A Convenient Proposal(65)

Arden took a gulp of champagne. “Mrs. Campbell, I know you must feel I’ve been deceptive—”

Dana nodded. “Dad stomped around all day Sunday, muttering, ‘I knew she was hiding something. I knew it.’”

Rosalie gave her daughter a disapproving glance. “That’s overstating the case. But…why, Arden? Did you have a reason for keeping your career a secret?”

She explained about her retirement. “You saw what happens when people learn that I play,” she said. “And, really, it’s pretty painful to have given up what was once my entire life.”

The four women nodded in sympathy.

“I avoid most music,” she told them honestly. “I’d rather not have to think about what I can no longer do. It’s not a good coping mechanism, I admit. Perhaps I can improve with time.”

Lauren, sitting beside Arden on the couch, put a hand over hers. “I do understand. I used to play basketball—I had a college scholarship and just knew I could lead a championship team. Then I blew out my knee in a skiing accident. I haven’t watched a basketball game since. It would hurt too much.”

“Exactly.” Arden breathed a sigh of relief. Her story had been accepted. “Keeping the secret avoids situations like last weekend, where I can’t get out of performing.”

Then Kathy spoke up. “But why did you stop playing? What caused you to retire?”

After drawing a deep breath, she explained about her hearing loss.

“Now I understand.” Griff’s mother nodded. “And I’m sure Jake will, as well. There have been times when he asked me not to mention his profession at a party or in a crowd. People try to get him to deliver a diagnosis in the middle of dinner.”

“You play the piano beautifully, of course.” Rosalie brought up the subject again as they gathered around the dining room table to fill their plates from a buffet of Kathy’s favorite appetizers. “Couldn’t you have continued your career with that instrument?”

The question required more creative truth telling. “I don’t have a professional repertoire on the piano.” Pretending a calm she didn’t feel, Arden spooned artichoke dip onto her plate and added crackers. “I couldn’t compete at the same level as before.”

“But you would still have your music.”

“Perhaps I can move in that direction. But my retirement occurred at the same time as my broken engagement. There was just too much to deal with.”

“How awful.” Griff’s mother folded her into a hug. “You went through a terrible time, didn’t you? And call me Rosalie,” she whispered. “It’s past time I said that.”

Blinking back tears, Arden set her plate on the table and rested her hands on Rosalie’s shoulders, gingerly returning the embrace. She couldn’t remember the last hug she’d received from her own mother.

While they ate chicken Kiev and wild rice for dinner, the conversation became more general, and Arden found herself diverted for minutes at a time from her preoccupation with a barren future. The champagne did seem to help, and she allowed herself to drink more freely than usual. After all, she didn’t have to worry about harming a baby anymore.

Once they’d each had a substantial helping of Kathy’s “better than sex” cake, they relaxed again in the living room with refilled glasses of wine.

“I had an ulterior motive for asking y’all over tonight,” Kathy announced.

Dana groaned. “I am not scrubbing your kitchen floor.”

“And don’t put me down for the bathrooms, either,” Lauren said.

“Of course not.” Kathy frowned at her sisters. “You two wouldn’t get anything clean enough to suit me.”

A sisterly pillow fight ensued, as the girls threw couch cushions back and forth, while Arden and Rosalie ducked, laughing.

Kathy stockpiled the pillows thrown at her behind her chair, where no one could reach them. “Mom, could you bring out the books?”

Rosalie went to a closet, returning with large, flat volumes of wallpaper samples, plus thick piles of fabric swatches.

Kathy looked at Arden. “My Jimmy is totally color-blind. Ask him how a room looks, and he says ‘Fine, darlin’. Do these socks match?’ And of course they don’t, because one is blue and one is green. So when I decorate, I have to solicit other opinions. And now that I’m getting into the fourth month with Junior here—” she placed a hand on the slight mound at her waist “—I thought I’d start getting ideas on the nursery. So tonight we’re havin’ a decor orgy, so to speak. Dig in, girls, and show me what works for you.”