She pivoted back a quarter of the way, her purse over her middle. “On . . . ?”
“On tying the knot. I meant to tell you that on the phone.” He proffered a smile and placed his hat on his head, adjusted the tilt. “I do hope you and your husband will be real happy together.”
She studied his features, his voice, for an encoded message. An insinuation, perhaps, about the extent of her relationship with Isaak. But his well wishes appeared genuine.
“Thank you,” she said with a nod, and resumed her strides without looking back.
59
Audra had a sudden impulse to drive straight by and never return. But she had made a promise to Jack, giving her no choice but to stop at her in-laws’ house. While she appreciated their reasons behind the petition, the fact remained: Even for a short time, they had viewed her as a mother who would abuse her child.
She pulled over to the curb. Although the driveway offered more shade from the morning sun, she chose not to park on their property. It would be too familiar for where the relationship stood.
Then again, she wasn’t sure where anything stood.
The phone call from the day before—linking Jakob and Isaak, the saboteurs, and a missing plane—had left her mind rattling like a screen door in a storm. Open, shut, open, shut. Her skeptical defenses had grown weary from the turbulence. Again, the theories could be as easily believed as mocked. Currently she didn’t have the brainpower to determine which was more deserved.
She rolled up the thought, snug as the keys in her hand. She smiled at Jack while walking him to the front door. Before she could even knock, Robert flung the door open. He must have been keeping lookout from a window.
“Well, good morning, Beanstalk! How’s life treating ya?”
“Good,” Jack said softly.
“Gee whiz, I think you grew another two inches. You keep up this pace, your grandma’s gonna put a brick on your head to slow you down.”
Jack lowered his eyes, but a chuckle sounded from his chest and his face brightened. Any reservations Audra had about bringing him here shrank in that moment.
“So, what are you waitin’ for? Get on in here.” Robert ruffled Jack’s hair. When the boy entered the house and disappeared around the corner, Robert turned to Audra with a thoughtful look. “I appreciate you doing this,” he said. “We both do.” This was the only time besides the day of Devon’s funeral that she ever saw tears mist Robert’s eyes.
“It’s the right thing for Jack.”
Robert nodded. Gesturing behind him, he said, “Could I persuade you to come inside?”
The image of Meredith at the cemetery, her gaze averted and lips pursed, held vividly in Audra’s thoughts. To face the woman again was a daunting thing. If not for the desire to hug Jack good-bye, Audra might have delayed the confrontation.
“Just for a minute.”
Eagerly Robert moved aside, enabling her to step past him. The rich aroma of chocolate-chip cookies enveloped her, and with it the feeling of returning to a place she once treasured as a second home.
Robert closed the door, sealing her in, just as Meredith appeared in the foyer.
“Hi, Audra,” she said with a stiff smile. One of her hands was squeezing the other as if molding a block of clay.
“Meredith.”
In the brief pause, a rare meekness from the woman made itself known. “Robert, dear, why don’t you see if Jack wants some milk for his cookies?”
“Sure thing, Mama.” He proceeded toward the kitchen, patting his wife’s shoulder in passing.
Audra had expected to feel a simmering of betrayal once in Meredith’s presence, and it was certainly there. What she hadn’t anticipated was an urge to cry and hug and declare all was forgiven. But she kept those emotions in check.
“Robert told me that he spoke to you,” Meredith said, “about what happened ... before.”
“He did.”
Meredith nodded slowly. “Well. Even so, I want you to hear how sorry I am for any hurt we’ve caused. It was wrong—I was wrong. I realize it’s not an excuse, but I hope you can see we had only the best intentions for Jack.”
“I know that, Meredith. He and I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“Of course.”
Hands still clasped, Meredith gazed back at her. After a moment, they both angled their eyes toward the walls, the polished wooden floor. Tension could be wrung from the silence.
Perhaps this was enough for their first exchange. There was no indication they would ever resuscitate even half their former closeness, but nothing to say there was a need for it. Pleasant civility for Jack’s sake would be sufficient.
“I’ll go tell Jack I’m leaving,” Audra said. “Then I’ll be back around six if that still works.”