Unfinished Business

would again.” As tears overflowed, she rushed from the room.
    “Damn it.” Vanessa leaned her hands on the counter. “I’ve been working overtime to keep the peace all week, and I blow it the night before the wedding.”
    “You didn’t blow anything.” Joanie put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed. “I’m not going to say it’s none of my business, because we’re friends, and tomorrow we’ll be family. I’ve watched you and Loretta walk around each other ever since you got back. And I’ve seen the way she looks at you when your back is turned, or when you leave a room.”
    “I don’t know if I can give her what she wants.”
    “You’re wrong,” Joanie said quietly. “You can. In a lot of ways you already have. Why don’t you go upstairs, make sure she’s all right? I’ll give Brady a call and have him help me load most of this food up and take it down to Dad’s.”
    “All right.”
    Vanessa went upstairs quietly, slowly, trying to work out the right things to say. But when she saw Loretta sitting on the bed, nothing seemed right.
    “I’m sorry.” Loretta dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “I guess I’m overly emotional tonight.”
    “You’re entitled.” Vanessa hesitated in the doorway. “Would you like to be alone?”
    “No.” Loretta held out a hand. “Would you sit awhile?”
    Unable to refuse, Vanessa crossed the room to sit beside her mother.
    “For some reason,” Loretta began, “I’ve been thinking about what you were like as a baby. You were so pretty. I know all mothers say that, but you were. So bright and alert, and all that hair.” She reached out to touch the tips of Vanessa’s hair. “Sometimes I would just sit and watch you as you slept. I couldn’t believe you were mine. As long as I can remember, I wanted to have a home and children. Oh, I wanted to fill a house with children. It was my only ambition.” She looked down at the tissue she had shredded. “When I had you, it was the happiest day of my life. You’ll understand that better when you have a baby of your own.”
    “I know you loved me.” Vanessa chose her words carefully. “That’s why the rest was so difficult. But I don’t think this is the time for us to talk about it.”
    “Maybe not.” Loretta wasn’t sure it would ever be the time for a full explanation. One that might turn her daughter away again, just when she was beginning to open her heart. “I just want you to know that I understand you’re trying to forgive, and to forgive without explanations. That means a great deal to me.” She took a chance and gripped her daughter’s hand. “I love you now even more than I did that first moment, when they put you into my arms. No matter where you go or what you do, I always will.”
    “I love you, too.” Vanessa brought their joined hands to her cheek for a moment. “I always have.” And that was what hurt the most. She rose and managed to smile. “I think you should get some sleep. You want to look your best tomorrow.”
    “Yes. Good night, Van.”
    “Good night.” She closed the door quietly behind her.

Chapter 8
    V anessa heard the hiss at her window and blinked groggily awake. Rain? she thought, trying to remember why it was so important there be no rain that day.
    The wedding, she thought with a start, and sat straight up. The sun was up, she realized as she shook herself. It was streaming through her half-opened window like pale gold fingers. But the hiss came again—and a rattle.
    Not rain, she decided as she sprang out of bed. Pebbles. Rushing to the window, she threw it all the way up.
    And there he was, standing in her backyard, dressed in ripped sweats and battered sneakers, his legs spread and planted, his head back and a fistful of pebbles in his hand.
    “It’s about time,” Brady whispered up at her. “I’ve been throwing rocks at your window for ten minutes.”
    Vanessa leaned an elbow on the sill and rested her chin in her palm. “Why?”

    “To wake you up.”
    “Ever hear of a telephone?”
    “I didn’t want to wake your mother.”
    She yawned. “What time is it?”
    “It’s after six.” He glanced over to see Kong digging at the marigolds and whistled the dog to him. Now they both stood, looking up at her. “Well, are you coming down?”
    She grinned. “I like the view from here.”
    “You’ve got ten minutes before I find out if I can still shimmy up a drainpipe.”
    “Tough choice.” With a laugh, she shut the window. In less than