Indemnity: Book Two: Covenant of Trust Series (13 page)

“
Nobody yet,” Gavin replied. “Rita?”

“
Chuck, sit down,” she said quietly, motioning him to a seat. “I need to confess and apologize to you and to Bobbi.”

He glanced at Bobbi as he slid into a chair, but she shook her head. “I don’t have any idea what she’s talking about.”

Gavin moved over and stood at Rita’s side with his arms crossed. Rita scowled at him, and then faced Bobbi. “First of all, this is going to sound crazy, but honestly, I had only the best intentions.”

“
Rita,” Gavin said.

“
I’m going to tell them,” she said to him. “Calm down.” Then she turned back to Bobbi and Chuck. “It breaks my heart, Bobbi, to see you having to deal with Tracy again, after all she put you through, and I wanted to take that away somehow.” She looked at Chuck briefly, but then pulled her chair around to face Bobbi. “I had a meeting with Tracy this morning.”

Chuck stiffened, and Bobbi reached under the table to squeeze his knee. “What did you say to her?”

“
This is the part that sounds really bad, but if you just—”

“
Do you want me to tell them?” Gavin interrupted.

“
Gavin!” She held a hand up to him. “I offered her money to leave town.” The cascade of words didn’t register for a very long moment. Then Bobbi raised a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“
You didn’t,” Bobbi said. She tried to picture the scene in her mind—the checkbook laid out on Tracy’s desk, Rita uncapping her pen with a flourish, ready to write a very large number, one with plenty of zeroes. Rita and Tracy in a room together ... That would have been worth watching.

“
She turned me down,” Rita answered quietly. “Anyway, it was a stupid, reckless thing to do, reflecting extremely poor judgment on my part. The last thing I wanted was to hurt you or make things more difficult for you.” She glanced at Chuck. “Either of you. I am very sorry.”

“
I cannot believe this,” Chuck said. “This is like a soap opera.” He shook his head slowly, and then as he spoke, his voice grew louder and sharper with each word. “You were in the kitchen that Sunday. You heard me tell Brad to stay out of this.”

“
I know, Chuck—”

“
This is not a game. This is my life you’re playing with, Bobbi’s life, and an innocent little boy’s life.” His neck grew redder as his jaw clenched.

“
I can’t take it back, Chuck. I’m sorry I did it. I don’t know what else to say—”

He cut her off with an angry wave of his hand. “Don’t say anything. Don’t talk about Tracy, about Jack, about the court case to anybody. Consider this a gag order.” Rita dropped her eyes and shifted in her chair. “If she brings this up in court, I’m dead.” Chuck leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand.

“
Chuck,” Gavin said at last, “can we file a statement or something that says Rita was stupid, and she acted on her own, without your knowledge and against your wishes?”

“
I don’t know,” Chuck said, wearily. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“
I’m sorry, too,” Gavin said. “If I had any idea she cooked this up, I wouldn’t have let her out of the house. We’ll do anything we can to make it up to you.”

“
Don’t you mean
I’ll
do anything?” Rita corrected.

“
No.” Gavin held up his left hand and pointed to his wedding band. “I mean we. Come on. Let’s go before they completely disown us.” Rita waved weakly as she followed Gavin out.

“
Unreal,” Chuck huffed once they were gone. When Bobbi smiled, he became indignant. “It’s not funny.”

She slid closer and wrapped her arm around his. “Can’t you just see Rita whipping out her checkbook? If that doesn’t make you smile ...”

“
She shouldn’t have done it,” he said, softening just a little.

“
No, she most certainly should not have done it, but think how long you can hold this over her head.”

“
True,” Chuck admitted with just a hint of a smile. “I hope she didn’t do any real damage.”

“
So is there anything you can do in the meantime?”

“
No, I’ll just have to wait and see what Tracy does next.”

Friday, August 24

At Building Blocks Daycare, Laurie Dillard straightened the small chairs at the project table and picked up a stray piece of paper from the floor. She checked her watch, and glanced out the front window. The flurry of parents dropping off children would begin any moment now.

A bell rang, signaling the front door had opened, so Laurie and the rest of the early staff began signing kids in and taking instructions from parents. Next week, when school started, things would quiet down considerably with only the three and four-year-olds to process each morning.

“
Morning, Miss Laurie!”

She looked up to see Jack Ravenna flying through the door. He stopped long enough to drop his lunch box in his cubby, before he disappeared through the back door, and out to the playground. She waved, and signed him in for the day.

When his mother came in moments later, Laurie said with a smile, “Your little tornado is already outside.”

Tracy didn’t return the smile. “Once in a while, I’d like to kiss him goodbye.”

“
Is everything all right? You seem kind of down this morning.”

“
Just aggravated. It’s Jack’s dad.”

“
I thought his dad was dead.” Laurie stepped from behind the counter, and guided Tracy to a corner, giving them a little more privacy.

“
Yeah, well, I lied,” Tracy said with a sigh. “I told Jack that because I didn’t think his dad would ever want anything to do with him. I figured it would be easier for him.”

“
No, the truth is always best in the long run.”

“
I think he’s going to sue me for custody of my son.” Tracy’s eyes glistened as she glanced outside at Jack.

“
That’s not right.” With anyone else, Laurie would have immediately given a hug, or at least taken a hand. Tracy never seemed the type for that. It left Laurie awkwardly unsure of how to show support and sympathy.

“
I know that, but I don’t have any recourse.”

“
Doesn’t it matter that he hasn’t been around for six years? Has he even seen Jack?”

“
He’s seen him, but Jack doesn’t know him.”

“
Can he really get custody?”

“
Who knows? I don’t think anybody can predict what family courts will do. He’ll at least get visitation. I haven’t told Jack yet. I don’t know how to break this to him.”

“
Maybe his dad has changed. Maybe he realized his mistake, and he wants to be a good dad now.”

“
You don’t know him.” Tracy stiffened, and there was a hard edge to her voice. “He wants to get back at me, so he’s going to try to take the only thing that’s precious to me, and that’s Jack.” Tracy closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

“
I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

Tracy shook her head slowly. “We go to court in two weeks for round one. That’s all I have left. Two short weeks.”

“
I’m a firm believer in the power of prayer. God can take care of this.” Tracy shook her head slightly as she turned to leave. “You don’t believe in prayer?” Laurie asked.

“
I would swing a dead cat over my head at midnight if I thought that would help. Pray, by all means.”

“
Wait and see,” Laurie said, walking Tracy out of the building. “God will work this all out.”

That evening, Glen Dillard waited outside the Casa Ranchero Mexican restaurant for Laurie. They had the best enchiladas north of Texas, but it was a dive, and Laurie only ate there if he dragged her. He gave her a fair opportunity to choose the place, and she said, “I don’t care. You pick.”

When she pulled in and got out of her car, he could tell from her tightly clenched jaw and furrowed brow that the restaurant was the least of her concerns. “So how were things at the daycare today?” he asked gingerly.

“
Oh, some deadbeat dad is trying to steal one of my kids away from his mother. She’s raised him all by herself, and this guy’s never even contacted them. Now after all these years, he shows up, and he’s going to talk a judge into giving him custody. He’s thrown their lives into complete chaos. I just hate it for both of them.”

Glen put an arm around her shoulder, and walked with her toward the restaurant door. “We live in a messed up world.”

“
I know. I just don’t want anybody messing with my kids. I told his mother I would be praying for this to work out.”

“
Does she go to church anywhere?”

“
I doubt it. She seems pretty ‘worldly,’ you know? Not that she’s a terrible person, mind you. I just don’t think she has a real strong concept of personal sin.”

Glen smiled at his wife. “Laurie, have you ever just come right out and said something bad about somebody? Ever?”

“
I’m sure I have.” She thought carefully. “I called that guy a deadbeat. That was bad.”

“
You have a very sweet heart,” he said, holding the door open for her. “Maybe this will be an opportunity for the mother. If she sees God answer your prayer, maybe that will give you a means to reach her.”

“
I hope. At least something good would come out of all this mess.”

Friday, August 31

“
Joel, you shaved. What’s wrong?” Bobbi left the papers surrounding her at the kitchen table to hug and kiss her son, home for the long Labor Day weekend.

“
Not a thing.” He pulled a chair out and turned it around backwards before straddling it. “Things are great. Better than great, in fact.”

“
Sounds like you met a girl.” Bobbi poured a cup of coffee for Joel, a second one for herself, and slid into the chair across the table from him. “Spill your guts, and deliver me from school paperwork.”

“
Actually, she’s not just a girl,” he said, reaching for the cup. “I’ve met
the
girl.”

“
The
girl? Aren’t you a little young for that?”

Joel coughed an exaggerated cough. “Let’s see. How old was Bobbi Petrocelli when she got engaged to Chuck Molinsky?”

“
Eighteen,” Bobbi admitted. “But things were different then.” Joel mouthed her words as she spoke, mocking her good-naturedly. “Honestly Joel, you really think you know her well enough to be talking about engagement?”

Joel coughed again. “And how long had you and Dad dated? About three months, if memory serves me.”

“
Touché. We can argue about all that later.” Bobbi watched him, with his irrepressible smile, and twinkle in his eyes, and she buried her concerns for the time being. “Tell me all about this girl before Dad and Shannon get back from their movie.”

“
Her name is Abby Greenway,” he said, leaning forward, resting his forearms on the back of the chair. “She’s a freshman, like me, but she’s from there in Columbia, so she’s not on campus a lot.”

“
How’d you meet her then?”

“
At church. I was checking out college ministries this summer, and I ended up at her church.”

Church. Good answer. “That’s encouraging. Does she have a major yet?”

“
She wants to work with kids, but she hasn’t decided if she would rather teach or work with preschoolers. I told her she should talk to you for the scoop on the teaching side of it.”

“
I’d be glad to talk to her. So when do we get to meet her?” Joel stood and turned his chair around, then sat back down. “What? I don’t get to meet her?”

Joel pulled his chair closer and raised his hands. “Mom, just hear me out on this, okay? When I bring Abby home for you to meet her ... I’m also going to bring her son.”

Bobbi blinked slowly and took a long drink, covering the gathering storm of emotion rising inside her. Hadn’t Joel seen what they’d all been through, were still going through, because of Chuck and Tracy? How could he turn around and jump into the same type of mess? Joel betrayed her. Again. Confusion, disappointment and indignation lay just below the surface when she finally spoke. “She’s awfully young to be divorced.”

“
Mom,” Joel said, digging in, “she had Ryan when she was fifteen.”

Bobbi set the cup down and rubbed her forehead. She didn’t want to alienate her son. He needed somebody to talk some sense into him. “You need to think about this, long and hard—”

“
I have.”

“
You have not!” Bobbi shot back, her self-control slipping. “Why would you want to entangle yourself in something when you are completely innocent? Have you missed what’s been going on in your own family these last few years?”

“
That’s just it!” Joel’s voice rose in intensity. “I understand what she’s gone through. I saw Dad live it, and I know the kind of grace and compassion a person needs in order to get back on track after it’s all over. I feel like this is an opportunity from God to change lives for the better.”