CHAPTER 7
Jarod stared at the two of them blankly, and Sandy gave a little cry of unease.
“I heard all about that guy. It was on the news. They said he escaped from some prison in Tennessee. That he’s considered armed and dangerous.”
“And he was staring into our bathroom window?” Jarod demanded.
They were all sitting in Dan’s living room, near the fireplace and the beautiful floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows. Reeves instantly went to pull the drapes; Sandy shivered, and Jarod continued to frown.
“I don’t know if it was him or not, Jarod,” Kelly tried to explain. “I saw something—”
“And I went outside,” Dan told him patiently. “But whoever or whatever your mother saw was already gone. But if this guy is running around, it just seems safer if we stick together, huh?”
Jarod appeared to be a bit put out. “I can take care of her, you know,” he told Dan indignantly.
Dan didn’t take offense. He just smiled at Jarod easily. “I thought you might want to be near Sandy.”
“Oh. Oh!” Jarod said.
“Should I make cocoa and more popcorn, Mr. Marquette?” Reeves asked smoothly.
‘Sure, why not?” Dan replied. “Except that we’ll have to take a quick run over to the McGraw house so Kelly and Jarod can get a few things for the night.”
They all decided to go, except for Reeves, who intended to “repair the guest quarters” for the evening. Jarod started up again as soon as they were in the car, staring at his mother skeptically in the glow of the few streetlights they passed.
“I don’t understand this. You saw these eyes. Dan went out, but nothing was there. And you didn’t call the police for hours and hours? What were you doing in between?”
“Jarod!” Kelly exclaimed with exasperation. “I didn’t know anything about this escaped convict until we got to dinner. We ran into June, and she told us about him. I hadn’t seen the news. We called the police from the inn, and I assume they went out to look around.”
Kelly twisted around in the seat. She saw that Jarod was staring at Sandy and that she was staring back at him—and that they seemed to be sharing a very knowing smile.
Well, she didn’t owe those wayward teenagers any explanations, and she wasn’t going to give them any.
Dan was gazing straight ahead, watching the road. “We don’t know that it was the Peeper your mom saw, Jarod. It might just have been an animal.”
Sandy shivered in the back. “From what they say, the man is an animal.”
Jarod whispered something to her; Kelly heard a bit of it. Something about Sandy loving the animal in him. Sandy laughed, and Dan’s knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.
“That’s enough, you two!” he announced brusquely, and his voice was so stern that they both fell instantly silent. Kelly sank deeply into the seat and watched Dan, amused. Hmm. There was a double standard here. He might be a big boy and consider an affair of his choosing entirely proper—but though Sandy was pregnant and planning her wedding, Dan still wanted her to behave like a prim little girl.
Kelly shrugged and closed her eyes, still smiling. That was all right; she wasn’t quite used to the situation yet, either. Sandy and Jarod were still kids, still dependent. She and Dan were neither.
They drove into her driveway. Jarod hopped out with Dan, determined to check the back of the house and study the tree and window area. Sandy and Kelly followed more slowly. Sandy was silhouetted by the streetlight, and Kelly found herself scrutinizing the girl anew.
She was so pretty. Tall, slim and very attractive. She had her father’s coloring—including those dark eyes that could seduce like the devil’s own. Her hair, too, was her father’s. Longer, of course, falling down her back, but the same deep dark red, rich and luxurious.
There the similarities ended, because Sandy’s features were delicate, unlike Dan’s. Her face was a little heart, while his was an oval with a squared chin, broad cheekbones and a high forehead. Dan wasn’t just tall, he was heavily muscular, and Sandy was far more fragile.
What was her mother like? Kelly wondered. And what woman could have walked away from the beautiful baby that Sandy must have been?
Sandy will never do that, Kelly thought, watching the girl. Somehow, she had grown up being very loving; the hurt that she must have endured hadn’t made her bitter. Kelly bit her lower lip, thinking that Dan had done something very right with the girl. Oh, as people might say, Sandy had “gotten into trouble.” But it was probably true that she had been doing what everyone else her age was doing—she and Jarod had simply been caught.
That didn’t change the fact that she was a lovely girl. Quick to smile, polite, charming, eager to please. Dan had given her lots of love, enough for two parents, and it showed in everything about the girl.
She turned around suddenly, catching Kelly’s intense scrutiny. “What’s wrong?” she asked quickly.
Kelly grinned, shook her head and slipped her arm around Sandy’s waist, then headed toward the house. “Nothing is wrong, Sandy, nothing at all. Come on, let’s go in. You can help me get a few things.”
It wasn’t until they actually reached the house that Kelly remembered what an absolute mess everything was. Well, not everything, but her bedroom, certainly. They’d been running so late that the last thing in the world she’d been thinking of was the state of the bedroom. And if Jarod saw her bedroom…
If Sandy saw the bedroom…
“Sandy!”
“What?” Sandy asked, startled.
“Uh, run down to the basement for me, will you, please? There’s a game tomorrow. Jarod’s shoulder pads are down there, I think. Will you look for me, please?”
“Of course, Kelly, I’ll be glad to.”
Kelly stood there with a forced smile plastered to her features until Sandy started toward the kitchen and the cellar stairs.
As soon as she was gone, Kelly spun around and raced up the stairs to her bedroom. The sheets weren’t even attached to the bed anymore!
Desperately she made the bed, plumped the pillows and fixed the comforter. She was out of breath and gasping when she heard a voice behind her.
“Mom, why did you send Sandy down to the basement? My shoulder pads are in my locker.”
“In your locker?” Kelly smiled and sat down on the bed. “In your locker. I didn’t know.”
“Kelly?”
Dan was suddenly at the door, staring at her anxiously. She saw that he, too, had remembered the state of her bedroom as soon as he entered the house.
She saw him stare a little incredulously at her fix-it job, relax and grin. “Uh, are we ready?”
“Just about.”
“Okay. Sandy and I will be downstairs.”
He disappeared, but Jarod stayed, staring suspiciously at Kelly. “Just what were you up to?”
“Just what are you talking about?”
“You two seem kind of chummy.”
“Do we really?”
“Mom?” He moved into the room threateningly, all six-foot-two of him. “Mom, you’re not…?”
“I’m not what?” she demanded indignantly.
To her chagrin, Jarod laughed and sat down beside her. Then he fell back to lie staring up at the ceiling in amazement, still laughing. “Oh, my! You two are on our cases, and you’re up to the same thing!”
“Jarod! Who the hell told you I was up to anything?” Kelly was on her feet, staring at him coldly.
“Well, I don’t see the difference—”
“I sure do, young man,” Kelly said coolly. “I supported you; I raised you; I’m still trying to get you through college. In short, Jarod, you’re still a kid, and you had no right getting that sweet young girl pregnant. Don’t ever question me, Jarod McGraw. I’m the parent and you’re not. And it’s just that simple!”
Furious, she turned her back on him and started out of the room, ignoring him.
“Mom!”
She heard him bolt from the bed; he caught up to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, whirling her around. She was about to snap at him, but she noticed that his eyes had the sheen of tears on them, that he wasn’t being a wise guy anymore.
“I just want you to be careful,” he whispered to her.
Her anger died. “Jarod…”
“Mom, face it, please, and don’t get mad at me, but you’re just a babe in the woods! He’s been around. A lot. Sandy has told me that he’s had, well, half a dozen affairs. She thinks that when her mother left he became very bitter. That he’ll never trust a woman enough to really—to ready fall in love again.”
Kelly wondered at the truth of his words. She lowered her lashes, determined not to give anything away to him. “Jarod, Dan and I are just friends—a situation forced upon us by your situation. That’s it. I’m fine. Okay?”
He nodded.
She smiled. “You’re making me forget everything! Go and get your stuff for tonight and tomorrow.”
He stared walking down the hallway to his room. Kelly frowned, realizing that the light in his room was already on. Her heart suddenly started to flutter. She remembered that there was a lunatic loose in town. She didn’t stop to think that her son was a foot taller than she was and over a hundred muscular pounds heavier.
At that moment she remembered only that he was her child, her baby. She went dashing after him and pushed by him, determined to meet the danger first, if the light signified danger.
It didn’t. She dashed to his doorway, her heart pounding, to find Sandy sitting on his bed, serenely folding a pair of Jarod’s underwear.
“Sandy!” Kelly rasped out. “What are you doing?”
“Packing for Jarod,” Sandy replied.
Kelly suddenly thought that Dan wouldn’t appreciate this sight at all. After all, it was one thing to know that his daughter was pregnant. It even seemed okay that he liked Jarod—after all, the two kids were going to get married. As of old, the situation was going to be honorably rectified. But this domesticity…
“Sandy! Go downstairs, please! Before your father comes up!”
Sandy rose gracefully and swept by Kelly, hurt and indignant. “I’ve seen his underwear before,” she murmured.
“Sandy!” Jarod begged from behind Kelly.
Sandy disappeared. Kelly turned around to size up her son. He sized her up in return, and suddenly they both started to laugh.
He gave her a quick hug that threatened to break her ribs. She protested with a gasp, kissed his forehead and urged him to get going, promising that she would do the same.
A few minutes later they were ready to leave. Kelly locked everything up, wondering if spending a night away would do any good at all. They couldn’t leave forever. If the police didn’t get the Peeper tonight or tomorrow, she would have to come home anyway. The whole thing might be an exercise in futility.
But it was fun.
When they reached Dan’s house, they found that Reeves had a massive pile of perfectly salted and buttered popcorn ready. He’d made hot chocolate, really good hot chocolate. And hers and Dan’s, she discovered, had been spiked with just a touch of whiskey and crème de cacao.
They sat around in the living room watching an old World War Two movie on television, and Reeves—who had been in the RAF—told them what was real and what was pure invention.
She learned that Dan had met Reeves in West Germany where he had been stationed after a stint in Asia, and she worried just a little more about him. No one said it in so many words, but Kelly realized that Sandy’s mother hadn’t just walked out on him—he’d actually been in the service, overseas, when she had done it.
Maybe he never will trust a woman again, she thought, and then tried to tell herself that she was making way too much out of everything. All they had done was go to bed together, and as she had indicated to Jarod, she was old enough to deserve some enjoyment in her life.
But it hadn’t been just enjoyment. She knew that she cared about him. That she hadn’t been lying when she’d said, “I think I’m in love.”
That way of thinking could be very dangerous, Kelly decided.
When the movie ended she offered to help Reeves clean up. And when the cups and popcorn bowls had been put away, she yawned and asked Sandy to show her to her room. She said good-night to everyone, avoiding Dan’s eyes, and went up the beautiful, modern staircase.
Dan watched her go and wondered what she was feeling, and why she had fled so quickly. He wasn’t tired himself; he felt restless, on edge, as if paradise were still waiting for him.
The kids were still watching television, Dan murmured something and went into his office. He sat at his desk in the dark, hiking his feet up on it and staring out into the night.
Insane. His behavior had been just about insane. Dinner! So much for dinner, he scoffed. But a smile curved his lips, and he didn’t feel a bit guilty. He wanted the whole house to go to sleep so he could sneak around the darkened hallways like a kid and find her.
Kelly…
He liked her name; he liked the rhythm of it. He liked the smell of her perfume, and the way her hair brushed against his shoulder or his hand.
He closed his eyes, leaning back. He’d had his share of affairs; he’d never denied that. But he’d never tried to pretend that something was more than what it was, and that was why he knew this was different.
It was more than wanting to touch her again—although he was just dying to do that! But he wanted to do more. He wanted to touch her and touch her and stay with her. Wanted to watch her eyes when they first opened with the day, as blue as the morning. Wanted to sleep with his hands tangled in that mass of blond hair. Wanted to watch her face when she bent over her work.
Wanted to protect her always from evil eyes that glowed in the dark, from anything hurtful in life. No one could do that, of course. But he wanted to be there with her to laugh at the good things, to hold her hand through the hard ones, to stand beside her through the bad times.
Dan started suddenly when he heard a tapping on his door. He frowned; Sandy never tapped; she just came in.
“Yes?”
Dan arched a brow as Jarod entered. He couldn’t read the boy’s expression in the darkness.
“Sir?”
“Jarod?”
“I, uh, well, I have to talk to you.”
“Come on in. Turn on the light.”
Jarod turned on the light, then looked awkward, as if he wished that he hadn’t come. Dan pointed to the chair across from his desk. It was old, and padded, with a dent in the seat. He’d had it forever; he took it with him every time he moved. It was Sandy’s chair. From the time that she had been a little girl, she had perched in it, when she came to him with all her hurts and woes. She had never worried about coming to him when he was working; she knew she was welcome at any time.
She had sat in that chair to tell Dan tearfully that she was pregnant. It was probably the only time he hadn’t really listened to her, Dan reflected. She had dropped her bombshell, and he had taken time only to learn the name of the boy—and then he had gone. To accost Kelly, to meet Jarod, and to realize that things could have been much, much worse.
Jarod sat in the chair, uncomfortably. Dan kept his feet stretched out on top of the desk, still relaxed, his slightly narrowed eyes the only sign that he was wary. What did Jarod know? How much had he sensed? “You wanted to speak to me?” he finally prompted.
“Yes.”
Dan waited a minute. “Well.”
“Well.” Jarod sat forward a bit. “Well, quite frankly, I’m worried about my mother.”
“Oh.”
“That’s all?”
“Well, quite frankly, Jarod, I’m still worried about my daughter, so I suppose your concern is fair.”
“You shouldn’t be worried!” Jarod blurted out.
“Oh really?” Dan laughed. He was touched, but he was also irritated. After all, this was the kid who had gotten his daughter pregnant!
“Why, Jarod, shouldn’t I be worried? You aren’t exactly gainfully employed; you haven’t got a home to offer her. You could go off and live in splendor and love and poverty, but I think that you’re both too smart for that.”
Jarod was quiet for a moment.
“I’m not trying to shove anything down your throat, Jarod,” Dan added more kindly. “I want to help you both—so does your mother. You’re both bright kids; you deserve a helping hand. Nor do we want to direct your lives; we just want to see that you get a fair shake. But don’t tell me that I shouldn’t be worried. Sandy is a baby about to have a baby. I still want to see her get an education. I want to see you get a good education, too, Jarod. You’re tackling a massive responsibility. I’d be a fool if I weren’t worried.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Jarod replied softly. “But there’s one thing you’re forgetting. I love Sandy. I really love her. I’d give up anything—including my life—for her.”
Something washed over Dan, something warm, something really beautiful. Jarod meant it. Maybe that was why Dan, as a father, had forgiven them both. Jarod did love Sandy—as much as she adored him. That total commitment they had to each other was rare, and very special.
“Yes, son. I believe that you do love her.”
“And that’s why I’m worried,” Jarod returned. He was sitting very still, yet Dan knew that he was anxious, that coming in here had been one of the hardest things the boy had ever done.
“I guess that I want to know—just what are your intentions toward my mother?”
The words were ridiculously archaic, yet stated so seriously that Dan resisted the temptation to laugh. He thought about the question with his whole heart and mind and answered slowly. “I don’t exactly know, Jarod. We don’t know each other very well. I want to get to know her; I like what I know so far. I think that she’s beautiful, and charming.”
“And…?”
“And I would never intentionally hurt her in any way. Does that satisfy you?”
Jarod stared at him levelly, then slowly smiled. “I think that you’re falling in love with her!” he said smugly. Then he stood with sudden energy, stretching his hand across the desk, grasping Dan’s and pumping it. “Yes, I am satisfied! Good night sir!”
He left and the door closed sharply behind him.
Dan laced his fingers behind his head, smiling. “They’re honorable, son,” he said aloud softly. “My intentions toward your mother are quite, quite honorable.”
And they were; he hadn’t realized until just that moment how honorable they were, or exactly what his feelings had meant. He couldn’t tell her yet, of course. She would think he was crazy.
He wanted to marry her. To have, to hold, from this day forth. To see those blue eyes open every morning, to sleep with his face against that blond hair. To be with her always.
He was in love. Jarod was one bright kid.
* * *
Kelly had thought she was exhausted, but once she got up to bed, all she did was toss and turn, then pause, staring up at the ceiling and smiling. She hugged her arms to her chest and remembered all the events of the day.
His eyes…she would never forget his eyes. Never forget the way he had looked at her when he had come up to the shower. How funny. They had said things to each other, yet she couldn’t remember a word being spoken. All she could remember was the way he had looked at her.
And the way he had looked. So striking, so handsome, so masculine in that three-piece suit. And he had looked even better once the suit had been gone. As a matter of fact, she adored the way he looked. Every inch of him.
And how she missed him! She wished he was there, beside her now. The guest room had a wonderful queen-size bed, and the sheets smelled like fresh air and lemons. She would love to see him against them.
She frowned, reminding herself that the kids were in the house. That the kids—who had most obviously fooled around already, with obvious consequences—were not only in the house, but being kept chastely apart.
What an example I’m longing to set! Kelly thought dolefully. Then her frown deepened, because terrible or not, she want to be with him again. She wondered when—if—it would ever happen. It had been spontaneous the first time, but now she would worry and worry….
She should worry, she thought suddenly. She made a mental note to call her doctor right away. First thing Monday morning. She’d been yelling at Jarod about responsibility, but so far she had shown none herself. And neither had Dan. They hadn’t been thinking. They had just looked at each other, then suddenly wound up in each other’s arms, and then in her bed.
She started suddenly, hearing a noise in the hall. For a moment she panicked, thinking of the Peeper running around free. Then the fierce pounding of her heart subsided. This was Dan’s house, and unlike her, he had a top-of-the-line security system. If you touched a window wrong in this place, an alarm would go off, summoning the police.
But some was moving down the hallway. She could hear soft, furtive footsteps.
Hesitantly, Kelly reached for her robe and slipped into it, then crawled silently out of the bed. As quietly as she could, she tiptoed across the room to the door. She set her hand on the knob and twisted it slowly. She pulled the door open slightly and looked out.
There was someone moving down the hallway. Someone tall. Someone with gleaming blond hair.
Oh, Jarod, you little rat! Kelly thought. She slipped out into the hall, and a minute later he was almost on top of her.
“Ahem!” Kelly tapped her toe against the floor.
“Mom!”
“Jarod.”
“I, uh, I thought I heard a noise.”
She heard a furtive movement in the hall behind her and spun around expecting to find Sandy. “Dan!”
“Kelly, Jarod.”
He was in a navy-blue bathrobe. Tall, mussed, and excessively alluring, Kelly thought, her heart hammering as she inhaled deeply, catching a whiff of his special scent. “Oh!”
There was another soft cry in the darkness. A feminine cry. Sandy.
“What in heaven’s name—”
Light suddenly flooded the hallway. Reeves, gray hair untidy, face disgruntled, stared at them. “Begging your pardon, sir,” he complained to Dan, “but just what is going on here?”
“I heard a noise in the hallway,” Jarod explained quickly.
“That’s funny,” Dan said, eyeing him suspiciously. “I heard a noise out here, too.”
Sandy laughed nervously. “Noises, noises.”
“Yeah,” Jarod muttered. “You know how old houses creak.”
“This is a brand-new house,” Dan reminded him.
“Oh. Well, new houses creak, too.”
Suddenly Jarod didn’t appear to be on the defensive anymore. He looked at Kelly, then at Dan, then back at Kelly, his eyes opening wide with alarm. “Mom! What are you doing out here?”
Kelly leaned back against her door and crossed her arms calmly over her chest. “Watching you try to sneak your way into Sandy’s room.”
“I suggest,” Dan said, “that we all go back to bed.”
“Oh my, yes!” Reeves interjected. “Yes, sir. I do recommend that you all go back to bed. To your separate beds. All of you.”
Sandy didn’t need any more prodding from anyone. “’Night, Dad. ’Night, Kelly… ’Night, Jarod.”
She kissed her father, then Kelly. She never got a chance to kiss Jarod, because apparently Dan didn’t even like the way she was looking at him.
“Good night, Sandra. Now!”
Sandy went fluttering away. Jarod smiled doubtfully. “Good night.” But he didn’t move.
Dan gave him a quizzical look.
“Fair is fair!” Jarod blurted suddenly turning to stare reproachfully at his mother.
“Oh, good heavens!” Kelly exclaimed.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh, to slap her son for his insolence—or to cry. Because she didn’t want to go to her bed alone.
But she did.
“Good night,” she said to the three men, then stepped into her room and slammed the door.