back, Amanda realized that was when Bobby had started going overboard. He’d begun buying her things to make up for Big Max’s intractable attitude. It had become his obsession to see that she and the children wanted for nothing.
Since Bobby took care of their finances, Amanda hadn’t had any idea of the amount of debt they were accumulating. She should have paid attention to the mounting bills, questioned him more about their finances, but she hadn’t wanted to indicate in any way that she didn’t have total confidence in him. Maybe she should have reassured him more often that he and the kids were enough for her, that she didn’t need more things as proof of his ability as a provider, but she’d assumed he knew that. She took for granted that he knew how to manage money. He’d been smart enough to expand his business; surely he could balance their personal checkbook. And basically he had, but only by mortgaging their lives to the hilt.
If only Bobby had known what fate had in store, he might have made better choices. Instead, they’d lost it all. Worst of all, she’d lost Bobby.
Now, though, she and the children had a second chance, Amanda thought, feeling at peace for the first time since Bobby’s death. With the soft afternoon sunlight spilling over her, she smiled. This room would fit into the pantry at Big Max’s house. She had little doubt what he would think of it. He would treat it with the same disdain he had shown when she’d made a desperate attempt to reach out to him after Bobby’s death had left her virtually penniless. She’d made that attempt only for the sake of her children, but being rebuffed once more had convinced her that the father she’d once adored was now only a bitter old man incapable of compassion.
“Doesn’t matter what he thinks or what he does,” she told herself fiercely. “My kids are healthy and this house is mine. We’re getting back on our feet and that’s what counts.”
And if Big Max couldn’t see that all his wealth, all his power didn’t amount to a hill of beans without love, so what? Amanda had long since stopped caring what her father thought or how empty his life had become. She’d stopped because he’d given her no choice. If she hadn’t, she might never have stopped crying.
“They’ve moved in?” Big Max asked Caleb when the minister finally turned up for their regular game of cards. For once Max didn’t waste his breath complaining. He was too anxious to hear how things had gone with Amanda and the kids when she’d moved into her new house the day before.
Max and Caleb were an odd pair—the heathen and the man of the Lord, as Max liked to say. Maybe he was more worried about his immortal soul than he’d ever realized. He couldn’t see any other reason for having gravitated to this man whose unwavering faith Max couldn’t share. He’d lost his belief in God when he’d lost his wife, leaving him all alone to raise Amanda. For a man who’d never understood a thing about women, it had been a terrifying burden.
Yet, from the moment he’d gazed down into Amanda’s trusting blue eyes, felt her tiny fist close around his finger, he’d been totally smitten. That girl of his had filled his heart with so much joy, it had dulled the pain of losing his beloved wife.
Severing all ties with Amanda when she’d chosen to defy him and marry that no-account Bobby O’Leary had just about ripped his heart out. He’d taken what he’d considered to be a calculated risk that day and he’d lost. The memory of it haunted him.
Stubborn pride had kept him from reaching out to mend fences. When Bobby had tried, Max had turned him away, embarrassed and shamed to have the boy attempt what he should have been man enough to do himself. When Amanda herself had come to him after Bobby’s death, he’d been too quick to say hurtful, judgmental things guaranteed to turn her away. He’d lost a lot of sleep over the years knowing he was a damn fool and the price he’d paid for it.
“If you’re this curious about Amanda, why don’t you go and see for yourself?” Caleb asked. “Don’t you think this feud has gone on long enough? You love your daughter, Max. You need to get to know your grandchildren. You’ve lost too many years already. Don’t lose any more. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Max snapped. “I’ve had more than one chance and I blew it. The girl hates me, and who can blame her?” He looked away. “Besides, if she ever found out…”
“Found out what?” Caleb prodded.
“Nothing. I don’t want to get into it.”
“Get into what? Don’t you know by now you can tell me anything and I won’t judge you?”
“You’re a real saint, all right,” Max said snidely, hoping to tick him off.
Caleb didn’t react. He just sat there with the patient expression that made Max nuts.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, it was a slip of the tongue, that’s all,” Max grumbled.
“I doubt that,” Caleb said.
“Look, all I’m saying is it’s too late for Amanda and me.”
“It’s not too late until you’re in your grave,” Caleb retorted.
Maybe that was what Max liked about this young man. He didn’t wilt under Max’s scorn, didn’t turn away when pushed to do just that. Caleb was a man with staying power. Max admired that, even if he didn’t know how any man could devote himself to God’s work when there was evidence all around that God wasn’t paying a damn bit of attention to what was happening down here on earth.
“You gonna pray over me when I’m gone?” Max asked, taunting him.
Caleb grinned. “I pray for you every night as it is. If you weren’t so ornery, I think maybe my prayers would have a better outcome.”
Max regarded him with surprise. “I never asked you to pray for me.”
“You didn’t need to. It’s what I do. I see a need and I jump in.”
“Well, you’re wasting your breath,” Max replied irritably.
“It’s mine to waste,” Caleb responded. “Besides, I think one of these days even someone as cantankerous as you will wake up and admit he’s made a dreadful mistake and reach out to the one person on earth he cares about. In fact, you and I know you’ve already done that in a way. The only one who doesn’t know and should is Amanda.”
Max scowled at him. “You tell her I bought that land her new house is sitting on and she’ll move out by morning,” he said with absolute conviction. “That girl got my stubbornness and doubled it.”
“Maybe,” Caleb said. “But maybe she’d see it as a gesture that’s been too long coming.”
“Stay out of it, Caleb. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” He frowned at the pastor. “And don’t go dropping any hints to her, either. You and I made a deal. She’s never to know about me buying that land. You spill the beans to her and I will see your sorry butt in hell.”
Caleb’s steady gaze never wavered. “You don’t scare me, Max. Don’t you know that by now?”
Max was flustered by the amusement in Caleb’s voice. Most men in Charleston would have been quaking in their boots. Most men understood that he never made idle threats.
“Well,
