Just to See You Smile (19 page)

He waited for her hilarious laughter to slow. “I think I mentioned you may not want to have dinner with me once you came to know me.”

“You're not getting off that easily. We're having dinner together Saturday night at the reception. Got it?”

“Yes, ma'am. See you tomorrow, Britte.”

“All right. Bye, Joel.”

He hung up the phone and maneuvered his way to the bathroom. His knee hit the corner of the desk, his shoulder smacked the doorjamb. He reached inside the medicine cabinet and dislodged several things before putting his hand around the prescription bottle. He fumbled with the lid, thinking that, at the moment, all that mattered were magnetic blue eyes.

Anne walked through the screened-in porch and unlocked the back door of the house, wondering why no lights were on. It was after nine o'clock. She thought her family would have been home from skiing by now.

She flipped on the overhead kitchen light and hung her coat on the wall rack. No reason to hang it in the hall closet. She'd be putting it back on first thing in the morning.

She walked to the center of the kitchen and looked around. It appeared pretty much as it had this morning, except now there were cereal bowls soaking in the sink.

“Lord, am I supposed to clean this up? Or should I let it go? Let them do it, as they promised? It's beginning to look unhealthy. Pretty soon there'll be mold—”

Laundry!

Anne went to the back hallway and peered into the laundry room.

For a moment, while praying, she had sensed she could dig into a deep reservoir of energy. She knew it was sometimes supernatural how she had the energy and the desire to keep up on the daily tasks. But that peek into the laundry room quenched it. In a split second, she felt as if she had slipped her coat back on and it weighed a hundred pounds.

She turned up the thermostat, grabbed the wall calendar, and made her way upstairs. Superwoman was a myth that Anne refused to buy into. She could
not
do it all, not all at once, and she would not try. For the time being, until she taught all three kids how to do their own laundry, they
would have to go without a favorite shirt or two. Alec would run out of socks by Friday. Perhaps she could manage to keep up with the linens without buying new sets of everything. The kitchen would be a perpetual disaster area with five people constantly doing their own thing. Somewhere along the way, somebody was going to miss an appointment, a practice, a lesson, or be late for a game.

That was life. Different from what they were accustomed to, but not earth-shattering, was it? Not life-threatening. She let out a deep, audible sigh. There. The hundred-pound weight was gone.

In the bathroom she stared at her reflection and ran her fingers through the short layers of black hair. She had had it chopped off, not trimmed, not cut. Chopped. Alec and the kids would be surprised. She hoped they would like it as much as she did. It was simply different, like the rest of her life.

The diamond earrings sparkled. They were more noticeable with this haircut. She would always wear them because Alec had given them to her. On the whole, she was more… dramatic looking. She smiled.

A short time later, she heard them come in. She was already sitting in bed wearing her fuzzy robe, writing on the oversized calendar in clear printing with colored pens.

“Mom!” Mandy raced in first. She stopped just inside the door. “What'd you do to your hair?”

Amy followed. “Wow! You look so cool!” She came over to the bed and gave her a hug. “Can you just blow-dry it?”

“Don't even have to do that. I can just put—what do you call it?—mousse on it and let it go.”

“Your hair was so long. Did you give it away like Lia did, for wigs for ladies with cancer?”

“I did.”

Mandy approached, a look of dismay on her face.

“Punkin, it's me.” She hugged her nine-year-old baby.

“You look so different.”

“Whoa, Mom!” Drew shouted from the door. “What happened to you?”

“What do you mean, what happened to me? I've joined the new century.”

“Which century is that?” He laughed. “Just kidding. It's not that bad.”

“Well, thanks.”

Alec appeared. “What's all the commo— Anne!” He walked across the room, tilting his head and examining her hair. “It's different.”

“Do you like it?”

He nodded. “It'll take a little getting used to, but, yeah, I like it.”

She could tell. “You hate it.”

“N-no.”

Amy said, “Dad, she gave her hair away. And this will be so easy to take care of.”

Anne noticed Mandy still staring at her. She kissed her cheek. “You'll get used to it, too.”

Alec pulled the girls aside and sat on the edge of the bed. “Last one downstairs is a rotten egg!”

Amy squealed, “I get Drew on my team!”

Mandy raced off behind her, yelling, “I get Dad!”

“'Night, girls!” Anne called. “It must be a Ping-Pong tournament.”

Alec smiled. “The only time Amy and Drew choose to be on the same side. You beat us home.”

“Not by much. How was skiing?”

“Great. The snow was perfect. Val ended up going with us.”

“She did?”

“She took the afternoon off and met us out there. The boys drove her car back for practice. The rest of us stayed awhile longer, and then we stopped for pizza.”

“You've been at the Pizza Parlor?”

“No, we went into Rockville. You know Val can't stand the Pizza Parlor. She seems to be doing a lot better than she was on Christmas Eve. I think having the holidays over probably helps.”

“Why didn't you stop and see me?”

“What?”

“I was at the shop. Why didn't you come in?”

He shrugged and got up from the bed. “Didn't think about it.” He disappeared into their bathroom.

Anne felt a knot in her stomach. Was she jealous? Of Val?

No… She was confident in Alec's love for her. Of Val's love for her. It was good that Val had played hooky today and enjoyed being with her kids. It was good she and her kids had some of Alec's male input.

But all that time they had spent together… All that time stolen from her…

Suddenly cold, she shoved the calendar to the floor and scooted down under the covers, not even bothering to remove her robe.

Alec opened his eyes and stared at the clock. Seven-thirty? He patted the other side of the bed. No Anne. She was probably already gone to work. He hadn't heard a thing. Of course, he'd stayed up extra late, playing Ping-Pong with the kids in the basement.

He went into the bathroom. The jeweler's box caught his eye. He opened it. The diamond earrings were stuck in the little cushion. Strange. She had put them on Christmas morning and not taken them off. She'd said she wouldn't take them off for a long time, if ever.

Why wasn't she wearing them two days later?

From her seat in a pew at the back of the chapel, Britte swallowed, collecting herself after a mad dash across the county. She had slipped inside just minutes ahead of the Friday evening ceremony. Gina's parents, Maggie and Reece Philips, were about to renew their vows.

The chapel was the original building of the first Valley Oaks church, built in 1890. It was located in a rural area, not far from Brady's acreage. Although the town never expanded in that direction, the chapel was maintained as a historical site. Tourists stopped by to read about the early Swedish settlers. Occasionally special services were held in it. Once, when Britte was a teenager, the king and queen of Sweden had even visited there.

The old wooden pew was hard, the floor was creaky, and the stained glass windows were drafty. But the Christmas poinsettias, candles, pine garlands, and the organist's classical music erased all of that. It was a beautiful setting, perfect for a small wedding.

Britte smiled to herself. Normally during the winter season, life in Valley Oaks truly was basketball, especially so the week between Christmas and New Year's when both varsity teams participated in tournaments.
Not true this year,
she thought. It was the year of the Wedding with a capital “W”.

First thing that morning, instead of mapping game strategy, she was at the other church, rehearsing for Brady and Cal's wedding; then she was in Rockville eating brunch
with the wedding party and families. Prompted by numerous comments, she had slipped into the ladies' room and studied her face in the mirror. The bruise on her cheek was down, but it was now a yellowish color. The scrapes were more pink than red. She'd better hit the pharmacy tomorrow and clear Lia's shelf of cosmetics.

After the meal, she drove to Twin Prairie for her girls game. Tanner was in charge of bus rides, allowing her to make it to the chapel in time for the wedding. Now she looked around. Alec and Vic Sutton, cousins of Maggie, were serving as ushers rather than attending the boys tournament. Although the Valley Oaks team wasn't playing that evening, Vic, an assistant coach, and Alec, a player's dad, would normally be in the stands, taking notes on opponents. And Brady—who only missed a boys game if he was out of town—was sitting up front beside his fiancée.

Maggie and Reece had been gracious to invite her entire family. How bizarre that the Olafssons would all be sitting there to witness the momentous event that involved the woman her father had married as a teenager! How bizarre that her brother was marrying that woman's daughter! And…how great was God, the healer of all wounds.

Cal appeared now at the end of the pew. He slid in, exchanging smiles with her. Lia and Chloe were already seated up front. Britte didn't know why Cal was so late. He had been at her last game without Chloe, but surely he would have left before she exited the locker room. Like her, he had been dressed for the wedding. The sight of Cal in the stands wearing a tie had caught her attention, partly because it was so uncharacteristic of him, partly because she was looking in that direction. Behind the team bench. Away from the court.

She shouldn't have been, of course. They had lost again. They had lost three of the five games, and she blamed herself.
She couldn't shake the thought that the same eyes that watched her walk out to the parking lot the night of the attack were watching her throughout the game. She wanted to meet them, to reason with them, to apologize for any hurt she had unintentionally caused, to offer forgiveness. But those eyes remained faceless. Like thornbushes in a ravine, the thought grew wild in her imagination that every pair of eyes watching judged harshly her every word, her every gesture.

Cal nudged her and whispered, “Move over.”

She looked sideways. Alec was ushering in a dark-haired woman— Anne?! Britte mouthed a “wow,” gave her a thumbs-up sign, and slid along the pew. She'd had her hair cut short, and she looked like a totally different person. She was amazingly attractive, more so or in a different way. Anne's personality was one of those that was just always “there” in a solid sense of the word. She was down-to-earth, practical, straightforward, no-nonsense. Now she appeared the same, but somehow to another degree, another level. It was almost…unsettling.

Kind of like the attack…like Maggie and Reece's wedding…like Cal attending all of her games…like her noncoaching…like falling for Joel Kingsley.

Talk about a bizarre winter!

Anne bit her lip. Maybe the tears wouldn't fall. As if on cue, Alec, sitting beside her in the pew, reached over and covered her hand with his.

At the front of the chapel, Maggie looked absolutely elegant. Her blonde hair, always just so, was curled to perfection. Tiny pearls were scattered throughout it. Her dress
was ivory and long; a delicate, crocheted layer covered it. Reece looked almost as elegant in his black tuxedo.

They were speaking their vows, a rendition of the classic ones they had probably spoken almost 31 years ago. They promised again to love, honor, and cherish. A maturity in their tones, however, underscored the phrases. It revealed a depth of profundity, attained only through years of grasping at those abstract terms, of looking back and recognizing that they were no longer abstract. They had crystallized somehow, somewhere along the way.

Hindsight would also reveal…mistakes…when they as a couple had worked against the process.

Anne wondered if she would ever reach that vantage point of hindsight. Seventeen years was not much over just half of Maggie and Reece's time. She wished she could talk with Maggie, but after tomorrow's double wedding, she and Reece would be leaving for their honeymoon.

Maggie's Aunt Lottie was Alec's grandmother. In other words, they were related and therefore had met often through the years. Last month, at Thanksgiving, they had been together. Maggie had shared briefly with her about falling in love again with Reece. It had come after years of growing apart.

At the family Thanksgiving dinner, Anne hadn't a clue what the woman was talking about. Tonight she understood what that meant…that growing apart.

Now, as Maggie and Reece kissed, what Anne could not comprehend was how to bridge the chasm widening itself between her and the man holding her hand.

Shortly after the ceremony, Britte parked her Jeep in the garage. She climbed out, punched the wall-mounted, automatic
garage opener, and hurried out under the closing door. Cal had invited her to ride with them to Maggie and Reece's buffet supper in Rockville. His car was parked in her driveway.

As Britte approached it, Lia got out. “You sit up front, Britte.”

“Don't be silly. I'll sit with Chloe in the back.”

Lia touched her arm and whispered, “Cal needs to talk with you, and he'd rather Chloe didn't hear.”

She got in the front seat and turned. “Hi, Chloe. What have you been up to over Christmas break? Oh, wait. Let me guess. You've been doing the same thing I've been doing. Trying on the bridesmaid's dress.”

Chloe giggled. “A
million
times.”

“I tried mine on a gazillion times. How are the kitties?”

The nine-year-old reached up and patted Cal's shoulder. “Soot and Nutmeg are fine. They like their new house. I made a bed for them in my room at Cal's.”

As they sped along the highway, passing headlights lit up Cal's face. He twisted his nose in distaste. Children he was beginning to handle with a smile. Cats were another matter.

Britte laughed. Cal had come a long way, indeed, to fall in love not only with the pharmacist, but with her niece as well. His family was expanding even to cats and parents. His mother, who seldom traveled north in the winter, was in town for the wedding. Lia's parents, who would care for Chloe during the honeymoon, were staying at Lia's.

They made small talk about tomorrow's events and their plans to spend Saturday night in Rockville before flying to Hawaii. Brady and Gina were taking a Caribbean cruise.

As Lia drew Chloe's attention elsewhere, Cal turned toward Britte. “We got him.”

She started. “You
what?
”

“It was Jordan's brother, Trevor.”

“Trevor! But he's just a freshman!”

“And he's a big kid, with a big mouth and an ax to grind.”

Britte felt confused. A child? “How did you find out?”

“I watched him during your games. He was angrier than his dad about his sister not playing. Red-faced, shouting derogatory statements about your…” His voiced faded.

“Coaching. Cal, I hear a lot of it. I know parents disagree with me right and left, and it comes out during games. I didn't know kids would be concerned about it. Obviously, Trevor gets it from his dad.”

“Right. His opinion
and
his temper. I pulled Gordon Hughes aside at halftime this afternoon and told him I wanted to talk with his son.”

“Oh, Cal. During the game?”

“Sorry. Had a wedding tonight and another one tomorrow. No time to waste.” He flashed a grin at her. “The Twin Prairie principal let me use a classroom. Trevor Hughes said he was in bed that Wednesday night after your game. Britte, the kid was lying. His dad hesitated for a split second—he couldn't prove he saw the kid in bed at that time—and then he started blustering, defending him.”

“So you don't know for a
fact
that Trevor is responsible?”

“My gut tells me. Almost the same thing as fact.”

Britte wasn't sure she agreed with that summary, but she didn't argue. “Now what?”

“I filed a report after the game. Trevor knows I'm on to him. He won't make a wrong move for a long time. If he's tardy or jaywalks or looks cross-eyed at a teacher, I'll be on his case.”

What had she just been thinking about Cal handling kids with a smile? Maybe it was only Chloe. “Cal, we're not talking about an older, belligerent teenager. He's a child.”

“Who assaulted you. Britte, he's a belligerent teenager in the making. If somebody doesn't crack down on him now,
he's headed for disaster. The point is, I don't think you need to worry about him coming after you again. I told him if anything happened to you, I'd nab him so fast it'd make his head spin.”

“Oh, Cal. What did Mr. Hughes say to that?”

“He didn't hear me say it.”