“Danny, I can have some good ideas without having an eight-year-old of my own.”
Gone were the days when she was the one with all the answers, and it was more humbling still that Danny seemed to be ever so aware of that. Why even bring her along? If she was just one of those childless people full of useless advice—
Danny stood and gathered up his coat. “Sorry. I’m worried about Luke. That’s all.”
Beth could see that. He wasn’t the same old Danny—he was a dad first and foremost. She didn’t belong here with him and Luke. She wasn’t part of their family, their bond. Luke was now the one closest to Danny’s heart—as it should be. But it felt strange being on the outside when she was used to being so much closer to this man. Maybe being here tonight had been a mistake. She should have sensed that she was overstepping and backed out before this.
“I should probably head home,” she said, rising to her feet. “Luke will need you right now—” She bent to grab her jacket and scarf.
“Actually...” Danny’s tone softened. “If you could tell him that he did a great job, and...not act like his missed lines were a big deal...he’ll believe you.”
She smiled tentatively. “You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m his dad. He knows I have to support him no matter what. As much as I hate it, hearing it from you might actually make a difference.”
“I feel like this is a dad-son thing...” she said.
“Let me put it this way,” Danny said, his tone low. “I wish it were a dad-son thing, but he’s growing up, and his world is a whole lot bigger than my opinion. So I guess I need to let other people be an influence, too.”
“Oh...” She could tell by the look on his face that those words hadn’t been easy to say.
“And he likes you. Guess we Brockwood guys share the same Achilles’ heel.” He had the same teasing glint in his eye she’d always loved.
Beth smiled wanly. “A genetic predisposition to blonde know-it-alls?”
“What can I say?” His dark eyes met hers. “Stick around?”
“Okay.” When he asked like that...
Beth watched as Danny headed around the side of the stage and disappeared. She stood there for a moment, her hand on her belly as the baby hiccuped inside her. Danny still seemed to feel something for her—more than simple physical attraction—and as much as she hated to admit to it, he wasn’t the only one. He was older now, a little more stubborn and definitely less willing to be bent to her will, but Danny would always be the guy she almost married. There was no erasing that.
She rubbed a small circle on the top of her belly. The baby hiccuped again, and she laughed softly.
“Hold your breath,” she whispered. Or was the advice to drink a glass of water? Soon enough she’d have to brush up on her parental advice. And maybe Danny could help her out...seeing as he’d have been down this path before her.
Beth chatted with some of the people she knew. Everyone asked the same questions: When was the baby due? How was she feeling? Did she know if it was a boy or a girl? The one thing they very politely avoided was the question of the father. That news had probably spread.
A few minutes later, as she was saying goodbye to some old neighbors, she heard the clunk of boots behind her and turned to see Danny and Luke headed in her direction.
Luke looked dejected, and he walked half a step ahead of his dad, his winter coat unzipped and his mittens and hat held in his arms in front of him. She met Danny’s gaze, and he reached forward and ruffled Luke’s hair.
“Hi, Luke!” Beth grinned at him. “You did great! Nice job!”
“Hey.” Luke dropped his hat and mittens onto the chair next to her, and then sank down into a different seat.
“You were a great Townsperson Number Four,” Dan said. “And the play was great, too.”
“I forgot my lines, Dad!” Luke didn’t look like he was in the mood to be cajoled.
“Your part wasn’t just about those two lines,” Beth said. “Your part was very important. They needed a strong actor to be a believable townsperson, and you did that!”
“I forgot my lines!” Tears welled up in Luke’s eyes. “And I practiced so hard, too...”
“That’s the thing with live productions,” Beth said. “On TV, they can do lots of takes. Actors forget their lines all the time and they just redo it. But onstage, there are no redos, so sometimes, there are mistakes. But that doesn’t ruin it. It’s just part of a live performance. A professional carries on anyway—just like you did.”
“You think?” Luke looked up dubiously.
“I know.” She gave him a decisive nod. “For a fact.”
“Hey, it could have been worse,” Danny said. “When I had a part in the Christmas play, I messed up, too. I was supposed to rev the engine and drive the motorcycle across the stage, but I hit the gas too hard and drove it right off the stage.”
A smile tickled the corners of Luke’s mouth. “What happened?”
“Luckily, I didn’t hit anyone,” he replied. “But I was really embarrassed. I was an adult at the time, too. Turned out that was the best part of the play for people. It even made it into the local newspaper. I was a star.”
Beth grinned. Poor Danny had been introverted, and all the attention had been agonizing for him. She’d felt awful having begged him to participate that year. It was that same Christmas that he’d proposed at the tree-lighting ceremony... Alone. Away from everyone. She felt a wave of sadness at the memory, and her smile slipped.
“So it could have been worse, son,” Danny said. “A couple of lines is nothing.”
“Nothing at all,” Beth agreed.
“Huh...” Luke shrugged. “Okay. I guess.”
“You need to celebrate, Luke,” Beth said. “Actors go out and celebrate their success, and your play was wonderful. I think a treat is in order.”
“Yeah?” Luke looked up at his father.
“I have a big bucket of chocolate ice cream at home,” Danny said. “And a jar of chocolate sauce. I’m pretty sure there are marshmallows in the cupboard somewhere...”
“Okay!” Luke grinned. “Are you coming, too, Beth?”
“Oh, I’d better not...” Beth shot an apologetic look at Danny. He wouldn’t want her there, she was sure. It was time for her to bow out and let Danny take over with his son.
“How come?” Luke turned to his father. “We can invite her, right, Dad?”
“Uh...” Danny glanced from Luke to Beth. “It is a whole bucket of ice cream, after all. You’d be doing me a favor by eating some of it.”
“Please?” Luke turned big brown eyes up at her. This kid had the whole puppy-dog look nailed down. But wouldn’t she be intruding?
“Beth.” Danny’s voice was low and warm. She looked up, and he shot her a slow smile. “You want to come by for ice cream?”
In that moment, he could have been the old Danny again, and she could have been the old Beth, slim and lithe, so in control... Except both of them had changed more than they liked to admit.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Good.”
Beth started to put on her coat, and Danny held it for her as she got her other arm into the sleeve. Pregnancy had made so many things difficult lately. Luke wrapped his scarf around his neck, then struggled with his zipper.
“You sure about this?” Beth whispered.
“He likes you.” Danny adjusted her lapels, then stepped back. “Besides, you’re pregnant. You aren’t allowed to diet.”
Beth chuckled. “True enough.”
From inside her, the baby hiccuped again, and she smiled and rubbed that spot on the top of her belly. Right now, she and her baby shared these private moments and nobody was the wiser, but soon enough, she’d be in Danny’s shoes with a child who reached out to the people ar
ound her—for better or for worse.
* * *
THE ICE-CREAM BOWLS were in the sink, and there was a scattering of mini marshmallows over the floor that Dan would have to sweep up later. Dan wiped the dribbles off the jar of chocolate sauce and put it back into the fridge.
“Aren’t you glad you indulged?” he asked Beth with a grin. She’d had two helpings.
“Yes, for sure.” She licked her fingertip. “That was delicious.”
Dan poked his head out of the kitchen into the living room, where Luke had been playing on his iPad, and he spotted his son asleep on the floor. He was getting so big, but he still curled up on his side—the same way he’d slept since he was a toddler. The only difference now was that he no longer popped a thumb into his mouth.
“I guess he’s worn out,” Dan said. “He was up at like five this morning practicing those lines...”
Beth shot him an amused look. “Does that mean you were up at five, too?”
“You tease now,” Dan replied. “But in a few short weeks you’re going to be up all night.”
Beth met his gaze then nodded. “That is true... Danny, we’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”
Dan glanced around the kitchen—his kitchen. The fridge was covered in Luke’s stuff—notes from school, a spelling test that he’d aced, an art project where Luke had drawn a self-portrait that Dan thought showed real talent. He’d bought this house, done a few renovations himself and raised his son here. He’d come a long way from being the new guy in town who always wanted to be just a little bit more like the Thomases. He liked who he’d become. He might not be the perfect dad, but he was a darn good one. And he’d put together a stable life for his kid—he was proud of that.
“Yeah, I guess we have.” He tossed a dishrag into the sink. “We’re well and truly grown-up.”
She nodded slowly, running her hands down her stomach. “Being a single parent is hard, isn’t it?”
“Hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he agreed.
“But you figured it out,” Beth said.
“Yeah, I did. I’m still figuring it out. The big secret is that no parent knows what they’re doing that first time around. It’s all new. I’ve never been the dad of an eight-year-old before. I still feel like I’m scrambling.”
“That makes me feel a bit better.” She leaned against the counter and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Did her feet hurt? He’d heard of that, at least—pregnant women with sore feet.
“Are you tired?” Dan asked.
“Yeah. I could sit down.” She looked pale, and he felt bad.
“Why don’t we go to the couch?” Dan suggested. “It’s more comfortable.”
Beth led the way and lowered herself into the cushion. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched the process. She wasn’t at her most graceful, but he liked Beth this way. She was more real—more accessible. He sat down next to her, and from where he sat he could see Luke snoring away next to the heating vent.
“I’ve never done the pregnancy stage of things,” Dan said, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t wake his son. “I don’t know about this part. If I do something dumb like make you stand for too long, just let me know.”
“It’s okay.” She cast him a smile. “I’m trying to get tougher.”
“Why?” He gave her a funny look.
“I need to.” She adjusted her position, turning herself toward him. “I’m going to be a single mother, and I’ll need to figure all of this out.”
“You’ll have your dad, though,” he countered.
“Yeah...” She smiled wistfully. “I grew up with a novelist father. My daughter will have a novelist grandpa. She’ll be lucky that way—exposed to the literary world firsthand.”
Dan nodded. “You’ll be okay.”
“You were right, though,” she added. “I’ll have to draw a few lines with my dad. I do need his help, but I want to raise Riley my way.”
“I was the same,” he agreed. “Except I had a whole lot of guilt to add to it. I wasn’t there for Lana when Luke was born, or when he was a baby. I was the deadbeat parent for three years, and I had a lot to make up for. At least you’ll get to do this from the very beginning.”
“But I have no idea what I’m doing...” Her smile faded. “I’ve read articles. I hope that’s enough.”
“That’s more than I had.” Dan looked over at Luke, who was still snoring deeply. “You know, a lot of it’s just trusting your gut. You get to know what upsets your kid, or what bothers him. You figure it out, and the few times that I went against my gut instinct, I always regretted it.”
“Yeah?” She pushed a curl away from her eyes. “Like what?”
“Like when I followed some lady’s advice on potty training. Luke was still in training pants, and she said he was too old for that and I should just get firm. I tried that. Poor Luke just cried and cried. He was a wreck.” He winced, remembering it. “I decided then and there that I didn’t need to do it anyone else’s way. We’d figure it out together.”
“So your advice is to not take advice?”
Dan grinned. “You know me—always the rebel.” He paused. “No one knows Luke like I do, and he isn’t their job. He’s mine.”
“I get a fair amount of unsolicited advice already,” she said.
“You’ll get more.” He shot her a grin. “But it gets easier. It’s not like I don’t look at other parents and try to figure out how they do this stuff. Take the Christmas pageant—”
He was talking too much. What was it about Beth that made him want to open up like this? She’d always had that effect on him, and while he knew it would be better to say less around her, it felt good to have someone who understood his position.
“What about the Christmas pageant?” Her voice was soft, and she tipped her head to the side, waiting.
“I started Luke in that pageant because you told me that your parents had always had you and your brother in it. I don’t know...it just seemed like a wholesome thing to do.”
“Really?” She smiled. “That was because of us?”
“Well, I thought you turned out pretty well...”
She smiled, blue eyes glittering in the low light, and he smiled back. She’d always been pretty, but her beauty seemed to go deeper now. Maybe this was just plain old biology working its magic on him—the allure of a pregnant woman. But no, it was more than that...
“Your family had what I’d always wanted,” he admitted, his voice low and gravelly.
“We weren’t perfect,” she said softly. “Far from it.”
“But you loved each other.” The curl fell across her forehead again, and he reached forward to brush it back. Her skin was silky against his work-roughened fingers, and he pulled his hand back.
Beth looked down and rubbed a hand over her belly. “She’s got the hiccups.”
“Really?” He looked down at her stomach, as if he could see what she felt. Still, it intrigued him. “That happens?”
“Pretty often, actually.” She raised her gaze and laughed softly. “It feels kind of funny. Here—”
She reached for his hand. Dan hesitated, then allowed her to guide his fingers over her taut belly. Then she stopped and pressed his hand down. He could feel movement inside her, a wriggle, almost, and then a tiny jump. A pause, then another jump. He grinned.
“That’s insane. Hiccups!”
“Yep.” She moved his hand to the side of her stomach. “You can probably feel more here...”
He felt what he could have sworn was a foot against his hand. Then another hiccup.
“Does that hurt?” he asked. The movements were quite robust, and that foot had made some real contact with his hand.
“No,” she said. “It’s just...movement. I mean, sometimes she’ll get me in
a weird angle or step on my bladder, but most of the time it’s not bad. She must have liked the sugar shot from the ice cream.”
It was amazing. He’d missed all of this with Luke. It felt intimate, touching her belly, and it dredged up protective instincts inside him that he didn’t know what to do with. He hadn’t moved his palm, and her cool fingers lingered on his hand as he felt another wriggle.
“Did you feel that?” she asked.
“Yeah...”
“That was a foot, I think,” she said. Beth wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at her stomach, her lips parted as she waited for the next movement. She had never looked so beautiful...her eyes glistening, her cheeks faintly flushed. With his free hand, he moved her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear, and she looked up, her gaze meeting his. He hadn’t known what he’d expected to happen, but her lips were so close, and that faint floral scent that she carried around with her seemed to tug him closer still. He knew what he wanted, and he had a sense that he’d regret this a whole lot...
“Danny?” she whispered.
“Yeah?” His voice was gruff.
“I missed you...”
Those words cut through the last of his inhibitions and he finally let go of his control. It was a rush of relief to slide his arms around her again, tugging her closer, kissing her deeply. She was warm and soft in his arms and she kissed him back, her hands clutching the front of his shirt and pulling him closer still. Her belly pressed against him, and his pulse sped up. He’d kick himself for this later, he knew that, but right now it felt so right.
He’d missed her desperately. He’d resented her, even hated her at some points, but she’d left this aching hole when she walked away, and he’d never fully healed. He’d missed this—the feel of her, the scent of her, the tickle of her breath against his face—
Beth was the first to pull back, and he reluctantly let go. His heart was hammering, and he had to shut his eyes to pull himself together.
“Was that my fault?” she whispered, her cheeks coloring.
“Nope. That was all me.” He swallowed hard, and his gaze moved down to her plumped lips. If he could only do that again...
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