Twenty minutes later, he stood waiting in the kitchen when she returned. “The limo’s here. C’mon and I’ll introduce you to Sid.”
When they stepped outside, a brown-haired man who looked to be in his twenties waited by a white limo. He smiled as they walked up.
“Hi, Sid,” Aaron said. “Stella, meet Sid Fryer. Sid, this is Ms. Daniels.”
“Glad to meet you, Sid,” she said.
“She’s going to Cecelia’s shop later and you can hang around or give her a number and she’ll call you. She’ll be there two hours minimum,” Aaron instructed.
Stella was surprised. She couldn’t imagine spending that much time picking out dresses.
Sid held the limo door for her and she climbed inside, turning to the window as Aaron stepped away and waved.
Sid climbed behind the wheel and they left. When she glanced back, Aaron was already in his car.
“Sid—?”
He glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Just call me Stella. Everyone does in my hometown of Royal. I just can’t be that formal—we’ll be together off and on all day.”
She could see him grin in the rearview mirror. “Yes, ma’am. Whatever you say.”
When Sid turned out of the gated area where Aaron lived, Stella looked behind them and saw Aaron turning the opposite way.
She met her mother in a coffee shop near the high school where her mother was principal. As Stella approached the booth where her mother sat looking at papers on the table, she realized where she got her plain way of dressing and living. Her mother’s hair was in a roll, fastened on the back of her head. She wore a brown blouse and skirt, practical low-heel shoes and no makeup. Stella hadn’t told her mother about the pregnancy yet and intended to today, but as she looked at her mother bent over her papers, she decided to wait a bit longer, until she had made more definite plans for raising the child. Her mother would probably want to step in and take charge, although she was deeply wrapped up in her job and, in the past few years, had interacted very little with either Stella or her sister.
Stella greeted her mother, gave her a slight hug and a light kiss on the cheek and slid into the booth across from her. “How are you?” Stella asked.
“So busy with the end of the semester coming. I can only stay an hour because I have a stack of papers on my desk I have to deal with and three appointments with parents this afternoon. How are things in Royal?”
“Slowly improving.”
“I’ve seen you in television clips. It looks as if you’re busy. When will the mayor take over again so you won’t have to do his job for him?”
“Mom, he was hurt badly and was on the critical list for a long time. The deputy mayor was killed.”
“I’m glad I moved out of Royal. You should give it thought.”
“I’ll do that,” she said, reminded again of why she was so much closer to her sister than her mother.
They talked over salads and then her mother gathered up papers and said she had to get back to her office. Stella kissed her goodbye and waited a few minutes before calling Sid for the limo—something she did not want to have to explain to her mother.