Stumble into Love

by Megan Hart

  The crowd hooted. Bubbe Esther led the ladies in, and they took their seats next to their spouses and boyfriends. Laila's expression was excited, but Hal knew she was faking. Neither of them had volunteered for the game, but had been recruited to fill the last empty slot. He knew she was worried his answers would expose how little he knew about her.

  The emcee went down the line, asking all the women to answer the same question. After they gave their answer, their respective partner was supposed to show what he'd written on the card. Most of the men, Hal was relieved to note, got a slap or an outraged squawk when they read their answers.

  It was their turn. "Brown," Laila answered confidently when the announcer asked her eye color.

  Hal looked at the answer he'd written. "Brown with amazing flecks of gold, like the finest expensive caramel."

  Laila stared at him in amazement. The catcalls and teasing shouts coming from the audience turned to oohs and ahs. The announcer chuckled and gave them the point.

  She looked at him again with wonder when he named her perfume, favorite color and shoe size all correctly. That he'd only guessed at the shoes didn't seem to matter. Out of all the couples playing along, Hal was the man who got nearly all the questions right. The only one he missed was her middle name, Eliana, and he'd had no way of even guessing that.

  "We have a winner!" The announcer declared when the game ended. "Hal and Laila!"

  The family members and strangers in the small room cheered and hollered. Everyone congratulated them. The prize was a weekend for two at Bramblewood. The package included the honeymoon suite with private whirlpool tub, champagne breakfast in the room and a horse and carriage ride, plus dinner at a neighboring gourmet restaurant.

  "Laila, it looks like you and David will be coming to Bramblewood for your honeymoon, just like me and Zayde did." Bubbe Esther linked her one arm through each of Laila and Hal's. "Oy, sixty years ago. How time passes! I wish the same joy for both of you that your grandfather and I have had, Laila."

  "Thanks, Bubbe." Laila accepted Esther's kiss on her cheek.

  When the old lady motioned to Hal to bend down and get kissed, too, he did so with a major pang of guilt. He knew he was being paid to deceive these people, but did they all have to be so nice?

  "Bubbe, we're going down to the game lounge to shoot some pool!" Some of Laila's teenage cousins crowded around them, jostling for kisses and nose squeezes from Esther.

  "Go, go," Esther said, unlinking her arm from Laila's to flap her hand at them. "Enjoy!"

  The announcer was setting up the room to start another couples game, but most of the Alster family was leaving for other pursuits. From what Hal had read on the activities menu, there were plenty to choose from. Esther seemed content to walk with them to the cozily decorated fire lounge.

  "Sit," she said, indicating the pair of sofas in front of the merrily crackling fire. "I need to get to know my future grandson-in-law a little better."

  Hal and Laila sat together. He slipped his arm around her shoulder, trying to make the movement look casual and practiced. The only problem was he didn't know what to do with his fingers. Did she like him to slide them along side her neck or curl them around her upper arm? Was he pulling her too close? Was he choking her?

  "David?"

  Too late, he realized Esther had asked him a question. "Sorry?"

  The old lady laughed, leaning forward on her couch across from them. "That's all right. Lose yourself in my granddaughter's candy eyes. That's what young lovers do, don't you know?"

  Hal was glad the glimmering firelight wouldn't show his flushed cheeks. Laila sat too tensely beside him. Should he move his hand?

  "I asked you what sort of wedding you were planning," Esther said.

  "Big," Hal said at the same time Laila said, "Small."

  Laila cleared her throat. "We haven't talked about it much yet, Bubbe."

  "Sure, sure. There's lots of time to talk about that." Esther grinned, her eyes twinkling. In the dim light it was hard to see, but Hal would have bet anything they were the same color as Laila's. "What I really want to know is why you hid this handsome fellow from us for so long."

  "Ah, that's been my fault," Hal broke in. "My busy schedule, you know--"

  "Oy vey, yes," Esther said, nodding. "Doctors, they run themselves ragged, nu?"

  "Uh--yeah." Hal racked his brain for something, anything, he could say about being a proctologist. "There's certainly a lot of--stuff. To do. A lot of people to--probe. I mean my practice is pretty full."

  Esther nodded again, sympathetically. "Laila told me all about it. What a wonderful thing, to be a healer. Now my Saul, he goes to the proctologist. He has these polyps, you see--"

  "Bubbe!" Laila coughed. "Hal--oh. Hello! David's on vacation."

  "Oh, sure, sorry." Esther waved her hands and sank back into the cushions. "Don't you pay attention to me, David. I'm just an old lady who likes to flap her gums."

  "Not at all," Hal said. "I don't mind."

  "I like your looks, David." Esther propped her feet up on the low trunk serving as a coffee table between the two couches.

  Hal grinned. "Thanks."

  "I'd always hoped Laila would find a man with a big nose like the one you've got."

  "Bubbe!" Laila cried. She twisted to look at Hal, and he dropped his arm from her shoulder. "His nose isn't big!"

  Hal knew he had large features. He'd been told he had a big nose before. Esther's comment didn't hurt his feelings, but he could see that Laila took it personally. For his sake? The thought made warmth flood him.

  "Big nose, big hands." Esther craned her neck to peer at Hal's shoes. "Oy, and big feet, too!"

  "Bubbe!" Laila cried again.

  "Laila, don't you know that men with big noses make the best lovers?" Esther asked her granddaughter. "Look at the size of your Zayde Saul's schnoz!"

  Now Laila was practically writhing in mortification. "Shh. Shh. I don't want to hear any more."

  "I ask you," Esther said conversationally to Hal. "How did my son and his wife raise such a prude for a daughter? None of your brothers or sister was this embarrassed when I talked to them."

  "It's all right," Hal said, as much for Laila's sake as for Esther's. "Your grandma's right."

  Esther hooted. "And such modesty."

  He'd just meant she was right about the size of his nose, but he wasn't going to protest the part about being a great lover. "I wish my grandma talked like you do."

  "No, you don't," Laila said with a shake of her head. "Bubbe, you're incorrigible."

  But now she was smiling and had even relaxed a bit against Hal's side. Laila propped her feet on the table, toying with Esther's boot clad feet playfully. Laila gave the old lady such a look of fondness that, for one instant, Hal was jealous.

  "Aunt Laila! David! Come quick!" Noah ran so fast toward him that he skidded on one of the throw rugs on the polished wood floor.

  "Whoa, slow down there, buckaroo." Laila caught the boy before he could careen into the furniture. "What's up?"

  "It's Henry!" Noah's lip trembled, but at the same time his eyes were alight with excitement. "He was trying to play ping-pong with the big kids and he got hurt! You have to come see!"

  Esther leaped to her feet with an agility admirable in an eighty-year-old woman. "Where are they now? Did you tell your mom and dad?"

  Noah nodded, full of self-importance at being the messenger. "They said I should go get the doctor."

  Hal's heart sank to his ankles and he stifled a groan. He was the doctor. Still, how bad could a ping-pong injury be?

  Esther had already set off down the hall with Noah tugging at her hand. Hal followed Laila, who moved with a swift, purposeful strides. Her protectiveness of her nieces and nephews was an intriguing look into her character. He'd meant it when he said he thought she'd be a good mother.

  "Hurry up!" Noah called back to them before ducking through the doorway to the games lounge. His voice held unmistakable glee. "There's lots o
f blood!"

  Hal stopped dead in the hallway. Laila went a few more steps before seeing he was no longer with her. She came back, frowning.

  "Come on," she said. "I want to make sure Henry's okay."

  "Blood," Hal said thickly. "Uh--Laila. Er."

  "Yes?" She said impatiently, her attention on the cries echoing from just a few feet down the hall.

  "Blood." Just saying the word made his stomach churn. "Laila, I can't stand blood."

  He saw the memory of their very first meeting register in her eyes. "But they think you're a doctor."

  "I'm not a doctor." As if he had to remind her.

  The cries grew louder. Laila's consternation grew more visible. It was obvious to him that merely hearing Henry's distress was hurting her.

  She could have thrown the fact she was paying him in his face, but she didn't. At this point, Hal doubted if she even remembered that fact. She was too concerned about Henry.

  He shook himself mentally and physically. He could do this. He would do this. For Laila.

  "Here I come to the rescue," he said, and went into the room.

  It's only a little blood, he told himself over and over as they found Henry sobbing on his mother's lap. Gouts and gouts of blood spurting from the little boy's nose. It had already soaked through someone's thick handkerchief. Hal could see fear in Ruth's eyes, even as she tried to calm her squirming, wailing son.

  "David! What should we do?" Frank asked. He hovered over his wife and son, holding Noah's hand.

  "It's a bloody nose, so put ice on it," Esther said.

  One of the teenage cousins ran for ice. Hal closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Better let me take a look," he said.

  Henry stopped crying when he saw Hal. "It hurted my dose," he said in a quavery voice. "And it's buh--buh--bleeding!"

  At that admission, Henry started crying again. Ruth, perhaps thinking she was helping, took the bloody cloth away. Hal started seeing gray across the line of his vision.

  "Thank God there's a doctor here," said Aunt Yetta, who'd earlier joined them in the hot tub.

  Obese Uncle Ira snorted. "He's a proctologist, Yetta. You want he should stick his finger up--"

  "Ira!" Yetta scolded.

  Ira shrugged and took the bucket of ice from the returning teenager. "Here, doctor."

  Hal took the ice and wrapped it in a fresh washcloth someone handed him. He pressed it to the little boy's nose, trying hard not to see the red flowers blooming on the fresh white cloth. One. He counted in his mind. Two. Three--oh, God. He had to get out of here and fast.

  "Hold that there until the bleeding stops," he said in as doctorly a voice as he could. "Tilt his head back and keep the pressure on. And if you'll all excuse me."

  Hal stood and left the room. He wasn't running, not quite, but he walked with long, steady strides. Thankfully, the games lounge had a door to the outside and he burst through it. Outside, he gulped in the cool air, trying to settle his stomach. Trying not to think about all the blood.

  "You were great in there!" Laila said. "Wow, Hal. You were really, really great."

  He wanted, tried, to thank her, but the words were stuck in his throat. Hal closed his eyes, still trying to steady himself. One. Two. Three.

  "I mean, seeing all that blood," Laila continued, oblivious to his discomfort. "I've never seen one little nose make so much blood."

  Every time she said the word, the sight and smell of blood filled his mind. With a groan, Hal relinquished his last shred of self-control. Without a word, he leaned over and passed out at Laila's feet.

  Chapter 5

  "Are you feeling better?" Laila set the ice bucket down on the bedside table.

  Hal nodded, taking away the damp washcloth from over his eyes. Without his glasses on he looked younger, and somehow more vulnerable. Moisture gleamed on his skin.

  "I'm sorry," he said.

  "If you apologize to me one more time," Laila replied, "I'm going to dump this ice right on your head!"

  That coaxed a smile from him. The gesture transformed him. Suddenly, Laila imagined herself pressing her lips to the two tender places at his temples, then lower. To his mouth.

  "Put your glasses on!" She blurted, then caught herself. "I mean do you want your glasses?"

  "Thanks." Hal slipped them on. "Without them, everything's just one big blur."

  Unfortunately, the glasses didn't turn him from Superman back into Clark Kent. Had he always been so good looking? How could she not have noticed this before?

  Laila busied herself by going into the bathroom to wring out the cloth. When she came out, Hal had swung his legs over the bed. He'd done something to his hair, too, because now it was sticking up all over his head in wild spikes. His stubble stood out clearly on his still-pale cheeks. He'd unbuttoned his shirt and the glimpse of his bare chest and the golden crinkles of hair around his nipples made Laila swallow. Hard.

  "Some doctor I'm turning out to be," Hal said with just a trace of mockery in his voice.

  "To be fair, you’re a proctologist. They probably don't have to deal with a lot of blood." Laila couldn't help smiling at Hal's squeamish expression.

  "I just hope everyone else around here remains accident free." Hal buttoned his shirt and smoothed his hair, becoming once again the man she'd hired instead of some lust-inspiring dreamboat. Laila realized she preferred him disheveled.

  "At least nobody noticed you fainted," Laila pointed out helpfully.

  Hal shrugged. "So I didn't blow your cover."

  That wasn't what she'd meant actually. She'd been thinking more that he wouldn't have to be embarrassed. It was, however, just one more reminder she had paid for Hal to act as her fiancé. It was a fact she inconveniently kept forgetting.

  "Do you feel up to heading out again?" She checked her watch. "It's going to be dinner time soon."

  She heard his stomach rumble even from where she stood.

  "I'll take that as a yes."

  Hal stood and stretched. "I feel fine now. What's on the agenda for tonight?"

  Laila had to pass him to get to the printed sheet listing both Bramblewood's planned activities and the Alster family week's activities. With the bed just behind him, Hal had no room to get out of the way. When she brushed his chest with her shoulder, Laila's entire arm tingled.

  She made it to the dresser at the foot of the bed and snatched up the paper. "Looks like the resort had several hikes planned for the afternoon, but we missed most of them. More games in the lounge. In about twenty minutes, they're going to show The Bridges of Madison County in the TV lounge. They have a caricaturist set up in the main lounge from four to five, and at five o'clock, there's a happy hour special." She flipped the sheet over. "Six pm we have dinner in the reserved dining room with the family. Anything sound appealing?"

  She glanced up into the mirror over the dresser as she spoke. Only the fact she'd already finished speaking kept the words from drying in her throat. She'd caught Hal staring at her. There was no mistaking the desire in his eyes, and when he saw she was looking, he quickly looked away.

  "Whatever you'd like to do is fine with me."

  Oh, she could think of several things she wanted to do. None of them involved leaving this room. Laila took a deep breath and forced herself to think rationally. Her family might be expecting her and Hal to be sequestered in their room and knocking boots all day and night, but the reality of the situation was that they barely knew each other.

  "We could just take a walk around the grounds," Laila said. "It's a beautiful resort."

  "Okay."

  "We--we might run into my family all over the place."

  He nodded. "That's okay, too. We're here to spend time with them, right?"

  "Right." She took another deep breath. "You ready?"

  He stepped aside so she could lead the way out the door. The sun dipped low in the sky, and the air was fresh and crisp. Laila raised her face to the breeze, willing it to whisk away all the crazy feelings she'd
been having. Laila reflected that a simple fall breeze wouldn't be enough. She'd probably need a hurricane.

  Hal took her hand as they walked, almost as naturally as if they truly were a couple. "Hey, guys!" Ruth called to them from a short distance. "Where'd you disappear to?"

  "We were a little tired, so we headed back to the room for a nap." The lie slipped out so easily that Laila felt guilty.

  Ruth smiled and winked. "Sure you did."

  Hal put his arm around Laila and bent to nuzzle her cheek. "Sure, we did."

  Ruth laughed. "You crazy kids. Oh, to be young and in love again."

  "You talk like you and Frank are old farts sitting around knitting socks," Laila said. Ruth was only three years older than she.

  "Honey," Ruth said in a forced, thick, New York accent. "When youse've been married as long as me and Frank, getting a little action means getting the kids to bed early so you can fall asleep watching television together."

  Hal put up his hands in mock fear. "Ruth, you're scaring me off. Laila's just about convinced me that walking down the aisle is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Don't ruin it!"

  Laila glanced at him shrewdly. Just about convinced him? Hal was good, really good. He was setting things up nicely for a break up.

  "Yeah, Ruth," Laila chimed in. "Don't talk like that to Mr. Commitment-Is-A-Dirty-Word, here."

  Hal laughed a little too hard. "C'mon, Laila. You know I've always said that in order to be committed, you have to be insane!"

  Now Ruth looked uneasily at them. Laila knew she'd better ease off. She didn't want to ruin Bubbe and Zayde's celebration, which meant the break up couldn't happen until just before the week ended. They still had to get through four more days.

  "Oh, David," Laila said with as much forced joviality as she could muster. She punched his arm playfully. "You're such a joker."

  She was proud of the way he caught on. "Oh, Laila. You know I'm insane. Insane for you!"

  He lifted her in the air and twirled her around, smacking kisses on her cheek that made her giggle. When he put her down, Ruth just shook her head at them.