The Proof is in the Pudding

by Melinda Wells

  With growing consciousness came the awareness of pain. My head throbbed. My whole body hurt. I couldn’t move my left arm.

  Where am I?

  As my vision sharpened, and objects near me came into focus, I realized I was in a hospital bed. I couldn’t move my left arm because it was in a cast.

  Trying to ease the pain, I shifted my body and moved my right hand-and felt another hand.

  A third hand?

  I groaned.

  And the extra hand closed over mine.

  “Hey… you’re awake.” A man’s voice broke through my haze. A familiar voice.

  “Nicholas?”

  He leaned toward me and I saw his face. Nicholas was in the chair next to my bed.

  I’m alive.

  “You gave us one hell of a scare,” he said. “How do you feel?”

  “Everything hurts. What time is it?”

  “A few minutes after three o’clock in the morning. You had a big crowd here until midnight: me, O’Hara and his wife and daughter, Liddy and her husband, and Phil Logan acting like General Patton, demanding the best care for you, threatening to sue the hospital if your broken arm didn’t mend perfectly. The attending doctor finally threw us all out. As we were going down in the elevator, Phil Logan was grinning. He said that your solving a murder was going to be great for your ratings.”

  “If everyone had to leave, how come you’re here?”

  “I waited downstairs for a little while, then I came back up and used my charm on the floor nurse.” He moved his face closer to mine. “Do your lips hurt?”

  “That’s about the only part of me that doesn’t.”

  His mouth descended on mine for the lightest, most gentle kiss I’ve ever felt. “Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” he said.

  “Not such a ‘beauty,’ I’ll bet.”

  “You are to me,” Nicholas said.

  “What happened-how did I get here?”

  “You fell off a third-floor balcony.”

  “No.” My memory came back in a rush. “No, I didn’t fall. He tried to push me over, but I fought-oh, my God. We went off the balcony together. Is he…?”

  “The bastard’s alive,” Nicholas said. “But that’s only because the paramedics and the police got to him before I did. Thank God you fell into a garden and not onto some cement patio.” He shuddered and took a breath before he went on.

  “Parker has two broken legs and a broken wrist,” Nicholas said. “Maybe some internal injuries. You two may have gone over together, but he hit the ground first. You landed on him. That’s why you’ve only got a broken arm. They’re letting you go home tomorrow.”

  “Home… Tuffy and Emma! Who’s taking care of them?”

  “Shhhh. Don’t try to sit up. There’s nothing to worry about. Eileen’s at your house. Everybody’s fine-except you and Parker. Roland Gray is in custody. It was Gray who called 911 and told them you’d fallen from the third floor. He was on his way to the airport-”

  “He was going to Rio. Both of them were.”

  I saw Nicholas nod. “ Brazil -where there’s no extradition to America. But after he called 911 he went back to his building and gave himself up to Detectives Hatch and Weaver. He said he couldn’t live with the guilt anymore.”

  “And without Will Parker, he doesn’t think he can write. Parker murdered Ingram, and he killed Yvette’s husband in London.”

  “I know. The police found your purse with the tape recorder in it. Their own words are going to convict them.”

  “I feel sorry for Roland.”

  Nicholas looked shocked. “Why?”

  “He’s a weak man,” I said. “Parker controlled him.”

  “I don’t think that’s much of an excuse, but because he came back to try to help you, I’m willing to cut him some slack. In fact, I recommended an attorney for him to call.”

  I smiled. “Olivia-your favorite criminal lawyer.”

  “That’s the one. She said to tell you that because she’s going to soak Gray for everything he’s got, she’s decided not to send you a bill after all.”

  “That’s nice… What’s going to happen to Yvette?”

  “Parker claims she had nothing to do with the murder of Ingram, and he’s claiming that he killed Talib years ago in London because he caught Talib beating her after she told him she was leaving him. Parker said he wanted to protect her, so he staged Talib’s death to look like she hit him in self-defense.”

  “Parker really loves her,” I said.

  “Let’s not talk about them. Can I get you anything?”

  “You,” I said.

  “You’ve got me,” he said. “You’ve had me ever since you came to my house and started ripping my clothes off. Stupid me, it took a while before I realized you’d taken me off the market.”

  I yawned. “I’m so sleepy. Would you lie down here next to me?”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Umm humm.”

  “All right.” I saw his lips curve into a teasing smile. “Promise you won’t get frisky.”

  “I won’t… At least not until tomorrow.”

  “I think we’ll wait a little longer than that.”

  He gave me another gentle little kiss before he eased his weight onto the far edge of the hospital bed. “I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am that you’re alive,” he whispered.

  “Me, too,” I said. Then my eyes began to close.

  47

  The following afternoon, while Phil Logan was completing the insurance paperwork for my release, Liddy Marshall came into my hospital room carrying a shopping bag.

  “New clothes,” she said,

  “That’s a sweet thought, but I don’t need new clothes.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said. “Think about it. Your arm’s in a cast. How are you going to zip and button yourself?”

  I admitted that I hadn’t thought of that.

  Liddy opened the shopping bag and pulled out a pair of black knit slacks. “Elastic waistband,” she said. “You can pull them up with one hand.”

  “That is a good idea.”

  “I’m not finished.” She removed a garment in a soft shade of blue and held it up. “A tunic. This morning I had a seamstress open up the left side to accommodate the cast on your arm, and sew on strips of Velcro that you can stick together with your right hand.”

  “That’s really clever,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad you like it, because right now she’s making up six more for you, in different colors. Also, you have six more pair of these pull-up pants at your house, so you’ll have a separate outfit for each day of the week. This top looks and feels like silk, but it’s one of those great new fakes. You can toss everything in the washing machine.”

  “You are amazing.”

  Liddy grinned. “With twin sons and a husband whose dental practice consists mostly of gorgeous actresses, I’ve had to be amazing. There’s one problem I couldn’t solve for you: a bra.”

  “How about a strapless that fastens in front?”

  “No. I was with Julie, the Neiman Marcus lingerie buyer, this morning. We experimented like a pair of contortionists, but even with that style, you wouldn’t be able to get it on and off by yourself while your arm’s in a cast. You’ll have to go braless for a while. Luckily, you don’t droop.”

  ***

  Liddy had just finished helping me dress when Phil Logan arrived, brandishing a manila envelope. “I’ve sprung you, Del. ”

  Liddy picked up the bag with the clothes I’d worn when I fell from Roland Gray’s balcony. “We’re ready.”

  Right behind Phil was a nurse steering a wheelchair. She stopped in front of me and opened up the footrest.

  “Here we are,” she said cheerfully.

  “Thank you, but I don’t need that. I broke my arm, not my leg. ”

  “Hospital rules.” She pronounced those two words in a tone that discouraged argument.

  I sat.

  She pus
hed.

  Phil talked.

  “I’ve organized everything for you while you’re plastered up.” He ticked off items on his fingers. “One: You’ll have celebrity guest cookers helping you on your next eight shows. Two: I’ve arranged to have catered meals delivered to your house every day so you don’t have to cook at home. Three: Eileen will be running Della’s Sweet Dreams full-time. Four: Mickey authorized me to hire a dog walker to come to your house three times a day to take Tuffy out. She starts this afternoon. Her name is Helen. Five: Shannon and Liddy are going to come over every day to see what you need. I wanted to hire a private nurse to stay with you, but Liddy said you’d never go for that. Actually, she expressed it in surprisingly strong language.”

  “Thank you, Liddy,” I said

  Phil ran out of fingers and started on his other hand. “Six: I’m assigning the intern in my office to take you wherever you need to go. While I made my rounds this morning I had him drive me, as a test. He passed.”

  “Once again, you’ve thought of everything.”

  Phil beamed. “That’s my job.”

  When we got to the hospital’s entrance and the nurse wheeled the chair back inside, Phil said, “Liddy’s taking you home. I’d come with, but I’ve got places to go and problems to solve.”

  With that, Phil took off at his usual warp speed toward the hospital’s parking lot.

  ***

  As soon as Liddy opened my front door, Tuffy bounded out to greet me. He leaned against my thigh and looked at my cast with curiosity. I gave him an ear scratch. Then I stepped inside and found several of my favorite people in the living room.

  Shannon called out, “Surprise!”

  “I am surprised.” Mostly I was surprised to see Nicholas talking to John and Weaver, with none of the three of them scowling.

  “We’re celebrating your return,” Bill Marshall said. He was standing behind one of the two card tables someone had set up and covered with tablecloths, passing out beer and soft drinks. Behind the other card table, Shannon and Eileen were arranging deli platters and a basket of bagels.

  “I smell Junior’s,” I said, looking at Nicholas. He smiled at me.

  “Welcome home,” John said quietly.

  “We’ve got terrific news, Aunt Del!” Eileen said.

  “John’s back on the force,” Weaver said.

  “I’ve got more good news,” Nicholas said. “After what Detective Hatch put you all through, I wanted to tell you before you saw it in the paper tomorrow morning.”

  Shannon grimaced. “I hope somebody shot him.”

  “Mother! You don’t mean that.”

  “Not fatally,” Shannon said. “Just in some place that really hurts.”

  “He’s taken early retirement. And he’s leaving the state.”

  “I feel safer already,” I said.

  John looked skeptical. “It’s hard to believe he quit. Where did he go?”

  “Not where I’d like to see him,” Nicholas said. “He was offered a job in Washington -at Homeland Security.”

  “Now I feel less safe,” Liddy said.

  Weaver grunted. “At least he’s no longer a pimple on our ass.”

  “Elegantly put,” I said with a smile. “Now let’s have some celebration bagels.”

  ***

  John and Weaver left together because they were on the four-to-midnight shift. Liddy and Bill went home to change because they had theater tickets. Eileen had gone to her parents’ house for the night, to keep her mother company.

  Nicholas and I were alone on the couch in the living room. Tuffy lay on the floor near my feet, and Emma was curled up on the cushion of the club chair to the left of the couch.

  “This looks pretty domestic,” Nicholas said.

  I glanced around the room. “I never thought I’d get things put back together after Hatch turned the house upside down.”

  “I wasn’t talking about the furniture. I meant us.”

  I shifted my left arm into a more comfortable position. “I know I’m not very exciting with my arm in a cast and pain pills making me sleepy. You don’t need to stay, really. I’m fine.”

  Nicholas sat up straighter. “I know you’re fine-and independent-and can take care of yourself.” I was surprised that he sounded angry.

  “Don’t be testy,” I said.

  “You make it very hard for me to-I’m trying to say something.”

  “We don’t play games with each other. You can say anything you want to me.”

  Nicholas took my right hand in both of his. “I’m trying to tell you that I’ve fallen in love with you.”

  “I know.”

  “You know?”

  “Of course I know. You’ve done everything except say the words.”

  “How do you feel about it?”

  “I’m glad.”

  Nicholas let go of my hands and drew back. “What do you mean, you’re glad? Is that all you’re going to say?”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “I want you to tell me in one simple, declarative sentence how you feel about me.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Nicholas expelled an exasperated sigh. “In journalism we call that burying the lead!”

  Then he kissed me. Deeply, at first, then, as I responded, he was tender. After a few moments, he brushed my mouth with his lips and whispered, “Marry me.”

  “Louder, please. I didn’t hear you.”

  “You make me crazy.” He kissed me again. Pulling away, he fixed me with a hard look and said, “Marry me. This is a onetime offer.”

  I stroked his face with my good hand and ran the tip of my index finger around the outline of his full lips. The sight of him, the scent of him, the taste of him, his touch, all made me melt. “How long do I have to think about the onetime offer?”

  “As long as you need…”

  He kissed me again, and I lost track of time.

  Recipes

  Carole’s Quick and Easy Chocolate Nut Butter Fudge Pudding

  ¼ cup honey (first, lightly coat inside of measuring cup with butter to make it slide out after measuring)

  2 tablespoons sweet butter (¼ of a quarter-pound stick, unsalted)

  ½ cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips

  ½ cup smooth or crunchy nut butter (any kind: almond, cashew, macadamia, walnut, pecan, or peanut butter)

  2 cups whole milk

  3 tablespoons cornstarch (or ⅓ cup Kuzu starch chunks if allergic to corn products)

  1 teaspoon good vanilla extract

  Use a double boiler set (or a heat-safe bowl and a slightly larger pot to simulate a double boiler). Add about 1 inch of water to bottom pot, set it on stove burner, and turn burner on. While water is coming to a boil, put all the ingredients except starch and about a half cup of the milk into the top part. Add the starch to the reserved milk, stir until dissolved, and then add that mixture to the other ingredients. Place top container over-not in-bottom container of boiling water and constantly stir the lumpy mixture until ingredients are melted, thoroughly combined, and thickened into a pudding with a glossy sheen. Turn off burner.

  Remove top container from stove and pour pudding into 4 to 6 small bowls, pot-of-crème dishes, or heavy dessert glasses. Chill in refrigerator about one hour, or serve warm. This is delicious served plain or topped with pieces of the same kind of nut as in the pudding, or with whipped cream-or both.

  Enjoy!

  Linda Dano’s Italian Meatballs

  The world knows Linda Dano as an Emmy-winning actress, talk show host, and designer, but she’s very much at home in the kitchen. Even during her busiest times, she loved preparing a nightly meal for her husband, Frank Attardi… although sometimes that meant starting the meal with her coat still on, on the many days they ran late at the TV studio.

  ½ lb. ground veal

  ½ lb. ground pork

  1 lb. ground beef

  ½ to ¾ cup unflavored breadcrumbs

  ⅛ cup chopped fresh
parsley (I like to use Italian flat leaf parsley)

  ½ cup grated cheese

  Salt to taste

  Pepper, if desired (Linda doesn’t use pepper, but I do)

  5 eggs

  About half a cup of marsala wine, poured into a bowl

  Marinara sauce

  Mix together all ingredients except wine. When rolling meat mixture into meatballs, moisten hands frequently with the marsala wine. Fry gently in olive oil until browned. Serve with your favorite marinara sauce (heated), with or without pasta.

  Pasta Caruso

  This recipe came from my friend Fred Caruso, who produced The Rat Pack and Blue Velvet for HBO, and was production manager on the first Godfather movie.

  3 slices Italian pancetta, chopped (American bacon may be substituted)

  1 small onion, diced (use Vidalia or Maui for a sweeter flavor)

  3 cloves garlic, diced

  ½ medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced

  A “splash” of olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)

  12 green olives, pitted and chopped (if stuffed with pimentos, discard the pimentos)

  12 large black olives, chopped

  3 tablespoons capers, drained

  3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

  1 6 oz. can tomato paste (save this can for measuring)

  1 6 oz. can red wine

  1 6 oz. can water

  ½ can (not tightly packed) Italian parsley, chopped

  ½ can (not tightly packed) basil leaves, chopped

  1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (available in spice section of supermarket)

  1 tablespoon dried oregano

  1 pinch cayenne pepper

  Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

  Grated Romano cheese (any brand)

  1 lb. spaghetti (Fred suggests the De Cecco brand as best for this dish)

  Have all your ingredients prepared and lined up in order of use prior to beginning to make the sauce. Use small bowls or water glasses.