Finding Happily-Ever-After

by Marie Ferrarella

  Chris scowled, confused. He was sure he’d heard wrong. “My what?”

  “Your turn,” she repeated. When there still was no response, she fed him the rest of the line. “To say a few words over Mr. Turtle,” she prodded.

  The look in Chris’s eyes said she had to be kidding. That hope died the next moment as she continued to look straight at him, waiting.

  The woman had a stubborn streak a mile wide, he thought. Stepping forward the way she and Joel had done, Chris kept his head bent, not out of any need to show respect for the dead turtle, but because if he looked up, he was certain his impatience at having to go through with this charade, for a turtle for God’s sake, would be evident.

  “I never got to know you, Mr. Turtle, but I’m sure you were a very good pet for Joel. Now you’re in heaven. I guess you don’t have to worry about anyone beating you in any races anymore. Enjoy yourself.”

  Jewel pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Chris looked like the epitome of discomfort. He needed to be let off the hook. “That was very nice, Chris,” she said softly. Turning to the boy, she asked, “Joel, would you like to throw some dirt on the shroud?”

  “Like we did with Mama?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Just like that,” she assured him. She was rewarded with a look of pure contentment on Joel’s face.

  Bending down, he took a handful of dirt and threw it into the small grave. Jewel followed suit, making certain that she distributed the dirt evenly. Then she looked at Chris.

  To her relief, he didn’t roll his eyes the way she had expected him to. Instead, he just bent down, took a handful of dirt and threw it on top of the handkerchief-wrapped turtle.

  “I’ll finish up,” he volunteered.

  She had been prepared to do it herself and smiled with no small relief when he made the offer. “That would be very nice of you, Chris.”

  Another voice joined hers. “Thank you, Uncle Chris,” Joel said.

  Chris caught himself thinking that the look on the boy’s face made the whole charade more than worth it. Maybe Jewel did know what she was doing, he thought, as he slowly drizzled a shovel full of dirt over the tiny grave he’d just dug.

  The satisfied feeling and warmth that ensued was a very nice dividend. Without realizing it, he slanted a glance at Jewel, because she was the heart of it all. Shining a light so that he could follow.

  Jewel stayed with them another hour or so, but then she said that she had somewhere to be. Joel took the information in stride because he was five, but Chris had no such luxury to fall back on. He wondered what it was that she had to do and where she was going.

  He came close to asking, but he didn’t. Instead, he walked her to her car in the driveway.

  “Thanks for being my interpreter,” he said to her once they were outside. When she raised a quizzical eyebrow, he explained, “I don’t speak ‘kid’ very well.”

  The admission made her grin. “You were one, once,” she reminded him.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” he answered. “My memory doesn’t go back that far.”

  She wouldn’t accept the excuse. “Sure it does. Just open yourself up and you’ll remember,” she promised. He obviously needed a little more convincing and prod ding, she thought. “You were his age once, and I think the two of you have more in common than you realize.”

  He supposed that she might have a point. There were things that Joel said or did that stirred vague memories for him, memories that insisted on remaining teasingly just out of reach.

  And then Jewel smiled at him. Really smiled. It was that smile that seemed to have generous helpings of sunshine in it. Just seeing it made him want to bask within its rays.

  “You know, all disclaimers aside, for a novice, you did pretty well today,” she told him.

  He shrugged. The credit didn’t belong to him. The sun was out now, having burned away the last layers of overhanging fog. A few stray rays were weaving themselves into her hair, giving it golden highlights. He caught himself wanting to thread his fingers through it to see if those strands felt any different from the rest.

  “Only because I was following your lead,” he finally managed to say, forcing himself to focus on the conversation. He didn’t want her to go just yet. “You sure you don’t have any kids?”

  “Absolutely positive,” she assured him. “It would be something I’d know. As for relating to kids, it comes easy to me. Maybe it’s because I never grew up myself,” she added tongue in cheek.

  His eyes traveled the length of her form, a form that by any definition was nothing short of mouth-wateringly gorgeous. “Oh, you grew up, all right,” he told her. “Trust me.”

  Chris’s tone, unintentionally warm and sexy, sent another wave of heat zigzagging its way up and down her spine, rendering her momentarily speechless. It took her a minute to regain the use of her tongue.

  “Was that a compliment?”

  A compliment, not about the quality of her work, but about her body, sounded much too personal. The situation called for maintaining a professional distance between them, at least until he was no longer retaining her services.

  “An observation,” he countered.

  “I see.” He might be fooling himself, she thought, but he wasn’t fooling her. She smiled indulgently. “Thank you for your ‘observation.’”

  He stared off over her head, his face expressionless. “You’re welcome.”

  “What time do you want me over here tomorrow to help get Joel registered for school?” she asked.

  The whole time, he thought.

  That was when he realized that he really didn’t want her to leave. She made dealing with Joel easier. With her here, he felt less out of his element, less like a fish out of water. It was better for the boy, too. And if he found her presence more than just passably pleasant, well, that was an added bonus.

  The fact that this wasn’t “business as usual” for him was something he wasn’t entirely willing to explore right now. But perhaps his sister’s untimely death had made him acutely aware that there wasn’t an infinite allotment of time available. Perhaps there was more to life than just solving the perfect quadratic equation.

  But he knew that saying any of this would give Jewel the wrong impression—or maybe the right one; he didn’t know. In any case, he couldn’t afford to have her know how attracted he was to her. Since he was paying her for her services some sort of conflict of interest would definitely arise if he wound up sleeping with her, as well.

  Right now, he needed to keep things simple. And, most importantly, he needed to have her find Ray. He was fairly certain that she was good at her job. Once his life was his own again, maybe then he would be free to follow up on these feelings he was having.

  So he pretended to think about her question, then asked, “How does ten o’clock sound?”

  She had always been, almost against her will, an early riser, a habit she’d picked up from her mother. “I can come over earlier,” she volunteered. “That way, you can get this registration over with and maybe get a chance to put in some time at the university the rest of the day.” She knew he hadn’t been there in a week, ever since he’d found out about his sister’s death.

  The thought of touching base with the university, of perhaps going in and teaching one of his classes, was exceedingly tempting to him. Being a professor had always been his goal. It was what he did, what he was. But everything was up in the air right now.

  Besides, what would he do with his nephew? He couldn’t just conveniently stick him out of the way in a filing cabinet.

  He was surprised that Jewel hadn’t thought of that. “As much as I’d like to, I can’t bring Joel with me to sit in on my classes, and I can’t just leave him at home.”

  “I know. Monday my mother goes over her books, and then she and her friends have this poker game they play once a week. I think I can persuade her to alter her plans a bit to include Joel. He’ll have three grandmothers-in-training fussing over him. How g
reat is that?”

  He should have known she would have thought this through. “Sounds good,” he agreed. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

  She looked at him. There was an ache inside her, an ache that felt as if it were growing larger every time she was alone with him. Logic dictated that she not act on impulse, but emotions told her the exact opposite, leaving her stuck in the middle, undecided and torn.

  She knew there was no such thing as “happily ever after”; she’d had proof of that over and over again. But she also knew that there was the “enjoyable now.” And now was all there was.

  What would you do if I kissed you, Chris? Would you back away, saying there were lines not to be crossed, or would you kiss me back?

  “No, not everything,” she answered quietly, addressing his comment.

  There was something about the expression on her face and the tone of her voice that spoke to him. Or, more accurately, that got to him.

  And maybe that was why it happened, although he really wasn’t sure. His reasoning process became a blur.

  All Chris knew was that one moment, he was talking to her, the next, Jewel was in his arms and he was kissing her.

  The way he really wanted to.

  Chapter Ten

  Jewel was aware of everything. Of the look in his eyes, of her heart as it pounded. Of his mouth as it came closer to hers.

  It was as if it were all happening in slow motion.

  She was afraid that if she moved, if she so much as breathed, the spell would be broken and she’d be snapped out of this temporary, delicious fantasy that had somehow overtaken her.

  But the moment his lips touched hers, she knew that this wasn’t a fantasy.

  It was real.

  Very, very real.

  Real enough to up her body temperature by at least several degrees. The last time she felt this hot, she’d had a raging fever.

  Savoring the moment, the intoxicating excitement, she wrapped her arms around Chris’s neck, gave herself up to the feeling and kissed him back.

  He should be apologizing for taking liberties. And he would. In a minute. But Chris wanted to enjoy the moment, the overpowering sensation just a little longer. He was aware of his arms tightening around her, aware of the delicious taste of her lips permeating his consciousness. Jewel tasted of all things sweet and tempting.

  A fire surged through his veins.

  God, was he losing his mind?

  Or finding it?

  With effort, Chris made himself pull back—before he made another move forward that he was going to regret. Because he wanted to make love with her. And that was completely crazy, not to mention out of the question.

  Avoiding her eyes for a moment, Chris coughed, clearing his throat. Buying some time.

  “I’m sorry,” he finally said, raising his eyes to hers. “I don’t know what came over me. I don’t have anything to say in my defense except that I haven’t been myself lately.”

  It took her a moment to pull herself together and another to catch her breath. She could still feel her pulse racing. She was far from a novice at this, but no one had ever made her lose her train of thought before just by kissing her. It usually took a lot more “undercover” activity than what had just transpired to make her forget her name, rank and serial number.

  There was no denying that Chris was sexy. He had already gotten her blood going with just a look or a word, but she definitely hadn’t been prepared for this. Talk about still waters running deep. This was like falling through a crack in the earth and encountering a subterranean wild river.

  “Well, tell whoever was just substituting for you that’s it’s okay.” And make him come by again. “I’m not about to go all ‘indignant feminist’ on you.” She took a breath as subtly as possible. Her pulse was still sending out scrambled Morse code. “We’re both consenting adults here.” Searching for words in the jumble that now comprised her brain, she ran her tongue along her lips and tasted him again. Her stomach tightened in futile anticipation. “Very adult,” she added under her breath.

  He scrutinized her, as if uncertain whether or not to take her at her word. “So then you’re not offended or angry?”

  She grinned. Hadn’t he gleaned that from the way she’d kissed back? “So far from angry that we’re not even on the same continent.”

  “And you’ll still come tomorrow?” he wanted to know, then quickly added, “For Joel?”

  Even if I had to walk barefoot in the snow. “Count on it.” She couldn’t have pulled off a deadpan expression right now if her very life depended on it. The grin on her lips came from deep within her and it was far too difficult to suppress. The best she could do was repeat the words he’d just said. “For Joel.”

  He held the door open for her as she slid behind the wheel. “Thank you,” he said.

  No, thank you, she thought. Not trusting her voice, she merely nodded as she started up the car and put it into Reverse.

  Jewel had barely gotten back onto the road before her cell phone began to ring. Was it Chris? Had he decided to ask her to come back, using some flimsy excuse to make her return? She would have accepted anything, it didn’t matter. But because of their situation, the ball was in his court and the play was his to make.

  One eye out on the road, she fumbled in her glove compartment for her Bluetooth headset, something she hated dealing with but it was either that or pull off the road in order to answer her phone. There was a third alternative, but even if she wasn’t hoping that the call was coming from Chris, she wasn’t the type to let her calls go to voice mail unless she just couldn’t get to her phone in time.

  The cell was about to ring for the fourth time—at which point it would go to voice mail—when she finally pushed the silver button on her headset that allowed her to answer the phone.

  She realized that she was nervous as she said, “Parnell Investigations.”

  “About time you answered. So, do you have anything ‘new’ to tell me?”

  Daydreams unceremoniously bit the dust. It wasn’t Chris on the other end of the call; it was her mother. Acting as if she knew what had just happened between her and Chris.

  How in God’s name had her mother known that Chris had just kissed her?

  Calm down, Jewel. She’s not a seer, she doesn’t know. She’s just being Mom and checking up on you, the way she always does.

  “Nothing new,” Jewel said innocently. The light turned yellow and for once, she slowed down instead of flying through it. Talking to her mother always took the edge off her reflexes. It would be just her luck to have a car run a red light and come plowing into her. Better slow than sorry. “I’m still looking for Joel’s father.”

  “And you’re hoping to find him in Joel’s house?” There was a touch of mocking in her mother’s voice. “Do you think he might be hiding in the closet? Or possibly inside Chris’s mouth? I assume that was why you’d locked lips with him, hoping to suck out Joel’s father.”

  “How did you—? Okay, this is getting positively creepy now, Mom. How the hell did you know that he kissed me?”

  “Don’t swear, Jewel,” Cecilia admonished. “I taught you better than that. As for how, you’re not the only Parnell who’s capable of finding things out, dear.”

  “You’re not a Parnell, Mom,” Jewel pointed out, a fact that her mother had repeated to her more than once. “At bottom, you’re an O’Hara.”

  Cecilia snorted. “I put up with your father’s mother for ten years before the old crone died. I earned that name.”

  Jewel remembered how trying and demanding her father’s mother had been. There were several times when she’d been surprised that her mother hadn’t just lost it and strangled the woman. Anyone familiar with Fiona Parnell wouldn’t have ever blamed her.

  “No argument here.”

  She heard her mother chuckle. “Well, now, that’s a novelty.”

  Oh, no, she wasn’t going to get sucked down this path again. “Are you going to tel
l me how you knew that Chris kissed me or are you going to continue to regale me with your snappy patter?” And then, before her mother could say anything to enlighten her, the explanation suddenly came to Jewel. She’d heard a car go by when Chris was kissing her. “You drove by, didn’t you?”

  Now that she thought about it, the vehicle had sounded like it was slowing down, but she’d just thought that it was a nosy person wanting to watch them kiss.

  She’d been right. It was a nosy person. It was her mother. She should have known.

  “That was you in the car, wasn’t it, Mother?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She could almost see her mother tossing her head, her still beautiful hair flying over her shoulder. The woman could have been an actress.

  “I’m talking about hearing a car slow down, then pick up speed and drive away. That was you. Don’t bother to deny it.” She shook her head. “Mother, what possible reason could you have had to drive by his house like some deranged stalker? They have laws against stalking in this state,” she warned. “You could be arrested.”

  “Don’t get so dramatic, Jewel. I wasn’t stalking,” Cecilia protested with a touch of indignation. “I was just going to stop by to see how they were doing. I had a batch of Theresa’s chocolate chip cookies with me—she’s experimenting again,” she said by way of an aside. “But I got my answer at least as to how Chris was doing without having to stop the car.”

  Jewel braced herself. She could hear her mother’s grin over the phone and she knew what was coming.

  “So, I did good, didn’t I, Jewel?”

  She’d guessed right, Jewel thought. “Mom, if by that you mean that you were right to refer his case to me because you thought that I could find his missing ex-brother-in-law, then yes, you ‘did good.’”

  “You know perfectly well that’s not what I mean, Jewel.” There was more than a trace of impatience in her mother’s voice.

  “Maybe,” she allowed. “But I’m not going to dignify what you’re alluding to with an answer. Look, Mom, I’m on the road—”