The Confession (30 page)

“Are you nervous or are you excited?” Reaching out, he took her hands into his. “You’ve waited a long time for this. You know Emily, and she knows you, but it’s different now. For all the nerves you’re feeling, can you imagine hers? She’s waited for her little girl to come home for twenty-eight years. Today, she is.”

The tears rolled down her cheeks as she pictured Emily. Her eternal hope in her daughter’s return, her heartbreak as one year rolled into the next without her. She knew how blessed she was to be here. To know that on the other side of that door was a woman who’d loved her unconditionally her entire life.

“Aimee.” Mark squeezed her hands. “Before we go inside would you take a walk with me?”

“Now?”

He nodded his head. “Humor me.”

Taking her hand in his, he led her down the front steps and around the back of the house. The sun was beginning to set, the light softly filtered through the trees. She felt herself unwinding, the nerves she’d felt before beginning to ease. She inhaled the intoxicating scent of jasmine and roses filling the air.

Grateful that he’d realized her need to clear her head, she turned to Mark. Her appreciation never passed her lips. She was entranced by the expression that lit his face. She followed his gaze to see what held his attention.

The rose garden was aglow with candlelight. Hundreds of candles flickered in holders strewn throughout. A few feet in front of her, pale pink rose petals lined the pathway. She turned to Mark again, certain her surprise was written all over her face.

He smiled at her, his eyes filled with childish delight. He squeezed her hand and slowly led her down the petal lined path deeper into the garden.

“Mark, what is all of this?” she asked, overwhelmed by the beauty surrounding her. The sky was splashed with reds and oranges as the sun continued to set. The glow from the candles emphasized the rich colors of the rosebushes surrounding them.

He brushed his lips gently over hers. “I’ve been thinking about the changes that are going to happen around here now that you’ve come home.”

He took her hand and led her to the small bench seat. She sat down next to him, and turned to face him, her knees gently touching his.

“I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am you’re Emily’s daughter. You’re an incredible, loving woman, and I know how much happiness you will bring into her life.” He looked down, and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand as it lay clasped with his on her lap. “To me, though, you’re much more than that. I realize I haven’t shown you how much you mean to me lately, but I would like the chance to make all of that up to you. I want to show you how much I love you, every day for the rest of my life, and longer, if it’s possible.”

Her heart swelled as his words began to sink in.

“I want to have children with you. Although, I insist they be born at home and under tight security. I want yours to be the first face I see every morning, and the last face I see each night.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, stood up and pulled a box from his pocket. He knelt in front of her and lifted the lid.

“I’ve already asked your mother’s permission, and she’s given it, although she mentioned she thought you could do much better than me. Aimee, will you marry me?”

She looked into his eyes and felt her heart soar. “Of course I will marry you. I love you, Marcus Lee.”

He lifted the ring from the velvet box and slipped it easily onto her finger. It fit like it had been made for her.

“It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen,” she said, not taking her eyes from it as it sparkled brightly, reflecting the surrounding candlelight.

“It belonged to your mother. It’s the same ring that Nathan put on her finger on their wedding day.”

Her eyes glistened as she held up her hand to look again. She never imagined she could feel as much love surrounding her as she did at that moment.

They both stood, and he pulled her into his arms. His lips pressed firmly to hers, he spun her around in a circle. Hearing scraping and murmuring sounds behind the large tree in the corner, they both turned their heads.

Crackling sounds were followed by loud whispers. “I can’t see, move over.”

More rustling sounds were followed by a snappy, “I can’t see either, you move over.”

Aimee and Mark covered their mouths, fighting the urge to laugh out loud. They bent down and quietly crept toward the sound. Coming up behind them, they stood for a moment and watched Mimsey, McKenzie, and Emily, elbowing, and pushing each other as they strained to peek around the large tree trunk.

“Where did they go? I can’t see them anymore, can you see them?” Mimsey asked, leaning farther out.

“I can’t see anything but McKenzie’s head,” Emily snapped, jabbing her elbow into her side.

Aimee began to laugh. All three women jumped in surprise.

McKenzie was the first to speak. She smoothed down the skirt to her sundress, and smiled innocently. “There was a poor cat stuck in the tree.” She looked up and lifted her hand to point, exaggerating her shock at finding it gone. “Well, will you look at that, it found its own way down.”

Mark laughed again, and walked over to hug his mother. “You three just couldn’t wait, could you?”

“We’d have to rely on you to provide all the details. What if you left something out? Forgot an important detail, or something she said?” McKenzie appeared to have convinced herself this was actually an honest justification for spying.

Mimsey and McKenzie stepped from behind the tree, but Emily stood frozen in place. Aimee didn’t move, as she stared at her mother. All the things she’s wanted to say flew from her mind.

Emily’s eyes filled with tears as she tilted her head and smiled at her. Without taking her eyes from Aimee, she stepped from behind the tree and came to stand in front of her.

“I’m sorry for spying.” She looked over at Mark, and then locked eyes with Aimee again. “I simply refuse to miss another big moment in my daughter’s life.”

Aimee wrapped her arms around her mother and pulled her close. Mark walked over, and took her hand to walk her into the house for dinner. Aimee looked at them, surrounded by love and feeling happier than she’d ever imagined possible. A movement caught her eye. She watched as a ladybug landed softly on a nearby rosebush.

Debut Author Erin McCauley has always been fascinated by the dynamics that make a family. Be it by blood or destiny, our pasts lead us to become the people we are meant to be and the families we work to form. She enjoys writing about self-discovery and the healing that must take place before true love can be recognized.

Erin lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and three children.

Look for
The Truth
, the second book in this series, forthcoming December 2012.

Visit her at
www.erinmccauley.com
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Lexie Wayne looked down at the tombstone and fought back the tears as Ryan bent down to place the bouquet of daisies on his mother’s grave. The rain fell as if the sky wept for them. She adjusted the umbrella to shield them from the pelting drops.

“Do you think she sees us?” Ryan looked into her eyes as only an inquisitive four-year-old can.

“I think so, yes.” She laid her arm across his shoulders in comfort.

“How come she left?” he asked, not for the first time.

“It wasn’t her choice, Ryan. If she could have stayed with you forever, she would have.” Looking into his innocent face, her eyes pooled with tears.

“But why?”

“God needed her with him, and He knew you and I would be okay, just the two of us,” she answered, unable to contain the tears now rolling down her cheeks.

“How come he needed her?”

She searched for the words to explain the unexplainable. “Your mother was so special that God needed her to be a big angel and watch over a lot of people, instead of a mommy to look over only a few.”

“So why are you only a mommy and not an angel? You’re special, right?”

She ruffled his dark curls. “I’m not quite ready for that big of a responsibility. Besides, I believe you and I were meant to be together. Everything happens for a reason, even if we don’t understand why.”

“What’s res- respons-?”

Lexie smiled, crouched down, and pulled him onto her lap. “Responsibility? Well, it means taking care of something big, something important.”

Ryan narrowed his eyes, his lips pursed in thought. “So, God didn’t need you to be an angel, but he needed you to be my mommy?”

“Exactly.” Her heart swelled and she pulled him closer to her.

“I’m glad.” He snuggled into her. “I’m glad you’re my mommy.”

She held onto him for a minute, closed her eyes, and basked in the feeling of his warm breath against her chest, and the comfort of his small arms wrapped around her. Placing a kiss on his temple, she stared at the tombstone of her friend. “Me, too, baby. Me, too.”

Lexie had met his mother, Maggie, when she’d come to work for her at the coffee shop. They became fast friends and Lexie was the one to check her into Nathan’s Hope Hospice House when her cancer had become untreatable. She had succumbed to the disease three years ago. Maggie would have been twenty-eight years old today, the same age Lexie turned just last month. She felt a tear slide down her cheek at the unfairness of it all. Lexie still missed her, but the life she’d discovered since moving Ryan into her home had become all-encompassing.

They stood in silence for a moment as the rain continued to fall, then Lexie took Ryan’s hand and they began to walk across the grass. Lured by another gravesite beneath a large palm tree, she felt compelled to stop. Pulled forward by a force she hadn’t felt in years, she knelt and gently ran her hand over the top of the smooth granite, now glistening with water.

“Your favorite kind of day,” she smiled wistfully as she spoke to the stone. “Wet, but warm, with a strong chance of a rainbow.”

“Who are you talking to?” Ryan knelt alongside her.

She straightened and pulled him to his feet. “An old friend,” she managed to say, forcing the words through her constricted throat.

“Is your friend an angel like my mommy?”

Squeezing his hand, Lexie nodded her head as the tears ran down her cheeks. “One of the most important angels of all. He always was.” She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly through pursed lips, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Turning to her son, she felt her love for him surge through her. “You want to go to work with me today?”

He grinned and nodded his head so fast it caused him to lose his balance. “Can I wear an apron, too?”

“Absolutely,” she said. Locking away her sorrow, she forced a smile to her lips. “You must be in uniform if you’re going to be serving the customers.”

Tugging her hand, he dragged her across the grass toward the car.

Ryan bounced in his seat, unable to contain his excitement as they pulled into the parking lot outside of Lexie’s coffee shop, Ocean Breeze Java. The car was barely in park when Ryan spotted his uncle through the window and tugged off his seatbelt before wrestling with the door handle. Ryan landed with a splash in a large puddle in his haste to get out of the car, chanting “Uncle Jordan, Uncle Jordan!” as he ran toward the shop.

Lexie rushed around the car and caught Ryan’s hand, pulling him onto the sidewalk before another car whipped into the open parking spot beside them. Escaping her grasp, he scampered ahead of her.

“Ryan, slow down, wait for me!” She fumbled with the key, struggling to lock the car before she rushed after him. “Ryan, come here.”

Ignoring her call, Ryan raced around the man who held open the coffee shop’s glass door. Thrown off balance by the boy zipping past him, the man twisted, struggling to maintain his footing.

Foreseeing the disaster about to happen, Lexie grabbed for the door in an attempt to stop it from slamming into the man. The strap of her purse slipped from her shoulder and spilled its contents on the cement.

Like a slow-motion scene in a bad comedy, Lexie’s left foot came down hard on a tube of lip gloss and shot out from under her. She pin-wheeled her arms and struggled to regain her footing, resembling an amateur log roller. Unable to catch her balance, she latched onto the only thing close enough to grab — the already off-balance man in the doorway.

Pulling him down with her, the weight of his body slammed her to the sidewalk causing cartoon stars to whirl about her head and all the air to explode from her lungs in a large whoosh. She blinked her eyes and tried to get them to focus. She was currently seeing three and four identical things, all in different distortions.

She regained focus and looked up into intense green eyes, with the longest black eyelashes she’d ever seen. Skimming down, her eyes followed the path of a small bump on an otherwise straight nose splattered with a light trace of freckles. Strong cheekbones supported a shadow of dark whiskers. She felt the heat rise on her cheeks as her eyes fixated on his mouth and the smirk on his perfectly sculpted face.

Attempting to rise on her elbows, she realized he was lying across the entire length of her body, supporting his weight on one elbow like a lover basking in the afterglow.

Humiliated, she frowned and cocked her head. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he said, as the dimples in his cheeks deepened.

He placed his hands on the ground on either side of her head and lowered his face directly above hers. Her heart pounded in anticipation, her mind lost all thought, and she ran her tongue across her lips. But in one quick motion, he pushed off his arms and landed on his feet. With a mischievous grin, he held his hand out to her. “Here, let me help you.”

Lexie felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment as she pictured how foolish she must look. She glared up at him and, ignoring his outstretched hand, sat up and picked up the contents of her purse. Determined to save what was left of her dignity, she stood, straightened her shirt, brushed off her knees like she was wearing Gucci instead of old jeans, and ran her hand through her hair. She pulled her shoulders back and stuck her chin out in defiance.