Southern Comforts (29 page)

“You did it, Chelsea,” Jamie shouted.

“Cash did it,” she argued.

“We did it together,” he corrected. “I keep telling you, sweetheart, we make one heckuva team.”

It was true. So true, in fact, that these past weeks she'd even begun allowing herself to consider the possibility of a future with this man. Her collaboration with Roxanne was coming to an end. If she followed her original plan, she'd soon return to New York.

But the lush, love-filled days she'd spent in Raintree had her wondering why she couldn't stay right here. With Cash.

She pictured them, sitting out on the veranda of his house overlooking the river, sharing bits and pieces of their day. She imagined sharing the cooking duties in his restored kitchen. The cozy domestic scene was more than a little pleasing, more so, she suspected, because she so seldom cooked. Nelson had always preferred to go out. To mingle with friends, to see and be seen. He'd consider a quiet evening at home with popcorn and a video akin to doing hard time.

She imagined them taking Sunday afternoon boat rides. With their children. Although she'd never experienced the idyllic family life she was envisioning, there was definitely something appealing about building a life and a future and a family with the man you loved.

And she did love him, Chelsea assured herself. Maybe not seven years ago, she'd never know that, for sure. But she had no doubt that she loved him now.

Of course, he hadn't officially asked her to stay, she reminded herself. Then she smiled as she decided that she'd just have to take matters into her own hands. Soon.

As Jamie's sudden shout dragged her mind back from her romantic thoughts of making a life with Cash, Chelsea realized something was causing the line to spin out of her reel.

“Looks like she's hooked Jaws,” Jamie said, his young voice literally trembling with excitement.

“You may just be right,” Cash said.

“Jaws?” Chelsea echoed. Surely there weren't sharks in this swamp?

“The granddaddy of all catfish,” Cash said. “People have been trying to land him for years. Looks like you hit the jackpot.”

“Me?” Her voice was little more than a squeak. “Cash, I can't possibly pull him in.”

“Of course you can.”

The line was still disappearing beneath the water. “Dammit, Cash—”

“You just gotta have some patience,” he assured her. “Now, here's what you're going to do…”

Much, much later, Chelsea was listening to Jamie tell the tale to his mother.

“You should have seen Chelsea, Mama,” Jamie said. “That old catfish liked to pull her pole right in, but she kept fighting. And then, after she'd landed him, she had Cash take the hook out and toss him right back into the water.”

“He'd managed to survive so long,” Chelsea explained. “It seemed he belonged in the swamp, instead of on someone's dinner plate.”

“That's quite a story,” Sharleen Johnson said. She smiled at Chelsea. Cash had introduced the two women to each other when they'd first picked Jamie up that morning. Now they were in the kitchen of Catfish Charlie's, where Sharleen was frying fish for tonight's dinner crowd. “Why don't you and Cash go clean today's catch, while Chelsea and I get acquainted?”

“But, Mama, Chelsea was going to tell me more about Mike.”

“Come on, son,” Cash said, looping his arm around the thin shoulders. “I think your mama and Chelsea plan to indulge in a little girl talk. Which means you and I just became persona non grata.”

“What does that mean?”

“I'll explain it to you. While we're cleaning the fish.”

Apparently knowing when he was licked, Jamie stopped arguing and went out behind the small frame building with Cash.

“He's a wonderful boy,” Chelsea said, when she and Sharleen were alone. “You should be very proud.”

“I am. And relieved, because I thought for sure he was on the road to juvenile hall. Until Cash stepped in.”

“He and Jamie certainly get along well.”

“Everyone gets along with Cash. But he had to work to win Jamie's trust. It isn't easy on a kid, having a parent pass away. Jamie was angry. And distrustful, and had begun doin' what these days the school administration calls acting out.”

“My father died when I was a girl. I behaved so badly, my mother finally threw up her hands and sent me off to boarding school in Switzerland to let the nuns straighten me out.”

“That's tragic. To lose your father, then have your mother send you away. Too bad she didn't have someone like Cash.”

“Yes,” Chelsea murmured, thinking what a difference a supportive adult would have made in her life back then. “It is too bad. But then again, I don't think there are many men like Cash in this world.”

“Now that surely is the truth.” Sharleen picked up a sharp knife and began cutting a dressed catfish into chunks with swift, deft strokes. “I don't suppose he told you that he lent me the money to keep this place going?”

“No.” Of course he didn't. She'd already determined that Cash was not the type of man to blow his own horn.

“I didn't figure he would. He insists it's a gift, but it's important to me to pay it back, so he agreed to accept fifty dollars a month. I figure at this rate, I'll get it paid off in about the time Jamie's kids graduate college.”

Understanding pride, Chelsea refrained from mentioning that Cash certainly didn't need the money anytime soon.

Chelsea fell silent, watching the swift movements of the knife as Sharleen prepared more catfish for the fryer. She experienced a momentary regret for the seven years she
could have been with Cash. Then, with renewed optimism, decided to begin making up for lost time.

 

Cash was in the shower when the glass door opened and Chelsea entered, wearing nothing but a smile and a dazzling, gilt-edged feminine invitation in her eyes.

“I read in this morning's paper that the state's expecting a drier than normal summer,” she said, plucking the soap from his hand. “That being the case, I decided it was my civic duty to do whatever I could to conserve water.”

He watched the lather billow between her palms; his gut tensed, waiting for the touch of those slender hands on his body. “Sounds like a good idea to me.” His voice roughened.

“I'm so glad.” She replaced the soap in the niche in the tiled wall then ran her hands over his broad shoulders and down his arms. “Did I tell you that I had a wonderful time today?”

“I believe you mentioned that. On the way home from Catfish Charlie's.”

“That's right. I did.” She smoothed the iridescent bubbles over his chest. Then lower.

The touch of her fingers skimming over his stomach was like flame. Cash discovered, not for the first time since being with Chelsea, that hunger had claws.

“Did I tell you that I admire the easy way you have with Jamie?”

“I don't remember that coming up.”

“Well, I do.” Her slippery wet fingers curled around his tumescent penis and began stroking it from base to tip.

“Chelsea—” He moaned her name, half warning, half plea. He leaned his head back against the tile and closed his eyes.

“It got me thinking about children.” She caressed his wet
chest with her lips; at the same time she took the straining penis in both hands marveling, as she always did, at his rampant masculinity. “Our children.” She flicked her tongue across a hard dark nipple and felt him shiver.

She was about to kneel down, to share with this man she loved the most intimate kiss of all, when he caught her chin in between his fingers and lifted her gaze to his.

Cash was struggling to comprehend her words. “Are you saying—”

“No.” She laughed and combed her hands through his wet hair, fitting her body tightly against his. “Not yet. But, I was rather hoping that we could change that.”

Cash felt the breath leave his lungs in a mighty whoosh. At the same time, hunger surged into his groin like wildfire. The need for her became unbearable. He took hold of her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh, and lifted her off the shower floor, impaling her on his throbbing shaft.

When he felt her body opening to him, surrounding him, caressing him, he nearly lost control.

With her back against the blue-and-white tile, with her legs wrapped around his hips, and her mouth locked onto his, Cash took her, standing up in the shower, while the water streamed over them, surrounding them in a hot, steamy mist.

Later, after he'd managed to drag her to bed, where they made love again, and again, he held her tight and marveled once more at his good fortune to have been granted another chance with this woman.

“I sure as hell hope you meant that,” he murmured against her throat. He was still inside her, enjoying the continued closeness, reluctant to surrender the warmth quite yet.

“Meant what?” She pressed her lips against his shoulder, where a purple bruise from her teeth was beginning to bloom.

“About children.” He lifted his head and looked directly into her eyes. “Because if you didn't, we just took a hell of a chance.” It was the first time he hadn't thought of protection.

“I love you. And there's nothing I'd like better than having your baby, Cash,” Chelsea said simply.

He went still. And was silent for so long, Chelsea feared she'd made a horrendous mistake by being so open about her feelings.

“Cash?”

He saw the worry in her gaze and hated himself for having put it there. “I'm sorry.” He smiled and combed his fingers through her still-damp curls. “It's just an amazing thing for any man to hear, Chelsea. I was trying to count my blessings and realized there weren't enough numbers to even come close.”

Tension drained out of her. She lifted her hands to his face and knew that whatever else happened in the future, she would always remember this as one of the happiest days of her life.

“Does that mean you like the idea?”

“What do you think?” With his eyes still on hers, he lowered his mouth to her lips. “I love you, Chelsea Cassidy.” The words he'd always avoided using came remarkably easily. “As for making babies with you…”

His kiss was warm and sweet and filled with promise. One hand moved between them to knead her breast, while the other slipped under her, lifting her hips to press her more closely against him.

The scent of the Confederate jasmine wafted in through the open bedroom window. Chelsea heard the call of a bird, the distant sound of a boat on the river. As her lips clung to his, she felt him growing inside her again and the outside world faded away.

Her senses became tangled. She heard Cash murmuring sounds that told her his pleasure was as glorious as hers. That his love ran as deep.

She arched against him, flesh against flesh, hearts beating in unison. Their eyes remained open, on each other's face. He laced their fingers together, hands pressed palm against palm as they rode the rising swells together.

And when she heard him call out her name, like a promise, and a prayer, when she felt him pouring himself into her, Chelsea wept with joy.

The piece of paper had been slipped under his door at the River-Vu Motel on the outskirts of town.

The note on the embossed stationery read:

George read the paper again. Then once more, to make certain it wasn't a hallucination. Then he threw back his head and laughed.

“I knew she'd see the light.” He pulled out the turquoise-and-silver Zippo lighter, lit the corner of the note, then dropped it into the wastebasket. He looked down at his
watch. Only a few hours to wait. Plenty of time for a few more drinks before he finally got what was coming to him.

 

Several hours after joining Cash in the shower, Chelsea sat with him on the veranda, gazing out at the slow-moving river, draped in deep purple shadows.

“Well, if we didn't make a baby, it damn well won't be for lack of trying,” he said.

“If we didn't, we'll just have to try, try again.” She smiled up at him, her gaze loving and earnest at the same time. “I do so love you, Cash Beaudine.”

“Ah, darlin', those are the sweetest words.” He kissed her, a slow wondrous kiss that had the blood singing in her veins. “And I love you. So, since we're going to have kids, don't you think we should think about getting married?”

“Absolutely.”

He seemed a little concerned about her quick response. “What about your trust fund?”

“If I don't live up to the terms it reverts to charity.” She shrugged. “That's probably better anyway, since if I have you, I'll have everything I need.”

“Two million dollars is a lot of money.”

“So everyone tells me. Will you regret not having it?”

“Not on a bet.”

“There you go,” she said in an exaggerated drawl that had him chuckling.

But Cash still worried. Just a little. “Are you sure you won't miss life in the big city?”

“You mean will I feel some great loss, awakening to the sounds of morning birds rather than garbage trucks and jackhammers?” She pretended to think about that a moment. “No,” she said with a shake of her head, “I don't think so. Not in a gazillion years, anyway.”

“Your mother might not approve.”

“So what else is new?” She laughed and was surprised to realize she no longer felt the usual little prick of pain that thinking about her mother had always caused. “Besides, you'll have her eating out of your hand in no time. She'll fall in love with you, Cash. The same way I did.”