A Daddy for Her Sons, page 3
She stared at him, willing him to smile and admit he’d made that up, but he stuck to his guns.
“No, really. I learned French that way.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “Parlez-vous francais?”
“Uh...whatever.” He looked uncomfortable. “I didn’t say I retained any of it beyond test day.”
“Right.” She laughed at him and he grinned back.
But she knew they were ignoring the elephant in the room. Brad. Brad who had been with them both all through college. Brad who had decided she was his from the start. And what Brad wanted, Brad usually got. She’d been flattered by his attention, then thrilled with it. And soon, she’d fallen hard. She was so in love with him, she knew he was her destiny. She let him take over her life. She didn’t realize he would toss it aside when he got tired of it.
“So what are you doing here?” she asked again. “Surely you didn’t come to see me.”
“Jill, I always want to see you.”
“No kidding. That’s why you’ve been gone for a year and a half. You’ve never even met the twins.”
He looked at her with a half smile. Funny. She’d been pregnant the last time he’d seen her, but that wasn’t the way he’d thought of her all these months. And to tell the truth, Brad had never mentioned those babies. “That’s right. I forgot. You’ve got a couple of cookie crunchers now, don’t you?”
“I do. The little lights of my life, so to speak.”
“Boys.”
“Boys.” She nodded.
He wanted to ask how they got along with Brad, but he wasn’t brave enough to do it. Besides, it was getting late. She had a pair of baby boys at home. She looked at her watch, then looked at him.
“I’ve got to get home. If you can just drop me at the dock, the last ferry goes at midnight and...”
He waved away her suggestion. “You will not walk home from the ferry landing. It’s too late and too far.”
She made a face. “I’ll be fine. I’ve done it a thousand times.”
“I’ll drive you.”
She gave him a mock glare. “Well, then we’d better get going or you won’t make the last ferry back.”
“You let me worry about that.”
Let him worry—let him manage—leave it to him. Something inside her yearned to be able to do that. It had been so long since she’d had anyone else to rely on. But life had taught her a hard lesson. If you relied on others, they could really hurt you. Best to rely on nobody but yourself.
* * *
The ferry ride across the bay to the island was always fun. He pulled the car into the proper space on the ferry and they both got out to enjoy the trip. Standing side by side as the ferry started off, they watched the inky-black water part to let them through.
Jill pulled her arms in close, fending off the ocean coolness, and he reached out and put an arm around her, keeping her warm. She rested her head on his shoulder. He had to resist the urge to draw her closer.
“Hey, I’m looking forward to meeting those two little boys of yours,” he said.
“Hopefully you won’t meet them tonight,” she said, laughing. “I’ve got a nice older lady looking after them. They should be sound asleep right now.”
“It’s amazing to think of you with children,” he said.
She nodded. “I know. You’re not the only one stunned by the transformation.” She smiled, thinking of how they really had changed her life. If only Brad... No, she wasn’t going to start going back over those old saws again. That way lay madness.
“It’s also amazing to think of how long we’ve known each other,” she added brightly instead.
“We all three got close in our freshman year,” he agreed, “and that lasted all through college.”
She nodded. “It seemed, those first couple of years, we did everything together.”
“I remember it well.” He sighed and glanced down at her. All he could see was that mop of crazy, curly blond hair. It always made him smile. “You were sighing over Brad,” he added to the memory trail. “And I was wishing you would look my way instead.”
She looked up and made a face at him. “Be serious. You had no time for stodgy, conventional girls like I was. You were always after the high flyers.”
He stared at her, offended despite the fact that there was some truth in what she said. “I was not,” he protested anyway.
“Sure you were.” She was teasing him now. “You liked bad girls. Edgy girls. The ones who ran off with the band.”
His faint smile admitted the truth. “Only when I was in the band.”
“And that was most of the time.” She pulled back and looked at him. “Did you ever actually get a degree?”
“Of course I got a degree.”
She giggled. “In what? Multicultural dating?”
He bit back the sharp retort that surfaced in his throat. She really didn’t know. But why should she? He had to admit he’d spent years working hard at seeming to be a slacker.
“Something like that,” he muttered, thinking with a touch of annoyance about his engineering degree with a magna cum laude attached. No one had been closer friends to him than Brad and Jill. And they didn’t even realize he was smarter than he seemed.
It was his own fault of course. He’d worked on that easygoing image. Still, it stung a bit.
And it made him do a bit of “what if?” thinking. What if he’d been more aggressive making his own case? What if he’d challenged Brad’s place in Jill’s heart at the time? What if he’d competed instead of accepting their romance as an established fact? Would things have been different?
The spray from the water splashed across his face, jerking him awake from his dream. Turning toward the island, he could see her house up the drive a block from the landing. He’d been there a hundred times before, but not for quite a while. Not since the twins were born and Brad decided he wasn’t fatherhood material. Connor had listened to what Brad had to say and it had caused a major conflict for him. He thought Brad’s reasons were hateful and he deplored them, but at the same time, he’d seen them together for too long to have any illusions. They didn’t belong together. Getting a divorce was probably the best thing Brad could do for Jill. So he’d gone with his message, he’d done his part and hated it and then he’d headed for Singapore.
He turned to look at her, to watch the way the wind blew her hair over her eyes, and that old familiar pull began somewhere in the middle of his chest. It started slow and then began to build, as though it was slowly finding its way through his bloodstream. He wanted her, wanted to hold her and kiss her and tell her.... He gritted his teeth and turned away. He had to fight that feeling. Funny. He never got it with any other girl. It only happened with her. Damn.
A flash of panic shivered through him. What the hell was he doing here, anyway? He’d thought he was prepared for this. Hardened. Toughened and ready to avoid the tender trap that was always Jill. But his defenses were fading fast. He had to get out of here.
He needed a plan. Obviously playing this by ear wasn’t going to work. The first thing he had to do was to get her home, safe and sound. That should be easy. Then he had to avoid getting out of the car. Under no circumstances should he go into the house, especially not to take a peek at the babies. That would tie him up in a web of sentiment and leave him raw and vulnerable to his feelings. He couldn’t afford to do that. At all costs, he had to stay strong and leave right away.
He could come back and talk to her in the morning. If he hung around, disaster was inevitable. He couldn’t let that happen.
“You know what?” he said, trying to sound light and casual. “I think you really had the right idea about this. I need to get back to the hotel. I think I’ll take the ferry right on back and let you walk up the hill on your own. It’s super safe here, isn’t it? I mean...”
He felt bad about it, but it had to be done. He couldn’t go home with her. Wouldn’t be prudent, as someone once had famously said.
But he realized she wasn’t listening to him. She was staring, mouth open, over his shoulder at the island they were fast approaching.
“What in the world is going on? My house is lit up like a Christmas tree.”
He turned. She was right. Every window was ablaze with light. It was almost midnight. Somehow, this didn’t seem right.
And then a strange thing happened. As they watched, something came flying out of the upstairs window, sailed through the air and landed on the roof next door.
Jill gasped, rigid with shock. “Was that the cat?” she cried. “Oh, my God!”
She tried to pull away from him as though she was about to jump into the water and swim for shore, but he yanked her back. “Come on,” he said urgently, pulling her toward the Camaro. “We’ll get there faster in the car.”
CHAPTER THREE
JILL’S HEART WAS racing. She couldn’t think. She could hardly breathe. Adrenaline surged and she almost blacked out with it.
“Oh, please,” she muttered over and over as they raced toward the house. “Oh, please, oh, please!”
He swung the car into the driveway and she jumped out before he even came to a stop, running for the door.
“Timmy?” she called out. “Tanner?”
Connor was right behind her as she threw open the front door and raced inside.
“Mrs. Mulberry?” she called out as she ran. “Mrs. Mulberry!”
A slight, gray-haired woman appeared on the stairway from the second floor with a look close to terror on her face. “Oh, thank God you’re finally here! I tried to call you but my hands were shaking so hard, I couldn’t use the cell phone.”
“What is it?” Jill grabbed her by the shoulders, staring down into her face. “What’s happened? Where are the boys?”
“I tried, I really tried, but...but...”
“Mrs. Mulberry! What?”
Her face crumpled and she wailed, “They locked me out. I couldn’t get to them. I didn’t know what to do....”
“What do you mean they’ve locked you out? Where? When?”
“They got out of their cribs and locked the door. I couldn’t...”
Jill started up the stairs, but Connor took them two at a time and beat her to the landing and then the door. He yanked at the handle but it didn’t budge.
“Timmy? Tanner? Are you okay?” Jill’s voice quavered as she pressed her ear to the door. There was no response.
“There’s a key,” she said, turning wildly, trying to remember where she’d put it. “I know there’s a key.”
Connor pushed her aside. “No time,” he said, giving the door a wicked kick right next to where the lever sat. There was a crunch of wood breaking and the door flew open.
A scene of chaos and destruction was revealed. A lamp was upside down on the floor, along with pillows and books and a tumbled table and chair set. Toys were everywhere, most of them covered with baby powder that someone had been squirting out of the container. And on the other side of the room were two little blond boys, crowding into a window they could barely reach. They saw the adults coming for them, looked at each other and shrieked—and then they very quickly shoved one fat fluffy pillow and then one large plastic game of Hungry Hungry Hippos over the sill. The hippos could be heard hitting the bricks of the patio below.
“What are you doing?” Jill cried, dashing in as one child reached for a small music toy. She grabbed him, swung him up in her arms and held him close.
“You are such a bad boy!” she said, but she was laughing with relief at the same time. They seemed to be okay. No broken bones. No blood. No dead cat.
Connor pulled up the other boy with one arm while he slammed the window shut with the other. He looked at Jill and shook his head. “Wow,” was all he could say. Then he thought of something else. “Oh. Sorry about the door. I thought...”
“You thought right,” she said, flashing him a look of pure relief and happiness. Her babies were safe and right now that was all that mattered to her. “I would have had a heart attack if I’d had to wait any longer.”
Mrs. Mulberry was blubbering behind them and they both turned, each carrying a child, to stare at her.
“I’m so sorry,” she was saying tearfully. “But when they locked me out...”
“Okay, start at the beginning,” Jill told her, trying to keep her temper in check and hush her baby, who was saying, “Mamamama” over and over in her ear. “What exactly happened?”
The older woman sniffled and put a handkerchief to her nose. “I...I don’t really know. It all began so well. They were perfect angels.”
She smiled at them tearfully and they grinned back at her. Jill shook her head. It was as though they knew exactly what they’d done and were ready to do it again if they got the chance.
“They were so good,” Mrs. Mulberry was saying, “I’m afraid I let them stay up longer than I should have. Finally I put them to bed and went downstairs.” She shook her head as though she still couldn’t believe what happened next. “I was reading a magazine on the couch when something just went plummeting by the bay window. I thought it was my imagination at first. Then something else went shooting past and I got up and went outside to look at what was going on. And there were toys and bits of bedding just lying there in the grass. I looked up but I couldn’t see anything. It was very eerie. Almost scary. I couldn’t figure out what on earth was happening.”
“Oh, sweetie boys,” Jill muttered, holding one closely to her. “You must be good for the babysitter. Remember?”
“When I started to go back in the house,” the older lady went on, “one of these very same adorable children was at the front door. As I started to come closer, he grinned at me and he...” She had to stop to take a shaky breath. “He just smiled. I realized what might happen and I called out. I said, ‘No! Wait!’ But just as I reached the door, he slammed it shut. It was locked. He locked me out of the house!”
Jill was frowning. “What are you talking about? Who locked you out of the house?”
She pointed at Timmy who was cuddled close in Jill’s arms. “He did.”
Jill shook her head as though to clear it. He’s only eighteen months old. “That’s impossible. He doesn’t know how to lock doors.”
Mrs. Mulberry drew herself up. “Oh, yes he does,” she insisted.
Jill looked into Timmy’s innocent face. Could her baby have done that? He smiled and said, “Mamamama.” No way.
“I couldn’t get in,” Mrs Mulberry went on. “I was panicking. I didn’t know what I was going to do.” Tears filled her eyes again.
Jill stared at her in disbelief and Connor stepped forward, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We believe you, Mrs. Mulberry,” he said calmly. “Just finish your story. We want to know it all.”
She tried to give him a grateful smile and went on. “I was racing around, trying all the doors, getting more and more insane with fear. Finally I got the idea to look for a key. I must have turned over twenty flower pots before I found it. Once I got back into the house, I realized they were up here in the bedroom, but when I called to them, they locked the bedroom door.”
She sighed heavily, her head falling forward on her chest. “I thought I would go out of my mind. I tried to call you but I couldn’t do it. I thought I ought to call the police, but I was shaking so badly...” She shuddered, remembering. “And then you finally came home.”
Jill met Connor’s gaze and bit her lip, turning to lay Timmy down in his crib. He was giving her a warning glance, as if to say, “No major damage here. Give her a break.”
For some reason, instead of letting it annoy her, she felt a surge of relief. Yes, give her a break. Dear soul, she didn’t mean any harm, and since nothing had really happened, there was no reason to make things worse. In fact, both boys were already drifting off to sleep. And why not? They’d had a busy night so far.
Turning, she smiled at the older woman. “Thank goodness I got back when I did,” she said as lightly as she could manage. “Well, everything’s alright now. If you’ll wait downstairs, I’ll just put these two down and...”
Connor gave her a grin and a wink and put down the already sleeping Tanner into his crib as though he knew what he was doing, which surprised her. But her mind was on her babies, and she looked down lovingly at them as they slept. For just a moment, she’d been so scared....
What would she do if anything happened to either one of them? She couldn’t let herself think about that. That was a place she didn’t want to go.
Connor watched her. He was pretty sure he knew what she was thinking about. Anything happening to her kids would just about destroy her. He’d seen her face when she first realized she was losing Brad. He remembered that pain almost as if it had been his own. And losing these little ones would be ten times worse.
He drove Mrs. Mulberry home and when he got back, all was quiet. The lights that had blazed out across the landscape were doused and a more muted atmosphere prevailed. The house seemed to be at peace.
Except for one thing—the sound of sniffles coming from the kitchen where Jill was sitting at the table with her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee.
“Hey,” he said, sliding in beside her on the bench seat. “You okay?”
She turned her huge, dark, tragic eyes toward him.
“I leave the house for just a few hours—leave the boys for more than ten minutes—the first time in a year. And chaos takes over.” She searched his gaze for answers. “Is that really not allowed? Am I chained to this place, this life, forever? Do I not dare leave...ever?”
He stared down at her. He wanted to make a joke, make her smile, get her out of this mood, but he saw real desperation in her eyes and he couldn’t make light of that.
