Kiss Them Goodbye (29 page)

H
omer, Wendy and Vivian, clustered on the old dock looking down, Spike assumed, at his boat. The boat he’d had four years and barely got to use himself. Homer took it around to make bayou deliveries.

He guessed this was just about the least likely scene he’d expected to walk in on today. Although, given that everything else that had come his way lately had knocked him off his horse, why should he be surprised at anything?

Wendy held Vivian’s hand and bounced from foot to foot like she did when she was happy, and she looked up into Vivian’s face as if she’d seen the sun.

Huh, well, he could relate to that feeling, but he’d be lying to himself if he pretended it didn’t scare him to death to think of his little girl getting her heart all wrapped around a new mother figure, only to have it cut away if things didn’t work out.

Homer separated himself from the woman and the little girl, touching the brim of his hat with that old-
world courtliness of his, before turning to head for the house.

Spike stepped back from the kitchen window. He’d expected to walk in and find Homer and Wendy having an early dinner like they usually did when he wasn’t going to be home. He’d even looked forward to having some of whatever they were eating. There were no signs that food had been cooked or eaten recently.

By the time Homer opened the screen door and walked in, Spike nestled a cold beer in his hand on top of the table, while he pored over the town’s only newspaper.

“Hey, there, boy,” Homer said, but as cheerful as it sounded on the surface, Spike sensed a touch of caution in his father’s voice. “Thought you was on duty all evenin’. Oh, good, you got the books. We can finish Claude’s order. I’m thinkin’ of takin’ a box of these along when I do the deliveries. See if I can work up a few impulse buys.” He looked pleased with the idea.

“Sounds good.” Spike rustled today’s copy of the single section
Toussaint Trumpet.
“Things are quiet at the station. I decided to come home and look in on the two of you. Damn paper. Last week’s news. Who gives a rat’s ass if Ozaire Dupre catered the barbecue at the VFW.”

“You do,” Homer said. “Not that you’ve got time to be messin’ with that stuff now. But you’re right. That’s old news. And you’d think that thing would be full of speculation about the murders.”

“In the
Toussaint Trumpet
? Homer, you are losin’ it. News, pure and simple, is what they advertise and the
pure
means purely Toussaint.”

Homer shrugged. “Maybe that’s as it should be.”

“Yeah.” Spike’s mouth might be at work inside the house but three-quarters of his mind hovered around Vivian and Wendy. “I see we’ve got company.”

Homer’s head was in the refrigerator and he took his
time pulling out eggs, sausage and a bunch of greens. “You talkin’ about Miz Vivian?”

“Don’t try the vague number on me, Homer. When did Vivian get here?”

“Hour or so ago.”

“
An hour or so
? She must have come lookin’ for me. Why didn’t you get in touch?”

“We were talkin’. I was about to make contact when I walked in and found you here—pretendin’ you was readin’ the paper and drinkin’ a beer, and not givin’ a damn, when you’re so doggone muddled up and mad you don’t know which end is up.”

Spike scooted his chair back and propped his feet on the table. His father gave them a meaningful stare, which Spike ignored. “Ever think you’re gettin’ too smart for your own good?” he said. “For your information I was reading the paper and drinkin’ a beer, and I don’t give a damn about anything.”

“If you was a boy, I’d take the soap to your mouth.” Homer snapped the words out. “You know I hate lyin’, ’specially when there ain’t no reason for it. You’re in love with that girl out there and scared sick about it. What I don’t understand is why. Sure, I’ve had my doubts, but only because I thought people might say you were a gold digger, but since the lady don’t have no gold, just the prospects, I’m over it. You’d better get over it before you do something real dumb and lose her.”

Spike let his head hang back and closed his eyes. “You’ve said more in a few minutes than I’ve heard you say in a decade. I thought you weren’t keen on the idea of me havin’ Vivian in my life. Now it’s all the other way, but I guess women shouldn’t be the only ones who can change their minds.”

What would Homer have to say if he found out about the will reading that morning? Spike figured the answer could go either way because the old man had fallen
under Vivian’s spell. He liked her and it was written all over him. Too bad it couldn’t be as simple as liking someone. They’d have to see.

“You do love her, don’t you?” Homer said, breaking eggs in a bowl and taking up a wire whisk.

“That’s personal.”

“So you don’t. Just as well. She’s too much of a lady for you. Pity though when our little Wendy’s taken a shine to her and they’re getting along so well.” He inclined his head to the windows. “They all right out there.”

Spike welcomed the excuse to look and jumped when he did. Instead of being on the dock, Vivian and Wendy had walked most of the way back to the house and sat on a picnic table with their feet on a bench. They faced the bayou.

“Well?” Homer said.

“They look just fine to me.” His belly contracted, and so did muscles in his throat. Close, side-by-side, Vivian and Wendy chattered; he could hear the faint murmur of it through the windows. And he hadn’t seen Wendy alone and at ease with a woman since…it hadn’t happened with her mother, who left when Wendy was a baby, so he guessed he’d never really seen it. She leaned against Vivian and he saw the child’s back move when she giggled. Vivian reached across to anchor the rubber band more securely around one of Wendy’s braids.

“You don’t look fine,” Homer said.

Spike turned to him. “You’re readin’ too much into every word I say.”

“You’re probably right. And I’m probably readin’ too much into all the words you’re not sayin’, too. Boy, I’ve spent some time around Vivian and Miz Charlotte and they don’t come any better than those two women.”

Rather than agree, which was all he could do with any honesty, Spike let his eyes wander past his father and bought time.

“What d’you think?” Homer said. “Should I make enough of this for four?”

“Hold dinner up for a bit,” Spike told him and managed a smile. “Until I find out if Vivian wants to stay.”

Homer cracked a rare grin.

Opening and closing the screen quietly, Spike stepped out onto the gallery. He regretted the idea of interrupting the intimacy between Vivian and Wendy, but his own selfish need to be with Vivian would win out and he knew it. Slowly, still stepping quietly, he walked toward the picnic table.

“Maybe she needs a baby brother,” he heard Vivian say, and couldn’t make himself keep on walking. “Children get lonely on their own sometimes.”

“I know,” Wendy said.

He couldn’t believe Vivian would say something like that to Wendy.

“Well, I’ll just have to talk to the right people about it and see what we can do.”

Spike ran a hand under the back of his collar and his fingers came away damp. He wasn’t hot, or he hadn’t been. She meant she’d talk to him about having children? He didn’t just smile, he grinned so wide his eyes began to close. He guessed he had nothing to worry about after all. Coming into all that money wasn’t going to change her. In fact, it might be making her more sure of what she really wanted and if that was him, he might be able to stop being scared he’d lose her.

He went closer and said, “Hi, ladies. Nice afternoon.”

Wendy swung around to look at him, and so did Vivian.

And his blood stopped moving through his veins, or so it felt. They were both so startlingly lovely with the sun at their backs and shining on their hair and lightly tanned skin.

Vivian said, “Hi,” and smiled softly.

“Hi, Daddy,” Wendy said, grinning and squirming around until her legs were all the way on the top of the table. “Look what Vivian brought for me.”

He took a closer look. Wendy held the kind of doll he’d looked at in some New Orleans stores but never felt right about spending the money to buy. Golden curls, a sweet, pouty face, perfect hands and feet and covered up in frills and soft blankets. Now that he was near the table, he could see a wicker doll buggy, also decked out with ribbons and bows, standing on the other side.

“Isn’t she a sweetie?” Wendy said, rocking the doll. “Vivian said it’s a good thing I have trucks and trains and a two-wheeler bike, and that I play soccer and softball, but she says it’s okay if I have general—gener—”

“Gender,” Vivian said with a laugh.

“Yes.” Wendy nodded seriously. “Gender toys.”

“Gender-specific toys,” Vivian suggested.

“Yep, those. It’s all right if I have those, too, because boys and girls play with all kinds of toys now. I’m calling her Rosebud. Will you come see what Boa did while we weren’t lookin’?”

God help him, he was freezing up again and there was no reason. It was stupid to resent someone doing a nice thing for your kid. He followed Wendy’s instructions and the direction in which she pointed until he could look down on Boa who had curled herself at the bottom of the buggy and appeared fast asleep.

“Look,” Wendy said, leaping down and sliding her Rosebud under the covers in the buggy. “Boa likes this.” She pushed the buggy over the grass, looking back every few seconds to make sure he was watching.

“You’re furious,” Vivian muttered. “It’s written all over you. Oh, Spike, please don’t spoil this for her. She’s so happy and it made me happy to do it.”

“I would never do anything to hurt her,” he said and heard how stiff he sounded. “When she smiles like that
I almost want to cry. It’s a blessing and a curse to love so deeply.” Let her wonder if he was only referring to his feelings for the child. A glance into her face let him know that’s exactly what she was wondering about.

“I don’t know what came over me,” Vivian said. “Mama and I have had some strange dealings since we left you in Toussaint. I need to talk to you about them but only when we can be alone. But when I had Mama settled in bed and resting, I wanted to see you more than anything else in the world so I set off. Then I thought about Wendy and I felt like I got bigger inside, like I wanted to show her I care about her and to make her happy.”

She’d forgotten to swallow and coughed. The humidity had risen and her gauzy dress stuck to her back. “On the way here I remembered that shop that’s in one of the houses before you get to Rosebank. It’s called Comforts, and two sisters live there. They do well out of their shop because everything is either top quality, or top quality and handmade. The doll is really something and all dressed by hand, and the buggy was made by a local craftsperson. Love at first sight,” she said. “I either had to get it for Wendy or for me, and I’m a bit old.”

“I’ve never been able to give her things like that,” Spike said.

Vivian was quiet, watching him.

“It doesn’t hurt for her to have it, though. I’m glad. Thank you very much.”

“Oh, please don’t be so formal and stiff,” Vivian said, her eyes filled with an appeal. “I don’t have any children to buy things for.”

“And now you’ve come into a little fortune, you can indulge an outlet that appeals to you. Money changes things.”

Her mouth snapped shut and she turned her face from him.

Smart, Devol, damn your proud hide.
“Forget I said that. Old habits die hard and I come from people who believe the man does the providin’.”

“You can provide for me anytime.”

He stared at her and couldn’t close his mouth.

“I mean—”

“What do you mean, Vivian?”

“Nothin’, just that I’m not some leftover suffragette. But I’ll tell you one thing. The days are gone when a man has to get all bent out of shape because a woman believes she should do her share. And also, Mama and I haven’t made up our minds about a thing. We’re in a difficult position and I need your help. Your help, Spike, not the frozen shoulder because you come to stupid conclusions. I need you to be my friend—I don’t trust anyone to be there for me the way I need you. If you want to throw all that back in my face, say so and I’ll disappear.”

Spike followed Wendy’s progress with the buggy and its dolly, doggy load. “I’ll be your friend for as long as you want me. It’s only going to get sticky, really, really sticky, if you try to forget what we’ve had going between us. I want to take that dress off you right now and get you naked. I’m in the mood to love you tender, and love you wild. I’m not sure I can step back from that.”

”
Spike.
”

“The thought sickens you.”

“The thought makes me wet, you idiot, and distracted and if you touched my breasts right now, the pain would be incredible, and beautiful. Now stop it. You’re taking advantage of my weaknesses.”

He smiled, loving the gift she had for putting sexy stuff into words.

“I guess you don’t have any personal reactions you could put into words for me,” Vivian said. “Just so I don’t feel like a forward woman working with an unwilling, maybe, participant.”

“I don’t have your way with words,” he said, and noted that Wendy had started back. “But my buns ache, and my balls. Whoops, maybe I should have said testicles. My penis is downright painful and my gut is like a rock. My whole body is like a rock. And, if it’s okay to mention it, you fill my heart and soul and I think, scary as it is, that it’s love that does the filling.”

“This is the strangest love affair, Spike.”

“Oh, yeah? You admit we’re having a love affair. That’s real progress.”

She snorted. “I’ve already admitted it. More or less. Now hush up.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’ve got work to do. I think I’m gonna need to enlist Cyrus—and even Madge. She’s a gutsy girl and she’ll do what has to be done. A lot happened today and I need to make decisions. By the way, Homer’s smitten with you. Wants you to stay to dinner. How do you feel about that?”

“Hungry.”

“I take it you’re acceptin’. Good. Later when Homer’s about his business and Wendy’s asleep in bed, can we try to work some things through while I tell you my plan?”