Next Door Secrets (Secrets Series Book 2) (20 page)

Balancing the baby on her
hip, Ivy’s mom gave her daughter a blue and white striped gift bag, which
contained a scented candle. Ivy pulled it out, sniffed it and scrunched up her
nose in disapproval.

After that, Ivy’s mom
returned to her seat and Aunt Fran led them through the rest of the silly,
baby-themed activities. In the middle of Guess the Nursery Rhyme game, the
background music stopped. Baby Parker started to wail and everyone turned
their
attention to him. His face turned red.

Ivy’s mom started bouncing
him on her knee, to no avail. She stood and bounced him as she paced the room. Eventually,
Fran took him and patted his tiny back, but that didn’t help.

“Hush little baby, don’t
say a word. Momma’s
gonna
buy you a mockingbird,” Ivy started to croon. Parker Junior fell silent.

The room filled with “
awww
” as Ivy took the child in her arms and went through
the verses. Beth dug her fingernails into her palms. Ivy was selfish and petty.
She’d cheated on her husband yet somehow landed on her feet. Why did she get to
experience motherhood while Beth kept being denied?

Ivy’s mom beamed as she
gazed at her daughter and grandson. “Isn’t he a lucky boy to have a momma who
can sing like that?”

Wrestling back her green
demon, Beth nodded along with the small crowd.

Aunt Fran began handing out
cupcakes decorated with blue bow ties. To be polite, Beth took one, but she
worried she’d been consuming too many sweets lately. She needed to hit the gym
more often. Her walks with
Kaylee
were fun, but
didn’t burn nearly enough calories for a woman in her mid-thirties.

Someone started the CD back
up, which started playing “Are you Sleeping?” and Ivy handed the infant to her
aunt in exchange for a cupcake. Normally, Beth couldn’t take her eyes off of
the view of Lake Michigan when she visited this house, but today, her attention
followed Parker Junior as he grimaced, burped and slept. She wondered how long
before he learned how to smile.

After eating and freshening
her scarlet lipstick, Ivy opened the presents. She was in the middle of opening
a pack of bibs Aunt Fran had embroidered with teddy bears and the days of the
week when the phone rang.

The room fell silent as
everyone eavesdropped on the answering machine message. “This is Caleb from the
Peace Corps wondering if Parker
DuBois
received the
package we sent.”

Ivy threw down the bibs and
stood. “Give me that phone. I am so sick of them calling here.” She marched
over and took the receiver from one of her aunt’s hands. “Hello? This is Mrs.
DuBois
and I want you to take our number off your list. We
do not want to donate anything.” She paused as if listening to the caller.
“I’ll have you know that you’re interrupting my baby shower and that is so
rude!” With a huff, she hung up the phone.

As if disoriented, Ivy
stood there while everyone watched. She raised an accusatory finger in Beth’s
direction. “That reminds me. I have something to give you after the party.”

An hour later, people
started begging off and leaving. When Ivy’s mom was busy gathering up the
ripped wrapping paper, Ivy popped in and out of the bedroom. She walked toward
Beth and handed her a stack of mail. “
Here.
” Her
voice was soft. “All of this goes to Parker.”

“Parker and I aren’t
exactly--”

Ivy cut her off. “I don’t
want to hear about your love life. Just give this crap to him.” She walked Beth
and her mom to the door and ushered them onto the porch.

Carrying a plate of
cupcakes, Ivy’s mom walked toward them with her flat-footed gait. “Wait! We
have tons of
left-overs
. Why don’t you two take some
of these home?” Her gaze landed on the pile of mail in Beth’s hand. “What are
you doing with Parker’s mail?”

Beth chewed on her lip and
waited for Ivy to respond. It was time for her to stop this charade.

Ivy tugged on her dangling
gold earring. “Mom, I have to tell you something.” She paused. “Parker left
me.
. . for Bethany.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Standing on the porch of a
million-dollar home, Beth felt acid pooling in her stomach. “That’s not true.”

Ivy’s mom glared at her.
“You bitch!”

Beth’s mom put out her
hands as if that would help settle things. “I hardly think cursing is appropriate.”

“I don’t care what you
think.” Ivy’s mom put her fist on her hip while the other hand still held a
plate of bow tie cupcakes. “Your daughter is a slut.”

“She most certainly is
not.” Beth’s mom squared her shoulders. “I’m not privy to the reasons why Parker
and Ivy split, but I assure you it had nothing to do with my daughter. She’s a
good Christian.”

While shrinking away from
the conflict, Beth felt buoyed by her mom’s staunch defense. She wanted to
blurt out that the woman’s grandchild had been conceived during an affair with
Ivy’s loser piano player. If anyone was a slut, it was Ivy. But Beth decided to
take the high road. She’d never talk to Ivy again, so who cared what her mother
thought? “Let’s go.” She tapped her own mom’s arm and they headed for the car.
As they walked away, two cupcakes flew by their heads and landed in the sandy
soil.

Once they were on the winding
road, Beth’s mom crossed her arms. “Tell me what Ivy said isn’t true.”

“Of course not, Mom. Parker
and Ivy’s marriage had been disintegrating long before I re-entered their
lives. Ivy’s rewriting history to make herself look better.”

Nodding, her mom relaxed
her arms. “I thought so.”

# # #

Holding her breath, Beth
knocked on Parker’s oak door. If he
wasn’t
there,
she’d use her key to go inside and drop the mail on his kitchen table. And
maybe she’d leave her key, too.

As she stood there waiting,
she leafed through his mail. Credit card offers, bills, an Indiana Business magazine
renewal, and a big blue cardboard envelope with the words “Peace Corps invites
you to serve.” What
the.
. . ?

Parker pulled open the door
and a smile sprang to his lips immediately, probably out of habit. Then he
sobered. “I figured you’d never want to see me again.”

She lifted the documents in
her hand. “Mail call.”

He grabbed the envelopes
and immediately shuffled to the blue one. “Where did you get this?”

“May I come in?”

“Of course.” He stepped
back and the mail seemed to shake in his hands. “You caught me off-guard.”

“Yeah, well, imagine how
Ivy felt when I showed up at her surprise baby shower. That’s where I got your
lost mail.”

“You went to Ivy’s?”

Nodding, she leaned against
the back of the leather couch. “Her mom begged me to go. Said Ivy could use a
friend.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure she
could.” His focus kept returning to the blue envelope as if it were a
sweepstakes winning
announcement.

“Go ahead. Open it.
What’s
the Peace Corps want with you? They called during the
baby shower and Ivy told them to leave her alone.”

He ripped open the end and
pulled out a packet. “Yes.”

“Yes what?”

He pursed his lips
together. “Wait. You said Ivy talked to them. Did she say anything about the
Huntington’s?”

“No. She said you’d just
had a baby, though.”

His eyes squeezed together
for a second. “
Aargh
.”

Beth crossed her arms.
“What’s going on?”

“Have a seat.” They walked
around to the front of the couch and sat while keeping their distance. Putting
the packet on the table, he took a deep breath and avoided eye contact.
“Remember back in college when I said I wanted to make a difference in the
world? Well, I’ve decided it’s time. I’m joining the Peace Corps and going to
Africa.”

She squinted at him.
“You’re going to Africa? But you’re sick.” Just saying it caused her to cringe.
They had an unspoken rule that he could bring up his illness, but she never
would.

“I want to do this before
I’m too sick to go.”

“You need to be close to
your doctor. Won’t you need to have your medication adjusted as
things.
. .progress?”

“Nothing the doctors do
will make me better. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’m taking
it.” His
voice held resolve
.

She crossed her arms over
her chest. “You’d go half-way around the world to help strangers rather than
help me adopt Hannah’s baby?”

“I knew you wouldn’t
understand. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

Something shifted to high
alert inside of her. Her breathing quickened and her muscles tensed. “How long
have you been planning on leaving the country?”

He cracked his knuckles. “I
applied a long time ago and then recently, they called me for an interview. I
wasn’t sure if they’d accept me, but here it is.” While he patted the pile of
papers, his brown eyes seemed to twinkle.

“OK. So, how long will you
be gone?”

“Two years.”

“Two years?” Considering he
might only have ten years left to live, this was quite the commitment. Steam
built up inside of her. “Whatever. It’s your life and you obviously don’t want
me in it.” She rose and marched toward the door. “I get the hint. It took me a
while, but now I understand. You’ve been pushing me away for weeks and I kept
telling myself I was imagining things.”

Following her, he placed
his palm against the wooden door. “Beth, don’t be mad. I never meant to hurt
you.”

Tears pricked the corners
of her eyes. She wanted to get out of there before she embarrassed herself
further. “Well, you did hurt me. I love you and you don’t love me back. That
hurts like hell, but I’ll get over it.” She grabbed the door handle and glared
at him until he removed his hand.

# # #

Wiping away her tears, Beth
drove to her apartment in a trance. Parker was leaving the country. What he’d
been telling her for months was true: he would never commit to her. They would
never live happily ever after. Even though she was willing to marry him knowing
their union would be cut short, he didn’t want to be with her.

She inhaled a few deep
breaths and told herself to pull it together. If
Kaylee
happened to stop by, which she did most every
day,
Beth didn’t want the girl to see that she’d been crying. In fact, Beth needed
to shut down her pity party so she could share the good news with the Steins.
Kaylee
still had a sister!

For once, there wasn’t a
welcoming committee when Beth arrived back at her apartment, so she took her
time before heading next door. She put in a Star Trek DVD and tried to distract
herself from her miserable afternoon. An hour later, she checked her face in
the bathroom mirror and saw that her eyes were no longer rimmed in red.

She ran a brush through her
dishwater blonde hair and practiced looking happy in the mirror. Her smile
would be false for a very long time. At least she had a satisfying career and
Kaylee
to fill her days. Taking a cleansing breath, she
went next door and knocked.

No one answered and her
heart sank.

# # #

Parker focused on controlling
the tremors in his hands as the walk-in clinic doctor looked over his
paperwork. With his patchy beard, Dr. Olsen didn’t even look old enough to have
graduated from medical school, but Parker figured that would play to his
advantage.

Parker cracked his knuckles
as his knee bounced. “I just need some vaccinations, Dr. Olsen, and then I’m
off to Togo.” Adrenaline zipped through his system.

“You seem pretty excited.
You can hardly sit still.” Dr. Olsen took the stethoscope from around his neck
and listened to Parker’s heart. “Take a deep breath.
Again.
. . and again.”

Rolling his eyes, Parker
tried to be patient. He didn’t understand why doctors always went through this
ridiculous routine.
Weight, blood pressure, heart.
None of those things mattered.

Dr. Olsen removed the
stethoscope ends from his ears and looped them around his collar. “Your heart
sounds good. Do you have any concerns?”

“No. I just need your
signature on those forms.”

“The Peace Corps, huh?
Aren’t you a little old for that?”

Parker narrowed his eyes at
the insensitive doc. “There’s no age limit. Besides, it’s never too late to
help those less fortunate.”

“Sure. I thought about
joining Doctors Without Borders, but I have killer student loans I need to pay
off.”

Nodding, Parker decided he
needed to not be so defensive. He was almost home free. “Med school is pretty
pricey, isn’t it?”

“I could’ve bought a nice
house with the money I spent on my education.”

“But your entire day is
spent making a difference in people’s lives. It must be very fulfilling.”

Dr. Olsen smiled and his posture
seemed to loosen. “Sometimes I forget that, but you’re right. That’s why I
became a doctor. My brother died of leukemia when I was seven and I decided
medicine was the only profession that mattered.”

“I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t
imagine how devastating that would be. He’d been a young adult when his father died
and that had been torture. Pushing away the memory, he focused on turning the
conversation around to happier topics. “So, are you married? Do you have kids?”

“Can’t afford either. I’m
engaged, but I want to pay off more of my debt before I walk down the aisle.”

Parker took in the doctor’s
young, pale face. The guy needed to get out into the sunshine more. “Don’t put
your life on hold for too long. It could all end tomorrow, you know.” Why had
he just said that? Now that he was dying, he felt this need to offer people
advice on how to live. As if he had all the answers.

“I know.” The doctor
scribbled his signature on the form. “That’s the trick, isn’t it? To plan for
tomorrow while making sure you enjoy today?”

“Exactly. Don’t take
anything for granted.” Oh, shut up. You sound like an old man. “Does your
fiancé know about your debt?”

“Sure. She says it doesn’t
matter. She’s a doctor, too, but her parents footed her bill.”

That’s how Beth was, too.
She didn’t care about money. What she cared about was
him
.
And yesterday he’d made her cry. He bit the inside of his mouth to distract
himself from the remorse welling up inside of him. “Sounds like you’ve got a good
woman.”

“She is. I’ll send the
nurse in to give you the vaccinations.” He set the form on the small desk in
the corner and headed for the door.

“Go home and tell your
fiancé that you love her. Then set the wedding date. You owe her that much.”

“Maybe I will.” Dr. Olsen
grinned and saluted him. “Bon voyage!”