done with the baby along?” She folded her arms. “Did he have a little gleam in his eyes when he said that?”

  “Absolutely.” Vince laughed. “Maybe if everything works out, I’ll have a second grandchild to babysit soon enough.”

  Kate laughed, too, only not with her whole heart. A second grandbaby. Another reason for him not to stay in Santa Sofia. Or, if he did stay, for him not to need any further distractions from his family obligations.

  “Anyway, the way Gentry sees it, they aren’t really leaving Fabbie with me alone. They’re leaving her with us.”

  “Us?”

  “Oh, yeah, didn’t I tell you that part yet?” He put his arm around her.

  “Oh, no.”

  “What?”

  “You are up to some crazy shenanigans!”

  “And you’re up to them right there with me, Kate.” He gave her a squeeze. “I hope.”

  If she had any sense, she’d push his arm away, hoist herself up off this couch and storm off to teach him that he couldn’t just assume she would go along with whatever he promised people on their behalf. Not unless he put a ring on her finger first.

  And even then he’d still better ask her first before making a weekend-long commitment for her.

  Either she didn’t have any sense or the old Scat-Kat had begun to fade for certain. Because Kate did not fly off the handle or even scootch over an inch on the couch. She snuggled close, tipped her head so that she could look into Vince’s eyes and said softly, “I’m listening. What didn’t you not tell me yet?”

  “The only way Pera will agree to going away is if she knows you’re helping to take care of Fabbie.”

  “Doesn’t trust Grandpa not to spoil the kid rotten?”

  “She’s seen my handiwork with Gentry. I have a reputation of being a little indulgent.”

  Kate smiled. It was good to hear him admit it. “And it’s good to see Gentry trying to let go of Fabbie just a little.”

  “Yeah. I think that’s healthy.”

  “Me, too.”

  “He’s setting a good example.” For you. She didn’t say it but she didn’t have to. “I know this is tough, to see him considering moving so far away.”

  “I know the job of a parent is to give your kid wings, but Miami sure is a far-off place for him to fly.”

  “Look on the bright side. Maybe they won’t like it.” The second the words came flying out, she slapped her hand over her mouth. Too late, of course. But if her renewed relationship with Vince had taught her anything, it was…

  Hmm. What had she learned from falling head over heels in love with Vince again?

  Kate lowered her hand slowly.

  Love. She loved Vince.

  And Fabbie.

  And Gentry and Pera.

  And her mother and sisters.

  And she wanted all the best for them, no matter what. That meant putting her own desires and fears aside.

  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

  “Okay. You can count on me. I’ll help you take care of Fabbie this weekend.” What happened after that, she’d leave up to the Lord.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The bell over the door at the Santa Sofia Sun Times jingled to announce Moxie’s arrival at ten minutes after nine.

  Clink-clunk. Clink-clunk.

  As a local businessperson she’d heard the dented brass bell hundreds of times. Thousands, maybe. But never before had she felt it resonate through her.

  Clink-clunk. Clink-clunk.

  It was the sound her anxious but wary heart would make if it were a bell. Her cheeks flushed at the sheer corniness—and dead-on accuracy of the description—of her response to crossing the threshold into the office of R. Hunt Diamante.

  Call me Hunt.

  “Hunt,” she whispered at the recollection of his request. She had come to see Hunt today. On business, of course, and she was…puzzled.

  Puzzled and alone.

  The Sun Times had occupied the same building forever. Well, Moxie remembered the offices here forever, it seemed. Or at least since third grade when an elementary-school field trip made her aware that the neat little bundle that arrived on the doorstep every morning came out of an office in Santa Sofia and was written by citizens of the town.

  Not much had changed about it since then. Not outwardly. Venetian blinds still hung in the plate-glass window, casting slatted shadows over the pocked but polished wooden floors of the lobby. The receptionist’s area was still not much more than a square hole cut in the paneled wall. All sorts of awards, commendations, subscription rates, photos of Little League teams the paper had sponsored and the old journalistic adage Never Assume in plastic and metal frames covered the wall. Even though bits of the gold paint had chipped away the dots on both of the i’s and at a good portion of the u, Santa Sofia Sun Times was still on the front door in Old English script. Whenever the news or the so-called reporting of it got too bad for locals to handle, they liked to point out the missing bits of the u, which made the letter look like an i, without a dot—like the other i’s in the name—and make the same old corny joke.

  “Went down to complain to the Sun Times about their paper and found they’d changed the name to the Sin Times and figured I better not get caught hanging out around a place like that!”

  Maybe it was
n’t just a joke, Moxie found herself wondering. Maybe nobody came down to the Sun Times offices anymore. But Hunt still worked here.

  Didn’t he?

  “Hello?” she shouted into the stillness of the dusty old office.

  Nothing.

  No shuffling of feet from the unseen back offices toward the front. No clackity-clack of fingers running over a keyboard. No phone ringing. No human voices chatting to each other, much less calling out to her that someone would be right with her.

  “Peg?” she called out for the woman who had worked at the Sun Times since—as Peg herself liked to put it—since we hammered the headlines into stone tablets with a rock and a bone chisel. “Peg? Y’all in the back? If you’re in a meeting, I can come back.”

  No answer.

  Moxie took a step closer to the unoccupied front desk, aka the hole in the paneling. She opened her mouth to call out again then paused, unsure what exactly to call out.

  Peg clearly was not here.

  She knew the other reporters, sort of, but not on a first-name basis. If she did call to one of them and they showed up, what would she say? That she wanted to see Hunt?

  Moxie drew in a deep breath then leaned in, trying to peer through the opening in the wall. The lights were on. The computer, off. The red light on the answering machine blinking.

  This all felt so wrong. Spooky.

  Except Moxie did not believe in spooks. She pretty much figured most odd or mysterious events had a perfectly reasonable man-made solution. Her own life story seemed evidence of that.

  Still, the empty office did set her nerves on edge. She strode forward and reached out to pick up the phone. Maybe she should call—

  R-r-r-r-r-ring.

  Moxie just about jumped out of her skin. Her heart thumped hard and fast in the hollow of her throat.

  R-r-r-r-r-ring.

  By the second ring she had calmed down enough to realize this call might offer some insight into what was going on around here. Or at least it would give her someone else to help try to piece things together.

  R-r-r-

  Wham.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.