Heart in the Field

by Dagg, Jillian

  “I hope so. Now. I have to get ready.”

  Nick thought he would relax in the theater but he couldn’t. If the entertainment had been of a faster pace he might have been able to lose himself in the content, but he couldn’t seem to get his mind twisted around some of the complex poetry and classical music. He also couldn’t sit still in his seat for very long with Serena by his side. Every once in a while he caught a whiff of her perfume. With her hair upswept and small diamond studs in her ears, she looked elegant. Elegant enough for Reeva to send her daughter an approving glance every once in a while. He realized tonight that Serena must have had a great deal to live up to with Reeva for a mother. Reeva expected brilliant gymnastics in life, and Serena had to excel in her performances.

  Nick shifted around in his seat and Reeva patted his hand as if he were recalcitrant child. He grinned. Reeva didn’t know that he was hot and throbbing for more loving, while Serena was as cool as a cucumber on ice. Ice Maiden. She was appropriately named by her colleagues. She knew how to perfect a chilling exterior.

  Seth’s group Lite came on stage. They were rousing, fast-paced and thoughtful in one package. The audience began clapping in time. Some raised their arms in the air in a wave of tribute. Seth put on a fantastic stage performance. He was expert on his guitar, and could improvise until the audience grew wild. Nick watched Seth’s boundless energy bring his band to a finale with the theme from Neon Nights.

  Nick forgot for a moment they had a brick wall erected between them and whispered to Serena, “They’ve got one hell of a future.”

  She inclined her head. “I think so as well. They’re always so popular. Look at my mother.”

  Reeva was on her feet, clapping her hands so hard that her palms would sting when the evening was over.

  “Aren’t they wonderful?” Reeva said, when she at last sat down beside Nick again. “I’m so proud of him. I’m clapping double hard for his father, who would have loved this. If he hadn’t been a journalist he would have been a musician.”

  It was the first time anyone in the Brown family had mentioned Stuart Redding Brown without bitterness and without provocation. Nick nodded. “I would like to have met your husband.”

  “I’m sure you would have got along famously. You’re from the same mold.”

  So that’s what Reeva thought. It was interesting that she had picked up the truth about him.

  After the performance they went to find Seth and his band, who were packing up their instruments. Seth glowed with the praise he received.

  “We’re getting more and more popular,” he said to Nick. “Your show has helped my CD and download sales to no end. Why don’t you join us at The Bear’s Pause? We’re going to be performing there all next week, and we’re doing an impromptu appearance tonight.” Seth raised a dark eyebrow. “We’re the introductory offer, you might say, as this is a test to see how entertainment goes over.”

  Reeva hugged her son. “Sounds wonderful, dear. We’ll just come for a little while. We have a limo on hire tonight.”

  Seth grinned at Nick. “Don’t you just adore my mother?”

  “She’s incredible,” Nick said. “So’s your sister.”

  Seth’s mouth thinned. “Are you being good to her?”

  Nick figured he had been good to Serena. Right now it was Serena who wasn’t being good to him. “As far as I know.”

  “That’s great.”

  Seth turned away, and Nick felt like he’d been warned by the younger man.

  •

  Later, Serena sat in the back of the limousine with her mother and Nick, thinking ahead to all that was now before her. She had to pretend she was still an item with Nick, at least until after Thanksgiving. She even had the task of going with Nick to meet his parents, and inviting them to dinner in West Vale. She rubbed her forehead. Her mother gave her a headache. It was all very well Seth wanting these family get togethers, but he didn’t seem to realize that being left alone by Reeva was to his own advantage as well as Serena’s.

  Reeva was getting the chauffeur to drive around the long way before he took Nick home, so they could chat about her appearance on Neon Nights. It seemed like they had no choice but to run a program on her. Serena could sense Nick wasn’t all that enthusiastic about Reeva appearing on their program. And neither was she. She didn’t really want to work with her mother in the first place. She also, like Nick, didn’t think Reeva was appropriate subject matter.

  As they neared Nick’s apartment block, he shifted in his seat and his hip pressed against hers. Emotion flared through her body and she felt a wave of relief when the car purred to the curb and stopped.

  Nick smiled at the two women. “Thank you, Reeva, for the dinner, and for the evening. We’ll be in touch about your interview.” Then he placed his hand beneath Serena’s chin and pressed his mouth upon hers. “’Night, sweetie.”

  Her mouth trembling, she found the words. “Goodnight, Nick. See you tomorrow.” The chauffeur opened the door and Nick climbed out of the car.

  Serena slouched back into the seat.

  Her mother said, “Well, that’s all taken care of.”

  Serena wasn’t quite sure if Reeva meant that her appearance on Neon Nights was scheduled, or that she was prolonging the affair between her daughter and Nick Fraser to allay any more gossip.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “It’s not Neon Nights,” Nick said. “It’s not what the show is all about.”

  “Nick, calm down,” Don said. “Reeva is local interest. She’s popular. People will watch her.”

  “That’s not the entire point of the show, Don. So people watch. So what? The show loses its punch.”

  Don glanced at Serena, who lounged in one of Don’s comfortable armchairs in his office. “What do you think? She’s your mother?”

  Serena crossed her legs and stared at the toes of her neat black leather shoes she wore with a calf-length skirt and a black jacket. “That’s a problem right there. But she is popular, and she should be given a decent farewell from the city. But I agree with Nick. It’s not Neon Nights. Although, Nick, you did tell her that it was a go.”

  Nick, who stood with his hands jammed into the pockets of a pair of charcoal slacks, glanced her way. “Thank you, Serena. And I know what I told her last night, but I’m regretting it.”

  Don put his huge feet up on to his desk and clasped his neck with his hands. “Then what do we go with next? City Streets will run out of steam, and we have some empty Thursdays later in the month. Serena seems to be getting nowhere with Bad Men, Good Women.”

  Serena shot up from her chair. “I am not nowhere. I’m still very much on top of it.”

  “But it won’t be ready very soon?” Nick said.

  She locked eyes with him. “Possibly not. I think Angela is away. I get an answering machine all the time.”

  “Well, if not, we’ll schedule Reeva,” Don said. “I’ve got enough faith in you two to make something out of her. Get her ideas on the homeless or something. She’s stepped up on lots of platforms over the years. You’ll dig up something.”

  The last thing Serena needed was Nick digging up stuff on her family. Not that she had much to hide from him now.

  The meeting broke up and Serena went down to her office. Nick followed her. “What’s happening with that story?”

  “If I keep on getting that damn answering service, I might have to scrap it.”

  “Don’t be hasty. I still have a feeling she’ll come through. But let’s get moving on it. Why don’t we begin with Lawson Thomson? We’ll get Melissa to do some research.”

  It heartened her that Nick had a bit of faith left in her story. She did need his help to keep this project going. “All right. I’ve discovered that sometimes research unearths other ideas.”

  “Exactly.” He smiled. “We might come up with another angle on the story. Maybe it’s not Angela alone. We’re going to be busy this afternoon, with tomorrow’s program, but we could spend all day Friday workin
g on your story and that would give Melissa a couple of days. Would that be okay?”

  Serena noticed he’d said your story, and she really did think that they had come a long way in the few weeks they’d been working together. “Fine. I’d appreciate your viewpoint.”

  “Settled. Now for our other great feat. I mentioned to my parents on the phone that I was going to bring you over to meet them, which will in turn give you the opportunity to invite them for Thanksgiving.”

  Serena had almost forgotten that duty she had yet to perform. She might as well get it over with. In fact, when Thanksgiving was over, and her mother’s interference was out of the way, she could begin to live her life again. Right now she felt as if she were on a fast train ride to the weekend.

  After a busy afternoon, Serena went with Nick to visit his parents. She was shown the family jewelry store before Nick drove the Jaguar into the back lane.

  “It used to be a nice area,” he said. “It’s a little run down now.”

  She got out of the car and stepped over a puddle from recent rainfall. “Is that why you want them to move?”

  “No. I think they should move because of these steep stairs, the type of old-fashioned place it is, and the store that my father can no longer attend to. By the way, my mother wanted to know if you liked tea?”

  “Yes. I do.” She could tell that Nick was uneasy with family foibles. In a way, it was kind of comforting to know he wasn’t always the slick journalist.

  “That’s good. It’s the only drink they ever serve to visitors.”

  Serena held on to the railing on the way up the steep stairs. She could understand why old people would find this climb difficult.

  Nick’s parents must have been looking out of the window, because the door opened before they reached it. Serena had been expecting two little old people. But Nick’s Dad was big. His mother had clearly once been a beauty, and she saw where Nick inherited his good looks. Nick introduced her.

  Stephen Fraser ushered her through a narrow foyer into the kitchen of the apartment. “We’re delighted to meet you, Serena. You’ll have to excuse our humble abode.”

  “This is fine.” It was a neat but old-fashioned kitchen. There were only two small windows and they didn’t let in much light.

  “Do you like tea?” Maria asked.

  Serena smiled because of Nick’s earlier comment. “Love it.”

  “Then we’ll go into the living room,” Nick’s father said. “It’s brighter there.”

  “But not much,” Nick whispered into her ear as they followed his father up the narrow hallway.

  Stephen pulled out an armchair on castors. “Please sit down. Mother will bring in tea.”

  Serena sat down and tucked her skirt around her knees. She put her purse on the floor beside the chair. Nick lounged in another armchair.

  Maria bustled in with the tea tray. Serena accepted a cup of tea in a bone china cup and homemade cookies that were a very delicious mixture of oats and raisins.

  Maria chose to sit on a footstool in front of her husband. Serena saw an expression on Nick’s face that was almost resignation. She figured it had always been this way with his parents, that he’d seen their closeness as them against him.

  Serena placed her cup on the tray and thought she might as well get down to the reason she was here in the first place. “My family has invited Nick to Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday and we wondered if you would like to accompany us. We’re going to a very nice restaurant near West Vale, where I live. Nick would bring you out and drive you home. So there won’t be any problem with transportation.” She glanced at Nick to include him in the invitation.

  Maria glanced at her husband. “What do you think, Stephen?” She looked over at Serena. “We don’t get out very often since we sold our car. We used to go for drives near West Vale. It’s pretty country.”

  “It is. Very,” she said. “We’d love to have you join us.”

  Stephen Fraser hadn’t said a word yet. While glances were exchanged between Stephen and Maria, Serena felt like tapping her toe with impatience.

  “I think we’d like that very much.” Stephen said at last.

  “Wonderful.” She looked over at Nick. “Isn’t that great?”

  He nodded. “Great.”

  But she knew he was uneasy with his parents’ decision, and when they were back in the car she said, “If they’d said no you would have been upset.”

  He looked at her, and she saw that his hands were clasping the steering wheel.

  “No. It wouldn’t matter. And that’s the truth. I’m used to being on my own.”

  “Then why did you accept my mother’s invitation?”

  “I don’t believe I had much choice in the matter. Besides, I believe this entire charade is to protect you and the Brown family from shabby gossip.”

  He drove out on to a main road and back to the Steel Tower.

  Serena’s chest felt tight. It had been quite an ordeal going to meet Nick’s parents. She wished that she had met them in the true light of being with their son forever. Had she been a fool to cut off their intimacy? Only time would tell, she supposed.

  She really didn’t have much time to feel too miserable over him as Neon Nights took up a lot of hours. Cam produced some more commercials, and she spent all day Friday doing research with Nick. Melissa’s efforts had been admirable, and her visits to the library and newspaper offices as well as internet searches, had given them enough material to understand the type of program they wanted to present. The process really brought to light how well Serena worked with Nick.

  “Listen to this, Nick.” Serena held a newspaper clipping. “This is the writer speaking: ‘I felt as if Thomson had two sides to his personality. On the one hand he was charming. On the other very sadistic. I felt he was conning me all along.’”

  “He was,” Nick said. “His real name is Alan Wayne Thomason, with an A in the middle.”

  Serena frowned. “I wonder if Angela knows Lawson isn’t his given name?”

  “She must. She lives with him. She’s married to him.”

  “That’s what I mean, though, Nick.” Serena felt the excitement that had first brought her to this project. “Women like Angela, who marry and love this type of men, don’t always know what they’re about. They’re conned. Exactly the way that reporter felt he was being conned.”

  Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Angela’s pretty astute.”

  “In some ways, but she’s never had much love. If she felt she could get it by not making waves, then Lawson would be her perfect man.”

  “Then we might be waiting it out in vain. But I don’t think so.” Nick stood up, yawned and stretched. “Look. Why don’t we go with your mother’s program? It’ll give us a break from extra heavy. Possibly we can get two weeks from her. By then Angela might have made a decision.”

  Serena watched Nick in the sunlight. He was so handsome she wanted to run to him. But there was a distance between them now.

  “Are you still with me?” Nick asked.

  “Yes. I just hope you are right and Angela is making a decision.”

  “If she isn’t then my suspicions are wrong about her being in a trapped situation. But I believe if everything was okay she would have come clean right away. From what we’ve read, her husband is the type who can turn on the charm when he wants to.”

  “Like you.” She regretted the words as soon as they were out.

  “Ah, come on, Serena. It’s you who is the problem in our relationship. I was up-front. You’re the one looking for excuses not to continue with what we started. It’s not what I want. It’s what you want.”

  Serena pushed some of the files aside. “Make yourself sound like a martyr.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not. I’m telling the truth. I’ve always told you the truth.”

  “I believe that. But you understand why you’re a dead-end street for me?”

  “Your father and everything? Yes. I understand.” Then he gave a rueful s
mile. “Anyway, let’s clear out of here for the day. We’ll decide a day, possibly Monday, to grab your mother and grill her about her politics, especially her position on the city homeless. That way we’ll have a focus.”

  “You’re really into this cleaning up the city stuff, aren’t you?”

  “Because it’s damn disgusting, Serena. It’s ridiculous in these affluent times.”

  Serena rose from her chair. “You’re right. I feel the same way. Okay. We’ll go with my mother.”

  “Sounds good,” Nick agreed. “We’ll tidy up this stuff and then I have a dinner date.

  Serena began to stack files. “Anyone I know?”

  “You sure do. Don and Barbara.”

  Relief that it wasn’t a woman made Serena let out a deep sigh, and Nick grinned. “Gotcha.”

  When her office was tidy, Nick left and Serena got her personal belongings together to go home. Her relationship with Nick hadn’t turned out to be quite as strained as she’d thought it might. He was being amenable. It wasn’t what she really wanted but it would do. It was a way of erecting a small fence between them. Then, when he left in the spring, she would be free.

  •

  Nick picked up his parents at three o’clock on Sunday to drive them to West Vale. They were decked out in their best clothes: His father in a navy suit with a pencil thin pinstripe, his mother in a blue coat over a charcoal wool dress. He felt they looked nice and that he could be proud of them. Despite an invitation to his mother to sit in front with him, his father had insisted she sit in the back with him. This irritated Nick right from the start. He drove out of the city, wearing his suit and sunglasses, feeling as if he were a taxi driver.

  He didn’t feel great anyway. His body already missed Serena’s. It had been a week since they had made love and he wasn’t sure if he would ever make love to her again. This situation between them, where they were friendly but not intimate, was becoming a strain on him.

  “It’s a lovely day, isn’t it, Stephen,” his mother said. “Such bright sunshine. The leaves will be beautiful this time of year.”

  Don’t talk to me or anything, Nick thought, cursing Reeva for forcing him into this situation. He now understood the strain Serena had been through all her life with her mother.