by BETH KERY
He merely nodded once.
Caleb looked excited when Esa told him she liked to play poker and was in the midst of asking people at the table who wanted to get a game going when a spine-chilling scream of terror reached all of their ears.
And this scream hadn’t been a child’s.
Her eyes widened in disbelief when the woman followed the eerie shriek by shouting a name.
“Eeesaaa!”
Esa flew out the front door directly after Finn. The once-crowded front porch was now empty. She tried to keep up with Finn’s long legs as he ran around the side of his mother’s house in the direction from which they’d heard the scream.
“What the hell…Jess?” Esa heard Finn ask a few seconds later when he came to an abrupt halt in the side yard. She tried to peer around his tall form but she couldn’t make out anything in the darkness.
“Get the hell off me, you animal!” a familiar voice shouted from the ground, followed by a man’s grunt of mixed surprise and pain.
“Rachel? Is that you?” Esa cried out.
“Esa? What kind of a party are you attending anyway? I heard the music and was going around to the back to find you and this…criminal, barbarian…asshole attacked me.”
“Give me a break. I thought you were one of the kids. You’re small enough to be one of the teenagers,” Jess said in a mellow tone that surprised Esa, given the bizarre circumstances.
“And that makes it all right, I suppose—attacking a child! Esa, call the police,” Rachel ordered.
The panic she heard in her sister’s tone took Esa by surprise. She was vaguely aware that several people had come up behind her and were listening to the entire conversation. “Rachel, he’s not a criminal. He was playing Wolf Man. It’s a game the Madigans play on Halloween—”
“He knocked me to the ground and then he…he…” Rachel made a strange choking sound of mixed disbelief and outrage. Esa was suddenly very curious as to what exactly Jess Madigan had done to her little sister in the dark. “Let me up, you jerk,” Rachel screeched.
“I think you need to calm down a little bit before I let you go. You almost gave me a black eye just now with that elbow,” Jess replied evenly.
“You bastard,” Esa heard Rachel hiss at him, her insult striking Esa as entirely too personal given the circumstances.
Esa opened her mouth to speak when someone stepped up beside her. “Who is that obnoxious person maligning my grandson?”
Esa blinked in surprise at the sheer outrage in Glory Madigan’s trembling voice. Great. This just kept getting better and better.
“It’s okay, Grandma Glory. This is just a misunderstanding,” Finn said. But instead of being placated by his reassuring tone, Glory stepped forward aggressively.
“Get off this property, you little strumpet, before I call the police and have you thrown in jail where you—”
“Grandma Glory, calm down,” Finn interrupted.
“I’m not calming down when that woman is attacking my grandson!”
Everyone began to talk at once
“Esa, get this idiot off me!”
“Jeez, what are you doing here?” Carla suddenly asked from the darkness on the other side of Jess and Rachel.
“Calling the police…” Glory said in a shaking voice that alarmed Esa.
“I am the police, Grandma. Finn? What’s going on?” Caleb demanded.
“Quiet everyone,” Esa shouted. She inhaled slowly, gathering her frayed nerves in the silence that followed.
“Rachel, stop acting like a loon and promise not to hit Jess again if he lets you up. I swear—I don’t know what’s gotten into you. Finn, if you would be so kind as to go to the kitchen and get some orange or apple juice?”
“What?” Finn asked incredulously.
“Glory…I apologize for my sister’s dramatics.” Esa placed her hand gently on the older woman’s arm and felt the clamminess of her skin as well as the fine tremor in her flesh. “Why don’t we go inside and I’ll try to explain.”
“Esa?” Rachel asked from the ground in a beleaguered tone.
“Just do as I say,” Esa barked before she took Glory’s arm and led her through the small crowd toward the house.
She was glad that Glory didn’t put up any resistance when Esa guided her down the corridor to the right of the living room.
“Her room is right in here,” Molly Madigan directed from behind Esa.
Esa glanced around, thankful for Finn’s mother’s presence. She led a dazed Glory into her bedroom and set her on the edge of her bed.
“May I see her medications please?” Esa asked Molly briskly as she checked Glory’s pulse.
“That woman was your sister?” Glory asked.
“Yes, she’s my sister. From the sound of her voice, Jess scared the hell out of her. I’ve never heard her act that way before,” Esa mused as she removed Glory’s black Cleopatra wig and unclasped the heavy gold necklace from around her perspiring neck.
“Thank you. I’m so hot…but I can’t stop shaking,” Glory muttered.
Esa read each of the four pill bottles that Molly had brought her. “Do you have an Accu-Chek, Glory?”
“I’ll get it,” Molly answered for her mother-in-law.
“Oh, good,” Esa said both to Molly and to Finn, who had just entered the room carrying some apple juice. “Set it down there, would you, Finn? When’s the last time you ate, Glory?”
Glory’s forehead wrinkled as she tried to recall.
“Can’t remember,” she finally answered dully. “Maybe four or five this afternoon. Didn’t want to eat too late and be bursting out of my Cleopatra costume.”
Finn’s handsome face was creased in mixed concern and confusion when Esa requested that he go and get some food from the kitchen but he went without comment. Esa took the blood glucose monitor from Molly when she returned to the room.
“Is high blood sugar what all of these episodes have been about?” Molly asked.
“This has happened before?” Esa asked sharply.
Molly nodded. “Several times in the past month. Her doctor ran some tests but everything was fine. Glory’s been taking diabetes medication for two years now and there’s never been a problem. Her sugars weren’t that high to begin with and her doctor said that they were well-controlled with the medication,” Molly fretted as Esa poked Glory’s fingertip with the lancet.
“Ouch!” Glory protested sluggishly.
“A little too well-controlled, I’m betting,” Esa said. She nodded her head in self-confirmation when she saw the numbers that came up on the screen and handed Glory the apple juice. “Drink up. Your sugars are low.”
“Low?” Glory frowned. “I thought I was supposed to be taking medication for high blood sugar.”
Esa prodded the bottom of the glass as a reminder for the older woman to drink. “You are. But all that exercise and meditation at the senior center is changing the chemical scenery of your body. Your dosage on the diabetic medication is too high. Lots of people have to be recalibrated, so to speak, when they start a regular exercise or meditation routine. I’ll bet your blood pressure has gone down nicely as well.”
“It has,” Molly confirmed. “Her doctor made a point of telling me when we went last week. I made a special appointment because of these periods of irritability. It’s out of character for Glory.”
“Did you tell your doctor that you’ve been exercising regularly?” Esa asked Glory when she finished her juice.
“I think so,” Glory replied.
“I made a point of telling him if Glory didn’t,” Molly said.
Esa frowned and took the glass from the now exhausted-looking older woman. If it was true that Glory had lost twelve pounds like she’d reported so proudly to Esa earlier tonight, then her doctor should have questioned her extensively about it as well as her exercise routine and then reevaluated Glory’s medication requirements.
Too many physicians—especially the younger ones—were prejudiced when it
came to matters of older adults, automatically assuming that any exercise or activity that a woman Glory’s age undertook would be minimal and, while beneficial to health, nowhere near the strenuous health club routines they considered to be “real” workouts. But one only had to glance at Glory to know that she was a strong, athletically inclined woman who would do everything she undertook with passion and dedication. Undoubtedly Finn’s grandmother could leave Esa in a panting, quivering heap as she ran laps around her at the gym.
It irritated the heck out of Esa knowing how many of her colleagues refused to either recommend meditation to their patients or take into account the sometimes significant effect regular practice had on blood pressure and overall health. The results weren’t the same for everyone, of course, but regular meditation had a profound effect on some patients.
Esa refrained from spewing out her anger at incompetent doctors and focused on being productive, however.
“My advice is that you make an appointment first thing in the morning with your doctor,” Esa said as she set the Accu-Chek monitor down on the bedside table. “Your medication dosage needs to be looked at in light of your regular exercise and weight loss. What you’ve just experienced is the irritability, cold sweats and lethargy that comes from extremely low blood sugar. If you like, I can make a recommendation for an excellent physician in your area who specializes in treating older adults. In the meantime, Glory, five small meals per day—and no skipping meals to look good in an outfit.”
“Finn told us that you were in publishing,” Molly said bemusedly.
“Finn’s a fool then,” Glory mumbled groggily. “She’s obviously a nurse or a doctor. I’ll wager a doctor from that high-and-mighty tone. How Finn could have brains enough to earn a master’s degree both in engineering and architecture and not know what the woman he’s seeing does for a living is beyond me.”
Esa started in surprise.
“Oh, good,” Molly said when Finn walked into the room holding a paper plate. Mary Kate followed, an anxious look on her face. “Give that to Glory, Finn. Her blood sugar is low.”
“All four of you aren’t going to stand there and stare at me while I eat, are you? Go on and enjoy the party. I’m pooped, I’m going to bed after I finish this,” Glory said through a mouth full of bratwurst and bun a moment later.
Molly waved them out of the room. “Go on, you three. I’ll stay and help her get out of her costume. And thank you, Esa.”
“I’ll leave you a note with the name of that physician recommendation, if you’d like it,” Esa said softly.
“I would…very much. Thanks again,” Molly added, a warm, genuine look of gratitude shining from her green eyes before she closed the door after them.
Chapter Fourteen
Finn leaned against the counter in the kitchen and watched through narrowed eyelids as Esa conferred privately with Rachel in the corner, their communication too soft to be overheard but emphasized by hisses, frowns and sparking brown eyes. The only words he’d been able to make out so far had been uttered by Rachel and had completely confused him instead of throwing any light on the strangeness of the evening.
He’s the one who called me. Why shouldn’t I be able to at least ask him about such a juicy tidbit? If neither of you will tell me, who will?
Esa had responded with so much passion that her hair bounced around her shoulders as she energetically shook her head and whispered heatedly. After a moment of bearing her sister’s wrath, Rachel appeared to tune her out using some trait universally acquired by younger siblings. Esa ranted while Rachel leaned back and studied Finn with frank curiosity. When he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze she suddenly gave him a bright, warm smile.
He’d immediately known that the stranger in the kitchen was Esa’s sister because of her mane of auburn hair. It fell midway down Rachel’s back in soft waves that framed a heart-shaped face but it was the precise color of Esa’s. Rachel was several inches shorter than her sister and more delicate in overall appearance.
The acid glance of pure distaste that Rachel threw his brother Jess when he walked through the kitchen door with Carla behind was hardly demure, however.
Jess leaned on the counter next to him. Carla rushed across the large room to the corner and joined the symphony of feminine hisses.
“Grandma Glory okay?” Jess murmured.
“She’s fine now. Her blood sugar was low. Esa thought to check it with the blood glucose monitor.”
Jess grunted distractedly as his gaze returned to the huddle of women. Esa glanced around furtively at Finn and then turned quickly to retort to something Rachel had just whispered.
“Maybe we should go out on the terrace. I feel like I’m watching some kind of secret female ritual.”
“No way,” Finn replied grimly. “I’d do just about anything to figure out Esa at this point, even if that means spying on a family squabble.”
Jess snorted in a mixture of amusement and pity. “You’re a goner.”
Rachel must have heard Jess speak because she glanced over, curled her lip in scorn and ran her velvety eyes over him scathingly.
“She’s a firecracker, isn’t she?” Jess mumbled, referring to Rachel.
Finn blinked when he heard the undisguised heat in his brother’s voice.
“Must run in the family,” Finn mused as he studied Jess speculatively.
Rachel backed out of the huddle and spoke audibly. “All right, fine. Just stop lecturing me about it. We’ll talk about it more tomorrow. I’ll meet you at Mom and Dad’s to trade them. I’m getting out of here. I hope I don’t get attacked again on the way back out to the car,” Rachel said sarcastically as she walked toward the door.
“I said I was sorry,” Jess called out. Rachel refused to even look at him as she stormed out the door.
“She’s a little high-strung, your sister,” Jess murmured as Carla and Esa approached. Carla looped her arm around Jess’ waist and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Let’s go. I’m tired. Jess is going to take me home, aren’t you?” Carla asked as she glanced up at Jess seductively.
“Sure,” Jess agreed, prying his eyes from the door that still swung back and forth from Rachel’s dramatic exit.
Finn waited silently once they’d said their goodbyes to Jess and Carla. He saw the moment when Esa’s thoughtful, tense expression altered. She furtively looked around the kitchen and back at him.
“That’s right. We’re alone,” he challenged softly.
She laughed shakily. “The party really cleared out quickly.”
“It’s amazing how a woman screaming her head off that she’s been attacked and the subsequent illness of the hostess can do that to a party.”
Esa’s face fell. “Oh—I’m so sorry about Rachel. It must seem really strange to you that she came here but…she just… Well, to be honest, I’ve never seen her act like that. Rachel’s usually the cool one. I didn’t think she had a hysterical bone in her body.”
“And?” Finn prodded. From the pink stain that colored Esa’s cheeks he guessed that she was probably dodging the truth again. Anger rose in his chest at the clear evidence of her dishonesty. He tamped it down in self-irritation. Why did he keep expecting her to be something more than she was? He was seeing her in order to have a good time—get back on his feet after few harsh blows in his personal life.
He listened to her blather on.
“And…and…Rachel came because she wanted to switch cars with me,” Esa finally concluded.
Finn crossed his arms above his waist. “Switch cars?”
“Yes,” Esa assured him brightly. “So, do you want to—”
“And what about all that stuff with Grandma Glory?” he interrupted.
“Oh, that?” Esa asked as she pointed in the general vicinity of Glory’s bedroom and laughed too loud. She examined him nervously through lowered eyelids. “I can explain about that. See, I’ve known quite a few people who have had a condition similar to your grandmother�
��s. Funny it came up because I was going to tell you all about it tonight.”
“Really.”
She looked stung by his sarcasm. He ground his back teeth together when he saw anger flash into her brandy-colored eyes. “Yes, I was. What are you acting so pissy for?”
He uncrossed his arms and straightened. “You know what? I have no idea. You don’t owe me anything, Esa.”
“Nothing but a good time in bed for a few nights, is that it?” Esa flared.
He met her glare with equal irritation for about ten seconds before he finally exhaled slowly. Why was he so fired up? It wasn’t Esa’s fault that her sister was a hysterical party crasher. And even though he was mystified as hell by the appearance of that calm, authoritative, entirely confident persona that Esa had taken on during the whole incident with his grandmother, he had to admit that it only made her exponentially more appealing to him.
Maybe that was at the core of his anger. Esa was really getting to him, rebound fling or not. If he didn’t watch himself with her he was going to be the goner that Jess had already accused him of being.
He’d been stewing for the last twenty minutes over the fact that he hadn’t thought to question Esa’s knowledge or motives once during the entire incident with Grandma Glory. He might have thought the whole situation was unusual but his confidence in Esa had been complete.
Besides, that smooth, authoritative woman had disappeared and the prickly, insecure, hissing creature was back. He exhaled his irrational irritation and reached out to sooth the hackles he’d raised on Esa. She hesitated for a second when he pulled her toward him but then sank her head and pressed it into his chest.
“I’m really sorry,” she muttered against his shirt.
He placed his chin on the top of her head and inhaled the scent of her fragrant shampoo. “No. I’m sorry. I should be thanking you for helping out with Grandma Glory that way instead of provoking you. You handled that situation like a pro. Did you use to work as a nurse or something?”