Feels Like Home (Southern Bride 5)

I wiped away my tears and then snapped my head forward. “Why are we talking about my ex? What have you decided to do about Jim?”

“I hired a lawyer this morning. I’m going to file for divorce and ask for sole custody of the baby, which shouldn’t be hard since he said he doesn’t want to be a part of his or her life. Jim said he doesn’t want anything. So all we really have to do is wait for the required amount of time. Some sort of cooling-off period.”

“Good,” I said. “What about the house?”

She laughed, but it wasn’t filled with humor. “I guess my folks had a sixth sense about the marriage, because the house is still in their names.”

I leaned forward. “What!”

Mindy nodded. “Yep. Jim can’t touch it, not that I think he would.”

“Bravo to Mom and Dad!”

She giggled. “I guess so.”

The back door opened, and Drake walked out. He looked at Mindy and smiled. The way she looked at him almost made me blush.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek then moved to do the same to me.

“I’m good. Tired, but good. I think it’s starting to sink in that I’ll be doing this all alone.”

I reached for her hand. “Hey, you’re not alone. We’re here.”

“I’ll even babysit for you,” Drake said.

Mindy looked at Drake with that same look she used to give him in high school.

Oh dear, I know that look.

All three of our phones went off at once with a text. I opened it to see it was from Ida.

Drake jumped up and announced, “Ida made a bee sting!”

Mindy moaned in delight, then got up to follow Drake.

I read the text.

Ida: Made you a bee sting, Mindy. Drake, Bristol…you as well.

Well, when Ida Meyer made any dessert, people went running to it. A bee sting, though. Yeah, no one would turn that down. I followed Drake and Mindy through the house and out into the garage.

“You feel like walking?” Drake asked Mindy.

“Hell, no. I want that cake, and I want it right now,” she declared.

Drake laughed as he made his way over to his truck. “I’ll drive then!”

Ten minutes later, the three of us walked up the steps to a large Victorian-style house: the home of Ida and Irwin Meyer. The Meyers, like my mother’s family, were one of the first families to settle in Comfort. Anson’s great-grandmother’s family owned a grocery store on High Street. They built the Victorian in 1895, as well as a house out on the family ranch.

When Irwin inherited the house from his parents, he and Ida moved in and let Carl and Pearl, Anson’s parents, live in the main house on the ranch. Carl ran the cattle ranch. That was another historical Victorian, but nothing like this house. This was the grandest house in Comfort. It was rumored that the Kaffee Kreis, also known as the coffee circle, still went on each month in Ida’s house. Only members of the original seven founding families were invited to the coffee gathering that had started in the late 1800s.

I knocked on the door and glanced around the front porch, while Drake and Mindy talked about planting some sort of flowers in the back of her house. Ida opened the door and promptly stepped out onto the porch.

“Bristol, sweetheart!” She wrapped me up in her arms and then pushed me back at arm’s length to give me a once-over. She repeated the process with Mindy and Drake. Every time you saw Ida Meyer, she acted as if she hadn’t seen you in years—even if she’d just seen you that morning.

Ida looked at Mindy and said, “It’s on the kitchen counter. I figured you needed a pick-me-up, Mindy, sweetheart.”

Both Drake and Mindy rushed into the house, leaving me and Ida on the front porch.

I laughed. “I heard you had a visitor the other day and Carl threatened to shoot him.”

Ida rolled her eyes. “I don’t mind talking to them if they ask about Anson’s career. But this one wasn’t asking about Anson. He was prying into Carl and Anson’s relationship. And I’m positive he’s been here before, asking questions.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “Really? How would he know about their relationship?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, Sweetheart. I wish those two would make up already. I’m tired of having to leave the state of Texas anytime I want to see my grandson. Or having him sneak home to visit us.”

That made my heart drop. “Anson’s been back to Comfort?”

Ida looked angry with herself for saying anything. “He has a few times, yes.”

A sick feeling hit me in the stomach. Anson had been home and hadn’t even bothered to stop and see me. Why did that hurt so damn much? Had my mother truly seen him the other day? There was no way…was there?