by Josie Brown
After cooing over the newborns, Jade knelt beside Dante. He acknowledged her smile with one of his own. When she held out her thumb to him, he grabbed it. It was a little thing they did. Lorna didn’t know how Jade had come up with it, but she always appreciated Jade for the special effort she made to connect with Dante.
“Where is the rest of our brood?” Jade asked
“Up front, enthralled,” Ally assured her. “My goodness, girl! We weren’t expecting you until next week! Is everything all right?”
Jade sighed happily. “It’s better than all right. It’s…brilliant!”
Jillian rolled her eyes. “Speak English.”
“I am speaking English,” Jade insisted. “They created our language—remember?”
“Hmmm…yeah! I do, come to think of it! I studied that in history class, a long, long time ago.” Ally’s eyes twinkled.
Jade stuck out her tongue at her friend. “I love how they use that word. It sums everything up so—so brilliantly!”
Lorna poked her arm. “So, tell us everything!”
“The tower is all the way up in the north country—a place called Lancashire. Really, it’s an old castle. It dates back to the twelfth century at least! We stayed in a tower room they rent out. Except for some of the grand halls, a ballroom, and the Vaio Room, where one takes tea, most of the castle itself is closed off. Still, you can tour the grounds, which are—”
“Let me guess,” Jillian interrupted. “Brilliant?”
“I was going to say beautiful. It’s part of a national trust, so it can be toured starting in late spring—”
“Yeah, yeah, enough with the tourist brochure yada, yada!” Ally retorted impatiently. “Get to the part where Shakespeare’s ghost tapped you on the shoulder to show you where he left some old manuscript.”
“You jest, but yes! And it couldn’t have happened at a better time.” Jade’s eyes grew wide. “Mostly, we worked in the old library, where staff had set aside all these old manuscripts and books, dating back to even before Shakespeare’s time. We had to handle it all with these special white gloves so none of the oils from your skin damage the old pages.”
Lorna nodded. “I never realized that, but it makes sense. But why go there for proof, as opposed to London, or even Stratford-upon-Avon?”
“Rumor has it that Shakespeare spent some of his ‘lost years’ as a schoolmaster there, working for the castle’s owner, Alexander Hoghton,” Jade explained. “When Sam was there last year, she’d discovered a manuscript that she thought might be Shakespeare’s first draft of A Comedy of Errors. According to scholars, the hand that wrote it might indeed have been Shakespeare’s. Our job was to compare the handwriting on JPEG copies of the original pages along with anything else in his handwriting from the same time period in order to validate her initial finding.”
“Talk about finding a needle in a haystack,” Jillian murmured.
Jade nodded. “You can say that again. We went through each book, journal, and diary, page by page. After the first week, Reggie was getting discouraged. He didn’t say anything, but I imagine he wished Sam were there to help him.” Jade shrugged. “I mean, I wasn’t totally useless. In fact, I did a pretty good job memorizing some of the intricacies of Shakespeare’s handwriting. But Sam would have known which journals might have held clues.”
“From what you say, it really didn’t matter, since Reggie and you found something anyway,” Lorna pointed out.
Jade blushed. “Yes, I did—and in the oddest place!” She leaned in to the others. “Hoghton had a secret compartment under the center drawer of his desk. It opened only if you hit it in exactly the right spot. Inside were illustrations of…well, naked couples. Alongside were bawdy poems, in iambic pentameter. They were initialed WS.”
“That’s so exciting!” Lorna exclaimed. “How did you happen to come across it?”
Jade laughed. “I was sitting at the desk and dropped my magnifying glass. I had to crawl under it—and I bumped my head! In fact, I passed out. When I came to, Reggie was slapping my face and cursing himself for having put me in danger of a concussion. When he saw the poems, he nearly fainted too.”
The others couldn’t help but laugh.
“Sam is pleased,” Jade reported. “She thinks I may have a true gift for historical research.”
“As long as you don’t get a concussion doing it,” Ally replied.
“No kidding!” Jade rubbed the top of her head. “I may explore the possibilities—especially if it means traveling all over the world. But first things first: Reggie and I set the date, and I’ve got to get hopping.”
“When?” Jillian asked anxiously. “Because, you know I was hoping for June—”
“Not to worry,” Jade assured her. “We’re beating you to the punch. Everyone, clear your calendars for Memorial Day weekend: Saturday the twenty-third, at four sharp. We were able to get the Pauley Ballroom at the university.” Her face seemed to glow in anticipation.
“It’s such an elegant venue,” Lorna murmured.
Jade nodded. “Not as regal as a castle in the English countryside, but it will do perfectly.” She turned to Ally. “Would you do me the honor of being my maid of honor?”
Ally nodded. “Yes! It would mean the world to me.”
“Which means you and you”—she pointed to Jillian and Lorna—“are the rest of my bridesmaid posse.”
Lorna laughed. “I’ll do my best to lose my baby fat by then. What color are our dresses?”
“Pink! Any shade and any dress—as long as you’re at my side.”
“It’s my favorite color,” Jillian assured her.
This time, when the group hugged, they also had tears in their eyes.
* * *
Tuesday, 10 March
Jillian was so busy pushing each one of her twins on the toddler swings at Alta Plaza Park that at first, she didn’t recognize the man on the bench smiling at her:
Her former brother-in-law, Jeff Frederick.
Immediately, she put a hand on Scotty, who was sleeping in the carrier she wore on her chest. In doing so, Amelia’s swing slowed to a halt. Hearing her daughter’s indignant cry, she pushed again, all the while counting the seconds until Jeff reached her side.
Only six.
How she wished she could have whisked her children away in those few precious moments.
He had the audacity to try to kiss her hello. She ducked just out of reach.
He laughed. “Well, hello to you, too.” He waved at Addison. When she answered him with a “Hi!” he nodded approvingly. “The girls have gotten big.”
Jillian saw no need to make small talk. “What do you want?” she asked.
His smile faded. “To make you an offer you can’t refuse. Jeff stroked Scotty’s leg. “So, this is the little man, eh?”
“Who else would it be?” My God, he doesn’t recognize his own nephew? Jillian shook her head at his cluelessness. “Don’t wake him,” she warned.
“Don’t you want to hear my offer?” he prodded.
“Don’t play games, Jeff. Just come out with it.”
“Sure, okay.” He glanced around to check if anyone could hear their conversation. Assured that no one could, he blurted out, “The judge likes the idea of my sticking around. But to be honest, kids aren’t my thing—and neither is San Francisco. So, I’ll tell you what: if you pay me, I’ll go away, Rona will have to give you Scotty.”
Jillian’s arms went slack. The girls’ swings slowed to a point where they were now both upset. She couldn’t care less. She had to make sure that he was being honest, which was why she put her arms around his shoulders and chest and back, patting him down.
Embarrassed, he muttered, “Wow, Jillian, I can’t tell you what a turn-on that is. But seriously, you want to grope me in public?”
“I have no intention of fulfilling one of your sick little fantasies,” she assured him. “I’m just checking you for a wire.”
When he laughed, so did the girls.
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Jillian backed off. Once more, she pushed the girls’ swings. Without looking at Jeff, she asked, “How do I know you’d actually disappear?”
“Because I’m not asking for a one-time write-off. We’ll make it something we can both live with. If the checks keep coming, I’ll stay out of San Francisco.” He snickered. “There are far cheaper places to live, believe me.”
When she didn’t respond, he said, “Hand me your cell phone.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I’ll input my number. If you’re interested, you should call me by Friday. If not, the deal’s off.”
Jillian reached in her jacket pocket for her cell phone. After pulling up a new contact page, she handed it to him.
He tapped in his number.
“Don’t worry, Jillian. Kids grow up despite any crap we throw at them. Scotty won’t be the exception.”
The girls cooed, “Bye! Bye! Bye!” as Jeff started down the hill.
“So, what do you think? Should I do it?” Jillian had waited until the girls were tucked into their cribs and Scotty was cradled in her arms sucking on his bottle before mentioning Jeff’s offer to Caleb.
The question put a grimace on Caleb’s face. “Do you really believe he’d stay away?”
“I guess so…if I made it worth his while.”
“He’d be blackmailing you.”
“Yes, I know what it is,” she said stiffly.
“Blackmailers keep raising the ante.”
“If he did that, I’d cut him off,” she promised.
“You’d have no legal recourse.”
“Blackmail is illegal. They’d arrest him,” she countered.
“Yes, but Rona could use it against you. She could claim coercion.”
Caleb was right. Jillian knew it. She looked down at the sweet soft sleeping boy.
I can’t let him go.
And yet, she was too tired and too scared about losing Scotty to be rational. “What difference does it make? We have the money now,” she retorted. “Is it because you don’t really want him here?”
Caleb stood up. “I can’t believe you’d even think something like that.”
Before she could say she was sorry, he walked up to their bedroom.
He was gone before she woke up the next morning.
She never called Jeff.
She prayed she wouldn’t regret it.
* * *
Wednesday, 1 April
5:14 p.m.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” Kelly’s tone was playful, but no one knew better than Andy Hepburn that her actions spoke louder than her words.
Instinctively, his eyes scanned the sports bar. It was early enough that the Final Final Lounge was practically empty. Within a few hours, when the Warriors’ game began, the place would be hopping.
She was right: he was avoiding her.
But not for the reason she assumed.
He imagined that she thought he was there to meet another woman, or worse yet, pick up someone. Not here. The kind of women who came here weren’t looking to fall for the right line, or fall in love with a sexy smile. They actually wanted to follow the game.
After what he’d heard last week from his doctor—that he had testicular cancer—he was in no mood to smile, let alone have sex.
But Kelly could never understand that.
If he told her the truth, her eyes would go blank. He’d be of no use to her.
Worse yet, she’d pity him.
The last thing he wanted was her pity. Her anger would do just fine.
In truth, it was the perfect way to remember her.
So he said, firmly and seriously, “No, love, I’m not avoiding you. I’m just tired of you.”
He expected the litany of curses, and the accusations, and the recriminations.
He knew she was not just angry, but jealous. “So, you’ve found someone else? Who is she?” Kelly demanded.
He expected her to slap him, maybe even punch him for old time’s sake. He didn’t expect her to beg that he come to his senses.
And he was greatly surprised that she shed any tears.
And yet, he held firm. He was doing them both a favor. After all, she wasn’t the Florence Nightingale type. She wouldn’t be there through the surgery, the chemo, the radiation, the whatever it took to be free of this cancer.
And she certainly wouldn’t hang in there at the least sign of erectile dysfunction.
She left after she tossed his second beer in his face.
By the time he downed his fourth beer, he’d convinced himself that he’d done the right thing for the both of them.
Damn, I’ll miss her, he thought.
He had no illusions that she’d feel the same way.
Chapter Seventeen
Sunday, 5 April
Easter
Had Nathaniel not thrown up on the cute little infant suit Eleanor had bought him for Easter, Bettina would not have been late to the Pacific Moms and Tots Club’s annual Easter Egg Hunt at Lafayette Park.
Matthew and Lorna had stopped by to pick them up. Bettina waved them on. “Tell everyone I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“All the children will be anxious,” Lorna reminded her. She nodded in Lily’s direction.
The little girl swung her Easter basket impatiently. She was decked out in a pale pink sleeveless brocade frock that tied at the waist with a silk ribbon. The skirt’s top layer was a cloud of chiffon.
Bettina sighed, but waved them on. “If that’s your way of saying that you’d like to start without me, then go ahead. But please take Lily with you.”
Her daughter didn’t need to be asked twice. She leapt into one of the car seats in the backseat of Lorna’s new van.
By the time Bettina got to the park, all the car spaces on the sides closest to the playground and the grassy knoll had already been taken, so she had to park on the busiest side: Gough Street. At least it accessed a concrete path. Although it meandered up a hill through the park, eventually it reached the tot lot—
Not before, however, passing the tennis courts.
And that’s how she ran into Andy.
He’d just completed a match. His damp shirt clung to his taut torso. His auburn hair hung in damp ringlets to the collar of his tennis shirt. At first, she didn’t see him because he had his back to her. After wiping the sweat from his hair and the back of his neck, he turned around—
And they were face to face.
Eventually his eyes fell on Nathaniel’s baby carriage. Noting that the infant’s hair was the same russet color as his own, Andy’s jaw dropped open.
At that moment, the infant’s eyes opened. Instinctively, Andy stooped to get a better look.
Yes, the eyes were just like his, they were the same ice-blue color.
Andy touched the infant’s cheek tenderly.
At that moment, there was so much Bettina felt she should say:
That she’d once loved him with all her heart;
That she’d felt betrayed by him, what with all the liaisons he’d had, even when he was seeing her;
That she wished things had ended differently for them;
And that she felt sorry for him.
But when he gazed back at her, all her words fell away.
Finally, he murmured, “You have a handsome son.”
“Thank you,” she stuttered.
He nodded. And then he turned to leave.
It shouldn’t end this way, she realized, so she blurted out, “Andy, I’m sorry that—that I had to let you go. You know, at the club.”
He actually chuckled at that. “You did what you had to do.” He looked her straight in the eye. “And so did I. You women know what you want—and you want it despite the consequences. Everything was by mutual consent.” He nodded in Kimberley’s direction. “I see you allowed her to stay in the club.”
Bettina shrugged. “For the time being, anyway. But I’ve got her on a very short leash.”
He laughed heartily at th
at. “Some punishment. She likes it that way.”
Bettina blushed hotly. “Yes, I guess you’d know that best.” She tucked Nathaniel’s blanket so that it was tighter around him. “But you’re right. At this point, we should let bygones be bygones.” She held out her hand. “Friends, then?”
He stared down at it. When he took it, he put it over his heart. “Yes. Friends.”
Embarrassed, Bettina pulled her hand away. She glanced around. Assured that no one had seen them, she murmured, “I’m sure we’ll be running into each other.”
As she made her way down the walk, she didn’t look back to see if he was still looking at her.
Not really her, but Nathaniel.
She prayed they’d never run into him again.
Why, that son of a bitch, raged Kelly. He’s been avoiding me—because of her?
She would not have seen Bettina with Andy if she weren’t so determined that Wills would be the first of the Twosies to be potty-trained. He’d been a good boy to warn her with a scream of, “Poopie!’ To do so prior to the start of the Easter Egg Hunt would earn him an extra chocolate egg when the candy in his Easter basket was divvied out.
Because the public restroom was not far from the tennis courts, Kelly had a bird’s eye view of the reunion between her nemesis and her lover. She saw Andy’s shock and awe with Bettina, and his tenderness with her child. What really turned her stomach was the way in which he placed Bettina’s hand over his heart.
More so than ever, she wanted to kill Bettina. For that matter, she wanted to kill Andy, too.
She knew of one person who resented Andy’s defection even more than her:
Kimberley.
She’d be the perfect foil for Kelly’s revenge.
The perfect stooge.
With Wills in hand, she headed off to find her prey.
Kimberley’s eyes widened when Kelly came her way.
Of course, they would. Kimberley had done her best to avoid Kelly since the debacle at the auction for Bettina’s damned horse.
She blanched when Kelly proffered her three-year-old daughter, Hailey, a chocolate egg. “You missed this one, sweetie,” Kelly cooed. She then looked up at Kimberley and murmured, “And I miss you. Why have you been avoiding me?”