The Secret Sister (17 page)

“If you don't mind, I'm sure she'd love that,” he said.

“Are you coming for me, Maisey?” Laney called. “Did you say I get to go inside with you?”

“Yes, I'm coming for you.” She spoke loudly so Laney could place her by her voice.

As soon as Maisey unhooked the harness, Laney lifted her arms so Maisey would pick her up. Maisey was glad to do that, but the child was so big it wasn't easy. Maisey didn't have the strength Laney's father did. It also took her by surprise when Laney gave her a big hug, as if they'd known each other forever.

At first, Maisey resisted hugging her back. It might not have been a rational impulse, but this wasn't
her
child. It felt...disloyal somehow, like accepting a replacement.

But having such a sweet girl cling to her was too inviting. After a few seconds, Maisey closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against Laney's. Rafe couldn't see them; he was on the porch, above them. Why shouldn't she soak up this drop of innocent love?

“Thank you,” she murmured to Laney. “This is a very nice welcome.”

“Should we practice braiding?” Laney's small hands cupped Maisey's face. “Or wait! I could play my recorder for you!”

“Your recorder?” She pointed to the ground. “It's right there.”

Maisey put her down and somehow Laney found it without too much searching. Obviously, she'd learned to remember where she put things. Someone with a visual handicap would have to do that, she supposed, in order to function in a completely dark world.

“Here it is.” She held up a plastic flutelike instrument.

They left the rest of her toys with her little table and chairs and Maisey led her up the steps. Rafe was hanging the new shutters, but he paused to glance over at them. “You sure it's okay for her to come in?” he asked.

Laney's hug—how solid and fulfilling it had been—was still vivid in Maisey's mind. “Of course,” she said. “She's going to play her recorder for me.”

“She loves that thing.”

Maisey liked the way his tool belt hung low on his narrow hips. She also liked his faded jeans and how his T-shirt stretched across his chest.

She realized she was just standing there, smiling at him, when he gave her a hesitant smile in return. “What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I skipped lunch today so I'm about to grab a bite now. You hungry?”

“Just ate. So did Laney.”

“
I'm
hungry!” Laney said.

“Laney-bug, I fed you less than an hour ago.”

“But I still have room for ice cream,” she argued.

Maisey laughed. “Fortunately, I happen to have some.”

Rafe scowled at his daughter. Laney couldn't see that, of course, but Maisey was willing to bet she could hear it in his voice. “You're not supposed to hint for treats, remember?”

Her bottom lip jutted out. “She
asked
if we wanted to eat.”

“Nice try,” he said. “You know she didn't mean ice cream.”

“Don't
you
have room for dessert?” Maisey asked.

He moved some of the extra shutters he'd carried up so she and Laney could get to the door. “I guess I always have room for ice cream,” he said and when he looked up, Maisey saw a boyish smile curving his lips.

“I'll bring it out in a few minutes.”

Maisey made a sandwich while she listened to Laney play her recorder. She was surprised that she could actually recognize some of the tunes—“Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Hot Cross Buns,” “Jingle Bells.” “You're good!” she told Rafe's daughter. “Who bought that for you?”

“My dad found it on the computer for me.”

When Maisey had finished her sandwich, she dished up some chocolate ice cream for Rafe and Laney.

“Aren't
you
going to have any?” Laney asked.

Astonished that Laney had been able to tell, Maisey hesitated. “How'd you know I'm not?”

“I heard you put out two bowls. Not three.”

Maisey hadn't been conscious of making enough noise to provide that information. “I have to go to my mother's for dinner this evening. If I have dessert, too, I won't be hungry.”

“Oh.”

After guiding Laney to the table, Maisey put a spoon in her hand and showed her where the bowl was. “You won't move until I get back, will you?”

Laney was already digging into her ice cream. “Hmm?”

Most children would've looked up to answer a question posed directly to them, but Rafe's daughter didn't. Laney couldn't see Maisey's expression, so Maisey understood why that kind of reflexive movement would be superfluous to a blind child. But it made her believe Laney had been blind since birth. Otherwise, she figured that reflex would still cause her to look up. “Will you stay put until I get back?”

“I don't know my way around your house,” she said, as if staying put would therefore be a given.

“Right.” Maisey carried Rafe's bowl out to him. “Ready for a break?”

“In a sec.” He was up on a ladder he must've gotten from his truck because it hadn't been on her porch when she'd first returned. His hair was wet and so was his T-shirt—more proof he'd been out from under the porch roof since she'd gone inside.

As she waited for him to finish inserting a screw before he came down, Maisey peered out at the rain. She liked the soft patter hitting her roof, liked how it dripped off the eaves and made the leaves so shiny and green. Rain in New York City was a completely different experience, with masses of people carrying umbrellas and staring down at the wet sidewalk as they hurried along.

She wasn't looking forward to driving back to town on her scooter, however. She hoped the rain would stop by the time she had to go.

“Thanks,” Rafe said when he eventually descended and took his bowl.

“Why don't you come inside so you can sit down?” she asked.

“Sounds good.” He held the door and indicated that she should go in ahead of him.

“It's yummy, isn't it, Daddy?” Laney had recognized his step when he entered the house.

“I haven't tasted it yet,” he said. “But I have no doubt it will be.”

Laney dropped her spoon in her bowl. Her mouth was smeared with chocolate. She attempted to lick her lips, but missed most of it. “Do you want me to help you eat yours?”

He laughed. “I think you've had enough for one day. And I'm sure I can handle this all on my own.”

“You're supposed to share,” she said.

He chuckled. “Maisey did share, and you're done with yours.”

When Laney started to get down from her chair, he stopped her. “Let me wipe your face before you go anywhere.”

“I've got it,” Maisey said. “Relax and enjoy your ice cream.”

Laney waited patiently while Maisey retrieved a washcloth and cleaned her up. “Want me to play my recorder again?”

“I think the noise might be getting on Maisey's nerves,” Rafe said, and winked at Maisey as if
he
was the one who didn't want the racket.

Maisey shot him a wicked grin. “I'd
love
for you to do that. And when your daddy's finished, we'll follow him outside so he can hear you better.”

“I've already spent two hours being serenaded, thanks.” He gave Maisey a comically disgruntled look and, for no apparent reason, she remembered the intensity on his face when he'd pinned her against the counter and kissed her that first time.

Suddenly self-conscious, she went to the sink to rinse off her plate. “I guess your daddy's right. It's time for a break from the recorder,” she told Laney. “But if you want, we could go lie on my bed, and I'll read you the next Molly Brimble book.”

“There's
more
?” Laney asked.

Gratified by the excitement in her voice, Maisey turned off the water. “Several. I have two of them here. I can get the rest from my mother's house when I go over for dinner tonight.” She frowned at the sight beyond her window. “If it ever stops raining. It probably won't be smart to bring them back if it doesn't. They'll just get wet.”

Laney clapped her hands. “Oh, I hope it stops. I
love
Molly Brimble. I want to hear them all.”

Finished with his ice cream, Rafe came over to rinse out his bowl and brought Laney's, too. Maisey could feel the heat of his body as he stood next to her. She told herself she'd only noticed such a minute detail because she was still wearing the damp clothes she'd had on when she got home.

But being cold had nothing to do with admiring the way his jeans fit him as he walked across the room.

“You ready?” Laney asked, reaching Maisey without any help.

“I'm ready.” She led Rafe's daughter into the bedroom. There, she changed into a pair of dry sweats and they read the Molly Brimble books she had—twice. No doubt Laney would've asked her to read them a third time, since she couldn't seem to get enough, but she fell asleep midway through
Molly Brimble's Spidery Adventure
.

Maisey set the books aside and pulled Laney close. She told herself she'd rest for a few minutes. It wasn't polite to fall asleep while Rafe was there, fixing her house. But she must've nodded off because the next thing she knew, Rafe was lifting his daughter out of her arms.

“You done for the day?” Maisey murmured.

“Yeah. Shutters are up. They look great.”

“You can leave her here with me until she wakes up, if you want. I'll make sure she gets home safely.”

“That's okay. If she sleeps too long, she won't want to go to bed tonight.”

“I should walk you out...”

“No,” he said when she started to get up. “You need the rest.”

“I can't be late for dinner,” she mumbled.

“What time do you need to be there?”

Maisey was
so
tired. She tried to drag that detail from her brain to her mouth, but she wasn't sure if she ever did. Laney roused and said something about Molly Brimble to her daddy. When he put her down, she didn't get back in bed. At least, Maisey didn't think so. Everything was a blur. She felt Rafe pull up the covers. Then she succumbed to the exhaustion that had been tugging at her for what seemed like forever.

17

T
he sound of her phone, ringing on the nightstand, broke into the quiet darkness. Maisey wanted to ignore it, to stay blissfully submerged beneath the chaotic thoughts of her conscious mind. But whoever wanted her to answer was persistent. The ringing would stop, only to start again.

Finally, she opened her eyes, saw how the day's light was waning and bolted up into a sitting position. Dinner with her mother! Had she missed it? Was Josephine or Pippa trying to call?

She grabbed her cell just as it rang again.

This call wasn't from either; it was Rafe.

“You still asleep?” he asked when she managed to answer.

“I was.” She shook her hair out of her face. “What time is it?” She should've set the alarm on her phone.

“Five-thirty. You couldn't seem to come up with the time you needed to be at your mother's, so I decided I'd better wake you early.”

She scrambled out of bed so fast she got tangled up in the blankets and nearly tripped. “I appreciate that.”

“So you're okay?”

“It's at six. I won't have time to get cleaned up, which won't go unnoticed, but I can make it if I hurry.”

“There's just one problem,” he said.

She straightened. “Besides dressing and getting over there in half an hour? What's that?”

“It's still raining outside.”

“Then I guess it won't matter that I don't have time to shower and change.” At least she'd have a good excuse for her appearance.

“Go ahead and get ready,” he said. “I'll drive you over.”

Maisey covered a yawn. “You're going to give me a ride?”

“I have to go to town, anyway. Laney and I are out of milk.”

“But...it won't take that long to pick up some milk. How will I get back? Or I could ask Pippa to drive me...”

“No need. My mother has a lengthy to-do list for me. I'll go over and cross a few things off while I wait. You can call me whenever you're ready.”

Driving with Rafe would be faster, safer and far more comfortable than freezing on her scooter. It wasn't as if she had any rain gear, other than the umbrella she'd brought from New York, which would be useless. But she could easily guess what conclusions her mother would draw if she found out that Rafe had been kind enough to provide her with transportation. She didn't want to spend the entire evening listening to Josephine point out the many reasons he wouldn't be right for her. Maisey knew she was in no shape for another relationship; she didn't need to hear what her mother had to say about Rafe's occupation and social status. That was just so offensive.

“I...I hate to put you out. You already spent your afternoon fixing up my house. You can't be thrilled about doing more repairs, even for your mother.”

“They've got to get done. Might as well be tonight.”

Time was ticking away, and she couldn't come up with a good excuse to decline his offer. “Thanks,” she said. “I'll be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“I'll be there.”

As she took off her clothes and jumped in the shower, Maisey caught sight of herself in the mirror and couldn't help pausing to touch the single stretch mark she'd gotten when she was pregnant with Ellie. This was all that was left of her daughter, all she could touch...

Briefly, she wondered if Rafe had noticed it when he'd seen her. Only about four inches long, it wasn't too obvious since it was off to one side.

He hadn't said anything, so she assumed he hadn't.

* * *

Rafe's truck smelled like he did, but since Maisey associated that smell with their time in his bed, she tried not to notice.

Laney reached out to her from the child's seat in the back as soon as Maisey got in, and Maisey twisted around to squeeze her hands. “Looks like you're all buckled up,” she said.

Delighted with the attention, Laney beamed, and Maisey smiled at how incongruous it seemed for Rafe to have a child's seat in his big work truck.

“You're smiling.” Rafe sent her a curious glance as she put on her seat belt and he backed down her drive.

“I never could've pictured you as the man you are today,” she said. “Not when we met eighteen years ago.”

“You need to forget about eighteen years ago.”

“Why? It's funny that you've been domesticated. Are you going to tell me how it happened?” She still knew next to nothing about Laney's mother.

He steered around a pothole. “What do you want to know?”

Conscious of the fact that Laney could hear them, Maisey chose her words carefully. “I'd like to hear how you came to be in this, uh, situation.”

“Sure,” he said. “I'll be happy to tell you about it—as soon as you tell me how you came to be in the situation
you
are.”

“We went over that when you brought me the...box from Unit 1. What's left to tell?”

“What box?” Laney asked.

“Just an old box I found,” Rafe replied before speaking to Maisey again. “I know you're divorced, and I know about...the reason. But I don't know how you met him.”

“After I graduated from college, I came home for the summer to run my mother's flower shop, where I'd worked quite a bit over the years. As spoiled as you seem to think I was, my mother's always been determined to teach Keith and me about the value of work. I started at the shop the summer before ninth grade and worked there until I left for college.”

It was beginning to rain harder, which made her even more grateful for the ride.

He adjusted his windshield wipers as he turned onto the paved road. “So that's where you met? Did he come in to buy flowers for someone else? Was he already engaged or married at the time?”

“Ouch! No, of course not,” she said, but being able to laugh at her situation helped. She could hardly get mad at him for being insensitive. A cheating husband was almost a cliché. “I told you there were...extenuating circumstances. Regarding what he did to cause the divorce...”

“I didn't realize there were any extenuating circumstances a woman would accept for that kind of behavior, unless—don't tell me
you
were seeing someone else first.”

“I was never unfaithful! It's...a long story.”

Rafe shrugged. “Yeah, well, so's mine.”

“And you're not going to tell me.”

“As soon as you're finished, I will.”

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Fine. So, back to when we met. He'd just graduated from the University of South Carolina but wasn't quite sure where he wanted to live and start his career. So he came here to stay with his grandparents for a few months while he made those decisions.”

“Who are his grandparents?”

“The Hendersons.”

“Never heard of them.”

“They didn't stay long. They'd only lived in Keys Crossing for a year when he came out to visit, and right after we got married, they went back to Philadelphia to help his aunt, who'd been diagnosed with a brain tumor. That's where he was raised.”

“Did she make it? The aunt?”

“She was alive when we got divorced. I have no idea what's happened to her since. I haven't stayed in contact with his family. I cared about his parents a great deal, but...they reacted strangely to the divorce, as if I was more to blame than their beloved son. It became awkward.” Fortunately Laney hadn't been able to understand enough of the conversation to even try to keep up. She was humming to herself, seemingly oblivious to what they were saying.

“What'd he do for a living?”

“While he was here, he worked at the public beach as a lifeguard.”

“A lifeguard? Somehow I can't imagine Josephine Lazarow approving of a man who's making barely more than minimum wage.”

“She didn't approve of him. They hated each other.”

“I see.” Rafe adjusted his rearview mirror, and Maisey saw his eyes flick toward it every once in a while so he could check on his daughter. “And you resisted that for love? Impressive. Too bad it didn't work out—at least so far. We could've chalked one up for the common man.”

“No one's perfect.”

He seemed surprised by her comment. “Why'd you go to the public beach when you have a private one? The public beach is for the rest of us lowlifes.”

“Don't say stuff like that,” she said. “I actually met him at the grocery store. One of the bungalows was empty, which didn't happen all that often during peak rental season, so Keith and I were going to have a barbecue there with our friends. Jack saw me deliberating over the different cuts of meat and offered his expertise.”

“Right before he asked for your number.”

“He asked, but I wouldn't give it to him.”

Rafe slung one arm over the steering wheel and slowed to navigate a tight bend in the road. “Then how'd you start dating?”

“You won't believe this, but...he followed me home.”

“To Coldiron House? He didn't turn back when he saw those big gates and realized who you were?”

“He didn't care. That's one of the things that drew me to him. Some of the other guys I'd dated were so...intimidated by my mother. But Jack...he was willing to stand up to her.”

“You're saying that following you home actually worked? That makes Jack sound more like a stalker to me.”

“It wasn't like that. He was romantic. Told me what I needed to hear.”

“Which was...”

She couldn't hold back a wistful smile. “It wasn't five minutes after he pulled through the gate behind me that he said he'd never seen a more...”

“Beautiful woman,” Rafe filled in when, embarrassed, she let her words fall off.

“Yeah.”

“I can't believe that worked, either.”

“You know how gorgeous my mother is. I've always lived in her shadow, and I wasn't a very pretty child. For most of my life, I thought I was ugly.”

One eyebrow went up.
“Ugly?”

She shifted in the seat. “You didn't think I was very hot when you first met me. Admit it.”

“I don't remember that.”

“Oh, come on!”

“You weren't as pretty as you are now,” he admitted.

“At least you're honest,” she said dryly.

“I'm not finished yet. Maybe you weren't a
stunning
beauty, but you weren't anywhere close to ugly, which makes it hard for me to think you'd fall for that line.”

“Yeah, well, someone who's always been beautiful wouldn't understand.”

“Beautiful?”
he repeated.

“Don't pretend you don't know what I mean.”

He ignored that. “So you gave him your number.”

“I did, and he called me the next day.” She chuckled as she remembered Jack's eagerness.

“To ask you out?”

“To tell me he was already in love with me. It was a bit...over the top, especially when I hear myself tell the story. But it was flattering, all the same.”

When Rafe said nothing, Maisey assumed she was going into more detail than he cared to hear, so she summed it up. “Anyway, long story short, we got engaged by the end of summer.”

“I don't remember anyone mentioning that you were getting married. A Lazarow wedding would be a big deal around here. Was it at Coldiron House?”

She shook her head. “My mother refused to pay for the wedding, or even attend it, so we eloped. We were so poor in those early years...” And yet those had been the happiest she'd ever known, before Jack had really grabbed hold of his career and let it consume the bulk of his time. Back then, she'd been the most important thing to him.

“I'm not entirely clear on why your mother didn't like him. Was it the bad start? That he was working as a lifeguard when you met and she decided he wasn't worthy of you?”

“She tried to blame it on that. I remember her coming into my room to have a talk with me. She sat on my bed and told me he'd never be able to keep me in the kind of comfort I was accustomed to. I swear, it sounded like something a soap opera villain would say.”

“You weren't buying it.”

“Not for a minute. Jack was smart, driven, ambitious. I was convinced even she could see that.”

“What was the real story?”

“Honestly? I believe it was the fact that he didn't like her. He didn't approve of how she tries to control everyone and everything, and she could feel it. She's used to being revered and demands a certain...deference, if you will.”

“He refused to pay her homage.”

“Yes. And he can be as stubborn as she is.”

“It doesn't sound like he made much of an effort to get along with your family. But...I wasn't there. It could be that leaving the island was the best thing for you.”

“Trust me, I was more than eager to leave.”

“So you married and moved to New York to make your fortunes.”

She was glad when he turned up the heater. “Pretty much. I'd always wanted to write children's books. He had a degree in finance and planned to go into investment banking. Manhattan seemed like a perfect fit for both of us.”

Rafe looked over at her. “Are you going to tell me what went wrong? I mean...before the extramarital stuff? You've alluded to...other challenges.”

She stared out at the rain. “Things happened—some that were beyond our control. I'm sure he wasn't the only one to blame, even though he...did what he did.”

“Is that why you're considering taking him back? Because you feel partly responsible, like you owe it to him or yourself to try again?”

“It's possible, I suppose.” They'd reached Coldiron House. As he pulled up to the gate, she gave him the code that would allow him to get through. “I haven't decided what I'm going to do,” she added.

“What happened to the other woman?” Rafe asked. “Did he leave her, too?”