Part 23 (1/2)
Oliver said, but she saw that strange k in his eyes again. She could have sworn it was ”He is. The whole town knows.”
”Not my town.”
”They know. They just don't dare say it.”
”And don't you.” He rose, pointing a shaky finger her way. ”Don't you ever let your mother hear that drivel.” ”Not drivel,” Donna said aloud., ”Truth.”
”Truth or not, it'll kill her.” His eyes narrowed. ,,”That what you want? You nearly killed her once, , deaf like that.” Donna's jaw dropped. ”She made me deaf ”If you hadn't been snooping, you wouldn'ta been hit or gone deaf, and the same goes for what's wrong between you and Matthew. Maybe if you were a better wife to him, he wouldn't have to run somewhere else.” She was outraged. ”He was having an affair with her before he met me.” Since the stabbing, friends had confessed things to her. That bit of information was one. ”Well, you sure didn't keep his interest for long.” He threw a hand in the air. ”Do what you want with your husband”-the hand came down, finger pointing again-”but do not upset your mother. She isn't steady. All this goin' on with the company hasn't been easy on her. You.
leave her alone.” 489 Deungby Donna hadn't planned to say a word to Margaret about what she knew. Nor had she planned to tell Hunter. All she wanted was her father's okay to end a marriage that was a disaster.
It looked as though he wouldn't give it. It looked as though he would side with Matthew, but that didn't hurt the way it would have once. The difference was Nolan, who loved her, and Chelsea, who valued her, and Jos.h.i.+e, who deserved better than what he was getting. The difference was her own conviction that Oliver was wrong. Unfortunately he was right about one thing. Margaret was fragile. She could be demanding and manipulative, even devoted, but she was fragile. The change in the business had indeed upset her. She hadn't been the same since Chelsea had come. She would be especially hard hit if Donna left Matthew. With Oliver's support, Donna might have managed it. She wasn't sure she could now. Margaret had caused her deafness, but she had paid a price, too.
Donna didn't want her falling apart again, any more than Oliver did. It was a no-win situation. ”Hi, Dad,” Chelsea said as brightly as she could when Kevin himself, rather than the machine, finally answered in Baltimore. Then she waited, suffering with each second that pa.s.sed. She hadn't talked with him since Newport. She half expected him to hang up on her. He sounded hesitant but concerned. ”Chelsea? Are you all right?”
She wanted to laugh in relief. ”I'm fine. How are you?” 490 The Paswons of Cbciam Kaw bad,” he said, but warily now, as though it taken him a minute to remember all that had ed the call. miss you,” she dared say.
It was the truth, had been so, and was even more so now. Leo's made her acutely aware of what she had that ing to waste. ”It's been too long.”
her than saying he agreed, Kevin asked, ”Did have a nice Thanksgiving'?”
@,Ayes-no-actually, that's one of the reasons I'm ling- ,-”Is the baby all right?” Again, the concern. ,,She basked in his worry, though she wasn't so s as to prolong it. She quickly rea.s.sured him, n told him about Leo. ”Maybe it's for the best. He n't getting better. But it's been difficult for Judd.” R was one thing to discuss Leo, in Kevin's mind a eless victim of Alzheimer's disease, quite another discuss Judd.
Judd had a face. He also had a e, which by his own admission had said things it uldn't have said the last time the two men had et. Chelsea didn't know what those things were. She Kevin would tell her if he was angry enough. ”Judd is an unusual man,” he said, which told her othing.
”Unusual?”
”Bold. He wasn't shy about speaking his mind.”
”He regretted that. He was afraid he might have , more damage to our relations.h.i.+p than has already been done.”
”Yes. Well.” ”Did he?” Chelsea asked, because she still couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling. Without answering, Kevin said, ”I think he likes YOU.” 491 Tbc Pa.s.sions of Chchma Kane ”The feeling is mutual.”
”Have you married him?” She heard a guarded hope. He was so very conventional. ”Would that make things easier for you?” ”Would you do it, if I said it would?” Softly she said, ”No.” ”That's what I thought.” He grew silent. She was about to say something about the wrong reasons to marry when he asked, ”How much longer?” She rested a hand on her stomach. ”Less than two months.”
”Are you big?”
”Like a watermelon.”
”Is the baby active?”
”Very.” She smiled at that thought. Judd spent hours watching her stomach. There were times when she knew he was thinking of Leo, thinking that one life was over and a new one beginning, other times when he was totally focused on the baby. He never said much, just watched. He would slide his hand over the tautly drawn skin, chart the baby's s.h.i.+fting, shadow a tiny elbow or heel with his large, callused palm, ma.s.sage her muscles when they contracted into hard bands, and through it all there would be an intent look in his eye. ”What arrangements have you made for the delivery?”
Kevin asked. ”I'll go to the local hospital. It's only ten minutes away.
The doctor is good.”
”The one from Johns Hopkins?” She smiled.
Qualifications meant so much to Kevin. ”The one from Johns Hopkins.” ”That's good.” He paused. In a lower voice he said, ”Have you told Carl?”
”No. Have you?” 492 e cleared his throat. ”No. You had a point about ing his marriage. I resent that he married her er than you, but It's a done thing. How you've it from him is a mystery to me.”
”I haven't been back since the pregnancy became iceable. I do everything by phone or by fax. lissa knows. She's been a big help handling gs on that end for me”
”.re you doing much designing?”
”Actually, I just got a go-ahead on the Huntni.” She was very excited and very, very proud.
lissa will be the on-site person. I'll be faxing her igns.”
”Won't it be too much?”
”Oh, no. I have a studio at the farmhouse. I love. e creative challenge.
My body may be c.u.mberme, but my hands and mind are eager to work.”
”Will the Hunt-Omni take all your time?”
”Not all,” she said curiously. ”Why do you ask?”
”I got a call from Marvin Blecker a few weeks ack. He's putting together a new project.” Chelsea was instantly alert. Marvin Blecker was a eal estate developer with holdings in every part of e country. ”What kind of project?”
”A series of magnet hospitals, formed by the merger of two or more smaller hospitals for the sake of consolidating services. Each magnet hospital will need a new central structure. Marv is aiming . an identifiable look. I told him you might be ,.”
”I definitely am!” A project like that would be ongoing. If she was able to incorporate granite in the design, Plum Granite would be busy for years. ”You should have called me right away'”
He was quiet for a minute. ”That ... wasn't easy.” 493 Barbara Deunsky The pa.s.sions or Chelsea Kam ”Then I'm glad I called you,” she said without rancor. There wasn't time for rancor. Leo's death had driven that point home. Life was too short, too precarious, for unnecessary estrangements. ”I really miss you, Dad. Won't you come visit?” In a low voice he said, ”I'm not ready for that.”
”I'm told Christmas is beautiful here. There's a candle-lighting ceremony on the green, rum toddies at the inn-”
”I'll be in Palm Beach through New Year's.”
”Will you come when the baby's born?” After a pause he said, ”I don't know, Chelsea. I can't promise anything. I don't want to go to that place.”
”But ' place' is me, and this is your grandchild.”
”I know. I know.”
”Mom would want you to come.”
”That's unfair,” he said with a catch in his voice. ”She's gone, and you're asking me to go to a place that I've spent my life trying to forget.” Chelsea had to give him points for honesty. He was making progress. ”All things considered, this is the best place to have my baby, and I do love the farnihouse. The only thing wrong. with it is that you haven't seen it. You're my father. You're all I have left.”
”No father up there?”
”Just you. I want you to see the farmhouse and the quarries. I want you to meet my friends, and I want them to meet you. And I really want you to hold the baby.” With a gruffness that gave her renewed hope, he said, ”Get it born first.
Knowing you, you'll do it in the middle of a blizzard. You never did things the easy way, Chelsea Kane.” 494 Chelsea supposed he was right.