A New Kind of Bliss (26 page)

I quickly realized how unlikely that was. In the first place, Tanis had a pool at her home, plus she had a nanny who lived in. Rosalind had neither, but like Tanis, Rosalind knew it simply wasn’t appropriate to ask to bring your children along to an adult luncheon. They also didn’t have Marsha’s predicament of being stuck in a ghetto. As for Valerie, she probably should have known better, but of course anyone who knew Valerie knew that she lived for her children. She was tickled pink to be a grandmother and to have a baby in the house once more.

Part of me wondered if I should tell Aaron about the extra guests. I ultimately decided against it. Aaron would be playing golf Saturday morning with John Hunter, Elias Ansara, and another friend. I knew he’d be surprised to see all those kids when he got home, but I would tell him it just came up at the last minute and I really had no choice, since all the preparations had already been made.

Still, the entire situation had me on edge.

On Saturday morning I made Aaron an omelet and had coffee with him while he ate. Right after breakfast he left for the links. I carried the dishes into the kitchen. Shirley was already at work, and the kitchen was filled with the scent of boiling shrimp. The shrimp were boiling in a clear Dutch oven, and I could see how large they were.

I was surprised to see bacon frying in a griddle that spanned two burners and Shirley mixing what appeared to be pancake batter. Why would she be making breakfast? She still had quite a bit to do before noon.

My confusion must have shown on my face. Shirley gave me a sheepish shrug and explained, “Mrs. Wilson buzzed me and asked me to make pancakes and bacon for her and the children, since I’m in this morning.”

My jaw went taut. “Oh, did she?”

“I’m sorry, Emily. I couldn’t really say no. But it won’t take me long.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s not your fault.” As much as I liked Shirley, I didn’t feel it would be proper to complain to her about Beverline. Besides, it was pretty obvious that Shirley knew the deal. I suspected Beverline had no qualms about bad-mouthing
me
. “I’ll help out to make sure we get everything done.”

Just then the timer went off, and I reached for the pot holders Shirley had left on the countertop near the cooktop. “I’ll take care of draining and rinsing the shrimp,” I said. “You keep doing what you’re doing.”

Shirley let out a sigh. “Thanks, Emily.”

“Good morning, Shirley,” Beverline said as she burst into the kitchen. If she was surprised to see me calmly spreading fresh-made chicken salad on a large rectangular flatbread, she didn’t comment. Instead she said, “How are the preparations for this afternoon going?”

“Just wonderful,” I said in an equally bright tone. I put my knife down and picked up a sharper one and began to reduce a beefsteak tomato into thin slices. I felt Beverline’s eyes on me as I arranged the tomato slices over the thin layer of chicken salad.

“What’s that you’re making, Emily?”

“Pinwheel sandwiches filled with chicken salad.” I sprinkled lettuce that the efficient Shirley had already shredded on top of the tomatoes, then carefully rolled the bread up by the lengthwise side. I had to make a couple of efforts because the chicken chunks were so, well, chunky, but I refused to let Beverline see me get ruffled. I just kept trying. The rest of the sandwiches would be made with sliced London broil, which Shirley planned to make last so she could serve them hot.

“Everything’s on the table for you, Mrs. Wilson,” Shirley offered.

“The kids are eating already. I just came in to get my coffee. Uh, has Aaron left?”

I answered her. “Yes, about twenty minutes ago.”

“Well, you’re certainly up bright and early, Emily.”

“Of course I am. It’s nearly nine. My guests will be here at noon.”

Beverline’s eyes fell on the George Foreman grill Shirley had placed on the counter to cook the hot dogs in. “Oh, you’re grilling, Shirley? I thought you were just making salad, sandwiches, and soup.”

Shirley sent a pleading glance my way.

That was more than Beverline
should
have known about my menu, I thought with annoyance. She’d probably had Shirley up on the carpet and questioned her relentlessly. “Yes, we are,” I answered, offering no further explanation. Then I pointedly added, “You know, Mrs. Wilson, if you hang around in here much longer your food will get cold.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she said, getting the hint. But her sly manner told me she planned to find out exactly what would be prepared in that indoor grill.

“O
h, this is good,” Marsha raved.

Rosalind and Valerie agreed, but Tanis merely nodded. “Where’s Aaron today, Emily?” Tanis asked, just like I knew she would. I was sure she’d worn that pretty yellow and white halter sundress and yellow sandals for his benefit. Too bad she didn’t know it wouldn’t help, not even with the tops of her boobs peeking out from the top like giant stuffed pimentos.

“He’s playing golf.”

“John’s with him,” Rosalind added.

Valerie’s gaze went to the pool. “Justin! Stop that splashing!” She turned and bounced her baby granddaughter on her knee. “Sometimes I wish they could stay this size.”

Rosalind, Tanis, and I exchanged glances. Marsha spoke up. “You seem to be handling Melanie’s having a baby pretty well, Valerie. I don’t think I’d be as calm as you are if Cheyenne got pregnant at sixteen. Of course, she’s only thirteen.”

“I think a baby is the best thing that can happen to a woman,” Valerie declared.

“Melanie’s not really a woman yet, Valerie,” Tanis pointed out. “Maybe physically, but not emotionally. Raising kids is hard.”

“Is the baby’s father involved?” Rosalind asked.

“He’s fascinated and proud in a puff-your-chest-out kind of way, but he’ll probably lose interest as she grows.” Valerie shrugged. “Who needs him, anyway?”

“
She
does,” Marsha said fervently as the rest of us exchanged quick glances.

“Excuse me,” Tanis said. “I need to use your water closet.”

She was in the house for about fifteen minutes. Either she could use a good laxative or she was chatting with Beverline. I suspected it was the latter.

Just a few minutes later Beverline came outside, wearing a sun visor, short-sleeved blouse, and Bermuda shorts. She walked over to the pool and said something to Kirsten, then went back inside with a quick, impersonal wave to my friends and me.

Beverline hadn’t been outside since everyone had arrived, but I knew she’d been watching from the kitchen window and had seen all the kids. Everyone had been here for over an hour now. No way would she miss the opportunity to see firsthand who my guests were.

When I saw Kirsten, Arden, and Billy climb out of the pool and go inside, I wondered what Beverline was up to.

Aaron came home at one-thirty. I wasn’t surprised to see John Hunter with him, but I didn’t expect to see Elias.

I stood up to greet Aaron, whose eyes were focused on the pool and its occupants. “Emily, I thought you were just having your friends over. Where’d all these kids come from?”

“Both Marsha and Valerie asked if they could bring their kids.”

“You could have said no.”

I sighed. “Can we talk about this later?”

“That’s probably best. I don’t see my kids. Where are they?”

“Their grandmother came out. I think she asked them to get out of the water. They went inside right afterward. I haven’t seen them since.”

“I’m going to set the fellows up with drinks, and then I’ll go in and find out what’s going on.” He gave my arm a little squeeze.

As the men walked over to the outdoor bar, Valerie turned around and with her free hand fanned the front of her blouse. “That Elias is one handsome dude, and he’s not wearing a wedding ring. I’d like to talk to him a little more. Provided he’s not a gynecologist, of course.”

“No, he’s a GI specialist.” I said. None of us had to ask what was wrong with a gynecologist. Who wanted a man who had his hands in women’s stuff all day?

Valerie giggled. “I went to the ER last year with what turned out to be a ruptured ovarian cyst, and the ER doctor was really fine. At first I was feeling too bad to look at his ring finger, and just before he discharged me I couldn’t see it because he was holding my chart. Then, as he was discharging me, he wrote down a GYN I could follow up with. That’s when I finally got to see the ring on his left hand. Then I saw the doc he recommended was a woman with the same last name as his.”

“His wife,” Rosalind guessed.

“You got it.”

“It really wasn’t your lucky day,” Marsha remarked.

“No, it wasn’t. I threw out his note and followed up with my own doctor.”

We all laughed, and Rosalind got up to speak with John. When Aaron emerged from the house, I got up, eager to know what was going on.

He put an arm around me. “We’ll talk later. Let’s entertain our guests.”

I shrugged. “All right. The guys are probably hungry.”

I brought out the leftovers, glad I’d told Shirley to make more than what my friends could eat. No one had appeared to be in the house. Maybe they were all upstairs, or down in the basement bowling or something.

As I approached the patio with the tray, I noticed Elias saying something to Valerie. Valerie looked especially attractive today, wearing oversize sunglasses and her hair pulled back, but wisps of it were blowing in the breeze, framing her face. Her grandson, who had been bouncing on her lap before she’d handed him over to a cooing Marsha, looked more like her son. Forty-four was a little old to have an infant, but Valerie could easily pass for being in her late thirties.

Elias held out his pinky for the baby to grab, then casually sat in a vacant chair next to Valerie. Could it be he was just as attracted to Valerie as she was to him? Her-ink black hair was about as far from blond as one could get, but it was obvious she had plenty of it; I’d seen Elias with only one girl with short hair. I had a hunch that his preference ran toward those whose skin was of a lighter hue. I didn’t find this insulting. My own taste ran toward brown-skinned men like Aaron, or darker. That didn’t mean I didn’t think Kristoff St. John of
The Young and the Restless
wasn’t handsome, because I did. He just wasn’t for me. (I’m sure his wife would be glad to hear that.) Give me Idris Elba any day of the week.

Aaron, who’d been over by the pool talking to the kids, caught me on my way back inside. “They look good together, don’t they?”

“I think so. Do you think he knows she’s black?” Sometimes white people weren’t too bright when it came to knowing who was black and who wasn’t. Black people come with built-in antennae. We can look at someone like Mariah Carey and see black, whereas the average white person will see white.

“It doesn’t matter, Emily. Elias has dated Latinas, Asians, Scandinavians, Africans, Australians,…you name it. The man just loves women. When I mentioned that you’d be entertaining your girlfriends for lunch Saturday he asked if Valerie was coming. Why do you think he drove all the way from Sands Point just to play golf?”

I beamed like searchlights. “I think that’s great.”

“Apparently, she made quite an impression on him New Year’s Eve.”

I hoped Elias was serious about getting to know Valerie. She was probably overdue for a real live man instead of a plastic stimulator. “Hmm. Not only is she older than the women I’ve seen him with, but she’s got kids, even a grandchild. I wonder if he’s really interested, or if he’s just being flirtatious.”

“He’s the only one with the answer to that one. But I couldn’t help noticing that none of Valerie’s kids look alike, do they?”

“No,” I admitted. “They all have different fathers.”

People started leaving around four. Rosalind and John had promised their kids dinner out, “and I’ve got to take a nap first,” John said, stretching his upper body in a yawn.

“I’m going to get going, too, Emily,” Marsha said. “My mother doesn’t really like me to be out with her car for too long.” The sardonic way she spoke suggested that her late husband’s money had paid for Mrs. Cox’s Impala.

Tanis left shortly afterward. “Gee, what happened to your kids, Aaron?” she asked as she ran a comb through her curls, a little too innocently for my taste.

“Beverline took them on an errand.”

“Well, I’m so sorry I didn’t get a chance to say good-bye to them. I’m sure the other kids were sorry they had to leave. They seemed to be having so much fun together. Well, ta-ta for now.”

We all said good-bye. Tanis set out, her effort to sashay her hips lost in her full skirt. She turned and said over her shoulder, “It was a lovely luncheon, Emily…if a little on the boisterous side.”

I looked at Aaron. “She talks as if she knows something I don’t.”

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” Valerie said. She handed the baby over to Melanie, then began stuffing wet towels into a straw beach bag. “We’re going to leave as well, Emily. I had a wonderful time, and so did all the kids. They’re going to sleep really good tonight.”

Aaron yawned. “I know what John meant about wanting to lie down. Between the sun, the eighteen holes, and the liquor, I’m dead on my feet.”

Elias stood and offered his hand. “Don’t stay up on our account, Aaron. I’m going to walk Valerie out and then be on my way.”

“I’ll see them out, Aaron,” I added. I could tell he was tired. His eyes looked like they were barely open, but from fatigue, not from arousal.

“All right. Take care, Valerie,” Aaron said.

“You, too, Aaron.”

I waved as Valerie and Elias drove off in their respective vehicles, then stood where I was as Beverline’s Buick approached. I recognized Kirsten sitting in the front seat. So she really had taken them out. That seemed…well,
unseemly
. I knew that Valerie’s and Marsha’s kids were technically my company and not Kirsten, Arden, and Billy’s, but they all seemed to be getting along and having fun in the water. All of the kids except Valerie’s youngest daughter knew how to swim. Marsha’s son was about the same age as Billy, and Valerie’s son just a few years older. Arden and Marsha’s daughter were both thirteen, and Valerie’s oldest daughter was just a little older than Kirsten.

“Hi, Emily!” Billy greeted with his usual gusto. “Grandma took us to the movies.”

Kirsten and Arden said hello to me as well, although with more reserve. “Is everyone gone?” Arden asked.

“Yes. My friend Valerie just left a minute ago.

It took Beverline a little longer to get out of the car than her youthful grandchildren. “Go on inside, kids,” she said. “Grandma needs to speak to Emily.”

My eyebrows shot up. What did Beverline have to say to me?

She waited until the front door closed behind them. “I must say, Emily, I’m disappointed that you told Kirsten, Arden, and Billy that they couldn’t use the pool for their friends and then opened it to your friends’ children. Perhaps I need to remind you that my grandchildren
live
here.”

“I’m well aware they do; you don’t have to remind me of that,” I said testily. “And that wasn’t my intent. One of my friends asked if she could bring her children. I tried to convince her that wasn’t such a good idea, but she was pretty insistent about it. There are special circumstances involved that I’d rather not go into, and I simply didn’t have the heart to tell her she couldn’t bring them. Then when my other friend found out that my first friend was bringing her kids, she asked if she could bring hers.” I took a deep breath. My explanation was coming out like an Abbott and Costello routine. “It just kind of snowballed. I’m sorry if it caused any problems. But the pool was always open for the kids.
You
were the one who told them to come inside.”

“Well, I had no choice once I got wind of whom you’d invited to our home.”

I told myself to stay polite, at least until I found out what she meant, but already I didn’t like the way it sounded. “Would you care to explain that, Mrs. Wilson?”

“Gladly,” she said icily. “You invited the widow of a notorious drug kingpin here, plus her children. They live in the
projects
now that the Feds have seized all their ill-gotten assets. I guess those are the ‘special circumstances’ you spoke of?” She paused to let that sink in. “And if that’s not bad enough, you also invited a woman who has had three children out of wedlock by three different men, plus
her
brats, who include, I might add, a girl barely older than Kirsten who just had a baby. I suppose your idea of the perfect playmates for my grandchildren are the son and daughter of a drug dealer and a bunch of bastard children. That might work in Euliss, but it won’t work here.”

I lowered my chin. How could Beverline possibly have known the backgrounds of Marsha and Valerie, whom she’d just met? “Have you hired someone to investigate me or something?” I wouldn’t have put it past her. Anything to get rid of me.

“I have my ways of finding out things.”

Suddenly I remembered how long Tanis had been gone when she went in to use the restroom. She’d probably been all too glad to answer Beverline’s questions about my guests. “I think your way is named Tanis Montgomery.”

“Tanis is a nice girl, and she understands my concerns.”

She didn’t deny it, I noticed. “She’s from Euliss, just like the rest of my friends.”

“She may be from Euliss, dear, but she’s
not
like you and the rest of your friends. Those two women you run with, the drug dealer’s wife and the one with all those baby daddies, simply aren’t the type of people who belong here. At least your other friend didn’t ask to drag her kids here as well. Of course, she’s married to a white fellow and probably knows a thing or two about the right way to do things.”

I couldn’t believe she’d actually used the term “baby daddies.” I’d had enough. “Mrs. Wilson, I explained what happened and apologized to you for it. I’ll apologize to the kids as well. But I’m not going to stand here and listen to you put down my friends,
or
their children. Why don’t you run and report what Tanis told you to Aaron? Tell him all about the horrible people I invited here.” I knew Aaron would tell her to stop carrying on. “And while you’re at it, you can try to convince him to dump me and take up with Tanis.”

“Don’t think I haven’t tried.” She turned to walk away, but not before checking out my reaction. She looked disappointed at my calm demeanor. She didn’t know that Aaron had already told me he had no interest in Tanis.

Aaron knocked on the guesthouse door two hours later. No doubt Beverline had filled him in on our exchange the moment he’d woken up. I hadn’t calmed down at all. How dare she criticize my friends!