by Cathie Linz
“I was in the area and I saw the minivan here. I thought you worked during the week.”
“Ashley had the flu, but she’s all better now.”
“I should examine her,” Bruce declared.
“You’re a heart surgeon, not a general practitioner,” Kayla reminded him. “You haven’t treated any patients with flu since the first year we were married.” Kayla had often thought that the reason Bruce wanted to be a surgeon was because his patients were unconscious most of the time he dealt with them, therefore they couldn’t argue with him.
“I still think I’d better examine her,” Bruce arrogantly said.
“I think you’d better not,” Jack said from right behind him.
Startled, Bruce turned to face him. “Who are you?”
“My fiancé,” Kayła said. “Jack, this is my ex-husband, Bruce White.”
Bruce looked at Jack and then at Kayla. “When did you get engaged?”
“On Valentine’s Day,” Jack said, taking the steps in a single bound and joining Kayla in the doorway to face Bruce. “A real romantic day, don’t you think?”
“I think I’d better check on my daughter. I’m a doctor.”
“She’s already had a pediatrician see her,” Kayla said.
“You can’t stop me from seeing my own child,” Bruce growled.
Kayla sighed. She was too tired for this. She was practically punchy from lack of sleep. “I’m not doing that. I just wish you’d called first.”
Eyeing the spiffy suit Bruce was wearing, Jack decided to try another tactic. “Hey, if you want to see her, that’s mighty paternal of you. She’s probably done with her projectile vomiting thing, but then you’re a doctor and must be used to that kind of stuff. Your suit is probably washable, right?”
“I thought you said she was better,” Bruce accused Kayla.
“She is.”
“Well, maybe I will wait,” Bruce decided with a nervous look at his suit lapels. “I just wanted to make sure you got the letter from my attorney.”
“Yes, I got it. And forwarded it on to my attorney.”
“Legal fees can get pretty expensive,” Bruce warned her.
“That’s not a problem,” Jack said.
Bruce glared at him. “What do you do for a living?”
“Fight fires.”
“Last I heard, that wasn’t a real high-paying job.”
“I don’t think it’s ethical for a guy to do something just for the money,” Jack countered. “Do you?”
Bruce flushed at Jack’s implication. “You don’t know anything.”
Jack put his arm around Kayla’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I know gold when I find it.” Looking at Bruce, he added, “And manure when I see it.”
“This isn’t over,” Bruce told Kayla, his eyes glittering with anger. “Have Ashley ready at two on Saturday for me to pick her up.”
“Nice guy,” Jack mockingly noted after he’d gone.
“You don’t want to come in here.” she warned him.
“Why’s that? Aha, you messed the place up to make me feel at home. Nice,” Jack said approvingly, as he moved a board game, a stuffed elephant and an empty cartoon video box to clear a space for himself on the couch. “And speaking of home, we’ve got an appointment tomorrow with that Realtor I told you about.”
“I have to work tomorrow. I’ve already been off for three days taking care of Ashley. I can’t keep expecting Diane to take care of everything.”
“Diane warned me you’d say that. She said to call her and she’d convince you.”
Kayla narrowed her eyes at him. “You do recall that I don’t like being ordered around, right?”
“Right. That’s why I’m going to let Diane order you around instead of doing it myself.”
Kayla tried not to give in to the grin he was flashing at her, but it was no use.
“Just sit down and rest a minute,” Jack said, tugging her down onto the couch beside him. Since there was so little clear space, she ended up on his lap.
“It doesn’t feel like resting is what you have on your mind,” she noted, aware of his arousal as she was draped across his thighs.
“No?” he countered, the gleam in his eyes downright wicked. “Then what does it feel like?”
“Ummm...” She wiggled her fanny against him. “Feels like someone is up to no good.”
“No good?” he retorted with an exaggerated expression of outraged hurt. “I’d say it was pretty damn good...” he murmured, nibbling on her bottom lip while cupping her breast in his large hand.
Kissing her only made him want her more, but he did it, anyway. Just as holding her in his lap this way was part heaven and part hell. Jack had hoped—now that they were engaged—that their bodies could be engaged beneath the sheets. But no such luck. He had to make do with these snatches of passion.
She wanted him, he could taste it in the thrust of her tongue, feel it in the pebble hardness of her nipple against his palm, hear it in those breathless little gasps she made in between his kisses. Her response made it all the more difficult for him to hold back. So he didn’t.
In the beginning Kayla had thought that a month seemed like a reasonable length for an engagement. But the time was flying by. Her attorney had gotten the court date on the custody hearing pushed back to May first and was busily preparing Kayla’s case. Jack had gone with Kayla the last time she’d seen Jean, and the two had gotten along very well, with Jack contributing some good ideas to the discussion.
As for the wedding...there was so much to do, not the least of which was to find a place to live. Jack’s apartment was only a one-bedroom and Kayla’s rental house was postage stamp size. It was Jack’s idea to look for a new place, a place to buy and call their own.
Kayla was merely humoring him. Not because she didn’t want to move, she did, but because she didn’t think they had a chance of finding a place their first time out. But Jack remained confident.
He was also looking fit and healthy. She knew he’d had some physical therapy for his leg during the past few weeks, but he didn’t tell her much other than the fact that the physical therapist would give Attila the Hun a run for his money. He’d resumed most of his duties at the firehouse now and would be returning to complete active duty after the wedding.
The wedding. It wasn’t sinking in yet, despite the preparations that had been made for it, despite the fact that the big event was a mere two weeks away. But today she had to focus on the matter at hand—house hunting.
“Did you make your list of what you were looking for in a house?” she asked him as they drove to the Realtor’s office.
“Yeah.” He reached inside his coat and pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket. He’d written it on the margin of the funny pages from the Chicago Sun-Times. There were only two things listed, a price range and a basement with lots of room. “What about your list? What did you put on it?”
She reached into her oversize bag to remove her ever-present notepad. She ticked off the requirements with her fingers. “Two bathrooms, one of them large. Southern or western exposure. Walk-in closets, and that’s a biggie because my rental house has zip storage space, which has been driving me nuts since I moved there. Also very important is location, it has to be in a good neighborhood for Ashley. Oh, and a fenced yard for her to play in.”
When she showed her list to the Realtor, the woman shook her head and said, “You may have to be a little more flexible on some of these, but we’ll see what we can find.”
They looked at half a dozen places without any luck.
“I told you we weren’t going to find a place this fast,” Kayla told Jack before they headed back to the Realtor’s car for the next stop. “There’s no way we’re going to find the perfect house, or even the close-enough house, in one day. People can search for months before finding something.”
“We’re not done yet.”
The next house was very nice, but much too expensive.
The Realtor was getting testy, and so was Kayla.
As they drove on, Jack noticed a house for sale a few blocks away. “What about that one?” he asked.
It looked nondescript and a little on the small side from the front, but the Realtor stopped and placed a call on her car phone. “The price is within your range and it does have a basement. We can take a look at it now if you’d like. The owners have already moved out. A business transfer. It’s only been on the market a week.”
“There’s a tree in the back,” Kayla noted cautiously.
As soon as she walked into the house and saw the open floor plan leading to a living room with a view of a large oak tree in the fenced backyard, Kayla knew she was in trouble.
She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until Jack said, “Trouble how?”
Instead of answering him, she followed the Realtor down the hallway leading to the three bedrooms and a large bathroom. One of the bedrooms had two walk-in closets. Then they went downstairs, where there was another bathroom along with a fireplace and a finished basement.
“Trouble because this could be it,” Kayla told Jack.
“It?”
“The one. I feel sick,” she murmured, putting a hand over her stomach.
“Sick? Are you getting Ashley’s flu?” he asked in concern.
“No. I think this is the house.”
“What?”
“The house. The one for us.”
“And that makes your stomach hurt?”
“I didn’t think it would really happen...that we’d ever really find one that was right.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” he murmured, putting his finger over her lips and halting her stuttering words. “This feels right?”
Was he talking about the house or the way she felt when he touched her? Either way her answer was the same. She nodded.
“Then that settles it. We’ll take it,” he told the Realtor.
“What do you think of your new room, sweetie?” Kayla asked Ashley as she showed her the room they’d picked out for her. It was much larger than the room at their rental house.
“Is there choclotts here? Hugs wants to know.”
Since it was a special occasion, Kayla had indeed brought a few bite-size chocolates along. Handing one to Ashley, she said, “Aside from chocolate, what does Hugs think of the new house?”
“Hugs likes it okay. Listen! Boomer said a naughty word,” Ashley declared. “Uh-oh. Jack said a naughty word, too.”
Leaving her daughter in Corky’s able care, Kayla went to go see what all the commotion was about and found Jack and his friends carrying a huge pool table in the back door. “Where did that come from?” she asked.
“Storage,” Jack replied with a grunt. “We’re taking it downstairs.”
“Are you sure it’s going to fit down the stairwell?”
“Sure.” It did, but just barely. And it required some interesting contortions from the guys carrying the back end.
“It’s gigantic!” Kayla said.
“Yeah, I know. Great, huh?” Jack noted like a proud parent.
Kayla just shook her head and headed back upstairs toward Ashley, who along with Corky was unpacking her toys.
“The house is in really good shape,” Corky said.
“I want to paint some of the walls once we’re moved in, but the ones in here are fine. The Realtor told me it had just been done a few months before the previous owners left. Besides, pink is Ashley’s favorite color.”
Kayla still had a hard time believing this was all happening. The closing on the house had been at nine this morning, the wedding was at noon tomorrow.
“Where does this box go?” someone shouted from the front door. With practically Jack’s entire shift from the firehouse being roped in to helping out, there were plenty of guys to get the work done.
“You go on,” Corky told her. “Ashley and I will be fine.”
For the next two hours Kayla was busy directing traffic, sending men bearing boxes toward one room or the other with militarylike precision. But toward the end, things got so hectic that no one could have kept track of the comings and goings. The good thing was that with so many volunteers, the work got done quickly.
Things had fallen into place with almost miraculous ease, not only with the move but also with the wedding. A cancellation at the church had freed it for their use. Corky had helped her find the perfect dress, and it was within her budget. Diane and Corky had supervised the rest of the arrangements for everything from flowers to napkins.
Kayla’s mother had decided not to fly in from Arizona because her arthritis was acting up. The truth was that she was upset with Kayla for marrying someone in what she’d called “such a blue-collar profession.” Given that attitude, Kayla was just as glad her mother hadn’t come. She would have ruined things, not deliberately, perhaps, but by her unspoken disapproval of everything Kayla did.
Corky more than made up for any missing maternal support.
Kayla had wanted a very small and simple wedding. But Jack had convinced her that a larger one wasn’t that expensive; his buddy from the restaurant could do the catering; the church basement was large enough for a reception. And the guys at the firehouse loved any kind of celebration.
And so it was that the next day at noon Kayla found herself in the midst of a large church wedding. As she nervously prepared to walk down the aisle, she couldn’t help wondering how she’d gotten there. The faces in the audience blended together and everything was a blur until her frantic gaze focused on her daughter sashaying down the aisle.
Ashley looked utterly adorable in her flower girl role, dressed in an iris blue dress with a circlet of baby’s breath keeping her wayward red curls in place. A similar but more intricate circlet was around Kayla’s head, keeping her equally wayward hair and a short, simple veil in place.
As she followed her daughter’s progress toward the front of the church, she saw Ashley grinning at her over her shoulder before reaching into the basket she carried to get another handful of rose petals to toss. A number of them ended up on Ernie the Doorman’s head, stuck there by his excessive use of hair oil.
The sound of Ashley’s gay laughter strengthened Kayla’s resolve. She was doing this for Ashley. To keep her daughter from Bruce’s greedy clutches.
And what about you? a little voice in her head asked. What about what you want out of this marriage?
Sex and security. That’s what Jack had promised her. Yet they were both about to stand before God and a churchful of people and exchange vows, vows to love and to cherish each other.
Was she doing the right thing?
Kayla didn’t realize she’d spoken her thoughts aloud until Diane, her matron of honor, who looked stunning in her own iris blue bridesmaid’s dress, teasingly replied, “It’s kind of late to worry about that now. Come on, that’s our cue,” she added as the music changed. “We’re on.”
“I’m ready,” Kayla said.
It was a long walk down the aisle, but Jack was there at the end of it to take her hand in his as they turned to face the minister.
Later, all Kayla remembered was that her voice sounded soft and Jack’s sounded confident as they said their I do’s. And she remembered him carefully lifting her veil and smiling at her before kissing her, their first kiss as man and wife, a kiss that went on while the minister cleared his throat and said, “Ladies and gentleman, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Jack Elliott.”
Kayla found herself laughing, although whether it was from pleasure, excitement or plain hysteria, she couldn’t be sure.
The wedding was followed by an equally big reception with more toasts than Kayla could keep track of. Boomer’s powerful voice made his toasts especially appreciated by those in the back of the room.
The food was buffet style, with the firehouse chili prepared by Sam and Darnell a particular favorite, among the firefighters at least. And they far outnumbered everyone else. In fact, Kayla could only think of fewer than two do
zen guests of her own to invite. But they all seemed to be having a good time. And Ashley was thrilled to have a new pair of grandparents, especially ones like Corky and Sean, whom she already knew and liked.
The sound of a fork hitting a water glass indicated another toast was forthcoming. This time it was given by Jack’s Uncle Ralph. “Now I don’t want to brag, but if it weren’t for me, these two lovebirds would never have met. Because you see, I was the one who first sent Kayla over to Jack to help out my impossible, I mean incredible, nephew. I could tell he made a big impression on her, waving his crutch over his head like a madman. There were sparks right away. And so it should be. So here’s to you, Jack and Kayla. May the flames never go out.”
“Here, here,” the large contingency of firefighters agreed, along with a few catcalls and hoots.
Kayla couldn’t believe who stood up next. “This is Ernie the Doorman,” he said with his customary deadpan delivery. One rose petal still clung to the back of his head as he went on to give a five-minute soliloquy that nearly put everyone to sleep. When he was done, the entire ensemble applauded...with relief that he was finished.
The next few hours were a blur of Jack feeding her the first piece of cake, of their first dance together and her stepping on his toes, of them being serenaded first by Igor on his violin and then by a group of bagpipers.
Then it was time for her to throw the bouquet. She thought Mindy or Misty caught it, although it almost ended up in Ernie’s startled hands after ricocheting off the rotating ceiling fan when Kayla tossed it too high over her shoulder.
The garter fared better, with Boomer making a one-handed grab for it.
The wild dash to Jack’s car was accompanied by a rain of birdseed as the guests wished them well. The car itself was decorated from bumper to bumper with crepe paper, tin cans, white paint declaring “Just Married” on each door.
And then they were off, on their own for the first time that day. For the first time as man and wife. Ashley was spending the night with Corky and Sean. Kayla was on her own.
