Taylor Lynne: The Women of Merryton - Book Two (10 page)

Jessie continued
consoling her father, “And we are all having dinner tonight together, so you
can see Maddie then.”

I could hear Dr. Ryan
grumble some, but that information seemed to appease him.

I smiled to myself,
thinking about their interactions. I also wondered what event was going to make
Blake Summers come to church. I reminded myself not to be too curious. I was
trying my best not to get sucked into the town grapevine, which I’m sure Easton
and I were the stars of right now.

And to prove my point,
Jessie leaned forward. “You know, Easton had never missed a game until you
moved here.” There was a conspiratorial tone to her words.  

Easton and I both turned
to look at her. Her beautiful face held the most evil grin.

I held up my stitched
hand in my defense.

“We all heard. I hope you
feel better soon.”

I didn’t even want to
know how “we all” heard. It wasn’t surprising, though. This town had an
incredible network of busy bodies. I wouldn’t count Jessie among them, though.
“Thank you. I will be as good as new in no time at all.”

“Shane said we won,”
Easton chimed in.

“Yes. Maybe we’ll finally
win the championship this year. I’m tired of coming in second place behind
Riley’s Insurance,” Jessie said with some vehemence.

“Shane seems confident
this is the year,” Easton replied.

“He said that last year,”
Jessie said lightheartedly.

The Pastor stood up and
Jessie took that as her signal to sit back. Easton grinned at me and I smiled
closed lipped.

The sermon began and I
braced myself for the uneasiness. You would think I would be used to it, but
sadly I wasn’t. It felt even more awkward having Easton so close. I took a deep
breath. Pastor Bates started off like most other Father’s Day sermons I’d heard
in the past. He extolled the virtues of fatherhood and being a good husband. He
spoke of his own joy of being both and of how much he loved his wife and children.
But then his focus shifted.

“There are also those of
you that may be saying to yourselves this day, ‘why wasn’t I blessed with a
good father or perhaps a good husband?’ Or maybe you feel like you will never
have the opportunity to be either a husband or a father.”

My head had been down,
but I lifted it to look at him, and it was as if he was speaking directly to
me.

“To those of you, I ask
you to remember that you each have a perfect Father in Heaven. He will never
abandon you or let you down. He knows perfectly what you need. To Him you can
always look, and He, through His Son, can heal your hearts on this day and
always.”

The tears streamed down
my cheeks. In all my years attending church no words had ever penetrated my
heart so fully. It was like the knot loosened a bit more. I felt foolish for
crying, especially in front of my ex-husband. I knew he was looking at me. I
could feel it. As soon as the Pastor sat down and the final hymn began, I excused
myself with my daughter. I escaped to my old hiding place—a tiny room above the
stage that always seemed to be unused, at least it had when I lived here before.
I was hoping it still would be. I needed some time alone to process. Process
what had been said today, and even what Easton and I had discussed the previous
night.

I crept up the narrow
steps that led directly to the tiny room. I opened the door and found it dark
and unoccupied, so I flipped on the switch and walked in. The room was filled
with dust covered old boxes and it smelled a little musty, but I didn’t let
that bother me. I took one of the two wooden chairs, brushed it off, and took a
seat. For a moment, I only focused on trying to compose myself. The tears were
relentless. I felt overwhelmed by the thought that maybe God really did care
about me. That He knew how I was feeling and He wanted me to know that He had
been listening to my prayers. And for the first time in a very long time, I
felt like maybe I could feel whole. I would say whole again, but I’m not sure I
had ever been whole before. I did a great imitation of it, but I never quite
got it.

In my quiet contemplation,
the door creaked. I hastily stood up and wiped my cheeks. I figured it was
probably some teenage kids or something, but I was more than surprised when I
recognized Rachel Whitney, my insurance agent’s daughter.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.
“I didn’t think anyone would be in here.”

I noticed her eyes, too,
were red and a little misty.

I shook my head embarrassed.
“Don’t be sorry. I um … I needed a moment.”

She smiled and nodded her
head. “Yeah, me too. I could do without this holiday.”

I knew I liked her. I
laughed little. “You and me both. Well … I’ll leave you to your moment.” I
stood up to leave.

“Please stay,” she said.

I pulled out the extra
chair for her and I reoccupied the one I had vacated. “So, what do you have
against the day?”

She laughed. “I forget
you probably don’t know everyone’s business yet.”

“I’m hoping to avoid it.”

“Good luck with that,”
she said. She sighed deeply. “My twin sister died seven years ago and I’m
raising her son, my son, alone. Single girl problems, you know.”

“Believe me, I know. I’m
sorry about your sister.”

She grinned in
appreciation. “You and Dr. Cole at least seem to get along well for exes.”

I laughed out loud. “Is
that the impression we give?”

She turned her head to
the side. “You don’t? Wow! The grapevine really is broken in this town. The
talk is you’re reconciling.”

“I don’t know why people
would think that.”

“Really?” she said with a
hint of surprise.

“You’re shocked?”

Her face reddened
slightly. “Honestly, yes. I’ve noticed the way he looks at you and I assumed you
were together again since you’re always together at church now, and maybe there
was a rumor about you sneaking off together last night.”

Now I was more than
astonished. I held up my injured hand. “I cut myself last night and unfortunately
it required stitches.”

“Oh … I’m sorry. That
looks painful.” But she was still grinning.

“What?”

“Let’s just say you were the
topic of conversation in the foyer this morning.”

I didn’t know whether I
should laugh or cry, but I settled on finding the humor in the situation. “I
had no idea so many people cared.”

“It won’t take you long
to figure out, but in this town, everyone cares.”

“Actually, I know. I grew
up here.”

“Really?”

“Until I was fifteen, and
then Easton I and lived here for a couple of years before...you know.”

She nodded her head.

“So what was your maiden
name?”

I guess there was no
hiding it. I was surprised she didn’t already know. “My father is Frank
Roberts.”

Dawning crossed her
beautiful face and her violet eyes widened.

“Yes, that Frank
Roberts.”

“Sorry …”

“Please don’t apologize.
I know the reputation Frank has and he is well deserving of it. He’s part of
the reason I’m up here wishing it was Monday already.”

“I’m sorry he’s not doing
well.”

I shrugged my shoulders.
“You know, I haven’t talked to him since my mother died fifteen years ago.” I
don’t know why I shared that with her. We were practically strangers, but she
didn’t seem to judge me.

“I guess I can at least
be thankful I have a good dad, but I don’t even know who my son’s father is.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Well, my sister Sydney
wasn’t the most responsible of people. She hid her pregnancy from us until
almost the end. And she took the identity of Drew’s father to the grave with
her.” Her tears flowed more freely. I handed her a tissue from my purse.

“Thank you. At least she’s
at peace now.”

“I noticed your son looks
a lot like you.”

She smiled at the mention
of him. “I guess that’s one good thing about raising your identical twin’s
child, but I would like to think he’s like me in more ways than the genes we
share.”

“I’m a big believer in
nurture, so I have no doubt he is a lot like you,” I responded.

She waved her tissue. “I
don’t even know why I’m crying. Most of the time, I don’t even care that I’m
single. It’s better that way, right?” She seemed unsure.

I thought for a moment.
“I go back and forth on that, but I’ve pretty much convinced myself it’s better.”

“I feel like I could
never trust a man to be the father Drew deserves.”

I nodded. I’d had the
same feelings over the years. I had dated, but never got serious with anyone
because I didn’t want to bring another man into our lives just to have him
leave us, or worse. “I’m the last person to give out advice in this area, but
trust your motherly instincts, you’ll know if the right person comes around.”

I should probably take
the same advice, but after Easton let us go so easily—or so it seemed at the
time—I felt like if Ashley’s own father could do such a thing, I could never
trust another man not to.

She smiled through her
tears. “Thank you.” Her eyes brightened like she got an idea. “Hey, you should
come to girl’s night at Jessie Belle’s.”

I was surprised by the
invitation. And I hadn’t had a girl’s night in forever. I guess every night was
girl’s night in our house. “Um …”

“I know most of us are
youn—”

I raised my eyebrow at
her.

“I mean, less mature than
you.”

I laughed. “You can say
it, I’m old.”

She touched my knee. “If
this is old, then sign me up. We all can’t believe you’re old enough to have a
teenager. It’s no wonder your ex-husband can’t take his eyes off you.”

“I think you’re
mistaken.”

She grinned. “Me and the
whole town, then.”

I think I actually
blushed. How old was I anyway? “Really, you have it all wrong. We aren’t even
friends.”

“If you say so,” Rachel
said, unconvinced. “But really, I’m sure Jessie and the crew would love to have
you. Jessie finally convinced me to start coming a few months ago.”

This time I didn’t
hesitate. “Sounds perfect.” I found myself actually feeling excited about it.

We spent the rest of
Sunday school hiding out in that musty little room, talking and even laughing. It
was therapeutic. I almost wished I could stay up there longer, but I was sure
Ashley was wondering where I was, and Rachel had to get Drew.

The first person I ran
into was a harried Easton.

“Are you okay? Where have
you been?”

“Of course I’m okay. I just
needed a …” How did I explain it?

His eyes narrowed in
concern. “I was worried when you rushed out of the chapel. I’ve been looking
everywhere for you.”

I didn’t think I would
worry anyone, especially him. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

He stepped closer until we
were mere inches apart. I couldn’t help but smile at the talk we were probably
generating, especially after the conversation I’d had with Rachel.

“What are you grinning
about?” Easton asked.

I looked around at our
fellow churchgoers, who were definitely interested in us, but trying to
casually not be interested in us. “Ask me later.”

He looked confused. “Are you
sure everything is all right?”

“I’m working on it,” I
answered honestly.

Again, he narrowed his
eyes in confusion.

I didn’t try to clear it
up. “So, we’ll see you around five?”

He nodded his head yes.

With that, I left to find
my girl … our girl.

I spent the afternoon
putting the final touches on dinner. I still couldn’t believe I was doing this.
The girls were excited, so I tried to remember I was doing this for them. And
admittedly, I felt better toward my ex after our little talk and today’s
sermon. Like I told Grams during our weekly call after church, I thought I could
finally get over him now, and perhaps we could eventually be friends.

“Hmm …” she replied.

“Isn’t that a good
thing?” I asked her.

She took a moment to
reply. “Honey, I’m glad you’re working out your feelings after all this time,
just make sure that when you’re done working through everything, you get the
right results.”

“What does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Now
let me talk to my angel.”

Grams was never one to be
cryptic, so I wondered what she was trying to get at. What better results were
there than finally getting over Easton and emotionally moving on? I didn’t have
time to think about it; I needed to put the final touches on dinner.

It was a good thing I was
on top of things as Easton and Emmy were early. I opened the door to find them
both grinning at me. Easton held a lovely bouquet of mixed flowers.