Surprise! Surprise!

by Tina Leonard

  Nodding, he felt the thunder in his heart quiet down to a mere echo. His children were going to be fine.

  Going downstairs, he looked in the kitchen for the other end of the monitor his sons had given him. Not really sure what he was looking for, he meandered into his old study, finding no new gadget there. Reluctantly, he went into the bedroom he’d once shared with Maddie.

  She was sound asleep, her shoulders visible above the sheet, her shiny brown hair streaming across the white pillowcase. He swallowed, scanning the room.

  There, next to the bed, was a white, mushroom-shaped stand with a screen. He leaned closer, seeing Henry and Hayden resting in their cribs. For several moments, he stood watching his sons, his heart beginning to pound again. When they didn’t move, but remained sleeping as peacefully as his wife, he turned his attention back to Maddie.

  She nestled beneath the covers, undisturbed. Fierce possessiveness took hold of Sam. I miss sleeping with her.

  But the monitor was his gift, wasn’t it? And she’d put it in her room, so…could that possibly be an invitation? He didn’t dare hope.

  Still, it could be construed as an invitation. A man couldn’t be blamed for making himself comfortable where he could enjoy his sons’ gift, could he?

  He wanted to be with Maddie. Stripping off his jeans and shirt, he carefully crawled into bed beside her. She curled up into his shoulder, just like in the old days, and Sam smiled.

  SAM AND MADDIE DIDN’T awaken until they heard the voices.

  “I think I’m breaking out in hives from the uncertainty!” Sara said. “I don’t want to rush matters, but I thought those two would be able to work something out by now. I’m beginning to worry.” She leaned over to pick up an infant from its crib in the nursery.

  “They’re like two horses in the same halter that can’t get their gait in the right rhythm,” Franny agreed. “Virgil and I have decided that if Sam’s going to be here for good, we’d like to head back to our farm. It hasn’t sold yet, and frankly, we miss the quiet of the country, and working the cotton fields. But we can’t go, not while there’s so much turmoil in the family.”

  “I know.” Sara sighed, the sound coming over the monitor clearly. “I’m worried about Severn. He’s happy holding the babies, and I think he still wants to buy the house next door, but he’s also itching to take a cruise. Once he retired, he thought he’d do everything he couldn’t do when he was working. He may have caught some globe-hopping fever from Sammy. Of course, we’ve never been out of the country at all. But I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered.

  Maddie and Sam sat up in bed, their faces closer to the monitor.

  “We got our passports made!”

  Franny giggled girlishly. “You must never tell Maddie, but we got ours made right before she told us she’d gotten pregnant by that newfangled doctor!” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “That didn’t come out right, but you know what I mean. Gracious! I’ll have to watch how I talk around anyone but you, Sara! All of our friends think Maddie got pregnant before Sam left for France.” She nodded, satisfied. “And we never saw the need to disabuse them of the notion. Why, these two pumpkins are too pretty to have come out of test tubes!”

  She cooed to the baby in her arms, tracing its cheek with a grandmotherly finger.

  Sara shook her head. “Virgil and I haven’t done much traveling ourselves, of course. Maybe if things settle down here between Maddie and Sam, the four of us could take a cruise together. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  The grandmothers settled into two rockers in range of the camera, each cuddling a freshly diapered infant.

  Maddie and Sam glanced at each other in dismay.

  “We should turn the monitor off. It’s like we’re spying on our own mothers!” Maddie whispered, even though the sound wouldn’t transmit in the opposite direction. She shivered. “When you were young, did your mother ever tell you she had eyes in the back of her head and knew everything you were doing?”

  “No,” he whispered back. “She said she knew me like the back of her hand and knew everything I was going to do before I did it.”

  “That’s even worse! I’m shutting this thing off.” Maddie leaned over him to switch off the monitor she’d placed beside the bed, but Sam stopped her.

  “What if they’re doing it on purpose?”

  Maddie frowned. Sam wasn’t wearing a shirt. He’d worn boxers to bed, but everything else was gloriously revealed for viewing. “When did you get in bed with me?”

  He shrugged large, powerful shoulders. “After I found my present from my sons.”

  She glanced back at the screen. The mothers were still chatting away, but it no longer seemed like a good idea to have the monitor so nearby. “Some gift that turned out to be. I feel like a bad P.I.”

  “We’re probably raising little spies. And I bet they get a healthy dose of that gene from their grandmothers.”

  “Do you really think they’re setting us up? Pretending they don’t know we’re listening?”

  “I don’t know. But our mothers wouldn’t be above invoking a guilt trip.”

  “Hmm.” Maddie forced her focus away from Sam in her bed and onto the monitor. “Scheming is something they’ve stooped to on the odd occasion.”

  “On the oft occasion.”

  “Okay.” She mulled over that for a second. “Does your father really want to take a cruise, to travel out of the country?”

  “My father gets seasick in a swimming pool. Moving to Austin to live next door to you was the first relocation in their entire marriage. Mom used to complain because Dad never wanted to vacation anywhere that didn’t start with T-E-X-A-S.”

  “Oh.” Maddie turned her attention back to Sam. “I remember Dad saying that if he never had to look through cotton leaves for weevils again, it would be too soon. And that he was tired of being away from Mom twelve hours or more a day.” Her eyes were huge. “But they never mentioned that they’d gotten their passports. I didn’t know they’d thought about traveling. They stayed here because of me, Sam. I feel like I’ve taken their retirement dreams from them.”

  “Don’t feel too guilty just yet.” Sam eyed Maddie thoughtfully. “My guess is it’s a setup. Maybe we should react appropriately.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  They both glanced back at the monitor.

  “I’d better go wake Maddie up,” Franny said. “I don’t think these little tykes are going to wait much longer to eat.”

  “I’m grateful Sam felt like he could leave these babies to be monitored. I’m sure he enjoyed a good night’s rest, even if he does sleep on my old sofa.”

  “At least he’s sleeping now,” Franny said cheerfully. “I wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on staying awake all night. Maddie had a true brainstorm about the monitor.”

  “It sure seems to have given Sam peace of mind.” Sara moved close to the monitor, peering at the screen. “Wonder how this gadget works, anyway?”

  Maddie and Sam both instinctively pulled the sheet up on their bodies, even though they couldn’t be seen.

  “I don’t know. Something to do with the babies’ heartbeats or something. Like the one they had in the hospital, I guess. With Virgil and Severn putting it together, the silly thing probably doesn’t work at all. Maybe the effect on Sam is really like one of those placebo things. It doesn’t really work, but his mind thinks it does.” She giggled, and Sara laughed with her, her face still looming in the monitor screen.

  Sam and Maddie leaned back in the bed.

  “I’ll be right back,” Franny said as she left the room. Sara stared a moment more into the screen, perplexed, before moving away.

  Maddie stared at Sam, stricken. “We have to do something. They’re not going to rest until they believe our marriage is going to work out.”

  “I don’t know if we can work anything out if they’re going to devote their lives to trying to fix ours. I know they mean well but…”

  They looked at each
other for a moment.

  “‘A serene environment should be encouraged, where we can enjoy optimum new parenthood.’ I’m quoting your mom and mine. This is pressure, Sam!” Maddie glanced down at the sheet still clutched between them. “But what if they’re not setting us up? What if we really are keeping them from what they want to do in life? That’s a horrible thing to do to our parents!”

  “There’s only one way to find out what they’re really up to,” Sam said. “Hold still.”

  Chapter Ten

  “What are you doing?” Maddie asked with a squeal, as Sam’s warm and well-built body suddenly covered her, pressing her to the bed in a manner most familiar and somehow welcome.

  “Calling their bluff.”

  Good idea. No, bad, bad idea! Maddie thought as Sam’s lips claimed hers. Bad because memories of sweet lovemaking washed over her, of shared happiness it hurt to remember.

  Good because she missed Sam so much, missed their marriage so much, that she wished they’d never separated.

  And then bad again, because she knew that what was broken could never be fixed. It could never be whole and innocent with wonder the way it had been.

  Sam stared down into her eyes. “You’re beautiful,” he said huskily, before closing his mouth over hers again just as Franny opened the door.

  They heard a gasp, and then the door closing, with a slow and cautious effort not to let them know they’d been seen.

  But Sam didn’t stop kissing her. Maddie shut her eyes. Just a trifle guiltily, she ran her hands from his shoulders to his waist, feeling the weight and firm skin of her husband.

  “She’s gone,” she whispered.

  “I don’t want to stop,” he replied against her lips, his voice low.

  “If we don’t, it might not be our mothers’ bluff that gets called.”

  He pulled back to stare into her eyes. “It would be so much easier,” he said with a sigh, “if putting our marriage back together could be based on our sexual compatibility.”

  “I know.” A warm smile lit her face. “It’s like trying to fight with both arms tied behind your back, isn’t it?”

  “And a broken ankle. I get close to you, and all I can think about is how I felt when we made love.”

  A shriek interrupted Maddie’s reply. Maddie and Sam jolted upright and stared at the monitor screen.

  “They’re in bed! They’re in bed!” Franny yelped to Sara.

  Sara turned from adjusting the infant she held. “Of course. Just tell Maddie it’s time to feed the babies.”

  “They’re in bed together!”

  Sara gasped. “You’re kidding!”

  Both mothers bent to peer at the camera. Sam and Maddie shrank back.

  Franny banged on the monitor, sending nerve-jangling thumps into the bedroom. “This thing doesn’t work worth a tinker’s damn! It could have warned us Sam was in bed with Maddie. I’m going to tell Virgil to take it back to the store.”

  The picture went out a second later.

  “They weren’t setting us up, Sam,” Maddie said. “They really would like to get on with their lives.” She looked at him sadly. “I know I said I didn’t want to have a pseudoromance with you, but I suppose it would be best if they could feel satisfied that everything is fine between us.”

  Sam got out of bed. “I can fake it if you can.”

  “Fake it?” For some reason, her heart stung a little at his choice of words.

  “Fake that everything’s going to be just fine.”

  “Oh.” Won’t it? she wanted to ask. Of course, she’d done everything she could to push Sam away. Maybe it was like hearing her mother and Sara talk when they thought no one was listening. Sam had been telling her all along what he thought she wanted to hear.

  He would do that. It would never cross Sam’s mind not to take care of his children, and thus, a wife he was married to in name only.

  “So? Are we faking it?” he asked. “So they can get on with their lives?”

  She nodded slowly. “I’m faux if you are. There’s a French word for you,” she said, trying to make her smile bright.

  “Great. Let’s go feed those boys.” He snapped off the monitor.

  “Okay.” But Maddie’s heart felt strange, like it somehow wasn’t hers anymore.

  Guess it was my bluff that got called.

  SAM THOUGHT IT WAS a great idea to ease the family members’ collective minds. It appeared that his parents and in-laws all wanted to be off living their own lives.

  And if they were gone, it meant he’d have his wife to himself. For just an instant, when they’d kissed, she’d relaxed against him, her body warm and trusting beneath his. “That’s a very big goal,” he murmured to himself, watching Maddie carry a baby into the bathroom for a nice warm bath. I’d like to be alone with my wife so we can work on our marriage without assistance, no matter how well-meaning it may be.

  He carried the other baby in, holding him against his chest as he stood at the side of the tub. Maddie had placed a very small, infant-size tub inside the larger one. She filled it with tepid water, which she tested with her elbow.

  “Just right,” she told Henry with satisfaction. “In you go, sweetheart.”

  With gentle hands, she lowered the baby into the water until he was half-submerged. Henry stared up at his mom, his new, curious eyes never leaving hers as he learned trust at her fingertips.

  A sweetness went through Sam’s very soul as he watched this moment between mother and child.

  Love grew with trust. Trust was the soil in which love learned to grow, and walk, and run, and one day, find independence. Henry splashed unexpectedly, a tiny flailing of his arms, and Maddie praised him as she ran a soft cloth gently over his body.

  Sam drew a deep breath and wished he and Maddie could learn to trust each other again.

  “THERE.” Maddie stood, pleased that both her babies were freshly cleaned and wrapped securely in towels against Sam’s broad chest. “Oh, that’s such a cute picture! Hold on. Let me find the camera.”

  Sam’s shirt was fairly wet. He was out of sorts since he and Maddie had decided to “fake it.” Posing right now didn’t sit well with him. “I don’t want my picture taken.”

  She paused for just a moment before rooting through a cabinet in the armoire. He followed her out into the bedroom.

  “Don’t be shy,” she teased. “There’s nothing sexier than a father holding his children. I want about a hundred pictures like this.”

  He blinked. Sexy was not how he felt. The descriptive phrase would be “under siege.” His heart was being pulled and twisted from every side, and he wasn’t good at smiling fake smiles, saying fake words or faking his marriage.

  She pulled out the camera, holding it to her eye. He could see her smile beneath the apparatus, her teeth white and even. Taking this picture made her happy. “I don’t feel like smiling,” he grumbled.

  “Think about packing our parents off for their retirement, and the two of us being alone,” she suggested.

  He grinned.

  She snapped the picture.

  “That was wonderful! This is going to be a great picture!” She beamed at him. “Thanks, Sam.”

  Turning away, she flipped the camera over, the whirring sound holding her complete attention.

  “Was that the last picture?”

  “Yes. I took all the others in the last week of my pregnancy, and then at the hospital.”

  His eyes widened. “Maddie, I never saw you pregnant.”

  She glanced up. “That’s okay. You didn’t miss anything.”

  Gently, he set the babies down in their matching bassinets. “Yes, I did.” He advanced on her as she began tucking the camera back into the drawer.

  “I assure you that you did not.” She slammed the drawer.

  He pulled it open. “We’re going to the one-hour photo developer.”

  “We most certainly are not!”

  Reaching around her into the drawer for the camera, he noticed
she kept her hands tightly closed. He pretended to root around in the drawer with one hand, all the while keeping her pinned against the armoire, his eyes on hers. After a moment, knowing full well she’d taken the film roll from the camera, he ran his other hand up her side, tickling her. She jumped, but he had her trapped with his body.

  “Fair is fair,” he told her, using both hands to tickle her now. She twitched and jumped, pushing at him and laughing at the same time. “I know all your most vulnerable spots,” he warned.

  “Sam!” she squealed. “Stop!”

  She couldn’t tickle him effectively because she wouldn’t let go of the film. He took advantage of this by pressing closer against her. She wiggled to free herself.

  Suddenly, she stopped. He stared down at her, watching carefully for her next move.

  “Sam,” she said, “I know all your vulnerable spots, too.”

  He crooked a brow at her. “If that’s supposed to be a threat, I have to tell you, it sounds remarkably like a promise I’d like you to deliver on.”

  Her mouth twisted wryly. She slipped her fingers behind his neck, caressing the skin lightly, touching the nape with featherlight strokes.

  He shivered, relaxing instantly under her ministrations. “You will give me the film,” he warned huskily, letting her hypnotize him. “That feels so good. I always loved you scratching my neck.”

  She smiled, pushing her fingers farther up his nape, massaging below his hair. “Make you sleepy?”

  “Not sleepy enough to impair my driving to the Photo Shack.” He caught her wrist in his hand, arresting it against his shoulder. “Maddie, I missed it all.”

  The teasing light fled from her eyes. “I was not a beautiful pregnant woman, Sam.”

  “I missed it, though. I’m behind the eight ball, Maddie. It’s time I can’t replace. And Henry getting sick made me realize that I haven’t taken in the full miracle of what you did.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “It was Maitland’s miracle.”

  He shook his head. “No. It was yours. And I can’t even begin to understand what your life was like for the last nine months. You’ll never know how much I regret that.”