Part 13 (2/2)

”No.- ”Even considering the danger?”

”Even then. Keep him with you.”

”There may come a time when I can't.” [email protected] that time when it comes.” He turned his head, looking first at her mouth, then at her eyes. ”Is that what you did?”

”Mom got progressively weaker. She developed pneumonia and had to be hospitalized, and the 6oice was for her to stay in the hospital, where her ”Condition could be constantly monitored, or bring her home. We knew it was more risky at home. But she spent her entire married life in this house. She [email protected] it here. I don't care what anyone says, there's ...'OWhing like home.” Chelsea took a deep, sad breath %.and looked around. ”Maybe you're right. If disposing 61 all this is hard for me, it must be worse for my Wher. It's the end of a large part of his life.” Judd took the photographs from her and flipped deeper into the stack.

”Who's this?” mother's sister Anne.”

”She looks annoyed.”

”She was. We were supposed to spend Christmas England that year, only Mom took a fall and broke h arm two weeks before, so everyone had to come er here.” Judd looked at the picture for a minute, then turned to another. ”That's me and my two best friends,” Chelsea and checked the back. ”We were twelve.” 301 Rwbmv Definsaw He skipped ahead. ”Who Is this guy? He keeps popping up.” She grinned.

”That's Carl.”

”Ahhhh. The phantom partner.” Carl had been in New York for the day, so Judd hadn't met him yet. He glanced at the back of the photograph. ”The two of you were nine here.” He found another picture of them together, this one with Chelsea the taller. ”And fourteen here.”

The next one he pulled out was the most recent of the batch. ”And thirty-something here. Amazing.”

”That we stayed friends so long?”

”That it never grew into anything more.” The photograph in his hand had been taken in Newport the summer before. It was a color snapshot that showed matching white grins, matching auburn hair, and matching s.h.i.+rts and shorts appropriate to the deck of the Harpers' sleek yacht. Abby had been sick that summer. Everyone understood that she might not make it back the next year, and Chelsea, for one, was having trouble accepting it. Carl had been a huge comfort to her. She hadn't thought of that in a while. In recent months thought of Carl had brought thoughts of Hailey and her baby, along with thoughts of hurt and betrayal. For the first time now, as though the wound of finding him in a compromising position had finally begun to heal, she felt a flicker of fond- ness for him. ”Or did it?” Judd asked. Her eyes flew to his, questioning. ”Were you two ever a couple?” She humored him. ”We were always a couple.”

”Were you ever lovers?” he asked. ”That's an intimate question.” 302 Me Pa.s.sions of Cbasen Kmw ”Yup,” he said, and skewered her with those direct eyes of his while he waited for an answer. She wanted to deny it. But she hadn't ever lied to him before. Maybe she hadn't told him all she might have at times, but she'd never lied. ”Once,” she said quietly, drawing her hand back to her lap. ”It didn't work.”

”On whose part, his or yours?” *Both.

We decided to stick to being partners and friends”

”.at works, after being lovers?” ”So far,” she said, but there must have been an inkling of doubt in her voice, because Judd looked at her curiously. ”Do you like his wife?”' ”Hailey? Sure.”

”How long have they been married?”

”Not long.”

”How long, Chelsea?” She let out a breath, said, ”Since June,” and immet , saw him aligning the dates. ”Just about the time you came to the Notch. So the third person you lost. Did you love him?”

.”No. That was why it didn't work.” Judd thought about that for a minute. ”Did he Ide to marry Hailey before or after you decided ove to the Notch?” I and I made independent decisions that just ned to coincide.”, e ew quiet again. Having said as much as she ted to Chelsea put the photographs back in-the ' put the s...o...b..x in a carton, and went to dark side of the furnace to take several more boxes from the metal shelf there. When she turned, she b.u.mped into Judd. He took them from her and 303 Barbara Deunsky put them back on the shelf. ”I'm glad,” he said, pinning her hands behind her. His voice was thicker than before. ”Glad of what?” she asked, but her attention drawn to his mouth.

He had a wonderful mouth. It was firm and spare in a masculine way.

Movement from it was always a reward. ”That you didn't like it with him the way you do with me.” He drew her closer. He didn't kiss her, just held her closer, then closer, until her body brushed his, until their hips met. Her breath caught. ”Love that sound,” he murmured. She smiled against his throat. ”Here, Judd?” By way of answer he bunched up her dress---easy enough to do, since it was another of the loose, trapeze-style dresses she was so comfortable wearing-until the hem was at her waist. Seconds later his hands were inside her panties, holding her backside, pressing her even closer.'There was no way she could mistake his erection, no way she wanted to. She wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed his name. ”Is that a yes or a no?” he asked. She hummed in a helpless sound of pleasure when his fingers came forward.

”Yes or no?” he repeated. ”The housekeeper is upstairs.”

”Yes or no?”

”Yes.”

”Take everything off, then,” he said in a rough whisper, and lent his own hands to the cause. In no time the dress was over her head, her bra unhooked and tossed aside, and her panties slipped off. She 304 7he Pa.s.sions of cjwaw ALUM .:@had barely straightened when Judd touched her .again, this time frontally and deeply. She reached for his pants, but he held her off. ”Please,” she gasped. ”Not yet.”

”I can't stand. My knees won't hold.” With his fingers stroking her insides and her ,@'@”110dy halfway to bliss, he looked toward the far end of the bas.e.m.e.nt..,:, Chelsea wasn't so far gone that she didn't know What he saw. ”Not the Ping-Pong table.”

”Got a better idea?” he asked, scooping her up @And starting off. ”The Ping-Pong table won't [email protected] She laughed breathlessly. ”The washer. Use the washer. It's closer.” @', She was there before she could say anything else. He sat her on top and fought with her hands to get his trousers open. She had barely spread her thighs vide when a single powerful stroke put him inside, and then she was lost. She was alwiys lost when he entered her-just as, when he buried himself deeply -inside her, then pushed even deeper, she was Always found. It was as simple and devastating as that. >5 Judd was impressed with Harper, Kane, Koo. He could have done with a little less chrome, but he understood that clients would be dazzled. Everything he saw spelled success. He was more amazed than ever that Chelsea was taking a year out ,”X..-'.,Ao play with Plum Granite. ”Al It didn't make sense. Even knowing that she'd lost er mother to death, her father to retirement, and friend, partner, and one-time lover to marriage, 305 all in the year, didn't fully explain it. She was too successful in the city to be giving it up. She was also too well-liked, as was evident by the attention everyone in the office paid her. They were clearly pleased to have her there, if only for a brief visit. Melissa Koo was as offbeat as Chelsea had painted her. Carl Harper was the surprise. He came in that second morning, not at nine, with the regularity Chelsea had mentioned, but, more leisurely, at ten, and wearing a patterned tie that was definitely not conservative. Even Chelsea seeme surprised. ”Hailey's doing?” she teased. Carl looked at the tie, grew vaguely red, and shrugged. ”It's okay,” Chelsea said. ”I like it.” She paused for a second. ”How is she?”

”Hailey? She's fine. Getting bigger, actually.

She's gaining weight fast. The doctor thinks it might be twins.” So Carl's new wife was pregnant, mused Judd. Chelsea didn't look surprised by the news, which meant that she'd known it but had conveniently forgotten to tell him. If Carl and Hailey were married in June, and already Hailey was ”getting bigger,” it didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd conceived before the ceremony. That meant Chelsea had probably learned about the pregnancy right before she'd come to the Notch. Another shock. But enough to drive her out of the city? Judd wondered. To his eye, Chelsea's smile looked forced. ”Twins? That's great. Will you give her my best?”

”Sure,” Carl said, and turned to Judd. ”So you work with Chelsea?”

”You could say that,” Judd said. He didn't like 306 Me Pa.s.sfons of Chwsee Kame Something had to be wrong with the man not to find Chelsea wildly attractive. He wondered what ant Halley looked like. ”I work the granite he one who'll keep the men ahead of the brings in. Are you helping her get business?” Carl deferred to Chelsea, who said, ”No. Carl isn't In this with me.” Z That struck Judd as another betrayal. Win y not?” he asked Carl. ”Chelsea said you were joint partners in other ventures.” Carl looked uncomfortable. ”This one came at a bad time for me.”

”You're not as daring as your tie?” Judd asked..”That's too bad. There's good money to be had. I'd think you'd want it, what with a new wife and baby and all.”

”This was Chelsea's project from the start. She's I .... the one who's into granite.”

”Ahhhh,”'said Judd, and drew himself up. ”Well, Ahat's my gain.” He looked at Chelsea. ”I have a tenthirty meeting. I'd better be heading out.” He tipped an imaginary hat to Carl and turned away. Chelsea walked him to the elevator. When they were past the reception area, she asked, ”What was that about?”

”I don't like him.” ..”You don't know him.”

”I can't believe you went to bed with him.” It was eating at his craw. He didn't know why. What she'd ,@ie; done before they'd become lovers was her own She was silent. Finally she looked up at him and X-,@y_ aid, ”Carl is a good friend.”

”.Carl is a wimp.” 1 7 Bwtmu Demnsiky ”He's a good, loyal friend. If I needed him, he'd be there for me.” Judd shook his head. ”His first priority is his wife and child.” She looked bothered by that thought, which pleased the part of him that resented her allegiance to Carl. But as he stepped into the elevator, he was bothered, too, because he knew he shouldn't resent any allegiance she made. He was her lover. That was all. Actually, that wasn't all. Over dinner that night, Kevin Kane seemed determined to define the parameters of their relations.h.i.+p. He asked about Judd's background, about Judd's position in the granite company, about his role there vis-&-vis Chelsea's. ”Then you're her link to the working part of the company,” he concluded. ”You could say that.”

”I worry about her wandering around a quarry.”

”I'm fine, Dad.”

”She doesn't wander there,” Judd told him. ”No one wanders there. If she goes to the quarry, she goes with me.” It wasn't a rule, exactly, but over the weeks that was the way it had been.

Judd didn't want her falling off a ledge, any more than he wanted any of the cutters leering, whistling, or making an out-and-out pa.s.s. ”What about her house?” Kevin went on. ”She says it's old.”

”it was a stop on the Underground Railroad,” Chelsea put in. ”I checked it out at the historical society. Runaway slaves hid out in the secret pa.s.sageways on their way to Canada.” Kevin didn't look as thrilled by that as she was, not that Judd imagined he was a proponent of slav- 308 Ike rkssimm or chefs” AMM Simply that he didn't like the Idea of the house. Kevin asked him. ”I take it she had all 10IS it safe? in jo a r systems checked out before she moved s safe,” Judd said. ”I'd live there myself.” Y u?” 0 d'” 0.” Judd said. He had to hand it to Kevin for something he wasn't supposed to see. ”I live with my father.” at does he do?” .-Not much nowadays.” Judd explained the situathat kept Kevin busy for a time, and in a way t Judd welcomed. Kevin was up on the latest ical thinking regarding Alzheimer's disease and it in layman's terms. He didn't have any soluoons to offer, any miracle treatment or cure, but by the discussion's end Judd better understood the .!physiology of the disease.

When he thanked Kevin for that, Kevin said, ”It's bad you live where you do. Doctors up there @wt aren't in the mainstream.” Judd had never been a name dropper,'but the @,@',']eamment irked him, so he said, ”Actually we've 6een seeing Duncan Hartigan.” looked impressed. ”In Boston? He's a good @'So's Neil Summers..He heads the local hospital. trained at Johns Hopkins.” tv a s a fine center,” Kevin acknowledged, and ed to talk about the various medical centers ”had visited in recent months. J u d listened only enough to be able to ask Intel- t questions---and drop the occasional name to g Kevin know he wasn't a hick-but all the while IM I 0::.:1.. 309 Barbara Defingky he was wondering about the distance between Kevin and Chelsea.

It was there,'clear as day, though he would have thought they'd be close, what with Abby gone. That was what had happened with his father and him. Once his mother had left, Leo was all he had, and vice versa.

Granted, he'd been a kid then, and they'd had dire differences in subsequent years, but the feeling remained. It was one of the reasons he was having so much trouble with Leo's illness. He wasn't ready to accept the idea of his father's mortality. He wondered if Chelsea thought about that. He guessed she did. She was making an effort to please Kevin-ordering his usual drink for him, smiling when smiles were due, making no complaint at all when Kevin directed himself more to Judd than to her. She was the perfect social creature. Only Judd could see the tension in her, the haunted look in her eyes when Kevin's talk took him miles away, the fearful look when talk turned to Norwich Notch. ”Are you still planning to stay there the year?” ”Uh-huh,” she said with a cautious nod. ”Aren't you bored?” She laughed. ”I only wish there were more hours in the day to get things done. I don't have time for all I want to do.” She grew cautious again. ”I'd really like you to visit. By the end of the month, I'll have a guest room ready. Will you come for Labor Day?”

”I can't. I've invited a group to Newport.” Judd saw disappointment on Chelsea's face, but it was gone in an instant. In its place was a deliberate enthusiasm. ”Oh? Who?”

”The Wescotts, Charlie and Lil Dushayne, the Rodenhisers.”

”That should be nice,” she said without malice, 310 The Ph9afans or chelaw KMM A a breath. ”How about mid-September? I'm A Of having an open house and inviting poten- ... i uvers up to see the granite firsthand. At the @”**Me time friends could come see the farmhouse. whole weekend would be festive. You might like was the first Judd had heard about any open He wondered if she was improvising again. have to see what's on my calendar,” Kevin Judd wanted to shake him. Even a blind man see that Chelsea was desperate to have him Then Kevin said something that puzzled him. ”Have you learned what you wanted to learn?” She gave a quick shake of her head. -Doesn't that tell you something?” he asked. ;”Only that I'm still settling in.” @,He looked suddenly angry. ”It's a wild goose chase, Chelsea. There's no point @.,@U-Y'Dllr being there.” She swallowed. -He c.o.c.ked his head toward Judd. ”What does he helsea swallowed again. Judd grew curious. ic .Vi @Ofle doesn't know?” Kevin guessed. Judd spoke up. ”Know what?” OTMt she was born in Norwich Notch,” he said in .% Okgust. ”That's what drew her to the place. She's ,.,@.,Mylng to find out who her birth parents are. She ; M.'t accept the fact that if they didn't want her Xr they don't want her now. She doesn't underd that every day she spends in that place is a In the face to me.” N. ' had gone pale. ”It shouldn't be.” 311 Bwtwa Definsky ”Well, how would you feel if you gave someone your name, your resources, and your love, and that wasn't enough?” he asked her. ”You're comparing apples and oranges,” she argued, but beseeching. ”I have parents-you and Mom. I'm not looking for replacements. But I want to know who was physically responsible for my creation. That's not so horrible, or so unusual.” Kevin snorted. ”You're afraid of losing me,” she went on, ”but you're the one who's pus.h.i.+ng me away. You never want to see me anymore.”

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