Part 5 (2/2)
”The fact that you love my sister aside, there really is no hope for us-as a couple, I mean.”
His jaw twitched. ”That's your opinion.”
She sighed. ”Remember that old story-the ant and the gra.s.shopper?”
He dared to groan. ”You're kidding.”
”Nope. You're the ant. Up at first light. Diligent and hardworking, upwardly mobile, always getting ready
for a rainy day.”
”I'm an ant.” He did not look pleased.
She gave him a lazy grin. ”That's right. I, on the other hand, am allgra.s.shopper .” She gestured at the
small, dim room around them. ”I take everything-each day-as itcomes . I live for the joy of the moment. You don't understand me and I don't understand you. We're just ... much too different by nature to have a prayer of making a go of it together.”
He studied her for a long moment, looking irritatingly amused. ”Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall the story, when winter came, the gra.s.shopper died.” She hit the table with the heel of her hand. ”See? Total ant logic. Focusing on the very things you can least control.”
”I a.s.sume you mean death.”
”Yes. Exactly. Death. And bad weather, too.” She picked up her spoon again and went back to work on the cereal. ”I thought that was the moral of the story,”Logansaid. ”The ant worked hard and scrimped and saved and lasted the winter. The gra.s.shopper partied. And when the cold weather came...” He shook his head and pretended to look mournful. ”Too bad, so sad.”
She pointed her spoon at him. ”I live in L.A. Bad weather is not a problem.”
”We're discussing a fable, Lace. In a fable, bad weather stands for any of a number of possible difficult periods in life.”
She'd started out this little discussion feeling pleasantly superior-now she felt just plain disgruntled. ”Oh, never mind. You're determined to miss my point and make your own.”
”I got your point.”
”Right.” She bent her head over her bowl and finished her cereal, aware of his eyes on her the whole time.
When she looked up, sure enough, he was watching her.
He said, ”Maybe having my baby is the best thing that ever happened to you. As my wife, you know
you'll always have a roof over your head when winter closes in.” She reached for the bottle of prenatal vitamins in the center of the table, screwed off the lid and shook one into her hand. ”Listen to me, Logan. I'm not going to be your wife. And as far as that roof you mentioned, I don'tneed to know it'll be there. I don't think that far ahead. As I keep trying to explain to you, I'm a gra.s.shopper to the core.” ”Fine. So I'll think ahead for you. Youdo need that. Especially now, with the baby coming.” She picked up her bowl and stood. ”I can see I'm getting nowhere.” ”I wouldn't say that. This has been an enlightening discussion.” ”Enlightening for you, maybe.” There it was again, that musing, knowing look in his eyes. ”Seriously. I think we have a lot to offer each other.” ”Dream on.” ”I'll scrimp and save for a rainy day. You'll see that we make the most of every moment. We're the perfect couple.” Something scathing rose to her lips. She bit it back and turned for the sink, where she washed her vitamin down with water, cleaned her bowl and spoon and set them in the wooden rack to dry.
* * * ”He seems a fine man,” Tess said. ”And so handsome, too.” They were sitting in a pair of rockers on the porch of the main house, just Tess and Lacey, enjoying the shade in the heat of the afternoon. Zach andJobeth had takenLoganout for a look around the ranch, Starr had driven off that morning to her summer job and Edna had settled in with the baby at her own house for a short nap.
”Lacey, did you hear what I said?”
Lacey made a noncommittal sound. She had her sketch pad perched on what was left of her lap and she was busy stroking in shadows with the side of her pencil.
Tess took a fewmore tiny , perfect st.i.tches on the thick wool sock she was darning. ”I hope he goteverything worked out all right with the other doctors at his office.” Loganhad tried calling his office via cell phone earlier. When the cell phone cut out on him, he'd ended up using the phone at the main house. ”Yes,” Lacey said. ”His partners have agreed to cover for him.” ”Well. That's good.” Was it? Lacey wasn't so sure. But she felt no urge to remark on the fact. She focused on her drawing, her hand moving swiftly and surely over the paper.
Tess cleared her throat. ”Maybe I have no right to ask, but I'm going to ask anyway...”
Lacey made a series of quick, deft strokes, cross-hatching more shadows, then looked up from her sketch pad. ”Yes,” she said, ”Loganis the baby's father.”
Those big dark eyes of Tess's didn't waver. ”He says he's here to marry you.”
”When did he say that?”
”Last night. You had left the table for a moment.” Tess snipped with her scissors and tied off her thread.
”Will you marry him?”
”No.” Lacey flipped the cover over her drawing and set the pad on the short bench between them.
”Why not?”
Lacey's back was aching, as it had been for the past few days. She pushed herself from the chair and indulged in a nice, protracted stretch. Tess watched her, saying nothing. Lacey wandered to the railing and managed to hoist herself up onto it. She put one hand under her belly to support it a little and leaned her cheek against the porch post.
Then she said it. ”He doesn't love me. He's always loved Jenna.”
Tess bent to her basket, dropped in the sock, and brought out a plaid s.h.i.+rt with a tear at the shoulder seam. ”How do you know that?” ”They were high school sweethearts. And they were even engaged, last year, before MackMcGarrity came back into the picture.”
”That was last year. What about now?”
”I've ... confronted him with it. Yesterday, when he first arrived and started insisting that we had to get married.”
”And?”
”He didn't come right out and say, 'I love Jenna,' but he never denied it, either.”
Tess looked over the rows of thread spools in her sewing box, seeking the right color. ”Your sister is no threat to your relations.h.i.+p withLogan. Jenna loves her husband.”
”Unfortunately, that hasn't stoppedLoganfrom lovingher .”
”Or so you a.s.sume, though he's never actually said as much.”
”He doesn't have to say it. I know. And he certainly hasn't said he loves me.”
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