Song of the Meadowlark (Intertwined Book 1) (14 page)

Cora punched the code into the keypad by the gate and waited for the gate to open. She pulled through in her mom’s Lexus with her friends following in their cars. The three-story beach house with its pink stucco and red tiled roof was ridiculous. Cora shook her head at the extravagance. She pulled the car into the garage, careful not to bump the door on the support pole.

“Oh my gosh! I forgot how great this place is,” Peggy reminisced.

“Yeah, great. It’s a bit too rich for my taste.” Cora shrugged.

“What do you mean?” Alicia asked.

“I mean, they’ve got this house and our home five miles away. Do you know how many starving children they could feed for what they paid for this house?”

“Cora, get over it. Just enjoy the opulence. It’s not going to go away,” Anne blurted.

“I guess.” She stuck her tongue out at her.

They climbed the stairs to the front porch, which was on the back of the house and faced the beach. Cora stopped and leaned against the rail, soaking in the sunset. The sea breeze blew through their hair and kissed their skin.

“It’s so great that your parents are letting us stay here tonight,” Karen said.

“I’m glad my parents didn’t mind watching the kids.”

“Yeah. I wish Jane had been able to stay,” Cora said.

“Well, her husband wouldn’t let her stay the night out.” Janet groaned.

“Wouldn’t let her?”

“Yeah. A big story going on there.” Jo shifted her overnight bag to her right shoulder.

“You’ll have to get her to fill you in,” Mary added.

Cora opened the door and led the way into the beach house. Soon high-heeled shoes and wooden sandals clicked on the Italian marble floor. “Why don’t y’all pick out your bedrooms? There’s five. Should be enough especially since we’ll probably crash in the living room, don’t you think?” Cora tossed her purse on the sofa.

“Probably,” Anne agreed, kicking off her shoes by the door.

“I’m tempted to sleep out here.” Denise lingered outside on the porch.

“Me too,” Peggy agreed.

“It’s probably too muggy out there.” Alicia rejected the idea for herself.

“And we’d get bitten by mosquitoes,” Mary offered.

“You guys are such moms.” Jo giggled. “Let’s go for a swim.”

“Okay.” Cora picked up her duffle bag.

“Wait, let’s see what kind of food your mom has first…in case we need to run back out,” Janet said.

“I’ll look in the pantry.” Cora walked into the kitchen and flipped on the light. She walked over to the pantry and opened the door, noticing the new stainless steel appliances. She shook her head. “Here’s a box of brownie mix, some marshmallows, popcorn, tortilla chips, and a jar of cheese sauce.” She opened the freezer. “The freezer is stuffed with pizzas and chicken tenders.” She opened the refrigerator door. “There’s soft drinks and water.”

“Any beer or wine?” Karen asked.

“No, I don’t see any.”

“Well, shoot.” Karen faced Cora with hands on hips. “When I can get a night away from the kids, I want to enjoy myself. With an ex-husband, I need a drink every now and then. Wouldn’t you drink?”

“No, probably not. It’s only gotten me into trouble in the past. We could make some coffee, though.”

Karen shrugged. “Don’t make it on my account.”

“Let’s bake the brownies and then go for a swim.” Mary walked toward the kitchen.

“Let’s go for a walk on the beach first before it gets too late and then bake the brownies and swim.” Denise kicked her shoes off.

“Sounds good to me.” Anne stood and grabbed her duffle bag off the floor.

After their walk on the beach, Cora and the others came back into the house to bake the brownies.

“Is that my cell phone ringing?”

“Yep,” someone called out from one of the bedrooms down the hall.

Cora ran to her purse, grabbed her cell phone, and checked the caller ID. “It’s Mom,” she announced. “Hello?... Yep, we’re here... Okay, well, y’all have a good night... Yeah, I’ll be home midmorning.” Cora hung up the phone and stared at Anne. “Wow! For the first time in forever she treated me like an adult.”

“It’s about time.” Anne laughed.

“I’m starting to smell those brownies.” Alicia headed toward the kitchen.

“Me too. Let me go check them. I think they still have about ten minutes.” Cora followed.

After Cora pulled the brownies out of the oven, she put her suit on. “Let’s go. The beach towels are in the closet downstairs by the back door.”

Once they were all downstairs, Cora flipped on the floodlights outside and the entire pool area lit up.

“Wow! That pool is gorgeous.” Peggy stepped out onto the patio first.

“Is it heated? I can’t remember.” Janet followed.

“Yep. I think they keep it heated all the time.”

“Yay!” Anne blew her a kiss.

One after the other, they all jumped into the pool—cannonballs, belly flops, dives. The laughter and splashing felt as good to Cora as the water and ocean air did. “So, tell me what’s going on with Jane and her husband.”

“I told you, you’ll have to ask her,” Mary said.

“I’m not going to do that. Tell me.”

“He’s gotten real possessive these days.” Peggy dove in the deep end.

“And you really think it’s all of a sudden? That’s rarely the case.” Cora dogpaddled to the shallow end of the pool.

“What do you mean?” Jo asked.

“I mean, he’s probably always been possessive of her, but she loved feeling important to him. Now they have the kids, and she’s busy running them all over the place. He’s probably checking in on her and where she is at different points in the day, and it’s getting on her nerves.”

“How did you guess?” Janet sat on the steps in the shallow end inspecting her body in her bathing suit.

“I’ve seen it before. I had a friend in South Carolina who experienced the same thing. She was basically doing everything for the kids with no help from her husband. She never heard from him during the day because he was at work. But at night, while she was at the ball field or the basketball games and he was home getting drunk, he called her constantly and made her feel like he didn’t trust her.”

“What happened with them?” Alicia swam to the ladder.

“He left her for a younger woman with a mousy personality—someone he could control.”

“So he was controlling the whole time?” Denise asked.

“Yep, she thought he liked checking in on her because he cared.”

“My husband checks in on me, but he’s not suspicious of me or controlling.” Alicia climbed out of the pool.

“That’s because you’re married to the best husband there is,” Karen said.

“Yeah, well, my ex never checked in on me. He never called when he traveled out of town on business. Turns out, he had another family in Oregon,” Janet said.

“What?” Cora exclaimed.

“Yep. He never checked on me because he didn’t want me to check on him,” Janet replied.

“I never knew what Clark was doing. I never would’ve guessed it.”

“What’s the secret then?” Peggy asked.

Cora thought about it for a minute. “God has got to be first in your life before you can even have a relationship with anyone else. And he’s got to be first in his life too. Your faith can’t carry him or a relationship. And you’ve got to have your security and your identity in God, not a man. When you find a man who is chasing after God the same as you are, go for it. When God is at the center, then the relationship can survive anything.” Cora sighed, thinking of Rex for the first time in hours.

“And know what you’re getting into too. Make sure there’s nothing weird in his past that you can’t deal with.” Anne added.

That night Cora could barely sleep. She savored everything she’d heard over dinner and scrutinized every word that rolled off her tongue. Her mind turned somersaults—Mom and Dad, Clark, her second chance at life, Susie, and most of all, Rex. It seemed that even in Florida this man held her thoughts captive. If he was so wrong for her, why did he continuously pop into her head?

Cora’s weary eyes burned from the chlorine. She tried to sleep, but all she could see was Rex’s face every time she closed them. Her right hip hurt, like Jacob in the Bible who wrestled with the angel. After hours of tossing and turning, fighting with her satin sheets, she finally fell into a sound sleep….

The next morning, Cora put her key in the lock and turned it, opening the front door. She stood on the doormat that said Welcome. Was she really welcome here? Entering the house, the heavy cloak of dread covered her. She sighed. Mom and Dad were out on the patio, so she crept into her room undetected. Maybe she could catch her breath before any confrontation.

Cora tossed her things down on her bed and pulled up her contacts on her phone. Clearing her throat from the phlegm in it—her sinuses definitely still needed to adjust to the sea oats—she dialed the number. As the phone rang, Cora rapped her fingers on the nightstand by her bed and frowned at her reflection in the mirror on her dresser. The chlorine from the pool made her hair feel like straw.

Finally, a voice answered. “Hello.”

“Hi! It’s Cora. Who’s this?” She smiled, although no one could see her face.

“Rex.” His voice was flat, lifeless.

“Hi. How are you?” Electricity shot through her, followed by melancholy longing to be back there.

“Fine. And you?”

“Oh, getting acclimated.” Cora shifted in her bed and peered out the window at the bright morning clouds.

“Acclimated? Don’t you mean settled?” The ice in Rex’s voice chilled Cora.

“No. I told you I wasn’t staying here permanently, Rex. I’ll be back in a few weeks.” She rubbed the scar on her forehead from her attack.

“Why? You’ve got all the money you’ll ever need. You don’t need the job.”

“Money isn’t everything, Rex. Besides, I didn’t say I’d be back at the ranch, I said I’d be back in Southern Hope or maybe Lewistown. I need to get my car. If you don’t want me back at the ranch, I might stay with Ms. Lottie again. Would you prefer I stay here?”

“I want what’s best for Susie.”

“And I thought I was great for her.”

“I said what’s best. I want someone who’ll stay.”

“I think you’re looking for a mother for Susie…or at least someone who can fulfill your role so you don’t have to think about being a parent to her. I didn’t think that was my job.” Her blood boiled.

There was a pause, then Rex asked, “How do I know you won’t pack up and leave again if you come back?”

“I guess you don’t. If you could allow yourself to trust me long enough, you’d know I love your family, and I want to be there. I feel so at home there. More at home than I’ve felt anywhere in years.” She swiped away the tears.

“Then why did you leave?”

“I told you. I had to settle Clark’s will, and I thought I should see my parents. And seeing my parents is something I’ll need to do for the rest of my life, no matter where I live. Imagine if you lived away. You’d have to check on them every once in a while too. It’s selfish to expect me not to do the same.” Cora ran her fingers through her hair, pulling at the ends. She frowned at herself in the mirror. Why did he have to be so impossible?

“It seemed quite final to me.”

She rubbed her fingers on the base of the lamp on the nightstand. No dust. Not a speck. Of course. “That’s the impression you gave me, all right. It was like you wrote me off before I was even gone. I thought you’d take me to the airport so we could talk and spend some time together. We had gotten so close…or so I thought. But when I got this money, you shut me out. It really confused me and it hurt.”

Silence rang on the line for a minute, then finally Rex said, “You were so happy when you found out about the money. You said you needed to go home. I thought you wouldn’t be back.”

“Well…”

“So...I cut my ties.”

“You sure did. You never gave me the chance to explain my plans and to ask where I fit into yours, if at all. You hurt me terribly.”

“Sorry.” The silence filled the space between them like the sand in the sidewalk cracks in town.

“Well, I’m here now. I’m trying to mend my broken relationship with my parents. It seems I leave a trail of broken ties everywhere I go. You know, I can only handle one troubled relationship at a time.”

Rex remained quiet, so Cora rattled on. “I’ll be back in Georgia, and I’ll be back at the ranch to get my car but not to stay unless you want me to.” Hot tears stung her eyes, and a tremble distorted her voice. She leaned back onto the headboard and crossed her legs at the ankles.

“Why would you want to come back? Is Susie the only reason?” Rex’s voice was soft, hesitant.

“Should there be another reason, Rex?” Cora was tired of the games. She buried her head in her hands—something she seemed to do a lot of these days.

“I guess not. We both know you think I’m a bad person.”

“I never said that, Rex.”

“It came across that way. And I thought I’d explained my behavior when we first met, but you still pulled away from me.” He groaned.

“You didn’t exactly make an attempt to have a relationship with me either. I thought we were moving in that direction. I’d forgotten all about how things were when we first met. I was ready to start over.” Should she jump in Dad’s car and head there now, or hang up on him and never speak to him again? “When I found out about Clark, it gave me the closure I needed. It let me know it was okay to move on. But when I found out about the money, you shut the door. It’s almost like you wouldn’t want me unless I was dependent on you.”

After another silence, Rex spoke again. “Cora, that’s not how I feel. But I don’t know what you want from me. I don’t know if I could give you what you want. I don’t even know what I want. I’ve made such a mess of everyone’s lives.”

“First of all, here’s what I need. I need a little bit of space. I needed to come home and now I’m here. That was in my original plan before I ever met you. I need to enjoy the beach and my friends and try to reconnect with my parents. Secondly, I need you to be completely honest about your feelings. Be honest with me and with yourself. I’m tired of games. Do you want me to come back, Rex? Do you want to see if there’s something between us?” She sat up on the edge of the bed and switched the phone to the other ear.

“Do you want to?”

“Rex! Please.” She slammed her fist on the nightstand. Mom walked past her bedroom door outside in the hall. The loose floorboard betrayed her position. “Rex?”

“I don’t know, Cora. I need to talk to Mom and see what she thinks about you comin’ back to care for Susie.”

“So, you would only want me to come back if I’m needed for Susie? You don’t want to see if there’s anything between us? Well, let me know.” Cora’s heart constricted. Like the storm clouds that rolled in on a late summer day, a storm of another kind brewed ahead.

“Yeah, I will. Bye.” Rex ended the call.

“Bye,” Cora said to the buzzing line. The click sounded so permanent. What did she expect him to say? Even if he’d said he wanted her back to be with him, that wouldn’t be enough. She had to know he shared her beliefs. She couldn’t tell him that’s what she wanted, because he might pretend to have her same beliefs just to get her. What was she supposed to do?

“Cora? Are you all right?” Mom tapped on her bedroom door.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Cora sat on her bed hugging her pillow.

“May I come in?”

“Sure.” Cora swiped away the remnants of tears. This scene seemed like a rerun of her teen years.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know.” She shrugged and threw the pillow to the end of the bed.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, not really.”

Mom sat next to Cora. “I know I’m not your choice in person to talk to, but I’m here.”

“I know, Mom. I really can’t explain what I’m feeling right now. I need to process my thoughts before I can talk about them.”

“I see. I understand. How about we go shopping today? That will make you feel better.”

Cora jerked upright and slapped her legs with her hands. “No, Mom, shopping will not make me feel better. Buying things and spending money doesn’t make things go away.”

Mom’s mouth gaped. “I’m trying to help in the only way I can.”

“Well, don’t. Please!” Cora buried her head in her hands, and Mom left her room, quietly shutting the door behind her. It wouldn’t take long for Dad to step in.

“Cora?”

“Hey, Dad.” Cora looked up at the man who was virtually a stranger. The years of trying to please him had carved a path of resentment between them.

“How’s it going?”

“Okay, I suppose.” She’d disappoint him if she said otherwise.

“Your mom said you were having a bit of a rough time this morning.” He winked.

Oh, she did, did she? “Yeah, I guess so.” Cora was like a mouse caught in a cookie jar.

“Did it have to do with your night out with your friends last night? I worried about you getting with them.”

She shook her head. “Actually, no. We had a great time last night, Dad. We went swimming, took a stroll on the beach. It was great.”

“Did you lock everything up?”

“Yes.” She bowed her head, and her insides threatened to explode.

“So, are you having money problems? Have you spent everything you got from Clark?”

“No, Dad. I’d have to be quite frivolous to have spent everything.”

“So I suppose you simply don’t want to talk to us, huh?”

“Not right now, Dad. I just got home, and I need to decompress a little. The last few months have been a whirlwind, you know?”

“I understand. We’re here if you need us.” Dad stiffened his neck and walked away.

This was a vicious cycle. Until they gave her the room she needed, she wouldn’t confide in them. But the longer she waited, the more they crowded her.