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Thirty minutes later, she had taken over Tris’s job at the serger, and he went back to cutting. In the afternoon, Nell’s dad, Jake, showed up. Jecca liked him instantly. He had a quiet, solid way about him that reminded her of her father and brother.
“What can I do?” he asked Jecca. He had a cane, and she could tell that even standing was difficult for him.
“Ever done any hand sewing?” she asked him.
“I’m a soldier. Who do you think repairs the tears?”
Jecca scooted one of the kids out of the only upholstered chair—there were now four girls plus Nell—and quickly showed him how to roll the strips of silk Lucy had gathered and make them into roses.
For a moment he looked at Jecca in disbelief. His eyes seemed to say, “A man just back from war making silk roses?” But he said nothing.
“If you can’t do it, let me know,” Jecca said.
“I think I can manage,” he answered.
As Jecca walked away, Tris smiled at her in amusement, and Addy looked at her in curiosity.
“It’s a scientific fact,” Lucy said, “that silk heals wounds,” and they all laughed.
Later Tris took photos of Jake, his cane propped against the side of the chair, and his lap filled with a sea of brightly colored silk roses. Jake’s handsome face showed intense concentration as he hand sewed together the edges of a fuchsia-colored, silk charmeuse blossom.
“I’m never going to live this down,” Jake mumbled, but he was smiling.
One by one, the parents came to pick up their daughters, and each mother was lavish in her thanks.
“Lisa gets invited to things, but she never fits in,” one mother said, and there were tears in her eyes. “That you’re making such an effort with her . . .” The woman broke off, and Jecca put her arm around her shoulders.
“Just be sure Lisa is there tomorrow by ten, and the hairdresser—”
“I know,” the woman said. “She already called me.” The woman held on to Jecca’s hand with both of hers. “I can never thank you enough for this.”
When she was gone, Jecca ran back upstairs. They still had six more outfits to finish. With more girls, and each one wearing two outfits, their workload had greatly expanded. Mrs. Wingate had made arrangements for the local hairdresser and her sister to be at their salon at 6 A.M. on Saturday. Jecca had drawn pictures of how she wanted the girls’ hair styled, and in two cases, cut.
All of it was to be done with as much secrecy as possible.
“Edilean has had a lot of practice in keeping secrets,” Tris said, but he wouldn’t elaborate.
At midnight he made Lucy and Jecca turn off the lights, and he led Jecca across the hall to her bedroom. When he started to undress her, she said, “I’m too tired to—”
The look he gave her made her stop talking. There wasn’t sex in his eyes but tenderness and caring. She gave herself over to him.
He led her to a hot shower and undressed her. Through it all, he talked to her in a low, soothing voice. He told her what a good job she’d done all week, how well she’d managed the projects and the people.
She got in the shower, and his words, combined with the hot water, were beginning to revive her and she reached out to him.
But Tris stepped back. He picked up her bottle of shampoo, and whilepoosible.
He rinsed her hair, turned off the water, and wrapped her in a thick towel. By the time they got to the bedroom, she was yawning. He dressed her, not in one of the lacy things she usually wore around him, but in her favorite old T-shirt.
He pulled back the covers, and just as she’d seen him do with Nell, he gently put the cover over her and kissed her forehead.
She thought he meant to leave, so she caught his hand.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered, “you can’t get rid of me. Let me shower and I’ll be back to hold you all night long.”
Smiling, she fell asleep, and when he climbed in beside her, wearing only the bottoms to his pajamas, she snuggled against him, her lips on his bare, warm skin. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard herself say, “I love you.” She was even less sure when she thought she heard him say, “I know.”
On Friday at lunch—the day before the show—Roan said he’d had some experience in the acting world. Since no one could see how that related to anything, there were no comments. That Roan, with his big voice and larger-than-life personality, had once been an actor seemed a given.
