Thirty-Two and a Half Complications (22 page)

“Remind me to never take Neely Kate into a bar.” He chuckled, then said, “She’s having a rough time of it, huh?”

“Yeah, she’s even lost weight.”

He took my hand again. “You haven’t been throwing up, have you?”

“No, but I have been feeling sick to my stomach a lot. Violet was lucky. She only had mild nausea off and on. I hope I’m like her…when the time comes.”

“I hope so too.”

So much would change if it turned out that I was pregnant. Mason and I weren’t even married. I could only imagine how scandalized Momma would have been. But then my birth mother hadn’t been married to Daddy when I was born. In fact, Daddy had still been married to Momma at the time. That was even more scandalous than my situation, and untraditional families were much more common now. Still, the nursery could suffer with the good Christian folk of Henryetta. If there was a nursery left to save. Horror washed over me as I realized it would be that much worse for Mason…it could kill his career.

If
I was pregnant. This was all speculation at the moment.

I looked up into Mason’s face and found him watching me, like he knew I was working on a problem and he was waiting me out to see if I solved it. He deserved a better woman than someone with as much baggage as I had, but I was too selfish to give him up.

Maybe I was more like Joe than I thought.

Chapter Fifteen

Mason woke me up again that night. The room was dark except for the moonlight shining through the sheer curtains on the windows. This time he was thrashing around, a few words mingled in with his grunts.

“You son of a bitch…you think you can…”

Steeling my back, I placed my hand on his shoulder and gently called his name. “Mason.”

He bolted upright and threw me backward onto the bed. I lay on my back and watched him come to his senses. He spun at the waist and looked down at me, his face twisted with dismay. “Did I hurt you?”

I sat up and tried to give him a hug, but he scooted away from me.

“Answer me, Rose, did I hurt you?”

“No.”

“I want the truth,
dammit
.”

I cringed. “It’s the truth. I promise.”

He reached for me then, tugging me to his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s a nightmare, Mason. You can’t help that.”

“They’ll just keep getting worse. They did before.”

“Your dreams…they’re about the man who killed Savannah?”

He swallowed. “Yes.”

“Are you dreaming about…” my voice trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

“About beating him?” His words were harsh. “Yes.”

I picked up his hand and kissed his knuckles, still bruised from hitting Joe. He tried to pull away, but I turned his hand over and kissed his palm. “I’m not afraid of you, Mason. But I’m afraid
for
you. I want you to talk to Jonah. He’s helped me more than you know. I think he can help you too.”

He sat still for several seconds. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Now let’s go back to sleep.”

I tried to pull him down, but he resisted. “I’m going to sleep in the other room.”

He started to get off the bed, but I held on tight. “Mason, no.”

“They
will
get worse and I
will
hurt you. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.” When I still wouldn’t let him go, his hand covered mine. “Rose, please.”

“I like having you with me. I’ll be lonely in bed without you.”

He cupped my cheek and gave me a gentle kiss. “Sweetheart, it’s not just you we need to think about. What if you
are
pregnant? What if I accidentally hurt you and the baby while coming out of a dream? It’s safer to me to sleep in the other room.”

Not wanting to make him more agitated, I let him go without saying another word.

I tossed and turned after he left, missing him, which was just silly. When Joe and I were together, we’d only spent about three nights a week in the same bed. This was just further proof of how much I needed Mason.

I woke up to sunshine and Muffy snoring at the foot of the bed. I reached for Mason and found only an empty pillow. I sat up and noticed the door to the sunroom was open, which I was sure had been closed the night before. I slid out of bed and padded across the cold wood floor, stopping in the threshold. What I saw inside made my breath stick in my throat.

Mason sat in the rocking chair, staring at the crib against the wall. A baby blanket lay across his leg and there was a tiny onesie in his hand. Sensing my presence, he turned his head toward me and held up the pink-footed onesie, giving me a half-hearted smile. “It’s hard to believe you were this tiny.”

Sometimes it was hard for me to register that this room had been mine for the first month and a half of my life. It had been left pretty much exactly as Dora had left it that fateful day of her car accident, like a time capsule of the life I was supposed to have had.

“I know.” I took several steps inside, feeling like an intruder. “What are you doin’ in here?”

“Trying to wrap my head around the possibility of having a baby.” He definitely didn’t sound too happy about the prospect.

My breath caught and I felt like I was going to throw up. What if he changed his mind about doing this with me?

“I’m going to let Muffy out, then take a shower and get ready to go to church.”

His gaze returned to the crib. “I think I’ll skip today. I need to work on my case.”

“The one you won’t tell me about?” When he didn’t answer, I pressed on. “Does it have to do with the shakeup in the sheriff’s department?” I knew he’d spent months searching reports trying to figure out who was responsible for the leak.

“No.”

I held back a groan of frustration. But he’d promised to tell me when he was ready. Besides, it was probably official business he wasn’t supposed to talk about. I had to accept that Mason’s job was cloaked in a lot more secrecy than mine.

I texted Neely Kate once I was ready, asking her if I could sit with her at church since I’d be alone. She texted back to tell me that she’d pick me up at the farm, which was on her way into town. Ronnie was going fishing, so she’d be alone too.

Mason was in the office, fully engrossed in his work, when Neely Kate pulled up the drive. He’d been acting distant and I was worried. He was either concerned about his nightmares, me kissing Joe, him
hitting
Joe, or all of the above. None of it was good. I stood in the doorway, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth as I watched him type on his laptop. Several seconds later, he glanced up and saw me in the doorway.

I must have had a pitiful look because he spun his chair around and reached for me. “Come here.”

I went to him and he pulled me onto his lap, giving me a gentle kiss. “I’m sorry I’m not coming with you, but this is important.”

“I know.”

His mouth lifted into a soft smile, but his eyes were filled with regret. “I don’t want you to think I’m not going because I’m angry with you.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I won’t lie. I’m still upset over what happened between you and Joe. But right now I’m more upset with myself. I have some things to sort out.”

“Okay.” It wasn’t, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

Giddy On Up
blared in the silence of the room and I grimaced as I pulled my phone out of my purse and turned it off.

“Sounds like Neely Kate is waiting for you. You better go.”

I stood up and turned to leave, but Mason caught my wrist and pulled me back. “I love you, Rose.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I love you too.”

Neely Kate knew something was wrong the moment I slid into the passenger seat.

“What happened?”

I filled her in on everything that had happened since our phone call.

“I can’t believe Mason
wants
you to talk to Samantha Jo.”

“I think he figures I’m gonna talk to her anyway, so I might as well get helpful information out of it.”

“Still…”

“He wouldn’t willingly let me do anything dangerous,” I said, suddenly feeling defensive.

“Good heavens, Rose. I know that. It’s just I’m so used to you sneaking around, it feels weird being so up front about it.”

I couldn’t argue with that. “So our original plan of finding her after church works out great. Mason’s working and Ronnie’s fishing.”

A smile spread across her face. “A girl’s day out!”

“I’m pretty sure whoever came up with that term wasn’t talking about interrogating suspects in a bank robbery.”

“For heaven’s sake,” she said in mock annoyance. “We’re simply planning to make a Sunday afternoon call on poor Samantha Jo.”

The church was mostly packed when we entered the sanctuary, but we found seats about halfway down the aisle in the center of a pew.

“Rose.” Neely Kate tugged on my sleeve, then pointed to the other side of the aisle. “Look who’s here.”

Two rows ahead of us, divided by the aisle, was Samantha Jo Wheaton with a big tattooed guy who looked like he’d rather be chewing on glass than sitting in the New Living Hope Revival Church.

“What’s she doing here?” I asked. “I’ve never seen hide nor hair of her in church.”

“Guilt makes people look for atonement.” My best friend gave me a smug grin.

Of course, the explanation could be simpler than that: Jonah’s church was the hot new Sunday morning entertainment. For a town used to hymns sung to organ music and shouted sermons about fire and brimstone, the citizens of Henryetta were flocking to Jonah’s church, which boasted a live band and songs that sounded like they could be on the radio. The fact that the service was televised didn’t hurt. But I didn’t see the point of telling Neely Kate that.

The band took the stage, the musicians wearing jeans and T-shirts. Momma surely must have been rolling in her grave two miles away. Just as they started to play, someone caught my eye.

Violet. She was walking down the aisle, wearing her favorite plum-colored dress and her Coach purse, which she only pulled out for special occasions.

And then I saw what her occasion was.

She wasn’t alone.

I realized Neely Kate must have seen them too, because she reached for my arm, her nails digging into the flesh. “
How could she
?”

Several people around us turned toward Neely Kate, but she didn’t even notice. She was too busy staring at Violet, who was slipping into the pew, Joe following behind holding Ashley’s hand. Violet must have put Mikey in the nursery.

Neely Kate was livid. “Didn’t he just kiss you yesterday morning?” she stage-whispered.

More people turned around, their eyes widening when they realized that she was addressing me. Mason was well liked in the congregation, and everyone knew we were a couple. Several gave me disapproving frowns.

“Neely Kate,” I hissed into her ear. “People can hear you!”

“I don’t care. Who does he think—?”

“Neely Kate!” I said, more insistent. “Think about Mason and me.”

She pressed her lips together, refusing to sing the first song because she was so busy shooting a laser-like glare in Joe and Violet’s direction. I stole glances of my own, barely able to focus on Jonah’s sermon as I tried to figure out why I cared so much about them spending time together. Joe and I weren’t together, so he could date whomever he wanted. But my sister? Though I was far from convinced there was anything going on between them, it felt wrong on so many levels to see them together.

And Violet. She was the one who really made me mad. She was jumping from man to man, taking the one who had the most to offer. Joe was currently the flavor of the week, it seemed. Maybe her attempts to reconnect with the mayor had hit a snag. Or maybe she was just trying to prove me wrong about Joe not wanting her.

Neely Kate was still seething when the service ended, and I suspected what she had in mind as she started to push me out of the pew.

“Neely Kate! Stop!” I turned and blocked her path. “I can’t face him. Not after yesterday... I need to stay as far away from him as possible.”

Some of the fire left her eyes.

I grabbed her arm. “We need to find Samantha Jo. I need to get my money back so I can at least save
my
portion of the nursery. I love my landscaping business, Neely Kate. And Bruce Wayne likes it too. I don’t want to lose it. I need to put all this other nonsense to the side and focus on getting my money back.”

“Okay.”

“But once all the debts are paid, the Gardner Sisters Nursery will no longer exist in its present form.”

She gasped. “You’re going to split it up?”

I expected to feel more anger, but instead a heavy weight pressed on my chest. “I can’t work with her anymore. Not after this.”

“Well—” she looped her arm through mine “—let’s focus on getting your money back or there won’t be anything left
to
split up. Let’s go find Samantha Jo.”

We headed out the aisle, and I was surprised to see that Violet, Joe and Ashley had already left their pew. Since Violet was making such a show of her presence, I figured she’d spend more time making sure that everyone knew she was here with Joe Simmons, Fenton County Chief Deputy Sheriff, former candidate for the Arkansas State Senate and son of J.R. Simmons, the most powerful man in southern Arkansas.

And her younger sister’s ex-boyfriend.

Part of me felt relieved to have dodged that bullet, but the rest of me was a mess, including my guts. I reminded myself of the fact that I’d only just gotten finished convincing Neely Kate we needed to talk to Samantha Jo—
not
Violet—only she was gone too.

“Where is she, Neely Kate?”

“There,” Neely Kate pointed to the exit. “She’s headed for the foyer.” She started pushing her way through the crowd. “Out of the way! Pregnant woman! I’m gonna be sick! Let me through!”

The crowd parted like the Red Sea, giving her plenty of room to pass.

I followed on her heels, trying to ignore the glares some of the bystanders were throwing my way. “I’m with her,” I said in my defense, giving them a weak smile. “I hold her hair.”