Page 39 of Mornings By the Linden Tree
“Can we have milk while we talk? My throat is terrible dry.” She placed her hand on her neck in grand dame fashion. I had to snicker.
“We can have milk.” This promised to be one long talk with at least a thousand questions. Perhaps it would have been best to simply give Lennon a flower and announce our boyfriend-ship like that presumptuous toucan had. If only life were as easy as cartoons. Anvils falling on coyotes aside, of course.
Chapter Fourteen
Returning to Boston was both a curse and a blessing.
Work was the curse. I had two cases that were pulling at me from two very different emotional angles. Neither was going well. The Jones case was beyond frustrating. The parties were refusing to meet in the middle on anything. Tessa and Wilton Jones were at each other’s throats. Literally. The police had been called in over the Fourth on a domestic situation at a party in Wellesley where both the Joneses had devolved into spitting cats. They’d both been drunk, of course, and now were sitting in their respective homes demanding their lawyers—one of which was me—do something. We were trying, but since neither would budge, our hands were rather tied. And then there was the city councilman’s wife who had phoned a few weeks ago. She had never reached out again for a consultation, which was worrisome, but until she did, we could do little. Rissa was especially anxious as she had once dated a controlling man. We both were keeping an eye on the news, but nothing had been mentioned about them, so we had to assume all was well for nowand the woman was safe. Real lawyer life was not like what one saw onMatlock, where every case was neatly tied up in an hour.
The blessings of returning to Boston were twofold. One was that we got to meet with Dr. Bajaj to start working on the bad bed issue. He was quite pleased with how I had handled it when it had happened but felt we could go further to assure her that sleeping in a bed was quite safe. I felt that might be rather a bold statement since none of us knew when or how we would leave this mortal plane. I could expire in my sleep tonight, but as I was learning, brutal honesty was not always the way to handle fears. So we were going to start small and simple. Calm bedtime routine following a warm bath, reading gentle stories, using a nightlight, and sleeping with one favorite stuffed animal. When she would say she was scared the bed would kill me, I was to explain it was unlikely to happen as I was very healthy and young. Ish. We, for Lennon was with us more and more at night, were to validate and address the fear, reassure, and then begin to encourage independence by staying with her for a short time. Also, and this was key, she must be put to bed in her bed while giving her lots of positive affirmations.
So far, the night terrors had not stopped, but we did have one night where they were minimal, and I managed to get her to stay in her bed while we rode out the worst. Then she and I both dozed off for five hours. Five. Whole. Hours. At night. In her bed. When I woke up to Mrs. Polkowski humming while running her beloved Swiffer over the handrail leading to the second floor, I nearly wept in joy.
The second part of that twofold blessing was Lennon. He was now in my home more than his part-time hours as a nanny called for. We had dinners together, watched movies, made cookies, and cuddled on the sofa. I’d not yet worked up the courage to ask him to stay the night for a plethora of reasons. Each worry was a fear-based little gherkin pickling in the vat ofdread brine that was my past. Yes, I should speak to someone about it. I knew that. But right now, Valeria was the important one to get settled. Once her sleep patterns were better, I might broach a solo appointment with Dr. Bajaj. With both of our shoes on as a major stipulation to any session. My yearning for Lennon had not lessened one iota. If anything, they were growing stronger with each passing day. Nothing pleased me more than coming home from the law office after trying to make Wilton Jones budge just a millimeter to find Valeria and Lennon rushing to meet me in the foyer. Odd how I’d spent years thinking that entering my silent, dark home was the epitome of joy.
Amazing how two loving souls could pull a cranky turd like me from the shadows of life into the colors of the world.
Case in point. Seated on a blanket under a now very familiar linden tree, I clapped along to a song about a frog with a new baseball cap. It was an original song Lennon had created, lyrics and music, and the gathered parents and kids adored it. Even my toes were tapping. The park was filled with people as July rolled on at breakneck speed. Valeria was upset her friend Penny wasn’t here to sing along with her, but they were on vacation in Maine for a month. Rissa and her son had come to hear Lennon in Mona and Penny’s stead, and so Valeria was now acting out the role of a big sister to little two-year-old Chandler.
“So I know we were not to discuss work on Saturday,” Rissa said while Valeria helped Chandler remove his shoes. Her sneakers were tossed to the side of the blanket, her white socks as grass-stained as her cute pink jumper. Truly, I did not know why I tried to dress her up when we left the house. It would be easier to let her run about in a turnip sack.
“Or Sunday,” I reminded my paralegal as Lennon bounced about like a frog. The young man was quite nimble.
“Yes, of course. But I heard from Clarissa Lymon this morning.” My sight left my handsome lover and flew to Rissa. She nodded. “I know. I was shocked. She called my private number, which I had given her, on a landline from some friend’s place on Long Island.”
I sat up a little straighter. “How is she? Does she wish to come in to speak to us?”
“She said she was fine. She’s with her sister and they do wish to talk to us.”
A wave of relief washed over me. “I am glad to hear she’s safe with her sister. Set her up for a consult at her earliest convenience.”
“I already did.” Rissa winked at me. The woman was amazing. I would be lost without her. “Wednesday at two, so you may have to work later on Wednesday than you normally do.” I nodded. Wednesday was a half day, but I would stay in the office to speak with Mrs. Lymon, obviously. “Also, my background check cleared, and I spoke to your case worker at children’s services. Lovely young woman. She gave me permission to take Valeria to the Lego Discovery Center with Chandler this afternoon.”
I blinked at her in surprise. “You’ve been quite busy.”
“I am always busy. Remember that when the Christmas bonuses are handed out.”
“Oh, I shall. But you do not have to take Valeria with you on your outing with Chandler. I’m perfectly fine taking her to the swan boats or out for ice cream or—”
“Look.” Rissa sat up straight, leveled dark brown eyes at me, and spoke to me as if she were speaking to her son. The same boy who was chewing on his sandal. “I know you can handle it. You’ve been handling it, and amazingly well. We’re all super impressed. But you also have to take care of you. No, let me finish.” I bit back my rebuttal. “You and Lennon are a hot item. Nope, don’t deny it. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. Andhot items need to be given some flame or they become mildly warm items before they grow cold and moldy.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Are you insinuating my previous gentlemen callers were cold and moldy?”
“Yes, I am not only insinuating that I am saying it to your face. And while I get it that you never let anyone get close for reasons that are probably linked to something in your childhood like most of us, this man here is one you should not let walk away. So, once the show here is over, the kids and I are going to see some Lego stuff and you’re going to take that sexy singer by the hand, lead him to that fancy ass home of yours, and then toss him into your bed where I hope you ravish him. Or he ravishes you. Or you mutually ravish each other.”
“So much ravishing.”
“Oh yeah, oodles of ravishing. We’ll be gone for four or five hours. Get your freak on.” With that, she clapped madly at the end of the frog song. People rose to leave, gathering blankets and strollers and wandering children.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Rissa, then reached out to lead Valeria back to the blanket. “Sit down, please. We need to get your shoes on.”
“I can do it.” She plopped down beside me, her long hair already breaking free from the thick ponytail I’d gathered it into before leaving the house. “You watch. Say it with me, Uncle Wes.”
She began looping the strings, tongue caught in her teeth, as I joined her in the old rhyme. “Bunny ears, bunny ears, playing by a tree. Crisscrossed the tree trying to catch me. Bunny ears, bunny ears, jumped in a hole. Popped out the other side, beautiful and bold.”
She beamed at me over a tiny shoe that was sloppily tied. “I did it!”
“You did!” I exclaimed with pride. I hugged her quickly, and we worked on the left foot. That one didn’t go as smoothly. Still, it was a success for her. “So, I have to tell you something. I know we said Lennon and I would take you out in a swan boat and then we’d go to the market for a late lunch, but Rissa asked if you would like to go with her and Chandler to the Lego Discovery Center. Now I know you dislike changing plans, so if you don’t want—”
