“Might be a good incentive for Charlene to want them.” Luke curled a hand over her shoulder. Beneath his fingers, he felt a tenseness that contradicted her calm expression. He didn’t bother to mouth words that she shouldn’t worry. He knew better now. He’d done that before when they’d waited silently together, counting the seconds ticking by as their tiny daughter fought for her life. “We’ll see Harry-” He stopped as a blood-curdling scream rang in the air.
On his heels, Val dashed from the kitchen to see Brooke plopped on the floor in the foyer, tears running down her cheeks while she hugged her knee. Seeing no blood, Val felt her heart slow a couple of beats. Even before she dropped beside Brooke, she’d quickly surmised the injury as nothing more than a scrape. The moment she cuddled Brooke in her arms, her wailing stopped.
“Ow-ee,” she insisted on a sniff.
Luke brushed a thumb across her cheek to dry a tear. “We’d better get a bandage for that. A glow-inthe-dark one,” he suggested.
On another sniff, she nodded her head, obviously satisfied with his remedy.
Val left him doctoring and wandered back to the kitchen. Hazy sunlight streamed through the lacy curtain. She wanted to believe Charlene had no rights, but she had read about too many custody battles between biological and adoptive parents. She and Luke weren’t the adoptive parents, only guardians, and Charlene hadn’t given birth to the twins. But to the court, if Charlene was serious, Val knew she and Luke would be in a battle between strangers and a blood relative. Strangers, by court standards, seemed the losers lately.
Val pulled the sink plug and listened to water gurgling down the drain. None of it made sense to her. Who loved them, who’d be best for them, was all that should have mattered. The twins deserved to be raised by parents who cared about their scraped knees, who share their disappointments and happiness. Who didn’t care if there was one dollar or a hundred thousand dollars in a trust fund for them.
“I bet you have things to do,” Luke said unexpectedly from behind her. “I have a few appointments this afternoon but I’m free until we see Harry later. What if I play Mr. Mom?”
He was worried about her, Val realized. Nerves frayed, she was grateful for his suggestion. It might help if she concentrated on the overload of work she’d brought home from the office. “How can I refuse such an offer?”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, but Luke said nothing. Peace of mind wasn’t something another person could supply.
For the next hour he spent time with the girls at the park. They raced from the swings to the teeter-totter to the slide, back to the teeter-totter, then the swings. He gave Val credit. Watching them was a full-time job.
Because of the appointment with Harry, Luke planned to feed the girls an early lunch. The moment they entered the kitchen, Traci plopped on the floor to bang on pots. More interested in food, Brooke stayed close. Luke pulled a stool over to the counter and set her beside him. As he spread peanut butter on bread, she swiped a finger at it. “Want jelly on this?”
“No,” she mumbled while licking her finger.
He couldn’t resist a tease. “What about on this?” he asked, grabbing the sticky finger.
“No!”
“Okay. One stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth sandwich coming up.”
“No!”
Ignoring what he’d learned was her favorite word, Luke cut the sandwich into quarters.
“No!” she bellowed as he lifted her down from the stool.
“Lunch isn’t going to be peaceful,” Luke mumbled to the air. Not to be bested by a two year old, he crouched and whispered into Brooke’s ear.
Docilely she let him sit her in her high chair and began eating her sandwich. In the other high chair, Traci greeted his lunch with total disgust, placing a hand to her head and pursing her lips until he handed her a banana. Luke decided whatever order she ate everything was fine with him, just so long as she ate.
Having played audience to the scene, Val would have been impressed with his parental persuasion if she hadn’t thought he’d done something sneaky. “Do you have a secret?” she asked.
“A little one. I’ve promised to be the guest at a tea party,” he said, watching her smile grow with his explanation.
Through lunch, the twins babbled in a language meant for interpretation only by other two-year-olds.
As Traci stuck a finger in her mouth and scraped at the sandwich clinging to the roof of it, Val poured her a glass of milk. “Why didn’t you put jelly on the sandwiches?”
The edge of amusement in her voice relaxed him. She’s dealing with this mess, Luke believed. He saw no reason why they should have to worry. They were back together, who could prove anything had ever been wrong? “They didn’t want it,” he answered.
She thought he needed some advice to survive fatherhood. “They don’t want a lot of things. Just put it on next time,” she said low in his ear before lifting an impatient Brooke from her high chair.
What did he know? He was still new at this.
Chapter Nine
On the way to Harry’s office, Luke and Val dropped the girls off at the library.
Waiting for them, Val’s grandfather took each twin’s hand. “Don’t worry,” he said to Val before he led the girls to the library’s storytelling area set up for preschoolers.
The moment Val stepped outside again, she gave up on the smile she’d plastered on her face for her grandfather.
Luke offered what sounded like a lame assurance to his own ears. “Harry will help us.” Reaching for her hand, he was surprised at how icy it felt.
With effort, Val worked up a weak smile because she knew he wanted to see it. “I know he will. I’m all right.”
Luke wondered if that was true. She was a nurturing person, one who spent hours with the flowers in her garden, freeing them of weeds. She’d always wanted children. Even before they were married, she’d told him that she thought being a mother was the most special job in the world. She’d already lost once. He wasn’t certain how she’d handle losing again.
When Luke followed her into the office at twelvethirty, she was already engaged in conversation with the receptionist, an ex-girlfriend of Luke’s and now the mother of three. She beamed at them as she asked about the twins.
Val heard herself answering but couldn’t recall what she said. Nerves on edge, she laced her fingers together. At the opening of Harry’s office door, she jerked forward in her haste.
In the doorway, he placed a fatherly hand on her shoulder. “You look like you could use some coffee.”
“No, I really don’t want any.” Val crossed the plush beige carpeting to reach one of the leather chairs in front of his desk.
“Lucas?”
Luke didn’t miss Harry’s sympathetic expression. No amount of compassion would help, Luke wanted to say. Just help us keep those girls. “Me, either, Harry. Thanks.” Because he felt an urge to pace, when he’d settled on a chair, he deliberately stretched out his legs.
Rounding his desk, Harry snatched up a manila folder. “Obviously you both want me to get to the matter at hand,” he said, sitting.
Val did her best to respond to his smile. “We’re concerned, Harry,” she said with a quietness that amazed her.
“That’s understandable. Before all you had to do was satisfy the court. Joe Dawson’s cousin causes some complications if she challenges your guardian ship.”
“So how do we challenge back?” Luke pressed his point. “All of this is because he got the family business and she got nothing. Can we emphasize that to the judge?”
“We could try to prove what you’re saying, but frankly, I believe it would be impossible.”
“Everything belongs to them, no one else,” Luke said heatedly.
“Easy, Lucas,” Harry soothed, making Luke aware of how riled he sounded. “We have a lot in our favor. You and Valerie are well thought of in the community. Financially you’re in an excellent position to raise the twins, and have not seemed interested i
n their inheritance.”
“We aren’t,” Val insisted. “We don’t even care about any of that.”
Harry softened his voice. “I know.”
Val forced herself to relax and lean back in the chair. She needed to stay calm through all of this.
“Also,” Harry went on, “the court would look favorably on the fact that Lucas is a doctor. And your marriage is stable.” He smiled. “In fact, it’s considered one of the best in town. That’s the most important factor because Joe and Carrie specifically insisted on your having a solid marriage.”
Val willed herself not to look at Luke. What if others learned that it hadn’t been so solid, that they’d considered divorce? Was he wondering the same thing right now?
“However, I have to warn both of you. You’re going to be asked some discomforting questions.”
Tightly, Val gripped the strap of her shoulder bag. “Such as?” Instead of immediately answering her, Harry pushed away from his desk and stood. Val’s stomach clenched. Was he stalling or hesitant? What was so difficult for him to say?
“Harry, what is it?” Luke asked, growing impatient.
When he dragged a chair closer to them, Val sensed their friend, not their lawyer, now sat in front of them. “You may be asked about Kelly.”
Luke hadn’t expected this. “What kind of questions?”
Harry glanced at Val before answering him. “How she died.”
“You know that. She was born with a heart valve defect.” Val fought to sound steady. “The doctors said they could operate, but it was risky because Kelly was too young and too weak. And within hours of her birth, she died.” It took effort, but Val managed to ask the question nagging her since he’d mentioned Kelly. “Why would they want to know any of that?”
“Valerie, I’m sorry if this is upsetting, but you need to be prepared.”
“Please answer me. Why would they ask about Kelly?”
“If Charlene does contest your guardianship, her lawyer is going to look for reasons, not why she should have them, but why you shouldn’t. Such as, are the twins a substitute for the daughter you lost?”
Val stifled a moan. “Oh, this is incredible. No. You know that isn’t true. You know that Luke and I aren’t the kind of people who wouldn’t value each child for herself. We even talked about having another child.”
Some of the tension tightening Harry’s features softened. “Is that right? That’s good.” He rose to return to his chair behind the desk. “It means you were ready to go on with your lives, to start a family again.”
Val met Luke’s gaze and silently pleaded with him not to mention that she’d refused when he’d suggested having another baby. “The twins really aren’t a substitute for Kelly,” she said as much to assure him as Harry.
“I believed that to be true, but you have to know the direction of the questions you’ll be asked.” He suddenly chuckled as if he felt foolish. “No affairs?”
Luke felt a rarely seen temper rising. “Come on, Harry. You know both of us better than that.”
“I had to ask, Lucas. I don’t want any surprises in court.” Harry closed the manila folder containing his notes. “Okay, if neither of you feel that we’ll have some bombshell dropped on us, then I guess we’re ready for Charlene and her lawyer. Instead of attacking Charlene, I believe we should point out how right you both are for them. Chances are you should get the twins. It’s what their parents wanted. We’ll emphasize that. We’ll mention your positions in the community, the stability of your marriage, your desire for a family,” he said, and swiveled his wing-armed chair away from the desk.
Luke took Harry’s cue and rose. At Val’s movement beside him, he sidled close to her. Placing his hand at the small of her back, he listened to Harry’s final words about presenting them as the town’s model couple. Beneath his fingers, Luke felt her spine straighten as if she were fighting not to slouch beneath some burden. The same burden, no doubt, that was suddenly weighing him down. What if the court learned they’d been on the verge of divorce? No matter what their relationship was now, that they’d considered divorce meant their marriage wasn’t so perfect.
Quietness accompanied their drive to the library. When the twins were in their car seats, Traci chattered away about a book with a horsey while Brooke sucked on her afternoon bottle.
Because Luke had been so silent, Val deliberately forced some inconsequential conversation. “I’ll take the car,” she said. “I told your mother I’d stop at the hotel and tell her what happened.”
“She’ll want to know,” Luke murmured, trying to snap himself from thoughts that harbored a future of trouble. Glancing at his rearview mirror, he saw Brooke swinging her bottle. “Val, you’d better take that from her before she bops Traci with it.”
Only a second passed, no more, before Val looked over her shoulder. Quicker than seemed possible, Brooke tossed the bottle out the window. “Oh.” Val felt a laugh bubble up. “Luke, you have to stop.”
He swiveled a questioning look at her. “What?”
“Brooke threw her bottle out the window.”
“Bad Brooke,” her twin announced, wagging her finger at her sister.
“Be quiet,” Brooke screeched at an ear-piercing level.
“Brooke, be quiet,” Traci yelled equally as loud.
Val hushed both of them while Luke hustled out of the car, mumbling under his breath. Watching him cautiously inch his way down an embankment to retrieve the bottle, she thought about parents gushing over sweet little babies who cooed softly and demanded nothing but a dry diaper and a bottle. She and Luke had caught only glimpses of that stage with the twins when they visited Joe and Carrie. That was the easy time, she decided. What they were doing was a lot tougher. They were raising two children, dealing with their tantrums and stubbornness. She viewed all that as a passing phase. She looked past the little squabbles about possession of toys. Too many other times they revealed a loving and warmth with each other, or for no reason at all, they’d climb on Luke’s or her lap for a hug. They were sweet and caring. They were all that she’d longed for.
By the time Luke slid behind the steering wheel, Val had quieted the girls. Still solemn-looking, he handed her the bottle coated with dirt, then twisted around toward Brooke.
“Me sorry.” Her bottom lip trembling, she looked like she’d burst into tears if he looked at her the wrong way.
Emotions high already, Val felt a tug that threatened tears as he leaned back toward Brooke.
Her arms flung around his neck, and she smacked a kiss on his cheek, close to his eye. “Love you.”
Luke took a moment to wiggle fingers and stir her giggle. He’d failed one child. He wouldn’t make the same mistake with another. “And I love you.”
“Traci, too,” Traci piped in, eager to get in on the game.
“Both of you,” he said, stretching to tickle a sensitive spot on her kneecap.
Val felt a catch in her heart. They had to keep the girls. Being a parent had nothing to do with conception. Willingly they weathered good and bad moments with the girls for one reason, the only reason that mattered-they loved them, and Joe and Carrie had believed they were the best ones to raise and care for the girls. Surely the court would see that.
She held on to that thought while driving to the hotel after dropping Lucas at his office. Tucking small, warm hands in her own, she led the girls into the hotel lobby.
The instant they entered, Irene skirted the registration desk to meet them. “Where’s my kiss?” she asked brightly and knelt for a hug. Over their heads, she sent Val a concerned look, then stood. “Come with me.” She took the twins to a room adjacent to the lobby that seemed to exist for one reason-the big screen television.
While they watched an afternoon cartoon, Val summarized the meeting with Harry.
The line between Irene’s brows deepened with her frown. “Well, Charlene won’t get much support from anyone around here.” As the twins wandered over, Irene spoke softly, “Don
’t worry. My son has always fought for what he wanted. Even as a boy, whenever he wanted something, no matter how many difficulties were in his way, he’d face them head-on. Lucas never gave up.”
No, he didn’t, Val reminded herself. He’d been the one who’d insisted Kelly would be all right until all hope had been gone.
“Let me take the twins home with me,” Irene said, cutting into Val’s thought. “I’ll bring them over later.”
Val considered a few errands she needed to make. “I haven’t seen Faith in a while, and I did want to stop at her shop.”
“Then, go.”
A few minutes later, dangling a bag from Homer’s Shoe Repair, Val ambled over to the Baby Boutique. In the display window with its soft pink lights, Faith had arranged several jumpers and toddler play clothes.
Val strolled to the door and saw the Closed sign. Rarely did Faith close the shop in the middle of the day. Was she ill? And even if she wasn’t feeling well, she had a part-time helper. Where was Beth?
Concerned suddenly for her friend, she decided to play sleuth. She drove down Lee Street then made a few right turns to reach the street where Faith lived. Not seeing her friend’s car in the driveway, Val drove toward home to make a few phone calls.
Keeping his mind on work hadn’t been easy. Luke ushered Sue Ellen toward the door that led to the reception area of his office. “You’d feel better if you got more sleep,” he said, offering the diner owner his usual advice.
Her heavily made-up eyes smiled at him. “You always say that.”
“And you don’t listen.”
She sighed exaggeratingly. “I’ll try.”
Luke pivoted back to his examining room. Since he’d arrived at the office, he’d assured Minny that she didn’t have some exotic disease on her big toe and he’d given the Duran’s one-year-old son an immunization shot.
Before he left for the day, he whipped X rays from an envelope to check the healing process of an elevenyear-old’s broken arm.
Married...With Twins! Page 12