A Family Come True (12 page)

It would be wrong to tell this woman, who was opening her home to Cady and her, to mind her own business. There was drawing a line, and there was plain rudeness. Not that Moxie seemed to be differentiating between them, but still. It was always better to take the high road.

Darcy decided to let the implied question pass unanswered, focusing instead on Cady, who was doing her best to dive off Darcy’s knee and bury her face in the bowl of slop.

“She wants to feed herself,” Moxie said.

“I know. At home I let her have her own spoon and some finger food, but I didn’t want our first minutes here to end up with your kitchen decorated in beef glop.”

The corner of Moxie’s mouth twitched. “This room has seen worse than that over the years. I’ll have Ian bring the high chair up from the basement. She’s a fine baby. She shouldn’t have to stifle herself for us.”

“Thank you.” The mention of a high chair and all it implied created a lump in her gut, but nothing could be done about it at the moment. She hoped to hell that Taylor and Carter weren’t planning to stay a long time tonight. The sooner she and Ian could get the truth on the table, the better for everyone.

“Could you grab that pack of wipes from my bag and hand me one, please?”

Moxie rose from her chair and did as requested, lingering for a moment and making fluttering motions with her fingers. Cady’s eyes followed the movements in fascination.

“Anything you need, let me know. I don’t want this little one having a hard time because you don’t want to speak up.” Moxie tapped Cady’s cheek with one finger, earning a wide-eyed stare. “And I know it’s rough when they’re teething. Don’t you worry about keeping people awake in the night. My room’s down here, and as for Ian’s folks, well, I think it’ll take another decade or two for Robert and Janice to catch up on the sleep they lost when the boys were little. You wouldn’t disturb them unless you marched into their room and dropped the baby on the bed beside them.”

Darcy repressed a shudder. “Not planning on doing that, thank you.”

“There’s a mini fridge in your rooms. I’ll put some juice and such in it. If you’re up with her in the night and need anything else, there’s tea and cocoa in that cupboard.” Moxie pointed above the double sink. “Cheerios down there if she wants a snack, and you can help yourself to anything in the fridge. Or freezer. One good thing about working at a dairy is we always have milk and ice cream in the house.”

“Sounds lovely. I hope we won’t need any of it, but it’s good to know just in case.”

“Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. That’s the way to go.” Moxie returned to her chair. “Now, then, how long have you and Ian been together?”

Crap, crap, crap. Where the heck was he?

“I—”

“Because it’s interesting that he never mentioned it.”

Ooh, that one she could handle. “Given the way his last relationship blew up in his face, I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all.”

Moxie shook her head. “You don’t mince words, do you?”

“Actually, I’m usually very mild-mannered.”

“Are you, now?”

Cady chose that moment to smack her hands together, sending bits of glop flying through the air. Darcy would never have imagined she would welcome being showered with goo, but it seemed there was indeed a first time for everything.

“She has your eyes.” Moxie, who of course was untouched by the spray, sat back and grinned. “But her mouth...not yours. Does she favor her father?”

Good Lord. Was there any topic that Moxie couldn’t twist into a land mine?

“So, did Nonny go on this cruise by herself?”

Was that a chuckle?

“Nope,” Moxie said at last. “There’s a group from church that went together, and a few others from the senior center. I thought for sure she would have told you about it.”

“She might have mentioned it.” Probably had, too. But Darcy spoke to Nonny so infrequently these days that it could have been months since their last real conversation. Part of it, of course, was simply the hectic pace of Darcy’s life now that Cady was on the scene.

But Darcy couldn’t deny that lately, every interaction with Nonny was spent braced for—not attack, never that—but there had been a major shift in their relationship ever since the call when Darcy had said, “I’m pregnant,” and Nonny had uttered a low, disappointed, “Oh, Darcy.”

Yep, that had been just the response she needed when she was already dealing with guilt and worry and other fun.

But there was no way Darcy would dare say anything against Nonny to Moxie, of all people.

“I wish I had remembered about this trip.” She dabbed at Cady’s chin. “But it sounds like something she’s dreamed of for years. I’m sorry to have missed her, but I would have hated to make her lose out on this.”

“Oh?”

“Well, yes. I mean, she’s the reason I came.” One of the reasons anyway.

Moxie made
Eensy Weensy Spider
motions with her fingers, prompting Cady to stop eating and stare. “Since you seem to appreciate plain talk, Darcy, that’s what I’m going to give you. I think Helene told you all about the cruise. Lord knows it’s all she’s talked about for months. You might think you didn’t know about it, but I’m betting if you stopped and thought a minute, you’d remember something.”

Darcy stopped waving the spoon in front of Cady’s face and gave Moxie her full attention. “Are you saying that you think I chose this time deliberately, because I knew Nonny wouldn’t be around?”

“I wouldn’t say it was deliberate. But I wouldn’t say it was a total coincidence, either.”

Thank heaven Taylor returned at that moment, a little whiter but smiling nonetheless. “Well, I’m back. Did I miss any excitement?”

Only if she thought the Inquisition was nothing more than a fact-finding mission.

“All better?” Moxie asked.

“Fine.” Taylor reached toward Cady before hesitating, her hand hovering in the air. “Oh, listen, I don’t... I’m not contagious or anything. I swear she won’t catch anything from me, but you know, I had something for lunch that didn’t sit quite right and—”

“Taylor.” Moxie’s smile was probably as close to indulgent as she ever came. “You don’t have to spin stories. We understand perfectly. Congratulations, child.”

“Oh.” Some of the color returned to Taylor’s cheeks. “Oh. I... Well... When we pulled in and saw Ian, I...”

Darcy probably should add her own good wishes, but, honestly, she wasn’t feeling that generous yet. The best she could manage was a semi-sincere, “It gets better.”

She really should have stayed home and dealt with Xander herself.

“Well, Cady.” Time to switch to distraction mode. “Looks like you had a great time smearing your food. I think we should change you into something not so disgusting.”

“Good thinking.” Moxie tapped Cady’s nose. “Your room is up the stairs, second door on the—”

“I’ll take her.”

Of course Ian and Carter showed up now. Men. Could they never time things properly?

Cady squealed and held up her arms. Ian reached, did a double take and retreated.

“Forget it, Bug. Let’s keep the mess confined to one adult for now.”

“Oh, thanks, hon. You really know how to make a girl feel pretty.”

His grin was entirely too wicked. “Don’t worry, Darce. On you, even the Hangover Special looks good.”

He was playing the part, she knew, embroidering the fabric of the farce. Still, his words left her feeling a little lighter and a lot less uncertain.

“Is there a broom handy so I can sweep up the mess?”

Moxie waved a hand. “Not to worry. Carter, get your arse in gear and clean this up. You two run along and get that girl presentable.”

Ha. Darcy bit back a snicker at the expression on Carter’s face as he took in the mess on the table and floor. Maybe there were some perks to being here after all.

* * *

“
H
ERE YOU GO.”

Holding Cady at arm’s length, Darcy brushed past Ian and into a room that could only be described as beckoning. A white comforter atop a king-size maple bed and white eyelet curtains at the bay window were warmed by splashes of poppy red in the quilt folded at the foot of the mattress, the throw pillows resting against the mound of fluffy white ones, the cushion on the window seat.

“There’s a bathroom through there.” Ian pointed to the door to the left. “But come here, because I think...”

She followed him through a narrow space that felt like a former closet, now set up as a kitchenette with a few cupboards, a microwave and the fridge Moxie had mentioned, opening into another room that obviously had been a nursery at one point. Either that or Hank had a thing for butterflies and teddy bears.

“Wow. What a great setup.” Her gaze lingered on the rocking chair, the toddler bed, the ducky-adorned chest of drawers. “Maybe you should stay someplace else while Cady and I set up shop here. Where’s Lulu?”

“I put her on a long leash on the clothesline. Figured she should run some more.” He opened the top drawer of the dresser. “Ah, just as I thought,” he said, pulling a foam rubber pad from the drawer and setting it on top of the dresser. “Voilà. Instant changing table.”

“Perfect.” She set Cady on the softened surface. Predictable wails followed. “Shh. You’re fine. Someday you’ll learn to eat neatly and then we won’t have to change your clothes after every meal.”

Ian tapped Cady’s nose. “Don’t listen to her, Bug. Sloppy eating is one of the biggest joys in life.”

“Very funny. How long do you think Carter and Taylor will stay?”

“Honestly, Moxie’s probably going to invite them to dinner.”

“Really? On your first night home?”

He handed her a wipe. “Moxie is from the ‘rip the bandage off in one yank’ school. She won’t push anyone into anything she doesn’t think they’re ready for, but she doesn’t coddle, either.”

“I never would have guessed.” She peeled off beef-encrusted rumba pants and handed them over. “So, speaking of yanking things, how did you survive your first time alone with Carter?”

“Fine.”

Okay. Clipped tones, crossed arms—yep, someone was definitely holding back. A change of topic might be in order.

“By the way, the pregnancy cat is sort of out of the bag.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She grabbed one flailing arm and attacked it with a wipe. “I think the pretense was mostly for your benefit.”

He blew out a long breath. “I figured. Did you say anything?”

“Nope. I was too busy dodging Moxie’s questions and staying in character. Besides, that should come from you, not me.”

“I think it falls in the fake-girlfriend job description.”

“Uh-uh. I deal with my family. You deal with yours.”

“But yours is out of town.”

“Sucks to be you.”

His retort was cut off by three short beeps from her phone. She blew a kiss on Cady’s tummy, tucked her fresh clothes back in place and handed her to Ian. “Can you walk her for a minute?”

“Sure.” Her pinkie brushed his palm. The contact lasted maybe one, one and a half seconds, but it was all it took to send her tripping back to the kiss in the yard, the laughter in the car, the way his hand had curved around her waist when she launched them on this foolishness today.

For a moment or two her breath didn’t seem to want to follow its usual pattern.

She stepped back, moving toward sanity and away from areas best left unexplored, even in her mildest thoughts.

Focus, Maguire. Read the text.

But one look at the message and she was almost ready to take her chances with her runaway libido again.

“Are you frickin’ kidding me?”

“What?”

“Xander. He’s here. In Comeback Cove.”

“What?”

She showed him the message.

“‘Hi, Darce,’” he read aloud, his disbelief growing more apparent with each word. “‘I was at loose ends and didn’t want to wait to see Cady again, so here I am. Don’t want to intrude but can we set up a time to meet? And does Ian know a cheap place where I can stay?’”

She shoved the phone into her pocket and closed her eyes, hunting for stability while the world spun around her. Ian’s hand on her shoulder wasn’t the solution she would have expected, but it helped all the same. She rested her head against his chest. Not the smartest move, she knew, but with panic building, she figured it was better to grab an anchor than let herself be swept away.

“You okay?”

“Honestly? No. This is all... I don’t know. Too much. Forty-eight hours ago he didn’t even know she existed, and now he’s following us up here and asking to see her? It’s... I know it’s probably better for him to be interested in her than to brush her off, but, really, this has me rattled.” She pushed out the rest of it. “Especially because he has every right to see her.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“I spent a lot of quality time on Google last night, Ian. He has as much right to Cady as I do.”

“Even though he wasn’t around for the first year?”

“Put it this way. I don’t think any judge would say, ‘Oh, hey, congratulations on meeting your child and you can now have her every Wednesday and alternate weekend.’ But he’s entitled to spend time with her and get to know her and work up to those regular visits.”

Ian squeezed her shoulder. “It’s only for a few days,” he said softly.

“What do you mean?”

“He said he has a job in cottage country, remember? Starting next week.”

“Oh, wow. I forgot that part. You’re right.” She stood a little straighter, peeled herself away from Ian’s side. She really had to stop touching him. “Okay. That helps. I mean, yes, this is a lifelong thing, but you’re right. All I have to do is get through this week, and then we—
I
—will get some breathing space.”

“Is that what you want?”

She thought it over. “You know me. I can handle anything as long as I have time to plan. So if all I have to do is muddle through these few days, then I’ll have time to sort out what happens next...”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but do you want me to talk to Carter?”

Carter?

“You said he doesn’t do that kind of law.”

“He doesn’t, but he probably studied family law at some point. If nothing else he’ll have a better idea of where to search than we do. Plus, he’s here.”