“And this is Jeremy’s mom, Meg Lockhart,” Lilah said, concluding the introductions.
“Hello,” Susie, the oldest, said shyly.
“Can Jeremy and the other kids play with us sometimes at our house?” Becca asked.
“Absolutely,” Meg smiled, finding it impossible not to warm to the three adorable little girls. “And you can come over here, too, as often as you’d like.”
Amy, the youngest, smiled at Meg and the other kids, then tugged on Lilah’s hand. “Where’s my daddy?”
At the mention of the word, Jeremy frowned.
“Right there.” Lilah pointed and lifted her hand in a wave, motioning Luke over.
Jeremy gave Meg a petulant look, abruptly taking up the dispute they’d been having off and on all summer. He propped his hands on his sturdy little hips and scowled at Meg. “How come everybody else gets to know who their dad is, even if he isn’t hardly ever there no more, like with Teddy, Tyler and Trevor, and I don’t?”
Tyler, Teddy and Trevor looked at Meg, waited expectantly for her reply. As did everyone else, including Lilah McCabe, all three of Meg’s sisters and all three of Luke Carrington’s little girls. “Honey,” Meg felt herself beginning to blush self-consciously despite her desire to stay cool, calm and collected under fire, “I think we should discuss this later.”
“Why?” Jeremy shot back belligerently, his patience with Meg clearly at an end. “You always say the same thing.” He turned to Luke and the other men who had just joined the group. “Do you know who my daddy is?” Jeremy asked Luke. Ignoring the collective gasp of all the adults present, Jeremy pressed him contentiously, “Because I don’t think my mommy knows.”
Meg blushed all the more.
“Of course she does,” Luke said firmly. Then looked at Meg with all the intimacy of a once-dear friend, letting her know with a single glance that he agreed with everyone else and thought she wasn’t being fair to anyone, by keeping Jeremy’s paternity a secret.
Unfortunately, Meg knew it wasn’t that simple. Jeremy didn’t just want to find out who his father was. He wanted a daddy in his life and Meg’s. He wanted the kind of two-parent family other kids had. And while there was always a slim chance that might happen in a sort of marriage-of-convenience way, were Meg to try to get Jeremy’s father to take responsibility for their son at this point. There was also the equally strong possibility that Jeremy’s father would—once the first flush of excitement wore off—be interested in a much less taxing arrangement than what Jeremy had in mind.
Meg had seen it happen plenty of times in her years as a nurse. Fathers who were thrilled and attentive one year, too busy or just plain not interested the next and practically estranged the following year. When the romance of it all wore off, it was always the kids who suffered, who felt somehow they were to blame for the father walking away from the child they’d never planned on and the woman they had never really loved in the first place.
Meg would rather have her son do without than have his hopes raised and then crushed, his heart broken, as hers had been. She didn’t want him to think he had magically found the love he had been looking for all his life, only to see it slip away the next. As it was, Jeremy had her to rely on. She would never make him feel he was a burden or be too busy for him, never lose interest as time went on and walk away from him.
“Let’s not discuss this now, please,” Meg said.
The three sisters exchanged glances. Lilah and John McCabe looked worried, too. The kids all appeared confused. “I’m going to put the finishing touches on lunch,” Meg said, hardening her heart and letting everyone know the subject of Jeremy’s paternity was closed, just as it had always been.
THANKS TO LILAH AND JOHN MCCABE and their insistence in drafting everyone who stopped in to help Luke unpack and get his house in order, by bedtime the work was finished. There were towels in the linen closet, sheets on the beds and plenty of food and beverages stocking his pantry and fridge. The only thing that hadn’t gone quite according to plan were the sleeping arrangements. Although there were bedrooms for all, his three little girls wanted to share one room. Knowing how hard the move had been for them, Luke had put their bureaus, clothes and bookshelves in one bedroom, all their toys in another and their beds in the third so that they could sleep together in the bedroom across the hall from his. It made for a rather strange arrangement of furniture and belongings upstairs, but he figured that as time passed and they grew more comfortable in their new house, they would go back to each having her own room again. Meantime, he had three very tired little girls on his hands, Luke noted, as he tucked them into their beds. Weary as they might be, however, they still had a lot on their minds.
“You have to help Jeremy, Daddy,” Susie said.
Becca nodded. “We told him you were real good at finding things.”
Amy added, “Jeremy’s real sad because he can’t find his daddy.”
His girls looked increasingly worried as Susie explained, “He can’t find him because he doesn’t know where he is.”
Or even who he is, Luke thought, once again wishing that he were Jeremy’s father so he could quickly put everything to right for Meg and the boy.
“I am sure Jeremy and his mommy are talking about this very thing right now,” Luke said gently, doing his best to reassure his daughters the way he wished he could comfort Meg’s son. “And I’m also sure they will work everything out.” If only because Jeremy was not about to let the subject rest until they did so. “Now you girls go to sleep,” Luke said, tucking them in one by one.
“Okay, Daddy.” There were kisses and hugs all around. Then, minutes later, deep, even breathing.
With a sigh Luke headed back downstairs. He wished he could fix things for Jeremy and Meg, but the truth was, since he wasn’t Jeremy’s father after all, it wasn’t any of his business. Luke looked out the window, blinked at what he saw, then paused and blinked one more time.
Then again, maybe it was his business, Luke decided as he walked outside and confronted the person marching down the sidewalk, dragging his loaded red wagon behind him. A backpack that looked crammed to the gills, a stuffed animal, a sailboat and a toy dump truck were inside it. “Hello, Jeremy.”
Jeremy looked at Luke and, chin set stubbornly, kept right on going, pulling his little red wagon behind him.
Unable to help but admire his gumption, even if his mother clearly had no idea what he was up to, Luke fell into step beside Jeremy. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
Chapter Two
Jeremy turned to face Luke contentiously, suddenly looking far older than his years. “I’m running away from home.”
Things were obviously more serious than Meg knew here, Luke thought. He glanced at Meg’s cottage. The lights were still on upstairs, but the downstairs was dark, which probably meant Meg was either in bed or getting ready for bed. Figuring the only way to keep Jeremy from running away again was to hear him out and convince him this was absolutely not the way to solve his problems with his mom, Luke suggested calmly, “How about we have a man-to-man talk before you go, then? I make a pretty mean chocolate milkshake. What do you think? Got time to stop in and have one with me?”
Clearly not wanting to be kept from his quest, Jeremy hesitated. “Will Susie, Becca and Amy be there?” he asked.
Luke shook his head matter-of-factly. “No, they’re asleep. It’ll be just the two of us. A guys only sort of thing.”
Again Jeremy had to think about it. Eventually his thirst for a chocolate