Ivy felt strong arms rubbing her back, her body shaking slightly. Lifting her head, she detected a new and unfamiliar quality in the eyes she had looked at many times before. "Hi," she stammered between tears. "How did you…"
"Julia told me, and I left."
"You left the show? The Broadway premiere is so soon and…"
"I couldn't stay." Derek squeezed her gently. "All I could think about was you and…"
"You left your show for me," Ivy let out a small laugh, her tears subsiding. It was compassion that she saw in him now. The man who openly admitted that he was all about work first and foremost, put work on pause for her. Ivy wiped away a lingering tear. "I think I've ruined your shirt," Ivy looked down at Derek's chest, his shirt now wet with her tears.
Derek tilted her chin up. "I've got a dozen others just like it," said with a small smile.
"Well Derek, Ivy didn't tell us you were coming," Leigh said, coming into the room.
Ivy turned to face her mother, looping her arm through Derek's. "This wasn't exactly planned," Ivy said quickly.
"I hope I'm not imposing," Derek said.
"Nonsense, the more the merrier," Leigh assured him.
"You're taller than your picture," Stacie appraised from the corner.
Ivy leaned into Derek's shoulder. "My niece Stacie. Apparently she and my sister Alyson have heard of you."
Derek squeezed Ivy's arm in support. "Exactly how tall are you?" Derek replied to Stacie.
"She's three foot seven," Alyson said, extending a hand to Derek. "I'm Ivy's sister Alyson."
Derek greeted the elder Conroy daughter. "Have you seen the show yet?"
"We're all hoping to go next month," Alyson explained, placing her hands on Stacie's shoulder. "This one can't stop talking about it."
Derek noted the resemblance between aunt and niece. "Well she's sensational."
Ivy lowered her head slightly. "I asked the rest of the family to wait a month or two, until we get the kinks worked out before seeing everything."
"And some of us don't want to wait that long," Lynn interjected, wheeled into the room by Alyson's husband Evan. "Three Broadway legends in one day, how exciting."
"I'm hardly a legend," Ivy insisted.
"A legend in the making," Derek whispered into her ear.
Ivy giggled lightly, crossing to her grandmother. "Derek, this is my grandmother Lynn Conroy.
"Pleased to meet you," Derek acknowledged, offering his hand to Lynn. "The woman behind the inspiration for Ivy's last name."
"She had just turned 18," Lynn recounted. "And she wanted to make a name for herself. So rather than keep her mother's name, she decided to create her own."
"Make her own mark," Leigh parroted, channeling Ivy's voice.
"I wanted a piece of grandma to carry with me," Ivy explained to Derek. "And I always thought 'Lynn' was a perfect stage name."
"Are you able to stay the weekend?" Alyson asked Derek.
Ivy shot her sister a frustrated look, attempting to silence her.
"I took off the weekend; I could always find a hotel nearby and…"
"Nonsense, stay here with us," Lynn insisted.
"Most of the extra rooms have equipment in them for you Grandma Lynn," Stacie said. "Where will he stay?"
"Ivy's room," Alyson and Leigh answered together.
Ivy's face turned a red color.
"I am not going to pretend that I haven't read the gossip columns about you two," Lynn chided her granddaughter. "Derek can stay in your room."
Ivy raised her eyes to meet Derek's gaze sending him a quiet apology. "Derek, would you like to stay?"
"It's a generous offer," Derek acknowledged. "If it isn't too much trouble, I'd be happy to stay the weekend."
"No trouble at all," Lynn insisted. "This will give us a chance to get to know each other."
"Grandma," Ivy protested lightly.
Ivy's father Robert was the next to enter the room with her grandfather Harold. "Ivy, you know there's no getting around your grandmother," he teased, offering a hand to Derek.
"Derek, my father Robert and Grandpa Harold are the last family member you have to meet," Ivy said meekly.
"How will you remember everyone's name?" Stacie asked.
Derek smirked at Stacie. "Well I just met Lynn's husband Harold your great grandfather, and your Grandpa Robert. I met your parents Alyson and Evan. Your great grandmother is Lynn, your grandmother is Leigh, your Aunt is Ivy, and you are…" Derek paused teasingly.
"Hey!" Stacie whined. "You forgot me!"
"Or you could say that I was saving the best for last, Stacie."
Stacie smiled sitting up a little straighter.
"Stacie, there is a rake outside with your name on it," Evan said, guiding his daughter out to the backyard for yardwork.
Stacie obediently followed, leaving the grownups in the room.
"Derek, Leigh says you have your own show opening in a few short weeks,"
Robert said.
"Just in time for awards season," Ivy noted wryly.
"Then you're competing," Alyson said, reaching for a sugar cookie on the table.
"Surely there's enough room for everyone," Lynn insisted.
"That's my theory," Derek agreed.
"Sounds like we have a lot in common. Derek, why don't Harold, Robert and I show you around the outdoor area?" Lynn offered.
Ivy offered Derek a small wave as Derek followed Ivy's father and grandparents. "I still can't believe he came," Ivy said as he left the room.
"Well I can," Leigh insisted. "I think he'd even want to start things up again you just…"
"Mom!" Ivy cut her off.
"You forgot, I've seen you two together before, last year."
"Not exactly our finest moments," Ivy admitted. It was true enough that their on again -off again relationship wasn't healthy for either party, with both exhibiting toxic behavior. Ivy had been accused of using her status of sleeping with the director to get the part in Bombshell, which wasn't true, but her territorial behavior after was all on her, directed mostly at Derek's other ingénue Karen Cartwright. Derek had kept Ivy often at a distance, keeping her guessing as to what was going on, leaving her more insecure than she already was.
"But you've both grown since last year," Leigh insisted. "I know you have, look how far you've come."
"He came all this way for you, that has to mean something," Alyson encouraged. "Talk to him and figure out what's going on."
"Talking has never been one of our strongest suits," Ivy pointed out. "Derek doesn't seem big on conversation, especially about things like feelings, and I – I don't want to get hurt again."
"You're hurt now," Alyson said gently. "You owe it to both of you to talk about things, figure out why he came."
"We know why he came, he came for you," Leigh reasoned.
Ivy looked out the side window, spying her grandmother and Derek talking. "I wonder what's going out there."
Lynn waved Harold and Robert away, requesting quality time with the visiting director from New York. Derek took a seat next to her. "I finally get you all to myself," Lynn clapped her hands.
"You've got a lot of people that care about you," Derek noted.
Lynn nodded. "Alyson and her family live in Connecticut, not too far from Harold and me. Robert and Leigh are usually in New York. And then there's my Ivy." Lynn beckoned for Derek to lean in. "Just between us, she was always my favorite granddaughter."
"She has that effect on people," Derek nodded with a smile. "Somehow she's able to light up every room she's in, whether she's front and center or milling around in the back."
"The best stars can shine anywhere."
"Agreed." Derek looked through the window, spying Ivy with her mother and sister. "I still remember the first time I saw her perform on stage. She was doing another show just before the Marilyn workshop took off."
"That would be Heaven on Earth," Lynn remembered. "I've got all of her old playbills, even from her old childhood productions – you'll have to see them all tonight. Complete with photos from the shows." Lynn noted Derek watching Ivy from the house. "It really was very sweet of you to come check on Ivy. We both know how special she is."
"She certainly is," Derek agreed quietly.
"I take it that you care about her a great deal,"
Derek pulled his attention away from Ivy and back to Lynn. "Yes, I do." His voice was a low whisper, as though Ivy could hear him from the house.
"I take it this has been going on for some time."
Derek blinked, thinking back to the Boston workshop and how things ended with Ivy.
Lynn smiled, taking a long sip of her water from the table. "When you get to be my age, there's no point in beating around the bush, so I tend to just say what I feel. Does she know?"
"Ivy?" Derek asked.
Lynn nodded. "Does she know how much you care about her?"
Derek rubbed his chin. The last time he had tried to talk to Ivy was the Hit List performance in Kyle Bishop's honor. She had made it clear to him that she only came as friend. He was too stunned to protest and say much else, letting her walk away.
"I'm going to take your silence as a 'no'" Lynn said, breaking the silence.
"I've hurt her in the past," Derek admitted, remembering broken promises, berating in public, encouraging her to use pills for her voice, keeping her guessing, and finally sleeping with someone else, all in the name of 'art'. "To be honest, I'm sometimes surprised she still speaks to me after everything."
"There's no need to go into detail," Lynn assured him. "I see the way you look at her; the same way Harold looks at me. You know it was tragedy that brought us together – we both lost a mutual friend."
Derek looked back to Ivy. It was the tragedy of Kyle Bishop's death that led her to reach out to him, after over a week of not speaking. "I'm afraid I'm settling for friendship at this point."
"Don't settle too long," Lynn advised. "You never know what might happen next."
Derek nodded, thanking Lynn for the conversation. The familiar buzz of his phone told him that another text had arrived. Derek excused himself.
Scott: Are you planning on coming back to the theatre this weekend? There's some logistics that still need working out.
Derek composed a hasty text to the director of the Manhattan Theatre Workshop when another notification arrived.
Daisy: I guess you're ghosting the entire cast now? I expect you to follow up with what we agreed upon – you know what comes next if you don't.
Derek shoved his phone back into his pocket, intercepted by Ivy as he came into the house.
"Was that work?" Ivy asked.
"Scott," Derek said, ignoring Daisy's correspondence.
Ivy rubbed Derek's arm. "I hope I'm not inconveniencing you in some way. You can go whenever you need to; I promise I'll be okay."
Derek mustered a tired smile for Ivy. "I was promised a big dinner tonight. I hear your father is using the outdoor grill."
Ivy laughed. "He doesn't get to cook outside in the New York house, so he uses Grandpa's every chance he gets." Ivy kept her hand on Derek's arm an extra moment. "Thank you again for coming today."
"There's no where else I'd rather be," he assured her.
"Even with all of my crying?" Ivy joked. "I know how you are about feelings and things."
Derek placed his hand on hers. "I hope you know that I'm not the same person that I was last year."
Ivy nodded. "I've known that for a while. I like the new Derek very much."
"So do I," he echoed. He stayed lost in silence for a moment, unable to pull away from her.
"I moved your things upstairs, you didn't bring very much," Ivy said, breaking the quiet.
"I travel light," Derek acknowledged.
"A good philosophy," Ivy agreed. "Let me show you the rest of the house."
Derek followed Ivy inside, thinking about everything that Lynn had told him earlier.