The next phone call from Eddy made Grace call in late to work. She went to check on Ted and found him sitting on a straight chair next to his bed, breathing hard. He had managed to pull on some clothes that did not hide the fact that he was wasting away. Grace’s mouth trembled at the sight of his bony shoulders. What should she say?
He brushed at his dark hair with his hands, flushing.
Grace shook her head. “I’ll call the clinic and take a day off. Let’s get this room aired, and the mister cleaned up.” She bent to tug the sheets from his bed.
He caught feebly at her hand as she passed. “Randy said you two had an argument before he left. What happened?”
She sat on the edge of the bed, twining her fingers in her lap. “I wouldn’t call it an argument, and why was he talking about me, anyway?”
“He wasn’t, but I was. I just said he should take you out when he got back.”
Grace narrowed her eyes. “All right, buster. Now it’s your turn to tell me what’s going on.”
Ted took her hand in his thin, cold, white one. “Look at me. It’s all right, Grace. We never—” He hesitated. “I know you need someone to lean on, someone strong, who can care for you. I’m not that person. I can’t be. I just thought that maybe, after…you know…it would be good for you and Randy…”
“You’re kidding. We don’t have anything in common. I can’t believe you’re trying to play matchmaker between me and your brother! Don’t you have a clue?”
“You don’t need to explain anything to me.” She let him touch her temple, then her hair. “It won’t be much longer. This has to be harder on you than on me, after all you were through before, with your husband.”
“Listen, Ted. When Randy came to pick me up the other night after work, he saw me crying and Greg…comforting me.”
His fist clenched around hers. “Oh.”
She withdrew her hands. “Please. I don’t want to talk about this today.”
She rose slowly and walked Ted into the bathroom. Upon her return she continued to strip the bed with short professional motions. When Grace finished, she helped Ted to the kitchen.
She left when Jimmy came back. At home, the first thing she did was call Randy.
He picked up the car phone after four rings.
“Randy? Randy? Are you there?” She heard the squeal of car tires and took in an alarmed breath. Before she could speak, Randy answered.
“Hi, sorry about that. Yes, Grace, I’m here. What do you need?”
“Are you driving? I’ll call later.”
“No—wait! Grace, it’s all right. What’s the matter?”
“I’ve been over to help Ted out a bit, after Eddy told me he was having trouble getting up. I just, well, I wondered if you thought yet about—well, maybe it’s time to think about, you know—”
“Yes. I have thought about it.”
“I’m sorry, Randy, but surely you’ve noticed that Ted is having more and more trouble getting around. It’s just not enough for you and Jimmy and Eddy to help him anymore. He needs some professional care. And I can’t—”
“I know. I wouldn’t ask you to.” He was silent for a moment. “I planned to talk about it when I got home. I’ll take care of it.”
At the click of the phone, Grace thought her heart had cracked.
Chapter Twenty
Grace sat in her favorite place on the wide front porch surrounded by flowerpots of yellow and pink impatiens and cascading striped petunias. The drone of bees searching among the blossoms made the little hairs by her ears feel ticklish. She brushed a callused heel against the smooth floorboards, pushing herself in the swing. Eddy alternately dug in the sandbox and scampered after Trigger who stalked something amongst the waving cosmos.
Ted had told her that morning about the arrangements with the lawyer—his plans for Eddy, the trust he set up after the sale of the house out of which he paid her salary and the other childcare providers.
She cupped her chin in her hand. Randy would make a good guardian. Eddy would always know he was wanted and loved. How hard it would be to live here—after. Could she watch Eddy grow up and not be a part of his life if Randy didn’t want her help?
Eddy whooped as he picked up a growing kitten, a striped tiger that bared its tiny fangs and unsheathed miniature claws. Eddy dropped it as it hissed and spat and then chased it down again. He wasn’t being cruel to the kittens. He had listened very carefully when she explained and showed him how to pick them up and handle them.
Spiraling down the drain with Ted was her career. Although Jimmy tried to play down the extent of the injury, rumors that he’d blown off his hand but had it magically fixed created a ripple of unease through East Bay. People were staring at her again, and Tony Vander Groot’s mother had never let up on the botched blood draw last spring. She managed to bring up the subject at every social gathering and in every store aisle. Several children complained they didn’t feel well after seeing her for their routine school physicals, and Greg had taken to observing Grace again. They concluded it was no more than playground tales and a quick summer bug that blew over in a couple of weeks, but she was becoming apprehensive about treating children. After Jimmy, other little accidents happened, broken vials, a missed spider bite, a rash and fever that soared at midnight after she’d sent a little one home.
For the first time since Christmas she summoned the memory of her house in Tennessee—the color of the carpets and drapes, the placement of pictures and furnishings. She felt like a virtual visitor on a real estate web site. When she couldn’t remember which side of the door the light switch for the entry hall and formal living room was on, she forced herself to stop and think of something else, like the bizarre turn of recent events and Eddy’s upcoming birthday party.
Kaye Smits had apparently decided Randy Marshall was optimum husband material. Grace thought that maybe a ticking biological clock came into the computation somewhere, too, besides Ted’s rather clumsy attempts to pair them off, but she reminded herself to be kind. She’d been picking up an order of tea when Kaye confided in her and sort of apologized at the checkout.
“I assumed after Jilly left that Ted would turn to me. I mean, there aren’t that many eligible singles in town.” She took Grace’s money and sighed. “All these years. I should have known. Randy was the one I always turned to when I needed help. Everyone in town really relied on Randy to make their business profitable.” The register jingled. Kaye slammed in shut. “And this…emotion on my part now, it’s not only because Ted is so sick, you know. I’m just glad he has you.”
Grace understood.
Randy was a good person. They’d never be more than neighbors, but things were moving on the right track. Kaye might never like her, but Grace could live with that.
Kaye had then asked if she could host Eddy’s birthday party. Their chat ended with a few details on the upcoming birthday party. The woman acted jittery, Must be the recent excitement. Or caffeine.
Randy Marshall whistled through his teeth. Not even the breeze whisked off the lake or the gray and dirty white clouds billowing and flattening as they rolled in shook his exuberant mood. Love truly did color everything even brighter than peaches and apples. He swung open the door of the café and returned the general greeting from Kaye’s breakfast crowd.
As always, he stopped up short at the sight of the owner. Kaye looked up and smiled back. Unfortunately for Mr. Jeffries, she was in mid-pour.
The planet started spinning again at Mr. Jeffries’s loud call. “Hey there, young lady!”
He chuckled and sauntered over to his regular booth with a grin. Yup, it would be a great day. An even better evening when they discussed their future.
He took her over to Traverse City since Jimmy was staying in that night and agreed to take care of Eddy. And Ted. Randy sat across the table from Kaye, too far in his opinion, but the ride over had been nice. She wore a flowered dress he’d never seen before and smelled of something subtle, some exotic flower, pe
rhaps; nothing like the fruit blossoms he knew. Her hair was all curls for a change and fell loose around her face. Her lips were Courtland red and all he could think about was kissing them. He forced himself to look at her face and be content to hold her hand.
“Thanks for hosting Eddy’s birthday party,” he said over coffee.
“Oh, it will be so much fun. I used to have parties for Tanya and her friends. When she reminded me, what else could we think about? It’s really Tanya who had a blast planning it.”
Randy loved the sparkle in her eyes, her enthusiasm. But he couldn’t help wonder if this would be the last birthday Ted would share with his son.
“You’ll get custody, I assume,” Kaye stated quietly, neither of them making any pretense of not understanding what she meant.
“Ted wanted me to adopt Eddy already last year. When he seemed to recover over the winter we didn’t pursue it.”
“We all had such high hopes for him. Everyone could see how well he did. I thought he would really get better. Does the doctor have any explanation? Eddy’s always had a special place in my heart. I can’t bear to think of him without his father.” She reached for his hand again. “Not, of course, that you wouldn’t make a great father.”
She cleared her throat and closed her eyes. “I mean, you are a great father already and would be good for Eddy.” She opened her eyes to gaze into his. “I love him, too.”
Randy smiled. “I never had any doubt of that.”
Eddy’s birthday took place during the third weekend of August. Besides children, Tanya had invited business associates and neighbors, along with Matty, Shelby, Dave, and little Alyssa, who cooed and smiled obligingly at everyone.
Eddy reigned supreme from his favorite red leather and chrome stool at the main counter. He leaned in to blow out the six candles on his oversize apple and cherry cake made especially for the occasion. Having extinguished them, he twirled on the stool and waved to the applause of the gathered crowd, delighted.
Grace took a step back from the counter. Eddy leaned over and wrapped his arms around her neck before she could move away. He forced her to bend low to his sticky little face to hear his whisper, “You wanna know what I wished for?” Hot breath tickled the hair near Grace’s ear. “I wished you were my—”
His eyes slid past her to a shadow darkening the door to the restaurant. The bloom rushed from his cheeks leaving them paper white underneath his tan and red drink stains.
“—Mama!”
Chapter Twenty-One
A blast of searing outside air accompanied the jeans-and-leather-clad woman who sauntered in. She stood, hands on hips in a defiant pose, surveying the party scene, a smirk across her wide, chapped lips.
With cruel certainty, Grace knew she faced the past. She didn’t need the steel in Ted’s eyes, Tanya’s gasp, or Eddy’s declaration to know that Jilly Marshall had come to town.
Eddy sat like stone on the seat, his arms wrapping tighter around Grace’s neck, threatening to choke her. He was only six years old, and hadn’t seen Jilly since he had turned two. He wouldn’t have known her but Grace had seen the grainy snapshot he kept by his bed. It was still a stretch; Jilly had changed in the four years since that picture. She had kept herself tiny, but was somehow hardened with harsh lines alongside her mouth. Her lips looked like they could no longer form a real smile. Perhaps it had been little more than instinct that caused Eddy to call out to her.
Grace closed her eyes. She realized her rather compromising situation, and started to untangle the child’s arms from their chokehold. She sought Matty’s face for help and the mixture of sympathy and encouragement in the other woman’s eyes comforted her.
Kaye moved first. She stepped out hesitantly from Randy’s shadow. “Why, if it isn’t Jilly. This is a surprise.” She faltered. “Well, maybe not. You’re just in time for a piece of birthday cake.”
Jilly’s eyebrows came together under the red kerchief tied around her head. Another blast of hot air from the opening door hit them as a greasy-looking heavyset man in motorcycle leathers and sunglasses strode in. He claimed Jilly by wrapping a beefy hand around her right shoulder and giving her a proprietary shake which nearly lifted her from the floor.
“Jilly.” Ted Marshall’s voice matched the aloofness of the expression. “What brings you back to East Bay?” He did not move from his position, leaning against the side of a booth. Strain showed in the lines beside his mouth and the tremor of his left hand, which Grace noticed he kept carefully out of his ex-wife’s line of sight.
Jilly nodded at her former husband, but turned her gaze to the crowd of children as if searching. Her eyes finally settled on Eddy. Grace had separated from his death grip, but let his hand stay in hers, slippery with nerves and fear. If, somehow, Sean could be restored to her now, she might feel the same way. She squeezed Eddy’s hand, then urged him forward, praying his mother would not squander this precious moment.
Jilly glared daggers at Grace before bending down to sweep Eddy into a frantic hug. “My baby!”
Eddy squirmed. “I’m six. I’m not a baby. Mom?” His mouth puckered and he inhaled, making a face.
The biker man stayed attached to Jilly. Grace wrinkled her nose and noticed others doing the same. Oil and sweat on stained leather did not blend well with punch and cake. Eddy focused on his dad, sensing the tenseness of the atmosphere, and squirmed in Jilly’s embrace. She let go, and he scampered close to his father, touching his legs and staring back in frightened fascination.
Shelby gave Alyssa to Dave and came to Grace, settling an arm around her waist.
“Ted.” Jilly’s voice was well modulated and suave for such a tiny woman. She was short, not fat, but solid, and after she removed the scarf, fluffed up the blonde spikes of hair dyed red and blue at the tips. She zeroed in on Randy and Kaye.
“Well, well, well.” Jilly walked toward them, biker man towed by an invisible leash.
“You shouldn’t be so surprised, Kaye Smits,” Jilly purred. “After all, you invited me here, remember?”
Grace felt as though a giant vacuum sucked the air from her lungs. This explained why Kaye had been so nervous. At Randy’s hissed intake, she stepped away from him. “That was a long time ago.”
“So? I didn’t know invitations had statutes of limitations. Anyway, how could I miss my boy’s birthday?”
Biker man grinned, baring a mouthful of chiseled, silver-capped teeth.
“You never bothered for any of the other ones,” Randy inserted.
Jilly sized him up before she turned to Kaye. “You couldn’t have my Marshall, so you settled for second best, I see.”
Biker man stopped grinning.
Grace was not about to step into the fray but the kids were starting to get restless so she signaled for Tanya to finish cutting the cake and dish it out.
Kaye’s chin rose. “It’s not like that. And Randy is not second best, you…uh.” She looked around as if remembering where they were. “Won’t you and your friend sit? Over there?” She pointed to a far booth.
“Please, please, don’t spoil his birthday,” Grace whispered under her breath as Jilly and her biker sauntered past and sat. Shelby glided around the room, helping the children settle in front of paper plates of cake and ice cream. A balloon popped, resulting in quickly hushed giggles. Alyssa shrieked.
Grace shivered at the unnatural gleam in Jilly’s eyes as she stared at Ted who remained motionless, as if mesmerized by a cobra.
The party fizzled, and after most of the guests had departed, Grace stayed to help clean up. She introduced herself warily to biker man, who, unthreatened and uninterested, told her his name was Gus. He took her hand in his great paw and wrung it gently. “Mechanic. From Spearfish.” His wealth of information exhausted, he lapsed back into his fourth tall glass of iced tea, apparently fascinated by the patterns light made through the ice cubes.
Grace smiled and went back to picking up plates and glasses and putting them in a gray plastic tub. At th
e swinging door she stopped, momentarily unsure what to do when she heard the exchange of low, angry voices from the kitchen.
“It was four months ago—four months!—since I contacted you! How could you just show up like this?”
“Hey! It takes a while to get here. Lighten up! I’m here now. Yeah, I can see why you wanted me to come. Ted’s in rough shape, isn’t he? And who is that b—”
“Jilly! And put that out. You can’t smoke those stupid cigars in here.”
Grace didn’t want to be eavesdropping, much less be caught doing it, so she left the tub on the counter and quietly let herself out the front door. The last thing she saw was Gus holding up his glass to the light as the door closed behind her with a gentle tinkle of bells.
She almost ran into Matty who paced the sidewalk obviously waiting for her outside the café.
“So! You jus’ gonna lay down like a rug and let that wooman valk on you?” she demanded in her typical no-pussyfooting-around-the-issue fashion.
“Why are you still here?” Grace jammed her floppy green hat on her head.
Matty hissed like a wet cat. “Dat wooman!” Her Dutch accent grew thicker, proving how upset she was. “No one liked her before. What is she here for now, I say?”
“It’s Eddy’s birthday. A mother can spend time with her son on his birthday, can’t she?” Grace was not going to share with anyone the partially overheard conversation in the kitchen.
“There’s no gud in the air, mark my vords,” Matty replied darkly. She veered off toward her parking spot while Grace went around the block to her own hot car and the drive back home.
Home. Where was home?
Randy stood with Kaye in her backyard at dusk. A stiff breeze kept mosquitoes at bay. Heartsick, he listened to her repeated apologies, but he had no doubt that she couldn’t possibly imagine the trouble she caused, especially if she truly understood how bad things were with Ted. The legal issues were still somewhat in flux.
Healing Grace Page 18
