Moonlight in the Morning (18 page)

People stopped talking, and the silence spread; it was coming closer to her. The women in the kitchen came out to see why everyone was growing quiet.

From across the crowd, Jecca could see the top of Tristan’s head, so she knew when he halted. He was directly in front of her, but a lot of people were blocking her view of him. She could see that he was waiting for them to step back. The crowd of people began to slowly step aside. The ones closest to her looked at Jecca, then moved back toward the sides of the room. Only Nell stayed where she was in the big chair. She turned to look at Jecca and smiled, then she too looked back at her uncle.

When the last person had moved away, Jecca finally
saw
Tristan. If she didn’t know him as a person, she was sure she would have been staggered by the sheer beauty of him. He was wearing his tuxedo, his arm no longer in a cast, and he was as handsome as any man she’d ever seen. Whether it was on a screen, in a photo, or in person, no man she’d ever seen was better looking than he was. His black hair, his blue eyes, his broad shoulders, all of it was perfection.

But what Jecca actually saw was more than his physical beauty. She saw the man inside. Their meetings in the moonless night, their touches, their laughter, all came to mind. Their involvement in each other’s lives was between them. His niece, her father, his cousins, her friends, all of it was there.

Dr. Tristan Aldredge was indeed a beautiful package, but what meant more to her was the man he was. She admired the man who leaned out of a helicopter to catch a child on a rope. She’d come to care about the man who gave his time to help people in need, loved his family, and watched movies with two single ladies.

And too, the fact that he’d returned a day early pleased her greatly. That he’d shown up wearing a tuxedo to this informal event was like proclaiming that he and Jecca were a couple. No more secretiveness. No more meeting only in the dark.

Jecca couldn’t help thinking that with their similarity in dress, Tristan was telling everyone that he and Jecca belonged together. She knew it was a primitive emotion, but to go from feeling like an outsider to belonging was exhilarating.

The room full of people was silent as Tristan walked toward Jecca. When he got to her, he didn’t say a word, just put out his hand and she took it. How familiar it felt!

Someone put on music, a slow waltz, and Tristan pulled Jecca into his arms. Since she’d snuggled with him on a rainy night and as they sat beside a lake under a starry sky, she knew she’d fit against him perfectly, easily, fluidly. When he moved with her in a slow dance, she went with him.

All of it was like a dream. His arms around her, the ease of his movements, the way his eyes never left hers, was like something she’d made up. She followed him easily, moving about the cleared floor space to the music. The people around them blurred. She saw only Tristan, heard only the music, felt only his body.

They danced as though they’d been doing it all their lives. Maybe it was because she’d come to trust him, but she relaxed totally and let him lead. When he stepped away, but still held her hand, she knewhanth their s she was to turn and come back to him. It was as though their minds as well as their bodies were working together.

At one point Tristan put his arm out and Jecca leaned against him. He stepped back, still holding her, and she let herself fall backward, trusting him to support her waist. Vaguely, she was aware of the gasp of the people around them. It must have looked as though she was going to fall, but she knew Tristan would hold her.

When the music drew to a close, he pulled her to him, chest against chest, one arm behind her back.

For a moment their eyes held. The intensity of the deep blue of his eyes, his gaze that was a fathomless pool of desire, made her body seem to catch fire.

He gave her a small smile of understanding, and Jecca smiled back. What they were feeling was mutual.

With his hand on hers, he spun her out, then pulled her back. And when she reached his arms, he caught her in a dip so low her hair nearly touched the floor.

In the next moment the music stopped, and he lifted her to stand beside him, his arm firmly around her waist.

Jecca’s heart was pounding, partly from the dance, but mostly from the desire she’d felt coming from him. No man had ever before looked at her like that, as though she were what he wanted most in the world, what he needed, what only she could give him.

She didn’t dare look at him for fear she’d start tearing off his clothes.

As they stood there, side by side, for a moment the people around them didn’t move. They just stared, as if they didn’t believe what they’d just seen.

Finally, there was a collective sigh of female voices in the room.

“Why can’t you dance with
me
like that?” a woman said to her husband and broke the silence. People started laughing and talking, with everyone gathering around Tristan and Jecca. They would have been pulled apart except that he kept his arm so firmly around her waist that he wouldn’t let anyone separate them.

Reede made his way through the crowd. “You stole my spotlight,” he said to Tris. “And my girl.”

Tris pulled Jecca even closer. “You never had a chance.”

Reede looked at Jecca. “Tell him that isn’t so. You and I go back a long way. With our history, we—”

He broke off because Nell had put herself between Reede and Tristan.

“Who are you?” Nell asked.

Reede smiled fondly at the pretty child. “You don’t remember me, but I’m another one of your cousins.” He reached out as though he meant to ruffle her hair.

Nell Sandlin was
not
the type of child who allowed a stranger to ruffle her hair. She gave Reede a very adult look that told him to back off, then she turned and slipped her hand into Jecca’s.

Jecca held on tightly to Nell’s hand, Tristan’s arm firmly around her waist, and the three of them looked at the people around them. When the questions started, it was a bombardment. Where had they met? How long aet?="0em" wigo? How serious were they?

Tris gave a tug on Jecca that seemed to say “Let’s go.” In turn, Jecca squeezed on Nell’s hand, and a second later the three of them began making their way through the crowd to the front door. Several people tried to stop them, but they never let go of one another.

Once they were outside, Tris said, “To the car!” They broke apart and started running.

Since Jecca didn’t know where he’d parked, she followed Nell and Tris as best she could. “Hey! I’m in heels,” she called when they got ahead of her.

Tris ran back, grabbed her hand, and kept running. Nell was at his BMW and had the front passenger door open. He helped Jecca inside, Nell closed the door, then she climbed into the back to sit among a menagerie of stuffed animals and some truly beautiful dolls.

As Tristan slipped into the driver’s seat, Jecca looked back at Nell, and they grinned at each other. They had escaped! Tris, so beautiful in his tuxedo, started the engine.

Jecca was almost afraid to look at him for fear she’d throw herself on him. It was as though her body was vibrating. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat. If Nell weren’t with them, she was sure she’d be dragging him into the backseat.

“Anybody hungry?” he asked, and she marveled at how cool his tone was.

“I want to go to Al’s for milk shakes,” Nell said.

Tris looked at Jecca and any doubts of what he was feeling left her. His eyes showed her the white-hot passion that was running through him. She knew that their time together was coming, but for now . . . well, this was foreplay.

Smiling at her understanding, he glanced at Nell, then said, “How does a 1950s diner sound? The hamburgers are smothered in greasy onions and the pickles are spicy.”

“I think we’re dressed perfectly for it,” Jecca said, looking at her couture dress, his tux, and Nell’s pretty sundress. She was smiling, remembering the dance and thinking of what was to come.

“Then Al’s it is.” He put his hand on the gearshift, but removed it. “Nell, close your eyes.”

“Oh yuck! Not
kissing
!”

“Yes, kissing,” Tristan said as he looked at Jecca.

It wasn’t going to be easy to subdue the desire she was feeling, but she so very much wanted to kiss him. She leaned toward him and her lips met his easily. It was a kiss of pure happiness, glad to be together, to at last see each other, to have told the world they were together. But more importantly, it was a kiss of promise of what was to come.

But in spite of her good intentions, the kiss deepened. Jecca’s hands tightened on the back of Tristan’s head, and his arms began to enclose her more fully. He was the one who had the presence of mind to pull away.

“Yeah,” he said as he put his hand back on the shift lever. “Later.”

“Can I open my eyes now?” Nell asked.

" wanc“As if you weren’t peeking,” Tris said, and Nell giggled.

It took Jecca a moment to still her heart. “Your arm?” she asked as he pulled onto the road.

“I got them to remove the cast while I was in Miami. I wanted to put both my arms around you.”

“I’m still here,” Nell said.

“I meant you too,” Tris said. “A plural you.”

“But if your arm has healed, you won’t need Reede to take over your practice, will you? You can go right back to work.”

Tristan gave her a half smile. “It’s still weak, and I think I need some time for rehabilitation. What do you think?”

“Definitely,” Jecca said. “Lots of time.” She wanted to add “maybe the whole summer” but didn’t. She turned to look at Nell. “How’s your father?”

“He hurts but he’s okay.”

Jecca looked at Tris for verification and he nodded.

“Did you paint my playhouse?” Nell asked.

“On paper. I drew several color possibilities, and Lucy and I got fabric samples.”

“Fabric?” Tris asked. “Why do you need that and what have you ladies not told me?”

Nell giggled again.

“We have our secrets,” Jecca said. “But I can tell you that we’re going to make up for lost time in restoring the playhouse. I haven’t heard from Bill Welsch.”

“Addy called him and he does want to work on the building, but he has a big job to finish first. It will be weeks before he can get to it.”

“Mom said he wants to see Miss Livie,” Nell said.

“How interesting.” Jecca looked at Tristan, but he shrugged. He still knew nothing.

He was pulling into the parking lot of Al’s Diner.

Big Al, who was as greasy as his hamburgers and had a truly remarkable belly, didn’t blink an eye when three formally dressed people walked into his diner. He yelled from behind the half counter that opened into the kitchen. “Doc! You want the usual?”

“Sure,” Tris said.

“And you, princess?” he asked Nell. “Grilled cheese and a chocolate milk shake?”

“And—” Tris began.

“Yeah, yeah, pickles for the two of you.” He looked at Jecca. “And you, city lady?”

“City?” Jecca said in an exaggerated accent. “I grew up in New Joisey. Give me what you got and don’t hold back.”

Al gave a snort, a sound that by a serious stretch of the imagination could be taken for a laugh.

“You got it, Jersey ot , aLil.” He disappeared into the kitchen.

“Al gave you a nickname,” Tris said. “You are now officially a member of Edilean society.” He motioned for Jecca to sit beside him, but she didn’t trust herself to be that close to him. She slipped in beside Nell, who was already flipping through the music charts.

“Coward,” Tristan said under his breath.

Jecca pretended not to hear him. “What’s with the pickles?” she asked.

“All the Tristans like them,” Nell said without looking up.

“Tristans?” Jecca asked, looking at him across the table. No man had ever before looked so handsome in a tuxedo. The garment could have been created just for Tris. And he looked utterly comfortable in it, wearing it with the ease of jeans and a T-shirt.

It took concentration to remember where they were and what she was saying. “Are there more than one of you?”

“The name goes back a few generations,” he said as he reached across the table and took her hand. “There’s been a succession of us.”

“And they all like pickles.” Nell held out her hand to her uncle for money to put in the jukebox. Reluctantly, he let go of Jecca’s hand to feel in his trouser pockets. They were empty, so he looked inside his jacket. He came up with change, but he also pulled out Jecca’s note with the hearts on it.

He gave the money to Nell, then looked at Jecca with blue fire in his eyes.

She had to look away as her skin grew warm.

“Miss Livie called Uncle Tris in Miami and told him what you were going to wear,” Nell said. “So he drove us very fast to the airport. We came home with no suitcases.”

Jecca looked at Tris, her eyes questioning.

“I couldn’t let you go to Reede wearing one of Miss Livie’s dresses, now could I?”

Jecca couldn’t help being pleased. She imagined him and Nell running through the big Miami airport, sans luggage, and getting on the first plane where they could find seats. She’d never before had a man make such an effort to be near her.

Elvis came on the jukebox singing “Hound Dog,” and Nell scooted toward Jecca. She wanted out of the booth.

Jecca got up to let her out, thinking she was going to the restroom. Tris leaned back against the wall and motioned for Jecca to join him on that side of the booth. She couldn’t resist him a second time. And she told herself that she’d had enough time to calm down from the dance, so maybe she could sit by him.

But he put out his arm and turned in the seat. It was easy for her to slide into the familiar position of snuggling together, and she sneaked a kiss on the back of his hand.

He had time to put one kiss on her neck before he looked up.

Nell had stopped in front of the old jukebox, and Al, with his enormous belly and grease-spattered apron, came out from the kitchen. He and Nell did an excellent rock-and-roll dance to Elvis’s song. Al hels scame out d her hand as they gyrated around, then he lifted Nell above his head, always being careful that his grease didn’t touch her.