The Forgiving Hour (21 page)

She stayed busy, busy, busy.

Dakota called her, dropped by to see her, and tried to breach the invisible wall she’d constructed between them. She
wanted
him to breach it, and yet she caused him to fail. Her intractable nature kept the wall in place. She resented the peace and maturity she saw in her son even while she admired those same traits in him. As time for the new school year approached, he contacted her less frequently, his days eaten up by work and selecting classes, church activities, and, she suspected, a new girlfriend.

Claire felt displaced, perhaps even invisible. She was thirty-eight. Not old, yet there were times she felt ancient. Her role as someone’s wife had ended eight years before. Her role as someone’s mother was no longer preeminent. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help wondering,
Who are you?

She received no answer.

PART 4

Faith, Hope,
and Love

Now abide faith, hope, love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

TWENTY-ONE

J
ANUARY
— T
HREE-AND-A
-H
ALF
Y
EARS
L
ATER

The airport terminal was crowded. Travelers pulled rolling suitcases behind them as they rushed to their appointed gates. Others, just arriving, hurried to the three carousels in the baggage claim area in the lower level. Small children played tag around rows of connected seats. A baby cried, either hungry or tired. The roar of jet engines rattled the glass windows as a plane lifted off the runway.

It was all a bit overwhelming for Claire, who was admittedly a nervous flier.

“This way.” Dakota pointed toward Concourse B after grabbing her carry-on from the security checkpoint conveyor belt.

She nodded.

“It’s not much over an hour-long flight. That’s no time at all.”

“I know.”

“Read your book. You’ll be there before you know it.” He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Remember to have some fun while you’re there. Don’t just work twenty-four hours a day.”

His reminder wasn’t as necessary today as it would have been a few years back. Claire had come through a rough patch emotionally, but thanks to numerous self-help books, she’d overcome the worst of it. The breakthrough came when she stopped thinking about her deceased ex-husband. She never thought about him anymore. Well, rarely ever. And her relationship with her son was once again healthy and strong.

Now she was off to Seattle, Washington, to open a satellite office for Jack Moncur. Her stay there was temporary. Just a few months. But she’d discovered she was actually looking forward to the new challenge. The realization had taken her somewhat by surprise. She wasn’t exactly the adventuresome sort, and she could count on one hand the number of times she’d been outside of Idaho.

She glanced up. “You’ve arranged for time off in March? You’re still planning to come see me?”

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be there for your birthday. I’ve already got plans for us to take the ferry up to Victoria for a couple of days.” He frowned. “Hmm. I forget. Will you be twenty-nine this year?”

“Very funny, coming from my almost twenty-four-year-old son.”

They found Claire’s gate and sat in a pair of vacant seats near the Jetway. Dakota placed his mom’s carry-on bag on the floor between them.

“Any chance Cynthia will be coming with you?” Claire asked, referring to the young woman he’d been dating this winter.

“No.” He shook his head. “I told you. She’s seeing someone else.”

“I’m sorry. I liked her.”

“So did I. But we weren’t in love. If she’d been the right one, God would have worked things out between us.”

Claire barely kept from rolling her eyes. She and her son would never agree about religion. She’d reached a point in her life where she realized that whatever she was, whatever she was going to be, was up to her. That good old-fashioned truism of pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps was the motto she lived by nowadays. Life was what a person decided to make of it.

“You surprise me, Mom.”

“What about?”

He leaned closer and, in a low voice, said, “Because you won’t even consider getting married again, but you can’t wait for me to find somebody and tie the knot.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?” He raised an eyebrow and gave her one of his most charming lopsided grins. “Why?”

“I don’t need a man in my life. I’m older and settled in my ways. I’ve already had my family. I’m quite happy the way things are.”

The look in his
eyes
said,
Are you?

She ignored the unspoken question, turning to watch as disembarking passengers spilled from the Jetway of her arriving plane.

I am
happy,
she argued in silence.
I have a rewarding job, and I’m financially secure at last. I’ve raised a son and managed to put him through college. I have a lovely little home that I’ve decorated just the way I want, and my time is my own to do with as I please. Why wouldn’t I be happy?

“You’ll call me when you get to your condo?” Dakota asked, wisely changing the subject to something more prosaic.

“Of course.”

“Did I mention that I’ll miss you while you’re gone?”

As she turned her head to meet his gaze, she smiled, and her irritation with him vanished. “Yes, but it’s nice to hear it again.”

A boarding announcement blared from the speakers in the ceiling, interrupting whatever he might have said next. She immediately got to her feet, then picked up her small carry-on bag. Dakota stood too.

“You’ll go by the house once a week and make sure everything is okay there?”

“I will.”

“Be sure the thermostat stays set at sixty. I don’t want any pipes to freeze if Boise gets a cold snap.”

He grinned. “It’ll stay at sixty. No pipes will freeze.”

“Check the mailbox, just in case something doesn’t get forwarded.”

“Okay.”

“If there’s a problem of any kind —”

“Then I’ll take care of it.” Chuckling, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine here. Just make sure you have a great time in Seattle.”

Her row was announced.

Dakota walked with her as far as he was allowed. The flight attendant took Claire’s ticket and welcomed her aboard. Feeling a sudden panic, Claire turned toward her son. He grinned, kissed her on the cheek, then gave her a gentle push toward the Jetway.

“Have a great time, Mom.”

Oh, why did I ever tell Jack I would do this?

Dakota watched her go. When she reached the bend in the Jetway, she looked over her shoulder, as if hoping he would call her back. He smiled and waved, and at last she moved on, disappearing from view.

This experience was going to be good for her, he thought as he followed the corridor toward the security area and the escalators beyond. He was nearly there when he heard someone call his name.

He stopped and looked around.

“Over here.” Eli Jennings raised an arm, catching Dakota’s attention.

And right behind Eli, coming out of Concourse A, was the rest of the Jennings bunch, one of his favorite families from Sunrise Fellowship. They were all there — Kristina and Jared, their three sons and three daughters-in-law, and more grandkids than Dakota could keep track of.

Before he could ask what had brought them to the airport, his gaze alighted on the one unfamiliar face in the crowd. For one breathless moment, the world stood still.

“This is our daughter, Sara,” Kristina said, but her voice seemed to come from far away. “Sara, this is Dakota Conway. He goes to our church.”

She smiled. “Hello.”

“Nice to meet you.” He smiled back.

“Sara’s been living and going to school in Colorado,” Kristina continued, “but she’s finally coming home to stay.”

“Welcome back.” Dakota held out his hand.

“Thank you.” She took it.

He didn’t want to let go. Ever.

“She’s been hired to head up the personnel department at Master Resource Industries.”

Dakota thought it was Jared Jennings who dispensed that bit of information, but he wasn’t sure. He still couldn’t drag his gaze away from the burgundy-haired vision before him.

If perfection existed, he was looking at it.

A blush colored Sara’s cheeks. She dropped her gaze to his chest and gently withdrew her hand.

Realizing what he’d been doing—staring like an idiot, holding her hand as if his life depended upon it — he felt the heat of his own embarrassment inching its way up his neck. He cleared his throat as he took a step backward. “Hope to see you again soon, Miss Jennings.”

She glanced up. Her smile returned. “I’ll be at church tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll see you there.”

“Definitely.” He felt like a kid who’d just won a trip to Walt Disney World.

Later he would wonder if he’d bothered to say good-bye to the rest of the Jennings clan. It was nothing short of a miracle that he found where he’d parked his car and managed to drive home without running a red light or ending up in the barrow pit.

“Go on. Admit it,” Darlene said to Sara a few hours later. “You
liked
Dakota Conway.”

Sara placed some sweaters in the open bureau drawer. “I don’t
know
him. How can I tell if I like him or not?”

Her sister-in-law chuckled. “I knew I liked your brother the second I laid eyes on him.”

“All that does is prove you’re certifiable,” she replied, trying hard not to laugh as she met Darlene’s gaze.

“A little bit of insanity can be a good thing. I’m still crazy about Tim.”

Sara smiled, awash in warm, tender feelings. “I know.” She sank onto the bed next to Darlene. “You know the best part about coming home? I’ll finally feel like I’m really your sister. Yours and Fiona’s and Myrna’s. I’m glad my brothers were smart enough to marry you all.”

“Likewise. You know—”

“Mama!” The bedroom door burst open and a pair of auburn-haired munchkins barreled into the room. “Mama!”

Sara couldn’t understand anything else the three-year-old twins said as they climbed onto the bed and started pouring out complaints to their mother.

“J.J., that’s enough,” Darlene ordered firmly. “Lizzie, be quiet.” When they obeyed, she continued, “You first, J.J. Tell me what’s happened.”

Sara left the room while the twins’ mother was still sorting things out.

As she went down the stairs, she heard her father and brothers shouting at the television and knew they were watching either football or basketball. She veered toward the kitchen where the women had congregated. Except for the twins, her nieces and nephews were outside, enjoying the wintry sunshine.

She’d barely had time to pull a diet soda out of the refrigerator before Myrna said, “You sure bowled over Dakota at the airport.”

Oh, honestly.

“I think Sara was a bit bowled over herself,” Fiona chimed in.

“I was not.”

Myrna and Fiona exchanged amused glances, then burst into laughter.

Sara popped the tab on the soda as she sank onto a chair at the table across from her sisters-in-law. “Where’s Mom?”

“Outside watching her grandkids have a snowball fight,” Fiona answered. “She’s a glutton for punishment. Never gets enough of them.”

Myrna nudged Fiona. “Have you noticed how good Dakota is around the little ones at church? The patience of Job. Why, he’s almost a saint.” She winked at Sara. “And imagine how cute his own kids will be … once he gets married and starts a family, that is. I bet he —”

“I am
not
interested.” Sara felt her cheeks growing hot. “I came back for a job, not a man. And I don’t want to hear another word about him.”

Fortunately, the other two women backed off. Unfortunately, the image of Dakota Conway lingered in Sara’s head even after the teasing stopped.

She had to admit, that guy would be called a hunk in any woman’s book. Well over six feet tall. Sky blue eyes. Thick blond hair, pleasantly mussed, sort of begging for a woman to smooth it with her fingertips. A slightly crooked smile that revealed a dimple in his right cheek. Sort of a combination George Strait-Brad Pitt.

I wonder how old he is.

She gave her head a tiny shake and forced herself to concentrate on what Fiona was saying about her son, Ron.

“He loved kindergarten, but he’s hated first grade almost from day one. It isn’t his teacher. She’s super. But I can’t make him tell me what else it might be.”

The topic of children filled the better portion of the next hour. Sara even managed to hear some of it, despite how frequently the image of blue eyes and a crooked smile popped into her head.