Now & Forever 3 - Blind love (26 page)

It was signed by Eliza, Danny, Peter, Lara, Sam, Pat, Jonesy,
and Bill. They were not to bring anything because everyone had already divvied
up the cooking assignments.

“What is it, Dad?” Jason asked, taking the card out of Mac’s
hands.

Mac couldn’t speak. Leave it to their family and friends to
bail them out with this kooky invitation and their warm hearts. He pushed his
chair back and went out back.

“What’s wrong with Dad?”

“I don’t know. I’ll be right back.” Callie followed Mac into
the backyard.

“I thought this would make you happy,” she said, coming up
behind him and putting her hands on his arms.

He stood silently for a moment.

“I should have known you were behind this.” His voice was shaking.

Blinking rapidly, he took her into his arms for a hug.

“I guess even with…with…everything…we have a lot to be
thankful for.”

Callie rested her face again his chest.

“Maybe more to be thankful for this year than ever.” Mac
kissed the top of her head and swiped his handkerchief over his face.

* * * *

“God, it’s cold! How the hell do you live with this all
winter?”

“Come in, Sam, I’ve got a hot drink waiting for you.” Callie
pulled him inside.

“Dad, we’re making plans for Christmas. Is Pat going to be
here with you?” Mac asked his father, handing him a hot toddy.

Sam took his coat off and hung it up then took a sip of the
toddy and sat down. Kitty immediately crawled into his lap. He returned his
granddaughter’s sweet kiss.

“She hasn’t mentioned anything.” Sam sipped the warming
drink.

“Please find out. We’d like to include her,” Callie said.

“Grandpa,” Jason said, running at his grandfather and nearly
upsetting his drink.

“Watch it, Jason, you rascal.” Sam ruffled the boy’s hair
with one hand and balancing his drink with the other.

“I’d like her to be part of the family at Christmas.
Thanksgiving was great. She seems to be able to put up with you all pretty well.”
Sam smiled.

“Put up with what? We’re great,” Mac teased.

“I think so.” Callie put her arms around Mac’s waist. He
leaned down and kissed her.

“Yuk, Daddy!” Jason made a face.

Kitty clapped her hands and giggled, raising her arms to Mac,
who picked her up and kissed her too.

“You don’t have any special Christmas plans for Pat we should
know about, do you?” Mac turned to his dad.

“What are you suggesting?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing. Nothing. Just asking.” Mac shrugged

“You and Peter never just ask. You’re always getting at
something. What is it?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking…you’re not getting any younger. And
you and Pat seem to be inseparable…so I was just wondering…”

“Yes?” Sam growled.

“I know, it’s none of my business, except you are my father,
so that sort of makes it my business. Anyway, I was wondering if you had any
plans to…to…make this arrangement more…permanent?” A few beads of sweat broke
out on Mac’s upper lip.

“You want me to marry her?” Sam’s eyebrows rose an inch.

“I’d never suggest anything like…”

“Baloney! That’s just what you were suggesting.”

“Maybe.”

“Why would we get married, we’re not even living together
yet?” Sam took a swig of his toddy.

“I think of you as a little old-fashioned about these things.
I’d be surprised if you shacked up with…moved in with Pat, Dad.”

“You’re right, Mac. If you’re going to live together, you might
as well get married. I’m not sure Pat wants to get married again. Not sure if I
do, either.”

“Why not?”

“Things are pretty good as they are now.” Sam sat back.

“Don’t you love her, Dad?” Disappointment was evident in
Callie’s voice.

“Of course I do, sweetheart. And we get along great. I don’t
want to push her. She seems happy the way things are now.”

“I always think women want to get married, but if you’re not
going to have kids, maybe not. I like her.” Callie shrugged.

“So, you want me to propose to her?” Sam raised his eyebrows.

“No, no, Dad. I would never push you into that.” Callie
blushed.

Sam laughed.

“The hell you wouldn’t! I know you well enough, Callie
Caldwell, to know you’d push me into anything if you thought it would make me
happy.” He stood up and gave her a hug.

“He’s got your number, Callie.” Mac smiled.

“Caldwell men are so frustrating,” she said, swiping at Mac
with the dish towel.

After dinner, Sam took command of the children while Callie
and Mac went to a movie. When they got home, Sam had gotten ready for bed. He
was going to sleep in the guest bed in Jason’s room rather than go home in the
cold and dark. Callie kissed him goodnight, checked on the children and met Mac
in the bedroom.

“Mac, do you ever wish we had only lived together and not
gotten married?”

“No, never.” Mac unbuttoned his flannel shirt.

“Really?”

“If you are good enough to share my bed, you’re good enough
to share my name and my life,” he said, drawing her into his arms, “but what I
had in mind now was sharing my bed,” Mac said, desire growing in his eyes.

* * * *

Sam let himself into Pat’s house. He knew she left the door
unlocked when he was expected.

“Honey, I’m home,” he said, chuckling to himself.

“Be right out,” she called from the bedroom.

Sam put the bag from the grocery store on the kitchen counter
and began to unpack it. Pat came out of the bedroom fastening an earring on.
She was wearing a sexy, full length velour, short-sleeved lounge dress slit up
to the hip on one side with a low-cut neckline. The dress was the same color
green as her eyes.

“Holy smoke! Is that new?” Sam asked, looking her up and
down.

“Yes. Want to keep you interested.” She smiled flirtatiously.

“You succeeded. Although I’d be interested even if you wore a
burlap sack.”

“Maybe if I wore
only
a burlap sack!”

He laughed and took her in his arms, kissing her. They
usually didn’t see much of each other during the week because of Pat’s busy
schedule, so their weekends together were intense.

“I don’t think you’re going to have that new dress on long
enough to get it dirty,” he whispered in her ear, hungry with desire.

“Food first. What did you bring me?” She slowly pulled out of
his arms to examine the food on the counter.

“Ah, yes, food first. I brought some fresh salmon, squash
and, your favorite, those tiny jelly beans.”

“Oh you brought those? I love those and am in the mood for
them tonight.” Pat gave him a quick kiss and put away the perishables.

“Okay, we did the food. Now…” he said, winding his arms
around her waist from behind, kissing her neck and bringing his hands up to her
breasts.

“You mean after just putting this on, I’m going to have to
take it off?”

“Maybe not. That slit looks like it goes up just far enough…”

“Whoa! I’ll take it off.”

“Let me help you.” Sam ran the long zipper all the way down
the back of the dress. Pat turned around and started pulling the sleeves down.

“Hey, you’re still dressed.” She reached for his shirt
buttons.

In a minute both were undressed. Sam’s eyes grew wide when he
looked at Pat.

“Those are new too.” He looked at her sheer blue bra and
bikini panties.

“Do you like them?” Pat put her hand on her hip and struck a
modeling pose.

“Are you kidding? I love them, now let’s take them off.”

Sam took her hand and led her into the bedroom.

“What about dinner?” She raised one eyebrow at him.

“Feed one appetite at a time.” He pulled her down on the bed.

* * * *

Pat liked to make love in the morning. She’d wake Sam up with
a kiss or a touch. Once she put his hand on her breast, which woke him up
quickly. Sunday morning Sam got in the shower first. When he was all soaped up,
Pat entered the bathroom quietly and knocked on the shower stall. Sam jumped.

“You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“I’m sorry. I thought this would be a good way to conserve
water and reduce my water bill a little.” A smile played at her lips as she got
in the shower with him.

“I had no idea you were such a conservationist, Patsy.” He
stepped aside to make room for her, unable to hide his grin. Sam took the soap
and slowly lathered up her body. Laughter and giggling were drowned out by the
sound of the shower spray…so was the ringing of the doorbell.

* * * *

At the front door, Jack, Merry and Bobby were standing in the
freezing cold, pushing the doorbell but getting no answer. Jack found the spare
key and opened the door.

“Mom’s car is here, I don’t know why she didn’t answer the
door,” Jack said over his shoulder as he entered the house.

“Maybe she’s in the bathroom,” Merry suggested.

While Jack lugged their suitcase into the spare room, Merry
went around to the bedroom and heard the sound of the shower running.

“Jack, she’s in the shower,” Merry called.

“Why don’t you go in and tell her we’re here.”

Merry opened the door a little bit and called out Pat’s name.
No answer. Then she opened the door a little more and gave it a good rap, rap,
rap. In the shower, Pat screamed when she heard the knocking. Sam turned off
the shower and Merry opened the door.

“Pat, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare…” Merry stood in the
doorway, looking at Sam and Pat. A loud gasp escaped her throat as she quickly
turned away, covering her eyes with one hand.

“Sam, throw me a towel,” Pat said.

 
Jack called out from
the living room.

“Everything okay, Merry?”

Color flooded Merry’s face and her vocal cords seemed paralyzed.

“Merry?” Jack called as he got closer to the bedroom.

Pat jumped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her.
Sam followed.

“Merry, what are you doing here?” Pat asked her, fastening
the towel securely.

“We decided last minute to come for that country winter
experience you keep talking about…and thought we’d surprise you.” Merry slowly
moved her hand down from her eyes.

“Well, you certainly did surprise me. This is Sam Caldwell,
Sam this is Merry, my daughter-in-law.”

Sam took a big breath and tried to smile at Merry whose
cheeks kept getting redder.
Oh, God, Jack
is heading this way.
This is not
going to be pretty.
Suddenly Pat realized Sam’s situation was worse than
hers.
Almost as bad as getting caught
sleeping with a husband’s wife was getting caught having sex with a son’s
mother.

Sure enough, before they could get out of the bathroom and
get to their clothes, Jack came around the corner.

“Hi, Mom…” Jack stopped dead when he saw Sam. “Who’s this?”

“This is Sam Caldwell. Sam, my son, Jack Weiss.” Pat tried to
stay cool as she made the introductions.

“Mom, please tell me this guy is here to fix the shower,”
Jack pleaded.

“He’s my boyfriend, if you can still use that word…”

“Oh my God! You have a boyfriend?” Jack backed out of the
bathroom.

At least now Sam and Pat could get to their clothes. Jack retreated
to the living room with Merry close behind. Neither Pat nor Sam spoke while
they dressed. When they were almost finished, Sam broke the silence.

“Why didn’t you tell Jack we are seeing each other?” He was
buttoning up his plaid shirt.

“I don’t know. I guess I was worried he wouldn’t like it.”
Pat pulled the zipper up on her jeans.

“Maybe not, but our kids have to get used to us being
together, don’t you think?”

“I suppose so.” She smoothed down her sweater.

“You suppose so? Don’t you want to be with me, Patsy?” Sam’s
brows creased, she could see he was hurt.

“Of course I do.” She pulled him close for a kiss. “You make
me happy.”

“That’s all I wanted to know, sweetheart.” Sam hugged her
close. “So, what should we do?”

“I don’t know, Sam. It depends on how reasonable or
unreasonable Jack is.”

“Doesn’t it depend upon you? Aren’t you going to call the
shots for your life?”

“It isn’t that easy.” Pat patted her face one more time with
the damp towel.

“I know. It’s different with mothers and sons, I suppose.
Still, I think you have a right to your own life.” Sam threaded a leather belt
through the loops on his pants.

“I do, but I’d like to live it in peace with my son.” Pat
applied her lipstick.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Maybe you should slip away quietly and I’ll call you as soon
as I can.”

Sam’s frown indicated he didn’t favor the idea. When they
came out of the bedroom, Jack, Merry and Bobby were waiting in the living room.
Bobby ran over to Pat.

“Grandma, Grandma!”

She took the boy in her arms and hugged him.

“Pat, please excuse me for barging into the bathroom,
interrupting your privacy. I’m so sorry. If I had known you weren’t alone, I’d never
have come in. Please forgive me,” Merry stammered, heading for the spare room
with Bobby following close behind.

“Don’t worry about it, Merry. You had no way of knowing.” Pat
turned to Jack. “When you plan to surprise people, sometimes you end up getting
the biggest surprise of all. If you had told me about your plans, we could have
avoided this.”

“Does it mean you wouldn’t be sleeping with him, if you knew
we were coming?”

“It means I would’ve been able to introduce you properly,
kept my private life, private…and still made a nice two weeks for you and your
family.”