by Leanne Banks
Delilah felt a slice of envy. She knew Katie and Michael shared a rare love, one that most people never experienced. Certainly one she never expected to experience.
“We want you to come up to Philly for Thanksgiving,” Katie said.
Delilah shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m pretty slammed at the moment.”
“But it’s a family holiday. You should be with family.”
“I know, but the spa is so busy right now.”
Silence followed. “We made a promise to stick together,” Katie said, reminding Delilah of the emotional reunion they’d shared two years ago.
She felt a sharp twinge of guilt. “I know. It’s just really crazy here right now. I’ll tell you about it at Christmas.”
“You promise?”
“I promise. Give my love to Michael and Jeremy, and tell Jeremy to keep the emails coming.”
“Have you been in touch with Lori Jean?”
“Through email. She’s going crazy at that girls’ school where her father sent her. If he doesn’t loosen the reins a little, she’s going to rebel and end up on one of those Girls Gone Wild videos.”
Katie chuckled. “He’s determined to keep her pure as the driven snow.”
“Yeah, well he forgets that we don’t have Snow White among our ancestors.” Feeling antsy about leaving Willy in the pen, Delilah cracked her door. “I should go. Thanks for calling. Keep me posted.”
“I will,” Katie said. “No backing out on Christmas.”
Delilah’s heart twisted. Having been jerked away from her sisters at such a young age, she still wasn’t accustomed to the idea of family. “No backing out. Take care. Bye now.” She turned off the phone and stared at it. “Waiting for a genie to pop out?” Benjamin asked from behind her.
She glanced up at him, something inside her easing at the sight of his solid features and level gaze. “I wouldn’t mind three wishes,” she said, walking into her foyer.
He caught the door and followed her in. “Talking to one of your brainless boy toys?”
She threw him a sideways glance. “Why would you think that?”
“You didn’t want whoever it was to hear Willy in the background.”
Irritated by his partially accurate deduction, she considered letting him think the worst, but something inside her wouldn’t allow it. “My sister in Philly. She has an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. She would feel like she needed to rush down here and rescue me.” Every once in a while, Delilah wouldn’t mind being rescued.
She glanced at Willy, who had happily smeared his face and PJs with soggy cookie, and smiled. “I see you enjoyed your cookie from head to toe,” she teased the baby.
He smiled in return and bounced on his bottom.
“Don’t say anything about the cookies,” she warned Benjamin before he could open his mouth. “After a hard day of teething, he’s due a cookie.”
“What about you? After a hard day at the spa, what are you due?”
“Champagne cocktail or a soak in the Jacuzzi.” She winced at her boring life. “Sleep is good too.”
“I have a favor to ask.”
She glanced at him warily. “What?”
“I’ve been invited to a small party tomorrow night. Would you go with me?”
She gaped at him in surprise. “What kind of party?”
“My brother just got engaged. My family is having a get-together of about fifty people to celebrate.”
Delilah felt the smack of shock. Engagement party.
She blinked. “So he went through with it. Lilly Bradford?”
Benjamin nodded.
Yay, maybe wedding planning will keep Lilly away from the spa. Boo, what if Guy adds up Lilly and Robert’s collective fortune and asks for more money?
“So will you go?”
Delilah blinked. “To the engagement party?” A hysterical giggle escaped her throat and she nearly strangled herself swallowing the next one. Oh, Lord, the irony would be rich. She could just imagine the number of colors Lilly’s face would turn if she walked in with Benjamin.
She shook her head and cleared her throat. “No. I can’t. I don’t think I should leave Willy at night, yet. He’s had a lot of change and I think it’s better if we stick to his evening schedule.”
“You could bring him with you.”
“Oh, right, to an engagement party at your mother’s house. It would be like bringing a screaming alien to the opera.”
“My parents have seen babies before. My mother even gave birth to a couple.”
“Yes, but you and your brother probably never had colic, and never cried for more than five minutes and slept through the night as soon as she came home from the hospital. I’d put money on the fact that you weren’t allergic to disposable diapers.”
“And we never spit strained peas when nanny used the silver spoon to put them into our perfect little mouths,” he said, mocking her assumptions.
“You said that. I didn’t.” She shrugged, a wicked visual of his near-perfect naked body floating through her mind.
Moving his near-perfect body close to hers, he picked up her hand and rubbed his thumb over the place that betrayed her skipping pulse.
“I wonder what it takes for you to tell the truth,” he said. He lifted her palm and pressed his mouth against it. “I wonder why it’s so important to me to get the truth from you.”
“Me too,” she managed and pulled her hand from his, barely able to resist the urge to rub his kiss from her palm. “We’ve already established that I’m not your kind and you’re not mine.”
“If that’s true, then why do I think about you in the middle of when I’m lecturing?”
“Because you’re speaking on a very boring subject,” she said bluntly.
He chuckled. “Maybe. But if I’m not your kind of man, then why were you reading a book about opera?”
Delilah stared at him. Her brain locked. She felt stripped, deeper than her skin. But her skin burned worse than the time she’d blistered swimming in the lake when she was a kid. How horrid. She was blushing. She swore.
“My clients discuss opera,” she mumbled, wishing for that telephone genie Benjamin had mentioned moments ago.
He shook his head slowly. “How can I not be fascinated by a woman who rescues me, takes on the care of a baby that’s not her own, and secretly reads a book on opera.”
Her heart twirled and thumped at the expression on his face. “It obviously wasn’t a complete secret,” she grumbled. “Don’t take it personally.”
“I do,” he said. “But why’d you choose a book for dummies when you’re no dummy?”
Delilah tried to steel herself against his effect on her, but her insides were feeling suspiciously gooey. Because I don’t want to feel like a dummy, she thought, but couldn’t bear to say it aloud.
He could see it though. She knew by the look in his eyes.
“You’re not,” he said in a low voice.
She held her breath at the emotion that surged through her. It was so sweet and sharp it brought tears to her eyes. This was the closest a man had gotten to her in maybe forever. Benjamin was different. Being with him made her feel differently about herself. Being with him made her think differently. In secret moments, she’d watched him hold Willy and wondered how it would feel if he were the father of her child. She wasn’t sure she liked the direction her head and heart were taking her. She knew she didn’t like it. Surely sex was less intimate than this.
Inhaling to steady herself, she caught a whiff of a slightly pungent scent. She wrinkled her nose, trying to place it when she heard Willy make a grunting noise.
She shook her head. Rescued by a poopy diaper. Who’d have thunk it? “I believe Willy has answered nature’s call and he’ll definitely need a diaper change.” So vamoose, go, she silently said to Benjamin.
He didn’t budge, so she walked through the foyer and opened the door. “Sorry I can’t help you with that party. Thanks for thinking of me,” she lied.
>
Benjamin strolled toward her and she told her heart not to jump. “Let me know when you finish the book,” he said. “Graduation will be me taking you to the opera.”
Not in a million years, she thought. “Good night,” she said and closed the door.
Standing beside Robert, Lilly accepted congratulations and best wishes from the top twenty-five relatives and friends on the Huntingtons’ list.
“She’s lovely,” one woman said, shaking Robert’s hand. “I can tell she’ll be an asset to you.”
“That she will, Mrs. Oliver,” he said. “I’m glad you could make it tonight.”
“Thank you,” Lilly murmured as the woman shook her hand and walked toward Robert’s parents.
“How are you doing?” Robert asked in a low voice.
“Fine,” she said. “But I need cue cards. How will I remember all these names?”
“Try to repeat their name three times when you speak to them and find something about their appearance to associate with their name,” he told her.
Impressed, she smiled at him. “How did you know that?”
“I read it. I was horrible at remembering names and knew I’d have to improve if I was going to run for office.”
She nodded. “How did you remember Mrs. Oliver’s name?”
“I have to swear you to secrecy.”
“Consider me sworn.”
“O for owl,” he said.
Lilly laughed because the woman had resembled an owl. Chuckling, Robert snagged her hand and she felt a tiny bit of the connection she craved with him.
The evening wore on and she and Robert became separated. The women’s smiles all began to run together. Robert’s father’s laugh sounded a little too loud, a little too hearty. She felt like she was on display in a carnival.
“Lilly,” a male voice broke through her daze.
She glanced up into Robert’s brother’s eyes and felt a thump of disappointment mixed with relief.
“Come and let me get you a glass of wine,” Benjamin said. Lilly had met Robert’s brother a few times before. He had a confident, intelligent air about him and from what Robert said, he didn’t bow to family pressure very often. He was his own man. Even at this party, something about him set him apart from the crowd.
Feeling claustrophobic, she gladly allowed him to lead her away from the cackling crowd of women. “Thanks,” she murmured. “Where’s Robert?”
“Surrounded by some of his benefactors,” he said dryly. “White wine or champagne? My father will be making a toast soon.”
“Champagne,” she said. “I may as well gear up.”
“Are you okay? You looked a little woozy over there,” Benjamin said, taking a glass of champagne from a tray and offering it to her.
Lilly swallowed a long sip of the bubbly liquid and prayed it would go to her head. She had thought she would feel ecstatic. She had thought that once she got engaged to Robert, she wouldn’t feel lonely anymore, but she felt just as disconnected as ever. “I guess the hot air got to me,” she managed with a smile. “It feels a little like a circus.”
“And it’s just starting,” Benjamin warned her. “Don’t get pushed into anything you don’t want to do.”
“I want to marry Robert.”
He nodded, but remained silent.
“Sometimes I’m not sure about him,” she confessed, then abruptly stopped, embarrassed at what she’d revealed. “I’m being silly. I’m sure it’s all the excitement,” she said. “Look, there’s your father signaling for the waiter. It must be toast time.”
“Lilly, come out of that corner and stand here with Robert,” Mr. Huntington said in a booming voice.
Taking a deep breath, she walked toward Robert. He offered her his hand, thank God. Hers was trembling. “My wife and I are delighted to announce the engagement of Robert Huntington and Lilly Bradford. May theirs be a match made in heaven.”
“Here, here,” several voices echoed and Lilly gulped her champagne. She squeezed Robert’s hand and prayed that tonight he would stay all night.
Just as Willy began to drift off while Delilah rocked him, the doorbell rang. She scowled at the intrusive sound. She knew it couldn’t be Benjamin because he didn’t ring the doorbell. He just walked in as if he owned the place. Oh wait, she reminded herself. He will own the place.
Carefully shifting Willy to her shoulder, she put him down in his crib. The doorbell rang again and she snarled, rushing through the foyer. She looked through the peephole and blinked in shock.
Nicky Conde stood outside her door, shifting from foot to foot. Delilah tried to imagine why Willy’s mother would be there, and none of the reasons that came to mind were good.
Her stomach twisting viciously, she reluctantly opened the door.
Nicky bit her lip. “I made a mistake.”
Word to the wise: Don’t go into a catfight with long hair and acrylic nails. You’ll lose both.
—DELILAH’S DICTUM
Chapter 15
Delilah stared at the girl in disbelief. “Which mistake would that be?” It seemed to Delilah that Nicky had made one mistake after another. Getting pregnant by Howard Bradford, abandoning her baby, taking off to be a model in Paris.
“I want Willy back,” Nicky said.
Nicky’s statement hit her broadside. Delilah had expected a request, something along the lines of money, but not this. “Excuse me?”
Nicky sniffed and her eyes filled with tears. “I was crazy to go to Paris. I missed Willy the whole time. I thought I could leave him with you, but I couldn’t. I love him too much.”
Delilah felt as if she’d been hit with a concrete block. “But what if you change your mind? He’s not a ping-pong ball. He’s a baby.”
“I know he isn’t,” Nicky said. “I won’t change my mind. It’ll be different this time.”
“How?” Delilah demanded, an odd, but strong panic seizing her. Outraged that Nicky felt she could waltz into her condo and pick up the baby as if Delilah had merely been a temporary baby sitter, she grappled with her feelings of anger and shock. “How will it be different? You’re still not even twenty years old. You’re still alone.”
“I’m not alone. I called my mama and she said we could live with her. I’m going to go to the community college and get a nursing degree.” She chewed on her lip again. “It’s not really about the money because Howard gave me a bunch of money for Willy. I forgot to tell you before because I was in such a rush.”
Forgot my ass, Delilah thought, anger rising inside her. “You signed all custody rights over to me. I can’t give him back to you. You might change your mind again.”
“I told you I’m not gonna change my mind. I’m his mother,” she wailed. “He should be with me.”
Delilah felt ripped in half. Two weeks before she would have gladly given Willy back to Nicky, but now … Now she couldn’t imagine it. He was a part of her. She couldn’t possibly let him go. She had begun to visualize what he would look like as he grew older and the things they would do together.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. This is happening too quickly. I’m going to have to think about it.”
“What do you mean you’re going to have to think about it?”
“I mean, you dumped this baby on me over three weeks ago like he was a toy you’d gotten tired of playing with. And now you’re popping up saying you want to play with him again. You signed the guardianship for him to me. That means you asked me to make all the important decisions about his life. I have to think about this. I can’t make an instant decision. This is too important.”
Heart-wrenching fear crossed Nicky’s face. “You would really consider not giving him back to me even though I’m his mother.”
“Nicky, I have to think about what’s best for Willy.”
“But I’m his—”
Delilah held up her hand. “I know. I need to sleep on this.”
Nicky took a shaky breath. “Well, can I at least see him?”
D
elilah felt pulled in ten different directions. She felt protective of Willy, but Nicky was his mother. Willy had burrowed his way into her heart in no time, so she could imagine how much Nicky must have missed him. “He was just falling asleep, so you’ll need to be quiet,” she said and led the way to the room she’d converted into a nursery for the baby.
Nicky looked into the crib with longing eyes. “He’s grown,” she whispered in surprise. “And look at his Santa pajamas.” She extended her hand and lightly touched his back. She wiped her cheek with her other hand.
“You should go,” Delilah said, a horrible knot of dread forming in her chest. “We can talk tomorrow.”
Three hours later, after she’d nearly paced a hole in her carpet and could stand the feelings clawing though her no longer, she knocked on Benjamin’s door.
Dressed in partially fastened jeans, he stared at her, his eyes squinting against the light. “What’s up?”
“I’m sorry I woke you,” she said, incredibly uncomfortable. She hated asking for help.
He shrugged. “What do you need?”
“I, uh—” She swallowed, fighting the impulse to run back to her own condo and endure her torture all by herself.
“Is it Willy?”
“Sort of,” she confessed, lacing and unlacing her fingers.
“You want to come in?”
“No. I need you to come over to my place,” she said, nearly choking on the words.
He nodded. “Let me get my key,” he said and disappeared for a moment. When he returned, he pushed his arms through the sleeves of a shirt. “Is this going to involve another middle-of-the-night drive?”
Delilah shook her head and they walked down the hall to her condo. He opened the door for her and followed her into the den. She felt him studying her. His gaze was so calm, so steady. So strong. Everything about him said I can handle anything.
Her emotions reacted like a volcano, erupting inside her. To her horror, she burst into tears.
Everything blurred after that. She felt sobs wracking from her and tried to squelch them, but couldn’t. Benjamin pulled her against him and she buried her face in his chest. He was warm and strong and she could count on him. At least, at this moment.