Annie and Ellie watched Ava until she’d disappeared into the kitchen. Annie was the first to start laughing, but Ellie quickly joined in. The two sisters began to clear the table.
“Should we ask Ava to help do the dishes?” Ellie asked innocently.
They shared another good laugh.
“Remember when we were kids? Ava always had something more important to do whenever it was time for chores,” Annie said.
“I remember,” Ellie said. “After I left, you got stuck with all the work. I don’t understand why Mother didn’t make Ava do her share.”
“It was easier not to argue with her.”
Ellie stacked the dinner plates and carried them into the kitchen. Annie followed with glasses.
“I haven’t said congratulations to you for finishing law school,” Ellie said.
“I’m not a lawyer yet, not until I know I’ve passed the bar. I told Mom and Dad we couldn’t celebrate until then.”
“Do you know what you want to do?”
“I liked the antitrust courses I took. That area interests me. I’m kind of at a crossroads, I guess. I thought I had my future all mapped out, but now everything’s changed.”
Before Ellie could ask her to explain, Annie went back into the dining room to finish clearing the table. Ellie stood at the sink rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher.
“I couldn’t do what you do,” Annie said as she handed Ellie a platter. “Cutting into bodies. Just thinking about all that blood makes me sick.”
“The coolest thing happened a couple of weeks ago.” She told her sister about a case she found fascinating, but Annie appeared to be grossed out. “He swallowed coins? Why?”
“He couldn’t explain why. Eleven dollars and fifteen cents.”
“All change?”
“Yes,” she said. She laughed at Annie’s expression. “It weighed a lot, but he didn’t rupture. Then there was this man who got into a knife fight. Those can be nasty,” she explained as she continued to rinse salad plates. “His femoral artery was nicked and blood started spurting everywhere. I plugged the hole with my finger while…” She stopped when Annie gagged. “Queasy stomach?” she teased.
“I don’t know how you do it. Don’t you ever get sick?”
“Oh yes,” she said. “I throw up on patients all the time.” She thought what she’d said was funny, but Annie didn’t laugh.
“Blood makes me gag,” she said. “Where does Mom keep her plastic bags for leftovers?”
“Third drawer down,” she answered.
Annie put the platter of leftover chicken on the table and searched the drawer. She held up a bread bag and smiled. “She still saves these. She used to put our sandwiches in them to take to school for lunch.”
“Mom saves everything. There’s a drawer with nothing but rubber bands, paper clips, and twist ties.”
Annie put the chicken in the refrigerator and said, “Tell me about Max.”
Ellie leaned back against the sink and wiped her hands on a dish towel. “What do you want to know? That I’m starting to panic because I can feel myself getting more and more attached to him? Leaving him is going to be painful.”
“Then don’t leave him.”
“He lives in Honolulu.”
“Oh.”
“ ‘Oh’ is right,” she said. “I’ve got to figure out a way to distance myself. You’re so practical, Annie. Any ideas on how I can do that?”
“Let me think about it,” she answered. She glanced out the window. “Here comes Ava,” she whispered.
“We had twenty minutes without listening to wedding plans, and I’m thankful for that,” Ellie said.
Ava didn’t stop to talk to her sisters. She walked through the house and went to sit with the others on the front porch.
Annie and Ellie had just finished cleaning the kitchen when their mother joined them. She took one look at Annie and said, “Go up to bed. You’re exhausted. Say good night to your father,” she added.
“Where’s Max?” Ellie asked.
“He’s in your father’s office. I think all the wedding talk spooked him. Now, Ellie…”
“Yes?” she asked suspiciously.
“I want you to go over the guest list for the wedding with me. I’m worried sick I’ve left out a relative.” She went to a cabinet drawer and pulled out a thick notebook.
Annie left the kitchen before Ellie could ask her to stay and help.
Sighing, Ellie pulled out a chair at the table and sat beside her mother. “Isn’t it too late to add another guest?”
“I’ve got extra invitations. If I’ve missed someone, I’ll simply tell them that their invitation was returned. A little lie is better than hurting someone’s feelings.”
What her mother was asking of her didn’t make any sense. Ellie had left home when she was twelve. She didn’t even remember half her relatives. She decided to humor her mother, though, because she knew the stress of having everything perfect for Ava’s wedding was wearing on her.
It turned out to be a pleasant task. Ellie would read a name while her mother crossed it off the list. If she couldn’t remember the people, her mother would tell her a story about them. It made Ellie feel more connected to her family, and when she did remember an aunt or an uncle or a cousin, her mother was so pleased.
They sat together until almost ten o’clock when Ava and John came in to say good-bye. Her mother and father were clearly worn-out and headed to bed. Ellie went into the living room and read a magazine while she waited for Max. Annie walked in a minute later.
“I thought you went to bed,” Ellie said.
Max poked his head into the room and said, “Come find me when you’re ready to leave the house.”
“I will,” Ellie promised.
“What was that all about?” Annie asked. She plopped down next to Ellie on the sofa, kicked her shoes off, and tucked them under her.
“It’s a long story.”
“I don’t have anything to do but sleep.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“Ava has me going ten different places with her. So tell me the long story now.”
“Confidential.”
“Confidential,” Annie agreed.
“There was a shooting just outside my hospital,” she began and told Annie everything that had happened since that day, and of course the real reason Max was with her. Annie asked a lot of questions, but she didn’t seem worried.
“Mom and Dad know all about it, and they understand I’ll have to leave after the garden party.”
“Is it safe for you to stay that long?”
“I wanted to leave, but it’s really important to Mom that I stay at least until the party’s over. Max has other agents coming to help with security,” she answered. “And I don’t plan to stroll down the street alone. I’ll stay close to the house during the party.”
“You don’t want Ava to know about this.” Annie was making a statement not asking a question.
“Oh no.”
Ellie kicked her shoes off and sat back. They talked a little more about the shooting, and then Annie changed the subject.
“Do you think Ava will sweeten up once she’s married?”
“I don’t know. Once you go to the dark side, it’s tricky coming back.”
Annie poked her arm. “You love her. You know you do. She’s your sister. You have to.”
Leave it to Annie to find the positive, Ellie thought. Whenever things were strained, she was the peacemaker. Ava and Ellie had caused their share of strife in the family over the years, but not Annie. She was the kind, gentle soul who brought everyone together. She had been the perfect daughter, the one who had never been a source of worry in the family.
Ellie finally relented. “Yes, I love her. I don’t like her, though.”
“If she heard about a hit man, she’d flip out.”
“No, she’d blame me,” Ellie said. “Not many people have a stalker, and I’ve now got two.”
“Actually, you’ve got a stalker and a hit man. There’s a difference.”
“They’re both trying to kill me,” she said. “Bet you can’t top that.”
“Bet I can,” she said, nudging Ellie again. “Guess what.”
“What?”
“I think I’m pregnant.”
TWENTY – ONE
Max made sure all the windows and doors were locked in the main house and then took Ellie up to their apartment. The air was stifling.
“I thought Dad had the repairman install a window unit,” Ellie said.
“He did. He didn’t turn it on, though. It must be ninety in here.”
Ellie thought it was hotter. She followed Max into his bedroom but stopped when she saw the oversize window unit. “It’s huge. Does it fit, or will it fall on the floor during the night?”
Max checked it out. “It barely fits,” he said, smiling. “If it falls, it will go out the window, not in.”
He looked at all the switches and dials and finally located the on and off button. He pushed it on and waited. The unit shuddered and began to make a low humming sound. Cool air immediately poured out of the vents.
“Okay, I think we’re in business,” Max said. “It’s set for seventy degrees.”
Ellie was feeling hot and sticky and took a quick shower. She put on an extra-large T-shirt for a nightgown, then went into the living room to see if SportsCenter was on while Max showered.
He walked into the living room wearing a pair of gray boxer shorts and nothing else. His hair was still wet, and he was drying it with a towel. Ellie felt that familiar stirring in her body just looking at him. He had a massive chest. It was all muscle. She knew that for a fact because she had kissed every inch of it. His dark, curly chest hair tapered to a V at his belly button. She’d kissed that, too, she remembered, and oh God, what hadn’t she kissed? His legs and thighs were just as muscular. She remembered squeezing those thighs in the throes of passion.
Was it getting hotter in here?
Max put the towel on the rack in the bathroom, then went to the kitchen to get a beer. He noticed Ellie’s face was flushed.
“Are you okay?”
“I need to buy a pregnancy test.”
The announcement didn’t faze him. “Okay,” he said. “Can it wait until tomorrow?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
Max opened the beer bottle, tossed the lid in the trash can, and sat down beside her, scooting her over to the end of the sofa so he wouldn’t be near the lumpy springs. He took a drink and said, “Isn’t it a little too soon to know if you’re pregnant? It’s only been one day,” he added. “And I used protection.”
“It’s not for me,” she said, exasperated.
She took a drink of his beer and handed it back to him. Max reached for the remote, but Ellie was quicker.
“It’s for Annie, isn’t it?”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“I’m an FBI agent. We’re trained to be observant. Now give me the damned remote.”
“Not until you explain.”
“First of all, there’s the process of elimination. Your mother is a little too old to get pregnant.”
“True,” she agreed.
“And Ava can barely stand to look at you, so she certainly wouldn’t confide in you.”
“And that left Annie.”
“Yes,” he said, reaching for the remote again.
She stretched her arm out to the side and held the remote in her fist.
“But there were other signs,” Max continued. “And we agents are trained to pick up on those signs.”
She rolled her eyes heavenward. “Like?”
“Annie didn’t drink any wine.”
“Neither did we.”
“Her complexion was gray.”
“She was tired.”
“She threw up.” He halfheartedly tried to grab the arm with the remote.
“Where did she throw up?”
“In the trash can in your father’s office. Fortunately, the can had a liner.”
“What was she doing in his office?”
“Talking to me.”
“About what?”
“She needed a favor.”
“Are you going to tell me what the favor was?”
“No.”
She sighed in frustration. “Maybe she threw up because she had eaten something that disagreed with her. Were you there when it happened?”
“I held her hair back for her.”
“That was sweet.” She kissed him on the cheek and handed him the remote.
He immediately began to channel surf. “But the number one reason I know why she thinks she’s pregnant…”
“Yes?”
“She told me.”
Ellie thought about it for a minute and said, “Annie doesn’t want anyone else to know. I wonder if she told Ava.”
“No, she didn’t. She doesn’t want to take anything away from her focus on the wedding. Ellie, do all women get crazy about their weddings like Ava?”
“You mean act like a maniac?”
“Yeah.”
“No, not all brides behave like Ava.”
He nodded. “Where do you want to get the pregnancy test? I think I saw a drugstore when we were pulling into Winston Falls.”
“Oh no, no, no. The entire town would think I was pregnant if I purchased a test here. My parents would hear about it before we got back home.”
“I’ll be meeting Agents Clark and Hershey before they get here tomorrow. I’ll set it up in another town nearby. We could find a pharmacy there.”
“There’s a plan,” she said, smiling. She took another drink from his bottle and handed it back to him. “You really won’t tell me what favor Annie wanted?”
“I don’t know what the favor is,” he said. “We didn’t get that far. But when I find out what she wants, no, I won’t tell you. It’s an FBI agent and client confidentiality issue,” he teased. “If she wants you to know-”
“Agent and client? That’s a new one.”
“That’s right.”
“Help me understand. She asked for a favor, but she wouldn’t tell you what it was?”