Heart in the Field (28 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Beyond the
curved windows of the atrium the deep red and orange leaves on the trees
cascaded down into the valley and crawled up the rocky gorge. The brilliant
sunshine that had greeted Thanksgiving Sunday dimmed into an early evening glow
and brought the warmth of the colors into the dining atmosphere of the West
Vale Inn. Serena had only dined here a handful of times, though she had always
been impressed by the cuisine. She was also impressed by the setting, and it
confirmed her reasons for moving out to West Vale in the first place.

           
If she didn’t feel so darned
miserable she would be enjoying herself, as everyone else around the table
seemed to be doing. Her one highlight was Seth, looking fantastic in black cord
slacks and jacket. With Seth’s presence, she felt the full circle of her family
around her for the first time ever since her father had died. And if she was
going out with Nick in the accepted manner, she would have felt great.

           
Gerry refilled all the glasses and
Reeva
laughed. “This looks like another night at Serena’s.”

           
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I have to
work tomorrow.”

           
“You are such a downer, sometimes,
Serena,” her mother told her. “Just because you have to work doesn’t mean we
can’t stay the night.”

           
“I won’t be staying,” Seth
said,
a hint of amusement in his tone. “We have to rehearse
for our new gig.”

           
“And we definitely wouldn’t stay,”
Nick’s mother said. “We wouldn’t impose ourselves upon anyone.”

           
Serena smiled. “What about you,
Nick? What do you want to do?”

           
He gave her a tight-lipped stare.
“I’ll be working with you. We have to set up your mother’s interview. We have
two more weeks of
City Streets
. Therefore,
Reeva
, you will be
working as well.”

           
Seth glanced at his mother. “You’re
being interviewed for
Neon Nights
?”

           
“Yes, dear.
I’m quitting politics at the end of this term and we’re doing a piece on me.”

           
“You’re quitting?”

           
“Haven’t I told you?”

           
“You never tell me anything. Did
Serena know?”

           
“I only found out on Tuesday.”

           
Seth frowned. “It’s Sunday. Quite a
few days have passed between then and now.”

           
Serena saw that her brother looked annoyed.
This meal was supposed to be for him, to bring him back to his family. Instead,
it had been all mixed up with Nick and his family to stop some gossip about
her.

           
He drank some wine. “I’m always the
last person to learn anything in this family.”

           
“It wasn’t that important.”
Reeva
sounded irritated. “Besides, it’s a secret.”

           
“Then why are you telling everyone?”
Seth said. “Gad, Ma.”

           
He hadn’t used that expression for
years. Serena chuckled. “Stop it. This is supposed to be a lovely meal.”

           
“It is lovely,” Maria Fraser told
her. “Don’t worry. Your secret won’t go anywhere with us,
Reeva
.”

           
Serena let out a breath. “Okay.
Firstly.
Mother’s secret isn’t going anywhere until she
makes the announcement at the end of the program.
And
secondly.
Anyone is welcome to stay at my house if they feel they’ve had
too much to drink.”

           
She saw Nick grin. She’d laid down
the law.

           
They had ordered the Thanksgiving
meal, which was a traditional turkey dinner with added vegetables, salads and
garnishes. It was excellent. When Gerry brought out his credit card Stephen
tried to stop him paying the entire bill, but
Reeva
flapped Nick’s dad’s hand away from picking up the bill.

           
“This is our treat.”

           
And
darn your pride,
Serena thought.

           
She was pleased when they were able
to go out in the fresh air again. She offered coffee when she got home, and
everyone sat in her sunroom to drink it.

           
Seth was the first to leave in his
van. Serena walked him outside.

           
“That was great, Sis,” he said.

           
“Oh, really?”

           
“I should be used to mother. It’s
just that I spoke to her on the phone twice this past week and she never
mentioned anything about quitting.”

           
Serena touched his arm. “I know. We
don’t get together enough, that’s the problem. When she has more free time,
things might get better.”

           
“Don’t bank on it. It’s going well
with Nick, is it?”

           
“What do you mean?”

           
“Well, you two barely spoke to one
another today, and I thought all this, with his parents, was because you two
had hooked up.”

           
Serena told him about the weekend
and the gossip. “So Mother is trying to cover our tracks and at least make us
seem respectable.”

           
“For her own
good.”

           
“Maybe.
I
don’t know.”

           
Her brother leaned against his van.
“I’m not sure I’m getting the point of this. If you spent a weekend with Nick
in a hotel room, surely you’re serious enough to be going around with him now,
a week later.”

           
“I thought we should let the gossip
die down.”

           
Seth didn’t look convinced. “I think
you mean you should leave the fire before you get burnt?”

           
“Yes.
Oh, Seth.”

           
“You love him, don’t you?”

           
“Yes.” It was quite a relief to
admit that to someone. She wished it could be Nick.

           
Her brother put his arm around her
shoulders and squeezed. “Just take it easy. Play one day at a time. Don’t rush
yourself into the future. Enjoy the moment.”

           
“It’s not easy for me.”

           
“Obviously.”
He climbed into his van and rolled down the window. “Nick’s parents are an odd,
uptight couple, though.
Doesn’t figure.”

           
“He was a late-in-life baby. He
hasn’t had it easy with them.”

           
“I didn’t think so. So what’s he
doing with Ms. Hang-up-of-all-time?”

           
“Stop it, Seth. I think I’m becoming
quite well rounded in my old age.”

           
“I never denied you didn’t have a
nice
bod
.”

           
“Seth. You drive me crazy. Go home.”

           
He grinned and patted her fingers
where they gripped the edge of his window. “Come and see me at The Bear’s
Pause?”

           
“I will. Don’t forget to watch mom
on my show.”

           
“Right.”

           
She watched his van take off with a
puff of smoke from the exhaust pipe and returned to her house through the
sunroom door. If she felt good about anything, it was about her renewed
relationship with her brother.

•

           
Due to a number of breaking news
stories,
Reeva
: an Exposé
didn’t air
until much later. During the interview Nick kept to
Reeva’s
political career, and discovered that
Reeva
was
deeper than he had suspected. She had definite views on society that might not
be politically correct, but they caused comment. He realized that if he asked
the right questions
Reeva
wasn’t quite so in
control,
and that inconsistency gave the interview an edge
that would be in keeping with what had aired so far on
Neon Nights
.

           
Reeva
unclipped her mike. “You know, Nick. I don’t mind that I’m connected with Stu
Brown.”

           
He’d never heard his idol called Stu
Brown before, and it kind of gave him a sense of awareness that this beautiful,
sophisticated woman had once slept with the man, had borne his children,
had
been his wife. “But it’s not his story,” he said as the
floor crew began to deal with the mikes and they were forced to move away from
the set.

           
“That’s true. It might be a nice
tribute to do his story one day, though.”

           
“I’ve mentioned it to Serena, but
she’s not interested.”

           
Reeva
glanced to where her daughter was chatting with a couple of the technicians.
“Keep on mentioning it. She needs to dump that part of her life and move on.”

           
“I’m going to take that as
permission.”

           
“Definitely.
But give me my claim to fame first.”

           
Reeva
left
and he returned to his office, pleased to be alone for a moment to collect his
thoughts. Maybe a documentary on Stuart Redding Brown would one day be
feasible, but for some reason it didn’t seem quite such an urgent project as it
had once been.
Reeva
thought Serena needed to move on
and he needed to do the same thing.

           
Reeva
didn’t know it, but he’d moved on after spending Thanksgiving with his parents.
They had enjoyed themselves, and they kept asking how Serena and her family
were. Nick had even taken Serena up to the apartment once more, on their
insistence, even though they weren’t going out anymore. But they’d pretended
they were for the sake of parental peace.
Reeva
also
thought they were holding up that image, and Nick had found himself invited to
the same social occasions as Serena.

           
He rubbed his face with his hands.
But he was tired of pretending, even if they did manage to stay friendly and
work well together. It wasn’t enough. He wanted the real thing. He heard Serena
walk into the office suite, and with a sigh, he raked his fingers through his
hair.

           
His phone rang. He had it set up on
the speaker, so he left it there. His father’s voice came through loud and
clear.

           
“Nick. I am sorry to bother you.
It’s your father, Stephen Fraser. Your mother slipped on the back steps tonight
in the rain. I have her at the hospital, and I’m staying the night with her. I
think it might be a good thing if you phoned me here. I am worried about the
store and the apartment, which I left in a great hurry. Thank you. Here’s the
number.”

           
Nick wrote down the number. He was
aware of Serena hovering at his office door as he talked to the hospital
reception, who put him through to his father.

           
“Is mother okay, Dad?”

           
“She twisted her ankle very badly on
those darn steps. And she hit her head. Therefore they are holding her here in
case of a slight concussion.”

           
Nick held back all the outrage that
if they had listened to him in the first place they might not even have had
those steps to slip on any more.

           
“But I’m worried I didn’t lock the
apartment door, Nick.”

           
Nick cleared his throat to rid
himself of his frustration. But his voice still came across with an edge.
“That’s okay. I’ll come to the hospital and you can give me the key to the
apartment and I’ll check on it.”

           
“I would be obliged if you would do
that.”

           
He didn’t say, “I’m your son. It’s
one of my responsibilities.” He hung up the phone.

           
Serena said, “Do you want me to come
with you?”

           
He was already on his feet,
shrugging his shoulders into his black trench coat. “It’s up to you.” He really
meant, “Please do come.”