1105 Yakima Street

  “Here,” she said, offering the plate to Rachel, who reached for a piece of apple and speared some cheese.

  “Bruce?” she prompted before taking a bite.

  “Oh, yeah, Bruce.” Teri dug in the hip pocket of her jeans and brought out the wad of cash.

  “Money?”

  “He wants to contribute to your care and the baby’s. He loves you. He’s feeling guilty and miserable and lost.”

  “You didn’t…”

  Teri pantomimed locking her lips. “I swear I didn’t say a word. I told you I wouldn’t and I didn’t.” She paused. “You should take the money,” Teri urged. She set it on the counter, then crossed her arms. “He looked pretty broken, Rach.”

  Rachel didn’t say anything at first. “Did he talk about what happened last Saturday?” she finally asked.

  “A little. But he also said he’s been seeing the counselor—and Jolene agreed to go.”

  Rachel’s head jerked up. “She did?”

  “Well…for one time, anyway.”

  Rachel nodded, but she didn’t seem too encouraged. “I wonder what Bruce had to promise to get her to do that.”

  “He didn’t promise her anything.” He hadn’t really said, but Teri got the impression that Jolene hadn’t been given a choice.

  “Trust me, Bruce must have bribed her.”

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  A baby’s cry came from down the hall, soon followed by a second and a third. Teri sighed.

  “Where’s Christie?” Rachel asked.

  Now that James and Christie were married, her sister lived in the apartment above the garage with her husband.

  “She’s with James. You remember how it is when you’re first married. They’re constantly together.”

  “I do remember,” Rachel whispered. “Unfortunately, the honeymoon for Bruce and me didn’t last nearly long enough.”

  Rachel counted the money. Five crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. She put them back on the counter. “Please return it to him for me. Okay?”

  “You don’t need it?”

  She shook her head and Teri knew instinctively that she was lying.

  “Rachel, don’t be unnecessarily stubborn. Bruce wants you to have this.”

  “No,” she insisted. “Tell him to spend it on the counselor for him and Jolene.”

  Twenty-Two

  “You can put that box in the master bedroom,” Lori Wyse told her brother-in-law, pointing the way, which was silly. Mack owned the duplex and knew exactly where the master bedroom was.

  He disappeared down the hallway as she started to unpack the dishes, setting them in a cupboard in the compact kitchen. The duplex was smaller than their apartment had been. Nevertheless, it would serve their needs nicely.

  “I think that’s it,” Mack said, hands in his back hip pockets.

  “Can you go with me to turn in the rental truck?” Linc asked.

  “Sure thing.”

  Linc kissed Lori on the cheek as he walked out the door. “I shouldn’t be long. Don’t work too hard.”

  “I won’t,” she promised, although she was determined to get as much unpacked as she could.

  “Need any help?” Mary Jo asked, joining her, the baby in her arms. She set Noelle on the kitchen floor, where she was content to play with a large toy rabbit.

  “That would be great.” Lori wasn’t about to decline such a generous offer. She dragged over the box of pots and pans and showed her sister-in-law where she wanted them placed.

  They worked in silence for a while, with the radio playing softly in the background. “Linc and I are so grateful to get out from under my father’s thumb,” Lori said. “I don’t know what we would’ve done if it wasn’t for you and Mack.” Moving to Seattle was one of their few options, and they were both grateful not to be living in Linc’s family home with his two younger brothers.

  “This helps me and Mack, too.”

  Lori didn’t know Mary Jo well yet, but she felt they’d already become friends. Mary Jo sat on the kitchen floor and reached for a second box. “Do you want these bowls down here or in the cupboard above the dishwasher?”

  “Above the dishwasher,” Lori told her.

  Noelle threw her rabbit aside and yawned loudly.

  “Looks like it’s nap time,” Lori said. Come to think of it, she was tired, too. Linc had left the apartment to pick up the truck before six that morning. But they’d been awake since four, finishing the last of the packing and cleaning.

  “Come on, baby girl,” Mary Jo said, scooping up the toy, then bending to retrieve her daughter. “Let me change your diaper and put you down for a couple of hours.”

  “She sleeps that long?”

  “Almost every afternoon. She still takes a morning nap, too, but she’ll outgrow those pretty soon.”

  Lori knew she had a lot to learn about babies. She and Linc had talked about starting a family and had decided to wait a couple of years. As newlyweds, they were still getting used to living with each other and to the demands and compromises of married life. They’d weathered a couple of challenges in the past year, thanks largely to her father. Leonard Bellamy refused to give Linc the opportunity to prove himself and had gone out of his way to sabotage every effort Linc made.

  His attitude infuriated Lori. Linc was a decent, honest, hardworking man. Her father should thank God that she’d married a man as wonderful as Lincoln Wyse. Leonard was determined to control her life and she wouldn’t let him. Because of that he was punishing Linc and, through Linc, her.

  When she’d phoned home and severed her relationship with her family, Linc felt she’d overreacted. It was true that she’d acted on impulse, but she’d meant every word.

  Linc arrived home just as she finished sorting out the silverware. “Looks like you’re making good progress,” he said.

  “What amazes me is how much stuff I’ve accumulated.”

  “Pretty shocking, isn’t it?” Linc slipped his arms around her from behind and buried his face in her neck. “Do you think we could initiate our new home tonight?” he whispered.

  “That’s a distinct possibility,” Lori whispered back, her hands covering his.

  There was a polite knock at the open front door.

  Instantly Linc dropped his arms. They both turned to find Kate Bellamy standing on the other side with a small gift bag in her hand.

  “Mom,” Lori said, forgetting for the moment that she was no longer speaking to her family.

  “I stopped by the apartment and the neighbor told me where you’d moved,” Kate said. “I brought you a small housewarming gift.”

  She seemed to be waiting for an invitation to step inside. Lori was too stunned to react.

  “Mrs. Bellamy,” Linc said, taking charge. “Come in, please.” He pushed aside a series of empty boxes, clearing a path for Kate. She made her way to the small table in the breakfast nook, where he pulled out a chair for her.

  Lori was uncertain of what to say. She’d stood up to her family, and pride wouldn’t allow her to back down. Still, this was her mother; she couldn’t very well ask her to leave. Especially since her real problem was with her father…

  “Would you like some coffee or tea?” Linc asked.

  “So you’ve unpacked the kitchen?” Kate asked, eyeing the cardboard boxes stacked against a wall.

  “I know where the tea bags are and I can boil water,” Lori said. Mary Jo had unboxed the pots and pans, so she knew exactly where to find one.

  Her mother grinned. “I taught you well,” she said in a joking voice.

  “As a matter of fact you did,” Linc said smoothly. “Lori obviously picked up her cooking skills from you.”

  “Oh, honestly, Linc, you’d been eating your brothers’ cooking. Anything was an improvement over that.”

  “Mary Jo cooked, too,” he was quick to tell her.

  Ignoring him, Lori said to her mother, “Actually, I could stir fry crabgrass and Linc wouldn’t complain.”

  “I
remember when your father and I were first married,” Kate said with a wistful look. “I was a terrible cook. I ruined almost every meal and yet he ate all those atrocious, burned dinners and said they were delicious. That’s what love will do for you.”

  Lori set the kettle on to boil and found three mugs. A canister in the cupboard held the tea bags.

  “Open your gift,” her mother said, handing her the package.

  “You didn’t need to do this,” she said as she took the bag. The pink tissue paper inside was folded into peaks. Her mother had always been a stylish woman whose sense of elegance and beauty transformed everything around her. Since those early days of her marriage, Kate had learned how to cook, and every meal was as lovely to look at as it was to eat. Beauty had become her watchword in all things. Even now, dressed in slacks and a sweater with a rain jacket, Kate resembled a model. She was tall and slim and Lori had rarely seen her without perfect hair and makeup.

  Lori wished she could be more like her mother, although she believed she’d inherited her interest in fashion from Kate.

  “It’s just something small,” Kate murmured.

  Lori pulled out the paper and discovered a handheld blender. She didn’t have one. “Oh, Mom, this is great. Thank you so much.”

  “I love mine, and I hoped you hadn’t bought one yet.”

  “No, I haven’t. You’re always so thoughtful.” She knew her father wouldn’t have approved of this. “Does Dad know you bought a gift for us?”

  Her mother’s silence told her what she’d already figured out.

  After an awkward moment, Kate raised her chin and announced, “Your father and I are no longer speaking.”

  Lori sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “You and Dad aren’t talking?” The kettle whistled and Linc removed it from the burner.

  He went to stand behind Lori and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Does this have anything to do with Lori and me?” he asked.

  Her mother looked at them, then nodded. “We all know your father is a stubborn man.”

  Lori snickered. “That’s putting it mildly.”

  “Once he gets an idea in his head, no one can convince him he’s wrong. No one.”

  Lori studied her mother closely. Kate wasn’t an emotional woman but tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away.

  “What happened, Mom?”

  “When you phoned last month and told your father you were finished with the family…well, as you might assume, I got upset. I wasn’t about to lose my daughter.”

  “Oh, Mom, I was just angry. I probably shouldn’t have said anything until I’d calmed down.” She did regret distressing her mother, who was invariably loving and supportive. Not only that, Kate had accepted Linc, despite Leonard’s decrees.

  “Your father refuses to be reasonable. It makes no sense. He wasn’t a rich man when we met—he had to prove himself to my father and he did. Yet he won’t give Linc the same chance my family gave him.”

  “It doesn’t surprise me that Dad’s being so unreasonable. He thinks he knows what’s best for me, but he doesn’t. I made a wise choice in my husband, and nothing Dad says or does is going to change my mind.” Lori reached up and pressed her hand on Linc’s.

  Kate lowered her gaze. “After your call, your father said good riddance and he was cutting you out of the will.”

  Lori laughed. This was a threat he’d made more than once through the years. She was tired of him holding that over her head, trying to manipulate her. “If that’s what he wants, Mom, I don’t care. I have everything I’ll ever need or want right here with Linc.”

  Her husband bent forward and kissed the top of her head.

  “I told your father he was being ridiculous and that if he cut you out of the will, I was leaving.” She paused and inhaled deeply. “Unfortunately, he didn’t believe me.”

  “Mom?” Lori wasn’t sure what her mother was saying. “Are you telling me—”

  Her mother cut her off. “Your father called our attorney and, while he was talking to Matt, I packed my bag. He thought I was just making a point and that I’d be back the next morning.”

  “You’re not with Dad?” If she hadn’t already been sitting, Lori would have collapsed into a chair from shock.

  “Like I said, your father and I are no longer talking. Or…living together.”

  “Where are you living?” Linc asked.

  “With my sister.”

  “Aunt Hilary?” Lori asked.

  Kate nodded. “My sister’s a widow,” she explained to Linc, “and the two of us have been enjoying ourselves.”

  “What about Dad?” Lori asked. Her father relied on Kate for everything. Lori couldn’t imagine him surviving one day on his own, let alone weeks.

  “I wouldn’t know,” Kate said, her back straight and her chin raised. “That’s his concern.”

  “You haven’t had any contact with him?”

  “None.”

  Undoubtedly her father blamed Linc for this, too, along with everything else. “Is there anything I can do for you, Mom?” Lori asked. She felt dreadful that things had deteriorated this far.

  “For me?” Kate repeated. “Good grief, no. As I said, your father is being completely unreasonable. I’ve stood by him all these years, backed him even when I disagreed, but this time he went too far.”

  “Oh, Mom, I feel awful.”

  “Why should you? Anyone who spends half an hour with Linc knows he’s everything you said. Even more apparent is how much he loves you. While your father might not like Linc because he isn’t some high-priced attorney or bank president, he should be grateful our daughter’s found a man who loves her and makes her happy.”

  Lori couldn’t have put it any better herself. “I am happy married to Linc. Happier than I ever imagined.”

  “I’m sorry our marriage has caused such a problem in your family,” Linc said.

  Kate dismissed that. “It hasn’t been a problem for anyone other than Leonard.”

  Linc nodded slowly. “What would it take for you to move back home?”

  “What would it take?” Kate asked. “Well, first Leonard would have to apologize to you for everything he’s done to undermine your business. Then he’d have to apologize to our daughter for his high-handed behavior. And last…last, he’d have to apologize to me.”

  Lori knew it would be difficult to get one apology out of her father, never mind three. None of this was likely to happen.

  “Oh, Mom.”

  “Actually, Hilary and I get along just fine.”

  “Mom!” Her mother could be just as stubborn as her father. This was a formula for disaster. She was afraid one of them would do something stupid—like file for divorce. Lori didn’t know if she could live with herself if that happened, regardless of the fact that Leonard brought it on himself… Maybe she should’ve given him a chance to meet Linc again, more time to get used to the idea of her marriage. And yet, she reminded herself, she was an adult with the right to make her own decisions.

  Her mother left shortly afterward, making Lori and Linc promise not to mention her visit to anyone in the family.

  Lori sank into her chair again after walking Kate to her car. “I can’t believe this. I have to do something,” she told Linc frantically.

  “What can you do?”

  “I…I’m not sure.”

  “Do you think your brother and sister know that your mother’s moved out?” Linc asked.

  “I doubt it. They would’ve told me.”

  Frowning, Linc nodded.

  “I’m going to phone my father and try to reason with him. All these weeks without Mom… He must be going nuts.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?” he asked.

  “I have to try.”

  Linc seemed to agree with her. He dragged his chair close to hers and held her free hand while Lori called the family home. To her surprise, her father answered.

  “Where’s Lou Lou?” she asked, shocked that the woman who’d been thei
r housekeeper for more than twenty years didn’t pick up.

  “She no longer works here.”

  “Lou Lou quit?”

  Her father ignored the question. “Who is this?”

  “Come on, Dad, you know who this is. Lori.”

  “Lori who?”

  “Lori, your daughter,” she said, struggling to hold on to her temper.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have a daughter named Lori.”

  His words felt like a slap in the face. “Okay, Daddy, if that’s the way you want it.” She clicked off the phone and hid her face in Linc’s chest.

  His arms came immediately around her. “I’m so sorry, honey,” he whispered, kissing her hair.

  “Me, too,” she murmured tearfully. “Me, too.”

  Twenty-Three

  “Can you meet me at the gallery a little after five?” Miranda asked Shirley, keeping an eye on the clock. She needed to leave for work soon.

  “The gallery?” Shirley repeated. “You don’t work on Thursdays, do you?”

  “Today I do. Will asked me to come in.”

  “Again?”

  “He’s got something he has to do.” He’d mentioned that he and his sister were going to revisit two of the assisted-living complexes they’d recently toured. Miranda assumed that was scheduled for this afternoon, although why he couldn’t have told her earlier…

  “It seems to me that Will Jefferson takes a lot for granted as far as you’re concerned.”

  Miranda agreed, but now wasn’t the time to discuss it. They could do that over dinner. “So, can you stop by around five?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll see you then.” Disconnecting, she tossed her phone in her purse and headed out the door. If there was one thing she hated, it was being late.

  When she arrived at the gallery, she found Will sitting in the showroom, working on his laptop. Their relationship had been a bit uncomfortable ever since they’d kissed. Now they were both making an effort to pretend nothing had happened.