“I am so sorry.” My eyes teared up. “You poor thing. I am your neighbor! I should’ve checked on you when I didn’t see you out yesterday.”
“Oh no. Don’t you feel sorry.”
“But I do! I am so close!”
I took the man’s phone and put my number into it. Told him I would check on him every day. I helped him move out to a chair in his garden. Kacey and I got to work caring for his plants.
According to Richard, he’d be back in the garden after the soreness subsided, but until then, I was delighted to be his hands. Truly happy to learn all the ways he tended his garden—his flowers especially.
He grinned from ear to ear watching me work.
“This is your happy place, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It surely is.”
“It’s written all over your face.”
“Everyone needs a safe place. For me, it’s here.”
Safe place. That struck me.
“While the dew is still on the roses, I come out here. Talk to God, walk around and look at the buds that haven’t opened for the sunshine yet. I think of Rose. I pray for you. Pray for my children.”
“That’s beautiful.”
“The world is a crazy place. But a tended garden is a place of peace.”
“I feel that.” I shrugged, moving the shears deeper into the rose bushes and squeezing.“There’s something grounding about coming out, quietly working, taking note of the growth, protecting it.”
“Grounding. I agree.” He shifted in his seat, wincing. “I actually have a question for you. While you were gathering the supplies, Kacey told me Jack is his daddy.”
“Did he really?”
“Yes ma’am. Seemed downright excited about it too.”
Huh. That was something. Kacey was telling neighbors. I’d have to tell Jack. It would make him happy to know Kacey was excited.
I said, “Guess I need to explain myself, don’t I?”
“No, you certainly don’t have to. I figured there was a lot more to the ‘friends’ claim anyway.”
“How so?”
He chuckled, low and slow. “I’ve had a wife. I know the look in that man’s eyes. And yours.”
I laughed. “What look in his eyes?”
“Like he wants to drag you back into the house.”
“Richard!” I loved elderly people. They could be so unfiltered. “He does not look at me that way.” Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie.
“Whatever you say.”
I shrugged. “It’s a lot more complicated than it looks. We were married before and we got remarried, but not for love.” Once I started explaining, everything kind of spilled out. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to verbally process all that had happened: Nathaniel’s will, Ohio and Chris, how the truth about Kacey came out, how Jack was helping me get the money and start fresh.
“Start fresh?” Richard frowned. “So you’re saying after Jack found out you were mysteriously named on his father’s will, he decided to marry you so you could, in fact, inherit something which should’ve been only his. Then he found out he had a child he didn’t know about, then wanted to be part of that child’s life without taking you to court…and all the while providing for you guys, protecting you from this Chris fella…so you can ‘start fresh?’”
I shifted. It was a lot.
