Nerds on Fire (23 page)

Arriving home was still a little
surreal to him, but it also filled Rylan with pride when he pulled
into his driveway and gazed at the estate he now called home. The
place was different from how it had been in his youth, yet it was
still home, or it would be after he put his stamp on it. He was
reluctant to do so until he brought home his bride.

This turned his thoughts to Nina. A
surge of anticipation jolted him as he drove down the driveway and
parked in front of his doorway. He wondered how well she cooked.
Even if the fare was awful, it still meant they would be
together.

It wasn’t until he climbed
out of his vehicle that he noticed a familiar, empty car parked off
to the side.
What was she doing
here?

He hurried up the stairs and into the
house. His housekeeper met him at the front door. “That woman is
here,” she whispered, wringing the cleaning cloth in her hands, her
lips tight.

“
Thank you, Bernadette.
I’ll go see what she wants.”

She nodded, and ceased wringing her
favorite chamois duster. “Thank you, Rylan.”

“
I won’t be in this
evening. Nina is cooking for us. I did tell you, didn’t
I?”

Her lined face creased into a radiant
smile. “So you did. I’m sure Nina’s cooking is much better than
ours.”

“
Very doubtful, Bernie. But
I am looking forward to the company,” he admitted.

Then he turned toward the small
sitting room where Bernadette indicated she had stashed Chrissy.
The sooner he got rid of her the faster he could see
Nina.

He opened the door to the room and
strolled in. Chrissy turned from where she had been peering out the
window to the forecourt. Her face was etched in lines of pensive
beauty, schooled for maximum effect, he was certain, but she left
him cold.

“
What do you want,
Chrissy?” It was difficult to keep his tone neutral.

“
I just wanted to see you.”
Her voice was beautifully modulated, as though she had matched it
to her surroundings.

“
Why?”

Not in the least intimidated by his
demeanor, she took a dainty step toward him.

“
Don’t you miss me at all,
Rylan?” She tilted her head, and the lamplight caught in her hair.
In the past the effect would have dazzled him, now it did
nothing.

“
No, I don’t.” He had no
reason to hurt her, and didn’t want to do so, but being blunt was
perhaps the only way to deal with the Chrissys of this
world.

She gasped. Tears welled in her eyes.
Her hand fluttered to her chest. “How can you be so
cruel?”

“
I’m not being cruel.” He
stifled his seething impatience. “I’m over you Chrissy, and have
been since we broke up. I don’t love you. When I realized that, the
logical next step was to break off our relationship. I haven’t been
pining for you. I’m sorry if this hurts you, but it is
true.”

One perfect tear slipped
from the corner of her eye. He wondered how she managed it.
Could you take classes to learn this sort of
manipulation? Or did it just come naturally?

“
You don’t mean that.”
There was a perfect note of pleading in her voice.

“
Yes, I do.” He made
certain there was absolute truth in his tone. He glanced at his
watch. “You’re going to make me late for my...
appointment.”

He didn’t want her to know he had a
date. Something told him offering such information would be a bad
idea.

“
I’m sorry.” Her whisper
was probably supposed to pierce his soul. All he cared about though
was the friendly, sincere welcome in Nina’s eyes.

“
So am I, Chrissy, now if
you don’t mind...” He turned and led the way to the front door.
“I’m certain you have better things to do.”

She left, reluctantly and with a faint
air of surprise. Had she come here expecting him to sweep her off
her feet and declare the end of their engagement had all been a
mistake?

Rylan snorted as he shut the door and
made for the stairs. Ending their relationship was the brightest
thing he’d done this decade. It would have been a lot wiser of him
to not have fallen under her spell in the first place, but you
learned and moved on.

He hurried up the stairs, taking them
three at a time, and made for the shower. Chrissy’s visit had put
him behind schedule. Now he needed to hurry. Thankfully, he had
already thought about this during a really boring accounting
meeting.

Chapter 23

Trixi sat down at her
table, but it seemed foreign. Alien
—
not familiar at all. Perhaps that’s
what grief did. The world moved on without stopping to take notice
of the tragic loss she had experienced.

The loss had occurred nearly fifteen
years ago, true. But she couldn’t process it then. Perhaps she
would be in a different place in life if she had grieved fifteen
years ago.

She had lost her mother and therefore
this huge house became hers. She was far too young to own a house,
any house, much less this one in all its splendor. Fortunately,
since she had been underage, it remained in the care of her father.
Some far seeing ancestress had understood someone so young couldn’t
possibly resume control of the estate while a youth so had decreed
the heir needed to take possession by her thirtieth birthday.
Trixi’s was fast approaching.

She had been living here for nearly
three years, working and finishing her schooling. Now with her
father moved out, it made her the sole owner of the estate. A
daunting thought.

Not as daunting as losing her mother,
but enough to turn any sane woman into a quivering mass of jelly.
Yet glancing at her two dinner companions helped strengthen her.
Both Gran and Mark were strong enough to support her.

Her thoughts helped to stiffen her
spine and face the unknown future with, if not conviction, at least
some resolve. Only a few weeks ago she had feared living alone. Now
she had two roommates. One of whom she had loved all her life and
the other who she could certainly love the rest of her
life...

“
Trixi, pass the salt,
please,” Gran requested.

Trixi complied.

“
This needs more salt, so
feel free to add it.” Gran slid the shaker to Mark. He added some
before handing it to her. Trixi hadn’t even tasted the meal yet. It
was a pity since Gran had labored over it.

“
Are you adjusting okay to
doing some cooking?” Trixi asked. Gran hadn’t cooked her own meals
for as long as Trixi could remember.

“
I’m fine. I would hate to
do it all the time. Fortunately, you enjoy cooking and do most of
it, so I’ll just make whatever I’m hungry for. This way I get a say
in what is made and I do appreciate that.”

Nodding, Trixi forked up a taste of
the casserole Gran prepared. “You certainly took to it right
away.”

“
Your grandfather and I
moved into our estate as newlyweds. The money we had was poured
into the house in those days so there was nothing left to hire a
cook. It meant I had to do it, even after your father came along.”
Gran didn’t sound like she minded.

“
Did you miss it when you
could afford a cook?”

“
No. By then your father
was a handful and we got Miriam, so I was fully occupied with both
children. On top of them I also lost several babies.”

Trixi set her fork down. Gran’s
generation didn’t mention this sort of thing. Certainly not in
front of a man and there was no doubt Mark was a man.

He laid his own fork on his plate.
“Did your doctor explain why women lose babies?”

With a shake of her regal head, Gran
said, “We all knew it just happened that way sometimes.”

“
Your doctor never
explained there are medical reasons for miscarriages?”

Mark was in full doctor
mode, so Trixi relaxed. It’s probably why Gran felt free to mention
something so personal. She was well aware Mark was a doctor
and...
oh
.

This was likely her way of convincing
Mark to talk about what had happened this morning. Gran could
sympathize with him because she had some failures in her career as
a mother. Grief was a part of living, a part of being
human.

Between them, she and Mark explained
some of the reasons for miscarriage and in doing so, Gran now
comprehended the medical reasons. Most mothers believed they were
to blame for losing their baby, but in fact, the chromosomes were
the cause. There were so many things that could go wrong on a
cellular level; it was amazing there were so many people on the
planet.

Once the conversation wound down, and
it didn’t last long, because it was evident Gran wasn’t completely
comfortable, Gran finally turned to Mark. “You lost a patient
today?”

His lips firmed and his nod was
brisk.

“
You do know it’s not
uncommon, correct?”

“
It is for me,” he said in
a tight voice.

“
Of course it is. But when
it’s someone’s turn to go there isn’t a thing anyone else can do.
Their time is up and they die.” Gran’s tone was matter-of-fact so
there was no way Mark could take offense.

Maybe Gran didn’t know much about
brain surgery, but she did know plenty about loss.

“
How did you work through
losing your babies?” Mark asked.

“
You have to take time to
grieve. Allow yourself time. Understand this was beyond your power.
That was the hardest thing for me.” Gran leaned back in her chair,
gaze fixed on the saltshaker. “I had to realize this wasn’t my
decision to make. I wanted those children with every part of my
being. In the end, I was only able to carry one baby to full
term.”

Tears welled in Trixi’s eyes. She
couldn’t imagine wanting children so badly and then losing so many.
The only thing harder would be to bring them into the world and
then lose them in infancy or later. The pain Gran had gone through
showed Trixi her own life hadn’t been so difficult. Sure, she was
alone, but her trials and tribulations hadn’t been as agonizing as
Gran experienced.

“
When did you stop having
miscarriages?” she asked.

“
I think my body wore out
by the time I reached my mid-thirties since I stopped getting
pregnant then. In a way it was a blessing because I couldn’t bear
burying any more children. By then your dad was about ten and
Miriam nearly seven, and I had a wonderful family.”

“
What classifies as
wonderful?” Trixi had her own ideas, but hearing someone else’s
definition might be beneficial.

“
I had a loving, amazing
husband. And a son and daughter I adored who were healthy and
happy. I was lucky, and I knew it.”

Maybe all that wasn’t Trixi’s lot, but
she was thankful to know these details about her grandmother. A
woman who had helped to shape her life through the years, a rock
she clung to after her mother died so unexpectedly.

Counting one’s blessings appeared to
be the balm all three of them needed because when they all picked
up their forks again, it was to renewed appetites and a much easier
atmosphere. Their conversation turned to more banal, but necessary
conversation and the meal flowed on.

Trixi couldn’t admit to being
famished, but she ate enough. Mark and Gran did the same. They
didn’t make huge inroads on the casserole, despite its
tastiness.

“
We’ll have a second meal
for later in the week.” They could reheat this and it would
probably be even better the second time around.

“
I like casseroles,” Mark
agreed.

She nodded and the three of them
worked contentedly together to clear the table. Mark loaded the
dishwasher, while she put away the food, and Gran wiped down the
table and countertops. It was nice to work together.

Somehow, it helped pierce through the
sorrow hanging in the air around them.

In her car, Chrissy glared
at the house in front of her. This should have been
hers
. It was supposed to
be hers. Rylan had forgotten to mention he was next in line for
this house while they dated, and stupid her, she hadn’t thought to
ask.

His previous house had been worthy of
her, but this place was even more so. Plenty spacious for the type
of entertaining she planned on becoming known for, and stuffed to
the rafters with antiques and gorgeous artwork, this estate shot
beyond even her dreams.

So what if she had to take Rylan
Duvall along with the house? The house still belonged to her. It
cried out to her to come and give it the face-lift and glamour it
so very much deserved. She could make this manor a showplace worthy
of any fine estate in the country, if not the world.

How Rylan had been able to
resist her was stupefying. He should have fallen into her hand like
all the times before. Really, he was a trial and she
would
take it out on him
after they were married. But right now she needed to focus on
forcing his hand since he wasn’t going to fall into her palm like
he should.