He got himself a cup of lime-colored punch and looked over to where Mellie was standing in a circle of women. Her freckles appeared to be standing out from her skin, and he knew she was struggling with the same feelings he was.
In their brief discussions of planning this whole thing, neither of them had taken into consideration that the situation would force them to lie to friends and family.
The lies tasted bad in his mouth, but to tell everyone the truth would be far more disastrous. Foxrun had the moral compass of the fifties, and a teacher of their children involved in a plot to marry just to get pregnant would be ridden out of town on a rail.
“Bailey, my boy.” Red Watters clapped him on the back and beamed a smile. “I can’t think of a better man to love and honor our Melanie.”
“I do love her,” Bailey replied. This much was true. He’d always loved and adored Mellie, just not in a romantic kind of way.
“Hell, son. We all knew you loved each other, we just wondered how long it would take for the two of you to realize it,” Red exclaimed.
Red spoke with him for a few minutes longer, then drifted off to the table for a piece of cake. Bailey took the opportunity to sneak outside for a breath of fresh air.
Night had fallen, bringing with it a cool breeze. He walked over to the porch swing in the shadows and jumped in surprise as he saw Mellie sitting there.
“Ah, another escapee,” he said as he eased down next to her on the narrow swing.
“They’re all having such a good time I didn’t think anyone would miss me,” she replied.
“Yeah, I figured the same thing.”
For a moment the two of them swung slowly in silence, the only sounds the laughter and talking of the people inside the house and the clicking and buzzing of insects outside the house.
Bailey became aware of a soft floral scent in the air, and he leaned back in the seat and looked around, attempting to identify the source.
It was too late in the year for the lilacs to be in bloom and too early for the roses or for honeysuckle. “What a mess,” he finally said.
She nodded. “I can’t believe how guilty I feel.” She shifted positions and again the light floral scent teased his senses.
He suddenly realized the pleasant fragrance was coming from her. He frowned thoughtfully. Had she always smelled so good? He couldn’t remember ever paying much attention before, and for some reason he found it vaguely disturbing.
He stood and walked over to the porch railing and stared out into the night. “I think your mother and mine have developed an instant case of wedding fever,” he said.
He heard her rise from the swing and a moment later she stood next to him, also peering out into the distance. “I think my mother had already written me off as a hopeless case. She figured I was going to be an old maid all my life.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re not even thirty yet. Lots of women wait and marry in their thirties.”
She smiled up at him. “Not in this town. In Foxrun little girls are raised to covet two things…the Miss Dairy Cow crown and a wedding ring.”
He knew she was right. The small town had old-fashioned values when it came to their womenfolk. “How come you never entered the Miss Dairy Cow contest?” he asked curiously.
Her green eyes glowed in the light that shone from the front windows. “Be serious, Bailey,” she scoffed. “I knew at a very early age my limitations. A skinny, freckle-faced girl with red hair isn’t exactly beauty queen material.”
Before he could reply the front door flew open. “Here they are,” his mother exclaimed. “Come on, you two. We were all wondering where you disappeared. Get back in here to your party. I’ve got a little presentation for you.”
Bailey and Mellie exchanged wary glances as they went back into the house.
“Attention…attention everyone.” Luella banged on the table with her hand.
“For goodness sake, Lu, you’re shaking the whole table,” Henry exclaimed.
Bailey winced, wishing just once his parents wouldn’t snipe at one another. He’d had a lifetime of their bickering and had often wondered why they had remained together.
Their relationship was a large part of why he hadn’t figured on marrying. He’d put aside his reservations about marriage when he’d met the lovely Stephanie, but she’d managed to destroy whatever illusions of love and happiness he’d momentarily believed in.
He’d learned everything he needed to know about marital bliss through his parents, then with his marriage to Stephanie. As far as he was concerned, a marriage certificate was nothing more than a binding contract to allow two people to bicker and moan at each other for the rest of their lives.
“Henry, hand me my purse,” Luella said, bringing Bailey back to the moment at hand.
Bailey’s father did as she bade, giving her the large black purse the size of a small suitcase. Mellie stood beside him and cast him a glance of curiosity. He shrugged, indicating to her he had no idea what his mother was doing.
She withdrew a small box. “Bailey and Melanie, this is the ring Henry gave me years ago when he was courting me and asked for my hand in marriage.” She flipped open the jewelry box lid to reveal a delicate gold ring fashioned in a heart shape with a ruby in the center.
She walked over to where Bailey and Mellie stood and pulled the ring from its resting place. “I know it isn’t a diamond,” she said. “Henry couldn’t afford a diamond until after we’d been married for ten years.”
“Had to work overtime for years to buy a big diamond and shut her up,” Henry quipped. The crowd responded with laughter.
“Anyway,” Luella continued, nonplussed, “this ring has lots of sentimental value to me. I didn’t give it to Bailey for that woman he brought home from college, but nothing would please me more than to see this ring on Melanie’s finger.”
She pushed the ring into Bailey’s hand, and reluctantly he took it, aware of everyone watching. “Thanks, Mom.” He leaned forward and kissed Luella’s cheek.
“Well, don’t just stand there, put it on Melanie’s finger,” Luella exclaimed. “I see that even though the two of you are engaged, her finger is quite bare.”
Bailey turned to Mellie, whose eyes were as wide as he’d ever seen them. He knew exactly what she was thinking. It was the same thing he was thinking. Somehow, some way, they had both gotten in over their heads.
He took her left hand in his, for the first time noticing how small her hand was and that her nails were painted a pearly pink. Her hand was also ice-cold and trembling slightly. He slid the ring on her finger, then instantly dropped her hand.
“Kiss her,” somebody from the crowd yelled, and the others took up the cry.
“Kiss her!”
“Kiss her!”
Bailey felt his face warm and he looked at her and noted that her cheeks were pink as well. He leaned down and kissed her as he had a thousand times before, a light peck on the lips.
Instantly they were met with boos.
“I kiss my grandma better than that,” a male voice shouted derisively.
“Come on, Bailey boy, lay one on her,” another voice exclaimed.
Mellie’s cheeks grew redder, and Bailey decided the best way to handle things was with a sense of humor. Dancing his eyebrows up and down in Groucho Marx fashion, he grabbed Mellie and bent her backward in his arms. As the group hooted and hollered their encouragement, he covered her mouth with his.
Shock riveted through him as he realized her lips were slightly parted, as if awaiting a lover’s kiss. An act, he told himself as she wound her slender arms around his neck. She was simply playing for the crowd.
The shock of finding her mouth open beneath his was nothing compared to the electric shock of pure pleasure that coursed through him as he tasted the hot sweetness of her.
He ended the kiss quickly and stepped back from her as the crowd of people cheered their approval. Keeping his gaze averted from her, he bowed dramatically, then sighed in relief as people went back
to cake eating and chatting in small groups.
For the remainder of the party, Bailey spent the time telling himself that kissing Mellie hadn’t been as pleasurable as he’d thought at the time it had happened. It had simply been the adrenaline of the moment, knowing that everyone was watching, that had made her lips feel so soft and sweet.
There was nobody happier than Bailey when the party started to break up. He stood with Mellie on the front porch, telling people goodbye and thanking them for coming.
When the last of the guests had left, leaving only him and Mellie and their parents, they all returned inside to deal with the cleanup.
As he went around the living room picking up empty glasses and paper plates, he tried to ignore the sound of his parents arguing about whether mustard potato salad was better than mayo potato salad.
He looked over to where Mellie was scrubbing down the coffee table where punch had been spilled. “I swear, I think the two of them look for things to argue about.”
She smiled and set the floral centerpiece back in the middle of the coffee table. “They’ve always done that, Bailey.”
“I know. But, sometimes it irks me more than others.” He dumped a plate into the trash bag, then looked around to see if he’d missed any. “It looks like we’ve got the worst of it. You ready for me to take you home?”
“You go ahead. Mom said she’d take me home later.”
Bailey nodded. “I’ll just go into the kitchen and tell everyone goodbye.” As he left the living room, he acknowledged to himself that since the kiss they had shared, there’d been an awkwardness between Mellie and him that worried Bailey.
She’d been unusually quiet for the remainder of the party and had rarely met his gaze. The absolute last thing he wanted to have happen was for this crazy scheme to mess things up between them. Mellie had always been the constant in his life, the one person he could talk to, depend on and have fun with without any complications.
She walked out with him to his truck, and again he was struck by the sweet floral scent that emanated from her. Why hadn’t he ever noticed it before? Maybe she’d changed perfumes recently, he told himself.
Again he felt an unusual awkwardness rising between them, and he wondered what on earth was causing it. Surely it couldn’t be the kiss. The kiss had meant nothing, had merely been for show.
“I’ll make sure your mother gets her ring back when this is all over,” she said as they reached his truck. “And if we get any wedding presents, we’ll just keep them in boxes and return them to people after the divorce.”
Bailey raked a hand through his hair, regret weighing heavily in his heart. “I think it would have been easier if I’d just told SueEllen Trexlor that I was gay.”
Mellie giggled. “Now that would have really kept the gossipmongers happy.” She sobered. “I know you’d like to back out of this right now, but please don’t, Bailey.” She placed a hand on his arm and looked up at him with her big, luminous eyes.
“At one time or another I’ve dated practically every eligible man in this town, and I haven’t connected with any of them. Give me a baby, Bailey, and I’ll never ask you for another thing for the rest of our lives.”
He wanted to back out of the whole deal, knew they had probably fallen in way over their heads. But he couldn’t forget how supportive Mellie had always been. After his divorce from Stephanie, she’d never asked questions, had never pried into that area of his life, but she’d been there to pick up the pieces and make him strong again.
The bottom line was that he’d never been able to tell Mellie no. And this time was no different. “And you’ll pick up my dirty socks for the duration of our marriage.”
She grinned. “Deal.” She held up two crossed fingers. “Friends.”
He held up two crossed fingers. “Pals.”
They met fists in a gentle bump. “Buddies,” they said simultaneously.
It was a ritual born in the fourth grade when they’d had their one and only fight, and the performing of the ritual comforted Bailey.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then opened his truck door. “Call me tomorrow?”
“As soon as I wake up.”
He got into the truck, relief flooding through him. Whatever tension he’d thought he’d felt between them earlier was gone, and they were back on old, familiar footing. She was right. They could do this and nothing would change between them.
Chapter Four
She had known since the eighth grade that Bailey had the reputation of being a great kisser. At a slumber party a poll had been taken, and Bailey had won the honor of best kisser, hands down.
Melanie hadn’t been able to vote that night so long ago at the slumber party because she’d never kissed Bailey…at least not in the way the girls were talking about kissing.
Now she could vote, and she would definitely vote for Bailey as the best kisser she’d ever kissed. His lips had been soft but firm and sizzling with heat that had flooded through her from head to toe.
The kiss had been in her thoughts the moment she’d opened her eyes that morning and was still in her head as she drove to Bailey’s with a carload of some of her personal items.
It was another gorgeous late-spring day filled with warmth that promised the imminent arrival of summer. She drove with the window down, enjoying the scent of the fields and pastures she passed along the way.
As she thought of the week ahead, her heart stepped up its rhythm a bit. Friday was the last day of the school year and Saturday she would marry Bailey.
Marry Bailey. It wasn’t the actual marrying Bailey that caused her heart to flutter. It was what would come after the wedding ceremony. She and Bailey would have sex. And since the whole point of the marriage as far as she was concerned was to get pregnant, then it was possible they’d have sex more than once.
If his kiss had been any indication, having sex with Bailey would be magnificent…as a woman’s first time should be.
As she turned up the lane and Bailey’s place came into view, she consciously shoved thoughts of kissing and sex out of her mind.
She’d always loved Bailey’s place. The white ranch was nestled amid towering ancient oak trees that cooled the long front porch in the summer. The porch positively begged for a swing, but Bailey refused to consider it, telling her that swings were for old married couples, not a bachelor.
She pulled up in front of the house, but not before she saw Bailey coming to greet her from the barn. She shut off her engine and got out of the car, noting that even though it was before noon, Bailey already looked exhausted.
“Hey,” he greeted her.
“Hey, yourself,” she replied. “You look beat.”
He raked a hand through his hair and released a deep sigh. “I got an early-morning call from the sheriff. He busted a puppy mill and needs a place to bring about twenty malnourished, dehydrated, flea-and-worm-infested dogs. I’ve spent most of the morning checking my medical supplies and feed to be certain I can handle them. Now I need to get the cages ready.”
“Need some help?” She gestured to her car. “I can unload this stuff later.”
He offered her his first smile. “That would be terrific.”
“Who was operating a puppy mill?” she asked as they walked toward the barn.
“I don’t know the man. He lives in the old Ellsbury place off K Highway.” They reached the door, and he opened it to allow her entry.
“Barn” was too simple a word for the state-of-the-art animal hospital Bailey had created in the structure. Heated in the winter, air-conditioned in the summer, the clinic sported an examining room, an up-to-date operating room and a room just for bathing a variety of critters.
He led her through the front area and to the back of the barn, where cages lined the walls and there was a large enclosed pen for running and playing. “I need to spread some fresh straw in the pen,” he said, then pointed to the cages. “They all need to be wiped down with antibacterial soap and water. There’s a pa
il all ready there. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help.”
She smiled. “No problem. That’s what friends are for.”
She settled onto the floor before the cages and pulled the bucket next to her. Within minutes the barn smelled of sweet fresh straw and the tangy scent of the antibacterial soap.
“What kind of puppies?” she asked as she worked on the first cage.
“Mostly miniature schnauzers and a litter or two of cocker spaniels. The sheriff said conditions out there were absolutely deplorable.”
“Poor babies,” Melanie said as she moved to the second cage.
For a few minutes they worked in relative silence, the only sound that of Bailey humming beneath his breath. Bailey always hummed when he was deep in thought. It was a habit that had often gotten him in trouble with his teachers in school but was as familiar to Melanie as her own heartbeat. More often than not she found herself humming along with him.
She wondered if maybe Stephanie had found the habit irritating and that was part of the reason she’d left him. Bailey had never been real specific about what exactly had gone wrong in his marriage, only mentioning that small-town life hadn’t agreed with his beautiful wife.
He finished spreading the straw and joined her at the cages, working next to her as he hummed a Beatles tune.
“Did Sheriff Bodock say when he’s bringing the puppies?” she asked, noting the clean scent of him as his broad shoulder brushed hers.
“I’m expecting him anytime now. He had to figure out a way to transport the dogs and when he called, there was still a lot to sort.”
“Bailey, how are you going to handle twenty puppies?”
He sat back on his haunches and frowned. “I’ve got the space and I’ve got the supplies, but I’m probably going to have to hire some part-time help.”
“Like who?” she asked curiously.
“I’ll probably give Susie Sinclair a call later and see if she could help me out a few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon. She helped me out last summer and I know she’s only working part-time right now at the family store.”
If the Stick Turns Pink... Page 4