Among The Roses

Chapter 44: The Earth Moved

LeeAnne had a few habits that drove everyone batty. One was running down the back stairs to the kitchen, very loudly, sounding like a herd of children, rather than one adult. It also meant that if someone were starting up the stairs, she would come around the corner and run into them, her momentum knocking them over, more likely than not, since she was coming down, while the other person was going up. Since it was the most convenient way to get upstairs from the laundry room, many times the person in question would wind up lying in a pile of clean clothes to boot.

"Would you mind just walking down the stairs like a normal person, or, if you insist on thundering about like a herd of bison, just using the nice, wide, front stairs?" Luke asked when she knocked him back into the wall as she ran down to the kitchen.

"The front stairs are way out of the way," she objected. "These are much more convenient to come and get a drink." She gave him a sunny smile. "I will try to be more careful, though, okay?"

Until the next time, when her running footsteps would once again be heard on the narrow stairs.

Another was bursting into tears and running off to the bathroom, sometimes to actually throw up, whenever something unpleasant was happening around her. The list of things that LeeAnne found unpleasant was quite long.

Anything regarding Chiara and Drew's wedding.

Anything regarding Mara and Luke's wedding.

Anything regarding Gary and another woman that might show up online, even though he hadn't stirred from Langton in months, and she and Gary weren't a couple.

Anything that could be construed as criticism about her.

Anything that could be construed as criticism about the baby.

Anything about when she would leave Langton and return to LA.

The others were getting exhausted just being around her, and Chiara found it was a relief to go to work every day. She felt very professional to put her breakfast things in the sink and kiss Drew good bye before stopping off at the cottage to get what she'd need for the day and drive off in the truck.

The best part of her day, LeeAnne notwithstanding, was returning to Langton to move forward with plans for the wedding. In addition to the daily care that she put in as part of her job, she was preparing the rose garden and the grounds for the big event that would take place there the next year.

Sometimes, she'd catch LeeAnne watching her through the French doors, holding Sienna, who could hold her head up now, and had become an alert little baby who smiled readily and cooed at everyone. LeeAnne even came outside sometimes to ask what Chiara was doing, and offer her opinion about where the roses were moved or how many chairs would fit.

One day in late April, Chiara came home expecting to find everyone in the kitchen preparing dinner as usual. Instead, she found Mara holding the baby, and Ned getting off the phone from ordering a pizza, and everyone looking upset and distracted.

"What?" Chiara asked, going to the mudroom to wash the day off her hands and arms. She returned to the kitchen. "Where are LeeAnne and Nicholle?" She looked around. "What's going on?"

"We don't exactly know," Mara answered. "They're up in their room."

Chiara waited, but no one said anything else. She looked around.

"Where's Drew?"

Again, she waited, but she got only silence.

Mara looked around, but no one else seemed inclined to answer, so she stepped gamely into the breach, first handing Sienna to Gary.