Love Inspired May 2015 #2 (42 page)

“You make a very dapper best man.” She shot him a smile. “It looks like a beautiful wedding.”

“He tried to get out of it,” he said with a short laugh.

“You're kidding.” She cast him a surprised glance.

“The morning of the wedding, he told me he was leaving town. So I did the only thing I could.”

“Called the bride?” Rachel asked.

“Duct-taped him to a kitchen chair and talked some sense into him.”

Rachel burst out laughing. “That's an interesting solution.”

“I knew he didn't mean it. He was just panicking. The same way he panicked before taking Tina Beuller to the prom...the same way he panicked before going to Yale. He's that kind of guy.”

“So obviously you talked him back into the wedding,” she said, her attention moving back to the picture.

“Yeah. It didn't take more than about ten minutes. I got him to the church on time. Never did get all the tape off his tux, though.”

“Sounds like you've got an interesting relationship,” she commented.

“You could say that.”

He and Craig had been rivals for most of their lives. From high school grades to girls they dated, the brothers had been neck and neck. And then they'd gone their separate ways. Matt started his firefighter training and Craig headed off to Yale Law School. Their rivalry got complicated then.

“But you're close?” Rachel asked, pulling him back to the present.

“Yeah, we have each other's backs.” He shrugged. “He's blessed. He's got a good woman there.”

“She's pretty.”

“Yeah, but it's more than that. She understands him, and after totally figuring him out, she still wanted to marry him.”

Rachel smiled. “Sounds like he had you working for that marriage, too.”

“Gloria is intent on returning the favor and finding me a wife. She's the matchmaking type.”

The coffee stopped sputtering and Matt turned back to the counter to pour coffee. He grabbed two mugs, both with fire-station logos across the side. He glanced back to find her still entranced by the information on his fridge. He shook his head wryly. Most people preferred to admire his backyard or the kitchen renovations, but Rachel was different.

“Who's this?” she asked, pointing to another photo. “Your parents?”

“That's them. They're retired in Arizona now.”

“They look nice...”

“What about your parents?” he asked.

“They both passed away,” she replied. “My aunt is the closest family I've got.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.”

She didn't answer but slowly turned away from the refrigerator and accepted the hot mug of taupe coffee with a smile of thanks. She took a slow sip, her long lashes brushing her cheeks as she closed her eyes in a sigh of contentment.

“You never did put down your roots here in Haggerston, did you?” she asked, her eyes popping open.

Matt blinked in surprise at the question. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean your brother is here with his wife, and you grew up in Haggerston, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“You even knew my grandmother.” She cradled the mug between her palms. “But this place doesn't have a hold on you.”

He shrugged. “Sometimes that hold can feel claustrophobic.”

She nodded and buried her nose in the mug once more, averting her gaze as she took another sip of coffee.

“I don't mean—” He stopped, uncertain how to even explain himself. “I'm not saying that a home and a family don't appeal.”

“No?”

“Thing is, I don't have a family of my own here in Haggerston. My brother does. My cousins do. When you're younger you feel connected to a place for the extended family there. I guess I got to the point where I realized without a wife and kids of my own, it didn't matter as much.”

“Always the single guy at the family picnic?” she asked with a wry smile.

“Pretty much.” He laughed softly, but his heart felt heavy. Maybe he wasn't even the marrying type. It wasn't logical, he knew, but he hadn't been able to deliver Natalie Martin to her parents in time, and that had changed something inside him. If the Martins had lost their daughter because he'd been too late, did he deserve kids of his own after that? Maybe he was better off being the single, reliable guy, protecting the community and doing penance for his inability to protect little Natalie.

Except he wasn't even doing penance, was he? He was trying to move on the only way he knew how—getting out of Dodge.

“So, how about you?” he asked with a slow smile. “You're just as single as I am.”

“True. So I can commiserate with being the only single one at a family picnic. It's lonely.”

“So, why haven't you moved on yet?”

She wasn't the kind of woman who would stay single long, unless she wanted it that way. She was pretty, confident, had a smile that sparkled through her eyes—even he was intrigued, and he was determined to leave town.

“Chris couldn't handle it. Not yet.” She grew serious. “Things have been hard enough for him without his mother starting to date. What he needs right now is some stability, and I'm going to provide that.”

“I get it.” He nodded slowly.

She shot him a teasing grin. “And as you pointed out so gently before, what I need right now are friends.”

Maybe it was the testosterone pumping through his system, but that sounded like a veiled request for help, and for once, that was something he knew how to fix.

“I could help you out with that,” he offered.

“You want to introduce me to some people?” she asked.

“I want to take you to my brother's barbecue tomorrow night.” He glanced out the window at the rain. “Weather permitting, of course.”

“Really? I don't want to put you out.” She shook her head. “No, it's too much, Matt. We aren't your problem.”

“You're wearing my clothes at the moment,” he said with a roguish grin. “That makes you at least partially my problem.”

“But your brother might not like having a complete stranger crash his party.”

“Are you kidding? They'll be thrilled to see me with a woman. In fact, if you do me a favor and don't tell Gloria that you've figured out what a lout I am, I could weasel out of her setups for a month at least. Besides, there will be a lot people there you'll want to meet.”

Rachel laughed and shook her head. “My clothes should be dry—” She turned toward the laundry room, where the dryer rumbled softly.

“I'm serious. It's not a family affair. My brother is having some friends over. I know everyone. They're very nice and they'll all love you. Chris can play with the other kids. Maybe some of them will go to his school in the fall.”

She turned back, her dark gaze resting on him thoughtfully as if she was internally debating. “Sure, that sounds really nice, Matt. Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Are you hungry?”

“I've got to get back and pick up Chris from my aunt's place. I said I'd be back by now.” She shook her head apologetically.

“Of course. Looks like the rain is letting up, too.”

Outside the window, the rain had lightened to a drizzle and an errant ray of sunlight was already breaking through the cloud cover. The dryer buzzed and Rachel turned toward the doorway of the kitchen, her wet hair leaving damp patches on her shoulders. She disappeared into the laundry room and Matt turned back to the window.

He felt a surge of success that she'd accepted his invitation. It wasn't a date—they both knew that—but he still liked the idea of having her with him, somehow. Just as long as he didn't get attached.

* * *

That evening, Rachel sat on the porch next to Aunt Louise, a jug of iced tea between them. The shadows stretched long, and birds twittered their evening songs. Some kids still played in the street, although Christopher had been in bed for an hour already, and Rachel stretched her legs out and rested her head against the back of the Adirondack chair.

The day had taken its toll on her, and Rachel closed her heavy eyelids, breathing in the honeyed scent of rain-drenched lilacs. It was the same scent from the thunderstorm, and it brought back thoughts of Matt Bailey—his blue eyes clouded by complicated emotions and tension along his jawline, accentuating his rugged good looks.

“How is Chris doing...with the move and all?” Louise asked, taking a slow sip of the sweet brew.

Rachel's eyes fluttered open and she glanced toward her aunt. “I honestly don't know.”

“He seems happy.” Louise whisked a fly away from her glass.

“He always seemed happy enough.” She deposited her glass on the table between them. “He'd laugh and play, and then I'd get a call from the school—”

Rachel's mind went back to the uncomfortable meetings with the principal and the school counselor. Chris was getting into fights, had learned some choice words that he spelled wrong but still insisted on writing all over his desk, and showed all the signs of a child in distress. She couldn't help feeling responsible, having just explained to him about his adoption. It was her fault, and she knew it. She'd explained everything too late.

“He isn't a bad kid,” Louise said. “He's got a good heart, that boy.”

“I think so, too.” Rachel shot her aunt a smile.

“Isn't his birthday this month? We should do something fun.”

“It was last month. We celebrated before we came.”

“Did you have a proper party?” Louise pressed.

“We were moving,” she said softly. “So, no. Not a proper one.”

“We should have a birthday party for him here,” Louise suggested. “A big family shindig. It might help him to feel more at home with us.”

Rachel paused, mulling the idea over in her mind, and then she nodded. “That's actually a good idea.”

“I'm full of them,” Louise said with a grin. “And speaking of good ideas, what about our deputy fire chief?”

“What about him?” Rachel asked.

“You were at the fire station with him today...” Louise's eyes sparkled. “What do you think of him?”

She looked away, not wanting to share the details of their walk. Her aunt already knew too much, and for some reason, Rachel wanted to keep that sweet walk in the rain as a personal memory.

“He seems like a decent man,” she said.

“And goodness knows a decent man is rare enough,” Louise said with a pragmatic nod. She sipped her iced tea, flicking a pointed look over the top of her glass in Rachel's direction.

Rachel laughed. “I'm not looking for a boyfriend, Auntie.”

“Who said anything about looking?” Louise shrugged exaggeratedly. “But if one were to fall into your lap—”

“Auntie, stop.” Rachel laughed. “I'm serious. Even if a fabulous man dropped into my lap, I'm in no position to start dating. You know that.”

“Actually I didn't know that.” Louise turned toward Rachel, eyebrows raised. “Ed has been gone for almost five years now. Why not meet someone new?”

“It's only a little over four years,” she said, correcting her aunt. “And I can't just start up with someone. I don't think Chris could handle it right now.”

“A father figure might be good for him.”

“A father figure, perhaps, but not a stepfather. He has enough to adjust to right now, what with discovering he was adopted and now the move to Haggerston. I came here to try to help Chris, and I can't get distracted right now.”

Louise nodded. “I do understand that. Chris comes first. You do what you have to do for your children. I wanted to go back to work when Nickie started school, but she hated school, and I didn't want to add to her stress by adding a babysitter into the mix. You do what you have to do.”

“Exactly,” Rachel said. “Besides, I couldn't be with a firefighter again.”

“I thought you were happy with Ed.”

“I was.”

“It isn't his fault he died.”

“I know that.” She shot her aunt a wry smile. “I married Ed not knowing what it meant to be a firefighter's wife. Well, now I know.”

Louise nodded slowly. “Ignorance is bliss, my dear.”

“No more firefighters.” Rachel lifted her glass in a toast. “I don't think my heart could take it.”

A bumblebee droned lazily above the flowers lining the walk, and Rachel's mind wandered back to her girlhood summers spent in this very house. Quiet evenings like this one had been the norm, and she and her grandmother would sit and talk. Their favorite conversations were about Rachel's “grown-up life,” when they would try to imagine the beautiful life she had ahead of her.

“You'll meet a wonderful man,” her grandmother would say. “He'll get to know you the proper way, and he'll fall in love with you.”

“Why will he fall in love with me?”

“Because of your kind heart, of course,” her grandmother would reply with a throaty laugh. “He'll ask you out to dinner, and he'll behave like a perfect gentleman. And after you've gotten to know each other, he'll get down on one knee and ask you to marry him. Then you'll call me up and tell me that you're engaged, and we'll all start planning your beautiful wedding day.”

Her grandmother had always made her life sound like a fairy tale, full of romance and old-fashioned gestures. As a grown woman, she could see what her grandmother had been doing. She'd been trying to show Rachel what was possible if she followed God's plan.

Ed had been a loving and attentive husband. He was four inches shorter than she was, stocky and balding, and he'd treated her like the most beautiful woman in the world. Tears misted her eyes at the sweet memories, but those days were gone now, and here she was back in the rambling old house.

She was no longer a girl, and she had a child of her own now, but sitting on this stoop reminded her of her grandmother's predictions for the future, and despite her complicated situation, she couldn't help the hope that rose inside her.