He was just coming in from the backyard after a spur-of-the-moment football game with his father and brothers. Suddenly there she was, talking with his mom in the kitchen.
Mallory’s shiny dark red hair fell past her shoulders and his hands tingled with the need to hold all that thick silk, drag his fingers through it while kissing her until both of them were hot and bothered. She was wearing white cropped pants and a bright yellow, thin-strapped top that left her arms bare. The memory of how she tasted in that spot where her neck and shoulder met made him shudder with need. The urge to hold her was even more powerful and he realized that one night with her wasn’t enough.
His mother’s voice dragged him back. “There’s Caleb.”
Lily ran over and hugged him. “Hi.”
“Hey, there, little bit.” He hugged her back and saw the soft, tender smile on her aunt’s face.
“I came for dinner.”
“So I see. And you brought Mallory with you.”
“Silly,” the girl said. “She brought me.”
Lily grabbed his hand and tugged him to where the two women stood by the kitchen island. “Hi,” he said to her. “It’s nice to see you.”
“You, too.”
“Let me take your purse, Mallory,” his mother said. “While I put it in the living room, would you mind getting these two something to drink, Caleb?”
“Sure. What’ll you have?” he asked while she handed off her handbag.
“Iced tea if you have it.”
“Coming right up.”
“I’d like soda,” Lily said.
“A woman who knows her own mind.” He winked at her. “I like that.”
Mallory laughed. “She has her moments, but you should have seen her picking out her clothes in the morning. It’s a very serious decision that includes a lot of mind changing. And, for the record, that’s a woman’s prerogative.”
“Is that attitude, Miss Franklin?”
“Just the truth as I see it.” Her eyes sparkled with spirit.
“Yup, definitely attitude,” he said.
While he filled their drink orders, Lily asked, “Where are Lani and Lindsay?”
“Shopping, I think.”
“Will they be here for dinner?” the little girl wanted to know.
“They will if they know what’s good for them.” He handed her a glass with the clear soda poured over ice.
“Thank you.” She took a sip and grinned. “You’re still my favorite cowboy.”
Caleb poured iced tea from the pitcher into a glass. “You’re only saying that to get on my good side so I’ll let you ride my horses.”
“No, I’m not.” Lily started to shake her head, then stopped and gave him a sly look. “But is it working? Can I? Soon?”
“Sure.” He tapped her nose, then handed Mallory her glass. “If it’s all right with you.”
There was a knock on the door and his mother answered it. He could tell by all the oohing and aahing that carried all the way down the hall who had arrived. The baby. And that meant he and Mallory and whatever was going on between them wouldn’t be the focus of everyone’s attention.
His brother-in-law walked into the family room carrying a car seat with the sleeping baby inside. Sutter Traub was a couple of inches taller than Caleb’s six feet, but muscular. He was a top-notch horse trainer who had loved Paige for a long time. A disagreement with his family had caused a rift and Sutter had left town, stayed gone for five years, leaving his sister confused and heartbroken. But he had come back to help after the flood and the two had reunited and gotten married. They were one of the blissful couples she’d mentioned when he’d brought her the casserole.
Although it didn’t make him a believer, the two of them seemed content and happy. Together, they smiled tenderly at their sleeping baby boy. And they weren’t the only ones.
Lily set her drink on the kitchen island and beelined for the baby as if he were a magnet. She squatted down to get a better look.
“Careful, Lily,” Mallory warned. “He’s sleeping. Don’t wake him.”
“But I want to see his eyes.”
“You will soon,” Paige promised. “He fell asleep in the car and that won’t last. He’s due to eat.”
“Have you met Paige and her husband?” his mom asked.
Mallory nodded. “At the office. It’s nice to see you again. Congratulations on the baby. He’s beautiful.”
“What does he eat?” Lily gently touched the car seat to rock it.
“Milk. His name is Carter,” the proud father answered.
“That’s a nice name.” Lily couldn’t take her eyes off the kid. “He’s so small.”
“Not as little as when he was born,” his mom said.
“He was in your tummy?”
“That’s right.”
Lily looked up at Paige, then her gaze dropped to his sister’s slightly rounded stomach and over to the baby boy. He could almost see the wheels turning. No one would ever accuse him of being intuitive when it came to kids, especially little girls, but even he knew what was coming.
“How did he get in there?” Lily asked with all the innocence and curiosity of an eight-year-old.
Caleb stole a look at Mallory’s beet-red face and thought she looked completely adorable. The rest of the adults present stared at her, too, looking amused. All of them were wondering how she would answer that question.
“How about you and I talk that over at home?” she suggested.
“Why can’t we do it now? Is this one of those things you hope I’ll forget about?”
Wow, she was bright and didn’t miss a thing, he realized. Really a challenge, but Mallory seemed up to the task.
Patiently she said, “Sweetie, this really isn’t the time or place for that discussion.”
“Why not?” The little girl was persistent. “I want to know now.”
“Well...okay.” She glanced around at the adults and the wheels in her head seemed to be turning, too. She was still blushing like crazy. “Hmm. It’s like this, kiddo...” She blew out a breath. “I can truthfully say that of all the things I’ve anticipated having to deal with since being fortunate enough to have Lily with me, this subject wasn’t even on the radar.”
“Mind if I try?” Paige asked. “I have teaching cred. I’m a sixth-grade teacher at the school.”
“And her kids love her,” Sutter added.
“Please,” Mallory said. “Simple. Basic—”
“Age-appropriate. Gotcha.” Paige crouched down to the child’s level. “Okay, Lily. This is how Carter got in my tummy. Sutter and I love each other very much. When a man and woman feel that special feeling, he plants a seed inside her and that grows into a baby.”
“We planted seeds at day care,” Lily shared. “Carrots came up. Is it like that?”
“Sort of.”
Again Caleb could see Lily thinking that over and anticipated the next question. Judging by the fact that all the adults observing were trying to stay serious, they knew it, too.
“How does the seed get into your tummy?”
“It happens when the man and woman are alone,” Paige said calmly.
Caleb had heard his father and brothers come in from the backyard and sensed when the three of them joined the group. He glanced at Travis, who stood beside him.
“What happens?” Travis asked, clearly not having a clue what this conversation was about.
“Putting a baby in a lady’s tummy,” Lily answered. “Aunt Mallory and Caleb were alone when the storm got them stuck in that town.” She looked up at both of them. “Are you going to have a baby? I want one.”
If he’d been drinking anything, Caleb knew he’d have choked, and the shocked expression on Mallory’s face told him she was reacting
the same way. Fortunately, she’d set her tea on the island. Now it would be good if someone would say something to cut the awkward silence. So much for not being the center of attention.
“Nah, babies tie you down,” Travis said. “Can’t get one of those car-seat things on a horse.”
“I like babies,” Lily argued.
“Really? Why?” His brother clearly wasn’t concerned about regaining favorite-cowboy status. “They’re time-consuming, noisy and they stink.”
“Sort of like cattle.” Paige stood and gave her brother a wry stare. “Only smaller and more lovable.”
Normally Caleb was the one who made a wisecrack about being tied down. He had once taken pride in being a smart aleck on the subject. But not this time. It was a relief and he wasn’t sure why he cared.
Travis looked sheepish. “Hey, I’m not the only one who feels that way. Caleb does, too.”
Before he could answer, his sister took a step toward their older brother. “Don’t drag Caleb into this.”
“Why the heck not?” Apparently Travis didn’t know when to cut his losses.
“Because of what he did the other day.” There was an expression close to adoration in Paige’s eyes.
“What did he do?” Mallory asked curiously.
“He stopped by last week with a casserole mom made and I was having a bad day. Carter wouldn’t stop crying and I was at my wits’ end. All I wanted to do was brush my teeth, so I handed him the baby.”
“And you took him?” There was awe in Travis’s voice.
“She didn’t leave me any choice.”
“That’s not the point,” Paige continued. “Suddenly it was quiet and I was almost afraid to see what had happened. But Carter was fine. He calmed down and went to sleep while Caleb was holding him.”
“By the way, she submitted your name for sainthood,” Sutter teased.
“Aw, shucks. It was nothing.”
But that was not what he saw when he glanced at Mallory. The look of approval on her face made him feel as if it was really something. He was beginning to realize that only she could bring out this feeling and he was starting not to mind.
Since getting to know Mallory and Lily, the idea of settling down wasn’t as ridiculous as it used to be. Normally after taking a woman out a few times and, yes, sleeping with her, he was planning an exit strategy before things turned into a relationship.
But Mallory was different. He knew because of how he’d felt when he saw her here earlier, and pleased didn’t begin to describe it. All he knew was that he was getting in deeper and he wasn’t at all sure how he felt about that.
Chapter Eleven
It was Tuesday late in the afternoon. Earlier in the day Mallory had turned down Caleb’s invitation to take her and Lily out for dinner. The two of them were now on the way to Kalispell Center Mall. School would be starting in a few weeks and new clothes to wow new classmates were practically a rule, a Franklin family tradition in the making. On top of that, Halloween was just around the corner and the beginning of their first holiday season in Rust Creek Falls. She wanted it to be perfect, the bar by which all holiday seasons would be measured from now on.
She’d told Caleb about the shopping trip and he’d offered to drive them. It was so incredibly tempting to invite him along. Everything was better, brighter, more fun when he was there. But something had made her tell him this was a girls-only trip.
They were nearing the Kalispell city limits when Mallory realized she’d been very preoccupied with thoughts of Caleb, and Lily hadn’t said much.
“Isn’t it fortunate that Mr. Dalton let me off work a couple of hours early so that we could have a girls’ night out?”
“I guess.”
Mallory glanced in the rearview mirror at the little girl in the rear passenger seat. “Aren’t you excited about getting new school clothes? And shoes? You love shoes. Something that sparkles and lights up when you walk. Boots, too. It will be cold before you know it. But I draw the line at those shoes with the wheels in the heels. The ones that let you roll when you lean back. If you ask me, that’s an accident waiting to happen. Call me overprotective, but—”
“Aunt Mallory?”
“Yes?”
“You’re really talking a lot.”
“Am I?” Of course she was. It was hard to talk about Caleb with her niece and not remember just the night before last when the little girl had said the two of them should have a baby. In front of his family. That tended to get her nerves in a panic.
“Yes, you are. But I think I know why.”
“You do?”
“Uh-huh. You wish Caleb was here, too.”
Mallory glanced in the mirror again and met that serious, dark-eyed eight-year-old gaze. How could Lily possibly know that?”
Best not to admit or acknowledge the subtext of that statement, which was that Lily wished he was with them. It was kind of astonishing how quickly he’d become important, and not just to her niece. The situation worried her.
“Isn’t it fun to have a girls’ day out?” she asked.
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. We’re going to have a wonderful time. Just the two of us.” You could never go wrong with a little retail therapy. Right? Right.
Mallory left the highway and drove through town to Kalispell Center Mall and parked near Herberger’s, the biggest anchor store. They exited the car, then went in and followed the signs to the girls department. As she’d hoped, once they started looking at jeans, skirts, tops and accessories, Lily was distracted and her mood lifted.
When she’d collected an armful of clothes, she directed the little girl to a dressing room and went in to supervise the trying on and determination of the correct size.
“You’re growing too fast,” she said, hanging up a too-small pair of jeans. “I think you have to stop eating so much.”
“You’re silly, Auntie Mal.”
“And you’re not supposed to get so big.” Which of course was a fib. She wondered if every mother had the same feeling—helping her child to grow at the same time wishing it didn’t have to go so fast. She handed over a black three-tiered skirt and studied the length when Lily had it on. “Looks good to me. What do you think?”
“I like it.”
“Me, too. But in the winter you’ll have to wear tights. We’ll get some while we’re here. Probably black. And we’ll look for shoes.” Mallory made notes on the spiral notebook she’d brought. Then she handed over a black-and-gray long-sleeved ruffled top and smiled when it fit perfectly. “Don’t you love when an outfit comes together?”
Lily grinned and turned away from the mirror to grab Mallory around the waist. “It’s my favorite.”
“Good.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too—” There was a lump in her throat and Mallory had to stop talking. She squeezed the little girl close for a moment, then swallowed the powerful emotions. “Let’s get busy, sweetie. We have a lot more to try on.”
Several hours later they put many, many bags in the car, then headed back into the store unburdened. “Now we’ll get something to eat before we tackle shoes.”
“Can we go to Dairy Queen?”
“You’re reading my mind.” Winona Cobbs would be proud. “We’ll take a shortcut through Herberger’s.”
“Okay.”
When Lily slipped her hand into Mallory’s, she felt that pesky lump in her throat again. Emotion expanded in her chest and squeezed her heart. This little girl meant the world to her and she would do anything in her power to make Lily happy.
Hand in hand they walked through the store, sticking to the main aisle. Almost to the exit leading to the mall, there was a display of girls’ dressy dresses. Lily stopped dead in her tracks to look at an off-white, full-skirt
ed, lace-over-satin sleeveless dress.
“I love this,” she said.
“It’s very beautiful,” Mallory agreed. “But you don’t have anywhere to wear something like that.”
“A flower girl could wear it.” Serious dark eyes looked up at her. “For a wedding.”
Mallory’s heart squeezed again, this time with an emotion more complicated than love. How did you protect the child you cared about so much from something that wasn’t within your power to make happen? Even if you wanted it.
It probably wasn’t politically correct, maternally speaking, but dodging the subject seemed like a really good idea. “Are you hungry, sweetie? I’m starved.”
And now she was sending the subtle message that food could be used as a coping mechanism. That was a hill to die on another day. “Let’s go eat.”
Fifteen minutes later they had burgers and fries and a booth at the mall’s Dairy Queen. With any luck the vanilla milk shake Lilly had requested would distract her from Caleb not being there and flower-girl dresses she would never wear in his wedding to her aunt. There was a subject on her mind that was much more important.
“Lily, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Okay.” She took a bite of her burger.
“You know that your parents made me your guardian, right?”
“Yes,” she said with her mouth full.
“What you might not know is that I really love taking care of you. And I’m talking to Mr. Dalton about making it permanent.”
Lily blinked at her. “How?”
“I want to adopt you. Legally.” Mallory dragged a fry through ketchup, over and over. “What would you think about that?”
She grew very still and thoughtful. “Does that mean you’d be my mom?”
“It does. But only if it’s okay with you,” she quickly added.
The little girl smiled an adorably happy smile, as if the weight of the world lifted from her small shoulders. “It’s okay.”
The feeling was contagious because a great weight lifted from Mallory, too. “Okay, then.”
“Will I be able to call you Mom?”
“I’d like that very much.”
From Maverick to Daddy Page 14
