Julia, Audrey, and Melissa returned to find Rod staring off into space on the living-room couch.
The women looked at one another, wondering if their master plan had gone horribly wrong. Why wasn't he chatting up Isabel and making her feel comfortable around him? Was she so appalled at his sheik-like ways that she couldn't bear the sight of him? Melissa, at least, had thought that Rod was actually becoming more or less friendly with her stern aunt, insofar as
anyone
could get friendly with her.
When she noticed that he didn't respond to her, "Hey, what's up?" she stalked over to him, stood right in front of him, and waved a hand before his face.
"Uh, Earth to Rodâare you there?" she said sharply.
He snapped out of his funk and stared up at her as if he had never seen her before.
"You okay, guy?" she said, now getting a bit concerned.
A dreamy smile came over his face. "Yeah, just fine," he said.
"Where's Aunt Isabel?"
"Up in her room."
"What's she doing there?"
"Um, resting, I guess."
"Resting? Why aren't youâ?"
"Well, she had a little accident."
"Accident? What the hell do you mean? Is she all right?"
"Sure, she's all right. She just sprained or twisted her ankle."
"What! How?"
"She slipped on the stairs. I came up and caught her before she could fall."
Julia, who was transfixed while listening to this dialogue, now almost shrieked in terror.
"Omigod! She almost fell down the stairs? And you caught her? My stars, Rod, you saved her life!"
He blushed in sudden embarrassment. "Oh, I don't know about that."
"Well, it sure sounds like it! Is she all right? Do you think we should take her to the hospital?"
"I don't think she's hurt very badly," he demurred.
Julia hardly heard him, for she was already flying up the stairs to take stock of the situation. Without even bothering to knock, she burst into Isabel's room, clutching her heart as she saw her sister lying placidly on the bed.
"Isabel, are you all right? Are you in pain?"
Isabel, still groggy from sleepâshe seemed to have rested very wellâblinked a few times and said, "I'm fine, dear. Your young man" (
my young man?
) "has been enormously helpful."
"He said you almost tumbled down the stairs. You could have died!"
"Well, I suppose there was a remote chance of that, but certainly there was the likelihood that I could have been seriously injured. So I suppose that nice young man saved me from that."
"Oh, Isabel!" Julia cried, her eyes filling with tears. "Does it hurt?"
"Not very much. I've had a nice rest, so maybe I should get up and join the rest of you downstairs."
By this time, all the others in the household had tramped up the stairs to see how Isabel was doing. When she saw Rod standing behind Julia's daughters, she called to him:
"Rod, dear, perhaps you can help me stand up."
Melissa looked at Audrey, stupefied.
Rod, dear?
Rod approached the bed stiffly. As Isabel threw aside the blankets covering her, he slid her legs gently over the edge of the bed, then took her extended arm and helped her to her feet. She was a little wobbly and said, "You may need to stay with me and accompany me down the stairs."
"I can carry you!" he said enthusiastically.
She gave him a sharp look and said, "That won't be necessary. Just let me use you as a kind of crutch, and we'll be fine."
And so it happened. As the three other women gazed in wonder, Rod carefully led Isabel step by step down the stairs. He placed her on the couch in the living room while the others stalked slowly down like zombies, watching the whole thing with disbelieving eyes.
As Isabel sat strong and upright on the couch, Julia said, "I'd best start getting dinner ready."
"I'll help you, Mom," Melissa said quickly.
"Me, too," Audrey said, although she was pretty useless in the kitchen.
Rod, as expected, led Isabel to the dining table when dinner was served. Afterward, he led her back to the couch and sat beside her. Each time he did this, he couldn't help feel the swell of one warm, round breast pressing up against his sideâsomething that made him confused and light-headed. Once she was sitting down, she patted the space next to her and said to Rod, "Please keep me company, dear." She actually smiled when she did so.
That caused Melissa and Audrey to come dangerously close to bursting out in hysterical laughter, but they managed to control themselves. For her part, Julia just watched the proceedings in a daze.
Melissa boldly placed herself on the other side of Rod, as if to claim at least a share of him.
You may, by some miracle, have won Aunt Isabel over, but I'm still your best girl!