by Dale Mayer
She watched as he walked out the door. Danny was in front of the TV, watching some of his favorite cartoons. She picked up her coffee, walked over, and sat down beside him. Immediately the toddler crawled over and curled up in her lap. She held him close, knowing that, regardless of the danger, this time of his life would happen and would go by very fast. She wanted to enjoy every moment of it, and she didn’t want to think too much about her upcoming dinner with Greyson’s grandparents.
It just boggled her mind that she would meet his family tonight, this afternoon really. At the same time, it was also kind of cute, and she loved the fact that he was close to them. It still seemed odd to be included. She sat here, relaxing, knowing that he was out and about, doing whatever he could to track down their early morning visitor.
Just then her phone rang. She groaned when she saw who it was. “Hey, sis,” she said. “What’s up?”
“Mom,” she said in exasperation. “What else? She’s really on a rant now.”
“What is it this time?”
“She heard on the news that a stalker was in your area,” her sister said. “She’s been trying to get a hold of George to tell him that you want to go back to him.”
Jessica froze. “What?”
“She’s already trying,” her sister said grimly.
“Well, that’s going way too far,” she said. “There’s a reason why I split with George.”
“And she thinks that you’re not safe and can’t look after yourself.”
“Well, that’s just too damn bad,” she said. “Let’s get off the phone. I’m calling Mom.” Furious, Jessica hung up on her sister and quickly dialed her mother. When her mother answered, Jessica snapped, “What’s this about you trying to contact George?”
“Well, it’s obvious that you can’t be trusted to look after that little boy on your own,” she said. “A stalker is in your area, for God’s sake.”
“So you thought to take it upon yourself,” she said in a dangerously low voice, “to call my ex, to tell him that I wanted to go back to him?”
Her mother, as if suddenly realizing that maybe she’d gone a little too far, immediately tried to backtrack. “Well, I was just seeing how he was. For all you know, he’s remarried. He’s a good man, Jessica.”
“No. He was not a good man, not for me,” Jessica snapped. “And, for your information, he’s dead.” And, with that, she hung up.
She sat here, steaming mad, realizing that she had sworn in front of Danny, something she had always promised herself she wouldn’t do. She had completely lost it at that moment, but thankfully Danny wasn’t listening. Except everything she’d read on children’s cognitive abilities said that he was taking everything in regardless. She groaned and sank back.
He turned and patted her cheek. “Mommy?”
“Mommy is fine, sweetheart.”
Of course she was lying; another thing she promised she wouldn’t do. But how did she explain to a toddler that she was infuriated with his grandmother? There wasn’t a whole lot she could do right now, except try to calm down and then wait to see what Greyson might have found outside.
When her phone rang again, she turned it off and set it aside. She wouldn’t talk to either of them again today.
What was her deranged mother thinking? She had just gone way too far.
Greyson walked up to the rear veranda and rapped on the door. Danny giggled and pointed. She got up, walked over, and let him in. “Anything?” she asked in a low voice.
He shook his head. “Nothing new anyway.”
He’d already gone out and done a round, after he’d seen the intruder before. “Lord only knows how we’d find anything at this point anyway,” she said.
He smiled and said, “Not to worry. We’ll get it all sorted out.”
“Glad to hear that,” she said. “I feel like I need to do something today. I’m just getting upset.”
He reached out and gently stroked his thumb across her cheekbone. “What happened?” She shook her head, but he was firm. “Tell me,” he said.
“My sister called, telling me that my mother was trying to get a hold of George,” she said. “And get this. To tell him that I wanted to get back together with him.”
He stared at her in shock. “Your mother doesn’t understand boundaries, does she?”
“No, and I’m obviously not very impressed with her antics. Apparently she saw a report on the news about a stalker in the neighborhood.”
“Did you tell her that George was dead?”
She winced. “I know we haven’t confirmed it,” she said, “but I was so mad that I did tell her, yes.”
He just nodded, wrapped his arms around her, and folded her up against his chest. She snuggled in close and allowed him to comfort her for a moment. It felt so damn good just to be held, just to know she wasn’t alone.
“Do you want to go somewhere in the meantime?” he asked. “Like the park?”
Immediately Danny turned to look at her and called out, “Park! Park!”
Kona barked twice too, her tail wagging, as if she understood the concept.
Jessica smiled. “Maybe that’s not a bad idea,” she said. “We could go to the park for a few hours and then head straight to your grandparents’ place.” She paused, checking her watch. “That’s more than a few hours, but I could pack up some sandwiches and some fruit and some bottled water to take with us. They have picnic tables there, and we could have a light lunch to tide us over from breakfast until dinner.” She smiled and waved a hand at Kona. “And enough for Kona too.”
Kona yipped and wagged her tail.
“If Danny gets tired,” she said, “we can always come back here for him to have a nap before we head out to the grandparents’ house.”
Greyson laughed, patting the dog, smiling at Jessica. “That works,” he said. “That definitely works.” So that’s what they did.
A few hours of escapism, getting to know each other and just having fun, showed what a good man he was with Danny. She couldn’t imagine it being any better. She didn’t know if that would change over time. Would it improve or get worse? She didn’t have a clue because she had very little experience with men and no experience at all with men and children interacting. Even growing up, all her experiences with men were of the short-term variety that her mother engaged in.
The one thing Jessica didn’t want to do was become her mother. That would be awful. Yet her attraction to Greyson had been pretty quick. She knew any attempt on her part to dispute the reality that something special was between them in such a short span of time would be a flat-out lie. Something special was definitely here, and she really wanted to see where it was going.
She laughed as Greyson had Danny in the big round swing, gently pushing him back and forth, Kona right beside them, wherever Danny was.
It was pretty amazing to even be in this situation with him and Kona right now. Her men were pretty damn special, both of them. Immediately she realized what she just thought. She had to smile. Her next thought was, And Kona and I are pretty damn special females too.
After the swing, her guys ran to the teeter-totter, with Greyson holding on to Danny, while she joined them on the other side. Danny was having a blast, Kona giving yips of happiness too. And then someone had given her a balloon. She handed it over to Danny, and he ran and laughed. He fell a couple times and looked like he might want to cry, but Kona was there first, then Greyson was right behind, scooping Danny up, laughing, and helping him run again. All in all, it was a great time. Those hours seemed so full of fun and laughter, after these last few weeks of tension, and they passed much too quickly.
She smiled when it was time to go. “I didn’t think something like today was possible,” she said. “It was really lovely.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” he said. “I’m really glad we had this time together, just us, free from our troubles for a while.”
“I know. It was great.”
They were back at home in no time to d
rop off the lunch leftovers, as they readied to leave again. She quickly buckled Danny in and then got into the driver’s seat. “Where to, Mr. Wants Me to Meet His Grandparents?” she asked, teasing.
He gave her directions, and they backed out of the garage. The one thing she noticed that put a reality check on their excursion to the park was the fact that Greyson had kept Kona on alert at the park, and his own gaze was ever watchful. Even as they now left her driveway, he was searching for faces, for vehicles, for anything out of the ordinary.
When she pulled onto the main highway, she asked, “Well? Are we all good?”
“I think so,” he said, “It feels like we are.”
“Good,” she said, “because I really don’t want to bring danger to your grandparents’ door.”
When they arrived at his grandparents’ place, Greyson didn’t even get a chance to open his car door before both his grandfather and his grandmother were out on the front steps with big grins on their faces. Leo milled around their feet barking happily.
Jessica looked over at him and said, “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh is right,” he said. “They’re definitely eager to meet you.”
She got out of the car and focused on unbuckling Danny from his car seat. As soon as she had that done and held him almost protectively in front of her, she and Kona followed Greyson to the front steps, where both grandparents were waiting for them.
“I guess we should give them points for being patient enough to let us get out of the car,” she said, with a note of humor.
He chuckled, then wrapped an arm around her and said, “Absolutely.”
“You’re really playing into this, aren’t you?” she said, but she made no move to leave his embrace. It felt very much like a united front going forward.
“I’m not playing into anything,” he said. “I’m happy, and I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed a day as much.”
And, on that note, she had to admit she hadn’t had a day quite as nice either.
As soon as she and Danny and Kona were all introduced to his grandparents, they were ushered inside and then out to the backyard. There she put Danny down, and they even had a couple toys for him. She wasn’t exactly sure, but the grandparents also had a little sprinkler attached to a garden hose that seemed made just for Danny. The water only sprayed about a foot high, but Danny was enthralled.
She quickly scooped him up and took off his outer layer of clothing. She looked over at Greyson’s grandmother and said, “He’ll be soaked in no time.”
She smiled and laughed. “Well, we could always dry him off,” she said, “but you’re right. The clothing might take a little longer. I do have a dryer here, if need be.”
“Well, this is easy, and it’s a nice warm afternoon,” she said.
With Danny at the center of attention, and loving every moment of it, the barbecue was lit, and the ribs that had apparently already been in the oven for a few hours, were transferred onto the grill.
As she watched Greyson’s grandmother work hard in the kitchen, Jessica asked, “Is there something I can do to help?”
The woman looked pleased to be asked but immediately replied, “Absolutely not,” she said. “We’ve been waiting all afternoon for you guys to get here,” she said, “so I’ve had plenty of time to do the prep work.”
Jessica winced at that. “I hope we didn’t put you out too much, Mrs.—”
“Hush now,” she said. “Not at all. We’re delighted to have you and Danny,” she said warmly. “And you may as well call us Grandma and Grandpa, if that works for you.”
Together the two women carried out the salads and a raisin curry, a Moroccan rice dish she was just dying to try. The two men stood near the barbecue grill, each with an open can of beer in their hands.
Jessica laughed at the sight. “Is there anything more commonplace than to see the guys at the barbecue grill with a beer, while the women are bringing out the food?” she said.
Greyson grinned at her. “There’s a beer for you, if you want it,” he said.
Smiling, she shook her head. “If you had a cider, now that would be a different story.”
Greyson’s grandfather looked crestfallen. “I don’t,” he said, “but I can get you one.”
She shook her head. “No need for that. A cup of tea would be lovely though.”
“Perfect,” Grandma said. “The teakettle is already on.”
And, while the ribs finished cooking, Jessica and Grandma sat and had a cup of tea, while Danny remained still under the ever-watchful eye of Greyson and Kona, who was on the leash and visiting quite well beside him.
Grandpa even commented, “That dog is amazingly good with the little boy. Leo probably will be too, but we thought it best to save that for another day. And, if Kona is as protective of Danny as you say, we could be asking for trouble.”
“Good call. Maybe we’ll meet Leo when things settle down and when Kona doesn’t have to be on high alert,” Greyson said. “As it is, Kona’s saved this little guy several times already.”
“And I’ll never forget it,” Jessica said softly. She walked over to Kona and gave her a big scratch. “Hopefully there’ll be a bone or two for her to have. She had dog food this morning, but I don’t know very much about dogs. I don’t know how much or how long or how often they eat.”
“Well, this one needs a little fattening up,” Greyson said. “She’s gone without quite a few meals lately.”
“Right. She was out on her own for three or four weeks,” Jessica said.
“What will the military do with her?” Grandpa asked Greyson, as Jessica listened attentively.
“No decisions have been made yet because of the scenario we’re currently in,” he said. “I haven’t given you all the details of that yet,” he said, his tone turning serious, “but since Kona is needed in a watchdog position right now, everyone has agreed to leave her as is for now.”
“Son, I think you better fill us in on all that,” his grandfather said.
Jessica went over to watch Danny, as Greyson explained everything that had happened since he had arrived. There were shocked gasps and murmured exclamations as the grandparents realized what dangers she and Danny had been in and why Greyson had been called away.
“Oh, you poor dear,” Grandma said to her. “I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this.”
“I just wish,” Jessica said, “that the kidnapper hadn’t gotten away from the cops. If he was locked up now, it would be a different story.”
“Not if there are two of them,” Grandpa said. “You rely on Greyson here, honey. He’s done a lot of security detail work,” he said, “and he hasn’t lost anybody yet.”
“I don’t intend to start now either,” he said.
She smiled, but she could see the seriousness in the gazes that stared back at her, plus Greyson’s warm glint, as if to say he had a whole lot of other reasons why he should look after her. She flushed slightly, grateful when Grandma immediately announced that it was time to eat.
There was commotion for a minute, as everybody took their places. Greyson was taking the ribs off the massive barbecue grates, bringing them over on two huge platters.
She stared at the platters and gasped. “Seriously, you’ve got enough food here to feed at least six or seven people.”
“Well, any leftovers just have to be warmed a bit,” Grandma said. “And honestly, my husband thinks there’s absolutely nothing better than warmed-up ribs, so the more leftovers, the better, as far as he’s concerned.”
“I hear you,” she said, and, without a worry about appearances, she reached across the table and snagged the biggest rib off the top. Greyson immediately protested. Giving him a big fat smile, she said, “You, sir, were far too slow.”
She picked it up and took a bite. Both grandparents laughed and thought the exchange was hilarious.
“She’s a live one,” Grandpa said, “and you know what that means.”
Chapter 16
Obviously
Greyson did because he just rolled his eyes and stayed quiet, but he quickly snatched up another great big rib and took several bites.
“This is really good,” she said with a full mouth.
She cut some of the meat off the bone into tiny bites and put it on Danny’s plate. She didn’t know where they’d gotten a high chair from, but Danny was currently sitting in an old-fashioned wooden one with a wooden tray that came on and off, so it could be taken to the sink and washed. He was currently having the time of his life, digging his fingers into the barbecue sauce and the meat. He also had a bit of salad in one pile and some raw veggies in another.
When she was mostly done with her rib, she went to put it down on the plate, but Danny immediately cried out for it. She hesitated, then shrugged and gave it to him. Immediately he picked it up and started pounding it on the wooden tray.
“Uh-oh,” she said and tried to take it away from him. At that, he pounded even harder and started to scream. “I’m so sorry,” she said, clearly embarrassed.
Grandpa smiled and said, “Hey, that’s what kids do.”
Greyson leaned across and grabbed the rib gently and helped direct it toward Danny’s mouth. When he bit down on it, Danny appeared to be completely in love and happily gnawed away on the bone.
She looked over at Greyson, dumbfounded. “How did you know he’d like that?”
“I figured he might be teething,” he said. “His gums are a little swollen, and he could be a late teether …” he said with a shrug. “I’m no pro on kids, but I’ve seen friends whose kids go through this over the years.”
She looked back with a smile. “I guess he is teething,” she said. “He’s had several bouts over the last few months, but no teeth appeared, and then his fussiness would go away, only later there’d be another round. He has some teeth, but he’s kind of late with getting some of these, I think.” She stared at him, looking a little worried.
Grandma reached across, patted her hand gently, and said, “Not to worry. He’ll do it in his own time.”
