and buckle yourselves in?” I suggested quietly. “Your mom and I will be right there.”
The boy looked at his father, at his mother, at me. Then he grabbed his sister’s hand. “Come on, Lacey.”
Together they ran to the car. He pulled the rear door open, and I almost smiled as he helped her in and tried to buckle the seat belt around her.
“You can leave if you want,” Tina’s husband told her in a steely voice, “but I’ll find you, you know. You’re mine. You can’t escape. Ever.”
Could she possibly stand up to such focused intensity from someone who absolutely vibrated with the necessity to bend her to his will?
For a long minute she said nothing, just stared at him like a trapped rabbit.
“Tina,” I said. “Look at me. Look at me!”
“You stay out of this,” he hissed, his eyes never leaving Tina. “This is between my wife and me.”
“Tina!”
She pulled her gaze from her husband’s.
“It’s your choice.” I tried to remember what Stephanie had said. “Remember—the power of choice.”
When she responded, her voice was only a whisper and she talked to the floor, but she’d made her choice. “Let go of me, Bill. I’m going with Merry.”
He was startled at her unprecedented audacity, and taking advantage of his shock she wrenched her arm from his grasp.
He grabbed for her. “That’s what you think.”
I stepped quickly out the door onto the porch, though I kept the storm door open. I looked at the empty yard next door and called, “Hi, how are you doing today?” I even gave a little wave.
The idea that there was someone watching what was happening caused Tina’s husband to check for a minute. She saw her chance and darted past him, ducking as he slapped at her. She and I hurried toward the car.
I stopped halfway down the walk and turned back to the house. He stood on the front steps, his face red with fury, his hands clenched in fists.
“There’s something you should know before you lay a hand on your wife again.” I was so angry my voice shook. “I write for the News, and I’d be delighted to write about you by name. I’m sure they’d like to know at work just what kind of a man you are.”
He stared, clearly surprised. Then he shouted, “You wouldn’t dare! I’d sue you for all you’re worth! You have no proof.” He looked at his wife who was climbing into my car. “And who in their right mind would ever believe her?” The contempt in his voice gave me the chills.
“How about me? I believe her.” And I turned my back.
When we arrived at Tina’s parents’, they welcomed her and the children with obvious relief.
“Finally,” her father said with tears in his eyes. “And this time you’re staying.”
Tina burrowed into his arms as he patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.
“Come on, Lacey, Jess.” Tina’s mother took a small hand in each of hers. “I bet I can find some ice cream in the freezer.”
“Don’t let them eat all mine,” their grandfather said in an attempt to lighten the moment.
“It’s okay, Grandpop.” Lacey stopped in the doorway, trying to swallow her disappointment. “We don’t have to have any.”
With a sad smile, Grandpop said, “Honey, I was teasing. You eat as much as you want.”
Lacey looked at him hesitantly. “I mean it,” he said. “It’s all yours.”
“It’s okay, Lacey,” Jess said. “Isn’t it, Mommy? It’s okay here.”
“It’s okay here,” Tina repeated and began to weep.
Tonight’s black-tie reception was important for my career as I’d be meeting my new superboss for the first time, and I wanted to impress him. I was going to wear one of those rare, it’s-exactly-right dresses that made me feel like a million dollars but which I bought for thirty bucks in a secondhand clothes store. It had a fitted sapphire blue silk top covered with so many sequins that I shimmered like the Caribbean Sea awash in sun jewels. Its soft silk skirt fell in a graceful column.
But it was Curt I really wanted to impress. I wanted to knock his socks off, make him drool, froth at the mouth and go weak at the knees. I grinned at the absurd thoughts. I’d be happy if I could make him whistle.
I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror in my underwear, one eye made up, my hair in hot rollers, when I realized that my dress, fresh from the cleaners, was still hanging in the car. I shuddered when I thought of its condition after sharing a backseat with Lacey and Jess, but it was the only truly fancy dress I owned—unless you counted four frou-frou bridesmaid dresses, including one from Jolene and Reilly’s wedding. Of course I wouldn’t be caught dead in any of them outside a church.
I glanced at the clock. Ten minutes before Curt arrived. I grabbed my new red coat and threw it on over my undies. I ran out the front door. I was halfway across the porch when I heard the door not only slam closed but snap in the way that meant only one thing: locked. And the key was in my purse on the sofa.
I stared at my front door. A couple of months ago someone had broken into my apartment by shattering one of the small panes of glass in the door. After that I’d lobbied my landlord for a new, all-wooden door. He hadn’t been happy with the idea, but when I offered to share the cost with him, he’d agreed. My new, solid door with the peephole was impregnable, unless you happened to be carrying an axe in your coat pocket.
I had ten minutes—no, probably about eight by now—to get back inside before Curt arrived and found me in my rollers, underwear, half-made-up face and slippers with the Winnie the Pooh heads on them. I began a frantic search for a secret way into the apartment.
I was behind the yew hedge by the front window, trying in vain to open it, when I heard a deep voice say, “It’s a cinch that no one at the reception will hold a candle to you tonight.”
For once the voice didn’t thrill me to my toes.
I turned to face him. He looked absolutely gorgeous with his black curly hair and dark eyes behind his new brown wire-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a tux. A tux! And I was wearing a coat and underwear!
He studied me closely, looking from one eye to the other. He was trying rather unsuccessfully not to laugh.
I stalked out from behind the bushes, clutching my coat to me. “I’m locked out.”
“Ah.” Then he saw my feet. “Hey! Maybe I can get a pair of Tiggers!”
“Very funny. Go away. Come back in twenty minutes.”
Instead he leaned over and kissed my cheek, getting poked in the temple with a roller in the process.
“Sorry.” I rubbed the little red marks left by the roller’s
