Playing for Keeps (40 page)

She got in his face. "A long time? Ha! You can't live without it, baby. You'll be begging me here before you know it."

"Me begging you? I hardly think so. You're the one with the super-charged sex drive."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Maddie pulled a nightgown over her head.

"It'll be bad for you, here, before too long..." He pulled on pajama bottoms and slapped at the light switch.

"You don't have to hit the wall," she muttered, rolling on her side away from him.

"Bite me," he muttered back, and rolled away from her.

"Yeah, whatever," she mumbled, and tried to go to sleep. She tossed and turned. Every time she looked at the clock another half hour had chugged by. She felt horrible, and couldn't believe the stupid things she'd said to Rob. She didn't think he was sleeping very well, either, judging by the way he thrashed around. She finally rolled over toward him, and found him lying there, staring at her.

They studied each other for a moment, then they both said, "I'm sorry," at the same time. Maddie slid into his arms and their mouths came together. They kissed for a minute, and Rob started to say something. Maddie whispered, "Shhhh. No more talking. We've talked enough."

Their hands came up to each other's faces and wiped the tears off each of their cheeks. Maddie lowered her hands to the waistband of his pajamas, and pushed them down. She was usually up for a good amount of foreplay, but tonight, she wanted to go,
now
.

A short while later, they lay panting in a heap, but still didn't speak for several minutes. He finally kissed her lips gently. "I love you."

She held his face in her hands. "I love you too, sugar. I guess I lost the bet. I could only hold out—" She looked at the clock, "about an hour and a half."

"Then I lost the bet. Because after about an hour, I started willing you to roll over and look at me. I'm sorry, Maddie."

"I'm sorry, too. Let's put tonight behind us, and look forward, not back."

"Agreed." He started to pull away and she grabbed him.

"Stay." She tightened her grip with her legs. "Stay until you absolutely have to go."

He laid back down on her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "I'm never going to go."

"Thank God," she replied, and held him.

Dionne brought Sophie back at 10:30 the next morning. Maddie stood in the back of the room to listen, in case Rob got agitated and she needed to intervene.

"Hi munchkin." He hugged his daughter. "Have a good night?"

"Yeah. We had a hard time getting the make-up off my face, though."

Dionne added, "She's still a little green."

"Did you use cold cream?" Maddie spoke up.

Dionne
chuckled and shook her head. "Didn't think of that. We used a lot of expensive facial cleansers, though."

"We've got some cold cream. We'll work on it."

Rob said, "Soph, why don't you run your costume in to your room while I say goodbye to your mom."

"Okay." Sophie took her costume from her mother and gave her a hug goodbye.

"I'll see you next weekend," Dionne said. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Sophie
smiled, and ran to her room.

Rob
looked at Dionne. "I know it was unusual circumstances being Halloween and all, but I hope we can stick to our custody arrangements in the future."

She gave him a look and rolled her eyes. "Thank you for allowing me to breach the contract. I wanted to talk to you about that, anyway."

He crossed his arms and looked at her.

Maddie took a step forward.

Dionne said, "Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends both fall during your time this year. I wondered if we could finagle them a bit? You could have her Thanksgiving and Friday, and I could have her Friday night for the weekend? And maybe the same for Christmas. It falls on a Thursday this year, too."

Rob
looked at Maddie.

She
smiled and nodded.
We'll  have Sophie for both holidays.

He turned back to Dionne and looked at her questioningly. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

Dionne nodded. "Look, she's got a family here. She should be with you guys on the actual holidays. We can celebrate on the weekend. Maybe you'll think about letting me keep her a few extra days after Christmas weekend, since she doesn't have school. We could split the week, if you like."

"Okay, sure." Rob shrugged.

"Thanks." Dionne nodded, and headed for the door. "Thanks, Maddie. Good luck with the green face!"

"You bet," Maddie called back, and walked up behind
Rob as Dionne closed the door behind her. "Wow, not what I expected."

He faced her. "She's got something up her sleeve."

"She was very considerate."

He shook his head. "I know her. She's setting me up for something." He looked at
Sophie as she returned to the living room.

"Are we still going to Oktoberfest, Daddy?"

"You bet." He looked at Maddie. "You sure you don't want to come with us?"

She shook her head. "You guys can do more without us slowing you down. Go ahead, and have fun."

"Okay. Well, first thing we need to do is find that cold cream."

They looked at Sophie's faintly green face and grinned.

Sophie cackled, "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too!"

After some thought, Maddie decided she'd like to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house. She'd never hosted it before, last year Stacie was a baby, and the year before that, Sam was. She finally felt confident enough to tackle it, and by the time she made up her guest list, she realized 'tackle' was not too strong a word.

Rosa
, Smoky and Callie had no other family close by, so she'd invite them. Fred and Emma were like family. They had a grown son, but he lived out of state and would bring his family back for Christmas, not Thanksgiving.

Maddie knew Rob's parents would be there. Since Rob's brother had died in high school, Rob and Maddie were their only family. What Maddie didn't know was if her parents would consider flying to
Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. She talked it over with Rob, and he agreed she should extend the invitation.

Maddie phoned them in early November. "Hi Mom."

"Maddie! How are you?"

"Great. How are you and Daddy?"

"We're fine. He's back up to full strength, ornery as ever."

Maddie chuckled. "I never thought 'ornery' was a word that described Daddy."

"No, it fit
you
better back then. But he's the one you got your ornery streak from. So how is the foot?"

"Back to normal. No lingering effects."

"You were lucky."

"I know." Maddie shivered when she thought of the car accident. She put it out of her mind and said, "So, what are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?"

"Probably cooking a turkey breast and having a little dinner here."

"Will Matt and his family be joining you?"

"No, they're going to his in-laws. Marsha's parents live here too, and we split up the holidays. They'll be here for Christmas."

"Oh," Maddie thought about that, then said, "Well, I wondered if you'd like to fly down here for Thanksgiving. We're going to have a big family dinner. Rob's parents and a few of our friends who don't have family locally will be here."

"Sounds like an awfully big crowd."

"You and Daddy would make fourteen. It'd be fun. Please think about it."

"I will. We'll talk it over and see what flight reservations look like. If your father thinks it would be okay, we'll be there."

"Great! I really hope you come. Let me know."

"I will. Thank you, Maddie. I'll call you soon."

"Bye, Mom." Maddie hung up and
smiled.

She proceeded with her arrangements, cooking for twelve or fourteen wouldn't make much difference. She bought the biggest turkey she could find, a twenty-five pounder. She made out her menu and agreed to let Emma bring yams and a green bean casserole, while
Rosa offered to bring rolls and cranberry salad. Andrea Cooper offered to bring something, but Maddie assured her she had the rest under control. She wanted to bake the pies herself, and the rest would be easy to cook along with the turkey.

She did ask her mother-in-law to borrow two tablecloths. Maddie would have to put a couple of tables together to seat everyone, and they didn't match, so the cloths would cover them and make the table look nice. People would have to sit on whatever chairs they could scrape together, but she knew no one would mind. She was excited and even more so when she got the call from her mother saying they'd be there. They planned to fly in on Wednesday and out on Friday, and stay in Rob and Maddie's guest room.

It put more pressure on Maddie for things to be perfect, but everything fell into place. She was in a good mood the day before the holiday as she and Sophie baked pumpkin and apple pies. They'd just finished when Rob arrived home from work early, so Maddie could drive to the airport and pick up her parents.

"These look wonderful." He examined the pies on the kitchen table. "Soph, we may have to sample some once Maddie gets out of here."

Maddie gave him a threatening look.

He laughed. "Not even one little taste?"

She just looked at him.

He held his hands up. "Okay, okay. I get the message. You sure you don't want me to go with you to the airport?"

"I'm sure. We've been through this. There wouldn't be room for Mom and Dad if all five of us went."

"Oh, I should yank the car seats out of there, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, thanks." Maddie gave him a kiss and then wiped her mouth. "And maybe shower before we get back? You're filthy."

"Now you've done it." He chased her around the kitchen table.

She grabbed a broom and held it out toward him.

"Stop! I'm ready to leave. Don't get me all dirty."

"Look, Soph, Maddie found her broomstick." Rob grinned at her.

Sophie couldn't have known what his comment meant, but she said, "Yeah!"

Rob swatted at the broom as Maddie shoved it toward him. "I thought you liked me a little on the dirty side."

"I do, when I don't have to go pick up my parents. Stop! I'm not kidding!"

He grinned and put his hands down. "Okay, go on, get out of here. I need to shower before everyone else wakes up."

"Car seats?" she asked him sweetly, and he nodded.

"Let's go. I'll be right back, Soph."

"Bye, Sophie," Maddie said to her step-daughter, and left.

"Bye, Maddie!" Sophie called after her.

Maddie helped Rob pull the babies' car seats out of the SUV and put them in the garage. She gave him a quick kiss. "See you in a couple of hours."

"We'll be here." He waved.

She headed for the airport in
Oklahoma City.

Her parents' plane was on schedule, and she found them easily at the gate.

"Hi!" She hugged her father, and then her mother.

"Hello, sweetheart," Michael gave her a big hug. "You look great!"

"You, too! You feeling all right?"

"Fine, just fine," he replied.

"Mom." Maddie hugged her. "You look great, as always."

"Thank you, honey. We're so glad to be here."

"It's going to be fun." Maddie nodded. "Do you have luggage?"

"No,"
Michael said. "Just our carry-ons. We didn't want to fight the traffic at the baggage counter."

"Great." Maddie grabbed her mother's rolling suitcase. "Let's go then. I can't wait for you to see the kids."

"I can't believe it's been over a year since we've been here," Meg said as they headed out. "Stacie was just born, and her birthday was, when?"

"March," Maddie said. "It's been a year and a half, Mom."

"Time flies." Meg shook her head.

Maddie led them to the parking lot. "I found a pretty good spot here." She pushed the button on her keys and unlocked the doors to the SUV. "We'll put your things in the back." She lifted her mother's suitcase in, and
Michael put his in next to it. "Great." Maddie slammed the hatch door, and went around to get in.

Meg said, "You ride up front with Maddie, I'll sit back here."

Michael got in the front seat, and Maddie waited until they'd adjusted their seat belts before she drove.

"Mild weather," her dad said.

"Yeah, it's been really nice. Rob had to mow the lawn this week. Sometimes we have snow by now, but not this year."

"It's cold at home," he said. "It was in the forties yesterday."

"Wow. We had seventies. The only bad thing is, the bugs hang on when it's so warm. We still have mosquitoes and flies like crazy."