Sex Between, The (17 page)

The tip of one finger circled on the swollen mound of Lee's eye. "It took you a long time to get here," she murmured, her tone still suspicious, still unrelenting.

"Never mind that," Lee said sharply. "Do you still want to live with me or don't you?"

"I don't know," Helga said slowly.

"For Chrissake," Lee snorted. She rolled away from Helga and lay on her back, staring up at the shadowy ceiling. "You've been after me for months to move you in. Now, when I finally can, you don't know. Woman, you can be aggravating. How the hell—"

"That's just it," Helga interrupted. She moved close to Lee's side. "How the hell am I supposed to know from one minute to the next what's going on with you? I thought if I moved in with you, I'd be able to hold you. I mean, you'd at least have to come home every now and then to change your clothes. But now..."

Lee turned her head to peer at Helga's sharp chin. "Now what?"

"Baby, I couldn't hold you with a pair of handcuffs," Helga said, her voice tight and quiet. "So what's the use of my kidding myself?"

Lee let her breath go in a long sigh. Sometimes, there was just no figuring women. Helga the leech, Helga the goldbug... all of a sudden talking about fidelity and love. It didn't make sense. Unless...

Lee propped herself on one elbow and stared toward the window. It was already light. Time to move herself out of bed and get on with the business of life. Time to accept Helga's polite brushoff and go looking... Looking for what, Lee, old girl? Another Helga. Another Cleo. Maybe just another bottle. What the hell did it matter?

Helga's hand touched her arm. "It's all right," Lee said. "I get the message."

"I'm sorry, Lee," Helga said gently.

"Don't be," Lee said coldly. "I told you in the beginning I never play for keeps."

"It's not like that," Helga said. "It's just... Well, I met this guy who wants to marry me." She laughed suddenly, a sound that sent a chill through Lee's bones.

"That's funny?" Lee said.

"In a way," Helga said. "All my life I've played it cool, bed hopping like you do. And then this guy asks me to marry him. Can you imagine? In ten years, it's the first proposal I ever got. Everybody else just wanted to...
"

Lee put a finger across Helga's lips. "Watch the language," she smiled. "You're being a lady tonight, remember?" She took Helga's hand then and held it tight. "I'm glad for you," she said. "I hope you’ll be happy."

"Oh, I’ll probably be miserable,” Helga said happily. "But I’ll be married. And he's got plenty of money. I won't have to worry about a thing."

Lee turned her off about there. She got out of bed and began gathering her clothes where Helga had draped them around the room. Behind her, Helga chattered on, telling Lee about how wonderful—how very wonderful—life could be. Privately, Lee felt sorry for the poor guy, whoever he might be. Marriage with Helga would be like living on a merry-go-round that never stopped. And she knew that, in a way, she was responsible for the misery the poor guy was in for. If Helga had believed she could hold onto the Van Tassel bank account, then she would not be marrying. Somehow she must have known, must have realized after their last session together just how much Lee belonged to Maggie.

Yet she could not have known it half so clearly as Lee. A feeling of infinite relief began to surge through her as she dressed and half-listened to Helga. Relief that she had not made love to Helga... nor to Cleo nor to Julie. The thought of loving any of them, after Maggie, was enough to choke on. And it would be no different with any girl. With anyone, she would feel the guilt, the betrayal to Maggie. And to herself. For there was no one and nothing that could take Maggie's place. Just nothing.

When she finally faced herself in the mirror, she was surprised that she still looked as she usually looked. It didn't seem right, somehow, that her whole life could have changed so radically without a trace of it showing through on the surface. She borrowed a powder puff from Helga and deadened the shine around her eye. It didn't help much. But it didn't matter. Maggie would love her anyhow. Maggie would kiss it and make it better...

"Where are you going?" Helga said when Lee leaned to kiss her good-bye. "It's hardly daylight."

Lee laughed and glanced at her watch. "It's nearly eight," she said. "You'd be surprised how much of the world is stirring at this hour."

"You going home?" Helga prodded.

Lee knew that Helga couldn't really care less. But she knew too that the girl felt a little guilty somehow. She didn't bother to soothe her. "No," she said. "Not home."

"Then where?"

Lee thought for a moment, not quite sure herself where the revolution ought to begin. Knowing only that she had .a lot to do and so little time to do it in. She had to see Kate... and Andrew... and Pieter... And a lawyer. She had to find her car, parked somewhere down in the Village. She had to get to the bank. She had to...

Lee spread her arms wide and grinned at the frown on Helga's face. "Everywhere," she said lightly. "I'm after the Holy Grail."

"What?" Helga boomed.

"It's all right," Lee assured her. "I'm not nuts." She smiled mysteriously and winked. "I got me a mission."

Helga snorted. "It's about time," she said nastily. "A girl who waits till you get around to doing something could die of old age."

Lee laughed. "Lend me five, will you?"

Helga glanced at her curiously.

"I got rolled."

Helga waved fingers. "On the dresser," she said. "And keep it. I've rolled you a couple of times myself."

Lee threw her a kiss from the doorway and scooted out of the apartment. With a little luck, she would be at Ravensway before Kate went up for her nap. And with a little luck beyond that, she would not have to destroy the old lady and her lifelong dream. But if so, then it would just have to be that way. After all, it was Kate who had taught her, Kate who had made her hard, Kate who had told her about honor and integrity. And without Maggie, she would be nothing—a drunken sot who didn't know from one hour to the next what was happening to her life. A fool at loose ends, not able to work, to think, to concentrate. Without Maggie...

Within an hour she had found the car and made a stop at the bank. Within two she had contacted Kate's lawyer. And within three, she was on her way out of the city, speeding north along the thruway.

She had not visited the Ten Broeck farm since she was a kid. Visiting the Ten Broecks was the sort of thing one did only for funerals. Or emergencies like this. The place had not changed—if Pieter had painted, it didn't show. Not that the place looked shabby, it just had that feeling of being lived in by people who were happy there and kept it the same year after year, its tulips precise, its bushes trimmed, its windows washed. As she parked, Lee reflected that to take Pieter out of this well-worn rut and dump him into Ravensway would be less than an act of kindness. And watching Pieter stroll across the front yard to meet her, she knew that he felt it too.

He had a look about his eyes that told her he knew why she had come and that he was glad. She glanced behind him toward the house and saw Trudel framed in the doorway. In home clothes, worn thin and colorless like the little farm, they looked more like shadows of each other than ever.

"Hi," Lee said as Pieter laid his big hand on the door beside her elbow. "I want to talk to you."

"Yah," Pieter said. "Will you come in for some cocoa?"

Lee shook her head. "I'm in a hurry," she said. Narrowing her eyes, she scanned Pieter's face, wondering how much it would cost her. If she had pegged him right...

"It is about Margaret," Pieter said, his voice dull as always, yet edged with something anxious.

"Partly," Lee said. Then she glanced toward the house. "And partly, it's about Trudel."

She watched his red face grow darker and knew that she had hit home. And she smiled to herself, knowing that, if she played it right, it wouldn't cost her a soul.

"Kate told me what you had to say about Trudel," Lee said. She raised one eyebrow and tilted her head to peer at him. "Am I right in assuming that you would rather stay with Trudel than be married to Maggie?"

She hadn't meant to be quite so blunt. Pieter blinked his little pig eyes, then shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"Oh, come on," Lee said. "You don't have to play coy with me, Pete. It's plain enough that you don't want to get married or you wouldn't have been pulling all this crap about me and Maggie."

"Yah," he said, "it is so." He shrugged. "I am forty. I am used to Trudel. She is used to me." He shrugged again. "We are a habit with each other."

And Lee smiled. "Well, what would you say if I told you the wedding's been called off?"

She had never seen him grin before. Now relief spread itself from ear to ear.

"I would say good," Pieter said. He turned to wave to Trudel.

Lee saw Trudel nod and knew that the woman was responding to a signal they had arranged between them. She would have no problem with the Ten Broecks. None at all.

She reached out and tapped Pieter on the arm. “I’ll have that cocoa now," she said.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lee shooed Miss Ida Winkle out of Kate's room and closed the door behind her.

Kate sat propped against pillows in the high old bed. She looked tired—more tired than Lee remembered ever having seen her. And for a moment she regretted what she had to do to Kate. But only for a moment. She would do anything for Maggie. It wasn't a matter of choice. It just had to be.

Kate smoothed the light blanket across her flat stomach. "You might have waited," she said. "You know I nap at one."

Lee sat down on the edge of the mattress and crossed her arms. "I've waited too long already," she said. "I'm tired of waiting, Kate."

She saw a flush of annoyance touch the old lady's cheeks. At the same time she saw that, in a way, Kate had been expecting her. That if she had not come, Kate would have been disappointed. And for a moment she hesitated, not quite knowing that Kate wished her well.

Then she said, "I've just been to see Pieter."

Kate nodded. "I thought as much," she said. "I don't suppose he gave you much trouble."

To cover her surprise, Lee smiled. "None at all," she said. "He practically kissed me, he was so pleased."

Kate's shrewd eyes narrowed. "How much did it cost you?"

"Another hundred grand," Lee said.

Kate clucked her annoyance. "You fool," she said. "He would have settled for half that."

This time, Lee laughed aloud. Kate still thought she knew all the answers. But for once, Lee had an ace up her sleeve. "It's not for him," she said. "In fact, he doesn't get a cent."

She watched something flit behind Kate's eyes. Surprise. Pleasure, maybe. Curiosity, most of all. She leaned back smugly and clasped her hands around her knees, waiting. Wanting Kate to have to ask.

"I don't think I'm going to like it," Kate said, and her tone was gentle. "But I suppose you'd better tell me anyhow."

Lee shrugged. "It's a gem of simplicity," she said. "You used to tell me that money applied in the right places could work wonders, so I decided to try it out. I wanted something. Wanted it enough to buy it, if that was the only way I could get it. And," she grinned, "it's mine, by right of purchase."

"I presume you're referring to Margaret," Kate said mildly.

"Of course," Lee said. "You sold her to Pieter for a price. And I bought her back."

Kate sighed profoundly. "If your intelligence matched your conceit," she said, "you would go far. As it is, you simply managed to overlook a few dozen details that can't be ignored."

For the first time in her life, Lee refused to let Kate's acid tone deflate her. For she knew, as Kate did not, that she had not overlooked a thing. She could not expect Kate to bless her for the manipulations she had pulled. But Kate would have to accept, because she could not do anything but accept.

She stood up and walked away from the bed, moving to the wall by the window where she could watch Kate without being distracted by the nearness of her disapproval. "I haven't overlooked any details," she said gently. "Everything has been taken care of. I've come here to get Maggie and take her back with me, where she belongs. And if you don't like it, Kate..." She shrugged. "Well, as the kids say, that's the way the cookie crumbles."

"If I don't like what, Lesley?"

There was venom in the old lady's tone. And something else. A kind of curiosity, a wonder, as though gauging how far Lee might dare go. Lee squared off her shoulders and looked Kate straight in the eye. "The first thing I did this morning," she began, "was to get your lawyer..." She smiled. "Excuse me,
my
lawyer to take care of Andrew's debts and give the poor bastard enough to live on, so he won't be dependent on you. That lets him off the hook where Maggie is concerned. And I know damned well the only reason he agreed in the first place was because you had him over a barrel."

Kate merely nodded. But there was a faint smile in her eyes. Seeing it, Lee plunged on. "Then I went to Pieter. I knew he didn't want to marry Maggie any more than she wanted to marry him. He says it's because he and Trudel are twins and so much a part of each other that any third person would be an unwelcome intrusion. I let it go at that. What he and Trudel do in their spare time is nobody's business but theirs."

"Lesley!" Kate's tone was a near scream. "How dare you suggest—"

Lee smiled. "I didn't suggest anything," she said mildly. "I left that up to your own dirty mind."

The old lady chuckled. "Sometimes," she said, "you show signs of promise." She waved Lee on.

"Well, according to Pieter, the only reason he finally agreed to marry Maggie was because you offered him a hefty price and gave him Ravensway. He and Trudel have never had much money. He figured that finally he would be able to give Trudel some of the thing's he's always wanted to." She smiled wryly. "I gather you were never too generous with salaries."

The old lady huffed. "That's something you'd better learn, Lesley. You don't become wealthy by spending every cent you earn. The corporation is doing very well. But that is largely because we've put so much of the capital into expansion and improvements. You may not realize it, but—"