Child of Her Heart

“The voice of experience, I take it?”

He nodded good-naturedly.

“They’re staying at the Lighthouse Inn, too, Dad,” Lamond said.

“I guess we’re neighbors, then. Temporarily anyway. Justin Weber,” he introduced himself politely, “father to these two rascals.”

She raised a hand and he shook it, his fingers warm, his grip firm, but gentle. The simple handshake shouldn’t have given her butterflies in the pit of her stomach, but it did. “Nice to meet you.”

He released her hand. Immediately, she wondered if there was a Mrs. Justin Weber, but she didn’t ask because she didn’t want to answer questions posed to her.

“Where’s your dad?” Lamond asked.

Meredith blinked, but understood momentarily.

“Her husband you mean,” Jonah corrected.

“I don’t have a husband,” she replied. It was a relief to be asked an easy question for a change, one she didn’t mind answering. Most people asked probing questions about Anna’s parentage, and Meredith found them offensive and rude.

“Did he die?” Lamond’s young face took on a sad expression. “Our mom died.”

The answer to her wondering was a disturbingly sad one and her heart extended even further to the motherless boys. “No, honey,” she said, her voice soft with sympathy. “I never had a husband. I’m sorry about your mom.”

Her gaze was drawn to the man’s, but his dark one didn’t reveal emotion.

“We have a nanny,” Jonah said. “She’s sort of like a mom.”

Not knowing what to say, Meredith simply listened.

“Her name’s Mauli,” Lamond supplied. “It’s Hawaiian. She knows how to do cartwheels.”

Jonah nodded. “And she can multiply and divide in her head. Without a calculator.”

“And she makes macaroni and cheese without a box.” Jonah looked up at his dad. “Doesn’t she, Dad?”

Justin nodded.

Meredith smiled at their exuberant praise of their nanny. “She sounds like a prize.”

“Couldn’t get along without her,” the man said.

“Is she traveling with you?”

“Oh, yes.” Justin glanced in the direction of the road that led away from the beach. “She’s shopping. She gets plenty of time to herself while we’re on vacation. Trips are one of her job perks.”

“That’s nice for her.”

He nodded. “Well, boys, we’d better leave Miss…Meredith to her book and finish our walk. It was nice to meet you.”

“You, too.”

“We’re going to see the lighthouse now,” Lamond said.

“Have a good time.”

“You could come with us,” Lamond added, in the innocent fashion of a child. “It’ll be really cool.”

Again she met their father’s eyes, but the man seemed a little uncomfortable this time.

She smiled. “Thank you, but I’ve planned to rest today. Anna and I are enjoying the beach. You have a good time.”

“When we see you, we’ll tell you all about it.”

His innocent assumption that she would just naturally be interested in his account of their sight-seeing trip was endearing. “I’ll look forward to it.”

They said their goodbyes, and Justin straightened to walk away. Lamond tugged on his arm, and he swept the boy up onto his shoulders.

Meredith watched the small family as they strolled away on the tawny sand, and couldn’t help noticing Justin Weber’s fine form—broad shoulders, narrow hips and long legs. Sad that they’d lost their wife and mother. Nice that they were all the same color.

Whoa! Where that thought had come from, she didn’t know, but she’d surprised herself with it.

Anna made tiny waking noises, and Meredith glanced at her watch. She’d planned to stay on the beach for another couple of hours, so she changed Anna and nursed her.

Occasionally someone on the beach nodded a hello, but she enjoyed the tranquility of the crashing waves and the solitude. She’d left her cell phone in her room because she didn’t want Veronica to reach her and ask where she was.

Finally getting hungry, she packed up her belongings, slid Anna into the sling she wore to carry her and made her way back to the inn. As she kicked off her shoes and shook out sand at the entrance, a young male employee hurried to help her and store her beach rentals.

Meredith went to her room where she locked the door and placed Anna in the crib the inn had provided. There were four messages on her cell phone, all from Veronica, all pleading with her to call and listen to reason. Meredith deleted them, turned off her phone and took a nap.

Waking rested, she fed Anna, took a quick shower and dressed in trousers and a silky blouse. She carried Anna out to the car and glanced at the food and entertainment guide she’d discovered in a rack inside the inn. They all looked good and the addresses were meaningless, so she headed down a main street.

The first restaurant she found was a seafood place with weathered clapboard siding, a wooden walk-way with posts and rope strung between them to mimic a wharf, and a shark’s jawbone over the door. Meredith liked the authentic look and it had a good rating in the guidebook, so she parked and entered.

A hostess asked her seating preferences just as a young voice called, “Miss Meredith! Miss Meredith!”

She turned to discover Lamond Weber racing across the foyer toward her. She shifted Anna’s seat to her other hand. “Well, hello.”

Dressed in a fresh white sport shirt, Justin walked forward and greeted her with a warm smile. “We were just being shown to a table. Will you join us?”

Meredith glanced from Justin to Lamond to the hostess and couldn’t think of a single reason not to accept his offer. “Thank you. I’d love to.”

“Great. We’ll need another chair, miss,” he said. “And one of those bases to put the car seat on.”

“What’s that?” Meredith asked.

He stepped beside her and touched his hand to the small of her back to guide her through the tables. She was keenly aware of his warm touch through her clothing.

“They have high chairs that flip over so you can fasten your infant seat on top,” Justin explained. “Some places have an aluminum or wooden frame for the same purpose. Gets the baby up on your level, and you don’t have to leave her in her seat on the floor or try to hold her while you eat.”