A Dark Horse

by Cooper, Blayne

  Adele rolled her eyes.

  “If it helps, I made them all promise not to put it on YouTube.”

  “Uh-huh. And how many hits does it already have?”

  Natalie sighed. “Four hundred and seventy-eight.”

  “In only a couple of hours?” Adele gaped. Maybe she wasn’t still dreaming. Maybe she’d died during surgery and this was Hell. “How is that possible?”

  “Well, one of your nieces posted it and—”

  “No.” Adele held up a hand. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” Adele threw her arm over her eyes. She couldn’t think about what she’d done for another second and not die. “I hate hospitals. And I hate my doctor.”

  “Ella,” Natalie scolded quietly, accepting the change of subjects gracefully. “The man is allowed to have a life. He did a great job on your bicep last winter, didn’t he?”

  Adele reluctantly nodded. Her arm had healed completely and with no lingering effects except for the scar.

  “Everyone needs a little time off now and then.”

  Adele moped. “He made me miss it.”

  “You didn’t miss anything. I recorded it for you and Landry.” Natalie couldn’t suppress her smitten smile. “Logan was wonderful and to-die-for cute. Seriously. He was disgustingly adorable.”

  “Tell me.”

  And so she did. Logan’s first-grade class put on an end-of-the-year school play, and he had the part of a growly lion, complete with a fake fur mane, felt claws and a long fuzzy tail. Adele hadn’t wanted to miss it, but it was either schedule her operation for today or wait six weeks until her doctor returned from a world cruise.

  Like a trusty second in a duel, Natalie had agreed to go to Logan’s play in her stead. She’d gone early enough to get a seat in the front row and cheer on Logan then hustled him and Amelia back to the hospital for a quick visit. He was spending the night with his aunt.

  Adele licked her lips again. Why were they so dry? “How did he do with his line?”

  Natalie clamped a hand over her own mouth to cover a short laugh.

  “Uh-oh.” Adele shook her head, doing her best to smile and forcing herself to ignore the throbbing sensation in her leg that was growing with every minute. “Don’t tell me he forgot it. You’ve been practicing with him all week. It was only ten words. It’s burned into my brain, so I know he knows it!”

  “Ella, you should have seen him.” Natalie was practically vibrating with pleasure. “He remembered the first few words perfectly, then walked to the front of the stage, put his hands on his hips, exactly the way you do when you want something, and called out to me in the audience to remind him of the rest. Amelia laughed so hard I think she wet her pants a little.”

  Adele laughed softly, but felt a pang of guilt and sadness that she’d missed it. “Was Logan upset?”

  “Nope.” Natalie chuckled. “When the audience laughed, he did too. After that, the show went on for an hour more. An hour more, but Logan was great.”

  Every night last week Logan had said good night to his mother, but then mysteriously asked that Natalie be the one to tuck him in bed. Adele had assumed Natalie was reading to him, something they both loved and that had become routine. One evening, when Natalie was especially engrossed in her sabbatical research project, Adele had offered to tuck Logan in bed instead. Logan had steadfastly refused, and so Natalie put her project aside and met him in his room. That’s when curiosity had gotten the best of Adele, and she’d wandered to Logan’s bedroom and stood outside his partially open door to listen and peek inside.

  He and Natalie had talked about his day, the chicken nuggets at school and how they were somehow better than the ones at home, and why stars were only visible at night. And every few minutes during their chat, Natalie had unexpectedly given Logan his cue and he would roar ferociously and blurt out his line with the enthusiasm that only a six-year-old could manage. In response, Natalie would baaa like the frightened sheep and cower in terror under his blankets, causing him to laugh hysterically and beg her to do it again.

  Adele’s first reaction had been such an overwhelming burst of love for them both that it left her speechless. To her surprise, the rush of affection was immediately followed by a hot spike of jealousy. She wasn’t used to sharing her son with anyone other than Landry, and she wasn’t used to sharing Natalie with anyone at all. It took a gentle reminder to herself that this was a good thing. She wasn’t giving up anything special with either one of them, and there would always be more than enough love to go around.

  “I can’t wait to see the recording, Nat. Thanks.” Adele’s body jerked a little as she felt a sudden stab of pain. “Ow.”

  Natalie ran her fingertips across Adele’s forehead and down her cheeks in a soothing motion. “Try to relax and rest now. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

  Adele heard the beep of her self-controlled medication pump and knew that Natalie had pressed the button for her, administering a dose of narcotics. She wanted to scowl. Pain meds made her sleepy and dangerously goofy and she wasn’t ready to be pulled back under yet. It wasn’t long before a cool, dreamy sensation eased through her bloodstream, and the pain began to fade into the background, and all was forgiven. Her body grew impossibly heavy and she relaxed into the mattress, her eyes easing closed.

  “That’s it,” Natalie murmured reassuringly. “The doctor said everything went really well with your surgery.” She dropped her voice to a mesmerizing whisper. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “I…Nat?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I like really, really jusss…” Adele’s voice began to slur. “I love…”

  The last thing Adele remembered was a soft laugh, the feeling of warm lips at the corner of her mouth, and the words, “I love you, too. So, so much.”

  * * *

  Two months later…

  “Is this the last one?” Natalie asked, looking tired but satisfied. She put a large box on the floor and stepped away from it.

  “Finally and yes!” Adele set a box down in the middle of their new living room. The walls were bare and beautiful, and it felt like a blank canvas for the rest of their lives. Sunlight streamed in from tall windows and bathed everything in a cheerful glow.

  The owners of the main house that went along with their carriage house rental had decided the month previous that they liked Hawaii so much they were never coming back. Adele immediately made an offer on the main house and carriage house apartment, and today was moving day.

  Adele had to jump out of the way as Logan zoomed by at a full run, chasing one of the neighbor boys he’d only just met. They made a loop around the room, then the neighbor disappeared out of the room and the front door slammed. “Bye, Brian!” Logan called out loudly.

  Adele’s eyes narrowed. “Logan!”

  Natalie’s arm snaked out and she pulled Logan to a stop. She wrapped her arm around him and pulled him tight against her to hold him still for a second so his mother could address him.

  Adele pinned him with a serious look. “How many times have I told you not to run in the house? And yelling like that? Since when is that okay?”

  “Sorry, Mama,” he said solemnly, staring up at Adele with the same honey-brown eyes she saw in the mirror every day. Both women smiled. Logan had the good graces to look ashamed, but it would only last a few seconds. He was full of his mother’s twitchy energy, only in even greater measure, and that wasn’t about to change anytime soon. Asking him to stop running was akin to asking the wind not to blow, though Adele felt obligated to at least try.

  She sighed dramatically. “Go.” Adele made a shooing motion. “Run as much as you want. In the backyard.”

  He smiled brightly, his eyes alive with renewed excitement. “Okay!”

  Natalie ruffled his hair and released him, and like a shot, he was off again. “Careful on that tire swing this time,” she called after him. He’d already bruised an elbow jumping off the swing, and they’d only been in the house a few hours. Sh
e turned to Natalie and gave her a resigned look. “You do know that he’s going to jump off that swing again, and we’re going to end up in the emergency room.”

  “Really?” Natalie’s face was suddenly awash with dread. “Maybe you should make him wear a helmet.”

  “All the time? C’mon, Nat.” Natalie was surprisingly protective of Logan, and Adele absently wondered how much of that had to do with Josh.

  Natalie smiled fondly at the doorway through which Logan had disappeared, seeming to draw her calm acceptance of Logan’s nature from Adele. “He can hardly contain himself. New house. New bedroom. New kids to play with.”

  Adele flopped down heavily on a sofa they’d moved over from her living room at the inn. It was one of the few pieces of furniture she’d brought with her. She wanted to start fresh with Natalie and to pick out things together. They just hadn’t seemed to find the time yet. She had the sudden urge to go see her stained-glass windows, which she’d pulled out of storage to install in the kitchen, but it hurt to think of walking that far.

  Her leg felt like it was on fire, and it was only the middle of the day. She’d been foolish to think she’d make it the entire day without her cane, having only recently retired a pair of hospital-issued crutches.

  Her physical therapy sessions were grueling, and daily, and so far she wasn’t much better than she’d been prior to the surgery. Still, her doctors were hopeful, and she was doing her level best to be patient through an arduous, and sometimes torturous, recovery process. But while she was excited by the prospect of improvement, she was also tired of the constant pain and work it took just to move around. It grated on her and wore her down. She knew it made her moody, though she tried to fight it.

  As if reading her thoughts, Natalie dusted her hands off on the back of her cutoff denim shorts and sat down next to Adele. She nudged Adele with her shoulder. “You okay?”

  Adele nodded, but could tell by Natalie’s obvious concern that she wasn’t very convincing.

  “I wish you wouldn’t strain your leg. You paid movers for a reason.”

  Natalie’s concerned tone held just enough annoyance to fully capture Adele’s attention.

  “Ella, when you hurt, I feel awful. Please take it easy on yourself. For me?” Natalie pulled two over-the-counter pain tablets from her pocket and handed them over.

  Adele knew she was being gently manipulated but was unable to stop the sharp pang in her chest at the thought of Natalie hurting for any reason. “I-I just feel stupid standing around while you’re working.” She took the pills, swallowing them without waiting for Natalie’s certain offer to get up and bring her some water.

  Natalie grimaced at the action. “You’ve hardly been standing around, Ella. You’ve been working all morning, but you shouldn’t be walking at all without your cane yet. Remember what the doctor said? You’re not healed enough.”

  While in the middle of her scolding, Adele was surprised to receive a firm kiss on the lips that went on long, and was passionate, enough to leave her breathless.

  “Please?”

  Adele found herself nodding without realizing it. Inwardly, she rolled her eyes at herself. She leaned back and wrapped an arm around Natalie’s shoulders, her fingers running back and forth across the smooth skin of a bare shoulder. Summer was in full force, and today was a scorcher, but seeing Natalie slightly sweaty and lightly clad in a snug white tank top and shorts was easily worth the perspiration.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to be living here.” Natalie glanced around the room looking half-pleased, half-terrified. “I’ve never lived anyplace even close to this nice.”

  “It’s gonna be great.” Adele was every bit as excited as Logan. She just wasn’t able to run around like she was on fire to show it. Now their bed would really be theirs, and she intended to do everything she could to make her girlfriend so happy she’d never want to leave it. That reminded her, their new bed would be delivered later that afternoon and it would, hopefully, be the first of many new additions that would start to make this place seem like home.

  Despite her aching leg, and the moodiness it caused her, Adele felt more content than she had in weeks. She drew in a deep breath of lemon wood polish-scented air and shifted so that her leg felt a bit better.

  The house had three large bedrooms upstairs, a fourth smaller room downstairs that would make an excellent home office, high ceilings to help keep the place cool, and a double-tiered porch that both women adored. They’d had the upstairs painted a soothing, cream color. The rooms downstairs were each done in a different, deep, jewel-tone color with bright white trim. The yard was big enough for Logan to be in heaven, and they could rent out the carriage house for additional income or keep it for guests. It was perfect.

  Adele frowned when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Natalie’s unusually contemplative expression. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing’s…wrong.” Natalie paused and knotted her fingers together. “Well, that’s not quite true. Something is bothering me.”

  A solitary vertical crease appeared in Adele’s forehead when she tried to puzzle out what it was without being told. “If you’re still mad because I—”

  “I want to put more money toward the house.”

  Adele relaxed a little, even as her frown deepened. It was nearly impossible to outright win an argument with Natalie. In the face of defeat, Natalie would strategically retreat to live and fight again another day. “That’s not necessary, and we’ve already fussed about this like three times, Nat,” she whined.

  “Yes, it is necessary,” Natalie persisted, taking both of Adele’s hands in hers. She squeezed hard and long enough for Adele to know that she was serious, and irritated, before letting go. Natalie stood and began pacing in front of the couch, her high ponytail swinging indignantly with each step. “Even though I didn’t have as much equity in my townhouse as I’d hoped, the sale price was good. I can contribute more.” She gestured with her hands as she moved. “Not a huge amount, but still more.”

  “Look, I know you’re stressed about your sabbatical ending next week and quitting your teaching position without another full-time job already in the bag. But there’s no hurry for you to jump back into a new job. I can support us in the meantime. Besides, we already agreed that once you’re working again, you’d pay for groceries and utilities. And Logan and I eat…every single day.”

  Natalie stopped squarely in front of Adele, her hands on her hips. “I’m being serious.”

  “I know you are, but you don’t have to be. This doesn’t need to be a big deal.”

  “Then don’t make it a big deal by being stubborn, Ella. You put my name on the title, and I’ve barely pitched in seven percent! It’s obvious that you and your family aren’t poor, but nobody can just drop that much money and not think twice. This house may not be as large as the neighbors’, but it’s really nice, and the neighborhood’s gorgeous. Georgia also told me that she couldn’t talk you out of giving her a fabulous deal on the inn.”

  Dismayed, Natalie looked truly upset. “I get that I can’t really afford this place or come close to paying for half.” She began pacing again. “But I should be contributing everything I can.”

  Adele could suddenly taste the beignets and coffee she’d had for breakfast all over again. Once Natalie had seen the prices for homes in the more desirable or historical neighborhoods, she’d insisted that they could simply buy a smaller place or even a townhouse or condo. But Adele had already seen how she’d reacted to this house. It wasn’t lavish, but it was undeniably beautiful. It was what they both wanted, and that was all the reason Adele needed to make it happen. “Can’t we just forget about the money thing for now?”

  “No. We can’t. We haven’t had a chance to discuss it, and I was going to wait until I knew for sure before I mentioned it, but I’ve been putting out job feelers, and I got a call back from a former colleague who now works for MacDonald Education Press.”

  “That’s
who you were talking to for so long on the phone this morning?” Adele felt a sense of foreboding swell within her. There was no MacDonald Education Press in New Orleans. She was sure of it.

  “They’re publishers who specialize in college course books, and they’re looking for an author for a series of books in my specialty area.” Natalie’s smile exploded into life. “I’m meeting with them next week to discuss writing them.”

  Adele’s elation for Natalie was instantly tempered by anxiety. “But from here in New Orleans, right?”

  Natalie gave her a funny look. “Buh…of course from here.”

  Adele began to breathe again.

  Natalie’s brow furrowed and her voice softened. “Hey.”

  “It’s okay.” Adele’s smile was small, but genuine. Crisis averted. Things were going so well between her and Natalie that sometimes she forgot she didn’t need to wait for the other shoe to drop. There was no other shoe. “Go on.”

  Natalie studied Adele for a moment, looking a little perplexed, before nodding. “One of the reasons I’m so interested is that I can work right from home. It’s potentially years’ worth of work and several of the focus areas are subjects that I’ve been dying to explore in more depth.”

  Adele gave Natalie a lovesick grin. “That’s so awesome, Natalie. I know how you love doing research. The job sounds fabulous. You’re so friggin’ smart, and I’m proud of you whether you get the job or not.”

  Natalie’s return smile was electric. “Thanks.” She continued to gesture as she walked. “It’s not a done deal yet, of course, but they’re interested. If it goes through, I’ll get an advance that I can put toward the house.”

  Adele reached out and wrapped her fingers around Natalie’s slender wrist, pulling her to a stop. “Your pacing is making me dizzy. I can see you aren’t going to let this go.” She made a face and bit the bullet. “So let’s really talk about money.”

  Looking worried, Natalie immediately dropped to the floor on her knees between Adele’s legs and searched her face.