Part 20 (2/2)

”You have zero mobility. You can't even get it up.

You can't even get it up. He should only be so lucky. He gave her a dry look and was marginally 430 Ibc Pa.s.sions of chels” Kanc ed to see color rise on her cheeks. ou know what I mean,” she murmured, and k Into her parka. Her face was hidden from him, he could tell when she fell asleep by the relaxn of her limbs. She awoke in time to direct him : house and lead him inside. Then she disaped into her bedroom, pulled up a thick afghan, d went back to sleep. ;”.-.Judd explored the house. It was large, old, and prisingly unadorned. Its two most noticeable fea res were the porch that wrapped completely und it and the dock that protruded over the er. He sat at its end for a while, breathing the an air, thinking that the sh.o.r.e might not be a place to settle someday.

He'd always been landked. Here he felt a sense of release. ' on the wave of that release, he got back @nto the car and drove around for a while. He'd been Newport, years before. Nothing had changed, cludina the location of the supermarket. Given at he hadn't had lunch, that daylight was waning, d that the Kane refrigerator was empty, he opped for food.

When he returned, Chelsea was itting on a rocking chair on the porch, wrapped in er afghan, staring out at the darkening sea. He rched on the edge of the thick wood railing with Is back against its post. ”How do you feel?”

”Better.” From what he could see above the folds of the an, her color had improved. She was staring out r the water, looking wide awake. ”I always loved it here,” she said on a wistful te. ”It was a less formal life than in the city. We ad more fun. There were lots of families like us 431 Awbarn Deffirsaw who came every summer. The kids all hung around together.” . did you do all day?” Judd asked. He couldn't imagine doing nothing for weeks on end. He had never had that luxury, probably wouldn't know what to do with it if it suddenly came his way. ”We sailed-naturally,” she added with a sheepish smile. ”We sat blithely in the sun without a thought to skin cancer. We swam and played tennis at the club. When we were old enough, we made nuisances of ourselves on the roads. It was goodnatured fun.”

”Carl's family was here, too?”

”Uh-huh.” She wrapped the afghan more tightly around her.

The wind off the water was picking up at the same time that the air cooled. He wondered if she was warm enough. ”Do you think about him much?” he asked. ”About Carl?” She shrugged. ”I try not to.”

”Do you miss him?”

”As a friend. No other way. It's weird, though. I mean, this is his baby and he's married to Hailey. Everything makes sense in my mind, how it happened and all. But when I think of it bluntly like that, I feel cheap.”

”If anyone should feel cheap, he should. He was the two-timing b.a.s.t.a.r.d.” Her brows gave a shrug that said she wouldn't argue. Then she caught his eye. ”Judd, is Matthew Farr having an affair with his sister-in-law?”

”Where did you hear that?”

”At the library tea yesterday afternoon. Is it true?”

”Probably. Matthew isn't the most scrupulous of men. He's been In love with Joanie for years.” 432 me Pa.s.sions Of chehma KOW frowned. ”Why did he marry Donna?” se Joanie was taken. And because his parau were after him to get married. He was in his irties and single. People were saying he was ey don't say that about you, and you're sin- o,” he said, and couldn't resist a dry half smile.

don't.” Because that sounded c.o.c.ky, he ”I've been married. Besides, I'm in a different e from Matthew. The standards that apply. to a don't apply to a Streeter. I do what I want.” A in point was this weekend.

There would be talk he wasn't at the quarry in the morning. But he n't give a d.a.m.n. @'What about Donna's hearing?” Chelsea asked. did she go deaf?”

”I'm not sure,” Judd answered honestly. ”M argaret said it was a sudden illness. The man I talked with said it was Margaret.”. He had heard rumors to that effect. It made se, given Margaret's subsequent breakdown and e way the woman had hovered over Donna in the s since.

Guilt had a way of making people hover. ”There's no proof of anything.”

”What could Margaret have done?”

”I don't know. I was just a kid when it happened.”

”Was Donna hospitalized?”

”For a while. Then she went away to a special school. When she came back, we didn't ask ques-, '.” ”I feel for her,” Chelsea said, looking stricken. *Matthew treats her terribly. How can Oliver stand by and watch?”

”Oliver sees what he wants to see and doesn't see 433 Barbwa Demnsky The pa.s.sions Of cheis” A441W what might make him uncomfortable.”

”Is Hunter his son?”

”Probably.”

”Will he ever recognize him?”

”Not as long as Margaret is alive. She'd be hurt and humiliated.”

”Just like Hunter has been all these years,” Chelsea said. ”I didn't say it was right. But that's the way it is.”

”Why doesn't Hunter fight it more? He's a rebel. He could pin Oliver down. If I were in his shoes, it would drive me crazy not knowing if the man was my father.”

”It drives Hunter crazy.- ”Then why doesn't he do something about it?”

”Why don't you?” Judd shot back. The question had been nagging at him. ”What do you mean?” she asked quietly. ”You've been in the Notch for four months, and you've known a lot longer that you were born here. Why haven't you done more to find out who your parents are?” She frowned. Her gaze skipped to the ocean and lingered there. At last she said, ”It's hard. One part of me wants to know the whole truth.

The other part is satisfied just being in the Notch.”

”What's with the key?” She had mentioned it when they'd argued In August. He had wondered about it ever since. ”What does unlock?”

”I don't know.” He couldn't believe she hadn't tried to track it down.

”Maybe a safe-deposit vault?”

”Oh, no. It isn't that kind of key. It goes to a music box.” An image materialized in Judd's mind. He stared 434 hard for a minute. Then he shook his head. at?” she asked. ,”There's a clock at Zee's. When little kids are d to have their hair cut, Zee bribes them with promise of winding the clock.” Chelsea had e alert on her chair, so he said quickly, ”But re's no way you're Zee's. He was part of the ian resistance to the Third Reich. He was injured d can't have kids.” She remained alert. ”Are you sure?” ”He told my dad more than once. When Dad was about having no wife, Zee said he was lucky at t to have a child, because Zee couldn't have any Chelsea settled back on the rocker. ”So what are you going to do about the key?” ”,'udd asked. The way he figured it, if she could solve mystery of the key, she could solve the mystery f her parentage, and if she could do that, she A, uld feel free to leave the Notch. She claimed to ke the place. It would be interesting to see how ng she'd stick around when she no longer had se to. ”I don't know,” she said quietly. ”Want me to track it down?” Call it help, call it a fittle push, same difference. ”I wouldn't mind.” She was surprised at first, then thoughtful. He sweetened the pot. ”I wouldn't have to say it yours. ”You'd do it quietly?”

”Veryshe thought about it for a while.

”Mat have you got to lose?” he asked. ”It's my job.”

”Well, you haven't been doing it.” He pushed him- 435 self off the railing. ' all you know, whoever sent your mother that key could be alive this month and dead next month. That what you want?”

”No.” On his way to the back door, he said, ”I blew it with my father. I came back when it was too late for any meaningful dialogue. Don't make the same mistake, Chelsea.” He opened the door. ”I'm getting something to eat. When you're hungry, come on in.” Chelsea didn't do much thinking for the rest of that day. She had been washed out by whatever it was that had made her so sick the night before and wasn't up to anything deep. She woke up the next morning, though, thinking about what Judd had said, and she knew that he was right. She shouldn't be procrastinating. Life took twists and turns.

The longer she waited to track down the source of the key, the more mired the path might become. It wasn't until later that afternoon that she thought of Judd's admonition in a different light. Having spent several hours on the end of the dock watching the boats gusting in from the bay, she and Judd were making hot chocolate in the kitchen when the door suddenly opened and Kevin walked in. Chelsea broke into a surprised smile, as did Kevin, and for a minute she had the wild hope that everything would be all right. Then he saw her stomach. He looked utterly blank at first, then confused. Slowly his eyes widened. His smile faded. His expression darkened. There was a storm rolling in. It was one of the 436 ts and turns life took, and there was no outrunng it this time. Resigned, even relieved, Chelsea Pj*sed her chin and met Kevin's stare. -j 437 twenty i T'S DUE IN FEBRUARY,” CHELSEA SAID, AND waited for Kevin to react. She wanted him to smile. She wanted him to be as excited as she was. He was her father, this was her child. She wanted harmony between them. But he continued to look confused, dismayed, stunned. She knew just what, was happening. Disciplined man that he was, he was trying to figure out when she'd conceived, to remember where she'd been then and with whom, and to get over the shock of it, all at the same time. She was trying to decide where to begin with her story when Judd came up from behind. He didn't touch her, just stood by her shoulder in a supportive way. ”it happened very quickly,” he said. ”It always does,” Kevin mocked. His eyes held Chelsea's. ”February. This is October. You're more than halfway through the pregnancy. Why didn't I know sooner?” The question echoed in her mind, she'd heard it so often, it seemed. But she'd done her best. She had made decisions that she felt were right at the 438 e. ”I wanted to tell you. I would have on the urth of July, but you wouldn't meet me here. I Id have on Labor Day, but you had other plans, and you wouldn't come to my open house in the Notch. I wanted to tell you in person, not on the phone.”

”How did you know I'd be here this weekend?”

”We didn't,” Judd put in before she could speak.

”It was a calculated guess. You didn't answer the phone in Baltimore, and Chelsea didn't know of your plans to be anywhere else.” Chelsea shot Judd a curious glance. Kevin, too, directed himself that way. ”Was this pregnancy an intentional thing?” he asked. ”Not originally,” Judd replied. Kevin scowled, again predictable. He was a blackand-white man all the way. ”It either was, or it wasn't.”

”It wasn't. But the baby is wanted.” To Chelsea Kevin said, ”You told me you didn't want children until you knew who you were. Have you suddenly found out?”

”No.”

”Still you got pregnant.” He looked disgusted. ”I don't see a ring.” He eyed Judd. ”Will the baby be illegitimate?”

”Not if Chelsea doesn't want it to be.” Chelsea looked at Judd even more curiously. She couldn't marry Carl, and he knew it. ”She doesn't always know what's best for her,” Kevin was saying. ”Yes, I do,” she protested. He turned on her angrily.

”I expected this when you were seventeen and running around with that hippie crowd, not now. You're supposed to be an 439 adult now. You're supposed to be a responsible individual. Is this responsible, having a child out of wedlock? Is this how you honor your mother's memory?”

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