“Don’t answer right now,” Richard said. “I know you’ve been through a trauma of your own, and I’ve dumped a lot of stuff on you. I’ll head back to Morning View now and call you tomorrow.”
She walked with him to the front door, her mind reeling with all the sensations, all the emotions the past three days had wrought.
She knew she was on sensory overload, and when Richard left, she leaned against the door and fought the tears that threatened to overwhelm her.
“Mom?” Andrew appeared in the hallway.
“Honey, what are you doing still awake?” Elizabeth pushed herself away from the door and shooed her son back into his bedroom. “It’s getting late, and you have school in the morning.”
He climbed back into bed and she tucked the sheet around him. “Dad told me about his tumor when you weren’t here,” Andrew said. “He explained to me about the operation he’s got to have, and I heard him talking about us staying with him and Uncle Talbot for a while before he has the operation. Can we do it, Mom?”
The words tumbled from him one right after another, and finally he closed his mouth, but his eyes spoke more eloquently than words. His eyes were so like Richard’s, a soft brown that radiated his emotions.
“I don’t know, Andrew. You’ve got school and I’ve got work. I don’t see how it’s possible for us to just pick up and leave for a couple of weeks.”
“But, Mom, Dad is sick. He needs us.”
Andrew’s words ripped through her. Richard was sick, and more than anything he wanted the support and love of his family. Wanted them around him. How could she deny him? How could she deny her son this time with his father?
She reached out and stroked Andrew’s dark hair. He was the spitting image of his father, although even at nine, Andrew had a maturity and inner strength that often awed Elizabeth.
“I’m not going to make any decision tonight,” she finally said. “I’m really tired and I need to think things through with a clear mind.”
“Okay, but I really think we should do it, Mom. I think we should do it for Dad.”
Elizabeth kissed him on the forehead and wished him good-night, then left his room and went into her own bedroom. A sudden, staggering exhaustion overtook her.
She peeled off her clothes and slipped on the pale-pink cotton nightshirt that was as familiar as a hug from an old friend. She turned out the light, then crawled beneath the covers of her bed with the aid of the night-light that burned in a socket next to her bed.
It was funny. Most children had night-lights in their bedrooms, but in this household it was the mother who needed the illumination to ward off the things that went bump in the night.
However, at the moment it wasn’t the night that worried her. Rather, it was the coming of dawn, when she knew she’d have to make a decision.
Richard needed Andrew…and Andrew needed her. Richard was right in that she knew her son wouldn’t be comfortable for a couple of weeks away from her.
For the past nine years Richard had been sporadic in his visitations, often canceling at the last moment. Andrew had borne his father’s shortcomings good-naturedly, always embracing the time they spent together, but never holding a grudge when plans didn’t materialize.
Elizabeth knew if she didn’t agree to this time with Richard, Andrew would never forgive her if something horrible happened. And she would never forgive herself.
But there were practical considerations. Andrew had just started in the fourth grade, and although he was an excellent student, missing two weeks of school couldn’t be good.
As a substitute teacher, she could take off the next two weeks, although she would be financially pinched. There were so many things to consider.
For the first time in years, she wished she had somebody to hold her through the night, to stroke her back and whisper that everything was going to be just fine. She frowned, irritated by the uncharacteristic yearning.
Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the shadows on the ceiling. Touching her lips, she thought of that moment when Talbot’s mouth had claimed hers.
As his lips had touched hers, heat had soared through her, searing her from their point of contact down to the tips of her toes.
She shoved the memory firmly out of her mind. She couldn’t think about that kiss, and she couldn’t think about Talbot. Thinking about it, thinking about him, filled her with an uncomfortable guilt, and she wasn’t sure why.
Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep, afraid she’d make the wrong decision and somehow equally afraid she’d make the right one.
Chapter Five
A brain tumor.
Talbot stood at the window in the huge McCarthy kitchen and watched as the sun’s first rays peeked over the horizon. His eyes felt gritty as he sipped his coffee. It had been a long, sleepless night.
Richard had arrived home by eleven the night before. Talbot had been in his study, taking care of what business he could that had reached crisis stage during his absence.
After suffering a plane crash and a seemingly endless trek in the woods, Talbot had thought nothing more could shake him. But when his brother had divulged the information about his brain tumor, Talbot felt as if he’d taken a vicious punch to the gut and the world beneath his feet had been suddenly whisked away.
There had been times in the past when Talbot had wanted to knock some sense into Richard, when his brother’s careless spontaneity and boyish antics had driven him half-crazy. But nothing in all the years since their parents’ death had prepared Talbot for what Richard now faced.
Brain surgery. Talbot knew no matter how many assurances the doctor had given Richard, that kind of surgery was always dangerous.
The two brothers had stayed up for most of the night, talking about the diagnosis, the plan of action, the challenges ahead.
Talbot sighed and moved away from the window to pour himself another cup of coffee.
A damn brain tumor.
And there was nothing Talbot could do to make it better. There was no way to fix the problem for the brother he loved.
He’d only felt this helpless two other times in his life. The first had been that dreadful night in the hospital when he’d held his father’s hand, willing him to fight for life, and watched him slip away.
The second time of helplessness had come just the night before—in that insane moment when he’d kissed Elizabeth.
He shook his head, as if the physical action alone could dislodge the memory of the sweet warmth of her lips, the heady scent of her that had momentarily sent caution and any kind of rational thought scattering to the winds.
While Richard had been digesting his diagnosis and contemplating a fight for his life, Talbot had been wandering in the woods and lusting after Richard’s ex-wife. The thought made him feel ill.
He turned at the sound of footsteps approaching the kitchen. A heavyset, gray-haired woman entered, her broad face wreathed in a welcoming smile. “Talbot. It’s good to have you home.”
“Thanks, Rose. It’s good to be back.” He sat down at the round oak table, his mug of coffee before him.
“The house is far too quiet when you and Richard are gone.” She bustled over to the stove and grabbed an apron from where it hung on a hook. “Scrambled eggs and toast?” she asked as she tied the colorful apron around her.
“Sounds great,” he said.
Rose Murphy had worked for the McCarthy brothers since their parents’ deaths. Unmarried, and liking it that way, she had embraced the running of the McCarthy home with an efficiency that had made Talbot’s life much easier.
Through the years, she’d become not only invaluable as cook and housekeeper, but also as a means of emotional support and advice for Talbot.
Within minutes she’d prepared the eggs and toast and set the plate before him. She poured herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the table.
“You look tired,” she said, her brown eyes bright and sharp as they peered at him.
“I am t
ired,” he confessed. Quickly, between bites, he told her about the plane crash and the days wandering in the woods.
“You must have had an angel on your shoulder!” Rose exclaimed when he’d finished. “You could have died when the plane went down. My heart shudders to even think of how close you came to death.”
He nodded. “We were very lucky.” He hesitated a moment, then added, “And I sure hope that luck continues to hold.”
“Why? You planning another plane crash?”
Again he paused a moment before replying, gathering his thoughts, then told her about Richard and what was ahead for him.
The words came haltingly, and he kept a firm grip on his emotions, refusing to allow them to careen out of control. He had to be strong. He didn’t have time for fear or grief. He had to be strong to get through this, for himself, but more importantly, for Richard.
When he’d finished, Rose wiped the tears from her eyes with the hem of her apron.
Like most people who met Richard, Rose adored him. She often complained that he was irresponsible and immature and unreliable, but despite his many faults, Richard garnered affection like flowers drew bees.
“That poor boy,” she said softly. She wiped her eyes one more time, then straightened in the chair. “We’ll all have to do whatever we can to help him fight this thing. Richard isn’t strong, but we’ll have to help him be strong.”
“That’s exactly what we need to do,” Talbot agreed.
He finished his meal, then left the kitchen and headed for his office. He closed the double doors behind him and sat at the massive desk.
The room was huge, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on one wall and an elegant built-in bar on the other. The entire house had been his mother and father’s dream, a six-bedroom mansion that was an oddity in the tiny town of Morning View.
The home base of McCarthy Industries was housed in a large building twenty minutes away in Topeka, Kansas. With the invention of the telephone, the fax machine and the computer, Talbot was able to conduct much of the business of McCarthy Industries from right here in his home.
At the moment, the last thing Talbot felt like doing was working. He picked up the paperweight that sat on the desk. It was an ugly thing, a globe of glass with a dollar bill inside.
His mother had had it made for his father in the early days of McCarthy Industries, when the “office” was at the kitchen table and the breeze through the open windows blew papers everywhere.
As Talbot held the globe in his hand, he thought of his father and the promise he’d made to him. “I promise I’ll take care of Richard.”
And he had done his best in the past fourteen years to fulfill that promise. He’d tried to give Richard everything he believed his parents would have wanted. Besides the tangible things, he’d tried to guide, support and impart wisdom to his younger brother.
He had cared for Richard through his rebellious teen years, had tried to be there for him when he’d become a young father. Talbot had done everything in his power to take care of Richard, but there was nothing he could now do to make everything okay for the brother he loved.
Placing the paperweight back on the desk, he stared at the phone. Last night Richard had told Talbot his wishes concerning spending time with Andrew before the operation.
He explained that he’d voiced his wish to Elizabeth, but she had been reluctant. Richard had begged Talbot to get Elizabeth and Andrew here for a couple of weeks, and Talbot had agreed to do what he could.
He looked at his wristwatch and realized it was still too early to make any calls. He might as well get some work done while he waited for a more appropriate time.
An hour and a half later, Talbot picked up the phone and hit the speed-dial number that would connect him. The phone on the other end rang three times, and he wondered if she’d taken a job for the day. He knew she substitute taught and had been taking classes at night to finish her degree.
She picked up on the fourth ring.
“Hello.” Her familiar voice filled the line, and Talbot gripped the phone more tightly in an effort to ward off any feelings, any sensations that might surface inside him.
“Elizabeth, it’s me.”
There was a moment of silence, then a soft, “Hi.”
“We need to talk.”
“Richard told you?”
“Last night.”
Again a moment of strained quiet. “I guess none of us got much sleep last night,” she finally said.
“We need to discuss you and Andrew coming here to stay for a couple of weeks.” He didn’t want to make small talk with her, needed to get their business conducted as quickly as possible.
Her sigh was audible. “I just don’t know what to do. I want to do the right thing….”
“We all want to do the right thing.”
“But there are so many things to consider. Andrew is in school and then there’s my work.”
“I’ll hire a tutor to work with him every day. We’ll make sure he doesn’t fall behind. And as for your work, I’ve already made arrangements for your rent and utilities to be paid for the next month. If you need additional funds, I’ll see that you get them.”
“I don’t want you to do that,” she protested. “I don’t want you to pay for anything.”
“Elizabeth, now is not the time to stand on pride. I know how financially difficult it will be for you to take that much time off, but this is more important than money.”
She was silent for long moments. “Of course you’re right.” She sighed again. “We’ll come, but I’m not promising we’ll stay for two weeks. Surely Richard needs to get in to have the surgery as soon as possible, and it shouldn’t be that long.”
“That’s true,” Talbot agreed evenly. “But you know how difficult it can be to change Richard’s mind once he has something in his head. So, we can expect you sometime this evening?”
“No, we’ll leave tomorrow morning. That will give me some time to make arrangements and get us packed. You can expect us around noon.” Her voice was brisk and businesslike.
“That will be fine. Richard will be pleased.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Talbot reared back in his chair and rubbed the center of his forehead, where the beginnings of a headache tapped an irritating dance.
He was thankful she hadn’t mentioned their time spent together. More, he was profoundly grateful she hadn’t brought up the brief kiss they’d shared. She had been as cool and collected as he had been, and that was exactly how it had to remain between them.
It was all about Richard. Richard’s health, Richard’s well-being, Richard’s happiness. Richard wanted to spend some time with Elizabeth and Andrew, and that was the way it would be.
This was a big house, and Talbot worked long hours here in his office. It was possible they would see very little of each other during the next couple of weeks. And that was just fine with him.
He rubbed his forehead again, realizing his headache was intensifying. He knew it was the right thing for Elizabeth and Andrew to be here. But as he thought of her silky soft hair, the bright hue of her eyes and the sweet curve of her lips, he knew he’d just invited temptation into his home.
Morning View, Kansas, was a charming small town with a Main Street reminiscent of years gone by. There was an ice-cream parlor, a café, a general store and sundry other shops that spoke of a slower pace of living and the warmth of a close community.
It had been a full year since Elizabeth had been in Morning View. At that time she and Richard had been living out the last gasps of their marriage in an apartment building on the outskirts of town. Although Andrew spent weekends occasionally with his dad, who now lived back in the family home, this was Elizabeth’s first trip back since the divorce.
Andrew squirmed with excitement in the passenger seat, pointing out places he’d gone with his father as if she was a first-time visitor to the area.
He giggled as he pointed to the ice-cream parlor. “One time Dad
and I went in there and ordered an ice-cream cake and we ate the whole thing for dinner.”
Elizabeth shook her head ruefully. How like Richard.
“It was really good, but I had a tummy ache all night,” he added.
“Gee, I wonder why,” Elizabeth said. Andrew grinned at her, then looked back out the window.
“I like it here,” Andrew said. “And it’s going to be so cool for all of us to be together in the same house.”
Elizabeth frowned. She didn’t know how “cool” it was going to be, but she intended to make the best of the situation for Richard’s sake. And for Andrew’s.
They drove through the town, then took a two-lane road for half a mile. There, on the right, sitting on a large hill, was the McCarthy mansion.
A white, two-story house sporting a sweeping front porch and huge columns, the place resembled a Southern plantation more than a Midwest farmhouse. It was imposing in its grandeur, and Talbot had always seemed to belong here with his cool disdain and touch of arrogance. The lord of the manor and the king of his world.
She needed to think of him as cool and arrogant and not particularly likable. She had to believe that about him in order to get through the next few weeks of living in his home, being in his immediate presence.
She definitely needed to forget the Talbot she’d been in the woods with, the one who had displayed a sense of humor, who had held her through the darkness of the night. The one who had kissed her and made her burn from head to toe.
She parked in front of the house on the circular drive. Before she and Andrew could exit the car, Richard bounded out of the house, radiating energy, his face lit with a huge grin.
“You’re here!” he said as Andrew got out of the car. He ruffled his son’s hair, then pulled him into a quick embrace. “Your room is all ready for you, and I put your mom in the room next to yours.”
“Cool,” Andrew replied. “Where’s Uncle Talbot?”
“Holed up in his office where he is most of the time.” Richard smiled at Elizabeth. “Well, come on. Let’s get you unloaded and settled in.”
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