A Family Come True (22 page)

“Fighting fire with fire. I like it.” Ian stopped in the middle of the empty room and turned a slow circle. “Wasn’t this Hank’s office?”

“Yep.”

“But he hasn’t worked here for years. Why’s it still empty? Did Moxie think he was coming back?”

“At first, I think maybe. But once he and Brynn got married she saw the writing on the wall.” Cash sat in the oversize leather chair and propped his feet on the desk. “I think it was around that time that she started talking about the foundation.”

“You mean she’s been planning this for almost two years already?”

“Yep.”

“And the idea of me heading it up?”

“She never said anything, but if I were a betting man, I’d say that was part of the plan all along.”

The wildest part was that none of this really felt like a surprise.

Ian squinted at his brother. “How have you managed to escape Moxie’s manipulations all these years?”

“Who says I have?”

“True. But you’re the only one who hasn’t had any drama. It’s unnatural. Are you sure you’re not adopted?”

“Right. Because three boys weren’t enough for Ma and she had to add a fourth.”

“Didn’t you get the memo? You were supposed to be the girl.”

“Looks like I failed again.”

There was a hint of something in Cash’s voice that had Ian paying closer attention. “Not from what I hear.”

“Ah, but you should know that there’s usually a world of difference between the truth and what we’re told.”

Amen to that.

“In any case,” Cash continued, but if he thought he was getting off this easy, he was doomed.

“Hang on. Ma said something the other night about you setting a new dating record around town. What’s that all about?”

“How should I know?”

“Well, since you’re the one she’s talking about, it seemed like a logical assumption.”

“You know Ma. World’s most down-to-earth woman until it comes to us, and then boom. How many colds did we have that she was sure were first-stage pneumonia?”

He had a point. But...

“Nice job trying to throw me off course, but I’m used to following a toddler now, remember? You can’t outrun me. So...” He crossed his arms over his chest and pulled up his best older-wiser-brother expression. “Aren’t you getting a little old to be running around with half the town?”

“No. And don’t try to look sage and experienced. It makes you look constipated.”

“Pathetic,” Ian said with a shake of his head.

Cash yanked open the bottom desk drawer and peered inside.

“Not as pathetic as being surrounded by people who are all madly in
loooooove
and feel compelled to drag everyone else into the same boat.”

“I’m not—” Just in time, he stopped himself from saying
in love
. Damn, this pretending had better end soon. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up with the story.

Especially when it had started feeling like such a damned good fit.

“I’m not trying to drag you into anything,” he said to Cash. “Just saying, you know, there’s something to be said for getting to know one person in depth instead of a lot of people on the surface.”

Cash slammed the drawer and sat upright, all brisk and businesslike.

“I’ll keep that under advisement. Meanwhile, it’s lunchtime. I’m running out to Bits and Pizzas for a slice. Want to come along?”

“Thanks, but I promised Darcy I’d come home. I guess I’ll see you Sunday.”

“Saturday. Ma gave orders. We’re all to show up and get things ready for the party.”

“Aren’t we just grilling outside and eating at the picnic table?”

“And this is why I will never get wrapped up in one woman. It leaves you blind to the rest of the world.” Cash leaned against the desk. “She’s invited half the town. Brynn’s brother and his family, Taylor’s folks, Uncle Lou and more. Basically she wants to be sure nobody could say they had to skip to spend the day with their own father, so she asked everyone who might be connected. Why do you think the pig roast truck is coming?”

“Jeez. She’s really going all out.”

“Yep. Every time we tell her to scale back, she does The Stare and asks if we don’t think Dad is worth it.”

Yep. Ian could totally see that.

He could also totally believe that his mother had invited a crowd to act as a buffer between him and Carter, just in case.

* * *

W
HEN
I
AN GOT
back from the dairy, he found Darcy in the kitchen feeding Cady. Xander and Lulu were nowhere to be found.

Privacy. Thank you, God.

She slipped a piece of banana between Cady’s lips. “Xander said he wanted to go for a walk and Lulu was prancing, so I told him to take her along. Hope that was— No, Cady, Ian doesn’t want yogurt in his hair.”

“It’s okay. I hear it makes great conditioner.”

For the first time since he’d walked in, Darcy met his gaze. She laughed as he’d intended, but it felt almost as if she were forcing it. Did she think he was worried about the dog?

“Xander and Lulu—that’s fine. It’s not like he’s going to run away with her. For one thing, his car is still out front. For another, if he did try to run away with her, I’m pretty sure that after ten minutes of her jumping around in the backseat, that bucket of bolts would surrender in the middle of the highway.”

“Good point.” She dabbed at Cady’s nose with a washcloth, glanced out the window and said, “Um, about this morning...”

Oh, hell.

He didn’t say anything but his reaction must have shown in his face, for she stopped and watched him as if she was waiting for him to say...what?

“I meant to stop on the way back from the dairy.” He reached slowly, pushing her hair gently behind her ear. “To get you some flowers.”

Her eyes closed. He could swear he saw the tension seeping out of her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to what you said.” Her words were scarcely above whisper level. “I let myself get so— I mean, I’m not sorry that it happened. Don’t think that for one minute, okay?” At his nod, she hurried on. “But later, when I could think again, I finally understood what you were trying to say. And do. And I just want to say, thank you, for having such—well, not honorable intentions. But you know what I mean.”

He knew exactly what she meant. The fact that she was shouldering the blame didn’t surprise him. Nor did the fact that hearing the catch in her voice, seeing the slight pink in her cheeks, only made him want to lure her upstairs for a slow, indulgent Round Two.

The clang of a baby spoon against a high-chair tray reminded him he needed to cool his jets a while longer.

“Listen to me.” He framed her face with his hands, drinking in the uncertain brown eyes, the slight tremor in those lips that had haunted his morning. “When you said that I was saying one thing but meant another, you were right. I might have been playing noble, but trust me, that was a textbook case of token resistance.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “The good news is that wasn’t our only chance.”

Some of her usual sass sparkled in her eyes. “You mean we might have to keep practicing until we get it right?”

“Yep. Over and over and over.”

“Such hardship.” She sighed and pulled him into a kiss. Or maybe he grabbed her. It was hard to be sure, and once she was tight against him, he decided it really didn’t matter. Especially when her lips parted and a low, needy kind of sound slipped out of her as she wrapped her arms around him.

When the kiss wound down—slowly, lingering, leaving no doubts in his mind that Round Two would more than make up for the morning—she pulled back ever so slightly and smiled.

“So how did it feel to be back at the dairy?”

“Not as good as this.” His hand traveled slowly down her back. How many hours until night? “But yeah. It was almost like I’d never been gone.”

“That must have made it easier.” She peeked at Cady, busy dropping one Cheerio at a time to the floor, shook her head and returned her focus to him. “Speaking of which...was Carter there?”

“Maybe. I didn’t see him.” Was it his imagination, or did she have some kind of bee in her bonnet about him and Carter? “Darce, we’re okay. It’s gonna be awkward for a while, but we’ll get through it.”

“But shouldn’t you—”

“Listen to me.” He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers—a much more attractive activity than talking about his brother. “You don’t have siblings, so you might not get this, but believe me, we’ll muddle through. It’s going to take time, that’s all.”

“I don’t know, Ian. Something like this goes way beyond, you know, stealing your toy when you were a kid. Taylor was your fiancée. You were engaged to be married. Don’t you need to—”

“No. We don’t need to do anything except keep moving forward.” After all, that had worked when it came to getting over Taylor. It would work this time, too. “Did you and Xander have a chance to go over things?”

She gave his arms a quick squeeze as she slid out of them. “A bit,” she called as she knelt to gather Cheerios. “Mostly we talked about Cady. I don’t want to go into specifics with him until I get some legal advice, you know?”

That made sense.

So why did he get the feeling she was holding back?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I
AN STAYED DOWNSTAIRS
when Darcy took Cady up for a nap—partly because Darcy said she needed to work, mostly because he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to take advantage of a sleeping child, a quiet afternoon and an empty bed.

Tonight, North.

He’d brought work. He had a book. He could simply go outside with his sandwich and park his ass on the picnic table and watch the river for a while. He had plenty of things to do, and all of them appealed. Yeah, they would be better with Darcy at his side, but...

Xander ambled into the kitchen, caught sight of him and hesitated.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Ian returned cautiously. Xander didn’t seem like his usual laid-back self. There was an edge about him—almost as though he was braced for attack. From Ian, if the sidelong glances being shot his way were any indication.

Huh.

“How was the walk?”

“Fine.” Xander opened the fridge and bent to peer inside. “She tried to jump in the water, but I stopped her. Thought it might still be too cold for her.”

“Thanks.”

Something was up, that was for sure. Xander was awfully intent on staring at the bottles of ketchup and mustard. Ian wasn’t in any hurry to be best buds with Xander again, but he didn’t want to—

Oh, hell.

Every time it had been just them, Ian had gone on the offensive against Xander. True, the first time had been because Xander was demanding Lulu, and the second time, well, he had needed to see for himself that Xander had Cady’s best interests at heart. But was it any surprise Xander was hiding in the fridge?

You know, there was a time when you would have invited me in and we could have talked this out over a beer...

Yeah. There had been a time when that’s exactly what would have happened. Ian had been so busy defending what was his that he hadn’t given much thought to Xander. Understandable at the time, but was that really how he wanted to go forward?

More important, was that what he wanted Darcy to see?

He was the one who had known Xander for years. He was the one who’d lived with the guy. Yet here he was keeping him at arm’s length while telling Darcy it was okay to trust her
baby
to him.

It was time to put the caveman to rest.

“Hey. Xander.”

Xander’s shoulders tensed as he raised his head. Ian pulled the fridge door open.

“While you’re in there, why don’t you grab us a couple of beers?”

The quick light of gratitude that flashed across Xander’s face made Ian feel like a first-class heel.

“Come on.” He nodded toward the door. “It’s sunny and the rest of the world is working. Let’s sit outside and throw sticks for Lulu and make fun of all the slobs stuck in offices.”

Which was exactly what they did.

There were more than a few false starts as they talked, more than a few topics that neither of them chose to address. But after a while it got easier. Stories from their university days turned into “Hey, did you hear what Mark is up to these days?” Which turned into Ian sharing tales of his work in Tanzania.

The laughs grew more frequent as the food and beer disappeared. When Darcy texted to say that Cady was awake and they wanted to go sightseeing, Ian was amazed to realize that a couple hours had passed.

This, he knew, was the best way to help Darcy adjust to Xander’s presence in their lives. Not by telling her it would be okay, but by showing her.

“So Darce wants to go into town, walk around.” Ian shoved the phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath. “You want to come along?”

“Sure.” This time when Xander hesitated, it was without the defensiveness that had been there earlier. “Listen, Ian. I’ve been thinking. Darcy said something this morning about you showing her how to take care of Cady. Not just the diapers and stuff, but how to be a mom.”

He shrugged. “It was easier than she makes it sound. She knew what to do. She was just scared to do it.”

“Yeah, well, she sure seems to appreciate it. But I was thinking...she’s right. You’re good at this, and you and Cady have something special. I thought, maybe, you could give me a hand, too. Teach me how to be a dad.”

But I’m her dad.

The thought was so sudden, so strong, that it felt as though someone had yanked the picnic table out from beneath him. He wasn’t Cady’s dad. He knew that.

But for the first time he admitted that part of him was always going to wish he had been the one home that night Darcy had come knocking. Which meant that—damn—Moxie’s line about protecting his family might have hit a lot closer to the mark than he wished.

No wonder Darcy wanted to slow things down.

“And something else,” Xander continued. “The thing is I don’t... I’m not an idiot, Ian. No one held a gun to my head to make me do the things I did. I don’t want to screw up again, but I know things won’t be easy. I could use a hand. I need someone who can see through my bullshit and yank me back if I start to screw up.”