With the Father (24 page)

“What’s that in her hand?” I asked.

“Jonathan’s phone. It’s the only thing that made it through the fire.
Well, the phone and her.” She said, nodding to the little girl who was trying
to teach Chubs to catch treats out of the air. “My dad and I consider her to be
a walking miracle though we know it wasn’t a miracle at all.”

I nodded, feeling the lump in my throat grow again. The fire’s
devastation had been total. The house had been entirely ravaged by flames
before the fire department had ever pulled onto the street.

Neighbors scurrying frantically around the house knowing that a family
was inside had found Isabelle huddled in the elevated fort of her swing set.
She’d been waiting there for her mom and dad because that’s where they told her
they would meet her in case of an emergency. It was too close to the house to
be safe so the man from next door had carried a hysterical Isabelle away.
 

Isabelle was only six. She was far too young to really understand what
had been happening around her. Certainly, she was too young to paint a complete
picture of that night. However, from what they’d been able to get out of her,
we knew that Grace had come to Isabelle’s room first. She’d shoved the phone in
the little girl’s hand before leaning as far out of the window as she could and
dropping her to the ground. Though Isabelle had been told to run to the next
door neighbor’s house, she’d gone to the fort on her swing set to wait while
her mom went back to check on her dad and brother.

“She carries it with her everywhere,” Kate said, pulling me back from
my thoughts. I looked up to find her staring at me. Her expression intense as
if she
were
trying to read me, and I couldn’t help but
feel that she’d done exactly that.

I recognized something in her eyes. It was more than
just a physical resemblance to Grace. She had that same warmth, that
same
light that I’d seen in Grace. “Carries what?”

“The phone. She doesn’t do anything without it. She would bathe with it
if we hadn’t convinced her that it would ruin it.”

“It’s all she has of them.”

“I steal it when she’s sleeping.” I looked down at her, an odd look on
my face. “I’ve been trying to get inside, but Jonathan put a passcode on it.
I’ve tried everything I can think of – birthdays, anniversaries, names –
but nothing has worked.”

“Is there something inside that you need?”

Kate’s expression
frosted over. “I think so. I’ve been snooping around this week, and I’ve
learned some things about Jonathan that don’t feel right. I have a feeling that
there’s a whole lot more to learn. Since that phone and his computer at work
are all I have, I’m determined to get inside of it.”

“Things?” I asked,
dread growing in my stomach. Generally, I tried to see the best in people, but
there’d always been something about Jonathan that I didn’t fully trust. Could
it have been because I had feelings for his wife? Maybe. But when I was around
them, I couldn’t help but notice the way he talked down to her and the way his
eyes glossed over her as if he didn’t really see her at all. “I’ll help you in
any way I can.”

“Watch this, Father
Paul,” Isabelle said loudly from the middle of the park. A dog treat sailed
through the air, and Chubs raised off his feet just enough to catch it. She
giggled loudly. “He’s a fast learner.”

“That’s the first
real laugh I’ve heard from her,” Kate said quietly as Isabelle ran back towards
where we were sitting. There was an air of pride in her voice. I could see the
love that she had for Isabelle.

“Maybe you can
teach him some other tricks some time,” I said. “He doesn’t listen to a thing I
tell him.”

The smile that lit
up her face reminded me so much of her mother. It was a good reminder.
 
The best kind of
reminder.
“Can I, Aunt Kate?”

“Absolutely,” she
said, standing and tugging her slim black dress down with the palms of her
hands. Standing next to me, I realized that she didn’t really look like Grace
at all. Aside from the color of their hair, they were very different.

“Good. Because I
think we need to set them up for another
playdate
.” I
tore my eyes from Kate to find a wide-eyed Isabelle watching Chubs licking
Aurora’s face. “I think Princess Aurora has a boyfriend.”

“You think so?” she
said, chuckling.

“Uh huh. Just look
at them!”

“Well, I guess we’ll
have to meet up again then. Who am I to stand in the way of true doggy love?”

We began walking
towards the parking lot, and Isabelle grabbed my hand. “Hey, Father Paul. Aunt
Kate is taking me to a new burger restaurant for dinner. She says it’s going to
be epic.
Wanna
come with us?”
 
Despite everything the little girl had
been through this week, her eyes were full of hope.

When I’d first seen them at the park, I’d thought that being near them
would be impossibly hard. That they would be nothing but a sad reminder of the
beautiful soul we’d buried today. But it was already getting easier.

When you lose someone you love, there’s nothing more comforting than
being around other people who loved
them
just as much,
if not more, than you did.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” I said, squeezing her hand.

Kate

I opened the back door of my very practical SUV to let Aurora and
Isabelle out of the car.
 
The two poured
out of the backseat, each equally excited to be here.

I started following them to the playground but stopped when Isabelle
ran to the swings where
a familiar little boy was being
pushed by his slightly older sister
. The two welcomed Isabelle as if no
time had passed, as if they still played together every day. True, they still
saw each other at school, but I hadn’t made any effort to let them see each
other outside of school. I’d tried to make sure that Isabelle’s life was as
close to normal as it could be, but there was no way that I could make nice
with that woman after everything she’d done.

It hadn’t been easy. It had taken me a few months, but eventually I’d
pieced it all together. Jonathan’s affair with Arden had been just the
beginning. Their lying and scheming had no bounds. The only consolation I had
was that my sister had never known. If she had known how long it had gone on,
if she’d known that Jackson was really Jonathan’s son, I think it might have
broken her. But then again, maybe it wouldn’t have. I’d always thought she was
stronger than she gave herself credit for being.

I searched the benches scattered throughout the park and found her
sitting in the shade near a water fountain. I’d made no attempt to seek her
out, but that didn’t mean that I hadn’t been looking forward to this moment.

It was wrong to feel a little gleeful about what I was about to do
– Paul would probably disapprove – but I couldn’t help myself, and
I knew he would forgive me.

I returned to my car and retrieved the box from the glove compartment.
I’d put it in the car a few weeks ago, knowing that in this small town, the
opportunity would eventually present itself.

Today was that day.

Without saying a word, I took a seat on the other end of the bench with
the box resting conspicuously on my lap. Arden didn’t speak though the slight
raise of her eyebrows told me that she knew I was there.

I wondered what was going through her head. She’d never responded to my
text from Jonathan’s phone, but I imagined that she was thinking about it now.

“It’s wonderful to see them play together, isn’t it?” I asked, careful
to make sure that my voice didn’t travel far enough for anyone other than Arden
to hear it. I certainly didn’t want Isabelle to hear this conversation.

“It is.” Her voice was equally quiet. However, there was an edge to it,
and I hoped it was because my presence here made her uncomfortable.

Jackson ran over. Panting he asked, “How long until Daddy comes to get
us, Momma?”

“A few hours,” she said, ruffling his hair. “We’ll go home and pack in
a few minutes.” Happy with that answer, he ran back to the playground and
yelled to
Autumn
and Isabelle to follow him to the top
of the slide.

“Such a sweet boy,” I said. “He must really love the weekends he spends
with his
father
.” I stressed the last word. I’d never been one to shy
away from an opportunity to be dramatic.

Her mouth turned down in a dismal frown.
 
“He does.”

“Oh, my gosh.” I inwardly laughed at the effect that Paul and Isabelle
had had on me over the past few months. My mouth was cleaner than it had been
since sixth grade. Words like ‘gosh’ and ‘heck’
were
now a regular occurrence. Paul’s presence in my life had been a calming one,
and I was a happier person for it.

When it came to Arden, though, I was no angel. “I never got a chance to
give you your birthday present.” I held the box out to her and she took it
reluctantly. I waited as she slowly untied the ribbon and pulled off the lid.
She pulled out the small piece of paper resting on top and carefully unfolded it.
As she took in the naked picture of herself, I looked away but not before I
watched her eyes nearly explode from her head. I stifled the urge to laugh when
she shoved it back into the box without bothering to fold it.

“There’s more,
Hope
.”

Panicked eyes met my glare before returning to the box. She dug through
it with shaky hands and finally pulled out the black glossy phone.
The phone that had answered almost all of my questions.
What
it hadn’t, Paul and I had figured out on our own. We spent a lot of time
together during the past few months.
Time trying to figure
out the Hope mystery.
Time with Isabelle.
Time getting to know one another.

I returned my gaze to the kids, refusing to look at her any more. “I
want you to have it. There’s a lot of good memories on there, but know this. I
have a good memory as well, and I’ve made a copy of everything on it.”

In the periphery of my vision, I saw her nod.

I
stood,
ready to leave the park and her
presence. “It would be a shame if Jackson found out the truth about his mother
and father, wouldn’t it? It would be a
real
shame if Coleman did. I bet
he’d be interested in knowing the truth about his
son
.” I paused to let
my threat sink in and then I made another one. “In fact, there are a few things
on that phone that I think the police might be interested in too.” The latter
were empty threats, but she didn’t need to know that.

As much I’d like to see her pay for her sins against my sister, there wasn’t
much I could do. We suspected that Arden, and possibly Jonathan, had tried to
murder her, but we didn’t have any real proof. As much as I wished they were,
the texts weren’t enough. Unless we found the man who had mugged my sister in
the parking lot, there was little chance that we could pin Arden with the
charge of attempted murder that she deserved.

But the lack of proof wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t taking this to
the police. The bigger reason was that I’d known my sister inside and out. No
one had a bigger heart than she did, and she wouldn’t have wanted me to do
anything that could hurt Jackson.

Would she have been upset to find out that her best friend and husband
had betrayed her?
Of course.
Would she be angry?
Undoubtedly. But when the smoke finally cleared, she wouldn’t have wanted
Jackson to get hurt in the crossfire. He wasn’t her child, but he was
Jonathan’s. And she’d loved him, too. He had been a part of her life since the
day he was born.

Jackson still had a father who loved him and that’s the way Grace would
want it. Coleman was a good man and he loved his son. As someone who’d lost my
parents at a young age, I would never wish that on another child. I knew as
well as anyone that families come in all shapes and sizes.

The irony of our unique situation wasn’t lost on me.
I’d
been raised by my aunt and uncle
, and now I was raising my niece. Being
a great parent was about more than just blood. I’d learned from the best how to
step in and raise a child that wasn’t yours to feel as if they were. Isabelle
was mine now, and I would make my sister proud.

Arden would never know any of this. She’d never know that my threats
were as empty as Jonathan’s promises.
However, if she spent
the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, that was fine by me.

I didn’t look back at her, walking instead to the edge of the
playground. “Come on Isabelle. Paul’s waiting for us.”

She ran over and grabbed my hand. “What are we doing tonight, Aunt
Kate?” she asked.

I tugged her ponytail. “He’s making us dinner. Remember, silly?”
 
I turned toward the car to find the
subject of our discussion leaning against the hood of my car.
 
His arms were crossed and a ball cap sat
low on his head. “Look, there he is,” I whispered. The sight of him made my
heart do a little dance in my chest. My feet picked up the pace, wanting to get
to him a little faster.

She tugged on my hand. “Are you going to kiss him again?” she teased.

I laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw him kiss you in the kitchen yesterday.”

“Oh, you saw that, did you?”
 
I could feel my cheeks heating up.

“I’m just so glad that you’re not kissing Maddox, any more! Yuck!”
Isabelle said with a scrunched up nose. “Paul is so much better.”

I couldn’t have agreed more. Cutting ties with Maddox had been easy after
I’d discovered that he’d known all along about Jonathan and Arden and Jackson.
However, cutting ties with him had been inevitable anyway. Though I’d tried to
distract myself with him, he’d never really been any competition for Paul. From
the moment I’d met Paul, I had known that no one else would ever compare.

Kissing Paul was a new development. He’d left the church the week after
Grace’s funeral, and it had taken him a while to adjust to his new life. Though
I’d been attracted to him from the beginning, our relationship had grown slowly
over time. It had been a while before I could believe that I wasn’t just a
fill-in for the woman who’d unknowingly changed his life. He’d never actually
admitted it, but I knew how he’d felt about her.

He had loved her first, and I was okay with that. Grace had been the
most lovable person I knew. Knowing that someone had loved her, even if from
afar, the way she had deserved to be loved made me happy. And, oddly, his love
for her made me feel an immediate closeness to him.

He’d never know what would have happened if he’d had a chance with her,
but Paul wasn’t one to dwell on what could have been. I was pretty certain that
she would have loved him if she’d been given the chance. I didn’t see how she
couldn’t. As far as I was concerned, he was the most magnificent person I’d
ever met.

However, I was fairly certain that she would have loved him differently
than I did. She would have loved him quietly, reverently, and sweetly. I loved
him in my own way – boldly, with humor, and uninhibited affection. I
could accept his love in return because I knew that he felt that, too. He saw
our differences and never compared us.

Grace and I were very different people. That was true.
 
However, during the process of getting
to know Paul and Isabelle, I’d also gotten to know myself a little better, too,
and I had discovered that in some ways we were just as similar as we were
different.

Because Grace and I weren’t true sisters, I’d always denied any
likeness between us. I’d tried to put as much space between us as possible. She
was quiet, so I was loud. She was good, so I was not. She loved easily, so I
fought against it. But through the loss of her, I discovered that we had more
in common than I had allowed myself to admit.

Thanks to Isabelle, I’d discovered that I was more maternal than I
would have ever guessed. I would never hope or try to replace Grace, but I
would take care of Isabelle as if she were my own.
 
I would make Grace proud.

Thanks to Karen’s Kitchen, I’d learned that I received far more from
helping people than they took from me. I finally understood why my mother and
sister had loved it like they had, and I was happy spending my evenings there.
With Paul.

Thanks to Paul, I was learning that some people
will
fight their way into your heart whether you think you want it, whether you
think you need it, whether you think you are ready for it. He saw things in me
that I’d never seen before. Good things. Wonderful things. Lovable things.

I had the highest hopes for our new relationship. Because, of
everything I’d learned about myself during the past few months, the most
important thing was that I was capable of loving someone else more than myself.
Every day, I fell a little harder for him, and in the process, fell in love
with a new, quieter, more genuine version of myself.

Yes, kissing Paul was a very welcome development indeed, and I was okay
with my niece, and anyone else, knowing about it.

I approached my Delectable Deacon, still leaning against my car,
watching us expectantly. “Hey,” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“What are you doing here?” The familiar smell of fabric softener mixed with
whatever it was that smelled uniquely of Paul washed over me.

“Hey to you, too,” he said, pulling me in a little closer. “What about
Isabelle?” The warm breath that accompanied his whispered words caused my
stomach to flip and chills to race down my spine.

“She knows,” I said, nodding to my niece who was now skipping circles
around the closest tree with Aurora hot on her heels.

“Kate and Paul sitting in a tree, k-
i
-s-s-
i
-n-g,” she sang. “First comes love. Then comes marriage.
Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.”

“Don’t mind if I do then,” he said as his mouth found mine.
 

Every kiss with Paul was unlike any kiss before it. Standing in the
park, with my niece flitting nearby, I wanted him like I’d never wanted any man
before him. I couldn’t even compare it to anything that had ever preceded it
because it stood on its own, in a class all unto itself. I was sure that if he
opened his eyes, he would actually be able to see and touch the adoration and
hope emanating from me.