“You’re right. I’m getting old. I can’t pull those all-nighters anymore.” He shook his head, but he grinned at her.
“And aren’t I glad of that. Honestly, when I think of all the times I sat in this kitchen waiting for you kids to come home.”
“Sorry.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “I blame it on Barker.”
“That’s funny. His mother said he told her it was all your fault.”
They shared a laugh as Jake rinsed his dish and glass. After putting them in the dishwasher, he took off for work.
Driving down the long drive to the highway, Jake had to tell himself to relax and remain calm. Tomorrow Rebecca and Ben would be here, and he could show her everything.
Well, maybe not everything.
Chapter 6
“Now let’s make sure you look handsome, big guy.” Rebecca straightened and looked at Ben lying in his crib, dressed in a baby blue outfit. He looked good enough to eat, so she bent over, took his tiny foot in her mouth, blew kisses, and gummed the tiny pink toes.
Ben cooed, wiggled in happiness and drooled, his blue eyes never leaving her face.
“Let me put these socks on you, Ben. No, no, give me back that foot. Give it to mommy!” She laughed as his kicking pulled his foot out of her hand, leaving the scrunched up the sock in her fist. That just sent him off in a new set of wiggles and Rebecca tried to hold back her laugh.
“How will it look if you only have one sock?” At last, she got the sock on and pulled his booties on over them. Dressed at last.
The air above the crib changed and a familiar odor hit her nose. “Oh no, Ben.” She moaned. “I just got you dressed.”
Ben cooed and looked adorable. Rebecca undressed him to change his dirty diaper. “It’s so much easier just to hang around the house in a plain old onesie, isn’t it, than get all dressed up for lunch?” She lifted him up and moved him to the changing table, where all the diapers, wipes, baby powder, and diaper rash cream was stored.
Bright dark blue eyes looked back at her as she opened his diaper and reached below the table to the shelf for a fresh one. Baby pee, in a perfect arc, shot over her head, just missed her, and dribbled down the side of the table.
“Nice shot, son. With aim like that you’re bound to make the men’s Olympic Peeing team.” She wiped up the pee and then removed the diaper, rolled it up, and tossed it in the trashcan. After she cleaned him and sprinkled on baby powder, she put a clean diaper on him and put his clothes back on.
* * * *
Jake slid onto his knees. Bowing his head, he held onto the back of the pew in front of him and prayed.
Dear God, where do I start? Usually his prayers asked for good weather, good health for loved ones, good business. However this week, he broke away from his usual prayer with a special request for Trey.
Guide Trey, God. Jake wasn’t sure what to ask God. He felt Trey was lost and floundering with no direction to his life. It was hard for Jake not to take the responsibility for how Trey turned out, but he knew sometimes, despite everything, some people just turned out bad. He couldn’t help but feel like he’d failed his baby brother.
Watch over Rebecca and Ben. She’d been in his thoughts all week long and now she was in his prayers. The minute he’d held Ben, Jake felt blessed to have both mother and child in his life.
Asking nothing for himself, Jake finished with a prayer for his mother, to help with whatever seemed to be on her mind, and as always, he asked God to keep Barker safe on patrol.
As everyone sat back in the pews, Jake smiled at his mother as she settled next to him. She had her own prayers, her own set of worries, and he wished he knew what they were. His overwhelming need to fix things, to make things better, a legacy of his father’s untimely death, was a driving force in Jake’s character. Reaching over, Caroline squeezed her son’s large hand as it rested on the thigh of his dark grey suit.
The priest said the benediction and the service was over. Jake and Caroline McCallan made their way to the front of Our Lady of the Woods Catholic Church and greeted friends and neighbors.
Even though Jake was only thirty-two, he was a prominent businessman in their small town and there were always people to greet, including the men and women who worked for him and other business people in their town. Not to mention Caroline’s charity activities that involved her in numerous efforts around the town and the seemingly endless scores of women she knew.
“Father, are you coming out to the house for lunch today?” Caroline asked the old priest as they met at the door of the church. One of the McCallan family’s oldest and dearest friends, he’d married Jake’s mother and father and christened each of the McCallan children.
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss one of your Sunday dinners, Carrie.” The corners of his brown eyes crinkled with genuine happiness. “That is, if Jake won’t fight me for that extra pork chop. Last time, I almost lost three fingers.” He grinned and held up his hand, displaying several fingers curled down at the knuckles, and pretended to bite them.
“It’s all yours, Father.” Jake laughed as he held out his hands in surrender. “I’m supposed to eat more vegetables anyway.”
“Cutting back on red meat?” The priest’s eyebrow rose in fond amusement.
“Never! Just adding to my diet.” Jake smiled.
“I’ll see you there, Carrie. Jake.” The priest turned to greet the next people in the line exiting the church.
As Jake and his mother made their way to the parking lot along with the milling crowd of worshipers, Jake caught a movement in the street from the corner of his eye. His head spun to see what he thought was same sedan that had passed by Rebecca’s house the other night. His stomach tensed and the knots in his shoulders tightened as he stopped short in the middle of the parking lot.
“Jake? What’s wrong?” Carrie looked up at him.
“Nothing, Mom.” He smiled at her and continued walking to the SUV. Calm down. It had been dark that night and he couldn’t even be sure what color the car had been. He pushed his concerns away as he pulled the Explorer out into traffic and headed home. The rest of the day was going to be spent with Rebecca and Ben.
* * * *
Slowing down, Rebecca turned onto the drive, past the tall iron gates and proceeded down the narrow blacktop road leading to Jake’s house. Lining the road were huge oak trees. From their size, she guessed they were hundreds of years old. Their massive canopy covered the road, forming a dark tunnel of green leaves and branches.
She wasn’t sure what she expected, and until that moment, she hadn’t thought about the fact that Jake lived with his mother.
With any other grown man, that would seem incredibly lame to her, but with Jake, there was something steady and comforting about it. Her guess was Jake had inherited the house from his father and had never thought to ask his mother to leave. Why should he? It was her home, too.
Rebecca came around the last turn, emerged from the tunnel, and slowed the car to a crawl. Across a huge green lawn studded with wild hot red spider lilies was the biggest house she’d seen around these parts. It was three stories and had a center section that in itself was a mansion. Then two wings were set back and extended on both sides of the main house. Dark green wooden shutters framed the windows, setting off the white trim and red brick. The driveway split, one section curved across the front of the house and wrapped back into the drive, and the other headed behind the house, probably to a garage. Right now, there was a black pick-up truck and an older black Town Car parked just in front of the house.
However, what she noticed most was that the house sat nestled among the tall pine trees of the forest. Three sides were bracketed by the heavy woods with a narrow strip of mown grass along the edge. In fact, the forest was such a dominant feature, so integral with the house, that she found it hard to imagine the mansion sitting alone on an empty piece of land.
This house had been built to hold a large family. It made her sad to think of the builders’ intent and
its current state of use. For just a moment, a scene flashed in her mind’s eye. A party on the front lawn. Chairs pulled out for people to sit on. A dozen or so children ran, jumped, wrestled and played, the lush green space used just as had been intended. The image faded. She wasn’t sure if it was the past or the future she’d seen.
With a sigh, she drove on. “Well, Ben, here we go.” She parked her car in the circular drive behind the others. “I didn’t expect there to be other people.” She frowned and looked down at her black t-shirt and long blue denim skirt, suddenly self-conscious.
“Certainly, they’re not here just to meet us.” Ben cooed from the back seat. He’d been excellent so far during the drive. Now would be the test. How would he handle new people? For that matter, how would she?
Her face set in a firm frown. She did not intend to be put on display, paraded around in front of a bunch of people she didn’t know. Oh God, what if they announce Ben as Trey’s son?
Now was her chance. Back up and drive away. Call Jake and make an excuse.
Her hand froze on the gear shift. No, she had to do this, face them all. If she had to, she’d deny any paternity, it was that simple, and let Jake and his mother explain it. Taking a deep breath, she got out of the car and removed the detachable car seat. Ben blew bubbles like a crab as she picked up the diaper bag, and then walked to the front door.
Doors. Two massive, wide doors stood before her, blocking entry to the house. Dead center in each door was an intricately sculpted cast bronze wolf’s head that held a large circular ring in its bared teeth.
Rebecca glanced around. Inset in the bricks to the side was a doorbell set in a brass escutcheon. Holding the car seat by the handle, she slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and pressed the small button. Somewhere inside the great house, a chime rang out. Nothing fancy or pretentious she noticed, just a simple deep bing bong.
The door was opened by a slender woman with salt and pepper grey hair, light blue eyes, and a welcoming smile. “Rebecca? Please come in. I’m Caroline McCallan, Jake’s mother.” She stepped aside to let Rebecca in. Rebecca noticed she didn’t say Trey’s mother.
“Thank you.” Rebecca looked around the great entrance hall. Straight ahead, a wide mahogany staircase with an elaborate carved wooden banister rushed to a landing, then turned and continued out of sight. On the large landing was a magnificent bronze statue of a wolf, standing proudly on an outcropping of sculpted rock.
“Oh my.” She stared at the sculpture.
“I know. It’s sort of overpowering, but Michael, Jake’s father, insisted it belonged there.” Caroline turned to her and smiled. “I see you brought a date.”
“What? Oh, yes. This is Benjamin.” Rebecca held up the carrier for the woman to see.
Caroline’s face softened and the warmth in her eyes was easy to read. “He’s just beautiful, Rebecca.”
“Thanks. I think he’s sort of cute, but I’m partial.” She laughed.
“I understand. A mom always thinks her child is the most beautiful child ever.”
“I’m not that bad, but that’s pretty close to the truth.”
“I can see it. He looks just like—” She cut herself off. “Jake’s in the game room playing pool. I’ll get him.” She moved down the hallway before Rebecca could say a word.
A dozen heartbeats later, Jake came out of a room. His face broke into a huge grin as he spotted her and hurried down the hall.
“Rebecca. I’m so glad you came.” He stopped just in front of her and it seemed to Rebecca he held himself back.
“Thanks. I met your mother.”
“Sorry I didn’t hear the doorbell. The music’s too loud in the game room.”
“That’s okay.” She knew they were standing there making inane small talk, when she could see in his eyes that he was devouring her. She was certain her eyes were doing the same to him.
“Hey, boss. It’s your shot!”
Rebecca leaned over and looked past Jake. Barker stood just outside the wide doorway leaning on a pool cue. Jake stepped back and turned to answer him.
“Hey, Rebecca.” Barker waved his hand. He wasn’t wearing his uniform, just a white button down shirt tucked into faded, but pressed black jeans.
“Hey, Barker.” She waved.
“How’s the champ?”
“He’s doing great.”
Jake grinned at his friend. “Barker, take my shot. I want to get Rebecca and Ben settled first.”
“No problem.” Barker gave him a rough salute and headed back to the pool room.
“Now, let’s find someplace for you to put all that stuff. The library would be best, I think.” Jake took the diaper bag from her and led her down the hallway.
He stopped before two wooden doors, took the door handle, and pulled it back, sliding the door into a pocket in the wall. “In here.” Rebecca stepped through as her gaze traveled around the room.
“This is just beautiful, Jake.” She turned in a slow circle taking in the walls of rich mahogany bookcases filled with books. There were large portraits of women hanging between the tall cases. “Who are all these women?”
“McCallan wives,” Jake said.
Rebecca stopped in front of a portrait of a beautiful young woman in a white wedding gown. “This is your mother, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Dad had it done right after they were married. All the McCallan women, from my great-grandmother to my sister Victoria are here.” Jake pointed to the next painting of a beautiful, dark haired, young woman, in her early twenties, standing in front of landscape painting resting on an easel.
“She’s very pretty.”
“Yeah, Tori’s cute, for a sister.” Rebecca could hear a note of pride in Jake’s voice. “Put your bag and purse on this table. Unbuckle that baby and hand him to me.” He held out his hands.
“All right, hold on.” She put down the bag and her purse, then lifted the carrier to the table top. After she released Ben, she passed him to Jake.
“Hey there, boss.” Jake snuggled the baby to his chest and grinned at Rebecca. If her heart hadn’t already been lost to the man, she would have kissed it goodbye right then and there.
Jake reached out, pulled her to him and she slipped her arms around his waist. He cupped her chin in his hand, tilted it up, and lowered his lips to hers in a soft kiss.
Sighing, she leaned into him, knowing this was where she was meant to be, right here in this man’s strong arms. He lifted his head and their eyes met. His hunger for her blazed in them. He swallowed hard. She bit her lip. If they didn’t let go of each other they’d wind up necking right here in the library with the baby between them.
“Jake?” Caroline stood in the doorway with a knowing smile on her lips. “Am I ever going to get a chance to hold that baby?”
Jake looked at Rebecca and she nodded. “We were just getting reacquainted, Mom. Here, you take him while I show Rebecca around.” He held the baby out to his mother as she advanced, her arms held out to receive the precious blue bundle.
“Oh Jake, he’s so…” Her chin trembled.
“Yeah.” Jake passed his hand gently over Ben’s dark hair.
“Make sure you give her the three dollar tour, Jake.” She sat down on one of the velvet settees placed around the large room. “This little fellow and I have to talk.” She snuggled the baby in her arms and looked up at Rebecca. “Thank you, for bringing him.” Rebecca couldn’t help but notice the tears in Caroline’s eyes and felt her own begin to fill.
Dear Lord. A total stranger had accepted her and her son into her home and her life when Rebecca’s own parents had refused to see her or the baby. Maybe it’s true that when God closes one door, He opens another. Before she started bawling, she turned to Jake and took his hand. “Let’s do that tour.”
“Sure.” Jake’s own voice rasped and she heard the raw emotion that filled it. Afraid they’d all start crying if she looked into his eyes, she looked down at her hand clasped in his. Without another word, he gui
ded her out the door, back down the hall, and began his tour. “The first floor is divided into the main living areas and my parents’ apartment. Each floor contains two apartments with three bedrooms, a full bath, and a small living space in each one.”
They were back in the foyer looking up the staircase. “This side of the house holds the library, game room, office, dining room, laundry, and kitchen. The other side is my mom’s.”
“Wow. This was really built for multiple families, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. My great-grandfather, his three sons, and one daughter lived here originally. Over the years, some of the children moved away, some died, leaving my grandfather the house and business. He had two sons. My uncle died in Vietnam. He was a Marine. He never married. So that left my dad and his parents.”
“Until you, your sister and brother came along?”
“Right. Now, Tori’s in Mississippi painting, and Trey…” His words were lost in a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s just Mom and me now.”
“It’s an incredible house.” Rebecca followed him through a set of doors into the game room. What would it be like to live here with Jake? She didn’t want to dwell on that thought. There was no sense in building up any hopes. His desire for her was evident, but to hope it would lead to anything more than sex was foolish. After all, his brother had wanted her too, and look how that had turned out.
They stepped back into the game room.
“’Bout time, boss.” Barker turned down the music to a normal level.
She turned to Barker. “I have to ask. Why do you call him ‘Boss’?”
Jake rolled his eyes and Barker laughed. “Well, when we were kids in high school, we’d work at the mill during the summers. The summer he was eighteen, Jake’s dad put him in charge and he took that duty very seriously. I spent most of the time pissing him off, just so he could fire me.”
“But the trouble was, he never stayed fired.” Jake shook his head.
“Jake would get so mad at me and yell, ‘You’re fired, Sims!’ I’d stomp off swearing, pretending to be mad as hell. Then the next day, I’d show up for work like nothing happened.” He shrugged and looked at Jake.
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