Helen shook her head. “I always thought I’d do it the old-fashioned way, but time just got away from me.”
Dana Sue could relate to that. She covered Helen’s hand with her own. “Don’t give up yet. The right man could be just around the corner. Your situation’s not like mine. Ronnie and I couldn’t have another baby even if we wanted to. It would be too dangerous.”
“Because of the diabetes,” Maddie said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“It was always there,” Dana Sue admitted. “Even when I had Annie, there was some concern. My blood sugar spiked then, but they figured it was gestational, and we kept it under control. Now that it’s a real threat, there’s no way I can risk another pregnancy. And with everything else going on—Ronnie’s new business, keeping up with Sullivan’s, keeping an eye on Annie—another baby simply isn’t in the cards.”
She hadn’t realized until just now how much she regretted that. She held out her arms. “Give me a turn with that sweet little thing.” She cradled Jessica Lynn and was carried back sixteen years to when she’d held a freshly bathed and powdered Annie. “God, this brings back memories.”
“My turn,” Helen said, reaching eagerly to take the baby, and cooing at her. Jessica Lynn, her blue eyes wide, gurgled happily back at her, then grabbed for a chunk of Helen’s hair and tugged. Helen patiently extracted the little fist.
“I want this,” she whispered, her face filled with raw emotion. “Why didn’t I know before now just how badly?”
“Because you haven’t let yourself think about anything except your career for years,” Maddie told her. “Now that you’re trying to get some balance into your life and you’ve opened yourself to other possibilities, there it is.”
She reached out and patted Helen’s hand. “Don’t give up. A lot of us had dreams when we were young that we put on the back burner, only to wake up one day and realize it may be too late. I went to college and got a business degree, but it was nothing more than a piece of paper for nearly twenty years while I spent all my time supporting Bill’s career and raising a family.” She gestured around them. “Now, thanks to the two of you, I’m a part of this. It’s not the same as realizing you want a baby, but I get where you’re coming from.”
Helen returned her sympathetic look with a wounded expression. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why weren’t the two of you all over my case before now?”
Dana Sue could barely swallow the laugh that bubbled up. “What would you have done if we’d tried?”
“Which we did, by the way,” Maddie added. “How many men did we try to get you to take more seriously, or at least to go out with more than once?”
Helen sank back in her chair. “I told you to butt out, didn’t I?”
“About a thousand and one times,” she confirmed.
“Sometimes you’re kind of hardheaded,” Dana Sue commented.
“Kind of?” Maddie said.
Helen regarded them with a faint spark of hope in her eyes. “You really think it’s not too late?”
Maddie gave her a wry look. “I just wouldn’t spend the next year doing a pros and cons analysis, the way you usually do. However you decide to approach it, this is a project that needs to be on the front burner, okay? Make an appointment with Doc Marshall.”
Helen looked horrified. “I can’t talk to him about this. He’s still freaked about my blood pressure. He’ll just tell me no.”
“If that’s an issue, any other doctor will tell you the same thing,” Dana Sue said reasonably.
Helen’s jaw set determinedly. “I’ll consult a high-risk-pregnancy specialist,” she said at once, handing Jessica Lynn off to Maddie. She dragged out her day planner and jotted down a note. “I’ll do it as soon as I get to the office.”
“Do you actually know a high-risk-pregnancy specialist?” Maddie inquired tactfully.
“No, but I can find one. In case you haven’t heard, research is one of my specialties.”
Dana Sue grinned at Maddie. “She’ll know the medical malpractice records of every ob-gyn in the state by noon.”
“And have references on the rest by midafternoon,” Maddie added.
“Mock me if you must,” Helen said, taking a final sip of her iced tea. “I can still tell it’s decaf,” she said, making a face, then sighing. “Remind me tomorrow that I’m giving up caffeine completely, even the one cup of coffee I’ve been allowing myself in the morning. It’s probably not good for babies, right?”
“You could be getting a little ahead of yourself,” Dana Sue said, but at Helen’s daunting look, she held up a hand. “No more caffeine. Got it. It’s not good for you in any case.”
After Helen had breezed out of the spa like a woman on a mission, Dana Sue exchanged a glance with Maddie. “Do you think she’s really serious about this?”
“I think she hit the biological clock panic button this morning,” Maddie said, a worried frown on her face. “Knowing Helen, the alarm will keep going off till she’s solved the problem to her satisfaction.”
“And that means taking a bouncing baby home from the hospital,” Dana Sue concluded.
“Seems that way to me.”
“Maybe we should remind her that a few weeks ago all she could talk about was going on a wild shopping spree in Paris,” Dana Sue suggested.
“I think maybe we just need to stand by and support her in whatever she decides,” Maddie said. “That’s what she’s done for us.”
Dana Sue nodded. “You have a point, but I keep envisioning a two-year-old with a briefcase in one hand and a cell phone in the other.”
The disconcerting image made both of them smile.
Ronnie had made an appointment with Helen two weeks earlier. He had a hunch if he’d spoken to her directly, he’d never have made it onto her calendar, but her secretary seemed oblivious to any issues between them.
When he was finally admitted to her office, he wasn’t sure what sort of welcome to expect, but it wasn’t the feverish, distracted look on the lawyer’s face as she waved him to a chair.
“I just have to finish this search,” she murmured, her gaze immediately returning to the computer on her desk.
Ronnie sat down and waited. And waited.
“Um, Helen, would it be better if I came back another time?” he asked, after fifteen minutes of hearing nothing but the click of her fingers on the keyboard.
She blinked and looked at him with surprise. “Ronnie? What are you doing here?”
That wasn’t what he’d expected, either. “We have an appointment, remember?”
She blinked again. “Why? I’m Dana Sue’s attorney. I can’t represent you.”
“Not even on this business deal I’m doing?” he asked.
“Why would you want me to?” she said. “You’re not exactly my favorite person.”
“I’d say that’s an understatement, but I was hoping that might be starting to change. Besides, you’re the best attorney in the area and that’s what I need.”
The compliment seemed to catch her attention. “Okay, talk to me. I’m not saying yes, just that I’ll listen. You have ten minutes. I have another appointment at three-thirty.”
“Since you wasted fifteen minutes of my appointment doing whatever you were doing on the computer, I’m sure you won’t mind if we run over,” he retorted.
She gave him a startled look, then grinned. “You’ve changed. You’re tougher.”
“I prefer to think of it as more businesslike, something you should appreciate.”
“I do, actually. Okay, start talking.”
He explained his arrangement with Butch Thompson, then handed over a file. “Here are the contracts his attorney drew up. I trust Butch implicitly, but I also know enough not to sign anything until it’s been looked over by someone representing my interests.”
“Absolutely,” she said.
“And so you know, this isn’t a one-shot deal. If everything goes the way I’m hoping, there will be contracts with developers throu
ghout the region that will need to be drawn up. I’d like you to do that, as well.”
Helen nodded and turned her attention to the contract, jotting notes to herself as she read. “It’s a fair deal,” she said at last. “At least on the surface. I’d like to go through it again tonight. Can I bring it by the hardware store tomorrow? I’d like to see what you’re doing there, anyway.”
“Of course,” he said, relieved she hadn’t shown him the door. “By the way, can I ask what you were doing when I got here? You seemed awfully absorbed in your Internet search. Big case?”
To his astonishment, color bloomed in her cheeks. The ever-confident, often arrogant Helen actually looked embarrassed. Was she trying Internet dating, perhaps?
“Just a personal project,” she admitted, which made the whole computer dating thing seem even more likely, if unexpected.
“Okay,” he said, not pushing it. He wondered if Dana Sue knew anything about whatever Helen was up to.
As if she’d read his mind, she gave him a hard look. “Don’t try prying it out of Dana Sue, either. It’s personal.”
“Got it,” he said, and grinned. “Whatever it is has put a real sparkle in your eyes. I hope it works out.”
She regarded him with surprise. “You almost sound as if you mean that.”
“I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I was pretty hard on you during the divorce and since you’ve been back in town,” she said.
“You were protecting Dana Sue,” he countered. “I can appreciate that. And by the way, I don’t intend to hurt her again.”
Helen sat back and studied him, then asked, “Okay, assuming I give you the benefit of the doubt about that, where does Mary Vaughn fit in?”
“She doesn’t,” he said without hesitation.
“Really? I hear she’s spending a lot of time at the hardware store.”
“She volunteered to give me a hand. If I’m going to open before Christmas, I need all the help I can get. Should I have turned her down?”
“That depends on how serious you are about not hurting Dana Sue again. Just a word of advice? If Mary Vaughn really isn’t an issue, you might want to work a little harder to make sure Dana Sue knows that,” Helen said. “Mary Vaughn, too. Otherwise I’m afraid I might have to defend your ex-wife on an assault and battery charge.”
“Really?” he asked, taken aback. “She’s that jealous?”
“You never heard it from me,” Helen told him. “And if I were you, I’d wipe that smug expression off your face before you say anything to her about it.”
“Duly noted,” he said. “I’ll take care of that tonight.”
“It might bear repeating. This is Dana Sue, after all.”
He laughed. “From now till doomsday, if that’s what it takes.”
She actually smiled. “There must be something wrong with me,” she said. “I’m starting to like you, Ronnie Sullivan.”
“Ditto, Helen Decatur.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promised. “Now tell my secretary to send in my next client. Otherwise I’ll wind up being here till midnight, and I’ve made a vow to stop doing that.”
“Who’s holding you to that?” he asked curiously.
“Your ex-wife, for one. Maddie, for another.”
“Take it from a man who’s learned a little something about vows,” he said. “It’ll go better when you start holding your own feet to the fire.”
Annie felt like an idiot. She was going back to school today, and her mom was hovering as if she was going off on a trip to Mars.
“Mom, it’s not like it’s my first day of kindergarten,” she protested. “I’ve been to school before. I know the kids. I know the teachers. I’ve done my homework. So chill, okay?”
“It’s a big deal,” her mom protested. “You haven’t been there in six weeks.”
“Summer vacation’s longer than that and you don’t go all weird when I go back in September.”
“This is different,” she insisted.
“The doctors all tell me I’m ready,” Annie said in exasperation. “Even Dr. McDaniels, and you know she doesn’t cut me any slack. You’re the only one who’s not ready for this.”
“Your dad’s a little nervous, too,” her mom told her. “He’ll be here any minute.”
Annie regarded her with dismay. “And then what? Are you two going to hold my hands and walk me to school?”
Her mom grinned. “Don’t give me any attitude or we might decide that’s a wonderful idea.”
“Mom!”
“We just thought it would be nice if we had a family breakfast before you left.”
Annie felt her stomach clench. “I don’t need you to watch me to make sure I eat,” she said irritably. “We are so past that.”
“This isn’t about your anorexia. It’s about the three of us being together on an important day,” her mother responded. “You know we always made a big deal about this kind of thing.”
Annie regarded her suspiciously. “And that’s all this is?”
“I swear it,” she said, sketching a cross over her heart. “You look nice, by the way. That blue is a great color on you. It matches your eyes.”
“You don’t think it’s too tight?” Annie asked worriedly. “I’ve gained some weight since I bought it.”
“No, it’s a perfect fit now. Very flattering.”
Annie spun around in front of the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door, something she wouldn’t have done a few months ago. She felt a momentary pang of uncertainty, a faint flicker of the old fear of being too fat, but then she looked—really looked—at herself, the way Ty had made her look in the mirror at the hospital. There was no question that she looked healthier now. If anything, she was still a little on the thin side, but her color was better and her hair had more shine and bounce since her mom had sprung for the works at a salon in Charleston Helen recommended. The three of them had gone together. Her mom had even gotten a few highlights in her own hair. They made her look younger.
Impulsively, Annie turned and gave her mother a fierce hug. “I know I get mad when you and Dad are on my case, but don’t stop, okay?”
“We will never stop looking out for you,” her mother promised, returning her hug.
Annie stepped back and surveyed her with interest. “You’ve lost weight.”
“More inches than weight,” her mom corrected, then held up her arm and flexed her bicep. “Look, a real muscle.”
Annie laughed. “Awesome. Are you working out at the spa?”
“Every day except Sunday,” her mom confessed. “Treadmill three days, weights the other three. Elliott’s pushing me hard.”
“The personal trainer?”
“Yes.”
“Whoa!” Annie said. “Has Dad gotten a look at that guy?”
Her mom looked puzzled by the question. “No, why?”
“Because he’s seriously hot. I don’t know if Dad would want you hanging out with him.”
“It’s not your dad’s decision,” she retorted.
Annie reconsidered the situation. “You know, it could be a good thing. If Dad got a look at Elliott, he might hurry up and ask you to marry him again.”
“Hold on,” her mom protested. “Your dad and I are not even close to discussing getting married again.”
“You should be,” Annie declared. “Everyone knows you belong together. You’re just wasting time.”
“We’re being cautious,” her mom countered. “It might have been a good idea if we’d taken things slower way back when.”
“But then you might not have had me, or I’d be, like, twelve or something.”
“True,” her mom said. “But things turned out exactly the way they were supposed to turn out. And,” she added pointedly, “they will this time, too.”
“I still think you ought to make sure Dad gets a look at Elliott,” Annie said. “It could speed things along.”
In fact, since her mom seemed so reluctant to sti
r things up, maybe it was something she could handle. When people got as old as her mom and dad, they didn’t have time to waste.
22
All thoughts of matchmaking for her mom and dad fled the instant Annie set foot inside her school. On some level, she felt the way she had on her first day of kindergarten, and she almost wished her parents had insisted on coming with her, after all. Everything seemed kind of surreal and unfamiliar, as if she’d never met any of these people or attended a single class. Even the smells seemed different, though floor wax and chalk dust still permeated the air.
Worse, she felt as though everyone was staring and whispering. In fact, she knew they were, because of the silence that fell as she passed by. She told herself it shouldn’t matter, that the kids who knew her and cared about her had already been around to show their support. The rest were simply eager to have something to talk about—the girl who’d nearly died from not eating. She just happened to be today’s news; it was scarier than most because it could have happened to any of them.
Still, even though she understood, there was a huge temptation to bolt just to get away from the speculative stares. The second she considered doing exactly that, Sarah and Raylene materialized beside her.
“You ready for the history test?” Sarah asked, as if this was any other day and not a whole six weeks since the last time Annie had been in class.
“Not me,” Raylene responded, moaning. “I hate history. Who can remember all those dates? And why should we care, anyway?”
Annie grinned at Sarah and together they recited the teacher’s favorite saying, “Those who don’t understand history are doomed to repeat it.”
Raylene merely rolled her eyes. “As if I’m going to be in a position to declare war on anybody.”
“You could be in Congress some day,” Annie said. “You’re smart enough.”
“Puh-leeze,” Raylene said with a toss of her hair, then grinned. “Of course, I could be married to a congressman.”
“You just set women’s lib back by twenty years,” Sarah said with a groan. “Don’t you have any ambition for yourself?”
A Slice of Heaven Page 30
