Abound in Love (12 page)

Though
she said it in a somewhat cheerful tone, Kenny knew she meant business.  He
glanced up.  “I’m sorry.”

“Thank
you.”  She turned her attention to Dalton.  “What’s on the agenda?”

“You
guys are stuck with us,” Kenny said.  “That’s on the agenda.”

“Hey, I
volunteered for the job,” Dalton told him, “so I’m hardly ‘stuck’ with you.”

Laura
crossed the room and threw her arms around her nephew.  She kissed him soundly
on the cheek.  “I would pay money to spend time with you,” she told him. 
“You’re my favorite nephew.”

A smile
tugged at his lips, though he managed to suppress it.  “I’m your only nephew,”
he mumbled.

“If I
had fifteen nephews, you’d still be my favorite.”

“That
wouldn’t be very fair to the other fourteen.”

She
shrugged.  “What do you do?  I can’t help you’re so loveable.”

“Yeah,
he’s loveable,” Krissy said, rolling her eyes.

“Did
you say something, my favorite niece?”

“Yeah,
what are we going to do today?”

Laura
moved to the window and pulled back the drapes.  “What’s fun to do on a rainy
November Saturday?”

The
group glanced at one another, seemingly uninspired.  “A movie?” Laura
suggested.

She
didn’t notice Dalton waving his hands and mouthing ‘no’ until it was too late. 
She shook her head, uncertain what he meant.

His
meaning became crystal clear when both kids began arguing about which movie
they wanted to see.  Neither was willing to budge on their selections.

“We
could go shopping,” Krissy suggested.

“No!”
Dalton and Kenny cried in unison.

“We
could go to the mall,” Krissy suggested.

“That’s
shopping, stupid,” Kenny said.

Both
Dalton and Laura gave him a scolding glance.  “Your sister isn’t stupid,” Laura
told him.

“I
mean, we could say ‘hi’ to Mom,” Krissy said.  “She works at the mall, you
know.”

“Isn’t
there a mini-putt golf course and adjoining arcade there?” Dalton said.

Kenny
perked right up.  “Yeesss.”

Dalton
turned to Laura.  “All right by me,” she said.

The
group piled into Dalton’s extended-cab truck and made the drive from Battle
Ground and to the nearby mall in Vancouver.  

“Wow,
it’s crowded,” Dalton observed with a sigh, as he took note of the bumper to
bumper traffic on the narrow roadway around the mall, and saw that open parking
spaces were few and far between.

Laura
gave him an encouraging smile.  “You’ll live through it.”

“You
think so, huh?”

“Let’s
go see Mom before we go golfing,” Krissy suggested.

“Lead
the way,” Dalton told her.

Krissy
directed them to the small clothing boutique where her mother worked.  They
found Candace engaged with a customer, but she seemed happy to see them.  She
gestured for them to give her a moment, but when she was free, she joined them.

“Hey,
guys,” she said, smiling broadly at her children.  “I’m so happy you came to
see me.”  She directed her attention to Dalton and Laura.  “Thanks so much for
bringing them by.”

“It’s
past lunch time,” Dalton noted, checking his watch.  “Is anybody hungry?”  He
sought Candace’s eye.  “Can you join us for a late lunch?”

“Aunt
Laura slept in until noon!” Krissy announced.

“Well,
I imagine she’s tired after her trip,” Candace observed, giving her sister a
sympathetic smile, and her daughter a slightly scolding glance.

“I
think she just really liked Dalton’s bed,” Krissy noted.

Laura
nearly choked, and Dalton raised a hand, as if warding away any misconceptions
derived from the little girl’s comment. 

“Your
brother has Laura sleeping in her old bed,” he explained.  “I took pity on her
and gave her my bed, while I took the couch.  Didn’t he replace your old
mattress with a new one for Krissy?”

She
nodded.  “Poor you, Laura, if you had to sleep in your old bed.  What’s our
brother thinking putting you there?”  She abruptly frowned and made an
apologetic face.  “Well, I guess all the other beds are taken more often than
not these days…”

“Are we
going to lunch?” Kenny interrupted.  “I’m hungry.”

“Lunch
it is,” she told him, and turned back, to catch the eye of a coworker.  “I’m
going to lunch.  I’ll be back in an hour.”

The
woman nodded and Candace accompanied her family out of the store.  They were
soon ensconced in the food court, with each family member interested in a meal
selection from a different restaurant.  When Candace reached for her purse, to
give each child money to pay for their choices, Laura promptly put a hand on
her arm.  “I’m treating my niece and nephew today, if that’s okay.”

“Hey,
I’m treating,” Dalton said.

“Everybody’s
lunch is on me,” Laura insisted.

When
they realized she wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer, they thanked her for buying
and spread out to place their orders.  Both Candace and Laura selected chicken
and rice from a Japanese restaurant, and Dalton offered to order for them.  The
women were left alone at the table, though both kept their eyes on the
children.

“Thank
you for lunch,” Candace told Laura.  “It’s sweet of you.  And I can’t thank you
enough for watching the kids today.”

“You’re
welcome.  They’re great kids.  I’m happy for the opportunity to spend time with
them.”

Candace
searched her face.  “Considering…”  She sighed.  “I’m surprised you’d want
anything to do with any of us.”

“Candace…”

She
shook her head and tears pooled in her eyes.  “I look back at our childhood and
remember how awful I was to you…  I can hardly bare it.”  Her voice caught in
her throat, but she cleared it, and resumed talking.  “If I could undo all of
my unkindness, Laura, I would do anything to make it happen.”

“We
were kids,” Laura said dismissively, as if that excused the behavior.  She knew
it didn’t, but she could see her sister was sincere and that guilt was eating
away at her.

“Can
you forgive me, Laura?  Can you ever forgive the person I was?”

She
nodded.  “Yes.”

Candace
gave a tremulous smile.  “You’re even better at forgiveness than I am,” she mused.

Laura
searched her face this time.  “Is there someone you can’t forgive?” she asked
softly.  Perhaps she could get to the core of what was bothering her older
sister.

She
nodded and glanced off into the distance, but when she turned back to Laura, her
face contorted in abject misery.  “Me, Laura.  Me.  I can’t forgive myself.”

The
women weren’t permitted to talk further, because both kids came charging back
to the table.  Laura watched Candace pull herself together with a deep breath,
and a quick rearranging of her features, lest her children read the pain in her
eyes.

“Mom, I
got pizza!” Krissy announced.  “Do you want a bite?”

“I’d
love one,” she told her, and bit into the slice her daughter held out to her. 
“What did you get, son?”

Kenny
gestured at his plate.  “Duh.  All you have to do is look.”

“Kenny,”
Dalton said sternly, as he sat down.

Candace
watched her son and gave a slight shake of her head.  If she intended to scold
him, she pulled back.  Laura suspected guilt prevented her from disciplining
her son.

What
was going on with Candace? 
Really
going on?

While
Laura acknowledged that Candace was remorseful for treating her so horribly
when they were children, she knew there had to be more to the story.  Why had
she taken a job, when she had until just recently, always been a
stay-at-home-mom?  And what was she doing during those evenings she was away
from her family?

Laura
knew from her sister’s face that she recognized her children were hurting.  So
why didn’t she do something to help them?  From what Thomas had told her,
Candace had always been a loving mother.  What had prompted her to essentially
turn them over to Thomas at every opportunity?

And
what about Dan?  Why was he picking up every over time shift he could manage? 
Why had two, seemingly devoted parents, suddenly relinquished their children to
the care of relatives?

She
wondered, did her mother know what was happening with her oldest daughter?  She
and Candace had always been close.  Laura resolved to call her mother soon. 
Perhaps she could answer her questions.

“I
won. 
I won.  I won,” Krissy sang, as the group left the mini putt course. 

“Shut
up,” Kenny said sourly.  “I let you win.”

“You
did not,” she said smugly.  “I’m better at lots of stuff than you are.”

“Enough
kids,” Dalton said.  “You’re both great at golf.”

“You’re
both certainly much better at golfing than I am,” Laura said.

Krissy
wrapped a comforting arm around her waist.  “It’s okay, Aunt Laura.  You’re a
great writer.  You don’t need to golf ever again if you don’t want to.”

Dalton
laughed and tousled the little girl’s hair.

Laura
gave her a squeeze and bent to kiss the top of her head.  “Thank you, Krissy. 
I appreciate your support.”

Dalton
checked his watch.  “We need to go.  We have a mattress to pick up.”

Laura
shook her head.  “Really, Dalton, don’t worry about it.”

“It
isn’t a problem,” he told her, as they left the mall.

Inside
the truck, the kids were quieter than usual, and when Laura turned around to
check on them, she realized why.  Both had conked out.

“Wow, I
guess we wore them out,” Dalton said with surprise.

Laura
smiled at the sleeping children.  “I don’t think they’ve been sleeping very
well.  Both are so worried about…”

“I
know,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair.  “I wish I could make things
better for them, but I don’t know how.”

“You
really care about them, don’t you?” she observed softly.

He gave
her a look, as if surprised she’d even have to ask that question.  “Laura, I’ve
known your family since I was a little kid.  Your folks practically took me
in.  And I was there for both of those kids’ births.”  He nodded crisply.  “I
love your whole family, and those kids are like my own.”

Laura
was taken aback by the sentiment.  Not because she didn’t think him capable,
but because…  She turned away and glanced out the window.  Did the sentiment
apply to her?  Had he cared about her—as deeply as he’d cared about the rest of
her family?

Of
course not.  She’d always been in the background.  An afterthought.

She
felt a tear threaten to drop onto her cheek, and uttered a brief prayer. 
“Lord, please help me hold it together.  I don’t know why I’m so emotional, but
please…”

After
taking a shoring breath, she watched the passing scenery.  Much of the Vancouver
landscape had changed, just as Battle Ground had.  She remembered the old
quote, ‘You can’t go home again.’  Maybe it was true.  Maybe nothing could ever
stay the same.

“Laura,
are you all right?”  Dalton’s deep voice held a note of concern.

“I’m
fine,” she said too brightly, and turned toward him.

Dalton
clearly wasn’t convinced.  His brows were drawn low over his eyes, his mouth
downturned.  H searched her face.  “Laura, everything will work out,” he said
finally.  “We have to believe God has a plan.”

She
realized he was referring to Candace’s problems, but she couldn’t help
wondering what God’s plan was for her.  Being back home, and suddenly thrown
together with the man who still made her heart flutter, she was forced to
concede God’s plan was undeniably inscrutable to her.  She certainly hadn’t
expected to find Dalton living with her brother, and serving as a major player
in trying to hold the Landers family together. 

“Oh, I
know God has a plan,” she said, still struggling to put on a cheerful face. 
Apparently, he wasn’t fooled.  He reached across the seat separating them and
took her hand.  A startling thought came to Laura’s mind.  Being with him in
that truck, sitting close to one another, and attempting to work out problems
together… 
This feels right.

She
gently tugged her hand away.  The last thing she needed was to be caught up in
some fantasy that she and Dalton had a future together.  She wasn’t a little
girl anymore—or even a teenager.  She was a professional woman of twenty-eight,
who had carved out a life for herself thousands of miles from here.  She no
longer had any illusions that Dalton could be attracted to her.  A man in her
life was the very last thing she needed anyway. 

“Laura,
what are you thinking right now?” Dalton asked.  “I can see the wheels turning
behind your eyes.”