Family Ties: Family Ties / Promise Of Grace

“I understand. But won’t you have to face it sometime?”

He frowned. “I’ve faced her death, the fact that I have to go on alone. But the girls need a change.” Unwilling to share how upsetting this was with her, he switched subjects. “And I couldn’t take looking for another baby-sitter.”

She offered him the sandwich platter. “That bad?”

He took a few of the crustless diamond-shaped snacks, his hands seeming unusually large and clumsy amidst the fragile delicacies. “Worse. I wanted to be sure that whoever was taking care of the girls was responsible.”

She drew her brows together, a shadow eclipsing the bright curiosity in her eyes. “That didn’t work?”

He paused for a moment, examining the odd little sprouts that edged the filling of the delicate sandwich. “Depends on your point of view. The first baby-sitter, Mrs. Sanders, took charge immediately. I imagine there were POW camps run with more humor. Even I was tiptoeing around the woman. I didn’t want the girls growing up believing they had to snap to attention in their own home.”

Cindy laughed. “Surely there was a compromise.”

“I hired former schoolteachers, and even a registered nurse.”

“Weren’t they better than the commandant?”

“Somewhat. But the truth is no professional caretaker’s going to love the girls and care for them like someone in the family would.”

Cindy’s fingers tightened around the handle of her teacup and she paused for a moment before she spoke. “You’re right, of course. But aren’t you worried about uprooting the girls?”

“From preschool?” Flynn shook his head, knowing it wasn’t the girls who would be uprooted. “They’re young enough to adjust to a move. More so than to the loss of their mother. The only reason I’m considering relocating is because of them.” Even if it meant reconnecting with a woman he considered best forgotten. “Everything I do is in their best interest.”

“I know it is, Flynn,” she responded, her gaze resting on him intently. “I’m just trying to be a good sounding board. This is a big step, and Julia’s only been gone for a year.”

“True. But I didn’t just wake up one morning with a wild hair. I’m able to provide almost every monetary need my children have, but I can’t produce a family I don’t have.”

Cindy nodded, knowing he, too, was the last member of his family. “I may be one of the few people in the world who can understand that.” It had been a devastating blow for Cindy to lose Julia since they were the last two left in their family. Still, something about Flynn’s uncharacteristic behavior bothered her. He was not the sort of man who moved to an unseen town on a whim.

“And you can’t force a connection,” Flynn was saying. “Children either feel that for a person, or they don’t. And the girls feel it with you.”

Tears misted in Cindy’s eyes and her lips trembled, emotion overshadowing caution. “They mean so much to me. Thank you for showing your trust in me.”

Flynn hesitated, but knew he had to be honest. His daughters were too precious to him for anything less than the truth. “You won’t have to take on any responsibility with them.”

She blanched, then recovered quickly. “Of course.”

Flynn didn’t want to hurt her, but she had to know the real purpose of their move, why he was doing this against all reason. “The girls need an emotional connection with you, rather than help with their upbringing.”

Cindy’s head bobbed up and down a bit too vigorously. “I understand. And I suppose you’ve worked out something for your company.”

He tried not to remember how much that hurt, as well. “After Julia died, my vice presidents banded together, running things so efficiently that it became apparent I wasn’t needed for the day-to-day operations.”

“Won’t you miss it?” she asked softly. “It’s been a big part of your life.”

More than she could possibly know. “I’m not content to glide along on past accomplishments.” He forced enthusiasm into his voice, guessing otherwise the words would ring with empty truth. “I need something new, something challenging.”

“And you can find that in Rosewood?” Cindy asked skeptically.

Flynn managed a reasonable chuckle. “Aren’t you being a bit snobbish about your adopted home?”

“Not at all. Just realistic. We’re a long way from boardrooms and stock quotes.”

“Not as far as you think. With the Internet, you can be in Iceland and have as much access to Wall Street as anyone in New York. But I just want the right place to retreat, one where I can recoup, try to start again.”

Her expression softened. “I know it’s been difficult for you. I miss Julia terribly every day. I remember her laugh, her way of making the worst situation bearable.” Cindy met his eyes. “It must be far worse for you—especially trying to be mother and father to the girls. But the important thing is that the girls do have you. The rest will come in time.”

Uncharacteristic doubt assailed him as it had since Julia had died. “You’re so sure?”

Cindy took a deep breath, the green of her eyes deepening to near emerald. He wondered at the emotion that skittered across her face. “As sure as any one person can be. The Lord never gives us burdens that are heavier than we can bear.”

He shrugged impatiently, thinking her talk of faith must be her latest fad, one that would no doubt be forgotten soon. He knew from experience that she’d be better off without that treacherous fantasy. “Church seems like ancient history.”

She searched his eyes. “That’s too bad. You won’t find anything more relevant and timely.”

He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of time, would you like to go with me to meet the Realtor? After all, you recommended Linda Baker. Besides, you know the town. You can steer me away from any lemons.”

The edge of her mouth curled upward. “Kind of takes the adventure out of the process, doesn’t it?”

“You’ve forgotten, Cindy. I don’t care for adventure.”

Cindy hadn’t forgotten. She’d simply pushed that truth to the back of her consciousness. Along with the cache of emotions Flynn Mallory created. While he waited in her parlor, Cindy reached for a change of clothes, remembering the first time she’d met him.

She and Julia were at a party. Spotting Flynn Mallory, Cindy knew immediately that everything about him seemed larger than life. From his shock of unruly chestnut hair to the fire in his dark eyes, to the fierceness of his determination. She had never met anyone like him. Immediately she was attracted to his strength and purpose. Unlike the other young men in the group, he had a maturity and confidence that set him apart. Cindy hadn’t doubted from the moment she met him that he would succeed. Everything about him said he wouldn’t allow anything less.

She’d been equally determined to make him hers.

And that remained one of the foremost failures in her life.

After she and Flynn had shared one electrifying gaze that she still couldn’t forget, Cindy had fallen hard and fast. Unable to still what had momentarily flowed between them, in the ensuing weeks Cindy had employed every trick she knew to interest him. Not because she wanted a mild flirtation, but because she had truly fallen in love with him.

But the more bizarre and outlandish her efforts, the more he withdrew. She and Julia saw him often in their social circle. But Flynn began to concentrate on Julia. He clearly valued Julia’s stability and desire to have a family.

And despite his initial attraction to Cindy, he seemed determined to ignore the adventure she craved. And that was something she’d never understood. For it seemed the fire in his eyes matched hers. It was the first and only time she’d ever felt that way about a man.

Even though it broke her heart, she backed off when he and Julia became serious. And she steadfastly accepted the position of maid of honor for Julia, cheerfully organizing showers, parties and wedding breakfasts.

If there were tears beneath the smiles, no one knew. And Cindy told herself that her feelings for Flynn would fade. That in time, she would come to view him as a brother. But that hadn’t happened.

Instead, to extricate herself from the situation, a few months after the wedding she had moved to Rosewood where her best friend, Katherine Blake Carlson, was the pastor of the community church.

In the time that followed, Cindy had seen her sister far less frequently than she would have liked. She made sure she visited when Flynn was away on business, keeping the pain at bay. When she did occasionally run into him, it all rushed back, though. He was unfailingly polite when they met, but she could tell that despite the passage of time he still saw her as flighty, unfocused. And she didn’t try to change that opinion. It didn’t really matter anymore.

Yet his tie to Julia and subsequent place in their family remained an unhealed wound. So Rosewood became Cindy’s escape, her place of peace.

And now Flynn Mallory was shattering that to bits.

Cindy shook back her hair, added earrings, then picked up her purse, feeling strangely nervous about being in Flynn’s company.