Heaven's Touch (6 page)

“When I think of you, I remember a ten-year-old girl with pigtails,” Cadence confessed. “It's hard to believe you're a mom.”

“Westin just turned seven.” Amy pulled a pen from the depths of her purse, while Rachel crowded in with a small notebook from her book bag.

Cadence gave the required information, aware that the softball game was continuing without her and that Ben had deliberately stepped aside with Amy's son. Of all the people that ball could have hit, did it have to be him? He seemed to have recovered and perhaps felt uncomfortable, the same way she did, since he'd turned his back to her.

Since she didn't believe in coincidence, she had to wonder why Ben McKaslin kept crossing her path. What was God trying to tell her?

“Did you know that Cadence isn't married?” Paige seemed to be speaking with her sisters, but a sparkle glinted in her eyes as she met Cadence's gaze. “Still single after all these years.”

“No, really?” Rachel leaned closer, greatly interested. “How strange, because Ben isn't married either.”

“A coincidence. Some might say that was a sign from above,” Amy added.

No way. Cadence knew exactly where this was
going. “I haven't met the right man at just the right time. I'm in no hurry.”

“Love happens when it happens,” Amy said sagely, radiating happiness, the diamond engagement ring sparkling on her left hand. “It's even sweeter the second time around.”

Pain cracked like a broken rib in her chest, and Cadence spoke before the well-meaning sisters could take this one step further. “I'm not interested in getting married. I figure if it hasn't happened yet, it probably won't. I love my life exactly the way it is. Although I'm happy for you, Amy.”

“Come have pizza with us,” Paige invited, speaking over her sister. “When your game's done, just come on over. We're going to the restaurant just on the other side of the park. I'm told everyone goes there after their games.”

“No.” Her gaze shot past Paige's shoulder. “This is your family time.”

“You're like family,” Rachel piped up. “At least stop by so we can catch up. We can be friends like we used to be.”

Cadence's chest cracked a little more. After all she'd been through, how could she say no to that? “I'll stop by, if I can find you. The restaurant gets packed.”

“Good enough.” Paige beamed with approval. She was a beautiful woman with a gentle smile that seemed to be reassuring.

Cadence could feel the wings of disaster fluttering overhead. “I've got to get back. It was good seeing you all.”

As their cheerful and rather hopeful-sounding goodbyes rang in the air behind her, she spun on her cleats and ran back to her game. Hurt welled up over the what-ifs in her life, the places where so many times the forks in her path could have brought her marriage and family and hadn't.

Her team was up, and she weaved through the spectators toward the barrier fence behind home plate. She felt Ben's gaze on her all the while, like a lasso wrapping tight around her throat as if to haul her back. But she was stronger than that and kept on going. She took her place in line with her team.

“Lucky that guy wasn't hurt much,” Peggy commented. “People have really gotten hurt that way.”

Cadence nodded, focusing on the opposing team as their pitcher wound up—she had a killer slow-pitch. She kept her thoughts on the game where they belonged, because as much as she'd once loved the McKaslin girls, they hadn't become her family. As much as she'd loved Ben, he had never loved her the same in return.

So much time had passed and so much life had happened to both of them that now Ben McKaslin was just some guy to her. It was all he would ever be.

As if an angel touched her on the shoulder, she
turned to the exact position where she could see the McKaslin family meandering through the busy park, talking amicably the way a family should. The little boy skipped ahead, followed by Ben on his crutches, the metal glinting sharply in the sun as he moved. His strong arm muscles bunched and rippled as he went.

With any luck, the restaurant would be too crowded and there would no need to see him again. And if she did, there was no reason to think things could be any different this time. Life wasn't like that.

She'd learned that the hard way, too.

W
hy did his gaze find her the instant she strolled into the restaurant? Ben wondered. Especially when he'd intentionally chosen a table as far away from the front door as he could get and sat with his back to the front of the restaurant?

“See? You're drawn to her.” Rachel leaned to speak into his ear. “Somebody better go over and invite her to sit with us. If he doesn't, then one of his sisters will.”

“Stay out of this, please.” He said it firmly so she understood. But he didn't want to hurt her feelings, and took her hand. Rachel was such a sweetie it was impossible not to take care with her. “I appreciate what you're doing, but it's not what I want, pretty lady.”

“I think you're making a terrible mistake. She looks sad, don't you think?”

Her question made him turn and look again at the petite wisp of a woman with her dark hair swept up in a ponytail, wearing her team's jersey and shorts.

No. She didn't look sad. Not one bit. She was laughing and talking with other women from her team. Her smile was wide, and from this angle he could see only a three-quarter view of her face, but she looked happy enough. Then again, how could one really know that about another person from just a glance?

“Can you imagine why she hasn't gotten married? Not in all this time?”

“Did you not hear me?”

“Oh, I hear you, brother dear. I just feel a calling, if you know what I mean. As if this moment is so much bigger. I think heaven has brought you two back together for a reason.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Back together? We're not back together. We've bumped into one another. And you aren't helping things at all. Do not call her over here.”

“It won't matter if you threaten or not. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.”

“I'm going to get some pizza. I know you mean well, but this is only going to wind up hurting me. I'm here only for a while. I'm going back to active duty as soon as I can, and my work is on the other side of the globe. See?”

“Yeah, I do.” Rachel didn't look too disappointed
as she dug her fork into her heaping plate of salad. “Look, they've just put up more pizza. Go get me some pepperoni, would you?”

“As long as you promise to sit still—and don't you contact Cadence in any way. Not through Amy or Paige. Don't use Westin. You're sneaky.”

“I am a sneaky one.” She didn't look guilty in the least.

“Can I trust you?”

“Implicitly.” With a coy smirk she lifted her fork in the air. “Go on. Bring some for Paige, too. Paige, do you want more pizza?”

He knew as well as Rachel did that Paige would answer in the affirmative. And so he grabbed his crutches and accepted Westin's offer to help carry the plates. The two of them made their way to the buffet by skirting around tables and groups of people and kids running toward the video games.

“Here's the pepperoni, Uncle Ben!” Westin surged ahead and politely got into line behind a petite woman in a blue-and-white shirt and shorts and with a silky black ponytail sweeping her shoulder blades.

So Rachel had noticed Cadence was going toward the pizza buffet, had she? Well, there was no need to hide. He could handle this and show his sisters that they were wrong. And he'd show himself that Cadence Chapman didn't affect him. That he was big
enough to leave the past where it belonged. They were both older now. Wiser. Hopefully a little more compassionate.

“Hey, Cadence.” He sidled up to the buffet next to her. “How did your game turn out?”

She didn't seem at all surprised to see him, which told him she'd probably spotted him earlier, too. She slid a slice of pepperoni onto her plate and inched down to the vegetarian pizza. “We won by three runs. How's your head?”

“Fine. Good. Hardly a bump. What were the odds?”

“Astronomical, but that shouldn't surprise me. Life throws a lot of curves at a person.”

“Or hits him in the head,” Ben quipped.

“Exactly.” A smile stretched across her face, not as wide and unrestrained as her smile used to be.

Up this close, he saw a lot of changes on her face. Hers was no longer soft as a teenager's, youthful and unmarked. Time had made its presence known, had tucked character into the corners of her eyes and brackets at the corners of her mouth. Somehow the change was an improvement. But what he could not miss was the wariness in her eyes.

He hadn't put that there, had he? “My sisters sure want you to come join us. I wouldn't mind it much either.”

“Not much?”

“I'm getting used to looking the past in the face.
It isn't easy, but it's my own fault. I made mistakes that can't be undone.”

“Me, too. We're blocking others from getting their pizza.”

“Yeah, Uncle Ben,” Westin agreed, and led the way toward the table.

Ben hesitated. “If you're busy with your friends, I get that. You must do this every Saturday.”

“Something like that.” Cadence held back her emotions. Maybe she and Ben had something in common after all. He'd spoken of mistakes and regrets. She knew something about those things. “I'd like to come over as soon as I get something to eat. I'm starving.”

“You might as well visit us and eat at the same time. You can get it over with and then get back to your friends.” He winked, still charming after all these years.

“You make it sound as if talking to your sisters is something to dread.” She couldn't help but smile, because there was no missing the fondness Ben had for his sisters.

“If I bring you over, they'll think it was my doing and they'll be nicer to me. You know how mean my sisters are to me.”

“Yes, I do. It's a pity, really, how they treat you.”

The dimple cut into his cheek, and he must have known there was no way she could refuse that charm
ing dimple. Or the man who made it. After all these years she'd gotten good at saying no. She'd had to learn that the hard way. But apparently there was still one person she wouldn't say no to. And he had the feel of disaster to him. Not in his all-American good looks or in his dependable calmness that made her think the rebellious teenager had grown into a responsible man. That was the danger—look how wonderful he'd become. Her heart twisted with hurt.

Hurt—that's all the young Ben McKaslin had ever been able to do. She wasn't so sure she ought to trust the older, improved version.

She took a step along with him, wondering what she was doing. Bantering with him as if it were old times. Going along with his suggestion. Acting as if the past didn't remain a sore between them. What was she thinking? Ben McKaslin hadn't changed one bit. She'd hoped he'd married and found happiness, but he'd never settled down. Even if he was here to stay, it didn't matter. She wanted nothing to do romantically with a man who had a proven track record at leaving. Lord knows she'd been through that enough in her life.

The little boy cleared the way, rounding tables and weaving a path to the long table in the back, where large windows faced the busy ballpark and cast brightness over the family seated there. Paige and her son. Amy and Rachel. And one empty chair, as if they'd been waiting for her.

Amy spotted her first, broke away from the conversation and her eyes lit with genuine warmth. “Cadence. I'm so glad you took us up on our offer. Come talk to us. I have a place saved for you right here.”

Right next to a chair where a soda glass stood with a straw in it beside a wadded-up napkin. She didn't need to ask who was sitting in that spot. And she wasn't surprised at all when Ben set his pizza plate there. The sisters were matchmaking a little, were they?

She tried to forgive them for it, for they meant well. “I'm here with my team, but I wanted to stop by. You were always family to me, and I've been living here for about two years, but I never seem to run across anyone from my high school days anymore. So many people have moved into the Bozeman area, it's incredible.”

“We're growing out our way, too. Manhattan, Montana, is still a one-main-street town, but we have more businesses and the downtown area is regenerating. So many commuters are moving out to buy more affordable housing.”

“Which just drives up the price for the rest of us.” Amy shrugged. “Heath and I have been house hunting. There's no way the three of us will fit comfortably in my little trailer, but we can't find anything we can both afford and like.”

“That's why I'm renting.” Casual conversation.
Small talk. Cadence resigned herself to it as she set her plate on the table. This is what happened when bonds of friendships dissolved. It was strange how lives intersected for a while, and then parted. Like cars meeting on the freeway, driving parallel for some time, before continuing along on separate paths.

“Allow me.” Ben's deep baritone drew her away from her thoughts. He was so close, she could feel the warm fan of his breath against the back of her neck as he leaned to pull out her chair.

“Thank you.” She hadn't expected courtesy. Her heart wrenched and she settled onto the hard plastic chair, hardly aware of how uncomfortable it was or the fact that his entire family was staring at them. Old longings rose to the surface. Not for the teenage boy Ben used to be, but for the man she'd always wished he could be. That he would be. For her.

Ben withdrew, and it was as if he took the sunlight with him. All the warmth in the room and all the sparkling brightness seemed to leave, too. She sat in half shadows and, shivering, tried to clear the emotion from her throat and make her heart stop hurting. She whispered a brief prayer.

“So, Cadence.” Rachel was all not-so-innocent interest. “Now, what is it that you do for a living?”

Apparently Ben hadn't told them he'd seen her at his recent lap swim. He appeared equally innocent as he took a ravenous bite of pepperoni pizza. With
his sisters so interested in matching him up, she certainly understood why. “I teach swimming at the county pool next door.”

“Swimming?” Amy perked up. “Are lessons pretty expensive?”

“No.” Cadence's gaze shot to Amy's son, who was industriously pulling the pepperoni pieces off his slice, eating one and then taking a bite of pizza. “We have group lessons and, believe me, they are very affordable.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Your son is the right age. We just started a new session of lessons this week. It's not too late to start. Do you want to get him in Monday?”

“If I can make payments and if his uncle can ferry him, then absolutely. After he nearly drowned—oh, it still makes me shake—I have been thinking about teaching him to swim. This seems heaven-sent.”

“He got swept away by the river,” Rachel explained. “We were all pretty scared about this little guy, but he came through all right.”

“My new dad saved me. Well, he ain't my new dad yet, but he's gonna be.” Westin stared hard at Cadence over the top of the table. “I'm not gettin' into that river.”

“Have you ever been in a pool?”

“I have one at home. It's big enough to sit in.” He tore another pepperoni slice from his pie and popped it into his mouth.

“I bet my pool is bigger than yours. Come see me on Monday and I'll show you. Amy, the beginner class is at eleven-thirty. Have him in his suit and on deck by then, and I'll take especially good care of him.”

“Oh, I would be so grateful.” Gratitude shone in Amy's eyes. And relief.

Perhaps that is why God brought me here, Cadence thought. To help Amy's son. Purpose lit her up and suddenly the past no longer mattered. Or her regrets or her longings or her dreams, which had faded into nothing.

“I've got to get back to my team,” she explained, standing and taking her tray with her. “But it was lovely seeing all of you again. You know where I am, so you don't have to be a stranger.”

“Likewise, Cadence,” Paige called out.

She didn't dare look at Ben as she walked away, feeling the importance of being one life that belonged to God. Knowing she was fulfilling His plan for her life. She wasn't saving the world like Ben, but she taught children to swim. Sure, she coached and helped divers and swimmers to reach their potential. But diving was a passion, not her calling. Teaching was. And it made a difference.

More certain of her path than she'd been in a long time, she made her way through the restaurant and didn't look back.

 

After waving off his family, Ben figured he'd have a long wait. Cadence was still in the restaurant with her friends and teammates. Talking and laughing and talking. And talking.

Out on the field, more ball games had ended and hungry participants jammed the parking lot and trekked into the restaurant. Other parties left, disbanding to climb into their separate vehicles and drive off. But not Cadence's group. On his crutches Ben moved to the edge of the parking lot where the park met pavement and squinted into the shadows cast by the tall trees. He watched a men's game in progress.

He'd never been much of a baseball fan. Give him football and hockey any day. But he found himself caught up in the game, wishing he had better use of his leg. Remembering the games some of the guys would play in their two minutes of leisure time.

He wondered about the men playing on the field in front of him, obviously husbands and fathers, judging by the number of women and children watching.

Would he have been one of them if his life had turned out differently? If he'd married Cadence the way everybody thought he should, settled down, made mortgage payments and raised a couple of kids?

No, his life would never have been that neat and
tidy. He was called to be a soldier, there was no doubt about that. And Cadence had been destined for gold—something she would have had to give up to be a wife and mother. At least, in Nowhere, Montana, where the nearest training facility was…well, he didn't know where, but it was a long way from here.