“Then you should just keep this until that time.” I tried to give her back the box, but she wouldn’t take it.
“You keep it, son. And I pray that someday you’ll use it.”
She left the room, staring after me. She wanted me to propose. She thought I was ready for marriage. That showed how little she truly knew about me. No way would I be a good husband for Penny.
Alone, in my mother’s room, I thought about her words, turning the small, velvet box in my hands. This was not the next step. Not by a long shot. I actually didn’t know what the next step was, but once I figured it out I wanted to take it.
But it sure as hell wasn’t this.
Pocketing the box, I headed back downstairs.
“I can’t eat anymore,” Penny said, waving away Ellen’s offer of another piece of lemon tart.
“But you didn’t eat much of anything, my dear. Blake had four of those mini-eclairs.”
“I don’t have Blake’s metabolism,” Penny said, patting her stomach.
“Nonsense. You’re a beautiful girl.”
For once, I agreed with my mother.
But then she stood up and went to the balcony, staring out over the railing. My mother was acting nervous again. Strange that after all these years of not being particularly close, I could read her moods like this. Finally, she turned around.
“I have something I want to talk to you both about.”
Penny exchanged a look with me, and I tried not to show my concern, reaching out to adjust Zoe’s sunhat. She was contently nestled against her mother’s chest, blinking sleepily.
Ellen took a deep breath, and I was suddenly sure that I’d need alcohol to hear whatever she was about to say.
“It’s not my place to meddle in your affairs,” she began.
Then don’t, I thought. However, it seemed pretty clear she was going to.
“But… something came up. An opportunity that seemed too good to pass up. That doesn’t mean you have to take the opportunity. But you should at least consider it.”
Penny looked as confused as I felt. “What do you mean, Mrs. Hol—I mean, Ellen?”
My mother wrung her hands together nervously. Again. “I told you that I’m on the board of directors at the botanic gardens. And there was a cancellation. For June tenth. So I reserved it, just in case. It’s so rare to have an opening in June, because it’s the prime season.”
“Prime season? For what? The flowers?” Penny was confused, but alarm bells were going off in my head.
“Mother, may I talk to you in private?”
Ellen wouldn’t look at me. “It’s just such a beautiful time of the year. The pavilion is very sought after. It’s so gorgeous there, with the view of the pond, the flower beds. When I found out there was a cancellation, I just had to grab it. You have no idea how many couples want that spot.”
“Want that spot for what?” Penny asked.
“For their weddings,” Ellen said, and Penny’s jaw dropped open.
“Mother—“
“I’m not saying you have to take it. I’m just saying if you want to, it’s available. I reserved it. I’m on the board, I can do that,” Ellen spoke in a rush now. “Of course you don’t have to. But if you wanted to, then we could go to my friend Marilyn’s grandson’s restaurant for the reception. He owns a lovely French place. Or we could come back here. Whatever you two want.”
Penny was speechless for a long moment, and then her face flushed. “You—you’re saying we should—you actually reserved…”
When she sputtered out, I glared at Ellen. “Mother, we need to talk. Now.”
I stood up, being careful not to look at Penny. Or Zoe, for that matter. I was fairly certain steam was rising from my ears, and I didn’t want Zoe to see me that way. However, I couldn’t help taking a quick peak at Penny as I strode inside. Her face was still red as she suddenly became very interest in straightening Zoe’s little dress.
Great. The only people not completely mortified were the baby and my mother.
This time, it was a different story than the conversation in my mother’s suite. As my mother followed me into the living room, this time I was the one talking. “It wasn’t enough to tell me about the ring, you also had to book the venue? You should have just kept the ring and proposed to Penny yourself. You did everything else.”
“Don’t be mad, Blake.”
“Mad? My mother all but proposes to my girlfriend, and I’m not supposed to be mad?” Wait, was Penny my girlfriend? I wanted her to be, but my impulsive mother had skipped over that step and advanced straight to fiancée.
“I wasn’t trying to meddle, but there was the cancellation, and I had to tell you both about it. Just in case.”
“Just in case what? In case the only thing that was keeping us from wedded bliss was a location with a frog pond? You just set our relationship back. We’ve barely contemplating being together, and now you’re bringing up marriage. Neither one of us are ready to talk about that.”
“Well you should be.”
Ellen’s forcefulness stopped my pacing. I spun around to look at her as she continued. “You have a little girl. A beautiful little girl. She needs a mother and a father.”
I was furious, but part of me had to admit, it was my own fault. What had started out as a white lie—a kindness to keep my mother happy—had blown up in my face. I’d never expected my mother to get so attached to Zoe and to Penny. Now everything had escalated beyond anything I’d ever anticipated.
“We’re not ready for that.”
“Then get ready. Hold your daughter. Cuddle her. And make things right with her mother.”
“It’s not that simple.” I sank down onto the sofa and put my feet up on the coffee table just to irritate her. Apparently, when my mother got high-handed, it made me revert to my teen-aged self. “I’m not ready. To be a husband. To be a dad.”
“You are a dad. So you have to be ready, you have no choice.”
Yes, I did have a choice, but my mother didn’t know that. I wasn’t Zoe’s father, so I could walk away. I didn’t want to, but I could. Trouble was, I didn’t know how to stay, either. “I’m not—I’m no…”
“What is it?” Ellen came over and placed her hand on the back of the chair.
“You’re right. Penny deserves a man who can stand by her side. And that’s not me.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’d be better off without me.” And there it was. My old fear that I’d let down any woman I got close to. I’d let down my mother. And my poor Not-Sarah. Hell, the only woman I hadn’t let down yet was Michelle, and that was because all she needed was a regular influx of cash.
“How can you say that?” Ellen sat in the chair across from me.
“It’s true,” I said wearily, my hand over my face. “I let you down.”
“What? No, you didn’t. These past few years when we haven’t been very close—that’s on both of us. Not you. But things are different now. Better. You brought Penny and Zoe into my life, and it’s changed everything. It’s made everything better.”
She was trying, but she was making me feel worse. Here she thought I’d introduced her to them as a peace-making effort when all I’d wanted was to get a damn picnic blanket. “That’s not what I mean. I let you down before. When I was a kid. When you… when you were hospitalized.”
Ellen stiffened, but she rallied quickly. “When I overdosed, you mean.”
“Yes.” I couldn't look at her. “If I’d just gone with you when you asked…”
“Blake, that had nothing to do with you. Nothing.”
“You asked me to come with you, and I didn’t. If I would have—“
“No. My dear, I never imagined you were even thinking that. It wasn’t your fault. I was so out of it that day. I can admit it now. I was drunk, and I didn’t have a plan. I hadn’t packed a suitcase for myself. I hadn’t even called for a driver. It wouldn’t have made any difference what you did, Blake. I was miserable, and
I wasn’t in my right mind.”
“I should have seen that.”
“You were just a kid.” A light hand touched my knee. “It wasn’t your job to take care of me, it was my job to take care of you. And I will forever be sorry that I didn’t do that well enough.”
It’s a cliché to say that a weight was lifted from my shoulders, but it truly felt like it was. I’d never thought it through. What would have happened if I’d said yes, if I’d agreed to go with her. It never occurred to me that it probably would have fizzled out before it even began. Still, I’d always wonder if I could have intervened. Stopped her from mixing the alcohol with her prescriptions.
“I didn’t know any better then, son. Just as neither one of us knew how to have a relationship until recently. But we do now. That’s more important to me than almost anything. Almost. Because as much as I love feeling closer to you, I’d risk it all just to prevent you from making the same mistakes I did. And that’s what I’m trying to do. I want you and Penny to make things work.”
“That’s for us to make happen.”
“I know. But I thought you needed a little help.”
I groaned as I stood up and returned to Penny. How I was going to face her, I had no idea. But I couldn’t stay mad at my mother.
She’d just forgiven me for a lot worse.
Penny
The next few days at work were… strange. Blake was acting weird, looking guilty. As if he were responsible for his mother’s behavior. For my part, I could barely look at him without blushing. We’d barely started dating, and his mother had tried to set a wedding date for us.
“She meant well,” I told him for the third or fourth time on Wednesday at lunch. “She thinks we’re Zoe’s parents. It's natural for her to think we should be together.”
“It’s not natural for someone’s mother to book a wedding venue for two people who aren’t getting married.”
“She was just excited. Don’t be mad at her, Blake. And don’t worry about me. I get it. I’m not expecting you to get down on one knee unless Zoe drops her pacifier.”
“Which should be in about… forty-five seconds,” Blake said, pretending to look at his watch. But he looked relieved. Perhaps he thought I was some marriage-hungry woman who would overreact at the slightest mention of the “m” word.
“Your mother cares about you, that’s all.”
Blake nodded. “Funny how she went from not being much of a part of my life to overbearing in the space of a week. This little girl has that effect on people. Makes them want to be involved.” He said that while waiving a little rubber duck at Zoe, letting her almost catch it before pulling it away.
“Much better,” I said, since the last thing he’d tried to tease her with was a fork full of broccoli. She’d only sampled a handful of solid foods so far, and broccoli was not high on the list of foods to try next. I had my baby’s back.
We finished eating and I pulled Zoe onto my lap to nurse. Blake had gotten good at looking only at my face when I did that. It was an improvement. The first few times, he’d pretended to be fascinated by the kitchen appliances the whole time I fed my baby.
When I was finished, he walked me and Zoe back to the nursery. Once Zoe was in Pat’s arms—and once I’d escaped a little boy named Nate who clung to the leg of anyone who came into the room—we walked back.
“You’ve got a fan there. Twenty years from now, little Nate is going to date a woman that looks exactly like you.”
I laughed. “Maybe he’ll date Zoe.”
“Over my dead body,” Blake said with a possessiveness that warmed my heart. But then he grinned and gave a dismissive wave. “Besides, she can do better.”
“And I can’t?” Still laughing, I started to reach over and take his hand. At the last moment, I remembered where we were and resisted. Still, it had been close. Blake and I had kissed twice on the day of the picnic, but that had been two weeks ago. Things had been complicated ever since. I wondered when—or if—we were going to get things back on track.
Apparently, Blake was wondering that, too.
“So… if you’re free, can you work late with me on Friday?”
“Work? Late? Friday?” Wow. Way to make a complete sentence. I tried again. “How late?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. A couple of hours. I’ll order us some dinner. We can eat in the suite.”
Which is what we did every day for lunch, but the nighttime part made it sound different. More intimate. More like a date. We’d already had two nondate dates… was this the third? “Um, sure. I can ask if Jana can babysit.”
“Sounds good. Or if not, we could ask my mother.”
Startled I looked up into his eyes. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“You know she’d love to do it.”
“Yeah… I just feel bad. Because she doesn’t know.”
“I know. Me too. But that doesn’t change the fact that she’d be thrilled to watch Zoe.”
She probably would. But it wasn’t right to ask her to do this. She deserved to know the truth. I wish I could make Blake see that.
“Just let me know” Blake said.
“Okay.”
“Sure,” Jana said when I called her that evening. “No problem. Got a hot date?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“Really? With Blake? This date number three. You know what that means.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s probably just another nondate. Like the first two.”
“Where’s he taking you?” Jana demanded.
“We’re just working late. In his office.”
“The office with the bedroom attached to it? Make sure you shave your legs.”
“Jana! It’s not like that,” I said, but truthfully, I’d already been planning to. Just in case.
“Here, someone wants to talk to you.”
Before I had time to wonder who, a familiar voice came on the line. “Hi dear.”
“Hazel! How are you?” Oh god, Jana had implied all that about me sleeping with Blake in front of Hazel?
“I’m fine. I’m getting out of here tomorrow night.”
“That’s great! I’ll bring Zoe over as soon as I can. But wait… doesn’t Jana need to be with you on Friday? I can find someone else to watch Zoe.”
“Don’t be silly, I’ll be fine. Or Jana can bring Zoe over here and watch us both.”
“I should be there.”
“No, Penny, you shouldn’t. You should be with Blake.”
“I still don’t know if it’s a date or not.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said firmly. “You owe it to yourself to find out. And be sure to shave your legs, dear.”
Blushing, I hung up the phone. As far as Hazel and Jana were concerned, the matter was settled. This was a date.
“Wow, you look nice,” Pat said when I walked into the nursery Friday afternoon.
“Thanks,” I said quietly. Zoe was sitting up in a crib by the wall, and I knew if she heard my voice, she’d start crying for me.
A little self-consciously, I smoothed my hands over the burgundy dress I was wearing. I’d borrowed it from Jana, and I’d worn a white sweater over it for most of the day. It was a little fancier than what I usually wore to work. I hoped that Blake would like it as much as Pat seemed to. “I just wanted to let you know that my friend Jana is coming to pick up Zoe today.”
“No problem,” Pat said, nodding at me to follow him as he opened the small office off the main room. “I’ll just need a little paperwork on that.”
“What kind?”
“Just documentation for Zoe’s file. No one can take her out of here unless you’ve added their name to a list and signed it. So only write down people you trust.”
I sat down at his desk and filled out the form, thinking about Pat’s words.
People I trusted. That was a short list.
My department was cleared out by five-thirty, but I waited until nearly six to knock on Blake’s door. I’d debated weari
ng the sweater over my dress. It was rather low-cut at the top, and the narrow sleeves left most of my arms bare. Pus, it was low in the back. But I’d put it on today thinking of him, which meant I should show it to him.
Blake’s door was closed, which was unusual, but I could see a little light coming from underneath the door.
I knocked again, the sound oddly formal in the dark hallway.
The door swept open, and my breath caught in my throat. He was there. In a dark charcoal suit, and he looked amazing. Utterly amazing. The jacket fit his strong arms and broad chest like it had been sewn on him. The pants made his legs look endlessly long. A dark scarlet tie made the crisp white shirt look even brighter than usual. And his face… his eyes… that smile when he looked me over. And appeared to like what he saw.
Music drifted softly in the background, and the spicy scent of good food was in the air.
No question about it—this was definitely a date.
Blake
God, she looked incredible. Did she have any idea? Any fucking clue how good she looked?
Odds were, she didn’t. Women like Michelle were all about their appearance. Women like Penny were about a lot more than that. About love. Compassion. Kindness. Generosity. And nurturing, in Penny’s case, since she was a mother. I bet she wouldn’t even believe me if I told her how beautiful she looked—but I did anyway.
“Thank you,” she said, and I was right. She didn’t believe me. I could tell by the way her hands nervously twisted at her side, at her quick downward glance as if to make sure her dress looked okay.
So I tried again.
Taking her hand in mine, I brought it to my mouth. I ran her knuckles across my lips, and then kissed her fingers lightly. “You. Look. Beautiful.”
The blush that rose to her cheeks convinced me that this time she heard me. And could tell that I meant it.
With her hand still in mine, I led her deeper into my office. Past the conference table. Past my desk. Past anything to do with work. And into the suite.
Her eyes were wide as she took in the dimmed lights. The candles lining the countertop. The bouquet of white roses on the table set for two. “So… I guess this isn’t a working dinner.” She didn’t sound like she minded too much.
Tempting: A Cinderella Billionaire Story Page 16