Vivian (10 page)

Oh, this man was a peach. What had she done in her life to have God deliver him to her door—literally?

“
So I’m your girlfriend?”

“
Dear Lord, if you’ll have me.”

Vivian released her hands and wrapped them around his neck and he in turn around her waist.

“
I feel like I’m ready for this. The last time I was with Adam I got Ava. So it’s been a real long time since I’ve been with a man in any kind of relationship.”

“
I’m true to my word. I won’t mess around. If things don’t work out it’ll be something we decide.”

“
And if they do?”

His cheeks reddened again. “Well, wow. I guess we could talk about baby brothers.”

Vivian pulled him into her arms tighter and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re going to make it much easier for all of us to heal.”

“
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate love that you once felt than by doing it all over again.”

“
I’ll never be Linda,” she said as if he needed to know.

“
I’ll never be Adam.” He kissed her gently. “But they need to know him. They need to know the good and joy of him.”

She nodded. That would take some work. She’d been mad for too long. “You’re right. I’m going to work on that.”

He kissed her again. “Okay, now that that’s settled can I have a pillow and a blanket for the couch?”

There was more than a little disappointment that ran through her. “You don’t want to share my bed?”

“
Not yet. They need to get used to us first.”

He was making it very easy for her to move on from her pain. She could easily tumble in love with this man just by the way by the way he thought.

“
I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket then. I hope you don’t mind
My Little Pony.
”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

As she turned out of his arms to find the bedding, he reached for her. “Have a date with me.”

“
Okay, how?”

“
Would we be able to talk Amelia and Penelope into watching all the girls?”

Now she chuckled. “That’s a tall order for anyone.”

“
I know.”

“
I’m sure I could arrange it.”

“
I may not want to sleep in there tonight to make things appear appropriate, but don’t be fooled, I’m a man and in that bed with you is exactly where I want to be.”

Her heart beat nearly jumped out of her chest and the rest of her insides went to goo. There’d be no way they’d say they wouldn’t watch the girls, she’d make sure of that. Because for the first time in her life she was pretty sure a man wanted to make love to her. It wouldn’t be first love sex, angry makeup sex, or expected sex. Just the thought of it had her giddy with anticipation.

When Vivian’s alarm sounded at the unholy hour of five o’clock in the morning, she promptly turned and silenced it with a shove off the nightstand.

Perhaps the horrible act of getting up and getting to work by six-thirty wouldn’t be so bad when she actually lived in the house in which she’d worked. But for the next few days, at least, this was her new routine.

Penelope had solidified three more enrollments. By nine o’clock, there would be seven children under the age of five in their care. When the thought began to terrify her, she remembered that two of those kids were hers and two of them were Clayton’s. The day would be just fine.

Clayton, his image ran through her head and she sighed. Then she realized it wasn’t just his image, he was standing in her doorway in his pajama pants, a cup of coffee in his hands.

“
I thought you could use a kick start. Something told me you’re not a morning person.”

He walked in, slowly extending his arms out to hand her the mug.

“
You’re an angel,” she sighed as she took the mug and lifted it to her lips. “I have never had coffee brought to me in bed.”

There was a low growl that came from him which had her lifting her eyes to him. “I’ll keep that in mind since I’ll be here.”

He sat down on the edge of her bed and a deep need surfaced in her. The last time she’d seen Adam, he’d sat down in the dark on the bed just like this. They’d had enough sex for nearly a year in the twelve hours he’d been home, but when he’d sat there, in the dark just as Clayton was doing, he was there to tell her he needed to leave.

Tears stung her eyes and she was grateful for the dark. “I was thinking, I don’t have to be to school until almost eight. Why don’t I bring all the girls then?”

She sipped at the coffee again. Here he sat on her bed and he wasn’t talking about leaving, he was talking about staying and helping.

“
I couldn’t do that to you.”

“
You’re not doing anything. You’ll be with all the girls all day. Go, get settled in. Let me get everyone up and ready.”

There should have been an alarm that went off in her head. It was bad enough that she’d let him sleep in her house and she’d thought of all those things she could do with him in her house. But no siren went off. Instead, a calm took over and she leaned into him.

“
Are you sure?”

He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and she shuddered to think of how she must look.

His hand lingered and he caressed her face. “I’m very sure. Remember, I’m not going anywhere. If this all works out I’d want this routine in my life.”

Vivian took a breath and realized how freely the air filled her lungs. He gave her that release, that moment of freedom.

“
Thank you.”

“
You have no idea what kind of pleasure I get when I soften you just a bit,” he said as his hand brushed down her neck and over her shoulder. “Get your shower and get ready. Do you want anything to eat this early?”

“
Just a piece of toast.”

“
That I can make. I was hoping you weren’t too complicated.”

That made her giggle as he stood and walked out of the room, leaving her with her fresh, hot cup of coffee.

During the drive to the old house on Main Street and Pine, Vivian had already decided that she didn’t want this first shift ever again. They were all going to be there the full twelve hours every day until Penelope had her baby. But it was only proving one thing. Vivian was not a morning person.

Though, as she ate her toast with strawberry jelly on it, she smiled. If that man were to send her off every day like that, it wouldn’t be a chore.

As she pulled up in front of the house, she looked at the clock. Was she late? Amelia, Sam, Penelope, and Brock were all parked on the street and the house was lit up. She hoped nothing else had happened on this day they were to open their doors.

She climbed from the car, gathered her bags, and ran up the front steps.

When she pulled open the door, she saw what they were all doing. The bannister of the staircase, which now had a gate at the bottom, was adorned with balloons. Welcome signs hung in each room. There were flowers by the door with names on them. They must be for the mothers, she thought.

She could hear commotion from the kitchen so she walked back to find the four of them hovering over a box of donuts.

“
What are you guys doing?”

Amelia shoved in a half of a donut and looked right at her. “Waiting for you,” she managed without any food falling out of her mouth.

“
I didn’t know you were going to do all this.”

Penelope smiled sweetly. “Brock’s mom is in town and she thought it would be a nice touch. So we did the balloons last night.”

“
What are the flowers?”

“
For the moms.”

That’s what she’d thought. “What about the dads?” she asked, thinking of Clayton.

Amelia moved in closer to her and nudged her with her elbow. “We figured you were taking care of the dads.”

That should have been one of those moments when she unleashed on her. It wasn’t called for when she did things like that. But it obviously wasn’t something to hide anymore.

“
Not yet, but you’ll be watching all four girls all night on Friday.”

Amelia finished her bite and then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Excuse me?”

“
You heard me. I need you guys. I really need you,” she stressed. “Clayton and I want a night
alone.
”

Sam picked up a donut out of the box. “So there is something going on there?”

“
We’re working through it,” she said in a very somber tone as she set her bags on a chair. “His wife was killed two years ago in a school shooting.”

The very mention of it had Penelope in tears and Brock moved in quickly to console her.

“
Damn,” Sam said with a wince. “I’m sorry. I didn’t…”

“
It’s okay. Things were headed that way from the minute he walked into this house. I got spooked by the wedding ring.”

“
I noticed he wore it,” Penelope muttered against Brock’s chest.

“
It was in Seattle. This is his fresh start.”

“
Seattle?” Sam asked and Vivian nodded. “Kid killed another kid and shot a few more before he shot the teacher he had some romanticized thoughts over.”

“
That’s her.”

“
Oh, damn. He seems pretty solid.”

“
I think his walls are pretty high. Just like mine.” She reached for a donut. “But I think we could tear them down together.”

Amelia let a smile form on her lips and it always softened her Vivian thought. “The girls all get along well?”

“
They have already asked to be sisters. This was all on their own. Oh, and they’ve ordered a brother because they think Penelope is having a sister.”

The very thought of the conversation Emma had with Clayton had her on the verge of hysterical laughter.

“
When I look at the man I think I could actually give them that.”

She knew every eye was on her, but she just didn’t care. Clayton North was her miracle and she was going to embrace him.

By seven o’clock all seven kids had been signed in and their first day had begun. She’d forgotten how much fun three-year-olds could be when there were a few of them. They colored, read stories, played on the new playground, had lunch, and then it was naptime. Perhaps it was the excitement of the day, but each of them fell asleep on their little cot within ten minutes. She was fairly sure that would never happen again.

Penelope sat in the rocking chair, her hands on her enlarged stomach. She’d volunteered to sit while they were all quiet for the next hour.

Vivian walked to the kitchen and sat down to rest.

“
I’m going to be tired tonight, but I’m really having fun,” she said even amazed to hear herself say it.

“
Clayton looked cute getting all the girls out of the car.”

“
Doesn’t really work though. We’re going to need a different car,” she thought, then looked up to Amelia grinning at her. “What?”

“
We’re going to have to get a different car. Did you marry the guy?”

“
No.”

“
You’re going to.”

“
Not for a long time.”

“
Whatever.”

Now she was on her feet. She found that standing eye to eye with the woman made it seem more even. “I’m not like you two. I don’t just go and marry a man.”