by Ellis, J. J.
Emily smiled that magical smile at him. “No. I really wish you would kiss me because I think I want it as much as you do.” Her eyes glazed over with longing and her lips parted ever so slightly. That was it for Russell’s control. He leaned close and took her face in his hands, gently kissing her soft, welcoming lips. She returned the kiss just as gently. Russell absently caressed her right hip, comforting both of them.
Soon, he was for once grateful that Miranda was such a loud child. He and Emily both heard the little girl from quite a distance. They quickly jumped apart before she could catch them kissing. As much as Russell wanted the contact with Emily, he was pretty sure they both wanted to spare Miranda any of the emotion that would go along with seeing them together like that. They looked at each other and burst out laughing, laying back on the blanket to catch their breath, not knowing if it was from the laughter or the kiss.
“Hey kiddo, how was the carnival?” Russell asked his daughter who was leaning over him with a concerned look on her face.
“Really fun, Daddy. Are you okay? Look what I won for Miss Emily.” She held out a pink teddy bear to her counselor and new found friend. Her concern for her father seemingly forgotten as quickly as it appeared.
“Oh thank you, sweetie. She’s beautiful,” Emily said sitting up to hug Miranda. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep her for yourself?”
“Nope, she’s yours Miss Emily. I won her just for you.”
At that moment Russell knew he was in trouble. His daughter seemed to be as taken with Emily as he was. Yep, he… no they, were in big trouble. The town he hated so much was growing on him and he suddenly couldn’t find any good reasons not to enjoy Emily Zane’s Company.
CHAPTER 4
Harper’s Rock Labor Day Picnic and Carnival turned out to be a lot of fun for Miranda, Emily, and surprisingly even for Russell. Miranda dropped the stuffed pink bear off for her counselor and went back to the carnival with Mrs. Platski. Emily and Russell spent the next two hours chatting about everything and anything except their growing physical attraction. By the time Miranda appeared again, having spent all of her money and having had a really good time, it was almost four o’clock and the daytime festivities were winding down.
“You look tired kiddo. I think it’s time to pack up and head home,” Russell suggested. He already had half of their picnic basket stowed away.
“But Daddy, we need to stay for the concert, please, please, please?” Miranda whined, tugging on his shirt sleeve.
“Not this time, sweetie. Sorry.”
“Fine.” Miranda stomped her foot and glared at her father. But she must have decided he wasn’t worth staying mad at.
“Did woo haf fun, Daddy?” she asked.
Russell stopped what he was doing and turned to get a good look at his daughter’s face. Her speech showed how tired she actually was. She’d required therapy for years and was finally speaking normally for the most part. But when she was tired, some of her old habits slipped through.
“You know what, sweetie?” Russell said wrapping his arm around her shoulder, “I really did have a great time.” He sure hadn’t expected to have any fun, but had to admit this was one of the best days since coming home. Miranda wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, which meant she was definitely getting tired. She rarely showed such affection unless she was in the process of winding down. Russell just enjoyed the moment and hugged her tightly.
“Hey you two. Sorry to interrupt, but could I bug you for a ride home?” Emily asked shyly. “Mom isn’t sure how much longer she’ll be at the hospital. I even told her yesterday that I should bring my own car.”
“Oh I don’t know, it’s kind of out of our way,” Russell joked.
“Yeah, that’s true huh?” she laughed, smiling up at him. He was the first to look away.
“At least let me fix you supper. You know, for all the trouble you are going through to get me home,” she joked back.
“Oh Daddy, can we? Can we eat with Miss Emily? Please?” All signs of sleepiness were now gone from Miranda’s speech and eyes. Amazing how that worked. Russell wished he could snap out of exhaustion that quickly, but then again he was pretty sure Miss Emily could make him react like that too.
“How about I take us all out for pizza at Movie and a Pizza Place. Maybe Grandma can join us too. Might as well let her take part in some of today’s fun.” Russell was sure he wanted to spend more time with Emily, but he really needed that extra layer of protection his mother offered since Miranda would be there too. Having dinner in Emily Zane’s cozy cottage with his sleepy, infatuated child there to complicate matters was just too dangerous for everyone involved. A nice, bright, public place with his mother’s added company was just what the doctor ordered. Or so he’d thought.
***********
“I’m waiting for an important call Russell so Miranda can stay here and keep me company while I wait,” Evelyn said. “We’ll have a pizza brought back. You and Emily go have dinner in the restaurant. You need to spend more time with people your own age.”
Russell’s stomach dropped into his shoes. He thought he was ready for spending more time with Emily, becoming friends and maybe having a few more kisses. But he was suddenly nervous about spending that time with her. Alone. Without any buffer.
“You want to eat with Miss Emily and me, right Miranda?” His daughter was his only hope. She was the one who’d begged to eat with her in the first place. He just hoped Emily hadn’t heard the desperation in his voice.
“I don’t want Grandma to be alone, Daddy. I’ll eat here with her. And you should spend more time with Miss Emily. Remember you said you thought she’s pretty!”
Russell’s face lit to a bright red at his daughter’s outburst. “Umm…okay sweetie.” He put his hand on Emily’s back and ushered her from the back office. “I guess it’s just you and me. You don’t mind do you?” He didn’t even hear her answer, he was too busy cursing his mother and daughter under his breath. If he didn’t know better he’d say they had planned this. But then that wasn’t really possible because this whole dinner thing had been spur of the moment.
Russell could see he was going to have to get to that talk with his mother sooner rather than later. Friendship and kisses? Yes. Full out relationship? No. But for now he was going to try to enjoy a torturous dinner alone with the woman who made his senses spin out of control. And damn it, he was going to order his favorite pizza and he didn’t care if his dinner date didn’t like it. Not that Emily was technically a dinner date.
“Who would have thought we had the same favorite pizza?” Emily looked at him questioningly.
“Yeah, I haven’t met many people who actually enjoy mushrooms, olives and pineapple together. Vivienne hated it. She refused to get pizza with me because she didn’t want to have to even look at it.” Russell smiled apologetically. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bore you.” He didn’t usually talk about his ex-wife, especially to people he didn’t know well. But then again, he wasn’t sure if Emily fit into that category. Yes, he hadn’t spoken to her in many years, but they did grow up together so maybe that counted as knowing her well?
Emily finished chewing before she said anything. “First, you aren’t boring me.” She wished he would stop thinking like that. She actually found his life quite interesting. “And second, I take it Vivienne is your wife.”
Russell smirked. “Ex-wife. And yeah that’s who I was talking about.”
Emily laughed at his expression. “She doesn’t sound like a very agreeable person. She doesn’t like Miranda’s difficulties, she doesn’t like your favorite pizza even to look at.” Emily shook her head. “Was there anything the woman did like?”
Russell paused staring at Emily and then burst into laughter. He laughed so hard he almost choked on his iced tea. It took him a moment to compose himself before he could speak again. “You know, now that I think of it, there wasn’t much that Vivienne Deveraux Harper liked. She hated Wyoming, she hated nature, she hated a
ny pizza that didn’t have some weird gourmet cheese on it, she didn’t like houses that were under 3,000 square feet, she didn’t like getting wet in the rain, and she didn’t like eating ice cream on a hot day…” He shook his head and took a bite of his pizza.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “Your life with her sounds like it was, well I don’t know, rough I guess? How on earth did you manage?” Emily took a sip of her soda and continued. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.” She often had to remind herself that she wasn’t in counselor mode.
“It’s okay, I’ve never really felt comfortable talking about her, but right now, it’s kind of…kind of a relief.” Russell paused and toyed with his napkin. It took him a moment to figure out where to begin. “You asked how I managed?” he questioned and Emily quickly nodded. “Well at first it was great. She was everything I wanted, rich, powerful, only wanted the best of everything, but then after a while I guess it wore thin. My country roots started to show through.” He laughed and pointed at his hair as if he were talking about hair dye. “I don’t think she really liked me that much. She kept trying to change me and erase all signs of the Harper’s Rock Russell that I had left.” He paused and pushed his plate away. “Then when Miranda was born, I guess she kind of blamed me for the way she was. After all, I had grown up a country hick and therefore it was my fault that our daughter wasn’t ‘normal’.” He made quote signs in the air.
Emily sat silent with her hands in her lap. She really didn’t know what to say. People like Russell’s ex-wife made her so angry. She had seen similar adults completely mess up the lives of some really good kids. Thank goodness this woman was no longer in Miranda’s life. It would have killed her to watch Vivienne Deveraux Harper continue to wreck the lives of two such wonderful people. But then again, if she was still in their lives, Emily probably wouldn’t have become reacquainted with Russell and never would have met Miranda. Wow, there was a reason to be grateful to the other woman, even if she wasn’t ready to fully admit it yet. “You know Russell, about what might be wrong with Miranda, I have some…”
“Daddy Daddy… can we go home? I’m getting really tired.” Miranda came running up to the table.
“Ah, yeah sweetie. That’s probably a good idea. Let me go take care of the check and then we’ll go.”
“Come on Miranda, let’s you and I go out to the car to wait.” Emily put a protective arm around the little girl that she was becoming so fond of, as they walked to the car together. It was only mere moments after Miranda was hooked in that she fell fast asleep.
“I might not have to pay for the food, but I left the server a good tip.”
“Shh Miranda’s asleep,” Emily cautioned him. “She looks so peaceful, doesn’t she?”
“Sorry,” Russell looked into the backseat. He had to agree, his daughter did look very peaceful - something he didn’t see often enough.
They drove the five miles from the restaurant to Emily’s cottage in complete silence. It was a comfortable silence though. And not just because they didn’t want to disturb Miranda.
Russell pulled to a stop behind Emily’s little car. “Here we are, safe and sound.” He turned and smiled at her but it was so dark he wondered if she could even see him.
“Thank you Russell. I really appreciate dinner and the ride home.”
“My pleasure,” he said as he jumped from the SUV and walked around to the passenger side. He pulled the door open for her. “I’m glad I could help, Em.”
Emily looked at Russell with a raised eyebrow.
“Why did you call me that?”
Russell looked a little embarrassed. “Sorry, it just seemed to fit. I take it you don’t like it?” He opened her front gate and ushered her though.
Emily’s smile lit up her whole face. “Usually I hate it when people call me that, but when you said it, I really liked it.”
Russell nodded. “Then Em it is.”
“So, was Miranda exaggerating when she said you thought I was pretty?” she asked, looking up at him innocently.
“Shit,” he mumbled. “That child has no control over what comes out of her mouth.”
“You’re not so bad looking yourself, Russell. Hmm, now I think I’ll have to think of a nickname for you, just to torture you,” she chuckled.
“Shit,” he mumbled again. He hoped she never found out what his family called him. Boy was he was in for it now. His visions of friendship and stolen kisses were morphing into something more. Running for his life and sanity is what he should have been doing. But the other things in his life actually seemed to be moving nicely right now, if only he could get a handle on Miranda’s problems. That reminded Russell of what Emily had said after dinner and the mood suddenly changed. “At the restaurant you said something about what might be going on with Miranda, what did you mean?”
Emily sighed. She needed to choose her words carefully so she didn’t get into a long discussion about it tonight. “I’ve taken what I know and done some research about it over the last few days, and I have some ideas about what might be happening with Miranda. But it might take some time to go over it all so I think we should talk about it at my office tomorrow.”
“Okay,” he paused a moment, “It sounds serious. Should I be worried?”
Emily chuckled. “No, I promise you will feel better when you hear everything I have to say.”
Russell smiled and relaxed just a tiny bit. “Okay then, I guess I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow. By the way, thanks for tonight.” Before either of them consciously knew what was happening, they were kissing. Not the soft, gentle kiss from earlier that day, but a searching, almost teasing kiss. Russell thought he heard the soft chiming of bells in his head. It was a happy, somewhat familiar sound, but he was positive that a kiss had never affected him quite like that before. And then as quickly as they had come together, Emily pulled away. “Russell, do you hear that? Is that Miranda?” It took him a few moments to realize what Emily had said, but when it registered he quickly pulled away from her. Miranda was giggling from the back seat of the SUV. He couldn’t believe they had actually been caught kissing. How on earth was he going to explain this to his daughter? He had to think of a way to keep her quiet. His mother couldn’t know about what had happened or she would run with it and the true matchmaking would begin. His mother would turn into his Aunt Charlotte who had set up all five of her kids a couple of years back.
They both mumbled good nights at the same time and Russell headed back to his car thinking of things to say to Miranda as Emily quietly slipped into her cozy cottage. “God, how embarrassing,” he muttered, opening his car door.
**********
The young woman slammed the door to her dingy little apartment. “God damned Harpers! It’s their fault I’m living in this shithole instead of being home in my high-rise condo,” she grumbled to the cat sitting on the couch. “They have my property and I want it back! I’ll fix it and sell it to the highest bidder. They owe me.” Her evil laugh echoed through the room.
The cat meowed in sympathy and walked over to her. She reached out to pet it then pushed it off the couch. “You hairy beast! Will you ever stop shedding all over my clothes?” she snarled. “I should have left you with them.”
The cat hopped up on the couch and stared her down. “Oh don’t look at me like that, you sweet thing,” she said, her voice becoming smooth and overly sweet. “I’m sure one of the neighbors will take you when I leave. If not, you can go to the damn pound!” Her laugh turned from sweet to maniacal in a split second.
The cat retreated to the corner of the couch with a meow. His tail swished angrily a couple of times before his eyes closed.
“Oh don’t be angry with Mommy,” she soothed with a sing-song voice. “I told you I was leaving someday. All of those silly willy Harpers are in one place now so it’s time to move on. I wonder who I’ll have to hurt to claim my prize. Will it be sweet mama Evelyn or one of her ridiculous boys?”
&
nbsp; The cat opened its eyes and meowed.
“No, no Mr. Kitty, I don’t think I’ll be able to get rid of all of them. Truthfully I think only one of them will be a problem in gathering what belongs to me. But I do know that one of them will pay for the sins of the family.”
CHAPTER 5
Russell woke bright and early, eager to hear what Emily had to say about Miranda. Maybe there was a shot or some medication, or even some type of therapy that would make his daughter’s behavior more on par with that of other kids her age.
On the drive to the school, he wracked his brain trying to think if he had ever heard of a disease or a disorder like that but gave up quickly, figuring it must be something rare since it didn’t ring any bells. By the time he had dropped Miranda off at her classroom and walked into the front office he was feeling really good about things. It could only be uphill from there. “I’m here to see Emily Zane. I believe she’s expecting me.”
“Yes Mr. Harper. Have a seat and she will be with you in a moment.” The school secretary picked up her phone and called Emily.
Russell couldn’t stand the thought of sitting down so he paced the small waiting area.
“Russell?”
“Hi!” He turned and smiled at her. She returned the smile. The memory of their goodbye kiss zinging between them.
“Come on back to my office and we can go over some things.”
The counseling office was the same as he remembered. He still felt right at home, and took his jacket off and laid it beside him on the same red couch he’d sat on the last time he was there. “So, what did you find out about Miranda?” He was eager to get all the info she had. He needed to know what to do to cure his baby as soon as possible.
Emily was a bit disappointed that he didn’t want to talk about the day they’d spent together, but she also understood that he was in a hurry to help his daughter.