Page 34 of Unwanted Vows

He sits in the chair.

“Tea? Coffee? Milk?” Madeline asks, cool as if she does not suspect him of being behind the kidnapping, as if she had not fled across the continent to get away from him. The courage of her! My admiration is growing by the minute. I want to kick everyone out and show her just how much I had missed her, and to share the fantasies that have filled all those lonely nights.

“Milk,” he says. “I think my ulcer is acting up.”

Grandfather was always the family ogre, giving with one hand and taking away with the other. I have no great love for him, but as I watch him slowly sip his glass of milk, I see something I’d not expected.

My grandfather is dying, and he is terrified of what is to come. And perhaps equally frightened by what his death might let loose.

The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Austin says from the living room.

Mrs. Quinn is here. It is showtime.

DINNER AND A PROPOSITION

MADDY

Mimi Quinn set a beautiful table. She buzzes around my tiny kitchen like a happy bee preparing to feed everyone royal jelly.

I watch as she charms the cantankerousness out of Mr. Aims, soothes Andrew’s ruffled feathers, and adroitly sends Paul off to eat in the other room while “you watch this amazing movie I found for you.”

I’d take notes, but I’m not sure I can discover her method.

When everyone sits back from the table, they are replete, and ready to talk sense instead of bristling at each other like a flock of turkey cocks ready to do battle.

Charles, who had arrived shortly after Mimi Quinn, says, “I have my own physician here, Mr. Aims. She can’t do a full diagnostic without a lab, but with your permission, she’ll give a preliminary check-up.” He had also brought Kate, Cece and Isabel. The children head off to Paul’s room to watch the movie Mimi Quinn had brought. The baby had been left at home with a family friend.

“What’s to check?” the old man grumbles. “I’m a dying man.”

The physician, a petite woman with a winsome smile and a no-nonsense manner, says, “Perhaps. But then again, perhaps not. Why don’t you let me make my own determination?”

“Why can’t my grandson do it?” Aims grumbles. “He’s a doctor, isn’t he?”

“A fully qualified physician,” the petite physician says, deploying a winsome professional smile. “He will oversee the exam, as will your own nurse. Your nurse has brought your medical records? There will be no chance at all for any sort of malpractice.”

“I should hope not,” he growls.

“I’ve sent the children to play in Paul’s room,” I put in. “You can use Andrew’s room as the exam room, if it is all right with him.” I could have put them in the spare room, but I didn’t want to let Mr. Aims know that there was such a thing.

“Separate bedrooms?” Aims sneers. “How modern of you.”

“We are getting to know each other,” Andrew put in smoothly. “And we often work different shifts. With four bedrooms in the house, there is no reason not to have a retreat for each of us. My room will be fine, Maddy, since the spare room is piled full of storage boxes.”

“Fiddlesticks,” his grandfather said. But he did not protest further when the petite physician, Andrew, and his nurse ushered him into the small bedroom and closed the door behind them.

That leaves me, Kate, Rylie, and Mimi to make small talk while we clean up after dinner.

Kate loads the dishwasher. She gives a little laugh. “This reminds me of when I was working for Charles as Cece’s nanny.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“I forgot the crystal wine glasses until I had already loaded and started the dishwasher. It turned out that it was a good thing because you don’t place fine crystal in a household dishwasher.”

“Dear me!” I exclaim. “How serendipitous that you forgot them.”

She flashes me a sweet smile. “Indeed it was. There was so much I needed to learn quickly in Charles’ penthouse. I was just a farm girl, who worked in a childcare facility. I knew about sorting laundry, taking care of children and pets, but I was clueless about all the automated features and fine items he had in his penthouse.”

“I do seem to remember that there were things in the dorm that you needed to have explained,” I recalled.

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