Darcy nodded. Mimi was great. In fact, it was Mimi, Jimmy’s mother, who had taken her in when she had the twins. She was living with her right now. Mimi had health problems and Darcy had two little babies who required looking after. They needed each other and they seemed to have the perfect fit, for now.
“You really have been out of touch, haven’t you?” she noted. “How did your mother manage to find you?”
“She hired a private investigator.”
So he hadn’t even contacted the mother he claimed to be so close to. She frowned. This lack of family feeling did not bode well for his having any interest in the boys. But she’d known that all along.
“So all those things you said when we knew each other in …” She had force herself to say the name of the city. “In Paris …”
“Ah. You remember Paris, do you?” He pretended to be surprised.
She frowned, looking away. “Of course, I remember Paris.”
“But you’d like to forget,” he said softly, then grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling that what happened in Paris is looming over us like … like this giant vulture ready to pick apart the bones of our relationship?”
“Relationship?” she responded tartly. “Do we have a relationship? I thought that was one of those things you vowed never to have.”
He sighed. “Tell you what, Darcy. I’ll make you a deal.”
Folding her arms, she looked at him sideways.
“What sort of deal?”
“Look. Facing reality, we’re probably going to be working together. It would be best if we could fix things so that’s possible. So why don’t we just put Paris behind us? That was then. This is now. We’ve both changed. Circumstances have certainly changed. A lot of water under the bridge.” He shrugged. “Let’s start over again. Completely new.”
He rose and stuck out his hand. “Hi. I’m Mitch Carver. And I’m very pleased to meet you, Darcy Connors. I’m sure we’ll work well together.”
She stared at him and found her hand enveloped in his once again, but she couldn’t join in the general good cheer he was trying to promote. Act as though Paris never happened? Sorry. There were two little impediments waiting for her at home that made all this impossible.
Still, his touch had power. She felt his energy, his inner strength, and especially, his raw, masculine appeal, just in the warmth of his hand. Her pulse began to race, as though something exciting was about to happen. Startled, she pulled her hand out of his.
“You are so arrogant,” she told him gently, wishing she could will away his attractive presence. “You think you can wipe out the past, just by deciding to.”
“Of course. Why not?”
She shook her head. “I think you still have a lot to learn,” she said, regarding him narrowly.
Okay, she finally had a plan. She would think things over tonight, develop a method of attack, and give it to him in the morning. It would probably be best to do that somewhere outside of work. After all, she had no idea how he was going to react, but she did have a feeling it was going to be messy.
“Tell you what,” she said, turning to go. “Meet me tomorrow morning at The Jumpin’ Bean. You remember where that is, don’t you? Seven-thirty. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
He frowned, rising to see her out, his gaze suddenly alert. “What is it?”
She shook her head. “Tomorrow,” she said. “Will you meet me?”
He shrugged. “Of course.”
She nodded. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”
And she left his office feeling a little better about the future. At least she had a plan.
“Look at that, boys,” Mimi Foster announced in her slow Texas drawl. “Your mama’s home!”
Darcy swept her two toddlers up in her arms, laughing as they babbled at her happily and Sparky, Mimi’s little white fluffy dog, danced around her, barking noisily.
“Oh hush, Sparky,” she said, and to her babies, “My little ducks, I’m so glad to see you.” She cooed, kissing one and then the other and holding both tightly. “Have you been good for Mimi today?”
“They’ve been perfect angels, both of them,” Mimi lied kindly. A tall, slender woman, she favored exotic caftans and chandelier earrings.
“Right. I’ll just bet they have.” Darcy sighed as she put them back down in the playpen. Looking around the tidy front room of the modest Spanish-style house she’d been sharing with Jimmy’s mother since she’d come back to Terra Dulce in the San Antonio area, she shook her head. “Oh, Mimi, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Darcy, darlin',” the older woman said, rising and giving her friend a hug. “You know the three of you are my family now. Without y’all I would just wither up and blow away.”
Mimi and her mother had been best friends, and though they lived in cities hundreds of miles apart, there had been plenty of visits and vacations spent together. For years her mother and Mimi had planned and plotted, trying to conjure up a romance between Darcy and Jimmy that just never quite panned out. Jimmy had always been more interested in cars than he had in girls. And Darcy … well, Darcy had seen Mitch.
The first time she’d noticed him, she must have been about eleven. He was probably fourteen and full of teenage swagger. He’d stopped by the Foster house to help Jimmy work on an old car Jimmy’s dad had in the driveway. Darcy’s family had been there on their usual summer visit and she’d watched from the window. She thought most boys were “icky” at that point in her life. But Mitch was different. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. From then on, Mitch was her standard for male excellence.
And now he was here and she was finally going to have to tell Mimi that he was the father of her children. She knew Mimi had hoped that Jimmy was their father at first. She’d let her know that wasn’t the case, but she hadn’t gone any further than that and Mimi hadn’t tried to pry it out of her. The rest of the world, especially those she worked with, assumed Jimmy had been the father, and she hadn’t done anything to counter that. When you came right down to it, she hadn’t told anyone the full truth. And now, she had to find a way to tell Mitch.
She spent the next hour playing with her children and thinking about Mitch. Tonight she would take a long bath and work up a good way to present the facts to him. She had to phrase it just right. She had to let him know that she expected him to be a factor in their lives.
A part of her wished she could just grab her kids and make a run for it, start over somewhere fresh without all these problems. But she knew running just brought up new problems. And then the old ones came along and found you anyway.
Besides, it didn’t seem likely she could get away in time, especially as, looking out the picture window, she saw Mitch coming up the front walk at this very moment. In seconds he would be knocking on the front door.
Sheer panic shot through her veins. Without thinking twice, she snatched up both babies, kicked the playpen behind the couch and whisked them into their bedroom before the doorbell rang. Her only hope was to move up naptime by an hour. Would these two little mop-heads cooperate?
“Mitch Carver! You darlin'!”
Mimi had answered the door and Darcy knew she was throwing her arms around the man who had been her son’s childhood friend. Darcy listened intently as she put her babies down in their beds, hoping against hope they might take a nice nap. Maybe this could be quick. Maybe Mitch would just pay his respects and be on his way. Maybe Mimi would forget to mention that Darcy was living here with her. Maybe.
“Mama,” Sammy was saying sleepily, giving her a toothless smile. “Mama, Mama,