Next Door Secrets (Secrets Series Book 2) (23 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Beth pulled open the massive
front door and saw Parker looking better than he had a right to.

Sporting a red polo shirt
and Dockers, he squinted at her in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

She propped her hands on
her hips. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Ivy called and asked me to
babysit.”

“And you said no, so she
called me.”

“Of course I said no, but
then I started thinking about how long she’d been trying to break into the
Chicago music scene and I felt bad. I never could resist a lady in distress.”

“Or a country in distress
apparently.” Her voice had an edge to it that she rarely used. She was turning
into a bitter old maid.

“May I come in?”

She sighed. “It’s up to
you. Parker Junior and I can manage without you, if you have something more
pressing to take care of.”

He shook his head. “I can’t
think of anything.” He stepped inside the foyer and closed the door behind him.
“Boy, it feels weird coming in through the front door instead of through the
garage.”

“Come here often?” Jealousy
washed over her. She kneeled next to the baby so she could try and ignore her
six foot
tall ex.

He followed her into the
living room and sat on one of the cream colored couches. “Ivy’s going to regret
her white-on-white color scheme now that she has a baby, don’t you think?” He
smirked.

A laugh forced its way out
of her tight lips. “Actually, Ivy seems to be embracing motherhood in a way I
never imagined. I practically had to kick her out the door tonight. She
considered calling and cancelling her gig.”

“No way.”

“Yep.” She picked up the
discarded rattle and shook it near the baby’s face. “You’re a cutie, yes, you
are.” The baby talk came naturally. Tonight might be a fun distraction from her
real life.

Parker cracked his
knuckles. “I passed the medical exam for the Peace Corps.”

“Good for you.”

“I’m not so sure. I’ve been
having trouble sleeping lately.”

“Maybe that’s because you
dumped the best thing that ever happened to you.” Surprised at her boldness, she
continued focusing on the baby.

“Could be. I also think it’s
against my nature to lie.” He cracked his knuckles one by one. “I want to go to
Africa and help, but I don’t want to do it if I have to lie about my health.”

Interesting. She looked up
at him and his eyes looked sunken. Well,
good
. He
deserved to be miserable. “What are you saying?”

His Adam’s apple dipped.
“I’m going to be honest with my recruiter about the Huntington’s. I’m pretty
sure they won’t want me anymore.”

She felt her heart
throbbing in her head. “I’m sorry.” And she was. “I know you’ve been talking
about joining the Peace Corps since we were at I.U.”

“That’s what I get for
waiting too long.”

“I guess.” The baby started
grunting and kicking his legs in the air. Beth grabbed his bare foot and
wiggled each tiny toe. “This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy
stayed
home.
. . .” He was not amused. Seeing that
he’d spit out his pacifier, she got a clean one and placed it in his mouth. He
rejected it, so she rubbed his tummy. “What’s wrong, little guy?” Again, with
the high-pitched baby talk. She peeked inside his diaper, but it was clean.
When he didn’t settle down, she rose and started carrying him around the
obstacle course of blankets and toys.

“Is he hungry?” Parker
asked.

“Ivy said she fed him right
before I arrived.” She walked over to the wall of windows facing the lakeshore
and made sure he had a view. “Look out there. Isn’t it beautiful?” Magically,
the baby seemed to calm down.

Parker sprang from his
seat. “Hey, maybe we should take him outside.”

“I don’t know.” She hadn’t planned
on doing anything but rocking and feeding him.

“Come on. Kids love the
beach.” His voice grew wistful.

“But what if he gets sand
in his hair?”

“Then we’ll wash him.”

“What if it’s too cold?”

“Then we’ll bring him back
inside.” Parker’s brown eyes seemed to twinkle.

Grinning, Beth couldn’t
think of any more excuses. “All right. Let’s go.” She grabbed a baby blanket
with her free hand and walked to the sliding glass door.

Parker led them out to a
warm spring night and down what seemed like a thousand wooden steps. “I used to
walk out here to clear my head after a tough day.” At the bottom, he slipped
off his shoes and rolled up the bottoms of his pants.

“Will you take the baby for
a second?” She handed the lightweight over to Parker’s muscular arms. Sitting
on the stairs, she removed her shoes and left them in the sand beside his. “OK.
I’ll take him back.”

Parker stared into the
infant’s sweet face. “I don’t mind carrying him.”

Stepping onto the sand,
Beth smiled. Parker would’ve been a great father. They walked side-by-side
along the lapping waves watching the sun disappear. The breeze whipped a piece
of her dishwater blonde hair into her eyes and she pushed it away. “He’s
precious, isn’t he?”

“Who me?” Parker joked.
“Oh, you mean my namesake.”

“You’re so lucky.”

“What? I think you’ve
forgotten who you’re speaking to.”

She playfully pushed his
shoulder. “I haven’t forgotten. But this baby is yours if you want him. You’re
lucky.”

“I would’ve liked to have
been a dad, but it didn’t work out that way. Once I imagined teaching my kids
to sail out here. What I want now is to make a difference in the world.”

“And being a parent doesn’t
matter?”

“Of course it does. It’s
one of the most important jobs.”

Beth stepped over a piece
of driftwood. “I think you’ve forgotten that you’re a millionaire. You can do
just about anything in the world you want. If you want to go help villagers in
Africa, you don’t need the Peace Corps’ permission. Just go to Africa. Then,
come back here and be this kid’s father.”

“Ivy and I are divorced.
We’re never going to be one big, happy family.”

“Good.
Because
I would hate that.
But you’re an idiot if you don’t share yourself with
this little guy. He needs you. And I think you like him.” Her voice took on a
sing-song
quality.

He looked at Junior and a
smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “He is cute.” He carried the baby to
the lake’s edge and dipped his tiny toes in the water. “
Wooo
!”
The baby giggled and Parker dipped his feet in again. “Woo!” He did it over and
over again.

Beth
laughed
as Parker seemed to reverse his own aging. Was there anything more entertaining
than a grown man trying to make a baby happy?

Darkness overtook them and
a
nearly-full
moon reflected off of the water. After a
while, Parker put the infant in the crook of his elbow. He reached his other
hand toward her.

Her spine stiffened. What
did this mean? Did he still want to break-up?

A moment later, she caved
and let him hold her hand. They continued strolling down the beach and she
wished this moment could last forever. This would be like a movie clip she
would play in her memory over and over again. Why couldn’t it last?

He squeezed her hand. “What
about you? If anyone should be a parent, it’s you.”

She shrugged.

“You want to be a mother so
badly, I can see it in your eyes every time you talk about
Kaylee
.”

She froze. “
Kaylee’s
gone.”

“What?”

Her throat grew dry and she
struggled to speak without her voice cracking. “Jim packed up all their stuff
and moved.”

“Where to?”

“How should I know? That’s
what he does, I guess. He lies to his daughter and he lies to everyone he
meets. I thought he cared about
Kaylee
and me, but I
was wrong.”

Parker’s jaw jerked to the
side. “Were you two involved?”

“Not really. I think he
sent me flowers, but he denied it. Sometimes he had me over for dinner, but
Kaylee
would be there, too. I don’t know what was going on between
us. I just miss
Kaylee
.” She swiped at the tear
forming against her will. “Now I’ll never see her again.”

“That’s horrible.” He took
the blanket from her and placed it in the sand. He straightened the corners as
best he could one-handed,
then
put the baby in the
middle. Facing Beth, he pushed a lock of hair out of her face. “I know you
cared about
Kaylee
and I bet this really hurts. But I
think you should seriously consider adopting or something.”

Feeling vulnerable, she
crossed her arms. “Hannah’s right. No one is going to choose me to be
their
child’s adoptive mother. I’m single, I’m old, and
there are better choices out there.”

“You’re not old.” He smiled
at her.

“I’m getting there.”

“Well, there have to be
kids out there who need a mother. Didn’t you say
Kaylee
had been in foster care? What about becoming a foster parent or something?”

Mrs. Wilson’s laugh-lined face
popped into her head. She said being a foster mother gave her a reason to get
out of bed in the morning. Lately Beth had been struggling with that. “I’m
worried it would break my heart when their real parents took them back.”

“There have to be kids in
foster care whose parents are never going to come for them. What about an
orphan or something?”

“I couldn’t get a baby.
Everyone wants the babies.”

“So? You seemed to have no
trouble bonding with
Kaylee
and she wasn’t a baby.
And your ex’s niece wasn’t a baby, either.”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of
tired of being rejected.”

His hand cupped her cheek.
“Only an idiot would reject you.”

She nodded and uncrossed
her arms. “I know.” A smirk turned up her lips. “And I’m looking at one right
now.” Something fluttered in her stomach. He was standing awfully close to her.
Close enough that she could smell his woodsy cologne. Close enough that she
physically longed for him.

“Can you ever forgive me?”
He leaned down and kissed her nose. He studied her expression and ran his thumb
along her bottom lip.

It tickled a little, making
her want something more. She kissed his finger.

As if he couldn’t resist a
second longer, he brushed his lips against hers.

Her heart jerked and her
knees melted. She reached around his broad shoulders and hung on for dear life.
Every ounce of her being needed this. It had only been a few weeks, but she’d
missed him.
 

With the sound of the gentle
waves in the background, the moment felt perfect. “I love you.” As soon as she
said it, she knew it was a mistake.

He pulled back and stared
at her. The moon reflected in his
eyes
as he seemed to
be searching for the right thing to say. “
Beth.
. . .”

Biting her lip, she pulled
away from him. “Never mind. I take it back.”

He sighed. “I don’t know
why it’s so
difficult.
. . I don’t want to hurt
you.
. . Beth, I . . .”

She picked up the baby and
started heading to the house. The moment was ruined.

Parker chased after her and
touched her shoulder. She kept marching. He stepped in front of her.

“Get out of my way.” She
tried to step around him, but he kept moving to block her. He acted like
this were
a sport and her blood boiled. “Move!”

“What I’m trying to say is
I love you.”

She shook her head. “Liar.”

“I’m serious. I’ve known it
for a while, but I didn’t want to admit it. I don’t want to hold you back from
your dream of having a family. But you know my situation. You know who I am.
For some crazy reason, you love me. And I love you, too.” He kissed her again.
“I love you, I love you,
I
love you.”

A sigh escaped her lips as
she gave in to him.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

Beth shuffled from one foot
to the next as she stood in the living room of the Fox Hills Group Home. She chewed
on her
thumb nail
, then stuck her hands in her
pockets. She wasn’t sure what she was doing there.

The mother who ran the home
looked taller, thinner and younger than Beth. Probably in her late twenties,
the woman had auburn hair that she wore loose to her shoulders and a tattoo of
a sword on her forearm. She walked toward Beth and handed her a glass. “Have a
seat.”

“Thanks.” Beth sat on a couch
that had seen better days and took a sip of well water. “It was a long drive.”

The young woman nodded.
“You’d like to meet Willow?”

Beth put down her drink. “I
used to babysit her older sister and I’m sure she’d want me to check up on
Willow. What can you tell me about her?”

Putting down her glass, the
woman leaned forward and clasped her bony hands together. “Willow has
potential, but has trouble trusting people. She sees a counselor once a week
and has run away several times from her foster families in the past. That’s why
she lives here now. We provide more structure and security.”

Out of nervousness, Beth
tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ears. “Does she get into trouble?”

“Well, she’s only six years
old, so if she got the proper love and attention, I’m sure she’d grow out of
her issues.” She took a breath. “The poor girl gets teased a lot. You’ll see
why. And because of that, she’s built up her defenses. One of the things she
gets in trouble for the most is lying.”

Beth thought about
Kaylee’s
ability to stretch the truth. Her dad was not a
baseball player or a policeman. And instead of an Indian princess, her mom had
left her and Willow alone in a cockroach-infested house to starve. For these
girls, make-believe had been better than reality. “I understand. Does she, by
chance, hoard food?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

Not wanting to break
Kaylee’s
confidence, Beth just shrugged. “Is there anything
else I should know about?”

“Are you thinking of
adopting her?” The young woman’s face lit up. “She’s really precious down deep.
When she ran away, her other families dumped her, but here we know that running
away is really a test. It’s a child’s way of asking, ‘Do you care enough about
me to come looking?’ We provide an environment where it’s more difficult to run
away, but we also offer more emotional support.”

Not knowing the answer to
her question about adoption, Beth didn’t answer. “How did you get into this
line of work?”

“I grew up in the system,
so I understand where these kids are coming from.” She rubbed the inked sword.
“A lot of kids who don’t have families turn to gangs. I made some bad choices
growing up that I hope I can prevent these guys from repeating.”

Beth nodded and drank some
more of her water. “I just felt the need to see Willow. To make sure she’s OK.
Her sister would’ve wanted it.”

“What happened to her
sister? Is she in another foster home? I hate it when they split up siblings.
They did that to me and my three sisters.”

“They’re half-sisters.
Kaylee
lives with her dad, but as you probably know,
Willow’s father’s in prison.”

“And her mother, too.
Foster kids whose parents are in prison struggle with even more issues than
usual.”

Beth’s palms started to
sweat. Did she dare reach out to another child who didn’t belong to her? She
wouldn’t know how she felt until she met the girl. “May I see Willow now?”

“Sure. I’ll go get her.” The
young woman rose and walked down the hall to the left. Male voices came from
the hall on the right. It had been explained to Beth that the genders were not
allowed to cross sides of the house. They could only meet in common rooms like
this one and the kitchen.

Taking another drink, Beth
noticed her hands were shaking. A moment later, a little girl with her brunette
head down, limped from the shadows. Her left foot appeared to be twisted
awkwardly, so she didn’t put her full weight on it. As she came closer, a scar
on her left cheek became visible. Beth figured these were reminders of the
terrible car accident that had dismantled her family.

Beth stood as if to show
Willow respect. “Hi! My name is Bethany and I knew your sister.”

The child’s chin lifted to
reveal eyes so blue, the breath caught in Beth’s throat. “You know Skye?”

Nodding, Beth pressed her
palm to her pounding chest. “You have beautiful eyes, just like she does.”

At that, Willow dropped her
head and hid her expression. She stood at the end of the hallway and twirled
the ends of her hair. This, too, reminded Beth of her sister.

The foster mother stood
behind Willow and gently touched her back. “Remember your manners.”

Keeping her eyes averted,
Willow limped closer and mumbled a hello.

Beth remembered the first
day she’d met
Kaylee
crying on her stoop and felt
that same overwhelming urge to hug this girl. But she knew she’d have to earn
her trust and that would take time.
Lots of time.

Since she’d given a great
deal of thought to this meeting, she reached for her purse. “Would you like to
see a picture of your sister?”

Willow’s eyes locked onto
hers and grew wide. The scar traveled from the corner of one eye and
zig
zagged
all the way down her
cheek. If it weren’t for that, she’d be striking.
Gola
Moon could rot in jail as far as Beth was concerned for the curse she’d left on
her girls.

Beth pulled her phone out
and found the video. She pressed play to reveal
Kaylee
demonstrating her Walk the Dog yo-yo trick and talking about her birthday.

Willow’s eyes grew damp and
she grabbed the phone out of Beth’s hand. Beth felt her own eyes start to mist.

The foster mother stepped
forward. “Now, Willow, give that back.”

Beth held up her palm.
“It’s all right. She probably hasn’t seen her sister in what—two years?”

Willow blinked rapidly and
bit her lower lip. While she watched the short clip over and over again, her
fingers touched the screen as if she could touch her sister. “Skye,” she
whispered. “My Skye.”

# # #

Bethany returned to the
group home several times over the next few months, talking about
Kaylee
/Skye and teaching Willow yo-yo tricks.

During the week, Beth worked,
babysat with Parker, and attended training classes on how to be a foster
parent. They kept telling her, “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect
parent” and she was learning to embrace her imperfect life.

She and Parker would never
get married and that was OK. He traveled to Africa on his own to share his
business expertise and contributed Mall Land funds to help build schools in
several villages. He and Beth were busy crossing things off of their Bucket
Lists.

On the way to the Fox Hills
Group Home one morning, Beth’s forehead throbbed. The four-hour drive was
starting to wear her down. She rubbed her temples with one hand just as her
cell phone rang. She answered it and released a breath as she heard her
daughter’s voice. “Hi, Hannah.”

“Sorry I haven’t called in
a while.”

“You’ve had a lot on your
mind.” She drove by a pasture dotted with black and white cows on her right. “How
are you?”

“Not so good.”

Did she have morning
sickness? Had she and Connie reached an impasse? “What’s wrong?”
Besides the obvious.

“I’ve decided on adoption,
but I don’t know how to choose. All of the families seem so nice.”

Beth nodded her head to herself.
It was an overwhelming responsibility that came down to a gut feeling. She’d
sensed that Dr. and Mrs. Taylor would devote themselves to Hannah and
fortunately, she’d been right. “Make a list of must-haves and then meet a few
of the couples in person. Trust your instincts and trust Connie’s.”

“If I sent you some of the
profiles I’m considering, would you take a look?”

Her heartbeat accelerated. “Sure.”

“I figure if you, Mom and I
all agree, that’s like winning a trifecta.”

They chatted a bit about pregnancy
symptoms and how Hannah still hoped to get into Notre Dame or Yale.

After the line disconnected,
Beth cranked up the radio and tapped the steering wheel to the beat. Today was
going to be a good day.

Once she arrived at the
home, she and Willow went into the backyard and picked up where they’d left
off. Beth taught her how to play the Favorites Game that
Kaylee
had invented. She learned that Willow preferred chocolate chip cookies,
kittens, dandelions and the color purple. Beth told of
Kaylee’s
poetic take on the yellow plant: “You say it’s a weed, but I see a flower.”

Willow smiled, which helped
obscure the scar down her cheek.

Beth’s chest filled with
hope. “I don’t know about you, but I think the world would be a better place if
more people chose to see the flower.”

“Yeah.”

Feeling the burn of tears, Beth
looked into Willow’s blue eyes. She inhaled a quick breath. “How would you feel
about.
. . would you like to come home with me?” She
bit her lip, waiting. Her pulse pounded in her neck and time slowed. The
silence tortured her. “You could help me pick out a house.” Because they both
deserved a place to call
their
own. Maybe they’d even
get a cat.

Without speaking, Willow
wrapped her arms around Beth and squeezed tight. It was the perfect answer.

THE END