When Daniel made no move to explain why Abigail Holt had changed her mind about Laura's marriage to Remington, Laura took a deep breath. "I'm waiting, Daniel." Remington moved closer. "Laura, just because your mother has decided to go off the deep end of whatever reality she's in today,- that's no reason for you to attack Daniel," he told her. "I'm not attacking anyone," Laura insisted in a calm voice. "All I want is an explanation!" "For your mother?" Remington asked. "For why my mother has suddenly decided that I shouldn't marry you because you're his son! All she's done for the last ten years is try and find some way to marry me off. Just today, she was bragging to the seamstress about how I was going to marry the most eligible bachelor in the entire state! Now, she wants to call off the wedding! And she says Daniel has something to do with it!" "Laura, Abigail has never been the clearest headed individual," Remington reminded her, only to receive a glare for his trouble. "Harry, Laura," Daniel said softly. He waited for them to turn and look at him. "She's right, Harry," he admitted, sitting down on the sofa. "What happened, Daniel?" Remington asked. "You were supposed to be taking Mildred out to dinner-" "Which is precisely what I did," Daniel told him. "I thought we would try that little Italian place-" "Luigi's?" Laura asked, her heart sinking to her stomach as Daniel nodded. Looking up at Remington, she said, "Mother said that she went to Luigi's with Frances and Donald." "Oh, boy," Remington groaned, sitting in a chair. "She saw you with Mildred." "Not immediately," Daniel clarified. "The evening was going splendidly. You know, I can't for the life of me understand why I never noticed Mildred before. She's a remarkable woman-" Laura sighed. "You were telling us about this evening?" she prompted. "We had only just arrived at the restaurant, and Mildred went to freshen up - leaving me alone at the table when Abigail and your sister and brother in law arrived. Certain that I was there alone, Abigail insisted that I join the three of them." "Didn't you try to tell her? To explain?" Laura asked. "I tried," Daniel assured her. "But you mother wouldn't listen. After she practically dragged me over to the table, she was too busy telling Frances about her visit to my villa in the South of France-" he broke off as Remington began to shake his head and waving his arms in warning. Laura frowned. "Her visit to - When was this?" "Oh, the summer after I extended the invitation, I believe. She stayed a month-" Daniel watched her carefully. "I assumed you knew-" Remington shook his head, looking around the room. "You didn't know." "No. I didn't. I mean, I knew she went to Europe- and she did ask if I knew where your villa was. When I said no, I thought that was the end of it." She turned to Remington. "You told her, didn't you?" she accused. He shrugged. "I didn't see any harm in telling her. She said she merely wanted to look in on a friend, say hello-" "For a month? Why didn't she tell me about it?" Laura wondered. "Honestly, Laura," Daniel said. "Do you tell your mother every detail about your life?" "Well, no, but-" "Then you shouldn't expect her to tell you everything either. She was aware that you didn't want us to see each other, knew it would only serve to anger and upset you if you knew. But I thought she would have mentioned it later - After the letters-" "Letters?" Laura asked, sitting on the arm of Remington's chair. "Believe me, my dear, I never gave your mother any reason to believe that she and I could ever be more than friends. When she left the villa, I thought she understood that and had accepted it. Then the letters began to arrive. At least one a week - Even after I decided to give up my sedentary life at the villa, whenever I would get my mail, there was another one." "You didn't answer them," Laura said in a flat voice. Daniel's expression was his answer. "You did. Didn't you realize that you were just adding fuel to the flames?" she wondered. "I never really expected to see her again," Daniel reminded her. "And I never made her any promises, never led her on, Laura. Anything else was entirely of her devising. Not mine. Please believe me." When she remained silent, he frowned. "You do believe me, don't you?" "I'm thinking," Laura muttered. "What happened tonight?" "I was attempting to find some way to extricate myself and rejoin Mildred when she returned to our table and sat down, waiting for me to return, I suppose. Abigail noticed her, asked why Mildred was there- then connected my having been at that table to Mildred - She was furious, began accusing me of leading her on, making promises that I had no intention of keeping." "What about Mildred?" Remington asked. Daniel laughed slightly. "She came over to the table and asked if we were going to join them - very nearly sat down until Abigail turned her anger in that direction. She created quite a scene, I'm afraid. Frances finally managed to pull her mother to the ladies' room to compose herself, and Donald apologized, suggested that Mildred and I might want to leave while we could. He assured me that he and Frances could calm Abigail down." "Apparently they didn't," Laura commented sourly. She stood up. "Well, I suppose I'd better get dressed and go back to the loft, see if I can salvage something out of this mess. I always said you were too charming for your own good, Daniel Chalmers. You and your son." Remington grabbed her arm, preventing her from turning away. "Let me go talk to her," he suggested. "I'll get dressed -" "I really think that I should be the one to talk to Abigail," Daniel said. "After all, it's between she and I - and I suppose I should take some of the blame for all of this." "It's late, Daniel," Remington said. "You need to rest-" "I doubt I'd get any after this evening, my boy," Daniel told him. "I'll be fine. May I borrow your car, Laura?" "Can you drive a stick shift?" Laura asked, retrieving her keys. "My dear young lady," Daniel said, sounding affronted by her lack of trust, "I was driving sports cars before you got your driving permit." He accepted the keys, and Laura's kiss on his cheek. "What's that for?" "For being you." "Not much of a compliment," Daniel snorted. "I'll see you both later." They followed him to the door, watching as he pulled the small car out of the drive and onto the highway. "You realize that he could come back engaged to your mother?" Remington commented as he closed the door and locked it again. "Don't even think it. Besides, I don't think so. Not after the way he was talking about Mildred." "He does seem rather taken with our Miss Krebs, doesn't he?" He picked up the bottle of champagne, removing the foil. Laura grinned. "Think you could handle Mildred as your step mother?" she teased. "I think a better question would be - could you?" he asked as the cork popped and he began to pour two glasses of wine. "What do you mean?" "You complain at times that Mildred still tends to come to me before she comes to you- imagine how much worse that would be if she were my step mother." He lifted his glass toward her in a silent salute. "You could be right," Laura agreed. "But would you rather have my mother as a step mother?" she asked. Remington choked on his champagne. ********** Abigail was on the telephone. "I don't care, Frances. I want Donald to go to Mr. Steele's house and bring Laura home. She might be a grown woman, but she's still my daughter - " She moved toward the window and looked outside. "Never mind. Her car's downstairs. She came home on her own. Good bye." She returned the telephone to its cradle, then moved to sit on the sofa, a magazine open on her lap. When the knock came on the door, Abigail frowned. Why would Laura knock? Why not use her key? Moving to the sliding metal door, Abigail called, "Who is it?" "It's Daniel, Abigail." "Go away. I've nothing to say to you, you - floor flusher!" She wrapped her arms around her waist and turned away, intending to go to the telephone again. The sound of the key in the lock, and the door sliding open, made her turn, gasping. "How dare you! You've no right-" Daniel held up Laura's keys. "I have Laura's keys. I don't think she'll mind overmuch that I used them to access her apartment." Abigail picked up the phone. "I'll call the police-" "Go ahead," Daniel said, deciding to call her bluff. "As I said, I'm here at Laura's request." He closed the door behind him. "We have something to discuss, if I'm not mistaken." "We don't have anything to discuss, Daniel Chalmers. You lied to me -" "I never lied to you, my dear. Not once. I made it painfully clear on more than one occassion that -" "Then why the invitation to your villa?" Abigail asked. "Why the flowers and the cozy little intimate dinners? And the letters- do you know that I've saved every one of your letters to me?" "Then I suggest you read them again- and this time without the rose coloured glasses, Abigail. You'll find that I never offered more than friendship - or expected anything else in return." "But-" "And none of this has anything to do with your daughter or my son. Just because you're angry with me is no reason to try and force Laura to cancel her plans to marry the man she loves." "He's your son, Daniel," Abigail insisted. "And I won't have Laura hurt when he-" "He won't. Harry loves Laura. You know that. You knew that when you visited me in France." "And you told me I was wrong, that Harry- Remington- Mr. Steele wasn't the marrying kind. That he would never settle down with one woman." "I was wrong," Daniel admitted. "I don't think I've ever seen Harry happier than he's been since he met Laura." Daniel remained near the door, watching her. "Whatever our differences, Abigail, I want Harry and Laura to be happy. Don't you?" "Of course I do. I'm just- not sure that he's the one that can make Laura happy." "I'm sure. It's evident every time the two of them are in the same room." Abigail sat down. "I suppose I'm just worried - " "Worried that Laura will wake one day to find herself alone- as you did?" Daniel asked. "Yet you don't feel that way about Frances?" "Oh, Donald would never leave Frances. He's too dependable - too -" "Predictable?" Daniel suggested when she hesitated. Abigail smiled. "Yes. I suppose so. I don't mean to imply that Remington is undependable or anything, but -" "He's been there for Laura for four years, Abigail. Longer than he's usually been there for anyone else. You needn't worry about his running off. It's taken Harry a long time to make a committment. It's something he doesn't take lightly." "What about you?" Abigail asked. "What about me?" "Do you have the same problem with committments?" "Yes," he said. "But for another reason at the moment." "If you could make a committment, Daniel -" "I'm sorry, my dear. I-" "It's her isn't it?" "Abigail-" "I don't know what you see in that woman." "I think that if you would give her a chance, you'd understand, Abigail," Daniel said quietly. "Give her a chance? That woman has practically taken over my daughter- Laura asks her for advice instead of me, her own mother!" "Perhaps because Mildred doesn't pass judgement as a requisite for her advice," Daniel suggested. "That's what all this is about, really, isn't it? It's not me and Mildred as much as it's Mildred and Laura." "Did you know that Laura and Remington plan on giving her a corsage as the groom's mother?" "I don't see anything wrong with that. Harry's needed someone he could consider family- and Mildred needed someone to worry over. They were each tailor made for the other in that respect." He took a deep breath, and instantly regretted it as he coughed. Abigail hovered as he fought for breath. Daniel waved her off. "I'm - all right," he told her. "Just a nagging cough -" "Have you seen a doctor about it?" "Several," Daniel assured her. "Now, are you going to tell Laura that you've changed your mind again and won't do anything to stop this wedding?" "I couldn't have stopped it anyway," Abigail reminded him. "Frances was just telling me that Laura's a grown woman and doesn't need my permission to get married. Besides, if I cancelled it, I'd never be able to show my face in Los Angeles again." "That's the spirit," he said, grinning. "I do have question, Abigail- and if it's too personal, I'll understand that you don't want to answer." Abigail looked uncertain. "What?" "Why did Laura's father leave?" ********** As he drove away from the loft later, Daniel picked up the mobile telephone and asked the operator to dial a number. "Mildred? I hope I didn't wake you -" "No. I couldn't sleep," Mildred told him. "Too much excitement this evening, I guess. Mr. Steele called earlier, said you'd gone to talk to Mrs. Holt." "Which I did." "And?" Mildred asked in a guarded tone. Daniel smiled crookedly. "All taken care of," he assured her. "I just wanted you to know that Abigail might not be as hostile toward you as she has been after our little talk." "Really?" "Oh, and- do you remember that little project that I mentioned last week?" "Project? Oh, that project. What about it?" "Let's go for it, shall we?" "I don't know, Daniel. We only have two days-" "I thought you did most of the preliminary work last week?" he asked. "And if necessary, we can finish it while Harry and Laura are on their honeymoon in Hawaii," he reminded her. "I think she'll enjoy this surprise." "I hope so, Daniel," Mildred replied, not as certain as he. "I really hope so." To Be Continued---
