Vivian (11 page)

“
Don’t knock it. You never know what you’ll do.”

“
I won’t do that.”

Amelia just chuckled and remained positioned right where she was, leaned against the counter.

“
I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”

No, Vivian was sure with Clayton it wouldn’t be.

She let herself relax. “I’m scared.”

“
Why?”

Vivian moved back toward her chair and sat down. “He’s hurt. I’m hurt. There’s so much…junk.”

Amelia grabbed her water bottle from the counter and sat down across from her.

“
You’re both human and it’s okay to love again. I feel whole with Sam. And for the first time I’m thinking about things I never thought I would.”

“
Like what?”

Amelia smiled. “Family.”

Vivian studied her. “You’re pregnant?”

“
Late.”

“
Pregnant.”

“
Not confirmed.”

“
Pregnant.”

“
Maybe.”

“
Happy?”

“
Deliriously so.”

She could feel both excitement and jealousy run through her. She wasn’t sure which one she was supposed to embrace. “What does he say?”

“
To keep quiet until the wedding.”

She decided that the happy feeling was going to win today. There was no room in her life for negative. “I think that’s wonderful.”

Amelia rested her hands on Vivian’s. At that moment, Vivian was sure she was pregnant. Only something like that would soften Amelia enough to offer such a gesture.

“
Something is bothering you. It isn’t this new found love for Clayton. You’re not even mad that I might be pregnant.”

“
You’re pregnant.”

“
Unconfirmed.”

“
Hmmm,” she hummed out. “Something crossed my mind yesterday when I was talking to Clayton.” She looked at Amelia. “Adam asked for a divorce.”

“
Right. He wrote to you.”

“
Why? Why did he need a divorce? We weren’t ever legally married.”

She watched as Amelia’s eyes opened wide. “He didn’t know that.”

Vivian shook her head. “I can’t vouch for what he knew about his marriage to Penelope. For all we know that marriage was a sham so he could sleep with her.”

“
You can’t ever tell her that.”

“
I never would.” And that was a promise she’d forever keep. True or not. “Something happened to that marriage certificate.”

“
How could she do this to you? All these years?”

“
When I went to Oklahoma City the other day I was looking for information on where she might be in rehab. I, of course, am no one, so I can’t find her. And Frank won’t return my calls.”

“
Maybe Darby has contacted them and he knows we think she’s up to something.”

“
Maybe. I’ll have to talk to him.” She heard the stirring in the other room. “For now I’m going to focus on this business and getting moved in here. And Clayton living with us.”

“
He’s living with you?”

“
When I realized Adam had asked for a divorce I think I was on a bit of a rant. He wants to stay close until we know what’s going on.”

“
And that’s why he brought the girls.”

“
He slept on the couch.”

“
Really
?”

“
Really. He’s that kind of gentleman.”

“
Maybe he’ll never go back.”

Vivian felt the smile that pushed at her cheeks. “Maybe not.”

Clayton packed up at school and drove by his house. He collected his mail, more clothes, and whatever was about to go bad in the refrigerator. He had nine more months on the lease. Perhaps he’d better assume Vivian was safe and move home, or move her in with him.

No. She needed to be at the old house. The girls should be enveloped in something that had a part of their father. The house would offer that. He’d run through these halls as a boy. They’d have a connection to it.

He’d promised Brock an hour of his help on the bedroom in the old house. Vivian would just be cleaning up and then they could head home.

He liked the thought of it. They. Home. The male hormones running through him wondered if she’d solidified a date for Amelia and Penelope to watch the girls. He had romantic plans for dinner and whatever she wanted to do after, but he was man enough to hope she really wanted to go home and do what men and women do.

It had been two years for him and at least as long for her. They both were two sexually pent up people.

When he pulled up in front of the old house, he climbed from his car and pulled out the bag of items he’d taken from his refrigerator. He’d store them in the kitchen until they headed to Vivian’s.

The days were growing shorter and the daylight was already slipping away. Streetlights were already turning on and the house in front of him was illuminated. As he approached the house, he could hear small voices and laughs coming from inside. There was a lock on the front door, so he’d have to be buzzed into the house now that it had kids in it. He liked the idea. Even his elementary school had the same security. Everything was different now that kids took guns and weapons to school.

The very thought gave his heart a kick and the sickness of it jolted through his stomach. Before he hit the buzzer on the door, he took a moment to compose himself. He wasn’t going to take any bad energy into the house with him.

Amelia hurried to the door, a paintbrush in her hand. “Oh, hey. I thought maybe you were Kelly’s mom.”

“
Is she late?”

“
No, Kelly is just ready to head home. She’s had one very full day and has a lot to tell Mom about.”

He smiled as he stepped through the door and let it close behind him. “That’s good, right?”

Amelia nodded and crooked a finger for him to follow. They stood just out of sight near the room that had once been the dining room. Vivian sat on the floor with six little girls and one little boy playing what looked like hot potato. The kids laughed and the sweetest sound echoed in his ears—Vivian’s laughter as she played with the kids.

“
She was meant to do this,” Amelia whispered. “She has a gift.”

Didn’t he know it? Just being with her the other night he’d calmed when she’d asked about Linda. He’d told her everything and he’d never done that before. Her hard exterior was from the hurt Adam had caused her. But he thought, in time, that would shatter and her hate for Adam would too. He’d be there to catch her when she had that fall, but when it was done, he was sure she’d always be as happy as she was on the floor with those kids.

Charlotte looked up from the game. He’d have expected her to run to him, but she didn’t. Instead, she giggled and continued to play with Vivian and the other kids.

Amelia turned to Clayton. “Brock is upstairs working in the attic.”

“
I’ll put this food away and head up.”

Amelia started up the stairs as he headed back to the kitchen.

Penelope sat at the table with her feet propped up on another chair. She rubbed her stomach in small circles.

“
How are you feeling?” He asked as he opened the refrigerator and placed the bag inside.

“
I don’t think he’s going to hold on too much longer. A couple of weeks, max.”

As he shut the door, he turned to her. “Who will give out first? You or the baby?”

She let out a small laugh. “I feel like a house. Look at my ankles.”

He looked down at her feet and his first thought was
what ankles?
Of course, he replied, “That’s normal. Let me get you an ice pack.”

Clayton opened a drawer and pulled out a storage bag. He went to the freezer and filled it with ice from the ice tray. Pulling the towel from the handle on the oven door, he wrapped it around the bag and then gently set it on Penelope’s ankles.

“
Linda’s ankles used to swell like that. She carried the girls right out front. If you saw her from behind you’d never have known she was pregnant. But her ankles,” he smiled, “they were always swollen.”

“
Linda was your wife?”

He keyed right into the word
was
as Penelope said it. It was something he’d never get used to.

“
Yes.”

She reached for him. “I’m sorry about your loss.”

He gave her hand a pat. “Thank you. It’s nice to finally be moving forward again.”

She smiled up at him sweetly before she returned her hands to her stomach.

“
Are you having contractions?”

She shook her head. “He’s changing positions or something. We are not cohabitating well right now.”

Clayton watched her as she adjusted with the baby’s movement. Pregnancy was always a wonder to him. When Linda was pregnant, it had been hard for him to keep his hands off of her. He wanted to touch her all the time.

He’d seen Brock touch Penelope in the same way he’d touched Linda. The thought crossed his mind that Penelope and Brock would probably have another baby soon, just as he and Linda had.

It was then the pain of it all settled into his chest. They’d planned to have four children. Stephanie and Charlotte were only eighteen months apart. It was exactly how they wanted them spaced. The unfortunate realization was that Linda had to go back to work for them to afford another baby. How could they have ever known it would have been the one thing to destroy their lives?

“
Are you okay?”

Penelope was looking up at him as he stood staring at her. “Sorry. I got lost in thought.”

Clayton bent down and kissed her on the top of the head. “Yell if you need anything.”

He headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to help Brock.

Amelia was in the hallway painting the trim around the bedroom door. “You’d better help him before he hurts himself. He’s determined to get that closet torn out. I don’t know what he’s doing.”

“
Building her a loft with a set of stairs.”

Amelia looked as though she were processing the idea. “So turn the attic into a sitting room?”

“
Right. Then other than the kitchen, they’ll have a real living space up here.”

She smiled wide. “He’s genius.”

“
I heard that,” Brock shouted from inside the room. “I could use some help.”

Clayton moved into the room, which had been stripped of everything in it. “I’m glad you have a vision. I can’t see anything of use in here.”

Brock chuckled from on a ladder in the hollowed out area that was once the closet. “Help me pull this down.”

Clayton reached for the piece of wood, which Brock was working with and together they pulled off the board, which had framed the closet.

“
This is going to take about a month to do on the schedule we have. She’s going to have to stay in the other room until then.”

“
She could move in with me,” Clayton said as he set the wood in the pile Brock had already started.

Amelia was quick to peek her head around the corner. “No. And I don’t mean any disrespect with that,” she added. “Penelope is having a baby in a few weeks. I’m getting married in a few weeks. We need her here and available. When everything settles down then…”