Sophie's Playboy

by Natalie J. Damschroder

  Parker snorted behind Sophie, then turned it into a throat-clearing. Sophie hid her grin.

  "Thank you for having me, Mrs. Cornwall."

  Fawn tittered. "Oh, please, call me Fawn. There are four other women floating around who go by Mrs. Cornwall, not including my mother-in-law. I'd just as soon stay clear of that group." She glanced up at her husband and shrank under his air of disapproval. Biff only turned to Parker, however.

  "Where's your sister? And the boys? She promised to come."

  "She will, Dad. She'll be here. You know it can be crazy trying to get two young boys corralled."

  From the look on his face, Sophie suspected Biff knew no such thing.

  "She could have help." He scowled and motioned to a waiter passing by with a tray of wineglasses. "God knows I can hire someone for her."

  "Mare wants to raise her kids on her own, Dad."

  They each took a glass. Sophie noticed she was the only one who thanked the waiter.

  "If it weren't for that no good jerk she married..."

  "Old refrain, Dad. Here she comes." He pointed with his glass across the lawn. The boys spotted them and came 141

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  running, dodging guests and staff, making a beeline for their family. Biff half crouched and held out his arms.

  And the boys crashed into Sophie. They wrapped their arms around her legs and waist and jumped up and down, both talking at once. Sophie gave a rueful shrug at Biff, who luckily looked nonplussed but not angry.

  "Hey, guys! Boy, do you look spiffy!" She hugged them both, then smoothed Josh's hair and straightened Timmy's tie. Timmy blushed and tugged it crooked again.

  "Thank you, ma'am." Josh dissolved into giggles as soon as the proper words left his mouth.

  "Well, at least he remembered to try his manners," Mare said, catching up with them. She looked coolly elegant in a high-waisted, sleeveless rayon dress that floated around her legs. She first kissed Sophie on the cheek, then her brother, father, and stepmother. "Quite a crowd, Dad." She watched her sons dash off after a group of kids that had converged on them. "Pool gate's locked, right?"

  "Of course, of course. Safety first. This isn't a swimming party, anyway. Come, all, get some food before it's gone." He held out a long arm and ushered them closer to the buffet.

  Sophie collected a plate and moved down the table, following the group until they split up at the end. Sophie found herself at a linen-draped picnic table with Mare and Fawn.

  Then the interrogation began.

  "So," Mare said, casually licking barbeque sauce off her thumb, "what made you agree to come today? Parker didn't think you would."

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  "I wanted to get to know his family. We work pretty closely together. On the air we feed off of each other, and the better I know him, the better I can do that."

  Fawn tilted her head at her. "You don't have any ...

  feminine interest in our Parker?"

  Sophie felt herself blush and focused on the German potato salad. "Of course not."

  Both women burst out laughing.

  "Sophie, dear." Mare laid her hand on Sophie's shoulder.

  "That statement doesn't usually end with 'not.'"

  "Every woman has a feminine interest in Parker," Fawn said. Her eyes sought him and when they found him, Sophie would swear the look on her face was maternal. Kind of absurd coming from a woman so young.

  Sophie waited until they'd stopped chuckling. "I won't say Parker's not attractive. He's not my type, though." She kept eating. Fawn picked at her salad. Mare ignored her food and studied Sophie.

  "I hope you're not lying to yourself that way."

  Sophie frowned. "I like you, but you're starting to sound like my sister."

  Mare grinned. "Good. I want to be."

  Shocked, Sophie only stared. "What do you mean? You hardly know me."

  "Parker talks about you all the time." Mare finally returned her attention to her plate. "I have a good instinct for people.

  You're the one." She must have seen or felt Sophie's skepticism. "I knew what my ex was before I married him.

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  he'd change for me. He told me he would." She shrugged. "He couldn't."

  "So you see why Parker and I would never work, then."

  "Why not?"

  Sophie waved her fork. "You just explained it. I can't change Parker any more than you could change—"

  "Ron."

  "Ron. Parker doesn't want to get married and have children. I do. Therefore, we remain at friendship."

  Fawn looked wistful. "Parker would make such a good father. It's our fault if he doesn't do it," she admitted. Now she watched her husband schmoozing a model ten feet away.

  "We define dysfunctional family."

  "Parker doesn't want to hurt anyone," Mare agreed. "And, of course, he doesn't want to be hurt. Our father hurt enough people to last ten lifetimes."

  "Why?" Sophie looked over her shoulder at the charismatic man holding center stage. "Is he deliberately hurtful? Or just thoughtless?"

  Fawn waggled her long red fingernails at her stepdaughter.

  "I'll answer that one. Thoughtless is a good word for it," she said. "Not so much the way you mean, though. He can be deliberately hurtful. Not because he wants to hurt, but to avoid being hurt. Families don't become dysfunctional overnight. His father was a cold, hard man."

  "I never knew my grandfather," Mare cut in. "How do you know that?"

  "I'm Biff's wife," Fawn said. "Not to be snotty, but I know him better than you do. He talks to me." She looked sad for a 144

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  minute, despite her smile. "He ignores me, too, and comes on to other women right in front of me. He's been unfaithful. But I understand him, and he needs that." She patted her napkin against her lips and set her plate to the side. It was immediately whisked away.

  "Anyway, his father was cold and hard, his mother weak and cowardly. Biff wasn't physically abused, but he was neglected and often cut down by his father. Those were his role models." She turned to Mare. "Then there was your mother. She was graceful and strong and loving and smart, and that threatened the world as Biff knew it. So he retreated from her, from what could have been a good marriage. And, without knowing it, he consistently hurts the people around him. But he always feels good because he avoided being hurt."

  Mare was staring at Fawn. "For a woman everyone considers a bimbo, you're one smart chick."

  Sophie gasped, but Fawn chuckled. "I know."

  "Why do you put up with him?"

  She sobered, and the lines Sophie had noticed earlier seemed to fade away. She gazed at her husband, who turned toward her for the first time. "Because I love him." Their eyes met, and Sophie saw the connection zing between them. The model wandered off, and Biff didn't notice.

  Well, well, well. Complicate the family dynamic some more. Sophie was fascinated by these people.

  Before Mare and Fawn could attack her again, Parker approached and sat between his sister and Sophie.

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  "You ladies getting along without picking me apart?" He slung an arm over Sophie's shoulder and tucked her against his side. A knowing look passed between the other women, and Sophie sighed. She'd never convince them there was no future for her and Parker now.

  "Actually, we weren't talking about you at all."

  "Talking about me, then?" Biff's deep voice came from behind them. "Why isn't my family mingling?"

  Fawn held out a hand to Biff. She looked excited. "Let's tell them now, honey. I can't wait until everyone's gone. That's hours and hours."

  Biff grumbled but looked proud as he se
ttled next to Fawn on the bench. "Go ahead."

  Fawn beamed. Sophie sensed what was coming and tried to move away. Parker tightened his hold and Fawn nodded at her. "You can stay, Sophie. It may affect you, too." She wrinkled her nose and looked, suddenly, like the dim young trophy wife Parker had described.

  Fawn took a deep breath. "We're going to have a baby."

  Shocked silence was clearly not what she expected. Sophie looked up at Parker, who looked resigned. Mare looked stunned. Fawn deflated quickly.

  "You're not happy about that," she said quietly. Before her stepchildren could respond, Biff stood.

  "Nonsense," he boomed. "They'll be thrilled. Just need to get used to the idea. Come along." He lifted Fawn by her upper arm. "The Gingrichs have to leave soon. We must speak with them before they go."

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  Mare blew out a breath after they'd moved away. "Wow."

  Parker didn't say anything. She looked up at him but he didn't move. "You knew?"

  "I suspected. At the anniversary dinner you missed."

  "I wonder how Dad feels about it."

  "He can't be surprised. He knew when he married Fawn that she wanted kids. Serves him right for marrying a woman his daughter's age."

  He abruptly stood and strode away. Sophie looked after him, wondering if she should follow, but he was immediately accosted by a Boston banker.

  "Give him a minute," Mare advised quietly, "then take him to the gazebo." She nodded toward the empty building built near the edge of the lawn. "I think he could use your shoulder."

  "What about you?"

  "Oh, me." Mare scoffed. "I'm fine. I knew it would happen eventually. Took me a bit by surprise, but I'm kind of amused at having a sibling younger than my kids." She moved her shoulders. "Not the first time that's ever happened." She stood and lifted her drink, then pointed toward Parker. "See, he's moving in that direction. Go help him out." Her jaw hardened, then, and she looked at Sophie threateningly for the first time. "Just don't be the next one to hurt him."

  Sophie raised her eyebrows and put her hand on her chest.

  "Me?" She didn't have that kind of power.

  "Yes, you. He will change for you, Sophie. Some people do.

  Not people like my father or my ex, but people like Parker.

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  With a core of goodness and love that hasn't had a target yet.

  Now, go." She pushed Sophie toward the gazebo.

  Sophie stared at the tall man ahead of her, at the uncharacteristic hunch of his shoulders and the anger in his stride. He was hurting.

  She went.

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  CHAPTER 9

  Sophie stepped slowly across the sloping lawn. Anger grew in her chest. Why did Mare have to do that to her? Make her hope, even for a second, that a future with Parker was possible? She knew better. It would be a waste of time and emotion. She was too pragmatic to try.

  But when she saw Parker leaning on the rail of the gazebo, staring not out at the rhythmic waves of the ocean but at the red and white geraniums planted around the base of the structure, her anger fled. His pain showed in the angle of his head, the slump of his shoulders. When she got nearer, she saw it in the tightness of his face, in his closed eyes and pressed mouth. She couldn't turn away.

  "Parker." She came up the steps to his side. He didn't move. She slid her hand up his back to his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

  He shifted, not obviously away from her, but enough so her hand slid away. " I'm fine. I'm an adult. It's that baby we should worry about."

  "What do you mean?"

  Parker pivoted away and started to pace. He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Sophie. "God damn him. He had to do it. Had to let Fawn have her way. Set up another innocent for heartache."

  Sophie sat on the bench and watched Parker mutter. From what she'd learned from him and his stepmother, Parker's fear for the child getting hurt was well founded. She 149

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  suspected that was something that drove Parker, the desire to avoid hurting anyone. It made a lot of things fit.

  Unfortunately for her heart, it also made her....

  "What are you afraid of," she asked abruptly to shut off her thoughts. "Why is it a bad thing that Fawn is pregnant?"

  He stopped pacing. "You've met my father, right? I've told you about him. So why do you even have to ask?"

  "I know what you fear for the baby. What about you?"

  He blew out his breath and sat next to her. "I really don't matter, Sophie."

  She blinked back tears and put her hand on top of his, watching as he threaded their fingers. "Is that what you learned from your childhood? That you don't matter?" Her heart ached at the longing in his eyes.

  "That's not what I meant."

  "But you do feel that way, don't you?" When he didn't respond, she said, "For what it's worth, Fawn has a very good handle on what your father is and what this baby is to him.

  She'll be a good mother."

  Parker stared up the hill toward the party. "She'll have to be. But it won't help."

  Sophie chewed her lip for a moment, wondering if what she wanted to say would irrigate the wound or infect it. The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel worse. But it usually helped to face ... whatever. So she asked, "Do you worry more that this baby will grow up like you did or that it won't?"

  He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

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  "What if your father has changed? What if he does right by this baby?" Sophie was afraid he would feel even more like he wasn't good enough for his father.

  Parker didn't answer. She followed his gaze and saw Biff the Senior with his arm around yet another sexpot, while Fawn stood a few feet away, watching.

  Sophie sighed. "Never mind."

  After a few minutes of silence, Parker said, "I know what you were getting at, and it's a valid concern, but not for me. I don't want this kid to be hurt, that's all."

  "Fear of pain is a common trait in your family," Sophie observed. "Handed down through the generations, it seems.

  From both sides."

  "Fawn's been talking about my grandfather."

  She leaned against the cushioned back of the bench and crossed her ankles. "Yes, but it also seems clear that your mother left to avoid more pain, as well."

  "Isn't that a common trait in the whole human race?" His tone was faintly sarcastic. "No one wants to be hurt."

  "Sure. But there are different ways to handle that fear. Not everyone goes to extremes."

  "I don't go to extremes." He interrupted her when she started to argue. "We're not on the air, Sophie. You don't have to play devil's advocate."

  He was right. "I'm sorry." She leaned against his arm, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Parker, you grew up to be a wonderful man. You learned from your father's behavior and go out of your way to protect people. But you can't save 151

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  everyone, you can't make up for everyone, and please, don't let it burn a hole in you so big no one can ever fill it back up."

  She'd hit a nerve, she saw, when his eyes got suspiciously bright and his fingers tightened around hers. Once again she considered the depths this man hid. And wondered if it was too late, and the hole was already too big.

  * * * *

  Parker blinked and swallowed to get himself under control.

  Breaking down in front of Sophie was not on his to-do list.

  Breaking down anywhere was not on that list.

  He stood, drawing Sophie up next to him, and turned so they faced each other. "Thanks," he said, his hands on her shoulders, and pulled her into a
hug. "You're a good friend, Sophie."

  "You're welcome," she whispered next to his ear.

  He relaxed his hold and looked down at her. She looked so sweet, with her hair pulled back and her face full of concern instead of determination and argument. Her clear eyes searched his as if seeking reassurance that he was okay. His heart swelled and he lowered his head, closing his eyes to better drink in her scent, her taste, all of her.

  Her mouth met his softly, tenderly, as if trying to soothe him. He accepted that for a moment, but he wanted this kiss to be about them, not about Biff and Fawn and the unnamed baby. He parted her lips with his and let the craving to fill that opening build. Sophie strained upward, nibbling his mouth, gripping his biceps. He waited a moment longer, then gave her what she wanted. She moaned when his tongue slid into 152

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  her mouth. His blood rushed faster, became a roaring in his ears as it left his brain for more interesting parts of his body.

  He wrapped his arms tighter around Sophie and dipped his head to her neck. She gasped and he smiled against her skin.

  He hardened even more when she unexpectedly bit his earlobe, then fisted her hands in his hair and dragged his mouth back to hers.

  A burst of laughter from the up the hill brought them both back to awareness. Parker let Sophie drift back, but didn't release her. She rested her head against his shoulder, her arms draped around his neck.

  "Oh, Parker," she breathed.

  "Oh, yes."

  * * * *

  They tried to escape the party, but Biff the Senior wouldn't hear of it. He forced them to play croquet, then eat again and wait for the fireworks.

  Parker didn't complain. He felt Sophie rebuilding the barrier that held them at friendship and knew that if they left, he'd drive her home and she'd wave a cheery goodbye without letting him get near her and tomorrow they'd go to work and do the show without any external hint of the kiss they'd shared.

  At least he could pretend they were on a date while they sat on a blanket in the dark, watching fireworks.

  Timmy and Josh rushed over shortly after they'd settled onto the blanket. "Uncle Parker, is it time for the fireworks yet?"