Familiar Words by Mary Kay McComas

Author:Mary Kay McComas [McComas, Mary Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-8431-3
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-03-07T21:38:00+00:00

Eight

I thought you knew.

“NO. I DIDN’T,” Beth told Chelsea, surprised and wavering on the edge of furious. They were driving back from Newport. It was late and the winding mountain road was deserted. Beth’s nerves were frazzled from the emergency with Kathy and then from having to drive home through the low cloud layer that had settled close to the road, decreasing visibility to about three feet in front of the car. Anything could jump out in front of her, and she wouldn’t be able to see it until it was too late. Boy, did she hate driving at night.

And to top it all off, Chelsea had disclosed that her father had volunteered Beth to chaperon a ski outing the next day.

“Well, he said he wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it, but that he’d ask you. Maybe he just hasn’t had the time,” Chelsea said, picking up on the tightness in Beth’s voice.

“Maybe,” she conceded, giving Jack the benefit of the doubt. She’d given in to her needs and her growing feelings for him, but she hadn’t forgotten what it felt like to be taken for granted. She felt strong enough to let herself fall in love again, but she’d never be weak enough to be used again. Beth took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She was overreacting.

She knew full well that the trip to the hospital, the fog, and the ski trip had nothing to do with the uneasy feelings that were running rampant inside her. They aggravated her discomfort, but they certainly weren’t the cause of it. How could she have just handed Scotty over to Jack so easily, she wondered. What kind of a mother was she? She hardly knew the man. Well, she knew him, but how well?

It was easy for her brain to tell her that Jack was a good man, that he’d never hurt Scotty. He was a prominent citizen and well liked. Surely Scotty would be safe with him. But her thoughts had very little tranquilizing power over her heart. In her heart a baby and a grown man were incongruous; they didn’t go together. Men knew nothing of children except how to make them. Men ran away from children. They didn’t want children, didn’t love them. Beth knew from experience. Hadn’t Jack said that he’d had his regrets in keeping Chelsea? If his wife hadn’t been the first to run away, how long would Jack have stayed with her? Deciding to give Jack her heart was one thing. Giving him her son was something she wasn’t quite ready to do yet.

“Our driveway is just up ahead there. See the reflectors?”

Beth slowed the car and turned into Jack’s drive only half aware that Chelsea was still with her. It was the first time she’d been to his house. She was as eager to see how he lived as she was to get back to Scotty.

From time to time she could see white fencing on either side of the drive. She strained her eyes to see more, but the fog was too thick.

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