by Ann Everett
Back in the truck, Maggie looked over at him. “What kind of stupid name is Cinni?”
“Yeah, it’s a stupid name. She’s a stupid girl. Probably with stupid parents and a stupid cat.”
“Let me guess. You slept with her.”
“I don’t remember. I’ve erased every woman from my mind but you.” He grinned, and kissed her cheek.
“Good answer, but you are so full of it.”
Two days later, Jace moved the last of the boxes onto the porch. When Maggie heard him come back inside, she called out from her bedroom. Once he appeared, she held up her hand. “Stop right there.”
He eyed her. It was just the reaction she wanted. Her hair was piled into a tangled mess on top of her head, wisps hanging loose around her face, the way he liked it. She made sure the blouse she wore gaped open at the neck where she’d untied the drawstring, and her gathered skirt fell in soft folds against her body. She wasn’t wearing shoes.
“Damn. You’re beautiful,” he said. “I still need to change if we’re going out.”
She twirled a lock of hair. “Take off your clothes.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Start with your boots.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
He kicked out of his boots, stripping his socks off, too. “Now what?”
“Your shirt.” Sitting in the corner chair, she leaned forward and dangled her hands between her legs.
He removed his shirt and dropped it on the floor, then unbuttoned his jeans.
“Take your pants off, but leave your underwear on.”
He followed instructions and smiled.
She licked her lips. The strained fabric didn’t escape her eye. “Now slip them off. Real slow and don’t move.”
When he was naked, she zeroed in on his growing erection.
He followed her gaze. “Damn thing has a mind of its own and you had it at take your clothes off.”
She got up and scooted her desk chair to the center of the room. “No need to apologize. Now, we’re going to play a little game. Sit, please.”
He obeyed and she stood between his knees. He reached for her waist and she moved away from him. “No touching and no talking.”
“What?”
“I can touch you, but you can’t touch me, and I can talk, but not you. That’s the rules.”
He ran his hand across his face. “I’m not going to like this game.”
“I think you will. In the past two days, we’ve made love in every room in the house. I’ve saved my room for last. Care to guess how many nights I cried myself to sleep in here? Hundreds. It’ll take something powerful to make me forget that misery. Now, hold on to your chair. That’ll give you something to do with your hands.”
He grabbed the wooden seat.
She hip-swayed to stand in front of him again. He reached up to her and she leaned away. “No touching.”
He pulled them back.
She cupped his chin, held it there and stared into his eyes. “I love you.” She kissed his right eye. “I love you more than all the stars in heaven.” He groaned and she pressed her lips to his left eye.
He slid his palms to her hips and then corrected himself. “Sorry,” he said and let go.
“Shh.” She kissed his cheeks, first one and then the other. “I never knew I could feel this way.”
He started to speak, but she kissed him. Her heart slammed against her chest wall. He moaned and when she licked into his mouth, his hands came off the chair and clasped her waist.
She grabbed his wrists and placed them in his lap. “Sit on them if you need to, but no touching.”
He slipped them under his thighs.
She wrapped her fingers on the chair back and straddled him.
“Oh God help me. You’re not wearing panties.”
“No talking.” She ran her hand between his legs and stroked him.
“I want to touch you.”
“Nuh-uh.” She covered his mouth, slid her tongue across his, then slipped him inside her.
A low growl came from deep in his throat.
She clenched around him and let him simmer in the heat for a minute. Then, she pulled the blouse off her shoulders and brought his face to rest between her breasts. “I’ll never love anybody but you,” she said and rocked into him over and over again until she spiraled out of control and he quaked beneath her.
Ten minutes later, Jace dangled his head over the back of the chair, hands still beneath his legs. “What the hell? Did you google that? It was kinky.”
She removed herself from his lap. “You think?”
“Damn straight. Shit. The only thing missing was a blindfold.”
“Ooh, a blindfold, we’ll do that next time.”
The wicked grin that got her every time appeared. “If there’s a next time, I get to be the one to talk and touch. Okay?”
“Maybe. One thing for sure, from now on, my memories of this house will be of you and me and how much we love each other.”
“Yeah, and when I remember this room, your rock collection won’t enter my mind.”
She laughed with him, then stepped into the bathroom and when she came out, he was still in the same position.
The doorbell rang.
“Shit!” He scrambled to get his clothes. “Who could that be?”
“Relax, I’ll get it,” she said.
She straightened her blouse and retied the strings as she descended the stairs. When she opened the door, Daniel Henderson, Sarah’s dad, waited on the porch.
“Hi, Maggie. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. Please come in.”
He stepped into the room as Jace joined them. Maggie noticed he had his shirt buttoned wrong and smiled.
“Have you met Jace Sloan?” she said to Daniel.
“I’ve seen you play football plenty of times, but I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said and offered his hand.
Jace clasped the lawyer’s palm. “Nice to meet you, sir,”
“I have news concerning your mother’s estate,” Daniel said.
“I hope you found a will on file.”
“No, I didn’t. But as it turns out, a will isn’t necessary.”
“Why not?”
“Well, it’s the strangest thing. When I put the notice in the newspapers about anyone having a claim against the estate, an attorney in Amarillo contacted me. A Mr. Kincaid, with Kincaid-Lawton and Associates. Here’s his card.”
She stared at it. “I’ve never heard of them. Do they have a client with a claim?”
“No. That’s the odd part. As it turns out, it isn’t your mother’s estate. It’s yours. Everything is in your name. This house. The house where you and Sarah live. All of it.”
“I don’t understand.” Why would my mother put everything in my name? Was that her sick way of trying to make amends for not loving me?
“I know there’s a trust account, and when you turned eighteen, it transferred to you. The executor is Charles Kincaid. Give him a call. I’m sure he’ll be able to answer your questions. If there’s anything else I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Jace put his arm around Maggie’s waist, then spoke to Daniel. “Do you think Charles Kincaid is her dad?”
“I don’t know. But if he’s not, I’d be willing to bet he knows who is.”
There comes a time in your life when you realize who matters and who never did, who won’t anymore and who always will.
~Unknown
The next day when Maggie returned to Lubbock, she had two things on her mind, take a pregnancy test and google Charles Kincaid.
Birth control pills taken as directed were ninety-eight percent effective. But the two percent margin caused her to worry. If she did turn out to be pregnant, would Jace really believe it was an accident? A forced marriage was the last thing she wanted. After Jace left, she made a quick trip to the store.
Now, resting on the toilet, she stared at the stick and deba
ted what to do if it turned pink. Although Jace said he’d make it right, she’d decided marriage was out of the question. But then again, so was abortion. What would his parents think? A baby could ruin her relationship with them as well as Jace. She wasn’t sure she could bear that. Trembling fingers brought the wand into focus. A deep breath and whispered prayer. Thank you, God.
On Christmas Eve at Jace’s house, Maggie lay in bed and stared into the darkness. The absence of him curled against her kept sleep away. After the lecture she’d given him the night before about sleeping together in his parents’ house, made a trip to his room out of the question.
Reaching to the bedside table, she wrapped fingers around one of the gifts he’d given her. A snow globe. She wound the key and two dancers spun inside the lighted orb while glitter fell around them. Then she picked up the lace panties and smiled. She wished she could have been a fly on the wall and watched him make that purchase. Suddenly, reasons for not being with him didn’t matter.
She tiptoed down the hall, eased the door open, removed her nightshirt and slipped in next to him. Outside, the glow of Christmas lights filtered into the room. Pressing her breasts to bare skin, he shifted his body. “Mmm, you feel good.” The soft whisper floated across muscled shoulders, trailed by light kisses. She slid her hand over his chest and then south. “I was unreasonable earlier, so I want to make it up to you. I googled a new BJ you might be interested in.”
He lifted his head. “You googled a blow job?”
In one lightning leap, she grabbed her shirt, stumbled, fell forward onto the edge of the bed, then pushed upright. “Jared! Why are you here? Cover your eyes! Jace has been in this room. Oh. My. God! I am so sorry.”
He motioned to the next room and wheezed out, “He’s—in—there.”
She backed away and fumbled to cover her important parts.
When she reached the hallway, Jared whispered, “Hey, if he’s not interested—I am.”
Heart thundering, she staggered to the next room using the wall for support. When she turned back the covers, he lifted his head to look at her. “Hey, baby. Everything okay?”
“Why did you change rooms?”
“Uh, when Jared got here, he wanted his bed. Why?”
“I did something awful.”
“God, you’re trembling. What’s wrong?”
“I thought you were in that room but Jared was in there and I thought Jared was you and I took my clothes off and got into bed with him and I did…oh God, I’m so embarrassed,” she ranted in one long breath.
He bolted upright. “Damn! Did he touch you?”
“No. No. I did all the touching.” She pressed both hands to her mouth as if to push the words back in.
“Is that it?”
“What do you mean is that it? Isn’t that enough? I’ll never be able to look at him again. I touched his, you know, his candy cane and jingle bells.”
Deep laughter filled the room. “At least it didn’t traumatize you so much that you lost your holiday spirit.”
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“Okay, so you touched him. Through his clothes, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“Well, I may have mentioned googling a BJ, too.”
At three a.m., determined not to be embarrassed for a second time, she announced. “I’ve got to go back to my room before your parents wake.”
“No. Don’t go. I like having you here.”
“I can’t. Your mom won’t approve.”
“I’ve told you, she knows we sleep together, so what’s the big deal?”
“We shouldn’t in her house. It’s not right. If it was okay with her, she would have put me in here instead of the guest room. But before I go, I have a secret to tell you.”
“What?”
“I called Charles Kincaid.”
“Oh, baby. That’s great. What’d he say? Is he your dad?”
“I only spoke to his secretary, so I don’t know. I scheduled to meet with him day after tomorrow. Will you go with me?”
“You bet.”
“As a child, I used to imagine how my dad looked and pretended the reason he wasn’t in my life was because he was a spy or a war hero locked away in some foreign country. Silly, huh?”
He tightened his hold. “No. You were a little girl who wanted her daddy and that’s not silly.”
“Well, if Mr. Kincaid isn’t my father, my dad must not want anything to do with me, or else he’d be coming, too.”
“Maybe he is.”
Her face pinched. “I guess I’ll know soon enough.”
On December twenty-sixth, the sky, blanketed with low, gray clouds held the rush of icy wind close to the ground. Naked trees twisted and turned, their limbs dancing to the rhythm of the currents. Maggie stiffened in her seat, stomach twirling and twining with them. Pulling her coat tighter, a chill ran up her spine, not from the elements, but from the truth that waited.
When they arrived at Maggie’s house, Jace got a fire started while she attempted to relax on the sofa and stared into the flames, lost in thought. They hissed and spit, and caused her to flinch. Nerves stretched thin jumped in anticipation.
He took the spot next to her. “You’re going to be fine regardless of what you find out today.”
“I know.” She pulled herself together as the doorbell rang.
Even in jeans, sport shirt, and leather jacket, Charles Kincaid looked like a lawyer. Tall and distinguished, he stepped in and extended his hand. “Hello, Maggie. I’m Charles. I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
He held on longer than necessary and somehow the gesture calmed her. Rose always said you could tell the minute a man touched you if it was for his benefit or yours.
He turned his attention to the sofa. “You must be Jace. I’m happy to meet you as well.”
She motioned for him to sit, then scrutinized every feature of his face. Brown eyes, pleasant smile, nice skin, strong jaw, hair once dark, now graying. Her eyes drifted to broad shoulders, lean body, and nice hands. There was something familiar about them, or maybe she imagined her father with hands like his. Soft, gentle, loving.
“I was sorry to hear about your mother.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ve had a long time to decide what I’d tell you and the best thing is to start from the beginning. You may have questions. If you do, I’ll try my best to answer them. Your father, William was my brother.”
Maggie interrupted. “Was?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, he’s no longer alive.”
She placed her palm on Jace’s knee and he laced fingers with hers.
“William was a physician in Amarillo when your mother applied for a job in his office. She had an uncanny resemblance to his wife, Eleanor, and because of that likeness, he hired her. You see, he and Eleanor tried to have a child for a long time, but after six miscarriages in ten years, complications led to surgery and as a result, their chance of having kids ended. But the day he saw your mother, his hope renewed.
“After a year of employment, he approached her about becoming a surrogate. She agreed and they performed the procedure in his office. William and Eleanor were ecstatic. But what neither of them realized was Audra, had developed an unhealthy attraction toward him. Once she realized her feelings weren’t returned, as punishment she decided to keep you.”
Maggie’s heart pounded and her chest grew tight. The wind sent a low moan down the chimney scattering sparks behind the screen.
“Audra thought your dad would get a divorce and make a life with her, but he was devoted to his wife. They were both devastated by Audra’s decision, especially Eleanor. She never recovered. It wasn’t just the loss of motherhood, but also knowing William had a child and couldn’t be with you. Eleanor died two years later. That’s when he started to take an active part in your life.”
Maggie lifted her hand to stop him. “What do you mean by an active part? I never met my father.”
&nb
sp; The lawyer nodded. “Before you were born he arranged financial support for you and your mother. After Audra decided to live in Abilene, where she had friends, he bought her a house and the one next door for our cousin. Rose’s husband had died a few years earlier and she had no children, so William offered her the job of watching out for you, and of course, your mother’s social behavior was a concern.”
“Wait a minute.” She shook her head. “Rose was employed to care for me?” Maggie’s eyes filled. “I can’t believe this. My mother didn’t want me and now I find out Rose was paid to love me?”
Jace took Maggie in his arms and reassured her. “It’s okay.”
She swallowed hard and regained composure. “I’m sorry, please go on.”
“Yes, it was a paid position for Rose,” Charles said. “But by the time you were three months old, she loved you. She told William she felt guilty for taking pay when you gave her so much joy. She treasured you as a gift from God.
“Over the years, she sent copies of your school work, report cards, and snapshots. Speaking of pictures, I have some for you.” He opened his briefcase and removed a large envelope. “These are of your dad at all ages.” He passed the package to her.
Maggie’s hands shook as she opened the clasp and slid the contents onto her lap. Studying each one, when she came to his college photo, she fell into Jace’s chest and wept.
He comforted her. “Don’t cry. It’s okay.”
She pulled away and held the image for him to see. “This is my dad. This is my dad.”
He wiped her tears. “I know.”
She cried harder and pointed to the photo again. “This is Edward. Rose’s Edward. He was my dad and he loved me.”
“Give us a minute.” Jace pulled Maggie from her seat and led her into the bedroom. She fell onto the bed and sobbed. He brought a cool cloth from the bathroom and dabbed at her face. “Are you okay? You don’t have to go back in there. We can finish this some other time.”
“It’s such a shock. I never considered, not for one moment, Edward. No, I want to go back. I want to hear everything he has to say. I just wish I’d known while my dad was alive.”