Seaspun Magic (7 page)

"No, you won't!" Arianne pushed her back into the chair. "Wait, I'll give you a shot of Leo's brandy. You need a dab for your nerves. What's the matter with you, anyway?"

"Just the blues...."

"Oh, come on!"

"What's the point of it all, Arianne? What's it for? The earrings, the lipstick? Just to end up married again? No thanks! I had it bad enough the first time around. I don't need another lesson! When I think of what I went through!"

"Don't think about it. It's over. In the past." Taking another look at her friend's troubled face, she added, "Isn't it?"

"He kept coming back, Arianne.'' Jill closed her eyes in distress. "What could I do?"

"Not shut the door in his face, obviously," Arianne supplied. "Was this before or after the divorce? Or both?"

"I wouldn't see him for ages, and then he'd just drop in... he'd hang around for a while and then disappear again. Sometimes I wouldn't see him for a week. Other times a month. This time..."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean, 'this time'? He's not back!"

"No. No, of course not! I—I just meant that...ah...I haven't seen him since our divorce!" Jill looked moodily into the depths of her coffee cup. "It's all so useless. I would get myself together and start thinking that maybe things would be okay, and then whammo, there he was again, with another game up his sleeve."

"Oh, Jill, I'm sorry."

"Look, don't you get morose! It's not your problem."

"No, but somehow you have to get over him!"

"I am. Oh, I am! Of course I am. It's just when I start thinking about everything that.. .urn..."

"Then you have to stop wallowing in it!" Arianne exclaimed. "And start right now by going to that dance with Don. You're right. He
is
nice. And an officer to boot. He sure looks terrific in his dress uniform!"

"How would you know?"

Arianne laughed—she was looking out the kitchen window. "Because he's coming over here right now!"

***

Arianne had the children in bed and quiet by eight-thirty, a feat tantamount to winning any Olympic race, she was sure. Then as she dashed down the stairs to put the finishing touches to supper, her doorbell rang. Since Leo usually just walked in or used his key, she groaned, not wanting an interruption now.

"Larry?" she gasped. He was in civilian clothes— cowboy boots, jeans, shirt, leather vest and sport jacket. "Why, hello... come in," she added belatedly, accepting a small, sweet-smelling bouquet of freesias. "Thank you!"

"Since you wouldn't come to the dance, I thought you might like to come to the movies." He smiled at her, looking gorgeous, and slid out of the sport jacket. "We could catch the nine-thirty flick. It's a comedy. We'll laugh ourselves silly and eat huge tubs of buttered popcorn. Tell me the truth. Doesn't it sound wonderful?"

Arianne, holding the flowers, thought she shouldn't be treating such a bona fide date so cavalierly. She should show a little appreciation, for he was pleasant, after all, and handsome in the bargain. So she smiled a bit more warmly as she turned down the movie as well as the dance.

"I can't. Not only does my B-and-B guest expect his dinner at nine, but I've three kids upstairs, hopefully happily off in dreamland."

"Your 'B and B'? Oh, yes, that fellow Leo—Leo something-or-other.''

"Leo Donev." She thought Jill must have told Larry and Don about her guest, for she certainly hadn't. "Erin and Lucy are staying over."

"That's right, Don's taking Jill to the dance tonight, isn't he? I suppose they've left already. Say, what are you having for dinner? It smells fantastic!"

He might as well have invited himself to stay. Arianne saved him the effort and asked him, instead, albeit reluctantly. After urging Jill to go to the dance with Don, she felt she should at least make an effort with Larry, and besides, dates were scarce as hens' teeth! She settled him in the living room, then excused herself to put the flowers in water and see to the dinner's final touches.

When she came back she discovered Leo had arrived home. He was saying to Larry, who was a lot quicker and more direct than she, obviously, "I own a bookshop in Los Angeles. Been having trouble with my eyes lately, lots of headaches. I must be reading too many books. My doctor suggested a quiet holiday with no stress."

"You've picked the right spot and the right time of year, then. Nothing could be quieter than Port Townsend in November." Larry smiled congenially. "How long are you staying?"

Arianne peeked through her curls at Leo's bland expression, admiring his slick ability to lie. At least, part of it was a lie; he just might own the bookstore. But she was certain he didn't really suffer from headaches, not with the way the hot green ice shimmered back at her.

"How long am I staying? I'm not sure exactly. I'm seeing my doctor this weekend and I'll take it from there."

"You must have an understanding doctor if he's going to see you Thanksgiving weekend!" Larry pointed out smoothly, smiling at everyone, rattling the ice in his glass.

"Personal friend," Leo replied. "And since I'm having Thanksgiving dinner at his place... You live in town?"

"I'm based on Whidbey Island. It's Lieutenant Barnes, actually." Larry, trying to be sophisticated, couldn't quite hide the gleam of pride and accomplishment from his brown eyes. "In another ten years I'll be retired."

"With the comfortable pension reserved for those of your high rank," Leo added easily.

"Danger pay." Larry smiled pleasantly. "We're ready to risk our lives every minute of every day!"

Leo half smiled back somewhat lazily. Arianne had the uncomfortable feeling he had something up his sleeve. "You sound so dedicated. I'm surprised you're considering early retirement."

She found herself sitting there turning her head from side to side, as if she were watching a tennis match. Although on the surface things couldn't have been more pleasant, she felt the men weren't getting along. Hackles were up; the men just hadn't begun to snarl yet. She wondered what had put them off about each other. Neither had any sort of claim on her....

Dinner was hardly a sparkling success, although the food was excellent. Larry raved over it and was still praising her afterward when they were in the living room once more, partaking of dessert—exquisite chocolates handmade in town and a pot of strong coffee that released a most wonderful rich aroma.

Leo poured some brandy for them then, and Arianne wondered that he wasn't going out again as usual. Had he deterred his evening walk, or had he meant to stay home tonight? She stared pensively at the flames in the fireplace.

Larry was saying in the most affable manner, "Competition from the movies and television must put quite a dent in your market. And it's getting worse!"

"Or better, depending on how you look at it." Leo replied, stretching his sinewy length comfortably on the couch, with his stocking feet propped up on one end. This behavior earned him a raised eyebrow, not from his hostess but from the other guest. "You see, all that competition is actually on my side. With more people being educated these days, more people are reading."

"Still, the day's coming when books will be obsolete," the officer insisted. "Terrible shame."

"Mmm, isn't it." Leo nodded, not appearing too worried about the disaster poised to befall his book-store. "That's one thing you don't have to worry about," he taunted silkily, "becoming obsolete."

Arianne felt like giggling, while Larry apparently took the remark seriously. Arianne knew Leo was implying that everything became obsolete, given time. Larry took the remark confidently as a compliment.

"Marvelous brandy." He rose, finishing his snifter. "You don't see that kind every day of the week! Since you aren't free tonight, Arianne, I might as well go back to work for an hour or two. When you've got a job like mine, the work never quits." He looked pointedly toward Leo, reclining on the couch.

"I don't mind baby-sitting for a little while," Leo inserted helpfully.

"No, no!" Arianne hurried to sway the direction this conversation was taking. "Not tonight, Larry. But, thanks. And thanks for the freesias."

"And thank you for dinner! Absolutely fantastic. Jill didn't mention what a good cook you are. I never enjoyed a dinner more." He chuckled softly. "Especially seeing as
I
didn't have to pay for it," he tacked on slyly, shooting Leo a lightning glance.

Taken aback by his crust, Arianne was lost for words. Larry wasn't. He continued breezily, "Come see me out to the door."

The purpose of this ploy, she surmised, was for her to get a good look at his car, parked out front, a new red Corvette, bright and beautiful beside Leo's somewhat shabby vehicle.

She was standing at the open door, waving Larry off as he kept adding more rhetoric to his goodbyes, when Leo appeared beside her. With a curt nod in the officer's direction, he began to close the door, drawing her back into the warmth of the house at the same time. The door shut, and for a moment longer his hand stayed on her arm, holding her quite close to him.

"Arianne," he murmured with a faint hint of a smile on his beautiful male mouth, "come join me by the fire... you mustn't catch cold!"

"Or anything else?" she quipped tartly, disengaging her arm and heading down the hall toward the kitchen.

Leo fell into step behind her however. "I don't like him, Arianne."

Now this man's nerve took her breath away. "So I noticed!"

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"I got the general impression he was trying to be," she said, and began to swing the kitchen door shut in his face. "Excuse me, Leo, I'm doing the dishes now." The door clicked shut; that was what he got for being so nosy.

When Arianne had finished the monumental pile of dishes, tidied the kitchen and prepared for breakfast, she was tired out. Thank heavens the next day was Sunday! All she had to do tomorrow after breakfast was drive to Seattle to spend Thanksgiving Sunday and Monday with her mother. Grandma and the baby would happily entertain each other while she had some blessed time off! Her mother would be thrilled that Rae had the sight....

Leo was still in the living room. He was reading the newspaper, delivered daily from Seattle. Arianne hesitated in the doorway. "Good night, Leo," she said evenly.

The newspaper tipped to one side. "Good night," he returned, sounding cheerful.

Sighing wearily on her way up the stairs, Arianne felt a little of Jill's depression weighing her down. For some reason she didn't feel quite herself. She was jittery, and all her senses seemed acutely receptive, even wary.

She looked in on the children, bedded down in Rae's room across the hall from hers. After smoothing a blanket here and tucking in an arm there, she went to her bed, yawning prodigiously.

Some three hours later she was almost instantly awake to the cries of one of the children. It was Erin. She hastened out of bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, used to these nocturnal missions. She had to stop those whimpers from spreading!

But by the time she'd turned on the dim night-light in Rae's room, another sob had joined the first, and then they were all up and all very discontented.

Jill had warned her about Erin's nightmares. He'd been having them ever since his bout with appendicitis. Now his body was wracked with sobs, the baby was screaming angrily and Rae was howling at her feet.

Since Erin was the most frightened, she scooped him up first, comforting the poor little boy, whose arms clinched around her neck. Rae wasn't keen on another child having his place when he needed it, so he started to howl even louder. And the baby wailed from the crib.

"Hush, hush, hush," Arianne begged, praying Leo slept like a log. "Sh-sh-sh! Please don't wake him up! Please! Shh!"

"What the bloody hell!"

Arianne spun around to see her guest leaning in the doorway. All he had on was a loosely tied pair of pajama bottoms.

If she was surprised by him, so was everyone else. Rae and Erin both gulped their misery into sudden silence to stare, openmouthed, and one-year-old Lucy hiccuped and started to cry again, but more quietly.

Coming into the room, Leo swept Rae up. "What happened?" he exclaimed in an undertone.

"I think Erin had a nightmare, maybe set off by not being in his own bed. He might have thought he was back in the hospital. Or maybe the wind..." It was sounding rather eerie, sifting along the eaves of the house, whistling and moaning in the chimneys.

Leo sat down on a bed, put Rae on one knee and held out his arm for Erin. As soon as the somewhat difficult transfer was complete and Arianne's arms were free, she went to pick up the baby.

"She's wet," she said to no one in particular.

"Aren't they always?" Leo returned, arranging the surprisingly quiet twosome sharing his lap more comfortably.

For a number of minutes there were diapers to be changed and related chores to be done. Arianne worked swiftly, never thinking for a second that she should have put her robe on before coming across the hall. At last each child had been attended to and returned to a more peaceful frame of mind. Erin and Rae were back in Leo's lap; he was reading them a fairy tale, while Arianne cradled Lucy, feeding her a bottle of warm milk.

The little boys' heads were drooping and Rae's eyes had already shut. To the soft deep cadence of Leo's voice reading from the book, Arianne paced up and down with the baby, quieting her and cuddling her and in general trying to replace her mother for the night.

In the dim lamplight Leo's face was partly shaded, but his broad cheekbones and slightly crooked nose were emphasized. His honey-colored hair was a deep bronze sheen. She wondered how she could have told her mother he wasn't handsome, for he looked divine. His velvety tone was almost putting her to sleep, as well as the children; it was insinuating itself into her bloodstream and easing out all kinds of little knots throughout her body. The deep huskiness seemed to be sliding up and down her spine just as if—she blinked rapidly, giving her head a little shake.

How nice of him to stay up and help! She was amazed and grateful, for without him it would have taken a great deal longer to settle the children. Lucy was ready to go back in her crib, finally, and Arianne tucked the blanket around the small chubby shape. As she stroked the baby's head for a moment more, to be sure she stayed asleep, Leo's voice trailed away.