Chapter Twelve
Charlotte
The night air was cool, but not as chilly as it had been. February had slipped into March, and although spring was still some distance away…it was coming. I could feel it in the air.
I sat down on the front porch, my daughter in my lap, and drew in a long breath of fresh air. I’d only gotten home an hour ago, and before that I’d spent the day in the diner, breathing in the scents of greasy food. It was nice to just relax outdoors. Mom and Jacob were cleaning up in the kitchen, and I had this small moment alone with my daughter.
She was sleepy, and she cuddled up against me. I dropped my face against her hair, smelling baby shampoo and soap—because she’d had a bath just before dinner—and the sweet, indefinable scent of a small child. That fragrance filled me with a strange sense of melancholy. She’d already left babyhood behind, and before long she’d be leaving her preschool days behind too.
I thought about Hunter who hadn’t gotten the chance to see her as a baby, who hadn’t been able to share in the joys of her first smile and her first tooth and watching her learn to crawl. Not to mention the joys of spitting up and colic and being awakened all night long. Parenting a baby had its ups and downs, but I still felt a pang when I thought about him missing out on all those precious moments.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’d tried to make up for it by leafing through all our photo albums with him, even letting him see the so-so photos I hadn’t bothered to print that were saved on my computer. But in a way I imagined that hurt him even more, since it was a stark reminder that he hadn’t been there to see it all in person. I saw a wistful expression in his eyes whenever we looked at photos of Diana together, and it made my heart ache for him.
But the past was in the past, and we were trying to make something of the present and build it into a future. At least I was. I wasn’t sure what Hunter wanted. Ever since I’d given him the information about Rose Ambrose, I’d felt that he was holding himself back somehow. Oh, he still made love to me with enthusiasm whenever the opportunity presented itself, but I had the distinct impression he was waiting for something.
And I was pretty sure I knew what that something was.
The door opened, and Jacob came out into the night and sat down beside me. “She looks sleepy,” he said, looking at Diana with an affectionate smile.
“We’re both sleepy.” I yawned.
“Go on to bed. I can tuck her in.”
“Thanks, but I want to stay up a while longer.”
“In case your boyfriend calls?” His eyes glittered with annoyance. He’d put up with Hunter hanging around for my and Diana’s sakes, and hadn’t started a fight even once, but it was painfully clear he still hated Hunter’s guts.
“Don’t call him that. He’s not my boyfriend. I don’t know what he is really.”
“What he is,” Jacob said between his teeth, “is a felon.”
That wasn’t unreasonable, as I hadn’t told him of my suspicions about Rose Ambrose just in case nothing came of them. Even so, we’d been over this ground many weary times before, and I sighed.
“He’s trying really hard, Jacob.”
“Yeah, sure, he’s turned over a new leaf all right. Wonder how long it’ll be till he stomps all over it just like he did in high school?”
I was too tired to hold my tongue for once. The words just seemed to leap out of my mouth of their own accord. “What happened between you two back then anyway?”
Jacob looked briefly surprised, but then he shrugged a shoulder. “Nothing all that earthshaking, I guess. There was this girl.”
“A girl? You hate him so much, I’d always just assumed it was something really big.”
“Really big in a way, I guess.” His eyes went unfocused, like he was seeing the past. “She was the first girl I ever really cared for. Marjorie Dougherty, her name was. I had a huge thing for her, Char. I mean, I really loved her. I asked her out to the prom…and she said yes.”
“And then what?”
“The two of us were holding hands in the hall about a week later, and Hunter came along. And he said, ‘Hey, baby, you don’t have to settle for a dirty little rock when you can have a great big diamond. Come with me to the prom, and I’ll pick you up in a limo. You’ll have the night of your life.’”
His words hung in the air a long moment. At last I said, “And?”
He shrugged again. “She dumped me and went with Hunter to the prom. That was all. But it was enough.”
“I was an asshole.”
At the baritone voice beneath us, Jacob and I both jerked around. There, at the bottom of the stairs, was Hunter.
Apparently he’d foregone the Harley tonight and walked over because there was no way we could have missed the roar of his bike shattering the silence of the street. He came up the stairs and sat down in the unoccupied wicker chair.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking straight at Jacob. “I was an arrogant, elitist jerk in high school—and in college. Pretty much till I got arrested, actually. I’m sorry I broke you and Marj up. I knew you loved her.”
Jacob’s lips drew back in a snarl. “So why the fuck did you do it?”
“Language,” I said reflexively, even though Diana had fallen asleep on my shoulder by now.
“It was stupid,” Hunter said with a sigh. “You were spending all this time with her, and it was—well, it was like you’d forgotten about me. I didn’t have a lot of friends, Jacob, and I had it kind of rough at home. You were pretty much all I had, you and your family. And when you started spending every afternoon with Marj, I guess I just…“
“Yeah.” Jacob nodded slowly, looking like a light was dawning in his brain, illuminating the past. “I guess I kind of ditched you, didn’t I?”
“Kind of. And you know, it just…made me mad. I admit that it didn’t take a lot to make me mad back then. Like I said, I was an—“ He looked at our sleeping daughter. “A jerk. The truth is that I didn’t care about Marjorie. I just wanted to hurt you. I’m sorry, Jacob.”
“Well, it’s about time you two boys got that out in the open.” The door opened again, and my mother came out bearing a laden plate. “Cookies, anyone?”
Hunter rose to his feet, offering her his chair, and then settled down at my feet with a chocolate chip cookie and a contented expression on his face. I had a grip on Diana with one hand, but I stroked his hair with the other. He leaned his head against my knee, practically purring. His long, dark eyelashes fluttered shut.
Mom sat down in the vacated chair, smiling beatifically. “Now that the ancient history is finally out of the way, perhaps you boys can be friends again.”
“Mom.” Jacob sounded irritated. “We’re not boys, and we’re not just going to become best friends again. Hunter’s a—well—“
“Actually,” Hunter said lazily without bothering to open his eyes, “I’m not.”
Jacob blinked at him. “Not what?”
“Not a felon.” Hunter opened his eyes and looked at him. “That is what you were about to say, right?”
My heart pounded so hard in my chest I worried it might wake Diana up. I didn’t say anything, just listened.
“What the f—heck are you talking about, Hunter? We all know what you did. Everyone knows.”
Hunter looked up at me, a faint smile curving his mouth.
I answered for him. “Hunter didn’t steal those funds, Jacob. He went to jail to protect his brother Au.”
Jacob stared blankly. “Are you telling me Austin was the one who stole the money? The Golden Boy of the Kensingtons is an embezzler? Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“Nope,” Hunter answered.
Jacob shook his head so hard that his overgrown, auburn hair fell into his eyes. “You’re confusing the hell out of me, man.”
“I thought Au was the one who stole those funds,” Hunter said. “That’s what my father told me. He asked me to take the fall for Au, and because he was my little brother, I did. I gave up two and a half years of my life for that kid. But Char here did some digging—“ He smiled up at me, the corners of his eyes crinkling—“and began to suspect that the actual thief was my father’s girlfriend, Rose Ambrose. I asked a friend of mine in the accounting department of Kensington Media to check it out. He got back to me, and we got the evidence to the cops.”
“And?” I said breathlessly.
“And Rose has been arrested.”
I squealed and ruffled his hair. He grinned.
“I’m told I’ll be exonerated,” he said. “And given the circumstances, the cops are willing to overlook the little fact that I lied to them. So it’s all over. Thanks to you, Char. It’ll all be in the papers tomorrow.”
“Oh, my God.” Jacob stared at him, looking flabbergasted. “Hunter, I am so sorry.”
“You didn’t know.” Hunter extended a hand to my brother, who shook it firmly.
“What about Au?” I demanded. “Does he know?”
“Yes.” Hunter’s eyes softened. “He cried when he found out, Char. All this time he honestly believed I was the embezzler, and he was heartbroken to learn the truth. He even offered me the CEO position at Kensington Media.”
I drew in a sharp breath. “Are you going to take it?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I honestly don’t think I have what it takes. Not right now, and maybe not ever. Au might be young, but he’s doing a really incredible job with the company. He’s got a head for business, and the educational background besides. After all—“ A note of poorly concealed pride crept into his voice. “—the kid did go to Harvard.”
“Okay, so what about you?” Jacob asked. “What are you going to do now?”
“Hmmmm.” Hunter leaned into my knee again. “Au suggested a VP position in Kensington Media, but you know what? I’m kind of enjoying my work at the Pinecone Gazette. It might sound silly, but I really think I want to try to turn it around, to make it something other than a laughing stock. I want to take it regional and develop it into a serious newspaper.” He looked up at me. “To do that, though, I’ll need to hire some good investigative reporters. Know anyone who might be interested?”
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I smiled down at him over our daughter’s dark head. “I think I just might know someone, yes.”
“Good.” He got to his feet. “There’s really only one more thing I want out of life, Char.”
“What’s that?”
“You.” He gazed down at us solemnly. “Well, you and Diana. So two things, I guess.” He reached into the pocket of his old leather jacket, then went down on one knee, holding out a diamond ring. It was oval shaped and enormous, and it glittered like a glacier in the light from the porch lamps. “I love you, Char. Will you marry me?”
I stared at the ring for a long moment, then looked up at his face. His beloved face.
“Of course,” I answered.
Jacob and my mother cheered, and Hunter slipped the ring onto my finger, grinning. In all the commotion, Diana woke up. She blinked sleepily up at Hunter.
“Hunter?” she said.
He smiled down at her, his face gentle. “I think you can call me Daddy now.”
She blinked some more. That word didn’t mean anything to her now. But it would, I thought. Very soon, it would mean everything.
“Daddy,” she said.