Edwina (19 page)

“What do you mean?” Edwina was on her feet at
the counter.

“We cannot find a match to this ticket.”

“Oh no—yes, you can. I brought the suit in
last evening. It was supposed to be ready by now. It says so right
on the ticket. It’s a suit, red with satin lapels. A size six.
There were gold buttons on the cuffs. They were satin too. The
cuffs were satin.” Edwina repeated.

“No. It’s not back there.” She shoved the
ticket across the counter.

Edwina shoved the ticket back to the woman.
“You can’t possibly know what kind of trouble I’m in,” Edwina said.
“I need that suit. Can I come back and look? I can find it. I know
I can.”

“You can’t do that.” The woman looked
shocked.

“But you see, I know what it looks like.
You’ve no doubt just misplaced it.” Her stomach started to
twirl.

“It’s against store policy.” The woman was
finished with her.

What would Cecelia
do
? Her frantic mind tried to think, her
finger rubbing her temple, tears about to form in her
eyes.

“I would like to see your boss.” Her hands
shook, and she knew her voice did too.

“He’s not here.” The woman looked over her
shoulder.

“Yes, he is. You just don’t
want to bring him up here.” Edwina felt her ire rise a level. “You
see, this is my sister’s suit. She is to appear on
Oprah
, and they are
taping the show today.
Today
. She needs this suit.” Perhaps
reasoning with a calm voice would work. “Her name is Cecelia
Giatana. You know her. And you have her suit.”

“I must ask you to leave. I have searched. We
do not have it, I will be forced to call security.”

Edwina grabbed the ticket off the counter
before the woman had a chance to take it. Time to call Cecelia.

She stepped out the door of Gwin’s and stood
on the sidewalk, tears coming down. What would she tell
Cecelia?

“Ah lass, we meet once again.”

Her heart took a leap. The Scot. She gave him
one shoulder and pretended to fish for something in her purse...
like a tissue to wipe away the dratted evidence on her face.

“Think ye the Starbuck’s menu will help
again?” he teased.

“This is not funny this time... sir.” She
forced a slight smile.

The Scot’s face turned serious. “Ah, I see
that it is not. What troubles ye, lass?”

“I... I came here to get my sister’s suit.
She said it cost a fortune, and she has to wear it today for the
show. They’re taping it today. And they said they don’t have it. .
. .” She stopped, half angry, half humiliated.

“They don’t have it? An expensive suit
disappeared into the moors? Have ye the ticket, lass?”

“Yes, but they said they’d call security. . .
.”

A look of determination settled on the Scot’s
face. His handsome chin dipped and his mouth firmed. Oh boy, there
was going to be trouble.

“Come, lass. We’ll see to the matter.”

She followed him inside and stood next to
him. When the woman came around the corner and saw her, she started
to pick up the phone, but the Scot spoke—loudly.

“This lass has lost a suit. And you have it.
Give her the ticket.” His eyes never left the woman’s face.

Edwina slid the ticket across the
counter.

“I’ve already checked. I told the young woman
she must be mistaken.”

The Scot looked at her. Edwina shook her head
ever so slightly.

“
Aye, and the Scots are
Irish too! Would ye know anything aboot the suit, or is there a
need to call for assistance... an attorney perhaps?”

The woman’s face turned fiery red. She
excused herself and went to the back.

Edwina gasped as the suit appeared covered in
clear plastic. “It seems it was just hung on the rack... only
recently finished.” She shot Edwina a look.

“The bill?” Mr. Dunnegin pulled out a credit
card.

Edwina didn’t even try to pay. Shocked to the
bottom of her Birkenstocks, she stood like one of the dummies in
the store windows.

“Now for my suit.” He passed his own ticket
across the counter and stared at the woman. “Freshly hung, just now
I’m sure.” He tossed the words at her back like a handful of peanut
shells tossed to an elephant.

She came around the corner, angrier than
before, laid the suit across the counter, rung up the price, and
held out her bejeweled hand for his card.

“Charge both to my card.” He stared her down.
“No tip.”

They eyed each other for a moment. Edwina
snatched up her package.

When he had his in his hands, he started for
the door, turned, and said, “Ye will hear from my attorney.”

Edwina gasped, snuck a look back, and
blinked. The woman was livid.

“How did you do that?”

“Blasted Americans will steal ye’re shirt
from ye’re back.” He stalked down the street, Edwina in his
wake.

“Do... do we... do that all the time to
Scots?”

“Aye, a Scot loves to save a dime as well as
the next lad, but he’ll not lie right to his blessed face to do
it.”

Edwina stepped quicker to keep up with him.
“I’m so thankful you were there. I didn’t know what to do. Cecelia
said it was the best place in town.”

“Ye’re sister may well be right, lass, but
I’ll never darken their step again.”

“That’s why you went there too? Because it
was the best in town?”

“So she said.” he mumbled.

She walked beside him quietly. He was in no
mood for conversation. She thought to change the mood.

“Where are you off to today?”

“Business.” He was still mad. Maybe Scots
stayed mad longer. She

shrugged. Suddenly her conscience
whispered.

“Mr. Dunnegin . . .”

“Call me Alex,” he said gruffly.

“I am glad you were there. Thank you.” He
escorted her to Cecelia’s door and left.

Chapter 32

“C
ecelia, you’re not going to believe what happened.” Edwina
told her sister the entire sordid story.

“So... he came to your rescue once again,”
she said to the mirror as she pulled back her hair.

“Well, I guess you could say that. I’m so
embarrassed, Cece. It was awful. But he helped me get your suit.
Otherwise . . .”

“Don’t think about it. There’s no time. It’s
here now and that’s all that matters. However, I am going to speak
to Mr. Dunnegin’s lawyer. You did say he was going to sue?”

“Well, he didn’t exactly say that. Just that
he would be contacting his attorney.”

“Sometimes that’s a ruse to let people know
you mean business. They meant to steal my suit. It’s expensive, and
somebody down there knows it.”

Edwina could see that her sister’s anger was
starting to burn. “Don’t think about it now. You’ve got to be at
the recording studio in two hours. Are the Gillespies ready?”

“They’ve been ready for an hour. They’re
sitting calmly in the living room discussing plans to visit their
son when production is over. I think this will be just the thing I
need to get international visitors to stay at my place. And if we
are overrun with guests, I’ll just have to find another
architectural wreck and redo it too.”

Edwina’s head tipped. “You love this, don’t
you?”

“You bet I do. Every bit of it.” Cecelia
glossed her lips. “Aren’t they going to do your makeup?”

“Of course, but I never go out in public
without gloss.”

“I’ll leave you to your ministrations.”

“Ministrations? What kind of word is that?”
Cecelia’s chuckle hung in the air.

“It just means giving care. Guess I’m reading
too many books, huh?” Edwina patted Cecelia’s shoulder. “Hope all
goes well today.”

Her sister’s dreams were coming true right
before her eyes. Edwina ambled away still wondering what her dreams
were.

Perhaps a bit of reading, maybe something
romantic. She threw caution to the wind and walked to a small
downtown secondhand book shop. The entire afternoon was hers to do
with as she pleased. Everyone would be busy producing the show
today. And it was Spencer’s day off.

For two days Edwina read and sipped tea. The
most she did was prepare dinner two evenings. Production days were
long, and the Gillespies came home and went to bed after dinner.
Cecelia usually ate and retired to her room to write down what she
wanted to say for the next day’s taping.

Edwina was bored. What was it she was looking
for? She’d prayed and asked God for an answer. Surely there was
something to do in a world full of needy people. She’d already
decided a master’s degree was not what she wanted, and as soon as
she got home, she would call her father and try to explain why she
didn’t want to further her already acceptable education.

Sensing a feeling of loneliness, she decided
a walk was what she needed. Cecelia had insisted she take two
hundred dollars for two days’ help. Edwina had balked at first,
before realizing that she needed to accept the gift her sister
offered.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she
dashed for one of the hundred dollar bills, and on a whim took a
taxi to the nearest park. Children were swinging, throwing sand in
each other’s hair, running and falling in the grass. Where had her
childhood gone? Had she had one? Of course, but it had been a
rather serious one.

Isn’t there something, Lord, that I can do?
Something that won’t make me better, but that will make someone
else better?

Why was she feeling so melancholy today?
She’d not even had the sense to grab a book, so here she sat on a
park bench with nothing to do but think.

Up to this point, she’d thought her career in
Library Science was the focus of her life. She wanted children, but
doubted her ability to draw a man into her boring life.

Tears formed and fell into her lap. She
worried that someone might see her crying. But who cared anyway? No
one knew her.

Cecelia’s life was already mapped out. Her
father and stepmother had their lives. She was on her own, and
right now it felt lonely.

Tired of thinking, she pulled her cell phone
out and called the taxi company. One thing she could do was
remember numbers. Never had to write a single one down. Once she’d
dialed it, it had gone straight to her mental phone book.

She felt even lonelier, if that were
possible. Who cared that she could remember numbers?

The yellow taxi pulled up at the park and she
got in.

“Would you stop at 213 Baker?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the driver said and pulled a
U-turn.

“Whoa, sorry about that. I forgot we were
headed in the wrong direction.”

“
We mean to please.” The
cabbie smiled at her in the rearview mirror as he pulled up to the
curb.

“I’ll be right back.” She might as well use
some of the money for chocolate. She needed it tonight. A quick
visit to the counter and she was back.

“Best in the country.”

“What?”

“That chocolate you’re eating. You
out-o-towners seem to know about the place.”

“That we do. Would you like some?” She handed
the driver a square of chocolate pecan bark.

“Thanks. Don’t expect any discounts,” he
teased. Edwina looked out the window, a smile forming. He was
flirting with her. It was nearing midnight when she let herself in
the condo.

“Edwina, is that you?” She heard her sister’s
sleepy voice in the darkness. “Yes, what are you doing out here in
the dark?”

“I fell asleep on the sofa. It’s been a long,
long day.” She yawned. “Did everything go well?”

“Perfect.” Another yawn.

“Want some chocolate?”

“Chocolate? At this late hour? It makes my
skin bumpy.”

Edwina shrugged. “More for me.”

“What’s going on, Ed?”

“Oh nothing. Just trying to figure out what
to do with the rest of my life is all.”

“Do I detect a bit of gloom and doom?”

“Didn’t take a rocket scientist, did it?” she
mumbled.

“Sit down. Talk to me.”

Edwina sat but didn’t know what to say. What
could possibly be said about a boring life?

“
You’ve got a meeting in
the morning, and I need to get back home. We’d better get off to
bed. I’m sorry to keep you up.”

“Oh, I almost forgot. Alex wanted to see you.
He took the Gillespies to the airport tonight and was quite upset
when you weren’t here.”

“I’m sorry I missed sending
them off.”
So they were already on a
first-name basis
.

“They send you their best wishes and will see
you again.”

“See me again? I doubt that,” she mused. “I
wonder why Mr. Dunnegin wanted to see me.”

“Something about a position.”

“Position?”

“That’s all I can remember. Besides, he asked
me out.”

Cecelia smiled through sleepy blue eyes.
“Oh.”

“Is that all you can say? The man’s a hunk,
or haven’t you noticed?”

“How could I not?”

“Well, you’ve had your turn. He’s been your
knight in shining armor twice now. It’s my turn.”

Cecelia’s voice was meant as teasing, but
Edwina wasn’t up to the banter tonight.

“I hope you guys hit it off, really. He’s a
nice guy... and... I need to go to bed. I’m tired.” Edwina picked
up her shoes.

“Good night. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Yep, good night, Cecelia.”

Chapter 33

T
he condo was quiet the next morning when Edwina woke. A
headache sent her crashing back down on the pillow groaning. “Not
today. Errrrggghhh.” She covered her eyes with her
forearm.

Half an hour later, she pulled her body out
of bed, head still pounding. Why was it when one part of her life
broke down she inherited a headache? Probably from all that
worrying. Her conscience was working again.