The Whiskey Tide (40 page)

     
Zenaide sat up in her bed, disbelieving her ears. His tone was as calm as her father's had been when he'd corrected her for some misdeed and warned her what would happen if she repeated it. She strained to hear him moving away from the door and thought she heard a creak of the stairs.

***

     
Joe wondered what sort of set-to was likely to take place between the two women. He waited alone in the small parlor where he'd sat on the silk couch the night he plucked the old woman out of the sea. The Frenchwoman was still upstairs. He could hear the murmur of voices.

     
His guess was that Mrs. Cole wasn't the mean sort; that she and the other woman had been together too long for there to be any sort of punishment. Maybe they'd just give each other the silent treatment a few days, the way his aunties did on the rare occasions they had a tiff. He looked at the fancy clock on the table and saw ten minutes had passed. He'd give her five more.

     
"Tatia was very bad to bring you here, Portuguese man," said a voice at the door.

     
Joe turned and saw Mrs. Cole in a Chinese robe. Her hair looked hastily arranged. He stood as she entered.

     
"Joe," he said. "My name is Joe. Joseph, if you'd rather. I have two great-aunts about your age and they like it better."

     
"It's impolite to comment on a lady's age."

     
"They told me that." He smiled. "In this case it seemed pertinent."

     
She blinked, perhaps at his vocabulary, and gestured him to sit. Tatia was nowhere in evidence.

     
"You oughtn't be harsh with Tatia." He linked his hands together, choosing his words. "She cares a good deal about you. It's all that made her brave enough to go for help when she knew you'd be angry. She was scared she'd lose you."

     
The old woman didn't respond at first. When she did her voice was small.

     
"All my friends have died... and perhaps there were never many anyway."

     
"Then you need new friends. Do you go to church?"

     
Her hand fluttered vaguely. "Sometimes. It takes such an effort."

     
"To dress, same as you have to do anyway?"

     
"And the man I hired to drive my car ran off to be in the war."

     
"Hire another one. Plenty of people need work. And Kate said you read to her little brother when he was sick. There's a nursery library starting down where I live. The ladies who volunteer there read to the children, and let the older ones borrow books. I'll bet they'd be glad to have you help."

     
"Perhaps." She showed little enthusiasm. "Will you stay to tea, Mr. Santayna?"

     
Joe bit his tongue to keep from saying it was dinnertime and he should go home. "That would be nice." He wondered if Mrs. Cole veered off at angles because her mind skipped or in order to avoid subjects she didn't want to discuss.

     
She rang a bell and Tatia appeared almost immediately. The trolley she pushed groaned under the weight of a silver tea service and a platter overflowing with cakes and sandwiches. The sandwiches held extravagant fillings: smoked salmon on cream cheese, finely minced chicken salad. He wondered how Mrs. Cole was going to fare after two days without food. She patted the sofa beside her inviting Tatia to sit. They conferred briefly over whether the bread was drier than usual and should they try bread from a bakery rather than cook's.

     
"I may place an advertisement for a man to drive the car," Mrs. Cole announced to her companion. "So we can go to church."

     
Tatia nodded meekly, though Joe speculated she was less than enthusiastic.

     
"And when will you be running rum again?" the woman in the Chinese robe inquired brightly cocking her head.

     
Joe almost swallowed his tea wrong. The unreality of the whole situation, him sitting here in this fancy room with this strange old lady, tickled him and he started to chuckle.

     
"Not until July. There's too much ice left until then. And, Mrs. Cole, I'll make a deal with you. If you and Tatia won't mention our trips to anyone, next time we go I'll bring you back a bottle of anything you care to drink."

     
Pleasure lit her face.

     
"Cognac," she said promptly. "We used the last of ours a year ago. A captain has a perfect right to bring back a trophy or two from his travels, don't you think?"

Twenty-nine

     
Every eye in the place was waiting for him when he came home.

     
"Who's Mrs. Cole?" Rose demanded.

     
Her father silenced her with a look.

     
"I'd rather know who the girl was," Sebastian said grinning. "From the way they described her, I'd bet it was that skinny one came hunting you in The Lanyard that night."

     
Joe let their teasing slide off him. "If she's skinny I haven't noticed."

     
"She's not nearly as pretty as Rita," Rose said grandly.

     
"Elegant, though," Cecilia chimed in.

     
Rose sniffed. "How do you know? You didn't see her."

     
"Arliss said. Said she was ‘cultivated’ and wore nice clothes. And she had her own car. We saw you drive off."

     
"Must come from money, huh?" Drake said.

     
Irene handed Joe a plate she'd put back in the oven to keep warm for him and he sat down at the table. The rest of them were finished. Rose and Cecilia dawdled over the last of the dishes they were washing so they'd hear the grown-up conversation.

     
"Her family used to have money, I guess," he said when he'd swallowed a bite of rice mixed with onions and chicken. "Her dad died and they're pretty hard up now. She works."

     
"Doing what?" asked Arliss in fascination.

     
"Tutoring. At some girls' school." Kate had caused quite a stir. Normally his relatives kept their curiosity to themselves. "She's got a dotty old neighbor needs seeing to sometimes."

     
"You training to work in the madhouse?" Vic asked dryly.

     
"She's a nice old lady. Talks about her great-grandfather who was a sailor." The rest of them ought to like that.

     
"Girl who came sure put on airs," Drake said with a shake of the head.

     
"High society," sighed Irene. "Didn't any of us know what to say to her."

     
Joe lost patience. "Kate's never been stuck up in her life!"

     
His relatives stared, as shocked by his disagreement as by his sharpness.

***

     
In Aggie's mind, the world where she cheered Theo out of his doldrums was comfortably separate from the world where she went out with Felix. It rattled her, when she and Felix walked into the club where she'd once met his boss, to see Theo's golden head in the crowd. There was no way she could avoid him. He'd already caught sight of her.

     
"There's my cousin," she said. "I need to say hello."

     
Felix followed her gaze, displeased. "The fellow with the cane?"

     
It rubbed Aggie the wrong way hearing Theo described like that. "I'll just be a minute," she said. She was glad Felix showed no inclination to follow her. He strolled instead toward the table reserved for them. She felt vaguely guilty, though she couldn't say why.

     
Theo's smile was lopsided and his unsteadiness as he rose to greet her had more to do with liquor than with his crippled leg.

     
"Hullo, Theo," she said brightly. "Having a good time?"

     
"The food's great."

     
It was a joke. The club didn't serve food. He was smiling valiantly, but she could tell he was positively shattered to see her there with someone else. Kate's wretched warnings rang in her ears.

     
"Let's have breakfast again," she said impulsively. She didn't want to hurt her cousin. Honestly. They could be friends through thick and thin, maybe better friends now that he understood she was seeing someone.

     
"Is he the one who left you to spend the night in jail?" Theo's gaze crossed the room to rest on Felix.

     
"I told you... he works for the big cheese." Why did her explanation sound so weak when it made perfect sense? She could see her cousin was odd man out, tagging along with a couple she didn't know.

     
He smiled, forgiving her. "Breakfast happens so early. What about lunch instead? Tomorrow?"

     
"You're an angel, Theo." She blew him a kiss.

     
Felix was disturbingly quiet when she rejoined him. They didn't stay long, and when they reached his apartment they were scarcely inside before he stripped her dress off. He made love to her with such savagery that afterward Aggie lay trembling from its intensity. This was only the second time they'd been out since their disagreement and some new element colored his lovemaking. A... possessiveness. As she identified it, a victorious feeling suffused her. Felix wanted her. He really wanted her. She was more than just another girl to him.

     
His eyes were dark and moved across her flesh like fire. His hand caressed her thigh. "Spend the night."

     
Aggie gave a sigh. "I can't. You know I can't."

     
He pushed onto his elbow, half angry. "You could if you had an apartment."

     
She tried to find words that would make him understand without making her look like a Dumb Dora.

     
"My family needs me. I can't bail out on them."

     
"Yeah? Too bad you don't have anything to wear." Snatching up the dress she'd borrowed from Kitty Thorne he ripped it in two. He laughed at her expression. "Guess you'll have to stay tonight after all."

     
Too shaken for any other course of action, Aggie acquiesced. She'd think of something tomorrow, some story if Mama realized she hadn't come home. And she did want to spend the night with Felix... wake up in his arms. But the next time they made love she didn't feel anything wonderful, and she lay awake long after he was sleeping.

     
In the morning she awoke with a start. The clock on the bedside table said almost eleven. She slipped into the living room and called Theo to plead a headache and postpone lunch.

     
"What the hell are you doing?" Felix came in fastening the sash of a silk dressing gown.

     
"Canceling an appointment." She flounced off the couch. His shirt from last night covered her to the knees. It kept her from feeling naked. "You owe me a dress."