Chapter Five
“What are you doing in here?” Gran stepped into the spare upstairs bedroom after dinner that night.
Hayden finished putting fresh sheets on the bed. “We’re expecting guests.”
Gran came over to help him spread a yellow quilt. “I made this quilt for your parents as a wedding gift.” She ran a hand over the yellow tulip petals in one corner. “Are your brothers coming home?”
“No. My wife and daughter are.” Hayden wasn’t certain how Gran would take the news.
Or if she’d remember his words five minutes from now.
“I’m getting married on Monday.” He’d made the reservation at the courthouse after he’d secured assurances from the family lawyer that a standard prenup could be signed by the end of the week.
“I…” Gran plopped onto the bed. “It’s Violet, isn’t it? I don’t remember her having a child.”
“That’s all right, Gran.” Hayden took Gran’s hand and helped her to her feet. “Why don’t we go downstairs and watch the sunset?”
“Sunsets are for wish-making.” Gran gently patted Hayden’s cheek. “I remember a time when you allowed yourself to dream.”
Hayden couldn’t. Grandpa’s slap had scrubbed them from his mind.
He laid his hand over Gran’s. “I’m a worker bee.
We don’t have time to dream.” He wouldn’t even know what to dream for.
Certainly not romance. After everything that had happened to him, all the betrayals and abandonments, he didn’t feel worthy of love.
Smiling, Gran stepped around him, heading for the door. “Even hard workers dream, Hay-Hay.”
Her use of his childhood name was both heartening and grating. Hay-Hay was too trusting, a boy who wished on stars and believed in happy-ever-afters. That wasn’t him.
“All it takes is courage and a wish on a beautiful sunset.” Gran’s feet struck the staircase with steady strides, a pace that belied her unsteady state of mind. “Meet you outside.”
On the west-facing front porch where Grandpa had his heart attack.
Hayden couldn’t move.
The old farmhouse creaked and groaned as if sympathizing with his pain.
Hayden rubbed the too-tight feeling in his chest, glancing around the room and wondering what Evie’s reaction would be to the dinged-up antique dresser, the small bookcase, and red-lacquered bedside table. Nothing matched. Her ex-husband would turn up his nose. But would Evie care? He didn’t know.
I’m marrying a stranger.
“What am I doing?” He combed his fingers through his hair, fighting the building feelings of remorse and vulnerability.
“Hayden!” Gran called, right before the screen door slammed downstairs. “The sun’s going down. Hustle.”
And Hayden did, finding purpose to his impending marriage once more. Gran had never hurt him. She deserved this risk…this sacrifice.
He sat in a rocker next to Gran, catching a glimpse of the stacks of cardboard boxes on the opposite side of the porch.
He’d filled those boxes with papers no longer needed from Grandpa’s office.
He’d purposefully chosen their placement over the site where Grandpa had collapsed.
And yet, just that glimpse was enough to have those memories tumble back.
The raised voices. The unexpected slap. How he’d drawn his fist back to strike.
How he’d borne the blame for Grandpa’s heart attack immediately and continued to carry it to this day.
“I’m going to wish for peace,” Gran said, putting a halt to his descent into darkness. She found Hayden’s hand and gripped it firmly. “Peace within our family. That way, all my grandsons will come home.”
“Nice wish.” It felt as if it would take a miracle to clear the path for his brothers to return.
Gran gave Hayden’s hand a little shake. “You and Clyde should settle your differences.”
Hayden glanced toward that stack of boxes.
“Nobody lives forever,” Gran went on, rocking her chair at speed. “You don’t want to leave this unsettled, or you’ll have regrets when we’re gone.”
Truer words…
Hayden watched the sun sink below the horizon, wishing he could settle all the conditions of Grandpa’s will quickly.
He didn’t know what he’d do with his inheritance or even if he’d have an inheritance after the taxman was paid.
All Hayden knew was that he’d like to return to his solitary life and lock away the past where it belonged.
Out of sight.
*
The rest of the week was a blur of wedding preparations for Eve.
A tense meeting with Eve’s boss at Oak Hill to drop her hours. A tense meeting at the law firm of Marsh & Stanhope to sign a prenup. And now, Saturday morning, was the tensest meeting of all—telling Mom and Violet she was marrying Hayden.
Eve sat on the green couch with an open medical textbook in her lap. She had yet to turn a page. A gift bag sat at her feet on the floor. She’d purchased a soccer ball for Katie to play with while the adult Fisher women talked. She planned to give it to Katie upon Vi’s arrival.
Mom had made a fresh pot of coffee and sat at the kitchen table with her hands cradling a coffee mug.
She looked nervous, tugging on the neck of her turquoise T-shirt.
Her short, blond hair seemed limp. “Can’t you tell me what this is about before Vi gets here? That look on your face has me worried.”
“I only want to say this one time.” Eve tried to smile reassuringly, gesturing toward Katie, who sang softly to herself while moving a small plastic unicorn across the living room carpet. “Without young ears listening.”
Mom sighed, expression still drawn with worry.
Right on time, Eve’s sister pulled up in front of the bungalow and got out of her fancy blue SUV. It was a vehicle she’d purchased with her latest real estate commission. Vi hurried to the front door in a frilly red blouse, white jeans, and red heels.
Not exactly Eve’s idea of weekend attire. She’d put on her comfiest clothes. Black leggings and a gray sweatshirt.
“Auntie Vi!” Katie leaped up to give her a hug when Violet walked in.
After greeting Katie, Vi wasted no time getting right to the point. “Where’s the fire?” She went into the kitchen and took down a glass. “I missed a nail appointment for this.”
“Hey, bug. Look what I got for you.” Eve set her textbook on the coffee table. Then she pulled the soccer ball out of the gift bag and offered it to Katie. “Why don’t you take this out back and kick it around?”
“A soccer ball!” Katie threw her arms around Eve. She wore a white T-shirt with a sequined unicorn on the front and dinosaur-patterned leggings. A tame choice for her. “Thank you, Mama. It’s not even my birthday.”
“Go to the backyard and give it a try.” Eve set Katie on her feet, waiting for her to go out the French door to the backyard before turning toward Mom and Vi.
Violet had poured herself a glass of water from the tap. “Well?”
Eve decided to do them all a favor and rip off the bandage quickly. She stood, moving to stand in front of the fireplace. “I’m getting married again.” She tried to smile. She tried to look ecstatic.
Turned out, Eve was among the worst liars on the planet.
“You look like you drank expired milk.” Vi walked toward her, studying Eve’s expression.
“Did you and Steven make up?” Mom tsked. “The only good thing about a reconciliation would be a second grandchild.”
“Mom!” Vi and Eve chorused.
Vi and Charlie had never been able to have children. And Vi was still touchy about the topic.
“I’m sorry.” Mom stared into her coffee mug. “I just assumed your impending wedding was one of those shotgun affairs.”
“You’re pregnant?” Vi wheezed, moving ever closer.
“No.” Eve found her voice. “And it’s not Steven I’m marrying.”
“Then why the sad face?” Vi circled Eve, probing with her gaze.
“Because I don’t want to hurt you. Because it’s Hayden,” Eve blurted. There was no relief in that admission. “I’m marrying Hayden.”
With a squeak, Vi collapsed in a corner chair. Dad’s old chair. “I must be dreaming.”
Mom had frozen, her coffee mug halted midway to her mouth.
This was feeling very much like the day Vi had chosen Charlie over Hayden.
The French door to the backyard opened. Katie stood in the doorway holding the pieces of one of Mom’s garden gnomes. “I’m sorry, Grandma. But we need to rush Gary the Gnome into surgery. He was hit by a soccer ball and his arm broke off.”
“Hey, bug.” Eve rushed to Katie, easing her around in a U-turn. “We’ll get Gary into the operating room as soon as the grown-ups finish talking.”
“Here’s a treat, love.” Mom hurried over and handed Katie a cookie from a plate on the kitchen table. Then she gently shooed Katie out the door. “We’ll call you when the surgery is ready.” She pushed the door closed, then turned to Eve. “You’re marrying Hayden? Hayden Bennett?”
Eve nodded.
“But…” Vi chewed her cuticle, looking rattled. “How did this happen? Why didn’t we know you were…involved?”
“Um…” Eve’s stomach ached, protesting the need for another lie. “It was all kind of rushed. Hayden asked me to marry him on Wednesday.”
“You’ve barely been back a month,” Mom said in a tight voice. “And Hayden hasn’t been back much longer.”
“I ran into him at Oak Hill.” Eve explained about Irene’s condition. “We started talking and… We just sort of…collided,” she said, thinking of the way she’d run into his arms at the Coffee Corner.
“When is the wedding?” Mom went to sit in the corner of the couch.
“Monday. Nine a.m. at the courthouse.” Hayden had made all the arrangements.
Eve’s announcement was met with silence.
“Too soon,” Vi muttered, moving to sit in the other corner of the couch across from Mom. “It’s too soon. You can’t do this. You can’t even be sure he loves you.”
Eve’s chin rose. “He loves me enough to propose.”
“I…” Mom gave Eve a searching look. “Is this what’s been bothering you all week?”
Eve nodded, biting her lip.
“Listen. Sit with us.” Vi extended a hand toward Eve, drawing her down to the middle of the couch. “We need to take a beat. I know Hayden. He’ll steamroll you to get his way.”