Mirror Image

by Curry, Edna

  Laurie managed to smile and say only, “Thanks. Glad to do it.”

  But she didn't feel as if she'd done anything out of the ordinary, only the polite things she would have done for her own mother or aunt.

  She didn’t know what had gone wrong between LaRae and Nora earlier, and couldn’t ask. But there was evidently blame on both sides, if Jass thought her behavior today was unusual enough to comment on it.

  When they arrived home, Jass carried Susie upstairs and helped Laurie put her to bed. Reaching over to kiss his daughter goodnight, he glanced up at her and whispered, “I’ll meet you in the shower.”

  She grinned. “Save me some hot water.”

  In a few minutes, she joined him there under the warm spray. He soaped her and leaned over to kiss her lips. Careful of her still tender arm, he caressed her all over.

  She returned the favor. Rushing to dry themselves, they got into bed and finished what they’d started. Hands and mouths had never seemed more urgent. The warm glow of their pleasant evening carried over to make their lovemaking the best ever.

  Afterward, Laurie, sure she had never loved anyone more than she did Jass, fell asleep in his arms.

  ***

  After breakfast the next Friday, Jass was about to leave for work when he said, “By the way, fishing season opens tomorrow. Anybody want to get up at five o’clock in the morning to go out with me?”

  Susie jumped up and down in excitement. “I will, Daddy. I will.”

  At five a.m.? Yikes! “Oh, I don’t know, Susie,” Laurie said. “Are you sure she'll be safe in a boat, Jass?”

  Susie sent her an angry stare, then her lip began trembling. “Going out in the boat with Daddy is more funner than watching cartoons, Mommy. I promise to wear my life jacket every minute. Agnes always makes us a good lunch to eat on the boat.” She turned to look appealingly at Agnes, who grinned and nodded agreement.

  Laurie looked at Jass doubtfully, and gasped in surprise when she saw how he stood, stiff and angry.

  “You could go with us if you don’t trust me to watch her, LaRae,” Jass said, his voice tight. “You might find you even like it.”

  Now she’d made him angry. Had LaRae let Susie go out fishing with him before? She wracked her brain for any kind of compromise, but nothing came to her. “I don’t know...”

  “We’ll talk about it tonight. I’ll get a family license, so you can both go if you want to. Where’s your backpack, Susie? We’ve got to run.”

  Laurie watched them leave, her thoughts in turmoil. Agnes tossed her a strange look and turned back to the sink.

  With a despairing sigh, Laurie picked up the mail Agnes had left on the table. She wasn’t succeeding very well in playing mother and wife by ear.

  ***

  When Agnes went into town for groceries later, Laurie decided to try making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. She’d memorized the terms and various instructions for preparing many of the simpler meals in her cookbooks and felt it was time to try her hand at it.

  She found all the ingredients and carefully measured them out, then mixed the dough and dropped spoonfuls on a cookie sheet just as the pictures in the cookbook instructed. She turned on the oven and put the sheet of cookies into it.

  Setting the timer, she began dropping spoonfuls of dough on the second sheet. Just then the phone rang and she went to answer it. When she returned, the timer had chimed, but the cookies still looked wet and doughy.

  Frowning, she poked at them. Nope, definitely not done. She bit her lip and closed the oven door. How long should she wait now? She looked every couple of minutes, and they finally looked done. Ah. The cookbook had listed the amount of baking time wrong. Probably a typo.

  Pleased, she took them out and put the next batch in. This time she set the timer for the new amount of time and grabbed a spatula to take the first cookies off the sheet and put them on the wire rack to cool.

  Proud of her success, she once again filled the pan with spoonfuls of dough.

  When the phone rang again she grabbed the timer to take it with her. It chimed and she cut her conversation short and opened the oven door. A cloud of black smoke billowed out. She gasped in dismay and grabbed the pan. Ruined. Why hadn’t they been done the first time, in the allotted time, and now when she left them in the same amount of time as the first pan, they burned?

  Vowing to stay right there and watch them this time, she put in the next pan. Then she scraped the blackened mess into the sink and turned on the garbage disposal and water.

  As she opened the window and turned on the kitchen fan to eliminate some of the smoke and odor, she saw Agnes return with the groceries. Between peeks through the glass oven door, she sheepishly explained what had happened.

  Agnes just laughed saying, “I’ll bet you forgot to preheat the oven, LaRae.”

  “Preheat?”

  She nodded. “If you put the first pan full in when the oven is cold, it takes longer than the recipe says. But it's the right temperature when you put in the next batch, so it bakes as fast as the recipe says. You added minutes, so they burned.”

  “Sounds simple when you explain it.” Laurie checked the oven again. Perfect. She removed the pan and closed the oven, then carefully lifted the cookies onto the cooling rack.

  “Looking great, LaRae. You’ll get back to being a great cook again soon. You just keep on trying, you hear?”

  “I will, Agnes.”

  “You going fishing in the morning?” Agnes looked sideways at her as she put bags of vegetables into the freezer.

  Laurie nodded. She hadn’t fished since she’d gone with her father as a teen. But she’d probably remember enough to get by.

  “Good. I knew you’d come ‘round.”

  ***

  Jass woke them early the next morning. When she buried her head under the covers, he said, “Sure you still want to go?”

  The disappointment in his voice did it. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Yes, of course.”

  “Good. I’ll go take stuff out to the boat while you and Susie get dressed. Wear warm clothes. It’s only about fifty degrees out this morning.”

  “Okay.”

  Twenty minutes later they walked down to the dock where Jass was waiting for them beside a large fishing boat. Oh, it’s a beauty. She stood back to admire the pretty blue and white aluminum craft. She didn’t dare say so, however, for fear they’d owned it for years.

  Day was just beginning to break, and a stiff wind was blowing. Jass helped them in, handed Laurie her lifejacket and helped Susie fasten hers in place. Then he settled into the driver’s seat and turned the key. At once the big motor roared to life. He eased them out of shallow water, sped up and headed out across the lake.

  “Where are we going?” Laurie asked, raising her voice to be heard over the noise of the motor.

  “The north cove. We’ll be more sheltered from the wind there. Look,” he said, pointing across the lake. “The sun’s coming up.”

  They watched the pink glow on the horizon brighten to reveal a large red ball, that seemed to shrink as it rose higher in the sky.

  “Beautiful!” She cuddled Susie against her, thankful for his warning to dress warmly.

  Just as he’d predicted, there was almost no wind in the cove. Jass dropped anchor and helped them bait their hooks. Laurie watched him hook a minnow and cast for Susie and shuddered. Poor little minnow. It’s still alive. She swallowed, staring at the tiny wriggling bit of silver.

  “I’ll use a daredevil,” she said, grabbing her rod before he could put a minnow on her hook.

  He shrugged, and dug in his tackle box for one. He held up a small, red and white spoon-shaped bit of metal. “This one okay?”

  She nodded, took it and reached out for her line to attach it. He watched, an indulgent smile on his lips which soon gave way to a raised eyebrow when she succeeded. She cast out, and settled back to slowly reel it back toward her.

  He watched her a moment, then, satisfied she didn’t n
eed his help, he went back to tending his own line and helping Susie.

  Susie caught the first fish, a good-sized crappie, and squealed with delight. Laurie turned away as Jass took it off her hook and dropped it into their basket.

  Catching the distaste on her face, he grinned at her. “You’re such a softie, LaRae. How can we catch fish and eat them without hurting them?”

  She shrugged and looked away without answering. She couldn’t help how she felt. She dreaded catching one herself, and knew Jass would have to take it off the hook for her as her father always had when she was a child.

  Jass dropped the wire mesh basket over the side of the boat, and helped Susie cast out again.

  Three hours later there were several more fish in there, and Susie was wriggling with delight at catching more than her parents. She’d eaten most of the snacks Agnes had packed.

  Laurie suspected the snacks were more in the way of a treat than a necessity, since they weren’t going to stay out long enough to miss a meal. The hot cocoa and coffee had been welcome, but she was ready for a bathroom break and this little fishing boat wasn’t equipped with one.

  She mentioned that problem to Jass and he immediately agreed it was time to go back in. He brought in their lines and began putting their gear away.

  Then another boat pulled up near them and dropped anchor. “It’s Harold and Davie,” Susie said and waved.

  “Have any luck?” Harold called.

  “Pretty good,” Jass returned. He raised the basket of fish and held it up to show them, then put it inside the boat. “We’re about ready to go in for some breakfast,” he said, bringing up the anchor.

  “Great. We’ll try your spot.”

  The wind had dropped and the lake was almost perfectly calm as they headed back across it. Tiny waves lapped at the sides of their boat, and the bright sunshine made the colors of everything extra clear. Light sparkled off the blue water and the leaves of the trees lining the shore.

  “It’s gorgeous out now, Jass,” Laurie enthused. “I wish I could come out here every day. Teach me to drive the boat so Susie and I can come out when you’re not home.”

  He looked at her, his eyebrow raised in doubt. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she insisted, coming over behind him. “Show me how.”

  Jass shrugged and began explaining the various controls. Then he let her take his seat, and he sat beside her to supervise as she guided them back across the lake toward home.

  “Oh, I love it!” she cried. She grinned happily, meeting Jass’s eyes.

  He grinned in appreciation of her pleasure, but started looking nervous as they neared shore. “Slow down. You don't know how to dock it, do you?”

  She shook her head. “You’d better take it now,” she said, rising and letting him take the wheel. “Thanks, Jass.”

  “You’re welcome, Honey. You know you’re not ready to take it out on your own yet, don’t you?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll wait until you’ve given me more lessons.”

  He smiled, blew her a kiss and expertly drew up to their dock.

  Over breakfast, Susie told Agnes all about their adventure. Agnes promised to cook the fish for their supper.

  They enjoyed those fish and several more meals of perch and crappie over the next couple of weeks. They began cooking supper outdoors on the grill, so they could sit beside the lake and watch the gorgeous colors of the sunsets play over the lake. LaRae never tired of doing that.

  Often their cook-outs included other couples like Cathy and Warren, or Denise and Ken. Always Laurie kept a sharp eye on Susie as she played with the other children or searched for pretty rocks or shells beside the lake. Her nightmares stayed in the back of her mind, though she’d stopped mentioning them to Jass.

  As the weather turned hot, Susie began begging to start swimming in the lake.

  “Not yet, Susie,” Laurie told her. “The water is still too cold to go into the water. Wait until June. You have all summer.”

  In the meantime, the children continued their swimming lessons at the school pool. Laurie took her turn at driving them, with Harold and Cathy serving as the other two parents in the carpool.

  Harold seemed more and more morose, and everyone avoided the subject of Noreen and the possibility of their divorce.

  School ended. As planned, Nora came for the weekend to attend Susie’s kindergarten graduation ceremony with them.

  Nora was so happy to be invited to attend with LaRae and Jass she thanked her daughter-in-law several times for inviting her. Susie chattered constantly with her grandmother, making Laurie sorry they hadn’t been allowed to spend more time together before. She vowed to correct that oversight. Again she wondered what had gone wrong between LaRae and Nora to keep them apart.

  The ceremony went off well with only a couple of minor hitches. The children were so excited, and Jass couldn’t seem to stop grinning at their antics.

  Nora’s whole visit went off pleasantly, which put Jass into an especially happy mood for days.

  June arrived and the weather turned hot and humid. LaRae and Susie began to spend part of each day down by the lake and they often ate out on the picnic table.

  Laurie hadn’t had a nightmare for weeks, yet she still had the constant urge to watch Susie every minute of the day.

  She continued to visit Aunt Martha, who seemed to be improving, but remained in the extended care wing of the hospital. She often took Susie with her, glad that Susie and Martha were such good friends.

  Chapter 13

  Laurie dreaded the coming separation, when Jass had to spend several weeks in Denver to set up a new computer system for a branch there. Jass had mentioned it several times since Denise’s party, but no definite date had been set for his leaving.

  One Saturday night Jass took her to an office party for a colleague who was retiring. She was very nervous, afraid that she was supposed to know many of his friends who would be there.

  The evening went fairly smoothly until late, when a dark haired young man whom she’d noticed watching her asked her to dance. She’d heard someone call him Pete. She was quite sure he was Jass’ business associate, since she’d seen the two talking in a friendly manner earlier, so she accepted.

  Immediately, she was sorry. He swung her out into the crowd, and under cover of the crush of dancing couples, he held her much too closely, and began to unmistakably paw her. She stopped dancing and pushed his hand away. “I want to sit down, now, Pete. I don’t have to put up with office passes.”

  His full lip curled in his handsome face. “Have you forgotten the fun we had in Las Vegas? You weren’t so cold then, LaRae.“

  An icy shiver ran down her spine. So LaRae had met someone when she’d stopped in Las Vegas before coming to California. Jass had known, or at least suspected, when he asked about those credit card charges. No wonder he’d been so angry.

  Laurie met Pete’s gaze sternly, saying, “Get lost, Buster.”

  His jaw dropped, then he laughed derisively. “Don’t give me that. We’ve been getting along so nicely, and now you say, ‘get lost?’”

  “You heard right. It’s over, done, finished. Get it?” She stared at him, daring him to refuse her verdict.

  “No, I don’t ‘get it.’ Everything was fine when I took you to the airport for the flight to California. What happened?”

  “Let’s just say I got smart, okay?” She walked to the edge of the dance floor but he followed.

  She turned away, then felt his rough grip on her arm pulling her back toward him. She winced and tried to get free, protesting, “You’re hurting me.”

  His lip curled again in a sneer. “So what?”

  “Let her go!” Jass was suddenly beside her and his low growl made Pete immediately drop her arm and back away.

  He grinned at Jass and put up both hands in a gesture of compliance. “Just a little disagreement. I’m going.”

  Laurie rubbed her smarting arm. “Thanks, Jass.”

  “You
okay?”

  “I am now.” Their eyes met and held. She knew he knew what it had been about. He knew she’d broken it off, too. They both smiled in satisfaction at the knowledge.

  “It'll never happen again, I promise.”

  “I'm glad.”

  “Forgive me?”

  He nodded, his face sober.

  “I really do love you, Jass.”

  “I love you, too, LaRae. Let’s dance. The band’s playing a waltz.”

  She went into his arms and closed her eyes, thanking God that Jass was willing to forgive LaRae. But would he forgive her if he knew the truth?

  As the strains of the Blue Danube waltz swirled around them, they began to move to its graceful melody. His warm embrace felt like heaven.

  ***

  Jass spent the next couple of weeks in Denver, returned home for a few days, and was leaving again tomorrow for another couple of weeks.

  Laurie had been late with her monthly before, but now she’d missed two, so this time she felt sure she was pregnant. She hadn't told Jass. She knew he would have insisted on her seeing Dr. Henry at the Canton Clinic, which she couldn’t, of course. Dr. Henry would know in a minute she’d never had a baby, so she couldn’t be LaRae. So she’d asked the county medical association for a recommendation of a woman obstetrician in the closest large town. They had highly recommended Dr. Beverly.

  It had been just her luck she had this appointment while Jass was back home. This morning she'd looked outside to see it was pouring rain but she didn’t want to cancel this appointment with after waiting three weeks for it. She just had to know.

  Laurie drove carefully through the driving rain to White Bear Lake. Since there were thick dark clouds overhead and as far ahead to the west as she could see, she felt sure that the thunderstorm was not going to end soon.