Kiss the Girl (62 page)

She smiled radiantly into the front rows of the church, at the family she and Lars
Von Heller
had brought together.  His son and daughter, their families.  Nixie and Erik.  The Senator,
Tyrese
and Mary Jane.  She grinned fondly at Nixie, who blew her a watery kiss, and at Erik, who handed his wife a hanky and rolled his eyes at Sloan.  Nixie had bawled through
Tyrese
and Mary Jane’s
wedding
last year, as well as her
s
and Erik’s
the year
before
that.  Sloan wouldn’t
wonder if
Erik had hankies in every pocket.  He took wonderful care of her baby.

Lars squeezed her hand and Sloan leaned into his dear, solid bulk.  A new sense of peace washed over her, a lovely stillness
deep in her center
where she used to have only static and the manic drive to keep moving.  She smiled, then she laughed.  She didn’t worry about wrinkles anymore, nor about drooping this or sagging that.  She was calm at her very heart and when the music swelled again, she sailed down the aisle and into her new life safe in the knowledge that she was loved.  She was known from the bones out, and she was loved. 

Nixie
sopped at her face with Erik’s last dry hanky and sighed happily as Sloan and Lars exited the church to thunderous applause.  Erik’s hands rested on her shoulders and she leaned into him, grateful as always for his quiet support.  No matter where she went or what she did,
s
he was always
home
when she was with him
. 
She covered his hands with hers.

“That was definitely my mother’s best wedding,” she said.  “At least the best one I ever attended.”

Erik laughed.  “I have a feeling it’ll be the last one, too.”

“Yeah, I think Lars is here to stay.”  She swiped one last tear away and offered Erik his hanky back.

“Uh, no.  Thanks.  Put it with the others.”

Nixie shrugged and dropped the crumpled linen into her purse.  Her cell phone buzzed quietly
from the depths
, and Erik lifted a brow.  “One of your stars
need a little hand-holding
?”

“Maybe.”  Nixie s
hrugged.  Karl's departure
had left
one hell of a void
at Leighton-Brace Charitable Giving
but Nixie had refused to let it crumble
.
  Maybe she'd retired her own spotlight, but she'd spent years learning how to aim one.  And as it turned out, there were a hell of a lot of stars
with a yen to do good
who respected
her expertise on such things.  She'd filled Karl's behind-the-camera shoes handily, and with some compassion for the talent to boot.  It was, she felt, pretty darn win/win.
 
“But I’m not giving it
.”  She checked the readout on her phone.  “Grand Punk Master Jam is being rerouted to the Leighton-Brace Charitable Giving switchboard as we speak.  We have a very competent office manage
r
who I’m sure can see to whatever he needs while
well-digging
in Somalia.”

“I’m sure she can,” Mary Jane said
from the pew behind them.  “But
I’m still pissed you stole Wanda from us like that.”

Nixie smiled. 
Karl had been a ruthless mastermind, but he had nothing on
Nixie Leighton-Brace
when it came to staffing her empire
.
“Oh, come on.  You know Wanda wanted a job that did
n’t require
regular
evenings
.”

Mary Jane frowned darkly.  “
You seduced her with access to pe
ople like Grand Punk Master Jam.
”

Tyrese
slung an arm around his wife’s shoulders.  “Maybe she wanted a job where she didn’t have to look at Daryl Johnson’s package every time he came in for a flu shot.”

Mary Jane shrugged.  “Yeah.  Maybe.”

“Hey, look,” Erik said, pointing.  “Is that
Dame
Judi
Dench
?”

Mary Jane’s
shoulders hunched
.  “
Why can’t your mother have normal friends
?”
she asked Nixie.

“
My bad
,” Erik said.
 
“
It’s Helen
Mirren
.  I get them mixed up.
”

She
glar
ed
at Erik
.  “
Very funny. 
You think you can tap into my celebrity phobia and I’ll
forget about Wanda?  I don’t think so.  I’m
--”
 

“
Kristen Stewart and Rob
Pattinson
are b
ack by the baptismal font.”  Nixie
pointed toward the vestibule of the church.  Mary Jane
shuddered and
grabbed her husband’s hand. 

“Okay, we’ll fight over Wanda later,” she said and disappeared. 

The Senator leaned forward.  “So
are
you rounding up any new talent while you’re here in L.A.?” she asked.  “I loved the Southeast Asia
n
junket you put together for
Sandra Bullock
last year
.  I pushed a sweat shop bill through the Senate
thanks t
o that trip.”

Nixie smiled.  “
I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I like that bill
.
”

“
Thanks.”  She sighed and glanced at Erik.  “Probably the last bill I’ll write, you know.  Before my retirement.”

“I know,” Nixie said, smothering a smile.

“Before I turn my office over to some brash young person ready to take their turn
at the wheel of national politics
.”

“
Mmmm
.”  Nixie nodded solemnly.

“Enough with the hinting, okay, Mom?
” Erik said.  “How many times do we have to have this conversation?  I’m not going to run for your office.  Why would I?  I’m a surgeon, and all my humanitarian impulses are
dealt with at home
.”
  He gav
e Nixie a fond squeeze.

“Lucky you,” the Senator
said sweetly
.

Erik smiled.  “I married well.”

“Well
,
of course you did.  I picked her out, didn’t I?”  The Senator rolled her eyes.  “As it happens, however, I wasn’t asking you to run for
my Senate seat
.”

“No?”  Erik lifted a skeptical brow.

“No.”  She smiled.  “I was asking Nixie.”

He swung around to stare at Nixie, who stared at the Senator.  “I’ve been meaning to mention it for some time now, Nixie,” she said.  “The work you do with Leighton-Brace is wonderful, don’t misunderstand me. 
We need all
the
orphanages
you can
convince celebrities
to build.  But the circumstances that created the need for orphan
a
ges in the first place still exist.”  She held up one finger, a professor at the podium.  “
Until
you start changing the laws.  Then you’re changing the world.”

Nixie stared at her, struck.  “I never wanted to change the world,” she said.

Erik laughed.  “But you do.  Every day.
  You have kind of a thing for it.
”  He looked back and forth between his mother and his wife.  “Senator Leighton-Brace,” he said.  “I like it.”

Nixie liked it, too.    

About the Author

Some years ago, Golden Heart Award winner Susan
Sey
gave up the glamorous world of software training to pursue a high-powered career in diaper changing.  Two children and millions of diapers later, she decided to branch out and started writing novels during nap time.  The kids eventually gave up their naps, so now she writes when she's supposed to be doing the laundry.  She currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her wonderful husband, their charming children and a very tall pile of dirty clothes. 

For more about Susan or her books,
feel free to visit
her website (
www.susansey.com
) where you'll also find links to her Twitter and
Facebook
pages, and the occasional deleted scene or bonus chapter.  Which have usually been deleted for very good reasons but still.