Faithful to Laura (23 page)

She poured herself a cup of coffee, liberally adding the sugar and milk, and sat down at the table. She laced her cold fingers around the mug and let the warmth seep into her skin.

While she sipped at the coffee, Cora looked around the kitchen. No décor to speak of. Nothing to critique or pique her interest. An utterly boring room.

“I see you finally decided to wake up.”

Cora jerked to attention and looked up at Sawyer. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the jamb. His eyes pierced her with accusation. Didn’t he understand that she was as much a victim in this as he was?

“I don’t appreciate your tone, young man.” She set the coffee cup on the table. The clattering sound echoed in the bare kitchen. She smoothed the side of her hair with her hand. “But I’m glad you’re here. I thought I might have missed you.”

“I thought you might have gone home.”

She lifted her chin. Impertinent young man. Again, a reminder of his father.
And Kerry
. “We have unfinished business.”

“It’s finished, as far as I’m concerned.” He remained still, arms crossed over his body his black brows straight. Yet for all his calmness, she saw he was on edge. The muscles in his cheek twitched. He blinked a little too rapidly. He was unnerved.

A chink in the armor. She could take advantage of that.

“If you’re still questioning the validity of my claim, I can show you the legal documents. They will give you all the proof you need about my daughter, Kerry Easley.”

“Kerry Thompson.” Sawyer moved from the doorway. He went to the table and placed his palms on it. Leaned toward her. “My mother’s name was Kerry Thompson.”

Cora leaned back, fighting the sudden lump in her throat. The verb struck her like a physical blow:
was
.

His mother. Her daughter. Dead. Gone. Past tense. Kerry had been absent from Cora’s life for so long. But Cora had never once considered she might not be alive. Even getting the news from the detective hadn’t hit her as hard as her grandson hovering over her, his eyes cold as he drove the spike of truth into her heart.

Sawyer stepped away from Cora. His anger cooled as he saw the grief that suddenly raked across her face. She looked away, clutching the coffee cup.

“When did you find out about my mother?” Sawyer asked.

Cora didn’t look at him. “The same day I found out about you.” Her hands trembled as she brought the coffee cup to her lips.

“When was that?”

She looked at him. “Three days ago.”

Sawyer tensed. He’d had years to accept the reality of his parents’ death. She’d had three days. And as soon as she found out, she had come to find him.

Despite himself, he said, “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” She set the coffee cup on the table. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“After I dropped Laura off at the workshop, I took the morning off.”

“Laura?”

“She’s the office clerk at the shop.”

Cora paused. “The one with . . .”

“The scars?” Sawyer shoved his hands in his pockets.

“That’s her.”

“Is she your girlfriend, then?”

Sawyer frowned. “You look horrified at the thought.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” But the guilt in her eyes said something completely different.

“She’s a friend. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“It is. I want to get to know my grandson.” Cora looked up at him. “You look a lot like your father.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“It wasn’t meant as one.” She quickly added, “I also see Kerry in you. That
is
a compliment.” Cora stared at the inside of her coffee cup. “What was she like?”

“Who?”

“Kerry.” She looked at Sawyer. “Your mother.”

“You didn’t know?” He pulled out a chair and sat down.

“I knew her as a child. A young adult. Not as a wife. Or a mother.” Cora sighed. “Please, Sawyer. Come to New York with me.”

She touched the pearl necklace strung around her thin neck. No doubt it was real and cost a fortune. The woman reeked of money. “This place may have been your home. But I’m taking you back where you belong.”

Where you belong
. Wasn’t that what he’d been yearning to discover—his place in the world? For a long time he had felt torn. Did he belong with the Amish or the Yankees? And now he had this stranger who claimed to be his grandmother telling him he belonged in New York.

“You’ve wasted a trip.” He said the words with as much conviction as he could muster, but even as he uttered them, he felt a tiny fraction of his resolve melt.

“You might change your mind.”

“Not a chance.”

She sat up straight and looked him directly in the eye. He saw the change in her, from grieving grandmother to calculated businesswoman. “You haven’t heard what I have to offer.”

“We’re losing him.” Anna stepped away from the kitchen doorway and looked at Lukas.

“Nee.”
Lukas put his arms around Anna. She leaned against him, her chin resting on his shoulder. Sawyer wasn’t the only one who took the morning off. The shop was in good hands with Tobias and Laura. She was glad her husband was able to put his work aside to tend to his family. It was one more reason she loved him.

And because she loved him, she also knew him. “You’re worried too.”

He sighed. Held her tighter. “I’m trying not to. We have to trust that Sawyer will make the right decision. I believe God will guide him.”

“I thought he might Yank over eventually.” Anna pulled away from Lukas and stared at his face. “I was never sure if he would join the church. But if he had, at least he would live here. He could still work with you. We’d see him all the time. But if he goes to New York . . .” She pressed her fingertips against her lips. “We may never see him again.”

Lukas cupped her face with his hand. “Anna, don’t fret about something that hasn’t happened yet.”

“But he’s our only
kinn
.” A tear slipped down her cheek, followed by several more. “You always wanted a house full of
kinner
. I couldn’t give that to you. I’d hoped—I’d prayed—that at least we would have
grosskinner
.”

“And we still might. But if we don’t, then that’s God’s will.” Lukas wiped her tears away with his thumb. “
Lieb
, that woman in there, she’s Sawyer’s
familye
. She has a
grosskinn
she’s never known.”

“Then she should understand how we feel.” Anna tore away from Lukas’s embrace and went back to the doorway. Cora and Sawyer had lowered their voices. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

Lukas’s hands covered her shoulders. She leaned against him. He was hurting too. But as she’d done in the past, she put herself first. After years of marriage, she should have learned by now. “I’m sorry.”

“I understand.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I don’t want to lose him either. But we have to pray that Sawyer allows God to lead him. And we have to support whatever decision he makes.”

She nodded. Lukas was right, of course. They had to abide by God’s will. And Sawyer’s decision.

Yet if he chose to go with Cora, how could she say goodbye to her only son?

C
HAPTER
19

“I don’t want your money.”

Sawyer stood up to leave. This was one cold-blooded woman. She could go from compassionate to icy before he had a chance to blink. Even the way she sat made the simple handcrafted chair at the kitchen table seem like a throne.

He tried to reconcile the regal woman in front of him with his down-to-earth mother. He couldn’t remember his mother ever dressing fancy or wearing a lot of jewelry. She was simple and plain, at least by Yankee standards. But not Cora. There was nothing plain or simple about this woman.

She twisted a huge emerald ring around her thin middle finger. Blue veins showed beneath her smooth, nearly transparent skin. “This isn’t just about money, Sawyer.” She wrinkled her nose a bit. “Why on earth your mother chose that name—”

“There is nothing wrong with my name. You’ve been here less than a full day and you’ve criticized everything.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I can see why my mother ran away.”

“I wasn’t the reason your mother ran.” Her gaze flicked away.

She was lying. But he wouldn’t call her on it. He just wanted her to leave. “Like I said, you wasted your time coming here. I don’t want to go to New York.”

“You’ve never been there.”

“And I don’t plan on going.” He unfolded his arms. “You can’t offer me anything that would change my mind. I have a good life here.”

“I can see that.” She sniffed. “Of course it makes perfect sense that you would choose poverty and hardship over comfort and security.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t flatter you.”

The left side of her mouth lifted up in a half smile, half smirk. “You have a lot of your mother in you. Especially the stubbornness.”

Her smart phone interrupted her train of thought. She tapped the screen. “Kenneth. No, now isn’t a good time. Yes, everything is under control. I will keep you posted.” She clicked off without saying good-bye.

“Who’s Kenneth?”

“Kenneth Hamilton. My attorney.”

“What did he want?”

Cora leaned back in the chair. “So you
are
curious.”

Sawyer paused. “Who wouldn’t be?” He grimaced. “You’re doing this on purpose. Dangling little hints here and there like a carrot in front of a horse.”

To his surprise, she smiled. “You’re very intelligent. A quality you inherited from my side of the family, I might add.”

“Your legacy is important to you, isn’t it?”

She gave him a pointed gaze. “Yes. And it should be important to you too.” She gestured to the chair beside her. “I wish you’d sit down. I’m getting a cramp in my neck having to look up at you.”

He hesitated, then sat at the opposite end of the table. “Satisfied?”

She folded her hands together. The stones in her rings glinted in the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window.

“Sawyer, you’re accusing me of playing a game and not being honest with you. Here is some truth for you—you are the heir to a very large fortune, and first in line to run a multinational corporation. Your intelligence, your instincts for people . . . I’m more convinced than ever that this is your destiny.”