LITMIR.BIZ

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uncles, you know that. She can’t stop talking about Mary and Damien’s baby and how they’ll have a new cousin to play with.”

      Kensey cleared her dishes and danced past her parents. About 70 percent of the time, their youngest child didn’t bother to walk or skip or run to get around; she pranced and leaped; she shimmied and pirouetted. Kensey had been a dancer even before she could walk. “Auntie Stacey, will you fix my hair?”

      Stacey nodded. “Yes, that would be awesome.” Hand in hand, the two headed back upstairs, leaving Vaughan and Kelly alone.

      * * *

      “HOW DO YOU want to do this?” Vaughan asked her. “I’d like it if it could be just you and me at the hospital. Okay?”

      “No Sharon and Michael?”

      He shook his head. “No Ross, either.”

      She gave him a look, suspicion at the edges. “Why?”

      “I want to be a little selfish, okay? I want to be the one who carries her in from the car. The one to bring her to her bed so you can tuck her in.” He paused. “Please?” Vaughan knew Ross spent more time with his daughters than he did. But he’d decided the night before to end that. To not only win his family back, but to deserve them, too.

      Kelly blew out a breath. “All right. It’s a fair request. As long as it’s just you and I.”

      Licking his lips, Vaughan searched for the right words. “I’m sorry about a lot of things. I wasn’t specific yesterday and I can’t really be right now. But I’m working on it. I made so many mistakes. I promise you my mother will behave. But she’ll do it from here. They already promised they wouldn’t stay a long time. They appreciate your being so welcoming to them.”

      The rift between his mother and the mother of his children had come from him. It had grown to epic proportions and then settled into painfully precise civility.

      He hated knowing Kelly had to be wary of an attack from his mother. Sharon Hurley wanted to protect her family so she’d reacted defensively from the start.

      She’d never given Kelly a chance, and their split had only made things worse.

      Kelly shook her head. “I don’t want to go into that right now. I have enough to manage at the moment.”

      “Fair enough.” Vaughan finished the second doughnut and dusted the sugar from his hands. “One more thing. I know it’s going to take a week to two weeks for Maddie to recover totally. I’d like to be around as she recuperates. I want to be with them both more. I’ve missed a lot. I don’t want to... I’m here and this is what dads should be for. I’ll stay in my place in Portland and commute here. Help with school and stuff. I know you work at your store while the girls are in school so I can be here while you do that. I want, very much, to be a better, more involved father. I want them both to count on me to make things better.”

      He wanted her to have that, too.

      Vaughan took in the way the sun hit her back, the gold in her hair gleaming in the light. She wore it up in a ponytail. Not wearing much makeup, she was casual in jeans and a bright blue shirt and sandals. And yet she made it elegant. Something about her always made him think about expensive champagne. She seemed to sizzle on his tongue and then wisp away.

      He knew she smelled of the same perfume she’d worn since he met her. Chanel No. 5.

      Their daughters had her tall, blonde looks. Blue eyes, though closer to the green of Vaughan’s than their mother’s deep ocean blue. They had the same grace Kelly carried herself with.

      Kelly spoke again, catching his attention. “Maddie would really love that. Both girls would love having you around more. But your condo is nearly as far away—given traffic—as your place at the ranch is.” She twisted her ring a moment. “If you really want to do this, I have a guest room with a bathroom attached. You can stay there for the next few weeks.”

      “Really?” Being here would put him close to them. He wouldn’t go to bed every night in another place, hoping for a phone call to update him. He’d be there for them. All three of them. He could help and get to know Kelly all over again and hopefully prove that he’d changed while he was at it.

      “Yeah, of course.” She nodded.

      “That would be great. Thank you so much. Really. This means a lot.”

      He hugged her and stepped back after he sniffed her hair.

      “I can cook fairly well so I can help with breakfast, too.”

      “Baby steps, Vaughan. Let’s just go bit by bit.”

      “Don’t you trust me?”

      She cocked her head and looked him over. “Depends on the issue.”

      He frowned. He wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. He had no ground to stand on because he had failed her. He’d have to prove himself.

      “Fair enough.”

      * * *

      “WELL, LOOKS LIKE I’ve missed some stuff,” Ross said as he came into the kitchen. His tone had a lot of anger and tension in it, which meant what? That he was mad about Vaughan in general or that he’d eavesdropped?

      “Good morning to you, too. What stuff?”

      “You have a new lodger, I see.” Ross gave a jerk of his head, indicating Vaughan.

      This was a sort of angry she hadn’t seen in Ross before. Terse. Clearly agitated. It wasn’t as if he’d walked in on them doing anything untoward at all.

      “We do. Vaughan is going to stay in the guest room while Maddie recovers.” Kelly decided to just ignore his snit and move on.

      Everyone shifted, uncomfortable, and Kelly stood there, staring at them both. Her life used to be a lot more simple.

      “Is there a problem?” Vaughan asked Ross.

      Kelly hit her enough point. “Why are you asking him? This is my house.”

      Both men looked to her, surprised. As if they were shocked she had an opinion about something happening in her own damned kitchen.

      Kensey and Stacey came downstairs before anything else broke out.

      Kelly dried her hands. “I’m going upstairs to finish getting ready. We can ride to the hospital together, Vaughan.” She bent to kiss Kensey, who had already caught sight of her dad and headed his way.

      Ross followed her up the stairs and into her room. Ross was nearly perfect, but his anger tended to be passive-aggressive and she realized she had no energy to play along. This was extra annoying and she wasn’t interested. If he wanted to say something he needed to do it without some big pouty game.

      He sighed dramatically a few times but she pretended he was one of the girls and ignored it while she changed into a nicer shirt.

      Ruthlessly, she only allowed herself enough time at the mirror to make sure the ponytail she’d redone was neat.

      Finally, Ross met her as she came back into the bedroom from her closet. “He’s here too much.”

      “Vaughan? The guy whose kid is in the hospital?”

      “He doesn’t give a shit about them. He wants to use them to get close to you. They’re tools to him.” It was such a hateful, wrong thing to say she physically took a step back. Ross noted her reaction and sighed, agitation in the sound.

      “That sort of thing demeans you, me and Vaughan, too. Whatever his faults, he absolutely does care about them. He’s supposed to be here when they need him, and the things you just said really piss me off.”

      “You didn’t even ask me if he could stay here.”

      “Uh. No, I didn’t. Mainly because I didn’t know about it until this morning. He told me he was going

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