Threads of Steel (Bayou Cove) (29 page)

Nancy thought about the man she’d married right out of high school. They were so in love they didn’t heed anyone’s advice about marrying so young
.
Why did they need a college education
?
She had a good job at the local superstore and Harry was in construction
.
He’d probably own his own company one day.

It never happened. Today he still worked for someone else, doing jobs that were better suited for younger workers, but he never refused, never complained, at least he hadn’t until their blowup the other day. For the last few years, he’d come home completely exhausted and hurting from lifting a load too heavy or from putting pressure on knees that stayed swollen and sore.

She’d fallen in love with him because he was rough and tough so why was she now feeling discontent?

Her cell phone sounded as she turned onto the main road into town
.
She knew who it was before she looked at the ID. “Yes?”

“Mom, where are you?” Samantha whined into the phone. “I’m standing on the sidewalk all by myself.”

“I know. I’m caught in traffic.
”
A little lie would keep her daughter from screeching into the phone. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

She heard the familiar humph and loud
breath
into the phone.
“Hurry.”

Nancy turned off her phone, wanting to screech as well. Did her children think she was put here on earth for the sole purpose of transporting them from one event to the next?

A little puff of air broke from the back seat. “Little Harry, is that you making those little noises? Is your tummy hurting you?”

When she pulled up to the traffic stopped at the red light, she turned to look behind her. Little Harry sat in his car seat smiling at her with drool running down his chin.

“Oh my, Mommy’s been on a pity party today. I’m so glad you’re with me. You’re my angel. You know that, don’t you?”

Another little puff of wind sounded, followed by a giggle. Nancy smiled
.

How dare she feel sorry for herself when she had this little fellow? She loved her other children, but this one stole her heart from the moment they showed him to her in delivery. She’d always heard that the mistakes turned out to be the children that were closest to you
.

“Anna Marie, I might not have what you do, but you don’t have this little fellow,” she said aloud.

After picking up Samantha, Nancy got home just as Anna Marie was pulling into the driveway
.

“So much for straightening the house before she got here,” Nancy said under her breath as she unbuckled Harry from his seat. Samantha jumped out of the car and headed inside.

“Samantha, come back. Grab some of the groceries, would you?”

Grumbling into her cell phone, Samantha took a couple bags then headed off to the door.

“Looks like you could use a hand.” Anna Marie stepped up behind Nancy and took the rest of the groceries.

“Thanks, girlfriend.”

“I don’t know how you manage.”

“Who said I do?”

“I said, that’s who.”
Anna Marie laughed then held the door open while Nancy shuffled in with Harry on one hip and groceries hanging off the other arm.

With Anna Marie’s help, they quickly had the groceries put away, had Harry content eating a snack in his high chair, and had a pot of coffee brewing.

“Whew.” After brushing away crumbs from morning toast, Nancy plopped down at the kitchen table. “Welcome to my world.”

Anna Marie was dressed in casual slacks with a plain green sweater, but Nancy could tell it hadn’t come from the superstore. The small gold necklace she wore added just enough class to make her friend look like the successful businesswoman she had become. Nancy looked down at her thrown together outfit and sighed. It didn’t matter what she did to her wardrobe, what she wore always looked like the local superstore racks.

Anna Marie leaned up against the kitchen counter. “Your world is a little hectic right now, I presume?”

“You might say that. Uh, I didn’t tell you, but Harry took a construction job up near Jackson.”

Anna Marie’s eyes got big. “I knew you’d taken the receptionist job at the school, but I didn’t know Harry was working elsewhere. Nancy, how can you do everything?”

Nancy forced a smile and hoped the tears didn’t flow. “I pick and choose what has to get done and ignore the rest. Look around. You can see it’s the truth.”

Anna Marie threw her arms around Nancy’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“You can take one or two kids. That would be a help.”

Anna Marie got serious. “This isn’t exactly the right time to joke about me taking a child.”

Nancy cringed. “Oh, Anna, I’m so sorry. I forgot. What’s happening on that front?”

The coffee stopped dripping, and Anna Marie turned her back to pour for them. “You sit. I’ll fix our coffee. I went up to see Ronnie,” she said as she reached for the cups.

“What? You drove to Birmingham to see Ronnie? Are you and he getting back together?”

“Oh, good
gawd
, no.
”
Anna Marie put a cup in front of Nancy. “I wanted to talk with him face-to-face again to figure out what was happening in his life.” She poured herself a cup and sat back down. “Nancy, I’m so glad I drove up there.” She went on to tell her what had transpired with Ronnie, making sure she emphasized how much she liked June.

“And you say this June is respectable and actually has a real job?”

Anna Marie smiled. “Yes. I really liked her. I couldn’t believe the way Ronnie acted when she came into the restaurant. You can tell he really loves her.”

“I’m floored. I figured he’d always have one of those young women on his arm.”

“June’s not like that at all. She’s cute, but not beautiful. She’s even a little on the plump side, not someone I’d ever imagine Ronnie would fall for.”

“So tell me again why you went up there?”

Anna Marie squirmed in her seat. “Well, the more I thought about
Doti’s
request for me to take Caitlyn, the more I kept thinking about Ronnie. If worse comes to worse, I’ll take her. She looks like a little doll and I’m sure she’s a sweet little girl. In fact, having her in my life could do nothing but make my life better. But, like I said, the more I thought about all this, the more I thought about her daddy. I had to see if he’d changed enough to actually be able to care for his daughter. He needs to be with his her if her mom isn’t here.”

“You might be right, but you know
Doti
would never agree to Ronnie taking Caitlyn. She
nearly flipped her wig when you even mention Ronnie’s name in the hospital.”

Anna Marie smiled big. “Getting
Doti
to agree won’t be easy, but anything’s possible. Like I told him, I’m not a judge, but I couldn’t imagine a judge overlooking a father for a friend to take the child. If his life stays on track, there’s a good possibility a judge might be in his favor.”

“I’m so glad. I’d like to see Ronnie have something good come into his life, and I can’t think of anything better than a child.”

“You’ve certainly hit the nail on the head. You’re so lucky to have four children. It would be the greatest gift in the world if I could get Caitlyn.” Anna Marie looked out into space as if she were dreaming. “Nothing could be better then sharing your life with a child, but I don’t deserve this gift. As much as I hate to say it, she belongs with Ronnie.”

Nancy grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry, Anna. At first I know when
Doti
asked you to take
Caitlyn,
the only thing you could think of was how she was conceived. That’s a little hard to forget. Now, I think you see her in other ways. Having a child really would be a life-altering experience for you. It would be a wonderful experience, but I have to agree that Ronnie should have the option of taking her first. I hope it works for him.”

“Thanks for agreeing with me. I need some reassurance. Right now I can’t seem to come up with solutions that even I agree with all the time.” She laughed.

“Yeah, believe me. I know how you’re feeling. Right now my life is about as confusing as it gets.”

They squeezed each other’s hands.

“I hope that you and Harry work things out. You two belong together.”

“I don’t know, Anna
.
We really had a blow-up. I get the feeling he hates this life.” She looked around. “And you know he probably has a good point. He’s working his butt off, and we’re not getting anywhere except to buy new shoes for all these kids. I don’t know if he’ll ever come home.”

Anna Marie stood up and pulled her into her arms. It was so good to feel her friend’s arms around her.

“He’ll come home,” she said. “He loves you and the children, and you love him.”

Tears welled in Nancy’s eyes. She tried hard to ignore them so they’d go away, but they didn’t. They spilled over and ran down her face. Giving into them, she put her head in her hands and wept.

“You and Harry are the best couple I know. You’ve loved each other too long. Everything will work out. It has to. No one deserves to be happier than you two.”

Nancy wiped her hand under her nose,
then
dried her eyes with a paper towel. “You’ve read too many romance novels. Life isn’t always good and sweet. Families have problems and bills and no money and, oh God, families have mountains of troubles.” She sniffled, feeling as if her world was collapsing around her.

What was she going to do if Harry didn’t come home?

Anna Marie pulled her tightly. “You call him. You tell him you love him and you need him, and you’re proud of him. Men have to feel good about
themselves
. Suck it up if you have to, but get him back, whatever it takes. Don’t you dare burst my
bubble.
”

“What bubble?”

“That bubble that tells me there’s at least one good, loving marriage in this world.”

“I told you once before,” Nancy said between sobs, “you can’t put our marriage on a pedestal. We’re crawling around on our knees half the time trying to figure out how to hold things together. There’re no pedestals in this household.”

“No, Nancy, you’re wrong. What you and Harry have is wonderful. You’ll find the road back. I promise.”

After Anna Marie left, Nancy spent the rest of her Sunday afternoon cooking a nice meal for the kids, doing laundry and cleaning the house, anything to keep herself busy so she wouldn’t have to think about her marriage coming to an end. By five-thirty, she was exhausted and was cleaning the kitchen when the phone rang.

“Hello,” she said as she grabbed the phone with one hand and a towel to wipe up Little
Harry’s
mess with the other.

“Is this Mrs. Bernard?” the voice on the other end of the phone asked.

“Yes, this is she. Who is this?” she asked as she wiped Little
Harry’s
mouth.

“This is Danny Westerly. Your husband works for me. I wanted to call you personally.
Harry’s
had an accident on the job.”

“Excuse me? Did you say my
Harry’s
had an accident?” Her knees gave way. The air left gushed from her lungs. She slumped into a chair. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.
We’ve been working weekends to get this contract done. He’s volunteered for every one of them. He fell today. He’s in the hospital in downtown Jackson. He’s going to be okay, I’m sure. He’ll have to go through surgery, but, of course, he insisted that you be there with him before he’d agree to let them do anything.”

Nancy could hardly catch her breath. “He said that?”

“Yes, ma’am.
He said that, but he really needs surgery. He has several broken ribs and a collapsed lung. There might be some other internal problems. He fell from a roof. We need to get him into surgery as soon as we can. Is there any way you can get up here in the next couple hours?”

“Couple of hours?
No, sir.
I live on the coast. It would take me over three hours to drive to Jackson, that is, if I left immediately. I have four kids. I just can’t walk out the door. It’ll take me a little time.”

“Mrs. Bernard, I‘ll have a company plane at the Gulfport airport if you can be there in the next hour.”

“You’d do that for me? “

“I’d do that for Harry. He’s a good worker. We all like him up here.”

It took a long time before Nancy could answer him. Her heart seemed to be in her throat.

“Mrs. Bernard, are you still there?”

“Yes, sir, I’m here. I’ll be in Gulfport within the hour.” She took down all the information, knowing she wouldn’t remember anything when she got off the phone, then she called her neighbor about the children, then she hit Anna Marie’s number. She hated to bother her. She had so much to do before leaving Bayou Cove, but she needed her more than ever.