by Judy Duarte
When he entered her, making them one, she arched up to meet his thrusts. And as she peaked, as her nails dug into his shoulders, she called out his name, sending him over the edge of control.
They came together in one amazing kaleidoscope of color, then held on to each other, riding the ebb and flow of the wonder-filled moment to the very end.
Finally, as their breathing slowed to normal, Angie opened her eyes and smiled. “That was amazing.”
“To say the least.” Toby pressed a kiss on her forehead. “And I have to admit, it was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
“Sometimes,” Angie said, as she ran a leg along his, “the right decision can’t be made with a list and a spreadsheet. Sometimes you just have to follow your heart.”
He’d followed his—right into Angie’s arms. Trouble was, he feared she’d captured his heart and that he might never get it back, even if she decided she was no longer interested in what little he had to offer her.
* * *
After walking naked through the quiet house to the kitchen for the carton of ice cream to share in bed, they made love several times before finally falling to sleep in the wee hours of morning.
The next day, as sunlight peered through the open shutters of his bedroom window, Toby awoke with Angie in his arms, the tousled sheet doing very little to cover her naked body. There was no telling when they’d have the house to themselves again, so he decided to wake her with a kiss.
But before he could nuzzle her neck, the bedside telephone rang, dashing his romantic thoughts.
Angie shot up in bed, pulling the sheet with her, as if the ringing phone had not only awoken her but reminded her their night in paradise had ended.
Toby snatched the telephone receiver after the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Justin said, his voice so loud Angie could undoubtedly hear. “What are you doing? Grandma made us wait until eight o’clock to call you, but we’ve been up since six.”
Bless his mom for putting a time restriction on the morning wake-up call, but would waiting another thirty minutes have hurt?
Angie began to inch off the bed, a pink tint brightening her cheeks. She had a history of running off on him when they’d been caught in an intimate position, and Toby wasn’t going to let her slip away from him this time. Not after last night. So he made a grab for the sheet she was tugging along with her, and she tumbled back to the mattress, practically landing on him.
A muffled “oomph” sounded from her lips, as he locked his arm around her and pulled her close.
“What was that noise?” Justin asked.
Before Toby could make up a reasonable explanation, Brian yelled, “Don’t forget to tell Toby about the baseball game!”
“Oh, yeah,” Justin said. “The reason I called was because Uncle Galen has tickets for the Lubbock Hubbers game today and said he would give them to us. So can we go? And can we invite Angie? Galen has five tickets, and the game starts at one. So can we? Please?”
Toby wondered how his brother had magically come up with exactly five tickets to a minor-league baseball game the morning after his sisters had concocted a plan to get him and Angie alone together for the night. Somehow, it didn’t seem like a coincidence.
He put his hand over the mouthpiece and whispered, “You want to go with us to the ball game?”
Angie’s second of hesitation was all he needed to make the decision for her. After all, she’d been the one to tell him to follow his heart. So now, in the aftermath of their incredible night together, he was going to keep following his. And he was going to encourage her to do the same.
“Okay, kiddo,” he told Justin. “I’ll call Angie at her house and ask her if she wants to go with us. Then I’ll go by her house to get her before I swing by Grandma and Grandpa’s house to pick up you guys.”
He wondered if he’d gotten his point across that Angie wasn’t with him.
But Justin didn’t seem to care either way. All he said was “Don’t forget to bring our gloves. I’m going to catch the first foul ball!”
“I won’t forget.”
When they’d said goodbye and the call ended, Toby went back to his very first catch of the day—a beautiful brunette he hoped wouldn’t run off on him anytime soon.
Chapter Ten
Toby, Angie and the kids had a blast at the baseball game on Sunday, although Kylie, who’d eaten too much cotton candy, popcorn and too many mustard dogs, had thrown up in Toby’s truck on the way home. But both Angie and Toby had gotten used to unpleasant surprises like that—and to rolling with the unexpected punches of life with children.
In fact, it seemed only natural for them to settle into a routine, with Angie spending more time at Toby’s than at her own place.
However, Toby was expecting a visit from child services and thought it best to downplay their relationship. Angie, of course, agreed with him, especially since she wasn’t sure how involved she wanted to be with him and the kids anyway. So she didn’t spend the night with him again. But that didn’t mean they weren’t able to steal a kiss or enjoy a tender-but-secret embrace whenever they could.
For the next week, they tried to be discreet about the change in their relationship, but their happiness was hard to contain, and the secret began to leak out.
On the following Monday, while the kids were in school, Toby took lunch to her while she was working at Redmond-Fortune Air. She’d stayed so late at the ranch the night before, making out with him on the front porch after the kids went to sleep, that by the time she’d driven home, she’d barely gotten any sleep. And she’d hurried to work without having breakfast.
When Toby had called that morning and learned her alarm hadn’t gone off, he’d known she’d be hungry. So he came sauntering in to the flight school carrying a take-out bag from The Grill.
Angie’s heart melted at the sight of him, and her stomach growled at the aroma of pastrami and fries.
“What’s in the bag?” Sawyer asked his cousin.
“I figured you weren’t making enough money to feed your employees,” Toby said. “So I brought Angie’s lunch.”
“Well, it’s nice to see you’ve stopped using the kids as a pretense to schmooze with my most valuable employee.”
“I brought one for you, too.” Toby tossed one of the wrapped sandwiches to his cousin. “Maybe this will keep your mouth too busy to talk.”
Sawyer laughed as he snatched the flying pastrami. “You’re going to be buying a lot of extra lunches if you think you can keep the whole town from talking.”
Sawyer had been right about that. Angie had heard a few murmurs while she’d worked at the Superette the next day, although no one came right out and said anything directly to her.
Of course, Mr. Murdock did when she was getting ready to leave for work on Wednesday morning.
“Why don’t you take my car,” he said, pulling out his set of keys. “Leave yours here, and I’ll change the oil for you. When I’m finished, I’ll come down to the market and we’ll trade.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Mr. Murdock. Thank you.”
“I thought it’d be a shame if you had car trouble and got stranded on the road.” He burst into a grin, then winked at her. “No telling how many miles you’ve logged on that car by driving out to that ranch at all hours of the day and night.”
She could have downplayed the whole thing, but she realized people weren’t dumb, especially the ones who knew her so well. The fact was, she was falling for Toby. And that was going to be tough to hide.
But would their happiness last? She hoped so, but she feared they were living in their own little bubble and that reality would eventually intrude.
She just hadn’t realized it would happen so soon.
That very afternoon, following her
yoga class and Justin’s swim lesson—which, thankfully, went off without a hitch!—she entered Toby’s kitchen to find him gazing out the window, his hands braced on either side of the sink.
The cordless phone sat on the counter beside the forgotten chicken-and-rice casserole she’d left for him to pop into the oven.
This wasn’t good.
Angie told Justin to do his homework and to tell the other kids they’d be eating in thirty minutes. Then she placed the casserole in the preheated oven herself.
When Toby still hadn’t moved or otherwise acknowledged her presence, she walked up behind him, slid her arms around his waist and pressed her face to his back. “I’m here if you want to talk about whatever’s bothering you.”
Toby turned and gathered her into his arms. “I know. And I love having you here. It’s just that...” He blew out a sigh. “I got a call from child services. I need to talk to you about it, but not until after the kids go to bed.”
The sound of a heated argument rising up in the family room about whose turn it was to use the computer forced Angie to lower her arms and ease out of their embrace.
“Do you want referee duty?” she asked. “Or would you prefer to make the salad?”
“I’d rather putter around in the kitchen alone until I can manage a happy face.”
Uh-oh. That phone call hadn’t been a good one.
She placed a hand on his cheek, felt the light bristle of his beard, then drew his lips to hers for a quick kiss. “I’ve got your back, Toby. Don’t worry about the kids. I’ll keep them busy until dinner is on the table.”
Then she walked to the family room, where an old laptop had been set up for the kids to use for homework assignments.
I love having you here, he’d said.
Did that mean he loved her? Or that he just loved having her help?
They’d spent so much time together since they’d made love, which would lead Angie to believe that Toby definitely wanted to be with her. Yet, they hadn’t had the opportunity for a repeat performance of that magical night, so she was feeling more insecure than she would’ve liked.
But within minutes of entering the family room, her insecurities disappeared. She was too busy setting time limits on the computer, helping Kylie with her word search and explaining the different biospheres to Brian. Then, of course, she had to explain to Justin that while she didn’t mind inviting Mr. Murdock to dinner so he could share more war stories, tonight wasn’t a good night for them to have company.
It was funny, though. When she was with Brian, Justin and Kylie, all of the other pressing details in life seemed so inconsequential. These sweet kids needed her and were way more important than her shift at the Superette or her mother’s wish to see her married off.
As she herded the children and their freshly washed hands toward the kitchen table, she noticed that Toby had managed to slap on a smile of sorts.
However, he’d also added strawberries to the Caesar salad. Yuck. He knew better than that.
She suspected the telephone call with child services must have really knocked him off-balance because, despite his forced smile and attempts at conversation over dinner, he asked Brian several times what game they’d played during PE today. And then he promised Kylie that she could invite her three best friends to The Cuttery for a beauty makeover day tomorrow, just like Madison Rodriguez had done when it was her birthday.
How was he going to pull that off? Angie had already told him she was having brunch with her mom in Lubbock tomorrow, so she couldn’t help him.
She supposed he’d have to ask Jeanne Marie, Deke or one of his sisters to help out, which made Angie feel a little insignificant. But she scolded herself for the crazy thought and shook it off.
What was the matter with her? She deserved a break, didn’t she? And besides, shouldn’t his mother or his sisters help him out once in a while?
As soon as dinner was over, she handled the bedtime duties alone, while Toby stayed in the kitchen to clean up.
When she finally returned, she stood in the doorway and watched him go through the motions, his mind still clearly on anything but what he was doing, as he wiped the casserole dish over and over again.
“I think that’s as dry as it’s going to get,” she said. “Just leave everything and come with me.”
When she reached out her hand to him, he laid the baking dish and towel on the counter. Then he let her lead him outside to the porch, where they took seats on the cushioned patio bench.
While she listened to the ranch sounds at night—cattle lowing, crickets chirping—she waited for him to share what had been weighing on his mind.
Finally, he said, “Ms. Fisk, the kids’ case worker, called. Their aunt Barbara isn’t ready to leave rehab, but she’s been pushing hard to have the children shipped out of state to live with her cousin, a guy who’s out on parole and who’s never even met them.”
The news slammed into Angie like a line drive to the chest, and her stomach twisted. Toby stood to lose the kids? What would that do to them?
What would it do to him?
Oh, God. What would it do to her? She’d grown to love them, to care for them. To want the best for them....
“Did the case worker think that could happen?” she asked. “I mean, they’re doing so well.”
“She said it was unlikely, but that it could happen. I’ve read about cases that went badly. And bottom line? I’m just their foster dad. I’m not their blood kin, so I don’t have much legal standing.”
Angie took his hand in hers, letting him know that she was here for him, that she was worried and hurting, too.
“Did you tell the case worker your concerns?” she asked. “Did you mention how well they’re doing, and that uprooting them wouldn’t be good for them?”
“I laid out every argument I could think of. And she agreed with me, but her hands are somewhat tied. Apparently, that long-lost cousin in California wants to petition for adoption. And Ms. Fisk thinks the court would rather see the kids in a permanent home than in foster care.”
Angie’s stomach tossed and turned as she tried to make sense of it all.
“Why would a guy in California suddenly want to adopt three kids he’s never even met?” she asked. “That seems like a mighty big step for someone to take.”
“I agree. And I hope the judge will consider that question, too. That trust fund could very well be motivating both Barbara and her cousin to seek custody, especially since she knew about my mom’s long-lost brother and her connection to the Fortunes. She’d also heard about the incident at the YMCA.”
Angie stiffened, and her fingers, still held in the warmth of Toby’s hands, grew cold. “You mean she heard about the day I flipped out and the paramedics were called?”
If she’d somehow caused a black mark upon Toby’s case, she’d never forgive herself.
“I don’t think the incident at the Y had anything to do with Barbara’s call to child services and the petition for adoption. But someone in town has been feeding her rumors. And knowing her, the one rumor that she may have heard, the one that may have really caused a stir in her, was the one about the kids’ trust fund.”
“But you’re the trustee. Don’t you control the money?”
“That’s the problem. I’m the trustee, but the kids’ legal guardian is in charge of the monthly payments they receive—and they’re substantial. Those classes and all the extras I’ve been providing them aren’t free. Barbara may not know all of the details, but I’m certain she’s after whatever money is available to her.”
“That’s too bad.” Angie thought about how her own mother seemed more interested in earning a dollar than in being a stay-at-home mom.
“I’d never planned on using that money for myself,” Toby said. “That’s why I set it up for their guardian to hav
e control of the monthly income. I didn’t mind who had access to it, as long as they were looking out for the kids’ best interests. But I hadn’t realized Barbara’s problems and issues went deeper than her alcohol dependency.”
“And now there’s her cousin to contend with,” Angie added. “Who knows what kind of problems he has. Or what kind of parent or guardian he’d be.”
“I’ve done some online research,” Toby said. “And I can’t believe any judge in their right mind would think that guy should have custody of them. The last thing they need right now is to move to a home with a man they don’t know, a man who’s on parole and can’t even work at a hospital anymore because of whatever crime he was convicted of. And while I realize he may have paid his debt to society, those poor kids have had enough instability and unhappiness in their lives.”
“So what are w...?” Angie cleared her throat, then coughed before she fully pronounced “we.” The kids and Toby had become a big part of her life recently, but she wasn’t entirely sure where she fit into their lives—at least, in the long run.
She cleared her throat again, then continued with the corrected version of her question. “So what do you plan to do?”
“If it comes to fighting for custody, Ms. Fisk thinks I can win, but she isn’t sure. And a ‘maybe’ isn’t good enough for me. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. So I’m giving the court another option. I’m going to talk to an attorney in Lubbock who specializes in family law. And then I’m going to petition for adoption myself. I’ll show that I’m much better suited to raise those kids than some ex-con way out in California or a greedy aunt who can’t seem to follow the rules in rehab.”
While glad that Toby had a game plan and that he felt more hopeful now than when she’d first arrived, Angie’s shoulders slumped and she couldn’t stanch the wave of disappointment that swept through her.
She might not have known where she fit into Toby’s life, but apparently he did.
He’d just spelled out exactly what he planned to do, saying, “I.”
