Keeping Caroline

“To get your children,” he told Gem gruffly. The farmhouse was the last place he wanted to be right now, but he couldn’t just leave Gem here. “Caroline can take you home. Have you been drinking?” he asked.

“No.”

He squinted at her in the shadows outside the bar.

“Really,” she squeaked.

“Good.” He held out the keys to the truck he’d borrowed from Mr. Johnson. “You drive.”

Despite Gem’s appearance, and her behavior, he believed Caroline was right about the girl. She had a long road ahead, as did her babies. But with Caroline’s help, she just might make it.

Caroline stopped pacing when she saw the headlights beam up from the bottom of the hill.

“Is it her?” Savannah asked.

“I don’t know.” Realizing she had chewed her thumbnail down to skin, she lowered her hand. “It must be. God, I hope it is.”

“Jeb, go into the kitchen, please,” Savannah said.

“I wanna stay and see the fight.”

“There isn’t going to be a fight. Now go to the kitchen.”

“But, Ma!”

“Go on, little rebel,” Caroline said, laughing. “There’s chocolate-chip cookies in there. In the cow jar about a foot to the left of the sink.”

Even with the cookie incentive, Jeb’s steps were slow, measured. And not because he was worried about running into anything.

Caroline nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned and saw it wasn’t Gem standing in the doorway. “Matt? What—”

He swept his feet across the Welcome mat, then pushed the screen open and stepped inside. Only after he’d crossed the threshold could Caroline see the girl cowering behind him. He reached back and pulled her inside, but he did it gently.

“Gem?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Caroline,” she said to the floor.

She stepped closer to Gem. Sniffed. “Do I smell beer?”

“It’s him, not me!”

She shifted her gaze to Matt, who just shrugged and headed for the kitchen. “Mind if I get some coffee?”

Of course not, she would have said if he’d still been in the room. She winced, remembering Jeb had been banished to the kitchen. Served Matt right, not waiting for her to answer. Besides, her husband could hold his own with a five-year-old.

She hoped.

Gem told a dubious story about her car not starting, and getting a ride home from a guy named J.J., who took her to the bar instead, then disappeared, stranding her. By the time the tale was told, Matt had reappeared, looking none the worse for wear after his latest Jeb encounter.

Maybe he’d smoothed things out with the boy. She could only hope.

Turning back to Gem, Caroline sighed, swimming in a tide of sympathy for everything the girl had been through in her young life, but knowing she couldn’t show it. “Gem, you know I’m going to have to report this to your probation officer, and to Max and Rosie’s social worker.”

Gem’s shoulders jerked. Her birdlike hands fisted. “No. Please!”

“I don’t have a choice. I’ve already taken Max and Rosie back to your foster parents for the night. You’ll have to explain why you weren’t here to pick them up.”

“But they’ll send me to juvie for breaking my probation.”

“There’ll be a hearing.”

“I’ll lose my babies.”

“That’s up to the judge.”

Gem screeched, launching herself at Caroline. Matt’s big body was between her and Gem before the girl got halfway there. Gem stumbled in her high-heeled boots. Matt caught her by the upper arms, held her upright.

Her chest heaved and her face twisted. “You can’t do this!” she screamed, clawing to see over Matt’s shoulder. “I hate you! Do you hear me? I hate you, and I’m going to get you for this.”

When Gem’s knees buckled, Matt turned her arms loose. She crumpled to the floor like a broken doll, sobbing.

Caroline would have gone to her, but Matt held her back. She slapped at him ineffectively. She was the closest thing to a mother Gem had, and damn him, he was blocking her way to her child.

Savannah restored sanity to the house.

She curled up next to Gem, let the girl cry for a few moments, then lifted her up, helped her to the door, talking all the while, rubbing her back, making that human connection that Gem had lacked in her early years, yet needed so badly.

At the door, Savannah stopped for her purse and looked back to Caroline. “I’ll see that she gets home. Can Jeb stay here?”

Caroline nodded numbly. When Savannah and Gem were gone, she turned, surprised to find Matt’s hands still on her waist. His green eyes were calm, concerned, and mesmerizing.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Of course.” She pretended she could shrug off what happened. For about a second. Then the tears came, half choked. She should have pulled away from Matt. She wasn’t his responsibility any longer; he wasn’t her protector. She shouldn’t want, much less need, his comfort.

Indecisive, she swayed until his arms came around her, then she buried her face against one of his solid shoulders until the storm inside her was spent.

She’d had her cry, and Matt had seen for himself that she was better now. He should probably go, while Caroline was upstairs putting Jeb to bed. But the truth was, he didn’t want to leave. As he’d stood there with her sobbing into his shoulder, he’d realized this was the first time they’d touched—really touched—since he’d been in Sweet Gum.

Matt’s family had always been touchers. From quick hugs to long, drawn-out embraces, someone’s arms were always around someone else. Being alone over a year now, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed touching someone.

Touching Caroline.

Even as he thought it, he cursed himself.

He was a pig. That was the only explanation. His focus should be on getting out of Sweet Gum, not getting into his wife’s bed. Besides, he’d just be setting himself up for another loss. Caroline might be upset enough to take his comfort tonight, but come morning, she would only run away from him again.

Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t stay a while longer. Just to make sure she was okay.