Joker's Wild (19 page)

“Allison Josey?” He pulled a pair of horn-rimmed glasses from his face and held out his hand. “I’m Tom Brolin, editor of the
Gazette.
I’m so pleased to meet you at last.”

A reporter. For a moment Allison’s heart sank.
No, no more shrinking violet, Allison Josey. You’re an independent woman now.

“How do you do, Mr. Brolin. Isn’t it a nice day?”

“Indeed. Please let me thank you. Your generosity is going to mean so much to the people of Pretty Springs. For a while there I thought the springs were going under. But you and Joker will make it all happen.”

“Generosity? I’m not sure I understand. What have I done?”

“Don’t be modest. Just look at you. You’re a credit to the Vandergriffs’ faith in the springs. Do you realize what your rehabilitation means to the local people?”

“I realize what it means to me,” Allison responded brightly, thinking of wedding dresses and candlelit chapels.

“By endorsing the springs publicly, you’ll bring in the national sports figures that we need. Your acting as spokesperson will literally save the springs. I can see the headlines now.
FAMOUS OLYMPIC STAR LIVING TESTIMONY TO HEALING POWER OF PRETTY SPRINGS
. Joker is a miracle worker.”

“Testimony. You mean Joker had this in mind all the time? He expected me to—”

“Oh, yes. There was never a doubt in his mind that you’d be able to skate again. He said that all along. We owe him a debt of gratitude. King said he’d find a way to save the springs. He’s done it before.”

“Joker?” Allison felt her world crash at her feet. “You mean that by learning to skate again I’ll be the local attraction at the springs? Me and the lizard? I
guess he knew what he was doing, all right. Isn’t that grand?”

“What’s wrong?” Tom Brolin replaced his glasses on his nose and looked at Allison with concern. “Did I say something wrong? I know that Joker warned us that you wanted your privacy, but I thought now that you were practically well, you wouldn’t be distressed. I assure you, I’m not taking any pictures or releasing any information until you’re ready.”

“Yes, well, that may be a very long time.” Allison dashed past the puzzled man and darted down the steps and into Sandi’s waiting car.

“What’s wrong, Allison? Was the news bad?”

“It depends on your point of view, Sandi, where does a person stay in Pretty Springs if she’s just going to be in town temporarily?” Allison crossed her arms over her chest and tried to control her urge to scream.

“Well, when I first came here, I stayed in the Pretty Springs Inn.”

“Fine, take me there.”

“Why? Are you moving out?”

“Exactly. I’d appreciate it if you’d take me home so I can pack my clothes.”

“Come on, kid, you aren’t going anywhere, are you? I mean, even if the news isn’t good, Joker isn’t going to give up. He’s going to make you skate again, if it’s the last thing he ever does.”

“The way I feel right now, that may very well be true.” She’d fallen for his line, knowing all the time that he was nothing but a wheeler-dealer. He’d never really intended to marry her.

Mark, Joker—they were all the same, using her for their own purposes. Neither one of them loved
her. Oh, they’d made love to her, and she, foolish Allison, had believed that making love meant the same thing to Joker that it had to her. She’d been wrong again.

Allison and Sandi argued the entire time Allison packed her clothes.

“I don’t guess you’d like to tell me what you’re upset about, would you, Allison? This doesn’t have anything to do with seeing the doctor, does it?”

“No! If you don’t already know, ask the editor of the
Gazette.
Or ask Joker. He has all the answers. If he doesn’t, he’ll make up a few original ones.”

They argued as Sandi drove Allison to the inn.

“Maybe we’d better wait for Joker and let you talk this over. If he comes home and you’re gone, he won’t understand, will he?”

“I think he’ll understand very well,” Allison said. “It just takes me a little longer to get the picture. His name is James Daniel Vandergriff. The Vandergriff family is the most important thing in Joker’s world, and the Vandergriff family translates to Vandergriff, Inc. Yep, I finally understand.”

Allison paid for a week’s stay at the inn and moved in.

Sandi gave up arguing when she was finally convinced that Allison wasn’t going back to the estate.

Once Sandi left, Allison continued the argument with herself. It was all very clear now. Joker had planned it from the beginning. He would rehabilitate an athlete—who better than Allison Josey, local girl who’d become world famous and had disappeared? Then he had planned to use her to publicize the Sports Medicine Rehabilitation Center so that it would be a
success. Sure, he wanted her to skate again. How else could he use her as an example?

For nearly a week she expected Joker to come for her. She’d prepared herself for a confrontation, but when she opened the door five days later, it was King who stood there.

“May I come in?”

“Why? I don’t think we have anything to talk about.”

“I think we do. Joker doesn’t believe that you’ll listen to him, but maybe you’ll listen to me. Joker vetoed the idea of having you endorse the springs the moment it came up. He doesn’t blame you for thinking what you did. He should have told you about our problems. But Joker can’t talk about personal trouble. He never could.”

“Maybe, but your newspaper editor already has the front page pasted up. That sounds pretty definite to me.”

“Everybody is involved in the grand opening reception. Tom just assumed when he saw you coming out of the doctor’s office that you were there to discuss the plans. He’s sorry. We’re all sorry. We get carried away with the importance of the center. But we’d never ask you to do something you didn’t feel comfortable with.”

“It isn’t just that. Why didn’t Joker mention the idea to me? It should have been my decision, not his.”

“He knew you’d feel obligated, and he didn’t want to put any pressure on you. And by now you should know Joker. He never accepts anything unpleasant. He thought he’d come up with another way. For weeks he’s been calling friends inviting them to the
reception. He figured that if enough of them see Minnie and Luther, they’ll give the springs a try. Otherwise, I don’t know. I’m afraid that we may be in big trouble.”

“Is he having any luck?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. That’s not important. If Vandergriff, Inc. has a few setbacks, we’ll recover. We’ve done it before. The important thing is you and Joker. You belong together.”

“Well, you’ll have a hard time convincing him of that,” Allison said, her voice full of pain. She’d been wrong. For the first time she’d fallen in love. Yet the first time she’d been called on to prove her devotion, she’d failed. She’d disappeared just like Mark. And she hadn’t called either. At least Joker had never made promises he couldn’t keep. He’d expected her to leave him—and she had.

“Allison, I know my brother. If Joker has to walk down Peachtree Street stark naked to protect you, he’ll do it. Please, don’t leave him. He’s convinced that you’ll go like everybody else he’s ever cared for.”

“Go like everyone else? Not on your life, King Vandergriff. If there’s one thing your brother has taught me, it’s that a person can do just about anything she really wants to. I’m going to endorse those springs. I’m going to find a way to bring the world to Pretty Springs, and, my brother-in-law-to-be, your brother’s going to make an honest woman out of me—whether he wants to or not.”

“Good luck, Allison. I think Joker’s going to have a very interesting life.”

“So do I. But I have to work fast. You’re more right than you could possibly know.”

A story in the Pretty Springs
Gazette
about the visit of the Summer Olympic Site Committee to Atlanta gave Allison the solution to the problem. The reception to honor the grand opening of the new Sports Medicine Rehabilitation Center at the Pretty Springs Golf and Tennis Retirement Community gave her the means to accomplish it.

By the next morning she was sitting in King Vandergriff’s office with her proposal. By the next afternoon King gave her the approval of the board of directors and stockholders to carry out her plan.

The site committee for the Summer Olympics was already considering Atlanta as a possible site for the 1996 summer games. As a personal favor to Allison, they’d added a stop at the reception to their itinerary. Allison explained the healing properties of the springs, and at her suggestion her old coach agreed to present a proposal to consider the center as a rehabilitation site for the athletes. If one gold medal winner’s endorsement would publicize the springs, a whole team’s ought to be just perfect.

The results were out of her hands. She’d done all she could. She’d simply have to sit back and wait. In the meantime she’d go and share her plans with Gran.

“Allison, I can’t possibly go to that reception in a wheelchair,” Lenice Josey protested.

“Oh, yes you can. If I’m going to be on display, so are you. We’ll show ’em, Gran.” Allison laughed out loud. “Ah, Gran, I’m going husband-hunting, and I wouldn’t want you to miss the fun.”

“All right, if you’re sure. But I’ve got to get my hair and my nails done. And I’ll have Minnie take a tuck
in my blue dinner gown. Oh, Allison, I can’t wait to see Joker’s face.”

“There’s no point in her old boss coming,” Joker complained to his sister-in-law Kaylyn. “I only invited him so that he could see that Allison was ready to go back to work, and now she isn’t even going to be at the reception.”

“You never know how things are going to turn out, Joker. You go on into Atlanta and pick him up. Maybe the ice show contact will be profitable for the health center. Allison can’t be the only skater who is injured.”

“Maybe.” Joker tugged at the collar of his tux and crawled into his van. What he’d have liked to do was dump Darron Vardin into the springs and go back to the gazebo and the first day Allison had stumbled into his arms. He’d been so sure that he’d done the right thing for her. But maybe he’d made a big mistake.

Allison felt that old threat of panic sweep over her as she began to dress. Ice shows and Olympic events were simple. A social occasion that forced her to meet her old friends and past associates would be difficult. Her Olympic coaches would be there. They all knew everything about her, and she still wasn’t sure she could face the questions. But she had to do it—for Joker.

Who was she fooling? It was Joker she was afraid to face. What if she were wrong? What if he didn’t really want her?

After a long soak in the tub, a long nap, and a pep talk from Diamond, she was ready to face him. She pinned her hair into a severe chignon, glanced in the mirror, and loosened several curls to drape softly around her face. She applied a dark coating of eye shadow and some mascara. Her skin was paler than usual, and she knew it was because she’d never before taken such a gamble with her future.

Over her shoulders she pulled her only long dress, a backless ebony gown that glimmered like stars when the light caught the sequins. There was a scandalous slit up the back that allowed her to walk. Adding a pair of diamond earrings, Allison slipped her feet into matching black heels. Her last move was to stick a pearl white chicken feather in the knot of hair at the base of her neck. To heck with fashion, she thought. She was making a statement to the man she loved.

Jack was obviously taken aback when he opened the door and saw the woman standing in the light. “Good evening, Allison. You’re stunning. I’m not sure my brother deserves such a beautiful wife. Your grandmother is in the car.”

“They are coming, aren’t they?”

“If you mean the Olympic Site Committee, yes, they arrived a little after six. Diamond took them to dinner.”

“And Joker?”

“Yes, he’ll be there. You really love him, don’t you?” Jack draped her wrap about her shoulders and escorted her to the big black Lincoln parked in the courtyard.

“I really do.”

“You two are something,” Jack observed, shaking
his head in disbelief. “I just hope your plans don’t backfire and you both end up losing the game.”

“Both? Oh, Jack, what is Joker up to? Is he still trying to get rid of me?”

“Well, let’s say that he’s going to make it easy for you to be gone.” Jack started the engine. “We’d better hurry. King has the reception under control, but we don’t want to be late.”

The crowd was worse than she’d imagined. The entire population of Pretty Springs had been invited to tour the center between six and eight. Now the VIP group was arriving. From the moment Allison walked into the hall, she was overwhelmed by old friends.

“Hi, Allison, you look great.” The speaker was vaguely familiar, but no name came to mind. “We’re glad you’re back,” called another.

“That’s wonderful. Thank you.” Allison moved away to speak to the next group, pushing Gran through the crowd until Sandi Arnold intercepted them and took Mrs. Josey over to join Minnie and Luther Peavey by the speaker’s stand.

The Olympic Site Committee was easy to identify when they arrived. They were wearing matching red jackets with blue vests. Photographers and reporters mobbed the committee members, peppering them with questions about their opinions of Atlanta’s chances to be the site for the 1996 summer games. The officials had already been taken on a tour of the facilities, and now they fanned out, eager to discuss the power of the springs.