One Mountain Away (25 page)

“You can’t call anymore,” her mother finished.

Harmony gently hung up the telephone, put her face in her trembling hands and let the reality of how alone she really was settle over her like a shroud.

* * *

By the time her shift was up, Harmony was exhausted. Midweek wasn’t Cuppa’s busiest time, but several large, rowdy groups had descended simultaneously, and at the last minute another server had called in sick. Harmony and an eighteen-year-old named Matt, who was still in training, had handled all the tables, and by the time the last dishes had been cleared away, both of them were dragging their feet.

“It’s pouring out there.” Matt squinted into the darkness through the front door. A few people had trickled in for a final cappuccino or smoothie, but the kitchen was now closed and counter service reigned. They were done, tips tucked in their pockets.

“Stella loaned me an extra umbrella. Need shelter getting to your car?”

“Got a friend picking me up,” Matt said. “We could drop you at yours.”

Harmony considered. Stella’s loaner was small and flimsy, and the way the wind was blowing, she wasn’t sure the umbrella would last the necessary block.

Then the wind blew someone through the door whom she hadn’t expected to see.

When he saw her standing there, Davis barricaded the doorway with his body, as if he expected her to dart into the rain just to get away. “We need to talk,” he said.

“You go ahead,” Harmony told Matt. “I’ll be fine.”

Matt, who weighed a good fifty pounds less than Davis, looked him up and down first, as if assessing her risk. Then he shrugged. “Whatever.”

“You did a great job tonight,” she said, warmed by his obvious concern. “See you tomorrow.”

She waited until he was gone before she squared her body to look Davis in the eye. “The place closes in about fifteen minutes, at which time I’m heading home.”

“Then let’s find a table fast. Can I get you anything?”

A better handle on men? A different childhood? Mimicking Matt, she shrugged with the same lack of conviction. “Not a thing.”

They took a table by the window, empty of all condiments and still damp from her own dishcloth. She tilted her chair on its hind legs to ease her aching back. “Fourteen minutes and counting.”

“I’m not here to try to convince you to have an abortion. You’re acting like I’m some kind of selfish jerk.”

She just lifted a brow and waited.

“I admit I’ve been less than a perfect boyfriend.”

“You think?”

“I got into our relationship for the wrong reasons. I thought it was temporary, fun for both of us but not long-lasting.”

She wondered if, at the beginning of their relationship, she’d even given the substance of it
that
much thought. Davis had been older, secure in a good job, and she supposed she’d thought that meant he was also wise and mature. She’d been so flattered by his attention that she’d fallen into bed without thinking about the future. Getting through each day had been her main concern. Unfortunately, that was still the case.

“I guess I thought the same,” she said, struggling to be fair.

“I didn’t realize what a gem you are. Not until you walked out on me.”

No one had ever called her a gem, and just for a moment, she let Davis’s flattery work its magic. She sobered quickly. “If by that you mean I waited on you hand and foot, I was a five-carat diamond.”

“I don’t mean that, Harmony. I mean you’re special. You’re funny and smart, even if you haven’t been to college yet, and you’re good to people, even if they don’t deserve it. And I didn’t see that clearly enough. I guess I figured us together wasn’t real, just kind of a passing phase, and so nothing I did was going to really hurt either of us.”

She wondered how hurt she really was. Was she hurt, or angry, or just scared now that she was on her own again? Really on her own, something her mother had certainly confirmed. Then there was the baby.

“So where is this leading?” she asked. “Because Cuppa’s about to close.”

“You’re making this pretty hard.” He wasn’t scowling, not exactly, although Davis’s normal expression was a cross between perturbed and cynical, and this was more the first than the second.

She tossed her braid over her shoulder and grasped the end, brushing it over the back of her hand. “Apparently I forgot to remind myself when we were together, but it’s
not
my job to make your life easy.”

“I want to do the right thing.”

“And what would that be?”

“I think you should move back in with me. I think we should get married.”

She dropped her braid in astonishment. “What?”

“It
is
the right thing. You shouldn’t face this alone, and I need to be responsible. You didn’t get pregnant on your own. I had everything to do with it, and the baby’s mine. It’s the best scenario for both of you. I checked my policy. You’ll be covered by my insurance. You’ll have a good, safe place to live. We’ll get you a better car, one you can count on, and when the baby’s older, you can go back to school and earn an associate degree. You don’t want to work at Cuppa the rest of your life, do you?”

She thought of Stella, the mother of three who was doing just fine working here, although she was far from rich.

Oddly, that was the only thing she could think of. She couldn’t seem to wrap her head around anything Davis was saying. He wanted to marry her? She was young and romantic, but never, even during the best part of their time together, had she actually thought he might want to tie the knot. It wasn’t a daydream she’d indulged in. She certainly hadn’t gotten pregnant to make it happen.

“Marriage?” she asked at last.

“That’s what I’m talking about.” His expression lightened. “I thought about doing this with a ring. Then I thought maybe you would rather choose one together, and I wasn’t sure you would give me time to pull one out of my pocket tonight, anyway.”

“Davis, one minute you’re furious Mother Nature and I collaborated to make this happen, and the next you’re offering to marry me?”

“Not exactly one minute. You sprang this on me, Harmony. One minute we’re having dinner, and the next you’re racing to the bathroom. I didn’t really have time to think it over at Zambra. And let’s face it, you didn’t even tell me. Not in so many words. I was busy trying to figure things out. But I’ve had more than a week to consider it. It seems like the thing to do, don’t you think? Have the baby, be a family.”

“You don’t like children. You’ve told me you don’t.”

“I don’t like other people’s children, no. But my own’ll be different.”

She thought about her father, who had never allowed noise or commotion in their home. Even his beloved Buddy had tiptoed around on the worst days. Would Davis be that kind of father? For better or worse this child belonged to him, but creating a child and living with one were very different.

“You’re not exactly jumping for joy.” His expression darkened again. “I thought you would be pleased once you heard me out.”

“It’s a lot to think about.” That much was true. “I’m going to need time to decide what’s best for the baby and me.”

“And what about me?”

She could think of many ways he might have said that. Teasingly? Lovingly? But under the words she heard the faintest whine.
What about me?
Was that going to be the primary question in their marriage?
If
she married him?

“You’re a big guy,” she said. “You know, sometimes you just have to sit back and let things unfold.”

“So what? Now you consult the tarot or something?”

“Think about it, Davis. You might have an entire lifetime of me doing things like that. It could drive you crazy.”

He surprised her and smiled. Then he leaned over and took her hand, and wove his fingers with hers. “If that’s the worst, I can live with it. Just think about me when you shuffle the deck. Remember all the good times we had? At some point during one of them we created that kid inside you. And we had fun doing it. Don’t forget
that
when you lay out the cards. I’m just the guy who wants to take care of you and our baby.”

* * *

Every day of her hospitalization, Ethan had brought Maddie presents. A new electronic Scrabble game. Colorful hair clips. Sequined flip-flops. Today he’d really lucked out at his favorite rare bookstore and found an autographed copy of
Because of Winn-Dixie,
a book Maddie loved. She was going home in the morning, but she would have to stay quiet for a while, so rereading a favorite novel would be just the thing.

Maddie was still nearly as pale as her pillowcase, and her freckles seemed to dance wildly on her cheeks when she spoke. She thanked him for the book and hugged it to her chest. She smiled, just the way she knew she was supposed to, but her blue eyes still looked sad.

“It’s great, Papa. I’ll read it all over again.”

“You’re getting out of here in the morning. Are you excited?”

“Everybody’s nice, but I miss my bed.”

“I bet. How about school? Miss that, too?”

“I guess. I can catch up on the work. I’ve already started. Mom brought me a bunch last night.”

Ethan had expected her to be more excited that life was returning to normal. “Don’t forget, you’re going to be good as new.”

“I’ve never been as good as new.”

He didn’t have to ask what she meant. “I know the seizures are hard to deal with, especially after what you’ve been through. But I hear you’re on new meds, and your doctor’s optimistic they’ll help.”

“He’s said that before.” She sounded very adult, as if she was the one who needed to bring reality into the conversation. “He always hopes they’ll help, but they never really do.”

“It takes time to get this right.”

She nodded, as if she didn’t want to worry him.

“What are you looking forward to?” he asked to change the subject. “If not to going back to school?”

“Going to Nashville.”

In the midst of this crisis Ethan had nearly forgotten that Jeremy planned to bring Maddie to Nashville to spend part of the summer with him. Now he realized just how much this trip meant to her. Normal children of divorced parents—something that was almost the norm itself these days—went to visit their noncustodial parents wherever they lived. This was not only Maddie’s chance to be with her father, but to do what other children did. Leave town. Go somewhere different. Find out what was waiting there.

“Do you think he’ll take you to the Grand Ole Opry?”

“You bet! He promised.”

“Are you going to take your guitar and let him teach you some new chords?”

“If there’s room in his car. He’s going to pick me up here and drive me to Tennessee.”

Ethan knew better than to outstay his welcome. He stood and bent over to kiss her forehead, glad to leave on a happier note. “I’ll come see you tomorrow once you’re home. You sleep tight.”

“I can’t wait to show Mom my book.”

He ruffled her hair, then left the room and started down the hall. He hadn’t seen Taylor, who’d been off having a sandwich, but now she was coming toward him. Once they were almost on top of each other he gave her a quick hug. She looked tired but resolute. She also looked older than twenty-seven, maybe a lifetime older.

“Just left Maddie.” He told her about the book.

“What a perfect gift.” She glanced at her watch. “And just in time. Visiting hours are almost over.”

“She seemed a little down, but she cheered up as soon as she started talking about the trip to Nashville.”

Taylor shook her head. “Why did you talk to her about that?”

“I asked her what she was looking forward to, and she said the trip. She brightened up right away.”

“I wish you hadn’t started that particular conversation.”

Ethan considered just letting it go, but instead he pulled her to the side of the hallway so an orderly pushing a bed could get past. “Why not? Looking forward to this trip makes her feel like everybody else. All the other kids go on vacations.”

“Because she can’t go. I can’t believe you don’t see that, Dad. She’s in the hospital because she had a seizure and got hurt. Badly hurt. Do you think Jeremy’s up to handling something like that? He hardly knows her, and he sure doesn’t know anything about handling emergencies.”

“None of us
handled
it, Taylor. The paramedics handled it. Jeremy can dial 9-1-1 just the same as anybody else.”

She took a step back, either out of surprise or in assessment, he couldn’t tell which. “And when she came to, I was there. You were there. She trusts and loves us. I’m not going to let my daughter end up in the care of people she hardly knows.”

Jeremy was Maddie’s father. He’d been involved in her life from the start. He was, by nobody’s measure, a person Maddie hardly knew. But as Taylor kept her gaze locked with his, Ethan knew that he couldn’t say as much. Taylor was certain she was right, and from the very beginning, she had made it clear that Maddie was her child and her responsibility. She loved her father. She needed his support.

But she did not want his advice.

“I wish you luck when you explain that to her,” he said at last. “She’s counting on this, Taylor.”

“I’m not going to say a thing until she recovers, so please don’t mention it, okay? I’m hoping Jeremy will come here for a good long visit. That’ll soften the blow.”

He nodded, although he didn’t want to. “Do you need help getting her home tomorrow?”

“We’ll be fine.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Just let me know when she’s there, and I’ll stop by tomorrow after work. Okay if I bring her some ice cream?”

“She’ll love it.”

They chatted for another moment, then said goodbye, and she continued down the hall. He wondered, if he seriously questioned his daughter’s decision, whether she might begin shutting him out of her life, the way she had shut out her mother and Maddie’s own father.

This was a side of Taylor he wished he had never seen. Or, perhaps more accurately, this was a side of Taylor he wished he had never recognized.

Chapter Twenty-Three