For the Children

“Right.” She took a couple more steps. “And I wouldn’t be able to give him a hard time about it, either. Not in front of other people.”

“How many people know about his problem?”

“Besides his doctor and counselor?”

“Yeah.” Hands firmly in the pockets of his jeans, Kirk took a wide step when her arm came close to brushing his elbow.

“One.” It was her turn to surprise him.

“I’m the only one who knows?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Leah, my judicial assistant, knows he’s seeing a counselor about some self-esteem issues—she has to block out my calendar for Brian’s appointments—but that’s all.”

She’d trusted him—and only him—with a problem she held very close to her heart. He had a role to play here. Kirk’s hasty but very strong decision, made only moments before, changed again. He couldn’t turn his back on a woman and child who needed his help.

CHAPTER NINE

THANKSGIVING PASSED uneventfully. Valerie’s younger brother called from Texas, where he’d been living since college, and they shared their requisite holiday chat, catching up on all the news since their Fourth of July phone call. At thirty-three, Adam was in school again, going for his fourth degree. And he was dating a woman six years older than himself. He was planning to make her wife number two.

Valerie hoped the woman knew she’d be signing on for a life of supporting her brother’s academic habit. Adam was a great guy. Funny. Kindhearted. Handsome. He’d just never grown from student to responsible, bill-paying adult.

And she’d talked to her parents. They’d moved from Arizona back to Indiana several years before, when her grandmother died, leaving her parents the house her mother had grown up in. They might not be rich in any financial sense, but they considered themselves wealthy in a spiritual way. They’d joined a new church upon returning to Indiana and it had become their life to the exclusion of all else. Sometimes Valerie wasn’t sure they even heard her when she spoke to them about her own life—about anything outside of their church family.

Which made getting any kind of emotional support from them nearly impossible.

And yet, the things they’d tried to teach her—things like not taking personally what other people said or did, about the power of choice and, particularly, the assurance that she was never alone—did sometimes calm her heart.

While so many people spent their lives searching frantically for an elusive peace, she just had to call her parents to feel its presence.

Lying back in bed with moonlight shining through her bedroom windows, Valerie listened to the strains of her favorite New Age jazz CD and thought of everything for which she was thankful.

She had a job she loved, one that allowed her to contribute to society in a very real, satisfying and measurable way. At home she was not only comfortable and secure, but surrounded by beauty both inside and out. The custom-built house she and Thomas had commissioned when she’d made partner was landscaped with rock gardens featuring native plants.

And most important, she felt grateful for her sons. What mother wouldn’t be thrilled with Blake and Brian? Thinking of their identical rounded cheeks with a smattering of freckles, the dark curly hair that was so like their father’s, and those incredibly clear shining green eyes, she smiled.

“Mom?”

“Yeah?” Valerie sat up, focusing easily on Blake in the dim light. He was in the gym shorts and T-shirt he always wore to bed. She’d thought the boys were both asleep.

“Can I talk to you a second?”

“Of course.” She patted the bed when Blake remained in the doorway. Though the boys would die rather than have anyone know, they still climbed into bed with her on Sunday mornings—one on each side—as they discussed whatever might be on their minds. Or made plans. Or just picked on each other.

They climbed into bed with her anytime they needed to talk. Valerie pulled back the covers, feeling the cold through the thin cotton of her pajamas.

Blake sat on the edge of the bed. “There’s only one month left of basketball. And that’s if we make the play-offs.”

“I know.”

Her son was frowning. And so, consequently, was Valerie. Blake wasn’t usually the one who worried about the future. That was Brian’s area. He was the more sensitive and emotional of her boys.

Blake, on the other hand, was the more logical, easygoing twin.

“What if Bry doesn’t get on the team, Mom?” Blake’s green eyes were wide as he turned to look at her. “He’s working so hard.”

“I didn’t think there were any spots left.”

“I know, but Coach could always make an exception, couldn’t he? Just for a game or two?”