Indelible Love Series + Entwined Bundle

by DW Cee

  “Dani is at an away game so she won’t be home for dinner. You two go out and have a few hours of peace. I will stand guard and love my godchildren.”

  After much convincing, they left the twins in my care. I went upstairs and changed each of their diapers and reveled in this time of adoration. Our little one would have been about the same age as Paul and Nellie. And Paul, Dani and I would have had so much fun raising our baby. Being with these kids brought an inexplicable joy – a sense of peace that no one else could bring me right now.

  I was just about to pick up Paul when I heard a light knock on the door. Placing him back in his crib upset him and his lips turned from a frown, to a pout, and then to an all out wail. There was no choice but to take Paul to the door with me.

  “Olivia.” Jamie placed his arms carefully around me and baby Paul and kissed me even before the door was fully opened. With the baby in my arms, there was no way out of kissing him back.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered then kissed me again. I was helpless to stop him.

  We pulled apart when Paul protested being in such cramped quarters.

  “Sorry, buddy! You’ll understand one day when you’re older and have woman issues,” he explained to the infant while kissing the top of his head.

  “How did you know I was here? Did Meghan call you?”

  “No. I called George to ask him a question and he told me they were out to dinner while you were babysitting. Can we talk now? You promised to call. I’ve been waiting by the phone for days.”

  “Let me put the twins to bed first.”

  I was caught with no place to hide. The last few days were filled with anguish, wondering how I was going to explain to Jamie that what we had was something temporary.

  “Let me help you,” Jamie uttered and followed me upstairs. The whole way up, his hands stayed on some part of my body, as though he were afraid I’d run away from him.

  “Hello, beautiful girl!” he cooed to Nellie. "Let Uncle Jamie rock you to sleep."

  Without any help or coaching, he sang a quiet lullaby to Nellie while she stared up at him with her big blue eyes. Now and then he’d bring her up to his lips and kiss the side of her cheeks or place his nose on her head, inhaling the wondrous scent of baby. It was like she was his own. He was a natural father. This sight added to my turmoil. Without a doubt he needed a family – one I couldn’t provide.

  “I think they’re both down,” he whispered. “Let’s go talk downstairs.”

  Checking on the kids one more time, I reluctantly went down with Jamie but stayed away from his touch.

  “Talk to me,” he urged.

  “Did you notice what a natural parent you were with the kids?”

  “Not that again. Look at George and Meghan. After thirteen years, they were able to produce kids. I can wait.”

  Not once did he mention being content not having kids.

  “I can’t give this to you.”

  “Stop it!” He was just shy of yelling at me.

  “This is serious, Jamie. Let’s stop now while we can. In the end we’ll both get hurt...”

  “Can we just give this relationship a try? Already, I can’t stop. I love you.”

  He held me against my will. I did everything in my power to push him away and to stand my ground. It didn’t work. I wasn’t strong enough.

  “Are there other issues aside from our possible future unborn children? You know, you’re way ahead of yourself, Olivia Kingston.” Jamie had a devilish grin. “You’re under the assumption that I want to make babies with you. I haven’t even proposed and you’re worrying about having kids with me.”

  Before I could work my way out of his arms and get upset, he added, “I don’t know if I could handle such a high maintenance woman. You’re too much trouble already!”

  “Take that back. I am not high maintenance and I am not any trouble,” I huffed with indignation.

  His eyes rolled and he belted out a laugh.

  “I love you regardless. As for the marriage proposal, you’ll have to wait. I’m not in the habit of popping the question after a one month acquaintance.”

  “Aargh!” I yelled and pulled away.

  “Come back here.” He chased after me and I ran to the guest bathroom right by the front door and locked myself in.

  “Olivia. Open the door.”

  “Nuh-uh! You take back everything you said or I’m staying here till George and Meghan get back.”

  “Um, how old are we?”

  Before I could answer, I heard the front door close and Meghan asking, “Jamie. What are you doing here and where’s Olivia?”

  With my head hanging low, I crept out of the bathroom embarrassed that they caught us in a lover’s quarrel.

  “Were you playing hide and seek in there?” Meghan asked without holding back any of the guffaw.

  “The kids are asleep. All went well. Goodnight.” Mortified, I stepped out the door with Jamie right behind me.

  “Come here.” He pulled me to him before I could get into my car. “Tell me about my possible future adult child. What is the issue with her?” That irritating grin came back.

  “She...well...” Again, I didn’t want Dani as the fall guy. Even though this was Jamie – the man I loved and trusted – I wanted to protect my daughter. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about her. All the issues have to do with me.”

  “You sure?” He didn’t look convinced.

  “Positive.” I pushed myself away and tried to get in the car. “I need to get home and see Dani. She’ll be back soon.”

  “When can we see each other again? Can we have dinner tomorrow night? Can we go away one of these weekends?”

  “I don’t know and I can’t go away with you.”

  His sigh came back and I wanted to tell this impatient man that we lived two very different lives. Whereas he was single and able to do whatever he liked, I had responsibilities that couldn’t be ignored.

  “Dani?”

  I nodded yes.

  “Lunch, tomorrow?”

  “Maybe...”

  “Aargh!” he hollered and left.

  DANI 2005

  “Dani!” Some crazy voice yelled over the crowd of girls vying for a good seat on the bus. “Danielle Kingston!”

  I did a 360 searching for the caller.

  “Hey, Dani,” my girlfriend Kari called, “there’s some hot old guy looking for you.” She pointed over the heads of my teammates towards the other side of the parking lot.

  “Whew! Good thing I got here before the bus left.” He was totally out of breath.

  “Why are you here, Jamie, and...dressed like that?” He looked like one of our coaches – though he was probably the best-looking coach any of us has ever seen.

  “I’m helping Coach Mark. You’re down an assistant coach and a statistician. I’m here to fill in for both positions,” he answered and pushed me into a seat next to him. All my teammates walking by gave me “the eye” wondering who this hot looking man was.

  “I’m telling Ian you’re two-timing!” Janet teased and waved her index finger in a naughty, naughty gesture.

  “She gets all the cute ones,” I heard someone in the back snicker.

  “Ladies!” Coach Mark yelled over roughly twenty girls. “I have a few announcements. Coach Fred is ill today and Ben, our statistician, has to retake a science exam so in their place is a friend of a college buddy of mine who played baseball for State, Mr. Jamie Hutchison.” Coach Mark signaled for Jamie to stand up and take a bow.

  Hoots, hollers and catcalls followed.

  “Settle down, Ladies. If you’re nice to him, he may come back and help out again.”

  “He can come and help me anytime!” Kimberly vociferated.

  In deference to my mom, it annoyed me that Jamie got so much rude attention from the girls. But then it bugged me even more that I was siding with Mom in his favor. If memory served me correctly, I was not for this “relationship”.

  “You’re
popular.” There was a hard edge to my statement.

  “I wish your mom would like me as much as these girls.” Jamie had a sweet looking laugh. I could see why Mom would be taken in by his looks. This could be blasphemy but Jamie was better looking than Dad. Ugh! This was not a time to be weak and take his side.

  “How did you end up here? I mean, on this bus with us?”

  “Well, I was talking to a college buddy of mine today and we were reminiscing about our days on the team.”

  “Wait, what was that about? You played college ball?”

  Jamie nodded yes.

  “How come you never told me?”

  “I thought I did. It was so long ago, I don’t talk about it much. You know I like baseball. Opening night at the ballgame was like our first date.”

  “Your first date with…Mom?”

  “No…our first date. As in, the three of us.”

  “Oh…” I didn’t know what to say to that. He apparently considered me a part of his relationship with mom. He understood that Mom came as a package deal. That made me feel pretty good.

  “Do you think you can help me, Dani? I’m in dire straits right now.” His blue eyes mesmerized me when he laid out his plea.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s your mom. She’s refusing to go out with me.” It blew me away that he was discussing his “issues” with me.

  He must be desperate or stupid. Didn’t he understand that I was the reason Mom was refusing to go out with him?

  “We went out a few times while you were away for a week and I thought we had an understanding that we were going to start a relationship but all of a sudden she’s backing away from me.”

  Bizarre, but I thought there were tears in his eyes. What kind of man cried? And over a woman, while on a bus filled with teenage girls? What a wimp.

  “Do you know why she’s refusing me, Dani?”

  I shrugged my shoulders – not because I wanted to lie to him – but because I didn’t know what to say.

  “Your mom talked some crazy nonsense about not being able to have anymore kids and she didn’t want me to live life without experiencing a child of my own. That was her reasoning. Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?”

  I shrugged my shoulders again.

  “With modern medicine, of course she can have more kids. Look at your godparents.”

  “That’s all Mom said?”

  “Yeah…Why, is there something she’s not telling me? Is there someone else? Does she not like me anymore?” He had an appalled look that almost looked fake. There was something unsettling about this whole conversation. It was almost like I was being played into a dramedy.

  “I don’t know how to help you.” Lie, lie, lie! I knew exactly how to help him.

  “Come on, Dani. You gotta help me! I am so in love with your mother! I understand why your dad felt the need to ask her to marry him after their first date. Your mom has the most endearing, captivating, entrancing, hypnotizing, mesmerizing, adorable…”

  “Okay, okay,” I had to cut him off before he recited the entire thesaurus on Mom’s enticing qualities. “I get it.” I shook my head in disbelief. Even after eighteen years, it was a wonder how my mother did this to men. “You’re as whipped as my dad was when he was alive. Mom could write a book on how to get men falling stupid at her feet.”

  Jamie looked irritated by my last statement.

  “Sorry. No offense, but you fell for the Olivia Maize Kingston mystique – hook, line and sinker. My dad’s not the only schmuck out there.” My cackles were so loud, all the girls wanted to know what was so funny.

  “Dani,” Jamie whined my name while putting his heavy head on my shoulder “you have to help me!” He whined some more. “Please say you’ll help.”

  “What can I do? How can I convince Mom to date you? Does Mom feel as strongly about you as you do about Mom?”

  “I don’t know if it’s this strong but I do know she likes me a lot – or at least she did like me a lot just a few days ago. If you were to be on my side and tell Olivia you think she should give me a chance, she may reconsider. You are the most important person in the world to her, and she loves you more than anyone. Even if we were to date, I’d never replace you, nor your dad in her heart – not that I’d even try.”

  “But if she dated you, she might not love Dad anymore. What if she forgets him?” I mourned for my dad who wasn’t able to fight for his wife anymore. I would be his champion and keep his memory alive.

  “Dani, there’s no way she’s going to forget your dad. Your dad was an incredible man. I wish I could’ve had the pleasure of calling him a friend.” He seemed sincere in his desire to have known Dad. “I don’t want Olivia to forget Paul and I will not ask her to stop loving him. He is a big part of who she is and I love all of her – even the Paul part of her.”

  “You…love…her…? Already?” His confession was unexpected but genuine.

  “Believe it or not, I fell in love with her when I heard her talk about your father. This man no longer walked this earth, but he was respected, cherished and soundly loved by his woman. How could I not fall in love with a woman who could love so profoundly?”

  Totally shocked! Totally confounded! How had I gone from a Jamie hater to a Jamie advocate? He loved Mom almost as much as Dad loved her. “I don’t know if I can help you. I mean, I’d like to but Mom’s not too happy with me right now. I kinda blew it with her, myself.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “She didn’t tell you about it?”

  Looking very serious, he shook his head no.

  “We kinda got into a row about…you. She was all giggly and smiley that night I came back from my trip and I accused her of a bunch of things that had no truth nor validity. A lot of angry words spilled out and I have yet to apologize nor make amends.”

  Jamie put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head like Dad used to do when he knew I needed comforting.

  “Dani, your mom loves you and has forgiven you already for anything you might have said or done. She holds no grudges against her own daughter. You really are the most important person to her.”

  “I hope so, Jamie. She was so hurt that night. She might have even had a panic attack and I wasn’t around to help calm her down.” Now I was fully bawling in front of everyone around me. “I’m such a spoiled brat, impudent child, horrible daughter, jackanapes...I’d like to use a few more descriptive words but I’m not allowed to swear.”

  With his right cheek resting on the top of my head, his chuckle reverberated. “You are as lovable as your mother – like mother like daughter. Ian has no idea what he’s in for, does he? You Kingston women are frightening.”

  “We are not!” My head bonked his cheekbone as I looked up to yell at him.

  “Ow!” he bellowed.

  It served him right for calling us frightening.

  “Ladies! We’re here. Get your gear together,” Coach yelled over us.

  “Mom’ll probably be here. Let’s try and help each other today, okay?”

  “Okay!” He high-fived me and grabbed my bag from the floor.

  We all hauled our equipment and settled ourselves in the visitor dugout. Jamie had us warm up with some basic as well as some complicated drills. The girls followed his every word with abated breath. They were practically wiping each other’s drool. It was shameless but funny all the while. Wait till these girls got a load of Mom and Jamie in action.

  “Danielle,” Mom’s beautiful voice rang out.

  Like bees to a honey pot, like moths to bright light, Jamie’s figure could be seen flying over to the fence by the home team. I took a trek to the other side of the field myself.

  “Olivia!” Sappy Jamie hugged my surprised mother. She stepped way back when he tried to kiss her in front of everyone interested in this scene.

  “Jamie,” she attempted to whisper, but could be heard from even where I stood. “What are you doing here?”

  It was terrible kn
owing that Mom feared my reaction so much that she looked at me more than Jamie. I quickly sauntered over to Jamie’s side to let her know I was okay with her new found “love”.

  “Hi Mom,” I called with a guilty conscience. “Jamie’s a friend of a friend of Coach Mark, or something like that, and he’s helping out today. Coach Fred and Ben are out.”

  “Oh…” She was at a loss for words.

  “Dani! Get your butt over here for batting practice!”

  “I have to go before Coach Mark yells at me even more. I’ll see you later?” I asked uncertain of how Mom would react. The last few minutes contained more conversation than we’d had in the last few days. Regardless, I thought I’d go for broke and reached out and hugged Mom. “Bye,” I whispered and walked to the nearby batting cage.

  Interim assistant coach Jamie left half the team in disarray and the rest to Coach Mark as he couldn’t tear himself away from Mom. All of us in the batting cage could hear their mushy conversation.

  “How did you end up here?”

  “Long story. I’ll tell you over dinner. I’ve missed you. I’m glad you’re here.”

  Mom must have given Jamie a skeptical look or some negative vibe because he said a little too loudly, “You know you missed me too. It’s written all over your face. And yes, Olivia Kingston. You are having dinner with me tonight!”

  All the girls stopped what we were doing and watched this scene unfold.

  “Olivia,” Jamie warned. “If you don’t agree to dinner tonight, I’m going to act like a randy teenage boy and make out with you in front of all these high schoolers and their parents up on the stand.”

  “Say yes, Mrs. Kingston!” the girls on the field whooped. “Say yes!”

  “Say no, Mrs. Kingston” the girls in the batting cage adamantly yelled, “that way, you can make out with him!”

  We all saw Jamie take a step forward and in unison, Mom took a step backward. They continued this two-step dance routine till Jamie caught hold of Mom by the waist and my teammates went wild cheering him on.

  “Go, go, go, go!” they incited.

  He gave a wicked grin and kissed Mom in front of everyone. Mom protested but couldn’t stave off the power of Jamie Hutchison.