Next Door Secrets (Secrets Series Book 2) (21 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

Kaylee
handed Beth a book with a princess and
a rabbit on the cover. “Hold this please. It’s my favorite in the series.” Kneeling
on the floor of Beth’s foyer,
Kaylee
continued digging
in her school backpack. “A-ha!” She pulled out a ceramic mug painted with blobs
of paint to resemble flowers. “This is for you.”

A lump formed in Beth’s
throat as she turned the mug around. The flowers were orange and blue and the
stems were thick green strokes. “Did you make this?”

Kaylee
nodded. “It’s supposed to be for
Mother’s Day. Since you’re
kinda
like my mom, I want
you to have it.”

Squeezing her eyes shut,
she resisted the tears. No one had ever given her a Mother’s Day gift. In fact,
the holiday always sent her into a funk. After she spent the obligatory two
hours with her own mom at the church tea, Beth would lie on the couch, wrapped
in a blanket, reflecting on her past.

This Mother’s Day would be
different. Holding the mug’s handle, Beth reached her arms out and wrapped
Kaylee
in a tight hug. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” When
she inhaled, she took in the scent of peach shampoo. She wanted to tell
Kaylee
that she would gladly stand-in for her mother, but
her real mother was out there. Beth swallowed. “Has your Dad said anything
about your mom lately?”

Kaylee
shook her head. “No. Do you think I
can go to that thing at the church on Mother’s Day?”

“I’d like that.” She put
the mug down on the coffee table. “Did you ask him for permission?”

“I’m afraid to.”

Was there any validity to
that order of protection that
Gola
had filed against
the man? “What are you afraid of exactly?”

The girl sighed. “That
he’ll get mad and say bad things about my mom. That’s what he usually does if I
mention Mother’s Day.” Her lower lip quivered. “I know she made mistakes, but I
still loved her.”

“Of course.” Beth pulled
her in for another hug. They both needed it today. “It’s natural to love your
parents.” Every time Beth tried to talk to Jim lately, he was either too tired
or
Kaylee
wouldn’t give them any privacy, but they
seriously needed to have a talk. “What time is your Dad getting home from work
tonight?”

Kaylee
shrugged, just as Beth expected. “I
don’t know.”

“Well, I’ll ask him if you
can go to the Mother’s Day Tea with me, if you’d like.”

Her eyes seemed to light
up. “Would you? You’re the best.”

# # #

When Jim stopped by around
seven p.m. to pick up
Kaylee
, Beth was a woman on a
mission to make a little girl’s day. “We need to talk.”

He adjusted the Cubs baseball
cap on his head. “Some other time. It’s been a long day. I had to drive to
Detroit and back.”

Having never been there,
Beth guessed it was between a six and eight-hour drive
roundtrip
.
She wondered if he kept a gun in his glove box like Parker had said. “I
understand, but you’re always tired.” She saw anger flash in his eyes, but she
pressed forward. “Can’t you tell
Kaylee
to get ready
for bed and then come back?” She glanced at
Kaylee
who was absorbed in another episode of Star Trek Voyager. “It’s important.”

He rubbed his scruffy chin.
“If you’re sure it can’t wait.”

“Positive.”

“Come on,
Kaylee
.” He raised his voice to compete with the
television. “It’s time to go.”

“
Awww
,”
the little girl replied. As usual, she rose and when she walked closer to her
father, it was as if she was caught in his gravitational pull. She ran to him
and hugged his waist. “I missed you.”

He tousled her dark hair.
“I missed you, too.” He led her next door and Beth paced while she waited for
him to return.

About five minutes later,
he knocked on her door. He stood on her stoop as if he didn’t want to step
inside. “Can you make this quick? I really am beat.”

Nodding, she waved him
toward the living room. She closed the door. “You might want to sit down for
this.”

“I don’t think so. Just
talk.” The gruffness had returned from their earlier encounters.

She chewed on her bottom
lip. “I have a couple of things to say. First, before I forget,
Kaylee
would like to go with me to the Mother’s Day Tea on Sunday.
It’s at the First Church. Is that all right with you?”

His eyes looked tired.
“That’s what’s so important that I can’t go eat my dinner and put my feet up?”

“Well, that and something
else.”

“I think she’s spending too
much time at that church. She’s starting to ask why we don’t worship God for
making the plants and animals.” He shook his head. “She doesn’t seem to realize
that same God allowed her sister to die.”

Beth took a deep breath.
“But that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I did some
investigating and it turns out Willow didn’t die in that car accident.”

His jaw twitched. “What?”

“Her sister. A girl named
Willow Moon, I’m assuming Moon was
Gola’s
maiden
name?” She waited for him to nod, but he just stared at her with steely eyes.
“A Willow Moon is currently living in foster care. Isn’t that wonderful?”

He lowered his eyebrows.
“You’re telling me no one died in that accident? If that’s true, why is
Gola
serving eight years for vehicular homicide?”

“She killed a man and a
girl in the other vehicle.”

Shaking his head, he rubbed
his chin again. “It can’t be.”

“It looks like
Kaylee
is lucky. Both her mother and her sister are alive.”

He took a few steps away as
if he needed space to gather his thoughts. “I’ve decided to wait until she’s
older to tell her about
Gola
.”

That struck Beth as wrong.
“But you could make this Mother’s Day the best ever for
Kaylee
.”

His focus remained
somewhere in the distance. “I’m her father and I get to decide what’s best for
her. Visiting her mother in prison is hardly an experience for an
eight-year-old girl. Trust me.”

But you wouldn’t have to
visit her. Just knowing her mother’s alive would be enough. Plus her sister’s
out there. You could bring Willow to live with you guys.”

His shoulders rose in a
frustrated sigh. “I can barely manage being a father to
Kaylee
.
Have you forgotten CPS is breathing down my neck? I don’t need to add another
child to our household.”

“But she’s
Kaylee’s
sister! You have to take her in.”

“I don’t have to do
anything except raise my daughter. Willow isn’t my responsibility. Let
her
father step up to the plate.”

“Her father’s in prison.”

A burst of bitter laughter
came from his throat. “Of course.”

“You can’t let her stay in
foster care. Hasn’t
Kaylee
told you how horrible the
other kids were to her when she was in the system?”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”
He clenched his hands. “I’m
Kaylee’s
father and I’m
taking care of her. End of story.”

“Seriously?” Beth squinted
at him in disbelief.

His fist slammed against
the wall and Beth jumped. Her heart took off like a
jack
rabbit
.

“Damn it! You need to mind
your own business, Woman.” The door slammed behind him.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

Beth’s mother stood at the
podium in a peach dress. “Welcome to our annual Mother’s Day Tea. It’s such a
pleasure to see so many mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and children here
together. Let us bow our heads in prayer. Thank you, God, for this opportunity
to celebrate the importance of family in all its forms. We know that blood is
not what matters, but love. Thank you for teaching us about love through your
son Jesus Christ and thank you for the
food which
we
are about to receive. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”

When she looked up, Beth
noticed clouds had blocked the sun from shining through the windows of the
fellowship hall. The gray sky represented the way Beth usually felt on this
holiday, but she was trying hard not to be depressed this year.

Mrs. Wilson, who sat beside
her at the long banquet table, smiled at her. Her thin face had tanned from
working in the garden, giving her a healthy glow. “Happy Mother’s Day.”

Beth cringed. Did Mrs.
Wilson know about Hannah or was she just trying to make pleasant conversation?
“Same to you.”

Across from them sat three-year-old
Jamal and six-year-old
Jaxson
, the Wilsons’s newest foster
kids. They chattered and bickered the way brothers did.

Waving at Maria and her
mother as they walked by, Beth picked up her paper napkin,
then
placed it in her lap. She turned toward Mrs. Wilson. “Where’s the rest of the
family today?”

“Melina has a softball game
and Sam had a research paper he needed to work on. Once they’re teenagers, I’ve
learned to give them their space.”

Nodding, Beth considered
her plate. A slice of ham, a roll, potato salad and baked beans. Nothing
appealed to her. All she could do was think about a little girl she’d never met
and the one she’d learned to love. “How do you do it?”

Mrs. Wilson cocked her head
at her. “Excuse me?”

“How do you do it?” Beth
looked at the boys to make sure they weren’t paying attention. They were
playing some kind of hand-held video game and making gunfire sounds, so she
continued in a soft voice. “You take kids into your home and then give them
back whenever their parents are ready for them. Doesn’t it break your heart?”

“I’ll tell you what I told
Melina when her pet cat died. Whenever you allow a living thing into your
world, you know that both joy and pain will be part of the package.”

Of
course.

The woman with the laugh
lines stirred sugar into her tea. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
Sharing our days with others is what makes it all worthwhile. If I didn’t fill
my house with children, I’d have no reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

Beth nodded. “But why do
you foster? Why not adopt?”

“Because they need me.
Especially the older ones.
Everyone wants to adopt a baby.
Very few people are willing to take on kids who have been around the block.” Glancing
at the boys, she’d obviously chosen her words carefully. What she hadn’t said
was “kids with baggage.”

That’s what Willow was.
A kid with emotional baggage that possibly no one would want.
Did Willow know her mother was alive? Did she know about
Kaylee
?
Beth sent up a silent addendum to the earlier prayer:
Please let Willow be in a loving home like the Wilsons’s
.

Even if she was, how could
Jim leave
Kaylee’s
little sister there?
Kaylee
needed
Willow
. She needed
to know she wasn’t alone in this world.

Mrs. Wilson directed her
attention to the boys. “It’s time to put away the game and eat your food.” They
groaned quietly and Jamal tucked the game into his pocket.

Beth’s mom greeted the
parishioners at the table as she made her way to sit next to Beth. She glanced
at the plate Beth had prepared for her filled with a small sampling of
everything on the buffet. “I thought you were bringing
Kaylee
today.”

“Jim wouldn’t let me. He’s
mad that I dug into his past and found out about
Gola
and Willow.”

Her mom took a sip of her
lemonade. “It must be quite a shock to him. Maybe in time he’ll come around.” Picking
up her plastic silverware, she started cutting the meat.

“I don’t think so. He was
furious when I said he should take in Willow. I think he’s purposely keeping
Kaylee
away from me as if he’s afraid I’ll tell her
everything. And the truth is, I just might.”

Her mom’s silver hair swung
as she turned toward her. “It would be better if her father told her.”

“I know, but if he won’t do
it, someone should. Don’t you think?” Beth pictured her Aunt Allison, her mom’s
younger sister, with dishwater blonde hair and fair skin like Beth’s. A few
years ago, Aunt Allison had had a breast cancer scare, but she was now in
remission. “I mean, if you thought your sister was dead and it turned out she
was alive, wouldn’t you want to know?”

Her mom pressed her hand to
her chest as if it were painful just considering the scenario. “Of course.”

“
Kaylee’s
still a child. Her only friend is Maria. If she had Willow, it would mean the
world to her.” A picture of
Kaylee
playing on the
swings in the apartment complex with the girl in pigtails formed in her mind.
There was hope for
Kaylee
to start making more
friends, at least. But a sister was so much more than a friend.

Her mom took a bite and
finished chewing before she spoke. “Beth, you have such a big heart, I worry
about you. I think you’ve become even more attached to
Kaylee
than you were to your ex’s niece.”

Thinking about Emma, the
three-year-old she’d left behind when she’d broken up with her ex, still made
her feel guilty. They’d lived together like a real family and Beth had assumed
they’d continue that way. Eventually she realized that her ex only wanted to
play house and had no intentions of ever making it legal. He didn’t want to
marry her and he didn’t want to put her name on the mortgage. That’s when she
knew she had to move on. Yet here she was again. Attached to a little girl that
would never be hers.

Melancholy seeped into her.
She wanted to get home before anyone noticed. After she cleaned her plate, she
reached an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Happy Mother’s Day. I’ve
gotta
go.”

“Don’t you want some cake?”

“No thanks.” No more empty
calories for her.

Her mom rose. “I’d better
go slice the cake before everyone leaves.”

Jamal and
Jaxson
looked up at Mrs. Wilson, but only the older boy
spoke. “Can we get some cake?”

Mrs. Wilson put down her
fork. “
Can
you?”

“I mean,
may
we?”
Jaxson
corrected himself.

Nodding, Mrs. Wilson
pointed at Jamal. “Tuck in your shirt, young man. You represent not only the
Freeman family, but also the Wilsons.”

The boy tucked in his
collared shirt, then ran with his brother to the dessert table.

Mrs. Wilson leaned toward
Beth. “It’s important to teach them to take pride in their appearance.”

“I never thought about
that. How’s Sabrina, by the way?” She was one of the Wilson foster kids when
Beth had been a teenager.

“She graduated from Purdue
and works at NASA now.”

“Wow.”

“Did you know only half of
foster kids finish high school and only five percent graduate from college?”

Beth shook her head.
“That’s terrible.”

“Coming from a dysfunctional
family can erode a child’s self-esteem. That’s why I take my role as a foster
parent so seriously. Every single one of my kids has graduated from high school
and gone on to either college or vocational school.”

“You’re amazing.” Suddenly,
she longed to see
Kaylee
even more. Maybe Beth should
start asking to see her homework and encourage her to talk about careers. Hearing
the rumble of thunder, she picked up her dishes. “It was nice talking to you.”

Less than ten minutes
later, she parked her car. It started to sprinkle on her walk between the lot
and her apartment, so she picked up the pace. As she approached her door, she
noticed a basket sitting on her stoop. It was the basket Jim always used to
deliver his home-baked goods to her. With a spring in her step, she
contemplated what might be inside. Granola?
Oatmeal raisin
cookies?
Brownies? Everything he made, with the exception of the prune
cookies, was delicious. It was a miracle that
Kaylee
seemed to be slimming down with such constant temptation.

A card with a child’s pencil
drawing of girls playing jump rope on the front topped the basket’s contents.
Kaylee
had labeled the stick figures with the names Beth,
Kaylee
and Maria. The one named Beth stood taller than the
others and didn’t have her hair shaded in. Lifting the flap, Beth read “Happy
Mother’s Day!” in
Kaylee’s
big print letters and in
cursive, she assumed from Jim, it
said
“Thanks for
everything.”

Her eyes started to mist as
she lifted the red and white checked cloth to reveal a ball of pizza dough, a
jar of homemade marinara, fresh mushrooms, pepperoni and a recipe card for how
to bake the pizza. This had been the first meal Jim had ever prepared for her.
He probably didn’t know it, but pizza had always been her favorite, an
indulgence she rarely allowed herself. She looped the basket handle over her
arm and knocked on their door to thank them.

No one answered. Her eyes
scanned the nearby playground, but the swings were empty. Jim parked his truck
in a back lot, so she couldn’t see if his vehicle was there. She knocked on the
door again. She had no idea what Jim and
Kaylee
did
on the days when they didn’t need Beth to babysit.

An elderly lady with a
beagle walked by and Beth recognized her from the day
Kaylee
had broken her arm. The woman, holding a black umbrella, stopped and turned
around to face her. “If you’re looking for the people who live there, they
moved out this afternoon.”

“What?”
The old woman must be mistaken.
“That
can’t be. They just left me this basket.”

The woman reached down and
scratched her dog’s back. “There was a big semi parked right out front and I
saw them loading furniture.”

Beth raced to their picture
window. Cupping her hands, she peered into an empty living room as raindrops
landed in her hair. Beige carpet and white walls stared back at her. The couch
and chairs were gone. Tightness squeezed her chest and she stepped back. “I
can’t believe it.”

“Didn’t they say good-bye?”
the woman asked.

“No.” Beth’s eyes wouldn’t
focus. She dropped the basket.

“For shame.” The lady
continued walking down the sidewalk and her dog’s claws clicked along happily
under the shelter of her umbrella.

Beth stood in the rain
letting the coldness soak through her clothes and into her bones. She didn’t
care.