“Why would someone set a fire?” Estella asked as she played with some fruit salad, pushing a piece of pineapple around the plate and making swirls with her fork.
“I don’t know,” Rich admitted and saw the cautious look on Torrie’s face. He glanced at Iris. Without warning, the tears began to slide down the child’s face. She broke into muffled sobs. With the back of her hands, she tried to wipe the tears away with brusque angry motions. She burst out through sniffles, “All my clothes and toys are ruined! All my stuffed animals are…gone. Everything we have is burned or wet or smelly.” She hiccupped through the last sob. “Mommy, what are we going to do?”
Before Torrie could rise to comfort Iris, Estella popped up and draped an arm around the little girl. “Don’t cry, Iris,” she said, patting her on the back. “I’ll give you some of my toys, and I have loads and loads of stuffed animals—a whole garbage bagful. You can even have some of my clothes.” She looked up at her father. “You can fix this, can’t you, Daddy?”
He heaved a sigh. “Not everything, but yes, we can fix some of it, Estella.” He reached and ruffled Iris on the top of her head. “Hey. Not all your clothes are ruined, honey. We just need time to get them cleaned.”
Lulu interrupted, “Maybe it would be best if I take these girls upstairs and give them a bath. They smell like smoke. We’ll find some clothes for Iris to wear until we can take her shopping.” She clapped her hands softly. “Come. Let’s go, my little ladies. Time to raid Estella’s closet and play dress up.”
Estella jumped on the idea like a dog on a bone. “Yes, Iris, let’s go. You can pick out whatever you want to wear from my things. And tomorrow we can go shopping!” She grabbed the little girl by the hand and yanked her from her seat. “This will be soooo much fun. We can pretend we’re sisters. And guess what? Another sleepover!”
Rich gave Lulu a grateful look as she followed the gleeful girls into the hallway and up the stairs. Then he heaved another weary sigh and leaned back, staring at an equally exhausted Torrie. He wondered how all the disastrous events had come about. He was not surprised to hear the fire was deliberately set. Someone was either angry at Torrie, or someone was irate with him and trying to get to him through her. Or someone had a vendetta against Henry Jordan who owned the building. He recalled the conversation with Ivan. Surely he wasn’t crazy enough to resort to destroying Torrie’s property, just to break up a relationship she might be having. Traumatic mishaps had the ability to bring people together, not push them apart.
Elsa arrived later, just long enough to drop off Torrie’s suitcase from her trip to Elmira and a change of clothes Torrie routinely kept stashed at the landscape center for when accidents happened or she was caught in the rain. Luckily, although Torrie had taken the suitcase from Rich’s SUV and transferred it to her van, she had never taken it inside her apartment. Hugging Torrie, Elsa warned her not to fret. She had planned a family meeting and would rally all the brothers and Lars’s wife to help gather the necessities she’d need to start over. She also told her she’d round up more clothes from her closet and drop them off in the morning. Rich was thankful she had discouraged their parents and brothers from coming to try to commiserate with Torrie. He knew Elsa realized the event was traumatic enough, and Torrie needed time for emotional recovery and later, some sleep. There would be plenty of time to worry about fire reports, insurance claims, and help with clean-up.
Once the girls had left, Rich sat up straighter in his seat. “Torrie, we need to talk.”
“I need a place to stay.”
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here. Lulu has cleaned my grandmother’s downstairs bedroom, and she’s made up the bed. There’s a small private bath there as well. She’ll help you with anything you need once the girls are bathed. It’s a perfect set-up until we figure out what we’re going to do. Estella is thrilled to have Iris stay with her.”`
“People will talk, Rich.”
“People are already talking about us. Who cares?”
“I do! They’re talking about me!” She pounded her chest with a fist. “Now they’ll start referring to me as a loose single parent.”
“What do you care what anyone in this town thinks or says? It’s small town gossip. People are thoughtless, cruel, and clueless. They know your family and what good people they are, and yet they gossip. Hell, Torrie, they gossip about me. Admit it. They do, don’t they?”
“Yes, because they’re jealous,” she shot back, “not because they think you’re single and promiscuous.”
He ran a hand through his already rumpled hair, resisting the urge to pull it out. “I can’t win with you!” He rose and paced to the open French door and looked out at the backyard where a cardinal started to scold from a far pine tree. A wind had kicked up and sent the sweet smell of flowers filtering in through the screen. His voice dropped in volume. “Torrie, I need to know what’s going on with you and Ivan Winters.”
She rose and went to the coffeemaker and poured herself another cup, leaning against the counter. “It’s a long story, but to make it short, I owe him a little less than ten thousand dollars.” When Rich stared at her, failing to react, she continued, “It was to pay off a personal debt I owed for expenses and land I needed to quickly sell in New York when Daniel died so I could move home. Now he holds it over my head, and I wait every day for the dreaded moment when he calls it in…or asks for some favor I can’t grant.”
“So it’s a simple fix. We pay it off.”
“I can’t take your money.”
“No way! You’re not going to start with that, are you?” His gray eyes were stony with anger. “So you’d rather be indebted to Ivan Winters than take the money I’m offering? Are you in love with the damned monkey on your back?”
“No.” She took her coffee back to the table and slumped down. “You don’t understand. It won’t be easy, even if I agreed to take your money and pay him off.” She fiddled with the cup’s handle. “Ivan Winters controls this town,” she explained, “and he doesn’t let anyone forget it. If I pay off the loan and anger him, he’ll call in our mortgage for the landscape center. Or he’ll refuse loans to folks who want to buy cars at Lars’ dealership. Marlene crossed him once and now she sends everyone who buys homes or real estate over to Center City to get a mortgage. Lucky for her, her father was already set up with one of the lending institutions over there. She has no use for Ivan Winters.”
She covered her face with her hands and shook her head, her long hair flying around her head like a curtain. “Dear God, I don’t know what to do. Everything’s a mess!”
He moved to her and sat down beside her. His warm palm caressed her back. He wanted to tell her everything would be all right. He wanted to tell her the truth…he was in love with her. But this was not the right time. “We’ll work it all out,” he said instead. “First thing, we pay off the loan.”
“But…I have no money.”
“No buts, Torrie. I have the money. Please just let me handle this. For God’s sake, just for once let me take care of this. I’m tired of this town and a dictator who thinks he has the right to rule every person once they’ve signed on the dotted line.”
A sob escaped her throat and she flung herself into his arms. She started weeping, her voice muffled against his shirt. “Rich, I have nothing. Iris is right. Everything I have is ruined.”
“Ah, Torrie, no,” he whispered in her hair. “You have me, babe.”
“Rich, I’m so mixed up. You’ve been more kind to me than anyone in this town. You don’t deserve all the trouble I’m handing you…and I don’t deserve you.’”
He chuckled against her hair. “Well, to be honest, I like a little trouble every so often to keep me on my toes.”
The minutes slipped by as he cradled her in his arms and stroked her hair. Peace settled around them like a warm winter coat. “You know,” he murmured, “we could tidy up this whole mess without a lot of frustration. You could marry me. I’m not falling in
love with you, Torrine Jane Larson. I am in love with you. And I know it’s not what you want to hear right now.”
“Whoa, Rich.” She looked up at him and touched his face lovingly. “How would it ever work?”
He dipped his head and found her lips. They tasted sweet and a little smoky from the fire. He pulled away and looked at her. “We’ll figure it out. Trust me, we’ll—”
Just then the thundering of sneakered feet on the stairs brought them to reality.
“I know where Sheba is!” Estella screamed and streaked past Rich and Torrie with Iris hot on her heels wearing a too-large, blue summer outfit with the shorts hanging down below her knees. “She’s in the carriage house. I just saw her go around the back of it from your upstairs bedroom window when I went to show Iris your cowboy hat. I’ll bet she gets in through the hole in the broken window. I’ll bet she had her kittens.” She tugged at the sliding glass doors.
Rich stood and moved toward the door. “Wait. Just wait a moment.” He turned to Torrie. “Holy moly, just what we need. A horde of kittens. I wonder how many a cat can have?”
“I’ve heard they can have as many as ten,” Torrie said.
“Ten?” he bellowed. He looked around wildly and shouted into the air at the front of the house, “Lulu! Where are you? We’re going to need some animal husbandry advice in the carriage house.”
Lulu emerged from the hallway with an old fashioned key in her hands. “Stop shouting, you goofball. You’re going to need more than just me if Sheba has a large litter. You’re going to need kitten food, feeding bowls, clean bedding, litter boxes, and some very loyal friends.” She hurried out the back sliding door calling after the girls, “Wait. Let me go first. Let’s see if the cat’s up in the top level of the carriage house like I suspect. I have the key to the door.”
“Loyal friends?” Rich’s eyebrows rose as he gazed at Torrie.
“To take the kittens off your hands.”
Minutes later, the group huddled in the far corner of the carriage house watching Sheba, nestled in a pile of old rags, feeding six newborn kittens.
Iris and Estella squatted several feet away, enraptured by the sight of the tiny babies. Two of them were snow white, one was black, and the remaining ones were black and white. They squirmed around like one massive ball rooting for a place to suckle.
“Look, Daddy, there’s one for each of us.” Estella exclaimed in a jubilant whisper and clasped her hands together. “I wonder who the father is?”
“I’ll bet his name is Tom,” Rich muttered under his breath and felt Torrie’s sharp elbow connect with his side. “What? I’m taking a wild guess here. And I’m also guessing he has black fur.” The elbow nailed him again.
“Can we touch them?” Estella asked, peering up at the grown-ups behind her.
Lulu shook her head. “No, sorry, honey. Not today. They’re newborns and their eyes haven’t opened yet.”
“How long before they can see?” Iris asked and moved to stand beside Lulu. “Does it hurt them not being able to see?”
“About two weeks.” Lulu put an arm around Iris’s thin shoulder. “And no, it doesn’t hurt them. It’s nature’s way to give their delicate eyes time to grow and be healthy. We should leave them alone for about four weeks before we touch them. If we don’t, we could put a human scent on them and confuse the mother. And if you girls come up here bothering Sheba all the time, she’ll hide them. We have to make her comfortable so that doesn’t happen.”
Lulu turned to Rich and Torrie. “We need to get a big box with some towels and holes in it and put it close by. Sheba will want to move them into a safe place. She knows she has to keep them away from sunlight so it won’t bother their eyes once they start to open.”
Estella popped up from the floor. “Goody! Goody! I’m so happy. Now we don’t have to go home for another month.” She placed her hands on her hips and stared at her father. “We’re staying right here in Hickory Valley until I can play with them, aren’t we, Daddy?”
“Good grief.” Rich looked at the cats with a wilted gaze.
But Estella was far too excited to wait for an answer. “How can we tell if the kitten is a girl or boy?” she asked.
Only Estella, Rich thought, with her thirst for details, would ask such an awkward question. He felt like sinking into the floor. Beside him, Torrie snorted out a soft laugh.
“Lulu, a little help here,” Rich drawled and pointed to the squirming balls of fur.
Lulu patted Estella on the back. “We have to be patient. It can take over a month before we can really figure it out. Their bodies need to grow, too.”
“Then we really have to stay.” Estella turned to Iris and grabbed her shoulders, jumping up and down and grinning. “Did you hear what Lulu said? We can be make-believe sisters for a looong time.”
Rich snuck a peek at Torrie, who gave him a corner-of-the-eye glance. This time it was she who muttered, “It’s going to be long month, isn’t it?”
The evening shadows were dense and gray by the time Torrie and Rich and the girls carried old towels, a box, and food out to Sheba. It was even later when Estella and Iris were calmed down enough to finally eat. Lulu had gone home and Torrie was cleaning the kitchen when Rich took the girls into his study and unlocked the floor-to-ceiling cabinet holding the collection of teddy bears.
“It’s a special night, girls,” he announced and motioned to the cabinet shelves where all the Steiff bears of Great Grandmother Hilda Redman stared back at them. “Pick a teddy bear you want to take with you to bed tonight.”
Iris’s eyes were huge and round. “You mean I can choose any of these?” She brushed her hand along the lower shelves. Rich nodded. “Even those on the top shelf. I’ll get it down for you. You need to go to sleep with a smile and a cuddly bear to keep you company.”
After several minutes of serious deliberation, Iris chose a honey-colored bear with a brightly colored plaid bow around his neck, and Estella chose a light taupe one with an orange scarf.
From her place at the kitchen sink, Torrie spoke up. “Are you crazy, Rich? Many of those bears are worth hundreds of dollars.”
“And they’re all sitting in a case gawking at me while I work,” he yelled back through the doorway. He had plans to have Lulu take a picture of each of them and box them up. He needs extra shelves for work. “Anyway, this is a special occasion. Iris needs a stuffed animal of her own.”
Torrie came into the study, wiping her wet hands on a dish towel. “You’re an old softie.” Without warning, he reached out and pulled her close to him. He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Why don’t you go take a shower and get ready for bed? I’ll take the girls upstairs, read them a book, take a quick shower myself, and come back down. We’ll have a glass of wine on the back porch.”
“I’m sorry, Rich,” she said, leaning her head against his shoulder, “the shower sounds wonderful, but I’m emotionally beat from the fire and Sheba’s kittens. I just want to get cleaned up and go to sleep. It’s been an exhausting day.”
“Understandable.” He dredged up a faint smile as disappointment fell over him like a dark shadow, blocking out the anticipated joy of being with her—and the anticipated joy of giving her the diamond ring burning a hole in his pocket.
Chapter Twenty-One
Fresh from the shower, Rich wandered past Torrie’s closed bedroom door and out into the kitchen. If he was disappointed she didn’t want to spend a few minutes alone with him, he also understood how traumatic, chaotic, and tiring the day had been. He was mentally and physically exhausted himself. He poured himself a glass of red wine and carried it out to the porch, where he took a seat in the rocker. His mind flashed back to the encounter he had with Ivan Winters, and then it dawned on him his phone was still inside Lulu’s handbag and on its way to her farm outside town. He groaned into the shadowy night. How could he have been so stupid to forget about it?
“Fine pickle you have yourself in now, Richard Lee Junior,” a voice said from besi
de him.
“Dammit!” Rich jerked in his seat, splashing wine down the front of his T-shirt and onto the porch floor. Heart banging like a drum inside his chest, he zeroed in on the rocker beside him which set itself in motion. “You have to stop popping up without warning, Grandmother Gertie! You just wiped five years off my life. And look at the mess I’ve made!”
He stepped over the puddle of wine, swiping at his shirt, as he skidded away to the top of the steps.
“Don’t swear, Richard Lee Junior. It’s not refined. It’s not polite, especially in front of your elders. Think about this. How would you like your whole earthly life to be finished, like mine?” she groused. “You think it’s sheer joy to keep popping up on this silly rocker?”
“There must be a good reason why you’ve decided to harass me after a day like today.” Rich took a sip of wine, thinking he should have grabbed the entire bottle and maybe, just maybe, the rocking-chair apparition of his grandmother might be more tolerable.
“You need to clean up the mess with Ivan Winters,” she scolded. “He’s going to hell, you know, unless he gets off his keister and walks the straight and narrow.”
“I plan to deal with him in the morning when I send the girls out shopping. I have Marlene on it. We have a plan—loose as it may be. And there is no doubt he’s going to hell, no matter what I do.”
The rocking chair moved and creaked for several seconds as if Ghost Gertie was in deep thought. Finally she spoke, “You love Torrie, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then why can’t you figure out how it’s supposed to work for both of you, and put a ring on her finger?”
“Ah, how sweet. Now you’re a relationship therapist, too? I did ask her, and she’s stonewalling.” He shot the rocker a withering glance.
“I figure there are two little girls who need a good home and there’s a wonderful woman who could be your better half.”
“Whoa, Grandmother. Better half? What about me?”
Four White Roses Page 18
