walked over Seth's thigh to reach his other shoulder.
"It's better than getting slobbered on," Seth claimed, but his arm came
up to keep Aubrey from tumbling to the floor.
For a few moments, Grace simply stood and watched. The man, relaxed in
the big wing chair and grinning down at the children. The children
themselves, their heads close--one delicate and covered with gold curls,
the other with a shaggy mop shades and shades deeper.
The little lost boy, she thought, and her heart went out to him as it
had from the first day she'd seen him. He'd found his way home.
Her precious girl. When Aubrey had been only a fluttering in her womb,
Grace had promised to cherish, to protect, and to enjoy her. She would
always have a home.
And the man who had once been a lost boy, who had slipped into her
girlish dreams years before and had never really slipped out again. He
had made a home.
The rain drummed on the roof, the television was a low, unimportant
murmur. Dogs slept on the front porch, and the moist wind blew through
the screen door.
And she yearned where she knew she had no business yearning--to set down
the basket of laundry, to go over and climb into Ethan's lap. To be
welcomed there, even expected there. To close her eyes, for just a
little while, and be part of it all.
Instead she retreated, finding herself unable to step into that quiet,
lazy ease. She went back to the kitchen, where the overhead lights were
bright and just a little hard. There, she set the basket on the table
and began to gather what she needed to make dinner.
When Ethan came in a few moments later to hunt up a beer, she had meat
browning, potatoes frying in peanut oil, and a salad under way.
"Smells great." He stood awkwardly for a minute. He wasn't used to
having someone cook for him--not for years--and then not a woman. His
father had been at home in the kitchen, but his mothera They'd always
joked that whenever she cooked, they needed all her medical skills to
survive the meal.
"It'll be ready in half an hour or so. I hope you don't mind eating
early. I've got to get Aubrey home and bathed and then change for work."
"I never mind eating, especially when I'm not doing the cooking. And the
fact is, I want to get to the boatyard for a couple hours tonight."
"Oh." She looked back, blowing at her bangs. "You should have told me.
I'd have hurried things up."
"This pace works for me." He took a pull from the bottle. "You want a
drink or something?"
"No, I'm fine. I was going to use that salad dressing
Phillip made up. It looks so much prettier than the store-bought."
The rain was letting up, petering out into slow, drizzling drops with
watery sunlight struggling to break through. Grace glanced toward the
window. She was always hoping to see a rainbow. "Anna's flowers are
doing well," she commented. "The rain's good for them."
"Saves me from dragging out the hose. She'd have my head if they died on
her while she's gone."
"Wouldn't blame her. She worked so hard getting them planted before the