His Lullaby Baby

by Airicka Phoenix

  Chest hurting, she closed the door and stepped away from the thing she could not change. Her feet made no sound as she made her way further along to her room. Her hands actually hesitated reaching for the doorknob.

  Simple. So simple it could have passed for a nun’s chambers. A small, twin sized bed against an undecorated wall, a nightstand with a single lamp and alarm clock next to it, and a circular rug beneath it. There was a dresser across the room and a closet. That was the extent of her living quarters. Macy had offered to decorate it, but Addy had refused. So Macy had turned all her attention on the children. She’d had Sean’s room painted a sky blue, had gotten him a beautiful bedroom set and as many toys and books as she could fit. For Hanna, everything had been pink and white. Macy had stayed through every moment of Addy’s pregnancy, had gone to every appointment and had stayed with Sean when Addy had gone into labor. They may not have shared a drop of blood, but Macy was the only family Addy had. She’d been devastated when the other woman had decided to up and travel the world, leaving Addy alone once more. Every day was a day she prayed Macy would return, but that hadn’t happened yet. Occasionally, Macy sent a postcard or a letter from wherever she was. The last one was a few weeks back and the return address was some RV park in Nebraska.

  With nothing to do and nowhere to go, Addy sat on the bed and stared at the dresser directly across from her. There were six drawers and she had counted them a million times before there was a knock.

  Jumping to her feet, she hurried to the door.

  “Hi.” Toby stood on the other side. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

  “You didn’t.” Hurriedly, she stepped out into the hallway with him and shut the door behind her before he could see in. “What can I do for you?”

  He seemed to hesitate at her question, like he hadn’t thought that far ahead when he’d knocked. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he finally spoke.

  “I was going to head out and wanted to know if there was anything you needed before I went.”

  Addy shook her head. “I’m probably just going to finish baking and wait for the Charleston’s, but thank you for asking.”

  His head bobbed slowly up and down in quiet deliberation. “Okay, well, I left my cell number on the table. If you need anything, you can call me at any time.”

  Irrationally touched, she offered him a smile. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you…”

  His head dipped and for a fraction of a second, her breath froze. Her muscles seized, locking her in place between him and the door. A bell shrilled to life between her ears, a mangled sound of panic and excitement. Her heart jumped in her chest in an unsteady patter that sounded impossibly loud inside her own head.

  “You smell like cookies,” he whispered, jarring some of her senses back enough for her to speak.

  “I haven’t made any cookies.”

  She didn’t personally think there was anything amusing about her response, but his mouth twisted upwards in a slow, heart dissolving smile that hit her square in the gut.

  “Then maybe I just like the way you smell.” He pulled back. His smile was gone. “Don’t have too much fun without me, eh?”

  Cotton mouthed, it took three swallows before she could unglue her tongue to speak. “I can’t promise anything.”

  He snorted a quiet chuckle. “See you in a few days, Ads.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” she blurted.

  He didn’t argue. He led her downstairs where his overnight bag already sat next to the door. He hoisted it up.

  “Be safe,” she told him, opening the door to the autumn morning. “I’ll see you hopefully Sunday or Monday.”

  He nodded. “I will. Bye.”

  She waved as he started down the porch steps and ambled to his truck. She watched him climb in and pull out of his parking spot. He waved as he drove out. Then he was gone.

  The Charleston’s arrived promptly at half past noon with their three suitcases and sunny smiles. The elderly couple crowded around the front desk as Addy logged them in. Sean had made everything very simple for her, but she still had no skill with computers. Truthfully, she had no skills for anything, except baking; the downfalls of dropping out of school at fifteen. But she managed to work it all out and handed over their keys.

  “Thank you so much for staying with us,” she told the pair. “We’ve been anticipating your arrival for weeks.” She skirted around the counter. “Your room is prepared. I have the list of food preferences you faxed over and I have scheduled you for a romantic carriage ride around the town.”

  Laura Charleston, a beautifully elegant woman with hair the color of popcorn and eyes so blue, they could have been torn straight out of a summer sky, smiled kindly at her.

  “Thank you, dear. I hope we weren’t too…” She stole a peek at her husband for the proper word.

  “Impossible,” Richard supplied.

  Laura wrinkled her fine nose. “I was going to say too needy or unreasonable.”

  Addy chuckled. “You were neither, I promise. We try to do our best to accommodate our guests the best we can.” She clasped her hands together once and kept them folded at her midsection. “Now, how about we get you to your room? Just leave your bags. I’ll have them brought up.”

  With Richard and Laura at her heels, Addy led the way down the hallway and up the stairs, chattering on about all the sights they had to see before they left and the shops they should look into while they were in town. She went over the house rules and assured them again that she had everything organized the way they specified.

  “Here we are.” She pushed open the door to the Sun Room and motioned them in first. “Please make yourselves comfortable. Lunch is over, but I’m happy to bring up some tea and sandwiches if you like?”

  “Oh, I’m all right,” Richard assured her, settling a hand over the strain bulging up the front of his coat. “Had a full lunch not an hour ago.”

  “I wouldn’t mind some tea,” Laura said. “But don’t worry yourself about bringing it up. I don’t mind taking it downstairs.”

  Addy smiled at them both. “All right, it’ll be about ten minutes.”

  She closed the door between them, waited a full heartbeat to make sure neither came out before running downstairs. She grabbed their bags, one at a time, and hauled them with great effort up two flights of stairs. Once they were all outside the door, she paused to catch her breath, smooth out her hair and compose her features before knocking. Richard opened the door.

  “Your bags have been brought up,” she stated, relieved when her voice didn’t come out breathless.

  Richard thanked her and dragged them inside. Then he closed the door and Addy stumbled her way down again to the kitchen on shaky legs.

  During the summer, she usually hired someone from town to help with the heavy lifting, but during low season, when guests were less frequent, she usually did it herself, which was always murder. Macy used to tease her about doing too much, but then Macy never had a problem finding guests to stay weeks, even months at a time. Addy didn’t know what she was doing wrong. Maybe it was because she wasn’t Macy and people had a fear of change. Whatever the reason was, she needed to do something to turn the tables or … no, she couldn’t think about closing. That wasn’t even an option. The inn was all she and her babies had. She had to make it work.

  Putting the kettle on the stove, she went about putting cakes and cookies out. She was in the process of pouring sugar into the sugar bowl when Hanna staggered groggily into the kitchen, looking like someone who partied a little too hard the night before.

  “Morning, baby.” She stepped around the counter and hefted the girl up into her arms. She nuzzled Hanna’s warm cheek. “Sleep okay?”

  “Can I have cake?”

  “How about French toast?” she offered. “They’re cold, just the way you like them.”

  Hanna didn’t protest as Addy set her at the table. A plate of French toast was set before her, along with the syrup and powder
ed sugar. Addy left her there to finish brewing the tea.

  Laura arrived before her husband. She’d changed from the neat little dress suit into a pair of beige slacks and a cream colored sweater, and still somehow managed to appear regal.

  “Would you like this in the parlor?” Addy asked.

  Laura nodded. “That would be lovely.”

  Setting everything onto a silver tray, Addy led the way out of the kitchen and into the parlor. She organized everything on the coffee table and motioned Laura to pick a seat.

  “Please let me know if there’s anything else you might need.” Laura thanked her and Addy left. She passed Richard on her way back to the kitchen. “Your wife is in the parlor,” Addy told him, pointing the way.

  Richard smiled and moved past her.

  Toby didn’t return Sunday. Addy wasn’t sure why she felt disappointed when ten o’clock rolled around and still nothing. She made her way to bed, pausing only twice, both times to lock Hanna and Sean’s doors before doing the same to her own. Laura and Richard Charleston may have appeared like kind and decent people, but she knew all too well the mask people wore that only the very few were ever privy to. She knew the evil many carried inside and she wouldn’t let that evil touch her family. Maybe it made her paranoid and the wrong person to run an inn, but it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.

  Crawling into bed, she lay there, thinking of all the things that she would need to do the next morning, including her meeting with Willa McClain.

  It was five thirty in the morning when the lights broke through the paned windows at the front of the house and swept through the hallway. Addy, who’d been waiting with none existent patience for that moment, jolted despite having almost expected it. The coffee clasped between her palms sloshed, but remained in the confines of her mug. She set it down quickly, her nerves jittering like a teenager expecting a celebrity. Her anxious hands smoothed along the material of her long, pale sweater and black tights before she hurried at an almost run. She heard a car door slam and the disturbance of gravel beneath approaching feet. Then boots on the porch. She yanked the door open just as they stopped on the other side and her heart jumped at the breathtaking sight of him.

  Tall, dark, and rugged, he dominated her doorway in black denim and a leather jacket. His duffle hung at the side not gripping his cane. His blue eyes were piercing and hungry beneath the light she’d left on for him.

  “Hi.” Even to her own ears, she sounded weak and breathless.

  Toby’s features softened even while his eyes devoured her. “Hey.”

  She stepped aside to let him in. “How are you?”

  His cane thumped on hardwood as he eased past her and stopped. “Good.” He pivoted on his heel to face her as she shut the door behind him. His eyes raked over her in the shadows of the foyer. She felt the lingering caress straight through her clothes. “How are you?”

  Hot. So damn hot.

  “I’m all right,” she actually said. “The Charleston’s arrived on Friday. They’re nice.”

  “Yeah?” He bent his head to the side and regarded her. “You look tired.”

  Addy felt herself flush. “I don’t think you’re supposed to tell a woman that.”

  His answer was a quiet hum, then, “Let me put my bag away, then I’ll join you for coffee.”

  She didn’t stop him. She was too busy watching the graceful strain of his back as he lumbered away. The soft leather of his jacket rippled with his unhurried strides, moving with his broad shoulders. Her gaze traveled lower to his hips and thighs hugged by course pants. Aside from the limp, which never bothered her, his movement was powerful and strong. Confident. He was so confident. Such a drastic contrast to everything she was.

  She pried herself away from the foyer and hurried into the kitchen. She had his cup filled and placed in front of his normal stool by the time he joined her. Her own drink had grown cold, but she cradled it between her hands as a way to have something to do when he claimed the entire room with his presence.

  “All right.” Cane propped against the side of the counter, he pulled his drink close, closed both hands around it and peered at her over the rising steam. “First things first, did you miss me?”

  The question was so unexpected that she momentarily couldn’t think of anything to say. Then she found herself grinning and dropping her gaze.

  “No,” she lied.

  “So, you did,” he observed in that low murmur of his. “I tried to come back Sunday, but they wouldn’t let me leave. I was practically held hostage. They stole my cane.”

  Addy’s head jerked up, amusement gone. “What?”

  “The kids,” he clarified. “They were very adamant to keep me there.”

  “Oh, well, it’s good you stayed.”

  One forearm settled alongside his mug, fingers loosely balled and he leaned forward. His eyes seared into her.

  “I don’t think I would have minded half as much if you’d been there with me.”

  Her heart thumped in her chest as it always did when he said things like that, especially when it was said with that husky whisper that sent shivers along her spine. He was determined to make her surrender and she was so close to obeying.

  “Tell me about your weekend,” he coaxed when she could think of nothing to say.

  There really wasn’t much to tell. Like most of her guests, the Charleston’s didn’t stick around the inn. They left as soon as breakfast was finished and returned in time for supper. After supper, they had tea in the parlor before retiring to their room. So, Addy basically cooked and cleaned all weekend.

  “What about you?” she asked once her short and boring story was finished.

  Toby took a sip of his coffee before responding. “We went to the orchards in Newburry. The kids picked their own apples. They loved it, until Owen and Colten had an apple fight, which went really bad when an apple hit Rosie in the eye…”

  “Oh my God! Is she all right?”

  Toby nodded. “Yeah, they’re used to stuff like that. It’s not a family activity until someone comes home with a shiner.”

  Addy rocked her head side to side slowly. “Poor thing.”

  Toby lifted a shoulder. “But other than that, everyone had fun. We rented a cabin for the weekend and it had a dock so the kids took turns pitching each other into the pond. Now, Owen has the sniffles and Kari has a rash.”

  She couldn’t help it, Addy laughed. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh, but that sounds like a horrible family outing.”

  “Nah.” Toby chuckled. “That’s what makes it so great, all the things you can look back on later and laugh.” He paused. His chin lowered and he rapped his fingers lightly on the counter. “I, uh, I was thinking maybe next time Sean and Hanna might like to come.” He lifted his eyes to peer into her face through thick lashes. “I think they’d have a lot of fun.”

  “Oh!” She fought not to grimace. “I don’t know. You guys already sound like you have your hands full and—”

  “You’d come too,” he interrupted. “I wouldn’t leave you here alone.”

  “You want me to go on one of your family outings … with your family?”

  It baffled her which stunned her more, his offer to take the kids or his insistence that she come too. Both seemed equally concerning, especially since she was never any good in social situations. It was a flaw her mother had abhorred. Meeting new people always left her anxious and clammy. It made her trip over her tongue and fumble for chitchat. But meeting his family would be worse, because, lord help her but, she liked him. As wrong and selfish as it was. The thought of his family not liking her, made her nauseous.

  He lifted a careless shoulder. “Why not? There’s always room for more and…” He touched his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and her stomach fluttered. “I kind of want you there.”

  She couldn’t for the life of her figure out how he could be legit serious about this. Had he lost his mind? He barely knew her and meeting his family was such a huge
deal.

  “Toby…”

  “I know I said I’d wait and I’m trying, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to play fair. Besides.” He paused to offer her a smirk. “Think of the children. I really think Sean and Hanna will enjoy some of the outings.”

  They would love it. She knew they would. Being out in the middle of nowhere, away from their friends and classmates, away from most people, it was hard for them to socialize like normal children. She knew she was to blame for that. She kept them too sheltered, just in case they accidentally said something to the wrong person. It was wrong of her, but it was better than the alternative.

  “I’m not sure your parents will like that,” she hedged. “Two extra kids…”

  Toby snorted. “Are you kidding? Your kids will be a picnic compared to the others. They might actually adopt the pair.”

  Not sure what to say, she brought her mug to her lips. Seconds chipped away into minutes and the silence grew. Addy broke it.

  “I made strawberry cake yesterday for desert. Would you like a piece?”

  Toby visibly perked. “I never say no to dessert.”

  Snorting a quiet chuckle, Addy turned away. She grabbed the cake stand and brought it over. Most of it was gone from the night before, but there was enough for two. She cut it into equal halves and placed each one on a plate. She slid his over to him with a fork.

  “Willa’s coming over today,” she said as she lifted her own fork.

  Toby nodded. “She mentioned that.”

  Addy raised her eyes to his face. “Did she say why?”

  Again, he nodded. “Yeah, and I think it’s a great idea.”

  She lowered her hand before the prongs could cut into spongy cake. “You do?”

  “I do.” He chewed the piece in his mouth and swallowed before speaking again. “You’re a genius in the kitchen. Under The Willow would be lucky to have you.” He paused and peered at her. “Any reason you don’t think it’s a good idea?”