Dancing Hours

by Jennifer Browning

  “I am.”

  “I trust her completely and I trust you completely. You have both proven that trust to be well placed.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You see, I need you to take some time from your other clients and get Miss Swift completely educated about the assets and liabilities of my businesses. And I need you to meet regularly to advise her of your recommendations and handle any tax matters that arise. She has my authority to sign on my behalf.”

  “Mr. Wright, may I ask why you will not be handling these matters yourself any longer?”

  “You may ask, but it’s none of your business Samuel. Your father and I had an understanding which you and I will also have – you do as I ask as long as it does not violate the law and you keep your curiosity in check.”

  Samuel Moore was unphased by Leonard’s chest pounding display.

  “In that case, I would be happy to assist Miss Swift in any way I can.”

  Vanessa hoped her cheeks had not colored. She’d never watched such a conversation take place and to be so much about her. She was dumbfounded that Leonard knew she was running the business, that he’d come so clearly out of his fog and that he was still commanding this accountant to assist her. She had worried that he would be angry, but it did not appear to be the case. She also no longer dreaded the accountant, Samuel, and welcomed the chance to spend time with him. Overall, it was an excellent evening.

  Samuel left immediately after dinner. As Dorothy closed the door behind him, she turned with a smile to Vanessa.

  “I think that went well.”

  “I should say so. How did you do it?”

  “It was easy, really. I listened to him for a long time. We spent days talking about Katherine and the wonderful wife she was, the life they built together. I pointed out, gently, that he’d built this life for her and that she would be sad to see it fall apart. I explained what you’ve been doing and – he really cares for you quite a lot . I don’t know if he’s come out of it yet. I suspect he still wants you to do what you’re doing… he’s not ready to come back, but it won’t be long. He’s a very strong man.”

  “That’s absolutely true. Whew! I was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” Both women laughed.

  Leonard walked in with a freshly made drink in hand. “That was obvious Nessa.” He wrapped an arm genially around her, feeling very much like a father figure she’d never had.

  “Leonard, are you sure you want me to keep doing this? I never meant to take over your business, just babysit it for a while.”

  “I know that and you’ve done more than I ever could have asked of anyone.”

  “It was the right thing to do.”

  “You are always trying to do the right thing – even for the wrong people.”

  Vanessa knew he was hinting at the side of the business that she had kept away from. She made no judgments – although she assumed that innocent people were not getting hurt. She left that night and continued doing exactly what she had been doing. Another year went by before Leonard stepped foot into The Club again.

  Nessa’s relationship with Samuel Moore developed so gradually from business to romance that she hardly realized she had fallen in love with him by the time he proposed to her. He was the opposite of everything she loved about Los Angeles. He was predictable, dependable and rather quiet. In a way, those things appealed to her so much more than her busy, exciting life running Leonard’s business. She wanted, for once in her life, to know what was going to happen next. She wanted to have plans and a family and a regular, steady life. Fortunately, Samuel did too.

  They were married in a small and quiet ceremony. Samuel’s sister was there, along with a few close friends. For Vanessa, only Leonard and Dorothy were witnesses to the wedding. Dorothy had moved in with Leonard shortly after Vanessa met Samuel. Although she knew that she could never replace Katherine in his eyes, they loved and needed each other and decided to be together. Dorothy was expecting a child soon and she simply glowed with love and happiness.

  3

  Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Moore lived in Los Angeles for several more years and Vanessa continued to operate much of Leonard’s business even after he returned to it. Just before Vanessa’s thirtieth birthday, they discovered that they, too, had a baby on the way. For Vanessa, there was no question what had to be done. She would not raise a child in the kind of life that her job required – late nights, early mornings, loud music and louder parties. Samuel did not require much convincing.

  For Vanessa, the only kind of life she could imagine was a small town. She would find the kind of good-hearted town where the town mayor doubled as the school crossing guard. Eventually she found that town, not too far from a major city where Samuel could start his business again.

  They left with not only Leonard’s blessing, but a sizable gift to purchase their home outright and get them by until Samuel’s clients were enough to sustain them. It was a tearful departure and Vanessa held baby Edward, showering him with kisses and hugs. She hoped that her baby would turn out to be as handsome as Dorothy and Leonard’s son.

  As it turned out, baby Josephine Moore was a lovely child. She was happy and carefree. Vanessa and Samuel worked to ensure that she experienced very little pain, no hunger and none of the chaos that had been their previous lives. Of course, for all she knew, her parents had lived in this quiet town forever. Children rarely are curious about their parents’ former lives until they have children of their own.

  Among the town Vanessa had chosen for her family, she became a highly respected member of society. A small town like that could be a tough nut to crack if you weren’t born and raised there. She volunteered and attended church; she helped those who needed helping and even those who didn’t think they needed helping. Only a few members of the community held her flashy style of dress against her or questioned her background and her morals.

  Rosalie Merchant was one of the few who did. It wasn’t easy for Vanessa to turn the other cheek when Mrs. Merchant said that their daughters should not keep company with each other. She felt sorry for little Theresa – a girl who would inevitably adopt her mother’s prejudices, not because she was mean spirited or judgmental herself, but because most children are raised to blindly follow their parents’ lead. And Rosalie Merchant was a bitter, angry woman who saw in Vanessa all that was wrong with the world.

  Josephine never felt the stigma of being an outsider. She went to school with the same children she had played on the playground with. She knew why Theresa Merchant didn’t like her, but didn’t care. Josephine was popular and social, but she believed she lived a quite boring life and dreamed of seeing the world much like her own daughter would do. Vanessa indulged Josephine with weekend trips away, summer vacations to the National Parks and whatever books she wanted. Still, Josephine wanted to go far from home.

  She was away at college when her father passed away from a stroke. Although Vanessa never pressured her into it, or even suggested it, Josephine decided to come home after she completed her degree. She reconnected with and married her high school sweetheart, Andrew Taylor, and started her own family. In many ways, leaving home had brought Josephine closer to it.

  4

  Josephine’s daughter, Andrea, was born an old soul. As a baby, she would watch the adults interact with such fastidious interest that her first babbles seemed to mimic the tone of adult conversation. She immediately stole Vanessa’s heart. It was as if it was beating so loudly it might pound right out of her chest the first time she held her granddaughter. It was even more powerful than holding her daughter for the first time. Just as she had vowed with Josephine, she knew that she would protect this tiny creature until her last breath and then come back as an angel to finish the job.

  She reluctantly agreed to be called “grandma” – a term for old bitties as far as she was concerned- but fate stepped in when Andrea had trouble pronouncing her Gs and “grandma” came out as “Nanah” and eventua
lly shortened to Nan.

  There were very few other children in Andrea’s world until she went to preschool. Nan watched her much of the time while Andrea’s parents worked, taking her along to the senior center for dancing classes and to church for office work. There was never a shortage of spare hands to hold her and everyone kept an eye on Andrea.

  At the age of 4, Andrea knew she was a little different than the other girls. They were in full-blown princess and pink wonderlands. Andy’s favorite color was green and she liked to make mud pies. When her father sat in the living room watching nature shows and the travel channel, Andy snuggled up next to him and asked constant questions. It wasn’t until she met Kate that she really started acting like a child in Vanessa’s opinion.

  Andy won spelling bees and citizenship awards every year in elementary school. She also loved to dance. From Andy’s first class at Miss Celia’s, Vanessa saw the fire she wished Josephine had felt. Nessa hoped that Andy might want to be a professional dancer, perhaps a ballerina. Andy loved to dance, but hated to perform in front of others. So much for Broadway.

  As Andy grew into a young woman, she became curious about the world, but also really liked the comfort of her own home. She took odd jobs and started volunteering and did both with maturity and responsibility. As many of the little old ladies in town liked to say, Andy had her head screwed on straight. Because of that, no one was worried when Andrea began dreaming of moving to a faraway place.

  5

  Vanessa had dinner with her daughter’s family several times a week from the moment Andrea was born. She wished Samuel had lived long enough to see the tremendous happiness in their home. He would have been overjoyed.

  Sometimes it was difficult to manage to fit dinner with them in. She volunteered at the senior center and often visited with the people in town who couldn’t get out and didn’t have family of their own. Andy helped with the meal deliveries for the church, but there was so much that needed to be done. Sometimes, if Nessa wasn’t busy working at the coffee shop, she would spend an entire day helping an elderly person try to find something that they had lost and mistakenly thought a nurse or relative had stolen. Almost all of the time, they found the precious item and Vanessa would help them calm down and maybe write a note of apology if they had gone so far as to accuse someone of something.

  Other days, she volunteered at the hospital in Greenville giving directions to visitors, bringing toys to the children and helping out whatever way she could.

  In the summer after Andy graduated high school, Nessa began to feel the weight of all her activities. It was harder to catch a breath those days, she couldn’t dance as long and she felt her age closing in on her. But she wouldn’t share that with her family, she didn’t want to scare them – not now. Andrea had just come alive. She was looking out into her future, excited, and then those two handsome boys came to town.

  It was a warm and humid day and Vanessa had been feeling pretty tired. She went in to talk to the pharmacist about what they might have to give her a little energy boost, but the pharmacist told her to schedule an appointment with her doctor. As far as Vanessa was concerned a pharmacist was just as good. They knew what all the conditions were and what all the drugs were supposed to do, didn’t they? She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that they couldn’t help her, but there was no way she was going to go to that new young doctor that took over after her regular doctor retired. He didn’t even have any gray hair yet. She was making a mental note to get in to see one of the doctors at the hospital when she heard the motorcycle go by. It sounded like freedom to her, but around these parts, motorcycles were kind of a rare noise disturbance.

  She looked up just in time to see Andy staring at the young man with a look on her face that Nessa knew right away. Nessa quickly sized him up – not a threat to her granddaughter’s life, but perhaps just a broken heart waiting to happen. Unlike Andrea, she did notice the nondescript sedan following the motorcycle and another, slightly older but more handsome young man driving. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together. These were Rosalie Merchant’s grandchildren. She had met the two boys playing here one summer years ago.

  The younger boy, Noah, was a wild one. She caught him alone at the creek once with a turtle that had pulled itself inside and he was poking at it with a stick. She looked around to see if she could find his parents, but they were nowhere to be found. She grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and dragged him back to Rosalie’s house, but only Theresa was home. Theresa apologized half-heartedly and Nessa could smell that she was drunk. Young David came out from the back with a book in his hand and watched them, looking helpless. Theresa’s husband returned with two cartons of beer and Nessa couldn’t leave those boys there. She made up an excuse about needing help folding pamphlets at the church and Theresa was quick to let the boys both go with her.

  Noah walked like he had electricity running through him. Every once in a while he would start running backwards and do a cartwheel only to run back and kick the underside of his brother’s shoe as he took a step. David was quiet, but eager to help. He spent two hours folding brochures with Nessa and making polite conversation about his favorite subjects in school. He became particularly animated talking about his favorite video game. Noah disappeared into the church and Nessa figured he couldn’t get into too much trouble there. Several other ladies were volunteering that day and everyone kept an eye on kids around there.

  Unfortunately, he went and hid among the pews. The congregation later discovered that all of the pencils for the donation envelopes were missing. Nessa replenished them immediately, but by the time she went to talk to little Noah Bastion about it he and his family had already left town.

  Rumors had flown, of course, although none were started by Nessa Moore. That summer, Rosalie Merchant withdrew from the church and started keeping to herself. She had a sadness in her eyes, but there was still some bitter in there with it. Rosalie had really enjoyed being around those children.

  Nessa knew her life was about to get exciting when she saw those boys a little more grown up coming back to town. The look in Andy’s eyes guaranteed it.

  6

  Timing was everything and Nessa knew it better than anyone. She was known for her impeccable timing. Nessa let Andy meet both boys on her own before she went to introduce herself again and make up her own mind about them.

  She had just finished teaching a dance class at the senior center when her chance to talk to David presented itself. He and Jessica had come in to use the computer room and he stopped at the bulletin board to look at Help Wanted ads.

  “Hello.” She said to him brightly. Jessica hid behind his leg.

  “Hello.” He responded a little startled.

  “I don’t think you remember me. I met you once when you were a young boy.”

  “Yes, of course I remember you. But, I’m sorry, I don’t recall your name.”

  “Vanessa Moore, but most folks around here just call me Nessa.”

  “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you again.”

  “Likewise.”

  “I’m David.”

  “I didn’t forget. And who is this?” she bent down to get closer to the little girl’s eye level.

  “Go ahead and tell her your name.” David said to Jessica

  She twisted and turned and muttered “Jessica”

  “Well hello, Jessica. Do you want to play a game on the computer?”

  Nessa showed Jessica to a computer where there was a simple game for her to play and chatted a little longer with David. She did a lot of reading between the lines on his very carefully crafted story about how he came to stay with Mrs. Merchant. People had a way of talking when they were telling you the things they wanted you to know and keeping from you the things they didn’t want to share.

  “So, I understand you’ve met my granddaughter, Andy.”

  “Oh, yes. I didn’t know she was your granddaughter.” David’s expression gave away his thoughts on Andy and
Nessa wasn’t at all concerned about that. He was an older boy, that was true, but he was clearly more responsible than any young man his age should have to be and she was quite sure he could be trusted.

  “Yes, well… family relationships aren’t always cut and dried are they?” Nessa glanced over at Jessica and David’s eyes followed hers.

  Cautiously, he agreed, but the conversation ended shortly thereafter. It told Nessa everything she needed to know about David and Jessica.

  Noah came into the coffee shop that same afternoon and she was pleased at the stroke of luck. It was always best to assess a situation early on and then work out the details. She had pegged Noah as a small time troublemaker. Now that he was back in town, she was determined to give him another chance. Around here, most people assumed that if you were a troublemaker as a boy, you were always a troublemaker. But Nessa was all about second chances and Noah deserved one.