Autumn Wish (18 page)

From the corner of her eye, she saw Shane’s forehead furrow, but she kept her gaze locked with the CPS worker’s suspicious green eyes. No way she was going to back down first. Finally, the woman gave a slight nod and turned around to slip her papers into her briefcase. Nikki expelled a silent breath at the same time as Sam.

Ella provided a welcome distraction as she began to whine, so she backed toward the kitchen. “I’ll get the diaper bag. We took a walk to the park, so she’s due for a change.”

She let Sam do the honors so Ms. Winston could observe how well he handled the baby. After watching him with Ella for the past three weeks, she recognized his nervousness and tried to catch his eye to assure him it’d be okay. Yes, Joe’s charges were invalid, and she hadn’t appreciated the woman’s earlier antagonistic mistrust, but Nikki understood she had to do her job, and it was best if they cooperated without complaint.

“By the way, I didn’t catch your first name,” she commented to make conversation and ease the quiet tension in the room.

“Emma.”

She offered a handshake and a smile. “Nice to meet you, Emma.”

“Likewise, Ms. Rowen.”

“Nikki.”

She noticed the woman lean forward during the diaper change to search for any signs of neglect or physical injuries. She wouldn’t find any, but Sam’s anxious sideways glance prompted Nikki to keep talking.

“I know you can’t confirm who called CPS, but if it was Joe Holder, you should know he’s an ex-boyfriend of mine who resents my relationship with Sam.”

The woman remained silent, her lips pressed together in a thin line as she watched Sam. Nikki raised her eyebrows toward Shane, but all he did was shrug.

“Anyone in my family would be happy to testify to Sam’s character—and Joe’s,” she added.

“Something like that is for the courts to take care of,” Emma advised formally. “I’m simply here to observe and report.”

Nikki nodded. She knew the basic proceedings, but couldn’t help providing the information Joe was sure to have left out.

When Sam finished with Ella’s diaper, Emma requested to hold her. He hesitated, but Nikki gave him an encouraging nod. For the sake of the children the woman was charged with protecting, she couldn’t fault her for being so thorough.

After a bit of play time, the case worker handed Ella back to Sam and signaled she was ready to go. Shane rose to his feet as she gathered her things. Facing them at the door, she said, “My initial assessment leads me to believe the information provided to CPS is likely unfounded.” She paused, glancing pointedly from Nikki to Sam. “However, I will hold off filing my final report for...oh, a couple weeks.”

She didn’t need to spell out the reason why. Nor did she wait to see the effect her words had before thanking Shane for his assistance and striding to her car. Shane gave them a bleak smile.

“I gotta get back to the station, but I hope this all works out for you.” His concerned gaze locked with Nikki’s as he backed down the sidewalk. “
Both
of you.”

The two of them drove away in their separate vehicles as she stood with Sam on the porch, Emma Winston’s words of warning repeating in her mind.

Oh, sweet mother of God, where had her brain gone?
A week from Saturday?
Why not six months from now? Or even a year! People had long engagements all the time. After everything was settled with CPS, they could’ve quietly ‘broken up’ a few weeks—or months—later.

Except, she didn’t want to break up with Sam—not even from a fake engagement.

Whoa.
Where’d that come from?

Hell, she knew exactly where it’d come from. During the past three weeks of spending time with him, she’d discovered under that sexy exterior he was a great guy. The way he’d stepped up with Ella would forever make him a hero in her book. In addition, he was smart, and funny, and a good listener. More than once he’d made comments based on a previous conversation that proved he paid attention to every word when they talked.

His work ethic impressed her when he came home after a ten hour day and went to work on her house right after dinner. Then, even when he was tired, his gentle, loving care of his niece never failed to warm her heart.

More than anything, she wanted the love in his eyes when he looked at Ella to remain when he turned that golden-flecked gaze in her direction. Was it really such a shock that she’d jumped at the chance to make his engagement story stick?

Ella’s baby gurgles finally registered over her whirling thoughts. Nikki glanced sideways to find Sam studying her profile. Heat flooded her face, and she hurried back inside to escape his serious scrutiny.

She heard the door click closed behind her. Raising her hands, she covered her face, eyes squeezed tight as she wondered how the hell to explain what she’d done.

“Nik...”

Dropping her arms back to her sides, she turned to face him for her apology. “I—”

“I’m sorry.” Genuine remorse shone in his eyes. He abruptly turned to carry Ella to the playpen, talking as he went. “She kept repeating
best interests of the child
and then Missy showed up for her damn pie plate and your cop friend smirked at me and then you walked in and...and...it just came out.”

Boy, did she know the feeling.

He laid the baby in the playpen, then straightened to brace his arms on the edge, his head bent. “All I could think about was how good you are with Ella, and how you’ve turned my house into a home, and how much I—”

His words cut off so abruptly, she held her breath, hoping he’d continue. Her thumping heartbeat underscored the silence, along with a growing ache in her chest from what his words revealed—even after the time they’d spent together and her thinking they’d made a connection, what was most important to him was what she did for Ella.

A controlled exhale gave her something to concentrate on other than the hurt. Sam turned around and lifted his gaze to hers. She was stunned to see a glimmer of moisture brightening his eyes.

“What am I going to do? I can’t lose her.”

The vulnerability in his expression broke her heart. She took a step toward him, then halted. “You won’t lose her, Sam.”

“You heard her. She’s waiting to make a final decision just so she can prove we lied.” He paced toward the kitchen, hands fisted at his sides. “God, why did I do that?”

“What if it’s not a lie?”

He swung around to face her, surprise written all over his face. Her pulse hammered in tandem with each millisecond that passed.

She took a deep breath and pressed on. “What if we get married, next Saturday, just like we told the case worker? They won’t take Ella from a two-parent household, and she’ll have the family she deserves.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I love her as much as you do, Sam.” She shifted her gaze to Ella in the playpen, her throat clogged with additional emotion she was too shell-shocked to define.

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

She lifted her chin in determination. “You don’t have to. I’m offering.”

He stared at her, eyes narrowed, considering. His gaze swept down the length of her body, and his Adam’s apple worked furiously in the tanned column of his throat. The spark in his eyes when he raised them to hers kept her heartbeat in a race with no finish line.

Forcing a teasing smile to her lips, she tried to recapture the camaraderie they’d shared the past couple weeks by teasing, “Is the idea of marrying me so awful?”

“No.”

His rough, low denial stirred the already fluttering butterflies in her stomach. The air seemed to thicken around her, and it suddenly felt like she was back in high school, running the four hundred meter dash.

“Then what do you say?” she ventured breathlessly.

He nodded once, his smile grim. “Let’s get married.”

Chapter 19

The next morning, all three kids were eating Cheerios in their highchairs when the doorbell rang. Nikki answered the door to find Missy from down the block standing on the porch. She remembered Sam mumbling something yesterday about the girl looking for her pie plate, and she grinned as the other woman’s brown eyes widened in surprise.

“Hey, Nicole.”

“Morning, Missy. You looking for Sam?”

“Yeah. How’d—”

“Sorry, but he’s at work.” He’d left before she and Ella even woke up, leaving a short note that simply said he would be working overtime and would see them later.

“Oh.” Disappointment weighed in Missy’s voice. “He told me to come by today, but he probably meant later. What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

Her perfectly waxed brows drew together as she swiveled her head toward Nikki’s boarded up house. Then she nodded as if it all made sense. “Because of the tree.”

“Yes.” Nikki swept her gaze over Missy’s snug sweater and leggings. The girl worked with Joe’s best friend’s sister at a local coffee shop, and knowing the news would travel fast, she took great pleasure in her next statement. “Also, Sam and I are engaged.”

She whipped her head back around. “To be married?”

“That’s usually how it works.”

Displeasure twisted her glossed lips. “Well, you certainly didn’t waste any time.”

“What can I say? It was love at first sight.” The barista’s aggravated expression widened Nikki’s smile. “Sam said you’d probably be by for your pie plate. That
is
why you’re here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me get it. I’ll be right back.”

She retrieved the only glass pie dish in the kitchen and handed it over to the sour-faced girl, who clearly had hoped for so much more when she pressed the little round button beside the door. Missy didn’t even thank her before flouncing down the sidewalk in her heeled ankle boots.

Nikki sighed as she closed the door, thinking her satisfaction should’ve lasted longer than a few short minutes. It probably would have if she and Sam hadn’t become nothing more than silent roommates since yesterday. It was as if once they decided to make the lie a truth, a wall descended between them that smothered the friendship she’d come to cherish.

A few hours later, she found out just how fast news traveled in Pulaski.

“Why am I hearing from someone else that you’re getting married?” her sister’s indignant voice blasted in her ear through her cell phone.

“Um...because I didn’t get a chance to call you yet?” In truth, she’d simply been trying to figure out how to explain the situation before dialing her sister’s number.

“So, this is for real? Because remember, I said you didn’t have to marry the guy.”

Her sister’s teasing comment brought back that phone conversation from the day she’d found Ella on Sam’s porch. Nikki grimaced. “It’s for real.”

“O-
kay.
Then why don’t you sound happier about it?”

She forced herself to smile, hoping it would add enthusiasm to her voice and ease Marissa’s obvious doubt. Because, apparently, she was maintaining the lie even with her family. “I am happy.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?”

“
Yes.
”

“Then congratulations!” Now
there
was an audible smile.

“Thank you.”

“You know, after our last dinner over there, I figured it was only a matter of time before you two got together, but I didn’t expect
this
.”

She almost laughed. None of them had.

“So, tell me how he proposed. Was it romantic?”

Nikki sunk into a chair at the kitchen table and leaned her head against her hand as she closed her eyes against the prick of tears. She couldn’t handle Marissa’s excitement for her right now.

“You know, Mar, it’s a long story, and Ella just woke up from her nap, so I gotta go before she wakes Adam up.”

“All right, but I’m coming over later so you can tell me all about it and we can start planning.”

“Great.” That would give her time to figure out how to convince her sister she and Sam were in love before the panic of planning the wedding in less than two weeks set in.

***

She’d succeeded in fooling everyone the engagement was real—mostly because Sam made himself scarce. He’d taken to working overtime hours with Hansen Construction every day, then he’d come home and disappear next door at her house until well after midnight. In a few weeks, the insurance contractors would arrive to complete her house repairs, and then he’d have no more excuses to avoid her.

Unfortunately, that didn’t help now. Whenever she asked him for an opinion, or what he’d like, he always told her to pick what she wanted, so she finally stopped asking. He did the bare minimum by getting his suit measurements and the marriage license, but the rest he left to her.

Marissa and Janelle helped her arrange the whole event on a shoe-string budget. Yes, it would be family only, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want the pretty dress, perfect flowers, and her hair done just right. That part was no lie.

Janelle offered the spectacular great room at Whispering Pines Resort for the ceremony and dinner reception, and Lora’s sister Josie Howell agreed to cater a small buffet in exchange for some repairs on her house. Watching the kids and planning the wedding filled her days over the next week and a half.

At night, she tortured herself by lying in her bed listening for Sam’s footsteps along the hallway. Each time she imagined she heard him pause outside her door, she held her breath, wishing he’d knock. He never did, and eventually sleep put her out of her misery for a couple of hours.

Some days she wished she could go back to before her heart was involved. Except, she suspected she’d have to go as far as that first night, when he’d opened his front door and thought she was a crazy person for handing him a baby.

Confusion and heartache warred until they held equal footing inside her chest. His lack of interest only seemed to confirm he was doing the whole thing for Ella, and while she understood his motivation, she couldn’t help wishing for an equal share of his heart. Ironically, the more his reserve made the entire affair feel like the farce it was, the more determined she became to create a day that would be special for both of them.