After church the next day, Aunt Lauren caught Nixie slouched in the overstuffed chair beside Tarzan’s cage and reading a romance novel. “Reading more of those love books?” she asked. “Don’t you know it’s more exciting to participate?” She gave Nixie an impish wink.
Nixie closed the historical saga. “I guess I just needed a happy ending to lift my spirits."
“Bethany still sick?”
“No, she’s mostly recovered. She doesn’t itch unless she thinks about it.”
Aunt Lauren made herself at home on the couch. “Then what’s on your mind?”
“I had a talk with her this morning. After some questioning, she admitted she doesn’t want me to get involved with Boone.”
“It’s too late for that, isn’t it?”
Nixie gave an ironic laugh. “I think I’ve been emotionally involved with Boone since high school. I was just too blind to see it.”
“But Bethany sees it, and she’s reluctant to share her mother with someone else.”
Nixie frowned and rubbed her earlobe. “I don’t think that’s it. At first, I suspected she didn’t want anyone to take Paul’s place, but if that were the case, she wouldn’t have bought that help wanted ad for a daddy.”
Aunt Lauren’s sweet face was full of compassion. She was more than just her aunt, Nixie knew. She was her friend. And Nixie was grateful to have such a kind and caring aunt.
“Don’t worry, Nixie. It took you a while to get used to Boone, and you finally came around. Bethany will come around, too.”
“But that’s where I’m confused. It’s obvious she’s crazy about him, yet she’s working very hard to pretend she’s not. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Most kids don’t make sense at that age. Give her time.”
Bethany called to them from upstairs. “Mom, you have company.”
The front door burst open, and Brad came in, followed by Boone.
“She’s upstairs, and she looks normal again,” Nixie said.
With a wicked chuckle, Brad added in typical brotherly fashion, “Normal for her.”
Nixie stood to greet Boone. One look at that ruggedly handsome face, and she was wishing they were alone again. He smiled at her in a way that made her think he felt the same.
Brad buzzed around his hero like an annoying little gnat. Even so, Boone never broke eye contact with Nixie as he hefted the boy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“I was worried about Bethany,” Boone said. “Brad told me her rash is gone.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “Our home remedies seemed to do the trick.” Nixie failed to add, however, that Bethany’s rash disappeared shortly after Boone had left. She hoped the cure had come from her home remedies rather than Boone’s departure.
Aunt Lauren stood and joined them. “Boone, we’re going to the hospital this afternoon to see Nixie’s new niece. Would you like to come along?”
By now Brad dangled upside down as Boone gripped his ankles and pretended to pound him into the floor. “I got a new cousin, Boone. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Francie weren’t lucky enough to get a boy like me.”
Shifting the boy’s ankles to one hand, Boone held his other hand out at waist level and said to Nixie, “Little Ryan has a baby?”
Nixie nodded. “Isn’t it amazing how fast kids grow up?” She wasn’t referring to her little brother. If only she’d known how quickly she and Boone would grow up and go their separate ways, she may have taken notice of him in a different light. And their lives might have turned out vastly different.
But if that were the case, she wouldn’t have had those years with Paul, nor would she have been blessed with these two wonderful children. What really mattered, she knew, was that even though it took them fifteen years to realize it, she and Boone were in love.
Suddenly she wanted more than anything to go to the maternity ward. She wanted to hear those tiny, high-pitched cries and share the joy of new life with Boone.
He turned his attention back to Brad. “Well, don’t just hang there,” he told the boy. “If you want to see your cousin, you’d better get a decent shirt on.”
Later, at the hospital, they dawdled in front of the nursery window and stared at little Merrilee Cordaire. The baby had somehow freed one of her hands from the snug receiving blanket and sucked hungrily on her fist.
“You can tell she’s a Cordaire,” said Boone.
Nixie looked up at the man standing beside her. “How can you tell?”
“Look how pretty she is.”
The look he gave Nixie told her he wasn’t talking only about the Cordaire in the bassinet. Nixie took it as a personal compliment, and despite the fifteen years between her and the shy teenager she’d once been, she blushed.
“Gross,” Brad said, clutching his stomach. “I’m going to get sick.”
Bethany grabbed her brother’s hand and started pulling him in the direction Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jay had gone moments before. “Let’s go to Aunt Francie’s room. After what she went through last night, I doubt she’s in the mood to make goo-goo eyes at Uncle Ryan.”
Nixie smiled at the sight of her children walking hand in hand down the hospital corridor. Despite their frequent arguments and insults hurled at one another, they were best friends. They just wouldn’t admit it. Maybe in a few more years they’d be mature enough to openly acknowledge their affection for each other.
She looked up at Boone. He took her hand and swung it as the children had done when they sauntered away. She squeezed his hand, and he pulled her closer. Maybe that was what she and Boone had needed. Time to mature. They’d been good friends all along, even amid the arguing and the teasing insults hurled at one another. Now they were old enough and mature enough to openly admit their affection for each other.
Boone pressed a kiss on her forehead, then rested his chin against her hair. “Next time we come to this ward, Nixie, I want it to be our baby in that bassinet. I was crazy to leave you that first time, and I won’t let you get away again.” The arm he had slung around her waist tightened with the intensity of his words. “I love you, Nixie. Marry me.”
Nixie looked up into the face of the man who had been so many things to her. Adversary, ally, tormentor, friend, and now loved one. Now he was asking to be her husband and the father of her children. If it was only up to her, she’d say yes without hesitation. But just as she did with all major family decisions, she wanted to discuss it with her children first. Her answer to Boone would affect their lives as well as her own.
“There was something in your newspaper’s advice column recently that has stuck with me. She makes a lot of sense.”
“You mean ‘Ask Aunt Alice’?” Boone prompted.
“Yes. She told the person who’d written for advice that when people marry, they don’t just join the one they’ve fallen in love with. They marry that person’s family, as well. If you marry me, Boone, you marry my family. And I can’t give you an answer without talking to my kids first.”
He hugged her. “That’s fair. But don’t keep me waiting. I can’t be patient much longer.”
They walked hand in hand down the hospital corridor, swinging their arms in an echo of Bethany’s and Brad’s action. As they approached Francie’s room, they heard laughter.
When Nixie stepped inside, she was surprised to discover Bethany was the only one not joining in on the fun. The girl sat on the empty hospital bed beside Francie’s and stared out the window. Nixie hugged her brother and sister-in-law and sat down beside Bethany.
After Boone shook Ryan’s hand and complimented the new mother, he took a seat on the bed, sandwiching Bethany between him and Nixie. Bethany didn’t seem happy about it.
For a while, talk centered around Merrilee’s birth and Francie’s health. Nixie smiled to see the pride that shone on her brother’s face. She imagined Boone’s reaction would be similar if he were in Ryan’s shoes.
Then her thoughts led her into a detailed daydream in which she, rather than Francie, was the new mother. Her parents were due to arrive from Baltimore later this evening, and Nixie imagined them joining the rest of her loved ones in this room to rejoice in the child who was born as a result of her and Boone’s love for each other. She wouldn’t even care whether it was a girl or a boy, as long as the baby had Boone’s good qualities.
“Brad was telling us things are looking pretty serious between you two,” said Francie.
Nixie glanced up and caught the look that passed between Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jay. Brad, Ryan, and Francie smiled approvingly. Only Bethany looked glum. Staring down at her hands, the girl refused to join in the conversation.
Boone reached behind Bethany and covered Nixie’s hand with his own. “Yes, but Nixie tells me that when a man marries a woman, he marries the family, as well.”
Ryan laughed. “You’re right. I never realized what I was up against when I married into Francie’s family.”
Francie gave her husband a playful punch.
Boone shrugged. “Well, I’ve asked her, but—”
“Boone! This isn’t the time or place.”
“But, honey, most of your family’s right here. You may as well find out right now how they feel about us getting married.”
“All for the lovebirds tying the knot,” Uncle Jay piped up, “raise your hand.”
This was not turning out at all as she had expected. Nixie had planned to have a private talk with Bethany and Brad before announcing their intentions to the rest of the family.
Hands went up, including Boone’s, but Bethany stared sullenly into her lap.
“All opposed?” Brad continued.
Everyone turned and waited for the lone holdout’s response. Bethany made an obvious show of concentrating on picking off the remains of her pink nail polish.
“Abstaining, huh?” Boone gave Bethany’s hair a little tug. “I’ll bet you’re just playing hard to get. Right, Steph?”
Nixie was startled speechless when her daughter rose to her feet and stood in front of Boone, hands defiantly on her hips, and declared, “My name is Bethany, not Steph.” Turning to Brad, she added, “And I wish we’d never placed that stupid ad.”
Then, wiping the moisture from her eyes, she ran out into the hall.
Nixie didn’t know what to do first—apologize to Boone or run after her daughter. And if she went after Bethany, should she comfort her or chew her out?
Although Boone started to follow her, Nixie stayed him with a hand on his arm. “Give me a minute alone with her.” She had expected to see the hurt on his face, and it was there. But he seemed more concerned about Bethany’s unhappiness. “I’m sorry about the way she’s been acting lately. She’s not usually like this.”
He didn’t say anything. Just nodded his understanding.
Out in the hall, Nixie started to scold her daughter for being so rude, but Bethany had lifted the hem of her shirt to wipe the tears from her eyes, and Nixie’s attention was drawn to the bare abdomen covered with hideous red splotches. When Bethany kept rubbing her eyes with the shirt, Nixie pulled the girl’s hands away from her face and discovered a large red hive covering most of her right eyelid.
“How long have you been itching?”
Bethany rubbed her eye with the back of her hand, exposing more hives on her wrist. “Since before we got to the hospital. I thought it would go away.” She wriggled her shoulders as if her back itched, too. “Mom, why is this happening?”
Nixie had her suspicions, but if she was wrong, she didn’t want to give her daughter any ideas. If, indeed, Bethany was reacting to the stress associated with her unwillingness to accept Boone as her stepfather, Nixie wanted to get to the root of the child’s fears rather than hand her an excuse for them.
She hugged her daughter. “I don’t know,” she said at last. “But we’re going to find out why, and we’re going to come up with a solution.”
Boone took them home, where they repeated the treatment Nixie had used the night before. It was obvious he wanted to help and was frustrated by his inability to do so.
“We should have taken her to the emergency room while we were at the hospital,” he said.
Nixie rescued Stormy from another swat by Precious and put the kitten in the utility room. “It’s not a life-threatening situation,” she told him. “If she has another episode tomorrow, I’ll take her to the doctor.”
In the end, he reluctantly accepted her decision. He also accepted her refusal to let him spend the night and help take care of Bethany.
Nixie hated sending him away. It meant a lot having someone to share her concern. True, she had Uncle Jay and Aunt Lauren who fussed over the children constantly. And her parents, who were staying at Ryan and Francie’s house, would have gladly helped. But, somehow, it was different with Boone. It was as if their shared concern over the children somehow brought them closer together.
She shook her head at the irony of it. If she was right in her suspicion that Bethany’s hives came from her unwillingness to accept Boone into the family, the girl’s illness could have the effect of driving them apart.
By morning, the hives had once again miraculously disappeared. When the children got off the school bus that afternoon and stormed into the sign shop, Nixie let Brad play a game on one of the computers while she took Bethany into her office.
Nixie sat beside her daughter on the office couch and studied her carefully. No sign of hives on the exposed skin of her face, arms, or legs. “How have you felt today?”
“Fine.”
“Are you itching now?”
“Nope.”
Both times Bethany had broken out in the rash, she’d been hearing talk about the possibility of Nixie and Boone getting married. Nixie didn’t want to bring on another episode for her daughter, but she had to know what was causing it. And this would be one way to find out.
“You know Boone asked me to marry him,” she began.
“So, did you tell him yes? Majority rules, you always say.”
No sign of scratching yet. So far, the only thing Bethany was suffering from was a sarcastic mouth. Deciding to concentrate on only one problem at a time, she ignored the tone of her daughter’s voice.
“Yes, in most cases the majority rules. Before I give Boone my answer, I want to make sure it’s a decision we’ll all be happy with.”
Bethany idly twirled a lock of hair around her forefinger. “Are you saying this time it has to be unanimous?”
“I’m saying I want Boone to be a part of our lives, and I want you and Brad both to accept him as your father.” Nixie reached over and pulled Bethany’s hand away from her hair. “I love him very much, Bethany, and I want you to be happy for me.”
“But it’s not right,” she cried, withdrawing her hand. “He’s not my father, and he can’t take anyone else’s place.”
“No one will ever take the place of your real father,” Nixie assured her. “Not for you or Brad, and not for me, either.”
“Well, maybe we don’t need anyone else in our family.”
Nixie wished she could understand what was going on in her daughter’s mind. She didn’t want to push too hard and make her retreat into a sullen silence. Nixie’s voice automatically lowered as when she dealt with frightened patients at rescue calls. “I thought you liked Boone.”
“It’s not that….” Bethany scratched her cheek, then started twisting her hair again. “You said that if Precious couldn’t learn to accept Stormy, then we should find another home for the kitten. Well, Precious knows there are enough pets in our house. I’ve been in the family a lot longer than Boone has been around, and I know there are enough people in our house. Why can’t you give me the same respect that you give our cat?”
Bethany was near tears, and Nixie tried for a little levity. “You want me to take Boone to the animal shelter?”
It didn’t work. Further, Nixie noticed that the spot where Bethany had scratched her cheek was now turning a bright shade of red.
“We’re giving Precious and Stormy a chance to work out their differences. The least I can do is give you and Boone the same courtesy.” She patted her daughter’s knee. “Now promise me you’ll give it a try. If things work out as well as I expect they will, you can even be my maid of honor. Isn’t that exciting?”
Bethany gave her a listless shrug.
“I knew you’d be open-minded about this,” Nixie said, trying for positive reinforcement. But she had her doubts about whether it was working.
That subject handled, Nixie sat Bethany down at the desk to begin her homework and left to tell Brad to get started on his. Then she picked up a job order for a sale flyer and started typesetting it on the computer.
She’d been at it for less than fifteen minutes when Bethany appeared at her elbow.
“Mom, the itching’s back, and it feels kind of hard to breathe.”
Her eyes were swollen, and she was scratching frantically under the waistband of her shorts.
“Oh, heavens.”
Calling out instructions to Uncle Jay, she left him in charge of the shop and asked him to see that Brad got his homework done while she took Bethany to the doctor.
Outside, Nixie fumbled through the first aid kit she kept in the car in a futile attempt to locate some antihistamine. It wasn’t something she ordinarily stocked, but she looked again anyway. When she turned up empty handed, she urged Bethany in the passenger side and pushed the speed limit to the doctor’s office.
She didn’t want to panic Bethany, but a severe case of hives left untreated could cause the throat to swell shut. She had wanted to know if Bethany’s hives came from her stress about Boone joining the family. She had her answer, but she wished she had never tried the test.
Not only did she have her answer about Bethany’s feelings regarding the marriage, she had managed to set off a bad reaction. Guilt stabbed at Nixie’s conscience.
The nurse let Bethany go ahead of the handful of patients sitting in the waiting room. A few minutes later, the doctor gave her an injection, and her breathing soon came easier.
“The swelling should go down within the next hour or two,” Dr. Coffman told her.
Nixie motioned him into the hall. “What do you think could be causing these episodes?”
“Well, this is the allergy season, especially for people sensitive to grass pollen. But if she’s never had seasonal sniffles before, that’s probably not the cause. Perhaps she’s allergic to some other substance she has come in contact with.”
“Nothing’s different other than me dating someone special.” Nixie started thinking aloud. “For a while I had this crazy idea she might be allergic to him, but today he was nowhere around. Although you know, each time she developed these hives, there had been discussion about us getting married. Do you suppose there could be a connection?”
Their family doctor flipped back through Bethany’s chart. “I see that she had hives when she was three.”
“Yes, that was after my husband died.”
He made a note in the chart, then tucked the pen behind his ear. “Then I suppose it very well could be a case of nerves.” Leaving the first pen above his ear, he reached for another from the counter and scribbled out a prescription. “I suggest you keep her calm, and make a note of what she’s wearing, eating, touching, or talking about if it happens again.” He handed her the prescription. “And if she has another bad reaction, you may need to inject her with this.”
Nixie stared at the scrawled writing on the slip of paper. Just when she was learning to give Brad more freedom without panicking about his safety, Bethany wound up having anxiety reactions.
Why couldn’t life be simple?
Over the next couple of weeks, Bethany had a few more reactions, but none were as severe as the first three episodes.
Nixie didn’t share with Boone her suspicion about the cause of the rash because she was afraid he might step up his efforts to win Bethany over. And Nixie was afraid the added pressure would only make the outbreaks worse.
As it was, she asked him to give her a while longer before expecting an answer to his proposal. Saying she wanted the children to grow used to the idea of her remarrying, she asked Boone to keep the subject low-key. True to his word, he said nothing else to them about becoming their new daddy.
But his promise didn’t keep him from stealing kisses from Nixie when Bethany and Brad weren’t looking. And if he didn’t have an excuse to stop by and visit, he called to chat, and the phone was usually passed to everyone in the family to say hello.
His good night calls were the ones Nixie looked forward to most. By then, the children were in bed, and they were free to talk without interruption. In the evenings, it felt wonderful to unwind with the man she hoped to marry someday. They were little things—sharing their day’s events and laughing about things that wouldn’t seem funny to people who weren’t in love. And each night Boone whispered “I love you” in the darkness before hanging up.
Such little things, but they meant so much.
Unfortunately, it seemed as though the more firmly Boone rooted himself in their lives, the more frequently Bethany’s hives appeared. It was a good thing school was out for the summer because the daily doses of antihistamine tended to make the girl groggy.
“We can’t keep going on this way,” Nixie told her aunt and uncle when they came to visit one Saturday morning. “It’s tearing me up to watch my little girl suffer from these skin rashes. Just when I think she’s over it, she’ll break out again after Boone calls or if she catches us kissing.”
“She’s been very clingy to Jay, too,” said Aunt Lauren.
Uncle Jay paused in his search through the kitchen junk drawer. “She followed me into the bathroom yesterday. I can’t walk through a room without her hugging me and telling me she loves me.” He grinned at her. “It’s nice to know, but it does get tiresome after a while.”
Nixie watched her uncle withdraw a sheet of paper and draw a pair of large eyes on it.
“On the other hand,” she said, “Brad has been teasing her less often and getting into less trouble with his pranks.”
Uncle Jay snorted. “That’s an improvement? My main man told me it’s immature to play a lot of jokes on people.”
“Imagine that,” Aunt Lauren said dryly. She winked at Nixie.
Jay finished the drawing and headed off toward the stairs.
“Where are you going with that?” she asked.
He stopped and offered up a devilish grin. “Gonna slide it under her bedroom door and make her feel like she’s being watched.”
Nixie shook her head. “How do you put up with him?” she asked Aunt Lauren.
“You get used to checking whether the bed’s been short-sheeted or the toilet seat is greased. It’s a challenge to see if I can stay one step ahead of him.”
She heard a squeal from upstairs and knew Uncle Jay had scored.
She and Aunt Lauren had each just settled down with a cup of coffee when Boone joined them.
“The door was unlocked,” he said in explanation as he helped himself to a cup of the steaming brew.
His inevitable shadow followed him into the kitchen. “What does a man have to do to get some coffee around here?” Brad asked with a mischievous grin. “Get drunk?”
Uncle Jay rejoined them, and he and Aunt Lauren listened with amusement as Brad told them about the fermented fruit juice.
“What brings you here so early this morning?” Nixie asked after Brad had finished his tale.
“Friends of mine have opened a go-kart track over in Bliss. I thought it would be fun if we drove over and watched some races.” He turned to Lauren and Jay. “Y’all come, too. The more, the merrier.”
The older couple declined, but Brad raced upstairs to tell Bethany. He came back down after only a few minutes.
“Bethany says she can’t go because she’s itching again.”
Nixie sighed and rose to get the medicine. As much as it broke her heart to acknowledge it, Bethany very obviously was having nervous reactions to Boone’s presence. How could she consider marrying Boone if her own daughter couldn’t tolerate being in the same room with him?
With a heavy heart, she knew what she had to do.
She turned to Boone. “If you want to take Brad, that’s okay with me. I’ll stay home and look after Bethany.” Then to Aunt Lauren she said, “Would you mind watching the kids after Boone gets back? He and I need to talk.”
As much as she hated to do it, she had no choice but to refuse his marriage proposal.