by Adams, Anna
“A photo.”
She shivered. “I still see those pictures at the Worths’, where they’d colored David out. I think he avoided me, trying to protect me from them after Joanna died. Simon told me he’d said they weren’t rational and he wanted their threats documented.”
An echo of rage flashed through Noah’s mind. “I wish he’d told you. We were lucky I turned back. Eleanor and Joe might have convinced Weldon and me that the ‘bad guy’ in the ski mask finally fulfilled his contract by killing you.”
“You would have figured it out, but I’m glad you came back.” She tiptoed to kiss him, and he liked the thrust of her breast against his forearm. Too soon, she pointed to the photo again. “It’s Keely?” she asked.
He nodded. “I put them away after you left.”
“I couldn’t look at my pictures of her after I moved, either.” With sudden impatience, she peeled back the brown paper that covered the frame and turned the picture over. They both stared at their baby. Keely grinned at the camera, tufts of blond hair standing on end, a tooth peeking out of her mouth as she chewed a plastic giraffe.
Tessa laughed. “She was a mess, wasn’t she?”
He smiled, too. Along with regret came a wave of happiness. They’d had her for a while and she’d been a joyful girl. He hugged his wife. “I guess we’re taking her back in a way.”
Tessa’s eyes filled, but Lucy’s voice lilted in the hall, and Tessa rubbed her sleeve across her face as Lucy carried Maggie into the room. Noah ducked the gummy graham cracker Maggie waved at him.
“What’s up?” Lucy asked. She spied the picture. “Oh, you’re back to unpacking. Hold on a minute.”
She passed Maggie to Noah and bolted from the room, her spiky hair glinting russet in the afternoon sun. “She’s mellowing,” he said. “Lighter hair color, and she actually talked commitment.” He handed Maggie the paper Tessa had torn off Keely’s picture.
“She’s found a steady?” Tessa asked.
“She’s willing to consider our new mayor.”
As Tessa laughed, Maggie dropped her cracker and tore the paper down the middle. With both hands, she shook it up and down, and then waited for them to congratulate her.
Tessa cheered and Noah kissed Maggie’s proud little head. They were adopting her to make certain Eleanor and Joe had no legal rights to her ever again.
Suddenly Maggie caught sight of the photo in Tessa’s hand. She leaned over Noah’s arm to tap the picture’s glass with a wet finger. “Baby,” she said.
Tessa and Noah stared at each other. He burst into laughter. “Keely didn’t talk at ten months.”
Tessa grinned, setting Keely’s picture on the mantel. “My mom’s going to love her. She’s already an overachiever.”
Lucy burst back into the room, another wrapped photo in her hands. “I brought you a gift,” she said. “I always meant you to have it, but the time never seemed right.” She handed it to Noah. “This time I’m not waiting for you.”
“Who is it?” Tessa took Maggie from him but hovered at his shoulder.
He already knew who he’d see when he unwrapped the picture. He stared at his mother, unable to move until she smiled and the years and her not-so-maternal habits, and their own unspoken, unshared grief fell away.
“Go ahead,” she said. “Don’t be afraid.”
Nothing scared him now. He tore off the paper, which Maggie snatched out of his hand.
“Oh,” Tessa breathed.
His father, in uniform, eyed him levelly from the frame. It was almost like looking into a mirror. He swallowed but couldn’t dislodge the lump in his throat.
“You needed to see,” Lucy said. “Because he’s part of your family, as much as Maggie, as much as I am. He was strong, and he made his own decisions, took his own risks. He loved you, son, and he would have chosen to drive on by that day if he’d known.” Her voice broke. A tear, wrapped in mascara wobbled down her cheek. She reached for Maggie. “Let’s take Grandma Lucy for a walk. What do you say?”
Tessa handed her the baby, but then grabbed Lucy and Maggie in a powerful hug. “Thanks,” she whispered. “You’re such a mom.”
Beaming, Lucy spirited Maggie toward the door.
Noah finally found a word. “Mom.”
She turned.
“I love you,” he said. She just grinned and waved her hand over her head as she left them alone.
He set his dad’s photo beside Keely’s and turned to Tessa. For once she didn’t stop herself from crying. “You talked to my mother,” he said.
“But I didn’t ask her to fix your problems with your dad. We aren’t the only ones regretting lost time.”
He pulled her onto the bed and cupped her head to lick a tear off her nose. “Thank you for moving here. I know you didn’t want to sell the practice in Prodigal.”
She leaned an elbow on his chest. “You and Maggie changed my priorities.”
He caught her in another kiss, and she plunged her fingers into his hair, chasing shivers down his spine. She pulled away first to give the door a bemused look. “Maybe we ought to close that.”
“Against Maggie? She’ll just tear it down.”
Tessa laughed, warming him with love and acceptance he’d never be foolish enough to take for granted again.
“She’s wily,” he said. “I didn’t even want to know her once, and now she’s got me grateful as hell she’s going to be my daughter.”
“Ours,” Tessa said. “Still Joanna’s and David’s. We’ll tell her how much they loved her, but she’s ours now, too.”
Wallowing in family affection, he suddenly realized he had too much to do at home to think about work on Monday. “Go shut the door, Tessa. I have to call the mayor back.”
“What’s wrong?” She stood and pushed the door shut, pulling down the shirt that had rucked up as she’d lain on top of him. Her suspicious gaze reminded him they still had hurt feelings to soothe for each other.
“I have to let him know I’ll need a few more days.” He sat up and pulled her between his legs. As he traced the vulnerable line of her lower lip with his index finger, erotic plans for the evening flashed through his mind. “Or as long as it takes,” he said, losing his voice to husky desire, “to remind you I’ll love you all my life, that I wasn’t really living when I wasn’t with you.”
Laughing with pure joy, Tessa yanked her sweatshirt over her head and pushed him onto his back. Her generous kiss demanded response. “I have some promises I’d like to make, too. Call him later.”
With his arms full of half-naked woman, his plans altered one more time. “I’d better ask for a month.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4056-8
MAGGIE’S GUARDIAN
Copyright © 2002 by Anna Adams.
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