Читать книгу Married By High Noon - Leigh Greenwood - Страница 8

As she slowly drove down the single street in the tiny mountain community of Iron Springs, Dana Marsh felt like she was stepping back into the past. She hadn’t been here in fourteen years, yet nothing had changed. If it hadn’t been for the little boy sleeping in his car seat behind her, she would have felt that she was a teenager again, coming to spend the summer with her grandmother.

In the town that had betrayed her. She’d sworn never to come here again.

“Wake up, darling. We’re here.”

She was glad Danny had slept almost the entire trip from New York. He still didn’t understand that his mother’s sudden death a month earlier from cancer meant he’d never see her again. He asked for Mattie all the time, especially at night. Dana hadn’t wanted to change his routine by uprooting him from his home so soon, but his uncle had insisted that she bring him to Virginia the minute he recovered from his fever.

Dana pulled her Jaguar to a stop in front of a two-story, white, clapboard house.

“Want juice,” Danny announced.

Danny had his mother’s soft Southern accent rather than the sharp edge of Dana’s New York inflection. Even though Danny wouldn’t be two for another month, he could already talk as well as a four-year-old. That didn’t surprise Dana. He had a brilliant executive of a Fortune 500 company for his father, and an innovative artist for his mother.

“Let’s wait until we get inside,” Dana said.

He still wasn’t potty trained. She didn’t think her initial meeting with Gabe and his lawyer would be the best time to change a wet diaper. She expected Gabe would cringe in disgust. Why should he have any ability to understand a child’s feelings, even his nephew’s? He hadn’t understood hers when she was sixteen.

She got out of the car and opened the back door.

“I’ll get you out of this nasty old car seat. You’ll soon be able to run around to your heart’s content.” There had to be some advantages to living at the ends of the earth. There were plenty of safe places to play.

She took Danny out of his car seat and carried him up the steps of the tall, stark-white house built in the shape of an L. It used to be mostly hidden by trees and vines, but the trees had been trimmed, the vines pulled down and the overgrown boxwoods pruned to a manageable size. Marshall Evans opened his door before she could ring the bell.

“You’re late,” Marshall said.

“Sorry, but I can’t gauge the exact length of a trip from New York,” she said as she stepped inside.

Dana had forgotten that Marshall’s house was filled with Victorian furniture as valuable as it was ugly. She wondered if he would sell her a few pieces. She had a client who was heavily into Victorian. She told herself to forget antiques. She had come to fight for Danny’s future. She was also on vacation. Her doctor had ordered her to take a complete break from business.

“Where’s Gabe?” she asked as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit interior. Marshall had pulled the heavy, floral print curtains together to shut out the sunlight.

“In the kitchen,” Marshall said, turning in that direction and leaving her to follow.

Everything was backward here. In New York people entertained in the living room. In Iron Springs, only strangers sat in the parlor. Dana passed through a second parlor, a dining room and an old-fashioned butler’s pantry. Enough antiques to set up an entire showroom.

Dana didn’t get a chance to look at the kitchen. Gabe Purvis rose from the table when she entered the room, banishing all thoughts of antiques from her mind.

Shock sent the past thundering down on her like a rock slide. One summer, when she was eleven and Gabe seventeen, he had winked at her as he handed her a cone of butter pecan ice cream. She had fallen in love then and there and made up her mind to marry him when she got out of college. She’d spent countless hours fantasizing about him, prying details about him from his sister. Mattie had laughed at the notion of her best friend marrying her brother, but Dana thought he was the most wonderful boy in the world.

Gabe looked better than she remembered. He had grown taller and had filled out. He looked more rugged, more solid. Despite the season, he wore a checkered shirt rolled up at the sleeves, tight jeans and heavy work shoes. But it wasn’t his clothes that riveted her attention. Nor was it his broad shoulders and powerful forearms, which she supposed came from lifting heavy lumber and wrestling with large pieces of furniture. It was his face that defined his character, his powerful jaw and wide forehead, shaggy brows and weather-roughened skin, thick, nearly black hair that refused to be tamed. And black eyes that stared into her until she wanted to run away.

But she wasn’t a little girl now. Even though she hadn’t wanted to come back, she hadn’t the slightest intention of running away.

Gabe’s gaze moved from her to Danny. “Is that my nephew?”

“Of course.” She shouldn’t have snapped at him, but her nerves were on edge.

She hadn’t been unduly upset when she first learned Mattie had made Gabe Danny’s joint guardian with her. She’d assumed a thirty-six-year-old bachelor wouldn’t want to be burdened with a small child. She would agree to take Danny to Iron Springs to visit Mattie’s family during vacations, might even let him spend a few summers there, but she had every expectation of having the child to herself.

Gabe had exploded that belief.

Not only had he insisted that she bring Danny to Iron Springs the minute the boy recovered from his fever, he said Mattie’s stipulation that Danny be raised near his family meant he had to live in Iron Springs. Dana’s lawyer had advised her to work out a compromise with Gabe, but Dana doubted she could. She had come to Iron Springs ready to do battle.

But right now she had to calm down before she upset Danny. He’d had more than enough change in his life. “Sorry,” she said. “It was a long trip to make with a small child. On top of Mattie’s death…well, I’m still strung out.” She couldn’t think of Mattie without wanting to cry all over again.

She still found it hard to believe anyone as young, vital, and healthy as Mattie could be diagnosed with cancer one day and be dead three weeks later. For twenty-five years, they’d been closer than sisters. Mattie had come to live with Dana when she’d learned she was pregnant. They’d gone through morning sickness together, doctors’ appointments, lectures on prenatal care, Lamaze classes, endless discussions about what to name the baby. Dana had been at Mattie’s side in the delivery room. She’d placed Danny in Mattie’s arms. They’d sat up together on nights when he had the croup or a fever, had taken turns walking him when he couldn’t sleep, had shared the tasks of feeding, bathing, changing diapers.

Danny had become part of Dana’s life, her soul, but now everyone expected her to hand him over to his uncle and go back to her old life as if these past three years had never happened. Losing Mattie had been like losing part of herself. That made her all the more determined to hold on to Danny.

“Let me have him.” Gabe held out his arms, but Danny buried his face in Dana’s neck.

“Not yet. He doesn’t know you.”

“He’ll have to get used to him sooner or later,” Marshall said. “He might as well start now.”

“He’ll start when I say.” She could hear the anger in her voice. She tried to control her tone, the rigidity of her body, but she couldn’t help it. The thought of giving Danny to anyone filled her with an anger at the whole world that was as red-hot as it was impotent.

A knock at the back door came as a welcome distraction. A woman accompanied by a young boy let herself in. “I’m Naomi Ferguson,” she said, introducing herself. “This is my son, Elton. I suggested to Marshall that Danny might be happier if I took him off to play while you and Gabe discussed business. Would you like to play with Elton?” Naomi asked Danny.

He hid his face in Dana’s shoulder again.

“I’ll look after him,” Elton said, swaggering like a little man.

Trying not to grin, Dana squatted down until Danny and Elton were eye-to-eye. “Danny’s a little shy. He doesn’t have anybody to play with at home.”

“He don’t have to be scared,” Elton said. “Won’t nobody say boo to him if I tell ’em not to.”

“I’ll keep an eye on both of them,” Naomi said with a wink.

As reluctant as Dana was to let Danny out of her sight, she knew it would be better for everybody if he were at least in another room while she talked to Gabe.

“Do you want to go with Elton?” Dana asked Danny.

The child eyed Elton curiously but didn’t relinquish his hold on Dana’s neck.

“You can have some of my cookies,” Elton offered. He reached inside one of the deep pockets of his baggy pants and withdrew a plastic bag full of chocolate chip cookies. “Mama made ’em,” he said as he took one out of the bag and offered it to Danny. “Can’t nobody make better cookies than Mama.”

The cookie was a sad little thing, bent and twisted from its time in Elton’s pocket. Apparently its sad state didn’t bother Danny. He reached for the cookie.

“I got more,” Elton said reaching into another pocket and drawing out a second bag of cookies. “I’ll get some milk, and we can go sit on Marshall’s porch and eat the rest of them.”

The lure of two handfuls of cookies was too much for Danny. He loosened his grip on Dana and slid to the floor. Elton held out his hand, and Danny took it. “You don’t have to worry about your kid, lady,” Elton said to Dana. “He’s safe with me.”

Naomi laughed as Elton and Danny headed toward the back door. “No child can resist chocolate chip cookies,” she said as she opened the cabinet and took out two glasses.

“I think it was Elton,” Gabe said.

Naomi took milk from the refrigerator. “I’ll keep them on the screened porch.”

Dana couldn’t stop herself from looking through the window. Danny had settled next to Elton, munching on a cookie, looking up at the older boy with wonder in his eyes.

“Your son is an angel,” she said to Naomi.

“Only sometimes,” Naomi said, then closed the door behind her as she joined the kids on the porch.

Dana took one last look, turned to face Gabe.

“Why don’t you leave now?” Marshall asked. “You could be halfway to the interstate before he finishes his cookies.”

His suggestion was so unexpected, so completely without any regard for Danny’s feelings, Dana couldn’t think of the words to tell him what an unfeeling idiot he was.

“We have some things to talk over,” Gabe said.

“A lot of things,” Dana said, recovering her speech. “Not the least of which is this absurd notion you have that you can take care of Danny as well as I can. You don’t know anything about children. Why did you force me to bring him to Iron Springs?”

“Because Mattie wanted him to live here.”

“She didn’t say that.”

“She wanted him brought up with his family. That doesn’t mean New York.”

“I could send him down on vacations.”

“No.”

“Maybe even summers.”

“He lives here. I’ll let him visit you during summers and vacations.”

Dana’s lawyer had already warned her not to expect more than this, but she couldn’t accept the thought of being separated from Danny for months at a time. “He ought to live in one place with somebody he knows, somebody who knows how to care for him. That’s obviously me. How are you going to take care of him? Where is he going to stay?”

“I have a house. Naomi will keep him during the day. He’d have to be in day care in New York. And for much longer hours, considering your job.”

Dana’s lawyer had pointed that out, too

“He doesn’t know you or anybody else here.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Marshall said. “Gabe can—”

“How can I not worry?” Dana said. “He’s lost his mother, he’s been sick, he’s been taken away from the only home he’s ever known, and you want me to turn him over to a perfect stranger and disappear.”

“I don’t see—”

“Then you’re blind,” Dana snapped.

“Nothing’s going to happen to him except you leaving,” Marshall said. “He’ll probably cry, but he’ll get over it.”

Dana fixed Marshall with a look she hoped conveyed what an unfeeling cretin she thought he was. “I’m not relinquishing one bit of my responsibility for Danny. Mattie made me joint guardian. I wouldn’t consider leaving him with Gabe for as much as an hour until I know he can take care of him. And I won’t be easy to convince.”

Gabe opened his mouth to speak, but Dana plunged ahead. “I did my best to convince Mattie to give Danny to me.”

She paused to collect herself, to stop the tears before they filled her eyes. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t lose her temper and wouldn’t cry. She’d done one and was about to do the other. But losing Danny so soon after Mattie’s death would be more than she could bear. After all the worry, love and laughter they shared, she didn’t know how she could stand to be alone again.

She opened her handbag to look for a tissue. Gabe handed her his handkerchief. She hesitated only briefly before taking it to wipe her eyes. Touching him set off a reaction she’d never felt before. He radiated a vitality that drew her like a magnet. She tried to throttle the unwelcome current of excitement that surged through her. She told herself not to be a fool. Her feelings for him were long dead. He’d never had any for her.

She swallowed, took a deep breath, then looked directly at Gabe. “Mattie didn’t give me full custody of Danny because she said a boy ought to have a man he could model himself after. Of course that’s nonsense, but I couldn’t convince Mattie.”

She waited for one of them to argue, but neither did.

“I don’t know why you can’t leave him with me.” Her eyes started to water again, and she buried them in Gabe’s handkerchief. “He’s got his own room. Toys. People he knows.”

“He can have all that here,” Gabe said.

“You could visit him in New York.”

“You haven’t let us see him, not even after Mattie died.”

“I’d have brought him to Mattie’s funeral if he hadn’t been sick.” Though she knew Mattie would understand, Dana couldn’t stop feeling guilty that having to stay in New York with Danny had caused her to miss Mattie’s funeral.

The phone rang. Dana and Gabe both turned to Marshall, but he didn’t move. It rang again.

“Answer it,” Gabe told Marshall. “Dana and I can handle this ourselves.”

The phone rang again, and Marshall left the room. Much to her surprise, Dana felt herself tense. Surely after all these years she could face Gabe without being uncomfortable.

“Before I can think of letting you have Danny for a single night,” she said, “I’ve got to know you can take care of a little boy who’s hardly more than a baby. What do you know about children? Have you ever been around any?”

“I don’t know a lot, but I don’t anticipate any difficulty learning.”

“Well I do,” Dana shot back. “You don’t know what he likes, what he doesn’t, what frightens him, what to do when he gets upset. You don’t know what foods upset his stomach, what he tends to gobble, what he has to be coaxed to eat, when he should go to bed, when to start potty training.” She threw up her hands. “Leaving him with you would be practically the same as leaving him with Elton.”

“I’m a little more capable than that,” Gabe said.

His smile surprised her. She’d expected a snarl.

“Mattie didn’t know how to take care of a child,” Gabe said, “but she learned. I think I can, too.”

“She was a woman. You’re not.” Gabe probably thought if a poor woman could manage, a man would have no difficulty. Just thinking about it made her angry. “Who’s going to take care of Danny while you’re at work?” she asked.

Gabe signed. “I’ve already told you Naomi will take care of him during the week. My mother can help out if I have to be away on weekends.”

“If Mattie had wanted him raised by strangers, she could have left him with me. If you had a wife, it would solve everything. Are you engaged?”

“No.”

“Do you have anybody in mind?”

“I’m not engaged, I don’t have anybody in mind, and I intend to raise Danny without a wife.”

He acted as though having a wife was about as desirable as contracting mumps, but her own reaction upset her more. She could deny it if she wanted, but knowing he was still single excited her.

“I don’t see why you want to know all this.”

“Because you’re expecting me to let you have the child I love,” Dana said. “Did you think I could just drop Danny off and go back to New York as if nothing ever happened?”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Well I can’t. He’s been part of my life since the day Mattie moved into my apartment. You might as well ask me to give up my own child.”

“Are you married?” Gabe asked.

“No.”

“Engaged?”

“No.”

“Anybody on the horizon?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“As far as taking care of Danny is concerned, you’re no different from me.”

“Not true. I know him. You don’t.”

“I’ll learn.”

“In how many years?”

Gabe laughed. “I promise to figure it out before he graduates high school.”

“I don’t know how you can take this so lightly. We’re talking about a child’s life here, not some…some piece of furniture. You don’t put it together, polish it up and hand it over to somebody else.”

Apparently she’d finally succeeded in angering him. His brows lowered and puckered. Any hint of a smile disappeared.

“Danny is all my mother and I have left of Mattie. Making sure we do everything right for him is just about the most important thing in our lives. Now call him in from the porch. We can take his things over to the house and settle him in. You ought to be able to start back to New York tonight.”

Dana couldn’t believe her ears. Hadn’t he heard anything she’d said? “I have no intention of turning Danny over to you this afternoon. Or tomorrow afternoon, for that matter. Mattie gave me equal custody. That means I have equal right to approve all arrangements.”

“Satisfying you could take days,” Gabe said.

“I’m sure it will. That’s why I’ve taken two weeks vacation.”

Gabe stared at her very much in the manner she would have expected if she’d grown a second head right before his eyes.

Marshall returned to the room in this interval of silence.

“She’s not going to leave,” Gabe said to his lawyer. “She’s going to stay here for two weeks, sticking her nose into everything I do, complaining and demanding.”

“You’ve got more important things to worry about than Dana,” Marshall said.

“If you think—”

Gabe interrupted Dana. “What are you talking about?”

Being cut off angered Dana, but Marshall’s expression caused her to choke off her outburst.

“That was Lucius Abernathy, Danny’s natural father, on the phone.”

Dana had been looking over her shoulder ever since Mattie’s death, afraid he would show up again demanding Danny.

“His lawyer is flying to Washington tomorrow,” Marshall said. “He plans to rent a car and drive to Iron Springs.”

“What does he want?” Gabe asked.

“Danny,” Marshall answered.

“Mattie’s will specifically says we’re to be his guardians,” Dana said.

“An uncle and a friend won’t stand much of a chance against the natural father.”

“Is there anything we can do to stop him?” Gabe asked.

“Maybe.”

“What?”

“I’ll do anything,” Dana added.

“Gabe’s best chance to keep Danny is to get married before the lawyer gets here.”

“But he said he didn’t have anybody in mind,” Dana pointed out.

Marshall looked straight at her. “I know. So since you’re willing to do anything to make sure Danny’s natural father doesn’t get him, I suggest you marry Gabe.”