A Convenient Proposal(66)

With cries of delight, Lauren and Dana slid from their chairs to the floor and began leafing through wallpaper pages. Rosalie started with fabrics. The samples, mostly from children’s collections, featured animals of every description, toys, clouds, clowns, castles and farms, cities and parks, fields and mountains, printed in colors from pastel to bold and bright, in every imaginable style and design.

Arden reached for a wallpaper book, then drew back her hand and finished her glass of champagne instead. She tried looking over Rosalie’s shoulder, but her heart twisted at visions of fluffy lambs printed on pale aqua cotton, bunnies on pink, bears on yellow.

The cover of the book at her feet caught her attention—a fully decorated nursery, all white furniture with red, yellow and blue striped fabrics on the bed and at the windows. Above a white chair rail, the wallpaper featured balloons in those same colors floating merrily through the sky. Below the rail, a wallpaper mural depicted a little town with shopping district and offices, neighborhoods and churches, a big park and outlying farms and fields with horses and cows—a child’s world on the walls.

And in the center of this perfect room sat a happy, dark-haired mother holding a little boy with blond curls and blue eyes.

Arden stared at the picture, losing awareness of anything happening around her as she drowned in what-might-have-been.

“Honey, are you okay?” Rosalie set a hand over the fists Arden had clenched in her lap.

Looking up, Arden found the three sisters staring at her, too.

“What’s wrong?” Kathy crouched in front of her. “Are you sick?”

In the next moment, the phone rang, and Arden was saved by the bell.



ONCE HIS DAD ARRIVED at the hospital, Griff wasn’t surprised to see his mother show up.

But he was somewhat startled when, one after the other, his sisters, their husbands and Arden entered the emergency room cubicle.

“You all didn’t have to come down here,” he protested. “I told Dad he shouldn’t have called. I was out for only a few seconds.”

“More like ten minutes,” Jake growled. “The folks at the club called the ambulance.”

Lauren, Dana and Kathy took up one side of the bed, with their men and his parents on the other. Arden stood at the end, looking pale and frightened.

He ached to get his arms around her and chase the shadows from her eyes.

First, he had to answer all the questions, including what happened? Who did this? Why? What did you say? What did he say? Why didn’t somebody else stop him? Why did you try?

And he had to deal with his dad’s anger. “I’m going to tan that boy’s backside when I get hold of him.”

“You’re going to stay away from Al if Mom has to tie you in a chair,” Griff told him. “Leave him alone, all of you. Zelda, too. We need to stay out of their way until the wedding.”

His mother nodded in approval, but the girls took more convincing.

Kathy propped her hands on her hips. “She dumped you, and I think a little suffering is good for her.”

“She’s suffered,” Griff said. “At least as much as I have. And Al’s had the worst of it.”

“They could have let you know sooner,” Dana said. “They embarrassed all of us, waiting till the last minute.”

“Not to mention how hard you worked on the house, only to sell it.” Lauren shook her head. “I painted and wallpapered. I put a lot of work into those walls.”

“I know you did.” Griff grabbed her hand. “But it’s over and done, and we need to forget. Let’s think about the future.” He looked at Arden as he said that, but she avoided his eyes.

“So, can you leave now?” Kathy asked. “You don’t have to spend the night, do you?”

“Waiting on test results,” his dad said. “Then they’ll let us know.”

The doctor did a double take when he came in a few minutes later. “Did I miss the reunion announcement?”

“Just the standard family conference,” Griff announced. “So, can I leave?”

“The CT scan looks good. Do you have someone who can keep an eye on you overnight?”

Nine people in the room nodded.

The doctor surveyed the group of them, then turned back to Griff. “I guess you’re covered. I’ll sign your release papers.”

“Thanks,” he said, offering a handshake as his sisters hugged each other and everyone else. “I told you I was fine.”