He shook his head.
“Have you kept in touch with your brother?”
Again, he shook his head.
All of which seemed very sad to me.Peter had made it, but there was no member of his family to see and share the pleasure.
Then it struck me that I wasn’t much different.I had family, and plenty of it, yet I chose to keep them at arm’s length.Not that they could appreciate my success.In their minds, I was a dabbler.I worked with clay for the artsy image it portrayed and sold a piece here or there.Not even the shows in New York had alerted them to the fact that I’d come into my own.But then, I told them as little as possible about myself and my success.Was I still afraid of their criticism?
Again, Swansy squeezed my hand.“It’s all right,” she said softly as she tipped her face up toward mine.“Some things are special, whether they’re shared or not.”Then she turned to Peter.“Do you think you can help our Cooper?”
“I think so.I’ll know more after the weekend, after I’ve had a chance to look around and talk with people.”
“Cooper is special.”
“So I gather.”He spared me a dry look, then glanced at Rebecca, who’d risen from whereshe’d been lying between his chair and the rocker and was nuzzling his hand.
“Would you take her out?”Swansy asked.“She likes you.She’s always been a sucker for tall, good-looking men.”
How she’d known Peter was tall was no mystery; she formed impressions based on how far a person’s voice was above her head, or with a sitting figure, how far from the chair a pair of shoes shifted on the floor.In Peter’s case, there’d also been the size of his hand and the length of his fingers.There was only one way, though, that she could have known he was good-looking, and that was from me.
That was one of the things I felt selfconscious about.The other was that Rebecca didn’t need an escort.Swansy knew it, I knew it, and Peter had to know it, too.That was the only thing that could account for the cross between suspicion and amusement in his look.
I focused on Rebecca so that I wouldn’t have to suffer that look.
“Does she have a favorite spot?”he asked as he stood.
“She’ll lead you to it,” Swansy answered sweetly.As soon as Peter and Rebecca had left the room, she tugged at my hand.I settled on the edge of the chair Peter had just left.
“What do you think?”I asked softly.
She answered as softly.“He’ll understand Cooper.With a history like his, he’ll be better ’n some.I think you did well.”
“I can’t take the credit.He was Mom’s idea.”
“And you’re still regretting it.You’re tense, girl.I’d have to be deaf and dumb not to see it.What worries you?”
“I don’t know.I … don’t know.”
“Do you question his skill?”
“It’s not that.”
“Then it’s something personal.He’s younger than you thought he’d be.”
“Yes.”
“And more attractive.Are you drawn to him?”
“I’m not drawn to any man.You know that, Swansy.”
“You haven’t been.That doesn’t mean you can’t be.”
“I can’t be.”
“Hogwash.You’re a woman.You have womanly instincts.”
“I can’t be attracted to another man.”Swansy stared at me quietly, sweetly.Inevitably, I began to talk.“I loved Adam.He was everything to me.We were like two peas in a pod, two halfs of a whole.We had something special.We shared a dream.We were going to build a life for ourselves that was pure and simple, and we were going to do it well.Just because he’s gone doesn’t mean I have to give up the dream.”
