“Because Aimee and I prayed for you, don’t you see? The minute we heard you were coming home, we went to The Boss. We asked Him for you. I mean…Aimee and I don’t want that Linda Burroughs, for heaven’s sake. If Dad married her, everybody would be seriously miserable.” She tucked in her chin and shook her head. “I mean seriously miserable.”
“Your dad might not think so” Meg suddenly felt exhausted. Her emotions had run amok all day and in the last few moments they’d been through hoops. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
She had to consider that Kelsey might be in love with Linda. Though he hadn’t said anything or even hinted at it. But then why would he? And when would he have had time?
“Dad doesn’t want her either, really,” Lissa assured. “It’s just that she keeps calling him and stuff like that.”
“Besides,” Aimee airily enthused, “now you’re home, there’s no reason for him to go out with her anymore.”
From the house’s open windows she heard a telephone ring. Insistently. Where was Kelsey? He’d gone inside to make calls, Aimee had said. Yet no one answered, and although Meg couldn’t hear what the answering machine said, she heard the low murmur of Kelsey’s recorded voice.
Her nerves went on overload. Perhaps one of his calls was to Linda Just maybe he’d waited for her to leave to speak to the woman who was now in his life.
“I really have to go, girls.” Opening the car door, she slid into the seat. “My mother will be in a tizzy if I’m not there soon.”
“You’ll think about it, won’t you, Aunt Meg?” Lissa begged.
“Please?” asked Aimee.
“Umm…” was all she could manage. How could she not think about Lissa and Aimee’s wild, improbable proposal?
Think? Or dream? And wonder what Kelsey wanted, or who?
Meg made her escape quickly, feeling if she remained one minute longer she’d be signed on the dotted line of a marriage contract—even a motherhood contract—before she could breathe out the words I love you.
She just wished Kelsey’s daughters weren’t so completely charming. Her enchantment with the kids only added to the fanciful possibilities her overworked longings had already created. Never mind the drawback of needing to win over the boys; it wouldn’t keep her dreams from soaring.
Sleep? Not much of it tonight, Meg suspected.
As the compact’s taillights disappeared down the drive, Kelsey remained still as a statue near the dark living room window. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, hadn’t intended to horn in on his daughters’ adolescent desire to talk with a mother figure.
He just hadn’t figured on his children asking Meg to be their mother.
He felt caught between sheer dumb shock and the need for bellyaching laughter. He’d had no idea his children wanted another woman in their lives so much. But not just any woman, he reminded himself. Meg.
He did know they didn’t much care for Linda, though. But how had they become so desperate about it all?
Had he been so casual in accepting Linda’s invitations that he hadn’t given the entire matter his proper attention? He’d only thought of Linda as another lonely adult looking beyond their children for occasional company. He’d never felt romantic toward Linda, never indicated he had anything but friendship on his mind. The question of marriage had never come up. Or even hinted at, from his end of things.
His two oldest children astonished him. Imagine, suggesting to Meg…! Telling her not only of their own need, but his. Asking…
And then he did imagine. Meg!
His Meg, cousin by marriage, pretty and sweet-tempered in a way that was seldom seen in this day and age. Yet a nineties woman for all that, smartly intelligent, efficient and seemingly tireless.
It hit him somewhere between his heart and his gut.
How impossible was it? His kids needed a mother, all right, all five of them. A full-time ever-present big-hearted woman. Who better than Meg? Meg, whom he knew, liked—even loved as a friend.
He wouldn’t give a thought to how badly he needed a wife. Someone to offer warmth and love. Some nights—Well, it was just as well he didn’t dwell on how empty he sometimes felt, how lonely his bed. But he wasn’t about to marry just anyone in order to fill it.
As needy as his body sometimes felt, Kelsey couldn’t bring himself to engage in a casual affair, either. He didn’t want to, couldn’t think of making love in a careless, meaningless fashion with someone who meant little to him—something he’d be ashamed for his kids to know.
But Meg Lawrence wasn’t just anybody. She was…
Well, she was Meg!
Kelsey made a turn around the darkened room before finally lowering himself into the big chair. He leaned his head back, his thoughts and emotions in a swirl.
Dee Dee had been the love of his youth, and he wasn’t ready to leave her memory behind yet. Or ever.
Besides that, any woman who came into his life would have to realize he was already on overflow as he tried to balance his and his children’s lives right now. Who—what woman in her right mind—would want to marry him with five little rowdies to curtail?
And what would she get out of it? His affection? He wasn’t sure, other than his own physical needs, if he had any love left to offer a woman.
But Meg would know all that without any explanation, his heart murmured. She had been so much a part of them all those first years. Asking Meg to marry him would be like asking a part of himself to come home.
Stunned at that sudden thought, he rose to pace the room once more. The children’s voices drifted to him through the open windows; he should call them in to bed. Instead, he leaned on the window sash and listened to the night sounds, wondering about the new thoughts and growing excitement noting through his system.
Slow down, he told himself. Just because Lissa and Aimee want it to happen doesn’t mean it will. Or should.
He had to think about this logically. Why would Meg even consider giving up her career? A highly successful one, according to Audrey Lawrence. If Audrey could be entirely believed, Meg was the star player in her firm. Audrey exaggerated sometimes, but still—
Could he ask Meg to give that up? Where would he find the unmitigated gall?
He circled the room again, picking up and putting down an industry magazine on raising beef cattle, finally turned on the corner lamp over his computer, knowing he had to update his files, stared at the pile of unfolded laundry on the couch and once more listened to the distant voices of his children. He should urge them to bed soon.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to rob them of all their childhood; he’d let them stay up a little longer and sleep late tomorrow. Even though he couldn’t
He’d have to leave Lissa in charge again while he worked. He’d tried part-time housekeepers, which was all he could afford. At the beginning of the summer he’d let go of the last one.
Yes, and the house showed constant neglect, with the laundry always behind, and too many meals of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and frozen pizza. And Lissa and Aimee had less freedom to be teens all the time. Though he thought he could hold off his worry about Aimee a little while longer, Lissa already talked of the school’s homecoming dance this fall, and he hadn’t a clue how to parent a girl child who’d reached the age of raging hormones and daily temptations.
Furthermore the house needed a coat of paint, his south fence should’ve been replaced last year, and Thad had barely passed fifth grade math. He hadn’t the time to coach him no matter how he stretched his day. Phillip…he felt decidedly guilty about his second