Naughty by Nature (13 page)

The two minutes it
took them to cross the office then travel downstairs in the elevator were so
filled with tension they felt like an hour.  But finally she was squeezing the
button to release the lock on her Audi.

She said her
goodbye then backed out of the parking space and went on her way.  The Sunday
afternoon that had started off chilly but so bright, sunny and promising had
turned into an evening that was gray, biting cold and depressing.  Just like
her mood.

And as she drove
the big question on her mind was, what hope did she have with Wolf?

 CHAPTER NINE

“I don’t want to
be a nun,” Tessa whined.

“Just be still,
will you?”  Indiana pulled the habit over Tessa’s head and dragged it down
until it fell to her ankles.  She followed with the headgear, the wimple and
the veil, which she unceremoniously plopped onto Tessa’s head and pulled into
place.

“Why can’t I be
one of those girls in a harem?  You know, the ones who wear those really hot
pant suits and veils.”

“Because this is a
kids' party and I don’t want you exposing all that midriff to them." 
Indie stood back and looked at her, a satisfied expression on her face.

“But a nun?  Come
on, Indie.  Who ever heard of a nun at a kiddie party?”  Tessa was not at all
happy but her glare didn’t seem to faze Indie one bit.

“This is not just
any party, Tessa, and you know it.”  Indie returned her glare.  “And you, of
all people, should know how important this celebration is for the kids.  I’m
going as a rabbi and you don’t see me complaining.  It’s a celebration of
spirituality, remember.  All faiths and all creeds, even agnosticism.  So let’s
try to act spiritual, shall we?”

“All right,” Tessa
said grudgingly.  She’d forgotten about the spirituality part of the event.

Indie was a
regular volunteer at various organizations that helped children and often roped
Tessa into her activities.  This afternoon was no exception.

“I’ll do it,” she
said, straightening the veil on her head, “but you owe me.”

Indie chuckled. 
“Just put it on my tab.”

Tessa had thought
the party would have been embarrassing to say the least, what with her
unorthodox garb, but she ended up having so much fun with the children that
after the appointed time she had a hard time leaving.  Although not all of them
were disabled many were in wheelchairs and others were mentally challenged. 
But all of them, down to the very last one, loved Tessa.  She knew it by the
peals of laughter when she did her first comedy act for them.  She knew it by
the way they flocked to her when she left the stage, and she knew it by their
wails when it was time for her to leave.

“Looks like you’re
going to have to take them all home,” Indie teased.

“I know.”  Tessa
reached down to scoop up a toddler who was clinging to her skirt.  As she
lifted her up, the little girl popped her thumb out of her mouth and gave her a
brilliant smile.  “Aww, isn’t she sweet?” Tessa gave her a hug before setting
her back on her feet.  She was still smiling as she watched the child toddle
off to join her friends ranging from her own age all the way to the early
teens.

“Hey, Tess, we’ve
been done almost forty minutes now.”  Indie glanced at her watch.  “Didn’t you
say you had to be somewhere at four-thirty?”

“Oh, my gosh.  I
have to go.”  A quick glance at the screen of her cell phone told her she had
less than ten minutes to make it to Lydia’s house – which wasn’t even in the
same city as hers.  The drive from Burlington to Mississauga was at least
fifteen to twenty minutes long on a good day.  Her only consolation was that it
was Saturday so hopefully she wouldn’t run into excessive traffic on the way.

“Wait,” Indie
yelled as Tessa flew out the door.  “You’re still wearing your habit.”

“No time to
change,” Tessa yelled back.  “I’ll do it later.”

Tessa had often
been accused – mostly by Indie – of having a lead foot.  She’d always denied it
but today she had to admit that she really did.  She attacked the highway with
a vengeance and although she drove carefully, along some stretches she was going
at a good little clip over the speed limit.  Thank goodness the highway patrol
cops seemed to be off duty just then.  

And even at that
speed Tessa still arrived at four-forty, a whole ten minutes late.  The
Saturday afternoon traffic had not been as smooth sailing as she’d hoped.  Oh,
well.

“Tessa, you naughty
girl.  What took you so long?” Lydia opened her good arm wide to receive her
with a hug.

“So sorry, Lydia. 
It was the traffic-”

“Oh, I’m not
talking about that.  I’m talking about how long it took you to pay me a second
visit.”  Then she shook her finger at Tessa.  “Don’t let it happen again.”

Tessa laughed.  “I
won’t.”

As she pulled the
armchair closer to Lydia’s bed the lady spoke.  “Now you’ll have to tell me
what this is all about.”  She waved a hand up and down, indicating her
visitor’s strange attire.  “Are you coming from a costume party or have you
changed careers?  Last time I heard, you were a high school teacher.”

“Oh, I forgot.” 
Tessa smoothed the robe with her hand.  “I just left a party for the kids at
Fitzgerald’s House.  I had a ball with them.”

Lydia raised her
eyebrows.  “A volunteer, are you?  Another mark in your favor.”

Tessa crinkled her
nose.  “As much as I would like to take the credit it was a friend of mine who
got me involved.  She’s the star volunteer.  She lives for programs like
these.”

“Well, you
accepted the invitation and went willingly, I’m sure.”  The older woman patted
her hand.  “Kudos to you for supporting the efforts of a friend.”

Tessa could only
smile.  It looked like her newfound friend was determined to praise her, no
matter what.  If Lydia only knew what a pain in the neck she could be
sometimes.  Tessa was the first to admit that to herself.

“So how have you
been, Lydia?” Tessa ask, turning the spotlight away from herself and onto the
recovering patient.  “Did you do physiotherapy this week?”

“Five days.  I’m
exhausted.”  But her eyes shone bright and Tessa knew she had some good news.

“And?”

“And I moved my
hand.”  Lydia smiled, obviously pleased.  “Well, not my whole hand, but the
fingers.  I was able to move all five of my fingers this week, not just my
thumb.”

“That’s great.” 
Tessa took her hand and gave it a squeeze.  She was genuinely happy for Lydia,
a woman who remained so vibrant and cheerful even in the face of such trying
circumstances.  “That’s excellent progress.”

Lydia shrugged. 
“I’m certainly not complaining.  I tell you, that Nikolai works wonders.  It
must be those big muscles of his that inspire me.”

“Oh, you teaser,
you.”

They both had a
good laugh at that.

After that Tessa
brought Lydia up to speed on how her week had gone, and all the mischief her
students had gotten into, making the woman laugh so hard she began to wonder if
it would make her sick.  Then, to Tessa’s delight, Lydia shared some funny
classroom stories of her own.  Like when, on the encouragement of a friend,
she’d tried wearing a sari to a class at the university in India and ended up
falling face first in front of a class of thirty-eight students.  Thankfully,
after the initial shock and laughter, three of them rushed to her aid.  She
never tried that again.

Then their
conversation turned to family.  Tessa could not even remember how, but she
began to tell Lydia about growing up as an only child in a house with two
parents who were at times rivals and at times, friends.  There was just
something about Lydia that made her open up.  It felt like she was talking to
someone she’d known all her life.

And then, out of
the blue, Lydia told her about Vanessa.  “They’d been together a year before
they got engaged,” Lydia said.  “Family is important to Wolf and as he got
older he wanted to start one of his own.”  She shook her head.  “He wasn’t old,
by any means.  Only twenty-seven when they met but he’s not the type to run
around, having fun and partying.  He’s more of a homebody and he was ready to
settle down.”

“But it sounds
like he was the perfect kind of guy for a woman looking to get married.”  Tessa
frowned, confused.

“That was the
problem,” Lydia said.  “It’s the weirdest thing, but some women behave more
like men than like their own sex.  Even though she’d said yes, she later
decided she wasn’t ready to tie herself to just one man.  She wanted room to
explore.”  Lydia opened her eyes wide to illustrate her shock and horror. 
“Those were her words.  Room to explore.  Can you believe it?”

Tessa sucked in
her breath but remained silent.  She had no idea what to say.  So what about
that phone call last Sunday in Wolf’s office?  Was she done exploring and now
wanted him back?

“That did it for
Wolf.  He broke off the engagement, which was what she wanted anyway, and swore
never to look in her direction again.”  Lydia pursed her lips.  “And I know my
son.  Once he’s made up his mind on something, consider it done.”

Wow.  That was a
speech and a half from a very upset mother.  But what mother wouldn’t be, to
know that her son had been dumped because he was not enough for his chosen
woman?  It was a speech that reflected hurt on behalf of her son, but it was
one that gave Tessa hope.  Lydia had said that once Wolf’s mind was made up he
would not go back on his decision.  So that meant that, despite the phone call,
Vanessa was history, wasn’t she?  Tessa certainly hoped so.

For now she would
not write Wolf off.  She’d take things step by step and see where the path led.

She gave a little
sniff as she felt a tickling sensation in her nose.  Not her allergies again. 
She wrinkled her nose and leaned down to dig around in her bag for a tissue.

“Mom, is Tessa
with you?”

Tessa jumped as
she heard Wolf’s deep voice behind her.  It sounded like he was standing in the
doorway.  So the man who’d been the topic of their conversation had arrived. 
She knew her face would betray her – she’d felt a guilty flush rise at the
sound of his voice – so she kept her eyes averted and her head down.  She
needed time for her face to get back to normal.  And she had a good excuse,
anyway.  She had to dab her nose.

“Oh, sorry. 
I…thought I saw Tessa’s car outside.”  Wolf sounded confused.  “Excuse me,
sister.  I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Sister?  He had a
sister here?  And then she remembered.  The habit.  The headdress.  Obviously,
he thought she was a nun visiting his mother in her time of need.

She peeked up at
Lydia who, to her surprise, gave her a wink.  What the heck?  Lydia was up to
something.  If only Tessa could figure out what.

“Thank you for
coming, sister.  You don’t know how much this means to me.”  She put a hand up,
as if to wipe a tear from her eye.

“Mom, are you
okay?” Wolf’s voice was closer now.  He’d come into the room and was obviously
thrown off by his mother’s emotional state.

Lydia gave a
dramatic swallow then nodded and waved Wolf forward with her good hand.  “Come and
bow with us.  Take the good sister’s hand.”

Wolf came forward
to do as his mother instructed.

As Tessa felt him
come close she lifted a hand and he took it and she could feel the tension in
the strength of his grip.  She stole a glance at Lydia whose head was bowed,
her eyes shut.

Now what?  Was she
supposed to say a prayer?  But then Wolf would know who she was.  He would
recognize her voice instantly.  She frowned.  Lydia had gone and set up this
little prank and then had left her to follow through.

Never one to back
down from a challenge, Tessa bit back a giggle then peeked up at Wolf.  Eyes
closed?  Good.  Like a nun gone wild she began to stroke his hand with her
thumb, all the while watching his face.

Immediately, a
frown appeared on Wolf’s face and as she stroked, it deepened.  His eyes popped
opened and he was staring into her eyes.

“Tessa?”  He
jerked his head back, obviously startled.  Then his gaze flew to his mother and
then back to her.  “What the…?  What’s going on?”  Then a look of horror
crossed his face.  “You’ve decided to become a nun?”

Tessa and Lydia
burst out laughing and only then did Wolf’s face soften, because now he knew
he’d fallen victim to the dastardly duo.

“I’m going to get
you for this,” he growled at Tessa even as his face broke into a grin.  “One
day when you least expect it I’ll get you back.”

“That’s not fair,”
Tessa protested in between giggles.  “What about your mom?  She started this. 
It never even crossed my mind to prank you till she started this whole ‘sister’
thing.” 

“Speaking of
which,” he said, looking pointedly at her, “why are you wearing that get-up? 
Costume party?”

“Just coming from
one,” Tessa said as she slid the covering from her head and let her hair fall
free.  “I played the part of a nun at one of Indie’s charity events.  I was
skeptical at first, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.  Hey, this might grow
on me.”  She held out her arms and looked down at herself.  “And the dress
doesn’t look half bad.”