The Replacement Wife (25 page)

It looked as if her plan was working. Whether she liked it or not.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I
don’t want to be in the way,” Elise had said to him the night before.

In the flurry of activity around getting Camille situated and then consulting with the hospital’s chief of oncology, Dr. Harding, Edward had forgotten all about their houseguest. He focused on Elise then, and thinking only of the long, lonely vigil ahead, replied, “If you don’t mind, I could use the company.” Only afterward did he realize that, with those words, he’d crossed the Rubicon between merely making nice and opening the door to future possibilities with Elise.

They sat in the visitors’ lounge most of the night, talking. Elise’s calming presence kept him from wearing a hole in the floor with his pacing, and by the time the sun came up, he had become better acquainted with her than with people he’d known for years. Elise was a good person, but her niceness wasn’t the sugary-sweet kind; she had an inner strength and wasn’t afraid to stretch the boundaries of her small-town upbringing. She was what one would want in a wife: lively and intelligent, sensitive to the needs of others, good with kids. Also, undeniably easy on the eye.

When Camille’s fever broke, he and Elise headed back to the house. They arrived to find it quiet, everyone else still asleep. They were both hungry so Elise, without being asked, fixed them some scrambled eggs and toast. Afterward, they retired to their respective rooms.

When Edward woke several hours later, it was with gritty eyelids and what felt like a mouthful of cotton balls. He showered and shaved, then headed downstairs to the kitchen. The kids had already blown through, as evidenced by the juice glasses and cereal bowls in the sink; only Holly sat at the table, in her robe and slippers. She was sipping coffee, reading the morning paper.

“Decaf,” she said, lifting her mug. “Someday this kid’s going to know how much I sacrificed on his behalf and he sure as hell better appreciate it.” Her smile fell away and she regarded him with worried eyes. “Is she any better? Has the fever gone down?” she asked. They’d kept in contact throughout most of the night, but it’d been hours since he’d last given her an update.

He nodded in assent. “The antibiotics seem to be doing the trick.” Holly didn’t need to be told that, with an immune system as compromised as Camille’s, even a common cold was potentially deadly. Like him, she was a veteran of this war. “She’s still weak, but she’s on the mend.”

“Did the doctor say when she could come home?”

Edward helped himself to some coffee from the pot. “They want to run more tests, but Dr. Harding says she should be ready to come home by tomorrow at the latest, if she remains stable.”

Holly expelled a slow breath. “Thank God. I was so worried.” She looked worried still, the kind of deep, systemic worry that didn’t wear off. They both knew this was only a temporary reprieve.

Edward fetched a carton of milk from the fridge and poured some into his coffee. Normally, he took it black, but the numerous cups of coffee he’d consumed the night before in an effort to stay awake had left him with a touch of heartburn, so he was going easy on his stomach today. He was lowering himself into a chair when the children charged in. They were wearing their swimsuits, and Zach was carrying a beach ball. “How’s Mom? Is she going to be okay?” Kyra asked.

“Your mom’s going to be just fine,” he assured them, before cautioning his daughter in a mock stern voice, “Which is more than I can say for any young men I catch ogling you in that bikini.”

Kyra rolled her eyes, but he could tell she was secretly pleased. In her new two-piece, which wasn’t quite a bikini but skimpier than he would have liked, he hardly recognized his daughter. Where had his flat-chested, pigtailed little girl gone? Who was this shapely young woman with her coltish legs and budding breasts? Soon there would be boys showing up at their door. There would be fights over curfews and car keys.
How will I get through all that without Camille?

“When’s she coming home?” Zach wanted to know. He’d sprouted several inches this past year, on his way to becoming a gangly adolescent, but right now looked like he had his first day of kindergarten as he stood clutching his beach ball as if it were the only thing between him and certain disaster.

“Soon,” Edward told him, keeping it vague.

“Can we go see her, or do they have rules about kids like at the other hospital?”

“Right now, she needs her rest, so it’s probably best if she doesn’t have any visitors. But I’m sure she’ll want to hear from you. Why don’t we give her a call before Aunt Holly takes you to the beach?”

“You’re not coming with us?” Kyra eyed him expectantly.

After his all-night vigil, he wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed, but his children needed him right now, he realized, more than he needed another few hours’ rest. “I wasn’t planning on it,” he said, “but come to think of it, it might be just what the doctor ordered.”

Kyra giggled. “
You’re
the doctor, Daddy.”

“So I’ve heard,” he replied with a sage nod.

“Can Elise come, too?” his son asked eagerly.

Edward’s gaze was drawn upward by the sound of footsteps overhead. Their houseguest was up and about, probably awakened by the noise downstairs. “Sure, if she wants to. You’ll have to ask.”

Zach went racing upstairs to enlist Elise, and Kyra tagged along. When Edward and Holly were alone again, she cast him a meaningful look over the rim of her mug as she sipped her decaf.

“The kids seem to like her,” she observed.

He shrugged. “What’s not to like?”

“You like her, too, don’t you?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I? She’s a nice person.” He directed his gaze out the window, watching a squirrel forage for nuts in the backyard while doing his best to ignore the implication in Holly’s line of questioning. No such luck—seeing he wasn’t going to bite, she stated it outright.

“A nice person whom my sister thinks would make a good wife.”

He brought his gaze back to Holly. The robe she was wearing, one of Camille’s—blue terry trimmed in darker blue satin piping—was a painful reminder that soon it wouldn’t just be someone else wearing his wife’s clothes. “I think the less said about
that
the better,” he replied tersely.

“Hey, don’t bite my head off. I’m on your side. I was no more in favor of the idea than you were when Cam first proposed it. I still think it’s crazy, but now that I’ve met Elise . . .” Holly held his gaze, and he could see in her eyes that she was searching for something that made sense in the midst of all the madness, same as he. “Well, it’s hard not to like her. That’s all I’m saying.”

Edward grunted and took a sip of his coffee.

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have her around. We need all the friends we can get at a time like this, right?”

He shot her a dark look. “With friends, I don’t have to think about possibly booking a church down the line.”

Holly sighed. “I know. I can’t quite picture that, either.”

Edward pushed his chair back and stood up. Holly looked up at him questioningly, and he smiled to let her know he wasn’t angry at her for bringing up a sore subject. Besides, she was right about one thing: He wouldn’t be able to get through this without the help of his friends. And the night before, when he’d needed one, Elise had been there for him. “Speaking of our guest,” he said in a neutral voice, “I should go see how she’s doing. Knowing my son, he’ll sweet-talk her into coming with us when she’d rather stay here and catch up on her sleep.”

“Well, if you’re taking the kids to the beach,” Holly said, “I’ll head over to the hospital.”

“Nothing doing. You’re coming with us,” he ordered.

Holly shook her head. “Someone should be with her, and you were there all night.”

“True, but that was when she was too sick to have a say in the matter. Now that’s she’s better she’s back to calling the shots,” he informed his sister-in-law. “And she was very insistent that our weekend not be spoiled because of her. She says she’ll be sleeping most of the day, anyway.”

“All right, if you say so,” Holly relented. “I’ll go see her after we get back from the beach, in that case.” She gave a rueful shake of her head. “God, she can be so stubborn sometimes.”

Tell me about it,
Edward thought as he headed upstairs to check on Elise.

AN HOUR LATER
they were all piled in the Volvo headed for Cooper’s Beach. It was still early in the day so the beach was fairly deserted when they arrived, and they were able to stake out a prime spot. Edward spread the beach blanket over the sand, and Kyra positioned her towel a short distance away, just far enough to be able to pretend she wasn’t with her family if any cute boys should happen along. While the others headed down to the water, Edward stretched out and closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he was asleep. When he roused a short while later, Elise and Zach were tossing a Frisbee back and forth farther down the beach and Holly was wading in the surf.

He thought back to summer days when the kids were small, Kyra and Zach chubby little figures in orange life vests digging for sand crabs or collecting seashells in paper cups, before cancer had come crashing in, like a rogue wave smashing a sand castle, to lay ruin to their carefree existence.

Before he’d come to feel unwanted by his own wife.

He knew it wasn’t because she’d stopped loving him. Still, it hurt each time she turned away from him in bed, too tired or sick to make love. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt the light touch of her hand on his thigh or heard her voice murmur seductively in his ear. He missed that. Yearned for it. Even so, he might have found a way to deal with his frustration if not for this crazy scheme of hers. What wife who truly loved her husband would willingly relinquish him to another woman, whatever the circumstances? And in his case, there was more than one candidate, if you counted Kat Fisher. Though ironically, it was that very thing—Kat’s having been sprung on him without warning—that had led to his friendship with Angie. A friendship he’d kept hidden from Camille, for reasons he didn’t quite understand.

His gaze drifted back to Elise. She was another surprise. Upon meeting her, he’d been determined to be polite and nothing more, but she’d quickly won him over on the bus ride to Southampton. As Holly had observed, it was impossible not to like Elise. The secret he hadn’t told his sister-in-law was that he’d begun to think maybe his wife was right. He hadn’t thought so in the abstract, but Elise in person was another matter. Now that he’d gotten to know her, he could see how having her around in the months ahead would be to his and his children’s benefit. She’d proven herself an ally and the kids already seemed to adore her. She was also a breath of fresh air.

“Mind if I join you?”

At the sound of her voice, Edward looked up to see Elise standing over him, her face flushed with exertion. He gestured toward the vacant spot next to him on the blanket and she collapsed onto it, reaching for her water bottle. “I hope my son didn’t wear you out too much,” he said.

“A little,” she admitted, taking a gulp of her water. “But considering I didn’t get any sleep last night, it’s a wonder I was able to keep up at all.” Despite her words, she didn’t look as if she’d spent the night camped out in a hospital visitors’ lounge keeping a worried husband company—she was her usual sunny, ebullient self. Her gaze traveled to Zach, now splashing in the surf with his aunt Holly. “He’s a good kid. They both are. You and Camille must be very proud.”

He nodded, his throat tightening.

She went on, “A lot of the parents I deal with don’t know the difference between what a child wants and what he or she needs. They seem to think giving them whatever they ask for is a substitute for time and attention.” She smiled at him. “Which is a long-winded way of saying I think you’re doing a wonderful job raising your kids.”

“Most of the credit goes to my wife,” he demurred. Camille was the one who enforced rules and saw the kids off to school most days, who made sure teeth got brushed and homework got done.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” she told him. “They say it takes a village, but it really just takes two. I have several kids in my class whose dads are absentee, and they’re the ones who are the most disruptive and who have problems getting along with the other kids.” Edward, reminded that his own children would soon be at a similar disadvantage, felt his chest constrict. The shift in mood must have shown on his face because Elise was quick to add, “Kids are resilient, though. And one loving parent can make up for a lot.”

Edward envisioned himself, years from now, lying on this beach with Elise, the sun shining as it was now and his world once more spinning smoothly on its axis. Elise, his wife and the stepmother to his children. He’d never stop grieving for Camille, of course, but at least, he’d have the comfort of knowing he was honoring her wishes rather than dishonoring her memory.

On impulse, he took Elise’s hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” he said.

“For what?” She turned to face him, her lips curled in a questioning smile.

“For not running out on me last night.”

She blushed. “No need to thank me. Really, it’s what anyone would have done.”

“Not true,” he disagreed. “Most people would’ve taken off at the first hint of what they were in for.”

She held his gaze, and he was struck by the extraordinary translucence of her eyes. “That’s not how I was raised,” she said simply.

“In that case, remind me to thank your parents if I ever meet them.”

The color in her cheeks deepened. “Well, since they live in Wisconsin, I don’t think there’s much chance of that, but I’ll be sure to give them the message.” She spoke lightly, but it was obvious his casual remark had deeper meaning for her. He made a mental note to watch his step from now on. “Oh, and about last night? I didn’t stick around just to be a Good Samaritan. I . . . I had a nice time. I mean, as much as possible given the circumstances,” she was careful to add.

“Me, too,” he said, meaning it.