Once more, Jason had to drag his wandering thoughts away from Riki. He glanced at Charlie and started to get nervous. He didn’t know where to begin with his own daughter. He read her T-shirt and asked, “I see you’re the bat boy. Do you like it?”
Charlie simply stared at him, and he decided there was something weird about having your own eyes gaze at you. He took a deep breath. “Does Tiny always follow you around?” He caught the faintest glimmer of laughter in her eyes before she looked down at Tiny. When she returned her gaze to his, the emotion was gone. Her eyes were empty as before. Jason was trying to figure out why she was covering up her emotions when the noise of children banging down the stairs caught his attention.
One of the twins came running into the room at full speed with the other right on his heels, screaming, “Give me back my shirt.”
“It’s mine, you nerd.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
Jason wondered if he should intervene before they came to blows. He didn’t notice Pete and Jake enter the room.
“Dammit,” Pete said, “are you guys shouting or is this thing on the blink again?” He tapped his right ear.
“They are shouting, as usual,” Jake said. “You better not let Mom hear you cuss like that. You remember what happened the last time.” He chuckled.
“Mom, Mom, Pete’s cussing again.” Andrew, who had slipped into the room unnoticed, started clapping his hands, a gleeful expression on his face.
“Give me my shirt.”
“It isn’t yours.”
“Is too.”
“Damn, stop shouting.”
“Mom, Mom, Pete cussed again.”
“Shut up, Andrew.”
Jason stared at the boys, wondering what he should do in this madhouse. He glanced at Charlie to see her reaction. He wasn’t totally positive, but he believed a smile was beginning to form at the corners of her mouth. He was still looking at her when a naked body flew by.
“Billy-Jo,” Riki called from upstairs, “get back here. You are going to catch pneumonia.”
“Potty, potty,” Billy-Jo said, beaming.
“Does that mean she has to go?” Jason asked. He knew absolutely nothing about potty training.
“Naw,” Travis or Trevor said. “It means we all have to clap.”
Everyone except Charlie began clapping. Billy-Jo walked over to Charlie, stuck a thumb in her mouth, and waited. After a moment, Charlie patted her on top of her head and clapped.
It was the first time Jason had seen her show any emotion, and his heart seemed to clench. How long would it take her to show some emotion toward him?
Riki entered the room carrying clothes. “Billy-Jo, you are going to have to curb this desire to walk around the house naked within the next couple of years.”
She proceeded to dress Billy-Jo, and Jason couldn’t help staring at her. This was the mud ball from the back porch? If it weren’t for her voice and the emerald eyes, he wouldn’t believe it. She was the most adorable package of womanhood he had ever seen squeezed into jeans and a polo shirt. She wasn’t a classic beauty. She wasn’t tall and skinny. She was perfect. If she was five four she was lucky, and she wasn’t the least bit plump. She was a woman, soft and cuddly, her curves just where they should be, especially her derriere. Jason had always had a soft spot for that part of a woman’s anatomy. And if he kept watching, it wouldn’t be soft for long.
He shifted his gaze to safer territory. Her auburn hair tumbled below her shoulders, and the sun pouring in the window highlighted the red. She had a healthy complexion, the kind that said she spent a lot of time outdoors. His glance slid to her mouth-- perfect, sensual, exciting, kissable.
Riki glanced up and smiled. Jason felt his heart skip two beats, then it started in on double time.
“Mom,” Andrew said, “Pete was saying curses again.”
“Andrew, what have I told you about tattling?” Riki frowned at her son, then glanced at Pete. “Do you want to be punished again?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then you better not let me hear that kind of language again.” She stood up. “Okay, gang. I want all the dirty clothes out by the washer. You can go out to play, but this time keep out of the mud. Andrew, you stay in the yard. Billy-Jo, you can help Mommy with dinner. Mr. Nesbit, would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?”
“Okay, and the name’s Jason.”
“Only if you call me Riki.”
She led the way into a huge kitchen that had just about every modern convenience. There was a dishwasher, a microwave, and an assortment of small appliances that Jason didn’t recognize. A large pine picnic table sat in the middle of the room, with benches on either side and a chair at each end. Jason sat on one of the benches. Billy-Jo climbed up next to him and stuck her thumb in her mouth.
“Here, Mom,” Travis, or was that Trevor, said as he laid muddy jeans on top of the washer. The rest of the gang filed in and deposited their dirty clothes.
“Cookies are on the counter,” Riki said, “but only take two. Dinner won’t be that much longer.”
Jason noticed that not one of the kids took more than two cookies. When Charlie entered the room with Tiny, she took two cookies as well. She put one in her mouth and fed the other to Tiny.
Riki chuckled. “He’s going to get as fat as an elephant if you keep feeding him cookies, Charlie.”
Charlie glanced up at Riki. Jason guessed that was her way of showing she had heard and understood. He watched as she turned and left with Tiny.
Riki was measuring coffee into the drip coffee brewer when Billy-Jo said, “Cook, cook.”
“In a minute, darlin’. Let Mommy finish here first.”
“Would you like me to get them for you?” Jason asked. At Billy-Jo’s nod he got two cookies for her and handed them to her.
“You just made a friend for life,” Riki said as she set a cup of milk in front of Billy-Jo.
“I wish they were all that easy,” he muttered.
“I know it must be hard on you, but I believe this is the best way.” Riki smiled, trying to ease the strain.
“Okay, you’re the boss. What now?”
She handed him his coffee, then sat down across from him. “First, dinner. You are joining us, of course. The couple who live next door went away a few days ago. They’ve gone to stay with their daughter, who is going to have a baby any day now. They’ll be gone for two weeks or so. Anyway, I usually watch their house for them whenever they’re away. I explained the situation here and they agreed to allow you to sleep in their guest room while you’re here. You can join us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can virtually live here, except you have to sleep there.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do I have to sleep over there?”
Riki didn’t like that gleam in his eyes. “Because it wouldn’t be proper for you to sleep here.”
“Why? Do you attack strange men in the middle of the night?” Jason couldn’t help himself. She was actually blushing. He hadn’t seen a girl blush since high school.
“Of course not!” Riki was more angry at herself for getting flustered than at Jason for teasing her. He must think you’re a real country bumpkin, she told herself, blushing and stumbling over your own tongue. “Look, Jason, I’m in the process of trying to adopt Jake and Pete, and something I don’t need is gossip.”
“Why not Charlie or the others?”
“I always knew Charlie had a father somewhere. Even though it took so long to find you, I never got my hopes up. If you were dead and there was no family, I would have applied to adopt her too. As for the others, I don’t have to adopt them.”
“Thanks for wishing me dead, and why don’t you have to adopt the others?”
“They’re mine.”
He raised his brows. “All of them?”
She stiffened her shoulders. “There are only four.”
“Whoa, Mama Bear, I have nothing against four kids.
It’s just that you don’t look like you had four.”
“Right now I’m the mother of seven. Any complaints?”
“Not a one. I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t a good mother or anything. It’s just that you don’t look like my idea of a mother of seven.” He leered comically at her and proceeded to check out her body.
Riki could feel the blush starting at her neck. She quickly put her coffee cup down and stood. “Let’s go next door, and I’ll show you around.” Grabbing Billy-Jo’s hand, she headed for the back door.
. . .
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. . .
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Mysterious Page 16