Harbor Street (Cedar Cove #5)(79)

“You think I’m tired, do you?” He nuzzled her neck, but it was more affectionate than provocative. Anything remotely sexual was off limits until six weeks after the birth.

Maryellen hugged him close. “You are tired. I am, too.”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

“We do know people who could help.”

He knew immediately who she meant. “If you’re going to suggest what I assume you are, then save your breath.” Jon broke away from her and stood up.

“Jon, would you please be reasonable about this?”

“You want me to call my parents.”

That was exactly what she wanted. “They’d leap at the opportunity to spend some time with us.” His father and stepmother were desperate to win back his love and would do anything to help if the chance arose.

“I’m not asking them for a damn thing,” Jon said forcefully, “and I absolutely forbid you to contact them.”

“Forbid?” she repeated, raising her eyebrows. “Forbid?” The temptation to retaliate in anger nearly overwhelmed her, but she maintained a calm facade. When she spoke, Maryellen chose her words carefully. “I’m going to ask you to rephrase that, Jon, because I have to believe you didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”

Her husband started pacing. “Forbid wasn’t a good word. I’m sorry.” He hesitated, then walked to the picture window that overlooked Puget Sound. “But knowing how I feel about them, I would hope you’d take that into consideration.”

“I already have.”

His back was to her, his hands in his pockets. “Have you been in touch with them?”

Maryellen sighed. “I mailed the last photos you took of Katie and included a note that said I was pregnant.”

“When?”

“At Christmas.” Then she remembered she’d also sent a thank-you note. “I…I wrote after Christmas, too—a short note to thank them for the gifts.” Even then she’d felt guilty, as though with this small act of kindness she was somehow betraying her husband.

Jon turned to face her. “At one time I needed my parents and they failed me. I vowed I’d never ask them for help again.”

Maryellen knew what was coming.

“I can’t do it. I’m sorry, Maryellen. I’d rather work twenty hours a day than ask my parents to lift a finger to help me. I simply won’t do it.”

The decision was his, and nothing she could say would change his mind. “Okay.”

He eyed her skeptically. “Are you angry with me?”

She shook her head. “No, you said it earlier—we’ll be fine.”

“You won’t go behind my back?”

She’d done that once and regretted it. “No.”

Jon came back and sat down next to her. “It’s no wonder I love you as much as I do. You and Katie are the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Despite what he said she’d done for him, Maryellen knew it was Jon’s love that had redeemed her life.

Forty

Friday evening Grace arrived at Cliff’s an hour later than she’d planned. She felt exhausted and worried and guilty all at once. Maryellen needed her; Cliff wanted to set the date for the wedding and she was scheduled to leave for a library conference first thing Monday morning. With all these demands, she didn’t feel she was much help to anyone.

Cliff walked out to the car to meet her, and Grace swore if he said one word about her being late, she’d burst into tears.

He opened the car door and instantly sensed something was wrong. “Bad day?”

She nodded as she climbed out. “I drove to Maryellen’s to see what I could do for her,” she said. The house was a disaster, her daughter’s spirits were low, and Jon seemed about to collapse under the burden of his responsibilities. He was cooking again, too, whenever The Lighthouse needed him to cover a shift. To top everything, Katie had the flu, which meant the little girl needed constant care. She clung to Maryellen and wouldn’t allow Grace to hold or comfort her. “I stayed and did a couple loads of wash, and cleaned up a bit, but Cliff, they’re in bad shape.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

He was sweet to offer. “I don’t know. Offhand, I can’t think of anything.” She shrugged. “Perhaps bring them dinner one night.”

“Consider it done.”

Grace was seriously thinking about not going to the conference and spending the time with her daughter, instead. She’d hate to cancel; the money for her to attend had come out of their tight library budget and no one else could take her place on such short notice. The thought of wasting the round-trip ticket to San Francisco, plus the conference fee, depressed her.

“I don’t know what to do,” Grace said as she slid her arm around Cliff’s waist. Together they walked toward the house.

“I don’t suppose now would be a good time to ask you to elope, would it?”

He couldn’t possibly know how tempting that was. “Maryellen and Kelly would never forgive me.” Olivia wouldn’t, either, but she didn’t mention her best friend. Of the three, Olivia would be the most sympathetic.

“Lisa would feel the same way,” he admitted grudgingly. “I had no idea it was so difficult to schedule a wedding. I hate this waiting. I can see us six months from now, still searching for the perfect date, working around everyone else’s schedule.”