Where Dreams Books 1-3

by M. L. Buchman

  Maria shared a moment of shock with Jo and Cassidy about what Perrin had just gotten her to admit, then they burst out laughing in unison.

  “Don’t worry, Maria,” Jo gave her a hug. “Neither of us know how Perrin does it, but if it’s about boys, don’t ever think you can hide it with Perrin around.”

  Perrin switched over to an energetic shimmy that might have been a start of a conga line. Maria grabbed her waist and soon they were all dancing about the pier in the reflected city lights.

  “Oh, look at that!” Perrin stumbled to a halt and they piled up behind her like a train wreck.

  Just a few hundred feet off the end of the pier, a sailboat had turned toward them. Its rigging was festooned with brightly colored Christmas lights. Blues, golds, reds, and greens traced the line of the mast and where the sails would be if they weren’t furled. The lights also swooped along the low, sleek lines of the hull and traced each window. A spiral of purple lights even wound around the tiller where several dark figures moved about the cockpit.

  “It’s beautiful!” Maria felt there was something familiar about the boat. She almost had it when Cassidy cried out.

  “Hey! That’s our boat!”

  Russell’s voice floated back to them over the water. “It is, my love.”

  In moments the boat slid up at a landing beside the pier. The four women scrambled aboard, Hogan meeting them at the rail to offer a hand, and in moments, Russell was motoring out into Elliott Bay once more.

  Cassidy hurried to the stern and leapt into Russell’s arms. Had he been a lesser man, they’d have tumbled backward off the stern and into the cold waters below.

  Angelo popped his head up from below. “Who wants hot cider?”

  Jo and Perrin went back to give a hand.

  Hogan straightened from re-securing the lifeline, he’d dropped a section of it for them to climb aboard.

  Maria pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. “An evening sail! What a pleasant surprise.”

  He rubbed his hands very possessively from her shoulders to her hips and back. Any chills she’d felt waiting on the dock he banished as if they’d never been.

  “Cut it out, you two,” Russell called. “You’ll just make Angelo nervous.”

  “And me sooo totally envious!” Perrin walked up to them carrying two steel cups with snap lids. She handed one to each and then hugged them both fiercely.

  “Hi Hogan. I’m Perrin. And if I ever find out you don’t appreciate Mama Maria enough, you’re going overboard, winter or not. We clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Hogan glanced at Maria for guidance as Perrin made the threat sound completely serious. Maria left him to flounder. Like everyone else, he’d have to figure out on his own how to deal with Perrin.

  “So,” she winked at Maria before turning back to Hogan. “Kitchen floor, huh? Way to go you two.” She gave him a friendly punch on the arm and headed back to the cockpit.

  “Uh…” was all Hogan managed.

  “I know,” Maria empathized. “She does that to you.”

  “Is she married?”

  “No, and don’t get any ideas.”

  “Huh? No, I didn’t mean that. I was just wondering if we should observe a moment of silence on the behalf of whatever unsuspecting male she ultimately sets her sights on.”

  Maria kissed his cheek. “He’ll be damned lucky, whoever he is.”

  “Like me,” Hogan hugged her tightly, then she led him back to the cockpit to meet her other friends.

  # # #

  “Oh look at that one!” It was probably the tenth time Perrin had said that this evening. “It’s so sweet!”

  Hogan was very tempted to dismiss her as flighty, maybe even empty-headed. The others were careful of her. Perhaps careful with her would be more accurate. Protective, maybe overprotective. Except Maria. Perrin was the one Maria was most often beside, which told him that there was far more to the waif-like girl than appeared on the surface. Though it was clear that the three girls worshipped “Mama Maria” almost as much as Angelo and Russell did, it was Perrin who had threatened him. There was something special about her relationship with Maria.

  Perrin was pointing off to starboard at the latest boat to join the Christmas Boat Parade. Every year, the boat parade would visit the various waterside communities from Tacoma to Seattle and all around Lake Washington and Lake Union. The lead boat was a tour boat and hosted a different choir each night. Tonight a gospel choir was belting out the carols, not really needing the speaker system. Their music carried clearly over the quiet waters.

  The newest arrival at the tail of the boat parade wasn’t much to look at. It was a couple on a small boat with a single strand of blue lights. He’d always found blue lights to be a little sad.

  “They’re so cute. Like a puppy dog just so happy to be here that they don’t care how they look.”

  Hogan had looked at the same boat and seen someone who simply hadn’t tried very hard. He liked Perrin’s interpretation much better. Maybe he was starting to understand what Maria saw in her.

  He turned from the boat and found that he was somehow seated hip to hip with Perrin in the cozy cockpit. By the bright Christmas lights that he’d spent an afternoon helping Russell put in place, he could see Perrin’s soft blue eyes very clearly. In that instant he finally understood; he was facing a deeply insightful intelligence masked behind a hyperactive smokescreen. He’d faced corporate executives who couldn’t rouse such a focused and intent look.

  “Single, divorced, or widowed?”

  “Uh, divorced.”

  “Why?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Can’t or won’t? Why? Is she famous, or an international spy?” Definitely still a layer of flighty there.

  “No,” Hogan shook his head. “I’m just not allowed to.”

  Perrin squinted at him for a long moment, then glanced over his shoulder and back.

  “Mama Maria swore you to secrecy?”

  Hogan opened his mouth to answer.

  “No,” she corrected herself. “She said it was bad for you to talk about your ex- or even think about her.” Perrin didn’t make it a question.

  “How did you just do that?”

  “What?”

  “Answer a complex question correctly without a single fact.”

  She hit him with that flashing smile and a girlish grin. The flighty chick was back. “Magic.”

  He laughed, but stopped her from turning away with a light touch on her arm. “No, really.”

  Perrin sobered and inspected him carefully, then nodded to herself as if deciding something about him.

  “Maria said you’d been hurt, but she chose you. That means you’re an amazing man because I know that she is scary smart about people. That’s means you told her something, but now you can’t tell me anything. So, she’s trying to help you erase the past.” Again that simple shrug, making her conclusion obvious. “I want to grow up to be just like her.”

  He took both her hands in his, figuring it was probably the only way to keep her focus on him. Then he kissed her on the cheek.

  She blinked at him in confusion.

  “You’re on the right track. You’re scary smart, Perrin.”

  # # #

  “What did you do to her?” Maria held Hogan’s hand as they returned up the Pike Street Hill Climb to reach his condo. The Market was mostly closed, so they took the outside stairs at the south edge of the Market to enjoy the night. It was a long steady climb that slowly revealed the waterfront each time they stopped at a landing to look back at the way they’d come.

  The boat parade had broken up. A few boats lingered, but most were headed back toward their berths. The girls had gone back with the two boys to return the boat to Shilshole Marina a few miles to the north. Not enough seats in the carpool for all of them to
stay together, Hogan and Maria had been dropped back at the pier to walk the few blocks up the hill.

  “What did I do to whom? Oh Perrin. Didn’t do anything. I like her.”

  Maria watched Hogan, trying to read those thoughts he kept mostly to himself. You would think after raising Angelo and Russell, she’d be used to reticent men. Of course, Angelo’s father had been anything but reticent, he had talked at length about dreams, plans, and the future. None of which had happened. The moment she was pregnant, he was gone. Perhaps reticent was a good thing. Hogan spoke, but mainly when he had something to say.

  He deserved some peace tonight, he had survived the gauntlet. He’d impossibly befriended Angelo and Russell, clearly tonight they were as thick as thieves and comfortable together. He’d also won Cassidy and Jo’s probationary approval, not an easy task. She’d seen them double-teaming him several times on the boat. They were subtle, handing off questions mixed in idle conversation. Of course, she’d expect no less from two such successful women.

  It was Perrin who surprised her. The evening had begun with Perrin threatening Hogan. Not long after, Maria had seen the two speak for just a few moments. Maria would have paid several secret recipes to overhear that conversation, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. And it was over so abruptly she’d never had a chance to move closer.

  Then Perrin had come over, hugged her, and whispered in her ear. “I’m going to start designing your wedding dress. You’ll look incredible.” She’d given one of her shrug-off laughs and gone after more mulled cider, leaving Maria in such a state of shock she couldn’t speak even when Angelo asked if she was okay.

  Wedding dress? She’d seen the dresses that Perrin had designed for Cassidy and Jo’s weddings and they were stunning. They were getting press for Perrin’s Glorious Garb and Russell had designed a beautiful ad using them. But there was no chance that Maria was ready for a wedding dress. They’d only known each other for… That couldn’t be right.

  “Hogan, what date did you first come to my window?”

  “December first. Why?”

  She didn’t say anything. It was too little time.

  “Oh. December 14th. Our two-week anniversary. And I didn’t get you a present. Bad Hogan. Bad Hogan.” As if that were his new first name.

  “A present?” Her voice was a choked squeak that had nothing to do with reaching the top step and broad landing at the head of the long climb.

  “Well, either I owe you a present, or you’re busy thinking what I’m thinking.”

  “And what’s that?” she was almost afraid to ask.

  He turned her to face him. The moon still shone in the sky above, the brighter stars showing despite the streetlights. Of the whole waterfront, only the Ferris wheel still towered above them, lit red and green in celebration of the season and the boat parade.

  “I’m thinking how impossible it is that I’ve fallen in love in a mere fourteen days.”

  She heard the word come from his lips.

  She knew that it reached her ears, because she heard it.

  But it stalled somewhere before it reached her brain.

  “Love?”

  He nodded, almost sadly. Then he pulled her in and kissed her on the forehead. “I know. We had such a beautiful friendship going on here. Real pain in butt for me to go off and fall in love with you, isn’t it? Throws in all sorts of complications. But true nonetheless.”

  “Complications?” She could barely understand what he was saying. Why did her brain choose that word to whisper? She should be saying— No, she shouldn’t! Absolutely not! She was positively not ready to be saying that.

  “Yes. Now Angelo is going to have to figure out whether or not he really is going to kill me. Russell I think I can play the fellow-sailor card to buy my safety. Actually, he’d probably just sit back while cheering on both sides whichever way it goes. Jo and Cassidy will definitely escalate from tonight’s efforts to a full Spanish Inquisition. Torture with soft pillows, comfy chairs, the whole nine yards of Monty Python. They’re very cute when they think they’re being subtle.”

  “And Perrin?”

  Hogan pulled her into his arms and wrapped her tight and safe against him. He blocked any chances of shakes or terrors that she expected to be feeling. He nuzzled her hair briefly before whispering his response.

  “Perrin. My best guess is that she’ll be your maid of honor, holding the shotgun to my back if necessary.”

  Chapter 11

  Maria didn’t know which way to turn. She couldn’t call the girls. Each of their biases were clear. She certainly couldn’t sit down with her son, and even less so with Russell. She wanted to call Julia Morgan, but she and her husband were somewhere in Australia, at least according to their last postcard. With her husband’s retirement, the two of them had become world travelers.

  It was ridiculous. She knew everyone in Pike Place Market, and had no one to talk to. Except Hogan. But he was the last person she was going to be talking to about Hogan.

  He’d been very patient and kind with her all week. Not demanding that she respond. Not insisting on the words. She couldn’t imagine how it must hurt him. She wanted to say them, but each time she tried, they caught in her heart, bound there as if by chains.

  She had loved and lost. It had gotten her a wonderful son and a wonderful life, but that early pain was still wound tightly deep in her breast.

  At a loss, Maria finally went by Perrin’s store. Her shop was nestled in the ground floor of an old brick building on Second Avenue just a few blocks north of the Market. Hogan told her that this whole area of Bell Town had totally transformed over the last decade. It had been the rundown edge of Seattle’s downtown. Now it was the newest.

  Tall condos had invaded only in a few places. But the old brick facades were cleaned up and in good shape, filled with dozens of small entrepreneurs in every city block. Boutiques, both tiny and larger like Perrin’s, were packed in among food vendors, tiny restaurants, dance clubs, bars, offices of creative design companies… It was an almost dizzying collection of youthful energy.

  She ducked through the glass door of Perrin’s Glorious Garb, a tinkling bell announcing her arrival. Maria always loved coming here, and not just for the amazing clothing. Perrin had taken over an old 1950s diner and turned it into a generous menu of bold options. The place had a light, cheerful feel that was a pleasure all in itself.

  In one red leather booth, all of the tables had been removed to reveal the outfits, sat a trio of women mannequins clad in form-fitting attire. But it wasn’t just some clingy fabric, not if Perrin designed it. The blouses and skirts had sculpted collars that made them appear far more provocative than they actually were if you managed to focus on the minimal amount of skin exposed. They were also in powerful colors that would draw an entire room’s attention on whichever woman wore these.

  She considered how the second one might look on her for a moment. No. Not quite her style. Perrin was right, these were constructed rather than the softer looks that Maria preferred.

  In another booth lounged a pair of bridesmaids with their feet propped comfortably on the opposite bench seat, revealing Perrin’s magnificent skill at draping and her understanding of a woman’s body. They were in a shocking rainbow of color, broad stripes swirling about the mannequin forms. It should have been ugly, even grotesque, yet Maria could almost see herself standing beside three women so clad.

  A clerk and a couple women were chatting comfortably in front of a triple mirror, one blond and slender, the other Jamaican dark and bountifully curved. They were both trying on business suits, though that was perhaps the only phrase that connected the two garments. Wholly different designs and fabrics, but they bore the same clear punch of power. Not “I am a woman in a man’s world,” but rather “I am Woman! Watch out!”

  “Maria!” Perrin came out of the back room and rushed over to give her a big
hug. She still had her stark white hair, and her face was still unadorned, but she wore an emerald green blouse and skirt that looked like a flapper’s dress, if it had been made for a futuristic science fiction movie out of slick fabrics. She looked incredibly sexy and glamorous. She also looked as if she belonged to a far superior race and had just been beamed down to the Planet Earth.

  “Come! Come!” Perrin dragged her through the doors into the back room. It had been the kitchen and was now set up with stylish raincoats on spatula-wielding mannequins, racks of colorful umbrellas dangled from above rather than copper pots and pans, and shoe-lined pantry shelves. She dragged Maria on through an open walk-in freezer lined with shelves of accessories and into her design space through a swinging door installed through the rear of the steel-clad cubical space.

  “Go back there. Get naked.” Perrin practically shoved her behind a classic Victorian changing screen that blocked off a corner. Its top was draped with half-a-dozen garments tossed negligently over.

  “But—” Her attempt to protest was ignored. Maria had her coat off and was halfway to undoing her blouse before she came to her senses. “No. Wait. I came to talk to you.”

  “That’s fine,” Perrin came around the corner of the screen and finished the job of removing Maria’s blouse. “But I can’t talk until I see this on you. No peeking.”

  Giving in, Maria finished undressing down to her underwear.

  “I have your measurements from that dress I made for you a few months ago. So this should be close. You have such a great figure.”

  Perrin’s running monologue made it impossible for Maria to interrupt, or even get her balance. In moments, she was standing with eyes closed as Perrin slipped a dress over Maria’s head.

  “At first I figured since this would be your first time, I should go all out.”

  “All out on what?” But Perrin ignored her question.

  “Then I thought about you being such a classic beauty that I wanted to showcase that, so I decided simple and elegant. Keep your eyes closed, I just need to do some pinning here. It is the woman we want to really show off.”