Diana Anderson - Entering Southern Country 01 - Famous in a Small Town (33 page)

“Well, I still haven’t a clue why I was invited to this meeting,” Janie said, “but I got to say that this has been the most exciting occasion I’ve had in a long, long time.”

Cal walked over to Raven. “Is this the closure you were wanting?”

She looked up at him. “It’s a good start. I think I’ll know more later.”

Cal turned. “Porter, take Callie back to her cell. Hendrix, place Angus under arrest.”

Angus’ head jerked around toward Cal. “What? Y’all don’t have anything on me. My attorney said that I was clear of the charges.”

“Well, your attorney is wrong.” Cal looked at Hendrix. “Get him out of here.” He looked around the room. “Everyone else can go. We’re done here.”

Janie was the first one out the door.

Cal turned to watch Porter lead Callie out and saw Raven hurry out ahead of her.

“Thanks,” Ted said.

Cal turned toward him and nodded.

Suzanne walked up beside Ted. “It’s going to take some time, but now, we’ve been given back what we’ve always wanted.”

Ted and Suzanne left the room.

Cal walked out and looked into the lobby for Raven. Ted and Suzanne had just walked out the front door, and the only ones in there were the dispatcher and Deputy Miller. Cal turned back toward his office.

“Can’t believe everything you read, huh?” Justin said as he walked down the hallway with a mug of coffee.

Cal shook his head.

“She may have to rewrite the ending. I’d like to read that,” Justin said.

Cal smiled and went into his office. He pushed the door to close it, but the door wouldn’t budge. He turned to see Raven pressing her hand against it.

“I thought you’d left,” he said.

“No, I was trying to catch Janie before she left.” She smiled. “She walks fast.”

“Years of waitressing.”

She nodded, and he noticed that she seemed troubled.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head and opened her lips as if to speak, but closed her mouth, and looked away.

He took her hand and pulled her inside out of the doorway and pushed the door closed behind her. He looked at her and thought to ask what was on her mind, but he just stared into her eyes and then did what he had wanted to do when he’d seen her in Ted’s den her first night back in town. He kissed her. Her arms went around his neck, and she pressed her body into him. When he deepened the kiss, she broke free.

She took a step back, caught her breath, and said, “I’m staying at Suzanne’s. She’s planning a small dinner party, and I was wondering if you would like to come to dinner?”

He watched her and wondered where this was going.
Is this a date? Does she want to start at the beginning again?
He nodded. “Okay, sounds good.”

She nodded too. “Seven?”

“Seven.”

She sidestepped him, opened the door, and hurried out.

82

Cal stood at Suzanne’s front door with a bottle of wine in his hand. He had dropped by the liquor store along the way. He didn’t know a thing about wine and had to depend on the owner’s expertise.

The door opened and Raven stood in front of him. Her eyes scanned him and then looked back up at his face.

“You’re not in uniform.”

He smiled. “Believe it or not, I get to dress like a civilian when I’m off duty.”

“It’s just that I haven’t seen you in jeans in … years.” She stepped aside.

He walked into the foyer. After she had closed the door, he handed her the bottle of wine.

“Thanks.” She took it from him.

Voices from the kitchen grabbed his attention. He looked toward the kitchen door.

“Cal?” she said.

He turned back toward her.

“Please, don’t hate me.”

He was confused but only for a moment.

“Mommy, Grandma Suzanne said this was hers when she was a little girl.”

Cal looked back toward the sound of the small voice. A little girl wearing an apron over a sundress stood in the kitchen doorway. She held up the hem of her apron. Her bright blue eyes twinkled as she smiled. Her black curly hair was secured in a ponytail by a pink ribbon.

“Is this him?” She eyed Cal.

“Yes,” Raven said in a shaky voice.

 The little girl never took her eyes off of him as she walked across the room and stood in front of him. She clasped her hands in front of her. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“Cal, this is Emma. Emma, this is your … daddy.” Her voice cracked.

Cal’s head made a slow turn toward Raven.

Her body trembled. “Please forgive me. I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Her face was wet with tears.

He looked back at Emma.

She smiled up at him, rocked on her heels, and said, “You’re tall.”

Cal looked back at Raven. “You said—”

“I know, but I didn’t lie to you.”

“A lie of omission is still a lie. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Raven turned to Emma. “Emma, why don’t you see if Grandma Suzanne and Miss Mavis need help in the kitchen? Your daddy and I need to talk.”

Emma glanced back and forth at them, and then with a downcast look on her face, she turned and walked back into the kitchen. When she had left the room, Cal turned toward Raven. Anger had replaced his surprise.

“Yes, we do, but by all means, you go first,” he said.

Raven set the wine bottle down on a side table. “I had to protect her. I couldn’t tell you.”

“What? Protect her from me?” He pointed toward his chest.

“Protect her from the world. If it had gotten out that she was a child from an incestuous relationship, what do you think that would have done to her?”

He was quiet for a moment as he considered what she had said. “I would have protected her.” He looked toward the kitchen door. “She’s five?” Before she could answer, he turned back with anger in his eyes. “I’ve missed out on five years. Her birth, five birthdays, five Christmas’s,
five
years, and all you can say is that you were protecting her?”

“Please, keep you voice down.” Raven stepped away from him. She still trembled. “I completely understand your anger over this.”

He gave a half laugh and shook his head. “No, you don’t. You have no idea how I feel.”

She dared to look at him, and what she saw scared her. His eyes were dark and his jaw was set. She wrapped her arms around her waist.

“You’re right. I don’t know.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “If I had known that we didn’t share the same father, you would have known as soon as I had found out that I was pregnant with her.”

“You had no right to keep this from me.”

“You know now.”

“That doesn’t make up for the past five years.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She took a deep breath, dropped her arms to her sides, and looked at him. “Right or wrong, I did what I thought was best for
her
.”

“Her? Maybe for you.” He pointed a finger at her and then pointed toward the kitchen. “But she’s been without me in her life for five years.” He dropped his hand to his side. “Maybe you were more afraid of what people would say about you.”

She shook her head. She wiped away a tear from her cheek. “I could care less what people say about me, but I’d lay down my life to protect her. As an adult she might have been able to handle the ridicule, but as a child and then later a teenager? I didn’t want to take the chance of what that might do to her.”

“You stole from me. How can you expect me to forgive you for something like this?”

She squared her shoulders. “I don’t expect anything from you. I’ve explained why I did what I did. I’ve asked you to forgive me. Forgiveness is not to relieve my burden of guilt. It’s taken me years, but I’ve already forgiven myself. It’s for you. I don’t want you to carry the burden of animosity against me. This is all I can do. I’ve opened the door for you to have a relationship with your daughter. You’re welcome to come in.”

“So that’s it?”

She thinned her lips and held up her palms. “That’s it.”

“This is the best you can do to explain away five years?”

She nodded. “That’s all I’ve got.”

He nodded, turned on his heel, and left the house.

* * *

Cal wasn’t much of a drinker, and only on rare occasions did he drink at all, and even then, only in moderation. He had driven to the liquor store and bought a fifth of the South’s finest bourbon. He had downed several shots and then had given up on the glass. He sat on his sofa in front of his television set that was turned off and stared at the blank screen. He was still angry. The alcohol hadn’t done any good to make him feel better, but it did make him sleepy.

He kept going over and over in his mind how much of little Emma’s life he’d missed. Raven had taken that from him.

Someone knocked on the front door. He thought whoever it was would go away if he didn’t answer it. A moment later, he heard a key in the lock and the door open. He didn’t look up. The only person, other than himself, who had a key to his house was his mother.

Janie closed the door and walked over to stand in front of him. “You think that’s going to help?” Janie eyed the bottle in his hand.

“What else is there?”

“A person can’t think clearly with a gut full of that.”

“I don’t want to think clearly right now.”

“Well, if that was your goal, it’s working then.”

He eyed what she held in her hand. “What’s that?”

“Raven gave this to me. It’s copies of all the pictures of Emma.”

He looked up at her. “When did you see her?”

“Well, I guess you didn’t see my car in Suzanne’s driveway. I was there when you were. I was in the kitchen. They had invited me to supper, and I got the surprise of my life. I got to meet my grand-daughter.”

“I didn’t know you were there.” He looked back at the television and took a sip from the bottle. “So, how do you feel about being left out of her life for five years?”

She shrugged. “I really hadn’t thought about it in that way.”

“What?” He looked up at her.

She shook her head. “I’ve not been this happy in years. Emma is gorgeous and the smartest little thing.” She chuckled and placed her free hand on her chest. “I’m a grandmother.”

“It’s that easy for you, huh?” He looked away again.

She walked around the coffee table and sat down beside him. “I could be like you and let this eat me up, but I’d much rather enjoy the precious gift I’ve been given.”

“Well, I guess it
is
easy for you, being you’re not the parent that had their child stolen from them.”

“So you’ve forgotten the sacrifices I made for you.”

He shook his head. “No. But you never had me taken away from you.”

“No, because I kicked his ass out before he could hurt you. It wasn’t until he started to put his hands on you that I intervened. I knew what he was capable of doing. He’d hurt me enough. I didn’t give him another chance to put his big hands on you. He might have killed you. Then you would have been taken away from me.”

She opened the photo album and eyed the first page of photographs. “Look it that. Emma had a head of hair when she was born and so tiny. Oh, my goodness, how precious!”

Cal glanced over and then looked away.

She turned a page. She took in a breath. “Look at that smile.” Janie chuckled.

“Mom, don’t.” He refused to look at it.

Janie closed the book. “You’ve forgotten. Raven had a lot taken from her too.”

“Like what?”

“She told about it in her book, Cal. I thought you’d read it.”

“She never had her child taken from her.”

“Well, she had her mother and father taken from her and her childhood. She didn’t have a parent to protect her, she had to protect herself. The kids at school used to make fun of her because of where she lived, and how she looked, the cheap glasses, the ratty shoes and clothes, and Callie butchering up her hair. But Raven didn’t let that stop her.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I missed out on my daughter’s life.”

“And what are you doing
now
?”

He felt a slap in the face without his mother lifting a hand.

Janie sat up straight and turned toward him. “You’ve been given a chance that other’s would give anything to have. Look at Suzanne and Ted. Only now, have they been reunited with her own daughter. For years they’d thought that she was dead. You had five taken from you. They had twenty-eight years taken from them. Why not lay the blame where it belongs, Cal,—on Callie and Angus.”

She laid the photo album on his coffee table and stood up. “I’ve got to get up early as I do every day. One day, I’ll get to retire and let someone else get up early and take care of the diner.” She walked around the coffee table and headed for the door. “Don’t bother getting up from your pouting stupor. I’ll see myself out.” She opened the door and looked back over her shoulder. “A real mother will do anything to protect her children. She will go to any length to see that her child is not harmed and will make sacrifices that others might not understand. A real father will too. This is not about you, son. This is about Emma.”

He had sat with the bottle of bourbon in his hand and stared at the blank television screen for thirty minutes after Janie had left. He hadn’t taken another drink. He already felt the effects of what he had drunk and didn’t care for it. He set the bottle down on the coffee table and then eyed the photo album. Emma Sawyer was engraved on the front cover.

Emma Sawyer? It should be Emma Rayburn.

With one hand he grabbed the photo album and brought it to his lap. His jaw muscles worked as he tried to decide whether to open it or not. His thoughts rambled over one thing and then another.

It isn’t fair.
What had he ever done to deserve this? His daughter didn’t know who he was when she’d seen him. But yet … she asked if that’s him. So Raven had told her something. But what had she told her over the years? Surely Emma had asked. He had so many questions he wanted to ask Raven, but how would he know if she would tell him the truth?

“I never lied to you.”

“No, you never lied to me. You just avoided the truth.”