Lessons in Love, page 6
“She’s fast asleep,” Bethany whispered, smoothing Chrissie’s hair away from her temple. Her words freed him from his bitter memories and returned him to the present.
Mitch stood, lifting his daughter from Bethany’s arms. He carried her into her room while Bethany went ahead to turn down the covers, then placed his daughter in her bed.
As soundlessly as possible they left the room, keeping the door half-open.
There was no excuse for Bethany to linger. She had a date with another man—but Mitch didn’t want her to leave.
“I suppose you have to get ready for your dinner with John?” he said, tucking his hands in his back pockets.
“No.” Her eyes held his and she slowly shook her head.
He was about to ask why, but he quickly decided he shouldn’t question the unexpected gift that had been dropped in his lap.
“Chrissie and I rented a video to watch tomorrow,” he said, hoping to hide his eagerness for her company. “We generally do that on weekends. This week’s feature presentation is a three-year-old romantic comedy. Not my choice,” he told her. “Pete Livengood’s movie selection isn’t the most up-to-date, but I think you’d enjoy it. Would you care to stay and watch it with me?” Heaven knew, Mitch wanted her to stay. About as much as he’d wanted anything in his life.
She gave a small, tentative smile and nodded. “But if it’s supposed to be Chrissie’s movie…”
“I’ll get her another one tomorrow. Or—” he grimaced comically “—I’ll watch this one again.”
“Okay, then. How about some popcorn?” she asked.
He grinned almost boyishly. “You got it.”
It wasn’t until the kernels were sizzling in the hot oil that he realized they hadn’t bothered with dinner. It didn’t matter. He’d fix something later if they were hungry. He had several free hours before his patrol, and he didn’t intend to waste them.
When the corn had finished popping, he drenched it with melted butter, then carried the two heaping bowls into the living room. Bethany followed with tall, ice-filled glasses of soda. He placed the bowls on the coffee table and reached for the remote control.
Normally he would’ve sat in the easy chair and propped his feet on the ottoman. He chose to sit next to Bethany, instead. For this one night, he was going to indulge himself. He needed her.
The movie began, and he eased closer to her on the comfortable sofa. He found himself laughing out loud at the actors’ farcical antics and clever banter, which was something he didn’t do often. Very rarely did he see the humor in things anymore. When he ran out of popcorn, Bethany offered him some of hers. Soon his arm was around her, and she was leaning her head against his shoulder. This was about as close to heaven as he expected to get anytime within the next fifty years.
Curiously time seemed to slow, not that Mitch objected. During one comical scene in the movie, Bethany glanced at him, laughing. Her eyes were a remarkably rich shade of brown. He wondered briefly if their color intensified in moments of passion.
He swallowed hard and jerked his head away. Such thoughts were dangerous and he knew it. He reverted his attention to the television screen. Another mistake. The scene, between the hero and heroine, played by two well-known actors, was the final one of the movie, and it was a love scene.
Mitch watched as the hero’s lips moved over the heroine’s, first in a slow, easy kiss, then with building passion. The actors were good at their craft. It didn’t take much to convince Mitch that the characters they played were going to end up in the bedroom.
His breathing grew shallow as a painful longing sliced through him. The scene reminded Mitch of what he would never have with Bethany. In the same second, he realized with gut-wrenching clarity how much he wanted to kiss her.
As though neither of them could help it, their eyes met. In Bethany’s he read an aching need. And he knew that what he saw might well be a reflection of his own.
There was a long silence as the credits rolled across the screen.
It was either throw caution to the winds and kiss her—or get out while he could still resist her. Almost without making a conscious decision, Mitch leapt from the sofa.
He buried his hands deep in his pockets, because he couldn’t trust them not to reach for her. “Good movie, wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Wonderful,” she agreed, but she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice.
“Mom, I’m so sorry.” Lanni Caldwell stood in the doorway of the Anchorage hospital room. Her grandmother had died there only an hour before. “I came the minute I heard."
Kate looked up from her mother’s bedside, her eyes brimming with tears, and smiled faintly. “Thank you for getting here so quickly.” Lanni’s father stood behind his wife, his hand on her shoulder.
Lanni gazed at Catherine Fletcher, the woman on the bed. Grammy. A term of affection for a woman Lanni barely knew, but one she would always love. Her heart ached at the sight of her dead grandmother. Over the past three months, Catherine’s health had taken a slow but steady turn for the worse. Yet even in her failing physical condition, Catherine had insisted she’d return to Hard Luck. Dead or alive.
She would return.
Not because it was her home, but because Catherine wanted to go back to David O’Halloran, the man she’d loved for a lifetime. The man who’d left her standing at the altar more than fifty years earlier, when he’d brought home an English bride. The man she’d alternately loved and hated all these years.
“My mother’s gone,” Kate whispered brokenly. “She didn’t even have the decency to wait for me. Like everything else in her life, she had to do this on her own. Alone. Without family.”
After spending the summer in Hard Luck, Lanni better understood her mother’s pain. For reasons Lanni would never fully grasp, Catherine Fletcher had given up custody of Kate when she was only a toddler. At a time when such decisions were rare, Catherine had chosen to be separated from her daughter. Chosen, instead, to stand impatiently on the sidelines waiting for David’s marriage to Ellen to disintegrate. When that didn’t happen, Catherine had decided to help matters along. But Ellen and David had clung steadfastly to each other, and in the end, after David’s untimely death, Catherine had let her bitterness and disillusionment take control.
All her life, Kate Caldwell had been deprived of her mother’s love. She’d known that her mother had married her father on the rebound. The marriage had lasted less than two years, and Kate’s birth had been unplanned, a mistake.
“Matt’s on his way,” Lanni told her parents. She’d spoken to her brother briefly when he phoned to give her his flight schedule. Sawyer O’Halloran was flying him into Fairbanks, and he’d catch the first available flight to Anchorage that evening. Lanni had arranged to pick him up at the airport.
After saying her own farewell to her grandmother, Lanni moved into the room reserved for family to wait for her parents. Her heart felt heavy, burdened with her mother’s loss more than her own.
Footsteps alerted her to the fact that she was no longer alone. When she glanced up, she saw Charles O’Halloran.
“Oh, Charles,” she whispered, jumping to her feet. She needed his comfort now, and before another moment had passed, she was securely wrapped in his embrace.
The sobs that shook her came as a shock. Charles held her close, his strength absorbing her pain, his love quieting her grief.
“How’d you know?” Although tempted, she hadn’t phoned him, even though he was currently working out of Valdez.
“Sawyer.”
She should’ve guessed his brother would tell him.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.
“I…didn’t think I should.”
Her answer appeared to surprise him. “Why not?”
“Because…I know how you still feel about Grammy. I don’t blame you. She hurt you and your family.”
They sat down together and Charles took both of Lanni’s hands in his own. “I stopped hating her this summer. How could I despise the woman who was ultimately responsible for giving me you?”
Lanni swiped at the tears on her cheeks and offered a shaky smile to this man she loved.
“And after my mother told me the circumstances that led to her marrying my dad,” Charles went on, “I have a better understanding of the heartache Catherine suffered. My father made a noble sacrifice when he married Ellen. I know he grew to love her. But in his own way, I believe he always loved Catherine.”
“I’d like to think they’re together now,” Lanni said. Charles’s father and her grandmother. “This time forever.”
“I’d like to think they are, too,” Charles said softly, and he dropped a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
Lanni pressed her face against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
“The memorial service will be in Hard Luck?” he asked.
“Yes. And Grammy asked that her ashes be scattered on the tundra next spring.”
He nodded. “Do you know when the service is?”
“No.” The details had yet to be decided. Lanni lifted her head and looked up at him. “I’m glad you came.”
“So am I,” he said. “I love you, Lanni. Don’t ever hold anything back from me, understand?”
She nodded.
He stood, giving her his hand. “Now let’s go see about meeting your brother’s plane.”
Mitch heard via the grapevine that Bethany had a date with Bill Landgrin. Bill’s pipeline crew was working at the pump station south of Atigun Pass. The men responsible for the care and upkeep of the pipeline usually worked seven days on and seven days off. During his off-time, Bill occasionally made his way into the smaller towns that dotted the Alaskan interior.
What he came looking for was a little action. Gambling. Drinking. Every now and then, he went in search of a woman.
Mitch didn’t know when or how Bill Landgrin had met Bethany. One thing was sure—Mitch didn’t like the idea of his seeing Bethany. In fact, he didn’t want the man anywhere near her.
Mitch understood Landgrin’s attraction to Bethany all too well. It had been hard enough to sit idly by and watch her date John Henderson. The pilot was no real threat; Bill Landgrin, on the other hand, was smooth as silk and sharp as a tack. A real conniver, Mitch thought grimly.
There was no help for it. He was obligated to warn Bethany of Bill’s reputation. Someone had to.
He bided his time, waiting until two days before she was said to be meeting Bill. As if it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, he’d stop by to see her after school. He’d make up some fiction about being concerned with Chrissie’s grades—which were excellent.
He waited until he could be sure there was no chance of running into Chrissie. The last thing he needed was to have his daughter catch him seeking out Bethany’s company. The kid might get the wrong idea.
Mitch had intentionally avoided Bethany since the night of Chrissie’s accident. There was only so much temptation a man could take, and that evening had stretched his endurance to the breaking point.
He found Bethany sitting at her desk. Her eyes widened as he walked into the classroom. “Mitch, hello! It’s good to see you.”
He smiled slightly. “I hope you don’t mind my dropping in like this.”
“Of course not.”
“It’s about Chrissie,” he said hurriedly, for fear Bethany would get the wrong impression. “I’ve been a little, uh, concerned about her grades.”
“But she’s excelled in all her subjects. She’s getting top marks.”
He was well aware that his excuse was weak. From the day school had started, he hadn’t had to hound Chrissie to do her homework. Not once. She would’ve gladly done assignments five hours a night if it meant pleasing Ms. Ross.
“I’ve been wondering about her grades since the accident,” he said.
“They’re fine.” Bethany flipped through her grade book and reviewed the most recent entries. “I’ve kept a close eye on her, looking for any of the symptoms Dotty mentioned, but so far everything’s been great. Is there a problem at home—I mean, has she been dizzy or anything like that?”
“No, no,” he was quick to reassure her.
“Oh, good.” She seemed relieved, and he felt even more of a fool.
Mitch stood abruptly and turned as if to leave. “By the way,” he said, trying to make it sound like an afterthought, “I don’t mean to pry, but rumor has it you’re having dinner with Bill Landgrin this Friday night.”
“Yes.” She stared at him. “How’d you know that?”
“Oh,” he said with a nonchalant shrug, “word gets around. I didn’t know you two had met.”
“Only briefly. He was on a flight with Duke and stopped in at the café the same time I was there,” she explained.
“I see,” he said thoughtfully. He started to leave, then turned back with a dramatic flourish. “What about John? Do you often date men you’ve just met?”
“What about him?”
“Why aren’t you seeing him anymore?”
Bethany hesitated. “I don’t think I like the tone of your question, Mitch. I have every right to date whomever I wish.”
“Yes, of course. I didn’t mean to imply anything else. It’s just that, well, if you must know, Bill has something of a…reputation.”
She stiffened. “Thank you for your concern, but I can take care of myself.”
He was making a mess of this. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Bethany. It’s just that I’m all this town’s got in the way of law enforcement, and I thought it was my duty to warn you.”
“I see.” She snapped the grade book shut. “And I’m a policeman’s daughter. As I told you earlier, I can take care of myself.” She made a production of looking at her watch. “Now if you’ll excuse me?”
“Yes, of course,” he said miserably, turning to go. And this time he left.
Bethany wasn’t sure why she was so angry with Mitch. Possibly because he was right. She had no business having dinner with a man she barely knew. Oh, she’d be safe enough. Not much was going to happen to her in the Hard Luck Café with half the town looking on.
It went without saying that she’d agreed to this dinner for all the wrong reasons. John Henderson had started seeing another woman recently. One of the newer recruits, a shy young woman named Sally McDonald.
After nearly six weeks here, Bethany had to conclude that Mitch didn’t want to become romantically involved. The night of Chrissie’s accident, she’d felt certain they’d broken through whatever barrier was separating them. She remembered the way his eyes had held hers after the love scene in the movie. Bethany knew darn well what he was thinking, because she was thinking it, too. Then, when things looked really promising, Mitch had leapt away from her. Since that night, he’d had nothing to say—until now. Bethany was left feeling frustrated and confused.
When Bill Landgrin had asked her out, she’d found a dozen reasons to accept. She’d always been curious about the Alaska pipeline. It was said to stretch more than eight hundred miles across three mountain ranges and over thirteen bridges. Having dinner with a man who could answer her questions seemed innocent enough.
In addition, it sent a message to Mitch, one he’d apparently received loud and clear. He didn’t like the idea of her dating Bill Landgrin, and frankly she was glad. Unfortunately, Mitch had to use his daughter’s injury as an excuse to talk to her about Bill. That was what irritated Bethany most.
Mitch honestly tried to stay away from Bethany on Friday night. Chrissie was spending the night at Susan’s, and the house had never seemed so empty. By seven o’clock, the walls were closing in on him. He’d had to grab his coat and flee.
He tried to look casual and unconcerned when he walked into Ben’s café. A quick look around, and his mouth filled with the bitter taste of disappointment. Bethany was nowhere in sight.
“Looking for the new teacher, are you?” Ben asked as he dried a glass with a crisp linen cloth.
“What gives you that idea?” Mitch growled. He was in no mood for conversation. “I came here for a piece of pie.”
“I thought you decided to cut back on sweets.”
“I changed my mind,” Mitch said. If he’d known Ben was going to be such a pain in the butt, he would’ve stayed home.
Ben brought him a slice of apple pie. “In case you’re interested, she left not more than twenty minutes ago.”
“Who?” he asked, pretending he didn’t know.
“She wasn’t alone, either. Bill insisted on seeing her home.”
Agitated, Mitch slapped his fork down on the plate. “Who Bethany Ross dates is her own business.”
“Maybe,” Ben said, bracing both hands on the counter, “but I don’t trust the man, and you don’t either, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. My feeling is that maybe one of us should check up on Bethany—see that everything’s the way it should be.”
Mitch was convinced there was more to this scenario than Ben was telling him. His blood started to heat.
“Since you’re the law in this town, I think you ought to go make sure she got home all safe and sound.”
Mitch wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Ben was right. If anything happened to Bethany, Mitch would never forgive himself. In the meantime, if he did meet up with Bill, he’d impress upon the man that he was to keep away from Bethany Ross.
“So, are you going to see her?”
No use lying about it. “Yeah.”
“Then the pie’s on the house,” Ben said, grinning.
Mitch drove to Bethany’s, grateful to see that the lights were still on. He knocked loudly on the door and would have barged in if she hadn’t opened it when she did.
