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“Aunt Mandy really likes cookies. We make them itchy.”
“Itchy?” Maura asked.
Mandy laughed, and Daniel was absorbed in the fullness of the sound, rolling out effortlessly, as though she liked nothing better than to set it free. Daniel was grateful that Kaden had undoubtedly been witness to it, because he laughed along with her now.
“Wh-what?” Kaden giggled. “What’d I say?”
“We make them from scratch,” Mandy told him, rubbing her hand over his head affectionately. “We don’t make them itchy.”
Bo, Maura and Daniel all chuckled along.
“But that was close,” Mandy finally said.
Kaden grinned. “Thanks!”
When their laughter subsided, Maura nodded toward Mandy. “Okay, let’s go test some of those cookies.” They turned and started toward the small gas station. Maura wiped a couple of laugh tears from her cheeks and then directed her attention on Mandy. “I don’t believe we’ve met, have we?”
“I don’t think so. I’m Mandy Carter, Kaden’s aunt. I own the photography store in the town square. Well, I do now. It belonged to my grandparents and then my sister.” Her voice trailed off. “Now just me.”
“And me. I help,” Kaden said. “And we live there, at the top of the store.”
“Yes, Kaden definitely helps,” Mandy said.
Daniel waited until they entered the station. “I’m a little surprised that Maura has never met Mandy.”
“I’m trying to introduce her to everyone in town, but I suppose our paths haven’t crossed with Mandy’s too much. We do go to the town square a bit. Autumn enjoys going to the toy shop and Nelson’s five-and-dime, but we haven’t been in the photography shop.” He smiled broadly. “Need to get over there. Maura and I don’t have a lot of photos of us together, other than the wedding, you know.”
“I’m guessing you’d have seen Mandy if she’d been at church?”
Bo frowned. “You know the answer to that. Everyone sees everyone at church. But no, she hasn’t been there, not since Mia and Jacob’s accident. And truthfully, Mandy never was much for church, from what I remember. She was in the same grade as my daughter Hannah, you know, but seems like when Hannah got more involved in church during those later teen years, Mandy kind of pulled away.”
Daniel remembered that time in Mandy’s life, and now he wished he’d have done something to bring her back to God.
Bo’s eyes lifted. “But I will invite her today. Don’t know why I didn’t think about that sooner. I went years away from God, you know, and it’s not a fun place to be, away from Him.” He paused. “Maura, too, after she lost her daughter. I think that’s why she’s probably going to bond pretty well with that little Kaden. Our granddaughter, Autumn, lost her mother. But Autumn is doing great now. She’s a little older than Kaden, but I’m sure they’d get along real well. Maybe if you can get Mandy to bring him to church, he and Autumn can meet there.”
“Kaden will come to church with me,” Daniel said. There was no question that he’d take his nephew back to church, but if he had his way, he’d bring Mandy back to God, too. If she was going off to see the world, and Daniel was determined to let her go, he wanted to know she had God along for the trip.
“Well, it’ll be good for Kaden to have both of you in his life,” Bo said. “A child needs that, people who care and are working together for his or her best interest. Family. People who love each other.”
Daniel couldn’t offer all of that, not when it came to him and Mandy, but they did both care about Kaden. He glanced up to see Maura, Mandy and Kaden exit the store. Kaden had a chocolate chip cookie in one hand and a carton of milk in the other. Mandy’s hands were filled with the same, and so were Maura’s.
“You didn’t bring us any?” Bo teased.
“Our hands were full,” Kaden said, using his tongue to grab a bit of stray chocolate from his lip, “but yours are waiting for you on the counter.”
Mandy grinned and licked the chocolate from her fingers. She looked so different when she smiled, actually sweet, like someone Daniel could actually connect with. And Daniel suddenly noticed that he’d just seen that same smile on Kaden. He looked to his nephew, then back to Mandy. Kaden had Mandy’s smile.
“You okay, Uncle Daniel?” Kaden asked, and Daniel wondered if his thoughts were that obvious.
Kaden had his eyes and Mandy’s smile. That was so noticeable now, and Daniel wondered why. God, what are you telling me?
“Uncle Daniel?” Kaden repeated.
Daniel cleared his throat. “I’m fine,” he answered.
“He’s wanting some of those cookies,” Bo said to Kaden.
Daniel grinned. “I sure do. Here you go,” he handed over several bills to Bo, “for the gas, the milk and the cookies.”
“I’ll bring your change for the gas. The milk and cookies are on the house. We’ll consider it your welcome home treat. And I’ll grab your cookies when I come back out with your change,” Bo said, walking toward the station.
“Can I have another cookie please?” Kaden asked.
“Sure,” Maura said. “Come on, I’ll take you to get one.”
She and Kaden followed Bo, and Daniel found himself alone with Mandy. She’d finished her cookie and held tightly to her small carton of milk while she leaned against the truck and avoided looking in Daniel’s direction. He took a deep breath and decided he might as well get everything out in the open while he had the chance.
“I want you to give me custody,” he said. “After the funerals, it seemed like a good idea for you to raise Kaden, but I didn’t consider the fact that you want to see the world. And I’m good with that. I’ve had my chance to travel. Now I want to work here with the church, and I want to raise Kaden.”
She shifted, turned dark eyes toward Daniel. “Listen, I wish you’d believe me. I didn’t mean what I said in that email. Kaden had been throwing up for three days straight and was burning up with fever. I was tired from puke patrol and was catching that wretched bug myself.” She sighed heavily. “When I sent the email, I already had a fever and had gotten sick twice myself. It was a weak moment, and I sent you a second email the next morning to let you know I didn’t mean it.”
“But I’d already emailed Brother Henry asking for a job.”
“So you could have told him you changed your mind.”
“But I didn’t.” He put the gas can in the back of the truck. “Mandy, I’m the same guy who heard you say nearly those exact words seven years ago, that you would do anything to leave this horrid little town.”
“I can’t believe you’d bring that up now. Do you really think I meant it? That I would have married you just to get away from here?”
“Yes, Mandy, I do.”
She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut when Kaden ran out of the store in front of Bo and Maura.
“Here’s yours,” he said, handing Daniel a carton of milk and a small brown bag. “Mrs. Maura gave you three cookies, ‘cause she said men eat more than boys. But then she gave me another one, so I got three, too.”
“Guess you’re a man,” Daniel said, patting Kaden’s back.
“Yep,” Kaden said, shimmying into the backseat. “Guess so.”
“Well, I suppose we’ll see you again in a few minutes,” Bo said to Mandy. “You’ll need gas in your car, right?”
“That’s right,” she said. “Thank you for the cookies and milk.”
“You’re welcome.” He grinned. “And Mandy, we’d love to have you back at church, you know.”
She returned the smile, but this time it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know. Thank you.” Then she got in the passenger seat and buckled up.
“Aunt Mandy?”
“Yes?”
“Can I stay in this truck till we get home?”
Daniel paused climbing in to see what she’d say.
Mandy swallowed then turned warm eyes toward Kaden. “If you want to, that’s fine. You haven’t seen Uncle Daniel in a while. You probably want to visit and ask him about those elephants, don’t you?”
Kaden took a sip of milk from his carton, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yeah, maybe. But I mainly want to stay in this truck because it was Daddy’s. We always went riding in this truck, before Mommy and Daddy went to heaven.”
Chapter Three
After getting Mandy’s truck running again, Daniel followed her back to the gas station. Bo saw them and walked out of the station looking glad. Daniel had planned to wait until she filled up and then follow her home, but Mandy got out of her truck and walked back to his with a keychain dangling from her hand. Daniel noticed a rectangular photo suspended from the silver ring, and as she got closer the image came into focus and displayed Mandy and Mia on Mia’s wedding day.
She neared his open window and handed him the keychain. The close proximity sent another sweet fragrance of peaches teasing Daniel’s senses, and he swallowed past the urge to inhale deeper.
“Here’s the key to the shop. You can go on ahead and spend a little time with Kaden until I get there.” She peeked toward the backseat and displayed another beautiful smile that wasn’t at all intended for Daniel’s enjoyment.
But he enjoyed it, anyway.
“Kaden, maybe you can show Uncle Daniel that house we built last night. That sound good to you?”
“Sure!”
“Lincoln Logs,” she said to Daniel. Her words were still short toward him, but he was growing used to it. She’d been perfecting her stoicism around him for seven years, after all.
“Those were mine and Jacob’s favorite toys growing up,” Daniel said quietly.
A look passed over her face, and he figured she was trying to decide whether to respond or simply walk away. Then her mouth slid to the side, and she blinked a couple of times before whispering softly enough for Kaden not to hear, “I remembered Mia had planned to get him some for Christmas so I asked Mr. Tolleson at Nelson’s if he could order a set. They came in yesterday.” She swallowed. “We played with them last night until we were both ready for bed, but I’m guessing he would probably like a guy to help with the building. I do my best, but I’m still learning.”
Daniel noticed that her eyes glistened. Undoubtedly she’d been crying during the short drive from where they’d picked up her car to the station. And Daniel understood. Kaden’s comment about “before Mommy and Daddy went to heaven,” was a sharp reminder that his nephew’s life had been forever altered by a distinctive barrier. In fact, all three of their lives had been altered by that same barrier. The time before Mia and Jacob died, and the time after.
Mandy exhaled thickly and said to Kaden, “I’ll see you back at home, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, rummaging through the brown bag Maura had given him earlier and pulling out another cookie.
“Hey, don’t eat too many. You’ll ruin your dinner,” she warned. “I made that taco soup you wanted.”
“I’ve just got this one left,” Kaden said, taking a bite. “And I’ve only had three, same as Uncle Daniel.”
“Okay. I will see both of you at home, then.” She turned and walked toward Bo.
Daniel drove to the town square thinking about Mandy, the way she spoke to him and more importantly the way she spoke to Kaden. There had been an intimacy there that he hadn’t anticipated, a maternal aspect to her tone and to her words.
By the time they arrived at the photo shop, Kaden had told Daniel about how he and Mandy built the big house out of logs, how they had picnics at the park and how she was trying to help him ride a big boy bike, but she hadn’t let go of the back yet, even though he really really wanted her to.
“She keeps running behind me ‘cause she don’t want me to fall,” Kaden said, standing beside Daniel as he turned the key in the lock of the shop’s door.
“She’s just trying to keep you from getting hurt,” Daniel explained.
“But how’m I gonna ride by myself if she won’t let go?”
“Maybe she’ll let me help you learn,” Daniel offered.
“You’re gonna let go?”
“Yes,” Daniel promised. Undoubtedly Kaden would take a few falls, probably the exact reason Mandy didn’t want to let go. He’d been hurt enough, and she didn’t want it to happen again in any way, shape or form. Neither did Daniel. But Kaden had a point; how would he learn, how would he grow, if everyone didn’t “let go” every now and then?
Kaden pointed to the hand-painted sign on the door. “We’re open for business now that we’re back, so we have to flip it over.”
Daniel’s laugh came easy. “You really are Aunt Mandy’s helper, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Kaden said, leading the way through the gallery portion of the store. “She needs me. She says so all the time.”
Something about the simple statement resonated with Daniel, but he didn’t stop to analyze why. Instead, he followed his nephew through the abundance of photos covering the walls and easels inside Carter Photography. Striking pictures of babies, children, couples and families. There were still life photos, as well, stargazer lilies, an antique sewing machine, a bowl of peaches. But regardless of the subjects portrayed in each photograph, Mandy’s work was incredible. He’d known her family was big into photography, but until this moment he hadn’t realized that Mandy had inherited the talent.
“Come on and I’ll show you our house we built last night,” Kaden said, moving down a hallway and past two studio rooms with backdrops and props stuffed into every corner.
The hall was filled with senior portraits of kids from Claremont High, some in formal wear and others outdoors. Each photo captured the personality of the teen, whether a boy in his baseball or football uniform, or a girl in an evening gown. It wasn’t what they were wearing but the way they looked that made the teens stand out, as though Mandy had depicted their very essence in the shot.
“Stunning,” he said.
“It’s upstairs,” Kaden called, not hearing Daniel’s comment and passing through the kitchen where a Crock-Pot held something that Daniel assumed was taco soup. The seasonings filled the air and caused his stomach to growl.
Kaden evidently heard. “Hey, you hungry?”
“It just smells good,” Daniel said.
“Aunt Mandy cooks great,” he said. “You staying to eat with us?”
Daniel inhaled another spicy whiff. “I certainly hope so,” he said without thinking, then realized that Mandy would probably toss him out the door as soon as she returned. Or throw a little extra Tabasco in his bowl.
“Cool!” Kaden continued through the kitchen to start up a stairway lined with landscape photos.
Daniel surveyed these with equal interest. Several featured the heart-shaped pond at Hydrangea Park in the midst of the annual Valentine’s display, pink lights and roses covering gazebos, the arched entrance and silhouettes of couples throughout. The Smoky Mountains, their dark heights capped with stark white snow and garnished with the pale gray clouds that earned their name. Again, beautiful and breathtaking. The last photo was a white sandy beach at dusk, a red-gold sun dipping in the distance and a little boy putting the finishing touches on an elaborate sandcastle complete with turrets, a moat and a bridge that appeared to be made out of Popsicle sticks.
Daniel stepped closer, because that little boy looked very familiar. “Kaden?”
Kaden had already topped the stairs, but started back down. “Yeah?”
“Is that you?” He pointed to the photo.
“Yep. Aunt Mandy took me to the beach and helped me build the best sandcastle in the world.” He grinned, his pride shining through. “Then she took my picture for her contests.”
“Her contests?”
“Yep. If she wins, she’ll get in the big glammeries. That’s her dream. Aunt Mandy says everybody’s got dreams that they want, and she wants the glammeries. Not a little glammery, like hers, but really big glammeries.”
“Glammeries?”
