Carly's Gift (28 page)

Carly brought her cup up to her lips, but didn't take a drink. Instead, she absently tapped the rim against her bottom teeth and waited for the idea floating in her mind to settle and take form. “Ethan would make all of our lives unbearable if I took money from you. I need to find a way to protect the boys,” she said, expressing out loud her coalescing thoughts. “One of the things he laid on me this morning was that the basketball camp the boys have been begging to attend just happens to fall on the week we were supposed to be gone.”

“Isn't it interesting that there's money enough for that?”

“Rather than taking a loan from you, what if you gave me an early birthday present?”

Barbara sat up straight in her chair. “You mean like a ticket to England?”

“Ethan doesn't believe you have it in you to do anything devious, so there's no way he'd come back on you. Of course, Andrea would be disappointed we couldn't all—”

“But she would be thrilled that at least one of you didn't let her down.” Barbara smiled. “Oh, Carly, that's a wonderful idea. And we can start saving to send Shawn and Eric next year.”

A grin formed. “Are you absolutely sure you can afford to give me the money?”

“I managed to put that much away once, there's nothing saying I can't do it again. Besides, you won't come close to using it all.”

Carly drew her feet up and tucked them under her. “I know how my going off alone is going to look to Ethan. In his mind Andrea has become a package deal with David.”

“Good. Maybe it will get him to change his mind about going himself.”

“He'd rather put up a good front and imagine the worst.”

Barbara started to say something, hesitated, and then asked, “Is there any reason he should be worried?”

A bubble of longing burst in Carly. “If anything was going to happen between David and me, it would have happened last year when he brought Andrea home for Easter.”

“As much as I want you to be happy, it can't be at the expense of Shawn and Eric. They're the innocents in this.”

Carly eyed her mother. “Are you afraid I'm going to get over there and not come back?”

“The thought crossed my mind,” she admitted.

“You can stop worrying. It would hurt too many people for me to do something that selfish. I never thought I would say this, but I owe Victoria. She's been wonderful to Andrea. Beyond wonderful, considering the circumstances.

“And then there's Ethan. He'll never let me go without a fight and he would put the boys on the front line. How can I do that to them?”

“Sounds like you've given this some thought.”

“It's the world I live in when I can't go to sleep at night.”

Two months later, Carly was maneuvering her luggage carrier around yet another hallway in Heathrow airport, when she looked up and saw Andrea smiling at her.

“Mom!” Andrea called and rushed forward. “You're really here. I can hardly believe it.”

“Me, too,” Carly said, releasing the carrier to give Andrea a hug. “It seems like forever. How are you?” She let go of Andrea long enough to gaze into her face. “You look wonderful—and so grown up. My God, when did that happen?”

“Yesterday.”

“You couldn't have waited one more week?”

Andrea leaned back to gaze at Carly. Her eyes sparkled with joy and merriment. “It happened while I was asleep.”

A melancholy threatened Carly's happiness. “I'm sorry I wasn't here.”

“Well you're here now.” The look she gave her mother said she refused to let anything spoil the moment. “When Eric wrote that Dad was having financial problems, I thought for sure none of you would be coming. I was trying to figure out a way to tell David I'd be leaving again this summer when I got your text about Grandma's birthday present.”

A man with several suitcases in tow gave a discreet cough behind them. Andrea let go of Carly so that they could move out of the way. “You should have seen me when I got your text,” she continued without missing a beat. “David said he didn't know it was possible for anybody to smile and eat soup at the same time.”

Carly couldn't take her eyes off Andrea. The charming young girl with chubby cheeks and mischievous looks had stepped away from childhood and turned into a breathtakingly beautiful and sophisticated woman. How could the nine months since they'd seen each other have made such a difference?

Carly reached for the luggage carrier with one hand, took Andrea's arm with the other, and stepped into the flow of traffic.

“How was the flight?” Andrea asked.

“Wonderful.”

“Were you able to get any sleep?”

Carly shook her head. “I was too excited.” She grinned. “It's so good to see you. And to be here. I thought I'd go crazy waiting for this day to arrive.”

“Me, too.”

“I want to see everything. That way, I'll have a picture in my mind when you talk about it.”

Andrea laughed. “We've only got two weeks, Mom. We may not make it everywhere.” She hesitated. “I didn't want to dump this on you the minute you got off the plane, but I guess now's as good a time as any. I could only get one week off from school.”

Carly didn't want Andrea to hear the disappointment in her voice, so she waited until she could hide her feelings before she answered. “That's okay, honey. I don't mind saving some things for next time.” The look on Andrea's face told Carly her often-wounded daughter didn't believe there would ever be a next time. “Besides,” she went on, “who says I can't do some exploring on my own? You can point me in the right direction before you leave for school and I'll give you a full report when I get back.”

“You won't have to do that. David said he would take you wherever you wanted to go.”

“I thought David was going to be at Hawthorne working while I was here,” she said.

“When he found out I couldn't get the time off school, he volunteered to stay in the city.”

“What about Victoria?” Carly asked. “I don't imagine she was too thrilled with David's offer.”

“She's in Vienna working on some Mozart exhibit her women's group is putting together for the two-hundred-and-twenty-fifth year anniversary of his death. It's only been two hundred and twenty-three so far, which gives them a whole year, but the bunch of them are running around like it's happening next month.”

“When will she be back?”

“Not for a month, maybe more, depending on how much time she spends shopping in Paris when she's finished in Vienna.”

“Did she know I was coming before she left?”

Andrea shot a questioning look at her mother. “Of course she did. Why do you ask?”

“The arrangements seem a little unconventional,” she said. Under her breath she added, “To say the least.”

“David's not worried about you being here while Victoria's gone. Why should you be?”

When they reached a line of waiting cars, Harold moved ahead of them, unloaded Carly's luggage on the sidewalk, then opened the door of a black Bentley for Carly and Andrea. While he was putting the luggage in the trunk, Carly took advantage of the moment of privacy. “You and David both know that Ethan would have a fit if he found out David was staying with us while I was here.”

“Good grief, Mom. It's a great big house with lots and lots of rooms. The maid is there all day and I'll be there every night.” She studied her mother. “Are you sure it's Ethan you're afraid of?”

“Meaning?”

The trunk lid slammed shut. “Never mind,” Andrea said. “Why are we talking about something so dumb anyway when we could be talking about Grandma or Grandpa or Shawn or Eric. . . .” She batted her eyelashes several times for effect. “Or even Jeffery.”

This time it was Carly's turn to laugh. “I'd love to hear about Jeffery.”

Andrea reached for her purse. “It just so happens, I have a few dozen recent photographs of the gentleman in question on my phone.”

Harold opened the driver's side door and peered into the backseat. “I'm pleased to see the nap you took on the way here has set you to rights again,” he said to Andrea.

Carly frowned. It was ten o'clock in the morning. Andrea couldn't have been out of bed more than a couple of hours. On impulse, she reached across the seat and touched her hand to Andrea's forehead. She felt slightly warm, but that could easily have been from excitement. “Do you feel all right?”

Andrea removed her mother's hand with a show of impatience. “I feel fine,” she said. “I stayed up late last night studying for a test.”

“Why didn't you tell me you had a test today? I could have taken a cab.”

“Because it isn't today—it's tomorrow. I just wanted to get the studying out of the way so we could be together.”

Carly backed off. She hadn't flown all that way to get into an argument with Andrea. “By the way, before I forget, I want you to dig out a couple of old sweatshirts for me to take home when I leave. I figure the only way I'm ever going to get Muffin to let go of the one she's got is if I give her another.”

“She's still sleeping on the green one?” Andrea asked, plainly pleased she had not been forgotten by her childhood companion. “It must be a rag by now.”

“She'll let Eric take her for a walk now, but not without coaxing. Shawn thinks she's so senile, she can't remember anyone but you. I told him it was selective memory. Muffin was your shadow when she was still spry enough to do fun things.”

“David wanted to get me another dog, but I wouldn't let him.”

“Why not?” Carly asked, already knowing the answer.

“It wouldn't be fair to Muffin.”

Deciding it was time to change the subject, Carly said, “I believe you had some pictures you were going to show me.”

A look of delight washed over Andrea's face, “I'm so glad you're here,” she said. “I've missed you so much.”

Carly lost track of time on the drive in from the airport. As eager as she was to get her first look at London, she found it impossible to take her eyes from her daughter.

Two weeks wasn't enough time. She was an idiot not to have pushed for more. Twenty-one days couldn't have made Ethan any angrier. Why had she settled for fourteen when the boys would be at camp for half the time?

She had to give him credit. Even when she'd first approached him, he'd had sense enough not to involve Shawn and Eric in their arguments. He'd saved the majority of his hostility for the times the two of them were alone, only exposing the boys to his long periods of silence. But then he'd used that method to control Carly their entire marriage. As far as Shawn and Eric knew, Ethan was as excited about Carly seeing Andrea as they were.

Or so she'd thought until two days ago when she was in the middle of packing. Shawn came into the room and sat on the bed to watch her. It took ten minutes for him to build up his nerve and then the question slipped out so innocently, Carly wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly.

“Are you going to stay over there?” he'd asked.

Instead of answering him right away, Carly had finished wrapping tissue around her blue purse and closed the suitcase. His question and the fear behind it demanded more than a quick denial and reassurance. “Why don't we go for a walk?”

While she'd found and expressed the words it would take to convince him she would return, they wandered through the woods seeing who could find and identify the most birds. Afterward, reluctant to end their time together, they'd gone over to Cindy's for apple pie and ice cream.

In the hours they were together, Shawn gently renewed his claim on his mother, making sure she knew Andrea wasn't her only child in need.

“We're here,” Andrea announced, leaning forward in her seat to look out the window.

Carly tried to follow Andrea's gaze, but it was impossible. Finally, when Harold turned off the main road, it became obvious that she was referring to the Georgian house with the narrow circular driveway.

“It's beautiful,” Carly said, staring. For the past two and a half years, she'd tried to imagine how and where Andrea lived. For some reason, she'd always pictured her in a place that leaned toward Victorian gingerbread. Georgian was formal and rigid and precise, not like Andrea at all. How had she fit in so effortlessly?

As she was looking at the house, Carly spotted a figure standing behind one of the tall windows. Her throat tightened.

“Look, there's David,” Andrea said, pointing to the window Carly was watching.

“Why didn't he come to the airport with you?” Carly asked, putting voice to the question that had been with her since learning David was waiting for them.

“He said this was our time and he didn't want to interfere.”

The car stopped. Carly looked up again, but David was gone.

Twenty-five