The Marriage Bargain. Stephanie Dees

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СКАЧАТЬ she was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to leave your kids with someone you didn’t know. Even if that someone was drop-dead gorgeous and happened to be their long-lost uncle.

      He held up his hands. “I’ll sit right here in this chair. Besides, I wouldn’t even make it out of the driveway before the cop sitting in the patrol car across the street pulled me over.”

      She paused midstep and looked back. “Ah, yeah. My mom doesn’t hesitate to call in a favor. Sorry about that.”

      “She’s the one who told me where to find you.”

      “Hedging her bets. Pretty much my mom in a nutshell.” With Emma squirming vigorously now, and minutes if not seconds before the need for a diaper would become extremely obvious, Jules had to make a decision. “I’ll be right back. It won’t take but a minute.”

      The girls’ room had, until six weeks ago, been her guest room. Now the walls were painted pink and the designer curtains she’d chosen so carefully had given way to sheers with pink and mint-green pom-poms. The dresser with its pretty flower arrangement and artfully placed picture frames instead held the changing table and baskets of diapers and wipes. She placed nine-month-old Emma on the changing table and tucked a diaper underneath her, mind racing.

       Was he here to try to take them from her?

      Jules had been there for both children’s births, for Eleanor’s first steps. For preschool plays and birthdays and holidays.

      He might be their blood. She was their family.

      She tucked Emma’s pudgy little arms and legs into a sleeper covered in ballerina bears, and zipped it up. “Up we go, pumpkin.”

      As she walked into the family room, Cam looked up from where Eleanor had fallen asleep in his arms. Jules swallowed hard. His eyes were an exact match for his sister’s.

      She missed Glory so much. Every bath, every feeding, every time she tucked the girls in and turned out the lights, she wished she could turn to Glory and say, “Wow, what a day, but these are some amazing children you made.”

      Cam’s soft voice pierced her thoughts. “I read one story and she was out like a light. I hope I didn’t mess up her schedule.”

      “No. She didn’t nap today, so she was probably ready. I’ll tuck her in. Just need to get a bottle out for Emma.” Jules put the baby in the portable crib with some toys and went into the fridge for a bottle. She ran some hot water into a cup and set the bottle in it, ignoring how weird it was to have a stranger in her house watching her do it, even this stranger with her best friend’s eyes.

      Jules leaned over Cam and picked Eleanor up from his arms. The sleepy toddler buried her head in Juliet’s shoulder. “Be right back.”

      In the bedroom, she flipped off the light, leaving the room bathed in the soft pink glow from the ballerina night-light. She laid Eleanor in the bed and placed her silk lovey within arm’s reach. Eleanor burrowed into the pillow and murmured, “Mama be here when I wake up?”

      She brushed the wispy baby hair away from Eleanor’s eyes. “No, baby, but Aunt Lili will be here.”

      “Mama with Jesus and God?” The three-year-old’s eyes never left hers. She’d asked the same questions all day, every few minutes, right after the accident. Now it was only in unguarded moments, when it was almost like she’d forgotten. Jules wanted to scream at the injustice of it all, but instead she just smiled softly at Eleanor.

      “Yes, my sweet girl. Mama’s in heaven with Jesus, but I’ll be here when you go to sleep and I’ll be here when you wake up. Promise.” She held her pinkie finger out to Eleanor, who gripped it with her own small finger. They’d been doing that since Eleanor was a just a toddler. Pinkie promise, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks. Pinkie promise, I’ll bring you the best cupcake.

      For the past three years, a pinkie promise had been their solemn oath—a pledge given and received with the utmost confidence. Tears filled Jules’s eyes and she blinked them back again. The pinkie promise had no power to make anything better for Eleanor. Not this time.

      Jules rose slowly to her feet, grief a heavy weight on her shoulders, and another problem to shoulder was waiting for her in the living room.

      Eleanor’s eyes popped open in panic. “Aunt Lili, don’t go.”

      “I’ll be right outside. I’m not leaving.”

      Cam glanced up from the photo album he was holding as she walked back into the living room. His eyes were glossy and her feet faltered. He gestured at the baby monitor. “I heard your conversation. Is it always like that?”

      She continued to the kitchen to pick up the bottle and test the temperature on her wrist. “Yes. Not quite as bad as in the beginning, I guess.”

      Jules picked Emma up from the portable crib and laughed when the baby started kicking the moment she saw the bottle. She glanced at the clock to note the time and settled in the rocking chair with a sigh.

      “It seems like they’re doing really well.” He closed the photo album and set it aside. “Eleanor’s not that much younger than Glory was when I left home. Her hair’s a little lighter, but she’s got Glory’s eyes and smile. Her spunk, too. It’s...”

      “Uncanny. I know. She’s funny, too, or at least she was. Before.” Jules paused. “People say kids are resilient. I hope that’s true, for their sake.”

      He was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

      “Cameron, why didn’t you ever try to make contact? Clearly, you’ve been very successful as an adult.” That was, if his fancy watch was any indication.

      A frown wrinkled his brow. “From all accounts, Glory seemed to be happy. I guess I told myself she didn’t need me stirring up the past. I thought I’d—I don’t know—have more time.”

      “And now? Why did it take you so long to get here?”

      “I was out of the country. Off the grid.” He grimaced. “Way off the grid. I write adventure travel books and it took some time for my office to find me.”

      She hadn’t expected that excuse. “What do you want? I’m sorry to blurt it out like that, but I’m a practical person. I don’t like unanswered questions and I hate surprises.”

      A slow smile spread across his face and those crystal clear green eyes warmed. Her heart picked up speed.

      Huh. That was a reaction to mull over later.

      “I didn’t know where the girls were. Or more important, if they were safe.” He shrugged, spreading his hands. “It’s really very simple. I came for them.”

      “And now that you know they’re safe?” Her voice was soft because she was holding the baby, but what she felt inside had jagged edges.

      He didn’t look away. “I’m still here for them.”

      She shifted the sleeping Emma to her shoulder and patted the baby’s back. “Do you know what Eleanor’s middle name is?”

      “No.”

      “It’s СКАЧАТЬ