Garden of Dreams (27 page)

Nina giggled at that. So much for superwomen. Maybe, just once in a while, life smiled on her.

***

Long after Nancy and Jimmy had driven off in the little red Geo, JD found Nina sitting in the darkness of the porch swing, idly pushing herself back and forth. Nancy's decision to leave Jackie with him had unnerved and delighted JD at the same time. People usually didn't express that kind of confidence in him.

He thought a lot of Nancy's decision to leave had to do with Nina. And maybe, a little to do with Jimmy's eagerness to get back to the production of the program. Neither of them would rest comfortably until the copyright had been filed. Harry could come out of hiding then, and all would be right with the world once more.

Riding the comfortable cloud of his successes, JD took the place beside Nina without asking, propping his arm along the seat back behind her. When she didn't object, he took over pushing duty.

“Your mother and Jackie are inside playing checkers,” he said without prompting, reassuring her that they wouldn't immediately be disturbed. Sometimes, she appeared to be a sprite on the brink of vanishing at the sound of human voices. At least he'd finally reached a stage where she didn't jump and run when he appeared.

“She must have run out of boyfriends to entertain,” Nina replied without inflection. “Or maybe she's just decided she prefers them young.”

“That's a nasty crack. You have no idea how she's lived these last years.” JD didn't know why he defended the woman. It certainly had nothing to do with his upbringing. His father had taught him how to steal and lie, not how to behave like a gentleman. But he had nothing in particular against women, and his strength had always made defending the weak easy.

Beside him, Nina practically bristled with little porcupine quills. He had some inkling of the source of her frustration and anger, but there was nothing either of them could do about it. Her mother had as much right to live here as either of them. Probably more. He didn't know why he was getting involved. Maybe now that the program was done, he just needed new challenges.

He should take up the one Jimmy had presented him concerning his uncle Harry, but he had a nasty feeling he'd be in way over his head. He couldn't trade protecting Nina and his son for chasing Harry across the country. Chances were, Harry had gone to ground just as he had. He'd sent out some inquiries to Harry's usual bolt-holes. He'd wait and see what came of them first. This wouldn't be the first time Harry got in over his head—it was a Marshall family curse.

“My mother wants to sell the farm,” Nina stated baldly. “She's here to get as much money out of the place as she can. If she had a truck, she'd probably start carting furniture off to sell to the antique stores.”

JD thought that a mighty practical idea, but he'd never learned attachment to material things. Except maybe that picture book his mother had given him a few eons ago. If Nina felt the same way about her ratty old furniture as he did about the picture book, then he could understand some of her anger.

“How did the visit with your aunt go?”

Nina stiffened even more, if that was possible. “Hattie was alert when we arrived. Helen wanted to take her home right then. I talked her out of it, but she insisted on talking to Hattie's doctor. I notice she never made the phone call.”

“It's been a little hectic. Maybe she decided you knew best.”

Nina gave an unpleasant snort but didn't reply.

JD pushed the swing and wished he could find a topic that would soften her just a little. He wanted to kiss her, but he figured with Nina in this mood, he would be lucky if she didn't take his head off. How did other men do it? How did they woo women who didn't want to be wooed? Or did everyone take the easy way out and let the women do the chasing these days? It sure was a lot healthier on a man's ego. JD had an aversion to rejection.

If he had any brains at all, he'd walk away, leave Nina alone, and spend his time with Jackie. But if he kept sitting here, empathizing with the anger boiling inside her, aching to hold her and fix her problems, he would have to make a move of some sort or he'd explode. He couldn't pretend that the chemistry between them wasn't so potent that it practically crackled like her bad wiring.

“I found a lawyer.” His voice sounded sepulchral in the thick gloom among the squawks of the katydids and the croaks of the frogs down by the water. It was almost as if he could feel himself casting fate to the winds.

JD could see little of her expression in the darkness, so he doubted if she could see his either. That was a relief. He thought terror might be the predominant emotion at the moment.

“Have you called him?” she asked.

“I have an appointment for tomorrow. Are you ready?”

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I'll never be ready. Some things I just have to do.”

JD gathered her against him at the implications of her statement. He suspected he was one of those things she would just have to do.

Wearing a hat against the baking heat of the morning sun, Nina spritzed the roses on Hattie's Hill with fungicide. The heat boiling her blood, however, had little to do with the sun and more to do with the woman behind her.

“I've asked Matt Home to file a petition giving me Hattie's power of attorney,” Helen continued her earlier conversation.

“Have you now? And did Matt mention that I've already filed the same?” Nina wished she could at least like this woman who'd given birth to her, but Helen had done everything possible to rub her the wrong way ever since she'd arrived last week. Nina suspected Helen wanted to make it impossible for her to stay in the same house, figuring possession was nine- tenths of the law. She certainly didn't know her daughter very well, if that was the case. Nina could outlast a revolution, if necessary.

“Well, then I guess the court will decide. I'm sorry if I've interrupted all your plans, Nina, but the fact remains that the land comes to me. I'm sure we can work out some arrangement.”

“I doubt it seriously.” Nina straightened and scanned the acres rolling all the way to the horizon.

Tom had brought over his bulldozer and to speed up clearing the worst part of the undergrowth down by the creek. She could see Albert Herrington out there now, making more notes and testing the soil. As far as she knew, the nonprofit papers hadn't been filed yet, and they had no money to pay the man, but he was here every day now.

Laddie Hancock's father had taken an interest one day when he'd been out with the boys, and he was over on the other side of the farm, chainsawing dead trees into firewood. Howard from the Piggly Wiggly had offered some maple saplings to line the front drive. The brilliant red and yellow of the maples would be a sight to see when they were grown.

If Helen had her way, all these people were working for nothing, merely improving the land to bring Helen a higher price. Nina wondered if she should tell everyone that, but the project had taken off like wildfire, just as she'd feared. Everywhere she turned, people told her their excited plans for the influx of tourists the garden would surely bring. Everyone wanted to help. It had brought the town together in ways that no one had experienced before. If she disappointed them now, they might never work together the same way again.

Nina would rather believe JD's fancy lawyer could haul her mother across the coals. Like all lawyers, he spoke with caution, promising to research the issue, but Nina didn't hold out much hope. Considering the tax bill, the land must still be in Hattie's and Marietta's names. Since Helen was Marietta's only living child, it seemed logical that at least half the land belonged to Helen, as she'd said. Nina didn't like believing Hattie had left the other half to Helen, too, but she supposed there was logic in that also.

Sighing, she watched Ethel drag her bulky figure up the hill in her direction. Ethel's flowered cotton dress blew around her thick legs, making the climb even more difficult. Taking pity on the elderly woman, Nina started down, leaving Helen to follow or not.

“Nina! I just had to tell you.” Ethel stopped and caught her breath, holding her hand to her ample bosom as if she could press the air into her lungs.

Nina led the way down the hill, toward the house and cooler air.

“My son said he can get a wholesale discount over in Tennessee on some of the plants you need. He'll truck them back himself if you and Mr. Herrington put together a plant list. He says it's mostly shrubs and trees, not flowers, but you'll need those, too, won't you?” Ethel asked eagerly.

They needed everything, including God's will and Lady Luck. “That's marvelous, Ethel,” she said as she led them into the relative coolness of the kitchen. JD's fan whirred efficiently overhead, drawing the heat up and out. She must admit the addition accomplished wonders.

As she poured the ubiquitous iced tea, she watched her mother settle into one of the kitchen chairs beside Ethel. Not once had Helen mentioned her plans to any of the townspeople. She merely gossiped cheerfully and led them down the yellow brick road. Nina thought it ironic that she had suspected JD of doing the same, but it was JD who was working the hardest to see her goals accomplished, while her mother undermined their every achievement like a gopher in a tulip bed.

As if Nina's thoughts had conjured him from thin air, JD appeared in the doorway. He still spent hours in front of the computer, but now he came out with his hands full of printouts with multiple sources of plants, price lists, and offers of help and encouragement from other botanical gardens across the country. The power of his computer amazed her.

Triumphantly waving a stack of papers as he entered, JD brushed a mischievous kiss across Nina's cheek. He did it to annoy her, she knew. Every person in here probably thought they were sleeping together. But she disliked scenes, and his proprietary show of affection thumbed his nose at her mother, so she didn't object aloud. Besides, it kind of made her feel warm inside, as if he really thought of her with affection.

She knew JD's
Music Man
behavior built a fantasy world she had no right to believe. But the fantasy seemed terribly real with the reassuring weight of JD's arm around her shoulders. She wanted the room to clear of all but the two of them so she could explore his kisses a little further.

She was definitely better off not examining how JD made her feel.

“A fax of the nonprofit papers,” JD announced proudly, flinging the printouts onto the table. “The lawyer is mailing the originals, but he wants us to start rounding up a board of directors. Any suggestions, ladies?”

Ethel burbled her admiration as if she'd never known anyone who could start a corporation. Maybe she hadn't. Nina picked up a few pages and scanned them. Helen merely rummaged through the refrigerator and ignored them entirely.

“This is scary, JD,” she whispered, so only he could hear. “It's getting a little too real.”

JD massaged her shoulder and threw the papers back to the table. “You know the old saying about being careful what you wish for, you just might get it. It's coming around, Nina. Are you ready?”

Yes. No. She didn't know. Her natural caution feared this whirlwind of activity but her desire for it was so strong that she couldn't combat her elation, and she grinned. “Are you jockeying for a board position?”

“I'm jockeying for a position, but the board has nothing to do with it,” he murmured insinuatingly into her ear.

“Now, now, children. We have business to conduct here. I think we should ask Mr. Herrington and Mr. Hancock to be on the board. They've offered so much help, it seems fitting.” Ethel chose that moment to turn on her church-lady officialdom and bring the meeting back to order.

Something in the combination of JD's encouraging words and Ethel's practicality gave Nina the courage to fling caution to the winds. She needed the garden plans to erase the bleakness and occupy her mind or she'd spend her days worrying over Hattie and her mother and things over which she had no control. She needed to believe that somehow, despite all obstacles, the garden of her dreams would come true.

Besides, JD's warm words and looks were wearing her down. If she had only one opportunity for the kind of fling other women engaged in, why shouldn't she grab it?

Nina no longer saw JD as the long-haired motorcycle thug or the glasses-wearing computer nerd, or any of the stereotypes she'd painted him with. She saw him as a man who wanted his son to know him, a man who carried out his promises, a man who had an oddly old- fashioned protective manner toward women.

“I think you're right, Ethel. Maybe we should bring them in and have our first directors meeting now. And how about you, Ethel? You're good at organizing.” Shaking off her personal problems, Nina dived into the more important ones. “How many directors do we need, JD?”

“The lawyer recommended at least six. People with an interest in the outcome are a good idea.” JD set down his tea. “Want me to go get them?”

Terrified, knowing every one of her plans could fall through if the land wasn't hers, Nina froze with uncertainty. “It's too soon,” she finally responded. “We should wait and see…”