Janice Carter - The Second Family

“Coming, Molly?” Alec asked.

She was sprawled against the cushions. Her face, usually rosy-cheeked, was pale against the navy-blue-and-white-striped fabric. “I’m tired,” she said.

Alec glanced across at Tess, hovering near the kitchen counter. He passed her what he hoped was a meaningful look and finally she got it.

“Molly can stay and have a nap on my bed, if she wants.”

Generous of you. “Okay, Molly, catch forty winks. When we get back, there’s dinner out and maybe a movie.”

The small face broke into a heartbreaking smile. How could Tess not be moved by that wattage, he asked himself? But when he turned his head her way, he saw that she was raising the lid on her laptop. Alec sighed. Twenty-four hours. He hoped he was up to the job.

“WHAT ARE forty winks, Tess?” Molly asked as soon as the door closed behind Nick and Alec.

Tess pressed the On button of her computer. “It’s an old expression, meaning to take a short nap. People don’t say it very much anymore.”

“Except Alec,” giggled Molly. “He says lots of funny things.”

“I bet,” murmured Tess as she clicked open her file. Then she looked across the room. “I thought you were sleepy.”

“Aren’t you going to tuck me in?”

“For a nap?”

Molly struggled up and perched on the edge of the couch. “Someone always tucked me in whenever I got into bed.” Her voice trembled.

Tess had a sudden flash who that someone must have been. Her mother or father. Personally, she couldn’t recall either one of her parents doing that for her. But Mavis had, when she’d moved in with her. For at least the whole first year. “All right,” she said, minimizing the window on the laptop screen. “Tuck-in time!”

Molly giggled again. “Is that like nap time?”

Tess shrugged. “I guess.”

“You say funny things, too. Like Alec.”

That name overrode the mild pleasure at being called funny. Tess motioned toward the bedroom. “C’mon, then.”

Molly followed her into the bedroom and was on the bed before Tess had the comforter pulled back. When the small dark head hit the pillow, Tess said, “Okay, how does tuck-in go?”

Molly grinned. “You really don’t know anything about kids, do you?”

“Who said that?”

“Alec did, at the sub place. He said we had to give you some time and space ’cause you didn’t know anything about kids.”

Tess sniffed. “Huh. And I suppose he’s an expert, having a hundred of them at home himself.”

Molly’s laugh rang out. “He’s not even married, silly!”

“That’s not surprising,” Tess muttered under her breath. “So now you’re tucked in, I’ll go do some work.”

“Wait!” Molly’s smile disappeared. “You’re not finished yet.”

“I’m not?”

A shake of raven curls. “Nope. First you kiss me, then you sit for a few minutes until I feel sleepy.”

Okay, Tess. You can do this. Shouldn’t take more than another five minutes.

She sat on the side of the bed and leaned over to kiss Molly on the cheek. The girl’s eyelids fluttered as she popped a thumb into her mouth. She must have taken in Tess’s expression for she pulled it out long enough to say, “It’s okay. I’m giving it up later, when things are back to normal.”

Tess couldn’t help but smile. “A good idea,” she murmured.

Molly nodded. She withdrew the thumb again. “It was Alec’s. He said as long as I’m not sucking it when I’m walking down the aisle, I’ll be okay. I don’t know what he means but if he says it’s okay—”

“It must be,” Tess agreed. In spite of the reminder that Alec was, once again, proven to be such a superhero, she had to admit he obviously knew more about kids than she did.

The thumb was returned and Molly closed her eyes. Tess stared down at the heart-shaped face, small and delicate against the oversized pillow. She was a beautiful little girl, she thought. They both had Richard Wheaton’s thick, dark and curly hair and bright-green eyes. For a moment, she wondered what else they shared in common.

Tess waited while Molly fidgeted restlessly, getting comfortable. She reached out a hand to brush back a tendril of hair from Molly’s forehead and began to gently stroke the smooth skin in a circular pattern. When she pulled her hand away before getting up to leave, Molly’s eyes fluttered open.

She withdrew her thumb just enough to be able to say, “Daddy does that, too.”

Tess froze. She had a sudden memory of lying in a bed herself, someone bending over and stroking her brow. Had that been Richard? Or was her memory playing tricks on her?

Molly fidgeted some more, then Tess resumed the stroking until the girl was fast asleep.

“I’M STUFFED,” announced Molly, plunking her fork onto the plate of half-eaten pasta. She leaned forward to ask, in a dramatic whisper, “Do they do doggie bags here?”

Tess laughed, catching Alec’s startled expression out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to make some gibe about having a sense of humor after all, but sensed it might spoil the neutral ambience of the evening so far.

Dinner at the funky Italian restaurant she and Mavis had discovered years ago had been a success. Her first of the day, she thought, and was surprised how that pleased her. Even Nick had shown—though not verbally—obvious enjoyment of the noisy restaurant as waitstaff and cooks hollered orders back and forth. The eclectic array of items decorating the walls, along with the clotheslines strung from wall to wall and festooned with photographs of various celebrities who’d dined there, had been the subject of most of the dinner talk.

“They do doggie bags,” Tess replied. “Believe me. I’ve taken many home from here.”

When the bill arrived she and Alec had a brief debate over who was paying. He insisted that his expense account would cover it, but Tess was skeptical.

Nick and Molly were busily examining some of the decor on their way to the door when the waitress returned with change.

“You have a nice family,” she remarked.

Tess felt her face redden but Alec acted as though he hadn’t heard. As they walked out behind the kids, she had the odd sensation of being part of a group. Although the feeling didn’t take long to evaporate.

Out on the sidewalk, Molly and Nick were already bickering. Tess grit her teeth. She didn’t have the faintest idea how to get them to stop and suspected her impulse to scream would be deemed totally inappropriate.

“It’s been a long day for them,” Alec said in her right ear.

“Hasn’t it for all of us?”

“Yes, but they’re only kids. This is how they deal with stress.” He paused a beat before asking, “What do you do about it?”

She shot him a questioning look.

“Stress,” he repeated.

“Sometimes I go for a run—if the weather’s good.”

“Never felt inclined to snap at people?”

She stiffened at the indulgent smile in his face.

“No. Why should I? Sometimes the orders I give out are a bit more…brusque.”

“Ah, well. I suppose when you’re at the top of the heap, there’s no objection to…orders.”

Tess found his grin irritating. Why was he always trying to bait her? What had she ever done to him? Self-pity surged through her. She knew what it felt like to be abandoned.

“What time will you be picking up the children tomorrow?”

The grin vanished. “I…uh…I thought maybe I’d come round early. Bring breakfast with me.”

“If you like,” she said and, turning her back to walk up the steps to the condo, heard him say good-night to Nick and Molly.

“I’ll see you two at breakfast, okay?”

“Aren’t you staying here, too, Alec? We were supposed to watch videos.”