Kris Fletcher - First Came Baby

“It will. The porch needs to be fixed first, though, before Katie goes through it.”

“Hello?” Kate waved her hand in front of Maggie’s face. “Standing right here in front of you?”

“It’s on the list.” Boone gave her shoulder another squeeze. Purely to help her stay calm, Kate knew, but at the same time, oh, it felt so good. All that heat and strength. All that promise.

All that heartache, Kate.

“Make sure you check out the basement. Katie says it’s good, but I think there’s some water seeping in at the back wall. The upstairs bathroom needs to be completely gutted. The kitchen could use an overhaul, too, but—”

“Mom.” Kate had to put an end to this. “We’ve got this, okay?”

Maggie looked between them, searching, though for what, Kate wasn’t sure. The only certainty was that when she spied Boone’s hand, she snapped to rigid uprightness so fast that it was like someone had replaced her spine with a titanium rod.

Boone left his palm exactly where it was. Which was a good thing. It kept Kate from turning and walking away in disgust.

“That’s right,” Maggie said. “You’ve got this.” And she tickled Jamie’s stomach.

God, Kate thought, please help me remember this when someone breaks Jamie’s heart someday.

“Well, it’s good to know that the place will get the makeover it needs.” Maggie shielded her eyes as she looked over the house again, this time with her face softening. “It’s a good, sturdy home. It’s a shame to think that it will finally get the attention it deserves only to be let go, but—” she shot daggers at Boone “—I guess these things happen.”

“Mom. We’ve talked about this. I love this place, too, but it’s too big and too expensive. The heating bills alone would put me in the poorhouse. Add in the village taxes and the furnace on its last legs and—”

“I know. You’re right, of course. I just hate to see how easily people let go of things these days. Like they don’t matter. Home, family. Whish. Thrown to the wind.”

Okay, that did it. “I think Jamie needs a diaper change. We’d better take care of that. Don’t want him to get a rash, right, Mom?” She leaned forward and dropped a fast, totally unauthentic kiss on Maggie’s cheek. “See you Sunday. Come on, Boone.”

She turned quickly, and then, just to piss off her mother, reached back and grabbed Boone’s hand. Probably a mistake, given the rush of memories that flooded her at the small bit of contact—not to mention the sea of hormones that threatened to swamp her—but hey. Maggie needed to know she and Boone were a team. An unconventional one, to be sure, but a team nonetheless.

Of course, that was assuming her mother hadn’t terrified Boone to the point of bumping up his return flight by, oh, five weeks and change.

* * *

BOONE KNEW THAT Kate had taken his hand only to annoy her mother, and maybe to ensure that he followed her into the house. Not that he had needed any assistance on that score. Kate’s mom took the whole mother bear image to new heights.

But no matter the reason, he was grateful. He and Kate had been all about the physical in their months together. Being with her without that set him off-center, left him uncertain how to act and what to say.

Not that they had been in it only for the sex. He had liked hanging out with her. He still did. They had been able to laugh and understand each other in a way that had surprised him, given how little they had in common. There had been a lot more between them than just fun in the sack, and if circumstances had been different and he didn’t have the history he did, he could have easily seen them building something long-term.

But he was who he was, and life was what it was. And if he had to be an idiot over something, well, there were far worse things than the feel of Kate’s hand in his.

Like the almost-visible clouds of steam coming off her head.

“I can’t believe that she...argh!” Kate shook her hand loose, much to his dismay, and jerked at the zippers on the front of Jamie’s pack. “There are times when I could cheerfully toss my mother in the river.”

“I don’t have a lot of experience, but I think your mom was just doing what good mothers are supposed to do. You know.” He grinned at her and thought of every TV mom he’d ever seen. “Defend her kid.”

“I know. I get that. And honestly, truthfully, I know it’s because she loves me and wants the best for me and Allie and Jamie, and that she wants me to have an easier life than she had. But still.” She tugged at the second zipper. “She refuses to believe that there’s a world of difference between her situation and mine, and... Damn, why isn’t this thing unfastening?”

Boone squinted at the offending zipper, then bent for a closer look. “I think there’s a piece of cloth caught in it. Let me...” He reached forward gingerly. Jamie was such a squirmer that Boone wasn’t sure he could fix this without making it worse.

Which was kind of the story of his life, but right now he needed focus, not a trip down memory lane.

He held his breath and pulled at the fabric. “Yeah, that’s the problem. The pant leg got caught. Give me a second...” He worked the zipper while pulling gently on the gray corduroy. “Here we go...almost got it...”

The zipper gave way. The hand holding the fabric jerked up. And for one moment, his fingers slid off the pack and onto a part of Kate’s anatomy where they had no business going anymore.

He wasn’t sure which one of them stepped back first. Maybe they did it together. All he knew was that her cheeks were red and her eyes were wide and his hand was a lot happier than it had been in almost a year.

“Well. Thank you.” She sounded more than a little flustered, which made two of them. “So. Right. I’m sorry about Mom.” She lifted Jamie out of the pack and headed through the kitchen into the office.

Kate continued speaking as she set Jamie on the changing table. “I would tell you that you don’t have to join us, but she would probably drive over here and drag you there by the ear.”

“So you’re saying I should just resign myself to a night of misery?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“What did you mean when you said that your situation is different from hers?”

“Oh. Well.” Kate reached for a fresh diaper and flipped open the box of wipes, all while keeping one hand on a squirming tummy. Once again, Boone marveled at the way she handled everything so easily. So...gracefully. “I told you that my biological father was never in the picture, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, I didn’t tell you the whole story. All Mom ever said when I was growing up was that my bio father was a summer guy, and that she didn’t know how to get hold of him when she found out she was pregnant. It was one of those things you just accept, right? Because why wouldn’t your mother tell you the truth about something as basic as your father?”

Having grown up knowing that anything his mother said was more likely a lie than the truth, Boone stayed silent.

“But after Neil—my stepfather—after he died, I started to think more about it. I was almost thirteen then, and I knew things weren’t adding up. So I started bugging her.” She shot him a quick grin that had him remembering a whole lot of mischief. “Let me tell you, Mom had cause to regret all those lectures about standing my ground and never letting up when I wanted something.”

Oh, to have been a fly on that wall.

“She finally caved and told me a little bit about him. Not much. Just his name, and that his parents had absolutely not approved of her. It was the classic story—rich boy getting ready to go to university, not-rich girl who spent her summers cleaning rooms at her parents’ motel, a hot and heavy summer romance. She didn’t find out she was pregnant until he was gone.” Kate’s voice faltered. “And then, she said, she spent a couple of months in denial, hoping that...that something would happen so she wouldn’t have to make any decisions.”