A hundred thoughts raced through Kelly’s mind at the sight of the man sitting on the top step, her daughter apparently sleeping in the crook of his right arm. The strongest was how good Alisha looked in his arms.
She parked behind his vehicle and got out. He stayed exactly where he was, watching her.
A hundred things she could have said, and out slipped, “Nice shirt.”
He looked down at himself, shrugged. “I was told to get rid of it because it doesn’t suit me. Apparently I used to be close-minded.”
“Oh, Grey.”
“There you go again, saying my name in a way that fuels my imagination.”
There he went again, weakening her knees. “Where’s Clara?”
“I sent her home.”
“And she went?” Kelly asked.
He held her gaze and he almost smiled. “I tried threatening her. When that didn’t work, I bribed her.”
Kelly almost smiled, too. “With what?”
“I offered her a job. Did you know she’s studying to be a court stenographer?”
Yes, Kelly had known that.
“Not that it did much good to send her home. You didn’t tell me she and Brian live next door. She’s been watching me out her window all evening.”
Kelly glanced over, and waved at her next-door neighbor. It was nearly seven o’clock. She’d been driving for hours. It had been a very emotion-filled day. She needed to sit down. She needed to hold her child.
She needed to see Grey smile one more time.
The collar of that silly gaudy shirt fluttered in the breeze. There was nothing silly about the expression in Grey’s brown eyes as he said, “Did you tell him?”
“He doesn’t want her.” The words came out sounding thick.
“I want her.”
“Grey.”
“And I want you.”
She must have walked closer, although she didn’t recall doing so. She would never forget the way he stood, and slowly descended the steps. “I love you, Kelly.”
Tears blurred her vision.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
“Are you crazy?”
His eyes narrowed, and he advanced, a determined look on his face. “I’m not crazy, Kelly. I’m lost.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I took a wrong turn somewhere. My great-grandfather foretold it a month ago. I took a wrong turn. Now I’m lost. Without you.”
He stopped a foot away. The sun had begun its downward slide in the west, throwing their shadows onto the ground on the other side. “You said you love me, Kelly. There’s no taking it back.”
She smiled, because that just sounded so boyish. Something told her that if he wouldn’t have been so focused on his future, he would have been a hellion as a child. Which reminded her…
“That skeleton in my closet isn’t going to go away, Grey.”
“I don’t care.” His voice was deep, the expression in his eyes deeper yet. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking out here. Alisha isn’t a lot of company when she’s sleeping.”
Kelly smiled.
“I’m not complaining. I love her. She’s the most amazing little kid. Care to hear what I’ve been thinking about?”
She doubted she had a choice, but really, there wasn’t anything in the world she would rather hear. “What have you been thinking about, Grey?”
“Your smile.”
“My what?”
“I’m drawn to your sunny smiles. I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit this past month thinking about your smile, wanting you, aching. You’re five feet six inches tall, a very nice five feet six inches, at that. You have auburn hair, a narrow nose, a stubborn chin, legs to die for, breasts to ache for and a voice that calls to mind babbling brooks and gentle summer breezes.”
He moved to sit down, and motioned for her to join him.
“For a judge, you’re very poetic.” She sat next to him, her elbow touching his arm.
“I’m not finished.”
She didn’t bother trying to conceal the roll of her eyes.
“I even thought about you when I was hearing a case. That never happened to me before. And that was when it dawned on me. It wasn’t your hair or your legs or your breasts that made you so special. It’s the way you make me think, the way you make me feel, the way you soften when I take you in my arms. It’s heaven. And it isn’t.”
“I know what you mean, Grey.” She looked up at him, and very nearly drowned in his eyes.
“I believe you do, Kelly. You accepted me. Without judgment. I know, I know. I was judgmental enough for the both of us. Despite that, you offered me your friendship. I want a hell of a lot more.”
“What about the state supreme court?” she whispered. “I thought that was your dream.”
“Dreams change. It’s true it used to be my life’s purpose.”
“Used to be?” she asked.
He nodded. Birds twittered. A car drove slowly by. Kelly and Grey were too wrapped up in each other to pay the rest of the world much attention.
“And now?” she asked.
“I guess it’s like Clara said. Some people’s life purpose is simply to serve as a warning to others.”
He talked to Clara about this? Kelly’s first thought. Her second was more serious in nature. “I don’t want to be the reason you didn’t get that position, Grey.”
“Then be the reason I get up every morning, come home every night, the reason I’m happy, the reason I’m here, in this world, in this life.”
It was a good thing Kelly was sitting down, because her legs never would have held her if she’d been standing. “It’s a very tempting offer.”
Any other man would have said something flip. Grey wasn’t any other man. He was the youngest judge in the history of Comanche County. He was the man she loved. “All right,” she said.
She sensed, saw, felt his surprise. “All right? That’s it?”
She nodded. “I was thinking about getting Alisha a dog or cat when she’s a little older.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with…”
“Do you think your sister would like to be Alisha’s godmother?”
“Sky?”
“Do you have another sister I don’t know about? And I was thinking about asking my brother-in-law to be her godfather.”
“It sounds as if you’ve been making a lot of plans.” Grey had been making plans for weeks. Circle, advance, retreat. He’d had the advantage, planning his strategy. He eased Alisha out of his arms, and into Kelly’s, then held his arms out, hands made into loose fists, wrists close together.
“What are you doing?” she said, cradling her baby in her arms.
“I surrender. If you want your brother-in-law to be Alisha’s godfather instead of me, so be it.”
She placed a hand on his face, turning him toward her. “I have a more important, vital position in mind for you. I would like you to be her father.”
Grey had been called Your Honor countless times. He’d never felt more honored in his life. He leaned closer, and said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“What was the question?” she asked.
“I asked you to marry me five minutes ago.”
“Oh.”
He cocked one eyebrow, waiting.
“If you’re sure you can live without that position on the state supreme court, then yes. This is definitely a yes.”
He made a sound deep in his throat, like a low growl of a wolf, and hugged her gently, reverently. “I can live without a lot of things. I don’t want to live without the two of you.”
“I love you, Grey.”
He breathed easy for the first time in two days. Grey knew a contentment he’d never known, for he’d added a fourth and final maneuver to his strategy. Advance, circle, retreat. And surrender.
He couldn’t seem to get close enough to Kelly. All the hugging and kissing woke up Alisha. As long as she was awake, she wanted to eat. Her cries rang out through the quiet neighborhood.
Kelly and Grey had a wedding to plan, and a christening, and the rest of their lives to chart. First, they had a daughter to feed. They rushed inside, and the gray wolf was lost no longer.