Elissa smiled. “We haven’t seen you lately. What are you and Mrs. Jackson doing in here? And who’s this?”
“This is my daughter, Sarah Jane,” Blake said, introducing the child. “We’ve just been having a tantrum.”
“Speak for yourself,” Mrs. Jackson sniffed. “I don’t have tantrums. I just resign from jobs that have gotten too big for me.”
“You’re resigning, Mrs. Jackson? That would be one for the books, wouldn’t it?” a soft, amused voice asked, and Blake’s heart jumped.
He got slowly to his feet, oblivious to Sarah’s curious stare, to come face to face with a memory.
Meredith Calhoun looked back at him with gray eyes that gave away nothing except faint humor. She was wearing a blue dress with a white jacket, and she looked expensive and sophisticated and lovely. Her figure had filled out over the years, and she was tall and exquisite, with full, high breasts and a narrow waist flaring to hips that were in exact proportion for her body. She had long legs encased in silk hose, and elegant feet in white sandals. And the sight of her made Blake ache in the most inconvenient way.
“Merry!” Mrs. Jackson enthused, and hugged her. “It’s been so long!”
And it had been since Mrs. Jackson had made cake and cookies for her while she visited Blake’s uncle, who was also her godfather.
She and the housekeeper had grown close. “Long enough, I guess, Amie,” Meredith said as they stepped apart. “You haven’t aged a day.”
“You have,” Mrs. Jackson said with a smile. “You’re grown up.”
“And famous,” Elissa put in. “Bess—you remember my sister-in-law—and Meredith were in the same class at school and are still great friends. She’s staying with Bess and Bobby.”
“They’ve just bought the house next door to me,” Blake replied, for something to say. He couldn’t find the words to express what he felt when he looked at Meredith. So many years, so much pain. But whatever she’d felt for him was gone. That fact registered immediately.
“Has Nina come back with your daughter?” Elissa asked, trying not to appear poleaxed, which she was.
“Nina died earlier this year. Sarah Jane is living with me now.” He dragged his eyes away from Meredith to turn his attention to his child. “You look terrible. Go to the rest room and wash your face.”
“You come, too,” Sarah said mutinously.
“No.”
“I won’t go!”
“I’ll take her,” Mrs. Jackson said in her best martyred tone.
“No! You won’t let me buy the frilly dress!” Sarah turned her attention to the two curious onlookers. “She’s in the paper,” she said, her eyes on Meredith. “She writes books. My daddy said so.”
Meredith managed not to look at Blake. The unexpected sight of him after so much time was enough to knock her speechless. Thank God she’d learned to mask her emotions and hadn’t given herself away. The last thing she wanted to do was let Blake Donavan see that she had any vulnerability left.
Sarah walked over to Meredith, staring up at her with rapt fascination. “Can you tell stories?”
“Oh, I guess I can,” she said, smiling at the child who was so much like Blake. “You’ve got red eyes, Sarah. You shouldn’t cry.”
“I want the frilly dress and a party and other little children to play with. It’s very lonely, and they don’t like me.” She indicated Blake and Mrs. Jackson.
“One day, and she’s advertising to the world that we’re Jekyll and Hyde.” Mrs. Jackson threw up her hands.
“Which one are you?” Blake returned, glaring at her.
“Jekyll, of course. I’m prettier than you are,” Mrs. Jackson shot back.
“Just like old times,” Elissa said with a sigh, “isn’t it, Merry?”
Meredith wasn’t listening. Sarah Jane had reached up and taken her hand.
“You can come with me,” the little girl told Meredith. “I like her,” she said to her father belligerently. “She smiles. I’ll let her wash my face.”
“Do you mind?” Blake asked Meredith, speaking to her for the first time since she’d entered the shop.
“I don’t mind.” She didn’t look at him fully, then turned and let Sarah lead her into the small bathroom in the back of the shop.
“She’s changed,” Mrs. Jackson said to Mrs. Donaldson. “I hardly knew her.”
“It’s been a long time, you know. And she’s a famous woman now, not the child who left us.”
Blake walked away uncomfortably, staring at the dresses. Elissa moved closer to him while the other two women talked. She’d been a little afraid of Blake when she’d first met him years ago, but she’d gotten to know him better. He and King were friends and visited regularly.
“How long has Sarah been with you?” she asked him.
“Since yesterday afternoon,” he replied dryly. “It seems like years. I guess I’ll get used to her, but it’s hard going right now. She’s a handful.”
“She’s just frightened and alone,” Elissa replied. “She’ll improve when she has time to settle down and adjust.”
“I may be bankrupt by then,” he mused. “I had to walk out of a board meeting. And all because Sarah Jane wanted a frilly dress.”
“Why don’t you buy it for her and she can come to my Danielle’s birthday party next week? It will be nice for her to meet children her own age.”
“She’ll sit on the cake and wreck the house,” he groaned.
“No, she won’t. She’s just a little girl.”
“She wrecked my living room in just under ten minutes,” he assured her.
“It takes mine five minutes to do that.” Elissa grinned. “It’s normal.”
He stared toward the bathroom. Meredith and Sarah Jane were just coming out. “There are people in the world who have more than one,” he murmured. “Do you suppose they’re sane?”
Elissa laughed. “Yes. You’ll understand it all one day.”
“Look what Merry gave me!” Sarah enthused, showing Blake a snowy white handkerchief. “And it’s all mine! It has lace!”
Blake shook his head as she turned abruptly and grabbed the dress she’d been screaming about. “It’s mine. I want it. Oh, please.” She changed tactics, staring up pie eyed at her daddy. “It will go so nicely with my new handkerchief.”
Blake laughed and then caught himself. He looked at Mrs. Jackson.
