# # #
The dance studio where Amy took ballet was buzzing with proud parents sitting on folding chairs along one wall. Mel, sitting with her father in the back row, managed to get several pictures of the dancers. When the recital was over and the children had received hearty applause, Amy rushed over to Mel and hugged her.
“I knew you’d come,” she said. “Daddy said you couldn’t make it, but I knew you wouldn’t break your promise to me.”
Harper, who’d been sitting in the front row, looked surprised to see Mel and her father. “I didn’t see you come in,” he said stiffly.
“You didn’t actually think I’d miss Amy’s first recital, did you?” she said, hoping to make him feel bad for even suggesting as much to his daughter.
“You’re so busy with other things these days that I had no idea whether you’d find time.”
“I always find time for the things that matter most to me,” she said. Mel turned away from Harper and faced Amy. “I brought you a little something,” she said, reaching into her purse for a slender box wrapped in pink paper. “To sort of celebrate your first recital,” she said.
Amy reached for the box eagerly. “May I open it now?”
“Certainly,” Mel replied.
The girl tore the wrapping paper off and opened the box. “Look, Dad, a charm bracelet with a ballerina!” Amy threw herself against Mel and hugged her tightly. “Oh, thank you,” she said. “I’ve always wanted one. Would you put it on for me?”
Mel handed Wilton her purse so she could put the bracelet on the girl’s wrist. Once again, they hugged, and Mel was almost moved to tears by Amy’s enthusiasm.
“Well, I guess we’d better be going,” she said at last, wishing things weren’t so tense between her and Harper.
“Don’t tell me you’re playing warden tonight,” he said, leaning forward so he could whisper the words in her ear.
Mel felt her cheeks burn with anger, but she smiled for Amy’s benefit. “Go to the devil, Harper,” she said just as softly as she reached for Wilton’s hand and led him out.
The telephone was ringing when they walked into the house twenty minutes later. Mel reached for it as she kicked off her heels.
“Is that you, Mel?” Kane asked from the other end of the line. “My God, I’ve been calling for almost two hours now.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, noting the panic in his voice.
“It’s Blair.”
“What happened?” she said, automatically suspecting the worst.
“Just as we were loading up her bags to come home, she started having these pains and … bleeding real bad.”
“Oh, no,” Mel said, and the words drew a frown from Wilton, who was standing close by.
“I took her to the emergency room.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I heard Blair tell them she was pregnant, and that the pains had been going on all day.”
Mel sank onto the chair beside the telephone.
“What’s wrong?” Wilton said. “Did something happen to Blair?”
Mel glanced up. “She’s in the hospital, but she’s going to be okay. I’ll tell you in a minute.” She turned her attention back to Kane. “Okay, give me the name and address of the hospital,” she said. “We’ll grab a change of clothes and be there in three hours.”
Wilton was pacing the floor when she hung up. He stopped and regarded her. “What’s going on, Melanie?” he asked, calling her by the name he used when he was upset.
“Just be patient, Daddy,” she said. “I’ll explain everything in the truck.”
# # #
It was almost 1:00 a.m. when Wilton pulled into the parking lot of the hospital in Biloxi. “We made good time,” he said, shutting off the engine.
Mel noted how weary he looked. He hadn’t taken the news well. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.
He nodded, although he didn’t quite meet her gaze. “I’m just angry right now,” he said. “I’m wondering why the father of this baby isn’t here to hold my daughter’s hand through this bad time.”
“Blair says it’s over between them,” Mel said, deciding a white lie was better than the truth in this case. “I think what Blair needs right now is the love and understanding of her family.”
Wilton looked as though he would cry. “You’re right. I’m sure Blair is feeling bad enough over what happened.”
Mel held her father’s hand as they walked into the emergency room. They found Kane right away. He looked relieved to see them. “She lost the baby,” he said after a moment. “But the doctor assured me she’s going to be all right.”
“I want to see her,” Wilton told them, looking very shaken over the news.
Although visiting hours had been over for quite some time, one of the nurses permitted Mel and Wilton inside Blair’s room for a quick glance.
“She’s sedated,” the woman told them. “I don’t expect she’ll wake up till morning.”
Once inside, a tearful Mel took her sister’s hand in her own and squeezed it, wondering how Blair was going to cope with the loss of her child, wondering how she and her father would get through it, as well. She gazed down at her sister, wishing she could take her in her arms and comfort her as she had when they were little girls. Much to her surprise, Blair opened her eyes.
“You came?” she said, her voice a mere whisper. “Is Daddy with you?”
“I’m right here, sugar,” Wilton said, going around on the other side of the bed.
Blair closed her eyes. “I guess I don’t have to keep it a secret any longer.”
“I’m sorry, Blair,” Mel said, leaning close, “really sorry. But you’ll be able to have more babies.”
“The doctor says you can go home in a couple of days,” Wilton told her, his eyes growing red again.
Blair didn’t seem to be listening. “I don’t want to think about it anymore,” she said. “I want to go on with my life … as though none of it happened.” She paused. “Did you hear the good news?” she said. “I was chosen to do the NuWave Wine Cooler commercial. So you see, the day wasn’t totally shot.” She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep before she could see the stricken look on Mel’s face.
When Mel and her father returned to the lobby, they found Kane waiting anxiously. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“She’s fine,” Mel told him. “We chatted with the nurse for a moment. It’s just going to take a couple of days for her to get her strength back.” Mel saw that Kane was holding a cup of coffee. “Is the cafeteria still open at this hour?”
“Naw, I got this in a vending machine down the hall. You want a cup?”
Mel nodded and glanced at Wilton. “I’m going for coffee. You want some?”
He shook his head. “No, I think I’ll relax a bit in that chair over there. You go on.”
Mel and Kane started down the hall side by side. The floors were polished to brilliance, and the whole place smelled of disinfectant. He took her hand and held it, and Mel was comforted by his touch. When had she come to rely on him so?
He was the first to speak. “Did you know she was pregnant?”
Mel nodded. “I’d just learned. I was still trying to think of a way to break the news to Daddy. Unfortunately, the decision was made for me when you called tonight.”
“It scared the hell out of me,” Kane confessed. “I didn’t know what to do at first.”
Mel squeezed his hand reassuringly. He was warm and solid, and she was thankful to have him there. In just a week he had grounded himself firmly into the family. “You did the right thing by bringing her here.”
They stepped inside a small room bearing various soft-drink and vending machines. Kane dug into one pocket and brought out several coins. “Here, I got it,” he said when Mel opened her purse. He pushed the coins into a slot. “How do you like your coffee?”
“Cream and sugar, please.” She watched as he made the selection, and a paper cup dropped into place and was filled. He pulled it out and handed it to
her, and she thanked him.
“You want to sit in here and drink it?” he asked. She nodded. “Maybe my father will be able to get a nap if we’re out of the way.”
They chose a table in the corner surrounded by hard plastic chairs. Mel sipped her coffee in silence. “I suppose I’ll have to stay in Biloxi for a couple of days,” she said. “Good thing I brought a change of clothes. Heaven only knows where I’ll stay. When we stopped for gas, the guy pumping it said there was a convention in town.”
“You know, Blair already has a room here,” Kane told her. “She paid for tonight, but she’d only planned to use it this morning so she could clean up before the audition.”
“She never checked out?”
“No. She got sick while we were loading her stuff up. I still have the key to the room.”
“Well, we might as well use it,” Mel said, finishing her coffee. “I’d rather Daddy get a good night’s sleep before he gets back on the road.” She grabbed her purse and started to stand. He stopped her, placing a big hand on hers.
“I missed you,” he said. “I know it hasn’t been that long, but I still missed the hell out of you.”
Mel looked into his handsome face and saw that he was sincere. “I missed you, too,” she confessed. They sat there for a moment in silence, gazing at each other and feeling there was more to say. “Did you and Blair get along okay on the drive down?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I told her if she said one thing I didn’t like, I was going to drop her skinny butt on some back road where they wouldn’t find her for days. It didn’t really scare her until I threatened to leave her without her makeup case.”
“Oh, Kane, you’re terrible!” Mel said, although it was hard to keep a straight face.
“It worked. She didn’t so much as utter a sound. In fact, she climbed into the backseat and slept the whole way.”
Mel felt guilty for talking about her sister when she’d just lost her baby. “I know Blair’s hard to take at times, but deep down she’s a good person.”
“Way, way deep down,” he said.
“Most men are fascinated by her.”
“Is that why you were so agreeable to me driving her here? To see if something would come of it? To see if you could trust me?”
“Of course not. It was more convenient this way.”
“How many boyfriends has she stolen from you, Mel?” he asked softly. “Is that why you gave up and settled for Harper? Because you knew Blair would never look twice at him?”
“Must you be suspicious of every move I make?”
“Did you see Harper tonight?” he asked, changing the direction of his questions.
“Briefly.”
“And?”
She was growing irritated with his interrogation. “He’s still not happy with me.”
“Do you care?”
She looked surprised. “Of course, I care. What kind of question is that?”
“I guess I want to know what he means to you. That’s all.”
His look impaled her. She fidgeted with the clasp on her purse. “This isn’t the time or place to discuss my relationship with Harper,” she said, her voice quavering. “My sister just miscarried. Besides that, I’m exhausted.”
She rose from the table. This time he didn’t stop her.
Wilton had already drifted off to sleep when Mel and Kane returned to the waiting area. She nudged him awake. “Come with us, Daddy. Blair has a hotel room close by. You’ll be able to sleep in a real bed.”
# # #
They arrived at a moderately priced hotel fifteen minutes later. The room Blair had rented contained two double beds, and they requested a roll-away, which Kane insisted on using. Although they were forced to sleep in their clothes, by the time they woke up, shortly before eight o’clock, all three felt quite rested. Kane went for coffee while Mel and Wilton showered and changed into fresh clothes.
“Somebody is going to have to stay here for a couple of days,” Mel told her father after they’d drunk their coffee. “Blair probably won’t be released until tomorrow or the next day.”
“I’ll stay,” Wilton said, “and bring her home when she’s released.”
“Are you sure? I certainly don’t mind staying.”
“No, you need to get back to those dogs of yours and everything else you’ve got going on, and Kane needs to get back to work at the store.” He paused, and he looked sad for a moment. “Besides, I want to be here for Blair now. I feel as if I’ve let her down.”
“None of this was your fault, Daddy,” she told him. “Don’t start blaming yourself.”
Mel and Wilton rode back to the hospital in her car while Kane followed in the truck.
Blair wasn’t much better than she’d been the night before. “I hope I’m up and around by next week,” she told Mel. “That’s when they start shooting the commercial.”
Mel simply couldn’t understand how Blair could be worried about shooting a commercial when she’d just lost her baby. “Take care of yourself,” she said as she left her room.
Mel and Kane were on their way an hour later, driving Wilton’s pickup truck so he could bring Blair back in Mel’s car. Mel didn’t say anything for the first hour of the trip.
Finally, Kane glanced at her. “Why are you angry?”
Mel tried to hide her surprise. “What makes you think I’m angry?”
“You’ve got that look on your face. The same look you had right after your argument with Harper.”
“I’m not angry, I’m disappointed.”
“Okay, so how come?”
“It annoys me that Blair can worry about a stupid commercial when she’s just lost her baby. I mean, not one word was said about that poor baby.” Mel felt her eyes smart with tears as she said it. She wiped them away.
Kane reached over and squeezed her hand. “I don’t think Blair’s ready to be a mother. In fact, I’m not sure she’ll ever be ready. Who knows, maybe she did the kid a favor.”
Mel almost gasped out loud. “How can you say that?”
“Easy. Just ’cause people can have a baby doesn’t mean they deserve one.”
A look of tired sadness passed over her as she thought of the mother who’d abandoned them so many years earlier. She decided it was best to drop the subject.
It was shortly before noon when Kane pulled into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
She shrugged and looked out the window.
“Why didn’t you tell Blair how you felt when you had the chance?”
“What Blair chooses to do with her life is none of my business.”
“Yes, well, you’re right about that.”
She looked at him. “Whose side are you on?”
He made a show of holding both hands up as though surrendering. “I’m staying out of it. I figure the way I’ve screwed up my life, I have no right to tell anybody else how to live. Do you want a cheeseburger? If I remember correctly, there’s a rest area not far from here. We can eat at one of the picnic tables. Do us good to get some fresh air after being in that hospital.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“So, what do you want on your cheeseburger?”
“Ketchup.”
“That’s all?” He looked at her in disbelief. “You don’t want lettuce, tomato, and onions?”
“Just ketchup.”
“Wimp.” He opened the door and climbed out, then made his way toward the restaurant, still shaking his head. He returned ten minutes later with two sacks. “I got you an order of fries,” he said, joining her in the front seat once more. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you eating that wimpy burger all by itself.”
She smiled despite feeling heavy-hearted. “I’m sorry I’m being such a stick-in-the-mud. I guess I really had my heart set on being an aunt.”
“I know you did. I’m sorry.”
Mel was surprised by the tenderness in his voice. She would not have thought him capable of such an emotion a w
eek and a half ago.
“Here, let me hold the bags so you can drive,” she said, taking them from him.
They remained silent as they rode the two miles to the rest area. They made their way to a group of picnic tables along the back of the park. Luckily, there wasn’t anybody else around. Mel unpacked the bags. Kane’s sandwich was considerably larger than hers. She chuckled. “I don’t know how you’re going to get your mouth around that.”
“Trust me, I’ll manage.”
They concentrated on their lunch for a few minutes, with Kane proving he could indeed manage the big cheeseburger. He was the first to speak.
“Will Blair go back to New York once this is over?”
Mel nodded. “She always does.”
“Do you mind?”
She pondered it. “I miss her when she’s gone. We were so close after our mother left. But Blair isn’t happy in Hardeeville, and she keeps Daddy and me tied in knots the whole time she’s home. She wants bigger and better things. Like Mama did,” she added.
Kane was surprised she’d brought up the woman. “Your mother didn’t tell you she was leaving?”
Her face clouded. “No. We came home from school one day, and she was gone.”
“I guess that really hurt.”
She shrugged. “I don’t remember. It was a long time ago.”
He suspected she remembered very well. “What was she like?” he asked, attempting to find out more, wondering how much she’d tell.
“Very pretty. Blond, like Blair. She loved to read about far-off places, like Paris and Spain and Rome. Said she wanted to go there one day. Who knows, maybe she got the chance after all.”
He smiled. “I take it she wasn’t your typical mother.”
“She didn’t bake cookies or volunteer as class mother, if that’s what you mean. But she did preach good etiquette from a book she got out of the library. She said we’d need good manners and social skills if we ever got out of Hardeeville. She used to beg my father to sell the house and the store and move someplace like Atlanta. They fought about it all the time.”
“Why do you think your father never remarried?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I think he still loves my mother. He keeps her picture on his bedside table.” She took another bite of her cheeseburger. “There’s a lady down the road, a widow, who’s been sweet on Daddy for years, but he won’t give her the time of day.” She saw that he had finished eating. “What are your parents like?”
Miss Goody Two-Shoes: Contemporary Romance Page 9