Brambleberry House: His Second-Chance Family. RaeAnne Thayne
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charming one she had perfected on doctors over the years. “You’re welcome. Just let me know if you want a taste. I don’t mind sharing, I promise.”
He looked like a man who had just been stabbed in the heart and Julia suddenly couldn’t bear his pain. In desperation, she sought a way to distract him.
“What will you do on Brambleberry House after you finish the moldings?” she finally asked.
He looked grateful for the diversion. “Uh, your apartment is mostly done but the third-floor rooms still need some work. Little stuff, mostly, but inconvenient to try to live around. I figured I would wait to start until after Sage is married and living part-time in the Bay Area with Eben and Chloe.”
“I understand they’re coming back soon from an extended trip overseas. We’ve heard a great deal about them from Sage and Anna. The twins can’t wait to meet Chloe.”
“She’s a good kid. And Eben is good for Sage. That’s the important thing.”
He was a man who loved his friends, she realized. That, at least, hadn’t changed over the years.
He seemed embarrassed by his statement and quickly returned to talking about the repairs planned for Brambleberry House. She listened to his deep voice as she savored the last of her cone, thinking it was a perfect summer evening.
The children finished their treats—Maddie’s promise to Will notwithstanding—and were romping with Conan in the sand. Their laugher drifted on the breeze above the sound of the ocean.
For just an instant, she was transported back in time, sitting with Will atop a splintery picnic table, eating ice-cream cones and laughing at nothing and talking about their dreams.
By unspoken agreement, they stood, cones finished, and started walking back down the beach while Conan herded the twins along ahead of them.
“I’m boring you to tears,” Will said after some time. “I’m sorry. I, uh, don’t usually go on and on like that about my work.”
She shook her head. “You’re not boring me. On the contrary. I enjoy hearing about what you do. You love it, don’t you?”
“It’s just a job. Not something vitally important to the future of the world like educating young minds.”
She made a face. “My, you have a rosy view of educators, don’t you?”
“I always had good teachers when I was going to school.”
“Good teachers wouldn’t have anywhere to teach those young minds if not for great carpenters like you,” she pointed out. “The work you’ve done on Brambleberry House is lovely. The kitchen cupboards are as smooth as a satin dress. Anna told me you made them all by hand.”
“It’s a great old house. I’m trying my best to do it justice.”
They walked in silence for a time and Julia couldn’t escape the grim realization that she was every bit as attracted to him now as she had been all those years ago.
Not true, she admitted ruefully. Technically, anyway. She was far more aware of him now, as a full-grown woman—with a woman’s knowledge and a woman’s needs—than she ever would have been as a naive, idealistic fifteen-year-old girl.
He was bigger than he had been then, several inches taller and much more muscled. His hair was cut slightly shorter than it had been when he was a teenager and he had a few laugh lines around his mouth and his eyes, though she had a feeling those had been etched some time ago.
She was particularly aware of his hands, square-tipped and strong, with the inevitable battle scars of a man who used them in creative and constructive ways.
She didn’t want to notice anything about him and she certainly wasn’t at all thrilled to find herself attracted to him again. She couldn’t afford it. Not when she and her children were just finding their way again.
Hadn’t she suffered enough from emotionally unavailable men?
“Look what I found, Mom!” Maddie uncurled her fingers to reveal a small gnarled object. “What is it?”
As she studied the object, Julia held her daughter’s hand, trying not to notice how thin her fingers seemed. It appeared to be an agate but was an odd color, greenish gray with red streaks in it.
“We forgot to bring our rocky coast field book, didn’t we? We’ll have to look it up when we get back to the house.”
“Do you know, Mr. Garrett?” Maddie presented the object for Will’s inspection.
“I’m afraid I’m not much of a naturalist,” he said, rather curtly. “Sage is your expert in that department. She can tell you in a second.”
“Oh. Okay.” Maddie’s shoulders slumped, more from fatigue than disappointment, Julia thought, but Will didn’t pick up on it. Guilt flickered in his expression.
“I can look at it,” he said after a moment. “Let’s see.”
Will reached for her hand and he examined the contents carefully. “Wow. This is quite a find. It’s a bloodstone agate.”
“I want to see,” Simon said.
“It’s pretty rare,” Will said. He talked to them about some of the other treasures they could find beachcombing on the coast until they reached his house.
“I guess this is your stop,” Julia said as they stood at the steps of his deck.
He glanced up the steps, as if eager to escape, then looked back at them. “I’ll walk you the rest of the way to Brambleberry House. It’s nearly dark. I wouldn’t want you walking on your own.”
It was only three houses, she almost said, but he looked so determined to stick it out that she couldn’t bring herself to argue.
“Thank you,” she said, then gave Maddie a careful look. Her daughter hadn’t said much for some time, since finding the bloodstone.
“Is it piggyback time?” Julia asked quietly.
Maddie shrugged, her features dispirited. “I guess so. I really wanted to make it the whole way on my own this time.”
“You made it farther this time than last time. And farther still than the time before. Come on, pumpkin. Your chariot awaits.” Julia crouched down and her daughter climbed aboard.
“I can carry her,” Will said, though he looked as if he would rather stick a nail gun to his hand and pull the switch.
“I’ve got her,” she answered, aching for him all over again. “But you can make sure Simon and Conan stay away from the surf.”
They crossed the last hundred yards to Brambleberry House in silence. When they reached the back gate, Will held it open for them and they walked inside where the smells of Abigail’s lush late-summer flowers surrounded them in warm welcome.
She eased Maddie off her back. “You two take Conan inside to get a drink from Anna while I talk to Mr. Garrett, okay?”
“Okay,” Simon said, and headed up the steps. Maddie followed more slowly but a moment later Julia and Will were alone with only the sound of the wind sighing in the tops of the pine trees.
“What’s wrong with Maddie?”
His quiet voice cut through the peace of the night and she instinctively bristled, wanting to protest that nothing was wrong with her child. Absolutely nothing. Maddie was perfect in every way.
The words tangled in her throat. “She’s recovering from a bone marrow transplant,” she answered in a low voice to match his. It wasn’t any grand secret and he certainly deserved to know, though she didn’t want to go through more explanations.
“It’s been four months but she hasn’t quite regained her strength. She’s been a fighter through everything life has thrown at her the last two and a half years, though—two