Horizons

by Catherine Hart

  “Yes, but we got ice cream to go with them, and that constitutes milk, doesn’t it?” Zach countered. He picked up the plastic sacks and followed Kelly toward the exit.

  Just inside the doors, he stopped, plucking at her sleeve to get her attention. “Look at this!” he exclaimed in delight. “Talk about one-stop shopping! We can even get your engagement ring, right here!”

  Kelly looked at the vending machine, full of cheap plastic rings, and had to laugh. Zach had already set the grocery bags down and was fishing through his change for two quarters. With a crank of his wrist, the ring plopped into the dispenser.

  Though Zach had a moment of trouble extracting it, he got it unwedged and tossed the bulbous plastic case at her. “Here you go, darling. You lucked out and got one with a pretty green stone to match your eyes.”

  She fumbled the catch, almost dropping it. “Golly, Zach, you shouldn’t have. You’re such an extravagant devil!”

  “Open it up. Let’s see if it fits.”

  Kelly chuckled. “Of course it will, you nut! These things have those spaced bands, open at the bottom, to give them more flexibility.”

  “So? Take it out and put it on. I want to see how it looks on your finger.”

  “You’re a certified screwball, Zach Goldstein,” she alleged. She eyed the ring through the clear plastic container. “Gee, you’re right. It is rather pretty. Did you notice, it’s even faceted to make it look more like a real emerald?”

  She popped the clear plastic case in half, and the ring fell into her palm. That’s when Kelly’s eyes widened in disbelief. She hefted it, judging the weight. Then, as if afraid to believe her own senses, she picked it up by the band. Instead of gold-painted plastic, her fingers touched metal—smooth shiny gold, a solid, unbroken band of it. The oval gem winked at her, as did the heart-shaped jewels set into the band on either side of it. Her heart thundering, she held it up for closer inspection.

  Her voice quavering, she declared softly, “Holy Moses, Zach! Am I hallucinating, or is this thing real? This looks like a genuine emerald, and I could swear the diamonds are, too.”

  “They’d better be,” Zach announced with a gruff laugh. “Uncle Saul charged me enough for them, though he did claim he gave me the usual family discount. Of course, it was a rush order, and he took particular care to make it look like the actual ‘fake’ article. See? He even made those little grooves in the band, and curved the bottom of it so it looks like two pieces butted together.”

  Kelly turned to him with happy tears making her eyes sparkle brighter than the emerald. “Oh, Zach! This is so special! So wonderfully incredible!” She handed the ring to him and held out her hand. “Put it on for me. Please.”

  He slipped the ring onto her finger, his eyes glowing with adoration. “A perfect fit. A good omen.”

  Kelly nodded. “How did you know my ring size? Or was it just a great guess?”

  Zach laughed. “No, I cheated. I measured your finger with a piece of string one night while you were sleeping.”

  Kelly gazed at the ring in awe. “I still can’t believe it. You actually had this ring created expressly for me.”

  “Do you like it?” he asked hesitantly. “It was somewhat of a challenge to avoid that gaudy look you said you dislike and still get it to resemble a half-dollar vending machine ring.”

  “I love it,” she claimed. “I’d love it if it really was made of colored glass and plastic. But most of all, I love you, for all the special pains you took to have it made for me— and just because you’re you, the most marvelous, caring, sensitive man in the world.”

  There, blocking half the exit aisle, and standing in front of a huge window where half of Seattle could watch, they shared a passionate kiss that threatened to steam the ads off the plate-glass. “Let’s go home, before we get arrested for indecent behavior,” Zach rasped when he could finally tear his lips from hers.

  As he picked up the grocery sacks, Kelly thought to ask, “Did we really need any of that stuff, including the coffee?”

  “Not a single item,” he admitted. “I just wanted to get you in here to that machine.”

  “And I suppose you had my ring tucked in your pocket all the while,” she surmised. “So, where’s the one the machine spit out?”

  “Still in the dispenser, of course.”

  Kelly reached down, flipped the metal flap, and retrieved the plastic ring. “A memento,” she explained. “I’m one of those sentimental females who keeps flowers pressed between book pages, and old high school programs. I even have the first tooth I lost, and a lock of my baby hair.”

  Zach shook his head in amazement. “Does that mean if I die before you do, you’ll have me stuffed by some taxidermist and set me in a corner?”

  She gave him a glorious, impish smile. “Now, there’s a novel idea. Then, I’d have you with me always, but I suppose I’d have to dust you once in a while. I hope you’re not allergic to Endust.”

  Chapter 30

  It was a long, worrisome day. Kelly couldn’t imagine hell could be worse than this—cooped up for hours in a drab, airless waiting room supplied with lumpy plastic furniture, praying for the best and anticipating the worst. The operation lasted for six hours, during which Zach paced back and forth until Kelly thought he’d wear a hole through the flooring. Sarah prayed, sighed, wept, and then went through the whole routine over and over again. Beth and Leah, worried stiff themselves, tried to comfort their mother, while Dave and Pete attempted to comfort them.

  Though feeling like an intruder, Kelly stayed close, for approximately every fifth lap Zach cease pacing long enough to grab her hand for a quick squeeze, or to pat her shoulder, or just brush his fingers over the top of her head. This small contact, however fleeting, seemed to soothe him. Kelly noticed, even if Zach was unaware of it, that every time he stopped to touch her, Becky would glare at the two of them. Bored, but equally anxious about their grandfather, Becky, Myra, and Gabe were biding the time by playing cards in a corner of the room.

  Finally, around eleven o’clock, Kelly offered to escort the kids down to the cafeteria and buy them some lunch. Even if they didn’t need nourishment, she needed something in her stomach to counter the stale donuts, scalded coffee, and two cans of soda pop she’d consumed. Zach and the other adults declined her offer to bring sandwiches back. They were running on raw nerves and caffeine overload by now.

  Gabe and Myra were quiet, but very polite, and thanked Kelly for buying them the meal. Becky was sullen throughout, and though she understood the girl’s animosity, Kelly’s patience was wearing thin. She had to bite her tongue to keep from giving the child a piece of her mind, frazzled as it was. Afterward, Kelly took the children into the gift shop and suggested they choose a get-well present for their grandfather, warning them that he probably wouldn’t be allowed real flowers in his room for a couple of days. They selected a small ceramic duck, which would double as a paperweight for Ike’s office desk. When Kelly asked if they would like to buy a couple of comic books for themselves, Beth’s youngsters leapt at the chance.

  Becky bridled. “I’m not in a funny mood,” she sniped at Kelly. “I’m worried about Grandpa, even if you’re not. Of course, you’re not really part of our family, and you never will be, even if you do marry Dad.”

  Her cousins stood by silently, looking decidedly chagrined by Becky’s rude behavior.

  “Well, excuse me!” Kelly snapped back. “I merely thought it would give you something else to do to pass the time while we’re waiting. Perhaps if you search the shelves, you can find something morbid to read, to match your mood.”

  “Get a crossword puzzle book, Beck,” Myra suggested timidly, trying to play peacemaker. “That’s not funny, and Gabe and I can help you work them.”

  “If you want one, get it yourself,” Becky retorted. “I don’t want anything, especially if she’s paying for it.”

  “You know, Becky,” Kelly commented, softening her words with a strained smile. “For a cute kid,
you certainly can be a snot. My advice to you would be to wise up real fast, pumpkin, and stop antagonizing the lady who is going to be your stepmother in a few short weeks. I’m not your enemy, but we’re not going to be friends either, until you get that chip off your shoulder.”

  It was two hours more before the surgeon finally arrived to say, “The surgery went well. Ike is in the recovery room now, and should be transferred to intensive care in another couple of hours. You can see him then, one at a time, and only for a total of ten minutes every hour, however you want to divide the time between you. In a day or so, he’ll be moved to a private room, and you can visit for longer periods, but right now he needs his rest.”

  “Is he going to be all right?” Sarah worried.

  “He’ll be up and better than new before you know it,” the doctor assured her. “But he’s going to have to take better care of himself from here on out. That means getting out of the office for some exercise each day, revising his diet, and losing those few extra pounds he’s been carrying. See he does that, and you’ll have him around for another twenty or thirty years, running circles around you.”

  They stayed until Zach and Becky both got a turn to see Ike. Then, knowing Sarah would want more time with him, and that they wouldn’t have another opportunity until morning, Zach proposed that they leave. He kissed his mother, who had arranged to stay through the night, told her to call if there was any change in Ike’s condition or if she just needed to talk, and ushered Becky and Kelly out.

  “What do you say about getting a pizza on the way home?” Zach suggested.

  When the other two agreed, he asked Kelly, “What do you like on yours?”

  “Just about anything but anchovies.”

  “Pepperoni? Olives? Green peppers? Mushrooms?”

  Kelly nodded. “Sounds fine to me.”

  “I don’t like mushrooms,” Becky piped up petulantly from the back seat. “Neither do you, Dad.”

  Kelly was too tired to argue. “Leave the mushrooms off, Zach.”

  “No. If you want them, that’s what we’ll get. Becky and I can pick them off and give our share to you.”

  “I don’t want olives either,” Becky said, just to make things more difficult. “Or green peppers.”

  Zach pulled to the side of the street, stopping the car in a No Parking zone. He turned in his seat to face his daughter, noting the smirk on her face.

  “Look, little lady. You’ve eaten your pizza that way since you were old enough to chew it, so don’t give me any more guff, or I’m going to paddle your butt. It’s pizza with olives and peppers, or you can make yourself a blasted peanut butter sandwich and a bowl of cereal for supper. It’s your choice.”

  Later, Becky made a big production out of stripping the extras off of her pizza, but she didn’t say anything more until it was time for her to go to bed. “Do I have to go to school tomorrow?” she whined. “I want to go back to the hospital and see Grandpa again.”

  “I’ll take you after school,” Zach told her. “You’ve missed enough class as it is, and your grades won’t stand much more. Which reminds me, did you get your homework done?”

  “Most of it.”

  “Then what were you doing watching television?” Zach demanded, with an exasperated sigh. He consulted his watch. “I’ll give you an extra half an hour to finish it. Bring it to me when it’s done, and I’ll check it for you.”

  “I don’t know if I can get it done by then,” Becky hedged. “It’s English, and it’s real hard. We’re diagraming sentences, and I missed some of it while we were in Hawaii.”

  Zach grimaced. “I’d be happier if it was algebra. Then I could help explain it to you.”

  “I’d be glad to help you, Becky,” Kelly offered, ignoring the little voice that told her to stay out of this. “English was my best subject.”

  Becky’s nose tilted into the air, in as fair an imitation of Alita as Kelly had seen. “Never mind, I’d rather do it myself.”

  Kelly shrugged. “Okay, kiddo. It’s no skin off my back, either way.”

  When Becky was finally in bed, Zach again apologized for his daughter’s belligerence. “This is not the way I pictured it. I was hoping she’d be thrilled with the idea of having a mother again, and that we’d all be one happy family.”

  Kelly gave a rueful chuckle. “Dream on, Zach, and stop watching all those old reruns of ‘Leave it to Beaver.’ They’re giving you delusions. The modern family doesn’t operate that way, and if you’re expecting June Cleaver’s clone to greet you at the door every evening, you’re in for a rather rude awakening, love.”

  “Boy, you really know how to burst a guy’s bubble,” he grumbled with a grin.

  “You want bubbles?” she inquired with an arch look. She took his hand and pulled him off the couch. “You got ’em, sweetcheeks. I’ve been sitting here for the last ten minutes, yearning for a long soak in a tub overflowing with the stuff.”

  “Sorry,” Zach said with an apologetic shake of his head. “I’m fresh out of bubblebath.”

  “I’m not,” she countered smugly, tugging him toward the master bathroom. “You should know by now that when I pack, I try to allow for every possibility. Come on, darling, we’re going to pop a whole tub full of bubbles, and I can promise you won’t regret the disappearance of a single one.”

  Kelly and Zach found time the following day to make a jaunt to Uncle Saul’s jewelry store, where Kelly chose a wedding band to go with her engagement ring, and one to match for Zach. They also went to the courthouse and applied for their marriage license, after deciding it would be easier for Kelly and her family to go to Washington for the wedding than for Zach’s whole tribe to head south. Additionally, Ike’s operation and recuperation were determining factors in choosing the location. Naturally, the clerk specified that the license would be held in reserve until Kelly could produce documented proof that her divorce from Brad was finalized.

  Kelly flew home to Phoenix the next morning. Both she and Zach, though apart, had much to do in the few weeks until the wedding, which was tentatively scheduled for mid-October. Zach would continue negotiations to buy the island, as well as conduct his usual business affairs. Kelly had to prepare for her wedding, pack for the move to Seattle, and resolve issues surrounding the reopening of the salons.

  Zach surprised her by flying into Phoenix on the last Friday of September. He arrived bearing a huge bouquet of red roses.

  “What in the world?” Kelly was stupefied.

  Zach grinned at her over the top of the flowers. “Happy birthday, sweetheart!”

  “Oh, my gosh! I’d all but forgotten about it!” she confessed. “Everything’s been so hectic. How did you know?”

  “I remembered you saying you’d turn twenty-eight in September, and I asked your mother the date. I was relieved to learn I hadn’t missed it.”

  Sydney was tickled pink at seeing Zach again, and the feeling was mutual. That evening, Zach took them both out to dinner, where an octet of waiters and waitresses presented Kelly with a birthday cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to her before an entire restaurant crowded with diners, utterly embarrassing her.

  “Darn you, Zach Goldstein! You just wait till your birthday rolls around! You’re going to be in for it, then, buster,” she promised.

  Later, after Sydney had been tucked in for the night, Zach talked Kelly into modeling some the more exotic lingerie items she carried in her boutiques. He was particularly intrigued with one black teddy trimmed in white lace, with garters and fishnet hose. It was part of a set that included lace wrist-cuffs, a frilly choker collar, a little apron, and a perky maid’s cap.

  “Sweetheart,” he told her, wearing an expression of awe and anticipation, “you are the answer to a man’s most erotic dreams.”

  Kelly struck a provocative pose. “Are you ready to be served, sir?”

  Zach glanced down at his jockey shorts, and the prominent bulge within. “That, and then some.”

  To his befuddlement, sh
e turned to exit the bedroom. “Wait a minute. Where are you going?”

  “To fetch the whipped cream, of course,” she called back saucily. “No dessert is quite complete without it.”

  * * *

  They were on their second round of love play, with Zach spritzing whipped cream over Kelly’s mostly nude body and licking it off—she was still wearing the hose and accessories, though the teddy had long since hit the floor— when a tiny voice inquired from the side of the bed, “What-cha doin’?”

  Zach let out a startled yell and nearly leapt to the ceiling at the unexpected intrusion. Only Kelly’s hands, clutching his shoulders, kept him from becoming airborne. “Uh, well… uh…” he stammered, while Kelly howled with laughter.

  “We’re playing, sweet pea,” Kelly finally managed to say. “What are you doing out of bed? You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

  “Gotta go potty,” Syd informed them with childish nonchalance. “Can I play, too?” she asked innocently, propping her chin on edge of the mattress.

  By now, Zach had snatched the sheet over himself and Kelly. “No, this is a grown-up game, dumplin’. Do you need some help, or can you go to the bathroom by yourself?”

  “I go myself,” the toddler said.

  “And climb right back into your bed when you’re done,” Kelly instructed, her words vibrating with lingering amusement. She dabbed a dot of whipped cream on Sydney’s nose, making her grin. “Go on now, before you wet your jammies.”

  Sydney trotted obediently out of the room, and Zach collapsed atop Kelly with a martyred moan. Kelly dissolved in riotous giggles, smothering the sound by pressing her face into Zach’s neck.

  “Oh! Oh, my goodness!” she gasped between chortles. “I thought we were going to peel you off the ceiling fan!”

  “Before or after you revived me?” he queried wryly. “I nearly went into shock!” He chuckled, adding, “For as noisy as that child usually is, she can sure sneak up on you when you least expect it. I wonder how long she was watching us?”