Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania (17 page)

Jasper was beginning to think that Kylie had a better chance of convincing Sadie than he did.

“I know, but Mommy’s afraid I might go away one day and leave you and her alone.”

Kylie was positively incensed. “Jasper wouldn’t do that!”

At least someone had faith in him.

“That’s right, but…” He drew a deep breath. “When Mommy was a little girl, her daddy left
her
mommy, and now Mommy’s scared Jasper might do the same thing to her.”

Kylie frowned. “You mean Grampa?”

Jasper winced inwardly. “Yeah, sweetheart. Grandpa.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Why did Grampa do that to Gramma?”

“Grandpa had some problems that he couldn’t fix. Sometimes…” Jasper hesitated. “Sometimes people think that their problems will get better if they go away. They don’t know that when they leave, they just make more problems—for themselves and for the people who love them.”

Kylie picked at a fraying thread on her T-shirt. Jasper sensed that he had made her sad. He didn’t say anything more and waited for her to come to her own conclusions. After a time, she looked up at him, her brown eyes trusting. He didn’t lie to Kylie. He never had. He might try to soften the truth as best he could, but he never told her anything other than what he knew to be true.

“Is Grampa fixed now?” she asked him. “Is he going to leave again?”

Jasper brushed the hair back from her round little face. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I think he’s better. I think he’s going to stay now. But I can’t promise you that.” He swallowed. “And one day—hopefully not for a long time—Grandpa will go to see Grandma again.”

“In heaven?”

“Yeah. In heaven.”

She bit her lip. “Not for a long time?”

“I hope not. I like having Grandpa around too.”

Kylie licked her lips. “Mommy doesn’t always like it.”

“She does. But Mommy’s still afraid Grandpa’s going to leave again.”

Kylie fell silent once more and began putting the pieces together. Jasper sat and watched while her face went through several different emotions as she attempted to reconcile everything he had told her. At last, she expelled a breath.

“If Jasper makes Mommy not afraid…then will he be like a
real
daddy?”

Ah, so Kylie
did
know there was a difference in the role he played to her and Sadie.

“Yeah. Then Jasper will be like a real daddy.”

She clapped her hands with glee. “Then Jasper should make Mommy not afraid!”

He grinned. “I’m gonna try, Kylie…but I need your help.”

“What can Kylie do?”

“First—you can’t tell Mommy we talked about this. It needs to be a secret.”

“Kylie keeps secrets! Kylie never told Mommy she made the volcano take Malibu Ken’s leg on purpose!”

Jasper’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Kylie never told Jasper that either.”

She gulped. “Oops.”

“What did Malibu Ken do to deserve that?”

“Nothing. The volcano was hungry.”

Jasper suppressed a smile. “Second, Kylie, I’m going to need your help tonight. When Mommy comes home, she’s going to get ready for a date with Dmitri. But Mommy doesn’t know that Dmitri is really going to take her somewhere so she can have a date with
me
.”

“Ooooh!” Kylie thought this positively mischievous. “Can Kylie come?”

“Not this time. Dates are just for mommies and daddies.”

“Like Mommy and Jasper!”

“Right! So Grandpa is going to come after Mommy leaves, and then I have to go get ready for my date with Mommy. And you can’t tell Mommy
anything
.”

“A secret,” she confirmed.

“A secret.”

“Just like Kylie and the volcano.”

“Just like that.”

“Okay!”

He beamed at her. He was so proud.

“Jasper?”

“Yes?”

“Can we play now?”

He reached for a Barbie. “Should she wear the hot pink dress or the blue one?”

Kylie shrugged. “Kylie doesn’t care. Jasper can pick.” Jasper chose the pink.

Sadie didn’t understand. If Jasper had indicated yesterday on the phone what she
thought
he had indicated, then why was he seemingly so at ease about this date with Dmitri? She didn’t have the nerve to ask him. Maybe she had imagined it all. The kissing, the phone conversation…maybe she was losing her mind.

She had thought that before. Maybe it was really happening this time. Usually when that fear crept up out of nowhere, she’d go to Jasper to set her straight. No doing that this time, however, since Jasper was the reason she was in this fix.

Sadie brushed a pale swath of blush on her cheeks. Jasper had retreated to the kitchen to fix himself and Kylie some dinner. She swallowed nervously. She didn’t want to go out with Dmitri tonight. In fact, at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to curl up on the sofa against Jasper’s chest with Kylie in her arms and watch
Beauty and the Beast
. She considered calling Dmitri to cancel. She glanced at her watch. He would be here in ten minutes. No time. She sighed.

Suddenly feeling eyes on her, she looked into the dresser mirror to see Kylie inching around the doorway of her bedroom. She turned.

“Hey, baby.”

Kylie used this invitation to vault herself into the room and toward the dresser where Sadie sat applying her makeup.

“Hi, Mommy.”

Sadie looked at her. “Hi.” Where in the world had that impish smile come from? She waited for an explanation, but Kylie only stared up at her, swaying back and forth in some sort of personal delight.

“You okay there, Kylie?”

She grinned broadly, a clean row of baby teeth shining through. “Fine, Mommy.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is there something you want to tell Mommy?” Kylie considered. “Mommy looks pretty.”

This observation sufficiently distracted Sadie. She looked back into the mirror and critically surveyed the pale blue top and cocoa brown skirt she wore.

“You think so?”

Strangely enough, she knew it wasn’t Dmitri she was taking such care for. It was for the three minutes she’d be in Jasper’s presence
before
Dmitri arrived that had her going to such fuss. Ridiculous. Absurd even. Jasper had seen her in all states of dishevelment. Did it really matter what he thought of her now?

“Mommy is prettier than Barbie,” Kylie stated with sincerity.

Sadie grinned and pulled Kylie onto her lap, kissing her soundly on the crown of her head. “Thanks.”

Kylie took this opportunity to stare deeply into her mother’s eyes. “What is it, Kylie?”

Kylie continued to search—though for what, Sadie hadn’t a clue.

“Mommy shouldn’t be afraid,” Kylie declared. “Jasper would never hurt Kylie or Mommy.”

Sadie pulled back in surprise. “W–what? Kylie, I—”

Just then the doorbell rang. Sadie bit her lip to keep from pronouncing something she shouldn’t. Dmitri was early…. Kylie squirmed and dropped to the floor.

“Kylie, wait—”

But the little girl was already hustling out of the room.

“Sadie!”

Jasper’s voice echoed up the stairs.

“Dmitri’s here!”

Sadie bit her lip again to keep from muttering. Jasper didn’t sound in the least bit distressed. If he had said what she thought he had said, then shouldn’t he be sullen with jealousy along about now? Or maybe what he had said had nothing to do with what she thought, in which case…she might be in even more trouble than if he had said what she thought he had said. She sighed.

“Sadie!”

“
I’m coming!
” she snapped sharply.

It seemed as though a blanket of silence fell on the floor below her. Grumbling, she finished applying the last few strokes of her makeup. With a final glance at her reflection (and a prick of irritation for realizing that Jasper would barely see her before she went with Dmitri), she left her bedroom and descended the stairs.

They lined up in a row before her, staring as she made her way down the steps. Dmitri, Jasper, and Kylie each looked up at her with an odd light in their eyes. Her own gaze fastened on Jasper and, curiously enough, his was the expression that seemed the most neutral.

What was going on behind those warm cobalt eyes?

“Are you ready to go?” Dmitri held out her jacket for her.

She stepped onto the floor and met Jasper’s eyes as she reached for her purse on a nearby table.

Jasper’s look told her nothing.

Are you angry? Jealous? Happy?

But her silent questions went unanswered.

She turned to go, but Kylie suddenly grabbed her hand.

“Remember, Mommy! Remember what Kylie said!”

It was only then that Jasper’s disinterested expression faltered as his eyes jerked to Kylie.

“Remember!”
Kylie emphasized.

Sadie touched her lightly on the cheek. “I will, Kylie.”

Satisfied, Kylie whirled and went to Jasper’s side, grabbing tightly onto his hand. Dmitri held the door and ushered Sadie out into the mild evening air. She had time for only one last look at Jasper’s impassive face before he was blocked from her view.

The instant the door closed behind Sadie and Dmitri, Kylie tugged Jasper toward the stairs.

“Hurry, Jasper! Not much time!”

He bolted upstairs. “Like I need you to remind me!”

Kylie waited impatiently as he changed in the bathroom.

“Hurry, Jasper!” she kept urging through the door, to which he continually replied, “I
am
!”

Kylie passed the time by performing a ballerina dance in the hallway, occasionally pausing to press her ear against the door to listen for Jasper’s progress. When at last she was allowed to enter, she scurried over to the counter, climbed up, and sat beside the sink. Jasper ran his fingers through his hair.

“What do you think?” He looked at her for approval.

Kylie held out her palms and, with her tongue, gave each one a long, juicy lick. She reached out a hand to each side of Jasper’s head and smoothed down any flyaway strands of hair.

“There,” she declared. “Jasper looks pretty.”

He grinned at her as the doorbell rang. Mac.

“Thanks.”

Jasper hoisted her off the counter, and the two vaulted downstairs to answer the door.

Sadie didn’t really understand what Dmitri was doing. He had been driving nearly in circles for the last fifteen minutes. She hated to criticize—he was new to the area, after all—but what little patience she had brought with her on this date was quickly dissolving to dregs.

After three more minutes of aimless driving, she cleared her throat.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

Dmitri didn’t seem worried.

“Mmm-hmm.”

She pursed her lips tightly and then relaxed them. “And…where is it we’re going again?”

“A surprise,” he chastised in that lilting Russian accent. “It’s a surprise.”

“Oh, yeah. A surprise.”

He slid her a glance, and she knew she sounded less then pleased. “Sadie…is something wrong?”

Her gaze jerked to his. “Uh, no. No. Why would anything be wrong? I’m fine. Nothing wrong here.”

Oh, good grief, I’m babbling!

“You don’t seem happy to be here.”

“Uh…no, I…it’s just…”
I sound like one of the Teletubbies.
“It’s nothing. Just a long day at the restaurant. That’s all.”