Summer on Mirror Lake

by JoAnn Ross

  A Snow White mirror hung on the wall over a scaled-down dressing table. The pièce de résistance was a raised white half-circle stage in the corner, framed by the same pink-and-cream-striped curtains, with a pink microphone and stand in the center. And natch, Chelsea thought, looking up at the ceiling, a spotlight was trained to shine onto the stage. As if whatever little girls might live in this room wouldn’t already live in a spotlight.

  “I guess your friend has a daughter,” Hannah finally said.

  “No, actually, he doesn’t. A decorator he hired did all this. My guess is that maybe she only has sons and had always wanted to design a room for a little girl.”

  “This would be the same decorator who did the library?” Chelsea asked under her breath as she tossed the pillows and stuffed animals onto the floor and pulled back the covers on one of the beds, revealing—what else—Disney princess sheets.

  “How did you guess?” he murmured back.

  “It’s really, really pink,” Hannah said, continuing to look a little stunned. Chelsea didn’t blame her.

  “Like a truckful of Pepto-Bismol bottles exploded,” Gabe suggested.

  For the first time since Chelsea had met her, a true, full smile broke out on Hannah’s face. Along with something that sounded like the beginning of a laugh. “Hailey will probably love it,” she said.

  “That’s a positive way to look at it,” Gabe said as he lay Hailey on the bed Chelsea had prepared. “Meanwhile, you get extra big sister brownie points for risking color overload while staying in here.”

  “I don’t see any pajamas,” Chelsea said, digging through one of the bags. Who has children carrying their possessions in garbage bags?

  “That’s because we don’t have any,” Hannah said, a bit of her usual protective challenge sneaking back into her tone. “We’ve always slept in our underwear.”

  “Me, too,” Gabe said easily, even though Chelsea doubted he wore anything. Not that she’d be finding out anytime soon.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Chelsea said. “But I’m a big fan of pajamas. My favorites have ice cream sundaes on them.”

  Hannah’s eyes narrowed. “You’re making that up.”

  “Why would I make something like that up? They’re not exactly proper adult nightwear, but they make me happy. And if you go to bed happy, you’re more likely to have good dreams.”

  “Really?” Even as she could hear the skepticism, Chelsea also sensed Hannah wanted to believe it to be true.

  “There have been studies done confirming that,” she said, airily waving her hand. “I’m a librarian. I know these things. We’ll go shopping and get you both some.” While rifling through the bag, she realized how little clothing the children possessed and how worn and obviously well used those pieces were.

  Which had her remembering Jolene telling her at the wedding, while doing her makeup, how hard it had been having to wear the better-off girls’ donations from Goodwill. They’d agreed that since both of them had been loners, it would’ve been nice if they’d been friends back then. These days it had given them a special bond she doubted Brianna or Lily, as good friends as they were, would ever understand.

  “I wouldn’t mind some pajamas,” Hannah said. “But not with ice cream sundaes on them.”

  “We’ll find you the perfect ones that you love,” Chelsea promised.

  After Hannah had brushed her teeth and both girls were tucked away in the blindingly Barbie-pink princess room, Chelsea took her things into the small suite across the hall that appeared to have been designated for a nanny. Then she and Gabe went downstairs to the kitchen.

  * * *

  “WELL,” GABE SAID, as he got himself a beer and Chelsea a glass of wine. “This night didn’t turn out how I saw it going in my mind.”

  “Mine, either.” Chelsea sat down on one of the kitchen stools. “Thanks for stepping up. I don’t know what would’ve happened to those girls if you hadn’t.” Once again he’d surprised her. If there was one thing she never would have imagined Gabriel Mannion doing, it would be to take in two orphaned girls.

  “I’m happy to help. Well, not happy about having a reason for them needing the help, but this place was the obvious choice.”

  “It’s funny how one action sets so many others in motion,” she said thoughtfully. “If Brianna hadn’t told me about you building a Viking boat, I never would have gone to the shop. And if I hadn’t met you, you wouldn’t have been there when Aiden called me. And if you hadn’t been there, Hannah and Hailey wouldn’t have this safe place to stay. Unless Brianna had two rooms available at the B and B. Which would have been a less than satisfactory solution and I’m not certain Mrs. Douglas even would’ve agreed to it. Hannah’s right about them needing to be together. As wonderful as this house is, they can’t stay here until a new foster family is found. So I’m going to start looking for another apartment. One that’ll take kids.”

  “It sounds as if you’re thinking of this situation being long-term.”

  “You heard Mrs. Douglas. She said she was hopeful to find someone to take them by Labor Day. You obviously came here to be alone.” She still wasn’t sure of the reason, but figured he’d tell her when he was ready. “Having two little girls and me descend on you couldn’t have been further from your plans.”

  “You can descend on me anytime. For now, maybe we should take it one day at a time,” he said. “You never know. The perfect foster family could pop up any day.”

  “They’d have to at least be somewhere in the approval system or Mrs. Douglas would have mentioned them.”

  “Good point. But worrying about it isn’t going to make it any easier.”

  “I’m not worrying.” She took a sip of the wine. “I’m considering different scenarios. Right now getting a new apartment or rental house seems the most viable.”

  “You don’t have a lease where you are now?”

  “It’ll undoubtedly cost some money to break it.” Especially after that earlier showdown with her landlady. “But it’s not as if I’m planning to blow my savings on a Greek island cruise anytime soon. And besides, after the way Mrs. Moore acted toward the girls, I couldn’t keep renting from her even if I were alone.”

  “All this is awfully sudden,” Gabe said. “And unexpected. I’ve always found things look clearer after you sleep on them. After all, you probably didn’t work out the logistics of your reading adventurers in a flash of inspiration.”

  She studied him over the rim of her glass. “Do you know what’s annoying about you?”

  “Undoubtedly many things. Which one are you referring to?”

  “That except for that day in the boat shop, you’re too often right.”

  “You would’ve come to that same decision on your own. And changing the topic to a more pleasurable one, I have this fantasy...”

  “Let me guess—the nurse with the crotch-length dress and neckline cut to the navel, wearing white lacy stockings, and white stilettos.”

  “Don’t forget the starched white cap,” he said. “I’m not old enough to remember them, but they definitely add to the appeal. But that’s not the fantasy I was talking about. I was thinking how it’d be to take you here. On this counter.”

  She held up a hand. “That’s definitely not stepping back like you promised.”

  “I also promised honesty,” he reminded her. “So, I thought I’d mention it in the name of full disclosure. For sometime down the road. Meanwhile, it gives you something else to sleep on.”

  He put his empty beer bottle in the recycling bin built into the kitchen island, took her wineglass from her hand, set it on the counter that she’d never think about the same way again and gathered her into his arms. “If I’m not stepping over a line, I’d like to kiss you now. Then have you kiss me back. Then I’m going over to the housekeeper’s cabin and dream about all the places and all the ways
we could make love before Labor Day.”

  She shook her head, even as she lifted her arms to twine around his neck. “You so do not fight fair.”

  “I didn’t realize we were fighting.”

  “We’re not. It was only...you know...an expression,” she said on an unsteady breath. “Just a kiss,” she reminded him.

  “Just a kiss,” he agreed. Then bent his head and closed the distance.

  The stirring started, slow and deep. And sweet. Achingly, wonderfully sweet, and so different from the fiery passion of the last time she’d been in his house. With scintillating slowness, using only his mouth, he drew her into a languor that clouded her mind even as her body warmed to a radiant glow.

  Then, too soon it was over. She murmured a faint protest as he lifted his head.

  “Just a kiss,” he reminded her as he outlined her tingly lips with a thumb. “Sweet dreams.”

  And then he was gone. No, Chelsea thought with a long sigh as she climbed the stairs to the nanny’s room. While this definitely wasn’t the night she’d been expecting when she’d pulled this flirty pink dress from the depths of her closet, it was the night she’d gotten. And, given the opportunity, she wouldn’t do anything differently. She’d had no choice. But she honestly didn’t know how things would have ended if Gabe hadn’t offered this spectacular, if overdecorated, home for the girls to stay in.

  Not only had he provided much-needed moral support, he was also, hands down, the best kisser she’d ever kissed. Now that she was alone in a room much more simply decorated than the princess/pop star bedroom, the emotional roller coaster of her day came crashing down on her. And the cold, which she’d kept at bay, was attempting to make a comeback. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she took another cold pill, and dragged her body into bed.

  The night silence was broken by the lonely hoot of an owl. Although it was foolishly romantic, the thought of Gabriel hearing it while lying in his bed made her feel even closer to him.

  With that thought making her smile, Chelsea fell into sleep.

  * * *

  “MS. PRESCOTT, WAKE UP!”

  The small insistent voice was like a siren, jerking Chelsea awake. Hailey was standing beside the bed, clad in a pair of white underpants. “Guess what?”

  “What?” Chelsea sat up, momentarily confused to find herself in a strange bed.

  “I have a princess bedroom.” Her eyes were as wide as saucers. “It’s amazing! Do I get to stay forever? Because I never want to leave it.”

  Hannah, who’d obviously paused to yank on a T-shirt and shorts, followed her sister into the bedroom. “It’s temporary, sprout,” she said. “Like all the other places we’ve stayed. Just fancier. Don’t get used to it.”

  Chelsea lifted a brow, unsurprised, but a little disappointed that the girl with the hard, protective shell had made a comeback.

  “What?” Hannah challenged, reading her expression. “We all know we’re going to be leaving, like we do everywhere. If you let her get her hopes up, she’ll only have her heart broken again.”

  “Maybe we can stay,” Hailey suggested. “If Ms. Prescott marries Mr. Mannion, then they could adopt us and we could all be a family.”

  Hannah momentarily closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Chelsea had no problem reading the angst in them. A young girl, not even yet in her teens, should not have to deal with this.

  Last night’s idea to get them out of this situation into a new place where they could stay at least through the summer still seemed like the logical solution. Perhaps she could find one of those cozy Craftsmen, like Aiden and Jolene’s, to rent. Without all the creepy cat old-lady wallpaper they’d spent the past months steaming and scraping off.

  Admittedly, she couldn’t duplicate that over-the-top designer princess room, but she could buy pink paint. And the library undoubtedly had books on how to make bedding and drapes. Perhaps Sarah Mannion could help. The idea was sounding better and better the more Chelsea thought about it.

  “We’ll figure out something,” she told both the girls. “I promise,” she told an openly skeptical Hannah. “Just give me some time... Meanwhile,” she said, this time to Hailey, “why don’t we go downstairs and have breakfast?”

  “You really do have ice cream sundae pajamas,” Hannah observed as Chelsea got out of bed.

  “I told you I did,” she said mildly. “I may not know how we’re going to manage this,” she said honestly. “But the one thing you can depend on is that I never say anything I don’t mean, I always do my utmost to keep my word and I never lie.”

  Hannah shrugged as only an adolescent girl could pull off. “Fine.”

  There was no missing the naked hope behind that faked flat tone. Do not screw this up, Chelsea told herself after taking a moment to rid herself of morning mouth and brush her hair. She called the library and left a message about last night’s events, telling Farrah that she wouldn’t be in today. Then, deciding that Gabriel had already seen her at her worst, and in these very same pajamas, she went downstairs with the girls. Since Aiden had been bringing food from their mother, surely there was something in the kitchen she could make for breakfast.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  A DELICIOUS AROMA drifted up the stairs. “It smells like cinnamon rolls!” Hailey shouted.

  “Bacon,” Hannah said.

  “I think it’s both,” Chelsea said. Surely Gabriel hadn’t gotten up early and made breakfast? He must have had someone come in. Possibly Brianna, who, last time they’d talked about the breakfast menu of her B and B, was up to one hundred recipes she rotated around. She hoped it was Brianna. She’d hate for a stranger to see her in ice cream pajamas.

  But it proved to be neither Brianna nor a stranger. They entered the kitchen just as Gabriel was taking a casserole dish out of the oven.

  “Good morning,” he said, greeting them as if it was merely a normal day and nothing was out of the ordinary. While in reality, nothing was ordinary. “I called Brianna and got one of her easier, quicker recipes that worked with stuff already in the house,” he said. “It’s baked French toast.”

  “I love French toast!” Hailey said. “One of our nice foster moms used to make it for us. But then she was going to have a baby, so we had to go somewhere else where there was more room.”

  It broke Chelsea’s heart that this vagabond life was the norm for Hailey. A thought occurred to her as she saw the way Hannah was looking at Gabriel. Remembering how she and all her friends had crushed on him back in middle school, she belatedly realized that Hannah was at that same age, with a heart just as vulnerable as hers had once been.

  Had she made a mistake bringing the girls here? As tough as Hannah appeared to be on the outside, in many ways, she was the more vulnerable one. Even before the accident, she’d lost so much that wretched day with her father’s affair coming out in front of both friends and strangers. As distant and neglectful as her own father had become, he’d had never gotten in a physical fight. In public. Remembering times when she’d been furious at her father, Chelsea couldn’t imagine how much survivor guilt she would have suffered if he’d died while she’d been angry, never having had a chance to make up.

  She was going to have to warn Gabriel about not letting Hannah fall in love with him. Which, she was discovering herself, was far too easy to do. But if she could find a new house sooner than later, there’d be no reason for him to be in the girls’ lives long enough for them to make an emotional connection. She didn’t need the perfect place. Just one suitable for now.

  “It looks and smells wonderful,” she said. And from the glance he shot her, she knew that he’d recognized her fake, cheery, everything’s-just-fine-and-dandy-what-makes-you-think-I’m-nervous voice from her boat shop visit. “You certainly didn’t have to go to all this trouble, but I’d never turn down French toast. Or bacon.” If she kept eating like a lumberjack, she was
definitely going to be getting her money’s worth from her gym membership. “What can I do to help?”

  “You can pour some of the OJ that’s in the fridge. And milk for the girls. I made coffee for us.”

  “That gets you sainthood in my book,” Chelsea said. Although she’d been exhausted when she’d fallen into bed last night, she felt nearly as tired this morning.

  “Hannah and I can set the table,” Hailey piped up. “We’ve done it at lots of houses we’ve stayed at. I even know which side of the plate the fork goes on.”

  “Then you’re ahead of me,” Gabriel said. “I still get them mixed up.” He took a handful of cutlery from the drawer and put it on the table, along with some beautiful linen place mats that Chelsea wasn’t sure were actually designed to be used, especially by children.

  “That’s okay.” Hailey flashed him one of her bright melon-slice smiles. “I can teach you.”

  As much as she was happy that the little girl seemed to have gotten through last night with flying colors, Chelsea also realized that Hannah wasn’t the only sister who’d already begun to make a connection with him.

  “It’s the adrenaline,” he murmured as he handed her a mug of coffee. “There’s sugar on the counter and cream in the fridge.”

  “I drink it black,” she said. “What do you mean, it’s the adrenaline?”

  He put his hand on her back, leading her into the adjoining butler’s pantry, where they could have some privacy while still keeping an eye on the girls. “Adrenaline is why you have those circles back beneath your eyes.” He skimmed a finger along the shadows she’d cringed at while brushing the snarls out of her hair before putting it up in a high, messy tail. “It can create a helluva buzz, which messes with sleep.”