Their Baby Bond

by Karen Rose Smith

  Her words took him by surprise. “Why is that?”

  “Because I doubt if you’ve changed from the young man who took me to the prom. You could have taken advantage of me that night, and you didn’t.”

  That night he’d seen the stars in her eyes and known she’d thought of him as one of those rescuing knights that had been painted on the paper taped to the walls of the banquet hall. Yes, he could have taken advantage of her.

  “You think because I was a gentleman on prom night I won’t overcharge you?” His tone was amused.

  She laughed. “I’ll be able to tell from your estimate. And, Jake…I’m not as naive anymore.”

  He wondered if that was some kind of warning. “I’ll remember that.”

  Leaving the bedroom, he crossed to her front door and opened it.

  Tori came up behind him like an angel who moved with no effort at all. “If you talk to Nina or see her, please give her my regards. Maybe she and I can have lunch together sometime.”

  “I’m sure she’d like that. I’ll tell her.”

  With a last look at the woman Tori Phillips had become, he left her house, hoping taking this job wasn’t a mistake.

  When the phone rang the following evening at about eight, Tori wondered if Jake had forgotten something. He’d called earlier with his estimate and she’d given him the go-ahead. Now, she recognized the voice on the other end of the line immediately.

  “Tori? It’s Nina.”

  “Nina! How are you? Jake told me about your husband. I’m so sorry.”

  There was a momentary pause. “It was a shock. But we’re managing now. Shortly after it happened, Jake was…at loose ends. It’s one of the reasons he came back to Santa Fe, and I’m grateful. The boys need him around.”

  “I’m glad he could be here for you. How long were you married?”

  “Eight years. We…we didn’t have the best marriage.”

  Silence fell over the line, and Tori didn’t know what to say to that. Nina had always been very open, and she could tell they’d fallen into the old camaraderie they’d shared as soon as she’d picked up the phone. “Jake tells me you have twins.”

  “And you’re going to adopt a baby! I’d love to catch up with you.”

  “We could go to lunch someday this week.”

  “I have a better idea. Why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow night? You can meet my boys.”

  “I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble. Mama does some of the cooking. The guy I’m dating will be here, and so will Jake.”

  “Jake?”

  “Yeah, he likes a good meal a couple of times a week. Did you two talk about old times?”

  “There weren’t that many. He only took me to my prom.”

  “You two used to talk when he came into the store.”

  “That was rare.”

  “I guess he’d just finished at the academy then. He rose through the ranks fast. I just wish…”

  Tori wondered why Nina stopped. “You wish what?”

  “Did he tell you what happened? Why he came back to Santa Fe?”

  “No. But then, he wasn’t here for a social visit, Nina. He came to look at the work I need to have done. Why did he come back to Santa Fe?”

  “I’d better let him tell you about all that. He doesn’t like it when I talk about his life.”

  “Are you sure he won’t mind me coming to dinner? I mean, he might not want to mix his professional life with his personal life.”

  “You’re my guest. And as far as Jake’s concerned, it wouldn’t hurt if his personal life and his professional life got a little mixed up. He has no sense of purpose right now. That was one thing my brother always had.”

  This baby was going to give Tori’s life the purpose and meaning she needed. She loved her work at the gallery—promoting artists, finding new ones and giving them a start. But she didn’t feel she was put on this earth to simply work and to make a comfortable life for herself. She wanted to be a mother so badly that tears came to her eyes whenever she thought about it. The car accident she and Dave had been involved in had destroyed her chances to conceive a child naturally. But she had no doubt that she could love the baby she’d seen on that sonogram with all her heart.

  “Purpose is important,” she agreed now. “You can give me the real scoop about motherhood, and everything I’ll need to buy that I haven’t even thought about.”

  “It will be so good to see you again, Tori.”

  “I’m looking forward to it. Just give me the time and directions to your home.”

  The sun streamed brightly over San Felipe Avenue the following evening as Tori found Nina’s house and turned into the driveway. A blue-and-tan truck was parked there already, and Tori recognized it as Jake’s.

  Picking up the box on the seat beside her—she’d stopped at her favorite chocolatier this afternoon, hoping the assortment of candies would be something everyone would enjoy—she took a deep breath and readied herself to see Jake again.

  However, as she rang the bell and waited on the pink concrete porch, she was unprepared for the astonishment on Jake’s face when he saw her.

  Spying the box of candy in her hand, appraising her claret pants and top, he put two and two together. “Nina invited you to dinner?” His tone was neutral.

  “Yes. I assumed she’d tell you. I—”

  Shoving her brother aside none too gently, Nina appeared in jeans and a purple-checked blouse, spotted Tori and managed to tug her inside, hugging her at the same time. “It’s so good to see you.”

  Nina was a petite version of her brother, feminine in every way he was masculine. Her black hair was still long and straight. Except for a facial line here and there, she didn’t look much different than she had at eighteen.

  Pulling Tori into the small living room that seemed overcrowded with people, she reintroduced Tori to her mother, Rita Galeno, who had aged considerably. In her mid-fifties now, her hair had gone completely gray and she still wore it in an oblong bun pinned at the back of her head.

  She smiled at Tori. “I remember you. You were the one who convinced Nina her eyes were too pretty to wear all that mascara and eyeshadow on them.”

  A sandy-haired man with twinkling blue eyes who had moved closer to Nina after she’d hugged Tori, now circled Nina’s waist with his arm. “You used to wear all that goop?”

  Nina laughed. “I was young, defiant and knew all I needed to know. Until Tori came along. Tori, this is my…friend, Charlie Nexley.”

  “He’s not her friend,” a child of about five piped up. “He’s her boyfriend.”

  “Ricky,” Nina warned the child, who was obviously the identical twin of the boy standing not far from his elbow.

  “We saw them smooching,” his brother said with a solemn nod.

  When Nina’s face flushed, Jake stepped in. Crouching down, he wrapped an arm around each boy’s shoulder. “Ricky, Ryan, this pretty lady is Ms. Phillips. Your mom and I knew her a long time ago.”

  “When you were a kid?” Ryan asked innocently.

  Jake chuckled. “Not quite that long ago. Now, why don’t we go out back and get out of everybody’s hair?” Without another look at Tori, Jake stood and ushered the boys to the back door.

  Without Jake’s presence in the room, Tori felt a definite decrease in tension. She offered the box of candy to Nina. “Here’s something for everybody’s sweet tooth.”

  “You didn’t have to do that.”

  Charlie accepted the box and said with a grin, “I’d better put this out of sight. At least until the boys have had their dinner.”

  Nina gave him a grateful smile.

  As Charlie moved into the kitchen, Rita pushed herself up from the recliner. “I’d better check on the soup.”

  Nina winked at Tori. “Tomato and rice with lots of green chilies. She smothered the chicken in roasted hot peppers, too. I hope you’re up for it.”

  “It sounds delicious.” Tori place
d her purse on a small pine table just inside the door. “Nina, thanks for inviting me today. But…Jake acted as if he didn’t know I was coming.”

  “He didn’t.”

  An uncomfortable silence stretched between the two women until Tori broke it. “Do you think that’s fair to him? He might not have wanted a stranger—”

  “You’re no stranger. He probably thinks of Charlie as more of a stranger than you. If I had told him you were coming, he might not have come himself. There’s something in his voice when he talks about you that makes me think…” She grinned. “Maybe there are a few sparks?”

  Tori wasn’t going to admit to anything. “Maybe your imagination is working overtime.”

  Nina studied Tori for a moment, then shook her head. “Nope. I know what I see. The truth is, Tori, I asked you here because Jake needs help.”

  Tori couldn’t imagine Jake Galeno needing anything from anyone. He’d always seemed so confident and self-contained. “What kind of help?”

  “I don’t know. That’s the problem. He doesn’t, either. Something happened in Albuquerque that he can’t get over. It had to do with his work. He needs to talk about it, but he won’t. He needs to get past it, but he can’t. He needs to get on with his life, and he says he’s doing that, but he’s not. I just thought inviting you tonight might get him to open up a bit. He’s only his old self when he’s with the boys. Maybe you can remind him who he used to be.”

  “Maybe I’ll only make things worse.”

  “That won’t happen. C’mon. You can watch while I make the salad.”

  While Nina worked and talked, Tori couldn’t help but glance out the window often. Jake didn’t look like a man who needed help. He was roughhousing with the twins, laughing with them, playing catch. Even when he was young, she’d sensed a deep control about him, an integrity that told everybody he knew who he was and what he could do. That was still the essence of his appearance. But what was going on inside? What had happened in Albuquerque?

  She shouldn’t care. She wouldn’t care.

  She’d learned when she was very young that men didn’t stay. She’d been nine when her father had walked out on her mother because he’d fallen in love with someone else. She’d seen her mother’s tears, pain and depression. She’d seen her father’s second marriage break apart, until she’d lost track of him and his second, third and fourth wives. When Tori had married after college, she decided her marriage would be different. It might have been if fate hadn’t intervened and changed the course of her life. Dave had walked out on her because she could no longer bear his children.

  So much for vows. So much for putting faith and trust in a man. She would never do it again.

  As Tori, Nina and her mother discussed their favorite recipes, Charlie went to the carport to check the pressure of Nina’s tires. He told her he thought one of them looked low.

  Soon after, Nina went to the door and called for the boys to come in and wash up. As they bounded toward the bathroom, Jake entered the kitchen, heading for the sink.

  Tori was standing right beside it, boxed in by the counter. The working area of the kitchen was small, and there really wasn’t anywhere she could move without looking obvious.

  When Jake turned on the spigot, he was close enough to her that she could see the gleam of sweat on his brow and inhale his scent, which seemed to be sunshine and sage and all man. For a moment her senses reeled and she told herself she was being silly. But she couldn’t seem to take her gaze from the black hair on his forearms, from the soapy suds slipping over his large hands.

  “Catching up?” he asked as he flipped off the spigot.

  It took her a moment to find her voice. “Sharing favorite recipes.”

  “I should have known,” he said with a smile. “What else would three women do in a kitchen?”

  With a slight shift of his body, he turned toward her. He was so close she could feel his body heat…feel a current of electricity between them immobilize her as she became fascinated by the whorl of hair nestled in the V of his green T-shirt.

  He reached behind her, brushing her back. “I need the towel,” he explained, his voice husky.

  Their gazes locked, and she vividly remembered the moment on her front porch twelve years ago when his arms had encircled her and his head had lowered to kiss her. The smoldering look in his eyes now convinced her he was remembering, too, maybe thinking about what it would be like to kiss her again.

  As he lifted the towel from the counter and took a few steps back, she chided herself for being ridiculous.

  Finished with the towel, he hung it over the oven door handle. “Where’s Charlie?” he asked Nina.

  “Checking my tire pressure.”

  He frowned. “I was going to do that. In fact—”

  Jake never got to finish because the twins ran back into the kitchen. Nina directed them to set the table in the dining area, where she had stacked dishes, silverware and napkins.

  Both boys grumbled and groaned.

  Ryan protested the loudest. “I want to go outside and watch Charlie.”

  Jake crooked his finger at them, and they scampered to him, looking up expectantly. “If you help your mom get ready for dinner without complaining, I’ll take you for ice cream afterward.”

  “Carlo’s Place?” Ricky asked, wanting to put terms to the deal. “Two scoops?”

  “You got it,” Jake said with a nod.

  As the boys ran to the table, Nina scolded her brother. “That was a bribe.”

  “Yes, it was. But I figured it was a small price to pay so they didn’t argue with you for the next ten minutes.”

  “Sometimes you have to stand on principle,” Nina grumbled.

  “Getting things done is better than principle,” Rita insisted. “After all, your brother’s the expert at negotiation.”

  At Rita’s remark, a smothering hush fell over the kitchen.

  Tori glanced from sister to brother to mother, not understanding the sudden tension and the somberness that seemed to have taken over Jake’s whole demeanor.

  “Jake, I’m sorry,” his mother said, looking upset. “I didn’t mean—”

  “I know you didn’t,” Jake said quietly. “Forget about it. I’m going to see if Charlie found the tire gauge.”

  Then Jake Galeno exited the kitchen, leaving Tori with unsettling questions she didn’t think Nina or Rita were going to answer.

  Chapter Two

  Dinner with the Galenos was an adventure, Tori decided, as she sat between Jake and Ricky. She made herself concentrate on the twins—that was easier than dealing with the attraction she still felt for Jake—and paid attention to everything they did. Maybe she’d learn something about parenting as she watched Nina interact with them.

  When Ricky spilled his milk, it ran off the table and onto Tori’s thigh. Nina was much more upset than she was.

  Ricky looked upset, too, as if he was ready to cry, until Tori smiled at him. “Milk will wash right out.” She gave him her napkin. “Come on, help me mop it up.”

  While he scurried to wipe the drips on the chair, she helped Nina with the table. She caught Jake watching her and wished she knew what he was thinking. Then again, maybe she didn’t want to know. Every time his arm grazed hers, every time he reached for a platter or serving dish, she was much too aware of his scent, as well as his sheer physical presence. Surely she didn’t still have a crush on him after all these years! Maybe these vibrations were what dating experts called chemistry? If so, she’d never experienced it before…except when she was a teenager and Jake was anywhere within ten feet of her.

  After dinner, in spite of Nina’s and Rita’s protests, Tori helped clean up. She wasn’t the type to sit while others worked. When they’d finished in the kitchen, they joined the men on the patio.

  Ricky pulled on Jake’s arm. “When are we going for ice cream?”

  “We just had dinner,” Jake replied with a grin.

  “I saved room,” Ricky insisted, then lo
oked at Tori. “Are you coming, too?”

  “Oh, I don’t know…” she began.

  Approaching her chair, Ricky wheedled, “Uncle Jake says it’s the best ice cream in Santa Fe. Mom and grandma won’t come because they say they’ll get fat if they eat it.”

  When Ryan added, “Please come,” she looked into their dark-brown eyes and couldn’t refuse.

  “Only if it’s all right with your uncle Jake.”

  A glance at Jake told her nothing. “Of course you’re welcome to come.” His face was perfectly blank, and his eyes reflected none of his thoughts.

  Carlo’s Place was a few blocks away—a small, brown stucco building with two parking spaces.

  “Most of his customers are within walking distance,” Jake explained as if reading her thoughts.

  The bench seat of Jake’s truck had seemed much too intimate during their drive here.

  After the boys unfastened their seat belts in the back, Jake helped them out. His truck’s running board was high off the ground.

  “If you wait, I’ll give you a hand,” he offered.

  The last thing she wanted was Jake’s skin pressed against hers. “I’m fine.”

  She proved it by sliding to the edge of her seat and then hopping down as gracefully as she could. She thought she saw a knowing smile play on Jake’s lips, but couldn’t be sure because it was gone too quickly.

  Ten minutes later they were sitting at a round redwood table with a striped yellow-and-white umbrella. The boys’ cones were dripping all over their hands, but Jake was ignoring that, so Tori did, too.

  Leaning close to her, Jake murmured, “I have those wet-wipe things in the truck. I wouldn’t go anywhere without them.”

  She smiled. “I imagine most kids are messy with ice-cream cones.”

  With a quick half shrug, he remarked, “Don’t know. I just know these two can make a mess of whatever they get into.” Looking her squarely in the eye, he asked, “Are you ready for that?”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Yes. More than ready. I’ve wanted children for years.”

  “Your husband didn’t?”

  Confiding in Jake would create a bond between them that Tori didn’t want. It was better if she kept her distance, better if she let the attraction between them sizzle and burn out. “It’s a long story.”