Molly (8 page)

Molly looked at his determined back, his long
strides. He would soon be out the door.

“Don’t go. Not yet.”

He turned, and the sight of her with that
smudge on her cheek almost undid him.

“What is it, Molly?”

He took a step toward her, and she retreated
behind the kitchen table.

“You forgot to wash your hands.”

“So I did.”

He washed them quickly and left before he
could change his mind.

Samuel opened his hotel door on the first
knock. His mother was standing in the hallway.

“Mother, where on earth have you been?”

“Didn’t you get my note?” She came into his
room, closing the door behind her.

“Yes. But you forgot to mention that you’d be
out long enough to give me ulcers.” Samuel wasn’t in the best of
moods. He stalked to a chair beside the window and picked up the
report he’d been trying to read for the last two hours. Snapping
the papers, he scowled at her.

“I know you don’t approve, but I didn’t think
you’d be so fierce.” Laughing, she put her hands over her heart
“Spare me son, for I’ve done no wrong.”

“That’s not funny, Mother. I happen to be
working on a complicated business matter.” He held the report in a
death grip, frowning over the top of the page.

His mother sat down and gave him the kind of
once over she used to when he was six and up to mischief.

“Is that dirt under your fingernails,
Sammy?”

“Yes. I got it helping Molly repot
plants.”

“You repotted plants?”

“Is that a crime?”

“No, it’s
wonderful!
” She settled
back in her chair.”So, you visited Molly today?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do beside report plants?”

She was going to dig until she got the whole
story, but he wasn’t going to make it easy. As a matter of fact, he
was going to make it as hard as extracting teeth.

“Mother, if you want to know whether we
became good friends and whether today changed my mind about you
marrying Jedidiah, the answer is no.”

He looked down at his reports, and the sight
of the dirt reminded him of the smudge on Molly’s cheek. He was
totally unaware of the way his expression softened.

“Besides, we didn’t have time to discuss the
wedding. I was too busy helping Molly with her sewing.”

“You helped with
sewing?”

He jerked his head up, aware that he’d told
her something he’d fully meant to keep a secret.

“Mother, what is it with you? You’ve repeated
everything I’ve said. Are you getting hard of hearing?”

His mother crossed her hands in her lap and
tried to look serene, but he knew better. That perky look betrayed
her.

“I suppose I’m a little addled by my own
news. Jed and I have set a wedding date.”

The future Sam had planned so carefully—for
all of them—shattered right before his eyes. It was too late to
stop the wedding now, and besides that, his mother
did
look happy.

“I’m sorry I’m so grouchy. Too much on my
mind, I guess.” He got up from his chair and hugged her.
“Congratulations, Mother. All I want is for you to be happy.”

o0o

On the other side of town in the little house
on Robins Street, Molly was hearing the same news from her
father.

“The wedding will be in Tupelo, Molly, but
Glory Ethel wants to give a big engagement party in Florence next
week. She’s anxious for us to meet all her friends. She and Samuel
are leaving today to start preparations.”

Molly loved parties. She adored meeting new
people. She was thrilled and had told her daddy so. But she felt a
strange reluctance to go to Florence.

“Are you sure I need to be there, Daddy?
Since I spend most of my time in Paris and will rarely see her
friends, I see no real reason for me to go.”

“Are you feeling all right, Molly? I thought
you were undecided about going back to Paris.” He scooted across
the sofa where both of them were sitting and put a hand on her
forehead. “I’ve never known you to turn down a party invitation,
and you’ve been unusually subdued this evening.”

“I’m fine, Daddy.” Feeling a little contrite,
she took his hand. “And I’m
very
happy for you and Glory
Ethel.”

“You don’t look happy. If you’re worried
about me, honey, there’s no need. I loved your mother more than any
man can love a woman, and I always will. But I love Glory Ethel,
too, and that that won’t change a thing between us.” He chucked her
under the chin. “You’re my wonderful one-and-only Jersey
Queen.”

She threw back her head and laughed.

“There. That’s more like my girl.”

“Daddy, how is it that you can always make me
laugh, even when I’m feeling blue?”

“Because that’s the way it is between us,
Molly, and that’s the way it will always be.” He patted her hand.
“Now, how about Florence?”

“I’ll be there.”

“I knew you would all along.”

“Wait until I tell Glory Ethel what a con
artist you are. She might be just the woman to give you your
comeuppance.”

“I’ll bet she could, too.” He shook his head,
grinning. “She’s some kind of woman!

o0o

From: Molly

To: Bea, Belinda, Clemmie, Catherine, Joanna,
Janet

Re: Stuff

Sam’s gone now, and I never knew a house
could feel so empty. In fact, the whole town feels empty. Would you
believe I stood at the window for fifteen minutes expecting I might
see that Silver Cloud Rolls Royce driving by. I
know
you
don’t have to drive by Daddy’s house to get to Florence, Alabama,
but still, I just thought he might pass by and wave. I never even
had a chance to say goodbye. Don’t you think goodbyes are
important? I mean, after all, he’s going to be part of my
family!

Molly

From: Joanna

To: Molly, Bea, Belinda, Clemmie, Catherine,
Joanna, Janet

RE: ????

Are you falling in LOVE with BEA’S
BROTHER!!!! This is so EXCITING!!! Tell all!!!

Joanna

From: Janet

To: Molly, Joanna, Bea, Belinda, Clemmie,
Catherine

Re: NOT love

Molly is
not
falling in love with
Sam Adams. That’s ridiculous. She still hasn’t even decided what
she’s going to do about a job!

Janet

From: Belinda

To: Molly, Janet, Bea, Joanna, Clemmie,
Catherine

Re: LOVE!!!

Janet, since when does love wait around till
somebody gets a job? Look at me. And for goodness sake, look at
yourself. You didn’t wait till your internship to fall in love with
Dan.

Belinda

From: Clemmie

To: Janet, Molly, Bea, Belinda, Joanna,
Catherine

Re: Just saying

Maybe you’re so caught up in your daddy’s
wedding, you’re a bit confused, Molly. Just saying.

Clemmie

From: Catherine

To: Molly, Janet, Bea, Belinda, Clemmie,
Joanna

Re: Fun!

Give him a run for his money, Molly! From
what Bea says, Sam needs somebody exactly like you!!

Cat

From: Bea

To: Molly, Janet, Bea, Belinda, Clemmie,
Joanna

Re: Sam

Now, Molly, you listen to me. Sam doesn’t
know
the first thing
about love! As a matter of fact, he’s
scared
of it, and all because our father happened to run
off with a floozy. Don’t you
dare
get involved and let my
brother break your heart!!!!

Bea

o0o

Samuel and Glory Ethel were back in Florence
by midmorning. He’d been quiet on the ninety-mile trip, and so had
Glory Ethel.

He parked in front of the Victorian house on
North Wood Avenue.

Glory Ethel turned to him in the car. “Are
you coming in, Sam?”

“Not today. I have a lot of work to catch up
on.”

“You
will
be at the party.”

“Of course.”

“Why don’t you come and stay in your old room
next week, help me get ready for the big shindig?”

“Won’t the Rakestraws be staying with
you?”

“Yes. But the house is big enough for all of
us.”

He stared off into the distance, seeing not
the wide green sweep of oak trees along the street but a woman with
golden hair and turquoise eyes. “I’m not even sure this town is big
enough for all of us.”

“What did you say? I can’t hear you when you
mutter.”

“Never mind, Mother. I’ll unload your
bag.”

He unloaded her suitcase and escorted her
into the spacious, polished hallway of her house.

“You will stay here, won’t you Sam? It’ll do
you good to get away from that lonely apartment.”

“I’ll think about it.” He kissed her cheek.
“‘Bye, Mother.”

After he left his mother’s house, his first
stop was the bank. He’d unload his bag later.

He went straight to his office on the top
floor and checked with his secretary about priority phone calls and
mail. Then he went down the hall to talk with Carmondy, one of his
vice presidents and his top operations officer.

Carmondy, just back from a vacation in Paris,
was looking fit and rested and happy.

“Come in, Samuel.”

“It’s good to have you back, Carmondy.”

“You, too, boss. Enjoy Tupelo?”

Samuel was just about to reply when he saw
the painting propped on the wall beside Carmondy’s wall. It was
enormous. It was shocking. And it was Molly.

She was reclining on an array of red silk
cushions, her long bare legs stretched out, and her hair making a
curtain of gold down her bare back. A length of red silk barely big
enough to cover a sneeze was angled down her stomach and draped
across her hips. The artist had captured the wicked, wanton look in
her eyes; the come-touch-me texture of her golden skin; the pouty,
just-loved look of her perfectly sculpted lips.

“Astonishing, isn’t it, Samuel?”

Samuel stared at the painting. He was
incapable of words.

Carmondy took his silence as homage due the
beautiful woman on his wall.

“When I saw that painting in Paris—it was in
a little gallery near the Louvre—I fell in love, figuratively
speaking, of course. My wife was mad enough to die when she found
out I’d bought it. She wouldn’t let me hang it in the house, so I
sneaked it down here today.” Carmondy laughed, very much at ease as
his boss walked closer to the painting. “I guess I can drape it
with a curtain until I decide what to do with it. Looking at it
does tend to distract—”

“Let’s talk business.” Samuel stalked off and
sat down beside the desk, totally unaware that he was wearing a
look that would quell a stampede of elephants.

Carmondy was undaunted. Everybody knew the
boss was all business. He cheerfully pulled out his chair and
opened a folder on his desk.

“Right, boss. Business first, women
later.”

Samuel didn’t even smile.

o0o

Samuel avoided Carmondy’s office for the rest
of the week, sending his secretary back and forth between them if
he needed anything from his chief operations officer.

Over the weekend he moved temporarily into
his mother’s house to help her with party preparations. By the time
the day of the party arrived, his nerves were ragged and his temper
was even worse.

He purposely stayed at the office late so
he’d miss the arrival of Jedidiah and Molly. He thought if he could
just get through the party and the wedding, he could get on with
business. Though how he would explain a stepsister who posed naked
was beyond him.

The house was quiet when he slipped inside.
He could smell the roses his mother had arranged all over the
house. It was like some damned funeral parlor. Crystal and silver
glowed in the light of the chandelier, and hors d’oeuvres and petit
fours and every frivolous food ever invented were laid out on the
dining-room table—enough to feed five hundred, he’d guess. His
mother never did anything in a small way.

Nobody was in sight. He supposed they were
all getting dressed for the party, or, knowing his mother, out
trying to buy a whole hog, complete with an apple in its mouth, to
put in the center of the table.

He went grimly up the staircase and started
down the hall to the room that had been his since his childhood.
Halfway down the hall, the door to his sister’s room opened, and
out stepped Molly.

She was wearing a dress that bared so much
flesh she might as well have been naked.

They stared at each other while the ceiling
fan stirred the humid air. Molly shifted her weight and the strap
of the dress slid down her bare shoulder.

She suddenly felt hot, even in the dress she
had deliberately chosen for comfort in the sweltering heat of the
old Victorian house.

Suddenly, Sam strode across the small pace
that separated them and gripped her shoulders.

“Where in the hell did you get that
dress?”

“Is it customary to greet guests that way in
Florence, or is that your idea of good manners?”

“Good manners be damned! I asked where you
got that dress.”

“From my closet. It’s filled with frocks
designed to drive bankers mad.”

Samuel had a sudden vision of Carmondy’s
face, his lust for Molly as clear as if it had been stamped there
in red ink.

Holding Molly’s shoulders, he backed her into
the room and kicked the door shut. She glared at him.

“I charge more if you insist on using caveman
tactics.”

“This is no time for your jokes, Molly. Get
out of that damned dress.”

“You didn’t say ‘Pretty please.’“

“You will
not
wear that dress to
this party.” He released her and stomped across the room to the
closet.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He jerked open the door and began to rummage
inside. “I’m getting you a decent dress.” The coat hangers rattled
in alarm as he shoved them around. “Bea is bound to have something
suitable hanging here.”