Chapter 17
Mabel eyed the bag of Chinese takeout Travis held warily as she opened the door for us an hour later. “Came to butter me up, did ya?” she assessed correctly.
“Hi, May,” I greeted, stepping over the threshold to wrap her in a hug. Despite why we were there, I was happy to see my friend.
“Love looks good on you, girly.” She winked when I stepped away. “Now what’s this about me not being able to stay in my own home?” she said snippily.
“Let’s go inside and talk,” Travis suggested evenly.
“You’re lucky you’re handsome,” she grumbled, ushering us inside.
Travis chuckled as we headed for the kitchen, where I started to unpack the food.
“As we explained while you were away, your house was broken into,” Travis began as May watched him, her thin arms crossed over her chest. “What we weren’t at liberty to share then was that it was Roy, your son, who broke in and assaulted Em in the process.”
Her eyes popped wide with shock, and I noticed Travis drew subtly closer in case she needed physical support. “Roy? My Roy?” she murmured.
“I’m sorry, May,” I put in quietly.
She looked to me with horrified eyes. “You’re sorry? I’m sorry! I asked you to watch the house. I never imagined you’d get hurt by anyone, much less by my own son! How could he have done this? Why?”
“We think he was after your late husband’s client list. He’s broke.” Travis explained, his tone gentle despite the news being delivered bluntly.
She sat down heavily in the nearest chair, appearing to grapple with the news. “Broke. Well that’s no excuse, now is it?”
“No, ma’am,” Travis agreed, shooting a quick glance at me.
I breathed a small sigh of relief when he didn’t expand on that. I didn’t think May could handle the news that Roy had tried to kidnap me. Not with how pale she’d become.
I put a full plate in front of her, knowing she likely wouldn’t touch it.
“This is why we’d prefer you stay elsewhere,” Travis explained.
She waved a hand dismissively. “I’m not letting that boy drive me from my own home. Plus, I imagine he waited to break in here until he knew I wasn’t here. He has his flaws, and apparently those flaws are larger than I realized, but I’m still his mother. He won’t hurt me.”
I wished I could believe that. I shot a look at Travis and knew he was thinking the same thing.
He rubbed the back of his neck and I knew he was realizing she wouldn’t be budging. “If you won’t leave, then I’ll keep a man on the house.”
She scoffed. “I’m fine. You don’t need to waste any of your people on me.”
“I won’t accept anything less,” he argued.
She looked at me. “He’s as stubborn as you are,” she accused. “And how on earth did you two not bring any alcohol?” she groused.
I muffled a laugh, knowing the standoff was over, for now. “I don’t know what we were thinking,” I replied with as straight a face as I could manage.
Travis and I joined her at the table, diving into our food. “How was your trip?” I asked, figuring she was ready for a subject change. I could tell she was still processing it all.
“Oh, fine.” She shrugged. “Charlie bent over backwards. The man is going to break something, I swear.”
Travis shot me a grin before masking it with a mouthful of food.
“Still not sold on Charlie then?” I hedged.
She scoffed. “Honey, I’m eighty-one, I don’t ever have to settle.”
I grinned, loving her perspective.
“But,” she continued, pointing a finger at Travis and me. “When you meet the right one, it’s never settling.”
Travis winked at me. “Yes, ma’am. I agree.”
After we ate, Travis and I cleared up while May went upstairs for a moment. “I think I’m going to stay with her tonight,” I told him quietly. “She looks like she’s handling this, but I know better.”
Travis looked at me, concern warming his brown eyes. “Then I’ll stay, too.”
“Honey, you don’t have to do that.” I shook my head. “You’ll be more comfortable in your own bed.”
“Not without you, I won’t,” he argued. “And anyway, it stopped being my bed the moment you slept in it—it became ours.”
My eyes popped wide. “But my bed is out there,” I protested, pointing toward where my cottage lay somewhere beyond May’s house.
He stepped closer. “I’m hoping you’ll change your mind on that.”
“You’re asking me to move in?” I gulped.
He watched me intently, nodding once. “I love you, Em. I want to share my home with you, my life with you. Please?”
I stared at him wide-eyed, completely floored by the turn in our conversation. Just as I was about to speak, May walked back into the room with a bottle of brandy in hand.
“I knew I had this stashed somewhere,” she muttered to herself, pulling some glasses down from the cabinet. She looked at me expectantly. “Nightcap? Or do you need to get going?”
“We’ll stay,” I replied. “Let’s pop in a movie.”
She narrowed her eyes. “As long as you want to stay and don’t feel like you have to babysit me.”
I threw up my hands. “Hey now, none of that. I haven’t seen you in weeks!”
Her shoulders slumped. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m being a crotchety old lady, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” I answered without delay, eliciting a shocked chortle from Travis.
“At least you’re honest.” She grinned, raising her glass in salute.
We got settled on the couch. After arguing that Steel Magnolias was probably about the most depressing movie she could want to watch, we settled on Bonnie and Clyde, the classic version with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.
I glanced at May inconspicuously a few times and could tell she wasn’t watching the movie. Her gaze was far off in the distance, and my heart ached for her. I couldn’t imagine what might be going through her mind.
Travis squeezed my hand, observing my concern, and I settled further into his side, needing his quiet strength.
“The movie’s over, May,” I murmured, not for the first time after she’d continued to stare blankly at the credits.
She seemed to shake herself before nodding and pulling herself up. “I’ll just head up to bed then. You’re staying?” she verified.
“We both are.” I nodded.
“All right, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” I knew she really wasn’t herself because she didn’t argue with me about babysitting her.
“Shit.” Travis sighed after she’d headed upstairs. He knew May well enough now to come to the same conclusion.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll check on her later. Let’s head to bed. We’re in the guestroom down here.”
He stood up, reaching a hand out for me and pulling me up. “Theo got Able out?” I asked as we turned off lights and placed our glasses in the sink.
“Yeah. He went over an hour ago.”
I continued to be pleasantly surprised at how much Travis’s friends operated like a family, or what I’d always imagined a family would be like.
I led him toward the large guest room at the end of the hall.
“This place is huge,” he commented as we shut the door behind us. “I’m surprised she likes living here alone.”
I shrugged. “It’s been her home for fifty years. It’s what she knows. But the upkeep gets harder and harder as she gets older. I always wished I was more handy to be able to help her fix things.”
“I can help,” he offered without hesitation as he pulled his T-shirt over his head and tossed it on the ground.
Would I ever not lose my breath at the sight of his gorgeous body on display? Something told me not.
“That’s nice of you.” I smiled. “But you know how she is, she’d probably fight you on it tooth and nail.”
“She’s a stubborn one,” he agreed, pulling me into his arms as we got under the covers. “You didn’t answer my question earlier,” he murmured, his lips against my temple.
I swallowed hard, and despite knowing exactly what he was talking about, issued a quiet, “hmmm?” in response.
“Yeah, baby.” He chuckled in exasperation. “About moving in?”
“Don’t you think it’s too soon?” I hedged with concern. “You’ve barely hit the tip of the iceberg with my messiness, and that includes nearly breaking your neck the other night.”
He’d tripped over my boots in the middle of the night. Had it not been for his downright superhuman reflexes, he would have landed on his ass.
“Keeps me on my toes.” He chuckled easily. “And no, I don’t think it’s too soon. Any other excuses?”
I bit my lip trying to come up with something, and he threw his head back and laughed quietly. He climbed up over my body, peering down at me with happiness shining in his dark eyes. “Babe, I know we haven’t known each other as long as some, but I’m pretty sure I know what I’m getting into.” He winked before his gaze turned serious. “I want it all. I want your things mixed with mine, even if that means they’re on the floor. I want to pick your pepperoni off your pizza and watch you eat pudding with the back of a spoon. I want to have a dog constantly underfoot and a cat that pretends he hates me most of the time, but in reality, I know I’m winning him over.”
I wasn’t so sure about that but remained silent, in awe of the words coming out of his mouth.
“More than anything, I want to come home to you,” he murmured, his gaze beseeching. “You’ve made it a home just being in it, and I know you’ll make it even more so once we put your touch on things.” He dipped his head, pressing his forehead to my chest.
I ran my hands over his short hair, relishing his closeness.
He looked up at me, a newfound determination glimmering in his eyes. “I want… I just want you, Em.”
I stared into his earnest face, seeing nothing but my future staring back at me.
“Okay,” I agreed resolutely. Since that very first night, it had been hard to fathom being apart.
His brows rose. “Okay?” he grinned.
I nodded.
He dipped down to kiss me soundly. “I’m going to make you so fucking happy,” he breathed.
“You already do,” I assured him as he settled beside me, wrapping me up in his arms.
As we drifted off to sleep, my mind shifted to that future, the one I’d never thought I’d have that now lay wrapped around me.
Now that I knew what this felt like, what true happiness was, I’d never let it go.
****
I sat up suddenly, unsure at first what had woken me. I listened intently and then heard the sound of the tea kettle. A glance at the clock showed it was 2:00 a.m.
May.
I lifted the covers and sat up, trying to clear my sleep-laden mind.
Travis large hand splayed across my back. “Okay?”
I nodded. “I’m going to go talk to her.”
“Okay, baby,” he replied, his voice deep with sleep.
I padded out to the kitchen, finding May in her bright purple robe seated at the bar sipping tea. She looked over at me without surprise as I took the seat next to her.
I didn’t try to fill the silence with idle chat, knowing Mabel wouldn’t have any of that. Instead I sat quietly, waiting.
“I keep wondering where I went wrong,” she muttered finally. “Bernie worked a lot when the kids were little, but I was always home. I was always here,” she lamented quietly.
“This isn’t about you,” I argued gently.
“Isn’t it?” she countered. “I have two children I barely have a relationship with. A daughter who rarely visits and a son who only comes by apparently to try to steal from me. How can that not be about me?”
“You gave them everything, May.” I continued to press my point. “Your time, every opportunity, and love. It was a hell of a lot more than I ever had. Who knows why we turn out the way we do? My parents had the opposite luck. They should have ended up with a serial killer for a daughter with the way they raised me, but I think I turned out okay.” I shrugged.
“You did,” she agreed firmly, always quick to defend me.
“So, you see?” I put a hand on her arm, squeezing gently. “Sometimes the kind of kids you end up with is luck of the draw. You did your best. I hate that you’re berating yourself over this.”
“Someday you’ll be a mother, then you’ll understand,” she told me.
The idea made my chest ache with an urge I was surprised by. I’d always loved children, but having them hadn’t been on my radar. Now I could see into my future, and it looked so bright. It was filled with Travis.
“He was such a stinker, that kid.” She snorted affectionately, her gaze distant as she became lost in memory. “Always into something. But he was so affectionate. He’d come and curl up in my lap, he loved me to stroke his hair,” she remembered fondly. “I dreaded the day when he stopped.”
I imagined that day was painful for every mother, when the tide turned and her child’s world stopped revolving solely around her. I thought of Hudson and how he was still very much in that phase, and hopefully would be for a good deal longer.
“It wasn’t until after he graduated from college that I sensed him really pulling back from me. I should have tried harder, should have pushed to understand.”
“You couldn’t have known,” I argued quietly. “You wanted to give him space. He was figuring out how to be a man. He probably needed that.”
“What he needed was Bernie.” She sighed. “He was a wonderful father, but he wasn’t home much.”
“You can’t change it, May,” I reminded her gently. “Roy chose his own path.”
“I suppose he did.” She exhaled. “I only wish it had been the right one.”
I nodded silently, knowing there were no words that could ease her pain just then.
She turned to me with a sad smile. “Thank you for staying.”
“Anytime,” I murmured.
Her eyes drifted toward where the guest room lay down the hall. “That man of yours is never far. I don’t imagine that’s going to change.”
“No. Hopefully not,” I agreed.
“I’m glad for you. You deserve it, honey. And good golly, is he a looker.”
I laughed, agreeing wholeheartedly with her there.
“You get to bed.” She nudged me. “I’m going to stay up for a little while longer.”
I nodded, knowing she wanted to be alone. “Come get me if you need me.”
“I will,” she agreed, though I knew she wouldn’t.
I stood up, turning toward her before I left the room. “May, I know you’ll sit up questioning yourself, wondering where you went wrong. What mistakes you made. But I know firsthand what kind of mother you were because I’ve seen it myself. Without you, I would have been so lost—you gave me everything you had without question, without asking for anything in return. You’re the most giving and loving person I’ve ever known. Now, I’m far from perfect, but I do believe you can count me as one of your successes,” I said quietly.
She blinked against tears. “I’ll do that honey, thank you,” she rasped.
I nodded, hoping I’d gotten through to one small part of her regret, and walked back to my room, eager to return to bed and to Travis’s arms, where my own regrets had been eradicated by pure acceptance and the promise of the future that lay ahead.