Jodie shrugged. “You have to admit this isn’t the most promising beginning.”
“It’s just a…a…” Donovan thought furiously, trying to think of something that would keep Jodie from dumping his brother before she’d ever met him. Even if he didn’t agree with this marriage, he didn’t want to ruin things for Cole.
“It’s a what?”
“It’s just a temporary condition,” he muttered finally. “Maybe it’s even good. You can see Fairbanks and get acquainted with the family without any distractions.” Even as the words left his mouth, he silently groaned.
Jodie laughed. “Right. Every marriage should begin without the distraction of a groom.”
“Okay, you got me. You now know the Masters family secret—we have incurable foot-in-mouth disease. Mom?” he called. “Come rescue your son.”
Come rescue both your sons.
Evelyn had been ecstatic that Cole was considering marriage. And when Donovan had called from his cell phone to let her know about the children, she’d gotten more excited than ever. It didn’t matter that it was a mail-order marriage—she felt her sons were irresistible, and that any woman alive would fall in love with them.
His mother came out of the kitchen, smiling. “Is Donovan being difficult?” she asked Jodie. “You have to forgive him. He means well.”
“He’s relatively harmless,” Jodie said. “I’ve just been admiring your home. It’s lovely.”
Evelyn beamed. “And I’ve been admiring your children. Penny is the sweetest thing, and Tadd is so smart. You must be proud of them.”
A faint, pleased blush colored Jodie’s cheeks as she nodded. Donovan sat back in a chair, trying to decide why she was so damned attractive to him. He’d always avoided dating women with children. Somehow it didn’t seem right to have casual affairs with single mothers—sort of disrespectful, and certainly ripe for disaster. It might be different if he wanted to get married, but he didn’t.
“Daddy, cookie?” asked Penny’s voice next to him. She held out the cookie, bits of it crumbling away between her fingers.
“Oh, dear,” Jodie said, hurrying to her daughter. “You’re making a mess, munchkin. We’d better clean you up.”
“It’s all right, she won’t hurt anything,” Evelyn called, but Jodie had already swept Penny up and was disappearing into the kitchen. When the door had swung closed, Evelyn looked at her son and raised an eyebrow. “Daddy?”
He squirmed under her questioning gaze. “It’s a misunderstanding, that’s all.”
“A big misunderstanding. In case you’ve forgotten, your rank in this arrangement is ‘Uncle,’ not ‘Daddy.”’
Donovan agreed; he just didn’t know how to repair matters. “Jodie tried to explain it to Penny, but she just assumed I was going to be her new daddy…and for a little angel she’s remarkably stubborn.”
“She is an angel,” Evelyn agreed thoughtfully. “And I like Jodie, too, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Donovan shot to his feet and paced the room. “She’s okay. Look, I’ve been thinking I’ll head back home to Kachelak. You and Shamus can show Jodie and the kids around Fairbanks, and I’ll get back to work.”
“Certainly not. You’re going to stay right here and get acquainted with your new sister-in-law. Besides, you can work out of your Fairbanks office. You’ve done it before.”
He turned and looked at his mother. “She isn’t my sister-in-law yet. And it’s not as convenient to work up here. It’s easier in Kachelak.”
“But you were coming up in a few days anyway,” she said stubbornly, “along with Mike and Ross and their families for the Golden Days celebration. You know, it’s been so nice since they got married—they’re all so happy together,” she murmured as though it was an entirely new thought, which it wasn’t. She played hostess to his partners on a regular basis and often urged her eldest son to find a “nice wife” of his own.
“Don’t,” Donovan warned.
“Don’t what, dear?”
“Don’t start in on the joys of marriage.” He usually laughed off her matchmaking efforts, but not today.
His mother’s smile was edged with mischief. “What’s wrong with marriage?”
“Of anyone, you ought to know,” he said tightly.
Most of the time Donovan didn’t think about the way his father had walked out, leaving a wife and two young boys to fend for themselves. It was harder to forget his mother struggling to clothe and feed them, not knowing what had happened to her husband, much less getting any support from him.
“Are you still that bitter?” Evelyn asked, her smile fading. “I’m not. I don’t think I ever was.”
“You were too exhausted to be bitter. Marriage is too much of a crapshoot to be worth the chance. I don’t know what Cole is thinking about, much less going about it in such a cockeyed way.” Donovan resumed his pacing, consumed by a restless energy he didn’t understand. “For God’s sake, it’s a mail-order marriage.”
“Not exactly. I know that’s what he calls it, but he’s friends with Jodie’s brother. Cole said that David talked about her all the time, and after a while he got curious.”
“You don’t propose out of curiosity.”
Evelyn sat on the couch and watched her eldest son pace. “Cole doesn’t feel the way you do about marriage. And now he’s the odd man out. One by one his friends here in Fairbanks have all gotten married and are starting their families. I think it’s why he bought the house, instead of staying in that tiny apartment. He’s lonely, Donovan.”
“Tell him to get a dog.”
She laughed softly. “I don’t think it’s that kind of lonely.”
In the kitchen Jodie heard enough of the conversation between mother and son to wish she were on a different planet. Donovan thought she was “okay,” but that his brother was crazy to marry her.
It hurt, though she didn’t understand why. Donovan was a stranger. His opinion shouldn’t count. Besides, she’d expected some resistance to the idea, especially since her own family—with the exception of David—thought it was crazy, too. She supposed Cole’s family had even more to worry about than she did. Jodie Richards was a mystery to them, an unknown woman who’d suddenly appeared, bringing two children with her.
At least she had her brother’s friendship with Cole to trust. And her father had investigated Cole with the zeal only a two-star general could muster. If Cole or his family had any unsavory secrets, Thaddeus McBride would have uncovered them in short order.
She glanced at Penny and Tadd. They were absorbed in playing with a litter of kittens, though they probably wouldn’t understand what Donovan had said, even if they’d heard him.
Silently Jodie rinsed the cloth she’d used to clean Penny’s face and fingers. There were cookie crumbs to clean up from the floor. If these people were going to become family, they’d have to accept her the way she was.
Even Donovan Masters.
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