Rose for Rose: Book Two in the Angels' Mirror Series (11 page)

Twelve

Vancouver, Washington… August 14, 2013

Paloma heard the phone ringing in the other room, and she jumped. She carefully set aside the drawing she was working on, smoothed out her red taffeta skirt, and went to answer it.

My cell must still be off from last night,
she thought to herself as she reached for the receiver.

“Hello. You’ve reached Amethyst & Alabaster, where modesty meets sexy for the plus sized woman. This is Paloma speaking. How may I help you today?”

She curled the cord around her finger as she spoke. The sun streaming through the window glinted in her eyes, so she turned to face the door.

“Paloma? It’s Eugenie… great pitch, but um….,” she stopped a moment to laugh; a tinkling sound in Paloma’s ear. “When you get off work are you able to come over for a little while? Edward asked me to give you a call after I spoke with him just now. He and Jason are about to head into a meeting to give another oral analysis to their client… something related to that Plantagenet historical study they’ve been working so hard on.”

Her friend’s voice sounded upbeat, but a little strained. “I tell you, from what the guys have said, this guy seems to be looking for something really specific… but what, he won’t say. But anyway, will you come over?”

“As long as you don’t mind the kids coming along… and Me’chelle doesn’t go into labor before then, absolutely. Sure thing.”

She was more than glad for the invite. It’d be good to get out of the house, but also to finally meet Rose.

Her brother and Me’chelle had gone to dinner over there, Charlie in tow, and her sister-in-law – whom she would rather call sister-in-love for they were so close – said that Rose had been very good with the baby. Apparently, Rose had taken care of her younger siblings at times.

That matched up with what Peter had said to Daniella, and now also to Max. She smiled, and continued. “I look forward to it. What time?”

“Seven thirty?”

“Perfect. That’ll give us all time for a little nap before coming over, as long as Cherish settles down enough. She’s still not sleeping through the whole night, but it’s much better than it was.” She uncoiled her fingers from the cord, coiled them again.

“We’ll see you then, then,” her friend said before hanging up.

Now distracted, Paloma went to check on the kids in the living room, where Tawny’s daughter Kate was babysitting for the day. She found Kate and the boys engaged in a building project.

Blocks were scattered, but contained. And the baby, thankfully, was sleeping.

She felt a rush of thankfulness pulse through her, and she smiled.

At least she’ll have had a nap, even if the rest of us don’t,
she thought, walking over and sitting with them.

“Did they already have a snack,” she asked, wanting to do something with them before going back to her design boards. The sewing staff had already left an hour prior, taking their conversation with them.

She didn’t want to admit it, but she was bored.

She wanted to just take the whole day to play with her children, maybe go to the beach. Of course, she’d bring Edward along… possibly stay for a few days, getting away from it all.

Paloma could almost picture it: the waves lapping at their feet, the breeze riffing their hair, the children’s laughter…

Now, wouldn’t that be nice
, she thought
. Just the five of us… maybe a few days at Lincoln City, or at Astoria. Such a peaceful thought…

On top of that, it was about time she kept that promise to herself to talk with Mariana about taking over most of the business side of things. She was almost sure the woman would agree.

Maybe I’ll suggest the beach trip after we meet with Mark, Eugenie, and Rose,
she thought to herself.
Or maybe I’ll wait until things calm down… much better idea, even if it means hanging out here longer without the break.

“Yep. Sure did,” Kate said, cutting into Paloma’s reverie.

The girl’s hair flopped over, her heavy dooky braid almost hitting Chosen in the face. He stopped what he was doing long enough to glare at her, knocked over his tower, and then they began dividing his blocks into colors again.

A process Paloma was all too familiar with.

A chuckle tried to bubble up in her chest, and she had a difficult time containing her laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“Your hair… it almost hit Chosen, and then, you know, him going into his routine, but… your hair…. That isn’t funny; just the way it flopped over all of a sudden, like an avalanche… it reminded me of a time your Mama’s hair
did
hit me… three times in a day. The last time, I thought she was going to give me a black eye, it hit so hard.”

She kept laughing, her tension releasing. And she realized she hadn’t laughed so hard since she’d had Cherish.

“Really, Auntie?”

Curiosity on her face, Kate began to laugh, moved away from the boys, and came to sit next to Paloma. Then she reached for her hand, quickly squeezing it. But she didn’t let go. She kept it there, comfortably warm.

“Oh, yeah. We were in a class at the time, and she had three dookies just like that one… and bonk!” Paloma tilted her head in demonstration, then continued. “Your Mama fell asleep and when her head went sideways, it slapped me right in the face. It was one of the funniest things, even if it was a bit embarrassing for both of us.”

Kate started laughing, and then the boys. They likely didn’t understand what the joke was, but they were always up for a good laugh. Thankfully, they also had their quiet moments.

“My Mama…,” Kate said, “My Mama kept falling asleep in class? And she wore dookies?” The girl was laughing hysterically, and it seemed she would run out of breath soon.

It’s good to hear her laugh, and good to giggle with her,
Paloma thought.
Laughter is a good medicine…
not to mention a good boredom breaker. And even if it isn’t quite the beach, it is a relaxer I can deal with.

Finally, Paloma joined in on the laughter, and when she glanced at the boys, their eyebrows were raised into question marks that reminded her of her own.

The poor dears must be baffled!

“What a day,” Edward announced as he plopped down onto the couch and picked up one of the half-dozen pillows that usually decorated it.

His eyes were droopy and his movements slow.

Paloma watched him a moment before approaching. Thankful the kids were all asleep, she’d hoped they’d have the opportunity to talk about some of the changes happening in their lives in a more intent way. Then again, she knew it was the final day of working on the Plantagenet history case with Jason and Malik… or at least this section of it.

Who knew how many more wild chasings for information the client would extend to them after this one?

“So what happened,” she asked, settling in beside him and offering him a muffin from her earlier baking session.

He turned toward her and accepted the offering, taking a few bites before replying. “So, we go to have our meeting, right? And the guy looks over the latest research and just… flips. He kept saying there was something we were hiding; we were missing something. As if we purposely didn’t catch something he was trying to prove,” he began.

Petunia Grace jumped up on Paloma’s lap and walked across her to get to Edward, curled up, and started purring.

“So what did you guys do? Was it resolved, or-”

“No; that’s just it. He said he wants us to go over all of it again, piece by piece; all the documents we’d cited, he wanted combed through again. Everything we thought we knew, he wanted thrown out the window. Something about shifting paradigms as a necessity for finding the truth of the lives of the Plantagenet dynasty… it’s utter nonsense. I think he really just isn’t in the mood to hand over that final check for this section,” Edward said in a rush. “This guy’s just been…”

After a pause to have a couple more bites of his muffin, he continued.

“I guess I’m just irritated. I’m used to exacting standards, but this is ridiculous. We’ve done seven other cases, and this one’s still open. It’s the first one I started with when I began working for your brother, and I just wish… I wish the guy would just accept that we’ve found all we can find. This is the fifth time we were supposed to close the account on this one. The report’s been done so many times I see it in my sleep.”

Paloma thought about it for a few moments before responding. Why would their client be so… particular about this? She had no idea, but then, she didn’t know who they were, either.

“So it sounds like it’s become personal for this guy; I thought that it started out as something for a local college or something. Was I mistaken?”

“That’s just it; he was a department chair at one of the larger schools around here, and now, he’s not… he’s just teaching. But as the time passes, he seems to be more and more obsessed with finding one particular answer, and I don’t get it.”

Petunia rolled over and rrrowled for a belly rub, kicking her feet in the air as she swirled around. The interruption brought chuckles from them both. They obliged her, in turn, and for a few moments, the stress dissipated.

Paloma sighed in relief at the reprieve as she thought of what to say next.

“Well, has he at least hinted at what it is in particular he’s searching for,” Paloma finally asked once the cat left to go in the other room. Wasn’t Edward doing the same basic thing to himself in search of the angel mirror’s history?

“Not much; he-”

“Papa… Papa, wewe awe you?”

Paloma started at the sound of her son’s voice.

“We’re in here, Duncan,” she replied. “Daddy and I are in the living room, Buddy…”

Little feet padded into the room, and within moments, Duncan and Chosen were standing there, tattered teddy bears in hand, with the matching Cookie Monster pajamas she’d made them all wrinkly from sleeping.

“What’s up, guys,” Edward asked, standing and moving toward the pair. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No, we thirtsty… and... and Mama too much,” Chosen said, wagging his finger at her. Duncan tskked at her before Edward could even reply, his little finger waving in the air like he’d probably seen Tawny do a hundred times.

“Well, why don’t you sit here with Mama and I’ll bring you both some water, okay? And then tomorrow we can talk about how to make sure Mama doesn’t do too much anymore,” Edward said as he hugged the twins in turn and headed for the kitchen, whistling a familiar tune Paloma couldn’t quite place.

With shy smiles, the boys crawled up onto the couch and sat, one on either side of her. Duncan tskked her again, and Chosen chuckled. “Silly Mama
too
much,” he finally said after he got his giggles out.

Edward returned with a couple small glasses of water, and Paloma knew they’d be having a chat even before bed, now that she’d been outed. Petunia took the opportunity to jump back onto the sofa, and accidentally knocked the cup from Chosen’s small, pudgy hand. The water ended up spilling all over his teddy bear, and into Paloma’s lap, soaking quickly into the deep tangerine of her dress.

“Tetuna, no, no!”

Paloma watched as Duncan swatted the cat away, and Chosen began to cry. Soon, she could hear Cherish wailing in the nursery, and Edward went to retrieve her. She covered her face in her hands for a moment, wishing for a few minutes of quiet.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten a full night’s rest. Her kids were worth it, but it could be frustrating.

As she heard Edward enter the room again, she straightened up.

“There, there, Baby Girl… it’s alright,” he said as he rocked the baby against his broad shoulder.

The twins set their bears down and went in hunt of the cat before Paloma could say anything, and for the second time in her adult life, she wondered how she’d get through the night.

She’d made it through the first night after Edward’s heart surgery, but life was turning out much more stressful than she’d counted on. Five years ago, she couldn’t have imagined the life she now lived would have been possible.

With a deep sigh, she rounded up the boys one at a time and while Edward calmed the baby and the cat, she read Duncan and Chosen their fourth bedtime story of the night. When things finally calmed down enough and the boys had fallen back asleep, she swept into the restroom to prepare for bed and met Edward in their room.

Their devotions cut shorter than normal, and their prayers said, without much ado, they said goodnight and as Paloma lay down to sleep, she silently prayed once more.

She prayed for peace and grace, and most of all, she prayed for wisdom.