Gold Hill (51 page)

“
Good idea. Make Delphie a
cup of tea and tell her what Celia used to. You can tell her I sent
you.”

“
You’re sure you’re okay
here by yourself?” Tanesha asked.

“
I’ve never been happier
in my entire life,” Yvonne said. “Go on and then promise you’ll
rest?”

“
I promise,” Tanesha said.
“I’m supposed to go hang out with Jill while they set
up.”

“
JACOB MARLOWE!” Delphie’s
voice echoed off the walls. “GET DOWN HERE.”

“
I’d
better . . . ” Tanesha said.

Yvonne waved her on her
way. Tanesha gave her mother one last smile and left through the
sliding door. From where she stood, she heard Tanesha’s voice as
she tried to talk to Delphie.

“
What?” Delphie’s voice
was irritated. “But . . . ?”

There was a low man’s
voice, probably Sam’s, Yvonne smiled. She heard Delphie protest
again. Yvonne realized she should have taken care of this
herself.

“
Poor Tanni,” Yvonne said
out loud. “I always expect her to do so much.”

Shaking her head, she
pressed open the sliding door and ran right
into . . . Yvonne screamed and tried to slide the
door back.

“
Wait!” Ava held the door.
“I . . . ”

Delphie, Tanesha, and Sam
ran to them.

“
It’s the spider!” Yvonne
screamed in horror and fainted.

“
Oh no,” Ava began to cry.
“She . . . ”

“
Now, now, dear,” Delphie
hugged Ava. “It’s not you.”

“
She has a brain injury,”
Tanesha said. “It makes her super jumpy and anxious. She takes
medication at night for it, but she’s missed a couple of doses this
week.”

Tanesha kneeled and helped
her mother up. Yvonne shivered with fear and cried into Tanesha’s
shoulder.

“
Mom,” Tanesha said.
“Mom!”

Yvonne moved away from
Tanesha.

“
This is Amelie,” Tanesha
said. “You know, Seth’s fiancé?”

“
Not the spider?” Yvonne
whispered.

“
No,” Tanesha said.
“Remember he’s in jail.”

“
Spider’s in jail,” Yvonne
whispered. “I didn’t remember.”

Her eyes flicked to
Tanesha.

“
You’re sure?” Yvonne
asked.

“
I’d never lie to you,”
Tanesha said.

Delphie put her hand on
Yvonne’s shoulder. Yvonne turned and the women hugged.

“
I don’t have
to . . . ” Ava’s voice cracked.

Hearing Ava’s voice, Yvonne
turned to look at what had frightened her. The girl was no more
than twenty-five. Her hair was short and the same color as the
spider’s hair. Yvonne could see the spider’s face in the hills and
recesses of the girl’s face. But the girl in front of her had none
of the spider’s gloom and darkness. Her eyes were caring and warm.
Yvonne reached out to hold Ava’s hands.

“
I’m so sorry,” Yvonne
said. “It’s a big day and I’m . . . I’d say I’m not
myself, but I’m kind of like this.”

Yvonne gave Ava a bright
smile. Ava seemed to stand a little taller in the light of Yvonne’s
smile.

“
You can ask my daughter,”
Yvonne said. “She’ll tell you.”

Yvonne looked at Delphie
and Sam. She gave Tanesha a nod and then turned back to
Ava.

“
I know Claire has a few
dresses here for you to try,” Yvonne winked at Delphie. “Let’s go
find what you like. You can help me bring Tanni’s dress up to
Jill’s later.”

Yvonne put an arm around
Ava’s shoulder and guided her into the room. She slid the door
closed behind them.

“
You’re right,” Delphie
said. “I need to pull myself together.”

“
That’s a very good idea,”
Sam said. “I’ll go lay out the rug in the chapel, like you asked.
I’ll also get Val to work on the candles. Tanesha, will you help
Delphie with some tea?”

He glanced at Tanesha and
she nodded. Sam kissed Delphie and went to do what she’d asked.
Tanesha took Delphie’s arm and they went into the kitchen to make
some tea.

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon — 7:25
p.m.

“
Why aren’t you dressed?”
Aden asked Nash from the doorway.

Nash was lying back on his
bed in an old, more-dirty-than-not T-shirt and shorts. His hair was
filthy as were his feet. He was reading a thick paperback copy of
the Three Musketeers. Sandy’s cat Cleo was curled up near his
pillow. He looked up when he heard his father’s voice, scowled, and
went back to reading.

“
Watch out,” Noelle said
as she walked by in the hall. “He’ll bite your head
off.”

“
Nash,” Aden came into the
room. “What are you doing?”

“
Reading,” Nash
said.

“
Why aren’t you getting
ready?” Aden asked. “You know there’s a big dinner
in . . . ”

Aden looked at his watch
and groaned.

“
Twenty minutes,” Aden sat
down on Nash’s bed. His son reeked of dirt, body odor, and rampant
hormones.

“
I wasn’t invited,” Nash
said without looking up from his book.

“
You were too,” Aden said.
“You’re on the
must be there
list.”

“
I uninvited myself,” Nash
didn’t look up.

Aden hooked the book with a
finger and pulled it from him. They did a little tug of war until
Aden got the book from Nash. He set it down open to the page Nash
had been reading.

“
You’re going to break the
binding,” Nash said.

“
It’s my book,” Aden
said.

“
But . . . ”

“
What’s going on, Nash?”
Aden asked. “You’ve been pissed off ever since you heard about this
event. Delphie’s asked you twice to help her and you
haven’t.”

“
She been crazy,” Nash
said.

“
Crazy or no, you always
help Delphie,” Aden said.

Nash scowled and looked
away.

“
What is all of this?”
Aden asked.

“
Charlie acts like this
all the time,” Nash said. “I can’t just be in a bad mood and I get
the twelfth degree.”

“
How does his bad attitude
work out for him?” Aden asked.

Nash scowled.

“
Well?”

“
You grab him by the neck
and make him do what he’s grumbling about,” Nash said.

“
Why does Charlie act like
that sometimes?”

“
He’s testing your
authority and your love for him,” Nash said. “That’s what Sandy
says.”

“
Are you testing my
authority?” Aden asked.

“
No.”

“
Are you feeling insecure
about my love for you?”

“
No.”

“
So . . . ?”

“
I don’t belong at a love
thing,” Nash said.

“
Everyone loves you,” Aden
said. “Everyone who’s ever met you loves you. What’s this
about?”

“
Yeah but who have I ever
loved?” Nash asked. “I mean Charlie has Addy or whoever. Noelle and
Teddy, sure. Sissy loves ballet. You and Sandy and everybody in
this house. Everybody loves somebody but me.”

“
Melinda?”

“
Sure, I like her,” Nash
said. “And she’s fun to hang out with and stuff, but love her? I
don’t know Dad. I just don’t know.”

Nash looked so sad that
Aden couldn’t help but hug him. He regretted his decision the
instant Nash got close.

“
Yeah, I stink too,” Nash
said.

Aden laughed and Nash gave
him a sly smile. Feeling he had made his point, Nash leaned back
onto his bed and reached for his book.

“
Nash.”

Nash groaned.

“
I’ve never met a more
loving person,” Aden said.

“
You should get out more,”
Nash said.

“
No, listen to me,” Aden
said. “We wouldn’t be sitting here if you hadn’t encouraged me to
ask Sandy out. Teddy would have never lived with us if you hadn’t
reached out to him when he was in trouble. Charlie either. You’re
the one who said that Sissy should live with us and convinced
Noelle to share her room with her. You even made the schedule for
everyone to help with the Kangarooing of Rachel when Sandy was
sick. You set it up so that everyone got email and text reminders
and . . . You’re the very loving center of our
family.”

Nash scowled.

“
I know that it’s tough,”
Aden said. “You’ve gone from your own room, your own house, your
own Dad, to all of this . . . ”

They heard someone laughing
upstairs in Jill and Jacob’s loft.

“
It’s noisy and crowded,”
Aden said. “And I’m distracted by Sandy and Rachel and everything
else.”

“
I really like it here,”
Nash said. “Everyone is so happy. And even when they’re not, they
work it out with each other.”

Aden smiled at
Nash.

“
Why did you smile?” Nash
asked.

“
Because that’s a very
loving thing to say,” Aden said. “The ceremony isn’t about just
romantic love. It’s about all kinds of love – love for your family,
brothers and sisters, love for the
world . . . ”

Cleo got up from her spot
at Nash’s head and delicately walked toward Aden.

“
Cats, dogs,” Aden said.
“Can you honestly say you don’t love Cleo? Or Buster?”

“
He’s very ugly,” Nash
smiled.

“
So you don’t love him?”
Aden asked. “You take him out at night, go for runs with him, and
he waits at the top of the stairs for you
and only you
to get home from
school.”

Nash shrugged.

“
Sounds like love to me,”
Aden said.

Nash shook his
head.

“
Will I
ever . . . ?”

“
I was almost forty Nash,”
Aden said. “I think we’re late bloomers.”

“
Or patient,” Noelle said
from the doorway. “We wait until we find what we really want.
That’s what Dad did.”

Nash nodded.

“
Love you, Nash,” Aden
said. “But please . . . ”

“
Yeah?”

“
Shower,” Aden said. “Oh
my God, you smell.”

Nash hopped up and went to
the doorway of the bathroom he shared with Noelle and
Sissy.

“
Dad?”

“
Yes?”

“
Thanks
for . . . seeing me . . . for
me.”

Aden smiled.

“
I can’t believe you guys
aren’t dressed!” Sandy said as she came down the hallway. “I’m
dressed and I baked and helped Candy frost the wedding cake this
afternoon!”

Charlie hopped up from his
bed. Sissy scrambled toward the bathroom.

“
Stop!” Aden
said.

Everyone turned to look at
him.

“
Nash is a biohazard,”
Aden laughed. “He showers first.”

They laughed and Nash
closed the door to the bathroom.

“
Sissy, use my shower,”
Sandy said. “Go now or you’ll miss everything.”

“
I’m all ready,” Noelle
said.

“
You’re a lovely girl,”
Sandy said. “Can you trot downstairs and see if Mrs. Honey needs
any help. She wants to thank you for the tree.”

Noelle stood up a little
straighter and skipped out of the apartment.

“
Charlie?” Aden
asked.

“
What?”

“
It’s time to learn how to
wear a tie,” Aden said. “Come on, we’ll practice while we
wait.”

Sandy smiled at him, picked
up Rachel from her bassinette and went to the couch to
breastfeed.

Nash was stepping into the
shower when he finally got what his Dad meant.

This was his life. It was
pretty great.

And he was right in the
middle of everything. He smiled to himself and turned on the
water.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Nineteen
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in
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Friday afternoon — 8:05
p.m.

“
I really like that one,”
Ava said.

“
I thought you might,”
Claire said.

“
How did you know?” Ava
shook her head.

“
My husband met you when
you had all that fuss with that horrible serial killer and Seth was
ill,” Claire smiled. “He told me all about you. I saw your photo in
the paper when you received the award from the FBI. It was pretty
easy from there. May I?”

Claire reached for the
dress Ava was lovingly holding. Ava had taken off the dress, but
hadn’t quite been able to let go of it. Ava pulled the dress back a
tiny bit before she realized what she was doing. Yvonne laughed.
She put her hand on Ava’s shoulder.