Campaigning for Love

by K. D. Fleming

  “I’m sure with Katherine’s sense of fair play she’s explained our family connection to you by now. That girl is special to me. She brought a dear friend an unlimited amount of joy when nothing else could after her husband died. I’ll do anything I can to protect her.”

  The warning in his voice had Nick turning back to face him. “Don’t forget, I knew Kat well before any of you did. I don’t know why she’s in denial over that fact, but I intend to find out this weekend.”

  “Be careful. Your father and I go back many years. I know how the Delaneys operate. You won’t push and get your way here.”

  His jaw tightened at the judge’s implication. “Exactly what are you saying? My father’s a good man. He served as a children’s advocate himself while I was in high school. I’m surprised he wasn’t her appointed advocate for the short time she was in Pemberly.”

  The judge stood silent as if weighing his words. “I know about your father’s time in family court. I won’t form an opinion about you until I know you better. But be warned, I also know of your father’s political aspirations for you. Don’t even think about using situations in my courtroom to kick-start your political career.”

  Nick’s muscles tensed, starting in his fists and climbing up his arms to the cords in his neck, and turning his jaw as rigid as granite. His nostrils flared. Judge or no judge, he wouldn’t ignore the inferred slam against his character. “I assure you, I’m as aboveboard as any other man serving in your courtroom, regardless of my parentage.”

  Instead of continuing their unpleasant conversation, the judge suddenly changed the subject. “Dinner will be at seven. Katherine should be up soon. You can check with her and find out what help she’ll need from you in the kitchen tonight.” With that, he turned and left.

  Nick let out a slow breath and looked upward. “Okay, God. What am I doing here? You have to show me, because I don’t have a clue.” Silence was his answer. He opened his bag and started unpacking. He was finished before he heard Katherine moving around next door.

  He walked into the hall and tapped on her open door. She turned at the sound. He froze in mid-thought. Her antics with the dogs had left her cheeks flushed and her eyes shining with joy. She’d never looked more beautiful—more carefree.

  “Judge Pierce said I should check with you for instructions.” He stepped further into the room. “Nick Delaney reporting for duty, ma’am.” He saluted. It was that or reach and smooth away the strand of hair clinging to her cheek. But she wouldn’t welcome his touch.

  With regret, he watched her smile slide into oblivion, replaced by the guarded look she wore when she dealt with him. “Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you downstairs. The kitchen is at the bottom of the stairs, on the right.” She turned back to her bag in dismissal.

  * * *

  Katherine entered the kitchen and found Nick rummaging in the refrigerator. She walked over and stood beside him.

  He stepped back. “He bought plenty of vegetables. What do you plan to make?”

  When she spotted carrots, onion, and broccoli in the crisper drawer, she knew what the judge wanted for dinner. She set the vegetables in the sink and put Nick to washing them. “We’re having stir-fry with white rice. That okay with you?”

  He raised his shoulders and let them drop in an exaggerated shrug. “Sure, what do you need me to do?”

  After she explained how she wanted the vegetables sliced, she put a pot of water on to boil for the rice. She lined up the soy sauce and some other seasonings she knew the judge liked. They worked for several minutes in silence.

  “What are you willing to share about yourself so I can contribute to our little ‘show and tell’ game at dinner?” His tone revealed his dislike of being at her mercy.

  She measured seasoning into a cup, taking her time to answer. “I don’t know yet.”

  “I have to share something about myself with you so it’s not like it’s a one-sided deal here, Katherine.”

  “I already know all I need to know about you.” She met his mutinous glare with a satisfied smirk.

  “How? We haven’t said more than five words to each other before today and none of those were about me personally.” He wiped his hands on a towel.

  Her heart was beating double-time with the pleasure of revealing how she’d bested him. “I had Gina do some research for me. I know where you went to college, what your GPA was, and what you minored in. I know how long you’ve worked for Dear Ol’ Dad, and when he made you a partner in the firm.” She added the vegetables he’d chopped to the chicken she’d sliced and sautéed them in the pan with her back to him.

  “So you’re really going to hang me out to dry? That was your plan all along,” he accused. He tossed the towel on the counter beside the stove. “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

  She ignored the twinge of guilt his words stirred and met his glare over her shoulder. “I don’t think of it as setting you up. I told you I didn’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to get to know you either. Nothing’s changed.”

  She set the table while Nick called the judge to dinner. The judge said grace before they started. They passed the dishes around and filled their plates. But after a few minutes of fork to mouth, back to plate, it was evident neither she nor Nick planned to say anything.

  Judge Pierce took the initiative. “So, who wants to go first?”

  She looked up and smiled at Nick before she told the judge where he went to law school and what fraternity he’d joined.

  Judge Pierce looked to Nick for confirmation. At Nick’s nod, the judge smiled. “Good, now tell me, Nick, do you know where Katherine when to college?”

  Katherine dropped her head and moved the food on her plate around in circles.

  “We didn’t get that far tonight. She spent all her time showing me what to do in the kitchen.”

  When she raised her head, she found his eyes trained on her. Was that a look of hurt on his face? He didn’t have a reason to feel hurt. He’d betrayed her—tossed her out like yesterday’s trash.

  “That’s no problem,” the judge said. “I can fill you in on her schooling. She went to Stetson. She graduated summa cum laude with a double major in family law and child psychology, all while volunteering at several halfway houses and homeless shelters in the area. I tell you, this girl never stops.” He slapped a hand on the table and Katherine jumped. “Alice worried she’d let herself get so run-down, she’d end up sick in the hospital. That’s about the only way to make her slow down.”

  Her cheeks heated. Uncle Charles didn’t have to get that personal in his recounting of her past. Nick, she noticed, was taking it all in.

  “Katherine, dear, when we finish dinner, would you mind making some hot chocolate and joining me in my study for a cup?”

  “I’d planned on doing the dishes right after we finished in here.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about the dishes, Kat.” Nick cut in, pouncing on a chance for payback. “You cooked. It’s only fair I clean up. I may not be handy with a stove, but I’m pretty good with hot soapy water.” He winked for good measure. The rat.

  His response to her ungrateful glare was a smug smile when he took her plate and stacked it on top of his. She followed him into the kitchen but kept her back turned while she made the hot chocolate and he did the dishes. The atmosphere in the room was less than warm and she headed for the study faster than she wanted.

  She carried the tray over to a table near Uncle Charles’s old recliner. “I brought marshmallows.”

  “Your aunt Melvia won’t let me have any. Since she’s gone, I’ll have three, please.”

  She smiled at the twinkle in his eye and added a fourth for good measure.

  “Uncle Charles, I know what you’re going to say. It wasn’t fair when I didn’t tell Nick anything about myself. But I’m not comfortable sharing things
about myself with others, especially him. You don’t know everything about my past.”

  “You have a lot of things going on in your life right now. You just lost your mother. Part of why I made you come here this weekend was so you’d rest. You’ve been burying yourself in your work. Use this weekend for what I intended. Give yourself time to remember Alice, to find peace and say goodbye to her.”

  He squeezed her hand. “She loved you so much. She was proud of all you’ve accomplished. But she wouldn’t be happy knowing you’re using those acts of charity to hide out from life, even the bad parts of it. You’re no coward, so why are you doing it?”

  “I experience the bad part of life every day. You see what we deal with in family court. I’m trying to keep as many children as I can from going through what I did. They need to know someone cares about them.” She could justify everything she did. It was no one’s business if she buried herself in her work as an escape from the loneliness that nipped at her heels, its bleakness waiting to claim her, swallow her up in its blackness.

  “If you don’t let yourself feel, even the hurt of losing someone you love, you can’t heal. You won’t be able to move on. You’ll always be running from who you are, from what made you who you are.”

  He set his cup down. “Katherine, you mean the world to me. With Alice gone, you’re stuck with me and my meddling ways. Give Nick a chance. He isn’t the same boy you knew years ago any more than you’re the same girl. Don’t cheat yourself out of making a friend just because you’re scared you’ll get hurt again.”

  Her gaze clashed with his. “I don’t want to be his friend. I don’t want to be his anything. He’ll finish his time in family court and be out of my life for good.” She rose and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for caring enough about me to interfere, though.”

  The warmth of his concern and the cold weight of his request followed her out the door. He thought Nick had changed. That his respectful, responsible act was sincere. She knew better. He wanted the judge to back him for his candidacy. And the easiest way to win the judge’s approval was befriending her.

  Not this time. Nick Delaney’s days of using her to get ahead were over.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning, a knock on her door woke Katherine from a sound sleep. When she peeked out into the hall, she found a breakfast tray on the floor with muffins, croissants, juice and coffee. She opened the door wider and looked across the hall. Nick’s door stood wide open and he was nowhere in sight. She carried the tray inside and closed the door with her foot.

  After her en suite breakfast and a quick shower, she went downstairs in search of the men. The kitchen was empty. She wandered around, searching the rest of the house. Nick was on the back porch with a mug of coffee and the morning paper, his feet propped up.

  She stopped in the doorway, unsure he’d welcome her company. “Are you who I should thank for my breakfast?”

  He glanced up and gave her a warm smile that darkened his eyes. “Yeah, I didn’t want you to think you had to do everything. I pick breakfast up for the office on Fridays when I don’t have court. I’ve gotten pretty good at to-go orders.”

  “Well, thanks. It was...it was nice of you.” More than ready to move away from any further expressions of gratitude, she asked, “Where’s Uncle Charles?”

  “He took the dogs for a short walk through the neighborhood.” Then he turned the conversation back to her. “I didn’t know you liked dogs.”

  “A pet’s one of the first things they told me I couldn’t have when I went into foster care.”

  “Why don’t you get one now?”

  Typical Delaney logic. “I want” was good reason to do something, no matter how impractical. But she had responsibilities that kept her away from home into the evening. The desire for a pet was a little girl’s dream. But she offered the practical excuse she used on herself whenever she walked past a pet store and willed herself to ignore the cute puppies in the window. “I’m never home. It wouldn’t be fair to keep one crated all the time.”

  “I guess not.”

  She couldn’t think of anything else to say. She rocked on her heels, her hands stuffed in her back pockets.

  He rose and faced her. “Look, Kat. Excuse me, Katherine...”

  “You can call me Kat outside the courtroom.” Maybe that small concession would fool Uncle Charles into believing she was cooperating.

  “Thanks. Why don’t we trade information now? Then you won’t have to talk to me again until after lunch.”

  He’d given her an out. She should be relieved. He must be as reluctant to be around her as she was to be around him. “Okay. What do you want to know about me?”

  “What’s your favorite color, your favorite time of day, and why?”

  Huh? Of all the things he could ask, those shouldn’t be on the list. She stared out over the lawn. “My favorite time of day is sunset. It relaxes me to watch the sun slip away. My favorite color is sapphire blue.” She looked back and her gaze collided with eyes the exact shade she’d described. Her stomach lurched and she fought for breath.

  He watched her for a long time without saying anything. The tightness built in her chest. She was an idiot. He wasn’t the type of man to let an opening like that pass without some sort of smug comment.

  “Now it’s your turn.”

  She pasted on a false smile. “What do you do in your free time?”

  “I play basketball on a community league team.” He picked up his mug and the paper. “Thanks for sharing a little about yourself.” He moved past her, leaving her alone on the porch.

  She sat on the chaise longue, but got up after a few minutes and stood by the rail, staring out into the woods. Finally, she sat down in the chair he’d vacated. The scent of his spicy aftershave lingered on the cushion. She closed her eyes and breathed deep, not thinking about or wanting to feel anything.

  Uncle Charles’s weekend sabbatical was giving her too much time to think about herself and her life. She missed Alice. She drew a deep breath and released it slowly, settling the jumble of emotions this weekend had stirred within her. But she wasn’t brave enough to go inside until she heard the dogs barking and knew Uncle Charles was back.

  * * *

  Nick was in the library when Judge Pierce and the dogs came in. “There you are,” the judge said. “I’d hoped we’d get a chance to talk this morning.” The dogs went over and lay down at Nick’s feet.

  At the judge’s comment, he smiled sardonically. “Let me guess, you want to talk about Katherine.”

  “I do, but I also want to talk about you. What happened between you two in high school?”

  Nick had tried to remember their history and his actions and couldn’t think of a cause for Kat’s animosity toward him now. But he knew in his bones that her behavior stemmed from some slight she blamed him for. He needed to figure out what that was and fix it. The judge was a good starting place.

  “We had a math class and study hall together. She aced a big test I bombed. I asked her to tutor me and we became friends. At least, I thought we did.

  “When my father found out my new study partner was a girl in foster care, he wasn’t pleased. He ordered me to stay away from her. I promised him I would.” He dropped his head, ashamed of his father’s prejudices and his blind obedience. “He said I had to think about my future and my goals. If I ever wanted to hold a public office, I needed friends who were the right kind of people. He said if I didn’t stop seeing her, he wouldn’t pay for my tuition.”

  Judge Pierce listened without comment. “I see. And what did Katherine say to all this?”

  Nick stared at him. “I couldn’t tell her what my dad said. All I remember saying is that I had to start college early so I’d be too busy to hang out with her. That’s the weird thing. I thought she took it pretty well. She said she understood and e
ven wished me luck. By the next Monday, she had vanished. I called the group home. They told me she’d been transferred. Why would she do that only six weeks before graduation?” He got up and paced. He felt the same helpless frustration he’d experienced back then.

  “I’ve thought about her a lot over the years. I wondered where she went, what she did with her life.” He turned and smiled. “When I saw her in your courtroom I couldn’t believe it. I never dreamed she was interested in law. She never mentioned anything about college or a career choice. It’s obvious she’s angry with me, but I don’t know what I did.”

  “And Katherine requested the transfer?”

  “When I asked him, my father said a lot of them feel like they have to move on. Maybe she was jealous of my chance to go away to school because she was stuck here.” He rubbed his hands over his face in exasperation, not buying his words any more than he suspected the judge did. “I want to ask her, but when I try, she goes on the defensive and we end up snarling at each other.”

  The judge laughed. “At least you recognize what discussions between the two of you look like from where I’m sitting in the courtroom.”

  After a short silence, he offered Nick a hint of encouragement. “Maybe the two of you will learn how to talk by the end of this weekend.”

  Nick made no effort to hide his skepticism. “I hope you brought your gavel.” He reached down and rubbed the dogs’ ears.

  “Give her time. And more importantly, let her know you care. She hasn’t had very many people in her life who cared about her.” The judge walked out, leaving him alone with the dogs.

  * * *

  A few minutes later Katherine came into the library and found Nick on the floor wrestling with Buster and Bruno. She turned to go.

  “Wait.”

  She hesitated in the doorway. “Sorry, I thought Uncle Charles was in here.”

  Nick sat up and rested his back against the sofa. The dogs gave up on their play and stretched out in front of the hearth. “You just missed him.”

  He watched her. She tried not to squirm.