Chapter Sixteen
Savannah had promised to help Rachel with her Cookies in the Park event on Saturday morning. Instead of decorating gingerbread houses, as Rachel had arranged during the Christmas on the Square celebration earlier in the week, Rachel set up cookie decorating. Several large tables were placed by a booth in the park. Each held a pan of cookies shaped like a Christmas tree, a star, and a boot. Children and adults were encouraged to decorate their own cookies, covering them with icings of different colors, sprinkles, gumdrops, chocolate chips and other toppings. An adult needed to be available to help, so Savannah had volunteered to supervise the tables for a couple of hours and keep the pans of cookies replenished.
She’d just finished her shift and was talking to Rachel when she said, “Isn’t that Harlan over there? Who is that boy he’s with?”
Savannah looked in the direction Rachel pointed. “I don’t know. He said he had plans this morning but he didn’t say what.”
“That’s not his nephew,” Rachel said. “He’s too old. His sister Laurel’s little girl, Katrina, is Katie’s age and her son is just a year or two older.”
“That must be his…godson.” Or, according to Randall, his son.
You don’t believe that.
No, I don’t, but he’s awfully close to him. The two of them look very comfortable in each other’s company.
Great. She wasn’t arguing with herself, she was arguing with that damned imaginary voice.
“He looks a little like Harlan,” Rachel said as the two began to walk toward them.
“He does, doesn’t he?” she asked in a hollow tone. Stop it! she told herself. Do not let your father get to you. He already screwed up your chance with Harlan once. Don’t let him do it again.
Rachel shot her a sharp glance. “Savannah, are you all right?”
“Yes, of course.” No, I’m not.
Harlan reached them and introduced everyone. “Hi, ladies. This is Alan Lang. Alan, meet Savannah Taylor and Rachel Wood.”
Alan mumbled something and gave them a shy smile as they all shook hands. Hands back in his pockets and wearing a hooded Whiskey River High School sweatshirt, he seemed like a typical teenage boy.
Who looked like Harlan.
Rachel said, “Alan, how about a cookie? You can decorate it or just slap some icing on it, whichever you want to do.”
At the mention of food, he perked up. “Sure, thanks. Uncle Harlan, do you want one?”
“Absolutely.”
As Rachel and Alan left for one of the tables, Harlan looked at Savannah and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Something is. You look upset.”
She didn’t think this was the time or place to ask, “Is that boy your illegitimate son?” So she denied it. “I’m fine. I didn’t expect to see you here, though. You said you had plans but you didn’t mention they were with your…godson.”
Harlan looked toward the boy with an indulgent smile, then back at Savannah. “Alan’s parents are tied up with his little sisters today, so we’re hanging out. I was surprised he wanted to come to the park, but I get the feeling there’s a girl involved.”
“Apparently so,” Savannah said, nodding her head toward the cookie tables. “There’s a cute little blonde girl about his age talking to him.”
A few minutes later the two teenagers came over. “Uncle Harlan, is it okay with you if Becca and I go down to the square? We’ve both got Christmas shopping to do,” he explained virtuously.
“Sure. But don’t you think you should introduce your friend?”
“Sorry, forgot. This is Becca Kingsley. Becca, this is my uncle, Harlan Sullivan and Ms…uh, Ms…”
“Savannah will do,” she said, coming to his rescue. “Hi, Becca. Are you enjoying the Christmas activities?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After arranging a time and place to meet up with Harlan later, the two teenagers left. Gazing after them, Harlan shook his head and said, “I should have known when he suggested going to the park that he had an ulterior motive. I mean, the kid is fourteen. I couldn’t figure out what he wanted to do down here during the day. It’s not like he’d want to go see Santa.”
Savannah laughed at that. “Probably not. He’s very cute.”
“He’s a good kid. Makes good grades, plays sports, and so far doesn’t seem to be a troublemaker.”
“You’re very fond of him, aren’t you?”
“I love the kid. I’ve known him since he was a baby.”
Surely he couldn’t talk so easily about the boy if he was his own son. A son he couldn’t claim.
“I know Judy went to school in Whiskey River but I don’t remember Jasper going to school here. You were friends with both of them?”
“No, I knew Judy. She and Laurel are friends. Jasper didn’t move here until Alan was a couple of years old.”
“Oh, so he’s not—” She broke off, realizing she was getting into iffy territory.
“No, Jasper isn’t Alan’s natural father. Jasper adopted Alan after he and Judy married.”
Savannah forced a laugh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosy. I was just curious about the family since you seem to be so close.”
Harlan seemed about to say something but Rachel came up just then and the moment was lost.
“What’s wrong, Rachel?” Savannah asked.
“Nothing. You’d better get going.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong.”
Rachel huffed out a sigh. “Polly was supposed to help me for the rest of the day, but she’s going to be delayed for an hour or so. But it’s all right. I can handle it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll stay.” Polly Wilson was Rachel’s new clerk at the store. Savannah knew Rachel would have a hard time running the decorating booth without her. She turned to Harlan. “I’ll see you later, okay? I need to help Rachel.”
“I can help too. I’m not doing anything until I meet back up with Alan.”
Before Rachel could speak, Savannah said, “No, we’ll be fine. We don’t need any more help, do we, Rachel?”
“Apparently not,” Rachel said dryly.
Harlan looked mystified and left shortly after that, but not before giving Savannah a look that clearly said they’d talk about this later.
“All right, Savannah,” Rachel said after he’d gone. “What the heck is going on?”
“Nothing.”
Rachel gave her a disbelieving look.
“Okay, it’s something but I can’t talk about it now. Besides, here come more customers. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Promise?”
Savannah rolled her eyes. “Would you like me to pinkie swear?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Rachel said and went to attend to her customers.
*
Harlan didn’t know exactly what was going on with Savannah but he was ninety-five percent sure Randall Taylor had something to do with it. She’d been acting strangely since her father had dragged her off Friday night. But try as he might, he hadn’t been able to get her to talk.
They spent Saturday night and Sunday together but she went to her own apartment Sunday night. She still refused to talk about what was bothering her. And while the sex between them was as intense as ever, he sensed a barrier that hadn’t been there before.
Even so, if she was willing, he couldn’t turn her down. He wanted her too much. And damn it, even worse than that, he’d fallen in love with her. Again. In a matter of days.
He’d gotten over Savannah. Had gone on with his life, had lovers, been married. And yet, he’d always felt that something was missing. Was that something—someone—Savannah? He’d wondered occasionally through the years. Now that they were together again…he knew. Savannah was the one. The one woman who was right for him, the one woman he wanted.
Coming into the office after meeting Logan and Eli out at the winery site, he paused to watch Savannah at work. She clearly didn’t realize he had come in. Rather than working, she had her arms propped up on her desk and her head buried in her hands. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Problems?”
She jumped and raised her head. “Harlan. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“No, you clearly had something on your mind. Want to talk about it?” He sat on the edge of her desk. When she didn’t answer, he added, “It’s your father, isn’t it? This is about whatever he said to you Friday night. You’ve been acting sq—” he started to say squirrely but changed it. “You haven’t been yourself since then.”
“Do either of us really know what the other is like? We were together once, years ago. Did we know each other then? Do we know each other now, after a little more than two weeks?”
“I thought we did. What am I missing?”
She gazed at him for a long, long moment, her expression increasingly troubled. “Is Alan Lang your illegitimate son?”
What the fuck? How in the hell had she dreamed that up? Then it hit him. Of course. Randall Taylor had put that image in her head. He must have found out Harlan had helped Judy when she got pregnant and the piece of shit father of her baby blew her off. Judy was a friend of Laurel’s and his sister had turned to him for help for her friend. He and Judy had formed a lasting friendship, but it had never been romantic. They looked on each other as practically brother and sister.
He stood. “No, I don’t have a son. Legitimate or otherwise. Or a daughter, for that matter. Which I told you days ago. Why would you think I do?” he asked, though he knew the answer.
“I…my father…my father told me. He said that was why he broke us up. Because you’d fathered a child. Not only that but you did it while you were supposed to be with me. And you wouldn’t marry…Judy when you found out she was pregnant.”
“And you believed him.” It wasn’t a question. Obviously, she had.
“No! I didn’t. I said you’d have told me if that was true.”
“But now you’re wondering.”
“I didn’t think it was true. But you’re obviously close to Judy and then, when you brought Alan to the park…I didn’t want to believe it, but you could have been father and son.”
“Jasper might have something to say about that.” Harlan clamped down on his temper. He was getting more pissed by the second but he knew losing it wouldn’t help matters. “Is that what you really think of me? That I’m the kind of man who would refuse to recognize his own child, refuse to take responsibility for a life I’d helped create?”
“He said you supported the child.”
“Oh, well, then it’s perfectly understandable why you’d believe that son of a bitch.”
“Harlan—”
He walked away to stare out the window. It was a gray, cloudy winter day, matching his mood. He turned back to Savannah. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you’d believe I was cheating on her with you, or you with her. You said as much when you admitted you thought I’d slept with you and dumped you right after because all I wanted was sex.”
Savannah stood up too. “What was I supposed to think? You dumped me flat, only days after we had sex. Can you really blame me for thinking you were…”
“Slime? Scum? A bastard?”
“Yes. All of that,” she snapped, clearly angry herself.
“I don’t blame you for what you thought fourteen years ago. You had no reason to believe I hadn’t left you voluntarily. But now is a different matter. I thought we had something together. Something good. Something we could build on.”
Savannah seemed to deflate at his words. “Oh, Harlan. I thought so too.”
“It doesn’t say a lot for our relationship if you believe I’d keep something so important from you. Or that knowing me now, you’d think I would have cheated on you back then.”
“I’m sorry.” She reached for his hand. “I didn’t believe him. I told him he was wrong. But later, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I kept hearing my father telling me you had a son. And the longer I went without asking you about it, the more I worried. The more I…wondered.”
Harlan was still pissed. More at Savannah’s father than at her. No, he wasn’t pissed at Savannah. He was hurt.
How stupid is that?