Nobody's Perfect

  Nobody’s

  Perfect

  Pat Ballard

  Pearlsong Press

  Nashville, TN

  Nobody’s Perfect

  © 2004 by Patricia F. Ballard

  http://www.patballard.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or

  transmitted in any form or by any means,

  graphic, electronic, or mechanical,

  including photocopying, recording, taping,

  or by any information storage retrieval system,

  without permission in writing from the publisher,

  with the exception of brief quotations

  in critical reviews.

  Pearlsong Press

  P.O. Box 58065

  Nashville, TN 37205

  http://www.pearlsong.com

  ISBN: 0-9713247-5-1

  The Pearlsong Press ebook and trade paperback

  editions of Nobody’s Perfect contain the text

  of the 2001 softcover edition published

  by Writers Club Press, an imprint of iUniverse.com,

  with minor revisions.

  This Pearlsong Press ebook contains the content

  of the 2004 Pearlsong Press trade paperback edition

  of Nobody’s Perfect, packaged with additional material.

  Other books by Pat Ballard available from Pearlsong Press:

  A Worthy Heir

  Dangerous Curves Ahead: Short Stories

  His Brother’s Child

  Wanted: One Groom

  To Joe—my husband—

  thanks for giving me the time to write.

  To Eric—my son—

  my perfect model for Jake.

  To Ellen—my sister—

  a fantastic copy editor!

  Thanks for making me look good.

  Chapter 1

  Nella pulled the door closed behind her, stopping on the patio long enough to replace a cushion that had blown from a lounge chair before heading down the long flight of steps that led from the back patio of her home down to the sandy beach. As soon as her feet touched the sand, she turned and looked back at the house that had been her home all of her life.

  Even though the bricks on the house were fading from the salty breezes that constantly blew against them, and the occasional harsh storms that came ashore, her father had always kept the shutters and trim work painted a startling white. Tears blurred her vision as she turned and continued down the beach toward the water. She could do her best thinking just sitting and listening to the waves lap against the shore.

  She had only taken a few steps when she heard a child crying. Looking around, she discovered a small boy walking toward her. She immediately scanned the beach for an adult, but could see no one.

  The only house in the direction from which the little boy had come was approximately a half mile away, but it was empty, unless someone had recently bought it.

  “Hi,” she said, as she reached the child. His face was covered with sand where he’d been crying and wiping the tears with grimy hands. When he looked up at her, she was startled at how beautiful he was. He had eyes the color of blue glass, and the sun reflecting off his hair turned it to the color of glistening gold.

  “I want my daddy,” he said, between sobs.

  “Where’s your daddy?” Nella asked, hoping he could remember what direction he needed to go.

  “I—don’t—know,” he sobbed. Nella had to get him calmed down so she could understand what he was saying.

  “Which way should we go to find him?” she tried again. The little boy could have come from any direction.

  “To my car,” he answered. Apparently his father had driven to the beach, but that didn’t help, as there were several places accessible for vehicles to drive down to the ocean.

  What was she going to do? If she started in one direction looking for the father, he might come from the other direction and miss them. Well, there was only one thing to do: Wait. Sooner or later the child’s father would come looking for him—wouldn’t he?

  Surely this child hadn’t been abandoned! NO! She wouldn’t even consider that possibility. Letting a child this small get lost on the beach was bad enough. He couldn’t be over three years old.

  But she couldn’t wait long. She was expecting a call from the real estate lady.

  Again, she turned and scanned the beach. She thought she caught movement beside a sand dune, but as she looked closer she could see nothing. The beach curved in the opposite direction from which the child had been coming. Maybe that’s where the car was parked. Should she try that? No. She decided to stick with her first plan. Wait.

  She glanced at her watch. She had thirty minutes before the real estate lady was supposed to call her and set an appointment to show her house tomorrow. She had to think of something fast.

  “What’s your name?” Nella asked the child, who now seemed content to let her take charge of finding his father

  “Jake,” he answered. His crying had stopped altogether.

  “Jake, where’s your father?” she mumbled, mostly to herself, again searching the beach for any sign of human movement, but seeing nothing.

  “I told you, I don’t know!” The small, impatient voice took Nella by surprise. She looked quickly back at the child, who stood with his hands stretched out in front of him with the palms turned upward as if to emphasize his statement.

  Laughter burst from Nella, and the small boy unexpectedly giggled.

  He was darling, but Nella couldn’t stand here on the beach and wait for the moron who had lost this child. Suddenly, she had an idea.

  “Jake, would you like to come up to my house? I’ll give you some lemonade, and we can wait for your daddy there. Would you like that?”

  “Uh-huh!” he agreed readily.

  Nella looked around until she found a piece of driftwood she could write in the sand with, then took the child by the hand and walked back to the steps leading up to her home. She stopped and wrote “Jake” in the sand as large as she could make the letters. Anyone would be able to see the writing from a good distance away. Then she drew an arrow that went from the name to the bottom of the steps that led up to her patio.

  She talked to Jake as she worked. “This is your name,” she explained. “Your daddy will come looking for you, and he’ll see your name and the arrow pointing to my house and he’ll come find you.”

  “Yeah!” The child was confident now that his father would soon find him.

  “Who are you, and what are you doing with my son?”

  Startled, Nella’s eyes flew open from the relaxed nap she had drifted into. She became aware of the sleeping child lying on her stomach and breast, and the tall, angry man towering above her. The sun reflected off his shiny dark hair and picked up the golden flecks in his unusual, light brown eyes, almost giving Nella the sensation some large eagle had swooped down upon her.

  Just as she reached to wake the sleeping child, he raised his head slowly and looked at her. His blue eyes were huge and beautiful from the sleep he’d just left. He smiled and patted her face, then saw the man above them.

  “Daddy, Daddy,” his small voice was excited. “I’ve found us a new fwend! She gave me some yemonade and it made me feel much better. Then we waited for you to find me.”

  The stranger reached down and lifted the little boy in his arms, but never took his eyes off Nella as she slowly sat up.

  “Well, do you intend to answer my question?” The unusual golden brown eyes held heavy sarcasm, and so did the deep voice.

  Nella glanced at her watch and realized that a solid thirty minutes had passed while she dozed. Jake had tired quickly after drinking the cold lemonade, and had soon fallen asleep on her lap. Her eyes had grown weary of searching the
beach from her vantage point, so she had lain back in the lounge chair just to rest her eyes, but she, too, had soon dozed off.

  Suddenly, she was the one who felt sarcasm creep into her voice.

  “Mister, your child can’t be over three years old. How long did it take you to realize he was missing? Don’t you know what can happen to a child on the beach?” Just thinking of the possibilities horrified Nella, and as she talked she became angrier.

  “But he’s not on the beach. He’s here at a complete stranger’s house, and I’ve been searching frantically for him. What are you doing with him?”

  Nella resented the accusing sound of his voice, but tried to hold her temper. “Did you find my message?” she asked calmly.

  “Yes, such as it was.” His tone was condescending.

  “Did it lead you up here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it must have been sufficient to help you find your son.”

  “But it would have been better if you’d waited on the beach with him instead of bringing him up to your home. That’s almost like kidnapping.” The accusing tone was back.

  “That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!” Nella’s voice had started to rise. “If I were trying to kidnap him, would I have gone to the trouble of leaving you a message how to find him? I think ‘neglect’ is the word we’re looking for here, not ‘kidnapping.’”

  “Look,” he interrupted. “I didn’t mean to be so abrupt, but it was a surprise to find my son at a stranger’s house, and asleep on top of her, at that. And, yes, it’s been too long without my knowing where he was, but I just got him back from his grandparents today, and I’m not used to having to keep up with an active child. Even so, I don’t believe I need a total stranger to tell me how to care for him. Thank you for keeping him until I got here.” He picked the small child up and went briskly down the steps.

  Nella watched as he disappeared down the beach. She couldn’t believe what had just taken place. She thought about the two briefly, then forgot them as she stared at the lapping waves that rolled onto the shore below her.

  Two months ago, she had been visiting a friend in Dallas, Texas when she received a phone call that her father had suffered a massive heart attack and was dead. She immediately flew back home to South Carolina, and the following weeks were a nightmare.

  She had loved her father dearly and losing him was devastating, but she was also informed that he had accumulated many debts, and the house she had grown up in and loved so much would have to be sold to settle the estate.

  Nella had no brothers and sisters, and her mother had died giving birth to her, so all she had was her father and her home.

  Now they both would soon be gone.

  Nella had been out of college for six months. Her father had suggested she just relax and enjoy life for a little while before trying to get settled into a job. She could just hear him saying, “Once you start working, you’ll have to do it the rest of your life.” Her father knew she’d have to leave home again and search for work in a larger city. She smiled sadly, knowing he was just trying to keep her close to him as long as possible.

  Nella knew she could move into Charleston and get a job there. She always enjoyed going to Charleston to shop. That’s where the people in her small community went when they wanted to get a touch of “city life.” She loved Charleston, with its old homes, streets, and parks that still had the flavor of the days when the city was the social, political, and economic hub of the royal province of Carolina, with the many features that attracted tourists each year. She especially loved the azaleas in the spring. But she just didn’t want to live and work there. At this point, though, it didn’t seem as if she had a choice.

  She went inside and wandered around the house for a long time, touching the beloved walls that had sheltered her from so many storms, looking out the windows at the scenic views, and remembering her childhood and all the happy days she’d spent playing on the beach. Finally she went to bed to cry herself to sleep. The real estate lady would be here at ten o’clock in the morning with a prospective buyer for her home.

  At nine fifty-nine, the doorbell rang. Nella went to answer the door with a mixture of dismay and curiosity. Although she dreaded the ordeal before her, she was anxious to see who’d want to purchase her beloved home.

  Nothing could have prepared her for the man and child who stood before her with the real estate lady.

  “Look, Daddy, our new fwend.” The blue eyes sparkled up at Nella as the child promptly stepped through the doorway and took her hand.

  “Jake! You’re supposed to wait until you’re invited in.” The stern voice caused the little boy to quickly jump back beside his father and stare wide-eyed at Nella.

  In spite of her sadness, Nella couldn’t restrain a little smile as she said, “Please, do come in.”

  “Miss Covington,” the tall, thin real estate lady spoke first. “This is Samuel L. du Cannon, and his son Jake. They’ve just recently decided to relocate to our community, and Mr. du Cannon would like to look at your house. Mr. du Cannon, this is Nella Covington.”

  The man looked different standing in her home. He was tall. Probably an inch or two over six feet. His hair was very dark, maybe even black, with a peppering of gray in the temples. Again, she was keenly aware of the golden brown eyes. One shade lighter and they’d be yellow! Uncanny, she thought. A dark, neatly trimmed mustache covered his top lip. His lips were well shaped, as if a sculptor had chiseled them to perfection. Not too thin, yet not too thick. He was, she mused resentfully to herself, a very handsome man.

  She made no attempt to shake hands with him or to even acknowledge the introduction. She knew she was being rude, but, after all, she owed him one from yesterday.

  “Did you know you were coming here today when we talked yesterday?” Now her voice was accusing.

  “No. I knew Miss James was going to show me a house today, but I had no idea where it was.” He hoped his answer sounded genuine.

  The real estate lady was surprised they’d already met, and was about to ask a question when Nella shrugged and said, “Show Mr. du Cannon around. I’ll be on the patio when you’re finished.” And she turned and left them. There was no way she could follow two strangers around as they analyzed the good and bad points of her beloved home.

  She sank slowly into a patio chair and closed her eyes.

  “Oh, Daddy, how could you have allowed this to happen to me?” She would have felt bitterness toward her father had she not loved him so much.

  She wished she knew what problems he’d encountered to allow things to get this far out of hand. He hadn’t had any health problems that she was aware of. In fact, the heart attack had been sudden, with no warning signals. Even the family accountant hadn’t been able to give her any answers as to why the finances had been in such bad shape. It wasn’t her college expenditures, as she had gone to college on a full scholarship, and had earned spending money by typing papers for other students while she was in college.

  She should have spent more time discussing business matters with her father. That brought a smile to her lips, for she knew full well he would never have “burdened” her with financial problems. He was of the old school that men should take care of the household and the “women folk.”

  Nella felt a tear run down her cheek as she remembered the tenderness he always showed her. Now she had no one. She would have had Nick, but they’d broken off their engagement months ago. Their goals had become farther and farther apart until they both realized they didn’t have a future together.

  “Now, today, you cry.” The small voice showed great concern.

  Nella opened her tear-filled eyes to see the angelic face close to hers. The blond hair, which curled softly, glistened in the morning sunlight. Again, Nella was in awe of the rich golden color.

  “Yesterday, I cry. Today, you cry. Want me to sit on your yap and make you feel better?”

  Nella smiled, and the smile she received in retu
rn was mixed with a giggle. She felt her heart fill with warmth.

  “Yes, Jake, I would love for you to sit on my lap and make me feel better.”

  After settling in to his satisfaction, the small face turned up to Nella.

  “Why are you sad?” he asked, as he held her thumb in his hand and plucked at her thumbnail with his finger, his eyes never leaving hers.

  “I’m sad because I miss my father and because I have to sell my home.” Nella answered the child honestly.

  “I miss my mama. Daddy says she went to Heaven, and she can’t come back, but she’s with me whenever I think about her, my daddy says. Hey, I know what!” As quickly as the sadness had come, it was replaced with his new idea. “If my daddy buys your house, you can come and live with us! You and me can be fwends for never and never!”

  Nella was surprised at how well this small boy could talk and put his thoughts into words. Someone had spent a lot of time with him. He was very intelligent.

  She was about to explain why she couldn’t do what he suggested when she looked up into a pair of golden brown eyes.

  “Is that his idea, or yours?” There was no mistaking the accusation in the voice.

  Nella was instantly angry. Slowly and very gently she stood the child down from her lap and rose from the chair. Stretching to her tallest five-foot-seven-inch height, she stared daggers into the arrogant man’s eyes. “Sir, you are quite despicable!”

  At that moment the real estate lady came through the door, not noticing the tension in the air.

  “Okay, Miss Covington. Mr. du Cannon has decided to take the house, so we’re going over to my office to draw up the contract. He’ll present his offer and the three of us can go over it. Will two o’clock Friday be okay with you?”

  “Yes, yes, that’s fine,” Nella agreed quickly. She just wanted these people to be gone.

  As the car drove away, Jake waved from the back window until the car was out of sight. How could such a loathsome man father such an adorable child, Nella wondered?