By 8pm, when Leanne realized that her daughter had no intention of going to sleep, she took her out of her crib and brought her into the living-room. She then used Megan's misbehavior as an excuse to call Melissa and find out what was taking her so long. The Rowe Enterprises board meetings never usually ran longer than a couple of hours.
'Are the children all right?' was the first thing Melissa asked when she answered her phone that evening.
'They're fine.'
'Is that Megan I hear in the background?' Here, her voice became accusatory. 'At 8pm?'
'I can't get her to sleep. You're the only one who can do it. When are you coming home?'
'Sometimes I wonder who's the parent and who's the child with you two!' Melissa said, and hung up.
But it didn't stop Leanne calling back five minutes later.
'How much longer are you gonna be? Why is it taking so long? Is the attorney still there?' And although she'd waited until the second phone call to ask the latter question, it was the real reason why she'd called.
Leanne had never heard Melissa use anything but harsh words to describe strangers, yet when the attorney had first moved to Verbena, Melissa had sung his praises, even going as far as to call him interesting. Recently he'd been attending many of the board meetings, and Melissa had taken to wearing dresses that would make a nun blush. Leanne, of course, had every right to inquire about what Melissa was up to, Melissa being the mother of her children and all...
'If you keep interrupting me it will take longer!' Melissa snapped.
'You are coming home alone, aren't you?'
Melissa sighed. Behind her a group of people sat waiting around a boardroom table, all serious-looking, mostly male. They wanted to show that they were tired of waiting, but displaying impatience in front of Melissa Rowe was something none of them had ever been brave enough to do.
'Miss Evans, so help me God, if you don't get off this phone...'
'All right, all right, I'm going. But could you pick up some milk on your way in?'
Melissa hung up.
When Leanne returned to the living room she found Dillon holding Megan's hands while she took tentative steps towards him.
'Don't let go of her whatever you do,' Leanne warned, shaking off the image of her daughter falling face down on the floor.
'She's almost ready to walk on her own.'
'If she hurts herself your mom will kill me, bury my body in the garden, behind her greenhouse, and tell everyone I ran off and left her to raise two kids alone!'
She sat down and watched Megan steady herself on her feet with Dillon's support. Each time she took a step she looked at her mother and was met with enthusiastic applause.
Leanne beamed. 'You really think she's ready to walk on her own?'
'Absolutely!'
***
She walked!!!!
The text message came in at a quarter past nine that evening, in the middle of the most insipid new proposal Melissa had ever heard. She'd never been one to look at her phone when others spoke (unless those others were Leanne Evans) but her board of directors was boring her to tears, and she wanted nothing more than to get home to her family.
'... that's how we can reduce the levels of toxins in our newest range–' one of the directors droned on, fully oblivious to the yawns from his peers.
'Oh be quiet!'
Melissa's sudden outburst startled everyone, and silenced the speaker.
'For half an hour we've had to listen to you babble on about your stupid proposal. Nobody cares about toxins, they just care that they don't see a wrinkle when they look in the mirror. Meeting adjourned!'
No one had ever seen the CEO disappear from the building so quickly.
***
'You forgot the milk, didn't you?'
Leanne was in the kitchen sipping a glass of red wine when Melissa charged into the house. Melissa stood over her, arms crossed and looking vexed.
'Where is she?'
'Sleeping,' Leanne smirked. 'After all the walking she did the poor kid's worn out.'
'You're enjoying this, aren't you? I missed my daughter's first steps and all you can do is smile.'
Leanne shrugged. 'Hey, I didn't tell you to hold a five hour meeting. I bet lover boy didn't have any complaints, though.'
Leanne always knew when Melissa wanted to choke the life out of her, and this was one of those times. She could see the woman's fingers twitching, see the veins in her forehead about to pop out.
'I hate you!' Melissa hissed, before storming out of the room and up the stairs.
Leanne thought about shouting back “I love you, too,” but reasoned Melissa really would have strangled her.
***
Leanne waited exactly fifteen minutes before she followed Melissa up the stairs. She knocked on her door.
'Can I come in?'
'No!'
'I'm coming in.'
Her protestations were ignored as Leanne entered the room. Melissa was still fully clothed, having only removed her make up. She shot Leanne a look with spears in it.
'I don't wish to see you.'
'I wanna show you something.'
'I have no interest in seeing anything you have to show me!'
Leanne sighed. 'Stop being so stubborn. Five minutes, that's all, then you can go back to ignoring me.'
Now it was Melissa's turn to sigh, and when she did she made it as long and as drawn out as she could, so Leanne knew she was putting her out.
'Fine.'
And when Melissa followed her out of the room and down the stairs, she had to snatch her hand away several times, as Leanne kept trying to hold it in an attempt to annoy her further.
The television was on when they stepped into the living-room. Melissa looked at the screen and saw a still image of Dillon holding both of Megan's hands. Leanne picked up the remote and hit play.
'Take three,' came Leanne's voice from the screen. 'And action.'
Dillon let go and stepped back a few paces, stretching his arms out to his little sister, as the baby stood on unsteady feet.
'Come on, Megan, come to your big bro',' Dillon coaxed.
'I think she's gonna do it,' came Leanne's voice, rising an octave in her excitement. 'Go on, baby, walk for Mommy.'
And then... she did it.
One shaky step, followed by another, followed by another, until the fourth step, when her legs gave way and she fell into Dillon's waiting arms, while her mother and brother shouted with joy, and the camera shook.
When Leanne hit pause on the video, she spun round to see Melissa sitting on the sofa. She'd been silent throughout the film.
'You recorded it.' Melissa's voice came out as a whisper, lost somewhere in her throat.
'Of course I did. We couldn't let you miss your daughter's first steps, could we?'
'I–I don't know what to say.'
Leanne looked at her, stunned. 'My God, are those actual tears in your eyes?' It had been almost a year since she'd seen her cry; the last time had been during her pregnancy.
Melissa quickly wiped away any trace of the tears, wishing them a painful death for having the audacity to escape.
'No... no, of course not!'
'They are! And there was me thinking you could only cry flames!'
Melissa narrowed her eyes. 'I suppose I should thank you.'
'I don't want thanks. Just promise me that you won't let your meetings drag like that again. Our baby sorceress doesn't like it when I try to pull rank and put her to bed.'
Melissa hesitated for a moment before she said, 'fine.' She hated those meetings anyway.
When the dark-haired woman got to her feet again Leanne unabashedly allowed her eyes to roam across her body, taking in every delectable curve. Leanne couldn't help thinking that there should have been a law against wearing such tight dresses when you had undersexed, horny blondes living under your roof.
'Do you, er, need help getting out of that?'
Okay, so she sounded like a cree
py, perverted old man, and even her breathing had grown heavy, but she didn't care.
Melissa was quiet for some time as she stared at the fair-haired woman, her expression unreadable. Then finally, 'I might as well tell you now, though it's none of your business–'
Leanne's ears perked up. She knew Melissa like the back of her hand, and she knew whatever Melissa was about to say would almost certainly be her business. But Melissa never got to finish her sentence; a phone ringing in the hallway interrupted them.
She disappeared to answer it. Even without hearing the other speaker on the line, Leanne knew, by Melissa's change in tone – going from hard and demanding, to sensual and flirtatious, that she was speaking to the attorney. And then laughter followed, though without its usual cackle – Melissa toned that down. Leanne half expected to walk into the hallway and find Melissa twisting her finger around a lock of her hair, looking coy.
'You're the only person who pays any attention in my meetings... Oh don't be absurd, I do not do that.' More laughter.
'Melissa,' Leanne called, now agitated. 'No calls in the house after nine, remember? Your rule.' Of course, that wasn't the reason why she was agitated, but she wasn't ready to admit the real reason for her frustration over the phone call.
When she walked into the hallway she felt the urge to snatch the phone from Melissa and hang up, so that they could continue their conversation. But Melissa shot her a look and said, without covering the mouthpiece, 'Run along now, the grown ups are talking,' and shooed her away. Then, returning to her phone conversation and turning her back on Leanne, she said, '... no, no one important.'
If Melissa could have seen the pained look on Leanne's face, followed by the murderous glare Leanne gave her, she would have known that she'd taken it too far. But by the time she'd spun round, Leanne had already run upstairs to her room. By the time Melissa had hung up, Leanne had already taken the letter out of the mysterious white envelope, signed the bottom, placed it into a prepaid envelope and put it on her nightstand to post the following morning, informing the private investigators firm in Florida that she would accept their job offer.
Melissa could have (and had) called her just about every name under the sun, but calling her “no one important” had cut the deepest...
Repercussions
As Leanne stuffed a pair of jeans into her duffel bag, her bedroom door creaked open, and when she looked down she saw Megan. Her indignation over what had transpired a couple of nights before vanished when she spotted her daughter. The baby looked equally as pleased to see her.
'Hello, you,' Leanne said, with a smile so bright it could have lit up the room.
Megan squealed in greeting and crawled to her mother at breakneck speed. Leanne scooped her up and planted a fat, loving kiss on her cheek. She was still the cutest thing Leanne had ever seen; dark, messy hair, big brown eyes, an olive complexion. It was almost frightening how much she resembled Melissa.
She set the baby on her lap. 'Have you come to see Mommy before she goes to work?'
Normally the baby responded with a gurgle whenever they asked her a question, but this time she didn't. She seemed preoccupied. Leanne followed her gaze to the half-empty duffel bag. Megan made a long face; Leanne knew what was coming. She gulped.
'Don't cry, honey, I'm just doing laundry.'
She felt awful lying to her daughter, but it seemed to do the trick, to assure the baby that nothing untoward would happen. The crying she could handle, but she stood zero chance of escaping if the baby knew her mother was leaving for good.
'I love you so much,' she continued.
Well, at least that wasn't a lie.
***
'Did you call her? She's never late,' Leanne said, pacing back and forth in the living room with Megan on her hip. She took several nervous glances at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It was already five minutes to nine – she'd never make it to work on time.
'Of course I called her. No answer,' Melissa replied tetchily. She pulled on her coat as Leanne followed her into the hallway. 'You'd think someone who travels by umbrella would be on time.'
Melissa grabbed her handbag and went to open the door.
'Wait, where are you going?'
'I thought I'd spend the day on the beach,' Melissa replied sardonically. 'Where do you think I'm going? My company isn't going to run itself.'
'I have to work, too. Who's going to look after Megan?'
At the sound of her name, Megan giggled to herself. She was also having a great deal of fun playing with the zip on Leanne's jacket.
Melissa laughed derisively. 'Surely you don't expect me to take time off. I'm CEO of a multimillion dollar company, and you're a lowly police officer. I hardly think you'll be missed.'
Although her anger only manifested itself (visibly) in a full facial blush, below the surface Leanne's blood boiled. This latest comment from her, although unconnected, in its own little way affirmed everything Melissa had said the other night. In Leanne's eyes Melissa had once again reduced her to nothing.
'You know what, Melissa?' she began, through gritted teeth.
Melissa smirked, waiting for whatever insult Leanne was brave enough to say in front of their daughter. But when she saw Megan lay her head on Leanne's shoulder, and grip on to her blonde mother tightly, she knew Leanne would back down.
'Enjoy your day.' It was easy saying nice things to bad people when said bad people were soon to be a thing of the past.
Melissa kissed her daughter on the head and stepped outside. 'Why am I paying that unreliable English nanny when you can do her job for free?'
Melissa chuckled to herself as she left the house, glancing back at a seething Leanne before she went. Little did she know, however, that it wasn't just Leanne who she'd angered...
***
When Daisy failed to show, Leanne had no choice but to take her daughter to the station with her. For the first half of the day nothing at all happened, which gave her time to spend with her daughter. She made the foolish mistake of bringing along Megan's favorite book – The Gingerbread Man (whenever the fox devoured him, her daughter would squeal with delight!). That morning, she read the book a total of six times; whenever she tried to put it down it leaped from the table and into her hands again. Megan decided when the book was finished.
In the afternoon Adam stopped by with lunch.
“She's just so adorable. I kinda want a baby now,” he'd said, as Megan handed him The Gingerbread Man to read. The baby managed to get a couple of reads out of the waiter, and Adam even did the voices.
“You can have this one if you want!” Leanne joked.
After lunch she received a text message from Melissa asking how the baby was, and generally spoiling her mood. Even in their text exchange they managed to get into arguments.
Work is obviously more important than your daughter. I'll tell that to the judge when I apply for soul custody.
You want soul custody, do you? I'm not sure how our daughter will function without her soul. I think you mean “sole” custody.
Leanne imagined how much amusement Melissa derived from that particular hiccup. Texting whilst angry often resulted in misspellings.
Keith popped in shortly after with the new addition to his family in tow – a scruffy, friendly Jack Russell that he'd picked up from the pound. Megan couldn't keep her hands off it.
It could have been paternal instinct or general observation, but when Keith looked at his daughter he knew, behind her smiles, something troubled her.
'What's up?' he asked casually.
'Don't you sometimes just feel like leaving?' She lowered her voice, fully aware that Megan would probably understand everything she said. 'And don't worry, I won't tell my mom.'
'Never. Do you?'
'Yes,' she replied solemnly. 'You and Mom, you're different. You're made for each other – mainly because you're the only people who can stand each other! It's romantic. Well, I skipped all that and knocked up a witch! How's th
at for romance?'
'Have you ever thought that you and Melissa are the only people who can stand each other?'
She hadn't. With a wistful air she watched her daughter playing peacefully with the dog.
Following her gaze, Keith continued, 'You'd never leave your children, though?' He wanted to add “with that woman” but thought better of it.
The long beat of silence that preceded Leanne's, 'No, never,' should have set off alarm bells for Keith, but he'd never been the smartest tool in the box, so it went right over his head.
***
'You cooked?'
Dillon took a cautious seat around the dining table, eying his plate warily, as though his meal were alive! It was actually mashed potatoes, vegetables and lamb, but it was difficult to tell by looking at it.
'I did,' Leanne said, with undisguised pride. She put Megan into her high-chair and set her plate down. The baby looked at the food in much the same way Dillon had, as though it were some sort of threat.
'Why didn't you wait until my mom got home and let her make dinner?'
'Because I'm in a good mood.'
She was in high spirits; she'd had a pleasant day and she wanted to have an equally pleasant evening. After speaking with her father she'd decided to give Melissa another chance. Yes, she'd accepted the job, but the firm would understand her change of heart.
'Your mom always does the cooking; I thought I'd do it for a change. Go on, try some.'
Hocus Pocus Baby Page 5
