Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) (35 page)

Rosemary smiled but couldn’t say anything as a lump rose in her throat and tears formed in her eyes. “Yeah. I do,” she finally managed to croak out.

“That makes Cleo extra lucky, I guess.” Etta took Rosemary’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Yep.” Harrison picked up Cleo and swung her onto his back. She squealed a little and clung, laughing. “And I think it’s nearly time for this little one to get to bed.”

“But I want to stay up!” Cleo said.

“Not this time, bug. Let’s go get our things from the room upstairs. I think it’s time we went home,” Rosemary said.

“Back to the DiCarlo mansion?” Harrison asked when they finished packing.

“DiCarlo mansion? When did you start calling it that?” Rosemary was exhausted and slumped back against the sofa.

“Just now. I was thinking that it seems awfully big, with all of those empty bedrooms.”

“Are you angling to stay the night?” she asked.

“Maybe.”

She really didn’t know what to say about that. She wanted him close and in the next room was almost as perfect as in hers. “I guess we’ll have to discuss terms, then, won’t we?”

Cleo made it out to the car on her own steam, but just barely. Harrison carried most of their belongings, with Joel bringing up the rear, also well laden.

“Seriously, you were only there for a few days. What is all of this stuff?” Joel asked.

“We weren’t there on vacation,” Rosemary said. “We have her homework and my piles of work stuff—most of which is already down in the kitchen, just so you know, and then there are the clothes and other necessities.” Perhaps they had brought more things to the hotel than absolutely necessary, but Rosemary had wanted to be prepared—especially since she was sharing a single suite with a wiggly nine-year-old.

They loaded everything into the back of Joel’s Range Rover and he trundled them back up to the house.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Joel said after he dropped his armload on the seldom-used dining room table.

“Thanks, I think we’re going to take a nice, calm night and sleep like the dead.” She definitely felt like she could sleep for a week.

“Good plan.” He waved goodbye and Harrison locked the door behind him.

“Up to bed, sleepyhead,” Rosemary told Cleo.

“Do I have to sleep in my own bed?” she asked. “Alone?”

“Mike has been arrested. It’s safe now, sweetie,” Rosemary said, hoping Cleo would settle for some reassurance.

She considered that for a moment. “Can you come up with me for a while?”

“Sure. I’ll be right there.”

“Both of you?” She looked over at Harrison.

Harrison stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You bet. I’ll be up too. In just a minute.”

“Okay.” Cleo padded up to her room, yawning wide enough to drive a freight train through.

“Are you okay?” Harrison asked, sliding an arm around Rosemary’s shoulder.

“I could have lost my baby.” She buried her face in his shirt. “I can’t believe he was that close to her.”

“It’s okay now.” He tipped her head up and brushed his lips over hers in a light caress, but she wanted more, needed more this time and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss, losing herself in him and his arms, his love and strength after an experience that had left her feeling adrift.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to risk your life for us,” she muttered against his mouth.

“I really did.”

He pulled her against him and for a moment she forgot that there was anyone or anything else in the world, but reality intruded and she pulled back, slowly, not wanting to, but needing to. “Can we put a bookmark in this and come back to it later?” she asked. “Cleo’s waiting.”

“Right. We should go to her.” He swallowed hard, as if stopping wasn’t what he wanted.

“Yeah.” But all Rosemary could think of was how much she wanted to dive back in again—how much simpler life seemed when she was kissing him.

Cleo lay in the middle of Lana’s queen-sized mattress and Harrison and Rosemary took opposite sides, squeezing on top beside her. “Sorry it took a minute longer than we planned on,” Rosemary said.

“Yeah, because you were kissing. I know you were—he has a smear of your lipstick on his mouth.” She closed her eyes and Harrison reached up to wipe at his mouth, embarrassment radiating from him.

“Fine. I was kissing him. I like kissing him, a lot.” Rosemary decided brazening it out was the safest bet.

“Good. When people get married, they should like kissing each other. My mom and dad liked to kiss a lot too. I used to think it was yucky, but now I think maybe it’s good.”

Mildly embarrassed, Rosemary shifted the topic, asking about the plans Cleo and Hannah had started cooking up at dinner, and then Harrison spun out a story his mother used to tell him as a boy. Before he finished, Cleo was fast asleep.

They tiptoed out of the room and mostly closed the door behind them.

“She seems to be dealing pretty well,” Harrison observed.

“For now. Tomorrow morning might be another issue. And she’ll probably have nightmares tonight.” She shivered a little and rubbed her arms. “Sage used to wake up screaming. Even before the stalker followed her here.”

Harrison’s brows furrowed. “She did? She never said that.”

“She wouldn’t. Though she can put on a nice face, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty going on below the surface.” She sent him a side-long glance. “You of all people ought to know that.”

“I do.” He leaned against the railing and urged her closer to him. “Are you going to have nightmares tonight? Would a little company make you sleep better?”

“Probably, but you can’t spend the night in my bed, Harrison.” She kept her voice to a whisper. “I have a daughter in the house.”

“Are you going to let her go to Hannah’s tomorrow night if she still feels up to it?” he asked, nuzzling against her ear. “Because I was thinking if she’s not going to be here, maybe we could have a sleepover too. At
my
house.”

She smiled and brushed her lips over his jaw line. “That sounds fabulous.”

Sending Cleo back to school on Monday wasn’t as easy as Rosemary expected. She’d given Cleo an out, said she could stay home one more day if she wanted, give her time to think before she had to face curious kids and the rumors that had to be floating around already. Despite the two fiery nightmares that had woken Cleo screaming—along with everyone else in the house, she had insisted.

Rosemary dropped her off by the front office, then went in to talk to the school counselor to let her know what was going on and make sure they would call if anything happened.

Then she dragged herself back to work, exhausted.

Once she was fully alert, it was good to be in the kitchen again, barking orders and keeping her hands and mind busy with something that wasn’t about the attack. Keeping Harrison off her mind was another issue entirely, though. He seemed to sneak in when she least expected it, reminding her that whatever was going on between them was still unresolved. She was even more confused about her decisions now than she was earlier.

He’d declared his feelings several times now, but the thought of going all-in terrified her.

She’d been putting off a decision, though, telling herself that when everything was settled with Mike, she would figure out what she thought about her situation with Harrison. Now she had to face her options and figure out what she wanted to do.

“Distracted today?” Tate asked around one o’clock.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess.” Then she realized the crepe she was cooking had been in the pan too long. She growled at herself and threw it away. “Yeah. Maybe I should take a quick breather.”

“Go ahead. I’ll keep an eye on things,” he said.

Rosemary’s eyes burned a little from staring at the food, so she grabbed her jacket and headed for the outdoors. The grounds were beautiful in the snow and the walks were cleared. Fresh air was just what she needed.

It was nice to be outside, alone, with no one watching. She sucked in a greedy breath of the frigid air and felt some of the clouds in her mind start to roll away.

“Taking a break?”

She turned to find Blake coming up behind her.

“Yeah. When I start making mistakes in the kitchen, it’s time to clear my head. You too?”

“No, just coming in from a meeting downtown. There was a frozen water pipe in the child care center we opened last summer and I had to handle some of the details. I saw you out here and thought I’d take a minute to see how you’re holding up.”

“Are you going to send your son there?” she asked as he fell into step with her. She wasn’t looking to rehash the previous night’s events.

“We’ll see. It depends on what Lana wants to do. I mean, she might not want to come back to work after she finishes maternity leave. Or she might come back just to finish her contract.”

Rosemary thought Lana would want to come back; she’d spent fifteen years working for her current position and giving it up didn’t seem likely. On the other hand, Rosemary knew how strong the maternal instinct could be when you held that baby in your arms—much stronger than you thought before. “And if she doesn’t return, how does that affect the inheritance?”

He smiled. “I checked with Alex about the will. He said there was a baby clause in it that would alter the contract. Seems George was very hopeful about us getting back together.”

“Or for one of the others getting married and settling down with a family right off the bat,” Rosemary said. “Seems a little too optimistic, even for him.”

“He was nothing if not thorough. But really,” he changed the subject back, “how are you?”

“Better than I expected, all things considered. I won’t be sleeping well for a while, and Cleo might need counseling.” She rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t know what to do for her—she’s been through so much. How do you deal with all of that at her age? I’m not sure how to deal with it myself.”

“You haven’t exactly had an easy life up until now.”

“Have any of us? I think Jonquil’s the most normal of the bunch and she isn’t exactly scar-free, either.”

He didn’t say anything, which prompted her to ask, “What kind of mother am I going to make, I mean, really? I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

He laughed. “You think Lana and I have any idea what we’re doing, or that Joel and Sage aren’t freaked out about being parents—especially Joel. You think you had it rough; your life was easy compared to his.”

Her feelings cooled at the comparison. “You don’t know me very well if you can say that.”

“I know your mom never appreciated you, had a string of boyfriends and thinks only about herself. But your father loved you and checked on you, made sure you had food and clothes and a decent education. He supported your decisions and you had a set of surrogate parents who gave you the love and attention you never got from your mom and couldn’t count on regularly from your dad.” He shot her a look. “How am I doing?”

She considered the way he put it. “Close enough.”

Blake nodded. “Joel had a roof over his head and pretty much nothing else good from this list. You know something about healthy relationships, because you had the Markhams. You’ve seen from them what it means to be a mother, to love and care, and I can tell from watching you with Cleo that you’re going to be just fine at the job. Not perfect because, well, you’re human, and we all make mistakes as parents, but you give her what she needs most, so she’ll turn out okay.”

Rosemary’s eyes burned. She hadn’t seen her life in quite that way before. She did have the Markhams there to turn to. And while her feelings about her dad wouldn’t be resolved anytime soon, he had cared about her, checked on her, supported her decisions—when she wasn’t being an idiot. That was something, anyway. “Thanks. I think I needed to hear that.”

“You’re welcome. Next time you need a pep talk, you know where to come.” He slung one arm around her shoulder.

She chuckled a little. “You’re really good at this big brother stuff.”

“I like having sisters. Most of the time. It’s a nice change, and I don’t really see eye-to-eye with my brother. He can’t forgive me for what happened with Dad.” His voice grew sad.

“Then he’s the one missing out—what happened wasn’t your fault and you’re pretty terrific at what you do. It’s not like you lack for family here.”

He smiled. “No, I don’t. Convenient that, just when I needed it.” He gave her a squeeze. “So, you and Harrison, huh? I have to admit, I didn’t see that coming.”

She chuckled. “Me either, though it doesn’t seem to have surprised him or Sage.”

“You can’t keep anything from Sage, though.”

“Isn’t that the truth?”

They reached the front doors of the hotel again and he gestured to them. “Ready to go in?”

“I guess so. I ought to check on my minions.” Somehow it seemed less of a chore now than it had a few minutes earlier. “Thanks for the walk.”

“My pleasure.”

They parted ways in the foyer and she headed back to the kitchen, not just refreshed, but with a better outlook. Yeah, things had sucked for her growing up, but she hadn’t been left totally to her own devices. And things now were better than they’d been in a long time.