His Holiday Family (3 page)

Her older son opened the door. “Hey, Mom. Come in.”

“No, I think you all have stayed long enough. You and Jared need to come back to Nana's. You're both supposed to have your homework finished by dinner.”
Haven't we done enough to disrupt this man's life?

“Aw, Mom, Gideon was telling us about some of the rescues he's done.”

“Why are you answering his door?” She swung open the screen, the one standing between her and Kip.

“Gideon doesn't move too fast. I told him I'd get it.”

Kathleen glanced over her son's shoulder at the slow-moving firefighter making his way toward them with a small white dog with a curly tail. His stiff movements coupled with the sight of his cast only reinforced why the man was in the pain he was.

“Hello, Kathleen. Your sons came over to give me their get-well cards. I asked them to stay if it was okay with you. They assured me it was.” Gideon's gaze swept from Kip to Jared, who had joined them in the foyer.

Her younger son poked his head around Gideon. “He has a cast just like me. Isn't that neat? We're twins.”

“And that is Butch. He's so sweet,” Kip added, pointing to the dog near Gideon.

“It's time for you two to come back to Nana's and get your homework done.”

“Mooomm, can't we stay for a while longer?” Kip's mouth formed his classic pout that he had stood in front of the mirror one day to perfect.

“Another time, guys. This is a school night, and you've got work to do.” Gideon tousled Jared's, then Kip's hair.

Jared giggled then scooted out the front door.

But Kip remained where he was standing. “Will you tell us some more stories about being a firefighter?”

“Well, sure, anytime it's all right with your mother.” Gideon flashed her a grin that melted any irritation she had toward her sons for bothering the man.

“Great. Call if you need us to do anything for you. After school we stay with Nana until Mom comes to pick us up.” Kip raced past Kathleen and stamped down the porch steps.

While her sons grabbed their bikes and rode them toward her mother's house, Kathleen faced Gideon. “I know how tired you must be. Your body has gone through a trauma and needs rest, not my sons bothering you. I'm sorry—”

He held up his palm to still her words. “I enjoyed their visit. I was resting on the couch, getting more bored by the second when they came and rescued me from my boredom. I hope you'll let them come again.”

She completely surrendered to the kindness in his eyes. Her legs grew weak, and she clutched the door frame to steady herself. “Only as long as they don't pester you.” The pale cast to his skin spoke of the strain of standing. “Let me help you back to that couch.”

He shook his head. “As much as I'd like a pretty lady to hold me, I can make my own way there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Do you need to watch to make sure I don't falter halfway there?”

She grinned. “I'll take your word for it. Besides, I need to get home and make you a dinner, which I plan to bring you if that's okay with you.”

“Normally I would jump at the chance to have someone fix me dinner, but you should see my refrigerator. There is nothing like good ole Southern hospitality. I don't think I'll be able to eat half the dishes stuffed in it. The ladies at my church decided they would stock it
for me, so I wouldn't have to worry about what to eat for the next week. Well, more like several.”

“Then I'll wait until later when you've run out of their dishes. I know it takes a while for ribs to heal, and they can be painful.”

“Like I said, I don't usually turn down a home-cooked meal, so you'll get no argument from me. When it's my time to cook at the fire station, I've actually heard some groans from the other firefighters.”

She chuckled. “If you need anything, I only live two blocks away. Down the hill and around the corner.”

“On Bayview Avenue?”

“Yeah, the yellow cottage. One of Mom's rentals. Good night.” Which was the main reason she could save a little money to pay off her debt. Her mother didn't charge her rent, but Kathleen had insisted on paying all the utilities and other bills connected to the house.

He stood in his doorway with his dog next to him as she descended the porch steps. She felt his gaze on her the whole way down his sidewalk. Heat flared into her cheeks. She couldn't resist glancing over her shoulder, only to find him staring at her, as she thought. He nodded, then swung his door closed.

 

Kathleen hurried to the foyer to answer the door. When she opened it, her breath caught for a few seconds. Although she'd found herself thinking about Gideon several times since she'd seen him yesterday, she hadn't thought she would see him this soon. “This is a surprise. What brings you by here?”

He lifted two large pizza boxes. “I came bearing dinner. I couldn't stand staying in my home another moment. I immediately thought of you and your sons. You were kind to want to fix me dinner. I thought I
would beat you to the punch. I called earlier to see if y'all would be home and Kip said yes. I asked him if you had started dinner. He said you had to run next door and were behind schedule.” He handed her the boxes. “He was supposed to tell you I was bringing dinner.”

“A minor detail he forgot. I wondered why he kept coming up with things I had to do before starting dinner. You didn't have to bring pizza. I owe you a dinner, not the other way around. Remember?”

“I'm not used to inactivity. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I figured the boys would like pizza.”

She smiled. “Pizza and just about every other junk food there is.” Stepping to the side, Kathleen opened the door wider. “Come on in.”

As Gideon entered the house, one corner of his mouth hiked up. “I was hoping you wouldn't send me home with all this pizza.”

“You may change your mind after being here a while.” She started for the kitchen at the back of the house. “I should warn you. My sons have been fighting most of the day. At the moment they are in time-out. And we've only been home an hour.”

“Sounds like a few boys I have in my youth group at church.”

“Youth group?”

“I help out when I can with the group for eight-to twelve-year-olds. When I'm not working, we sometimes play a game or two of basketball in the evening at the park near the Hope Community Church. There are several courts there. By the time they go home, they're too exhausted to fight each other. A couple of the dads have joined our little games, too.”

“Is that Broussard Park on the Point?”

“Yeah. I like to run there sometimes.”

Memories intruded into her mind. Memories of happier times before her father had been killed in an accident at the shipyard. “When I was a child, my family used to go to the Point to watch the sun set and have a picnic dinner.”

“Since I came here, I've seen some beautiful sunsets on the Point.”

Kathleen went into the kitchen with Gideon following close behind her. After placing the boxes on the table, she peered over her shoulder at him. “Where are you from?”

“New Orleans, originally. I've been here for five years.”

“How long have you been a firefighter?”

“Fifteen years.”

“Why did you decide to become one?”

He opened his mouth but a few seconds later snapped it closed. A nerve in his jaw twitched. Clasping his hands so tightly his knuckles whitened, he stared straight ahead at a spot over her shoulder. “Someone needs to fight fires.”

Behind what he'd said there was a wealth of words left unspoken, but his stiff posture and steely expression told her the subject was off-limits. What was really behind him being a firefighter? On the surface he seemed open and friendly, but deep down she felt his need for privacy as though he were used to being alone and liked it that way. She could respect his need for that.

She'd felt the same way when she'd discovered the extent of Derek's debt and betrayal after he died. Leaving her to deal with the aftermath. Alone. So yes, she was used to dealing with her problems alone.

For a long moment an uncomfortable silence vibrated in the air between them.

Gideon cleared his throat. “I've filled in as a paramedic when they've needed me. I'm surprised I haven't met you before at the hospital.”

Covering the distance to the refrigerator, she took out a carton of milk and a pitcher of iced tea. “That's because I started working at Hope Memorial Hospital a little over six weeks ago. Knowing your aversion to a hospital, I doubt you hung around once you delivered your patients to the E.R.”

“Ah, you know me too well. Where did you move from?”

“Denver, Colorado.” Kathleen poured milk into two large glasses.

“Can I help you set the table or something?”

“No, I've got this. You brought the dinner. That's enough, and my sons will be ecstatic they aren't having what I planned tonight—tuna casserole.”

“I ran into your mother as I was leaving my house. She asked me where I was going when I should be resting. I told her I was feeling better and decided to take dinner to you and the boys. She gave her stamp of approval.”

I'm sure she did.
Her mother was a romantic at heart and had encouraged Kathleen to start dating almost immediately after returning home. “She goes out every Thursday night with Mildred.”

“Not Nurse Ratched?”

“The one and the same.”

Gideon rubbed the back of his neck, his forehead creased. “She's a friend of the family?”

“Yes.”

“That will teach me to keep my mouth shut.”

“She comes across tough and no-nonsense, but she really has a very loving heart. That is, once you get to know her.” Kathleen pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at the sheepish look on his face. “I tell you what. You can get the plates down from that cabinet and napkins from that drawer—” she pointed to the locations “—and I'll go get the boys before this pizza gets cold.”

As she strolled from the kitchen, the sensation that he was staring at her sent a tingling wave through her. Goose bumps rose on her arms. She quickened her pace down the hallway to Jared and Kip's room. She'd had her younger son go into the bedroom the boys shared while Kip was in hers. Time-out in the same room only escalated their skirmishes, which had been growing worse since they'd moved to Hope.

When she opened the door to the boys' bedroom, Jared sat on his twin bed, chunking paper wads into the trashcan. A whole notebook, almost gone, littered the floor.

“Jared!”

He glanced at her, grinned and said, “Watch me, Mom.” He tore the last sheet from the pad and scrunched it up into a ball, then tossed it toward the basket. It bounced off the rim and dropped into the pile of other missed shots. He frowned. “Maybe I should move it closer.”

“No, maybe you should clean this mess up and then come to dinner. We're having pizza.”

“Not tuna? Yay!” He scooted off the bed, taking half the covers with him. “The only reason I didn't make many baskets was cause I can't use both arms.”

“Then I would refrain from climbing houses.”

He bent over and picked up the first wad, frowning at his cast on his left arm. “This is gonna take forever.”

“You should have thought about that before you decided to make the mess.” She turned away before he saw her smile. Natural consequences were great teachers, but her son could have broken something much worse than his wrist.

Across the hall, she found Kip at the door listening to her and Jared. She peeked into her room to make sure he hadn't left a similar mess.

He looked up at her with those big brown eyes and long eyelashes and said sweetly, “I'm sorry I fought with Jared, but he was bugging me. I had to do something to shut him up.”

“Getting into a wrestling match isn't an option. Dinner is ready.”

“I heard the doorbell. Did Gideon come with pizzas?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet.” Kip hurried ahead of her toward the kitchen.

“Next time, young man, warn me when someone is coming over, especially with dinner.”

Jared came out of his room and followed behind Kathleen. “Why did he bring pizza?”

Kathleen waited for Jared, cradling his cast to his chest. “To see you all.”

“Really? Us?”

“I think he enjoyed your visit yesterday. He thought you and Kip might enjoy pizza.”

“Kip talked his ear off. I hardly got to say anything. He was constantly asking him about what a firefighter did.”

When she and Jared entered the kitchen, Kip was
already seated at his place with three pieces of pizza with all the toppings on it. “I'm starved, Mom.”

“We're coming.” Her gaze latched on to Gideon standing by the counter. She crossed to the table and took a seat. Gideon moved behind her and helped her scoot her chair forward before he sat. She couldn't remember the last time a man had done that for her.

After Jared plopped down in the last place between Gideon and Kip, Gideon looked at each boy. “I remember Kip mentioning how much he loved pizza yesterday. Earlier that sounded good to me, so I thought I would share some with y'all.”

“Pizza is okay.” Jared dug into the box nearest him and pulled out four pieces, piling them on his plate.

“Hold it. You never eat that many.” Kathleen clasped her hands into fists in her lap. “Take one at a time.”

“Kip has three pieces,” Jared whined.

“The same goes for him, too.” Kathleen pinned her older son with a stare that told him to behave.

“Sorry.” Kip began to put his slices back.

“Leave them. You've already put them on your plate, but next time one piece at a time. I expect you two to eat every last bite of what you have on your plate.”
Lord, give me patience.
“Remember your manners. We have a guest tonight.”