“Smells good,” he said.
She grinned. “Yes, Dillon, you and Calvin are welcome to stay for dinner.”
He grinned, too. “Thanks, Ma. I knew you’d ask.”
“I know you did. I just hope Monique and Glenn will stay, too. There’s more than enough food.”
Dillon checked his watch. “I’m surprised she’s not here already.”
“She called and said she was running a little late. She should be here any minute.”
He wondered what had kept her, but didn’t bother asking his mother. If she’d known, she would have told him.
“She’s done a good job with Glenn.”
Dillon’s attention was brought quickly back to his mother. A compliment for Monique was a definite departure for her. “She sure did. Monique’s a great mother.”
At that moment, the boys ran through the kitchen.
“Hey, hey,” he called to them. “What’s this running about? You two know better.”
Still bouncing on his toes, Calvin said, “It’s Moni.”
“Yeah,” Glenn added. “We saw Mom’s car pull into the drive.”
Dillon grinned. “Go on,” he said. “But don’t run,” he added a bit too late. The boys were already back on the run.
“They were outside,” Dillon said with a shake of his head. “So tell me why they ran inside so they could run outside again?” He laughed and so did his mother. “Please tell me, Ma, that I had more sense than that when I was their age.”
“Sorry, but I can’t even tell you that you had as much sense as they do. You and your brothers were something else.”
Dillon would have denied her words, but the memory of him trying to ride his bike blindfolded presented itself. He shuddered to think of Calvin or Glenn doing something so stupid.
“Slow down, boys,” he heard Monique say. There was a lilt in her voice that said she was enjoying herself.
Dillon watched as the boys, each holding one of her hands, practically dragged Monique into the kitchen. Her purse had fallen off her shoulder and hung loose at her elbow. Glenn was dragging her briefcase in his free hand. She looked adorable. And sexy as hell. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed earlier how her dress hung to her curves. Tight enough to be enticing, yet loose enough to be professional.
“Tell her, Dillon,” Glenn said, breathless with excitement. “Tell her you said Calvin could spend the night with us.”
Dillon looked up into Monique’s smiling eyes. “If it’s all right with you.”
“Tell him it’s all right, Mom, tell him.”
“All right, Glenn,” Monique said. “And you too, Calvin. You guys need to give me a minute to catch my breath.”
“But it’s all right, isn’t it, Moni?” Calvin couldn’t resist asking again.
Dillon watched as she managed to loosen her arms from the boys’ clutches. “Now,” she said, pushing her bag back up her arm and stooping down. “Who’s going to be the first to give me my afternoon hug?”
Calvin jumped in first while Glenn hung back. Clearly he thought hugging was more appropriate for his younger brother. Dillon’s chest tightened as he watched Monique close her eyes and enclose his son in her warm embrace. When she finally let him go and opened her eyes, he saw pure joy in them.
“That was so good, Calvin,” she said. “You’ll have to give me one of those every day. All right?”
Calvin nodded and gave a shy smile.
“Who’s next?” Monique said, looking at Glenn with a sly smile on her face. From the look the boy gave her, Dillon concluded that his son knew he was being blackmailed. Even so, he moved into his mother’s arms for a brief embrace.
When he pulled away, Monique tweaked his nose. “Not bad, buster,” she said lovingly. Glenn grinned in spite of himself.
“So, is it all right if Calvin spends the night with us?”
Monique stood and brushed a hand over each boy’s head. “Sure, I think it’s a great idea for Calvin to spend the night with us.”
Dillon looked from his smiling and happy sons to the flushed and sexy Monique and felt a bit jealous that his sons would spend the night with her and he wouldn’t.
Monique had been surprised—but very happy— when Glenn had asked if Calvin could spend the night with them in their new house. The brothers were becoming friends, and she couldn’t ask for more. Fortunately, Dillon felt the same and allowed Calvin to stay over. Naturally, he came over and stayed until both boys were tucked in bed. Afterward, he and Monique sat in her new family room.
“I like the house,” Dillon said. “You’ve made it homey in no time at all.”
“Thank you,” she said, nervous and hating herself for it. They were just talking. Nothing more. “It’s a good house.” She knew the two-story colonial was too big for her and Glenn, but she’d liked the yard and the house’s proximity to Glenn’s school and the park. She’d filled it with the furnishings from their old house so the place did have the family stamp on it.
They were silent for a while as the tension between them filled the room. Dillon cleared his throat, then spoke. “I’m glad you took Ma up on her offer,” he said.
“I think it was a perfect solution,” she replied. “But I hope your mother doesn’t live to regret it.” Mrs. Bell had suggested that she drop Glenn off at her house every morning until school started. She’d also volunteered to pick Glenn up after school and keep him until Monique got in from work each day after the school year began.
“Ma loves having both boys around. You couldn’t have made her happier.”
Monique felt she’d made a breakthrough with Katherine Bell at the picnic, and she looked forward to the day the two of them became real friends. She knew the woman’s overtures at this point were because of her grandson. “Well, it made Glenn happy, too. And it works out perfectly for me. I don’t have to worry about child care. I know he’s with someone who cares about him as much as I do.”
“That’s important to you, isn’t it?”
“Of course, it is,” she said, thinking his question odd. “That’s the biggest problem for working mothers. Back in Charleston, Sue took care of him for me. Now, your mother does.”
“Have you spoken to Sue since you’ve been back?”
She nodded. “We talk frequently. She still hasn’t agreed to move here, but I’m not giving up yet. I hate to think of her there all alone.”
Dillon didn’t respond. He just stared at her and Monique felt as though she stood in the middle of a blazing fire, the heat between them was so hot. “So, how’s school?” she asked, then immediately felt stupid. It had to be obvious that she was fishing for a topic of discussion.
He raised a brow at her question. He knew what she was trying to do. And he also knew he should get up and go home, but he liked being in her presence. He’d gotten used to talking with her, being with her. That was not good, he knew, but that was the way it was. “I should be asking you. How was your first day?”
While she launched into a description of her day, he briefly wondered what life would be like if they didn’t have separate homes. If he and Monique shared a bedroom down the hall from their boys. If they were the real family that it appeared they were.
But he had no right to those thoughts. His future held no room for Monique other than as Glenn’s mother. Sure, in that role she would be a large factor in his life, but she wouldn’t have the emotional hold over him that she’d had in the past. A hold that twice now had meant pain for him.
No, Monique was a woman to want from afar. And want her he did. Every day and almost all the time. But he was handling it. Day by day. Moment by moment.
As he looked at her now, dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, looking as fresh as a teenager and all animated as she talked about her new job, his resolve seemed to crumble. Being the adult he was, he had the perfect remedy for his predicament. He rubbed his hands down his jean-clad legs. “I guess I’d better go,” he said, standing up.
“Oh, all right,
” she said, and he would have sworn that he heard disappointment in her voice. She stood up and led him to the door.
“I’ll pick the boys up in the morning and take them to Ma’s,” he said after she’d opened the door for him.
“That’s not necessary. I can take them.”
“I know it’s not necessary, but I like to have some time with them before I start the day. I guess I’ve gotten used to it since Calvin started staying at Ma’s with Glenn every day.”
“Well, if you’re sure,” she said.
“I’m sure. How about seven-thirty?”
“Seven-thirty’s fine.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
“Okay,” she said.
He nodded, then turned and made his way down the walk. A part of Monique wanted to call out to him, to tell him that she didn’t want him to go. But she knew such a move would be a disaster. So she waited until he’d started his truck and pulled out of her driveway. Then she closed the door and made her way to her lonely bedroom. She didn’t have to wonder what she would dream about tonight. His face was already on her mind.
Chapter Twelve
Glenn was in bed, the house was quiet and Monique sat in the kitchen sipping her usual late-night cup of coffee. This had become her time of the day. A time to reflect on the day’s happenings and make plans for tomorrow. She’d been in Elberton about six weeks now and Glenn had been in school about a month. In that time, she, Dillon and the boys had fallen into a routine that worked for all of them. Mrs. Bell picked the boys up from school each day, and they stayed at her house until Dillon and Monique came to pick them up. Most nights, she and Dillon would spend a few moments talking while the boys got their things together. On other nights, they’d spend the evening having dinner with the Bells.
Monique and Glenn had even been invited to share in the Sunday Bell family dinner, which ended with Mr. Bell taking the boys for a walk around the block. And Calvin and Glenn spent the night together at her house, Dillon’s or the elder Bells’ at least one night a week, usually on the weekends. She couldn’t have hoped for a better situation for Glenn…or for Calvin. She’d had her chance to show the little boy how much she cared for him, and she liked to think that it made a difference. She knew it made a difference to her.
She drank the last of her coffee, got up, rinsed out her cup and put it in the dishwasher. The quiet stillness of the night surrounded her, and she acknowledged that this time of the night, right after she’d finished her musing and before going to bed, was the lonely time of the day for her. She could no longer tell herself that she was alone—but not lonely— because she no longer believed it was true. Now that Glenn was doing better, she had more time to focus on her own needs. And the truth was, she was lonely for male companionship. Unfortunately, she was lonely for a particular male’s companionship.
As she made her way up the stairs and went to run her bath, her thoughts turned to Dillon as they always did. She still fought the feelings she had for him, but she was slowly becoming accustomed to having them and not acting on them. She supposed he was, too. But the sexual attraction between them was there, alive and well, and, for now, under control. Surprisingly, school had become a place of reprieve for her. Though she and Dillon worked in the same building, they really didn’t spend much time together now that she had established herself with the faculty. She saw him only occasionally, either in the hallways or at the weekly staff meetings.
She turned off her bathwater, then decided to give Sue a call. Her sister-in-law picked up on the second ring.
“I was hoping you would call,” Sue said with an unfamiliar breathlessness in her voice.
“Is anything wrong, Sue? You sound different.”
“Oh, Monique,” Sue said, and to Monique she sounded giddy. Yes, Sue sounded giddy. “I can’t believe it.”
Monique dropped down on the side of the bed. This behavior was so unusual for Sue. “What can’t you believe?”
Sue drew a deep breath. “You’d better sit down.”
“I’m sitting down,” Monique said a bit anxiously.
“I’m getting married!”
“What?” Monique couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.
“I’m getting married. Can you believe it?”
No, Monique couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t even known her sister-in-law was seeing anyone. Not that Sue wasn’t an attractive woman—she was. Monique just hadn’t known her to date. She wanted to be happy for the woman she loved, but warning signals went off in her head. “You sound happy,” she said.
“Oh, Monique.” This time Sue sounded like a teenager. “He’s so wonderful. I never thought I’d meet anyone like him.”
“Who is he, Sue?”
Sue giggled, actually giggled. “Wendell Freeman.”
“Dr. Wendell Freeman?” Monique repeated. Wendell Freeman had been Charles’s doctor and a lifelong family friend of the Morgans.
“Yes, Dr. Wendell Freeman. Isn’t it wonderful, Monique?”
“Yes, Sue, that’s really wonderful,” she said, and meant it. Dr. Freeman had lost his wife a few years before Charles had passed away. Monique had come to know the doctor as a caring and honest man during the time he’d cared for Charles. “But I had no idea.”
“I know you didn’t, Monique. And I’m sorry for keeping it from you, but it only started recently.”
Monique listened as Sue told her how her friendship with Dr. Freeman had grown into something more over the summer and had intensified in the time that Monique had been in Elberton. He’d asked Sue to marry him, and Sue had seen no reason to wait.
“I know this is fast, Monique, but I want you to be happy for me.”
“I am happy for you, Sue. You of all people deserve to be happy. And you know that I couldn’t think more highly of Dr. Freeman.”
“Then why do you sound sad?”
Leave it to Sue to be so attuned to her feelings, Monique thought. “Because I’m selfish. I guess this means you won’t be moving to Elberton with me and Glenn.”
“No, dear,” Sue said. “But you don’t need me. You and Glenn are embarking on a new phase in your life. You don’t need me around as a reminder of the past.”
“Don’t say that, Sue. Glenn and I will always need you. You’re my family.”
“Your family’s gotten a lot larger now, Monique. You have Dillon and Calvin and all the Bells. And now my family has gotten larger, too. I have you and Calvin, and now Wendell and the Freemans. Don’t be sad, sweetheart. Be happy for me. Be happy for both of us.”
“Oh, Sue,” Monique said, shaking off her sadness. “I’m happy for you. Now when’s the wedding?”
“We’ve decided that we want something small, held here at the house since this is where we’ll be living. Of course, you and Glenn and Calvin and Dillon have to be here.”
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Monique said, then launched into a discussion of the details of the event. Though she was happy for her sister-in-law, the news of Sue’s upcoming marriage made her feel even lonelier.
When Dillon stopped by Monique’s house that Friday with Calvin’s clothes for his weekend with her and Glenn, he thought she appeared a bit distracted. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t believe her, but neither did he pursue the topic. “I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said instead. “Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure,” she said. “Have a seat.” She led him to the living room couch. “Would you like some coffee?”
“That would be nice.” When she went to the kitchen, he followed her. “I wanted to ask you about the boys going with my parents when they visit Darnell in a couple of weeks.”
“How long will they be gone?” she asked, pouring them both a cup of coffee. “You know Glenn has school.”
He sat down at the kitchen counter. “I know. They’ll only be gon
e for the weekend. Darnell wants the folks to come out to Dallas for a visit, and they want to take the boys with them. Of course, Darnell is eager to meet Glenn.”
She didn’t answer and Dillon assumed she was reluctant to let Glenn go by himself. “If you don’t feel comfortable with Glenn traveling with my parents, you can go with them.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that, Dillon. Sure, I’ll miss Glenn, but I sort of like the idea of him spending time with his grandparents. It’ll be good for him.”
“Then what’s the problem, Monique? I know something’s wrong.” He wanted to fix it, whatever it was. He didn’t like seeing her upset.
She sat down.. “I told you. There’s nothing wrong. Wait a minute. What weekend is this trip?”
“The weekend after Halloween,” he said. “Darnell wants the boys to attend this big Halloween celebration they’re having at the hospital where he works. Is that going to be a problem?”
“I don’t think so, but I need to check with Sue. She’s getting married and, of course, she wants us there. You and Calvin are invited, too.”
“That’s great,” Dillon said, genuinely pleased. He’d liked Sue a lot and thought she deserved happiness. “And tell her thanks for inviting me and Calvin. I’m honored.”
“Well, she likes you a lot.”
“I guess they haven’t set a date.”
She nodded. “Not yet. All Sue has said is soon.”
“Well, let me know as soon as you find out. There’s no rush. I’ll let Ma know as soon as you tell me.” He still wasn’t convinced that Monique was okay, so he tried again. “Are you upset because Sue won’t be moving to Elberton?”
She stared down at her coffee. “I know it’s childish of me, Dillon, but Sue’s been my family for a long time. I miss her. But I also want her to be happy.”
Dillon realized that a lot had changed in Monique’s life in the last few months. She’d left behind the home and the life she’d made for herself because of her love for her son. He admired her for loving Glenn enough to make that sacrifice, but he wondered if the life she lived now was enough for her. He’d often wondered about a woman like her being without a man, and he wondered about it again now. “Your life has changed a lot in the last few months, hasn’t it, Monique?”
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