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“Mother and Daddy, this is Allie.”
Her mother leaned over so that she was closer to Allie’s level and smiled. “Hi, Allie. It’s so nice to meet you.”
Her father took the same posture. “Hello.”
Allie stepped closer to Laura Jo. She placed a hand at Allie’s back and said, “These are your grandparents.”
Both her parents stood and stepped back.
Her mother said in a nervous voice Laura Jo had never heard, “Come in.”
It felt odd to step into her parents’ home after so much time. Little had changed. Instead of being led into the formal living room, as Laura Jo had expected, her mother took them to the kitchen. “I thought Allie might like to have some ice cream.”
Allie looked at Laura Jo. “May I?”
“Sure, honey.”
“Why don’t we all have a bowl?” her father suggested.
When they were finished with their bowls of ice cream her mother asked Allie if she would like to go upstairs to see the room where Laura Jo used to sleep. Allie agreed.
Laura Jo looked at her father. “I don’t know how to say thank you enough for your gift.”
“We had heard that you were looking for support to buy it.”
She should have known it would get back to them about why she’d been at the dance.
“It’s a good cause and we wanted to help. Since we weren’t there for you, maybe we can help other girls in the same position. I know it doesn’t make up for the struggle you had.”
It didn’t, but at least she better understood her parents now. She had to share some of the fault also. “All those calls I made to Mom—”
“We thought we were doing what was best. That if we cut you off then you would see that you needed us and come back.”
“But you wouldn’t talk to me.” She didn’t try to keep the hurt out of her voice.
“We realized we had been too hard on you when you stopped calling. I’m sorry, Laura Jo. We loved you. Feared for you, and just didn’t know how to show it correctly.”
“You saw to it that I got the nursing scholarship, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “We knew by then that you wouldn’t accept if we offered to send you to school.”
“I wouldn’t have. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that sometimes what we believe when we’re young isn’t always the way things are. You were right about Phil. I’m sorry that I hurt you and Mom. Kept Allie from you.”
“We understand. We’re proud of you. We have kept an eye on you both. You’ve done well. You needed to do it the hard way, to go out on your own. It took us a while to see that.” Her strong, unrelenting father went on, with a catch in his voice, “The only thing we couldn’t live with was not having you in our lives and not knowing our granddaughter.”
Moisture filled her eyes for all the hurt and wasted opportunities through the years on both sides. Laura Jo reached across the table and took her father’s hand. Forgiveness was less about her and more about her parents. A gift she could give them. “You’ll never be left out of our lives again, I promise.”
* * *
Three weeks after the fact Mark still flinched when he thought of Laura Jo accusing him of being a jerk and not living up to his responsibilities. The plain-talking Laura Jo had returned with a vengeance when she’d lectured him.
She was right, he knew that, but he still couldn’t bring himself to talk to Mike. That was the place he had to start. He’d spent over ten years not being able to face up to Mike and what had happened that night. Could he be a bigger hypocrite?
He’d looked down on Laura Jo’s ex, taking a holier-than-thou approach when he’d been running as fast and far as Phil had when the going had got tough.
Every night he spent away from Laura Jo made him crave her more. He wasn’t sleeping. If he did, he dreamed of her. The pain at her loss was greater than any he’d ever experienced. Even after the accident. He wasn’t able to live without her. He’d tried that and it wasn’t working.
He’d tried to call her a couple of times but she hadn’t picked up.
Mark thought about Laura Jo’s words. Didn’t he want a family badly enough to make a change? Want to have someone special in his life? More importantly, be a part of Laura Jo’s and Allie’s world?
He’d been running for so long, making sure he didn’t commit, he didn’t know how to do anything else. It was time for it to stop. He had to face his demons in order to be worthy of a chance for a future with Laura Jo, if she would have him. How could he expect her to believe in him, trust him to be there for her, if he didn’t believe it for himself? He had to get his own life in order before he asked for a permanent place in hers. And he desperately wanted that place.
* * *
Mark picked up the phone and dialed the number he’d called so many times he had it memorized by now. He’d been calling every day for a week and had been told that Mike wasn’t available. Was he dodging Mark, as well?
He’d made his decision and wanted to act on it. It was just his luck he couldn’t reach Mike. The devil of it was that he couldn’t return to Laura Jo without talking to Mike first. She would accept nothing less. For his well-being as well as hers.
The day before, he’d received a call from Marsha. She’d told him how they had missed out on the house but then an anonymous donor had bought it outright and gifted it to them.
Mark was surprised and glad for Laura Jo. At least the dream she’d worked so hard for had come true. Marsha went on to say that she and Laura Jo no longer required a board but planned to have one anyway. Marsha wanted to know if he was still willing to serve on it.
“Have you discussed this with Laura Jo? She may not want me on it.”
“She said that if you’re willing to do it she could handle working with you on a business level. I think her exact words were, ‘He’s a good doctor and cares about people. I’m sure he’ll be an asset.’”
Panic flowed through his veins. Laura Jo was already distancing herself from him. The longer it took to speak to Mike, the harder it would be to get her to listen.
Marsha said, “Look, Mark, I don’t know what happened between you two but what I do know is that she’s torn up about it. I love her like a sister and she’s hurting. She can be hardheaded when it comes to the ones she loves. The only way to make her see reason is to push until she does.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
The next day, when Mark had a break between patients, he tried Mike’s number again. This time when a woman answered he insisted that he speak to Mike.
“Just a minute.”
“Mark.” Mike didn’t sound pleased to hear from him.
“I was wondering if I could come by for a visit,” Mark said, with more confidence than he felt.
“It will be a couple of days before I have time.” Mike wasn’t going to make this easy but, then, why should he. “I’ve been out of town and have some business I need to catch up on.”
Mark wasn’t tickled with having to wait, but he’d put it off this long so did two more days really matter?
“How does Thursday evening at seven sound?”
“I’ll be here.” Mike sounded more resigned to the idea than cheerful about the prospect. Mark couldn’t blame him. His jaw tightened with tension from guilt and regret at the thought of facing him. He felt like a coward and had acted like one for years.
The next day an invitation arrived in the mail. It was to a garden party tea at the Herrons’ mansion on Sunday afternoon. It was a fund-raiser for the new shelter. Had Laura Jo taken his advice and cleared the air with her parents? He looked forward to attending.
Two evenings later, Mark drove from Fairhope over the bay causeway to Mobile. Mike lived in one of the newer neighborhoods that Mark wasn’t familiar with. He hadn’t slept much the night before, anticipating the meeting with Mike, but, then, he hadn’t slept well since the night he’d had Laura Jo in his arms. He drove up the street Mike had given as his address during their phone conversation. It was tree-lined and had well-cared-for homes. He pulled up alongside the curb in front of the number that Mike had given him. It was a yellow ranch-style home, with a white picket fence surrounding the front yard. Early spring flowers were just starting to show.
Mark sat for a minute. He’d prepared his speech. Had practiced and practiced what he was going to say, but it never seemed like enough. If Laura Jo were here, she would say to just share what was in his heart. To stop worrying. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he opened the car door and got out. Closing it, he walked around the car and up the walk.
