Brought Together by Baby

by Carolyne Aarsen

  She pushed the door open farther and saw the back of Eli’s blond head resting on the chair. As she walked into the room, she was arrested by the sight of this tall, lean man asleep in her father’s favorite chair, Gracie curled up in his arms.

  Eli looked curiously vulnerable. His hair had slipped over his forehead and his narrow features, relaxed in sleep, looked even more appealing than when he was awake.

  She had to resist the urge to brush his hair back from his face. To let her fingers trace his sleeping features. She sat down in the chair opposite, content, for now, just to watch.

  Then Gracie jerked in her sleep and Eli’s eyes opened suddenly. He looked around as if disoriented, blinking a few times. Then he saw Rachel and he relaxed back against the chair.

  “Sorry about that,” he said quietly, shifting Gracie into a more comfortable position.

  Rachel got up and gently took the limp child from his arms. “I’ll put her to bed.”

  He gave her a lazy smile. “And I’ll stay here,” he said, his voice still husky from sleep.

  Rachel walked slowly up the stairs, her mind trying to absorb the switch in her relationship with Eli. Things were moving quickly and she couldn’t keep up.

  Don’t analyze. Let go.

  She took her time settling Gracie in her bed, covering her properly. She checked the baby monitor to make sure it was on. Part of her wanted to stay up here, to think, to try to figure out what was happening.

  But overriding her natural caution was the desire to be with Eli. Alone.

  Eli had moved to the leather couch when she returned, but he was awake. She could have sat on the other chair. Maybe she should have. But the promise in his eyes pushed aside her second thoughts and made her curl up in the other corner of the couch, facing him.

  And to her surprise, for the first time all day, she felt as if she could truly let go. She didn’t need to think and plan.

  “Did she settle okay?” Eli asked, his voice a gentle rumble.

  “She barely even woke up.”

  “You don’t need to rush out there and schmooze with anyone else?”

  She shook her head. Reuben and Anita had it under control. She could really get used to this. No decisions, no pressure. Just visiting and now, time alone with Eli. Something she had thought about since she saw him come on to the grounds.

  “I can stay here for a while.”

  He said nothing, his eyes on her. She couldn’t look away and neither, it seemed, could he. Then he moved closer to her, cupped her face in his hands and delivered on the promise she had seen all afternoon in his eyes. He pulled her, unresisting, toward him, curved his arms around her and kissed her.

  Rachel’s heart leaped into her throat as she slipped her hands around his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair. When he drew away, she murmured a protest that made him laugh.

  “I’ve wanted to do that from the first moment I saw you today,” he said quietly, teasing her hair back from her face.

  She couldn’t say anything. She felt as if this moment was suspended in time, a bubble of emotions separate from the rest of her life. It had been so long since she’d been held by a man.

  Kissed by a man.

  “What’s happening here, Rachel?” Eli asked finally, his question bringing to life the feelings she had been trying to sort the past few weeks.

  “I don’t know.” For a change she didn’t want to analyze, plan or think. She just wanted to enjoy this moment. She was spending ordinary time with an attractive man and enjoying his company. She wanted to get to know him more. Already she had spoken with him of things she had hidden away even from herself.

  She had let him into a part of her life that she didn’t think she could face again.

  She had let him kiss her. And she wanted to kiss him again.

  And when he moved closer to her, her heart skittered and then slowed in anticipation.

  “Neither do I.” His fingers lingered on her face, his eyes following their path. “I just know that…” He sighed lightly, then took a deep breath. “I just know that I’ve never felt like this before. I didn’t think it could happen.”

  She heard the promise in his words. The invitation to respond. “I didn’t think you liked me when you first met me,” was all she could say.

  “Hey,” he said. “That was my line. I saw the way you looked at me when I pulled up beside you at the stop sign.”

  “That’s because you were riding a motorcycle.”

  “You did seem kind of sensitive about that.” He ran his fingers through her hair, rearranging their waves, making light shivers dance down Rachel’s spine at his touch.

  She felt as if she was slowly floating upward, like a kite on a string, moving to a place where someone else had control. Yet at the same time, feeling the freedom of having someone else involved in her life.

  The question echoed in her mind as she raised her gaze to his, reading the question in his eyes.

  Was she ready to let go? To involve him fully in her life?

  The thought made her feel a giddy combination of exhilaration and fear.

  If she were to kiss him now, what would happen? Would she be moving to a place she could retreat from?

  “Rachel, are you in here?” Meg’s voice called out from the kitchen, pulling Rachel back to reality.

  Eli caught her by the shoulders as if sensing her withdrawal. “Don’t answer. Pretend you’re not here,” he said quietly. Then he drew her close. Kissed her again.

  His action sent Rachel’s heart into a dive like a kite loose from its string. Out of control. She felt as if she had let herself float too far. Had conceded the solid grounding that had kept her from letting emotions rule her life.

  I can’t be here was her first thought. I can’t let myself feel like this again. Who will catch me if I fall?

  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”

  Rachel caught the verse, wishing she dared believe it enough to let go fully. Trouble was, she knew that things did not always go the way people wanted. Thoughts of LaReese’s child flitted through her head. Gracie. Keith, dying, while she prayed long and hard.

  She didn’t trust her own emotions. Nor was she sure if she was ready to trust God yet. “I don’t think we should—”

  “Don’t think we should what?”

  The puzzled note in his voice almost made her change her mind. She felt as if she had led him on, but at the same time she was so unsure of her feelings. So unsure of what to do. She didn’t know if she dared make herself vulnerable again. Dared open herself up willingly and knowingly.

  “Do this,” she said. Then, before she could change her mind, she called out, “I’m in here, Meg.”

  He lowered his arms, stepped away.

  And as he did she felt a wave of loneliness and regret. What had she done?

  “Have I misread the situation, Rachel?” he asked.

  As Rachel held his eyes, second thoughts assailed her. He was good, kind, gentle. And her feelings for him grew stronger each time she saw him.

  She just needed a bit of time to sort out her feelings. To find out where to put him in her life.

  But before she could deny his bald statement, before she could tell him what she needed, Meg came into the office, holding the hand of a boy, her son Chance.

  “Hey there,” she said, her eyes roaming knowingly from Eli to Rachel. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

  “No. Not at all.” Rachel smoothed her hair back from her face, then stopped, realizing how that looked. “Eli and I were just…”

  “Done,” Eli said, his gaze resting on Rachel as if questioning what she was doing. He nodded at Meg, then left.

  Meg watched him go, then looked back at Rachel. “Okay, I sensed a heavy subtext here. You going to tell me?”

  Rachel cleared her throat. Things were moving too fast. She needed to think. “You’re reading too much between the lines. Eli and I…well, we needed to talk about Gracie.” Not entirely true, but clos
e enough that Rachel could say it without blushing.

  She hoped.

  Meg gave her a direct look, then laughed. “You look flushed.”

  Guess not.

  “What did you need?” Rachel asked, moving the conversation to a place she could control.

  “Chance needed to go to the bathroom,” Meg said, her eyes holding a spark of mischief.

  “You know where it is.”

  “Oh, he’s done,” Meg said with a wave of her hand.

  “But Jared wants to take a picture of you with Mayor Morrow.”

  “I think he’s gone,” Rachel said, ushering Meg and Chance down the hallway, through the kitchen and then out of the house, feeling a sudden urge to get out of the room where she had opened herself up to Eli.

  The sun felt like liquid warmth flowing over her chilled skin. She strode away from the house.

  “Are you okay?” Meg asked, catching her friend by the arm and pinning her with a steady look. “You seem flustered, which is not the calm and in-control Rachel we know and want to change.”

  “I’m fine,” Rachel said, but she couldn’t meet her friend’s eyes. She was less than fine. She felt as if the solid foundations she had built for herself were slowly being eroded by God, by Eli, by life itself. She used to know exactly where she was going and where she hoped to end up. Now she wasn’t sure she was even headed in the right direction.

  She needed to explain to Eli why she had hesitated. Why she held back. Needed to explain her fear, and pray he would understand.

  But she couldn’t see him.

  “Pardon me?” she said, dragging her attention from the people scattered over the garden back to Meg, who had been talking to her.

  Meg raised her eyebrows. “Welcome back.”

  But Rachel didn’t reply.

  “Okay. Keep your little secrets. I was just complimenting you on how well things are going. And you seem to be a lot more relaxed.”

  Meg’s voice had a heavy undertone that Rachel chose to ignore. That Meg had found her and Eli together was, well, unfortunate. She wasn’t ready to bring the disparate parts of her life together yet. “I wouldn’t be surprised if my organized friend even ordered this beautiful weather.”

  “The picnic is under control thanks to my able assistants,” Rachel said, trying not to think of what she had done. Trying not to think that maybe she had lost something precious.

  She would just have to fix it, that’s all.

  She watched Chance scamper on ahead to where Jared sat with Luke. “As for the weather, well, I don’t have that much of an ‘in’ with God,” she said.

  “But I do hear that you’ve been back in church.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Been talking to Pilar, have you?”

  “We like to keep tabs on you.”

  “Nice to know.” In spite of the warmth of the sun, she shivered as she looked around for Eli one more time. “I suppose I should go and talk to Jared,” Rachel said, forcing a smile. “Do my part for Tiny Blessings.”

  “Tiny Blessings can use a positive image right about now,” Meg said shortly.

  Rachel turned back to Meg, her friend’s oblique comment distracting her from what had happened with Eli. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn.”

  But Rachel knew something was wrong. “What are you talking about?”

  Meg shook her head, then seemed to change her mind. “I’m a little concerned about the agency. Jared got an anonymous letter the other day from someone who claimed that the birth records at Tiny Blessings had been tampered with up to thirty-five years back. He checked with Kelly, who was quite upset, but she didn’t deny it.”

  Rachel frowned. “Kelly hadn’t said anything about it to me.”

  “Of course not. She’s trying to do major damage control. She found some files behind a false wall that had duplicate records showing some major inconsistencies. She doesn’t quite know what to do right now. All I know is that for now it’s very hush-hush.” Meg put a finger to her lips as they got closer to where Jared and their twin boys were playing.

  Twins had a special appeal about them, and when they were as young and cute as Luke and Chance were, a person couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t know how you tell them apart,” Rachel said, as one of the boys raced past her, chasing a ball that Jared had thrown for him.

  “I thought, because I had Luke to myself for so many years, that I would have no problem, but there are times they still catch me unawares.” Meg and Jared had both been married to other people when they adopted their boys. Two years later, divorced Meg and widowed Jared learned their sons were twins who were separated at birth. For the sake of the boys, the former high-school adversaries had gotten married, and in spite of a few bumps along the matrimonial trail, they were now truly in love. Rachel had envied them their devotion and affection. But now, as she watched Meg bend over to kiss her husband and Jared smile up at her, Rachel again felt Eli’s touch on her face.

  She glanced around the picnic grounds once more, hoping, wishing. Her heart fluttered when she finally caught sight of Eli’s blond head, his easy stance, his hands tucked in the back pockets of his jeans. He was talking to Kelly. And he was smiling at the attractive woman.

  And Rachel was jealous.

  At least he was still around. She needed to talk to him, to let him know how she felt.

  “Rachel, great to see you,” Jared said, getting up from the blanket he had been sitting at with one of the twins. “I hope you don’t mind having a few pictures taken.”

  Rachel pulled her reluctant attention back to Jared, who was taking a camera out of his bag. “No. No, that’s fine. I don’t mind.” She disliked the hesitant, breathless sound of her voice. Meg seemed to notice, as well, but Rachel refused to catch her curious gaze. “Where do you want me to be?” she asked.

  “Hey. There’s Kelly. We can do one with the two of you instead of with Mayor Morrow.”

  Jared led the way, and Rachel had no option but to follow.

  She drew in a long breath as she approached Kelly and Eli. But when Eli looked up at her, he wasn’t smiling.

  She obediently posed with Kelly, pretended to be talking to her while Jared took pictures. Chance and Luke got into the picture, as well, representing the children helped by Tiny Blessings.

  “So, Kelly, while I have you here,” Jared said, “I was hoping you could tell me a bit more about some of the problems with the records at Tiny Blessings.”

  Kelly threw a frown at him. “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “I heard that there were some discrepancies in the files.”

  “How could you have heard—” Kelly looked at Eli, then at Rachel, then Jared as if trying to connect the dots.

  “Did Ben tell you something?” she asked Eli.

  Eli shook his head. “About what?”

  Kelly turned back to Jared and seemed to make up her mind. “Yes, there have been some problems, but right now we don’t want a lot of false stories getting spread around. We’re still investigating and that’s all I can tell you.” Kelly seemed suddenly tense. “Please, Jared, I can arrange for something later on, but for now, this needs to be kept quiet.” Her gaze ticked over Meg, Rachel and Eli, almost pleading with them. “Please. Right now we just don’t have the manpower to deal with any panic that might come from false rumors being spread. So if you could keep this quiet, I would appreciate it. We are talking about a thirty-five-year history here. You can only imagine how many people could be adversely affected by false rumors.”

  Jared held her gaze as if testing her sincerity. “I can keep it quiet for now, but I’m not going to let this die, Kelly.”

  “Of course not. But until we have more information…”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll keep it quiet.”

  “As I’m sure will everyone else here,” Rachel said, reassuring her with a light touch on her arm. Meg nodded, too, but when Rachel turned to Eli, she saw he was walking away.

&nb
sp; Her chance was gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You should look at getting this sanded down and refinished,” Ben said, tapping his foot on the floor of Eli’s house. “It’s quality stuff.”

  “That’s the next project once these rooms are all done,” Eli said, grunting as he dropped an armful of scraps into a box in the middle of the room. They had just finished putting up the drywall in the last room of the house. All Eli needed to do now was call in the tapers and then the painter, and the upstairs would be finished. Ben’s daughter, Olivia, was staying overnight at a friend’s place, so Ben was free to help.

  “So why the big push?” Ben asked, brushing the white residue of the drywall off his pants. “You’ve been working pretty steadily on the house, but you’ve never asked for my help in the evenings before.” He stopped, then nodded. “Or does it have something to do with a certain Rachel Noble?”

  Eli kept quiet, knowing that anything he said would be misinterpreted by his brother. He swept up the rest of the scraps and dropped them into the box.

  “I heard that you were quite the cute couple, hanging around the grounds of the Noble estate.”

  Ben wasn’t going to quit, Eli realized. “I don’t know about the cute part, but yeah, we spent time together.”

  “She’s quite a catch, don’t you think?” Ben asked as he gathered up his tools.

  “I try not to think these days,” Eli returned, picking up the box. “It gets me into trouble.”

  Which wasn’t entirely true. Since the picnic, he hadn’t been able to get a number of things out of his mind. Since that moment in Rachel’s office, he had felt as if he’d been pushed back, set aside. Many times in the days that followed, he’d been tempted to phone her, to stop by the house.

  But he had resisted. He had opened himself up to Rachel, had thought she had done the same. But then, just when he practically told her exactly how he felt about her, she had stopped him cold. I don’t think we should. Then why had she allowed him to kiss her?

  And why was he still thinking about her? He had resolved to put her out of his mind. He was thankful that he had this house to work on. It kept his hands busy so he wouldn’t have to try to figure her out. He had cared for women before, but something about this one had made him willing to put aside his well-laid plans. Had made him willing to act like a fool.