A Very Special Delivery

by Brenda Harlen

  He didn’t know exactly when, but he was hoping he could convince her to stay at least until her parents came back from Australia.

  “Ava called me at the clinic today,” he told her.

  She was immediately concerned. “Is something wrong with Puss or Boots?”

  “No. She just wanted to know if I’m bringing a date to the wedding. Apparently she’s trying to finalize the seating plan for Jack and Kelly’s wedding and the numbers would work better if I had ‘plus one.’”

  “I’m sure Missy Walsh would clear her schedule for you,” Julie teased.

  “I was actually hoping you might be available.”

  “You want me to go with you to your brother’s wedding?”

  “Sure.”

  She looked wary. “That’s a pretty monumental occasion.”

  “The second wedding in five months for the Garrett brothers,” he confirmed.

  “That’s why you want me there,” she realized. “As a barrier against all of the single women in Pinehurst who will be looking at you and dreaming of orange blossoms.”

  “I’ve never understood the connection between weddings and orange blossoms.”

  “They’ve played a part in wedding traditions tracing back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.”

  “So they’re just a myth?”

  She rolled her eyes. “They’re a symbol.”

  “Of what?”

  “Of innocence, fertility and everlasting love.”

  “That’s a weighty responsibility for one flower.”

  “And they smell nice,” she told him.

  “They don’t have any mystical powers, do they? Because apparently I have to wear one in the lapel of my tux.”

  “No mystical powers,” she assured him. “You don’t need to be afraid that you’ll fall in love with the third woman who crosses your path after the sun sets.”

  “I’m not afraid of falling in love,” he denied.

  “Says the only Garrett brother who’s never sweated in a tux waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle.”

  “I never used to think that I wanted what my brothers have.”

  “Why not?” she challenged.

  “Maybe I just never found the right woman,” he said, his tone deliberately casual. “Until you.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Julie’s eyes went wide, wary. “You don’t even know me.”

  “I know that my life is better—richer and fuller—since you and Caden have been part of it,” Luke told her. “I know that I look forward to coming home at the end of each day because you’re here. And I’m hoping that you’ll stay in Pinehurst at least until the wedding.”

  She sighed. “Does anyone ever say ‘no’ to you?”

  “Do you want to say ‘no’?”

  “No,” she admitted. “And that’s the problem.”

  “You’re going to have to explain how that’s a problem.”

  “Because you’re a good man, Lukas Garrett, and I’ve never fallen for a good man before.”

  Although she hadn’t come right out and said that she’d fallen for him, he was happy enough to accept the implication.

  “In fact, I’ve always had notoriously bad taste in men,” she continued. “I thought that had changed when I met Elliott, but even then, it turned out that he wasn’t a good man—I only thought he was.”

  “And you’re afraid that you might be wrong about me?” he guessed.

  “I’m afraid that I’m totally wrong for you.”

  “You’re not,” he insisted.

  “I’m a twenty-three-year-old single mother who ran away from home without even telling her parents that she was pregnant.”

  “You had a lot of reasons for running, but now you’ve stopped.”

  “Have I? Or is the fact that I’m still here and not in Springfield proof that I’m still running?”

  * * *

  It was a question that Julie spent a lot of time thinking about over the next few days, and still the answer continued to elude her.

  As she kept reminding Lukas, her home was in Springfield. So why wasn’t she in any hurry to go home? Part of the reason for her reluctance was that if she went back to Massachusetts now, she’d be alone in the house she’d grown up in. Another part of the reason was apprehension. When she returned to Springfield, it was inevitable that she would cross paths with Elliott, and she wasn’t yet ready for that to happen. She wasn’t afraid of him—at least not physically. But she was afraid of what it would mean for Caden when Elliott learned that he had a child.

  But the primary reason that she was still in Pinehurst was that it was where she wanted to be. Not just because it was a picturesque town in Upstate New York, but because it was where Lukas was.

  Julie felt more comfortable in Lukas’s home than she’d ever felt in Elliott’s condo. Her former fiance hadn’t liked her to cook. He’d preferred that they go out to eat, to be seen at the best restaurants, to be seen with people who could advance his career ambitions.

  She couldn’t remember ever tucking her feet up beneath her on his couch and falling asleep while they watched TV. Because they didn’t watch TV—they went to the theatre and museums and political fundraisers and charity events.

  She hadn’t realized how tiring it was to always be “on” until she finally had the opportunity to turn “off” and just relax. She could relax with Lukas—so long as she didn’t think about the physical attraction that had her on edge.

  His nearness made her weak, the slightest touch made her quiver, and even from across the room he could make her all hot and tingly with just a look. And the way he looked at her, she knew he felt the same way.

  But he hadn’t kissed her since that day she’d been kidnapped by Georgia and Kelly, and that was probably for the best. She was already more involved than was smart, and when she finally left Pinehurst, she knew that she’d be leaving a big part of her heart behind.

  * * *

  It was Sunday night, just four days before Thanksgiving, and Luke and Julie still hadn’t reached a consensus with respect to their plans for the holiday.

  “Kelly called today to tell me that she borrowed a highchair for Thanksgiving—one that has a reclining seat specifically designed for infants so that Caden can be at the table with everyone else.”

  “That was very thoughtful of her, but we’re not going to be there for Thanksgiving.”

  “You and Caden were invited,” he reminded her.

  “Thanksgiving is a family holiday, and we’re not family.”

  “Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate with those we care about,” he countered. “Family and friends.”

  Apparently she didn’t disagree with that, because she said nothing.

  “And it’s Caden’s first Thanksgiving—so it should be special.”

  She lifted a brow. “Are you really using my child as a negotiating tool?”

  He grinned. “Whatever works.”

  “Not that,” she assured him.

  “Okay, what if I said that my brothers and I haven’t had a real Thanksgiving in a lot of years and I’d really like you and Caden to be there?”

  “What do you mean, you haven’t had a real Thanksgiving?”

  “For the past few years, Matt, Jack and I have ordered pizza and chowed down on it while watching football on TV. This year, Georgia and Kelly have promised a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings,” he explained. “And I’d really hate to miss out on that.”

  “There’s no reason why you should,” she assured him.

  “I can’t go if you don’t go.”

  “Of course you can.”

  “And leave the two of you here?” He shook his head. “My mother raised me better than that.”

  The look she gave him confirmed that he’d finally played the trump card. But when she spoke, she said, “You often mention your parents in casual conversation, but you’ve never told me what happened to them.”

  “It’s not a favorite topic of convers
ation,” he admitted. “They were on a yacht that ran into a bad storm near Cape Horn. The boat capsized and everyone on board drowned.”

  “You lost them both at the same time?”

  He nodded.

  “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “I can’t even imagine how devastating that must have been.”

  “It was a shock for all of us,” he agreed. “But I think it was the best way. Neither of them would have been happy without the other.”

  “They must have really loved one another.”

  “They did. They didn’t always agree about everything, but there was never any doubt of their affection.”

  “Do you have any other family?”

  “A couple of aunts and uncles and cousins on my father’s side, but they’re all in North Carolina, so we don’t see them much.”

  “How long have your parents been gone?”

  “Six years,” he told her. “For the first three, I didn’t make any changes around the house. I couldn’t even rearrange the furniture. It was Jack who finally asked me one day if I was going to live in Mom and Dad’s house forever.

  “The house had been left to all three of us, but both Matt and Jack had already moved out, so I secured a mortgage on the property to buy them out. When I reminded my brother that it was my house now, Jack said he just wanted to be sure that I knew it, because every time he walked in the front door, he felt as if he was walking into their house still—right down to the ancient welcome mat inside the front door.”

  “Because part of you was still hoping they would come home,” she guessed.

  “That might have been a factor. And maybe I needed some time to accept that they wouldn’t. But about six months after that conversation with Jack, I started a major renovation. It wasn’t enough to tear down wallpaper and buy new towels for the bath—I knocked out walls, added another bathroom upstairs, updated the kitchen cabinets, refinished the hardwood.”

  “Converted the wood-burning fireplace to gas,” she remembered.

  He nodded. “Jack convinced me that the instant ambiance would help me get laid. And I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”

  But she laughed. “I can’t imagine you needed any help with that.”

  “That sounds like a compliment.”

  “A statement of fact,” she noted. “You’re an extremely handsome man—smart, sexy, charming. You’ve got a good heart, and a generous nature.”

  “And a soon-to-be sister-in-law who will give me no end of grief if I show up for Thanksgiving dinner without you and Caden.”

  Julie sighed. “You’re also relentless.”

  “Does that mean you’ll come for dinner?”

  “If I do go, I can’t go empty-handed,” she protested. “I want to make a contribution to the meal.”

  “Kelly assured me that she and Georgia have everything covered.”

  “Even dessert?”

  “Even dessert,” he confirmed. “But if you want, we could take a couple bottles of wine.”

  “And flowers.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “For the main meal or dessert?”

  She swatted his arm. “For the hostess.”

  “Okay,” he relented. “We’ll take wine and flowers.”

  * * *

  He was right. Georgia and Kelly had everything covered. Roast turkey with pecan cornbread stuffing, buttermilk mashed potatoes, gravy, maple-glazed sweet potatoes, buttered corn, baby carrots, green beans with wild mushrooms, cauliflower gratin, tangy coleslaw and dinner rolls. Of course, everything looked so good that Julie couldn’t let anything pass by without putting at least a small spoonful on her plate.

  And everything was absolutely delicious. But even more than the meal, Julie found she genuinely enjoyed the interactions that took place around the table. There were often several conversations happening at the same time, bowls of food being passed in both directions and across the table, glasses clinking and cutlery clanging. It was, in her opinion, the most chaotic—and the most enjoyable—Thanksgiving dinner ever.

  She was seated between Lukas and Caden and across from Quinn. The baby had sat contentedly in the borrowed highchair throughout most of the meal, but when Julie pushed her plate aside, she noticed that he was starting to fidget and rub his eyes. It was a sure sign that he was ready for a nap, and because he always fell asleep easier when he was being cuddled, she lifted him out of his chair.

  Kelly and Georgia got up to start clearing away the leftovers and dishes to make room for dessert, so she passed the baby to Lukas in order to help.

  She picked up the bowl that was mostly empty of buttermilk mashed potatoes and another with a few cauliflower florets and traces of cheese sauce, and headed toward the kitchen. But she couldn’t resist turning back for one lingering look at the gorgeous man holding her baby. It wasn’t just that he looked so comfortable with her son but that he looked so right with Caden in his arms.

  Was it luck or fate that her car had slid into the ditch in front of his home? She didn’t know, but she was grateful for whatever had brought him into her life. And she knew that her son was going to miss Lukas when she finally took him home to Springfield—maybe almost as much as she would.

  Julie had just returned to the dining room when she heard Quinn say, “I was thinkin’.”

  The words made her smile, because the precocious twin had started a lot of conversations with the same preamble throughout the meal. Some of her favorite topics were the proposed marriage of his puppies, Finnigan and Frederick, with Ava’s kittens, Puss and Boots, so that they could have “pup-tens”; having separate spaces for the boys and girls during carpet time at school so Shelby Baker couldn’t sit beside him; and his confusion about why, if the glue at school was non-tot-sick (which Miss Lennon explained to him meant it wouldn’t make kids sick) she worried about Cain eating it.

  “What were you thinking?” Matt asked gamely.

  As Julie gathered up a handful of cutlery, she waited to hear the child’s response.

  “There’s lotsa mommies and daddies here.”

  “Sure,” Matt agreed, a little cautiously.

  “Me an’ Shane an’ Pippa have a mommy and daddy. And Uncle Jack and Auntie Kelly are Ava’s mommy and daddy. But Caden only gots a mommy.”

  “Uncle Luke could be his daddy.”

  There was immediate and stunned silence, although Julie wasn’t sure if it was the statement or the fact that Shane had spoken it that was the bigger surprise.

  “Yeah,” Quinn agreed, immediately onboard with that plan. “‘Cuz he doesn’t gots any kids.”

  “That’s…an interesting idea,” Lukas said. “But it isn’t that simple.”

  “I know.” Quinn nodded solemnly. “You’d hafta get married—like when Dr. Matt married Mommy so he could be our daddy.”

  “Yeah, it was all about you, kid,” Jackson said dryly.

  But Quinn’s gaze was still focused on Lukas. “So—are you gonna do it?”

  “I think we should focus on getting Uncle Jack to the altar before we start planning any more weddings,” he replied cautiously.

  “What’s a altar?”

  “It’s where the wedding takes place,” he explained.

  “Uh-uh.” Quinn shook his head. “Mommy and Daddy got married at the church.”

  As Lukas proceeded to explain that the altar was located inside the church, Julie felt a tug on her sleeve and saw Shane looking up at her. She was eager to make her escape to the kitchen, but she couldn’t ignore the little boy’s overture.

  “Did you want something, sweetie?”

  He shook his head. “We gots Legos.”

  She breathed a slow sigh of relief, confident this was a subject could handle. “I know. I saw you and Quinn playing with them earlier.”

  “When Caden gets big enuff, he can play Lego with us.”

  The offer, so unexpected and earnest, caused her throat to tighten. Or maybe it was regret that she knew they would be long gone from Pinehurst before her s
on was old enough to play anything with these adorable little boys.

  “I know he would really like that,” she said, because it was the truth.

  “I like the blue blocks best,” he told her.

  “I like the yellow ones.”

  He offered her one of his shy smiles, and she made her escape with the handful of cutlery she held clutched tight in her fist and tears shimmering in her eyes.

  * * *

  Julie was quiet on the drive back to his house after dinner, and Luke didn’t try to make conversation, either. He was thinking about the discussion Quinn and Shane had initiated, and wondering how it was that a couple of kids could so easily see what adults tried so hard to deny.

  When they got home, Julie took Caden upstairs to feed and bathe him while Luke took care of feeding his pets.

  Uncle Luke could be his daddy.

  The words echoed in his head as he measured out food and filled bowls with water. They were words that, even a few weeks before, would have sent him into a panic. Because at that time, he hadn’t been thinking about kids or a family. But everything had changed when Julie and Caden came into his life. And now, instead of causing his chest to tighten with fear, those words filled his heart with hope.

  He could be Caden’s daddy. He wanted to be Caden’s daddy. And he wanted Caden’s mommy with a desperation that made him ache.

  But over the past couple of weeks, he’d been careful to keep things light between them. He tried to remind himself that Julie was a guest in his home and he didn’t want to make any overtures that might make her feel pressured or uncomfortable.

  After the animals were fed, he went to the office to check his email. Then he played a few games of solitaire on the computer as he waited for Julie to come downstairs. Then he played a few more games and wondered if she’d fallen asleep with Caden or was avoiding him.

  It was Einstein who alerted him to her arrival. The pup’s keen sense of hearing always picked up the soft creak of the sixth step, and he raced out from under the desk to the bottom of the stairs.

  “I thought maybe you’d fallen asleep,” Luke said to her when she came into the family room.

  She shook her head. “Unfortunately, Caden didn’t want to, either. I think he was a little overstimulated today.”