Chapter Fourteen
Luke was glad the boys had started warming to Miranda. Now if only his parents and in-laws would behave.
Three hours after he’d dropped Miranda and her daughter back at SkySong, he was ushering the pair into the kitchen at his house. It was a bit of a chaos zone since everyone had arrived at more or less the same time.
Miranda certainly looked good, in a long-sleeved blue top that matched her eyes, worn with tan pants. Sea glass earrings danced like miniature wind chimes when she moved her head. They’d shared a hug at the door, which was all that seemed appropriate in the circumstances, but each time he was with her, he felt a growing need to touch her in increasingly intimate ways.
Inside the kitchen door, Ariana glued herself to her mother’s side and stared at everyone as he made the introductions. Then he said, “Boys, how about you take the dogs and hang out in the playroom?”
After their noisy departure, Annie, a gleam in her pale gray eyes, addressed Miranda. “So you didn’t let Sonia and me scare you off.”
“Mom. Annie.” Luke glanced from one to the other with a hint of warning. He had respected Miranda’s wishes and not asked what they’d said to her at the community hall. But when he’d told them she was coming tonight, he’d said he expected them to be courteous.
Before either responded, Miranda said, “Maybe for a moment or two. But you made me think. And here’s what I realized. I’m not perfect.”
“No one’s perfect,” he said, because it was true.
“No, they’re not,” Miranda said. She looked at his mom. “As for me, I’m a much better person than I used to be, and I’m a person who can be happy.” She turned to Annie. “I know how to love with all my heart and if you have any doubts about that, just ask my daughter or my brother.”
Luke was proud of Miranda for standing up to them. Whatever insecurities plagued her, she seemed to be getting past them.
“So, I’m here,” she said evenly. “I’ve come for dinner.” Holding up a cloth tote bag, she added, “And I’ve brought cheese puffs. Or gougères, if you want to be fancy about it.”
“Mmm,” Forbes said, stepping forward to take the bag from her. “Sounds delicious. Welcome, Miranda.”
Was Luke the only one who noticed that Miranda’s shoulders sagged a little, as if a burden had been lifted? He stepped closer and said, “Gougères? Did you make those?”
“They’re a bread basket specialty at a restaurant where I once worked.” She spoke loudly enough so everyone could hear. Then she tipped her head up to him and whispered, “When Chef Emile dumped me and got me fired, I stole his recipe. I don’t feel an iota of guilt.”
He grinned. “Nor should you.”
Fingers tugged at the leg of his jeans and he looked down to see Ariana staring up at him, looking unhappy. He bent and hoisted her up, and announced to the group, “Ariana went kayaking for the first time. She did great.”
Now she smiled, confirming, “I kay-ak.”
“Tell them what you saw,” he prompted.
“I see fish! I see ducks. I see kitty . . . kitty . . .” She gazed up at him for help.
“Pussy willows,” he supplied.
“Yes! Soft.”
Miranda smiled at her daughter and then turned to Luke’s stepfather. “Forbes, I really enjoyed B-B-Zee the other night. Your music was great. And you have a terrific voice.”
Sonia linked her arm through her husband’s and teased him, “Looks like you have a new groupie.” The smile she gave Miranda was warm and Luke realized that he should have told Miranda that the way to his mom’s heart was through praising her husband.
She grasped the point quickly because she raved a little longer and then said, “I love Julian’s music, too. I’ve been a big fan ever since I first heard him years ago.”
And there was the way to Forbes’s heart—even more than complimenting his own music.
Luke bounced Ariana in his arms, sensing it was time to find her something more fun to do than listen to adults. His mom must have the same idea because she came over and said, “Hi, Ariana. Aren’t you the prettiest little girl?”
“I pretty,” the child agreed, smiling at her.
“My name is Sonia and I’m Luke’s mommy.”
“Luke!”
His mom glanced at Miranda. “I could take her to the playroom, if you don’t mind trusting me with your adorable little one.”
“Of course. That would be great.”
Sonia touched Ariana’s hand. “How would you like to come with me, honey? I bet we can find a stuffed animal to play with.”
“Kitty?”
“Maybe not a kitty, but I know there’s a doggy and a—”
“Pig-pen! I play Pig-pen,” she said happily as Luke put her down.
After confirming that Miranda was good with that, his mom took Ariana’s hand and the pair left the kitchen.
It didn’t take the rest of them long to organize the food and get the serving dishes for the main course onto the dining room table. Earlier, when he and the boys had set the table, he’d had to think about where to seat Miranda and Ariana. Everyone else had a customary seat, and the only vacant chair was at the other end of the table, where his pregnant wife had once sat. But life went on, and he tried not to give too much meaning to putting Miranda there, with a booster-seated chair for Ariana beside her.
He was both sorry and glad that she was so far away. There’d be no inadvertent or not-so-inadvertent brushes of hands as they passed food, or of elbows as they ate. Given how attracted he was to her, that was probably a good thing, with all the older generation eagle eyes watching.
When everyone was seated, they dished out the food, with the twins even accepting servings of veggies. As usual, there was an eclectic assortment: lasagna, a green bean and almond casserole, Waldorf salad, Miranda’s gougères, and the promised hot dogs.
They all dug in, and when he tasted the light, tasty cheese puffs, he told Miranda how great they were. Others echoed the compliment, and then his mother said, “Well, Miranda, I’d sure never have recognized you as that same high school student I taught. I must say, I do like the changes.”
To Luke, that sounded like a bit of a backhanded compliment, and maybe Miranda felt the same way because her chin came up and her eyes narrowed, but all she said was a calm “Thank you, Sonia.”
“What have you been doing in the years you’ve been off island?”
Luke saw tightness in Miranda’s shoulders, but she didn’t avoid the question. “Until I got pregnant, I was enjoying being single in Vancouver. Oh,” she hurried to add, “nothing too wild and crazy. But it’s a great city with so much to offer. Lots of places to walk, free events on the streets, art galleries and stores you can browse through, lots of music and theater. And of course a fantastic library. That was my favorite place.”
“What work did you do?” Annie asked.
Miranda turned to her. “Mostly I worked in retail or in restaurants. The salesclerk jobs usually had better hours but waitressing had better tips. Plus I’d often get a meal, and leftovers to bring home. That was especially important since I had Ariana.” She glanced back at Sonia. “I know that dropping out of high school wasn’t the brightest move. Aaron was always after me to get my GED, but I wasn’t motivated because no particular career appealed to me.”
She leaned toward her daughter and broke a chunk of lasagna into smaller, more manageable portions for her to spoon up.
“But now you do have your GED,” his mom said. “Luke tells me you’re taking courses online in early childhood education?”
“Yes. Last year, I realized that I needed a better job, one with regular hours and a regular paycheck, to provide properly for Ariana. And I’d learned from being with her, and with our sitter’s grandchildren, that I really love kids. I know daycare and preschool work doesn’t pay a lot, but I’d enjoy doing it. Besides, I’d be able to take Ariana to work with me until she’s ready for kindergarten.”
Luke smiled at her, glad she’d found a career direction that suited her. He only hoped that once she got her certificate, she’d look for a job on Destiny.
“Loving your job is more important than how much money you make,” Annie said.
Miranda straightened her shoulders and Luke could almost see her deliberating, and then she said evenly, “Sorry, but I disagree. The most important thing about a job is making enough to support your child.”
His smile widened. Points to her for having the guts to differ with his strong-minded mother-in-law.
Annie blinked. “You’re absolutely right. I of all people should have added that qualifier. I grew up poor. My parents always managed to keep us fed and clothed, but the clothes came from thrift shops and sometimes dinner was from a food bank.”
Luke knew that Annie still grabbed much of her clothing from the island’s thrift store but, thanks to Randall’s love of cooking, their meals verged on gourmet.
“I had no idea,” Miranda said.
“I was lucky. Neither of my parents are particularly bright, nor are my two siblings. But some genetic quirk made me a genius.” She stated it as a fact without a hint of arrogance. “I whipped through school, got scholarships, started developing video games. A couple of supportive professors helped me make the right connections and, almost overnight, I had more money than I or my family had a clue what to do with. So you see, I realize how much luck plays into things. I had the luck to be born brilliant.”
“And I had the luck to fall in love with Annie,” Randall said, “and have her fall in love with me.” He leaned toward his wife, clearly intending to kiss her cheek, but she intercepted the move and met his lips with hers. Chuckling, he said, “Yeah, I’m definitely lucky. But as I was saying, when I was a teen who wanted to be a photographer, research told me it was a tough way to make a living. As it happens, I’ve done okay, but Annie’s income took the pressure off my shoulders.”
Luke had considered himself the luckiest guy in the world to be Candace’s best friend, and then for the two of them to fall in love. But that luck had turned out to be a mixed blessing. Yes, he had two wonderful boys, and generous and supportive in-laws. But when you had loved so long and so well, it left such a hole in your life and your heart when you lost that person.
And now there was Miranda. Pretty and warmhearted and sexy, yet prickly and damaged. She wasn’t Candace. No one could replace Candace. But she was special in her own right, and she came with a bonus package: a little girl who made his heart lift each time she crowed a delighted “Luke!”
He was vaguely aware that his mom and Forbes were talking about how lucky they’d been to meet. Now, catching Miranda’s gaze on his face, he saw her raise her eyebrows in a question. Had she noticed that his mind had wandered?
She seemed attuned to him, or was that his imagination? He really wished now that, despite the curiosity of the older adults, the two of them were sitting closer. It would be so nice to touch her arm or rest his hand on her thigh. And why shouldn’t he? Everyone knew they were dating. Casual touches were normal when a couple was dating.
Dating. Yes, that’s what they were doing. He needed to remember, as he’d told his mom once, that he wasn’t auditioning Miranda for the role of wife. Not every dating relationship turned into a lifelong commitment. Yes, children were involved, but what was wrong with kids seeing their parents date? It would help them learn that there were different kinds of relationships, and that when ultimately you fell in love and married, that was something truly special.
He was so damned inexperienced. For a moment he resented the way he and Candace had bonded from the beginning. It had meant neither of them had ever dated anyone else.
“Daddy? Daddy!” It was Brandon, hollering at him.
“Sorry. What?”
“We want to be ’scused.”
“Please,” Caleb added.
They had cleaned their plates, including their vegetables and Miranda’s gougères. “You may be excused. We’ll call you when it’s time for dessert.” He gazed down the table to see how Ariana was doing. She seemed contented as she nibbled a hot dog. Miranda caught his eye and gave him a questioning “Is everything okay?” smile.
He nodded and smiled back, wondering if they should have a talk. What was she looking for with him? From what she’d said about past relationships, she either fell irrationally in love with a guy or she dated purely casually. Obviously, she wasn’t crazy in love with him, so she must think of this as casual. Yet she’d never involved Ariana in one of her casual relationships before.
He blew out a breath and stared down at his plate. Yeah, when it came to dating, he was way out of his depth. So for now, he’d eat and try not to worry about it.
* * *
Luke was so far away, down at the other end of the table, and Miranda almost felt like the people in between them—his parents to her left and his in-laws to her right—were a barrier guarding him from her. Not that the older people were being actively hostile, but comfortable wasn’t the word that best described how she felt at this dinner table.
Okay, fine, she’d known it wouldn’t be all warm, welcoming arms. Slowly she’d begun to win over Luke’s boys, and maybe she could do the same with the rest of his family.
“Annie,” she said, “I’d never played Clue-Tracer, but when Luke told me you’d created it, I had to give it a try. It’s amazing.”
“Yes, it is.”
Coming from anyone else, the comment would have sounded egotistical, but Miranda filtered it through the insight Luke had given her, that Annie’s bluntness wasn’t intended to be rude. “I know you’re a genius, but it amazes me that one mind can come up with something so imaginative, yet also so intricate and detailed. Creativity and logic don’t always go together.”
“That’s for sure,” Forbes said. “Thank God I have Sonia for the logic part.” He gave his wife a one-armed hug.
She rested her black-haired head on his shoulder. “And I’m grateful for your wonderful musical talent and your artistic creativity working with wood. They make my life so much richer.”
Miranda envied their easy affection and appreciation for each other. Was it possible that she and Luke might someday be like that? Realizing she was gazing at him with an unguarded expression that might well express longing, she looked quickly away and checked on her daughter. Ariana had stopped eating and was toying with what was left on her plate, muttering to herself. Miranda moved the plate away and took a napkin to her daughter’s smeared face.
Forbes went on. “My mom says that, even back before I can remember, I drove her crazy trying to make music with whatever was at hand.”
“Apparently,” Sonia said, “I was a born teacher. Before I even knew what a teacher was, I was making my dolls do the same things I was learning myself.” She laughed. “Guess I was born with the instinct to boss people around.”
“To instruct,” Annie corrected, clearly not getting the joke. “There’s a difference. As for childhood hobbies, yes, I was a nerd. Science, math, games, sci-fi books.”
“When I was a kid,” Randall said, “I was fascinated by the pictures my family took, and believe me, they took a lot. My uncle noticed my interest, and gave me a camera for my sixth birthday. Thereby sealing my fate.” He turned to Miranda. “How about you? As a child, did you have any hobbies that indicated you’d end up wanting to work with little kids?”
The man seemed well-intentioned, no doubt wanting to make sure she didn’t feel left out. But seriously, hobbies? If she told him her childhood obsession was having enough to eat, and her spare time was spent shoplifting, it wouldn’t go over well. This conversation only reinforced how different she was from these people. But she hunted for something to say, and came up with, “My biggest hobby was, and still is, reading. We got books from the library, and when I was tiny, Aaron read to me. He taught me, and I must’ve gone through hundreds of books. But no one’s going to pay me to read books—and if they did, that might take the fun out of it.”
“You could review books,” Annie said. “That would exercise your critical skills.”
“Which I’d bet is exactly what she doesn’t want to do,” Luke said. “For some of us, hobbies are supposed to be about pure relaxation. Right, Miranda?”
She sent a grateful look down the long table, wishing he was beside her and she could squeeze his hand. “Exactly.”
Ariana was wriggling. For once, Miranda was glad of the threat of a TTT. “I think it’s time for my little one to excuse herself. Her quota of good behavior is nearing its end.”
“Why don’t you take her into the playroom?” Luke suggested. “And while you’re there, make sure the boys aren’t destroying anything.” He glanced around the table, saying, “Everyone done? Let’s clean up, and get dessert going.” He smiled at Miranda. “We’ll be sure to call you when it’s ready.”
“I should help,” she protested.
“No need.”
“Or you could,” Sonia said, “and I’ll entertain your daughter in the playroom. Nothing against my wonderful grandsons, but it’s fun playing with a girl for a change.”
“That would be great. But if she gets too fussy, come and get me.”
“Gender is intriguing when it comes to child-rearing,” Annie said. “No matter how you try to avoid instilling any of the antiquated sexist views about gender roles, it’s almost impossible to prevent it. I think I’ll come with you.”
Barely managing to suppress an eye-roll, Miranda glanced at Luke. He made no effort to hide his amused grin.
It occurred to her that if she and Luke ever really got together, Ariana would have a very interesting upbringing with Sonia and Annie as grandmothers.
If. It was a gigantic “if ” for so many reasons, she thought as she watched Sonia bear Ariana away in her arms, with Annie right beside them. The two women were such a contrast, not only in personality but in appearance: Sonia with her sleek black hair and cherry-red top, and Annie looking as if she still frequented thrift shops and only went to the hairdresser if someone dragged her there.
This evening, being a guest at someone else’s family’s Sunday dinner, reminded her of the first days at SkySong. She’d felt like such an outsider, only there because of Aaron’s relationship with Eden. Now, after months of getting to know Eden and her family, she felt more comfortable, though always slightly removed. Here at Luke’s house, it was hard to believe she could ever belong.
Ariana could. Loving a child was easy, and Ariana was generous in returning affection. Miranda could imagine Luke’s parents and in-laws accepting her daughter into the fold. But when it came to an adult, an adult with her own unimpressive history and emotional baggage . . . No, it was almost impossible to imagine these people, who had loved the wonderful Candace so deeply, ever truly accepting Miranda.
Nor would they accept her if she sat staring at her empty plate, feeling sorry for herself. She sprang to her feet and began to gather dishes. If there was one thing she was good at, it was cleaning a kitchen.
She was in the middle of rinsing dishes and putting them into the dishwasher when a high-pitched shriek, distinctively her daughter’s, almost made her drop a plate. “Damn. A tantrum. I’ll go and—”
“Hang on a minute.” Randall, who’d been putting packaged leftovers in the fridge, stopped and held up a hand. “Annie’s good at dealing with tantrums.”
“Yeah, she gives the kid a lecture on why they’re not logical,” Forbes said.
When Miranda chuckled, Forbes said, “No, seriously. She does. And it usually works.”
Sure enough, in less than a minute the screaming ended. “I’m filing that trick away for future reference,” Miranda said, going back to the dishes.
Their team worked efficiently, and soon dessert was on the table. She went down the hall to the playroom and stopped in the doorway, surprised to see Ariana on the floor with the boys, playing with trucks, while Sonia and Annie sat on a brown leather couch, watching.
“How did you stop her tantrum?” she asked the women.
“It wasn’t us,” Sonia said. “It was Caleb. He offered her a truck.”
Ariana called out, “I play trucks, Mommy!”
“She likes to crash trucks,” Brandon said approvingly.
“Uh, that’s nice,” Miranda said. “Thanks for letting her play with you, boys.”
To the women, she added, “It seems my daughter has a savage streak. She and a friend’s little girl were knocking over toys playing Monster Bowling the other day.”
“Just because a child enjoys games that, on the surface, involve violence,” Annie started, “it doesn’t mean—”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Sonia said, “but did you come to tell us that dessert’s on the table, Miranda?”
“I did.”
The boys jumped up and raced down the hall, and Sonia said, “We don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”
Miranda collected Ariana, who was still happily smashing one truck into another, and everyone took their same seats at the table. Mostly she avoided giving Ariana sugar, especially in the evening, so she’d brought a plastic container of fruit salad. “You get a special dessert, sweetie,” she told her as she added a tiny portion of German chocolate cake.
Fortunately, her child bought it. “I special!”
As everyone else served themselves chocolate cake and strawberry cheesecake, Annie said, “Miranda, you can tell Di SkySong that she doesn’t need to worry about Starshine.”
“Starshine?” Sonia queried. “The girl who left the commune?”
“Correct. Now, I don’t know whether she did suffer abuse at the commune, but there’s a high probability that she did leave the island safely and is now living in Sedona, Arizona. Married, no children.”
“Good heavens,” Sonia said. “How did you find that out?”
Randall said, “It’s best not to inquire about her methods. Trust me on this.”
“Ha ha,” Annie said without humor. “Most people have no idea how much information is out there, and how accessible it is.”
“But you didn’t even know her name,” Miranda said.
“I knew what she looked like, so—”
“How?” Luke asked.
“I went to see Gertie Montgomery.”
Miranda gaped at her. She’d thought Eden was the tiniest bit obsessive about needing answers to unsolved puzzles, but Annie had her beat. Fascinated, she listened as Luke’s mother-in-law went on.
“In lucid moments, she told me about the girl’s distinctive white-blond hair, worn very long and parted in the middle as was the hippie style. I checked the Destiny Gazette archives, but had no luck. The hippies were reclusive and there were almost no pictures, and none with a girl of that description. However, I could estimate Starshine’s age, and the probability was that she was a runaway.”
She straightened her glasses and went on. “I had a time frame, as the commune only existed for around three years. Although not all runaways would have been reported, nor all records from that time period digitized, I found one young woman with that same distinctive hair color. Frida Larsson, from Washington. She did return home to her parents, but only briefly. She moved to Sedona and married some years later. Her name is now Frida Jones. There’s a high probability that she’s Starshine. I was going to contact her to verify, but Randall said that might be seen as intrusive.”
Miranda’s mouth had fallen open as she listened to Annie’s recital. Working on her crime-solving video game had clearly given her lots of resource tools, and Miranda had to wonder if all of them were strictly legal. She wasn’t about to ask.
“I’m sure Di and Seal will be happy to hear the news,” she said. And Eden would love to have the mystery solved. “And yes, I think it’s best to leave any follow-up to them.” If the two old hippies preferred not to revisit their commune days, Frida/Starshine might feel the same way. “By the way, Annie, did you find any trace of Merlin?”
“No. I admit to failure there. I’m quite sure he was Otto Kruger, but I can’t find a trace of him after the commune days.”
“Poof, he vanished like magic,” Forbes said. “As befits his name.”
“Of course he didn’t,” Annie said. “I believe he must have died at the commune.”
“What?” Miranda’s shocked question was echoed all around the table.
“It’s the only logical conclusion. Otherwise, my research would have located him. I’m very skilled.”
“I’d tend to believe her,” Randall said.
“But,” Luke said, a frown tugging at his handsome features, “how could he have died and none of the commune members known about it?”
“Of course someone knew about it,” Annie said. “The first possibility is that he died of an overdose or natural causes, and some or all of them disposed of his body. Which they well might do because as I said the commune members were reclusive.”
“I knew Merlin,” Forbes said. “Only briefly, because I didn’t like him and I left the commune. But I believe he would have preferred a nature-oriented spiritual ceremony. Not the formalities society would impose.”
“But his family should have been notified,” Sonia said.
“A number of hippies had cut ties with their families,” her husband pointed out. “That seemed to be the case with Merlin. Otto Kruger. Whatever.”
She shook her head, clearly having trouble relating to that.
“Annie,” Luke said, “if that’s the first possibility, what’s the second?”
“That he was killed and his killer disposed of his body and no one else knew, or a group of them were in on either the murder and/or the disposal.” She frowned around the table. “Why do you all look so stunned?”
Miranda felt like her eyes had widened so far that they might pop out of her head. Luke looked equally shocked as he exchanged glances with her.
“Uh, because we are,” Randall said. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I was going to, but I got caught up in developing my new commune game and forgot until now.” She turned to Miranda. “You’ll tell Di and Seal?”
“And Eden and Aaron. They’re interested in the mystery, too.”
“What do we do now?” Sonia said. “If there was a death at the commune, should we report it to the police?”
“Technically, yes,” Annie said, “but what’s the point? Otto Kruger has no living relatives except extremely distant ones, and they’ve believed him to be dead all these years anyhow.”
“Isn’t justice the point?” Sonia asked.
“If a few hippies buried or cremated a body in a spiritual ceremony and didn’t notify the authorities,” Forbes said, “I don’t see that as a huge crime. But if it was murder . . .” He turned to look at Miranda.
She realized that the other adults’ eyes were on her, while the children, in happy oblivion, ate their dessert. “Di and Seal,” she said slowly, realizing what everyone was thinking. The couple weren’t her relatives, and yet she felt defensive on their behalf. “They told Eden that Merlin disappeared. They didn’t know anything more than that.” She glanced around. “You all know them. They have integrity, right?”
“I did say that only one person or a few people might have been involved,” Annie said.
“They have integrity,” Forbes said, measuring out his words. “But they have that same thing I do, and a number of other Destiny Islanders. We aren’t fans of many of society’s rules. We’ve learned to get along in our fashion, not rock the boat too much, but back in the sixties and seventies we were really antiestablishment and we made more waves. We protested, marched, and practiced civil disobedience.”
“What are you saying?” Miranda asked.
“Di and Seal never opted into the institution of marriage, right?”
“No, they did a personal thing, a commitment ceremony.” She’d seen pictures of the two of them, young and beautiful with their long hair and glowing faces. “You’re saying that if someone died . . .”
“If someone who chose to live on—to lead—a commune died, wouldn’t it be the moral act to honor him with a spiritual ritual at that commune? Not to turn his body over to the establishment to deal with in its coldhearted fashion?”
Di and Seal would no doubt still prefer it. She nodded. “And if that happened, then the commune members would have a pact of silence, so none of them got in trouble.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Forbes said.
She was just coming to terms with that, understanding that it wasn’t such a bad thing, when Annie said, “Or of course, as I said, maybe someone killed Merlin.”