“Do you?” her twin asked.
“I haven’t thought about it.”
Ria shook her head. “Liar. He’s one attractive specimen.”
“We both know that doesn’t mean anything.”
Since her last relationship, Ria had as much trouble trusting as Alicia. Tugging down her fringed, multicolored vest, her twin agreed, “That’s for sure. Do you want me to stick around?”
Alicia again glanced toward Jon and Emily. How could she be attracted to a man who might be able to take her daughter away? It didn’t make sense. But Jon Wescott was her problem, not Ria’s. “No. There’s no reason for you to stay.” She forced a smile. “I know you’re meeting friends for supper. Go have fun.”
“You’re sure?”
Alicia nodded.
Ria stuffed her hands into her pockets. “You call me if you need me. I won’t be out late.”
“We’ll be okay.”
Ria glanced over at Jon’s broad shoulders as he tossed a Ping-Pong ball into a fishbowl and Emily cheered. Murmuring, “Maybe you will,” she gave Alicia a hug and left the parking lot.
A few minutes later, Alicia’s replacement took over the flowers. Gertie Abbott, who was tending another of the craft stands, agreed to watch Emily’s new goldfish while she, Jon and Alicia ate dinner. Emily led Jon and her mother into the all-purpose room, picking up her tray and methodically placing a spoon, fork and napkin on the plastic surface.
Jon’s shoulder brushed Alicia’s as he said, “I can’t remember the last time I went through a cafeteria line.”
Trying to alleviate the tension between them, she asked lightly, “They don’t have cafeterias in Los Angeles?”
He gave her a crooked smile. “I’ll have to check.”
His smile caused almost as much turmoil as the set of his jaw when he was confronting her about Emily. Alicia moved her tray down the row next to her daughter’s. “Exactly what is Wescott Industries? Do you manufacture something?”
“No.” His face became serious. “It’s the parent company. We’re involved in many business ventures but our main concern is newspapers.”
“You own them?”
“Yes.”
She’d guessed Jon was wealthy from the easy way he’d offered her money. He’d just confirmed the fact.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing her frown.
“You wouldn’t have a problem funding a court battle.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” He picked up a pint-size carton of milk.
Emily saw friends from her kindergarten class and asked if she could sit with them. Alicia gave her okay and she and Jon chose an empty table where they could still see Emily.
Jon pushed Alicia’s chair in for her and sat facing her. “Emily’s a well-adjusted child, isn’t she?”
“I hope so.”
Then with the unflinching candor she was coming to expect from him, Jon asked, “Will you agree to the paternity testing?”
Alicia knew she had reached a moment of truth. How she answered would affect the rest of their lives—hers, Emily’s and Jon’s.
Chapter Four
Alicia studied her silverware for a moment, then looked up into Jon’s waiting green eyes. “I need to know for sure and so do you. I’ll call Emily’s pediatrician Monday morning.”
Jon reached over and covered her hand with his. “You’re making the right decision.”
She tried to resist the pull of Jon’s appeal, the warmth of his palm, the sincerity on his face. “I’m doing it for Emily. She deserves to know her father, especially if he wants to be a part of her life.” The small element of uncertainty helped her to keep the situation less personal.
Jon, of course, sensed what she was doing. He pulled back his hand. “I understand the results take about six weeks. I suppose it depends on the lab’s backlog. My lawyer will try to keep the wait shorter, rather than longer.”
“For an extra fee?” she guessed.
He shrugged. “If that’s what it takes. Don’t worry about it. I want the testing. I’ll pay for it. When do you think Emily’s doctor can fit us in?”
Her consent to the testing had just put the ball in motion. Jon’s determination would keep it speeding ahead. “He has office hours all day Monday. Maybe we could go in before Emily’s swimming lessons. She looks forward to them and won’t think about the visit to the doctor’s so much.”
“Where does she take lessons?”
“The Y.”
“I’d like to come along and watch.”
It wasn’t a request, but not quite a demand, either. If Jon was Emily’s father, she’d have to be careful that he didn’t dominate their lives. She wouldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t let his wishes always override theirs.
“Alicia, you have to understand that I’ve missed five years of her life. I don’t want to miss any more.”
She couldn’t fight with that reasoning or the sadness behind his words. Wishing she didn’t understand his motives, wishing she didn’t empathize with him, wishing she wasn’t attracted to him, Alicia started on her turkey dinner with no appetite and with the fear that her life would never be the same again.
Holding a clipboard, the white-haired doctor peered over his wire-rimmed spectacles at Alicia and Jon while Emily played with toys in the waiting area. “Your lawyer faxed a list of instructions, Mr. Wescott. I understand a courier is waiting to drive the samples to Pittsburgh?”
Jon nodded. “That’s correct. Proper labeling and handling is essential.”
Jon had told Alicia she’d have to provide pictures of herself and Emily, as well as let the nurse take their fingerprints. Apparently the lawyer’s instructions were very specific.
The doctor frowned. “I’m familiar with the procedures. I told your lawyer I don’t do this every day, but more often than you’d think. That’s why I have an inked pad for taking fingerprints.”
Alicia nervously rubbed her arms, trying to ignore Jon’s presence beside her, his defined muscles, the curling hair on his forearms. He looked composed and relaxed in his yellow polo shirt and forest green slacks. She wished she could calm her insides. “Dr. Thatcher, how accurate is this test?”
He set the clipboard on the counter attached to the examining room wall. “With all three blood samples, its accuracy rate can be near 99.9 percent if the analysis is taken that far.”
His one phrase caught her attention. “All three?”
Dr. Thatcher looked down at his notes. “Yes, as I understood Mr. Wescott’s lawyer, the lab already has Miss Braddock’s blood samples in storage.”
Alicia’s heart pounded as she swung around to Jon. “You didn’t tell me that. How is it possible?”
Jon leaned forward, closer to her, and she knew he meant the gesture to be comforting. “Before Cecile died, she sent the samples to the lab for this purpose.”
Alicia felt threatened rather than comforted, and the magnitude of his statement hit her with imposing force. “So she was as sure as you are.”
His gaze held hers. “Yes. But you have to be sure, too. That’s why we’re here.”
She also heard what Jon wasn’t saying. If he took her to court, he needed the documented proof. She might as well accept the inevitable—it looked as if Jon Wescott would be a permanent presence in their lives. If she didn’t want to hurt her daughter, she should facilitate his visits with Emily so she could get used to him.
Alicia filled out and signed the appropriate forms, then went to the waiting room for Emily. She’d explained to her daughter exactly what the doctor would do, that this was a special test to see if her blood looked like Jon’s. Emily volunteered to go first. Alicia noticed that already her daughter did and said things to get Jon’s approval. At the carnival as they’d played bingo, she’d tried to keep all her markers in neat rows. This afternoon, when he’d come to pick them up, she’d asked if he’d like some iced tea. Did she need a male role model in her life so desperately?
Alicia remembered trying to ea
rn her father’s approval. Over and over. Ria had given up trying long before he died. But even to the last, Alicia had tried to be quiet enough, pretty enough, talented enough, to win words of encouragement. They’d never come.
She looked over at Jon again. He related so well to Emily. He talked to her on her level. He praised her. Would it be so difficult to accept him as her father? What was more difficult was accepting his masculine dominance, his ideas, and the obvious effect he had on her nervous system.
Luckily they finished at the doctor’s office in plenty of time to reach Emily’s lesson. Alicia directed Jon to the bleachers in the pool area while she took her daughter into the women’s locker room.
Jon watched as Emily joined her class at the edge of the Olympic-size pool and waved to him. Alicia climbed to the third bench of the bleachers and sat next to him, careful not to let her arm brush his. She straightened her shoulders and propped her feet on the bench below her.
He didn’t know how to break through Alicia’s barriers. Just when he thought he’d made some progress…The steamy humidity of the pool area brought out the flowery essence of Alicia’s perfume. She’d worn pink slacks again today and a white knit top trimmed in the same color. The colors she wore suited her quiet beauty.
Jon caught her take a quick glance at him. Was she as aware of him as he was of her? He’d seen the trapped look in her eyes at the doctor’s office when she’d learned about Cecile’s blood sample, and he was sure she was feeling backed into a corner. But she had to get used to the reality. He was going to be a part of their lives.
His heart lodged in his throat when Emily jumped into the water. “Isn’t that too deep for her? It’s practically up to her neck!”
“She knows how to swim,” Alicia responded quietly.
“She’s only five.”
“And I’ve been bringing her to this program for two years. She loves the water, Jon. The instructor is right there. She’s not in any danger.”
“Two years?”
“They start early now.”
“I’ll say,” he muttered. “I couldn’t tie my shoes at her age.”
“I’ve heard boys are a little slower than girls.”
When he turned his head, he saw the amusement in her eyes and the smile she was holding in check. “In some areas.”
She let the smile break loose.
It dazzled him. “You are really beautiful when you smile.”
The smile disappeared and her expression grew wary.
“What’s wrong? Do you think I’m feeding you a line?” Her high color indicated her embarrassment, and he knew he’d hit the mark.
“You want something, and I think you might do anything necessary to get it.”
Firmly planting his feet on the bleachers under him, he said, “Look, Alicia. I’ve been honest with you. And I intend to stay honest with you. It’s not going to help my cause or my relationship with Emily if I try to take any shortcuts. If I say you’re beautiful, it’s because I mean it. No other reason.”
She looked down into her lap.
“Alicia?” When she lifted her gaze to his, he saw the confusion. “Who made you so distrustful? Your husband?”
“No. Patrick never lied to me. He never tried to trade favors.”
That was an unusual phrase for her to use. “Trade favors?”
“Never mind.” She looked at Emily as she kicked up the swimming lane with an orange kickboard.
Jon had to touch Alicia. He had to find out more about this complicated lady. Laying his hand on her arm, he said, “Alicia, I want to mind. Let me know a little more about you.”
“I told you more about me the other night than I tell most people.”
He remembered their discussion about their mothers. “Tell me more.” She shifted uncomfortably, and he slid his hand down her arm and covered her hand on the bench. He felt her tremble, and her response to his touch made his blood run faster.
Staring straight ahead, she curled her fingers under his but didn’t move away. “My dad wanted boys. I don’t think he knew how to relate to girls. When he wasn’t working on a construction site, he watched television and drank beer. He always treated Mom like a slave, and she let him. But when he wanted something only she could give him, he could be very sweet. It was the only time.”
Alicia had been afraid of her father, that was obvious. Is that why she’d married an older man, as a substitute for the father who’d never treated her as a daughter? That wouldn’t be so surprising.
Jon ran his thumb across her knuckles. “You can trust me, Alicia.”
“I don’t know that yet,” she said softly.
“You will,” he murmured.
Her wide blue eyes met his. There were questions there, and doubts, and more than enough fear.
Slowly he’d clear all of that away. “Will you and Emily have dinner with me when we’re finished here? I don’t know the area so you’ll have to choose someplace she’d like to go.”
Alicia only hesitated a moment. “There’s a strip shopping center not too far away that has a family restaurant. They have the best broasted chicken in the area. Emily loves it.”
“It sounds good to me.”
“It’s just an ordinary restaurant, nothing fancy….”
“We don’t need fancy, do we?” If anybody had told him two weeks ago he’d be sitting in a Y and looking forward to eating in a less than five-star restaurant, he would have told them they were crazy.
She smiled and answered him. “Maybe we don’t.”
He suddenly realized eating at a hot dog stand with Alicia could top any five-star restaurant on his list.
Alicia helped Emily start the zipper on her flannel jacket, then zipped up her own against the cooler evening air. As Jon walked with them under the canopy of the shopping center past a row of shops, he tried to sort his thoughts. He hadn’t had a fountain milkshake since he was a teenager. He hadn’t enjoyed a restaurant meal so much in years. Emily had talked nonstop throughout the meal, spreading her napkins one after the other across the table and over her lap. When she’d spilled her water, Alicia hadn’t scolded but had signalled the waitress and encouraged Emily to help her mop up the water with fresh napkins. The quiet conversation he’d enjoyed with Alicia about her professional background while Emily concentrated on a chicken leg had been comfortable and more than pleasant. He couldn’t remember when he’d enjoyed a conversation with a woman more, or being with a woman more.
Why? Because she was Emily’s mother? No. Because she was a lady with a lot of class. A lady who awakened basic instincts. A lady who could cause more than a few complications in his life. Five years ago he’d decided he didn’t need a relationship with a woman for anything beyond the physical wants of both parties. But Alicia Fallon was making him reexamine his thinking; that in itself was unsettling him.
Suddenly Emily skipped in front of him and pointed to something in the window. “Look, Mommy. There’s that vase you like.”
Jon stooped down beside Emily as she pressed her nose against the glass. The object in her sight was an iridescent vase about nine inches tall. He glanced at Alicia. “Do you want to go in and look at it?”
Emily piped up. “We always do.”
He stood, took Emily’s hand and opened the door for Alicia. She preceded him inside.
The shop displayed a selection of collectibles. Some of them looked very old, and Jon realized it was an antique shop. Alicia picked up the vase, her thumb ridging the flower pattern.
“Didn’t I see dishes like that in your hutch?”
“Yes. I’ve been collecting for years. I now have four cups and saucers and five luncheon plates. But I find mine at yard sales and flea markets.”
His fingers grazed hers as he took the vase from her. The warmth of her skin tingled on his fingertips as he turned it upside down and glimpsed the price. It wouldn’t make a dent in his wallet, but he guessed it would in hers.
“Are there many of these around?”
“Some patterns in this type of glassware are easier to find than others. All of it is becoming more rare. Families are holding onto it. As you can see, this one’s in perfect condition, that’s why the price is so high. So I’ll just keep looking. You’d be surprised how the price goes down with one little chip.”
He didn’t want her to have a chipped vase, but a perfect one. Gently he set the vase on the shelf.
Jon drove back to Alicia’s, insisting on walking them to the door. Emily scurried inside then ran back to Jon. “Are you gonna read me a story?”
“I’d like to, honey. But I have to get back to the hotel. I’m expecting some phone calls. Maybe tomorrow. I’ll come over tomorrow night and work on the playhouse.”
“Okay. See ya.” She was off in a flash.
“I hope tomorrow night’s all right,” he said, for the first time in a long time considering someone’s schedule besides his own. He was entranced by the way Alicia’s lovely blond hair spilled over her forehead and waved gently around her face.
“It’s fine. We don’t have any plans. Gertie’s away this week, so I’ll probably be doing laundry tomorrow night.”
“If she’s away, who’s taking care of Emily?”
“I am. Gertie and her husband went to Williamsburg this week because I’m caught up. I have orders coming in, but not many appointments. Emily can color or play with her blocks while I work on a few design projects.”
More and more he admired Alicia and the way she handled her life. “You have it all under control, don’t you?”
She smiled. “I try.”
That smile of hers did the strangest things to him. It made him feel younger and more alive, as if dreams were still possible. He’d wanted to touch her hair since the first day he’d met her. Taking a lock, he savored its silkiness. “I enjoyed today, Alicia.”
The pulse at her throat fluttered rapidly. “Dinner was nice. I forget I need to socialize with adults.”
He brushed her cheek with his thumb. “You haven’t lost your touch.”
Always Daddy Page 6
