by Nora Roberts
“I’m not buried. And Saint Christopher isn’t the end of the earth. If I wanted whatever the city had to offer, I could be there in an hour’s drive.”
“I’m not speaking geographically, Dru, but culturally, socially. This area’s very picturesque, but you’ve cut yourself off from your life, your family, your friends. My goodness, darling, when’s the last time you had a date with an eligible man?”
“Actually, I had one just last night.”
“Really?” Katherine arched her brow much as Dru herself was prone to do. “What did you do?”
She didn’t bother to bite her tongue. “We had pizza, and sex.”
Katherine’s mouth opened into a shocked O. “Well, my God, Drusilla.”
“But that’s hardly the issue. I wasn’t satisfied with my life, so I changed it. Now I am satisfied. I wish you could be happy for me.”
“This is all Jonah’s fault. I could just strangle him.”
“No, he’s only one minor pebble in the bowl. I don’t want to go over and over this again with you, Mom. I’m sorry we don’t understand each other.”
“I only want the best for you. You’re my whole life.”
Dru’s head began to throb. “I don’t want to be your whole life. I shouldn’t be your whole life. Dad—”
“Well, of course, your father. God knows why I put up with the man half the time. But we do have twenty-eight years invested in each other.”
“Is that what your marriage is? An investment?”
“How in the world did we get off on such a topic? This isn’t at all why I came down.”
“Do you love him?” Dru demanded, and watched her mother blink.
“Of course I do. What a question. And however we disagree, we both have one perfect point of agreement. You are the most precious thing in our lives. Now.” She leaned over, kissed Dru on both cheeks. “I have a wonderful surprise for you.” She gripped Dru’s hand. “We’ll run over to your little house right now so you can get your passport, pack a few essentials. No need for much, we’ll take care of the wardrobe when we get there.”
“Get where?”
“Paris. It’s all arranged. I had this wonderful brainstorm after we talked this morning. I called your father, and he’ll be joining us in a day or so. The plane’s waiting for us at the airport. We’ll spend some time in Aunt Michelle’s flat in Paris, shop—oh, and we’ll throw a little dinner party. Then we’ll drive south and spend a week at the villa. Get out of the heat and crowds.”
“Mom—”
“Then I think you and I should run off and have a nice girls’ weekend. We never spend any real time together anymore. There’s this marvelous spa not far from—”
“Mom. I can’t go with you.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. It’s all set. You don’t have to worry about a single detail.”
“I can’t go. I have a business to run.”
“Really, Dru. Surely you can close down for a few weeks, or ask someone to take care of it. You can’t let this hobby of yours deprive you of every bit of fun.”
“It’s not a hobby. It deprives me of nothing. And I can’t blithely close down so I can trot around France.”
“Won’t.”
“All right, won’t.”
Tears sprang into Katherine’s eyes. “Don’t you see how much I need to do this for you? You’re my baby, my sweet baby. I worry myself sick thinking about you down here alone.”
“I’m not alone. I’m almost twenty-seven years old. I need to make my life. You and Dad need to make yours. Please don’t cry.”
“I don’t know what I’ve done wrong.” Katherine opened her purse, pulled out a tissue. “Why you won’t take a little bit of your time to be with me. I feel so abandoned.”
“I haven’t abandoned you. Please—” When the bells jingled, Dru looked over. “Seth,” she said with desperate relief.
“I thought I’d come by before you . . .” He trailed off when he saw the woman sniffling into a tissue. “Sorry. Ah . . . I’ll come back.”
“No. No.” She had to force herself not to leap in front of the door to block his path of retreat. She knew nothing would dry her mother up as quickly as social introductions. “I’m glad you stopped in. I’d like you to meet my mother. Katherine Whitcomb Banks, Seth Quinn.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“And you.” Katherine gave him a watery smile as she offered a hand. “You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve been missing my daughter, and it’s made me overly emotional.” Now as she dabbed at her eyes, they began to sharpen. “Seth Quinn. The artist?”
“Yes,” Dru confirmed, brightly now. “We’ve admired Seth’s work, haven’t we, Mom?”
“Very much. Very much. My brother and his wife were in Rome last year and fell in love with your painting of the Spanish Steps. I was very envious of their find. And you grew up here, didn’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am. My family’s here.”
“It’s so important to remember family,” Katherine said with a sorrowful look at Dru. “How long will you be in the area?”
“I live here.”
“Oh, but I thought you lived in Europe.”
“I was staying in Europe for a while. I live here. This is home.”
“I see. Will you be having a showing in D.C., or Baltimore?”
“Eventually.”
“You must be sure to let me know when. I’d love to see more of your work. I’d be delighted to have you to dinner when it’s convenient for you. Do you have a card, so I can send you an invitation?”
“A card?” He grinned, quick and bright. He couldn’t help it. “No, sorry. But you can let Dru know. She knows how to get ahold of me.”
“I see.” And now she was beginning to. “We’ll do it very soon.”
“Mom’s leaving for Paris,” Dru said quickly. “When you get back,” she told her mother, and nudged her toward the door, “we’ll see about getting together.”
“Bon voyage.” Seth lifted a hand in farewell.
“Thank you, but I’m not sure I’ll be—”
“Mom. Go to Paris.” Dru gave her a firm kiss on the cheek. “Enjoy yourself. Have a wonderful, romantic holiday with Dad. Buy out Chanel. Send me a postcard.”
“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. It was lovely to meet you, Seth. I hope to see you again, very soon.”
“That’d be great. Have a good trip.”
He waited, tapping his fingers on his thighs as Dru walked her mother out. More like goose-stepped her out, he corrected. He saw, through the window, her loading Katherine into a cream-colored Mercedes sedan, with uniformed driver.
It reminded him of a small point he’d forgotten. Dru’s family was loaded. Easy enough to forget it, he mused. She didn’t live rich. She lived normal.
When she came back in, she locked the door, then leaned back against it. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For using you to wheedle out of a very uncomfortable situation.”
“What are friends for?” He moved to her, tapped her chin with his finger. “Do you want to tell me why she was crying and you looked so miserable?”
“She wanted me to go to Paris. Just like that,” Dru added, lifting her hands, then letting them drop. “She’d made all the arrangements without asking me, then drove down here expecting me to leap with joy, rush out and pack a bag and go.”
“I guess some people would have.”
“Some people don’t have a business to run,” she snapped. “Some people haven’t already been to Paris more times then they can count anyway. And some people don’t like to have their lives neatly arranged for them as if they were still eight years old.”
“Sugar.” Because he could feel her vibrating with anger and frustration, he rubbed his hands down her arms. “I didn’t say you
should have, but that some people would have. Got you wound up, didn’t she?”
“She nearly always does. And I know she doesn’t actually mean to. She really thinks she’s doing it for me. They both do, and that makes it worse. She makes assumptions she shouldn’t make, makes decisions for me she no longer has the right to make, then I hurt her feelings when I don’t go along.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I got reamed by Cam this morning because I haven’t been around and forgot to do some stuff I said I’d do.”
Dru angled her head. “Did he cry?”
“He might’ve gotten a little misty. Okay, no,” he said, relieved when her mouth curved. “But we were on the verge of punching each other when Phil broke it up.”
“Well, I can hardly hit my mother. Did you work it out with your brother?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. I need to go by and grovel to Anna for a while, but I thought I’d drop off the boat design.” He nodded toward the large folder he’d set on the counter.
“Oh.” She pressed her fingers to her temples. “Can I look at it later? I need to close up or I’ll be late for my class.”
“Yoga. Oh yeah. You shouldn’t miss that. We still on for tonight?”
“Do you want to be on for tonight?”
“I’ve been thinking about you all day. About being with you.”
It warmed her. “I suppose I might have given you a passing thought. Though I’ve been pretty busy in here today.”
“So I hear. Will came by the boatyard and nearly gave Aub a heart attack with that forest of roses.”
“Did she like them?”
“She got gooey—and it’s not easy to make Aubrey gooey. Will, on the other hand, looked dead on his feet. I figure he’s got to be seriously stuck on her to come by here, buy flowers, give them to her when he looked like he hadn’t slept for a week.”
“I liked him, and his brother. You’re lucky to have friends that go back to childhood.”
“Don’t you?”
“Not really. In any case,” she went on to avoid the subject, “I had yet another odd visit just before he came in. Some woman,” she continued as she cashed out, locked up her cash from the day. “She claimed to know my mother, but once she started talking, I knew she didn’t. Not only from what she said, but how she looked. That sounds like snobbery, but it’s just logic.”
“How did she look?”
“Hard, cheap and not like anyone who’s ever worked on a charity committee with my mother. She was pumping me, feeling me out.” Dru shrugged. “Not that unusual when you come from an influential family.”
There was ice in the pit of his stomach. “What did she say? What did she do?”
“Nothing much. I think she was laying groundwork for something, but then Will came in. She bought some carnations and left. Funny, he said he thought he recognized her from somewhere.”
And now a sickness coated his throat. “She tell you her name?”
“Mmm? Yes.” Dru took a last glance around, gathered her purse and keys. “Harrow, Glo Harrow. I’ve really got to get moving.”
She stopped short, surprised when his hand clamped down on her arm. “Seth?”
“If she comes in again, I want you to call me.”
“Why? She’s just some woman hoping to con me out of some money, or an introduction to my grandfather. Believe me, I’ve handled that sort of thing all my life.”
“I want you to promise me. I mean it. If she comes in, you go in the back, pick up the phone and call me.”
She started to tell him she didn’t need protection, but there was a fire, an urgency in his voice that had her nodding instead. “All right. I promise.”
FOURTEEN
HE HAD TO wait until morning, until Dru slipped downstairs to prepare her daily orders. He’d barely slept. Though he’d struggled to lock the turmoil aside, he’d lain awake most of the night.
Even the pleasure of having Dru curled beside him had been tainted.
But he had to be sure.
Though his gut told him Gloria had tromped on yet another part of his life, he knocked on the McLean brothers’ apartment door. He had to be sure.
Dressed for work, an enormous cup of coffee in his hand, Dan answered. “Hey, what’s up? You just caught me. I’ve got an early meeting.”
“I need to talk to Will.”
“Good luck. He’s the dead man in the bedroom down the hall. Want coffee? He’ll probably pull his resurrection act by noon.”
“This can’t wait.”
“Hey, Seth, really, the guy’s wasted.” Since Seth was already walking through the debris of the living room, Dan went after him. “No, that’s mine.” Resigned, Dan jerked a thumb toward a second door. There was a sign tacked to it that advised:
Take two aspirin and go far, far away.
Seth didn’t bother to knock, but pushed the door open into the dark. Through the light that spilled in from the hallway, Seth could see blackout drapes were pulled tight over the window. The room itself was barely closet-sized and mostly bed.
Will lay on it, faceup, his arms flung out to the sides as if he’d fallen backward in that position and hadn’t moved since. He wore Marvin the Martian boxer shorts and one sock.
He snored.
“Let me get my camera,” Dan mumbled. “Listen, Seth, this is his first chance for eight straight in two weeks. He wanted to make up time with Aubrey, so he didn’t get in until after two. He was barely conscious when he came in the door.”
“It’s important.”
“Well, shit.” Dan walked over to the window. “He’ll probably be speaking in tongues.” And ruthlessly whipped the drapes back.
The bright morning sun flashed over the bed. Will didn’t twitch. Seth leaned over the bed, shook Will by the shoulder. “Wake up.”
“Glumph missitop.”
“Told ya.” Dan moved to the bed. “Here’s how it works.” He put his mouth close to Will’s ear and shouted, “Code blue! Code blue! Dr. McLean, report to Exam Room Three. Stat!”
“Whazit?” Will sprang into a sitting position as if the top half of his body had been shot from a bow. “Where’s the crash cart? Where’s . . .” Some part of his brain cleared as he blinked into Seth’s face. “Aw fuck.” He started to flop back, but Seth grabbed his arm.
“I have to talk to you.”
“You bleeding internally?”
“No.”
“You will be if you don’t get the hell out of here and let me sleep.” He grabbed a pillow from behind him, put it over his face to block out the light. “Don’t see a guy in years, then you can’t get rid of him. Go away, and take the moron who used to be my brother with you.”
“You were in Dru’s shop yesterday.”
“I’m gonna cry in a minute.”
“Will.” Seth yanked the pillow away. “The woman who was in there when you came in. You said you thought you recognized her.”
“Right now I wouldn’t recognize my own mother. In fact, who the hell are you and what are you doing in my bedroom? I’m calling the cops.”
“Tell me what she looked like.”
“If I tell you, will you go away?”
“Yeah. Please.”
“Christ, let me think.” Yawning hugely, Will scrubbed his hands over his face. He sniffed. Sniffed again. “Coffee.” His eyes began to track until they landed on Dan’s cup. “I want that coffee.”
“This is mine, jerkwad.”
“Give me that goddamn coffee or I’m telling Mom you think that yellow dress makes her ass look fat. Your life won’t be worth living.”
“Give him the damn coffee,” Seth snapped.
Dan handed it over.
Will slurped, gulped. Seth waited for him to just dunk his head in the oversized cup and lap with his tongue. “Okay, what was the
question?”
Seth fisted a hand at his side, imagined his rage inside it. Trapped and controlled. “The woman you saw in Dru’s shop.”
“Yeah, right.” Will yawned again, tried to concentrate. “Something about her weirded me out. Dressed like she should’ve been working a corner in Baltimore. Not that I’d know anything about that,” he added with a cherubic smile. “Bleached, bony, blond. What my dad would call shopworn. Diagnosis from a quick visual would be serious alcohol abuse, along with some recreational chemicals. Bad tone to her skin. Liver damage, probably.”
“How old?” Seth demanded.
“Running toward fifty, but hard years. Could’ve been younger. Serious smoker’s rasp, too. She leaves her body to science, we ain’t getting much out of it.”
“Yeah.” Seth sat heavily on the side of the bed.
“Like I told Dru, there was something familiar about her. Couldn’t place it. Maybe it was just the type. Hard, edgy, sort of, I dunno, predatory. What? Did she come back and hassle Dru? I’d’ve hung around if I’d thought . . .”
Then his jaw dropped as the picture fell into place. “Oh shit. Jesus Christ on a crutch. Gloria DeLauter.”
Seth pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead. “Fuck me.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Dan held up both hands. “You’re saying Gloria DeLauter was in Dru’s flower shop? Yesterday? That can’t be. She’s gone, she’s been gone for years.”
“It was her,” Will stated. “It didn’t click until just now. We only saw her that one time,” he said to Dan, “but it’s a pretty strong memory. Her yelling and trying to get Seth in that car. Sybill knocking her down, Foolish snarling like he was going to take a chunk out of her. She’s changed, but not that much.”
“No.” Seth dropped his hands. “Not that much.”
“What the hell’s she doing back here?” Will demanded. “You’re not a kid now. She can’t try to drag you off so she can squeeze your brothers for ransom or some shit. She can’t be looking for a sloppy mother-son reunion, so what’s the point?”