Winners

by Danielle Steel

  They spent the next two days shopping, spending time in Hyde Park, and going to restaurants, and they picked the painting up at Christie’s on the last day. He hadn’t wanted to leave it at the hotel. It was too important not to have under lock with a guard. And he had already made arrangements with the Denver Art Museum to put it in a vault until they could hang it at The Lily Pad. It was exciting just getting it to the plane and knowing they had it with them on the way home. It had been a wonderful trip for both of them.

  She told Teddy all about it when she got home, and as a special treat, Bill arranged to borrow a van with a driver from Craig, and drove Teddy to the museum with Lily once they were home, so he could see the painting. He sat staring at it wordlessly in awe for a long time and then looked at Lily with tears in his eyes.

  “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, overwhelmed, and it touched Bill to see how much he loved it.

  Afterward they took him home for dinner, and he was able to go all over the house with Lily, thanks to the accommodations Bill had put in. They hung out in the living room and listened to music, and Lily made dinner for them in the kitchen that was so easy for Teddy to negotiate too. The visit was such a success that Teddy became a frequent visitor during the summer. And he did a painting of his own, inspired by the water lilies, and gave it to Bill to thank him for allowing him to visit them at home. It was a remarkable piece of art for any artist to have produced, let alone one with limited use of his hands. No one would have suspected that from the painting he created.

  “We’re going to put it at The Lily Pad,” he assured Teddy, “in the same area as the Monet.” He was very touched by the gift, and impressed by Teddy’s talent, which was considerable.

  And between Teddy’s visits, Walker, who dropped by a couple of times between summer plans, and a few of the girls from her class who visited her, Lily’s summer passed quickly. She and her father went to Aspen for a few days at the end of August and when they came home, it was time to go back to school for senior year. It had been an easy, lazy summer, the work at The Lily Pad was progressing well, and thanks to Lily and her father, it was the best summer Teddy had had in two years. He was part of the family now.

  Chapter 21

  JESSIE WANTED TO take Chris to Denver to settle into his room in the dorm, but she had no one to leave the other children with, and he insisted he’d be fine going on his own. She felt terrible about it, and promised him she’d come out as soon as she could. She’d been telling Bill Thomas she’d come to Denver and consult with him again as soon as her kids were back in school, so she planned to visit Chris then.

  Chris looked painfully adult the day he left with two suitcases, his computer, and his skis, and she had shipped his stereo and a bicycle by FedEx. She felt like a bad mother all over again, but she couldn’t go with him and manage the other three at the same time. And the friends she would have left them with were on a camping trip in Yosemite. She drove Chris to the airport in Reno and hugged him hard.

  “Call me! I want to know how you are.” She was fighting back tears, and so was he.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said, looking agonizingly like his father.

  “Call me tonight.”

  “Okay, okay.” She hugged him again, and he disappeared onto the plane for a direct flight to Denver. She went home with a heavy heart. Her first baby had left the nest, and she couldn’t imagine life without seeing his face every night. The house was like a tomb when she got home, and the other children looked as mournful as she felt. Heather was lying on the couch, staring blindly at the TV, Adam didn’t even beg to use the PlayStation, and Jimmy crawled onto her lap and hugged her the minute she sat down. No one wanted to eat lunch. She tried to talk them into a movie, but no one wanted to go, so she did laundry instead. She was folding clothes when Bill Thomas called her, and she sounded sad when she answered the phone. He could hear it in her voice.

  “Is something wrong?” He was instantly concerned, and she was touched.

  “Yes … no … just life, I guess. My oldest just left for college, and we all miss him already. It’s so quiet here without him.” And she relied on Chris so much to help her with his siblings, she knew it was going to be hard without him, but at least now he’d have some fun instead of babysitting and chauffeuring for her all the time. She felt guilty for having relied on him so much all year.

  “Give him my number and tell him to call me if he needs anything, once he settles in,” Bill said. “Maybe this would be a good time to get you back here. I really need your advice, Jessie. We’ve been floundering for the last few weeks. I can’t get our medical setup right, and I haven’t seen a decent résumé in weeks. How soon can you come?” They’d been talking about early September, and it was here. She brightened at the invitation to consult for him again. It was just the excuse she wanted to visit Chris.

  “As soon as you want me. I just have to tell Ben so he covers for me, and make arrangements for the kids. They start school next week. I hired a boy to help me after school now that Chris is gone, but he doesn’t start for a couple of weeks. He’s an instructor at the ski school. I need him to drive them around.” Heather had just gotten her learner’s permit, but she couldn’t drive alone without an adult, and Jessie didn’t want her driving the other kids.

  “Why don’t you come the weekend after they start school, or the one after, whatever works for you, and you could make time to see your son while you’re here? We could all have dinner together if you like, with Lily. It would be great.”

  “I’d like to. Let me get organized, and I’ll call you this week after I talk to Ben, and get the kids set up.”

  “That’s fine.” He sounded relieved, and she had something to look forward to when she hung up.

  Chris called her that night after he got his room assignment and met his roommates. He said they were going out to get something to eat, but he wanted to let her know he’d arrived. He seemed so far away and suddenly so independent. She couldn’t believe the time had finally come for him to leave for college, and she still looked depressed the next day at work.

  “Bad weekend?” Ben asked her when he saw her face.

  “Chris left for Denver.”

  “I’m sorry.” He could see how upset she was about it.

  “Yeah, me too. I hate it when kids grow up,” she said with a rueful smile. “Which reminds me, Bill Thomas wants me to go to Denver and consult on his rehab again, in the next couple of weeks. Which weekend works for you?” Ben said that either one was fine, and they settled on one in two weeks, and she called Bill that afternoon. He was delighted, and he realized that it coincided with Carole Anders’s next visit, and he told Jessie. Jessie was excited to see Carole, it sounded like a fun weekend, especially if she could spend some time with Chris too. She texted him to tell him when she was coming, and called the mothers of the kids’ friends, and had it all set up by that night.

  The weekend she left for Denver went smoothly. She had a whole bag of things to take to Chris that he’d forgotten, including an extra blanket, and she had slipped in some framed photographs of the other kids. Jimmy made him a picture, which she promised to take him. And she left for Reno straight from work. The various mothers babysitting for her kids had picked them up at school. Ben gave her a pointed look as she left.

  “I still think you should take that job,” he said, and she just laughed.

  “Yeah, whatever. The consulting is fine. And now I’ll get to see Chris.”

  “Give him my love,” Ben said, and she took a cab to the Reno airport, and caught the plane to Denver. And she got a cab to the hotel when she got there. Chris said he was busy that night with basketball practice, and she was meeting him the next day for breakfast, before she met with Bill.

  It worked out perfectly. She met Chris at his dorm, and met his roommates, who all looked very nice. She brought him the bag of things from home, and they walked around the campus, and then she took him out to breakfast at a restauran
t nearby. He looked happy and relaxed and said he was having fun. He couldn’t wait till ski season started, but in the meantime he was playing basketball, and was on the swim team. And she dropped him off at school when she left, with a little tug at her heart. She had promised to see him again before she left on Sunday.

  And then she took the cab to Bill’s, where he was waiting for her with plans, résumés, and adjustments to the model, and he wanted her advice on a dozen subjects. They got right to work at his kitchen table, and were deeply engrossed in architecture plans, when Lily rolled into the kitchen to get some lunch. She was going over to Craig to visit Teddy, and then she was going to a college fair at her school to pick up some applications and brochures. She had promised to get some for Teddy too. And she was happy to see Jessie, who looked equally pleased to see her.

  “You look great, Lily,” Jessie told her, as they stopped working for a few minutes. “How’s senior year going?”

  “Okay, so far,” Lily said with a broad smile. “I haven’t flunked out yet. I’m going to a college fair today.” Her father didn’t comment, and Lily made herself something to eat while they went back to work. And a little while later she left, and then Jessie thought of something and looked up at Bill.

  “How is she getting around these days?” She had heard a car door slam and a car drive off. He looked sheepish when she asked the question.

  “I got her a car with manual controls. She didn’t want me driving her to school. I know, I spoil her, but it really made sense, and she needs some independence.” Jessie smiled at him as soon as he said it. “She can even get her wheelchair into the car all by herself,” he said proudly.

  “You don’t need to apologize to me. I think it’s a great idea. And she’s a very responsible kid.”

  “I’m glad you think so.” Lily really had made a remarkable adjustment to her situation, with every possible advantage Bill could give her. And Jessie thought he had done well too. He had come far since January, when he refused to accept the reality of her situation. Now he was building a rehab of his own. It still amazed her.

  They went out to look at The Lily Pad together that afternoon, and went over his notes and drawings, and she solved the problems of how to structure the medical wing. They were keeping the medical aspect to a minimum, but they had to be realistic about the kind of care their residents would need, and some would need more than others. They had to have some kind of medical facility. They were just walking out of the building when Joe arrived with Carole. She had flown in from Boston early that morning, and they’d been going over other plans and a list of counselors Carole thought they should hire. And the minute the two women saw each other, they both looked pleased, and gave each other a warm hug.

  “How lucky is that?” Carole said immediately. “That we’re here on the same weekend?” She thought her old friend looked tired, and in contrast Jessie thought Carole had never looked better, although she recognized instantly that the stylish dark hair she wore was a wig. She remembered Carole’s own hair as a little lighter and softer. But her new hairdo was very chic. She hadn’t seen Carole since she’d been sick.

  The four of them sat together in the main office after that and went over the architect’s plans and blueprints, Bill pointed out things they were changing on the model, and the swimming pool and the building it was in were almost complete. And then they went down a list of potential employees together. They were getting down to the wire on some of them. Bill wanted their skeleton office staff in place by the end of the year.

  “We have no medical director yet,” Carole said with a look of concern. Bill and Joe were worried about it too, but no one they really liked and felt comfortable with had appeared.

  “Not unless you can convince Dr. Matthews to do it,” Bill said with an imploring look at Jessie, and she shook her head.

  “You guys know I can’t. Someone will turn up. We’ve got feelers out in hospitals all over the country. It’s just a matter of time,” she said confidently.

  “We’re opening in eleven months,” Bill reminded her, and she nodded. And they went on to other things until after five o’clock. The four of them were planning to have dinner, Carole left with Joe, and Bill drove Jessie back to the hotel at six. They both looked tired on the ride back, they had covered a lot of ground all day, and it was hard getting everything done and discussed in the two days she was there.

  “You know, I’m serious about your taking the job as medical director, Jessie. Whatever it takes. I’d like to give you a house to go with the job, and a salary that would make it worth your while.”

  “I love to be bribed,” she said, teasing him. “And a house would be great. The one we’re in now is falling down around our ears now that Tim’s not there to do repairs. But it would mean moving three kids to a new city and new schools. Heather would have to graduate here instead of with her friends. She’s a junior this year and she’ll be a senior next year. It just wouldn’t be fair to them.” And it was a sacrifice she felt she had to make no matter how appealing the job was or how good the salary. “They don’t understand the economics of something like that. Their lives have already been disrupted enough losing their father. I might be able to do it with the two younger boys—they’re young enough to adjust, especially Jimmy, who just turned seven, and Adam’s twelve. But at Heather’s age, she would feel like I’m destroying her life, moving her for her last year of high school.”

  “We have some great schools here,” Bill said, but he had lost hope of convincing her. She was too dedicated a mother to do something that would upset her kids, even if it cost her a great job opportunity. Her kids were the priority, just as Lily was for him.

  They had gotten to the hotel by then, and he promised to pick Carole and Jessie up at seven-thirty. They were going to meet Joe at the restaurant.

  Jessie went upstairs, lay down on the bed, and called her friend. “Wow, that was a long day. We do so much when we come out here. You must too.”

  “We really do,” Carole agreed.

  “Do you want to come to my room?” Jessie invited her. “It’s so good to be here together. I wish we could have dinner alone tonight.” It would have been nice to have a girls’ evening, and Carole agreed.

  “Yeah, I thought of it too, but I didn’t want to be rude. They’re so nice to me every time I come here.”

  “Are you going to move for a job out here?” Jessie asked with interest. It made more sense for her since she was on her own.

  “It’s a great project and I love what they’re doing, but I don’t want to leave Mass General. Call me a job snob, but I love the prestige of working for an institution like that.” Jessie smiled at what she said.

  “I don’t blame you, I’d feel the same way, although I think The Lily Pad is going to be something very special. Bill is pouring a fortune into it, and really doing it right. If we can help him staff it decently, it’s going to be fabulous.”

  “What about you?” Carole asked her. “Would you move here?”

  “I can’t move my kids, not after Tim. Can you imagine how traumatic that would be for them?”

  “Kids adjust better than we think, and they have each other and you. And Chris is in school here now, so you’d all be together, more than you are in Squaw, with Chris away at school.”

  “Try explaining that to my daughter. She thinks the center of the universe is Squaw. Tim thought so too.” She laughed, and Carole promised to come down in a minute, and she appeared at Jessie’s door five minutes later in jeans, ballet shoes, a Harvard sweatshirt, and a scarf on her head. The long dark locks had disappeared.

  “Sorry.” She patted her head when Jessie saw her. “It’s nice to take my wig off for a while. My hair is finally coming in, but it’s all wiry and weird.” She took the scarf off, and Jessie could see the bristle all over her head, which was lighter than the wig, just as she’d remembered. “My hair was never as good as that wig,” she admitted with a grin and sat on the end of Jessie’s bed. “So w
hat’s new with you? Anything?”

  “Are you kidding? Between work and the kids, I don’t even have time to sleep. And half the time I’m on call. It’s been pretty crazy for the last nine months, and not a lot of fun.”

  “It’ll get better,” Carole reassured her, but Jessie didn’t look convinced. She couldn’t imagine her life getting better again without Tim. It had been a very tough year.

  “I don’t know how,” she said honestly, “unless I retire or give up the kids. And it’s going to be harder now without Chris—he’s been a big help. It’ll do him good to get away. He was constantly taking care of the younger ones. I just hired someone to help. What about you? Is life getting back to normal after Dylan and being sick?”

  “Pretty much. I feel really good. I’m back on track, and the consulting here has been great, thanks to you. That’s about all I’m doing right now. It’s enough.” She seemed satisfied with her life, and for a second Jessie envied her. She still hadn’t made peace with losing Tim.

  “You’re not dating anyone?” Jessie asked cautiously. Carole was a beautiful young woman and five years younger than Jessie.

  Carole shook her head with a determined look at her friend. “I’m done.” She sounded definite about it, and Jessie looked skeptical.

  “At thirty-eight? I hope not. Don’t be silly. Just give it time.” Carole could have said the same to her, but she didn’t. She could see that Jessie was still grieving Tim and their lost life. It was too soon for her.

  “I don’t need time. It’s different for me. I can’t have kids. I don’t want to get married again. Dylan cured me of that. My body is … well, different. I’m not ready to show this to anyone, and I don’t want reconstructive surgery. It’s too much. I went through enough last year with the double mastectomy and hysterectomy. And I’m happier like this, on my own.”

  “I hope you’re seeing a shrink,” Jessie said seriously, and knew her well enough to say it. “You can’t give up on your life as a woman at your age.” She had made a tough choice, and Jessie thought it was the wrong one.