“Just hold on to her legs and she’ll be fine.”
They walked through the exhibits with first Hannah and then William reading the information out loud on each animal. By the time they made it to the giraffes, William had relaxed and both he and Avery were laughing as the long tongue of one of the giraffes lapped at the food pellets he held out in one hand. Hannah quickly pulled her phone and took a picture. She’d have it printed later and take it into William’s office for his desk.
“Do you want to talk about it?” William asked as he yanked a sanitary wipe from Avery’s bag and reached up to clean her small, chubby hands.
There was only one thing he could be talking about. Did she? So far, today had been wonderful, and Hannah didn’t want to risk ruining it.
But wasn’t that exactly what had happened with Lindsey’s father? She’d avoided all conversations with him about their relationship because, deep down, she’d known she cared more for him than he cared for her. And now she had the same feeling again. William had made it clear that he had no plans to enter into a permanent relationship with anyone. That had changed somewhat with his custody of Avery, but that didn’t mean anything else had changed.
This thing between the two of them was so new. Hannah didn’t even know whether she wanted anything more than what they had right now. Couldn’t they just enjoy the time they had together? No expectations. No worries. Just the two of them getting to know each other.
The beat of her heart slowed to a comfortable level. She was not repeating old mistakes, she told herself. Instead, she was opening herself up to new possibilities and hoping that William would follow her wherever it led them. Was that too much to ask?
“I’m not sure what it is we need to talk about. We’re both adults who find each other attractive. Why can’t that be enough for now?” she asked, her heart beginning to race as she waited for his answer.
He finished with Avery’s hands and then set Avery down between the two of them so that each could take a hand as the toddler wobbled on her inexperienced legs.
“So, still friends?” he asked as they started back down the path.
“Yes,” Hannah answered, letting go of the ball of stress she’d held inside her all day. “Still friends.”
As promised, they met Lindsey at the small cat exhibit and William settled Avery in the stroller so that Lindsey could push her to see the big cats.
By the time they’d talked Lindsey into leaving, Avery was tired and cranky.
As they exited the zoo, passing other families headed inside, Hannah couldn’t help but note the contrast between those families and her group: a single parent, a fatherless child, an orphaned toddler and her big brother. They were a motley crew, but somehow they fit together perfectly.
* * *
William’s home had been a nice quiet place when he he’d left it to make morning rounds. His morning had been quite peaceful; he’d worked his way through his patients just the way he liked to.
And then he’d come home to a horror that no man should have to face. His driveway was filled with cars. Cars. On a Sunday. In his driveway. Of course, he’d known that there was to be a birthday party. He and Hannah had picked out the design of the cake at the bakery the week before. Hannah had volunteered to take charge of the invitations and, naïvely, he had thought that meant half a dozen of Hannah’s friends would attend with their kids. This was not half a dozen. There were at least a dozen cars here.
Leaving the safety of his silver sedan, he followed the sounds of voices around to the back of the house where pure mayhem seemed to reign. There were children everywhere, some chasing others, some playing on blankets laid out on the grass, and a couple older ones that surrounded Lindsey, one of which was a boy. Had Hannah known that Lindsey was inviting a boy? What were the guidelines for that? Was it one of those things determined by age? Thank goodness, he had a long time till he had to worry about that with Avery.
“Hey, Dr. Cooper. Nice house and a very cute kid,” said a nurse he recognized as Kelly from the neuro unit.
“Have you seen, Hannah?” he asked.
“She just went into the house. She’ll be right out.” He turned to see a dark-haired beauty with a small round belly. She was holding toddler on one hip.
“Sarah. It’s nice to see you,” he said as he looked around. “Is David with you?”
“He’s over there,” Sarah said, pointing to a small group of men gathered at the bank of the lake. “I think they’re plotting an escape. You can tell my husband that I’ve got my eye on him. Any attempt to flee before the cake comes out will be a breach of contract.”
“Flee?” he asked. If there was any type of escape, he was going to be part of it.
“I accompany him to all those fussy functions you doctors are required to attend and he shows up at all the children functions with me—Davey, you get out of that tree right this minute!” she said before heading off toward a group of children.
William looked to the house and saw that Hannah had come back out. She carried Avery much as Sarah had held her little one, one hip cocked to the side as she balanced a large platter of food in her other hand. But the two women couldn’t have been any more different in looks with Sarah’s dark waves and Hannah’s blond curls.
As he walked toward her, his eyes followed the line of Hannah’s curves until they rested on her flat stomach. He knew the story of how Sarah had lost both her husband and her son in a motor vehicle accident. The loss had been devastating and he couldn’t imagine that it had been an easy decision for her to have more children. Would Hannah ever want more children? She’d been through so much with Lindsey. Would she be willing to take a chance at having another child?
He watched as Hannah handed the large platter to an older woman. Mrs. Adams?
“I thought we were doing something small for her first birthday,” he said as an aside to Hannah after thanking Avery’s former nanny for coming.
“You were the one who wanted the blow-up bouncy house. Who did you think was going to bounce in it if we didn’t invite some other children? All Avery can do is crawl in there,” Hannah said.
“She’s the birthday girl. Of course she can bounce in it,” William said as he reached for Avery. “Come on, Avery. Let’s go try out that house.”
“Don’t get her dress dirty. We need to get her picture taken with the cake,” Hannah called after him.
After waiting their turn, William climbed up into the air-filled house and held the toddler’s hands. “Okay, you jump up and down,” he said, raising her by her arms then letting her feet touch the bottom.
Avery seemed interested in everything but the bouncy house he’d insisted on renting.
“You know she’s too little for that, don’t cha, Dr. Cooper. Her legs aren’t ready,” a young boy said as he stuck his head into the opening. “You should have gotten a pony. Everybody likes to ride a pony, no matter how little they are.”
“I think you may be right, Davey.” William smiled at Sarah’s son as he crawled out of the house with Avery. “Next time I’ll get a pony.”
He quickly made the basic introductions of Avery to the people he knew from work, then joined the group of men by the lake. They were talking baseball and politics, subjects he found a lot safer than the ones he’d heard the women discussing earlier. Avery held on to his neck as they watched Hannah and Sarah lead groups of children through games he knew Avery wasn’t old enough to play.
“So there you are,” Hannah said as she approached the group and reached out for Avery. “It’s time to cut the cake and we can’t do it without her.”
William claimed the responsibility for taking pictures of Avery as everyone sang the birthday song and he had to admit that his sister was adorable as she stuffed a piece of rainbow-colored cake into her mouth with both hands. Before he knew what was happening, however, he was organizing various groups for
pictures.
“Where’s Lindsey?” he asked after snapping a picture of Hannah bent over Avery as she tried to blow out her birthday candles. It would be the perfect picture to use as the new wallpaper on his phone.
“She’s with her friends inside. I think,” Hannah added as they started to cut the large cake into smaller pieces to hand out to each child.
“There’s a boy here,” he said to Hannah.
“There’re lots of boys here. Avery’s too young to want an all-girls party,” Hannah laughed.
“No, I mean there’s a boy here that’s Lindsey’s age,” William said. “And what’s an all-girls party? What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Yes, I know there’s a boy here with Lindsey’s friends, and you don’t need to worry about any all-girls parties for a few years yet.”
Both Hannah and William helped Avery open her presents and then, finally, it was all done. As quickly as the presents had been opened, the wrappings were collected, along with the empty cups and leftover food. Everyone pitched in to clean the picnic tables, which apparently had been brought in by various guests. By the time he’d helped load the last table into the back of a truck and thanked Mrs. Adams’s son for bringing her, his peaceful yard had been returned to normal.
He picked up a stray can that had been thrown into the fire pit and took a seat in the chair he’d dragged to the edge of the lake the night he had moved into the house. He’d known that the house was too big when he’d bought it, but somehow it had called to him. Something had told him that he belonged there and he had trusted his instincts enough to buy it. He’d immediately taken up fly fishing and though he enjoyed the sport, he’d still felt like something was missing.
Looking out over the lake, William tried to remember a time when he had enjoyed himself that much in his own backyard. Yes, he and the other men had groaned each time one of the women had come to ask for their help. But he’d also seen how the other fathers had kept an eye on their children when, on the surface, it had looked like they were ignoring everything that was going on. He’d kept his own eye on the boy who had followed Lindsey around the yard.
He stood, walked down to the pier and gazed into the water. His life was changing and he didn’t feel as if he had any control over it. But he was becoming more confident in his role as Avery’s guardian now. He still had a lot to learn and he knew he’d make mistakes along the way, but the panic he had felt those first few days when he’d been alone with Avery was long gone.
“Hey,” Hannah said as she joined him on the pier. “Enjoying the quiet now that everyone’s gone?”
“Yeah, that was some party,” he said. “Can you tell me again why a child too young to retain any memories of their first birthday needs a party?”
“It wasn’t that bad. She might not remember the party, but she’ll have the pictures to show her how many people care for her. She definitely had a great time, too. I barely got her bathed and dressed before she fell asleep.”
“Thanks for doing that,” he said. “I guess I’ve been out here longer than I thought. And thanks for your help with the party. Those pictures will be just as important to me later on as they will be to her.”
He thought of the picture he had on his phone. Would Avery ever see it? Would she even know who Hannah was by the time she looked back at those pictures?
“It’s sad, isn’t it? That she had to spend her first birthday without her parents. It should have been her mother putting her to bed tonight,” Hannah said. She shivered as a cool spring breeze blew across the lake.
William pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her as she settled back against his chest to share the warmth of his body as they looked out over the lake. Catching a glimpse of their reflection in the water, he was taken aback. There was something different about him when Hannah was beside him. It was the way his body relaxed into hers. She had some magic way of bringing the peace to his life that he had always sought. But would it last? Or, like his father, would he soon be bored and looking for someone else to entertain him? He told himself that he wasn’t like his father, but inside he feared he might be. He’d spent his life in superficial relationships with women.
“I keep wondering why Avery’s mother and my father wanted me to be the one to take care of her if something happened to them. I guess I’ll never know,” he said as he took Hannah’s hand and led her back to the house.
“Maybe the thought of the two of you alone wasn’t something they wanted. Maybe they knew that they could count on you to take care of your sister,” Hannah said.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. I can’t change the past.”
“But maybe just accepting the possibility that your father might not have been as heartless as you thought he was will be enough for you to let go of the pain you felt as a child. None of us can really know what another person thinks or feels. Maybe just putting to rest those old feelings you still have will help,” Hannah suggested, squeezing his hand. “Because it’s never too late to forgive someone, is it?”
For the first time in a long time, William felt a spark of hope. He’d never thought he’d be able to forgive his father for divorcing his mother and bringing another woman in to raise him, but maybe it was time to let all of those old feelings go. It was time he moved on with his life and, if it meant forgiving his father, then he was ready to do it. He couldn’t hold on to the anger he had felt for so many years while he raised his father’s daughter. It wouldn’t be fair to let Avery bear the brunt of his negative emotions for a man she would never know. He could unintentionally warp her feelings for her father and that wasn’t something William could do to her. If he wanted to raise Avery, he needed to forgive their father.
CHAPTER TWELVE
HANNAH ENTERED THE house to find Lindsey standing with her backpack over her shoulder and her best friend at her side. Suspicious grins on each of their faces set Hannah’s mother radar on high alert.
“Jessica’s mom is coming to pick us up. She says it’s okay if I spend the night there. And I can ride the bus to school with Jessica in the morning. Can I? Please?” Lindsey asked.
“Did you pack all your medications?” Hannah asked.
“Of course, Mom.” Lindsey pulled out a bag of medication and shook it as if to show her mother that the bottles weren’t empty.
Her daughter had sarcasm down to an art form.
“Is that boy going to be there?” William asked as he followed her inside.
“What boy? You mean Jason?” Lindsey exchanged looks with Jessica before rolling her eyes. “No. And he’s just a friend. Of course, sometimes friends become...you know, other things.”
“What other things?” William queried.
A horn honked outside and both girls sped out the door. Hannah knew they were up to something. Fortunately, she also knew Jessica’s mother well enough to feel confident they would be closely monitored for the night.
“She’s too young to know about ‘other things,’” William muttered from behind her, making her smile.
It wasn’t until Hannah looked across the room that she realized what her adorable, scheming daughter and her friend had been doing while they’d been outside.
A small table had been moved into the center of the room, a vase with flowers she recognized from William’s front garden holding center stage. The table had been set for two and there was a note propped against the vase.
“What’s this?” William asked as they stood staring at the misplaced furniture.
“I think my daughter is trying to move us on to ‘other things,’” Hannah said, laughing when she caught the grin on William’s face. “I’m not sure my daughter’s idea of ‘other things’ is the same as yours, though.”
“I certainly hope not,” he said, picking up the note. “According to this, our supper will be delivered at eight, but it doesn’t give any det
ails on what that might be.”
“The only thing my daughter can afford on her allowance is pizza, I’m afraid.”
Lindsey was such a special child and she was so lucky to be her mom.
Hannah thought of the little girl sleeping down the hall. Already, Avery had showed herself to be a resilient child, settling in comfortably with three strangers. She was silly and happy, but also stubborn. She was so cute in the way that all children her age were with her chubby cheeks and bright eyes, but Hannah could already see that Avery would be a beauty like her mother. William would have his hands full when his sister hit her teens. She’d love to be around to see it, but at this point in her life, Hannah wasn’t even sure she’d be in Houston for much longer. But that wasn’t something she was going to dwell on tonight.
With Avery down and Lindsey gone, she and William could have this one night to themselves. They had so little time left before she moved back home. She would not let tonight be ruined by things she could do nothing about.
“I’m going to go change. The smell of frosting is starting to get to me,” Hannah said as she looked down at her shirt where smears of cake had dried.
“We have a little time before dinner,” William said, checking his watch.
She wondered if she should tell him about the clump of frosting on his own shirt. No, let him see it for himself, she thought. Maybe the next time he saw a birthday cake he would think of today and the messy frosting from his little sister’s first birthday. And maybe he’d remember her, too.
They parted at the top of the stairs, each headed to their own room.
Hannah quickly went through her closet, sorting through her mommy clothes and work clothes. She wanted William to see her as a woman tonight instead of as a coworker or babysitter. A strong woman that he could count on—something she knew he hadn’t had since his mother was taken from him. But she also wanted him to see her as desirable. She wanted William to think of tonight as a date. A first date—the date that always determined whether there would be another.
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