by Donna Ball
When all that remained were the last minute details that had to be put together before the guests arrived the next day, they all shared a supper of roast chicken and potatoes with green beans, and Ida Mae’s ice box lemon pie. Derrick and Paul left to return to the Hummingbird House, along with Dominic’s sons. Lindsay talked to Dominic on the phone. Kevin went upstairs to take a shower while Lori helped Ida Mae clean the kitchen. And because they all knew the danger of cluttering up Ida Mae’s kitchen once she had declared the day was done, Cici, Bridget, and Lindsay were left with nothing to do except pour themselves a glass of wine, pull on their sweaters, and go out onto the porch to bask in the last pale shades of a setting sun.
“Oh, Lindsay, I do like Dominic’s boys!” declared Bridget. “I can’t wait to meet their wives.”
Lindsay beamed as though they were her own. “All his children are wonderful,” she said. “Wait until you meet Cassie. She’s the kind of person you want to give your house key to and say ‘make yourself at home.’ And so smart. Lori’s going to love talking to her about the wine business. Of course,” she added easily, settling into her rocking chair, “I should have known I would like them. After all, Dominic raised them.”
“All that energy!” Cici said, smothering a small groan as she sat down. “Not just the boys, but Lori and Kevin too. Were we ever that young?”
“Not in recent memory,” said Bridget. “But my goodness, look how much we got done in one afternoon!” She smiled at Lindsay as she took her chair. “It was like old times, all of us working side by side again. I’m so glad you were here.”
“It feels strange to be away from Dominic,” Lindsay admitted, and she smiled as she sipped her wine. “But my, it’s good to be home.”
“It was awful without you,” Bridget said. “And Dominic, too. The night the grapes froze—I’ve never felt so helpless.”
“We’re all lucky Lori and Kevin were here to help,” Lindsay said. “Maybe even luckier than we know. Dominic seemed to think that Lori’s idea for ice wine could save the winery.”
Cici looked surprised, and impressed, and cautiously proud. But then she frowned a little. “You know, though, Bridget’s right. We were completely unprepared. And when Lori started asking all those questions about the wine, and Kevin was asking about which papers were where and what forms had been filed with which agency … we didn’t know the answers.” She glanced at Lindsay, then at Bridget, looking embarrassed. “It’s our winery, our business, and we didn’t know. It was just so easy to let Dominic take care of things. That’s not like us, and we can’t do it anymore. If we’re going to be a team, we all have to pull our weight. We can’t depend on Dominic to take care of us. It’s not fair to him, or to us.”
Bridget nodded. “I think it’s a bad habit women fall into, whenever there is a man around. To just let him take care of things.”
Lindsay said, “I think we all took Dominic for granted, and I’m no better than either one of you. Or at least I was. I know better now.” She slid a glance at Bridget. “Speaking of guys who take care of things, that Kevin sure is a hard worker.”
“Who knew he could drive a tractor?” Cici put in. “Or swing an ax? I always thought of him as the kind of guy who didn’t like to get his hands dirty.”
Bridget smiled. “There’s not much Kevin can’t do. He just never showed much interest in doing it around here before.”
Cici sipped her wine, watching the sky fade to a pale winter yellow over the dark profile of the mountains. “I wonder what changed his mind?”
Lindsay said, with studious innocence, “You know what I was thinking this afternoon? What a cute couple Kevin and Lori make.”
Cici laughed. “Seriously? All they did as kids was fight.”
“Lori used to pester him to death,” Bridget remembered fondly, “and Kevin tormented her. Of course, she was half his age, and no boy is going to put up with a baby girl following him around all day.”
“Well they’re not fighting now,” Lindsay pointed out. “And when you’re six and twelve the age difference is a lot bigger than when you’re sixty and sixty-six. Or twenty-four and thirty.”
Cici and Bridget exchanged an amused look. “Well, that I’d like to see,” said Cici.
Bridget added, chuckling, “We could be grannies together.”
The door opened and Lori came out, a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other. She shivered in her tee shirt and jeans. “It’s cold out here,” she said.
“Oh, honey, will you go inside and put on some clothes?” Cici said. “Weren’t you supposed to get your things down from the attic today?”
“No time,” said Lori. She pulled up Dominic’s rocking chair so that it closed in the circle with the other three chairs and sat down. “Now,” she said, “this is how I see it going. The band sets up at three, we open the gates—figuratively speaking, that is—at four. Aunt Lindsay, you’re going to get some signs directing people to parking, right? They need to be up by two at the latest. And I called the girl at the newspaper. She said she’d try to get out to take some photos and do an article so will one of you please study up on what’s going on at the winery so you can do an interview? I just don’t think it’s right to ask Dominic, it being his first day home from the hospital and all.” She paused then and shivered, rubbing her bare arm with one hand.
“Lori, at least go put on a sweater. There’s one hanging by the door.”
She waved a hand, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. “That’s okay. So we should start bringing the food out a little before four—Uncle Paul and Uncle Derrick said they’d help, so you guys can act like hostesses and you don’t have to get all sweaty and flustered at the last minute. It’s going to be sixty-five tomorrow afternoon, which is perfect for an outdoor event, but fifty after the sun sets. So I figured we’d light the fire around five-thirty …”
The door opened again and Kevin came out, his hair still damp from the shower, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and carrying a sweater in his hand. Lori smiled when she saw him. “Hey, Kev. We’re just going over the details.”
He came over to her and draped the sweater over her shoulders. “Seriously, kiddo? It was right by the door.”
And there it was for anyone to see: the tenderness in his touch, the warmth in her eyes. The way he looked at her, the way she smiled at him.
He added, with a look that none of them could understand because they were too nonplussed by what they had seen—or imagined they’d seen—pass between the two young people only a moment before, “Do you think you could finish this later?”
Lori held his eyes for a moment, nodded, and said, “Sure.” She stood.
Kevin turned to Bridget, his expression somber. “Mom, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Lindsay started to rise. “Maybe I should—”
“No, Aunt Lindsay, Aunt Cici, both of you stay,” Kevin said. “I want you to hear this.”
Cici cast a concerned look toward Bridget, and Bridget tried to smile. “You’re starting to worry me, honey.”
Kevin glanced at Lori. She moved closer to him, clutching the sweater around her shoulders. She said, “Actually, Mom, I guess I have a few things to tell you, too. About Villa Laurentis, and my apprenticeship. But Kevin wanted to go first.”
Kevin said, “This won’t be easy for me to say. You won’t want to hear parts of it. Parts of it will hurt you, and maybe make you ashamed of me.”
“Oh, Kevin,” Bridget exclaimed, “how can you say that? You’re my son and I’m always on your side! But now you’re really scaring me. Please, what is it?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” Kevin said.
Lori said softly, “But it’s worth it.” She wrapped her hands around Kevin’s arm and pressed her cheek to his shoulder, looking up at him. “Because it has a happy ending.”
~*~
Chapter Thirteen
The Happy Ending
“Seriously, Cici,” Lindsay said the next morning, “I
don’t understand you. You were up all night worrying and fretting and trying to talk her out of it when Lori got engaged to Mark, but now you don’t have a thing to say?”
“I know,” replied Cici, biting into an orange. “It’s weird, right? Maybe I’m in shock.”
They kept their voices low because the two young lovers were still sleeping—in separate rooms, as far as they knew—and because, more importantly, so was Ida Mae. Bridget even used the whisk to beat the egg whites for the frosting to avoid waking her with the electric mixer, because once Ida Mae was up the domain of the kitchen was automatically surrendered.
Lindsay poured cereal into a bowl and cast Bridget an inquiring look. “Bridget? You’re taking this awfully well.”
“Are you kidding? I’m so glad my only son is not wearing an orange jumpsuit in the federal penitentiary that everything else he does for the rest of his life will receive nothing but a standing ovation from me.” She paused in her work with the whisk, a little out of breath. “You know,” she added thoughtfully in a moment, “I don’t think we really appreciate how much pressure we put on our children without even realizing it. We want them to be perfect. We want their lives to be perfect. I think maybe the reason Kevin got into the situation that he did was because he was always so driven to live up to the expectations his dad and I had of him. He didn’t understand that all we really wanted was for him to be happy.” She picked up the whisk again. “The thing is, when I saw the way he looked at Lori last night, when he came out and put the sweater on her shoulders, it hit me for the first time—he looks happy.” She smiled at Cici. “That’s all that matters.”
Cici smiled back, then shifted her glance to Lindsay. “What she said.” She reached for another orange segment. “Of course I’m worried about them. But it’s not like it was with Mark. I mean, I’ve loved Kevin all his life, and I still love him. I’ve loved Lori all her life and I still love her. It’s almost as though … I don’t know, it just feels okay to me.”
Bridget smiled. “What she said.”
Lindsay sat back at the table, cradling her cereal bowl against her chest contentedly. “Well, then. We may not be having a wedding at Ladybug Farm today but we’ve got plenty of love to go around.” Suddenly she grinned. “Hey, you know what? If things do work out with Kevin and Lori, and if they do get married some day, when they come back to visit they can have that master suite you worked so hard on! Then it won’t be wasted.”
Bridget said, smiling to herself, “He wants to be a teacher. His dad would be so proud. Not,” she added quickly, “that I won’t be proud of him if he decided to dig ditches the rest of his life.”
“I’d be very proud,” Cici said, “if he decided to dig those ditches around Ladybug Farm. Dominic says the irrigation system needs to be overhauled.” She made a face. “That I remember. Couldn’t remember where the insurance forms were or that we were giving a party for two hundred people today, but I’m all over the irrigation system.”
Bridget put down the whisk and blew out a breath, staring at the soppy mess of partially foamed egg whites. “I give up. How does she do it?”
Cici got up to retrieve the electric mixer from the pantry just as Ida Mae came up the stairs from her suite. She was already dressed for the big day in flannel lined jeans, steel-toed boots, a plaid jumper with a black turtleneck, and a red cardigan. She gave them a sour look and announced, “Company’s coming.”
They shared a puzzled look. “This early?”
Cici went to the window. “It’s a cab.”
Bridget stood behind her. “Oh dear. There’s a policeman. What’s wrong now? ”
Ida Mae peered closer. “That ain’t no policeman. That’s a soldier.”
But Lindsay had already flung open the back door and was racing around the porch, down the steps, to the drive, and Cici and Bridget were close behind her. “Noah!” she cried, and flung herself on him. “Noah!”
“Noah, what are you—”
“Where did you—”
“How—”
There were hugs and laughter and exclamations all around, and then Noah, looking at Lindsay with a slightly puzzled look on his face, said, “I told you I’d be here today. Did you forget?”
Lindsay just kept staring at him, as though hardly able to believe the evidence of her eyes. “Do you mean—on the phone? But I couldn’t hear you! I didn’t think you meant in person!”
He said worriedly, “Listen, is everything okay? Because the Red Cross said—”
“Oh, Noah, everything is perfect now!” said Lindsay, holding on to his hands. Her face was radiant and her eyes glowed with delight and wonder. “Like I told you on the phone, it was touch and go for a while but everything is okay now.”
“I guess I couldn’t hear you very well either,” he admitted. “I thought that’s what you said but not a lot of it made sense.”
The driver came around with Noah’s duffle and stood by patiently.
“Noah,” demanded Cici astonished, “is that how you got leave? They let you come all the way back here because of one phone call?”
“That’s what I was trying to explain to you on the phone,” he said. “I wanted to tell you earlier but that’s when the unit got word we were being redeployed to Egypt—”
Egypt!” exclaimed Lindsay in dismay.
Bridget said anxiously “What’s going on in Egypt?”
Noah lifted a shoulder. “I’m just a private. Anyway, that’s why you couldn’t find me, because just as we were getting ready to ship out my transfer came through …”
“Transfer?” Bridget look lost. “You requested a transfer?”
“Not exactly. Kind of. The thing is, I applied to the communications school—it’s a really cool program and when you’re done you’re all set with everything there is to know about satellites and radios and all kinds of technology—but it’s kind of new to the Corps and hardly anybody gets in, especially new recruits, so I didn’t want to say anything until I found out. Well, I guess I scored pretty high on the test because the next thing I know I’ve got new orders. The only problem is it turns out the school is in Washington, can you believe that?” The downturn of one corner of his lips reflected a mixture of disbelief and disgust. “I’m practically right back where I started. Too bad, too. I really wanted to see those pyramids.”
Lindsay laughed out loud with delight and Bridget and Cici joined in, applauding and hugging him again. “Noah, we couldn’t be happier!”
“This is what we’ve prayed for!”
“You’ll practically be close enough to come home on weekends!”
“Don’t get too excited,” he cautioned, “I don’t even start the program until my promotion comes through in December. Meanwhile, I’m assigned to a unit that guards monuments and sh—stuff. Boring duty. Anyhow, the school only lasts six months, unless they decide to advance me to the next level of training …”
Lindsay shared a look of triumphant certainty with Cici and Bridget.
“And after that I’ll probably be assigned to an aircraft carrier. Now that will be cool.” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation, or perhaps to ward off the cold. The cab driver, standing by, shuffled his feet and cleared his throat, but no one noticed.
“I still don’t understand how you ended up here,” Lindsay said.
“Well that’s where it gets a little confusing,” he admitted. “As far as I can figure out, your first message about a family emergency got to my old unit commander a couple of days after the Red Cross tracked down my CO at the new post. I guess the Red Cross really gets pissed when they lose somebody because they didn’t even wait for me to report to my new duty station before some chaplain is meeting me at the airport in London with a new set of travel orders and talking about two weeks’ compassionate leave. That was when I called you from the plane. Glad to hear there’s not any emergency after all but, hell—I mean, heck, I’m not about to turn down two weeks’ leave. So here I am.” He looked from one to the other of them.
“So what’s been going on?”
Bridget laughed and pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I wouldn’t know where to begin!”
Cici said, “It’s a really long story.”
Lindsay slipped her arm through his. “We’ll tell you inside, out of the cold. I have a feeling you could use one of Ida Mae’s good country breakfasts.”
“Sounds great,” he agreed enthusiastically. He picked up his duffle and looked apologetically at the driver. “But first, does anybody have any money to pay this fella?”
~*~
Lori let the curtain drop and turned away from the window. “Well, what do you know about that? It’s Noah!” She grinned. “I guess your call to the Red Cross worked.”
“Is that right?” Kevin sat up in bed and stretched out a hand for her. “Better late than never, I guess. And keep your voice down.”
She laughed, took two running steps, and bounced on the bed beside him. He pretended to grimace, but then caught her against him, burying his own laughter in her shoulder. “Seriously,” she demanded, “do you really think anyone would think we went through all that last night just so we could continue to not sleep together? Our moms are not that stupid.”
“Mothers have a way of seeing only what they want to see,” he assured her, “and we owe them the courtesy of allowing them to deceive themselves as long as they possibly can.” And then he tightened his arms around her. “I missed you, babe.”
She whispered back, “Welcome home, Kev.”
She kissed him, long and slow, and when she was settled warm in his arms again, her head resting on his shoulder, she said, “How do you think they took it?”
“Better than I expected.” He frowned a little. “It was a little spooky, in fact. I guess I really underestimated my mom.”
“Parents can fool you sometimes.”
“Right.” He kissed her temple. “Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, they hit you with that love thing.”
She gazed around the room contentedly. “I really like what they did with my room. It’s nice with the fireplace. I could stay here all day.”
