by Lori Avocado
Lani’s heart twisted. His eyes dulled, and the way his lips held firmly, she knew he struggled to talk about it.
He sucked in a drag of the cigarette and blew a puff a smoke into the air.
How lucky Donna Hunter had been to have a husband like Nick. “You must have loved her very much.”
He nodded at her sincere words. The cigarette tasted worse than usual. He stubbed out the remainder in the ashtray on the railing. Having Lani standing there gave him a strange urge to throw the rest of the cigarettes into the river.
Looking at the speeding current, he remembered how many times he’d come to this cabin as a boy. And how his father and grandfather taught him to fish, hunt, and be a man. They never let him run from a challenge. Guilt had eaten away at him for the past two years, and he’d never had a reason to fight it.
Now he’d do something to change that. Glancing at Lani holding onto the railing, the wind fighting her blue ribbon to tousle a few strands of her hair, and her eyes sparkling in the winter sunlight, he shut his eyes.
He’d found a reason. And that reason was right here—within arm’s reach. Opening his eyes, he asked, “Hey, have you ever skipped rocks, Cabot?”
She gave him a questioning look. “Skipped rocks?”
“You know, across the water.” He jumped up and grabbed her hand. “The girls sleeping?”
“Yes.”
By the hesitant way she answered, he knew she thought he was going to remind her to be more responsible with them.
“Relax, Cabot. I know you’ve tucked them safely into their crib.”
Her smile sent his heart into a flutter. Hell, he felt excited as a teen on a first date. Pulling Lani down the steps and across the yard, he stopped at the bed of the river. He smiled to himself as she scanned both sides of the rushing current. There was no need to mention the bear incident, instead he let himself enjoy the memory of her bravery.
“Okay, find the flattest stones you can.”
Lani bent her knees and pushed her hand around a pile of small rocks. “Like these?”
Her voice came out as excited as a kid’s. “You sure you never skipped rocks before?”
“I didn’t have any brothers to show me.”
A fact he tucked away for later discussion. Suddenly, he wanted to know all about her. “Well, Cabot, consider yourself lucky. I happen to be the champion stone-skipper of 1983. Beat out a gang of ten other eight-year-old boys.”
Lani’s heart couldn’t slow at Nick’s excitement. The sparkle had returned to his eyes, and she forced any worry deep inside. She was going to enjoy skipping stones with Nick Hunter!
“Okay, hold one like this. You need a lot of wrist action.”
Nick leaned toward her and took her wrist. He moved it back and forth a few times as if to loosen her joint. “Maybe I need oiling.”
He laughed. “Hey, that wouldn’t be fair. Now on three…” He chuckled. “Let it fly!”
Lani followed Nick’s instructions. Her stone flew out of her hand, and plopped onto the ground at her feet. She looked at him.
His face reddened like a holly berry, and snickering seeped through his clenched lips.
“Let it out before you explode all over the woods.”
Nick hooted. “Look, you’re just not getting enough wrist action. Watch.”
She forced herself to study his hand, but her gaze kept climbing to his face. A smile had formed on his lips, and determination filled his eyes. The mountain winds sent his hair flailing about his head, now he looked like a wild Mountain Man—but a gorgeous one.
“You’re not paying attention, Cabot.”
Lani pulled her glance from his face in time to see Nick’s rock sail into the air and actually skipped, under the water, above the water, twice, then back under until it sunk near the other side. “I want to do that!”
“Don’t whine, Cabot. Flick your wrist with a snap.”
She squinted. “That sounds uncomfortable.”
“It won’t hurt.”
Lani picked up a flat stone. She held it like a Frisbee and summoning a dollop of energy, she threw the stone out with a snap of her wrist. It didn’t hurt. “Yes!” she shouted as her stone went over and under the water, even if only once.
“Good start.”
“How come mine stopped so fast?”
“I think the water’s too fast for a—”
“Beginner?” she finished.
“Let’s move downstream.” He placed an arm around her shoulder and guided her further down the river. Skipping stones was the first time he’d had any fun in his life for so long. Slowly, the guilt of how he’d hidden from his fears began to fade.
She stopped. “Not too far, in case the girls start to cry. I left the bedroom open a crack.”
Nick smiled. “Not too far. Hey, look!” He held out his hand.
At first Lani couldn’t see anything except his palm. “You want me to read that?”
“Don’t you see…”
He touched her beneath the chin and guided her face upward. “The first snowfall,” he whispered.
Like white rain the snow floated from the clouds, disappearing the second it hit the river. Glistening flakes worked their way through the trees to land on Lani’s face. Fragments of cold, dotted her cheeks, but sharing the first snowfall of the year with Nick warmed her to the core. Without a thought, she reached out her tongue and licked the snow from around her mouth.
“Allow me,” Nick whispered, leaning downward and running his tongue across her lips. With his kiss, he pulled her tight.
A shiver shook her body.
“You’re freezing.”
She knew the temperature outside had nothing to do with her body’s reaction.
“Want to go inside?”
“So you can be the reigning stone-skipper? Never! Come on, find me a calmer part to this water so I can have another chance.”
Nick’s laughter echoed through the trees. A hare darted from a nearby bush and the sound sent a flock of doves flapping into the air.
He placed a protective hold on Lani as he guided her a few feet down the river, but stayed within earshot of the cabin. As they rounded the curve near the back of the cabin, Lani felt Nick’s body tense.
He stopped, his face turned to the side.
“What’s wrong—” She didn’t need to finish her question. The river pooled in a much calmer area, like a cove of the ocean. The current had slowed to nearly a halt in this section.
Flakes of snow that had melted in the water a few hundred yards above this area glistened in the sunlight—on top of the partially frozen water.
Chapter Eleven
Nick pulled Lani so tight, she winced. But she’d put up with any amount of discomfort as long as he held her.
“It’ll still take several days, before the ice is safe to walk across, and that only if the temperature stays low,” he said.
Several days. Lani’s heart sank. In a short time, they’d have to leave Nick’s cabin—Nick’s life.
Nick eased her away and held her by the shoulders. He had to force himself to smile, there wasn’t much time left. It’d felt so good to enjoy life again, now the freezing water would be a reminder that his old life, his life alone, would soon be back. He wanted to spend every minute they had left together. “When the girls wake, let’s take them out in the snow!”
“But I don’t have any snowsuits for them.”
“Hm, there must be something we can rig up.”
She wanted to mention his “diaper” invention, but smiled to herself instead. He didn’t seem the type to take or need compliments.
“Come on. Let’s go look around the cabin.”
They walked arm in arm toward the cabin. Lani looked at the sun’s rays highlighted on the yellowed logs of the cabin. Knots on the wood stuck out like blemishes on the skin, but just like Nick, the cabin had a beautiful interior. Of course, his physical exterior wasn’t blemished, only roughened by his past.
Nick
pulled old coats, hats, and gloves out of the closet in the spare room Lani had been using. “Everything is too big. We’ll have to cut up something to fit the girls.”
“I hate for you to do that.” She held up a green wool coat. It looked like a woman’s coat, but she didn’t want to mention it, in case it had been his wife’s. “These things are too nice to cut up. We need something waterproof and able to keep the snow off the girls, and it’ll have to be warm—”
“Like fur!”
“Since when do one-year-old babies need fur?”
“Since it’ll work perfect,” he said, pulling her out of the room, down the hall, despite her verbal protests, and into the living room.
Lani paused, her eyes widened. “Oh…I couldn’t let you…no, Nick, that’s your trophy.”
Nick held up the bear rug.
Actually, he looked comical as if he were about to put it over his head like a costume and try to scare her. Her pulse started a gallop, but she halted it, realizing her childhood fears were in the past. She knew her father’s stories had been made-up to entertain a child, and he never intended to scare her as he had. She never told him about the fears he’d caused, and now she was glad. Daddy would have felt horrible knowing he’d scared her like that. But Nick taught her if she respected the bears and left them alone, there was no reason to have a phobia about the animal—especially one that was a rug.
He held the bear toward her. “Feel it.”
Cautiously, Lani ran her hand across the fur. So soft, and it had to be very warm. The animal was huge. Nick must be a good shot. The fact he was willing to cut up his trophy for her and the girls touched her. “It feels great, but you can’t destroy something you’ve had for so long—”
“The girls need it.”
He’d already placed it on the couch and headed down the hall. Before Lani could follow, he came out of the bathroom with the scissors.
“I peeked in, the girls are snoozing, no problem.” He grabbed the fur and held it up. “I have no idea where to start.”
Lani laughed. “The only sewing experience I’ve ever had was in home economics in high school, and far as I remember, we never made fur snowsuits.” Nick’s chuckle made her heart skip a few beats then settle into a rhythmic pattern as she enjoyed the moment.
“How hard could this be?” He held up the bear rug, turned it sideways, and turned it again.
“Maybe a fur poncho. Then we can tie something around them to hold it. I’ve got warm sweaters and pants for them to wear underneath.”
Alexa’s cry of I want out of this crib wailed down the hallway.
“Here, you cut, I’ll get the girls,” Nick said, handing her the scissors on his way out.
Lani held the scissors near the fur. She couldn’t force herself to make the first cut. He could have found some old clothes around the cabin, but he hadn’t. Her heart did a somersault as she steadied her hand and grabbed the fur. With the first cut, she heard Nick shout, “Hurry up, Cabot, the snow’s piling up.” Pausing the scissors for a moment, Lani laughed at how Nick reminded her of an excited little boy who’d learned there was no school today because of the snow.
****
Alexa toddled in the yard, with Ana cruising along on the fence, tree stump, and anything she could hold onto. Lani smiled at how adorable they looked in their black fur ponchos. Nick insisted Lani put wool hats on them, even if they nearly covered their entire faces. Each girl had on mittens that were way too big, but she’d taped the wool around their wrists, careful not to pull too tight, and now their hands would stay warm.
Tears of joy welled in her eyes, but she held them back. The temperature was too cold to cry outside. She settled for enjoying the moment of watching her daughters and spending time with Nick. As she bent to fix the strap on Nick’s spare climbing boots that he’d lent her, something cold and wet thudded her behind. She flung around to get slammed in the stomach with a Nick Hunter snowball. “Hey, no fair. I’m not armed!”
“Hunter’s property, Hunter’s rules, Cabot,” he teased, landing one on her arm.
“Okay, Hunter, but I was snowball queen back in the day.”
Nick snickered and pelted a sloppy ball of cold on her cheek.
Icy water slid down her neck. She gasped, bent down, grabbed a handful, and rolled as fast as she could work in Nick’s gloves, then hurled a snowball the size of a grapefruit at him.
He ducked.
“Oh you!” She worked faster, but he propelled the icy balls at her quicker than she could roll them. Frozen ice gathered at her neckline, chilling her to the bone, but she couldn’t care less. Lani was having a ball—a snowball fight with Nick and she loved it!
Nick scooped up Ana as Lani took aim.
She glared. “No fair using a minor for protection.”
He ran like a quarterback, holding a giggling Ana under his arm.
Alexa tried to follow, but stumbled in her unsteady gait. Lifting her face full of snow from the ground, she howled.
Nick and Lani laughed as she scooped up Alexa. “Too cold, sweetie?” Wiping the baby’s face, she kissed her cold nose.
A healthy pink dotted both girls’ cheeks. They were enjoying the snow, too. How wonderful to be so carefree and not have any worries. If only she could forget that the time soon approached when they’d have to leave. She watched Nick run around the yard carrying Ana, then switch and do the same with Alexa.
Not surprisingly, Alexa squealed and wiggled out of Nick’s arms.
Lani knew holding her daughter back was going to be tough now that she’d mastered walking so fast. Ana gave Nick a pleading look from her perch near the fence.
Nick lifted Ana and pulled her toward him. “Maybe they are getting too cold. Shall we take them in?”
Lani hated to leave. If ever it felt as if they were a family, the time was now. How she didn’t want this moment to pass. But she didn’t want the girls getting sick either. “I guess we should.”
When Lani returned from taking turns changing the girls into dry clothes, she paused in the doorway of the living room.
Nick had the fire blazing, and he knelt near the hearth, stoking the logs.
She studied his firm back, strong arms, and what a darn good job she’d done on his haircut. The brown strands still touched the nape of his neck and the style was characteristically Nick—shaggy, but not unkempt. She forced a deep breath and continued into the room.
Nick turned and smiled. “Everyone all dry?”
“As the proverbial bone.” She set the girls in the playpen and watched them grab for their favorite toys. Alexa stuck a small ball under a block and babbled toward Nick who came forward. Lani sat on the couch watching.
“Okay, Lex, let me see.” He ran his fingers across his chin as if making a life and death decision. When he lifted the block, Alexa’s eyes grew round as saucers and she beamed then to Lani’s dismay, her daughter blew a huge, wet bubble that broke all over her chin.
Nick grabbed a tissue from the nearby shelf and wiped her face.
Lani marveled that he’d done it so unconsciously. Obviously, a drooling, bubbling baby didn’t bother him. She had to stop trying to be so perfect with the girls.
“My turn, kiddo.” He took the same red block and a blue one and covered the ball with the blue one.
Alexa pondered the dilemma. Before Lani could wonder which she’d choose, she scooped up the blue one and squealed. Obviously, she and Nick had played this game before.
After several games of blocks with Alexa and rolling the ball to Ana, Nick finally gave the girls each a tweak on their cheeks and came to sit on the couch near Lani. Without a word, he put an arm around her.
She sighed. Peaceful. This was so darn peaceful.
“I haven’t enjoyed snow in a long time,” Nick said.
Lani felt a pang of sorrow for Nick, but she didn’t want to say anything to dampen the mood. “I agree. Usually, I regret the snow, with having to drive and go to work. But this has been wonderful.”
She settled back into the crook of Nick’s arm. With a gentle hug, he managed to send her body into a spin of heat. The fire crackled a few feet away, but she knew she’d feel just as warm if they were standing outdoors in the snow.
“The kids sure have come into their own lately,” he said.
“Yes, thanks to you.” She smiled.
He tensed then relaxed. “I’m guessing their old lady had something to do with it, too.”
She slapped him on the chest. “Old lady indeed.”
Nick chuckled and then nuzzled behind Lani’s ear. “You know you have a way of making my shampoo smell terrific.”
She laughed. “Well, it wasn’t my first choice, but since Hotel Hunter didn’t come equipped with my brand, it had to do.” She leaned her head to the side to allow him better access. Shutting her eyes, she enjoyed Nick’s breath tickling her skin and his soft moans against her ear. With an extra deep breath, she inhaled his familiar musky scent.
Ana started a string of babble, followed by Alexa trying to outdo her sister.
“Hm, my girls may be trying to tell me something,” Lani teased as she eased away from Nick.
He wrinkled his forehead playfully when he looked toward the girls. “All right, ladies, I won’t ravish your mother right here in the living room.” He gave Lani a quick peck to her cheek. “Although I’d like to,” he whispered in a wicked voice. He stood and went to stoke the fire.
Lani forced a deep breath. She shared Nick’s desire, but he had been right. Having the girls in the cabin didn’t help. They were like two tiny reminders of her morality and that she and Nick weren’t married. He obviously loved children—and she could never give him any of his own.
Lani felt Nick’s finger tilt her chin upward. “Hey, what thought took that sparkle from your eyes?”
Of course she couldn’t tell him what she’d been thinking so she told a little white lie. “I guess the fire’s made me a little sleepy.” She forced a yawn and by the scrutinizing look Nick gave her, he didn’t buy it. But he also didn’t force the issue.
“Then you need some stimulation.”
She raised her eyebrow as he pulled her to stand.
“Not that kind, Cabot. Come on.”