Butterfly Lane (31 page)

John was relieved when Zanny smiled. “They love doing that.”

“They’re good kids. Just like their parents.” Owen laid his hand on her curls. “I’ll head in. You all take your time.”

John used a little more of the water to dampen the washcloth, then pressed it against Zanny’s forehead. “I had no idea you could swing a bat like that. Next time we have a family softball game, I’m picking you for my team. Ben’s side won’t stand a chance.”

“I’m great at hitting, but not so good at catching and throwing. That’s why I never play.”

“With a swing like that? Doesn’t matter,” he teased. “Drink some more water, and I’ll re-wet that towel.”

She sighed when he laid the cool cloth across her neck a minute later. “I think I’ll be so sore tomorrow, I won’t be able to move, but it was worth it.”

“What exactly set you off?”

“Everything.” She took the washcloth from his hand and wiped her palm with a wince. “The more I read, the more I saw that she loved me. That she had troubles, and that’s why Daddy left her. Not because she didn’t love us anymore. And by the time I finished reading, the gravity of what he’d done to us—to me—set in. I had to get out here. If I didn’t get the anger out, I was going to explode. Your parents must think I’m unbalanced.” She relaxed against the boards behind her.

John knelt between her legs, resting his arms on the crate on either side of her. “Nah. They understand. It’s been one hell of a year, and not in a good way. I think Dad’s pretty impressed with your swing, however. We, uh, we can’t get the axe out of the stump.” He winked at her, and Zanny snickered.

“I’ll replace it.” She sighed. “I can’t process this. It’s too big. I don’t even know where to start.” She picked up his left hand and placed it on her thigh, then toyed with his wedding band. “The letters stop two years ago. In the last few, her handwriting changes. She mentions that she’s sick. I’m very much afraid she’s gone, John. And he knew. The letters had all been opened and read. I could tell by the way they were folded. He at least glanced at them.”

They exchanged a troubled look. John had wondered about that after seeing the quantity of letters.

“What do you want to do?”

“Find her. I have to find her, one way or the other. And I have to know.” She frowned. “From what she said in her letters…I think she saw things. Heard things.”

“What kind of things?”

She hesitated. “I’m not sure. She never says outright. But with Noah telling you what he did, and your dad telling us that it can run in families, well, it makes me wonder.”

John tugged the hem of her shirt straight, playing with the ribbon that ran through it. “That would make sense.”

“Are you upset?”

He shook his head. “Upset at what? That there might be a family history on your mom’s side? No. It is what it is.”

“Upset at me because it came through me.”

He scowled. “No. And don’t you dare even think that I would be. Hell, Zan, the boys could still turn out to be shifters, or something else, even. Would you blame me for that?”

She sat up and kissed him. “No. But we knew that risk going in. This has come out of nowhere.”

John put his hand under her hair, on her neck, and tugged. When she came to him, he sat back on the hard ground that made up the barn’s floor and pulled her on top of him.

“Even if we had known, it wouldn’t have stopped me wanting you. Wanting to marry you, to have a family with you. So our son can talk to dead people. At least he won’t chew on the furniture.” He pulled her in for a longer kiss, the embrace soothing him.

Zanny relaxed on top of him, and John tucked her head under his chin. He ignored the fact that they were on the ground and that she was soaked in sweat and reveled in the comfort of being able to hold her again. They didn’t move even when another vehicle pulled up in the driveway.

“Think we could stay here all night?” she murmured drowsily.

“I’m too pampered. I want a nice, soft mattress and clean sheets. Maybe a pillow or two.”

“Your chest makes a nice pillow. And you aren’t soft,” she teased, “but I like lying on you.” She boosted herself up so that she could reach his mouth with hers, then kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

“I love
you
,” John whispered, pulling her back for another kiss. “Maybe the barn isn’t a bad place to stay, after all.”

They were interrupted a few seconds later when Ben groaned. “Get a room, people. Seriously?”

John and Zanny looked over to see both Ben and Owen standing in the doorway. Ben was shaking his head, and Owen was struggling to not laugh.

“I thought you said she was upset,” Ben growled at Owen. “I didn’t need to see this. My eyes are burning.”

“She
was
upset,” John answered as they got to their feet. Zanny hid her face in his chest, and John could hear her soft laughter. “I was comforting her.”

“Oh, is
that
what you’re calling it now?” Ben snickered. When Owen smacked the back of his head, he ducked. “Ow!”

“Zanny, will you and John stay for supper?”

John looked down at her. “Up to you.”

“I don’t want to trouble you,” she told Owen.

“No trouble at all. We were thinking about calling Emma, having her pick up pizza and bring it from town. Since everyone’s here,” he drawled, glancing at Ben. “Though one of you might get stuck in the corner if he doesn’t behave.”

Ben’s jaw dropped. “Me? I’m not the one who got caught making out in the barn!”

Owen grinned. “No, but you’re so much fun to tease, I couldn’t resist. Zanny, you can borrow some of Amelia’s clothes and get cleaned up if you want.”

“That would be nice.”

“Good. Let’s head inside, then. Ben, I guess your surprise is not going to be a surprise.”

Ben heaved a sigh. “That’s okay.”

As they left the barn, Owen explained. “Ben thought it would be nice to build the boys a swing set. We were going to work on it tonight, get it installed so they could play on it tomorrow.”

“Aww, Ben.” Zanny hugged him. “That’s so sweet.”

He put his arm around her and grinned. “I know.”

John slung his arm around Ben’s neck from behind and placed a noisy kiss on his little brother’s cheek. “It is sweet, and the boys will love it.” He tightened his arm when Ben protested and tried to pull away.

“Eww. Get off me.”

They tussled a bit, and John laughed at Ben’s efforts to break free. Sarah had come out on the porch with the boys, and they ran to get in on the takedown. Between John’s efforts and theirs, they got Ben on the ground in a pile of tangled legs, arms, and laughing shrieks.

“Aim for the ribs, boys. He’s ticklish.” John showed them just where to goose his brother for the best advantage. He finally cried uncle, and John pulled the boys off him.

“I missed out on the fun,” Sarah said as she joined them. She hugged Zanny. “You okay?”

Zanny nodded. “Better. Much better.”

Standing with a groan, John held out his hand to her. She took it without hesitation and stepped closer to him. He didn’t miss the happy look his parents exchanged upon seeing the connection.

Owen helped Ben to his feet. “Come on. Let’s get your truck unloaded.”

“Zanny, come on in and get cleaned up. Are you staying for pizza?” Sarah asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. It will be nice to have a full house again.”

“You have a full house every Sunday,” Ben joked. “Isn’t that enough?”

“Of course not. Boys, come on inside. We need to check on the cookies.”

Ben and Owen went to the back of the truck and started pulling out the pieces of the swing set, but John watched as his family went in the house. He knew Zanny was in good hands, but he just wanted to go to her, to hold her, and reassure her that he loved her. Because as much as he felt as if she’d had a catharsis behind the barn, given the depth to which her father had apparently betrayed her, John knew there would be more pain to come.

Chapter Fifty-Five

U
sing his resources, Owen took just over a week to learn the sad truth. Zanny had known the news wasn’t good when Sarah called her at work to ask if they could come by Monday evening. She’d thought about saying no and putting it off, but she couldn’t. Instead, she issued an invitation of her own.

“Will you join us for dinner?”

“We’d love to. Can I bring anything?”

“No. Just yourselves.”

Zanny let them in when they arrived, and she smiled as the boys danced around the living room with excitement.

“Come see our new toys,” Noah begged, tugging on Sarah’s hand.

“I’d love to. Lead the way, young sir.”

“Grandpa?”

“I’ll be up in a minute,” Owen assured him.

“John got held up at the office. He should be here shortly,” Zanny told him awkwardly. “Have a seat?”

He took the chair, and she perched on the edge of the couch. Given how much news she’d gotten and given on this particular piece of furniture in recent months, she was starting to loathe the sight of it.

Owen was very straightforward, which Zanny appreciated. Still, hearing his words was a blow. She’d prepared for the worst as much as she could, but there was no getting around the dagger of pain that pierced her heart.

Molly Dean Franks, who had astonishingly still been married to Dennis, had died two years prior.

“How?”

“Lung cancer. I’m sorry, Zanny.”

She had to clear her throat. “So am I.”

He gave her a few minutes to take it in. Owen had to be one of the most patient and kind men Zanny had ever met.

“Tell me what you found?”

“Of course. She was living in Frankfort, near her sister Jocelyn and Jocelyn’s husband, Steve. She worked in a finance office as clerical support. She and your father never divorced, according to her obituary.” He handed her a file folder. “There’s a copy of it in there, along with the address and phone number of your aunt. I thought you might want that.”

Zanny fingered the thick paper without opening the folder. “How old was she?”

“Forty-eight.”

The number was stunning. “That’s so young. Somehow, in my mind, I pictured her being older.”

The kitchen door opened, and John called out, “I’m home.”

“In here,” Zanny answered as she stood. “Hey.”

“Hey, gorgeous. Dad.” He looked from Owen to Zanny. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. Your parents are having dinner with us. I need to check on the food. Excuse me.” She touched John’s hand as she went past him, but she didn’t stop for a hug or kiss. She knew she would fall apart with the effort of any kind of gesture.

By the time supper was ready, she had pulled herself together. The meal was quiet, but the boys, mostly Noah, kept them entertained with stories about their day at Mrs. Hendricks’s house.

“It sounds like she’s a neat lady,” Sarah remarked when Noah paused to inhale some mashed potatoes.

He grinned up at her. “She is. And when I asked her if cousin M—” He stopped himself, his eyes growing huge with concern, as he shot a fearful glance at Owen.

Sarah’s quiet question drew his attention back to her. “Cousin Moira?” When he nodded, his lower lip quivering, she gave him a hug. “It’s okay. Grandpa told me you play with her at our house. I think that’s wonderful.”

Noah studied her quietly for a long moment, and though the rest of the adults traded glances, they kept eating, not wanting to draw any more attention to the moment.

“How is Moira?” Sarah asked him.

He relaxed. “She’s okay. She said she likes to visit ’cause she can see everyone. She’s a lot smarter than me ’cause she’s been around a long, long time. Did you know Moira? When everyone could see her, I mean?”

“I did. So did Grandpa.”

Noah mulled that over, then forked up some of his green beans. “I wondered. Anyhow, Mrs. Hendricks said Moira could come play if she wanted to. I don’t think she believed me, but she pretended. That’s okay.”

“Yes, it is.”

Zanny felt everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief when he turned back to his food, the conversation about Moira in the past. Talk turned to John’s job and then to the photography studio.

“Emma’s getting so big,” Sarah mused. “I wonder if her due date is wrong.”

“So do I.” Zanny toyed with the stem on her water glass. “I worry about her after John comes home, permanently, I mean. I don’t like the idea of her being alone. I know Emma’s an adult, and she thinks she’s invincible, but I don’t believe she has an idea of how hard it is to be a new mother. And she’s very sensitive to any criticism, implied or otherwise, right now.”

“Ben and I were talking about that the other day,” John said, surprising her. “He swears he has something in the works that’s going to solve the problem of her being alone, but he’s being a clam about what it is. Mom, any idea?”

“No. He hasn’t said a word to me.”

“For all his mischief, if Ben knows something he doesn’t want shared, you’d never realize he knows it,” Owen said. “That laid-back attitude is just a facade. He’s a lot deeper than he puts on.”

John agreed. “Like the Ainsley thing. Zanny knew her name.”

They all looked at her, and Zanny shrugged. “Ben mentioned her to me a few years ago. Something about the way he said her name stuck in my head.”

Owen set down his glass and tapped the wide base with one finger. “Given the way he reacted when John brought her up the other day, I’d say there’s a lot to that story we don’t know.”

When the men offered to do the kitchen cleanup after the meal, Zanny was more than happy to let them. She and Sarah headed to the back porch to watch the boys run off the last of their energy for the day.

“Are you really okay, about the Moira thing?” Zanny didn’t want to upset Sarah, but she wanted to make sure.

“I wasn’t, not when Owen first mentioned it to me. But after the shock wore off, I’m really kind of glad to know that she’s okay. Given the way things ended, I mean, when she died. I was going to ask you if you would mind if I have a talk with Noah about her, someday. I’d love to know what he can tell me.”

Zanny had to think about that, even though she wanted to say yes immediately. “It scares me that he can do that.”

“Of course it does.” Sarah took her hand. “Even though I was expecting my children to be ‘different,’ seeing the girls change for the first time was…disturbing. Even though I’d seen Owen change over the years and was somewhat accustomed to having him follow me around as a deer from time to time.” Her smile was sweetly impish, and Zanny couldn’t help but laugh.

“That would be unsettling, I imagine.”

“To say the least. But for you to find this out, that Noah has this ability we’ve never known about? I don’t envy you.”

“I’ll consider what you’ve asked. I want to talk to him first, see how he feels about the whole thing. So much has happened the last couple of weeks, I haven’t had a chance to sit down and discuss it with him. I feel awful about that.”

“You will. You’re a good mother, Suzanna. My grandchildren couldn’t be in better hands. That’s something I’ve never doubted.”

As the conversation turned to lighter topics, Zanny thought about her own mother. She didn’t know what kind of relationship they would have had if Molly had been in her life. As angry as she was that she’d been denied the chance to make that connection, if God stood in front of her and told her she had to choose between Molly and Sarah, the choice would be simple. Sarah meant that much to her.

“You know, I think I would have married a troll if it meant getting you for a mother-in-law,” she told Sarah.

She laughed. “Thank you. I think.”

Resting her head on the back of the porch swing, Zanny smiled. “It’s a compliment. And fortunately, John isn’t a troll. Thank you for letting me have him. I’m sorry I’ve not cared for him as much lately as I should have.”

“I don’t know if I agree with that. I think you’ve given him just what you needed to, and yourself. The connection between you seems stronger than ever, and it was pretty strong before. Am I wrong?”

“No. I don’t think so.” Zanny knew she wasn’t wrong. All she had left to do was figure out a way to tell John that she wanted to reconcile formally. With everything else, it hadn’t been foremost in her mind lately. But it was definitely something she was going to have to think on. He needed to know just how special he was to her. Nothing less would do.

First, however, she needed to resolve the situation with her mother. John and their marriage deserved her full attention, and until she got all the answers she needed, she couldn’t give him that.