74 Seaside Avenue

“I’m sorry…. We tried to reach you. Apparently you had your cell turned off.”



Troy hadn’t bothered to check. “I was…out.”



“Megan’s taking the miscarriage pretty hard.”



Troy felt the sudden need to sit down. “What went wrong?” he asked, shocked by the news.



Sandy had lost two pregnancies after Megan, and both times the experience had been devastating. He couldn’t stand that this had happened to his daughter, too.



“The doctor couldn’t say for sure. Sometimes they can’t tell.”



“Is she still at the hospital?” Troy asked.



“No, she’s here.”



“Can I talk to her?”



“Of course.”



Troy heard his daughter’s tears even before she started to speak. “Daddy, where were you? We tried and tried to call, and we couldn’t get hold of you.” Megan was sobbing in earnest now. “I needed you, Daddy, I really needed you and you weren’t there.”



“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”



“I wanted this baby so much. This baby was Mom’s gift to me and now…now there isn’t a baby.”



Troy didn’t know how to comfort her, any more than he’d known how to help Sandy when she’d miscarried. While he’d been out with Faith, sipping expensive wine in a fancy restaurant, walking on the beach, kissing her, his daughter had been at the hospital losing her baby. His grandchild.



Nineteen



“Bobby wants me to cut my hours,” Teri complained to Rachel as they walked along the Cedar Cove waterfront. They were on their lunch break and both felt the need to get out of the salon, into the crisp, fresh air and lovely September sunshine. Before long, the October rains would come and warm, bright days such as this would be rare.



“Is that what you want?” Rachel asked, tossing the leftover crust from her sandwich to the seagulls.



Teri didn’t reply, and Rachel glanced up from feeding the gulls.



“Do you want to work part-time?” Rachel repeated.



“I don’t know what I want anymore,” Teri confessed. “I love my job, but I love Bobby, too, and he needs me more than Mrs. Johnson needs a spiral perm or Janice Hutt a color job.”



“Then you have your answer,” Rachel said, as if the decision should be an easy one.



“I don’t think it’s quite that simple.” Feeling queasy, Teri sat on a bench that overlooked the Cove. Baskets of blooming annuals in an array of pinks and reds hung from the lightposts along the walkway. “Bobby is so intense and, well…” She hated to say it, but she needed a break from her husband every now and then. A few hours apart from each other did them both good. Working at the salon was the perfect arrangement.



Rachel sat down beside her, and instantly a flock of seagulls gathered at their feet. She tossed the last of the bread onto the lawn, then shooed the birds away.



“This whole thing’s giving me an upset stomach,” Teri murmured. In fact, she felt like throwing up.



“You’re pale,” Rachel said, eyeing her closely.



“Darn him.” She closed her eyes as a wave of nausea swept over her. “Since the hair show, Bobby’s been worse than ever.”



“Worse?”



“He hardly lets me out of his sight.” Teri knew without looking that James was somewhere in the vicinity. He’d been assigned to watch over her whenever she was away from home. To his credit, James tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. But Teri couldn’t help knowing he was there, especially when he hung around the mall, peering into the salon every ten or fifteen minutes. The other girls were used to it now and tended to ignore him.



“Get Nailed is more than my job,” Teri continued. “It’s a big part of my social life, too. You’re there and I’d miss seeing you every day.”



“Yes, but…” Rachel paused. “I’m actually thinking maybe Nate and I…” She let the rest fade.



“You really think you might marry Nate?” Teri liked the other man well enough and she knew Rachel was completely enthralled with him. But as she’d told Bobby, she was unsure this was right for her friend. Apparently she wasn’t the only one with doubts; Rachel seemed to have reservations herself, otherwise she would’ve moved to San Diego when Nate was transferred.



“I’m still trying to decide,” Rachel said miserably. “Nate and I talk about it every time we’re on the phone. He’s coming to see me and I know he’ll want an answer.”



“So the pressure will really be on.”



“Exactly.”



“If you love him, why the doubt?”



Rachel sat back against the park bench and crossed her legs, one foot swinging. “You’re going to think I’m being silly.”



“Rachel, you’re my best friend! I’d never be that judgmental.”



“It has to do with Jolene,” she said with a deep sigh. “I know what it’s like to lose a mother. That was hard enough on the kid, but then her grandmother died, too. Bruce’s family lives somewhere out east and they don’t seem to have much contact. I’m afraid Jolene will feel abandoned if I leave now.”



“How old is she again?” Teri asked.



“Twelve. She’s almost ready for junior high. This is such a vulnerable age. Bruce is worried, too, and, well, I just don’t feel I can do that to Jolene.”



Teri understood Rachel’s quandary. “But you can’t base your life on Jolene.”



Rachel leaned forward and uncrossed her legs. “Now you sound like Nate. Jolene’s gotten to be a real sore point between us. I’m afraid to even mention her name because whenever I do, he gets upset with me.”



“What about Bruce?” Teri wondered if Jolene was the only complication.



“What about him?”



“You know.” Teri gestured vaguely, but Rachel understood what she meant.



“Bruce’s been acting a little weird lately.” Rachel shook her head, as if to dispel thoughts of Jolene’s father. “Remember I told you he phoned me in the middle of the night?”



“Yeah, I remember.” Teri really wasn’t feeling well. In fact, her stomach seemed to be pitching like a rowboat in a squall. She did her best to ignore it.



“He did it again.”



“When?”



“Last week. Not as late as that first night but well past the time for non-emergency calls.”



“What did he want?”



“That’s just it. He didn’t want anything. We talked for a few minutes, he told me Jolene’s decided to run for class secretary, which I already knew because she’d told me herself, and then he hung up.” Rachel raised her hands in a questioning way. “I don’t know what to make of it.”



“He might be afraid you’re going to marry Nate and move to San Diego.”



“He didn’t say that.”



“He wouldn’t, would he?” Teri said. Judging by her own experience, men rarely said what they meant. Neither did women, but at least they were more likely to recognize their feelings and desires; they just expressed them indirectly. Most men, on the other hand, didn’t actually know what was bothering them. She figured this was the case with Bruce Peyton.



“He asked if he could come over this weekend with Jolene.”



“I thought Nate was flying in.”



“He is.”



“Oh, boy.”



“See what I mean?” Rachel said.



Teri nodded. She wanted to ask what Rachel had told Bruce but suddenly felt light-headed. No longer did she think she might vomit, she knew it.



She leaped to her feet and raced toward the women’s restroom. Pushing through the door, Teri barely made it inside the stall before her entire lunch came up.



“Teri?” Rachel followed her into the restroom. “Are you okay?”



“No.” She staggered out and leaned against the tiled wall.



“Miss Teri?” James called her from the doorway. “Everything all right in there? Do you need me to do anything for you?”



“Go away,” she yelled as she let her head fall forward. The room had started to swim. “I’ve got the flu,” she muttered to Rachel, who handed her a wad of tissues.



“The flu?” Rachel repeated with a giggle.



“You think this is funny?” she asked. “You ought to try upchucking your lunch and see how much fun it is.”



“I doubt you have the flu,” Rachel told her.



Fortunately Teri had bottled water in her purse; she rinsed out her mouth and wiped her face with the dampened tissues. “What do you mean this isn’t flu? You’ve been watching too many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, haven’t you?”



“Honestly, Teri, think about it. How long have you and Bobby been married?”



What should have been obvious from the first suddenly became clear. Rachel was right; this nausea wasn’t due to any flu virus. She was pregnant. Her cycle had always been irregular but now that she considered it, she hadn’t had a period in two months. That should have been a sign. After all, they both wanted children and they weren’t using protection.



“Teri.” Rachel placed her hand on Teri’s shoulder. “You look like you’re going to faint.”



“Miss Teri?”



“I’m fine, James. Please wait outside.”



“You’re sure? Should I take you to the doctor’s?”



“James!”



Reluctantly he backed out of the restroom. It was a good thing no one else was in there at the moment, Teri thought. As soon as he was out of sight, she leaned against the wall again. “If Bobby’s protective of me now, this news will only make it worse.”



“But you have to tell him,” Rachel insisted.



“I will—just not yet. He’s obsessive as it is.”



“Because of those two men? But nothing’s happened since.”



Teri hadn’t said anything, not even to Rachel. Lowering her voice, she whispered, “I think it has, although Bobby didn’t tell me about it.”



“What do you mean?”



“The day of the hair show in Seattle.”



“Yes?”



“Remember how he called me out of the blue? He was frantic and he asked me about my necklace.” She pulled the gold medal out from under her blouse. She’d replaced the delicate chain at the first opportunity.



“He found it at home, right? You said you must’ve forgotten to put it on.”



Teri shook her head. “I had it on. I distinctly remember putting it on after my shower, like I do nearly every day.”



“But how would someone get it away from you without you knowing?”



“I have no idea.” Teri had asked herself the same question over and over. At the hair show, she’d been bumped any number of times. The place was crowded. Whoever had taken her necklace had done it quickly and cleverly, snapping the fragile chain.



“Why would anyone do that?” Rachel asked, her own voice dropping to a whisper.