Waiting for You (25 page)

Alex ended her lecture with a hug and an admonishment for Lani to gather her things so they could go to the hotel. Jane excused herself
to help Alex round up the twins. The truck outside roared to life, but
Daniel didn’t return until the young man’s taillights had disappeared.
He stood guard at the door, arms crossed, until he was certain the
truck wasn’t going to turn around.

Devon was the first to enter the house, eventually followed by
Daniel. He turned to his brother-in-law. “It’s not so funny now, is it?”

Without
missing
a beat or even turning from his course, he
punched Devon in the arm. Devon laughed but rubbed the injury.

“I’m taking away your phone and locking you in your room until
you’re 35.” Daniel stopped in front of Lani, his expression showing no
sign of humor. “You knew
Aaron
Johnston
was in town when you asked
to come along, didn’t you? How long have you been planning this?”

The young woman’s tears began anew. There was nothing petulant
about them. They weren’t the tears of a teenager who’d been busted with her boyfriend; they were tears of true mourning. Karise’s heart
broke for the girl. If nobody else comforted her soon, she was going to.

Daniel looked down at Lani a moment before softening, opening
his arms to pull her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head and
whispered something only she could hear. The girl nodded and quieted,
though her shoulders still shook.

“Now can we gather up Zoe and get out of here?” Aidan tried again.

Kate waved him away. He took that as all the approval he needed,
making a beeline for his sleeping child. Karise gave Kate a hug and promised to call her in the morning. She’d have apologized for the
spectacle her family had created, but she really had no idea what to say.

She was halfway to Aidan’s house with him when it hit her she
didn’t live there or have clothes there. It had just seemed so natural to
climb in his truck beside him when it came time to go. She admonished
Aidan for not saying anything, to which he replied he’d been hoping she wouldn’t notice.

“But I don’t have any clothes.”

He grinned wickedly at her. “Even better.”

“What about tomorrow? Am I supposed to wear my dress home?
Don’t make me do the walk of shame.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he promised, pulling her in even closer. “
You can wear something of mine home. And then, maybe you should
think about bringing a few things over.”

Karise sobered. She hadn’t really thought about that. “I don’t
want to move in until we’re married. I mean, I guess it makes sense to
start moving some stuff over, but I don’t think I should stay over again
until the wedding.”

“Then I guess I’d better make this one count.” There was a promise
in his soft voice.

Karise smiled, resting her hand on his leg and turning her attention
back to the road. She absentmindedly traced her fingers over the patterns
in his worn jeans along his inner thigh. The touch was a simple one, but it still created a yearning in her belly.

Once the truck was in park, he came around to the passenger side
and lifted Zoe out of her car seat with incredible tenderness. Karise
took the keys from his pocket to unlock the door for him. She hung his
keys on the rack while he tucked Zoe in, kicked her heels off in the
corner of his room and then stretched out on her belly across his bed to
admire her ring while she waited for him to finish up with his daughter.

Aidan locked the door behind him when he joined her in the room. He climbed on the bed, straddling her as he slowly unzipped
her dress, his lips worshipping each inch of newly exposed flesh. Chills r
aced down her spine; she thrilled at his touch.

That night, he loved her with a gentle sweetness. It was achingly beautiful, and it left her feeling like the most precious treasure in all the world.

Karise would have been quite content to doze off afterwards, all tangled up in Aidan, but he got out of bed and hung her dress in his
closet. Then he retrieved her shoes from the corner and placed them in
the
shoe rack hanging
from the closet door. “There.
You’re official now
.”

She smiled and thanked him, gratefully accepting the T-shirt and a pair of boxers he handed her next. She shimmied into the clothes, pleasantly surprised at the shirt’s buttery softness.

Aidan paused to admire her. “I didn’t think it was possible, but
you look even more beautiful now.”

Karise shook her head and blushed. “I think you’re smitten and it’s hampering your judgment.”

“No, I’m pretty sure you’re exquisite. Your hair is spilling over your
shoulders. Your face is flushed from loving me. My favorite shirt is
clinging to my favorite curves. I’m positive I want to remember this
picture for the rest of my life.”

Karise didn’t know how to respond to that, so she opened her arms
in a silent request that he come back to their bed. He obliged, allowing
her to wrap him up in her embrace. She ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying the simple feel of him in her arms.

“Poor Lani,” she mused, her mind straying back to the earlier scene.

“Poor Lani? I was thinking poor Daniel. I had visions of Zoe a
dozen years from now and thought poor me. It hadn’t occurred to me
to think poor Lani.”

“It’s obvious she loves the guy. He wasn’t some vagabond off the
street; Daniel and Alex knew him. There is definitely more to this story.
Her whole life is written out for her; she has no say in it. I think it
would be terribly sad to be 17 and have no fork in the road before you.”

“I’d never thought of it that way.”

“I wish there was something I could do,” Karise sighed.

“You can. You can be her friend. I would imagine she needs one of those right about now.”

Karise nodded. Aidan had a point. She fell asleep that night wondering how she could go about befriending her niece without alienating her sister.

She awoke before he did but she was loath to let him go. Sometime
during the night they’d shifted positions, and she found herself back in his arms. It wasn’t a bad place to be. A selfish piece of her wanted to wake him up, knowing this was probably their last moment alone
for a while – maybe even until the wedding. But the better part of her
wanted to make Aidan and Zoe breakfast, even if the only thing she knew how to make was pancakes.

She’d barely cracked the first egg when a sleepy Zoe joined her. The
girl perched on a stool, watching Karise work.

“Did you have fun last night?” Karise asked, wondering if Zoe had been awake when Lani’s guest arrived.

“I did. Look at my toes.” Zoe held out a foot to show off its pretty
pink nails.

Karise stopped what she was doing to examine the foot. “Did you
do that? Pretty!”

“Lani did it, but I helped.”

“
Very nice.” Karise poured the batter on the hot griddle, thinking
through her next question before she spoke. “Was there anybody else
there with you guys last night?”

“Just the babies, but they were asleep.” Zoe tried to steal a piece of bacon as Karise put it on the plate to cool. She burned her hand in the
process. “Ouch.”

Karise handed her an ice cube to hold against the wound. “Let the
bacon cool before you steal it.”

Zoe nodded solemnly, tears welling in her big blue eyes.

“Talk about
something
else; i
t’ll
help get your mind off your finger,”
Karise advised.

“Did you have fun last night?” Zoe tried to take her advice.

“I did. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with my family.”

“I like your family.” Zoe’s finger seemed forgotten already.

“I do, too.” Karise could hear the shower turn on. She made herself
focus on the pancakes and the conversation at hand. “So Zoe, what do you think about me marrying your daddy? Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

Zoe nodded, and Karise realized she’d been holding her breath, afraid the girl would suddenly protest.

“Well, last night we were talking about maybe getting married soon,
so my family can be at the wedding. What do you think about that?”

Zoe gave Karise a pleading look. Karise braced for the worst. “Can I have a piece of bacon yet?”

Karise smiled. “Absolutely. The bacon should be cool now. Help
yourself.” She was so elated the kid could have taken a fistful of bacon
and gotten away with it—well, until Aidan appeared, anyway. He
would have objected to the fistful of bacon. It occurred to her that if
she was going to be Zoe’s stepmother, she’d probably have to start objecting to fistfuls of bacon, too.

AFTER BREAKFAST,
Karise borrowed a pair of Aidan’s knit shorts
and cinched them down as tight as they’d go. They still hung loosely on
her hips, but it beat walking around the farm in his boxers, or so she hoped. She also borrowed his muck boots so she could help him
with
his chores. Zoe’s giggles when she saw Karise’s completed ensemble didn’t give Karise an ounce of confidence about her appearance.

Zoe played with Bonnie in the yard while Clyde kept watch from
the porch. Karise followed Aidan out to the barn, eager and a little
apprehensive over her first lesson in goat keeping. Joe had already
been out to do the milking and feeding. Aidan said they were doing herd health, but she had a sneaking suspicion he was mostly looking for an excuse to get her back around the goats.

She listened patiently as he explained what he was doing. She held
goats when he needed a second set of hands and even tried her hand at trimming a set of hooves. But she still didn’t see their charm, no matter how hard she tried.

“You look like you need a shower,” Aidan observed, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

“You look like you could use another shower.” She playfully poked
his ribs.

He raised his eyebrows at her. “Maybe we should take one together
to conserve water.”

“Who knew you were so green-minded?”

“It’s a passion of mine.” He tried to look serious but didn’t quite pull it off.

“Are we done?”

He shook his head. “One more thing. Come on.” With that, he took
her hand and led her into the pasture he called the kid pen. Karise called it the nursery. She followed him over to a shade tree. He sat down and leaned against the tree before pulling Karise into his lap. She leaned into him; he wrapped his arms around her and sighed.

They didn’t speak; they watched. It didn’t take long for the goats
to largely forget their presence, or rather, accept it. Some of the mama
goats went back to grazing, oblivious to them. A couple of the others came up smiling, and greeted Aidan with a sound that had to be a friendly hello. He scratched their necks, talking to each one in turn. After they’d gotten their fill of attention, they wandered off to graze, though a couple stayed pretty close to him.

“They’re like people,” he explained. “Some are social, others not so much. They all have distinct personalities, though.”

Karise nodded; she was beginning to see their personalities emerge.
And then it began: The first goat leapt into the air, doing a twist and
then a kick. He pranced in a circle then leapt again. His display set
off a domino of similar displays as baby goats all over the pasture
joined in. Karise got the distinct impression they were just so happy to be alive that they couldn’t contain it. When she said as much to Aidan, she could feel his grin against her cheek.

“That’s exactly it, and it’s why I love them. They remind me to find the joy in an ordinary day, and if there isn’t any, to make some.
That, and they are who they are. If they want to kiss you, they kiss
you. If they want to head butt you, they head butt you. I find their
honesty refreshing.”

“I can respect that,” Karise conceded.

Aidan laughed quietly. “But you still don’t see it, do you?”

“I’m beginning to.”

They spent another twenty minutes in the goat field, enjoying the quiet moment together with the animals. When Aidan decided to go check on Zoe, Karise went with him. She wasn’t ready to be left alone with the goats.

“Are we still planning on having everyone over for dinner?” she asked on their way back through the barn.

“We can if you want. Maybe I could throw something on the grill.
The house is a little small to entertain.”

“I think something on the grill would be good. And that reminds me—I still haven’t shown you my drawings.”

Aidan suggested dropping her at the cottage while he went
shopping for the party. She accepted the offer, eager for a hot shower
and some fresh clothes. When she called Devon to see if they were game
for a visit, he agreed to round up the troops to be at Aidan’s around two that afternoon, after the twins’ nap.

After Karise had cleaned up and gathered her sketchpad, she walked
over to Kate’s to invite her to Aidan’s later. Kate and Tara were sitting
on the porch swing when Karise approached; both greeted her with a friendly wave.