Project Valentine (A Homespun Romance) Page 9

  "Sure. Thanks Jessica."

  Jessica replaced the receiver and went into the bedroom thoughtfully.

  Molly called at eight, Saturday morning. "Jessica, did I wake you up?"

  "Yes." Jessica opened one eye, waited for the world to come into focus.

  "I'm sorry. Shall I call you back?" Molly asked politely, though the excitement threaded through her tone came across clearly.

  "No. That's all right."

  "Jessica, Uncle Karl said we could take Arthur to the beach today. Would you like to come with us?"

  Adrenaline pumped through her, driving the last vestige of sleep away. "The beach." Her mind went blank for a microsecond, then pictures rushed in. Karl in swimming trunks, Karl in the ocean. "Let me think a minute."

  "Uncle Karl's taking a picnic lunch and Arthur wants to go," coaxed Molly.

  "Who else is coming?" For some reason the vision of a buxom blonde came to mind. Jessica couldn't bear the thought of Maddy Brenton tagging along.

  "No one," Molly sounded surprised. "Just Uncle Karl and Arthur and me and you if you want to come..."

  "Yes," Jessica threw back the covers and stood up, full of energy. "Yes, I do. What time are we going to leave?"

  "Well, Uncle Karl has to go to his clinic at ten. He said if you wanted to drive over there with Arthur and me at eleven thirty we'd go then."

  "Who's going to watch you from ten on?"

  "I have to stay with the babysitter." The insult in Molly's tones widened Jessica's smile.

  "Not if I'm there by ten, right?" Jessica said.

  "Would you Jessica? Thanks! I'm not supposed to ask you but if you offer that's different." Molly was clearly pleased by the turn of events. "If you're a few minutes late, it's okay. Mommy told Uncle Karl I can be left alone for half an hour but not longer."

  "See you at ten, or a little after." Jessica put the phone down and rushed to the bathroom. A picture of Molly a few years from now in the Pentagon, organizing defense strategies came to mind.

  Karl had already left when she got there. Molly opened the front door, Arthur close at her heels.

  "Is he allowed in the house?" Jessica thought of the fragile, expensive things in the living room. Arthur had no idea he wasn't a ballet dancer.

  "Yes," nodded Molly. "I didn't even have to ask. When Dad brought me over last night, Arthur was in the family room with Uncle Karl. Uncle Karl said Arthur keeps him company in the evenings now. He sits with his face on Uncle Karl's feet while he watches TV."

  Jessica blinked as she imagined Arthur and Karl together. The next instant something else Molly had said surfaced. Keeps him company. Where on earth was Maddy Brenton? Jessica's heart gave a loud cheer. Absent was as good as unimportant.

  "Molly thank you for the nice flowers you sent me on Valentine's Day."

  A secretive look crossed Molly's face. She said carefully. "They're from Uncle Karl and Arthur too."

  Jessica nodded, "I know and they're really pretty."

  "I'm glad you liked them," Jessica couldn't put her finger on the reason for Molly's uneasiness but experience with a horde of nephews and nieces told her the eight year old was up to something.

  "Uncle Karl says when we go over to his clinic, we can let Arthur out of the car." It was obvious Molly wanted to change the subject. "At the side of the building there's a part he had fenced in last week. A kind of dog run. He said it might be too hot in the car for Arthur and he'd be more comfortable outside. Sometimes Uncle Karl gets held up with a patient."

  A dog run beside his clinic. Now why would he have one there?

  "How's your mother doing?" Jessica asked casually.

  They were in the kitchen. Arthur flopped down by the couch with a huge sigh, apparently worn out by the exertion of greeting her.

  A flash of worry clouded Molly's brow. "She's feeling better, but she still has to be careful."

  "She's going to be fine." Jessica put every ounce of confidence into her tone. "I bet you're looking forward to having a baby in the house."

  "Not really," Molly's bottom lip quivered. "Not if the baby's going to make Mommy so sick."

  Thin ice. Jessica put an arm around the girl's thin shoulders, gave her a hug. "You'll change your mind when you see the baby. It's not really the baby that's making your Mommy sick. It’s her body that's made that way. You told me once she lost another baby remember? Well, I think your Mommy knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she still wanted to go ahead and have another baby."

  "Why?" demanded Molly, "She has me."

  "Sometimes," said Jessica slowly, "when parents enjoy one baby very much, they want to go through the experience again. That's why my parents had such a large family. Sometimes they feel they want the child they have to have company so that it won't grow up alone. There are so many different reasons. Why don't you talk to your Mommy about it?"

  "Do you think it's going to upset her if I ask her these things?"

  Jessica hugged the girl lightly. "Molly, I don't think anything you ask her is going to upset her. My mother always says when we're talking to her, even if we're arguing, she knows everything is going as it should. It's when we're quiet she gets worried. And mothers don't deserve the silent treatment."

  While Molly thought it over, Jessica opened the back door to let Arthur out for a bit before they left for the clinic.

  "I have to change his water." Molly streaked past.

  Jessica watched them in the yard. Molly was going to be fine. She wished it were as easy to solve her own problems as it was to solve other people's.

  Jessica shifted in the blue chair uncomfortably. She should have worn something else. The canary yellow beach pants and matching tank top covered with a loose mandarin orange shirt weren't the right things for the waiting room of Karl's clinic.

  She looked around at the tastefully done walls in amethyst and mocha. Half of the room was a huge play area, complete with little playhouse and furniture. Everywhere there were things calculated to tempt a child to play, explore, experience. This wasn't a waiting room in the tense, drawn out, tortured sense of the word. It was a place guaranteed to divert even the most nervous child. One tiny tot was occupied with a book. Molly sat on a chair shaped like a giant tooth, coloring a picture.

  Mrs. Lucas had smiled warmly at them as soon as they'd come in. Jessica had taken one look at the receptionist and been reminded of her grandmother. Someone one could discuss anything with, from the state of one's health to a recipe for apple pie with.

  "Hi Mrs. Lucas," Molly had greeted. "Come and take a look at Arthur."

  "Jessica, how are you?" Karl appeared behind Mrs. Lucas looking devastatingly handsome in a white coat. "I won't be long."

  Aware she was staring at him, that Mrs. Lucas was watching them both, Jessica gathered her scattered senses and nodded. Karl picked up a file and disappeared.

  "Are you coming?" Molly asked Mrs. Lucas again.

  Mrs. Lucas hurried out from behind the glass partition, her face wreathed in smiles. "Oh, my! Is he here to visit us again? I have to see if he remembers me from yesterday. He's such a good dog."

  "You haven't met Jessica, yet," Molly reminded.

  "I know Miss Woods." Mrs. Lucas smiled warmly at her again. Jessica had an idea the receptionist would never be short of smiles. "We spoke on the phone some time back."

  Formalities taken care of, Molly reverted to the subject dear to her heart. "Do you like my dog?"

  "When Dr. Wagner brought him in on Tuesday, I almost refused to have anything to do with him, he's so huge. Dr. Wagner tied him up and filled his dishes. I went out later to see if he was okay and he just looked at me out of those big brown eyes of his, and I was lost. He's such a lamb."

  "Why did Uncle Karl bring him to work Tuesday?' demanded Molly, "To show the kids?"

  "No," trilled Mrs. Lucas. "Arthur wasn't feeling so good and Dr. Wagner, bless his kind heart, didn't want to leave him home alone. Said he hates being alone when he's sick and it can't be much different fo
r anyone else. In between patients, he'd talk to Arthur out of his office window.

  Jessica's mouth went slack. She pushed her glasses up. Karl had brought Arthur to work with him? The man may not know it but he'd just signed up as a dog lover.

  He hates to be alone when he's ill. Said it can't be much different for anyone else.

  Jessica swallowed. How did one measure sensitivity, caring that went beyond the call of normal kindness?

  Arthur stood up at their approach, tail wagging nineteen swipes to the dozen. When Mrs. Lucas put her hand out, he licked it. The office manager's smile threatened to split her chubby face in two.

  "And how's my boy today, huh? All better?" She tickled him under the chin. "There's a good fella."

  Jessica and Molly fought to keep a straight face. Mrs. Lucas' tone as she crooned sweet nothings to Arthur was a sharp contrast to her normal, brisk one.

  Mrs. Lucas looked at them, switched tones unconsciously, "I had to call all over town Tuesday for someone to come and put up the chain link fence right away. Dr. Wagner didn't want Arthur tethered all day. He said the dog needed his freedom. It's good to see him with an animal. They slink past your guard better than humans can."

  Jessica could tell Mrs. Lucas referred to the same curtain of reticence in Karl, she was puzzling over. She shot the older woman a look as Molly ran to the end of the dog run with Arthur. Had Mrs. Lucas sensed she wanted to remove that particular partition. The older woman's expression gave nothing away.

  "Well, I guess I'd better go in." The older woman gave Arthur one last pat. "Dr. Wagner asked me to let you know he's going to be another half hour or so. One of his patients had an emergency and I've never known him to refuse to see anyone. Works much too hard and then gives his money away as if it was water. I can't tell you how many people he treats free. Other dentists train their staff so that one of the first questions is, `Do you have insurance?' Dr. Wagner keeps reminding us that if his first priority is money he doesn't deserve to be called doctor." Jessica blinked as Molly rejoined them and Mrs. Lucas said briskly. "He said if you both want to go shopping or anything, he'll wait for you here."

  Jessica and Molly looked at each other. Molly shook her head and said, "I'd rather wait in the office if that's alright with you, Jessica. Uncle Karl's got some new coloring books. I'm going to do a picture for my Mommy."

  "I'll wait too." She needed some quiet time to sort her thoughts out.

  For the last ten minutes, Molly had been occupied with the things in the play area. Jessica flipped through a magazine briefly, then put it down. She shifted in her seat again, caught the eye of the other mother in the room.

  "Dr. Wagner's marvelous with children," the woman said with a hesitant smile. "There's absolutely nothing to be nervous about."

  Jessica opened her mouth and closed it again. The woman though she was nervous for Molly's sake?

  "Your little girl will be just fine." her sympathizer continued. "When I brought Summer here I didn't know what to expect. We'd neglected dental hygiene seriously thinking she was only a baby. By the time she was three and a half she had seventeen cavities and her pediatrician recommended we take her to a children's dentist. He suggested Dr. Wagner, said he was the best in the area. I was scared stiff when I came here the first time. Dr. Wagner spent as much time with me as he did with Summer that visit, reassuring me, explaining her treatment. As for Summer, by the time her first filling was done she would have done anything for him." The young mother laughed but Jessica could see the shimmer of tears in her eyes. "She thinks coming to Dr. Wagner is a treat. We had a hard time today, explaining to her that she wasn't going to see him today, that it was her cousin Berry who had the toothache. My sister, his mother, works on Saturday so I offered to bring him in. Well, Summer started yelling her head off when the nurse came out for Berry. Dr. Wagner came out, took one look at her face and told her she could come in and pick out a toy anyway, because she was a special friend. Every child gets to pick out a toy from a large box he has inside before their treatment. He's a wonderful human being, not just a great dentist."

  Jessica swallowed hard. She couldn't trust herself to speak.

  Summer's mother blew her nose. "Wish I'd had someone like him, when I was growing up."

  "Like who?" The flaxen haired child who had been looking at a book, pressed against her arm. "Like who, Mom?"

  "Like Dr. Wagner, Summer."

  The four year old scrambled on to a chair beside her mother. "He's my dentist," she announced importantly. A pause while Jessica watched the child's forehead wrinkle in thought. Her next words came out on a sigh. "But sometimes I have to share him with other people."

  The door opened to let out a grinning six year old. The wad of gauze in his mouth didn't detract from his cheeky smile.

  "Dr. Wagner had to take out my tooth but he said the tooth fairy would come anyway if I keep my tooth under my pillow tonight." The triumphant announcement earned him a sour glance from his cousin.

  As her mother went to the window checkbook in hand, Summer glared at her cousin. The tears in her eyes were real. She opened her mouth, shut it, shook her head. Finally she tried again. "Dr. Wagner's my dentist," she hissed, checking to see her mother was out of hearing range. "I'm going to marry him when I grow up 'n never let him work on your teeth, so, there!"

  CHAPTER SIX

  It was a balmy eighty degrees at the beach. Molly ran to the water's edge soon after they got there, Arthur on a leash beside her. Already a few children had gathered around to stare at the Great Dane. Jessica watched as Molly stopped and the children came closer to ask about Arthur. Molly's voice carried clearly to where Karl and Jessica sat, as she began. "Once upon a time Arthur belonged to another family...."

  "No sign of withdrawn now." They shared a smile before Karl returned to his inspection of the picnic basket. "I can't wait to see what Mrs. Lucas's cousin has in here." Catching sight of the surprise on Jessica's face he said. "Didn't I tell you, Edna's cousin runs a catering business? He fixes picnic baskets for me through the summer and caters complete dinners when I entertain." Jessica flinched as she thought of how special his last party had been. Maddy Brenton, kisses and all. "Ah, my favorite. Fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Want to try some now?"

  "No thanks."

  Karl picked up a leg and bit into it. "Just making sure they did a good job." His lighthearted smile revealed a rare glimpse of the boy in him. He seemed relaxed and happy. Evidently Molly and Karl both loved it at the beach.

  Jessica sat on the blanket Molly had helped her spread and watched Karl. It was becoming her favorite pastime.

  After the last patient had left, Mrs. Lucas and two assistants had bustled out.

  "Dr. Wagner's changing his clothes," Mrs. Lucas had told her and Molly on her way out. "He'll be with you in a minute."

  The cut off denim shorts and tee shirt that Karl had come out in five minutes later emphasized the width of his shoulders and interfered with Jessica's breathing.

  They had decided to leave her car in front of the clinic. Karl would drop her back here at the end of the day.

  "Want a drink?" he asked now, the muscles bunching under his shirt as he held one out to her.

  "Thanks," Jessica took the soft drink can and wrapped both hands around it. Her imagination had rushed off on a different track.

  How many romantic dinners a duex had Mrs. Lucas' cousin catered for Karl she wondered. A picture of him and Maddy Brenton holding hands by candlelight made it hard to swallow.

  "You're awfully quiet," Karl glanced at her again. "Is something wrong?"

  "No."

  There was so much to think about. All the pictures she'd gathered of Karl that morning added up to warm, wonderful, kindhearted. Why was he denying himself a warmer closer relationship?

  "Did Molly talk to you this morning?"

  "Yes," Jessica nodded. At least this was one area she could help Karl. "Molly's beginning to resent the baby, blame it for what her mother's going thro
ugh. We discussed it and Molly said she's going to talk to your sister about it."

  "You're sure it's nothing more than that?"

  "Yes."

  "Thank goodness."

  Jessica was surprised by the vehemence in Karl's tone. Surely he knew Molly's fears were natural?

  Karl lifted the soft drink can to his lips and took a deep drink. "Andy and I were never very close to our parents. I know Molly's withdrawal the past week has her more worried than anything else. She doesn't want her daughter to grow up as lonely and as uncommunicative as we were with our parents."

  Jessica held her breath. Please, go on.

  Karl didn't seem to be able to stop. "We had everything any kids could ever want. My father was a self-made man who worked at changing his millions into billions. We never lacked for anything." Karl's voice sloped off, dwindled to a whisper. "Except love."

  The pain came through clearly. Jessica's heart spasmed at the void in Karl's childhood.

  "Was he too busy?" Jessica asked gently.

  "It wasn't only that. He didn't know how to show love. He'd never been on the receiving end of any as a child and he thought expressions of love were superfluous. He worked hard, provided for us, and that was it. Andy and I grew up thinking it was the right way to live. My mother suffered the most. I remember when I was younger how hard she tried to make everything seem normal, cover for my father, but as I grew up she became more and more withdrawn herself. I was in high school before I realized how much she'd suffered because of his coldness. The amazing thing is they're still together though they don't seem to have the slightest interest in each other."

  Jessica didn't say a word. To interject anything now might stop the flow of Karl's confidences.

  "I thought everyone's families were like that, till I visited a friend of mine when I was ten. That weekend showed me a whole new way of life. I saw the way a family could be. The Garrisons communicated with hugs and kisses, as much as they did with words. It wasn't only the physical demonstrations of love that made such an impression, it was the way they cared about whatever was happening to one of them. There was laughter in that home, happiness you could reach out and touch. It was a real revelation. I didn't want to go home after that visit. I wanted to be the Garrisons' son so badly, it hurt. I never went back there. Ben Garrison couldn't understand why I wouldn't accept his invitations for the weekend after that one time." Karl picked up a shell and examined it. "I realized something then. Love isn't rationed or something that's allotted from above. It's free. People avail of it as they wish. Their use of it is shaped by their own experiences, their mental makeup. My father didn't think it was important at all. I watched my mother give up the struggle to keep things normal, withdraw from all of us, grow old before her time. She didn't deserve treatment like that. No woman does. I didn't realize how badly Andy felt the lack of harmony between our parents till she left home. She was always getting into trouble at home and at school. I was too young to know it was her way of asking for attention. She left home at eighteen, without telling anyone where she was going." Karl picked up another shell, searched the smooth surface for answers to the puzzles of human behavior. "She took off for New York, got in with a bad crowd. Luckily she met Jim before she came to any real harm. Marrying him was the turning point in her life. Jim and Molly mean everything in the world to her. I don't want her happiness endangered."