Celia's Puppies

by Claudia Hall Christian

  “I don’t think so,” Steve said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

  “How do you know them?” Jill asked Steve.

  “Remember I used to tutor people when I was in high school? Honey was one of the people I tutored,” Steve said. “I saw her after I graduated too.”

  “He bullied me through most of high school,” Honey said.

  “Nice to meet you, man,” MJ said.

  “I’m so sorry to hear about what happened,” Steve said. “I’ve been heart sick about it.”

  Honey nodded.

  “We were about to look at plans for Honey’s new home,” Jacob said.

  “Oh sorry, I don’t want to interrupt. I pass by on my way home from the hospital, but no one’s been here,” Steve said. “I was hoping to catch Mike.”

  “He’s in LA,” Jill said.

  Steve sighed.

  “What’s up?” Jill asked.

  “Leslie’s pregnant.”

  “Oh Steve, that’s wonderful!”

  While Delphie hugged him, everyone beamed. Sam patted his back.

  “We’re absolutely to the moon thrilled. But the doctor thinks Leslie will have to stop teaching. High risk pregnancy and all,” Steve said. “I’ll need to find another job. I thought I could get more hours at the hospital, but with the economy, they don’t have the extra hours for new nurses.”

  “What kind of job you going to look for?” Jill asked.

  “I was thinking I’d try to find a private job. You know, work for a service checking on homebound people. I could work around my hospital schedule.”

  Jacob laughed. Delphie hugged Steve again.

  “Why is that funny?” Steve whispered to Jill.

  “Honey needs someone to help her in the mornings and at night,” MJ said.

  “No way.” Steve’s head jerked to Honey.

  Honey nodded.

  “Would you be all right with Steve?” MJ asked.

  Honey’s eyes welled with tears.

  “Next thing you’re going to tell me that we can get married this weekend,” Honey said.

  “Even the slightest chance is still a chance,” Delphie said.

  “We didn’t want to overwhelm you,” Jacob said.

  Honey turned her face into MJ’s chest. He kissed the top of her head.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Saturday morning — 4:30 A.M.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Colin Hargreaves whispered.

  They were standing at the side entrance to the Castle. When Jill held out her arms, he passed a dirty, sound asleep Paddie to her.

  “Not at all,” Jill whispered. “I was planning on taking care of the kids today anyway. I know Katy wants to see Paddie.”

  “Even after their big fight?” Colin asked.

  “Katy misses Paddie,” Jill nodded.

  “Paddie kept saying over and over again that he ‘gots to see Katy ‘cuz Paddie hurts her feelings. Bad.’ He made me promise I’d bring him here after he got out of the hospital,” Colin whispered. “He’s had an awful summer.”

  “I think we all have,” Jill whispered.

  “I’ll tell you, Jill. Katy saved the day. Paddie did everything Katy told him to do from what she saw in her…uh… dream.”

  “Is Julie going to be all right?” Jill whispered.

  “The doctors think so,” Colin said. “She needs rest, quiet and safety. She’ll be in the hospital at least for today.”

  “Losing a baby is really hard,” Jill said.

  “She was four months along. It’s a miracle she survived,” Colin said.

  Jill hugged him.

  “I feel like I’m dumping my precious son on you. Our team’s been gone. With the wedding, I need to fill in at the bakery, and Julie...”

  “Paddie’s welcome here,” Jill said. “He can stay as long as you need.”

  “I’ll come to get him as soon as I can,” Colin said. “I packed everything I thought he might need in the backpack. If you need to get something, we’ll pay...”

  “Take the time you need,” Jill said. “Really. He’s perfectly safe and welcome here. It sounds like you and Julie could use some time, too.”

  “Yes,” Colin said. “Thanks, Jill. If he gets to be too much, Alex and Max will be here today to take care of the bees. They can...”

  “Don’t worry, Colin. I have your number,” Jill said.

  “Well, thanks.” Colin leaned in to kiss Paddie’s head. “Love you, Paddie.”

  Wiping his eyes, he nodded to Jill and walked back to his car. Jill turned to carry Paddie up the long stairwell to the attic. Rather than waking Jacob and Katy, she filled the apartment bathtub to give Paddie a quick bath. In the way of very young children, Paddie let Jill go through the motions of bathing him without actually walking up. Jill dressed him in a clean cotton footie from the backpack and carried him into the apartment.

  Of course, Jacob was waiting for her on the other side of the door. He went with her into Katy’s room. Katy opened her eyes when Jill set Paddie in her bed.

  “Paddie!”

  “I sorry, Katy,” Paddie said. “I so sorry. I hurted your heart.”

  “I’m sorry for hurting you too.”

  “I love Katy.” The toddler’s blue eyes welled with tears.

  “Don’t cry!” Katy said sniffling at her own tears. “I love you, Paddie.”

  Paddie snuggled into Katy. Within moments, the toddlers were asleep.

  “Are you all right?” Jacob asked when they snuggled back in their bed.

  “I’m relieved,” Jill said.

  “Relieved?”

  “Katy and Paddie had this huge fight last summer,” Jill said. “Just before we left for Ohio. Katy had a dream that Paddie’s Mom would start bleeding and Paddie would have to save her. She told Paddie and he got really mad at her. Katy was heartbroken.”

  “Where was I?” Jacob asked.

  “You were getting your shoulder surgery,” Jill said. “Poor Katy. I’ve never seen her so upset. I don’t really know what happened but it sounds like it all went down in the last couple days.”

  Jacob held out his arm so Jill could snuggle up against his chest.

  “We need to do this marriage thing,” he said.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “When do we go off the pill?” he asked.

  “I should get my period next week,” she said.

  “Let’s wait to go off the pill until we’re married,” he said.

  “Such a traditionalist.”

  “Want to get married this weekend?” he asked.

  She laughed.

  “I’m serious.”

  “I know,” she said. She kissed his lips. “I love you for that.”

  “But?”

  “I want Honey to have a really wonderful day that’s about her and MJ,” Jill said. “She deserves her moment.”

  “And you? What do you deserve?”

  “My own perfect wedding,” she said. “You deserve that too.”

  “Would you like to practice?”

  “Practice?”

  “Baby making,” he said. “You know, for when we’re off the pill and married.”

  “Oh yes,” she said.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Who A listed you?

  Saturday afternoon — 1 P.M. PDT

  Santa Monica, CA

  “Val! Mike!”

  A tan, good looking man with a bright smile leaned over to hug Valerie and kiss her cheek. Mike stood to shake hands with him. They were sitting on the patio table at the Hidden Restaurant, one of Santa Monica’s best and most eclectic restaurants.

  “My better half is going to be a little late. She said we should start without her.”

  “She called to let me know,” Valerie said. “We are waiting for our... Oh there he is. Max!”

  Valerie waved Max Hargreaves over to the table.

  “This is our friend, Max Hargreaves,” Mike said.

  “Wow, you lo
ok familiar to me,” the man said.

  “I’m an identical twin,” Max said.

  “I must have met him,” the man said.

  “I believe you have.” Looking at Val, Max asked, “Have you ordered?”

  “Not yet,” Valerie said.

  “The menu has a little bit of everything on it,” Mike said. “What looks good?”

  “I was going to wait for my wife,” the man said.

  “She’s calling in her order,” Valerie said. “Producer’s prerogative, you know.”

  “She has more irons in the fire than anyone I know.”

  The man smiled, but shifted uncomfortably in his chair. His eyes gravitated to Max. Max smiled. The waiter took their order before the man realized who Max was.

  “Your identical twin is a woman.”

  “In fact, she is.”

  “I thought that wasn’t possible.”

  “People think lots of things are impossible,” Max said.

  “How are the bees?” Valerie asked.

  “All right,” Max said. “Delphie will probably only lose one hive, maybe two. That’s pretty good for this year.”

  “CCD?” Mike asked.

  “We’ve been hit hard the last couple of years.”

  “What’s that?” the man asked.

  “Colony Collapse Disorder,” Max said. “It kills honeybee hives during the winter. You never know what will happen until you visit the hives in the early spring.”

  “You’re a beekeeper?” the man asked.

  “My sister and I keep a few hives at our house. Val’s referring to the hives at her home in Denver,” Max said. “My twin and I helped with their hives this morning. I had to cut out early to get here.”

  “What did you do about medications?” Mike asked. “Delphie and I researched that last spring. Did she decide to transition away from them?”

  “Yep,” Max said. “Both of our apiaries are chemical free this year. It’s a crap shoot but worth the risk. We’ll see next spring. Alex wants to raise queens next year.”

  “Gosh, beekeeping is fascinating,” the man said. His eyes drifted around the restaurant looking to see if his adoring public had noticed him yet.

  “I think so. I have something for you,” Max said. Opening his briefcase, Max gave the man an ultrasound photo. “I’d like introduce you to your son.”

  “Whoa. You’ve made some mistake. I’m not the father of any baby.”

  “What pisses me off the most is that you thought you could come to MY home! MY party! And treat MY friends like garbage.” Valerie’s face was all smiles but her voice was pure rage. “Did you know that after paying for your lunch, Heather slept at the airport? Carrying YOUR child! She was kicked out of her home. She has no where to live.”

  “Of course, some girl lies and Valerie is on the case,” the man said.

  “My FATHER told me,” Valerie said. “Heather had too much class to say a word.”

  The man looked from Valerie to Mike then at Max. Calculating his next move, he raised his eyebrows at his possible out.

  “DNA results?”

  “It was tough to get them so quickly,” Max said. “But my sister has a lab that processes DNA within twenty-four hours. Government connections, you know?”

  “I never gave a sample,” the man said.

  “Your DNA is on file,” Max said.

  Max smiled his big ‘imitating Alex’ smile. The man’s face registered surprise. Still trying to work another angle, his eyes shifted to look at Valerie.

  “Val, please. You know I’d never do anything to upset or offend you… OR your friends. You’ve got to believe me. I was out of my mind! Freaked out!” The man’s voice rose. Realizing his adoring public might hear him, he dropped his voice. “One moment, I’m thinking I had found my ticket out of the platinum handcuffs and the next I realized I’d lose everything. Not just the money and status, but my wife produces the soap opera we’re on. I had a panic attack in the restroom. I could barely make it home.”

  “You managed to pack up her belongings and dump them with your doorman,” Mike said.

  “I was out of my mind!” The man drained his wine.

  As if on cue, the waiter brought their meal. They went through a round of ‘Would you like fresh pepper?’ and ‘How about some fresh parmesan?’ before anyone looked at each other.

  “I assume she kept the baby?” the man broke the silence at the table.

  “I bet you didn’t know my twin had the same security installed at the Castle as they installed in your home.” Max smiled.

  “I’m not sure what that means,” the man said.

  One at a time, Max laid four photographs in front of their guest. Taken of the videotape from the night of the party, the images showed this man and Heather in a variety of delicate positions.

  “We have the video.” Max held up a DVD with the video on it.

  “In fact,” Valerie pointed to someone behind the man. The man turned to look. “See that guy.”

  Valerie waved. The guy waved back with a picture in his hand.

  “That’s PEREZ HILTON!”

  “Is it?” Valerie asked. “He looks very busy with his laptop.”

  “But... Valerie, please,” the man said.

  “Shut up,” Max said. “You fucked up. Here’s what you’re going to do about it.”

  “I’m not doing anything...”

  Valerie raised her hand to wave Perez over to their table.

  “Ok. okay, what do you want?” the man asked.

  “First you’re going to wire one million dollars from your ‘secret’ off shore bank account,” Mike said.

  “How did you...”

  “Alex would be here to explain,” Max said. “But she’s otherwise detained. Remember, beehives?”

  “Oh,” the man said.

  “My computer is set up for the transfer,” Max said. “We have the codes, of course, but I’d like you to pretend you are a decent chap. Make this right by typing in the codes.”

  The man typed in a series of codes. Turning the laptop back to Max, he gave a smug grin.

  “I set it up for the money to be deposited then returned.”

  “Yeah, that only works if you leave the money sitting in one location for more than a second,” Max said. “Look! All that money magically disappears.”

  “How did...?”

  “Sister? Government?” Max pulled a stack of papers from his briefcase. “You will sign this document. This document relieves you of your parental rights, responsibilities and duties.”

  The man smiled. Letting out a breath, he picked up Max’s pen and signed the form.

  “That’s it. A million dollars and a signature?” the man beamed. Looking from face to face, he laughed. “You’ve saved my ass! You have no idea how freaked out I’ve been. Thank you so much!”

  Valerie opened her mouth to say something then shut it. She set her fork down.

  “I’m sorry,” Valerie said. “I feel sick to my stomach. I don’t think I can eat any more.”

  Mike put his arm around her. They shared a look.

  “We need to get to Denver anyway,” Mike said.

  “I thought you had another week on the soap?” the man asked. “I was looking forward to your dramatic exit. Car crash isn’t it? I narrowly escape to spend months in the hospital mourning your death?”

  “My sister is getting married tomorrow,” Valerie said. “I need to be there tonight to help. I’ll be back on Monday.”

  “Great! I’ll catch up with you then,” the man said. “And don’t worry about Perez. I’ve dealt with him before.”

  While Max packed his belongings, Mike stood then helped Valerie with her chair. They were almost to the door when Valerie could not resist her urge to return to the gloating man.

  “Your wife phoned me last night,” Valerie said. “She’s seen the video from your apartment and wanted to know what I knew. I didn’t hesitate to tell her everything.”

  Turning in place, Valerie
moved away from the man. He lunged at her, but ran into Mike’s muscular chest instead. Mike pushed the man back into his chair. Turning away, Mike placed his arm around Valerie. They made their way through the dining room. Near the front, they met the man’s wife.

  “Did he send the money?” the woman asked.

  “It’s done,” Valerie said.

  “If she needs anything...” The woman said.

  “She’ll be all right,” Valerie said. “Thank you. For everything.”

  “I feel awful. Poor child. And to think? I’m the one who supported and protected that jerk,” the woman said. “You’ll send me pictures and...”

  “I will,” Valerie said.

  The woman hugged Valerie. Squaring her shoulders, the woman gestured to three men in business suits. The men followed the producer into the patio where her show down with her soon to be ex-husband was documented for the world on the celebrity blog.

  “Don’t you dare feel bad for him,” Mike said to Valerie as they pulled out from the restaurant.

  “I don’t,” Valerie said. “I keep telling myself people get what they deserve. I’m just never sure what I deserve.”

  “Wedding cake?” Max asked.

  Valerie laughed.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Saturday afternoon — 3 P.M.

  Standing in the small basement room that held ‘her’ diamonds, Jill wondered what to do. Celia’s Marlowe diamond collection included ten loose diamonds. Jill’s heart told her to give MJ a diamond for Honey. MJ couldn’t afford a diamond for Honey and Jill had so many.

  But there was that restriction: “The Marlowe diamonds cannot leave the Marlowe family.”

  When Jill accepted the diamond bequeath, she never thought she would be in such a position. If she gave MJ the diamond this afternoon, he could have a ring made. The ring would be ready by the time Honey got out of surgery on Monday. In her mind’s eye, Jill saw Honey’s excited face as she woke up from surgery.

  But Celia’s love for Honey did not make Honey a Marlowe.

  Jill plucked a one and a half carat diamond from the group. Setting the stone in the palm of her hand, she admired its beauty.

  But... Crap! What should she do?

  She was about to set the diamond down when the baby monitor in her pocket squawked. Katy screamed that she hated Paddie. Paddie returned the insult. Jill sighed. The toddlers had been fighting all day.