Angel's Peak (Virgin River #10)(81)

“No doubt,” George said. “I know what you mean.”

She asked about his wife. “Well, a similar situation. Her doctor harped about a colonoscopy to be safe, to make sure there was nothing wrong. Something a person should really have done around the age of fifty. But Mary was obstinate—it sounded dreadful to her and she put it off. She had no symptoms of any kind, after all. What neither of us realized, once you have symptoms, you might have waited too long. She went through surgery and chemo, which bought her a year.” He gave her a small smile.

She surprised herself by covering his hand. “Time eases a lot. I did the best I could back then, and so did you.”

In the early afternoon they packed up their picnic and proceeded to Ferndale to stroll the neighborhoods to see the houses, dawdling and talking and laughing. They had an ice cream and looked in the shop windows and finally climbed the steep cemetery hill on the outskirts of town. Maureen was fascinated by the head-stones and read many of them. Suddenly she looked at her watch and realized she hadn’t been paying attention to the time. “Oh, my God!” she said, plucking the cell phone out of her purse. “Rosie!”

“It’s only three,” George said.

“But I promised to pick her up today at three!”

“I can have you there by three-thirty. They’re not going to leave her on the curb, are they?”

“No, they’re open till six for working parents, but…”

He grabbed her wrist firmly to get her attention. “Maureen, call the day-care center and tell them you’re on your way. No harm done.”

“Sean. I should call Sean. He might be at Franci’s and waiting for me to bring Rosie home.”

“Then call him,” George said softly. “She’s safe, Maureen. And you haven’t been a bad grandmother by going on an outing with me.”

She stilled immediately. Then she looked at her cell phone and called Sean. “Hi, Sean, it’s me. I’ve been out to lunch and lost track of time. I can be there to pick up Rosie by three-thirty if you—All right, I’ll see you at Franci’s in a half hour or so. No, I’m on my way.” She ended the call and slipped the phone back into her purse. “He said he’d run over and pick her up and I should take my time. But I’d better get going.”

“Of course,” George said. They stood on an incline in the middle of the cemetery and he stepped closer. He lifted her chin to look into her green eyes. “You lost all track of time because we were enjoying ourselves. That means the date was a success.” He leaned toward her and gave her a peck on the lips. “Now relax and I’ll take you home.”

And out of nowhere, completely unplanned and unprepared, Maureen threw her arms around George’s neck and planted her lips on his. He stumbled backward a couple of steps before he came up against a large tombstone that balanced him. He was finally able to get his arms around her and hang on to her. He kissed her back, but as kisses go it wasn’t much. It was the gesture that was startling.

She let him go.

“Well,” he said. “You should warn me when you’re going to do that. We could have gone down the hill, then we’d have to explain a couple of broken hips. That’s more complicated than being a little late to day care.”

“I don’t know what came over me,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter. Just make sure it comes over you again before long. I like it.” He held out his hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you down. Slowly.”

As the end of November approached, Franci and Sean talked to Rosie about the fact that Daddy had to go back to his flying job after Thanksgiving. It would mean that he could only visit when he had a few days off. They explained that he hoped they could spend Christmas together, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to. “But I will call you and talk to you on the phone whenever I can. Sometimes every day.”

To which Rosie replied, “’Kay.”

They avoided telling her about the larger problem—that Sean would be transferred somewhere, probably soon after the new year. Perhaps someplace where he wouldn’t be allowed to take a family.

They did get their marriage license and a very nice ring was being made for Franci, but their plans would have to wait until they knew more about the future.

Franci was past all the fear and anger she’d felt when Sean had first reappeared in her life—she no longer worried that her heart would be broken again, nor was she still angry about the way they’d parted four years ago. Those thoughts were now all forgotten and she wondered how she had managed to live without him. As well, she didn’t know how he’d accomplished it, but he’d turned into a wonderful father—affectionate and devoted and completely comfortable in his role.

“Didn’t we used to fight all the time?” she asked him.

“It seemed like a lot of arguing, but once we broke up all I could think about were the things we had going for us,” he said. “Here’s what I know, babe. I think now we got it down. We might have some hurdles with the air force assignments, but from here on we’re making it.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Rosie,” she said to him.

“I’m sorry I was so impossible to tell,” he replied.

Every day Maureen found herself in very unfamiliar territory. Without saying a word to anyone besides Viv, she’d spent several lunch hours with George Davenport over the couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Like herself, he was heading back to Seattle after the holiday weekend. “End of term,” he said. “I really need to be there. But what say we meet right back here for Christmas?”