“Are you enjoying spending time with Sean?”
“I am.” Placing her hands on her hips, Becky stretched sideways. “How did you know Jacob was the man for you?”
“He swept me off my feet so fast I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love him.” Molly sighed. “Each time I look into his eyes, I see a million possibilities. There’s kindness and strength, love and trust, to be sure. But something more than words can never explain.”
“Gran would have called it magic,” Becky said softly.
“Or the luck of the Irish. Jacob’s my pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.”
Becky watched Mary run to the slide and fearlessly climb the ladder. After knowing Sean for such a short time, she had a strong suspicion he could be her pot of gold, too.
Chapter12
Becky was unloading the flowers she’d bought at the market when someone walked across the gravel parking lot behind her.
Thinking Laura must have decided to start work early, she turned and smiled. Then froze. Edith stood uncertainly beside Becky’s truck. She looked tired, and the lines etched into each side of her mouth seemed deeper than when they’d last seen each other.
“I know I didn’t call beforehand, but I wanted to see you before I go home.”
To stop herself from saying something she would regret, Becky grabbed the first bunch of flowers she put her hands on. “I have a lot of work to be doing.”
“I don’t mind helping,” Edith said quickly.
Taking a deep breath, Becky turned and stared at the woman who’d turned her world upside down. “I’ll not be wanting your help. I don’t even want to see you.”
“I know you must be upset. I—”
“’Tis not about you!” Becky dropped her voice. Her gran would tell her to be gracious in the face of adversity—even if it was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. “None of this is about you. ‘Tis about a little girl who’s trying to find her place in the world after her mommy and daddy died.”
“You don’t think I know that? Mary isn’t the only person whose life changed when Jamie and Sophia died. I care about Mary and only want what’s best for her.”
Becky’s hands tightened around the stems of the flowers. “If you cared about Mary, you wouldn’t try to take her away. You know the struggles we’ve been through but, now, when she’s finally settled, you want her to live with you.”
“I’m her grandmother. She’ll be just as happy with me.”
Becky opened the back door of the flower shop and left the roses on the workroom table.
Edith followed her inside. “You can’t keep her forever. Jamie wouldn’t have wanted that.”
“Did it occur to you there was a reason Jamie and Sophia asked me to be Mary’s guardian?”
“Jamie always took the easy way out of any situation. You were engaged to him. He thought you were the best person to look after Mary, but he was wrong.”
“Sophia and Jamie weren’t wrong.”
“You’re a single woman who owns a flower shop in the middle of nowhere. What kind of life will Mary have with you? I have enough money to send her to the best schools, to become part of a society she could only aspire to with you.”
Becky thought of her gran, but even her spirit couldn’t calm the rage building inside of her. “Your money means nothing. I own a successful business in the middle of the fourth-largest city in Montana. My marital status makes no difference to how much love and support I can give Mary.” Striding past Edith, she picked up another box of flowers.
“Jamie never had aspirations. He ran away to Ireland to hide from what he could become. That’s not the life I want for Mary.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want.”
Edith’s brittle laugh made the hairs on the back of Becky’s neck stand on end. “You don’t know how wrong you are. I have employed the best legal team in Milwaukee to revoke your guardianship.” She took a step toward Becky and pointed her finger at her chest. “Shewillbe coming to live with me, whether you want her to or not.”
Jamie had warned her about his mom’s mood changes, but she’d never seen what had terrified him so much. But, now, seeing the anger seething below the surface of Edith’s face, she understood what he’d been so worried about.
“If you’ve said what you came to say, I’ll ask you to leave. If you want to communicate with me in the future, have your expensive legal team contact my lawyer.”
