Beyond Midnight (57 page)

She felt like a fool, but she couldn
'
t help herself; the charade went on as she called out in suspicious motherly tones,
"
Russell? I didn
'
t hear his father
'
s car out front.
"

Russ said in a loud, bored voice,
"
His dad was beepin
'
his horn for five minutes.
We
heard it.
"

"
Well, why did you take so long to go down, then?
"
she shot back, trying to save face. She rolled her eyes at Nat and got a comical cringe from him in return. There they were, with three-quarters of a century between them, scared to death of a fourteen-year-old snot.

Russell tore back up the stairs without bothering to answer her silly question, which was fine with Helen. The last thing she needed was a face-to-face confrontation with him.

She stood up, and Nat stood up, and they held hands, leaning their foreheads into one another.

"
Close call,
"
she said, blowing out air.

"
This is nuts, Helen. I understand that you want to be home for your kids, but
...
can
'
t we go to a nice dinner at a nice hotel?
"
he asked.
"
I
'
m not asking for the night,
"
he added wryly.
"
Naturally I know better than that.
"

She took a wincing, hissing breath of air.
"
Oh, Nat
... I don
'
t know
...
a hotel? What if someone saw us?
"

"
Who would know? Who would care?
"
he said, nuzzling the curve of her neck.

Off and running went her heartbeat.
"
No
—
wait
,
wait,
"
she objected, trying weakly to evade his caress.
"
It
'
s just that right now all I want to do is hide.
"

He drew back and looked into her eyes. She expected to see frustration there, maybe even annoyance. But his gaze was completely sympathetic, his smile forbearing.
"
Hide. Right.
Okay. I'll see what I can do."

****

The next morning, Nat called and said,
"
Cancel the video. The house is ours.
"

"
No, it isn
'
t. Becky
'
s having a couple of friends over to study, and Russell—
"

"
My
house. I gave Peaches a weekend on the
Cape
. There
'
s a great bed and breakfast there that Linda and I once stayed at. I had hopes that it would be you and I who—anyway, Peaches is gone and here
'
s the plan. Katie and I do some heavy-duty bonding at the Knights of Columbus carnival. I wear
her out. You arrive around six-
thirty. We put Katie to bed. We dine. We make wild, abandoned love until eleven. Twelve, if I can keep you. You return home. Tomorrow we do it all over again. I
'
ll take Katie to
a gym
or something. So? Pure genius, am I right?
"

After a too-long pause, Helen said,
"
What did Peaches say when you sent her away?
"

"
I did not send her away,
"
Nat said, miffed at Helen
'
s tepid response.
"
I just gave her an early birthday present. As a matter of fact, it was her idea. She
'
d mentioned recently that the bed and breakfast sounded like a wonderful getaway. Actually, I think she had in mind a family
outing for all of us, but this
'll
be even better for her. No nannying. Maybe she
'
ll meet a great guy.
"

You are the great guy, dope,
thought Helen. In the last two weeks, Nat had spent every minute he could with Helen, bringing Katie along if the hour was early enough. Technically, Peaches should
'
ve been thrilled with her new free time. But Helen understood, as Nat did not, that no woman likes giving up territory to another. Was Peaches in love with him? Helen didn
'
t know. Nat would
'
ve laughed at the notion; it was better left unsaid.

In any case, Helen didn
'
t really care what Nat did to get rid of the ever-hovering Peaches. He could
'
ve put her in a rocket and sent her to the moon—whatever it took for Helen and him to be alone, if only for a few hours.

****

All day Helen savored the thought of the evening to come. Late in the afternoon s
he took a long shower and deep-
conditioned her hair, then pumiced, buffed, polished, and lotioned every surface of her body. She hadn
'
t lavished such attention on herself since—well, since Hank. She chose her laciest underthings and an easy-to-remove dress. She tried on earrings, then took them off. They
'
d only be in the way.

She was standing in front
of the full-length mirror, pinn
ing a tortoiseshell comb into her thick black hair, when Becky came in with an a
rm
load of just-folded towels for her mother
'
s bathroom.

"
Yikes, Mom. Why the gray dress?
"

No way was Helen going to say why.
"
Because I like
it.

"
No, no, no.
"
Becky plunked the pile of white towels on the wicker hamper and went to her mother
'
s closet.
"
You look better in color.
"
She pulled out a pretty rayon dress in a flattering shade of mauve.
"
Wear this one.
"

The dress had a million buttons down the back.
"
Nope,
"
Helen said serenely.
"
The gray looks fine on me.
"

Becky scrutinized the dress for flow and cling and decided it would have to do. Sitting cross-legged on her mother
'
s bed, she said,
"
Is it serious? I know it is for you. Is it for him?
"

Helen felt no need to hide the truth from her perceptive daughter.
"
I think so,
"
she said softly.
"
I hope so.
"

"
I
'
m really glad. It
'
s just so cool that you
'
re in love.
"

Helen glanced at the open door.
"
You don
'
t have to shout it from the rooftop.
"

"
Mom. Stop babying him. Russell can handle this. He
'
s not a little boy anymore; why treat him like one? Are you really so worried he
'
s gonna freak out? Or is it more that you
'
re afraid to move out of mom-mode?
"

"
Darn good points, Becky,
"
said Helen, giving her daughter a yank on the collar.
"
Go away.
"

"
Okay, okay.
"
Becky untangled her long, tanned legs and hopped off the bed.
"
So where
'
re you going to dinner?
"

Helen shrugged, carefully avoiding her daughter
'
s gaze.
"
Someplace quiet.
"

Becky studied her mother for a long moment, then smiled.
"
All I can say is, Mr. Byrne had better make an honest woman out of you after all this. Take an umbrella.
"

She flounced off, leaving
Helen to stare at a thoughtful-
looking reflection of herself. As for Mr. Byrne: what, exactly,
were
his intentions?

She wished she knew.

By the time Helen p
ulled up in front of the green-
shuttered mansion, she hardly cared. She expected to feel shy, or to have scruples or reservations or stupid second thoughts. Instead she was amazed to see that she was on fire for him. When he opened the door it was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms.

He
'
d dressed more casually than she, in khakis and
crumply white linen shirt. It gave him an air of slouchy elegance that she found desperately appealing. Once she was in the hall, he took her in his arms and kissed her; she threaded her fingers through his shower-damp hair and let herself enjoy the first sweet taste of the night to come.

He said in her ear,
"
I
'
ve been obsessing on you all day long. On the Ferris wheel, on the merry-go-round, at the milk-bottle
toss.
I wish you
'
d come along.
"

"
No, you were right to be with Katie on your own. Did she have fun?
"

"
She loved it,
"
he said as they headed automatically for the music room.
"
It was a little touch and go after the candy cotton and ice cream, though. Maybe I shouldn
'
t have done both.
"

"
Maybe,
"
Helen said, smiling.

Katie was in her pajamas at the far end of the room, kneeling next to the low table on which she liked to draw and paint. At the moment she had her big crayolas out and was immersed completely in her work. Helen was a little disappointed that the child hadn
'
t come running. In the past two weeks—and especially during the two days that Helen had taken over Katie
'
s preschool class—they
'
d become delightfully at ease with one another.

"
Hey, kiddo, look who
'
s here,
"
Nat finally said.

Katie kept on coloring. Puzzled, Nat prompted her again.

The child looked up at Helen with blue-eyed reproach.
"
You made Peaches go away,
"
she said. Without waiting for an answer, she returned to her drawing.

"
No, honey, I—
"

"
Katie, what
'
re you talking about?
"
her father said, amazed.
"
I told you. Peaches went for a little vacation on
Cape Cod
. She
'
ll be home tomorrow night.
"

Helen saw that his cheeks were flushed.
Guilt.
Somehow he must have implied to his daughter that he was sending Peaches away so that he could be with Helen. Distressed, Helen sat on the sofa where Katie was working and, resting her arms on her thighs, clasped her hands and said,
"
What
'
re you drawing, Katie? May I see?
"

Still on her knees, Katie edged away from Helen. But she didn
'
t reposition her drawing, which Helen studied with some interest. It was a murky arrangement of lines and shapes, but one aspect of it seemed clearer than the rest: a stick-figure inside what looked like a cage or basket.

Helen took a shot.
"
Is this a drawing of a zoo?
"
she asked.

Katie shook her head gravely.
"
That
'
s Peaches. She can
'
t get out.
"

Helen looked up quickly at Nat, who was standing above them, hands hooked in his front pockets.
"
Katie, that
'
s silly. Peaches is fine. She needed some quiet time to be by herself. Just like you.
"