Destiny's Whisper (12 page)

Aleksei rolled his eyes in disbelief, cringed as he watched Jordan’s reaction to Whittaker’s words and waited for the explosion that was sure to come, glad he wasn’t going to be the recipient of her wrath.

Jordan’s hands wiped down the sides of her hips, a motion everyone recognized as one that she used when trying to hold her temper. Her long fingers flexed, another bad sign, and with fire blazing in eyes the color of emeralds, she asked in a calm, deadly voice, “Whittaker, do you work at being a moron or do you come by it naturally?”

Whittaker looked from Aleksei to Dani and back to Jordan, his mouth opening and closing, reminiscent of the goldfish Dani had loved so much as a little girl, and wasn’t sure how to respond. Aleksei shook his head, knowing things had gone from bad to worse and took a step toward his wife.

“Jordan….”

“Mom?” Dani asked, her eyes widening as she picked up another antique plate, lifted it over her head and smashed it against the peach tile floor, small pieces of antique porcelain scattering everywhere.

With one last furious look, she stomped through the remains of the plate and out the back door into her garden, disappearing into an enclosed gazebo, the door slamming behind her daring anyone to enter.

The three looked at each other, heaving a sigh of relief that at least the air in the room was returning to a livable temperature and tension level and they weren’t in any immediate danger of being pounded by the storm of Jordan’s temper. She didn’t explode often, but when she did she made Mt. Saint Helen’s look like nothing more than an over-roasted marshmallow. As Dani headed for the pantry to retrieve the broom and the Dustbuster, Aleksei shook his head in dismay at the remains of the plate on the floor. Remembering all the tiny antique stores he’d had to visit to find an entire set of the antique dishes Jordan had fallen in love with so many years before, he cast a sidelong look at Whittaker. “Well, at least it’s one of the dinner plates, they were the easiest to find so I’m sure you won’t have a problem finding another two.”

Whittaker nodded in agreement and returned, “Yeah. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t let my passport expire.”

Aleksei shook his head in exasperation, scooped up one of the still-warm brownies and took a bite. The chocolate treat melted in his mouth, his deep sigh of enjoyment had his daughter shaking her head at his silliness and smiling broadly at his silent appreciation.

“Daddy, you are too weird!” She laughed, sweeping up the shards of the plate, amazed at how far the tiny pieces had spread about the large kitchen.

Aleksei watched his daughter clean up the mess, without complaint, carefully seeking every small shard of porcelain that might be hiding on the floor.

Whittaker reached for a second brownie, barely having swallowed the first. “You know, Dani, if you ever decide to give up skating, you could make a damn good business at making brownies. These are the best batch you’ve ever made!”

Aleksei met his daughter’s surprised eyes and the look they exchanged said it all. Give up skating? NEVER! It was in their blood as well as their hearts and the thought of never again stepping on to that glorious surface of shining white was unthinkable.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dani laughingly replied, her smile broadening at her father’s loving wink.

“So, how long do you think it’ll take her to calm down?” Whit-taker asked, nodding toward the gazebo Jordan had escaped to.

“A while,” Aleksei answered calmly, taking another brownie and popping a piece into his mouth.

“You could have warned me she was in a melt-down mode,” Whittaker suggested.

“What, and miss watching you making a total ass of yourself? No way! With all the tension going on over the last couple of days we needed a little comic relief!” Aleksei chuckled softly, casting his longtime friend a sideways grin.

“So glad I could be of assistance,” Whittaker replied sardonically, “next time, just leave a helmet by the door as a signal I’m entering a danger zone and I’ll know to think before I open my mouth.”

Aleksei’s deep, booming laugh blended with his daughter’s lilting scream of amusement. “Whittaker, the day you think before you open your mouth is the day hell freezes over, pigs fly and Dani gives up skating!”

“I don’t know why I put up with all your abuse,” he grumbled, stuffing yet another brownie into his mouth.

Aleksei wrapped an arm around his shoulder in camaraderie, “Because you don’t have anything better to do that’s why! And besides, where else are you going to find such great brownies?”

Whittaker looked from Aleksei’s smiling face, to Dani’s, shaking his head in amusement and plucked the final brownie off the plate. “God, I hate it when you’re right!” he muttered in disgust.

Someday he’d get a life of his own. But in the meantime, he was having too much fun being a part of this wild group of people he considered family to even contemplate leaving. After all, boredom wasn’t all it was cracked up to be!

An hour later, Aleksei found Jordan sitting cross-legged in the garden, a pile of weeds mounded beside her, her lovely hands covered in dirt, and weaving a wreath of flowers together. Her shy glance his way and her deep sigh eased Aleksei’s mind as he recognized signs that indicated she was calming down, his heart breathed a sigh of relief when she held out her hand to him in an unspoken request for help up. Silently he obliged; steadying her when her long ago injured knee protested and made her wobble. Without complaint, he allowed her to place the wreath of flowers on his head, and accepted her gentle kiss.

“Sorry about the outburst back there,” Jordan said quietly, flushing in embarrassment as she replayed her tantrum in her mind.

“It’s been a long few days,” Aleksei offered as explanation.

“That doesn’t give me the right to go off like a nuclear warhead; I was totally out of line,”

“Yeah, you were, but you, like everyone else, is human and allowed to vent every now and then.”

“Venting is one thing, shattering my favorite dishes is another. How am I ever going to replace them?” Jordan asked, kicking herself for her childish behavior, realizing in the calm after the storm that she had only hurt herself by her foolish actions, and Aleksei. Dear, sweet, Aleksei, the love of her life; the one who had searched out every little antique shop in England looking for dishes. How many wives could say their husband’s had done such a wonderful thing?

“Whittaker’s already on the trail of replacement pieces, so that’s not a concern. They’re only pieces of porcelain and replaceable, unlike you, who are irreplaceable.” Aleksei stated softly, pulling her into his arms and kissing the top of her head before he laid his cheek against it, the scent of gardenias teasing his senses. Here, in the middle of a garden filled with a hundred different flowers, all he could smell was his wife’s perfume. Life was too funny!

“I should be the one trying to track down new pieces. Whittaker didn’t have anything to do with my tantrum,” Jordan countered.

“I disagree, if he hadn’t suggested Sergei become a pair, there wouldn’t be the issue of Chloe.”

Jordan pulled out of her husband’s arms, and walked the short distance to where a hammock rested between two ancient oak trees. Tiredly she sank into its cushioned depths and with one foot, pushed herself gently back and forth. “Whittaker never suggested Chloe as a partner, Sergei made that decision all on his own, and I’m not certain if I’m all that thrilled with his choice. I’m worried we may have made a mistake in bringing Chloe here. I can’t be sure, but something’s different between them. Have you noticed anything-I don’t know-unusual between them?” Jordan asked, watching as Aleksei followed her and leaned against the rough, fragrant bark.

Aleksei’s slight shrug didn’t comfort her, and he knew if he told her of all the little signs of the attraction suddenly flaring between them, things could get crazy. With Jordan only just calming, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her all over again.

“Sergei and Chloe have known each other forever, there’s never been any indication of anything but a tolerant acknowledgment of each other until now, she’s Dani’s best friend,” Jordan counted her points on her dirty fingers, “Maybe Sergei’s just reacting in a protective manner. You know how protective he is with Dani; maybe this is just an extension of that behavior. He knows how much Chloe means to Dani, maybe he’s transferring those feelings to include Chloe,” Jordan finished hopefully.

“Possibly,” Aleksei conceded, “or maybe feelings that have always been there, but buried, and waiting for the right moment, are showing themselves. If you’ll recall, our road toward each other wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.”
The road to hell would have been an easier, kinder path
, Aleksei thought silently.

Jordan’s look said she remembered the same treacherous journey and she reached out her hand to her husband, lacing her fingers with his when he slid his hand into hers and joined her on the hammock. “After all we went through, the last thing I want either of our children to have to face is heartbreak. Is it wrong to want our children to fall in love easily?”

Aleksei’s lips touched his wife’s temple, “Is there such a thing as falling in love
easily
? When there’s emotion involved, nothing is ever easy.”

“I know you’re right, and yet I can’t help wondering if separating the two of them would make a difference,” Jordan suggested hopefully.

“Would separating us have worked?”

“Of course not!” Jordan’s reply was fierce.

“I rest my case,”

“They can’t be that connected yet, it’s only been a few days,”

“They whisper each other’s names in their sleep.”

“Impossible!” Jordan argued.

“Ask Dani. It happened in the car on the way home from the hospital.”

“Oh, Aleksei, we’re screwed!” Jordan stated quietly, dropping her head against her husband’s sturdy muscled shoulder.

“Yeah, that was pretty much my take on the situation,” he stated matter-of-factly, removing the wreath of woven flowers from his head and setting it carefully on his wife’s rumpled hair. His lips caressed hers gently. “You might want to fasten your seat belt, babe, the road ahead’s looking a little bumpy!”

“Oh, I should have stayed single and just had cats!” Jordan moaned.

“If I meow for you, will you rub my belly?” Aleksei’s voice was low and deep, his eyes flashing sexily.

“Cats don’t like their belly’s rubbed!” Jordan countered on a laugh.

“This cat does!” Aleksei’s eyebrows wiggled up and down lecherously as he drew his wife into his arms and covered her neck with heated kisses, his hands slipping beneath her shirt and tracing tingling paths along her satin skin.

Jordan’s low, seductive laugh barely escaped her lips before her husband’s mouth covered her own and swallowed the joyful sound. Within moments, the last thing the two of them were pondering was the Sergei/Chloe situation, they were much more concerned with exactly how long it would take them traverse the universe and see how many stars they could touch.

After an hour of heavy exercise, that did nothing to alleviate the swirl of emotions that raced through his body, nor quelled the questions that had no answers, Sergei returned to the house. The beckoning smell of brownies led him to the kitchen, and a plate with only crumbs. Dani sat quietly reading a book in the window seat, her long legs stretched out across the colorful cushion.

“Chloe’s sleeping,” Dani stated without lifting her eyes from the book in her lap.

“Did I ask?” Sergei growled.

“Well your work out certainly took care of that nasty edge you left here with,” Dani countered sarcastically.

Sergei ignored her comment, “Who ate all the brownies?”

“Dad managed to grab a couple before Whittaker emptied the plate.”

“Whittaker’s here?”

“The operative word is
was
. Mom went ballistic and scared him off,” Dani stated casually, jumping up and setting her book down as the timer on the oven went off.

“What set Mom off?” Sergei asked.

“Don’t know,” Dani shrugged, slipping oven mitts covered with brightly colored flowers over her hands and removing the brownies from the oven, shouldering her brother away when he tried to steal a piece straight from the pan. “But I’ll tell you, she hasn’t gone off that hot in a long time. Actually, it was a pretty amazing sight to see: dishes crashing, Whittaker not sure whether to duck or run. The scene she made was really spectacular!”

“She threw dishes?”

“Only one, but you should have seen it, the plate hit the floor and I’ve never seen a piece of porcelain explode into so many pieces. I was sweeping for a good twenty minutes. I only hope I got all the pieces up.”

“Yeah, me too,” Sergei agreed, looking about the floor. “So what happened to Whittaker?”

“After he ate most of the brownies, he headed off mumbling something about finding replacement plates for Mom and how much he hated looking in antique shops and why couldn’t she like dishes that were made in this century.” All the while she jabbered, she was busy cutting the brownies into neat squares and scooping them on to the plate.

“Mom smashed one of her prized antique plates?” Sergei asked in disbelief.