by Noelle Hart
His heart gave a small lurch. “It means a whole lot. There's something here between us, but I'm thinking you need a friend right now more than anything so I'll keep things on that plane unless you say otherwise. Deal?”
She felt an ease with Will that had never been present with Drew, and laughed. “Deal.” When she held out her hand to shake his he took it to his lips instead, and sealed it with a kiss.
*
“He runs hot and cold with her,” Jolene explained to Lyle who was currently giving Dino a bath in his tub. Using his brute strength to hold the quivering dog still, he rinsed him off with warm water.
“Isn't that a song?” He hummed a few bars of the popular tune about conflicting values in a rich bass that got cut off when Dino placed a paw on his arm. “Alright, alright, I'll stop.”
Jolene held out a large towel and received the quivering terrier. “You're my little taco now,” she whispered in his ear, and he settled into her gentle cuddle.
“Watch it,” said Lyle, “I might get jealous.”
“You'd never hit a woman, would you?”
“Some guys think it's their right, but Kylie dumping that dude is what's right.”
Jolene placed Dino on the floor and gave him a final rub before he dashed out the bathroom door. “She'll be a single mother, but she's young and gorgeous. The right guy will come along.”
Lyle squirted tub cleaner and scrubbed. “Besides the obvious need for occasional male company, why does she need a man anyway? Plenty of people raising kids on their own these days. You know that old expression about being better off alone than in bad company? It applies for Kylie right now.”
Jolene pouted. “I know sometimes circumstances call for it, but I want the whole kit and caboodle.”
“Sometimes life doesn't go in the direction you think it will. Sometimes you get a huge reality slap in the face.”
She frowned. “Are we still talking about Kylie? 'Cuz I'm reading between the lines here and maybe it's good we get this out in the open.”
“What?”
“Your views on marriage, on what you want out of life.”
She was perched on the toilet seat looking impossibly sexy and regal all at once. “You're getting ahead of yourself,” he said, and pulled her onto the floor with him as he abandoned the sprayer and settled Jolene onto his lap. “My folks weren't the best role models. They divorced when I was on the cusp of teenage-hood, so that whole 'til death do us part thing? Doesn't hold water for me. I've got a few kinks to work out on what to me is a very scary subject. Let's not go there yet.”
Her arms around his neck, she planted small kisses on his chin. “Guess I'm one of those people who take life head on, without over-analyzing things.”
“Mm... you mean you rush into things blind? That can get you into a lot of trouble.”
“I'm a firm believer in making things happen. There's a difference, you know.”
“I thought a lot about you, before taking things up a notch.”
She batted her eyelashes. “You did? Why it only took you, what, six months? If it's taken you that long just to have your way with me, then how long will it take for you to...”
He silenced her with a quick kiss. “I'll get there in my own time. Is that okay?”
With his fingers massaging the tight muscles of her shoulders she closed her eyes and swooned. “Do I have a choice?”
“We all have choices. You might decide I'm not the guy for you after all. Thought of that?”
A small wave of panic rippled through. “Or vice versa.” The massage moved lower to the small of her back. She sighed deeply. “Can't have a serious conversation with you doing that.”
He laughed. “Exactly. Ever made love on a bathroom floor before?”
What he was doing to her now took her breath away. “No,” she managed, “but if you're willing to take the bruising, I'm willing to give it a go.”
*
“Dad, it's a bruise, not the flu.”
Joe Lambert stood in Kylie's doorway with a container of his wife's homemade chicken soup and gaped at his daughter's colorful cheek. Wordlessly he stepped inside, closed the door behind him.
“That bastard is gonna hear from me.”
“Get in line. Everybody who's seen me has the same sentiment.”
“I'm not kidding. I plan to take this up with Stanley Hammond. I won't have his son...”
“Dad, please. This isn't high school and I'm a big girl. I'll handle this my own way.” She took the soup and headed to the kitchenette. Remembering how Drew had remained parked outside her apartment half the night, she wondered for the millionth time just how she was going to do that. But the last thing she wanted was to drag her parents into her domestic nightmare.
Fuming, Joe's face was turning a purple that might soon rival Kylie's cheek. “This isn't cut and dry. You're carrying that man's child so it's a whole other ball game. If he can hit you, then he could just as easily hit the kid. Have you thought of that, Kylie?”
She'd thought of little else. “His father thought I was after Drew's money. He practically accused me of it before dinner was served.”
“I'll bet you set him straight on that.” If there was one thing he knew about his daughter, she wouldn't take that kind of bullshit on the chin. He shook his head. “Sounds like one happy family.”
“His mother appears to be drowning her sorrows.” She recalled what Drew had said about his parents' marriage and could easily understand that she was hitting the bottle. The real question was, why? Why not walk away if things were so nasty?
“Sounds like Drew comes from a hell of an upbringing. Wouldn't doubt that it's monkey see, monkey do. Handed down, along with the family crest.”
“You might be right about that. Are you joining me for this soup?”
“Gotta get back to the store. Left your mother covering things on her own. She was itching to come over herself but our clerk didn't show up for work today.”
Kylie gave her Dad a hug. “Thanks for your concern. You'll always be my hero, but I've got this, okay?”
He huffed and puffed, grimaced, then hugged her back, hard. “Okay for now.”
*
Cabin fever set in so Kylie changed into running clothes, clamped her iPOD into her armband and set out to run at Beacon Hill Park.
Lydia Barrymore had told her that since she was an experienced runner she could continue until five to six months, at which point she should switch to walking.
The day was fresh, just right. As she entered the park she enjoyed the majesty of the tall cone encrusted firs, sunlight drizzling through scented branches, a soft carpet of Indian red pine needles underfoot. Further in were the solid oaks in full foliage, their forest green leaves clicking, amber edges hinting at the not so distant autumn. They entwined their branches with those of the gnarly arbutus whose sienna layers were peeling back to reveal tender, cream colored trunks. A feast for the senses.
Kylie hit her stride, cruised, eyes sweeping with appreciation the multi-hued flower beds of endless blossoms as she inhaled their rich perfumes, with blooming hydrangea bushes in vivid pinks, creamy whites, bruised bluish purple.
Like her cheek.
Deliberately she yanked her thoughts back into the hip hop song she'd been listening to and sang a few bars out loud. Rounding a corner she abruptly came upon Olivia Hammond sitting on a bench, head nodding in the afternoon sun. Kylie's outburst of song had snapped her awake.
Both women froze.
Olivia smiled tentatively. “Kylie! I've been thinking about you and here you are. It's providence. Please, join me?”
“Uh... yeah, okay.” Sitting, she took note of the little cooler at Olivia's feet, the faint waft of liquor on her breath. Sweat formed on her brow and she swiped at it with her sleeve.
Olivia offered a handkerchief embroidered with her initials, like something straight out of an eighteenth century romance novel.
“Things ended badly the other night at dinner,” s
he said.
“I didn't get a chance to thank you for...”
She waved a second handkerchief in the air. “Oh please, it was a disaster. I'm so ashamed of how you were treated.”
“Mrs. Hammond...”
“Olivia.” She held up a hand. “Don't try to override that. I'd like us to be friends.”
“Alright. Olivia, what happened wasn't your fault. Neither was it Mr. Hammond's. Okay, Stanley's. He was being protective...”
“And overbearing and rude and insulting! There are no excuses for that kind of behavior.” She raised her fingers to tilt Kylie's chin just like Will had. “I'm so sorry for this, but I'm afraid it doesn't come as a surprise. I've always suspected that Drew would take after his father in this way and now I know that he has. You've been initiated into what appears to be a family tradition.”
“I take it Stanley rules the nest with a heavy hand? Has he hit you on occasion?”
Olivia's laugh was a tinkling fountain that stopped as abruptly as it had started. “Sorry, couldn't help myself. To say that he's hit me on occasion is like saying he takes an occasional breath.”
Kylie gaped.
“Oh don't look so terror-stricken. He gave up on all that years ago when his testosterone levels took a dive. Nowadays he leaves me in peace. Thank God.”
Absently Olivia raised a small travel mug to her lips while her eyes grew vacant, staring into her past. She was the faded version of a once vital woman.
“Why didn't you leave?”
Olivia snapped back to the present, her eyes hard with repressed anger. “I tried. Several times. Each time he found me, threatened me.” The last words with vehemence. “Cowed me.”
“How did he threaten you?”
“With my life. It was all I had that was my own. When Drew came along I stood in for him, taking what might have been his. At least most of it.”
Kylie placed a hand over Olivia's. At first she flinched in reaction, then accepted, squeezed back.
“I think I would have enjoyed having you as a daughter-in-law,” mused Olivia, “but watching you run when Drew slapped you like that, I cheered you on. I wish I'd done the same thing the first time Stanley smacked me. But I listened to his pleas of remorse and forgave him. Married him in good faith, then suffered my fate.”
About to raise the cup again, Kylie stayed Olivia's hand. “You don't need this. What you're doing to yourself is only another kind of suffering. A form of self-punishment, an escape, whatever. But it's not a road that travels well.”
There was that tinkling laugh again. “Oh Kylie. This is all I have now. Plus afternoons in my garden, or here, surrounded by beauty. This place has served as a sanctuary many a time. See?” She held up a bag and rattled it. “For the ducks. At least they appreciate me.”
“Your gardens are absolutely gorgeous. Are you telling me you have a hand in them?”
“Stanley hired a landscaping service for the lawns but the flower beds are all my design, my hard work. I enjoy digging and weeding and pruning. It brings me peace.”
“Did you design that little arbor I saw, and the wooden bridge over the koi pond?”
Olivia's face visibly brightened. “I did. I nurse-maid those climbing roses over the arbor like they're little children. At least I think of them that way.” She chuckled. “Even name them. Is that pathetic?”
“I think it's a way to stay sane. If it makes you feel any better, I talk to the plants in the greenhouses, although sometimes what I say to them could make them wilt. It's just a way to blow off steam.”
“I've done plenty of venting myself in the garden. I'm surprised my petunias held up their heads the year Stanley... well, like you young people say, let's not go there.”
It was all intertwined; Stanley's abuse, her gardening, her drinking. She'd made gardening her haven, drinking her dark, Alice-in-Wonderland hole.
“Maybe we should go there,” Kylie suggested softly. “Would you consider counseling, Olivia?”
“Stanley would never go for it and he keeps a tight fist on the money. He's an accountant for God's sake. He controls all the finances, makes sure I don't have access to more than what it takes to run the household.”
“What about finding work?”
Olivia sent her a sharp look. “Stanley would never...”
“Go for it,” Kylie finished for her. “You don't have any control over your own life. He's made you his prisoner.”
A sigh rippled through Olivia. “Nowadays I have certain liberties. But I adhere to his ways, his rules. I don't speak back or defy him. Wouldn't want to wake the dragon now, would we?”
Kylie raised a hand to her own cheek. “No, we wouldn't.
“I really wish I didn't have to say this, but run and keep on running where Drew is concerned. Unless you want to end up like me, the cowed corporate wife who puts on lavish dinner parties and smiles and obeys, wearing long sleeves and high collars to hide what happened the night before.”
The image cemented Kylie's resolve. “Drew was waiting for me outside my apartment that night. I had to sneak in the back way. Is he going to be a problem?”
Her face hardened. “Not if I can help it. I'll speak with him. He's not completely like his father. He struggles with it, tries to keep it in check.”
“What will you tell him?”
“Before I answer that, let me ask you something. What is your intention with this baby you're carrying?”
The question caught her off guard. “I'm not giving it up, if that's what you mean. Ideally, I'd like Drew to be involved but as things are, I'd never be able to leave the kid alone with him.”
“Yes, it's an honest fear. One I've been thinking about since we found out. I stood between Drew and his father and I'm thinking you'll have to stand between this child and Drew as well. If Drew doesn't... can't understand, then you may have to take legal steps.”
Kylie's stomach churned and she emitted a small frustrated laugh. “I never imagined this could be my life, having to protect my child from its own father.”
“One never imagines. We keep our soil beds mulched but the weeds still sprout through, determined to choke us.”
Olivia's garden analogy both amused her and inspired an idea. She'd have to speak to her boss, but maybe Olivia could find a way to expand her liberties and thereby cut off her alcohol consumption at its knees. She'd noticed that while they'd been talking, Olivia had abandoned her drink. Maybe all she needed was some purpose in life.
“Olivia, how extensive is your knowledge of plants?”
She puffed. “I can name every plant here. That far wall is purple cone-flower. These little beauties are summer pink daisies. Over beyond those Blackbeard shrubs is a rose garden and I can probably name most of the varieties.”
“Are you familiar with the Big Red Barn?”
“I am. Are you getting at what I think you're getting at?”
“I've had to do a lot of filling in lately. A member of our staff is taking her job a little too lightly and calling in sick every week. We need someone more dependable.”
She shook her head. “Even if I want to I can't. Stanley would think it beneath me and by association, him.”
“But if it's something you truly want...”
Olivia stressed. “Please don't put me on the spot. I know you mean well, but I just can't.”
Kylie watched her eyes cloud as she raised the mug again to her lips. “Alright Olivia. But if you change your mind, please contact me at the greenhouses, alright?”
Olivia nodded and retreated inside of herself.
Kylie rose and resumed her run, her mind churning with the possibilities.
* * * *
CHAPTER NINE
“Maximus!”
Will gathered his son into his arms and wondered briefly until what age he'd allow him to call him that. He'd come to the ferry terminal at Schwartz Bay to pick him up after his mother had put him on at the other end. The hour and forty minute sailing through the Gulf Islands a
lways spawned stories of whale or seal sightings real or imagined, and Max didn't disappoint.
“Dad! You won't believe it. A killer whale right off the leeward bow! I took a picture.” He held out his digital camera. “See?
Will peered at the image and used the close-up feature. This time it was real. “Wow. That's a beauty. Great shot.”
“I'm gonna be a marine bi... biogist when I grow up!”
“Bi-o-lo-gist. Biologist.”
“Yeah. That. Sea animals are cool.”
“Way cool, partner.”
Will slung Max's bag over his shoulder and as they headed for the parking lot he pulled out his cell phone, cued in Julia's number. She answered immediately.
“I've got him. All is well.”
He heard her sigh of relief. “Now it is,” came her reply. “Remember what we talked about, okay? This isn't his call in the end, it's ours.”
“I know. It's all good. I've got this.”
Clicking off, Will watched his son bounce up to the Jeep and climb aboard. His heartstrings twanged. The boy was ten and growing fast, his mop of burnished brown hair the exact shade of Julia's. But his eyes, now those were all Will. A nice combo of them both. Her olive skin, his muscular build, although the latter might take a while to fill out. He had Julia's even temperament and quick smile, but it was Will's patience and thoroughness that got Max through school assignments.
He'd be a heart-breaker some day, no doubt. Females would swoon.
Meanwhile Will had some hard questions to ask his son. Like, why was he putting his mother through hell after finally finding the man of her dreams? Not that the idea of coming to live with him was a bad one, far from it. But the motive had to be right. Julia had made her pitch and it hadn't helped one bit; she wanted him to continue to stay with her but at the same time acknowledged that change built character. With Will at the helm she felt secure in the knowledge that Max would be raised with good values. Yet she wanted the chance to show Max that her new husband could be a good friend while not taking the place of his father. A true Libra, she had weighed the pros and cons to death and not been able to reach a decision.