Tell Me What Is Priceless (Siren Publishing Classic) (24 page)

“Yeah, just a tad. The fire will help. Feed me, woman. I’m starved.”

She headed back into the kitchen, worry ticking at her mind. He had used a shot a few nights before, and he shouldn’t be in pain. Zar walked up behind her and pulled her back into his arms. “You are stirring the peas to mush. I’m fine, Blaze. It was just carrying the wood inside. Stop worrying.”

“I am worried. How many shots do you have left?”

“Two.”

“Then what?”

“Then I hope the idiots I’m paying to test the drug have gotten somewhere. I’ll call them in a couple of days and see if they made any breakthroughs. In the meantime, I have a shot to get through Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. After that we will deal with it. By May, it will be warm again. We can stand hand-in-hand for the wedding. Maybe you will have to push me around for a little while in the wheelchair. It will pass.”

She ran her hand down his cheek and smiled. “I worry about you. That is my job. I love you, Zar.”

“I know that, and I love you, too. Now feed me.”

They made arrangements for Thanksgiving as they sat in front of the fire. The next day, Blaze called Kale and Jenny to invite them. She hung up and glared at the phone, knowing that she needed to invite her mother and aunt. Her aunt was fine, but her mother was another matter. She had only been around a few times since their blowout in the hospital, and Blaze didn’t really want to spend an evening with her. She picked up the phone and invited her anyway.

The weather turned from bad to worse, the temperature plummeting. The night before Thanksgiving, Zar was in agony. He lowered himself into her chair in the computer room and turned the heat on full blast. Blaze brought him a cup of coffee. He pulled her down to his lips and smiled. “Get me the shot. I can’t do without it anymore. I’m sorry, but it means I won’t be much help with dinner.”

“It’s okay. I’ve been making it alone for years. You can help for Christmas. While you are sitting here, read
Star
and tell me what you think.”

Zar took the draft off the floor and began to read. When Blaze checked on him later, he was sound asleep. She turned the heat down in the chair and put a blanket over him. It was a long while before she finally drifted into sleep herself.

The next morning, he was immensely better. He helped her a little with dinner and set the table for her. The meal was enjoyable if not slightly tense. Jenny was terse with Kale, and he was crabby in return. She didn’t like him being gone so often with Zar on business trips, and she made no bones about it. Kale turned to Zar as Blaze served dessert. “Tell her that I’m not out fucking anyone. I’m with you, learning how to handle your business. Tell her!”

“Jenny, he is not with other women,” said Zar. “We do presentations or check on job sites. They are long, hard days, and we go back to the hotel room and go to sleep. Kale has not been with anyone else. If he is going to help me when my hip gets too bad, I need him to know what he is doing.”

“Oh, goodie,” Jenny snapped. “So then he’ll going off alone. You are going to trust him to make decisions about your business? He can’t even remember where he put his shoes half the time.”

Kale glared at her. “I would know where my shoes were if you didn’t keep choosing a new place to put them. You are forever rearranging things. Jenny here is a compulsive neat freak. Our baby never gets a chance to get dirty because Jenny cleans her so often. Forbid the child should get a speck of dirt on her.”

“Well, Kale, if you had your way, she would look like a piglet. It’s not like you ever wash her.”

“That is not fair, Jenny. I help with Clair all the time. Don’t insinuate that I don’t do anything for her.”

Zar tapped on his glass with his knife. “Hello. We are in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner here. Knock it off.”

“I will knock it off,” said Jenny. “I’m going home. Are you coming with me or not, Kale?”

“I don’t suppose I’ll ever hear the end of it if I don’t. I’m sorry, Blaze. Dinner was great. I’ll see you tomorrow, Zar.”

Jenny was getting the baby bundled up, and she snapped, “You are working tomorrow? Who is gonna take care of Clair? I have to work. I told you that.”

“I know, Jenny. I was going to bring Clair over here and get some leftovers. I’m not allowed to leave the house now?”

“Oh!” she replied as she buckled Clair into her car seat. “I’m sorry, Blaze and Zar. I didn’t mean to ruin your dinner. I’m just not feeling well. Have a happy Thanksgiving.”

Blaze’s aunt stood up and smiled. “I have to be going, too, Blaze. I had a long day, and I’m really tired. Dinner was delicious.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. You should stop over more often.”

Blaze’s mother stood up, going for their coats. “I’m going, too. I don’t feel comfortable sitting here. I love reading about my daughter’s engagement in the newspaper. Thank you for inviting me, Blaze,” she said sarcastically as she put on her coat.

The two women headed out the door, and Blaze leaned back in her chair. “That went well.”

Nan stood up and cringed. “I have to go, too. Do you want me to help clean up first? My mother invited me over, and I kind of have to go.”

Zar shook his head. “Go ahead and go. We will clean up the mess. We will see you later.”

Nan shrugged, and Blaze smiled. “Go.”

“Okay, happy Thanksgiving. I will be home for leftovers tomorrow. I love you two.”

“Us, too, Nan. Now git.” Blaze shooed Nan away with a motion of her hand.

Nan left, and Blaze got up to tackle putting away far too much food.

Zar walked the platters into the kitchen and then put the dishes in the dishwasher. Blaze dished everything into containers and began to wash the stray dishes. Once the table was cleared, Zar came up and began to rub her shoulders. “We will be eating turkey for a week.”

“I know. Since when did things between Kale and Jenny get bad?”

“I don’t know. Kale mentioned that Jenny had been really moody. He thought it was maybe just postnatal syndrome, but she is not getting better. She is staying out way later than she needs to for work. He tried to talk to her, but she claims that she goes to a club with the other girls from work. She never brings a change of clothing to go out in. Kale is beginning to think she is the one having an affair. He is not sure, though.”

“Poor Kale. He adores her and the baby. She was being such a bitch to him. Do I get that bitchy?”

“Never. Crabby occasionally, but not like that. From what he says, she gets on him about everything. When you bitch, you usually have a good reason. She hates it when he takes off with me out of state. I think you like it when I take off for a few days. You can return to your fantasy without me reading over your shoulder. How about we go create some new subject matter for your books while I feel good?”

“Sure. We have plenty of whipped cream to fool around with.”

Zar’s smile was wicked as he turned her around, pinning her against the sink to kiss her. It was a gesture of passion that turned a rotten day into a great evening alone.

Kale became almost a daily visitor between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The weather warmed up oddly over the last week of November and into December. It was dry, and Zar seemed to remain at a comfortable level. Blaze suddenly found herself in the Christmas spirit, and Zar came home to find the house lit up with hanging lights and bright reindeer.

Blaze was inside digging through boxes. “What happened? I thought you wanted to work on the final edits to
Star
?”

“I did. I was downstairs doing laundry, and the red boxes caught my attention. I decided to take a break and decorate for Christmas. How are you feeling?”

“I wish you wouldn’t ask me that morning, evening, and before bed. I’m not limping, am I?”

“No, but I’m worried about you. This wonderful weather is supposed to break in a day or two and turn cold again. They are talking snow for the weekend.”

“I know, I heard. I have one last shot for Christmas if I need it. It will last me at least until New Year’s.”

“What then, Zar? Would you at least let me make you an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon? He is really good and came highly recommended. His name is Alex Stern, and he has an office in North Haven. It will probably take me two months to get you an appointment. Maybe he can recommend something.”

Zar’s expression turned sour. “Did you make anything for dinner? I could eat a horse.”

“Yes, I made crepes with spinach, cheese, and artichokes. Don’t ignore me again. Every time I mention you going to see another doctor for your hip, you change the subject. Why?”

“I already know what they are going to tell me. There is nothing that can be done. Why bother?”

“Because medical procedures are updated every day. Maybe six years ago there was nothing they could do, but maybe now they can. Please, Zar. If there is nothing that can be done, then I want to hear it from a doctor myself. Jake was not the almighty.”

“I know that, Blaze. You are asking me to go through a battery of tests for nothing. I just don’t see the point.”

“You want a reason? I’ll give you one. We are supposed to be married in May, and I want you to be pain free. If it can’t happen, then I know we tried. The point is that I don’t ask you for anything. Do this because I asked and it will make me happy.”

Zar ran his fingers through his hair. “That is not fair. Shit! Make the damn appointment, but don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

“I won’t. I will accept whatever Alex says. Okay? Don’t be mad at me. I love you,” she said, putting the assortment of ornaments back in the box. “Let’s eat.”

Zar captured her as she walked by him. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just mad at life. This isn’t fair. I have a wonderful woman who loves me, and she is forced by fate to worry about me. We should be decorating the tree, not talking about my hip. Where is the tree?”

“It’s in the box marked
Christmas tree
. I haven’t taken it out yet.”

“Which box is that? I don’t see a big box.”

“It’s a little box. I put it on top of the television so the dogs don’t break the ornaments.”

Zar groaned to himself, glancing around the room. “I see a big, real tree, right in the corner as you walk into the kitchen. We will take the leaf out of the table and buy one of those half-round child gates to put around it. I suppose we will have to go get unbreakable ornaments. Please?”

Blaze smiled at him and released a heavy sigh. “I suppose we could do that. I have some ornaments that can’t be broken. Where do we get a tree? The ones at the stands have been out for two weeks, and I don’t want it dying four days before Christmas.”

“I’ll call Kale, and we can go cut one in the morning. I’ll take the day off, and we can get some eggnog to drink while we decorate it. Sound good?”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

“Good, now feed me.”

They polished off the crepes and then went through the decorations together to see what they needed. Blaze was surprised by how many unbreakable ornaments she had collected or made over the years. They put them into two separate boxes and moved the breakable box back down into the cellar.

Zar wandered outside while she was puttering around and brought in some wood. He lit a fire to take the slight chill from the room and called out, “How about some popcorn and we watch one of these DVDs we bought?”

“Sounds good to me. Get the movie past the intro, and I’ll put the popcorn in the microwave. What do you want to drink?”

“How about hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps?”

“Perfect suggestion. Hot chocolate and popcorn coming up.”

She put water on to boil and made a big bag of popcorn. Zar was lounging on the sofa when she walked in, and he patted the cushion next to him. Blaze curled up at his side, leaning on him as they snacked and watched the movie. It was late when they finally went to bed and early when Kale showed up. He had the baby with him, and he looked frazzled. Blaze took Clair from him. “What’s up?”

“Clair is fidgety, and Jenny is being the world’s biggest bitch. I couldn’t wait for her to leave for work.”

Blaze removed the baby’s jumpsuit and sniffed. “She needs to be changed. Did you bring her diapers?”

“Yeah, they are in the car. Let me go get them. Do you know of anything for diaper rash? I noticed it when I changed her earlier. I meant to ask Jenny, but we got into a fight, and I forgot.”

“A bath in baking soda is supposed to work wonders. I’ll go run her one.”

Zar walked out of the bedroom and held his hands out. “Give me the stinky child while you go run the bath. I think between the three of us we can manage to take care of her.”

Blaze gave him a quick kiss. “You would have been great with kids, Zar. I’m sorry we can’t have any.”

“I know. Me, too. We have Clair to play with. We are her godparents.”

“Well, godfather, go clean her up. I’m not giving her a bath if she is covered in baby poop,” Blaze said as she headed into the kitchen for the baking soda. She retrieved the baby’s tub from the closet, thinking that she had given the child more than her fair share of baths. Kale was bringing her over more and more as Jenny disappeared off to work. Zar brought the baby in and handed her to Blaze. She set the whimpering infant into the tub and washed her with a cloth.