kids feel the same way,” Maddie added. “They adore you.”
Helen’s eyes swam with tears for the second time that day. “I know that,” she whispered, swiping at the annoying evidence of what she perceived as weakness. “I guess I never thought I’d find myself in this position. I thought I’d do it all the traditional way. Time just…got away from me.”
“Well, it’s not too late yet,” Dana Sue said firmly.
“From a medical standpoint, I know that,” Helen said. “But you touched on something that does worry me. What if something happens to me? Knowing I’m the only parent could make a child feel incredibly insecure.”
“Which is why your child will always know they can turn to any of us,” Dana Sue reminded her. “Now let’s get down to business. We can stay here all night and go through those lists of yours item by item, if that will help.”
Already somewhat relieved by their reassurances and their commitment, Helen shook her head. “No, but thanks. I’ll work this out.”
“Soon,” Maddie said.
“Soon,” Helen agreed, though she immediately felt the pressure starting to build again. She hated knowing that there was no time to waste, that a decision of this magnitude couldn’t be put off forever.
Maddie struggled up from the sofa with an assist from Dana Sue. If she was this awkward now at only four and a half months, Helen couldn’t begin to imagine how ungainly she’d be by her ninth month. For some reason the image made Helen want to weep all over again. She did want that for herself. The awkwardness, the belly out to here, the kick of her baby keeping her awake at night.
It was the aftermath that terrified her—the middle-of-the- night feedings, pacing the floor trying to soothe a crying baby, letting go of a tiny hand on the first day of school, having to make excuses to the court when her child had chicken pox, making sure homework was done, teaching her son or daughter the dangers of alcohol, smoking and premarital sex. The litany of things that could make the difference between raising a happy, well-adjusted child and a kid destined for disaster scared her out of her wits. Despite the accolades from Dana Sue, Maddie and their children, what if she was lousy at all of it? What then?
“You’re overthinking it again,” Maddie said, interrupting Helen’s thoughts. She tapped her chest. “Listen to what’s in your heart. It won’t steer you wrong.”
Helen hugged both of them fiercely. “Thank you for not listening to me when I told you to go away.”
Dana Sue grinned. “Not a problem. We’ve spent a lifetime ignoring your orders. We enjoy it.”
“That’s true,” Maddie agreed. “Now get some rest. Maybe this will all be clearer to you in the morning.”
Helen doubted that, but she did feel better for having these two old, and very dear, friends offering her unconditional support. It was the one thing she should have realized she could count on long before tonight.
6
Erik had been predisposed to dislike Tess Martinez, mostly because he resented the way Helen had manipulated the whole situation to convince Dana Sue to hire someone else for the kitchen. He also had major reservations about hiring another single mom after the problems they’d been having with Karen.
Yet he’d discovered it was all but impossible not to like a woman who was little bigger than a bird and whose sheer perkiness and good-natured eagerness to work commanded his respect and approval. After only a few days, he’d grudgingly conceded to himself—though not to Dana Sue and definitely not to Helen—that Tess was a real find.
Right now, nearly an hour after the restaurant had closed, Tess was hovering beside him, watching every move he made as he finished decorating a wedding cake for a reception Sullivan’s was catering on Saturday.
“So many flowers,” she whispered reverently. “It’s like a picture.”
“What was your wedding cake like?” Erik asked.
“Not so beautiful as this,” she said sadly. “We had no money for such things.”
Born in the United States, and the daughter of Mexican immigrants who’d come into the country legally to work harvesting sugar in Florida, Tess spoke with a charming mix of Spanish and Southern accents. The family had worked hard, saved their money and had eventually started a small vegetable farm in South Carolina a few miles outside of Serenity. They sold their produce to local grocery stores and restaurants and at weekend farmers’ markets, including the one started last summer in Serenity’s town square. The instant Dana Sue had met Tess, she’d realized that much of Sullivan’s produce came from Tess’s family farm. Erik had known at that moment during the interview that Dana Sue would hire Tess even if the young woman could do nothing more than boil an egg.
If that alone hadn’t been enough, though, Tess had also told them that her husband, Diego Martinez, had been picked up on a job for not being able to produce a valid green card and been deported back to Mexico before they could establish in court that he was here legally and that, even had he not been, his three-year marriage to Tess would have qualified him to stay.
Erik had a hunch it was a case Helen would want to be involved in, once she heard the details. Fighting the system to reunite two people in love might be a welcome change from the divorces she usually handled. And lately she seemed to be sticking her nose into all sorts of things that were none of her business, so why not this one?
In the meantime, though, Tess was struggling to make ends meet with two children under three. She’d tried making it on her own, but after being fired from the diner, she’d moved back home with her family. Though they helped some with child care, they had their own long, hard days in their fields. Tess worked to help them and to put money away for the legal fight to get her husband back to South Carolina. Erik sympathized with her plight, but what had won him over was her quick grasp of any task assigned to her in the kitchen. In less than a week, she’d learned many of the recipes and executed them to perfection.
“Would you like to do this?” he asked now.
“Really?” she asked, awestruck. “You would teach me to make a cake so beautiful?”
“Sure. With the number of catering requests we’re getting for wedding receptions, it would be wonderful to have someone to help out. Dana Sue had to turn down someone just this week because we had a conflict for that date.”
“I could come in early,” she offered at once. “I should not learn while I am being paid.”
Erik smiled at her. “I think we can find the time during your regular hours, Tess. I’ll talk it over with Dana Sue and we’ll figure it out.”
“But I’m willing to be here early,” she said. “Please tell her that, so she doesn’t think I am taking advantage of her.”
“No one would ever think such a thing,” he assured her. “You work as hard as anyone here. We’re lucky to have found you.”
A brilliant smile spread across her thin face, which was dominated by large brown eyes that sparkled with humor. “No. I am the lucky one, to have found a job I love. I am so grateful to Karen for recommending me and to you and Dana Sue for giving me a chance. I will not let you down.”
Erik decided
