“You should,” Teri said without censure.

“So, would you give this to Rachel for me? Please?”

Reluctantly Teri accepted the cash. She was about to suggest he buy something for the baby, which would go a long way toward convincing his wife that he was serious. Again, she managed to suppress any comment. She had to carefully weigh every word she spoke. No offers of help. No advice. No information.

“When you talk to her,” Bruce said, “would you mention how much I love her? Tell her I’m still going to the counselor and that Jolene has agreed to meet him.”

Now this was promising news. “I’ll tell her.”

“Thanks, Teri.” That was all he said, but the gratitude in his eyes, the hope and longing, almost made her cry.

After Bruce left, Teri stood by the window and watched him pull away. As soon as his car was out of sight, she rushed to the phone and called Rachel’s cell, which went straight to voice mail.

“Rach, it’s Teri. Call me ASAP. Bruce just stopped by the house.”

Five minutes later, the return call came. Her friend didn’t even say hello. “Did you let him in?”

“Of course I did,” Teri said. “It would’ve been rude to slam the door in his face.”

“What did he want? You didn’t tell him anything?”

The worry in her voice made Teri regret that she hadn’t immediately set Rachel at ease. “No, nothing. I swear he doesn’t know a thing.”

“Thank you,” she said in relief.

“Can you come by this afternoon? Bobby’s away and I could use the company.”

Rachel hesitated.

“Besides, Bruce gave me something for you.”

“He did?” Rachel’s curiosity was piqued.

“Yup, but I’m not saying what it is. You’ll have to come over here.”

A half hour later, Rachel did.

Teri hugged her and practically dragged her into the foyer. “Gabrielle’s out and we only have about thirty minutes before the boys wake up.” The triplets had started to teethe and Teri’s life wasn’t her own anymore.

Rachel followed her into the kitchen and Teri began preparing a cheese and cracker plate with apple slices and grapes. She could use a snack herself, and this was a good excuse to feed her friend. She’d forced herself not to tell Bruce that she was worried Rachel wasn’t getting enough fruit and vegetables or high-quality protein. From the tidbits Rachel had dropped, Teri surmised that she dined out alone two or three nights a week, which probably meant fast food. That couldn’t be the best thing for Rachel or the pregnancy.

“You said Bruce left something for me,” Rachel began.

She sat on the bar stool and propped her elbows on the counter. Teri had washed the grapes and sliced two apples; now she was cubing the cheese and arranging it on the platter. Only about half the cheddar found its way to the plate. The other half seemed to automatically end up in her mouth.

“Here,” she said, offering the plate to Rachel, who reached for a piece of apple and speared some cheese.

“Bruce?” she prompted before taking a bite.

“Oh, yeah, Bruce.” Teri dug in the hip pocket of her jeans and brought out the wad of cash.

“Money?”

“He wants to contribute to your care and the baby’s. He loves you. He’s feeling guilty and miserable and lost.”

“You didn’t…”

Teri pantomimed locking her lips. “I swear I didn’t say a word. I told you I wouldn’t and I didn’t.” She paused. “You should take the money,” Teri urged. She set it on the counter, then crossed her arms. “He looked pretty broken, Rach.”

Rachel didn’t say anything at first. “Did he talk about what happened last Saturday?” she finally asked.

“A little. But he also said he’s been seeing the counselor—and Jolene agreed to go.”

Rachel’s head jerked up. “She did?”

“Well…for one time, anyway.”

Rachel nodded, but she didn’t seem too encouraged. “I wonder what Bruce had to promise to get her to do that.”

“He didn’t promise her anything.” He hadn’t really said, but Teri got the impression that Jolene hadn’t been given a choice.

“Trust me, Bruce must have bribed her.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

A baby’s cry came from down the hall, soon followed by a second and a third. Teri sighed.

“Where’s Christie?” Rachel asked.

Now that James and Christie were married, her sister lived in the apartment above the garage with her husband.

“She’s with James. You remember how it is when you’re first married. They’re constantly together.”

“I do remember,” Rachel whispered. “Unfortunately, the honeymoon for Bruce and me didn’t last nearly long enough.”

Rachel counted the money. Five crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. She put them back on the counter. “Please return it to him for me. Okay?”

“You don’t need it?”

She shook her head and Teri knew instinctively that she was lying.

“Rachel, don’t be unnecessarily stubborn. Bruce wants you to have this.”

“No,” she insisted. “Tell him to spend it on the counselor for him and Jolene.”

Twenty-Two

“You can put that box in the master bedroom,” Lori Wyse told her brother-in-law, pointing the way, which was silly. Mack owned the duplex and knew exactly where the master bedroom was.

He disappeared down the hallway as she started to unpack the dishes, setting them in a cupboard in the compact kitchen. The duplex was smaller than their apartment had been. Nevertheless, it would serve their needs nicely.

“I think that’s it,” Mack said, hands in his back hip pockets.

“Can you go with me to turn in the rental truck?” Linc asked.

“Sure thing.”

Linc kissed Lori on the cheek as he walked out the door. “I shouldn’t be long. Don’t work too hard.”

“I won’t,” she promised, although she was determined to get as much unpacked as she could.

“Need any help?” Mary Jo asked, joining her, the baby in her arms. She set Noelle on the kitchen floor, where she was content to play with a large toy rabbit.

“That would be great.” Lori wasn’t about to decline such a generous offer. She dragged over the box of pots and pans and showed her sister-in-law where she wanted them placed.

They worked in silence for a while, with the radio playing softly in the background. “Linc and I are so grateful to get out from under my father’s thumb,” Lori said. “I don’t know what we would’ve done if it wasn’t for you and Mack.” Moving to Seattle was one of their few options, and they were both grateful not to be living in Linc’s family home with his two younger brothers.

“This helps me and Mack, too.”

Lori didn’t know Mary Jo well yet, but she felt they’d already become friends. Mary Jo sat on the kitchen floor and reached for a second box. “Do you want these bowls down here or in the cupboard above the dishwasher?”

“Above the dishwasher,” Lori told her.

Noelle threw her rabbit aside and yawned loudly.

“Looks like it’s nap time,” Lori said. Come to think of it, she was tired, too. Linc had left the apartment to pick up the truck before six that morning. But they’d been awake since four, finishing the last of the packing and cleaning.

“Come on, baby girl,” Mary Jo said, scooping up the toy, then bending to retrieve her daughter. “Let me change your diaper and put you down for a couple of hours.”

“She sleeps that long?”

“Almost every afternoon. She still takes a morning nap, too, but she’ll outgrow those pretty soon.”

Lori knew she had a lot to learn about babies. She and Linc had talked about starting a family and had decided to wait a couple of years. As newlyweds, they were still getting used to living with each other and to the demands and compromises of married life. They’d weathered a couple of challenges in the past year, thanks largely to her father. Leonard Bellamy refused to give Linc the opportunity to prove himself and had gone out of his way to sabotage every effort Linc made.

His attitude infuriated Lori. Linc was a decent, honest, hardworking man. Her father should thank God that she’d married a man as wonderful as Lincoln Wyse. Leonard was determined to control her life and she wouldn’t let him. Because of that he was punishing Linc and, through Linc, her.

When she’d phoned home and severed her relationship with her family, Linc felt she’d overreacted. It was true that she’d acted on impulse, but she’d meant every word.

Linc arrived home just as she finished sorting out the silverware. “Looks like you’re making good progress,” he said.

“What amazes me is how much stuff I’ve accumulated.”

“Pretty shocking, isn’t it?” Linc slipped his arms around her from behind and buried his face in her neck. “Do you think we could initiate our new home tonight?” he whispered.

“That’s a distinct possibility,” Lori whispered back, her hands covering his.

There was a polite knock at the open front door.

Instantly Linc dropped his arms. They both turned to find Kate Bellamy standing on the other side with a small gift bag in her hand.

“Mom,” Lori said, forgetting for the moment that she was no longer speaking to her family.

“I stopped by the apartment and the neighbor told me where you’d moved,” Kate said. “I brought you a small housewarming gift.”

She seemed to be waiting for an invitation to step inside. Lori was too stunned to react.

“Mrs. Bellamy,” Linc said, taking charge. “Come in, please.” He pushed aside a series of empty boxes, clearing a path for Kate. She made her way to the small table in the breakfast nook, where he pulled out a chair for her.

Lori was uncertain of what to say. She’d stood up to her family, and pride wouldn’t allow her to back down. Still, this was her mother; she couldn’t very well ask her to leave. Especially since her real problem was with her father…

“Would you like some coffee or tea?” Linc asked.

“So you’ve unpacked the kitchen?” Kate asked, eyeing the cardboard boxes stacked against a wall.

“I know where the tea bags are and I can boil water,” Lori said. Mary Jo had unboxed the pots and pans, so she knew exactly where to find one.

Her mother grinned. “I taught you well,” she said in a joking voice.

“As a matter of fact you did,” Linc said smoothly. “Lori obviously picked up her cooking skills from you.”

“Oh, honestly, Linc, you’d been eating your brothers’ cooking. Anything was an improvement over that.”

“Mary Jo cooked, too,” he was quick to tell her.

Ignoring him, Lori said to her mother, “Actually, I could stir fry crabgrass and Linc wouldn’t complain.”

“I remember when your father and I were first married,” Kate said with a wistful look. “I was a terrible cook. I ruined almost every meal and yet he ate all those atrocious, burned dinners and said they were delicious. That’s what love will do for you.”