Chapter Nine

 

"You are home!" Logan said, hugging Melody to him so tightly that he could feel the tremors from her belly as she chuckled.

"Yes!" Melody gasped, hugging him back. "It is very heartening to see that I was missed."

Logan loosened his hold on her and held her away from him, studying her face lovingly. "I missed you."

"Likewise." Melody reached up and kissed him. "So much."

"How are Rita and Alfred?" Logan asked. "Every time I called you, you were on the road."

"Mom is as dramatic as ever and Dad accommodates her every eccentric whim. Yup, and they required a lot of chauffeuring around," Melody said sinking down in the sofa.

Logan sat beside her and hugged her to him. "I couldn't wait to get home today."

"I must go away more often," Melody said, laughing. "That should curb your long hours at work."

"No, don't say that," Logan said, "I hate when you go away."

He loosened his tie. "Today I met with a client, Denver Brooks. He said he went to St. Ann High with you. Imagine how shocked I was to find out that you lived in St. Ann. You never mentioned that before."

Melody stiffened and drew away from him.

"Uh-oh." Logan murmured. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Melody shrugged.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "He mentioned that you found this guy, a Greg Riley, dead. Who is Greg Riley?"

Melody looked at her watch. "I need to go pick up Lauren and Zack."

Logan was shell-shocked. Melody never brushed him off. Never. She was always honest and upfront with him. This diversion was alarming and unusual. He watched in alarm as she got up and stared everywhere but at him. He had asked a casual question and she was reacting quite over the top.

"I'll come with you," Logan said. "Maybe we can have a family dinner out. Trust me, we really, really missed you."

"Yes," Melody said faintly. "Have to get my bag."

She almost ran out of the room.

When they got into Logan's vehicle, he glanced at her. "You do know that I am now more curious than ever, don't you? Especially because you are acting weird."

"I don't want to talk about that time," Melody said. "There are some things I just don't want to talk about."

Logan nodded. "Okay, fair enough. Is it something bad?"

Melody sighed and closed her eyes. Since she had confirmation from her mother about Sabrina she had been sleeping fitfully, and now Logan wanted to talk about Greg Riley. It was really too much for her right now. She didn't even know if she should tell him about that time. She was planning to do what her mother had suggested and forget about it.

"Is it?" Logan insisted as he drove down the avenue toward the main road.

"It's in the past," Melody said, knowing that wasn't quite true. Wasn't Sabrina around now?

"The past." Logan tapped his hand on the steering wheel. "So what? We always tell each other about the past, and you have never mentioned St. Ann."

"I just don't want to talk about it," Melody snapped.

Logan almost braked in the middle of the road. Melody didn't snap. He couldn't remember her ever snapping at him.

He glanced at her worriedly. "Okay then. I can't believe I am saying this to you, but calm down; it was only a simple question."

Melody shifted in her seat uncomfortably and looked through the window, avoiding direct eye contact.

When he turned on the main road to the school, he found himself calculating when Melody would have been in St. Ann for high school.

He had heard her reminisce about her prep school graduation and how she was the valedictorian and how her parents had flown in from wherever they were and upstaged her graduation with their larger than life presence but she hadn't minded because she was seeing them for the first time in a year.

Between prep school and high school was five years. His mind ticked over, combing through his memories of Melody's life.

She lived with her grandma for a while, got a cat when she was thirteen and discovered that she was severely allergic to it and had to give away the creature. Come to think of it, he had never heard her speak about ages fourteen to sixteen.

That in itself was not unusual. He didn't even remember what it was that he was doing at that time either. Melody spoke about living in New York with her parents for a half year when she was seventeen. When she was eighteen she spent the summer touring Europe with them.

He glanced at her; St. Ann must have been when she was between fourteen and sixteen. What was the big deal? What could a teenager get up to at that time that was so secretive?

He didn't ask aloud because Melody had a mutinous look on her face and the most stubborn lift to her chin; the classic don't-bother-me pose. Which made him feel like bothering her even more.

 

*****

 

Melody felt as if her body was around but her mind was churning with panicked little thoughts that wouldn't quit. A little voice in her head was whispering little staccato notes of doom.

You are going to lose what you have now.

You are going to be seen as one of those pathetic teenage pregnancy statistics.

Logan is going to know just how imperfect you are, how flawed. How truly pathetic you really are.

Your church brethren are going to really find this one funny; the pious Melody is an honest to goodness clichéd sinner.

Your mother-in-law will encourage her son to leave you and take the children with him and find a more fitting wife, a professional who could run a home and a corporate entity with her hands tied behind her back.

"Melody!" Logan was practically shouting at her when she zoned into where she was.

They were sitting at the child-friendly restaurant, BoPeep. The waitress was standing with a notepad in her hand, a polite smile on her face.

Zack was talking a mile a minute and Lauren was trying to compete with him. They were arguing over what to get from the menu. Logan had that look back in his eyes, as if he thought she was certifiably mad.

Melody swallowed. "Er, what was the question again?"

"She'll have salad and grilled chicken," Logan said to the waitress. "And they'll have the kiddies meal."

"And apple pie," Zack said hopefully.

Melody nodded to the waitress and tried to ignore the voices in her head and looked at her husband fully. "Sorry."

Logan nodded thoughtfully.

Lauren got up from her seat and climbed onto Melody's lap. Melody hugged Lauren to her, smoothing down her hair, which was in plaits. The plaits were new; she figured Alice must have done them.

"Come on," Logan said to Lauren as she hugged Melody tightly. "It was not that bad; your mom was just gone for three days."

"Yes, it was bad," Lauren said. "I love you Mommy."

Melody held her closer and kissed her on her forehead. "Love you too, Laurie. Talk to me; what happened while I was away?"

"We stayed with Uncle Carson and Aunty Alice for Daddy's practice night and Daddy made dinner yesterday," Zack said.

"And he invited Sabrina," Lauren added unhappily.

Melody's eyes widened at the name. She looked at Logan. Her heart picked up speed once more. Sabrina had been in her house?

Logan shrugged. "She dropped off a letter from my former client, who made a run for it, and I invited her to stay for dinner."

"I don't like her," Lauren said in her neck, "and Daddy told me off for it."

Logan shook his head. "I told her that she shouldn't blurt out her feelings of dislike to people like that. I am going to have to work on Lauren's tact and diplomacy."

"I like her," Zack said. "She smells nice and she lives near the beach."

"And do you like her, Daddy?" Melody asked Logan, struggling to put a playful tone in her voice.

Logan looked at her searchingly; his eyes were asking, What in heaven’s name is wrong with you? He was spared from asking aloud when the waitress came to the table with their orders.