Boone got out of the car to fill it up with gas, and he tossed his wallet to Brad in the back seat. “Here, pal. Dig out a twenty for me, will you?”
Nixie watched from the front seat as Brad poked around for the bill. He seemed proud to have been chosen for the task, and Nixie instinctively knew it was Boone’s way of showing his trust in the boy. He wanted Brad to know he had complete faith in him, and he was giving him an opportunity to prove his trustworthiness.
It was times such as these that made Nixie feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of being both mother and father to her children.
Brad handed Boone the twenty and continued to look through the wallet. He looked up and caught Nixie watching him. “I’m just looking at the pictures.”
When Boone returned, Brad asked, “Who is this pretty lady with the blond hair?”
Nixie felt herself stiffen. He’d always been partial to blondes in high school. She didn’t want to hear about his conquests, past or present. “Brad, maybe you should give Boone his billfold back.”
“That’s okay.” Boone pulled out into traffic and eased back in his seat. “It’s my sister, Ellen,” he told Brad. “I think she’s pretty, too.”
“Oh,” he said. “Then I guess this old lady is your mother?”
“Brad!”
Boone reached over and patted her hand. “No problem, Nix. I’m sure anyone over fifty seems old to a kid Brad’s age.”
Her son flipped past to the next photo. “Hey, where’d you get a picture of Mom?”
Bethany, who’d been silent until now, leaned closer to her brother. “Let me see that.” She studied it for a moment, then looked at Nixie. “I didn’t know you ever looked so glamorous.”
Nixie took the wallet that her daughter handed her. The face that stared back from behind the clear plastic protector did, indeed, look incredibly like her.
The shoulder-length auburn tresses were curled and skillfully arranged around the small heart-shaped face. The artfully applied makeup accentuated the wide-apart brown eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips.
It was almost like looking into a mirror, except the woman staring back at her had a more worldly appearance. There was a hard edge about her that made it seem as though she would take no guff from anyone.
Boone cleared his throat. “Uh, I thought I’d taken that one out. It’s Cheryl, my ex-wife.”
Today, the sights, the rides, and the food they bought from the vendors at the amusement park should have been enough to distract Nixie’s mind from the image of the look-alike woman in the photo.
Instead, for the entire morning she felt like a zombie going through the motions of enjoying their day at Tweetsie Railroad.
During the magic show at the outdoor theater, Nixie wondered if Boone had noticed the similarity when he first met Cheryl. On the Ferris wheel she told herself she was being ridiculous—after all, hadn’t she herself married someone whose features vaguely resembled Boone’s? On the twirling swings, she mentally argued that their spouses’ looks had nothing to do with the reason she and Boone had married them. And as they dressed in period costumes and posed for pictures, she remembered that one of the reasons she’d been attracted to Paul was because of his gentle teasing.
Later, after they’d bought cotton candy, Nixie wondered if Cheryl liked the messy confection. The woman in the photo didn’t look the type, she decided. Nixie tore off a hank of the pink candy, popped it into her mouth, and licked the stickiness off her thumb. Nixie also felt certain Cheryl didn’t look like the type for whom smiles came easily. And if that were the case, it was no wonder their marriage didn’t last. How could it, when she had been teamed with a jokester like Boone?
She strolled with Boone and the children past a small cemetery that was fenced off from the rest of the park. At first, she thought the tiny fence-enclosed area was for show, perhaps part of a setting for a Wild West skit. On closer inspection, she realized the gravestones were real and the newest dates were of the 1900s. The theme park must have sprung up around the cemetery, she guessed.
Boone was leaning against the fence, pointing to the large stone closest to them and telling the children his mother’s side of the family was related to the Greenes buried here. “We’re also distantly related to the Enzers in Boone, North Carolina,” he added.
“Is that where you got your name?” asked Brad.
“Sure is. My parents had only been married about six months when I was born, and my mother was very homesick.”
Bethany pulled the last of the cotton candy from her paper cone. “But it takes about nine—” She blushed. “Oh, never mind.”
Boone gave her ponytail a gentle tug. “That’s right,” he said without embarrassment. “She and my father were too young for that kind of commitment. That’s why their marriage didn’t last.”
Nixie stood quietly beside him. He had easily shared a part of his life that many would have preferred to keep private. But without lecturing, he’d used the information to drive home a valuable lesson to the children.
“Anyway, my mother missed Boone—the county—so much she named me after it.”
Nixie couldn’t resist. “Aren’t you glad she wasn’t from Charlotte?”
Boone whirled around, raised his hands in monster-like fashion, and came after her. Nixie took off up the hill toward the train that would take them on a tour through a staged setting of Wild West, America. The children squealed behind her with Boone in hot pursuit.
They didn’t slow down until they reached the platform. Nixie was breathless as she slid into the seat directly in front of the one her children had chosen. Boone scooted in beside her and grabbed her in a bear hug as they waited for the rest of the passengers to board.
Laughing, Nixie leaned into him. It was a good feeling. As they caught their breath, she relaxed against the hard, warm wall of his chest. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she giggled and whispered, “Or Kitty Hawk?”
He clawed his free hand above her. The laughing sparkle in his eyes let her know he was enjoying this game. “I’m warning you….”
More than a little curious what “punishment” he had in store for her, Nixie giggled again. “Or Faith, North Carolina?”
Making like a vampire, Boone bent over her and pretended to bite her upper arm.
The sensation sent little goose bumps down Nixie’s spine. “Sophia, North Carolina?”
He playfully attacked the round of her shoulder. “Hush!” he said in a feigned accent, “or I vill make you pay zee ultimate price.”
Next time he was sure to go for her neck. The lure was too great. “Sapphire, North Carolina!”
As soon as his lips touched her neck, Nixie melted like ice cream on a warm day. She was breathless once again, this time from giddy laughter and the sensations Boone stirred merely by breathing against her skin.
Brad popped over the back of their seat and peered down at them. “How about Bald Head Island?”
Nixie looked up to see Bethany’s head appear beside her brother’s. “Or Turkey, North Carolina!” the girl goaded.
Pulling away from Nixie, Boone growled and lunged for the children, which sent them into fits of giggling.
Nixie sat up straighter and set about composing herself. She watched, amused, as Boone reached over the back of their seat and made wild grabbing motions with his hand.
The movement of the train, as it started, aborted their frenzied play. Boone settled down beside her and hung his arm over her shoulder. He turned toward her and lightly dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“Eew, barf-o-rama,” she heard Brad mutter behind them.
It had been a long time since she had laughed so freely. For the past eight years, Nixie had been working so hard making sure her family was healthy and happy that she hadn’t found the time or energy to let loose like this.
Too late, she wondered what the other passengers must think of their enthusiastic display. Glancing past Boone to the couple seated across from them, she saw a wistful smile on the older woman’s face. The husband gazed lovingly down at his wife and took her hand in his. It was clear they were remembering with fondness similar episodes from their own past.
Nixie turned her gaze back to Boone’s rugged visage. He was so big and rough-looking that he hardly seemed the type to be cavorting so childishly with her and the kids.
Her thoughts took her back to the older couple. They had obviously spent many happy years together. What, she wondered, did her own future hold for her? Would she have someone special to share a history with? Would it be someone who would make her laugh and keep her from taking life’s daily grind too seriously?
Goodness, she hoped so.
Would it be Boone?
She sighed softly. Experience had taught her she shouldn’t take him too seriously, either … no matter how delightfully giddy his touch made her feel.
Besides, he was determined to set her up with some stranger who had nothing better to do than answer personals ads in the newspaper, she thought bitterly.
The train rounded a curve as they made their way through the wooded “frontier” land. The motion gently urged her closer to Boone, and she didn’t resist the pull.
It might hurt later, but she couldn’t worry about that now. For the moment, it was too pleasant enjoying his laughter and the closeness of his powerful body next to hers.
At the end of the day, they were laughing as they left Tweetsie Railroad and climbed into the sun-heated car. The stifling humidity didn’t seem to affect the children’s enthusiasm. They recounted the day’s adventures while waiting for the air conditioner to cool the interior of the car.
“How about when those Native Americans stopped the train at the pioneer settlement?” said Bethany. “I thought I would die laughing when Mom asked that young brave if the medicine man put those braces on his teeth.”
Boone snickered as he buckled his seat belt. “It did sort of ruin the effect.”
Nixie lounged back in her seat and crossed her arms in front of her. “Are you saying you bought the blond hair and freckles on that brave?”
He grinned back at her. “Actually, it was the sneakers that clued me in.”
“I liked the bird show best,” Brad chimed in. “It sure would be great to have a blue and gold macaw like the one that rode the little bicycle.”
Boone reached back and patted the boy on the knee. “Sometimes people wish for things they don’t have when all they have to do is look in their own backyard.”
“If you’re talking about Tarzan, we don’t let him go outside.”
“It’s a figure of speech,” said Boone. He switched to the passing lane, then picked up where he’d left off. “If you ask me, your bird’s much smarter than that macaw. You’re just so used to having Tarzan around that you’re not aware of how special he is.”
“Maybe.”
“The same could be said about your search for a daddy,” he added significantly.
Startled, Nixie looked up from the stuffed toy turtle she held in her lap.
He gave her a saucy wink. “Could be there’s someone you already know who would make a fine daddy.”
Nixie touched his arm, silently pleading with him not to raise Brad’s hopes. Or hers. “Boone, it’s one thing to tease me, but please don’t involve the children in your jokes.”
“Who said I was joking?”
“Hey, I know!” exclaimed Brad as if a novel idea had just occurred to him. “What about you! You already have experience with kids from being the den leader. And you’d suit Mom because you must read a lot if you own the newspaper. Right, Mom?”
“That’s a stupid idea if I ever heard one,” Bethany butted in.
“It is not!” Brad leaned forward in his seat. “Is he good-looking enough for you, Mom?”
Boone sat up straight behind the steering wheel, batting his eyelashes and flashing his best smile.
What could she do? If she agreed, it would lend encouragement to an unwise pairing. But if she said no to discourage her son, she’d be lying.
Boone had said he wasn’t joking. Did he truly think something besides arguing and teasing could come of a relationship between them? Although it first seemed preposterous to her, the idea actually held appeal for Nixie. After all, as much as she tried to deny it, she had come to look forward to his frequent visits.
In fact, she’d been afraid he would run out of reasons to come see them, so she had come up with an idea for a rescue squad fundraiser that would ensure further contact with Boone. She just hadn’t told him yet about the upcoming donkey baseball game between the emergency services volunteers and Bliss businessmen.
She looked again at the man who had wedged himself so firmly into her life. The wispy blond hair that reminded her so much of her son’s fell in disarray across his forehead. The smiling eyes were so full of humor it was a wonder there was room left over for all that incredible blue. His face, like the man behind it, was strong, straight, and full of character.
As Nixie focused on the rows of even white teeth, she wondered how they’d survived his rough-and-tumble days on the football field. And his lips, narrow and firm, tempted her with memories of their first kiss the night of the camporee. Oh, what wonderful reassurance he had given her.
Her eyes met his, and she realized they held more than humor. They held compassion, concern, and caring. For the first time, Nixie admitted to herself that their kiss had less to do with reassurance than with their feelings for each other.
He was still waiting for her answer. Was he good-looking enough?
“Well, Brad,” she began, “when you’re choosing a daddy, looks are a lot less important than a person’s values and whether he’s compatible with the rest of the family.”
“Yeah, I forgot about that. You don’t believe in corporal punishment, do you?” he asked Boone.
Boone grinned. “For someone like you? I think you’re bright enough to reason with. Besides, I plan to build you up on my weight machines. I wouldn’t want you getting even with me after you’re big enough to punch me out.”
“Brad, we need to talk,” Bethany declared.
For much of the rest of the long ride home, they whispered furiously in the back seat. It was obvious Bethany was against the idea of including Boone’s name on their list of candidates.
Nixie switched on the radio in hopes it would cover their remarks. It wouldn’t do to have her children unwittingly insult Boone after he’d been kind enough to treat them to a day at Tweetsie Railroad.
“How about that?” Boone said. “The answer was right there in front of us all along. Isn’t it amazing we didn’t see it before?”
“I think we need to talk, too.” She had to know where he stood on this before he got Brad’s hopes up any further—or upset Bethany unnecessarily. As for Nixie, she couldn’t bear it if this was another one of his impractical jokes.
Uncle Jay and Aunt Lauren had graciously agreed to let the children spend the night with them so Nixie and Boone could have some time alone. Boone had opened the door on a possibility that Nixie knew neither should be too quick to act upon.
Of course, the children didn’t get out the door without Bethany breaking into tears first. After Brad had told Boone some of the tricks his uncle had played on the family, Boone had suggested Brad remove the batteries from Jay’s remote control when he wasn’t looking.
At that, Bethany had protested loudly, saying Brad was mean and disloyal to do such a thing to someone who loved them as much as Uncle Jay did. She seemed overly protective, and Nixie couldn’t imagine why her normally mild-mannered daughter had become so explosive. She made a mental note to have a long talk with her tomorrow, after Bethany had calmed down. Meanwhile, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jay could help distract her from whatever had been bothering her lately.
As Nixie assembled a chicken sandwich snack, Boone stayed in the living room, talking to the parrot. She supposed he needed to gather his thoughts, just as she did.
They ate in polite silence. What, Nixie wondered, did one say to a man who has invited himself to become a permanent member of their family?
Boone also seemed thoughtful. She frequently caught him watching her and discovered she liked being the focus of his attention.
While she carried their plates to the dishwasher, Boone fed a bread crust to Tarzan. When she entered the living room, she found him talking quietly to the bird. It seemed he’d had more to say to Tarzan this evening than he had to her.
“We need to figure out where we stand on this daddy issue,” Nixie said, “before anything else is said to the children.”
Boone nodded his agreement. He tried to put Tarzan back in the cage, but when the bird refused, Boone gave up and let him perch on his shoulder. He followed Nixie to the couch and sat down beside her.
“You already know where I stand,” he said. “I thought my suggestion to Brad was a good one. Now we just need to know how you feel about it.”
Tarzan leaned forward as if trying to catch Nixie’s response.
This was disconcerting enough. She didn’t need two pairs of eyes watching her. Nixie folded her hands in her lap and studied them. Nibbling the inside of her cheek, she turned to face him. “In high school, you used to tease me a lot.”
He squirmed, then gave her a faint smile. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”
His reaction let Nixie know he wasn’t proud of the torture he’d put her through. “How do I know you’re not teasing me again?”
Tarzan lost interest and jumped off Boone’s shoulder to climb the Venetian blind cord.
Boone moved closer to Nixie, his very nearness affecting her like a powerful drug, and his blue eyes bored a hole into her soul. “Will this prove how serious I am?”
His arms slid around her. In the next moment, his lips touched hers.
Nixie had replayed their first kiss over and over in her mind, trying to remember and savor the moment in all of its toe-tingling wonder. And now he was actually kissing her again. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
This was different from that first kiss. Not as raw and demanding. This time, it was tender and full of promise. That night at the car he’d stirred long-suppressed physical needs within her. Tonight, he touched Nixie’s emotional needs.
Nixie had been on her share of dates, and she knew what a man wanted from a woman. But this man wanted her children, too, and that simple fact affected her libido more than any candlelight dinner or expensive champagne could ever do.
When he ended the kiss, he didn’t pull away. He was close enough for her to feel his breath on her face. His hand touched hers, and he placed her palm against his chest. Even through the pullover shirt, Nixie could feel the thumpity-thump that surely matched her own heartbeat. His lips brushed hers as he spoke. “Believe me now?”
She smiled and slid her hand up to touch the blond tufts at the back of his neck. “I could use some more convincing.”
He kissed her again, this time pushing her down onto the couch, then sprawled beside her. His weight was braced on one elbow, and his left knee lay intimately across the top of Nixie’s legs.
“Oh, Nix, I’ve wanted to hold you like this for so long.”
Nixie squirmed with pleasure, and it thrilled her to know the action excited him more. “So, you’re saying you want me for my body?”
“I want you, Nixie. I want you and everything that is a part of you. Brad and Bethany. Precious and Stormy. Your aunt and uncle. Even this crazy bird that’s walking on my back.” He kissed her lightly and let his lips trail down to her neck, where he gave her a playful bite. “Do you suppose he’ll tell anyone what we’ve been doing?”
“If you’re going to be my children’s daddy, what does it matter?”
It had slipped out so unexpectedly. Nixie hadn’t consciously accepted the suggestion he’d made to Brad earlier today. It was an intuitive thing, something that had felt so right that she automatically knew it was the right thing to do.
She knew they cared for each other. Though neither had spoken the words, she knew those feelings were love. And she wanted Boone as much as he wanted her.
Boone squinted at the woman who was smiling up at him. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was turning the tables on him with a joke of her own. But he didn’t need his glasses to read the expression on her face. It reflected his own feelings. Happiness, contentment … love.
He wondered how he could be so lucky. He wondered what he should say. The woman certainly had a way of catching him off guard.
Tarzan sauntered up Boone’s shoulder and craned his feathered neck until he looked him straight in the eye. “Can you talk?” the bird asked.
Then, with a whirr of wings and a raucous laugh, the parrot took off for his cage.
“He’s right,” Boone said. “I’m speechless.” His fingers trailed upward along her arm and made circles on her shoulder before blazing a path down her collarbone. She offered no resistance. He drew her closer, tormenting himself further with the desire to have her as completely as a man can have a woman. “So, your answer is yes? You’ll let me be Bethany’s and Brad’s daddy?”
She smiled and returned his embrace, the simple action making him want her more than he’d ever wanted anyone or anything ever before. He’d waited more than fifteen years for her. His patience was giving out.
“If that was a proposal,” she murmured against his lips, “it’s the strangest one I’ve ever heard.”
They lay cuddled together on the couch, savoring the closeness of one another. No words were spoken, but no words were needed to tell her his kisses and gentle touches had nothing to do with a make-out session and everything to do with claiming each other as their own.
The doorbell rang.
Nixie and Boone froze. Their gazes locked, and Nixie saw that he seemed as confused as she. When it rang a second time, they both jumped to action, straightening and rearranging their mussed clothes and hair.
Running her fingers through her hair one final time, Nixie answered the door on the third ring.
“What took you so long?” Brad groused.
Standing on the porch behind the children, Aunt Lauren took in Nixie’s rumpled appearance. When Boone came behind Nixie and laid a hand on her waist, she said, “Never mind that, Brad. Let’s just get Bethany inside so we can tend to her.”
“Bethany? What’s the matter with Bethany?” Turning to her daughter, Nixie saw immediately what the problem was. The exposed areas of the girl’s face and arms were covered with raised, red welts.
Bethany scratched her stomach, then reached down and rubbed her thigh. “I itch, Mama.”
Nixie’s heart nearly broke at the sight of the ugly hives that covered her daughter’s body. The last time she’d had the stress-induced rash was after Paul died. Because Nixie herself had been struggling to cope with the loss of her husband, she’d been unable to comfort Bethany as much as she’d wanted.
Now things were different. She was stronger and better able to cope. Nixie resolved to find and remove the source of Bethany’s stress. In the meanwhile, she would make her as comfortable as possible.
Nixie urged her family into the house. “Brad, go fill the bathtub with cool water. Boone and Aunt Lauren, would you sit with her and discourage her from scratching while I get the antihistamine?”
“Want me to put ice in the water?” Brad asked.
“No. Just make it slightly cooler than room temperature.”
When she came back, Aunt Lauren had her arm around the girl, and Boone was patting Bethany’s hand in an effort to distract her from clawing the rash.
“Here,” Nixie said and poured red medicine into a spoon. “This should relieve the itching and swelling.” She waited for Bethany to swallow. With a silent wish, she hoped the rash came from an allergy rather than stress. Allergens were easier to avoid and simpler to fix than mental stress. “Did you eat or touch something that might have set this off?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Bethany scratched her neck, and Boone reached up to pull her hand away.
The water stopped flowing in the bathroom, and Brad returned a moment later. “We were just sitting around talking about what we did today. And I told ’em Boone might be our new daddy if you liked him enough.”
“That’s when the itching started,” Aunt Lauren interjected.
Bethany glared at her brother. “You had no business saying that. Especially not to—”
“But it’s true! Isn’t it, Mom?”
Nixie winced at the sight of Bethany digging furiously at a bright-red welt under her arm. “Never mind that now. Bethany needs to get in the tub.”
She led her daughter to the bathroom and sprinkled baking soda in the bath water to help soothe the itching. While Bethany soaked, Nixie went back to the den.
Boone stood as she entered the room. With a sinking heart, Nixie knew that he was the cause of her daughter’s distress. But that didn’t keep her from hoping there might be another reason for Bethany’s hives.
“I’ll stay here tonight,” Boone told her. Turning to Lauren, he added, “On the couch, of course.”
Aunt Lauren nodded.
He took Nixie in his arms and gave her a gentle hug. “I’ll stay up all night and look after her if she needs it. And if she’s not better by morning, I’ll drive her to the after-hours doctor.”
For the briefest of moments, Nixie allowed herself to enjoy the feel of her cheek against his chest. She would love to have him spend the night, every night, and not on the couch, either. For now, though, she had to set aside her own wants and put Bethany’s needs first.
Reluctantly, she broke the embrace. “That’s very sweet of you. But I think it would be better if we kept things as normal as possible. She’ll come around more quickly if there’s less commotion in the house to upset her.”
“And goodness knows she was upset this evening,” said Aunt Lauren. “I could tell she was agitated, but it really started showing after Brad fooled Jay by taking the batteries out of the remote control. And then when Brad started talking about you two getting married … well, you know what happened next.”
Yes, Nixie knew what happened next. Her daughter had a stress reaction to the mere thought of her marrying Boone.
Maybe she’d be able to ease Bethany’s mind about Boone joining the family. But if she couldn’t….
As much as she hated having to make the choice, her daughter’s health would have to come before her own happiness.