Wanted: A Real Family

“We wouldn’t want to make her cry. Come on, let’s go back and make her smile. I bet she always smiles when she sees you.”

It only took them about ten minutes to make their way through the rows and find the path that led to the cottage. All was quiet as they approached. Jase was actually a little surprised that Sara didn’t come to meet them. A shout across the vineyard rows, and she would have known where they were.

Jase could see Sara through the screen door. She was sitting on the sofa, staring into space.

Amy pulled open the door and ran toward her, holding out the stones in her little hand.

“Mommy, look what I found.”

Sara immediately took her daughter into her arms, gave her a hug and said, “Let me see.”

But Jase could tell the sound of her voice was forced. He could see her smile wobble. What had gone on with that insurance investigator?

“We’ll have to put your stones in a box. We’ll make it a treasure box.”

“I’ll put it under my bed.”

“That’s a great idea. But right now we have to get you washed up and ready for bed. Jase, thanks for taking her on a walk.”

“I need to snitch one of your bottles of water. Why don’t you put Amy to bed, and then we can talk about your visitor.”

Sara’s eyes grew wide and she looked almost fearful. “There’s no need—”

“I think there is. You look a little shaken up and I’d like to know why.”

She glanced down at Amy. “Honey, why don’t you go wash your hands and brush your teeth. I’ll be in in a minute.”

“Are you going to look for a box?”

“I will. Go on, now.”

When Amy had left the room, Sara squared her shoulders. “I’m fine, Jase. Really. There’s no need for you to stay.”

Should he push, or shouldn’t he? “I’m going to drink that bottle of water. After you put Amy to bed, if you want me to leave, I will. It’s your call.”

Her lower lip trembled a little but then she firmed it up and gave him a resigned look. “Fine. It usually takes about twenty minutes. If you get tired of waiting …”

“I won’t.”

Sara avoided his gaze and went to help her daughter prepare for bed.

Jase stood at the counter, drinking his bottle of water. He didn’t want to crowd Sara. If she wanted him to go, he’d go. If she wanted him to stay, he’d listen, just as she’d listened to him two years ago.

When she returned to the living room, he really wasn’t sure what her decision would be. Her expression was as worried as it had been when he and Amy had returned from their walk.

At first, she looked at him and said, “You might not want to get involved in my life.”

“Listening won’t involve me.”

Her pretty brows hiked up as if to say, You don’t believe that any more than I do.

He shrugged. Then he set his water bottle down and crossed the room to her, settling his hands on her shoulders. “Maybe I can help.”

“No one can help with this. Mr. Kiplinger was here to warn me they might not be paying out on my policy. He didn’t put it into so many words, but the insurance company believes I could have set the fire.”

Nothing had prepared Jase for that, but he didn’t step away. He just responded, “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on.”

Her voice almost a whisper, Sara said, “I don’t talk about my marriage.”

He dropped his hands from her shoulders. “Maybe you should.”

“I’m sure you don’t like to talk about your fiancée calling off your engagement.”

Whoa! So she knew how to fight when the time came. “It was a mutual decision when I found out she was unfaithful. Was your husband unfaithful?”

Sara looked around the room for a minute as if she were trying to find a corner to escape to, as if anything would be better than telling him about this. But then she took a deep breath and motioned to the sofa. “Let’s sit.”

“It’s a long story?” he joked lightly.

“It’s … complicated.”

What relationship wasn’t? he thought.

After they were seated on the couch, she turned toward him, her eyes a little too bright. “When Conrad and I first married, I moved into his apartment because his was bigger than mine. He managed a home-improvement store and it was doing well. My job was secure, so we didn’t have to think about finances very much. But then he entered into talks to open a store of his own. He spoke with bankers and investors, had a couple of custom suits made and his taste in suits, shoes and wine changed, becoming more expensive. I loved him. I trusted him. I thought he could do no wrong so I went along with the changes. Then I got pregnant.”

“Unplanned?” Jase asked.

She tilted her hand back and forth. “We wanted kids. We just weren’t sure when we wanted to start a family. We went away one weekend and the pregnancy was the result.”

Jase found himself not wanting to think about Sara with another man. That was crazy. Conrad had been her husband.

“What happened after your pregnancy?”

“Conrad thought we should buy a house. He was sure the investors for his own store were going to come through. We looked at several houses and there was one we really liked. I thought the price was too high, but Conrad said we could afford it. I wasn’t privy to all of his business dealings, so I believed him. He took care of the paperwork and settled on the house. I knew the mortgage payment each month seemed exorbitant but Conrad said we could manage it, and I shouldn’t worry. I was seven months pregnant then, and concerned about everything baby. The thought of planning the nursery and the baby’s playroom and decorating the rest of the house kept me more occupied than I should have been. I should have asked more questions, but I was a trusting wife.”

Jase heard the bitterness behind the words and suspected what was coming. What was it about loving someone that made a woman put good sense aside and wear blinders? He was a good one to pass judgment on that. Maybe men weren’t much different.

Because Sara had sounded angrier at herself than she did at her husband, he asked, “What didn’t you see?”

“I didn’t see that we were sinking deeper and deeper into debt. I didn’t see that Conrad’s store wasn’t doing as well as he said it was. I didn’t see that his deals with investors never materialized. I didn’t see that the expensive cars and the diamond bracelet he gave me for my birthday were just a sham to cover up everything that was happening.”

“You found out about all this after your husband died?”

“No. That wasn’t the way it happened. The way it happened made everything worse. Men came to the house one evening and repossessed Conrad’s car. Amy was two and I had gone back to work part-time because I really do love what I do. That night I started asking questions and didn’t stop, questions I should have asked a lot sooner. I found out we were so deep in debt I didn’t see how we were ever going to get out. Conrad had lied about so much. There were no investors. Anyone he’d tried to convince decided the economy was too weak. The store he managed wasn’t doing well. Our credit cards had reached their limit. I just felt so … betrayed that he kept it all from me.”

“Once trust is broken, it’s difficult to earn back.”

“Exactly. I found I couldn’t trust him. I didn’t know when to believe him. I had doubts about everything he said. That was our marriage for the next year—all filled with tension, regret and resentment. I went back to work full-time and found The Mommy Club day care instead of a private child care provider. I covered home budget costs wherever I could. But then I found out Conrad was still courting investors for a store that would never be! He was running up bar tabs and dinner tabs that we couldn’t afford. He thought I wasn’t supporting his dreams. I thought he wasn’t facing reality. And then, after a year of living like that, Conrad had a heart attack in his office at work. It was a massive coronary and he couldn’t be revived. The doctors said there was a defect that was probably congenital and Conrad never knew he had it, but I think the stress did it. Our marriage did it. I did it.”