Until Angels Close My Eyes (10 page)

“I
—I can explain,” Leah stammered.

“I’ll just bet,” her mother snapped.

Neil stepped forward. He looked shocked, as if Leah had struck him. His look cut her deeply. She’d rather have done anything than upset Neil. “Is this your friend Ethan?” he asked.

Ethan held out his hand. “I am Ethan.”

Neil took Ethan’s hand, but before he could say a word, Leah’s mother stormed over, picked up a blanket and shoved it at Leah. “Is this what you do behind our backs? Tell us you’re visiting a friend, then shack up with your boyfriend?”

Leah felt her face burn with embarrassment.
“That’s not what happened, Mother—”

“I trusted you!” her mother exclaimed. “Is this how you pay me back?”

“If you’ll let me explain—”

“I can’t believe it, Leah. How could you do this to us?”

Neil put a hand on his wife’s arm. “Calm down, Roberta.”

“Calm down? She’s not your daughter, Neil. She—” Leah’s mother stopped her tirade. “I didn’t mean that,” she amended quickly. “I’m just so upset.”

Neil looked at Ethan. “Why don’t I take Ethan and show him my car collection? That’ll give you and Leah a chance to clear the air.”

Grateful for Neil’s offer, Leah nodded vigorously. Neil had a knack for knowing what to say and do in a crisis. And this was a crisis.

“I should stay,” Ethan said, looking bewildered. “This is my fault, too.”

Leah turned toward him. “Go on with Neil, Ethan. You wouldn’t want me around if it were your father’s and your discussion. I need to talk to my mother alone.”

Ethan hesitated, then said, “All right, I will go. But if you need me, call for me.”

She watched Ethan and Neil leave, waited for the click of the front door, then spun on her mother. “That was so embarrassing! You shouldn’t have said those things in front of Ethan.”

“Well, pardon me,” her mother mocked icily. “I always expect to come home from a holiday and find my daughter and her boyfriend sleeping together.”

“We were
not
sleeping together!” Leah stamped her foot. “We fell asleep in front of the TV watching movies.”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Leah. Give me some credit. You’ve been crazy about this boy for over a year. You spent a summer with him.” Her eyes grew wide, then narrowed. “Did he spend nights at your apartment? Did we fund your little love affair all summer long?”

On the verge of tears, Leah cried, “How can you think such a thing? I’ve never slept with Ethan. Sure we’ve had the opportunity, but we never did. He respects me. He loves me.”

“Loves you? What would a seventeen-year-old like you know about love?”

Leah saw red. “I know lots about love, Mother. I know you don’t have to marry five times to find it.” Color drained from her mother’s face, but Leah didn’t back down. “I know that love is caring enough about a person to stick around when things get tough. I know that love is letting your daughter see her grandmother. And helping her keep in touch with her real father.”

Where did all that come from?
Leah wondered. She hadn’t meant to say those things. She’d meant only to tell her mother about her and Ethan.

Her mother stiffened, but she kept her voice controlled when she spoke. “I’m not going to discuss ancient history with you, Leah. This is neither the time nor the place. I won’t allow you to distract me from the real situation—finding you and Ethan alone and unsupervised in this house.”

Leah heard the subtle shift in her mother’s words. At least she was no longer flinging wild accusations. Leah swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I know how it must look, but nothing happened
between me and Ethan. You’ve got to believe me.”

“So you say. How can I believe you when the evidence is all over the floor?”

“Don’t you think if we were sleeping together, we’d have tried to hide it from you? Not leave ourselves out in the open for you to trip over?”

“I don’t know what to think.” Her mother rubbed her temples as if fighting off a headache.

“Here’s what happened, from start to finish. Just listen.” Leah told her mother about the storm, the power outage, their watching TV and falling asleep. When she finished, she said, “That’s why we were on the floor. We just conked out.”

“That explains the physical situation,” her mother said. “But it doesn’t tell me why he’s here in the first place.”

“That’s going to take a little longer.” Leah sat on the sofa. Her legs ached from holding her body rigid. “He’s here because I invited him to stay with us for a while.”

“Oh, Leah! How could you? Neil and I don’t need some teenage boy underfoot. Especially now.”

“Just listen,” Leah said. “Please. I told him Neil could help him find his brother.” Leah patiently explained about Eli, the estrangement between Eli and Jacob, the terrible sense of loss Ethan felt over the death of his sister and the disappearance of his brother. “I know what it’s like to feel alone, Mom. I know what it feels like to want your family intact.”

“Is that another slam about the way I raised you?”

“No.” Leah sighed. “I’m just telling you what I felt growing up … about how much I wanted a family around me.”

“I was your family,” her mother said sharply.

“You worked.”

“I had to put food on the table. I had to take care of us.”

Leah was tempted to remind her mother again about her tendency to marry any man who came along. She thought better of it. At least her mother had calmed down and seemed to be listening to her. “Look, right now Ethan needs to get some things settled. I offered to help him. I don’t see how that’s going to interfere with your life.”

“Dare I remind you that Neil’s recovering from cancer?”

“Well, so am I,” Leah said. “And I know that having Ethan around is good for me. Why don’t I talk to Neil and tell him just what I’ve told you and let him decide about letting Ethan stay?” Leah felt confident that Neil would be more sympathetic than her mother.

“I don’t want to burden Neil. He—He isn’t feeling all that good.”

The news jolted Leah. “He’s sick?”

A shadow crossed her mother’s face but quickly disappeared. “No, I’m sure he’s fine. But he’s tired all the time. He just hasn’t gotten his strength back from all that chemo yet.”

Neil’s chemo had ended weeks ago. “He was feeling all right at Christmas and before your trip.”

“It was probably just the trip,” her mother said dismissively. “We were very busy and went to parties with many of his old friends. He’s just overextended himself, I’m sure.”

Leah stood, suddenly anxious to talk to Neil. “I’m going out to the barn.”

“I’m not finished discussing this.”

“I want to talk to Neil about it,” Leah said stubbornly.

“Oh, all right.” Her mother sounded tired and cross. “But this isn’t over—not by a long shot. I’m going to unpack. And then there’s a meal to think about fixing.”

“There’s some leftover stew in the fridge. I made it last night from one of Grandma Hall’s old recipes. She used to make it for me when I was little, before—” Leah broke off. “Well, anyway, I liked it a lot.”

Leah started for the garage, where her coat and boots were.

“Leah,” her mother said, “I know you have plenty of questions about the past.”

Trust her mother to state the obvious. “You’re right. I do.”

“Well, be careful. Don’t be so eager to dig around in the mud. You might not like what you find.”

Without another word, Leah left the house.

In the barn Leah found Ethan and Neil inspecting the cars. Several of the tarpaulins had been pulled back, exposing the fine old
machines. Looking keenly interested, Ethan told Leah, “These are very beautiful.”

“Not like Amish buggies, huh?”

“Did you pacify your mother?” Neil asked.

“For the moment.”

“Ethan explained to me what happened.”

Leah studied Neil’s face. He looked thinner. “Do you believe us? We weren’t doing anything wrong, Neil.”

“I believe you both. And don’t be hard on your mother, Leah. She’s just concerned for you.”

Leah said, “Mom and I have some things to work out. But it has nothing to do with you. I’m sorry about her crack about me not being your daughter.”

“I know she didn’t mean it.”

“Which is a big part of her problem. She often says things before she thinks. It hurts people’s feelings.”

Neil gave Leah a sympathetic smile. “It’s a problem for most adults. Especially when they love their kids.”

Leah didn’t feel like arguing the point. She stared hard at Neil, studying him for a
long moment. “Mom said you haven’t been feeling great.”

“A little tired,” Neil said. “Lingering effects of the chemo, I guess.”

“It made me tired too, but once it was over, I snapped right back.”

“You’re younger,” Neil said with a grin. “It takes a little longer these days.”

“When do you see your doctor again?”

“End of the month.”

“Maybe you should—”

“Oh, quit your worrying,” Neil patted Leah’s hand. “I’m fine. I just need a little rest.” He turned toward Ethan, who was listening intently to the conversation. “I know you didn’t come all this way for a New Year’s Eve party, Ethan. Why did you come home with Leah?”

“I want to find my brother.”

Ethan explained his situation; then Leah explained how she was hoping Neil could help him. “There’s no big rush,” she added. “And we’ll do all the work. But we don’t even know how to begin.”

Neil looked thoughtful. “I’ll have to give it some thought myself.”

“Not right this minute,” Leah said hastily. Neil looked exhausted. “I figured Ethan could stay in the basement, in the extra room down there.”

“And I will work, sir,” Ethan said. “Anything you need done around your property. I’m a good worker. Plus, I’ll get another job to pay for my room and food.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Ethan shook his head. “No. I must work.”

Neil nodded. “We can talk about it later. Don’t think I didn’t notice the clean walk when we drove up. You did a good job.”

“Thank you,” Ethan said.

“There are lots of little things around the house that need doing. I can do them, but … well, my energy level isn’t up to par.”

“I will do whatever chores you want done.”

“Keeping the cars up is important to me.”

“All you must do is tell me how.”

Neil smoothed his hand over the fender on the nearest car. “I’ll be glad to. Forgive an older man’s vice, but I love these big hunks of metal.”

“I feel the same affection for my father’s horse and buggy.”

Neil flashed Ethan a big grin. “Then we’re not so different after all. You’ve got a job, Ethan.”

Leah watched the two of them shake hands and felt relieved. Ethan was staying.

E
than moved into the basement area of Leah’s home, Leah returned to classes and schoolwork, and by the end of the first week, Ethan had proved himself nearly indispensable to the household. While Ethan still didn’t have a full-time job, Neil managed to keep him busy caring for his cars and doing minor repairs around the property.

“That young man can fix anything,” Neil told Leah.