Chapter Nine
“Are you nervous?” Addie turned toward Caleb as they drove down the highway toward Tampa. Four days ago she had contacted Chandra about arranging a meeting between Rayna and Caleb. Chandra had acted as the intermediary and she had called Addie right back to tell her that Rayna eagerly wanted to reconnect with her son. She would make herself available anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Caleb had wanted to set up the meeting for as soon as possible. Addie wondered if he had been worried he might change his mind.
“A little bit,” Caleb acknowledged. “I just don’t know what to expect. And I’m still having a hard time remembering things. The mind is a funny thing. I suppose on some level it’s still protecting me.”
“You’ve remembered some things,” Addie reminded him. “And more and more memories might come back to you once you reunite with Rayna.”
Addie looked down at her cell phone. She and her father had been playing phone tag for days. He was in Costa Rica on business so they were operating under different time zones. She still really needed to talk to him and figure out why he’d sent Ricardo to take pictures of the Blue Bayou. And she hadn’t raised any concerns with Caleb about seeing Ricardo at the bistro. She didn’t want Caleb to worry about his business. At the moment he needed to focus on meeting his birth mother.
When they reached Tampa, Caleb’s GPS system directed them to the Sea Breeze Inn, an ocean-side bed and breakfast that Rayna’s friend, Heather Sanchez, owned. They had decided it would be best to meet on neutral ground in the event that things became uncomfortable. As the sign for the inn came into view, Caleb turned down a palm tree lined driveway. After he parked the car in the pebbled driveway and turned the car off, Caleb let out a ragged sigh. She leaned over and pressed a tender kiss on his cheek. “I think you’re so very brave to open yourself up to this. I’m proud of you.”
“Without you I wouldn’t be venturing down this road at all,” Caleb said. He squeezed her hand.
“Are you ready?” she asked him, knowing his stomach must be a bundle of knots.
“Yes,” he said in a firm voice. “I’m ready.”
They exited the car and headed toward the entrance. Addie had reached for his hand and joined hands with Caleb. Once they crossed the threshold, a petite woman with sandy blonde hair greeted them. “Hello. Welcome to the Sea Breeze Inn. I’m Heather Sanchez. You must be Caleb.”
Caleb stuck out his hand. Heather waved it away and went in for a hug. “I’m your mother’s best friend. Handshakes are useless with me.”
Caleb turned to Addie. “Heather, this is Addie Fontaine.”
Heather gave Addie a tight hug.
“Your mother is waiting for you in the big room,” Heather said. “She’s a bit nervous, so go easy on her,” Heather warned.
“She’s not the only one,” Caleb said. “My palms are moist.”
“She’s a good woman, Caleb. It won’t take you long to figure that out,” Heather said. She waved a hand toward a closed door down the hall. “She’s right in there.”
Caleb turned toward Addie. She had the impression he was looking at her as a life preserver.
“Caleb, I think you should meet with her by yourself,” Addie said.
Caleb’s eyes widened. “I was hoping you’d be there.”
Addie reached out and swept her palm across Caleb’s cheek. “I’ll be right here waiting for you. I’m eager to meet her myself, but I think this first meeting should be just the two of you.”
Caleb nodded. “As usual, you’re right.” He took in a deep breath. “Here I go,” he said as he walked off toward the meeting with his birth mother.
**
Caleb slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door to the great room open. A woman was seated in an over-sized love seat. When he first saw her face, he let out a gasp. There was an immediate feeling of recognition as his gaze swept over her warm brown skin, petite frame and exotic features.
“Caleb!” She called out his name in a high-pitched, emotional voice. She raised her hands to her mouth as tears trickled down her face. She jumped up from her seat and met him halfway, flinging herself into his arms. Caleb wasn’t sure what to do. Although he had a sense of familiarity, he still didn’t know this woman. Not in the ways that mattered.
She pulled away from him. “I’m sorry to be so over-the-top,” she said. “It’s just that I wasn’t sure this day would ever come.” She looked him up and down. “Look at you. You’ve grown into a beautiful young man.”
For a moment he just stood there staring at her. He didn’t know what to say or how to bridge the huge divide between them.
“I want us to have an honest and open dialogue. Nothing is off limits.” She reached for his hand and pulled him toward the sofa. “I know this must feel overwhelming to you. Your memories of me…of us…must be miniscule.”
He nodded. “I don’t have a lot of memories of us, although seeing you after all of this time has brought some of them back. You used to sing to me before I went to sleep. One of the songs from Phantom of the Opera.” The memory had broadsided him, bringing along with it a sense of being loved.
Rayna smiled at him. Her high cheekbones were prominent in her face as she grinned. “That was my favorite Broadway show. Your father took me there the night he proposed to me in the Big Apple.”
“My father? Who was he? Did he look like me?” Caleb asked. There were so many things he wanted to know and ask Rayna.
She began to dig around in her purse and pulled out a small frame. She handed it to Caleb. The handsome man staring back at him from the photo had big brown eyes and mahogany colored skin. Caleb saw a lot of himself in the man.
“He was my college sweetheart. Ramsey Johnson. You were a toddler when he passed. A drunk driver T-boned his car when he was on the way home from work. It changed our lives forever.” She wiped away a tear. “He loved you so much. And he was a great father and husband. He was the smartest man I’ve ever known. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do if he put his mind to it.” She shuddered. “Caleb, I lost so much after Ramsey died. We went from being very comfortable to living on the poverty line. I should have gotten help for my depression, but I didn’t know enough about it back then to realize I could get help.”
She began to weep. “But I loved you, my son. Really, truly loved you.”
Anger rose up inside Caleb. It wasn’t fair that his father’s life had been cut short. It had altered Caleb’s whole life. Clearly, Rayna had suffered. She had lost the love of her life. Her child’s father. But he still didn’t know about the circumstances of the fire. Or whether he’d been abused. Had she really resorted to prostitution? None of it gelled with the woman sitting before him. She seemed gentle and kind, loving and warm. But that didn’t add up to a woman who had given up custody of her child.
“Ask me anything, Caleb. I can see the questions lurking in your eyes.”
“I still have scars from the fire,” he blurted out. “I would like to know how it happened. Why was I alone?”
Rayna winced at his question. She let out a deep breath. “That’s a hard topic, but I know it’s important. I worked a night job. Normally, I hired a babysitter, Mrs. Robbins to watch you.”
“Chandra’s mother? I remember her,” Caleb said. A flash of memory washed over him of the two of them sitting at a table eating popcorn and working on a puzzle. “She liked puzzles, didn’t she?”
Rayna bobbed her head. “Yes! Yes, she did. She called you her puzzle buddy.”
“That sounds familiar,” he said, shocked at how much was coming at him now, fast and furiously.
“I couldn’t afford to hire her this particular night. I hated to leave you by yourself, but we really needed the money. For rent and food. I know it must sound awful, but I was desperate, Caleb. I knew it wasn’t right, but I left you by yourself that night so I could go clean office buildings. It was the worst mistake I ever made in my life, bar none. And I’m so terribly ashamed of what I did.”
He felt relief flood through him. “You cleaned offices?”
She frowned at him. “Yes. Why do you seem surprised?”
He didn’t want to tell her. It would sound so insulting. But hadn’t they just talked about complete honesty?
“I have a memory of being at the foster care agency. The women sitting at their desks were talking about me…about us. They said you were a prostitute.”
Rayna let out a shocked sound. “Oh, my heavens. That’s a lie. I would never have resorted to that. I worked a night job cleaning offices on my hands and knees.” She let out a sob. “Have you been of that belief all these years?”
Caleb looked away from the pain in her eyes. “To be honest, I haven’t thought about it much. I’ve tucked away most of those memories. But I do remember that day and sitting there listening to those women. They were cruel and insensitive to the fact that I was sitting nearby and could hear every word they uttered. I didn’t like the way they spoke about you.”
“People make judgments about people all the time. They didn’t know our story so they created their own narrative. I’m so sorry if it hurt you.” She paused for a moment. “I’m so sorry if I hurt you, Caleb. Someone in our apartment building left a candle unsupervised. That’s how the blaze started. By the time I got off work, I arrived at the apartment building and saw the aftermath of the horrific fire. I was frantic to find you. The firemen had rescued you, but not before you had sustained serious burns. When I got to the hospital, the police were there to greet me. I was arrested for child endangerment. Before they took me away, one of the officers had pity on me and they let me get a peek of you.” She shuddered. “I’ll never forget the sight of you howling with pain as they bandaged you up. That memory will stay with me forever. When you finally drifted off to sleep I sat at your bedside for a few moments and prayed to God for forgiveness. I prayed He would heal you.”
“I made the decision to give you up after realizing that it was my fault. All of it. I couldn’t care for you. I was depressed and I was leaning on drugs to keep me awake, then to get me to sleep. I was a good mother at heart, but I wasn’t being a good mother during that time.”
Caleb felt a stabbing sensation in the region of his heart. She had been trying to do her best to keep their family unit together. Her decision to leave him alone that night hadn’t been a wise one. But it had been born out of desperation. She wasn’t responsible for the fire. She wasn’t an abusive mother. And he knew without a shadow of a doubt that she’d loved him. And loved him still. It radiated from her face. He could hear it ringing out in her voice. And although the memories were sporadic, he remembered being loved by Rayna. And loving her deeply in return. And he knew now why the memories had been locked away. It had been far too painful for him to rationalize being given up by a loving mother. Now, at long last, those shadows could fade away.
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “For so long, I imagined it was. I thought you might never have loved me at all. But I remember being loved by you. And I remember loving my mother. I’m not imagining those things.”
Tears gathered in her dark eyes. “Oh, Caleb. You’ve just given me the greatest gift. I’ve managed to rebuild my life, but I never was able to rid myself of the guilt. It’s a blessing you have some good memories of your early years.”
“Hearing all of this from you is healing a wound I’ve tried to camouflage all this time. Knowing I was truly loved is such a blessing. It gives me peace.”
“I’m glad. Did you end up with a loving family?” Rayna asked, twisting her fingers in her lap. “That’s also weighed on me.”
Caleb grinned and nodded his head. “The most loving you can ever imagine. I’m one of eight kids. My parents—Jude and Penelope—own a diner and we were raised right by the ocean. It was a wonderful upbringing.” He reached out and squeezed her hand tightly. “You did a good thing, Rayna. An unselfish, loving thing.”
Her shoulders sagged and she began to cry. Caleb reached out and enfolded her in his arms. He rocked her side to side and began to soothe her. He felt love for this woman unfurling in his heart. It was miraculous, considering two decades sat between them. But he remembered enough about her to know what she had done for him. And how she’d loved and nurtured him. He didn’t know what the future held for their relationship, but for this moment in time, it was enough to simply hold her in his arms. This woman had given him life. And despite all the misfortune life had thrown her way, she had loved him enough to give him a better life.
She had given him the missing puzzle pieces of his life. And for the first time in forever, he felt whole.
**
While Caleb was meeting with Rayna, Addie was walking around the beautiful grounds of the inn. It was oceanfront property with an amazing beach and sweeping views. When her cell phone rang, she reached for it, immediately noticing her father’s number on the screen.
“Daddy! I’ve been trying to reach you for days.”
“Addie. It’s good to hear your voice. You made me nervous with the urgent message. I actually called your mother to make sure you weren’t in an accident or something. She assured me that you were fine.”
“I’m doing well. I’m not at the bistro today, but something happened the other day that I’m worried about.”
“What happened?” Her father asked. Was it her imagination or did she hear a trace of guilt in her father’s voice? Had Ricardo told him about their encounter?
“Why was Ricardo taking pictures of the bistro? I saw him in the act and he scampered away when I confronted him.”
There was a moment of silence on the line. “Daddy? Are you still there?”
“Yes, Addie. I’m still here. I really didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone, but I suppose I waited too long to tell you. The street where the Blue Bayou is located is skyrocketing in revenue these days. The Prime Corporation is planning to build condos and a chocolate factory there. I want to make Caleb an offer to buy the place so I can develop it.”
“Daddy, he would never sell! The Blue Bayou is his heart and soul.”
“Well, this is a great business opportunity, Addie. We could make a small fortune.”
“We?” She asked in a high-pitched voice. “I want nothing to do with this scheme.”
“I’ll need your support to convince Caleb to sell. And since I turned my half of the property over to you, that gives us leverage.”
“Leverage?” she asked in a shaking voice. “To do what? Ruin Caleb’s dreams? I can’t and won’t do it!”
“You’re just being emotional. That area is going to be the next hot spot in Pelican Bay. I want a piece of the real estate action. Imagine all the possibilities. That bistro is nice, but it’s nothing compared to what we could replace it with.”
“I want nothing to do with this! Do you hear me?”
“This is business, Addie. Pure and simple. If you really want to cut your teeth in my world, you’re going to have to take off the kid gloves and make some serious moves. I have to run. We’ll talk about this more when I get home.”
The sudden dial tone took Addie by surprise. Her father’s abrupt ending of the call caused her blood pressure to boil. What in the world was he thinking? Was he so caught up in making money that he had lost sight of his own humanity?
By the time Caleb had come out of his meeting with Rayna, Addie had worked herself up into a frenzy. Things had been going so smoothly with Caleb on both a personal and professional level. She imagined he would find her father’s agenda hurtful and insulting. But once her father began making moves, she knew it was near impossible to stop him.
When she saw Caleb and Rayna holding hands as they walked out of the great room, her anxiety was replaced with joy. She could tell by looking at Caleb that he had been given answers to the many questions he’d been holding onto for all these years. He seemed lighter somehow. A burden had been lifted from his shoulders. She blinked away tears. It was an emotional sight to see Caleb holding hands with his birth mother. He deserved to feel complete and emotionally fulfilled. And the woman who had given him life deserved to know that her son was living a good life.
“Would you like to stay for lunch?” Rayna asked, darting a glance between Caleb and Addie. “The inn has an awarding winning chef.”
Addie winked at Caleb. “Your son here has won a few awards himself,” she said, her voice ringing out with pride. “He’s a masterful chef.”
Rayna clapped her hands together. “Chandra told me about your restaurant. She said the food was impeccable. I’d like to come visit one day soon if it’s all right with you.”
Caleb’s grin lit up his entire face. “I would love to have you come visit. And I know my parents would jump at the chance to meet you.”
“That would be wonderful,” Rayna said.
As they headed toward the terrace to sit down, Addie couldn’t help but think what a miraculous turn of events this was. Caleb had stepped out on a limb of faith and agreed to meet his birth mother. For all he’d known, it could have been a disastrous meeting, full of bitterness and recrimination. Instead, it had been a rebirth for both of them. A chance to move toward the future with peace and understanding.
Thank you, Lord. For reuniting Caleb and Rayna. Their joy is effusive. Caleb deserves every ounce of happiness in this world. And Rayna has earned redemption.
Caleb was in such a good space right now. All of his worries had been put to rest. And judging by the way he was getting along so well with Rayna, they were going to be a part of each other’s futures. Yes, indeed. All was right with his world. She sincerely hoped her father abandoned his crazy notion about buying the Blue Bayou so he could own the valuable property. It would certainly put a damper on the happiness flowing in the air around them if he continued with his ruthless agenda. Addie wasn’t sure she would ever be able to forgive her father if he did anything to come between her and Caleb.