The Keeneston Roses (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Lily paced back and forth in front of Southern Charms as she waited for Paige Davies Parker to get back from lunch. What she needed to help prove everyone wrong was inside Paige’s shop. And it wasn’t one of Paige's famous Kentucky Derby hats.

“Miss Lily? Are you waiting for me?” Paige asked as she moved to unlock the shop door.

“I sure am. But first, how did you place your bet?”

“What bet?”

“Oh, not you, too,” Lily groaned.

Paige smiled and pushed back the light brown hair from her cheek. “If there was such a bet, I would place money on you having John begging for you to marry him . . . that is, if such a bet existed.”

“What about the other girls?”

“We’re Team Lily all the way.”

“I knew I could count on y’all. Now, I need help. I need to seduce John into marriage.”

Paige alternately gulped, choked, and giggled. The Rose sisters were like her grandmothers and thinking of Lily seducing John was rather comical. She was in her late eighties, for heaven’s sake. Did they even do it at that age? Well, she and Cole certainly still did it and they were now in their early fifties and had no plans on stopping anytime soon. So maybe it wasn’t so crazy after all.

“So you want to see my secret stash? There’s a price for that.”

“I’ll pay anything, dear,” Lily practically begged.

“I want to know how John knows everything.”

“I would love to tell you, dear, but the ol’ goat won’t even tell me that. He said even if we were married he wouldn’t tell me.”

Paige shrugged her shoulders. “It was worth a shot. Come on into the back.”

Twenty minutes later, Lily walked home with the sure-fire win wrapped up in a Southern Charms bag. John was listening to wire taps or communicating with aliens to sniff out his latest gossip, so she had the house all to herself. Or so she thought. Her two traitorous sisters sat on the porch, laughing and drinking her sweet tea.

“What do you have there, Lily Rae?” Violet asked, eyeing the bag.

“None of your beeswax. What are you two doing here?”

Daisy held up an envelope. “Look what we got in the mail today.”

“What is it?”

“It’s an invitation to our seventieth high school reunion,” Daisy told Lily, handing it to her.

“Why do we need a reunion? There’s only so many of us left, and we’re all right here. We see each other every day.”

Violet shook her head. “You know very well that over half our class left Keeneston.”

Lily gulped. There were people from her high school class she never wanted to see again.

“Don’t worry, we had Nabi do a little snooping for us. Frank won’t be coming,” Violet said gently.

“How do you know that?” Lily tried to be strong, but the memories of that night at the pond came rushing back.

“He died six years ago.” Daisy held out her hand and took Lily’s. Giving it a little squeeze to reassure her sister.

“He’s dead?” Lily whispered. Was this the answer to moving on? She should feel sad, but all she felt was relief.

“Yes, dear,” Violet and Daisy told her.

Lily sat down on the swing and let out a deep breath. “Then what are we waiting for? We have some shopping to do. We want to look our best for our reunion, don’t we?”

* * *

“John! Darling, will you come into the kitchen please?” Lily called out. She looked down at the pink negligée, matching satin robe, and the miraculous pushup bra and smiled. Only three days into this bet and she would have her proposal in minutes. She couldn’t wait to rub it in everyone’s faces.

“Yes, darlin’?” John called as he walked into the kitchen. Lily leaned farther back from where she sat on the kitchen table and sent him a come-hither look. “Are you stuck up there? What are you doing on the kitchen table anyway?”

Lily felt steam pour out of her ears. “Stuck? You ask if I’m stuck? Look at me, you stupid man, and ask yourself what you think I’m doing up here laid out like a feast.”

John looked at her again—really looked at her. “Oh . . . ooh. You’re feeling frisky. Hold on, I’ll be right back!”

Lily rolled her eyes as John hurried from the room. Finally. The dense man got it. Lily tapped her foot on the chair and took a deep breath. John came rushing back into the room with a goofy grin on his face.

“You’re that excited to see me in this? If you married me, then you could have this every day,” Lily purred.

“Why? I already have it everyday. But no, I finally did what we talked about. I went and saw the doctor and he gave me a certain little . . . I mean,
big
prescription. Look, look, it’s working!” John said giddily as he looked down at his pants.

“Oh, John,” Lily gasped and held out her arms. She’d tackle the marriage business during the afterglow, when his mind was so muddled he’d agree to anything.

“It’s not going down,” John said four hours later, waking Lily up from a little nap. She pulled on her robe and looked over at John.

“What?” she said sleepily. The damn ol’ goat reverse-played her. As she lay in blissful happiness, he said how glad he was that they were living together in sin. It made things more adventurous. What was she going to do now?

“Mr. Happy is still happy and it’s been four hours. What do I do? Or do I bother? I mean, look at it. I still got it.” He grinned.

“Men. I guess we better call Dr. Emma. She’s with her daughter, Ava, today. Ava’s getting ready to go back to college after spring break so Dr. Emma took her shopping at Southern Charms before meeting Noodle for a family dinner.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m not the only one with secret sources. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. You know, if we were married, it would be covered under spousal privilege.”

“Never . . . ow! This is starting to hurt.”

“I’m going to call her.”

“No! This is both embarrassing and impressive. Take a picture with your phone.”

“I’m not going to do that!” Lily shook her head. Her life had been ruined over a picture, yet John wanted to show off for one. He’d probably text it to everyone in their senior group. But when John gasped in pain, Lily grabbed her phone.

“Dr. Emma, I’m so sorry to bother you, dear. We have a situation here.” Lily hung up the phone and turned to John. “She’ll be right over.”

Lily looked at the needle and gulped. Dr. Emma had something akin to a bemused professional smile playing on her lips as sweat broke out across John’s forehead.

“You’re going to do what with the needle?” John asked as his voice cracked.

Dr. Emma just smiled serenely and snapped on her surgical gloves. Lily reached for John’s hand. “I love you, you ol’ billy goat.”

“I’m reconsidering how much I love you if she sticks that where I think she’s going to,” John muttered. The pain of the needle was not as strong as the pain from back of his head being smacked.

* * *

Lily let out a huff and plopped onto the porch swing next to her sisters. Tonight was the dinner and dance for their reunion. It was also the end of her week. She was going to lose her bet. She had until midnight to receive her proposal, and there were no signs pointing to that happening.

“Do you have your outfit picked out?” Violet asked as she worked on crocheting a blanket.

“Yes, I decided on the pretty pink one,” Lily told her, gently swinging.

“I’m going with the white and yellow one.” Daisy grinned.

Violet rolled her eyes. “We’re so predictable. I’m going with the purple one. I can’t wait to see everyone. I talked to Donna and she said there was going to be quite the turnout. People are coming in from all over the country. There will be close to twenty of us after adding in spouses and hosts.”

“Wow. And I love that they made it a sock hop. It’s going to be so much fun putting on those skirts again,” Daisy said excitedly. “Look, it’s later than I realized. I need to get home and change. Should we meet here and drive over together?”

“Yes. I have something special planned for our ride over,” Lily grinned mischievously.

Daisy looked in the mirror and gave a little swish of her yellow skirt. She tucked her white shirt into the waistband and finished her outfit off with a yellow and white belt. She looked like spring and felt excited for the first time in a long while.

Violet, who lived a couple blocks away, knocked on the door. Daisy spritzed herself with perfume and went to meet her sister. Opening the door, Daisy’s mouth dropped.

“Are you borrowing Lily’s pushup bra?” Violet and Daisy asked each other at the same time and then laughed.

Violet looked beautiful in a dark purple skirt and a pale lavender top. She finished it off with a white cardigan. “Are you ready to go?” Violet asked.

“I am.” Daisy shut the door and started the short walk to Lily’s. “I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited about tonight. I have a feeling it’s going to be fun.”

Violet stopped walking as she looked up the street at Lily’s house. “What on earth?”

Daisy raised her head and looked at a shiny black stretch limo parked in front of the house. Lily and John stood in the yard dressed to the nines, talking to a sexy specimen of a man in a black suit.

“It’s Nabi,” Violet said on a sigh.

“How can you tell?”

“I’d know that backside anywhere,” Violet snickered. “Nabi! Oh, what a dear you are to drive us.”

Nabi turned around and walked to the sidewalk to meet them. “I’m not just driving you. It would be my pleasure to escort you to the dance if you ladies would agree.”

“Of course! You’re too sweet.” Violet opened her arms and Nabi’s head disappeared into her abundant chest.

Hell,
Daisy mouthed pointing to Violet and then to the ground. Violet just winked at her over the top of Nabi’s black hair before finally releasing the man.

Nabi took a deep breath, sucked in air, and smiled at the ladies. He opened the door for John to help Lily inside and then offered his arm to Daisy and Violet.

“Lily, what a wonderful surprise.” Violet reached over and gave Lily’s hand a squeeze. Lily had a pink skirt and shirt with a white scarf tied around her neck. She looked lovely and utterly miserable. Violet just widened her grin. Twenty years of dangling a great man like John was finally coming to bite her in the butt.

“Oh, look at the school. It’s all decorated,” Daisy exclaimed, pulling Violet’s attention away from Lily.

Streamers, balloons, and signs with their names on them filled the front lawn and decorated the entranceway. Daisy could hardly wait for Nabi to pull to a stop. She saw Donna’s name, John’s name, and all of theirs, along with several people she hadn’t thought about since high school.

“Look, Daisy. Charles Lastinger is here,” Violet teased and Daisy wanted to smack her.

“He always had the biggest crush on you,” Lily said, joining in on the teasing.

“Charles was a good guy,” John told them. “After high school, he went to some Ivy League college in New England and became a surgeon. I lost touch with him after that.”

People from the class stopped to see who was getting out of the limo. John stepped out first and offered his hand for Lily. Daisy stuck her head out next and was met with Nabi’s arm. Grabbing hold, she stood up and waited for Violet to take Nabi’s other arm. Walking with Nabi in the middle of them was causing quite a stir, especially after arriving in the limo owned by the Prince of Rahmi.

Daisy had a hard time not looking awestruck. The gymnasium had been completely made over. Posters of all the singers and actors from their teen years lined the walls, along with big records and pictures of them when they were in high school.

Nabi let out a low whistle. “I’m escorting two of the most beautiful ladies from your class,” Nabi smiled sweetly and nodded to the blown-up image of the three sisters arm-in-arm.

“You and me both,” John chuckled.

“Look, John, there you are.” Lily wrapped her hand around his arm and beamed up at him.

“Ladies, I believe our table is over there,” Nabi said, leading Daisy and Violet to the table with the Jimmy Stewart centerpiece.

“Daisy Rose?” a soft, deep voice asked from behind them.

Daisy turned around with a smile already on her face. “Yes?”

The man with a full head of white hair, except for the tiny spot on top that was hidden by a comb-over, stood tall in his black leather jacket and jeans. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Charles Lastinger.”

Daisy felt her face flush when he caught her running her eyes over a surprising set of broad shoulders and sweet brown eyes. “Charlie, it’s so good to see you again.”

Charlie looked between her and her hand resting on Nabi’s arm. “Is this your grandson?”

Lily smothered a laugh that came out more like a strangled cough. Violet and Lily winked at each other, and Violet wrapped her other hand around Nabi’s very impressive biceps. Leaning closer to Nabi, she grinned devilishly. “No, Nabi here is my date for the evening. Daisy is here all by her lonesome.”