Michael's Father (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Melinda Curtis

  Regardless of the reason, Blake studied Cori carefully as he waited for her answer.

  “Once,” Cori said quietly, then kissed the top of the boy’s head, leaving her face tucked above her son’s and averted from Blake.

  Once. Her faint answer reverberated through Blake, her pain nearly palpable. What could have happened to hurt her?

  The doorway to the bedroom may just as well have been a solid wall between them. Blake, who’d been struggling with Jen’s independence and absence of hugs, suddenly felt very alone.

  Silence blanketed the room until Blake realized that if he barely breathed, he could hear Cori humming. The boy looked so right, cradled in her arms. Cori loved that boy.

  Blake, who’d lost so many loved ones in his life and was on the brink of losing more, what with Sophia passing on and Jennifer striving for independence, realized what he was feeling.

  He envied the boy that security.

  LATER THAT AFTERNOON, seeing no one around, Jen slipped into her room, closing the door behind her and dropping her backpack on the floor. With a sigh, she settled her rump on the edge of the pink bed before flopping onto her back. This had been her room before Cori and her brat showed up. Jen felt special in this room, as if she were somebody important.

  Jen rubbed her stomach in a vain attempt to ease her discomfort. She was getting used to feeling bad all the time. Life sucked. She was invisible to most kids at school. Her teachers rode her about her schoolwork. Blake couldn’t look at her without snapping. On top of everything else, Cori and her little monster were camped out in her room.

  She kicked the blue sleeping bag on the floor with her foot, sighed and stared blankly at the wall.

  It took her a moment to realize that a kaleidoscope of color sparkled across the far pink-and-white striped wall. Jen admired the beautiful display before looking around to find what was reflecting the afternoon sunlight. Diamond earrings glittered on the desk. These weren’t chips like the ones Blake had given her for Christmas last year. These suckers were each as big as a pencil eraser. They were so big, they had to weigh down Cori’s ears.

  Jen found herself standing in front of the desk, looking at the stones. Of its own accord, her hand reached out to one earring; she picked it up gently with her thumb and forefinger, rolled it across her thumb. Ronnie Anderson couldn’t possibly miss these things. That would show her that Jen was more than just a farmhand. And maybe they’d catch Devon’s attention.

  Jen picked up the other earring, then slipped both into her pocket. She’d wear them one day and Cori would probably never know they were missing.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “HAVE YOU SEEN my diamond earrings, Mama?” They were missing, and although Michael denied any involvement, Cori suspected he’d managed to lose them in some cranny where she’d never find them again.

  “No, but I don’t get around much. I’m sure they’ll turn up,” Sophia replied. “Do you see Blake outside? If you look out the window, you’ll probably see that old work truck of his. Maria tells me he’s been staying close to the house lately.”

  “Tell me what you need, Mama. I’ll get it for you.” Another day had passed and Cori still hadn’t been able to break the wall between her mother and herself. Mama preferred Blake when she needed something.

  “It’s nothing.” Noticing Cori’s doubtful expression, her mother added, “I’m fine.”

  With a sigh of resignation, Cori walked over to the windows, pulled aside the heavy, rose-colored drapes and looked out on the straight rows of the vineyards. It took her a few moments to spot a truck. When she recognized the faded brown vehicle, she paled. “He’s out there.”

  “Oh?”

  Cori swallowed her disappointment. “Do you want me to get him for you?”

  “No, dear. I’m sure he’ll pop up to check on me soon.”

  It was clear that Mama needed something and wasn’t going to ask Cori. The best way for Cori to help her mother was to bring her someone else. “Then, I’ll go get Blake.”

  “That won’t be necessary.” Mama’s hopeful expression belied her words.

  “Yes, it will.” Cori forced herself to walk steadily out of the room and down the stairs. Outside, she blinked in the bright sunshine, wishing for a pair of sunglasses to shade her eyes, to hide her feelings.

  So, Blake still drove the same old truck. She’d begged Blake to make love to her in that jalopy.

  Moving briskly on the packed dirt road, Cori sidestepped a few puddles still resisting evaporation from last night’s showers. The crisp air gave her bare arms goose bumps. Short sleeves were fine inside the house, but she’d forgotten how sunshine didn’t mean warmth in Northern California, the way it did down south at this time of year.

  Amidst the neatly tended rows of grapevines ready to burst forth with life, Cori relaxed a little, breathing deeply the scent of wet earth and spring growth. She’d missed these signs of nature that foretold the changing of the seasons. It was cruelly ironic that the vineyards were ready to come out of hibernation while her mother was nearing death.

  Cori rounded a bend in the road and spotted the truck ahead, but there was no sign of Blake. Cori walked past the truck, but she couldn’t see Blake’s tall, familiar figure anywhere. Frustrated, she returned to the vehicle and climbed up into the truck bed. The added height gave her a better view of the area, but still Blake wasn’t to be seen. He could be anywhere, even in another section of the vineyard. For all she knew, his truck could have died here days ago.

  She called for him, then hopped down and honked the horn, leaning in the open window and trying not to look at the vinyl bench seat.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Cori turned to see Blake come running out of a row of grapevines over a rise near the river. Blake’s stride was fluid and graceful, despite his jeans and work boots. Everything about him stood out sharp and clear in the bright spring sunshine. Cori leaned against the old truck for balance, its warmth seeping through her blue jeans and the thin cotton of her T-shirt. He was beautiful, and he took her breath away.

  The memories tumbled back. Blake had been aloof, yet seemed so mature. Much more seasoned than the boys her grandfather arranged for her to go out with. She could look into his eyes and see there was depth. This was a man who’d lived, who’d faced life’s challenges head-on, without benefit of a safety net. At Christmas, those gray eyes warmed when they looked at Cori. And the heat in his eyes lit a fire between them at spring break. Nearly five years later, his face was less gaunt, his body filled out with muscle, yet when his eyes met hers, she still recognized the man she’d fallen in love with.

  “What’s wrong?” he repeated, stopping a few feet in front of her, not even winded.

  Cori got winded just walking up the stairs. It took her a moment to catch her breath just from looking at him. She collected herself enough to say “Mama needs you.”

  “Hop in.” He opened the driver’s door.

  Cori hesitated; her eyes flew up to his and then away. Aeons ago, in what seemed like someone else’s life, he’d opened the truck door for her and she’d slid onto the center of the bench, just far enough to the right that he had to sit next to her. Thigh to thigh, shoulder to shoulder. He’d rescued her that night. Half a year later, she’d helped him steam up this truck’s windows down by the Russian River and nearly lost her virginity in acrobatic style.

  This time, Cori slid all the way across the bench seat, letting her arm dangle out the open passenger window.

  Blake hesitated, then climbed behind the wheel. Revving the engine a few times, he backed the truck around and headed toward the house.

  “Has there been any change? Is she feeling all right?”

  They both knew Sophia wasn’t feeling all right.

  “She just asked for you.”

  HEART POUNDING, Blake ran ahead of Cori, making it to Sophia’s bedroom first.

  “What’s my favorite socialite need?” he asked in what he hoped was a charming, unconcerned voic
e.

  Sophia looked past him toward Cori, panting in the doorway. “Corinne, can you go check on Michael? I sent him downstairs for cookies and milk.”

  “I know. Maria’s with him. We came up through the kitchen.”

  “Have you helped her to the bathroom yet this afternoon?” Blake asked Cori, suddenly suspicious of Sophia’s motives. Why wasn’t Sophia being honest with Cori?

  “No. I didn’t know she needed help,” Cori admitted with a hurt look on her face.

  “I can make it on my own,” Sophia protested.

  “This ends now.” Blake gave Sophia a chilly look before turning to Cori. “With her arthritis, Maria is barely strong enough to help Sophia up. Sometimes Maria has trouble getting upstairs, particularly when it rains. Let’s hope you’ve built up some muscles carrying that kid around.”

  “Don’t tell Corinne things like that. I get up all the time.”

  “Liar.” Blake towered over Sophia, giving the woman his best no-nonsense look. “Your daughter is here to help you. She’s going to learn right now what’s best for you. And you’re going to tell her when you need something. Agreed?”

  “That’s right, Mama.” Cori stepped next to Blake.

  Sophia rolled her head away. “You have a child to take care of.”

  “He’s potty trained.”

  “And I’m not.”

  Her words sounded as if they were in jest, but Cori took them seriously, nodding and moving into her mother’s line of vision. Blake admired Cori’s perseverance. For whatever reason, Sophia didn’t seem to want Cori involved in the less pleasant aspects of her care, yet she shunned the idea of a nurse.

  “Much as I’d love to stay and hear you two spar with each other, I have work to do.” Blake gently nudged Cori aside with his hand.

  “I’ll show you how to do it this time. She might need another break close to dinner.”

  Sophia looked chagrined. “You’re taking away my dignity.”

  Blake laughed as he helped her up. “You can say that after having stayed in a hospital and being wheeled around with a gown that didn’t hide anything in back?”

  Sophia gasped. “You never told me that.”

  “Didn’t you feel that draft? Didn’t you notice all the men in the hall turn and stare at your backside when the doctor made you get up and walk the hall?”

  “You’re shameless.”

  “Maybe,” Blake allowed, glad that Sophia could still joke with him. She’d become a featherweight over the past few weeks. He doubted she weighed one hundred pounds. “It’s best if you make her walk a little to keep her strength up,” he said to Cori, who dogged them every step of the way.

  Blake made sure Sophia was settled right in front of the commode before he turned and left the room. “I’ve been giving her some privacy, but I’ve known plenty of girls to travel in pairs to the rest room.”

  “I’ll manage on my own, thank you,” Sophia pronounced haughtily as Blake shut the door behind him.

  “She won’t be able to do it herself much longer,” Blake whispered to Cori, whose eyes were trained on the door. “I’ve ordered a wheelchair and a bedpan.”

  “I’ve changed quite a lot of diapers. And I was with her the first time she had cancer, although she was always sending me away then, too.” Cori paled, but she looked up at him with determination.

  He liked the strength in her eyes. Maybe a little too much. Keeping his features neutral, he nodded and proceeded to tell her what he felt she needed to know.

  “When she first came home, I tried those energy-boosting drinks on her, plus some yogurt and pudding. Anything I thought she might find palatable enough to eat. It all came up. She’s not too concerned about eating now, but you should try to get something down her every hour. Even if it’s only a sip or two of water.”

  Cori swallowed. “It’s that bad.”

  He gave in to temptation and rubbed her shoulder. He could imagine the smoothness of her skin beneath her T-shirt.

  “Don’t let her fool you, Cori. Your grandfather and Luke…” Blake paused to look out the window at the vineyards that he loved so passionately, wondering how much he could say to Cori, finally deciding the time for pulling punches had passed. He swung around to look into her trusting eyes. “It’s like they’re waiting for someone to tell them this is it. And Sophia is playing things the same way. She won’t ask for anything that will take them away from the business.”

  The toilet flushed. His hand fell away, tingling from the absence of contact.

  “If you two are through with your secrets, I’m ready to sit on something a little softer.”

  Blake stepped toward the door, but Cori stopped him, her hand on his forearm. Her touch comforted him, making Blake want to stop running so hard, sit down and forget about all the turmoil around him.

  “Wait. I’ll get her.”

  Blake nodded, pleased that she was willing to step right in.

  “I’ll tell the kid to come up here when he’s done eating.”

  She murmured the boy’s name with a shake of her head.

  When Blake would have turned away, Cori’s hand remained. He’d forgotten how powerful her touch was. It used to reassure him she cared. Now he had to remind himself that she’d left him.

  “Thank you.” She gave his arm a gentle squeeze, her brown eyes easily meeting his. “Thank you.”

  Damn, if she wasn’t thanking him again. Only this time, he didn’t feel like a busboy.

  “WHY DID YOU WANT ME HOME if you weren’t going to let me help you?” Cori asked her mother while walking her back to bed. Cori was finally communicating with her mother, and she owed it all to Blake. Her heart warmed to the idea.

  “You have been helping me,” Mama protested weakly.

  “If you call sitting on my duff and listening to you all day ‘helping,’ then I suppose that’s what I’ve been doing.” She guided Mama into bed.

  “I’ve enjoyed visiting with Michael. And you.”

  “That’s fine. But I want to know what’s going on. If you need to go to the bathroom, let me know.” A fool. That’s what Cori was for not realizing her mother couldn’t get out of bed. Enter Blake and his honesty, straightening things out again.

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  “Yes, it is. When was the last time you changed your nightgown?” No nurse, Maria barely able to climb the stairs, and only men taking care of her? Cori suspected Mama had worn the pink nightgown for a long time.

  Her mother blushed but didn’t respond.

  “Let’s change it now.” Cori walked over to the dresser where her mother kept her lingerie.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Mama repeated.

  “Well, if you want to smell like overripe fruit, that’s up to you.”

  Mama’s gasp would have been audible down the hall. Cori looked back at her mother, the pale pink nightgown hanging in loose folds around her bony shoulders.

  “Not that you smell bad now, but I haven’t seen you in a different gown since I came. What if someone comes to visit?”

  Some of the spark came back to Mama’s features, a slight tinge of pink touched her cheeks. Cori remembered her mother’s unexpected words the other evening about John Sinclair. Did she still dream of his return?

  “This is the thanks I get for making you wear that gown to the prom, isn’t it?” Mama asked.

  “Good heavens, no. I haven’t ever come up with a good revenge strategy for that one.” Cori shook her head as she pulled out a blue silk nightie. “You made me wear a burgundy dress with a poof skirt and puffy sleeves to the prom. I looked like a grape ready for harvest. There is no punishment to fit that crime.”

  “You looked adorable.”

  “Mom, I was sixteen. I had braces. How much more could you humiliate me?” Cori came back to the bed.

  “I made you go with Langston Bixley.”

  Cori groaned dramatically, dropping her head back and rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “The biggest nerd in schoo
l. He wore a pocket protector in his tux.” Cori didn’t mention that Langston refused to dance even one dance with her. She’d spent the entire evening glued to the wall watching Nick Higgins, the boy she had a crush on, dance the night away with his date.

  “Langston went on to become one of the brightest stars in Silicon Valley, now worth several million dollars. And his business didn’t even waver when others were going bankrupt.”

  They grinned at each other. Cori reached down to take her mother’s hand. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her mother’s sense of humor. Cori’s throat worked itself into a vise and her eyes misted.

  “Why did you want me home, Mama?”

  Mama looked to be fighting tears herself. Cori couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her mother cry. The realization lurched her heart into her throat, and Cori’s breath hitched.

  “Because you’re a part of this family. A part of my life. And I want you to know it. I just didn’t want you to see me helpless.”

  Cori fought the onslaught of tears. “You sent me away last time. I remember taking trips with Luke and Grandfather on the weekends and worrying about you.”

  “I was vain enough that I didn’t want you to see me unable to get out of bed. I guess I still am. And as much as I love Blake and Jennifer—” Mama’s voice wavered “—I’m selfish enough to want my own daughter here with me when I go.”

  Tears spilled over Cori’s cheeks.

  “I was there for my mother, listening to her stories, her triumphs, her regrets. I wanted the same thing.”

  “It’s not fair.” Cori used one of Michael’s favorite gripes. “You beat the cancer once.”

  “No, it’s not fair. Maybe I should have gone to the doctor sooner. I don’t know if it would have helped. All I know is that I can’t fight it their way anymore—with needles, drugs and no dignity. This has been the toughest thing I’ve had to do. I guess that’s why God saved it for last.” Mama squeezed Cori’s hand. “But I can face it with my little girl beside me.”