Married...With Twins!

by Jennifer Mikels

  Lovingly he touched a brilliant blue sweater that had belonged to his wife. “Her eyes always looked so pretty when she wore this.”

  In silence, Val waited until he handed it to her, then she folded it. “Did we pack all of the clothes you wanted to get rid of?”

  With a visual sweep of the bedroom, he nodded. “Yep.”

  Val folded flaps in on a carton and slid it to a corner of the bedroom.

  “You take your grandmother’s music box. The church doesn’t need that. And she’d have wanted you to have it. You always played it when you came to visit.”

  The melody had soothed so many disturbing thoughts in her teenage mind back then. Her mother had been off with a new man. Somehow, she always seemed to find one during Val’s summer vacation. By the time Val turned fifteen, she’d no longer believed her mother when she promised she’d be with her. Val had expected to spend the summer with her grandparents, had looked forward to the time with them.

  “Let’s finish in the kitchen.”

  Knowing better than to leave the twins alone too long, she nodded agreeably and followed him. “Besides the clothes and teacups, what are you giving to the church?”

  “Your grandmother never liked those tablecloths in that drawer over there. She only kept them because her sister had given them, and she was too softhearted to dump them. I’m not.”

  Because he kept staring at her too closely, Val laughed softly. “I’ll finish wrapping the teacups.”

  “Fine. I’ll clean out the drawers. I guess I should have done this years ago. And not that I like admitting this, but I don’t go for change too much.”

  Val grinned up at him and accepted the cup he’d already wrapped.

  “You know I almost didn’t ask Myrna out. Then I thought, What am I doing? Here’s a lovely lady I enjoy talking to, so why am I acting like an idiot? I wanted to go out with her. She’s smart. Interesting, too. I think she’s read nearly every dang book in that library of hers. I like listening to her talk. Do you know what I mean?”

  Val knew only too well. How often had she curled against Luke at night and felt a warm contentment just because he was near? When he’d talked to her then, he’d always done it in whispered tones, the private kind meant only for her, even though no one else had been in the house but them. To Val, those moments emphasized an intimacy that far exceeded passion.

  “When your grandmother died, it hurt.”

  Val stilled while he puttered behind her in the kitchen. He’d never said those words to her before.

  “I felt like someone had taken a piece of me away. She was all I ever wanted. Love at first sight,” he said, looking up at Val. He blinked, but a shine remained in his eyes. “But it’s time to start over. Can’t do that, can you, if you don’t let go of the past? People say I’m a stubborn old coot. Guess they’re right. It took me a long time. It’s hard to let go of the memories, good and bad, of someone you loved.”

  “Why would you want to?” Val asked, knowing she’d never forget Kelly. To forget would mean that Kelly had never existed.

  “Well, you keep those memories,” he clarified. “What you don’t do is let them stop you from living. In a way, I’d been doing that until I met Myrna.”

  She smiled with him. “I’m glad you met her.”

  “Me, too.” He beamed. “I think she might be exactly the type of woman I’d like to spend more time with.”

  So this is why he’d really asked her over, Val mused. “Are you asking for my approval?”

  “I’m seventy-one. I don’t need your approval,” he said in a gruff tone that didn’t faze Val. “But you do like her, don’t you?”

  “Very much, Gramps.”

  “That’s what I’d hoped.” His attempt to mask a pleased smile failed.

  Before leaving his house, Val had glanced at the clock. She still had too much time left to think. Idleness promising to unnerve her, she rounded up the twins with a suggestion. “Why don’t we go to the park?”

  They both jumped up with glee.

  “Polly, too?” Traci asked, strangleholding her doll.

  “Of course, Polly, too.”

  For the next hour Val forgot everything but the joy on their faces as she pushed them on the swings. As mischievous as usual, they found the one puddle of mud left from the park’s weekly irrigating:

  Mud dripped from Traci’s nose. Giggling, she grabbed a handful and tossed it.

  Brooke shot a hesitant look at Val. With her nod, the little one plunged forward into the mud.

  It had been a great way to spend an hour, Val decided when she and the twins entered the house later.

  Slouched at a kitchen chair and reading the newspaper, when the Back door opened, Luke raised his head and gaped at them. “Making mud pies today?”

  Brooke wagged her head. “Threw mud. Vali, too.” Tiny teeth flashed at him before they smiled up at Val.

  “Sorry I missed all the fun,” he said, reaching up and touching a dab of dried dirt near Val’s eyebrow.

  “It felt terrific,” she admitted on a laugh before scooting the girls upstairs for baths.

  Not until she and Luke stepped into the courtroom that afternoon did Val allow herself to think about what they would face at the hearing. It amazed her that an issue based on caring and loving should be decided on in a room that looked so cold and formal. “I’m not going to get emotional,” she promised Luke when they sat at the table Harry’s assistant had indicated.

  Luke squeezed her hand. Hell, could anyone blame her if she did?

  Dressed in a staid blue suit and prim white blouse, Charlene wiggled into her chair beside her lawyer, Kenneth Emerson.

  Val noted that Charlene’s husband hadn’t joined them. How terrible it would be if she won, Val mused. Charlene only wanted the money and not the girls, and her husband wasn’t even interested enough to appear for the court hearing.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Harry whispered as he joined her and Luke.

  Thaf wasn’t what Val wanted to hear. “What problem?” she asked, and placed a hand to her stomach as it fluttered.

  “Charlene’s lawyer added a witness to their list.”

  With Val’s shoulder against his upper arm, Luke, was aware of her breaths quickening. He caught her hand. “Who, Harry?”

  Harry tapped his arm to silence him as the judge appeared.

  As Harry had predicted, Charlene’s lawyer questioned Val about her job and about Kelly, then drilled Luke about his profession.

  Val vaguely listened to Harry’s rebuttal about Luke’s dedication to medicine, and how he’d campaigned for better cardiac facilities at New Hope General. Few people knew that his efforts had been generated by a promise he’d made to himself after his father’s death.

  While each character witness for her and Luke and’ for their marriage was challenged, Val fretted about the twins. She tried to remember if she had told Myrna to give Traci her doll. Val thought so. And would Myrna remember to make them a midafternoon snack? Without one, Brooke would be ornery.

  Bringing her attention back to the proceedings, Val saw that Irene was answering Harry’s questions. “They have one of the strongest marriages I’ve ever seen,” Irene said firmly. “Any couple who faces tragedy as they have and survives knows what marriage really means. They’ve stayed together despite their tragedy. That’s a miracle.”

  Val drew a few more relaxing breaths as the woman who did their home study took the stand. When she finished, Val glanced at Luke, He met her with a dark, guarded stare, but the hand that closed over hers delivered a message that spoke volumes. Val, too, thought the woman’s testimony had helped their case.

  Then Charlene had her say. “I can’t imagine them living with anyone but their Auntie Charlene.” Tears flowed with perfect timing. “My dear cousin knew I was the best one to raise them, but the Kincaids were always over at Joe and Carrie’s house, pretending to care for those sweet little girls, especially after they lost their own baby.”

 
Though they’d answered questions by Charlene’s lawyer about Kelly, Luke viewed her mention of Kelly as fighting dirty. “Stop this,” he whispered to Harry, unsure how much Val could deal with.

  Harry rose immediately. “Your Honor, this is incredible. Mrs. Kincaid has already testified that she and her husband have discussed having another child, that they don’t view the Dawson twins as a substitute.”

  Charlene’s lawyer popped to his feet. “Regardless of what they say, no one knows what they feel. There is a possibility that they do feel that way, especially Mrs. Kincaid. What other reason would she have for staying with her husband when their marriage is failing?”

  Pure panic rippled through Val. How could he know that she and Luke had had trouble? How could he prove that? He couldn’t, she quickly assured herself, unless-unless her grandfather or Jenny was called to testify. Val glanced back at both of them questioningly. In a discreet, subtle move, her grandfather shook his head. Jenny placed a hand over her mouth, sending a message that she wasn’t the lawyer’s source.

  “How stable can a marriage be when the husband doesn’t sleep in his bed?” Charlene’s lawyer insisted after his client left the stand.

  Val’s mind raced with questions. If he hadn’t talked to Jenny or her grandfather, then who was his witness? Who knew about Luke sleeping at the office? With the soft murmurings coming from the spectators behind her, Val turned a look over her shoulder. A heavy-set, unshaven man she’d never seen before entered the room.

  “Damn,” she heard Luke mutter.

  “Who is that?” Val whispered.

  “Arnie, one of the office cleaning crew,” he whispered.

  The knot in her stomach tightened.

  Though Arnie Coleman shot a sheepish glance at Luke, he seemed aware of his own importance suddenly while being sworn in. “Sure did see him sleeping in his office,” he answered in response to the question Charlene’s lawyer asked. “Woke him up. I was there doing my job, dumping wastebaskets, cleaning bathrooms. When I went into his office, I saw him sleeping.”

  “When was this?”

  “Days ago.”

  “Days ago,” Charlene’s lawyer emphasized, then turned an appealing look on the judge. “There is no marriage.”

  Voices buzzed through the courtroom. Val saw Jenny’s ghost of an encouraging smile, Irene’s distressed look, and her grandfather scowling in Charlene’s direction.

  “It’s a meaningless union, Your Honor. And the Dawsons specifically stated that guardianship would go to the Kincaids only if their marriage was a solid and happy one. That hardly appears true.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Harry bolted from his chair to object.

  Val didn’t listen. They were going to lose. No one cared that the girls needed them.

  “Val, come on.”

  She snapped a look at Luke. “What?” she asked, darting a glance at the judge. He was already stepping into his chambers. “What’s happened?”

  “A short recess.”

  “But we didn’t get a chance to explain,” she said, feeling almost panicky.

  “Can you?” Harry asked quietly, leaning to see Luke on the other side of her.

  “I can explain,” he said, sounding far more confident than she felt.

  How would he? Val wondered. He had been sleeping in the office during those weeks before they’d finally decided to divorce. The pressure of Luke’s hand on her arm made her stand. With an agreement to meet Harry across the street at the diner, they left the courtroom.

  Food was the last thing on her mind.

  Inside the diner, as if sensing their need for privacy, even regulars who they knew, did nothing more than nod a hello. Val refused anything except coffee.

  They were almost done with their coffee when Harry strolled in.

  Unconsciously Val inched to the edge of her chair. “Arnie Coleman’s testimony hurt us, didn’t it?”

  He cast a worried look at Luke before answering her. “Okay, Valerie. I’m not going to pretend nothing will go wrong. We all know it’s possible. Charlene is a blood relative, and questions have been raised about that one stipulation in the Dawsons’ last will and testament.”

  “So reputations and character references be damned,” Luke said, unable to quell the irritation intensifying within him.

  Harry waited while the waitress took his order for coffee. “You said you could explain. Just tell me why you were there.”

  “I had emergency room duty until midnight, but a long-time patient of mine, John Rontering called at the hospital, concerned because his four-year-old granddaughter had pains on the right side. I told him to bring her to the hospital, and stayed there until he did.” He paused while Harry’s coffee was set in front of him. “After I performed an emergency appendectomy, it was three-thirty in the morning. I was tired. Too tired to drive. So 1 went to my office for a couple of hours’ sleep.”

  Harry still looked concerned. “I guess that makes sense. Doctors do stay late with patients, and when exhausted might find the closest place to sleep. But this will all depend on how the judge interpreted Arnie Coleman’s testimony.”

  Val had learned the danger in clinging to false hopes.

  Nearly an hour and a half passed before they returned to the courthouse.

  Maybe it was because he’d been helpless to save his own child that Luke felt so desperate to give the twins the love and stability they needed, to make sure the twins stayed with a woman who’d be as caring as their own mother. “We won’t lose them,” he said softly to Val. “We’ll fight for them. If this doesn’t go our way, we’ll fight. Believe me. Everything will be all right.”

  More than doubt clouded her eyes. He saw an anguish that made him ache, the same look that had been in her eyes the night after they’d lost their child.

  “Come on,” Harry urged, rushing to them as they reached the courthouse steps.

  Val moved mechanically between Luke and Harry. She felt outside of herself, as if she were watching them cross the highly polished floor to the courtroom. She knew she returned Jenny’s smile. She knew she squeezed Irene’s hand for a second, but she felt detached from herself. Sitting on the chair at the table they’d been at before, she clutched her hands in her lap. Seconds ticked by like an eternity before the judge entered.

  Everyone quieted when Harry urged Luke with a nod of his head to explain.

  “I have only one more question,” Harry said after Luke told about the emergency that night. “Do you love your wife?”

  It was a question Luke hadn’t expected, but not onethat he had any difficulty answering. “There’s never been a moment since I married her when I didn’t love her.”

  The softness in Val’s eyes told him that she understood what he was trying to say. Not even when they weren’t talking, when they’d been on the verge of divorce, had he stopped loving her.

  “I’ll make a decision shortly,” the judge said.

  Val watched him leave the courtroom. She heard the soft buzz of conversation behind her, but felt too frozen to the spot to even turn her head. Clutching her hands together, she saw Harry’s assistant rush up, but. couldn’t hear what she said.

  After she left, Harry offered a strange comment. “You may have chosen the perfect career, Lucas.”

  Stone-faced, the judge reappeared. Val thought he could have bluffed his way to winning any poker game.

  “Before making a ruling, certain issues had to be considered. The court does prefer to place a child with blood relatives.”

  Charlene sat taller, beaming.

  Val gripped Luke’s hand tightly.

  “I realize emotions have to be considered, but equally important is the welfare of the children,” the. judge went on. “The court must determine who would provide the best home for a child while considering the laws of the state.”

  Words muffled. All Val could hear was the pounding of her own heart. Please, God, let us keep them. We love them.

  He was saying something now ab
out Joe and Carrie’s wishes having been public knowledge. “At that time, Mrs. Evans should have challenged such an agreement. Since she didn’t, I have reached the conclusions that she had ample time to contest her cousin and his wife’s guardianship plans.” His gaze moved from Charlene to them. “The court-appointed representative has found the Kincaids’ marriage, as required in the custodial agreement, to be sound and stable. As for questions regarding that, I have a son who also chose medicine as a career. Doctors’ hours are often erratic and exhausting.” Unexpectedly a slip of a smile edged his lips. “Therefore, I must honor Joseph and Carolyn Dawson’s wishes. My decision must favor Dr. and Mrs. Kincaid.”

  Luke felt Val sag against him with relief.

  “This hearing is concluded. You are free to leave.”

  “We should thank the judge’s son,” Harry said, amused.

  For the first time since they’d left home, Val honestly felt like smiling. Across the aisle, she saw Charlene’s lawyer shrug his shoulders. On a huff, Charlene bound to her feet and stormed from the room. All Val wanted at that moment was to wrap her arms around Brooke and Traci.

  At the door of the courtroom, she paused for barely a second, watching Charlene’s clipped pace past the twins, who had just arrived with Myrna. Val rushed to where the three of them stood with Luke’s mother. As she squatted down, little arms curled around her neck. Her heart drumming, she held them tightly and drew in a breath, wondering if anything smelled as sweet as they did.

  “Of course, they won,” her grandfather was saying to Myrna and others who gathered around.

  Val squeezed the girls to her and looked up at Luke. She believed they had won in more ways than anyone. might know. Pushing to a stand, she laced her fingers with his.

  “We have to celebrate,” Irene insisted. “A cake is waiting, and so are friends.”

  “You planned a party?” Val asked, amazed at Irene’s positive thinking.

  “Yes, I did. How could they not find in your favor?”

  Irene’s home filled with conversation and laughter, For the next few hours the party grew with more wellwishers drifting into the house to offer congratulations.