Collision I
Part 2
Dan was the first of the two to become aware. He heard the wind gently blowing through the trees, the ducks on the lake paddling along the shoreline. The smells of coconut sun tan lotion and jasmine shampoo wafting from Tessa’s hair, the feel of her body pressed against his chest, and...a sharp twinge in his left thigh that lengthened into an ache.
Shifting his weight slightly, Dan whispered, “Nani...my leg...I need to sit down.”
Tessa raised her head from Dan’s chest, her face wet, but her eyes glowing. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” he answered shakily. “Are you real, or did I pass out in the preserve and this is all a dream?”
A huge smile broke across Tessa’s face. “I’m real, and so are you.” Her eyes never left his. “Are they all watching us?” she asked.
Dan looked up. Six pairs of eyes were, indeed, watching them. Silently groaning, he whispered, “Yep.”
“What are we going to tell them?” She turned slightly, placing herself to his right, giving Dan a shoulder as support. “Here. Lean on me and I’ll get you to a chair.”
“Wait.” Dan shifted some of his weight to Tessa, and addressed the Bob-Whites. “Hey guys,” he said. “I guess you might have figured out that Tess and I...know each other. I promise we’ll fill you in later, but could we have a little while to...catch up? It’s been a couple of years.”
Jim, aware of the rampaging curiosity bouncing around the group, took pity on Dan. “Take as long as you need,” he said. “I’m going to go for a swim. Who is with me?”
Trixie sputtered, but Jim’s hand on her shoulder calmed her a little. Brian hesitated, but Honey stepped forward and touched his arm. “I think a dip in the lake is just a perfectly perfect idea,” she said. “We can work up an appetite for Mrs. Belden’s cookies, and not have to worry about spoiling our dinner.”
“Anything for cookies.” Mart tried to joke, but his voice was strained.
“Last one in is a giant purple dinosaur!” Diana shouted, stripping off her cover-up and dashing for the dock. The others followed suit, Trixie stopping to pull off her shorts and tank top.
“No fair! I still have to change!” Jim called after them. Smiling, he moved to help Dan, picking up the fallen crutches as he did. With Dan seated on a lounge chair, and Tessa on a towel next to him, still clutching his hand, Jim turned toward the cabana. “The one, huh?” he asked Dan.
Dan just smiled.
“You grew.” Tessa told Dan softly, leaning her head against his chair. “I can’t believe how tall you are.” She smiled, appreciatively. “You filled out nicely, too.”
“I’ve chopped a lot of wood since I came to Sleepyside,” Dan told her, unable to stop smiling. “You cut your hair.” He ran his hand through the chin length strands. “You look like a pixie.”
“Actually,” Tessa told him, “I was in a really bad accident last year. They shaved my head. You should have seen me last summer--when my hair was shorter than Mart’s.”
“Are you all right?” Dan’s voice tightened at the thought of Tessa sustaining injuries bad enough to result in a shaved head.
“Yes.” Tessa squeezed his hand. “I still get headaches, occasionally, but I finished my rehab and graduated back into real life. I’m fine. Really, I am.”
“I...I wish I had been able to see you last summer, Nani,” Dan said sincerely. “Stubbly head and all. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Tessa admitted. “I was so worried. When Uncle Andy brought me back, I had him take me to New Jersey, hoping...” Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back. “I wanted so hard to find you, but Mr. Garibaldi didn’t know what had happened to you, and I couldn’t tell anyone else about you. I...”
“I know.” Dan stroked her hair again. “I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to separate what happened to us from what happened to me.” He smiled at her. “You asked me what we were going to tell them,” he waved his free hand toward the lake, where the Bob-Whites still splashed in the cooling waters. “Tonight, we’re having dinner with everyone. My family. Your family. Maybe, maybe tonight, we should tell them all the truth.”
A brilliant smile lit up Tessa’s face. “You trust them!” she exclaimed softly. At Dan’s perplexed look, she continued. “I trust them, my aunts and uncles. If you trust them, too, then I can feel justified, instead of just naive.”
Dan laughed at that, but then his face grew pensive. “I do trust them,” he admitted. “I don’t know exactly when that happened, but I do trust them. All of them.” He paused. “I think.”
“They will stand behind us, Danny. They will.”
“My heart knows that, Tess. My head has its doubts.” Dan ran his fingers down her face. “But it is time. We’re together again. Tonight we’ll tell our side of the story.”
Saturday, August 4, 1984
7:00 pm
Dinner was finally over.
Cook had outdone herself. The welcome home cookout for Jim and Dan was, as Mart exclaimed, “A plethora of gastronomic delights.” Ribs and chicken had shared space on the outdoor grill, while an array of fruits and vegetables lined the serving table, flanked by spinach salad, potato salad and baked beans. Dessert had been carefully stored in the kitchen, awaiting the close of the meal.
It began when the Bob-Whites came walking up the hill from the lake, Tessa and Dan bringing up the rear. Tessa broke away and went to speak with her uncle, whispering into Andrew’s ear. Andrew’s eyes had narrowed, and he stared at Dan, before signaling for Peter and Helen to follow him inside. Jim, at Dan’s request, spoke quietly with his parents, sending the Wheelers hurrying inside after the Beldens, while Dan made his way towards Regan and Maypenny.
Bobby Belden played in the Wheeler’s wading pool, splashing and yelling with all four Lynch twins, while the Lynch nanny watched. The youngsters were completely unaware of the air of tense curiosity surrounding the rest of the party.
Now, with the last crumbs of ice cream cake finished, and the five younger children trundled off to the Lynch mansion for a sleepover, Madeleine Wheeler led her guests onto the screened porch.
“Perhaps we should take Diana home,” Patricia Lynch ventured nervously, as everyone began making themselves at home on the comfortable lounging furniture.
“Please stay, Mrs. Lynch,” Tessa said. “It isn’t a pretty story, and I don’t want to have to tell it twice. If Diana goes home, we’ll have to fill her in later.”
“Very well.” Patricia sat down on a double chair, gesturing for Ed to sit beside her.
Dan sat down next to Tessa on the love seat, their fingers intertwined. Looking around at the faces full of anticipation, Tessa began.
“Mama and I arrived in New York at the beginning of December, almost three years ago. We had a couple of days to sightsee, before my Uncle Wes was going to send his plane to take us down to Florida. We were on our way to dinner, and it was cold and crowded,” Tessa’s eyes took on a faraway look, as she remembered. “I remember Mama letting go of my hand when some creep grabbed her bag. Then she fell, and the taxi hit her, and the next thing I remember, I was waking up in the hospital, and I couldn’t talk. When I recovered, they sent me to a foster home. That’s where I met Dan...”
