Redemption Bay (Haven Point Book 2) (Contemporary Romance) (12 page)

She was weeping now, her nose dripping, her eyes streaming. She didn’t care. She deserved every splotch, every tear. “I should have left, packed up both children and gone somewhere. I saw what it was doing to Ben, how something good and bright inside my wonderful, kind son was shriveling more every day. Instead, again I did nothing. I never protected him. I kept him in that house and let Joe emotionally batter my baby, day after day.”

She shuddered out a sob and then another.

“You were in a difficult position.” Russell reached for her hand and folded it in his much larger, warmer one.

She didn’t want his kindness, his understanding. She didn’t deserve even a portion of it.

“That’s what I told myself. I had a hundred excuses for staying there. Joe never touched Ben with his fists, so it wasn’t really that bad, right? Besides that, Lily adored her father and he was a different man with her. How could I choose between my children, to protect one at great cost to the other? Anyway, where could I have taken them, me with no education and no resources, and still be able to provide the medical care she needed?”

“So you stayed.”

“I stayed. I tried to shower Ben with the love his father withheld with such cruelty but...it was never enough. Somehow, despite me, despite Joe, despite all my terrible choices, Ben has grown into a good man. A man anyone should be proud to have as his son.”

“I am,” Russ said quietly. “I have always been proud of him.”

She looked back now and saw a hundred kindnesses over the years that she had somehow overlooked. Russ going to Ben’s ball games, sitting by himself in the bleachers. Russ showing interest in his activities and interests, always taking a moment to stop and visit with Ben when he would come to the house to check on Lily.

She was overwhelmed, suddenly, when she realized how much love and concern he had showered on the son he had secretly known was his.

As he handed her a tissue from a box in the car’s inside door panel, she wiped at her streaming eyes, seeing everything through a new perspective.

He had known, all this time, and hadn’t said a word.

“Of course he would be a good man,” she whispered. “How could he be anything else? He’s the son of the best person I have ever known.”

“Lyddie.”

He was crying, too, she suddenly realized. His eyes were red and swollen and his fingers clenched hers tightly.

They sat for a long moment, fingers entwined together as they used to do during movies and plays and hamburgers at Serrano’s, back when they were young and innocent and deeply in love.

“I am so sorry, Russell. Sorry I didn’t tell you all those years ago, sorry I didn’t tell you when you came back to Haven Point, sorry I didn’t tell you a thousand times over.” She drew in a shaky breath and faced him with all the love she had never lost for him in her expression. “But I will never, for one moment, be sorry I had the incredible chance to be your son’s mother.”

He gazed at her, eyes brimming, then he reached for her. As she slid into his arms, they cried together for all those years, for the pain of the past and for mistakes and missed chances while the July breeze murmured in the pines and rippled the healing waters of Lake Haven.

CHAPTER TEN

A
S
M
C
K
ENZIE
AND
B
EN
left the marina, the adorable old-timers from Serrano’s were heading in. She stopped to talk to them for a moment, kissed their cheeks, then hurried on her way to city hall. She didn’t miss the way Edwin gave a semi-friendly nod to Ben as they left.

“You know, you really didn’t have to leave,” she said after a few moments. “You seemed to be enjoying the boat races. You should stay.”

“Do they still do the toy sailboat race?”

“Yes, over at the pond by Hell’s Fury Park.”

“That used to be my favorite. I’d completely forgotten it. It was the highlight of my year. I would start planning next year’s boat the day after Lake Haven Days ended and I worked hard on it all year.”

“Did your dad help you?”

It was obviously the wrong thing to say. His mouth tightened and he looked over the water. “No,” he said shortly. They lapsed into silence and she winced at her own stupidity.

Of course his father hadn’t helped. Why would she ask such a question, other than that her own father had helped both her and Devin make sailboats each year for the toy boat races? Joe hadn’t been that sort of father.

His father had been a jerk, but his mother was a sweet, kind woman. Why the distance between them?

“Can I ask you an extremely personal question that is absolutely none of my business?” she asked as they walked.

He gave a rough-sounding laugh. “In my experience, when somebody starts a train of conversation with a leading question like that one, it’s very hard to pull the brakes and shove them off.”

She smiled, mostly out of relief that he seemed more amused than offended. She was already being nosy. She might as well go all the way. Blame it on that really annoying habit she had of trying to fix things.

“Your mom. She’s terrific. Lydia was always so nice to me when I was a kid and everybody in town admires her. You, on the other hand, act like you can’t stand being in the same time zone with her. What gives?”

She held her breath as a wealth of emotions crossed his features like egrets skimming the surface of the lake. He was so very good at containing them that she only caught a glimpse before his features turned stony again.

“You’re right. That is an extremely personal question. And you’re also right, it’s absolutely none of your business.”

“I told you. What’s the answer?”

Again, he gave that rough laugh that made all her nerve endings flutter. That laugh seemed to shiver between them, forming a tensile, strong connection.

She didn’t want to be connected to Ben Kilpatrick. McKenzie frowned at herself. If she were wise, she would be doing everything she could to protect herself, not finding more things to tug her toward him.

“This isn’t a conversation I can have with you while we’re walking down Lake Street with half the town listening in.”

He hadn’t completely ruled out that he would tell her, she realized.

“Fine,” she answered. “You can tell me later. Maybe at the fireworks. And don’t think I’ll forget, either. When I want to know something, Dev says I’m like a pit bull with lockjaw. But cuter.”

He smiled. “I would have to agree.”

He reached out to grab her elbow and it took her a second to realize he was only keeping her from stumbling off a curb she hadn’t been paying attention to.

His hand was warm on her bare skin, though, and sent little tingly currents up to her shoulder and down again to her fingertips.

He didn’t move his hand, even after all danger of her stumbling like an idiot was past, and they walked that way together the rest of the way to the redbrick two-story city hall, with its wide front steps and traditional white cupola on top.

She didn’t want to stop walking, even though she knew she had responsibilities here. Couldn’t they keep going? It had been a long time since she had walked beside a fascinating man whose touch made her feel so...warm.

But no. She had things to do here and couldn’t just throw all sense of caution into the lake.

“Thanks for walking me back.”

“No problem.”

“Are you heading back to your mom and the boat races?”

He shook his head. “I should go check on Hondo. He’s been inside for several hours and is probably ready to run a bit. Want me to let Rika out for a while?”

“That would be terrific. Thank you! My schedule is so packed today I’m not sure when I’ll have time to get her. I was just about to text the girl who helps me out with Rika to go home and let her out, but I’m not sure if I can reach her.”

“I can handle it. I’m going back and it’s just a matter of walking next door.”

“If you’re sure, I would appreciate it. There’s a spare key under the red flowerpot on the front porch.”

“Red flowerpot. Got it.”

“Thanks. I owe you. Seriously.”

He gave her a long, slow smile. “I’m sure I can come up with some way for you to repay me.”

Her insides shivered again, her mind on that moment in his kitchen when he had nearly kissed her. Her imagination orbited in a hundred different directions until he brought her firmly back to earth.

“We can start with you backing off the nosy questions about my relationship with my mother.”

“You wish,” she muttered.

“Or you could take a break for five minutes from being Haven Point’s number one cheerleader.”

“That could be a tough one, too,” she admitted. “Speaking of which, you’re coming to the barbecue and Dutch-oven dinner in a few hours, right? You have to come. Fabulous food, good people and a killer view you won’t find anywhere else but right here in Haven Point.”

He snorted. “Rah rah. You only need some pom-poms.”

“Well? Will you be there?” she pressed.

“If I make it, I’ll find you.”

“Great. I’ll see you then. Thanks. Red flowerpot.”

“I know.”

He started to walk away. Then, as an afterthought, he came back and brushed her cheek with his mouth—after which he stepped away with a baffled sort of look, as if he didn’t quite understand himself.

“I’ll see you,” he said, then walked quickly away, leaving her stunned and breathless and aching for something more.

* * *

A
S
SHE
EXPECTED
, she was crazy busy the rest of the day, bouncing between baseball games, horseshoe tournaments, public appearances and assorted crises in need of management. She was so busy, she didn’t have time to think about Ben more than, oh, three or four dozen times.

By evening, she kept looking for him to show up at the town barbecue and Dutch-oven dinner but he was nowhere in evidence.

Dratted man.

She did her best not to look for him obsessively. Instead, she was busy talking to residents of her town. She was making her way through, shaking hands and chatting, when she spotted Devin and their friend Wynona Bailey, who was on the Haven Point police department.

After disengaging from a dry conversation with a couple retired bankers who always wanted to talk to her about her time in Chicago, she made her way to her friends.

“Hey there.” Wynona grinned, looking far too petite, blonde, young and feminine to be a tough police officer—though that was probably sexist and ageist of her, McKenzie acknowledged.

Devin looked around. “Where’s your gorgeous gazillionaire? I thought you were trying to take him around to all the Lake Haven Days events so you could introduce him to more of the delights of our fair town.”

She thought so, too. It would have been a good plan, if the man hadn’t run off that afternoon and made himself scarce the rest of the day.

“Okay, let’s be clear. I don’t
have
a gorgeous gazillionaire. If I did, do you honestly think I’d be hanging around here with you two instead of spending the summer in my villa on the Côte d’Azur?”

Devin and Wyn laughed.

“Seriously. Where’s Ben?” her sister pressed. “I saw you with him this morning. Where did you lose him?”

“Oh,
that
gorgeous gazillionaire.” She shrugged. “Don’t know. He headed back to his place earlier in the day to take care of his dog and let Rika out for me. Apparently he was sidetracked there. I’m still hoping he makes it.”

“He’ll be missing some great food if he doesn’t show,” Wyn said.

“You’re not on duty?” she asked. “I would have thought Lake Haven Days called for all hands on deck.”

“I’m on call.” Wyn pointed to her radio. “And I have to go on in an hour. I figured I needed sustenance before my shift and there’s nothing better than Dutch-oven potatoes.”

She pointed to the plate of cheesy, oniony, bacony potatoes that did emit a mouthwatering aroma.

“Your arteries may disagree,” Devin said mildly. “And you can trust me on that. I’m a doctor.”

“Did they teach you how to be a buzzkill in that fancy medical school?” Wyn retorted, taking another forkful of her potatoes with obvious enjoyment.

“Yes. We had a whole class in our third year. How to ruin every future social occasion with dire health warnings.”

“And of course, you aced it, like always,” McKenzie teased.

“Naturally.” Devin grinned.

McKenzie stayed to chat with her sister and Wynona for a few more moments before she was drawn away by someone else who wanted to talk to her about a problem with water levels on the Hell’s Fury River.

After breaking away, she headed over and grabbed a plate of food for herself—and couldn’t resist including a small portion of the cheesy potatoes. She had to hope Devin didn’t catch her at it.

She took a seat at the table and listened to the laughter, the live music, the conversation of her community.

“You have room for one more?”

She glanced up and saw Ben had made it at last. She smiled broadly, telling herself the little pulse of excitement in her chest was only because now he would have the chance to experience one of her favorite sides of this town.

“Of course. But you don’t have any food.”

“I actually grabbed a sandwich before I came over.”

“Why would you possibly want to miss out on this?” She pointed at her plate, brimming with delicious items.

“I know. I must be crazy. I
have
heard I must try the Dutch-oven cherry cobbler and homemade ice cream.”

Her mouth watered. “Yes. Definitely.”

“Can I get you some?”

“That would be terrific. Thanks.”

He headed away and she was busy telling her nerves to settle down when she suddenly heard a commotion near the table where the volunteer fire department was serving up the desserts.

“You’re a son of a bitch like your old man and you always have been.”

No alcohol was served at the community barbecue but judging by the belligerent tone and slurred words, somebody had brought his own to the party.

She knew that voice, McKenzie realized as dread soaked through her.

Jim Welch—big, tough, bellicose all the time. A terrible combination.

She cringed. Of all the people for Ben to bump into tonight. Hoping to deflect what had the potential to be an ugly scene, she slid away from the table and hurried over to the two men.

“My dad had forty years with Kilpatrick Boatworks,” Welch snarled. “He gave his whole life to that company, his blood and his sweat. Then he and everybody else in this town lost their jobs in a single afternoon.”

“It wasn’t a single afternoon,” Ben corrected firmly, looking not at all intimidated by an angry man, five inches taller and who outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds.

“We gave very generous severance packages to every employee,” he went on. “We provided early retirement with fully vested pension benefits to anyone within seven years of retirement age and also provided full-tuition vocational training waivers for up to five years after the factory closed. Every effort was made to make sure no one was left out in the cold.”

McKenzie blinked, momentarily distracted. This was the first she had heard about it. The way some people talked, one day the factory was open, the next everyone was out of a job. Maybe that would teach her not to listen to some people until she had the full story.

“That’s a dirty lie.
Some
people were left out in the cold. My old man was one of them. He was too old to learn how to do something else! Boatbuilding was all he ever knew.”

Jimmy all but chest-bumped Ben, who didn’t give an inch. McKenzie clenched her fists, ready to step in. Jimmy had a reputation for starting bar fights down at the Mad Dog Brewery. Last Christmas at the Lights on the Lake Festival, he had actually gone after Aidan Caine.

She didn’t know how she could possibly stop a mad bull on a rampage—though she was wearing red—but she wasn’t about to let a bully like Jimmy ruin all the progress she wanted to think she had made convincing Ben this was a good place for Caine Tech to expand.

Ben seemed to be handling the situation without her. “I didn’t want to close the factory,” he said with firm control, “but it had been losing money steadily for a decade. Since I had no interest or aptitude to run it, I made an offer to the employees to buy me out. They weren’t interested, either—and couldn’t have found financing anyway, given the company’s extensive losses. Like it or not, closing the plant was an inevitability. It should have been done years earlier.”

That seemed to piss off Jimmy even more. His face turned mottled and red. He looked around the crowd that had gathered, a crowd whose mood McKenzie couldn’t quite sense.

“Screw inevi—” The word was apparently too much for Jimmy’s alcohol-impaired brain to work around. “Whatever. Screw that, you smug bastard.”

Before McKenzie could move or think, he threw a hard punch. Ben clearly had the advantage, not being similarly impaired. He easily sidestepped the right hook. Carried by his own momentum, Jimmy stumbled into a table. It took him a moment to clamber to his feet again. He would have gone for Ben again, but McKenzie had finally engaged her own brain enough to move between the two men.

She wasn’t thinking about any risk to life and limb, too focused on worrying. This was a disaster. How would Ben ever see what a nice community Haven Point was if he was attacked at the town barbecue?