A Very Special Delivery (11 page)

Chapter Ten

W
isps of cirrus clouds played peekaboo with the early April sun. A steady wind, blowing in from the south, brought warming temperatures, and Molly was glad to see the harsh winter give way to spring.

She and Ethan had braved the wind for an after-dinner walk in the small courtyard behind his apartment complex. Laney, bundled in a fleece outfit, a purple stocking hat on her head, rode along in her stroller. Big blue eyes, more alert and curious by the day, alternated between the colorful shapes hanging from her stroller and the activity in the courtyard.

Every time she was with Ethan this way, Molly promised herself not to see him again. But then he’d come by or call, and her foolish heart would take control and totally ignore her common sense.

Though still reluctant to call their time together dates, Molly had to admit she felt more than friendship for her handsome delivery man.

“The jonquils are up,” she said, rubbing her sweater-covered arms against the slight chill. “I always feel better when I see them. All that yellow, I guess, after the dreary browns of winter.”

Ethan, handsome and athletic in a hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, bent and snapped one off, presenting it to her. “A pretty flower for a pretty lady.”

“Flatterer.” But she smiled and took the sunny blossom, stroking the velvet smoothness against her cheek.

Since that night when she had held Laney without panic and Ethan had kissed her, Molly’s frozen insides had begun to thaw as slowly and surely as the weather. Scary as that felt, it also felt good. Regardless of her sister’s animosity and her own guilt, Aunt Patsy and Ethan were right. She needed to move forward.

Somehow she had to get past the fear of being alone with Laney. She adored the happy little baby. She had even grown brave enough to hold her and
play with her and talk to her, though only with Ethan present.

She hadn’t had a panic attack in a long time, hoped they were gone for good, but she was still afraid to take the chance. She never wanted Ethan to see how weak and lacking in self-control she really was. And yet she adored Laney, yearned for her as if she were the baby’s mother.

The inner battle raged continually until she wondered what to do. Break it off? Keep going though they had no future? Or pray for a miracle to change her fear to faith?

“I talked to the plumber this afternoon,” she said to escape her troubled thoughts. “He thinks he can get out to the farm by Thursday.”

“That’s good, I guess.” Ethan’s words came out a little doubtfully, hesitantly, as if he wasn’t all that thrilled.

“I’ll be glad to get home. Aunt Patsy must be tired of having me underfoot.”

“You’re good company for her.” He reached for her hand, his warm, strong fingers wrapping around hers like a glove. “For me, too. I like having you here in town, close by.” His mouth kicked up in a grin that made her heart go flip-flop. “To feed me when I’m starving.”

She whopped him with the jonquil. “Did anyone ever tell you that you are a bum?”

He dodged, rubbed the spot where the flower had touched him and laughed. “All the time. But a single man’s gotta eat.”

He was teasing, she knew, because more than half the time he either cooked for her or ordered out. Take tonight. He’d charcoaled burgers for them on the outside grill while she’d whipped together a pan of fudgy brownies in his small efficiency kitchen.

They strolled on, comfortable together, circling the empty swimming pool, crunching over brown leaves that no one had bothered to rake the previous fall.

“Have you thought about Easter?” he asked.

“I’ve thought about it.” He’d tried for weeks to get her to attend Chapel with him.

“You should come. We’re doing a sunrise pageant. I’m Pontius Pilate.”

“Type-casting?” She grinned. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“It was either Pilate or Judas, the betrayer. I thought I’d look better in a governor’s robe than in a hangman’s noose.”

They both chuckled.

“Come on,” he said. “You don’t want to miss my acting debut, do you? Say you’ll be there.”

She wanted to. “I don’t know if I’m that brave.”

“Sure you are. You just don’t want to upset your sister.”

“That’s true. Ruining her Easter would be pretty selfish of me.”

“Ruining yours is pretty selfish of her.”

She hadn’t thought of it that way.

He paused to retuck a blanket around Laney’s kicking legs. Crouched on his haunches in front of the stroller, he glanced up and smiled. Molly’s stomach lifted as if she had dived off the high board. “Will you at least think about it?”

How could she refuse? She wanted to make him happy, to spend time with him. She also longed to be with her church family again. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

His smile widened. “I feel a victory coming on.”

She pointed the jonquil at him. “Don’t be so sure of yourself, buster.”

“Hey, I convinced you to fly in a plane with me.”

“No danger of running into my sister up there,” she joked. Ethan’s skilled piloting had made the flight fun and safe. She’d seen her beloved Winding Stair Mountain from a whole new perspective. She’d also witnessed Ethan’s love of flying and wondered how he’d ever left it.

“Think you’ll ever go back to that line of work?”

He hitched one shoulder. “I don’t know. Right now, Laney needs a parent more than I need to fly. Don’t you, sugar?”

He smacked a kiss on Laney’s chin. She rewarded him with a bubbling laugh.

His remark reminded Molly that Laney had another parent, a parent Ethan never mentioned. Since the first time she’d asked about the woman who had given birth to Ethan’s daughter and had been rebuffed, Molly had avoided the subject.

“What about Laney’s mother? Why didn’t she help out so you could go on flying?”

For the space of several seconds Ethan didn’t answer. He stared up into the sky he loved with an expression of immense sadness. When he looked at her again, his blue eyes had gone as distant as the wispy clouds.

“Laney’s mother is dead.”

“Oh, Ethan. How tragic.” Stunned and filled with remorse for broaching the sensitive subject, Molly reached to touch him. “What happened?”

He stepped away, rounding to the back of the stroller.

“Does it matter? She’s dead. And Laney only has me.”

He started off toward the back door of the apartment, pushing the stroller ahead of him.

“Ethan, wait.” Though he paused, he didn’t turn around. Molly hurried to catch up. When she reached his side, she said, “I didn’t mean to pry. Forgive me?”

He softened then and looped an arm around her neck. “Nothing to forgive. Twila is a bad subject. That’s all.”

A bad subject and one he didn’t care to pursue. A subject so painful that he wouldn’t share it with her, though she’d shared her deepest hurt with him.

The idea depressed her. She had a sinking feeling that she might be falling for a man who still loved a dead woman named Twila.

* * *

Ethan loved church dismissal, that time immediately following worship service when folks milled around the foyer visiting, too full of love and peace to leave.

This Sunday was no different. As he made his way toward the nursery to get Laney, he stopped over and over again to shake hands, to exchange pleasantries, and to share ideas for the upcoming Easter pageant.

He was sorry Molly still refused to come to church with him but he was sure she was weakening on the issue. She was already attending a small home Bible study with him. Any Sunday now, he expected her to jump in his truck, all dressed up and pretty as a sunrise.

Like a family, he thought. Molly and Laney and him, together. The more the idea took root, the better he liked it.

By the time he fetched Laney from the nursery and made his way back to the foyer, the crowd had begun to thin. A few stragglers chatted in small groups. A man in one group, Jesse Slater, called out to him.

“Ethan. Over here.”

He liked Jesse Slater and his sweet wife, Lindsey, who ran the Christmas tree farm outside of town. They’d been one of the first couples to welcome him when he’d joined the church at Winding Stair.

Approaching the group, he said, “Hey, Jesse. Lindsey. What’s up?”

The silver-eyed Jesse hooked an arm around his pregnant wife. “Lindsey’s making a brunch at our house after service on Easter. Wanna come?”

He hesitated. Until Molly made up her mind, he didn’t want to make other plans. “I appreciate the invitation. Can I get back to you with an answer after I talk to Molly?”

“Molly?” Lindsey’s face lit up. “Do you think there’s a chance she might come, too?”

“I’m working on her.”

“I didn’t know the two of you were dating.” She turned to her husband. “Isn’t that cool, Jesse? Don’t you think they’re perfect together?”

Jesse rolled his eyes, though his voice was warm with affection for his wife. “Sorry, Ethan. The woman’s a hopeless romantic.”

“Don’t tease, Jesse,” Lindsey said. “Molly’s had a rough time. I think it’s wonderful that she’s starting to date again.” She looked toward Ethan. “Tell her that I’d love to have her come to brunch. We’ll catch up on old times and I’ll try to talk her into making some Christmas crafts for my shop.”

“I’ll do that.” He exchanged nods with Jesse. “Y’all take care.”

Hoisting Laney, who grew heavier every day, he headed toward the exit.

Seemingly from out of nowhere, Molly’s sister appeared at his side to pluck at his jacket sleeve. Since the confrontation in the diner, Ethan had kept his distance, not wanting to rub salt in the wound. This time he hadn’t spotted her in time.

Dressed in black that accentuated her pallor and skinniness, she asked, “Did I hear you say you’re still seeing my sister?”

Her tone was incredulous.

“Yes,” he said as kindly as he could manage. “As often as she allows.”

“If you care anything at all for your baby, you’ll stay away from her. She’s dangerous.”

Given the grief she’d caused Molly, the old Ethan wanted to blast her with his temper. The new Ethan resisted. Anger would only exacerbate the problem.

Taking a deep breath, he prayed inwardly.

Lord, don’t let me blow this. It might be my one shot at helping Molly.

“She told me about your son. I’m sorry.”

“Really? She told you?” Bitterness dripped from her, stronger than acid. “And you still allow her near your child?”

A tall blond man whom Ethan recognized as Chloe’s husband pushed through the crowd and grabbed his wife’s arm. “Chloe, don’t. Honey, please,” he said gently. “Let’s go.”

She yanked away and stalked off, shoving the glass door open hard enough to attract the stares of other stragglers.

James turned to Ethan, hands spread in a gesture of helplessness. “I hope you won’t hold that against her. She’s gone through a lot.”

“Molly told me. You haven’t had it easy either.” As a dad he could sympathize as readily with James as with Chloe.

“It’s been a trial for the entire family, but Chloe hasn’t even begun to heal. Zack’s nursery is exactly like it was the day he died. She refuses to let me change a thing.” He raked a hand through his thick hair. “She tortures herself with memories and pictures and by teaching the toddler class. I think if we were able to have another child…”

Ethan clapped a sympathetic hand on the man’s shoulder. He wanted to say something. Wanted to have the answer to the man’s heartache and felt helpless because he didn’t. Only God could fix this.

“I wish I knew what to do,” he said. “The situation is killing Molly, too. Except for her aunt, she’s lost her whole family.”

“I know. She loved Zack. Chloe knows it, too, but she needs someone to blame. Her mother doesn’t help any. She’s always doted on Chloe too much, even before Zack’s death. Now she tiptoes around Chloe, babying her, and making everything worse instead of better. I can’t get either of them to see reason. If her dad was still alive, he’d never have stood for any of this.”

“Molly told me she was really close to her dad.” Ethan stared out toward the parking lot where the bitter woman sat like a stone statue in the front seat of an SUV. “Losing him. And now this. I don’t know how she handles it.”

James gave him a strange look that Ethan couldn’t interpret. “Like the rest of us, I guess. She’s just surviving.”

“There has to be a solution. Some way to get Molly and Chloe to resolve this stand-off. Neither is going to be happy until they do.”

“Is my sister-in-law’s happiness important to you?”

“It’s starting to be,” Ethan admitted.

For the first time a ghost of a smile touched the man’s worried brown eyes. “Good. Two years of this is long enough. I love my wife, but I don’t know how much more I can take before…”

James’s voice trailed off as if he’d revealed too much.

Ethan shifted, bringing a drooping Laney to his shoulder. Something had to give.

“What if I can come up with a plan?” he asked, and then wondered what on earth he was talking about. “Something that will get the two of them at least on speaking terms?”

“Got a miracle in that baby’s diaper bag?”

“No. I don’t even have an idea yet. But something has to change.”

“Well…” James stared blankly into space, the worry lines around his eyes pronounced. “The situation can’t get any worse. I’m ready to try just about anything. If you can think of a way to breach this gap between Chloe and Molly, I’ll help you.”

“Good. It’s a deal then. I’ll pray about it. Think on it. And I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

A flicker of hope played over James’s face as the two men shook hands. Then he stepped away and looked toward the parking lot with a weary sigh. “Better get her home. She’ll cry all afternoon.”

Thinking hard, Ethan watched him go. He’d thought his own troubles were heavy, but there was a man who made his situation look like a picnic. He wondered if Molly knew her sister had been unable to conceive another child? Probably not.

He hoisted Laney’s diaper bag over his other shoulder and crossed the parking lot to his Nissan. Maybe it was time she did.

* * *

“Pizza delivery man,” Ethan called as he slammed out of his truck in front of Molly’s farmhouse. The place looked so different with the buds of spring pushing up through the cold ground and tipping the branches of trees recently broken and pruned by nature’s ice.