He saw that Jane’s eyes were glued to his mother’s face, and he took in her stunned, happy expression. He remembered the cold sonovabitch who’d raised her, and in spite of everything—the shotgun, his mother’s desertion, even Kevin Tucker—he couldn’t help but feel glad that she’d finally found herself a decent parent. If only she hadn’t found his decent parent.
But his warmth cooled as his mother gave him the same I-mean-business look that, twenty years earlier, had meant turning over his car keys.
“Are you going to honor those wedding vows you made to Jane, or are you still planning to get rid of her after the baby’s born?”
“Stop making it sound like I’ve got a contract out on her!” He jabbed his thumb at Tucker. “And could we discuss this in private, without Bozo here listening in?”
“He stays,” Annie interjected. “I like him. And he cares about you, Calvin. Don’t you, Kevin?”
“I sure do, Mrs. Glide. I care a lot.” Tucker shot him a Jack Nicholson smirk, then turned to Lynn. “Besides, if he doesn’t want Jane, I do.”
Jane had the gall to smile.
But his mother had always been single-minded when she needed to be. “You can’t have it both ways, Cal. Either Jane’s your wife, or she’s not. What’s it going to be?”
He’d reached the end of his rope, and his temper snapped. “All right! No divorce. We’ll stay goddamned married!” He glared at the three women. “There! Are you finally satisfied? Now I want to talk to my wife!”
His mother flinched. Annie shook her head and clucked her tongue. Jane gave him a look of utter contempt and swept into the house, taking the tabloid newspaper with her.
The screen door slammed, and Kevin let out a low whistle. “Damn, Bomber, maybe instead of watching all those game films, you should have been reading a few books on female psychology.”
He knew he’d blown it, but he also knew he’d been pushed past the point of reason. They’d publicly humiliated him, making him look like a clown in front of his wife. With a furious glare at all of them, he spun on his heel and stalked away.
Lynn wanted to cry as she watched him disappear. Her heart went out to him, this stubborn oldest son who’d also been her play companion. He was furious with her, and she could only hope she was doing the right thing and that someday he would understand.
She expected Jim to rush after Cal. Instead, he walked the rest of the way to the porch, but he turned to Annie instead of her. Knowing his feelings about her mother, she waited for his customary display of belligerence, only to be surprised.
“Mrs. Glide, I’d like permission to take your daughter for a walk.”
She caught her breath. This was the first time Jim had come to the house since that night two weeks ago when she’d turned him down. In the days that followed, she’d known she’d done the right thing, but at night when her defenses were down, she’d wished it could have been different. Never had she expected him to swallow his pride enough to repeat his performance as the polite suitor.
Annie, however, didn’t seem to find anything odd about it. “You stay in sight of the house,” she warned him.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he gave her a stiff nod.
“All right, then.” Her mother’s bony knuckles dug into the small of her back. “You go on now, Amber Lynn; Jim asked you nice and proper. And you be polite, not snippy like you’ve been with me lately.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Lynn moved down off the step, wanting to laugh even as she felt her eyes tear.
Jim’s hand curled around her own. He gazed down at her, and the warm golden flecks in his hazel eyes suddenly reminded her how tender he’d been through her three pregnancies. When she was at her fattest, he’d kissed her belly and told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world. As her hand nestled like a small bird in his larger one, she thought how quick she was to forget the good and remember the bad.
He led her toward the path that curved into the woods. Despite her mother’s words, they were soon out of sight of the house.
“Pretty day,” he said. “A little warm for May.”
“Yes.”
“It’s quiet up here.”
It astonished her that he was still willing to address her as if they’d just met. She rushed to join him in this new place where neither had ever hurt the other. “It’s quiet, but I love it.”
“You ever get lonely?”
“There’s a lot to do.”
“What?”
He turned to gaze at her, and she was struck by the intensity in his expression. He wanted to know how she spent her day! He wanted to listen to her! With a sense of delight, she told him.