Georgia grinned and her eyes began to sparkle. She
leaned close to her mother's ear and whispered,
"
Intelligent. Handsome. Witty. And he's a widower."
Delia laughed and took the tape player from Georgia's hands. "I'll certainly be interested in seeing him again. Now, did you want this in the house, sweetie?"
"The girls might want to play some music later, so I guess you can leave it on the big folding table that Laura is setting up in the yard." Georgia turned and called to her brother, "Nicky, there are four mor
e chairs along the wall there…"
The children had taken off down the steps, headed for the house where they would change into play clothes, the mothers who had attended following behind, all enthusiastically discussing their plans to not only sign up their daughters for regular lessons, but to talk Georgia into having an adult class as well. The chair brigade had formed and was on its noisy way toward the ground floor. Georgia watched as the Enright crew passed by.
Nick. India. Aunt August. Zoey. Ben. Corri. Mother. Me.
It must seem to Matt that there are so many of us.
And only one of him.
She paused at the top of the steps, her hand on the light switch. Matt would still be in his apartment, right behind that door.
He must be feeling so alone. So overwhelmed
…
Without a second thought, Georgia knocked lightly on the door, which swung partly open at her touch. When Matt did not answer, she pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped into the small kitchen.
Matt stood at the sink, a glass of water in his hand, his gazed fixed upon the farmyard below.
"Excuse me," she said softly from the doorway. "May I come in?"
"It looks like you already have."
She smiled wryly, then took a few steps into the room that was rapidly filling with tension. She took a deep breath.
"Ally is having a wonderful birthday," she began. "She was so afraid you wouldn't come."
"I
have never missed Ally's birthday." He said somewhat stiffly, trying to ignore the faint trace of honeysuckle that seemed to accompany her. He knew the scent well, it being the only fragrance his aunt had ever worn. "She knew I would be here."
"I'm glad you are."
Georgia took another tentative step toward him, as if approaching a rabbit that was likely to take off at any minute. Searching for the right thing to say, she followed his gaze to where the strangers gathered below.
Perhaps,
she thought,
if the strangers had names
…
"That's August Devlin, in the blue and white dress. The woman you sat next to during the dance class."
"She introduced herself."
"Then you know that she's India's aunt."
"Yes."
"India is that beautiful young woman with the honey-blond hair. She's married to my brother, Nick. She's pregnant."
"That would explain the maternity clothes."
Georgia ignored the sarcasm.
"Nicky is the man in the yellow sweater."
Matt did not respond, so she took a step forward, and continued.
"Nick's a marine biologist. He and India live on the Delaware Bay with their daughter, Corri." Georgia ventured close enough to put a finger to the window pane. "Corri is the little girl with the long brown braids. We're also celebrating the finalization of Cor
ri
's adoption today. She had been adopted previously by India's brother, Ry. India kept her when he died. She's a wonderful little girl, and we all love her so much. And she's so thrilled to find that she has a cousin. She and Ally have become fast friends."
He recalled the look of total joy on Ally's face when she had announced excitedly that she had a
cousin.
Just like all her friends.
"Now that tall, dark-haired woman who looks so much like Lau
ra—surely you noticed the resem
blance—is my sister, Zoey. She's a sales host on a TV shopping channel. The tall man with the dark hair speaking with August is Ben Pierce. He used to race cars. Grand Prix. He and Nicky were best friends as children. Now he and Zoey are engaged."
"Well, now, it sounds like you're just one big happy family."
"We
are
one big happy family, Matt, and whether you like it or not, you're a part of it," she told him gently, touching his arm with her right hand. When he did not pull away, she sought his hand, and slowly began to entwine her fingers with his. "As much as Augus
t Devlin and Corri and India…
as much as any one of us."
She waited for his protest, and when it didn't come, she continued. "Matt, I know this has not been easy for you. I know how close you and Laura have always been. No one wants to come between you.
We're not trying to take her away. Look, I know that accepting major changes in your family is a very difficult thing."
"And what might you know about that?"
She took a deep breath and told him something she had shared only with Zoey.
"I know how I felt when I found out about Laura. I felt
…
betrayed, that my mother had kept this secret from us all these years. Realizing that her secret had been the cause of our father abandoning us so long ago. That I had a sister I had never met, had never even heard about. It was so hard, meeting Laura that first time—sisters meeting as adults—and trying to get to know her. To find out what she was like, what kind of person she was. I was so afraid to meet her, that first time
…
"
"Laura is a wonderful person. I've always been proud to be her brother." Matt rose to Laura's defense.
"Yes, she is a wonderful person, and you've every reason to be proud of her. I can honestly say that knowing her has enriched my life greatly. I adore her. But if I'd held onto my fear, my prejudices, I'd never have discovered how wonderful she is. Look at all I would have missed, if I hadn't given her a chance."
He continued to stare out the window. Nick was carrying Corri on his shoulders, and Ben was chasing two golden puppies across the lawn.
Finally, smiling reluctantly, he told her, "You're not very subtle, you know."
"It was the best I could do in a pinch." Georgia watched his face hopefully. "Please give us a chance, Matt. For Laura's sake. And for Ally's."
And for your own.
And for mine.
"Maybe you won't like us. Maybe you will. But you'll never know if you don't at least try to get to know us. We're really a very nice family. Laura is very much a part of it, now and always. So in a way, you are too."
He wished he could tell her that it wasn't her, it wasn't her brother or her sister or even her mother that he thought he wouldn't like. Watching them from the window, the easy way they interacted, with lots of laughter, he was starting to think he probably would like them. But at some point during the hours he'd spent at Riverview over the past week he'd lost all hope that his mother would ever regain any semblance of the woman that she had been, and he mourned her. How could he embrace this new family of Laura's and still be true to the family they had once had, especially now, when their mother was slipping away from them forever?
Then, as if reading his mind, Georgia said softly, "It's not a choice, you know. Not either, or. It's
both.
Laura knows that. I wish you did, too."
She stood on her tip toes to kiss the side of his cheek, then dropped his hand, turned and left quietly. He could hear the padding of the soft leather soles of her ballet shoes as they raced down the steps. The ba
rn
door swung shut with a bang, and he watched her walk across the drive.
By her walk the true goddess was revealed.
Her candor had stunned him, and it took him a moment to recover from her words as well as from the lingering wisp of her perfume, the softness of her
lips on his skin, the gentleness of the touch of her hand, all of which had set his senses on edge. He'd had no defenses against her rationale or the emotions she had stirred up in him.
It isn't either, or
…
Knowing that he'd been bested on all fronts, Matt sighed.
Who was he to refuse the wishes of a goddess whose touch was both light and searing, who smelled of honeysuckle and was wise enough to temper his inner chaos with her tender logic? Maybe for today, he could put it all aside—his confusion, his uncertainty, his fears for Laura as well as for himself—for Ally's sake, for Laura's.
He emptied the remains of his glass into the sink, then went off to find Ally's gift.
L
ater, Matt reflected, joining the lively group outside had been so
much easier than he had antici
pated. Georgia had been right, the Enright's
were
a nice family. There had been more than enough warmth and laughter and good cheer to go around. And, he admitted, it had fed his own family pride to show off Pumpkin Hill to people who admired and appreciated it.
"Georgey, you're the luckiest person in the world," Zoey had sighed with contentment as she stretched her legs out on the grass, an enormous wedge of birthday cake tipping perilously close to the edge of a paper plate. "It is so beautiful here. Look at all those daffodils and all those tulips! Gorgeous!"
"It's just heaven early in the morning," Georgia told her, "when the sun first comes up and it's so
quiet, you just can't imagine. And
then the birds start singing…"
"We'll have to come back and spend a weekend," Nick sunk to the ground between his siste
rs. "After the baby has been born
."
"Oh, I can't wait to see this baby, Nicky."
"Neither can any of the rest of us, Zoey." Delia beamed. "After all, this will be our first baby. I am so sorry that I missed Corrie and Ally's babyhoods. I'm really looking forward to the whole experience."
"We'll see how much she appreciates the 'experience' the first time we drop the baby off for a long weekend," India winked at her husband.
"I will be more than happy to baby-sit. Anytime." Delia laughed. "August and I will be watching every move this child makes, won't we, August?"
"Absolutely
every
move," August nodded vigorously. "Do feel free to plan a long trip. The baby will be in excellent hands."
They were easy with each other, as those who know each other well, who understand each other's body language, tend to be. In spite of himself, Matt found that he envied the closeness of the group. In truth, he had to admit that they had all made an effort to include him in conversations, and had all applauded him heartily when he had defeated Ben, the odds-on favorite in the pie eating contest that Ally had insisted on. Having recently read a story set in the early part of the century, Ally had become fascinated by the descriptions of the games the children had played, and so, along with the pie eating contest, had set her heart on sack races and an egg
toss, in addition to the traditional Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
When the games had concluded and the candles on the cake had been lit and blown out to a spirited chorus of the birthday song, some of the young guests had departed and the sun had begun to dip lower behind the trees. For the first time, Laura's entire family—except for Charity—sat together on the grass, savoring the remaining hours of what had been a very pleasant afternoon.
"You know, Pumpkin Hill reminds me a little bit of Mother's place when we were little." Nick said.
"It does," Georgia nodded. "It even has a pond like the one we had."
"Ben, remember when you used to teach me how to catch frogs?" Zoey leaned back against him lazily, her eyes closed, a slight smile on her lips.
Before he could answer, Ally jumped up and cried, "Aunt Zoey, you know how to catch frogs?"
"Are you kidding?" Her eyes still closed, the smile slid across Zoey's face into a grin as she held up her hands and said, "These hands are feared by frogs from here to Pennsylvania."
"Would you show us how?" Ally jumped up and down. "Me and Corri and Samantha and Carly? Now?"
"Sweetest, the first thing you have to do, if you want to catch frogs, is to be very, very quiet."
"We can be quiet." Ally whispered.
"And you have to be barefooted."
Four little girls hit the ground and started to take off their shoes and socks.
"Zoey, they're going to be covered with mud." Delia pointed out.
Zoey sat up and shielded her eyes from the afternoon sun and asked, "Is there a hose?"
"Right on the side of the house." Georgia pointed to it.
"Then it's a-hunting we will go." She kicked off her sandals and stood up. "Now, let's get in a nice, straight line. We need to creep up on the frogs, remember."
Zoey made the motion of zipping her lips.
The girls nodded wordlessly, zipping their lips as Zoey had done.