Boone, page 11
Her eyes met his, and she realized they held more than humor. They held compassion, concern, and caring. For the first time, Nixie admitted to herself that their kiss had less to do with reassurance than with their feelings for each other.
He was still waiting for her answer. Was he good-looking enough?
“Well, Brad,” she began, “when you’re choosing a daddy, looks are a lot less important than a person’s values and whether he’s compatible with the rest of the family.”
“Yeah, I forgot about that. You don’t believe in corporal punishment, do you?” he asked Boone.
Boone grinned. “For someone like you? I think you’re bright enough to reason with. Besides, I plan to build you up on my weight machines. I wouldn’t want you getting even with me after you’re big enough to punch me out.”
“Brad, we need to talk,” Bethany declared.
For much of the rest of the long ride home, they whispered furiously in the back seat. It was obvious Bethany was against the idea of including Boone’s name on their list of candidates.
Nixie switched on the radio in hopes it would cover their remarks. It wouldn’t do to have her children unwittingly insult Boone after he’d been kind enough to treat them to a day at Tweetsie Railroad.
“How about that?” Boone said. “The answer was right there in front of us all along. Isn’t it amazing we didn’t see it before?”
“I think we need to talk, too.” She had to know where he stood on this before he got Brad’s hopes up any further—or upset Bethany unnecessarily. As for Nixie, she couldn’t bear it if this was another one of his impractical jokes.
Uncle Jay and Aunt Lauren had graciously agreed to let the children spend the night with them so Nixie and Boone could have some time alone. Boone had opened the door on a possibility that Nixie knew neither should be too quick to act upon.
Of course, the children didn’t get out the door without Bethany breaking into tears first. After Brad had told Boone some of the tricks his uncle had played on the family, Boone had suggested Brad remove the batteries from Jay’s remote control when he wasn’t looking.
At that, Bethany had protested loudly, saying Brad was mean and disloyal to do such a thing to someone who loved them as much as Uncle Jay did. She seemed overly protective, and Nixie couldn’t imagine why her normally mild-mannered daughter had become so explosive. She made a mental note to have a long talk with her tomorrow, after Bethany had calmed down. Meanwhile, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jay could help distract her from whatever had been bothering her lately.
As Nixie assembled a chicken sandwich snack, Boone stayed in the living room, talking to the parrot. She supposed he needed to gather his thoughts, just as she did.
They ate in polite silence. What, Nixie wondered, did one say to a man who has invited himself to become a permanent member of their family?
Boone also seemed thoughtful. She frequently caught him watching her and discovered she liked being the focus of his attention.
While she carried their plates to the dishwasher, Boone fed a bread crust to Tarzan. When she entered the living room, she found him talking quietly to the bird. It seemed he’d had more to say to Tarzan this evening than he had to her.
“We need to figure out where we stand on this daddy issue,” Nixie said, “before anything else is said to the children.”
Boone nodded his agreement. He tried to put Tarzan back in the cage, but when the bird refused, Boone gave up and let him perch on his shoulder. He followed Nixie to the couch and sat down beside her.
“You already know where I stand,” he said. “I thought my suggestion to Brad was a good one. Now we just need to know how you feel about it.”
Tarzan leaned forward as if trying to catch Nixie’s response.
This was disconcerting enough. She didn’t need two pairs of eyes watching her. Nixie folded her hands in her lap and studied them. Nibbling the inside of her cheek, she turned to face him. “In high school, you used to tease me a lot.”
He squirmed, then gave her a faint smile. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”
His reaction let Nixie know he wasn’t proud of the torture he’d put her through. “How do I know you’re not teasing me again?”
Tarzan lost interest and jumped off Boone’s shoulder to climb the Venetian blind cord.
Boone moved closer to Nixie, his very nearness affecting her like a powerful drug, and his blue eyes bored a hole into her soul. “Will this prove how serious I am?”
His arms slid around her. In the next moment, his lips touched hers.
Nixie had replayed their first kiss over and over in her mind, trying to remember and savor the moment in all of its toe-tingling wonder. And now he was actually kissing her again. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
This was different from that first kiss. Not as raw and demanding. This time, it was tender and full of promise. That night at the car he’d stirred long-suppressed physical needs within her. Tonight, he touched Nixie’s emotional needs.
Nixie had been on her share of dates, and she knew what a man wanted from a woman. But this man wanted her children, too, and that simple fact affected her libido more than any candlelight dinner or expensive champagne could ever do.
When he ended the kiss, he didn’t pull away. He was close enough for her to feel his breath on her face. His hand touched hers, and he placed her palm against his chest. Even through the pullover shirt, Nixie could feel the thumpity-thump that surely matched her own heartbeat. His lips brushed hers as he spoke. “Believe me now?”
She smiled and slid her hand up to touch the blond tufts at the back of his neck. “I could use some more convincing.”
He kissed her again, this time pushing her down onto the couch, then sprawled beside her. His weight was braced on one elbow, and his left knee lay intimately across the top of Nixie’s legs.
“Oh, Nix, I’ve wanted to hold you like this for so long.”
Nixie squirmed with pleasure, and it thrilled her to know the action excited him more. “So, you’re saying you want me for my body?”
“I want you, Nixie. I want you and everything that is a part of you. Brad and Bethany. Precious and Stormy. Your aunt and uncle. Even this crazy bird that’s walking on my back.” He kissed her lightly and let his lips trail down to her neck, where he gave her a playful bite. “Do you suppose he’ll tell anyone what we’ve been doing?”
“If you’re going to be my children’s daddy, what does it matter?”
It had slipped out so unexpectedly. Nixie hadn’t consciously accepted the suggestion he’d made to Brad earlier today. It was an intuitive thing, something that had felt so right that she automatically knew it was the right thing to do.
She knew they cared for each other. Though neither had spoken the words, she knew those feelings were love. And she wanted Boone as much as he wanted her.
Boone squinted at the woman who was smiling up at him. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was turning the tables on him with a joke of her own. But he didn’t need his glasses to read the expression on her face. It reflected his own feelings. Happiness, contentment … love.
He wondered how he could be so lucky. He wondered what he should say. The woman certainly had a way of catching him off guard.
Tarzan sauntered up Boone’s shoulder and craned his feathered neck until he looked him straight in the eye. “Can you talk?” the bird asked.
Then, with a whirr of wings and a raucous laugh, the parrot took off for his cage.
“He’s right,” Boone said. “I’m speechless.” His fingers trailed upward along her arm and made circles on her shoulder before blazing a path down her collarbone. She offered no resistance. He drew her closer, tormenting himself further with the desire to have her as completely as a man can have a woman. “So, your answer is yes? You’ll let me be Bethany’s and Brad’s daddy?”
She smiled and returned his embrace, the simple action making him want her more than he’d ever wanted anyone or anything ever before. He’d waited more than fifteen years for her. His patience was giving out.
“If that was a proposal,” she murmured against his lips, “it’s the strangest one I’ve ever heard.”
They lay cuddled together on the couch, savoring the closeness of one another. No words were spoken, but no words were needed to tell her his kisses and gentle touches had nothing to do with a make-out session and everything to do with claiming each other as their own.
The doorbell rang.
Nixie and Boone froze. Their gazes locked, and Nixie saw that he seemed as confused as she. When it rang a second time, they both jumped to action, straightening and rearranging their mussed clothes and hair.
Running her fingers through her hair one final time, Nixie answered the door on the third ring.
“What took you so long?” Brad groused.
Standing on the porch behind the children, Aunt Lauren took in Nixie’s rumpled appearance. When Boone came behind Nixie and laid a hand on her waist, she said, “Never mind that, Brad. Let’s just get Bethany inside so we can tend to her.”
“Bethany? What’s the matter with Bethany?” Turning to her daughter, Nixie saw immediately what the problem was. The exposed areas of the girl’s face and arms were covered with raised, red welts.
Bethany scratched her stomach, then reached down and rubbed her thigh. “I itch, Mama.”
Nixie’s heart nearly broke at the sight of the ugly hives that covered her daughter’s body. The last time she’d had the stress-induced rash was after Paul died. Because Nixie herself had been struggling to cope with the loss of her husband, she’d been unable to comfort Bethany as much as she’d wanted.
Now things were different. She was stronger and better able to cope. Nixie resolved to find and remove the source of Bethany’s stress. In the meanwhile, she would make her as comfortable as possible.
Nixie urged her family into the house. “Brad, go fill the bathtub with cool water. Boone and Aunt Lauren, would you sit with her and discourage her from scratching while I get the antihistamine?”
“Want me to put ice in the water?” Brad asked.
“No. Just make it slightly cooler than room temperature.”
When she came back, Aunt Lauren had her arm around the girl, and Boone was patting Bethany’s hand in an effort to distract her from clawing the rash.
“Here,” Nixie said and poured red medicine into a spoon. “This should relieve the itching and swelling.” She waited for Bethany to swallow. With a silent wish, she hoped the rash came from an allergy rather than stress. Allergens were easier to avoid and simpler to fix than mental stress. “Did you eat or touch something that might have set this off?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Bethany scratched her neck, and Boone reached up to pull her hand away.
The water stopped flowing in the bathroom, and Brad returned a moment later. “We were just sitting around talking about what we did today. And I told ’em Boone might be our new daddy if you liked him enough.”
“That’s when the itching started,” Aunt Lauren interjected.
Bethany glared at her brother. “You had no business saying that. Especially not to—”
“But it’s true! Isn’t it, Mom?”
Nixie winced at the sight of Bethany digging furiously at a bright-red welt under her arm. “Never mind that now. Bethany needs to get in the tub.”
She led her daughter to the bathroom and sprinkled baking soda in the bath water to help soothe the itching. While Bethany soaked, Nixie went back to the den.
Boone stood as she entered the room. With a sinking heart, Nixie knew that he was the cause of her daughter’s distress. But that didn’t keep her from hoping there might be another reason for Bethany’s hives.
“I’ll stay here tonight,” Boone told her. Turning to Lauren, he added, “On the couch, of course.”
Aunt Lauren nodded.
He took Nixie in his arms and gave her a gentle hug. “I’ll stay up all night and look after her if she needs it. And if she’s not better by morning, I’ll drive her to the after-hours doctor.”
For the briefest of moments, Nixie allowed herself to enjoy the feel of her cheek against his chest. She would love to have him spend the night, every night, and not on the couch, either. For now, though, she had to set aside her own wants and put Bethany’s needs first.
Reluctantly, she broke the embrace. “That’s very sweet of you. But I think it would be better if we kept things as normal as possible. She’ll come around more quickly if there’s less commotion in the house to upset her.”
“And goodness knows she was upset this evening,” said Aunt Lauren. “I could tell she was agitated, but it really started showing after Brad fooled Jay by taking the batteries out of the remote control. And then when Brad started talking about you two getting married … well, you know what happened next.”
Yes, Nixie knew what happened next. Her daughter had a stress reaction to the mere thought of her marrying Boone.
Maybe she’d be able to ease Bethany’s mind about Boone joining the family. But if she couldn’t….
As much as she hated having to make the choice, her daughter’s health would have to come before her own happiness.
10
After church the next day, Aunt Lauren caught Nixie slouched in the overstuffed chair beside Tarzan’s cage and reading a romance novel. “Reading more of those love books?” she asked. “Don’t you know it’s more exciting to participate?” She gave Nixie an impish wink.
Nixie closed the historical saga. “I guess I just needed a happy ending to lift my spirits."
“Bethany still sick?”
“No, she’s mostly recovered. She doesn’t itch unless she thinks about it.”
Aunt Lauren made herself at home on the couch. “Then what’s on your mind?”
“I had a talk with her this morning. After some questioning, she admitted she doesn’t want me to get involved with Boone.”
“It’s too late for that, isn’t it?”
Nixie gave an ironic laugh. “I think I’ve been emotionally involved with Boone since high school. I was just too blind to see it.”
“But Bethany sees it, and she’s reluctant to share her mother with someone else.”
Nixie frowned and rubbed her earlobe. “I don’t think that’s it. At first, I suspected she didn’t want anyone to take Paul’s place, but if that were the case, she wouldn’t have bought that help wanted ad for a daddy.”
Aunt Lauren’s sweet face was full of compassion. She was more than just her aunt, Nixie knew. She was her friend. And Nixie was grateful to have such a kind and caring aunt.
“Don’t worry, Nixie. It took you a while to get used to Boone, and you finally came around. Bethany will come around, too.”
“But that’s where I’m confused. It’s obvious she’s crazy about him, yet she’s working very hard to pretend she’s not. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Most kids don’t make sense at that age. Give her time.”
Bethany called to them from upstairs. “Mom, you have company.”
The front door burst open, and Brad came in, followed by Boone.
“She’s upstairs, and she looks normal again,” Nixie said.
With a wicked chuckle, Brad added in typical brotherly fashion, “Normal for her.”
Nixie stood to greet Boone. One look at that ruggedly handsome face, and she was wishing they were alone again. He smiled at her in a way that made her think he felt the same.
Brad buzzed around his hero like an annoying little gnat. Even so, Boone never broke eye contact with Nixie as he hefted the boy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“I was worried about Bethany,” Boone said. “Brad told me her rash is gone.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “Our home remedies seemed to do the trick.” Nixie failed to add, however, that Bethany’s rash disappeared shortly after Boone had left. She hoped the cure had come from her home remedies rather than Boone’s departure.
Aunt Lauren stood and joined them. “Boone, we’re going to the hospital this afternoon to see Nixie’s new niece. Would you like to come along?”
By now Brad dangled upside down as Boone gripped his ankles and pretended to pound him into the floor. “I got a new cousin, Boone. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Francie weren’t lucky enough to get a boy like me.”
Shifting the boy’s ankles to one hand, Boone held his other hand out at waist level and said to Nixie, “Little Ryan has a baby?”
Nixie nodded. “Isn’t it amazing how fast kids grow up?” She wasn’t referring to her little brother. If only she’d known how quickly she and Boone would grow up and go their separate ways, she may have taken notice of him in a different light. And their lives might have turned out vastly different.
But if that were the case, she wouldn’t have had those years with Paul, nor would she have been blessed with these two wonderful children. What really mattered, she knew, was that even though it took them fifteen years to realize it, she and Boone were in love.
Suddenly she wanted more than anything to go to the maternity ward. She wanted to hear those tiny, high-pitched cries and share the joy of new life with Boone.
He turned his attention back to Brad. “Well, don’t just hang there,” he told the boy. “If you want to see your cousin, you’d better get a decent shirt on.”
Later, at the hospital, they dawdled in front of the nursery window and stared at little Merrilee Cordaire. The baby had somehow freed one of her hands from the snug receiving blanket and sucked hungrily on her fist.
“You can tell she’s a Cordaire,” said Boone.
Nixie looked up at the man standing beside her. “How can you tell?”
“Look how pretty she is.”
The look he gave Nixie told her he wasn’t talking only about the Cordaire in the bassinet. Nixie took it as a personal compliment, and despite the fifteen years between her and the shy teenager she’d once been, she blushed.
