by Arlene James
Grace acknowledged the apology with an emphatic nod. “It’s not nice to call somebody a liar,” she said with all the gravity of a sage.
Jean Marie turned pleading eyes to Mattie. “But she didn’t sleep with Daddy last night,” she said in a soft, carefully modulated voice. “She slept in my bed, and I slept on the couch.”
A swell of hope made Mattie look to Grace for explanation or confirmation…something. Grace put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, glaring at Jean Marie.
“And Daddy didn’t get me up and put you back in your bed early this morning, I suppose. I guess you’re too young to wonder why.” She smirked at Mattie then, and Mattie dropped her gaze to Jean Marie’s face once more. What she found there caused her stomach to drop and the color to drain from her face. She could hardly breathe, let alone speak. It was then that a tiny body hurtled into the living room.
“Mommy!” Candy Sue cried, and to both women’s everlasting shock, flew straight at Mattie.
Mattie couldn’t react quickly enough to catch her and was nearly knocked off her feet by the impact. Chaz appeared in the doorway. “She hasn’t been to the bathroom yet,” he warned ominously, giving Mattie the perfect excuse to escape the room. When she returned, Candy Sue on her hip, she thought she was ready to face the woman Orren obviously could not forget, without giving away her own vulnerability. But Grace Ellis was not in the room. Chaz and Jean Marie looked up at her from the couch.
“She’s changing her clothes,” Chaz said lightly. “She said to tell you that Dad’s already left for work.”
“She’s goin’ to California,” Jean Marie added truculently.
“Yeah, she says she’s gonna be in the movies,” Chaz confirmed.
Mattie blinked at them. “She’s not staying?”
Jean Marie sighed dramatically. “We just told you she’s goin’ to California to get in the movies.”
Mattie heard the door to Orren’s room open and the clack of heels on the hardwood floor in the hallway. Gracie swayed in wearing the same jeans but a different blouse, a T-top so small that it looked as if it belonged on a six-year-old. “Gotta go!” she chimed gaily, wriggling her fingers at the children as she pattered across the room. “Kiss Daddy for me! Tell him I’ll be in touch.” She paused next to Mattie and bent to kiss Candy Sue on the cheek, leaving a lipstick print. Calling over her shoulder she said, “Thanks for the bed, Jeannie!”
Jeannie? Mattie nearly swallowed her tongue. A glance at Jean Marie revealed a similar reaction, her face nearly as red as her hair. Gracie was oblivious. Her attention was fixed on Mattie.
“You know, honey,” she said in a “we girls” voice, “you’re awful young to be a house drudge. Don’t let Orren take advantage of you, and don’t fall for his line, either. No matter what he says, he prefers his women mature, experienced and—” she glanced at Mattie’s bustline and then her own “—shall we say, blessed.” She patted Candy Sue’s curly head and sauntered out the door without a backward glance.
Mattie tried to tell herself that what mattered was the exit. Gracie was gone, and she’d obviously never had any intention of staying. However, the thought would not leave her that Orren preferred the ex, who had deserted him for another man, to her. She greatly feared that he simply could not resist the voluptuous Gracie, and she knew without a doubt that she could never share him. Fortunately, Candy Sue started to whine that she was hungry, and Mattie threw herself into preparing a huge breakfast for the kids, knowing that the best thing at the moment was to keep as busy as possible. She would have time enough to examine her broken heart later. Much too much time.
Orren baled out of the truck and took the stairs in one step. It had been a wildly busy day and yet had dragged by moment by moment at the same time. He couldn’t wait to see Mattie, to settle things between them for good. He charged through the door and stopped. Mattie stood at the kitchen counter filling a bowl with the contents of a saucepan. She had never looked so good to him. Glancing in his direction, she carried the bowl to the table, set it down and took off her apron. “You’re home,” she said lightly. “Dinner’s ready. I have to go.”
“Go?” he echoed, momentarily taken aback.
She reached for her bag. “Yes. I’m in a hurry. Sorry.” She attempted to slip by him, but he wasn’t about to let her do it.
He clamped both hands down onto her shoulders. “No way.”
She stood very still, head bowed. “Orren, this isn’t necessary. I already know, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Know what?”
She glanced up and quickly away again. “About Grace.”
“Grace! Is that witch still here? I threatened her life if she left the kids alone, but she knows damned well that I wanted her out of here the moment you arrived! It’d be just like her to stay around and make your life hell, though. If she—”
“She didn’t,” Mattie said, looking up suddenly. “She left within minutes after I arrived. I understand she had a previous commitment in California. She didn’t say when she’d be back.”
He snorted. “I’d guess never. I don’t think her reception was quite what she was hoping for. She has no one to blame but herself, the fool. They gave her every opportunity, Red especially.”
“The kids you mean?” Mattie asked, obviously confused.
“You should have seen it, Mattie. You know how Red is. She’d built up this idealized image of her mother, and Grace had all but destroyed it within the first half hour. But our Red’s nothing if not stubborn, and when Grace begged to be allowed to stay the night, Red tried to make it into this mother-daughter slumber party thing. She offered to share her bed with Gracie. I found her crying on the couch early this morning. Grace had put her out with no thought for anything but her own comfort, said the bed wasn’t big enough and Red would be more comfortable on the couch than her. I hauled her butt out and put Red back to bed, then I threatened her with child endangerment charges if she left before you got here. I realized later that I shouldn’t have told your stepmom to send you in early, but I’d told Grace last night that she had to be out by nine, and I guess I was so distracted I didn’t think better of it when the boss called me in.”
Mattie grabbed him by the arms. “Then you didn’t…” She seemed to go weak suddenly, swaying against him.
“Mattie! Sweetheart?”
“I’m all right,” she said, laying her head against his shoulder. “Actually, I’m better than all right.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Grace implied that you slept with her.”
“That lying piece of—”
“Told you!”
Mattie spun away, he looked up to find all four of his kids standing at the end of the dinner table. Jean Marie folded her arms and looked at Mattie.
“I told you she was lying.”
“I’m sorry, Jean Marie. I should have listened instead of scolding.”
Jean Marie shrugged. “That’s okay. I shoulda said it more respecting the first time.”
“We’ll both know better next time then.”
Jean Marie lifted both eyebrows and rocked back on her heels as if to say that she wasn’t making any promises. Mattie laughed. It was classic Jean Marie, and Orren knew in his heart that Mattie appreciated that fact as much as he did. That was one of the reasons he loved her, but only one.
Mattie waved a hand at the table. “Well,” she said, “dinner’s ready. Why don’t we sit down and—”
“Uh, no.” Orren stepped up and turned her to face him. “I want to talk to you, and it’s already been put off too long.”
“But dinner—”
“Can wait,” Orren said. Stepping closer, he looked down into her eyes. “Mattie, I—”
A giggle made him stop. He looked again at his children. This definitely needed to be done without an audience, especially one so avid. Orren captured Mattie’s hand. “Come with me.”
He pulled her past the kids and through the living room and hall into his bedroom, closing the do
or behind them. “Orren, dinner’s getting cold,” Mattie pointed out.
“I don’t care. This is more important.”
She folded her arms. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“What is it then, Orren?”
“Okay, here goes.” He took a deep breath. “Mattie, I love you.”
He thought for a moment that she hadn’t understood or—worse—that she simply didn’t want to hear it. Then suddenly she threw herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck, and he knew that it was nothing more than shock that had held her back. “Oh, Orren!”
Laughing, he wrapped her close and lifted her off her feet. “I’ve been busting at the seams to tell you.”
She pulled his head back and kissed him. “I love you, too!”
It was his turn to do the kissing, and he made a very thorough job of it, so happy he could explode. He was terribly aware of the bed and how easy it would be to lay her down on it and take this where he wanted so badly to go. But he wouldn’t, because he needed to do this thing right, and he wanted her to understand that. When he couldn’t bear it a moment longer, he set her on her feet and forced his breathing to slow enough that he could speak. “Mattie, I was young when I married Grace, too young. When she came up pregnant with Chaz, I didn’t think twice about marrying her because I wanted a family of my own so badly, even when I was a boy wondering where my father was and why my mother couldn’t stay sober long enough to look after me.”
“Oh, Orren,” Mattie said. “You don’t owe me any explanations.”
“But I want you to know how it was, so you’ll understand how it is and how it has to be now.”
“All right.”
He licked his lips, searching for the right words. “I was too young at first to know that I’d made a mistake. I suppose that’s why I fought my feelings for you so hard. I was afraid you’d make the same mistake I did. See, I knew the marriage wasn’t right, but I actually thought that another baby might make Grace settle down. I talked her into Red. Didn’t take me long to realize that wasn’t the solution. She just didn’t know how to be a mother. She didn’t know how to love. To Grace, love was sex and nothing more. I started to think that maybe the kids and I would be better off without her, but Grace isn’t a graceful loser. She knew I wasn’t happy and that I was thinking about a divorce, so she got pregnant with Yancy to keep me with her.”
“And it worked,” Mattie said softly.
“What else could I do but try to make it work?” Orren asked. “I told myself that she might not be everything I wanted, but it wasn’t all bad. She was always…eager sexually. I figured that meant something, that maybe no other woman could make that part of it better. But mostly it was the kids. Three kids are a huge responsibility.”
“Four an even larger one.”
“Candy Sue was pure accident,” Orren told her. “Gracie was furious when she found out she was pregnant again. She wanted an abortion, but I wouldn’t hear of it. She hated me for that. She only stayed until she got her figure back and could shop around for a way to go. And she had to be the one to go. If I’d tried to leave her, she’d have hung on out of sheer spite.”
“So you had your freedom,” Mattie said, “but you must have been very afraid of making another mistake.”
“I still am,” he admitted. Her expression immediately revealed fear and uncertainty. “Not like you’re thinking,” he went on quickly. “I don’t have any doubt about my feelings for you or yours for me.”
“Then it’s—” she gulped “—a physical thing?”
“What? A physical thing?” Suddenly it registered. Sex. “Oh.” He laughed. “No way! I mean…Mattie, I want you like I didn’t even know I could want a woman. I don’t have any worries about that. I only thought I loved Gracie. I know I love you. You’re everything, absolutely everything, I’ve always wanted—only I’ve never wanted it so bad before.”
It must have been the right way to put it, for she wrapped herself around him again, smiling in a way she hadn’t ever quite smiled before. His heart sped up, and he decided that they both needed a taste of what the future could hold for them. He lowered his head and kissed her, putting his tongue inside to explore every crevice and cranny of her mouth. It wasn’t nearly enough. He pressed against her, wanting her to know how very much he wanted her, and moved his mouth to the little hollow below her ear. The sound she made brought on a fierce hunger. He wanted to eat her up. He skimmed his mouth down her neck, nipping her with his teeth, licking with his tongue. His hand moved to her breast instinctively, and she arched against him.
“Orren!” She grasped his head and pulled it up, seeking his mouth again. He tightened his hand, not too hard, marveling at the firmness of her flesh, and she gasped into his mouth, giving his tongue access again. He was so caught up in the feel and the taste of her that he wasn’t even aware that the door had opened until he felt a hand yanking him back roughly.
“Mattie!”
“Daddy!”
Orren blinked at the tall, fit, dark-haired man glaring murder at him and knew he could hardly have met Evans Kincaid under worse circumstances. He pulled himself together. “Mr. Kincaid, this isn’t what you think.”
“Isn’t what I think?” Kincaid repeated incredulously. “Even your kids know what was going on in here!”
“No, sir. Well, that is, they might. I mean, they know how I feel about Mattie. They probably realize I want to—”
“Seduce my daughter?” Kincaid said in that same incredulous tone.
“Daddy!”
Evans Kincaid grabbed his daughter by the hand. “You’re coming with me, young lady!”
“No, I’m not!”
“Yes, you are!”
Orren put his hand to his head. “Sir, why are you here?”
It was Mattie who answered. “I told him I’d be home early.”
“She was crying the last time she came home from here,” Kincaid accused. “I told her then that she was not to come back to this house, but she insisted the kids needed her. I told her she was to leave the instant you walked in the door. She promised she’d be home by seven. I knew something was wrong a minute after! Now she’s going home!” He dragged Mattie out of the room and through the hall.
“Sir, if you would just listen,” Orren began, following.
“I know what I saw!”
“Daddy, stop!” Mattie yanked free.
Orren shot a glance at his children, huddled together on the couch. How on earth was he ever going to explain all this to them? It was a problem he didn’t have the luxury of considering just now. “Sir, please let me explain. I love Mattie and—”
“That’s not love!” Kincaid exclaimed, pointing toward the bedroom.
“Mattie loves me,” Orren went on doggedly.
“I do, Daddy,” Mattie insisted. “I love him!”
“And we’re getting married!” they said together. Orren looked at Mattie in surprise and relief—with just a touch of regret.
“Mattie, honey,” he said, “I didn’t even get a chance to ask you, but I was going to.”
“I know,” she said, slipping her hand into his. Behind her, the kids were staring with their mouths hanging open. She looked at her father again. “Orren and I are getting married, Dad,” she said, “as soon as possible.”
Evans Kincaid glanced at Orren, then set his jaw. “Over my dead body,” he said, and with that he turned and stalked out of the house.
Orren groaned. “Aw, hell! Mattie, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have this happen for anything in the world.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t matter? Honey, that’s your father! Of course, it matters. We have to go after him, make him understand.”
“No.”
“But Mattie—”
“It wouldn’t do any good, Orren. You don’t know him like I do.”
“Mattie, I can’t let this happen. I couldn’t live with myself if I caused a break with your father.”
That made sense. “All right,” Orren said. “We’ll give him some time to calm down, and then we’ll talk to him.”
She shook her head. “We won’t get anywhere with him, not even with Amy’s support. This is going to take more than the two of us.” She bit her lip thoughtfully. Orren raked a hand through his hair, racking his brain for the answer. Suddenly, Mattie said, “I have to make a couple of phone calls.”
Orren went with her into the kitchen. “Who are you calling?”
“The calvary,” she said, looking up a phone number in the telephone book. “His name is Reverend Bolton Charles. He’s the pastor at our church.”
“You think he can help.”
She picked up the telephone receiver. “Oh, yes.”
He was willing to accept her judgment on the matter, but he couldn’t help being curious. “That’s one call.”
Mattie smiled. “We have to have someone to stay with the kids,” she pointed out gently. “I think this is going to be an adults-only conversation.” She began punching in the numbers.
Orren nodded and took a deep breath. “I told my daughter you were brilliant.”
“Our daughter,” Mattie said.
He was kissing her when Bolton Charles answered his phone.
Chapter Ten
Mattie smiled and stepped back to let him in. “Don’t you look delicious,” she said softly, kissing him on the cheek. Orren blushed. Dressed in jeans, white shirt, sport coat and black, round-toed cowboy boots, Orren was nervous and trying hard to make a good impression. He’d had his hair cut, and he’d shaved so closely that his lower face looked half a shade lighter than the upper portion.
He bent to bring his mouth close to her ear. “Everybody here?”
She nodded and threaded her arm through his. “Come on in and let me introduce you. And smile.” He tried, but it was apparently a pretty dismal effort. She stopped, bringing him to a stop beside her. Looking up into his eyes, she said, “I love you, Orren Ellis.”
