Agitated, she brought her fist down on the surface of the accessories island. “Derek, that does not include you buying a house for me to live in. You knew I was going to buy a place myself. You should have talked to me about this before you showed it to Elizabeth. And you promised me you weren’t going to turn into Santa Claus and start buying her outrageous things. I hate to tell you this, but buying her this house is outrageous.”
“Maybe so, but…” He sighed. “How much were you going to put down on a house?”
“Ten thousand,” she mumbled, knowing any realtor in Chickasaw Gardens would have sprung a rib laughing at that amount. “I was going to use the other five thousand to buy new furniture and get a more dependable car.”
“And how much would the car cost?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I could probably get a good used one for a couple thousand. Why?”
“All right, then. I’m going to buy the furniture, so that would give you about thirteen thousand for a down payment.”
“You’re not going to buy…”
“So,” he interrupted. “You give me that money instead, and you’ll own thirteen percent of this house.”
“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “This house cost a hundred thousand dollars?”
“Close to it.” One shoulder lifted in an indifferent shrug.
Vertigo threatened to overcome her, and she put her head down on the island. Even if she worked seven days a week for the rest of her life, she’d never be able to afford to buy such an expensive house. “This is nuts. This is completely and absolutely nuts.”
“I thought you’d like it.” A hint of hurt made his voice lower, and she turned her head to find him biting down on his bottom lip. Oh, he had to stop that. He had to stop that immediately or she’d end up agreeing to anything.
“What do you mean?” she asked, hating how breathless she sounded just because he bit his lip. The way he used to nibble her lip. And other places. Shit.
“You told me in New Orleans that you’ve always dreamed of living in Chickasaw Gardens. I wanted a place that you’d like, so…” He spread his hands before turning away.
Her heart ramped up its pounding with a mighty lurch. He remembered that. He remembered, and had taken it into consideration when choosing which house to buy. Athena pushed away from the island and ran her hands through her hair.
“I can’t believe you remembered that. And then you bought this house.”
After a brief hesitation, he looked back at her over his shoulder. “I want you to be happy, too, Athena.”
“Oh.” The way her name sounded on his lips was so beautiful, and she held her breath, not wanting to betray how uneven it had become.
Derek turned to face her again, and took a step closer. “Actually, it means a great deal to me that you’re happy.”
Athena’s breath released in a long, slow sigh, and before she could stop herself she swayed toward him.
“Mama! Where are you?”
An expression of irritation, or maybe it was dismay, flitted across Derek’s face before he turned to greet his daughter with a smile. “We’re in here, munchkin. Where have you been?” He swung her up onto the island. “Having a look around, were you?”
“Mm-hm. I found my room, and it’s pink, just like you said. And it has big windows and I can see the swimming pool out them.” Her little arms wrapped around Derek’s neck. “I love it, Daddy. Thank you.”
There he went biting that lip again. “You’re welcome, love.”
“Which room is yours?” Elizabeth wanted to know.
“Um…” Derek stared past his daughter at the wall. “Actually…”
“There’s a guest house behind the pool,” Athena cut in. Her better judgment reared back in outrage, but she slapped it down. “That’s where your daddy will live.”
“Cool! Can we go see it?”
“Absolutely.” Smiling, Derek helped Elizabeth down and handed her a key ring. “Go see if you can find the correct key.”
“Stay away from that pool,” Athena shouted after her as she bounded out the door.
“Don’t worry. The gate’s locked and the key isn’t on that fob.” Derek ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Thank you, Athena.”
“You’re welcome.” She sighed and shook her head. “I still think this is a bad idea.”
A half-smile brought out the dimple in his left cheek. “I don’t think it will be bad at all. In fact, I’m willing to wager some of it will be very, very good.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“What’s in these boxes?”
Athena peered out the arched kitchen pass-through to see Andi scooting across the tile floor of the den on her butt, headed for a stack of boxes next to the fireplace. Narrowing her eyes, she assessed the containers in question. They were darker with age than the others scattered around the room, and she could see a thin layer of dust adorning the top of one.
“I have no idea,” she told Andi. “Those are the things I had stored in Mom and Dad’s basement.”
“Hmpf. I still can’t believe they won’t come over here and help you unpack.” Andi glanced around her. “Crap. Where’s my knife?”
Unperturbed, Athena finished smashing a box that once contained kitchen utensils. “I’m not surprised at all. After all, not only am I uneducated, divorced and a single mother, now I’ve compounded things by living in sin with the father of the child everyone now knows is illegitimate.”
“Who’s living in sin?” Andi demanded. “Derek’s in the guest house, and you and Elizabeth are in here.”
“You know Mom and Dad,” Athena said by way of explanation. “Doesn’t bother me, though. I gave up on them a long time ago. At least they love Elizabeth.” She carried the now-flat cardboard to the breakfast nook, and tossed it on top of a pile of others. Dusting off her hands, she descended the step into the den and stopped to watch Andi with a grin.
Her sister was lying stretched out on her back, her fingers reaching over her head for the pocket knife that sat just out of her reach.
“Geez, Andi. How lazy can you get?” Athena picked up the knife and joined Andi at the stack of dusty boxes.
“It’s all Derek’s fault for buying a split-level,” Andi shrugged. “I’m tired from going up and down those stairs all day.”
“Yeah, now I know why he wanted to live in the guest house. No stairs.” Using the knife, she made a quick swipe through the duct tape holding the box closed. “Let’s see what I thought was important enough to keep all those years ago.”
“Ooh, high school yearbooks.” Andi snickered as the lid fell back and she got a look inside. “Remember how we thought it was so important that we get these, and now…”
“What a waste of money.” Athena lifted out the annuals from her freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years and plopped them on the floor. “I’ll probably never look at these things again, but I hate to throw them out because they cost so much.”
“Closed cabinet under the bookshelves?” Andi asked.
“Sounds good to me.” Athena slid the stack to her sister who pushed them next to the built-ins. “What else is in there? Prom corsages?”
“Please tell me you didn’t save your corsages.” As the next record dropped onto the turntable, Andi burst into laughter. “Did you plan this?”
“What?” Confused, Athena frowned at her sister until she realized what she was talking about. Her laughter joined Andi’s as she looked at the stereo where Chicago’s “Old Days” was spinning on the turntable. “No, I didn’t plan that. It’s just one of the new records I brought home from the store. Although it is pretty appropriate.”
“Trust you to have a soundtrack for unpacking old memories, intentional or not.” Andi reached in and lifted out a faded P.F. Flyers shoebox. “Aha! A box within a box.” She flipped off the top. “Hey! It’s all your stuff from when you went to England.”
“Really?” Athena leaned closer to see. “Cool. I thought all that got lost a lo
ng time ago.”
“Well, here it is. Boarding passes, a little Union Jack.” She paused to wave it around before returning to the contents of the box. Pulling out a faded pink sheet of paper, she squinted at the writing on it. “What’s this? Oh, it’s a flyer for a performance Wolf did. July 8, 1967.”
“Probably a lot of those in there. I tried to keep all the ones we had left over. Derek might like to have them.” Athena looked up from examining the boarding passes in time to see Andi pull a plastic baggie from the recesses of the box.
“What in the world is this thing? String?” Andi regarded the bag’s contents with bemusement. “You must have thought it was really important since you preserved it in plastic.”
Heaviness settled in Athena’s chest as she looked at the little purple circlet in the baggie. “That’s my engagement ring.”
“Oh.” Andi pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and handed over the bag. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. No wonder you saved it.”
A wistful smile curved Athena’s lips. “Yeah. It was pretty romantic when he got down on one knee and put it on my finger.” She turned the bag back and forth, examining the contents from all angles. “It’s still the prettiest ring I’ve ever seen.”
“And here’s photographic evidence that you wore it.” Andi pulled a picture from an envelope and waved it at Athena.
“Hey, my pictures!” Her smile grew wider. “I’m so glad those weren’t lost.” She took the photograph from Andi, and shook her head. Just looking at it brought back the memory of how the early morning chill was chased away by the fizz of excitement that heated her blood. In the picture she and Derek wore matching smiles of elation, so certain that they were about to start their happily ever after. “God, we were so young.”
“Horny, too.”
Startled, Athena looked over at the photo Andi held, and blushed at the soulful kiss it depicted. “Give me that.” She snatched the picture and held it against her chest. After a moment, she had to give it another quick peek. Man, they meant that kiss.
“Photographic evidence of when you got pregnant, maybe?” Andi joked.
“Shut up.” Athena studied the photo, remembering the feel of Derek’s lips on hers, and the warmth of his body. “Paul took this. The other one, too. It was right before we went off to the Register Office to be told I was unsuitable to marry a British subject.” She cleared her throat and cut her eyes at Andi. “I’m pretty sure I was already pregnant by then.”
Andi’s lips twitched with amusement. “Maybe you should have told the registrar that.”
“Like it would have made a difference, even if we’d known.” Athena snorted and replaced the photos in the envelope. “Put all this back in there and put it with the yearbooks. I’ll go through it when I have time.”
Mouth turned down in a pout, Andi began replacing things in the shoebox. “I wanna look at them now. I like seeing pictures of young nineteen-year-old Derek.”
There was no way she could look at her sister without bursting into laughter, so Athena kept her attention glued to the rest of the junk in the larger box. It had been a revelation to watch her no-nonsense sibling turn into a starry-eyed fangirl upon meeting Derek for the first time. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that Derek was beyond nervous at meeting his daughter’s extended family, and when he got nervous he tended to ramp up the charm levels to DEFCON 1. Before the initial meeting was over, Athena fully expected Andi to dissolve into a puddle of goo at Derek’s feet, and she had been mooning over him ever since.
“Oh, hell, forget the pictures.” Andi’s awed voice intruded on Athena’s thoughts. “I’ll just sit here and look out the window.”
When Athena looked into the back yard, she couldn’t fault her sister a bit. A shirtless Derek stepped out of the guest house with a bunch of boxes, and was encouraging Elizabeth to jump on them to flatten them out. The bright May sunshine glistened on his hair, and accentuated the play of muscles in his bare chest and arms. As if that wasn’t distracting enough, he turned around, bringing into view the most beautiful back Athena had ever seen. Her greedy gaze roamed over it, coming to a halt at the low-slung waistband of his jeans. A tantalizing strip of lighter skin was revealed, and Athena’s mouth went dry as she thought of what else might come into view if those jeans dipped just a bit further.
“I don’t know how much more of this I’m going to be able to take.” She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until Andi responded.
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Pressing her lips together, Athena reached into the box and pulled out an untidy stack of brightly colored paper. “Won’t do any good,” she mumbled. “What the hell are these? Oh, my God; they’re old posters from Circus Magazine. Where’s the trash can?”
“Over there.” Andi gestured behind her. “Tell me what’s going on with you and Derek.”
“That’s just it – I don’t know.” Glad for an excuse to move away from Andi’s curious stare, Athena got up and carried the old posters to the trash. “He’s driving me crazy and I don’t think he even knows.”
“You still love him, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” she admitted with a sigh. “More than ever. That’s why I don’t think this living arrangement is a good idea even if he is out there in the guest house. It’s hard enough having him around all the time, but every now and then…” She shook her head.
“Every now and then what?” Andi leaned back on her hands and regarded her sister with sympathy.
“The whole situation is so schizophrenic,” Athena burst out. “Most of the time we have a very civil, very friendly thing going on. To watch us, you’d think Derek was my brother instead of Donnie. But a couple of times out of nowhere there have been these…these…moments.”
“I do hope you aren’t talking about Donnie now.”
“God, Andromeda!” Disgusted, Athena grabbed the posters from the top of the trash and flung them in her sister’s direction. “Eww! I can’t believe you said that.”
“I know, I know!” Andi hunched her shoulders and grimaced in chagrin as the images of rock stars floated down around her. “But you know when things get serious I start making jokes.”
“Well, that one was just gross.” Athena shuddered. “Perverted twit. You’re not allowed to look at Derek without his shirt on any more.”
“I’m sorry.” Andi pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “You don’t know how sorry. But, c’mon. Tell me about these moments with Derek.”
With a sigh, Athena started gathering up the posters again. “There have only been a couple, and they come out of nowhere. But they’re very intense. When they happen I could almost swear he wants me, too. But then they’re over, and he goes back to treating me like…” She was about to say ‘his sister,’ but after Andi’s crack she couldn’t do it. “Like his friend.”
“Hm.” Andi tilted her head to one side. “Why do these moments end? Do either one of you do something to end them, or…?”
Athena came to a halt and frowned. “I don’t remem…Wait, yes I do. Both times Elizabeth interrupted us.”
Andi barked a humorless laugh. “Welcome to parenthood, sweetie. So why don’t you send Elizabeth to my house for a night and see what happens when you don’t get interrupted?”
“I can’t do that.” Crushing the posters into a mangled blob, she shoved them into the large galvanized metal trash can. “I think if he really felt anything more than just a passing lust then he’d have already done something about it. After all, he’s never been one to hold back.” Heat washed into her cheeks when she thought about the way he’d backed her against the wall in that New Orleans hotel room and scorched her with a kiss. “If he felt the same way I do I’d know it by now.”
“But if he was interrupted by a child…”
“Andi.” Athena cut her off and shook her head. “I’ve had my heart broken twice, and both times Derek Marshall did it. I don’t even want to think what it would feel like if he did i
t again.”
“This is stupid.” Andi got to her feet and scowled. “You can’t just continue this way with him. You have to know if there’s even a chance that he might feel the same way. I say you need to go for it.”
“And I’m telling you I can’t take it if he doesn’t.” She straightened with a deep, cleansing breath. “The subject is now officially closed, all right?”
“Fine,” Andi groused. “If you’re going to be all stubborn and ignorant then you can just finish this room by yourself, because I just want to grab you and shake you until your teeth rattle.” And with that pronouncement she stomped from the den.
Athena stared after her, shock giving way to anger. She knew Andi was right. After all, she was only twenty-five years old, much too young to declare celibacy and spinsterhood. But at the same time, she wasn’t kidding when she said she couldn’t take it if Derek rejected her.
So was she just supposed to stay quiet and watch him strut around in front of her with his shirt off for the rest of her life?
With a growl of rage, she kicked the trash can over and watched as the contents skidded across the floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Hot, humid air wafted through the den, and Athena looked up from her paperwork with a frown. Elizabeth stood at the open French doors staring out at the back yard.
“Hey,” Athena said, surprised. “I thought you were with your dad.”
“I was.” The little girl’s glum voice was a precursor of her expression as she turned to face her mother. “He said I had to come back here.”
“He did? Well, shut the door before all the heat gets in, and come tell me about it.”
In the two months since they’d all moved to the Chickasaw Gardens house, Elizabeth spent the majority of her free time with Derek. If they weren’t spending time at the guest house, they were swimming or getting under Athena’s feet at the main house. As far as Athena knew, this was the first time Derek had shown any inclination to be without his daughter’s company.
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