Pulling Home (21 page)

Alice continued to expand Kara’s cooking abilities, instructing her in the fine art of pasta making, sans machine, as well as a wide range of breads and tricks to test their doneness. She learned the difference between diced and chopped and how to sift and blend. When she and her grandmother weren’t slicing or measuring or scooping or rolling, they were testing bread recipes to enter into ‘The Betty Crocker Best Bread Contest’ in the 10 year old and under category. Through their cooking and baking, Kara and Alice discovered a new purpose, plowing ahead with a fervency that exhausted Audra.

As for Jack, she hadn’t seen him since the day she told him the truth about Kara.

She should be relieved but how did a person relax with a tornado brewing? There’d been a few seconds the last time they had made love when she’d sensed their relationship shift, subtle but certain. If she were honest, she’d admit to harboring tiny grains of hope for a future with him, one which took up where they left off nine years ago.
I would have
married you.
If only he’d returned to Holly Springs a day earlier. But he hadn’t and now she was stuck here with the threat of him looming close enough to smell his Saks 5th Avenue cologne.

“Mommy!” Kara’s excitement pierced Audra’s thoughts as her daughter rushed

toward her from the Wheyton’s living room.

“Slow walk, remember? Dr. Kalowicz said no running.”

“Uncle Jack said fast walk’s okay and I was fast walking.”

“Well, I’m your mother and if you don’t slow down, I’ll tie you to my wrist. See how fast you can go lugging me behind you.”

Kara giggled. “Ohhh! Big surprise! Leslie?” she hollered. “Come show my

mom.”

“Hi Audra.” Leslie beamed before her in an apricot wraparound dress that

accentuated her curves and her tan. A much younger and if possible, curvier, Sophia Loren came to mind. “Kara’s quite the entertainer.” Her husky voice dipped over Kara, fueling Audra with the sudden urge to snatch her daughter from this too happy, too sensual, too perfect woman.

“Hello, Leslie. I didn’t see your car outside.”
Please tell me Jack is not coming
here.

“Jack dropped me off. He’ll be by in a little while.”

“Great.”

Joe Wheyton appeared from around the corner followed by his wife, who it

appeared had been crying. “Well, are you going to tell her or do you want to play twenty questions?” he asked in his usual gruff manner.

Leslie flashed Joe a brilliant white smile. “Joe, you’re such a hoot.” She pranced toward Audra—yes, pranced would be the word to describe the foot-off-the-linoleum movement—and said in a gush, “Actually, I’d hoped you’d be here.”

Kara’s impatient gaze darted from Leslie to Audra. “Tell her,” she commanded,

grabbing Leslie’s left hand and waving it in the air.

Audra spotted the flash of stone on Leslie’s left finger a second before Leslie

announced, “We’re engaged.”

Everyone knew the other part of
we
was Jack—Joe and Alice Wheyton, Kara, Bernie Kalowicz, Aunt Virginia, probably even the cleaning woman at McMahon

Children’s Hospital. Apparently, Audra was the only one who had never stopped to consider it. Why would she with Jack’s gaze burning through her clothes, his hands touching her, his body possessing hers? For God’s sake, taking her against the door of the hospital supply closet? Why would she not think in some tiny recess of her subconscious that despite Christian, and Peter, and Kara, and a speckled past, maybe someday she and Jack would end up together?

“...and I wanted you to be one of the first to know because despite our past, I

consider you a friend.” Leslie smiled then, moved close and hugged Audra.

“Congratulations.” The word tumbled from Audra’s mouth ten times heavier than

the weight of Leslie’s diamond.

“We are so excited about this,” Leslie said. “Oh, God, I’ve been dreaming about it since the minute I spotted him walking out of surgery two years ago. Close your ears, Kara. He was so sexy and just what I needed. Yum.”

Joe cleared his throat and moved toward the cabinet where he pulled out a few

wine glasses. “This calls for a toast. Kara, grab a root beer.” He uncorked a bottle of Asti Spumanti and poured four glasses.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Jack?” Leslie held the glass of champagne with her left

hand in such a way that the fizz of the drink made the diamond shine brighter. “I swear he told me he’d be right back.” She sounded as though she’d already consumed a bottle of champagne, which she might well have. Or half a bottle, considering her future husband would have consumed the other half.

“He’ll show up soon enough,” Joe Wheyton said. “It’s not every day we get to

celebrate an engagement.” Such harmless words, spoken in the nature of the event. Joe and Alice lifted their glasses, followed by Kara and Leslie. Slowly, Audra raised her glass. Joe put an arm around his wife and said, “To the future Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wheyton. May they have years of health, happiness, and give us five grandbabies.”

They clinked glasses and sipped champagne and root beer. Audra blotted out

images of Jack’s hands on her body, his breath on her belly. He was marrying Leslie Richot. She turned away so they wouldn’t see the pain on her face and spotted Jack standing on the back porch, staring at her. She swung around, preparing for the next several minutes of well-wishes once he stepped inside.
Stay calm and breathe
. More minutes passed and still he didn’t appear. How dare he drag this on? She turned toward the screen door, prepared to force him inside. But it was too late. He was already gone.

Chapter 24

“How long is this going to go on?”—Peter Andellieu

“How long is this going to go on?”

Peter tried so hard not to push her, but Audra knew he’d had enough. He wanted

them home. “I don’t want to be here either, but right now, I’m stuck until I figure something out.” What that would be and when, she had no idea.

“What if you call his bluff? Do you really think he’d expose you and risk hurting Kara?”

“I can’t take that chance. I don’t know what he’s capable of and that’s what scares me.” She hadn’t thought him capable of caring about her years ago and yet he’d admitted just that. Nor had she thought him capable of still making her tingle with need, and he’d certainly done that. Several times. And despite the news about Kara’s real parentage, she’d never thought him capable of putting a giant diamond on Leslie’s finger.

“What if I talked to him?”

“I don’t think so. He’s not very big on Dr. Perfection right now.”

“He’s nothing like Christian, is he?”

“No
.” Nothing at all.

“Audra? You’re not involved with him, are you?”

Not anymore.
“No. I haven’t seen him in days.” She pictured the diamond sparkling on Leslie’s finger and added, “Besides, he just got engaged.”

“To Leslie Richot?” His voice perked up. “Beautiful woman, oozes sex.”

“Gee, thanks.” The woman possessed pheromones that attracted males two

thousand miles away and now she was going to be Kara’s stepmother. The thought

pinged the center of Audra’s skull, radiating like tiny fingers to the rest of her body.

“You, my dear, are sex and class, all wrapped into one. A most desirous package, I might add.”

Of course Peter would say that. Nevertheless, it brightened her spirits and dulled the sight of Leslie’s left hand.

“Try to push for some closure. Please?” His voice dipped. “I miss you and Kara. I want you back here where you belong.”

***

The mid August winds wrapped around them as they made their way from the

theater with the rest of the
Wicked
crowd. Kara hadn’t stopped gushing since the final curtain.

“I liked Elphaba best. Can I be her for Halloween and paint my face green?”

Audra laughed and clasped her daughter’s hand, waiting at the crosswalk with the Saturday night downtown crowd. When the ‘walk’ sign blinked, they made their way across the street toward the car. “What did you think of Glinda? Wasn’t her voice beautiful?”

“She was beautiful. Totally beautiful. But I still liked Elphaba best.”

They’d seen
Wicked
last Christmas in Los Angeles. Audra, Christian, Kara, and Peter had driven down for the night, eaten at BLT and taken in the show at the Pantages Theater. It had been a magical time, filled with such laughter and joy they’d decided to make the theater trip an annual event.

When Grant mentioned the show was in Syracuse and asked if Audra and Kara

would like to go, she’d hesitated. First, she didn’t want Grant making assumptions about a relationship with her, developing or otherwise. Second, it had been the first and only show Kara had seen with her father and she might want to remember it that way. But, in keeping with the expert’s opinions that children are resilient, Kara pounced on the opportunity, and Audra accepted, deciding she could deal with her personal issues later.

“I don’t see how you can ignore Madame Morrible,” Grant said, his hand tight on

Kara’s. “All that power and magic?”

He’ll make a great father one day
, Audra thought as he and Kara set off on a tangent of whether it would be cooler to be a monkey or a palace guard. What made some men naturally more child-friendly and others kid-proof? Would Jack even know what a palace guard was?

Grant opened the door to his BMW and Audra slid in. “And now you, young

lady,” he said, opening Kara’s door. She scooted inside and buckled up. When he’d pulled out of the lot, he asked, “Pizza?”

“Yes!” Kara screeched from the back seat, correcting to a more subdued,

“Please,” when Audra cast a warning look.

“Pizza it is. I know this great little place on the west side of the city. You’ll love it.”

Grant was right. Mama Petroni’s thick crust mushroom pizza was even better than

the little haunt she and Christian claimed had the best pizza in the world. It felt a bit too much like a family with the three of them tucked in a corner booth, knees touching, faces illuminated by red-globed candles.
It’s only pizza
, she assured herself, though after the second slice, she began to wonder if Grant weren’t trying to promise more than just a great pizza. When Kara left them to study her new obsession—a seventies jukebox tucked in the corner of the restaurant—Grant turned to Audra and said, “She’s a great girl.”

“Yes, she is.”

He toyed with a straw wrapper, folding it over and over into a design. “I always thought I’d have two or three kids by the time I reached thirty-five.”

“Men aren’t on a biological clock the way women are. For Heaven’s sake, men

can have children into their seventies, eighties even.”

He lifted his gaze and those Robert Redford eyes captured hers. “But you have to find the right partner and that’s not so easy.”

And sometimes the right partner turns out to be the wrong partner.

“When I lost Jennifer I thought I’d never meet anyone else, but sometimes, when

you least expect it, the right one comes along.”

“Grant—”

“I’m a patient man.” His fingers brushed her knuckles. “I’m just glad you’re

staying.”

How could she tell him despite his kindness, his good looks, and his intelligence, he wasn’t the one? Her subconscious kicked in.
He’s not Jack
, it tormented
. Nobody’s
Jack.

“Besides,” Grant continued, covering her hand with his, “my sister would kill me if I jumped in line ahead of her. She’s been tracking your brother-in-law since the second she saw him.”

“Really?”
Torture me with the details.

“Absolutely. Jack’s ignored Leslie’s threats and ploys to get a ring out of him so what happened to make him cave?”

“I don’t know.” Why had Leslie had to threaten him?

He slid a smile her way and Audra saw why women fell over themselves to get to

one of those smiles. “I think you’re behind it.”

“Me?” she squeaked.

“Definitely.” He tilted his blond head and studied her. “Hey, don’t look so scared.

I know that big bad brother-in-law’s intimidating, but if he tries to bother you, come to me.” His tone flipped from teasing to serious.

“Thank you.” She was such a fraud. Jack had never bothered her that she hadn’t

wanted to be bothered, even if she protested.

“You are most welcome.” He spotted Kara approaching and withdrew his hand. “I

meant what I said before. I think you’re responsible for Jack’s sudden change of heart.

You lost your husband. Now he sees life’s too short to wait.”

***

He knew why she was here, which made what he must do even more difficult.

He’d avoided the meeting for three days, excusing away the time with three weddings, a funeral, and a baptism. Still, she persisted.

Finally, he agreed on ten o’clock Friday morning, with the understanding he had

half an hour. He didn’t like pushing away a person in need. After all, a man of the cloth welcomed lost sheep back to the fold, did he not? But this sheep wanted information which could destroy whole families, nay whole doctrines, and he could not, no he
would
not acquiesce.

When his assistant ushered Audra into his study at exactly ten o’clock—not a

minute earlier as per his request—he made certain he had his back turned to the door, his attention focused on his violets. His flowers carried him through this turmoil, settling a peace and grace on him which he’d only found one other place—prayer.

“Thank you for seeing me, Pastor Richot.”

Yes, indeed she had her mother’s voice. Soft. Melodic. Innocent. August Richot

turned and greeted her with a smile he’d practiced these past three days. He must not give any indication he knew the truth. Lives depended on it. “Hello, my dear,” he said, gazing into eyes the same hue and sparkle as Corrine Valentine’s. “I apologize for the delay in meeting.”

He moved from behind the desk and clasped her hands. Indeed, she looked

exactly like her mother. “Please”—he released her hands and gestured to the chair