Her breath caught. “She hopes we’ll be very happy and that we’ll let her see the children sometimes,” she added irritably. “Can you believe that?”
Hearing the pain behind Renae’s aggravation, he came to a decision. “Where is she?”
Renae folded the note and stuffed it in a high cabinet, presumably to keep the children from finding it. Maybe so she wouldn’t have to see it again herself.
“She’s gone next door to our neighbors’ house. She said she’ll stay in their guest bedroom until she finds a place of her own.”
Evan reached for his coat.
Renae pushed a hand through her hat-mussed hair. “Where are you going?”
“To bring her home,” he said, shrugging into the still-cold garment.
“Evan, maybe you should—”
He was already headed for the door. “Save me some soup.”
His left hand in his pocket, he stood on the porch next door a few minutes later, pushing the doorbell. Snow had started to fall again, more lightly now but steadily. Children still played in yards up and down the street and a variety of snow people and animals were in various stages of construction. Evan ignored the cheery winter wonderland, focusing instead on the door in front of him.
A white-haired woman in a rather garishly colored sweater and red stretch pants opened the door to him. “Yes?”
“I’m Evan Daugherty. I’m here to see Lucy Sanchez.” He figured she’d heard his name before, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know in what context.
“I’m Maxine Whelan, Lucy’s friend.” The woman eyed him appraisingly through her glasses. “I don’t know if she’ll want to see you. She’s a bit upset.”
“Would you mind asking her?” He thought of adding that he was prepared to stand outside in the cold until Lucy agreed, but somehow that didn’t seem like a very effective threat. Lucy was just as likely to let him freeze.
Lucy appeared behind her hostess. “I’ll see him, Maxine.”
“You’re sure?”
“Might as well get it over with,” Lucy said grimly.
Maxine and her sister Daisy left Lucy and Evan alone in a doily-and-knickknack-cluttered living room. Lucy sat on the couch, leaving Evan to perch uncomfortably on an undersized chair.
“Why are you here, Evan?” she challenged.
He gave her the same answer he’d used with Renae. “I came to bring you home.”
“That isn’t my home. It’s Renae’s and her children’s. I’ve just been living there with them.”
Though there was a stubborn set to her expression, she was obviously threatened by the changes occurring in her family, uncertain of her place. He needed to convince her that while change was inevitable, it did not always lead to upheaval.
“As I understand it, you’ve been a major part of making a home for them. Renae says she wouldn’t have been able to get by if it hadn’t been for you.”
“I’ll still help her out when she needs me,” Lucy conceded. “But it’s time for me to find another place to live so Renae can have a life of her own.”
“You’ve decided this because of me,” he said bluntly.
She twisted her fingers in her plump lap. “Well, yes, mostly. Renae should feel free to bring her, um, friends to her home for dinner. She and the children enjoy spending time with you, and since you and I are uncomfortable together, that makes it difficult for them. And if you and she... If Renae decides she would like to remarry in the future, it’s obvious I would have to move out anyway. I might as well go ahead and do so now.”
“Okay, let’s address that latter part first. Why, exactly, would you have to move out if Renae remarries? She enjoys having you in her home...the kids benefit from living under the same roof with a loving extended family—why do you think anyone would want to change what is working so well?”
She shot him a narrowed, openly suspicious look. “You’re saying if you, for example, were to marry Renae, you’d want me to live in the same house with you?”
“I fully intend to marry Renae, though I haven’t asked her yet,” he answered evenly, surprisingly calm considering he had just made that decision. “And it never occurred to me that you weren’t a part of the package. You are her mother, in every way that counts. Her children’s grandmother. They adore you. Maybe we could find a slightly larger house, but I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t be welcome in Renae’s home. I’ve promised her I will never ask her to choose between us, and I’ll keep that promise.”
Lucy seemed struck by much of what he’d said, but one sentence apparently stuck out to her. “You want to marry her?”