Cassie Jackson’s mother, a rather big-boned woman with a quick smile, was dressed as Cinderella’s fairy godmother.
“Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll watch each and every one of them as if they were my own,” the woman promised, putting an arm around Janie and shepherding the girl out the door.
“Bye,” Anne called after her daughter. “Be sure to listen to Mrs. Jackson and have fun.”
But Janie didn’t seem to hear her. She was already getting into Mrs. Jackson’s station wagon, chattering happily with her friends.
Anne sighed as she closed the door.
“And so it begins,” she murmured, saying the words more to herself than to Dan.
“So what begins?” he asked her, not sure he understood what she was saying.
Anne turned from the door. “Janie growing up, becoming independent. Once it starts, there’s no stopping it,” she said sadly.
“She’s eleven,” Dan reminded her gently. “She’s just going trick-or-treating with her friends, she’s not going away to college.”
“Yet,” Anne qualified sadly. “But it’ll happen faster than you think.” Crossing back to the living room, she sank down on the sofa, the very picture of resigned sadness. “And much faster than I’m ready for,” she added quietly.
Dan sat down beside her. She looked so unhappy, it tore at his heart. He slipped his arm around her shoulders, attempting to offer Annie at least a little comfort.
“It’s a long way between trick-or-treating and college, Annie. You’ll have time to adjust,” he promised her.
Annie said nothing. She just mutely nodded her head. He looked down at her and saw the light glistening on her cheek.
“Are you crying?” he asked, surprised.
Averting her face, she shook her head and managed to get out a small “No” in response.
“Yes, you are,” he contradicted. Crooking his index finger beneath her chin, he raised her head and turned it toward him. “You’re crying.”
Annie jerked her head away. “So what?” she retorted angrily.
“Oh, Annie,” he said compassionately, “you can’t keep her little forever.”
“I didn’t want forever,” she protested. “I just want a little longer, that’s all.” She was doing her best to stop the flow of tears. But they insisted on coming.
Danny took her into his arms then and held her closer. She attempted to pull away, then just gave up and sagged against him.
“I know,” he said understandingly. “But at least you had more years than I had. You got to see all the things that I missed seeing. You got to make memories,” he told her.
Her head on his shoulder, she turned to him then, too overcome with emotion to say a word.
Desperately wanting to comfort her, to somehow absorb her pain, Dan found himself lowering his mouth to hers.
And just like that, the years melted away and they were eighteen again. Eighteen without the restraint of any of the shackles that life had forged for them along the way.
The kiss, beginning slowly and deepening, seemed to unlock all the desire he had kept so carefully locked away. The desire that had been branded with her name on it all these years.
Adrenaline surged through his veins, fueling the passion that was growing and multiplying in every fiber of his being.
He wanted to trace her curves, the contours of her body with his lips. He wanted to make up for all the time that they had lost.
Every kiss just intensified his desire for her, stirring it up to a fever pitch.
He wanted to make love to her as if there was no tomorrow, no consequences to face. Nothing but the raw need and passion that was even now pounding through his veins in sheer anticipation of her and what lay ahead.
As he felt her hands against his chest, it was all he could do not to strip that blood-stirring costume she was wearing from her body.
But it was exactly those hands pressed against his chest that suddenly had him screeching to a halt emotionally and pulling back.
Breathing heavily, her lips all but throbbing from the imprint of his, Anne looked up at him in complete confusion and bewilderment.
“What’s wrong?” she cried. “Why did you stop?”
“I can’t do this,” Danny told her. “I can’t force myself on you like this.”
The hurt look on her face faded as she realized that he wasn’t rejecting her. Ever noble, he was protecting her.
“You’re not forcing yourself on me,” she told Danny, her breath all but coming in snatches. “I’ve been waiting for this—for you—for twelve years.”
Annie took hold of the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to him. His kiss had instantly triggered the hunger she had struggled to suppress since she had first seen him standing on her doorstep, back in town after all these years.
She had been eagerly anticipating this since that moment.
Yes, she was afraid—with good reason, she felt—but at the same time, now that Danny had rekindled the fire she had been trying so hard to put out, she felt as if she was going to totally self-destruct if he did the noble thing and walked away from her.
She couldn’t bear it.
Her eyes held his as she asked, “Are you going to make me beg?”
“No, never that,” he told her.
Danny knew that his conscience was still going to bother him. But there was no denying that he wanted Annie so badly, he physically ached. He knew he would have absolutely no peace if he didn’t give in to this incredible craving that threatened to consume him.
Surrendering, Dan began to make love to her then, softly, gently, reining in the all but insatiable desire to take her quickly, with wild abandonment.
He wanted to make sure that she would have no regrets, no doubts, even for a moment, over what was happening here between them. He didn’t want to risk her believing that he was doing this just to satisfy himself, thinking that his first and foremost thought was not of her.
Because it was.
He had always placed her happiness, her fulfillment above his own, and having Annie achieve that fulfillment would make him happy and contribute to his own feeling of satisfaction.
Danny kissed her over and over again, feasting on her lips, on her throat, on the swell of her breasts as he slowly removed each piece of her pirate costume until all of it finally lay on the floor beside the sofa.
He ran his hands lovingly over her body, stroking it as if he were reverently stroking the strings of a priceless instrument, desperate to coax a beautiful melody out of it.
Annie twisted and turned beneath his hands. She loved the way he touched her, loved how he was making her body veritably hum with anticipation.
Unable to restrain herself any longer, she undressed Danny, curbing her eagerness in order not to tear anything. Her eagerness almost got the better of her not once but several times.
The less clothing there was between them, the greater her desire mounted until she felt as if she were on the verge of erupting. Like a wild woman, she raised her body, pressing up against his, silently urging him to take her.
And still he went slowly, even though she felt his urgent desire pressed against her body.
Over and over again, she sealed her mouth to his, her fingertips digging into his shoulders as she silently offered herself to him.
Dan resisted for as long as he could, wanting to prolong this moment for both of them. Once this lyrical dance was over and the passion spent, who knew the next time they would come together as one.
But he could only hold back for so long. And when Annie opened for him, her silent invitation clear, the last of his restraint shredded.
He entered her, his mouth sealed to hers just as his soul had been sealed to hers all these years.
He began slow
ly but the rhythm sped quickly with each moment, each thrust, until they were racing breathlessly toward the culmination of this union.
Racing toward the top of the mountain and to journey’s end.
As the goal was finally reached, as stars exploded and rained down all around them, they held tightly onto one another. Euphoria wrapped itself around them, curtaining them in a private world of sensation and ecstasy.
They held reality at bay for as long as they could. Each was willing to freeze time at this very second while life-affirming sensations made their blood rush and their heads whirl.
Dan held Annie to him so tightly he could literally feel her heart pounding against his. In that moment all he could think of was that he should have returned to Rust Creek Falls a lot sooner.
Because Annie—and this—was all that made life worth living.
He felt her sighing against him and knew that she was coming back down to earth, same as him. Even so, he wanted to hold her a little longer, pretend a little longer that this was how it was supposed to be—and had been since the beginning.
When she stirred, all he could think of was that he wanted to do it again, wanted to make love with Annie again.
And again.
And again after that, until he expired in her arms. Because right now, he couldn’t think of a better way to go than in Annie’s arms, making love with her.
Chapter Sixteen
“We’ve got to get dressed,” Annie cried, suddenly bolting upright and hitting the top of her head against Danny’s chin.
Jolted, he shook his head, trying to get his bearings.
Rubbing his chin, he said, “Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.” He’d been kissing her, arousing himself as well as, he’d hoped, Annie.
Annie had already scooped up her clothes from the floor, trying not to panic.
“Why aren’t you moving?” she demanded. “Janie could be back any minute,” she said, hurrying back into her pirate queen costume. She pushed his costume toward him urgently. “This is not the way I want to introduce her to her father.”
He stopped dead, surprised. “Then you do want to tell her that I’m her father?” Annie had made it sound as if that revelation was a long way off.
She pulled on her vest. “Yes, of course,” she answered.
The prospect of being able to finally tell Janie that he was her father excited him. “When?” Danny wanted to know.
Anne’s eyes met his. After the last hour they had just spent together, she didn’t think she had to draw him a picture.
“I think that’s pretty clear,” she told him. When Danny continued looking at her, obviously waiting for an answer as he pulled his boots on, she said, “Now.”
He didn’t want her to feel pressured. “Are you sure about this?” he asked her.
“Very sure,” she told him. And then it occurred to her that he might not want to tell Janie yet. “Why, are you having second thoughts about this?”
“Me?” he asked, surprised. “No. I just don’t want you to rush into anything you’re possibly going to wind up regretting, that’s all. I don’t want to lose all the ground I’ve gained with you—and with Janie.”
“That’s just it,” she said as she finished dressing and started straightening up the sofa. “She likes you. Sometimes I think Janie likes you better than she likes me.” She smiled at him as she arranged the throw pillows. “And you and I seem to have mended our fences. I don’t see any reason to keep this from her any longer. Janie deserves to know the truth,” she concluded.
“Well, you won’t get any argument from me,” Danny told her.
“Good.” She raised her head, alert as she listened intently. “Because I think I hear a car pulling up.”
Annie’s heart was in her throat as she went to the front door and opened it. She was just in time to see Janie coming up the front walk.
The girl paused to wave goodbye to Mrs. Jackson and whatever girls were still in the van. And then, as the van pulled away, Janie ran up to her mother, her face flush with excitement, the plastic pumpkin she’d taken with her utterly stuffed with candy.
“Did you have a good time?” Annie asked her daughter, ushering her in.
“The best!” Janie answered. “I got a ton of candy!” She held up the pumpkin as proof, then she walked into the house ahead of her mother. “Look!” she said to Danny, showing him the pumpkin.
“Looks like a ton all right,” he agreed.
“Which you will ration out over the next week or so,” Annie instructed.
Two years ago, Janie had gotten sick to her stomach, gorging herself on sweets, and Anne didn’t want a repeat of that event, especially not tonight.
Janie sighed. “Yes, Mother, I know the drill.” She offered contents of the pumpkin to Danny. “Want some?” she asked.
It was all Dan could do not to hug his daughter. There would be time enough for that later, he promised himself.
“You first,” he told her.
Janie grinned. “Okay.” Taking a large candy bar near the top of the heap, she then held the pumpkin out to Danny again. When he took a small piece, she turned toward her mother. “Mom, you want some candy?”
“Maybe later, honey.” Her stomach was far too tied up right now. “Janie, I need you to sit down,” she told her daughter. “Over here, on the sofa.” She patted the seat beside her. Once they were all sitting down, Anne said, “We need to talk.”
Janie stopped picking through her newly acquired stash and looked up at her mother. Wariness entered her blue eyes.
“Why?” she asked nervously. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just—We just,” Annie corrected herself, glancing over her daughter’s head at Danny, “think it’s time that you knew something.”
Janie put the overflowing pumpkin on the coffee table and looked from her mother to Danny and then back to her mother.
“You’re getting married, aren’t you?” she guessed, catching both adults off guard. Janie shrugged carelessly. “I knew there was a reason Danny was here so much.” She shrugged again, trying very hard to be blasé. “I guess it’s okay.”
Annie came very close to losing her nerve. After all, Janie had just given her a way out. It would be easy to accept her daughter’s take on this and just let it go for now.
But she knew she couldn’t put this off indefinitely, not after getting involved with Danny again, after finding out that the intensity of her feelings for him hadn’t lessened. No, she needed to tell her daughter the truth right now.
“That’s not the reason that he’s been here so much.” She raised her eyes to Danny, silently asking him to step in and say something to back up what she was trying to tell Janie.
“I wanted to get to know you, Janie,” he told his daughter.
Janie clearly looked confused. “I don’t understand. If it’s not because you want to marry my mom, then why would you want to get to know me?”
They were back to the same question she had asked the first time he had come over to see her.
Anne drew in a breath and plunged in. “Because he’s your father.”
Instantly, Janie’s expression became a mask of disbelief and anger.
“No, he’s not! Hank’s my father!” she insisted vehemently. “My father comes to pick me up for sleepovers every week,” she cried, as if that was all the proof she needed.
“Hank’s your stepfather, honey,” Anne told her. She tried to put her hand on Janie’s shoulder, but the girl jerked away, furious.
Janie’s eyes were blazing as she cried, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, at first there was no reason to,” Anne said. “And then, even after the divorce, Hank was so crazy about you, I saw no reason to tell you. But now that your father has come ba
ck to Rust Creek Falls—”
“You lied to me!” Janie shouted at her, jumping to her feet. Her fury took in both adults. “You both lied to me!”
“We didn’t lie to you, Janie. We just didn’t know how to tell you. We were afraid of upsetting you,” Danny told her, trying to reason with the girl.
“Well, guess what? I’m upset!” Janie spat out. “I hate you! I hate you both!” she shouted angrily. “And I’m calling Dad and telling him to come get me. I’m going to go live with him!”
Before Anne could stop her, Janie dashed out of the room and ran to her bedroom. She slammed the door. The sound reverberated throughout the house.
Stricken, Anne looked in the direction that her daughter had taken. “Well, that went well,” she said, her voice breaking on the last word.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Danny offered, beginning to head toward Janie’s room.
Annie caught his arm, holding him back. “No, don’t. It’s not going to do any good now,” she told him in a hollow voice. She blew out a ragged breath, all but collapsing onto the sofa. “I knew it was going to go like this. That’s why I put off telling Janie all this time.” There were tears in her eyes as she looked at Danny. “But this is even worse than I imagined. She’s going to move in with Hank.” She felt as if each word she uttered was cutting up her insides.
“Oh, Annie, I’m so sorry.” Danny attempted to take her in his arms, but she shrugged out of his hold, pulling away. He dropped his hands to his sides. “We’d been getting along so well, I really hoped that when she finally knew I was her father, she’d accept it even if she didn’t welcome it right away. Please believe me, I never meant to hurt anyone. I just thought... I thought if I came back...”
He was unable to finish, because he felt that no matter what his intentions had been, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that Annie was crushed and their daughter wanted nothing to do with either of them. And it was all his fault.
“I should have just stayed away,” Danny said, guilt all but suffocating him because of this latest turn of events.
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