Page 59 of Reunion at Mistletoe Lodge
As they approached, Zac bit back a smile, seeing Barb with a pair of coveralls with red paint splattered on her hands. She looked up as they approached her, and again, Zac was struck by how flushed her cheeks looked.
“Mom!” Oscar yelled, breaking free of Zac’s grasp to rush toward Barb, who smiled, put down her paintbrush, and held her arms out to him.
“Hey, sweetheart, you’re back.” Barb’s arms wrapped around Oscar, and she kissed his hair. “Did you have a good time?”
“Yes, we did,” Oscar told her, quickly rattling off a few things they had done. “Can I go help Rose and Chef make cookies at the lodge?”
“Sure,” Barb said, nodding. “As long as Chef doesn’t mind.”
“She won’t,” Emily assured her. “I have to go check on Daisy.”
“I’ll come with you,” Heather said. “I need to check on Phoenix as well and get some more paint.” She looked at Barb. “Are you okay with continuing here for a bit on your own?”
“I can help,” Zac offered.
“I’m fine on my own,” Barb assured them, but Emily and Heather had already started walking away with an eager Oscar. “Great! I’m talking to thin air.”
“I heard you,” Zac told her. “But I’m ignoring you and helping.” He pulled his coat off, hung it on a tree branch, and rolled up his sleeves. “I see the festival preparations are well underway, which is impressive as they only started today.”
Barb dipped her brush in more red paint before glancing around. “This is the third year the festival has been back on. Emily told me the first year was chaotic, then last year they were more prepared, and this year it seems to be running evenmore smoothly.”
“What can I paint?” Zac asked with a paintbrush ready.
“Grab some coveralls over by that booth.” Barb pointed to a booth a few feet to his left. “Then you can start painting the white stripes on that side between the red ones I’ve just done.”
Zac picked out a pair of bright blue coveralls and put them on. The woman handed him some plastic booties to cover his shoes. When he wandered back to Barb, he looked like a surgeon. All he needed was the hat, mask, and latex gloves.
Zac started painting and was about to ask Barb if they could talk. He wanted them to clear the air and give him a chance to explain everything to her, but before he could, she started talking.
“Thank you for taking Oscar out for the day,” Barb surprised him by saying. “He is so happy.” Her eyes met Zacs. “What I said about Charlotte’s birthcertificate—”
Zac cut her off. “It’s alright, Barb, you don’t have to explain.”
“I do.” Barb dipped the brush into the red paint once again. “I never put your name on Charlotte’s birth certificate for the same reason I never put a father’s name on Oscar’s.”
Zac felt his heart lurch. “You never put Trevor's name on Oscar’s birth certificate.” He saw something flash in her eyes that looked a lot like guilt.
“No, I didn’t,” Barb admitted. “For a few reasons, but the main one being that if I needed to move around again, I needed to do so without being hindered by having to get a father’s consent to take my child out of the country or get him a passport.”
Zac’s eyes widened with realization. “That makes sense,” he agreed, nodding.
“I had to get Charlotte a passport to bring her home, and if your name had been on the birth certificate…”
“You would’ve still been in Africa because you weren’t able to get hold of me,” Zac guessed.
“Yes,” Barb confirmed, nodding. “It’s not that I didn’t want to.” Her eyes met his, and his heart skidded and flipped as he saw the truth in them. “Of course, I wanted her father’s name on it. I was going to change it when I got home to the States. I just haven’t had time to do it.”
“I can help you with that,” Zac told her. “If you don’t mind, I’d like it if we did it together.”
“We might have to,” Barb told him. “I’m not even sure how we do it.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Zac assured her, a glimmer of hope for his future with his family starting to break through the dark pain in his heart. He swallowed as he saw her give him the first genuine smile since they’d met again. “Barb, while we’re speaking about birth certificates, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Barb looked at him questioningly. “About?”
“Trevor,” Zac said, taking in a breath to bolster his courage. “I know I should’ve told you a long time ago, but…” He ran a hand through his hair as nerves gripped him. He knew this wasn’t going to end well, and he was probably going to watch her walk away from himagain. “Before you and Trevor got married…” He cleared his throat, not quite knowing what to say.
“Wait!” Barb held up her hands. “I need to tell you the second reason why I never put Trevor’s name on Oscar’s birth certificate.”
