Wind Chime Point

4



At loose ends for the first time in ages, Gabi wandered through her grandmother’s house the day after her movie date with Wade. Though she had slept late, she felt restless and edgy. She knew perfectly well it was because her life had no structure right now, no purpose. For a woman who’d been driven to succeed, who’d worked eighteen out of every twenty-four hours more often than not, the empty hours she faced now were a cross to bear, not a relief.

When her cell phone rang, she seized it like a lifeline without bothering to check the caller ID. After she’d answered, she was stunned to hear Paul’s voice.

“Gabriella? Is that you?” he repeated when she held the phone in shocked silence.

“What do you want?” she finally asked.

“I heard what happened at work,” he admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” she said tightly. “If that’s all, I need to be going.”

“Wait!” he protested. “I thought we should talk, settle a few things.”

“Paul, believe me, you made your position plain the last time we spoke. We have nothing left to discuss.”

“Look, I’m really sorry about how I behaved. I was insensitive and selfish. You just caught me completely off guard with the whole baby thing.”

“The whole baby thing,” she echoed. “What a quaint way to put it! You and I conceived a child together. You acted as if I’d done that all by myself and solely to ruin your life. I can’t tell you how cherished and special that made me feel.”

“I said I was sorry,” he repeated impatiently. “Look, I know I’m bungling this again. I just want to talk, figure out how to handle things from here on out.”

“There’s nothing for you to worry about,” she responded. “I’m handling things just fine on my own. That’s what I do, you know. I handle things. Isn’t that what you suggested as you walked out the door? That this was just one more challenge for me to deal with?”

“That was before you lost your job,” he said, as if she needed reminding. “You’ll need some financial support for sure now. I want you to know I intend to step up, for you and the baby.”

“Not necessary,” she said. “From now on the less you have to do with me or the baby, the better. I’m not sure I could stomach the sight of you.”

“Now you’re just being shortsighted and stubborn,” he said. “Having a child can be a huge expense. I’m the father. It’s up to me to contribute to his or her support.”

Gabi drew in a deep breath and reminded herself of what she’d read online about adoptions. “There’s only one thing I want you to do for me, and it doesn’t require one dime from you.”

“What?”

“I want you to have papers drawn up relinquishing all parental rights.”

The request seemed to stun him. “What?”

“That’s it. I imagine any of those very expensive attorneys who play golf with you every week can handle that for you. You obviously didn’t want this child. I just want to make sure that you legally relinquish all rights.”

“But why?” he asked suspiciously. “I’m offering to pay child support.”

“And I’m telling you, I don’t want your money. This document is all I want. I want to be sure you don’t wake up some day, decide you made a terrible mistake and try to disrupt this child’s life.”

“There’s more to this,” he said. “Normally you’d be battling tooth and nail to see that I paid dearly to ensure the child’s financial future.”

“Which just proves you don’t know me at all. I don’t want any part of you, and I can ensure the baby’s future will be a good one.”

“Now? With no job?”

“Not every company is as conservative as the one I just left,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “I’ll work again. Now, will you get the document or not?”

“I’ll have to think it over,” he said.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Paul. I’m letting you off the hook, which is exactly what you said you wanted. Stop pretending this requires any deep consideration on your part. Grab the deal.”

“Fine,” he said, proving she was right about this so-called epiphany of his. There was nothing sincere about it.

“I’ll have the papers drawn up and sent over by courier tomorrow,” he added.

“You’ll need to send them to Sand Castle Bay. I’m staying with my Grandmother at the moment.”

“I suppose your sisters are there, too,” he said with an unmistakable edge of sarcasm.

“They are. So what?”

“It explains a lot, that’s all. The Castle troops have rallied, forming a united front against evil.”

She almost laughed at the drama he was implying. “You’re not evil, Paul. Just selfish and insensitive. I can assure you that my sisters have given you very little thought, much less hatched some nefarious scheme to get even with you.” Not that Emily and Samantha wouldn’t enjoy doing exactly that if she’d signaled she wanted it.

“I’m not sure I buy that,” he said.

“It’s the truth. You’re just not that important. Now, I’ll expect those documents by the end of the week.”

“Maybe I should bring them in person, just in case you’ve had a change of heart once you’re thinking more clearly. This could be the hormones talking.”

“I’m hanging up now,” she said, barely containing her fury over the sexist comment. “Otherwise, this will not end on a civil note.”

Before he could respond, she disconnected the call, then threw the cell phone across the room. Samantha snatched it out of the air before it could hit the wall. Gabi winced when she saw her.

“How much did you hear?” she asked her sister.

“Enough to figure out it was Paul, and that you weren’t any happier with the conversation this time than you had been when you gave him the news about the baby.”

“He accused me of being hormonal,” she reported indignantly, pacing to work off some steam.

Samantha chuckled. “Well, you probably are, but it’s not exactly diplomatic on his part to point it out. Why’d he call? He did make the call, right? Not you?”

“Oh, no, this was all about him. He called to soothe his conscience. He wanted to throw some money my way.”

“And you turned it down?”

“Of course I did,” she said, continuing to pace. “I don’t want his money. All I want is for him to relinquish all parental rights to this baby. That way, when I put him or her up for adoption, there won’t be any complications.”

Samantha frowned.

“Oh, don’t look like that,” Gabi grumbled. “I just wanted to cover that base. I saw my chance and took it.”

“And if you keep the baby? Don’t you think Paul owes it to you and your child to help pay expenses?”

“I don’t need his money,” Gabi insisted stubbornly.

“It might make a tidy nest egg for your son or daughter’s education,” Samantha said reasonably. “At the rate college expenses are rising, you’ll probably have to mortgage not only your house but your soul to assure the kid can attend a major university.”

“You think I’m being shortsighted,” Gabi concluded with a sigh. “Maybe I am, but even if I keep this baby, I don’t want Paul to have any say in his or her life.”

“When the child gets a little older, he or she might feel differently,” Samantha argued.

“Which is yet another recommendation for adoption, if you ask me,” Gabi said irritably, putting a protective hand over her belly. “I’ll be saving this child from all the bitterness and hard feelings.”

“You don’t mean that,” Samantha said. “You’re hurt and justifiably angry about the way Paul handled the news of the pregnancy, but surely you don’t want to punish the baby by trying to keep the identity of the father locked away forever.”

Gabi sighed. “Okay, no. You’re right. Then I’d be behaving just as selfishly as Paul was when he said he wanted no part of the baby.” She gave her sister an imploring look. “But you have to see how much simpler it could be for this child to be raised in a loving home with two parents who will dote on her and not have all this emotional baggage they’re dragging around.”

Samantha smiled. “I have boundless faith in your maturity, sweetie. You won’t allow your emotional baggage to affect your child.”

“I wish I were as sure of that as you are.”

“Give it time,” Samantha advised. “You have a few months to get your equilibrium back before you have to make a final decision. Just don’t do anything hasty. Can you promise me that much, at least?”

As if to echo Samantha’s plea, the baby fluttered in Gabi’s womb, making his or her presence—and maybe even his or her opinion—felt. Gabi sighed, wondering once more if she’d really be able to let this child go when the time came, no matter how deep her belief that it was for the best.

* * *



All things considered, Wade thought, his evening with Gabriella had gone pretty well. He’d managed to keep himself from trying to steal a kiss when he’d taken her back to Cora Jane’s. He wanted to believe the decision had been part of a greater strategy, but he had a hunch it had stemmed from a fear of humiliating rejection. No way was she ready for so much as a hint of his growing feelings for her. She’d made that plain enough with her little speech at the marina.

Fortunately, this morning he’d been too busy meeting with a new client and trying to solve the problem of leveling out the kitchen cabinets for Tommy to worry too much about Gabi’s perception of their date.

As lunchtime neared, Jimmy sidled close, his expression hopeful. Wade chuckled.

“You interested in grabbing that burger today?” he asked the teen.

Jimmy’s expression brightened. “Sure, if you have the time. I’m getting sick of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I’ve been bringing.”

Wade frowned. “You’re not going out with the other guys for lunch?”

An embarrassed flush crept up the boy’s neck. “Nah, they’re older than me. They don’t want me hanging around. Besides, I need to put my paycheck aside to help out at home. Since my dad’s accident, he hasn’t been able to work as much. We can use whatever money I bring home.”

“Your dad had an accident?”

“His right hand got cut real bad on a job a few months back. It makes it hard for him to do construction, you know? They say with rehab, it’ll get better, but he hasn’t been able to do the kind of rehab they recommended. He cut back on his insurance to save a little money. Mom told him it was a mistake, but he wanted to get her the new stove she wanted.”

“So money’s real tight,” Wade guessed, resolving to see if there was anything he could do to help out. It was plain, though, that Jimmy had a lot of pride. He suspected he’d gotten that from his dad.

Jimmy shrugged. “We do okay,” he insisted. He hesitated, then added, “If I could pick up some overtime, it would help.”

“I’ll see what I can do. You’re a good worker, Jimmy. If Tommy can’t find a few extra hours for you, maybe somebody else will be able to use you.”

“I’ll take anything,” Jimmy said eagerly. “That’d be great, Mr. Johnson.”

“It’s Wade. Now, let’s go grab those burgers.”

He drove over to Castle’s, which was already bustling with a lunch crowd.

“Any tables left?” he asked Cora Jane.

“I’ll always be able to find room for you,” she said.

“And this is Jimmy Templeton,” Wade told her.

Cora Jane looked him over. “Any kin to Rory Templeton?”

Jimmy nodded. “Yes, ma’am. He’s my dad.”

“I thought so,” Cora Jane said. “You look just like he did when he was your age. I was real sorry to hear about his injury. How’s he doing?”

“Coming along,” Jimmy told her. “I’ll tell him you asked about him.”

Cora Jane turned her attention back to Wade. “You were out mighty late last night,” she commented.

“I wasn’t aware Gabi had a curfew,” he teased.

“I just meant that she got in too late for me to get any inkling of how things went,” she said, her frustration plain. “And I thought for sure we’d see you at that chick flick at the multiplex, but there wasn’t a sign of you.”

“We saw the action movie,” he reported, managing to hide his amusement at having frustrated her spying mission. “Gabi’s choice, by the way.”

“Really? She hates that kind of movie.”

Wade chuckled. “So I gathered. It gave her an excellent chance, though, to carry on about men having no sensitivity or taste when it comes to movies.”

Cora Jane laughed. “Now that does sound more like her.”

She seated them in the booth near the kitchen that Wade knew she normally reserved for family. “I’ll send your waitress right over,” she promised, then hurried off.

Not two minutes later, as he and Jimmy were just starting to study the menu, a familiar voice said, “You!”

He glanced up with a smile. “Gabriella, I had no idea you’d be working here today.”

She shrugged. “I wasn’t. I got bored at Grandmother’s and drove over here. She snagged me in the kitchen just now and put an order book in my hands, then assigned me to this table.”

Wade laughed. “She never gives up, does she?”

“Never. It would serve her right if I just sat down here with you and waited for some other server to take over this table.”

“Do it,” he suggested. “Of course, that would be playing right into her hands.”

He noted that Jimmy was studying the two of them with obvious fascination.

“Jimmy, this is Gabriella Castle. She’s Cora Jane’s granddaughter.”

“The one Tommy was talking about yesterday,” Jimmy recalled, proving that he’d taken in the whole conversation about Wade’s social life.

Gabi regarded him curiously. “That would be Tommy Cahill?” she guessed. “And my name came up?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Cora Jane is not the only meddler in Sand Castle Bay,” Wade said. “Say another word, Jimmy, and our deal for that burger is off.”

Jimmy looked chagrined. “Sorry.”

Wade grinned at him. “Just teasing, but maybe we ought to talk about something else. Gabi, Jimmy here saved the day on the job I’m doing for Tommy.”

“Not really,” Jimmy protested. “I just had an idea.”

“Which turned out to be on the money,” Wade said, then filled Gabi in.

She smiled at the teen. “I’m impressed. Are you serious about working in construction?”

“It’s okay for now,” Jimmy said. “I sort of drifted into it by accident, you might say.”

Gabi seized on the remark. “But you’d rather be doing something else?”

He nodded. “I kinda wanted to go to college, or at least to junior college, but it’s not in the cards right now.”

“What did you want to study?” she asked.

“Biomedical engineering,” he said, his expression suddenly animated.

Gabi looked startled. “And you think you have what it takes? It’s a tough field.”

“I got pretty good grades in science,” he responded.

“How good?” she asked at once.

“Straight A’s,” he told her proudly.

“Good for you,” she told him, her expression turning thoughtful.

“What are you thinking?” Wade asked.

“Just pondering a couple of ideas,” she said.

Wade let the subject drop because he got a feeling she didn’t want to mention the ideas in front of Jimmy. The fact that she’d so obviously taken an interest in a boy she barely knew touched him on a whole new level, though. Not that she needed any additional recommendation in his book.

She stood. “It’s obvious Grandmother is not sending anyone else to handle this table, so let me rustle up some food for you. I’m sure you need to get back to work.”

“Two cheeseburgers with fries,” Wade said at once. “Soda, Jimmy?”

The teenager nodded, his rapt gaze never leaving Gabriella. Clearly he was smitten. Wade knew all too well exactly how he felt.

* * *



Even after Wade and Jimmy had left Castle’s, Gabi hadn’t been able to shake off their conversation or the eager expression on Jimmy’s face when he’d talked about biomedical engineering. She wasn’t sure why that look had touched her, but it had.

Maybe it was because she understood what it was like to want something so badly and know it was just out of reach. That’s the way it had always been in her relationship with her father. He hadn’t withheld his love, just routine affection and approval. He’d given lip service to being a good dad. He just hadn’t been around. While Emily had responded by dismissing him from her life and Samantha had feigned acceptance of Sam Castle’s flaws, Gabi had spent years trying to earn his attention.

At the end of the day, still unable to shake the image of Jimmy’s resigned expression of acceptance that he’d never achieve his dream, she pulled out her cell phone and called her father’s private line.

“What is it?” he snapped impatiently when he answered.

“Always a pleasure to hear your voice, Dad,” she said, not even attempting to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

“Gabriella?”

“Yep, it’s me. I’m probably the only one of your daughters who dares to interrupt your work.”

“Did you call for something specific or just to make a point about my sins as a parent?” he inquired.

“Actually, for once, I’m not calling to judge you. I need your help.”

For an instant, stunned silence greeted the remark. “That’s a first,” he said eventually.

“I hope that means you’ll take it seriously, then.”

“Of course I will,” he said impatiently.

“I’m staying over at Grandmother’s,” she announced. “Emily and Samantha are here, too.”

“Why?” he asked, a worried note creeping into his voice. For once he sounded more concerned than exasperated that something inconvenient might be about to disrupt his life. “Is your grandmother sick?”

“No, we’re making plans for Emily’s wedding,” she said, figuring that was the least controversial explanation she could offer. “Since President’s Day weekend is this week, could you drive over? At least for a day?”

“I seriously doubt your sister wants my input on her wedding,” he countered.

“She might like sharing her plans with you, though,” Gabi said. “Be an interested dad for once. Couldn’t you do that?”

After a lengthy pause, he finally said, “I’ll drive over Saturday morning. Is that all?”

“I need you to bring an open mind with you,” she added. “There’s a young man I want you to meet.”

“Someone you’re seeing?”

“No, someone I just met today.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will,” she promised. “I think he’s going to remind you of someone.”

“Who?”

“You,” she replied softly. “See you on Saturday, Dad.”

She hung up before he could have second thoughts and take back his promise to come.

“What are you up to?” Cora Jane asked, studying her intently.

Gabi glanced up at her. “You heard?”

“Enough to know that you’ve reached out to your father,” Cora Jane confirmed.

“I’m hoping Dad will dig deep into that heart we all suspect him of having and maybe give a helping hand to a kid who needs it,” she said.

Cora Jane regarded her worriedly. “Oh, honey bun, are you sure about this? Are you really ready to see your father right now?”

Gabi knew what she was really asking—was Gabi ready for her father to realize she was pregnant and start making judgments. “It’s not about me,” she said. “That kid deserves a break, and I think I know a way to make it happen. Dad’s company gives some scholarships for qualified kids. They start taking applications around this time of the year. Usually the applicants are high school seniors, but I think under the circumstances I can convince him to make an exception for Jimmy. Dad has the ability to make this happen for that boy.”

Cora Jane shook her head. “You’ve always been an optimist where your dad’s concerned. You’ve seen the good in him, even when he’s done his best to hide it from all of you.”

Gabi shrugged. “I’m not sure if I’ve even had a glimpse of it,” she admitted. “But he is your son, Grandmother. Nobody raised by Cora Jane Castle could possibly be all bad.”

Cara Jane chuckled at that. “You may be giving me too much credit.”

“I guess we’ll see on Saturday, won’t we?”

And at the same time, she’d be able to face the risk that her father would turn his back on her for the mess she’d made of her life. At least by forcing the issue here and now, she’d be surrounded by people who loved her and didn’t judge her.

If Sam Castle disowned her for making a mistake, well, it would only sever a tie that had never been very strong to begin with. Maybe it was time she knew once and for all if she could ever forge a real relationship with her father, or if she, like her sisters, was destined to have him on the fringe of her life forever.