Elizabeth Harbison - A Groom for Maggie

“I see.” Marlene drew out the last word. “But you’re mistaken if you think this will help your case.”

“Your attempts to get custody don’t hold water,” he lied. “They never have. You have no grounds.”

“Have you forgotten that I lived with Sandra and Kate? I practically raised that child!”

Cold washed over Alex. “We both know that’s not true.”

“Oh, but it is.” Her voice echoed her daughter’s cruel sarcasm.

Alex swallowed. His lawyer had told him it was extremely unlikely she could win a custody battle, but recent headlines and news stories about custody hearings had made Alex nervous. Stranger things than a grandmother winning guardianship had happened. Besides, even his lawyer had acknowledged that Marlene’s having lived with Kate and Sandra had given her a tiny bit of leverage.

“I’ve got a call holding.” Alex’s mouth was dry. “I just wanted to let you know that I would be marrying again and that Kate will have a stepmother. One who will love her and take excellent care of her. I thought that would be important to you.”

“That girl is a foreigner, isn’t she?” Marlene snapped, as though Alex hadn’t spoken at all.

He let out a weary sigh. “She’s British.”

“How very convenient for her. Of course you know all she wants is to become an American. They all want to become Americans.”

He increased his grip on the phone. “I’m hanging up now. It was a pleasure talking with you, as always.”

His tone was unmistakably dismissive, but she still managed to add, “This isn’t over, Alex. Margaret Weller has got a few things to prove to me, I can tell you. I shall be calling the British Embassy and U.S. immigration authorities right away to have them look into the matter.”

He knew he shouldn’t ask but he couldn’t help it. “Matter?”

“The matter of this hasty wedding, of course.” Her voice was syrupy with malice. “I’d hate for Kate to be caught in the middle of an immigration scandal.”

Maggie and Kate sat on Kate’s bed, playing with dolls when Alex came looking for them.

“You can’t keep me from going to that ball,” Kate squeaked in a high, false voice. She waved her doll in another doll’s face. “The prince wants me to go!”

Alex smiled at the already-small voice raised further in imitation of another, and leaned against the door frame to watch.

“I’ll lock you in the attic,” Maggie returned, in a cartoon-bad-guy voice that made Alex chuckle to himself. “And your little mouse friends, too.”

“No! No!” Kate bounced the doll away, pogo-stick fashion. “I won’t stay!”

“Aaargh!” Maggie’s doll fell on its face in the covers. “I can’t move! Hellllp!” She dropped the doll down, then looked up, smiling, and took another doll. “I’m here now,” the doll said with Maggie’s help. “Your fairy godmother will save you.”

“No, go away!”

Maggie looked surprised. “But I’m your fairy godmother. I’m good.”

Still talking in the doll’s voice, Kate said, “Good mothers aren’t any better than bad ones. They leave you. Go away!”

The doll in Maggie’s hand trembled ever so slightly. “But I won’t leave you.”

“Yes, you will! Mommies leave.” Kate hurled her doll against the one in Maggie’s hand and fell silent.

Maggie put the dolls aside gently and moved a bit closer to Kate. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Kate didn’t meet her eyes. “It’s true. My mommy left. Now I don’t have a mother at all.”

Maggie looked choked up. With absolutely no idea how to help the situation, Alex cleared his throat and walked in. “What are you two doing?” he asked, as casually as he could.

Maggie looked at him, composure sweeping her features. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Kate just asked me an important question. She wanted to know why her mommy had to leave her.” She focused her attention on Kate. “Your mommy didn’t want to leave you, darling, but she had to.”

“Because she died?” Kate asked.

Alex winced at her bluntness.

“Yes,” Maggie said, with what sounded like an effort. “The truth is that sometimes things happen that we don’t understand right away.”

Kate looked down and said in a horribly quiet voice. “I understand. She died because I was naughty.”

Maggie’s sharp intake of breath echoed Alex’s own feelings. “Why do you say that, Kate?” he asked her gently.

Kate looked up with tear-filled eyes. “I was too noisy. I played too loud. Grandma told me if I didn’t be quiet then Mommy was going to get sicker, and I tried to be as quiet as a mouse…”

Alex couldn’t let her go on. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said, a little too gruffly.

She started at the tone of his voice and something in him stung.

“No,” Maggie soothed in a voice that belied the shock on her face, “it wasn’t your fault.”

“But grandma said—”

“Grandma was wrong,” Alex growled. And the witch wanted custody of Kate! Anger seared him and he looked to Maggie for tempering.

Maggie met his eyes and nodded, rubbing her hand across Kate’s back. “You did nothing wrong, darling, nothing at all. Mummy died because she was sick, and that was terribly sad for you. But I don’t believe for a moment that your Mummy left you entirely. I think her love is with you all the time. You’ll have that forever.” She laid a hand across Kate’s heart. “Right here.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know it.”

Kate smiled, despite the tears still wet on her cheeks. “You’re very smart, Maggie.”

Maggie lifted her hand and ruffled Kate’s hair. “No, darling, I’m just old.” She laughed.

“And as for noise,” Alex said, “we won’t have any quiet children in this house.”

Kate looked stricken. “You won’t?”

What had he said? The child looked terrified. “You can make tons of noise.” He gave an uneasy smile, trying to wipe the fear from his daughter’s face.

The tears started anew. “Or else what? Are you going to send me away? Where would I go?”

Alex’s eyes widened and he looked desperately to Maggie, who was watching him in silence. She wasn’t going to help this time. “Never,” he said. “I’ll never send you away.” He moved toward Kate and reached for her, pulling her into an awkward embrace. “I promise. You’re going no further than our own backyard.”

Small hands clutched at his back. “Even if I don’t make a lot of noise?”

“I’ll never send you away,” he repeated, embarrassed at the choked sound of his own voice. “No matter what. And that’s why Maggie’s here. She’s going to stay.”

Kate pulled back and looked at Maggie. “Will you stay forever?”

“I’ll stay as long as you need me to.” Maggie gave her a warm smile. “But remember you can always count on your daddy, too. Always.”

“Okay.” Kate sniffed. She turned her liquid eyes to Alex and smiled, sending his heart tumbling. The responsibility for this child, this little heart, was an awesome one. He’d denied the pull of it for months now, but he couldn’t do it any longer.

Alex realized the conversation was over. Maggie had handled it perfectly, with just the right lightness of touch. The woman was a godsend, there was no doubt about it. He watched her hand stroking Kate’s hair and felt his chest tighten with relief. Relief that Kate was in such loving and capable hands.

Maggie had proven once again how much more adept she was at handling his child than he was. He hoped to God she would still go through with the marriage once she found out about Marlene’s threats.