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“It’s good to see y’all,” she said, although she knew she’d never be able to express in words how much these women really meant to her. While she’d had friends in Maryland, they were nothing like the Little Chicks. She’d been too wrapped up in medical school and her residency, not to mention single-parenting Riley, to make any truly close connections on the east coast.
“Did you see Zach outside?” Alexis queried, giving Delia’s shoulders another tight squeeze. “He’s hanging the Christmas lights for Jo.”
Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach and thrashed around in burning waves.
“I…yes. I saw him,” she said, hoping that would be enough of an answer to stave off further inquiries.
She wasn’t surprised her friends were asking her about Zach. He’d been her boyfriend all through high school. They didn’t know the whole story, of course, because she hadn’t told them. Other than her parents, she hadn’t told anyone.
But she was going to have to tell them, and soon—keeping the most important part of her life a secret was wearing on her. And, at the moment, it was making her feel a little queasy.
“I’m dying of thirst,” she said in an effort to change the subject, and thinking maybe a little carbonation would settle her stomach. “Can we get a table and catch up on what’s been going on with you? Emailing was nice, but it’s so much better to be face-to-face, don’t you think?”
Her girlfriends might not have taken the hint, but Jo, who was still hovering nearby, certainly did. The older woman began unobtrusively herding the ladies toward a large table next to the far wall.
“Four sodas coming up,” Jo said without waiting for the women to order. “Three diets and one regular.”
Delia chuckled. It was exactly the same drink order the girls had made dozens of times in their youth. She was amazed that Jo remembered.
Samantha flashed a mock scowl. “Your figure is as nice as ever,” she groused. “I was always jealous that you got to eat and drink anything you wanted without putting on a pound, whereas I couldn’t—can’t—even look at a regular soda without gaining weight.”
“You look fine,” Delia countered as Jo returned to the table and passed the drinks around. “You all do.”
“So when is the clinic going to open?” Mary asked. “Old Doc Severns hasn’t been working for a month. If anyone sprains an ankle around here, they have to drive for an hour to get it looked at.”
Delia combed her fingers through the length of her hair, offhandedly massaging her scalp. The vision in her left eye was beginning to blur, a sure sign that she was feeling the start of one of her knock-down, drag-out migraines. She couldn’t imagine why one would hit her now. She was so happy to be with her old friends. It would be a shame if a headache ruined it for her.
Please, God, not today, she thought, trying to breathe deeply.
Not that she was actually praying to God. She’d left her faith when she’d left her youth. It was just a way of thinking and nothing more. It wasn’t as if God, if He was there, had time for her headaches. She’d rather rely on science.
She rummaged around in her purse for her migraine medication and popped a pill in her mouth, following it with a long pull on her soda. The medicine wouldn’t stave off the headache completely, but at least it might whittle her migraine down to only one night of suffering. Otherwise she’d be in bed for a week.
“Still having your headaches, huh?” Samantha asked.
“Sometimes,” Delia confirmed with a groan. “Unfortunately.”
“Stress?” Mary guessed. “I remember the day of senior finals. You looked like you were going to outright faint most of the day.”
“I felt like I was going to collapse,” she assured them. “I can’t even believe I passed any of those exams.”
“And yet you made it through med school,” Alexis commented, tilting her head so that her long blond hair brushed over her shoulder. “How is that?”
Delia sat speechless for a moment, stunned by the revelation. Now that she thought about it, how was that, that she’d managed long, sleepless nights during her residency, not to mention her years as a single mom with no support?
Because, she realized, her migraines hadn’t been as bad in Maryland, stress or no stress. It was coming back to Serendipity that was the real strain on her nerves, and no wonder. Until all of her secrets were out in the open, she was carrying a tremendous burden inside her heart.
“That Zach,” Jo said as she swished forward and stopped at their table. “What a good, kind Christian man he’s turned out to be. I don’t know what I’d do without him, offering to put up the Christmas lights for me again this year—and then stopping ’round today to fix them up when the wind blew half of them off the eaves. Now that’s Christian charity for you. Otherwise Chance would have had to do it, and he’s already overworked just cooking for me.”
Theoretically, Jo was speaking to everyone at the table, but Delia was well aware that the woman’s comments were aimed directly at her.
Everyone looked toward her, yet no one spoke a word.
“That’s nice of him,” she stated, not knowing what else to say.
“It sure is,” Jo agreed with a chuckle. “It seems to me that man does more around the community and the church than anyone else in this town. No matter what or when the need arises, he’s always the first to volunteer.”
It hadn’t escaped Delia’s notice that it was the second time in as many minutes that Jo had mentioned Zach’s faith.
Bad boy Zach Bowden a man of God?
It was hard to fathom. How ironic would it be if Zach found his faith when Delia had lost hers?
Whether she liked it or not, Zach was going to be a big part of her life. She couldn’t ignore that fact forever. And she had visited Cup o’ Jo to find out more about him.
She supposed it was simply that she was feeling a little overwhelmed. She’d learned far more about Zach in this short time than she’d anticipated.
“All right, all right, enough about Zach already. Gone. Poof. Zip it. No more Zach. I don’t want to see him, talk to him or think about him.” She chuckled, but it sounded fake even to her own ears.
Suddenly, a chill ran up her spine.
No—that wasn’t quite accurate. It wasn’t a chill, exactly—more of a burning premonition.
She groaned and pressed her forehead with the palms of her hands.
“He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?”
If she hadn’t already known it instinctively, she would have been warned by the way her friends’ eyes suddenly widened and the way the chatter around the table instantly ceased. Even Jo was quiet.
There was nothing to do but to face him. Her stomach roiled as she turned in her chair and glanced his direction. As she suspected, Zach was standing directly behind her and was staring right at her.
And they had an audience. Nearly everyone in the café was watching them.
In Serendipity, they were as infamous a couple as Bonnie and Clyde. She wanted to roll her eyes. Hadn’t anything else scandalous happened in the ten years she’d been gone? It seemed to her that everyone’s memories were far too keen where she and Zach were concerned.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the hum of activity in the café resumed. Jo excused herself to go back to waiting tables, and Delia’s three girlfriends spoke in hushed tones to one another. Delia couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could imagine.
If she could have, she would’ve ignored Zach’s presence, just as he had done to her when she’d first entered the café; but she found it difficult to break her gaze away from him. He was stunningly handsome in his trademark white shirt, black leather jacket and blue jeans. He held a black cowboy hat in one hand and was curling the rim with his fist.
A muscle twitched in the corner of his jaw. He tilted his head, his gaze still burning into hers.
Alexis, Mary and Samantha stood and hovered around Delia, nudging her upward until she had no choice but to come to her feet. As if that wasn’t enough, she was then not so subtly pushed toward Zach. Her heart raced as she experienced the most disconcerting sensation of being back in high school, with her giggling girlfriends making a scene in front of the boy she liked.
But this was different. She was a grown woman now—and she didn’t like Zach Bowden. He’d practically ruined her life before, and because he was Riley’s father, he’d be a trial for her until the day she died.
Zach dropped his gaze from hers, stepped sideways and planted his hat on his head.
“Ladies,” he murmured with a clipped nod. A moment later he was striding out the door and down the road.
Delia was equally distressed and relieved. She didn’t exactly appreciate his brushing her off with such callousness—but she wasn’t quite ready to talk to him, either. Even though it was constantly on her mind, she still had no idea how to say what needed to be said, nor when would be the best time to do it.
Maybe there was no best way to say it—and she was going to have to find the time, even if it was wrong.
How in the world would she find the right words?
Zach, you have a son.
Chapter Four
Zach strode down the street with such a fierce determination to get away from Delia that he was becoming winded and short of breath. Or maybe it was seeing her again that had done that to him. Either way, his head was spinning and his pulse was racing.
He’d done everything he could to put Delia’s return to Serendipity from his mind. In the last two days, he had cleaned the leaves out of the gutters of his ranch house, patched up the barn to keep his stock warmer against the cold Texas winter, and cut so much firewood that there was no more room to stack it against the side of the house. But even though he’d been tired and sweat soaked from all the hard labor, he hadn’t been able to forget that Delia Rae Ivers was back in town, not even for a second.
And then he had to go and run into her while he was hanging Christmas lights at Cup o’ Jo. It just figured.
Even though ten years had passed between them, she’d never left his mind—or his heart. As a teenager, he’d been devastated when she’d left suddenly without a word to him. He wished he could forget the way he’d spent a long, frustrating year acting out his anger and getting himself into increasing amounts of trouble.
But then God had caught up with his wayward life and had changed his heart.
Zach Bowden, the kid who’d gotten straight-A student-council president Delia Rae Ivers arrested and thrown in county jail on prom night in their senior year was now a reformed bad boy who had repented his sins and given his heart to God.
But of course Delia wouldn’t know that. Nor would she have any reason to believe it.
And why should he care? The best thing for him to do would be to avoid her completely, not that that was an option. He was a paramedic and she was the town doctor. Not a good combination.
Lifting his hat, he combed his fingers through his hair and then jammed it back down again in frustration. Somehow, he had to get Delia Ivers out of his head.
Reaching the end of the block, he turned toward the firehouse, where he’d parked his truck earlier. He wasn’t on call today, but Serendipity’s annual Christmas party was set to take place at the community center that evening and he had planned to change into his costume at the station.
He’d already helped with the decorations at the center and in wrapping presents for the kids, but he had another role to play tonight—the jolly old elf himself.
He’d been Santa for the past couple of years and he loved every second of it—interacting with the children and seeing their faces light up with hope and glee. Just before presents were handed out, Santa traditionally pulled the wide-eyed children into a circle and reverently shared the story of the nativity and the true meaning of Christmas.
What more could a man ask for?
Especially a single man with no children of his own.
“Hey, buddy,” Ben greeted as Zach strode in the door of the station. “What’s up? I thought you were off today.”
Zach grinned. “I am. I’m just here to change into my suit for the Christmas party tonight.”
Ben chuckled and patted his stomach. “Oh, that’s right. The big red suit. Ho, ho, ho.”
“Cut it out,” Zach said, scowling, but he wasn’t really offended. So what if the guys at the station gave him a hard time about playing Santa every year?
“I’m just glad it’s not me,” Ben assured him.
Zach reached into his locker and pulled out the red velvet suit with white trim and held the shirt across his chest as he peered at himself through the small mirror attached to the inside door. The outfit was a good deal too large around the middle, but then it was meant to be. He knew he’d have to stuff a pillow down the front to get the right effect. Fortunately, there were lots of those strewn across the cots in the firemen’s bunkhouse.
He wondered if Delia would attend the annual Christmas celebration; and, if so, what she would think of him all gussied up in his red suit.
She’d be surprised, that was for sure. Not that it mattered what she thought. He scoffed.
“Just remember that if I didn’t volunteer for this gig, you guys would be drawing straws to do the honors,” he reminded his coworker jauntily. “Serendipity has been relying on men from the fire station to play Santa for years. You wouldn’t want to upset their tradition now, would you?”
Ben held up his hands and shook his head. “Red isn’t my color.”
“I didn’t think so.” Zach chuckled. “Are you planning on coming to the party?”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Ben assured him. “I get really tired of my own cooking.”
“Tell me about it,” Zach groaned as he slid his legs into the downy costume. Bachelor fare was nothing to rave about on his best days, and, like Ben, he wasn’t much of a cook. Mostly, he ate whatever he could scoop out of a can or pop into the microwave.
“Let me help you with that,” Ben offered when the wide black belt Zach was trying to draw around his waist twisted in the back. It was next to impossible to hold the fluffy feather pillow to his stomach and latch the belt at the same time, so he was grateful for the assistance.
“Well, you definitely look the part,” Ben complimented as he stepped back to view his own handiwork. “All you need is to gray up your eyebrows and put on your beard and you’re good to go.”
“I’m not getting anywhere near that beard until the last possible moment,” Zach said, scratching his cheek at the very thought of it. “It itches something fierce.”
Ben laughed and shook his head. “Why do you torture yourself?”
Zach grinned. The answer to that question was easy.
“For the kids, Ben. Only for the kids.”
Tonight was the night. Her whole life was about to change—not to mention what this would do to Zach and Riley.
It was bad enough running into Zach at the café, but now she had to face him this evening. She couldn’t avoid it any longer. Tonight, Delia would tell Zach the truth about his son.
What other option did she have? She couldn’t turn back now. She’d made the decision to move back to Serendipity to be here for her mother, who was now wheelchair bound with multiple sclerosis. There was no way she could keep Zach from finding out about Riley. So far, she’d managed to keep Riley’s presence a secret from the town, but she couldn’t sequester him at his grandparents’ house forever—and he was bound to put the pieces together sooner or later. Better he learn the truth from her.
If things went well, and she fervently hoped that they would, she might even be able to introduce Riley to his dad.
And if the opposite happened, if Zach was furious with her for keeping Riley a secret from him—or worse, wanted nothing to do with his son at all—at least they would be in a public place where he couldn’t blow up at her and make a scene.
“I understand that Santa Claus visits the party,” she told Riley as they drove the short distance to the community center. They were alone in the car. Her mother’s multiple sclerosis was flaring up again and her father had opted to stay home with her, urging Delia and Riley to go ahead and have a good time.
“Mom,” Riley protested with a mothers-just-don’t-get-it groan. “I’m nine. I don’t believe in Santa anymore.”
Delia chuckled. “Not even if he happens to be handing out presents?”
“Really?” the boy asked, suddenly intrigued. When he turned his head in her direction, a lock of his hair, black like Delia’s but shaggy like his father’s, flopped into his eyes, which were brown and dreamy like Zach’s. Her heart clenched at the sight. Riley looked so very much like his father. She hadn’t realized just how much until she’d returned home and had seen Zach again.
“That’s what I hear.”
“Well, maybe, then.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“You don’t have to visit with Santa if you don’t want to, but I think it would be awesome if you did.”
