Moonlight in the Morning Read online

  “I like that. But we can’t pull this off in secret. We’ll have to let Savannah know about it—and Rebecca. This won’t be easy to do.”

  “You’re right, of course,” Jecca said thoughtfully. “Tris is the MC so he can—”

  “Sweet-talk Savannah into anything on earth. He’ll get her to agree to anything we want. Oh yes! I love this. How long before you can get to the shop?”

  “Tris is with us, so we’ll need to drop him off, then—”

  “I’ll go with you,” he said.

  “Sure?” Jecca asked. “A fabric store isn’t exactly a male place.”

  “I think I can go and still retain my masculinity,” Tris said.

  Jecca told Lucy and they hung up.

  For a moment, Jecca and Tris rode in silence. “How’s your arm?” she asked.

  “Aching but better. Jecca, about what I said earlier . . .”

  “When you thought I was going back to New York?”

  “Yes. I told you I was all grown up and could take the pain, but now I think I may not be as adult as I thought I was.”

  Jecca looked out the window. At the moment she couldn’t imagine not being with him. In a short time their lives had become completely involved with each other’s. But she reminded herself that now wasn’t her real life. Her family was elsewhere, and there was no way she could be true to her own nature, to who she really was, in the small town. She couldn’t live without something creative to do with her life.

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  “All right,” Tris said into the silence. “No more seriousness. Talk to me about your plans for Nell.”

  Jecca was glad for the reprieve. She didn’t want to think about sad things. “How well do you know this woman Savannah?” she began.

  By the time they got to the fabric store, Nell was awake and asking questions. Jecca told her of Lucy’s idea of putting on a show within a show.

  “For the Davies of the school,” Nell said, and Tris laughed.

  Jecca looked at them in question.

  “Remember the people whose interiors and exteriors don’t match?” Tris asked, then Nell started explaining.

  Jecca picked up her sketchbook off the car floor. “Think Davie could model a shirt and a pair of shorts that are perfect for an afternoon at the beach?”

  “Yes!” Nell said.

  It took hours at the fabric store to get all that they needed. Lucy and Jecca hovered over the pattern books to find ones that closest matched what Jecca had in mind, while Tris took Nell to the nearby deli and bookstore.

  Jecca texted Tris when they were ready to start choosing fabric, and he and Nell walked back to the store. There was a great deal of discussion among the three females as they planned dress after blouse after trousers.

  “And hats,” Nell said. “Hats to match everything.”

  “I think she’s going to be a fashion designer,” Jecca said to Tris.

  “No,” he said as he leaned over the cart they’d already filled with fabric, notions, and patterns. “Nell is going to be a doctor.”

  Jecca frowned at him. “Don’t you think she should choose her own career?”

  Tris shrugged. “Sometimes they choose us. In our family, medicine makes the choice. I got it; my sister didn’t; Nell did.”

  Jecca could only stare at him. She hadn’t seen the slightest evidence that Nell was interested in medicine. The child seemed to like art better than anything else.

  Tris was watching her and he smiled. “Nell, what’s this?” He put his finger on the base of the back of his neck.

  “The medulla oblongata,” she said with barely a glance up from the bolt of fabric Lucy was holding.

  “I didn’t teach her,” Tris said, “but now you see why my sister lets her spend so much time with me.”

  “You’re kindred souls,” Jecca said, knowing that she’d only recently said that about her and Nell.

  “Yes, but I want her to have more in life than just medicine. I don’t want her doing what I did—teething on a stethoscope and reading medical texts instead of kids’ books. I want—”

  Jecca put her hand over his and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I understand,” she whispered.

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  “No kissing!” Nell said, making Jecca and Tris laugh.

  Jecca gave her attention back to the fabric, matching white with pink and green trim.

  Tris, bored with his job of holding on to the carts, used his phone to take a photo of the three females bent over a pile of remnants.

  “I’m sending this to Grandma,” he told Nell. “Think she’ll believe that I’m in a fabric store?”

  “Tell her you’re practicing your sutures,” Lucy said.

  Smiling, Tris typed out a message to his mother.

  “Send a copy of that picture to my dad,” Jecca said and gave Tris the e-mail address.

  Tris wrote a little generic message to Jecca’s father, but then he erased it. What was the saying about a faint heart not winning fair maiden? He took a deep breath to give himself courage, then began to type: DEAR MR. LAYTON, MY NAME IS TRISTAN ALDREDGE. I’M THE ONLY DOCTOR IN THIS SMALL TOWN AND I’M IN LOVE WITH YOUR DAUGHTER AND WANT TO MARRY HER. BUT SHE SAYS SHE’S GOING BACK TO NEW YORK. HOW CAN I PERSUADE HER TO STAY?

  Before Tris lost his nerve, he sent the message.

  “Did you send it?” Jecca asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Tris said. “I did. I may have sent the message of my life. Forever.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing. Should I pay for these?”

  “Sure,” Jecca said, then Lucy asked her to look at some blue cotton.

  When Tris got to his car with the bags of purchases, his phone buzzed. It was an e-mail from Joe Layton, and Tris hesitated. The man would either bawl him out or—Actually, Tris couldn’t think of an alterative. He pushed the button and read: MY JEC NEEDS HER FAMILY AND AN ART JOB. I’M FED UP HERE. YOUR TWO-BIT TOWN NEED A HARDWARE STORE? SEND MORE PHOTOS OF LUCY.

  Tris read the message three times before it sank in, then he leaned back against the car and laughed. If Joe Layton wanted photos of Lucy he’d send all he could get, including her chest X-rays.

  Tris went back into the store. “Do you have your camera with you?” he asked Jecca. “And that cord that connects it to the phone?”

  “Yes.” She looked hard at him as she got her camera out of her bag. “Did something happen? You look awfully pleased with yourself.”

  “It’s just that Nell’s going to have a good time. I feel bad that I never realized how awful these parties have been for her. Add that to my neglhat">

  “Why are you talking so fast? And you don’t feel any guilt about the playhouse. You want me to spend a year here working on it. What’s going on?” Jecca asked.

  “I, uh . . . I . . . I need to call Roan.” Tris turned away so Jecca couldn’t see the smile that he couldn’t remove from his face. He stepped outside, and Roan answered on the first ring.

  “Miss me already?” Roan asked.

  “You know that place you own out on McTern Road?”

  “Which one?”

  “Used to be a brickyard,” Tris said.

  “Yeah, about a hundred years ago.”

  “Is it in good shape?” Tris asked.

  “Hell no! It’s falling down. If you want to buy it I’ll give it to you cheap.”

  “Get Rams to draw up the papers,” Tris said.

  “Whoa! Why do you want that old place?”

  “Jecca’s dad’s thinking about opening a hardware store in Edilean.”

  “Since when?” Roan asked.

  “Since he sent me an e-mail about ten minutes ago.”

  “Is Jecca going to stay in town and repair chainsaws?”

  “I don’t know,” Tris said. “I’m just trying to make it easy for her to stay. Drop off the clothes at my house, then go to Rams and get the papers drawn up. Better yet, go to Rams first. Got it?”

  “Yes sir!” Roan said. “And I