Lori set the kettle on to boil and found three mugs. A canister in the cupboard held the tea bags.
“Open your gift,” her mother said, handing her the package.
“You didn’t need to do this,” she said as she took the bag. The pink tissue paper inside was folded into peaks. Her mother had always been a stylish woman whose sense of elegance and beauty transformed everything around her. Since those early days of her marriage, Kate had learned how to cook, and every meal was as lovely to look at as it was to eat. Beauty had become her watchword in all things. Even now, dressed in slacks and a sweater with a rain jacket, Kate resembled a model. She was tall and slim and Lori had rarely seen her without perfect hair and makeup.
Lori wished she could be more like her mother, although she believed she’d inherited her interest in fashion from Kate.
“It’s just something small,” Kate murmured.
Lori pulled out the paper and discovered a handheld blender. She didn’t have one. “Oh, Mom, this is great. Thank you so much.”
“I love mine, and I hoped you hadn’t bought one yet.”
“No, I haven’t. You’re always so thoughtful.” She knew her father wouldn’t have approved of this. “Does Dad know you bought a gift for us?”
Her mother’s silence told her what she’d already figured out.
After an awkward moment, Kate raised her chin and announced, “Your father and I are no longer speaking.”
Lori sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “You and Dad aren’t talking?” The kettle whistled and Linc removed it from the burner.
He went to stand behind Lori and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Does this have anything to do with Lori and me?” he asked.
Her mother looked at them, then nodded. “We all know your father is a stubborn man.”
Lori snickered. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“Once he gets an idea in his head, no one can convince him he’s wrong. No one.”
Lori studied her mother closely. Kate wasn’t an emotional woman but tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away.
“What happened, Mom?”
“When you phoned last month and told your father you were finished with the family…well, as you might assume, I got upset. I wasn’t about to lose my daughter.”
“Oh, Mom, I was just angry. I probably shouldn’t have said anything until I’d calmed down.” She did regret distressing her mother, who was invariably loving and supportive. Not only that, Kate had accepted Linc, despite Leonard’s decrees.
“Your father refuses to be reasonable. It makes no sense. He wasn’t a rich man when we met—he had to prove himself to my father and he did. Yet he won’t give Linc the same chance my family gave him.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that Dad’s being so unreasonable. He thinks he knows what’s best for me, but he doesn’t. I made a wise choice in my husband, and nothing Dad says or does is going to change my mind.” Lori reached up and pressed her hand on Linc’s.
Kate lowered her gaze. “After your call, your father said good riddance and he was cutting you out of the will.”
Lori laughed. This was a threat he’d made more than once through the years. She was tired of him holding that over her head, trying to manipulate her. “If that’s what he wants, Mom, I don’t care. I have everything I’ll ever need or want right here with Linc.”
Her husband bent forward and kissed the top of her head.
“I told your father he was being ridiculous and that if he cut you out of the will, I was leaving.” She paused and inhaled deeply. “Unfortunately, he didn’t believe me.”
“Mom?” Lori wasn’t sure what her mother was saying. “Are you telling me—”
Her mother cut her off. “Your father called our attorney and, while he was talking to Matt, I packed my bag. He thought I was just making a point and that I’d be back the next morning.”
“You’re not with Dad?” If she hadn’t already been sitting, Lori would have collapsed into a chair from shock.
“Like I said, your father and I are no longer talking. Or…living together.”
“Where are you living?” Linc asked.
“With my sister.”
“Aunt Hilary?” Lori asked.
Kate nodded. “My sister’s a widow,” she explained to Linc, “and the two of us have been enjoying ourselves.”
“What about Dad?” Lori asked. Her father relied on Kate for everything. Lori couldn’t imagine him surviving one day on his own, let alone weeks.
“I wouldn’t know,” Kate said, her back straight and her chin raised. “That’s his concern.”
“You haven’t had any contact with him?”
“None.”
Undoubtedly her father blamed Linc for this, too, along with everything else. “Is there anything I can do for you, Mom?” Lori asked. She felt dreadful that things had deteriorated this far.
“For me?” Kate repeated. “Good grief, no. As I said, your father is being completely unreasonable. I’ve stood by him all these years, backed him even when I disagreed, but this time he went too far.”
“Oh, Mom, I feel awful.”
“Why should you? Anyone who spends half an hour with Linc knows he’s everything you said. Even more apparent is how much he loves you. While your father might not like Linc because he isn’t some high-priced attorney or bank president, he should be grateful our daughter’s found a man who loves her and makes her happy.”
Lori couldn’t have put it any better herself. “I am happy married to Linc. Happier than I ever imagined.”
“I’m sorry our marriage has caused such a problem in your family,” Linc said.
Kate dismissed that. “It hasn’t been a problem for anyone other than Leonard.”
Linc nodded slowly. “What would it take for you to move back home?”
“What would it take?” Kate asked. “Well, first Leonard would have to apologize to you for everything he’s done to undermine your business. Then he’d have to apologize to our daughter for his high-handed behavior. And last…last, he’d have to apologize to me.”
Lori knew it would be difficult to get one apology out of her father, never mind three. None of this was likely to happen.
“Oh, Mom.”
“Actually, Hilary and I get along just fine.”
“Mom!” Her mother could be just as stubborn as her father. This was a formula for disaster. She was afraid one of them would do something stupid—like file for divorce. Lori didn’t know if she could live with herself if that happened, regardless of the fact that Leonard brought it on himself… Maybe she should’ve given him a chance to meet Linc again, more time to get used to the idea of her marriage. And yet, she reminded herself, she was an adult with the right to make her own decisions.
Her mother left shortly afterward, making Lori and Linc promise not to mention her visit to anyone in the family.
Lori sank into her chair again after walking Kate to her car. “I can’t believe this. I have to do something,” she told Linc frantically.
“What can you do?”
“I…I’m not sure.”
“Do you think your brother and sister know that your mother’s moved out?” Linc asked.
“I doubt it. They would’ve told me.”
Frowning, Linc nodded.
“I’m going to phone my father and try to reason with him. All these weeks without Mom… He must be going nuts.”
“Do you think that’s wise?” he asked.
“I have to try.”
Linc seemed to agree with her. He dragged his chair close to hers and held her free hand while Lori called the family home. To her surprise, her father answered.
“Where’s Lou Lou?” she asked, shocked that the woman who’d been their housekeeper for more than twenty years didn’t pick up.
“She no longer works here.”
“Lou Lou quit?”
Her father ignored the question. “Who is this?”
“Come on, Dad, you know who this is. Lori.”
“Lori who?”
“Lori, your daughter,” she said, struggling to hold on to her temper.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a daughter named Lori.”
His words felt like a slap in the face. “Okay, Daddy, if that’s the way you want it.” She clicked off the phone and hid her face in Linc’s chest.
His arms came immediately around her. “I’m so sorry, honey,” he whispered, kissing her hair.
“Me, too,” she murmured tearfully. “Me, too.”
Twenty-Three
“Can you meet me at the gallery a little after five?” Miranda asked Shirley, keeping an eye on the clock. She needed to leave for work soon.
“The gallery?” Shirley repeated. “You don’t work on Thursdays, do you?”
“Today I do. Will asked me to come in.”
“Again?”
“He’s got something he has to do.” He’d mentioned that he and his sister were going to revisit two of the assisted-living complexes they’d recently toured. Miranda assumed that was scheduled for this afternoon, although why he couldn’t have told her earlier…
“It seems to me that Will Jefferson takes a lot for granted as far as you’re concerned.”
Miranda agreed, but now wasn’t the time to discuss it. They could do that over dinner. “So, can you stop by around five?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll see you then.” Disconnecting, she tossed her phone in her purse and headed out the door. If there was one thing she hated, it was being late.
When she arrived at the gallery, she found Will sitting in the showroom, working on his laptop. Their relationship had been a bit uncomfortable ever since they’d kissed. Now they were both making an effort to pretend nothing had happened.
Only it had. And ignoring the events of that afternoon—it’d been Halloween afternoon—wasn’t working.
Part of the problem was that Miranda wasn’t doing a good job of hiding her feelings for Will. She wasn’t usually shy; she preferred to discuss differences, talk things over and avoid miscommunication. With Will, she hadn’t done that, but couldn’t explain why. She was just being silly, she told herself. He was a sophisticated man and this would hardly be the first time a woman had fallen for him. Really, what did she have to fear? Well, other than the fact that she’d look like an idiot. He’d probably find her attraction to him highly amusing. Judging by his infatuation with petite, charming Shirley, Miranda clearly wasn’t his type. She wondered about his marriage—and his divorce—but he’d never spoken about his ex-wife and she’d never asked.
Will smiled when he saw her. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” he said.
Miranda deposited her coat and purse in the back room. “Well, don’t get used to it. I’ve got more to do than be at your beck and call.”