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“I’ll bet.”
Yancy and I talked until four in the morning. Unable to keep my eyes open and my father’s eventual snort of complaint that our cat-o-walling was keeping him awake, I kissed my mother and father goodnight and left their room.
Climbing the stairs to the third floor, I walked to my own bedroom. I wasn’t surprised to find Keegan was asleep in my bed. I crawled in beside her in my clothes, kissed her cheek and laid my head down on the pillow. I watched her sleep thinking how lucky I was to have her until I dozed off myself.
Chapter Eight
Reluctantly, the next afternoon, Kat and I left Yancy’s house to drive back to Kentucky. I had not spoken to James since hanging up on him the night before but I knew that he would find a way to punish me. On our way to the highway, I stopped at Esther’s house so that Kerry could say goodbye to Kat. This time, he was expecting us. In the light of day, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about seeing him after last night’s interlude on my parent’s porch swing.
Keegan was still angry with us but she wanted to see him which I hoped meant eventually they would work out their issues. Eventually I hoped she could forgive him. When I turned the car into the driveway Kerry came out of the small ranch house where he had spent his childhood. My breath caught in my chest at the sight of him. Tight jeans. White tee shirt. No shoes. Nothing about him had changed.
Nothing about the tiny house had changed either. It was a one story, white vinyl sided house with a one-car garage. Small front-yard, no side yards; you could stand between the houses and nearly touch the house next to you but the back was deep and was fenced. As a child Kerry had a dog, a German Shepard mix that he had named Butch. Butch had always been jealous of Kerry intimidating the hell out of me when I was around him.
Kerry had obviously been watching for us. His steps were eager as he left the porch to meet us in the driveway. The shirt was as tight as his jeans revealing powerful biceps from working out and a large chest that I knew was sprinkled with chest hair. Even casually dressed he made my heart pick up the pace at the sight of him. Kerry looked solemn as he waited for me to put the car in park and then turn off the ignition. Our eyes met through the glass. I knew he was thinking about last night too.
I thought about remaining in the SUV and giving my daughter and Kerry the space that they needed to say goodbye but Kat begged me to get out of the car with her. To stop the butterflies in my stomach whenever Kerry McCoy was in close proximity I took several deep breaths. Outside of the car I shut the door softly but the sound still echoed in the silence surrounding the three of us.
Kerry opened his arms to Kat as she walked around the car towards him. His face was equally inviting his daughter to forgive him and end this, their first meeting on a positive note. Kat glanced at me quickly as if seeking my permission. I nodded unsure of what exactly she was asking of me but urging her to go to him just the same.
Kat walked to Kerry and laid her head against his chest near his heart. His big powerful arms closed around her tightly. There were tears in his eyes when he kissed the top of her head and then he looked over her at me. Our eyes locked. Standing there helplessly, I watched like an intruder in the intimate scene. God how I wanted him to hold me like that again. Just like last night on my parent’s swing in the starlit night. No sounds. A still quiet night. Just Kerry and I.
“We have a long way to go Keegan,” he whispered huskily.
“Yes, we do…Dad,” she replied crying softly against his chest when she spoke those words.
All of her pain poured out of her in the tears that she was shedding.
He looked over her head and mouthed the words, “Thank you,” to me.
My own eyes were bleary with tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. I had wanted this for Keegan for a very long time and probably could have gotten it for her had I only known what Kerry had been thinking. If only I had reached out to him at some point in the last seventeen years maybe they wouldn’t have so much to make up for now. Maybe Kerry and I would have had a relationship as well. This was something that I had considered many times over the years whenever thoughts of him would pop into my mind but I had never acted on them.
Kerry opened his arms holding Kat with one so that he could pull me into the circle of his embrace. I rubbed Kat’s back while I relished the feel of his arm encircling my waist. His hand digging into the soft skin there holding me like he never wanted to let me go. He kissed my temple. I pressed my hand into his back holding him to me. Desperate for this contact while I pressed Kat into us with my other hand.
I was reminded that I had not spoken to my mother about her visits with Esther McCoy. That was a topic I wanted to broach with her soon. What had the two very different personalities with only Kat in common, been discussing every Friday over tea?
In the years that I had known and loved Kerry I had not known the two women to talk to each other or like each other for that matter. They had attended the same church. They had always been cordial to each other but church was the only commonality that they had until Keegan arrived.
“We’ll be back after Thanksgiving for my mother’s surgery,” I told Kerry softly.
“I’ll be here.” He still held us tight in his arms as if he let us go he might never see us again.
I had to pull away. I had to start the road trip back to Eden. I didn’t want to. I wanted to say the hell with it and stay here with Kerry but I knew I had to return home and fix things there so I could have a future with Kerry and Keegan.
“Call us if something happens before then,” I said handing him my phone number. “Kat will want to be here.”
“I will,” he replied taking the slip of paper with my number, our fingers brushed against each other, which caused a whole new flutter of emotion to course through me. I watched as he slipped the paper into the front pocket of his tight jeans my eyes following the fluid movement of his large tanned hand.
“Keegan,” I patted her back still so close to Kerry I could see his amber eyes and the emotion that was clearly evident in them. “We have to go. I stayed too long at Yancy’s house. It will be late when we get home.” Did my voice sound as shaky to them as it did to me?
“I’m coming Mom,” she reluctantly said. Kat looked up at Kerry’s face. “I’ll call you,” she said timidly.
“I would like that.” He smiled down at her.
“Can I call her too?” Kerry asked me.
Uncomfortably, I thought of James’s reaction to Kerry calling his home but I replied, “That would be fine.” I would deal with James.
In the SUV, Kat turned and watched Esther’s house growing smaller. In the rearview mirror I could see that Kerry stood at the gate watching us too. Suddenly, a strong urge to turn around and go back to him filled me. What would I say? We had declared our love for each other even after all these years. Nothing had changed. He had suggested that if I were free… I kept driving. I had to end one relationship before I could have Kerry.
