Нора Робертс - Bed of Roses

That would hold her for a while, she thought, placed the order, then brought up her wholesale candle supplier to see what they had to offer.

“Knock, knock! Emmaline! Are you home?”

“Mom? Up here.” She saved her shopping cart, before pushing away from the desk. She met her mother coming up the stairs. “Hi!”

“Hi, my baby. Your face is very pink.”

“I . . . Oh, I forgot.” Laughing, Emma tapped her fingers on her cheek. “It needs to come off. I started on candles and got caught up.” She detoured to the bathroom to wash off the mask. “Playing hooky?”

“I worked this morning, and am now free as a bird so came by to see my daughter before I go home.” Lucia picked up the jar of mask. “Is this good?”

“You tell me. It’s the first time I’ve tried it.” Emma finished splashing cool water on her face, then patted it dry.

Lucia pursed her lips. “You’re too beautiful for me to know if it’s because of the lucky genes I passed to you or from the jar.”

Emma grinned. Studying her face in the mirror over the sink, she poked lightly at her cheeks, her chin. “Feels good though. That’s a plus.”

“You have a glow,” Lucia added while Emma sprayed on toner, followed up with moisturizer. “But from what I hear that’s not from the jar either.”

“Lucky genes?”

“Lucky something. Your cousin Dana stopped in the bookstore this morning. It seems her good friend Livvy . . . You know Livvy a little.”

“Yes, a little.”

“Livvy was out with a new boyfriend, having dinner, and who did she spot in a quiet corner across the room sharing wine, pasta, and intimate conversation with a certain handsome architect?”

Emma fluttered her lashes. “How many guesses?”

Lucia raised and lowered her eyebrows.

“Let’s go downstairs and get something to drink. Coffee, or something cold?”

“Something cold.”

“Jack and I went to an art opening,” Emma began as they started down. “A really terrible art opening, which is actually a good story.”

“You can come back to that. Tell me about the wine and pasta.”

“We had wine and pasta after we left the opening.” In the kitchen, Emma got down glasses, filled them with ice.

“You’re being evasive.”

“Yes.” With a laugh, Emma sliced a lemon. “Which is silly, since you’ve obviously figured out Jack and I are dating.”

“Are you evading because you think I won’t approve?”

“No. Maybe.” Emma opened the sparkling water her mother liked, poured it over ice, added slices of lemon.

“Are you happy? I already see the answer on your face, but you can answer yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“Then why would I disapprove of anything that made you happy?”

“It’s sort of odd, isn’t it though? After all this time?”

“Some things take time, some don’t.” Lucia turned into the living room, sat on the sofa. “I love this little room. All the colors, the scents. I know it’s a place that makes you happy.”

Emma came over, sat beside her mother. “It does.”

“You’re happy in your work, your life, your home. And that helps a mother—even of a grown woman—sleep well at night. Now, if you’re happy with a man I happen to like quite a bit, I’m happy, too. You need to bring him to dinner.”

“Oh, Mom. We’re just . . . dating.”

“He’s been to dinner before.”

“Yes. Yes. Del’s friend Jack has been to dinner, to some cookouts, to some parties at the house. But you’re not asking me to bring Del’s friend to dinner.”

“Suddenly he can’t eat my cooking or have a beer with your father? You understand,

nina, I know what ‘dating’ means in this case?”

“Yes.”

“He should come for Cinco de Mayo. All your friends should come. We’ll put the pork on the grill, and not Jack.”

“Okay. I’m in love with him, Mama.”

“Yes, baby.” Lucia drew Emma’s head to her shoulder. “I know your face.”

“He’s not in love with me.”

“Then he’s not as smart as I think he is.”

“He cares. You know that. He cares, and there’s a really big attraction. On both sides. But he’s not in love with me. Yet.”

“That’s my girl,” Lucia said.

“Do you think it’s . . . underhanded to deliberately set out to make a man fall in love with you?”

“Do you intend to lie, to pretend to be what you’re not, to cheat, make promises you won’t keep?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Then how could it be underhanded? If I hadn’t made your father fall in love with me, we wouldn’t be sitting here in your pretty little room.”

“You . . . Really?”

“Oh, I was so in love. Hopelessly, or so I thought. He was so handsome, so kind, so sweet and funny with his little boy. So lonely. He treated me well, with respect, with honor—and as we grew to know each other, with friendship. And I wanted him to sweep me away, to see me as a woman, to take me into his bed, even if it was just for a night.”

Inside her chest, Emma’s romantic heart simply soared. “Oh, Mama.”

“What? You think you invented this? The needs, the wants? I was young and he was above me in station. The wealth, the position, these were barriers—at least I thought so. But I could dream.

“And maybe a little more than dream,” Lucia added with a secret smile. “I tried to look my best, to cook meals he especially liked, to listen when he needed a friend. That’s what I knew how to do. And I would make sure, when he was going out, that his tie wasn’t quite straight—even when it was—so I’d have to fix it. I still do,” she murmured. “I still want to. I knew there was something—I could feel it, I could see it in his eyes—something more than the bond over the little boy we both loved, something more than friendship and respect. All I could do was show him, in little ways, that I was his.”

“Mama, that’s so . . . You never told me all this before.”

“I never needed to. Your papa, he was careful with me, so careful not to touch my hand too long, hold my gaze too long. Until that day I stood under the cherry blossoms, and I saw him walking to me. I saw him coming to me, and what was in his eyes. My heart.”

Lucia pressed her hand to it. “Ah! It fell, right at his feet. How could he not know? And knowing, his heart fell beside mine.”

“It’s what I want.”

“Of course.”

Emma had to blink tears away. “I don’t think fixing Jack’s tie is going to do it.”

“The little things, Emma. The gestures, the moments. And the big. I let him see my heart. I gave it to him, even when I believed he couldn’t or wouldn’t take it. I gave it anyway—a gift. Even if he broke it. I was very brave. Love is very brave.”

“I’m not as brave as you.”

“I think you’re wrong.” Lucia wrapped her arm around Emma’s shoulders in a hug. “Very wrong. But now it’s new, isn’t it? New and bright and happy. Enjoy it.”

“I am.”

“And bring him to the party.”

“All right.”

“Now, I’m going home to let you get back to work. Do you have a date?”

“Not tonight. We had a long consult today—the Seaman wedding.”

Lucia’s eyes danced. “Ah, the big one.”

“The big one. And I have paperwork, ordering, planning to get to tonight, and a full day tomorrow. He has a business thing tomorrow night, but he’s going to try to come by after and . . .”

“I know what and is,” Lucia said with a laugh. “Get a good night’s sleep tonight then.” She patted Emma’s knee, rose.

“I’m so glad you came by.” Standing, Emma wrapped her mother in a hard hug. “Kiss Papa for me.”

“For you and for me. I think he’ll take me out to dinner tonight, and we’ll share wine and pasta and intimate conversation. To show we haven’t lost our touch.”

“As if ever.”

Emma leaned on the doorjamb, waved her mother off. Then instead of going back into work, left the door open to the spring air and took a walk around the gardens.

Tight buds, fresh blossoms, tender shoots. The beginning of a new cycle, she thought. She wandered back to her greenhouses, gave herself the pleasure of puttering. Seeds she’d planted over the winter were now young plants, and doing nicely. She’d begin to harden them off in the next few days, she decided.

She circled back around, stopped to fill the bird feeders she shared with Mac. The air had already started to cool by the time she went back in. When the sun set, she thought, it would be chilly.

On impulse, she got out a pot. Then minced, chopped, poured, tossed in cubes of herbs she’d frozen the summer before. With a kettle of soup simmering, she went back up to finish her orders.

An hour later, she came down to stir, then glanced toward the window as she heard a car. Surprised, pleased, she hurried to the door to greet Jack.

“Well, hi.”

“I had a meeting, and managed to wrap it up early. I left my jacket here again, so I thought I’d swing by on my way . . . You’re cooking?”

“I took a walk, and it started cooling off, which put me in the mood for kitchen sink soup. There’s plenty, if you’re interested.”

“Actually, I was . . . There’s a ball game on tonight, so—”

“I have a television.” She stepped in, straightened his tie, with a secret smile. “I allow it to broadcast ball games.”

“Really?”

She gave his tie a little tug. “You can taste the soup. If it doesn’t appeal, I’ll get your jacket and you can watch the ball game at home.”

She strolled off, went back to stirring. When he followed, she glanced over her shoulder. “Lean over, open up.”

He did just that so she held the tasting spoon to his lips.

“It’s good.” His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “It’s damn good. How come I never knew you could make soup?”

“You never stopped by to get your jacket after you wrapped up a meeting early. Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“It needs about an hour more. Why don’t you open a bottle of cab?”

“Okay.” Now he leaned down, kissed her. Paused, kissed her again, softly, slowly. “I’m glad I swung by.”

“Me, too.”

The mexican and american flags flew their proud colors as Emma’s Mexican mother and Yankee father combined cultures to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Every year the expansive grounds offered games, from lawn bowling and badminton to moon bounces and waterslides. Friends, relatives, and neighbors played and competed while others crowded at picnic tables, diving into platters of pork and chicken, warm tortillas, bowls of red beans or chilis, guacamole or salsa hot enough to scorch the throat.

There were gallons of lemonade, Negra Modelo, Corona, tequila, and frosty margaritas to put out the fire.

Whenever he’d managed to drop by on the fifth of May, Jack had always been amazed at the number of people the Grants managed to feed. And the choices of fajitas and burgers, black beans and rice or potato salad. Flan or apple pie.

He supposed the food was just a symbol of how completely Phillip and Lucia blended.

He sipped his beer and watched some of the guests dance to the trio of guitars and marimbas.

Beside him, Del took a pull on his own beer. “Hell of a party.”

“They pull out all the stops.”

“So, is it weird being here this year with the hosts’ baby girl?”

Jack started to deny it as a matter of principle. But hell, it was Del. “Little bit. But so far, nobody’s called for the rope.”

“It’s still early.”

“Brown, you’re a comfort to me. Is it my imagination or are there about twice as many kids as there were last year? Year before,” he remembered. “I couldn’t make it last year.”

“Might be. I don’t think they’re all related. I heard Celia’s pregnant again though.”

“Yeah, Emma mentioned it. You’re here stag?”

“Yeah.” Del smiled slowly. “You never know, do you? Check out the blonde in the blue dress. Those are some nice pins she’s got.”

“Yeah. I always thought Laurel had great legs.”

Del choked on his beer. “That’s not . . . Oh,” he managed when she turned, laughed, and he got a better look. “Not used to seeing her in a dress, I guess.” Very deliberately he turned in the opposite direction. “Anyway, there are a bevy of sultry brunettes, cool blondes, and a sprinkle of hot redheads. Many of whom are unattached. But I guess the days of scoping the field are over for you.”

“I’m dating, not blind or dead.” The idea put an itch between Jack’s shoulder blades.

“Where is Em?”

“She went to help somebody with something food related.