Song of the Meadowlark (Intertwined Book 1) (17 page)

Rex stood from where he sat next to Cora, walked across the room and faced the window, staring out into the night. After a minute, he turned to face her. “Cora, I am a believer, like you. But I've found it difficult to believe in anything since Patty died. I felt like God let me down. Instead of turnin’ toward him, I turned away. I’ve known for a while now I needed to turn back, before it was too late. I didn’t know how to do it though. Since I’ve known you, though, I’ve known a peace I never knew before. You’ve taught me a great deal about faith.”

“Having faith is what gets me through this crazy life.”

“I feel like I’ve been given a second chance.”

“Tonight, when I was out driving around wondering what to do with my life, I knew something would work out. I knew God was weaving things together, even though I couldn’t see them. Then I came home, and here you were. I needed you. I just didn’t know how to make that happen.”

“I needed you, too, Cora. Will you let me into your life?”

“I would like to try it.”

“I don’t know if I can ever be as good as you, though.”

“Rex, we’re all striving for the same thing. The point is, we keep at it. You have to promise me you won’t try to hide your feelings from me anymore. Please tell me what you’re thinking or feeling, so we can deal with it together. We’ve wasted so much time already. Okay?” Cora got up off the couch and walked over to Rex.

“Deal.” Rex winked at her. “Not to change the subject, but are you hungry?”

“A little, I guess. Would you like me to cook something for you?

“Absolutely not. I’m takin’ you out to eat.” Rex grabbed Cora in a bear hug.

“I look terrible, though.” Cora wrapped her arms around the man of her dreams, her heart warming.

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world. You could never look terrible.”

“Let me at least go patch up my makeup and change clothes. I’ll be right out.” Cora tried to pull herself out of Rex’s grip.

“Not until I do this.” Rex bent his head to kiss her. Cora melted into his arms. She’d almost forgotten the wonderful feel of this man’s kiss. The softness of his face without the beard warmed her heart even more. His scent tranquilized her. Then, gently, Rex released her.

“Now, you can go.” He smiled; the dimple even more prevalent now.

She ran her fingers through his curls. “Now I don’t want to go,” Cora enticed, but she turned and headed toward her room.

Once in her room, she touched up her face and then looked for something that complemented the way Rex was dressed. She picked her new jeans and sweater Mom had brought home for her from the mall. She smiled the entire time she dressed. Rex had really come for her, and he'd opened up to her too.

Cora joined Rex in the living room after only a few minutes. “Wow! I thought you couldn’t get any prettier.”

“Why thank you, sir.” Rex opened the front door for Cora, and she stepped outside. “Nice rental by the way.”

They left the house after Cora wrote a note for Mom and Dad. In the truck, on the way to the restaurant, she sat in the middle next to Rex. He tried to keep his arm around her, but she had to lean too far up uncomfortably. So instead, she pulled his arm from behind her and wrapped her hand inside his arm. “The only thing that would make this ride more perfect would be some good country music.” Rex winked at Cora, and she rolled her eyes.

At dinner, they talked more at length about their immediate future, the ranch, the bed-and-breakfast, Susie. They also laughed about childhood memories and the difference between their growing up—Cora at the beach and Rex in South Georgia on a ranch; Rex with hard-earned old money and Cora with white-collar new money. Rex filled her in on the latest happenings of Clarice and Matt. Their dinner included sampling each other’s seafood and sharing a veritable chocolate explosion for dessert. Cora couldn’t take her eyes off Rex’s smooth face, nor could she stop staring into his fiery eyes. Rex kissed a drop of chocolate off Cora’s mouth, and it nearly sent her over the edge.

Cora asked Rex to come back inside with her when they returned to the house so Mom and Dad could to get to know Rex better. She also needed him with her. He agreed to stay with her for as long as she needed him.

“Well, Rex, here goes,” Cora said as they pulled into the driveway.

“What are you gonna say to them?”

“I don’t know. I guess that’ll depend on how they are when we get inside.”

“Are you still mad? Or are you okay with what you learned today?”

“I’m not fuming anymore. I’m so much happier now that we’ve worked out our differences, so I think I can be more understanding with them.” Cora smiled.

“Let’s go then.” Rex opened the truck door and slid out. He held out his hand to Cora, and she climbed out on his side of the truck.

They took their time getting to the front door. Little beads of sweat formed on Cora’s upper lip. She dashed a silent prayer as they entered the foyer. While they were hanging up their jackets on the hall tree, Dad and Mom came into the foyer from the sitting room at the back of the house. For a moment all four stood, not saying a word.

Then, finally, Dad removed his pipe from his mouth. “Cora, I’m truly sorry for not telling you. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me forever. I should never have let this lie go on for so long. Your poor mother’s been heartbroken since you left. I should’ve never put her in the position of having to tell you.”

The weight of a thousand freight trains lifted off Cora’s chest as Dad shouldered the blame for his family’s disharmony.

“Why don’t we all go in the sitting room to talk?” Mom held out her manicured hand, pointing the way.

“I’ll stay in here.” Rex gestured toward the living room.

Cora shook her head at him and was about to speak, when Dad spoke instead. “No, Son, we’d like you to join us. You’re obviously a part of Cora’s life, so you need to hear everything.”

Rex nodded. They all walked into the sitting room. Mom disappeared into the kitchen and swiftly returned with a pot of coffee and cups.

Cora reached to pour a cup of coffee. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about everything you told me today. I’ve been very bewildered. I drove around for hours, crying and yelling. I felt so betrayed. I wasn’t sure what would happen after today.”

“We want things to change between us—to be better. We’ve both been too hard on you all of your life. We’ve made you pay for my sin. That was wrong. It wasn’t your fault. I wanted so much for your mother to love you that I tried to make you perfect. I was too rough on you. I want you to forgive me.” Tears flooded Dad’s eyes, and he reached out for her hand.

She accepted his hand, a hand that had never done a hard day’s work. “I’ve known all of my life that something wasn’t right. I’ve even noticed many times how I look nothing like Mother. I always thought that the Sinclair genes were extra strong. I wondered why I had no siblings. I knew I had to work too hard for your love. Most of the time, no matter what I did, it wasn’t enough. I grew to accept this and assumed it was normal.” Cora sipped her coffee.

Rex sat silently beside her, hat in hand. His eyes never left her face.

“Can we start over?” Mom studied Cora’s face, waiting for her reaction. “I know you may not want to call me your mother anymore, and I will understand if you don’t, but please don’t shut out your father. He feels terrible about this, and we want you in our lives.”

“We can get past all of this, Dad, Mom.” Cora looked at Mom. “You are my mom. You may not have given birth to me, but you did raise me. Maybe you weren’t the best of parents. Who is, though? We all make mistakes in our lives. We shouldn’t be penalized for them.” She gazed at Rex. “We all need to learn to forgive and forget.”

“Cora, I never let you forget about your mistake in marrying Clark. I’m sorry. I know you truly loved him. It wasn’t your fault he turned out the way he did. I’m sorry he died. I deeply regret we didn’t offer you our support when you found out about his death. You must have been hurting so.” Dad puffed his pipe.

Rex held Cora’s hand but didn’t say a word. She relaxed because of his presence. “I know you two want to have a fresh start with me, and I want that too. But I do want to return to Georgia.” She cringed at the potential response. “I hope you agree with me that we can have a fresh start with me there. It’s not an either/or situation. And it’s only a few hours away.”

“Of course, we understand you want to be with Rex and with his little girl. We want you to be happy. Go, and enjoy yourself. But you better call and write us often.” Mom offered a genuine smile.

“And you can send us photos of what you’re doing. Who knows? You’re old mom might even figure out how to video chat.” Mom giggled.

“I’d love to see that, Mom.” Cora perked up. “Dad? Is this okay with you, too? I thought you wanted me to stay here and run the company.”

“We made some decisions this evening. We don’t want to pawn off our business dealings on you. That’s not fair. But we both want to travel.” Dad turned toward Rex. “You’d think that since I own a travel agency, we’d travel all the time. In reality, though, I work all the time, and we never go anywhere. We’ve decided to sell the business and to travel in a motor home until we are too old and have to do something else. When we decide to settle down, we’ll probably choose a location near you, Cora. I think we’ll keep the beach house as a vacation home, though.”

“That sounds great, Dad. How do you like the idea, Mom?”

“I love it. As long as you won’t miss your childhood home.”

“No.” Cora breathed in relief. Not much of this home held fond memories.

“This will give you the space you need away from us, and it will give us some growing time. We’ve neglected our relationship for far too many years.” Mom sipped her coffee and smiled at Dad.

“Well, Rex, what do you think of this crazy family?”

“I think it’s no crazier than mine, Mr. Sinclair. I have yet to figure out why Cora wants to be with us. Our house is always in a crisis.”

“It is not, Rex O’Reilly. You’re such a liar.” Cora jokingly smacked him on the arm.

“At any rate, I’d like to extend an invitation to the ranch to you both. You’re welcome anytime. Wherever your daughter is, you are welcome.”

“We thank you, and we may possibly take you up on your invitation,” Dad said.

Placing her cup on the table, Cora slapped her legs and stood. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m exhausted. I think I’ll walk my dear Rex out and head to bed.” Cora yawned.

“Why don’t you stay the night here, Rex?” Mom offered.

“Thank you ma’am, but all of my things are back at the hotel. I’ll be fine.” Rex put his Stetson on his head, adding almost a foot to his height.

Cora and Rex walked to the front door. They talked only for a few minutes before Rex leaned down and kissed her good night. “I’ll call you in the morning. We still have a lot to talk about. Maybe we can go for breakfast?”

“Yes, sir, that would be great.” Cora gave this tall gentleman a salute. “Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“Uh, thanks. There probably are bed bugs at my hotel. But seriously, I’ll sleep quite well now I know we’re good.” Rex tipped his hat.

“Yep, we’re good.”

Cora awoke smiling in the warmth of her bed. Her Bible readings from the night before remained in her thoughts. She quivered in anticipation of spending her day with Rex and with Mom and Dad.

Soon after Cora had showered and dressed, the telephone rang.

“Good mornin’,” called the deep, raspy voice on the end of the line.

“Good morning, Rex. Did you sleep well?” Cora flirted.

“I missed you, but I did sleep quite well.”

“No bed bugs?”

“No, thankfully, no bed bugs.”

“Good.” She giggled.

“I’m happy to know we’re gonna be together.”

“I am too. Are you coming here to the house?” Cora brushed her dark, shiny hair. The new shampoo Mom gave her had transformed her hair after the chlorine had burned it.

“Yes, if you’d like me to. We can get breakfast like I said last night.”

“That sounds good to me.” A knock came at her bedroom door. “Hang on. Come in.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you were on the phone. I’ll come back.” Mom backed out of Cora’s room.

“Mom, what do you need? I’m on the phone with Rex.” She waved Mom into her room.

“I was checking to see if you were having breakfast here or not.”

“We were going to go out.”

“Why don’t you invite him here, if you’d like?”

“Do you want to eat here? Then we could go out afterwards,” Cora inquired.

“Sure. Sounds great. I’m on my way.”

The line went dead, and Cora placed her phone on the bed. “He said he’d like to eat here. He’s on his way. Are you sure you want to feed him? He eats a lot,” Cora ribbed.

“I’d love to feed him. Come on and help me in the kitchen.”

Cora followed Mom into the kitchen. She smiled because Mom was in such a happy mood. The patio doors were swung open, and the breeze blew inside.

“Where’s Dad?” Cora scanned the kitchen and dining room.

“He went out for a while this morning. He said he had to get something. He wanted to get it before you left.”

“I’m not leavin’ today. At least I don’t think I am. Rex bought me a ticket to return with him, but he said there were a few days before the flight.”

“You might want to leave sooner. You probably are anxious about getting a start on things and seeing where your life will lead.”

“I guess. I want to be with you two also, though. Besides, we aren’t exactly getting married. We’re just going to see if things work out.”

“Oh, I see.” Mom regarded her with a furrowed brow.

“It isn’t what you think, Mom. We aren’t sleeping together. And...there are no plans to do so. Rex knows I will not do that unless I’m married. And he feels the same way. We’ve only known each other a few months, and it’s been pretty rocky. We’re just now admitting there’s something here. I must say, though, that if we feel we’re right for each other, marriage will come quickly, no doubt.” Cora smiled.

“I understand exactly what you’re saying. A grown man will have a difficult time waiting.”

“And a grown woman too.” Cora elbowed Mom, and the two giggled. Was she actually having this conversation with Mom and they were laughing together? Cora set the dishes and silverware out on the table.

“I’m back,” rang a voice from the foyer.

“Dad? Is that you?” Cora sprinted through the kitchen to the entrance hall.

“Yes. Good morning. Did you have a good night’s sleep?” Dad kissed her on the cheek with more warmth than she’d ever felt from him.

“Yes, I sure did. What have you been out doing so early this morning?”

“I had to pick up a few things. You’ll find out later.” Dad hid the packages he held behind his back.

“Dad!”

“Go help your mother with breakfast.” He smiled and waved her away. “Is Rex coming to eat with us?”

“Yes.” She fluttered her eyelashes.

“Good. I got something for him too.” Dad headed to his study.

Going back into the kitchen, Cora chewed her bottom lip as she tried to solve the mystery. “Mom, what do you think he bought for us?”

“Now, now, patience.” She shook her finger at her. “He’ll show you when he’s ready.”

“I can’t stand the suspense.” Cora blew her bangs out of her eyes.

“Get busy scrambling those eggs, and you’ll forget about it soon enough.” Mom handed Cora a plastic spatula. “Then you can move the dishes out to the patio. It’s a great morning to eat outside.”