“Okay. Michael found an unclaimed inheritance. It was supposed to go to Mama, who in turn left everything, which wasn't a helluva lot, to all of us. That means her children get to split the inheritance, but we are giving our share to you and Jeremy.”
Katie's head spun. She could only stare.
“Katie, that's wonderful,’’ Wilhemina said.
“You're not saying anything,” Dee said. “Do we need to go over it again?”
Katie worked her mouth, but no sound came out. “How much?”
“Oh,” Dee said. “A hundred thousand dollars.”
Katie gasped and lifted her hand to her mouth. “I don't believe it. I can't believe it.” Her heart began to hurt, her eyes felt like sandpaper. “I've counted so many pennies,” she whispered.
Distress filled Dee's eyes. “It's been tough on you; hasn't it? Damn, I wish I'd known.”
“It hasn't been that bad. It's just—” She broke off, swallowing over a lump in her throat. “It's just been…”
Lori squeezed her shoulders. “Not so much anymore.”
“Are you two sure you want to do this?”
“Absolutely,” Dee said.
“It's the only thing we can do,” Lori said.
“But we both want to meet Jeremy.”
Katie nodded.
“Now.”
Still reeling from the news, Katie alternately smiled and wiped at her eyes. “Okay, I'll call the school to tell them we're on the way.”
Within five minutes they were on the way to Jeremy's school. They shared memories along the way while Lori searched for a suitable radio station and Dee smoked a cigarette.
“That's a disgusting habit,” Lori said wrinkling her nose.
“There are worse habits, Little Miss Perfect,” Dee said, and Katie couldn't help noticing how easily the two of them had slipped back into sisterly banter. “What kind of car do you drive, Priss?”
Katie felt self-conscious, then pushed the feeling aside. “It wasn't economically feasible for me to own a car.”
Dee frowned and blew out a stream of smoke. “Maybe you can get one now. I don't like the way this went down for you. It wasn't fair.”
Katie shrugged. “There are lots of things that aren't fair. I just did what I had to. I imagine you have too.”
“I suppose.”
“Where do you work?”
“Here and there,” Dee said vaguely. “Is this the turn I take?”
Katie nodded. “Yeah.” She was getting an uneasy feeling about her middle sister. “How often do you see your father these days?”
“Never. He thinks I am spawn of a devil and a heavenly angel, and the devil won.”
“Did he beat you?”
Dee met her gaze in the rearview mirror, and Katie saw the lashings in her eyes. Then her expression grew shuttered. “I survived. This is such a momentous occasion. Let's stick to pleasant conversational topics.”
Katie felt sick. She may have had it tough, but she'd never had to endure abuse. She had thought Dee would be okay, and she hadn't been. There was a shell of cool sophistication about Dee that Katie suspected had been erected as a defense. A shield born of necessity. Katie remembered Dee as a sweet, eager young girl and felt another stab of loss. How many would they face? she wondered, and made a silent oath not to let her sisters get away from her again.
“There it is,” she said, pointing to the house with the children hanging on the porch.
“I like it. It looks welcoming,” Lori said.
“It is,” Katie said. “I'm betting Jeremy will call you by name when he sees you.”
“But he's never met us,” Lori said.
“Yes; he has,” Katie said. “Mama talked about you and I told him about you and showed him photographs.”
“Those photographs had to be ancient. He won't recognize me,” she said doubtfully.
“We'll see. There he is.”
“Where?” Dee asked, stubbing out her cigarette.
“Running down the steps. Brown hair.” She glanced at Dee. “Like yours.”
Her guarded expression melted away for a moment. “He's beautiful,” Dee said.
“Oh, wait till you talk with him. Just remember he'll need to see your lips.”
“Is his hearing all the way gone?”
“Just about,” Katie said. “But trust me, he doesn't want your pity.”
The three sisters got out of the car and Jeremy bounded toward them. He hugged Priss, then looked from Lori to Dee. His gaze moved like a Ping-Pong ball between his two newest-to-him sisters.
“Lori and Delilah,” he said.
“Oh, he knows my full name. Most people call me Dee. I hear you like computer games.”
He nodded, still staring. “Y’ all are so pretty.”
“A man after my own heart,” she said and took his hand. Lori took the other. “Show us your room.”
“It's a mess. I wasn't expecting company.”
Katie held back a moment and watched the three of them climb the steps. Her chest felt so tight she couldn't breathe. God, how she wished Michael were here. Damn him for arranging this and leaving her to manage the shock on her own. The sight of her brother with her sisters was so sweet she almost couldn't bear to look.
Turning away, she hid behind a huge maple and wept. She begged her mother's forgiveness for not believing in her. After all, Sunny had come through. There'd been some frightening moments, but even in death, she'd managed to take care of her children. Her mother had been far from perfect, but she'd done her best, and Katie's life was the richer for it. Of all her siblings, she suddenly felt the luckiest, because she'd had the most time with her mom. Knowing how to two-step and wear high heels had come in handy, and Popsicles, the song “You Are My Sunshine,” and fairy tales took the rough edges off of life.
It took several moments for her to collect herself. Thank goodness, her siblings were distracted. She made a quick dash to the rest room and splashed water on her face, and joined the trio on the front porch.
Dee squinted her eyes at her. “Still a little splotchy.”
Katie smiled. “Kind of you to notice.”
“Does Mama talk to you?” Jeremy asked suddenly.
Katie watched her sisters’ faces freeze in surprise.
“What do you mean?” Lori asked, facing Jeremy so he could see her speak.
“She sings to me. I hear Mama and she sings to me. I can't hear music anymore, but I can hear her sing.”
Silence descended on the four of them. Dee dabbed at her eyes. “I assume you already knew about this.”
Katie nodded.
“She tells me I'm not alone,” Lori admitted. “She tells me my sisters love me.” She slid a sideways glance at Dee. “She must be talking about Priss.”
Katie chuckled at Lori's gentle joke. “What about you, Dee? You hear anything from the hereafter?”
“She says I'm gonna be the death of her.”
“But she's already dead,” Lori said.
“My point exactly.” She paused a moment. “A few times I wondered if I was going nuts, but I heard her sing too. It was just before I ran away that last time. I would hear her sing every night after he beat—” She broke off and smiled, ruffling Jeremy's hair. “Well, I'm glad to know I'm in good company.”
The revelation scored Katie's heart. Oh, how she wished she could have done something. No wonder Dee was guarded. She bit her lip and glanced at her watch. “It's dinnertime for the students. We should leave.”
Jeremy protested. Hugs were repeated all around with promises to return. Katie and her sisters drove to Katie's apartment, but Lori and Dee were scheduled to return to Texas that night.
“You've done well for Jeremy,” Dee said.
“Thanks. I would have liked to have done well for you if I'd known.”
“Water under the bridge. It's been twelve years, Priss. You can't be responsible for everyone.”
But it wasn't enough. “If you ever want to live with me, you can,” Katie impulsively offered.
Dee lifted an eyebrow. “It's a little crowded.”
“Wilhemina and Douglas will be leaving soon. I mean this invitation,” she said, hugging both Lori and Dee. “I don't want to lose touch.”
“Me either,” Lori said.
“Me either. I'll be in touch.” Dee smiled. “You always showed us the right way to do things. You haven't stopped.”
Katie felt the threat of more tears. “Trust me, I'm not perfect.”
“You didn't ever say what Mama says to you,” Lori said.
Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Mama tells me to have sex.”
Dee laughed. “With Michael, I'll bet. Ah, gotcha. I can see it on your face.” “Shut up,” Katie said. “But call me.”
“Anytime?” Lori asked with a wide smile.
“All the time.”
“I would like, to see you at Wilhemina's wedding tomorrow,” Katie had said. “I would really like to see you, and no I'm not pregnant.”
Her words kept him awake. She kept him awake. Nothing new there. He had half wanted her to be pregnant. That way, it might have been easier to—He broke off his thoughts, disgusted with himself. Staring at the ceiling, he remembered her voice getting tight and choky when she'd talked about her sisters. Then she'd cussed at him for not being there. He'd felt like a heel, or at the very least, an idiot.
He was deliberately locking himself in the Rasmussen prison to prove a point to the prick of the century when the woman he needed more than he needed his next breath needed him with her. The silent knowledge sank through him. God help him, he was head-over-ass in love with her, and he was scared to death she was somehow going to slip away from him. Which made his current choice of holing himself up in Rasmussen's house doubly asinine.
Michael stared at the ceiling and calculated, how many accounts he would have to get to make up for Ivan Rasmussen. By early dawn, he reached his decision.
Michael walked into Ivan's office. Ivan glowered at him. “Why haven't you left?”
“I wanted to prove the point that I was stable and reliable, but it occurs to me that I really don't care what you think of me anymore.”
Ivan met his gaze. “If that's true, then why don't you leave?”
“I am,” Michael said and felt the oddest weight lifted from his chest. “I only have one more week and I could make it with no problem, but there's somebody waiting for me, somebody I care about a helluva lot more than I care about you. So you can keep your security contract wherever you like. I'm going to your daughter's wedding,” he said, and walked out of the office.
He hadn't walked ten steps before Ivan appeared at his side. “You can't say something like that and just leave.”
“I just did.”
“But you can't.”
“Yes, I can.”
“I order you to—”
“Nuh-uh-uh,” Michael said, holding up his hand in a stopping motion. “You can't order me because I don't work for you.”
Ivan's brows knitted. “Is she marrying the hog farmer?”
Michael nodded. “He's a nice guy and he thinks the sun rises and sets on Wilhemina. She glows when she's around him.”
Ivan sighed and looked away. “She's getting married today.”
“Yep.”
“Where?”
“Can't tell you.”
Ivan looked affronted. “I'm the father of the bride. I damn well deserve to know where my daughter is getting married.”
“Not if you're gonna be disruptive.”
“I won't be disruptive. I just,” Ivan said and stopped. “I just want to see her.”
“Okay. Want a ride?”
Michael wasn't certain it was a great idea for Ivan to attend the wedding given his previous attitude, but he had an inkling the old coot was coming around. And when Michael saw Ivan catch a glimpse of Wilhemina in her lace wedding dress, he was shocked to see tears in the man's eyes.
All fine and good, but Michael wanted to see Katie. He searched the small crowd and saw her standing near the minister holding a bouquet of flowers. The sun glinted on her hair, and he could feel her smile from thirty feet away. For that moment, though, all he could do was stare.
She must have felt him looking at her, because she turned and her gaze latched on to his. Her smile broadened and he felt his heart trip over itself. He walked, then ran to greet her, taking her in his arms.
She felt warm and wonderful and like everything he'd ever wanted. “I've missed you,” he said.
“Me too. I didn't think you'd come.”
“I brought Ivan, but I probably lost the contract.”
She pulled back and searched his gaze. “Are you okay with that?”
He nodded “I needed to see you. You look beautiful,” he said, taking in the flowing pastel dress and baby's breath in her hair.
“Thanks. It was nice to buy something that wasn't gray.”
“I knew you were pretty even when you wore gray.”
“When it came to me, it always seemed like you knew just a little too much.”
“I want to know more,” he told her, and it was the truest thing he'd ever said.
Her eyes darkened with an emotion that grabbed his gut and wouldn't let go. “I don't have a condom with me,” she said in a low-voice. “But I'm on the pill.”
She was going to give him a heart attack. “Why?”
She looked from side to side, then bit her lip. “Because I don't want any barriers. I just want—” She took a quick breath that undid him, then tied him in a dozen knots. “I just want you.
“You're going to make it difficult to get through this wedding ceremony if you don't stop talking like that,” he warned her.
“How long do I have to stop?”
“Until the minister pronounces them man and wife. Can we get this show on the road?”
The ceremony felt interminable, but in actuality only lasted eight minutes. The minister pronounced them man and wife, and Douglas laid a whopper of a kiss on his new bride. Ivan strode up to the couple and for a second Michael was afraid the old man was going to take a swing at Douglas. That would have been a mistake, given the fact that Douglas stood a good five inches taller. Instead, however, Ivan kissed his daughter, shook his son-in-law's hand; and gave the couple a fat check with a condition. There would always be a condition with Ivan. He made Wilhemina promise they would bring the baby to visit frequently.
Michael and Katie exchanged hugs and good wishes with Douglas and Wilhemina, then Michael pulled Katie away from the crowd. “I want to be alone with you, but I brought Ivan. He'll need a ride home.” He swore.
“Let him take your ear. We can pick it up later,” Katie said.
“How?”
“I bought a used car.”