Midnight Rose (24 page)

The late August heat hung thick and gauzy over the countryside. Even still, signs of autumn showed themselves, incongruent to the sticky, searing temperatures.

Kate stood on the lawn near the duck pond and watched the exodus of birds flying in A-shaped squadrons overhead. Flying south for the winter. Part of her wished she could flee with them.

She couldn’t shake the sense of being barely two steps ahead of something dark and chaotic. The anxiety was faceless, insidious, but it showed itself at night in her dreams, with Gideon at the nucleus of a whirling, wailing cyclone. More than once in the last few weeks, she’d jolted awake and found herself gasping in the middle of his bed while he slept peacefully beside her. And always, the nightmares were trailed by the faint, phantom warning, go home .

She stayed.

Gideon had left two days earlier for a convention in New York. Kate declined when he’d invited her to accompany him, and now she regretted it, missing the sensuous comfort of his embrace and his presence at night beside her. But she hadn’t wanted to leave Jude at Sister Oaks with just the house staff and Mrs.

Shelton to watch him.

Jude seemed more reclusive and secretive than ever. At fourteen, he stood at a disconcerting six feet.

His voice had deepened, his shoulders growing broader, his torso leaner. Rarely in her life had Kate seen a less awkward teenager. To the naked eye he was perfection. One would never guess the illness that continued to ravage him.

He’d made friends through the Internet, as she’d guessed he would. And last night, when she went to knock on his door to call him for dinner, she’d heard his voice, his soft laughter, floating out into the hallway. He was on the phone with someone. From the sound of his low, intimate tone, a female someone. When she tapped, she heard the abrupt slam of the receiver, and he’d hastily called out, “I’ll be down in a minute. Don’t wait for me.” Odd behavior. Kate smiled to herself. He’d probably met a girlfriend in cyberspace and would be mortified if he knew anyone suspected.

Sudden droplets of rain drew her from her thoughts and spattered the pond water, radiating circles from the point of impact. She headed back toward the house, where the scent of broiled steak drifted on the evening air.

Inside, Jude was bouncing a tennis ball off a wall in the empty dining room. The sound echoed like a slow hammer through the downstairs.

“I’m sure the housekeeper loves that,” Kate said dryly.

He tossed her the ball. “I’m bored. Let’s go somewhere.”

The announcement surprised her. “What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know. What do you think kids in Putnam do on weekend nights?” Kate knew the answer. They cruised up and down Main Street in their pickups and hot-rods, hormones on parade. She’d gotten caught once or twice in the line-up, and on one occasion had to close the car’s windows to prevent a truck full of hooting teenage boys from ogling her. The procession appeared to culminate at the Jupiter Drive-in Restaurant next to the community bank, where the kids piled out to socialize and spend their parents’ money on greasy fries and watery milkshakes. Maybe she could drive Jude up to the restaurant for a snack once it got dark.

But not without Gideon’s permission.

“We have to call your dad first,” she said as she tossed the ball back to him. “But maybe I could take you into town.”

Jude’s eyes lit up. “Call him now.”

Heading up to her room, she found Gideon’s Manhattan hotel number and dialed it, then sank to the side of her mattress with a sigh. God, she missed him. Her need for him was elemental, like oxygen and food and water. When he answered on the third ring, her heart leapt in her chest.

“How’s the Big Apple?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager.

“How do you think? I should be out wining and dining in the world’s finest restaurants. Instead I’m holed up here in some soulless high-rise hotel, thinking of you.” She smiled. “Mooning over me instead of food?” “I can go without food. But without you…I don’t stand a chance.” Although he was teasing, she could hear the strain of need in his voice and her body instantly responded, warming and softening at the thought of his desire. “Have you thought of me a time or two?” “Or a thousand. I dreamed of you last night,” he said, his tone dropping. “I woke up hard enough to drive nails.”

Delight shivered through her. “Oh?”

“So hard, I had to handle it myself right then and there.”

She closed her eyes, desire burning a path straight to her core. “Will you do that for me sometime? I’d like to watch.”

“Only if you return the favor.”

“With pleasure.” She clutched the phone tighter to her ear, then dragged in a deep breath and regained control. “It’s too early in the evening for this type of phone call, you know.” “I know. Long distance foreplay just makes things worse, doesn’t it? But I’ll be home Sunday night to make it up to you.”

“Thank God.” She sighed. “Actually, I called to ask you a favor.”

“Anything for you.”

“How about for Jude?”

He paused. “What is it?”

“Gideon. He doesn’t make these requests very often, and I really think you should say yes.”

“I can’t until you ask the question.”

She took a breath and plunged. “He wants me to drive him into town tonight so he can see what Putnam’s like for kids his age.”

Gideon didn’t respond right away. Then he sighed. “That’s a perfectly normal request for a kid whose life has been anything but perfectly normal.”

“I know. That’s why I had to call. He’s lonely and bored, and I don’t blame him.”

“You’re a sweet and sensitive woman, Kate. You take good care of my son. And of me.”

“I have no choice,” she said, closing her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll be home soon. I bought you something from Tiffany’s.”

“Ooh.” She laughed. “Bigger than a breadbox?”

“Smaller.”

“Something sparkly?”

“Blinding. I want to see you wearing it and nothing else.”

Her breath caught as a wispy, fleeting suspicion danced through her thoughts. Then she shook her head at its improbability and focused on the provocative conversation. “That could be arranged. I can’t wait for you to come back.” “When I do, maybe we can quit sneaking around Sister Oaks like two teenagers in heat.”

“You mean tell Jude about us?”

Gideon laughed. “He already knows.”

“He does not,” Kate said, scandalized. “Who told him?”

“No one told him. He asked me about it last week. He asked me if you ever slept in the west wing anymore.”

Heat crept up her neck. “What did you say?”

“I told him not lately.”

“Gideon!”

“I love you, Kate. I’m tired of hiding it. And Jude’s too smart to fool, anyway.”

“What about Mrs. Shelton?”

“Martha’s figured out as much, but we don’t discuss it.”

“No wonder she’s been so awkward around me,” Kate groaned. “I wondered. She stares at me with those owl eyes and I feel like she knows my secrets.”

A smile lightened his voice. “She probably has you all figured out. Sometimes I think she’s a mind reader.”

“So tell me again why we’ve been sneaking around?”

“To up the sexual thrill?” he teased.

“Or maybe for our own sake,” she said thoughtfully. “To ease into the relationship.”

“God.” His voice dropped. “I want to ease into you. And stay for a while.”

“Come home and I’ll see what I can do to accommodate you.”

“As soon as I can.” He cleared his throat. “Tell Jude to have fun and be careful.”

“I will. Thank you, Gideon. You’re a good father.”

“’Night, Kate. Sweet dreams.”

“Goodnight,” she said softly, and set the receiver on its hook.

The trail of trucks and cars snaked over the landscape ahead, a ribbon of twinkling red taillights on the right side and harsh white headlights on the left. Horns sounded intermittently, a girl’s raucous laughter floated over the revving of engines and the backfire from someone’s muffler.

Kate braked at the stoplight, watched a rambunctious group of teens dance across the crosswalk in front of the Audi, and shot a look at Jude.

He sat stock-still beside her, a scowl fixed on his face. “This is supposed to be fun? Driving up and down the same road, over and over?”

“It’s called cruising. I imagine it’s better than sitting on the porch, watching the corn grow.” He flashed her a rueful grin. “You’re not kidding. You ever do this, Kate?” “Not in Pittsburgh,” she said, accelerating through the green light. “We had a much wider variety of trouble to get into in the big city.”

They inched up Main Street, taking fifteen minutes to go one mile. When they reached the intersection across from the Jupiter Drive-in, Kate motioned at the crowded restaurant.

“There you go, Jude. The Mecca of Fun.”

“I’ve never seen so many kids,” he said, staring through the windshield.

“Want to brave the crowd?”

He glanced at her, and in the green glow from the dashboard his dark eyes sparkled. “You could let me off right here and I’ll walk over.”

Instantly Kate recognized that he didn’t want her tagging along, and she could hardly blame him. He was fourteen, older than some of the kids jaywalking through the intersection in front of them, and Jude was as tall and well-built as the farm boys hanging out of passing pickups. He could take care of himself, she decided, and with a surge of enthusiasm, she pulled the Audi over to the curb.

“Okay, Jude. Here are the rules. I let you go, but you meet me down the street at Revco in two hours.

That’s eleven o’clock. You’re wearing a watch, so use it. And it goes without saying, no drinking, no getting into cars with strangers, and so forth.”

“Yeah, yeah.” His face was alight with excitement. “I’ll meet you at eleven.” He jumped out the passenger door, slammed it, and bent down to flash her a blinding smile through the window. “Thanks, Kate. You’re okay.” She waved at him and watched him stroll across the intersection, her heart jolting when he dodged a car speeding through the crosswalk. Good Lord…somebody divine had to be watching out for him. He’d made it fourteen years with a ticking time bomb of a disease and here he was, big and handsome and as seemingly normal as a kid could be in his situation.

He stepped onto the opposite curb, climbed the grassy bank to the parking lot, and disappeared among the crowd of teens gathered near the restaurant.

Kate pulled away from the curb and headed back toward the hub of Main Street. If she hurried, she could catch the nine o’clock viewing of the latest Mel Gibson movie.

Main Street was nearly deserted when she emerged from the old Filmore Theatre with its velvet draped stage and ornate balcony. She’d slipped out of the movie moments before its end to be on time for Jude.

She couldn’t see the Jupiter Drive-in from where she’d parked the Audi, but the steady thump of rock music vibrating over the town told her the party was still in session.

Crossing the street, Kate reached the front of the drugstore where Jude was supposed to meet her and checked her watch. Eleven o’clock. And he was nowhere in sight.

Fighting an instant surge of anxiety, she forced herself to breathe and leaned against the brick wall. He’d be here. He promised. An image of Gideon darted through her mind and she quickly squelched it. Would he let Jude go off on his own like this? The answer blared in neon letters before her. Not just no, but hell, no . Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea.

Stop it. She wanted to trust the kid. If no one ever gave him a chance to practice, how could he learn responsibility?

She inhaled, steadied her nerves, then walked a few yards up the sidewalk toward the Jupiter. A group of teenagers rounded the corner, moving toward her, and she sighed with relief. Jude had to be among them. He was already five minutes late.

A moment later, as the rowdy pack passed by, her stomach nosedived to her toes. She leaned weakly against the wall and watched them pile into a primer-colored hot-rod. All girls.

The movie let out across the street; the usher locked the doors behind the customers. Eleven-fifteen. No sign of Jude.

Angered, Kate jogged over to where she’d parked the Audi, climbed inside and drove up to the Jupiter, where a small gathering of kids huddled around a pickup with a booming stereo. The restaurant was closed; the employees moved around inside, cleaning up for the night.

One slow, searching drive-by, and Kate realized with icy horror that Jude wasn’t among the group of stragglers. Oh, God. Where was he?

She circled the parking lot, then drove behind the shopping center nearby to no avail. Tears clogged her throat and her pulse raced. She was responsible for Jude. If something had happened to him, Gideon would never forgive her.

For a harrowing, nauseating hour, she drove around the sleeping town of Putnam, trailing a grid, up and down and across and back at twenty miles an hour, staring into yards, parking lots, shadowed alleys.

Five times she paused in front of Revco and prayed for his sudden appearance. And when it began to seem as though he’d vanished into thin air, she stopped at a closed gas station, got out and called Martha Shelton from a pay phone.

At Gideon’s request, Martha was staying at Sister Oaks while he was in New York. Gideon knew Kate didn’t like sleeping in the mansion alone with just Jude. He was so sensitive to her feelings, her concerns, her wishes…and now she’d lost his son.