As Norah headed home, eager to see her own baby multiples, she wondered if she was the one with the problem. She’d picked three men who didn’t want to be fathers. She’d dated David, albeit for two weeks. Then her babies’ father. Now Reed.
She was chewing that over when she opened the front door to find Reed sitting in the family room with all three babies in their swings, cooing and batting at their little mobiles. He was reading them a story from a brightly colored book with a giraffe on the cover.
Not a father, huh? Sure. The man was father material whether he liked it or not. Knew it or not.
“Have I got news for you,” she said and then told him the whole story about Eden and the phone call from David.
Reed shook his head. “At least he’s not dead—yet, anyway. Once Eden gets her hands on him...”
“I didn’t get the sense he told her where he was or when or if he was coming home.”
“I’m ninety-nine percent sure I know where he is—Las Vegas. But it’s a big place, and since he’s not using his credit cards, he could be at any super-cheap hole-in-the-wall motel. Though now that he’s let the cat out of the bag that he’s alive and well and afraid of triplets, he might start using his cards and check in somewhere cushy while he lets Eden digest the news.”
Not a minute later a call came in from the station. An officer reporting that David Dirk had finally used his MasterCard to check into the fancy Concordia Hotel on the Strip.
“I have to say, Detective. You’re good.”
“Does that mean you’re coming to Vegas with me?” he asked.
Chapter Eleven
Just like that, Norah found herself on a plane to Las Vegas, a city she’d never been to, with Reed beside her, studying the floor plans of the Concordia Hotel and the streets of Vegas on his iPad.
As she stared out at the clouds below, she knew the answer she should have given was “No. Of course not. I’m not going.” But what had come out of her mouth, with barely any hesitation was “Yes.” This trip wasn’t a honeymoon. Or a vacation. But it wasn’t strictly business, either. Or Wedlock Creek police business. David Dirk had every right to disappear; once Reed knew for sure that the man had willingly left town, the case had been closed. But Reed wanted to find David and talk to him old friend to old friend. Bring him home. And Norah wanted some time away from real life with her...husband.
Why, she wasn’t quite sure. What would be different in a new environment? They were the same people with the same gulf between them.
Still, the trip was a chance. To experience Reed off duty, away from home, where neither of them had any of their usual responsibilities. To see who they were together in a completely different environment. Maybe there would be nothing between them and Norah could just start to accept that their relationship was exactly what she’d agreed to. A platonic marriage slash business partnership for mutual benefit.
The only problem with that was the fact that just sitting this close to Reed, their sides practically touching, she’d never been so aware of a man and her physical attraction to him in her entire life.
“Of course, I booked us separate rooms,” Reed said, turning to glance at her. “Right across the hall from each other.”
Too bad the Concordia wasn’t completely booked except for one small room with a king-size bed, she thought, mesmerized by the dark hair on his forearms and how the sunlight glinted on his gold wedding band, the one that symbolized their union.
Before she knew it, the plane had landed and they were checking in at the front desk, then being shown to their rooms. Reed had 401. Norah was in 402.
“Meet you in the hallway in twenty minutes?” he asked. “I don’t have much of a plan to find David other than to sit in the lobby for a while to see if he passes through. We might get lucky. I tried calling David’s friend Kyle Kirby, the one who seemed to be withholding, but he didn’t answer his phone or my knock at his door. We’re gonna have to do this the boring way.”
“It’s my chance to see you doing surveillance work,” she said. “Not boring at all. See you in twenty,” she added and hurried inside her room with her weekend bag.
The room was a bit fancier than she’d expected. King-size bed, wall of windows and a fuzzy white robe hanging on the bathroom door. She called her mom to check on the triplets, who were fine and having their snack, then she freshened up and changed into a casual skirt, silky tank top and strappy sandals.
Twenty minutes later, when she went into the hallway, Reed was standing there and she caught his gaze moving up and down the length of her. He liked strappy, clearly. Good.
He was amazingly handsome, as always. He wore dark pants and a dark buttoned shirt, no tie. He looked like a detective.
They sat in the well-appointed lobby for forty minutes, pretending to be poring over maps of the Strip and brochures and dinner menus. No sign of David. Many people came through the lobby, all shapes and sizes and nationalities. Norah noticed a coffee bar across the lobby and had a hankering for an iced mocha. She definitely needed caffeine.
“Want something?” she asked Reed, who was glancing over the lobby, his gaze shooting to the chrome revolving doors every time they spun.
“Iced coffee, cream and sugar. And thanks.”
“Coming right up,” she said and sauntered off, wondering if he took his eyes off his surveillance to watch her walk away. She turned back to actually check and almost gasped. He was watching her. But then he darted his eyes back to the revolving door. Busted!
This meant that no matter what he had to say about ignoring their attraction to each other, he ignored it only when he had to. There was hope to change things between her and the detective. And she was going for it. What happened in Vegas didn’t have to stay in Vegas all the time, right?
Her mood uplifted with her secret plan, Norah stood behind a group of women who had very high-maintenance drink orders—double no whip this and no moo that—and studied the board to see if she wanted to try something besides her usual iced mocha when someone said, “Norah?”
She whirled around.
And almost gasped again.
David Dirk himself was staring at her, his mouth agape. “Holy crap, it is you,” he said, walking over to her. Tall and lanky with light brown hair and round, black glasses, he held an iced coffee in one hand and a small white plate with a crumb cake in the other. “I never took you for a Vegas type.”
What did that mean? That she couldn’t let loose and have fun? Let down the ole hair and have a cocktail or three? Throw away a couple hundred bucks? Okay, maybe fifty at most.
I’m actually here with the detective who’s been searching for you for days, she wanted to say. But who knew what David’s frame of mind was? He might bolt.
“I’m here with my husband,” she said, holding up her left hand and giving it a little wave. She turned and looked toward where Reed was sitting, staring at him hard for a second until she caught his attention. When he looked up and clearly saw David, his eyes practically bugged out of his head.
She turned back to David, who was staring at her ring.
“Oh, wow, congrats!” David said, a genuine smile on his face. “I didn’t know you got married. Good for you. And good for your triplets.” He bit his lip, looked at the ring again and then promptly burst into tears. He put the drink and the crumb cake down on the counter beside them and slashed each hand under his eyes. “I’m supposed to be getting married tomorrow night. At the chapel,” he added, looking stricken.
He sniffled and Norah reached into her bag for her little packet of tissues. He took the whole packet and noisily blew his nose.
“But...?” she prompted, despite knowing exactly what the but was.
Tears slipped down his cheeks. Had he always been such a crier? They’d gone to two movies during the two weeks they’d dated, action flicks with very little pathos, so she hadn’t h
ad a chance to see him show much emotion.
“I...” He dabbed at his eyes with a wadded-up tissue.
“Whoa, David? David Dirk?” Reed asked with great feigned surprise as he walked up to them.
David stared at Reed, clearly trying to place him. His mouth dropped open, then curved into a grin. “No way. No flipping way! Reed Barelli? Who I last saw when I was thirteen?”
“It’s me, man,” Reed said, extending his hand.
Instead of taking his hand, David pulled Reed into a hug and sobbed. “You’re probably wondering how my life is after all these years. I’ll tell you. It sucks. I’ve ruined everything. Destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me.” He pulled a few tissues from the packet and dabbed at his eyes again.
“Why don’t we go get a beer?” Reed said, his arm slung around David’s shoulders. “We’ll catch up.” He turned to Norah. “You’ll be all right on your own for a couple of hours, honey?”
Honey. It was for show, but it warmed her heart nonetheless.
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll hit the shops. Maybe get a massage.”
“Wait,” David said. “You two are married? How’d you even meet?” he asked, looking from Reed to Norah.
“Long story,” Reed said. “I’ll tell you all about it over a cold one. And you can fill me in on what’s going on with you.”
David nodded, his shoulders slumped. “I let the best thing that ever happened to me get away.”
“There’s always a second chance if you don’t screw it up,” Reed said as they headed toward the bar.
Here’s hoping so, Norah thought. For everyone.
* * *
The waiter placed two craft beers and a plate of nachos with the works on the square table in front of Reed and David. David took a chug of his beer, then said, “Okay, you first. How’d you meet Norah?”
He told David the entire story. The truth and nothing but the truth. He and Norah had talked about being generally tight-lipped about their story of origin, but he had a feeling David could use the information and apply it to himself.
Now it was David’s eyes that were bugging out of his head.
“Oh man,” David said, chugging more beer. “So you’ll get it. You got married at the chapel. And now you’re the father of triplets.”
There was that word again. Father.
“What I can’t believe is that you actually proposed staying married,” David said. “The woman handed you annulment papers, man! You were home free.”
“I couldn’t just walk away from Norah and the babies. How could I?” He knew he didn’t need to add, “You of all people should know that.” He was sure David had heard it loud and clear. And from his old friend’s expression, Reed was certain.
“I don’t want to walk away from Eden,” David said. “I love her. I know I screwed up by running away. But I had to think. I had to get my head on straight. Spending time with my cousin and those screaming colicky twins of his made me realize I’m not ready for that. I don’t want that.”
“You don’t want what, exactly?” Reed asked. “A colicky baby? Twins? Or kids at all?”
David pulled a nacho onto his plate but just stared at it. “I don’t know.”
How could such a smart guy know so little? “Why not just tell Eden the truth?”
David frowned. “I did when I called her yesterday. She was so angry at me she hung up.” Tears glistened in the guy’s eyes and he ate the loaded nacho chip in one gulp.
“I think you should call Eden. FaceTime her, actually. And tell her exactly how you feel. Which sounds to me like you love her very much and want to marry her, but you’re not ready for children and certainly not ready for multiples.”
“That’s it, exactly. I want kids someday. Just not now. And not all at once.”
“Tell her. You need to have faith in your relationship with her, David. And remember, that showing her you didn’t have faith in her, in your relationship, by running, is probably what is stinging her the most.”
David seemed to think about that. He nodded, then took a sip of his beer. “So is it as awful as I think?”
Reed took a swig of his beer. “Is what?”
“Living with three screaming babies.”
“Actually, I love those little buggers.” The minute he said it, he felt his smile fade. He’d do anything for them. Of course he loved them. He had since the day he’d first upsie-downsied Bea on the rickety porch of Norah’s old rental house.
“Really?” David asked, eyes wide behind the black-framed glasses.
“Yeah. Huh. I guess being a father can be more instinctive than I thought. There’s really nothing to it other than caring and showing up and doing what needs to be done.”
David nodded. “Right. I guess I don’t want to do any of that—yet.”
Reed laughed. “Then you shouldn’t. And don’t have to. Not everyone is ready for parenthood at the same time.” He thought about Norah, who’d had to be ready. And him, too, in a way. But something told Reed he’d been ready for a long time. Waiting to give his heart to little humans in the way his own father hadn’t been willing.
So. He was their father. Father. Daddy. He laughed, which made David look at him funny.
“Just thinking about something,” Reed said.
David got up and polished off his beer, putting a twenty on the table. “I’m gonna go FaceTime Eden. Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it.”
“Go get her,” Reed said.
But as he sat there, finishing his beer and helping himself to the pretty good nachos, he realized something that twisted his gut.
Maybe he’d been focusing on the father thing as an excuse not to focus on the marriage thing. Maybe it was only husband he had the issue with. Husband that he didn’t want to be.
Deep down he knew it was true. Of course it was true; it was the whole reason he’d proposed what he’d proposed. A sham of a marriage. So he’d get what he really wanted. His ranch. And a chance to still be the father he’d never had. A chance to do right.
But he also knew deep down that it wasn’t what Norah wanted. At all. And she was so independent-minded and used to being on her own that he was pretty sure she wouldn’t give up her dreams so soon. She’d tell him the plan wasn’t working, that she needed more and she’d hold out for a man who could be a father and a husband.
She deserved that.
Reed sat there long after his beer was gone, his appetite for the nachos ruined. What the hell was going to happen to him and Norah?
* * *
If Norah wasn’t mistaken, Reed was being...distant.
While Reed had been with David at the bar, she’d gone into the hotel’s clothing boutique and bought herself a little black dress she’d have no use for at home. It wasn’t cheap and she’d likely wear it every few years, since it was kind of a classic Audrey Hepburn sleeveless with just the right amount of low neckline to make Norah feel a bit more daring than her usual mom-of-three self.
She and Reed had agreed to meet at six thirty for dinner at an Italian restaurant in their hotel that was supposed to have incredible food. But when she came out of her room at six thirty on the nose, all dolled up, including a light dab of perfume in the cleavage, Reed seemed surprised. And kept his eyes on her face. Not even a peek at her in the hotsy-totsy dress.
Instead, he filled her in on what had happened with David, how he’d texted his old buddy an hour ago to ask if he’d spoken to Eden and how things had gone. David hadn’t gotten back to him.
Love, marriage, parenthood, life. Why was it so complicated? Why did wanting one thing mean you had to give up another thing? Compromise was everything in life and relationships.
Can I give up wanting what I used to dream about? she asked herself as they walked into Marcello’s, so romantic and dimly lit and full of candles and oil paintings of nudes
and lovers that Norah figured Reed hadn’t known what they were in for. Can I stay married to a man I’m falling in love with when it’s platonic and he wants to keep it that way forever?
Maybe not forever. Maybe just till the triplets were grown and off starting their lives and he could finally take a breath from the sense of responsibility he felt. Oh, only eighteen years. No biggie.
Face-palm. Could she live this way for eighteen years?
Norah had just noticed a sign on an easel by the long zinc bar that said Closed For Private Event when a woman rushed up to them. The restaurant was closed? Or the bar?
“Oooh,” the woman said, ushering them inside the restaurant “You two had better hurry. There’s only one table left. Otherwise you’ll have to eat standing at the counter along the back.”
Huh? She glanced at Reed, who shrugged, and they followed the hostess to a small round table for two. A man and a woman sat a table on a platform in the center of the dining room, a candle between them, wineglasses and a plate of bruschetta.
Hmm, bruschetta, Norah thought. She definitely wanted some of that. “Maybe it’s their anniversary,” she told Reed. “And they’re high rollers or something, so they get a platform.”
“You never know in Vegas,” he said, his dark eyes flashing in the dimly lit room. He looked so damned hot, this time all in black, again tieless but wearing a jacket and black shoes.
They were seated and Norah couldn’t help but notice the fortyish couple at the table beside theirs. The woman sat with her arms crossed over her chest, looking spitting mad. The man was gobbling up Italian bread and slathering it with butter.
“How can you even eat when I’m this upset!” the woman hiss-whispered.
The man didn’t quite roll his eyes, but he didn’t stop buttering the bread or popping it in his mouth.
“Welcome!” said the woman at the platform table.
Norah turned her attention to her. She and the man beside her stood. They had microphones. Gulp. This was clearly the “special event.” Had she and Reed crashed a wedding or something?
Should they get up now and slink out? While all eyes were focused on the couple and it was dead quiet otherwise?
Detective Barelli's Legendary Triplets Page 12
