Here with Me
Holly Jacobs
At least that's what Lee Singer thinks when her parents park their RV behind her home on an extended visit, and do what they don't do best–meddle in her (nonexistent) love life!On the other hand, the man who arrives in town with an adorable infant in tow is infinitely more intriguing. A mature and quite handsome Adam Benton is nothing like the adolescent boy Lee remembers. As Lee helps Adam raise his one-year-old, she realizes it's more than an old kinship she feels with Adam. More than camaraderie…Suddenly three is infinitely better than one–as long as Adam is her partner!
Acclaim for Holly Jacobs
“Jacobs is a sublime storyteller.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub
And her recent titles
“You’re in for a wild ride as you wonder if love
will prove to be the wisest ruler.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub on
Once Upon a Prince
“Holly Jacobs has masterfully penned
an absolutely delightful story…”
—CataRomance.com on Once Upon a Princess
“While Be My Baby showcases Holly Jacobs’s
unique humor and wit, this story has more;
it has tender emotions that bring tears to
your eyes. It reveals the real meaning of
family and the healing power of true love.”
—Romance Reviews Today on Be My Baby
Dear Reader,
July might be a month for kicking back and spending time with family at outdoor barbecues, beach cottages and family reunions. But it’s an especially busy month for the romance industry as we prepare for our annual conference. This is a time in which the romance authors gather to hone their skills at workshops, share their experiences and recognize the year’s best books. Of course, to me, this month’s selection in Silhouette Romance represents some of the best elements of the genre.
Cara Colter concludes her poignant A FATHER’S WISH trilogy this month with Priceless Gifts (#1822). Accustomed to people loving her for her beauty and wealth, the young heiress is caught off guard when her dutiful bodyguard sees beyond her facade…and gives her a most precious gift. Judy Christenberry never disappoints, and The Bride’s Best Man (#1823) will delight loyal readers as a pretend dating scheme goes deliciously awry. Susan Meier continues THE CUPID CAMPAIGN with One Man and a Baby, (#1824) in which adversaries unite to raise a motherless child. Finally, Holly Jacobs concludes the month with Here with Me (#1825). A heroine who thought she craved the quiet life finds her life invaded by her suddenly meddlesome parents and a man she’s never forgotten and his adorable toddler.
Be sure to return next month when Susan Meier concludes her CUPID CAMPAIGN trilogy and reader-favorite Patricia Thayer returns to the line to launch the exciting new BRIDES OF BELLA LUCIA miniseries.
Happy reading!
Ann Leslie Tuttle
Associate Senior Editor
Here with Me
Holly Jacobs
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To all the Perry Square readers who’ve supported these
stories, from Do You Hear What I Hear? on, thank you.
This one’s for you.
And to the staff at the Harlequin Distribution Center.
I had so much fun visiting with you. Thanks for
all the wonderful work you do!
Books by Holly Jacobs
Silhouette Romance
Do You Hear What I Hear? #1557
A Day Late and a Bride Short #1653
Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow #1683
Be My Baby #1733
† (#litres_trial_promo)Once Upon a Princess #1768
† (#litres_trial_promo)Once Upon a Prince #1777
† (#litres_trial_promo)Once Upon a King #1785
Here with Me #1825
HOLLY JACOBS
can’t remember a time when she didn’t read…and read a lot. Writing her own stories just seemed a natural outgrowth of that love. Reading, writing, chauffeuring kids to and from activities makes for a busy life. But it’s one she wouldn’t trade for any other.
Holly lives in Erie, Pennsylvania, with her husband, four children and a 180-pound Old English mastiff. In her “spare” time, Holly loves hearing from her fans. You can write to her at P.O. Box 11102, Erie, PA 16514-1102 or visit her Web site at www.HollyJacobs.com (http://www.HollyJacobs.com).
Dear Reader,
Here with Me is a special book for me in part because of Lee and Adam. Theirs is a story about balance. Balancing work and family. Balancing wants and needs. Balancing past and present. Balancing a dream with reality. Both need to find that balance, and they must discover where their true home is. Is it a house, a brick-and-mortar sort of place, or could it be that home truly is where the heart is?
My family moved from our house of thirteen years not long ago. Two of my children had never lived anywhere else. I’ll admit, though I loved the new house, it didn’t feel like home. Then one day, I looked at my family sitting around the dinner table and I had my epiphany…I was home because they were here.
The fact that my discovery parallels my characters’, that I get to examine the world, my life, through another’s eyes is why I’ve been a reader all my life, and why I became a writer. I hope Lee and Adam’s story speaks to you, as well!
Holly
Contents
Prologue (#u243ae9a5-e4e1-5a10-b19a-4366639f6cbc)
Chapter One (#uc9445b51-4df5-517d-aade-2cd57f71e9ef)
Chapter Two (#u1e9da203-e307-581a-a2c9-21453693881d)
Chapter Three (#uae372406-f28e-5124-ba9c-29f041fb89c4)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
Mary Eileen Singer crept from her grandmother’s house before the sun rose on her tenth birthday, just as the first pink rays danced over the lake. Even though it was August, the morning air was cool. The ground felt wet beneath her bare feet, which was just perfect.
She bent, ran her hands over the damp grass, then raised them to her face and scrubbed.
“Ah, there’s something magic in that first dew. Back in Ireland they said if you washed your face in it, the next man you’d meet you’d someday wed. There’s something magic about becoming a woman, too. You put those two wee bits of magic together and you have something special,” her grandmother had said the night before.
Her grandmother had been right about so many things that Mary Eileen fully expected to soon meet this man whom she’d one day marry.
“When you’ve washed your face in the morning dew, you’ll see him and you’ll know,” Grandma had promised.
Face duly washed, Mary Eileen hurriedly ate her breakfast and dressed carefully. It wouldn’t do to meet the man she was going to marry looking less than her best.
She went and sat out in front of the cottage on her favorite rock, waiting for him.
Waiting was no hardship. Her grandmother’s small cottage overlooked the lake. Not the well-tamed sandy beaches that lined Lake Erie’s peninsula, Presque Isle, farther to the west, but a rocky, wild section of shoreline east of the city.
As she sat, she daydreamed about her soul mate. He’d be tall and he’d smile a lot. He’d want nothing more than to spend all his time with her. He wouldn’t work long hours as her parents did and he’d…
Her imagined list of future-husband dos and don’ts were interrupted by a voice calling her name.
“Mary, Mary Eileen.”
Panic swamped her as she recognized the voice.
What had she done?
This couldn’t be the magic.
Oh, yes she knew that voice. She was waiting for the man she was going to marry, not for Matty Benton. There was no way she was going to marry him someday.
She covered her eyes with her hands. Hoping that if she didn’t actually see him, she’d be safe from the magic.
She heard his feet crunch the ground as he approached.
“Mary Eileen, what are you doing?”
She pressed her hands harder against her eyes so that not even the slightest sliver of light penetrated. “Nothing for you to worry about, Matty Benton.”
“I came to see you,” he said.
“Well, I can’t see you today.” She tried to think of an explanation for her covered eyes and finally said, “I had stuff put in my eyes at the doctor’s and can’t open them until tomorrow. If I look at the sun, I could go blind.”
“Oh.” He paused and said, “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. You can go now.”
Even at ten, Mary Eileen knew she was being more than a little rude, but the longer Matty stayed, the greater the risk. No way did she want to marry him. Not horrible old Matty Benton. If she had to be mean in order to prevent it, she would be.
“That’s what I came to tell you, I am going. I’m leaving Erie.”
“Leaving?” she echoed.
Matty was a pain. He’d moved in with the Johnsons a year ago and was two years older than she was. He should spend his time willingly ignoring her like the rest of the older neighborhood kids did, but Matty wasn’t the type to do what he should do. So not only did he not ignore her, he seemed to live to tease her.
She hated that, but it didn’t mean Mary Eileen wanted him to leave.
“Yeah. Social Services found my dad’s brother. My uncle Paul. He lives in New York City, so I’m moving there.”
“Oh.” New York City seemed worlds away from the sleepy beach outside Erie. “Are you glad?”
There was a small rush of air and Mary could almost picture Matty’s characteristic shrug.
“Doesn’t much matter,” he said.
But it did matter.
She knew it did, even if Matty wouldn’t say so.
“I’m sorry, Matty,” she said softly.
It was her birthday and she was going to meet the man she’d marry. She should be celebrating, but instead, she felt sad and realized it was because she’d miss Matty Benton. He might be a pain, but there were occasions, like now, when he wasn’t teasing her and she sort of liked him.
“What have I told you about calling me Matty?” he asked, his voice all deep and scary.
Matty had never scared her a bit. Annoyed, yes, but not scared. She laughed at his attempt to do so now. “Matty’s better than Matt. There’s just no way you’re a Matt.”
“Everyone else and their brother calls me Matt.”
“They’re wrong.” She paused a minute and added, “But you’re right. You’re not exactly a Matty either.”
“So who am I?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” And she felt a wave of loneliness that he was leaving and she’d never get to find out just what his name should be.
“Sorry about your eyes,” he said.
She felt guilty for that lie. “Sorry you’re leaving.” She thought about telling him she’d miss him, but she couldn’t quite get the words out.
There was another slight rustling of the air, and she knew Matty had moved. Something soft brushed against her cheek.
Matty Benton had kissed her.
Right after that thought, she heard the sound of rapid footsteps down the small stone path.
The gate creaked. “Bye, Mary Eileen. There’s not much I’ll miss about Erie, but I’ll miss you. I left you something on the fence post.”
“Bye, Matty.”
And though she knew she shouldn’t, though she knew she was tempting fate, she cracked her interlaced fingers the merest smidgen and peeked at the boy who was walking away.
“Goodbye, Matty.”
Chapter One
“No, Mom, I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong…. I like my life just the way it is.” Lee Singer wished she could hang up. But hanging up wasn’t an option, so she worked at tuning out her mother’s you-could-do-somuch-better lecture. After all, she’d heard it so many times she could almost quote it verbatim.
So much potential, blah, blah, blah.
Wasting your life, blah, blah, blah.
If only you had some drive, some ambition, blah, blah, blah.
Mid-lecture, the door opened at Lee’s small Perry Square art shop, Singer’s Treasures, and a man walked in.
Her conversation with her mother faded to mere background static as she studied the customer with an uncharacteristic feminine awareness.
It wasn’t that she didn’t notice good-looking men, it was just that most of the time she didn’t get hit with this sudden zing.
The man in question was tall. At five-six, she wasn’t a tiny woman, but he towered over her. Sixtwo maybe?
Black hair, not a strand out of place, dark eyes that didn’t look as if they missed anything. He was dressed in a neatly pressed polo shirt and Dockers. He wasn’t exactly scowling, but he wasn’t exactly smiling either.
No, he was sort of studying her with an intensity that made her very…
She searched for a word to describe the heart-pounding, blood-roaring feeling his scrutiny gave her. A word to describe how looking at him made her feel.
Desire.
That was it.
Not that she’d act on it. Lee believed herself to be the type of woman who knew that what was on the inside mattered more than how a person was packaged. But this man’s packaging was a sight to behold.
She tried to steady her thoughts and her heart rate, and managed to say, “Pardon me a sec, Mom. A customer just walked in.” She put a hand over the phone’s mouthpiece. “May I help you?”
“I came about a rental property on Lake Erie. I saw the ad in the paper and it said to contact Singer’s Treasures.”
She uncovered the phone and said, “Listen, Mom, I’ve got to go.”
“I wasn’t finished,” her mother said. “Your father and I have a surprise. We’re—”
Her mother would never be finished because they were never going to see eye to eye on Lee’s life choices. She had realized that long ago, but she couldn’t help but wish her relationship with her mother was different.
“Sorry, Mom, but business calls. And business is supposed to be my priority. Remember? Send my love to Dad.”
Before her mother could utter any further protests, Lee clicked off the power on the portable phone, then set it on the counter.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Parents. You know how they are.”
“Not really,” the man said.
From his expression she could tell she’d made a faux pas.
“I’m sorry,” she offered, though she wasn’t sure what she was sorry for. She decided to take her mother’s advice and for once be all business. “You wanted to know about the cottage I have to rent.”
He nodded, still studying her.
“It’s small, a one bedroom that sits on the lake. It has great views, if you like the water. I usually rent it out by the week. Plumbing, electricity…the basics, but not very fancy.”
A man this pressed and preppy on a hot, humid summer day was the type who was used to fancy…demanded fancy, even.
Her small cottage probably wouldn’t suit him at all.
“Is it vacant?”
She nodded.
“Good. I’ll take it for a month.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a checkbook.
“But you haven’t even seen it,” Lee protested, knowing it wasn’t a very businesslike response.
He ignored her. “How much for a month?”
Lee thought quickly. She’d never been overly aggressive about renting the cottage out and never for an entire month.
The cottages were built by her grandmother and her great-aunt on lakefront property years ago. They stood side-by-side overlooking Lake Erie. Lee now lived in her grandmother’s cottage and rented out its twin.
She wasn’t sure she wanted this man living next to her that long. The feelings he stirred were not conducive to a quiet, happy summer.
Tense. That’s how she felt. Like a string on a bow, pulled taut.
A string that hadn’t been pulled in far too long.
A string she wasn’t sure she wanted pulled.
She named an absurd rate that amounted to what she’d made all of last year renting the cottage out sporadically.
He didn’t blink an eye. Didn’t even pause. He just started writing in his checkbook.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Paying in advance.” He paused and looked up. “I assume you’re not going to object to the month’s rent up front, are you?”
“No, but I…I mean…”
“How do you want the check made out? To you personally, or to the store?”
“Either way,” she said weakly, unsure how he’d managed to rent a cottage she wasn’t sure she wanted to rent to him.
“If I’m going to make it out to you personally, what name should I use?”
“Lee,” she said. “Uh, Lee Singer.”
“Lee?” He sounded surprised.
“Yes. And I suppose if you’re going to be renting the cottage, I should know your name.”
“Adam,” he said, then waited half a beat, watching her intently again. “Adam Benton.”
He thrust out his hand, obviously ready to shake on the deal.
But the funny thing was, Lee absolutely didn’t want to shake his hand…didn’t want to touch him at all. Not because he was scary, but because he wasn’t. Not the least bit.
After her disastrous marriage, she’d sworn off men. But for this one, she might reconsider. And that’s why she didn’t want to touch him.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any way out of it. So she took his hand, gave it one quick shake, then pulled back. That small bit of contact made her feel as if she’d been running a marathon. Her heart was racing, her palms were sweaty and her mouth was dry.
She nervously fingered her necklace.
“What’s that?” he asked, peering at her neck.
She dropped her hand, hoping he’d shift his attention. “Nothing. It’s just a nervous habit.”
“No, the necklace. It looks unusual.”
“Oh.” She pulled the small glass rectangle out so he could see it. “It’s one of my necklaces. It’s what Singer’s Treasures is known for.”
She pointed down at the glass case filled with jewelry.
Her small Perry Square store specialized in jewelry made from small bits of glass, polished smooth by the lake. Blues, browns, greens and translucent.
Lee took the glass and fashioned it into all kinds of interesting pieces. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets.
In addition to the jewelry, the store sold other trinkets. Small driftwood carvings. Paintings of the lake. Most of the work was hers, although she did display other people’s pieces on consignment.
But the lake was the theme that ran through all the treasures in the store.
Lake Erie was her inspiration.
Her home.
She realized the man, Adam, was studying her again. It was almost as if he was looking for something. She wasn’t sure what.
She dropped her necklace and tried to get back to the business at hand. “Before I cash your check, you should take a look at the cottage to be sure it will suit.”
“You made all these?” he asked, studying the contents of the case and ignoring her comment.
“Yes. Now, about the cottage. You’re sure you don’t want to see it first?”
He tilted his head, then smiled a slow upturn of his lips. Rather than making him look less intimidating, it made him look even more so.
“I’m sure,” he said in a low, smooth voice. “You see, I’m the kind of man who knows what he wants, then goes after it. And right now I need someplace quiet to figure a few things out. Your cottage on the lake should be just right.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she simply said, “Oh. Well, thank you.”
“The key.” There was the slightest hesitation, then he added her name, “Lee.”
“Oh, right.” She rummaged through her desk drawer and withdrew the key. “Here you go. And if you wait, I’ll copy you directions. It’s about twenty minutes from here.”
“Don’t bother. I know the way.”
“But how?” she asked.
He ignored the question. “I’ll be moving in tomorrow. Thank you.”
He turned and headed out of the shop, stopped abruptly and turned. “I’ll be seeing you, Lee.”
Again, there was a weird pause as he said her name.
“Yes, you will, you see—” She started to tell him she lived next door, but he simply turned and left.
She looked at the check.
Adam Benton.
It listed a New York address.
Her grandmother used to say everything always happens for a reason. Lee couldn’t help wondering just what reason Adam Benton had for renting her cottage.
And even more, she couldn’t help but wonder about her out-of-character reaction to him. There was something about him…something more than just attraction. Almost a familiarity.
She shook her head. That was silly. She’d certainly remember meeting a man like Adam Benton.
And yet the feeling nagged at her. There was something about him.
Well, she’d have the next four weeks to figure it out.
The thought wasn’t very comforting.
Her new tenant had been gone less than ten minutes when the front door of the shop opened again.
“Now, that was a fine lookin’ man if I ever saw one,” Pearly Gates, Perry Square’s version of a town crier, said as she strode into the shop. “He met up with some woman and baby in the park after he left here. The three of them got into an SUV and drove off.”
“That’s nice,” Lee said, not knowing what else Pearly was after, but knowing there would be something.
“So who is he?” Pearly, a spry, grey-haired woman with a touch of the south in her voice, pulled a stool up to the glass case that held Lee’s jewelry and waited for her explanation.
“Why would you think he was anything except a customer?” Lee asked, rather than answering.
“A customer doesn’t spend nigh on twenty minutes pacin’ up and down the block. He paused in front of your door at least half a dozen times and I’d think, there he goes, he’s goin’ in. But he wouldn’t. He’d just walk down the block again. Looked to me like he was workin’ up his nerve.”
“I can’t imagine why. Maybe he was just trying to get a feel for the neighborhood.”
“Ha,” Pearly said, not a bit convinced. “He didn’t look like someone coming from the police station, and he barely slowed his gait when he walked by the Five and Dine. Misty says today’s a cinnamon-roll day. Who can resist slowin’ up to smell that? No, he was working up his nerve for something. And I want to know what it was.”
“How do you know what’s going on over here? I’m across the park from Snips and Snaps for goodness sake. Do you have a telescope over there or something?”
“Good eyes. It’s genetic. My great-grandmother Hazel lived to be ninety-eight and never needed glasses. She claimed she didn’t need hearing aids either, but the woman was deaf as a post. Did I ever tell you about the time she—”
The shop’s door opened again and a couple came in, interrupting Pearly’s story. Which was sort of a relief as Pearly’s stories could easily take an entire afternoon for the telling, what with all the twists, turns and tangents she put in them.
“Welcome to Singer’s Treasures,” Lee called out. “Let me know if I can assist you in any way.”
“Thank you,” the woman said.
“Well, Pearly, I guess that story’s going to have to wait.”
“Fine. You can dodge the story of how Hazel lost her bloomers on Main Street, but only if you tell me about the mystery man.”
Lee should have just admitted defeat the first time Pearly had asked. To the best of her knowledge, no one had ever dodged her for long.
“His name’s Adam Benton. He rented my cottage.” Again, a feeling of familiarity swept over her as she mentioned his name.
She had to be imagining a connection. After all, what woman in her right mind wouldn’t want a connection to a gorgeous man like Adam Benton?
“He’s staying out at your place?” Pearly asked.
Lee could just imagine how Pearly could distort that particular slant on the story, so she quickly tried to set it to right. “Not my place, the other cottage.”
“Well, well, well.” Pearly studied her a moment, then broke out in a huge grin. “Well, I do like the sound of that. Another Perry Square match could be in the making.”
“You said he had a woman and a baby in the park. He’s probably married and bringing the whole family out.”
“Nah. He didn’t touch the lady once. He just nodded at her when he came out of here. I don’t think there’s anything between them.”
“They probably were just fighting, or maybe she had all she could do to handle the baby.”
“Or maybe it was his sister and niece, and he’s single. I like the sound of a nice-looking, single man living with you.”
“Not with me, next to me.” Pearly looked as if she were going to argue, so Lee continued, “Don’t get any ideas, Pearly Gates. Just because you’re in love, doesn’t mean I will be. I’ve tried a relationship in the past, and it’s obvious I don’t have what it takes. Plus, I like my life just as it is.”
Pearly had come back from a trip to Europe with a new boyfriend. Not quite a new boyfriend. An old boyfriend she’d rediscovered. Their story was the talk of the Square.
Pearly had gone to a small European country, Eliason, for a wedding, and had discovered her childhood sweetheart had been an ambassador to the country for years before he’d retired. They’d picked up their tumultuous relationship and when Pearly had come back to Perry Square, the ambassador had followed.
“Sure, you love your life,” Pearly said, still grinning. “I loved mine as well. But even though finding my Buster has changed it, it’s a change for the better.”
“Pearly—” Lee started to warn her, but at that moment her customers came up and asked about a painting. While she answered them, Pearly sneaked out.
The coward.
Lee didn’t even want to hear the rumors that would be flying up and down the square before tomorrow’s breakfast.
Pearly Gates would make a mountain out of this molehill.
Another match?
Ha.
Perry Square might have had a number of matches of late, but Lee Singer wasn’t about to join the ranks. She was wise enough to learn from her mistakes.
There was absolutely no way she was matching with anyone.
Not even if her new tenant was one of the best-looking men she’d seen in a long time.
The next day, Adam Benton got out of his SUV and breathed deeply, then exhaled slowly. He studied the twin cottages. They looked exactly as he remembered them. Two one-story buildings with well-weathered clapboard siding and huge front porches complete with rockers and tables.
As he drank in the sight, he felt as if he were coming home, which was ridiculous. Home was New York.
This?
The cottage just outside Erie in Northeast Pennsylvania was just a place where he used to live near this girl he used to know.
And that girl, Mary Eileen Singer, had never really liked him much.
He smiled and acknowledged she had every right not to like him. He’d tormented her with all the gusto a young boy could.
A loud squawk from the back of the SUV announced that Jessie was ready to be set free.
“Hey, there, kiddo,” he said as he worked the myriad of hooks and buckles that locked the baby into the car seat.
Actually, now that Jessie was mobile, he should probably start thinking of her as a toddler.
“Here we go,” he said as he lifted her out of the car.
Jessie immediately arched her back, her nonverbal cue that she didn’t want to be held. He set her down and she squealed with delight.
“Don’t eat the grass,” he warned as her chubby fingers grabbed a large hunk and started pulling.
She giggled, not the least bit intimidated. “What on earth am I going to do with you?”
That’s what this break was all about—figuring out what to do about Jessie.
He remembered all those years ago. His parents had died, and he’d gone to live with a foster family. Then one day, his social worker had announced she’d found his uncle, and that this unknown relative had agreed to let Adam come live with him.
He hadn’t been thrilled about going to New York. But over time, he and Paul had sort of meshed. Adam had continued living with his uncle while he’d gone to college and things had been great. Two single guys in the city.
A year after Adam started, Paul met Cathie.
Adam remembered those first few months Paul had dated her. Adam had been obnoxious.
That seemed to be a theme in his past—obnoxious.
He hoped he’d grown out of it.
He watched as Paul and Cathie’s daughter picked the grass and let it run through her fingers.
She didn’t seem to be too affected from her loss. Adam, on the other hand, was reeling from losing Paul and Cathie two months ago.
They were the only family he had—except for Jessie, their daughter. His cousin and goddaughter.
Adam Benton might know how to handle himself in the business world, but he wasn’t equipped for this, for dealing with an eighteen-month-old.
Jessica Aubrey Benton was his responsibility.
Paul and Cathie had trusted him to raise her.
When the lawyer had told him, it had shocked him. He’d assumed they’d named Cathie’s folks Jessie’s guardians.
Cathie’s parents had assumed the same and had been equally shocked.
But Paul and Cathie had named him guardian in their will. Their choice still didn’t make sense to Adam. But he’d picked the toddler up from her grandparents just two weeks ago, determined to take some time with her and decide what to do.
He shook his head as he watched Jessie gleefully wiggle her fingers in the long grass.
Give him a room full of corporate execs. Give him a computer system that needed to be created from scratch…that he could deal with.
Even give him the new computer chip that he hoped would put Delmark, Inc. on the road to success and he was in his element.
Yes, Adam Benton could cope and plan on par with just about anyone when it came to business matters.
But Jessie?
He just wasn’t sure what to do with her.
He loved her, but he wasn’t prepared for taking over her care on his own.
After the will had been read, Cathie’s parents had immediately started pressuring him to let them have her and raise her. Part of him agreed it was the best idea. The other part felt obligated to honor Paul’s request.
He was torn and needed time to sort out what was going to be best for Jessie.
But he wasn’t going to figure anything out standing in the driveway. He got busy unpacking the car. Once he got Jessie’s box of toys, she was content to play with them on the porch. As soon as she’d dumped the box, she’d drop them all back in, then start again.
He hadn’t brought much. A few suitcases for each of them, his laptop, printer and fax machine, and Jessie’s toys and her portable crib.
When everything was in the living room, he scooped up Jess and her toys, and she played while he set up the crib in the bedroom. As soon as it was up, he laid her down. She must have been tired because she was almost agreeable as she settled down for her nap with just a token of a complaint.
Adam cracked her bedroom window so he could hear her, and went out to the front porch. It had two rockers on it, just as it always had. They looked weathered enough to be the same two that had sat here years before.
Nothing about the twin cottages on the lake seemed to have changed, unlike Mary Eileen.
Lee.
She’d changed her name.
Well, not really changed it, but altered it.
Not that he could find fault with that. He’d altered his as well.
He’d almost forgotten Mary Eileen Singer until he’d read an article a month ago. It talked about how a small shop on Perry Square was making big waves with its unique jewelry. He hadn’t connected the girl he knew with the jewelry artist Lee Singer until he’d seen her picture. At the time, it had spurred a passing memory of his time in Erie.
But after he lost Paul and Cathie in the accident, he’d known Erie was the perfect place to get away and figure things out. He’d known that Lee would—
He broke off his thoughts of the past as a Jeep came down the long dirt driveway.
She was here.
Her shoulder-length brown hair was pulled into a casual ponytail. He knew if he were closer he could see the hints of red that threaded through its strands.
What he could never be sure of was how her eyes would look. They were the type of neutral color that seemed to change day to day, much like the lake. Sometimes almost blue, sometimes a dark gray that almost bordered on black.
She spotted him on the porch and waved. She didn’t look overly excited to see him.
Well, that was one thing that hadn’t changed, because Mary Eileen had never been overly enthused with his company, although she’d always been kind and polite.
It was that kindness he remembered the most. Maybe that’s why he’d returned? The article appearing the day before Paul and Cathie’s accident—the day his world had tilted on its axis and changed so fast—seemed like a sign.
Maybe that’s why he’d been drawn back to this spot. He needed something stable, something he could count on. This place was the only stable thing he could recall now that Paul and Cathie were gone.
Mary Eileen Singer’s kindness was like that…dependable. He hadn’t seen her in eighteen years, but he knew in his gut that quality about her hadn’t changed.
“Mr. Benton,” Mary Eileen called as she approached. “Are you all settled in?”
“Yes, thank you. I didn’t bring much, so it didn’t take long. It was nice of you to stop by and check on me,” he said.
“I wasn’t being nice. I started to tell you, before you so abruptly left—”
She was scolding him, he realized, and resisted the urge to grin at the thought. He hadn’t been scolded…well, in a very long time.
“—that I live in the cottage next to yours.”
“I thought you might.”
“But you left so fast that I didn’t have a chance,” she continued; then what he’d said hit her and she paused a moment, then asked, “What do you mean, you thought I might live here?”
He knew he should have told her earlier who he was when he first saw her again, but some devil of an inclination wanted to see if she’d recognize him.
She hadn’t.
He should have felt a sense of satisfaction that he’d changed that much. He had worked hard to become Adam Benton, trying to leave the troubled boy he’d been behind.
He’d obviously succeeded.
And yet, he’d thought maybe Mary Eileen would see through his facade.
“I know, Mary Eileen, because I’ve been here before. Not for a long time, but I remember how much this place meant to you.”
“What do you mean you’ve been here before? I would have…” She stopped a moment and stared at him.
“Matty Benton,” she whispered.
She did remember.
He felt suddenly lighter than he had in a long time.
“You said I wasn’t a Matt, and not really a Matty. What do you think of an Adam?”
She continued to study him and Adam felt a bit naked. Not in a no-clothes sense, but rather in a she-could-see-all-the-things-he’d-rather-keep-hidden sort of way.
She’d always made him feel like that.
But this was slightly different. Her study left him feeling more than a sense of coming home. It left him wanting to reach out and pull her into his arms.
He wondered how she’d react.
He doubted she’d melt into him and cover him with kisses.
No, he rather thought she’d deck him.
The thought made his smile broaden.
“Well?” he prompted.
She nodded slowly. “Yes, Adam suits you. It’s who you are. Matthew Adam Benton.”
“Adam Mathias Benton.”
“Oh, la-di-da,” she said with a laugh. “To be honest, that suits you even better.”
“And you, Lee instead of Mary Eileen.”
“Mary Eileen was a bit too long to fit on my artwork, so I started signing Lee and by the time I got to college it just stuck.”
“It suits you as well.”
“So, Adam,” she smiled as she said his name, “what brings you back to Erie from New York?”
How to answer that.
There were a dozen different ways, and all of them would be accurate up to a point.
“Da!” Jessie cried in a voice so loud it was hard to believe it came from such a tiny body.
“Pardon me,” he said, running into the cottage before Jessie tried to get out of the crib herself.
“Da,” she repeated as he came into her room.
Da.
Short for Adam.
He was swept away by the memory of Cathie working with Jessie, trying to get her to say Adam. Da was as close as she’d come.
He tried not to think of his uncle’s wife. Cathie had had a sense of happiness that had simply radiated in everything she’d done.
As he lifted Jessie out of the crib and she smiled at him, he was hit with a wave of regret that Paul and Cathie had missed that smile, just as they’d miss so many things in the coming years.
“Da,” Jessie said and started a string of babble that he couldn’t understand, but seemed of the utmost importance to Jessie.
“Come on, short stuff. I want to introduce you to someone.” He took the baby to the porch, but Lee was gone.
“Maybe later then,” he murmured to the baby.
Chapter Two
A baby was crying. But Lee was lost in her art. She was working on a new piece. Though she knew she should attend to the baby, she continued working. Ignoring everything but work…
Lee awoke from the nightmare drenched in sweat. She’d had variations of the dream before, but not in months. She didn’t have to be a psychiatrist to figure out hearing Adam’s baby today had triggered tonight’s foray into the past.
Knowing she wouldn’t be going back to sleep until she wound down, she got out of bed and stood at her bedroom window. It faced the other cottage.
Normally, the memories here in her grandmother’s cottage helped keep the nightmares away. She looked at her cottage’s twin. When she was very small, her great-aunt had lived there. Now, behind its door was Adam Benton.
Matty.
He must be why she’d been working on that particular piece of jewelry in her dream.
She turned away from the window and opened a small chest at the foot of her bed. It was stuffed with childhood mementos.
She pushed aside a high-school pennant, an old diary, and some photographs before she finally found what she was looking for. The small seashell-covered Popsicle-stick box she used to keep trinkets in was exactly as she remembered it. Inside was the first piece of beach-glass jewelry she’d ever made. The worn chip of clear glass was shaped like a heart. The piece she’d been working on in tonight’s dream.
As she fingered it, she couldn’t help remembering that last meeting with him so many years ago.
She got up and went back to the window. Eighteen years ago. She smiled remembering her grandmother’s story about the dew. But no prince had ridden to find her that day, just Matty Benton announcing he was leaving for New York.
He’d left this small piece of glass on the fence post that day.
And now he was back.
Everything always happens for a reason.
Her grandmother had believed in things like destiny and magic. Even if she’d never set foot on the Irish shores, she’d been at heart an Irish woman with a gift for the blarney.
Magic does exist, she’d told Lee.
While her parents had been busy with work, busy chasing after their next big deal, her grandmother had told her stories of Ireland. She’d always had time for Lee.
Her mother and father had built big careers, while her grandmother had built love. Her parents were in Philadelphia now, still working day-in and day-out.
To Lee, career should be a four-letter word.
To this day, her parents frowned on Singer’s Treasures.
After all, it wasn’t a real job. She kept very short hours at the shop—noon to five—preferring to do most of her work here at the cottage. And recently, she’d hired someone to help out part-time.
Not a real job, was her parents’ refrain. Her mother’s lecture the other day had been much the same as all the others. There was no future in her work.
Try as she might, Lee had never been able to make them understand she worked to support her living; she didn’t live to work.
There was a difference.
It was a difference they had never been able to appreciate.
A movement caught her eye. A curtain billowed at Adam’s cottage.
Maybe the baby was up, scared to wake in the dark in a strange house. Maybe it had cried, prompting her dream.
Lee slid her window open, so she’d be able to hear any noise, but all she could hear was the familiar sound of waves lapping the shore.
She slipped a throw over her shoulders, made her way through the dark house that hadn’t really changed since her childhood, and out onto the porch.
Still nothing.
It must have been her imagination.
She sank into one of the rocking chairs. Creaking it back and forth as she gazed out over the star-studded sky and the last traces of her nightmare faded, she lost herself in the natural beauty of the lake, remembering why she loved it here.
“Can’t sleep?” came Adam’s voice from the step.
She jumped. She hadn’t heard him coming over. “You startled me.”
“Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t sound overly contrite. He took the other rocker without waiting for an invitation.
They rocked together in companionable silence for quite a while.
Finally Lee said, “Won’t your wife miss you?”
“I don’t have a wife, Lee.”
She wanted to ask who the woman in the park was then, but she didn’t. She simply asked, “Is your baby all right by herself?”
“The cottages sit so close to one another that I’m sure I can hear her if she calls. I left the window open. She’ll holler if she wakes up again. You might have noticed, but she’s not exactly quiet and subtle.”
Lee laughed. “She does have a good set of lungs, as my grandmother used to say.”
So where was the baby’s mother? Lee burned with curiosity, but couldn’t think of a way to ask without seeming as if she were prying. Pearly wouldn’t hesitate just to ask, but Lee couldn’t, so she said nothing.
The silence didn’t feel awkward. They simply rocked and stared out at the dark expanse.
Adam was the first one to speak again. “I was sorry to hear when your grandmother passed away. She was a true lady.”
It had been five years, but Lee still missed her grandmother’s gentle presence in her life. “Thank you. How did you hear?”
“I have the Erie paper mailed to me in New York. I didn’t want to lose my connection to this place. I had some happy memories here.”
“Oh.”
“I saw the article about Singer’s Treasures last month. I didn’t know you were the up-and-coming artist they were talking about until I saw your picture. You won the Jones Award for Art. That was impressive. I almost called to congratulate you.”
“Really?” He’d followed her through the paper? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
As if he sensed her feelings, he said, “It’s not as if I got the paper to monitor you.”
“I never thought that,” she denied.
“You wondered if maybe I was some sort of stalker.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He tsk-tsked.
Really, tsk-tsked, like Pearly Gates would tsktsk someone.
“You sound like an old woman,” she said, teasing him. “Tsk-tsk, deary, and all that.”
“Picking on me already, Singer? As I recall, you were always picking on me.”
“Funny,” she said, “I seem to remember it the other way around.”
“Rather than argue who was the pickee and who was the picker, I’ll say good night. Jessie gets up very early. She hates to miss out on anything by sleeping.”
“Good night,” Lee said.
She watched him walk back to his place. When his cottage door shut, she went back in as well and went to bed. When she finally slept, she dreamed the same dream she’d had regularly since that morning when she was ten.
A dark, shadowy figure of a man leaning down toward her whispering her grandmother’s words, “Magic does exist.”
For the first time in a long time, she wished she could believe it were true.
The room was bright when Lee opened her eyes the next morning.
Way too bright.
And loud.
Normally the only sounds in the morning were the waves and maybe an occasional bird. Today, something was disturbing the usual peace and quiet.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Lee groaned as she crawled out of bed. She’d tossed and turned all night—not because she’d had a repeat nightmare. Instead, every time she did manage to fall asleep, she saw him.
The dark man of her dreams.
It was disturbing.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Her sleep-muddled mind slowly cleared and she realized that the noise was someone pounding at the door.
Pulling on an old robe, she went and opened it. Adam stood, holding his squirmy baby.
“I woke you,” he said. “I’m sorry. Go back to bed.” He turned around, as if he were going to leave.
“Don’t be silly. It’s way past time I was up. Do you want some coffee?”
“I’d love some, but I don’t have time. I have a teleconference.”
“It’s Sunday.”
“I know, but this last month has been crazy. The talk is about two weeks overdue, so I took it when I could. Unfortunately, I foolishly thought I could manage it with Jessie, but she’s bent on exploring the new house. She’s already unrolled all the toilet paper, emptied out the bottom cupboard, and—”
“I get the picture. You want me to watch her while you finish your meeting?”
“I was hoping you might. I mean, I know it’s an imposition. I’d be happy to pay you. It’s just this is important and I have to—”
Part of Lee wanted to say, No…I don’t do babies. But Adam looked slightly desperate, and the toddler was adorable. Blond hair in a wild, Eienstein-ish style, with light blue eyes and a huge smile.
Just because Lee had decided not to have children didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy other people’s.
“Go ahead and go,” she said. “I’m sure I can handle…” She paused. “Jessie, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Jessie.” He handed her the baby.
Lee felt the old familiar stab of pain as she took Jessie in her arms. After all this time, she’d hoped the ache would lessen, but it hadn’t. And she was beginning to suspect it never would.
Adam set a bag on the floor. “There are diapers, some Cheerios, some toys…”
“We’ll figure it out. Just go.”
“Thanks,” he called as he sprinted back across the short bit of yard that separated the two cottages.
“Well,” Lee said, studying the beautiful little girl in her arms. “Maybe I should introduce myself, Miss Jessie. I’m Lee. I knew your daddy way back when. He was Matty then. And though he might think you’re a handful, let me assure you, he was worse.”
The toddler babbled. Lee thought she caught an occasional real word in the mix, but she thought that might be wishful interpretation on her part.
“Want to help me make some coffee?” The next burst of babble seemed to be positive, so Lee assumed Jessie’s answer was a yes.
“Good. I’m absolutely worthless without a jolt of caffeine in the morning.”
Half an hour later, Lee had managed to dress…just barely. In the time it took her to slip a T-shirt over her head, Jessie had run across the hall to the bathroom and unrolled half the toilet-paper roll.
“My grandmother would have said, ‘she’s full of piss and vinegar, that one.’ I never quite figured out what that meant, but having met you, I believe I have an inkling.”
Jessie didn’t seem to take offense. She started shredding the long string of paper into smaller gobs.
“I think it might be better if we found something to entertain you,” Lee said. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach.”
Jessie cooed her agreement and Lee scooped her up. She was enveloped in the scent of freshly washed baby again. She inhaled deeply and felt tears well in her eyes as an all too familiar pain asserted itself.
She brushed the tears away and tried to ignore all the what-could-have-beens as she concentrated on the what-was.
And what-was today was a beautiful blue sky, a warm spring sun and Jessie, who seemed eager to embrace her new temporary home.
“Come on, Jessie,” Lee said, and they left the cottage.
Adam was pacing. He knew that it wouldn’t help, but he had so much nervous energy.
Where could Lee have taken Jessie?
He shouldn’t have trusted Jessie with her. He’d known Lee years ago, but he had no way of knowing what kind of woman she’d grown into.
What a fool.
Maybe he should call the police. It had been over an hour since he’d gone into his bedroom, shut the door and taken his conference call. Almost two hours since he’d left Jessie with Lee. Who knew—
Just then he spotted her climbing up the small hill, Jessie in her arms.
“Where were you?” Adam barked, his tone sharp, his expression angry as he rushed toward them.
“We went for a walk. What’s wrong?” Lee asked, looking confused.
“What’s wrong? I left Jessie with you and come back to find you’ve both disappeared. I spent the last hour worried sick.”
“Oh, Adam, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be that long. It’s just—it was such a beautiful day and the beach sort of called me. Walking out wasn’t a problem. But coming back was. I didn’t realize how heavy Jessie could be. She might toddle about, but she’s not exactly up to walking on her own. So we took breaks. Frequent breaks.”
Jessie called, “Da,” and held her arms out to him.
As he took her from Lee, his heart rate slowly returned to normal and he felt as if he could breathe again. He met Lee’s eyes. “I’m sorry, too. I guess I overreacted. It’s just that if anything were to happen to her…”
He let the sentence trail off. Nothing would ever happen to Jessie. He’d see to it. “I guess we should be going. I have work to do.”
“Okay,” Lee said, her tone subdued. “Really, I’m sorry to have given you a scare. My parents would tell you that I’m totally hopeless about time, and I’m as irresponsible as they come.”
Adam didn’t comment on her parents’ opinion, even though he felt a flash of sympathy. He’d only seen them occasionally when he’d lived in Erie. It was Lee’s grandmother who’d attended school functions—her grandmother he remembered.
He didn’t say any of that. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I lost my head. Thank you for watching her. I hope we didn’t hold you up.”
“Not at all. It was my pleasure.” Her voice sounded stiff, and she didn’t wait for him to respond. She just turned and walked into her cottage, shutting the door quite firmly behind her.
“Great,” he muttered to the baby. “Looks like I’ve offended the only person I know in town.”
Even as he said the words, he knew that wasn’t why he felt like such a schmuck.
After all these years he’d hoped he and Lee had moved beyond the tease-and-torture stage, but maybe not.
“Come on, sweetie. Let’s go home.”
Chapter Three
Later that afternoon, Lee was distracting Adam. Not by anything she was actively doing, because she wasn’t actually doing anything. She’d simply been sitting on the rock at the edge of the water for the longest time. She was staring at the lake, apparently lost in thought.
Adam was supposed to be lost as well. Lost in work that was piled in front of him on his makeshift desk, known as the kitchen table. A kitchen table near a window that overlooked the lake. For some reason, the files on his laptop didn’t seem nearly as interesting as the woman in his sights.
Little Mary Eileen had grown into a beautiful woman.
He wondered if she was dating anyone, then realized it didn’t matter. He might be interested, but even though she was available, and was easily the most intriguing woman he’d met—well, not met, but remet—in years, he didn’t have time for a woman in his life.
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