Package Deal (77 page)

“If you put a stamp on it, we can mail it.”

“Getting mail is fun. Maybe he’ll write me
again
.”

Her mother
smiled. “Next time you see him, why don’t you ask him?”

“I think I’ll just write him another letter.One of the girls in our class has a pen pal. I think I’d like to have one, too.”

Her mother nodded and cleared her throat.
“Are you done with your homework, Cece?”

“Almost.”

“It’s getting close to bedtime. Better get on it.”

Two weeks later, Amanda
asked Marcus,
“Are you coming over
for Thanksgiving?”

“
Is
Cecelia
okay with that
?”

“
Let
me ask her.” Amanda put
down
the phone. “Cece, would it be ok
ay
if Marcus eats some of our turkey on Thanksgiving?”

“As long as he leaves me a drumstick.”

“I’ll tell him.
Sh
e says—”

He chuckled.
“I heard her.
She can have the right drumstick if I can have the left
one
.
What time do we sit down?”

“Around
four
. I hope you’re not one of those men who eat
s
in front of the television
on Thanksgiving
.”

“I’ve been known to do that, but I’m willing to sacrifice for the sake of a good home-cooked meal.”

Amanda laughed. “See you then.”

“I just remembered something—something
I have to talk to Cecelia about. P
rivately.
C
ould you
hand
her the phone
?”

“Cece,
Marcus wants to
talk to
you. I’m going upstairs.”

Minutes later, Cecelia called up
the stairs
to
her
. “You can come back down.
Marcus wants to talk to you
.”

Amanda sat down at the kitchen table
and took back the phone
.
“
What’s with all the mystery
?”

“I have some things I need to show you, later this week. Maybe Friday
—after Thanksgiving
,
since
we’re both off
.Do you think you could see you
r
way clear to coming over to my place on Friday?”

“Cece, too?”

“Uh, n
o. Just you.”

“
S
o
you want me to get a babysitter.
”

“That would be a good idea. I’m not sure how long what I have here will take—to show you
,
and all
. A babysitter. Yes.”

“Your voice,
it sounds
kind of funny. Are you hurting
again
? Is your
incision
still
bothering you?”

“No. I’m fine.
I’m less tired every day
, and now that the nurse doe
sn’t come anymore, my house—
it
feel
s
more like mine again
.
”

“
W
ould you like to explain
to Cece why she needs
a babysitter
? Every
time I have to do that
these days
, it gets harder
and harder to convince her she isn’t old enough to stay by herself
.”

“I’m sure you can handle it. Call me back if you can’t work it out.”

The rain stopped the night before
Thanksgiving.
New
snow on the mountains beckoned the skiers and snowboarders, reflecting against the blue sky and
contrasting with
the dark green of the trees
on the foothills
.Marcus arrived at Amanda’s house with a huge bouquet of Thanksgiving flowers in
tints of gold and yellow
.

Cecelia
glanc
ed at hi
m
, but said nothing
.
She
went up to her room to read
before Aman
da called her downstairs a half
hour later
.

The three of them
sat down to a larger-than-usual spre
ad and took their time eating
. They
were just finishing
dessert when the phone rang.

“Happy Thanksg
iving to you, too, Joan. Yes, we’re just about done
.Tomorrow? Well, no. Actually, I do need to leave the house for a short time. Oh. Just a minute.” She turned to
her daughter
.

“Cece. Sam
wants
to know if you would like to sleep
over at her house
tomorrow
.”

“I’d love to! Tell her yes!”

Amanda laughed. “I suppose you heard that, Joan.When would y
ou like me to drop her off?
Okay
, three
it is
.”

Marcus smiled at her. “That was nice of her. I guess you don’t have to worry about
asking Janet to watch Snookums
here.” He reached across the table and poked Cecelia in the ribs.

She giggled and said, “No one’s called me Snookums before.”

“Well, it’s time someone did.”
He got up from the table. “I
want
to check
the scores
…to see if I owe Mike any money
. What do you think, Snookums? Want to check the scores with me?”

“Ok
ay
.” The two of them
went into the living room and sat
down
next to one another
, Marcus’
s
arm over the
top of the couch, just above Cecelia’s blond
e
mop
.

Amanda smiled. She would have to tell her mother how easy Cecelia was with Marcus
these days
. From what she could see,
her daughter
had a friend in Marcus who was like a father.
And
Snookums?
Her daughter
had never allowed anyone to call her
by
a pet name
before. But she
had accepted
Marcus
’
s
name for her
as if it was the most natural thing in the world.And, all because of
his
injury
—or maybe it was what he had said in his letter
.

She put the dishes into the
dishwasher
. When it was full, she went into the living room. T
omorrow Cece was having a sleep
over at Sam’s. Th
at meant she could have a sleep
over with Marcus
—if he wanted her to
,
if he was up to it
.

The next day,
Amanda dropped
off
Cecelia at Sam’s and drove to Marcus’
s
house.
She
approached
the front steps and stopped.
He
was sitting on the porch swing, a bottle of
what looked like
champagne resting in an ice bucket on a
nearby
table.

“What
are you celebrating
? O
r is this
a late acknowledgement of your publisher’s
acceptance of your manuscript
,
now that you’re not on
those pain pill
s anymore
?”

He shook his head. “No. This is to celebrate us.If you’ll come sit down, I’ll tell you all about it.”

She put
down
her
overnight
bag and snuggled next to him. “Ok
ay
. Tell me.”

“I wrote a letter to Cecelia.”

“Yes, she read it to me. It was very sweet.”

“Ah, but she
told me she
didn’t read you the
whole thing
.” He kissed her gently.

Amanda chuckled.
“She said she
had to have some privacy
,
and
insisted that we mail
her answer
the
very
next
day,
which we
did.
I
t seemed to take her a long time
,
and I
was curious about
that
, but
I
figured she would tell me
what she wrote
when she was ready.
”

“I think you should read it.” He pulled the letter from his pocket and smoothed
out the wrinkles
. “Better yet, I’ll read
you what she wrote me
.”

Dear Marcus:

I liked your letter very much. Thank you for saying those nice things about me. I think you are special, too.

“I had to butter her up, and she
,
smart girl
that she is, just like her mother,
did the same to me,” he grinned.

She
squeezed his hand.

He cleared his throat
and continued
.

You
said you wanted to be my dad. I’
ve never had a
n alive dad,
but I like the idea. As long as you don’t
ground me
. Sam says her dad sometimes
makes her do time
outs
. I don’t like that part of hav
ing a dad. But if you want to make sur
e my boyfriend is worthy, that’
s
ok
ay
. My mom cried at that part when I read it to her.

“Amanda, what kind of friends does your kid have
? G
rounding
sounds so mean
.
Do you do that?”
He looked at her, a mock serious expression on his face.

“No, well
,
very rarely. One of the few times was
when Cece ran into the street. S
he was three.
I picked her up and gave her a time out
for
maybe
ten
minutes.
I told her I never wanted her to do that again. You know how well she remembered that lesson.”

“Hm
m
. No wonde
r she mentioned it
.”

“I
s that all she wrote?”

“
Nope.
The
pi
è
ce de r
é
si
stance
.”

You asked me if I approve
that you love my mom. I know why you are asking me
. And, since you saved her
, I approve. In fact, I approve even if you
didn’t save
her
. So that means you have to ask her to marry you.

He glanced over at Amanda.
“And she ended with a PS.
”

P
.
S
.
I didn’t read that
last
part of your letter to my mom. It will be our secret until you can come over and ask her. And if you want me not to be aroun
d, I’ll go over to Janet’s
, or maybe you could take her to a movie and ask her then.

Amanda sat
motionless
, unable to speak.

Marcus turned to her. “So, no
w it’s my turn,
now that you know that Cecelia approves.” He looked deeply into her eyes. “
Amanda Gardner,
I love you with all my heart and I want
to marry you
.Will you
marry me
?”

She reached for him and wept in his arms. He held her and rubbed her back before pulling away enough to hand her a tissue.

“Hey, hey, hey. I need an answer before I
pass out
from holding my breath,” he whispered.