This morning-this glorious Fourth of July Saturday-Cathy had decided that she would tell Jack the truth tomorrow evening, after Seth had returned to his grandparents’ home. But for now, she didn’t want anything to interfere with their day-long celebrations. Jack would be here soon to pick them up and drive them to Spring Creek Park for the holiday festivities that included barbeque and chicken-stew dinners for sale, cold beer and soft drinks, family picnics, country bands playing late into the night, baseball games, fireworks displays and blankets spread out under the stars.
“Mom?”
“Hmm?” Cathy placed a package of napkins on top of the overstuffed picnic basket and barely managed to close the lid.
“I’ve been thinking about when school starts in August,” Seth said. “I’d like to come and live with you full-time then. Do you think Granddad and Nana will be okay without me?”
Cathy drew in a deep breath and released it slowly as she allowed the joy of the moment to encompass her. “Yes, I believe they’ll be okay. After all, it’s not as if you’ll be cutting them out of your life. You can see them whenever you’d like, and they’ll always be your grandparents.”
Will they? an inner voice asked. How will J.B. and Mona react after I tell Jack and Seth the truth? Will they still be able to think of themselves as Seth’s grandparents?
“What’s the matter, Mom?”
“Huh?”
“You’ve got this really peculiar look on your face.”
She brushed aside her concerns. Time enough to deal with the aftereffects later. Today was going to be a good day, one more building block in the foundation of the life she hoped to construct with Jack and Seth…if she was lucky-very, very lucky.
“It’s nothing really,” she lied. “I was just wondering how you’d feel about Jack staying here occasionally.”
“Oh.”
“I know it might be awkward for you and Jack, at least at first, but-”
“Are you going to marry him?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” she replied, not the least bit surprised by her son’s question. After all, he’d been raised to believe in the sanctity of marriage and that living together out of holy wedlock was a sin. “Jack and I haven’t discussed marriage.”
“Why not? You love him, don’t you?”
“I care deeply for Jack.” You love him. Admit the truth to yourself even if you can’t admit it to your son. Yes, she loved Jackson Perdue, with all her heart. And if he asked her to marry him tonight, she would say yes, a thousand times yes.
“Hey, I’m not saying get married right away or anything, but anybody can see that the guy’s nuts about you. And I think he’s okay. You know, as far as stepdads go, Jack wouldn’t be all that bad.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t, would he?”
“We get along okay,” Seth said. “We actually like a lot of the same things, sports and stuff like that. And he really listens to me when I talk to him. He doesn’t treat me like I’m some dumb kid.”
Cathy smiled. “That’s because you’re not a dumb kid. You’re a smart kid.”
They heard a car pull into the driveway. Seth went to the back door and looked outside.
“It’s Jack.” Seth lifted the heavy picnic basket loaded down with food and supplies and carried it with him as he met Jack at the back door.
“Ready to go?” Jack asked when Seth opened the door for him.
“Sure are,” Seth replied. “I’ll take this on out to our car.” He hoisted the basket up to show Jack, then headed outside.
Jack came over to Cathy, leaned down and kissed her. She returned the kiss, and when he raised his head, they both grinned. He scanned her from head to toe.
“Honey, you look good enough to eat.”
She laughed. “Save your appetite for food today.”
“I’ll try to be on my best behavior, but, woman, you look way too good in those blue jeans.”
The car horn honking reminded them that Seth was waiting in the Jeep Cherokee. Jack slipped his arm around her waist.
If only every day could be like this.
Erin had come to the park with Clay. As far as anyone knew, they were merely acquaintances and this was just a friendly date. Her on-again/off-again sexual relationship with Clay was their private business, something neither of them advertised. Love had absolutely nothing to do with how they felt about each other. All her love, every ounce her heart held, belonged to John Earl. He was everything to her. If only he would realize how much better she would be for him than that insipid Ruth Ann. The woman was practically a saint, or at least John Earl thought so. It wasn’t enough that she was raising two children of her own, but now she had taken in Melissa Hovater and the entire town marveled at her kindness. Even Clay had made some stupid comment about what a great person John Earl’s wife was.
“The woman has a heart of gold, doesn’t she?” he’d said. “Can you imagine her becoming a foster mother to a girl who’s suspected of killing her own father?”
Erin knew that John Earl wasn’t 100 percent in favor of Missy living with them. He hadn’t actually come right out and said it, but Erin was good at reading between the lines. Sometimes she could almost read John Earl’s mind. He was concerned about the Hovater girl’s influence on his own two daughters, and Erin couldn’t say that she blamed him. Felicity was already a handful, a bit of a wild child who seemed to enjoy embarrassing her devout, highly respected parents. And Charity, although quiet and rather moody, seemed to be a paragon of virtue, like her mother.
“Here’s your peach ice cream.” Clay held out the two scoops in a cookie-dough waffle cone, one of Erin’s favorite desserts. “Better start licking.” He chuckled. “It’s already melting.”
She took the cone from him, smiled and ran her tongue around the edges. “Thanks.”
“It’s hot as blue blazes. Why don’t we find us a nice shade tree somewhere?”
She caught a glimpse of John Earl as he and his family settled themselves around one of the concrete picnic tables near the outdoor grandstand set up for the bands and singers. When the love of her life put his arm around his wife’s shoulder, Erin cringed. Damn that woman!
“What’s the matter, sugar?” Clay asked.
“Huh?”
His gaze followed hers, and he grunted. “Give it up, baby doll. Old John Earl won’t ever be yours.”
She snapped her head around and glared at Clay. “Never say never.”
“You’re living in a dream world. That man’s not going to cheat on his wife, and even if he did, he wouldn’t leave her.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. You never know what might happen.”
Ruth Ann might get run over by a bus. Or one day, John Earl could wise up and figure out what he was missing. The one thing Erin knew for certain was that sooner or later, one way or the other, he would be hers.
Ruth Ann had been reluctant about encouraging Missy to join the family today for the Fourth of July celebrations at the park, but John Earl had insisted. After all, if Missy had stayed at home, Ruth Ann would have felt obligated to stay with her. For the past few weeks, since that poor child had been living with them, he had noticed subtle changes in his entire household. His mother-in-law, seldom cheerful or easygoing, had become sullen and irritable. It was apparent that she disapproved of John Earl and Ruth Ann becoming Missy’s foster parents.
“Don’t you think you have enough to deal with as it is?” Faye had asked him. “I feel sorry for the girl, for what her father put her through, but God help us, it’s unfair for anyone to expect Ruth Ann to be a mother to Missy. Don’t you understand that she’s reliving all her own horrible memories?”
“She may be reliving her past with her father,” John Earl had said. “But at least she’s dealing with it while she’s awake. Her nightmares have stopped-or haven’t you noticed? Ruth Ann hasn’t had more than a couple of bad dreams since Missy came to live with us.”