Sherri scrambled off the bed and found her T-shirt, pulling it over her head. “Where are my jeans?” she asked, her voice a muted wail.
He pointed to the floor on the other side of the bed. “There!”
Forgetting her panties, she yanked the jeans up her legs and over her hips, wrenching the zipper closed. Her heart pounding, she finger-combed her hair. “What do we do now?”
“We go downstairs,” he said, smoothing his hair after pulling his shirt back over his head. “Like you said, we’re not hiding our relationship.”
“How do we explain that we were in your bedroom?”
“We don’t have to,” he said, just as they heard Morgan call out again from the hall below.
“Dad! Where are you?”
“Maybe your father’s in the kitchen,” Donna Brandon could be heard saying, her voice echoing along the stairwell.
Neill held out his hand to her, his gaze steady. “This wasn’t how I planned to announce our relationship to my mother and my daughter, but it will have to do.” Twining his fingers with hers, he opened the door and started down the stairs.
His mother glanced up, and her face blanched. “Neill. Sherri,” she said, clutching her purse and placing her arm protectively around Morgan’s shoulders.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SHERRI WALKED BESIDE Neill down the long stretch of stairs that brought them face-to-face with Donna Brandon. With each step, she made herself believe that this would go well, that they would find the words to explain, words that would somehow ease the humiliation encompassing her every step toward the bottom, where Neill’s mother and daughter waited.
Sherri’s courage deserted her when she saw the look of displeasure in the woman’s eyes. She turned to Neill. “I’d better go.”
He squeezed her hand. “No, I want you here with me.”
Sherri waited, hoping Neill could distract Morgan with the opportunity to watch TV or play a video game, or anything that would allow the conversation between his mother and them to take place. She calmed her discomfiture with thoughts of her condo, her ever-patient cat and the quiet solitude of her own private space.
“Dad! What’s going on?”
His mother squeezed her granddaughter’s shoulders. “Morgan, honey, why don’t you get a snack from the refrigerator?”
“No!” A pout formed on her lips. “I want to see Dad.” She went to her father, ignoring Sherri as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Who is she?” Morgan squinted at her father. “Is she the nurse from when I was in Emergency? What’s she doing in our house?” she demanded accusingly.
“Morgan, this is Sherri Lawson. She and I had lunch together, and—”
“You said you were going on a picnic. You never said she was coming to our house. Why is she here?” Morgan scowled at Sherri.
Sherri looked to Neill for support. “I came to see your father.”
“In his bedroom?” She turned on her father, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You were having sex with her, weren’t you?”
“Morgan, that’s none of your business,” he said.
Her cheeks hot with embarrassment, Sherri started to move away from Neill. “I shouldn’t be here. You need to be with your family.”
“Neill, I agree with Sherri. Can we discuss this in private?” his mother asked.
“Dad, I want her out of here now,” Morgan said, sobbing.
“I’m leaving,” Sherri said.
Neill’s eyes implored her. “I don’t want you to. You came in my car, remember?”
“I can walk back to town. It’s not far.” Sherri let go of his hand.
“No,” he said, reaching for her.
Morgan edged closer to her father. Wrapping her arms tighter around him, she hugged him. He hugged her back, and then held her at arm’s length, his voice gentle as he said, “Morgan, go to the kitchen like your grandmother asked you to do.”
Morgan started to object, but the look of determination in her father’s eyes must have stopped her. “I don’t want her here,” she said as a parting shot, her heels hitting the floor hard as she stomped down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Neill, what you and Sherri do together is your business, but why would you be having sex in the middle of the afternoon when you knew your daughter was due home?”
“We didn’t know you were coming over. Morgan was supposed to be at your house. I wish you’d called first.”
“Morgan wanted to come home. If I’d known about this...” Her voice was stiff, her eyes on Sherri. “My son denied being involved with you when I asked him. I—”
“Mom, Sherri and I love each other.” Neill’s jaw worked. “We’ve had a hell of a hard day and we needed a little downtime.”
Donna turned to him, her hand strangling the strap of her purse. “And your daughter has had a rude shock.”
“I didn’t want her to learn about Sherri this way, but now that she has, I’ll explain everything to her.”
His mother waved her free hand in disgust. “You’ve barely gotten settled here. Your daughter’s only begun to adjust to all the changes in her life, and yet you two can’t keep your hands off each other. Do you not see how upsetting this is for Morgan? Surely you could have waited.”
Neill rubbed his face. “Mom, please try to understand. We all need a little time to work this out, and Morgan will be better once I’ve been able to explain it to her. You know I’d never intentionally hurt my daughter,” he said, his weariness showing in his voice.
His mother seemed to shrink into the hardwood floor, her expression one of sadness. “Neill, all I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy, and I’ve no right to interfere in your life. All I can say is be kind to Morgan and realize that she’s still not truly settled and she misses her mother. She wants her mother to visit her.”
“Lilly is welcome to see Morgan anytime she wants. I want Morgan to spend time with her mother. I want my daughter to be happy.”
“Happy? The child needs a normal life with two parents.” His mother shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her grip on the strap of her purse easing. “What I don’t understand is why Lilly would give up custody. What mother does that?”
“Mom, the only one who can answer that is Lilly. As for Morgan, I’m trying.”
“I know, Neill.” She sighed, a look of contrition in her eyes.
“Thanks for looking after her this afternoon.”
“I love Morgan, and having her with me is a joy.” His mother’s expression softened as her eyes searched Neill’s face. “I only want what’s best for you and Morgan. I just wish you’d taken a little more time to settle in here before...before this.” Her eyes swept the foyer before coming to rest on Sherri. “I may have spoken out of turn, but I’m worried about my granddaughter. She needs her father, now more than ever.”
“We didn’t mean for this to happen the way it did. We’ve both had a long day,” Sherri said, feeling chastised by this woman’s attitude. At the same time, she understood her concern. She’d feel the same way if it were her granddaughter.
“Well, I’ve said enough. Do you want me to stay for a little while?”
“I do, if you don’t mind. I have to drive Sherri home.”
“Then I’ll go to the kitchen and make Morgan a snack if she wants one.” She walked down the hall, her head held high.
After watching her go, Sherri turned to Neill. “I feel so guilty.”
Neill hugged her close and kissed her upturned face, his lips lingering on her mouth. “Don’t feel guilty. We’re entitled to our happiness.”
“Hmm. You’re right,” she murmured, soaking in his closeness, his lips hovering over hers. “It might be better if I went back to my place, though, until you and Morgan talk this out.”
He sighed, pre
ssing his forehead against hers. “I guess so. I’ll call you later.”
“Dad, when’s dinner?” Morgan demanded.
They jumped apart, but Neill kept his arm around Sherri’s shoulders. “Just as soon as I take Sherri back to her house.”
“Dad!” His daughter’s tone held resentment.
“Morgan, were you listening in on our conversation?”
“How could I help it?”
His lips formed a tight line. “Morgan, I’m going to drive Sherri home, and then I’ll be back.”
Morgan’s face was distorted by an exaggerated pout. “I got Grandma to drive me home early so I could talk to you. It’s important.”
“I’ll be right back, Morgan.”
“You promise?” she asked, and the vulnerability in her eyes made Sherri wince.
“Promise. You wait here and we’ll talk. Gram is going to stay until I get back. Or do you want to come with us?”
“No.” She shifted her gaze to Sherri. “I want to talk to you in private.”
“See you in a few minutes,” he said, leading Sherri toward the door. “I’m sorry about all this. We started out with such a great plan for today, and then the accident happened, and I had to be in surgery with Charlie. And now...” He left the thought unfinished.
“Like you said, we’re in this together,” Sherri said, but it wasn’t really the truth.
She wanted Neill to explain to Morgan, in front of her, what she was doing in his house, what she meant to him and how they were going to be part of each other’s lives from now on. She could understand how a child’s health issues might make a parent feel very protective, but to Sherri, Morgan’s impertinent attitude was unnecessary. If Morgan were her daughter... But she wasn’t. Nor did Sherri have any role in the girl’s life.
Was she just being overly sensitive? Or was this the fear she’d lived with all this time? That Neill would put his interests ahead of hers yet again.
* * *
AFTER OPENING THE car door for Sherri, Neill climbed in behind the wheel, his thoughts jostled about what had happened with Morgan and what would have happened had Morgan not shown up. They’d nearly made love, and he still wanted Sherri, badly. But his daughter had come home, had found them together and had been hurt by what she’d witnessed. It was hardly surprising. Children didn’t expect to find a strange woman in their house, and it was made worse by the fact that Morgan still held on to the hope that he and Lilly would reconcile.
“Sherri?” He offered her an encouraging half smile and was relieved to see her return it.
He started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. “I didn’t do a very good job back there. Of all the times for Mom to bring Morgan home without calling me first.”
“It wasn’t fun for either of us,” she said quietly. “But it’s not often that a daughter walks in on her father when he’s about to have sex with an old girlfriend.” Her attempt at a lighthearted tone failed miserably.
“I wasn’t going to have sex with you. I was going to make love to you. I love you, Sherri.”
He glanced over to see a startled look on her face. “You believe me, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting you to say that. After the way your mother behaved back there, I had the feeling I was in the way.”
“Never again will you ever feel that you’re in the way if I have anything to say about it. When Lilly left for Houston, Morgan needed me, and I needed her. We’ve been a team for a while now. I didn’t realize that she felt so possessive, and I definitely didn’t realize she’d react this way.”
“Why not? She’s become accustomed to being the one person in your life. I can see how she’d see me as an interloper. Did she not know you had a date with me?”
“I told her about the picnic with an old friend, but she didn’t seem very interested.”
“Did you say who you were going on the picnic with?”
“Yes. Maybe seeing us together made it more real. I don’t know. With her busy school schedule, she probably hadn’t thought about it until she saw us together,” he said defensively.
“And when you get home, are you going to talk to her about me?”
“Absolutely.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sherri relax back into the seat.
“Today was a shock for her, and it would be for any child who still thought of her parents as a couple,” Sherri said. “Did you not date anyone after you divorced Lilly?”
“No. I was too busy.” He turned up Sherri’s street. “And quite frankly most of the women I worked with were married, and my after-work hours were taken up with looking after Morgan,” he said as they pulled up in front of her condo. He turned off the engine, feeling let down and a little dejected. He’d had such plans for today. Everything seemed so chaotic, and he was tired of it. “This is not how I wanted our day to end.”
“Me, either.”
He touched her cheek, feeling the warmth of her skin, the sense of security her presence gave him. He leaned toward her. “I’m putting you on notice. We are going to start dating, and we are going to have a life together. I’ve made some major blunders, but from now on, it’s you and me.”
She unfastened her seat belt and slid her arms around his neck, her breath warm on his cheek, her hands caressing the back of his head in a long-remembered movement that filled him with longing for the love that had once flowed so easily between them.
“Neill Brandon, I’m going to hold you to that.” She kissed his mouth, an open kiss filled with promise as her fingers worked into the collar of his shirt, moving down his chest, making his blood hot. After all these years and everything they’d missed out on in each other’s lives, all he wanted was to take her home with him and make love to her. He wanted to reclaim her, body and soul.
But he had a daughter at home who needed him, who had always needed him.
As much as he wanted to go with his heart, his instinct to care for his daughter won out. “I’ll call you as soon as I get home and see what’s going on with Morgan. Will you be all right?”
She touched his cheek and tapped the end of his nose as a smile warmed every part of her face. “Yeah, but you’d better call. You now have two women to keep happy in your life, and neither of us is good at being ignored.”
In that moment, suspended between his love for his daughter and for the woman who had been part of his dreams, if not his life, for as long as he could remember, Neill succumbed to the force of his feelings. “I could never ignore you. That would be totally impossible for me. What I wouldn’t give to run away with you right this minute and start making up for lost time.”
She took his face in her hands and kissed him, a slow kiss filled with a simmering demand for so much more. “No running away for either of us ever again.”
“Got it,” Neill said, remembering other days when he’d dropped her off at her house, reluctant to let her go. He returned her kiss, pulling her against him across the console, his hands sliding down her back.
“I’ve got to go,” she said, easing away from him. “For both our sakes.”
He came around to her door and opened it, once again pulling her close and kissing her. “I’ll call you after I talk to Morgan.”
She clung to him, her heart pounding with anxiety. Despite her brave words about not running away, she knew the power Neill’s mother had exerted over him when they were teenagers. Donna Brandon’s love for her son had been evident since the first time Sherri had gone over to Neill’s house with him after school. Sherri could still remember the look in her eyes when she gazed at her son, the solid devotion she demonstrated. Neill had often seemed embarrassed by it, but whatever his feelings were toward Donna, his mother’s love was unconditional.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SHERRI UNLOCKED THE door to her
condo and heard the phone ringing. She hesitated before answering and was relieved to hear Gayle’s voice.
“I’ve been calling, trying to reach you. Everyone is talking about what you and Neill did today. Where have you been?”
Sherri had all but forgotten the incident on Cranberry Point in the aftermath of what had happened at Neill’s house. “I was over at Neill’s.”
“Seriously? I knew you two would get together.”
“Not that way.” She explained what had gone on at Neill’s house, her anxiety rising with each exclamation Gayle uttered.
“I’m so sorry. To wait all this time, and then to have his mother and daughter show up under such embarrassing circumstances. Life sucks sometimes, doesn’t it? Where’s Neill now?”
“He drove me home and went back to talk to Morgan.”
“That can’t be fun.”
“And if he feels as guilty as I do...”
“You’re afraid he’ll decide not to date you.”
The thought had been circling around in her mind. “Neill’s life is complicated.”
“And what about you? What do you want?”
“I was so embarrassed, Gayle. And the look in his mother’s eyes...”
“Sherri, don’t get down on yourself. I saw the look in Neill’s eyes the day he got the call from your mother that you were headed into Emergency. I saw the love he has for you. It was so obvious. I never felt as sorry for anyone as I did for him that day.”
“Gayle, I love him, but love isn’t always enough. Neill’s back, and maybe we have another chance, but if anything should happen to Morgan over this... If she has another seizure, Neill will take her back to Boston. He’ll have no choice. He has to look after his daughter, and I have no role in any of that.”
“And you’ll be left behind again. Is that what you’re worried about?”
Her friend knew her so well. “Yeah.”
“Have a little faith in your love for each other. I recognize how difficult that might seem at the moment. But for what it’s worth, I truly believe you’ll be together.”
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