“Why don’t you just leave Katie here for the night? No sense traveling on these roads any more than you have to on an evening like this.”
Katie clapped her hands together. “Can I stay, Daddy? Please! Please!”
Mildred was right. The rain coming down as hard and fast as it was could make for unexpected flash floods. Better safe than sorry. “All right, Cupcake. I’ll swing by at lunch tomorrow to check on you.”
“Yippee!”
He bent to kiss the top of her baby-fine hair and then straightened, turning to Mildred. “Call my cell if you need me.”
“We’ll be fine. You just concentrate on getting the rec center done. The town is counting on you.”
He nodded. “I’m doing my best.”
He was the kind of man who put his heart into every job, but this time was different. Every minute, no every second he spent working toward finishing the rec center in time for the town’s Christmas Eve party was a painful reminder of what he and Katie had lost. Of the Christmases they would no longer share as a complete and happy family.
Despite the turmoil that filled him, he had committed himself to seeing the job through. At least, as far as the building’s structure was concerned. Rusty had procured help putting up the holiday trimmings from the church’s Bible group as well as the local ladies’ bingo club. Katie would go to the party with Nathan’s brother Carter and Audra and their kids, allowing him to avoid all that holiday cheer. Then afterward, they’d drop Katie off at home and the two of them would have a quiet Christmas Eve at home, just the two of them.
Pushing all thoughts of Christmas aside, Nathan turned his focus back to the road ahead. Water covering the pavement made hydroplaning a possibility. He eased up on the gas as he drove down the wet road. Leaving Katie at Mildred’s for the night had definitely been a wise decision.
As soon as he arrived at his place, Nathan called Carter, leaving a message on his brother’s cell phone that he was on his way. Then he hurried upstairs to his room to change out of his wet clothes.
When he finally arrived at the rec center, nearly half an hour later, Nathan slid out of the warmth of his truck and back into the cold, wet rain. Raising the collar of the dry coat he’d switched over to, he hurried across the rain-soaked parking area to the newly erected building. One that housed an indoor swimming pool, a TV and game room, an arts and craft room as well as several other recreation-devoted rooms. In the spring, once the weather cleared, an outdoor basketball court, a couple of shuffleboard courts and several picnic tables would be added.
He swung open the front door of the newly constructed building and stepped inside. Removing his jacket, he hung it over a nearby sawhorse, set his still-damp cowboy hat atop it and then moved farther into the room, spotting his brother atop a ladder. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Don’t apologize,” Carter called down from his perch where he stood working on the wiring for one of the overhead lights. “You’ve been working day and night to get this job done. Katie needs you, too.”
No, what Katie needs is a mommy, Nathan thought, his daughter’s words having burrowed themselves under his skin like a thorn.
“How is my little Katydid?” his brother asked as he moved down the ladder.
“Lively as usual,” he muttered, looking around. “Where’s the crew?”
“In the arts and crafts room, finishing the trim on the windows.”
Nathan nodded distractedly.
“Something troubling you?” Carter asked as he walked over to join him. Just a year younger than Nathan, Carter had always been able to read his moods. Their momma used to tell them they were meant to be twins, only Carter decided to hold out a year longer before making his own grand entrance into the world.
“No,” he muttered. “Why?”
His brother snorted. “You always were a poor liar. What’s going on?”
Nathan stepped past him to collect his tool belt from the eight-foot folding table that held an array of power tools along with several boxes of nails and drywall screws. “Katie wants a new mother,” he said with a sigh as he slung the leather belt around his waist and buckled it.
“What?” his brother choked, sounding every bit as surprised as he’d been.
He turned with a frown. “That’s what my daughter wants for Christmas. A mother. She even went so far as to give her own little ‘mommy interview’ to this woman who just arrived in town.”
His brother shook his head with a sigh. “Tough one. Not that I don’t understand Katie’s wanting a mother in her life. I reckon a girl needs that.”
“She has Mildred and Audra. That’s as close as she’s gonna get to having a mother figure in her life. Speaking of which, how is Audra doing?”
His brother’s face beamed at the question. “She’s holding up. The morning sickness tends to get the better of her, but knowing the wondrous gift we’re gonna have soon helps get her through the day. The doctor says the nausea should only last another month or so.”
“Glad to hear it. You couldn’t have chosen a better mother for your child.” Audra had given up everything she’d known to move to Braxton with her children after her husband divorced her, abandoning his children in the process. She was determined to give them a better life. Then she met his brother and they fell in love, giving her children the true family they had always wanted.
“Agreed,” Carter said, a hint of heartfelt emotion pulling at his voice. “Getting back to Katie’s request for a momma. She’s too young to understand what you went through when you lost Isabel. But I do. I remember praying for you every day. Wishing I could do something to bring back the brother I knew. One who used to live life to its fullest. Who smiled often. And loved completely.”
“Carter—”
His brother held up a hand, cutting him off. “I don’t blame you for being afraid of letting someone else into your heart.” Reaching out, he clasped a hand atop his brother’s shoulder. “I saw what losing Isabel did to you. I had no intention of ever putting myself in that position. But then the Lord brought Audra into my life and I couldn’t keep myself from loving her. Our daddy was right. We have to have faith. In ourselves. In our love. And, more importantly, in the Lord’s plan for us.”
Their father had told them from his deathbed in the hospital, Have faith. There is always hope beyond the storm. Despite those weakly uttered last words, all three of Caldwell Cooper’s sons had decided that day that faith wasn’t enough. If it had been, their loved ones would still be there. They’d made a pact that none of them would ever take the risk of loving and losing again. Katie was the only exception to their rule. She was already a part of their lives and needed all the love they could give her. Then Carter had to go and let his heart get in the way of common sense. But Nathan understood. Audra was a woman worth loving and she had given her heart completely to his brother.
“So tell me about this woman our little Katie interrogated,” his brother said, lifting an arm to wipe the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his flannel shirt.
“She’s from San Antonio,” Nathan told him. “Apparently, she’s an interior designer. Her company offered to send her here pro bono to help with the finishing touches to the rec center.”
His brother arched a questioning brow. “Rusty accepted that without consulting us?”
He nodded.
“I thought we were supposed to be handling the entire project,” Carter muttered, clearly ruffled by Rusty’s lack of communication with them on the matter.
“So did I.”
His brother shrugged. “Reckon we can use all the help we can get if we wanna get the rec center completely finished in time.