Dress Me in Wildflowers (28 page)

Farrin roamed through the house, unable to focus or sit still. She paused at the window and stared down on Park Avenue. Once upon a time, this address had been so important. As had her appearance, the high-level clients she invited through the private entrance to her studio, the accolades she garnered from her Fashion Week shows.

Now it all seemed so trivial. It didn’t matter how far you pulled yourself up from poverty or how far you fell toward it, death came for everyone.

Footsteps on the stairs made her turn. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I wasn’t able to sleep much. Too anxious, I guess.” Janie came to stand by her at the window. She looked down on the myriad of people and cars. “Do you like it here?”

Farrin thought for a moment. Before the reunion and everything that had happened since, she would have given an instant “yes”. But things . . . she had changed so much since then. During her days of creative block on Cara Hutton’s dress, she might have sworn she never wanted to set foot in New York again if the damned block would just go away. Now, she stood somewhere in the middle.

“Yes, the city has a lot to offer. Most of the time, I like the pace, the excitement.”

“Most of the time?”

“It’s nice to have a place to get away from it every so often, where the pace is on the opposite end of the spectrum.”

“Like Oak Valley?”

“Yeah.”

Janie turned slightly and looked at her. “So, you’re going to keep the inn.”

Farrin noticed it wasn’t a question, and she wondered what she’d done or said that made Janie so sure. When had she made the decision herself? It was almost like her subconscious had made it and not bothered to tell her.

“For now. There’s so much going on that I don’t need to worry about listing it and the possibility of changing ownership. Plus, once the restaurant and bakery are up and running, it makes it even more attractive.”

Janie offered a weak smile. “It’s hard for you to admit you’ve grown to love the place and don’t want to let it go.”

Farrin looked at her friend and thought that statement could apply to some of the people in her life now, too. Janie, the twins, Drew.

Janie turned her gaze back out the window. “You don’t realize what you’ve done, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“It might not have been your intention, but you brought hope back to Oak Valley. The artists who have wares in the gift shop, the seamstresses, Tammie and Faye, everyone who has touched that place seems to have a new light in their eyes, a new hope that if that overgrown building can have a new life, so can they.”

Farrin fought tears. Had her work here ever touched people like that? She was proud of it, the business gave several people jobs, made brides happy. But had it ever brought hope?

She looked at Janie, at her tired face watching the buzz of the Big Apple. “What about you?”

Janie licked her dry lips but continued to stare out the window, as if she was staring at her future. “Yes, a little of that hope has even rubbed off on me.”

The front door burst open and in flowed a sea of kids and shopping bags. They were singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in that off-key way of children, but Farrin thought she’d never heard such a happy sound.

“Did you buy out Manhattan?” she said as she walked forward to meet them.

“Oh, no,” Danielle said. “There’s tons more stuff out there.”

They all laughed, and Farrin hoped that the news they’d get tomorrow would ensure many more Christmases full of laughter.

****

The next morning, they slept in after seeing
Mamma Mia!
on Broadway the night before. Even the kids had been transfixed by the production, it being a few steps beyond the plays they performed at school.

After breakfast, Tammie gathered up the kids for a day of sightseeing followed by skating at Rockefeller Center. When they were finally ushered out the door, Farrin turned toward Janie. “Ready?”

“As I’m ever going to be.”

In truth, Janie looked like she might throw up at any moment, and Farrin wasn’t sure if that was because of the illness or her nerves.

Neither of them spoke as the driver maneuvered through traffic toward Sloan-Kettering. But once inside, Farrin led the way and told Janie how she and Matthew Canton had met at a benefit for the restoration of Ellis Island.

“He’s a huge history buff. We should introduce him to Dara.”

The closer they got to Dr. Canton’s office, the more of that hope Janie had hinted at the day before seemed to ebb away. Farrin stopped in the middle of the corridor and turned toward Janie. On impulse, she pulled her close and gave her a hug.

“I’ll be right here, and Matthew is an excellent doctor.”

Matthew was also an attractive single man, and Farrin noticed how his eyes lingered on Janie when she introduced them and how long he held Janie’s hand after the handshake. My, wasn’t that interesting.

“It’s nice to meet you,” he said to Janie. “Farrin, nice to see you again.”

After a few moments of chitchat, Matthew turned all business. “If you’ll follow me, Janie, we’ll get started.”

Janie looked back at Farrin, and for a moment she looked as innocent and scared as Dara might in a similar situation. Farrin reached out and squeezed her hand, then watched as she disappeared behind the door that led to answers.

Farrin retreated into work to pass the time and help calm her nerves. She called Justine and heard the beehive of activity in the background. With the New York Fashion Week and the Oscars barely two months away, the phones were ringing until they smoked and the sewing room was a sea of fabrics and noise.

By the time she talked to everyone she needed to at her office, an hour had passed. She popped her head into the waiting room but saw no sign of Janie.

“It’ll still be a while,” the woman at the front desk said.

“Thanks.”

Farrin might as well have taped the phone to her ear during the time it took Janie to complete all the tests. Her earlobe was burning from the heat of the phone when she looked up to see Janie coming out of Matthew’s office.

Farrin jumped up. “How’d it go?”

“I’ve been poked, prodded, scanned, you name it. Now we wait.”

“For how long?”

“I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to get the results.”

“You’d think they’d come up with something a little faster.”

“It’s okay. The tough part’s done. Now I can go see a bit of New York with my kids.”

Farrin called Tammie and found out she and the children were at Rockefeller Center.

“Amie is trying to teach Dara some of the moves from her ice skating class, and evidently Dara’s taking to the ice pretty well,” Farrin told Janie.

“I remember watching the winter Olympics when I was young, thinking how great it would be to be one of those figure skaters gliding around the ice to all that beautiful music,” Janie said as she stared out the window at the passing city.

“Well, I’m no Michelle Kwan, but I bet we won’t be the worst people out on the ice either.”

Janie shook her head. “I don’t think I could even stand up on a pair of skates.”

“Won’t know until you try.”

Janie still didn’t look convinced, but Farrin had no intention of letting Janie have a moment to focus on what her tests might reveal. Best to keep her mind pointed in other directions.

After they reached Rockefeller Center, it didn’t take them long to find Tammie and the kids. All they had to do was follow the joyous, uninhibited laughter. Dara was indeed doing well considering she’d never had much opportunity to ice skate.

“She looks like an angel out there.” Janie made the observation with a sense of wonder, like she was seeing her daughter for the first time.

“Jason doesn’t seem to be doing so badly either.” At that moment, Jason’s legs slid in different directions and he fell, after which he slammed his hand against the ice in frustration. “Oops, spoke too soon.”

They made their way down to the side of the rink, and when Dara and Jason spotted them, they headed straight for them, Dara much more gracefully than her twin.

“Mom, Mom, guess what!”

Janie smiled wide and ran her gloved hand over her daughter’s silken hair. “What?”

“Tammie took us to a museum that had an exhibit of just maps! There were really old ones, from all over the world. One of the Great Wall of China, some of the exploration maps of Lewis and Clark, room after room of them. I could have stayed forever.”

“I swear, you’re going to be working for Rand McNally one of these days.” Janie turned toward her son. “And what did you get to do that was fascinating?”

Tammie skated up in time to hear the question. She handed Jason the digital camera.

He scrolled through the pictures until he found a particular shot and then handed it to his mother. “I got to tour a fire station and talk to the firefighters about some of the biggest fires they’ve been to. They even let me sit in the fire engine.”

“You look right at home in that big coat and hat,” Janie said then handed the camera to Farrin.

Even though the fireman’s coat and hat were huge on his boy’s body, his smile was even bigger. She’d never seen a boy look happier.

“Are you going to skate, Mom?” Dara asked.

“Of course she is,” Farrin said before Janie could decline.

“I can’t skate.”

“Well, I’m not exactly Dorothy Hamill out here,” Tammie said. “If I can make a fool of myself, so can you.”

Farrin laughed, and even Janie smiled. Tammie’s matter-of-fact statements had that effect on people.

Once they were decked out in skates, Tammie took Janie’s right arm and Farrin took her left. So linked, they scooted around the edge of the rink while youngsters who came up no further than their kneecaps sped by in a blaze of colorful scarves and knitted caps.

“They do that because they don’t have as far to fall,” Tammie said with a snarl that made Janie and Farrin laugh.

They laughed and squealed and snorted their way around the ice perhaps a grand total of three or four times. But Farrin couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard her sides ached.

“I think we’re going to create a new Olympic sport, triples skating,” she said.

“Yeah, I can hear our musical selection now. Three Blind Mice,” Janie said.

Farrin and Tammie looked at her, then they all three started howling in laughter and had to grab the wall to prevent going down in a heap on the ice.

When they returned to Farrin’s place, they thawed by sitting in front of her fireplace with large mugs of hot chocolate. The kids were so exhausted that they collapsed in the living room floor and were soon asleep.

Farrin noticed Janie watching her children with an expression on her face that softened the fatigue and worry that had been building there in the past days.

“I want to thank you both,” Janie said. “You’ve been great to me and the kids. If I have one regret, it’s that the three of us weren’t friends all along. This afternoon . . . well, it was wonderful. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun or laughed that much.”

“We’re a trio that’s pretty easy to laugh at,” Tammie said.

“True,” Janie said with a smile and a nod. “I . . . I just want you to know that no matter what happens tomorrow, I appreciate everything. You’ve been better for me than any medicine could ever be.”

Farrin had to lighten the mood before she started crying and woke up the kids. “Well, now that we’ve all decided we like each other, we’ll have to have girls’ weekends. We’ll leave all the kids with Kurt, and just take off.”

Tammie made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a snort. “I’m sure Kurt’s going to be all over that idea.”

“Maybe Drew could help,” Janie said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Two can play this game. I think the good Dr. Canton was interested in a little more than tests today.”

Janie’s pale cheeks colored.

“See!” Farrin pointed at her in triumph. “You liked him, too.”

“Of course, I did. He was a nice guy.”

“Hot?” Tammie asked.

Farrin fanned herself in response. “Hunky, nice and a doctor.”

Janie’s cheeks colored further.

“Methinks we’ve made her blush,” Tammie said.

“Maybe it was safer to go through my teenage years without you two around,” Janie said and whopped them both with a throw pillow. “Certainly less embarrassing.”

They talked until late into the night about everything from fashion to men to how they all had loathed Mr. Parrish, their high school typing teaching.

Long after the kids had risen from the floor to find their beds, the women’s conversation wound down.

“This has been great, but I’ve got to get some sleep,” Janie said.

“Yeah, can’t be falling in Dr. Hubba Hubba’s lap tomorrow,” Tammie said, setting them all to laughing again.

Once they quieted, Janie faced them then gathered them both in a tight hug. “Thank you,” she said, then hurried away toward her guestroom.