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Hope checked her reflection one more time. She peered at the pile of discarded clothes on her bed, the outfits she tried on that she assumed weren’t appropriate for a family dinner for one reason or another. It had to be a big dinner. Up until a week ago he’d always been accompanied to therapy by his father, Bill. Didn’t that mean he had close family ties? Chewing on her lip, she glanced into her closet. The only garments left on hangers were her work clothes. The sundress was it, a little tight in the waist but workable. She plopped down on the edge of her bed as Kira began to do somersaults in her belly. As she slid her hand across the top of her belly, a sharp knock had her pushing up off the mattress to answer her front door.
“What are you, psychic?” Hope spoke gently to her tummy. “Coming” She called out to the guest at her door.
She blinked several times when she opened the door. For the briefest of moments, the sun created a corona around Lucas’s body. He stood on her step in pressed jeans and button-down shirt open at his throat. He’d shaved but there was a hint of stubble on his cheeks and he wore a smile that she’d briefly glimpsed that first day they’d met.
“Oh.” For the first time she noticed the hint of gray at his temples and reached up to touch his hair before she realized what she was about to do and snatched her hand back.
“Is something wrong with the baby?” His brow creased and he placed a palm on her belly.
“No, I just noticed you have gray hair.”
“Babe, you have to stop with the
oh
’s. My heart stops every time you say that word. As for the gray, I’ve had a rough year and a half.” His voice was dry.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She stepped out over the threshold, locked the door behind her, and dropped the keys in her purse.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“You look nice.” He placed his hand on the small of her back as they descended the steps.
“Thank you. Lucas, why are you doing this?”
“I find you interesting, beautiful, and fun. I want to get to know you better. Is that wrong?” He opened the car door for her.
“No, but…” She dropped into the bucket seat and sighed. “I’m probably going to need help getting out of your car again.”
“Anything you require.” He leaned in and gave her a half-smile as he pulled her seat belt forward to hand to her. She dug her nails into her palms to keep from tracing the deep indentation in his cheek before hastily pulling the silver latch from his grip.
Hope enjoyed the drive, the quiet camaraderie. The car ate up the miles and palm trees passed in quick succession. As usual her baby pushed and prodded within Hope, playing tetherball with her kidneys. Hope squirmed in her seat.
“I see the new leg is working out great.” She tried distracting herself from the urgent need to pee.
“Yeah, I like this one much better. It’s much easier to maneuver on. I’ve been hanging out at the VA so much someone noticed. I’ve been offered a desk position.”
“Wonderful, doing what? When does it start?”
“I’ll be helping other vets get back into the swing of things, helping them find work if they can’t go back into the armed forces, little things like that, at the beginning of the new year.”
Lucas took a turn down a tree-lined street of an older development. The oak and maple trees stretched high into the sky. The houses were larger and the lawns surrounding them well manicured. Cars overflowed some driveways with people parking along the curb. He slowed the car to a crawl as they passed an empty driveway with an old woman swinging her cane at a petite brunette and two men standing just out of the way of the impromptu weapon.
“You have got to be kidding me?” He stopped the car and rolled his window down. A look of disbelief etched his features. He swiveled in his seat. “Stay here, okay.”
“I don’t think I have much choice. Two words, bucket seats.” Hope held up two fingers and wiggled them. “But you might want to hurry. I have to pee.”
“Why didn’t you say so?”
She shrugged and was pressed against the door as he whipped the car to the side and expertly squeezed into the only vacant spot against the curb. He had his door open and was around the front grill in seconds. She took the hand he proffered and allowed him to haul her out of the seat. When she tipped forward, she felt strong arms envelop her as he took a step back to brace himself. Hope looked up and met his gaze. Crinkles fanned out from the corner of his eyes and before she realized it, she’d grazed her fingertips across them in a caress.
The slow slide of his palms down her back sent shivers along her spine. She combed her fingers through the fine locks of his hair and curved her hand around the back of his head. Hope pulled his head down as she pressed up on her toes in the grass. She used her other hand to grasp his shoulder as he pressed his lips to hers and slid his tongue along the seam of her lips. When she opened her mouth, heat suffused her body as his breath mingled with hers. Her tongue tangled with his and he held her tighter, his hand dipping lower to cup her ass. She formed a fist at the back of his head. As his strands caught between her fingers, she slanted her head.
From somewhere beyond them, someone cleared their throat.
Lucas lifted his head and stared down at her. He raised a hand and pushed an errant lock of hair that had come undone from her ponytail. Then he swooped down and pressed his lips to her again.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.” He rubbed his forehead against hers.
“At least your breath doesn’t stink and I…umm…I still have to pee.”
Lucas dropped back his head and laughed hard, making her baby jerk within her. Hope absent-mindedly rubbed in the vicinity of where she’d felt Kira’s movement.
“Then we better get you to a bathroom.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along.
He towed her past the arguing group of people. The skirmish that was taking place minutes earlier in the driveway stopped as they rushed past. The surprised quintet now stared at them. She smiled as Lucas pulled her toward the house. Lucas only acknowledged the old woman staring at them with wide eyes.
“Grandma, meet Hope. We’ll be back.” He kept walking.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m so sorry but I really have to pee.” The soft soles of her flat shoes skidded as she tried to slow Lucas down but he kept yanking her forward.
They passed the man that had been with Lucas when he’d first started therapy. She racked her mind for his name.
“Dad, I think you remember Hope. No time for proper introductions. Trust me.” Lucas breezed by his father with Hope still in tow.
They moved so quickly she only caught glimpses of her surroundings. He pushed a door open and she peered around the doorway. Noted it was a bathroom. She slid past him and soundly shut the door in his face. Hope quickly opened it up again to see him still standing there and blindly pecked him on the chin, giggling as she shut the door again.
She took care of her business and while washing her hands, Hope ruminated on her actions; doubt gained a foothold in her psyche.
You’re seven months pregnant, you caught him off guard with the kiss, and he’s just being nice.
She dried her hands on a guest towel and left the tiny room.
As she made her way through the house, she realized it was empty and noticed people outside through the bank of windows that made up a wall in the living room. Curious she found the front door and wrapping her fingers around the knob, she turned it and eased over threshold. Loud voices greeted her as she walked onto the covered porch. Her baby moved inside her like she was swimming in the Olympics. The brunette she’d spied earlier was ducking the cane of the woman Lucas had introduced as “Grandma”.
Hope plopped down in a lawn chair and stretched her legs out before her. She shimmed in the seat to get comfortable and, locking her hands together over her stomach, watched the show.
“Get the hell out of here. Can’t you see Lucas is otherwise occupied?” Grandma’s voice cracked and her cane dipped in the air. Lucas reached out and caught it while Bill, his dad, hugged the old woman from behind.
The younger woman was breathless. “What I have to say to Luke has nothing to do with you.” She turned a megawatt smile onto Lucas. “Can you spare a moment?”
Hope’s leg started to shake and she cocked her head. She watched as Lucas glanced over his shoulder toward the house before nodding slowly. The idea was cemented that he was being kind to her as a friend and Hope was flooded with disappointment, reinforcing the idea that their kiss had been a grave mistake. He walked a few feet away and anger replaced Hope’s disappointment as she watched the tiny woman rub her hands across Lucas’s chest. Hope’s baby started doing kicks against her abdominal wall.
She had no right to be angry. Lucas wasn’t hers to claim, she told herself over and over again in her mind. His family members started milling about; a few gave Hope curious glances. She dismissed their curiosity and kept her gaze on the woman with Lucas and the way she was pressing her body to his.
“Is the baby Lucas’s?” The feisty older lady flopped down in the seat next to her.
“No” Hope shook her head as she spoke.
“Does he think it is?”
“Definitely not. You’re his grandmother?”
“The one and only.”
“Who is she?” Hope nodded toward the couple at the end of the drive.
“That is Michelle also known as the gold-digging skank that broke his heart. They were engaged while he was deployed. Then he was hurt in an ambush in Afghanistan and they couldn’t send him home until they could stabilize him. He was immediately taken to the VA when the Army was able to get him here. She took one look at him in the hospital room and ran out. This is the first I’ve seen her since then. Lucas always was a fool for her.”
“Uh-huh…Oh.” Hope rubbed the underside of her belly.
“Are you alright?” Grandma leaned forward, laying her hand atop Hope’s.
The baby kicked again.
“Kira always gets a little more active at the mention of Lucas’s name. I have yet to figure out why.” Hope moved her hand and let the elderly lady feel the baby’s actions.
Lucas’s grandma’s hand rose and fell with the succession of movements. Hope met her clear gray gaze as the older woman looked up at her with delight on her face. Then a devilish smile appeared and Lucas’s grandmother pulled her hand away. Taking her cane in hand, his grandma leaned heavily on it as she rose. Straightening, she glanced over her droopy shoulders and winked.
“Excuse me, everyone. It seems my grandson has been remiss in his duties of introducing his current fiancée, Hope, and their soon-to-be new addition to the MacIntyre clan, baby Kira. Everybody get over here and welcome this girl into our family proper.”
All eyes turned openly on Hope as she sunk lower in the chair.
Chapter Four
Lucas pulled his attention from the heavy post-Thanksgiving traffic to glance at Hope. She sat beside him in total silence with her eyes closed. She’d taken her ponytail down and her hair was splayed around her shoulders. After the day they’d had he couldn’t blame her for being worn to the bone, tired. He dug his fingers into the supple leather of the armrest separating them. What he really wanted to do was place his palm on her belly and feel the baby that grew within her move around.
He could seriously maim his grandmother. As he tried to diffuse the situation with Michelle and get a grasp on what it was she wanted, his dear old granny dropped a bomb. Now everybody in the family with the exception of his father, who kept giving him strange looks, thought the baby was his and were too busy congratulating him to realize the timeline was way off. Hearing Giselle’s announcement, Michelle threw a hissy fit and he still didn’t know what the hell she wanted. Worse, Hope hadn’t said a word. He saw his chances with her diminishing by the minute and desperate times called for desperate measures. He took a sharp turn that had them both leaning over.
“Will you please stop doing that? Where are you going now?” Hope pushed off the center console.
“We left so quickly after dinner that I got to thinking. We didn’t get a chance to decorate the Christmas tree.”
“It’s too early for a tree.”