As time went by, it was getting harder to keep making excuses about why he wasn’t pressing his suit with Robin. “Asking someone to marry you isn’t always such an easy thing to do,” he said in response to her question.
Samantha laughed. “It’s like in that Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart movie. You just put your lips together and blow. Only in this case, what you have to do is pry your lips apart and ask. I’m positive she loves you.”
“Then why does something keep getting in the way? You wouldn’t have any idea what it is, would you? She hasn’t confided in you?”
Samantha shook her head.
“Have you seen her lately?” he asked, looking around.
“I thought you knew. She went home with Donal shortly after the cake was cut.”
Eric pulled on one end of his bow tie to release it. Then he loosened the top buttons of his dress shirt.
“What are you doing?” Samantha asked, eyes twinkling. “Getting ready to change into your superhero suit so you can fly off to the inn to find her?”
Eric’s smile was wry. “A superhero I’m not.”
“I’ve always thought you were,” she said simply, and in so doing warmed his heart.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ROBIN WAS IN BED WHEN she heard people start to converge on the inn. The party continued for many of the guests, but she didn’t get up to join them. No one had asked her to prepare anything or to be on duty in the kitchen, so what they did was their affair. Her headache, which had never truly gone away since that morning, had returned with a vengeance during the reception. It hurt so badly that she had felt nauseated. She still did.
A half-hour later, Robin dragged herself to the bathroom. She was digging in the medicine cabinet when Bridget passed by in the hall. The woman did a double take and stopped.
“Are you feeling unwell?” she asked.
“Fairly unwell,” Robin answered tightly.
“What do you need?” the woman asked briskly. She shooed Robin away from the cabinet and installed herself there instead.
“An Alka-Seltzer?” Robin murmured.
Bridget searched through the bits and pieces on the layers of shelves. “Ah!” she said at last. She pulled a paper cup from the decorative dispenser beside the sink and dropped a tablet into the water she’d drawn. It began to fizz immediately. “Drink this,” she directed. Robin did. “Do you want another?” she asked.
Robin shook her head. “No, this is fine,” she said weakly.
“Too much champagne?” the woman asked brusquely.
Robin looked at her. “Too much tension,” she said.
“Let’s get you to bed,” Bridget decided, taking hold of Robin’s arm.
Robin defended her apparent weakness. “I almost never have headaches like this.”
“Which room are you in?” Bridget asked.
“Yours,” Robin murmured. She’d wanted to ask before she used it that night, but when she’d arrived home so much earlier than everyone else, there was no one to ask. “Eric put me in there, because when the inn is full and Benjamin and Allison and the twins come, there isn’t room anywhere else.” She paused. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Why would I mind? It’s a practical solution.”
“But where will you sleep tonight?”
Bridget smiled at her for the first time. “I see what Eric means, you are considerate.” She assisted Robin to the bed and waited while she slid her legs under the cover. “Don’t you worry about me,” she assured her. “I’ll find a spot. Are Allison and the twins in her old room?” She busied her hands with straightening the quilt.
“They’re downstairs.”
“Then I could have that room, or I could sleep in Barbara’s room. She’s not going to need it tonight or any other night for some time to come, I’m sure.”
As the woman continued to fuss with the quilt, Robin closed her eyes. The tablet was starting to work. If she could just lie still for a while…
She became aware of someone watching her. Her eyes fluttered open. She must have dozed off, she realized.
Bridget nodded. “That’s better,” she said, satisfied.
Robin attempted to sit up, but Bridget stopped her. “No, no, no!” she repeated. “I just came in to check on you. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
The headache was gone, and so was the nausea. “I’m much better.” Robin copied the older woman’s hushed speaking voice. She had no idea what time it was, but it felt late. She checked the clock on the bedside table. It was after two.
“Eric came by to see you about an hour ago,” Bridget said. “I sent him to his own bed.”
It took a moment for what the woman had intimated to sink in. “But we don’t—”
“None of my business if you do. You’re both adults.” She paused, cocking her head. “I was curious about you. Eric’s letter didn’t say a lot, but Samantha’s certainly did. I wasn’t sure at first, but I watched you at the wedding. I liked what I saw, if that makes any difference to you.”
Robin blinked.
When she made no reply, Bridget continued, “I’ll most likely be gone by the time you wake up tomorrow morning, so I’ll say my goodbyes now and ask that you keep taking good care of my family.”
Robin searched for an answer. She felt sure Bridget would know if she lied.
Bridget marched to the door. She didn’t pause before going into the hall. She had said what she meant to say, and that was that.
Robin relaxed back into the pillow.
Eric had come to see her.
Considering everything, it was probably a good idea that she had had an Irish dragon standing guard at her door.
JUST AS SHE HAD ANNOUNCED to Robin, Bridget had departed by the time Robin made her way to the kitchen the next morning. So, too, had a number of the other guests. The two or three who remained were gathering their things in preparation for leaving.
“I slept in. I’m sorry,” she apologized to Benjamin and Eric, who were reading the Sunday newspaper and drinking cups of coffee in the dining room. “My alarm didn’t ring.”
Eric looked at her over the sports section. “I asked Bridget last night to shut it off.”
“But—” she began, looking around.
“We took care of everything. No one wanted breakfast, only coffee.”
“Hot, strong coffee,” Benjamin amended.
Robin started for the kitchen. “Don’t go in there,” Eric said sharply.
She looked at him, confused.
“You’re not going to like what you see. The place was left a bit of a wreck last night. Glasses and plates all over. Someone also decided to make a midnight snack. Benjamin and I picked up all the clutter elsewhere, but we needed a cup of coffee before we started cleaning the kitchen.”
“How bad is it?” she asked.
Eric pushed out a chair with his foot. “Have a cup of coffee.”
Robin sat down, but she refused his offer. “That bad?” she asked quietly.
“Let’s just say whoever put the snack together managed to get more melted cheese on the floor than they got on any of the crackers.”
Robin groaned and covered her face.
Eric pulled one hand away. “Are you feeling better? Bridget said you were ill.”
“I was better,” she answered truthfully.
“Benjamin and I are going to take care of the kitchen. It’s been our plan all along.”
“That’s right,” Benjamin confirmed.
The brothers stood up. “Stay here,” Eric ordered when Robin tried to rise, as well. “Relax, read the newspaper. We’ll be through in half an hour. Then the kitchen is yours again.”
The telephone rang, drawing Eric’s attention. When he went to answer it, Benjamin slid into his chair.
“I’d planned to spend most of the day here,” he said in a low voice, as if he didn’t want to be overheard. “But something’s come up. I’m sorry we didn’t get to have our talk. I meant what I said, though. If ever you s
hould need the name of a good lawyer—”
“I’ll call you,” Robin interrupted him. She covered his hand with both of hers. “You’re a very nice person, Benjamin. You come from a wonderful family. I won’t forget you.”
Instead of tempering his concern, her words caused alarm. “Are you leaving? Is that—”
Eric walked back into the room. When he noticed their proximity, his first reaction was to freeze. Then, lifting a brow, he asked with heavy irony, “Am I interrupting something?”
Robin withdrew her hands and Benjamin’s cheeks grew ruddy. “Nothing at all,” Robin said. “I was just telling Benjamin goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Eric repeated.
“He’s leaving soon.”
Eric frowned slightly, not completely mollified. His gaze swept over his brother’s face before returning to Robin. He fought his jealousy and in the end won. Tapping his brother on the shoulder, he said, “Come on. Let’s attack the mess.”
Benjamin rose slowly. He glanced at Robin, looked as if he wanted to say something more, then seemed to think better of it. “Sure. Yeah. Let’s do it,” he said instead.
His hesitation didn’t go unnoticed by Eric.
BY MIDAFTERNOON ALL THE out-of-town guests had finally departed, Aunt Rachel included. She exchanged home addresses with Donal Caldwell and, after a series of slightly distracted kisses to the remaining nieces and nephews, hopped in her dusty old Plymouth and started back to Idaho.
“Should she be driving that far?” Samantha murmured as they watched her pull away.
“She got here in one piece,” Eric reminded her.
“But she seems so…”
Eric dropped an arm across his sister’s shoulder and started to walk with her along the path to the house. “She’s been that way all her life, and she’s made it to seventy-three.”
His eyes settled on Robin, who walked with David a number of steps ahead. She laughed at something he said, then stuck out her tongue in merry defiance.
It irritated Eric that she could behave so easily with the other male members of his family but be so contained with him. It still rankled when he remembered the way she’d held Benjamin’s hand that morning.
Samantha tugged on his sleeve. “I asked if you thought we should call her tomorrow, just to make sure she arrived safely.”
Eric stared at her blankly.
“Aunt Rachel,” Samantha repeated tersely. “Driving to Idaho. Do you think we should call her tomorrow?”
“Oh…yes. Sure. Why not?”
Samantha sighed. “Sometimes lately, talking to you is like trying to talk to a wall. You don’t hear half of what I say.”
Eric chuckled. “Yes, Mother.”
Samantha thumped him on the arm. Then she nodded toward Robin. “Have you asked her?”
“It hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet. Give me time!”
“Remember, just pry your lips apart and—”
In a flash, Eric had gripped her in a loose headlock. When he pretended to tighten his hold, she squealed in protest, and he let go.
“I’m going to report you for sister abuse!” she threatened him, laughing as she fluffed her hair back into place.
“The courts would consider it justifiable,” he retorted.
Robin looked around. Her gaze settled on him.
Eric felt his body respond. He wanted to run up there, drag David away from her and kiss her with all his heart. But the best he could do now was smile tightly and nod.
ERIC WOULDN’T HEAR OF Robin preparing dinner that evening. They were all so exhausted, he said, no one should work any more that day. He drove to Vista Point, picked up some fast food—fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw, biscuits…the works—and brought it home to Heron’s Inn.
The cleanup after the meal was minimal, but David hung around the kitchen, helping here and there, mostly seeming to get in the way. Eric sent him several “get lost” glances, but the boy was impervious.
Finally, impatiently, Eric came directly to the point. “Don’t you have something to do?” he demanded.
David looked at him, and Eric had to admit that the changes so recently wrought on the young man had gone deeper than he’d thought. Instead of talking back, as he once would have done, David stared at him with a gaze that was steadier, more confident.
“No,” he replied. He glanced at Robin. She bent to plug in the coffeemaker and didn’t notice.
Eric followed his gaze. He wanted to be alone with her. He switched his attention back to David. “How’s the French coming?”
“Pas mal du tout,” David answered.
“That’s great,” Eric said ironically, not understanding any of what he’d said.
Robin straightened. “Not too bad,” she translated. Then she said something in what sounded like perfectly accented French herself.
David grinned. “I caught only part of it—something about a student? Hey, you sound like Mrs. Wilson. Why didn’t you say you spoke French?”
“No one ever asked.”
“Where did you learn to speak it so well?”
“I spent a little time in France, actually,” she admitted, glancing uncomfortably at Eric.
Eric shifted. Something else he didn’t know about her. Something she’d had no trouble admitting to David. “How long?” he asked.
Her expression tightened, an action someone else might not notice, but as sensitive as he was to her, he caught it right away. His frustration grew.
She shrugged, not bothering to answer in words.
Eric saw the tiny smile that tugged at his brother’s lips, and to him it looked like a smirk. He’d had enough of them thrown his way by the boy. He considered himself an expert.
“What are you laughing at?” he demanded, bristling.
“You,” David replied.
Everything would have been all right if he hadn’t said that. Everyone was tired. Everyone’s nerves were stretched after the final days leading up to the wedding, not to mention the wedding itself.
“David,” Robin warned, reaching for his arm.
He shook her off. “What’s the matter, Eric? Can’t you take a joke? Can’t the big man stand it when he can’t get what he wants?”
Eric glared at him, then he tried to dampen his flash of anger. “Maybe we’d better save this for another day.”
“Why?” the boy demanded. “Why should I disappear because you want Robin all to yourself? Maybe I want to be with her, too. Maybe you should be the one to leave. Let’s ask Robin. Robin, which one? Which one of us do you find it easier to talk with?”
“David,” she said, looking strained. “I won’t allow you to—”
“That’s a rotten thing to do to a person,” Eric said coldly.
“Oh, but it’s right in character for me, isn’t it?” David turned away from his brother. “I tried, Robin. I really tried. You saw me! I even wore that stupid suit! But does he appreciate it? No!”
“David, don’t,” she urged him. Her gaze went to Eric, pleading with him to continue to be patient with his brother. “You appreciated David’s efforts, didn’t you, Eric?”
“Yes,” he replied shortly, meaning it but unable to express it in any other way.
David laughed hollowly. “Yeah, right. I believe that!”
“We’re all tired.” Robin tried again. “Tomorrow, none of this will—”
“Tomorrow! And the next day and the next!” David interrupted, looking pained. “It doesn’t make any difference. A person can’t run away from their birthright.”
“What are you talking about?” Eric demanded, frowning.
Samantha had heard the raised voices and slipped silently into the room. Seconds later Allison appeared, grumbling irritably about having to send the children outside because she hadn’t wanted them exposed to an argument. She stopped when she sensed the potential seriousness of the confrontation.
David looked at them all as if they were lining up against him, as if he considered Robin his
only ally.
“What birthright?” Eric repeated.
“Mine! Yours!” the boy shot back. “The entire Marshall family!”
Eric shook his head. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“What happened shortly after I was born?” David demanded.
“Mother died,” Samantha whispered.
“Exactly!”
“So?” Allison challenged him, frowning fiercely. “That happened a long time ago, Davey. Eighteen years.”
“It’s been sixteen years since our dad died. Has anyone forgotten that? Eric certainly hasn’t. He blames the girl. At least, he says he blames the girl. That’s what he’s told me all these years.” He turned toward Eric. “But it’s more than that, isn’t it, Eric? It’s more than that for all of you!”
Allison moved her head from side to side, while Samantha lifted a hand to cover her mouth. Tears shimmered in the younger woman’s eyes. “David, don’t,” she pleaded huskily.
“Why not? Maybe for once, before I leave, it will be good to get things out in the air.”
“Before you leave?” Samantha echoed. “I thought…things seemed to be getting so much better.”
David snorted, waving a hand in impatient denial.
“Let’s hear what he has to say,” Eric commanded.
“The Mighty One has spoken,” David said sarcastically.
Eric didn’t move.
“Don’t you think I know you all blame me?” David questioned rawly. “Your mother died because of me…the aneurysm… If I hadn’t been born, maybe she’d still be alive. Then you, Eric, wouldn’t have had to give up so much of your life…good old Saint Eric! I’m sick of hearing the stories! And Allison and Barbara and Samantha and Benjamin…all of you would have had your mother to see you through the bad times, maybe even prevent them! Instead, you had me!”
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