1929 (39 page)

“June.”

“Well, feel free to come down here and
practice to your heart’s content. I might take advantage, though,
and sneak a nap while you’re here learnin’,” she teased. She went
to put on tea and left Arianna on the couch holding Roan. He
started fussing and flailing, and Arianna looked over at Shannon
with panic.

“Just rock him a bit,” Shannon called out
from the kitchen.

Arianna started a rocking, bouncing
combination, and he quieted quickly. “Hey, that worked!” she called
out to Shannon and looked back down at Roan. His mouth was drawn in
a tight line; his face was turning blood red.

After a moment, it became obvious that he
wasn’t breathing, and Arianna screamed for Shannon. She flew over
just in time for the foul odor to reach Arianna’s nose.

“What is that?” she yelled.

“He was just finishin’ his poo.”

Arianna coughed and gagged, shoving the baby
back toward Shannon.

“He wet on me!” she cried.

“They tend to do that. Don’t worry, I'll get
you a cloth for your dress. It don’t seem to stink so bad when it's
yer own.”

“I think I’ve had enough baby practice for
one day. Can we move on to bread now, please?”

∞∞∞

“I invited everyone over for New Year’s Eve,”
Jonathan told Ava over dinner.

“You did?”

“We’re always together for New Year’s, so why
should this year be any different?”

“Well, okay. I just didn’t think you would
feel like having a party is all.”

“It won’t be a huge deal, but we’ll all be
together. Caleb wants to have a Charleston contest,” he said and
grinned.

“Oh, no,” Ava moaned. “They always win!
What’s the point?”

“I know. But it’ll be a good time.”

“I guess I can make something,” she
offered.

“How about those fried potato things Shannon
made for dinner?”

“Sure,” she said, surprised he even
remembered.

“This weekend we should walk down and look at
different shades of paint for the new place. We can’t take any of
this stuff with us, not that I would want to, except the mattress.
That’s coming with us. But we’ll need to look at buying some more
furniture,” he said with a hint of excitement.

“That sounds like fun,” she said and
smiled.

“We’ll window shop away the months of January
and February. It’ll make it go faster and give us something to look
forward to,” he suggested.

Over the last several days, things had slowly
gotten back to what Ava considered normal. Jonathan smiled more and
when they sat on the couch after dinner, they talked about many
things; he had spent very little time staring silently at the
fire.

“Where are we?” he asked unexpectedly,
nodding at the calendar.

“Next week,” she answered casually. Inside,
she was ecstatic that he was wondering. It was cruel in her opinion
that their reconciliation happened so far from the safe week.

“Think we can make it?” he taunted.

She looked up to see the teasing eyes and
devious smile that she hadn’t seen in months, and her heart
fluttered lightly in her chest.

“I’m beginning to wonder,” she said, breaking
away from his sultry stare.

“It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world
to happen, would it?”

“Would what?” she asked, concentrating on her
food.

“A baby.”

“Whoa! Hold on.” She looked up at him, taken
aback. “What on earth are you talking about, Jon?”

“I’m just saying that, if it were to happen,
it wouldn’t be the worst thing, that’s all.”

“Jon,” she said seriously. “We can’t. You
know that.”

“I’m just worried that Caleb’s going to get a
decent head start on us, and then his kid will grow up thinking
he’s the ringleader of the next generation.” He smirked.

“Oh. And that’s coming from the ringleader of
the current one,” Ava chided.

“I’m not the ringleader,” he denied with a
smile. “I’m just the oldest. They looked up to me when we were
kids.”

“You’re the oldest by six months. And they
still look up to you.”

“I don’t know about that, but nice try on
changing the subject.”

“I didn’t change anything. You know we can’t
take any risks right now, Jon.”

“Caleb and Arianna are managing. It would
work out for us, too. Especially with the new building.”

She answered him by shaking her head with a
stern look.

“Well, I didn’t want to have to resort to
this.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Resort to what?” she asked suspiciously.

“Seduction,” he replied nonchalantly and she
laughed aloud.

“Tempting as that would be, sir, the reward
is not worth the risk.”

“I’ll take that as a wager,” he said, grinned
and ran his eyes over her.

“Don’t even think about it, Jon. This is so
unfair.” She was visibly flustered now. “I don’t want to talk about
it anymore.”

“Why not?” he said and grinned sinfully.

“We’re going to talk about something else,”
she said firmly.

“Okay. What shall we talk about? Your
choice.”

“I think I’d like yellow paint in the
kitchen,” she said, after thinking about it for a moment. “And
maybe we can use part-wallpaper and part-paint in the living
room.”

“Okay. We can do that. What color do you want
to paint the bedroom?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

“Jon, I said we weren’t going to talk about
it anymore.”

“I’m not talking about it! I am talking about
paint. You, however, are obviously thinking of something else.”

“No. I am not!” she insisted.

“Okay, love. Whatever you say. Listen, I have
to run up to Aryl’s. We need to do an official cash count and fine
tune a budget. I shouldn’t be too long. Do you want to come
along?”

“No. I think I’ll stay here.” She was
entirely frustrated and needed to put a little distance between
them.

“Suit yourself,” he said as he walked around
the table. “Can I have a kiss goodbye?” he asked.

“That depends,” she said.

“On what,” he asked with a laugh.

“On whether you’re going to play fair,” she
said, crossing her legs and arms before looking up at him.

“Ava, I promise . . .” He leaned over,
lingering a fraction of an inch from her lips. “I have no
intentions of playing fair,” he whispered and gave a light peck on
her lips.

∞∞∞

Aryl answered the door on the third knock,
and when he did, Jonathan looked him up and down, amused. His shirt
was unbuttoned, his belt hanging open and his hair a mess.

“I need to cancel that meeting, Jon, can we
do it tomorrow night?” he asked slightly out of breath.

“Sure. Why would you even plan a meeting if
it’s your week?

“That’s the thing. It’s not my week,” Aryl
whispered.

“Oh, great. Not you, too. Now my kid’s gonna
be the youngest,” he said, exasperated. “He’s gonna get picked on
like Caleb.”

“No, no kid, not yet anyway.”

Jonathan looked at him, confused. Aryl looked
back when Claire called for him. “I’ll be there in a minute,” he
stepped into the hall, pulling the door behind him.

“Arianna loaned Claire her book,” Aryl said
with a huge smile.

“You mean
the
book
?”

“Yes, the book from Paris. So, I gotta go,”
he said, ducking back into his apartment.

“Hold on.” Jonathan grabbed his shirt. “You
have to help me out,” he said insistently. “Have Claire give the
book to Ava the next time we get together for cards.”

“All right. But I’m going to let you in on a
little secret. They knew about this stuff all along,” Aryl said,
grinning.

“Then why didn’t they ever say anything? Why
have we all been suffering?”

“Oh, all that prim, proper society-hooey.
According to Claire, who would kill me if she knew I was telling
you this, decent women pretend to not know of such things and would
never suggest them.” He rolled his eyes.

“I’m beginning to see why Arianna loved Paris
so much,” Jon said.

“And why Caleb is rarely in a bad mood,” Aryl
added with a smirk.

“Okay. The girls can get together over here
while we have our card game. I’ll let Ava pretend like this is all
new and keep up her proper appearances,” Jonathan said, already
scheming.

“Okay. I really gotta go.” Aryl slammed the
door before Jonathan could say anything else.

∞∞∞

“Well, that was fast,” Ava said as Jonathan
walked through the door.

“Aryl couldn’t meet tonight. Something came
up,” he said and grinned. “We’re going to meet tomorrow night
instead.”

“Tomorrow night is New Year’s Eve,” she
reminded him.

“That’s right. Well, I guess we’ll have the
meeting here.”

“Would you like some tea?” she called from
the kitchen.

“Yes, please.” He picked out a book and even
though he had read it a half-dozen times, started it again.

She sat down on the other end of the couch
with a magazine that the women had bought together a few weeks ago
and shared.

“How many times have you read that magazine?”
he asked, eying her over the top of his book.

“Five. How many times have you read that
book?”

“Six.”

“Aren't you tired of it?” she asked.

“Sort of. Are you?”

“Yes,” she huffed.

“Well, we should definitely try to get you
something else to read besides that old magazine,” he said and
grinned behind his book.

January 1st 1930

“Good afternoon, Mr. Drayton, and Happy New
Year. Please come in.” Victor took his coat off and folded it over
his arm before sitting. “How can I help you today, sir?”

“I’d like to review the insurance policies
for my properties. And possibly adjust the coverage.”

“Certainly, sir.”

He opened a cabinet and found Victor’s file.
“Here we are. Now which properties were you interested in
reviewing?”

Victor answered him by holding out his hand
for the file. The agent handed it over hesitantly.

“Is there something I can help you find, Mr.
Drayton?”

“No, I’m perfectly capable,” he said,
flipping through the pages until he found the one he was looking
for. “Here it is.” Victor held out the paper. “I’m concerned about
this property. I’d like to increase the coverage.”

“Well, we can certainly do that for you. Do
you have any particular concerns?”

“Yes. Fire. A few tenants there are careless
with their fireplaces,” he explained with a smile.

“I see. We can increase the policy to cover
loss of the building due to fire.”

“What if there was only partial damage?”
Victor proposed.

“Well.” The agent eyed him suspiciously now.
“We would compensate according to the extent of the damage and the
estimate to repair.”

“Very well. I’d like to increase that
protection as much as possible.”

“Certainly, sir. I do have to inform you that
there is a sixty-day grace period for policy changes of this
nature. Just a preventative measure to protect against arson, you
understand. Especially in times like these.”

“Of course. I understand completely,” he said
and smiled, hiding his disappointment well.

“Then I will be happy to make these changes
for you and have the updated policy sent to your house by
courier.”

Victor held his frustration until safely
inside his car.

“Everything work out, sir?” his driver asked
as he pulled into traffic.

“No. Not yet,” he snapped.

∞∞∞

One week into January, just after dinner, the
building lost heat again and with subzero temperatures outside, it
didn’t take long for Jonathan to notice. He checked the thermostat
as he pulled on a second sweater, and they watched it fall for over
an hour. When it registered forty degrees, they were full on
shivering, and he got an idea.

“Tack a blanket at the kitchen and close the
bedroom door,” he told Ava. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get the others.”

Once everyone was inside, they put towels at
the windows and base of the door and added a heap of wood to the
fire until it was burning intensely.

“Good idea, Jon,” Aryl said, smiling. “I
would have just pitched another tent and suffered smoke inhalation
again. But we wouldn’t have had enough wood to last the night by
ourselves, that’s for sure.”

They made pallets across the length of the
living room floor, and snuggled under piles of blankets, fully
clothed in layers and still shivering. The only light came from the
bright, glowing fireplace. Jonathan kept the fire roaring, and the
room slowly warmed to a livable temperature.

“We haven’t had a camp out in a long time,”
Caleb said from under the blankets.

Jonathan couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah,
about twenty years.”

“Hey, remember when we rowed across the way
and camped on Thacher Island?” Aryl asked.

“No,” Jonathan said.

“I remember, but you weren’t there for that
one, Jon.” Caleb said. “And that’s probably good because we got in
so much trouble when we came home on Sunday.”

“I remember the trouble,” Jonathan said,
poking his head out from under the blankets. “That was one trip
when I was grateful to have to work for my old man.”

“How’d you get in trouble?” Arianna
asked.

“Well, we told our parents we were going to
go camping on the beach. We were what–twelve, thirteen? There was
one spot we always camped at as kids but this time, we decided to
borrow a boat and row over to Thacher Island to camp there. Only we
didn’t tell anyone.”

Caleb continued, “Aryl’s mom hiked down the
beach to our usual spot just before dark to bring us some food and
couldn’t find us. His dad found his boat was missing, and they had
the whole town looking for us. We sort of forgot to ask him if we
could borrow it.”