Gracie popped up with an indignant scream. “Just look at me!” she cried, facing them all, hands on hips. “I’m all grindy!”
“You mean gritty?”Annie offered as she dusted off her arms without looking away from her project.
Gracie ignored her oldest sister. No-one liked to be corrected when they were in a rant. She sighed dramatically, raised her arms, then slapped them down on her legs. “I can’t live like this!”
“I think you’ll survive,” Abby said, trying not to smile. “It was an accident.”
“Well, he should accident over there,” she said pointing.
Laughing, Matt straightened from his sun dial and swung Gracie up. “Come on, bug. Time for an ocean bath.”
Matt swept her up over his head and hustled a squealing Gracie into the water, with Charlie and Jack fast on his heels.
Three days ago, Matt had surprised them all with this trip, back to the place they’d met one year ago. Didn’t seem possible it had been an entire year. And then again, it seemed like a lifetime ago.
She’d been alone then, and resigned to stay that way until Matt had thrust his way into her life.
Hours later, after one giant hole had been dug and countless buckets of water poured into it, she and Matt relaxed side by side in low slung chairs. Mary and Charlie slept on a blanket, and Gracie wasn’t far behind on her Cinderella towel.
Jack and Annie played quietly nearby. The late afternoon light cast long shadows as the wind kicked up and blew in off the Atlantic.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Matt said beside her. His fingers danced over the back of her hand.
“No. It doesn’t.”
He closed his fingers around hers and brought their joined hands to his lips. “On second thought, I can think of a couple of ways it could get better.”
She rolled her head to the side to face him and even with glasses on she knew that look. That naughty, sexy look.
“Why don’t you come over here?” he asked and had her heart tumbling. “Come on.” He tugged her hand. “Sit with me.”
He didn’t have to ask twice, she was already moving. She made herself at home in his lap and settled against his chest.
With his arms wrapped around her, his chin on the top of her head, he sighed. “Now. Now it couldn’t get any better.”
They’d had another beach vacation a few weeks ago with Matt’s family. Something she’d never experienced. They’d rented two massive houses next door to each other. Cooked big family meals and done the family photos with everyone in some form of denim and white. They’d ridden bikes to a nearby ice cream shop and played games at night.
Something about being at the beach then and now had triggered a rare childhood memory. “I had a dream about my parents last night,” she said to Matt. “A memory really.”
“Yeah?” He brushed back the hair dancing over her face.
“We were camping in a state park near Gulf Shores. We did that a few times, I remember pictures. We were on the beach, our little Station Wagon parked under some trees and my mom was brushing my hair into ponytails.”
“She loved you. They both did.”
Yes. Funny it had taken Matt’s love for her to remember that, to believe it and feel it. “And then the dream changed and it was me braiding Annie’s hair. It all circles around.”
“It does,” he said softly and his arms tightened just a little more. “You know, I fell in love with you here,” he said after a moment.
She smiled, her cheek pressed against his chest. She couldn’t have known then how her life would change. Last night they’d eaten at the same restaurant they’d eaten at a year ago when they’d both thought it was their last night together. God, her heart had ached and she’d battled back tears.
They’d eat there again tonight and there would be music and they would dance and there would be no leaving, no goodbyes. “I guess I owe Jack for hitting you with that football.”
“We can give him the credit, but I think…”
“What?” She angled her head back to see his face.
“I think I would have found you anyway. I don’t think I could have missed you.”
She laughed. “With four kids, probably not. Then there was the whole chocolate ice cream meets white pants incident.”
“True.” He remembered Charlie falling and being scolded by— not his date, but the woman his cousin had tried to pair him with. But even then, he’d felt such a sense of protection, for Charlie and Abby. And more. He’d felt possessive, even then. Like they were his to protect, possibly to love. All of them.
“What were you thinking then? With the kids following you around, and Gracie asking you to be her daddy? I still can’t believe she said that.”
“I was thinking I was in love with you,” he answered without hesitation.
“What?” She sat up to look at him, her head tilted, her sunglasses off, no longer needed with the setting sun.
It still floored him sometimes, the way her green eyes grabbed him by the heart. Like everything about her grabbed his heart. “Without a doubt,” he continued. “Didn’t know what to do about it, but I knew.”
Always knowing just how to respond, Abby’s hands came up to cup his cheeks and she kissed him, soft and sweet. His hand slid up to the back of her head. He tasted his wife, his love.
“Daddy!” Jack called. “Can we play football now?”
As Abby was blocking Jack’s view, he kissed her one more time before answering. “Sure, go get your ball.” His eyes met Abby’s.
“Go,” she said, smiling.
Minutes later the sleeping were awake and revitalized and they all played. Throwing the football back and forth, not the one that had started it all, now it was a bigger ball, leather instead of foam.
With Charlie laughing in his arms, Matt raced Jack and Annie through the ankle deep water. Abby held Mary on her hip as she threw the ball up for all of them to grapple over.
She and Matt would have more quiet time later. They were a couple, a family, there would always be time.
And so for now, as the orange ball of fire inched below the horizon, they played.
Later that night, they ate at the resort restaurant again, upstairs and outside over looking the pool. A young woman in a loose pants and sandals tuned her guitar while a man behind her readied his violin.
“Hey, Matt. Do you think that’s the same woman down there with the guitar?”
Matt didn’t look immediately, as he was busy wiping down Mary. When he did look, he smiled. “Looks like it. Want to dance?”
“I’d love to, except for—” She nodded at Mary. “No way that one will stay in one place.”
“Aww.” Matt pulled Mary from her high chair. “You want to dance with us, huh?” He kissed her cheek and she clutched his neck then laid her head on his shoulder.
Never in her life had she seen a man so attached to a baby. But then she hadn’t seen many men with babies in her life. There’d never been a baby in any of the foster homes she’d been in.
“I want to dance,” Gracie said.
“If I sit in one place, can I have ice cream?” Jack asked.
“And me!” Charlie chimed in.
They finished up and paid the bill then made their way down the steps to the patio below. By the time she’d settled them all with an ice cream cone from the poolside snack bar, she was ready to sink into a chair with a glass of wine and enjoy the music. Kids at the beach was exhausting.
But then, just as the musician started up a slow, strumming opening, Matt stood and held out a hand.
“We can’t not,” he said. “We’ve already bought the bribes.”
“Could be bribes for five minutes of peace,” she replied, but stood, took his hand. She’d never pass up an opportunity to dance in Matt’s arms.
Matt maneuvered them to the edge of the other couples. They’d left Mary on a lounger not two arm lengths away. Annie kept her occupied, spooning her tiny bites of ice cream.
She felt him lay his cheek against her hair and breathe her in. She slipped her other hand up and around his neck, her fingers sliding into the hair at his nape and making him groan. His hand moved just a fraction lower on her back. Possessive. Wanting. Not much longer. They’d put the kids to bed, look their door.
“You know,” Matt said. “I knew I wanted to marry you the last time we danced in this spot.”
Abby looked up into his brown eyes.
“I knew there was no one else on earth for me. No other woman. No other kids. I’d found my light. You were my light.”
Her eyes burned with tears. “I was so… sad, that night. So sad and trying so hard not to be.”
“I know.” He kissed her forehead, then laughed softly against her skin. “God, I was sad, too. Feeling what I was feeling and knowing I might never see you again.” He shook his head. “Sorry. I’m ruining our dance.”
“No, you’re not. Sometimes it’s good to remember the pain, a good reminder never to take anything for granted. And that night, even though my heart was breaking, I wasn’t ready. I was too afraid to love you.” She smiled up at him. “But I love you now.”
“I love you, too.”
8
Bunnies and Superman
Matt worked to string thin, realistic looking cobwebs over the front bushes with his daughter Gracie serving as assistant. Five carved Jack-O-Lanterns lined the steps leading to the front doors where black feathered wreaths eerily hung. And there was more.
Fake tombstones, poking crookedly out of the ground in the yard. Two gauzy ghosts, blowing and twisting where they hung on a branch. A motion activated sound machine that cackled, moaned, or let out a haunting laugh when anyone passed by.
The air was just cool enough to let you know fall had officially arrived to the North Carolina coast. Crisp, red and golden leaves drifted down from the Maple and gathered on the still green grass. Matt stretched and pulled, taking the web to the next bush.
He’d decided the house needed a little more. And Gracie needed a distraction. These last tedious hours, waiting for trick-or-treating dragged on unmercifully with her older brother and sister at karate and her younger brother and sister napping.
“I didn’t want to be a witch,” Gracie said. “I still don’t.”
That was good, Matt thought, since they were about T-minus three hours from trick-or-treating. But this had been going on for weeks now, the all important childhood decision of what to be for Halloween. And when he thought about it, a kid only had about six or seven hot years so he understood the need to get it right.
Annie had waffled between Princess Leia and the newer saver of the galaxy, Rey. But when she’d finally decided on Leia last week there’d been no change. Jack’s ideas had run the gamut.
Transformers. The classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Warrior. Every character from Guardians Of The Galaxy. And Luke Skywalker, also a classic. He’d surprised them when he decided to go as Darth Vader, not because it was a favorite character, but because he felt both sides of the force should be represented in order for Halloween to be real.
It was a fair argument, so Matt hadn’t poked holes in the real part of his son’s reasoning. Charlie was easy since his grandmother had given him a fireman costume for his third birthday and he rarely took it off. Gracie had the most difficulty time, by far.
He wasn’t much help since every idea she came up with sounded cuter than the last. Batgirl, Supergirl, cowgirl. He would picture Gracie as any one of those. Then there was Wonder Woman, Minnie Mouse, mermaid, fairy, unicorn, ladybug—his vote— and a clown.
In the end she’d decided on fairy. The glitter and tutu were strong selling points. The face paint Abby had described in a desperate attempt to get Gracie to commit to something, anything, had put it over the edge.
“Is other kids gonna be scary?” she asked.
“Hmm…” Matt turned to her, holding his hand out for another piece of cotton spider web. “Some might have scary masks or makeup, but it’s just for pretend. None of it’s real.”
“Okay.”
“So you won’t be scared?”
“No.”
“That’s my girl.” He waited, watched her face scrunch in concentration as she pulled off what she thought was the perfect amount.
“This much?” She held it out.
“Perfect.” He carefully worked it, pulling and stretching. “Do you have a spider?”
“Yep!” Gracie wiggled the plastic spider over her head. “Here?” she asked, stepping to the web covered bush.
“Wherever you want,” he said over his shoulder. “You’re in charge.”
She reached higher. “Here?”
“That’s a good spot.”
“Nah. It needs to be higher.” She pulled it off, taking half the web with her.
“Okay. Higher.” He stopped with his web and moved to lift her so she could place the spider where she wanted.
Abby’s black suburban pulled into the driveway and he waited for her to stop before setting Gracie down on the sidewalk. Jack and Annie poured out of the backseat, both dressed in their white gi, Jack with a white belt, Annie with yellow.
“Hey, Dad!” Jack yelled as Annie ran for the house and Jack ran at him.
“Hey, Bud,” he said, noting Jack smelled like cupcakes. “How was karate?”
“Good.”
“Whoa. What about you?” He snagged Annie around the waist. She gave him a quick hug then pulled back and ran for the house.
Jack shrugged. “She has to get ready or something. Look at this! I’m going to be a vampire!” He held up a plastic bag from the local pharmacy. “I got teeth and blood!”
Gracie’s smile slipped as she showed Abby the new spider webs crumpled. “I don’t want you to have blood!”
“Well, I’m gonna. And I’m gonna suck your blood!” Jack lunged at Gracie, making her scream and dive into Matt’s side.
“Okay, Dracula,” Abby said, catching Jack by the neck. “No chasing people. Take your stuff inside.”
Jack ran off and Matt turned to his wife. “Dracula?”
“Mmm. He got the idea from a kid at karate.” Abby shrugged. “We already had a cape from his magic kit so getting the teeth and blood was easy enough. I had to stop for more hair glitter anyway.”
“That’s for me!” Gracie said, taking spray can from Abby.
“Well, I guess it’s not Halloween without a little fake blood,” Matt said, taking in his wife.
She wore jeans that hugged long legs and a fitted black top. Her dark hair was pulled back with an elastic band but was half falling out and there was a smudge of orange icing on her right sleeve. She’d been up since early this morning, getting head start on tonight’s party prep, then school drop off and pick up with parties in between and she looked beautiful. She always did.
“How are things here?” she asked. “The bushes look great.”
“I did the spider,” Gracie said.
“Expertly placed,” Matt added. “And everything is under control. Bug and I have the rice and chili warming in the crockpots and as soon as we light the pumpkins we’ll start on the cornbread. The other two are still asleep. Or they were,” he added with a glance toward the house as Annie screamed at someone to stop it and to get out!
They both glanced at the baby monitors hooked to his belt. All quiet.
“How was karate?” Matt asked, taking Gracie’s interest in spray on hair glitter as an opening to set her on her feet. If she was scared of her brother, it was going to be a long night.
“Good. Except I think the energy Jack burned off was countered by the cupcake. Annie declined, saying she’d alr
eady had one at school.”
“Of course she did.”
Another shout wafted from the open front door as Gracie raced inside, anxious to show Annie her hairspray.
“I better go save Princess Leia from our resident vampire,” Abby said, starting in.
Matt snagged her around the waist. “Whoa. Don’t I get a kiss?”
Abby stopped, smiled. “You definitely get a kiss.”
Matt brushed his thumb over her cheek, fair as cream, smooth as porcelain. Then bent to press his lips to hers. He’d kissed her goodbye this morning then again when they’d made the preschooler handoff at midday. But now he had a moment and he would take it. Who knew when they’d get another on this hollowed eve.
The wind tumbled leaves across the sidewalk and nipped at their cheeks. He pulled Abby in a little closer. Always a pleasure, kissing his wife. The way her lips parted for him with the slightest pressure. The familiar skim of her fingers over his neck and into his hair.
When he lifted his head, she was smiling up at him.
“You really do like Halloween, don’t you?” she asked.
“I do. I told you, it makes me frisky. Naughty,” he added, sliding his hands lower to cup her sweet ass.
She raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you can get naughty later.”
“Count on it,” he said, giving her bottom a pat. “What time are you putting on the bunny ears?”
She laughed as they both knew there would be no bunny ears. Even if Gracie had innocently circled a Playboy Bunny costume in a magazine and suggested her mommy wear it.
“I still say the girl has good ideas,” he said, running a finger down Abby’s throat, stopping just short of her breastbone. “You’d make a really sexy bunny.”
“And I thought you’d make a really cute Superman. The spandex shirt stretched tight,” she said, stroking a hand up his chest. “The tights.”
“I only wear tights for bunnies.”
“Well, then. I might have to rethink my costume.”
More shouts from inside were followed by Mary’s waking babble from her crib.
After The Fall: A collection of Matt and Abby short stories Page 6