Scandal (23 page)

Dan doused his fish and chips liberally with vinegar. "I learned to eat it this way in
England," he said. "Now it's not authentic without the bite of malt vinegar. I like to salt it first, then
the vinegar, then the lemon over all."

With my permission, he splashed vinegar on my food. I liked the zest.

"I think it's a law that if you're going to eat authentic English fish and chips you must have
hot tea."

"But the English do it with milk. Not for me. Milk is for babies, and that we certainly ain't."
He pointed his vinegary fry at me.

I snapped it from his hands, ate it.

I barely had time to clean up dinner before we jumped into bed and continued our
education. Dan got up once to feed the fire. When he came back to bed his bare legs brushed mine,
once again inflaming my need. I had never felt like this before. Pure lust that at one moment had me
gasping, the next wanting to dominate him, and then to submit. We went from deep sleep to hyper
awake, and passion spent, back to deep sleep.

In the morning I was awakened by knocking. I fumbled into my robe and went to the
door.

Sam stood there with two cups of hot coffee on a tray. "When you're awake, come on up
and have breakfast. We have news for you." He left.

Ah, well, we could use the break. I took the tray to Dan, and we watched the ocean while we
drank. Seagulls flew against the wind. The rain had become a light mist. The fire in the woodstove
had gone out, and the coolness of the room finally energized us to scramble out of bed.

We showered separately, as the stall was too small for two. I gloried in the luxury of the hot
water, knowing that in 1918 Aunt Sophie had no such indoor benefit, just a roughed-in, outdoor
affair that her brothers had rigged up.

Dressed and out, we struggled through the wind the short way to the beach, "To work up
an appetite," we told each other, as we hiked all the way to the Rock. I stared at it while I held my
scarf tight to my ears.

We didn't stay long before going back to the cabin, and then up to the Old Place where Sam
had lived nearly the whole of his life.

"Sorry," Dan said to Sam, as he opened the door. "We forgot the cups."

Sam hurried us into the door, out of the damp wind. "Well, well. You must be Dan. I've
heard of you. Put your coat here." He pointed to the pegs by the door that were put there by his
father, David Smithers.

I hurried to introduce them, "Dan, meet my cousin Sam, Sam, my, um, friend, Dan
Dee."

Sam tilted his head at Dan's name, as if maybe he'd not heard right, but only said, "Glad to
meetcha, and don't worry about the cups." He turned back to me after shaking hands with Dan. "I
see from the booking that you are leaving today. Short trip, huh?"

"We wanted to take a walk on the beach, and I wanted you all to meet."

Sam led us to the dining room where Dave and Connor were already at the table, Teri was
by the stove in the kitchen. Connor leaped up to say hello to me and to look sharply at Dan. "So, you
must be the new guy, huh?"

"Connor!" Teri said.

"What?" he asked, all innocence.

"That would be me," Dan said, as serious as could be, "Where do I sit?"

Dave laughed and the short spot of tension dissolved as Dan laughed, too. "I'm Dan Dee.
Who would you be, the old guy?"

Connor pulled back, and blushed.

Teri had come from the kitchen to meet Dan, now she laughed. "Oh, good one."

Connor sulked for a minute while I introduced Dan to Dave and Teri. When I kissed him on
the top of his head, he ducked away.

"This one is my precocious cousin, third cousin I believe. He has an interest in bugs, is
raising cockroaches. A special kind of roach."

The kid came out of his short funk, "Hissing Cockroaches, Annie. But that's a was, I don't
have time for that now." He pushed out his chest, "I'm a football player now, made a touchdown last
night. Gonna have to be working at that now, eating right, learning plays, like that."

"You're a quarterback?" Dan said.

Teri set a plate of pancakes on the table, "No, thank God, he's not even in the running for
quarterback."

"I'm an inside linebacker," Connor said.

Dave was smiling, proud.

"But he did make a good play last night," Teri continued. "Pulled out the winning play, a
touchdown in the last minute, breaking a tie that had threatened to keep us later, shivering in the
stadium. I have to admit, it was a thrill. I still don't like it though."

"Aw, Mom. I'm all right." He grinned at her, a teenage boy knowing he had his mother's
heart, and of course having no understanding of her fear. I felt the same way she did.

"I agree with your mom, it's a dangerous sport, too much chance to damage that precious
brain of yours, heaven knows you don't have much to play with."

I'd no sooner gotten the words out of my mouth than Dan said, "Good show! Maybe we can
come down and catch a game sometime. I played in high school and college, too."

I guess I glared at him, 'cause he amended, "But they're right, it can be hard on your
body."

Connor's jealousy disappeared in a flash, as he served himself, barely paying attention to
what he was doing. Clearly, to him Dan had potential. "What did you play? Who with?" Between
bites he added, "You look all right. Must be pretty smart to get Cousin Annie to hang around with
you."

"High school. OSU. Inside linebacker, mostly. Like you," Dan said in answer to Connor's
question. "I don't know about how smart I am, but I was lucky in football. Either way, life seems to
be like that, you just gotta take your chances." Here he smiled at me. "Like asking out the pretty
ones, even if you don't think you have a chance. Sometimes you get smacked down, sometimes you
make a touchdown."

Connor blushed again, which Dan ignored. "Seems I'm making a winning play. You never
know, but hey! You gotta try, right?"

Dave and Connor moved over into his camp, then and there.

Teri sat down at the table. "Men!" she said, with a shake of her head.

I was nodding in agreement when Sam said, "Speaking of women," which made us listen.
"Have you talked to Magda lately?"

"Not for a couple of days, why?" I didn't tell him I'd spent most of the last few days either
buying a bed or being in one, not talking to anybody but Dan.

"I'm looking for a ride to Magda's."

"We could take you today, but we're going to be on our way in just a couple hours."

"I need more time than that. See, I've got to gather some things together, more than I'd take
for a weekend." He had a funny smile on his face.

"Sam! What are you telling me? What are you doing?"

"See, that's what I'm trying to tell you. Magda and I wanted to tell you together. She's called
you a couple times this week to set up a meeting but, the only person answering your phone is the
machine. Now, I know why." This he said smugly as he grinned at the both of us.

"Tell me what? She must have called while I was out and I never noticed the light." I felt like
I'd been caught out. How embarrassing in front of Connor, and everybody.

"I'm moving in with Magda. And she's moving in with me. We're taking over one of Sophie's
Cabins and making it ours for when we live here. Half the time we'll live here, and half the time we'll
live in Willamina."

"What great news! When does this start?"

"Already. Done. I'm here getting our place nailed down for winter, chimney needs cleaned,
for one thing. Getting a guy in today to do them all so it's good you're leaving."

"Which one?" I said.

"Which one, what? Oh, which cabin for us? The one Mom and her brothers lived in. Not
much of the old left but the basic construction. We modernized it years ago. Added on a section. It's
the biggest cabin, and my favorite." He stood up, and took his plate to the kitchen. "You should stop
by and see Magda on your way home."

"As a matter of fact, that's just what we're doing," Dan said.

"Yes," I said. "I'm done with the quilt and I'll leave it with Magda for the show. And I want
to introduce Dan to her. I'm calling ahead this morning, so your news wouldn't have been a secret
much longer."

"Lord, girl, it's not been a secret. You've just been on another planet, or something." He
broke off as he saw Connor closely following our exchange. "Anyway. Come by the cabin on your
way out, I'll show you what I've done. And you can tell Magda that everything is just about ready.
I've had some legal things to do, too."

I was flabbergasted. "You two getting married?"

"No. Doing a thing called Domestic Partnership. Formalizing what's hers, what's mine, and
what will be ours. Make everything clear."

He looked at Dave and Teri. "Time to get some things legalized. I'm giving up my legal part
in this place, turning it over to the kids here. It would've gone to them anyway. This just gets it
done, sooner. We'll take over that one cabin and the kids will still rent out the others. We'll get a
percentage. Magda and I have enough, and everybody will know what's theirs. Legally."

"So, when are ya leaving today? Want me to call Maggie?"

"All right. Let me know when we come by your cabin if she can't see us today. I can always
come back by tomorrow. We've still got time before the show."

On the way out we stopped by Sam's and Magda's new place. Dave and Connor were there,
helping Sam tighten up the place for winter. Sam led us into his new place. In the front room I saw,
sitting on the coffee table, Roger's ship model that Sam had taken home with him to finish. It felt so
right that it was here; a tiny, unacknowledged piece of anxiety within me, dissolved. "Perfect," I said
to Sam.

"I thought so," he said. "Come on through, here." We followed him to where they'd opened
up an unfinished third bedroom. It had a large window and they had added shelves that Magda
needed. "Magda likes light. This'll be her sewing room."

I could tell Sam was proud of their work.

"We added this room on several years ago. Magda's gonna love the view here." He waved
his hand to indicate the ocean and the Rock in the distance. "She's gonna make new curtains for our
place, and she'll be making quilts for all the cabin beds. Ought to keep her busy for a while."

Connor was hanging over the roof edge when we were on our way out. "Here to check out
the old folks love nest?"

Sam called up to Dave. "Could you whack that sassy kid of yours, talking
disrespectful?"

Dave stuck his head around the corner of the chimney. "I don't know. I was thinking of
making a new sign for your cabin, hanging it by the door, The Love Nest."

"You're lucky I don't feel like coming up there and giving you both what for." To us he
added, loud enough for them to hear, "You just can't get good help anymore. It's hard what an old
man has to put up with."

"Hey," yelled Connor, "You best be respectful of the help. I'm standing over your bedroom
and with just a few shuffles of my feet you could be waking up in a puddle some morning. See who
has the last laugh."

While Dan and I laughed at their banter, he reached in his pocket and brought out some
cash, that he tried to hand to Sam.

"You're with our sweetie here, you don't ever pay."

"Hmm, I just hit the jackpot. I thought all I'd got was the prettiest gal in Oregon, but I can
freeload at the beach, too."

"Oh, don't worry, we'll be putting you to work. You know the old saying, 'No such thing as a
free lunch.' Annie and you are welcome anytime. Just let Teri know ahead of time."

He walked us out to our car. "What you can do is stop by the material store here in town
and pick up some quiltin' doodad for Magda, tell her it's from me, that I earned it from my riches as
a beach bum. Or whatever. She's waiting for ya so you best be going."

I hugged him, kissed his cheek. "You old fool. I can't tell you how happy I am for you. And
Magda."

There was a chilly rain coming down when we arrived at her place. She had the front door
open before we were halfway through the rose arbor. "Get in here, it's cold out there. Isn't it nice
how you don't get thorned now?" She ushered us into the house. "You must be Dan. Just put the bag
there, on the table. I'll be looking at it soon enough. I've got some tea and just-made banana bread,
ready in the sun room."

I handed her the packet of buttons I'd bought at the fabric store. "Here, from Sam," I
said.

She nodded and set them on a shelf, "He's so thoughtful." And clever, I thought,
remembering the effort I'd taken to fill his request. She waved to Dan to follow her.

I took Dan's jacket with mine and hung them from the coat rack while Magda took him
through to the sun room. When I came in she'd already set him down at the small table with tea and
a plate with four slices of the bread.

Dan got up from the table to pull out my chair. I sat, feeling the sense of comfort as a
constant here. Easy to see why Sam was so ready to start sharing it with her. Beyond the windows
the world was a rainy mess, as my mother used to say. It only enhanced the close comfort of the
room.

I took a drink of the hot tea, before biting into the bread, "Sampson told us about you two.
How exciting!"

She cradled her cup in her hands, smiling widely. "He did, huh? Yup, pretty big thing.
Changing my whole life. His too. Are you surprised?"

"Not at you two, but, yes, this is big. Are you ready to share your life again, so soon? What
do the quilt club ladies say? Well, heck, how do you feel about making so many changes all at
once?"

Dan gave Magda a questioning look as he reached for another piece of bread. She pushed
the plate closer to him, "Take as much as you want. I've been on a spree the last couple of days.
Making bread, muffins. I can't eat it all."

To me she said, "Getting ready for Sammy, I guess. Been a long time since I had anybody
'sides myself to care for. Feels good. I want to bake and spruce up things, wash the curtains, hang
the rugs over the fence and beat the old dust out of them." She looked at the rain beyond the
window. "Like Spring cleaning, but here we are, moving into winter almost. So to answer your
question, yes, I'm happy. Excited. Some scared. When he asked me if we could share our lives I
wasn't too surprised. We'd started doing that soon after he come up here with you. But to make it
real, not just play-acting. Feels right."