She chuckles and keeps poking through the bags. “It matters. Babies have sensitive skin. Ah, here it is.” She pulls out a white box and hands it to me. “There you go. Put a load in like I showed you, then come back.” Of course she has to point out that she’s the one who taught me to do my own laundry. This woman has done more for me than my parents ever have.
She turns her attention to the guys. “Hurry with those donuts, boys. This furniture won’t move itself.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Eric says, dusting his hands off before walking over to kiss MaeLynn’s cheek. “We’re at your mercy. Tell us what to do.”
I leave them to it, take the bags of baby clothes and blankets and the laundry detergent, and head into the laundry room. After spending several minutes taking the tags off of everything, I finally start a load of laundry and go back to the guest room—I mean, Lincoln’s room to see what else needs doing. With MaeLynn’s guidance, the guys finished building the crib and placed the rest of the furniture. Books and toys have taken up residence on the shelves. A soft area rug has been rolled out under the chair and ottoman, and there’s even a toy box in the corner. My guest bedroom has transformed into a nursery..
“What do you think?” MaeLynn asks, sliding an arm around my waist. The guys are already back in the kitchen; I can hear them laughing from here. “Once we get the mattress protector and sheet onto the crib mattress, you’ll be ready for Lincoln to spend the night.”
My heart flutters and I smile. I have a son and now he has a bedroom in my home. A small twinge of sadness pings in my chest when I realize he won’t get to live with me full time, but it’s overshadowed by the joy I feel at knowing he’ll be in my life at all. He’s an unexpected gift and I need to enjoy it. I’d almost written off ever being a dad, thanks to the Annabelle fiasco, and then Phoebe and Lincoln showed up to give me another shot at it.
“It’s perfect, MaeLynn. I can’t thank you enough.” I wrap an arm around her and pull her into a hug. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“You would have figured it out, eventually. And your mom could have helped you, I’m sure.”
I bark a laugh. “I doubt that, MaeLynn. You know my mother isn’t concerned about this kind of stuff. She’s probably going to shit when I tell her I had a baby with a stranger. I don’t think this fits with her version of what’s acceptable in the eyes of her so-called friends. She’d have been fine if it had been Annabelle who had a baby, but I don’t think Phoebe is quite what she was hoping for in a daughter-in-law.” I can picture the look on my mom’s face the first time she takes in Phoebe’s crazy copper curls and freckled skin. I somehow doubt my mother will think they’re as adorable as I do.
MaeLynn pulls away and smiles up at me. “Oh? Daughter-in-law, is it?” She chuckles when my mouth drops open to protest. That’s not what I meant to say. Of course I’m not marrying Phoebe. “I’m teasing you,” she says, reading my panic on my face. “I know what you meant. I think you need to cut your mom some slack, though. She’s doing the best she knows how in a situation she never wanted. Lord knows your dad hasn’t made her life easy.”
“Hasn’t made it easy?” I scoff. “She spends her days gossiping with her country club friends and trying to force me to fit into some strange society ideal she’s dreamed up. What could be easier?”
MaeLynn levels me with a look. “Did I ever tell you that your mom and I used to be best friends?”
That gives me pause. “You were?” For as long as I can remember, my mom has nothing but bad things to say about MaeLynn. She was forever making negative comments about her bright makeup and eccentric clothing choices. It’s hard to believe they’d been friends at all, let alone best friends. “What happened?”
“Years ago, when I left my husband, she convinced your father to hire me as his assistant. As the company grew more successful, I gained a special insight into the kind of man he is. I thought she would want to know the way he was behaving, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. She didn’t believe me and she’s never forgiven me for telling her what she considered to be lies about her husband.” She shrugs. “She wasn’t ready to uproot her entire life, so she severed our friendship. But I suspect this grandchild may be the catalyst she needs.The winds of change are blowing, Archer. Mark my words.”
I shake my head. I know my dad has always been an asshole, but I thought it was because he was so focused on the business he didn’t pay enough attention to his family. MaeLynn seems to be saying it was something else. “What did he do?”
“That’s not for me to tell you.” She reaches out and squeezes my hand. “But never mind all that. I only mentioned it because I don’t want you to be too hard on your mother. She’s made difficult choices in her life, and it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows for her. Give her a chance.”
My mother’s been pushing me to fit in with her friends for so long that I don’t know that Icangive her a chance. But I suppose for MaeLynn, I can try. I nod.
“Good. Now let’s go set up the living room items. Lana said this baby swing she set you up with is the best thing since sliced bread and I can’t wait to see it in action. And after we’re done, I expect you to tell me all about Phoebe and Lincoln.” She turns and leaves the room. “You boys better have saved me a donut,” she yells. “Or we’re going to have a problem.”
I can hear them laughing and arguing as I take a seat in the rocking chair. It glides smoothly, and I imagine soothing a fussy Lincoln as I slide back and forth while thinking about what MaeLynn said. Will my mom be willing to give up her idea of fitting in because she has a grandson now? And what was it my father did she was so willing to overlook that she lost a friendship with MaeLynn over?
Chapter 19
Visiting Santa’s Toy Shop
Phoebe
ThesheetofpaperDevon gave me yesterday shakes in my hand as I read the address he’s written, and then look back up at the building. The numbers match, so this must be it. Funny, it looks nothing like I expected a toy factory to look. Not that I’m sure what I expected it to look like, but this gray, windowless box isn’t it.
Pulling my car into the lot, I drive around until I find the spots marked “guest parking” and pull into space. I look in the rearview mirror at Lincoln. “Well, buddy. This is it. Should we go in and see where your dad works?” And suss out where he is with his thoughts on a custody agreement under the pretense of inviting him to Christmas Eve dinner. But, you know, without letting him know that’s what I’m doing.
Officer Kaden messaged me this morning with the information he found out about Archer Fade, which was nothing. Well, nothing worrisome. He’s the thirty-four-year-old only son of Archibald and Vivian Fade. He’s never been married, and he doesn’t appear to have any kids. Besides Lincoln. He doesn’t have a criminal record, and no one has ever heard of him forgetting a kid at a carnival. On paper, and according to the people Kaden spoke to, Archer’s a decent guy. So it looks like as far as having him in Lincoln’s life, everything will be fine.
Well, itwillbe fine as long as he doesn’t have ideas about trying to get custody from me.
And that, of course, is why I’m even here right now.I’m sure this visit will go well.I roll my eyes at the sarcastic tone in my head before turning off the car and getting out. I’m not sure I can pull off sneaky, but I need to try. Ever since Devon brought up the custody thing, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I need to figure out what Archer is planning to do.
Moving to the back door, I unbuckle Lincoln and get him out of his car seat. And with him and his diaper bag in my arms, I take a deep breath and stride toward the main doors.
Here goes nothing.
Stepping into the lobby, I notice that what looked like a windowless box on the outside is a nice, normal lobby on the inside. And it’s not windowless at all. In fact, the entire wall facing the parking lot is one long bank of windows. There’s some sort of privacy frosting on it that looked like gray concrete from the outside. That’s pretty cool. Makes it look like they’re hiding something, but that’s ridiculous. What could a toy factory have to hide?
