Читать книгу A Father's Love - Cheryl Wolverton - Страница 9

“No! No way! You’re not staying.”

Kaitland winced at Max’s adamant tone. However, that didn’t stop her from heading down the stairs. She refused to stand there and argue, with two sleepy kids in her arms.

“Katie, are you listening to me? I said no way!”

“I’m not deaf, nor do I even pretend to be,” she replied, entering the library. “Oh, my, have you changed this into an office?” Papers covered the tops of two desks and new equipment had been added.

“Rand and I do a lot of day-to-day work here. I tend to go into the office only two or three times a week.”

Ignoring him, she went to the plush tan sofa. Setting the children down on their feet, she quickly pulled the throw blanket off the back—this used to be Max’s favorite spot to relax when she’d known him, and he always kept a blanket there—and spread it over the leather. Picking the children up, she lay them down one by one and tucked the blanket around them.

“No!” Maddie yelled, then immediately stuffed two fingers in her mouth, closing her eyes.

Bobby whined, then, grabbing the blanket, he curled it against his cheek and with a shuddering sigh was out.

“They were exhausted,” Max whispered, stunned, absently handing Kaitland the blanket he’d grabbed on his way out the bedroom door.

“I imagine they’ve had a full day and night,” Kaitland murmured softly, putting the blanket and some throw pillows as padding on the floor next to the sofa in case one of them accidently fell off.

She heard Max inhale and knew he was about to blast her. “Shh,” she said, and motioned toward the door.

Max nodded curtly and went into the hall. With the door pulled almost closed, she turned to him. “It’s been a long time, Max.”

Looking disconcerted, Max stared for a moment then sighed. “Yeah, Katie, it has. Long enough that I had decided I’d never see you again.”

He started toward a small sitting room where the family gathered at night to watch TV.

“Surely you knew someday we’d see each other again, Max?”

“I hadn’t expected it under these circumstances,” he muttered.

Kaitland laughed. “You were expecting these circumstances?”

“Of course not,” Max said curtly, then apologized. “I’m sorry for snapping. But you could have given me a warning you were coming.”

“What would you have said if I’d called and told you it was me the agency hired?”

He scowled.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Surely you don’t want to work for me, do you?”

Kaitland’s smile turned wistful. I’d like a lot more, she thought. “What do you think?”

Inside the cozy room he went straight to the phone and dialed the agency.

“Max, wait,” she pleaded.

His gaze turned tortured for only an instant before hardening. “Yes, this is Max Stevens,” he said to the person on the other end of the phone. “When I called this morning, I asked for an older woman, Christian, fifty or so, the grandmotherly type.” He paused. “I see.” There was another pause. “There’s no one else?” Casting a harassed look at Kaitland, he replied, “Thank you.”

Kaitland stared at Max, waiting for the ax to fall. When he didn’t speak, she took hope and pleaded her case. “It’s not going to be that bad, Max. The kids won’t be any trouble. And as you’ve said, you don’t know the first thing about them. Besides, I’m an emergency foster parent. I’m used to dealing with kids in stressful situations.”

“What happened to your job at the day-care center?”

“You know about that?” She had been his secretary years ago, before the incident, but hadn’t realized he knew anything about her life after they’d broken up.

He shrugged. “Jake talks about his church.”

“I still work there. I’m on a leave of absence.”

“What happened? Why?”

It was her turn to shrug. “I had an accident with a belligerent parent My pastor thought it best to keep me out of the spotlight Especially if my cheek bruises.”

Max’s gaze sharpened and he came forward. “You were hit?” he demanded, taking her face in his hands and tilting it toward the east window.

His hands felt good. His touch awoke old memories in her, memories of when he’d held her tenderly within his embrace and kissed her good-night, leaving her with his own reluctance to part for even so short a time. Longing, deep and painful, filled her chest. His scent was still the same, spicy, musky. Oh, Father, how can I stand this? she silently asked.

Max’s thumb ran over the slight swelling that her hair almost concealed. His breath fanned her face as his thumb stroked back and forth. Suddenly, realizing what he was doing, he released her and stepped back.

“I wasn’t hit,” she replied, just a little husky, despite her accelerated heart rate. “A table fell on me when the man and I tripped.”

He said nothing for a moment, then, “I don’t see how this can work, Katie. There’s just too much past between us.”

Panicked, she decided to play her trump card. Max was a good man despite his unwillingness to forgive her so many years ago and his determination in suspecting her of lying. She didn’t want to tell him this, but seeing him now, she realized there was something still between them, something that had to be settled one way or another. And if he wasn’t willing to make the effort, she suddenly was.

“I need the job, Max. If I can’t get a new one within the month…” she paused. Should she tell Max she’d lose her house? No, she decided, it seemed too much like begging. She had some pride, after all. “I’ll have some serious problems,” she concluded.

Max whipped around to stare at her. “But why? Your stepbrother—”

“Refuses to help me,” she replied before he could remind her how rich her stepbrother was.

That was a sore point she’d not quite gotten over in reference to her grandmother’s health. Her grandmother had disowned Robert just before she fell ill with cancer. Kaitland was never sure why. Her grandmother never told her the cause of it. Somehow her grandmother had her will changed without Kaitland knowing it. When it was read, Kaitland was stunned to find out the house and almost all of the money that was left belonged to her. What little money there was ran out before the hospital bills and funeral were paid for.

“If you need money—” Max said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Don’t even say it,” Kaitland warned, her eyes narrowing. “After what has gone on between us, it would be wrong if you offered me anything.”

“But you’ll work for me.”

Kaitland flushed just a little. “Yes.”

She knew it didn’t make sense to Max. They had almost married, which should have made her more amenable to accepting a loan, but for her it was just the opposite. No, it would be easier to work for him and not feel indebted.

“You aren’t making this easy for me, Katie,” he finally said, running a weary hand through his hair.

“I hope not,” she replied brightly, despite the tension.

He shot her an exasperated look. “Fine. You have the job. But, before you celebrate, I want to lay down some ground rules. The past is the past. We leave it there. This is strictly an employer-employee relationship. Your job is to take care of the children, see they are cared for and want for nothing. You only need to tell me what to get and it’ll be done. Is that under-stood?”

“Yes, Max.”

“Well, good.”

She hid her smile. Max looked as if he thought he’d lost the battle but couldn’t figure out why. She knew why. Just by being in the same house, the past was going to creep up until it was dealt with and taken care of.

“First we’ll need cribs for the children. With that they’ll need sheets and bumper pads and a couple of light blankets. What about some clothes? Do you want me to run over to the church and check their clothes closet—”

“I can certainly buy anything the children need,” Max replied, affronted.

Kaitland paused, then asked the question that had been burning in her since she’d first arrived. She’d known the kids weren’t Max’s. He lived by the moral code of his faith. She took his word, too, for Max also didn’t lie. “Why do you insist on seeing to this problem? You could call Child Services and the children would be taken away and you’d never have to be responsible for them again.”

“But I am responsible.”

Her eyes widened in shock, thinking she had misjudged him.

“Not that way,” he replied, clearly exasperated. He dropped wearily onto the couch. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes. “Someone left them on my patio with a note addressed to me. I don’t know if the person was a crackpot or someone who really thought I could help the children. But whoever it was put their trust and faith in me. I won’t palm that off on some overworked agency that would probably separate the children out of necessity.”

Kaitland nodded. That would probably happen. Though Child Services didn’t like to do that, they had to find somewhere for the children.

“I have plenty of money,” he said. “Enough to last two lifetimes. And this house is big enough to hold forty or fifty people. So there’s plenty of room. It won’t hurt to keep them here.”

She smiled, gently, doing her best to hide the misting of her eyes. “You’re a good person, Max Stevens.”

“No, just practical,” he argued gruffly, refusing praise as he always did. “I’m going to call one of the investigative people we use in our business. I’ll put him on the case and see if he can find out what happened to the mother. After all, how hard is it going to be to track down a set of twins that were born about…fifteen months?” At her nod, he continued, “About fifteen months ago.”

“I honestly don’t know. I imagine easier than tracking down a single child.”

“My thoughts exactly. So, I figure within a week, maybe two, we’ll have this all cleared up.”

She hoped they had more than just that cleared up, but she didn’t say so. “Are you going to order the cribs and clothes, or do you want me to go shopping. I should warn you, if I go shopping, the children will be left here with you.”

His eyes widened. “I’ll call my store immediately. It’s nice owning a large chain of retail stores.” He suddenly grinned. “I’ll have my secretary at the office go downstairs to the store and find someone who knows about babies and send over everything they’ll need. Two of everything,” he amended. “That should work.”

Kaitland shook her head in disbelief.

“Now, about my office. When do I get it back?”

Kaitland shrugged. “I imagine when the kids wake up, which could be anywhere from an hour to two hours.”

“But I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he began.

“Bring it in here,” she replied.

Grumbling, he stood and walked out of the room, listing to her or himself, she wasn’t sure, what he needed to accomplish today.

Same old Max, except she didn’t remember him taking quite this much interest in the business five years ago.

She headed up the stairs to the room where the children had been. She found the maid, Lavina, in there finishing cleaning up the mess. “You’ll need to get someone up here to take all the knickknacks out of this room, Lavina. They’ll also need to remove the bed. Mr. Stevens is turning it into a nursery for the twins.”

“I’ll get Tim from the stables to help me this afternoon,” the maid said.

“You’d better go ahead and do it now,” Kaitland told her. “Mr. Stevens is ordering cribs and I imagine they’ll be here in an hour or two. Also, do you know which room I’m staying in?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Miss Summerville. Sarah told me to put your bags in the room across the hall, unless you want the one across from Mr. Stevens?”

She knew Max’s room was next door to the babies’ room. The one next to her would be across the hall from him and larger than the one she was in. “No. This is fine. I need to be close to the children. As a matter of fact, if you could find a small twin bed I might just sleep in here.”

“Oh, no, ma’am. Sarah wouldn’t approve of that at all. She was telling me how much she likes you and has missed you around here. She’d be very upset if you weren’t completely comfortable while you were here.”

Kaitland grinned. That sounded just like Sarah. “Very well. Thank you, Lavina.”

“And Darlene is to help you with the babies whenever you need it. Sarah said those two are too much for one person. She said of course Mr. Stevens, being a bachelor, wouldn’t know, nor would he remember how much of a handful he and his brother were. She said that he deserved a taste of what he’d put her through growing up. I think she’s quite excited about having the little mites in the house.”

Kaitland’s grin turned into a full-blown smile. “I’m glad. You tell Sarah I’m sure Max is going to get a great big taste of what it’s like to have two toddlers underfoot. Now, go on. I need to unpack.”

She walked across the hall to her suite. Pushing open the door, she immediately smiled in pleasure. Light mauves and browns decorated the space. There were no balcony doors like the room across the hall, but the shutters on the large window made it possible for her to keep the room as bright as day or dimly lit A large overstuffed, floral-print couch sat near two armchairs, creating a comfortable sitting area. A polished oak armoire held a TV and VCR, as well as a stereo. A low bookcase held a collection of interesting titles. She knew the door to the right was the bedroom and bathroom.

Crossing the plush carpet, she found out she was right. Max’s room was larger. She knew he had a small gym in the second room off the main room, as did Rand. Max had explained the layout of the house once to her.

“Oh, my,” she breathed, looking in the room. Yellows and green pastels decorated the bedroom, along with pink and blue pastel watercolors hanging on the walls. She wondered who had decorated this. Certainly not an interior decorator. Her bag was sitting on the bed. She unpacked, putting everything in the cherry-wood armoire as she went. Her last thing to unpack was the first thing she had packed—her Bible.

Taking it out, she sat down on the bed and opened it. She was surprised to find she had opened it to a familiar scripture, “You will not fear,” it started, and ended with, “I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”

Smoothing her hand over the worn pages, she prayed, “Father, please help me, guide me in what You would have me do. I thought this would be so easy, coming here and facing the past. But, well, I’ve discovered I still have some kind of feelings for Max. Oh, I’m not sure what they are, but they’re there. I don’t want to hurt Max again, but I refuse to put myself in the path of hurt, either. Open the doors for healing between us even if that means we solve the problems and never see each other again. All I know is this has to come to a head. Thank You, Father.”

She laid her Bible down and stood. Taking her suitcase, she tucked it under the bed and then turned toward the door.

“Round one goes to Daniel,” she whispered. She had faced the lion in his den and come out unscathed.

“Now let’s see what happens in round two,” she murmured.