Chapter Twenty-Three
Dax drove Kyra and Ruby to Black Springs for Ruby’s second MRI. On the way home, he pulled into McDonald’s, because Ruby said that’s what they always did when she went to see a doctor.
This Friday, Dax and Kyra would be married on the lakeshore by a lay preacher whose wife would witness the ceremony. On Monday, Ruby would start first grade. On Wednesday, Kyra would take her real estate exam. On the following Monday, Ruby would have her surgery.
Dax was feeling optimistic about things in spite of the looming surgery. His adoration of Ruby had only grown. And even though things had been a little tense from time to time, he thought he and Kyra were good. Solid. He believed they’d come to a mutual understanding of how their relationship was unfolding. Whenever he felt a distance from her, it would magically disappear when they were in bed.
Yessir, their sex life was magic as far as Dax was concerned—they’d had some mind-bending experiences together, and every one of them had felt important or huge.
Yeah, he was feeling pretty damn good about the whole thing. Once they got past the surgery, he thought it would be smooth sailing. His idea—one that he’d not discussed yet with Kyra—was that the three of them would move to Teaneck to be closer to his son. He’d haul his furniture to East Beach from there.
This particular morning, Dax borrowed Mr. McCauley’s trailer. With Mr. McCauley’s help, he’d loaded the table he’d made for Wallace to deliver to the client’s home on the other end of the lake. Mr. McCauley had offered to ride along and help unload the table at the other end. “I got nothing better to do this morning,” the retiree said.
On the way to the south end of Lake Haven, Mr. McCauley chatted about how he was starting to winterize the empty cottages. “By the way, seems you and Ms. Kokinos are getting a little cozy,” he said and winked.
Dax smiled. “You could say so. I’ll let you in on a secret—we’re getting married Friday.”
Mr. McCauley’s mouth gaped open. “The devil you say!” he said and slapped the seat beside him. “That was fast.”
“It was,” Dax agreed. “But when you know, you know.” He didn’t know why he said that, exactly, but he wasn’t going to say anything about the necessity of the marriage for Ruby’s sake. She didn’t need her business all over town. They’d agreed to keep their arrangement quiet. Not a secret, exactly, but as Kyra put it, “without fanfare,” at least until after Ruby had come through her crisis. “She deserves her privacy,” she said.
Dax couldn’t disagree with that.
After the surgery was behind them and Ruby was on the mend—she would be on the mend, Dax was sure of it—they would either host a celebration or go their separate ways. But Dax never thought about going separate ways. He thought about the sort of celebration he’d like to have. And he didn’t consider telling a few close friends outside the bounds. Kyra’s friend Deenie knew.
“Sue is going to have a cow, she damn sure is,” Mr. McCauley said jovially. “She’s pretty attached to that little girl.”
“So am I,” Dax said. “She has a way of getting under a person’s skin and setting up house there.”
“She has a way of getting in the plant beds. She’s worse than your dog,” Mr. McCauley scoffed and laughed. “Well, good for you, Dax, good for you. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Dax didn’t know about that, but Mr. McCauley’s encouragement spurred him to make the same announcement later when he swung by John Beverly’s to collect his check for the table.
“Just the hunk I wanted to see,” Wallace said when Dax sauntered in. “The Lake Haven resort is renovating their lobby. They’re looking for some unusual coffee tables. Are you interested?”
“Of course I’m interested,” Dax said. If business kept building as it had, he was going to have to get a larger workspace.
“I have some photos to show you,” Wallace said. “Wait here, and I’ll be back with them and a check.”
Dax waited. He glanced to the cash register counter and noticed Janet sitting behind it, her head in a magazine. This was the first time he’d ever entered the shop and Janet wasn’t in his face. He moved closer, but she wouldn’t look up from her magazine.
“Are you never going to speak to me again?” Dax asked. “Asking for a friend.”
“What do you think?” Janet asked curtly.
“I think you need to give up on matchmaking and stick with interior design.”
That remark caused Janet to throw down her magazine and stand up. She yanked down on her short skirt and said, “Why didn’t you like her?”
“I like her,” Dax said sincerely. “She’s nice. But she’s a little intense, Janet, I’m not going to lie. And . . . the truth is, I’ve had something else going on.”
Janet snorted. “Don’t tell me the waitress next door.”
Why should he not tell her that? “As a matter of fact,” he said.
“What’s this?” Wallace asked, poking his head out of the office as he waved the check around. “You and that little dish next door? Really, Janet, you can’t be surprised. He’s practically adopted that little girl.”
“Actually,” Dax said, “you may as well know . . . we’re getting married Friday.”
Unlike Mr. McCauley, Wallace and Janet did not grin and slap the car seat. They stared at him in stunned silence. “What did you just say?” Wallace asked.
“I’m pretty sure you heard me, judging by how white you both are,” Dax said and gingerly reached for the check before Wallace wadded it up in a fit of shock.
“Are you crazy? I think you’re crazy!” Wallace exclaimed.
Dax thought about it a moment. “Don’t think so,” he said. “It’s complicated, but there is a method in our madness.”
“Dax!” Janet cried. She’d come out from around the counter. “You can’t marry someone you just met.”
“I didn’t just meet her. I met her earlier this summer and we’ve been dating for a while now.”
“No, you haven’t! One summer is hardly long enough to know if you’re ready to marry,” Wallace said, going all superior on him. “What is the matter with you?”
“I like her.” Dax said it without thinking and didn’t fully realize what he’d said until Wallace and Janet exchanged a look of terror.
“What about love?” Janet demanded. “Don’t you want to love the woman you’re going to marry? Doesn’t like seem a little like a few dollars short of a hundred-dollar bill?”
“I do love her,” he said, flustered now. He felt a little weird about saying it to these two and never having said it to Kyra. He hadn’t said it because he wasn’t entirely certain what his feelings were. He was just supremely confident he would love her. He wasn’t the kind to let doubts ruin a good thing, and he knew from the way they’d made love just last night that the basis for a good relationship, a good marriage, was there. He and Kyra just needed to relax and let it unfold.
“This is crazy,” Janet said, throwing her hands up. “I always thought you were a smart guy, Dax, but after this, I have to say, I’m glad you dumped Heather.”
“I didn’t dump her—”
“Because I would hate to see her mixed up with crazy.”
“Okay, all right, as usual, your comments on my love life are unwelcome and just flat-out wrong,” Dax said. “Where are the pictures, Wallace? I need to get going.”
Wallace was still staring at him like he’d suddenly sprouted an extra head. “I think you’ve finally lost your mind,” he said, nodding. “We’ve lost you.” He shoved a binder toward Dax.
Dax quickly reviewed the pictures of the decor and the sort of tables they wanted and got out of there as soon as he could. He didn’t like the daggers Janet was staring at him or the way Wallace kept looking at him like he was some kind of mutant.
From there, he drove to Teaneck and was lucky enough to arrive just as Jonathan was waking from his nap. Ashley was in the living room with him. Stephanie was at work. Dax had memorized her work rotation so he knew how to avoid her.
“He’s huge,” Ashley said, beaming. “I can’t feed him enough.”
“He’s going to be strong,” Dax said and took the baby from Ashley. He couldn’t help the idiot grin he got every time he looked at his son.
“You’re so happy with him,” Ashley said and curled her feet up under her on the chair. “I know how badly you’ve wanted children, and I’m so glad I was able to give you at least one child. In spite of the way it came about.” She smiled sheepishly.
Dax didn’t want to be reminded of what had happened between them. “Looks like I’m going to have another,” he said to Jonathan.
“What?”
“I mean Ruby,” he said and looked at Ashley. “Her mother and I are getting married.”
Ashley’s eyes widened. “Dax, that’s wonderful! Oh my God, I am so surprised. When?”
“Friday.”
“Friday! What are you talking about? Why so fast?”
He shrugged and looked at Jonathan again. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said vaguely.
Ashley uncurled herself, leaned across the space between them, and kissed Dax’s forehead. “Congratulations,” she said. “I hope you are happier than you ever thought possible.”
Dax looked at his ex-wife. He believed she wished that for him. He didn’t know if he could be that happy, but once again he was filled with confidence that if he could be driven to such heights, it would be with Kyra.
It was half past six when Dax pulled into the drive at Number Two and noticed the strange car in front of Kyra’s house. He got out of his truck and took a closer look. It was a rental. Whoever it was, he hoped they were on their way sooner rather than later—he’d bought an expensive bottle of wine today that he wanted to share with Kyra.
As he started toward the house, Kyra’s door opened and a couple walked out ahead of her.
He waved; Kyra pointed to him and said something to her guests, then all three started moving in his direction.
As they drew closer, Dax’s belly did a funny little flip. His instincts told him who that man was. He had red hair. Not as red as Ruby’s, more of a strawberry blond, but red all the same. And as they reached him, he saw that the man had Ruby’s blue eyes.
“Hey,” Kyra said to Dax. She was nervous. “Dax, this is, ah . . . this is Josh Burton, and his wife, Liz.”
Dax stared at Josh Burton, debating whether or not to put a fist through his face, for many reasons, but foremost for Ruby.
“Good to meet you,” Josh Burton said, clearly not reading the signs. He offered his hand.
Dax shifted the wine bottle he was carrying to his left hand and forced himself to shake the bastard’s hand.
“Josh and Liz are staying at the Lake Haven resort for a few days,” Kyra said. She had her hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans.
“Why?” Dax asked bluntly, and ignored the way Kyra’s eyes rounded with alarm.
“It’s a fair question,” Josh said breezily. “We’re checking in on Ruby.”
Checking in? Like she was a pet at a zoo?
“Anyhoo,” Josh said, and Dax hated him even more for saying anyhoo, “Kyra, we’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine?”
“Sounds good,” she chirped in a voice Dax had never heard her use.
“Good to meet you, Dax,” Liz said politely. “Kyra says you’ve been a great help to her during this very trying time.”
“Someone had to be,” Dax said.
“We better go, Liz,” Josh muttered and avoided Dax’s gaze.
Kyra didn’t. She shot him a warning look, then walked Josh and Liz Burton to their rental car. She watched them pull away but she didn’t wave. She just stood with her hands still jammed in her pockets until they’d gone around the turn. Then she turned around to Dax.
“What the hell?” he asked bluntly.
“He came out of nowhere,” she said. “With a check. And his wife. Apparently it was all her idea.” She shook her head as if she were mystified by it.
“But how? How did they know where to find you?”
“I texted Josh my address a week or so ago and asked him to send the money he’d promised.”
“And they came here to deliver the money to you personally? From where?”
“From Indianapolis.” She was standing so stiffly. “And they wanted to meet Ruby, of course.”
His head was beginning to ache. “They came all this way, out of the blue, to meet the daughter he’s refused to acknowledge for almost seven years? And Ruby? How did she take the stunning news that the man in her cottage was her African cat trainer, legless skateboarding dad?”
“She doesn’t know who he is,” Kyra said, her voice going soft. “I told her they were some friends of mine. That’s all she knows.”
“I don’t get this, Kyra. I don’t understand—”
“I’m as surprised as you are, Dax. Can we go in your house and talk about this?”
“Where is Ruby?”
“She’s with Mrs. McCauley. Please, Dax—I need to sit down.”
He sighed. “Yes, of course. Come in.”
He walked up the porch steps with Kyra and opened the door for her, pushed Otto out of the way, and walked into the kitchen to deposit the wine. He had to brace himself against the counter for a moment, because he was reeling. When he’d gathered himself, he returned to the living room. Kyra had been sitting on the edge of a chair, waiting, but stood as he entered. She looked far too nervous, and Dax didn’t like that. It was all he could do to remain calm. “What does he want?”
Her chin started to tremble. “To . . . to be a father,” she said, her voice shaking.
Dax’s heart stopped. He stared at her in disbelief. He thought maybe Ruby’s dad wanted custody so he wouldn’t be stuck with child support, but he did not believe for one minute that asshole had somehow found a desire to know his daughter.
“From the beginning he wouldn’t acknowledge her because Liz didn’t know about Ruby. Well, she found out. And when she found out about Ruby, and the tumor, she wanted him to do the right thing.”
“Which is . . . what?” Dax asked as his pulse quickened.
“Basically, they want to put Ruby on their insurance and get her the best care possible.”
Dax was stunned. His thoughts were spinning so hard he felt light-headed.
“This is good news, right?” Kyra said and took a tentative step forward. “It’s like a gift from God, if you think about it. Suddenly Ruby is taken care of, and you and I . . . you and I can take our relationship slow, like you wanted. We don’t have to get married.”
Now Dax’s heart felt like it was cracking. Why did she say it like that, they didn’t have to get married?
“Dax?”
“Just give me a minute,” he begged her.
“I mean, if we want to marry, we can do it for the right reasons.”
He shot her a look.
“You . . . you were doing it for Ruby, which I so appreciate,” she said, stacking her hands on her heart. “But I think we can both agree it’s not an ideal way to start a marriage, with one of us beholden to the other.”
Jesus, but he felt so raw, as if every nerve was exposed. “I never said you were beholden to me, Kyra.”
“I know, I know,” she said and reached for his hand. “But I feel beholden. How can I not?”
He pulled his hand free. She couldn’t smooth this over with a kiss or a caress. “So this guy rides in on his white horse and that’s it? You’re going to let him in?”
“He is her biological father,” she said quietly. “And he has great insurance.”
“I have great insurance,” he loudly reminded her.
“I know! And that’s great!” she said, her expression too earnest. “If things progress with us, that’s good to know, because who knows what sort of care she’ll need in the years to come?”
She didn’t want to marry him. That’s all Dax could think. He was stunned by it, blindsided by it. He’d arranged everything, had told his friends. He’d just driven back from Teaneck full of hopes and optimism and goddammit, when would he learn? “Where are you going with them tomorrow?”
“To meet Dr. Mehta,” Kyra said with a wince.
Dax could feel the slice of the dagger through his heart. He’d been with Kyra every step of the way until the phantom father showed up, and that was it. His services were no longer needed.
“The results aren’t back, but . . . but they want to meet the doctor. Which I guess is understandable.”
It wasn’t so understandable to him. He felt adrift, untethered suddenly. He’d been planning and thinking, and he hadn’t counted on something like this. He wanted to marry Kyra on Friday. He wanted the responsibility for that little coconut. It didn’t seem so nebulous to him now, it seemed very much sewn into his heart.
“Please don’t be mad,” she begged him. “I just found out myself. They showed up here, they surprised me, and I was overwhelmed, and I haven’t had time to really process it, but my God, Dax, after all this time, he’s finally going to step up and do what’s right for his daughter.”
He shook his head in disbelief.
“Don’t you want to be off the hook?”
“I’m not on a hook, Kyra. My feet are firmly planted.”
Tears began to well in her eyes. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek against his chest. Dax couldn’t reciprocate. Not yet. The rug had been yanked out from beneath him for a second time, and he couldn’t deal with her just yet. He had to think.
He pulled her arms down. “Just . . . just let me absorb this, will you?”
Kyra tried to caress his cheek, but he backed away from it. “Sure,” she said, her voice soft and distant. She turned around and went out his door.
Dax didn’t know how long he stood there. But he moved when Otto stuck his head under his hand, looking for affection.
“Yeah, okay,” Dax said, and went into the kitchen to get the dog’s supper. At least he could count on Otto.