"Thank you, Mrs. Pulasky." He reached out to shake her hand just as the elevator door opened to reveal Trissa with a volunteer at her elbow. She was dressed in a soft, dusty rose sweater and dress. She had brushed her hair forward to cover the cheek that bore the worst of her bruises. She looked like some frail and battered angel as she took two hesitant steps toward them, unwilling it seemed, to interrupt their conversation. Nicholas forgot there was anyone else on the planet. He left Georgia without a sideward glance.
"Are you ready to take me home?"
"Yes, Trissa, I'm ready."
*****
"So you're leaving together?" Edmonds found them on the verge of exiting the building.
"As I told you we would. Together. As we arrived," said Nicholas.
"I wouldn't allude to the condition of your arrival, if I were you, Brewer." Edmonds shouldered his way between her and Nicholas, and Trissa realized at that moment the size of the doctor. He was half a foot taller than Nicholas and his chest seemed twice as broad. With his lean waist and well-muscled thighs, he seemed almost overpowering to her.
Beside him, Nicholas was a neat package of coiled strength and energy, compact and well proportioned. Both men seemed ready to growl and bristle like two dogs, a Great Dane and a terrier, contending over a bone. And that made her the bone. Almost unwittingly, she'd edged toward the terrier.
"Trissa, there's still time to change your mind," Dr. Edmonds said with the portent of a final warning.
Both pairs of eyes pierced hers and in her moment of flustered silence, she saw Nicholas' soften and sadden. She closed her own eyes against them, afraid to see what change her words might bring, regret or relief. "No, I'm going home. With Nicholas." Nicholas took her hand and squeezed it, tugging her away to break the circle of tension.
"I'll be watching you, Nicholas Brewer," Edmonds barked after them.
"Fine, but do call for an appointment first, Doc," Nicholas snapped back with a complacent grin "My wife and I will try to squeeze you in."
The easy-listening station on the car radio emitted a slightly staticky stream of Andy Williams, Peggy Lee, and Acker Bilk. Without really listening to it, she let the music soothe her. Between each song the deep and mellow voice of the announcer intruded to sell Chevrolets or vacations in the Ozarks, give a weather report, or wish a happy birthday.
"And now, from out of the past, the powerful pipes of pint-sized Teresa Brewer singing 'Let Me Go, Lover'."
"Teresa Brewer," Trissa murmured.
"Hmmm?"
"Teresa Brewer. That's me now, I guess. Teresa Marie Brewer. Sounds okay."
Nicholas glanced sideways at her, then mirrored her smile. "Sounds just fine to me." His smile faded a bit as he looked back at the road. "Do you understand why I had to lie now, Trissa?"
"You had no other choice."
"I don't want you to think I had some other motives. That stuff between Edmonds and me, don't pay any attention to it. He suspects we're not married, and it galls him that he couldn't prove it. I had to rub his nose in it. Can you understand that? It's what men have to do sometimes, just because they're men and don't know any better. I should have thought. Your reputation--"
"Don't worry about my reputation. It's silver plate at best, worn down to base nickel in some spots already, I'm afraid." She tried to sound lighthearted but managed only wistful.
Nicholas frowned and pulled the car to the curb, provoking a honk from the old Mercury wagon behind them. Surprised, Trissa looked around them. "Are we there already?"
"No, we have to talk." He reached down to cut off Teresa Brewer's belting voice in mid-chorus, and turned to face Trissa. "I have to tell you that I know I was wrong to call you my wife and I regret it. Anything would have been better -- sister, niece -- I don't know. I should have used my head. I never meant--"
"Never mind. It doesn't matter anymore." There was a strange exhilaration welling up inside her, as a butterfly might feel as it emerged from its cocoon and reached for the sun to dry its wings. "Oh, how far are we from your place? Let's hurry. I feel like I'm becoming a whole new person."
"I was getting to like the old one pretty well." Nicholas slipped the car into drive and steered it back into traffic.