Free A Matter of Trust by Lorhainne Eckhart Page A

wondering whether Carrie and her dad
had ever been close.
    “The night before Pat passed away, she
called me and Jack in, sat us down to have a talk with us. She
asked Jack to marry me when she died. Of course, he was outraged,
and I was shocked. We had the kind of feelings good friends do for
each other—but also more, if we were honest. We’d become close,
sharing the care of a woman we both loved.
    “When Jack calmed down enough, Pat said her
piece. She knew back then that Jack and I would be better together
than she and Jack had ever been. She knew he loved her, but she
told me she had always known they didn’t share a deep love, the
kind where you can’t stand the thought of being without the other
person for a day, an hour, or even a minute. She and Jack had never
had that. She had always been fine with the long hours he worked
and the separate lives they’d led.”
    The way Alice was wringing her hands with
the cloth, Ben knew she was holding on to some guilt. How could any
person on their deathbed just hand their husband over to another
woman? It had been such an unselfish act. Any fool in the same room
as Alice and Jack could see how much they meant to each other.
    “But you and Jack do share that love, and
Carrie’s mom knew it,” Ben said, taking in the shocked expression
on Alice’s face. She flattened her palm over her chest.
    “Yes, she did. She knew before we did. I
don’t know, but I like to think it was her way of giving Jack and
me her blessing. After she died, Jack asked me to stay for Carrie,
but I knew he was really asking me to stay for him. He’s such a
proud man, stuck in right and wrong, and he fought his feelings…but
you can’t fight love, you know. Maybe we should have waited.” She
firmed her lips as if resigned to her fate, and Ben was struck by
the wave of emotions and confusion Alice appeared to be struggling
with. “Oh, well. What’s done is done. I somehow don’t think it
would have mattered if we’d waited. Carrie will never forgive me
and will always see me as the other woman even though that wasn’t
how it was.”
    Ben wondered if Alice had ever tried to
explain to Carrie what she’d just shared, but he also realized that
because Carrie took everything so personally, she might not have
been ready to hear it. “You should sit down with Carrie and tell
her what you just shared with me,” he said.
    Alice waved her hand and turned away to open
the oven and lift out a glass casserole dish. The bubbling
breakfast casserole had a spicy, fragrant aroma that made his mouth
water. “I tried, more than once. Her father did, too. She just
wouldn’t listen.”
    Ben stepped closer and set his cup down.
“Alice, look at it from Carrie’s perspective. She needed her mother
more than anything at that age, and it sounds like Pat was the
center of her world. It’s probably no surprise that she couldn’t
hear you then. Sometimes, being that young and torn up with grief
leaves you unreasonable and inconsolable, so much so that no one
can break through that wall. But you should try again,” he said.
“There’s one thing about time: It does have a way of softening us.
You may be surprised. This time, she just might listen.”

Chapter Thirteen
    For a moment, Carrie worried she was being
too forward as she stood on that first step in front of Ben’s
cabin. Her legs were shaky, and her heart started pounding when she
heard his voice inside. Maybe this was a bad idea. She considered
turning around and hurrying back the way she’d come before he even
realized she was there, but then she noticed him through the window
as he passed by, a phone pressed to his ear. Whomever he was
talking to, he was deep in conversation.
    Ben was extraordinary. Just the way he moved
and carried himself was so confident that she couldn’t stay away
from him. He was invading her dreams, her sleep. He had been the
first thing in her mind that morning when she woke up, and the
thought of never seeing him