by Ruth Wind
In fierce longing, he moved to kiss her neck, to bite her a little and elicit that sobbing cry, and then took her lips with all the force he had denied these long, long weeks, and he felt Anna respond with the same gusto, her teeth against his lip. Her breasts pushed into his bare chest, and he reached below the covers to push away the clothes that stood between them.
"Good morning!" came a voice, then the thunk of a small boy's body landing on the foot of the bed. "The sun is shining. Maybe flowers will come up today."
They froze. For an instant, Tyler looked down into Anna's eyes and saw there his own rueful smile. Softly, he kissed her once more. "Later," he whispered.
Wickedly, she touched him as he shifted away. "Please."
With a regretful sigh, he moved away from Anna, feeling her slip the nightgown back upon her shoulders under the covers, as Curtis scooted up to lie down next to his dad. "Will flowerth come up today, Daddy?"
"Not quite yet," he said. "Not much longer."
* * *
Anna had to go to work that morning. As spring neared, she had to try to focus more on work in order to prepare for the annual Spring Festival, which drew tourists—and their money—by the droves into Red Creek. Often the festival brought in more than three-quarters of the funds the museum was able to raise throughout the year.
It was pleasant enough in her office. The optimistic sound of snow melting in drips lifted her spirits, and she hummed quietly as she added figures and typed up tentative plans to present to the Friends of the Museum. Every so often, she remembered the feeling of Tyler around her this morning, the husky, needy sound of his voice, and a shiver of anticipation went through her.
Just after lunch, Louise appeared at the office door. "Anna?"
"Hmmm?" She punched a number into the calculator and scribbled it on a spreadsheet.
"Ah, you have a visitor."
Still Anna had no presentiment that her world was about to turn upside down. "Oh?" She looked up.
And froze. For one long moment, all she could do was stare in dumbfounded shock at the familiar face, unable to place it so far out of context. A woman in her early sixties, with thick salt-and-pepper hair cut into an elegant and flattering style, her face remarkably unlined for her age. The green wool suit had traveled well, of course.
"Mama!"
"Surprise!" the woman cried, holding out her arms as she came into the office. Behind her came others, her father and her little brother Tony and her brother Jack, who gave her a sympathetic look as they trooped in.
Anna gaped at them, unable to act, while her mind raced in a frenzy. The moment she stood up, they would see that she was pregnant. The four-month mound of her belly was not instantly obvious to the rest of the world, but on her small frame, it showed. And her family would notice.
Caught in panic, Anna looked to Louise, who simply smiled at them all, proudly. It occurred to Anna that Louise simply assumed Anna had told them all. It was only natural that she would, of course.
Of course. Except she hadn't. The time had never seemed right. How did you break something like that, for heaven's sake? "Mama, I just thought I'd let you know I'm married and there will be a baby in the fall."
Looking from one of them to the other, Anna realized the moment had arrived.
"Anna, aren't you happy to see us?" Hurt showed in her mother's black eyes. "We thought it would be such a nice surprise."
"It is!" Damn the consequences, she thought, and rounded the desk, hoping the hustle and bustle in the crowded office would help put off the inevitable for at least a few moments. She hugged her mother, smelling the familiar cologne and hairspray. Anna tried to keep her belly apart, but no such luck. Her mother made a soft, shocked noise and pulled back, looking down.
"What's this?"
Her father moved forward, frowning. "You're pregnant, Anna?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"And you didn't tell us?
"Who is the creep?"
"A baby!"
"How long have you known?" her mother asked.
"When were you planning to give us the news?" her father demanded.
"I knew it!" exclaimed her brother.
A bright, loud whistle cut through the exclamations, and they all turned toward Louise in surprise. "Let's take things one step at a time, shall we?" she said, and stuck out her hand. "Hi. I'm Louise Forrest, Anna's mother-in-law. I gather you are Mr. Passanante."
"Mother-in-law?" he echoed, shaking her hand. "Anna, you're—"
"Married," she said, and clasped her hands nervously.
"Thank you, Mary!" her mother breathed, crossing herself dramatically.
"You must be Mrs. Passanante," Louise said agreeably.
"Oh, call me Olive, please. My husband is Salvatore, after his father." She pointed to the others. "That is my son Tony, and Jack, who came with us to run away from his life." She seemed to run out of steam, and looked back to Anna. "Oh, Anna," she said sadly. "I told them they were wrong. That you'd be okay out here. That you were a much more sensible girl than they thought."
Anna opened her mouth, then closed it. This was what she had most dreaded, the disappointment in her mother's eyes. Bleakly, she simply looked at her. "I'm sorry."
Olive shook her head slowly. "And you didn't even tell us! Who made your dress? Who fixed your hair? How could you leave us out like that?"
"I'm sorry," she said again.
Her father touched his wife's shoulder. "I'm very disappointed in you, Anna."
Anna bowed her head, brushing a lock of hair from her cheek, her face burning with shame. "I know."
Jack stepped in. "Time enough for all this later," he said with false cheer, and hugged her. "Boy, kid, you don't mess around, do you?"
Anna clung to him. The brother closest to her in age, he had always had more in common with her than any of the others. Like Anna, he'd longed for more than the horizons he'd been given, but he'd never been able to focus on how to get it, and he moved from one spot of trouble to the next. As Anna hugged him, she breathed in the spicy scent of his aftershave, and the scent of wool and silk. "I'm glad you're here," she said.
He chuckled. Anna felt it rather than heard it, and when he pulled back, she saw the twinkle in his eyes. "I bet you are." With a wink, he let her go.
Louise clapped her hands together. "Well, I think I'll call around and find some volunteers to man the museum for the day, and then we can all go up to my house for a nice get-to-know-you visit. Why don't you all sit down and let me steal Anna for a minute?"
Olive and Salvatore nodded. Anna knew from long experience that this was simply the calm before the storm, and she kissed each one. "I'm so glad to see you," she said. "I'll be right back."
But if she thought she was escaping, it was only from a bed of thorns to a bed of nails. Louise walked silently to the front of the museum, and abruptly turned the corner to go upstairs. "What are you doing?" Anna asked, confused.
"Come on."
In one of the bedrooms, Louise closed the doors, then turned to face Anna. It was only then that she saw the rare, dangerous fury in the older woman's eyes. "Honestly, child, if you weren't pregnant, I'd whip you within an inch of your life. What were you thinkin'? Did you think they'd never know? Were you planning to cut yourself off from them completely?"
Anna bowed her head. "I don't know."
"Well, I know you're in big trouble. Oh, Anna. How could you do this? Everything was working out so well, and now this."
"You see them, Louise. I didn't know how to break it to them. I mean, pregnant, then married? And not only that, he's not Italian, or even Catholic. You haven't even begun to see what a mess this is. Trust me."
"I'm not real worried about you at the moment, you'll forgive me." Her blue eyes blazed, and she crossed her arms over her ample bosom. "I've spent the past few years wondering if I'd ever get my Tyler back. He was so lost, and you've brought him back. I really didn't know if it would happen, Anna. And it did."
Anna f
elt bewildered. "I'm not going to leave him just because they showed up, Louise. I mean, they'll be mad, and there will be endless lectures until they go back home, but nothing else has changed."
"That's where you're wrong, darlin'." Agitated, Louise paced toward the window. "Think about how this is going to look from Tyler's perspective. He isn't going to trust you to go around the block after this, and I don't blame him. It really looks like you hedged on the commitment you made there in that courthouse."
Anna frowned. "I don't think he'll take it that way. I didn't mean it that way."
But, with a sinking feeling, Anna realized that she had. She hadn't told her family because she hadn't been sure it would work out and there was no point to them knowing if she and Tyler parted ways.
Winded, she sat gingerly on a rocking chair. "Louise, you know I love him."
"Funny way of showing it."
"That's not fair. I didn't want to show it. I didn't want him to feel obligated to me. I wanted to see if he could fall in love with me on his own. And I didn't want to humiliate myself with my family." A jolt moved in her middle as she realized anew that they were waiting for her. "And this isn't even the tip of the iceberg. They'll all be out here before we're finished with this, examining everything, making judgments on the way I live, scolding me, teasing me, acting like I don't have a single brain in my head." She gave a low moan and buried her face in her hands. "I love my family, Louise, but they are a serious pain in the neck."
For a moment, Louise said nothing. "Well, it's out now. We'll just have to make the best of it."
Anna raised her head. "Do you really think Tyler won't understand if I explain it to him?"
The cornflower eyes were troubled. "His problem has always been that holier-than-thou attitude. He wants everybody to be honest and true and noble, and he's not very forgiving of human foibles."
When it was put that way, Anna knew exactly what Louise meant, and her heart plummeted. She wanted to break down and cry, but really, it was her own fault.
Louise put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here for you, honey."
Anna gripped her hand fiercely. "Thank you."
"Come on. Time to face the music."
Louise herded everyone to her house and got some coffee started, then called down to the construction yard to get Lance and have him fetch Tyler from the renovation job he was doing. For a moment, she wavered over how to handle things, but then she blurted out, "Lance, you might let Tyler know—gently—that Anna hadn't told her family about the wedding or the baby."
"Oh, brother."
"Yeah, brother. Try and break it easily, will you?"
Lance sighed. "It won't make any difference how I break it. He's going to be upset."
"Do your best. Maybe he'll get over it before he gets here."
"Yeah, that's possible. Like he got over Kara being pregnant in a day or two, right?"
"It is what it is. We'll have to just go forward from here."
"I don't know how such a good-natured woman raised such an uptight man, Mama."
Louise knew. Tyler clung to his almost impossibly high standards as a way of keeping the world at bay, of keeping his very private self as private as possible. If he held others at arm's length, if they fell short of his expectations, they would never hurt him. The more worried or hurt he was, the more he cloaked himself in the protective code of honor.
That lofty code was both his most admirable virtue and his most devastating character flaw. When he was a boy, Louise had despaired of his righteous indignation over world affairs, over the intrigues of government, the lack of faithfulness and honor in leaders. She'd tried to help him understand that human beings were simply flawed—they did their best, but they faltered.
But Tyler didn't. Not often, anyway. And when he did stray from the path, he owned up to it. He took responsibility. He did not lie. He did not cheat. He did not take lovers.
Listening to the tone of the voices coming from the other room, Louise sighed. The real reason for Tyler's code went deep. She knew his reasoning was very simple: If he held himself to that knightly standard, he could never be mistaken for his father, whose philosophy could be summed up as "Go and sin some more." In the end, his excesses had killed him.
For the twentieth time that week, Louise wished Alonzo were here to lean on. But their relationship had cooled after the argument the night Anna found out she was pregnant. Oh, not from Alonzo's side, at least not at first.
He'd hurt her more deeply than he realized that night, and she had retreated. Better to have her simple, calm life than to risk the sorrows she'd known in her first marriage. When she told Alonzo that she thought their relationship had gone as far as it could, he had simply looked at her for a long moment with those luminous Hershey-bar eyes and nodded. Two days later, he'd announced he'd found an apartment in town and would no longer be needing the guest house.
She'd seen him at the wedding, and they'd been excruciatingly polite, but that had been the last time. Through Lance, she heard he was still working at Forrest Construction, and he'd been seen dancing with a woman much younger and prettier than Louise, a divorced teacher who'd come to Red Creek in the fall.
Standing there, staring at the phone, Louise finally admitted to herself that she missed him. Missed his company and his gentle teasing and the way he touched her, as if she were precious, and beautiful, and desirable.
But it was too late for her. She vowed it would not be too late for her son. By all she held holy, she vowed she'd do everything she could to make things right with Anna and Tyler.
* * *
Anna sat on the couch in Louise's living room, half listening for the sound of Tyler's truck in the drive. With the other half of her mind, she filled herself with the chatty gossip of her family, like an arroyo after a rain. Louise brought in coffee and cookies and sandwiches, and although she lit for moments at a time, chuckling over the anecdotes they told, she never sat down for long.
Which meant she was nervous.
About Tyler.
Resolutely, Anna made up her mind to stop worrying and let herself enjoy the moment. Soon enough, one or two of her family would take her aside to some private corner, and the lectures would begin. Another would join in, or maybe they'd do it one at a time, each lecturing about some new angle. Soon enough, Tyler would be here and she would be faced with his reaction.
So she focused on the moment. On her mother, vibrant in her green wool, her nails freshly manicured, the diamonds flashing on her fingers. Her father, looking prosperous and clean in his carefully tailored suit, his hair neatly combed back from his face to show off the gorgeous high forehead and Roman nose. What a handsome couple they were, Anna thought.
She'd forgotten so much about them, about their relationship. Her mother, like Anna, was a talker, while her father was a rather silent man, who only roused himself to make the odd teasing comment or wickedly ironic joke. But always they were quietly attentive to one another. Olive put chocolate cookies on a napkin and passed them to her father without missing a syllable in her tale of another of Mary Frances's displays of prodigious vanity. "Four hundred dollars for a blouse!" she exclaimed. "Imagine!"
"She can afford it, Ma," Jack said from his corner.
Which wasn't the point. Anna smiled.
In his turn, Salvatore touched his wife's hand, reminded her of a detail she'd forgotten, patted her leg. They knew each other so deeply, so intimately, Anna realized. She wondered with a sense of vague sadness if she and Tyler would ever interact like that. If they would ever know each other that well.
When she heard his truck in the driveway, she started so badly that she almost spilled her tea. "Oh!" she exclaimed, flustered, trying to smooth her hair and her blouse and catch the tea, all at once.
Jack rescued the tea before disaster struck. "He must really be something," he commented quietly.
She met his curious gaze. "Do I have any food on my mouth?"
"Nope." He grinned. "It's been a long ti
me since I've seen such a happy newlywed."
Anna nearly choked on that. She was spared the necessity of answering by Curtis, hurtling himself through the front door. "Mommy, do I really have another grandma?"
Thank the saints for children. Anna bent to scoop Curtis into her arms, a shield and a comfort all at once. "Yes, you do. Remember I told you about my mama, how she had eight children? This is her, and look how healthy she is."
Olive blinked a little, but she immediately moved around to greet Curtis properly. "Well, aren't you a handsome young man!"
"Mama, this is my stepson, Curtis. Curtis, say hello to your grandma Olive."
To her delight, he stuck out a hand. "Pleathed to meet you, Grandma Olive."
Olive beamed. "Such nice manners. Oh, you're a sweet boy." She turned and gestured toward the couch. "That's your grandpa Sal, and Uncle Tony, and Uncle Jack."
"Jack?" Curtis echoed. "Hey, I have an uncle Jake, too!"
Tyler came in, carefully cleaning mud from his boots on the mat. Anna looked at him, trying to find some sign of his mood. It was so hard to know what he was thinking behind that natural reserve. "Tyler," she said as calmly as she could, putting Curtis down. "I'd like you to meet my family."
Next to her, Olive slipped a hand around Anna's upper arm and squeezed. "Anna," she whispered urgently into her ear, "he's as handsome as a prince!"
"Yes," she said. Her heart still pounded painfully in fear. She just couldn't see what Tyler thought of all this, if he was angry with her. Anything. He simply moved into the room in his loose-limbed way. "Hello," he said.
"Mama and Papa, this is my husband, Tyler Forrest." She realized it was the first time she'd said the words. "Tyler, these are my parents, Olive and Salvatore Passanante."
Sal stood to shake Tyler's hand, and Anna watched them take each other's measure. Her father looked underwhelmed, but Tyler bore the scrutiny well, with the dignity of a man who had nothing to hide. "It's good to meet you at last, sir," he said.
Sal relaxed marginally. From the corner of her eye, Anna saw Jack ducking his head to hide his expression, and she knew he was silently laughing. She wanted to throw something at him.
