Moon Shell Beach: A Novel Part 24

"In gale-force winds. While Lexi was hurt."

"Well," Clare said, "since you insist..."

Adam eased off the cork, working it upward with his thumbs. It flew out into the water, making a splash. He brought out two flutes and poured the bubbling liquid into them.

"Real gla.s.ses, not plastic? Wow. I'm impressed." Clare took her gla.s.s and for a moment just stared at the bubbles popping and floating upward toward the foamy top.

"Toast," she said to Adam.

"Toast," he agreed. "To life."

"To life!"

They sipped.

"Oh, man, this is so good!" Clare stretched out her arms expansively. "What could be better than this day and this champagne?"

"Also," Adam said quietly, "I have an ulterior motive."

"Oh, yeah?" Clare slid down, belly up, resting on her arms, letting her head fall back, exposing her neck to the sun. The warmth was so sweet. She glanced over at Adam, so large and male and real and solid. "You going to seduce me? I've never had s.e.x on Moon Sh.e.l.l Beach."

"Seduction? Maybe later. Proposal first."

Clare blinked. She turned to sit, cross-legged, looking at Adam. "Huh?"

Adam wore an almost bashful expression. "Look, Clare. I've done a lot of thinking since you went into the harbor like that. I know you and I haven't been together very long, and I know I might be just the rebound guy after Jesse-"

"You aren't," she told him.

"I believe you. I believe that. And I know how I feel about you. I love you."

Clare's heart jumped. "Oh, Adam!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him. "Ooops. Sorry, I didn't mean to slosh champagne down your back."

"It'll wash off." He took her arms and pushed her back a bit, so he could look her steadily in the eye. "I want to marry you, Clare. I want to marry you and fill a house with children. I don't want to be sensible and wait a year until we're good and sure we want to be together-"

"But we are sure!" Clare laughed with delight. "I mean, I'm sure. And obviously you are, too, since you're proposing to me! Oh, Adam, I love you, I do! Oh, Adam, I want you to kiss me like crazy, but where can I put this champagne?"

He looked very s.e.xy, with a big confident grin on his face as he took her gla.s.s and set both inside the cooler, anchoring them firmly in the ice. "So," he said, "are you saying yes?"

"Absolutely," Clare exclaimed. "Yes!"

"In that case..." He unb.u.t.toned the small pocket on his swim trunks and brought out a diamond ring. He held it out to her.

"Oh, Adam." She gazed down at the diamond, which was a considerable rock.

"It's not a family heirloom. It's not my mother's. I don't want the kind of marriage they had. I want our own kind of marriage. And I want you to have a real sparkler."

"It certainly sparkles. Wow, Adam." She lifted her eyes to his. "Will you put it on my finger?"

She held out her left hand, and he slid the ring on.

She was astonished. "It fits perfectly!"

"I borrowed your jade ring to take to the jeweler to be sure I got the right size."

Clare tilted her hand left and right, watching the rainbows flying from the stone. "It's huge! Oh, Adam, I'm going to cry!" She held out her hand in a stop signal and stared at the diamond. "Oh, wait till the Barbie Dolls get a load of this!" She clapped her hands over her mouth. "I can't believe I just said that! How petty of me! But Adam...I can't wait to show it to everyone! Oh, my gosh, we're going to have so much fun, telling everyone we're getting married! And we'll have a wedding, and wedding showers, and lots of parties!"

He settled back on the sand, arms around his knees, listening to her babble, amused by her excitement.

"And we'll live in a house together!" She felt her eyes go wide at the thought.

"That's usually what married people do."

"And we'll have children! Oh, Adam!" She launched herself at him so hard and fast she knocked him over backward, and she wrestled around on top of him, kissing his mouth, his face, his neck, his arms and chest and belly. "Oh, I love you! Oh, I'm so happy! I've never been so happy in my life!" Suddenly she rolled off him and sat up and held out her hand. "I don't know what I want to do more, kiss you or look at my ring!"

"Kiss me," Adam told her.

And she did.

FIFTY.

Lexi lay in her old twin bed, the one she'd slept in as a teenager. She'd slept well, and the morning had pa.s.sed quickly with Clare and Adam around. When they went off, she returned to her bedroom to rest. The doctors had insisted she rest. She wished she could fall back asleep. Her energy was returning, and her various aches and pains were subsiding, but her heart was heavy.

She heard her mother coming down the hall. She closed her eyes tight, playing possum as she had so many times as a child. She just didn't want to deal with her mother, or anyone right now. She didn't even want to deal with herself.

The bedroom door opened a crack. She heard her mother's breathing. The door closed. Lexi snuggled down into her pillow and tried to relax her body, to return to the comfort of sleep.

But no, it wasn't going to work. She couldn't will herself back to sleep. She couldn't even conjure up a fantasy to entertain her while she rested. For the first time, she wished she had a television in her bedroom. It would be a relief to let some show-Seinfeld, Scrubs, even La.s.sie-flicker before her, taking her from her own thoughts.

Beyond her door, her mother's dogs went into barking fits. Voices broke the silence-laughter and shouts. Doors slammed. People clattered down the hall, and all at once her bedroom door opened again. Lexi opened her eyes.

"Wake up!" It was Clare, Clare smelling like sunshine in her red bikini and sarong and jeweled flip-flops and sunburned nose. She was glowing. "You have to wake up!"

Lexi shifted around in bed. "What's going on?"

Over Clare's shoulder, Adam appeared, and behind him their mother and father, and the Jack Russells Buddah and Pest yelping all around everyone.

"I'm engaged to your brother!" Clare bounced on the bed. "Sit up. Here, let me put another pillow behind you. Lean forward. Now look!"

Lexi looked. "Oh, wow, Clare!" She glanced at her brother. He was grinning as if he'd just invented laughing gas. "What a big fat diamond! Adam, you're the man!"

"Yup," Adam agreed.

"They're going to get married!" Myrna was practically levitating.

"That's usually what getting engaged means," Lexi said drily. She looked at Clare. "Congratulations. I'm so so glad for you. For both of you. For all of us."

"I'm going to be your sister!" Clare said. "Finally, we can make it official!"

Lexi laughed. "This is so fabulous."

"I'm thinking a church wedding," Myrna said. "Or maybe the beach. Or Brant Point, by the lighthouse? Of course it depends on what time of year-did you say when the wedding will be?"

"Mom"-Adam wrapped an arm around his mother-"we just this minute got engaged. We haven't set the date yet."

"But soon, right?" Myrna asked.

"Soon, right," Adam agreed.

"Penny can be my matron of honor, but you have to be my maid of honor," Clare told Lexi. Tilting her head, she said teasingly, "I'm thinking eggplant dresses with big puffy sleeves and a huge bow over the b.u.t.t."

"Oh, Clare." Myrna looked horrified. "I'm not so sure..."

"It's okay, Mom," Lexi a.s.sured her mother. "Clare's just playing."

Adam said, "I brought a bottle of champagne."

"Oh, yummy!" Myrna clapped her hands. "I'll get the gla.s.ses."

"Do you feel like getting up?" Clare asked.

"Sure," Lexi told her. "I'm fine. Just give me a minute to pull on some clothes." On impulse, she reached out and hugged Clare hard. "I'm so glad for you. And I'm so glad for my brother."

"I'm going to call your father," Adam told Clare. "I want him to come over here and join us."

"Oh, good idea!" Clare said.

Myrna said, "Tell him to bring his dog."

Lexi pulled on loose cotton trousers and a big b.u.t.ton-down shirt. She shuffled into the living room where Adam helped her settle on the sofa, her feet on an ottoman and a blanket tucked around her feet. She smiled fondly at everyone as the commotion continued. George Hart arrived with Ralph, and for a while the dogs stole the show as they got acquainted.

"I should go get Bella and Lucky," Adam said.

"Another time, maybe," Myrna told him. "There's enough chaos now."

George shook Adam's hand and congratulated the couple and sat down across from Lexi, looking slightly dazed. He'd shaved and dressed, although Lexi noticed he'd forgotten to put on socks. Lots of men wore loafers without socks, but few went sockless in wingtips.

Myrna brought out a platter of smoked bluefish pate and crackers and one of smoked salmon and rye. The group gathered around the coffee table with their champagne.

The chatter died down as everyone munched, and into the silence, George Hart said, "I've been thinking."

Everyone looked surprised, not that George had been thinking, of course he was always doing that, but that he was speaking up.

"When Clare marries Adam, my house will be far too big for me alone. I've been wanting to spend more time in Boston-research for my book, you see. Clare, I think I might put the house on the market, and buy myself a smaller place here. I could give you and Adam a nice chunk of money for your wedding present, and still have some funds left over for something like a little flat in Boston for me."

Clare's jaw dropped. "Well, Dad!"

"I think that's a great idea, George," Adam said. "But look, don't you worry about Clare and me. I already own a house. It's small, and we might need to get a bigger one-"

Lexi shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, but kept a look of cheerful interest on her face. How lovely, she thought, even befuddled George Hart is getting his act together, and here Clare and Adam are already planning on getting a bigger house because obviously they want to have children soon, and lots of them. She saw the affectionate looks flying between her father and mother, and between Clare and Adam, and even George's dog Ralphie looked ecstatic as she trotted around, nosing Buddah's and Pest's b.u.t.ts.

I'll get well, she quietly a.s.sured herself. I'll get over this. I'll get strong, and I'll have some tests run and see if any doctor thinks I'll ever be able to carry a baby to term, not that I'll ever be able to get pregnant again since I've so totally gone off men. She would much rather be sitting here, with cuts on her legs and a cramping, empty belly, than back in New York with Ed Hardin, or anywhere in the world with Ed, for that matter. It was right for her to be here. She was sure of that. And someday she might meet a good man.

She wondered where Jesse was. Wouldn't he have needed some kind of visa to get into Russia? Did he even have a pa.s.sport? She had really liked Oksana, and she found herself wishing hard, with complete sincerity, that Jesse would stay true to her. Labinsk, Russia, might just be exotic enough that life there would keep Jesse challenged and stimulated, and he would need Oksana to center him.

The dogs, all three of them, suddenly exploded into barking fits.

Myrna said, "Who can that be?"

The dogs paraded to the door in a little marching band of wagging tails. Myrna followed them into the hall, and returned. Behind her came Jewel and Bonnie, with baby Frankie on her back.

Jewel wore a blue-and-white-striped cotton sundress, the terribly simple Nantucket kind that probably cost the earth. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and tied with a sparkly flowered band. She looked shy, with her shoulders nearly squeezed up to her ears.

Bonnie announced proprietarily, "Jewel has a present for Lexi. And one for you, too, Clare. To thank you both for saving her life."

"Well, goodness, how nice!" Myrna went all hostessy. "Come in, come in, would you like some champagne? Jewel, how about a gla.s.s of apple juice? Or orange juice, but that's not very celebratory, or we have c.o.ke, or diet ginger ale."

Adam lifted baby Frankie off Bonnie's back. "Hey, guy, are those teeth I'm seeing?"

Frankie chortled and squealed and drooled down his chin.

Myrna settled Bonnie in a chair with a gla.s.s of champagne, then went off to the kitchen for apple juice. Bashfully, Jewel handed Clare a small brightly colored paper bag, then sat down on the sofa next to Lexi and handed Lexi a bag, too.

"Oh!" Clare lifted out a beaded bracelet. A pink heart hung from it, etched with her name. "Jewel, did you make this?"

Jewel nodded proudly. "I have a kit. You make the shape and design, then bake it in a little oven. But be careful, the heart is fragile. It might break."

Clare looked over at Lexi and smiled.

"Look at yours!" Jewel told Lexi.

Lexi opened her little bag and reached into the nest of tissue paper. Her beaded bracelet was similar to Clare's. Dangling from it were three silver stars, a crescent moon, and a shining moon sh.e.l.l with "Lexi" written on it.

"It's perfect!" Lexi hugged the girl. "Thank you! Can you fasten it on me?"

Ralphie chose this moment to investigate Frankie's bare toes. She licked them, sending the baby into screams of delight.

"Oh, he's so cute, can I hold him?" Myrna asked.

"Are you okay?" Jewel asked Lexi shyly.