Newlywed Games

by Mary Davis

“Mom…” The single word held a heavy note of dread.

  Meghann might not want him there, but he saw no reason to be rude to her mother. He put down his briefcase and garment bag and extended his hand to her. “I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Livingston.”

  “Please, call me Mom,” Mrs. Livingston said proudly.

  “Mom!”

  At the strangled word, Bruce glanced at Meghann. She looked positively ill. And was now beet red. He turned his attention back to the older woman. Something was up. Just what, he wasn’t sure. While one woman had clearly tried to get rid of him, the other was so happy to see him she was on the verge of tears. What could his employee possibly have said to her mother to make her so emotional about meeting him?

  “At least call me Gayle,” the older Livingston woman said. “We’re family now.”

  Family?

  He looked to Meghann for an explanation. She stared open-mouthed at her mother.

  Apparently unaware of her daughter’s discomfort, Gayle continued, “I was so disappointed when Meg said you would be away my entire visit. I knew you would make it if you were everything Meg said you were. And here you are. Do you mind if I give my new son-in-law a hug?”

  “Mother!”

  So that was it.

  Understanding washed over Bruce. For some reason Meghann Livingston had told her mother they were married. He knew he should be put out. Even angry. But he wasn’t.

  Not even a little.

  For one thing, he knew the kind of pressure parents, especially a mother, could put on a son…or daughter…to get married.

  For another, he was inordinately pleased Meg had chosen him. He managed to hold back a smile. Maybe he had a chance with her after all. He eyed the red-faced young woman, then turned back to her mother. “It would be my honor to give you a hug…Mom.”

  Two

  MEGHANN CHEWED ON HER BOTTOM LIP AS SHE STARED AT the suitcases passing in front of her. Her knotted stomach told her that her little white lie was spinning out of control. Fast. She had to regain control without upsetting her mom. Mr. Halloway hadn’t said anything yet, for that she was grateful, but tomorrow she would probably lose her job. She couldn’t do what she’d done and not expect repercussions. He wasn’t ever supposed to know about this. Ever!

  She knew exactly how he felt when he found out they were supposedly married because she had had the same sinking, confused feeling. Maybe if she explained it all—well, almost all—he would understand. How could she have let Jennifer talk her into this?

  Simple? This was anything but simple.

  Recognizing a bag coming toward her, she reached out for it.

  “Let me get that for you.” The deep voice caressed her ear, and all her senses came alert, her flesh tingling at his nearness.

  She looked up into Bruce Halloway’s smiling face. He reached around her and grabbed the handle of the suitcase before the conveyer carried it away. As he leaned past her, she stared at his short wavy brown hair as his woodsy cologne, the smell of outdoors, wafted passed her nose.

  “Thank you.” She barely managed the words around the humiliation. The butterflies swarming inside her fluttered and for an instant as their eyes connected she wished her lie could come true.

  “You’re welcome. Any others?”

  “One more, larger than this.” She couldn’t bear to look at him any longer. She could only imagine what he must think of her. How was she going to get out of this? She could confess and risk her mother relapsing but shuddered at the thought. It was too soon. She had to tell her mother something to get Mr. Halloway off the hook—fast.

  “Mr. Halloway, I’m so sorry for this…misunderstanding.”

  “Now, you really should call me Bruce. After all, we are married.” A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, softening his strong jaw. Did anything catch him off guard or ruffle his feathers?

  “I can explain.”

  He made a tsking noise. “A wife shouldn’t keep such secrets from her husband.”

  How could he tease her at a time like this? This was serious. “Please let me explain.”

  “I look forward to every word of your explanation. I’ll bet it’s quite entertaining. Is this one your mother’s?” he asked, reaching for the matching suitcase.

  How could he be so calm in the face of calamity? At the question, another frenzied situation came to her mind.…

  She’d found herself in the middle of a scrap between two guests’ pets: a kitten and a corgi. A wild chase had ended up with her balancing on a stepladder and reaching up a tree for the terrified kitten. But the creature’s hissing and claws hadn’t been on her mind. No, what she’d been thinking was why couldn’t the angry beast have picked any other tree? Why the one in front of this window? The window to Mr. Halloway’s office! She’d hoped desperately that her boss was otherwise occupied.

  No such luck.

  He showed up and had taken control with ease, calming all the agitated guests and even seeing to Meg’s scratches—her thanks for saving the panicked kitten. It was so like him to fix everything so everyone was happy.

  And his gentle ministrations to her wounds ministered to her heart as well. She had hoped it would be a turning point for them and he would ask her out, but he didn’t. She supposed it was wise of him not to fraternize with a subordinate.

  “You aren’t going to say anything to my mother then?” she asked, coming back to her current dilemma.

  Gazing into her upturned face, he winked at her. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  “Thank you. I promise to think of something to get you out of this mess.”

  As he bent down to get the suitcases, she thought she heard him softly say, “No rush.”

  He hoisted the two bags and returned to her mother. He lifted his garment bag over his shoulder, tucked his briefcase under one arm, and gripped the two suitcase handles firmly. “Which way to the car, kitten?”

  She looked up at him sharply, his smile endearing with a teasing glint in his eyes.

  Kitten?

  “I-I thought you…had to…to go into work? Shall we drop you off at the hotel?” There. That would get him out of this. She breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Heavens, no. Work can wait until tomorrow. Family is more important than shuffling a few papers, darling.” He gave her another charming smile.

  Darling? For the life of her she couldn’t figure out why he was playing along. All she could do was stare at him and drink in his alluring smile.

  Her mother interrupted her thoughts. “You may be as surprised to see your husband as I am, but you can gawk at him at home. His arms are going to drop off if he stands there much longer.”

  “Oh, yeah, the car. This way.” She shook off the romantic cobwebs in her mind as she picked up her mom’s carry-on bag and headed for the parking garage, leaving Bruce and her mother to follow in her wake.

  This couldn’t be happening to her. This was a dream—No, a nightmare!—and she was going to wake up. How had she gotten herself into such a mess? Who would have known one little, itty, bitty, tiny lie would turn into this? Now it was out of control.

  This was a nightmare.

  She heard voices behind her and remembered she was ignoring the people with her. She slowed her pace to let them catch up. The smell of exhaust fumes inside the dim parking structure turned her already turbulent stomach. Or was it this whole, fabricated situation that had put knots there?

  “You saved my life, you know,” her mother was saying to Bruce.

  “How did I manage that?”

  Meghann fell into step beside her mother, desperately wondering what she could do to stem her mother’s words.

  The answer was clear: absolutely nothing.

  “Cutting the engagement short. Rushing the wedding. I just wish I could have been there. The doctors said my chances of making it were quite slim. But you already know that. Meg told me it was your idea to marry before she came out to see me in the hospital. It put my mind at ease to know she
had a good man to take care of her. Then I thought about the grandchildren I would never see. I’m convinced wanting to see my grandchildren pulled me through.” She looked up at Bruce with a mischievous grin. “I’d like to order up half a dozen, one to be delivered within the year, maybe?”

  “Mother!”

  “You have talked about children, haven’t you?” She turned to Meghann. “How can I be a doting grandmother with no grandchildren to dote over?”

  “We’re going to wait a while,” she said through gritted teeth and rolled her eyes.

  “With the wedding being so hurried we thought it would be best to wait before having children,” Bruce added. “I’m traveling a lot right now. When my job settles down, I promise we will discuss it. I don’t want Meg to go through a pregnancy by herself.”

  “I have something to say about your traveling.” Her mother waved her index finger in the air.

  “Mother!”

  “It’s not healthy for a newly married couple to be apart so much.” She held her hands up in front of her. “That’s all I wanted to say. I won’t bring it up again.”

  “Here’s the car.” Meghann pointed to her seven-year-old cream Honda, then glanced up at Bruce. His smile told her he was still taking this all in stride. Calm, cool, and collected, while she was a nervous wreck inside. They couldn’t have reached her car any sooner for her sanity.

  Meghann opened the trunk for him, then the front passenger door for her mother. When her mother was seated, she went back to help Bruce with the bags. He put in his garment bag, then closed the trunk.

  “All set,” he said, turning to her with a devastating smile. “You going to drive or shall I?”

  She took a quick breath to give strength to her weakened knees. His smile distracted her to no end. “I-I’ll drive. I’m afraid that only leaves the backseat.”

  “That suits me fine.” He held open her door for her, then climbed in the back and stretched his long legs across the back seat floor—filling it as completely as he’d filled her thoughts and heart.

  “I should be the one sitting back there.”

  Meg’s mother looked over her shoulder at Bruce, and he marveled again at how much she and Meg resembled one another.

  “Nonsense. I’m quite comfortable. I’m just going to get a little shut-eye, if you two don’t mind me being so rude.” He folded his arms and leaned back against the corner where the door and seat met. “It was a long flight.” He yawned and closed his eyes.

  Bruce listened to the two women in the front seat. No, he wasn’t tired. He feigned sleep to collect his thoughts and keep his supposed mother-in-law from asking him something he couldn’t answer. Like when were they married, or where did they meet? He could answer the easy stuff like favorite color or flower. He had found out as much about Meghann as he could without her knowledge. But if her mother asked something more personal like shoe size or, heaven forbid, a birthmark only a husband would know about. No, he couldn’t risk it.

  Why did you risk getting involved at all?

  He frowned at the question. To help Meg, of course…to avoid humiliating her in front of her mother.

  By lying?

  By playing along. He hadn’t told any lies…not really. He just hadn’t come out with the truth.

  A sin of omission is still a sin.…

  It was too late to back out now. If he was going to do so, he should have at the beginning. It would hurt both women if he changed his story now. No, better to go along, at least for now.

  But even as he presented his case, he knew it wasn’t the whole truth. There was something more to his involvement in this charade. It opened the door to something he’d longed for: the chance to get to know Meghann.

  As her supposed husband, he could do what he longed to do for so long. He could hold her hand whenever he wanted, or caress her cheek. He could test the waters, so to speak, find out if he was right about the nudgings he thought he was getting from the Lord that Meghann was the woman for him.

  If things went the way he thought they would, then this masquerade would just be a preamble to the real thing.

  He had instantly liked Mrs. Livingston with her smiling eyes. And maybe his helping out would go a long way in the young Miss Livingston’s forgetting the incidence with Charmaine at the Christmas party and his quick unavoidable departure.

  His thoughts drifted back to that day. The party had been the perfect opportunity to approach Meghann. Her shift was over and he’d invited her out for dinner. He hadn’t counted on Charmaine Altman showing up, playing her petty games again to trap him. Nor had he anticipated that Meghann would get caught in the crossfire.

  Then George had delivered the bad news of yet another unwanted trip. Only because it was utterly vital for the hotel had Bruce agreed. He lost a prime chance to take Meghann out and spend time with her. And Charmaine couldn’t have timed her little mishap any better if she had known Meghann would open the door at that exact moment.

  He prayed during his flight that Meg would let him explain and would understand. He started to write her a letter several times but knew he had to apologize face-to-face. Between his travel and her extended vacation, he managed to squeeze in a brief apology. It in no way made up for the misunderstanding. She accepted it, but he wasn’t convinced she really believed him. Now three and a half months later, the look on her face still haunted him.

  If only he hadn’t had to rush off on that business trip, things could have been different for them. If only he had found her to explain. If only Charmaine hadn’t shown up, playing her petty little games. If only…if only…

  With the traveling completed and things calm at the hotel, he’d hoped to finally make it up to her. She must think him such a cad. When he saw the look on her face at the airport, he hadn’t thought twice. He’d jumped in, wholeheartedly. She’d gotten herself into a fix, and he would do all he could to help out. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?

  Really? The right thing to do? In whose eyes?

  He pushed the thought away with a slight shake of his head. From what he’d picked up, Meg had told her little tale about them for a pretty good reason. The least he could do was go along with it. For now.

  And if at the same time he could get to know her better, and she him, then that was even better. Who knew, by the end of her mother’s visit he might even manage to win Meghann over.

  At least, he hoped so.

  Three

  NORMALLY, MEGHANN LOOKED FORWARD TO ARRIVING home. Two huge elm trees dwarfed her cozy one bedroom rental cottage, blanketing her yard with shade in the summer but offering very little shade now. The early signs of the new buds were beginning to show. In the fall when everyone else complained of all the leaves to rake, she relished it. From her two elms and even some of the neighbor’s leaves, she had plenty to make a pile big enough to jump in. Azalea and rhododendron bushes along with other higher bushes and shrubbery formed a fence, and she was able to imagine herself in the country except for the traffic noise. It was her mini-sanctuary.

  Today was different. Today her mother and her make-believe husband were both coming home with her. Talk about having your worst nightmare come true.…

  Meghann’s unease grew as she pulled into her gravel driveway. Now what? She parked the car and the trio stepped out.

  “I’ll get the bags while you unlock the door.”

  She nodded at Bruce’s seemingly casual words. The look in his eyes confirmed what she’d thought: He was trying to be as cautious and strategic about this as he could be. He didn’t want to give her away.

  After unlocking the trunk, she went and opened the gate. Across the yard bounded a big black blur. Oh, no! How could she have forgotten about Lucky? The Labrador came to a halt, barked twice, then wagged her tail.

  “Hello, girl.”

  The happy canine wagged her way over to her owner. Meghann scratched her head, praying the dog wouldn’t give Bruce away. As friendly as Lucky was with people she knew, strangers sometim
es made the Lab nervous.

  “Say hello to Mom, Lucky,” she said, purposefully using the dog’s name for Bruce’s benefit. Lucky wiggled over to Mrs. Livingston and jumped up on the older woman.

  “Off, Lucky.” Meghann tried to nudge her away with her knee. “Get off.”

  “Off!” Bruce’s voice was stern and low. Obediently, the dog turned toward him.

  Meghann had gotten Lucky to be sort of a sentry, but this was one time she didn’t want to be guarded. She was about to say something when Bruce’s next command came.

  “Sit!”

  Lucky instantly obeyed. Her tail continued to wag, brushing across the brittle winter grass.

  The dog’s response amazed Meghann. All that time and money spent on obedience training and she had never gotten that quick of a reaction. Maybe if she had put more heart into it and kept up with it instead of letting it slide, Lucky would obey her as well. Meghann watched, fighting a surprising twinge of jealousy, as Lucky stared up at Bruce with wide, attentive eyes.

  “She certainly knows who’s boss around here,” Meghann’s mother said.

  A weak smile pulled at Meghann’s mouth.

  Bruce lowered the suitcases to the ground. Lucky eased up but stopped with another firm word from Bruce. “Stay.”

  The Lab wiggled in anticipation. When he had put his load down, Bruce knelt three feet in front of the smiling dog, who looked like she was going to jump out of her skin.

  Bruce waited a moment longer, eye-to-eye with the canine, before releasing her. “Good girl,” he said in an even, calm tone. “Okay, come.”

  The Labrador shot off her spot and bounded toward the man, knocking him over and licking his face.

  Meghann was aghast. But Bruce just laughed and wrestled the happy, energetic dog for a minute. She couldn’t help smiling at the playful pair.

  “That’s enough,” Bruce said. “Sit.”

  Lucky sat, awaiting her next order.

  Bruce rose and brushed the dog hair and dry grass off his expensive looking suit. Meghann hoped it wasn’t ruined. Of course, she’d pay to have it dry-cleaned, but she fought a groan at the idea of having to pay for a new suit.