“Why are we coming to Seth’s office, Mama?” Aaron asked, looking with interest through the side window of their car on the following Thursday afternoon.
Rachel wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. It had been five days since she’d seen Seth. During that time, he hadn’t called, hadn’t dropped by. As he’d promised—or warned—he was leaving the next move to her.
And by the way, Rachel. I love you.
She gulped, and tightened her hands around the steering wheel as she guided her car into the parking lot of his law office. Maybe he wouldn’t be in, she thought. Maybe it would be better if she waited a day or two for this.
But his black sports car was parked in front of the building, next to a tiny economy car. She glanced at her watch, noting that it was almost five-thirty. Was Seth’s secretary still here, or did the little car belong to a client? Would Rachel be interrupting something important if she went in now?
She should have called. The only reason she hadn’t was because she hadn’t known she was coming until she’d found herself driving toward his office instead of her home after picking the children up at their day-care center.
“Mama?” Aaron said as Rachel parked the car and then just sat behind the wheel, staring at the building. “Aren’t we going in? I want to see the fish.”
“I’ve missed Seth,” Paige said from the back seat. “We haven’t seen him in a long time. Do you think he could have dinner with us tonight, Mama?”
Rachel moistened her lips. “Maybe we’d better just go on home. Seth may be busy.”
Two disappointed protests greeted that suggestion. Just as Rachel was about to start the car again, the door to Seth’s office opened and a young, very pregnant woman walked outside, toward the other car.
Rachel decided the woman must be Seth’s secretary, Maddie. She remembered now that he’d told her she was pregnant.
Maddie noticed Rachel’s car and approached the driver’s window, which Rachel lowered, feeling rather embarrassed that she’d been caught staring at Seth’s office. “I’m Mr. Fletcher’s secretary,” she said, leaning slightly toward the window with a curious smile. “May I help you with something?”
“Actually, the children and I dropped by to see Seth, if he isn’t busy,” Rachel explained. “If he is, we won’t bother him.”
Maddie shook her curly head, her smile deepening. “You must be Rachel Evans.”
Rachel wasn’t even sure she wanted to know how Maddie had guessed that. “Yes, I am,” she admitted.
“Just go on in. Seth was cleaning his desk a minute ago, and the mess it was in, it’s going to take him a while. He’ll probably welcome the distraction.”
“Thank you,” Rachel told her, feeling well trapped now. Why oh, why, had she given in to impulse by coming here? She should have known better. Every time she gave in to her impulses, rather than making specific plans, something went awry. Impulsive behavior just seemed better suited to others, like Celia. And Cody. And Seth, darn it.
Aaron already had his hand on his door handle. Rachel doubted that Seth would have been flattered by Aaron’s eagerness, since it could be attributed as much to a fascination with the aquarium as a fondness for Seth.
Maddie drove away just as Rachel and her children reached the outer door to Seth’s office. Once again, Rachel was aware of a sudden, cowardly urge to run before Seth spotted them, but she reminded herself that her children would probably think she’d lost her mind if she did that. She’d actually started to wonder about that, herself.
Aaron headed straight for the aquarium when they entered Seth’s reception area. Rachel asked Paige to join him. “Just give me a minute to speak to Seth alone,” she added in a low voice.
Paige looked curious, but obediently moved to stand beside her brother in front of the colorfully decorated tank.
Rachel tapped lightly on Seth’s closed door. His voice bade her to enter. She opened the door.
“What’s wrong, Maddie?” Seth asked without looking up from the pile of paperwork he was sorting on his wildly littered desk. “Forget something?”
“Maddie just left,” Rachel said.
Seth’s head came up with an almost comical snap. “Rachel!”
“Is this a bad time?” she asked anxiously, poised to run. “I can—”
“No, come in,” he said quickly, shoving papers recklessly aside and rounding the end of his desk. “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong.” Glancing over her shoulder to make sure the children were still occupied with the aquarium, Rachel pushed the door almost closed to give her and Seth the illusion of privacy. She left a one-inch opening so she could hear the children, but she didn’t feel free to talk if they could see her.
Seth stopped a few inches in front of her, his green eyes studying her face intently. “Your face looks much better.”
She resisted an impulse to touch her still slightly bruised cheek. “Thanks. It feels better.”
“I hear Holder’s going to do some time. Did you know that he’d been given a suspended sentence for beating his girlfriend a couple of years ago? That will be added to the penalty for what he did to you.”
“Leon told me about it,” Rachel agreed. “I didn’t even know Frank had a record. He lied on his job application, and I’m afraid when I hired him I was still pretty new at managing the business. I didn’t think to run an extensive reference check.”
“You do so now, I hope.”
“Yes, as much as possible.”
“Good. It never hurts to take extra precautions.”
Rachel smiled. “That sounds more like something I would have said than you.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I guess you’re starting to corrupt me. I’m even trying to get my office organized,” he added with a rueful nod toward his desk. “Not that I’m making much headway at it.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ll manage somehow.”
“Well.” She twisted her hands in front of her, very much aware that he hadn’t even kissed her yet. And that she wanted very much for him to do so. Soon.
Oh, my, he looked wonderful, she thought with a silent sigh, surreptitiously eyeing him from beneath her lashes. He was wearing a beautifully knit sweater in shades of plum and green, paired with dusky gray slacks. His hair was trimmed, but still fell onto his forehead in that manner she found so endearing. His emerald eyes were bright, questioning, much too perceptive as they remained steadily on her face.
She suddenly felt the silence like an awkward presence standing between them. “The children are in the other room,” she said, though he probably already knew. “Aaron wanted to watch the fish.”
“He can feed them before you leave. I haven’t done so yet today.”
“He’ll like that. Um...Paige wanted me to ask if you’d like to have dinner with us.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, but he didn’t smile. Rachel had the impression he was making an effort not to. “Did she?”
Rachel nodded. If he was daring to stand there and laugh at her—
“And what do you want, Rachel?” Seth asked quietly, never taking his gaze away from her face.
You, she thought immediately, shockingly. “I think it would be nice if you join us for dinner,” she murmured instead, trying not to think of those nights she’d lain awake remembering their lovemaking. Aching for more.
Seth shook his head. “That isn’t what I asked. I asked what you want, Rachel.”
She frowned at him. “I want you to join us for dinner,” she muttered grudgingly.
“Why?”
“Don’t push your luck, Fletcher.”
He couldn’t hold back the smile this time. He grinned. “Why, Rachel?”
She exhaled loudly. “Because I’ve missed you, damn it.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear—for now,” he assured her, and took her into his arms.
The kiss was all the more powerful for being so long delayed. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with a hunger that had been building for almost a week. She’d tried to ignore it. Tried to deny it. Tried to convince herself that she didn’t need him, or the problems he would inevitably cause her. But she’d finally conceded defeat. She’d missed Seth desperately during this past week. His kisses. His smiles. Him.
“Mama?” Aaron pushed open the door, then tilted his head quizzically. “Why are you kissing Seth?”
Rachel blushed to the roots of her hair. Seth laughed and hugged her before letting her go. “Because kissing is nice,” he answered lightly.
From the face Aaron made, Seth could just as well have said that eating worms was nice. “Yuck,” the child pronounced clearly. “I wouldn’t kiss a girl. Except my mama, of course,” he added.
“I wouldn’t kiss any other girl, either,” Seth said.
Rachel thought about hitting him, just to shake some of that smugness out of his expression. Only her frequent lectures to the children about not hitting other people held her back.
“You’d kiss me, wouldn’t you, Seth?” Paige asked flirtatiously, appearing in the doorway behind her brother in time to hear the exchange.
Seth swooped on Paige with a smacking kiss on the cheek. “You bet I would, sweetheart. And thank you for asking me to dinner,” he added, touching the tip-tilted end of her nose with an affectionate finger. “I accept.”
“Really? Cool!”
She might as well admit it, Rachel thought resignedly. Her kids were nuts about the guy.
She knew just how they felt.
* * *
Seth was ecstatic. Rachel had come to him! And just when he’d finally decided he was going to have to go after her.
He felt like punching the air and cheering. He settled for grinning like an idiot.
It didn’t take him long to finish clearing his desk. He simply opened the only empty drawer and swept an arm across the surface, dumping everything into a cluttered pile in the drawer. He surveyed the now-clean desk in satisfaction; Rachel looked at him with the horror of someone for whom filing was a religion. She didn’t comment, though it must have been difficult for her to resist.
“I’m ready to go now,” Seth announced. “You guys choose a restaurant and I’ll follow in my car. Tonight’s my treat,” he added, noting that the kids seemed to wholly approve of the plan.
“We could go to my house,” Rachel suggested. “I could cook for us.”
The children frowned, and Seth shook his head. “I feel like taking you all out tonight. I want to show you off.”
Rachel automatically smoothed the hem of her rose-colored sweater over her matching wool slacks and then glanced toward the children. Seth knew she was checking the damage they’d done to their appearances since she’d sent them off to school. He could have told her that the kids looked fine, as she did, but he guessed moms were supposed to do that sort of thing before taking their offspring out in public.
He was really going to like this family thing, he decided.
He had one hand at Rachel’s waist and another on Aaron’s shoulder as he ushered his family-for-the-evening through the reception area and toward the outside door. They had almost reached it when it suddenly opened.
It seemed to be his day for unexpected visitors, Seth thought as he stared at the man who stepped through the doorway. Too bad this one wasn’t as pleasant a surprise as the last one had been. “Dad,” he said without a great deal of enthusiasm. “What are you doing here?”
The gray-haired man with Seth’s green eyes glanced first at Rachel and the children, and his attention lingered for a noticeable moment on Seth’s hand at Rachel’s waist. Intimidated by the man’s stern manner, the children shifted closer, Paige to her mother, Aaron peeking out from behind Seth’s leg. Arthur Fletcher’s brow lifted a quarter of an inch as he turned his gaze to his son. “Seth,” he said by way of greeting. “Were you leaving?”
Seth knew his father was pointing out that it wasn’t six o’clock yet. Short of an emergency, Arthur Fletcher had never left his own office before six in his entire professional life. Just as he’d rarely missed a Saturday morning in the office—or Christmas Eve, or birthdays, or baseball game days, or school play days...
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am leaving,” Seth replied coolly, shoving the unpleasant memories aside. “Why are you here?”
Rachel stirred at Seth’s side, looking rather startled by his cool manner toward his father. She didn’t know, of course, quite how bitterly Seth and his father had parted six months ago. But Seth hadn’t forgotten one cutting, hurtful word.
Arthur didn’t look at all surprised by his son’s chilly welcome. Seth knew it was because his father hadn’t forgotten their parting, either. “I have to be in a courtroom in Harrison tomorrow morning,” he explained. “Since I have to pass through here on the way, I thought I’d stop by and see your office.”
He glanced around Seth’s minimally furnished reception area, his attention lingering for a moment on the aquarium. Seth couldn’t help picturing the plush mauve-and-silver reception area of the prestigious Fletcher Law Firm in downtown Little Rock.
Whatever Arthur’s opinion of Seth’s place of business, he kept it to himself. He turned to Rachel. “We’re being rude, Seth,” he said.
Seth nodded. “Rachel Evans, this is my father, Arthur Fletcher.”
Rachel offered a hand, as composed and dignified as if greeting one of her customers. “Mr. Fletcher,” she said. “It’s very nice to meet you. These are my children, Paige and Aaron.”
Arthur shook her hand and studied her assessingly. “You’re a friend of Seth’s?”
“A very good friend,” Seth answered for her.
“I see.”
Rachel shot Seth a look that subtly reproved him for his behavior, and then smiled at his father. “We were just going out for an early dinner, Mr. Fletcher. Would you like to join us?”
Seth somehow managed not to protest aloud. Aaron clung more tightly to his leg.
Arthur looked from Rachel, to Seth, then back again. “Yes, I believe I will join you. Thank you for asking.”
Seth shouldn’t have been surprised. His father had always seemed to delight in making Seth feel awkward and uncomfortable. Arthur would waste no opportunity during dinner to do so in front of Rachel.
“Rachel, you take the kids in your car,” he instructed. “My father and I will follow you.”
“There’s no need—”
“This is the way I want to handle it, Dad,” Seth contradicted curtly. “Rachel?”
She nodded and quickly ushered the children outside.
Arthur cast one last, quick glance around Seth’s office. “Nice little place.”
Seth didn’t miss the frown Rachel directed over her shoulder when she overheard the condescending comment. Maybe now she knew exactly what she’d gotten them into by inviting Seth’s father to dine with them, Seth thought.
* * *
“All right, Dad. Why are you really here?” Seth demanded the moment he and his father were in his car, Seth behind the wheel.
“I told you why I’m here,” Arthur repeated patiently. “You are my son, Seth. Is it so surprising that I want to see where you work and live?”
“Six months ago, I got the impression that you didn’t care whether you ever saw me again,” Seth said coldly.
“You know that’s not true.”
Seth’s reply was flat, expressionless. “No. I don’t know it.”
Arthur stared through the windshield ahead of him. “Then you’re very much mistaken.”
Seth turned right, following Rachel’s car, not even particularly curious about where she was leading them. “How is Mother?”
“She’s fine. Busy, of course.”
“Of course,” Seth repeated dryly. Being busy was a way of life for his family. Anything less was unacceptable behavior for a Fletcher.
“She told me that you haven’t called her in a while.”
“She’s difficult to reach.” In more ways than one.
“Yes.” Arthur changed the subject. “Your practice is doing well?”
“Well enough.” It could be better, of course, and he hoped it would be, eventually, but Seth saw no need to go into that. One of the things his father had predicted six months ago was that Seth would soon find himself in bankruptcy, should he try to go out on his own.
“This is a very small town, with several existing law firms. You couldn’t possibly be making what you were earning with the family firm.”
“Dad, just don’t start, okay?”
“Fine,” Arthur snapped, obviously annoyed. He crossed his arms and looked out the side window. After a moment, he asked, “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know. I told Rachel to choose. You might as well be prepared that it won’t be anything fancy. She’ll pick someplace that’s suitable for children.”
Arthur nodded. “I assumed as much when I accepted her invitation.”
“Why did you accept?” Seth couldn’t resist asking. “I’ve never known you to be interested in dining with kids. God knows, you rarely did with us.”
He was looking at his father when he spoke, so didn’t miss the muscle that jerked in Arthur’s jaw at the dig. Arthur let it go. “I wanted to get to know her,” he said, instead. “I could tell from the way you acted with her that she is important to you.”
Seth was surprised that his father knew him well enough to have interpreted his feelings for Rachel. Or were his feelings for her so obvious that even a stranger could read them? “I intend to marry her, as soon as she’ll have me,” he heard himself saying without pausing to think about it.
Arthur turned his head to look at Seth, apparently testing the sincerity of the words. “You’re serious.”
“Very.”
“Have you asked her?”
“Not yet. We haven’t been dating long. But I will ask her, when the time is right.”
“She’s divorced?”
“Widowed. Three years ago.”
“And now she’s looking for a father for her children?”
Seth didn’t like that question. “No,” he said shortly. “She’s quite capable of raising her children alone. If she marries me, it will be because she loves me, not because I’m a convenient substitute for her late husband.”
“Do you realize how difficult it will be, raising and supporting two stepchildren?”
“Of course. Not that I’ll be supporting them entirely. Rachel runs her own business. And they’re good kids. I’m looking forward to making them part of my family.”
“Part of our family, you mean,” Arthur reminded him.
Seth shrugged. “If you and Mother want to get to know them, that’s fine. When—” He forced himself to stop and phrase the sentence more realistically. “If Rachel marries me, you will technically become their grandparents. If you choose to be a part of our lives, I would expect you to treat them exactly as you would any biological grandchildren you might have in the future.”
“You sound as though you don’t particularly care whether your mother and I are part of your future,” Arthur complained.
Seth’s fingers tightened spasmodically around the steering wheel. “I faced that possibility six months ago, when you ordered me out of your house.”
“I was angry. And disappointed. You knew I would be when you announced that you were leaving the firm.”
“Yes. But I’d still hoped that you might make an effort to understand why I had to do so.”
Arthur remained silent as Seth followed Rachel’s car into the parking lot of a family-style steak house. The place wasn’t crowded yet, so they were able to park side by side, close to the door. Aaron jumped out of his car and immediately took Seth’s hand again. Seth smiled down at the boy, thinking again that he would be very proud to claim Aaron as his son, regardless of whether Arthur ever accepted the boy as a grandchild.
Families were formed through love, he mused. Not bloodlines. It had just taken him a while to come to that realization.
Now all he had to do was convince Rachel.
* * *
Arthur’s presence put certain constraints on the dinner. The children were on company behavior—quiet and shy. Rachel seemed a bit uncomfortable, which Seth supposed he could understand. After all, she must be aware that Arthur was sizing her up as a potential mate for his son.
Seth thought regretfully of how much fun they could be having had his father not shown up. But maybe it was time to get this out of the way so that he and Rachel could go on with their courtship, he decided finally.
“Seth told me you’re a businesswoman,” Arthur said to Rachel. “What sort of business are you in?”
“I own and operate a commercial sanitation trucking company,” Rachel said. Seth heard the note of defensiveness that had crept into her voice.
Arthur frowned. “A trash-hauling company?”
“Yes,” she answered without elaboration.
“Rachel employs three full-time and one part-time driver,” Seth explained, feeling the need to assist her. “Her company is holding its own against several nationally owned companies that also operate in this area.”
If Arthur made one derogatory remark about Rachel’s business, Seth thought, he would never speak to him again.
But Arthur surprised him yet again. “I’ve just been retained to represent a small waste-hauling company in Little Rock. McElroy Trucking. Are you familiar with the company?”
“I’ve heard of it,” Rachel agreed. “He’s involved with a fight over local franchise taxes, isn’t he?”
“Yes. And he has a legitimate complaint. I intend to win for him,” Arthur said with utter confidence. He then proceeded to involve Rachel in a rather extensive conversation about the future of trash disposal and the recycling industry, proving that he’d researched his client’s business extensively, as always.
Seth relaxed a bit as he turned to entertain the children by asking them about their day at school. He should have known, he thought, that his father wouldn’t have said anything derogatory about the business. The Fletchers were workaholics, not snobs. To them, any successful business was a respectable one, particularly if long hours and clever management skills were required. The more money there was to be made in a business, the more it impressed them. Which was the reason Arthur had so much trouble understanding why Seth would have walked away from a highly lucrative firm to start his own comparatively small-stakes practice.
As though he’d read his son’s thoughts, Arthur soon managed to turn the conversation along those very lines. “Did Seth tell you that our family law firm has been in existence since the turn of the century?” he asked Rachel.
She nodded. “Yes, he did. You must be proud of the firm’s long-standing reputation.”
Arthur liked that answer. He graced her with a small smile. “Yes, very much. I only wish Seth felt the same way.”
Seth shot his father a warning look. “Don’t.”
Arthur ignored him as he so often did. “Seth had quite a future with the family firm,” he continued. “A huge corner office on the twentieth floor of a downtown office building overlooking the Arkansas River. An experienced legal secretary. Wealthy clients already lined up for him. It was quite a shock for us when he announced that he was leaving us after less than a year.”
“I’m sure it was,” Rachel murmured. “But we’re pleased to have him in Percy. He’s quite an asset to our business community.”
Seth smiled at her.
Arthur’s smile faded.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Aaron whispered loudly.
Seth pushed back his chair. “I’ll take you,” he offered, then glanced over his shoulder at his father when Aaron hopped willingly out of his chair. “Behave yourself.”
Arthur only frowned in response to the thinly veiled warning.
* * *
As they left the restaurant, Seth took Rachel’s arm. “I have to take him back for his car. I’d like to come by your place afterward, if that’s all right.”
“What about your father?” she whispered. “Shouldn’t you spend more time with him?”
“I think my father and I have spent all the time together that either of us cares to for tonight,” Seth replied. “Besides, he’s already told me that he wants to drive straight to Harrison tonight. He has to be in court early in the morning.”
“All right. I’ll make some coffee.”
He brushed his lips across her cheek. “Good. See you in a little while, then.”
She nodded and ushered her children to their car after bidding good-night to Arthur.
“She seems like a nice woman,” Arthur proclaimed when he and Seth were headed back toward Seth’s office.
High praise, coming from his father, Seth reflected wryly and with an odd touch of pride. “Yes, she is.”
“You could do worse.”
Seth rolled his eyes. “She could do better.”
“Probably.”
Seth wondered if his father was actually trying to make a joke. It was hard to tell at times. “I love her, Dad.”
“Well—” Arthur cleared his throat, typically uncomfortable at the mention of such a strong emotion. “I wish you luck, then.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sure your mother would like to meet her. And the children, of course. They’re quite well behaved.”
“We’ll wait for an invitation.”
“It isn’t necessary, but I’ll have her call.”
Seth nodded, though he wasn’t sure how Rachel would feel about officially meeting the rest of his family, especially until something more definite had been settled about their own relationship.
“Seth, I wish you would reconsider coming back to the firm. Especially if you intend to marry and take responsibility for those children, and possibly more children to come. You would have so much more to give them—”
“There’s more to life than money, Dad,” Seth countered. “Small-town life is good for the kids. They go to a good school, live in a nice home, have friends and family here. And I make enough to take care of them, even offer a few luxuries along the way. As my practice expands, I’ll earn more. They won’t go hungry.”
“But—”
“Give it up, Dad. I was miserable there. And nothing I did quite pleased you, anyway. It’s better this way.”
Arthur surrendered with a disgruntled mutter. He’d always hated to lose an argument. His son was one of the few people who consistently thwarted him.
They parted with a handshake and a tentative awareness that the feud was at an end, despite Arthur’s disappointment with the outcome. They would never be close, Seth thought with a touch of the old regret. But maybe they could work something out.
They were, after all, family.
* * *
“Well, what did you think of him?” Seth asked Rachel half an hour later, as the two of them sat in her kitchen, sipping coffee while the children watched television in the den.
“He’s...intimidating,” Rachel admitted, using the very same word Seth had used to describe his father. “I’m sure he’s a very good attorney.”
“Yes, he is that,” Seth conceded. “He’s not such a great father, but he is one hell of a good attorney.”
“There’s a lot of pain between you,” Rachel observed quietly. “A lot of disappointment—on both sides. I’m sorry.”
“So am I,” Seth admitted. “I spent most of my life trying to live up to his expectations. I studied law because that was what he wanted, but my grades were never quite up to his standards. I even failed the bar exam the first time I took it, probably because I partied a bit too much the night before. You wouldn’t have wanted to be there when he found that out,” he added with a barely suppressed shudder at the memory.
“But you passed it the next time.”
“Yeah. And then I went straight to work in the ol’ family firm. I hated it. I made myself miserable and everyone else crazy. I just couldn’t live that way. I have to be the one in control of my own actions. I can’t be my father’s puppet.”
Rachel frowned into her coffee cup as though there were something fascinating floating around in the steaming beverage. “While you were away from the table with Aaron, your father suggested that I try to convince you to rejoin the firm. He, um, implied that it would be to my own ultimate benefit for you to do so. I suppose he thought I have some sort of stake in your financial future.”
“You do have a stake in my future,” he said simply. “What did you say to him?”
“I didn’t say anything. I changed the subject. After all, it’s not as if we—as though you and I are—”
“I told him that I’m in love with you,” Seth said, cutting in.
Rachel’s eyes widened and her cheeks darkened. “You—you did?”
“Yes. He’d already guessed, anyway.”
She moistened her lips. “What did he say?”
“He approves. He probably thought I’d have a better chance with you if I go back to the big-money job.”
“That’s—that’s ridiculous,” Rachel stated, still looking embarrassed. “My emotions aren’t affected by dollar signs.”
Seth was painfully aware that she’d still never responded to his declarations of his feelings for her. He knew she wasn’t a mercenary person, and that she was being completely honest when she said she didn’t care about his income. But was she still having doubts about his reliability? His sense of responsibility? Had his father’s visit only made her worry more that he wasn’t the steady, dependable sort of man she admired?
Overachieving workaholic that she had become since her husband’s death, Rachel probably understood Arthur Fletcher even better than Seth ever had.
“Rachel, I—”
“Mama, can we watch a video? I want to see Aladdin again,” Aaron said from the doorway.
Rachel glanced automatically at her watch and shook her head. “It’s too late to start a movie now, Aaron.”
“But we don’t have to go to school tomorrow,” he argued.
“No?” Seth asked. “How come?”
“Teachers’ meeting,” Aaron replied, leaning against the back of Seth’s chair. “We can sleep late tomorrow. Mrs. Campbell’s going to come stay with us.”
“Who’s Mrs. Campbell?”
“She’s a neighbor who helps out with the housekeeping a couple of times a month,” Rachel explained. “And, occasionally, she baby-sits for me.”
Seth ruffled Aaron’s brown hair. “Got a day off, huh?”
Aaron nodded happily. “Three whole days before we go back to school.”
“You really should do something special. Why don’t the four of us go for a picnic tomorrow afternoon? How about it, Rachel?” he asked when Aaron’s face lit up. “Want to play hooky with the kids tomorrow?”
“But I have to work,” Rachel protested immediately. “And so do you.”
Seth shrugged. “I can take the afternoon off. I don’t have any appointments tomorrow.”
“Well, I can’t. I’m sorry, Aaron,” she added when Aaron automatically wailed a protest. “I have too much to do to take off without planning. We’ll do it another time.” She sent a reproachful look at Seth as she spoke, silently chiding him for raising her son’s hopes.
Seth frowned. “Surely you can take an occasional afternoon off.”
“Of course, when I have a chance to make the proper arrangements. But not on the spur of the moment like this.”
Maybe it had something to do with his father’s visit. Maybe it had to do with those old, painful memories of all the afternoons his overly busy parents hadn’t been there to take him on picnics, or watch him play ball, or take him to the zoo. Maybe he just needed to know that he was as important to Rachel as her business. Seth set his jaw stubbornly and said, “Fine. But do you have any objections if I take the kids out for the afternoon?”
“Well, I—”
“Please, Mama. Let us go with Seth. It’ll be fun,” Aaron pleaded.
Rachel narrowed her eyes for a moment in irritation at Seth for putting her in an awkward situation, but then she sighed and nodded. “All right. If you’re sure you want to. I’ll make the arrangements with Mrs. Campbell.”
“All right! I’m going to go tell Paige.” Aaron happily bolted from the room.
Seth held up both hands before Rachel could say anything. “You don’t have to say it. I shouldn’t have mentioned it in front of him without speaking to you first. I’m sorry.”
“It really would have been better if you’d talked to me first,” Rachel agreed.
“I know,” he repeated. “It won’t happen again. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
Slightly mollified, she nodded. “Just don’t make a habit of it,” she warned. “I have schedules for the children, Seth. It makes everything much easier for all of us if I try to stick to them.”
Seth bit his tongue to keep from commenting about her schedules. He was aware that it would take time for him to make a place for himself in this family that had been getting along quite well without him for the past few years.
“You’re sure you can’t take some time off tomorrow?” he asked again.
He thought there was a trace of wistfulness in her eyes when she shook her head, a touch of regret in her voice when she spoke. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“But you really don’t mind if I take the kids out?”
“Not if you’re careful.” She smiled then, just a bit shyly. “My children are very fond of you. I guess you’ve noticed that.”
“I’m very fond of them, too,” Seth admitted, returning the smile. “And I’ll be careful.”
Their gazes held for a moment. Seth fought an almost overpowering urge to reach across the table and pull her into his arms. Take it slowly, he reminded himself. One step at a time.
He was still repeating that to himself when he forced himself to leave her with nothing more than a brief, discreet kiss at the door.