Their Family Blessing Read online

  He sent up a prayer that Carly would agree to his next suggestion. “What if we work together to get the place up and running? We clean up the grounds and maybe update the interior of the lodge to make it more appealing. Then we would have a better chance of getting top dollar.”

  “You would agree to that?”

  “It’s not what I want, but I don’t want to stand by and let the place be auctioned off. It would break your father’s heart. We don’t have time to mull this over. We have to make a decision now. If we do nothing, then we both lose. Is that really what you want?”

  The shadow of doubt in her eyes gave Mack a ray of hope. Maybe deep down she really did care. He just had to find a way to make her remember.

  “I think I can do that. As long as we agree our goal is to make the lodge attractive to prospective buyers, and as long as you understand that I don’t want Longleaf.”

  Mack shoved aside his twinge of guilt for misleading her. “I understand.”

  “Good.” Carly stood, meeting his gaze and sending a strange longing through him. Seeing her here the way he’d always remembered was a bittersweet moment, and he wanted it to last.

  “We should get started in the morning right after breakfast. We need to get an overview of the estate, see the condition of the grounds so we can prioritize the needs.”

  Carly looked reluctant. “So soon?”

  “We can’t waste any more time. I thought you were anxious to get back home.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you in the morning.” She walked off and up the stairs, never looking back.

  Mack watched her go, his heart sinking slowly. Dwayne strolled to his side, watching as Carly disappeared.

  “How did it go?”

  “I had to compromise on the truth a little.”

  “How so?”

  “I got her to agree to stay and fix the place with the intention of attracting a good buyer.”

  “Did you both agree that you want to sell?”

  “No. But I’m hoping that after she’s been here awhile she’ll remember how much she loved the place and she won’t want to let it go.”

  “I wouldn’t hold your breath. From what I’ve seen so far, whatever chased her away from Longleaf hasn’t softened with time.”

  “What was it, do you know?”

  “Not really, but it had something to do with her mother, I can tell you that.”

  Mack went upstairs to tuck Lucy in, mulling over Dwayne’s comment about Carly’s mom. He had no idea what had gone wrong, but it had changed everything in the blink of an eye. Wade had never been the same after his wife had left him. Carly had only returned once after that, a year later and left suddenly after they’d shared that one unbelievable kiss. He’d forgotten for a moment that she was the boss’s daughter. But he just couldn’t ignore how the moment had seemed so right, and the kiss, as brief as it had been, had shifted his world. So much so that he’d made a date with Natalie Reynolds, his old girlfriend just to forget the whole incident. He’d taken her to the lodge for a canoe ride. Carly had left the next day, leaving him confused and guilt ridden, and with pain he’d never experienced before. The memory could still send tiny pinpricks of hurt along his nerves.

  As much as he hated to admit it, Carly was part of his life and always would be. No matter how much he wished he could stop caring. It would be easier to stop breathing.

  Carly watched her sleeping daughter. She envied the ability to simply set aside the events of the day and drift off. Her thoughts were too stirred up to consider sleeping. She needed to move, to do something. Slipping from the room, she made her way quietly downstairs, relieved to find the lodge silent and empty.

  Carly fingered the key in her hand, fighting the knots in her stomach. She wasn’t sure why she was doing this. She didn’t want to remember the past, but something inside her compelled her to visit the place where she’d grown up.

  Inserting the key, she turned the lock and opened the door, stepping into the rooms that had been her childhood home. The west side of the lodge consisted of a two-bedroom apartment, so large and spacious it had never felt like an apartment. With open rooms, a second floor and wide private deck, it had provided a sanctuary for the family away from the constant flow of guests staying at the lodge.

  Carly stepped into the rooms, bracing for a barrage of bad memories. What slammed into her, however, were the good ones from when she was small. The winter evenings spent in front of the fire, the Christmas tree sitting by the large windows looking out onto the lake.

  She turned when she heard tapping on the doorframe. Dwayne stepped in, a small smile on his lined face.

  “It’s good to see you in these rooms again, Carly. They’ve missed you.”

  She set her jar. “I doubt that.” She noticed a collection of photographs on the mantel. She picked up one, shocked to see a picture of Ella when she was small. “What are these doing here? How did he get this?”

  Dwayne tugged on his ear and grinned. “Your husband sent them. He felt it was the right thing to do. Wade wanted to see his grandchild.”

  A hot flush washed through her. Of course her father would want to see Ella. Troy tried repeatedly to convince her to visit her father and bring Ella, but her anger and hurt had run too deep. She never wanted to feel that sense of betrayal again. Yet Troy had betrayed her, too, and gone behind her back.

  “Your papa cherished those. It wasn’t all bad, you know. You were happy here. But after your mom came back and took you away, nothing was the same. Especially your father.”

  “What do you mean, came back?”

  “Don’t you remember? It was that summer you were sixteen. Your mom walked out real sudden-like. She was gone a week, then she showed back up, caused a scene and took you away. Your dad never told me what happened, but it nearly killed him. It took him years to fight through that.”

  Carly shook her head. “No. That can’t be true. He caused her to leave. It was all his fault.”

  Dwayne studied her a moment. “Maybe things aren’t quite the way you remember them. When we’re young, events don’t always make sense.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and set her jaw. “No. It made sense.” She knew exactly why her mother had left.

  “Well, I’ll leave you be.”

  Carly rubbed her forehead, struggling to understand what Dwayne had said. What had he meant about her mother leaving? She tried to remember but came up empty. Climbing the stairs, she went into her old room. It looked different yet still the same. A new solid blue bedspread replaced her flowered one, and most of her posters and decorations were gone. Apparently her dad hadn’t done the old make-my-child’s-room-a-shrine thing, which only proved that he hadn’t really cared for her the way she’d believed.

  Her old desk was still there, and she sat down and scanned the items on top. Her old digital camera. It was the last gift her father had given her, and she’d carried it everywhere. She’d loved to capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments where the sun shone just right over the lake or the moon glistened through the pines leaving rays of white light on the trail. She’d decided she would become a professional photographer. Sadly, she’d lost sight of that dream along the way.

  Sliding open the middle drawer where she kept all her special mementoes, she touched the assortment, little flashes of memories flaring, each one bringing a warmth to her chest. Her fingers picked up a small silver earring inlaid with a pearl and a diamond. A lance of pain and sadness sliced her heart in two. It wasn’t her mother’s. She had pierced ears. This was a clip-on and she’d found it on the floor of her dad’s car. Proof of what her mother had told her. The reason her family had been torn apart.

  Her dad’s unfaithfulness.

  She shoved the jewelry back in the drawer, slammed it shut. Tears welled up in her eyes as she hurried back to the main room of the lodge. She wanted to go home. Sh
e wanted out of this horrible arrangement, and she wanted away from all the memories.

  Just then, her phone rang. She recognized the name of the company calling, and her throat closed as it always did when the bill collectors harassed her. They had no problem calling at all hours. There was no point in answering because there was nothing she could tell them. She still didn’t have the money to pay them. She shoved the phone back into her pocket, unwilling to even contemplate the consequences she might be facing soon. She prayed that a buyer could be found for the lodge quickly; otherwise, she and Ella might be homeless.

  * * *

  Carly took as much time at breakfast as she could, hoping to postpone the tour of Longleaf Lodge with Mack. Despite her issues with him, he still had a way of stirring up feelings she didn’t want stirred. Her relationship with him had always been conflicted. She’d been drawn to him since the moment they’d met, but his close relationship with her dad had always filled her with resentment. She envied the closeness they had shared and the time they’d spent together. So many years away from the lodge and Mack hadn’t changed anything. It was a realization she had no idea how to process.

  Carly pushed back from the table in the large kitchen. “Thank you for the breakfast, Thelma. It was wonderful as usual.”

  “I’m loving cooking for you again, Cupcake.”

  “Are you sure you don’t mind watching Ella while we’re gone?”

  “No indeed. I plan on making special pancakes for the girls when they get up, and Dwayne is bringing the dogs over from our place. They’ll enjoy playing with them.”

  “Dogs? Is Bully still around?” Her dad’s black Lab had been as much a part of the family as she was.

  “No. Bully went on to his reward. Your dad got a German shepherd from a friend and called him Riley. He’s a good watchdog. Then Dwayne and I rescued two little Lhasa–shih tzu mix pups. Poppy and Petunia. Sweet little things. They like to cuddle.”

  “Ella will love them. She’s always wanted a dog. Thanks again, Thelma. I don’t think we’ll be long.”

  Thelma patted her arm. “Cupcake, try and keep an open mind, okay? Make sure you see everything the way it is, not the way you remember.”

  Carly wasn’t sure what Thelma was trying to convey but she promised. Thelma was a wise woman, and it wouldn’t hurt to take her words to heart.

  Mack was standing by the golf cart wearing that crooked grin of his when she stepped onto the wide front porch.

  “Good morning, Carly. Are you ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.” She tried to halt the wave of appreciation that spiraled up unexpectedly into her chest. Mack had always been too handsome for his own good. A large part of his appeal was that he had no idea what his boy-next-door good looks and athletic build did to women. She recalled, as a teen, many of her girlfriends sighing loudly when he smiled in their direction.

  Mack set the cart in motion as soon as she was seated. She pulled her old camera from her pocket and held it in her lap.

  “Whatcha got there?”

  “My old camera I found when I was in the apartment.”

  Mack shot a glance in her direction. “You were in the apartment?”

  Carly didn’t want to talk about that. “Where are we going to start?”

  “I thought we’d go by the pool area first.”

  Carly tried to keep her eyes forward and avoid the stunning beauty of her father’s legacy. If she started to look beyond her resentment, who knew what she might find. It was one reason she’d picked up the camera. It was easier to view things through a lens than experience it outright. A camera allowed you to see without getting emotionally involved.

  Mack steered the cart through the pine trees and made a left turn, bringing them to the pool house and snack bar at one end of the large rectangular swimming pool. He pulled to a stop and glanced around.

  “It looks like it’s in good shape.” A large cover was stretched over the water to protect it from debris and accidents.

  “It is. Wade upgraded it a couple years ago—added the pool cover and renovated the kitchen in the snack bar. Of course we’ll need to clean the place and treat the pool water.”

  “So we can have this up and running quickly?”

  “Sure. It’s warm enough.”

  “It’s early May. The pool should have been open already.”

  “It would be if the lodge were open.”

  “Right.” Even with all that had happened during the last two days, Carly found it hard to remember that the lodge was closed. Her dad never closed. For any reason. It was one of the things her mother had hated. She’d wanted to take vacations to other places, to go on a cruise, but her father had refused to leave the lodge for any length of time. She pointed her small camera and took a few pictures.

  “Trying to recapture memories?”

  Carly shook her head, avoiding his gaze. “I want to post pictures online to show prospective buyers all the amenities. The pictures need to evoke an emotion.”

  “Do they evoke emotions in you?”

  She ignored his question. “Where to next?”

  Mack headed out toward the perimeter of the land. As far as she knew there was nothing there but piney woods, but in a few minutes Mack turned into a camping area with five large concrete parking pads. “What’s this?”

  “Wade added RV sites. They were very successful. He was hoping to add more.”

  When she’d lived here, the only camping facilities were for tents and small campers. They made a swing through that section, then Mack drove toward the lake and stopped near a grove of live oaks near the bank. He stopped the cart and stared out onto the water.

  Carly waited for him to speak, but he seemed lost in thought. “Why did we stop?”

  “This is where we said goodbye to your dad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We scattered his ashes right out there on the lake that he loved.”

  Carly’s throat closed up. Tears stung the backs of her eyes in a swirl of mixed emotions. “The only thing he loved.” Mack looked at her, a deep frown on his face.

  “That’s not true. He loved you.”

  She didn’t want to argue with him, so she changed the subject. “We should keep going. We’ve only seen a small part of the grounds. I need to get back to Ella.”

  “Ella and Lucy are just fine.” Mack started the cart with more acceleration than necessary, forcing them both back against the seat. He sped through the trees, slowing when they reached the two hiking trails. They began at a central point, each with a sign bearing the name of the trail, the length, and a small map etched into the thick wooden sign. The Piney Woods Trail, and the Rocky Creek Trail. But there was a third sign now. The Carly’s Hill Trail. “I don’t understand. When did he add this trail?”

  “Shortly after you left one summer you returned.” He steered the cart down the narrow trail. The ground slowly rose with each turn until they perched on a rise overlooking the water. She recognized it as her favorite spot to think or read or just look at the lake. Her thoughts were full of old memories, and she tried desperately to understand what she was seeing. Mack’s soft voice intruded into her thoughts.

  “The old fallen tree had rotted away, so that’s why he built the bench.”

  Her gaze searched the area. She hadn’t even noticed the bench. A nice sturdy one with a slatted back and curved arms, and a slice of tree trunk on the side situated perfectly as a side table. She’d always complained that she had to sit her bottle of water on the ground.

  Carly struggled to find words. It didn’t make any sense. Why would he construct a trail just for her?

  “Why didn’t you come to the funeral?” Mack asked.

  Her defenses kicked in. “It wasn’t a funeral. Only a memorial service.”

  “You should have been here.”

  “And
my dad should have—” She snapped her lips shut. “We should see the rest of the property.”

  Mack stiffened but kept silent, and he drove back down the trail and headed toward the five cabins. “The cabins need work. Two of them are in good condition, but the other three need electrical and plumbing work, and one of them is in need of major repairs.”

  He drove past the row of cabins situated near the lake edge.

  “Stop,” she said. Mack brought the cart to a halt. “Why is this cabin boarded up?”

  Mack inhaled a slow breath before answering. “It’s not usable right now.”

  “Why not?”

  He leaned his forearms on the steering wheel. “The cabin was rented to a group of college students who got drunk and trashed the place. They left holes in the wall, pulled the plumbing from the bathroom, destroyed kitchen appliances and broke the windows. Everything inside needs to be replaced.”

  Carly’s hopes sank. “We’ve never had anything like this happen before. Our guests were always respectful of the property. Did Dad report this to the police?”

  “He did, and they were fined and ordered to pay for the damage. They were supposed to work on it themselves, but your dad got sick so the money came in handy, but the repairs are now on us.”

  “Is there any way we can get this cabin ready to rent?”

  “No.”

  Carly’s hopes took another nosedive. How many other areas would have to be left untouched in order to get the lodge open by the deadline? She looked away from the damaged cabin, frowning at the empty landscape ahead. “Where’s the canoe livery? It was always right near the cabins.”

  “It’s moved farther down the bank. It’s its own destination now.”

  Mack drove down a new gravel path she didn’t remember. Pulling into a small parking area with a neatly laid out path leading to the triangle-shaped canoe stand. But instead of the usual eight, there were only two, and beside it was another stand that held four colorful kayaks. Beyond that, resting on the grassy bank, were three johnboats.