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All the next week, he worried that he’d made a mistake pressing her to move to Minnesota. Working at his desk, he kept seeing Cathy’s lovely heart-shaped face with its smooth skin. And all that long chestnut-colored hair. It looked so silky, he’d wanted to run his fingers through it to find out if it felt as nice as it appeared.
He picked up his coffee, but it was cold, and he pushed it aside. He got up and stood at the window, staring at the Minneapolis skyline. Maybe he’d been too harsh. Had she thought him bossy? It hadn’t been polite of him to insinuate that she couldn’t manage her share of the money if they sold the cabin.
But damn it, the more he thought about it, the better he liked the idea of having her and Cory here where he and his family could see Cory and make sure he was okay.
He should have tried to get custody right after the funeral. He’d let his grief and that lawyer persuade him not to.
* * * *
Three weeks later he returned from an overseas business trip to find another letter from Cathy.
I’ve been unable to reach you by phone. I’m leaving tonight. A friend is driving me in a U-Haul truck, which we’re sharing, as he’s moving to Wisconsin. It won’t be out of his way to drop me and Cory and our things off at the lake cabin.
I’ll call when I arrive, probably sometime on Friday.
She was coming. Cory would be nearby at last.
For a second, Dave’s stomach flipped. He’d stayed away from relationships of any kind since his divorce. He hadn’t wanted to be responsible for anyone’s needs but his own. He was a loner, not father material. His ex, Diane, had laughed at him and told him so when he’d suggested they have a baby.
But now, he had a son, Cory, and he wanted him. He might not yet have custody, but at least he had a second chance to see him and watch him grow up and have some input into how the boy was raised, if he had to go through Jenny’s sister to do it.
He would befriend Cathy, so she’d let him see the boy, even if she only thought he was Cory’s uncle. She didn’t need to know the truth, did she? He was Cory’s family either way. He felt a thrill of excitement at the idea of having Cory live nearby.
Too bad Don hadn’t admitted to Jenny what they’d done, or left the truth in his will, or something, so he could have some legal rights to see his own son.
No, Don wasn’t to blame. He should have thought of this possibility himself. As Don’s lawyer had insinuated, he’d been stupid not to write up a legal agreement covering any eventuality. This situation was his own fault, but now he had another chance to make amends. He’d better not blow it this time.
His mother had always told him lies didn’t pay. And he was afraid this one he and Don had pulled was going to mess things up for him big time.
But he’d convince Cathy to let him visit. He’d make sure she was involved in all the Langer family doings, play on her sympathy. He wouldn’t allow her to refuse to let them see Cory.
Dave picked up the phone and called the utility companies to turn on the water and power, but learned Cathy had already taken care of that. Then he called Sara Jennings, the cleaning lady his folks had always employed, to take care of the dust that was sure to have accumulated over the months no one had lived in the house. She agreed to lay in groceries and supplies for Cathy and the baby as well, putting them on his account at the store in town.
He’d better take a spin out there on Thursday night, to make sure everything was ready for her arrival.
* * * *
Early Friday afternoon, Dave left his office and headed for the house on Sugar Lake. He’d had a late meeting and hadn’t gotten out here to check the night before. There was no need to go himself. Sara, the cleaning lady, had been with his folks for years and was always reliable. She would have seen to getting everything ready for Cathy and little Cory. But he wanted to be sure they’d arrived safely and to welcome them.
Besides, what if she hadn’t found Don’s key for the house? How could she get in?
You’re feeling guilty for leaving your son in Cathy’s care for months without even contacting her. Now at least he had a chance to see his son often and make sure Cathy was taking good care of him.
If she wasn’t, he reminded himself, there probably wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He’d made no headway at finding a way to gain custody of Cory.
Yet he had to know. Enough of hiding his head in the sand. If she wasn’t a good mother, maybe he could persuade her to give Cory to him voluntarily.
True, he knew nothing about babies. But he could hire a nanny, couldn’t he?
He turned off the blacktop and drove a mile down the graveled road, then turned into their drive. He was disappointed to see no vehicle at the house. So Cathy hadn’t arrived yet.
A light breeze ruffled his hair as he stepped from his silver Mercedes and strolled down to the dock. The air was hot but smelled fresh and clean. The gray, crushed rock was still damp from the earlier shower that had moved through the area, but now the sun shone on the lake. Only little ripples marred the mirror-like surface of the water. A boy raised an arm to him from a passing boat. Its wake sent waves rushing toward shore.
Dave turned and went up the steps, across the redwood deck. Unlocking the sliding glass door, he stepped into the Great Room. A brown leather sofa and matching large soft chairs formed a circle in front of the floor-to-ceiling fieldstone fireplace. He loved this room. He’d spent many happy hours here with Don and Jody and his parents, so the house held wonderful memories for him. Now life was coming full circle. His son would live here and hopefully build good memories for his future, too.
Everything in the house was clean and orderly. Sara had done her job well as usual. He flipped a switch to make sure the power was on and turned on the air conditioning. He walked through to the kitchen off to one side and turned on a faucet. Water gushed forth, and rising steam assured him the water heater was working as well.
He saw with satisfaction that the refrigerator was full of fresh food and the cupboards well stocked. Cathy wouldn’t have to worry about shopping immediately.
The sound of a truck made him hurry to the front door. A U-Haul truck pulling a small red Chevrolet came into the yard. A big, stocky man with a cap pulled down over his eyes stepped down and came around to the passenger door to help Cathy descend from the cab.
Dave strode out to greet them, but the man had already turned back to lift Cory from his seat.
“Hello!”
At his call, Cathy’s head whipped around, and she stepped between him and the big man holding Cory. Protecting him? Jeez, did she expect him to take the kid away from her? Or didn’t she recognize him?
His gut clenched in unexpected attraction as he took inventory. She was as tall and slim as he remembered, wearing blue jeans and a well filled-out soft yellow tee shirt. Her long hair was pulled back in a low knot on the nape of her neck, but hung in a riot of chestnut curls down her back. A few stray tendrils curled around her face. Wide blue eyes watched him from a heart-shaped face with a generous mouth set now in a surprised O. She wore no lipstick, but he found her more than a little bit attractive. A brown leather purse hung from her shoulder.
Now, she visibly relaxed and smiled at him. “Dave! I didn’t expect you to be out here. So, we do have the right house.”
He reached out to shake her hand in welcome. Her skin was warm, soft, and smooth. A tremor of awareness ran through him as they touched.
“Yes. Did you have any trouble finding it? Why didn’t you call me to ask for directions?”
She retrieved her hand nervously. Had she felt the tremor, too?
“No, we didn’t have any trouble,” she said, shaking her head. “I had the address, so I printed out a map off the Internet before I left home. But I was expecting a cabin. When we found the address, I couldn’t believe this was it.”
Turning to take Cory from the man, she stepped aside and said, “This is my friend, Harry Jones. He was good enough to share his truck with me for the move out here.”
Dave barely heard what she said. The chubby baby in her arms had his attention. He was a big boy and looked like a Langer, with his head of dark brown curls, though at the moment he was pale. Was he ill?
“Hi, Cory. Remember me?” he said. He smiled at the boy and reached a finger out to touch his soft cheek. It felt too warm. “Are you sick?”
Cathy said, “He’s a bit under the weather. He has a cold and is running a temperature again.”
Cory opened big brown eyes to stare at him, then whimpered and hid his face in Cathy’s shoulder.
“Say hello to your Uncle Dave, Cory, honey. Remember, I showed you his picture back home? And he came to see you a few weeks ago?” She turned back to Dave and apologized, saying, “I’m sorry he’s not being more sociable. I need to give him something for his fever and cool him down.”
She pointedly repeated her introduction of Harry. Dave turned to her companion and eyed the big red-headed man as they shook hands. So Cathy had a love interest. Was she serious about him? Would that affect whether she’d let him see Cory?
He said, “Come inside. You can put Cory in the bedroom where it’s cool. I’ll find some aspirin.”
“No, I have some ’specially for a baby I’ll give him,” Cathy replied. “Will you get the diaper bag, Harry?”
Harry reached back into the cab for her bag, and they followed Dave inside.
“This is lovely,” Cathy exclaimed, stopping inside and looking around the large room. “Look at the view of the lake. And that fireplace. What is it made of?” She stared at it in awe.
“Just fieldstone. I’d forgotten you haven’t been here before,” Dave said. “Yes, it’s an attractive cabin. Put him in here.” He led the way into a side bedroom and pulled back the spread on the bed, then stood aside.
Cathy noticed the bedspread was a silky blue and pink floral material. The pillows propped at the head were in matching shams. Even the curtains at the windows matched.
She pulled her attention back to her son, put Cory down, then changed him and gave him the medicine and a bottle of water to drink. Sucking noisily, he closed his eyes and curled up on his side.
Cathy looked around and said, “Ah, the bathroom’s in here. I need to bathe his face. That’ll help cool him down.”
“It’s sure cool in here compared to outside,” Harry commented from where he and Dave stood watching them in the doorway.
“I turned the air conditioning on when I got here a while ago,” Dave said stiffly. “July usually gets hot in Minnesota. Would you care for a cold drink? There should be something in the fridge. I had the cleaning lady stock up on groceries.”
“Thanks.” Cathy nervously watched him go, then crooned softly as she wiped Cory down with a wet washcloth.
She stepped to the window and tipped the Venetian blinds to darken the room against the afternoon sun. There wasn’t any dust on the blinds. How could that be? Hadn’t the house been empty for a year now? Had Dave had it especially cleaned because she was coming here? Yes, he’d just mentioned a cleaning lady.
Dave made her uneasy for some reason. He had a hungry look in his eyes when he looked at her, like he wanted her, for Pete’s sake. And she was reacting to him when she barely knew the man. Well, she’d talked to him at Don and Jenny’s wedding and funeral. But then, everyone had been so preoccupied, she’d barely said a dozen words to him. And she’d seen him for just a short time that night he’d come to visit her in L.A. Hardly enough to feel she knew him.
Yet she felt a connection to him. Maybe it was because he was Don’s twin. He looked so much like Don it was unreal. He had the same curly brown hair and brown eyes as Don and Cory, who’d inherited those good looks from his daddy.
Now Don and Jenny were gone. Pain still gripped her whenever she thought of them. But they’d left her their baby, and having Cory had proved the sunshine of her life. Their son was the silver lining to that horrible cloud of loss. She and Cory had bonded instantly, and now she loved him so much she couldn’t imagine her life without him in it.
Cory’s eyes closed as he relaxed. She was lucky he could go to sleep so easily anywhere. He was such a good baby.
Her mind flew back to Dave. Who was he? An architect, she knew. But also a man who thought of having the house cleaned for her arrival? And even had it stocked up on groceries?
Yikes! She’d always done her own cleaning and shopping. How was she going to pay for that kind of lifestyle? Even half of that kind of service?
She’d better have a frank talk with this guy before things went too far and tell him she’d take care of those things herself in the future.
And the house was furnished. Beautifully furnished too, with expensive leather sofas and thick carpeting.
Was half of the furniture hers too, or was it all his?
A horrible suspicion formed.
Did Dave live here? She should have waited to move until she’d reached him by phone to talk over these things. Did he expect to live here with her and Cory?
No way! Why hadn’t she asked?
What had she gotten herself into?
* * * *
When she was sure Cory was asleep, Cathy took his water bottle away. Then, determined to get some answers, she went back to the main room. The whole main part of the house was one huge room with a cathedral ceiling. The walls on either side of the fireplace were all windows except for a sliding glass door through which she could see a deck with a table and chairs and flowerbeds leading down toward the lakeshore.
The men were seated in the dining area off the kitchen opposite each other, wary looks on their faces. Oops, they weren’t getting along all that well, she thought.
“Did Cory go back to sleep?” Harry asked.
“Yes,” she said. “When he’s sick, he tends to sleep more than usual.”
“What would you like to drink?” Dave asked, getting up and opening the refrigerator. “There’s a variety of sodas and bottled water.”
“Water’s fine,” Cathy said. She sat at the table opposite Harry and gratefully sipped from the icy bottle Dave handed her.
“Do you have much furniture?” Dave asked. “We can move some of this stuff into storage if you’d rather have your own.”
Cathy shook her head. “No. I only brought clothes and personal things and art supplies for my work, of course. The furniture I had in my apartment in L.A. wasn’t expensive and would have cost too much to move. I was planning to buy the essentials when I got here.”
Dave raised an eyebrow at that. “But you had the truck to move stuff, didn’t you?”
“That’s mostly full of Harry’s things. He was nice enough to allow me to travel with him. I’d already gotten rid of my stuff and was planning to pull a small trailer behind my car when he so kindly offered to share his truck. He did the driving, which was wonderful, so I could take care of Cory.”
“You shared expenses, which helped me out, too,” Harry protested, looking embarrassed at her praise.
Dave said, “I can understand it would have been hard driving so far alone with a baby and having to pull off whenever he needed attention. Would you like a tour of the house before we unload your stuff?”
“I need to get back on the road,” Harry objected. “I’ve about three more hours of driving, and I’d like to make it home before dark.”
“Sure, Harry. The tour can wait. Where shall we put my things?” Cathy asked Dave.
“Let’s put it all right here,” he indicated the big open area of the Great Room, “and I’ll help you move it to wherever you want it later. I’ll give Harry a hand unloading stuff. Why don’t you stay in here and let us know where you want anything heavy?”
Harry said, “I’ll unhook her car from the tow bar and back the truck around.” He strode out.
The men made quick work of bringing her boxes inside, and soon she’d sorted them into piles. She’d always been fairly organized and had labeled all the boxes so she knew what was in them.
“That’s the last box,” Harry said. “So I’ll get going. You have my cell phone number?”
“Yes, I have it.” Cathy gave him a hug. “Thanks again for all the help, Harry. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”
“Aw, it was nothing. Be sure to call me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
“I’ll stop by whenever I go through this way.”
“You do that. ’Bye now. Drive carefully.”
She watched him shake hands with Dave and stride off to his truck. Closing the door, she turned back to find Dave watching her. Her heart tripped faster at the definite message of interest in his eyes.
“Want another break?” he asked.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Then do you want to tour the rest of the house now?”
“Sure.”
“Actually,” he said with a laugh, waving an arm around, “you can see most of it from right here. We call this the Great Room. It’s a kitchen, dining, and living room, all in one.”
They walked around the two extra bedrooms, a large television and game room, and a utility room complete with washer and dryer and sorting tables.
“They’re all beautifully done.” She saw well-used board games and in the utility room, raincoats and boots. They walked back to the Great Room, and she sank onto the couch. He sat in the easy chair opposite her.
Glancing at him, she voiced her main fear. “Do you live here?”
He raised his head in surprise. “No, I have an apartment near my office in Minneapolis. In fact, I haven’t been here in over a year, until today, to check on things for your arrival.”
“Oh.” She smiled in relief. “So, the furniture belongs with the house?”
“Yes. The folks left a lot of stuff behind that we used only out here. It’s half yours now, so if you don’t like it, we can talk about changing whatever you want.”
“Oh, it’s fine. In fact, it’s beautiful. I...I just wondered. I had no idea, I mean, Don only referred to this house as their cabin at the lake. I didn’t expect it to look like this.”
“I guess a ‘cabin’ is what we’ve always called it.”
“Well, it’s better than any house I’ve lived in.” She ran an admiring hand over the buttery soft leather of the sofa, looked at the thick beige carpet under her feet, then glanced back at him. “I...I mean, I don’t know if I can afford the rent.”
“Rent? Cathy, you own half the house. There’s no mortgage on it. You don’t need to pay me rent to live here. That’s ridiculous.”
She stared at him, noting with embarrassment the frustration on his face. “Of course I do.”
“No, you don’t. Don’t worry about it.”
Now he had the same stubborn little crease in his forehead that Cory got when he didn’t want to do what she told him. She wanted to laugh at that idea, but what he was saying made her mad. “I need to worry about it.”
“I can’t charge you. It isn’t done in our family.”
She raised her chin. “I’m not your family.”
“Well, Cory is.” He got up and paced to the fireplace and stared into it.
Talking to his back, she said quietly, “Dave, you own half the house. I wouldn’t feel right about it.”
He spun and faced her again. “Would you stop worrying about the damn rent? If you want to pay somebody, put it in an account for Cory’s college money.”
She frowned, then said reluctantly, “All right. How much?”
He spread his hands in frustration. “Put in whatever you want to. I said, don’t worry about it, damn it.”
She chewed her lip. “Dave, don’t be angry. We need to keep this on a businesslike footing. I need us to come to an agreement on the financial end of this...arrangement. I should have done it before I came, but I couldn’t get an answer at your office for the past two weeks. Your secretary would only say that you were out of town.”
He grimaced and came back and sat down. “I’m sorry about that. It’s her standard reply when I’m traveling. I’ll tell her you are always allowed to know where I am and to connect the call whenever she can. I want you to always be able to reach me if you or Cory need anything.”
“Thanks, but I’m sure I can manage alone. I’m used to being on my own. It won’t take me long to find my way around the area.”
“I’d be happy to take you around after you get settled in. No rush. Unless you need something right away? I told Mrs. Jennings, our cleaning lady, about Cory. She said she’d try to leave things suitable for a child to eat as well.”
“That’s another thing, Dave. I can’t afford to hire help with cleaning and shopping. I’m sure I can do whatever is needed here. It’s just Cory and me, after all, and I’m used to taking care of us.”
“Sure. Whatever makes you happy,” he said calmly.
Good. He’d agreed to that. He was talking more reasonably now. She’d do as he said and put some money in Cory’s college fund each month instead of paying it to him if that was what he wanted. If she convinced him otherwise later, she could always move it.
She stifled a yawn. “Best I get back to work. I have to put the things in my ice chest into the refrigerator and get my supply of the basics from one of those boxes. And I need to set up Cory’s crib before I can put him to bed. Otherwise, I think I need a night’s sleep worse than anything else.”
He frowned. “Have you eaten?”
“We stopped for a big meal at noon.” A wail sounded from the bedroom, and she jumped up, immediately wide awake. “Oh, oh, Cory’s hungry, though.”
He rose. “You find him something to eat. I saw some steaks in the refrigerator. I’ll put them on the grill for us.”
Darn. He was planning to stay a while? He was sure a take-charge guy. Well, she could hardly chase him out of his own house. He was probably hungry after unloading all of her stuff.
Cory was sitting up on the bed. He held out his arms to her, big tears running down his cheeks as he cried, “Mama!”
She went to him quickly, before he could try to get down by himself. She’d taught him to slide off furniture on his tummy, landing on his feet, but sometimes he still forgot and fell. She felt his forehead, relieved his temperature was down. Just to be sure, she got the thermometer from his diaper bag and took his temperature. It was normal. She changed his diaper, talking constantly to him as usual.
“How’s Mommy’s big boy? See our lovely house? We’re in our place in Minnesota now. Remember I told you we were going to live in a new house? You’ll have to be a good boy here, won’t you, love?”
God, what if he ruined some of this lovely furniture? He tended to chew on things and climbed on everything! She’d never be able to afford to replace whatever he damaged.
A cold knot formed in her stomach. Coming here had been a bad idea. She’d have to find a more suitable place to live. But where? And were rents really better here than in California?
Maybe she could sell her half of this house back to Dave and use the money to buy a smaller, cheaper place. With that comforting thought, she went back to the Great Room.
Dave had set up Cory’s playpen in the middle of the room, and his high chair stood at the table in the dining area. Her cooler lid was up and the cooler was empty. He must have put things into the refrigerator for her. The man worked fast.
Dave was standing at the gas grill out on the deck, tongs in his hand. She put Cory down into the playpen and went to check out the refrigerator, happy to find it well stocked. She moved to the open sliding door. The delicious aroma of cooking beef made her stomach growl with hunger. A long time had passed since noon. “How about microwave baked potatoes?” she asked. “And shall I make a salad?”
“Sounds perfect,” he said with a grin.
She nodded, went back, scrubbed potatoes, and put them in to cook, then set the table and got out food for Cory.
“How do you like your steak?” he called to her.
“Medium rare,” she called back, giving Cory another spoonful of applesauce. The thought of a good meal had given her a second wind.
Before she’d finished feeding Cory, Dave brought in the steaks and sat down.
Grinning at Cory, he watched her feed him a couple more spoons-full and then asked, “Can I try that?”
She glanced up at him in surprise, then shrugged and handed over the bowl and spoon. “Be my guest.”
“Go ahead, eat your steak while it’s hot,” he said. Turning to Cory, he said, “Open wide, Cory.”
Cory frowned and closed his lips tightly, a pout forming.
Dave talked softly to him, coaxing him to open wide, pretending to be an airplane, until Cory laughed out loud and ate the applesauce.
When Dave grinned and looked at her in triumph, she couldn’t help grinning back. He looked like he was enjoying this so much.
“Can he have some baked potato?” Dave asked.
“Sure. He’s starting to eat quite a bit of regular food now, as long as there are no big chunks in it that he might choke on.”
She handed him a small plastic cup of milk. Cory tipped it up and then spilled half of it down his front. “Oops, he still has some learning to do. Guess we’d better make sure he eats in the kitchen area, and not on the carpet.”
“The carpet’s washable,” Dave said nonchalantly. “You should have seen all the stuff it’s had spilled on it over the years.”
When she glanced at the plush beige carpet, then looked at him disbelievingly, he admitted sheepishly, “Well, maybe that’s not the exactly the same carpet anymore. It’s been replaced a time or two.”
“I can’t afford to replace expensive things like carpet.”
“Will you stop worrying about money?” he growled.
He looked so frustrated, she swallowed and said no more.
By the time they’d finished eating, she felt ready to fall asleep on her feet.
“Come on,” he said, picking Cory up out of his high chair. “Bedtime. Your mommy’s falling asleep.”
Cathy laughed. “It has been a long day. And Cory was fussy last night and kept me awake.”
“Then let’s get this fella cleaned up and put to bed.”
“We need to set up his crib first. It’s in that stack over there.”
“You get him ready for bed and I’ll do the crib. Where do you want it?”
Gratefully, she nodded and took Cory from his arms. “In the bedroom where you put him earlier. I think there’s plenty of room in there.”
By the time she came back with a clean boy in his pajamas on her shoulder, Dave had the crib all set up. “I hope I found the right sheets and blanket,” he said.
“We need his stuffed dog and the yellow blanket over there that he napped with earlier,” she said. “It’s his favorite.”
“Blankey,” Cory piped, reaching for it.
Dave grinned. “I had a favorite one when I was little, too, fella,” he told him. “Here you go. Night-night.” He leaned over and gave Cory’s chubby cheek a kiss.
He was so close she could smell the lime scent of his shaving lotion. She swallowed and bit her lip.
Cory grinned, two little white teeth showing on top and four on the bottom. Then he tucked his face into Cathy’s shoulder again, playing hide and seek.
Dave peeked around behind her to play the game, then grinned as Cory laughed and hid again.
“Enough games for tonight, fella. Your mom’s tired,” Dave said firmly, then left the room.
She gave Cory his stuffed toy, tucked him in, and softly sang him a lullaby before leaving.
When she returned to the kitchen, Dave had cleaned up and was turning on the dishwasher. “Oh! You didn’t need to do that!”
“No problem. It only took a couple of minutes.”
He chucked her under her chin and leaned forward to give her a quick kiss. The firm touch of his lips on hers sent a shiver of awareness through her.
At her surprised gasp, he stepped back, gave her a grin and said, “Better go to bed before you fall asleep on your feet. I’ll lock the door as I leave. Goodnight, beautiful.”
She flushed. “Goodnight.”
The door clicked behind him.
He’d kissed her. Well, it had only been a quick one, like he’d given Cory, almost.
And he’d called her beautiful. Honestly, she knew better than that. She was tired, bedraggled from the long trip, and in work clothes, for heaven’s sake. Who did he think he was kidding?
