by Noelle Adams
“What are you, some kind of shrink?”
No, but I’ve spend enough time with one to know what she would have said. “I’m just very worried about Jason,” Kaya said in an attempt to steer the topic of conversation away from Bryce. She hadn’t come to Granite Falls to fix his problems. She had her own. “I knew he’d be upset when he heard the truth. I didn’t expect this outrage.”
“He’s in shock. He doesn’t really mean what he said.” Bryce wiped his hand over his short crop of black hair. “I should call Samantha.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. She said to call her after you talked to him.”
Anastasia began to whimper again. Kaya rubbed her tummy the way she’d seen Bryce do. It didn’t help. Her whimpers grew louder.
“What’s wrong with her now?” he asked, looking at the infant with a bit of impatience.
“I think she’s hungry.”
“Then feed her.”
“That’s the problem. She misses being nursed. She doesn’t take the bottle well. Or maybe it’s the formula she doesn’t like. I— I called her pediatrician—”
He glanced at the half empty feeding bottle siting on the dresser. He picked it up and pinched the nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
Kaya inhaled sharply, and to conceal her response to his actions, she gathered Anastasia and hoisted her over her shoulder.
“Did you try a different kind of nipple?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Of course, what would you know about babies and bottles and nipples? Rearranging furniture is your specialty.” He set the bottle back on the dresser.
“There are different kinds of nipples? A nipple is a nipple, isn’t it?”
“No, Kaya. A nipple is never just a nipple. Nipples come in different colors, shapes, sizes, and textures.”
The slow, seductive sound of his voice, especially when he said “nipple” coupled with the sensual flame in his dark eyes, caused Kaya’s own nipples to tingle and harden beneath her lacy bra. She was so happy she was wearing one of Lauren’s bulky sweaters.
When his eyes shifted from her face to her heaving chest, then back to her face, she knew that he knew that she knew they’d moved beyond discussing the nipple on a baby bottle. Heat and moisture gathered at the junction of her thighs. Her throat became dry, and she had no power to stop the soft moan that escaped her.
“Babies get attached to the feel and texture of their mothers.”
God, he wasn’t done. If he said that word one more time…
“What you have to do is find a nipple that matches the shape—”
“Okay! I got it.” Just shut up, already.
A satisfied smile curved his lips.
She wanted to smack him. Again. Twice in one day.
Maybe seduction was his way of convincing women to yield to his desires. If he thought he could just sing her a lullaby and she’d lie down beneath him, he’d better think again. She had to remember that they were still at odds when it came to the future of the children. “How do you know so much about babies? You don’t even have kids of your own. Or do you?”
“Kaya, as far as I’m concerned, these kids are just as good as mine.”
Just the answer she was expecting.
He pulled his cell from a case at his waist and strode out the door on his Viking legs, leaving her just as he’d found her—in the middle of the nursery, holding a fussy baby in her arms.
*
“They’ve been up there forever,” Kaya said as she walked into the kitchen from the playroom where she’d just put on a movie for Alyssa, Snoopy, and her dolls.
“It hasn’t been that long,” Bryce replied from the chair where he’d just sat down to feed Anastasia.
“It feels like it.” Kaya stared at the mess of bottles and nipples of varying sizes, textures, and colors scattered on the counter top. There were nipples made from latex and some from silicone; there were angled, orthodontic, and vented-shaped nipples; there were small, medium and large nipples with varying ranges of flow speeds. And then there was a huge variety of bottle textures and shapes to choose from.
There was definitely an acute science to this bottle and nipple amalgamation, Kaya thought as she watched Anastasia suckling greedily from the “nipple she had chosen” according to Bryce—a latex, orthodontic, medium-flow nipple. They’d tried several until she latched on to that one, which Kaya supposed most closely resembled her mother’s.
Kaya finally took Bryce seriously when he said that he was close to the children and knew how to take care of all their needs. He’d called someone who owned a baby store in downtown Granite Falls, and instructed her to deliver one of every baby bottle and nipple she carried. The man didn’t even have to go out. He called, and the town came running. That was how powerful he was around here. Did she really want to go up against such force?
No, but she would do it for her new family—especially Jason, who she still had to win over. The timing of her return to Palm Beach hinged heavily on his psychological and emotional demeanor, and from what she’d witnessed in the nursery, plus the amount of time he was now spending with Samantha, Kaya knew it would be a while. The thought of spending too much time in Granite Falls filled her with anxiety. The longer she stayed, the stronger the bond between Bryce and his godchildren would become. They might realize that they didn’t need her at all. But she needed them.
“Do you think Jason will be okay?” she asked Bryce grudgingly.
He raised his head. Sorrow and antipathy mingled in his glance. “I don’t know, Kaya. Would you be okay if you’d just lost both your parents?”
“I guess not.” She was never okay after the day she last saw her father.
“I trust Samantha. She knows how to help people through tragedies such as this,” he remarked in a more amicable tone.
So how come she hasn’t helped you through yours? She pulled out the chair at the far end of the table and sat down.
“Jason is a very quiet and sensitive boy. Not the average nine-year-old who’s ashamed to kiss his mother in front of his friends. He and Lauren were very close. They shared a very special kind of love. Maybe it’s because he was her first child and only son. I don’t know. Some people accused Lauren of babying him. Losing her wouldn’t be easy for him.”
“Nor for you.” He was grieving for his friends while trying to stay strong for the children, and still obviously dealing with a loss of his own. It couldn’t be easy for him. The torment in his eyes when Jason had mentioned Pilar in the nursery was embedded into Kaya’s mind forever, and in spite of her protest, her heart took on the weight of his pain. “I’m sorry about the way I acted in Steven’s office, Bryce.”
“I wasn’t that kosher, either. I said some pretty unpleasant things to you.”
“I should have been a little more sympathetic to your grief and more understanding about your close relationship with your godchildren.” She picked up a bottle ring and twirled it around on her finger. “It’s just that, I fell in love with these kids the moment I saw them. They’re family—”
“If you feel that strongly about family, why didn’t you ever come up to visit Lauren?”
Kaya dropped the bottle ring on the table and watched it spin to a stop. Because I was jealous of her. She had the father who’d abandoned me.
She raised her head to find Bryce studying her. “I guess I was too busy building my career. You know, climbing my way to the top of that corporate ladder of success.”
“Touché, Miss Brehna.”
Despite their estrangement, there were details of her sister’s life Kaya wished she knew. Simple things like… “How did Michael and Lauren meet?” she asked, verbalizing her question.
Bryce seemed to enjoy a slow smile before answering.
“They met when Lauren came to Granite Falls to compete in a skiing tournament. She beat Michael’s prized student and took home the gold. Michael was so impressed he offered her a job as an instructor at his school. She returned to
Granite Falls after she lost her mother to breast cancer. A mother who until today, I assumed you both shared.”
Kaya was too embarrassed to admit that she didn’t even know when or how Lauren’s mother had died. She’d only met her sister once, and it wasn’t under pleasant circumstances. Then shortly after their father died, Lauren and her mother moved to a town in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.
“It was love at first sight,” Bryce continued, obviously happy to relate the heartwarming tale. “I was very skeptical of Lauren at first. She was barely an adult, but she soon proved that age was just a number, and that love knew no boundaries.”
“Michael was a lot older than her,” Kaya said of the salt and pepper-haired, distinguished-looking, silver-grey-eyed man she’d seen in the family pictures.
“Quite a bit.” Bryce brushed the pad of his thumb back and forth across Anastasia’s cheek. “Michael was a kid at heart, though. Perhaps that’s why he gravitated toward the younger generation.”
“How long had you known him?”
“Hmm. About twenty years. I signed up for ski lessons at his school. He was the best instructor in both alpine and Nordic skiing around here. Michael took one look at me and said, ‘Son you have a better shot at making a profitable career in football or basketball. Why waste your time and talent on skis?’”
“I’m sure it’s not just because of your quarterback size, but more precisely because you’re black?”
“Yep. Michael was prejudiced and he didn’t even know it.”
“Well, he must have changed. He married Lauren, and she was black.”
“That was the best decision he ever made in his miserable life. They were perfect for each other.”
Kaya smiled. “I believe that.”
He gave her a quizzical look. “You’re bi-racial.”
“Yes. My mother is Caucasian. Are you originally from Granite Falls?” she asked to keep the conversation away from Nadine. That topic was off limits.
“I’m from Queens, New York, actually.”
“A city boy, huh? What brought you to Granite Falls?”
“Boarding school. I fell in love with the natural landscape—the mountains, lakes, rivers, and the people.” He looked out the wall of glass, to the four-season porch and the line of evergreen trees bordering the lake. He smiled like a man who knew he was home and was happy about it. “I had no desire to return to an overcrowded city after this.”
“But Granite Falls is a buzzing city, too,” Kaya remarked. “I was totally surprised when I drove through downtown the first time and saw skyscrapers towering against the snow-covered mountains, and the beautifully restored mill buildings that housed department stores and elite boutiques. Who would think there was a little mecca like this buried in the foothills of the White Mountain National Range? Nobody.”
“Shh. We try to keep it quiet.”
Kaya giggled like a schoolgirl. He did have a sense of humor. “Do you have any other family?”
A frown settled between his brows. “Just my parents. They live in New York. But they like to spend the winters in warmer climates. They’re in Cambodia right now. Last time I heard, they were teaching Cambodian children English at a monastery. I’ve been trying to get them to move here, but they keep putting it off.”
He’s lonely, Kaya thought with a thud in her heart. “How did you finally convince Michael to teach you how to ski?” she asked to brighten the mood.
He chortled. “Michael liked to go off on his own at the end of the day. One afternoon, I followed him out on a pond and he happened to fall through a crack in the ice. I helped him out on the promise that he’d give up his archaic notions about black people and teach me how to ski.”
“So you both got what you wanted?”
“You could say that.”
“Was that when you began honing your negotiating skills?” His reputation as a relentless negotiator preceded him. He’d given her a taste of his shrewdness this morning in Steven’s office, and then later in the nursery when he’d tried to manipulate her with seduction.
The corners of his eyes crinkled on a smile. “Probably. I learned that if people want something badly enough, they’re always willing to make a deal.”
“Your tactics work. Look at what you’ve accomplished in such a short time. This is probably the most beautiful house I’ve ever set foot in. And I should know. I’ve been in some of the grandest on the East Coast.”
His countenance suddenly turned somber and he dropped his gaze to the baby in his arms.
Did speaking about the house bring back unhappy memories for him? Did it have anything to do with Pilar? Did he build the house for her? Did they live here together before she died? Questions swirled around in Kaya’s head. Questions she dared not ask.
They’d only met a few hours ago. She had no right to probe into his private life. The lives of her sister and brother-in-law, however, were open for discussion. She had a right to know how they came to financial ruin, and the reason her whole life had changed overnight at their deaths. “Why were Michael and Lauren living in your house, Bryce?” she asked.
He gazed up through thick, dark lashes. “Lauren never told you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Have you noticed the small scar over Alyssa’s left eye?”
“Yes. But what has that to do with anything?”
“Everything. About a year ago, Alyssa fell and hit her head on the bathtub. She got a nasty cut and Lauren had to rush her to the hospital. Jason was at school and Michael was at work. While they were out, the house exploded.”
Kaya grabbed the locket around her neck. “Oh my God. What happened?”
“A gas leak Michael thought he’d fixed. Lauren had left a fire going in the fireplace. They lost everything, except Snoopy, who was with Alyssa.”
Kaya swallowed back a sob. If Alyssa hadn’t fallen, she and Lauren would have perished in that explosion, and Anastasia wouldn’t be here today. Only Michael and Jason would have survived. As bad as this present loss was, Kaya knew that one would have been worse. She couldn’t imagine a world without Alyssa and Anastasia in it.
Now that she thought about it, it was around that time that Lauren began writing to her, sending her pictures of her family. That accident had brought Michael and Lauren face to face with their own mortality. It had motivated them to make plans for their children’s future care.
“Michael was having some health issues with his heart,” Bryce said. “He couldn’t work as much. Lauren tried to help between taking care of him and the kids. Then his business failed due to lack of snow for three consecutive winters. Pride kept him from accepting my help.” He paused and sighed. “Anyway, after the explosion, I insisted that they move in here until they got back on their feet. He couldn’t refuse. They had nowhere else to go.”
Kaya gazed at Bryce, moved by his kindness and altruistic nature. She now saw the good man Libby said dwelled beneath his hard exterior. He was kind to the people he cared about, and even though that did not include her, Kaya was happy her sister had known him. “It was really nice of you to let them live here, Bryce. But why would you build such a magnificent home and not live in it yourself? Is it because of Pilar?”
Like shades pulled against the glare of the sun, an impenetrable mask descended on his face. He got up and brought Anastasia to her, transferring the infant into the crook of her arm without breaking the feed. “Your twenty-twenty question session is up, Miss Brehna,” he said and strolled to the sliders.
Four
Bryce stared out at the snowflakes drifting down from a cloudy sky to form a pristine white carpet across the frozen lake. This was the season when he felt closest to Pilar. He missed sharing meals with her in front of a roaring fire, then making love on the floor until the embers died out. He missed waking up next to her on cold wintery mornings, making love again, sleeping in, breakfast in bed, and sometimes lunch.
Those who were close to him knew not to question him abou
t the few precious months he had with Pilar, and of the years of happiness they should have had in this house. His close friends and family understood his need for privacy when it came to Pilar. Kaya was neither friend nor family. She was a stranger Michael and Lauren had appointed guardian of their children.
He wanted her gone by the end of the week, either voluntarily or by coercion. He already had a private detective on her case. He needed something to use against her. Even an unpaid parking ticket could make her seem irresponsible. She’d already alluded to a somewhat unpleasant past, some loathsome secret she and Lauren had shared. Perhaps the threat of exposing “it” would be enough to persuade her to quietly hand over the children and return to her life in Palm Beach.
He had no desire to hurt Kaya, or Lauren’s memory if the secret they’d hidden all these years turned out to be monumental, but he was willing to do anything, even resort to blackmail if that was what it took to keep the children where they belonged.
He’d be remiss in his role as a godfather if he did nothing to stop Kaya’s plan.
“Uncle Bryce.”
Bryce turned at the sound of his name. His heart trembled with joy and fear as Alyssa raced across the floor toward him, Snoopy under one arm. She wrapped her free hand around his legs. He couldn’t bear the thought of going through life and not hearing her calling out for her Uncle Bryce.
“Yes, baby. What is it?” He stroked her hair away from her face.
“Can we go for a sled ride on the lake?”
“Maybe tomorrow, sweetheart.”
“Why can’t we go now? It’s not dark yet.”
“I know, baby. It’s just that I—” He took a quick glance at Kaya who was still feeding Anastasia. She had that enraptured smile adults got when they stared into the innocent face of a child. She was bonding. He knew the feeling well. There was no way in hell he was going to leave her alone with Samantha. She would have zero opportunities to cut him out of any decisions about the children.