Harbor Street (Cedar Cove #5)(101)

Jon tensed, as if he knew what was coming. “She can’t watch Katie anymore.”

Maryellen nodded wearily. “She hated to tell me. Kelly feels terrible about this. But chasing after a two-year-old while she’s feeling so sick—she just can’t do it.”

Silently Jon stared into the distance. This was one more burden. Maryellen didn’t dare make the obvious suggestion. In their last letter, his father and stepmother had offered to help. Yet the one time she’d brought up the subject, Jon had rejected the idea in no uncertain terms. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that again.

“I’ve been trying to think of what we can do,” she whispered, attempting to focus on a solution. “I could keep an eye on Katie in the mornings. It won’t be easy, but I’ll manage.”

“Katie is walking and exploring and into everything,” Jon muttered. “There’s no way you can watch her and protect this pregnancy.”

“But you—”

“I’ll take her with me. I used to do that, remember?”

Maryellen nodded, but they both knew Katie had been an infant in those days. He’d had a special backpack to carry their daughter when he went on his photographic excursions, and young as she was, Katie had loved those times with her daddy. Maryellen could still picture it.

“My mother can help.” Even as she spoke, Maryellen knew that wasn’t possible. Grace was a newlywed with a demanding job. Her mother already came to the house two or three times a week. It was the best she could do, but it wasn’t enough. She and Cliff had arranged for a cleaning crew one day the previous month, plus some prepared meals, and Maryellen had been so grateful. But they couldn’t expect that kind of gift again. Cliff and especially Grace had done enough for them.

“We can’t ask Grace to do any more than she already is.” Jon said aloud what Maryellen had been thinking.

“I know….” Tears filled her eyes. The worry and stress were more than she could handle.

“Maryellen…”

She covered her face with both hands and bent her head.

“Sweetheart, it’ll be all right.”

“No, it won’t.”

“I’ll get a mortgage on the land.”

“No!” she insisted. This land, an inheritance from his grandfather, was everything to Jon. If they lost it, he’d be devastated.

Her husband was silent for a long time. Finally he stood up and walked away.

“Jon?” she said when she saw that he was returning upstairs. “Where are you going?”

“To make a phone call.”

“To whom?”

He turned and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll contact my family, Maryellen. It’s what you want me to do, isn’t it?”

She didn’t answer him.

“Do I have a choice?” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry!” she choked out. “But it’s not my fault—I didn’t make any of this happen, so don’t be angry with me.”

“It’s what you want, though, isn’t it?” he persisted.

It was, but only because it made sense to give his father and stepmother an opportunity to rebuild their relationship with Jon, their only living child. And because Maryellen needed the help. Jon did, too.

He sighed and wiped a hand down his face. “They can’t stay with us, understand?”

She nodded.

“And they’re only welcome until the baby’s born.”

She swallowed hard. “You’re going to tell them that?”

“Damn straight I am. I don’t want them anywhere near me. This isn’t for me, Maryellen. The only reason I’m doing it is for you, and for our daughter and our baby.”

Tears streamed down Maryellen’s cheeks. She hated being this emotional. “Call them if you want,” she managed to say between sobs. “Only don’t be upset with me. I can’t bear it if you’re angry. I just can’t bear it.”

Jon came back downstairs and was immediately at her side. He gathered her in his arms and let his shoulder absorb her tears. “I’m not mad at you,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m furious with myself.”

“But why?”

“Mostly because I can’t be the man you need me to be. You think I should forgive them for what they did. Hard as I try, Maryellen, I can’t.”

Her arms went around him and they clung to each other. Somehow, they’d get through this time, with or without his parents’ help.

Roy McAfee stood in front of the charred rubble that had once been The Lighthouse restaurant. It made him sick to his stomach. His son stood on one side and Gloria on the other.

“Sheriff Davis told me the arson investigator says the fire was deliberately set,” Gloria said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the damage. Slowly she shook her head, as if it was difficult to take in the scene before her. Roy felt the same way.

Arson. Roy hated to hear that. This wasn’t the sort of thing you expected to find in a quiet community like Cedar Cove. The article in The Chronicle reported that the Gundersons were in shock and that no decisions had been made yet. They didn’t know at this point whether or not they were going to rebuild.

“Is there a suspect?” Roy asked his daughter.