In the Garden Trilogy (45 page)

“Nothing much springs after having a baby. But you’re young and active. You’ll get your body back.”

“I hope.” She reached for her favorite silver hoops while Stella nuzzled Lily. “Stella, I’m going to tell you something, because you’re my best friend and I love you.”

“Oh, sweetie.”

“Well, it’s true. Last week, when Logan came by to bring Lily her doll, and you and the boys came outside? Before I went in and he popped the big Q? You know what the four of you looked like?”

“No.”

“A family. And I think whatever your head’s running around with, in your heart you know that. And that that’s the way it’s going to be.”

“You’re awfully young to be such a know-it-all.”

“It’s not the years, it’s the miles.” Hayley tossed a cloth over her shoulder. “Come here, baby girl. Mama’s going to show you off to the dinner guests before you go to sleep. You ready?” she asked Stella.

“I guess we’ll find out.”

They started toward the stairs, with Stella gathering her boys on the way, and met Roz on the landing.

“Well, don’t we all look fine.”

“We had to wear new shirts,” Luke complained.

“And you look so handsome in them. I wonder if I can be greedy and steal both these well-dressed young men as my escorts.” She held out both her hands for theirs. “It’s going to storm,” she said with a glance out the window. “And look here, I believe that must be our Dr. Carnegie, and right on time. What in the world is that man driving? It looks like a rusty red box on wheels.”

“I think it’s a Volvo.” Hayley moved in to spy over Roz’s shoulder. “A really old Volvo. They’re like one of the safest cars, and so dopey-looking, they’re cool. Oh, my, look at that!” Her eyebrows lifted when Mitch got out of the car. “Serious hottie alert.”

“Good God, Hayley, he’s old enough to be your daddy.”

Hayley just smiled at Roz. “Hot’s hot. And he’s hot.”

“Maybe he needs a drink of water,” Luke suggested.

“And we’ll get one for Hayley, too.” Amused, Roz walked down to greet her first guest.

He brought a good white wine as a hostess gift, which she approved of, but he opted for mineral water when she offered him a drink. She supposed a man who drove a car manufactured about the same time he’d been born needed to keep his wits about him. He made appropriate noises over the baby, shook hands soberly with the boys.

She gave him points for tact when he settled into small talk rather than asking more about the reason she wanted to hire him.

By the time Logan arrived, they were comfortable enough.

“I don’t think we’ll wait for Harper.” Roz got to her feet. “My son is chronically late, and often missing in action.”

“I’ve got one of my own,” Mitch said. “I know how it goes.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had children.”

“Just the one. Josh is twenty. He goes to college here. You really do have a beautiful home, Ms. Harper.”

“Roz, and thank you. It’s one of my great loves. And here,” she added as Harper dashed in from the kitchen, “is another.”

“Late. Sorry. Almost forgot. Hey, Logan, Stella. Hi, guys.” He kissed his mother, then looked at Hayley. “Hi. Where’s Lily?”

“Sleeping.”

“Dr. Carnegie, my tardy son, Harper.”

“Sorry. I hope I didn’t hold you up.”

“Not at all,” Mitch said as they shook hands. “Happy to meet you.”

“Why don’t we sit down? It looks like David’s outdone himself.”

An arrangement of summer flowers in a long, low bowl centered the table. Candles burned, slim white tapers in gleaming silver, on the sideboard. David had used her white-on-white china with pale yellow and green linens for casual elegance. A cool and artful lobster salad was already arranged on each plate. David sailed in with wine.

“Who can I interest in this very nice Pinot Grigio?”

The doctor, Roz noted, stuck with mineral water.

“You know,” Harper began as they enjoyed the main course of stuffed pork, “you look awfully familiar.” He narrowed his eyes on Mitch’s face. “I’ve been trying to figure it out. You didn’t teach at the U of M while I was there, did you?”

“I might have, but I don’t recall you being in any of my classes.”

“No. I don’t think that’s it anyway. Maybe I went to one of your lectures or something. Wait. Wait. I’ve got it. Josh Carnegie. Power forward for the Memphis Tigers.”

“My son.”

“Strong resemblance. Man, he’s a killer. I was at the game last spring, against South Carolina, when he scored thirty-eight points. He’s got moves.”

Mitch smiled, rubbed a thumb over the fading bruise on his jaw. “Tell me.”

Conversation turned to basketball, boisterously, and gave Logan the opportunity to lean toward Stella. “Your daddy says he’s looking forward to seeing you and the boys on Sunday. I’ll drive you in, as I’ve got an invitation to Sunday dinner, too.”

“Is that so?”

“He likes me.” He picked up her free hand, brushed his lips over his fingers. “We’re bonding over oleanders.”

She didn’t try to stop the smile. “You hit him where it counts.”

“You, the kids, his garden. Yeah, I’d say I got it covered. You write that list for me yet, Red?”

“Apparently you’re doing fine crossing things off without consulting me.”

His grin flashed. “Jolene thinks we should go traditional and have a June wedding.”

When Stella’s mouth dropped open, he turned away to talk to her kids about the latest issues of Marvel Comics.

Over dessert, a rustling, then a long, shrill cry sounded from the baby monitor standing on the buffet. Hayley popped up as if she were on springs. “That’s my cue. I’ll be back down after she’s fed and settled again.”

“Speaking of cues.” Stella rose as well. “Time for bed, guys. School night,” she added even before the protests could be voiced.

“Going to bed before it’s dark is a gyp,” Gavin complained.

“I know. Life is full of them. What comes next?”

Gavin heaved a sigh. “Thanks for dinner, it was really good, and now we have to go to bed because of stupid school.”

“Close enough,” Stella decided.

“ ’Night. I liked the finger potatoes ’specially,” Luke said to David.

“Want a hand?” Logan called out.

“No.” But she stopped at the doorway, turned back and just looked at him a moment. “But thanks.”

She herded them up, beginning the nightly ritual as thunder rumbled in. And Parker scooted under Luke’s bed to hide from it. Rain splatted, fat juicy drops, against the windows as she tucked them in.

“Parker’s a scaredy-cat.” Luke snuggled his head in the pillow. “Can he sleep up here tonight?”

“All right, just for tonight, so he isn’t afraid.” She lured him out from under the bed, and stroking him as he trembled, laid him in with Luke. “Is that better now?”

“Uh-huh. Mom?” He broke off, petting the dog, and exchanging a long look with his brother.

“What? What are you two cooking up?”

“You ask her,” Luke hissed.

“Nuh-uh. You.”

“You.”

“Ask me what? If you’ve spent all your allowances and work money on comics, I—”

“Are you going to marry Logan?” Gavin blurted out.

“Am I—where did you get an idea like that?”

“We heard Roz and Hayley talking about how he asked you to.” Luke yawned, blinked sleepily at her. “So are you?”

She sat on the side of Gavin’s bed. “I’ve been thinking about it. But I wouldn’t decide something that important without talking to both of you. It’s a lot to think about, for all of us, a lot to discuss.”

“He’s nice, and he plays with us, so it’s okay if you do.”

Stella let out a laugh at Luke’s rundown. All right, she thought, maybe not such a lot to discuss from certain points of view.

“Marriage is a very big deal. It’s a really big promise.”

“Would we go live in his house?” Luke wondered.

“Yes, I suppose we would if ...”

“We like it there. And I like when he holds me upside down. And he got the splinter out of my finger, and it hardly hurt at all. He even kissed it after, just like he’s supposed to.”

“Did he?” she murmured.

“He’d be our stepdad.” Gavin drew lazy circles with his finger on top of his sheet. “Like we have Nana Jo for a stepgrandmother. She loves us.”

“She certainly does.”

“So we decided it’d be okay to have a stepdad, if it’s Logan.”

“I can see you’ve given this a lot of thought,” Stella managed. “And I’m going to think about it, too. Maybe we’ll talk about it more tomorrow.” She kissed Gavin’s cheek.

“Logan said Dad’s always watching out for us.”

Tears burned the back of her eyes. “Yes. Oh, yes, he is, baby.”

She hugged him, hard, then turned to hug Luke. “Good night. I’ll be right downstairs.”

But she walked through to her room first to catch her breath, compose herself. Treasures, she thought. She had the most precious treasures. She pressed her fingers to her eyes and thought of Kevin. A treasure she’d lost.

A man who would know that, would accept that and say those words to a young boy was another kind of treasure.

He’d changed the pattern on her. He’d planted a bold blue dahlia in the middle of her quiet garden. And she wasn’t digging it out.

“I’m going to marry him,” she heard herself say, and laughed at the thrill of it.

Through the next boom of thunder, she heard the singing. Instinctively, she stepped into the bath, to look into her sons’ room. She was there, ghostly in billowing white, her hair a tangle of dull gold. She stood between the beds, her voice calm and sweet, her eyes insane as she stared through the flash of lightning at Stella.

Fear trickled down Stella’s back. She stepped forward, and was shoved back by a blast of cold.

“No.” She raced forward again, and hit a solid wall. “No!” She battered at it. “You won’t keep me from my babies.” She flung herself against the frigid shield, screaming for her children who slept on, undisturbed.

“You bitch! Don’t you touch them.”

She ran out of the room, ignoring Hayley, who raced down toward her, ignoring the clatter of feet on the stairs. She knew only one thing. She had to get to her children, she had to get through the barrier and get to her boys.

At a full run she hit the open doorway, and was knocked back against the far wall.

“What the hell’s going on?” Logan grabbed her, pushing her aside as he rushed the room himself.

“She won’t let me in.” Desperate, Stella beat her fists against the cold until her hands were raw and numb. “She’s got my babies. Help me.”

Logan rammed his shoulder against the opening. “It’s like fucking steel.” Rammed it again as Harper and David hit it with him.

Behind them, Mitch stared into the room, at the figure in white, who glowed now with a wild light. “Name of God.”

“There has to be another way. The other door.” Roz grabbed Mitch’s arm and pulled him down the hall.

“This ever happen before?”

“No. Dear God. Hayley, keep the baby away.”

Frantic, her hands throbbing from pounding, Stella ran. Another way, she thought. Force wouldn’t work. She could beat against that invisible ice, rage and threaten, but it wouldn’t crack.

Oh, please, God, her babies.

Reason. She would try reason and begging and promises. She dashed out into the rain, yanked open the terrace doors. And though she knew better, hurled herself at the opening.

“You can’t have them!” she shouted over the storm. “They’re mine. Those are my children. My life.” She went down on her knees, ill with fear. She could see her boys sleeping still, and the hard, white light pulsing from the woman between them.

She thought of the dream. She thought of what she and her boys had talked about shortly before the singing. “It’s not your business what I do.” She struggled to keep her voice firm. “Those are my children, and I’ll do what’s best for them. You’re not their mother.”

The light seemed to waver, and when the figure turned, there was as much sorrow as madness in her eyes. “They’re not yours. They need me. They need their mother. Flesh and blood.”

She held up her hands, scraped and bruised from the beating. “You want me to bleed for them? I will. I am.” On her knees, she pressed her palms to the cold while the rain sluiced over her.

“They belong to me, and there’s nothing I won’t do to keep them safe, to keep them happy. I’m sorry for what happened to you. Whatever it was, whoever you lost, I’m sorry. But you can’t have what’s mine. You can’t take my children from me. You can’t take me from my children.”

Stella pushed her hand out, and it slid through as if slipping through ice water. Without hesitation, she shoved into the room.

She could see beyond her, Logan still fighting to get through, Stella pressed against the other doorway. She couldn’t hear them, but she could see the anguish on Logan’s face, and that his hands were bleeding.

“He loves them. He might not have known until tonight, but he loves them. He’ll protect them. He’ll be a father to them, one they deserve. This is my choice, our choice. Don’t ever try to keep me from my children again.”

There were tears now as the figure flowed across the room toward the terrace doors. Stella laid a trembling hand on Gavin’s head, on Luke’s. Safe, she thought as her knees began to shake. Safe and warm.

“I’ll help you,” she stated firmly, meeting the grieving eyes again. “We all will. If you want our help, give us something. Your name, at least. Tell me your name.”

The Bride began to fade, but she lifted a hand to the glass of the door. There, written in rain that dripped like tears, was a single word.

Amelia

When Logan burst through the door behind her, Stella spun toward him, laid a hand quickly on his lips. “Ssh. You’ll wake them.”