by Megan Kelly
“But they can’t love him more than you.”
“I know. They don’t even know him.”
“How much contact have they had with Jimmy?”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “None.”
“Well, that says something right there. You’d think they’d have wanted to be around when he was a baby.”
“You’d think so, yes.”
Her answers sounded evasive. Something nagged at the back of his brain, but Dylan couldn’t pin it down. What wasn’t she telling him?
“On the positive side,” she said, “I’m young, whereas Albert just turned sixty-seven and Marnie’s nearly that. So I’ve got age and energy to my credit, but no husband, no education, no fortune.” She buried her face in her hands. “I’m so screwed.”
“Not necessarily. Let’s try to think of solutions.”
Tara shook her head. “I wish I could help you, really. If I moved in here and rented out my half of the duplex, I could use that money and the nanny salary to pay for a better lawyer. Unfortunately, moving in with you would make me look loose, irresponsible and not much different from the wild teenager Jay’s parents remember. I wouldn’t want a person like that raising my child, either.”
“Whatever you were like as a teenager shouldn’t be counted against you now.”
“I’m really sorry. I know you were hoping for my help.”
“Don’t be sorry. You have to do what’s best for Jimmy. Let’s think rationally.”
He crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch. “Tell me the reasons you think they could win.”
“They have money.”
“You’re his mother. Surely that counts heavily in your favor.”
“I’ve been reading up. The courts are deciding more in favor of grandparents in custody cases.”
“What other charges, or whatever they’re called, can they bring against you?”
“They think I’m an unfit parent because I was a crazy, out-of-control teenager. They don’t know how I’ve changed.”
“That’s all they’ve got?”
She looped her hair behind her ears. “They also could argue I don’t have their amount of money, which is true, or a college education to get a higher-paying job, which is also true. And any better job I get would take away from my time with Jimmy, plus the salary would go toward day care and sitters instead of improving our situation.”
“Which is why you obtained a position at the day care that would allow you to be with him and earn money at the same time.”
“I appreciate you seeing my side. I’m worried, Dylan.” She traced a circle on the coffee table. “A lot of grandparents raise children these days, but they have to. The parents leave or take drugs. Jimmy has me.”
“So the main problem is you can’t provide a father,” Dylan said.
“Or loads of money.” Tara sighed. “I’ll have my lawyer argue against Albert Summerfield’s age. Sixty-seven isn’t old, unless you’re chasing after a toddler. He might not be able to play with Jimmy or keep up with his activities. Maybe we’ll point out Albert will need to be driving to his doctor rather than coaching soccer.”
He stared at her for a minute. “Or you could provide Jimmy with a father.”
“Very funny.”
“I’m serious.” Dylan took her hands in his. “Marry me.”
Chapter Five
His words stunned Tara like a Taser shot. “That’s not funny.”
“I didn’t mean it to be funny,” Dylan said. “Let me help you while you help me with Lily.”
She snatched her hands away. “Be serious. We…we barely know each other.”
“It would be like one of those old-time arranged marriages, only we do the arranging ourselves. It works out for both of us. You get a two-parent home, and I get a nanny Lily trusts.”
Tara stared at him. “You are serious.”
He nodded, looking deceptively sane.
“What about after the court case? After Lily gets settled?”
“We’ll get a divorce. With no hard feelings because we know where we stand from the start.”
She glared at him. “You mean we’d get an annulment.”
After a minute he said, “Sure, an annulment. Right. No sleeping together, of course.”
“It wouldn’t be a real marriage so we wouldn’t be doing that.” She put her hands to her temples. “Which is stupid to even talk about, since I’m not agreeing to this crazy scheme.”
“Jimmy gets a dad. You get a two-parent home with a two-parent income and the semblance of stability for the case. It’s not crazy.”
“And Lily?”
“Lily benefits, as well. She gets settled and into kindergarten. That would give you time to mend fences with your in-laws.”
“I wasn’t married to Jay, so they’re not officially my in-laws, ex or otherwise. He didn’t want to marry me just because he’d used a faulty condom.”
“Then he’s a jerk. We don’t want them to try this later on when our marriage regrettably falls apart.”
“Our rather hasty marriage,” she pointed out. “That’s not going to make me look very responsible. We haven’t known one another long enough to have fallen in love.”
He winked. “I’ll swear I’m devoted to you, which I am. Perhaps you don’t know what you’ve come to mean to me because of Lily.”
Tara melted a little inside. She understood, since she had a soft spot for anyone who wanted to protect Jimmy. Right now, that included Dylan. “I don’t know. It’s impulsive.”
“It’s a win-win.”
Tara shook her head. Men. So damned logical and so totally clueless. “But what about Lily’s well-being? When we get our annulment, she’ll lose another mother figure.”
Dylan raked a hand through his hair and paced. After a moment, he stopped in front of Tara. “We’ll have to tell the kids, I guess.”
She gawked. “Tell them what?”
“That we’re only getting married for a while, but it’s a secret.” He shook his head. “Let’s not borrow trouble, okay? Think about my proposal. We’ll work out the rest later.”
Jay’s parents had a chance at winning, but she had reason on her side. The case would probably never go before a judge in the first place. Surely their attorney had drafted that letter as a bluff, trying to get her to fall into line?
So why didn’t she just flat-out tell Dylan no?
Because she couldn’t take any risks with the case. What if having a husband would sway the judge in her favor?
Or probably because she cared so much for Lily. That was it.
She tossed and turned in Dylan’s bed, staring at Jimmy’s silhouette snuggled beside her and wondering how the arrangement would affect him. By morning she was no closer to agreeing, but she hadn’t dismissed the idea, either.
Having a man in the picture as a role model, financial help and the facade of a stable home life might make a difference. If only she knew whether this would aid or cripple her chances in the hearing.
Breakfast was leisurely as neither adult had to rush to work on a Sunday. Missing church after such a sleepless night made sense. Checking Lily’s forehead with a kiss, Tara didn’t notice any fever. The girl’s skin wasn’t any paler than usual, her eyes were clear and her spirit chipper. Thankfully, last night’s vomiting had stemmed from emotional upset rather than a virus—if one could be thankful about such an option.
“Good morning,” Dylan said over his shoulder as she wandered in for breakfast. He flipped silver-dollar-size pancakes at the stove.
“Why do I smell gravy? And biscuits?”
“Maybe because I’m making biscuits and gravy? And scrambled eggs. I didn’t know what you like for breakfast.”
The twinkle in his eye made her wonder how many women he served breakfast to after a night of lovemaking. He was skilled in the kitchen, and she’d just bet—
“How did you sleep?”
“Sleep?” A yawn overtook her at the though
t of burrowing back into the covers.
“Not too well, huh?”
“No, I slept some. I just, you know, have a lot on my mind.”
“We can help each other, Tara,” Dylan said in a low voice, leaning toward her. “You need time to go to college. I could watch Jimmy at night while you do that.”
Surprise arrowed into her. Talk about out of the blue. “I’m so worried about the custody hearing, I’ve barely thought about anything other than marrying you. I’m not coming up with a less crazy solution.”
He grinned. “Gee, thanks.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
Their eyes met and they laughed.
“Have some breakfast,” he said as the oven timer dinged. “Things will sound less impossible on a full stomach.”
They gathered around the table—fluffy yellow eggs, melt-in-the-mouth biscuits, sausage gravy, and pancakes with the steam rising off them—and four tentative strangers who might become a family. For a while. Tara eyed Dylan as butter melted and slid across her pancake. He could cook. That certainly counted in his favor.
“Pass the syrup, please, Mr. Ross,” Jimmy said.
Dylan nodded as he did so. “You have very polite manners.”
Jimmy beamed under the male approval as he coated his pancakes with sugary liquid. “I got a wiggly tooth.”
She did a double take. He’d told Dylan before telling her?
“That’s cool,” Dylan said. “Maybe it’ll fall out here and the tooth fairy will find you.”
Jimmy grasped his front bicuspid between his thumb and forefinger and gave it a tug.
Tara shuddered as his movement made her queasy. “Jimmy, don’t do that at the table.”
“Did you lose a tooth here?” her son asked Lily.
Lily shook her head then whispered, “At home I did.”
Jimmy’s face scrunched up as he turned back to Dylan. “How does the tooth fairy know Lily’s here now?”
Dylan glanced at Tara.
She fielded the question since her son had asked, and hoped what she said would match Dylan’s version. “The tooth fairy knows when a tooth is about to fall out. She can find the child who’s going to lose it so she can trade the tooth for something else the child wants.”
“I think the family who lived here before me had kids,” Dylan added, “so she’s probably watching this place, but I haven’t lost a tooth for a long time.”
Jimmy chortled. “You’re silly.”
Tara could scarcely believe that this child, so confident with an adult, able to tease a man he barely knew, was her son. He was usually bashful when making a new acquaintance, and adults had to earn his trust. Yet here he sat, with a serious case of hero worship.
Jimmy gulped some milk as a chaser to his mouthful of pancake. “Tommy Ayrens said the tooth fairy brought him five dollars for his tooth.”
“Wow.” Dylan glanced at Tara. “Is that what teeth are going for these days? I thought the tooth fairy just brought a new toothbrush.”
Both children stopped eating mid-forkful, their appalled expressions forcing Tara to bite her lip to hold back her laughter.
“Maybe the first tooth is worth five dollars,” she said once she regained control. “Losing your first tooth is special. But after that, no. Not from what I’ve heard at the day care.”
“I bet,” Dylan said to the children, “you both have beautiful teeth. The tooth fairy will take one look at them, all shiny from being brushed, and think they’re special, no matter how many you’ve lost before.”
Tara stared at the blossom of pleased color on her son’s cheeks. He’d puffed himself up, nearly beside himself with pride.
In that moment, she knew the future as though a gypsy had foreseen it in a crystal ball. She was going to marry Dylan Ross.
DYLAN TALKED HER INTO STAYING through the morning as they played games with the children. He caught her staring at him, judging him, and it made him nervous. He knew he came up short as a dad. That was the whole point of his proposal.
He talked her into lunch and went about frying bacon for sandwiches. If only he could talk her into being his nanny, but he understood.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” Tara started. Her hesitant phrasing prepared him for her refusal. He braced himself, already thinking of counterarguments.
“I can’t come up with a better solution,” she said. “Not in the time frame we have to work in, anyway. Sure, a grief counselor might eventually help Lily. Might. Eventually. Those words ring hollow when compared with Lily’s distress.”
Dylan stood agape. Was she accepting his marriage proposal? He didn’t doubt she’d say “yes, I’ll marry you” by claiming there wasn’t a better solution. Thankfully, he wasn’t emotionally wrapped up in this woman. She’d be the death of any ego he had.
“An outstanding lawyer,” she continued, “which I can’t afford, might win in court, but I won’t risk Jimmy’s welfare on ‘might.’”
“So you’ll marry me?”
Tara sighed with resignation. “Yeah, I guess so.”
He didn’t know whether to thank her or ask her to go home. If she left, she might come to her senses. “Let’s tell the kids.”
She grabbed his arm as he turned and a spark of awareness flooded his body. The force of his response surprised him.
“Don’t you think we should plan out a few things? Like where we’ll live?”
“Sure,” he said. “Where do you want to live?”
“My place has a fourth bedroom and a yard. Lily hasn’t really settled into your place, so I don’t see the point of uprooting Jimmy.”
The comment about Lily didn’t sit well with Dylan, but he couldn’t deny the truth of her statement. “Fine. Anything else?”
“You’ll sleep in the fourth bedroom. We can set it up as an office for you for appearances, but we’ll also put a sofa bed in there.” She bit her lip. “Is that all right? Because sleeping together is a deal breaker.”
A guy’s pride could only take so many hits. “What makes you think I’d want anything different?”
Her shoulders relaxed. “All right then. But you can’t be dating or you know…” She waved her hand. “Be seen with another woman. It would indicate our marriage isn’t all it should be, which might damage my case.”
“Don’t worry, Tara. I can go without sex for a couple of months.”
He’d probably work himself to death trying to keep his mind otherwise occupied, but he could do it. “Anything else before we tell the kids?”
“Tons, but nothing urgent. There’s no time like the present.”
The children came at her call and the four of them settled around Dylan’s table again. He glanced at the boy, hoping this worked out well for him, too. The enormity of the changes in all four lives made Dylan hesitate. Was he being too selfish?
“Kids, we have good news,” Tara said.
Lily and Jimmy glanced up at her then Dylan. He smiled but let Tara take the lead. This would affect Jimmy the most. The boy would have to share his mom, whereas Lily would welcome the change wholeheartedly.
“Lily’s dad has offered me a kind of a job,” Tara said, “but I’ll still work at the Wee Care, and you’ll both still go to day care there.”
Jimmy continued looking at her, unblinking.
She took a deep breath. Dylan held his. So much depended on Jimmy’s reaction to her next words. The kids looked curious, not alarmed. Dylan guessed the tension in the room was his own nerves. Would this work? Was it crazy? He knew one of those answers.
Tara broke eye contact with him and looked at her son. “Mr. Ross and Lily are going to move into our house for a while. I’m going to help him out since he doesn’t have a wife.”
“Doing what?” Jimmy asked.
“You’ll live with me?” Lily whispered.
Tara glanced at Dylan for help.
“Miss Tara will be with us as long as we need her,” he told Lily. “As for wh
at she’ll do, well, she’ll take care of all of us.”
“Brush my hair?” Lily pulled a strand forward.
He smiled at his daughter. “Yes.”
“Lily, listen.” Tara stroked the hair from the girl’s face. “Don’t expect always, okay? I’ll be with you for a couple of months. At least until you start kindergarten. Maybe a little longer. We’ll see. Okay?”
Lily frowned. “Just for the summer?”
“Yes, for the summer, for sure. But we aren’t going to tell anyone that because it might change. Then people will just get confused and there would be a lot of explaining. It would get complicated.”
“It’s nobody’s business but ours,” Dylan put in. “We’ll be a family while we live with Miss Tara and Jimmy, but we can’t stay there forever.”
Tara looked at Jimmy. “What do you say, honey? It’ll be like a long sleepover.”
Dylan held his breath. Not that they’d let a child decide this, but the boy’s agreement would make it easier.
Jimmy looked at him and then Tara and finally shrugged. “’Kay.”
“But,” Dylan emphasized, “we’re keeping this plan to ourselves. Just the four of us. Everyone else might think it’s forever, and that’s okay. We let them think that.”
Lily nodded. “I can keep a secret. Mommy taught me.”
I’ll just bet she did. Dylan smoothed the scowl from his mind in case it showed on his face. “Good. Jimmy, you okay with this?”
The boy’s chest puffed out. “I can keep a secret, too.”
Dylan smiled. What a great kid. “I’m sure you can. Then we’re set?”
Tara shrugged. “I guess so. Oh, and Mr. Ross and I have to go through a ceremony downtown so we can all live together.”
“A living-together ceremony?” Lily asked.
Tara blushed at Dylan’s low chuckle. Lily’s innocent query had them both thinking of sex, he was sure. Not that he needed prompting; these days, it seemed to be all he thought about. Had his future bride lain awake last night as well, imagining them together? A purely male satisfaction welled inside him.
“Yes,” Tara said.
Dylan started before he realized she had answered Lily’s question, not his unspoken one. She referred to the ceremony that would bind them as husband and wife. He rubbed his chest where the bacon sandwich must have expanded against his sternum. A little burn formed there. He shouldn’t eat so fast.