Mother Load

Table of Contents

Other Bella Books by KG MacGregor

About the Author

Publications from Bella Books, Inc.

Copyright© 2010 by KG MacGregor

Bella Books, Inc P.O. Box 10543 Tallahassee, FL 32302

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

First Edition Bella Books 2010

Editor: Katherine V. Forrest

Cover Design: Linda Callaghan

ISBN-13: 978-1-59493-204-5

Other Bella Books by KG MacGregor

Aftershock House on Sandstone Just This Once Malicious Pursuit Mulligan Out of Love Photographs of Claudia Sea Legs Secrets So Deep Small Packages Sumter Point Without Warning Worth Every Step

About the Author

A former teacher and market research consultant, KG MacGregor holds a PhD in journalism and mass communication. Infatuation with Xena: Warrior Princess fanfiction prompted her to try her own hand at storytelling in 2002. In 2005, she signed with Bella Books, which published the Goldie Award finalist Just This Once. Her sixth Bella novel, Out of Love, won the 2007 Lambda Literary Award for Women’s Romance, and the 2008 Goldie Award in Lesbian Romance. In 2009, she picked up Goldies for Without Warning and Secrets So Deep, and a year later won for Worth Every Step, a romance based on her own climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

KG proudly serves on the board of directors for Stonewall Library, Museum & Archives in Ft. Lauderdale. When she isn’t writing, she’s either on a hiking trail, a golf course, or if she’s really lucky, a cruise ship.

For my mother 1934 - 2010

Nothing said family to Lily like a Sunday afternoon barbecue at the Big House, her in-laws’ stately home in Beverly Hills. Even after five years of weekends like this, she never took for granted how lucky she was to be part of the Kaklis clan.

Someone else was lucky too, she thought as she dangled her feet in the shallow end of the sparkling kidney-shaped pool. Five-year-old Andy, her late sister’s child, swam nearby with his cousin Jonah. This time last year Andy had been in foster care in San Francisco. Now he was her adopted son and Anna’s too. She almost felt guilty for her small wave of euphoria, since Anna was more stressed these days than Lily had ever seen her.

A plastic ball landed at her feet, sending a spray of water into her face.

“Trow it to me, Mama!” Andy shouted, waving his arms excitedly.

She couldn’t help but smile at his struggles with “th” and certain other sounds, the hallmark of a missing front tooth.

Jonah jockeyed for position in front. “No, to me, Aunt Lily!”

She tossed the ball between them and laughed as they crashed together in a wave. Though Andy was older than his cousin by a year, he was undersized and not as mature as most children his age, which made Jonah the perfect best friend. After only a month in kindergarten, Andy was already getting good reports from his teacher, who felt certain he would catch up to his peers soon. He certainly had come a long way from the shy little boy hiding in the corner the first time she saw him in the foster home.

On the deck at the far end of the pool Anna, Hal and George were clustered around an umbrella table mapping their next move for pulling Premier Motors back into the black. Her stress showed in her body language, the way her tall frame slouched in the armchair and her hand anxiously twisted her long black hair.

Sales at the four dealerships were down nearly thirty percent from the year before, and a return to profitability would require the drastic personnel cuts they had hoped to avoid. Anna was confident she and Lily would weather the downturn financially—her plunging portfolio notwithstanding—since she kept her personal investments separate from those of her business. She was less certain she could hold onto the three dealerships—two in Palm Springs and another in Beverly Hills—she had boldly acquired only two years earlier.

As serious as the dealership situation was, it wasn’t at the top of Lily’s worry list. She doubted it was at the top of Anna’s either.

She turned her face instinctively to avoid the splashing war that suddenly erupted between the two boys, soaking her one-piece black swimsuit. “Hey, you two!”

“You’re getting your mom wet,” Jonah sputtered in an effort to slow Andy’s onslaught.

“She doesn’t care,” he lisped.

“Don’t bet on it, buster!” Lily shouted, playfully kicking a stream of water their way. Actually the spray felt refreshing in the late September heat, but if she didn’t put up at least a mild protest they would douse her from head to toe.

Anna’s sister Kim appeared beside her in a two-piece coral swimsuit and kicked off her shoes. A long strand of auburn hair had fallen free of the clasp that held the rest off her neck. “Is it safe to sit here?”

“If you don’t mind being in a war zone.”

“They better not screw with me,” she grumbled under her breath. “I’m ready to put them all up on Craigslist. Children free to good home. No references necessary.”

Lily chuckled at the empty threat. Kim was the best mother she knew, and fiercely protective of her son and daughter. “Did you get her to sleep?” The “her” in question was baby Alice, who had taken her first steps a week earlier and scarcely stopped since.

“Finally,” Kim answered, blowing out an exasperated breath. “I was tempted to join her in a nap but Mom beat me to it. I got so jealous of seeing both of them sleeping that I wanted to poke them and scream.”

If anyone deserved a nap it was Anna’s stepmother Martine. She had worked all morning to prepare their Sunday feast, and then cleaned up the kitchen by herself over Lily’s protests. “I don’t mind watching the boys if you want to go back inside and crash.”

“Nah, I’m okay. By the way, I found out it was Jonah who taught Andy the F-word, not the other way around.”

“How do you know? I’m sure Andy heard the whole vocabulary when he was in foster care.”

“Jonah’s preschool sent out an apology. Apparently one of the kids in his class overheard his parents using it and he taught it to everyone else. Now I have to live in mortal fear of Jonah telling his whole class that he caught us having sex on the kitchen table.”

“I’d be more worried about the time on the patio if I were you,” Lily deadpanned, delighting in the rare look of shock on Anna’s sister’s face. “He told us all about it, in vivid detail. Didn’t you notice when he started getting his own juice?”

“And here I thought he was just trying to show some independence.” Kim arched her eyebrows with suspicion as she looked at her son, who played on oblivious. “Sounds like Hal and I need to be more careful.”

“I’ll say. Or consider home schooling so he doesn’t blab your family secrets.”

“Boarding school is more like it. Think they’d take a four-year-old?” The two women took turns tossing a diving ring into the center of the pool so the boys could race to retrieve it. “Can I ask a personal question about my sister?”

Lily almost laughed at the perfunctory request. Since when did Kim ask permission to get into Anna’s personal business? The two of them had been practically soul mates since their early teens when George and Martine, both widowed, married. She glanced over at Anna and smiled, trying to imagine what outlandish curiosity was rolling around in Kim’s head.

“I know what you’re thinking. I don’t usually ask first.” Kim turned her back to the trio at the end of the pool and lowered her voice. “Actually it’s about both of you. I was wondering how you guys were getting along?”

She was taken aback by the serious tone, expecting the usual nosy inquiry about their sex life, which Kim usually directed at Anna just to watch her become flustered. “We’re fine. Why would you ask such a thing?”

“I know my sister. She’s out of sorts about something, and it isn’t just work.”

Lily bit her lip and glanced back to check on the boys, hoping her casual demeanor would set Kim’s worries to rest. Yes, something big was going on, but she and Anna had made a pact not to tell anyone about it until the time was right—if it ever was. “She’s under a lot of stress. They all are. I’m sure you see it in Hal too.”

Kim eyed her with skepticism. “Is she sick?”

“No! Where did you get an idea like that?”

“I stopped by the dealership a couple of weeks ago to see Hal and I poked my head in Anna’s office. She barely said hello and next thing I know she’s driving off the lot with you in the middle of the day. Call me stupid but that has either marriage counselor or doctor’s appointment written all over it.”

That must have been their secret visit a couple of weeks ago to see Dr. Beth Ostrov, the fertility specialist Kim and Hal had used after struggling for eleven years to get pregnant. But her afternoon with Anna had also included a side trip to Andy’s new school, which provided the perfect cover story. “We had an appointment to meet Andy’s kindergarten teacher.”

“Oh.” Kim studied her fingernails impassively. “So neither of you is dying from some dreaded disease?”

“No, and we’re not getting a divorce.”

“It never hurts to double-check these things.” Just like that Kim relaxed, her worries put to rest. “So what’s Andy’s teacher like?”

Lily scrunched her nose. “Mrs. Dooley…not quite what we’d hoped for. She’s an older woman, really strict. Sort of reminded me of his last foster mother in San Francisco. I haven’t seen Anna so intimidated since the day we brought Andy home the first time.”

Kim laughed. “I remember that. She was calling me every day freaking out. Now they’re best buds.”

“It’s like having two kids.” Having two kids. The irony of her words astonished her and she drew a deep, calming breath. It would happen when it happened. In the meantime, the bond that had grown between Anna and Andy was a comforting reminder that their family was already complete, even if their efforts to have more children failed. She nodded toward the end of the pool. “I wish those three would call it a day already. I don’t know about Hal, but Anna needs to relax and forget about the office for a while.”

As if on cue, Anna’s voice rose and her pen slammed against the teak tabletop. Lily had witnessed these outbursts with mounting frequency, a sign of Anna’s frustration with her stalled business.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen her, and believe me that’s saying something,” Kim said. “Is she like this at home too, or is it just when she’s with Hal and George?”

“We usually try not to bring our work home, but she’s really feeling the pressure right now.” When they had married three years earlier, they had promised not to let their jobs take over their lives. It sometimes took a conscious effort from both of them, and it had gotten more difficult for Anna as Premier Motors struggled against a falling economy. And even when she stopped thinking about work, it was only so she could worry about their failed efforts to have children.

“Hal said they’d have to cut their staff…and that they’ve been getting calls from investment companies trying to buy her out at a bargain-basement price. Anna won’t even pick up the phone.”

“Yeah, they know she took on a lot of debt when she acquired the other dealerships and now they’re circling like sharks. What they don’t realize is that Premier Motors isn’t just a business to her. Success is a matter of pride. And now that she’s president of the Chamber of Commerce, everyone’s watching to see how she’s going to handle the pressure. If she caves in to those vultures, she’ll feel like a public failure.”

“Like that’s ever going to happen.” Kim hooked the loose strand of hair over her ear and huffed. “Premier Motors belonged to her mother and grandfather and she won’t ever let it go. Some of those people have been on the lot for thirty years. They’re like family.”

Which explained why Anna felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. Maybe it was the thing that bothered her most after all. Having a baby had seemed like a good idea last fall. Not so much now with all the added pressures. “And she feels guilty because she can’t save all their jobs.”

“I’m glad she has you to lean on, Lily.”

“We’ll get her through it,” she vowed, to herself as much as to Kim. “How’s Hal doing? I bet he has second thoughts about leaving his cushy accounting firm for the car business.”

“No way. Two of his old bosses just went to jail for cooking their clients’ books. Hal thinks it’s only the tip of the iceberg. He may have a lot on his mind with the dealership, but at least he sleeps like a baby at night…not like any of my babies, though. They hardly sleep at all.” Kim scooted forward and slid into the pool. “I think one of us should go over there and break up that party. I nominate you.”

Anna folded back the sheet as Chester lumbered onto his spot at the foot of Andy’s bed. The basset hound had bowled them over with his usual exuberance the moment they walked in from their day at the Big House. “Did you sleep on the couch all day, boy?” She ruffled his floppy ears as he thumped his tail in reply.