Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (7 page)

“Let
me show you your room,” he spoke again. When Morgan didn't
move, he laughed and said it could wait until later. He did, however,
come to the thick carpet and sit down beside her. “Hungry?”

Morgan
thought about it for a second, then shook her head back and forth.
For the first time, she wasn't ravenously hungry from flying. “I'm
too cold to eat,” she added. She did take the chance to look
around though. The place was homey, and reminded her of a log cabin,
without the logs. Most everything was made of the same type of wood,
even the floor, and the home had a strong pine scent that Morgan
couldn't get enough of. There were dozens of carpets laid out on the
floor, which she assumed were because the floor probably got very
cold. The whole home, at least what she could see from the middle of
the floor, had a warm yellow glow from the multiple light fixtures
mounted on the wall. Dag would have had a nervous breakdown if he
could have seen all of them.

“I
really like it,” she spoke aloud.

“Like
what?”

“Your
home, it's so...comfortable. Are there more fireplaces?”
Say
yes, please say yes. In the bathroom. C'mon, say it...there's one in
the bathroom.

Tyler
laughed and nodded. “There are three more. Two of the bedrooms
have their own fireplace and the master bathroom has one.”

“Yes!”
Morgan threw her arms in the air in a celebratory fashion, then
brought them down slowly, realizing that he could see her. “Sorry.
I just...I love bathroom fireplaces.” She smiled nervously, and
Tyler laughed again. His laugh. It was almost as warming as the fire.
It was hearty and sincere.

“Well,
if you'd like to get a ba...”

“Okay!”
Morgan didn't wait for him to finish his sentence. A bath sounded
perfect. “No, actually, I shouldn't,” she reconsidered.
As wonderful as a bath sounded, she was exhausted and knew that the
warm water, topped with the roaring fire would put her out of
commission for the whole day. She at least needed to make an
appearance with the family again. She explained to him that if she
sunk down into the tub, there would be no waking her until the next
morning. Of course, he told her that it was more than alright if she
wanted to go to sleep, but she insisted that she stay up.

Tyler
got up from the carpet and went to the window, then pulled the long
red curtain to the side to get a look outside. “Well, they're
home,” he told Morgan after making his observation. “Are
you up for it?”

Morgan
didn't need to ask what he meant. Was she up for the cold walk to the
main home? Was she up for meeting his parents? Anything he could
throw at her, she was willing to do, so she just nodded and went
along with the flow. “Do you have another one of these?”
She had stood up, then grabbed the collar of his flannel shirt to
show him what he was asking. If she was going to play the girlfriend
game, she was going to do it right.

“Wow.
That...actually....looks really damn sexy.” Morgan did a turn
for him to show of his shirt. It was more than four sizes too big,
and she had tied the bottom flaps to the side of her waist, and
rolled the extra long sleeves up to her elbow. She had put a tank top
on underneath of the thick flannel, then put on a change of warmer
pants and different boots. Added with one of those hats that have
the furry flaps over the ears, a pair of gloves that he gave and her
thick coat, she was ready to brave the cold again.

The
walk to the house seemed to take an eternity as the wind fought them
the whole way there. The storm, that everyone had mentioned, seemed
to be picking up, but at that point, there was no sign of any white
flakes. They didn't speak while they made the walk, mostly because it
was just too much effort to be heard over the wind, so Morgan took
the time to sneak a few glances his way. She wondered why he kept
his black hair so short, a buzz cut is what her grandmother would
have called it, since it was freaking cold there. But it worked with
his square jaw and thick black lashes. And those eyes, she didn't
think she would ever get enough of looking into them.

When
they got into the home, Morgan wasn't surprised to be greeted by her
new
to-be-mother-in-law.
Gwen was nearly a head shorter than
Morgan, but her thick, curly brown made up for the difference in
height. The woman had a feel about her that made Morgan want to hug
her, but Gwen beat her to it.

“Oh,
dear, you must be freezing. Come here, come here.” The woman
released Morgan from the hug, then drug her across the room toward an
exact replica of the fireplace at Tyler's home. “Tyler, are you
going to let your girlfriend just stand here and freeze to death?”
she scolded her son.

Morgan
giggled and looked over toward her client who seemed to have frozen
in place, but not from being cold. She wasn't going to be the only
one acting. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him,
burying her head into his chest. “Don't worry, Mrs. Andrews, Ty
takes great care of me.” Tyler caught on quick and wrapped his
arms tightly around the girl and kissed her softly on top of her
head.

“I
always will,” he played along.

The
couple walked together to the main living room and sat in the center
of the large tan leather sofa. It was there that Morgan heard a
faint voice behind her. When she turned to see who it was, Uncle
Matt smiled from the other side of the room and waved at the
newcomer. She waved back, and asked how he was doing.

“Fine!
Doing just fine! Would you like to meet Oswald?” He pointed
to the large black and white cat on his lap, the one that he had
obviously been talking to when she heard him.

“Of
course!” Morgan got up and started to walk around the sofa,
but Tyler grabbed her wrist.

“Uh,
Uncle Matt suffers from dementia. He doesn't always understand
what's going on.” His whispered warning was met with a nod
from Morgan as she resumed her walk in the old man's direction.

“So,
his name is Oswald? He's beautiful.” She reached out slowly,
remembering her first encounter with Alrik's cat, and touched the
black and white patched fur on the large boy's head. “Oh!
He's...oh!” The stuffed cat didn't move, and Morgan instantly
closed her mouth so that she didn't offend the sweet old man. “He's
very sweet, Uncle Matt.” She turned her head sideways to look
at her date and was met with three faces who had been watching her.
Tyler and his parents look relieved that Morgan didn't over react to
Uncle Matt's
pet.
Uncle Matt was quick to grab her attention
again.

“He
likes it when you scratch behind his ears, like this.” His
small twisted fingers made the effort to show her, but he couldn't
get his hand to stop shaking to find just the right spot.

“Oh,
I see...right here?” Morgan lightly scratched around the cat's
ear, and then treated the other side of his head as well. “Yeah,
he does like that.” Her smile was met with soft laughter from
her captive audience, and he put his gnarled hand over hers and gave
her a gentle pat.

“He
likes you.” The youthful twinkle in his eyes reflected
brightly in the raw firelight. Morgan was instantly drawn to the old
man, and silently vowed to spend a little time with him while she was
there. It was almost as if she were looking at a much older, and
much smaller version of Tyler, and it made her even more fond of the
man.

“Dinner
is served!” Gwen broke the brief silence and ushered everyone
into the main dining room. “Sit anywhere you like. I thought
of making everything from pheasant to some outlandish Italian meal
that would have had me in the kitchen for two days trying to figure
out the sauce, but then I thought, everyone likes pot roast, right?
You like pot roast, Morgan?” Gwen's obvious nervous rambling
made the girl feel more at home, seeing how much they already had in
common.

“I
love it, thank you.” Dinner looked fabulous, and as it turned
out, Morgan was pretty hungry after all. Although, she was glad that
she hadn't taken Tyler up on his offer of food earlier, because she
planned to kill the meal in front of her.

Gwen's
nervous chattering improved over dinner, but Morgan still found it
endearing that the older woman had never grown out of the same flaw
that Morgan suffered from. She guessed that there were just some
things that years and experience just wouldn't cure, and it was the
first time that Morgan came to terms with that fact. She decided
that if she were going to turn out like Gwen someday, it wouldn't
exactly be a bad thing.

Charlie
was the exact opposite, a man of very few words, but it was clear
that he was someone that meant what he said, when he said it. He too
looked almost identical to Tyler, and the outlandishly gorgeous genes
were obvious in the sweet family. If Charlie had a little more hair,
and were a few inches taller, they would be hard to tell apart from a
distance.

Uncle
Matt finally rolled into the room, halfway through the meal, and
found his place squeezed between Morgan and Tyler. Not that there
was room, but when Tyler was pushed over, the old man could easily
navigate into his chosen spot. He also brought Oswald with him, and
Morgan instantly reached out and gave the cat another quick scratch
behind the ears.

“Pickles
and cheese, please!” The old man lifted his frail arm, nearly
engulfed by the blue button down flannel that he was wearing, and
returned his hand to the cat's back.

“Here
ya go, Uncle Matt, pickles and cheese.” Tyler had put a small
serving of the meat and vegetables on a plate, and placed it in front
of his uncle. “Do you need some help?” He offered to
hand the man his fork, but Matt waved him away and managed to slowly
get the fork to his mouth. Tyler looked behind the man's head and
gave Morgan a look that would imply that he would explain later. She
nodded in reply, but she really didn't need one, it was pretty clear
that the man was confused and would eat whatever they gave him.

Gwen
and Charlie turned out to be the perfect hosts, and their genuine
interest in her was refreshing. Of course, she didn't reveal too
much about herself, but it was enough to make everyone comfortable
and enjoy their first evening together. The only person missing from
the table was Cory, who had gone to an informal school dance that
night, but the house still felt full and
alive.
It was home,
home to probably anyone that they welcomed in, and she fully
understood the reasoning behind keeping the entire family together.

“I'm
so happy that you're here, Morgan, you're exactly what my Tyler
needs.” Gwen beamed with gratitude as she spoke to the young
girl, and guilt had finally started to creep in. It was Tyler who
first noticed it, and made a move that would get the focus off of
Morgan. He stood from the table and thanked his family for a
wonderful meal, then walked over to the window to check the weather.

“Shit!”
His deep voice brought everyone's head to his direction.

“Tyler,
language.” Gwen gave her son a look of disapproval, but she
did get up to see what he was talking about. “Oh my, looks
like you two are staying here tonight.” The snow had started
to fall, finally, and it was a near white out from what Tyler and
Gwen could see.

“Uh,
no...we can make it if we leave now. Damn it, I should have just
brought the truck.” He was already grabbing their coats and
gloves before Gwen could argue. “Morgan, I'm sorry but we have
to go, right now.” The urgency in his voice got Morgan to her
feet, and in her coat in record time. “If we can, we'll be
back for breakfast.” He kissed his mom on the cheek, and asked
Morgan if she was ready.

Morgan
was still saying her goodbyes and pulling on her thick gloves when
Tyler opened the door to the near blizzard. “Oh, bye Uncle
Matt.” She blew him a kiss before turning back to Tyler. He
practically drug her from the house and onto the porch, and that's
where Morgan fell flat on her face. The fall wasn't due to the
concrete slab porch being slippery, it was the fact that she didn't
realize there was nearly a feet deep snowdrift that the wind had
caused right in front of the door.

Morgan
started to laugh at herself, but Tyler surprised her when he lifted
her from the snow and cradled her in his arms. He put his large hand
over her face, and turned her head toward his chest, then they
started to move.