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“Oh no. How awful. I’m so sorry. My condolences to the three of you.”
“Thanks,” Chris said, pushing the cart and his boys away from Val. “Sorry to cut this short but we just got into town and are starving.”
“Chris, I’m sorry about everything. You’ve been avoiding me. Does it have anything to do with Emily’s accusation against me?”
With a stony expression, Chris pushed the cart to the side of the aisle.
“Boys, take the cart please and get what you want from the deli. I’ll catch up with you.”
“It’s not necessary to expose my sons to—that.” He took a step closer to Val, seething. “Yes, it has everything to do with it. I can’t wrap my head around the story, and then to find out she took her own life.”
“Who said she did that? Emily died of natural causes.”
“No, she didn’t. I’m so pissed off right now. What good did it do to reach out to me?”
“Chris, I didn’t. You approached me. And I admit, I didn’t want to face it because I knew what would come of it. I knew that the truth would come out. My sister’s husband was Emily’s brother. He’s never let me forget what I did. Again, I’m so sorry.”
“Good! Why should you forget? You need to apologize to the Chastains.”
Astonished at the encounter, Val watched Chris walk away. That man was his child. Those handsome boys were his grandchildren. And that’s when the thought came into his mind. Chris’s disrespect put him on the defense. He was still virile. It wasn’t too late for him to have another child. There were no single women of childbearing age in town that he could think of that would give him a second look. It would have to be a stranger. Thinking of the dating sites for older people gave him ideas. But it would mean divorcing Elizabeth unless he could get her on board with the idea. He thought of using a surrogate.
The sounds of Chris and his grandsons in the store echoed back to him, the pain and sadness unbearable. Pushing his cart to the checkout, he smiled at Margaret who gave him a big grin in return. She might have overheard the admonishment Chris had given him. Bagging his own groceries gave him the opportunity to ignore her chatter. He loaded his groceries into the car and headed over to Chastain Veterinary Clinic to see Elizabeth. During the drive over, he came to his senses. There would be no forgiveness forthcoming from the Chastains. Nor a second chance at another family. A car tailgated him, so he pulled over to the curb. Lowering his head, he began to cry.
After Maggie left Annie and Katrina, she made a beeline for the grocery store in town. The smell of fresh bread out of the oven and frying chicken got her taste buds going. In the back of the store, she loaded up her cart with bakery items and food from the deli.
“Ah! Taking a break from the stove grind, is that what yer doin’?” Old Mrs. Spencer asked.
“You know it, Grannie. I don’t like cooking today any more than I did when I first moved here.”
Handing over the bags and containers of food, Mrs. Spencer winked at Maggie. “I hear the family is multiplying.”
“You do? Who? None of us are pregnant, as far as I know. At least not yet.”
“Not you, sweetheart. Why Val Amotte’s son was just in here with his two strapping boys, looking more like the Chastain brothers than any Amotte I ever knew.”
“You think they look like Emily Benoit?” Maggie asked, intrigued. That was her late mother-in-law’s maiden name.
“They do, exactly like Emily’s brother, too if you ask me. Thom’s ’is name. You know Bridget, right? The girl with one leg? She lost the other one in the war. Her father is Emily’s brother. So yeah, if you ask me, those grandsons of Val are quite an addition to the male blood here in Cypress Cove. If only I was sixty years younger.”
Maggie laughed, organizing the packages in the basket. “There are no women in town for those two, are there? Only younger and older but few in their late teens, early twenties.”
“Oh, I reckon they won’t be lonely for long. You watch, the women will come out of the woodwork once the word gets around.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Spencer,” Maggie said, smiling.
“By the way, how’s your Aunt Elizabeth doing? I haven’t seen her.”
“I think she’s fine. Her cook does all the food shopping, I believe.”
“Cook’s not here either. I wonder if there’s no one left to cook over there.”
“Maybe they’re on diets?”
Winking, Mrs. Spencer nodded her head. “Right you are.”
Maggie wondered what was going on, but had enough local chat for a while. “Thanks. See you soon.”
She checked out and dragged her bags to the dock. Gus came out of the shack to help her load up the skiff.
