Child of Mine (28 page)

Once there, Nattie led the way while Jack held the door for Kelly. Nattie found a red booth along the front windows, and then she and Kelly slipped into the ladies' restroom to make themselves presentable.

When they came out, Nattie bit her lip expectantly. “Can I sit with Kelly?”

Jack pretended to be disturbed. “Where am
I
going to sit?”

“Over there,” Nattie said, pointing to the other side and sliding in next to Kelly. “Girls stick together.”

They ordered burgers and shared more park stories, and Nattie recounted every moment of her “splendicious” time with Kelly.

“So tell me about that magic trick,” Jack asked.

Kelly leaned forward. “I've got a better idea.”

Nattie squealed. “
Another
one?”

Kelly nodded, pulling out a deck of cards from her purse.

“Cool!” Nattie exclaimed, and for the next few minutes Kelly entertained them with one card trick after another, pausing after each one to let them figure it out. They rarely could.

Time flew quickly. Later, at the truck, Kelly kissed the top of Nattie's head and winked at Jack, and in turn, Nattie hugged Kelly tightly, burying her face into Kelly's blouse. When Kelly climbed in, Nattie cuddled close to her while Jack drove them back to the house, where Kelly's car was parked.

Kelly got out, and Nattie followed her to the car. “When are you coming back?” Nattie asked.

Kelly pressed Nattie's face in her hands, smiling brightly with reassurance, rubbing Nattie's nose with her own. “Very soon.”

“Promise?”

Jack touched Nattie's back. “Can we get a moment of privacy, please?”

Grudgingly, Nattie agreed and headed up the sidewalk to the house.

Jack folded his arms awkwardly. “We have a tradition in the Livingston household . . .”

Kelly looked at him with anticipation as Jack described their usual Friday nights, which included a movie and popcorn, junk food, and late hours. “Of course, dinner is first.”

“Wow, you're going to spoil me.”

Jack considered giving Kelly a kiss until he heard the clearing of a preteen voice. “We're in public, Dad. The neighbors are looking.”

Kelly laughed, putting her hands on his chest as if to forestall any further attempt. He let her go unkissed but with intentions for many attempts to follow.

From the front stoop, he and Nattie hugged each other and watched Kelly drive down the block, welcoming her into their lives.

K
elly awakened to the scent of eucalyptus, and for a moment it was as if she hadn't moved. She heard a furry sound, followed by a soft
meow
, and looked over her bed. Sleepy-eyed Felix was looking up at her.
“
Hey,
boss
lady
,
I
'
m
hungry
.
How
'
bout
you
?”

Wearing her oversized T-shirt, Kelly pulled back the covers and stumbled to the bathroom, took a peek at the mirror, her hair scattered in every direction, and winced.

When she returned, Felix was in the middle of the room, cleaning his paw, his green eyes narrowed to lazy slits.

She sat at the bedside again, and Felix made a beeline for her legs, practically diving into her ankle, dropping to his side, and pawing at the carpet.

The morning sun twinkled off the brass handles of her distressed white dresser. And the answer to her question, the answer she'd been seeking for years, now lay in a plastic bag on top—the sucker-disguised swab she'd used on Nattie at the park. Kelly picked up the bag and stared at it, then sat back on the bed. She turned the plastic bag over, the sucker sliding about, and tears formed in her eyes. Getting to know Nattie had severely complicated things.

She wasn't just a prospect. She was a darling girl. Kelly hugged herself in the stillness of a bright morning.
Are you my daughter
?
More than anything, she wanted the answer to be yes. In fact, she was
way
overinvested in the answer.

Already she'd vacillated, changing her mind a dozen times. She could throw the sample away, or she could send it in. Here it was, three days later, and she still hadn't made up her mind.

Her cell phone chirped. She picked it up and read the text from Melody.
You're gone tonight, right?

She texted back:
Meeting
Jack again. Sorry!

Melody:
Yikes. Does he know yet?

Kelly:
Sigh

Melody:
I'm here for you.

Kelly drove the familiar route and met Jack at a little French eatery called Chantal. Kelly noted that the café was the perfect combination of upscale and homey—white tablecloths and votive candles, fresh flowers, and not too exotic for small-town Wooster. He met her at the door dressed in new jeans and a blue-striped button-down shirt, in keeping with the recent cool weather.

“Well, my day has certainly picked up.”

She patted his chest playfully. “You say the nicest things.”

The hostess led them to a window table, and after placing their orders, they fell into comfortable conversation. Jack talked about his work and about Nattie, of course, and she waxed on about her own work.

In the spotlight of Jack's enamored focus, it was becoming easier for Kelly to compartmentalize, to conduct herself without feeling as if she were lying about nearly everything she talked about. And really, she wasn't. She was merely keeping the
Emily
part of her life cordoned off—simply withholding the truth about how, and why, they'd met.

Sure, she'd suspected Nattie was hers, and yes, she'd tested
Nattie, just in case, but she'd all but decided not to submit it to the lab, because knowing the truth would change everything for her . . . and for them.

What mattered most was that she'd been invited into their family and welcomed with the full red-carpet treatment. Nattie regarded her as if she were the designated future mommy. And so did Jack, for that matter.

I'll tell him the truth when
the time is right,
Kelly thought, and she meant it, though there was always the chance that she was overestimating his willingness to forgive.
“Why didn't you tell me
before?”
he would joke, but then he'd enfold her into his arms.
“This is even better than I could
have imagined! I've been dating
Nattie's
birth mother!”

She sighed at her hoped-for scenario. Truth was, it was a big risk, telling Jack.

Don't think about
that now,
she told herself, dipping the crusty bread into her bisque and smiling over at Jack.

After dinner, Kelly followed Jack home. Nattie came running across the yard from Diane's. They shared some salted caramel ice cream together before Kelly needed to head back to Akron.

At one point, after Nattie had administered another dose of hot fudge and whipped cream to Kelly's ice cream, Kelly teared up.

Nattie looked stricken. “Are you okay?”

Kelly wiped her eyes. “I'm fine. I'm just . . . so happy.”

Jack pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “So are we, honey. You have no idea.”

Kelly swiped another tear off her cheek.
I'm already “honey.”
Nattie kept watching her, as if worried she might break in two. Kelly gave her an
I'm really okay
smile, but Nattie didn't seem to buy it. Nattie was already hovering like a daughter.
The daughter I was never allowed to raise
.

Later, Nattie walked her to her car and hugged her so tightly she almost lost her breath. When Nattie let go, she looked up at her. “Call us when you get home. My dad worries.”

Jack kissed her, and she had to smile because Nattie didn't protest about his public display of affection.

Kelly drove home in dead silence, barely aware of the passing miles, and opened the door to her quiet apartment, the only place she wasn't living a lie.

I'm
so unbelievably, incomprehensibly happy,
she realized, hugging herself on her couch, letting the tears fall again.

And so miserable.

In the days that followed, Jack and Kelly continued with their flirtatious texting, their routine nightly calls, lasting minutes to hours, until their relationship became a given.

During one of their phone conversations, Kelly made a reference to what her boss had asked, “So tell me about your boyfriend . . .”

She explained how she had described Jack's profession and his lovely daughter, but Jack could tell she was actually waiting for him to either confirm or correct her assumption.

He swooped in and did just that. “Boyfriend, eh?”

She went silent.

“I like the sound of that,” he added. “Are you my girlfriend?”

“I think three dinner dates equals commitment,” Kelly replied. “We're practically married, you know.”

“Yup,” Jack said. “I read that somewhere.”

“Does that mean I have a standing date for Saturday night?”

“It does,” he said.

“Do I have to buy new clothes?”

“Heavens, no,” Jack said.

“How does Nattie feel about everything?”

He was about to say,
“She's already asking if she can be
the flower girl,”
but decided against it.

Fridays became “family time,” hanging out with Nattie at the house, watching movies, most of which, for some inexplicable reason, Kelly hadn't seen. Nattie thrilled to the joy of introducing her personal favorites to Kelly for the first time, and Kelly enjoyed playing Nattie's rating game. In fact, Nattie began placing the DVDs on the shelves in order according to
Kelly's
favorites, starting with
Finding Nemo.

Jack's favorites,
Chicken Run
and
Shrek,
didn't even come close to hers, and Nattie made sure they all knew it.

“Poor guy,” Kelly whispered back, loudly enough for Jack to hear, winking at him.

Nattie turned and grinned. “You're outnumbered.”

“What else is new?”

“It's a girl's world, you know,” Nattie added. “You're just living in it.”

Jack laughed at the accurate assessment.

On Saturday nights, Jack and Kelly went out for dinner, leaving Nattie with Livy—supervised by Diane, of course. Dinner was usually followed by something relaxing, like miniature golf, walks around various lakes and parks, or a stroll through the College of Wooster Art Museum. They even tried line dancing once, which went well but not well enough to repeat.

“Maybe square dancing,” Jack suggested.

“Or ballroom dancing?”

“Hmm,” Jack muttered.

Kelly laughed. “Or maybe not!”

Eventually, Kelly even came down for Wednesday night church, which Jack and Nattie had rarely attended but now resumed if only to find another excuse to spend time with Kelly. Jack admitted as much to Kelly, and she only chuckled. “I feel special.”

Nattie heard this. “You left
special
in the dust.”

One night, sitting alone on the sofa, while Nattie gave them
space, Jack mentioned Laura's gardening touches, and with her elbow on the top cushion, Kelly asked casually, “Do you miss her?”