“What was that?” Mack unloaded the dishwasher so they could put the supper dishes inside.
Lily repeated what she’d said, continuing, “This is the first time that Holly or Braden haven’t gotten excited to get to spend time with their dad. It’s about time that he realizes they’re growing up and away from him. It breaks my heart the way he throws a relationship with them away for Victoria.”
“Why does he do that?” Mack asked.
“She’s very wealthy, and she doesn’t like children. She’s about ten years older than Wyatt. I don’t know if she loves him or the fact that he’s so pretty and looks good in a five-thousand-dollar suit. Of course, I also don’t know if he loves her or the lifestyle she affords him. He has always liked being a big shot,” Lily told him.
“Is she the reason he doesn’t get the kids every other weekend and a month in the summer?” Mack asked.
Lily shrugged. “He gave me sole custody in the divorce and said that he’d spend time with them when he could. It’s been six months since he’s even seen them.”
“Not even at Christmas?” Mack’s face was a study in pure shock.
“He sent a few expensive gifts, but not even at Christmas,” Lily replied. “They called him and wanted to move in with him when I told them we were moving to Comfort. He said no way, and I kind of felt sorry for the kids even though I was upset with them,” she explained.
“Man, he’s a fool.” Mack slowly shook his head. “He has no idea the fun he’s missing.”
“Hey,” Braden yelled, bounding down the stairs and into the living room. “Me and Holly want to know if y’all old people want to watch a movie with us. I brought the whole Harry Potter series with me, but we ain’t got a TV in either of our rooms.”
“They want to spend time with us? It’s a miracle,” Lily whispered.
“Well, let’s don’t waste a single minute.” Mack grinned and led her from the kitchen to the living room with his hand on her lower back.
Even through her shirt, she could feel the heat starting at the place where his hand was touching her and going all the way through her body. Holly met them in the foyer and raced ahead to argue with her brother about who got to sit in the recliner.
For the first time, Lily was glad they were arguing and didn’t notice that she was practically blushing.
“First come, first served,” Braden taunted his sister.
“Oh, yeah.” Holly wiggled her way into the chair beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. “You’re my itsy-bitsy brother, so we can share the chair.”
“Yuck!” Braden jumped up, grabbed a quilt and throw pillow from the sofa, and stretched out on the floor. “Want me to put the first one in the DVD player, Mama?” He pointed toward the television.
“I’ll do it.” Mack started toward the television. “I’ve never seen Harry Potter or read the books. Which is better? Movies or books?”
“Books,” both kids said at the same time.
“Then I’ll have to read them later after we see the movies.” Mack put the first one into the player and handed the remote to Braden.
Lily sat on the sofa, and Mack sat on the other end. Lily found herself wishing that Mack was beside her with his arm draped around her shoulders, but getting to spend time with her kids, even if it was watching Harry Potter, was pretty danged special, too.
As soon as the movie ended, Mack asked, “So is going to Universal Studios and seeing the Harry Potter place on your list of things to see someday?”
“Naw,” Braden said. “I’d rather go to the beach and just do nothing but play in the sand and collect seashells.”
“Me, too. Braden can find seashells while I work on getting a tan.” Holly yawned and headed out of the room. “I’m going to bed.”
“I’m going to read for half an hour after I get my bath,” Braden said. “I still think the books are better, but every time I see the movies, I can see the characters better.”
Mack stood up and held out a hand to Lily. “Walk you to your bedroom door?”
“No, but you can walk me to the bottom of the stairs. That would be really nice.” She laced her fingers in his.
He stopped just before they made it to the bottom of the steps, wrapped Lily up in his arms, and hugged her tightly. “I like the way you fit in my arms.”
“So do I,” she said. “But, Mack, you might want to think long and hard about things. We could go back to Austin at the end of the school year. Braden is the only one who’s said he wants to stay here. Holly says the jury is still out.”
He tipped up her chin with his knuckles and kissed her. When it ended, she leaned into his broad chest. It felt good to have a man’s strong arms around her and to hear him say nice things about her. But—there always seemed to be a but in her life—she couldn’t start something and then walk away from it in a few months. It wouldn’t be fair to him, and it would break her heart, too.
He turned around and headed the short distance to his bedroom, and she went on up the steps, taking them one at a time, and wishing the whole time that she could go back and follow him into his bedroom. Her breath was still coming in short bursts when she reached her bedroom and got the journal out of the secretary. She started toward Holly’s room with it, only to meet her in the hallway.
“Can we read some more?” Holly asked. “I’ve got thirty minutes before bedtime, and I’d like to work on my project.”
“Great minds think alike.” Lily turned around and led the way back to her room.
“Oh, yeah.” Holly grinned and crawled up in the middle of Lily’s bed. “It seems strange, Mama, to read about these women that were kin to us, and the time from one chapter to the next being so far apart. It seems even weirder that we’ve been here in Comfort as long as we have, and it only seems like a day or two.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Lily thought of her and Mack. They were adults living in the same house, but it could so easily turn into more than that, given time. Would she ever write in the journal that she’d gotten married a second time? Would it be Mack, or was he just showing her that there were still a few good men out there in the world?
“Are you going to read or not?” Holly asked impatiently.
Lily glanced down at the book and read:
Jenny Medford O’Riley, May 1917:
Holly let out a long sigh of relief. “I’m glad that she’s still alive. I like her.”
Lily went on:
All we’ve heard for three years is war, war, and more war. The newspapers are full of it. Rather than crops and cattle, our men talk about it constantly. I can’t believe they were so happy when the United States declared war. It’s like they’re little boys in a candy store. I swear if my Danny wasn’t too old, he would rush down into town and enlist. Two of my sons have already joined the army, and two more are about to join. I know now how Grandmother Ophelia must have felt when her husband went to war. Rachel says that if they’d take women, she’d join up tomorrow. I can’t ever imagine a day when women will be in the military. Right now Rachel is working for women’s rights. Although they aren’t accepted so well in a man’s world, we do now have women lawyers and doctors, so we’ve come a long way—and some states are allowing women to vote. My stepfather died last year, and with Samuel gone and Lily moved off to Savannah, Mama was all alone, so she’s come to live with us. I love having her here, and she really enjoys having her great-grandchildren around her. She’s seventy-one years old now, but she’s still in good health.