Anna Meets Her Match (16 page)

It was a nice house, he thought, looking up at the brick and stone facade, but it would be nicer still with her inside it. He could only pray that, whatever happened next, she would eventually feel the same way.

The invitation arrived at the print shop the first thing Monday morning, hand-delivered by the Chatams’ houseman and driver Chester. With it came a second invitation and an apologetic note from Hypatia, saying that the extra invitation was for Dennis and his wife. Well, Anna thought, that ought to appease her cranky boss a bit. She still wasn’t happy about having to attend the fund-raiser, partly because she’d had to come up with an outfit to wear but mostly because Reeves and Tansy would be there. She could already feel Tansy watching her every move. Every word, every gesture, ever glance would be watched and weighed, especially if Reeves was involved, and he would be.

She’d spent two sleepless nights thinking about Reeves’s
suggestion
. She wouldn’t think of it as an almost-proposal. She’d go mad if she allowed herself to imagine, even for a moment, that he might have been sincere. He couldn’t be. He just could not be. She didn’t know how to deal with the possibility that he might.

More than once, she’d tried to pray about it, but something stopped her. It was as if something blocked her, something
at which she didn’t want to look too closely. Perhaps that was because she knew that what was stopping her from taking her problems to God did not come from Him. Something in her got in the way, something she couldn’t bring herself to face even now. Facing Reeves again, while she wasn’t looking forward to it, seemed easier by comparison. Facing Tansy, well, that was just same old same old.

Surprisingly, Tansy had not shown up on her doorstep over the weekend to complain about her dinner plans going awry, but she would do so. It was just a matter of time. Of much more concern was the echoing silence from the direction of Reeves Leland. A girl could be excused for thinking that a guy who
suggested
to the point of almost proposing would call, couldn’t she? Even if she had almost turned him down.

If only he had beat Tansy to the punch, if he’d come to his “understanding” of her before Tansy had tried her heavy hand at matchmaking, if he’d given her any indication that he might actually love her, then she would be the happiest woman in the world. But once again, Tansy had ruined it. Yet, Anna could not prevent herself from hoping and waiting for that phone to ring. When it finally did on Saturday morning, Reeves was not the one she heard.

“Anna?” Gilli’s piping little voice was unmistakable. “Me and Special miss you.”

Anna’s heart turned over. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“Ever’one’s too busy to play,” Gilli complained. “They got swings and slides at the park,” she added hopefully.

Reeves took the phone then. “Sorry to put you on the spot,” he said to Anna, “but it’s a madhouse over here. Gilli’s hoping you’ll meet her in the park, get her out of the way for a while.”

What could Anna say but, “Of course. I’d be delighted.”

“Is half an hour too soon?” The poor man sounded desperate. No doubt the Chatam sisters had him running himself ragged with preparations for the fund-raiser.

“Not at all. In fact, I’m leaving now.”

Gilli cheered when he related that news to her. Anna grabbed her keys. Not fifteen minutes later, she parked her car near the playground down the hill from the century-old Chautauqua building, where the community supported cultural activities such as plays, chamber music concerts and the occasional ballet performance and art show. Reeves and Gilli had already arrived and were walking across the grass toward the graveled playground, where several other children ran and laughed in the cool spring sunshine. Hailing them, Anna ran down the hill to sweep Gilli into an exuberant hug.

“What do you want to do first?”

“Swing!”

They ran to the swings hand in hand. Anna helped Gilli get situated and started her moving before turning to Reeves. He looked achingly handsome in jeans and a creamy tan pullover. She was prepared to tell him that she’d have Gilli back to the house before her nap time, but instead of heading off toward his car, as she’d expected, he ambled close enough to say, “Thanks for coming. I didn’t think I’d ever get her out from underfoot. Didn’t want to leave her cat. I had to bribe her with you.”

Anna blinked as he stepped around her and gave Gilli a little shove that had her giggling with glee. “Don’t you have to get back?” Anna asked him.

“Nope. Not until after lunch. Where were you thinking of eating, by the way?”

“I wasn’t—” Anna began, only to be interrupted by Gilli yelling, “Pizza!”

“No pizza,” Reeves said flatly, giving Gilli another shove. She put her head back and laughed as the swing flew a few feet higher. “How about that new deli on the square?” he asked Anna. “I hear they have good sandwiches and salads. Have you been there yet?”

“Uh, no, but—”

“Let’s do that, then.” He turned his attention back to Gilli, saying, “Hold on tight, sugar. This one’s going to touch the sky.”

He pushed her hard enough to elicit a squeal of delight. When he refused to go any higher, however, she quickly decided that it was time to hit the slides.

“Come on, Anna,” she cried, racing off as soon as her feet touch the ground.

Anna glanced at Reeves then followed, and so it went until Reeves declared it time for lunch. Even with her stomach growling, Gilli resisted until Anna promised, “We’ll come back soon.”

“She’ll remember that, you know,” Reeves warned, taking Anna’s hand, “and if she doesn’t, I will.”

Anna didn’t know what to say to that, so she merely smiled, her heart swelling. There was some reason why this was not a good idea, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember what it was until they were leaving the deli nearly an hour later and ran into a friend of her grandmother’s. The speculation in that older woman’s eyes told Anna that Tansy would know about this outing before she could even get back home.

She waited all day, after taking her leave of Reeves and a yawning Gilli, for that knock on her door, but it never came. Bucking up her courage to attend church again the next day, she told herself that Tansy would surely confront her there. Once more, however, she missed her guess. Tansy did walk by after Reeves sat down on the pew beside Anna, but she literally turned her head away without saying a word. Certain this was some new tactic of her grandmother’s, Anna could barely concentrate on the sermon for trying to figure out what her response should be. Noticing her distraction, Reeves asked if she wanted to go somewhere and talk after the service, but Anna feared that was the last thing she should do. She couldn’t think with him standing so close and smiling like that.

“I—I’m sorry. I can’t.”

A look of disappointment on his face, he took her hand in his, sweeping his thumb across her knuckles. “You won’t stand me up next weekend, will you, Anna? My aunts want you at that auction, and they’ll be so disappointed if you’re not there.”

“I’ll be there!” she promised, but he called almost nightly to make sure, and more often than not, they wound up talking for hours.

She learned about his work and his company, his many siblings—six kids spread about among five parents!—and how responsible he felt, as the oldest, for the difficulties that divorce had caused them.

“And here I am repeating the same mistake,” he said with a sigh.

“That’s not your fault,” she told him.

“Of course, it’s my fault,” he refuted softly. “I picked Marissa, for all the wrong reasons, but I’ve learned my lesson, believe me. I’ll get it right next time.”

Anna blanched to think of him marrying some other woman, but she quickly changed the subject. That didn’t keep her from thinking about it, though, and when Saturday finally came, she took more pains with her appearance than she ever had before. Let Tansy crow. For once, Anna just didn’t care.

R
eeves paced the foyer impatiently. The soft strains of music, produced by a piano and harp, blended with the clink of flatware as the temporary staff put the final touches on the tables in the ballroom. Where was she? A good many guests had arrived already, and Anna had promised to be early. He should have insisted on picking her up.

Stationed in front of a narrow window, Chester opened the door. Reeves whirled and saw Tansy Burdett, decked out in matronly gray silk, enter.

She smiled thinly. “Not arrived yet, has she?”

Reeves took a stranglehold on his temper. “Stay away from her, Tansy. Just give her some room tonight, will you please?”

“I know my part in this,” she huffed, marching toward him.

“That’s just it. You have no part.”

To his surprise, her chin wobbled. “I’ll always have a part in my granddaughter’s life,” she insisted in a trembling voice, “even if it’s from a distance. She’s all I have.”

Before Reeves could follow up on that, Chester announced, “She’s here, Mr. Reeves.”

Tansy marched away at double-time. His mouth dry and
palms damp, Reeves faced the door. He gave his French cuffs a tug and rolled his shoulders beneath the black satin-trimmed jacket of his tux. With a black bow tie and a white cummerbund against a white shirt, he suddenly felt colorless and trite. Chester swung that door open, and Reeves ceased to think at all.

It was just a long, slim midnight-blue skirt of some slinky knit, slit to the knee on one side, and a sleeveless, fitted, purple lace top worn beneath a length of sheer dark blue fabric draped over her shoulders and arms, but it looked as fine on her as any ball gown. She’d tucked her hair behind her ears and clipped rhinestones—or whatever they called faux diamonds these days—to her dainty lobes. A matching string encircled her slender neck and one wrist. On her feet were those delightful shoes. Wow.

Summoning up what he hoped to pass off as charm and wit, he stepped forward and shook his head, saying, “Oh, this is not good.”

She looked down at herself in alarm. “What?”

“How will anyone concentrate on the auction items with you in the room?” She laughed, taking the arm he offered. “You’re stunning,” he told her softly, “beautiful, and if you get farther than three feet away from me tonight, I won’t be responsible for my actions.” She laughed again, a bright, crystalline tinkle that sounded like happiness itself.

They strolled toward the ballroom, passing half a dozen flower arrangements on pedestals. “Where’s Gilli?” she asked.

“Oh, she’s around here somewhere. I told her she could mingle until dinner started, provided she’s on her best behavior. Then Carol will take her to the kitchen for a private party with Special. We can slip off and put her to bed afterward.”

Anna nodded and squeezed his arm. “I’d like that.”

The aunties were at their stations, Odelia at the door to greet, Mags directing guests to the proper seats, Hypatia
handing out catalogs and pointing out items displayed on the rectangular tables that lined the room. The round tables, decorated in layers of white and gold, that stood in the center of the floor were for dining. With flickering candles on every table and an abundance of flowers, the room resembled a fairy glade, an impression enhanced by the smattering of light reflected upon the ceiling and the faint, ethereal lilt of the music.

He knew a moment of tension when Anna spied Tansy bending over one of the bid sheets on the display tables. As if sensing her presence, Tansy straightened and looked straight at them, but then she went back to penning in her bid, and Anna turned away. Reeves said nothing, smoothing a hand over her back until she relaxed.

The evening progressed smoothly from that point. He and Anna made the rounds of the auction tables and dutifully made bids on various items. One of them, a trip to the Bahamas donated by a local travel agency, was proving extremely popular, but Reeves made a generous bid anyway, imagining Anna and himself on the beach. She chose small, inexpensive items and made modest bids, which he upped at every opportunity in hopes of being able to present one or more of them to her.

Every chair was filled by the time dinner was served, and the bid sheets, according to his aunt’s whispered progress reports, were nicely covered. They were on track to raise a record-breaking amount for the scholarship fund.

Reeves recognized Anna’s corpulent boss and his equally bountiful wife seated at another table across the room, as requested, but after a single wave, Anna paid them no more mind, nor they her. It was just as well. If he had his way, Reeves would keep her entirely to himself tonight.

The aunties had provided their guests with filets mignon, creamy scalloped potatoes with asparagus and a dish of sweet shredded carrots cooked with currants. For dessert, they were
presented with chocolate mousse and a “nut mélange in a caramel glaze.” If that didn’t open wallets, Reeves didn’t know what would. As soon as he was finished eating, he made a dash over to place one more bid on that Bahamas vacation, then he grabbed Anna by the hand and swept her from the room. It was time to put Gilli to bed. Chester met him in the hall, however, a grave, apologetic look on his face.

“You’re needed in the parlor, Mr. Reeves, and I think the misses will want to be there, too.”

“Is it Gilli?” Reeves asked, but Chester was already moving into the ballroom. Glancing at Anna, he clasped her hand tighter and tugged her swiftly toward the front of the house. Striding into the room, Anna at his heels, he swept it with his gaze, and came to a frozen halt.

Marissa sat on the settee, clad in a strapless, red spandex sheath that hugged her curves and ended at her ankles, where the straps of her black spike-heeled sandals began. Her legs crossed, she bobbed one foot impatiently. Gilli, dressed in ruffles and petticoats, perched on the very edge of the cushion beside her. They had the same hair, Reeves noted inanely, though Marissa had tamed her curls into bouncy waves that framed her face and tumbled about her shoulders.

The aunties arrived at about the same instant that Gilli let her feet slide down to the floor. “Hello, Daddy,” she said with false cheer, her mouth curved into the parody of a smile. “Hello, Anna. Look who come.”

The sly look on Marissa’s face made his stomach turn over. Knowing that this sudden appearance could not be good, he mentally kicked himself for not having bothered to read that letter upstairs, though he doubted it would have made much difference in the end.

He started forward grimly, intending to haul Marissa out of there for a private conference, but the moment he stepped off, Gilli said, “She my mommy.”

Reeves stopped immediately, realizing that the last thing his daughter needed was another ugly scene. He made himself relax and almost at once felt the steadying touch of Anna’s hand just above the small of his back. As if in ugly parody, Marissa reached over and slid a hand down Gilli’s fragile spine. Smirking, she looked up at him, the light of challenge in her hazel eyes.

“Sugar,” Reeves said, smiling at his daughter, “why don’t you check on Special? I’m sure he’s missing you?”

“Okay, Daddy,” she said, skipping around the table as if on her way to play.

“And while you’re at it,” he added, “take the aunties with you. They have guests to see to.”

Marissa pursed her mouth, and smoothed a hand over her skirt. Reeves suspected that she had expected to be invited to join the gala evening. She had enough nerve to pull off something like that.

The aunties hustled out after Gilli, throwing him sorrowful, worried glances as they disappeared. Anna’s hand never left his back. Somehow, he had not expected it to. Marissa folded her arms and did a lazy perusal of the antiques in the room. He could almost see the numbers clicking in her head as she judged their value. At the same time, he sent a prayer heavenward.

Help me, Lord. Whatever You’re doing now, help me get my part right, for my little girl’s sake.

“I thought I’d find you here in the lap of luxury,” Marissa said with a smirk. “I notice you still haven’t moved back into our house.”

“My house,” he corrected.

Ignoring that, she pointed her chin at Anna. “Who’s this?”

He answered succinctly. “Anna. Why?”

Marissa shrugged. “Can’t help wondering if she’s after my home, that’s all.”

“You lost all right to that house when you walked out on
me and our daughter,” Reeves said flatly. “It says so in the divorce decree.”

She looked around pointedly. “Mmm, yes, well, you obviously have no need for it. I made a mistake not fighting for my fair share. I just felt so bad at the time.” She slanted a smug look at Anna. “Breaking your heart like that and all.”

A bark of laughter escaped him. “I kinda got over it.”

“You won’t get over losing your daughter,” she snapped, her expression hardening.

Anna gasped and stepped up beside him. Reeves shifted his weight toward her, both as a warning and a comfort. He knew what Marissa wanted, and it wasn’t Gilli, though she was not beneath using the child against him. Strangely, he was not afraid.

“Marissa,” he said conversationally, “are you threatening to sue for custody of my daughter if I don’t hand over my house to you?”

She picked at an invisible piece of lint on her skirt. “I’m told, by an attorney to whom I’m
very
close, that mothers almost always win in court.”

So she had a new boyfriend, a lawyer. Reeves smiled, refusing to be rattled. “Is that so?”

Marissa sat back, folding her arms. “So, which will you give me, your daughter or the house?”

Before Reeves could say a word to that, Anna exclaimed, “The house! We’ll give you the house.”

Reeves looked at her in stunned wonder. Did she even know what she’d just said? “We?”

“A family is worth more than brick and stone,” she argued, and the agonized look in her eyes said that she, above all others, knew it only too well. “Besides,” she went on desperately, “it’s not like she’s going to live in it. She only wants to sell it.”

Marissa sniffed. “Live in that pedestrian little bungalow? I don’t think so. Even you had sense enough to move in here. Still, it will bring a pretty penny on the market.”

Reeves didn’t look at her. He was smiling at Anna, who was revealing her heart to him, all unknowing. “But where will we live, sweetheart?” he asked deliberately. “Your apartment’s not big enough for the three of us.”

“I don’t know!” Anna exclaimed, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. “I don’t care. We’ll live in a cardboard box, if we have to, but we can’t put Gilli through a custody battle, no matter how it comes out in the end.”

Reeves thought his heart would burst from his chest, if his face didn’t split first. “You know you just agreed to marry me, don’t you?”

“What? No! I—I mean…” She gulped, her eyes widening, and then she squared her shoulders and said, “Yes.”

Cupping her face in his hands, he laughed, and said, “I love you, Anna Miranda Burdett.”

She blinked. “You do?”

“You and Gilli matter more to me than anything else in this world,” he told her, “certainly more than a heap of brick and mortar. But what about your grandmother?”

Anna looked up into his eyes and smiled tearfully. “I’d already decided that I couldn’t let her get in the way of this. I’ve been in love with you for too long! Since high school, at least!”

Reeves beamed. “I know.” Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close. “If only I’d known it at the time.”

“Can’t imagine how you missed it, Stick,” she burbled against his chest. “What other girl went around gluing your keys to your locker?”

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Cupping her face, he put his forehead to hers. “Praise God,” he said. “Finally, I got it right.”

“How touching,” Marissa remarked sourly.

Reeves pulled his gaze from Anna’s, dropped his hands, slid his arm about his beloved’s waist and looked to his glowering ex. “You can have the house,” he told her, “under one
condition.” She raised an eyebrow, waiting for it. “You will allow Anna to adopt Gilli. Barn door’s closed, Marissa. No more coming back to the trough.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she rose languidly to her feet. “Fine.” But she couldn’t resist sweeping her gaze over Anna and sneering, “I figured you’d go for the kid. You have that mousy housewife look about you.”

Anna, to her credit, simply smiled. “What do you think, darlin’?” she asked him. “Do I look like your wife and Gilli’s mother?”

“Oh, yeah. Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She kissed him, once, hard, on the lips.

Marissa tossed her head and slinked across the room, sniping, “I’ll have my guy contact you.”

“You do that,” Reeves said, “but you get zip until those adoption papers are signed.” He grinned down at Anna. “From now on, Gilli’s going to have a real mother.”

“And you are going to have a real wife,” Anna promised softly.

Just then, Gilli burst into the room, the cat dangling from the crook of her arm. Marissa, who was near the door, shot Reeves a look of pure spite then bent to bring her face near Gilli’s.

“I’m so sorry, Gilli,” she droned, “but I won’t be your mommy anymore. Your daddy—”

Before she could complete whatever malicious statement she’d been about to make, Gilli shoved her, declaring, “I don’t want you!” With that she ran, not to Reeves, to Anna. “Wanna hold my cat?” she asked, gazing up at Anna adoringly.

Anna, fortunately, knew better than to even try such a thing. “I’d rather hold both of you,” she said, scooping up Gilli, cat and all. Gilli giggled and reached out a hand to cup Reeves’s cheek, letting him know that she approved of what was happening.

As Reeves turned his head to put a kiss in the center of that little palm, a throat cleared. He looked around to find Marissa gone and his aunts standing abreast in the doorway. Mags snuffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, while Auntie Od blew her nose into a lacy hanky. Even Hypatia’s eyes sparkled with moisture, but she merely lifted her chin.

“There will be no cardboard boxes,” she pronounced, shamelessly revealing that they had eavesdropped every word. “Not so long as Chatam House can offer the barest refuge.”