The Only Solution(30)

She thanked heaven that she had Rory to cuddle and to talk to. Once, the  little girl had filled Wendy's entire heart. Now there was a gap around  the edges, a space only Mack could fill  –  a space that she knew might  remain forever empty.

Still, while she devoted herself to Rory, Wendy didn't have time to fret  about the empty spaces in her life. And as she watched the baby grow,  changing almost hour by hour, she could make herself believe that other  things could grow, too  –  in the fullness of time.

Tessa paid a surprise visit on Friday in the middle of yet another  snowstorm, sweeping in with a hug for Wendy and a quick tickle under the  chin for Rory. "I absolutely never drop by without phoning first," she  began.

"Of course you don't," Wendy said agreeably.

Tessa burst out laughing. "All right, this time I have. But I had some  great ideas for baby clothes, and I hoped you wouldn't mind taking a  look. And if Mrs. Morgan can scare up a cup of tea, I'd be eternally  grateful."

"She's turning out one of the rooms upstairs, and I wouldn't dare  interrupt her to ask for tea." Wendy led the way to the kitchen and put  Rory down on a blanket on the floor.

Tessa swung her portfolio up onto the counter. "These are just rough ideas, you understand."

Wendy put the kettle on and looked over Tessa's shoulder as she spread  out a dozen sheets of paper. The sketches were obviously rough and  quickly done, but the clothes showed Tessa's touch in every line  –   pin-tucks and smocking on simple pastel cotton.

Wendy frowned. "Too casual for dress-up, too elaborate for play clothes,  and too expensive all the way around." When she saw Tessa's face, she  wished that she had bit her tongue and been a bit more diplomatic. "I  mean … "

"No, your first reaction is what I want." Tessa frowned at the sketches.

Wendy made the tea in silence, trying to find a way to break the  impasse. The last thing she needed was family trouble, and especially  with Tessa, who had been nothing but kind to her.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "I reverted to type, I'm afraid. Give  marketing people a new product and we automatically play devil's  advocate and point out what's wrong with it before we even consider how  to sell it."

Tessa studied her over the rim of her china tea cup for a long time  before she said, "You know, Wendy, it's a good thing I like you."

"I'm sorry I was so blunt."

"Oh, that's got nothing to do with it. I'm a professional  –  if I can't  take honest criticism of my designs I'd better get out of the business."  Tessa waved a hand in a dismissing gesture. "It's Elinor, actually."                       
       
           



       

That surprised Wendy. "What do you mean?"

"She's absolutely soppy over you  –  or didn't you realize that? She told  me just yesterday how perfect you are, and how lucky Mack is, and how  the moment she saw you with Rory she knew how it had to turn out. It's  enough to make an ordinary daughter-in-law sob, except that, fortunately  for you, my self-esteem is healthy." She pointed at Rory. "That baby is  crawling backward, Wendy."

Wendy retrieved Rory from the floor and put her back on the blanket.  "You can't call it crawling, really. She's beginning to get the idea of  how to move herself around, she just doesn't have her directions down  pat." She sat down again and picked up one of Tessa's sketches, a dress  with a simple smocked top and touches of delicate embroidery. The hand  work alone would drive the price out of most mothers' consideration. "Do  you know how I'd market these, Tessa?"

"I thought you didn't like them at all."

"I never said that." Wendy shuffled through the sketches. "As patterns.  No, as kits -- the customer sends in her money and gets a package with  all the pre-cut pieces and directions. All she has to do is put them  together and she has a wonderful party dress for her little girl."

Tessa picked up a sketch by one corner. "You said they were too casual for dress-up."

"For the price you'd have to charge, yes. On the rack, I think it would  look too simple. On the other hand, if a mother makes it herself..."

Tessa said slowly, "She wants to believe she's pulled off a complicated project."

"Exactly."

"I think you've got something there." Tessa lifted her tea cup in a salute. "I may have to make you a partner, Wendy."

Wendy told Mack about it that evening over dinner, mostly because she  thought he'd find the whole idea amusing. But Mack didn't seem to see  the humor. He wrinkled his brow a little instead.

Wendy could almost read his mind. "I know this is an entirely new twist  for Tessa's business, but she's not going to plunge into anything  without thinking it through."

He laughed ruefully. "Maybe you don't know Tessa as well as you think you do."

"She can't, Mack. She doesn't have a product ready to market, and if she  did, she couldn't just dump it into stores. I'm not sure stores are the  right way to go anyway. Maybe a mail-order catalog, something with  other crafts in it as well. But that's only speculation. Tessa doesn't  even know who her target buyer is, and the research on how to reach that  buyer could take months."

Mack was smiling faintly. "You miss it, don't you?"

"Marketing?" She looked down at the remains of the salmon steak on her  plate. She hadn't realized how absorbed she'd been in Tessa's problem;  she'd eaten most of her dinner without even noticing. "Well, it is a  fascinating question. Of course clothes aren't my specialty."

"What is?" Mack asked.

"Not valves and gauges, that's for sure," Wendy said with a smile. "Not  that it matters any more. I'd have to do a lot of studying before I was  much help to Tessa."

The truth was, figuring out Tessa's marketing strategy would be  exciting, a challenge that  –  under different circumstances  –  Wendy would  jump at. But it wasn't as important as what she was doing now, and  there would be other opportunities, after Rory was older.

Tessa would have other brainstorms. It was even possible that this idea  would be so long in development that Wendy could be involved after all.  It wasn't as if she was giving up anything critical.

But it took effort to put a cheerful note in her voice. "If I wasn't too  busy just now with the baby, I'd be tempted to get involved. That  reminds me, Rory's going to take off crawling any day now, so don't  trust her to stay where you put her."

Mack nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"And in the midst of her babbling this afternoon there was something  that sounded awfully like Dada. Now isn't that gratitude for you?" Wendy  picked up their plates. "Do you want to have dessert and coffee here or  in the library?"                       
       
           



       





CHAPTER TEN



The gallery opening on Saturday night was a glittering affair. Fur coats  and jewels were abundant, and champagne flowed as freely as a mid-sized  river. The rooms were so crowded that it was difficult to see the art.

Thank heaven for Tessa, Wendy thought as she glanced around the room,  more interested in the people than in the paintings. Tessa had asked  what she planned to wear, and then nagged her into another shopping  trip. So at least Wendy was properly dressed and looked as if she fit  in, even though her bittersweet-red dress was not nearly as daring as  some of the outfits around her. And though she wasn't wearing an icing  of jewels, Elinor's diamond ring was the equal of any single other piece  Wendy saw.

The way she felt was something else altogether. The fact was, properly  dressed or not, she was completely out of her depth among the arty set  which surrounded her. She couldn't help overhearing the conversation of a  nearby couple, but she wondered how they could possibly be talking  about the same garish painting she was looking at.

"Restrained passion... incredible control... masterful vision," the  couple said with reverence. To Wendy, it simply looked like paint  squeezed from random tubes onto a canvas, without thought or planning.

She'd simply have to take a course in art appreciation.

Not knowing another single soul  –  except for Mack, of course  –  didn't  help. If she had even a nodding acquaintance with a few of these  people...

Familiarity would come with time, she reassured herself. She'd just have  to be patient. Besides, any moment Mack would catch up with her  –  the  crush at the cloakroom had been incredible, so he'd suggested she go on  ahead  –  and then she'd feel much better.