Hidden Riches

hooked her arm through her father’s.
     
    He bought her jelly beans, and she didn’t have the heart not to eat them. They stayed outside, enjoying the cold and the cobblestones, the cosmopolitan air of the window displays. Dora knew she was feeling better when she was tempted by both a Limoges box and a cashmere sweater.
    The wind whistled through the bare trees as they sat on a bench to enjoy more coffee. Quentin’s was again stiffly laced.
    “Shall I buy you a present?” he asked. “It always made you smile when you talked me into some little trinket.”
    “I’ve always been mercenary, haven’t I?” Amused at herself, she leaned her head companionably on his shoulder.
    “You’ve always loved pretty things—and appreciated them, as well. That’s a gift, Izzy, not a flaw.”
    She felt foolish tears prick at her eyes. “I guess I’m having a mood. I always thought Will had the moods.”
    “All of my children had wonderful moods,” Quentin said staunchly. “It’s the theater in your blood. Artists are never easy, you know. We aren’t meant to be.”
    “What about cops?”
    He paused a moment to drink, to enjoy. “I see law enforcement as an art as well. Some would say science, of course. But the timing, the choreography, the drama. Yes, it’s quite an art.” He draped a comforting arm around her. “Tell me what you’re feeling, Izzy.”
    And she could. She had always been able to tell him what she felt without fear of criticism or disapproval. “I’m so inlove with him. I want to be happy about it. I nearly am, most of the time, but he doesn’t trust those kind of emotions. He doesn’t have any experience with them. His parents didn’t give him anything of what you and Mom gave us.”
    She sighed and watched a young mother wheel a stroller over the stones. The toddler inside was rosy-cheeked and laughing. The yearning tug came quickly, with equal parts surprise and discomfort. I want to do that, she realized. I want to spend an hour pushing my child in the sunlight and smiling.
    “I’m afraid we can’t give each other what we need,” she said carefully.
    “First you have to discover what those needs are.”
    Wistfully, she watched mother and child roll away. “I think I have a pretty good handle on mine. How can you expect a man whose childhood was a study in misery to take the first step toward creating a family of his own? It isn’t fair for me to push him toward that step, and it isn’t fair for me to deny myself taking it.”
    “Do you think only people from happy families make happy families of their own?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Jed’s grandmother seems to think he’s already taken that first step, and is cautiously debating over the second.”
    “I don’t—” She stopped, straightened to frown at her father. “His grandmother? You’ve spoken to her?”
    “Ria, your mother and I had a very nice visit while you were in California. A lovely woman,” he added. “She’s quite taken with you.”
    Dora’s eyes slitted. “It appears I have to remind you that I’m a competent adult, and so is Jed. I don’t think it’s right that you would sit around discussing us as though we were slow-witted children.”
    “But you are our children.” He smiled benignly and patted her flushed cheek. “When you have children of your own, you’ll understand that the love never stops, and neither does the concern, the pride or the interference.” Hebeamed at her. “I love you, Izzy, and I have great faith in you.” He pinched her chin. “Now, tell me what else is worrying you?”
    “I can’t.” And she was sorry for it. “But I can tell you it should be resolved in a few days.”
    “I won’t pry,” he said. At least not when she was so obviously on her guard. “But if you don’t look happier soon, I’ll sic your mother on you.”
    “I’m smiling.” She bared her teeth. “See, couldn’t be happier.”
    Satisfied for the moment, he rose. After tossing his empty cup in a wastebasket, he held out a hand. “Let’s go shopping.”
     
    “She’s a ball of nerves.” Jed met Brent in the gym so that he could release some tension by pummeling the heavy bag. “She won’t admit it, but she’s tied up inside.” More than a little tied up himself, Jed gave the bag a rapid series of sharp punches. As he’d been delegated to hold the bag steady, Brent grunted as the power sang up his arms. “I’m not helping.”
    “We’re moving on it as fast as we can.”