As he moves to dump the pan of eggs onto a
plastic serving plate, he catches me watching from the corner of
his eye, and a heart-stopping grin breaks out across his face. I
step forward, scooping Harper up into my arms as Dylan leans over
to place a soft kiss against my cheek.
“Good morning, Angel. I hope you’re hungry.”
He steps around us to place the plate in the middle of the small
dining table.
I sit Harper down in one of the chairs, and
sit myself down in the one next to her. Dylan moves back and forth
between the counter, and the table placing a plate of toast, and
one filled with omelets next to the bowl of scrambled eggs before
he finally takes the seat next to me. There is a cup of chocolate
milk, and a cup of orange juice in front of me. I raise a quizzical
brow as I look between Dylan and my two cups, but he just shrugs
and winks.
“I wasn’t sure which one you’d like, so you
got both.” Dylan lifts his own cup of OJ and takes a sip through
his crooked grin.
I pick up my glass of chocolate milk, and
tilt it slightly his way before taking my own small sip of the
sweet goodness from my plastic cup. Dylan nods his head in
acknowledgement, and then he begins serving us a bit of everything
on the table. Harper is chatting away, but I only catch part of
what she is saying.
The impact of this moment isn’t lost on me.
As terrifying as it is, I can see this becoming addictive. The
normality of a family meal with the light of my life, and the man
who is quickly taking over every piece of my heart that I never
knew existed until now.
“Why don’t we take Harper out for the day? I
can take my girls shopping, out to lunch, and maybe catch an early
movie.” Dylan stabs his fork into a fluffy bite of eggs as he
speaks, and smiles around his fork at us.
I look at Harper, but she is staring at
Dylan with wide bright eyes and a messy grin. She looks happy.
Something pulls deep inside of me at the fact that Dylan is the one
bringing her happiness. I look back to see his eyes are fixed on
me, and the soft look in them has my heart crumbling
completely.
“What do you think, Harper? Should we let
Dylan take us out?” I smile, and bite my bottom lip gently in what
I hope is a semi-flirtatious gesture.
It must work, because something heats in
Dylan’s green eyes as they drop to where I’m holding the flesh
between my teeth.
Harper’s loud clapping pulls us out of the
trance, and causes me to giggle loudly. Spell broken, I fork up a
hefty bite of omelet, and groan at the explosion of flavor that
makes Dylan’s cocky grin grow as he winks at Harper.
“I told you they were the best.”
Harper and I laugh as Dylan sips at his
juice, and by the time breakfast is over, I feel more at peace with
myself then I ever remember feeling before.
“Okay, ladies. I’ll leave you two here to
get ready, and I will walk down to Mom’s to shower.” Dylan kisses
my lips softly, and then turns to head toward the bedroom.
Grabbing Harper, I stand to follow him, and
he is already gathering clothes in a bag. “You don’t have to leave.
We can all take turns here. I don’t want to kick you out of your
house.”
He walks over and pulls me into his arms
with Harper snuggled in my arms between us. “Its fine, Angel. We’ll
get out of here faster if we do it this way, and I’m
impatient.”
“I can hurry. It won’t take us long.”
“I don’t want you to rush. I’m impatient,
but I want you to be able to relax. Not feel rushed.”
“Okay, so why don’t I bathe Harper, and then
sit her down to watch TV while I shower. Then you can shower while
I get ready.” I look at him, and watch the cockiness grow on his
face.
“If you don’t want me to leave, Angel, then
I won’t leave.” He steps back, and smiles at me. “I’ll go flip on
some cartoons while I wait for the princess to join me in the
living room.” With one last kiss to my forehead he turns and walks
back to the living room.
I watch until he rounds the corner and I
can’t see him anymore. The logical side of my brain is telling me
that this is too fast, and as much as I hate it, I know that I need
to take Harper home tonight. We will stay, and spend the day with
him, because let’s face it, I’m clearly addicted to this man. After
we get back tonight, I will take Harper home and give myself time
to process everything that has happened.
I take Harper into the small, but clean
bathroom, and set her down on top of the toilet lid. Just as I’m
about to go and grab our bags, there is a swift knock at the door,
and I pull it open to find Dylan holding our bags already.
“Thought you might need these.”
“Thank you.” I take the bags from him and
set them on the floor before smiling and closing the door
slowly.
I turn back to see that Harper is still
smiling, and her little fingers are drumming over the counter. “Are
you happy, Harper?” It’s a question I’ve never been capable of
asking her before. If I had gone through everything, and not
managed to make her happy it would have killed me.
She nods, and climbs down from her seat to
walk to me. I squat down, and wrap her in my arms as she leans into
me. I hold her for only a few minutes before I stand and lean over
to turn on the water. I get the temperature just right and then
help Harper into the warm liquid.
She splashes and giggles, and by the time
she’s clean, there is a small pond of water forming on the tiled
floor that naturally I slip in as I am getting Harper dressed, and
soak up with the ass of my jeans. Harper thinks this is hilarious,
and really, it kind of is. We are both laughing when a knock comes
again, and Dylan’s hesitant voice speaks through the thin wood.
“Uh— are you ladies okay in there?”
This makes us laugh more. I shift to open
the door, and look up at Dylan from my spot on the floor. His eyes
widen as he takes in my position, and then his face contorts with
amusement when he realizes the situation I’m in.
“Awe, Angel, you’re all wet.”
“Mommy swipt.” Harper is still giggling, but
now she is completely focused on Dylan.
“I see that. Why don’t we let your silly
mommy clean herself up while we see what kind of trouble SpongeBob
can get into?”
“Sponwob!” Harper claps happily, and Dylan’s
eyes travel over me one more time before he turns to lead Harper to
the sound of Squidward and Sandy on the television in the next
room.
I close the door, strip out of my clothes,
and climb into the shower. I try to relax, because I know that is
what Dylan wants me to do, but it seems ridiculous to waste so much
hot water knowing that he still needs to shower.
I end up rushing through the rest of my
shower, dressing in jeans and a pale blue t-shirt, and piling my
hair up into a bun atop my head. After twenty minutes, I declare
myself ready, and step into the living room.
Harper is sitting next to the small coffee
table with a coloring book and crayons that I remember putting in
her bag for her. Dylan is laid back on the sofa completely
enthralled by SpongeBob eating a giant trophy full of ice cream.
Can he seriously be anymore adorable? He can’t be this perfect.
There has to be something wrong with him. Some fault that I haven’t
yet discovered.
“It’s all yours.”
“There is no way you were in there long
enough to relax.” Dylan shifts to look over the back of the sofa,
and a small lock of hair falls softly over his forehead.
“I’m relaxed.” I shrug as my eyes roam over
his handsome face. He looks better than any man has a right to, and
he isn’t even trying.
He nods and then stands. Harper is still
coloring away as he makes his way over to stand directly in front
of me. He traces his finger along my jaw and down to my chin before
tipping my head back to lay his lips gently against mine.
As he pulls away his eyes stay locked on my
lips, and I can feel the heat of his body against mine. “Guess I’ll
get ready. I don’t want to keep my girls waiting.”
“Why are you so accepting of this?” I can’t
keep the question from niggling at me, and apparently my brain
decided now was the time to ask it. “I mean, I may not know a whole
lot about relationships, but I’m pretty sure most guys your age
don’t want to be tied down with a chick and her kid.”
Dylan’s lips draw down in a frown as his
eyes scan over my face. “First, don’t compare me to other guys.
There is no room for other guys in our relationship, even
metaphorically. Second, it’s not something I have to think about,
or decide.
You
are what I want, you’re my girl, and Harper
is your girl. That makes her my girl too.”
“You act like it doesn’t bother you,
though.” I lower my voice so that only he can hear me over the
noise of the television. “Harper wasn’t a choice for me, Dylan. I
love her more than anything, but if I could go back in time and was
given the choice, I know she wouldn’t be here. You have a choice,
Dylan.”
Dylan reaches up, clasping my face between
his hands as he bends slightly to get eye-level to me. “You’re my
choice.” His words whisper softly over my lips. “Always.” He leans
in to press a firm kiss against my lips. “The sooner you accept
that I belong to you completely, the easier this relationship will
be for both of us.”
One more kiss to the tip of my nose and I’m
released from his warm touch. “Now, I need to shower so that I can
take
my girls
out for the day.” With a grin on his face, he
steps around me and into the bathroom.
I’m still grinning as I make my way to
Dylan’s vacated spot on the sofa. I slouch down in the seat and
watch Harper color with occasional glances at the silly
cartoon.
It seems like hardly any time has passed
when Dylan stands in front of me deliciously dressed in jeans and a
button down shirt that’s unbuttoned over a green t-shirt that says
Kiss me I’m Irish
.
“Let’s go, ladies. We’ve got a busy day
ahead of us.” Dylan claps his hands in front of him, and Harper
jumps up on her rush for the door.
“Get your coat on!” I holler after her, but
she pays me no attention as she latches onto the brass handle.
Dylan wraps an arm around me, and we walk to
the door. I help Harper into her jacket, and Dylan helps me into
one of his zip-up sweatshirts.
The mid-morning air is warm with a cool
breeze that is just enough to make it chilly. We spend the
afternoon shopping at all of the nearby stores, including ones that
I’ve only been in with Trisha, and that I have no desire to
actually spend money in. Still, I find myself trying to buy a few
things only to have Dylan step in and pay for them.
I’m not at all comfortable with him spending
money on us, so I stop pointing things out that I like, or that
Harper would like. It doesn’t help. He continues to buy all kinds
of things that he thinks we might like, or that he thinks would
look nice on us.
Then he takes us to lunch, and thankfully,
it’s a small diner with vinyl booths and old-school music. It’s
relaxing, and Harper spends most of lunch talking about how much
fun she had at Disney land with Uncle Jim. Her eyes light up with
animation every time she tells us something new.
By the time she’s finished the ice-cream,
which she had batted her little eyes at Dylan to get, she’s half
asleep and mumbling. We decide to skip the movie, and go home to
nap. It’s been a long morning, but the most amazing of my life.
I tuck Harper into bed in the spare room
while Dylan steps out to answer his phone. I kiss her head, and
wrap the blankets tightly around her shoulders to keep her warm.
When I close the door and step out, I see Dylan pacing the living
area. His body is tense, and his face is drawn down in
frustration.
I head into the bedroom to give him privacy,
but just as I lie back on the mattress, he enters the room. He’s
off the phone now, but his body still looks tense. He falls onto
the bed next to me, and turns his head to face me.
“I have to leave for a bit, but I want you
to stay here. Please? I like the thought of coming home and you
being here.”
“I can’t just move in with you, Dylan. You
don’t think that we might be moving a little too fast?”
He reaches for my hand so that he can
entwine his fingers with mine. “No. I think that this is the way
it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be with you, and I think
you’re supposed to be with me. This is just the natural progression
of that, but if you think we’re moving too fast, I’ll slow down. I
still want you here tonight though, at least until I get back.”
My chest tightens hearing the words I want
to believe, that I want to latch onto. I know I will do anything
for him. I love him. I love Dylan Trent even though I never thought
it would be possible for me to love a man. I nod, and a relieved
smile touches his face right before he sits up, bends over, and
places a kiss against my lips.
“I’ll hurry, and when I get back we need to
talk, okay?”
I nod, and he kisses me one more time before
he stands and walks out. I know that I need to slow this down, but
now I realize exactly how difficult Dylan is going to make that
task. There is still so much I don’t know about him though, and I
feel like I want to know everything. I’ve opened myself up to him
completely, so is there really anything he could tell me that would
make me second guess things?
I don’t know how long I lay there, but at
some point I fall asleep. I’m woken up by the sound of my cell
phone ringing. Stretching, I sit up and shift to pull my cell from
my pocket. It’s Uncle Jim.
“Hello?”
“Raven? How are you, sweetie?” The worried
timber of his voice settles into me, and I sit up a little
straighter.
“I’m okay. Harper and I will be home
tonight.”
“You don’t need to rush home, Raven. I trust
Dylan to take care of you. I’ve known Dylan’s family all of my
life.”