The toddler heedlessly ran the length of the diving board of the pool. At the end of it, he stopped, looked down at the inviting water that he loved, laughed happily and then jumped.
“Theron!” Kathleen screamed again, but this time her cry was soundless. Panicked fear had sealed her throat, prohibiting her from making a sound. She raced forward as she saw his tiny blond head swallowed up by the deep water.
She had almost reached the redwood decking when footsteps thundered past her and Erik all but knocked her to the ground as he sped past. Without a moment’s hesitation, he vaulted off the deck and dived head-first into the pool. What seemed like an eternity to Kathleen, as she stood at the pool’s edge, was actually only a few seconds before Erik broke the surface, his arm around Theron’s chest.
Theron gasped for breath and choked up water as Erik kicked them to the side of the pool. He lifted the boy up into the anxious arms of his mother.
Kathleen heard her own whimpers, though she didn’t realize it was she making that piteous sound. “Theron, Theron,” she cried feebly as she held his sturdy little body to hers. Theron had survived the near-fatal incident, but now that he was safe and aware of his mother’s anxiety, he too began to wail in a delayed reaction.
“My baby, my precious,” Kathleen crooned as she pushed back the sodden curls and felt each feature of his face to assure herself that he was alive.
Erik dragged himself out of the pool. Water gushed from his clothes as he knelt beside mother and child and added his own conciliatory words to them.
“Erik,” Kathleen looked at him and gasped, “I saw him go under. I thought… I—” She broke off, unable to go on, and leaned weakly against his wet shoulder as she grasped a wiggling Theron to her.
“I know, Kathleen, I know. I died a thousand deaths myself,” he said emotionally.
When they had all quieted down somewhat, and Theron was slapping Erik’s knees to see the water squirt out of the cloth, Kathleen looked up and saw Hazel on the patio. Where was everyone else? Now that the initial panic was over, the enormity of the accident hit Kathleen full force.
“What was Theron doing out here all alone?” she asked.
“I’d like to know that myself.” Erik had picked up Theron and was holding him protectively, possessively.
Hazel came rushing across the lawn toward the pool just as George and Alice were helping wheel Seth out the patio door.
“What’s happened?” he called in an alarmed voice.
They descended on the trio, bombarding them with questions.
Erik held up his hands, taking charge. Kathleen was reminded of the day Jaimie had wandered away from the river. He had calmed everyone that day, too. “All we know is that when we drove up, Theron was on the diving board. He jumped in, but thankfully, I was able to go after him within seconds.”
“I… I couldn’t help it,” Hazel began to blubber. Everyone turned as a group to stare at her. Kathleen had never thought to see tears in the woman’s eyes, but they were evident now. “We were playing on the patio with his little trucks. He… I… I was going through a magazine. When I heard Kathleen’s scream I looked up. I didn’t even know he was near the pool. He got there so fast. I… I… Oh, Seth.” Her face crumpled and she covered it with her hands, shaking her head in disbelief of her carelessness.
“Hey, hey, everything is all right now,” Seth said soothingly. “Theron’s safe. But you’re going to have to watch him more closely, Hazel. You know how curious he is.”
Hazel continued to moan into her hands while everyone turned their attention to Theron, who seemed to have recovered and was as good as new.
Kathleen watched Hazel. For comic relief after the calamitous situation, everyone laughed at the puddle that Erik and Theron were forming on the patio. It was agreed that they should go into the laundry room off the kitchen where Alice would bring each of them some dry clothes. Seth reached out and squeezed his sister’s hand before he wheeled into the house on the heels of the others. Theron was still ensconced securely in Erik’s arms.
Kathleen remained in the shadows of the shrubbery surrounding the patio and watched them go.
Hazel, thinking she was alone, straightened her shoulders from the humiliated posture she had assumed and cursed viciously under her breath. She turned around hastily to pick up her belongings from the table. She was about to turn toward the house when she saw Kathleen standing a few feet away, glaring at her. Hazel’s hands froze in midair and her breath was sucked in sharply.
“Kathleen, you amaze me. Why aren’t you in there taking care of your son?”
Kathleen took two steps forward until she was within inches of her sister-in-law. “And you amaze me, Hazel. Did you think you’d get away with murder?”
Instinctively, Hazel took a step backward, in defense of the threat she saw in Kathleen’s dangerous eyes. “I can’t imagine what you’re talking about,” she said, forcing conviction into her voice and standing up to her full height.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. That was quite an act you put on for them.” Kathleen indicated the others, now grouped in the kitchen. “But I think that your tears were caused by frustration over a thwarted plan and not anguish over neglect. You knew exactly where Theron was. His drowning would have been a convenient misfortune for you, wouldn’t it?”
Kathleen’s arm snaked out and, with surprising strength, grabbed Hazel’s wrist in a ruthless clench. “If my son ever runs into an accident and you are even remotely near him, I’ll ruin you with Seth. Do you understand me, Hazel? I’ll open his eyes to you. He’ll believe me, too. He loves you, but he loves me more. You’d better think twice before you gamble with Theron’s life again. You could lose everything.”
Hazel jerked her hand free. She laughed a brittle, harsh laugh directly in Kathleen’s face. “Do you think I’m afraid of you?”
“Yes, I think you are,” Kathleen replied levelly. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be attacking a baby. On top of the heartless, selfish, manipulative harpy you are, you’re a coward. If you want a fight, fight me. I warn you, though, that it would be a senseless battle, because I want nothing of yours. I only want you to let Seth and Theron and me live in peace. Your security isn’t threatened by that.”
“I don’t want a sleazy little slut like you in my house, in my life!” Hazel’s face was mottled, congested with fury. “I’ll prove to my brother what you are if it’s the last thing I do.” Her fists were clenched at her sides. Her body was drawn as tight as a bow string. Kathleen thought that the woman was about to have a seizure.
“Just remember what I said and be extremely careful what stakes you gamble with.” Kathleen stepped around Hazel, leaving her alone with her impotent rage.
The calm facąde that Kathleen presented as she went into the brightly lit kitchen was deceptive. On the inside, she was quaking, first over the terrifying incident itself, and then over the altercation with Hazel, who was obviously deranged. Who would use a helpless child as a pawn in a deadly private game? A desperate, sadistic woman. But why? What could Hazel Kirchoff want that she didn’t already have?
Kathleen pasted on a false smile as she greeted Seth. “Kathleen, where have you been?” Without waiting for an answer, he went on, “Erik said that the two of you covered a lot of ground today and picked up some wonderful stuff. He is very pleased with your selections.”
She looked up at Erik, who was watching her steadily, worriedly, and said, “He has comparable taste, so my job was easy.”
She noted that Erik was wearing some of Seth’s casual clothes, which were a trifle small for him. “Where is Theron?” she asked anxiously.
“He’s upstairs in his bed taking a quick nap before dinner,” Alice answered. “He was tuckered out.”
“Why don’t you go up and do the same?” Seth suggested, taking her hand and kissing her fingers in turn. “You’ve just been through a harrowing experience. Take a bath, relax awhile. It’ll be some time before dinner’s ready. Dress casually. We decided to boil lobsters rather than cook steaks.”
“It sounds delicious,” Kathleen said, leaning over to caress him softly on the lips. “So does your idea. Will you excuse me?” Then she laughed. “It looks like there are enough cooks in here anyway.”
George was dropping cookie dough onto baking sheets. Erik had been assigned to make the salad. Seth was in charge of the lobsters, and Alice was overseeing it all.
“See there?” Seth teased. “You’re useless. Get upstairs and rest.”
She climbed the steps wearily, allowing her tiredness free rein now that she was out of the others’ sight. She crept into Theron’s room and leaned over his crib, sweeping her fingers lightly across his soft cheeks and smiling at the dribble that beaded his chin. Her throat constricted painfully and she drew a shuddering breath when she thought of what could have happened.
Her bath was long and luxuriant. She drank the glass of white wine that Seth had insisted she bring up with her. By the time she left the steamy bathroom, her limbs were rubbery and she was relaxed. The bed was too inviting to ignore and she peeled back the spread and collapsed onto the sheets. Drawing the pillow against her in the manner she was accustomed to, she soon fell asleep.
It was a slight bumping noise that awakened her. Instantly, she sat up, drugged by grogginess. The sound had come from Theron’s room, setting off maternal alarm bells. She had scorned clothes when she left the bathroom. Now, she slipped on a white eyelet wrapper and hastily tied the sash around her waist just as she flung open the connecting door to her son’s bedroom.
Erik was leaning over the crib. She slumped against the doorframe in relief. “What’s the matter?” he asked quickly as he looked up and saw her ravaged face.
“Nothing, I…”
“I was sent up here to awaken you. When I opened your door, you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t have the heart. I thought I’d wake up the captain first.” He grinned and her heart melted at the sight of him bending over to examine his sleeping son.
Her bare feet were silent on the thick carpet as she crossed the room to stand beside him. This was the way it should have been for the past two years. They should have been able to enjoy Theron’s babyhood together. Erik had been denied that experience. Could she ever make it up to him? It was her own stupidity, her own immature mistake, that had separated them.
“I owe you an apology, Erik.”
“You do?” He spoke softly so as not to disturb the sleeping baby.
“If I hadn’t been so juvenile, so unsure of myself, I would never have made the mistake I did in thinking that you were married. It was foolish to jump to conclusions and run away like that when I didn’t know the facts.” She looked up at him then and saw the soft quality in his eyes that he rarely exhibited now. “No matter what would have happened… between… between us,” her voice grew gruff, “you should have known about your son. I’m sorry.”
Her head dipped again in remorse, but his hand came up to cup her chin and lift her face. “It’s too late for recriminations, Kathleen. I haven’t led the most exemplary life these past two years. I’ve done some things I wouldn’t want anyone to know about. I was angry, hurt, disillusioned. I wanted the rest of the world to feel the same hatred I did. I regret some of my decisions, just as you do, but they are done. Let’s try to forget them.”
He glanced down at the baby once again. His hand was dark against Theron’s lighter skin as he stroked the chubby arm and fist. “You did a good job, Kathleen. He’s a wonderful boy.”
“Yes, he is.” As if drawn by some invisible force, she moved next to him and clasped his free hand. He squeezed it tightly.
“Did it… hurt much… you know, when you had him?”
Kathleen smiled gently. Men usually became as infantile as their offspring when they talked about birth. “Not very much. He was big, but I had a good obstetrician. I wish…” She trailed off at the absurdity of her idea.
“What?” he prodded, looking down at her and pulling her closer.
“I was going to say I wish you could meet him—the doctor. He was very kind to me. He was the one who was going to do the abortion before I called it off.”
The hand around hers tightened like an iron band. “God! You must have been put through hell.”
She leaned her head against his strong arm. “It’s one of those things we’re better off to forget.” Theron made a sucking noise in his sleep and they both laughed softly. “I haven’t even thanked you for saving his life today, Erik.”
He faced her then. “Do you really think I want to be thanked for that?” She could only shake her head dumbly. She was held by the radiating heat of his blue gaze. “I haven’t thanked you for giving him life, either,” he said. He took a step closer and leaned down nearer her. “Thank you for my son, Kathleen.” He brushed her cheek with his lips. “Did you feed him yourself?”
His gaze fell to her chest, where the fabric over her breast was fluttering with the pounding of her heart. “Yes,” she answered hoarsely.
His finger started at the base of her throat and scorched a trail to the first visible swelling of her breasts. “Is it even possible,” he asked unevenly, “that I’m jealous of my own son for knowing you so intimately while I didn’t even know where you were?”
Kathleen was as intrigued by his mouth as by the words that came from it. She watched the movement of his lips, the silken texture of his mustache, the hint of an elusive dimple, the teeth that lay just beyond his lips. “I’m here now,” she whispered.
He raised his eyes to hers in supplication and read the invitation so boldly extended. With deliberate leisure, he tugged on the sash until it came free and the sides of her wrapper fell apart. His hands slipped inside, caressing the smooth, satin skin of her stomach before they settled on her waist and pushed aside the white eyelet. For long, ponderous moments, he stared at her, searing her flesh with eyes that roamed freely and without apology or shame.
His hands moved up slowly to cup her breasts and lift them toward his mouth. He gave each one only a fraction of the praise he felt it deserved for having nurtured his child.
Kathleen swayed unsteadily as he moved away from her slightly to study the rest of her. His hands smoothed over her abdomen. “No stretch marks,” he commented in a mere whisper. “Nothing to mar the perfection. Motherhood only made you more beautiful.” His fingers glided downward and wound through that tight auburn triangle. Kathleen sighed at the exquisite tenderness of his touch.
His hands went around her and appreciated the fullness of her hips before settling under the ripe curves and lifting her against him. Their stomachs touched, then her breasts were crushed against his chest. Finally, their mouths melted together in a fusion of spirit as well as of body.
The kiss was thorough and deep. His tongue penetrated her lips slowly, teasing them until Kathleen was pleading with her entire body for him to accept the proffered gift. When he did, his tongue explored her mouth wantonly, seeking the most secret recesses and relishing them.
She pulled away as she placed both hands on his whisker-roughened cheeks. Her mouth came up to his. She teased, tortured, tasted and promised. She gave.
When next he kissed her, his tongue dipped into her mouth again and again, intimating a more profound physical union. Their bodies welded together in a tight embrace that was lenient only in letting them rub against each other.
“Mamma.”
The chirping voice caused them to fall apart as nothing else could have. They stared down dazedly at Theron, who had stood up in his crib, hopping up and down. Kathleen clutched the sides of her wrapper together.
“Theron, when did you wake up?” she asked shakily. The baby was laughing and waving his arms around.
“I think he wants in on the fun.”
“Erik,” Kathleen gasped, and covered her flaming face with hands suddenly gone cold. “We ought to thank him for waking up. Everyone will wonder… We mustn’t let this happen again.” Indeed, she had almost betrayed her husband under his own roof. God! Guilt swamped her and she put more space between her and Erik. Her eyes were laden with shame when she met his. “We’re in Seth’s house. I’m his wife.”
Erik faced her soberly. “You should have reminded me of that sooner. I’d never want to betray Seth either, but my better judgment deserts me when I’m close to you, Kathleen. It’s a fact that is never far from my mind.”
She retreated into her bedroom and dressed hurriedly. She cursed her fumbling fingers and wondered if anyone would notice the high color in her cheeks or the swollen fullness of her well-kissed mouth.
She met Theron and Erik at the top of the stairs as they had planned moments earlier. “Don’t look so guilty, Kathleen,” Erik said out of the corner of his mouth. “Nothing happened. Believe me, I’m more painfully aware of that than anyone.”
The expression on his face was so anguished that Kathleen couldn’t help but laugh.
“Sadist,” he grumbled. He swung Theron up onto his shoulders. The boy enmeshed his stubby fingers in Erik’s hair for a handhold. When Erik whooped in pain, Theron shrieked in delight.
The three of them descended the stairs laughing. Seth wheeled up to meet them. “There you are!” he cried. “We were about to send a search party out, thinking maybe Theron had tied you both to the bedposts.” They all laughed, and Seth instructed them to lead the way to the kitchen, where dinner was being served tonight. Hazel was taking a tray in her room, pleading a headache.
In the hall, Seth paused, not following immediately as he watched the trio go toward the kitchen. No one was witness to the pensive expression on his face.
* * *
October was always a busy month for the stores, and this season was no exception. Not only was it business as usual, but this year they had Erik’s commercials to contend with, too. It was agreed that some should be done in time for the Christmas rush. Erik went into production immediately. All agreed that the ads were good, but nothing as creative as Erik wanted to do for the future. However, the first commercials aired locally generated even more business for Kirchoff’s, to say nothing of Erik’s new company.
Kathleen saw Erik often, but there wasn’t an encore of the amorous scene that had taken place in Theron’s bedroom. Neither trusted himself to be left alone with the other. Other people were always around and she felt that they both contrived to have it that way. When they weren’t in business conferences, they were at dinner at the Kirchoffs’ house. If anyone noticed the rarity of a single man Erik’s age spending an inordinate amount of time with Theron, no one spoke of it.
Hazel had tempered her frequent verbal attacks on Kathleen. The younger woman wasn’t naive enough to think that her dire warnings to her sister-in-law had done anything to alter the woman’s malicious nature. Perhaps she was only exercising caution by becoming more reticent. To Kathleen’s mind, that made Hazel even more deadly, and she was still wary of her.
For that reason, Kathleen was uneasy about leaving Theron for the two weeks she and Eliot would go to New York to do their spring buying.
“Alice.” Kathleen approached the woman one day while the housekeeper was working alone in the kitchen. “Are you sure you can handle Theron all by yourself while I’m away? Maybe we should call in some extra help. He’s getting so meddlesome.”
“That’s the tenth time you’ve asked me that and I’ve answered the same way each time. I can take care of Theron just fine. Don’t you trust me with him?”
Not for the world would Kathleen have Alice think that. “Of course I do! But if you should get busy and someone else should volunteer to watch him…” She didn’t know how to say what she wanted to. She couldn’t say, “Don’t leave him alone with his aunt.”
Alice eyed the younger woman shrewdly. “I think I understand what you’re saying. If you’re referring to the day he had his… accident… in the pool, you should know something. I didn’t want to leave him in Hazel’s charge. She insisted that I come in here and start dinner and leave him out on the patio to play a little longer. I could hardly refuse her, Kathleen, but I wanted to. I don’t know how to tell you this, and you’ll think I’m a superstitious old woman, but I had a feeling something bad was going to happen to that baby when I left him with her.”
A silent message passed between them. The housekeeper took both Kathleen’s hands between her own. “You go on that trip and do a good job for Seth. He expects it from you. Don’t worry about Theron. No one will get close to him unless I’m there. I’ve even asked George to move his crib into our room while you’re gone.”
Kathleen hugged the woman to her, relieved that she hadn’t had to spell out her worries but glad that Alice was intuitive enough to catch them.
On the day of depature, Seth went to the airport to see them off. “Buy anything you want,” he said. “This is going to be a big spring. Don’t forget that. Be sure to ask if some of the pieces can be made up early for the commercials that Erik wants to shoot.”
“I will, I won’t, I will,” she promised, laughing and swallowing the hard lump in her throat at the mention of Erik’s name. She hadn’t seen him in more than a week. “Don’t work so hard, Seth,” she pleaded. He was looking even more fragile recently. His skin seemed to become tighter and more sallow each day, and the fatigue lines around his eyes and mouth had grown more pronounced.
“Don’t worry about me. Or Theron. Have a good time. You get away so seldom—”
“Seth,” she scolded, “will you stop! I don’t want to get away from my family.” Disregarding the naturally curious eyes of the other waiting passengers, she knelt beside his chair and kissed him goodbye.
“I love you, Kathleen,” he said as she pulled away. His mouth was beautiful when he smiled the way he did now. The generous, loving spirit that characterized him still shone from the depths of his dark eyes though they were pinched and weary.
“I love you, too,” she said sincerely.
* * *
Kathleen adored New York. Each time she traveled to the city, she was imbued with its energy and vitality. Never would she want to live in the concrete canyons, but she looked forward to the five trips she made each year to buy merchandise for Kirchoff’s.
She was welcomed with open arms in a city that wasn’t particularly known for its geniality. The fashion houses she did business with catered to her every whim. Kirchoff’s was an excellent account. At each showroom, she was treated royally.
Yet they all knew that behind Kathleen’s feminine exterior was an operating business mind that they dare not try to take advantage of.
“Mr. Gilbert, how nice to see you again,” she said to the president of the company who greeted her personally as she and Eliot came into his busy showroom. He was immediately flattered and deceived by her friendly manner, but he was soon to learn that she was not to be trifled with.
“I let you get by with shipping my order two weeks later than you shipped I. Magnin’s,” she said, still wearing a disarming smile. “If it ever happens again, I’ll send the merchandise back without payment. Is that clear?”
Her eyes shone green, almost matching the color of Mr. Gilbert’s sickly expression. His manner became effusive. “I can’t imagine, Mrs. Kirchoff, what—”
“Do we see your line now or do we not?” she asked levelly.
“Now, of course. Immediately. Just let me…” He bustled off to find his most persuasive salesman.
Eliot was invaluable to her on the buying trips. Each night, when they went over the orders they had placed that day, checking them against their budget and the “shopping list” they had made from their inventory at the store, his uncanny memory never ceased to amaze her.
“Those organdy ruffled tops we bought at Valentino’s will go with that crepe Anne Klein trouser. What sizes did we order that pant in? Six, eight, ten. Three of each for each store,” he mused as he glanced over the orders. “Why don’t we go all the way from sizes four to twelve? Pick up the twelves in black only and order three more for each store in the other colors. Except for the blue. It’s hideous. I think we can team this pant with different blouses and the customer will probably buy two. What do you think?”
Each night, Kathleen retired to her room while Eliot went out on pursuits of his own to places she didn’t want to know about, with people she didn’t want to know about, and in the mornings, he was hung over from substances she didn’t want to know about. But after three cups of black coffee and half a pack of cigarettes, he was ready to attack Seventh Avenue again and was as sharp as ever.
They were entertained lavishly, for Kirchoff’s had a fine and firm reputation as one of the fashion-setting stores in a fashion-conscious city.
One anxious blouse manufacturer could tell by their closed expressions that he was about to lose a sale and began stuttering his spiel. Impatiently, Eliot got up from the table where an empty order form lay and brazenly removed the garment from the man’s hand.
“Do you know what’s wrong with this blouse?” Eliot asked Kathleen, ignoring the flustered salesman.
“The bow,” she said without hesitation.
“Right! This ghastly bow. It’s a great blouse without that.” He turned to the man and said, “I’ll order six dozen in assorted colors and sizes if you can make them without the bow. Otherwise, forget it.”
“I…” the man stammered.
“And modify the sleeve,” Eliot went on imperiously. “It’s a great suit blouse, but if customers can’t get a full sleeve in a jacket, they won’t buy it. I like the graceful style, but take about half the fabric out of the sleeve.”
“Yes, Mr. Pate. Of course.”
“Can we expect the blouses to be shipped the way we want them?” Eliot demanded politely.
“Certainly,” the man said nervously. “I myself was thinking of taking off the bow.”
They were still laughing as Eliot hailed a taxi to take them to the Russian Tea Room for a luncheon appointment. They were wined and dined almost each lunch and dinner, being taken only to the best restaurants. Kathleen received no small number of bold, illicit propositions. To her chagrin, Eliot received as many.
After ten days, Kathleen was ready to go home. A day earlier than planned, they rescheduled their flight and returned to San Francisco. She and Eliot parted company at the airport, each glad to be finished with a difficult job and feeling confident that they had accomplished much.
Kathleen surprised everyone when she arrived home just in time for dinner. She had a surprise, too. Erik was there. He was accompanied by a gorgeous, stunning blonde.
Her name was Tamara.