He let Kip off at the front entrance. “Be ready for dinner tonight. I’ll give you a ride over to Leanna’s.”
Bryce revved up the vehicle again and drove to the car rental office a few blocks down.
* * * *
“Hand me the butter,” Leanna told her little helper who was standing on a step stool by the kitchen counter. With a dab of flour on her nose and streaks of it on her curls, Kai looked comical.
Leanna knew how important Kai felt helping her prepare dinner for Bryce and the crew this evening.
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“Here, Mommy.” Kai handed her the bar of butter solemnly. “What’s that for?”
“For the sauce to go with the asparagus. Then, there’s ham, baby carrots, and Boston brown potatoes.” Leanna recited the menu more for her own satisfaction than for Kai’s information.
Leanna wiped floury hands on a blue apron and glanced at the ham through the lighted window of the oven. Nice and golden brown, and the potatoes she’d roasted over the stove gave off a delicious buttery aroma. She sprinkled a pinch of dill over them and stood back, admiring the whole effect.
Leanna reached up and pulled out the plates from the top shelf of the cabinet. There would be eight adults, including Chester and Alice. Cody would sit near them and watch, but good manners would prevent him from begging for food.
She ran a damp cloth across the dining room table and spread a fresh off-white tablecloth on it, before arranging plates with napkins and silverware. The guys would probably appreciate a sit down meal, instead of one perched on some handy piece of furniture, with plates balanced on their palms.
Leanna glanced at the clock. An hour and they would be here. She’d told Bryce to come at six o’clock. If she remembered right, he’d insist that his associates be punctual.
Alice and Chester were arriving a little early.
“Time to get ready,” she told Kai. “Here, let me wipe the flour off your nose.” Kai looked comfortable enough in her corduroys and turtleneck, but Leanna needed to get out of her sweats. A long wool skirt and a slim sweater would be just right for the evening.
* * * *
“For you.” Bryce thrust a slim bouquet of pink carnations into Leanna’s hands and looked around the living room.
“Come on in, men. Don’t be bashful.”
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He turned to Leanna, his glance lingering on her longer than was necessary. “We’ve lived in the backwoods for so long we don’t know how to behave in polite company.”
Leanna laughed and stood aside to let them in. “I know you’re all hungry, so what d’you say I serve dinner?”
A chorus of assent went up. “Yes, anytime.”
“Need any help?” Bryce followed Leanna into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.
His lean, tall figure standing in her small kitchen momentarily mesmerized her and she remembered the first time she’d seen him standing in The Tug. How long ago had that been?
“Must you stand there like that?” The words came out before she could stop them.
His mouth quirked in a grin. “Why, Leanna, I believe I’m unsettling you. Never thought I’d have that privilege.”
“What I meant was, if you really want to help, you can carry the dishes from the oven to the dining room,” she said and deftly moved out of the way, letting Bryce carry a water jug ceremoniously to the table.
The truth was the alarming closeness of him bothered her. It hit her like pin pricks and sent a thrill down her spine.
At the same time, the weighty problem of how she’d actually tell him about Kai laid her spirits low. Would he think she was a conniving person for keeping Kai’s true identity a secret from him this long? But then, their relationship didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Leanna wasn’t sure that the beautiful, full blaze of passion that had happened between them was enough to make their love last a lifetime.
She heard Bryce’s voice and shook herself free of her thoughts. “I’m just getting warmed up, milady. You don’t know the maitre ‘d I’m really capable of being.”
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“I can guess,” Leanna said over her shoulder, wondering if somebody would like barbecue sauce with their meal. This was as motley a crew of people as she’d ever had at her place, and she’d seen the lumberjack appetite these men were capable of. “You can put the salad on the table. It’s in the refrigerator.”
“Yes ma’am.” Bryce trotted back and forth between the kitchen and dining room, the epitome of meekness.
At Leanna’s next pass through the kitchen, he caught her by the waist. “Not so fast. I have a proposition to make.”
“Now? This minute?” Leanna took a deep breath and moved back against the counter to face him. “This might not be the best time. I have a dinner to serve.”
“I agree. Just preparing you. I’d like to see you privately later tonight. We’ve got to talk.”
She needed to talk to him too. About Kai. “I think I can arrange that. Alice and Chester are staying to help clean up and then they’re taking Kai out for an ice cream.” Leanna smiled, thinking of how Kai took matters into her own hands and asked Chester to take her out for ice cream to Baskin Robbins.
“May I say you look lovely?” His gaze glided over her.
“Thank you.”
Leanna went into the living room. Chester, relating his yarns, had the men in gales of laughter. She never knew how much of it was true and what he’d made up. But they did the trick of entertaining listeners. “Time to eat,” she said.
In a flurry of activity, people found their seats. Crisp white napkins were unfolded and the dishes passed around.
Assaulted by hunger, Bryce’s associates concentrated on their food.
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Bryce attempted conversation on their behalf. “You’ll have to excuse them. Their silence is really a compliment to your cooking.”
She grinned. “I’m pleased.”
“Anytime,” Kip said.
She caught sight of Alice gawking at Bryce. No doubt, she was still reeling from the presence of the tall, handsome Bryce in Leanna’s home, a place that functioned as a second home to Alice.
“Are you gentlemen coming back here anytime soon?”
Alice asked.
“It all depends on where my next study takes me. I have a couple of options.” He looked straight at Leanna.
I’ll bet you have, Leanna thought. Her mind was fast-forwarding to how she’d broach the subject of Kai to him.
She twirled her fork around the stem of her asparagus.
Looking up, she caught Bryce giving her a pointed look that jogged her back to the present.
“Bryce, will you take me in your plane sometime?”
Kai’s voice prodded Leanna’s thoughts.
“I promise, someday I will. I haven’t forgotten.” A smile brightened his face.
He obviously really liked Kai. The way his attention engaged when he talked to her gave him away.
“Anybody for dessert?”
“Thought you’d never ask.” Fred grinned.
Alice got up to do the honors. The dessert was her department. She’d brought in a spectacular Bundt cake, which caused her audience to salivate.
“That’s the best cake I’ve ever seen.” Chester followed her to hand out the quarter plates for dessert.
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him to do. Years ago, he’d been bitten by the sailing bug.
Now it looked like another sort of bug had bitten him, the devoted family man.
Fortified with the plates of Bundt cake, everyone sidled over to the living room to find comfortable spots to enjoy their dessert. Bryce sat on the carpet with Kai to continue their discussion of paper airplanes, Cody forming a furry backrest for Kai.
“Keep an eye on the time, fellas.” Bryce looked up from his paper airplane project briefly. “We need to load the vehicles.”
“We’re leaving right after dessert.” Kip briskly polished off his plate with his fork.
“Right,” Bryce replied. “You can take the vehicle we came in. I’ll get a ride back to the motel.” He looked at Chester. “Could you drive me over?”
“Anytime.” Chester started picking up the plates. “You want that ice cream now, Kai?” He darted a glance at Kai.
“Yes, Grampa.”
“We’ll have to wait until Alice and your mother finish up with the dishes.”
Alice snagged Leanna in the kitchen while they soaked the dishes in warm sudsy water.
“How can you let that gem of perfection out of your sight?” Alice adjusted her glasses and stared at Leanna. “You shouldn’t let him go.”
“You mean Bryce?”
“Who else? You know you’re batty about him.”
“I don’t know about letting him go, but I do know I’m going to tell him about Kai. Wonder how he’s going to take it.” She bit on her lower lip, wishing she hadn’t waited this long. Her feelings had been so muddled that she’d wanted them to settle before she told Bryce anything. Was there ever 179
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a right time to tell a man that the child he’s known for a few months really belonged to him?
Leanna wiped the dishes as Alice handed them to her squeaky clean and hot from soaking in the water and then rinsing. She stacked them neatly in the kitchen cabinet, wiped her hands and then glanced at Alice.
“All finished. I don’t know what I’d have done without your help tonight.” Leanna smiled at her friend. “And the cake was delicious. In fact, it’s all gone.”
“That’s the way I like it.” Alice found a towel and wiped her hands briskly. “And now, we’re off with Kai.”
“Sweet of you and Dad to take Kai for ice cream.”
“It’s not just Kai. Your father likes it too. Who’s he kidding?”
Leanna laughed and gave her a hug. “Enjoy the ice cream, you two.”
Fred, Kip and the student assistants were ready to leave.
“Thanks for a great dinner and a pleasant evening. Your daughter is a charmer.” Fred acted as spokesman for the four of them. “Just like her mother.”
“Thank you, Fred.” Leanna liked this gruff,
uncomplicated man.
The two students didn’t say much, but gaped at her.
“Hope you liked the food,” she said to them. Their painful shyness puzzled her. No doubt, working in the labs and in the woods only heightened it.
“Oh yes,” they said in chorus.
“See you fellas later.” Bryce saw them to the door.
Minutes later, Chester and Alice fetched their jackets.
Leanna helped Kai on with hers.
“Have a good time, honey.” Leanna buttoned her down filled jacket.
“Bryce, are you leaving Pelican Harbor?”
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“Yes, tomorrow.” He bent down and straightened her collar.
“Aren’t you coming back here no more?”
Bryce glanced at Leanna and straightened up. “I don’t know, Princess. But if I do, I’ll call and tell you first. How’s that?”
“Okay,” Kai replied in her piping voice, seeming perfectly happy with that arrangement.
“Good.” Bryce guided her gently toward the door where Alice and Chester stood waiting.
“I’ll drop you off at the motel when we get back,”
Chester said.
“Thanks.” Bryce followed Leanna to the door, his hand at her elbow.
Alone together, after what seemed like an eternity, they fell into each other’s arms.
“I thought I’d never get you to myself,” Bryce murmured as he drew her close, smoothing the hair away from her face.
“I’ve missed you.”
“Me too.” Leanna wound her arms around his strong neck and leaned closer, sniffing the scent of his aftershave. Dizzy with the heady feel of his body, she closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck. “We have to talk.”
“In a moment. First things first.” Bryce drew her head back gently and closed his mouth over hers. She felt his warmth and tenderness easing into her senses.
A second later, she drew herself away from him.
“I need to tell you about Kai,” she began, holding him with a steady gaze. “She’s ours. Yours and mine.” Leanna saw no other way of saying it, except with unerring directness.
His eyes widened and he stared at her, a look of utter disbelief flooding his sharp features.
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“What did you say?” His body taut, the tender expression of only moments ago had died. In its place, bewilderment turned his face into a stony mask.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner. I did try to. I honestly did,” Leanna said, moving away. How futile it sounded even to her. Except, she knew she had tried at selected moments to tell him, but it had never been the right time.
“You couldn’t tell me sooner?” His mouth thinned with displeasure. “How could you keep something like this from me?” He paced the room, obviously trying to absorb what she’d just told him.
“I’m sorry it had to be today, just when you’re leaving.”
Leanna’s hands clenched and unclenched.
“That’s just it. When I’m about to leave town. Were you hoping I wouldn’t have time to think of what to do next if you caught me in a hurry?” A muscle flicked angrily at his jaw and Leanna flinched at the tone of his voice.
“It wasn’t like that.” Leanna crossed her arms across her chest, feeling her spirits come crashing down.
“Then what was it? I’ve been here for months; you’ve worked by my side, yet you couldn’t tell me Kai was my daughter? I find that difficult to accept.”
She had expected his anger, but even so, that didn’t make it easy to face it. He wasn’t going to forgive her. So where did that leave them? And what about Kai? If their relationship had a chance before, it didn’t have one now. It frittered into embers before it had a chance to blossom.
He shook his head as if he didn’t want to listen to her anymore, causing an aching misery in her heart. “I’m through trying to understand you. How could you do this, Leanna?
You not only deprived me of my daughter, but her of a father.
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our daughter. Did you think I wouldn’t sense it? Every time I tried to get close to her, you stiffened, telling me with your body language to back off. I deplore the fact that Kai has to go through this.” Bitterness rang in his words and his face flushed with anger.
Something snapped in Leanna. Obviously, he had decided that she’d schemed all along for some obscure reason.
“Whatever the outcome of our relationship, I’d never have deprived Kai of a father. I had to work out when to tell you.”
She managed to keep her voice calm, but she could feel it rising several decibels in an effort to vindicate herself.
“When it came time for me to leave?” Spoken quietly though they were, his words rang out like gunfire ricocheting around the room.
“I wasn’t ready before this,” Leanna said, knowing she had the courage of her convictions on her side.
He strode to the chair on which his jacket lay and picked it up. “Kai means a lot to me from the little I’ve come to know her. But, you, I’ve got to get some distance from you.”
“Fine!” Leanna felt the blood rush from her face. “I’m to blame for everything, as usual,” she said and took a step back as if stung by his words.
“Perhaps, you were getting back at me for thinking you had a child by another man, when ostensibly you and I were together.” His features assumed an expression of mask-like impenetrability and he looked
away from her.
“Your suspicions were hurtful, Bryce,” Leanna said in a hushed voice, remembering her disbelief at the time. “And I couldn’t face them.”
“My suspicions! What did you expect, given the circumstances.”
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He turned to face her with a weary look and Leanna felt herself go slack, suddenly indifferent. Maybe it was a defense mechanism she’d cultivated.
“Think what you like,” she said. “I need my space too.”
A sharp ring jabbed through the room.
Bryce felt his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
“Hello? Fred?”
“Didn’t know if you still needed a ride. I could come and get you if you do. We’re done loading the vehicle.”
“Yes. I think I’ll need a ride back to the motel.” Bryce clapped the phone shut and jammed it back into his pocket. “I want my child, Leanna. Make no mistake about that, but I’m too angry right now to discuss this. You’ll hear from my lawyer in a few days.”
“Your lawyer,” she asked, fear making her voice wispy.
“You’ll need child support. And I want access.”
Leanna took a step back, stung by his words. “I couldn’t take any money from you, Bryce, but thanks for the offer on Kai’s behalf. You don’t need a lawyer for access.”
Her worst fear was coming true. She was losing her child and had already lost Bryce. He thought her the worst schemer he’d ever laid eyes on. She had no chance for any semblance of happiness, having lost everything she considered valuable in her life.
“So now you’re going to veto my offer. Are you being quite fair to Kai?”
Leanna clenched her hands together. His offer hit her like a sudden thunderbolt. However well intended, she couldn’t accept it the way things stood between them.
“That was not my reason for telling you about Kai.” She too needed distance from him to think things over, as obviously he did.
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He stood by the window and looked out. “Fred should be here soon. That’ll save Chester the trouble of dropping me off at the motel. I’d better get back to make sure the equipment has been loaded properly.” The words came out in a matter of fact way, as if the argument over Kai had never taken place.
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