When the kiss wound down—slowly, lingering, leaving no doubts in his mind that Round Two would more than make up for the morning—she pulled back ever so slightly and smiled.
“So how did it feel to be back at the dairy?”
“Not as good as this.” His hand traveled slowly down her back. How many hours until night? “But yeah. It was almost like I’d never been gone.”
“That must have made it easier.” She peeked at Cady, busy dropping one Cheerio at a time to the floor, shook her head and returned her focus to him. “Speaking of which...was Carter there?”
“Maybe. I didn’t see him.” Was it his imagination, or did she have some kind of bee in her bonnet about him and Carter? “Darce, we’re okay. It’s gonna be awkward for a while, but we’ll get through it.”
“But shouldn’t you—”
“Listen to me.” He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers—a much more attractive activity than talking about his brother. “You don’t have siblings, so you might not get this, but believe me, we’ll muddle through. It’s going to take time, that’s all.”
“I don’t know, Ian. Something like this goes way beyond, you know, stealing your toy when you were a kid. Taylor was your fiancée. You were engaged to be married. Don’t you need to—”
“No. We don’t need to do anything except keep moving forward.” After all, that had worked when it came to getting over Taylor. It would work this time, too. “Did you and Xander have a chance to go over things?”
She gave his arms a quick squeeze as she slid out of them. “A bit,” she called as she knelt to gather Cheerios. “Mostly we talked about Cady. I don’t want to go into specifics with him until I get some legal advice, you know?”
That made sense.
So why did he get the feeling she was holding back?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IAN STAYED DOWNSTAIRS when Darcy took Cady up for a nap—partly because Darcy said she needed to work, mostly because he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to take advantage of a sleeping child, a quiet afternoon and an empty bed.
Tonight, North.
He’d brought work. He had a book. He could simply go outside with his sandwich and park his ass on the picnic table and watch the river for a while. He had plenty of things to do, and all of them appealed. Yeah, they would be better with Darcy at his side, but...
Xander ambled into the kitchen, caught sight of him and hesitated.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Ian returned cautiously. Xander didn’t seem like his usual laid-back self. There was an edge about him—almost as though he was braced for attack. From Ian, if the sidelong glances being shot his way were any indication.
Huh.
“How was the walk?”
“Fine.” Xander opened the fridge and bent to peer inside. “She tried to jump in the water, but I stopped her. Thought it might still be too cold for her.”
“Thanks.”
Something was up, that was for sure. Xander was awfully intent on staring at the bottles of ketchup and mustard. Ian wasn’t in any hurry to be best buds with Xander again, but he didn’t want to—
Oh, hell.
Every time it had been just them, Ian had gone on the offensive against Xander. True, the first time had been because Xander was demanding Lulu, and the second time, well, he had needed to see for himself that Xander had Cady’s best interests at heart. But was it any surprise Xander was hiding in the fridge?
You know, there was a time when you would have invited me in and we could have talked this out over a beer...
Yeah. There had been a time when that’s exactly what would have happened. Ian had been so busy defending what was his that he hadn’t given much thought to Xander. Understandable at the time, but was that really how he wanted to go forward?
More important, was that what he wanted Darcy to see?
He was the one who had known Xander for years. He was the one who’d lived with the guy. Yet here he was keeping him at arm’s length while telling Darcy it was okay to trust her baby to him.
It was time to put the caveman to rest.
“Hey. Xander.”
Xander’s shoulders tensed as he raised his head. Ian pulled the fridge door open.
“While you’re in there, why don’t you grab us a couple of beers?”
The quick light of gratitude that flashed across Xander’s face made Ian feel like a first-class heel.
“Come on.” He nodded toward the door. “It’s sunny and the rest of the world is working. Let’s sit outside and throw sticks for Lulu and make fun of all the slobs stuck in offices.”
Which was exactly what they did.
There were more than a few false starts as they talked, more than a few topics that neither of them chose to address. But after a while it got easier. Stories from their university days turned into “Hey, did you hear what Mark is up to these days?” Which turned into Ian sharing tales of his work in Tanzania.
The laughs grew more frequent as the food and beer disappeared. When Darcy texted to say that Cady was awake and they wanted to go sightseeing, Ian was amazed to realize that a couple hours had passed.
This, he knew, was the best way to help Darcy adjust to Xander’s presence in their lives. Not by telling her it would be okay, but by showing her.
“So Darce wants to go into town, walk around.” Ian shoved the phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath. “You want to come along?”
“Sure.” This time when Xander hesitated, it was without the defensiveness that had been there earlier. “Listen, Ian. I’ve been thinking. Darcy said something this morning about you showing her how to take care of Cady. Not just the diapers and stuff, but how to be a mom.”
He shrugged. “It was easier than she makes it sound. She knew what to do. She was just scared to do it.”
“Yeah, well, she sure seems to appreciate it. But I was thinking...she’s right. You’re good at this, and you and Cady have something special. I thought, maybe, you could give me a hand, too. Teach me how to be a dad.”
But I’m her dad.
The thought was so sudden, so strong, that it felt as though someone had yanked the picnic table out from beneath him. He wasn’t Cady’s dad. He knew that.
But for the first time he admitted that part of him was always going to wish he had been the one home that night Darcy had come knocking. Which meant that—damn—Moxie’s line about protecting his family might have hit a lot closer to the mark than he wished.
No wonder Darcy wanted to slow things down.
“And something else,” Xander continued. “The thing is I don’t... I’m not an idiot, Ian. No one held a gun to my head to make me do the things I did. I don’t want to screw up again, but I know things won’t be easy. I could use a hand. I need someone who can see through my bullshit and yank me back if I start to screw up.”
The meaning behind the words sank in slowly.
“You want me to be like what they have in Alcoholics Anonymous? Your sponsor? Mentor?”
Xander shrugged. “Friend sounds good to me.”
Oh, hell. Xander thought Ian was going to be in Stratford. He assumed Ian was going to be a permanent part of Cady’s and Darcy’s lives.
What was that line about tangled webs when you deceive?
At heart Xander was a decent guy. He was probably a lot like Darcy had been about Cady. All he would need was a good word, a reminder that, yeah, you’ve got this. It would be complicated with Ian here and Xander in cottage country and Darcy and Cady in Stratford, but those were details. Darcy always said the details were the easiest part.
He could do this.
“Sure, Xander.” He pushed off the table and stood. “Friends it is.”
* * *
DARCY HAD BEEN upstairs for maybe twenty minutes when she heard the unmistakable sound of a doorbell. Not a problem, except half-asleep Cady heard it, too, and started to whimper.
Damn it. She’d heard voices a few minutes e
arlier from down below and had peeked out the window in time to see Ian, Xander and Lulu headed to the river. They wouldn’t hear the bell. And if whoever it was rang again, that would be the end of nap time.
She gave Cady a quick pat on the back, slipped out of the room and ran down the stairs as fast as her bare feet would carry her. She made it to the front door just in time to stop Taylor from hitting the bell again.
“Hi!” Taylor stood on the front step with a shopping bag at her feet and a bright smile on her face that faded quickly as her gaze ran over a slightly panting Darcy. “Oops. Did I drag you away from something?”
“Nothing exciting, trust me. But I just put Cady down. She can sleep through the bell at home no problem, but this one is different, so...”
“Got it. I’m sorry. Will she be okay?”
“I hope so. Did you need something?”
“Officially, I don’t have your phone number, so I’m running here on my lunch hour to ask if you would like to help tomorrow when we make the desserts for the party. Unofficially—” she lifted the bag, sending the scent of something hot and delicious wafting through the air “—I’m here to ply you with food and get advice on surviving early pregnancy.”
Darcy was pretty sure there was another agenda at play, and she wouldn’t be at all surprised if it involved Ian and/or Carter. But her own lunch had been a scoop of peanut butter while dodging Cheerios, and her mouth was watering, and maybe she could weasel some information out of Taylor.
“Consider me plied. Let me run upstairs and grab the monitor.”
“I’ll meet you in the kitchen. Unless...” Taylor glanced over her shoulder. “I thought Ian would still be at the dairy, but I see his car.”
Yep. This was definitely more than a getting-to-know-you call.
“He’s outside with Xander. If we open the door, we could see them from the table, right?”
“You catch on quick.”
“Motherhood lesson one, learn to think on your feet.”
She padded back upstairs, peeked in on Cady—asleep, yes—and took a minute to run a comb through her hair and check her makeup. Did she believe Ian was over Taylor? Absolutely. Did some small part of her still wish she had pulled on something other than capris and a T-shirt proclaiming Shakespeare as her homeboy? Maybe.
Taylor had pulled cartons from the bag and was setting plates and utensils on the table when Darcy returned.
“I didn’t know what you would like and I can’t tell what’s going to sit well these days, so I bought half the items on the menu.”
No kidding. The table was covered.
“But we’ve got caprese salad, grilled artichoke and chicken sandwiches, minestrone, a Monte Cristo and some quiche tarts. And I will tell you right now I’m calling dibs on the caramelized onion one.”
“Fair enough.” Darcy grabbed a piece of the monte cristo—when was the last time she had one of those?—made sure she had a good view of Ian and sat down.
On the other side of the table, Taylor forked up quiche and moaned.
“Oh, God. This is good. Everything tastes so gross right now, but this...this is working.”
“How far along are you?”
“Seven weeks,” Taylor said, and launched into a long list of her symptoms, her excitement and her plans for the nursery. Darcy figured her job was to listen, nod and keep an eye out for interlopers. She could do that.
“So.” Taylor licked her finger and pressed it to the crumbs clinging to the side of the foil container. “Has Comeback Cove changed much since you were a kid?”
“I haven’t seen a lot of it yet, so I can’t really say.”
“Has Ian talked you into moving up here yet?”
Ah, now they were getting somewhere. “Nope.”
“Oh. I thought, maybe... It’s just that he looks so happy now.”
Considering that the last real time Taylor had seen him she’d been busy breaking his heart, that was no surprise.
“And seeing him with Cady, even though I know things are complicated with Xander and all, it’s so clear that Ian worships the ground she walks on.” Taylor plucked a cherry tomato from the caprese salad. “He was so eager to have kids. I used to joke that he wanted to be a father more than he wanted to be a husband.”
“Well, that gave you a nice out, didn’t it?”
Too late, Darcy slapped her hand over her mouth. Oh, crap.
“I’m sorry, I—”
Hang on. Why was she apologizing? Okay, yes, the comment had been rude. And yes, she was lying to his entire family. But compared to what Taylor and Carter had done...?
“I’m sorry for the way that came out.” She made herself meet Taylor’s gaze. “But I refuse to apologize for the sentiment behind it.”
Taylor’s cheeks reddened and her eyes grew wide, but after a moment’s hesitation, she gave a slow nod. “I guess I can’t fault you for that.”
Damn straight.
“Look, Taylor. Ian told me how things played out. I understand that it was a lousy situation all around, and I do believe that everyone tried their hardest to avoid hurting him. But it still sucked. And even though I know that I wouldn’t be here right now if you hadn’t ditched him, part of me is still coming to grips with how badly he was treated. Especially by his own brother.”
Taylor’s eyes were wide but she managed a nod.
“I guess I don’t have to wonder about hidden meanings behind things you say.”
“Actually, I’m not usually this blunt.” Darcy dished up some soup. “The weirdest thing is that even though I’m kind of furious with you, at another level it’s like you do seem nice and I really do believe you tried to keep things from blowing up the way they did.”
Taylor tipped her head the slightest bit sideways and seemed to be taking Darcy’s measure. The tiniest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“You know what’s even stranger? I think I understand. Perfectly.”
“Well, thank God one of us does, because right now I have this strange empathy for Dr. Jekyll.”
Taylor burst into laughter.
“Oh, Darcy. I’m so glad Ian found you, because I think you’re exactly what he needs.”
Was she? Darcy didn’t dare think about it. Everything was still so new and raw, and she was so rattled by what she may have stumbled over while talking to Xander that at that moment the only certainty was that if she didn’t stop inhaling the soup, she would throw up.
Well, there was one other thing.
“Actually,” she said, shoving the bowl aside, “there’s something I think he needs even more. And you’re just the person to help me.”
Taylor glanced out the door. “Let me guess. You think he and Carter need to sit down and talk about what happened once and for all.”
The part of her that liked Taylor smiled in relief.
“Exactly. Ian says it’s fine. He’s over it. He’s over you—oops, no offense intended—”
“Not to worry. That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
“And he keeps saying this is just what families do. They carry on and let time pass and then it’s fine. I’m sure he’s right about that working for most things, but my gut tells me this is bigger.”
“I’m with you.” Taylor eyed the remaining quiche before pushing it away. “Carter hasn’t said much, but I think he would like to get this out in the open. It probably would be okay eventually, but my guess is that it will be a whole lot better a whole lot faster if they can just be honest with each other.”
The mention of honesty made Darcy glance away. How would Taylor feel when she found out she’d been opening up to a woman who was pretending to be something she wasn’t?
Taylor continued, “What Ian probably hasn’t told you is that he and Carter were really close. They weren’t just brothers. They were friends. Ian lost a lot when everything fell apart, and, honestly, I think that losing me was the easiest part of all for him.”
“I agree. Again, no offense
intended.”
“None taken.” Taylor leaned forward in her chair. “Darcy, I’m going to go out on a limb here. Do you think it would be wrong if we—”
“If we orchestrated something to get them alone together?”
“You read my mind.”
Darcy’s pulse kicked up a bit. Did she have the right to do this? Heaven only knew. She wasn’t really Ian’s girlfriend, though the title was feeling less like a pretense with every kiss. Her own family life hadn’t qualified her to give advice to anyone else, especially since Xander’s arrival.
But she knew Ian. So much of what she had seen in him since he’d moved in made heartbreaking sense now that she knew the truth. The way he always chose his words carefully when he spoke of his family, the fact that he had never mentioned Carter’s name, the way he stared wistfully at young brothers squabbling when they went to the playground—it all fit now. She was the only one who knew that side of him.
And at the core of it, she was his friend.
She checked the door once more and leaned forward.
“Tell me what you have in mind.”
* * *
THE ADVENTURE IN town went off as smoothly as any outing involving a baby and a dog could probably go. They wandered leisurely, taking turns waiting outside stores with Lulu. Ian hadn’t spent much time in Comeback Cove proper in the brief period between Tanzania and Stratford—there had been too many sympathetic glances and whispers for his comfort—so it was almost as if he hadn’t been around for three years.
Of course, seeing the sights wasn’t half as much fun as watching Darcy rediscover old haunts. Xander had volunteered for stroller duty so Ian and Darcy were free to walk slowly, hand in hand, him telling stories about the people he’d grown up with and her feigning resistance when he insisted that it was illegal to walk the sidewalks without buying fudge. In short, he didn’t think he could have imagined a better reentry.
They returned to a driveway so crowded there was barely room for the Mustang.
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