Beginnings

by Bernadette Marie

  "It's the norm to them. Don't forget."

  She let that ease her. "I never thought of that. Is that what kind of parents they were?"

  "Hands on all the time. My uncle, on the other hand, uninvolved with all of his children. Mostly with Bethany, but yeah, with all of them."

  She understood that too well. Her children would have a story like that, and didn't that just rip her up inside?

  "I want to get your parents something as a thanks for tonight. Aside from having the most amazing time, they gave my children a night they won't soon forget."

  "You don't have to get them anything. They enjoyed themselves as much as the kids did."

  "Nope," she argued. "It's not how I work."

  "Then come back out tomorrow. Bring some more flowers for her garden. I'll make sure the kids get to see my place. I can't let my parents outdo me when it comes to impressing your kids."

  "Tomorrow?" She choked out the word.

  "Unless you don't want to drive that far. I get it. If not, I'll come there, if you want to see me."

  God, she hoped she didn't sound as if she didn't. She wanted that more than anything. "What time should we be there?"

  The sigh he gave over the phone let her know he was worried she'd turn him down. "Anytime."

  "We'll try to be there around eleven. That way I can stop by the nursery."

  "Sounds perfect. Do the kids like hamburgers?"

  "I've never seen them turn one down."

  "Good. We'll have an impromptu barbecue. Susan brought me some potato salad, and some brownies from a catering gig."

  "Sounds like she takes good care of you."

  "It's because of her I don't starve."

  "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

  "Hey, Nichole," he called out before she said goodbye. "I had the most magnificent time today. I just wanted you to know."

  She could feel tears stinging in her throat just thinking about how wonderful it had been, and it wasn't just because the sex was good. Did he feel as emotional as she did over it? "I did too."

  "I'll see you tomorrow."

  She sat there a moment longer, holding the phone in her hand and thinking of his voice now, the deep masculine tone. She knew she'd better think about what she was doing real hard, because in one fell swoop she could lose control of her common sense. Her little family came long before an affair with a man she couldn't shake from her mind. And even though she'd known him for six months, she didn't know him at all.

  What she did know was how he made her feel, in her heart and in her body. It rocked her even as she sat there on her bed naked while the shower ran in the other room.

  Nichole tossed the phone on the bed, and walked to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She stepped into the shower and let the warm water soothe her. She might not know Ben Walker very well, but she knew he was a family man. Walkers understood that family came first. She could buy into that.

  She tipped her head under the spray of the shower head. She knew that she had fallen in with good people. If she was going to continue this relationship with Ben, there was going to have to be some give-and-take, but she knew he understood that. Ben's work was important to him, as hers was. At this point, the only thing standing in their way was the price of gas.

  She laughed as she pumped shampoo into her hand. What a silly thing to hold back what might be an amazing relationship.

  22

  Ben had been up since four o'clock. Most Sunday mornings he was able to sleep in just a little bit. There were enough people on the land that they could all take turns getting up early in the morning. But on this particular Sunday, he was wide awake.

  As the sun came up and gave him the light he needed, he finished fixing the fence out in the pasture after turning off his headlights, which had been aiding him before the sun. After all, since he was up he might as well get a head start on some of the chores for the next week.

  He supposed his restless night had something to do with the guests he was going to have today, and the guest he'd had yesterday. There was no way to get her out of his mind. When he'd gone to bed last night, he could smell her on his sheets. That alone, he figured, accounted for most of his restlessness.

  He was looking forward to having the kids at his house. And that, too, was something he never thought he'd say. He didn't have any toys. He didn't have a swing set. Heck, he hardly had any trees around.

  If they got bored and began to complain, he figured they'd find something to do. After all, if his parents could entertain five little kids all day long, he could do it for a few hours.

  Once the fence was fixed, Ben headed back home. He looked around the tiny little house. It certainly was less than homey. In fact, it was downright dull. Perhaps he should think about some paint for the walls, at least for now. Furniture and decor wasn't his forte, but he had enough women in his family that did that for a living. He was sure they'd come to help the cause when the time was right.

  It was close to noon when he heard the sound of tires on the road. He walked out, in his bare feet, to his porch and watched as her car pulled up to his house.

  The moment he saw her his heart began to flutter. He had never had that happen with another person.

  She stepped out of the car in a yellow sundress. The color made her glow.

  Nichole gave him a little wave and moved to open the back door. A moment later one of the boys jumped out, and he realized from that far he had no idea which one.

  As she unbuckled the other two, the first boy walked up towards him and showed him an action figure. "Have you seen the new Spider-Man toy?" Wyatt asked.

  Ben smiled as Wyatt walked up the steps toward him. "Nope. It's been a while since I've cruised through the toy aisle. Show me what he's got."

  As Wyatt showed him all the features of the toy, he saw Zane running up behind his brother. "Mom let us each get one. I got Superman."

  Zane shook his head. "Superman is a wuss."

  "And Spider-Man is stupid," Wyatt retorted.

  The argument made Ben chuckle, but he listened intently to what the boys had to say. He hadn't even noticed that Laura had climbed up the stairs all by herself and was pushing her way through the brothers.

  She held out her toy to him and just smiled. "And you got Wonder Woman?" Ben asked as Laura nodded wide-eyed. "I think she's awesome."

  Laura agreed again with a nod and turned around to bash Wonder Woman into Wyatt's Spider-Man.

  "Hey," Wyatt whined.

  Nichole set her hand on his shoulder. "She is just trying to play with you. That's how she sees you play. You guys bash things all the time."

  Wyatt studied Wonder Woman very carefully for a moment. Then, Spider-Man seemed to snatch her up and take off with her. Laura squealed angrily for one moment, and then realized it was part of the game. She took off after Wyatt and Zane and Superman chased after them. The giggles began, and he noticed that Nichole eased.

  Rising to meet her, he took her hand. He wanted to scoop her up and place a kiss on her lips, but not with the kids around. This was new to them.

  "I'm glad you came out."

  "So am I," she said. "We stopped by your parents' house first and took your mother the plants. Of course, she wanted the kids to help replant them. So that's why it took a little longer."

  "Had I known that I would've met you down there."

  "It was fine. But I will warn you, they're pretty hungry."

  Keeping her hand tucked into his, he led her into the house to gather the items they would need to cook lunch.

  The kids had run around the yard, and around the house, while he and Nichole grilled hamburgers. He'd found some Oreo cookies in the cupboard, and so they'd wrapped up their lunch with dessert.

  Before they could clean up, the boys had announced that they were bored.

  "How about we go on a scavenger hunt?" Ben suggested.

  Wyatt's head bobbed up at the sound of it. "What kind of scavenger hunt?"

  "We'll go on a
walk, and I'll tell you things to find."

  Wyatt considered for a moment. "Do we get to keep the things we find?"

  Ben laughed. "I guess that'll be up to your mother."

  Nichole shook her head more as a sigh than a no. "Let's see what you collect first."

  Ben stood from his seat. "Okay, the first thing you have to find, are the three silver pails in the shed."

  Without another word, all three of the kids started for the building just outback. Laura made some kind of squealing, that he assumed meant for them to wait for her, but the boys went on.

  "I should go with them," Nichole said. "I don't want them to get hurt."

  "I set it up so that the buckets were right in front of the door. They'll be okay for two seconds."

  "I'm always going to worry."

  "And so you should," he said as he moved toward her. "We'll go find the rest of the items with them, but I wanted two seconds to kiss you."

  She smiled as he leaned in and touched his lips to hers. It wasn't enough, but he'd take it and be happy with it for now.

  Just as he stepped back, he heard the distinct sound of buckets being carried.

  "Found it," Laura said holding up her bucket.

  "You sure did. Let's go for a walk."

  * * *

  Nichole was impressed. Ben had set up the entire scavenger hunt. He'd given them each items to find along their walk and to put in their pockets. They were simple items, things he probably dug out of that shed and hid on the trail.

  But he taught them things as well. If it was a minute piece to some of the equipment on the ranch, he told what it was for. There were seeds for a garden, and he told him to take them home and plant them. Heck, he'd even had wrapped candies.

  He loaded them all into the pickup, all five of them on the bench seat, and drove over the hill to the barn. They met the horses, and Wyatt was brave enough even to feed one. Laura was thrilled to find out that Eric and Susan had goats, so they went to visit the goats.

  Now, as Nichole pulled into her driveway, she reminisced about what a wonderful day they had had. Some men might do this just to impress the kids, without actually liking them. But she knew better than that. Ben had a genuine interest in them. If he didn't, he wouldn't have stayed all night and helped her when they were sick. He wouldn't have taught them things along their walk. And he certainly wouldn't have driven all the way to Eric's house just so that Laura could see the goat when she found out they had one. No, he was taking his time with them because he cared.

  As the evening progressed, all of the kids got showers after dinner. Any last-minute homework that they had forgotten to tell her about was handled. And because they seemed up to the task, the boys helped situate their lunch for the next morning.

  She had tucked Laura into bed, read her a story, and kissed her on the cheek as she walked out. Zane and Wyatt were supposed to be reading in their beds, but she could hear the whispers.

  "Okay, boys. Let's get settled down and go to sleep."

  She picked up the dirty clothes that they had scattered on the floor and a couple of toys that hadn't made it back to the box. However, she couldn't help but notice that whatever they had been chatting about was still in the air.

  She pulled up a chair and set it between the beds, much like she used to do when she would read them bedtime stories. "What are you boys discussing?"

  Neither seemed to want to be the first to say anything, so she sat there and eyed each of them carefully. "Wyatt, why don't you tell me what you guys are talking about."

  His face grew tight, and she watched as he mulled around whatever it could be in his little mind. Seriously, were they worried about the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches she said she was going to make for lunch tomorrow?

  "We want to know if you're going to marry Ben."

  The comment knocked the wind right out of her. She hadn't expected that to be their thought at all.

  "Why do you think that?"

  "Because men and women who are friends get married."

  Nichole nodded thoughtfully. "Well, men and women can be friends without getting married."

  "Yeah, but at Miss Audrey's wedding you caught the flowers, and he caught that band thing."

  Nichole nodded again, trying to keep her wits about her. "You're right. But that is just tradition, and it doesn't mean anything."

  Zane sat up in his bed and crossed his arms in front of him. His brows drew together. "What's wrong with marrying Ben? Don't you like him?"

  Nichole crossed her legs and clasped her hands in her lap. "Of course I like Ben. That's why we've been spending time with him. Don't you like him?"

  "Yeah, we like him a lot," Zane told her. "So it's okay with us if you want to marry him."

  Trying to keep her face looking calm, and her hand stilled because they were shaking, she smiled. "Well, that's not something we have talked about. But I will keep it in mind because it means a lot to me to have your blessing."

  Now Wyatt sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "If you haven't talked about marrying Ben, why did you kiss him?"

  The calm exterior shattered and she knew she had to look mortified. "You saw me kiss Ben?"

  Both boys nodded.

  She drew in a deep breath. "It just so happens that Ben and I like each other a lot. We're friends, and we haven't talked about getting married."

  "Why not?" Wyatt asked.

  "Because all of this is new, sweetheart. I didn't know I liked him this way."

  Zane moved to hang his legs over the side of his bed, too. "Does that mean Ben is your boyfriend?"

  The thought about what they had done the day before definitely secured the boyfriend situation. And, hadn't he said she was his girlfriend when they'd made out on the couch? The very thought humored her.

  "Yes, I would say he is my boyfriend."

  The boys exchanged glances. "So, maybe if you keep liking him, you will get married?"

  "Maybe," she said easily.

  "So Ben could be our new dad?" Zane continued to ask questions.

  "You have a daddy," she said, reminding them.

  Wyatt fidgeted with his sheet. "I don't think he likes us. He doesn’t want to be with us. So we just wanted to tell you that it's okay if we get a new daddy."

  Still trying to keep the calm exterior, Nichole processed what they told her. "Okay, I'll remember that. And you'll be the first to know if things go that direction with Ben and me."

  Both boys nodded and climbed back onto their sheets. Whatever she had said to them seemed to suffice their curiosity. She, on the other hand, was a mess now.

  She replaced the chair in the corner and tucked each boy in leaving a loud, noisy kiss on each of their foreheads. As she walked out of the bedroom, she shut the door.

  The moment she walked into her bedroom, she fell to her bed, pressing her hands to her jittery belly. Was this the direction all of this was going? Here she was afraid she would break her little kids' hearts by being involved with the man. Now she was afraid to break their hearts if she didn't follow through.

  This was going to take a lot of thought. She had to decide if she should let Ben in on the secret.

  23

  The decision had been not to tell Ben about the conversation with the boys. Nichole couldn't even imagine how she would bring it up.

  "Oh hey, we just started dating, slept together once, and now my boys want us to get married. You don't mind, do you?" She played the situation in her head.

  No, it wasn't worth talking about.

  She pushed the grocery cart through the store, Laura happily kicking her legs into Nichole's belly from her perched seat. This was normal, Nichole wrapped her head around that. Mondays with Laura grocery shopping, washing the car, vacuuming the house, and normal things that people did on their day off.

  It already saddened her to think that next year Laura would go to preschool. A few years later she would go to kindergarten. And then just like that she’d be in school all th
e time. She hadn’t gone through withdrawals with the boys quite as much, because of Laura. But she was going to be devastated when her baby girl grew up.

  For some reason, it surprised her when she ran into Lydia at the store. It never occurred to her that the woman would actually be in a grocery store. Wasn't she too busy to eat food? Or at least eat food that perhaps she prepared herself?

  "Oh my goodness, look how big you are getting," Lydia said to Laura and Laura lit up. "I saw her at the street fair. How big has she gotten in those few weeks?"

  And just like that, Nichole's fears were validated. "I don't know, but she's already outgrowing her 2T's and moving into the next size. And of course, I didn't keep many of the boys' hand-me-downs, because they were wild things," she said matter-of-factly.

  "I think the best part about having a little girl would be dressing her. All those frilly dresses and hair accessories." Lydia raked her fingers through her short crop of hair. "Not that I ever had many hair accessories mind you. But I do think they're pretty."

  "I'll let you come over when you're ready to dress little girls. We'll see in the end if you still find it as fun," Nichole joked, knowing that Laura would rather run around naked than put on a dress.

  "I always figured I'd be better off with little boys if I ever had some. I seem to think that way. Though little girls are pretty," she said tapping Laura's nose and sending Laura into giggles. "So, you know, since I have you here alone, I have to ask how your date went with Ben at his house."

  Oh, there was no way in hell she was going to share gossip with Lydia in the middle of the grocery store. And, for now, what they did on their date was going to be her secret. "On Saturday we all went out there, but his parents took the kids and Russell's kids and had a play date. They went on wagon rides, made s'mores, and learned how to make pigs in a blanket. Which reminds me, I need crescent rolls."

  Lydia continued to stare. "Right, crescent rolls. Okay, so what did you and Ben do?"