More Than Words: Stories of Hope (19 page)

“Then it’s good we made you take a break.” She hip bumped him. “You need to lighten up a little bit. Relax.”

“I’m not that uptight.” He felt relaxed—perhaps too relaxed. Maybe he should rile her a little and put some much-needed distance between them. “What’s on today’s menu? Any tofu in that sack? Nothing like a big slice of bran cake to stick to a man’s ribs.”

When she didn’t answer, Forest glanced down at her. He couldn’t have hurt her feelings, could he? He sometimes forgot how tenderhearted she was. She had one of those personalities that filled a room, even knocked down a few walls. “Anna?”

She nibbled her lip, staring straight ahead. The park loomed ahead, complete with her favorite bench. If he wasn’t careful, Anna would have him cuffed to a parking meter while she sprinted over for an impromptu protest.

He needed to get her talking, fast. “You could have called me to come get you. It’s a long way for you and Joey to walk.”

“Oh, we didn’t wa—”

“What the—?” Forest squinted, tipped his head to the side, then squinted again. Sure enough, a small crowd had gathered around an old oak, chanting and marching.

It was his waiting-room regulars, Shirley Rhodes and her pals. “It’s our park! It’s our pride! Those bulldozers better run and hide! It’s our park…”

He turned to the woman beside him. “Anna!”

She blinked up at him with overly innocent eyes. “What? I’m not protesting. I’m having a picnic. I even brought Joey’s jingle ball for you two to play catch.”

Forest looked from her to the bizarre march. He knew she must have orchestrated it, but damned if he could figure out how. Which made him nervous. There wasn’t a chance he could let her out of his sight now.

Worse yet, he didn’t want to.

Grinning, Anna tugged him by the elbow, walking backward. “Come on. Don’t let
them
ruin this for Joey.”

Lord help him, she was beautiful. Radiant. The sun glinted
off her hair like fire. She had just the kind of body he liked, with soft, womanly curves.

Why was he supposed to resist her?

Oh yeah, their differences and his determination not to marry again. Funny how often he forgot about all that lately. “Okay. Whatever you did, I don’t think I want to know. At least you’re not dancing with that cheering squad.”

She gazed longingly at the picketing bunch. “They’re cheerleaders. Apparently they knew how to organize that sort of rhyming demonstration with a speed and ease I could learn from.”

Shirley waggled a wave at Forest before resuming her hip-twitching strut and upping the volume. “Take your saw! Take your chain! Take them and go home again! Take your saw…”

The whole town had gone nuts.

Forest looked away from Shirley and her pals, not a difficult task, and focused on Anna. Her wide eyes blinked up at him. Tears glinted. Ah man, he was a sucker for tears.

He stroked a knuckle along her jaw. “Why is the park so important to you?”

Her eyes widened. She blinked faster. Anna dodged his touch and walked ahead.

He caught up, ducking to look at her. “Anna?”

She took her time answering as they padded across the park lawn. “You’re the first person to ever ask me why.”

“Huh?”

“No one ever wants to know
why
I protest. Not even my father. I always thought that even if he didn’t agree with me, maybe he would want to know why.” She slumped back against a tree. “It hurts to think he doesn’t care enough.”

“Anna, of course he cares.” Forest stopped in front of her and hefted Joey from his shoulders to the ground. “Your dad worries himself crazy about you.”

“That’s the whole point. He worries because he doesn’t trust me. Strange, huh? I’m twenty-five years old, self-supporting, and he doesn’t trust me to have enough sense to manage my life.”

His heart thumped, and it had nothing to do with Joey’s tennis shoes drumming against his chest. “Tell me, why is the park so important? I want to understand.”

He really did want to know. A good attorney would have dug for the reasons the first night. An honorable man would have had the patience to listen. He’d let her down on both counts.

She traced her toe through the dirt. “My mother and I spent so many hours here. After she died, Dad packed picnics and brought me here so we could feel close to her. We’d sit under that tree with our PB&Js and root beer. He would ask me about my day and help with my homework. Silly memories, huh?”

“Not at all.” Forest looked at the crown of her bowed head and wanted to hug her.

His throat closed. There was his reason for never asking. A vulnerable Anna was impossible to resist.

She flicked her braid over her shoulder, the old spunky Anna seeming to have returned. Maybe it was just a woman thing, attaching so much sentimental value to a park. Women kept scrapbooks and pressed flowers. Definitely a woman thing. Even Shirley Rhodes and her pals had joined in the effort.

The former cheerleaders broke from a huddle and stood in a chorus line. “It’s no joke. Save our oaks. It’s no joke…”

Anna’s shoulders slumped. The old Anna would have been joining in the march and scripting better lyrics.

Had he and her father done this to her? Dimmed the spark that made her so special?

Forest knew he was in deep trouble. With half a nudge, he could find himself painting signs and joining the march to save a bunch of trees with root rot.

H
eart lighter than she could ever remember, Anna skipped over a root jutting from the sidewalk while Forest carried a sleepy Joey back to the office.

It meant so much to her that Forest had asked her about the park, and in talking, she had come to realize part of her reason for hanging on so tight. As long as the park was here she had hopes of healing the distance between her and her father. Odd how acknowledging a problem somehow eased its weight. Forest’s logic had helped her with that.

“Be honest, now,” Forest said. “You set up Shirley.”

Anna enjoyed a much-needed grin. “I’m not admitting anything until I speak with my attorney.”

“Your attorney needs the truth to properly represent you.” He lifted a brow. “The truth?”

“They were driving Kay crazy. I told them how your mom proposed to your dad under the old oak tree and that you’d always wanted to propose to your bride beneath it.” She shrugged. “And voilà, they called up their old cheerleading skills in a heartbeat for an instant big-haired riot.”

“You did it because Kay wanted them gone?”

Anna tugged at her turtleneck. “Maybe they were bugging me a little, too.”

He grinned. “You were jealous.”

Why lie? “A smidge.”

Forest reached across to stroke a windswept strand of hair behind her ear.

Grinning back, Anna kicked a rock along the sidewalk as they walked to Forest’s office. Lunch had been nice, but it would have been so much better without Shirley and Company. If Shirley Rhodes had thrust her chest under Forest’s nose one more time, Anna would have gagged.

Then there was her own attraction to Forest mucking up everything. They couldn’t keep jumping ten feet every time they accidentally rubbed against each other.

Accidentally? Or were those toe-curling moments intentional? At least she would have the bike ride home to clear her head.

Once outside the office, Anna reached to take the droopy Joey from Forest’s arms. “Okay, kiddo, nap time.”

Forest passed his son over. His broad hand skimmed her neck. Anna forced herself not to jerk away. If she moved, that would only make matters worse, because then they would look at each other. Aware.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Uh, thanks.”

His brow furrowed, then smoothed. “Do you have a minute? We could set Joey down on the bench while we talk.”

Talk? Oh Lord. He was going to harp on the Shirley debacle again.

“Sure,” she said with little enthusiasm, gently settling a snoozing Joey on the bench. She shrugged out of her sweater and draped it over him. Bracing herself, she turned. “What do we need to discuss?”

“This.” He dipped his head and brushed his mouth over hers, once, twice, before pulling away.

Breathless, she flattened her hands to his chest, grateful for the privacy of the overgrown hedges. “I thought you said we were going to talk.”

“I lied. Do you have a problem with that?”

She couldn’t deny the obvious. “No problem at all.”

He took off his glasses and lifted her against him. Anna could only hang on, her toes off the ground, the delicious rasp
of his afternoon beard against her skin reminding her they weren’t in high school any longer.

She stroked the hair at the base of his head. How odd that she’d always preferred longer hair on a man. Not now.

Easing back, Anna looked up at him. “Wow.”

“Ditto. Lady, you pack quite a wallop.”

He set her on her feet again, not that it eased the feeling of floating.

She gulped. “I should take Joey home now.”

Slowly he nodded. “Hang on a second.” He wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I’ll check in with Kay, then drive you home. It’s too far for you to carry Joey while he’s sleeping.”

“Oh, uh, I didn’t walk. I started to tell you before we got sidetracked with my park. I have a little surprise.”

“Surprise?” he said, voice tight.

“A kiddie bike seat.” She slipped behind the row of bushes and returned with her bike. Joey stirred when she set him in the seat and adjusted his helmet, then settled back into slumber as she buckled him in.

“Cool, huh?” she said. “We had a nice little ride over.”

Anna turned to look at Forest. He stood as still as the biblical Lot’s wife when she’d taken that fatal peek over her shoulder.

Wow!
She’d rendered Counselor Jameson speechless for once. Of course, Joey was mighty cute. “Maybe you could look into buying one for yourself, take father-son weekend trail
rides. Oh, and I bet he would enjoy camping trips when he’s a little older.”

Why couldn’t she stop babbling? So he’d shown an interest in her feelings, her concerns. That didn’t mean anything. But Anna didn’t even wait for his reply. She needed to get home before Forest did something sweet again. She did not need to have her heart trounced.

She swung her leg over the bike, ready to forget all about the man with the tender blue eyes. The first man to care enough to ask about her day since she’d gobbled PB&Js under the oaks twenty years ago. With a quick wave goodbye, Anna pedaled off, Shirley’s taunting chants drifting on the breeze.

“We’ll keep the park! We’ll keep the land! We don’t need no strip-club band!”

Standing outside his office, Forest watched Anna cycle away, his son’s helmeted head bobbing from side to side.

And he just couldn’t stop thinking about all those years riding in the side car of his parents’ motorcycle, helmet in place. He winced at the memory of other kids in station wagons pointing and making faces, while he’d clutched his baseball and mitt. After graduating from law school, he’d bought the biggest truck he could afford.

He realized his knee-jerk reaction to seeing Joey in a helmet
was silly. His adventurous son would enjoy the free-flying sensation and Forest wanted him to live life to the fullest.

For someone who’d known Joey only a week, Anna was doing an amazing job of introducing him to new experiences. After he’d finished reading the judge’s proposal for his old congressman friend last night, Forest had spent hours on the Web site for Seedlings Braille Books for Children.

He’d been so focused on making sure Joey’s physical life was unhampered, he’d missed other needs, assuming they would be addressed at school. Anna had simply smiled and said the two of them had everything covered now. That he was a loving, proactive father and Joey would have a rich life because of it.

Her praise meant a lot to him when every day he questioned whether he’d done enough for his son.

He was starting to care about Anna, too much, and that was dangerous. He just wasn’t ready to think about relationships, especially marriage.

A long shadow stretched on the sidewalk in front of him, and someone tapped him on the shoulder. Just to be safe, Forest checked the shadow for big hair, then turned to find the judge. The father of the very woman Forest was all but panting after.

Forest swallowed heavily. It didn’t help. “Hello, sir.”

“Good afternoon, boy!” The judge snapped his plaid suspenders. “I hear you’ve been out for a little picnic.”

“Word sure travels fast.”

“I stopped in at the office and Kay told me.”

Forest gestured up the steps toward the office door. “Why don’t we head inside, where it’s warmer.”

The judge shook his head. “I only wanted to congratulate you on making it through the first week without any hardships.”

Friday seemed five years away, rather than five days. “We’re…managing.”

“Thank you for keeping her out of trouble.”

Forest bristled. An image of Anna’s sad eyes as she stared at
her
park stabbed him. For the first time, he looked at the judge and found himself questioning his mentor’s judgment. Were they right to keep their proposal to the congressman a secret from her? Her father swore it was best not to get her hopes up. “Actually, she’s been a real godsend.”

“Sure, she’s good with kids. But those meals of hers.” Judge Bonneau shuddered, a hint of a grin peeking through.

Forest resented the way the judge seemed to put down Anna. She was an amazing woman. Sure, her style was different, but different could be good. Exciting. Fun. “Her spinach lasagna’s actually not half-bad. It’s the first time Joey ate vegetables without flinging them across the room—”

Had the judge actually chortled? Forest frowned, certain he must be mistaken.

Judge Bonneau cleared his throat. “That’s quite gentlemanly of you, son. But you don’t have to defend her to me. I under
stand my daughter, faults and all, and she’s going to need extra watching until I can persuade my friend in the House to get behind an injunction.”

She needed watching? Damn it. There the judge went again, treating Anna like a child. “Sir, with all due respect, I think you need to spend some time with Anna and get to know your
adult
daughter. She’s a bright, funny woman.”

Also a beautiful woman who turned him inside out with her unreserved smiles.

The judge’s bushy brows rose up to his receding hairline. “You can’t actually be having, uh, feelings for my Anna?”

“Of course not.” Maybe. A distinct possibility. Most likely.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I love that daughter of mine, but you two are oil and water and I really want you both to be happy.”

Forest studied the judge, then realized that he himself might have spouted the same pompous-sounding bull a week ago.

Forest climbed the first step toward his office. “Think about what I said. Consider it the student passing along advice to the teacher for a change. Stop in and talk to your daughter sometime when you haven’t been called by the police station.”

“Sure, boy.” The judge thumped Forest on the shoulder.

Forest felt oddly lighthearted as the wind spiraled autumn leaves down the sidewalk. But one fact clanged loud and clear in his mind. He could lighten up on his uptight ways, but he couldn’t change who he was, and didn’t really want to. Anna
was special. He’d only just begun to realize how special. A man like him would take all that spark from her, just like her father was trying to do. That would be a real crime.

She needed someone with an adventurous spirit to match her own. He wanted peace and his
Sports Illustrated
subscription, for himself and Joey. Forest didn’t like surprises, and Anna was like a magician’s sack full of them. He never knew if he might get a cute rabbit, or if she would saw him in half.

Where did they go from here? Friendship?

At least it was something, a relationship of sorts, because he couldn’t bring himself to tell her goodbye altogether. But he needed to make their friendship work.

If he’d learned nothing else from his debacle of a marriage, it was that relationships required compromise. He almost shuddered at the thought of more scenes like the one they’d just endured at the park. Protests and sit-ins and handcuffings. Somehow, he would have to convince her to compromise, as well, starting with throwing out those cuffs.

Forest stared at his mentor and resisted the urge to snap at him. The judge hadn’t made his life one bit easier by throwing Anna and him together. He might as well have tossed a match onto a puddle of gasoline.

Anyone with sense could have seen how attracted Forest was to Anna back in high school. And the judge was too smart of a man to have missed that.

Forest thunked himself on his dense, hormone-fogged forehead and sank down onto the step. “You set us up.”

The judge raised a bushy, red brow.

It suddenly made sense. “You orchestrated all of this. You knew full well that tenderhearted Anna wouldn’t be able to keep herself from offering to help with Joey.”

Forest sifted through the obvious, all the while kicking himself that he’d missed the signs earlier, including his nanny’s abrupt departure. “Mrs. LaRoche’s resignation seemed to come out of the blue. You sent me to help Anna with the handcuff deal and brought her those clingy clothes the day Joey was sick.”

“Guilty as charged.” The judge smirked, apparently not ashamed of being caught in his cupid antics. “You two were both so stubborn back in high school, too prideful to write to each other over the years. Trudy LaRoche and I decided to give you a little help this time.”

Forest had a clear image of the judge and Mrs. LaRoche plotting his downfall. Who else was in on their scheme? “Judge Randall?”

“That part’s real, and convenient timing.”

“Why should I believe you now?”

“You should be complimented! I’m offering you my greatest treasure, my daughter.”

“Sir, she’s not yours to give.” And perhaps not Forest’s to have. The thought wasn’t as comforting as a confirmed bachelor
should have wanted. “Anna has a mind of her own, and a lot more sense than you give her credit for.”

Wasn’t the irate father supposed to be coming after him with a double-barrel shotgun? This kind of endorsement was too weird, and distinctly uncomfortable. Worst of all, he hated the sense that he’d been played, Anna, too, for that matter.

The judge chuckled. “I do so enjoy being right. This is perfect for everybody. You get a new wife, a keeper this time, because I didn’t raise a quitter. Even that cute little boy of yours comes out a winner with a full-time mama.”

Wife? Mama? The judge had blindsided him with the shotgun after all.

Forest gasped for breath. Of course the judge was thinking rings and weddings. Anna was his daughter.

But Forest had screwed up his first marriage, and he hated making mistakes. He wouldn’t make the same one twice. He loved his son too much to put him through that again. He lov—

He
liked
and respected Anna too much to offer her anything but honesty. For now, he wanted picnics and friendship. They could continue or call it quits anytime. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t live without her.

Why then did he know without question that he planned to let Mrs. LaRoche finish her “vacation” just so he could have a few more days to play house with Anna?

Anna turned the last page on the Seedlings Braille book she’d been reading to Joey. “The end.”

“Again! Again! Again!” He bounced on the sofa.

“You’ve already memorized the words to this one.” As well as the feel of the bumps, she hoped. “How about we try a new one. It’s about a fire truck.”