Very Private Duty (12 page)

His smile widened. Jeremy and Tricia weren’t the only ones planning their future. At the end of the year he would officially retire from the day-to-day operation of Blackstone Farms and do a few things he’d put off doing for years.

Tricia found her grandfather in the solarium watching an all-news cable television station. He spied her and Jeremy as soon as they walked in the sun-filled room.

“Hi, Grandpa.”

Gus glared at Tricia and Jeremy. “You got something to tell me?”

Jeremy hobbled over to Gus and sat beside him. “I’ve plenty to tell you, Gus. Tricia and I plan to marry during the Labor Day weekend.” He ignored the older man’s gasp of surprise. “And I’d be hon
ored if you would give me your granddaughter’s hand in marriage.”

Gus’s hand shook noticeably as he reached out and touched Jeremy’s broad one. “Nothing would make me happier.”

Tricia sat on her grandfather’s left and showed him the ring on her finger. Her eyes welled with tears when Gus covered her hand with his, gently squeezing her fingers. Resting her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes.

“Hurry up and get well, Grandpa.”

“I will, grandbaby girl. Nothing, and I do mean nothing will stop me from attending your wedding.”

Tricia and Jeremy sat with Gus until a technician came to take him back to his room for an EKG. They left the hospital, and instead of returning to the farm, Tricia headed toward Richmond. She needed to shop for a wedding dress.

T
ricia walked into the expanded schoolhouse with Kelly Blackstone, awed by the spaciousness of the newly constructed classrooms. She followed her soon-to-be sister-in-law down a highly waxed hallway to the office she would occupy once the school year began.

Four-week-old Vivienne lay quietly in the carrier held in Kelly’s firm grip. The baby seemed fascinated by her toes until she fell asleep during the short drive from her parents’ house to the schoolhouse.

The original building, constructed for preschool children, was connected to three one-story buildings that were set up for grades one to three and four to six, and the fourth would house the principal and
nurse’s office, gymnasium, auditorium, library and cafeteria. The schoolhouse also boasted a square with an interior courtyard playground.

Kelly stopped in front of a door bearing a brass nameplate that read: Mrs. Tricia Blackstone, Nurse. Tricia blushed at her own excitement. It would be another two days before she would marry Jeremy and become Mrs. Blackstone, but seeing it on the door made what was to come more of a reality.

She smiled at Kelly. “It looks very nice.”

Kelly returned her smile. “I told the contractor I wanted your door with your nameplate up first.” The doors to all the classrooms and offices lay on dollies in the hallways.

Tricia gave Kelly a quick hug. “Thank you.”

Ryan’s wife had become the sister Tricia never had. Soon after she and Jeremy officially announced their engagement Kelly had thrown all of her energies into helping Tricia with her wedding plans.

Tricia liked Kelly and thought her the perfect partner for Ryan. She was kind, friendly, unpretentious and the complete opposite of the first woman he’d married. Tall and slender with a fashionably cut hair-style, Kelly had an overabundance of energy she had channeled to become a successful wife, mother and educator.

The two women walked in and out of spaces that were to become classrooms and a science lab. “Will everything be finished before the beginning of classes?” Tricia asked.

Kelly led the way back to the parking lot where she’d parked her SUV. Vans and pickup trucks belonging to the workmen filled up many of the spaces. “The contractor reassures Sheldon that his men will be finished a week before the start of classes. All of the furniture has been sitting in a warehouse in Richmond awaiting word when it should be delivered.”

“Have you hired everyone?” Tricia asked after Kelly secured Vivienne in a car seat and sat behind the wheel.

“I still need a librarian.” Her gold-brown gaze met Tricia’s dark one. “Do you know someone who would be interested in the position?”

“I had a friend when I lived in New York who was studying to become a librarian. I’ll have to look through some of my old telephone books to see if I can find her number.”

Kelly turned the key in the ignition. “I’ve placed several ads in some newspapers and contacted placement offices at several colleges.”

“You still have time before the school year begins, so maybe you’ll get someone.”

“I like your optimism, Tricia.” She shifted into reverse and backed out of the lot. “I don’t know about you, but right about now I’d like some ice cream from Shorty’s Diner.”

Tricia glanced at her watch. It was after four. “You want to eat ice cream now?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We don’t have to go into town to eat at Shorty’s. Cook always has ice cream at the dining hall.”

Kelly sucked her teeth. “Cook buys store-bought ice cream. I want homemade.”

It was Tricia’s turn to suck her teeth. “I’ve been counting every calorie and gram that has gone into my mouth so that I won’t look like a stuffed sausage in my wedding dress, and you want me to eat ice cream.” She’d dropped a dress size, going from an eighteen to a sixteen.

Kelly gave her a sidelong glance. “You don’t have to eat it. You can hold Vivienne and watch me instead.” Crossing her arms under her breasts, Tricia mumbled angrily under her breath about skinny women.

“I don’t know whether you’re aware of it or not,” Kelly continued, deliberately ignoring Tricia’s reference to skinny women, “but whenever you walk into a room every man has the potential for whiplash. You are the most beautifully proportioned full-figured woman I’ve ever seen.

“And don’t forget you caused quite a stir last Saturday when you went swimming wearing that red one-piece number. The only guys who didn’t hear it from their wives or significant others were the ones who were wearing sunglasses. One of the grooms was staring so hard I’m certain he popped a few blood vessels.”

Tricia’s dark eyes sparkled as she smiled. “You’re good for a girl’s ego, Kelly.”

“I only speak the truth, girlfriend.”

The swimsuit was the most modest one she owned yet Jeremy had asked whether she really intended to wear it. Her answer had been the affirmative, which left him in a funk for days. His bad mood ended once the cast was removed from his left leg.

A smug smile touched Tricia’s mouth as she thought about Jeremy and her grandfather. Gus’s attitude toward Jeremy softened once he moved into his house. He insisted the younger man call him Grandpa instead of his given name, taught him how to bluff at poker and more about horses than Jeremy had learned in the first eighteen years he’d lived on the horse farm.

Kelly drove to Staunton and parked alongside a restaurant that resembled a 1950s jukebox. Tricia nursed a club soda and watched Kelly eat a vanilla sundae topped with nuts, whipped cream and fresh berries. It was close to six o’clock when they finally got into the sport utility vehicle to return to Blackstone Farms. They were further delayed because Kelly had gone into the restaurant’s bathroom to breastfeed Vivienne once the baby woke up crying to be fed.

Kelly maneuvered into a parking space at the dining hall and turned off the engine, while Tricia got out and gathered Vivienne from her safety seat. She was now able to hold the infant without losing her
composure. Vivienne looked as much like her mother as Juliet had Jeremy.

“She probably needs to be changed, and I don’t have any more diapers with me,” Kelly said, as Vivienne woke up fretfully. Tricia handed Kelly her daughter, who returned the baby to the safety seat. “I’m going back to the house. Go on in. I won’t be long.”

Tricia waited for Kelly to drive away before she made her way to the entrance of the dining hall. She opened the door and went completely still as a roar of
“Surprise!”
greeted her.

Her shocked gaze lingered on Jeremy leaning on a cane, grinning from ear to ear. A large, printed banner reading Congratulations to Tricia and Jeremy! hung from a wall under which a long table overflowed with gaily wrapped gifts. Covering her face with her hands, she squeezed back tears. Now she knew why Kelly delayed coming back to the farm.

Leaning heavily on his cane, Jeremy limped over to Tricia, curved an arm around her waist, lowered his head and covered her mouth with his. Her arms circled his neck and she kissed him back.

“Get a room!” someone shouted. The dining hall erupted in laughter.

“Save some for the wedding night,” came another deep voice.

Jeremy ended the kiss and gave Tricia a sensual smile. “I hope someone took a picture of you when
you walked in because the look on your face was priceless.”

Tricia rolled her eyes at him. “I have to assume you were in on this.”

He nodded. “Guilty as charged. Come sit down and eat before you open your gifts.” He led her over to the table where Gus sat with Sheldon.

She kissed her grandfather’s cheek, then Sheldon’s before he pulled out a chair for her. “How long have you guys been planning this?”

“Actually it was Kelly’s idea,” Sheldon said. “When she overheard me and Ryan talk about making arrangements for the moving company to pack up your house she said they should catalogue the entire contents including color schemes. She made up a list of things she thought you’d like and set up a wedding registry.”

Tricia stared at Jeremy. “To say I was clueless is an understatement, because I’ve never known anyone at Blackstone Farms to keep a secret for more than twenty-four hours.”

“I beg to differ with you,” Sheldon countered. “I had no idea you and my son were keeping company as kids.”

Jeremy stared at his father. “We didn’t begin, as you say, ‘keeping company’ until we were eighteen.”

Tricia glanced across the table, meeting her grandfather’s solemn gaze. There was no doubt he was thinking about his own daughter, who had dropped
out of school and became a mother before she was eighteen.

Tricia’s gnawing need to know about the man who had fathered her and the whereabouts of her mother had eased after Gus’s heart attack. The fear of losing her grandfather forced her to reexamine herself and those she loved. If Patricia Parker wanted to see her, then she would’ve made the attempt. After all Patricia had had thirty-two years to reconnect with Tricia.

A waiter approached the table, pen and pad in hand. “Is everyone ready to order?”

Tricia reached for the printout of the dinner choices and perused it as Sheldon, Gus and Jeremy gave the young man their selections. The dining hall’s furnishings were reminiscent of upscale New York City restaurants: dark paneled walls with stained-glass insets, plush carpeting, linen-covered tables and Tiffany-style table lamps. Breakfast and lunches were buffet, but dinners were always served. The exceptions were pre-and postrace celebrations. Weather permitting, these functions were held outdoors.

Tricia glanced up at the waiter. “I’ll have the Caesar salad with grilled chicken.”

She redirected her attention to Jeremy and reached for his hand under the table. He looked nothing like the heavily sedated man she’d been reunited with after more than a decade. He’d gained weight and there was a sprinkling of gray in his close-cropped black hair.

Jeremy shifted his chair closer to Tricia’s, silently
admiring her delicate profile. “Do you know how hard it has been not to sneak upstairs and climb into bed with you?”

She lowered her gaze, enchanting him with the demure gesture. “I thought you liked having Grandpa as a roommate.” Her voice was as hushed as Jeremy’s.

“Believe it or not he’s a real cool dude.”

Tricia smiled. She’d heard people call Gus a lot of things, but never a “cool dude.”

Conversations faded as waiters and waitresses began bringing out dishes from the kitchen for the more than thirty people filling up the dining hall. Gus and Sheldon exchanged a knowing look before Gus pushed back his chair and stood up. A hush fell over the room.

Tricia stared up at the man who was both father and grandfather. He’d managed to put on a little of the weight he’d lost when hospitalized and although still gaunt he appeared elegantly serene.

He cleared his voice and smiled at Tricia. “I’d just like to say a few words before we begin our meal. I have so much to be grateful for—for Tricia being at the right place at the right time when I suffered a heart attack, for her putting up with her cantankerous grandfather and for Jeremy who helped make me aware of the power of forgiveness.”

Gus closed his eyes and when he opened them they glistened with unshed moisture. Sheldon rose to his
feet and gave the older man a rough embrace as applause filled the space.

Ryan and his family walked into the dining hall and sat at a nearby table. He snapped Vivienne’s carrier into the high chair, pushing it under the table. Leaning over, he tapped Jeremy’s shoulder. “What did we miss?” he whispered.

“Gus becoming maudlin.”

“No!” There was an incredulous look on Ryan’s handsome face.

“Believe it, brother.”

Tricia hid a smile when she heard the exchange between Jeremy and his brother. She didn’t know whether it was Gus’s brush with death or her agreeing to marry Jeremy and live at the farm that had changed him, but whatever the catalyst, she hoped the change was permanent.

Tricia felt slightly tipsy from the champagne that had been served with delicate pastries and petit fours prepared for the occasion by the pastry chef. She rose unsteadily to her feet as a few of the farm residents began chanting her name.

Jeremy touched her hand. “Would you like to use my cane, sweetheart?”

She ignored his remark and made her way to the table laden with gifts. She sat on a chair decorated with streamers of white satin.

There was a pregnant hush when she picked up the first package. Decorative paper, ribbon and bows were
discarded as she opened boxes containing gourmet cookware, silver and crystal picture frames, exquisite Egyptian cotton linen, plush bath towels, scented candles, hand-painted flowerpots, bathroom accessories, an espresso-cappuccino machine, personalized stationery imprinted with both her and Jeremy’s names and an antique soup tureen from Kelly.

When she’d admired the fragile china piece, circa 1850, she’d never thought Kelly would give it to her as a wedding gift. Smiling at Kelly, Tricia mouthed “Thank you very much.”

Tricia sat on the floor of the porch between Jeremy’s outstretched legs, her elbows resting on his knees. They’d returned from the dining hall, put Gus to bed and then retreated to the porch. The mercury was in the low seventies, the night sky ablaze with summer constellations.