Love Promises (Sully Point, Book 4) (9 page)

"What?" he asked.

"I'm happy."

"Oh. That's good then."

"Yes, very."

They said nothing else for the rest of the ride.

Cody opened the door to motion them inside when
they arrived. "Hurry, hurry, it's too cold out there."

They went into the house and took off coats and
gloves. Eric was looking around a large foyer that faced a staircase. A living
room was situated to the left and the dining room was to the right, with a hall
that led behind the staircase to the back of the large house. To Maggie, it was
just Julia and Cody's house, but she could see that Eric was impressed by it.
Julia's sense of taste and elegance could be seen throughout the place.

"You've got a lovely home," Eric said.

"I have to give all the credit to Julia for
that. When we built the house we learned pretty quickly that decorating was not
really my forte. To keep the peace, we agreed that she would be the master
decorator and I would be the slave." He laughed.

They walked into the living room just as Julia
came down the stairs. "Finally!" she said, moving to sit down in a
chair by the fireplace. "That child is determined to try my last nerve
tonight. She always seems to know when we're going to have company, I swear she
does. I can't ever get her to sleep on time on those nights."

Maggie and Eric sat down on one of the couches
that faced each other.

Cody glanced at his watch and stood up.
"Excuse me, guys. Need to finish off dinner."

When Eric looked surprised, Julia smiled at him.
"I don't cook. Or let's put it this way--I'm a terrible cook. Cody, on the
other hand, is quite good at it. Learned from his father, and Frank is an
excellent chef. Cody decided to use the grill tonight, even though it's
freezing out on the deck. Steaks and sauteed mushrooms, along with his
delicious potatoes au gratin."

"Sounds yummy," Maggie said. "Eric
cooks a bit, too."

"Just a few dishes I learned from my mother
growing up. She always said I might need to impress a girl someday."

"That sounds like Maggie. Don't you only know
how to make a few things?" Julia asked, handing them both glasses of wine.

"Yeah. I never really focused on it."

"So together, you sound like you'd make one
good cook."

Maggie felt herself blushing, even as Julia smiled
at her. Eric took a sip of the wine and said, "That's really quite good.
I'm bringing the wine for Thanksgiving. I'm assuming the wine shop in town, the
one we visited yesterday, is the best place to go?"

Julia nodded. "Yes. George and Al will fix
you up. They have a wonderful selection."

Eric said, "Julia, I need to discuss
something with you. I want to provide computers to the people you guys are
helping at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought we might be able to get them
here by Christmas with some contacts I have, and with your help."

Her dark blue eyes opened wide. "Computers!
Now why on earth didn't I think of that? What a marvelous idea. We already have
a database with information about the families who need the most in town. And
I'd bet that few of them have computers--maybe some crappy computers--but not
anything useful. I think you're right, that we could get them here by
Christmas, but only if we start immediately. Can you come down to my shop first
thing in the morning? We need to get the orders in now, before
Thanksgiving."

"That's not very far away."

"Well, they can get started on the orders. We
can put together my information with your contacts, Eric, and see what we come
up with," Julia said. "It's a wonderfully generous thing you'd be
doing. And it will make a difference in people's lives."

"What will make a difference?" Cody
asked, taking off his jacket from being outside. "The steaks are resting,
so we should eat in about ten minutes."

Julia told her husband about Eric's plan to gift
computers to needy families. Cody frowned. "I don't know if that's a good
idea."

"What? Why not?" Julia asked.

Cody took a glass of wine from the tray on the
coffee table and sat down on the couch across from Eric and Maggie. "You're
not considering people's pride or the fact that having everything given to you
is not the best way to go. Look, we do have families that are low income here
in Sully Point. But they are also proud people. Don't you remember Julia, the
first year we gave away presents to the kids? It was okay to drop off a box of
food, but the toys were too much. We had to meet with each set of parents.
These are proud people."

Julia looked stricken. "I had forgotten.
But--computers, Cody. The kids in those homes deserve the same chance in life
as the other kids with more money. They need exposure to computers if they're
going to compete in this world."

"I don't disagree. But maybe giving them, for
free, is not the answer."

Eric looked thoughtful. Maggie knew that Cody had
not come easily into Julia's mountain of money. He'd been resistant as hell.
But it seemed like he'd learned how to use money, and that he had thought
through a lot of the issues around it.

"What do you recommend?" Eric asked.

"I can think of two ways to do it. They could
rent or lease the computers, for a very minimal amount each month, or each
quarter. The other option would be to offer them at highly reduced prices, with
loans for those who need them."

"Hmm. You know," Eric said. "If
they leased them, then we could provide updates and upgrades to the equipment
and software whenever needed, without any extra charge."

"I could hold some classes on the operating
basics of a computer," Julia said. "I already have a couple of
software-specific classes, but these could be targeted to those in the leasing
program. We can work that part out as we go. The main thing is to get the
machines here in Sully Point before Christmas."

"I'll meet you at your shop tomorrow
morning," Eric said. "Around nine-thirty?"

"Sounds great."

Cody clapped his hands together. "Time to
eat! Head into the dining room and I'll bring out the grub."

Maggie watched Julia and Cody during dinner, with
different eyes than she ever had before. Now that she was with Eric, she
wondered at how those two got along so well. They were very different people
from widely different backgrounds, yet they seemed to have learned how to
communicate and compromise. Maggie knew that she and Eric had differences.
She'd already sensed a theme of over-protectiveness in him that she wasn't fond
of at all. And he was different from her in that he'd known what he wanted, had
had a passion for computers and gone after that kind of work with all of his
being. Even though he was searching now for his next challenge, she knew he'd
find it.

She, on the other hand, had never felt directed to
any one thing in her life. She'd sort of fallen into the whole public relations
thing from being in the right place at the right time. But she had no passion
for it. She had a rather scattered approach to life, as opposed to his focused
outlook.

Still, she thought, love could help them discover
a path they could walk together. And they did have love, of that she was sure.
She gave him a dazzling smile across the table. He smiled back at her, in some
confusion.

The evening had gone well, she felt. Julia and
Cody seemed to like Eric, and he had not seemed uncomfortable with them. As
they were leaving, she asked Cody for the recipe to the au gratin potatoes. He
promised to email it to her. She figured if she was going to learn any more
recipes she'd start with something she really liked.

They drove back to her apartment in a comfortable
silence. Once home, she put on coffee and they sat in the living room, snuggled
together on the sofa. She was thinking about what to make for Eric for
Christmas. Suddenly she wanted to know what he was thinking about right then.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"I was thinking of people I can contact to
get the computers moving here faster. What about you?"

"I was thinking of my Christmas list. And of
you. Did you like Cody and Julia?"

"I'd met Cody earlier in the day, but if you
mean them as a couple, yes. They seem good together. That house is huge."

Maggie gave a little laugh. "There's a reason
for that. Julia says she wants lots of children. So they planned ahead when
they built the house. She was an only child, and was always lonely. She wants
her kids to have lots of siblings. Were you lonely as a child?"

"Not really, no. You see, I had computers
from a very early age. My computer was my friend. I was a totally obsessive
kid, veering into obnoxiousness about it in my teen years. My father is the one
who woke me up to the fact that my whole life couldn't be about computers, that
I needed people in my life as well. That's when I started working on my
music."

"I think my mother would have been glad for
me to obsess about anything. I went from one thing to another to another."

"Did you have a good relationship with her?
With your parents?"

"Pretty much, considering our differences.
She's a fashion designer. She's loved doing it her whole life I think. My
father was a cop. He's retired now. Sam got them a house in the Adirondacks in
New York. Mom had begun to cut down on her work when Dad retired. They wanted to
spend more time together. That's one thing about them--they truly do love each
other. All of us kids always knew that. I think they made me believe love was
possible, even though I haven't had much luck with it--until now."

She turned her face up to his and they kissed, a
slow lazy kiss, a kiss of promises of things to come. She said, "Do you
still want coffee?"

"Not really, no. I want you."

"Then you can have me. After I turn off the
coffee maker."

He chuckled and headed to the bedroom after she
got up to go to the kitchen. "I bet I can get naked before you can,"
he said, from across the room.

"No fair!" She hurried into the kitchen,
flicked off the coffee, and dashed out, pulling her sweater over her head--to
find him standing there watching her with a big smile on his face.

"I knew I'd get a good view if I said
that."

"You! You--"

But he was there in front of her in two quick
strides, gathering her into his arms, kissing her lips as if they were
life-giving. She kissed him back, feeling the desire flaring inside her.

"Maggie, Maggie, my love," he said, as
he kissed her neck.

"I love you, Eric, I love you."

And the words were a promise. A promise for the
future.

Chapter 4

The days leading up to Thanksgiving found Eric
spending most of his days with Julia as they coordinated the big computer
delivery. They were ordering not just the machines, but all kinds of software
they wanted to put on them that wouldn't be installed by the manufacturers. His
nights were spent at Maggie's apartment, in her bed, in her arms. It seemed
strange to him that the more he was with her, the more he wanted her. It wasn't
a passion that flared and then would die. It was growing and blossoming between
them.

He wanted to do something big for her for
Christmas, so he was following up on an idea he'd had about her arts and
crafts. He'd decided to get her a building or space for a shop where she could
sell her crafts, sell supplies to others, offer classes, whatever interested
her. He knew already that she had trouble with focusing on just one thing. This
way, she could follow her interests wherever they took her, and have fun.

The day before Thanksgiving found him at
Lucretia's shop in the afternoon, looking at jewelry. He was looking at
bracelets in a case when Lucretia came into the shop from the back.

"Hello! I didn't hear the bell on the door.
It's...Eric, right?"

"That's right," he said with a smile.
"I need to talk to you about designing something for Christmas for--"

"Maggie."

"Yes."

"I can't do it."

"What? Why not?"

"Time! I have orders stacked up between now
and Christmas. I would have needed to see you a month ago to have something
done in time. I'm sorry."

Eric let his shoulders slump. He'd really been
counting on this gift.

"What kind of piece were you thinking of
anyway? Maybe I know of somewhere else you could try."

"I wanted something original, unique to her.
My thought was earrings, diamonds and amethysts, to match her eyes. You know
how her eyes seem to dance, and are so lit up."

Lucretia smiled at him. "Er, yes, I've
noticed that myself. Earrings. Why is that resonating in my mind--hold on--I
wonder if I--I'll be right back."

She turned and quickly went through the door to
the back of the shop. Eric continued to look at necklaces, rings, earrings and
more, but nothing appealed to him.

"Aha!" came Lucretia's voice from the
back. She walked in with a big smile. "I found them. About a year ago, I
had a design come into my head that wouldn't go away. Sometimes art is like
that. Finally, I created these earrings, based on that design, and I did it in
diamonds and amethysts in sterling silver. See what you think of these."

She held out her hand, and on her palm rested
earrings that caught the light and flashed it back at him. The amethysts were
suspended in a web of diamonds, two purple stones to each earring. Eric didn't
know much about jewelry, but he thought these looked unusual--and just the kind
of thing that Maggie might find interesting. They weren't too big for her face
either. He could picture her wearing them.

"I'll take them. They're perfect."

"Good! I never know when I get the urge to
design something whether anyone will ever want it, but eventually someone
always does."

She quoted him a price that made him blanch until
he remembered he was rich. He handed over his credit card while she found a
small velvet-covered box to hold the earrings. He was surprised at how relieved
he felt, and realized that loving someone made everything more significant if
it had to do with them.