Last Chance Proposal (Entangled Bliss)

by DeLeo, Barbara

  “Cy?”

  “Sorry, I missed that.” He tried to concentrate on what the guy in front of him was saying, while every cell seemed focused on where their bodies were connected.

  “I was asking about your work.”

  He launched into a reply about what he loved about surfing and being in the retail side of it, but all the while his body was firing to life with the feel of Ellie under his hand. His fingers relaxed on the curve of her hip, fitting together like two pieces of a puzzle.

  “So, you had one of those online romances?”

  Ellie turned to Cy and he put his beer on the table and pulled her closer still. The thin strap on her shoulder slipped a little and he hooked his fingers under it and drew it back up. Her skin was kissed golden and smooth and he couldn’t help running his palm over it.

  “You know what it’s like, Ben.” She laughed as her fingers circled her throat. “It’s pretty easy to connect again these days.”

  “Facebook?” Ben’s eyebrows rose.

  “Was it Facebook, honey?” She dug her fingers into his side and he had to suppress a laugh. They’d have to do this over and over again, the story of how they’d met and fallen in love.

  “Twitter or Tumblr or one of those things, I think.” He touched her cheek and light danced in her eyes. “All I know is that when we were back in touch it was like we’d never been apart.”

  The laughter in her eyes suddenly changed and a rose glow swept across her cheeks as she looked away. Her hand dropped from his waist and she reached for the beer. She lifted the bottle to her lips. Was she feeling this connection as much as he was, or was she just embarrassed by all the playacting?

  “As long as you’ll still let Ellie do the renovation here, we won’t stop you,” someone said.

  “I love this place. Always have,” he said. “And when I realized how much it meant to Ellie, how long she’d been working on it, there wasn’t an option. She’ll be seeing the project through, won’t you, honey?”

  Ellie rubbed a hand across her lips. “Cy wasn’t sure he wanted us to be involved, but when he saw so much interest in the hall yesterday and the fact people were so concerned, he knew it was the right thing to do.” She dropped her hand and he held her closer.

  “Congratulations, you two!” Betty Browning joined the group and pushed a plate of club sandwiches into the middle of them. “I always knew you had something going for you. Everyone still remembers how sweet Ellie was on you, Cy, but the way you looked at her when you walked into the hall the other day, anyone could see you’d finally come to your senses.”

  Ellie’s palm was warm against his and he squeezed her fingers as Betty passed the plate to the woman on her left and reached into her bag.

  Betty continued. “A man doesn’t look at a woman like that without there being some heavy-duty lusting going on.”

  Ellie squeezed his fingers back and he saw the edges of her mouth tip up.

  A few of the group chuckled and Ellie turned to Cy again and looked into his face. She raised an eyebrow. “Lusting, is it?” She let go of his hand and trailed her fingers up his back until they rested on his shoulder.

  He hadn’t been aware of lusting after her in the hall, but his body was doing a pretty good impression of feeling that way about her right now.

  Betty nodded. “I’ve always said you can tell a man’s intentions by the way his voice changes when he talks to his sweetheart, and that’s exactly what happens with you, Cy.”

  He held Ellie’s gaze. “Ellie would make any guy speechless, don’t you think, Betty?” The tiny grin at the corner of Ellie’s mouth slipped as she blinked and looked away. She was feeling something, too.

  “And we haven’t seen the ring!” Betty took her arm and Ellie dropped her hand from his hair.

  A ring. He hadn’t thought of that. They’d pick one out when they went to Auckland for the marriage license.

  “We’re getting married in Auckland after New Year’s. In fact, we’re going there on the twenty-ninth to make wedding arrangements, so maybe we’ll get one then,” Ellie said. “Cy needs to be back in the States for a few months and we’d prefer to get married here before we go. I’ll be keeping a sharp eye on the council and the renovations from there, though.”

  Betty drew a camera out of the navy-blue handbag on her wrist. “Now, I want a photo of you for my album. I have one of you both when you came to help me clear my front yard after a storm one year. It’d tickle my fancy to be able to put a snap of you newly engaged beside it.” She shooed the group to the side and took a step back.

  Cy put his arm around Ellie’s shoulder and she shuffled closer and turned, her soft breasts pressing into his side.

  Betty beamed. “A kiss, please.”

  Ellie whispered under her breath, “Oh, no!”

  He looked down into her face and whispered back. “I can make an excuse.” He winked. “Or we could make the best of it.”

  “I’ve just put fresh lipstick on,” she said to Betty in a helpless voice and the older lady scoffed.

  “What else is lipstick for than to be kissed off by a man as handsome as Cy?” She waved them together and lifted the camera to her eyes. “Hurry up before the light changes.”

  He reached out and put his palms on Ellie’s shoulders, his hands molding to the shape of her body.

  She tilted her head to the side and the only sound was the screeching song of a cicada in the branch above them. For some inexplicable reason he didn’t want to get this wrong. His heart was beating stronger, his blood moving more quickly.

  Gently, he cupped her face in his hands. Her lips were plump and dusky, and a little moist from the remnants of beer. He leaned closer and her pupils dilated. He hoped she wanted to kiss him in that second, just as much as he wanted to lose himself in her.

  Betty’s shriek stopped them dead. “Oh, for the love of Michael! The batteries are dead! Do you have some I could borrow, Ellie?”

  They both turned to her and Ellie stepped away, the warmth of her cheeks still imprinted on his fingertips. Ellie rearranged her tank top as a blush trailed across her face. “I’m sure there must be some in the house, Betty. I’ll take a look for you later. Why don’t I pass some nibbles around?”

  “Thanks, but you’ll still owe me that shot.”

  Betty turned to talk to the guy next to her and Cy tried to catch Ellie’s eye. She wouldn’t look at him. What had happened just then was so much more than make believe, and it threw a whole new complication into their plan. He held back a groan. He’d have to keep a lid on it for now—no way would he give in to a rogue attraction and risk scaring Ellie off before he’d gained custody of his son.

  “Oh, there you are.” Fleur joined them, waving a pair of tongs in her hand. Ellie had told him that her sister knew about the marriage, and although he hadn’t spoken to Fleur about it himself, he had the impression that she didn’t think it was such a great idea.

  “Won’t your parents be proud of your sister, Fleur?” Betty said as she took one of the sandwiches Ellie offered her. “What with losing your brother and then you with Louis’s no-good father running off, a wedding full of love will be just what they need. I bet your mum’s shopping for an outfit on that overseas trip.”

  Fleur touched Cy on the back and threw him a teasing smile. “Oh, they’ll be proud, all right. How could they not be happy with someone like Cy having Ellie’s best interests at heart.”

  Cy considered the elder Jacobs sister and raised an eyebrow at her challenge. “I’m the one who’ll be proud,” he said, meaning every single word. “Having Ellie as my wife is a privilege I take very seriously.”

  Fleur chewed the inside of her cheek and smiled back at him.

  “Let’s check on the barbecue,” Ellie suddenly said as she took Cy’s hand. “You take a break, Fleur. I think Betty wants to ask you for a cupcake recipe.”

  Before her sister had a chance to reply, Ellie had him by the hand and was leading him to the secluded barbecue area.
“Sorry about that,” she whispered. “Fleur’s a little overprotective.”

  “As she should be,” he said, lowering his voice. “You’re lucky to have such a strong family, Ellie. People to look out for you.” He picked up a pair of tongs and started turning some kebabs. “How are you doing with all this?”

  She sat on a swing hung in the tree and pushed her hair off her face. “To be honest, I’m not loving it. All the pretending. I can feel myself blush every time I have to lie.”

  He threw her a smile. “I wouldn’t worry. People like Betty will think it’s just your way of showing how in love with me you are.”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “I reckon we’ve got Betty fooled, and if she thinks we’re in love, then half the province will know by tomorrow. Those drama classes Mum so reluctantly paid for one summer obviously paid off. I thought I must have been giving the game away for sure.”

  He sat his beer bottle on the side of the barbecue and waited until she looked at him. “No one can mistake the fact that we’re still good friends. We’ll just have to be ready next time someone expects us to act like a couple in love.”

  A wave of pink traveled up her neck. “I’m worried I’ll forget and ruin everything.”

  “We’ll be fine. We’re comfortable enough around each other to pull it off.”

  She looked around to make sure no one was listening and her voice became more serious. “We’ll need to discuss a few things like that. About boundaries.”

  He shrugged. “The best thing about being here for the next two weeks is that we can work on all that stuff. And the easiest way to get to know each other again is to spend time together, have some fun. It won’t take us long to figure it out.”

  “Hey, speaking of having fun, Louis was asking if we could take Jonty to see the glowworms down by the river. There’s supposed to be a cold wind coming up tomorrow so tonight would be good. I know it would mean a lot to Lou.”

  He turned sausages on the grill. “Louis’s a great kid. It was nice of him to ask, but Jonty’s scared of the dark. He still sleeps with a light on. I think it’d be too much.”

  “Even if we have torches and all go together? There’s a good track down there now.”

  She didn’t understand what it was like sometimes with Jonty. He could have a panic attack at any minute, either going still and refusing to move, or thrashing about so much that he could hurt himself. “I don’t want to rush things with him, Ellie. With you coming back to the States now and the changes he’ll have to go through living with us, he’s going to have a lot to deal with. I’d prefer to play it safe.”

  “Sure,” she said. “What do I know about kids anyway? When Louis was three I thought it would be a great idea to take him to see the fireworks at the neighbor’s and he was scared witless.”

  “I’m sure you’re great with kids,” he said before taking another sip of beer. He saw the way she spoke to Louis, with love and devotion, and he only hoped he could help her build some sort of relationship with Jonty—and eventually him.

  She nibbled her lip then jumped off the swing and came to stand beside him. “It’s great to have you back, Cy, really great, and I have a feeling that everything’s going to turn out fine.”

  She turned away to pick up a bowl of corncobs and he watched the way the dusky light cast soft shadows on her face. It did feel good to be back here, way more than he’d imagined, but it wasn’t the relaxed lifestyle or the beautiful scenery that was getting under his skin. It was the beautiful Ellie Jacobs. He hoped that the connection to her he could feel growing every minute wouldn’t cause everything to be blown apart.

  …

  The night was still and black when they’d finished dinner and everyone else had gone home. The cool breeze had dropped and the earth had come alive, heating from within as mosquitoes hummed and a morepork owl hooted in the distance.

  Ellie watched Cy lean his forearms on the picnic table as he spoke. “That was great ice cream, Louis.”

  Louis looked down at the table and shrugged.

  Cy scooped up the last bit of creamy residue with his finger before sliding it into his mouth. “Wish I could make ice cream. I can make a mean chocolate cake, but wouldn’t know where to start with ice cream.”

  Louis’s eyes flicked up, then down. “It’s easy, but you’ve gotta use big eggs.”

  Cy nodded. “We’ve been doing eggs for breakfast since we got here, haven’t we Jonty? We like them with lots of ketchup.”

  Ellie made a gagging sound. “Ugh, you’re kidding! That sounds nasty.”

  “No, it’s not,” Louis said. “It’s what boys like, isn’t it, Cy?”

  “Sure is. Almost as good as chocolate sauce on pancakes for breakfast.”

  “I can do pancakes!” Louis’s chin shot up. “I can do them with peanut butter, too, and my best ones have chocolate chunks.”

  Ellie and Fleur both poked their tongues out.

  Cy winked across the table. “Maybe we’ll have a boys’ breakfast sometime. What do you say, Louis? Eggs and ketchup, chocolate chunk pancakes and a few sausages on the side. You can come to our place.”

  “Have you still got that pukeko chick?” Fleur asked.

  Cy nodded. “Ellie called the bird sanctuary and they said not to release it until its foot was better. They can take it after the Christmas break to get it ready to go back into the wild. Jonty’s been looking after it really well, haven’t you, bud?”

  Jonty dragged the spoon through his lips and nodded to his father. He played with the scarf that was always tied around his neck or wrist.

  Louis pushed his chair back. “Can we see the glowworms?”

  Ellie shot a look at Cy. “I forgot to tell him.”

  “I think Jonty’s a bit tired tonight, aren’t you, J?” Cy said

  Jonty’s eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously.

  Cy swiveled toward his son. “There are no lights where the glowworms are. You can only see them when it’s really dark at night. In the forest.”

  Sensing a moment of tension Ellie said, “You’ll be here for lots of nights, Jonty. We can see the glowworms another time. Has Daddy told you about them?” Cy’s little boy just looked at her and she rushed on, cursing herself for asking a question he couldn’t answer. “They’re a bit like lightening bugs but they’re worms that live on the banks of the stream. You can only see them at night. When you’re really, really quiet and everything’s really dark they shine brightly like the fairy lights you helped Fleur put in the trees.”

  Jonty put his spoon in the plate and as he looked at her, blinking, Ellie’s heart did a swan dive. Connecting with him was going to be so hard. And reconnecting with his dad was going to be even harder.

  Jonty turned to Louis.

  “Pleeeease,” Louis said to Cy. “Tell him, Ellie. It’ll be great. Jonty’s never seen them before and I want to show him. Please!”

  Fleur stood and lifted a jacket from the back of a chair. “If we’re going, it needs to be soon. I don’t want you too tired for Christmas prep tomorrow, Louis.” Cy stayed seated at the table and Ellie could see how torn he was. It must be tough to balance trying to protect his son with the fact Jonty seemed so keen to go. Perhaps if Cy could relax a little then Jonty would relax too.

  …

  Cy felt the weight of their stares and sighed. “All right, but you’ll need to hold my hand all the way, bud.” He stood and put Jonty’s jacket on while Louis whooped around looking for torches.

  While he bundled his boy up, Cy wondered what had made him agree to take Jonty to the glowworms. It could’ve been the desperation in Louis’s voice, might also have been the brightness in Jonty’s eyes, but if he were honest with himself, the real reason was that he didn’t want this day with Ellie to end.

  So much of the afternoon at the party had been about pretending and playacting, but when the visitors had gone and they could get back to being themselves, everything felt so different. They’d laughed together again an
d talked about the things Ellie would find different in the States. When they’d sat down to dinner together under the lights in the old rata tree, Cy had realized that he hadn’t felt this connected to anyone in years, and he didn’t want it to stop.

  A short while later they were walking through the bush, the scent of overripe summer flowers surrounding them. Cy held Jonty’s hand beside Ellie, with Fleur and Louis taking the lead. Fleur was telling them all an old Maori legend about the fairy people who’d visit the river as glowworms, Louis embellishing it with hoots and whoops.

  Cy shared a flashlight with Ellie and stayed close to her in the darkness. His heavy footfalls on dried ferns beat time. “Remember when my old friend Jake and I followed a bunch of you girls down here one night and pretended to be ghosts?” He looked down to check for roots in their way and saw Ellie smile in the glow of the flashlight.

  She laughed. “We screamed so much, all the dads came running and two of them ended up in the river.”

  He chuckled. “We got in big trouble.”

  “And your punishment was to help clean out the septic tanks.”

  Cy let the memory of those simple times wash through him. So much had happened since.

  “Hey, J,” Louis called. “There’s a possum in the tree up here, come take a look.”

  Jonty started to pull away but Cy still held his hand. “Will you be okay, bud?”

  Jonty turned to look at Ellie.

  “I’m sure he’ll be fine, won’t you, Jonty,” she said quietly.

  Jonty nodded and slipped from Cy’s hold. Ellie stopped and hugged herself at his side.

  “You’re cold,” he said and stopped walking.

  She pulled her cardigan tighter. “I’m okay.”

  He ignored her protest and shrugged out of his jacket, the light from the flashlight casting soft shadows across her face. Ahead, Jonty moved his flashlight this way and that as they looked for the possum.

  Cy held the jacket behind her and Ellie put her arms through the holes till her fingers were swamped. When he’d adjusted it, he held his hands on her shoulders for a moment and his stomach looped. He turned her around, and she rolled one of the sleeves so she could hold the torch better.