Obsession (40 page)

His dark eyes smiled down at her. “Why not? A guy only turns seven once, you know.”

“Are you talking about Tyler or yourself?”

Abe grinned. “Tyler, of course. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I'm slightly older than seven.”

“I know. Thirty-one to be exact. Quite old when you compare it to my youthful twenty-six. But then, I've always thought older men were attractive.”

He kissed her again. “I'm glad to hear that because I've always been partial to twenty-six-year-olds.”

“All right, you two,” Melissa interjected. “Let's not get carried away here. We've got a party to go to, remember? You guys can get mushy later.”

“You're right,” Abe agreed, releasing Toni even as his eyes still held hers. “Serious things first, mushy stuff later. Are you two party girls ready?”

Toni tore her eyes away and grabbed her present and her purse. “Ready,” she assured him. Melissa was already waiting at the door.

By the time they arrived at the Johnson home, several cars lined the street, and the party was in full swing. The weather had held—a perfect Pacific Northwest early autumn day, sunny and clear and golden—so the guests were all in the backyard, children squealing, running, and playing on the swings, adults sitting in the shade, chatting and sipping punch. As the trio stepped out onto the back porch and laid their gifts on the table next to the food, Tyler spotted Melissa and ran straight toward her.

“Lissa! You're here, you came!”

“Of course I came,” Melissa laughed, scooping the excited seven-year-old up into her arms. “You didn't think I'd miss your birthday party, did you?”

“Wait till you see what I got,” he announced, his dark eyes shining.

“You mean you already opened one of your presents? I thought you were going to wait until everyone arrived.”

“I didn't have to open this one,” he said. “Look.” He pointed to his mother, who was standing next to the punch bowl. At her side stood a man Toni had never seen before. “That's my dad,” Tyler announced proudly. “My very best present. He got here yesterday. He says he wants to stay, but Mom says they have a lot of things to work out first. You want to meet him?”

Melissa looked stunned. “That's your dad? He's… here?”

“Sure. Don't you remember? We prayed.”

Abe slipped his arm around Toni's waist as she fought tears and watched Melissa's expression change from disbelief to excitement. “Yes,” Melissa said, putting Tyler down and taking his hand. “I would love to meet your dad.” She turned to Toni and Abe and smiled, as if to say, “Are you getting this?” Then she and Tyler walked over to the punch bowl to meet the man who had come in answer to a little boy's prayers.

Toni looked up at Abe. His smile melted her heart, and she was overcome with joy as she realized the depth of God's faithfulness. “I love you, Mr. Matthews,” she said.

“I love you too…
Miss
Matthews.” He kissed her. “And you know, I think April just might be on to something.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn't you tell me she said we'd make a good team—Matthews and Matthews, like your parents?”

“That's true. She did say that.”

“Then maybe we should consider all the advantages of that Matthews and Matthews team concept.”

“Name one.”

“I'll give you two. If you decide to keep the agency open, you wouldn't have to change the listing in the phonebook—it would still be Matthews and Matthews—and if we make this ‘partner’ thing permanent, you wouldn't even have to change the name on your driver's license. What do you think?”

“I think maybe both of those advantages are worth discussing further.”

He grinned. “Let's go get some punch. Like Melissa said, we can get back to this mushy stuff later. Right now there's a very happy seven-year-old who wants to introduce us to his guest of honor.”