Chapter 29
Hannah crept up the first set of stairs, wincing as the second from the top creaked loudly. On tiptoes, she inched past Josie's closed door, pausing for a moment to crane her neck and listen.
Nothing.
Onward and upward she went to the third floor, creeping around hers and Justin's bedroom, quickly throwing changes of clothes, extra shoes and toiletries in a large bag. If she was lucky, she'd be out of the house before Josie and Travis noticed her. No need to embarrass the couple without cause. Later, she could chat with Josie about more appropriate places to seduce the love of her life. Namely, not in her parents' house.
It was just weird.
But as she inched her way downstairs and came abreast of Josie's door again, it swung open. Hannah froze.
"Mom," Josie said nervously.
Hannah pasted on a pleasant, good-morning smile and turned to face her oldest daughter. "Sorry, I tried to be quiet."
A quick peek into the room behind Josie showcased blankets and pillows all over the floor and Travis sitting on the edge of the bed tying his shoes. Thankfully, they were both completely dressed, but by the state of their clothes and their hair and the room, it must have been a wild night.
Josie glanced over her shoulder, brightened to a vibrant pink, and hastily closed the door again. She stepped across the landing toward Hannah. "Nothing happened, I swear."
Hannah smiled tenderly. "I wasn't going to ask."
"We watched movies all night," Josie added.
"Sounds like fun," Hannah said casually, switching the overnight bag to her other hand. "Your father and I are joining Kim and everyone at the lake. We'll be back on Friday. I'd ask if you'd like to come with us, but--"
The door opened and Travis stood there, a faint pink to his cheeks as well. Hannah smiled at him. "Good morning, Travis."
He flattened his hair with a hasty palm and said, "Good morning, Ms. Hannah. This isn't what it looks like."
"Looks like you were watching movies all night," Hannah said cordially.
"Yes, ma'am," he said, and Hannah glanced between the two. Guilt swamped their faces, but...
But Hannah had no reason not to believe them. Josie, she knew, was sneaky at times, but always honest. If Josie said they watched movies all night... Eh, stranger things have happened.
"Where's, uh, Daddy?" Josie asked, peeking toward the attic stairs.
"He's out in the truck," Hannah said. "He's very aware of his limits right now, and he’s trying to be understanding about...about all this, but since I enforce this rule with your brother and sisters, I must do the same with you and suggest next time you two decide to have a sleep-over under our roof, you either ask permission ahead of time...or have a ring on your finger. Deal?”
Hannah saw Josie blush rosier than before, and Travis swallowed.
“Yes, ma’am,” Josie whispered, and that surprised Hannah. Josie only pulled out the Yes, Ma’am when she knew she’d done something very wrong. Yet, the only thing out of sorts here was the fact that they showed a smidgen of disrespect by “sleeping” together in this house. Hell, they were adults, they could sleep together all they wanted, but this was her house. Ask...or commit. It was simple.
But Hannah empathized with them. It wasn’t too long ago she and Justin shared a night together under his parents’ noses without being engaged or married. Technically, it was in that tree house and not in the house, she reminded herself, but the idea was the same. And as a parent, she'd learned, she had to keep her standards high...even for her twenty-five-year old stepdaughter.
Taking a deep breath, Hannah looked both of them in the eye. “Now, I never wanted to be that mother who’s always preaching and nagging, so I’ll just say this one time and hope it sticks. Josie...what I told you yesterday is still true. I don’t feel like I need to repeat it?”
Josie shook her head.
Hannah looked at Travis next. “And as for you…you are both adults -- mature, responsible and old enough to know exactly what you’re doing. God forbid I have to give you the sex talk. That being said, just remember that my daughter here…” She hugged Josie around the shoulders with affection. “...is not the kind of girl who would ever let herself get taken for a ride. So, if she tells you to park your car and let her out...you’d better park your damn car and let her out. Understand?”
Travis nodded quickly, paling so that the pink stain on his cheeks stood out. He actually looked more scared now -- of her -- than Hannah had ever seen from him when Justin talked to him. Interesting. It kind of gave her a tickle.
"Good," Hannah said, kissing Josie's cheek and reaching up to plant one on Travis' cheek as well. "Enjoy yourselves. Behave. And we'll be back on Friday. Josie, please check on your grandmother while we're gone." She moved down the stairs to the front door. "She said she wanted to be alone, but we worry, you know."
Josie followed Hannah down, whereas Travis stayed glued to Josie's door.
"Hannah...". Josie said quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't think, and..."
"It's okay, honey," Hannah told her. "Your dad and I weren't saints when we started seeing each other. I just had to put in my motherly two-cents, you know. Makes me feel giddy."
Josie smiled. "Thanks, Mom. I love your two-cents. I even like your nickels."
Hannah chuckled and scooted out the door. She hopped into her husband's truck, plopping the bag on the floorboard under her feet. She buckled her seat belt. Then she looked at everyone looking at her.
"What?"
"Well? What happened?" Justin asked. "We could see you talking to Josie through the window."
"Oh...they stayed up all night watching movies." She dug through her purse for some ChapStick, feeling Luke's and Lauren's stares on the back of her head.
Justin glanced back toward the house. "Movies?"
"Yup."
"Movies?" Justin asked again.
"And you believed that?" Luke asked.
Hannah gazed into Justin's eyes. "Josie said they stayed up all night watching movies and she's sorry she had a guest over without asking first."
Luke snorted...then grunted when Lauren jabbed him in the ribs.
Justin and Hannah stared at each other. "What did he say?"
"He said good morning and yes ma'am."
"Movies?" Justin clarified.
"Yes...movies," Hannah repeated, seeing the trust blooming in Justin's eyes. He'd never been blinded by Josie's ways -- though there were times he wished he could be -- so he always knew when and why to rely on his daughter’s words. This was one of those times.
"Okay," Justin said with an exhale. He started the truck and pulled away from the curb. No one mentioned it again, but Hannah felt Lauren’s and Luke's dubious expressions.
They didn't understand.
Josie had been well schooled in deception, dishonesty and duplicity since she'd been a little girl, all thanks to her biological mother and Justin's first wife. And that was every reason Josie needed to not be that way. She said they watched movies...they watched movies, dadgummit.
*****
Josie went back upstairs to find Travis attempting to arrange pillows on her bed and spread out her blanket. It was crooked, and she noticed that his hands were shaking. “You okay there?” she asked him.
“I’m fine,” he said, tugging on the corner of the blanket, but all he managed to do was pull the pillows off the bed again and wrinkle the sheets. “I hate making beds.”
He picked up the two pillows on the floor, tossed them back to the headboard. One rolled over and fell off the other side. Travis made a fist and stomped around to get it.
Josie saw a lot of tension in his face. She crawled over the expanse of the mattress and looked right into his eyes. “Travis...it’s fine.”
“How do you like your pillows? Stacked or sitting up, or--”
“Travis...it’s fine,” she repeated and took the pillow away from him. “It’s just a bed.”
“It’s not just a bed,” he said in a voice almost loud enough to be a shout. “She’s thinks we...we…”
“Hannah thinks nothing of the sort,” Josie said. “She knows I was telling the truth. And this isn’t about the bed. What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
“I’ve seen you like this twice in the last month,” Josie said. “Once right before I volunteered to sing in your concert, and again at the wedding. You’re upset, and I’d like to know why.”
He stared at her for a moment. “It’s nothing,” he said again and walked around the bed toward the door. “I should go. Livie wants to head back early, and…”
Josie scrambled off the mattress and rushed to put herself in front of the door. “Oh, no you don’t,” she told him, a tad bit angry that he wouldn’t talk to her. “Don’t shut me out, Travis. Not after last night. I will not let you backstep this. We said we were going to try to make this work between us, but you don’t get to run and hide whenever you get uncomfortable. Tell me what's wrong.”
His throat convulsed as he swallowed thickly. “I don’t...I can’t…” Then he sighed and dropped his forehead to hers. “You’re right. I can’t run every time I get uncomfortable. It’s just that...I’ve never been scolded by a mother before. It felt...weird.”
Josie raised an eyebrow. “If you think that was a scolding...oh, dear. You’ve never seen Hannah’s temper before, have you?”
“It’s wasn’t that she was mad--”
“She wasn’t mad,” Josie clarified. “She was just reminding me of the rules.”
“And that’s the thing,” he said, shuffling backward to sit heavily on the edge of her bed. His hands fell between his knees as he stared at the floor. “Rules. Your parents have rules, and you obey them. The only rule my mother had was for me to stay out of her hair, especially when she had company over. Jesus, I’m thirty-one, and I felt like I was five years old again.” He gave a short laugh as Josie curled up next to him. “Hell, I didn’t feel like then when I was five.”
Josie smiled. “I know what you mean. It took some getting used to for me as well. All I had before Hannah was Beth, and she was one of those Leave Me Alone mothers. It’s the love that makes a difference. Even when Hannah is on fire and blistering my ears, I can still feel and hear the love in her.”
“Love,” he said faintly. He turned his head to look tenderly at her. “Will you be like that? As a mother?”
Josie gazed back...carefully. “I pray that I will,” she said.
His brown eyes scrutinized her for an eternity. There was so much emotion there, turmoil, uncertainty, need, and a little boy’s thirst for someone to love him. Travis brought his hand up to cup her jaw, lowering his face until their noses brushed, and he whispered, “Josie...save me.”
Josie closed her eyes. “I’m trying to,” she said quietly.
His other hand framed her face, and he kissed her softly on the lips. Then he said, “I’m sorry,” as his breath warmed her mouth, and he kissed her again. “I’m sorry for being a jerk to you.” Another kiss. “I’m sorry for using Tristan as an excuse.” Again...his lips melded with hers. Josie rose up on her knees to get closer to him...to put her arms around his neck...to kiss him back. “I’m sorry for ever doubting you…”
Josie had just about crawled into his lap when he pulled away for the last time. His fingers threaded through her hair as brown eyes met green, and he smiled. “And I’m sorry I do have to go. I’ll see you when I get back?”
“You know where to find me,” she said, regretting the absence of his lips already. He kissed her one last time and stood up, digging his keys from his pocket.
“I’ll walk you out,” she said, standing up, too. But he shook his head with a grin.
“If you do, I’ll just end up kissing you again, and by the time I do get out of here, Livie will be furious for me making her wait around in a hotel lobby.”
Josie laughed at that. “Okay...call me?”
“Every night,” he said, moving slowly toward her door.
“Don’t forget my seashell,” she reminded him as he turned the door knob and stood there, obviously debating on whether he should go.
“I won’t,” he said, gazing back at her. Then he heaved a sigh and walked out of her room, down the stairs and to his truck. Josie moved over to the window to watch him leave. Then she said, “Oh! He forgot his record!”
But Travis was already gone.
Well… Josie thought for a moment. If he decides, while they were separated, to put more space between them, she’d just have to use Bob Dylan as a lure to get him right back.
*****
By Friday night, Josie was back home in Memphis, hauling boxes of her past up to her apartment...and one very heavy brass bed, a section at a time. Hannah said it was hers if she wanted it, and Josie wasn't about to argue. The bed frame she owned now was merely a cheap, yard-sale find, and she was only too happy to get rid of it.
Fortunately, her great-grandparents built things to last over decades of use, so this bed will stay with her until she could pass it along to her children, but unfortunately, long-lasting meant heavy. Freaking gargantuan heavy. She managed to get the side rails and foot rail upstairs before her energy wore out. There, she stood, in the parking garage under her building, staring into the small trailer attached to the back of her car, with her hands on her hips.
The head rail.
Four feet across, four feet tall, made up of two-inch thick brass pipes framing an intricate swirling design of more, though smaller, rails. And it weighed over fifty pounds.
I should have brought Daddy's furniture dolly...or Daddy.
"Need some help?"
Josie whirled around, knowing that voice. "Travis! And Tristan!"
"Shosie home!" Tristan yelled and scrambled out of his father's grasp. He ran to her, launching himself into her arms, and Josie laughed as she hugged him tightly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked Travis over the boy's head. "You just called me an hour ago."
Travis smiled and stood with his beautiful, musician fingers curled around his hips. "He needed to see you before we left. Surprise."
Josie kissed Tristan's forehead and said, "I needed to see you, too."
Tristan took her face between his tiny hands, and with a serious expression, said, "I sorry Gran'pa die. Shosie not be sad. Jesus take care of Gran'pa. He be happy."
"Ohh... Thank you, Tristan,"she told him as her eyes began to water. "Grandpa will be very happy with Jesus." She raised an inquiring gaze up to his father.
Travis said, "He's been asking a lot of questions. I answered them the best I could."
"You did a great job," Josie said. "How did you two get down here? Security is tight in the garage."
Travis now grinned. "Women are suckers for a man with a little kid. Tristan there beamed his big brown eyes, and Maggie was mush."
"Maggie?"
"The lady in the security booth," Travis said.
"The parking pass Nazi?" Josie asked, amazed.
"She's nice," Travis said. "We explained the situation, and she let us in."
Tristan smiled at Josie. "Maggie give me bubble gum. But Daddy say I swallow it. She give me lo'ipop next. Want it?"
And he dug a bent-stick sucker from his pocket, unwrapped and covered in sand and lint. "It bananya. Yuck! Daddy say I be nice and say thank you. I say thank you and Daddy give me 'nother lo'ipop later."
Josie took the sucker with gratitude and said, "I happen to love banana." Then she stuck it in her mouth, without making a face...although Travis and Tristan both gave her twin looks of disgust, but for two different reasons. Josie just smiled as she worked the lint off with her tongue. Then she spat it out in her hand and said, "You want this back?"
Tristan stuck his tongue out and said, "Yuck!"
Travis chuckled. "That's the grossest and bravest thing I've ever been unlucky to witness." He moved over to her trailer. "I see you got the bed." His eyes glowed as he turned back to her.
"I did," she said, smiling with interest at that glow. "Want to share...?" He cocked an eyebrow, and she playfully finished with, "...The burden of getting it upstairs?"
His eyes swept her body, coming back up to connect with hers. "A royal decree from the Princess?"
"Maybe," she laughed.
He cracked his knuckles and replied, "I'll tell you what, Princess Shosie...you handle the wiggler there and I'll get the bed."
Josie picked up Tristan, loving the way his arms and legs curled comfortably around her waist. She said, "You got it, Big Daddy."
"I told you not to call me that." He grinned and winked at her as he effortlessly slid the bedframe from the trailer, hefting it between outstretched arms. His biceps and shoulders were well-defined through the soft cotton of his shirt, and Josie sucked in a silent breath.
Oh...heavens...he's delicious...
"Lead the way, Princess," Travis said. She quickly locked the trailer while juggling Tristan and headed toward the freight elevator.
"El'vator! El'vator!" Tristan called with glee, clapping his hands and asking to push the button-- sorry...buttons.
"Good thing I'm only on the second floor," she said as the doors closed
Though the compartment was large enough fit all three of them, plus the bed frame, and probably a couch or two if stood upright...the way Travis entered the elevator behind her, crowding up next to her so that their shoulders touched and their faces were barely a foot apart when he turned his to smile at her...
She got a funny feeling that he did that on purpose.
"Got enough room?" he asked her.
"I squished!" Tristan said, wiggling in her arms.
Josie gave Travis a pointed smirk.
His shoulder nudged her gently. "How about you? Squished?"
That glow in his eyes came back. Josie licked her lips -- I've created a monster -- and said, "I'm great."
"Me, too," Travis replied...silk in his voice. The doors opened on her floor. He winked at her and edged the bed frame into the corridor and down toward her apartment.
Who's teasing who now?
"Wanna get the door, Princess Shosie?" he said over his shoulder.
"Oh...right. Hang on," she said, putting Tristan down to dig her keys out of her pocket. "If you can get it to the bedroom, that would be great."
"I'm sure I remember the way," he murmured. Tristan grabbed ahold of a rail as his father passed by, saying, "I ride! I ride!"
"Well..." Travis smiled down at him. "I guess you can. Hop on -- Oomph!"
The head rail dropped within his grasp, the feet hitting the floor, when Trist scrambled like a monkey on the brass spokes.
"You're getting heavy, Little Man," Travis said.
"Maybe I should help you," Josie offered, wrapping her fingers around an end rail.
Travis grunted, picking up brass and boy together. "I've got it," he growled out through clenched teeth and strained muscles.
"You sure?"
"Yup."
Josie stepped back and watched him struggle the distance to her bedroom door, around the corner, to where the rest of the bed pieces stood propped against her closet doors. Travis heaved in a breath. He gently put down the railing, waiting for Tristan to scoot out of the way.
Josie leaned against her dresser. "You feel like a bigger man now?"
He rubbed his shoulders. "I feel like I might have ripped something."
"I tried to help," she said, moving over to prod her fingers around the tense muscles of his shoulders. "You go around, carrying the weight of old beds and little boys by yourself, and this is what happens. You get hurt."
He gaze down at her over the dull gleam of the brass frame while she massaged his sore muscles, and Tristan scampered away to peek into boxes. "That sounded suspiciously like a metaphor," Travis replied. "Kind of like...’I've made my bed; now I must lie in it.’"
"Technically, this is my bed," Josie said, patting the rail. "But I'm willing to share."
"And I'm tempted," he said in a low voice not meant to be overheard by little boys. But Tristan had found something to entrance him, and he stood over one of her recently transported boxes, saying, "Ooh...pretty."
Josie shot an impish grin at the father and went to see what Trist had found. "Oh! My owl collection," she said, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"Ow'?"
"Yes...owls. Want to play with them?"
"Play with ow'?" he clarified.
"Sure." Josie opened the box flaps, and pulled out owl after owl of various sizes and materials. Some were stuffed, some were porcelain or glass, some were plastic or wooden. And many were brightly colored, which must have been what caught Little Man’s eyes.
Travis leaned over her head and whistled. “That's a lot of owls.”
Josie sighed as she arranged them in front of Tristan, not really concerned if he should break some of the fragile ones. “I know. I went through a stage when I was fifteen. The problem with collection stages is that even when I moved on to another, people kept giving me owls. I still get one every year at Christmas from Chad in Georgia."
An echoey thickness came from the space and man behind her. "Chad?"
Josie smiled softly to herself while Tristan picked up a bright red owl and examined it. “Daddy's office manager at the Savannah location,” she said casually. “He used to work for Hannah at her store, but Daddy stole him.”
“How, uh...how old is Chad?”
She shrugged. “I don't know...maybe ten years older than me. Maybe a little more.” She grinned up at him. “Jealous?”
“Not sure yet..when was the last time you saw him?”
“Ummm...last year...right after his wife gave birth to their third child.”
Another thick silence followed, and then he said, “You do these things on purpose don't you?”
“And you’re surprised?”
“Hmm,” he said and turned away to take her bedding off her previous bed. His shoulders were stiff with his movements, and Josie knew it wasn’t because he carried the brass frame upstairs. Maybe I went too far this time… This new relationship was still fragile...easily broken.
With Tristan occupied with the owls, she stood up and went over to Travis. “Hey,” she said softly, laying a hand on his back. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” He snapped the blanket in his hands, folding it awkwardly and laying it down on the floor with the pillows. “You like to tease me. I know this about you.” He sounded mad.
And Josie felt worse. “Then stop putting up with it,” she said, faint emotion in her voice.
He sighed and his shoulders slumped. Then he turned to her with a small smile. His hand gently touched her cheek. “And where would the fun be in that?”
“It’s not any fun if it upsets you,” she said.
His feet shuffled as he moved closer to her. He looked like he might kiss her, but he stopped when Tristan let out a loud Whoop! and started flying his red owl around the room. Travis’ hand fell to his side.
“I haven’t told him yet,” Travis whispered to Josie. “About us. I don’t know how without getting another Mommy Shosie moment.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Josie replied. She looked at the stack of bedding. “What, exactly, are you doing, by the way?”
He blinked in the direction of her gaze. “I’m...I’m putting your bed up. Is that okay?”
“Oh,” she said. “I had actually thought to tackle that chore tomorrow.”
“You don’t want it tonight?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s already so late, and…”
“And...? Do you want your sheets folded up, too, or in the wash?”
“You don’t have to make my bed,” she said, remembering a similar conversation of theirs that led to a very interesting few moments on his own bedroom floor.
He, obviously, remembered that afternoon, too, because he smiled wickedly at her and said, “I promise not to kick you into your dresser.”
Josie had the grace to blush with shame. “Did I ever apologize for that?”
“Yeah, you did...and more,” he said, his eyes moving slowly down her face to her lips. “Now...do you want to help, or corral the monkey?”
“I’ll corral the monkey,” she said. “It seems like a safer bet right now.”
“Good choice,” he told her and started to strip her sheets before flipping her mattress off the bed frame to lean against a wall. Thank goodness she didn't have anything personal hidden under her pillows or between the mattresses...that would have been embarrassing.
Josie went back to Tristan and played with the boy and the owls until Travis asked, “Do you have a socket set?”
“Look under the kitchen sink,” she said, lining up owls according to size, only to discover that Tristan preferred to clump them together in threes -- “Mommy, Daddy, Baby...Mommy, Daddy, Baby…Mommy, Daddy Sam, Little Man--”
Josie giggled at that--
"--Baby..."
"Wait...what?" She stared at him, adjusting new groups of birds together. He didn't seem to hear her...or the surprised confusion in her voice.
Arielle isn't pregnant...she got her period right before the wedding...
"...Daddy, Little Man...Shosie, you can be this one," Tristan said and put her with two dark-feathered owls.
She swallowed and blinked. "Tristan...this family has four owls," she pointed out, going back to the baby there.
"Yup...Mommy say she want baby...no baby now...maybe get one at waterfall...she want girl baby...why girl, Shosie?"
Okay...okay...Arielle has been talking about wanting a daughter. Tristan just overheard her, that's all.
"Mommies like girls as much as boys," she told him.
What else has he overheard?
Travis came back to the room with her tool box and she peeked at him, wondering what Tristan really knew about her and his Daddy. The boy seemed intuned with so much, feeling the emotions around him. He might know more than Travis thought he did.
Then the dark Daddy owl and the white Shosie owl danced in the air together in Tristan's hands as Tristan made cooing sounds, occassionally stopping to peck their beaks at each other, and Josie smiled.
Yeah...he knows...