Vivian (23 page)

“
She’s a good kid. She gets straight A’s, she’s employee of the month, and a volunteer at the nursing home. She was just elected to the student council, too.”

“
She makes you very proud.” There was a stabbing in her chest and a quiver in her lip. Jealousy was ugly when it reared its head, and she hadn’t known she’d still feel it so strongly. Her eyes misted, but she kept them diverted out the window and batted the tears back.

“
I’m very proud of her,” he said. “You know that her mother left us…left her with me, that is.” He slowed the car in front of her grandmother’s home. “That was hard on her.”

“
I’m sure it was.”

“
Sophia, you can’t blame Carissa for what happened to us, if that indeed is what you’ve done.” He pulled the car into the driveway and put it into park.

“
I don’t.” She finally turned toward him and looked him in the eye. “I blame you. I completely blame you. Thank you for the ride.” She put her hand on the door to open it, and he caught her other hand in his.

“
Sophia, why did you leave?” By his grip on her hand, she knew he’d waited ten years to hear her explanation.

The emotions of the day she’d left flooded back at her, slapping her in the face and squeezing her heart. She hadn’t expected to see him today. She hadn’t had time to think things out.

She extracted her hand from his and opened the door. She pulled the cello from the backseat as he lifted her suitcases from the trunk and then guided her toward the back porch.

“
Why are you going this way?” she whispered, knowing the occupants of the house were asleep.

“
Miss Katie doesn’t like us to use the front door at night.” He took his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door.

“
Why do you have a key?” Her voice rose in volume and pitch.

He didn’t answer, but pushed open the door and flipped on the light for the enclosed back porch.

David walked in further, turning on the light in the kitchen just through the next door.

It smelled like home. Sophia closed her eyes and soaked it in.

The house had been a boarding house when her grandmother had lived there as a small girl. It had remained one until Sophia was thirteen and her grandfather had died. It was then her grandmother had decided it was no longer safe to live under the same roof with strangers when there was no man to protect them. The decision hadn’t disappointed Sophia in the least, though she’d met many wonderful people over the years including a cellist who’d inspired her life’s work.

“
Are you coming in?” David propped himself against the doorjamb as he watched her.

His lean frame, which stood just shy of six feet, hadn’t changed from her memory of him. The face she had known so well had a few lines in places that made her think he’d gotten them from worry. Had he worried about her? No, she decided. He was a father. Fathers, as far as she could remember, had those kinds of lines. The kind of lines that said to the world that they loved someone so much they worried often.

He removed his tie and loosened the buttons on his uniform shirt. Again with a wink, he walked back into the kitchen as she followed with her cello still clutched in her hand.

“
You should go now. I’ll be just fine. Thank you again for the ride.” She laid the instrument across the kitchen table and steadied her eyes on him.

“
You always said you’d be fine.” He reached into the cupboard for a glass and filled it with water at the sink.

“
What does that mean?” Her hands rested on the back of a chair to steady them as she watched his casual actions in her grandmother’s kitchen.

“
When I asked you to marry me, you said you were fine with the way things were. I bought that. You said you were
fine
not being first seat.” He kept his back to her, and she could read tension in the set of his shoulders. “You were
fine
being part of the Kansas City Symphony, and you didn’t need to travel or tour with those who asked for you.”

“
I’m not who I was ten years ago.” She crossed her arms over her chest and let her fingers fidget with the edge of her scarf.

“
You sure as hell aren’t.” He put the glass in the sink and turned to face her.

Their eyes met. He took a step toward her. She could smell him again. His breath caressed her forehead.

He reached a hand to her cheek and brushed it with his thumb. Her breath hitched, and her heart rate quickened. He took another step closer to her until there was no space between them.

Suddenly, she didn’t have it in her to fight him.

Gently, ever so gently, he laid a kiss on her lips. Her body swayed toward him. He kept the kiss soft.

A violent storm pulsed through her. He deepened the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. She still fit. His body was warm against hers, and just like the way she’d felt at home the moment she walked through the back door, she felt at home in his arms.

He rested his forehead against hers. “I’ve missed you, Sophia Burkhalter.”

Then he withdrew his arms from her, and taking a step back, he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“
Miss Katie says she’ll be making blueberry pancakes in the morning. She usually has breakfast on the table by seven-thirty. I wouldn’t be late. I’m sure you know the special pancake breakfast is for you.” He walked into the darkened living room.

“
Where are you going?” Her heart still pounded in her chest, and her body swayed from his kiss.

David stepped back into the light. A sly smile raised a corner of his mouth, and one of his dark eyebrows arched. She could feel the color rise in her cheeks.

“
Oh, that’s right. You don’t know, do you?” He tapped his hand on the jamb of the door. “I live here, too. I know you can find your room. It’s also where you left it. Good night, Sophia. Sweet dreams.”

It was already eight o’clock when the smell of pancakes stirred Sophia awake. She opened her eyes and saw the room of her childhood in the daylight. Warmth filled her, and a smile crossed her lips. She was home.

It had been so long since she’d called anywhere home. She’d known only three in her lifetime. The one she shared for such a short time with her parents. The one she shared with her grandparents after her parents died. She sighed. Then there was the home she’d shared with David.

The thought had tears stinging her eyes and a lump forming in her throat that she forced down. With a deep breath, she cleared her conscience. She’d left. It had been her decision to leave and start a life away from them all. It would be that same life she would return to in fourteen days.

She dug through her suitcase and found her warm, pink robe. She slipped it over her gray pajama bottoms and white tank top. Giving herself a glance in the mirror, she dragged her fingers through her hair and decided there wasn’t much she could do with it.

She stood in front of the mirror a moment longer and studied the scar on her neck that had plagued her since childhood. She ran her fingers over it. The hideous mark was there as a reminder of what it had taken to save her life.

Her lips pursed and tears still stung her eyes when she thought about the accident that had put her in the path of death and had taken her parents from her. With one more glance at herself, she tightened up the robe, pulling the lapels together until her throat was covered. Then she headed downstairs.

Chatter came from the kitchen, and Sophia stood on the bottom step and listened. She closed her eyes when she heard her grandmother’s voice. Her heart beat faster with the anticipation of her grandmother’s arms embracing her. Too many years had passed since she’d seen Katie. Sure, they spoke on the phone every week, but Sophia had been so angry with David and had left in such a storm of emotions that she’d never been back to Kansas City, even to see her grandmother. Guilt that she’d abandoned her to escape humiliation ripped at her. She promised herself to make their time together memorable.

Sophia took a deep breath and walked toward the back of the house to the kitchen. She stopped at the door and watched as her grandmother fussed over pancakes, and Millie stirred together more batter from her seat at the table. David was already up and seated with his aunt. A cup of coffee rested between the palms of his hands. He was dressed in a University of Missouri T-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. Obviously, the comfortable attire meant he didn’t have to work. The thought had Sophia’s heart racing again. He’d be nearby all day.

“
Well, well, well. Look who the cat dragged in.” Millie noticed Sophia in the doorway and smiled.

“
Good morning, Ms. Millie.” She walked to the table and kissed her on the cheek. Then she turned to her grandmother, who waited for her with damp eyes. “Good morning, Grandma.” She wrapped her arms around the woman who had meant so much in her life. They clung to each other for a long time.

Katie Burkhalter held her granddaughter at arm’s length and took in the sight of her. “Oh, my little Sophie, look at you. You’re more beautiful than I remember.” She smiled and pulled her close again. “I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

“
I’ve missed you ,too.” Her voice wobbled. David crossed the room to the coffeepot, and she hoped he was too busy to notice her emotional greeting with her grandmother.

“
You look like you could use this.” He was standing behind her. She turned, and he held out a cup of coffee to her.

“
Thank you.” She took the cup without looking up at him.

Millie smiled from beyond her bowl of blueberries and batter. Her soft, blue eyes shimmered with mischief.

“
What a coincidence that you were both on the same plane.”

“
Who said we were?” David raised his eyebrows at his aunt as she exchanged a glance with Katie.

They were at it again. Sophia shook her head, and Katie looked too innocent.

“
Oh, hush.” Katie pushed Sophia toward the table and laid a plate of pancakes in front of her. “Eat, you’re too skinny.”

“
Oh, Grandma, you’re the only one who would think so.” Sophia laughed as David slid into the seat next to her and looked her over.

“
I think she’s right.” He watched her from over the top of his coffee mug. “I don’t remember you looking so frail.”

“
Frail?” Her mouth was full of pancake, but her heart was full of fury. She washed down the bite with her coffee and took a breath to give David a piece of her mind. At the last second, she bit it back, not wanting to upset her grandmother or Millie.

“
So, did you two have time to talk last night? Did you make up? Everything back to the way it was?” Millie asked with as much enthusiasm as she possessed in her tiny body.

“
Aunt Millie, things between me and Sophie have been over for a very long time,” David replied.

A surge of two very different emotions went through her. First, the fact that he’d admitted things were over between them, which they were, infuriated her. That should have been what she’d gotten to say to drive home the point even harder after they’d somehow managed to get them on the same flight.

Then a gentle calm took over when she realized he’d called her Sophie. She lifted her mug to her lips to hide the smile she had surfaced when he’d called her that. It was the name those who loved her called her. The memory of him calling her Sophie had spiked a jolt of happiness through her she didn’t know still existed.

The fluttering of happiness lasted only a moment and faded quickly when Sophia watched the figure of a young woman walk into the kitchen. Her long, straight, dark hair hung past her shoulders and over her face. Her shoulders hunched as she shuffled her bunny-clad feet across the kitchen floor. She had on nothing more than her tank top and a pair of cut-off sweatpants.

Black fingernail polish, half chipped off, coated her nails, and at least twelve black rubber bracelets adorned her.

The girl shuffled to the coffeepot, poured herself a cup of coffee, and then shuffled back out and up the stairs without one word muttered to anyone in the room.