Center Stage (The Keller Family Series)

by Marie, Bernadette

  “It’s looking nice in here.”

  “If we could keep the vagrants out,” John said.

  “Someone’s been in here?”

  John thought it was better that Eduardo didn’t know exactly what had happened, but at least he’d be aware now. “Yeah. Hey, I have a project for you. Come with me.”

  John led Eduardo to the office where Arianna would run her new empire. It wasn’t very big, but it had space for a few people. Right now, however, it was just another junked out room.

  “What can you do with this?”

  Eduardo looked around the room and his lip snarled. “This is going to be her office, right?”

  “Yep.”

  Eduardo puckered his lips and looked around. John had seen this phenomenon with him before. This was him coming up with something brilliant.

  “I’d put in a wall over there.” He pointed to the far end of the room. Not to give her another office, but just to give her some privacy. Maybe even put a window in it so she could see the door. I think two desks could go here and maybe a table where she could work on. You know, lay things out. She does that.”

  John nodded. Yep, she sure did.

  Eduardo gave a hum as he looked around more. “The colors need to be vibrant. Creative.”

  He walked around the room. “Maybe we can add a closet over there.” He pointed to the wall. “Just to keep the room organized. You know, she’d have somewhere to put all the papers and scripts. Things like that.”

  “I think you have a solid grasp on this.”

  Eduardo looked up at him. “It seems fairly cut and dry.”

  “Good.” John put his hand on Eduardo’s shoulder. “You have one week to make this place home for your aunt. It’s all yours.”

  And with that, he left Eduardo in the room, either contemplating beginning or trying to figure out what John had just offered.

  When John walked back into the theater, he saw Arianna in the corner and April had showed up. Hands were being waved around, and he knew they were in a serious conversation. Arianna had mentioned an old friend was going to help her put together her musical review. He assumed that meant April. He’d adapt.

  As he took another step his cell phone rang. It was Regan.

  “Is she okay? What is she doing there?” She shot off questions before he was even able to say hello.

  “She’s working. This is keeping her mind busy.”

  “I’m not comfortable with this. Simone just told me her mother thinks that maybe she’d been mistaken about seeing him in Paris.”

  John’s hand tightened around the phone. “So it could have been him here last night?”

  “Yes.”

  John squeezed his eyes tight. He wasn’t going to let Alexander Hamilton touch another person. He was with Arianna, but he didn’t want to live in fear either.

  “John, I think we should move the party,” she offered.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Audrey and I want to have it here at the house. We’ve contacted all the guests and told them about the change in plans.

  “I don’t see that being a problem.”

  “I’ll call her and invite the two of you out for dinner. It’ll give her a reason to come out.”

  John smiled. If this slipped past Arianna, he’d be surprised.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  April had convinced Arianna to have lunch with her. John conceded as long as he knew where she was and she promised to call when she got to the restaurant and when she left.

  She hadn’t had someone watch over her that closely since she’d lived with her parents. But it was okay. She didn’t want any run-ins with anyone else either.

  Arianna sat back in her chair as the waitress set down a salad in front of her and then another in front of April.

  April shook out her napkin and placed it in her lap. “So do you know who this crazy stalker of yours is? Is it Eric?”

  Arianna picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of lettuce. “I don’t think it’s Eric. To be honest, I don’t think he has it in him. It takes some guts to put something like this together.”

  “Guts to try and kill someone?”

  Arianna swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know why you’re going through with this theater then? I mean, why put yourself in harm’s way? I’d find a new career.”

  Arianna took a bite of her salad. There were many reasons some people were successful and some people failed.

  Arianna had always had a dream. And like every dream, there are lots and lots of steps.

  Lots of girls have dreams of being an actress. Some wish for it their whole life, and some go after it.

  Her mother had driven her to countless voice lessons and dance classes. Her father had videotaped every performance she had since she’d been in preschool.

  Arianna had worked her way from the concessions girl to seating patrons and handing out the playbills. She had auditioned for every school play and community event her entire life, and yes, sometimes her name had been on the cut list. And sometimes it was right next to the names Eliza Doolittle, Rizzo, and Ado Annie.

  Blood, sweat and tears went into the career, and now it was changing again. She was in charge. She’d call the shots, and she’d make the lists. This was bigger than she’d ever imagined it could be. The Rockwell Theater would have community events, open mic nights, big time musicals, and yes, her own musicals, which she would write.

  How could someone tell her to just give it all up?

  No, she’d prevail. And if she had to, she’d use that gun in her purse and turn Alexander Hamilton “from a rooster to a hen in one shot,” just as one of her favorite characters, Doralee Rhodes, said about her boss. She’d do it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Arianna fussed with her hair. Winter dried out her curls. She often wondered if her birth mother had hair like hers. Dark and unruly.

  It wasn’t often that she thought about her birth mother. She didn’t remember her at all, but then again, she and Regan had been taken from their birth parents when they were very little. Arianna had only been two.

  It was funny to her that she remembered Carlos’s family. He’d stopped mentioning them years ago, but she wondered if he still thought of them often. He’d been seven when they’d died. She was sure he still visited their graves when he needed it.

  “What’s all the fussing in the mirror for? You’re usually low maintenance,” John said as he leaned against the door jamb.

  Arianna yanked on a curl and tried to get it to stay, and then picked up her mascara. “Me? Look at you. Dockers? I didn’t even know you owned those. And your shirt isn’t flannel.”

  “So?”

  “So, I’d say you’re awfully dressed up for dinner at my sister’s house, too.”

  He nodded, but she was going to keep prodding. “I was thinking maybe we should just call her and tell her we’re staying home.”

  He shrugged his shoulder. “If you want to.”

  “Really? You wouldn’t mind staying and watching TV with me?”

  “New MythBusters is on. Complete entertainment where I’m concerned.”

  Arianna looked in the mirror. She widened her eyes and added her mascara to her lashes. John had gone back into the bedroom, and she could hear drawers open and close on the dresser.

  Arianna batted her eyes and then looked in the doorway again. There he stood with two flannel shirts.

  “Which one do you want me to lounge in? The red or the blue?”

  God, he was sexy. And he was all hers.

  “I’m almost done, and we’ll go to dinner at my sister’s house.”

  “Really? Jamie and Adam are blowing up something big tonight.”

  Arianna pursed her lips. She’d thought she’d trapped him and he’d tell her that something was going on at Regan’s, but he wasn’t budging. Maybe she was making it all up. There was no secret party. No one was doing anything for her fortieth birthday.

&n
bsp; Guilt squeezed in her belly. They’d done enough, hadn’t they? After all, she had her theater, and it was more amazing than she ever thought it could be. If she’d waited to do it on her own, she wouldn’t have the Rockwell Theater. She’d have some store front, with only folding chairs for acting lessons.

  It had been selfish for her to think they’d do something more. Worse, it was horrible that she’d expected it.

  When she turned around, John was wearing his red flannel shirt instead of his button down dress shirt.

  “Though I love that shirt, and I think you’re extremely sexy in it, put on the other shirt you had. They’re waiting on us.”

  John let out a grunt. “Fine, but you owe me a night on the couch with MythBusters.”

  “Deal.”

  “I want pizza and beer.”

  “Anything.”

  He pulled the shirt off, walked toward her, and wrapped it around her. “And I want you to wear the shirt. Nothing else.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her palms against his bare back. “Nothing else?”

  “Maybe some thigh-high stockings. But, nothing else.”

  She slowly nodded her head, and her curls brushed her shoulders. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Arianna was quiet on the ride to Zach and Regan’s. John wondered if she knew about the party. He’d done all he could to discourage any thought.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d have done if she had put on her sweats and called his bluff to lounge and watch TV.

  The ring case dug into his leg. He knew it had been dumb to just put it in his pocket, but as of yet, she hadn’t noticed.

  He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. I had a moment back home where I was feeling a bit selfish.”

  “Why’s that?”

  She let her shoulders drop and let out a long breath. “I was thinking that we were going out to Regan’s house for some big party, and that’s why I gussied up and then you were all smokin’ in your dressed up clothes.”

  He grinned. She was flustered, and it was endearing.

  Arianna pulled the strap on her seatbelt as though it might be choking her. “I was feeling bad that no one had done anything special for my birthday, and it’s just around the corner.”

  “Tuesday. It’s Tuesday.”

  She laughed. “You’re a keeper, Forrester.”

  “Good.”

  “But it hit me that I was being selfish. No one should get me a gift or throw me a party. You all sunk everything into the theater. You’ve all been thinking of me the whole time.”

  “Still, it’s okay to want something special.”

  “No.” She shook her head and set her eyes on him. “It’s not okay. How greedy is it to want a party? To want to have dinner with the people I love and celebrate my life.”

  “It’s not greedy.”

  “It feels that way.”

  “So what do you want to do about it? Would you, at least, like to have everyone over for birthday cake? Forty is a very exciting age. You’re going to be amazing at forty, but then again, you already are.”

  She chuckled, which meant she was lightening up. “You know, I would love that. Do you mind?”

  “For you, anything.”

  As they drove down the long road that led to her sister’s house, she could see the cars of her family. Why did she ever need a party when her family was there?

  Arianna had learned to sit in the truck until John opened the door for her. He was old fashioned, and she needed to not be so eager and let him take care of her, just a little bit.

  John opened the door and helped her down. She always seemed to land right in his arms. He gave her a soft kiss.

  “I know it’s not your birthday, but would you like one of your presents anyway?”

  She narrowed her eyes on him. She should say no, but she’d always been a sucker for a present. “Whatcha got?”

  John smiled, reached past her, and pulled open the glove compartment. He took out an envelope and handed it to her.

  Arianna quickly lifted the flap and looked inside—then up at him, speechless.

  “You wanted to go on vacation.”

  “You didn’t have to do this because I threw a fit over going somewhere.”

  He gathered her in his arms again. “I told you all that because I’d already bought the tickets.”

  “You’re too good for me.”

  “No, but I think we are just right for each other, and we came along at just the right time.”

  Arianna rested her head against his chest. “Is this why we never made any moves on each other?”

  “Maybe it was.”

  The front door to the house opened, and Curtis stood in the doorway with Avery in his arms. “You know we’re waiting dinner on you two. I’m hungry. So stop being selfish and get your butts in here.”

  Arianna laughed. She had John and her family. What more could she need in life?

  John watched Arianna run up the front steps of the house and scoop Avery into her arms. Curtis kissed her on the cheek and then waited for him to walk through the door.

  “Everyone is in the back, in the kitchen.”

  Arianna walked through the house, and John heard the loud “surprise” that was shouted from her family and the many friends they’d had gather there.

  Avery stirred in her arms, and she held her protectively closer. She turned her head to look at John and she smiled. They hadn’t disappointed her. She was sure they never could.

  Simone had quickly taken her daughter back, and Arianna went around the room and gave every guest there a hug and spoke to them as though they were the honored guest. There was something special in the way she could make each person feel as though he, or she, was the only one in the room.

  Curtis moved in next to John and handed him a beer. “Did she know?”

  “I think she wanted to think it was what was going on, but she couldn’t get it out of me.”

  “She’d have been disappointed if we didn’t do this.”

  John shook his head. “I don’t think so. She knows what everyone put into the theater, and it means the world to her.”

  “She deserves that. I’ve never known anyone so full of energy and life than my own sister. I know that she will not only make that theater something special, but she’ll touch lives. She doesn’t know it yet, but she will.”

  “Like Simone?” John motioned to Curtis’s fiancée, who was talking to a guest in the corner.

  “She didn’t know she had it in her to change lives. But she changed one, and that seemed to be her calling. She’s establishing a foundation through the clinic to help people find jobs and receive clothing and food.”

  He’d heard that, but hearing the excitement in Curtis’s voice made it seem bigger than life. “I think she’ll do great.”

  Arianna headed toward them. She moved toward Curtis first and wrapped her arms around him. “I love you. Thank you for helping put this together.”

  “Simone lives for this. Do you really think I had anything to do with it?”

  She gave him a noisy kiss on the cheek. “Yes.” Then she turned to John. “And what would you have done if I’d put my sweat pants on and watched TV?”

  “I would have had to have sedated you and brought you anyway.”

  She moved toward him and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m nervous knowing you can keep a secret this well.”

  “I’ll tell you a secret.” He smiled, and she rolled her eyes.

  “What?”

  “I hate keeping secrets. This has been horrible.”

  “You’re good at it.”

  “Well, let’s hope I don’t have to keep too many of them. I’d rather be upfront about everything.”

  “Nicely said, Forrester. So then give me what you have in your pocket.”

  He chuckled. “I thought I’d had that hidden fairly well.”

  “Um, no.”

  John reached into h
is pocket and touched the box, then pulled his hand out without having grabbed it.

  “Can I have everyone’s attention?” That was probably the most uncomfortable phrase he’d ever spoken aloud. Had her sister and her sister-in-laws not helped him pick out the ring, he’d have given it to her while they watched MythBusters. That was more their style. But this was going to need some onlookers.

  When he looked back at Arianna, her eyes had gone wide. Yeah, he’d taken her by surprise, too.

  Regan ran past all the guests. She had her camera in her hand, and he figured if that didn’t give it away, nothing would.

  John took Arianna’s hand. It shook in his.

  “I wanted to give you something very special for your birthday.”

  “You did. You’re taking me to San Francisco.”

  He’d heard Madeline gasp and then sniff back tears. Regan, on the other hand, was doing some kind of dance just behind him.

  “I am. But to mark your fortieth year and to seal the commitment you and I have made to each other, I thought you needed something with a bit more longevity.”

  Tears were forming in her eyes. God, he wished he’d have done this in the privacy of their own home.

  He pulled the box from his pocket. Arianna pulled her hand away and clasped them both over her mouth.

  John opened the box, and this time he heard Emily Keller begin to cry.

  “Arianna, I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you. And I know we said no marriage licenses and no wedding vows, but that didn’t mean you didn’t deserve the most beautiful ring your sisters could pick out for you.”

  She shuttered and dropped her hands. “You took them shopping with you?”

  “If I’d have picked this out, you’d have a Ring Pop.”

  She laughed through her tears.

  John pulled the ring from the box and handed the empty box to Madeline, who was now nearly sobbing.

  He pulled Arianna’s hand toward him. “I love you. I want you to wear this as a daily celebration of my love for you. That commitment is real. I’m never going anywhere.”

  He was sure she’d have said something, if she could. Her nose was red, and her breaths came in quick pants. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She was the most beautiful mess he’d ever seen.