Black Rose (8 page)

“And I’m not a little boy you have to protect from bullies anymore, Mama. I’m a man, and it’s my job now to protect you. Whether you want it or not. And whether you damn well need it or not.”

She dropped her hands again, nearly managed a smile this time. “I guess that’s telling me.”

“He comes to the door again, you won’t stop me.”

She drew a breath, then framed his face with her hands. “I know you’re a man. It pains me sometimes, but I know you’re a man with his own life, his own ways. I know you’re a man, Harper, who’ll stand beside me when I ask, even though you’d rather stand in front of me and fight the battle.”

Though she knew she wasn’t quite forgiven, she pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m going on home to work in the garden. Don’t stay mad at me too long.”

“Probably won’t.”

“There’s some of that baked ham left over from the party. Plenty of side dishes, too, if you wanted to come by and forage for dinner.”

“Might.”

“All right, then. You know where to find me.”

W
ITH GARDENS AS
extensive as hers, there was always some chore to do. Since she wanted work, Roz hauled mulch, checked her compost, worked with the cuttings and seedlings she grew for her personal use in the small greenhouse at home.

Then grabbing gloves and her loppers, she headed out to finish up some end-of-the-year pruning.

When Mitch found her, she was shoving small branches into a little chipper. It rattled hungrily as it chewed, with its dull red paint looking industrious.

As she did, he thought, in her dirt-brown and battered jacket, the black cap, thick gloves, and scarred boots. There were shaded glasses hiding her eyes, and he wondered if she wore them against the beam of sunlight, or as protection against flying wood chips.

He knew she couldn’t hear him over the noise of the chipper, so took a moment just to watch her. And let himself meld the sparkling woman in rubies with the busy gardener in faded jeans.

Then there was the to-the-point woman in a business suit who’d first come to his apartment. Roz of the tropical greenhouse with a smudge of soil on her cheek. And the casual, friendly Roz who’d taken the time to help him select a child’s toy.

Lots of angles to her, he decided, and likely more than he’d already seen. Strangely enough, he was attracted to every one of them.

With his thumbs hooked in his front pockets, he moved
into her line of vision. She glanced up from under the brim of the ballcap, then switched off the machine.

“You don’t need to stop on my account,” he told her. “It’s the first time I’ve seen one of those things in action except in
Fargo
.”

“This one isn’t quite up to disposing of a body, but it does the job for garden chores.”

She knew
Fargo
, he thought, ridiculously pleased. It was a sign they had some common ground. “Uh-huh.” He peered down where most of a branch had gone inside. “So you just shove stuff in there, and chop, chop, chop.”

“More or less.”

“Then what do you do with what’s left?”

“Enough branches and leaves and such, you get yourself a nice bag of mulch.”

“Handy. Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but David said you were out here. I thought I’d come by, get in a couple hours of research.”

“That’s fine. I didn’t figure you’d have much time to spare on it until after the holidays.”

“I’ve got time. I’m getting copies of official records, and I need to make some notes from your family Bible, that sort of thing. Get some order before I can dig down below the surface.”

He brushed a good-sized wood chip from her shoulder and wished she’d take off the sunglasses. Her eyes just killed him.

“And I’d like to set up times for those interviews, for after the holidays.”

“All right.”

He stood, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. He was stalling, he knew, but she smelled so damn good. Just a hint of secret female under the woody scent. “Funny, I didn’t think much went on in a garden this time of year.”

“Something goes on every time of year.”

“And I’m holding you up. Listen, I wanted to see if you were all right.”

“I’m fine. Just fine.”

“It’d be stupid for me to pretend I didn’t hear murmurs about what was behind that scene last night. Or what would have been a scene if you hadn’t handled things so . . . adroitly.”

“Adroitly’s how I prefer handling things, whenever possible.”

“And if you’re going to get your back up when a conversation between us touches on the personal, it’s going to be tough to research your family history.”

Because he was watching carefully, because he was learning to read her, he saw the annoyance flick over her face before she composed it. “Last night has nothing whatsoever to do with my family history.”

“I disagree. It involves you, and this . . . thing going on in your house involves you.”

She might kick him out as . . . adroitly as she had Bryce Clerk, but if so, it would be because he was honest and up-front.

“I’m going to pry, Roz. That’s what you’ve hired me to do, and I won’t always pry gently. If you want me to move forward with this, you’ll have to get used to it.”

“I fail to see what my regrettable and thankfully brief second marriage could have to do with the Harper Bride.”

He didn’t have to see her eyes clearly to know they’d chilled. He heard it in her voice. “Bride. Whether or not she was one, she’s referred to as such through your family lore. When she . . . manifested herself,” he decided, “last spring—in spades—you said she’d never bothered with you when you’d socialized with men, or when you’d married—as she had with Stella.”

“Stella has small children. My children are grown.”

“Doesn’t make them less your children.”

Her shoulders relaxed, then she bent to scoop up some smaller twigs and toss them in the mouth of the chipper. “No, of course, it doesn’t.”

“So, we can theorize that she didn’t feel threatened by Bryce—and what the hell kind of name is that anyway? Stupid. Or that she considered your maternal duties done, and didn’t care what you did regarding your sex life. Or that after a certain point, she stops showing herself to whoever’s living in the house.”

“It can’t be three, as I’ve seen her recently.”

“Since June?”

“Just a few days ago, and then again last night.”

“Interesting. What were you doing, what was she doing? I should have my notebook.”

“It was nothing. She was there, then she wasn’t. I don’t expect you to solve the puzzle of why she comes, or to whom. I want you to find out who she was.”

“One puzzle’s connected to the other. I really want some time to talk to you. And this is obviously not it. Maybe we can have dinner, next evening you’re free.”

“It’s not necessary for you to buy me dinner to get an interview.”

“It might be enjoyable to buy you dinner. If you have strong objections to mixing business and pleasure, I’m going to be sorry to wait to ask you out until I’m finished with this project.”

“I don’t date anymore, Mitch. I gave it up.”

“The word
date
always makes me feel like I’m back in college. Or worse, high school.” He took a chance and reached out to slide her glasses down her nose. Looked directly into her eyes. “We could just say that I’m interested in spending time with you on a social level.”

“That says
date
to me.” But she smiled before she scooted the glasses back in place. “Not that I don’t appreciate it.”

“We’ll settle for an interview for now. I’m going to be in and out the next couple of weeks, so you can let me know when you’ve got time to sit down for an extended period. Otherwise, you can call me at home, and we’ll set it up.”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ll go in, get some work done. Let you get back to yours.”

When he started to walk away, she reached for the switch on the chipper.

“Roz? Any time you change your mind about dinner, you just let me know.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” She switched on the machine, pushed the branch in.

S
HE WORKED UNTIL
she lost the light, then stowed her tools before climbing the steps to the second-floor terrace and her outside door.

She wanted an endless hot shower, soft clothes, then a cold glass of wine. No, she thought. A martini. One of David’s amazing, icy martinis with the fancy olives he squirreled away. Then she’d make a sandwich out of that glorious leftover ham. Maybe she’d spend most of the evening playing with sketches and ideas for the florist expansion. Then there were the bag selections Stella had gotten for her, for the in-house potting soil.

Dates, she thought as she shed her clothes and turned on the shower. She didn’t have time, certainly didn’t have the inclination to date at this stage of her life. Even if the offer had come from a very attractive, intelligent, and intriguing man.

One who’d ask her out when she was covered with wood chips.

Why couldn’t they just have sex and clear the air?

Because she wasn’t built that way, she admitted. And wasn’t that too damn bad. There had to be a little more . . . something before she stripped down, literally and figuratively, with a man.

She liked him, well enough, she thought as she tipped her head back and let the hot water beat on her face, her shoulders. She appreciated the way he’d reacted last spring when there’d been trouble, admired—now that she had the distance to look back—the way he’d leaped in without hesitation, without investment.

Some men would have run the other way, and would certainly have dismissed the idea of working for her, in a house haunted by what they now knew could be a dangerous spirit.

And well, she’d been charmed, really, at the way he’d been so flummoxed over buying a child’s gift—and how much he’d wanted to find the right thing. It was a point in his favor.

If she were keeping score.

If she wanted to dip her toe in the dating pool again, it would probably be with someone like him. Someone she could have conversations with, someone who attracted and interested her.

And it didn’t hurt that he was what Hayley termed a hottie.

Then again, look what happened last time.

It was a stupid woman who’d use anyone like Bryce as a yardstick. She
knew
that, so why couldn’t she stop? The fact that she was doing it was a sort of victory for Bryce, wasn’t it? If she could do nothing else about it, she could and would work on pushing him out of her thoughts.

Prick.

All right, she thought as she switched the water off again and reached for a towel. Maybe she’d consider—just consider—going out to dinner with Mitch. Just to prove to
herself that she wasn’t letting Bryce affect her life in any way.

A little dinner out, some conversation, a mix of business and pleasure. That wouldn’t be so bad, when she drummed up the energy for it. She wouldn’t mind seeing him on a personal level. In fact, it might help all around if she got to know him better.

She’d think about it.

After wrapping the towel around her body, she reached automatically for her lotion. And her hand froze inches from the bottle.

Written in the steam of the bathroom mirror were two words.

Men Lie!

R
OZ PUT MEN
, family ghosts, and messages written in steam out of her mind. Her sons were home.

The house was full of them, their voices, their energy, their debris. Once, the piles of shoes, the hats, the
things
they’d leave scattered around had driven her slightly crazy. Now she loved seeing the evidence of them. Once, she’d longed for an ordered, quiet house, and now reveled in the noise and confusion.

They’d be gone soon enough, back to the lives they were building. So she would treasure every minute of the two days she had her family under one roof again.

And wasn’t it fun to see her sons with Stella’s boys, or watch Harper lift a fussy Lily and cuddle her in his arms? It made up for finding herself at the head of this mixed generational train.

“I want to thank you for letting Logan stay tonight.” Stella settled onto the sofa beside Roz.

“It’s Christmas Eve. We generally have room at the inn.”

“You know what I mean, and
I
know it’s probably fussy
and anal and silly, but I really want our first Christmas in his—
our
—house to be when we’re official.”

“I think it’s sweet and sentimental, and selfishly I’m glad everyone’s here tonight.” She watched Hayley scoop Lily up as the baby made a crawling beeline for the tree. “Glad to have children in the house tonight. Austin!” she called out as her middle son began to juggle three apples he’d plucked out of a bowl. “Not in the parlor.”

“That tune’s so familiar, I can add the music.” A tall, narrow-hipped young man with his father’s wavy blond hair, he winked at Gavin while giving the apples one more rotation. “Not in the parlor, Austin, not in the parlor,” he sang, making Stella’s sons roll with laughter before he tossed them each an apple, and took a bite out of the third.

“Here, Mama, have some wine.” Her youngest, Mason, sat on the arm of the sofa and handed her a glass. There was a wicked twinkle in his blue eyes that warned Roz trouble was coming. “Austin, you know the parlor is sacred ground. You don’t want to be juggling in here. Especially something like, say, shoes.”

“You can juggle shoes!” Awestruck, Luke goggled at Austin.

“I can juggle anything. I have amazing talent and dexterity.”

“But sadly, I wasn’t able to talk him into running off and joining the circus when he was eight.” Harper took Lily when she leaned away from Hayley and held out her chubby arms to him.

“Can you juggle mine?” Luke asked.

“Hand one over.”

“Austin.” Resigned, Roz sighed and sipped her wine. “You break anything, you’re grounded.”

“Why, another familiar tune. Let’s see, I need a challenge. Logan, looks to me like that shoe’s big enough to house a family of four. Let’s have it.”

“I give you my shoe, you get grounded, I get fired. Call me a coward, but I’ll soon have two growing boys to feed.” He reached down to poke Gavin in the ribs. “And they eat like pigs.”

“Oink.” Showing off, Gavin grabbed a cookie from a tray and stuffed it whole in his mouth. “Oink.”

“Oh, go ahead, Logan.” Roz waved a hand. “He won’t be satisfied otherwise.”

“Let’s see, one more.” His gaze scanned, landed on Hayley. “Look at those pretty, delicate feet. How about it, sweetheart?”

Hayley laughed. “They’re about as delicate as banana boats.” But she slipped her shoe off.

“Harper, move your grandmother’s Baccarat there to safer ground,” Roz ordered, “so your brother can show off.”

“I prefer the term
perform.
”

“I recall a performance that cost Mama a lamp,” Harper commented as he moved heirlooms. “And got all three of us—and you, too, David, if memory serves—KP duty.”

“In my salad days,” Austin claimed. After giving the trio of varied footwear a few testing tosses, he began to juggle. “As you can see, I’ve sharpened my skills since that regrettable incident.”

“Fortunate to have a fallback career,” Mason told him. “You can take that act down to Beale Street.”

The circling shoes had Lily giggling and bouncing on Harper’s hip. For herself, Roz just held her breath until Austin took his bow.

He tossed a shoe back to a delighted Luke. “Can you teach me?”

“Me, too!” Gavin insisted.

“She’s going to say ‘not in the parlor,’ ” Austin announced even as Roz opened her mouth. “We’ll work in a lesson tomorrow—outside—keep us all safe from Mama’s wrath.”

“She’s the boss of everybody,” Luke told him solemnly.

“No flies on you. Since nobody’s seen fit to throw money, I’ll have to settle for a beer.”

He strolled over to hand Logan his shoe, then walked to Hayley. “All right, Cinderella, let’s see if this fits.”

He made a production out of slipping it back on her foot, then grinned at Harper over Hayley’s head. “Shoe fits.” He took her hand, kissed it. “We’ll just have to get ourselves married when I get back from the kitchen.”

“That’s what they all say.” But she gave him a flirting sweep with her eyes.

“Why don’t you get me a beer while you’re at it?” Mason asked.

“If I’m taking orders, what can I get everyone?”

After a scatter of requests, he looked over at Harper again. “Why don’t you give me a hand fetching the supplies?”

“Sure.” He passed Lily back to Hayley, and followed his brother out of the room.

“Can’t miss this,” Mason whispered to his mother, then strolled out behind them.

“P
RETTY THING
,
ISN
’
T
she, our cousin Hayley?” Austin commented.

“You’ve always had a keen knack for stating the obvious.”

“Then I’ll keep my streak going by saying I think she’s soft on me.”

“And an infallible way of misjudging women.”

“Hold on,” Mason told them. “I’ve got to find something to write on so I can keep score.”

“She’s got the prettiest mouth. Not that you’d notice, big brother, since it’s not something growing out of a pot.” He took out a beer, had a swig from the bottle even as Harper got out pilsners.

“And the only way you’d get your fat lips on hers is if she has a seizure and requires mouth-to-mouth.”

“He shoots, he scores. By the way, I’m the doctor here,” Mason reminded them. “She needs mouth-to-mouth, I’m first in line. We got any Fritos or anything around here?”

“Got ten bucks says different.” In an old habit, Austin boosted himself up to sit on the counter. “Maybe you could babysit so I can see if our resident babe would like a little stroll around the gardens. Seeing as I haven’t heard you call dibs.”

“She’s not the damn last piece of pie.” With some heat, Harper grabbed the beer from his brother, took a long swallow. “What the hell’s wrong with you talking about her that way? You ought to have a little more respect, and if you can’t come up with it on you’re own, you and I can take a little stroll outside so I can help you find it.”

With a grin, Austin jabbed a finger at Mason. “Told ya. Can I call ’em or can I call ’em?”

“Yeah, he’s hooked on her. What kind of kitchen is it that doesn’t have any Fritos?”

“In the pantry, top shelf,” Roz said from the doorway. “I’m surprised you’d think I’d forget your childish addiction to corn chips. Austin, have you finished messing with your brother’s head for now?”

“I was really just getting started.”

“You’ll have to postpone that portion of your holiday entertainment.” She glanced over, had to smile when she heard Mason’s cheer as he located the bag of chips. “We have company, and it might be nice if we present the illusion that I raised three respectable and mature young men.”

“That’s pretty well shattered since he’s already juggled,” Harper grumbled.

“There’s a point.” She moved over to touch Harper’s cheek, then Austin’s before she turned to Mason. “You may not be respectable and mature, but by God, the three of you
sure are handsome. I could’ve done worse. Now get those drinks together, Harper, and take them out to our guests. Austin, get your butt off my counter. This is a house, not the neighborhood bar. Mason, put those chips into a bowl, and stop dropping crumbs all over the floor.”

“Yes’m,” they said in unison, and made her laugh.

C
HRISTMAS DAY WENT
by in a blur. She tried to imprint specific moments on her mind—Mason’s sheer delight in the antique medical bag she’d found him, Harper and Austin squaring off over a foosball table. There was Lily’s predictable fascination with boxes and wrapping rather than toys, and Hayley’s joy in showing off a new pair of earrings.

She loved seeing Logan sitting cross-legged on the floor, showing Stella’s boys—his boys now—the child-sized tools inside the toolboxes he’d made them.

She wanted to slow the clock down—just for this day, just this one day—but it sped by, from dawn and the excitement of opening gifts, to the candlelight and the lavish meal David prepared and served on her best china.

Before she knew it, the house was quiet once more.

She wandered down to take a last look at the tree, to sit alone in the parlor with her coffee and her memories of the day, and all the Christmases before.

Surprised when she heard footsteps, she looked over and saw her sons.

“I thought you’d all gone over to Harper’s.”

“We were waiting for you to come down,” Harper told her.

“Come down?”

“You always come down Christmas night, after everyone’s gone to bed.”

She lifted her eyebrows at Mason. “I have no secrets in this house.”

“Plenty of them,” he disagreed. “Just not this one.”

Austin came over, took her coffee, and replaced it with a glass of champagne.

“What’s all this?”

“Little family toast,” he told her. “But that comes after this one last gift we’ve got for you.”

“Another? I’m going to have to add a room on the house to hold everything I got this morning.”

“This is special. You’ve already got a place for it. Or did at one time.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What have y’all cooked up?”

Harper stepped back into the hall and brought in a large box wrapped in gold foil. He set it at her feet. “Why don’t you open it and see?”

Curious, she set her glass aside and began to work on the wrap. “Don’t tell Stella I’m tearing this off, she’d be horrified. Myself, I’m amazed the three of you got together and agreed on something, much less kept it quiet until tonight. Mason always blabs.”

“Hey, I can keep a secret when I have to. You don’t know about the time Austin took your car and—”

“Shut up.” Austin punched his brother’s shoulder. “There’s no statute of limitations on that sort of crime.” He smiled sweetly at Roz’s narrowed look. “What you don’t know, Mama, can’t hurt this idiot.”

“I suppose.” But she wondered on it as she dug through the packing. And her heart simply stuttered as she drew out the antique dressing mirror.

“It was the closest we could come to the one we broke. Pattern’s nearly the same, and the shape,” Harper said.

“Queen Anne,” Austin added, “circa 1700, with that gold and green lacquer on the slanted drawer. At least, it’s the best our combined memories could match the one Mason broke.”

“Hey! It was Harper’s idea to use it as a treasure chest. It’s not my fault I dropped it out of the damn tree. I was the baby.”

“Oh, God. Oh, God, I was so mad, so mad, I nearly skinned y’all alive.”

“We have painful recollection of that,” Austin assured her.

“It was from your daddy’s family.” Voice thick, throat aching, she traced her fingers over the lacquered wood. “He gave it to me on our wedding day.”

“We should’ve been skinned.” Harper sat down beside her, rubbed her arm. “We know it’s not the same, but—”

“No, no, no.” Swamped with emotion, she turned her face to press it against his arm for a moment. “It’s better. That you’d remember this, think of this. Do this.”

“It made you cry,” Mason murmured, and bent to rub his cheek over her hair. “It’s the first time I remember seeing you cry. None of us ever forgot it, Mama.”

She was struggling not to cry now as she embraced each one of her sons. “It’s the most beautiful gift I’ve ever been given, and I’ll treasure it more than anything I have. Every time I look at it, I’ll think of the way you were then, the way you are now. I’m so proud of my boys. I always have been. Even when I wanted to skin you.”

Austin picked up her glass, handed it to her, then passed around the other three flutes. “Harper gets the honors, as he’s the oldest. But I want it on record that I thought it up.”

“We all thought it up,” Mason objected.

“I thought most of it up. Go on, Harper.”

“I will, if you’ll shut up for five seconds.” He lifted his glass. “To our mama, for everything she’s been to us, everything she’s done for us, every single day.”

“Oh. That’s done it.” The tears welled into her throat, spilled out of her eyes. “That’s done it for sure.”

“Go ahead and cry.” Mason leaned over to kiss her damp cheek. “Makes a nice circle.”

G
ETTING BACK TO
business as usual helped fill the little hole in her heart from kissing two of her sons goodbye.

It would be a slow week—the holiday week was, routinely—so she took a page out of Stella’s book and shouldered in to organizing. She cleaned tools, scrubbed down worktables, helped with inventory, and finally settled on the style of potting-soil bag, and the design.

With some time to spare, she worked with Hayley to pour a fresh supply of concrete planters and troughs.

“I can’t believe Christmas is over.” Squatting, Hayley turned the mold as Roz poured. “All that anticipation and prep, and it’s over in a snap. Last year, my first after my daddy died? Well, it was just awful, and the holidays dragged and dragged.”

“Grief tends to spin time out, and joy contracts it. I don’t know why that is.”

“I remember just wanting it all to be over—so I wouldn’t keep hearing “Jingle Bells” every time I went to work, you know? Being pregnant, and feeling alone, the house up for sale. I spent most of Christmas packing things up, figuring out what I was going to sell so I could leave Little Rock.”

She sat back on her heels to sigh, happily. “And here, just one year later, and everything was so bright and happy. I know Lily didn’t know what was going on, but it was so much fun to watch her play with her toys, or mostly the boxes.”