The Sea Star (31 page)

     
“Precious!” Susanna took the baby from Nina and kissed him. “Happy Christmas, my dearest.”

     
“Give Papa a kiss, too,” Jay said.

     
Courtney happily complied, then held out his arms to Jay to be held. His blue-green eyes sparkled, his four teeth gleamed. Courtney was undeniably “Papa’s boy.” He loved his mother and never tired of her hugs and kisses, but he loved his father more than anyone in the world.

     
“I’m jealous,” Susanna pouted. “Whenever you’re in the room, I may as well be invisible.”

     
“I’m jealous, too!” Jay laughed and gestured at the cat, who was rubbing her sleek body against Susanna’s green velvet skirt. “Whenever you’re in the room, Snow never gives anyone else a tumble.”

     
“Snow,” Courtney echoed, pointing to the animal.

     
“And who would ever believe,” Jay said, “that the only word in my son’s vocabulary is the name of a silly cat?”

     
“His second word will be ‘Papa,’” Susanna assured him.

     
“No,” said someone from the doorway. “His second word will be ‘hotel.’”

     
“
Dallas
!” Susanna said. “I didn’t expect you so early. You’re just in time to see Courtney open his gifts.”

     
Dallas
sauntered into the room, chucked Nina under the chin, causing her to blush furiously, then he looked at the profusion of toys and wrapped packages that stood chockablock in front of the tree. “Good Lord, Sunny! Is there anything left in the stores?”

     
“No,” she laughed. “We bought everything in sight.”

     
Courtney forgot the cat as another of his favorites approached him. “Da,” he said, holding out his chubby arms.

     
“I’ll be damned,”
Dallas
said, delighted. “He tried to say my name, Sunny. Either that or he thinks I’m his daddy.”

     
Jay scowled as
Dallas
took the child from his arms and planted a kiss on the tip of his button nose. “Say it again, Courtney. Say ‘Da’.”

     
But Courtney only snuggled closer in his uncle’s arms.

     
Dallas
brought him to the hobby horse and placed him on it. Courtney grasped the bars and rocked back and forth.

     
“He’s a born equestrian,” Susanna said proudly. “He has the seat of a cavalryman.”

     
“Or a jockey,”
Dallas
said. “When he gets a bit older, I’ll teach him the finer points of the Sport of Kings.”

     
Jay dismissed Nina, who had been gazing adoringly at Dallas since he arrived. As soon as she left, Jay said to him, “Have you been trifling with that girl?”

     
Dallas, on his knees next to Courtney, turned to Jay with a look of amusement. “What did you say?”

     
“You heard me. Have you taken advantage of Nina?”

     
“Jay, don’t,” Susanna said, for on his face was a look she hadn’t seen in months. “Not on Christmas Day.”

     
“Susanna, please don’t interfere. Answer me, Dallas.”

     
Dallas straightened, slipped his hands into his pockets, and gave his inquisitor a scornful smile. “Don’t be such a hypocrite, Jay. You’ve had scores of romantic conquests in your time, haven’t you? In fact, my nephew is the result of one of them.”

     
“Dallas, how could you?” Susanna cried softly. Then, catching sight of Jay, who advanced on her brother with murder in his eyes: “Jay, no! Not in front of the baby.”

     
Jay stopped two feet from Dallas. “You insolent bastard,” he said, “apologize to your sister at once, or I’ll break you in two.”

     
For a few moments, there was no sound in the room save for the rhythmic creaking of the hobby horse. Susanna’s face drained of color. Dallas’s face, too, lost some of its rosy hue. He attempted to smile but managed only a nervous grimace. “Jesus, Jay, can’t you take a joke?”

     
“Apologize,” Jay grated.

     
“All right. Don’t get your dander up.” Dallas made a mocking bow to his sister. “I humbly beg your pardon, Sunny. No offense was meant, honestly. I was only teasing.”

     
Susanna’s racing heart slowed down. She knew Dallas hadn’t been teasing, but to preserve the peace, she kissed him and said in a shaky voice, “I know you were. And when Jay has had some time to think about it, he’ll know it, too. This past year has been a trial for all of us. Please,” she appealed to both men, “let’s not be at each other’s throats, today of all days.”

     
Jay looked at his wife. Her distress was obvious. He looked then at Dallas, whose nervousness had been replaced by a familiar air of arrogance. “You’re right,” he said. “Let’s just enjoy the holiday.”

     
Susanna gave him a grateful smile, but strangely, she was not comforted by his easy acquiescence.

     
It was the coldest, stormiest winter
Atlantic City
had ever known. During all of December and January, temperatures hovered in the single digits. A snowstorm in February was reminiscent of the blizzard of ‘88. The wind was so fierce and erratic that six-foot-high snowdrifts stood directly across streets with bare patches of sidewalk. Telegraph poles split like matchsticks. Communication outside the island was impossible. Needless to say, the hotel business suffered. And yet, despite a virtually empty Excelsior, Jay chose to remain in
Atlantic City
for the entire tempestuous winter.

     
Susanna was delighted with his decision. Outdoor activities were limited because of the weather, but they were always together—what a priceless luxury! Out of misfortune, Susanna kept thinking, had sprung serenity. No more demons drove Jay. He seemed at last at peace with himself, and with his son and thoroughly happy wife.

     
One morning in March, after a rapturous night of love, he said to her, “I’m never going to leave this bed. For one thing, you’ve completely sapped my strength, and for another, nothing pleases me more than making love to you all night.”

     
Susanna moved closer in his embrace and nuzzled his bare chest. “What if I told you something that would please you even further?”

     
“That would be difficult to do,” he said, caressing her silky shoulder. “At this moment, I’m as content as a man could ever be.”

     
She looked up at him through her lashes and gave him a drowsy smile. “We’re going to have another child.”

     
“What?” He sat bolt upright. “Are you sure?”

     
“Fairly sure.” Her heart gave a thump at his look of pure joy. “Are you pleased?”

     
By way of answer, he drew her up against him and gave her a suffocating hug. “This is incredible! Just last night, I was thinking of having another child.”

     
“That must account for your tireless ardor,” she teased.

     
“No doubt,” he agreed with a grin. “The odd thing is, I should have been thinking of my hotels. Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve even mentioned them?”

     
“Yes.” She kissed the upward curve of his mouth. “I do.”

     
“I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” he said, baffled. “I’ve never been idle this long, and yet I’m in no hurry to go back to work. Do you remember when the telegraph lines were down and I had no word from my managers for days? I didn’t
care
, Susanna! I wasn’t worried in the least. Do you suppose this is the onset of senility?”

     
She kissed him again and laid her head on his chest. “That wasn’t a senile old man who was making love to me last night,” she murmured.

     
“It wasn’t, was it?”

     
She heard the smile in his voice.

     
“Jay,” she said softly, “wouldn’t it be nice if our house was completed by autumn so that the child could be born there?”

     
“Yes, it would.” His arms tightened around her. She felt his lips in her hair. “I wish,” he said slowly, “that Courtney could have been born in our home. I wish....”

     
“What do you wish?” she urged.

     
“I wish so many things,” he said quietly, and in his eyes there was a strange look of yearning and regret.

     
“Like what, Jay?”

     
The regretful look vanished. He hugged her, then bounded out of bed and donned his dressing gown. “Get up, lazybones!” he commanded. “I’m in the mood for a monumental breakfast.”

     
Susanna reluctantly obeyed as Jay telephoned the restaurant. It had been so cozily warm in bed in the curve of her husband’s arms. She shivered as she slipped on her dressing gown and slippers.

     
The monumental breakfast of marinated shad, poached eggs à la Mirabeau, potato fritters, and rib steak arrived. Jay immediately dug into it. Susanna rang for Nina. Moments later, the nursemaid brought in a sleepy Courtney, rubbing his eyes with his fists. As soon as he saw Jay, he came wide awake and launched into his newly expanded vocabulary.

     
“Papa. Kiss. Mama. B’kf’st!”

     
“Yes, Courtney, breakfast.” Jay took him on his lap, kissed him soundly, then fed him tidbits from his dish.

     
“Jay, not the shad,” Susanna cautioned. “It’s too spicy.”

     
“Nonsense,” he said. “One little piece can’t hurt him. And look how he loves it. The boy has inborn good taste.”

     
“Taste,” Courtney echoed, demanding more of the forbidden food. “
Taste
, Papa.”

     
Jay gave him another tiny piece, then tempted him away from the shad by feeding him some eggs.

     
“What a fine appetite you have! Courtney, you must eat well and get big and strong, because in the fall, you’re going to have a new brother or sister.”

     
A soft gasp from Nina turned all eyes in her direction.

     
“Nina, what’s wrong?” Susanna threw down her napkin and rose hastily. The girl had gone white as a sheet.

     
“It’s nothing ma’am,” she whispered. “I was just a little surprised to hear about the new b-baby.”

     
Jay rose and put Courtney in the seat vacated by Susanna. His eyes bore relentlessly into Nina’s as he approached her. It seemed to Susanna that he was asking the girl a question to which he already had the answer, and that the answer exceedingly displeased him.

     
“Come now, Nina.” The gentleness of his tone was at variance with the hard set of his jaw. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

     
She shook her head mutely. Her face was wretched with shame. Like a child caught misbehaving, she put her hands behind her back and stared at the floor.

     
“Nina, you mustn’t be afraid,” Jay said kindly. “We’re all family here. No matter what’s troubling you, we’ll do everything in our power to help you.”

     
“Sir, I can’t tell you,” she said miserably.

     
“Of course you can.” Jay’s voice was low, persuasive. “Believe me, there’s nothing you can tell me that I haven’t heard before.”

     
Nina’s gaze shifted to Susanna. Susanna looked at Jay. His expression was somber. Even more now, he seemed to know what the reluctant girl refused to reveal.

     
“Nina,” he said quietly, “are you in the family way? Is that what you’re afraid to tell us?”

     
“Yes!” she blurted and burst into tears. “Yes.”