Bianca's Joy: Rose Island Book 3

by Kristin Noel Fischer

  He handed me the paper, and I unfolded it. “Abandonment Prayer,” I said, reading the title.

  He nodded, and I read the prayer aloud.

  Father, I abandon myself into your hands. Do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all. I accept all. Let only your will be done in me and in all your creatures.

  “Oh, Daniel.” I smiled at him, incredibly emotional that he’d shared this prayer with me. “This is exactly what I was praying about last night.”

  “Yeah?”

  I nodded. “Thank you for sharing it with me. It’s beautiful.”

  “You’re beautiful.” His gaze dropped to my lips.

  My heart thudded as I stared at him. He didn’t just say that, did he?

  In answer to my question, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair off my face, tucking it behind my ear. As though embarrassed by the gesture, he pulled away, dropping his hand to his lap.

  I swallowed hard, not wanting the moment to pass. “I think you’re beautiful too, Daniel. Handsome, I mean.” Heat burned my face. “Ugh. I sound like such a dork.”

  He grinned. “Well, I just so happen to have a thing for dorks.”

  “You do?”

  “I do.”

  His hand returned to my face, resting briefly on my cheek. Then, he cupped the back of my head, pulled me close, and kissed me.

  With my heart pounding, I kissed him back, swept away by all I felt for him.

  *

  After returning home from my bike ride, I couldn’t stop smiling. Singing aloud, I showered, dressed, and took a little extra time with my hair. Any minute, Daniel would arrive to work on my kitchen.

  When the doorbell buzzed, I skipped across the room like a schoolgirl, excited to see him again. “Hi,” I said, flinging open the door.

  “Hey.” Instead of Daniel, Keith stood there, a panicked expression on his face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  My brother-in-law glanced over his shoulder toward Vicki’s place, then looked back at me. “I need to come in.”

  “Of course.” I stepped aside, and he entered the apartment, immediately closing the door behind him.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “You haven’t been drinking again, have you?”

  “No.”

  Raising my brow, I gave him my you-better-not-be-lying look.

  “I haven’t, Bianca. Honest.” Cracking his knuckles, he began pacing the room. “It’s Jillian. Well, it’s this big surprise party I’m planning for her birthday.”

  “You’re planning a big surprise party for my sister’s birthday?”

  He nodded. “I’m inviting over a hundred guests.”

  “You’re kidding? When is it?”

  “Two weeks from today,” he said, sounding defeated.

  “Two weeks from today?”

  “Yeah.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “It’s two weeks from Saturday, and you didn’t bother to tell me?”

  “I’m sorry. I just wanted it to be a surprise, and you’re not exactly the best at keeping secrets.”

  “What are you talking about? I’m great at keeping secrets. I didn’t tell anyone about Claudia for eighteen years.”

  “I know, but this is different. This is something I think you wouldn’t be able to keep from Jillian.”

  Knowing he was probably right, I sighed and took a seat on the couch. “I’ll try not to let that comment hurt my feelings, but seriously, Keith. Do you hear yourself? I thought we were friends.”

  Keith sat beside me. “We are friends. That’s why I came to you. Vicki is going to lose it when she finds out what happened to the invitations.”

  “Vicki knows?”

  He nodded.

  “I can’t believe you told Vicki about the party but not me. How long has she known?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “How long has Vicki known, Keith?”

  He offered a remorseful grimace. “Since Christmas.”

  “Since Christmas? You’ve been planning a surprise party for my sister since Christmas, and you’re just now telling me? Am I even invited to this event?”

  “Of course, you’re invited, but that’s one of the problems.”

  “What’s one of the problems? Inviting me?”

  “No. Vicki thought it would be more elegant if we sent paper invitations. She spent all this time addressing the envelopes in calligraphy and sealing them with this special gold sticker she ordered online. Then, Drew lost them.”

  “Oh no.”

  Keith nodded. “Yeah. He lost all one hundred seven invitations. Vicki said they had to be mailed on the third, but I was out of town. Drew insisted he could drop them in the mailbox by his school. Apparently, he put them in his backpack for safekeeping, but then he lost the backpack.”

  “Where did he lose his backpack?”

  Keith gave me a look of exasperation. “I don’t know. Probably the same place he lost his glasses and retainer and everything else he’s lost since the beginning of time.”

  “Okay.” I realized my question was pointless. The entire island was well acquainted with Keith and Jillian’s frustration over their youngest son’s tendency to misplace his belongings. “I’m sure his backpack will show up, but because you’re running out of time, you should probably send a digital invitation.”

  “Okay. Can you help me with that?”

  “Let me get my computer.” I pushed myself off the couch and strode across the room to the entry table. As I reached for my laptop, my phone dinged with a text from Daniel, telling me he was on his way.

  Smiling, I texted back, “See you when you get here.”

  “That’s not Jillian, is it?” Keith asked, sounding half crazy.

  “No, it’s Daniel.” Using all my self-control, I tried to hide my smile. “He’s headed over to work on the remodel.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Keith turned to look at my kitchen, but because of the wall, he couldn’t see anything. “How’s that going?”

  “Good.” Unable to help myself from thinking about kissing Daniel this morning, I laughed.

  “What?” Keith asked.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. I was just remembering something that happened earlier today.”

  Keith looked at me with suspicion. When I didn’t elaborate, he asked if I was going to have Daniel knock down the wall to open up the room.

  “No.” I sat beside Keith on the couch and logged into my computer. Glancing at the time, I realized I had only twenty minutes before my first appointment. Usually, I liked opening the salon before everyone arrived, but helping my brother-in-law right now was more important.

  Plus, Jenny and the other stylists were plenty capable of taking charge until I arrived. And the longer I stayed in my apartment, the greater the possibility I had of seeing Daniel before work.

  “What’s going on with you?” Keith asked, studying me carefully.

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “You’re a million miles away.”

  “No, I’m not.” I pulled my attention back to the computer. Stop daydreaming, girl. “I’m just trying to figure out how to forgive you for telling everyone but me about the party.”

  Keith sighed. “I didn’t tell everyone, and I’m really sorry, Bianca. Will you please, please forgive me?”

  “Since you asked so nicely, yes, I’ll forgive you. Now, look at these invitations and tell me what you think.”

  I turned the screen toward him, and he pointed to the first one on the page. “That’s good.”

  “Are you sure? Does it go with the theme of your party?”

  He frowned. “The theme of my party?”

  I nodded. “What do you have planned so far?”

  “Oh, okay.” He relaxed and filled me in on the details.

  I had to hand it to him. Without any help from me, he’d managed to rent the ballroom at the Rose Museum, hire a caterer, order the cake from Vicki, find a DJ, and come up with a scheme to get Jillian to
the party.

  I stared at him, impressed. “It sounds like you have everything under control. Let me ask you this.”

  “What?” He scooted forward on the couch as if worried he’d forgotten something important.

  “Are you sure you want to go through with this party?”

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Well, I don’t know how well you know my sister, but she’s not big on surprises. She’s more of the plan-a-year-in-advance-and-execute-that-plan-to-the-exact-detail kind of girl.”

  “I know, but she needs this. Things have been stressful with the baby, and I want to do something to boost her spirits before I leave on my next overseas trip.”

  Keith worked as an independent contractor for the Army, which meant he spent several months of the year abroad. Although Jillian hadn’t said anything, I imagined she was anxious about him leaving.

  “Why don’t you take her out for a nice dinner while I watch the baby?” I suggested. “Or maybe you could give her a spa day with her sisters? Maybe—”

  Keith placed a hand on my arm. “Bianca, I know you’re only trying to help, but I want to throw my wife a surprise party for her birthday. She’s never had one, and I’m afraid if I plan a different event, she’s going to feel a need to take charge.”

  “Jillian take charge?” I asked sarcastically.

  “Be nice.”

  “Okay, but—”

  “Just help me with the invitation. If you want to come decorate on the day of the party, that would be great, too. But don’t try to talk me out of this. I’m going through with it. All I need from you is your support.”

  “Okay,” I said, a little worried. Emotions had been tense between Jillian and Keith at dinner the other night. When I’d run into Jillian at the grocery store this week, it looked like she’d been crying even though she insisted it was just allergies.

  “Everything is okay with you guys, right?” I asked, my stomach knotting.

  “Yeah.” Keith looked away. “I’m sure it’s fine. I’m just worried about her.”

  “Why?”

  He looked at me, his eyes filling with incredible pain. “Do you think she’s happy, Bianca?”

  My heart broke for him. “Of course, she’s happy. She seems really tired, but I think she’s happy. She seemed happy at movie night. Are you worried she’s depressed?”

  “I don’t know.”

  I studied him carefully. “Did something happen?”

  “No. Not really.” He leaned against the couch and placed an ankle on top of his knee. “The baby is keeping her up at night, so she’s not getting enough sleep. But around three this morning, I woke to find her gone.”

  “Gone?”

  Keith nodded. “Linda Faith was sound asleep in the bassinet beside our bed, but Jillian wasn’t there. At first, I thought she might be in the bathroom, but she wasn’t. So, I walked down the hall and . . .”

  Keith took a deep breath as wild images raced through my head. Did my sister have some kind of postpartum psychosis where she engaged in strange behavior like dancing on the roof in her nightgown or watering the fake plants?

  Was she suffering from some kind of mental illness like Daniel’s wife had? Goosebumps prickled my forearms. “Where did you find her, Keith?”

  He sighed. “In the laundry room.”

  “What was she doing?”

  Slowly, he exhaled. “She was folding towels.”

  I pressed a hand to my heart, realizing it was racing. “And . . .”

  “And that’s it. She was just folding towels. I told her she shouldn’t be doing laundry in the middle of the night, but she just got mad. We ended up having a huge fight over the stupid towels.”

  Feeling both relieved and confused, I offered Keith an encouraging smile. “If it makes you feel any better, my parents have had lots of stupid fights, and they’ve been happily married for years.”

  “I know, but I hate fighting with Jills. I love her so much, and we were apart all those years. I don’t want to spend a single second fighting with her.”

  “Well, if you don’t want to fight, you could start by remembering she can’t stand having people tell her what to do.”

  “I know, but do you think she should be doing housework in the middle of the night when the baby is sleeping? Does that seem normal to you?”

  It didn’t, and I was a little worried about my sister, too. “Have you talked to her about it?”

  “I’ve tried. I keep offering to help when I’m home, but she’s so adamant about doing everything on her own. I have no idea how she’s going to return to work, especially when I leave for my next trip.”

  “Does she need to go back to work? I mean, aren’t you guys rich?”

  Keith smiled. “Hardly. But you’re right. We could probably manage without her income. I just don’t know if staying home with the baby is something she wants to do. I don’t care either way. I just want her to be happy, you know?”

  “I know.” Something inside my chest ached with jealousy. What I wouldn’t give for a man like Keith who just wanted me to be happy.

  An image of Daniel popped into my mind. Could he ever feel that way about me? It was too soon to tell, but I hoped so. I really hoped so.

  Chapter 20

  Bianca

  Because we were so busy at the salon, I didn’t get a chance to talk to Daniel until three that afternoon when he asked if I could come upstairs and take a look at something. Optimistic, I hoped that was code for I need to see you and maybe even kiss you again.

  As it turned out, he actually wanted to show me that he’d finished painting my cabinets. Just like Joy said, they looked gorgeous with the countertops and new flooring. “It’s perfect,” I said, admiring his work.

  He beamed proudly. “You really like it?”

  “I love it. I can’t believe how different the room looks. You did such an amazing job.”

  He grinned. “I’ll install the appliances next week, then you’ll finally be rid of me.”

  I frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “No?” His gaze met mine. “Does that mean you want to keep me around by having me knock down the wall?”

  I laughed. “It’s always about knocking down walls with you guys.”

  “With us guys?”

  I nodded. “Keith was here earlier and asked if I was going to have you knock down the wall.”

  “What’d you tell him?”

  “I said no . . .”

  “You don’t sound very convincing.”

  I glanced at the freshly painted cabinets, the backsplash, the countertops, and the flooring. “Wouldn’t knocking down the wall mess up my beautiful kitchen?”

  His eyes lit with excitement. “No, I can easily cover everything with tarps.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “If I said yes, how long would it take?”

  His face broke into a huge grin. “I can do the cutout this afternoon and reframe it next week. Things are light at work, so I could probably have the whole job done by next Saturday.”

  “That soon?”

  “Yep.”

  I hesitated. “What if I don’t like it?”

  “If you don’t like it, I’ll rebuild it for you.”

  “Wouldn’t it be hard to match the paint? Wouldn’t people be able to tell there was once a hole in the wall?”

  “Maybe a little, but I could get pretty close. Of course, all this is assuming you’re not going to like how it looks, but I don’t think that will be the case.”

  I smiled. “It’s just such a big decision.”

  “It is,” he agreed. “After all, if you choose wrongly, thousands of people could lose their lives.”

  It took me a second to realize he was joking. When I made the connection, I laughed and shook my head. “I know it’s crazy to be worried about this.”

  He shrugged. “It’s your kitchen. If you want to wait, then you should wait. You’re the one who
has to live with the change, so you should do what you think is best.”

  I looked at the wall, then back at him. “Okay, let’s go for it. Let’s knock down the wall.”

  His grin was a mile wide. “Great. Let me just run out to the truck and get my sledgehammer.”

  “Your sledgehammer?” I laughed because he looked like a little kid, barely able to hide his excitement in receiving permission to knock something down with his sledgehammer.

  Smiling, he closed the gap between us and wrapped his arms around me. “You have the best laugh.”

  “I do?”

  “You do.” He kissed the top of my nose.

  “Gross.” I wiped off his kiss with my hand and broke free of his grip.

  “You don’t like that?”

  “No. Lips and noses don’t go together. Don’t ever kiss me on the nose again.” Although my voice was happy, I was completely serious. Being kissed on the nose or seeing someone kissed on the nose had always grossed me out.

  “But your little nose is so cute. It was one of the first things I noticed about you.”

  I glared at him with mock anger, and he just laughed. “Okay, lips and noses don’t go together. Got it.”

  “Good.”

  He pulled me back into his embrace, and I went willingly. “You know what does go together?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “You and me.”

  Despite the corny line, my stomach did a free fall. “You think?”

  “Yeah, I do.” Brushing back my hair, he kissed me, making me believe that we really did go together.

  *

  Three hours later, my apartment resembled a disaster zone. Dust covered the plastic tarps Daniel had thrown over the furniture, and debris littered the floor and surfaces.

  Nevertheless, the wall was down. Standing at the kitchen sink, I could see all the way to the front door.

  “What do you think?” Daniel asked.

  “I think I love it.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded. “It’s going to be so nice when I have guests over and I’m working in the kitchen. Now, I won’t feel separated from everyone. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you so much.”

  He winked at me. “You’re welcome.”

  A bolt of electricity passed between us. Had it only been this morning since our first kiss? I felt so close to him. Then again, I’d had a crush on him forever.