The Marriage Solution

by Megan Kelly

  “I like it, too,” Jane said. She squatted to Lily’s eye level. “It’s very pretty.”

  Lily’s gaze darted between her cousins then up to Tara for confirmation. Tara nodded. “Very pretty.”

  “Thanks,” Lily whispered to all three.

  Tara rose and poured out the lemonade. She handed Dylan his glass.

  “So, Christopher,” he said, “don’t you have something to do?”

  “Yes, sir.” Chris crossed the room and opened the dishwasher. The other triplets rose to help, handing him a plate from the sink and lifting the little ones to the faucet so they could rinse their cups themselves.

  Tara smiled as one triplet helped the other without being asked. She caught Dylan’s look of pride.

  “They’re good kids,” he said.

  “I can tell. You should be proud.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with it. Their parents—” he leaned forward and dropped his voice “—beat it into them.”

  She gave him a slight smile but reminded herself of his philandering ways in order to counteract the effect of his charm.

  “Or they taught them by example,” he said, shrugging. “Believe whichever story you prefer.”

  “Sorry, not buying it. I can feel the love in this house.”

  “I finished,” Christopher called. “Can we watch a movie?”

  Dylan caught Tara’s eye. “Your call. I’m just backup.”

  “Everyone pick up the yard first.”

  “I’ll help put away the bubbles.” Jane turned to the younger children. “Can you help me find the wands?”

  Jimmy trotted after Bethany and Brian, ready to do his part. Tara grinned, guilty of pride herself. Although not used to the group dynamic, he’d caught on and jumped in to help. Lily stood just outside the doorway, not easy with either faction, adult or child.

  Cait grabbed Lily’s hand and tugged. “You can come with me. You don’t got to help, though, ’cause you didn’t get to play.”

  Penny slept on in her carrier, emphasizing the sudden quiet as the other children left them alone.

  Tara cleared her throat and moved a step away from Dylan. “So, when did your mom think she’d get here?”

  “I’m not sure.” He frowned. “Come to think of it, she seemed evasive about just what had delayed her.”

  “I don’t remember any meeting she had for the Wee Care today. It must be something personal.”

  “Strange.” He shook himself. “But I don’t want you to have to babysit on your day off.”

  She narrowed her eyes at his taunt.

  “I can take care of the kids for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe being here with the others would be good for Lily.”

  “No, I promised I’d stay. And Jimmy’s having fun.”

  “You don’t have a boyfriend waiting for you?”

  She sensed an underlying tone. The way he avoided her gaze made her suspicious of hidden meaning. “No, I don’t. Just because I’m a single mom doesn’t mean I’m easy.”

  “Believe me, I have never associated the word easy with anything about you.”

  Tara bit back a smile. She knew better than to be beguiled by him, but she couldn’t sustain her anger with him, either.

  “Then, as there’s no boyfriend to rip my head off for asking, would you go out to dinner with me?”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

  Dylan mentally grimaced as she quickly backpedaled, physically and mentally, he’d guess, and checked on Penny. His impetuous idea would be hard enough to phrase without factoring in her resistance to him. It wasn’t as though he wanted to date her, just pick her brain.

  “If you don’t want to, it’s okay.” He almost hoped she would refuse. His life had enough complications at the moment.

  Tara peeked over her shoulder at him before straightening a wrinkle in Penny’s onesie. Her hands caressed the baby, who slept peacefully and didn’t need soothing. Dylan recognized the move as a way of centering herself. He’d seen Anne do the same thing with the kids, drawing on their innocence and serenity to find her own calm.

  Dylan rolled his eyes. When had he last stumbled over asking a woman out to dinner? Probably in his teens. “Hey, don’t sweat it. Let’s forget I asked.”

  She blinked. “You’ve already changed your mind?”

  “No. I mean, yes. Look, I’m not asking you for a date. I’m sorry if you misunderstood. I hoped you could offer me some parenting advice.” He ran a hand across the back of his neck. “I thought I’d adjust better to fatherhood, having so much experience with Adam and Anne’s kids. It’s different with Lily. She’s different.”

  Tara picked a piece of grass off the side of the carrier.

  “But if going out with me makes you uncomfortable, forget it. It doesn’t matter.” Which was a patent lie, and they both knew it. As a father, Dylan’s efforts fell short. Since Lily hadn’t connected with his mom, he had no one but Tara to turn to for advice. “I just thought you’d help me, for Lily’s sake.”

  She smoothed Penny’s almost invisible, baby-fine blond hair, still not meeting his eye. “I don’t know what I could tell you that would help. Lily’s grieving. She’s lost her mother, been taken from her home and made to live with a stranger.”

  “I’m her father.”

  “That’s just a word to Lily. You haven’t been in her life till now.”

  He clenched his jaw and looked away. Dammit. He would have been, had he known about his daughter. But that hardly helped either of them now. As much as he hated to admit it, he was as alien a creature to his little girl as if he’d come from Jupiter.

  Dylan swallowed his pride. “Maybe you could help with the basics then. Obviously I stink at hairdos. I probably would have ripped out half her hair removing that rubber band. Just imagine how that would have endeared me to Lily.”

  Tara opened her mouth, then paused. “I wondered why you were glaring at us.”

  “Glaring? I didn’t mean to. Watching you brought home to me all the simple stuff I don’t know, like don’t use rubber bands for ponytails.”

  She sighed. “Okay, I’ll go to dinner with you.”

  Joan of Arc had probably shown the same enthusiasm as she’d climbed onto her pyre of wood.

  WHAT WAS I THINKING? Tara put her hands on her hips and stared into the abyss of her closet. Dylan had looked so desperate, and then he’d seen her reluctance and had tried to ease her way out. Not that she didn’t have excuses enough to refuse him; she just hadn’t used them.

  For starters, she hadn’t gone on a date in over four years. The last time she’d been with a guy, she’d told him he was about to become a father. Which had also been the last time she’d seen Jamison Albert Summerfield III. Jay had boarded the first plane out of the country, winding up in Portugal.

  She also had nothing to wear, which was obvious as she perused her choices. “Dinner” could mean anything. In her world, dinner out meant Mickey D’s. In the world of normal grown-ups like Dylan, it could be a thirty-minute drive into Kansas City for a steak at an expensive restaurant or barbecue or Thai. Her stomach growled as she thought of the possibilities.

  Even though she’d brought her clothes with her when she’d left home and most of them still fit, those were princess clothes, and she had no intention of going back to that lifestyle. These days she lived in jeans and a sweatshirt or shorts and a T-shirt. If he’d had time to make plans or even think the thing through, Dylan could have given her a hint of their destination so she’d know what to wear.

  Of course, she thought with a wry smile, if he’d thought the thing through, he wouldn’t have asked her in the first place. The butterflies in her stomach had little to do with clothes and a lot to do with the reluctant attraction she felt for Dylan Ross.

  Not that she planned to act on it. She couldn’t become involved with a man right now, so it was a darn good thing he just wanted advice. If at times she yearned for affection from a male over three years old, she told herself she’d work
that in later along the road. She’d date again, but not a playboy like Dylan. Perhaps after she’d finished her education degree, she’d find someone she could love and believe in. Someone who’d love her and her son. Someone she’d value as a role model for Jimmy.

  None of which included Dylan Ross.

  Those plans were set far in the future, regardless of how her stubborn hormones shrieked every time he entered the room.

  An hour later, sixteen-year-old Kim from the adjoining duplex sat in the front room with Jimmy. Tara had decided on black slacks and a lilac silk blouse, which had been comfortably elegant in Rome four years before but now looked drab. However, it should fit in whether they went casual or semi-dressy.

  The doorbell rang. The butterflies in her stomach morphed into pelicans.

  Dylan stood outside the door with Lily just behind him.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t call you with little ears listening, so I just came by.”

  Lily rushed forward and hugged Tara.

  Tara patted her and eased her away. “Hey, sweetie, it’s good to see you, too. Jimmy’s in his room. Go say hi.”

  With a backward glance, Lily left them at the door.

  “Kim,” Tara called to her babysitter. “I’m going to step outside with Mr. Ross for a minute.”

  The teen nodded.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Lily burst into tears when she realized I planned to leave her at Adam’s, even with all her cousins and her grandma there. Caity has made Lily her special friend, but Lily hasn’t taken to her with the same enthusiasm.” Dylan ran a hand through his hair. “Poor Caity looked ready to burst into tears herself when Lily insisted on leaving. I couldn’t even be happy she’d chosen me for a change.”

  “Maybe another time then.”

  He paid Kim, ignoring Tara’s protests and Kim’s assertions that she didn’t need payment for work she didn’t do. Then he watched from Tara’s porch until the teen passed the bushes separating their doorways and entered her family’s half of the duplex.

  Blowing out a breath, he turned to find three upturned faces, as the kids had joined Tara in the front room. As much as he wanted—needed—Tara’s advice, he couldn’t get it with his daughter around.

  “Well, we’ve said hello,” he told his daughter.

  “Thanks for stopping by,” Tara said. “I’ll see you at school, Lily.”

  Dylan appreciated her playing along, as though a brief visit had always been the plan.

  BUT SHE SAW LILY long before school. In fact, it was only hours later that she walked into Dylan’s condo with Jimmy by her side.

  “I’m sorry. Did my call wake him up?”

  Tara nodded, but she appeared resigned rather than angry. “Is Lily still throwing up?”

  “Not in the past twenty minutes.” He grimaced. “She won’t let me near her. No surprise there, but I haven’t been able to clean her up or change her pajamas. I tried and she shrieked like a banshee.”

  Tara left him to settle Jimmy in his bed while she went through the process of calming Lily, this time adding a bath and fresh pajamas to the ritual because of the vomit.

  Dylan ran a hand through his hair, frustrated at his own failure. There had to be a better solution. How could he stop taking Jimmy out of bed but still get Tara here for Lily?

  By the time Tara entered the living room half an hour later, he’d come up with a plan. Maybe he’d gone crazy from lack of sleep and too much worry, and maybe this was the trickiest water he’d submerged himself into in a long time, but he felt more in control having figured out a solution. No matter how far-fetched.

  He wished he’d had a stiff whiskey or something while Tara had been down the hall with Lily. A little Dutch courage would go a long way. However, he’d have to do his best with the daring he had.

  “Thank you,” he said when she entered the living room. “I’m sorry for all the repeated phone calls. For dragging Jimmy out of his bed.” He tried on a smile. “But I think I have a solution.”

  Her eyebrows rose in question, doubt evident on her face.

  “Tara, I have a proposition, uh, of sorts, for you.” Poor choice of words, Ross. Because he could see taking Tara to bed, despite their lack of agreement on most issues. They had an uneasy truce for the most part, which would make his next words insane. But, for Lily, he’d do anything. Even this.

  She’d locked her teeth together, probably to keep from telling him where he could stick that kind of proposition. Her face had gone pink, no doubt from outrage. Dylan took a deep breath, wishing for his oxygen tank. He was about to plunge into deep and dangerous waters.

  “I’d like for you to move in here. As my nanny,” Dylan added quickly.

  Tara shook her head, staring as though he’d lost his mind. He probably had.

  “I know it’s crazy. You and I don’t get along all that well.” The understatement of the year. “But this is for Lily. I can’t call you every night, expecting you to wake Jimmy just to get Lily to sleep. It’s not fair to you or him.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any improvement,” he continued, ignoring her. Maybe if he just kept talking, he’d wear her down. “I’m at my wit’s end trying to take care of her. Even though she’s at day care when I’m at work, there’s all the rest of the time. Neither of us is sleeping.”

  He shook his head. “I try to read to her every night, thinking if we got into a routine, she’d relax a little.”

  “That’s an excellent idea.”

  “But she doesn’t warm up, no matter what I do.” He held her gaze. “Not like she does with you.”

  “Dylan, I sympathize with your problem, but I can’t just uproot Jimmy from his home. Besides, the timing is crazy for me.”

  “I know it wouldn’t be easy for you or Jimmy to move. But I’ll be paying for all the food, too, and you can save money for college. Mom says you’re going to be a teacher. Maybe you could rent out your place for…” He trailed off. Crap.

  She smirked. “Ah. Now reality hits. How long were you going to hire me for? Just until Lily settles in? That’s not real fair.”

  “Let’s say six months, even if Lily settles in sooner.” He nodded decisively. “That’ll get her into kindergarten and through her first holidays without Rose. After that, we can reassess the situation, see how Lily’s doing, how you and I and Jimmy are handling it, and decide then if you need or want to stay on.”

  “I can’t see how this would work, and it’s impossible for me anyway.”

  “My condo has two spare rooms. Lily’s using the guest bedroom now, and the other room is basically storage, but I can clean it out.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sakes, Dylan. Listen to yourself.”

  “Moving is already on my to-do list. We need a bigger place. I’ve checked, and a unit with four bedrooms comes available in a month.”

  “A month? You may not need me in a month. And why are you moving into a place with four bedrooms?”

  “I’m going to hire live-in help. I need a room for the nanny, my bedroom, Lily’s bedroom, and either an office for me or playroom for her. She can’t be playing in the same place I’m working.”

  “So you’re getting a nanny anyway?”

  “I have to travel on-site sometimes to troubleshoot the programs and hardware we sell. Someone will need to be here for Lily in the night and to pick her up after school when I’m at work. She could go to the Wee Care, but I’ll still need a backup plan, and I don’t want to put the responsibility on my mom. So I’ll have to move anyway.”

  “And what do you plan to do for the next month? Call me every night?” She stopped.

  He grinned, glad she understood his point. Moving in meant Jimmy wouldn’t have to be taken from his bed.

  “Not that I’m even considering this insane idea.”

  But she was, he could tell. For the first time since he’d conceived the idea—another poor turn of phrase—he felt hopeful. “I’ll sleep o
n the couch for now. You can have my room.” He blocked out the image of her in his bed, rumpled and warm, tangled in his sheets. He cleared his throat. “Jimmy will have his own room. He can bring all his stuff from your house.”

  She rubbed her temple. “You make it sound so plausible.”

  “It is. I know it could work.” He took both her hands in his. “Tara, I’ll be forever in your debt. There’s no better start for a friendship between us than our children’s interests. You’re fond of Lily, and Jimmy would have her as a live-in playmate, plus all Adam’s kids.”

  She hesitated. “I didn’t want to discuss my personal problems, but you deserve to know why I have to turn you down. It isn’t because I don’t care about Lily. If I could help you, I’d seriously think about doing this.”

  “Okay.” He led her to the couch and sat beside her, ready to talk her around to his point of view. “So what is it?”

  “I’m being sued for custody of Jimmy.”

  He felt his eyes go wide, then his jaw tightened. “His dad?”

  Tara grimaced. “Close. His dad’s parents.”

  “Why?” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine that. You’re such a good mother.”

  “My situation isn’t like yours. Even my parents are sympathetic to the Summerfields. They were best friends. The rich travel together and live in a pretty insular world. My family’s not supportive the way yours is.”

  “God.” He ran a hand over his face. “I feel like a jerk, only thinking of my problems.”

  “You’re thinking of Lily. That’s commendable. You need to do right by her just as I need to do what’s best for Jimmy.”

  “You didn’t say why they would do this.”

  Tara dropped her gaze. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen them in years. Maybe they believe their money will provide a better home for Jimmy.”

  “Is there a chance these people will win?”

  She clasped her hands to her stomach, looking sick with dread. “Money means a good lawyer, and they can provide a two-parent home.”