Finding Love (A Mill Creek Crossing Romance) (5 page)

“Hi. Sorry to bother you,” she said.

“No bother. I was actually thinking about taking a walk over to your house, but I didn't want to leave the kids with Mrs. Higgins again.”

“Oh, yes. How did that go?”

Clay smiled. “Well, it was okay, I guess. When I got home, she had the kids making some kind of art project that didn't really make any sense to me. But, at least the house was in one piece.” She could tell he was a bit sad about something, but he appeared to be trying to make small talk for her benefit.

“Well, that's always a good thing,” she said nervously.

“So, I guess you want to figure out how to handle getting the kids to your house after school?”

“Yes. I wasn't sure exactly how to plan my day tomorrow. If you want, I think the easiest thing to do is to have the bus driver drop them off of my house. I think the bus comes around three o'clock.”

“Yes, I think it comes around three as well. I'll just instruct the driver from now on to drop them off at your house during the week. I'm so excited they're going to get to stay with you, Amelia. I’ve heard nothing but great things about how you take care of children. I know this is a strain for you, but I hope that it will be something good for the both of us.” For a split second, she got the feeling he wasn’t only talking about the children.

“I think it will, and I'm glad I’m going to get to help you out. Like I said, new beginnings are very important. I wouldn't be where I am today if people hadn't given me a hand when I needed it most. I hope I can be a part of helping to welcome you and your kids to our community.”

“Well, thanks again. Hopefully my kids won't be any trouble to you.”

“They are great kids, so I don't think it will be a problem at all. It looks like you've been pretty good dad to them because they're very well-behaved.”

             
“A lot of that is their mother. Even though she's been gone for 18 months, she gave them a great start to life.”

Clay looked down at the book sitting on the stoop beside him. Amelia wondered what it was, but she didn't want to pry.

“I guess you're wondering what this is,” he said holding up the book as if he’d just read her mind.

“Not really. I don't like to pry into other people’s business,” she said.

“Well, the way I figure it, we're going to be friends just for the benefit of my children, so I think you should probably know what this is.”

“Okay…” Amelia said slowly sitting down on the step beside him.

“This is a book my wife created before she died. It has a lot of life lessons and things she wants the kids to experience.” He handed her the brown leather notebook, and she slowly accepted it.

“You want me to read it?” Clay nodded, and Amelia opened it.

As Amelia looked at the notebook, she was struck first by Molly’s handwriting. It was wistful and free, unlike anything she would have expected from a very ill person. Still, she could tell it was a mother’s handwriting and that Molly had spent a lot of time and energy making the notebook for her kids. After all, it was all that they would have of their mother in the way of life direction.

She noticed a variety of different things and life lessons that Molly wanted her kids to learn. She had specific notes about various things that had happened in her own life that she wanted to use as illustrations for her children. She’d obviously taken a lot of time to figure out exactly what each of her children would need to learn until they were adults themselves. The thought of it tugged at Amelia's heart strings. She looked at some of the wisdom that Molly had left for her kids.

You control your fears. They cannot live inside of you unless you let them.

Always become the person you know you’re meant to be. Don’t live up to anyone else’s dreams for you. Have dreams and goals for yourself, and then go achieve them.

You can’t love someone who doesn’t love themself.

Your journey on this planet is what you make of it. Make it GREAT.

"Pretty in-depth, isn't it?" Clay said, interrupting Amelia’s reading. She could tell he was torn himself between wanting to start over and have a new life with his children alone, and keeping their mother's memory alive.

"Yes, she took a lot of time on this. It must've been so difficult for her being so sick and all," Amelia said.

"Yes, she was sick for nine months. It was very difficult on all of us with her treatments and such. I don't really know when she found the time to do this, but I found it in her old hope chest after she died."

"I'll be glad to try to impart some of this wisdom to your children, but I have a feeling Molly wanted you to do that."

"I know. But I can't do this alone. There’s something to be said for a child to have a mother. I guess they need that feminine touch, and I'm not sure I'm up to the task of doing all of the things their mother would do. That's one of the reasons why I pursued you so hard to keep my children. I've heard nothing but good things about you mothering other children, even though they weren’t really your children to mother."

"Thank you. I can't wait to start keeping your kids, actually. Truth be told, I'm feeling a little bit like an empty nester at only thirty years old. I've had kids in my house, even teenagers, for the last twelve years. It's been really difficult to adjust to not being any child’s parent. I haven't even heard from my brother, Ian, since he left for college. I can only imagine the fun he's having," Amelia said with a smile.

"Well, good. I'm glad you're looking forward to it, and I know Sophia and Riley are looking forward to it too."

"Thanks for sharing this notebook with me, Clay. I know it can't be easy to share such private information with a stranger."

"Amelia, for some reason I don't feel like you're a stranger. I've never felt such an instant connection of friendship with someone, and I'm glad that you're the one who will be taking care of my kids each day. It certainly will give me a sense of security while starting my new job. I haven't felt a sense of security in the last year and a half, so you don't know how much I appreciate that."

Amelia was taken aback by his ability to express his emotions so easily and freely. She didn't realize until just then how closed off she was. Having been hurt by people in her past, Amelia put up walls around herself. Hearing a compliment or even having someone say something so nice to her like he’d just said made her uncomfortable. She fidgeted a bit before standing up.

"I guess I’d better get back. Tell Sophia and Riley that I look forward to seeing them tomorrow when they get off the bus. I'll be waiting at the end of my driveway," she said.

"Thanks again, Amelia. I have a feeling this is gonna be the start of a great relationship."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I hope you'll have a great relationship with my kids," he said with a smile. She had a feeling, yet again, that he wasn't just talking about the kids.

The next day, Amelia got as much of her work done for her real estate business as she could before the kids got off the bus. For some reason, she wanted to make a good impression on these kids even though they’d only just met. She loved young kids, and she remembered back to the days when she’d cared for her siblings when they were younger. Ian had only been six when their mother died, and he barely remembered her. There was always so much hubbub and drama going on in the house when the kids were younger, but she missed that now. She missed the loud, boisterous voices of children running through the house. She was sure that, in a few hours, Sophia and Riley would make up for lost time. She just hoped she was still up to the challenge of taking care of such young kids.

A little after three o'clock, the bus pulled up at the end of Amelia's driveway. She waved to the driver as Sophia and Riley came bounding off the bus, seemingly energized from a long day at school.

"Hi, Sophia. Hi, Riley," Amelia smiled.

Sophia and Riley stopped in their tracks and stared at Amelia for a moment, as if to assess whether they really wanted to go inside of her house or not. She knew this would be a big change for both of them - new school, new friends, new teachers and now a new babysitter.

"Hi," Sophia said looking down at her shoes suddenly.

Sensing her trepidation, Amelia decided that she needed to do something quickly to help make the kids feel comfortable.

"Listen, kids," she said as the bus drove away. "I have to make about one hundred cookies for a Sunday school party this weekend. Will you guys be able to help me make those cookies now?" Immediately, the kids’ eyes lit up. Of course they wanted to help, as most kids loved cookies anyway.

They all walked into the house, where Amelia had the kitchen prepared to make cookies. She really did need them for a Sunday school party, but she was mostly doing it to make the kids feel comfortable in her home. They spent the next hour and a half working on cookies, laughing and telling jokes. Riley told about his day at school and what he'd learned while Sophia showed Amelia artwork out of her backpack. It seemed like they had always known each other, and for a moment Amelia felt sorry for Molly who would no longer be able to take care of her children and have these precious memories.

Around six thirty, Clay showed up at Amelia's house to pick up the kids. Amelia was already making dinner, unsure of how late he might be from work. She certainly wasn't a world renowned chef like he was, but she could make a mean pot of vegetable soup. Adding some sweet cornbread to the mix, Amelia almost had everything done as she opened the front door.

"Oh, Clay, I was just about to feed the kids some vegetable soup and cornbread. I wasn't sure what time you'd be here, and I realized I didn't have your cell phone number."

"Sorry. In all the stress of getting to my new job, I forgot to give you my phone number. I figured that if you had an emergency, you would just call the resort anyway."

"Yeah, that was the plan. Thankfully, we didn't have any casualties today. Of course, you don't usually have any danger when making cookies and playing games. Are you hungry?" she asked, immediately aware that she was asking a chef over for dinner.

"Actually, I am. Often, the chef is the one who doesn't get to eat at all. If you're sure you have enough…"

"Of course! When I make vegetable soup, I make a huge pot so I can freeze some. I always have way too much leftover for one person."

For the next hour, Clay and Amelia enjoyed vegetable soup and cornbread while the kids watched cartoons on the TV. They’d eaten as much of their soup as they were going to - like most kids faced with a big bowl of vegetables, they quickly found a way to get out of the kitchen and back to the TV.

"I'm so glad that today went so well," Clay said taking another bite of cornbread.

"Me too. At first the kids seemed like they were a little bit nervous about coming into my house, but once they found out we were making cookies all afternoon they settled right down." Amelia smiled as she took her last bite of cornbread and stood up to clear her plate off the table.

"Let me get that."

"It's okay, you've been working all day," Amelia said with a smile.

Clay put his hand over her wrist to stop her from picking up a plate. "And you haven't?" Amelia chuckled and allowed him to clear the dishes off the table.

As Clay gathered up his children, they made plans for the next day. In fact, the next several days were the same as the first one. The kids would get off the bus, Clay would come by for dinner and they would eat like a happy family. It was an unusual feeling for Amelia, but she was comfortable because she knew it was just about friendship. No matter how attracted she was to Clay physically, she knew it couldn't go anywhere. He was a widower still mourning the loss of his wife, and she was scarred from issues in her own past. Amelia decided that it would be better to avoid bringing anyone else into her drama.