Simple as that.
“Evie says this piece is for her puzzle but it’s not for her puzzle. It’s for my puzzle!” Grady hollered from the other room.
The doorbell rang just then, making Liam Madison ten minutes early but giving Dani an excuse to sidestep the kids’ conflict.
“That’ll be Liam and we need to get to the doctor’s office so we’ll sort it out later. Get your shoes on,” she said to the twins before snatching one last glimpse of herself in the mirror and then hurrying to the front door.
Denying along the way that what she felt was eagerness to see the big marine again.
* * *
“Is he really gonna stay here?” Grady whispered to Dani that evening when the four of them returned home. Liam Madison was outside, retrieving his things from the back of his rented SUV to move in. Dani was in the kitchen with the kids.
“He really is going to stay here,” Dani confirmed. “He’ll be up in the guest room. It’s what your mom wanted.”
“Because he’s her friend?” Evie said in disbelief.
“Yes. And because she wanted you all to get to know each other, and he wants to help out with you guys.”
“I don’t think so,” Grady added his own skepticism, which had some foundation based on the way today had gone.
But rather than confirm the little boy’s doubts Dani instead said, “I want you guys to be kind of patient with him, okay? I don’t think he knows much about kids.”
“I don’t think he likes us,” Evie amended.
“I don’t think we like him,” Grady added under his breath.
“We all just have to give each other a chance,” Dani said, making it a quiet command. “That’s why we get to know people—so we can find things about them that we do like.”
“He doesn’t smile,” Evie observed.
“He’s like a robot. But not a fun robot,” Grady contributed.
There was no disputing either criticism because both things were true during the time they’d known the man.
“It’ll get better,” Dani assured, hoping she was right. “Now go put on your pajamas and I’ll cut you some yellow cheese and tomatoes and avocados to go along with your yogurt since you didn’t have much dinner.”
“I want my adocados in salad,” Evie informed.
“And the magic word is...” Dani said.
“Please,” Evie complied.
“Please,” Grady said, too, even though Dani hadn’t been instructing him. “But I want my adocados sliced.”
Then they headed downstairs. But they were both eyeing the front door the whole way, not looking pleased with the addition that was about to be made to their household.
Dani couldn’t blame them.
It had been a long—and stilted—four hours since Liam had arrived that afternoon.
The first stop had been the pediatrician’s office where—after a half-hour wait during which the twins had played with the office toys and Liam had sat silent and straight-backed in one of the waiting room’s chairs—Evie’s and Grady’s DNA had been taken.
Unfortunately, between the time Dani had called and made the appointment—when the receptionist had said that yes, they would also take Liam’s DNA—the doctor had nixed that. Apparently the receptionist hadn’t been clear on just how strict the office policy was against addressing anything to do with an adult. Instead they’d been given an address for a lab they could go to for Liam’s swab.
The lab had been a twenty-minute drive from the doctor’s office. A twenty-minute drive during which Liam had not made conversation beyond asking for Dani’s navigations.
The lab had required another long wait in a small area with only three chairs and no office toys for the kids. Dani carried coloring and activity books in her purse but there also wasn’t a table the kids could use. So she’d set them up on the floor, out of the way of incoming and outgoing patients. Then she’d sat in one of the empty chairs but couldn’t persuade Liam to take one of the others.
“The kids should sit in them,” he’d said, standing as if he was on lookout, and seemed embarrassed that the kids weren’t using the remaining chairs.
After his test, Liam had suggested taking them all to dinner at a restaurant his brother had recommended. At the restaurant there had been another lengthy delay before a table opened up for them—during which the kids had again colored, this time using the seat of a chair as a desktop—something else that Liam eyed as if the irregularity made him uneasy. From his position again standing like a sentry.
Once they were led to a booth Liam had sat at one end of the table while the twins had huddled on either side of Dani as far away from him as they could get.
They’d agreed to grilled cheese sandwiches from the uninspired children’s menu and while they’d waited for their food, Grady had devolved into entertaining himself by tormenting his sister. That caused a small ruckus when Evie fought back, and while Dani managed them, Liam seemed not to know where to look, staring over their heads like a Buckingham Palace guard.
By the time the food arrived the kids were just plain contrary and had taken one look at the grilled cheese sandwich and refused to eat it because the cheese was white instead of yellow. And even after Dani had persuaded them just to try it, Evie had gagged on her bite and Grady had let his roll back down his tongue and onto the plate, delivering the verdict that it was yucky.
They did eat the french fries and fruit that came with the sandwich, so that was something, but through it all Liam Madison’s discomfort and embarrassment had been palpable.
And the twins hadn’t been all that happy themselves when they’d learned during the meal that Liam was going to be coming to live with them.
Dani had been grateful that they hadn’t said anything rude, saving their comments for Dani alone now that they were home and Liam was out of earshot. But the news had so sobered them that there was no mistaking they were not thrilled with the idea. From then on they’d become as quiet as Liam, so the car ride home had been stony all the way around.
And that was how a weary Dani had left it. She’d exhausted every effort to engage Liam in things with the kids, she’d failed at getting the kids to interact with Liam, and for the time being she just gave up.
But this needed to work, she told herself now that they were back at the Freelander house. If Liam was Grady and Evie’s biological father, she really needed him to save them from the system.
Just then Liam came in the front door carrying a large duffel bag.
Dani left the kitchen and went into the entry as he closed the door behind him, trying not to notice how good he looked in the khaki slacks and white shirt that had replaced the uniform of Sunday night.
“Stairs or elevator?” she asked.
“Your choice,” he said.
“Usually I’d take the stairs—this is the first house I’ve ever been in that has an elevator—but let’s use it tonight. It’s quicker and I need to get back and fix the kids a snack. But maybe once you’ve settled in and they’re watching their shows we could talk a little?” she proposed.
“Even in civvies they’re still scared of me, aren’t they?” he guessed.