Swan Point

by Sherryl Woods

  Gabe chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Absolutely.”

  Though he was tempted to tell her Tomas could stay, just to have a buffer, he let Selena coax her brother from the room.

  Gabe walked around after Selena and Tomas had gone, checking things that didn’t need to be checked again, his nerves shot. What had made him think he could pull off something like this? He had no idea what sort of frilly things women liked.

  “Gabe!”

  He whirled around at the stunned tone of Adelia’s voice. “Is it okay?” he asked, annoyed at how insecure he sounded. “I have all the receipts if you want to take anything back. Selena gave me some ideas, but I’ve never shopped for stuff like this before. She unpacked all the boxes and put all your clothes in the closet. I think she even ironed a few things. She wanted to be part of the surprise.”

  “It’s perfect,” Adelia whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Nobody has ever done anything this sweet for me before.”

  “Then you like it?” he asked again, just to be sure. “And you’re not mad because I overstepped or something?”

  “I love it. And if there weren’t a bunch of kids downstairs desperate to know if I like it, I’d show you just how much.”

  Gabe’s lips curved at that. “Really?” He crossed the room and stood in front of her. “You sure we couldn’t take just a minute?”

  “It would be a risk,” she said, a twinkle in her eyes. “They’re very anxious.”

  “We could call Selena’s cell phone and bribe her to keep them down there,” he suggested hopefully.

  “First, she’s not allowed to answer her cell phone,” Adelia said, struggling to keep her expression stern. “Second, I do not want my teenage daughter wondering what you and I might be doing up here. And, third, if we try it, I sense there will be a rebellion. Tomas was already putting up a struggle about having to be downstairs and missing the surprise. He’s probably sitting on the top step right this second.”

  Gabe sighed dramatically. “Another time then?”

  “Most definitely,” she said.

  There was a heated promise in her eyes that left him a little bit desperate.

  “Maybe after dinner—”

  “And a walk to Wharton’s for ice cream,” she reminded him, not shooting him down exactly but postponing any reward even longer.

  “Right. I forgot all about the celebration. Maybe after that, if either of us can even keep our eyes open, we can steal a little alone time to talk about things.”

  “Things?”

  “Us. Our days. You know, the stuff I assume couples talk about at the end of the day.”

  She regarded him with obvious surprise. “We’re a couple?”

  “I’m beginning to think we might not have a choice in the matter,” he said, his tone resigned.

  “You sound so cheery about that,” she teased. “It makes me all warm and fuzzy.”

  “Hey, I’m just getting used to the idea, but something Lynn said finally got through to me.”

  “What was that?”

  “That we needed to get out of our own way.”

  Adelia smiled. “She said much the same to me. Something tells me tomorrow I’ll owe her a very big tip.”

  Gabe laughed. “Let’s see how her advice works out first.”

  She gestured around the bedroom. “It’s already resulted in this. I’m obviously a lucky woman.”

  “No, sweetheart. I’m the lucky one,” Gabe said. And he had no idea what he’d done to deserve it.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  When Adelia, Gabe and her children walked into Wharton’s, Adelia didn’t miss the speculative look Grace cast at them. She wondered just how long it would take before word of this outing spread through town.

  “Well, this looks like it might be some sort of special occasion,” Grace said.

  “We’re celebrating,” Tomas piped up. “’Cause we all got good grades in school and Gabe helped us.”

  Grace’s eyes lit up. “Is that so?” she said, regarding Gabe with approval. “Times surely have changed.”

  Adelia wasn’t sure she cared for Grace’s implication, but Gabe didn’t seem to be taking offense, so she, too, let it pass.

  “What does this celebration call for?” Grace asked. “Cones? Hot fudge sundaes?”

  Tomas’s eyes lit up. “I want a hot fudge sundae,” he said eagerly. “Or a banana split.”

  “That’s too much for you,” Adelia told him. “You’ll never finish it.”

  “Gabe can share with me,” he said, then turned to his newfound hero. “Wanna?”

  “Sure,” Gabe said, then looked to Grace. “Do you still make those small banana splits?”

  “I sure do,” she said.

  “But I want a big one,” Tomas protested.

  “A small one that you share with Gabe or none,” Adelia told him firmly.

  Though he wore a pout on his face, Tomas grudgingly agreed.

  The girls ordered cones and then Grace turned to her.

  “How about you, Adelia?”

  She thought of how hard she’d fought to take off the pounds she’d gained after carrying each of her babies. Ice cream had been off-limits for months now. As if he were reading her mind, she realized Gabe’s gaze was on her.

  “I think you deserve a hot fudge sundae,” he told her solemnly.

  “But—”

  “I’ll eat what you don’t finish.”

  She laughed at his hopeful expression. “Are you thinking that half a small banana split won’t fill you up?”

  He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “No, I’m thinking of how much I’m going to enjoy watching you savor every bite of that sundae. Maybe I’ll even get to lick a little hot fudge off your lips later.”

  Adelia felt an instant rush of heat into her cheeks. She quickly turned to Grace. “A very small hot fudge sundae,” she requested, a breathless note in her voice.

  Grace chuckled. “Good choice.”

  Because there were six of them, they took two booths, with the girls seated in the one behind Adelia, Gabe and Tomas. Apparently her disappointment at not being alone with Gabe showed in her face, because within seconds after their ice cream had been served, Gabe put down his spoon with a dramatic sigh.

  “That’s it for me,” he announced. “Tomas, you can take the rest and finish it up with your sisters.”

  Adelia saw the storm clouds darkening her son’s eyes, but before she could second Gabe’s suggestion, he held her son’s gaze. “Please,” he said quietly. “I need a few minutes to speak to your mom alone.”

  “Okay,” Tomas grumbled, his tone resigned.

  She studied Gabe with a sense of wonder as her son took his ice cream to the neighboring booth. “Do you have some kind of magic touch? I was expecting a full-blown tantrum.”

  He shrugged. “He usually listens to me.”

  “Because you have something he wants,” she realized.

  Gabe looked confused. “What?”

  “Tools,” she said. “And the willingness to spend the time to teach him how to use them. I imagine to Tomas that’s a pretty good bargaining chip.”

  “I’ve never resorted to bribing your son,” Gabe protested with a touch of indignation.

  “Haven’t you? I heard that just this afternoon you told him he couldn’t help you till his homework was done. Well done, by the way.”

  Gabe regarded her with a startled expression. “I was just trying to be responsible.”

  “An excellent parental attitude,” she commended him. Before she could lose her nerve, she asked, “Gabe, you’ve told me you didn’t think you were any good at relationships. Didn’t you ever want kids?”

  He seemed taken aback by the question. “I never though
t about it,” he claimed.

  “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t have a very good example in my life. My mom did her best under the circumstances, but her best wasn’t so great. I never even knew my dad, and the men who paraded through her life weren’t exactly role models. I didn’t want to take any chances about messing up some kid’s life.”

  “You’re certainly not doing anything to mess up my kids’ lives. They’re happier than they have been in months. They’re doing well in school, something I’d despaired of seeing this school year. A lot of the credit for that goes to you. And in my book that makes you great parent material.”

  Gabe looked shaken by the comment. “Adelia, I don’t know. I’m still grappling with whether I can give you what you need, much less your kids.”

  “First of all, you’re already giving them what they need, your love and attention. Second, we’re a package deal. You can’t separate me from my kids.”

  “No, of course not,” he said at once. “I guess I was just compartmentalizing.”

  “How so?”

  “I thought maybe we could figure out the whole relationship thing. Then if that’s going okay, we’d start thinking about the rest.”

  She laughed at his naïveté. “Then I think you’ve done things backwards. You already have my kids thinking you hung the moon. Even Selena has come around a lot more quickly than I’d anticipated.” The implications of that suddenly had her sobering. “I wonder if that’s been a mistake.”

  Gabe frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “What if this thing between us doesn’t go anywhere?” she asked. “What is wrong with me? I never should have let this happen. I just saw how the kids seemed to be blossoming under your attention and stood by and let them start to care about you. Even when you and I split up so they wouldn’t get ideas about us, I still let them spend time with you. Naturally they were going to get attached.”

  Gabe reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I won’t let them down,” he promised. “No matter what happens between us.”

  “I don’t think it will work that way,” she said. “If we can’t figure things out, they’re bound to be crushed.”

  “So, what are you saying?” he asked, a frown on his face. “Do you want to call it all off, after all?”

  Before she could respond, he added, “If you do, just say the word. I can probably rearrange things with Mitch so I can work while they’re at school. Or with most of the work already done, someone else could finish up. I can ease out of their lives, if that’s what you think is best.”

  “It’s not best,” Adelia said, thoroughly frustrated by his willingness to end things before they even got started. Was he really that skittish? Or was she that unimportant to him? Or was this another one of those misunderstandings that could easily spiral out of control and have them making decisions they’d come to regret.

  She sighed, determined not to let that happen. “It’s already too late to do what’s best, Gabe. They adore you. I don’t know about the younger ones, but Selena’s already getting ideas about the two of us. You should have seen how excited she was helping me get dressed for our date and that was before she fully approved of me being with you at all. Then again today when you’d planned that surprise for me, I think she was almost as excited as you were.”

  Gabe regarded her with confusion. “Help me out here, Adelia. I’m getting mixed signals. What exactly do you want me to do?”

  She’d never felt so utterly helpless in her life. Anything she suggested would wind up hurting someone she loved. Her kids. Gabe. Even herself. “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Is this one of those times when we should be listening to Lynn’s advice?” he asked. “Are we getting in our own way, complicating something that doesn’t need to be that complicated?”

  “I have to think about my kids,” she said stubbornly.

  But wasn’t that the rub? If she pushed Gabe away now, her kids would be miserable. If she let him stay in their lives and they grew even more attached and he left eventually, they’d be devastated.

  Gabe shoved a hand through his hair, his expression filled with obvious frustration. “This sure wasn’t how I envisioned tonight going,” he told her.

  “Me, either.” She studied him, sensing she didn’t have the whole picture. “I know about the reward thing you were hoping for later. Was there more?”

  He nodded. “After listening to Lynn and putting up with Raylene’s commentary, I was ready to make it official.”

  Adelia’s heart thudded. “Official?”

  “To tell you I wanted us to be a couple, or at least to try to be. I figured we could go on more dates, hang out in public.” He gave her a rueful smile. “Let those Sweet Magnolia friends of yours have a field day.”

  She knew exactly what it was costing him to express a willingness to submit to all that well-meant teasing and interference. And here she was suggesting they take not just a step back, but maybe call it off entirely. Talk about crossed signals.

  Her dilemma must have showed on her face, because he leaned forward and kept a tight grip on her hand. “What do you want, Adelia? Forget the kids for a minute. Forget all the potential complications that may or may not happen. What do you really want?”

  She thought of the kisses they’d shared, the way Gabe made her feel, as if she were incredibly special. “You,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She dared to meet his gaze. “I want you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. “But what if—”

  A smile broke across his face. “Too late for what-if,” he declared, cutting her off. “You’ve already said you want me. I heard you.”

  “But—”

  “Nope, too late,” he said again. “We’re in too deep for what-if. Your kids are already invested. We need to play this out. If we don’t, if we cut and run because you’re scared for them or because I’m just plain terrified, it would be wrong. We’re going to do the adult thing and see where this goes.”

  He sounded so sure, so confident, but Adelia could see the uncertainty in his eyes. Ironically, it was that uncertainty and his willingness to rise above it that gave her the courage to nod. “We’ll do the adult thing, then,” she said softly. “At least we can be terrified together.”

  He nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

  Despite all her reservations, despite the panic that she was barely keeping at bay, she had to agree. It sounded like an amazing plan.

  * * *

  “I warned you!”

  Gabe’s head snapped up at the threatening tone. Ernesto Hernandez was just inside the doorway at the construction site, his voice echoing across the cavernous room. Every worker in the place had gone silent. Gabe gestured for them to resume working, but they ignored his words and kept a careful gaze on Ernesto as Gabe crossed to stand in front of him. Apparently his maturity was about to be tested again, because he wanted like crazy just to slug the man.

  Instead, refusing to let the scene escalate if he could help it, he said mildly, “Something I can do for you?”

  “You can stay away from my kids,” Ernesto said. “You don’t get to parade them around town as if they’re yours.”

  “When have I ever done that?” Gabe asked, barely restraining the desire to remind the man that he wasn’t exactly filling up the hours of their days with his attention.

  “Last night,” Ernesto said. “I heard all about your little outing to Wharton’s. What was it you were celebrating? A few good marks at school? The kids are supposed to make good grades. That’s their job. There’s no need to reward them for it.”

  “Their mother doesn’t seem to agree,” Gabe said.

  Ernesto shrugged off the comment. “She’ll ruin them before she’s done. I have half a mind to get Tomas out of her house.”

/>   Gabe’s temper kicked up another notch at the threat. “Adelia is a wonderful mother. No court would take that boy away from her.”

  “Are you so sure about that? Even after they hear about the kind of man she’s allowing to influence him?” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I have my lawyer on speed dial. Maybe we should ask him.”

  “Be sure to remind him why you’re divorced in the first place,” Gabe suggested.

  The remark hit home. Now Ernesto looked as if he wanted to throw the first punch. A part of Gabe actually hoped that he would. It was plain, though, that even Ernesto recognized that doing it in front of witnesses wouldn’t help his cause. Gabe’s crew, led by Henry Davis, had moved a little closer just in case Ernesto dared to start something. Or maybe they’d moved so they could hear better. Either way, their presence kept things from turning even uglier.

  “This isn’t over,” Ernesto warned him. “I can still make Adelia’s life hell.”

  “Worse than you have already?” Gabe inquired.

  Ernesto leveled a cold look straight at him. “Watch me.” He turned then and left, leaving Gabe both shaken and furious.

  One of his men edged closer. Gabe turned to meet Henry’s worried gaze.

  “Boss, you don’t want to mess with him,” Henry warned. “He’s a nasty, self-important son of a gun.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Gabe said.

  “He’ll get to Adelia by going after you,” Henry said. “I know his type. It took a strip out of his pride when she left him. He’s been waiting for a chance to get even.”

  Gabe had figured out that much for himself. “Thanks, Henry. I’ll watch out for Adelia.”

  The older man smiled. “I don’t doubt that, but who’s going to be watching out for you?” He held Gabe’s gaze. “You might want to sit down with Helen Decatur-Whitney. That woman has a good head on her shoulders. She tangled with Hernandez once and I’m pretty sure she’d be eager to take him on again.”

  Gabe nodded. “I think I’ll do just that. Can you handle things here for an hour or two?”

  “I’ve got it,” Henry said at once. “And I know how to reach you or Mitch if anything comes up I can’t handle.”