Beyond Midnight (13 page)

"
I
'
m sorry,
"
Helen said, wincing under his baleful look.
"
The staff is reduced in the summer and Summercamp slots are much more limited.
"

"
What the hell good is half a year away?
"
he said in an undertone through clenched teeth.
"
She needs the school now!
"

"
I know that, but—
"

"
June was bad enough!
"

"
But you can have a nurturing home environment with relatives and friends—
"
Helen checked herself and stood up abruptly, determined to head off any more discussion in front of Katie.
"
Ms. Bartholemew, perhaps you
'
d like to take Katie—?
"

Byrne cut her off with a short, bitter laugh, as if the joke were on him.
"
Never mind,
"
he said, turning on his heel and taking his daughter
'
s h
and. "Forget the whole thing."

****

Someday he
'
ll kill us all.

Peaches gripped the door handle, her standard hint for Nathaniel Byrne to kindly remember his cargo was precious, and turned back to Katie, cocooned in her custom
-
made car seat.

"
Are you all right back there, honey?
"
she asked pointedly.

The child, feeding off her father
'
s frustration, was edgy and uncommunicative.
"
I don
'
t know,
"
she answered.

Byrne was driving the way he always drove: expertly, and much too fast. His wife used to blame his habit on the long commute that he had to make between
Salem
and
Boston
every day. Linda had begged him to shorten the commute by moving closer. He
'
d compromised by moving faster.

"
She led me on, damnit.
"

Nathaniel Byrne
'
s thoughts were bubbling up like tar over the edge of a pot.
"
Who does she think she is?
"
he barked.

Peaches doubted he wanted an answer, so she shrugged and said,
"
Who knows?
"

"
I mean,
i
f I misled someone like that, I
'
d be hauled in front of the SEC in two seconds
flat.
"

"
I was as surprised as you were.
"

"
Why couldn
'
t she just say she didn
'
t have a space this summer? She could
'
ve told you when you called. Why waste my time?
"

Peaches sighed and said,
"
We
'
ll never know.
"

"
She should
'
ve moved heaven and earth to get Katie in. She knew the situation.
"

"
Yes. She did.
"

"
God. What a coldhearted, unrelenting
...."

His disgust was music to Peaches
'
s ears. She hadn
'
t liked seeing sparks fly between them.
Sparks
were all too capable of starting a fire.

"
Some women are like that,
"
she said in a pensive voice.
"
They haven
'
t become successful by being kind. The bottom line for them is always business. They
'
ll do anything to get it.
"

He downshifted and took a corner hard.
"
She didn
'
t sound like the type. She certainly didn
'
t look like the type.
"

It was a tense ride home.

* * *

The cook, who drank, had been keeping supper warm for them. Father, daughter, and nanny sat down to a meal of overdone three-cheese lasagna.

Byrne poked at the dried-out, curled edge of a noodle and scowled.
"
This isn
'
t edible. I
'
ve got half a mind to fire her.
"

Peaches thought the cook—sixty-two, hard of hearing, and uninvolved—suited the household perfectly, so she said,
"
Well, we did tell cook we
'
d be in and out.
"

"
We
were
in and out,
"
he snapped.
"
Or didn
'
t you notice?
"

He was acting far too upset over the failed attempt to get Katie settled somewhere. Peaches was beginning to fear that he might make some rash decision.

"
It
'
s not the end of the world if Katie can
'
t get into The Open Door,
"
she said soothingly.
"
We
'
ll just look for another preschool.
"

"
What
'
s the point? Anything that
'
s any good will be filled.
"

"
We don
'
t know that. I
'
ll get on the phone tomorrow and see.
"

Katie, who
'
d refused to let anyone cut her food tonight, was busy separating the layered noodles with her fingers and rearranging them into a fort. Byrne watched her effort morosely, then said,
"
Finally. An honest effort to make something.
"

"
She
'
s going to surprise you someday,
"
said Peaches, smiling.

He snorted.
"
And in the meantime?
"

He leaned forward on his elbows and cupped a fist in his open hand, lost in thought.

"
Uh-oh, Daddy,
"
said Katie, wagging a messy finger at him.
"
You diddent finish.
"

Smiling grimly, he said,
"
Oh, yeah? And what about
you, tomato-face? How about eating some of that instead of playing with it?
"

Katie giggled at the notion that she was a vegetable and said,
"
I
'
m not a tomato face.
"

Peaches took the damp cloth that she kept by her side and reached over to do some preliminary mopping up.
"
How would you like some cereal and bananas instead?
"
she asked the squiggly, resisting child.

"
Yes, with jimmies on it,
"
Katie demanded, twisting her hands above her head in sleepy petulance.

"
Ha-ha. That
'
s a funny joke,
"
said Peaches as she got up and began heading for the kitchen.

"
Peach?
"
said Byrne quietly.
"
Switzerland
: Would you go if I sent her off to her grandmother for a while?
"

It came out of the blue. Peaches had considered many scenarios, but not that one. Up until that afternoon Nathaniel Byrne had been determined to avoid reaching out to his mother-in-law at all cost. They did not get along—even at Linda
'
s funeral there had been coolness—and that, so far, was that.
Switzerland
! She
'
d be baby-sitting half a world away while he
...
who knows what he
'
d be up to?

She turned to him, lasagna fort in hand, and said softly,
"
If you think it
'
s necessary, of course I will. But let me have tomorrow first. Absolutely, we
'
ll do whatever is best for her. But
...
Switzerland
?
"

Peaches didn
'
t have to point out the obvious: That with his schedule, he wouldn
'
t see Katie the entire time.

"
I know, I know,
"
Byrne said, giving his restless daughter a brooding look.
"
I
'
d hate it, too. But I don
'
t know what else to do, where else to find family.
"

He
'
d ignored them all in the course of his career, and this was where it had got him: alone, with only hired help for comfort.

"
Leave it to me,
"
Peaches said, resolutely upbeat.
"
I
'
m not going to let you down.
"

He gave her a tight, bleak little smile.
"
Thanks. You
'
re a doll.
"

He was letting her see him at his most vulnerable, which was progress; he was a proud man, after all.

But the downside was that he was so vulnerable.
He
'
s easy pickings right now,
Peaches decided as she brought out a box of Cocoa Puffs from the pantry. All it would take was one good woman. Several of Linda Byrne
'
s female friends had called during the past month, offering their sympathy—and worse, their help.

She had to move fast.

H
elen Evett drove home in a state of dismay. Somehow she
'
d let them slip through her fingers. Nathaniel Byrne was right, of course. Without actually saying so, Helen had let them all think that Katie was being considered for the summer session. Who could blame him for being angry?

She could argue that he had overreacted. But she remembered her own edginess after Hank
'
s death far too well to blame Byrne. His wife had only been gone a month. He was still in shock.

So that was that. Surprisingly, Helen felt no guilt over the confusion; all she felt was a terrible emptiness that Katie wouldn
'
t be coming to her preschool.

She hurried up the
front steps of her shingle-and-
clapboard Victorian, anxious to check her answering machine: Maybe Byrne had changed his mind about September. Inside, the house was pulsing to the sound of heavy-metal music. Dropping her trench coat over one of the hooks of the oak hall tree, Helen cupped her hands and yelled,
"
Russ! Turn it
down!
"
to absolutely no avail.
"
Beck-eee! You home?
"

"
In the kitchen, Mom, making tea,
"
came her daughter
'
s voice.

"
Russell!
I
'
m
begging
you!
"
Helen shouted. She detoured into the kitchen and said,
"
Any calls?
"

"
Don
'
t know; just got in,
"
said Becky, lighting a burner under the teakettle.
"
I
'
m in kind of a hurry; French Club tonight.
"

She was wearing her blackish-charcoalish turtleneck and a long black shirt. Helen had to admit that her daughter looked terrific in black. With her shining gold hair and the flush of youth on her cheeks, Becky was able to pull off the simple severity of the outfit very well—even with Doc Martens clodhoppers on her feet. She was turning out to be a beautiful, very together young woman. If only Hank...

"
Make sure you eat something before you go dashing off,
"
Helen said on her way out to the answering machine in the sitting room. If a call had come, Russ couldn
'
t possibly have heard it over the din in his room.