“So I know exactly what time your soncomes home. This gives me the ammunition to catch him in his lie.”
“Why do you think Mike’s going to lie to you?”
“It seems to be a newly acquired habit of his, ever since his father told him to go out and have a little fun.”
“Now, Em, you know I was right.”
“I know that it’s dangerous to let an overintelligent teenager loose on society. Sheriff Ramsey drove out here yesterday to warn me that Michael was seen in town with an unsavory group of kids.”
“How unsavory can kids get in Medicine Gore, Em?”
“Unsavory enough to harass some environmentalist when no one is looking. Most of the kids’ parents make their living off the forest one way or another, and this political war has filtered down to the children.”
“Mike wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
Emma hunched down to set the timer, nearly falling off the steps as her high heels wobbled. “Mikey is probably their ringleader. Their latest prank has all the earmark of his handiwork.”
Ben pulled her away from the edge of the steps. He took the timer and hunched down to secure it to the post. “What prank?”
Emma sat down beside him on the top step, and set the clock and tested the string, making sure Mikey wouldn’t see it but would still trip it. “Somebody built a fort of logs around an environmentalist’s truck two nights ago.”
Ben grinned, his teeth white and his eyes glistening in the moonlight. “That wasn’t so bad. It’s kind of brilliant.”
“Very brilliant. As for being bad, there was no way to dismantle the logs without caving them in on the truck. Which is precisely what happened.”
“Any number of kids around here must have access to a truck full of logs and a pulp loader. What makes you think it was Mike?”
“Because only Mikey would realize he could commit a crime without actually doing anything wrong. After all, they didn’t touch any property, they simply built a log cabin. It wasn’t their fault the truck was damaged. The environmentalists did that themselves when they tried to free the truck. What crime could the kids possibly be charged with?”
Ben sat down on the porch. “Hell, you’re right.” He wrapped his arm over her shoulders. “Mike’s a genius.”
“Doesn’t he scare you sometimes?”
“He scares the hell out of me,” he said.
Emma rested her chin in her fists. “Me, too.”
“You’ve survived well enough.”
“Only because Mikey’s been charitable to me.”
“I love your legs.”
“Huh?”
“And your hair. You’ve fixed it just right to show off your lovely neck and your cute little ears. You look very delicious tonight, Miss Sands.”
Emma shot out from under his arm and was halfway to the truck before he caught up with her.
“Was it something I said?”
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“The compliment.”
“Hmm. I don’t suppose you’ve had many, have you? Here’s another one: thank you for doing such a fine job of raising Mike. A father couldn’t hope for a better son.”
Emma stopped and stared. Had she just heard right? Was Ben thankingher for raising Michael?
“Say ‘you’re welcome,’ Em.”
“But you hate me.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t.” He shoved his hands in his pant pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Not anymore.”
Emma took a step back, his words making her heart beat a little faster.
“I hated Kelly by the time I was done reading that letter. Then I learned that youhad raised Mike, so I turned my anger on you. But I can’t hate you. You love him, Em. And that’s something I understand.”
He took two steps closer and put his hands on her shoulders. Emma feared he could feel her shaking, but she didn’t pull away.
“That’s what you think you’ve done, isn’t it, Em? You think you’ve sold your soul by keeping Mike from me, that you’ve committed a sin neither I nor God can forgive.”
He reached up and gently brushed a tear from her cheek, and Emma realized she was crying. Still, she couldn’t move.
“I forgive you, Emma Sands, because I probably would have done the same.” He lifted her chin. “Will you please stop worrying that I’m trying to take Mike away from you? Will you believe that I’m willing to share him?”
“I could have done something ten years ago, Ben. I could have done something fifteenyears ago. Even then, I was old enough to know it’s wrong not to tell a man he’s fathered a child. I would never forgive anyone who did something like that to me.”
Tears were running down her cheeks.
“Aw, hell, Em,” Ben growled. He wrapped her up in his arms and rocked her back and forth—in the dark shadows of the pines, in the silence of the cold autumn night. “ That’sour problem. You can’t believe I can understand why you kept Michael to yourself all these years.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“But I do. Because I can feelyour love for him.”
Emma looked up. “But I can’t even say if I would do things differently, given another chance. I honestly don’t know if I would have the strength.”
“You had the strength to mail the letter a month ago. Why then?”
Emma pulled away and walked to Ben’s truck. “I didn’t send you that letter. Mikey must have. He may only be fifteen, but come January, he’s stepping into the giant world of college. He needs someone other than me to guide him, a father to show him the way. He needs you.”
“And you, too.”
“Not really. All chicks leave the nest eventually. Michael’s flight may be earlier than most, but I’m already becoming his history. And he wants you to be his future.”
“He’s never intended to leave you behind. Haven’t you figured that out?”
“I know I will always be his aunt. But he needs more.”
Ben opened the passenger door and lifted her into the seat. He kept his hands at her waist as he stared into her eyes. “He can have us both.”
“I have my own life to think about. I intend to leave this nest right after Mikey.”
“ Youcan have both, too, Em.”
She shook her head and turned to face the front. A whisper of a sigh reached her just before he softly closed the door. Emma stared at his back as he looked out over the lake, his shoulders casting a broad, strong silhouette that could have been carved from black marble.
Chapter Ten
“G ive me your coat, and I’ll hang it up and get us some paper cups. Want something from the concession stand?”
Emma fingered the top button on her coat. The dance was being held in the fire station. They had moved out the trucks and decorated the building—tables had been placed along the walls, the lights were turned down, and a band was set up against the side wall. Emma had chosen a table way back in the corner, where it was hopefully dark enough for people not to recognize either of them.
“I’ll keep it on a little while. I’m chilled.”
Her escort lifted one brow. “What are you hiding under there, Emma?” He looked down at her bright red shoes and sheer-hosed legs. “I’m getting curious.”
She opened the cooler they had brought and waved him away. “Go get some cups and some ice. I’m not hungry yet.”
After Ben walked off, she unbuttoned her coat, threw it over a chair, then arranged Greta’s shawl, making sure she was covered from her neck to her waist.
What had possessed her to wear this dress?
She had two other dresses that were far more modest, but the devil-fairy had returned this afternoon.
“I want to talk to you.”