Finally, one night when Randy was off from school, she arranged for Midnight to take care of the kids for the evening. Mikeyla, who was now eight and absolutely adored Kat and JT, was happy to tell Randy that she would take care of the kids; Mom would just help out. Midnight had grinned at Mikeyla’s enthusiasm, wishing once again that she could have another child. She and Mikeyla had long since had the discussion about why there would never be a baby brother or sister for her to take care of.
After dropping the kids off at Midnight and Rick’s, Randy went back home and finished cooking dinner. When Joe arrived she was sitting on their couch, drinking a glass of wine. Joe was surprised. Usually when he arrived home she was chasing after one or other of the children, trying at the same time to get ready to go to school.
“No school tonight?” he asked mildly as he took off his jacket, his English accent still evident after many years in America. He looked as good as he always had to her. He was dressed especially nicely that day because he’d been meeting with some executives from other departments. He wore black slacks, a royal blue Oxford-style shirt, and black dress shoes. His dirty blond hair was still long; Randy had threatened him with dire consequences if he cut it. To her, his long hair embodied the wild side she had been attracted to from the beginning. Even at thirty-six it seemed to fit him. Randy couldn’t even picture him with short hair, and didn’t want to. The color of his shirt set off his light blue eyes as he looked over at her.
“Nope,” she replied, watching him from her place on the couch.
Joe glanced around, as if searching for the children. “No kids either?” The beginnings of a grin tugged at his lips as he walked over to the couch, looking down at her.
“Nope,” she said again, standing and handing him a glass of wine.
Joe took a long, slow drink, recognizing the wine as one of his favorites. His eyes twinkled as he looked at his wife over the rim of the crystal glass. “I think I’m gonna like this,” he said, setting the glass down on the coffee table and pulling Randy into his arms. “So what’s this about?”
“It’s about dinner,” she said, her voice quiet but determined. “It’s about a conversation not involving ba-bas, Barney, or Muppets. It’s about you and me regaining our sanity and getting a little closer to being us again.”
Joe gave her a long look, staring down into her eyes. “That bad, huh?” he said regretfully.
“Not bad.” Randy shrugged. “Just not what we had before, and I want it back.”
Again the grin tugged at Joe’s lips. Randy had become more and more forthright over the years, and he liked it. There weren’t usually any games with her, needing to ask her what was wrong and all that. If something was wrong she’d tell him. He nodded, then leaned down to kiss her softly, pulling her closer.
After a few minutes, she led him over to the dining room table. She had dinner set out within minutes and they ate in companionable silence. Afterward they moved back to the couch, where they drank wine and talked about inconsequential things. Joe sat with his back against the arm of the sofa, and Randy sat between his legs, leaning back against him.
“This is nice,” Joe said, his lips close to her ear.
Randy felt a shiver run through her at the pleasure in his voice. It had been so long since they’d had time like this together. “We really haven’t been trying, have we?” she said, not blaming him for the distance between them. She understood his concern for his children’s well-being, and his distaste for sending them to day care. But understanding things didn’t always make them easier to handle.
“No… I guess I keep thinking that when the kids are older… I don’t know,” Joe said, trailing off as Randy started to nod.
“I know, Joe. It’s just that by the time they are we may have grown so far apart we’ll never get back what we had. We almost lost it once…”
“And I swore then that it’d never happen again,” Joe said, finishing her thought with irony in his voice.
“But we are, aren’t we?” There was no blame in Randy’s voice. Joe was silent and she turned around to look at him, seeing a look on his face. “What is it?”
Joe closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. “I guess it’s just harder to hear that we’re not right anymore than to think it.” He sounded stricken, and Randy immediately felt sorry.
“Joe, I didn’t mean to sound so dire.” She touched his cheek, watching his eyes. “I love you, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I love our children, and I love you more because you made me a mother. I just want the romance and spark that we had before. We’ve been neglecting our relationship, and I know it’s because of our concern for the kids.”
“Okay…” Joe said, waiting, knowing she was trying to get to an answer.
“I have an idea, and I want to run it by you to see what you think. I think it could be a solution for us.”
“Uh-huh,” Joe said cautiously. He wasn’t ready to get into another argument about the kids and why he didn’t want them in day care.
Randy held up her hands. “Now wait, Joe. Hear me out before you veto the idea, okay? I’ve been thinking about what we could do to take care of the kids and still have some time for us. Basically, we need a nanny.” She saw the skeptical look in Joe’s eyes immediately, but she gave him a stern look of her own, so he said nothing. “I talked to Midnight. I even tried to talk her out of Marie, but Midnight said that Mikeyla would basically disown her and Rick if they gave Marie up. Anyway, Midnight talked to Rick and Rick came up with an idea…”
“Great…” Joe muttered, looking ever pessimistic.
“Now wait,” Randy said, smiling at him. “It would seem that Deborah—you remember Rick’s sister?”
“Yes,” he replied caustically.
“Well, it seems that her oldest daughter, Susan, has been attending one of the best nanny colleges in London for the past two years.”
“That’s in England, Randy. We live here,” Joe said, his tone informational.
Randy poked him in the ribs. “I know that, Sinclair. Well, she’s dying to come to America, and Rick already talked to Deborah, who talked to Susan, and Susan loves the idea of coming here to take care of your babies.” She’d emphasized the “your” because she knew the idea of taking care of Joe’s children was what appealed to Susan. She knew from Midnight that Susan had had a crush on Joe years before, and Randy suspected that some of that was still left over.
“I see. Got this all figured, do you?” Joe said, looking at her with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, I do, Joseph Michael, and don’t give me any crap about it. You know it’s the best possible solution. You’ve known Susan since she was a baby, so you have to trust her. Hell, she’s almost family. Of course, there will be the issue of her crush on you, but that’s minor.”
Joe made a face then. “What crush? You mean what Midnight thought was a crush over six years ago? I think the child will have moved on by now, dear.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Why’s that?” Joe said, his voice softening as he saw the possessive look in her eyes.
“Because we know who you belong to.”
“Yeah?” Joe’s grin was barely contained. “Maybe you need to refresh my memory.”
“No problem.” Randy leaned in to kiss him. Joe moved his hand to the base of her neck immediately, not allowing her to make the kiss too quick. After a few moments he leaned forward, setting his wine glass on the coffee table and taking Randy’s from her and doing the same, their lips never parting. He guided her hands to his chest and then wrapped his other arm around her waist, dragging her closer.
She deftly unbuttoned his shirt and slid her hands inside. Joe’s hand tightened on her waist at the feel of her nails on his skin. “I think I vaguely remember this,” he whispered against her lips.
Randy grinned. “Or something like it,” she said, gasping as his lips trailed down her throat. He unbuttoned her blouse and slid his hands slowly from her w
aist to her shoulders, caressing her.
Her hands were buried in his hair, inciting him to deeper passion. After a few long minutes of making out on the couch, they made love. Lying there together afterward, they laughed like teenagers, feeling like somehow they were breaking the rules. Then Joe gave her a serious look, staring up into her eyes.
“I don’t want us to ever get that far apart again,” he said, his voice stern even as his eyes showed the concern in his heart. Randy looked back at him for a long moment, knowing that he was very serious and not wanting to trivialize his distress, but not sure exactly what to say. They’d both allowed the drift that had happened between them, and it had been so easy to do. His obvious concern made her realize that she had managed to convince herself that it wasn’t a big deal, that it was a minor issue. She could see now that she had been wrong.
“Joe—” she began, resting her head on his chest.
“Don’t, Randy,” he said, cutting her off. “Don’t say that it won’t happen again. And don’t tell me that it isn’t major.” His tone was sharp, but he was still caressing her back, letting her know he wasn’t angry at her; he was worried. “We said we’d never be apart again after all that shit with Dickerson, and look where we’ve gotten to now. It scares me to see how easy it can be to lose something so important. You don’t even have to be conscious of it.”
“We were conscious of it, Joe, we just didn’t want to see it. The kids are important to us—that overrode our concern for us,” Randy said logically. She raised her head and looked at him seriously, her eyes searching his. “But never once, Joseph, did I think about leaving you. I love you more than anything. I won’t ever give you up again.” Joe closed his eyes, and Randy could see relief evident on his face. “Is that what you thought?” she asked. Joe didn’t answer, but she could see the affirmation in his light blue eyes when he opened them again. “Jesus, Joe… Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you ask me about it?”
Joe shook his head, giving her a wry grin. “This is the first time in months I’ve seen you alone and awake, Randy. When was I gonna say something?”
“So you’ve been thinking that for that long?” Randy said, surprised.
Joe shrugged. “It’s been sitting there in the back of my mind, that and a nice little knot in my stomach. I didn’t think about it unless I was really tired, and that’s usually when it would get to me.”
“And those are the times when you curled up behind me and held me so tight I could barely move,” Randy said, knowing him well enough to know how he reacted to things and remembering those nights well. Contrary to her words, she had enjoyed feeling him that close to her, even if they were both usually asleep for the most part. There had been a few occasions when he had begun to kiss her neck, caressing her skin, and they’d ended up making love, but even then things had seemed different and it had been cause for more concern, not less. But they’d never had time to discuss the change. Joe nodded, affirming her thoughts.
“Okay,” Randy said, moving to sit up and looking down at him. “From now on, Joseph Michael Sinclair the Fourth, if you have any doubts about how much I love you, you ask me and I’ll be very happy to show you.”
Joe grinned, his eyes traveling suggestively down her naked body. “Why don’t you show me again now, just so I know for sure,” he said, his accent thick with desire.
Randy was all too happy to do just that. Later that night, once they’d made it to their bedroom, they slept as close as ever. Randy lay on her back and Joe on his side, facing her, with one arm under her neck and the other wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her close to him. During the course of the night he would wake and kiss her lightly on the temple, the forehead, or on her cheek, and then fall back asleep.
Things between them had gotten much better in that one evening. Joe spent the next month waiting impatiently for the time when Susan would arrive and Randy would go back to college during the days.
When he picked Susan up at the airport a month later, he hugged her extra tight, having come to think of her as the tool with which to fix his ailing marriage. Things had been better between him and Randy since the night they decided to bring Susan over, but they still never had real time for each other.
Joe led Susan to the black Boxster he had bought the year before, having finally given up his older Porsche for the sportier model.
“New Porsche?” Susan asked, knowing Joe wasn’t given to throwing his money around.
Joe grinned. “I thought it was time for a change.”
Susan looked back at him as he started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. Randy had been correct in assuming that Susan still had a crush on her husband. To Susan, Joe was the ultimate man to which she compared all other men. The young men she’d dated had paled miserably by comparison. She’d never even gone on a second date with most of them. Now, seeing Joe again, she realized he was just as handsome as she’d always remembered. She’d come to wonder over the years if she was just remembering him more fondly than she really should, but seeing him standing at the end of the gangway when she got off the plane had put the kibosh on that thought. He looked gorgeous, even in the faded jeans, black cotton shirt, and black leather FORS jacket he wore. His light blue eyes had been warm as she’d approached, and when he’d hugged her, she’d inhaled the mingling of leather and cologne that she’d always associated with him. Now, watching him as he drove, she couldn’t help but be impressed by him again.
Joe glanced over at Susan and caught her watching him. He narrowed his eyes just slightly, wondering if Randy had been right, but dismissed the idea just as quickly. “I hope you don’t mind, but I gotta make a quick stop back by the office. I meant to have all this stuff wrapped up before I came to pick you up, but it just didn’t work out that way.”
“No problem,” Susan said, her accent very proper. She sounded very much like the debutantes Joe remembered in England. Susan had indeed grown into a young woman with a lot of potential, although she seemed to take pains to hide her looks. She looked a lot like her mother, Deborah, Rick’s sister. She had been fortunate to get nothing in terms of her appearance from her father. She had a very elegant look about her, with delicate features. She had Rick and Deborah’s deep blue eyes and Deborah’s beautiful golden-blond hair, which she wore pulled back in a severe-looking bun. She did, however, dress in very plain clothes. “Nanny clothes” would be Joe’s way of classifying them. In a way, she reminded Joe of Randy years before, but he figured she had her reasons for making herself dowdy.
A few minutes later Joe’s phone rang. He hit the hands-free, glancing over at Susan apologetically. She smiled and watched him as he answered the call, fascinated by everything he did.
“Sinclair,” he said.
“Yeah, hi, Cap,” a man’s voice said. “I, uh, wanted to run this warrant by you before we ran with it. It’s the one that got kicked back by Judge Parsons.”
“That guy,” Joe said with absolute distaste, his eyes narrowing.
“Yes, sir,” the other man said placatingly. “Thing is, sir, I want you to check it before we forward it again.”
“Well, I’m not exactly there to read it at this point, am I?” Joe snapped, his eyes flashing.
“No, sir, but I was wondering if you were coming back in…” The man trailed off, as if he was worried about Joe’s reaction.
“Yeah, I’m on my way now,” Joe said, sounding irritated.
“Thanks, Cap.” The man sounded relieved, but cautious too. He knew Joe had been on edge for the last few months, and he didn’t want to be the one to set him off; he’d heard what had happened to the last sergeant who had gotten on Joe Sinclair’s bad side, and he wasn’t ready to end his career that quickly.
Joe hung up, looking annoyed.
“Problems?” Susan asked meekly, never having seen Joe so angry before.
Joe looked over at her, his face still drawn and angry, then blew his breath out, shaking his head. “Just more of the usual. I’
m just not in the mood for it lately.”
His phone rang again, and he hit the hands-free button angrily. “What!”
There was a momentary silence, then Randy’s voice came over the line. “Hello to you too,” she said mildly, and even Susan could hear the smile in her voice.
Joe’s expression softened immediately. “Sorry,” he said, the beginnings of a smile on his face.
“Bad day?”
“Yeah… I’m headed back into the office right now—I’ll try to make it home early,” Joe said, his tone reflecting his regret.
“Don’t worry about it. Do you want me to drive down and pick up Susan?”
“No, I won’t be that long,” Joe said determinedly. “She can visit with Night and Rick for a while.” He glanced at Susan for confirmation. She nodded.
“So what’s goin’ on, anyway?” Randy asked.
“Well, it’s not like I don’t have enough to worry about lately with all this IA shit goin’ on, but now Judge Parsons is kickin’ back my warrants,” Joe said, his tone taking on an edge again.
“That liberal jerk.” Randy remembered what Joe had told her about the judge, who had a beef with the narcotics division of the department as of late. Judge Roger Parsons was liberal to the nth degree and felt that narcotics were something that should be legalized, hence he was more difficult when it came to search warrants for drugs.
“Yeah,” Joe said, looking for all intents and purposes like a stubborn little boy. “Anyway, he’s kicked one back again, and I gotta go see what I can do to resurrect it.”
“Well, good luck.”
For all Intents and Purposes (MidKnight Blue Book 6) Page 2