Part 14 (2/2)

he finally impa.s.sive of voice, derisive of meaning. he stood taller. ”If need be.” *That'll really win ' over.” I'm not here to win ' over.

I'm here to find out 323 Barbara Deffn9ky who I am, to make something of the granite company, ajgd to have my baby in peace.”

”You can't buy people's love.” ”Who said anything about wanting anyone's love?”

”That's what you want all right. You want to buy your way in here, make yourself into a local hero people adore, then tell them to screw themselvesall because some nameless, faceless woman dared to give you up for adoption years ago.”

”That's not what I want at all!” He made a scornful sound, turned on his heel, and left her wondering whether the depth of his' hurt made him think so little of her or whether what he said was true.

Donna knew something was wrong. She'd been sensing it in Chelsea for a week. On those days when they didn't see each other at aerobics, Chelsea dropped by the store midmorning to say h.e.l.lo. Ostensibly she came for a bottle of Snapple Pa.s.sion Supreme, but she always stayed to talk. Donna enjoyed those talks. She felt honored to be Chelsea's friend. But friends.h.i.+p implied a responsibility, and increasingly Donna felt she was s.h.i.+rking hers. Something had happened in Baltimore. Chelsea hadn't been as lighthearted since her return, and Donna couldn't believe it had to do with the September open house she was planning. So, by week's end, when Chelsea hadn't said anything but seemed as burdened as ever, Donna broached the subject herself. ”Something's bothering you,” she typed into the 324 MW FASWons of Cjwmw Kmw Uter after she'd gestured Chelsea into the back ,-office. atthew was out front and wouldn't be ed, but Matthew was never pleased with what she did, so she had little to lose.

”What is it?” .1 have to decide between a clambake and a bar-,'@@becuev” Chelsea, typed back. ”I don't know which -one to do. Donna waved a hand in dismissal. ”Something else is wrong,” she typed. ”Is it your father?” Chelsea shook her head. ”Will he come in September?”

”Probably not.” Donna studied her face as it frowned at the computer screen. Kevin had been a problem for months. ”@But the preoccupied look Donna saw was new. ”Then it's Judd,” she dared type. Chelsea's eyes flew to hers. For a minute she looked indecisive, as though -not sure whether to admit to anything. Then, quietly, she said, ”How did you know about Judd?” With a sad smile Donna typed, ”Norwich Notch is a small town. People see cars going places at night. Word spreads.”

”It was Hunter. Hunter talked.” But Donna shook her head. ”Hunter isn't a gossip, but dozens of others are. Someone must have seen Judd turning in at Boulderbrook late on a night when he paid a sitter to stay with Leo 'til morning.” At Chelsea's look of distress, she typed, ”It's not so awful. Judd's single. So are you. You're a beautiful pair.” Chelsea's expression was suddenly so stricken that Donna felt a sharp fear. ”What is it?” she asked aloud, not caring how bad her voice sounded. The stricken look remained. Ater a minute 325 BREbwa Demmsky Chelsea turned to the keyboard and began to type. By the time she stopped, she had filled the screen three full times. Donna looked at Chelsea's stomach.

She couldn't imagine a baby there, Chelsea was so slim. But her clothes wouldn't tell a thing. She always wore loose dresses or large tops over leggings or shorts. Then there was the other, actually the more amazing fact of the two. ”You were born here?” She couldn't imagine it, either.

Chelsea seemed too refined to be of Norwich Notch stock. ”Thirty-seven years ago,” Chelsea said, looking exposed and frightened, ”but the records have all been destroyed. I don't know how to begin the search.

Norwich Notch is a small town. There can't be many babies born and relinquished, but It's a touchy subject.” She paused, looked even more unsure. ”You don't remember anything, do you?” Donna shook her head fast. Her hands. .h.i.t the keys with deliberate strokes. ”I was too young when you were born. You'd have to speak with someone older.” She put a long line of dashes on the screen to separate what was already there from what was coming. ”Was Judd really angry?” She looked up to see Chelsea say, ”Furious. He feels that I deceived him, that I'm deceiving the whole town. He's insulted. He's convinced that I'm ambitious and manipulative. I acknowledge that I haven't made the best decisions, but the last few , have been difficult. What with my life in Baltimore coming apart, then my involvement with Judd, which I did not plan, then trying to juggle the work in two separate offices, getting Boulderbrook finished, and the phone calls-” She threw a hand in the air and looked away. ”Too much.” 326 Ift Pa.s.sIOns of Owlsen KMW .,”Donna touched her arm, then the keyboard. at phone calls?”

”They come late at night. Two or three in a row. rst silence, then the muted sound of children's someone had a tape recorder in the hall ices, like tside the school cafeteria during lunch.” ”How often?” Donna asked aloud. ”Several times a week. I try to ignore them, but 11 -they keep coming. Someone is trying to spook me, and that someone is very persistent. It's the persistence that makes me uneasy.” Donna could understand it. ”Does Nolan know?” she asked. Chelsea made a face. ”They're only phone calls.

I hate to make a big thing of them. I'm sure that's exactly what whoever is making them wants.”

”Nolan should know.”

”They're not dangerous. Just annoying.” But Donna felt strongly about it. Turning to the computer, she typed, ”Nolan is a good man. He's able, and he's discreet. He stops by here a lot. Would you mind if I tell him?”

”But what can he do?”

”He can keep an eye on Boulderbrook. He can keep an ear out for word of someone who might resent your being here.” Chelsea tossed a sad glance toward the ceiling. ”Half of Norwich Notch resents my being here.” Donna put an arm around her. ”Not true,” she said. in a way that even she knew was emphatic. ”They're envious of you.” She looked at Chelsea's stomach again. ”So am I. I loved being pregnant.” Chelsea brightened at that.

”Did you have an easy pregnancy?” Donna nodded and turned to the computer. 327 ”Joshle was wonderful from the minute he wwaa.s.s born. I'd have had others if things were different.”

”Your hearing?”

”My husband.”

She immediately backs.p.a.ced to erase the last and typed, ”Are you planning to have the baby here?”

”Yes. At home. With a midwife in attendance.” Chelsea looked as startled by the words as Donna was. She suddenly laughed. ”I hadn't thought about that before, but it's what I want.”

”it doesn't scare you?”

”It terrifies me, but just think of how rewarding it'll be!” Donna was always slightly in awe of Chelsea when she said things like that. She had a sense of adventure, a sense of daring. Some of it was a byproduct of self-confidence, some of sophistication. Now Donna understood that some also came from rootlessness. Not knowing who she was made Chelsea unfettered and free.

Donna knew just who she was. She was a Farr, and a Plum before that, and she was getting tired telling herself how wonderful It was. She wanted some of the freedom Chelsea had-not that she would ever leave the Notch, because Jos.h.i.+e was here and he was the light of her life, but she wanted to go out to lunch sometimes, or down to Boston, or over to Portland.

She wanted to have her friends to the house occasionally without being made miserable. She wanted to color the gray strands out of her hair without being told she should be proud of her age. She wanted to run with Chelsea. Mostly she wanted to be able to climb Into bed at night without being mauled. She wished she were half as brave as Chelsea 328 1hc F*Wiozw Of CJMMMB Kme Then again, maybe not. Given bravery, plus a of foolhardiness, she might well do something . would shock the Notch far more than Chelsea ”s baby.. That thought lingered with her long after Chelsea .. Donna wasn't out to shock anyone. But it struck her that she had a golden opportunity. Chelsea was her friend, and her friend needed help. If that meant Donna's working closely with the police or running with Chelsea so that she wouldn't be alone and exposed on the roads, so be it. Bravery wasn't an all or nothing affair.

She had a little. Taking that little and the fifteen minutes that Matthew allowed her for lunch, when the noon bells pealed in the church belfry, she marched down the street to see Nolan. A week later Oliver and Emery stood at Zee's window. They held hot cups filled with coffee that had gone tepid, but neither seemed to notice. Their eyes were on the two women who stood talking on the front porch of Farr's General Store, diagonally across the green. ”Don't like what Donna's doin',” Emery warned Oliver in a low voice. ”Neither does my boy. She's different with that woman here. Matt says she goes running through the streets in the mornings now. You got to tell her to stop that.”

”I'm not tellin' her a thing,” Oliver said. ”You're her father.”

”And he's her husband. Let him tell her. Me, I don't have a problem with running.”

”She's not your wife.” ”That's what I said.” 329 Alarbara oky ”Fact is,” came a loud voice from the barber's chair, ”it doesn't matter whose wife she Is or isn't. She spends too much time with Chelsea Kane.

No or f. good'll come of it, I tell you. The woman's c rupting this town.” Oliver slid a dry look at the reclining figure being serviced by Zee. ”Don't hear you complainin' about her money, George.”

”Nope. Her money's good. That's about all.”

”it ain't all,” Oliver argued. ”She's getting work. already had to take on more men. Ain't that so, udd?”

Judd, who was leaning against the wall nursing his own tepid coffee, said, ”Yup.”

”More men hired means more money deposited in your bank,” Oliver called back to George, ”and more money spent in your store,” he reminded Emery, ”so you both better keep your mouths shut.” Emery snorted. ”That's what we done, and look where It got us. She's got our women lettin' their hair curl and wearin' sundresses '@teada pants and skinny exercise things loud enough to turn you blind, and that's not to mention Labor Day. Hear what she's done to Labor Day?”

”Messed it all up,” shouted George. Emery straightened his gla.s.ses, muttering, ”Open house. Who needs an open house? You give her permission to have an open house, Ollie?”

”Permission ain't mine to give. She's the one puttin, it on.”

”Well, we need an amendment to the social practices code,” Emery declared. ”No one puts on an open house without first checking with the selectmen. D'you know she had the gall to hire Bibi to do a chicken barbecue with apple brown betty for 330 The Fa.s.sions of Cbelsm Kom so now Bibi won't do apple brown betty for JAbor Day Dessert? We always have apple brown 3,tty for Labor Day Dessert”

”.er Indian pudding's better,” put in Judd. If Chelsea had asked him, he'd have told her the same ,-.tmng. But she hadn't asked him. She hadn't had the :,chance.

Since that Monday morning, he was steering clear of her. If their paths crossed at the office, their Oaths crossed. He wasn't going out of his way to see her, and he sure as h.e.l.l wasn't seeing her at night. He was still too angry to feel any desire for her. I ' him about the inn,” George called in a voice m.u.f.fled by Zee's damp towel. Emery said, ”She's booked every room in the inn, and a pack in Stotterville, too. Don't know what well do if any of us have visitors that weekend. Nothin's left. I'm tellin' you, Ollie, we're gonna be overrun here.” Judd amended what he'd just thought. He did want her. All he had to do was think of her and the wanting began, which was doubly infuriating. He had known she was trouble. He should have listened to -himself. ' him about the firehouse,” George told Emery. Emery said, ”She told Hunter she needed her yard cleaned up before her open house, so he hired the guys who woulda been painting the firehouse, There's our cheap labor”-he snapped his fingers- ”gone. It's like she's directing a movie, only we got no parts.” Not betrayed, Judd thought. Left out. She and her baby had their own little secret, and they hadn't bothered to clue him in. He wasn't part of it. He was excluded. Irrational, perhaps, but that was how he felt 331 AUwbnm Dehnshy ”I don't like It, Ollie,” Emery went on.

”You got to get rid of her.”

”I'm doin' my best. I'm keepin' ahead of the work. Come June, she'll be gone.”

”June's too long. Get rid of her now.” Oliver's voice jumped half an octave. ”How'm I s'posed to do that?” With the creak of old leather, George rose from the barber's chair and said, ”Open your mouth and tell her.”

”Tell her what?” He wiped his face as he joined the others at the window. ”Tell her to leave.”

”Can't do that. She's my partner.” He narrowed his eyes in a way that lengthened his forehead, making his spiky gray hair look even spikier. ”You like her.”

”I do not like her,” Oliver barked, ”but she's doing what she said she would. She's bringing in work.”

”She can do that from Baltimore. Fact is, she doesn't belong here. Look at her.” He stared in the direction of Farr's a bit lecherously, Judd thought.

”Still wearing those dresses that don't even hit her knees. Know what they're saying at the bar at the inn? They're saying she's got moren one man pus.h.i.+n' it down so's he don't show it at work, and I believe it. Any woman who shows off like that isn't out for a handshake.”

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