Her Valentine Family (6 page)

“He's not. Chad, if I would have just told—” she started, but again, he shook his head and halted her words.

“I don't want to hear about him,” he said. “Really, I don't. Ever. I don't want to know anything about anyone who left you, anyone who hurt you in any way. The thought of you being alone with your baby—” he shook his head “—Jess, I want you to know that in spite of the fact that I did love my wife when I married her, the truth is that you were my first true love, and you always will be. Back then, I wanted to be with you forever, and when you left, all I could think about was finding you and proving to you that I could really wait for you for as long as it took.”

Jessica's mouth trembled, and the back of her throat pinched tight, anticipating oncoming tears. “Chad, I'm sorry about leaving the way I did.”

He sighed. “I drove to your house every day for an entire month after you left. Becky went with me. Your parents said you'd left and that you didn't want to see anyone, didn't want to talk to anyone.”

Because Jessica had told them that, and she'd meant it. But her parents hadn't told her that Chad had come over. Then again, she'd asked them not to mention him to her because it hurt so much to know she'd left the father of her child. That she'd left the one she loved. Now she wished she hadn't been so adamant about that request. She didn't realize that he'd tried so hard to find her. “I didn't know,” she whispered.

“I even drove to Tennessee,” he said softly. “But I didn't really know where to go. All Becky knew was that your grandmother lived in the mountains in the northern part of the state.” He smiled. “Tennessee is a big state, and believe it or not, there are more than seventy women named Pearl Bowman who live there.”

Jessica's chest clenched, her heart aching for what she'd put him through back then. She had no idea what he'd gone through to find her. “Chad, I had no idea.”

“But I never found you, and we both went in different directions,” he said.

“Can I get you anything else? Or are you ready for your check?” the waitress said, and Jessica jumped. She hadn't even heard her approach, and from the look on Chad's face, neither had he.

He glanced at his watch. “I've kept you too long,” he said. Then he said to the waitress, “the check please.”

The girl fished the check from her pocket, handed it over to Chad and then looked at Jessica, making her wonder just how much she'd heard.

But Chad no longer seemed to care and was focused, again, solely on Jessica. He took her hands in his, looked at her with those intense green-gold eyes.

“I can't believe that we weren't meant to run into each other on campus the other night,” he said.

“I know. I've thought the same thing.”

“I understand that you love your son's father, that you always will. There's a bond there that won't be broken. I do understand that because of what I have with Lainey. No, things could never work out between myself and Kate, but I will always care about her, if for no other reason than the fact that she's Lainey's mother. But if you aren't going to be with his father, and if you're willing to try at another relationship,” he said, then audibly took a deep breath and continued, “then I want you to try—with me.”

Jessica's world seemed to tilt off balance. Chad wanted a relationship with her, and she truly wanted one with him. But he didn't know the truth about Nathan, and
she still couldn't gather the courage to tell him. “I don't know what to say,” she whispered.

“Just say yes.” His smile made the situation seem less dismal, especially when that perfect dimple flashed, and she couldn't help but picture that very same smile, the very same dimple…on their son.

“Yes.”

J
essica entered the day care center Wednesday morning with Chad's words still echoing through her mind.

“If you're willing to try at another relationship, then I want you to try—with me.”

He'd made the statement, then paid for their coffees and walked her to the car. There was a moment of awkwardness where he opened her door, leaned in and told her good-night. Jessica thought he might kiss her, but Chad surprised her, placing his fingertips against her cheek before gently brushing them down her face. Then he'd told her he would call her today so they could plan a real date.

Thankfully, they'd remembered to exchange cell numbers, and she'd already received a text message from him this morning.

I'm glad you said yes.

She couldn't stop smiling, and her coworker noticed.

“Okay, what's his name, and does he have a brother?” Angie, the toddler room teacher, asked.

Jessica completed her current task of straightening
the tiny jackets hanging along the wall hooks, ran her palm over a fuzzy pink pom-pom that embellished one of the little hoods and laughed. “Am I that obvious?”

“You've met someone, and from the look on your face, he's made quite an impression.” Angie moved around a table filled with toddlers, their faces expectant as they waited for her to distribute their morning snack. She handed each of the tykes a muffin, then nodded toward the sippy cups. “Can you start those?”

“Sure,” Jessica said, and followed behind Angie to hand out the apple juice.

“I thought you'd just moved back here,” Angie said, grinning as she gently steered one little boy's hands back to his own muffin, since he appeared to be making more of an effort to pick the blueberries off of his neighbor's food than to eat his own.

“I did.” Jessica helped one of the little girls break her muffin into manageable pieces. She'd wrinkled her nose at hers and was more interested in poking her fingers at the blueberries than consuming any.

“So how did you meet a Mr. Wonderful so quickly? I mean, Claremont doesn't have an abundance of party places or social hangouts for people our age.”

Angie was probably ten years older than Jessica, but Jess understood what she meant.

“I'd known him before I left,” she said and couldn't hold back an even bigger smile as she thought of Chad, their past relationship and the one they were starting now.

“Well, it looks like you two are catching up rather nicely.” Angie placed the extra muffins in a Tupperware container and stored them in the wooden pantry.

“Yeah, we are.”

The children in the class one by one finished their snacks, and Angie and Jess wiped their crumb-covered mouths before helping them move from the eating area to the play centers.

Jessica was considered a “floater,” or someone who rotated from room to room depending on which teacher needed help on a particular day. She'd also been hired to substitute as a main teacher or assistant teacher when any of the others were out. Today she was filling in for Angie's assistant, who'd called in sick. Jess liked the opportunity to move from class to class; it meant she'd be working with all of the children at the center eventually.

She was particularly excited that she'd been assigned to the toddler room today. There was something so endearing about this precocious age, from eighteen months to two years. The energy in the room was palpable, and since she was already feeling positive from her time with Chad last night, this was an added treat to what promised to be an amazing week.

A tug at her jeans brought her attention to a tiny blonde girl, her big blue eyes looking up at Jess as she held up a book. “Peese,” she said then smiled into her cheeks, so that Jessica got a full view of sweet little baby teeth lining her gums. She instantly thought of Nathan and that cute new gap that sometimes caused his
s
's to slur.

Jess grinned and scooped the little girl into her arms, then took the book from her hand. “The Three Bears,” she said. “Oh, that's a good one. Why don't we go over to the reading corner and see what happens.”

She noticed that this child was one of the younger children in the class and quite petite, making her stand
out from the others in the room. Then again, she stood out anyway, with those sky-blue eyes, constantly examining everything around her, and gentle blond curls that framed her face and made her look almost angelic.

“Tank oo,” she said as Jessica sat on an oversize thick blue floor pillow with the girl in her lap. Several other toddlers, seeing that Jess was about to start a story, worked their way to the reading cove and gathered to sit on the smaller kid-size pillows.

Jess got excited about their natural desire to learn what happens in the story and enjoyed the way their eyes lit up as they examined the animals featured on the cover of the book.

“Oh, the three bears!” one boy, obviously one of the older children in the group, exclaimed and then plopped down on a red patchwork pillow to listen.

Angie let Jessica take over with the reading center while she filled out yellow identification stickers for each toddler and placed one on each child's back. “To help you learn their names,” she mouthed to Jess, while Jessica read the story.

Another young girl with long red curls worked her way into Jessica's lap to sit opposite the tiny blonde. Both girls grinned at each other and took turns peering at the pages, while Jessica made sure each child sitting around them could also view what happened to Goldilocks as she progressed from bowl to bowl and bed to bed.

“Someone's been eating my porridge,” Jessica said, lowering her voice to mimic the papa bear. She followed suit with the mama bear and baby bear, while all of the children giggled at her attempt at bear voices.

She then took the bears through the discovery of their chairs and then finally their beds.

“Someone's been sleeping in my bed, and she's still there!” Jessica squealed in her best baby bear voice.

Nathan loved for her to read stories to him before bed, and these children enjoyed this story just as much, particularly the two girls snuggling against her while she read. They clapped and laughed as Goldilocks went from one awkward predicament to another and squealed when she finally ran from the house with the bear family watching her go.

By the time the story was done, Angie had placed a name tag on each child's back except the two in Jessica's lap. Then she patted each of their backs to put their identification stickers in place. Jessica turned toward the red-haired girl, still grinning from the story and sending an adorable array of tiny freckles across her cheeks with her smile.

Jess glanced at her name tag, then said, “You liked that, didn't you, Blaire?”

“Yes!” Blaire said, clapping with enthusiasm while her red curls bounced against her shoulders. Then she climbed off Jessica's lap and ran to play with the puzzles.

“Looks like you picked a good story—” Jessica said, then glanced at the blonde girl's back to add her name to the statement.

Her breath caught in her throat.

What were the chances?

Then she repeated, “Looks like you picked a good story, Lainey.”

She looked again at the cherubic girl. Blond hair, sky-blue eyes, sweet puckered lips. “Lainey,” she repeated.

The toddler blinked and grinned, again showing all of those tiny teeth.

She seemed to be the right age for Chad's little girl, and she had the same name. A fairly unique name. But there was no hint of green or gold in her wide, round eyes. And her hair was baby fine, not wavy and thick like Chad's or Nathan's. Her mouth wasn't Chad's. Neither was her petite nose.

But still, the name was right, the age was right.

The tiny tot with
Lainey
on her back kissed Jess's cheek, gave her another endearing “Tank oo,” and then scurried away to play with the other boys and girls at the puzzle center area.

“Angie?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah?”

“What's Lainey's last name?”

“Beautiful, isn't she?” Angie said, admiring the adorable girl, dressed in pink overalls, a lace-trimmed white undershirt and matching pink tennis shoes. She looked like a living doll, literally. “It's Martin. Lainey Mae Martin. I love the name, don't you? Modern and old fashioned all rolled together. I think I'm going to try to do something like that when I have children. And it suits her, don't you think? She's such a beautiful little girl and a sweetie. She only comes here a couple days a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I really enjoy having her when she's here.” She smiled at the little girl, her blond brows currently drawn together as she worked to put a chunky puzzle piece in the corresponding hole.

Lainey Mae. Mae was Chad's mother's name. “Chad's little girl,” Jessica said, not really paying attention to the fact that she said it aloud.

Angie nodded. “You know him? Chad Martin? It's no wonder his daughter's gorgeous, huh? If I knew all college instructors would look like that, I'd sign back
up right now. I mean, he's an incredibly nice-looking…” She paused. “Wait. Is that your Mr. Wonderful? Chad Martin?”

Was he
her
Mr. Wonderful? Jessica took only a second before responding the same way she had last night.

“Yes.”

 

On Mondays and Wednesdays, Chad started his day early, dropping Lainey off at the day care center around 6:30 a.m. and then heading to Stockville to teach a 7:30 a.m. class. He'd planned his schedule so that his four classes ran pretty much back-to-back and finished at 2:30 p.m., allowing him to pick Lainey up by 3:00 p.m.

Last night he'd learned that, due to her work schedule, Jessica had started her classes every afternoon right after she got off at the day care center. So it'd be pretty much impossible to see her in the afternoon or perhaps have an outing where their kids could meet and play. He was very interested in introducing her to Lainey and even more interested in introducing Lainey to her son. If this relationship was going anywhere long term—and he definitely wanted it to—it was important for their kids to be receptive to the idea.

He smiled, thinking that merely a week ago he saw him self as a single parent and didn't see any chance of that changing in the near future. He'd dated a few women since his divorce, but he'd never met anyone that he wanted to introduce to Lainey. No one had made it past a second date, and he couldn't see any of them as a potential mother to his little girl.

With Jess, it wasn't a question of whether he wanted her to meet Lainey. It was simply a question of how soon he could arrange the meeting.

He pulled into the day care parking lot and noticed that the older kids, the four-year-olds, were out on the playground, giggling wildly and running nonstop. This was the first day in weeks that had been warm enough for them to play outside, and you could tell the kids appreciated the opportunity from their unbridled enthusiasm.

Chad wondered if the toddlers, Lainey's group, made the trip outdoors today. Lainey loved to play outside, but he didn't expect to see her out now. He knew the schedule for the toddler class called for an afternoon nap, and his little lady definitely still needed one each day. Often he'd arrive to pick her up just in time for her to reach for him and let him hold her while she blinked sleepy eyes and prepared for the remainder of her day.

If he didn't have so many papers to review and grade, he'd take her to the park this afternoon. She loved feeding the ducks. Chad nodded to himself, forming a play-date in his mind for Lainey and Jessica's son, Nathan. If the forecast for the week remained as predicted, Saturday was expected to hit sixty degrees, plenty warm enough for a trip to Hydrangea Park for him, Jessica and the kids.

The image set well in his mind.

He was planning on another casual coffee date for Thursday night, when the two of them ended their classes at the same time. Then, if all went as planned, he'd take Jessica out for their first real date Friday night. Dinner at Messina's then maybe a movie.

He punched in his parent code on the keypad by the day care door, entered the colorful lobby and signed the parent log. That was one of the things that sold him on this particular place for his daughter, the safety measures they took for the children. He didn't like leaving Lainey,
but if he had to, he wanted to know she was in the best possible care. Although it was a bit more pricey than the other child care facilities around, this one was well worth the added expense. Lainey was happy here, and that made Chad happy, too.

He greeted the office manager and then headed across the open play area, where the three-year-olds were busy with afternoon exercises, jumping up and down in time with the Barney DVD playing on the television and laughing at their teacher, who was also jumping along and singing one of the popular Barney songs.

The teacher waved at Chad, and he returned the gesture.

He gently pushed open the door to the toddler room and saw the familiar illumination of stars and planets slowly circling the ceiling and walls from the sleep ma chine the teachers used during nap time. His last class today ended early, and he'd arrived at day care before nap time ended.

Blinking a few times to let his eyes adjust to the dimness within the room, Chad nearly didn't notice Angie, Lainey's teacher, moving toward him. Her whisper broke through the gentle hum of the sleep machine and the precious sounds of children sleeping.

“She's still napping,” Angie said softly. “But you can hold her and help her wake up if you're ready for her to go.”

Lainey was a fairly sound sleeper, and Chad knew he could scoop her up and take her to the car, put her in her car seat and let her finish out her nap on the ride home. “Thanks,” he said, matching her whisper to keep from disturbing the sleeping children. He took a couple of steps to reach the long line of short cubbies where the
children's jackets and backpacks were stored, grabbed Lainey's backpack and pink hooded jacket and then scanned the room for his little angel.