That Maddening Man. Debrah Morris
when the kids are older. Laurel’s just a year old and they have a boy almost five.”
“What’s his name?” Lizzie asked.
“Colton. Maybe you’d like to play with him sometime.”
“I might,” she allowed. “Does he like princesses?”
“I’m sure he does.”
“Does your sister work?” asked Ellin.
Jack nodded. “According to Jana, all mothers work. Besides taking care of the kids and the house, she has a bookkeeping and accounting business.”
“Are her children in day care?”
“She leaves them with a lady in town. Mrs. Kendall.”
“I’ll need a sitter for Lizzie,” Ellin said. “Ida Faye was planning to watch her, but that’s out of the question for the time being. Do you think your sister would recommend someone?”
“I’ll ask her. Or better yet, I’ll introduce you, and you can ask her yourself.” Jack wanted the two women to meet so his twin would see how wrong she was about Ellin. He had no doubt the self-assured woman beside him could be a pain if the occasion demanded, but he didn’t think she actually was one. A small, but important, distinction.
“You’ve always lived in Washington?”
She gave the question an accusatory spin, like a cross-examining prosecutor. So, Mr. Madden, you would have this court believe vanilla is the only ice cream flavor you’ve ever tasted?
“Born and raised,” he said with a sly challenge.
“I suppose you went to school locally, as well?”
Come now, Mr. Madden, have you never been tempted to try chocolate? Or strawberry? What about Rocky Road?
Objection, Your Honor. Pressuring the witness. “I earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Arkansas. I traveled a bit before completing postgraduate work at Stanford.”
She looked skeptical, like she could produce DNA evidence to the contrary. “You have an advanced degree? From Stanford?”
Jack nodded solemnly. A less secure man might be affronted by her surprise, but he rather enjoyed it. “You’d be amazed at the number of closet educated people in Arkansas. Gotta protect that possum-eating hillbilly image Hollywood gave us.”
“I intended no offense.” Her pretty flush assured him she meant it.
“None taken.” Jack had to watch the rugged road, but he glanced in her direction often. He enjoyed looking at Ellin Bennett, making little discoveries about her. Like the dimple that appeared at one corner of her mouth when she smiled a certain way. The tiny white scar that bisected the tip of her left brow. The canine that lapped ever so slightly over its neighbor. Getting to know her was akin to opening a brightly wrapped gift box and finding another one inside—a never-ending surprise. The suspense was killing him.
He’d already learned some interesting things about her. She was an attentive mother. She actually said “holy-moley.” She was city-bred but knew how to dress for a trip to the woods. And she was trying hard to conceal her nervousness. He suspected she was not often ill at ease, and it pleased him to think he made her fidget like a four-year-old.
He would have been sorely disappointed if she hadn’t been tipped a little off-balance when she met him sans Santa suit. She needed to have her strong opinions challenged once in a while, and he believed he was just the man to do it.
He liked her hair down. Restrained by a skier’s headband, it tumbled to her shoulders in glorious brown waves, as soft as he imagined and smelling of wildflowers. He tightened his hands on the steering wheel. Even on such a short acquaintance, he understood her well enough to know she would not appreciate him reaching over and sifting his fingers through the silky strands. But that was exactly what he wanted to do.
“You said you traveled after college. Any place in particular?”
“Africa.” He didn’t elaborate and hoped she wouldn’t press for details.
“Really? And you decided to live here?”
You claim you actually tried Rocky Road, Mr. Madden, and prefer vanilla? Yes, prosecutor. Guilty as charged. “I like Washington. My friends are here, my family’s here. I love my work. Why wouldn’t I want to stay?”
She shrugged. “There’s a whole world out there.”
“Yep, and I’ll stick with Washington. You sound like Jana. It’s okay for her to settle down here, but she thinks I’m a slacker because I want to.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t think that.”
Jack laughed. “She not only thinks it, she broadcasts it to the public on a regular basis. I’m surprised she hasn’t taken out an ad.” He drew a banner headline in the air with one hand. “Jack Madden Is Not Fulfilling His Potential. Do you have brothers or sisters?”
She shook her head. “I’m an only child, born before mom realized how time-consuming motherhood would be. My parents divorced when I was ten.”
Insight based on teaching experience and intuition gave Jack a glimpse of Ellin as a little girl, lonely and desperate for parental attention. He’d seen it before. When the acceptance they craved wasn’t forthcoming, some kids acted out. Others withdrew. The smart ones, the survivors, found comfort in achievement.
“Jana and I are twins,” he said. “She thinks sharing a womb and being born first gives her squatter’s rights on my destiny.”
“You two must be very close.”
He nodded. “Yeah, we are.” It would be hard to explain twinship to someone without a sibling. He liked to complain about Jana’s well-intentioned meddling, it was part of the game they played. But he couldn’t imagine living without her or the other noisy, nosy members of his extended family.
“Your parents are here, I take it?”
“Yep. Hal and Mary. They run a chicken farm a few miles south of town. I’ll have to show you two their operation sometime. It’s all automated. Up to date. Very impressive.”
“I don’t know.” Ellin inclined her head in Lizzie’s direction. “I’m afraid if she finds out where drumsticks and chicken nuggets really come from, she won’t want to eat them.”
“They don’t raise chickens for the packing plant,” he said. “They sell eggs.”
“Oh, that’s different. A trip to a real egg farm might be very educational.”
“I recall Ida Faye saying your dad passed away a few years back, but what about your mother?”
“She finally left Chicago for Phoenix. Said she was tired of snow. She sells commercial real estate.”
Interesting that she described her mother by occupation, as though what a person did for a living revealed the most about them. But that fit with what he’d heard about Ellin. She was more than just career-minded; getting ahead was more important to her than getting along.
Had her drive to succeed undermined her marriage? According to Ida Faye, it had ended more than two years ago. Before he could ask about it, Lizzie interrupted with another question.
“Do deers live in these woods?” She looked around hopefully.
“Sure, they do. Lots of them.” Jack parked the truck in a small meadow dotted with young cedars. In the summertime the grass fairly glowed with yellow wildflowers, but now, a week before Christmas, it was dry and brown, limned by frost.
“Reindeers?”
“No. Just little whitetails.”
“Can we see some?”
“Maybe. They come down to drink at the creek in the evening. We might see some there.”