Doorstep daddy

by Cajio, Linda

  Doorstep Daddy

  LINDA CAJIO

  Prologue

  Dear Richard:

  All four of those cousins of ours finally got married, and all in the same year. Amazing! Ran into a mutual acquaintance here in Barbados who told me the news. Ought to keep up with the other Holidays more. Family is not your thing, I know. The weather's terrific and the beaches pure white. Eat your heart out. Celeste and the kids love it. See you when you get home and we get home.

  Bob

  Richard Holiday chuckled and slipped the postcard into his breast pocket. He leaned back in the plane seat and closed his eyes. So the other side of the family had a rash of marriages last year. Scary thought. Still, Peter, Michael, Jared and Raymond Holiday had been bachelors for a long time - like he was. He wondered what had changed his cousins' minds all at once, then decided better them than him. He just didn't have time for a wife and kids.

  He shivered as if a ghost had just wafted through him. Must be the air-conditioning, he thought.

  He'd rarely seen his second cousins, or maybe it was third cousins or fourth. Or maybe they were once-removed. He was never sure how relation counting worked. Their grandfather and his grandfather had been half brothers, if he understood the connection right. He hadn't seen the guys in years, even though they all lived in the Philadelphia area. Better to let his older brother, Bob, handle the family thing. Bob was better at it. He had a beautiful wife and three great kids. Richard hadn't seen them in several months, as an extended trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia had kept him away from home. His import-export business was growing like crazy with the entry of Pacific Rim nations into the world economy.

  He grinned, thinking how his gift of an old phone system to the newly elected Fijian government had garnered him the appointment of part-time consul to represent that country, and eventually several more, in Philadelphia. Not bad for a guy who quit college in his sophomore year. It helped that his roommate had been from the islands and had political connections. Bob would howl with laughter when he heard of Richard's latest appointment - especially when he found out the duties mainly consisted of getting fresh fish, flowers and exotic fruits and vegetables out of the airport and through customs for the local restaurants. Once an importer, always an importer, no matter how one gussied it up.

  Richard smiled to himself. He was thirty-four years old, had an expensive high-rise apartment in the city, a BMW two-seater convertible, his own business and money in the bank. He came and went as he pleased, with the occasional woman on his arm and in his bed, and he adored his niece and nephews. That was enough for him.

  Life was excellent. Unlike his whatever-they-were-in-relation-to-him cousins, he had no desire to change the way he lived. Certainly he was nowhere ready to.

  He leaned back in his seat, content.

  Chapter One

  "Flap your wings, Uncle Richard."

  Richard groaned at his nephew's request. "Not again!"

  "Please," Jason whined.

  "Peas Fap!"

  Richard sighed at the baby voice. His nephew, Mark, not quite three, repeated everything he heard. Richard had made the mistake of cursing in front of the little guy after cutting a finger. Mark had happily repeated the swear words. Seven-year-old Jason loved his uncle Richard's Batman costume, unfortunately. The boys' older sister, Amanda, looked at her uncle with a sad gaze. Amanda needed something to cheer her up.

  All the kids did. He hadn't been home from his Micronesia trip for two weeks, when his brother, Bob, and his sister-in-law, Celeste, had been killed in a car wreck. Richard was the children's godfather, but he'd never imagined in his worst nightmare that this would happen. Yet it had.

  The kids had come to him of course, and his life had completely changed. He tried to fill in the blanks as a parent and make a good life for them, but he was a woeful greenhorn. His mistakes had been endless. He barely knew what little boys were like, and he had no clue what to do with a young female adolescent, let alone help all of them through their loss. Raising them in the city hadn't been working. Neither had trying to run his business from his midtown office. He had finally chucked the hapless baby-sitters, au pairs and day-care centers, bought a home in the outer suburbs and moved his business into his home. That had been two months ago, and things weren't much better, either in his learning curve or in the children's happiness. But he was trying.

  Which was why he was trudging along the street in a rented Batman costume on Halloween.

  "Should I?" he asked Amanda.

  The thirteen-year-old shrugged. "Halloween at home was better than this."

  She had joined her brother in his plea to celebrate a traditional Halloween and go neighborhood trick-or-treating. They'd all dressed up - little Mark was Robin, Jason was Hercules and Amanda was a goddess in white and gold. She had been as excited as Jason when they'd left the house. Now she looked embarrassed.

  "The streets are a little empty," Richard admitted with a frown as he looked around the small yet exclusive homes in the Green Briar development. They'd been to five houses and so far no one had even answered the door. No other family was out trick-or-treating. He decided they must be a little early. It wasn't even six yet, although it was dark. Probably that was it. "I guess I'd better flap. That ought to wake everyone up. Amanda, you push Mark's stroller while I flap."

  "I'll go ring the doorbell!" Jason shouted, and ran off.

  "Jason!" Richard yelled, but the boy didn't stop. That was the problem with Jason. He was uncontrollable at times. "Damn!"

  ' 'Damn!'' Mark repeated.

  "Hel - " Richard swallowed the end of the curse. "No, Mark. Bad word." "Hell," Mark said, anyway.

  "We better hurry up," Amanda said wisely, trotting after Jason and taking Mark out of earshot. She wore a ghost of a smile.

  Richard brought up the rear, flapping as he went. The bodysuit, with its washboard torso, chafed and seemed to cut into his circulation. He gripped the winged cape and moved his arms as best he could. He wondered if he looked as idiotic as he felt.

  The door opened and Jason shouted at the top of his lungs, "Trick or treat!"

  Richard stopped in midflap. The woman on the doorstep blinked at the strange-looking family in front of her. She was tall and slim, her jeans tight-fitting and her Perm State sweatshirt loose, giving her the air of a teenager. Her face was heart-shaped, her features delicate and exotic like a fairy's. Blond hair framed her face in a cloud of curls, the hall light behind her adding the illusion of a halo.

  Richard's heart pounded and his blood turned thick in his veins as awareness seeped through his being. A boy, not much older than Amanda, stood next to her, but he barely noticed the kid. His attention was all on the woman.

  Her surprised expression vanished, replaced by growing amusement. Richard realized how ridiculous he must look in his costume. Awareness died and humiliation shot to the fore.

  "Poopies!" Mark yelled happily, sending the humiliation factor rocketing skyward.

  "Oh, God," Amanda muttered, knowing what it meant.

  Truer words had never been spoken, Richard thought.

  "Is that my trick?" the woman asked Mark, bending down and tweaking Mark's nose. "It works, pal. I surrender."

  Richard cleared his throat. "My nephew likes to announce his personal business after he finishes it. I'm not sure why."

  The woman grinned. "He's probably pleased with himself. Kids are shameless, aren't they? They look great, too. So do you."

  Richard could feel his face heat. He was blushing like a schoolboy. What was this reaction to her? "Thanks."

  "Joey, get the Halloween candy," she said to the boy who stared from behind her.

  "We don't have any, Aunt Callie," the boy, Joey, replied.

  Rich
ard groaned under his breath. They finally got someone at home and there was no candy. What a disaster this Halloween was.

  The woman, Callie, turned to the boy. "What do you mean, you have no candy?"

  "Nobody does trick-or-treating here," Joey said, shrugging. "The moms have that neighborhood party, instead, for the little kids. Us older kids...well, we go to our friends' or something. But nobody goes around here."

  "Ah, that explains it," Richard said, enlightened. His niece gave a little squeak. He wondered why, but was too relieved with the boy's explanation to ask. "I'm glad that's all it is. I thought Halloween had been banned or something. I'm sorry, guys. I didn't know."

  Amanda looked unhappy, which explained the squeak. Jason looked crestfallen.

  Richard grimaced. Once more he'd screwed up and the kids had suffered - except Mark who grinned and stuck out his tongue.

  "Uncle Richard, let's go," Amanda whispered, her voice quavering.

  "We aren't getting anything?" Jason asked, tears in his eyes.

  "I have something at home, Jason - "

  "Oh, yes, you are, Jason," the woman said. "Joey, get the cookies and those packaged cakes and the big bag of gumdrops."

  "But, Aunt Callie - "

  "The sooner you get them, the sooner we go." Wherever he and his aunt were going motivated the boy, because he raced down the hall to the back of the huge house. She turned to Richard. "The cookies aren't wrapped, but I assure you my sister and her family are perfectly normal and nothing will be wrong with them."

  "You don't have to do this..."

  "I've got a buff Hercules, a beautiful goddess, a poo-pie Robin and Batman. Now that's deserving of a treat." She gasped, then laughed. "I didn't mean you were poo-pie. Sorry."

  Amanda giggled. Jason laughed.

  To Jason she said, "So which Here are you? TV or movie?"

  "Movie," Jason shouted, happy again.

  "I thought so. By the way, I did clean the wax out of my ears today, so I can hear your normal voice really well. But maybe you're saving wax in your ears and you can't hear yourself shouting. If you're planning to make wax candles, now's the time."

  Jason laughed again. "You're funny." He didn't shout this time.

  She focused on Amanda. "You look great. Taking your younger brothers around? I always had to take my little brothers and sisters around, too. I permanently borrowed a candy bar or two from them as payment when they weren't looking. Think about it."

  "Okay," Amanda said, smiling in pleasure.

  Richard gaped. She had Jason laughing and listening, and she had Amanda smiling. Smiling. How had she done it? He realized he should introduce himself. And do it quick before she got away.

  "I'm Richard Holiday," he said, holding out his hand to her. "And these are my niece and nephews, Amanda, Jason and Mark. We live up the road."

  "Callie Rossovich. This is my sister Gerri's house. The boy's her son, Joey, and she has a daughter, Kristen, who's upstairs dressing."

  She took his hand. As her ringers touched his, Richard felt as if he'd been jolted. Never had a woman's touch affected him in quite this way. She pulled her hand back, as if affected, too. God, he hoped so. He wouldn't like to think he was all alone in this.

  "Poopies!" Mark announced again.

  The woman smiled. "Yes, dear, I know. You said it earlier, and what a good boy you are for telling us again."

  The kids giggled. Richard chuckled, admiring her aplomb with Mark. He'd met her only five minutes ago and he was admiring a heck of a lot about Callie Rossovich.

  Joey returned with treats for the kids. A woman resembling Callie came with him. Obviously this was Callie's sister, Gerri. She was more elegantly dressed than Callie, yet she lacked the vivaciousness. Callie's sister stared at him as if he'd grown three heads.

  "I can't believe you don't have Halloween candy, Gerri," Callie said to her sister as she doled out the treats.

  "Well, nobody comes around," Gerri replied defensively. "And we have that party for all the neighborhood children, so I buy for that."

  "Looks like you forgot a few here. Hercules, the goddess, Robin and Batman who live up the street."

  "But I wasn't in charge of the invitations!"

  Callie sniffed, obviously not accepting that explanation.

  "It's okay," Richard said. "I'm Richard Holiday. We moved into the development only a couple of months ago."

  "A couple of months!" Callie exclaimed. "Gerri!" "I didn't know," Gerri said.

  "It's okay," Richard began, feeling badly for the woman. He felt worse for his kids. Because he'd been too busy to introduce himself to people here, the children had missed out on a big party. And on Halloween.

  "No, it's not okay," Callie said. "I was about to take my niece and nephew out trick-or-treating in the old neighborhood. It's great for kids. Why don't you and your children come with us? I can vouch for every house we go to. Say you'll come."

  "I couldn't impose," he said, half wishing he could take her up on her offer. The kids had had little fun lately.

  "You're not imposing, so that's settled." "Yeah!" Jason shouted.

  "Joey, go finish getting ready," Callie said to her nephew. "And tell your sister to hurry up. She's got to be witchy enough by now."

  "Poopies!" Mark yelped.

  "I better go change him," Richard said.

  "I'll do it," Amanda offered, turning the stroller around.

  Richard gave her the keys to the house. Changing Mark was a chore at best. Amanda never offered before, but he wasn't about to question her. God forbid she should change her mind.

  "I'll make sure the children get on the party list," Gerri told him. "We have a Christmas one and a summer pool party. All the families come."

  Richard smiled at her. "Thanks."

  "Come in," Callie said, opening the door wide. "We've never had Batman in the house before. Call your wife and tell her to come back with the kids."

  "I'm not married," Richard said.

  "Oh," Callie said. She had a funny look on her face. "Well, come in, anyway."

  Jason skipped over the threshold. Richard stepped across it. The house was beautiful, but it felt cold, and not from the brisk autumn air wafting inside. Callie was the only warmth. From her smile and her green eyes, she exuded the emotion. And he responded to it.

  He liked that.

  Callie Rossovich grinned at the wonder on the newcomers' faces. The three-hundred block of Walker Street had been the subject of several news stories over the years for its decorations. All the row houses joined in whatever was the current holiday fun. This time, orange and black streamers rippled over the street. Ghoulish lights and swaying Frankenstein monsters highlighted picture windows. On porches and patios, scarecrows guarded speakers blasting moans of the undead. But best of all, children of every size and age paraded back and forth under the watchful eyes of parents. And half the adults were dressed in the spirit of the evening.

  "Wow," Richard said. "I've never seen anything like this before."

  "Oh, there're a few places like it in the city," Callie said, smiling affectionately at her childhood home. She'd grown up on this street. "The northeast is pretty close-knit, and south Philly even more so. But we're the only block like it in the Roxborough section. Everyone's lived here forever - "

  "Can we go, Aunt Callie?" her niece, Kristen, asked impatiently.

  Kristen and Jason, both the same age, stood together, treat bags at the ready. They had overcome any shyness after five seconds in each other's presence.

  "What are the rules?" Callie prompted Kristen.

  "We stay on this street only, and we play I spy," Kristen answered. "Which means I hafta be in sight of you all the time."

  "I spy you and you spy me," Callie said to Richard by way of explanation.

  "And we don't eat any candy unless you look at it first. If we mess up, we hafta walk with you."

  Callie grinned at her niece. "The kiss of death. Okay, you two can go."

  "Same rules
for you, Jason," Richard called out.

  To her nephew she said, "Joey, why don't you take Amanda around with you? Then she won't be stuck with the young kids or the old you-know-whats."

  Joey glanced at Amanda, who looked as if she wanted the ground to open and swallow her. Callie hadn't missed the touch of lip gloss and enhanced eye shadow the girl had obviously put on while changing her brother.

  "Okay," Joey said, without whining. Usually he whined if asked to perform a task he didn't like. Gerri spoiled him, in Callie's opinion. But Gerri had always been the material girl in the family.

  The four kids vanished, leaving her with the cutest Robin and the sexiest Batman she'd ever seen. Robin was easy to handle. She just pushed his stroller. Batman was another story.

  Tall and blond, Richard Holiday reminded her of Val Kilmer in looks, as well as choice of clothing. His features were clean-cut all-American good-looking male, and he had golden brown eyes. Like a lion's, she thought. The bodysuit made her wonder what he had underneath. His legs and arms in the clinging tights looked muscular. Nothing overly so, but worthy. Very worthy. And when he smiled...he lit her bat light every time.

  He'd looked so helpless when she'd answered her sister's door. She'd felt badly that his niece and nephews had missed out on the party. Leave it to the airheads in Gerri's neighborhood to goof up on the invitations, Callie thought. She wondered what he thought of her invitation. No doubt he felt he was slumming. She hoped so; she needed something to smother her attraction to him, and snobbery would help.

  What had she been thinking, so impulsively giving a man an invitation? No matter how innocent, she'd been foolish. She was being nurturing again, and she had to stop. Now.

  "You sure the kids will be okay?" Richard asked as they strolled along with Mark's stroller. Richard pushed, yet he hardly looked domestic, despite the Halloween costume. His voice was deep and disturbing, like water over a stone.

  "Sure," she said, pointing to both sets of kids. "See? We spy them and they spy us. Of course, we do the majority of the spying, but it works."

  He chuckled. "It does so far. I don't exactly know what I'm doing yet, so I get nervous about the kids."

  "Hey, nieces and nephews are great," she said. "You take them out occasionally, enjoy them, then send them back to their parents for the tough stuff. I know I do."