I’m cleaning this place out over the next couple of weeks. Come by and take anything you want,” Dan said.
“Thank you,” Beth said. “I’ll come by tomorrow, if that’s okay.”
“Not a problem. I’ll be here.”
Beth pushed the door open, and she and her grandmother left the store, the soft ding of the bell echoing in the stillness as the door swung shut again.
Beth Thomas was back, and Dan wasn’t sure how he felt about that. All those old memories—all those old feelings—came in a flood. But fatherhood had changed everything for Dan, and there was no going back.
“DANNY BROCKWOOD?” Rick exploded. “That twit has my store? He never said a thing to me. How fast did that sale go through?”
Granny came inside and unzipped her coat, then proceeded into the middle of the kitchen with her snowy boots still on her feet.
“I’m not sure,” Beth said, peeling off her jacket. “Granny, your boots.”
“Oh...silly me...” Granny came back to the door and bent to take her boots off. She was still physically spry, and while it seemed horrible for Beth to wish such a thing, if Granny would just get a little creaky in the knees or something, she might not make it so far when she wandered off. It was worse when the mind went before the body did, because there was so much more that could go wrong.
“He said the price was too good to refuse, so it looks like Danny had some money in the bank,” Beth said, hanging her coat on a peg. “Millwrights make a good wage.”
“Where is Ralph?” Granny asked as she stepped into her slippers. “Ralph!”
“He’s gone for milk, Granny,” Rick said. “Why don’t you go get settled in the living room? Warm up.”
“Oh...” Granny nodded. “Yes, that’s a good idea.”
They waited until Granny had retreated to her favorite recliner and the footrest popped up. Beth shot her father an apologetic look.
“I thought it would be better if you heard it from me,” she said.
“It would have been better if he’d been man enough to tell me himself,” Rick snapped.
“No, it wouldn’t,” Beth said with a sigh. “You hate everything Danny does. It would have given you a chance to yell at him, that’s it.”
“And that’s too much to ask?” Rick muttered something under his breath. This was a personal loss for Rick—the store he’d helped his father build up. He’d set his last novel in a family-run corner store, just like theirs, and the critics had deemed it “important” and “layered.” They’d said they could feel the “regional heartbeat” in his work.
“Dad, I hate this, too,” she admitted. “Our family used to be respected.”
“We are respected. Hard times don’t change that.”
He had a point, but this wasn’t what any of them had expected. If the town were to place bets on which of them would hit bottom, they’d have all put their money on Danny to slide down into ruin. Not the Thomases. But her father wasn’t the man he used to be since Linda had left, and Beth hadn’t decided if that was a good thing or not. That was ironic, considering how much she’d disliked her stepmother. They’d never gotten along, not that Linda was entirely to blame. Beth hadn’t been easy on her.
“Have you met his son?” Beth asked after a moment.
“You mean Danny’s son?” Rick asked. “Yeah, I’ve seen him around. Luke’s a good kid.”
She nodded. “Funny to think of Danny as a father.”
“Funny to think of my little girl as a mother,” her father retorted. “Some of these things creep up on a person.”
“Har har.” She cast her father an annoyed look. When was he going to stop being scandalized over this? She was due in a month. He’d had time to get used to the idea.
“And speaking of parenthood,” her father said, “we need to talk about getting child support.”
“No.”
“Even Luke’s mother came after Danny to do his part,” Rick said with a shake of his head.
“She wouldn’t let him near the kid before she dumped him on his doorstep,” she countered.
“Fine. Whatever. My point is, babies don’t come into the world by accident. It takes a cooperative act between two people, and it isn’t right for the full financial burden to fall on only one of them.”
“Dad, I’m not going after child support.”
What was she supposed to do, try to track down some random Australian tourist who’d happened to drink in a certain bar in Edmonton one spring night after her boyfriend had dumped her? It wasn’t even a possibility, but this wasn’t a story she could tell her father. She’d kept her mouth shut until now, and she was keeping it that way.
“It’s Collin’s baby, isn’t it?” her father pressed. “I mean, obviously it is. I’m not stupid.”
Collin was the accountant she’d been dating in Edmonton until he’d broken up with her. He was taking a job across the country in the Maritimes, and he didn’t feel their relationship would last long distance. He hadn’t mentioned her going with him, either. But he wasn’t the father.
Her father scrubbed a hand through his gray hair. “Beth, the book royalties have been a trickle at best. I’m not in a position—”
“I know,” she said quietly.
“I told Linda she could have the investments and the car. She was the mind behind the investments anyway. I just wanted to keep my shop and this house. I can always write more books.”
On the surface, it sounded like her father had come out ahead in the settlement, except for the fact that the store had been on the brink of bankruptcy and the house wasn’t worth much in a town this size. If they put it on the market, it would be nearly impossible to sell. No one moved to North Fork. People moved out.
“Dad, I’m not asking for anything.”
“You might not be asking,” he retorted. “But the reality is that kids are expensive. You’re going to have day care, food, diapers. And just wait until this kid starts school! School supplies, school clothes...”
Beth knew all of this, which was why she’d come home. But she was a burden around here. Coming home wasn’t the problem—it was coming home pregnant.
“After the baby is old enough, I’ll go back to work,” Beth said.
“See, this is the thing.” Her father’s voice grew gruff. “I want you have a choice. I don’t want you pushed
