When Love Finds a Home (19 page)

"I can handle that.
Should I go see him?"

Anna switched lanes.
"Yes. If you like, I'll call him this morning and see when he's available
to talk to you."

"Thanks, I'd like
that."

Anna glanced at her and
smiled.

"What?" Rona asked.

Anna shook her head but kept
smiling.

Rona met with Matt Devers at
noon. His secretary was at lunch when she arrived and he was watching the front
office himself. Devers was a middle-aged man with a severely receding hairline
and thick glasses. His wardrobe of an open-necked white shirt, tucked into tan
Dockers, and brown loafers seemed more appropriate for a college student than
for someone with his own law office. His office space was much smaller than
Anna's office. The lack of artwork and plants gave the space a rather sterile
feeling. He showed her the file cabinets that were jammed into a small room
with tall teetering piles of files stacked on top of them.

"As you can see, I ran
out of space a long time back. All of the loose files on top, along with these
two cabinets here, need to be sent to an archive." He quickly explained
what he needed done with the files. "Did Anna tell you the agreement she
and I worked out?" he asked.

"No, just that you
mentioned needing these files archived."

"As you can see, I don't
have any space to set up a computer for you to work at. Anna agreed to let you
stay in her conference room and work there. I'll bring you a box of files and
when you complete it, I'll bring another one. If something comes up and Anna
needs to use her conference room, it won't take much effort to move my stuff
out of the way."

Rona wondered how any of this
benefited Anna.

As if anticipating her
question he continued. "In return, I'll pay the full cost of the computer
rental." He motioned to her. "Let's
go
back to my office where
it's more comfortable." As soon as they sat down, he got right to the
point. "I don't know what the financial arrangement was between you and
Anna, but I've had my secretary call several temp agencies and she's assured me
that I shouldn't pay more than eight dollars an hour."

Rona started to tell him that
the wage was more than fair but he stopped her.

"I'm sorry, but the
salary is really not open for negotiation. You'll be paid each Friday
afternoon, and I don't foresee this project taking more than two weeks."
He peered at her through his thick glasses. "What are your thoughts on the
matter?"

"I think I'll be ready to
start Monday morning."

"Good. Anna explained to
me about how you've arranged your time and that's fine with me. I'm usually in
the office until at least
seven each
night. Of course, you realize that you are not allowed to look at the contents
of the files or to mention anything you might accidentally see."

"I understand
completely."

"And all the files must
be brought back to the file room each night before you leave."

Rona nodded her agreement.

He stood so suddenly it
startled her. "My secretary will give you all the necessary forms to
complete on Monday. Have a good weekend." He held out his hand.

As Rona stepped into the
elevator, she saw the security guard and waved.

"Hello, Ms. Kirby, how's
the job?"

"Good," she said.
"Have you had any more trouble with muggers?"

He smiled. "No, ma'am.
You're safe on my watch."

She smiled and waved again as
the door closed.

They were sitting at the table
playing hearts that night when the phone rang. Anna answered it. "Hi, Mom.
Yes, the babies are fine." She looked at Tammy and smiled.

Rona pretended to arrange her
cards as she listened to the one-sided conversation.

"No," Anna replied.
"I can't go to church Sunday, but I'll definitely be there for dinner. Are
you still making pastitsio? . . . Oh, good. I've been craving it. What can I
bring?" She made a notation on a pad. "I'll stop by the bakery on
West Avenue and buy some of the sourdough bread you and Dad like so much ...
I'll ask mem ... okay... Yes, I'll call you back tonight." After hanging
up the phone, she turned to Tammy and Rona. "She called to invite you all
to Sunday dinner. She's serving pastitsio."

"What is that?" Rona
asked.

"It's sort of like
lasagna, only it doesn't have quite as much sauce," Anna explained.

"I wouldn't want to
intrude," Tammy said.

Anna chuckled. "You
wouldn't be intruding. She wants to see the
babies."
She stressed
the ending and made diem both smile.

Rona and Tammy glanced at each
other.

"Come on. There's a Spurs
game Sunday afternoon. It'll be fun."

"If you're sure we won't
be intruding," Tammy said.

"No, not at all. As you
saw, Mom loves to feed people."

"Where does your family
go to church?" Tammy asked.

Rona found it odd that she
didn't seem the least bit embarrassed to acknowledge that she had been
listening to Anna's call.

"We're members of Saint
Sophia's Greek Orthodox church. I don't go as often as my parents would like,
but Sunday morning is die only free morning I have, and I tend to hoard it. We
usually get together after church for Sunday dinner."

They started talking about
religion and Rona tuned them out. She'd had enough religion to last her into
die next lifetime.

Chapter Twenty

The entire Pagonis clan and
their guests gathered in the living room of Anna's parents to watch the
early-afternoon basketball game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis
Grizzlies. In a rare moment of openness, Tammy admitted that she had once gone
to Memphis to visit Graceland and had fallen in love with the city resting on
the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. To add a sense of competition to the
game, Tammy and Rona opted to cheer for the Memphis team. Rona wasn't much of a
basketball fan but understood enough to get caught up in the spirit of the
event. The game was close and each basket or missed shot produced a loud roar
of cheering or groans.

At halftime, the group broke
up to head back to the kitchen or to slip outside for a breath of fresh air.
Rona stood and stretched. She and Tammy had spent the previous day lazing
around watching television. It had been too wet and cold for them to venture
out and Anna had worked until after four. Afterward, when Anna came home, she
mentioned she needed to go to Wal-Mart to restock the snack supply for the
office. They rode along with her. Rona was finally able to purchase some
underwear.

"Go get more food,"
Mr. Pagonis said as he returned with a plate of cheese and bread. "You're
too skinny, like Anna."

"I'm headed that
way," Rona assured him as she went in search of an empty bathroom. On her
way back, she stopped in her tracks. Her mouth watered as she gazed at the
beautiful old upright piano that was the center attraction in a small room that
her grandmother would have called a parlor. The piano's ornate cabinet had been
refinished in a brilliant hand-rubbed lacquer finish. Framed photos graced the
top. She stepped into the room, telling herself she only wanted to get a better
look at the photos. As she grew closer, she could smell the rich aroma of lemon
oil. Tucked beneath the instrument was a small piano stool on wheels, with an
embroidered seat. She rolled it out and studied the warm hues of the threads
used to create the rose design before sitting down at one of the finest pianos
ever made, an 1897 Ivers and Pond. She recognized it from the book on antique
pianos her piano teacher had kept on the coffee table in the waiting room. Rona
had flipped through the book dozens of times while waiting for the student's
lesson before hers to end.

Her heart pounded as she
opened the lid to reveal the keys that had aged to a light shade of warm honey.
She could almost feel die soul of die piano humming beneath her hands as she
placed her fingers on die keys. Her right thumb twitched and die rich tone of
middle C stirred her blood. She tried to draw her hands away. The piano's
magical pull refused to release her. As years of practice took over, she closed
her eyes and allowed the music to flow from her heart. A music teacher had
instilled in her die love of classical music. She let the music go where it
wanted as die thundering hooves of the galloping horse in Schubert's
"Erlkonig" gave way to the insistent rhythm of a Chopin polonaise.
Her fingers flowed into a wandering, chromatic theme reminiscent of a Liszt
sonata and then slithered into his darker "Totentanz." Escaping the
darkness,
she launched into the almost
dance-like work of Brahms's "Ein Kleiner, Hubscher Vogel," where
love's pleasures and pains are compared to a bird's life. The sound of die
bird's wings spun away into the repetitive melody of Schubert's "Gretchen
am Spinnrade."

Rona's body rocked in time to
the composer's interpretation of the mournful mood of a woman sitting at a
whirring spinning wheel. The music stopped as spontaneously as it had begun.
She took a deep breath as if to inhale the last notes. The thunderous sound of
applause brought her to her feet. Anna and her family stood crowded together
just inside the doorway. She squirmed with embarrassment under the attention.

"You play
beautifully," Mrs. Pagonis declared as she rushed forward and grasped
Rona's arm.

"Why didn't you tell us
you could play so well?" Mr. Pagonis asked as he stepped to her other
side.

"Play something
else," one of the children yelled. Others instantly took up the cry.

She glanced at the eager faces
before her. It had been so long since she'd played for anyone. The actual
performance was secondary for her. The thrill was in creating the music. The
joy of sitting down and writing a composition, whether it was a work so
powerfully raw it threatened to rip the throat from the performer, or the
creation of a ballad so poignant it brought tears to the eyes of the listener,
or a playful tune that caused even the hardest of hearts to open up.

A tug on her pant leg made her
look down. Karla was gazing up at her with those solemn blue eyes.
"Please, Rona. One more."

Rona smiled. "Just one
and then it's time to go watch the rest of the game," she said.

Karla nodded happily.

Rona sat down before turning
back to the child. "What do you want to hear?"

"The one you hum."

"The one I hum?"

Again, Karla nodded.

"When was I
humming?" Rona asked.

"You hum all the
time," Katie joined in.

Confused, she glanced at Tammy
for help.

"I'm not sure if it's the
one she's talking about, but there's one song that you often hum," Tammy
said. "I've never heard it before."

"Do you remember how it
goes?"

Tammy closed her eyes and
concentrated for a moment. "It's something like this." She hummed a
couple of slow bars.

"That's it," Karla
cried.

Shocked by the
all-too-familiar tune, Rona could only stare. She didn't realize she hummed
aloud and she certainly couldn't remember humming the song Tammy indicated. She
looked at the keyboard. She hadn't played the song since before Mary died.
Could she get through it?

Someone moved to the side of
the piano. She looked up to find Anna watching her. Uncomfortable with the
intense scrutiny, she closed her eyes and let her hands seek out the keys that
would breathe life back into the composition that she thought she would never
play again. She had written this song for Mary and couldn't bring herself to
sing the words. As she played the slow undulating melody, snapshots of their
happy times came back to her. The first time they met, their first kiss, Mary's
laughter, making love, the band, the way the rain sounded against the window of
their tiny one-room apartment. She used the piano keys to once more experience
and express the joy Mary had brought into her life. When the last note faded,
she opened her eyes to find tears on Anna's cheeks. She looked into those dark
eyes and felt them drawing her in. A burst of applause momentarily disoriented
her. She forced her gaze from Anna and turned to Karla.

"Is that the song?"

"Yeah. I like it."

"Good. Now let's go watch
the rest of the basketball game," she urged. There was a flurry of
activity as the group made their way out of the room.

Rona carefully closed the lid
on the piano and rolled the stool back underneath. When she turned, Anna was
still standing in the doorway.

"What's the name of that
song?" Anna asked. "I'm not familiar with it."

" 'Lover's Dream,'"
she replied as she walked to the door. Anna didn't move.

"It's a beautiful song.
I'm surprised I've never heard it before," Anna said.

Rona licked her lips and
glanced away.

When she didn't reply, Anna
asked. "Do you know who wrote it?" Anna stepped toward her.