Nick had expected tears from Jessica or the other kid, but none flowed. So maybe this was the one-year-old version of sharing. Her saying “no” and him saying “mine” really meant, “I’ll take what you have because I want it, and you’ll have to deal with it, sucker.”
Nick stood over them as they duked it out over a raggedy book for barely a second before they both took deep breaths, and looked up at him. He could see their expressions change from one of baby-to-baby indignation to baby- to-baby “let’s gang up on the big guy.” He could almost see them formulate the words “Who are you, jerk-face?” Then their faces scrunched up and the waterworks started.
“I didn’t do anything,” Nick said, gesturing helplessly to the mother with all the advice. “Honestly.”
She gave him a disgusted look and walked away.
“Thanks a lot, kids,” he muttered. He had to get out of the play-pit, and take Jessica with him before any more damage was done. But since he’d gone in, he’d become surrounded by a mob of thirty-pound rug rats, crying, and beating on his legs with whatever they were holding. He grabbed a few wooden blocks away from them, which only intensified the screams.
How did a guy escape from these tiny hellions?
He looked around. There was no help in sight The daycare worker was on the phone with her back to him. So much for qualified staff.
“Help,” he called out. The children’s cries escalated. He would have thought that if the kids hated him so much, they’d leave him alone. Instead, it looked as if they were ganging up on him. They were crawling all over the place like ants.
He had to get out of there. “Diana!” He bellowed this time, not caring whom he disturbed. No more Mr. Nice Guy. He was a desperate man.
The college girl on the telephone looked at him, held her finger to her lips and sneered. Then she went back to her telephone conversation.
He couldn’t believe it “Lady,” he shouted. “Get me out of here.”
She turned again, glaring at him before rolling her eyes. Finally, she said something into the phone and hung up.
Behind him he heard familiar laughter. His muscles tensed and his heart beat faster. How come Diana had the ability to do that to him?
“Are you stuck, Nick?” Diana asked sweetly.
“I can’t move. They’re beating up on me.” He didn’t know what it was about him that made kids hate him. “I’m a nice guy,” he growled downwind.
Diana’s soft laughter didn’t help. He watched her carefully place an armload of books on the stair, then enter the arena, stepping daintily around the children, saying, “’scuse me, ’scuse me.” Soon she had cleared a pathway through the forest of toddlers. “You can come out now, Nick.”
He looked behind him. All clear. He lifted Jessica and carried her and her freshly exercised lungs, out of the arena.
“If you take my books, I’ll take her,” Diana offered.
Jessica had her arms wrapped around his neck and her head buried under his chin, all the while sobbing. He didn’t deserve this. When Cathy was pregnant, she must have had some heart-to-heart talks to the baby in her belly. She must have told Jessica some mighty terrible stories about the other three Logan brothers, and somehow the baby had him confused with them.
Nick didn’t want to give her up though. But for the sake of everyone else in the bookstore, he had no choice. He unpeeled Jessica and gave her to Diana. He paid for the books and met them at the car.
As he drove toward the Stratford, Jessica gurgled happily in her car seat, and Diana flipped through the books he’d bought her.
“Are you looking in there for the proper way to feed a one-year-old?” he asked. He didn’t think soda crackers, milk and water were it. Last night, more of her food landed on the floor than in her stomach.
“Food…food. Hmm…let’s see.”
“See what?”
She flipped to the index of one of the thicker books. “I’m wondering.” Her fingernail clicked her front tooth. “Schedule…schedule. Hmm…yes, this is mostly a feeding schedule for babies. It says here that babies can be breastfed for a long time, and that breast-fed babies are healthier. I remember hearing that a woman who had adopted a child, an infant, put the infant to her breast, and after a while milk started flowing. I find that hard to believe. Still…”
Nick didn’t know, but all this talk about breasts was making him hot. He kept thinking of Diana’s breasts, and how they’d looked under the shirt she had worn this morning with the sun coming through the window.
“We shouldn’t talk about this in front of Jessica.” Little did Diana know she was on the verge of another Incident. One where his libido went up in flames.
11
NICK STRAPPED Jessica into the high chair, then slid the tray toward the baby until it clicked in place. He leaned down to kiss her forehead. Her tears started immediately, although slowly at first, then more and more, until her nose became bright red and her sobs turned to hiccups.
He backed away, and Diana could tell by the look on his face that he was hurt She felt the same frustration he did. She had been going through the books she’d bought, and so far she’d found no reason why a child, or children, she amended, remembering the crowd in Barrington’s, would hate one man in particular.
The strange part about the whole thing was that even though Jessica always cried when Nick came near her, she seemed to also seek him out It was as if she wanted his company, then made both their lives miserable when she had it.
“I don’t get it.” Nick looked at the baby and Jessica looked back at him with her wet eyes and red nose. “I’m a nice guy.” He turned to Diana as if needing to make sure she knew that. “I am.”
“I know you are. You went to the bookstore with me and braved a sea of anklebiters out for your blood. Then you went to the grocery store with me where you were subjected to more humiliation.”
He grimaced. His fingers jerked through his hair. “Do you believe this? All I did was go to the cooler to get some ice cream, and that kid, out of nowhere, attacked me with that mini-shopping cart. Why do they make those things?”
Diana shrugged.
“How much do you want to bet I’m black-and-blue on the back of my calves?”
She wouldn’t mind checking. “Did you want to pull down your jeans and have me look?” she asked innocently.
Nick’s eyes crinkled, and the smile on his face turned decidedly wicked. His hands went for the snap on his jeans. Diana ran over to him, put her hand on top of his and said, “Stop.”
“I thought you were going to check me out for damage.”
“I was joking.”
“It’s not nice to joke about things like that, Diana. Not to a man who is spending his nights on a couch at the office.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. The words just popped out, and…”
He put his finger across her lips. “Shh. It’s okay. I couldn’t help it, either. You’re too easy to tease.”
“That’s bad.”
“No, that’s good.” He lowered his mouth to hers, and captured her lips, lightly putting pressure on her. She opened for him, and he drank while she poured.
And Jessica screamed.
“Jessica,” Diana said. “Is mad.”
“Jessica,” Nick breathed. “Is always mad.
Diana had never realized before what a pothole a child could be in the road to seduction.
Nick moved back. “I’m getting very frustrated.”
“I know, I know,” Diana said, rapidly patting herself where her heart was. Then she chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see your face on a Wanted poster in Barrington’s.”
He grimaced. “Thanks, Diana. Let me tell you how much I appreciate your sympathy.”
“Oh—” she waved her hand “—it’s not a problem.”
He shook his head, picking up the Wall Street Journal from the counter.
“And we can’t forget the grocery store. How many times can a grown man get
attacked by children in the same day?” She burst out laughing, remembering Nick’s horrified expression.
“Very funny.”
“And of course the story will get repeated and repeated. Maybe the Sugar Land Times will pick it up, and, if you’re lucky, you can get into Tillie Mae Tuttle’s column. Then you’ll know you hit the big time.”
“No—no.” He held up his hands in mock horror. “Not that. Not Tillie’s column.”
“And think how good that will be for your business.” Diana giggled.
“Diana, stop. You’re killing me.”
“You couldn’t afford this kind of publicity.”
“You’re right. I can’t.”
She nodded with a smile. “The theory is that any publicity is better than no publicity.”
He nodded back, with a frown. “They don’t know my name, do they?”
“Maybe not.” She thought for a moment. “Do you think we should go back and start over?”
“I don’t think so.” He looked relieved.
“I want to tell you how much I appreciate you taking me out, even though I knew you didn’t want to go. I didn’t know those kids would attack you, though. See what you might have missed?”
“I couldn’t let you go alone. You needed me there to watch Jessica while you shopped.”
“Now don’t get all male on me, like I couldn’t do this without you. The truth is, you didn’t want to take the car seat out of your car, and put it in mine.”
“Damn! You found me out.” He didn’t look happy. “I thought you’d think I was a hero or something.”
“I do, Nick,” she said softly. “After what you’ve been going through with Jessica, I think you’re the best kind of hero. I want to help figure this problem out. There’s already too much fighting in this family.”
“Now that I agree with.”
“You know, it’s probably something so simple that we can’t see because it’s so obvious.”
Diana circled the island in the center of the kitchen. Jessica pounded on the tray and said, “No, no, bye-bye, no.”
“I marked on your calendar that Jessica said a new word,” Diana said.
“Two new words.” Nick brought the Wall Street Journal to the breakfast table.
“Two. Cathy’ll be sorry she missed it” Diana knew if she had a baby, she’d be sorry she hadn’t been there. “Hungry?” she asked Jessica. “Is that a silly question or what? It’s almost dinnertime. Of course you’re hungry.” Diana took out an apple from the refrigerator, peeled off the skin and sliced it, then handed Jessica a good-size piece. “This should keep you busy until I make you a great big to-diefor dinner.”
“Dinner?” Nick asked, turning a page.
“I’m going to make her dinner.”
“I thought we agreed to order out.”
She waited until Jessica started gnawing on the apple slice. “I still have what I was going to make for breakfast. When I was little, I loved it when Alicia cooked things for me, so I wanted to give Jessica at least one good memory.”
“Are we back to the macaroni and cheese?”
“You bet. Don’t groan, okay? It’s disconcerting.”
“Was I doing that?”
“Yes. Which reminds me, speaking of cheese, did you ask your father if he was coming over tomorrow?”
“He said yes. Did you ask yours?”
“He said yes. Did you tell him my dad was going to be here?”
“Sure did.”
Diana found a child’s dish that had been sectioned into quarters and had little suction cups stuck on the bottom. If she unscrewed the little cap in the center of the dish, and filled its hollow interior with warm water, it would keep the food warm. Since there wasn’t anything Diana needed to keep warm for any long period of time, Diana filled it with water, and stuck a carnation in the center.
While Jessica gnawed on her apple slice, Diana made the macaroni and cheese, just the way Alicia had told her to, by following the directions on the box. And she didn’t even add any secret ingredients. Bland, she was sure, but she had promised Alicia, no paprika.
She cut up a fresh peach into bite-size pieces and arranged them in one section of the baby’s dish. The macaroni and cheese went into another section. She opened a can of peas, zapped them in the microwave, then smushed them down into the third section. The last section she filled with mashed strawberries and whipped cream.
Diana stood back and admired her work. Presentation meant so much when it came to epicurean delights. In the past she may have had a few explosive episodes, but she sure did have a flair for the aesthetic beauty of food. Jessica would eat this up if only for the way it looked on the plate.
Diana licked the bottom of the suction cups then forced the bowl down onto the high chair’s plastic table. Jessica clanged two spoons together squealing “No-no-nooooo” in excited anticipation. The back of the spoons only smacked the top of Diana’s hand twice. They hardly even made a dent Or a black-and-blue mark. Just a little purple.
“Enjoy your food.” Diana stepped back, placed her hands behind her back, rubbed the pain she tried not to feel and waited.
Jessica lowered her head to the plate, getting whipped cream on her nose, then lifted her face and gave Diana a big, beautiful smile. In no time at all, the baby dug in with ten tiny fingers, and Diana’s heart swelled with pride at the success of her first home-cooked meal.
“Nick, this is working out so perfectly. Look at how she’s eating.”
“Great. Should we order Chinese for us?”
“Sure. We can eat when she’s sleeping.”
Diana had started to put the dishes in the dishwasher when the first spoon hit the floor. She went over to pick it up. Jessica’s hands dived into the food and immediately smeared it on her face. Very little actually made it to her mouth. Her fingers dipped in again, and pink strawberries, golden peach pieces, macaroni and cheese and whipped cream went flying to the sounds of her laughter and “no-no-no-no-nos.”
“Nick! I’m in trouble here.” Diana grabbed a sponge and dish towel and went down on the floor, crawling around, picking up food. “Eat, Jessica, eat,” she ordered.
“No-no-no-no,” came the response.
Nick grabbed a trash bag, and as quick as Jessica tossed the food down, he gathered it up and put it into the bag. But no matter how fast he worked, Jessica rained food on top of his head even faster. “Eat, Jessica,” his booming baritone ordered.
“No-no-no-no-no,” she screamed in return, her little legs kicking under the high chair’s plastic table, managing to land a few good ones before Nick could retreat.
Diana smiled in relief when the doorbell rang. Rescued. “I’ll get it,” she said, scurrying up from her place on the floor.
“No, no, let me.” Nick rushed after her. “I insist”
“She’s your niece.”
“Only by blood.”
They raced to the front door and opened it together, breathless and determined.
Sheila and her father stood there. Harry pushed his way in. “What are you doing, Diana? You’re a mess.”
“She must have blown up the oven,” Sheila sneered.
Nick put his arm around Diana. She’d never appreciated the strength of a man as much as she did right now. She needed support, and he was there. “Nice to see you, too, Dad. What a surprise,” she added.
“You invited us over.”
“Tomorrow night”
“What difference does it make?” Harry moved into the hallway. “I wasn’t coming when Logan was coming.”
“Come on with us into the kitchen,” Diana invited.
Nick said, “But, Diana—”
She turned to him and winked. “Sheila,” she gushed. “I love your white dress. Is that new?”
Sheila and Diana walked in front of Harry, who walked in front of Nick.
Her stepmother-in-training, who, as far as Diana was concerned, was flunking the course big time, sniffed through the narrow passages
of her rhinoplasty nose. “I went to Neiman’s and it was only five hundred dollars. Such a bargain. It’s hard to find white clothes in my size. Even the petites are too big.”
“Isn’t that something.” Diana looked down at the woman, wondering how her father could have made such an awful mistake.
But there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Jessica, on the other hand, could do quite a bit. And when she took aim, sending those green peas right in the center of Sheila’s dress, she had.
Diana made the appropriate tsking noises. “Now, now, Jessica, you must stop sharing your food with the rest of us.”
“That awful child,” Sheila screeched. “Do you know what she’s done?”
Nick cut in. “Please, ma’am, I would appreciate it if you would control yourself in front of my little niece here.”
Diana couldn’t help smirking. “I told you to come tomorrow, Dad.”
“Peas will wash out,” Harry said. “Besides, I can’t stand being around a Logan.”
“I’m a Logan,” Nick reminded him.
“Diana, was someone else talking to me? I thought I heard a voice, but I know there’s no one else in the room.”
Diana’s neck itched. The doorbell rang again. Both she and Nick headed back out
“They’re your relatives,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “Only one, and only by blood.”
Diana went back to the kitchen, just in time to see Jessica shove more food on her face, her hair, ears and clothes. Even her feet were now covered. The floor, thick with food, had become slippery. Diana thought it was very unfortunate when Sheila lost her balance and landed on her bottom, screaming at everyone.
Never one to be ignored, Jessica threw the second spoon, and yelled, “Noooo.” It landed on Sheila’s head.
Diana was desperately attempting to keep a straight face, when Nick walked back into the kitchen with two more people. The man looked like an older version of Nick. The woman’s lips were pursed.
“Diana, this is my dad, Charlie Logan. My mother, Patricia.”
“You’re a day early, Mr. and Mrs. Logan.” She wiped her hands on the paper towel and held out her hand. “I’m sure I look a mess.”
Kidnapped / I Got You Babe Page 30