by Arlene James
“Okay,” Kendra said, “then I guess I’ll just change and eat.”
“It’ll be on the table when you get there.”
* * *
It was on the table when she got there, along with a bottle of Texas Red, a tossed salad and garlic toast. She hadn’t enjoyed a meal so much in a very long time. It was heaven to eat something she didn’t have to cook herself or that wasn’t carried in.
They took their time with the meal and cleaned up together afterward, blowing handfuls of soap suds and popping dish towels at one another. When the baby cried to let them know she was awake, Kendra went in to get her, while Parker warmed a bottle. Kendra had her changed and was kissing her tummy when Parker carried the bottle into the room. Darla’s face lit up and her mouth went to work before the nipple even got there. They laughed at her and were shocked to hear her laugh back, a real belly laugh. “Just like a real kid,” Parker said wonderingly, and then they laughed again while Darla got down to serious eating. Fifteen minutes later, they were both lying on the bed with her between them playing peek-a-boo and kissy-feet, when they looked up and found Edward standing in the bedroom doorway.
“Doesn’t anyone around here answer the doorbell?” he asked grumpily.
Kendra scrambled off the bed, tugging at the bottom of the sweatshirt she wore with her jeans. “Edward! You frightened me.”
Parker folded his hands behind his head and crossed his ankles. “The only time you use the doorbell is when the door is locked,” he said pointedly.
Edward shrugged. “All right, so maybe I knocked.”
“And maybe you just walked in, expecting to catch us at what you’re expecting to catch us at.”
“Parker,” Edward said, “you have to realize that I’ve got a stake in this, too.”
Parker bounded up into a sitting position. “Like hell. This is my house, my kid, my wife.”
“And I’m your lawyer, your friend and her ex-fiancé.”
“Emphasis on the ‘ex,’” Parker retorted.
“Get out, both of you,” Kendra said sharply. “I’ve had a long day, and I want to go to bed. What I don’t want is to listen to the two of you argue. Now go.”
Parker glared at Ed, and Ed glared at Parker, neither willing to make the first move. Kendra rolled her eyes. Finally Parker spoke up. “You don’t have to sleep in here tonight. I will.”
She shook her head. “Uh-uh, no way. The deal is we take turns, and tonight’s my night with the baby.”
“The baby’s not ready to turn in.”
“Fine. You take Darla with you. When she’s ready, you bring her in. Meanwhile, I’m going to soak my weary bones in a tub of hot water, and if I hear any shouting in there, I’m calling the cops.”
Parker switched his gaze from Edward to her, sighed and got up, scooping the baby up as he went. He strolled around the end of the bed toward the door, pausing as he passed Kendra to kiss her hard on the mouth. “Get some rest,” he said.
She gave him a look meant to draw blood and said through her teeth, “I will. Good night.”
Not to be outdone, Ed waited for Parker to pass him, then leaned forward and kissed her lingeringly on the corner of her mouth. “Sleep well,” he told her softly.
She said nothing to that, just watched mutely as he went out and closed the door. Why did it have to be like this? They were both so stubborn, so proud, so competitive, and she’d be damned if she’d let them fight over her like two dogs fighting over a bone, especially when neither of them really wanted her. They just didn’t want the other one to have her! Suddenly she thought of the little girl in the hospital.
Yanking open the door, she stepped out onto the gallery. They were in the kitchen, glaring at one another as they popped the tops on a pair of beers. She stepped up into the room.
“Parker, remember the little girl from Brazil?”
He snapped his fingers. “Right. I meant to ask you if you knew her name.”
She nodded and gave it to them.
“Better write it down, hon.”
While she found a piece of paper and a pen, he explained the circumstances to Edward, who shook his head morosely.
“What’re you two doing, opening an orphanage?”
“We just want to be sure she’s got someone,” Parker said. “If she needs a place to stay after she gets out of the hospital, it’s not out of the question.”
Kendra wanted to throw her arms around his neck at that moment, wanted to laugh and kiss him and tell him he was wonderful. Instead, she slid a glance toward Edward, stepped up close to Parker’s side and settled for a covert squeeze of his arm. He smiled at her as he brought the rim of the can to his mouth. She smiled back and mouthed the word, “Thanks.” He gave her a barely perceptible nod and a wink. Her smile broadened as she stepped back and turned away. She bade them good-night once again and slipped off to her bath, happier than she had been in a long while.
It couldn’t last, of course. By Monday, they still had not found a babysitter, though a woman in the church nursery had given them several names and phone numbers to try. Kendra got another nurse to take her shift for her and spent the morning on the telephone. She managed to locate a woman whom she felt might be acceptable, but she could only watch the baby for the remainder of the week and only in her own home. It was better than nothing, so Kendra made an appointment with her for that evening. She and Parker took the baby and drove over to the woman’s house near Love Field airport. The place was small but neat and clean, the woman’s references exemplary. A middle-aged widow, she cared for her feeble and ailing father. At week’s end, she was scheduled to drive him out of state for an extended visit with her brother and his family. They engaged her for the remainder of the week.
It was a nightmare in logistics. With only one car between them, Kendra’s unusual hours and hauling the baby back and forth to the sitter’s, they were all exhausted and harried. Parker found himself leaving work at odd times to play taxi driver but absolutely refused to allow Kendra to ride the bus, contending that the only people who rode the bus in their neighborhood were day maids and teenagers with revoked driver’s licenses. Kendra was not so proud, but Parker wouldn’t stand for it, saying he’d disrupted her life enough as it was without putting her through the agony that was public transportation in Dallas. She tried engaging a cab, but that proved unreliable as her hours kept changing and cabs were invariably late.
Parker determined to buy her a car, and she agreed that would be a workable option; they could simply resell it after six months. But then they got into an enormous hassle over what type and age the second car should be. He insisted that they look at only new or late-model cars with good safety standards and all the amenities. She wanted to go for an old clunker that would require a minimum outlay of cash. He would not have “his” kid riding in some old bomb. She would not have him spending a ridiculous sum of money on some luxury auto when all she required was basic transportation. They wound up shouting at each other until the baby erupted into anxious screams, then made up while calming her. Something had to give, and they both knew it.
Kendra made the decision to quit her job again. Going back had been ill considered to begin with, and she was likely going on to Africa in a few months anyway. It was true that she had counted on being able to come back to her job after Africa, and quitting a second time in such short order would be a black mark on her record, but she considered that just recompense for the way she’d handled things anyway. Besides, Darla had to come first, and after being dragged out several times a day during cool, damp fall weather, she had developed a troubling case of sniffles. Kendra determined to tell Parker of her decision on Friday evening but wouldn’t inform her supervisor until Monday, by which time she hoped to have lined up a substitute for the coming week, allowing the supervisor a little time to find a permanent replacement.
Parker was there to pick her up about ten on Friday evening, a sleeping Darla snugly belted into her car seat. The car was waiting outsi
de the west entrance of the hospital when Kendra and her co-workers exited. Parker got out and came around the front end to open the passenger door for Kendra. He had been doing that for the whole work week, and the other nurses had taken to kidding her about it, saying that she should enjoy such thoughtfulness while it lasted because their own husbands had forgotten such things existed by, according to general consensus, the end of the first month of marriage. Kendra had had to wonder if Parker would be one of those “forgetful” husbands and had concluded that he wouldn’t. Such thoughtfulness was part of Parker’s persona and accounted for much of his appeal to the opposite sex—and old habits died hard, as the saying went. She had to admit that charm had benefits she hadn’t considered before.
This particular evening, however, Parker did not content himself with the simple gallantry of opening a door. He stepped forward, took her hand and pulled her into his arms for a quick kiss. They were treated to giggles and hoots for that little demonstration. Embarrassed, Kendra gave him a reproving look.
“What’s got into you?” she demanded softly.
He flashed her a grin, eyes twinkling. “Tell you later. Meanwhile, let’s give ‘em something to really think about, hmm?” So saying, he urged her arms up about his neck, wrapped her in a tight embrace and kissed her long and passionately, until her knees threatened to buckle and leave her lying in a puddle about his feet.
She barely heard the cheers, applause and shouted advice. Even after he was finished with her, she had trouble catching her breath and focusing her attention. In fact, he had her in the car and was driving away before she came to herself enough to even be annoyed.
“What the heck was that about?” she finally snapped.
He put his head back and laughed. “Aw, come on. They enjoyed it. You enjoyed it. I sure as hell enjoyed it. And it reinforces the image of the happily married couple. No harm done.”
“I don’t enjoy being made a public spectacle,” she said firmly. “And you haven’t answered my question.”
He rolled his eyes grinning. “Can’t put anything over on you, can I? Okay, okay. I’m feeling great because I’ve done something that’s going to solve all our problems.”
That was unexpectedly welcome news. She shifted in her seat. “Really? What did you do? Did you hire a permanent sitter?”
He shook his head.
“You bought a car!” she accused, and he laughed out loud.
“Nope. It’s better than both of those ideas combined.”
She furrowed her brow. “What does that mean? For Pete’s sake, Parker, spit it out, will you?”
He brought the car to a stop at a red light, then reached over and squeezed her hand before answering. “It’s the perfect solution,” he said sincerely. “I’ve just taken an extended leave of absence from my job.”
Her jaw descended as the significance of his announcement dawned. “No! Parker, you didn’t!”
His smile grew softer, his grasp upon her hand warmer. “I knew you’d take exception. That’s why I didn’t tell you I was considering it. But, honey, this is the best thing. Believe me, I’ve thought it all through, and I want to be at home with the baby.”
“But, Parker, the partnership!”
He shrugged. “So it’s on hold for a while, and maybe I won’t be able to keep it after all. It doesn’t matter. I’ll still have my job, and in the meantime, I won’t go without work. Heck, I’ve already lined up a couple of private clients, jobs I can work on at home. It’ll be a little cramped for a while. I thought I’d just set up shop in the dining room. We can store the furniture for now. Anyway, the place needs remodeling. It’s just not set up for a kid, and we need at least two more rooms, a playroom and an office for sure, and we could really use another bedroom, too.”
The car behind them honked, the light having turned green already. Parker turned his attention back to the street and got them moving again with an apologetic wave of his hand to the other driver, while Kendra tried to digest what he’d said. It just seemed so radical to her, and she had to tell him so.
“I have a better solution,” she told him. “I had already made up my mind to it, in fact. I’ll quit my job.”
He shook his head. “Oh, no. I knew that was coming up, and I won’t have it.”
“But, Parker—”
“No. I’m dead set on this. You’ve already quit your job and then gone back to it once because of me. I won’t have it a second time. What you do later is your own business, but as long as I have any say about it, you’ll do what you love to do—and that’s pediatric nursing. Besides, Kendra, I meant it when I said I want to be at home with Darla. Nothing in the world is more important to me. She’s all I have...except for you,” he finished huskily.
Kendra caught her breath, remembering that passionate kiss in the hospital parking lot. Was it possible? No, and she was foolish to even think that way. Parker was changing, true, but he was still Parker with Parker’s basic instincts and Parker’s basic personality. Seduction was second nature to Parker Sugarman. She wasn’t even sure he realized he was doing it at times. And God knew this situation was rife with the possibility of that very thing. She steeled herself to say what she had to.
“You do have me...for now,” she pointed out evenly. “But it’s a temporary arrangement, Parker, and you shouldn’t forget that.”
A muscle flexed in the hollow of his jaw, and she thought for an instant that she had angered him, but he spoke then, his voice calm, reasonable. “I haven’t forgotten. How could I when we don’t even sleep together? Not that I haven’t been tempted, of course.” He flashed her a smile. “But that’s just me, you know, and anyway it’s best like this. I know that, and I’m terribly grateful for this time you’re giving us.”
Just him. It wasn’t her at all. It was just the way Parker was, panting after everything in a skirt. She tried not to be disappointed. She tried very hard. She didn’t quite manage it. “Just so long as you remember the ground rules,” she told him cuttingly.
That muscle flexed again, but he didn’t say anything, just kept driving. They drove into the garage from the alley. They usually did and would continue to with winter coming on, but it kept them from noticing any cars parked in the front drive. So they were both surprised when Edward met them at the back door, his hands jammed down into the pockets of his overcoat.
“What are you doing out here so late, Ed?” Parker asked a little testily.
The big man shrugged. “I need to speak with the two of you about the custody case, and I knew Kendra wouldn’t be home before now.”
Kendra shot Parker a troubled glance and took the baby from him. They were leaving the car seat in place these days. It saved time. Parker unlocked the door and motioned her to go ahead of them. She stepped up into the hall and quickly carried the baby into her room, where she unwrapped her, checked her diaper, which was thankfully dry, and tucked her into bed on her side. By the time she rejoined the men, they were sitting on opposite sofas, their elbows on their knees, hands folded in concern.
“What’s happened?” she asked, seating herself next to Parker.
He leaned back and draped his arm lightly about her shoulders. “It’s nothing we didn’t expect,” he said, but worry had put an edge to his voice. “The Pendletons have formally filed for custody of Darla.”
She bit her lip and automatically placed a comforting hand on Parker’s leg. “It’ll be okay,” she assured him.
He nodded, but Edward said, “That’s not all.” With their attention fixed on him, he went on. “They’re asking for court-ordered visitation.”
“Visitation!” Parker erupted. “They didn’t have to do that. They can see Darla anytime they want as long as they don’t try to leave with her.”
“I know that,” Edward said, “and that’s exactly what we’re going to tell the judge.”
Parker leaned forward again. “Are you telling me the judge might say I have to hand her over to them, let them leave with her? That’s insanity!
We might never get her back!”
“Not necessarily,” Ed said in that calm, sure voice of his. “First of all, the Pendletons aren’t going anywhere. They have a home and business here. They’re not going to take off with her in the dead of night. Moreover, this whole thing just might work in our favor. Darla is an infant. It’s not unusual for visitation of infants to be restricted to the infant’s home. This is Darla’s home, and it can’t hurt anything to have that established by visitation decree of any other court document. But I might as well tell you that the Pendletons are bound to know this. Their lawyer is one of the best. I know him well, and he’s not the type to let the details escape him, so they know they’ll likely get an in-home order, which tells me that they want it that way.”
“Meaning?” Kendra asked.
Ed gave her a direct look. “Meaning they suspect this marriage is a sham and are hoping to find proof of it during their ‘unlimited’ visitations. That’s what they’re asking for—unlimited, unrestricted visitation. They aren’t going to get it. We’re asking for prior notification, custodian’s convenience, all the usual stipulations, but we are not going to fight the order itself. That would be implying that we have something to hide, which we do, of course, but we can’t let them know that. You following me?”
Parker nodded, taking Kendra’s hand in his. “Just tell us what to do.”
Ed glowered and ran his hands through his short, spiky hair. “You’re already doing it. You’re acting like a pair of love-sotted newlyweds.”
Shocked, Kendra pulled her hand from Parker’s, who slid her an oddly sad look before targeting his gaze on the floor.
“Is there anything else?” she asked in a voice husky with discomfort.
Ed made a face. “How’s the hunt for a competent sitter going? It’s really important, guys, that we find someone who’ll come down squarely in our corner.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Parker said flatly, and he went on to bring Ed up-to-date on the decisions he’d made.
To Kendra’s surprise, Edward was very supportive. “Good move,” he said. “Excellent move. Just be sure you know what you’re doing. We don’t want the Pendletons to be able to document shoddy care or neglect on your part.”
