Finding Love (A Mill Creek Crossing Romance) (8 page)

“New beginnings,” she whispered back.

***

As the night wore on, Amelia and Clay continued enjoying each other's company around the campfire. The kids were fast asleep, and they talked about everything under the sun from their childhoods to now. Clay had never felt this kind of closeness with a woman other than Molly. It was a little bit unsettling and encouraging at the same time.

"Well, I think I'm going to hit the sack now. I really am tired, and we have a long hike down in the morning," Amelia said as she stood up and handed the blanket back to Clay.

"No, you keep it."

Amelia wrapped the blanket back around her and started walking toward her tent.

"Amelia?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for tonight. I had a great time talking to you," Clay said with a smile.

"Me too." With that, Amelia crawled into her tent and zipped it up. And Clay was left wondering what to do now.

After the hiking trip, Clay and Amelia were closer than ever. She continued keeping his kids each day, and they continued having dinner together most evenings. It had become their little ritual, and Amelia was glad to have some routine back in her life.

Her real estate business was slow going, although she had gotten a couple of listing appointments just outside of town. She had taken one listing, and the prospects were good that she was getting an offer on it soon.

One afternoon, as she was waiting for Sophia and Riley’s bus to arrive, Amelia heard a knock at her front door. She ran down the stairs thinking that maybe Clay had gotten off work early and was coming by to visit her. He’d done that once or twice, much to her surprise.

As she opened the door, however, she wasn't prepared to see the person who was standing there. Her sister Christy, stood on the porch holding a small baby in her arms. The look on her face was one of complete desperation, and Amelia felt a fleeting sense of sorrow for her sister. Her eyes were puffy, her dark brown hair was matted into a messy ponytail and she looked like she had lost a good ten pounds.

"Christy?"

"Hi, Amelia." Her voice was soft and almost haunting.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Amelia asked crossing her arms in front of her. Her first inclination was to reach out and touch the baby, but she knew that really wouldn't be appropriate given their history and the situation.

"Look, I know you weren't expecting to see me. But I need help. And you're the only one I felt like I could turn to."

"You felt like you could turn to me? Are you crazy?"

"Amelia, I know we have a checkered past, but I thought since we were sisters…"

"We ceased being sisters the moment I caught you with my fiancé," Amelia said as she started to shut the door.

"Come on, Amelia. Please." Looking at her sister, who she'd known all her life and practically raised, Amelia had a hard time being angry and shutting the door in her face. Especially since there was a little baby in her arms, and it was obvious she needed some kind of assistance.

Amelia stood back, opened the door and waved her hand. She didn't even want to look Christy in the eyes, so she walked behind her and sat down in the chair. Christy slowly sat down on the sofa and put the baby in a carrier on the floor.

"Why are you here, Christy?" Amelia asked sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Because we have nowhere else to go. Tate and I broke up, and I filed for divorce. I have nothing. No money, none of my baby's things and nowhere to stay. Tate turned out to be a horrible man," Christy said with a tear rolling down her cheek.

"A horrible man? I find that hard to believe. Even though I know what he did to me, we were together for years. I know Tate. So what did he do?"

"He cheated on me," Christie said turning into a full-blown, sobbing mess.

Amelia had to stifle a laugh.

“And you're surprised by that?"

"Actually, yes I am. I know that you think I deserve it, but I really thought he’d be faithful to me after all he told me when we were together. Plus, we now have our baby."

"What's the baby’s name?" Amelia asked.

"Olivia." Christy looked down at the baby and then back up at Amelia. "Can we stay here?"

"Christy, you know that's not a good idea. We aren’t really sisters anymore, and I don't want to get involved in this mess you’ve got going with Tate."

"You are all the family I have. Brian is busy with work and lives in a studio apartment out in Kentucky. Ian is off to college. We have no one else to stay with. I guess we could go to a homeless shelter, but I really don't want to take my baby to a place like that."

Amelia sat silently trying to figure out what to do. She could almost hear her own mother in her head saying that she had to let her sister move home. She knew it was the right thing to do if for no other reason than the baby, her niece, sitting in the carrier on the floor. At the same time, she wanted to punish her sister for what she’d done. She wanted to stand up and scream … “I told you so”. She wanted to stick out her tongue, put her fingers in her ears and act like a five year old. However, she knew she couldn't do that. It just wasn't Amelia's style.

***

Amelia decided to allow Christy to stay, if for no other reason than the fact that she knew her mother would want her to. She set her up in the spare bedroom upstairs and went back downstairs to wait for Sophia and Riley to come off the bus. Amelia explained to Christy she needed to stay upstairs as much as possible as to not interfere with the children. Christy agreed out of desperation because she had nowhere else to go.

The kids came off the bus and had their normal afternoon with Amelia. Christy came downstairs once or twice to get a drink or warm up the baby’s formula, but she was careful to go right back upstairs as instructed by Amelia.

A couple of hours later, Clay arrived to pick up the children and have a bite of dinner. Amelia had made meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and she went to the door to welcome Clay.

"Hi, Amelia. How did everything go today?" Clay asked as he came in and put his coat on the back of the sofa.

"Well…"

"Oh no. Don't tell me the kids misbehaved," Clay said looking at his children across the room.

"No, it wasn't the kids. It's just that I had a little bit of a surprise today…" Before Amelia could explain her sister was there, the baby started crying in the background. Clay furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Is that a baby I hear?" he asked.

"Actually, yes. That's what I was going to tell you. Earlier today, I opened my door thinking you might be dropping by for a visit, only to find my sister Christy standing there with her four month old baby daughter."

"The sister you told me about?"

"That very one. Apparently, Tate cheated on her too and she's filed for divorce. He left her with nothing. She says she has nowhere to go, none of her own belongings and none of the baby's belongings. I couldn’t very well tell her no, so she staying upstairs in my guest room."

"Wow. That's very nice of you to allow her to stay here."

"Trust me, it wasn't an easy decision. I really didn't want her here at all."

"I'm sure you didn't."

“I just didn't know what to do. Here she was on my doorstep holding a baby, and I couldn’t just turn her away. My mother would've killed me if she was alive," Amelia whispered.

"You did the right thing. You’d have felt horrible if you'd sent her away with her baby. You’re such a sweet and kind person, Amelia. I don’t think you could intentionally hurt anyone, and certainly not your sister. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. I'm not sure how this is going to play out, but I'm going to let her stay here for a little while until she gets back on her feet. Come on in, let's go ahead and get set up for dinner.”

“Is your sister going to be joining us for the meal?” Clay asked.

“Probably so. Let's get started without her so we can have a little bit of peace and quiet before she comes down here running her mouth.”

“Has she been running her mouth?” Clay asked as he helped her pull the meatloaf from the oven.

“Actually no. She's been rather quiet. She looks sad, like she's lost weight. I know I need to feel sorry for her, but I just want to rip her hair out by the roots,” Amelia said with a conniving smile. “I know you're not used to hearing me talk like this, but we never had a chance to resolve what happened between us, and I feel like she's not even sorry for it.”

“That's where you're wrong,” Christy said from behind her. She hadn't seen or heard her come downstairs.

“Christy,” Amelia said under her breath.

“Hi, I'm Clay. Amelia keeps my kids for me after school each day,” Clay said as he reached out his hand and shook hers.

“Hi, Clay. I'm Christy. The sister,” she said with a hint of an evil voice.

“Um. Nice to meet you?”

“Christy, we’re having dinner. It’d probably be best if you made your plate and took it upstairs.”

“Okay. If that's what you want.”

Christy made her plate and heated up some formula for the baby before going back upstairs. The kitchen was uncomfortably quiet during the whole exchange, and Amelia felt sorry for Clay being in the middle of it all.

After Christy went upstairs, Clay and Amelia made plates for themselves and the children and sat at the table.

“I'm sorry,” Amelia said softly to Clay.

“Sorry for what?”

“For making a very uncomfortable scene. This is hard enough, and it's none of your concern so I shouldn't have done that right in front of you. She just makes me so mad. I feel like she doesn't even care what she did to me, and now she's here with her baby almost flaunting it in my face. I spent the best years of my life raising those kids, and for her to come back and flaunt her new family in my face while I’m sitting here just getting my life started - is hard for me to deal with.”

"Is that what you think she's doing? It seems to me she had to come groveling back to you with further proof that Tate is a giant jerk. I don't think she's here trying to flaunt it in your face, Amelia. I think she's here because she had nowhere else to go and thought this might be her soft place to fall.”

“Are you defending her?”

“Of course not. What she and Tate did was extremely wrong. But she is still your sister, like you said. I just don't think she's here to flaunt anything in front of you unless it's her complete and utter failure in the relationship department.”

“Maybe you're right. I still don't have any hopes for re-creating our sisterly bond, though.”

“Maybe not. But you're doing the right thing by being kind to her during this time,” he said. “And one more thing. Those years that you raised your siblings don’t have to be the ‘best years of your life’.” Clay smiled at her, and Amelia nodded her head.

After dinner, the kids went into the family room to watch TV. Amelia and Clay went outside to sit on the front stoop since it was an unseasonably warm fall evening. As they were getting closer to Thanksgiving, Amelia was starting to wonder what she would do for the holiday. Should she cook a big dinner and hope her brothers came home? And where would Clay and his kids go? She wanted to ask them if they’d like to come for Thanksgiving, but she was unsure of the reaction she would get. She certainly didn't want to step on his toes and do anything to mar the memory of their mother on Thanksgiving.