Vanessa sorted through a stack of envelopes as she walked in the front door. She paused on a typed letter with no return address, postmarked from Bay Pointe. She turned over the letter and tore into the back. As she scanned over the contents of the letter, she frowned. The words, the stationary, the writing, everything about it reminded her of the note she had found with the roses left in front of her apartment door.
She always preferred to see the best in people and she wanted to believe these notes were just from a theater-goer who admired her acting ability, but something about the letters seemed slightly off to her. She decided to get a second opinion and make sure she wasn't just being paranoid.
Hearing voices, she walked toward the kitchen where Ed and Alma were preparing dinner.
"Oh no, we're almost out of butter," Alma said, as she looked into the refrigerator.
"Is there time for me to run to the store and get some?"
"Yes, if you don't take long."
"Then I'll be quick and hurry back to help you finish dinner," he promised. "I don't want you overdoing it in your condition." He kissed her on the cheek before going out of the kitchen. "Hello, Vanessa. I didn't hear you come in." As he passed her on the way to the front door he added quietly and with a wink, "Keep an eye on Alma while I'm out. Don't let her overdo it in the kitchen."
As Ed went out, Vanessa continued into the kitchen where she was greeted by Alma.
"Did I just hear Ed right? Are you having a baby?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that's wonderful, Alma. Congratulations!"
"Thank you," Alma said in a very subdued tone. "Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Don't say anything about me being pregnant to Amanda. She doesn't know yet and she and Andrew have been trying to have a baby for a long time. I want to find the right way to tell her the news."
"No problem, I completely understand. And if it comes up, I won't let on that I know anything. Somehow, I don't think me finding out first will go over well with her."
"So all of this is going to be your housing addition? That's impressive," Eileen remarked as they walked down the road from the groundbreaking site.
"We're dividing it into large plots, so the people living here don't feel so crowded together." He stopped in the center of the farthest lot. "I'm thinking of keeping this lot for myself. It's about time I got out of that cheap apartment I rent."
"Yeah," Eileen said quietly. Anytime Lawrence's apartment came up in conversation or in her thoughts, she was reminded of the dumbest decision she had made in her life. She still felt awful about it.
"What's the matter?" Lawrence asked. "Sometimes I think you're about to tell me something, but then you don't. What is it?"
"I feel so stupid." Eileen took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. "Ok, I . . . I realized that I had feelings for you a long time ago, just before I got engaged to Hector actually." When she looked up at Lawrence and saw a very confused expression on his face, she hastened to continue. "I was going to talk to you about it or tell you how I felt or something, but then I saw where you lived and I was so shocked that I left without knocking."
"So you found out I didn't have as much money as Hector and you agreed to marry him instead?"
"No! Well, not exactly . . . It just wasn't what I expected. I got confused and started doubting myself. It was so stupid. Do you realize how much trouble and heartache I could have saved all of us, if I had just trusted my feelings and if I had been able to look past the surface?"
"You do realize, Eileen, that this housing project is very risky. I've put everything I've earned plus money that I borrowed into this. If this isn't a success, I'll lose everything. I will be even worse off than I was. If having money and being wealthy means much to you, then maybe I'm not the one you should be with, maybe not right now."
When Lawrence turned away, Eileen stepped towards him. "Please don't be mad at me. I'm already mad at myself."
He turned and looked at her sympathetically.
"Money doesn't matter to me. It really doesn't. I would still want to be with you even if it meant we had to live in that ratty apartment together forever. It wouldn't matter . . . As long as you'd still want a silly, stupid girl like me, with you."
"No, not a silly, stupid girl," he said, putting his arms around her. "Just a girl who's does silly and stupid things."
Eileen hit him lightly in the chest, pretending to be more offended by his teasing than she really was. "Things? Just one thing! Ok, so it was one big thing, but I know better now. None of that other stuff matters. I'm just glad it didn't keep us from being together."
"So am I. Very glad."
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