Celia's Puppies (31 page)

“
We’d be happy to have
you,” Jill said.

“
It’ll take a bit of time
to do the conversion, Honey,” Jacob said. “We’ll work to get it
done by the time you need it. If it’s not ready, Dad said you can
stay in his room until your area is done.”

“
Can I see that?” Honey
asked.

“
Sure,” Sam
said.

They followed Sam through a hallway into his
rooms. He opened the door to his birch paneled room. Outside the
tall leaded windows was a small patio with a couple of chairs.

“
God, that’s gorgeous,” MJ
said.

“
You’ll have access to
most of the first floor,” Jacob said. “Everyone uses the main
kitchen and the common rooms downstairs. There’s a gym in the
basement, so we’ll have to figure out how to get you down there. We
keep private spaces private, so you’ll have to respect that. But
it’s pretty easy.”

“
Wow,” Honey said. “What
do you think?”

“
Wow,” MJ said. “This is
really gorgeous. What would you rent it for?”

“
The building’s paid off,”
Jacob said. Gesturing to everyone, he said, “We split the grocery
bill, cleaning, maintenance and help out to keep things
going.”

“
Keep things going?” MJ
asked.

“
Everyone will help
harvest and bottle honey from my beehives this weekend,” Delphie
said.

“
Val will go through the
boxes in these rooms. Jill will pick colors; Mike will paint; I’ll
check the mechanical,” Jacob made a list on his fingers. “Stuff
like that.”

“
We’d want you to
participate in the household,” Delphie said. “We take care of each
other.”

“
What happens if we
can’t?” MJ asked. “I travel a lot and Honey’s just starting to
figure out what she can and can’t do.”

“
Why don’t we cross that
bridge if the cows get out?” Sam asked.

Shaking his head at Sam, Jacob asked, "Would
you like to see the plans?"

MJ looked at Honey and she nodded.

“
Hey.” A male voice said
from the doorway.

“
Steve!” Jill ran over to
hug her brother.

“
You’re home, sis?” Steve
asked. Kissing her cheek, he said softly, “How did it
go?”

Jill shook her head.

Knowing everyone was watching them, Steve
said, “We’ll catch up?”

Jill nodded.

“
Hi everyone. Hey
Honey.”

“
Hey Steve,” Honey said
from her perch in MJ’s arms. “Did you ever meet MJ?”

“
I don’t think so,” Steve
said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet
you.”

“
How do you know them?”
Jill asked Steve.

“
Remember I used to tutor
people when I was in high school? Honey was one of the people I
tutored,” Steve said. “I saw her after I graduated too.”

“
He bullied me through
most of high school,” Honey said.

“
Nice to meet you, man,”
MJ said.

“
I’m so sorry to hear
about what happened,” Steve said. “I’ve been heart sick about
it.”

Honey nodded.

“
We were about to look at
plans for Honey’s new home,” Jacob said.

“
Oh sorry, I don’t want to
interrupt. I pass by on my way home from the hospital, but no one’s
been here,” Steve said. “I was hoping to catch Mike.”

“
He’s in LA,” Jill
said.

Steve sighed.

“
What’s up?” Jill
asked.

“
Leslie’s
pregnant.”

“
Oh Steve, that’s
wonderful!”

While Delphie hugged him, everyone beamed.
Sam patted his back.

“
We’re absolutely to the
moon thrilled. But the doctor thinks Leslie will have to stop
teaching. High risk pregnancy and all,” Steve said. “I’ll need to
find another job. I thought I could get more hours at the hospital,
but with the economy, they don’t have the extra hours for new
nurses.”

“
What kind of job you
going to look for?” Jill asked.

“
I was thinking I’d try to
find a private job. You know, work for a service checking on
homebound people. I could work around my hospital
schedule.”

Jacob laughed. Delphie hugged Steve
again.

“
Why is that funny?” Steve
whispered to Jill.

“
Honey needs someone to
help her in the mornings and at night,” MJ said.

“
No way.” Steve’s head
jerked to Honey.

Honey nodded.

“
Would you be all right
with Steve?” MJ asked.

Honey’s eyes welled with tears.

“
Next thing you’re going
to tell me that we can get married this weekend,” Honey
said.

“
Even the slightest chance
is still a chance,” Delphie said.

“
We didn’t want to
overwhelm you,” Jacob said.

Honey turned her face into MJ’s chest. He
kissed the top of her head.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning — 4:30 A.M.

“
Are you sure you don’t
mind?” Colin Hargreaves whispered.

They were standing at the side entrance to
the Castle. When Jill held out her arms, he passed a dirty, sound
asleep Paddie to her.

“
Not at all,” Jill
whispered. “I was planning on taking care of the kids today anyway.
I know Katy wants to see Paddie.”

“
Even after their big
fight?” Colin asked.

“
Katy misses Paddie,” Jill
nodded.

“
Paddie kept saying over
and over again that he ‘gots to see Katy ‘cuz Paddie hurts her
feelings. Bad.’ He made me promise I’d bring him here after he got
out of the hospital,” Colin whispered. “He’s had an awful
summer.”

“
I think we all have,”
Jill whispered.

“
I’ll tell you, Jill. Katy
saved the day. Paddie did everything Katy told him to do from what
she saw in her…uh… dream.”

“
Is Julie going to be all
right?” Jill whispered.

“
The doctors think so,”
Colin said. “She needs rest, quiet and safety. She’ll be in the
hospital at least for today.”

“
Losing a baby is really
hard,” Jill said.

“
She was four months
along. It’s a miracle she survived,” Colin said.

Jill hugged him.

“
I feel like I’m dumping
my precious son on you. Our team’s been gone. With the wedding, I
need to fill in at the bakery, and Julie...”

“
Paddie’s welcome here,”
Jill said. “He can stay as long as you need.”

“
I’ll come to get him as
soon as I can,” Colin said. “I packed everything I thought he might
need in the backpack. If you need to get something, we’ll
pay...”

“
Take the time you need,”
Jill said. “Really. He’s perfectly safe and welcome here. It sounds
like you and Julie could use some time, too.”

“
Yes,” Colin said.
“Thanks, Jill. If he gets to be too much, Alex and Max will be here
today to take care of the bees. They can...”

“
Don’t worry, Colin. I
have your number,” Jill said.

“
Well, thanks.” Colin
leaned in to kiss Paddie’s head. “Love you, Paddie.”

Wiping his eyes, he nodded to Jill and
walked back to his car. Jill turned to carry Paddie up the long
stairwell to the attic. Rather than waking Jacob and Katy, she
filled the apartment bathtub to give Paddie a quick bath. In the
way of very young children, Paddie let Jill go through the motions
of bathing him without actually walking up. Jill dressed him in a
clean cotton footie from the backpack and carried him into the
apartment.

Of course, Jacob was waiting for her on the
other side of the door. He went with her into Katy’s room. Katy
opened her eyes when Jill set Paddie in her bed.

“
Paddie!”

“
I sorry, Katy,” Paddie
said. “I so sorry. I hurted your heart.”

“
I’m sorry for hurting you
too.”

“
I love Katy.” The
toddler’s blue eyes welled with tears.

“
Don’t cry!” Katy said
sniffling at her own tears. “I love you, Paddie.”

Paddie snuggled into Katy. Within moments,
the toddlers were asleep.

“
Are you all right?” Jacob
asked when they snuggled back in their bed.

“
I’m relieved,” Jill
said.

“
Relieved?”

“
Katy and Paddie had this
huge fight last summer,” Jill said. “Just before we left for Ohio.
Katy had a dream that Paddie’s Mom would start bleeding and Paddie
would have to save her. She told Paddie and he got really mad at
her. Katy was heartbroken.”

“
Where was I?” Jacob
asked.

“
You were getting your
shoulder surgery,” Jill said. “Poor Katy. I’ve never seen her so
upset. I don’t really know what happened but it sounds like it all
went down in the last couple days.”

Jacob held out his arm so Jill could snuggle
up against his chest.

“
We need to do this
marriage thing,” he said.

“
Yes,” she
said.

“
When do we go off the
pill?” he asked.

“
I should get my period
next week,” she said.

“
Let’s wait to go off the
pill until we’re married,” he said.

“
Such a
traditionalist.”

“
Want to get married this
weekend?” he asked.

She laughed.

“
I’m serious.”

“
I know,” she said. She
kissed his lips. “I love you for that.”

“
But?”

“
I want Honey to have a
really wonderful day that’s about her and MJ,” Jill said. “She
deserves her moment.”

“
And you? What do you
deserve?”

“
My own perfect wedding,”
she said. “You deserve that too.”

“
Would you like to
practice?”

“
Practice?”

“
Baby making,” he said.
“You know, for when we’re off the pill and married.”

“
Oh yes,” she
said.

Chapter Forty-Six
Who A listed you?

Saturday afternoon — 1 P.M. PDT
Santa Monica, CA

“
Val! Mike!”

A tan, good looking man with a bright smile
leaned over to hug Valerie and kiss her cheek. Mike stood to shake
hands with him. They were sitting on the patio table at the Hidden
Restaurant, one of Santa Monica’s best and most eclectic
restaurants.

“
My better half is going
to be a little late. She said we should start without
her.”

“
She called to let me
know,” Valerie said. “We are waiting for our... Oh there he is.
Max!”

Valerie waved Max Hargreaves over to the
table.

“
This is our friend, Max
Hargreaves,” Mike said.

“
Wow, you look familiar to
me,” the man said.

“
I’m an identical twin,”
Max said.

“
I must have met him,” the
man said.

“
I believe you have.”
Looking at Val, Max asked, “Have you ordered?”

“
Not yet,” Valerie
said.

“
The menu has a little bit
of everything on it,” Mike said. “What looks good?”

“
I was going to wait for
my wife,” the man said.

“
She’s calling in her
order,” Valerie said. “Producer’s prerogative, you
know.”

“
She has more irons in the
fire than anyone I know.”

The man smiled, but shifted uncomfortably in
his chair. His eyes gravitated to Max. Max smiled. The waiter took
their order before the man realized who Max was.

“
Your identical twin is a
woman.”

“
In fact, she
is.”

“
I thought that wasn’t
possible.”

“
People think lots of
things are impossible,” Max said.

“
How are the bees?”
Valerie asked.

“
All right,” Max said.
“Delphie will probably only lose one hive, maybe two. That’s pretty
good for this year.”

“
CCD?” Mike
asked.

“
We’ve been hit hard the
last couple of years.”

“
What’s that?” the man
asked.

“
Colony Collapse
Disorder,” Max said. “It kills honeybee hives during the winter.
You never know what will happen until you visit the hives in the
early spring.”

“
You’re a beekeeper?” the
man asked.

“
My sister and I keep a
few hives at our house. Val’s referring to the hives at her home in
Denver,” Max said. “My twin and I helped with their hives this
morning. I had to cut out early to get here.”

“
What did you do about
medications?” Mike asked. “Delphie and I researched that last
spring. Did she decide to transition away from them?”

“
Yep,” Max said. “Both of
our apiaries are chemical free this year. It’s a crap shoot but
worth the risk. We’ll see next spring. Alex wants to raise queens
next year.”