Fancy Pants

Chapter 29

They ate a tense meal, with both of them cracking jokes that weren't all that funny. Then they went

back to bed and made love again. With their mouths glued together and their bodies joined, they couldn't talk, but talking was something neither of them wanted to do much of. They slept restlessly, waking in

the wee hours to find that they still hadn't gotten enough of each other.

"How many times was that?" Dallie groaned after they were finished.

She nuzzled closer under his chin. "Uh-four, I think."

He kissed the top of her head and muttered, "Francie, I don't think this fire burning between us is going

to be as easy to put out as we figured."

It was past eight the next morning before either of them stirred. Francesca stretched lazily and Dallie pulled her close for a cuddle. They were just beginning to fool around a little when they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Dallie cussed under his breath. Francesca jerked her head toward the door and then watched in alarm as the knob began to turn. An ugly vision flashed through her mind of an army of Dallie's old girlfriends stalking in, each with a house key dangling from her fingers. "Oh, God…" She couldn't help it. She slid down beneath the covers and pulled the sheet over her head. At that exact moment, she heard the door open.

Dallie sounded mildly exasperated. "For Pete's sake, couldn't you even knock?"

"I was afraid I'd spill my coffee. I hope that's Francie under there or I'm going to be embarrassed."

"As a matter of fact, it's not Francie," Dallie said. "And you should be embarrassed."

The mattress sagged as Holly Grace settled down on the side of the bed, her hips brushing against Francesca's calves. The faint fragrance of coffee penetrated the sheet.

"The least you could do was bring me a cup, too," Dallie complained.

Holly Grace apologized. "I wasn't thinking; I've got a lot on my mind. You were kidding, weren't you, about that not being Francie under there?"

Dallie patted Francesca's hip through the covers. "You stay right there, Rosalita honey. This crazy person'll be gone in a few minutes."

Holly Grace tugged on the top of the sheet. "Francie, I need to talk to both of you."

Francesca clutched the sheet tighter and muttered something in Spanish about turning left at the corner

to get to the post office. Dallie chuckled.

"Come on, Francie, I know it's you," Holly Grace said. "Your underwear's all over the floor-what there is of it."

Francesca saw no graceful way out. With as much dignity as possible, she lowered the sheet to her chin and glared at Holly Grace, who sat on the edge of the bed wearing old jeans and a Cowboys sweat shirt. "What do you want?" she demanded. "For three days you've refused to talk to me. Why did you have to pick this morning to get chatty?"

"I needed some time to think."

"Couldn't you have chosen a more appropriate place to meet?" Francesca asked. Next to her, Dallie leaned up against the headboard, sipping Holly Grace's coffee and looking as relaxed as ever. As the only person lying down, Francesca suddenly realized she had put herself at a disadvantage. Anchoring the sheet under her arms, she swallowed her embarrassment and pushed herself up until she was sitting, too.

"Want a sip?" Dallie asked, holding out the coffee mug.

She pushed her hair out of her face and thanked him with exaggerated politeness, determined to out-casual them both. As she took the mug, Holly Grace stood and walked toward the window, her

hands jumping from her front pockets to her rear pockets. Watching the gesture, Francesca realized that her friend was a lot more nervous than she pretended. As she looked more closely, she saw telltale signs of tension in the set of Holly Grace's shoulders.

Holly Grace played with the edge of the drapery. "See, the thing of it is-this situation that's happened between the two of you has sort of gotten in the way of some plans I made."

"What situation?" Francesca inquired defensively.

"What plans?" Dallie asked.

Holly Grace turned. "Francie, you've got to understand that none of this has anything to do with disapproval. I've been telling you for years that you missed out on one of life's great opportunities by not spending more time in bed with Dallas Beaudine."

"Holly Grace!" Francesca protested.

"Thanks, honey," Dallie said.

Francesca realized they were starting to get the best of her again, and she took a slow, calming sip of coffee. Holly Grace wandered to the foot of the bed and gazed at her ex-husband. "Dallie, my biological clock is about to hit midnight. I kept thinking that sooner or iater I'd find somebody I wanted to marry. For a while I even hoped Gerry and I- Anyway, I planned to settle down and let the 'China Colt' producers shoot me from the chest up every few seasons while I had a couple of babies. But lately I've realized that's a fantasy and the thing of it is… I've got an ache inside me." She walked around to Francesca's side of the bed, hugging herself as if she were cold.

Francesca saw the sadness in her friend's beautiful, proud features, and she could guess what it had cost Holly Grace to be so open about her need for a child. She passed the coffee mug off to Dallie and patted the bed beside her. "Sit down, Holly Grace, and tell me what's wrong."

Holly Grace sat, her blue eyes locking with Francesca's green ones. "You know how much I want to

have a baby, Francie, and I guess everything that's happened with Teddy has made me think about it even more. I'm tired of only being able to love other people's kids; I want my own. Dallie's been telling me for years not to wrap all my happiness up in a dollar bill, and I guess I've finally realized that he's right."

Francesca reached out and touched her arm sympathetically. She wished Gerry hadn't flown home yesterday, although after three days of trying unsuccessfully to get Holly Grace to talk to him, she didn't blame him. "When you get back to New York, you and Gerry need to get together. I know you love

him, and he loves you, and-"

"Forget about Gerry!" she retorted. "He's Peter Pan. He won't ever grow up. Gerry's made it perfectly clear that he wants to marry me. But he's also made it clear that he won't give me any children."

"You never told me anything about that," Dallie said, obviously surprised at this revelation.

"You and Gerry have to start being open with each other," Francesca insisted.

"I won't beg." Holly Grace straightened, trying to keep her dignity. "I'm financially independent, I'm at least semi-mature, and I don't see any reason in the world why I have to shackle myself in marriage just to have a child. Only I need your help."

"I'll do anything I can, you know that. After the way you helped me when-"

"Will you lend me Dallie?" Holly Grace asked abruptly.

Dallie shot up in bed. "Now, wait a minute here!"

"Dallie's not mine to lend," Francesca replied slowly.

Holly Grace ignored Dallie's indignation. Without taking her eyes off Francesca, she said, "I know there are dozens of men I could ask, but it's not in my nature to have just anybody's baby. I love Dallie, and we still have Danny between us. Right now he's the only man I trust." She looked at Francesca with gentle reprimand. "He knows I wouldn't try to cut him out like you did. I understand how important family is to him, and the baby would be his just as much as mine."

"This is between the two of you," Francesca said firmly.

Holly Grace looked back and forth between Francesca and Dallie. "I don't think so." She turned her attention to Dallie. "I realize it would be a little creepy getting back into bed with you after all this time-sort of like sleeping with my brother. But I figure if I had a few drinks and made up a fantasy about me and Tom Cruise…"

Her weak attempt at humor fell flat. Dallie looked as if she'd just punched him in the stomach. "That

does it!" He reached down and snatched up a towel that was lying on the carpet next to the bed.

Holly Grace looked pleadingly at him. "I know you have something to say about all this, but just for

a few minutes, do you think you could let Francie and me talk?"

"No, I do not," he replied coldly. "I can't believe the two of you. This is a perfect example of how

entirely out of hand the women in this country have gotten. You act like men aren't anything more than extraneous amusements, little toys to keep you entertained." Under the covers, he wrapped the towel around himself. "And no matter what anybody says, I don't believe all this trouble started when women got the vote. As far as I'm concerned, it goddamn well got started when you taught each other how to read." He rose up out of bed, pulling the towel tighter at his waist. "And another thing-I'm getting a little tired of the two of you treating me like a walking sperm bank!" With that, he stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Unimpressed with Dallie's anger, Holly Grace looked back at Francesca. "Assuming I could bring Dallie around to my way of thinking, what would you have to say about that?"

The idea gave Francesca a lot more discomfort than she liked to admit. "Holly Grace, just because Dallie and I succumbed to a night of temporary insanity doesn't mean I have any decision to make in this. Whatever happens is between the two of you."

Holly Grace looked at Francesca's underwear scattered over the floor. "Hypothetically speaking, if you really were in love with Dallie, how would you feel about it?"

There was such naked need in Holly Grace's face that Francesca decided she had to answer honestly.

She thought for a few moments. "As much as I love you, Holly Grace-as much as I sympathize with your desire to have a child-if I really loved Dallie, I wouldn't let you touch him."

Holly Grace didn't reply for a moment, and then she gave a sad sort of smile. "That's exactly what I'd say, too. For all your flightiness, Francie, it's moments like this that make me remember why we're best friends."

Holly Grace squeezed her hand, and Francesca was glad to see that she had finally been forgiven for

lying about Teddy. But as she looked at her friend's face, she frowned. "Holly Grace, there's something about this that doesn't ring true to me. You know very well that Dallie won't agree. I'm not convinced

you even want him to."

"He might," Holly Grace said defensively. "Dallie's full of surprises."

But not this kind of surprise. Francesca didn't believe for a minute that he would go along with Holly Grace's idea, and she doubted if Holly Grace believed it either. '"Do you know what you remind me of?" Francesca said thoughtfully. "You remind me of someone with a bad toothache who's hitting herself in

the head with a hammer to distract herself from the pain in her mouth."

"That's ridiculous," Holly Grace snapped, her reply coming so quickly that Francesca knew she had struck a nerve. It occurred to her that Holly Grace was frightened. She had begun to grab at straws, hoping to find some distraction to ease the ache in her heart from losing Gerry. There wasn't anything Francesca could do to help her friend except lean forward and give her a sympathetic hug.

"Now, isn't this a sight to warm a man's heart?" Dallie drawled as he came out of the bathroom

buttoning his shirt. He looked like a man who'd been doing a slow burn for the past few minutes,

and it was immediately apparent that his anger had shifted from righteous indignation into a serious, full-fledged forest fire. "Did the two of you decide what you're going to do with me, yet?"

"Francie says I can't have you," Holly Grace replied.

Alarmed, Francesca cried out, "Holly Grace, that's not what I-"

"Oh, does she?" Dallie shoved his shirttail inside his jeans. "Goddamn, I hate women." He pointed his finger toward Francesca angrily. "Just because we set off a few million fireworks last night doesn't mean you have any right to make personal decisions for me."

Francesca was outraged. "I didn't make any personal-"

He turned on Holly Grace. "And if you want to have yourself a baby, you go look in somebody else's pants, because, by damn, I am not providing you with stud service."

Francesca felt an anger toward him that she understood wasn't totally reasonable. But couldn't he see

that Holly Grace was in real pain and that she wasn't thinking very clearly? "Aren't you being just a little insensitive?" she inquired quietly.

"Insensitive?" His face grew pale with anger. His hands balled into fists, and he looked very much like

a man who wanted to destroy one of the higher life-forms.

As he came toward them, Francesca instinctively shrank down into the sheet, and even Holly Grace seemed to move back. His hand slashed out toward the bottom of the bed. Francesca let out a small hiss of alarm only to see that he had grabbed Holly Grace's purse from the place where she'd tossed it.

Pulling it open, he dumped out the contents and snatched up her car keys.

When he spoke, his voice was bleak. "As far as I'm concerned, the two of you can go straight to hell." With that, he stalked from the room.

As Francesca heard the distant sound of a car driving away a few moments later, she felt a stab of regret for the loss of a house where no angry words had ever been spoken.