Moonlight in the Morning Read online

  A high school boy put a couple of steps at the end of the stage, and he held his hand out to help Jecca up the stairs.

  Jecca, embarrassed buembouple oft pleased, looked at Tris, who was smiling at her. She turned to look back at Lucy. She should be onstage too, but Lucy’s chair was empty. Lucy had run away from the spotlight.

  Young Davie stood up and looked back at the curtain. The music changed again, and from the back came all of the girls, the first ones who’d worn the manufactured clothes, then Nell’s friends—the members of the Achievers’ Club—and they were all wearing Jecca’s clothes.

  She had only seen the outfits all together in Lucy’s workroom, and she had to admit that they looked good on the girls.

  Beside Jecca, Davie went back down to one knee, and the girls moved to the edges of the runway. The curtains parted, and six big, muscular high school boys, wearing athletic uniforms, were carrying Rebecca on a chair.

  Beside her, Nell put her hand in Jecca’s. Between the music, the laughter, and the applause of what had to be four hundred people, they couldn’t hear each other. Jecca mouthed to Nell, “Did you do this?”

  Nell shrugged in a way that said she had.

  Jecca squeezed Nell’s hand and let her eyes say how proud she was of her. In the end, Nell had come up with a scene-stealing show that made Rebecca the star. Nell had put herself above past transgressions.

  The boys set Rebecca down center stage, and Savannah came from the back carrying a pink and lavender birthday cake with nine candles on it. Rebecca blew them out in the showiest display ever seen.

  With her arms raised, Rebecca walked forward to the end of the runway and stood there in front of Davie. All the girls turned on their heels in a well-rehearsed move and marched toward the back.

  Jecca wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but she followed Nell to the back, where she paused just behind the curtain. She wanted to see what happened next.

  Davie took Rebecca’s arm in his and led her back to the curtain where, to thunderous applause from the audience that was now on its feet, the two kids took a bow. Davie slipped behind the curtain, Rebecca took another bow, then she too went to the back.

  Jecca stayed by the curtain. It was chaos inside, with a dozen girls giggling and talking at once. She was pleased to see that none of them seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the clothes that Jecca had designed.

  “You did it,” Tris said as he put his arm around Jecca’s shoulders and kissed her temple.

  “I had nothing to do with the show. I just drew some pictures. Everyone else did all the work.”

  “That’s one way of looking at it,” he said. “But thank you for finding out about Nell and fixing the problem. Uh oh. Here comes Savannah. She’ll have a dozen things for me to do.”

  But Savannah wasn’t looking at Tristan. Her eyes were only on Jecca, and she was holding out her hands to her.

  “Thank you,” Savannah said as she clasped Jecca’s hands. “I hoped it was going to be a good show but . . .” She waved her hand. “This . . . I don’t even know how to describe it. I fired that little man I hired to plan the party. Next year, will you cor, e sme up with another show? Something different?”

  “I didn’t—” Jecca began.

  “Savannah,” Tris said, “Jecca designed the clothes. If you want a party planner, get Roan.” He looked at Jecca. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

  Nineteen

  I am sublimely happy, Jecca thought as she woke up next to Tristan. That’s what she was—and that made her worry.

  As always, she and Tristan were wrapped around each other until it was difficult to tell where one person began and the other ended. His arm was across her neck, and kissing it, she moved it down a bit. Tristan responded in his sleep by tightening his leg over hers.

  It had been two weeks since the fashion show and she’d at last had time to finish the paintings for Kim. Last night she’d had dinner at Kim’s house, and Jecca had presented them to her.

  The first six, the ones that went with the jewelry Kim had sent her photos of, were of Tris’s species orchids. Jecca had arranged the composition so Kim’s jewelry would stand out against the creamy colors of the exotic blossoms.

  As subtly as she could, Jecca had put either Tris or Nell in the background of the pictures. She showed them more as shadows than as flesh-and-blood people, just a hint of a person in the distance.

  The second six paintings were reversed. Either Tris or Nell were in the foreground, the orchids shadowy in the back.

  Jecca had watched Kim’s face intently as she looked at the second set of pictures. They were to inspire Kim to design jewelry to match the pictures. But what could she do with a man or a girl? Make some of those big, ugly pinky rings that the kind of men most women didn’t like wore?

  Kim carefully didn’t show any expression as she looked at the paintings—and Jecca’s heart sank.

  Kim got up from the table, picked up a leather portfolio, and handed it to Jecca. “Go on,” she said, “look inside.”

  Slowly, Jecca untied the strings. She was almost afraid of what she’d see. Had Kim grown tired of waiting for Jecca to finish the paintings and hired someone else to do them? If she had, Jecca could understand it.

  She withdrew a sketch. Kim had never been interested in the two-dimensional classes she’d had to take at school to fulfill the requirements for a degree. Like Sophie, Kim was interested in three-dimensional art, specifically jewelry. The drawing was a rough sketch, but Jecca recognized it for what it was: a charm bracelet.

  What was unusual about it was that the charms had to do with Edilean, eighteenth-century history, and even Nell’s Closet.

  “What . . . ?” Jecca asked, her eyes wide. “How did you . . . ?” She started going through the other drawings. There were more charms, and they could be put onto necklaces, bracelets, anklets, hair barrettes.

  “Your fashion show inspired me,” Kim said.

  “I didn’t even ask if you saw it,” Jecca said. “Oh Kim, I’m such a bad—”

  “Don’t say it!” Kim said. “Your creativity, your enthusiasm, your everything has lit a fire under this whole town.”

  “I hardly think that,” Jecca said. “I just wanted to help Nell out.”

  “You stopped a tyrant,” Kim said.

  “You mean Savannah?” Jecca asked, smiling.

  “Oh yes. Her exclusive parties were the cause of a lot of tears here. You know what she’s doing now?”

  “I can’t imagine.”

  “She’s trying to get Rebecca into the Achievers’ Club.”

  Jecca’s eyes widened. “But Tristan made that up. Or Roan did. It didn’t exist before the show.”

  “I know,” Kim said, “but no one in town’s telling Savannah that. In fact, I heard that shy little Kaylin’s mother told Savannah that her daughter had been a member of the club for three years.”

  Jecca laughed. “So what’s Savannah doing to get her daughter into the club?”

  “Savannah has hired a career consultant.”

  “Rebecca is nine years old!” Jecca said.

  “And fighting her mother every inch of the way.”

  The two women laughed together. Kim poured them more wine while Jecca looked at the other drawings. Not only had Kim accurately guessed that Jecca’s paintings would deal with a child, but she’d also guessed about Tristan. Her last three designs were for some simple necklaces. What made them extraordinary were the colored stones of different sizes.

  “Think Tris’s face can sell those?” Kim asked.

  “He’s sold me on everything,” Jecca said. When Kim was silent, she looked at her. “All right,” she said, “let’s have it.”

  “It’s none of my business,” Kim said. “I’ve loved Tristan since the day I was born. He’s given me a thousand piggyback rides. I’ve covered him in flowers. Wherever in the world I go, I look for weird pickled vegetables to take home to Tristan. He’s a thoroughly great guy.”