Jenny drove slowly down the tree-lined street in Pelham Gardens looking for Clayton’s address. Kathryn checked her look in her compact mirror for the third time.
Jenny smiled. “Nervous?”
“No.”
Kathryn snapped the compact shut and dropped it in her purse. “What’s there to be nervous about? I have a niece I’ve never met, a sister-in-law who only knows me as the bratty little sister who destroyed her husband’s family, and a brother who’s decided his new mission in life is to right a thirteen-year-old wrong. Me? Nervous? Nah.”
Jenny took her hand. “It’ll be great. You’ll see.” She spotted the address. “Oh, here we are.”
Kathryn blew out an anxious breath as they pulled into the driveway of the immaculately kept two-story colonial-style brick house.
Clayton peered through the airy marquisette curtain draped from the large bay window in the living room and smiled as his sister opened the suicide passenger door of the Cord and unfolded herself from the maroon convertible.
His wife peeked over his shoulder. “Good heavens, Clay. That’s lanky little Kathy?”
“That’s her.”
He looked over his shoulder. “Don’t call her that, remember?”
“Oh, right … Kat.”
“I wanna see! I wanna see!” Stephanie came bounding onto the window bench seat and settled under her father’s outstretched arm.
“Wow! What a dish!”
“Stephanie,” her mother scolded. “I’ve told you, watch your slang, and shoes off the cushions.”
“Yes, Mother,” the young girl said, already on her way to the front door.
Stephanie waited patiently while the adults greeted each other and then she grinned as they settled into an awkward silence. She’d been taught not to interrupt when grownups are speaking, so she took full advantage of the pause in the conversation.
She put her hands behind her back, mirroring her father’s stance, and peered up at her tall aunt. “I had a piano lesson today.”
Kathryn leaned down and looked thankful for the distraction. “You did? And how long have you been taking piano lessons?”
“Since I was five.” She held up her hand, fingers spread.
“Wonderful! And what did you learn today?”
She took her aunt’s hand. “Come on.”
Kathryn let her niece drag her to the piano in the living room, where she pulled out the piano bench and sat on the edge so that her feet could reach the pedals. Kathryn sat beside her and smiled, as the young girl sat up straight and opened her music.
“This is Daddy’s favorite.”
The sheet music was a simplified version of “Clair de Lune,” and Kathryn looked across the room to her brother, who smiled as they shared their affection for the song and spared a moment for their mother’s memory.
She knew Clayton was comparing the scene with many similar recitals growing up, watching his mother turn the music for her.
Jenny and Nan sat around the long coffee table in front of the sofa as they listened to the recital.
Nan sat on the edge of her seat, legs crossed at the ankles, hands clasped in her lap, nodding her head to each note as she willed them to be perfectly executed, which they were.
She clapped enthusiastically, as did the others, when the piece was through, and Stephanie acknowledged it with a polite bow before turning to her.
“Daddy said you used to play. Would you like to try it?”
Kathryn feigned chagrin so as not to steal her niece’s moment. “Oh, well … gosh, it’s been a while.”
“You must try,” Stephanie insisted. “Here—” she chased her up and scooted the bench back.
Kathryn stepped to the center of the seat and smoothed her tailored slacks under her as she sat down again and pretended to study the sheet music.
“Let’s see here …” She put her hands in position. “This is middle C, right?”
“Tst,” her niece said with a giggle. “Everyone knows that. Come on, Aunt Kathryn.”
Kathryn picked through the piece like someone with rusty musical skills and asked Stephanie to help her along when she pretended to have forgotten what note was what.
“You need to practice,” Stephanie scolded when she was through.
“Well, I promise I will do that.”
The rest of the adults sat in silence again. Nan stared at her new manicure, and Clayton was perfectly happy to watch the two of them engage in the universal piano duet, “Chopsticks.”
“Nice wallpaper,” Jenny finally said, obviously trying to save Clayton’s wife.
“Why, it’s just new this last month,” Nan volunteered cheerfully. “Would you like to see the house? We just had it redone.”
Stephanie stopped playing abruptly and didn’t hesitate to direct traffic. “You and Daddy show Jenny the rest of the house. I’m going to show Aunt Kathryn my room first.”
She led Kathryn to her room upstairs and shut the door behind them.
The space was bathed in yellow and white, with flowered curtains that matched the bedspread, and Kathryn smiled at the cheery decor. “What a lovely room.”
“Sit.”
Kathryn blinked at the girl’s demeanor, which seemed suddenly older. “What?”
“Sit on the bed.”
Kathryn complied, and her niece stood before her with her hands on her hips.
“You know, Daddy said I had to be extra nice to you, so I got worried and thought you would be boring and smell funny, like Mommy’s Aunt Clara, but I think you’re pretty swell, and I would have been nice to you even if Daddy hadn’t told me to.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Certainly.”
Stephanie sat beside her.
“I heard Pop Pop talking about you once. Daddy got mad and said he didn’t ever want to hear your name in his house again.”
Kathryn sat back slightly. “I see.”
“Adults don’t think kids hear things, but they do.”
Kathryn thought back to her childhood and the whispers that changed her life forever.
“Yes, they do.”
“I’m glad you made up with Daddy.”
“Me too.”
“Oh,” the little girl chirped, “and thank you for going along with me at the piano.” She nudged her with an elbow and giggled. “You’re really good at fooling.”
Kathryn looked at her quizzically.
Stephanie patted her knee. “I know you can play the piano.”
“Oh? And how do you know that?”
“Pop Pop told me.”
Kathryn tilted her head. “And what else did your Pop Pop tell you?”
“He told me you were as pretty as Nana and could sing like an angel. He also told me I’d meet you one day and we would be great friends.”
Kathryn stared at her niece as pieces of her broken life started falling together. Her father had planned for this day. Set it up, in fact, with his letter of confession. She thought he’d taken something from her when he revealed the truth to her brother, but she realized he’d given her a chance to have her family back. She looked at the ceiling and struggled to place her swirling emotions. She suddenly found her hand taken into two smaller ones.
“It’s okay, Aunt Kath. It’ll be our secret.” Stephanie held up her hand, little finger extended. “Pinky swear?”
Kathryn looked into Stephanie’s innocent, wide eyes and, in them, she found everything she’d lost—herself, her brother, her mother, her father, and a future filled with love and promise.
Her niece would have all those things and more, and she was honored to be part of it.
“Pinky swear.” She hooked their fingers with a full-faced grin and pulled her into a hug.
“Dinner!” they heard called from the stairway.
Stephanie hopped off the bed and held out her hand. “Come on. Time to act five again.”
Kathryn took her hand. “Five?”
“Mother and Father treat me that way, so I play along,” her niece explained. “You hear more that way, anyhow, because they think you’re just a silly little child, paying no mind to their adult talk.”
Kathryn raised her brow.
“Now, I’m a good daughter …” Stephanie went on. “Yes, Mother dear, and certainly, Daddy darling,” she mocked. “But I’m not a baby.” She stopped and turned to face her before opening the door. “They are just going to have to realize that I’m almost nine, and I will be ten before they know it, and then, eventually, a teenager.” She threw her hand up and opened the door. “What are they going to do then?”
Heaven help them. Kathryn shook her head, enchanted. “You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”
Stephanie shrugged confidently. “I’d say.”
She led her to the dining room, and Kathryn beamed inside. Children change your life, her brother had said. She’d only had a glimpse of what he was talking about, but, already, her niece had wrapped herself around her heart.
Dinner was a pleasant enough affair; even Nan loosened up as she and Kathryn discussed fashion and the latest trends in makeup. There wasn’t much about Kathryn’s life that could be discussed, especially in the presence of an eight-year-old, so catching up really wasn’t on the agenda. That was fine with her, as she sat back and watched the family dynamic in action.
Clayton and Nan obviously adored each other. Their loving interaction was rivaled only by the adoration they bestowed upon their daughter. It was a sweet family unit, and everyone was at ease and comfortably stuffed by the time dessert and coffee was served.
Nan set her cup in its saucer and turned to Jenny. She had made sure she included Jenny in the conversation all afternoon, but Kathryn could tell she still wasn’t sure why she was invited in the first place.
“So where do you work, Jenny?”
“I work at the Chronicle.”
Nan sat back. “Oh. Don’t care much for its politics, but a job is a job these days, I suppose.”
Jenny smiled and didn’t take the bait. “Well, I’m the About Town columnist in the Arts and Entertainment section, so I don’t have much say in the paper’s politics.”
“Oh, say, I’ve read that … why, Jenny Ryan. My goodness. I didn’t put the two together. We have a celebrity among us.”
Jenny merely grinned, and Kathryn noticed it seemed to take the sting out of the paper’s politics for the woman.
“So you did a piece on Kathryn? Is that how you met?”
Jenny smiled across the table at her. “Sort of. I was working on a story that brought me to The Grotto.”
Kathryn shook her head slightly and chuckled, remembering the scene Jenny made as she departed the club the first time they met.
“Then she graciously agreed to sing at an event I was organizing, and we became fast friends after that.”
Kathryn suppressed a laugh at the lie. She had been anything but gracious when Jenny asked her to perform at the armory, and their friendship had been anything but expeditious. It all seemed a lifetime ago, and none of it mattered now. Jenny’s face was glowing with love, and Kathryn couldn’t help the broad smile that split her lips in return.
Nan looked at Jenny, then at her, and then nearly dropped her cup, as the reason Jenny was invited to the family get together dawned on her. The truth slid down her well-bred polite expression like a landslide devouring a pristine hillside. Her eyes snapped to Clayton, who could already see the storm brewing, and she politely set her napkin on the table and excused herself.
“Nuts,” Clayton exhaled, as he quickly got up and followed her into the kitchen.
Jenny looked at Kathryn and mouthed, He didn’t tell her?
Kathryn rolled her eyes and glanced at her niece before gesturing outside with a tilt of her head.
Jenny turned to Stephanie, who was sitting next to her. “Say, Steph, how would you like to go play on the swing set?”
“Sure!” The girl bounced out of her chair.
She ran up behind Kathryn and cupped her hands around her ear. “If they’re mean to you, remember, I still love you.”
Kathryn grinned and said, “I will,” with a wink.
Stephanie and Jenny went outside, and Kathryn exhaled slowly as she took a last sip of coffee and pushed away from the table. She couldn’t believe her brother didn’t tell Nan about Jenny and her. Although, meeting her again after so many years, perhaps he knew best. The last thing she wanted to do was cause trouble between them, so she decided to put an end to the argument.
She approached the kitchen and heard Nan in mid-restrained shout saying, “Nothing but trouble, Clayton! She always has been.”
“You know what she’s been through, Nan. I can’t believe you’re behaving—”
Kathryn came up behind her brother and cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re leaving now.”
Clayton turned, and his wife straightened, embarrassed to be caught arguing.
“I’m sorry, Kathryn,” Nan said in clipped tones. “I don’t mean to make you feel unwelcome.”
The Hammond siblings stared at her expectantly, wondering what exactly she did intend.
“For myself,” Nan went on, “what you do in your personal life is your business, but I have a very impressionable young daughter here, and I don’t want her exposed to your—” She looked her up and down but was at a loss for words.
Kathryn raised her brow. “My polite conversation? What, Nan? What do you think I’m exposing her to?”
Nan raised her chin. “If you were a mother, you’d understand. I’ll not have it in my home.”
“That’s not for you to decide,” Clayton broke in angrily. “She is my sister. You’ll not treat her—”
“Okay—” Kathryn stepped between them.
“No!” her brother barked. “It’s not okay!”
“Yes. Come on.” Kathryn put her arm across his chest, pulling him from the kitchen. “Thank you for dinner, Nan,” she called over her shoulder while pushing Clayton into the other room. “I’m sorry my visit was so upsetting.”
Clayton was incensed as they came to a halt in the middle of the living room. “You don’t have to apologize. This is my house, Kathryn, and what I say—”
“Don’t be a caveman, Clayton. This is her house too. She’s uncomfortable.”
“Because of two people in love?”
“Two women in love. You should have warned her.”
He wriggled from her grasp.
“It shouldn’t make any difference.”
“Yes. Well, in my perfect world …” She smiled and hoped it would help calm him.
Clayton shook his head. “I’m sorry, Kath, I never thought … this is so unlike her.”
“Just let the dust settle.”
“I thought if she met Jenny first, got to know her …” He looked out the window at Jenny pushing his daughter on the swing, both laughing.
Kathryn stood by his side and smiled as Stephanie waved at them. “She’s a beautiful little girl. How do they get so smart, so fast?”
He grinned proudly, and the tension instantly washed away. “She is my kid.”
Kathryn pinched his side and they both laughed.
Stephanie launched herself from the swing at the top of the upstroke and flew in midair as the three paralyzed adults gasped. She made a perfect landing and giggled as the grownups exhaled a sigh of relief. She ran to the backdoor and threw it open with a mighty heave from both hands. Jenny was right behind and apologized to the slightly traumatized father.
“Sorry, Clay. I didn’t know she was going to do that.”
He turned to his impish daughter and wagged his finger at her. “Yes, well, she knows she’s not supposed to do that.”
Stephanie tugged on the warning digit “Oh, Pops. You worry too much.” She scampered to the couch and plopped herself down with an energetic pounce.
“Pops?” Kathryn whispered with a grin.
Clayton rolled his eyes. “She just started that last week.”
Nan appeared from the kitchen, and, without a word, began clearing the table.
“Here, let me help you,” Jenny said as she made her way over.
“No, thank you.”
“We’re going to go,” Kathryn said.
“No,” Stephanie whined. “You just got here.”
Nan set down the dishes, obviously happy to expedite their exit. “Stephie, your aunt is very busy. Don’t be a pest.”
“You’re not being a pest, are you, pumpkin,” Clayton said with a warning glance to his wife. “Come on.” He held out his hand. “Kiss your Aunt Kathryn and Jenny goodbye.”
Kathryn knelt before her niece and tickled her pouting cheek. “What’s this, a frown?”
Stephanie lowered her eyes. “Will I see you again?”
“Of course you’ll see her again,” Clayton assured her.
The little girl looked to her mother.
Nan wiped her hands on her apron and came to her daughter’s side.
“She’s your aunt, honey. Of course you’ll see her again.”
Clayton straightened and put a thankful hand on his wife’s lower back.
“See?” Kathryn smiled at the girl. “You’ll see me again before you know it.”
Stephanie looked past her shoulder and beamed. “Jenny too? I like her. She’s funny.”
All eyes shifted to Nan, who had the grace to acquiesce for her daughter’s sake.
“Sure, sweetie, Jenny too.”
Jenny smiled. “I’d like that.”
Pleasant goodbyes were forced, and Clayton apologized as he walked Kathryn to the car.
“Sorry, Kath,” he said, as he opened the door for her.
She put her hand on his chest and glanced at the front steps, where Nan stood holding Stephanie’s hand. “Don’t push things with Nan. It’ll work itself out.”
He pursed his lips, expressing disappointment in his wife.
“Promise?” She cupped his face in her hands. “I remember her as a good, rational person. It’ll be all right. Just give her time.”
“Okay,” Clayton relented.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
The siblings embraced and Kathryn gave her brother an extra squeeze before she let him go.
“Thank you, Clay. You don’t know what this means to me.”
“I love you, Kath.”
She kissed his cheek. “I love you too.”
Kathryn blew a kiss to her niece as they backed out of the drive, and the little girl jumped up and caught it, waving it proudly as her father joined her on the top step.
Jenny shifted into first and they started down the street.
“Are you upset?” she asked.
“About Nan? No. She’ll come around or she won’t. You know how it is.”
She smiled, putting thoughts of her sister-in-law far behind. “Isn’t Stephanie something?”
“I’ll say. That little girl is sharp as a whip. They’re not putting anything over on her.”
Kathryn laughed. “I know!”
She grinned and shook her head when, almost absentmindedly, her eyes were drawn to a dark car parked on an otherwise sparsely populated street. She followed it with her eyes, and as they passed, the driver slowly ducked his head and pulled his hat over his eyes.
Her senses went on high alert and warnings went off in her head. She couldn’t see the license plate in the side-view mirror, and she couldn’t tell Jenny what she thought was going on, so she stared helplessly out the windshield, fearing the reunion with her family had opened up a new avenue of danger.
As soon as they were out of the area, Kathryn had Jenny stop at a restaurant on the pretense of using the restroom. Jenny waited in the car, and Kathryn went right to the phone cabinet at the back of the dining room and called Colonel Forsythe.
“Are you sure he was ours?” she asked again.
“Yes, Kathryn. Who else would it be?”
She was silent.
“It’s procedure, you know that. Once you renewed relations with your family, they had to be investigated.”
“I don’t want his life disrupted.”
“He will be unaware, I assure you.”
She almost laughed out loud. “It took me two seconds to spot your man.”
“But you missed him on the way in, didn’t you?”
She was so busy being anxious about her visit that she had to admit she didn’t notice. She shook her head at her carelessness.
“Don’t worry about it, Kathryn. It rather defeats our purpose to be noticed.”
Kathryn had to agree. She hung up the phone and stared blindly at the small fan in the upper corner of the booth. The investigation may be standard procedure, but it reminded her of how easy it would be for someone to harm those she loved, if one was so inclined. She weighed the wisdom of reconnecting with her family at this point in her life and made a decision as she made her way back to the car. Once there, she pretended everything was fine.
Jenny pulled out onto the busy street and then glanced at Kathryn. “Everything all right?” she asked, not letting on that she had changed her mind about using the restroom and saw her on the phone.
“Mm,” Kathryn said with a smile, but Jenny could tell she was masking a distinct feeling of dread. “I think I’m really going to love being an aunt.”
Jenny smiled. “You’re going to make a great one.”
She wouldn’t ask Kathryn who she called or why she lied about stopping. Kathryn had a life, a whole world, outside theirs, and their relationship was built on trust. If Kathryn was keeping a secret, Jenny knew it was for a good reason and had nothing to do with their life together. That’s what she would keep telling herself. She would tell herself that until the need to know stopped niggling at her brain and the sting of exclusion melted away with the next loving look, word, or touch.