Dar grunted thoughtfully.
“I didn’t really start disagreeing with him until I was in college,” Kerry went on. “When I got exposed to the wider world and the many kinds of people in it.”
“Ever talk to him about that?”
“No.” Kerry shook her head and leaned forward a little as they started up a steeper part of the hill. “I tried once, but he told me if that’s what college was doing to me, he’d put a stop to it.”
Dar simply stopped walking. Kerry moved on a few steps, then turned and regarded her. “I want to know something. How in the hell did you become the woman that told me to go to hell in Miami?”
Ah. Good question. Kerry walked back to Dar, took her hand, and led her upward toward the crest of the hill. “It wasn’t something that happened overnight. It was something that was building a little at a time, until I got home after I graduated college with my degree, and was told I was being put to work as a spokes-woman/receptionist in one of my father’s crony’s companies.”
They got to the top of the hill and Kerry paused, regarding the view. “I knew I had a choice. Either put my money where my mouth was and get the hell out of here, or stay here and accept the inevitable.” She walked to a tall, almost bare tree and patted its Thicker Than Water 171
bark. “So I came up here that night and spent hours looking up at the stars, and finally made my decision.”
Dar joined her. “Not a popular one.”
“No.” Kerry exhaled. “After I’d accepted Associated’s job offer that next morning, I called Brian and told him, then I just packed, told my parents I was taking the job and left.” She leaned on the tree. “But they didn’t make it easy. He kept after me con-stantly. They hoped they’d wear me down and I’d just give up and come home.”
Dar gazed at her. “And I almost made that happen.”
Kerry turned and looked at her. “Almost. But you also were what made me choose my life over their plans for it, and that more than makes up for what might have been, Dar.” She decided to lighten up the conversation. “So, here we have my very first decision tree.”
Dar studied Kerry’s face for a few moments, then relaxed into a smile. “Nice view up here.” She indicated the opposite slope.
The hill was fairly steep, and featured a long stretch of even whiteness, ending in a clear area at the bottom with only a few trees that might provide a dangerous impediment. “That where you used to slide down?”
“Yep.” Kerry sighed. “Wish we had a sled; I’d love to take you for a ride.”
“Well,” Dar removed her small penknife from her pocket,
“first things first.”
Kerry walked to Dar and eyed the knife. “Honey, I love you, but you can’t cut down the tree with that to make a sleigh for me.
I just won’t let you,” she warned with a serious look. “I’d rather get the car and drive to Wal-Mart.”
Dar laughed.
“No, really, sweetie.” Kerry took the knife from her fingers.
“Give me that.” Dar swiped the tool back. “I wasn’t going to cut the damn tree down.” She circled the trunk and found a good spot. “Just do a little carving.” She set to work with Kerry peering over her shoulder.
“Oh.” Kerry smiled. “Okay.” She turned away and explored the hilltop, kicking bits of half buried wood around with the toe of her hiking boot. The wind was stiffer up there and it blew her hair back, stinging her eyes with its chill as she gazed down the slope.
“That night seems so long ago,” she said to the air. “I was so scared. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, or where I might end up.” The branches overhead chuckled together. “But I looked up at those stars, and they told me to follow my heart.”
She turned and watched Dar. Dar’s brow was creased in concentration as she carved careful letters. “And that’s what I ended up 172 Melissa Good doing, isn’t it?”
“You say something to me?” Dar poked her head around the tree trunk. “Almost done.”
Kerry strolled to Dar and kissed her on the nose. “Take your time, Geppetto.” She admired the neat heart shaped cut and the curved letters taking form under Dar’s skilled hands. “I bet you could carve wood, if you wanted to.”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Dar finished a K and started on the S. “Or do you mean like sitting on the porch in a rocking chair whittling kind of thing.” She flicked a piece of bark out of her way. “I think I’ll wait for retirement for that, when I’m too old and creaky to do anything else.”
Kerry rested her chin on Dar’s shoulder and exhaled. “We can be old and creaky together. Can you imagine what great memories we’ll have by then?” She had a touch of wonder in her voice.
“What an amazing thought.”
Dar finished her work and turned her head. “You like?”
A simple heart, with four initials and a plus sign. Kerry sighed in deep satisfaction. “I love.” She kissed Dar on the lips.
“Thank you.”
Holding hands, they walked back down the hill. Kerry knew they were watched from behind kitchen curtains, knew the whispers, knew the scandalized looks they were garnering, and the only thing that knowledge evoked in her was an intense desire to laugh.
There were cars in the driveway when they got back to the house. One, Kerry realized, was Andy and Ceci’s rental car, and she nudged Dar and pointed to it. “Hey!” The other was Richard and Angie’s, and she guessed her brother-in-law had come over.
The third she didn’t recognize.
“Huh. Thought they were going to wait at the hotel for us,”
Dar commented as they strolled up the walk. “Hope everything’s okay.”
The front door opened as they approached, and the major domo gave them a brief smile as they entered the house.
It was quiet, but they could hear voices from the solarium, and one of those voices was easily identifiable from its low, drawling tones. Kerry led the way into the garden and waved at the group seated near the end of the glassed-in area. “Hey, folks.”
“Goodness!” a clear voice erupted, and a small, silver haired form popped up from the bench like an albino meerkat. “Kerrison!
There you are.”
Kerry stopped and blinked, then smiled. “Aunt Penny!”
Her aunt hurried around the bench, rushed over to her, and gave her an enthusiastic hug. “Hello, my dear. You look wonder-Thicker Than Water 173
ful,” Aunt Penny said with enthusiasm. “Hello to you, too, Dar.
It’s good to see you again.”
“Same here,” Dar responded cordially, having developed a liking for Kerry’s perky elderly relative.
Aunt Penny clasped both of their arms and led them to the benches, where Dar’s parents and Cynthia Stuart were seated.
“And I’ve just met your lovely parents, Dar. Wonderful!”
Dar felt her face reacting, saw her father’s do likewise, and heard her mother snicker; she realized they both probably wore the same expression. She walked over, took a seat next to her father and exhaled, extended her leather covered legs out a little and regarded her boots as she listened to Kerry and Aunt Penny exchange pleasantries with Cynthia.
“Oh, listen.” Kerry broke the flow of conversation. “I have to get something from our room—I’ll be right back.” She exchanged a glance just slightly too long with Dar as she passed, and touched her partner’s shoulder as Dar patted her calf in understanding.
“Right. Ah…” Cynthia frowned. “Well, Penny, tell us what you’ve been up to? It’s been so long.”
“Well, dear, since I was banned from your house while your husband was alive, that’s not so very surprising, now is it?”
Penny rebuked mildly. “But I’ve been doing some interesting things, so I’m glad you asked.”