by Curry, Edna
“Well, he hasn’t had any accidents, has he?”
“No, but …”
The doorbell chimed.
Barbara was busy blowing up more ‘happy birthday’ balloons, so Sam shrugged at Lisa and opened the door for the newcomers.
“Come in, come in. You must be Annette. I’m Bob’s Uncle Sam, the one who doesn’t demand taxes,” Sam said with a nervous laugh. He glanced past her looking for Bob.
“Nice to meet you,” Annette smiled, closing her umbrella and brushing raindrops from her blonde curls. “Bob’s playing the protective father-to-be. He let me off by the door and then went to park the car. Wasn’t that sweet of him? Man, it’s really coming down out there. We had to have the windshield wipers on the whole way.”
“Bob must be growing up. I think you’re good for him,” Sam said with a laugh. “I see we’re going to have another addition to the family. Congratulations!”
“Thank you. It’s nice to hear the word ‘family’, again. I haven’t had one myself for a good many years.”
Lisa came forward and gave Annette a hug. “Well, you have one, now. Let me take your raincoat, Annette.”
“Oh! Lisa! You’re here, too? I thought Bob said you couldn’t make it today, that you were coming next Sunday.”
“Sorry, I hope you don’t mind?”
“Oh, no. I’m happy to see you, it’s just that Bob....” Annette’s voice trailed off, and she looked uncertain.
“Bob’s here! Bob’s here!” Two blond little boys came running out of the family room, shouting in unison and tumbling over each other trying to reach the door first.
Seeing Annette, the lively boys suddenly turned shy at the sight of a stranger in their midst. They stopped and two pairs of big blue eyes stared at her.
Annette smiled and held out several brightly wrapped packages to them. They eyed her cautiously, and then reached out chubby arms to take the gifts.
“Bob’ll be in a minute, boys. This is his wife, Annette. Your new cousin,” Lisa said.
Leading the way into the family room, she admonished the boys, “Bring those gifts in here, you can open them with the others in a little while. The boys are getting so excited already,” she added to Annette. ”How have you been?”
“Just fine, thanks.”
Trace watched them disappear into the family room, nervously wondering if they’d really done the right thing to throw Lisa and her son together like this. At least Annette seemed pleased.
Bob opened the door, shaking rain from his cap, and stepped inside. “Hello, everybody. It’s raining buckets out th—” He stopped and stared at Trace.
He turned to frown angrily at Sam. “He and Mom are here? I thought you said they couldn’t make it to this party?”
“Bob, please, don’t spoil the boys’ birthday party,” Sam began, reaching out a pleading hand to him. “You’re supposed to be a grownup, now. Can’t you act civil for just one day?”
“No way, Man. Where’d Annette go? We’re leaving.”
“Not yet.” Trace rose to stand beside Sam shoulder to shoulder.
The two older men glared at the scowling young redhead.
Trace said, “You look all grownup, Bob. Don’t you think it’s time to start acting like it? Your mother has been miserable for weeks because of your attitude.”
“So? She deserves to feel bad. How do you think I felt, when she left us?”
Trace raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Maybe like a grownup leaving the nest?”
“Yeah,” Sam growled at his nephew. “Or maybe you want me to go find scissors to cut the apron strings, boy?”
“Apron strings? Boy?” Bob reddened.
Lisa, Barbara and Annette appeared in the doorway. Trace met Lisa’s eyes and shrugged helplessly.
Lisa pleaded, “Please don’t be mad, Bob. Let’s have a nice day for the boys.”
“Forget it, Ma. We’re leaving. Come on, Annette. Get your raincoat.”
“Oh, no you don’t!” Trace stood nose to nose with Bob.
Lisa realized, in an odd, detached way, that Trace was one of the few people she knew who was taller than her son. She held her breath as they glared at each other.
“Says who?”
“Says me. There’s been enough running away around here. Try staying and facing the music for a change.”
“Yeah, well Ma started it by running away from us.”
Lisa sputtered, “And abandoning you, as you told your Uncle Sam? Honestly, Bob! You great big baby!”
They stared at each other for a long minute as Bob’s face reddened even further. Finally, he said, “Aw, Ma, I’m sorry!” He gave her a wet hug and Annette stepped up to make it a three way hug.
Then Annette put in, “Maybe she needed to get away for a while. Women do, sometimes you know.” She glowered at Bob. “Even I know that, and we’ve only been married a few months.”
“Now don’t you start getting on my case, too, Annette. This is between Ma and me.”
Annette’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t count, huh?”
“Aw, Babe, listen to me.” Bob reached out to her and tried to take her in his arms. The rest of them stood by helplessly as the newlyweds faced each other.
Annette angrily brushed away her tears and his arm. “No, you listen. You cheated me out of the nice family wedding I wanted, by having a fight with your mama. I had to get married all alone in a dumb ole fake chapel in Las Vegas.”
“I bought you a beautiful dress and flowers. Even a nice ring, didn’t I? Didn’t that count for something?”
“It didn’t make up for people who care! This nice lady wants to be my friend, and you’re not going to stop us! She’s my baby’s grandma, and I’m not letting you take that away from my baby!”
Bob just stared at her, his face now as red as his hair. “Come on, Babe, be reasonable! Ma and I just made up, didn’t we?”
Annette raised her chin stubbornly. Her arms akimbo above her huge belly, she proclaimed, “That’s not enough.”
“Well, what more do ya want, then?”
“Promise you’ll let me and her talk on the phone, and let the baby know his grandma.”
“Sure, Babe. That’s what making up means, doesn’t it?”
“Oh. Does it?” Annette asked. “I guess you’ll have to teach me some of this family stuff.”
“Sure, Babe.” A wide smile lit Bob’s face and he hugged her. Then he turned to the others. “Okay, then, let’s start this party.”
“Wait a minute,” Trace interrupted. “This big oaf was who you abandoned, Lisa? But I thought....”
Lisa looked at him incredulously. “You thought that I had some little ones? That I’d really abandoned them?”
“Well what was I supposed to think? You clammed up and refused to explain. So, I assumed you had something awful to hide.”
“And you thought I was running away, like you always did?”
Trace’s voice came out in a croak. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Trace and Lisa glared at each other, while now it was Bob and Annette’s turn to shuffle their feet uncomfortably.
Sam snorted and they all turned to look at him. “You’re a fine one to talk about others running away, Trace,” Sam said.
A dull red crept up Trace’s neck and spread to his cheeks. “Just what do you mean by that crack?”
“You ran away after high school and left Lisa heartbroken, didn’t you?”
Lisa flushed and swallowed, as Trace’s eyes swung around to her. “Sam...” she began, but her voice came out only as a hoarse croak.
“As I recall,” Sam went on as though she wasn’t even there, “Lisa cried and moped for months. Susie and I finally convinced her you weren’t worth her loyalty.”
Trace appeared stunned.
Bob seemed to have forgotten his own agenda in his sudden keen interest in his mother’s past love story. “Yeah?” he asked. “So what happened, Ma?”
“Nothing happened,” Lisa m
anaged to say through paper dry lips. “He went off to college and I got over him. His folks moved and he never came back to Mankato.”
“Until now,” Sam put in dryly, looking disgusted.
Trace seemed glued to the floor. Staring at Lisa, he said hoarsely, “But my mother wrote that you had a new boyfriend and they were expecting an engagement announcement anytime. I tried to tell you the day of our picnic. I thought you’d forgotten me.”
Sam snorted. “A likely story!”
But Trace wasn’t listening to Sam. He was looking at Lisa. “My mother made it up to keep us apart, didn’t she? I should have known. Your grandparents were poor. My mother, the snob!”
A smile trembled on Lisa’s lips as she tried to answer. She nodded instead, her eyes bright with tears. “I thought we’d settled this and forgiven it at the picnic.”
“Me, too, but I didn’t know the half of it.”
Somehow they were in each other’s arms and kissing.
Bob and Annette were grinning, and even Sam looked pleased. He said gruffly, “Hey, everyone’s here now, so let’s get this party under way. Let me take your wet raincoat, Bob.”
Bob slipped out of it and handed it to Sam, who slapped him on the back companionably.
Two towheaded boys came running up to them, shouting at the top of their lungs. “Bob, Bob!” Two sets of chubby arms fastened themselves around Bob’s legs. “Come see all the balloons Jodi blew up!”
“Hey, boys. How ya doin?”
“What’d ya bring me, huh?”
Bob picked up both boys and headed for the family room.
Everyone relaxed and began talking at once as they moved into the brightly decorated room and settled into various comfortable chairs.
Barbara lit the blue candles on the cake. Trace started singing, ‘Happy Birthday’, and they all joined in.
Tommy piped up, “Can I open my birthday presents, now?”
“Sure thing, Sport. You can help Lee open his, too.”
Tommy began tearing open the brightly wrapped packages, while everyone watched and laughed with him as he exclaimed in pleasure over each gift.
Lisa found herself seated next to Annette. “I don’t know how to thank you, Annette,” she said quietly, while everyone’s attention was on the boys.
“Thank me? I should be thanking you, and all your family, for accepting me. I haven’t had anyone for so long, and well, you know, I was afraid you wouldn’t, after we eloped.”
“We’re very happy to have you in the family. I’m afraid Bill and I didn’t do a very good of teaching Bob to take responsibility.”
Annette looked puzzled. “What do you mean? Bob is much more responsible than most young men I know. He’s been there for me right from the start. Lots of men would have disappeared when they found out their girl was pregnant. When I told Bob, he was thrilled. He even insisted on finding a better job and getting married right away.”
“That’s good. But you were really brave to stand up to Bob. I mean with the baby coming and all.”
Annette laughed. “Oh, I wasn’t worried he’d leave me. Bob would never let me take this baby away from him. He’s so excited about it, he could burst.”
“Well, I can see Bob has finally met his match.” Lisa’s mouth twisted in a wry smile as she remembered their earlier face off.
Annette nodded toward Bob, who was sitting on the floor with his nephews, building a tower with the new box of American Logs they’d opened and dumped out. “Look at him playing with the boys. He’s gonna make a good daddy for this baby, isn’t he, Lisa?” She patted her huge belly.
A warm thrill of happiness spread through Lisa at the thought. Imagine, her son was really going to be a father in only a few weeks. “Yes, I’m sure he will, Annette. He’s always loved little ones.” A thought struck Lisa. “When is your baby due?”
Annette smiled. “I thought you’d never ask. The week before Thanksgiving.” A shadow passed across her green eyes. “Remember last Thanksgiving when Bob brought me over for dinner at your house? That was the first time I’d eaten a holiday meal with a whole family since I was a little girl. I hope I won’t be in the hospital and miss your family gathering this year.”
“If the baby picks that day to be born, we’ll have Thanksgiving later,” Lisa vowed. “I wouldn’t have you miss it for the world.”
She was surprised to realize she really meant it. She was looking forward to inviting them all for a big Thanksgiving dinner, and she didn’t feel any of the panic she’d been feeling for months at the thought of having them all come to her house.
***
Hours later, Trace walked Lisa to her door. She’d been very quiet on the way home. He was almost afraid to hope that making up with Bob would help matters between the two of them, too.
He took her key and unlocked her door for her, resigned to getting only the goodnight kiss that had become their usual routine.
Instead, Lisa stepped through the door and asked, “Would you like to come in, Trace?”
The soft invitation in her voice made it clear she didn’t mean for just a cup of coffee. His face split in a big grin, and he exclaimed, “Would I!”
He stepped inside, closed and locked the door behind them, then drew her into his arms. He bent his head and kissed her, then nibbled her bottom lip and kissed a soft trail along the side of her throat. She gasped and lifted her head to give him better access, her fingers splaying on his chest, then lifting to tangle in his hair.
Her warm response encouraged him, sending hot flames of desire along his veins. He groaned and kissed her again, slipping his tongue inside her mouth to taste her sweetness. Her tongue tangled with his, and she pressed closer until their bodies fit together from top to toe.
They went up to her bed and began to make love with the urgency of long separation. She threw back the covers and sat to remove her shoes and pantyhose. He quickly followed suit.
Clothes fell every which way and neither of them noticed or cared. Only the need for a quick stop for protection separated them, then they joined and moved until the lovely glow of stars exploding brought gasps of completion from them both.
Afterwards, Trace cuddled her close. He pulled up the covers around them and kissed her again, then said with a sigh of satisfaction, “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you.”
Lisa frowned, puzzled. “What do you mean, missed me? I’ve been right here, all the time.”
“It didn’t seem that way to me.” He smoothed her long dark hair back from her face, and kissed her again. “I felt like I couldn’t reach you, emotionally. You were always preoccupied, far away in spirit. Tonight you seem to have returned.”
She sighed and kissed him, gently smoothing back his hair. “I’m sorry if I’ve been distant.”
He watched her expressions, wondering if he dared try to reach her emotionally again. “I love you, Lisa. I think I have from the moment you gave me heck for leaving Baby out in the rain. I guess I thought anyone who would stand up for a cat they’d never seen before, had to have a pretty tender heart.”
She laughed merrily and he was sure he’d never heard a happier sound. “A cat convinced you to love me? Honestly, Trace, you’re a card!”
“Maybe so,” Trace said. He watched her face. ”But I’ve never been more serious, Lisa. I love you. Do you believe me?” Did she care? He held his breath, and watched emotions play over her face.
Finally she answered him with a wry smile. “Trace, I loved you when we were teenagers. In fact, I don’t think I ever stopped loving you.”
He let out his breath in relief. “Then you’ll take a chance on marrying again?”
“Yes. Oh, yes, Trace.” She went into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder so he couldn’t see her happy tears.
“I’m not sure what Renee will say, but we’ll cross that bridge later,” he said, kissing the tear that slid down one cheek.
Lisa pulled back and looked at him. “She already told me she ‘no longer h
ad any objection to our getting together.’”
Trace’s jaw dropped. “What? When did she say that?”
“The day of my cookout.”
“Honestly, you women are way ahead of me. Here I’ve been worrying my head off how to get you to say yes, and you two have it all worked out behind my back.”
Lisa laughed at the mock anger in his voice. She could tell he was very pleased she and Renee had also made peace. “What is the penalty for my indiscretion, Sir?”
He leaned over with a wolfish grin and slid a hand under the comforter and ran it lightly up and down her bare skin. “I sentence you to lots more time under the covers, Madam.”
“Trace, that tickles!”
“Do you accept your lifetime sentence?”
“Oh, yes, Trace,” she repeated with a satisfied sigh.
The End.
###
About the author:
Edna Curry lives in MN and often sets her novels there among the lakes, evergreens and river valleys. She especially enjoys the Dalles area of the St. Croix Valley, gateway to the Wild River, which draws many tourists who give her story ideas. Besides non-fiction articles, she writes mystery, romance and romantic suspense novels.
Edna is married and is a member of the Romance Writers of America and four of its chapters: Midwest Fiction Writers, KOD, WISRWA and Northern Lights Writers.
Circle of Shadows (half of Deadly Duos #1) was a finalist in RWA's prestigious Golden Heart Contest.
Visit her webpage at http://www.ednacurry.com
Recent or upcoming books:
2010 My Sister’s Keeper by Edna Curry
4/2010 Secret Daddy by Edna Curry Whiskey Creek Press
8/2010 Best Friends by Edna Curry reprint
10/2010 Bear Trap by Edna Curry reprint
2/2011 Double Trouble by Edna Curry reprint
5/2011 Dead in Bed by Edna Curry Whiskey Creek Press
10/2011 Never Love a Logger by Edna Curry Whiskey Creek Press
2011 I’ll Always Find You by Edna Curry Whiskey Creek Press-Torrid
8/2012 Meet Me, Darling by Edna Curry Melange Books
