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She’d done the major cleanup before they sat down to eat, and once the food had been stowed and the last pots washed, she surveyed the kitchen around them. “This is like a dream come true, Jacob. This kitchen. This setting.”
“I’m glad you like it, Josie. But—”
She looked up, expecting a more businesslike thought than he was about to offer.
“I wish I knew what was making you sad. I wish I could help. I’d like to help,” he finished. He didn’t touch her, but he wanted to touch her. He wanted to draw her into his arms, against his heart, and tell her everything would be okay, but these were uncharted waters for him.
She shrugged as if it was no big deal. “Just tired. Busy days, a lot of planning and too much thinking. But thank you.”
She started to move away.
He paused her with one hand. “If you ever want to talk, I’m here. Okay?”
She didn’t look up this time. She kept her gaze down and nodded, then moved forward, away from his touch, his words. Away from him.
She’d warned him off earlier for good reason. He was moving on with his life, with his job, and she was staying here, but as she walked outside, another emotion jabbed him.
He didn’t like seeing her walk away. It took a strong will not to chase after her, to walk side by side.
A call came in from a downstate supplier, and by the time he’d handled business, Josie and her mother had taken little Davy home.
His father came to meet him once he’d locked up. “We had a nice day, son. Real nice.” He smiled as Jacob’s mom and Addie blew bubbles and chased them along the sand. “I haven’t seen your mother this happy in a long time. Not since we lost your sister,” he added. “Ginger had her faults, and your mom was quick to get her out of scrapes, but when you love a child it’s hard to sit back and watch them suffer. Even if it’s from their own choices.”
“I’ve come to realize that parenting looks a lot easier than it is, especially when you have good parents setting the example,” Jacob admitted. “But it’s also more rewarding than I ever imagined.”
“There’s that, for certain. Although I look back and wish I’d been around more. Sometimes a man needs to just kick back and be a dad, but in our day, if the man was working and the woman took over, it generally worked out.”
“It did work out, Dad. You were an awesome father,” Jacob assured him. “We understood you needed to work, and Mom was always on board. Honestly, two kids couldn’t have asked for better parents. Ginger was just—” He wavered and chose his words carefully. “Needier.”
“And more conniving,” admitted his father. “With you, I always knew where you stood, what your plans were, what direction you aimed for. Your sister would say one thing and do another, and while it wasn’t anything I’d call sinister, she wasn’t afraid to double-deal folks, either. I think we spoiled her when she was young, when she had that bad bout of illness, then kept on spoiling her because we were so glad she lived.”
Now that he was a father, Jacob understood how easily that could happen. “I thank God for Addie every day,” he confessed. “Knowing what she went through, knowing what her life could have been like with a drug-using mother, and seeing how everything came together to bring her to us. We’re blessed that she survived the cancer, that she’s ours and that she’s so gifted. Her life could have been so different if she hadn’t become part of our family.”
“It took a lot of courage for that mother to have her, then give her up,” his dad said. “That’s got to be about the hardest thing there is, don’t you think? Especially when some people make other choices these days.”
Jacob couldn’t cut Addie’s birth mother that kind of slack. “There’s not much nobility in taking drugs while you’re pregnant, Dad. But I’m glad Addie’s okay. I mean, she’s better than okay. She’s amazing. And time to change the subject because our gals are heading this way.”
“Agreed.” They walked forward to meet Sheila and Addie, and when she leaped into Jacob’s arms, he pretended to be overwhelmed by her size, and staged a pratfall.
