Beauty & the Beasts (27 page)

The woman had no sooner departed than a family appeared.

“Grandma said you had kittens,” the boy began, but then he spotted them. The boy and his sister dropped to their knees beside the wire cage. Their mother stopped at the table.

“Oh,” the boy breathed, “look at these black-and-white ones!”

Grudgingly Garth took Chev and Ron out to be held by the boy and girl, who were perhaps ten and twelve. They cuddled the kittens tenderly, and after a bit even shy Chev began to purr. The whole while, Garth stood over them, ready to snatch his charges back at any moment.

The mother lowered her voice. “We adopted a kitten six months ago, but he wasn’t in very good health
from the beginning. Of course by the time we realized that, it was too late. We already loved him. We recently found out that he had leukemia, and he went downhill fast. It broke the kids’ hearts.”

“That’s hard,” Madeline said sympathetically. “Are you sure you’re ready for a new pet?”

“Oh, we’ve waited a couple of months. This time we decided to get two, so they’d have company when the kids are at school and I’m working. I’m a single mother,” she said as an aside.

Keeping an eye on Garth, Madeline discussed Ten Lives’s policies and queried the woman about how safe their home was and how much of a commitment they were prepared to make to their pets. She was satisfied quickly, but she couldn’t tell if Garth felt the same.

The mother went over and visited Chev and Ron, as well. The girl looked up. “Mom, can we have them?” Her eyes held such anxiety and hope, Madeline had a welcome feeling of rightness, especially when she saw the same expression in the boy’s eyes.

She looked at Garth, standing quietly now behind the family. He gazed down at the two kids for the longest time, then gave an agonized nod. His face contorted and he hurried away. Eric rose and strolled after him. On the edge of tears herself Madeline felt a stab of gratitude that Eric had stayed.

It was twenty minutes before they returned from the back of the store. Garth’s eyes were red and puffy, but the tears had been scrubbed away, and he seemed not to mind his father’s hand on his shoulder.
Madeline couldn’t help remembering a similar scene, only Eric had been comforting her.

Garth was careful not even to glance at the cage that no longer held his two little boys. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Do you need me to stay?”

She shook her head. “We’ll be fine. Garth—”

“I’m okay,” he said woodenly.

“You taught them how to love.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “Thanks to you, they’ll have a fine life.”

Tears leapt into his eyes again. He gave a jerky nod and fled.

“I’m sorry,” Madeline said helplessly to Eric. “Maybe fostering was a terrible idea for him.”

“No.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and kneaded lightly. “You’re right. He did give them a chance at a fine life. But they’re not the only ones who learned. He did, too.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

Eric gave her a quick hard kiss. “We’ll talk later,” he said, a promise and a threat, and strode out.

Madeline looked over to see that her mother was dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

“So,” Mrs. Howard said with a final sniff, “we’ve done quite well today, haven’t we?”

“Yes, and we have another hour.”

But the heat of the summer afternoon had brought a lull in business. Store clerks chatted quietly with one another, and the few customers who passed had carts loaded with birdseed or dog food.

It seemed a good moment to say difficult things.

“Mom,” Madeline began, but her courage failed
her, and when her mother glanced over inquiringly, she said the first thing that came into her head. It turned out not to be far from what she’d intended. “There’s an audition tomorrow night in Everett. It’s a community-theater production.”

Mrs. Howard waited, only a certain stillness about her betraying that she understood Madeline was telling her something important.

“I thought I might try out for a part.” Madeline took a deep breath. “Would you like to come and watch?”

“I don’t believe,” her mother said unsteadily, “that anything on earth would make me happier.”

Hardly aware she did so, Madeline began to align the edges of the stack of handouts. It helped, somehow, to have her hands busy and not to be watching for her mother’s expression.

Even so, it was hard to say,
I might have been wrong. I’m starting to understand why your life felt empty, how you might have convinced yourself that you were making the right choices for me.

Hoping her mother would be patient, Madeline said, “Garth doesn’t want me to marry his father. He’s frightened. His mother just remarried, and he thinks she doesn’t want him anymore, and…well, Eric and I have discussed the possibility of not seeing each other for now. Until Garth is ready. No, let me say this,” she said, when her mother began to protest. “The thing is, I’d almost convinced myself that he’d be happier with me as his stepmother even though he doesn’t know it. Assuming,” she added
scrupulously, “that I’m reading Eric right and he’s thinking of asking me.”

She took another breath and went on, “Anyway, I suddenly saw how easy it is to believe you know best when you’re the adult. Maybe you even do. Maybe Garth
is
wrong in not wanting me to marry his dad.” At last she said it. “Maybe
I
was wrong in thinking life somehow would have been better if you’d let me be more normal.”

“I don’t know,” her mother said, and her face held painful honesty. “I’ve had plenty of years to think about everything I did and why I did it. It
wasn’t
all bad, truly.”

“No. I know. I’ve been remembering. The night
Annie
opened was one of the most glorious of my life. There I was, out on the stage, singing and dancing, and people were laughing and cheering
me.”
Madeline gazed into the past, a bittersweet smile touching her lips. “Of course, I thought I had the most beautiful voice in the world.”

“You sang from the moment you got up in the morning.” The affection in her mother’s voice was new to Madeline. “You used to stand in your crib and rattle the bars and hop around, burbling. Even then, I knew you were dancing and singing.”

“But I have a terrible voice.”

“Not terrible…”

Their eyes met, and suddenly both were laughing.

“It was fine for an eight-year-old,” her mother said. “It just…well, didn’t develop into anything special.”

Madeline wrinkled her nose. “I sing in the shower.”

“I know. I’ve heard you.”

And just like that they laughed—no, giggled— again. Mother-daughter. Momentarily in harmony.

The silence that fell afterward was companionable, easy. Madeline had more she wanted to say, but her mother beat her to it.

“There was a time you loved acting and modeling.” Her mouth compressed. “My mistake was not letting the choice be yours when you started
not
wanting it. And yes, you were right—money was part of the reason. I had no way of earning what you could. But it was more. My life felt empty, I suppose, and your success filled it.” She looked directly at Madeline. “I’m sorry,” she said starkly.

“Maybe, if we’d just talked…”

“I fear that’s my fault, too. Expressing feelings never came easily to me.” Her wrinkles deepened. “Which I regret more than I can say. Perhaps it’s what destroyed my marriage. Understanding what I do about myself, I’m not at all sure I should try again.”

With new certainty Madeline said, “But something has changed, hasn’t it? I know a few women whose best friends are their mothers. I’ve always envied them. We could try.”

Tears sparkled on her mother’s eyelashes. “I’d like that very much. Oh, Madeline, I am so sorry!”

Flooded with emotion, tears filling her own eyes, Madeline whispered, “And I’m sorry, too. It shouldn’t have taken me so long to grow up.”

They hugged, cheeks pressed together, fingers gripping hard. The embrace was awkward, but real. Mother-daughter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

M
ADELINE PARKED
in the alley as always and was unlocking the back entrance to her boutique when a hand closed on her shoulder. Her heart took a wild jump and she spun around.

“Eric! God!” She pressed a hand to her chest. “You just about scared me to death.”

In khakis and a heather green T-shirt, he had no right to look so handsome. Perhaps the fright had made her realize his impact afresh.

“I’m sorry. I made plenty of noise coming down the alley.”

“Not enough,” she said tartly.

“You haven’t returned my phone calls.”

“I told you I needed to think.”

He turned the key in the lock, opened the door and ostentatiously handed the key back to her. “I won’t accept a decision not to see me.”

-Her rare temper awakened and she lifted her chin. “What will you do—keep sneaking up behind me in alleys?”

Between set teeth, Eric said, “I’m not a stalker.”

“Well, then, kindly don’t tell me you won’t accept my decision!”

The creases in his cheeks deepened. “I love you.”

Her heart thumped. “What?”

“You heard me.” He nodded toward the open door. “May I come in?”

In a daze Madeline said, “I…yes. Of course.”

He waited for her to go ahead. She automatically flipped on the storeroom lights. A heavy damask curtain separated the work area in back from the store proper. Eric closed the door behind them, shutting out the clang of a Dumpster lid and the rumble of the garbage truck farther down the alley. Then he removed her purse from her nerveless hand and set it on a table.

“I would love you,” he said, “even if you were as homely as Mudhen.”

An image of the shelter cat’s battered one-eyed face popped into her head. There’d been times she’d wished she were ugly.

Why was she resisting this man? “Garth…” she reminded herself, and him.

“No, let me finish first.” Eric cupped her face, brushed a thumb across her lips.

She quivered. Unfair. How could she put his son first when Eric touched her this way and said the words she’d lived her whole life to hear?

“I’ve…learned a good deal about myself since I met you.” His expression was completely unguarded, his eyes dark with emotion. “Thanks to you, I’ve discovered what really matters. For the first time in my life I don’t just want a woman, I love her. You.” His voice hardened. “I will not let you go because Garth is afraid I can’t love two people at once.”

“I love
you.
“ It wasn’t what she’d meant to say.

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Yeah. I kind of figured you did.”

“How arrogant.”

“No.” Any humor disappeared. “I’ve been a bastard. If you didn’t love me despite my idiocy, why would you have let me have a second—or third— chance?”

“Good point,” she managed.

He kissed her finally, slow, tender, loving, passion in abeyance. When he lifted his head, she had to cling to him for support. “I will marry you no matter what,” he said. “We can prove to Garth that he’s wrong. But God knows I’d rather have his blessing. Will you talk to him?”

“Me?” Her legs regained their strength. “Aren’t I the threat? Would he even listen to me?”

“He worships the ground you walk on. You’re a threat because you’re ‘too cool.’ I quote,” Eric said wryly. “He might believe you if
you
tell him you wouldn’t mind having a twelve-year-old stepson around.”

Madeline gazed up into those tumultuous gray-green eyes and said helplessly, “Yes. Okay.”

“Take him to the shelter.”

She nodded.

“Or just come to visit Mittens and Dusky. They’re in his bedroom now that Chev and Ron are gone.”

“He’ll think it’s a setup.”

“It is a setup.” Eric looked at his watch. “I’ve got to go. I love you, Madeline.”

She nodded foolishly.

Eric grinned, kissed her again, this time with desire added to the mix, and left, the back door closing with a solid sound behind him.

I would love you even if you were as homely as Mudhen.

Madeline went to open the cash register. On the way she began to sing.

“W
HY DON’T WE
both spend some time in the kitten room cuddling the scared ones?” Madeline suggested brightly, wondering if poor Garth could tell he was being manipulated.

Apparently not, because he nodded. “That’s cool.”

“I’m glad to hear Mittens and Dusky are doing so well,” Madeline said. “You’re sure he’s drinking water?”

“I saw him drinking again this afternoon,” Garth told her. “He lapped up a whole bunch.”

“Great.” She opened the door to the kitten room and automatically stuck out a foot to stop an energetic youngster from scooting through on an exploratory foray. “And you’re getting quite a bit of food down him?”

“Yeah, a can a day.” He looked dubious. “Those cans aren’t very big, though.”

“But very high in protein. That should be plenty to keep him going.”

The litter boxes in here had been freshly changed, and a couple of older kittens were munching on dried food. Others were piled in baskets or round sheepskin
beds, while two tabbies sat on the windowsill, noses pressed to the screen.

Madeline introduced Garth to the newcomers, and they each chose one of the shyer guys for a snuggle. Garth sat cross-legged on the floor as usual, a six-week-old calico in the crook of his arm. She buried her face in his shirt, but couldn’t resist his fingernails; after a moment a soft rumble came from her. The older long-haired black-and-white kitten Madeline had picked up was made of sterner stuff; she held out a couple of minutes before she gave up and purred.

Madeline waited a bit before she asked, “Have you talked to your mother lately? Is she having a good time?”

“Um…I guess.” From the look on his face, Madeline suspected he hadn’t asked.

What teenager cared whether his parents had a good time? Obviously it had never occurred to
her
as a teenager to wonder about her mother’s happiness.

“When do they get back?”

“They
are
back.” He sounded resentful. Madeline wondered how he’d feel if his mother had wanted him to cut his summer short and join her and her new husband. Would he be happy? Or assume that now his father had wanted to get rid of him?