Beauty from Pain (33 page)

This is why I need her here. She’s my anchor.
She calms me.

“
This is my brother, Evan.” Who
better not be picturing you naked right now.

“
Laurelyn, it’s nice to meet you.
I’ve heard some great things about you from my brother.” Evan keeps
it tame, but I’m positive he would jack with me if he were meeting
her under other circumstances.

We follow him onto the elevator and then he
ushers us to where the rest of the family is waiting. My mum is out
of her seat the second she sees us and has me in her arms. “I
thought we’d never get you, Jack Henry.”

“
I’m sorry. My phone was off
because Laurelyn and I were at the Opera House.”

My mum lets me go and gives her full attention
to the girl by my side. This is it. This is where it’s all going to
change. She’s going to know my name. “Laurelyn, this is my mother,
Margaret McLachlan.”

I don’t know if it’s the circumstances with my
dad or the end of her wait to meet the woman she perceives as my
girlfriend, but my mother pulls Laurelyn into a tight embrace. I
almost think she’s going to cry, but she keeps it together. “I
wasn’t sure I would ever get to meet you. Jack Henry has promised
me more than once he would bring you to the house, but something
always comes up. I was beginning to wonder if you existed, but I
see now that you do, and you’re even more beautiful than the
pictures he showed me.”

And there it is. She knows I’m Jack Henry
McLachlan and from the look on her face, it doesn’t mean jack shit
to her. I want to bust out laughing. All of this secrecy about who
I am has been for nothing.

“
Thank you. It’s very nice to meet
you, Mrs. McLachlan. Jack Henry has told me wonderful things about
you.”

Oh, hell! Laurelyn doesn't know that my mum is
the only person on earth who calls me Jack Henry. I see Mum’s face
and know the shit just got real. “You call him Jack
Henry?”

Laurelyn is unaware of this blunder. “Yes,
ma’am.”

My mum takes Laurelyn’s face in
her hands and leans forward to whisper something in her ear.
God, help me. She’s so determined to marry me
off, there’s no telling what she told her. She may have proposed
marriage for me.

Mum recovers from meeting the woman she thinks
is her potential daughter-in-law and we join the rest of the family
in the waiting room. I introduce Laurelyn to Chloe, and then Emma
and the girls. It’s an awkward introduction for her to meet my
family for the first time under these circumstances, but she
handles it well.

We’re all antsy because it’s been almost two
hours since my dad went back, but his doctor finally comes out with
an update. “Are you Henry McLachlan’s family?”

My mum is the one to answer. “Yes. I’m his
wife.”

“
Mr. McLachlan is doing well. It
wasn’t a heart attack as we suspected, but he had two very
significant blockages. One was ninety percent blocked, the other
about ninety-five. That’s where the pain was coming from. We’ve
stented both of them and I expect him to make a full recovery.
We’ll watch him overnight and he should be able to go home
tomorrow.”

My mum holds her head with her hand, her face
flooded with relief. “Thank you so much. When can we see
him?”

“
He should be coming out of
recovery any minute. He’s going to a step-down cardiac unit instead
of the intensive care. His nurse will come for you when he’s
settled into a room.”

I see Evan huddled with his wife and children
while Mum and Chloe are hugging, and I know bringing Laurelyn with
me was the right decision, even if my dad’s condition ended up
being less than life-threatening.

She hugs me and our foreheads touch. “Your dad
is going to be fine.” She smiles as she adds, “Jack
Henry.”

I whisper so my family can’t hear. “It’s weird
hearing it come out of your mouth.”

“
It feels weird to say it.” And
that’s the end of our name conversation. This isn’t the time or
place to discuss it.

We don’t wait long until the nurse comes for
us. “I can take five of you, but children aren’t
allowed.”

Emma’s holding Mila and looks up at Evan.
“He’s your dad. You go and I’ll stay with them.”

Laurelyn peers up at me. “I don’t
know your father. Emma should go.” She
turns
to my sister-in-law. “I can
stay with the girls, if you don’t mind leaving them with
me.”

I see the relief on Emma’s face. “Thank
you.”

“
You’re welcome.” Laurelyn takes a
slumbering Mila from Emma and carries her over to where Celia is
sleeping in a chair. “Don’t worry. We’ll be just fine.”

We enter Henry McLachlan’s hospital room in a
cluster. None of us say it, but it’s frightening to see this strong
man so frail and weak. He’s pale against the white hospital
sheets—almost white on white.

He hears us enter and opens his eyes. He looks
groggy. I’m sure it’s the anesthetic wearing off.

He looks at my mum first. That’s the way it’s
always been between them. She’s always his number one.

And that’s what my mum wants me to have. My
very own number one.

She sits in the chair at his bedside while we
observe as spectators. My dad reaches for her hand and she places
it inside his. “I should have listened to you,
Margaret.”

“
I’ve been saying that for years,
Henry.”

The dismal mood in the room is lifted by my
mum’s humor. She speaks her mind. I get that from her, but she also
has a gift for easing the discomfort and tension of those around
her.

“
Henry, I might ought to thank you
for trying to die because you’ll never guess who Jack Henry brought
to the hospital with him.”

“
Well, love, judging by the
happiness on your face, it can only be the woman he’s been
dating.”

“
Yes, and she’s lovely. Just
beautiful. And she calls him Jack Henry.”

The whole family stares at me because they
missed that conversation between Laurelyn and Mum. “What? It’s not
a big deal.”

As always, my sister is the first to argue.
“You’re full of it. That’s a huge deal.”

I needed to change the subject, and fast.
“We’re not here about Laurelyn and me. We’re here for
Dad.”

Visiting hours end and my dad’s nurse assures
us his condition is good. She convinces us it would be best for
everyone, including my mum, to go home for the night. The waiting
room doesn’t make for a good night’s rest.

I’m the first one in the waiting room with Mum
not far behind. Laurelyn has Celia tucked under her arm like a
mother hen and baby Mila draped over her shoulder, sucking her
thumb as she looks around.

Her soft voice carries across the waiting room
and I hear her singing Brahms’ lullaby. “‘Close your eyes … Now and
rest … May these hours be blessed.’”

My mum stands beside me listening to Laurelyn
sing to my brother’s ankle-biters. “Jack Henry, she’s a special
one.”

She doesn’t have to tell me things I already
know. “That she is,” I sigh.

She bumps her shoulder into mine. “And you’ve
been a little shit for not bringing her to meet me.”

I’m amused, but not surprised by Margaret
McLachlan’s choice of words. She’s the only mother I know who will
tell her thirty-year-old son he is a little shit. If the
circumstances were as she believes, she’d be right. Because I can’t
tell her differently, I have no defense, so I don’t argue. “I guess
I have been.”

“
Where are you
staying?”

Where is she going with this? “The
Marx.”

She sighs. “Go get your things. I want you and
Laurelyn to stay at the house.”

Now I see. She’s so transparent. “The Marx is
much closer to the hospital.”

She takes that tone with me. That
motherly
do as I say
tone. “We’ve just had a very close call with your father. The
family should be together.”

Maybe she does want the family together, but
that isn’t what this is about. “You want Laurelyn at your house so
you can have access to her.”

“
You haven’t dated anyone in
years. Is it wrong for me to want to spend time with
her?”

It’s unnecessary for her to get to know
Laurelyn—she’s leaving in a month. “There’s nothing wrong as long
as you don’t have far-fetched ideas about us. She’s only here for
four more weeks.”

“
That’s not written in stone, is
it?”

Geez, this woman is bound and determined. “No,
but it’s written on her airline ticket.”

She huffs. “I swear, McLachlan men don’t have
a romantic or creative bone in their bodies.”

I hate that my mum has the wrong impression.
“It’s not what you think it is between us. Laurelyn and I knew we’d
only have three months together when we started seeing each other.
We agreed to date for fun, not for love.”

“
But the heart wants what the
heart wants.”

“
And yours wants another
daughter-in-law and mother for more grandchildren.”

“
My heart wants you to be happy,
and I believe that girl is the one to do it. You have four weeks to
convince her to stay.” She lifts her brows at me. “I suggest you
get on that right away, son.”

–––––

We’re driving to my parents’ house after we get our
things from the hotel and I remember my mum whispering something to
Laurelyn. “What did my mum tell you at the hospital?”

“
Oh, do you mean after the
incident where I freaked her out by calling you Jack Henry?” She
reaches over and frogs my bicep with her knuckle. Damn, it sort of
hurt. “Thanks for the heads-up, by the way. Not.”

“
Forgive me. I was a little
preoccupied with the uncertainty of my dad’s survival. What did she
say?”

“
What she told me is our little
secret, not for you to know.”

Great. My mum and the woman I’m having an
affair with are sharing secrets behind my back. That’s not awkward
at all.

Now, I’m more curious than ever. “Tell me. I
want to know.”

“
No. She would have told you if
she wanted you to know.”

“
She thinks we’re in love. Or at
least have the potential to be.” I throw the words out like bait on
a hook to see if I can get a nibble.

“
You think so?” Dammit. I can’t
tell by her tone if she’s asking my opinion or if she’s being
facetious.

She isn’t budging, but I have my ways. I might
not get what I want out of her by asking, but I have other methods
of making this little bird sing.

39

Laurelyn Prescott

Margaret McLachlan’s words echo in
my head as we drive toward her house. “
The
only way he’d let you call him Jack Henry was if he was in love
with you.”

It’s a nice theory if he’d asked me to call
him that, but he hadn’t.

He’s dying to know the secret I share with his
mother. He’s going to try to persuade me to tell him later. He
thinks he’s smooth, but I’ve learned his ways during our time
together. It’ll be fun letting him try, but he won’t succeed. My
lips are sealed.

Lachlan
navigates
up a long drive leading to
a huge house on top of a hill. Maybe a mountain. I’m not sure
because it isn’t nearly as impressive as the mansion sitting on it.
“Is this where you grew up?”

“
Yes.”

“
It’s beautiful.” It beat the hell
out of the tiny apartments and rental houses I bounced through
during my early years.

Lachlan takes our bags from the car and
carries them inside. There’s no his or mine. Our things are packed
together in his expensive luggage so at least I don’t have to be
embarrassed by my worn, mismatched set.

We enter through the foyer and I can’t help
but stare at the beautiful spiraling staircase leading to the upper
floor.

I hear his mother call out, but I can’t see
her. “Jack Henry?”

“
Yes, Mum. We’re here. I’m going
to put our things away and we’ll be down in a minute.”

I follow him up the stairs and he
takes me into his large bedroom. I’m a little surprised to see a
four-poster bed. It’s very romantic and doesn’t fit what I’d expect
to see in a man’s room. I walk over and run my hand down one of the
thick pillars.
We need this bed at
Avalon
. I could
definitely do some interesting things with it.

We go downstairs to the living room to join
Lachlan’s family and I remind myself the whole way that he’s not
Lachlan. He’s Jack Henry. “Jack Henry.”

He
turns
at the sound of his name. His
real name. The name only his mother calls him. “What is
it?”

This is going to take some getting used to.
“Nothing. I’m saying your name so I can get used to it. I’m afraid
of slipping up.”

“
Don’t worry. If
you have a slip of the tongue, we’ll tell them Lachlan is your pet
name for me. Not
caveman
.”