He's Got His Daddy's Eyes Page 13

  Sarah twisted, looking over her shoulder. The white-haired woman sitting in the booth smiled and waved and Sarah responded with a heartfelt smile of her own.

  “I haven’t seen Annabel Fitch since I got back,” she commented. “I should have called her.”

  “You’ve had more important things on your mind than social calls, Sarah,” Jennifer said sympathetically. “I’m sure Annabel understands. How is your mother?”

  “Better,” Sarah responded. “The doctors are increasingly optimistic that she’ll make a full recovery.”

  “That’s wonderful news.”

  “Mommy, I’m hungry,” Wayne said, interrupting his mother.

  Jennifer rolled her eyes and laughed, sharing a quick glance of understanding with Sarah. “I guess we better join Annabel and feed this starving child.” She took a step away from the booth before halting. “I almost forgot—you’re coming to Annabel’s party, aren’t you, Sarah?”

  Confused, Sarah shook her head. “What party?”

  “Her birthday party. She’s turning sixty.”

  “We weren’t invited…and I don’t think—”

  “It’s a community party—nobody was officially invited,” Jennifer said quickly. “A group of teachers from school got together and arranged it, then we took turns calling everybody in the county to tell them. We must have missed you because you’re not listed in the phone book yet, but I’m officially inviting you. Will you come?”

  “I don’t know, Jennifer.” Sarah stalled. “I’m not sure if we—”

  “I won’t take no for an answer,” Jennifer interrupted firmly. “I’m sure you need a break from the hospital by now. The party starts at six o’clock next Saturday at the community center—and bring JJ. and Caitlin. It’s a family party.”

  “Can we go, Mommy?” J.J. interjected excitedly.

  “We’ll see.”

  “You two talk her into it,” Jennifer said to Caitlin. “It’s going to be great fun.”

  “Want down, Trey,” Wayne demanded, tugging fistfuls of blond hair.

  Trey winced. “Ouch! Cut that out, Wayne.” He lifted the little boy off his shoulders and set him on the floor, retaining a firm hold on his hand. “Come on, killer, let’s go put some money in the jukebox.”

  “I wanna go, too!” J.J. declared immediately.

  “You stay here, JJ.,” Sarah said quickly. “Trey doesn’t need two little boys to help him.”

  “I’ll go with them,” Caitlin told her, daintily wiping her mouth with her napkin. She waited patiently for Sarah to stand before slipping out of the booth to stand by Trey.

  “Be good, Wayne,” Jennifer admonished her son. “I’ll see you later, Sarah—Josh. Don’t forget, Sarah, Saturday at six.” She waggled her Angers and left to join Annabel.

  Sarah seated herself just as Josh slid out of the other side of the booth and let J.J. clamber across the seat to jump to the floor. The two little boys immediately put their heads together, whispering, before they ran, giggling, up the aisle toward the neon-lit jukebox, followed more slowly by Caitlin and Trey.

  Sarah’s worried gaze followed JJ. as he raced off with Wayne.

  “He’ll be fine.” Josh’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts. “Trey and Caitlin will keep an eye on him.”

  Her gaze left the little boys and flicked back to Josh.

  “I’m sure they will.” She sighed, absentmindedly swirling the straw in her glass of iced tea, setting the ice cubes tinkling. “I suppose I have to admit that I tend to be overprotective. It’s one of the hazards of being a single parent.”

  “You don’t have to be a single parent,” Josh said bluntly, his hard blue stare pinning hers. “I’m more than willing to shoulder my share of worry for my son.”

  “I believe you,” she answered quietly, acknowledging aloud for the first time that she’d been wrong about Josh’s view of fatherhood.

  Josh drew a deep breath, profoundly affected by her simple, sincere words. “Then let me,” he replied just as quietly.

  “You want to have blood tests.” She didn’t need his nod of agreement to confirm her words.

  Before he could answer, the jukebox came to life, filling the cafe with the music and lyrics from a song they’d often danced to when they were dating.

  The words Josh had been about to utter froze on his tongue. Riveted by the awareness that leapt into her eyes, he could only stare back, trapped in memories.

  Memories of moving slowly to the music, Sarah’s arms wrapped around his neck, her mouth soft, hot and hungry beneath his, her soft curves pressed against the harder angles of his much bigger body until neither of them could wait any longer for him to be inside her, loving her.

  Josh ruthlessly beat down the urge to lean across the table, grab Sarah and carry her off somewhere isolated where they could be alone—alone to replay any one of a dozen scenes from their past when they’d made love. He didn’t want to admit that the time they’d spent together was unforgettable—and clearly not repeatable.

  He ripped his gaze from hers and slid out of the booth.

  “I have to get back to work,” he said roughly. He lifted his Stetson from the brass hook and settled it on his head, nodded an abrupt goodbye and strode away from her down the aisle.

  Sarah watched him go without a word, shaken by the seething cauldron of emotions that raged through her—even more shaken by the storm of memories visible in Josh’s turquoise eyes.

  He stopped at the cash register and handed folded bills to the waitress before pausing to speak briefly to Trey and the children. Then he disappeared through the cafe’s front door.

  Sarah drew a deep breath, only then realizing that she’d been scarcely breathing while she watched him. She glanced at the jukebox and saw Trey swing Wayne and J.J. off their feet, carrying a laughing little boy under each arm as he and Caitlin started toward her.

  J.J. is thriving in Butte Creek, she thought, watching the delighted, ear-to-ear grin that lit his face—thriving under the care and affection he was receiving from Josh and the wide circle of family and friends that surrounded him.

  He’s at home here. The knowledge twisted her heart How can I take him back to Great Falls? On the other hand, she thought bleakly, how can 1 stay here and share J.J. with Josh when it would mean seeing Josh nearly every day and knowing we have no future together?

  There were no answers for Sarah.

  “Was Mrs. Fitch your schoolteacher, Aunt Sarah?” Caitlin asked, standing patiently while Sarah fashioned her hair in a French braid.

  “No, she was the principal when I was in high school,” Sarah replied. Her fingers moved deftly, weaving the intricate plait that started on the crown of Caitlin’s head and ended with the long braid swinging free to the middle of her shoulder blades.

  “Did you like her?” J.J. asked with interest. Ordered not to get his white shirt, blue cotton slacks and black leather boots dirty, he sat perched on the countertop in the kitchen, swinging his legs, watching with interest while Sarah did “girl stuff to Caitlin’s hair.

  Sarah glanced over her shoulder and smiled fondly at J.J. “Yes,” she said emphatically. “I liked her a lot. She was tough, but she was fair.”

  “Did you get sent to the principal’s office? What did you do? Were you punished?” Caitlin asked, her voice muffled but alive with curiosity. Her head was tipped forward, her chin tucked against her chest while Sarah tied the end of her braid with a narrow red satin ribbon that matched the trim on her white cotton sundress.

  Sarah chuckled. “No…nothing…and no. Mrs. Fitch was the principal, but she also taught honors English and I took her class when I was a high school senior.”

  “So she was a teacher, too?” J.J. asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion.

  “Yes.” Sarah gave the scarlet ribbon a final, testing tug and stepped back. “All done, Caitlin. Go look in the mirror in the living room.”

  Caitlin whisked out the door. Sarah lifted JJ. down from the counter and stepped over th
e threshold just in time to see Caitlin turning slowly in front of the long mirror that hung over the old-fashioned oak sideboard.

  “Is that really me?”

  Caitlin’s voice held awed disbelief. Sarah smiled; Caitlin’s standard torn jeans and T-shirt had been replaced by a simple white cotton sundress. The sleeveless bodice with its squared neckline left her throat and arms bare; the full skirt was gathered onto a fitted waist and swirled to her knees. The soft white cotton highlighted her suntanned skin, ebony hair and vivid green eyes.

  “Yes,” Sarah said with a nod of approval. “That’s definitely you.”

  “Hmm.” Caitlin recovered quickly and turned away from the mirror with a self-conscious shrug. “Jeans are a lot more comfortable, but I guess I can stand wearing a dress for one afternoon.”

  “Good.” Sarah gave her own appearance one last check in the mirror and grabbed her purse and keys from the hall table. “Let’s go, guys.”

  “Race you, Caitlin!” J.J.’s boots clattered across the wooden porch floor as he raced to the car. Caitlin forgot her grown-up image and dashed after him.

  The gravel parking lot outside the community center was. packed with cars and trucks. Sarah wedged her little compact in between two dusty pickups; JJ. was out of his seat belt and waiting impatiently by the car’s back bumper before Sarah could collect her purse and the gaily wrapped book of poetry she’d chosen as a gift for Annabel.

  “Mommy, hurry up!”

  “I’m coming, J.J. Settle down.”

  “Trey said there’s gonna be a cake as big as Texas. I wanna see.”

  Caitlin rolled her eyes at Sarah with longsuffering patience. “He was kidding, J.J. The cake can’t really be as big as Texas.”

  “Why not?” the little boy demanded, skipping ahead of his mother and cousin as they reached the sidewalk that led to the front doors of the center.

  Sarah didn’t listen to Caitlin’s answer. She’d both anticipated and dreaded this gathering. While she looked forward to seeing old friends, she wasn’t eager to face the inevitable questions about J.J.’s father and her own obviously single status. That Josh would most likely be present with his brother and family added to her apprehension. This birthday party would be the first time since she’d returned that they’d both been present at a social function, and Sarah wasn’t at all sure how either of them would react, since Josh was unpredictable at best. She never knew if he would treat her with distant, cold courtesy, or if he would be broodingly angry and explosive.

  Not that he doesn’t have good cause, she acknowledged with an inner sigh.

  “Sarah!”

  Wes’s deep, booming voice interrupted Sarah’s gloomy thoughts. Her uncle’s broad figure moved out of the group of men standing just to the left of the main entrance, and he strode toward her.

  “Hi, Uncle Wes.” J.J. caught his great-uncle’s hand and Wes bent to sweep him up.

  “How ya doin’, JJ.?” Wes tweaked JJ.’s nose and earned a throaty chortle from the little boy.

  “Fine, Uncle Wes. Have you seen the cake yet?” J.J. demanded.

  “The cake? Nope, not yet. Why?”

  “J.J. thinks the cake is going to be huge,” Sarah said as she reached the two. Beside her, Caitlin shook her head and sighed.

  “I told him that Trey was just teasing, but J.J. won’t believe me,” Caitlin told her great-uncle.

  Wes grinned and winked at Caitlin. “We’ll just have to go inside and take a look, won’t we, honey? Then J.J. can judge for himself.”

  Wes swung J.J. to the ground and slung an arm over Caitlin’s shoulders. “Molly wants the kids to come spend the night with us,” he said to Sarah as they walked through the open double doors and into the wide foyer. “Wayne’s staying with us so that Jennifer and Lucas can have a free evening. Molly thought J.J. and Caitlin would be great company for him.”

  Before Sarah could answer, J.J. caught her hand and tugged her to a halt. “Can we, Mommy? Please? I’ll be good, I promise.”

  Sarah hesitated, torn with indecision; J.J. hadn’t spent a night away from her since his birth. Caitlin laid a hand on her forearm to claim her attention and Sarah looked down at her, into green eyes that held an awareness and empathy far beyond her twelve years.

  “I’ll look after him, Aunt Sarah,” she promised solemnly. “I know he sometimes gets scared in the night, but you can trust me—I’ll stay with him. I won’t leave him alone in the dark.”

  Sarah’s throat closed with emotion, making speech impossible. How many times were you scared in the dark night with no one to stay with you? Sarah knew with swift, undeniable surety that she would move heaven and earth to keep Caitlin from going back to Los Angeles.

  She cleared her throat. “All right, Caitlin,” she said, her voice still thick with emotion. “I know you’ll take good care of J.J.”

  I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself,” J.J. announced, clearly disgusted with the inference that he wasn’t grown up.

  Wes shot an understanding look at Sarah and ruffled J.J.’s hair with one big hand. “Of course you are, cowboy. Now, let’s go take a look at that cake.”

  He started moving again, clearing a path through the crowd that thronged the foyer and crowded the long communal room beyond. Long tables covered with white cloths were arranged at one end, with a shorter table angled to one side. Wes wove his way around laughing, chatting clusters of people, returning greetings with bluff good humor, but not stopping until the four reached the long table gleaming with silverware and crystal.

  “Wow!” J.J. breathed in awe as he stared at the six-tiered cake with its white icing and pink frosting roses. “Is that how big Texas is?”

  Wes laughed, his eyes twinkling with amusement as. his gaze met Sarah’s over J.J.’s fair head. “I think maybe Texas might be a tad bit bigger, J.J., but there’s no question that this cake is big.”

  “Can we eat a piece now?”

  “No,” Sarah said firmly, capturing JJ.’s hand as his forefinger reached for the tempting icing. “Not until the birthday girl blows out the candles.” She tightened her grip when he would have moved away, and bent to hand him Annabel’s gift. “Would you like to put Mrs. Fitch’s present on the table with the other gifts?”

  “Sure.” J.J. promptly took the package and, holding it carefully, walked beside Sarah to the smaller table. The white cloth was nearly hidden beneath the colorful, ribbon-tied boxes; J.J. considered the available space for a long moment before placing the package on a corner, with deliberate precision. Then he spun away and skipped a few steps toward the cake table before he halted abruptly.

  “Hey! There’s Wayne.”

  “JJ., wait…” Before she could stop him, he raced off across the room, dodging around groups of adults. The clusters of people shifted, opening a path, and Sarah saw J.J. reach Wayne. Jennifer bent to speak to him, her glorious mane of red-gold hair falling forward over her shoulders, and J.J. twisted around, pointing at Sarah. Jennifer looked up, saw Sarah and Caitlin, and straightened. Smiling warmly, she turned to the tall, dark man at her side and spoke animatedly. He turned his head, and Sarah recoiled from the brief flash of black anger in his turquoise eyes before he shuttered the emotion.

  If Sarah hadn’t recognized Lucas Hightower from her years in Butte Creek, she would have known who he was from the way Jennifer looked at him. Lucas’s hard mouth lifted in a half smile, but the fiercely tender affection in his expression and the possessive hand he rested at the small of his wife’s back left no doubt that this woman belonged to him.

  Sarah’s heart ached. She vividly remembered that same expression on Josh’s face years before; that she would surely never see him look at her that way again was a pain too deep for tears.

  As if her thoughts had called him, Josh walked up to Lucas. His back to her, he was dressed in Western-cut gray slacks and black dress boots, his shoulders broad beneath the fine weave of a white shirt. The long sleeves were folded back over his forearms, the gold band of a wa
tch gleaming against deeply tanned skin. He glanced over his shoulder, snaring her gaze for a taut moment before he turned back, said something to Lucas and bent to speak to J.J.

  J.J. nodded eagerly and held out his arms; Josh swung him up and onto his shoulders. Lucas did the same with Wayne and the two big men, Jennifer between them, started toward her.

  “Hi, Mommy. Look how high I am!”

  J.J.’s crow of delight demanded her attention. Sarah couldn’t help but smile back at his ear-to-ear grin.

  “Me, too, Sarah,” Wayne said firmly. “I’m tall, too.”

  “You certainly are,” Sarah assured him. Her gaze slipped from Wayne’s face to his father’s and her smile disappeared. Lucas’s austere features held none of the open, friendly acceptance that shone from Wayne’s.

  “You know my husband, Lucas, don’t you, Sarah?” Jennifer asked, breaking the small silence.

  “Yes,” Sarah said quietly. “Hello, Lucas.”

  “Sarah.” Lucas nodded briefly, but his hands didn’t move from their loose grip on Wayne’s ankles.

  Sarah didn’t offer her hand. Although Lucas was polite, his distant reserve wasn’t encouraging.

  “Have you had a chance to visit with Annabel yet?”

  Josh’s deep voice drew Sarah’s gaze from Lucas. His turquoise eyes, so like his brother’s, held heat that had nothing to do with anger.

  “No, we haven’t.” Sarah glanced at Jennifer. “Have you?”

  “Lucas and I have,” Jennifer replied. “But Josh hasn’t. Why don’t you three go say hello and wish her a happy birthday, and then meet us over there.” She pointed down the long length of the room where chairs arranged around tables covered with white cloths were gradually beginning to fill with people. “We’ll claim a table before all the seats are gone.”

  “All right.” Much as she liked Jennifer, Sarah didn’t plan to share the evening with Josh and Lucas. However, she couldn’t see a graceful way to decline, nor could she think of a polite way to reject the obvious pairing Jennifer made of her and Josh.

  “Ready?” Josh claimed her attention once again. “Annabel is holding court in the corner farthest from the bandstand.”