Love Inspired February 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: The Cowboy's Reunited Family\The Forest Ranger's Return\Mommy Wanted (49 page)

Chapter Eleven

K
ate rushed up the steps of the B and B and hurried to her room, thankful that none of the other guests or the Tingles had been in her path. She could barely breathe, much less attempt to speak. She rushed to the closet and, heaving through her tears, grabbed her suitcase. Coming back to Claremont had been a mistake. Everything Mitch said, everything he felt, would only be magnified by the man she'd hurt most of all. Chad wouldn't let her have a place in Lainey's world. Why would he?

Her sucking sobs filled the air as she gathered her clothes and were so loud that she must not have heard the knock on her bedroom door, because she jumped when Mrs. Tingle entered.

“I'm sorry I startled you,” she said.

Kate dropped the shoes in her arms onto the bed and wiped at her cheeks. “It's okay.”

The sweet lady nodded, moved toward the bed, scooted the suitcase over and sat down. “You were crying so hard that I could hear you downstairs.”

Kate swiped again at her wet face, looked at the back of her palm and saw an abundance of mascara mess. “I must look awful.”

“No, you look like a girl with a broken heart. Mitch, I guess? And are you going somewhere?” She placed a hand on the edge of the suitcase. “Because I thought you'd actually decided to stay here a little longer. You said you hadn't found a rental house yet.”

Kate knew the lady was smarter than that. She could tell Kate wasn't merely packing to move to a different location in town; she was packing to leave, to run away from the pain she felt...and the pain she'd caused. “I'm leaving Claremont, Mrs. Tingle. I shouldn't have come back, and I don't want to hurt anyone else.”

Mrs. Tingle frowned. “You shouldn't have come
back?
”

Kate had started gathering her makeup and putting it in her cosmetics case, but she stopped, took a deep breath and decided to tell the kind lady the truth. “Wydell is my maiden name, and my legal name now, but before—three years ago—my last name was Martin. Kate Martin.”

It took only a couple of seconds for Mrs. Tingle's eyes to widen, her hand to move over her mouth, and then she mumbled against her fingers, “Oh, my. Oh, Kate.”

“I came back because I wanted to do the right thing, and I really wanted to have a relationship—some kind of relationship—with my little girl.”

Her hand still over her mouth, Mrs. Tingle continued, “Lainey. Lainey is your little girl.”

Kate nodded. “And I haven't seen her in three and a half years. She was only six months old when I left.” She glanced down to the locket around her neck, ran her thumbnail beneath the edge of the gold and opened it. The only picture she had of Lainey, the one Chad had given her when she was still in the hospital after giving birth, stared back. A newborn baby with a sprinkle of fine blond curls and bright blue eyes.

Tears leaked from Mrs. Tingle's eyes. “Everyone loves Lainey,” she whispered, leaning over to peek at the photo in the locket. “Oh, dear. Chad and Jessica.”

Jessica. Chad's first love. Mother of his son and the only mother Lainey had ever known. Kate was actually grateful that Lainey had someone who had adopted her and loved her as though she were her own. Basically, that was what Chad had done, after he'd learned Lainey wasn't his child.

“I know that Jessica is her mother now. And I wasn't going to try to take that from her. I just wanted—hoped—that they might find it in their hearts to let me have some place in her life, too.” Kate's temples throbbed, and she sat on the bed because she felt as though she might pass out if she continued standing. “But Mitch was so angry, and if he was that mad at me, then I can only imagine how mad Chad will be.”

Mrs. Tingle reached out and placed her hand over Kate's, her fingers damp from wiping away tears. “It's just because this is, well, such a shock, dear. Having you come back now and after everything that happened back then. You need to give them time, time to realize and understand that you've changed and time to consider how they can let you be a part of Lainey's world.” She pointed to the suitcase. “Leaving isn't going to solve anything.”

“But what if they can't forgive me? What if they never want me to see Lainey again?” She sniffed. “What if Mitch never wants to see me again?”

Mrs. Tingle's lower lip rolled in as she thought about Kate's questions, and then she nodded. “You know, my mama always told me that if you wanted to try and figure out the reason a person was acting a certain way, you needed to put yourself in their shoes. Think about this from Mitch's perspective. Everything he's heard about you has been negative. He knows you as a person who deceived one of his friends, and the type of loyalty a man like Mitch has keeps him from wanting to do anything that would allow one of his friends to get hurt. Perhaps he's thinking that he will be hurting Chad if he befriends you, and even more if he had a relationship with you.”

Kate shook her head. “I don't think that's it, Mrs. Tingle, or not entirely. He was angry because he thinks I'm going to do the same thing to him, and to his girls.” She squeezed Annette's hand and said, “I wouldn't. I'd never hurt him or Dee or Emmie. But he doesn't believe me, and I don't think he ever will.”

“You see, that's the thing about Mitch. And Chad, too, for that matter. They're good, honest men, and they both love their Lord. And you can't truly love your Lord without understanding a thing or two about forgiveness.”

Kate thought about that, but then she remembered Mitch's words.

“How would I know whether to ever believe you, Kate, when you nearly killed him with your deceit? Chad believed you back then. What if you're doing it again? What if you're here playing me so that I'll convince him to let you see Lainey? You're obviously very good at manipulating, and you're definitely a pro at keeping secrets. Just look at the secrets you've kept from me ever since the day you got here.”

“Even if they did forgive me for what I did in the past, I can't see either of them forgetting. Or trusting me again.”

“You need to give them time, honey,” Mrs. Tingle said. “They're still coming to terms with learning who you are.”

“Chad still doesn't know,” Kate whispered. “I haven't had a chance to tell him, because he's been on vacation ever since I got here. I could try to call him, but it didn't seem like the thing to tell someone over the phone. But I can't see him acting any differently than Mitch did. He may hate me even more for what I did to him back then.”

“Like I said, you need to give them time.” She lifted the small stack of nightshirts out of Kate's suitcase, walked over to the dresser and put them in the top drawer. “Running away isn't the answer to dealing with problems. If you never face them, they will come find you.” She closed the drawer and asked, “Did Mitch fire you?”

“He didn't use those words,” Kate said.

“What words did he use?”

Kate swallowed, remembering all of the things Mitch had said and shedding a few more tears at the hurt—and anger—in his tone. “He didn't say anything about my work, exactly, but he definitely didn't want me around, so I left.”

“So you're taking a day off.”

Kate couldn't help it; she smiled for the first time since she'd walked in the office this morning. “I don't think Mitch would see it that way. I'm pretty sure he isn't expecting to see me there again. Ever.”

“We'll see. In the meantime,” Mrs. Tingle said, steadily unpacking Kate's bag as she spoke, “you should take advantage of the day off to pray and ask God what He thinks you should do, then relax awhile. There are some really good romance novels in the top drawer of your nightstand. Read one of those.”

“A romance novel?” Kate asked, thinking that wasn't at all what she needed to read at the moment, since the only bit of romance she'd ever experienced occurred last night...and would probably never occur again.

“Inspirational romances,” Mrs. Tingle said. “The ones where God is in the center, and He makes it last. Those are the best kind, and I think that's what you need to read about, to see how He can work things out, even when forgiveness has to occur along the way. You aren't the only one who's ever made a mistake in life, dear. In fact, the only one who didn't...died because the rest of us do.”

Kate blinked, taken aback by the wisdom spouted from the sweet lady currently stashing her suitcase in the closet. “Thank you,” she said softly, “for your kindness, and for believing that I might have changed.”

Mrs. Tingle turned from the closet, walked to where Kate still sat on the bed and placed her palm against Kate's cheek. “Oh, honey, you've got God in you. I can see it. And if you give all of them time, they'll see it, too. Now you pray, relax and read. We've got church tonight, and you need to go.”

“Oh, I don't think I can,” Kate said, shaking her head at the very thought of attending the same church as Mitch.

“Nonsense,” Mrs. Tingle said, patting that hand against her cheek and then turning to leave. “I don't think you can afford not to. You can ride with us. We'll leave at 6:45 p.m.”

* * *

Mitch entered the church parking lot frustrated that he found himself searching for Kate's car.

“Is Miss Kate here?” Dee asked from the backseat.

Emmie had been dozing in her car seat, but she piped up at the mention of Kate's name. “Kay-Kay?”

Odd that just over a week ago they'd never met the lady and now they wanted her to be a part of each day. Mitch knew exactly how they felt, which only made him angrier. How would he explain the fact that they wouldn't see her anymore? And had she, as Mitch suspected, left town? Or would she actually stick around and attempt to see Chad as she'd planned? Did she really think Chad would give her another chance?

He pulled into a parking space next to Bo and Maura's car. They were gathering their Bibles and climbing out, and they wasted no time hurrying over to open Dee's and Emmie's doors. Bo promptly picked Dee up for a hug, and Maura scooped up Emmie and received one of her trademark openmouthed kisses on the cheek.

“You two are a sight for sore eyes,” Bo said, putting Dee down and holding her hand as they started toward the building.

“We've missed y'all,” Maura said, snuggling Emmie as she carried her along.

Mitch grabbed the diaper bag and Bibles and followed the group. “They've missed you, too, but I hear you had a good time at the beach.”

“Oh, it was wonderful,” Maura said, “but it'd have been better if you were there.”

“We'll try to go next time,” he said, and he meant it. If he'd have gone to the beach with them this year, he wouldn't be experiencing such a hole in his heart from Kate's appearance in his world.

And as soon as he had the thought, L. E. and Annette Tingle's car entered the church parking lot. Mitch automatically lifted his hand to wave, but then he saw the pretty face in the back window looking directly at him...and then looking away.

“Who's that with L.E. and Annette?” Maura asked, and then she gasped. “Mitch, that isn't her, is it? Hannah told us what happened, how she tricked you into hiring her. That's just awful, if you ask me, after what she did to Chad and all.”

“Now, Maura, we're walking into the church building. Let's keep our thoughts positive, okay?” Bo gently chided.

“She didn't exactly trick me into hiring her,” Mitch said, and then wondered why he felt the need to defend her.

“Sure seemed that way to me. If you'd have realized who she was, you wouldn't have brought her in your office, and you certainly wouldn't have asked her on a date. Oh, Mitch, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.”

The date hadn't been so bad. Not bad at all, in fact. But Mitch knew better than to state that truth, since so much about the past week with Kate had been less truth and more fiction.

“Daddy, it's Miss Kate!” Dee said, turning completely around and using her free hand to wave wildly to the lady walking behind L.E. and Annette. “Can I go see her?”

“Oh, dear,” Maura mumbled.

Mitch didn't know how he was going to handle his daughters' adoration of Kate if she continued to stay in Claremont. He'd really thought she would've left town by now, but evidently she was more determined to talk to Chad than he'd realized. How exactly did she plan to support herself in Claremont without a job?

“Kay-Kay!” Emmie said, reaching over Maura's shoulder toward the trio crossing the parking lot.

“I'll drop Emmie off at the nursery,” Maura said, picking up her pace. “Bo, you take Dee to hers.” She shot another glance back at Kate and gave her a look that should've scared the woman into leaving church, maybe even leaving town.

“Maura, please, settle down,” Bo said.

“She has no business here, Bo,” she said.

Brother Henry, their preacher, stood at the top of the steps to welcome everyone to the church and apparently heard Maura's comment. “Now, Maura, you know everyone is welcome here, right?”

She visibly swallowed. “Yes, Brother Henry.” But she walked even faster as she passed him and made a beeline for the nursery.

“Sorry about that, Mitch. You know how women are when they feel like someone they love has been done wrong. She's concerned about you and the girls, that's all. There's no reason in the world why that young lady can't come to church and worship with all of us if she's feeling it on her heart, and I'll try to talk to Maura more about that when we get home,” Bo said.

Mitch nodded. He certainly wasn't feeling as though he should defend Kate's presence at church, but he also didn't want to be standing here in the lobby when she entered. So he walked into the auditorium and took a seat beside Matt and Hannah.

He chatted with both of them but couldn't keep himself from casually scanning the people entering the auditorium. He almost didn't see her, since she slipped in behind a group and quickly took a seat on a back pew by herself. There really wasn't a reason that she couldn't sit with some of the people she'd met around town. She'd gotten to know quite a few over the past week, between their trips to the square and also her phone calls regarding policies. But she obviously wanted to be alone.