by Jane Toombs
But the thought of Dan maybe having had to relive his past troubled her. She’d felt bad enough having to tell Ken she couldn’t marry him. How much worse it would have been to marry someone and then realize you shouldn’t have.
Two flutes of champagne banished her temporary depression. Next to the bridal couple she spotted a young woman who, from her resemblance to Nell, must be Jo. She introduced herself and Dan.
Glasses covered Jo’s beautiful green eyes. Fay classified her looks as about average until she smiled and her whole face lit up.
“What a marvelous smile you have,” she said.
“Thanks. People often mention that,” Jo said, “so I figure it must be my best feature. The trouble comes when I don’t feel like smiling. There I am, deprived of my best feature.”
Dan grinned at Jo. “Think of it this way. Without your dazzling smile to distract them, people can begin to appreciate the rest of you.”
As Fay watched Jo respond to the compliment, she felt a sudden heaviness in her chest. Was he attracted to Jo? Almost immediately she was ashamed of herself. Dan was just being friendly. Wasn’t he?
The band started playing, the music from her father and Nell’s era, and Dan whirled her off to dance. Once again in his arms, where she belonged, Fay forgot about Jo. “Think they’ll play a waltz?” she asked.
“I hate to think of what might happen if they do.”
Into the next number, though, she began to regret the second flute of champagne. She’d never been much of a drinker and, apparently, two was one too many for her. Her discomfort grew until she excused herself to go to the ladies’ room and bolted from the dance floor. She made it just in time and promptly threw up. Not long after, feeling somewhat better, she washed her face, applied new makeup and went back to the party.
She smiled as she spotted her father and Nell dancing while they gazed into each other’s eyes. An older man, Oscar Miles, she’d been introduced to earlier, came up and asked her to dance. Since she hadn’t yet located Dan, she agreed, not wanting to seem stand-offish at her father’s wedding reception.
Oscar proved to be a Fred Astaire wannabe and she found it hard to keep up with his intricate and fancy steps. During a particularly difficult sequence, she happened to notice Dan dancing with Jo, both of them laughing, apparently intent on each other. Her concentration broken, she stumbled, slipped and started to fall. Oscar’s quick grab saved her, but in the process she twisted her ankle and he had to help her off the floor.
He led her to a chair and found a footstool for her to rest her injured leg on. “Shall I call someone?” he asked.
“No, no, I’ll be fine,” she assured him. He kept hovering over her until she said, “Really, I’m okay, I just need to rest for a bit.” She managed a smile and made a shooing motion with her hand. “You don’t need to stay with me.”
He finally left her alone. She sat there, her ankle throbbing, feeling sorry for herself and angry at Dan. She wouldn’t have stumbled if she hadn’t seen him so cozy with Jo. After a time, she recognized what she was feeling. Good grief—jealousy. Fay Merriweather, who had never cared enough about any man to be jealous, was jealous.
Eventually her father and Nell found her. Looking at her ankle, now somewhat swollen, Nell said, “Goodness, that must hurt. Would you like us to take you to the emergency room?”
Fay shook her head. “I twisted my ankle, but I’m sure I didn’t break anything. I’ve got one of those elastic bandages at home. If I put ice on it and then the bandage, I’ll be all right.”
“Then we’ll take you home.”
“And miss your own reception? Certainly not.”
“I’ll get Dan to do the honors,” her father said.
“Oh, no, I—” Fay began, but her father was already striding away.
“Dan has been so nice to Jo,” Nell said. “She doesn’t know many people here and he’s been taking her around and introducing her.”
And dancing and laughing with her. Fay thought.
“He really is a good-hearted man,” Nell added.
But he’s mine, Fay wanted to say. Which wasn’t really true. Not when he seemed to prefer the wicked stepsister. She sighed. Unfair. Jo wasn’t wicked. What woman could resist being charmed by Dan?
Her father returned, Dan in tow.
“What happened to you?” Dan asked, peering at her ankle.
“I twisted it.”
“Ice is the answer,” he said. “Give me the keys to your car.”
Fay handed over her car keys and he gave them to her dad. “You and Nell can get Fay’s car back to her after the reception is over. I’ll drive her home in mine.”
Her father clapped Dan on the back. “Good idea.”
“Say goodbye to Jo for me,” Dan told Nell. With that, he scooped Fay up in his arms and carried her from the hall.
His car was near the entrance and he eased her into the front seat. She waited until he got in and started the engine before saying, “Thanks. I’m sorry I interrupted your fun.”
He shot her a puzzled look.
“Actually,” she went on, “you could have had Jo drive my car and follow you over to my place so she wouldn’t get lost. Then you could’ve taken her back to the reception with you and you wouldn’t have had to say goodbye to her.”
“What’s wrong with my arrangement?”
“Nothing, but—”
He interrupted. “Never mind, I get it. I don’t understand why, but this is about Jo, isn’t it?”
“I’m not jealous!”
“Whoa. No one accused you of that.”
Fay knew she should leave well enough alone, but she couldn’t. “The two of you seemed to be having a good time, that’s all.”
He didn’t answer. They drove in silence while she tried and failed to think of what else to say. Nothing came to mind, probably because she’d said too much already.
Dan used his cell phone to call Clara and alert her, so that she was ready to open the door when she saw the car drive up and Dan lift Fay out. He carried her in and deposited her on the couch.
“My, my, what a shame,” Clara said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Ice for Fay’s ankle,” Dan told her.
“I have just the thing—one of those old-fashioned ice bags. I’ll fetch it.”
While he waited, he checked on Marie, who was asleep in her crib. “The baby’s fine,” he told Fay, who nodded in response.
This wasn’t how he’d envisioned the post-reception. An injured, unhappy Fay. And unreasonable? As far as he was concerned, yes. What had he done other than dance with Jo? He’d wanted to get to know her a little since she was now Fay’s stepsister.
Clara came back with the filled ice bag, wrapped a hand towel around Fay’s ankle and applied the bag. “I put coconut drops in the cookie jar,” she told them. “And there’s coffee waiting.”
“You’re a dear,” Fay said. “Thanks for everything.”
“You be sure to give me a ring if you need anything. Promise me you will.”
Fay nodded to relieve Clara’s mind.
“I’ll just run along, then.”
Once Clara had gone, Fay said to Dan, “You can run along, too. I’ll be fine.”
He frowned. “But I’m not a dear. That it?”
Fay bit her lip. “Sorry. I’m grateful you took the trouble to bring me home.”
“Grateful but teed off?”
“I hate being clumsy.”
He stared down at her. “Who doesn’t? Be honest. What’s bugging you has nothing to do with clumsiness.”
She wouldn’t look at him.
“If you’re waiting for an apology from me,” he said, “you may as well give it up.”
That got to her. She glared up at him. “Maybe if you got me some aspirin, I’d feel better.”
“Glad to. But if that’s meant to make me feel guilty because I’m ignoring your pain, forget it. Pain isn’t what the problem is, either.” Leaving her with that,
Dan went into the bathroom and checked the medicine cabinet over the sink. He removed two pills from the bottle, poured a paper cup of water and came back to the couch.
Fay downed the pills, handed him back the empty cup and sighed. “I’m really mad at myself,” she confessed. “Jealousy is an ugly emotion.”
“Tell me. I’ve suffered a few slugs of it myself.”
“Over Jean?”
He shook his head. “Over you. Totally unreasonable, but there it is.”
Her eyes widened. “But I’ve never done—” She broke off. “I get the point. You’ve never done anything, either, not really.”
He smiled at her, pulled a chair close to the couch and sat down. “I figured on a wild and passionate reunion, but I’ll settle for this.” Leaning over, he gave her a sweet and tender kiss.
“That qualifies you for dear,” she murmured.
“I’ll stay the night in case you need me to fetch the baby or whatever. Like the cabin, except I’ll be the one on the couch.”
“I wanted the wild and passionate, too,” she admitted. “I missed you.”
“Yeah, it’s no fun hanging out with a cop.”
“Oh, come on, we’ve had lots of fun.”
“Tell me you weren’t angry when I didn’t call you for two weeks.”
She sighed. “I thought you’d given up on us.”
“We’ve barely gotten started.”
“Yes, but…” Her words trailed off. She’d been about to reveal too much and she didn’t want to go that route.
“I think I’m beginning to understand what Jean must have felt.” After a beat she added, “Not that I feel the way she did.”
He ran the back of his hand along her cheek. “Try to remember I like what I do.”
His words lingered in her mind long after he’d settled himself onto the couch, but it was his touch that she carried into her dreams.
Chapter Fourteen
When Fay woke on Sunday morning and tried to stand up, she had to bite back a scream. No way could she walk on her left leg. She hopped to the bathroom on the right leg, then retreated back to bed. Dan fixed her breakfast and served her in bed.
“I called in, hoping I could take some time off,” he told her. “No go. We’ve got a break in the case they need me to follow up on right away. So I called your dad. He and Nell are coming over to help out.”
“Thanks. If this blasted ankle didn’t hurt so much, I’d let you know exactly how much I appreciate your tender care.”
He gave her a lingering kiss, said, “I’ll take a rain check,” and was gone.
Her father arrived soon after, bringing Jo in to say goodbye.
“My mother’s waiting in the car to take me to the airport to catch my flight back to Chicago,” Jo said, “so we don’t have time to talk. I do hope we can find that time someday soon. Sorry about your accident.” She flashed her transforming smile at Fay. “You know, I never expected to have a stepsister.” She looked down at the baby sleeping in the cradle. “What a sweetie. And to think she’s my niece. I’m really thrilled about being an aunt. I warn you, I’m planning to spoil her.”
“Every child needs an aunt,” Fay said. “Danny Marie is lucky to have you.” She smiled at Jo. “Like you, I’ve never had a sister until now. We’ll have to find out what it really means.”
Jo nodded, hugged her and hurried out, leaving Fay regretting her unreasonable jealousy all over again. She liked what she’d seen of Jo and really was looking forward to getting better acquainted.
Nell returned, and with her help and her father’s, Fay got through Sunday, but knew she would have to call her client and cancel Monday. And also have her doctor take a look at the ankle.
As she’d suspected, there was no break. “What you’re experiencing is the normal healing process,” Dr. Morse told her. “Stay off the ankle as much as possible.”
Fay discussed this and the proposed New York trip with her father and Nell while they drove her back from the doctor’s office. Her father was all for her staying off work for the rest of the week, which she refused to do. But, providing her ankle improved by then, they offered to take care of Danny Marie so she could make the New York trip at the end of August.
“It’s so lucky we had to delay our honeymoon cruise until mid-September,” Nell said. “How awful if we’d been gone and you had to struggle through this alone.”
“I don’t think I ever realized how to appreciate family,” Fay confessed.
Her dad smiled at her. “Never too late. And this way we get to see a lot of that grandbaby of mine.”
“Of ours,” Nell corrected. “I’m her Nana, you know.”
So Nell was, Fay realized. Danny Marie was lucky to have both a grandmother and grandfather. Her only ones, since neither of Ken’s parents were alive.
Fay realized because of Dan’s case, chances were he wouldn’t be able to come and stay the night, so before her dad left that evening, she had him move the cradle back beside her bed. Nell stacked some diapers and wipes on the dresser so she could tend the baby in the night without having to go as far as the nursery.
Her dad alerted Clara who promised to be on call and to come in and check on Fay in the morning.
Before Fay fell asleep, Dan called her on her cell phone. “How’re you doing?” he asked.
“Dad and Nell have everything arranged so I can get through the night okay,” she told him. “And Clara’s ready to pop over if I need anything.”
“I wish I could be with you.”
So did she. “I’m doing fine,” she insisted, then told him what the doctor had said. “In no time at all I’ll be as good as new.”
But in the morning when she tried to put weight on her left leg, she realized it might take longer than she thought. She was glad to have Nell and her dad’s help. Though she did manage to drive to work on Wednesday, her ankle was really aching by the time she got home.
Dan came by briefly on Thursday, long enough for a hug and kiss, but couldn’t stay. “I’ll try to make it Sunday,” he told her, “but don’t count on it. We’re about to wrap up a case.”
Somehow she got through Friday and the weekend. Though Nell and her dad came by every day, Dan was tied up all of Sunday. When he arrived just after nine that night, she threw her arms around him, kissing him enthusiastically.
“I do appreciate a warm welcome,” he told her as he reluctantly let her go.
“Can you stay?” she asked.
“Would I have let you go if I could?” Maybe they had time for a quickie, but he wanted more with Fay. Needed more.
As they moved into the living room, he watched her limp along, trying not to put too much weight on her leg and said, “Going to take more time than you thought, right?”
She sighed. “Looks that way. But at least the swelling’s gone down.”
The baby wailed. “She’s in the cradle in the bedroom,” Fay said as he headed for the nursery. He turned about-face and located the baby.
“Dan’s here, everything’s right and tight,” he told her as he lifted her from the cradle. She stopped crying to stare at him. “You do know me, don’t you?” he said. “I guess maybe you like old Dan.” Warmed by the thought as well as the welcome weight of the baby in his arms, he smiled as he carried her to Fay.
To his surprise, she said, “You can feed her. She’s been on formula for almost a week now and is doing great. I was warming a bottle in the kitchen when you came.”
“No more nursing?”
“The doctor gave me some medicine to make the milk dry up. In a way it’s a relief. Nursing gets to be a hazard when the baby gets teeth.”
“Never thought of that.” He retrieved the bottle from the warmer and sat next to Fay on the couch.
It felt so right to be here, feeding Marie, with Fay beside him that Dan eased back and relaxed, something he hadn’t had much time to do lately. “Don’t let me fall asleep,” he said, “I can’t stay long.”
“I was hoping…” Her w
ords trailed off.
What he read in her eyes made his groin tighten. “Me, too. Maybe next week. I’ve got a rain check to collect, among other things.”
“That rain check and—” she gestured at her ankle, “is all because of that second glass of champagne at the reception.”
He raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“It made me sick, so I had to leave you. By the time I came back to the dance floor you weren’t around and Oscar asked me to dance.”
“Who’s he?”
“Just call him a reincarnated Fred Astaire who kept me hopping to figure out his fancy steps. Then you danced by with Jo and you both were laughing. I forgot to concentrate on my feet and stumbled. Pseudo-Fred kept me from falling, but not from twisting my ankle. You know the rest.”
He chuckled.
“It’s not funny,” she insisted, but he saw she was smiling. After a moment, she added, “About next week. Tomorrow, I’m flying to New York with my client and his wife. A business trip for us, shopping for her. I won’t be back until late Thursday afternoon.”
He frowned. “With that ankle?”
“The client’s wife gave me a practical present. A cane. It does help.”
“Damn the cane. Why the hell did you agree to go when you barely can walk?”
She sat up straight. “I know what I’m doing. I can—oops, look, she’s spit the nipple out. Time to burp her.”
His beeper went off. “Looks like you’ll have to finish up.” He handed the baby to Fay and rose. “Have to head out.”
“Will I see you on Thursday?”
“I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know. You know I’ll be here if I can.” Turning, he walked to the front door and let himself out.
As he strode to his car, he muttered to himself about stubborn women who thought getting ahead topped every other thing in life. What the devil am I doing with a woman like that, anyway? he asked himself.
Because you know damn well there’s no one like Fay, the voice in his head told him. No one even comes close.
The next day, as Fay limped aboard the jet, she admitted to herself that Dan had a point. Still, it was none of his business what she chose to do. This was an important meeting for her client and he needed her there.