Emma wriggled, trying to get out of the high chair, just wanting to move. Cubes of Jell-O were scattered on the tray and on the floor, but clearly she’d had enough of her snack and was ready to escape her confinement. Paige glanced at her watch and frowned. “I can’t keep her here all night.”
“I could—” Zach began, then snapped his jaw shut.
She sighed. “I know I’m being unreasonable. I just can’t seem to stop myself.”
“And I don’t know what to say or do to reassure you that I’m not going to disappear with her.”
Paige put her empty cup on the tray beside his. She didn’t know if it was the eagerness with which he’d listened to the story of Emma’s birth or the attentiveness she’d observed in his interaction with the child, but she decided that it was time—maybe past time—to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Would you trust me with your Jeep?” she asked him.
His brows rose. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
She responded by digging her car keys out of her purse. “Leave me yours and you can have mine to take Emma back to my place. It’s easier than trying to move her car seat,” she explained, then couldn’t resist adding, “That and I have antitheft tracking, so if you take off with the baby, the cops won’t have any trouble finding you.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he said drily, as he unhooked the tray from the high chair.
Desperate for freedom, Emma flung herself forward. Paige had a flash of panic as she remembered that she hadn’t fastened the grimy safety strap around the little girl’s waist, but Zach—obviously having anticipated the move—blocked her easily with a hand.
Emma frowned and opened her mouth to protest, but before she could make a sound, Zach had deftly plucked her from the seat and set her on her feet. She looked up at him, grateful but still wary, and took a few tottering steps toward Paige.
“Pawk?” she said hopefully.
It was her new favorite word and her favorite place. There was a small park at the end of the block where they lived in Syracuse and a bigger park even closer to the house on Chetwood Street, and Paige had gotten in the habit of taking Emma there after her nap. The little girl had been most displeased to be going in the car instead of to the park when she woke up today and clearly hadn’t forgotten.
“You’re going to go home with Zach,” Paige told her.
Emma stole a cautious glance in his direction, then shook her head. “Pawk,” she said again.
“I can’t today,” Paige said.
“But I can,” Zach said.
Emma stole another glance at him, but continued to cling to Paige.
“What’s your favorite thing at the park?” he asked. “The swings or the slide?”
Emma seemed to get what he was saying and her love of the park apparently outweighed her lingering uncertainty about this new man who had suddenly appeared in her life, because she looked right at him this time and said, “Pawk?”
He nodded.
Emma released her hold on Paige and held out her arms to Zach.
Chapter Five
When Paige returned to the maternity-wing waiting room, she found that Gage’s brother, Craig, and his wife, Tess, had joined the party. There were also two other, older couples, who she figured were the prospective grandparents of some other baby.
She slid into the vacant chair next to the sofa where Ashley sat close to her husband. Her head was on his shoulder, and his hand was on the curve of her belly. The baby must have kicked because Cam’s hand snapped back and Ashley laughed.
“You’d think I’d be used to that by now,” he murmured.
“You’d think,” Ashley agreed.
Paige felt an unexpected pang of envy as she watched them interact. She couldn’t be happier for both of her cousins, even if she’d never thought she wanted what they had. For certain, she’d been shocked and panicked when she’d learned that she had been named Emma’s legal guardian. And in that moment, she’d been certain that she did not want the responsibility of an infant.
Of course, her feelings had soon changed. Now she couldn’t imagine her life without Emma and she refused to worry what Zach’s presence could mean for the status quo she’d established with Olivia’s baby, or what it could mean to the idea that had only recently begun to take root in her mind and her heart of someday having a baby of her own—a brother or a sister for Emma.
Ashley looked over at her. “Where’s Emma?”
“She went home with Zach.” She glanced at her cousin for reassurance. “Please tell me I haven’t made a very big mistake.”
“You haven’t made a very big mistake,” Ashley said obligingly.
The words did little to alleviate her concerns. She chewed on the edge of a thumbnail, as she sometimes did when she was worried, but she didn’t realize she was doing it until Ashley gently tugged her hand away from her mouth.
“He hasn’t been alone with her before,” she said, trying to explain the origin of her concern.
“Then it’s probably time he was.”
“She’s going to be wanting dinner soon,” she suddenly realized. “And I didn’t tell him what to feed her.”
“I’m sure he’ll manage,” Cam told her.
But Paige wasn’t nearly as certain.
“Do you remember the first time you babysat Emma?” Ashley asked her.
She nodded. “I didn’t have a clue.”
“And Emma couldn’t say a word to tell you if she was hungry or thirsty or tired.”
“She doesn’t say much now,” Paige noted.
“Well, Zach looks to me like a man who’s capable of figuring things out. But if you’re really not comfortable with the situation, why don’t you go home, too?”
“Because I want to be here when Megan’s baby is born.”
“Well, if you’re determined to stay, then stop chewing your nails. You’re making me nervous.”
She flushed and pulled her hand away from her mouth again.
Baby steps, Zach reminded himself as he sat Emma on top of the toddler slide.
He had to be patient, to give both Paige and Emma time to get to know him and feel comfortable with him. Unfortunately, that might take more time than he had.
His heart had torn wide open the first time Emma looked at him and started to cry. As ridiculous as he knew it was, he felt as if she’d rejected him. Just the latest in a string of women who had done so.
Heather was the first. Of course, he’d been a lot younger then and his emotions much more vulnerable. She’d been a model, stunningly beautiful, and he’d been blinded by lust. They’d dated for almost two years, and she’d seemed happy enough to be with him so long as he worked around her schedule. She’d even told him that she loved him. But when Zach got his first overseas assignment and their relationship was no longer convenient, she’d unceremoniously dumped him.
The first heartbreak had been as bitter as first love had been sweet, and losing Heather had taught him a valuable if painful lesson. Since then, he’d guarded his heart.
He’d had relationships with other women, of course, but because of his career, none were long-term or serious. His relationship with Olivia had been no different,