Adding Up to Family

by Marie Ferrarella

  “What makes you think you’re dying?”

  Stevi was trying hard not to tremble. “Because...because...when I went to the bathroom...” She broke down for a second, then collected herself again. “There was all this blood.” She looked at her, terrified. “It has to mean that I’m dying.”

  This time, overwhelmed with compassion, Becky did put her arms protectively around Stevi. It was obvious that no one had ever tried to explain certain basic facts to the girl. “No, darling, you’re not dying.”

  The look on Stevi’s face pleaded she be proved wrong as she protested, “But I’m bleeding.”

  Becky’s heart swelled as her arms tightened around the girl. “All that means, sweetheart, is that you’re becoming a woman.”

  “What? I am?” Stevi questioned. She was clearly mystified and just as clearly desperate to believe what this new person in her life was telling her—especially since what she was thinking was awful.

  “Absolutely.” Giving her another hug, Becky stepped back and looked at the girl’s face. “Tell you what. How do you feel about skipping school today?”

  Stevi rubbed away more tears with the back of her hand and shrugged, trying hard to appear nonchalant. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Good. Because you and I are going to go on a field trip,” Becky said, coming up with a game plan that would help defuse the situation for Stephanie. “We need to go to the drugstore for some much-needed supplies and then we’re going to that bookstore just off Main Street.”

  “Bookstore?” Stevi echoed, confused. “Why are we going to a bookstore?”

  “Because I want to get you a couple of books that’ll explain what’s going on with your body right now, and they’ll probably be able to do it a lot better than I could.”

  The terrified edge was gone from her voice. “So I’m not going to die?”

  “No, you’re not. Not for a very long, long time,” Becky assured her. “And certainly not right now.” With a laugh, she kissed the girl’s forehead. “Now let’s get you cleaned up and go shopping.”

  This time Stevi didn’t tell her to go away.

  Chapter Six

  There was no answer.

  As he heard the sound of his own voice telling him to leave a message on his home phone, Steve terminated the call.

  There was no one home.

  What did that mean?

  Had Rebecca managed to calm his daughter down and then taken her to school? Or had Stevi, still in the throes of her emotional storm, suddenly run off and Rebecca was out there scouring the neighborhood, looking for her?

  But if that was the case, why hadn’t Rebecca called him? She’d told him that she had his card with all his contact numbers.

  Frowning, he tried calling home again. The phone rang five times and then went to voice mail.

  Again.

  Frustrated, Steve swallowed a curse. Why hadn’t he thought to get Rebecca’s cell number before he’d left for work?

  “Hey, Holder, we need you back at the meeting,” Chris Wallach said, sticking his head into Steve’s office after quickly knocking on the door.

  Giving up, Steve rose from his desk. He hadn’t been able to get his head completely in the game all morning. His thoughts kept going back to the chaotic scene he’d left at home. He’d never seen Stevi like that before and it really worried him. But short of taking off and racing home, there was nothing he could do right now. And if he got there and neither Stevi nor Rebecca was in the house, then what?

  He’d never been the kind of person to let his imagination run away with him. Hell, his late wife used to laugh and say that he had no imagination apart from working with those numbers he loved so well.

  But now here he was, thinking of all sorts of terrible things...

  He needed to get back to work, and hoped that would wind up distracting him. Otherwise, he was going to fall prey to some pretty awful thoughts that were only going to grow worse if he couldn’t do anything to resolve them.

  “Holder?” the other man asked uncertainly, looking at his expression.

  “Yeah, I’m coming,” Steve muttered, then followed him down the hallway.

  “You seem pretty distracted today. Everything okay at home?” Chris asked. He stopped before the elevator, pressing the button on the wall.

  Steve shrugged off the words, but then said, “Stevi’s acting strange.”

  “Strange how?” his colleague asked.

  Steve hesitated for another moment, debating saying anything. And then, suddenly, the story came pouring out. “We were having breakfast and talking this morning. And then she left the table to go to the bathroom. When she didn’t come back, I asked her what was wrong—”

  “You talked to her through the door, right?” Chris asked, wanting to get the story straight.

  “Of course through the door.” He sighed. This was all totally new territory for him and he didn’t like it. “That’s when she started yelling at me to go away.”

  Chris gazed at him, concerned. “So, what did you do?”

  “Well, that’s when the new housekeeper arrived. Rebecca Reynolds,” he told the other man, in case that was going to be his next question. “She seemed pretty confident that she could handle it. She all but ushered me out of the house, so I let her take over and I left.” He frowned. “But I haven’t been able to get anyone at the house.”

  The elevator arrived and they both got on. Reaching over, Chris pressed the button for the seventh floor. “Stevi goes to summer school, doesn’t she?”

  “Yes. You think that’s where she is?”

  “She could be,” the man answered. “Tell me one thing—is Stevi going to summer school because she wants to or because she has to?”

  Steve knew there were some kids who needed to take a class over because they hadn’t done well enough the first time to pass it, but that definitely wasn’t Stevi. “Because she wants to. The kid just loves learning things. Why?”

  “I think I figured out what’s going on,” Chris told him.

  “What?” Steve asked, eager to have his mind set at ease.

  “The same thing happened with Wendy this year. My wife handled the whole thing,” his friend confided proudly.

  “So tell me,” Steve urged. “What is going on?”

  Chris gave him a knowing look as he paused for effect. “It’s a boy.”

  Steve frowned, not following. The concept was so foreign to him, he didn’t make the connection. “What’s a boy?”

  “The reason why Stevi’s acting out like this,” Chris told him. He elaborated, when Steve continued staring at him as if he was talking in some foreign language. “She’s probably got a crush on a boy and he’s already got a girlfriend, so Stevi’s upset.” Chris shook his head. “I tell you, it’s not a pretty sight when they get upset.”

  “Boyfriend?” Steve questioned. “Girlfriend?” He shook his own head, rejecting the idea. “We’re talking about ten-year-olds here,” he insisted.

  But Chris wasn’t about to be dismissed. “Hey, things are a lot different these days than they were when you and I were that age.” And then he paused, remembering. “Although, thinking back, there was this one cute little blonde back then and I—”

  Steve cut in, unwilling to listen to any of it. “It’s not about a boy, Wallach. I know my kid.”

  Chris looked at him with pity in his eyes. “You just think you know her, Holder,” he said. “It’s a boy. I guarantee it.”

  They’d reached their floor and the doors opened. For the first time, Steve found himself grateful to have to go to a meeting. It terminated his discussion with Chris, which, in his opinion, was going absolutely nowhere.

  * * *

  Steve had a report that was due first thing in the morning. That meant that, by rights, he should be staying in the office, putting in the extra time to get
it completed. But since, for once, it wasn’t one of those things that had to be placed under lock and key at night, not being deemed classified or, worse yet, top secret, he could take the data home with him so that he could work on the report later tonight. After he assured himself that Stevi was all right.

  Putting the necessary papers into his briefcase, Steve made sure he had everything he needed to complete the work at home and then took off.

  Today’s meeting had run extra long because a heated debate over procedure had erupted, and he had had to stay along with the others until the problem was resolved. That meant he wasn’t able to call home again, wasn’t able to put his mind at ease. While at work, exercising extreme effort, he had been able to force himself to concentrate on his work and blank out all the unnerving scenarios that kept trying to intrude on his mind.

  But the moment he was free and able to leave work, he did. Fast.

  It took effort to keep to the speed limits. Every time he missed a light, he cursed, something that, as a rule, he never did. He tried to talk himself into believing that Chris was right, that Stevi had succumbed to the supposed charm of some ten-or eleven-year-old Romeo, but that carried with it its own set of problems. He was better off not thinking at all, but that was a lot easier said than done.

  By the time he pulled his four-door sedan into the driveway, he had worked up a full head of steam and was perilously close to exploding. He’d hardly turned off the engine before he jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. Unlocking it, he stormed in, trying to prepare himself even though he didn’t really know for what.

  The one thing he wasn’t prepared for was the sound of laughter. It took him a moment to even comprehend what he was hearing.

  The laughter was coming from the kitchen.

  It was Stevi. He would have recognized her laugh anywhere.

  A wave of unfathomable relief washed over him as he followed the sound and found Stevi and the housekeeper working together in the kitchen, giggling over some story that Rebecca was telling.

  “And the whole soufflé just fell, forming this abysmal pancake-like thing,” Becky told Stevi as they finished cleaning up the counter.

  “What did you do?” she asked, clearly horrified by the image conjured up of the destroyed soufflé.

  “What could we do?” Rebecca asked with a grin. “We ate it. It was pretty good, too,” she confided. “Despite its less-than-perfect form. Moral of the story is that not everything turns out the way you plan, but that doesn’t mean you should just throw it away. And what wound up being salvaged was better than we thought it was going to be.”

  “What’s the moral about not calling Stevi’s father?” Steve interjected from the doorway.

  Stevi and Becky turned around together, surprised to find him home so early. Stevi actually looked happy to see him, he thought, although she wound up covering her reaction the next moment, looking sedate and startlingly grown-up.

  All the inner fire he’d been dealing with on his drive home had somehow been almost put out by the sound of his daughter’s laughter. But he still felt he needed to make a point here, given what he’d gone through these last eight hours.

  “But I did call you,” Becky told him, confused by his accusation. “Around ten.”

  The one thing that irritated him more than anything was being lied to. “Oh?” he questioned. “And what did I say?”

  “You didn’t,” Becky told him. “One of those tinny voices they use on some devices came on and told me to leave a message, which I did.”

  “I saw her do it, Dad,” Stevi volunteered solemnly, coming to the woman’s defense.

  “Did you check your messages?” Becky asked him mildly.

  “I did,” he responded. “Four times. I didn’t get a message,” he informed her.

  Becky looked extremely apologetic, so much so that he felt guilty accusing her. “I’m so sorry. I should have called again, but I really did believe that I’d called the right number.”

  “You weren’t worried, were you, Dad?” Stevi asked him.

  The fact that his daughter even thought to inquire, after the way she’d been behaving these last few weeks, made him feel that maybe, just maybe, things had taken another turn, this time for the better. At least she seemed as if whatever was wrong this morning had either been resolved or at least was no longer an issue.

  Rather than dismiss the matter or pretend it hadn’t happened, he was honest with her.

  “Yes, I was worried,” Steve told her. “It’s not like I have a spare kid to replace you.” A small grin curved his mouth. “I haven’t gotten around to building her yet.”

  Stevi shrugged. “She wouldn’t be as good,” the girl quipped, tossing her head. “I’m an original.”

  He laughed then. “That you are,” he agreed without hesitation. He looked at the stove, taking in the frying pan. “So what are you up to?”

  “Becky’s showing me how to make chicken Parmesan,” Stevi told him proudly. “There’s broccoli, too, but that’s not my fault.” She made a face. He knew she hated the vegetable. That she was helping to make it was another giant step, as far as he was concerned. “It’s supposed to be good for you.”

  “So I’ve heard.” He looked at the woman he’d been ready to throttle when he’d walked in, and now found himself wanting to embrace in relief because of the transformation he’d just witnessed in his daughter. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe he and Stevi were back to their original footing, but felt there was a possibility that he might be able to restore some sort of peace, and he was more than willing to take that.

  Dinner looked not only promising, but it smelled good, as well. “Will you be joining us this time?” he asked Becky.

  Instead of giving him an answer, she asked a question. “Do you want me to?”

  He glanced at Stevi before answering. Happy to be consulted, his daughter bobbed her head up and down, so hard that the ends of her dark hair flew around her face. Her eyes were shining.

  Steve turned toward the housekeeper. “Yes, we do,” he said.

  “Well, then I’ll gladly join you,” Becky answered. “Dinner is going to take another ten minutes,” she estimated.

  “I think I can wait,” Steve responded. He turned his attention to his daughter. “So, what did you do today—besides give me heart failure?”

  “Oh, Dad.” Stevi rolled her eyes as if exasperated.

  “So what did you do in school?” he asked her.

  “I didn’t go to school today,” Stevi finally responded, looking at him uncertainly, as if she had no idea how he was going to take this. “I played hooky.”

  Although he was proud of Stevi for being such a good student, there were times he worried that, even at ten, she’d forgotten how to have fun as a kid because she’d become so intent on her studies. To hear her tell him that she had done something so normal, yet so out of character for her, he felt himself filled with a sense of hope.

  Throwing his arms around her, he hugged Stevi and spun her around. Then, setting her back on her feet, he pretended to put on a stern face and said, “Don’t do that again.”

  Because she was so well attuned to her father that they were almost always on the same wavelength, Stevi put on a straight face and nodded. “Okay, I won’t.”

  Watching them, Becky could only smile as a warm feeling came over her. It looked as if the storm had been weathered, and maybe it would be smoother sailing from this point on.

  She didn’t doubt that there might be some rough patches to endure, but for the most part, maybe the worst of it was over.

  Steve glanced at the housekeeper. It struck him that the woman hardly looked the part. If he were to guess, he would have pegged her as a model or a fashion designer. She carried herself with grace and confidence. A housekeeper would have been the last career he would have said.

  “Co
uld I speak to you for a moment?” Steve asked, lowering his voice.

  “Stephanie, why don’t you go set the table for dinner? Set it for three,” she prompted. It brought a wide smile to the girl’s lips.

  “Sure,” Stevi responded. She hurried to scoop up the plates.

  Once Stevi was out of earshot, Becky turned her attention toward Steve. As she waited for him to speak, she took the cutlets out and placed them one by one on a serving platter. “Did you want to ask me something?”

  Yes. Why aren’t you starting a family of your own? The unbidden thought, coming out of nowhere, took him completely by surprise. He shut it down quickly, determined not to allow it to distract him like that again.

  “Yes,” he answered, clearing his throat. “About this morning.”

  She raised her eyes to his innocently. “What about it?”

  “Was Stevi carrying on like that, telling me to go away, because of a boy?”

  Becky was caught completely off guard by the question. Her eyebrows drew together as she tried to understand where the question had come from. “No, it didn’t have anything to do with a boy. Why? Is there a boy in the picture who I should know about?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. I just thought that maybe...” Now that he said it out loud, it sounded ludicrous. “Someone at work said his daughter was acting out because she liked this boy and he didn’t seem to know she was alive,” he explained. “I thought that maybe Stevi...”

  “It wasn’t about a boy,” Becky assured him.

  “Then what?”

  She was prepared for this and also prepared not to go into detail about it just yet. This was something that Stevi had to get comfortable with first before Steve could be informed. She remembered how she’d felt when it first happened to her. It required some mental adjustment.

  “Just hormones,” she replied lightly. “Nothing more than that.”

  The answer seemed to satisfy Steve. Or at least he acted as if it did.

  Chapter Seven

  “So, what do you think?” Stevi asked. It was obvious that she was trying not to sound as excited as she actually was. She was watching her father as he ate the bite of chicken cutlet he’d just put into his mouth. “It’s good, huh? Right?” she stressed, never taking her eyes off him.