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She shivered. Dear Lord, what else was Boone keeping bottled up inside him?
No, it was definitely best to let things unfold naturally. All Boone and Jamie needed was some time and togetherness.
She refused to dwell on the thought that time and togetherness were the most limited factors in this relationship.
Instead, she laughed. “You want proof that you can take a guy out of Canada but you can’t take the Canadian out of the guy? You just apologized to a baby. For something he can’t even understand yet.”
Boone’s grin was slow to appear, but when it did—in full surprised delight—it was well worth the wait. “I guess some things are too ingrained to forget.”
Kate was inclined to agree. Especially when Boone gave his jacket a tug and a pat, and she remembered the way he always did that when he got dressed. A final tug. A final pat. And then, usually, a final kiss before he headed out the door.
How many times had that last kiss turned into something more?
And how many times would she be fool enough to torture herself with memories such as that before she—
Boone looked past her to the road. “Looks like you have company.”
Kate turned. One glance at the little white hatchback turning into her driveway and her heart sank.
“Oh, God,” she said bleakly. “It’s my mother.”
Boone flinched. “She still pissed at me?”
“Yes.” There was no point in sugarcoating the truth, especially when Boone was well aware that he was high on Maggie Hebert’s hit list. “I meant to warn you, but I thought she’d give us at least a full day.”
“And lose the element of surprise?”
At least he didn’t sound too worried.
“There’s one thing in your favor. Allie’s former fiancé moved into the Number One Scum spot when the Mounties showed up. You, at least, tried to do the right thing.” Kate waved at her mother, now walking toward them. “If we can get her talking about that, it’ll remind her that you’re a prince in comparison.”
“I’m not holding my breath,” he said, then waved as cheerfully as if Kate hadn’t just given him the equivalent of a battle plan. “Hello, Maggie!”
Kate winced. “It’s Mrs. Hebert to you,” she reminded him, but it was too late. Maggie was already scowling as she climbed the steps.
“Good morning, Katie. Good morning, sweet little Jamie.” She looked past them. “Boone.”
Kate closed her eyes against the whirlwind generated by being dragged abruptly back into adolescent embarrassment over her mother.
“Mom. Be nice.”
“I’m always nice.”
Right. According to Maggie, the fact that Boone still had testicles was proof of her magnanimity.
“What can we do for you, Mom?”
Maggie sent a cold look in Boone’s direction before turning to focus on Jamie. “Well,” she said in a much milder tone as she grabbed the tiny foot, “I came by to invite you to dinner on Sunday.” She sighed and glanced up at Boone. “All of you.”
Oh, joy.
“You could have called,” Kate said.
“I’m well aware of that, Katherine. But I was out running errands already, and I saw you outside, and this way I got to have a minute with the sweetest little guy in the whole wide world. Right, Jamiekins?”
Kate was never quite sure how her mother managed to adore everything about Jamie while claiming to be plotting revenge against the man who had fathered him. But then, there were many things about Maggie Hebert that had never made sense.
“I don’t know,” she began, only to be interrupted.
“Allie and Cash are coming, too, and there’s no one booked for the bed and breakfast that night. I thought we could have a real family meal.”
Dear Lord. If the sarcasm were any thicker, they could spread it on toast in place of peanut butter.
Something warm landed on Kate’s shoulder. Boone’s hand. He squeezed, gentle but heartening, and she got the message. They were going to have to do this eventually, and if Allie and Cash were present, there might be a buffer zone.
“Okay. We’ll be there.”
Maggie grabbed Jamie’s hands and pulled them together in an imitation of applause. “Yay! Can you say yay, sweetie? You’ll be talking soon, you smart boy.”
“Mom. He’s not going to say anything like that for a while.”
“She is such an unbeliever, isn’t she?” Maggie made a sourpuss face, drawing a giggle from Jamie. “That’s right. You know it’s the truth, don’t you, sweetheart?”
“Very kind of you to invite us,” Boone said, and Kate marveled at the evenness of his voice. “What time should we get there?”
“Oh, the usual. Kate knows.”
Yes, Kate knew. She knew many things. Like how her mother had the ability to convey about twelve different messages with two tiny words.
They were going to have to talk. Soon.
“So, not to be rude, Mom, but we have a lot to get through today, and since we’re going to see you soon anyway...”
Maggie straightened and gave the house a brisk once-over. “You told him about the roof, right?”
Kate opened her mouth to answer but Boone beat her to it. “I’m going up there after we look around from the ground, but my suspicion is that it will need to be completely reshingled.”
“It will. The porch needs to be fixed first, though, before Katie goes through it.”
“Hello?” Kate waved her hand in front of Maggie’s face. “Standing right here in front of you?”
“It’s on the list.” Boone gave her shoulder another squeeze. Purely to help her stay calm, Kate knew, but at the same time, oh, it felt so good. All that heat and strength. All that promise.
All that heartache, Kate.
“Make sure you check out the basement. Katie says it’s good, but I think there’s some water seeping in at the back wall. The upstairs bathroom needs to be completely gutted. The kitchen could use an overhaul, too, but—”
“Mom.” Kate had to put an end to this. “We’ve got this, okay?”
Maggie looked between them, searching, though for what, Kate wasn’t sure. The only certainty was that when she spied Boone’s hand, she snapped to rigid uprightness so fast that it was like someone had replaced her spine with a titanium rod.
Boone left his palm exactly where it was. Which was a good thing. It kept Kate from turning and walking away in disgust.
“That’s right,” Maggie said. “You’ve got this.” And she tickled Jamie’s stomach.
God, Kate thought, please help me remember this when someone breaks Jamie’s heart someday.
“Well, it’s good to know that the place will get the makeover it needs.” Maggie shielded her eyes as she looked over the house again, this time with her face softening. “It’s a good, sturdy home. It’s a shame to think that it will finally get the attention it deserves only to be let go, but—” she shot daggers at Boone “—I guess these things happen.”
“Mom. We’ve talked about this. I love this place, too, but it’s too big and too expensive. The heating bills alone would put me in the poorhouse. Add in the village taxes and the furnace on its last legs and—”
“I know. You’re right, of course. I just hate to see how easily people let go of things these days. Like they don’t matter. Home, family. Whish. Thrown to the wind.”
Okay, that did it. “I think Jamie needs a diaper change. We’d better take care of that. Don’t want him to get a rash, right, Mom?” She leaned forward and dropped a fast, totally unauthentic kiss on Maggie’s cheek. “See you Sunday. Come on, Boone.”
She turned quickly, and then, just to piss off her mother, reached back and grabbed Boone’s hand. Probably a mistake, given the rush of memories that flooded her at the small bit of contact—not to mention the sea of hormones that threatened to swamp her—but hey. Maggie needed to know she and Boone were a team. An unconventional one, to be sure, but a team nonetheless.
Of course, that was assuming her mother hadn’t terrified Boone to the point of bumping up his return flight by, oh, five weeks and change.
* * *
BOONE KNEW THAT Kate had taken his hand only to annoy her mother, and maybe to ensure that he followed her into the house. Not that he had needed any assistance on that score. Kate’s mom took the whole mother bear image to new heights.
But no matter the reason, he was grateful. He and Kate had been all about the physical in their months together. Being with her without that set him off-center, left him uncertain how to act and what to say.
Not that they had been in it only for the sex. He had liked hanging out with her. He still did. They had been able to laugh and understand each other in a way that had surprised him, given how little they had in common. There had been a lot more between them than just fun in the sack, and if circumstances had been different and he didn’t have the history he did, he could have easily seen them building something long-term.
But he was who he was, and life was what it was. And if he had to be an idiot over something, well, there were far worse things than the feel of Kate’s hand in his.
Like the almost-visible clouds of steam coming off her head.
“I can’t believe that she...argh!” Kate shook her hand loose, much to his dismay, and jerked at the zippers on the front of Jamie’s pack. “There are times when I could cheerfully toss my mother in the river.”
“I don’t have a lot of experience, but I think your mom was just doing what good mothers are supposed to do. You know.” He grinned at her and thought of every TV mom he’d ever seen. “Defend her kid.”
“I know. I get that. And honestly, truthfully, I know it’s because she loves me and wants the best for me and Allie and Jamie, and that she wants me to have an easier life than she had. But still.” She tugged at the second zipper. “She refuses to believe that there’s a world of difference between her situation and mine, and... Damn, why isn’t this thing unfastening?”
Boone squinted at the offending zipper, then bent for a closer look. “I think there’s a piece of cloth caught in it. Let me...” He reached forward gingerly. Jamie was such a squirmer that Boone wasn’t sure he could fix this without making it worse.
Which was kind of the story of his life, but right now he needed focus, not a trip down memory lane.
He held his breath and pulled at the fabric. “Yeah, that’s the problem. The pant leg got caught. Give me a second...” He worked the zipper while pulling gently on the gray corduroy. “Here we go...almost got it...”
The zipper gave way. The hand holding the fabric jerked up. And for one moment, his fingers slid off the pack and onto a part of Kate’s anatomy where they had no business going anymore.
He wasn’t sure which one of them stepped back first. Maybe they did it together. All he knew was that her cheeks were red and her eyes were wide and his hand was a lot happier than it had been in almost a year.
“Well. Thank you.” She sounded more than a little flustered, which made two of them. “So. Right. I’m sorry about Mom.” She lifted Jamie out of the pack and headed through the kitchen into the office.
Kate continued speaking as she set Jamie on the changing table. “I would tell you that you don’t have to join us, but she would probably drive over here and drag you there by the ear.”
“So you’re saying I should just resign myself to a night of misery?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“What did you mean when you said that your situation is different from hers?”
“Oh. Well.” Kate reached for a fresh diaper and flipped open the box of wipes, all while keeping one hand on a squirming tummy. Once again, Boone marveled at the way she handled everything so easily. So...gracefully. “I told you that my biological father was never in the picture, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, I didn’t tell you the whole story. All Mom ever said when I was growing up was that my bio father was a summer guy, and that she didn’t know how to get hold of him when she found out she was pregnant. It was one of those things you just accept, right? Because why wouldn’t your mother tell you the truth about something as basic as your father?”
Having grown up knowing that anything his mother said was more likely a lie than the truth, Boone stayed silent.
“But after Neil—my stepfather—after he died, I started to think more about it. I was almost thirteen then, and I knew things weren’t adding up. So I started bugging her.” She shot him a quick grin that had him remembering a whole lot of mischief. “Let me tell you, Mom had cause to regret all those lectures about standing my ground and never letting up when I wanted something.”
Oh, to have been a fly on that wall.
“She finally caved and told me a little bit about him. Not much. Just his name, and that his parents had absolutely not approved of her. It was the classic story—rich boy getting ready to go to university, not-rich girl who spent her summers cleaning rooms at her parents’ motel, a hot and heavy summer romance. She didn’t find out she was pregnant until he was gone.” Kate’s voice faltered. “And then, she said, she spent a couple of months in denial, hoping that...that something would happen so she wouldn’t have to make any decisions.”
Boone spared a moment of sympathy for the scared kid Maggie must have been.
“Anyway, the whole romance had been such a secret that Nana and Poppy didn’t know about it. Well, she said they had suspicions, but nothing definite. And by the time she knew she had to tell them, Mom had made up her mind that she wasn’t going to let anyone know the truth. My father’s family lived near Windsor. He was going to school in London.”
“Which London?”
“The Ontario one.” Kate dropped wipes into the trash. “Mom said she knew that if she named him, she could get child support, but she would also have to share me. And, her being the stubborn type—”
Boone coughed.
“Quiet. She said she didn’t want me spending extended periods of time with any of them. She thought he was the only decent one in the whole family.” She lifted Jamie and nuzzled his stomach, then nodded toward the rocking chair in front of the fireplace. “Sit. You’re going to hold him again.”
He noticed she didn’t bother asking.
He also noticed that she had chosen a well-padded place for him to try again. Definitely a woman who knew how to adapt to her audience.
He lowered himself into the chair and waited. Kate came close and burst out laughing.
“You look like you’re waiting for me to draw blood or something!”
“That good, eh?” Maybe if he distracted himself, kept her talking, it would get him through this. Not so distracted that he wouldn’t be able to keep his focus on what he was doing. Just enough to take the edge off his nerves.
He breathed in, held out his hands and waited. “So, what happened?”
“What happened when?” She lowered Jamie onto his lap. Boone held his breath and slowly closed his hands around his son’s warmth. For a second he couldn’t think of anything but the placement of his hands and the distance to the floor and the odds of Kate staying precisely where she was, crouching in front of him.
Purely because he wanted her there to catch Jamie if anything happened, of course.
