by Holly Jacobs
Gabriel was still dancing around as she sprinted back into the living room. “Here,” she cried, giving him a little shove back onto the couch. She pressed the cool cloth over his red thigh. “I’m so, so sorry.”
The urge to cry was overwhelming. Most of the time she managed to just injure herself or inanimate objects with her clumsiness. Maiming innocent human beings mortified her.
She continued dabbing the cool cloth on his thigh. “I know, I know, you can’t wait until I’m gone, and I don’t blame you. I’m such a klutz. But I just want you to know I didn’t work for Trudi. I wouldn’t have lasted a week. I hate to speak ill of anyone, but your wife—”
“Ex-wife,” Gabriel tossed out between gritted teeth.
“Ex-wife is a witch. I was there for money. Oh, not that she paid me a salary or anything. No, I mean that’s my job, collecting money. I mean . . .”
Joy’s rapid monologue slowed, and she looked at her hands as if seeing them for the first time. She could feel the twin flames ignite her cheeks as she realized just where her hands had been.
“I’m so sorry,” she said again, jerking her hands off his thigh, feeling as if she were the one who’d been burned. “I’ll understand if you don’t want me to stay with Sophie, and I wouldn’t blame you.”
A red ball of fire interrupted her as it flung itself across the floor and slammed into Joy. “No! You can’t go!”
“Honey,” Joy whispered, allowing the child’s momentum to push her into a sitting position on the floor. “Honey, you know I have to go.”
“No!” she screamed again.
“No,” Gabriel said softly. “Our little mishap doesn’t change my request. And as for how it came that you were at Trudi’s, we’ll talk about it later.” He rose with more dignity than a man in coffee-splattered boxer shorts should be able to possess, and turned toward the stairs. “Now, I think I’ll go clean up. I suggest you two ladies do the same. Then we’ll meet back here and try to sort everything out so we’ll all be happy.”
“I won’t let Joy go.” Sophie stood, her lips stubbornly set as she glared at her father.
Gabriel sank to his knees in front of Sophie. “And I love you enough not to ask you to let her go for now. Joy will have to get back to her own life sooner or later, but we’ll see if we can convince her to make it a little later, okay?”
Sophie looked surprised as she slowly nodded her agreement.
“There. Now, let’s all get going. I took today off, but I have to be in the office tomorrow, so we’ve got a lot to settle and straighten out.”
That said, Gabriel St. John stood and walked up the stairs.
“Daddy was in his underwear,” Sophie whispered. She started to giggle.
Joy tried not to, but couldn’t help herself. She giggled, too. “Yes, he certainly was in his underwear. They were kind of cute, though, don’t you think?”
“Not as cute as my fairy princess undies,” Sophie assured her quite seriously.
Joy grinned. “Oh, never as cute as fairy princess undies.” Fairy princesses made Joy think of her fairy godmothers. Where were they when she needed them? If they had interceded, they could have saved her untold embarrassment and Gabriel third degree burns. Fairy underwear was probably more useful than fairy godmothers, she thought peevishly. “I can’t imagine anything could be as cute as your undies.”
“Yeah, but his were almost as cute. We can tell him after he comes back down,” Sophie suggested.
Joy smothered her giggles. “I don’t think that would be wise.” A picture of Gabriel’s boxer clad body flitted through her mind’s eye. He did look more than a little cute. That boxer clad body was one that she was sure to see again in her dreams.
Hot, sweaty dreams.
“No, I don’t think it would be wise at all.” Joy scooped up Sophie and started up the stairs. “Let’s get dressed, and then we’ll work this all out.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“NOW,” GABRIEL SAID. “I think you and I need to get things straightened out.”
Sophie was engrossed in a cartoon, and the two adults sat at the breakfast island, sipping new cups of coffee.
“Let’s start again. I’m Gabriel St. John. You brought my daughter and custody papers to me. You were at Trudi’s getting money, but you don’t work for her? A houseguest, but not a friend?”
Joy took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes. I’m Joy Aaronson. Actually, I’m Delphina Joy Aaronson, but with Delphina for a first name, you can well imagine why I go by Joy.”
Gabriel was back to his stony countenance, but his dark eyes looked a little more at ease. “Yes, I guess being a Delphina would be rather burdensome.”
“More than that, being a Delphina is pure hell.” She was slightly encouraged by his warmer attitude and continued. “I work for Ripples. We’re a nonprofit organization. We do a little of this and that.”
“Ripples?” he murmured, as if it sounded familiar.
“You might have heard of us. We support Squirts, a camp for inner-city kids. And Lily’s Pond, a shelter for abused women. We have our fingers in a bunch of other little projects, as well as individual interventions. But all of that takes money.”
“You raise it,” he supplied.
Joy nodded, pleased they were finally communicating. “Yes. I’m good at it, although it’s been getting a little old lately. I’ve been training a new girl to take over as the fund-raiser. I’m hoping to take a more managerial position in the organization in the future.”
“You were a guest at one of Trudi’s infamous parties, raising money, and she actually had the nerve to ask you to bring Sophie to me?”
“Well, Sophie and I had hit it off right from the start . . .” She smiled at the memory. “There was something in her eyes that touched me. I think your ex-wife realized that Sophie and I had connected, and that’s why she asked me to bring Sophie here.” Realizing she was defending a woman she could barely stomach, Joy shrugged. “She was desperate. She paid for my expenses and wrote a hefty check to Ripples.” Her voice softened. “I’m glad she asked me.”
Gabriel smiled. Just like last night, Joy was struck with how just an upturn of his lips changed his entire look. He probably didn’t have near enough practice at it, and that was a shame because it was a beautiful sight to behold.
The image of Gabriel wearing only a smile and his boxer shorts flitted unwillingly through her mind and left her feeling flushed. Joy took another fortifying gulp of coffee and tried to put images of Gabriel out of her head. She was here for Sophie.
“I’m glad Trudi asked you as well. But how can you stay, even for the short time it will take me to find someone else to babysit Sophie?”
“Well, I think it’s time for Diane, that’s my trainee, to solo. I can manage a couple weeks.” Joy could only imagine what her family would say about her offering to stay two weeks in the same house with a man she’d just met. She’d always been impulsive, but this was even a bit much for her. She felt nervous and added, “I mean, if you need me that long.”
“I remember where I’ve heard of Ripples. There was an article in the paper a couple months ago about the organization’s interventions that brought a little girl from . . .”
“Mexico,” Joy supplied. “She needed surgery on a cleft lip and palate. It went fine, by the way. She went home to her parents a few weeks ago. Her smile is one of the things that makes my job so worthwhile.”
“I seem to recall the article mentioned the founder of Ripples. I didn’t pay attention to her name at the time, but I believe it mentioned she started the organization and pretty much still runs things.”
Joy was never comfortable with praise. The article, while good for Ripples, had embarrassed her. She tried to laugh it off. “Yeah, she’s amazing.”
Gabriel gav
e her a searching look, and slowly a smile blossomed. “Yes, I’m beginning to suspect that she is.”
Joy’s discomfort increased. She didn’t feel as if what she did was all that special, and having people make a fuss over it unnerved her. “So, we’re settled? I mean, you want me to stay until you find someone else?”
“Yes. I’d very much like to have you stay. It’s obvious Sophie adores you.”
Joy thought back to their first meeting. “I think Sophie desperately wanted someone to care, and I just happened to be there.”
“And I wasn’t there.” His voice echoed pain as he said the words, but there was anger on his face. Then he seemed to rein in his emotions. “I’m glad you were there and that you cared. That’s a rare thing, Joy. A very rare thing.”
Gabriel got up and walked into the kitchen. Joy sat at the table and watched him retreat. His shoulders were stooped, and he wore an aura of sadness.
There was nothing Joy hated more than seeing someone sad. She wanted the people that surrounded her to be happy. It was as simple as that. And sometimes it was as difficult as that.
It looked like she was going to have her work cut out for her with Sophie and Gabriel but, one way or another, Gabriel and Sophie were going to be happy. Whether they liked it or not.
Suddenly Joy thought about the fairies. She hoped they’d take a two-week hiatus before starting their matchmaking. She had waited almost three decades to find the love of her life. What was two more weeks? She’d just explain things to them. They would understand. After all, they’d said they cared about Sophie.
She went to her room and shut the door. “Myrtle? Fern? Blossom?” She’d never called the fairies before. Would they come?
“Of course we’ll come. It’s part of the job description.”
Fern was the first to appear. She was wearing a forest green chenille robe and sipping a cup of . . .
“Coffee?” Joy asked.
“Like you, I believe caffeine is the fifth food group.”
The other two fairies popped into the room. Blossom wore neon-yellow, fuzzy-footed pajamas. Myrtle was the only one dressed. “Girls,” she tsked. Within in the blink of an eye, the other two fairies were dressed as well.
“You called?” Myrtle asked.
“I needed to let you know that your plans will have to wait. You see, I’ve promised to stay with Sophie until Gabriel can make other arrangements. I just dropped Sophie on him and . . .” She paused. “I know you have plans, but we’ll just have to put them on hold a couple weeks.”
“Don’t worry,” Blossom soothed.
“But, like I said, I’m staying here, not going home to Chicago.”
Blossom looked puzzled. “But here is right where we want you.”
“Blossom!” Myrtle yelled.
“You mean . . .” Joy couldn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t like where she suspected this conversation was going.
“Gabriel,” Blossom continued, oblivious to Fern and Myrtle’s angry stares. “He needs you. Sophie needs you.”
“Gabriel needs me.”
“Of course Gabriel.”
“But—” Joy stopped. All three fairies were gone. “Cowards. Come back here. This isn’t finished.”
The room remained empty. Well, if they thought this issue was settled, they were wrong. Wait. The fairies hadn’t said Gabriel was the one they were matching her up with. They’d only said he needed her.
Joy felt a surge of what could only be disappointment, but she quickly pushed it aside. She wasn’t looking for love, wasn’t looking for a happily-ever-after for herself. No, she was looking for happily-ever-afters for Sophie, and now she had the opportunity to find one for her little kindred spirit.
Besides, the idea of Gabriel falling in love with her was laughable. Anyone could see that he wasn’t the type of man who would be interested in her. She was too short, too round and too . . . well, too normal. The Gabriel St. Johns of the world wanted someone more like Trudi. Tall, sleek, stylish and definitely not ordinary.
Maybe the fairies were gone for the duration of her visit. Joy hoped so.
“So, are you staying?”
The door opened, and Sophie ran in full speed. Joy opened her arms as easily as she had opened her heart.
“I’m staying, for a little while,” she said as she hugged the child.
“Forever.”
Setting Sophie back on the ground, Joy knelt beside her. “Honey, I’m staying for a few days, just until your dad finds someone else. Then I have to go. But, no one can ever take you out of my heart.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Come on, girls, we’ve got work to do,” Gabriel called from the kitchen.
“I’m not a girl, I’m a woman,” Joy hollered back as they started down the stairs.
“Oh, no, not one of those mad women libbers?”
“No, just a woman who knows who she is and what she wants,” Joy assured him.
“What do you want, Joy?”
Gabriel’s question might have been casual, but as Joy looked at Sophie, she felt her heart constrict. She thought of the fairies. They were wrong. No matter how much Sophie meant to her, no matter how quickly Gabriel could raise her blood pressure, it wasn’t enough. She might need to be needed, but she wanted something more than that from her happily-ever-after.
Infusing her voice with a lightness she didn’t feel, Joy said, “I want to get all this work done so we can play.”
“Work it is. I’m always pleased to give my girls what they want.”
“Women,” Joy and Sophie both said in unison. Joy high-fived the little girl.
Gabriel shook his head. “I can see you’ve already corrupted my sweet little Sophie.”
Joy put thoughts of the fairies and their ridiculous scheme out of her mind as they carried box after box into the house. “How on Earth did you get all this into your truck?” Gabriel grumbled.
Joy looked smug. “I’m a great packer. I’ve had lots of experience, after all.”
Gabriel grunted as he leaned the box against the house and opened the door. “Every state?”
“Except Alaska. And I was thinking there must be some money rattling around up there and waiting for me to scoop it up.” Joy propped the door open with her foot and nodded for Gabriel to go in.
“Are those my Barbies?” Sophie cried.
“It’s heavy enough that I’m thinking it might be bowling balls.” Joy sagged a little under the imaginary weight. “How many did you put in here, anyway?”
Sophie giggled. “I don’t have any bowling balls.”
“Are you sure? I mean, you seem to have everything else packed in these boxes. I’m sure you must have at least a bowling ball or two.” Joy plopped the box onto Sophie’s bed.
Sophie shook her head, her twin braids swaying. “Nope.”
“Well,” Gabriel said, “we’ll just have to take care of that. Bowling is quite the American pastime, and everyone one should have their own bowling ball.”
“And their own bowling shoes. Wearing someone else’s is so gross.” Joy held her nose and put on her most disgusted face.
Sophie giggled. “I’ve never been bowling.”
As if Sophie’s statement was finally registering, Gabriel made an incredulous face. “You’re not serious, are you?” Nervously, Sophie nodded. “You mean, I’m your father, and I’ve never in your entire life taken you bowling?”
Sophie’s head shook even more slowly, and Gabriel’s own echoed her motion. “I should be forced to eat pizza once a week for the next month.”
Joining in the spirit of things, Joy tried to look stern. “Starting tonight, right?”
Seriously, Gabriel nodded. “Tonight. And of course we’ll have to get it with lots
of cheese and pepperoni, which are Sophie’s favorites. I’ll just have to torture myself by accepting it.”
“And of course you hate cheese and pepperoni?” Joy asked. The stony man she’d met yesterday had disappeared. In his place was a laughing, fun-loving man—a man Joy suspected she could easily like. Very, very easily. Thinking of the fairies, she mentally added, but nothing more than like. He needed her. That’s what they said. He just needed her until he could find someone else to care for Sophie.
Gabriel looked at Joy in mock horror. “Oh, gross. Please, don’t make me eat it. I’ll take you bowling this week. I’ll even buy you your own shoes, but just don’t make me eat pepperoni.”
“What do you say, Sophie?” The little girl looked unsure. “Come here, I’ll tell you what.” Joy leaned down and whispered into Sophie’s ear. When they straightened, she looked very seriously at Gabriel. “We’ve decided pizza once a week for a month isn’t enough.”
“No?” Gabriel asked.
“No. We’ve decided that you need . . .”
Joy and Sophie both roared, “A tickle party.”
“Get him,” Joy shouted. She watched as Sophie attacked with all the verve of a six-year-old.
Gabriel put up a valiant fight, but in the end he was reduced to teary laughter.
“I won,” Sophie yelled.
“Yeah, you showed him. I bet he’ll never dare not teach you how to bowl again.”
“Never,” Gabriel swore, raising his hand to seal the vow. “But, I think people who instigate fights should be prepared to suffer the consequences.”
“You wouldn’t,” Joy said, edging her way off the bed.
“Would, too.”
She took a step toward the door. “We’ve only just met. My brothers at least gave me a few years to get to know them before they started torturing me.”
“Ah, those were brothers, I’m a . . .” he groped for a word.
“Friend?” Joy supplied as she sprinted out the door. She raced down the stairs with Sophie and Gabriel hot on her trail. She stopped on the far end of the couch.
Circling warily, she said, “Sophie, you’re supposed to be my kindred spirit. Why are you helping your non-bowling father capture me?”
