“David will put up a fight, so warn her in advance to be prepared for that. Really, it’s what we want because the next move will be Mary Jo’s. She can then approach him with relinquishment papers.”
“What does that entail?” Ben asked. “Is it as straightforward as it sounds?”
“Pretty much. If David signs those papers, he relinquishes his rights as Noelle’s father. Then Mack would be free to adopt Noelle,” Olivia explained.
Charlotte clasped her hands together. “That would be wonderful!”
“And if not Mack, some other man in the future,” Olivia added. “If David wants out of paying child support, this is the way to do it. I can almost guarantee it’ll save Mary Jo untold heartache later on.”
Charlotte was more than satisfied. “We need to discuss this with Mary Jo,” she said.
“At our earliest opportunity,” Ben concurred.
For the first time since David’s last visit, Charlotte noticed that the frown he’d constantly worn had disappeared.
Seventeen
“You know what Mack’s going to tell us, don’t you?” Corrie said confidently as she finished setting the table for dinner. Mack had asked if he could bring Mary Jo and Noelle over on Friday evening. That was unusual, so Corrie was convinced she knew the purpose of this visit. Their son was going to announce that he’d asked Mary Jo to marry him. They’d planned to drop by for coffee or a drink, but Corrie had invited them all to dinner. After checking with Mary Jo, Mack had confirmed that they’d be available.
Roy was in the living room, watching the news, and didn’t answer.
“Roy!” Corrie said, so excited she could barely contain herself. “Mack is going to tell us he’s asked Mary Jo to be his wife.”
“You’re sure of that?” he asked, glancing briefly away from the screen.
“Not one hundred percent. Call it a mother’s intuition, but I know my son, and he’s head over heels about Mary Jo and that baby girl.”
Roy shrugged. “Time will tell. Don’t plan the wedding yet.”
Corrie set the casserole dish on the table to cool. She’d made one of Mack’s favorite recipes, shepherd’s pie with a mashed-potato base.
Mack had asked for this dish on every birthday for as long as Corrie could remember. It seemed fitting to prepare it for him the night he told them he was engaged. She wondered what kind of ring he’d bought Mary Jo….
“They’re here.” Roy was looking out the front window, which provided a good view of the driveway.
“Perfect timing,” she said, rubbing her hands together. And she meant it in more ways than one. Linnette and Pete were married and now their son, too, was ready to start his family.
Corrie removed her apron and tossed it on a kitchen chair. She’d take the salad out of the refrigerator just before they sat down at the table. They’d visit first, with some hors d’oeuvres and a congratulatory glass of wine.
Roy opened the door for Mary Jo and their son, who held Noelle’s baby carrier.
“Welcome, welcome.” Corrie rushed forward to hug Mary Jo and her son. Her eyes instantly went to the baby who would soon be her granddaughter. She looked forward to becoming a grandmother—twice in one year—and already adored Noelle. She envisioned cooking with her one day and teaching her how to make shepherd’s pie. They’d have tea parties and would fill coloring books together.
“I was hoping you’d make that,” Mack said, gesturing at the table. “Smells fantastic.” He kissed his mother on the cheek as Mary Jo dealt with Noelle.
Corrie noticed that Mary Jo wasn’t wearing an engagement ring, but maybe Mack hadn’t bought it yet. All through their drinks and carefully chosen appetizers—cheese, crackers, stuffed mushrooms and tiny sausage rolls—she waited for an announcement that didn’t come.
“Everything’s ready,” Corrie finally said, and stood to bring the salad to the table.
They sat down together, and after a short grace, Roy refilled their glasses. Corrie handed the serving spoon to her son.
“This is my favorite dinner,” he told Mary Jo. “Mom makes it every year on my birthday.”
“I’ll give you the recipe if you like,” Corrie was quick to tell Mary Jo.
“Why, thank you. I’d enjoy that.”
“My mother’s a great cook.”
Corrie blushed at the praise. She took her first bite and was pleased with how well the shepherd’s pie had turned out—every bit as good as last year’s. She didn’t make it often, since Roy had his own favorites.
Halfway through the meal Corrie couldn’t stand the suspense anymore. “I believe I know why you and Mary Jo wanted to stop by,” she said coyly, glancing at her husband.
“You do?” Mack’s gaze shot to Mary Jo.
“You know we came about the letters?” Mary Jo asked Corrie.
Corrie frowned. “Letters? What letters?” She turned to her husband, hoping for an explanation.
“Mary Jo found a box filled with letters from World War II,” Mack said. “Remember?”
Corrie nodded. “Of course I do,” she replied. In fact she’d had a long conversation with Peggy about them.
“Then Mack found a diary, hidden in the same space,” Mary Jo added.
“You came here because you wanted to talk about the letters?” Corrie was fascinated by them, too, but couldn’t let go of her hope that they’d come to share the news of their engagement.
“They’re incredible, Mom.” Mack’s voice rose with enthusiasm. “Did I tell you Mary Jo and I have been doing research on D-day? The Normandy invasion.”
“June 6, 1944,” Roy said, apparently in case she’d forgotten the date.
“Joan Manry and Jacob Dennison were so much in love, and then after the invasion…there’s nothing.” Mary Jo looked at Corrie and then Roy. “No more letters, no more diary entries. It’s a mystery.”
“Mary Jo and I keep wondering what happened to them.”
“We’re dying to find out,” she told Corrie. “The letters—”
“You asked to have dinner with us because of the letters?” Corrie broke in. She couldn’t conceal her disappointment.
Mack stared at her blankly. “Actually, you asked us to dinner, remember?”
“Yes…no. I apologize.” Corrie placed her hands in her lap. “I thought… I hoped you’d come for another reason.”
“Corrie…” Roy warned, his voice low.
“What?” Mary Jo asked.
“Well, I’d hoped…” Corrie managed a half smile as she turned to her son. “I just assumed, you know, with the two of you spending so much time together, that you might’ve decided to…get married.” She looked from her son to Mary Jo and then at Noelle. She’d swear the baby wasn’t pleased, either, making a sad face and kicking out her legs as if struggling to break free of her carrier.
“Mack and I—” Mary Jo’s eyes widened. “No, that isn’t it at all.”
“So I see.”
“Tell me more about the letters,” Roy said, changing the subject and not being subtle about it.
Mack seemed as eager as his father to talk about something other than marriage. “Seeing how abruptly the letters stopped after the invasion, Mary Jo and I thought Jacob must’ve been killed.”
“We don’t think so now,” Mary Jo said, “because we can’t find his name on the list of soldiers laid to rest in France following D-day. Nor is he among those recorded as missing in action.”
“He might have been wounded,” Roy suggested.
“We thought so, too, but getting that kind of information is much more difficult.”
“I see,” Roy said, casting Corrie one of his I-told-you-so looks. “So you want me to help you with the research?”
“Not yet,” Mack responded. “For now, we’d just like any ideas you might have. Any new directions you could point us in.”
Mary Jo smiled. “We’re actually having a lot of fun reading about the war and looking for information on Jacob’s role. We found some maps of
Normandy—of the beaches—on the internet with the battle plans marked on them. We know approximately where his division landed.”
Mack gave a slight nod of his head. “I was never that interested in history, but these letters have opened my eyes to how exciting it can be. These were real people who put their lives on the line. Jacob didn’t want to die—I mean, no one does. He said in one of his letters that he didn’t see himself as any sort of hero.”
“But he was. They all were,” Mary Jo said. “And I’m sure Joan must have told him that. Unfortunately, we only have the letters Jacob wrote, not hers.”
“But we have Joan’s diary, which is filled with little details about everyday life during that time period,” Mack went on to say. “I think they’re fascinating. She has just a few lines for each day and agonizes when she hasn’t heard from Jacob.”
“She talks about saving her sugar coupons to make a cake and walking for miles to save on gas.”
“Nearly everything was rationed during the war years,” Roy said. “I remember my parents talking about that.”
Mary Jo nodded. “And there are abbreviations for things, but we can’t always figure them out.”
Corrie felt their enthusiasm and, despite herself, was becoming intrigued.
“If and when you decide you need help,” Roy said, “you let me know and I’ll see what I can find.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Mack said.
“Yes, thank you so much, Mr. McAfee.”
“Call me Roy.”
Or Dad, Corrie wanted to say, but didn’t; she’d annoy Mack, not to mention Roy, and embarrass Mary Jo, if she did. But she knew her son and every indication she saw said that Mack was in love with this girl.
The baby began to whimper, and Mary Jo immediately pushed back her chair. “Noelle’s teething. She’s had a difficult week.”
“I’ll take her,” Mack offered, getting up.
While they discussed who should comfort the baby, Corrie leaned toward her husband. “Look at them,” she whispered. “They act just like a married couple.”
“Corrie,” Roy said in a warning voice. “Keep out of this.”
“I think they need help. You know, to realize how they feel about each other.”
“If so, it shouldn’t come from us.”
Corrie didn’t agree, but there wasn’t much she could do. Roy obviously felt she’d interfered enough.
When Mack and Mary Jo returned to the table, he held Noelle in his arms while Mary Jo rubbed a numbing gel over the baby’s gums.
“She’s usually a happy baby,” Mary Jo said apologetically.
“Of course she is,” Corrie said. “Listen, would you two like me to watch her so you could go out for the rest of the evening?” Perhaps if she gave them some time alone, they’d reach the same conclusion she had. Roy might not think the young couple needed her assistance, but in Corrie’s view they did.
Mack glanced at Mary Jo. “What do you think?”
Mary Jo thanked Corrie with a smile. “I don’t want to leave Noelle when she’s this fussy, but I appreciate the offer.”
Corrie’s spirits sank.
Mack got to his feet and started to clear the table. “Any dessert?” he asked, peering into the kitchen.
“Ah…”
“I thought you baked a cake,” Roy said. “Didn’t you tell me that earlier?”
“Yes, well—it didn’t turn out.”
“It’s inedible?” Roy asked, looking disappointed. Thanks to his sweet tooth, he didn’t understand what she was trying to hint.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Corrie, just bring out the cake,” Roy said.
“Mom, who cares what it looks like? It’s what it tastes like that matters.”
“It tastes fabulous,” she told them. Fine. They’d asked for this, so she wasn’t going to deny them dessert.
She left the table and returned with the dessert plates and silverware, then went back into the kitchen to carry out the four-layer coconut cake. Charlotte had given her the recipe and it had become a family favorite. Corrie set the cake in the center of the table for all to admire.
Roy stared at it and his eyes veered back to her. The lettering on the cake, written in bright red frosting, said, Congratulations, Mack and Mary Jo.
“Shall I cut the first slice?” she asked.
Mack nodded politely. “Please.”
“I’ll cut through the part that says congratulations,” she teased. “I guess this is what I get for being such a know-it-all.”
“Oh, Corrie, it was such a sweet thing to do,” Mary Jo told her.
“I wish we were at the point that we could tell you we had wedding plans,” Mack said. He looked at Mary Jo, who stared uncomfortably down at the table. “But we, uh, have a few things we need to work through.”
“I…I—” Mary Jo started, then stopped, as if she felt she needed to say something but wasn’t sure what.
“You don’t owe us any explanations,” Roy assured Mary Jo. “If you decide to become part of our family, we want you to know we’ll welcome you with open arms.”
“And Noelle, too,” Corrie said.
Mary Jo looked up, and Corrie was surprised to see the glint of tears in her eyes. “Thank you both,” Mary Jo whispered. “It means a great deal to me.”
“Can we drop the subject now?” Mack asked pointedly.
Corrie nodded. She’d been so positive this dinner had one specific purpose, only to discover she’d been way off base. Instead of celebrating with Mary Jo and her son, as she’d expected to, she’d embarrassed them. Fortunately, they were gracious about it. She regretted causing them any discomfort, but maybe she’d given them something to think about…. She hoped so, anyway.
They stayed for another hour after dinner. Mary Jo helped her clean up, and they chatted in a companionable fashion about the letters and the diary. Corrie packed up the leftovers to send home with them.
It didn’t escape her notice that Mack was deep in conversation with his father when she and Mary Jo joined them in the living room.
The young couple left soon afterward. Corrie watched as her son backed out of the driveway and headed down Harbor Street.
“So?” Corrie asked, turning away from the window to look at her husband. “What did Mack tell you?”
“What makes you think he told me anything?”
“Roy McAfee, don’t you dare do this to me! I have every right to know what’s going on between Mack and Mary Jo.”
“And you think I know?”
“Yes. I saw the way you and Mack had your heads together, so tell me what he said.”
Roy sighed. “He loves Mary Jo.”
“Of course he does! I think he fell in love with her the night she had Noelle.”
“And he loves the baby.”
“That goes without saying. He’s practically her dad.”
Roy nodded. “But Mary Jo has a few issues she needs to work out and until she does Mack doesn’t feel he can propose.”
She recalled that Mack made some remark along these same lines. “Issues? What kind of issues?” she asked.
Roy picked up the television remote. “I’m afraid they have to do with David Rhodes.”
“That jerk has a lot to answer for,” Corrie muttered, crossing her arms. Every time she heard the man’s name she felt irritated. How anyone as decent and honest as Ben Rhodes could have fathered such a…a creep was beyond her.
“Mary Jo’s afraid of what might happen if David gets involved in Noelle’s life.”
“She has reason to be.”
“So she’s doing nothing, which only perpetuates the problem.”
“What does Mack suggest?” Corrie asked, then answered her own question. “Mary Jo has to find the courage to stand up to David.”
“Yes,” Roy agreed, “and until she does, their lives aren’t going to move forward.”
“Oh, dear,” Corrie whispered. “I am right, though. He does love her.”
“He does.” Roy gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, it’ll all resolve itself in time.”
Corrie’s fear was that this process might take much longer than it should.
Eighteen
“Da-ad, I need your help.” Holding her math book, Jolene sat on the sofa arm.
“Algebra? You think I know this stuff?” Bruce asked with a short laugh.
“I would hope so,” Jolene said. “You’re the adult.”
“Yes, but it’s been a lot of years since I was in school.”
“Just look, okay?”
Rachel had finished the dinner dishes—by herself, since it was easier that way—and was enjoying the exchange between Bruce and his daughter. If Jolene was counting on his mathematical skills, then the girl was in trouble.
“I don’t understand why I have to do this,” she lamented.
“You’re going to need it in life,” Bruce argued, not sounding convinced.
“Why? You don’t,” Jolene said.
Bruce ignored that. He reached for his glasses, a recent acquisition, and opened the textbook she’d handed him to the page she’d marked. Next, he appeared to be studying the problem as if staring at it long enough would miraculously produce the answer.
“Get me a pencil and paper,” he commanded with the urgency of a surgeon requesting a scalpel.
“Just a minute.” Jolene hurried back to her room.
As soon as she was gone, Bruce turned to Rachel, who hovered in the doorway. “You’d be much better at helping her than me.”
“She asked you.”
“I’m going to look like a dope when I can’t figure this out.”
Rachel snickered softly. “Well, you know what they say about the shoe fitting.”
He scowled but didn’t get a chance to comment before Jolene returned with a pencil and yellow pad.
“I still don’t get why this stuff is so important,” she muttered.
“You need to solve for x,” Bruce said.
“I know that, but why?”
“Not y, x.”
“Daddy, you’re confusing me.”