Stranger in the Moonlight

  “Right. That is Joe Layton and my mother,” Travis said and his voice lowered. “Speaking of sworn enemies . . .”

  “Your mother and Mrs. Pendergast,” Kim said as she collapsed back against the seat. “I have a suggestion. Just a little one, but I think you should consider it. How about if we leave here right now and go straight back to Edilean? Mrs. Pendergast can send our clothes to us. Or we can shop for new ones. What do you think?”

  “I like the way you deal with a situation,” Travis said as he started the engine.

  But Joe Layton put his big body in front of the car.

  “How about some race driving techniques?” Kim asked. “You could go around him.”

  “He’s too big; he’d hurt the car. Let’s get out on your side and make a run through the forest. Maybe we can escape.”

  Joe was too fast for them. He was standing by Travis’s door, and his hand snaked inside to remove the keys from the ignition. “Come on, you two cowards. Get out and join the party.” He opened Travis’s door.

  Travis squeezed Kim’s hand and rolled his eyes skyward. “Give me strength.”

  Kim got out of her side of the car and stood back to look at Lucy, the pretty little woman who came to stand behind Joe. He was so big that she could disappear behind him.

  Kim was curious to see this woman who’d so successfully hidden from her for four years. As Lucy came forward to stand on tiptoe to hug her son, Kim knew she would have done just that. Every minute of those weeks she’d spent with Travis when they were children was so burned in her mind that Lucy’s face was there also. If Kim had seen her in Edilean, she would have done what Lucy feared and told everyone she knew. Lucy was the connection to Travis, the way to find him, and Kim would have thought only of that, not of any consequences.

  Lucy’s eyes met Kim’s and there was apology there—from both women.

  “Kim,” Lucy began as she stood before her. “I never meant—”

  “It’s okay,” Kim said. “I’m sure Mom told you I’d blab, and I would have. I so much wanted to find Travis that I would have sold my own mother into white slavery.”

  “From what I’ve heard she could have handled it,” Lucy said, and the two women laughed together.

  “It’s all right between you and Travis now?” Lucy asked softly. Travis and Joe were a few feet away.

  “Very, very all right. And what about you and Mr. Layton?”

  Lucy gave a sigh that came from her heart. “It’s nice to be loved, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, wonderful,” Kim said. “Would it be impolite of me to ask what’s happening with the divorce?”

  Lucy gave a quick look at Joe and Travis, and leaned forward, her voice a whisper as she took Kim’s hand in her own. “Randall has agreed to a peaceful divorce. No fighting. A fair deal. I told him I don’t want Travis to have to so much as appear in court. I want you two to have all the time together that you deserve.”

  Kim couldn’t help the tears of joy that came to her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Lucy smiled, and the two women’s hands just seemed to cling to one another.

  “Hey, you two!” Travis called. “I’m hungry. Let’s see what Dad sent us to eat.”

  Penny was still with the firefighters, and in spite of his professed hunger, Travis went to her.

  Travis greeted the firefighters, told them that if they needed anything to let him know. They all wanted to shake the hand of the son of the man who’d just bought them a new engine.

  It took Travis a while before he could make his way to Penny. “What’s Dad up to now?” he asked. “It’s nice he’s contributing to the Janes Creek Fire Department but what’s in it for him?”

  “I did it,” Penny said. Her eyes were on the road, not on Travis.

  “You bought a fire engine?”

  “I ordered it. Your dad paid for it,” she said and stopped, as though that was all the information she was going to give.

  “Penny?” he asked.

  When they could hear a car coming down the road, she seemed to stop breathing. The car drove past and Penny let out her breath.

  “What is going on?!” Travis demanded.

  Penny, her eyes never leaving the road, handed him her cell phone. “Look at my text from Russell.”

  “Oh,” Travis said as he read it. “He asked his girlfriend to marry him? Must be catching. I hope he used one of those rings I offered Kim. He—”

  “Russell doesn’t have a steady girlfriend.”

  “But he said he’s going to marry the mother of a kid who likes fire engines. Who is she?”

  Penny turned to look at Travis in silence.

  It took him a few moments to get what she wasn’t saying. “He just met this woman?”

  “I think so,” Penny said as she rubbed her hands together in nervous agitation. “Oh, Russell,” she said under her breath, “what have you done?”

  For the first time ever, Travis put his arm around Penny’s shoulders. She had always been the one who remained calm through everything. When Travis and his father were at each other’s throats, it was Penny’s sensible comments, her refusal to let any crisis perturb her, that quieted everyone.

  But now she was the one who needed a calm presence.

  “Your mother will hate me even more,” Penny said, her old self showing, but she leaned her head against Travis’s chest for a moment.

  He glanced over her head to see Joe and Kim and his mother sitting on the checkered cloth. They’d opened the cooler and taken out lemonade and glasses, and lots of cheese and crackers. Maybe the waiters were missing, but the food looked to be top-notch.

  “My mother has eyes only for Joe, and when she sees Russell I think she’ll like him.”

  Penny stepped out of Travis’s embrace. “I hope so, but then he does look a lot like you. If there’s one thing your mother loves, it’s you.”

  Travis smiled. “Joe said Dad was going to give the divorce without a big court battle. Do you think he will?”

  “I know he was quite taken with young Kim.”

  Travis couldn’t help a grimace. “Bastard! Sneaking around like that! He knew where Mom was all these years. When I think of the trouble I went to in hiding from him I could—” He looked at Penny. “How do you know he liked Kim?”

  “I talked to him. I showed her a photo of your father and she turned white. I knew she’d seen him somewhere.”

  Travis nodded. “She came into the diner looking like she’d seen a ghost.”

  “But she told you the story of how he pretended to be a caretaker?”

  “Only after some persuasion.”

  “Good,” Penny said. “Don’t keep secrets from each other. Your father and I never—I mean . . .”

  “I know what you mean. His life has always been more with you than with my mother.”

  Penny turned to look at Lucy and Joe sitting so close together on the cloth. “I’ve always disliked your mother. Not from something based on fact, but from what I assumed I knew about her. The old Travis family name made me think she lived in a world of garden parties and teacups. And I thought she’d like gentlemen who carried lace hankies.”

  Joe Layton was as far from being a stereotypical “gentleman” as was possible.

  “I’m sure Russ will be here soon, so maybe now’s a good time to brave it out with a face-to-face with my mother.”

  “Did she bring any weapons?” Penny asked.

  “Only a couple of machetes,” Travis joked, but when Penny took a step back, he laughed. “Come on, Kim and I will protect you.”

  Travis stayed close to Penny as they walked toward the picnic area and his eyes begged his mother not to attack. But then, he realized that wasn’t fair. After all, Penny had had a child by Lucy’s husband. On the other hand, it wasn’t as though a happy marriage had been broken up. The truth was that Travis was so glad to have a brother that he didn’t really care about anything else.

  As Travis sat down between his mother and Kim, he
looked at Joe for moral support. Joe took Lucy’s hand and his eyes seemed to say that it would be all right.

  “Is there any beer in there?” Travis asked as he watched his mother. She was refusing to look at Penny. “Mom,” he said as Kim handed him a beer. “Kim told me you have a couple of brothers. Is that true?”

  “Howard and Arthur,” she said. “I haven’t seen them, well, since I got married. There were harsh words spoken.”

  Everyone was still, wondering if Lucy was going to say more, but she didn’t.

  “So what are they like?” Travis asked. He would say anything to break the awkward silence. “I’d like to meet—”

  “They’re here!” Penny said in a voice of relief and joy. She got up and started running.

  “Who’s here?” Kim asked.

  “It seems that since my little brother”—he looked directly at his mother, but she didn’t meet his eyes—“left us at breakfast, he has met a woman, fallen in love, and asked her to marry him.”

  The others paused with food to their lips.

  “Who is she?” Kim asked.

  “I have no idea. Everything about my brother is a mystery. Shall we go meet her? It seems that she has a five-year-old son who loves fire engines.”

  All of them got up and started walking toward the fire truck when they heard a squeal of delight, and a beautiful little boy was running toward them.

  “Tristan!” Kim said, then she too started running. “He looks like my cousin Tristan!” she called over her shoulder. “Russell found my cousins!”

  Her enthusiasm was contagious, and Travis, Joe, and Lucy hurried after her.

  The little boy was already halfway up the side of the truck, all the firefighters helping him up. The happiness on the child’s face made everyone smile.

  Behind the little boy, wearing a look of pure bliss, came Russell, and he was holding hands with a pretty young woman.

  “I like the ring,” Kim said to Travis.

  He looked at her in question.

  She nodded toward the woman’s left hand. “It’s the four-carat pink diamond from the tray you showed me. It was my second choice. She has taste.”

  Smiling, Travis nodded. As he’d hoped, Russell had used one of the rings he’d offered Kim for their engagement.

  Russell stopped in front of his brother. “Dad said he wanted to meet me at the Old Mill this morning. Seems that Clarissa goes there to work every Sunday morning.”

  “If Russell hadn’t shown up I’d be dead now or at least broken into bits,” Clarissa said and everyone looked at her.

  “You two have to tell us everything,” Kim said, “and I think we’re cousins.”

  “Second cousins once removed,” Travis said.

  “I need to see to my son,” Clarissa said. “Jamie will—”

  “He has a grandmother now,” Russell said softly, and they all turned to look. Penny was on the ground, but her arms were extended over her head. As they watched, two big firefighters lifted her to the top of the truck to sit beside Jamie. He smiled at her, and when the engine started, Penny put her arm around the child.

  “I think he’s going to be fine,” Russell said as he smiled at Clarissa. “Shall we all sit down?”

  “And eat,” Clarissa said. “I’m sure you’re hungry again.”

  Like the lovebirds they were, that inside joke seemed to amuse them greatly.

  It was three hours later before they were all sated with food and drink and news. The fire engine had returned and they’d all listened to Jamie’s excited description of everything he’d seen and done. He’d been given a hat and a bright yellow coat, both of which he wouldn’t take off.

  After he’d eaten he wore down and snuggled on his mother’s lap. When he fell asleep, Russell took him and stretched him out, his head on Russell’s lap, his feet in Penny’s.

  Everyone had listened in silence as Russell and Clarissa tripped over each other as they told of their meeting. Travis looked at Penny, and communication based on years of working together passed between them. Randall Maxwell had found the Aldredge descendant they were looking for and he’d set his son up to meet her.

  When Clarissa told of her brush with death from trying to renovate the Old Mill, Travis again looked at Penny, and she nodded. Randall Maxwell was going to give his son a wedding gift of a renovated building.

  But what everyone was most interested in was the first encounter between Russell and Clarissa. They were both shy and reticent when telling that part of the story, but the looks on their faces told it all.

  Several times Travis looked at his mother, and her expression showed that she was as fascinated as they all were by the story. Twice Travis caught her looking at Russell in wonder. He really did look like her son.

  At about four they were all winding down from the excitement of the day. Travis and Kim were looking at each other as though they wanted to be alone, as were Lucy and Joe, and Russell and Clarissa.

  The odd man out, the only one unattached, was Penny.

  “Maybe we should go back to the hotel,” Kim said. “We could all meet later for—” She broke off because a long black limo had pulled into the area beside their cars. The back door opened but no one got out and the engine wasn’t turned off. Inside they could vaguely see the shadow of a person, but he or she didn’t get out.

  “That’s Randall,” Lucy said and she sounded like the party was over, but then her face lightened and she looked at Penny directly. Not with the sideways looks she’d been giving her all afternoon, but full into her eyes. “He’s here for you.”

  Penny shrugged. “He probably wants me to pick up his dry cleaning.”

  Everyone continued to look at her.

  “Mother,” Russell said, “you have been in love with that man for nearly thirty years. Don’t you think it’s time you showed it?”

  Penny looked at Lucy, and her eyes were asking permission. In answer, Lucy snuggled up to Joe. “I have what I want right here.”

  Penny took only seconds to make her decision. Looking as though she was finally going to get to do what she wanted to in her life, she got up, smoothed the front of her skirt, kissed Russell, then Jamie, then Clarissa on the forehead. She turned her back to them and started a slow, sedate walk toward the open limo. But when she got closer, she broke into a run. They saw her smile when she got to the door. She didn’t hesitate as she stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind her. The limo drove away.

  The stunned silence of everyone made Jamie stir. He looked up and saw Russell, and smiled that he was still there.

  “You gave me a fire engine,” he said and slipped his arms around Russell’s neck.

  “I think we should go,” Russ said to Clarissa, and they stood up.

  The others stayed seated on the cloth, looking up at them. Russell with the little boy clinging tightly about his neck, holding him in one arm while helping Clarissa with her bags with the other. It was impossible to believe that these people had just met that morning. If ever there were three people who were a family, it was them.

  “So what are your plans?” Travis asked.

  Clarissa looked up at Russell. As she folded a blanket, the big ring sparkled on her finger. “It’s a little early to say yet.”

  Russell said, “I guess it depends on where I get a job.”

  “All right, little brother,” Travis said, “we’re all waiting. What is your vocation?”

  Russell smiled in a way that said he wasn’t telling.

  Clarissa looked confused that these brothers didn’t know such an elemental thing about each other. “Russell is a Baptist minister.”

  That silenced everyone.

  Russell shrugged. “I trained to be, but I haven’t had much practice at it. I was told that I have some, uh, anger issues, and it was strongly suggested that I deal with them.”

  Travis looked like he was about to laugh, but Kim gave him a look that warned him not to.

  Kim spoke up. “You know, half of Edilean hasn??
?t forgiven our current pastor for stealing my brother’s girlfriend. Besides, he’s been there for years now and . . .” She let the rest of that hang in the air.

  “What my dear wife-to-be is saying is that there may be an opening in Edilean for a minister.” Travis was looking at his brother with wide eyes, but he managed to recover himself. “I think we should talk about a camp I want to set up. There’s a place for you.”

  “Gladly,” Russell said, “but first Clarissa is going to med school. She wants to be a doctor.”

  “She’s a real Tristan,” Kim said, and they all laughed. She looked at everyone smiling, then up at Travis. At last she had what she’d wanted since she was eight years old.

  “Ready to go?” Travis asked softly.

  “Yes,” she said. “Always yes.”

  Epilogue

  It was late when Kim’s cell phone buzzed. She and Travis were in Paris on their honeymoon and she thought about not looking at the e-mail. But Travis heard it.

  “Go on, see who it is. I’m hoping to hear from Mom and Joe.”

  Kim clicked the phone and read in disbelief. “It’s from Sophie.”

  “Who?”

  “My other college roommate, besides Jecca.”

  “Oh yeah, the blonde bombshell.”

  As Kim kept reading, she collapsed on the bed.

  “Is it bad news?”

  “Yes and no,” she whispered. “Sophie says she needs a place to hide and a job.”

  “To hide? From what?”

  “She doesn’t say,” Kim said.

  Travis sat down on the bed beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. “If you want to go home, we can.”

  “No,” Kim said. “Sophie said I wasn’t to do that. I—” Her head came up. “I’m going to call Betsy.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “My brother’s office manager. Reede doesn’t know it, but he’s getting a new employee.” She held the phone to her ear.

  Travis stood up. “Sounds to me like you’re matchmaking.”

  “Heavens no! Reede and Sophie? It could never work. She’s too smart, too nice for my brother. However, I think I’ll send my cousin Roan an e-mail and ask him to look in on Sophie.”