Holly Jacobs - Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow

She heard the downstairs door slam.

She rented the upstairs flat. Elmer lived in the lower one. He was home.

Joe Delacamp had met his son today.

She ran down the back stairs that connected the two apartments and knocked on the door.

“Come on in, Louie,” he called.

“Elmer…” She wanted to tell him everything that had happened and tried to force the words out, but her throat constricted, and all she managed to do was cry.

“There, there, puddin’. Don’t cry.” He wrapped her in his arms and patted her back.

“I don’t cry,” she said midsob.

“What happened?” the gray-haired man said in a gruff voice. “Did something happen to Aaron?”

“No,” she finally managed to say. “Not really, at least not that he knows about. His father came into the store today.”

Joe Delacamp had met his son today.

Elmer let her go and stared at her. “What’s he doing in Erie? I thought you left him behind in Georgia?”

“So did I. But he’s here. He’s working at the hospital, so he’s living in Erie.” She gulped convulsively. “Oh, Elmer, it’s so horrible. Aaron walked into the room and Joe knew—he couldn’t help but know. Aaron’s the spitting image of him at seven. Joe knew and he looked furious. He’s probably worried a secret son will upset the life his parents planned for him, that it will upset his perfect society wife. I don’t know what he’s going to do, and I’m sick with worry.”

“Now, what’s to worry about? He went and got himself engaged to someone else all those years ago, despite the fact he’d asked you to marry him. So you sign some paper saying you don’t want anything at all from him, make it all legal,” Elmer said, echoing her own thoughts. “You and Aaron have got along without him this long. You certainly can manage. Just go see a lawyer and make it all legal-like, then he’ll have nothing to complain about.”

“You think?” she asked.

She needed reassurance. She’d built a wonderful, happy life for herself and her son. She didn’t want Joe Delacamp to complicate it.

“Sure I think.” Elmer patted her back. “Now, stop fretting and go get some rest. You call a lawyer. That Donovan guy across the street seems okay. At least Sarah seems to think so.” He laughed.

Weddings seemed to be becoming commonplace within the Perry Square business community.

Libby at the hair salon had married her neighbor, Josh, the eye doctor. Then Sarah, the interior decorator who’d opened her store about the same time Louisa opened The Chocolate Bar, married Donovan, from the neighboring law firm.

“You’re right. I’ll call Donovan tomorrow.”

“Then call me. I’ll watch the shop when you go and see him.”

“Thanks, Elmer. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Well, don’t look to be figuring it out anytime soon. I plan to stick around a good long time.” He paused a moment and then said, “Did I tell you I have a date?”

“No,” Louisa said, knowing he was trying to change the subject, to brighten her mood. She was more than happy to allow him to. “Who?”

“You know Mabel, that acupuncturist? I was a bit nervous about dating a lady who pushed pins for a living, but she’s mighty cute.”

Louisa couldn’t help the small smile. Mabel had been hanging out at the candy store a lot, but only on days when Elmer was there. She sensed a romance in the making. “When are you going out?”

“Next week. She asked me for this weekend, but I told her me and Aaron had plans.”

“Oh, Elmer, you should have simply canceled.”

“Are you kidding?” he asked. “There’s a bunch of blue gill in the lake that have my name on them. And I got tickets to some fancy-shmancy show Mabel wants to see, so it all worked out.”

“If you’re sure.”

Joe Delacamp had met his son today.

Why couldn’t she shake that thought?

Because Joe was in Erie.

Somewhere, right outside that window, Joe Delacamp was walking around, breathing the same air she was.

Elmer must have sensed her thoughts. He said, “I’m positive about fishing with Aaron. Now, don’t you fret about that man—though I use the term in its very lightest sense. He got engaged to someone else, which means that not only isn’t he much of a man, he’s not very bright, either. Just call up Donovan tomorrow, and take it from there.”

Louisa felt a bit better as she climbed the stairs back up to her apartment. Of course Elmer was right. Joe hadn’t wanted children eight years ago; he wouldn’t want his son now.

The thought wasn’t quite as comforting as it should have been. She climbed into her pajamas and went to her room. She pulled a dark-green journal from her drawer and started writing.

“Dear Joe, today you met your son—the son you never wanted….”

As she wrote, she glanced up at the eight similar books that sat on the top shelf, above the television. She’d started a journal right after she found out she was pregnant and had bought a new one when Aaron was born. After that she bought a new journal on each of her son’s birthdays.

If Aaron ever wanted to meet his father, she planned on giving them to Joe as an introduction of sorts. An introduction to a son he’d never known and hadn’t wanted.

My heart froze in my chest when Aaron walked in. I saw the look of understanding dawn on your face, and then the raw, bitter anger. I wanted to tell you that I was sorry, but it would have been a lie. No matter what your mother said, I didn’t plan to get pregnant, I wasn’t trying to trap you. You were engaged to someone else and asked me for time. I’d have given you anything…but I didn’t have time to give. Your mother was right—Aaron and I would have held you back from the life you were born to have. My only sorrow was that you’ll never know what you missed.

She wrote and finally she rested. Her last thought was Joe Delacamp had met his son today.

Joe waited outside the candy store, still uncertain what to do, what to say to Louisa.

He worked third shift last night, and was kept busy for the entire eight hours. But at the oddest time a mental picture of the boy, his son, would explode in his mind.

Aaron.

He’d whispered the name to himself, marveling in the wonder of having a son, and strangling on the knowledge that he’d missed so much.

He spotted Louisa walking down the block.

She still was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met. The kind of woman who didn’t realize how striking she was.

If all that lay between them didn’t exist, she was the kind of woman he’d ask out.

Her expression when she spotted him gave none of her thoughts or feelings away. So many things about Louisa were different than he remembered, but that was probably the biggest change in her.

When they were kids he’d been able to read her like a book. Well, now the book was closed, at least for him.

He refused to speculate about whether there was another man reading her these days.

Joe met that emotionless face and wondered if maybe he’d been wrong, maybe he just thought he’d known her when they were kids.

The Louisa he’d believed in could never have done what she’d done.

“Louisa, we have to talk,” he said.

“Come in,” was her wooden response.

She unlocked and opened the front door and set a stack of papers down on the counter to her left.

“What do you want, Joe?”

What he wanted was to have the first seven years of his son’s life back, but since he couldn’t have that, he settled for asking, “Why?”

Maybe if he could understand, he could forgive Louisa.

She turned and he could see pain in her expression.