Diana smiled at him. Things were going excellently. “I want to get this straight. You’re afraid to stay here tonight, even if we don’t sleep in the same bed.”
“We shouldn’t spend the night in the same house. Your father would think we had sex. I don’t want him to think that.”
“But we won’t” Although she’d sure try to change his mind.
“Diana, I’m wearing Nicholas X. Of course we will if I stay here. It never fails.”
Diana’s grin widened. Poor Nick was running scared. This was great. Never had she even imagined in her wildest fantasy that he’d be affected by her, too. “Don’t you trust that I can control myself?”
“Not when I’m wearing Nicholas X,” he said matter-of-factly.
Diana had Nick’s number and it spelled 1-900-I-WANT-U-2. Never in her life would she have imagined that he’d be afraid to spend the night with her. Afraid of what their own natural instincts would lead them to do. “I understand.” He couldn’t run forever. “Where will you be?”
“I’m going to the office. There’s a couch there with lumps made for my body. Before I go, I’ll call my dad and tell him the good news about the wedding. In the meantime, can you get me a picture of you to take with me to work?”
“It’s upstairs.” She pushed away from the table. “I’ll hurry back.”
Nick looked over at Jessica and for the first time realized what a mess the kid was. Food was everywhere. Two bottles of milk were dumped on the floor. Green guacamole was drying on her face and arms.
He untied her from the chair and lifted her out by the armpits. She was wet from the collar of her little T-shirt, to the tips of her shoes. He carried her at arm’s length to the sink. She cried all the way over there, but she was shivering, too, probably more from the air-conditioning hitting her wet clothes than the idea that she was being held by him. Her sobs were punctuated with rattling shivers. “I don’t know what I ever did to you to deserve this kind of treatment,” he told her. “I wouldn’t confess this to anyone, monkey face, but your rejection hurts. Right down to the bones.”
She didn’t care. She didn’t stop crying, her little red nose ran, and she rubbed fisted hands all over her face, spreading the slimy stuff.
He ran water in the sink until it was warm, then he dumped her in there, clothes, shoes and all. “I don’t know why nobody thought of this before,” he told her. “Washing kids and clothes at the same time. I wonder if I can get a patent on the idea.”
He took the sponge and wiped her down. He used the sprayer to wash her hair. After he got all the juice from the chicken and the guacamole off her shirt, he peeled it over her head. Next came the shoes. They didn’t look so good—maybe leather wasn’t something he should have put in the water. Too late. He took off her socks next, then those little jeans. By now Jessica had calmed down enough to sit in the sink. She slapped her hands in the sudsy water that had risen to her waist, sending bubbles flying.
Her sobs had turned to laughter, her “nos” to a singsong tune that sounded suspiciously like that commercial where all the cats sing “meow.”
He undid her diaper, and if it had been wet before, five minutes in a sinkful of water really weighed it down. He opened the trash compactor and threw it in. “You know what?” he said. “I should have thought this out a little bit better.”
Jessica responded with a splash. He wiped his eyes.
He looked around the kitchen for something he could reach without taking his hand off Jessica’s shoulder. The best he could come up with was the dish towel hanging under the sink.
He lifted Jessica a little, so her bottom wasn’t over the drain anymore, and the water began to go down the pipes. Jessica seemed just as happy playing with the leftover bubbles.
Nick dried off her face and upper body. He helped her stand up, and miracle of all miracles, she held on to his shoulders and hardly screamed at all. He dried her bottom and legs, and was left with one naked baby and no diaper. “That’s not a problem. Until I can get the diapers, you’ll use this.” He put the dish towel between her legs, and knotted the ends at her side. Not the best, not the worst, either. All in all, he was pretty damn proud of his accomplishment. He couldn’t wait for Diana to get back.
He didn’t have to wait long. Jessica sat at his feet, eating an oatmeal cookie. And Diana thought chocolate-chip was the way to the baby’s heart. Oatmeal was the only way to go.
Diana skidded to a stop halfway between the kitchen entryway and where he stood. Her eyes were wide as she gave the flooded room a tour with her gaze. “What happened?”
“I helped.”
“Pardon?”
“Look at Jessica.” He pointed down to the newly washed kid with the dish towel diaper. She shone with cleanliness, and new cookie crumbs. He’d get those in the morning.
“Nick, did the pipes leak?”
This time he looked around. He scratched his ear. He rubbed his chin, which after a day’s growth, scratched his hand. He gave her what he hoped would be an I-screwed-up-big-time grin. “I knew what I was doing,” he told her with supreme male bravado. “I thought I’d help.”
“Listen, you know what? This is exactly why we need to go to the bookstore tomorrow. I don’t know what I’m doing, and even if you do know—” she threw out her hand taking in the room “—accidents happen. If we don’t get some professional help, we’re going to end up with a bigger mess than we started with. Where’s your mop?”
“I’ll get it, Diana. Why don’t you take Jessica and put a diaper on her, and I’ll clean up in here.”
“You don’t have to offer me an olive branch twice.” She picked up Jessica and hurried out of the room.
Nick saw the picture Diana had left of herself on the table. It hadn’t been taken in Texas, he could tell that by the leaves turning colors, and the snowcapped mountains in the background. She smiled for the camera, her hair long and flowing down her back. He stuck the picture in his back pocket and wondered who had taken it, and if he should be jealous.
NICK HADN’T WANTED to leave Diana and Jessica. Well, he could give or take Jessica, but he really didn’t want to leave Diana that night. He had to, though. He had no choice.
Living in sin was one thing, but actually doing the livingin-sin part was something else again. When he had helped Diana hatch this plan, he’d made a vow to keep his hands to himself. Diana was bright, funny, and most of all, she was a sweet innocent caught up in this Smith-Logan mess. As long as she stayed in his home, he wouldn’t be staying with her.
Nick had found out as the day went on that while the vow was easy to make, it wasn’t as easy to keep. Diana was the kind of woman a man longed to touch. Why, he felt like a martyr leaving the apartment tonight, with her looking after him with those big brown Bambi eyes and him not wanting to go but having no choice. He refused to give Harry any more fuel to throw into the Logan family fire.
So after he had cleaned the kitchen, he left Diana to care for Jessica. Diana had said, “Say bye-bye to your Uncle Nick, Jessica.” And of course Jessica had said, “No,” which is what he had expected. But Diana came back with, “No, dear heart. You have to say, ‘No, Uncle Nick the coward.’“ To which Jessica put both her tiny hands on Diana’s cheeks and said, “No,” even louder.
Nick drove to his office, knowing that even if Diana thought he was a coward for leaving and not spending the night with her, at least Jessica didn’t Of course “no” was Jessica’s standard answer for everything. Still, it would look mighty good if he could put down on a recommendation inquiry, “Nick Logan is a courageous man, willing to take chances,” which in essence is what not being a coward meant
He had tried to explain that to Diana, but she didn’t get a real grasp yet that for Nick sleeping at the office was about the most courageous move he could make. He liked her too much to compromise her, which is exactly what would have happened if he’d stayed. She deserved better than that. He respected Diana. He considered himself a gentleman. Most of the
time.
Before he left home, he had called his father and told him he and Diana were getting married. Charlie did what Nick expected his father to do, threatened to cut him out of the family. It was nice to know that if Nick had been getting married to Diana, instead of setting up this elaborate scheme to get their fathers talking again, this was what he could expect.
Harry threatening to cut Diana off this afternoon. Charlie threatening to cut him off tonight. Those two men were of the same ilk. No wonder they hated each other.
Diana could hope for a reconciliation between the men, but he didn’t see it happening. He wasn’t about to burst her bubble though. She had too much of herself tied up in it. Until she realized that there would be no reconciliation between the families, he wasn’t going to rock the boat. He knew that if he and Diana were in fact living in sin, her father would never agree to any kind of peace agreement
So until peace either came, or Diana came to the conclusion that it would never come, he and Diana would have to spend their nights apart. For Nick that also meant very frustrated days spent in her company. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nick knew there wasn’t anything either one of them could do about the family feud. It had gone on too long, there were too many feelings of anger and bitterness, and he had no control over what the fathers of the families did. He could only control himself.
He drove into the parking lot of Nicholas X. He had named his company after the products his sister had made for him. He owned several acres of land in the far corner of Sugar Land. There he’d built a warehouse, a small office building, as well as several other buildings.
He flipped on the floodlights to the storage unit behind the warehouse where he kept all the extra scraps and pieces of wood. He pulled the antique oak boards he had taken from an old house he’d renovated, and brought them inside to the area he called the center. This is where he and his craftsmen did the smaller, more precise custom work that couldn’t be done on-site.
Nick took Diana’s picture out of his pocket and set it on the table. Taking out a new automatic pencil, he clicked until fresh lead appeared. He pulled a piece of white paper off the shelf and laid it flat on the table. He had just turned on the overhead light, when he heard a car pull up.
Nick went to the front door, turned on all the floodlights outside and waited. A man got out of a big, dark sedan and walked toward him. His walk, his shape as familiar to Nick as his name. “Dad.”
Charlie brushed passed him, entering the center. “I haven’t been out here in a while,” he said. “Not since you first had the buildings up.”
“I know.” Nicholas X wasn’t number one. There was no reason for his father to investigate his business, since there wouldn’t be any competition from his end.
Charlie walked the perimeter of the room, stopping in front of the drafting table. “I came to talk some sense into you.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
His father stared at the tabletop. “I came to tell you what a mistake you’re making. You can’t get involved with the Smith family.”
“Diana and I have nothing to do with your fight.” He sounded passionate. If Diana had been here, she’d have been proud of his performance.
Charlie picked up the photo. He brought it to his face, slid his glasses to his forehead, squinted one eye and looked closer. The room was so silent, not even the crickets dared to chirp.
He slowly lowered the picture, and pushed his glasses back down again. “Elizabeth.”
“That’s Diana, Dad.”
“She looks like Elizabeth. Two of a kind.”
“Her mother died. A long time ago.”
“I know that. I’ve been to see her.”
“I don’t understand.”
His father reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He wiped his forehead and the back of his neck, then put the handkerchief back. “The cemetery. I bring flowers. Not often. Maybe once a month. Maybe twice a month. Certainly no more than once a week. Your mother doesn’t know.”
“She won’t find out from me.”
His father’s expression didn’t change, but then Nick didn’t expect it to. Charlie would expect his son to keep his secret Charlie might bully him, he might disown him the way he’d disowned his own daughter, but as Cathy had told him earlier, they were blood. He trusted Nick.
“Your Diana is a beautiful girl.”
“I know.” She wasn’t “his” Diana though. He had to wonder if this scheme was a betrayal of trust. Probably, but it was for everybody’s own good.
“Not as pretty as her mother,” Charlie said. “And probably not as nice either.”
“She’s beautiful.” He meant that. “And nice.”
Charlie’s face formed a scowl. “Does she have a hankering to experiment with things?”
“What do you mean experiment?”
“Elizabeth was perfect, mind you. The only mistake she ever made, of course, was when she married Harry the dog. But before she married him, she was going to school and she had the worst luck there. She used to write me all about it She’d put these chemicals together, experimenting, and things would happen. There was a small fire one day. There was a little explosion another time.”
“Are you kidding?” He couldn’t believe this. He wondered if Diana knew.
“Hell, no, I’m not kidding. Get that smile off your face. It’s not funny. Harry and I were best friends. I asked him to watch over Elizabeth while I was in the army, and this is how he watched her? She wrote and told me she had almost burned herself and Harry was going to save her from harm. The next thing I know, they had gotten married. He brainwashed her.”
“From what Diana said, Elizabeth loved Harry.”
“How could she have loved him when she loved me? There’s no comparison.”
“Dad,” Nick had to ask, even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. “Didn’t you love Mom?”
“Sure I did. Even after Patricia found the letters from Elizabeth and started tormenting me. Your mother became a bitter woman. I keep hoping she’ll change.” The lines around his father’s eyes deepened, and his lips locked together.
Now Nick knew what he was dealing with. And he wasn’t optimistic. Sometimes it was easier to fix a business deal gone sour than it was a broken heart.
His father didn’t stay long after that. When he left, Nick sat down at the drafting table and began to sketch his own version of what he thought Diana’s small table and chairs looked like. He even drew little bunny rabbits hopping over carrots. He knew his staff artists would be able to paint those onto the chairs. He figured it would take him one night to cut the wood, and another to put the whole set together.
He didn’t intend for this new set to be a replacement for the table and chairs her father had made for her over twenty years ago. He only hoped that maybe it would take the sting out of losing something that meant a lot to her. Lately, it seemed as if they were all losing things. Like the picture of Diana that his father had folded into his handkerchief when he thought Nick hadn’t noticed, and taken with him.
Nick didn’t begrudge his dad the picture. But what he did want now almost as much as Diana was to end the cycle of hate. He figured he could start right here with a small table and chairs.
9
DIANA WOKE UP the next morning to the sound of little Jessica chattering to herself.
She rolled over and peeked out of one eye. Jessica stood in the crib holding on to the handrail, having a conversation with herself. “What are you trying to say, Jessica? That you think Uncle Nick should be here to wait on us hand and foot, and give us his undying devotion and love? Well, I know for a fact, you already have his love.”
Jessica bounced on the mattress and babbled louder, her gibberish punctuated with giggles and little lip-smacking noises.
“I’m telling you, Jessica, you shouldn’t play so hard to get with him. There comes a time when a girl just has to give him a kiss
and say, ‘Let’s be friends.’”
Diana liked being roommates with Jessica. Unlike the ones she’d had in college, Jessica wouldn’t be borrowing her clothes or stealing her boyfriends, if she had any, anytime in the near future. And for at least the next twelve years she wouldn’t be hogging the phone or the bathroom.
“Are you ready to get dressed?”
Jessica squealed in delight.
“Is that a ‘Yes, I am, Auntie Diana’?” Diana got out of bed and stretched. She reached over and took both Jessica’s hands in her own. “What do you say? You think you’ll wear the purple ball gown today, the one you wore at dinner with that Leonardo DiCaprio babe? Jessica, you have good taste.”
Jessica squealed again, and with their hands held together, waved both their arms.
“Oh, no, Jessica, dear,” Diana said. “First of all, you mustn’t settle for Leo, unless he’s your Prince Charming. If he’s not your Prince Charming then you must wait.” Diana lowered her voice. “For me, your Uncle Nick is Prince Charming. He’s so wonderful. He’s the only one I’ve ever dreamed about, Jessica, and if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this situation. I owe you, big time. What do you want? A college education? A Mercedes-Benz? Every Beanie Baby that’s every existed? Anything.”
Jessica let go of Diana’s hands and clapped, teetered backward then grabbed back on to the handrail for balance. While smiling at Diana, she put one chubby little leg over the railing and tried to hoist herself over and out of the crib.
“No, Jessica.” Diana gently placed the baby’s leg back inside the crib. “You stay there. Save the acrobatics for the health club.”
“Hello in there,” Nick called from the other side, knocking on the door.
“Jessica,” whispered Diana. “The lord and master has come home.” Diana’s heartbeat went into overdrive.
Kidnapped / I Got You Babe Page 27