Waking Up In Charleston

Dear Friends,

Was there a doubt in your mind after reading Flirting with Disaster that Amanda and Caleb would have their own story? Certainly not in mine.

Amanda O’Leary is exactly the sort of woman about whom I love to write. She’s suffered through tremendous adversity and triumphed. On every page of Flirting with Disaster, she gets stronger. By the time she’s ready for her own story, she’s a more than even match for the wonderfully kind and protective Caleb Webb.

But naturally Amanda’s struggles aren’t over. All of her old issues with Big Max, her stubborn, difficult father, are about to surface in an unexpected way, and Caleb is right in the thick of it. When Amanda wakes up to discover the secrets he’s been keeping, will she ever be able to forgive him? And will she be able to make peace with her father before it’s too late? Just turn the page to find out.

In the meantime, welcome back to South Carolina’s Low Country, one of my favorite places in the world. I’ve loved sharing it with you.

All best,

Sherryl

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Epilogue

1

Sunday services were over and most of the congregation had gone home for the traditional midday dinner. Caleb, however, was still in the church office trying to feel his way through an unexpected and troubling counseling session. He studied the couple sitting across from him and wondered if he dared tell them what he really thought, that they were way too young even to be thinking about marriage. Mary Louise Carter was just a few months out of high school. In fact, with her stylishly short, sun-streaked hair, she looked even younger. Danny Marshall, every bit the preppy overachiever, was barely into his sophomore year at Clemson. In Caleb’s opinion, they were years away from knowing what they really wanted out of life.

Unfortunately, he could predict exactly how they’d reply. They’d remind him that they’d known each other since grade school, been sweethearts since Danny’s freshman year in high school. They both thought their marriage was inevitable. So what if having a baby on the way had kicked up the timetable by several years?

“It’s not the end of the world,” Mary Louise said, her adoring gaze on Danny.

Though she rarely looked away from her fiancé, she evidently didn’t see the barely concealed panic that Caleb spotted. He’d counseled enough couples during his ten years as a minister to recognize the signs of a man being pushed toward a commitment he wasn’t ready to make.

“Danny, is this wedding really what you want?” Caleb asked directly. Aware that Mary Louise’s eyes had widened with dismay, he quickly added, “I know you love Mary Louise and I think it’s wonderful that you want to take responsibility for the baby and do the right thing by Mary Louise, but there are other options.”

Danny squirmed uncomfortably and avoided Mary Louise’s hurt expression. “What kind of options?”

“You could acknowledge paternity and pay child support. Or you both could agree to give the baby up for adoption to a family more prepared to give a child the life he or she deserves,” Caleb suggested, careful to keep his tone neutral.

Even so, Mary Louise leapt up. “No way,” she said, quivering with outrage. She scowled at Caleb, then whirled on Danny. “This is our baby. How could you even think about giving away our baby, Danny Marshall?”

Danny gave her a sullen look. “I didn’t say I’d do it. I asked Reverend Webb what the options are. Jeez, Mary Louise, settle down.”

“I’m keeping the baby and that’s that,” she said fiercely. “If you don’t want to marry me, then don’t. I don’t want you if you can’t love both of us. And you can keep your stupid money, too!”

“I never said I didn’t want to marry you,” Danny said placatingly. “You know I love you, baby. It’s just…”

“Just what?” she asked.

“How are we going to make it?” Danny asked reasonably. “I can’t quit school. I worked too hard to get accepted and win a scholarship to throw it all away now. I don’t want to wind up in some dead-end job for the rest of my life, like my dad.”

“You won’t have to. I can stay with my folks for now and keep working. It’s only minimum wage, but I’ll get another job. I can handle two,” Mary Louise promised staunchly. “We can put all that money into savings so we’ll have it when I have to go on maternity leave. I won’t have to take off long. Once the baby comes, I’ll move to be with you. We can figure out a schedule so you can take classes when I’m home. Then you can watch the baby while I work.”

It was evident she’d already given this a lot of thought. Caleb admired her earnest conviction that she could handle a pregnancy and two jobs and that Danny could keep up with his classes and take care of the baby. But Caleb was more realistic. He knew the toll that would eventually take on the marriage and on Mary Louise and Danny individually. He also knew she’d never listen to him if he tried to tell her any of that.

However, he did know someone who might be able to get through to her in a way he couldn’t.

“Okay, you two, I think that’s enough for today,” Caleb said. The pair needed a cooling-down period. “I’m sure this has caught both of you by surprise. You need to spend some time thinking about what you really want and what will be best for the baby. Danny, can you get home from college again next weekend, so we can talk some more?”

“I guess,” Danny said, his reluctance plain, but the stoic lift of his chin told Caleb he would do it. He’d always been a good kid, one who took his responsibilities seriously. He’d worked hard to get a college scholarship, even harder to earn money to help with bills for meals and books.

“Great, then we’ll talk again next week right after church,” Caleb told them. “In the meantime, Mary Louise, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

She regarded him with evident suspicion, clearly not happy about the monkey wrench he’d thrown into her plans for a hasty wedding. “Who?”

“Let me speak to her first and get back to you,” he said.

“I don’t know why you’re so opposed to this wedding,” Mary Louise said to him plaintively. “You’ve known us forever. You know we’re in love.”

“I do,” Caleb agreed. “But I want your marriage to have the best possible chance to succeed, and the way to accomplish that is to make sure you’ve given this serious consideration from every angle before you rush into something. I’ve seen too many young people who start out crazy about each other wind up bitter and divorced because they did the right thing and then resented each other afterward. I really don’t want that to happen to you.”

Danny gave him a grateful look. “Thanks, Reverend Webb. I’ll see you after church next week. Mary Louise, you ready to go?”

For a moment, based on her pouty expression, Caleb thought she might insist on having this out right here and now, but apparently she caught something in Danny’s steady, unrelenting gaze that told her to wait till next time.

“Remember, I want both of you to do some soul-searching this week. See if there are some other solutions that might make sense. If marriage is what you both want, then think about the best way to make sure you have plenty of support,” Caleb suggested. “And I’ll be in touch with you, Mary Louise, probably tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she said, and followed Danny from the room.

Just outside the door, Caleb saw Danny reach for her hand and whisper something in her ear that put a smile back on her face. Caleb sighed and reached for his phone to follow up on his brainstorm.

Okay, he’d been looking for an excuse to call Amanda all day. Ever since he and the other church volunteers had finished building her house two weeks ago and had held a housewarming party just yesterday, he’d been suffering some weird withdrawal symptoms.

He’d fought his feelings for Amanda O’Leary, struggled to pretend that she was just another member of his congregation in need of help, but the time he’d spent with her and her kids had fulfilled him in unexpected ways. He’d come to admire her strength, to enjoy her sense of humor.

Before he actually dialed her number, he gave himself a stern lecture on remembering that he was her pastor, not a would-be lover, much as he might wish otherwise. It wasn’t the first time he’d struggled to place duty above his needs as a man, but it was the first time he was right on the edge of losing the battle.

But the lecture didn’t seem to stop the jolt to his heart when she answered the phone, her voice soft and a little breathless.

“Amanda, you weren’t taking a nap, were you?”

“In the middle of the afternoon with three kids loose in the house?” she replied, laughter threading through her voice. “You must be kidding. No, if I sound out of breath, it’s because Susie, Larry and Jimmy insisted I play tag with them in the backyard. They can’t get over having so much room to run around in. I can’t get over it myself. Thank you again, Caleb.”

“Would you stop thanking me?” he pleaded. “Getting that house built for you was something the whole congregation wanted to do.” Well, except for a couple of obstinate holdouts, and eventually even they had come around.

“I just want you to know how much I appreciate it,” she said. “If there’s ever anything I can do to pay you back, let me know.”

It was exactly the opening Caleb needed. “Actually, there is something you could do.” He explained about Mary Louise and Danny. “I think Mary Louise needs to understand the realities of trying to work two jobs and care for a baby. Would you consider talking to her?”

“Of course I will,” Amanda said at once. “But maybe I should clarify something. Are you asking me to help you talk her out of getting married?”

He considered the question, then answered honestly. “I just want her to know what’s ahead. Right now she’s all caught up in this romantic notion of living with Danny and having his baby and being happy forever. She needs to know how exhausting it can be and what a toll it might take on their marriage. These two kids have been in love practically as long as I’ve known them. I don’t want them to lose that because this pregnancy has backed them into a corner.”

“Will their parents help them?” she asked, an unmistakably wistful note in her voice.

Caleb knew what it would have meant to Amanda if her father, Big Max, had stepped up when her life fell apart, but the divide between them had been too great. Amanda had made a tentative overture, but as usual Big Max had blown the opportunity. Sometimes Caleb wanted to shake the stubborn old man, but instead, he’d settled for trying to gently nudge them back together. So far, he’d made precious little progress. And if Amanda ever found out what he’d been up to, she might very well hate him for his interference.

“Actually, even though I haven’t spoken to them yet,” he said, “I think their parents would help as much as they can. They’re all good, decent people who want what’s best for their kids. Even so, it’s still going to be tough. Danny would probably have to give up his scholarship, quit college and come home.”

“He could go to college here,” Amanda reminded him. “It might take him longer, but he could do it.”

“I suppose,” he conceded, though he knew how much going to Clemson had meant to Danny. Caleb had made quite a few calls himself to assure Danny’s acceptance there. He’d even spoken to the scholarship committee on Danny’s behalf.

“And both sets of grandparents could help out with babysitting if they’re here,” Amanda continued. “Maybe Mary Louise and Danny could even live with his folks or hers for a while. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it might work. Have any of you considered that?”

“What are you saying?” Caleb asked, startled by the turn the conversation had taken. “Do you think I’m wrong for urging caution?”

“No, I think you’re being a responsible, compassionate minister who’s trying to make sure two kids get off to a good start, but sometimes things happen even when the timing sucks. Not every marriage is ideal at the beginning, but if the love is strong, a couple can weather almost anything.”

“The way you and Bobby did,” Caleb concluded.

“The way I thought we had,” Amanda corrected. “I lived the illusion right up until the day he died. Then reality set in.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I’ll make you a deal,” she said, a teasing note in her voice. “I’ll stop saying thank you if you’ll stop saying you’re sorry.”

Caleb chuckled. “I can do that.”

“So, knowing where I’m coming from, do you still want me to speak to Mary Louise?”

“Absolutely,” he said at once. “I think you’d be an incredible role model for any young woman. Will tomorrow afternoon work for you?”

“I’ll need to come straight home from work because of the kids,” she said. “Can you bring her by here, say, around six?”

“Will do,” he said at once, trying to keep the pathetically eager note out of his voice. “Goodbye, Amanda.”

“’Bye, Caleb. See you tomorrow.”

He hung up, a smile on his lips, then realized he was running very late for his standing Sunday get-together with Amanda’s father. Big Max hated to be kept waiting. On the rare occasions it happened, he blustered and carried on about Caleb’s impertinence and lack of respect.

Caleb had come to realize, though, that Big Max’s temper didn’t have anything at all to do with feeling disrespected. Big Max was simply impatient for every little tidbit of information he could get about the daughter he’d cut out of his life and was too proud to let back in. Caleb was simply the chosen messenger.

Still troubled by her conversation with Caleb and imagining the difficulties faced by the young couple, Amanda settled at her kitchen table with a cup of tea. It was the first time all day she’d been able to stop touching things—the shiny new appliances in the kitchen, the glowing oak cabinets, the sheer curtains that billowed at the windows, letting in the pleasant early November breeze and filtering the pale, shimmering late-fall sunlight.

Now she reached yet again for the cool metal key that proved this brand-new house was all hers. The overwhelming feelings that swept through her temporarily pushed aside her concern for the young woman Caleb was bringing by tomorrow afternoon.

She and the kids had moved in barely twenty-four hours ago and it still felt like a dream. The boys had spent the day going from room to room, touching things as she had done, rearranging the toys and furniture that had been given as housewarming gifts in one final burst of generosity that had filled Amanda’s heart with gratitude. The screen door to the new backyard with its brightly painted swing set had slammed a hundred times as the boys, trailed by their five-year-old sister, had gone out to explore this vast new space they had to play in, then rushed back in to tell her about everything they’d discovered.

Compared to the luxurious brick home they’d once had in an upscale Charleston suburb, or to Willow Bend, the gracious old plantation-style home in which she’d grown up, this three-bedroom frame house with its bright yellow siding could only be called cozy, and that was being generous. Even so, she loved every square foot of it with a passion she’d never felt for either of those other places, one that had been built on lies and deception and the other the home from which she’d been banished on her wedding day.

For one thing, she and the kids—even Susie—had poured their sweat and tears into building this home, along with the help of dozens of volunteers from their church and community. She’d made friends here, shared laughter. That counted for a lot. She viewed those exhausting but exhilarating days as a blessing, a promise that these rooms would always be filled with joy. She vowed she would never again take anything for granted as long as she lived in this house.

For another thing, she promised herself she would make this house into a real home, instead of the sham she’d unwittingly lived for years with Bobby O’Leary. Only when he’d died in a car accident had she learned the full extent of her husband’s betrayal. He’d pawned the few pieces of heirloom jewelry she’d owned and mortgaged their house and his business to the limit. Their credit card debt had been staggering. He’d cashed in insurance policies, too, so his death had left her no choice but to close the business and find work that could help her pay off the mountain of debt.

When she’d just about worked herself into exhaustion at two jobs to try to satisfy the creditors, and she and the kids were about to be evicted from their too-small apartment, she’d finally accepted that she had no choice but to declare bankruptcy if she was ever to regain some control over their financial future. A recent change in the law had made the process more complicated and dehumanizing than ever before, but Caleb had stood by her side every step of the way.

That humiliating day at the courthouse had sickened her, especially when she finally understood that Bobby had spent all that money in a wasted attempt to prove to her father that he was good enough for Amanda. He’d given her a lifestyle they couldn’t afford and left her with debt she couldn’t manage.

Oddly enough, even now when she was still working the same two dead-end jobs—one at a lovely boutique, the other at a superstore, when she had to deny the children anything more than the basic necessities, she couldn’t hate Bobby. He’d made those misguided choices out of love for her and to counteract the sense of inadequacy her own father had instilled in him. No, she didn’t hate Bobby. It was her father she despised.

William Maxwell, known far and wide in South Carolina Low Country as the benevolent Big Max, had been anything but benevolent when it came to Bobby O’Leary. He’d seen him as a no-account loser from the day they’d met and made no pretenses about it. He’d had big plans for his only child and they didn’t include a blue-collar husband he believed would only hold her back. He’d done everything in his power to keep Bobby and Amanda apart, and when love had triumphed over his objections, he’d accused Amanda of squandering all the advantages he’d given her. He’d sent her packing with a warning never to look to him to save her from the mess she was making of her life.

Her father’s unstinting disapproval had been one of the hardest things Amanda had ever had to endure until she’d lost Bobby. She’d never known her mother, who’d died giving birth to her, so from the time she was a baby, she and her father had been inseparable. He’d doted on her, taken her everywhere. She’d grown up sitting quietly in the boardrooms of some of Charleston’s biggest companies, not coloring or reading as some children might have, but absorbing the atmosphere of power around her.

Given that, she supposed it wasn’t surprising that her father had held such high expectations for her. He’d anticipated her getting a business degree, then putting it to use and replacing him in many of those same boardrooms, maybe even getting into politics one day. He had the contacts, the will and the raw ambition to make it happen. There was no limit to what he thought she could accomplish. It didn’t seem to matter to him that she’d never shared that vision.

He certainly hadn’t expected her to throw his legacy back in his face by marrying a garage mechanic. It didn’t matter to him that Bobby thought big and already had the beginnings of a small chain of well-run auto shops in half-a-dozen communities too small to attract the national companies. What mattered to Big Max was the loss of Amanda’s potential to follow in his footsteps. He couldn’t conceive of her achieving anything by the side of a man with grease under his fingernails. Her lack of ambition had appalled him.

Remembering the fight they’d had on the morning of her wedding still brought tears to Amanda’s eyes. Her father had tried one last time to make her see reason and she’d tried harder to make him see Bobby in another light. In the end, it had all dissolved into bitter accusations and her father’s vow never to see her again. Amanda knew him well enough to take him at his word. Big Max was known throughout Charleston for his stubbornness and pride, a bad combination for any man, but especially for one who possessed a share of power to go with it.

If it hadn’t already been too late, she would have grabbed Bobby and eloped, but Bobby had spent a small fortune to make sure she had the wedding of her dreams, even if it was over her father’s vehement objections. Friends she’d grown up with had accepted the invitations. Most of her father’s friends had not.

Filled with her own stubborn Maxwell pride, even though her heart was aching, Amanda had gone to the church alone, walked down the aisle alone with her chin held high and her eyes glistening with tears. In front of the minister, she had clung to Bobby’s hand as if it were a lifeline.

Bobby knew her heart was broken, not just on her wedding day, but every day thereafter, and he’d done everything he could to mend it. He’d even gone to her father after their first child was born, taken pictures of Max’s new grandson, but her father’s heart hadn’t softened. He tore the pictures up in front of Bobby’s eyes and uttered words no grandfather should ever say about his own kin.

Looking 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.