Hide and Seek (23 page)

"Hello." She entered the house and set her bags on the kitchen table, then wandered into the living room.

"Hey, pretty mama." Rob smiled at her from the rocking chair. "Sorry, I didn't know you were almost home. I just fed him the bottle you pumped."

"No, but I've decided to stop nursing and put him on formula. We'll have to experiment to see how much he drinks at first."

"Yee haw!" he hollered loudly, and Sam cried. "Oh, sorry, son. Shhh." He rocked the baby, and grinned at Maddie. "I'm so excited!"

"I could tell. I, on the other hand, am terrified. The baby will be born in March, and Sam will turn one in April. Are we fucking crazy?"

He stood up and sat back down on the arm of her chair. He kissed her on the side of her head. "We may be crazy, but we are in love. And everything's coming up roses for us, right now."

She leaned into him and put her head on his arm. "That's because we've been having fun goofing off all summer. We haven't dealt with any of the issues that are going to be troublesome."

"I know." He rubbed his hand over her hair. "And I'm going to get started on that this weekend, when I take Sophie to the city. Friday night, I'll drop her off for dinner with my parents, so I can talk to Dionne in private about the custody arrangements."

Maddie nodded. "But what are you doing about your parents?"

"Still mulling that one over."

"You've been mulling for weeks." Maddie stood up and faced him. "Maybe I just need to go with you and meet them, face to face."

"No, I don't think so." He shook his head. "They were pretty hard on you, and I'm not willing to subject you to them again, until I know how they're going to act."

"I can take it."

"You don't have to
take it
from my parents, is all I'm saying. I haven't spoken a dozen words to them that didn't revolve around Sophie since last summer. They pissed me off, and I'm not going to bend over backwards for them. If someone's going to give in this time, it'll be them."

He inhaled slowly then let it out. "I was thinking about what you said the last time we talked about them. Maybe we give them your parent's name and address, and tell them when the wedding is. They'll check you out, and show up or not at the wedding. It'll be their call."

"I was joking about doing that."

He shook his head. "It may be the way to go. We can send your parents the same note, with my folk's name and address, the date of the wedding and directions on how to get here. What they choose to do with it will tell us volumes."

"Scary." Maddie leaned into him, and Rob hugged her waist.

He lifted her shirt and kissed her bare stomach. "Hello, new baby. It's your daddy. I'm going to talk to you every day until you're born, so you'll know me when you come out of there." He kissed around her belly button and rubbed over her lightly with his free hand.

"Sam didn't have any trouble getting to know you." Maddie smiled down at him, and ran her hands through his hair.

"Thank God for that," he murmured, still kissing all over her stomach. "But I'm going to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy."

She laughed and was about to comment when he added, "Of course, I do have the easy end of the deal. But I promise to help you out in every way possible."

"I know you will." She closed her eyes and enjoyed his fawning over her. "Okay," she finally said. "We'll write up two notes, one for each of our parents. We'll mail mine tomorrow, and you can give yours on Friday. That way they'll both get them about the same time. My parents know about Sam. Do yours?"

"I don't think so. They would have said something if they did. But they'll find out when they have dinner with Soph. You know she'll talk about him."

They drafted the letters to their parents, writing and rewriting them, until they were both satisfied. They mailed the letter to the Stewarts, and Rob took the Cooper's letter when he dropped Sophie off that Friday night. Maddie stayed home with Sam. She fed him and put him to bed, then stared at the TV until Rob returned at ten-thirty.

"Late," she commented, as he leaned down to her for a kiss.

"Yes, I am. I could toss a few other adjectives at you, too, like grouchy, tired, and pissed."

"Come here." She opened her arms to him, and he sat with his back to her chest so she could wrap her arms and legs around him. "Feel like talking about it? Or would you rather wait until morning?"

"Waiting won't change anything, might as well get it all out, now. My parents read the note in front of me, then sent Sophie out of the room so they could yell a little bit. They don't seem so concerned that it's you, just that I'm marrying anybody and have a child they didn't know about. They couldn't get over that fact."

"What did you do?" she asked softly, rubbing her hands over his chest.

"I kept telling them how happy I am, and that I love you and Sam with all my heart. They are so stubborn. I finally just left. When I went back to pick up Soph, they tried to start up the argument again. I wouldn't talk about it, just took the kid and went. I guess they pumped Sophie for information all through dinner, which really makes me angry."

"Tacky use for a little kid."

"Yeah. I don't know, Mad. I have to hope, with some time, they'll calm down and figure out what's really important here. Not that they don't like the way I told them, which makes a rat's ass in the grand scheme of things."

"You're right," she said into his ear, kissing it gently. "So, tell me how it went with Dionne."

"I laid it out for her, just like we talked about. Sophie loves living here, she'd never have to go to a babysitter, she'd be with family, have a good school…and Dionne could have her as many weekends as she wanted. I felt safe offering that because I knew she wouldn't want more than every other, or so."

"And how did she react to all that?"

"I'm guessing she hasn't stopped laughing yet."

"I see." Maddie ran her hands through Rob's hair, and brushed it away from his face. "How did you leave things with her?"

"She promised to think about it. But I'm not real hopeful."

"What are you going to do?"

He leaned his head back on her shoulder. "Nothing, right now. We're going to get married, then I'll try to talk to her, one more time, before I call my lawyer. That process could take a long time. I was really hoping Dee would be sensible and realize what's best for Soph."

"I'm sure she doesn't see it that way. I couldn't imagine giving up Sam. I never could."

"You are not Dee. She has different priorities than you do, believe me."

"It's scary to think about losing your child," Maddie said softly into Rob's ear. "I had nightmares that you and Dionne teamed up to take Sam away from me."

"I told you I would never have done that to you."

"I didn't know how things were with you guys. I just wasn't sure."

He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I want to take a shower and wash off this night. Care to join me?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

He stood, reached for her hand, and pulled her up into his arms. They kissed gently, and walked toward their room.

Sophie's fifth birthday and the Fourth of July landed on a Tuesday. Rob and Maddie planned a small swim party with just Fred, Emma, Rosa and Smoky. The rest of his crew went to a keg party somewhere else, which Rob said was fine with him. He wasn't having any beer at this party. They got Sophie some presents, cake and ice cream, and a few fireworks. They swam while Emma, who was not a swimmer, held Sam on the deck. It was a quiet, laid-back evening, and Maddie was glad to have another birthday of Sophie's behind her, one she could remember fondly.

They made plans for a small, informal wedding. Rob called and invited his friends. Maddie invited Sandy and Suzie from the TLC center, and told them to bring their families. It was going to be a simple ceremony with a cookout and wedding cake at the reception. Smoky volunteered to be in charge of the cookout, and Rosa and Fred would stand up as witnesses.

Rob rented some things to turn the backyard into Maddie's ideal romantic wedding location. A white lattice archway graced one end, the bride and groom would stand in front of it for the ceremony. Maddie and Sophie wove silk roses through the lattice until they thought it looked romantic enough.

They left an aisle up the center and put twenty chairs on either side for the guests. Rob put up garden canopies over the chairs; it was late July in Oklahoma, and an evening wedding would still be hot and the sun brutal.

He hung several strings of patio lights around the yard, for when it got dark. They brought out a stereo system to play music, and tested the speakers.

He grinned. "I was thinking of the first weekend we spent here at the house. He has one song called, 'You Look Good in my Shirt'."

She laughed again. "Now that sounds appropriate for a wedding."

He spun her around in a dance move. "What about, 'I Wanna be your Everything', or, 'I'll Earn Your Trust Making Memories of Us'?"

"Come on." Rob scooped her into his arms, holding her on one side and Maddie on the other. "Dancing with my two best girls. What could be better than this?"

Maddie leaned in to kiss his cheek. "You're not going to get out of writing those vows, you know."

He gave her a look, and danced them across the lawn.

Chapter Ten

The Saturday of their wedding dawned sunny and bright.

Maddie lay in bed feeling as happy as she had ever felt in her life. She smiled at Rob as he climbed up from underneath the covers, kissing her everywhere, ending with her tattoo then her mouth. She savored the taste of him mingled with the taste of her on his tongue. She kissed him long and hard for several minutes, until they both needed air.