Circle of Friends, Part 2 (3 page)

He didn't want this. Oh, sure, he wanted
her
, and what man would object to a beautiful, sexy woman in his bed on a regular basis?

But everything had a price and he didn't want her paying this one. He didn't want them to get closer. He didn't want her to care. He wasn't worried about himself—he'd already learned he was immune to love, but Noelle wasn't.

“We should...” he began as she reached for the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head.

“What?” she asked. She took his hands and placed them on her breasts. “Make love this instant?”

She was the most amazing woman he'd ever met. Funny, smart, impulsive, responsible, sexy, adoring. In other circumstances...

But these weren't other circumstances, and if she knew the truth about him, she would never forgive him.

Walking away would be the kindest thing. He knew that and yet he found himself unable to resist her invitation. When she smiled and raised herself on tiptoe, he bent his head and claimed her.

Tomorrow, he promised. He would tell her the truth tomorrow.

CHAPTER NINE

“W
HAT
TERRIFIES
EVERYONE
about babies is they can't tell you what's wrong,” the attractive middle-aged woman said from the front of the room. “At least not verbally. The good news is, babies have simple needs. They want to be fed, kept comfortable and clean and not feel pain. So it's not as if you have to worry that your newborn is feeling unfulfilled by his or her job.”

The woman paused expectantly, and a few people laughed. Dev didn't join in. To him, the joke wasn't funny. He was here to learn how to be a decent parent—something he'd never accomplished with Jimmy.

Dev knew the woman was right—at the beginning the baby's needs would be basic and mostly physical. He was unlikely to do any psychological harm. But what about as it got older? Then what?

“For the first couple of months, you and your baby are getting to know each other. You're learning what the different cries mean and how to deal with them. These are the beginnings of a personality. Your baby is learning your touch and your smell and your voice. This is the time when you bond. Fathers, just so we're clear, you need to bond just as much as the mother. This is your baby, too.”

She went on to talk about how babies bond and the importance of the connection, but Dev wasn't listening. He'd never bonded with Jimmy. Not in a parental way. Is that what had gone wrong? A lack of bonding on his part?

He'd never thought about emotionally connecting. After their mother died and their father took off, Dev had been concerned about duty and responsibility and doing the right thing. He'd been dealing with his own pain but he'd pushed it aside because he'd wanted to be there for Jimmy, but also to guide him onto the right path.

Right. Instead of illuminating the road to success, Dev had caused a crash and burn—first figuratively, then literally.

“There should be more rules,” he said later, when they were in the car driving home.

“Like a checklist?” Noelle asked.

“Exactly. It's day thirty of your baby's life. Here are all the things you need to do.”

She laughed. “Dev, it can't be like that. We're talking about people, not an assembly line. Everyone is different.”

“Why do they have to be? Rules would help. It's just the word you object to. What if I said ‘guidelines'?”

“I'm not sure it makes a difference. Besides, we're going to have a long time before we have to worry about anything but midnight feedings and changing diapers.” She touched her stomach. “I'm barely showing.”

She wasn't taking this seriously, but then she didn't have his track record.

“I want more information,” he said. “When we get home, I want to go online and see what I can find out.”

“But it's late,” she said. “I'm tired.”

“You go to bed. I'll be along in a while.”

Her silence told him she wasn't happy with his decision. He thought about explaining, but took the coward's way out and didn't.

He couldn't do anything to help Jimmy, but with a little luck and a lot of determination, he could keep history from repeating itself with Jimmy's child.

* * *

N
OELLE
HAD
BEEN
looking forward to the Sunday picnic at her parents' house all week. The day was sunny and warm and she'd brought two kinds of salad.

Everything had changed in the past couple of weeks. She wanted to share the information with her mom, but knew that was impossible. Not without first revealing the real reason she'd married Dev, and Noelle wasn't ready to do that yet. Or maybe ever.

“We're here,” she called as they walked through the empty house and out into the backyard. “Hi!”

Noelle looked out at the crowd. Her parents were there, of course, along with a couple of neighbors. Her sisters had dates instead of girlfriends, except for Tiffany, who sat on a lounge chair by the pool, reading.

“You made it,” her mother said, crossing the patio and kissing them both, then taking the salad bowl from Dev. “Bob is dying for another guy to talk to. Please go rescue him.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Dev smiled at Noelle, then walked over to her father. The two men shook hands.

“How are you?” her mother asked, linking arms with her and leading her into the kitchen. “I'm still getting used to having you gone.”

“I know,” Noelle said as she set her bowl on the counter. “I'm still getting used to living somewhere else.”

Her mother opened the refrigerator and made room. “Hmmm, I might buy that, if you weren't so happy. I swear, Noelle, I've never seen you look so...” She straightened and studied her daughter. “Content.”

“I'm happy,” Noelle said honestly, knowing she'd felt things for Dev she'd never felt before. “I love my life.”

“Then I'm happy, too. I'll admit I was a little nervous when you ran off and got married. It was so unlike you.”

“I know, Mom. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or Dad.”

“We weren't hurt. Just surprised. But it's worked out for the best and that's all I could hope for.”

Tiffany walked into the kitchen. “I'm bored,” she announced with all the pain inherent in a moody fifteen-year-old.

“I told you to invite some friends,” her mother said.

“I hate that we have to talk about how something happened in our week that changed us. It's stupid.” She sighed heavily. “Why do there have to be so many rules?”

Noelle had always felt she and her sisters stood against their parents, but suddenly she found herself on the other side of things. “The rules are good,” she said. “They give you boundaries. Trust me, rules are better than no rules.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “What do you know? You got married and left. You don't have any rules anymore. You can do anything you want. I want that. I want people to stop telling me what to do all the time!”

With that, she stalked out of the kitchen and let the back door slam behind her.

Noelle winced. “Tell me I wasn't that bad.”

“Most teenagers are a challenge, in their own way. She'll get through it.”

Noelle watched Tiffany walk around the pool and flop down in a chair. “I remember feeling lost and confused about the world when I was her age. It wasn't fun.”

Her gaze strayed to where Dev stood talking to her father. At the sight of him, she felt her heartbeat increase. The need to move close, to touch him and kiss him nearly overwhelmed her. But it was more than that. She also wanted to hear his voice and see him smile at her. Life was better when he was with her.

Beside her, her mother sighed. “I remember those days.”

Noelle glanced at her. “Being fifteen?”

Her mother smiled. “Being in love and newly married. I couldn't take my eyes off of your dad. Every day was magic and there weren't enough hours for us to express our feelings. What a wonderful time. I wouldn't want to live through being a teenager again, but I wouldn't mind revisiting that romantic intensity for a few days.”

Noelle felt herself flush. “We're, um... It's just...”

Her mother laughed. “You don't have to explain it to me. I know exactly what you're thinking.”

Noelle doubted that. She and Dev weren't in love the way her mother thought. They were just...

What? What were they? Married, of course. Having a baby together. Living in the same house, caring about each other, building a life. It certainly looked like a strong, healthy relationship. They had respect, mutual affection, attraction.

Her gaze returned to Dev. Whatever they had felt wonderful.

“Noelle, did you mention the medical bills to Dev?”

She blinked and turned her attention to the question. “What? Oh, my bills? I don't think so.” She remembered one of their earlier conversations, where she'd confessed she would marry him and had explained the reasons why. That she didn't want to financially burden her family.

She grimaced. “Wait. I did mention them. Should I not have said anything?”

Her mother shrugged. “I can't decide. They've been paid. Anonymously, of course. At first I thought it was someone in the congregations, but we know who all the large contributors are and they generally want us to know they're giving. Plus, this is a personal matter and no one knew. Which made it a mystery. Then I thought of Dev.”

“He never said anything,” Noelle admitted, not sure how to react to the information. “I don't know if it was him.”

“There isn't anyone else with both the information and the money.”

Had he done that for her? Helped out her family without expecting anything in return? Her chest tightened slightly and she felt all warm and gooey inside.

“I both appreciate the act and respect his desire for privacy,” her mother said. “I like that he didn't feel the need to brag about what he'd done. You've chosen well, Noelle. Dev is a good man.”

She looked back at the man she'd married. “Yes, he is.”

* * *

S
UMMER
'
S
BOYFRIEND
DRONED
on endlessly about the advantages of dual exhaust in his car. Noelle stretched out in the sun and ignored the conversation, even when Dev joined in on the pitfalls of retrofitting something like that on an older car.

Tiffany sat by Noelle's feet on the lounge chair.

“So what's it like being married?” her baby sister asked. “Do you like being on your own?”

Noelle opened her eyes. “I do. I know you think there aren't any rules, but there also isn't anyone else to do the work. Chores don't get split four ways anymore.” She didn't mention the cleaning service Dev employed. They came every week and took care of all the big jobs, such as floors, the kitchen, the bathrooms and windows.

Tiffany sniffed. “Chores don't get split four ways here, now, either. With you gone, they're only split three ways. And when Lily goes to college, it's just going to be Summer and me. It's not fair.”

“You think Mom should do everything?” Noelle asked.

Tiffany glared at her. “I knew you'd say something like that. No, I don't think Mom should do everything, but I shouldn't, either. You didn't have to. I hate being the youngest. Everyone is leaving me behind.”

Noelle hadn't thought of things from that perspective. “You know I still love you.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Yes, and yuck. I'm not talking about that. It's just with you gone and Lily gone, there will be too much attention on Summer and me. Summer's older and she can drive, which means it's just me. I hate that. They're starting to ask questions. Where am I going? Who's going to be there?”

Noelle held in a smile. “They've always done that.”

“Yeah, but now they're listening
to the answers. I have their attention and I don't like it.”

Noelle glanced up and saw Dev listening in on the conversation. His combination of half smile and shoulder shrug told her he didn't know what to make of this, either.

“Would you rather they didn't care?” Noelle asked.

“Maybe. Sometimes. It's just all wrong. It's like my name.”

“What's wrong with your name?”

“It's stupid.” Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Do you know how many other girls have my name? It's a joke. Last year there were three Tiffanys in my geometry class and two different ones in my English class. This guy, David, says he's never going to date a girl named Tiffany because no one will know who he's talking about.”

“Then David's an idiot.”

“Maybe, but he's really cute.”

“So you like him.”

Tiffany sighed. “Maybe. But he's not going to be interested in me.”

“I wouldn't let the name thing get you down. Boys have a way of changing their mind about things like that.”

“Maybe. Or maybe he'll like a different Tiffany.” She looked at Dev, then back at Noelle. “He's nice, you know. Better than Summer's stupid boyfriend who only talks about cars.”

Noelle looked at her husband and smiled. “He's very nice.”

* * *

T
HEY
ARRIVED
HOME
late and tired. “You were great with my family,” Noelle said as Dev followed her inside. “Tiffany was in a mood today.”

“She's a teenager. It happens.”

She smiled at him over her shoulder. “Still, all that girl-talk. You were very patient and I appreciate it.”

“I didn't mind. I like your family.”

“They like you, too. My mom said...”

Noelle's voice trailed off as she stared at him. He was handsome, she thought absently, but that wasn't important. What mattered was the man inside. How he treated her and everyone else in his life. How he was honorable and kind and caring and gentle, yet the strongest man she knew.

She trusted him—not just with herself, but with her child. She trusted him with her heart.

“I love you,” she said without meaning to. The words just popped out.

Dev's expression froze.

“I love you,” she repeated. She braced herself for a rush of humiliation or regret, but there was only a second of rightness.

She grinned. “Wow. That came from nowhere. I know that's not part of our agreement, but there we are. You're amazing, Dev. I don't know why you're not already married with a bunch of kids. Maybe I got lucky. Whatever the reasons, we're together and I love you.”

Until that moment, she'd wondered how she would know what love felt like. Now she knew—she was as certain about her feelings as she had ever been about anything in her life.

He stared at her as if she'd become a stranger. “You can't.”

Not exactly the response she would have picked, she thought, trying not to give in to sudden fear. “Well, I do.”