Letters and Lace (The Ronan's Harbor Series) (18 page)

She gave him a smile. “That would be great.”

****

Upstairs Sarah found Hannah asleep on top of her bedclothes. The box Harvey found in the basement was on the floor near the bed. The small jewelry chest now sat on her nightstand. The little drawer front that had come off in her hand was set beside it.

Sarah couldn’t help but think of Benny’s advice about the wood glue to repair the drawer. Why did he have to be such an overall jerk? It just didn’t seem fair.

Hannah looked so peaceful sleeping there on her side, her legs curled up at an angle. One hand dangled over the edge of the mattress. Her hair was splayed around her shoulders, strands fanning over her face.

Sarah could not resist the urge to lightly brush her fingertips over the wisps as she’d done more times than she could count when her child had needed mom’s reassuring hand. The move gave Sarah a nice view of Hannah’s face and that’s when she noticed the opal necklace clasped at her neck.

Feeling an odd zing of alarm, Sarah gazed over at the clock on the dresser. It was time to get ready for the tasting event scheduled for that evening. Ian was due to arrive soon. She gave Hannah’s shoulder a gentle shake.

“Hannah, come on, honey,” Sarah said when the girl didn’t stir.

Hannah opened her eyes and volunteered an easy, groggy smile, the kind Sarah remembered from when her daughter had been a girl and more carefree.

****

Ian arrived early, his usual, always-ahead-of-schedule self. Still in his business attire, he was a dapper sight in a fine-cut navy suit. His white shirt was still crisp even after a full day’s work; his paisley-print tie added just the right hint of whimsy to his otherwise staid appearance. He was a walking, talking store-front mannequin. He greeted Sarah politely, kissing her cheek with cool lips.

“Where’s our girl?” he asked genially.

“Still fussing.” Sarah smiled.

Her daughter and Ian made a striking couple, Hannah with her downy mane and fair skin, he with his angled face and dark hair. What a bride and groom they’ll make, she mused, a photographer’s dream.

Sarah gave his face another look. Ian had no bad angles. It was as if he’d been made from a cast.

“Whoa,” he said as he looked through to the open doors of the sunroom. “What’s that all about?”

Harvey and Richie had packed up most of their gear and tarped the area in which they’d been working, but the disturbance to the room was still quite evident.

“The carpenters found a leak. They’re almost through fixing it.” She surprised herself with the easy lie.

Ian made his way toward the room and Sarah followed, a clench forming in her chest. She was a school girl with the teacher scrutinizing her science fair project with a critical eye.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Sarah said lightly. “Are you, uh, looking forward to tonight’s tasting?”

Ian didn’t respond. She watched him as he surveyed the space with a scowl so similar to one Gary often planted on his own face that her body started to brace the same way it used to.

Hannah appeared, freshly showered and dressed in a cute, little blue dress. A puff of floral scent preceded her into the room. “Hi,” she said, coming up next to Ian.

He turned to her and kissed her temple. “Hi, babe,” he said absently. “Look at this, huh?”

“Yeah,” she said and sighed. “They promised it won’t be a problem time-wise.” She cocked her head, angling her gaze to meet his. “What do you think?”

He shook his head slowly. “It doesn’t look promising, I’ll say that. It’s more than a little disconcerting, but I’ll admit I have no clue about these things.”

The doorbell rang. Even though Sarah knew it had to be Gary and Piper, she was relieved for the diversion from the condition of the sunroom. She hurried to the door.

Gary stood erect with little Tina in his arms, all snug in her denim jacket with the faux leopard collar that matched her mom’s.

“Come in,” Sarah smiled. “Hope we’re all hungry,” she added as they came into the foyer.

“Say hi, honeybunch,” Piper said as Gary set Tina down.

The little girl looked up shyly at Sarah and tucked her chin. Admittedly she was a pretty child with auburn hair like her mother’s, and a pouty mouth all her own.

Sarah bent down to her. “Hello, Miss Tina,” She said. “We’re all going to a little party tonight to taste the food for Hannah and Ian’s wedding. Won’t that be fun?”

No reaction. Tina sucked the tips of her index and middle fingers into her mouth. Her steady eyes penetrated Sarah’s much like Gary’s used to when he wasn’t
telling
her he thought she was stupid, but sure as hell thinking it.

Hannah and Ian greeted the new arrivals.

Just when Sarah thought they’d escaped Gary’s observance of the sunroom, she felt like she’d been catapulted back to the science fair.

Gary’s head snapped in that direction. “What the hell, may I ask, is that?” He strode to the doorway of the sunroom like Heathcliff back from the moors. Unfortunately, everybody else followed.

“That was my reaction, too.” Ian sidled up beside Gary, the two tall men making a wall in the doorway. Each stood with the same stance, hands in their trouser pockets, their heads angled to one side like the dog in the old Victrola ads from Sarah’s grandma’s day.

“Ridiculous,” Gary said under his breath.

“You think it’ll be ready in time?” Ian asked Gary as if he had anything to do with it.

Gary shook his head. “I don’t see how, buddy.”

“What do you think we should do?” Ian continued.

Irritation rose in her. Thanks to Mr. Benedetto she had not only learned how to feel anger, but how to express it. And she was about to. Instead she posed, “We don’t want to be late.”

Hannah, the only one who was listening to her, looked at her watch. “Mom’s right,” she said to Ian, who did not respond. “Ian,” she said louder.

He turned in her direction. “I’m sorry, babe. What did you say?”

“We have to leave,” she said.

Piper chimed in, as if taking the cue. “Gary, come on let’s go. Tina, do you have to use the potty?” She crouched in front of her child.

“No poo-poo,” the girl said.

“How about pee-pee?”

“No.”

Bodily functions established, they filed toward the door. While Sarah grabbed her jacket from the hall closet, she felt a presence beside her. She didn’t have to look to see that it was Gary. She could smell his over-zealous application of top-shelf cologne from a mile away.

“I’m putting my foot down this time,” he whispered hotly. “We’re moving the wedding to my club.”

Sarah slipped her arms into her jacket sleeves. Typically, Gary neglected to offer a chivalrous hand. She grabbed her purse, closed the closet door, and stepped around him.

“We’re not discussing this now.”

This was supposed to be a joyous event. She would not allow his opinion to blemish the moment and she certainly wasn’t about to fuel it with a response. But inside she was Mount Vesuvius and this ex-husband of hers was looking like a resident of Pompeii.

From the open front door Piper said, “Gary, Tina wants you to carry her to the car.”

“Daddy,” the child called, confirming the statement. She reached her little arms out to him.

He acquiesced, leaving Sarah alone in the entryway, the last to leave.

****

Melrose Caterers was dressed for company with linen tablecloths adorning round high-topped tables, the long white fabric flowing long and elegant. Candles twinkled in cut glass holders. Long buffet tables arched in a crescent in the center of the room. Attendants, dressed in white and black, served offerings from expertly shined silver chafing dishes.

Champagne flowed freely, no glass left empty for long. Tina, the only child in attendance, was given a special Shirley Temple cocktail with
three
cherries, at her pouty insistence.

“Unbelievable,” Ian said. His mouth closed over a morsel of crab-stuffed mushroom cap. “Wonderful,” he punctuated after he swallowed.

“I’ve had four of the baby lamb chops. Melt in your mouth.” Gary sipped his champagne, pulling the whole strawberry into his mouth. “You’re driving tonight, babe.” He winked at Piper.

So, Ian and Gary both call their women “babe.”
For some reason the endearment didn’t sit well with Sarah. It sounded sexist to her somehow, but what did she know? She’d allowed Gary to call her “Sarah Doodle” for more than two decades.

Tina discovered the dessert table and wandered over to the trays of chocolate-dipped butter cookies. She managed to get herself covered in the sticky coating, the goo dotted in her hair. All this, Sarah noticed, transpired during one of Gary’s turns to be watching his little darling.

“You know what, Gary? I’d like to get something to eat, too. When I get back from cleaning her up, you’re in charge of Tina. But
actually
keep an eye on her this time.”

“Sure, babe.”

Piper carried a squawking Tina into the ladies’ room to do some repair work.

Hannah and Ian had gone off to sample the filet at the carving station. Sarah was sure if she was left alone at the table with Gary he’d find a way to bring up the goings-on in the sunroom. She went to the one place he couldn’t go—the ladies’ room, to join his
babe
.

Piper had placed Tina on a bed of paper towels on the sink top and held her steady with one hand while she swabbed the child with a wad of wet paper in her other hand. “Hold still, honeybunch.” The squirming girl’s only interest was to wrench around and play with the automatic faucet. The girl’s shirt sleeve was saturated.

“Can I help?” Sarah offered before she even had a chance to think about it. She reached over and held onto Tina so Piper had two hands free to clean off the chocolate.

“I should have been born an octopus,” she said smiling warily. “This little girl can get into everything.”

“It’s the age,” Sarah agreed.

“I don’t know how it was when Hannah was growing up, but these days this parenting deal is supposed to be fifty-fifty. Gary didn’t get the memo.”

Sarah didn’t know how to respond. Gary had not been hands-on while Hannah was a toddler. It wasn’t until she was fully independent that he’d gotten into the groove of parenthood.

By the time Hannah had hit junior high Gary had turned into an over-involved, pushy father steering the girl in his chosen directions. Sarah eyed Tina and wondered what Gary would be like when
she
was in junior high. After all, by then he’d be in his sixties.
Oh man.

Piper placed Tina on the floor, having satisfactorily cleaned of her chocolaty mess. She washed her own hands. “Don’t touch anything,” she ordered. She looked into the mirror, caught Sarah’s gaze, and produced a hesitant smile.

“I’m sure you know that Gary won’t relent about holding the reception at the club.” Her tone rang of warning. “He’s convinced it’ll be best.”

Sarah folded her arms across her chest. “Not going to happen.”

Piper tilted her head as she met her gaze. “He’s pretty stubborn, as I’m sure you recall.”

“The wedding’s not moving to his club.” Sarah was careful to keep her voice firm, but not impolite.

Piper’s mouth had turned into an appreciative smile. “You’re not like what Gary says you are.”

Sarah stiffened at the words. She didn’t want to hear whatever description Gary had given his new wife about what she was or wasn’t like. She turned to the mirror, pretending to fuss with her bangs, giving them a flip.

“I’m sorry.” Piper touched her arm. “That came out wrong. What I meant was that Gary doesn’t give you enough credit. He’s sure you’ll eventually give in to what he wants.” She smiled slyly. “He’s wrong, isn’t he?”

Sarah returned the smile.

Piper lifted her daughter into her arms. “Let’s go find Daddy. He’s going to get you some fruit.”

“No fruit. Cookies!”

As they left the ladies room, Sarah had a renewed appreciation for Piper. Maybe Gary hadn’t married a marionette after all. Seeing the two of them together over the last four years had looked just like that, Piper at his side, silent, letting him do all their talking offering up nothing but a nod of agreement from time to time.

When little Tina had arrived, Piper had always busied herself with changing, burping, and quieting her when she fussed. After four years, apparently Piper had had enough of Gary’s sovereignty.

Sarah glanced over at Piper striding across the floor with purposeful steps, Tina bouncing at her diminutive hip. She handed off the child to Gary, leaned close, and whispered something with a stern mouth. To Sarah’s errant pleasure, Gary’s mouth fell open exposing a mouthful of panko-encrusted shrimp.

Maybe Gary has a chance to become a better husband and father this time around,
Sarah couldn’t help but think. He’d learned to respect Piper more than he’d ever respected her, but that wasn’t of consequence to Sarah now. What mattered was that she would not acquiesce to his desire to overtake Hannah and Ian’s wedding. And, for the first time she was totally confident that she meant it.

On the ride back to The Cornelia Ian, having had more champagne than he should have in order to drive, sat in the back seat of Hannah’s car. Sarah in the front passenger seat stared out into the dark night and wondered about the two of them.