Sydney reached out. Lani sagged against her and they held each other. “Yeah,” Sydney whispered into her friend’s thick, fragrant hair. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.”
* * *
The next morning, the doorbell rang at seven-thirty on the nose.
“I get it!” Trevor fisted his plump hand and tapped the table twice. “Knock, knock!” he shouted. “Who’s there?”
Sydney kissed his milk-smeared cheek. “Eat your cereal, Bosco.”
“Banana!” Trev giggled. “Banana who?”
Lani said, “The coffee’s ready and the frittata’s in the oven. Answer the door, Syd.”
“Orange. Banana.” Trevor was totally entranced with his never-quite-right knock-knock joke. He banged his spoon gleefully against the tabletop. “Orange your…banana…”
Lani took his spoon from him. “Well, I guess I’ll have to feed you, since you’re not doing it.”
“Lani, no! I eat. I do it myself.”
“You sure?”
“Yes!”
She handed him back the spoon. “Go,” she said to Sydney, canting her head in the general direction of the front door.
Her heart doing somersaults inside her chest, Sydney went to let Rule in.
“Hi.” She said it in the most ridiculous, breathy little voice.
“Sydney,” he replied in wonderful melted-caramel tones. Could a man get more handsome every time a woman saw him? Rule did. The bright April sunshine made his hair gleam black as a crow’s wing, and his smile had her heart performing a forward roll. He had a big yellow Tonka dump truck in one hand and a red ball in the other.
“I see you’ve come armed for battle,” she said.
He shrugged. “In my experience, little boys like trucks. And balls.”
“They do. Both. A lot.” She stared at him. And he stared back at her. Time stopped. The walls of her foyer seemed to disappear. There was only the man on the other side of the open door. He filled up the world.
Then, from back in the kitchen, she heard her son calling out gleefully, “Orange. Banana. Banana. Orange…”
Lani said something. Probably, “Eat your cereal.”
“It’s the never-ending knock-knock joke,” she said, and then wondered if they even had knock-knock jokes in his country. “Come in, come in…”
He did. She shut the door behind him. “This way…”
He caught her elbow. Somehow he had managed to shift the toy truck to the arm with the ball in it. “Wait.” He said it softly.
She turned back to him and he looked down at her and…
Was there anything like this feeling she had with him? So fine and shining and full of possibility. He pulled her to him.
She went willingly, eagerly. Close to him was where she wanted to be. She moved right up, snug and cozy against his broad chest, sharing his strong arms with the red ball and the yellow truck. “What?”
“This.” And he kissed her. A brushing kiss, tender and teasing. Just right for early on a sunny Saturday morning. She felt his smile against her own.
When he lifted his mouth from hers, his eyes were soft as black velvet and full of promise. “May I meet your son now?”
“Right this way.”
* * *
Trevor was shy with Rule at first.
Her little boy stared with big, solemn dark eyes as Sydney introduced Rule to Lani.
“And this is Trevor,” Sydney said.
“Hello, Trevor. My name is Rule.”
Trevor only stared some more and stuck a big spoonful of cereal in his mouth.
“Say hello,” Sydney instructed him.
But Trevor turned his head away.
Rule sent her an oblique glance and a slight smile that said he knew about kids, and also knew how to be patient. He put the ball and the truck under the side table against the wall and accepted coffee, taking the empty chair between Lani and Sydney.
Lani served the frittata and they ate. Rule praised the food and said how much he liked the coffee, which Lani prepared to her own exacting tastes, grinding the beans with a top-quality grinder and brewing only with a French press.
He asked Lani about her degree in literature. The two of them seemed to hit it off, Sydney thought. Lani was easy with him, and friendly, from the first. She told him her favorite Shakespeare play was The Tempest. He confessed to a fondness for King Lear, which had Lani groaning that she might love Lear, too. But she had no patience for thickheaded, foolish kings. Sydney didn’t know a lot about Shakespeare, but it did kind of please her, that Rule seemed well-read, that he could carry on a conversation about something other than the Mavericks and the Cowboys.
He turned to her. “And what about you, Sydney? Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play?”
She shrugged. “I saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream once. And I enjoyed it. Everybody falling in love with the wrong person, but then it all worked out in the end.”
“You prefer a happy ending?”
“Absolutely,” she told him. “I like it when it all works out. That doesn’t happen often enough in real life.”
“I like trucks!” Suddenly, Trev was over his shyness and back in the game.
Rule turned to him. “And do you like balls?”
“Red balls! Yes!”
“Good. Because that truck and that ball over there beneath the table? They’re for you.”
Trevor looked away again—too much attention, apparently, from this intriguing stranger.
Sydney said, “Tell Rule ‘thank you.’”
“Thank you, Roo,” Trev parroted obediently, still looking away, the soft curve of his round cheek turned down.
But Rule wasn’t looking away. He seemed honestly taken with her little boy. Her heart did more wild and lovely acrobatics, just to look at the two of them, Rule watching Trev, Trev not quite able to meet this new guy’s eyes.
Then Rule said, “Knock, knock.”
Trev didn’t look, but he did say, “Who’s there?”
“Wanda.”
Trev peeked, looked away, peeked again. “Wanda who?”
“Wanda cookie?”
Slowly, Trev turned and looked straight at Rule. “Cookie! Yes! Please!”
Rule actually produced an animal cracker from the pocket of his beautifully made lightweight jacket. He slid a questioning glance at Sydney. At her nod, he handed the cookie over.
“Grrr. Lion!” announced Trev and popped the lion-shaped cookie in his mouth. “Yum.” He chewed and swallowed. “Thank you very much—Orange! Banana! Knock, knock.”
Rule gamely went through the whole joke with him twice. Trev never got the punch line right, but that didn’t have any effect on his delight in the process.
“It never ends,” Lani said with a sigh. But then she grinned. “And you know we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“All done,” Trev told them. “Get down, Mama. Play trucks!”
So Sydney wiped his hands and face with a damp cloth and swung him down from his booster seat. He went straight for Rule. “Roo. Come. We play trucks!”
“It appears you have been summoned,” Sydney said.
“Nothing could please me more—or almost nothing.” The teasing heat in his glance hinted that whatever it was that pleased him more had something to do with her. Very likely with kissing her, an activity that pleased her a bunch, too.
He tossed his jacket across the family room sofa and went over and got down on the floor with Trev, who gathered all his trucks together so they could roll them around making vrooming noises and crash them into each other. Sydney and Lani cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. And soon enough, it was time to head for the neighborhood park. Lani begged off, so it was just the three of them. Since the small park was only a couple of blocks away, they walked, Trev between Sydney and Rule, holding both their hands.
Trev was an outgoing child, although he was usually pretty reserved around new people. It took him a while to get comfortable with someone. But apparent
ly, with Rule, he was over his shyness after those first few moments at the breakfast table.
Trev chattered away at him as they strolled past the pretty, gracious homes and the wide, inviting lawns. “I walk fast, Roo. I strong! I happy!”
Rule agreed that he was very fast, and so strong—and wasn’t it great that he was happy? “I’m happy, too,” Rule said, and shared a speaking glance with Sydney.
Trev looked up at them, at Rule, then at Sydney, then back at Rule again. “Mama’s happy, too!” he crowed. “Knock, knock!”
“Who’s there?” asked Rule. And then he went through the endless loop of the joke two more times.
They stayed at the park for three hours. Sydney watched for a sign that Rule might be getting tired of pushing Trev on the swings, of sitting with him on the spinner, of playing seesaw—Trev and Sydney on one end, Rule on the other.
But Rule seemed to love every minute of it. He got down and crawled through the concrete tunnels with Trev, heedless of his designer trousers, laughing as Trev scuttled ahead of him calling out, “You can’t catch me, I too fast!” Trev popped out of the tunnel.
Rule was right behind him. Rule growled, playing it scary. Trev let out a shriek of fear and delight.
Finally, at a little after eleven, Trev announced, “Okay. All done.” And he was. All the fun had worn him out.
The walk back to the house took a little longer than the stroll over there. When Trevor was tired, he dragged his feet and kept trying to sit down instead of moving forward.
But they got him there, eventually. Lani took over, hustling him to the bathroom to change him out of the diaper she’d put on him for the park and back into the lighter-weight training pants he wore most of the time now.
Alone with Rule for the first time since their kiss at the front door, Sydney said, “You were wonderful with him.”
His gaze held hers. She did love the way he looked at her—as though he couldn’t get enough of just staring into her eyes. He said, “It wasn’t difficult, not in the least. I enjoyed every minute of it.” And then he added in that charming, formal way of his, “Thank you for inviting me, Sydney.”
“It was my pleasure—and clearly, Trev’s, too. Had enough?”
He frowned. “Are you saying you would like for me to go now?”
She laughed. “No way. I’m just giving you an out, in case you’ve had enough of crashing trucks and knock-knock jokes for one day.”
“I want to stay, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind.” Now her heart was doing cartwheels. “Not in the least.”
Yes, all right. Maybe she should be more cautious. Put the brakes on a little. But she didn’t want to put the brakes on. She was having a great time and if he didn’t want to go, well, why should she feel she should send him away?
He could stay for lunch if he wanted, stay for dinner. Stay…indefinitely. That would be just fine with her. Every moment she was with him only convinced her that she wanted the next moment with him. And the one after that. Something about him had her throwing all her usual caution to the winds.
Was she in for a rude awakening? She just didn’t think so. Every moment she was with Rule only made her more certain that he was the real deal: a great guy who liked her—a lot. A great guy who liked children, too, a guy who actually enjoyed spending the morning playing in the park with her and her little boy.
As long as he gave her no reason to doubt her confidence in him, well, she wouldn’t doubt him. It was as simple as that.
He said, “Perhaps we could take Trevor and Lani to lunch?”
“I wish. But no. Trev’s going to need to eat right away, and since he’s been on the go since early this morning, he’s probably going to be fussy. So we’ll get some food down him and then put him to bed. His nap will last at least a couple of hours. You sure you won’t mind just hanging around here for the afternoon?”
“There’s nothing I would rather do than hang around here with you and your son.” He said it so matter-of-factly, and she knew he was sincere.
“I’m glad.” They shared a nod of perfect understanding.
As Sydney had predicted, Trev was cranky during lunch, but he did pack away a big bowl of chicken and rice. He went right to sleep when Sydney put him in bed.
Then she and Rule raided the refrigerator and carried their lunch of cheese, crackers and grapes out to the backyard. They sat under an oak not far from the pool and he told her more about his family, about how his older brother Max’s wife had tragically drowned in a water-skiing accident two years before, leaving Max with a broken heart and two little children to raise on his own.
“They were so happy together, Max and Sophia,” Rule said, his eyes full of shadows right then. “They found each other very young, and knew they would marry when they were both hardly more than children. It’s been terrible for him, learning to live without her.”
“I can’t even imagine how that must be for him. I’ve always envied people who find true love early and only want a chance to have a family, to grow old side by side. It’s just completely wrong that your brother and his wife didn’t get a whole lifetime of happiness together.”
They were sitting in a pair of cushioned chaises, the platter of cheese and fruit on the low teak table between them. He held out his hand to her. She took it without hesitation and let him pull her over to his chaise.
He wrapped an arm around her, using his other hand to tip her chin up. They shared a slow, sweet kiss. And then he spoke against her softly parted lips. “I love the taste of your lips, the feel of your body pressed close to mine… .”
She reached up, touched the silky black hair at his temple. A miracle, to be here with him, like this. To be free to touch him at will, to be the one he wanted to touch. “Oh, Rule. What’s happening with us?”
He kissed her again, a possessive kiss, hard and quick. “You don’t know?”
“I…think I do. But I’ve waited so long to meet someone like you. It almost seems too good to be true.”
“You’re trembling.” He held her closer.
She laughed, a torn little sound. “Not so prickly now, huh?”
“Come here, relax…” He stretched out in the chaise and pulled her with him, so she lay facing him, tucked against his side, his big arms around her, his cheek touching her hair. A lovely breeze came up, stirring the warm afternoon air, making it feel cool and comfortable beneath the oak tree. “Don’t be afraid. I would never hurt you. I’m only grateful that I’ve found you, at last.”
“So, then,” she teased, “you lied yesterday when you said you weren’t looking for me.”
“Can you forgive me?”
She took a moment, pretended to think it over and finally whispered, “I’ll try.”
“Good. Because I’ve been looking for you all my life. And now that I have you in my arms, I never want to let you go.”
“I want to be with you, too.” She laid her hand against his chest, felt the steady, strong beating of his heart. “And I’m not afraid,” she added. And then she sighed. “Well, okay. That’s not so. I am afraid—at least a little.”
“Because of those fools Ryan and Peter?”
She nodded. “I haven’t had good luck with men.”
He kissed her hair. “Maybe not.”
“Definitely not.”
“Until now,” he corrected her.
She tipped her head back and met those shining dark eyes and…well, she believed him. She honestly did. “Until now,” she repeated, softly, but firmly, too.
“Come out with me tonight. Let me come for you. We’ll have dinner, go dancing.”
It was Lani’s night out. But Sydney had more than one sitter she could call. “I would love to.”
* * *
Trev woke at a little before three, completely refreshed and ready to play some more.
Rule was only too happy to oblige him. Together, they built a wobbly Duplo castle—which Trev took great delight in toppling to
the floor the moment it was finished. Then the three of them took the red ball outside to Trev’s fenced play area and rolled the ball around. Finally, inside again, Rule and Trev played more trucks until Lani announced it was time for Trev’s dinner.
The man amazed Sydney. He seemed completely content to spend hours entertaining her toddler. He honestly did seem to love children and Sydney couldn’t help thinking that he would make a wonderful father.
Rule called his driver at five-twenty-five.
“Bye, Roo. Come back. See me soon!” Trev called, pausing to wave as Lani herded him toward the stairs for his bath.
“Goodbye Trevor.”
“We play trucks!” Trev started up the stairs in his usual way, using both hands and feet.
“Yes.” Rule nodded, watching his progress upward. “Trucks. Absolutely.”
Trev turned to Lani and started his knock-knock joke as he and Lani disappeared on the upper landing. The moment they were out of sight, Sydney moved into Rule’s open arms.
They shared a kiss and then he took her hand and brushed his lips across the back of it. “Your son is amazing. So smart. Just like his mom.”
She answered playfully, “And don’t forget strong. Trev is very strong. Just ask him.”
“Yes, I remember. Very strong and very loud when he wants to be—and I’m honored that you shared the story of his birth so honestly with me. And that you’ve trusted me enough to tell me about those idiots Ryan and Peter.”
“I think it’s better,” she said, “to be honest and forthright.”
“So do I.” Something happened in his eyes—a shadow of something. Uneasiness? Concern?
Her pulse beat faster. “Rule. What is it? What’s the matter?”
“I’m afraid I have a confession to make.”
Now her pulse was racing dizzyingly fast. And she felt sick, her stomach churning. So, then. He really was too good to be true. “Tell me,” she said softly, but not gently. She couldn’t hide the thread of steel that connected the two simple words.
“Remember how I told you I admired my mother?”
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