Authors: Norah Bennett
He tightened his arms around her and kissed her eyes, nose, and finally her mouth.
“I can’t read into the future, but what I can promise you is I will do everything in my power not to screw this up for all of us. But you have to work with me. I know you’re scared, but I’ve got you and I’ve got Lilly.”
Julia studied Ethan’s eyes and the promise she saw burning there left her no doubt Ethan was all in and would do everything in his power to hold them together. Could this really be happening? After all these years, did they really have a future together as a family. The thought excited and terrified her.
The past.
No. No. She couldn’t, no wouldn’t spoil this moment. The one she waited a lifetime for. Ethan had come back to her. This wasn’t a dream. Her Ethan had come back to her and wanted to try at a future together. Her dreams had come true and she was going to reach for happy, even if she didn’t deserve it.
“Okay, sweetheart,” she whispered.
Ethan stilled at her words and stared at her in surprise.
“Eth, sweetheart? What’s wrong?”
She wasn’t sure what she said or did to cause him to go so utterly still.
She brushed his cheek with her fingers. “What is it? What did I say?”
He cleared his throat and said, “You said ‘sweetheart’. No one has ever called me anything other than my name. It took me by surprise and I—”
“Ethan, if you don’t like it, I won’t, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think; it just came out.”
“No, no, I love it. Don’t stop.” He crushed her to him, and then pulled away so he could kiss every inch of her face. He took her mouth in a scorching kiss that would have led to other things if it weren’t for Lilly’s voice coming over the baby monitor.
“Mama, Mama! Up.”
Ethan and Julia pulled apart and he smiled at her. He shook his head and chuckled. “Sounds like our girl is up. She’s got interesting timing. I’m going to have to have a talk with my little angel.”
“God, I’m sorry, Eth. If I don’t get her, she’s going to scream the place down. She wakes up raring to go and with a hell of a lot of energy.”
He kissed her soundly on the lips, rolled off her and reached for his shirt.
“Baby, there is no need to apologize. Don’t worry. I don’t give up easy. Lilly is going to keep me on my toes. We’ll have our time and when we do I don’t want us to be rushed or distracted. Why don’t you girls get ready for the day while I go home and shower?”
At the mention of him leaving, her face fell.
“Hey, beautiful. I need a shower and clean clothes, but I’m coming back to my girls after and we can spend the day together. Okay?”
Julia felt foolish. She was acting like a lovesick horny teenager. “It’s okay, really. You probably have a million things to do before you start work tomorrow. We’ll be fine. I’ve got to go grocery shopping anyway.”
“Perfect. Why don’t we meet at the diner for breakfast and then we can go shopping? I need groceries as well. You ladies can explain to me how to get the damn cart free from the chains holding it hostage. I tried to go shopping at the monster-mart last week, but I gave up when I couldn’t even get a cart.” He grinned.
“Monster-mart?”
“The grocery store on 202. It’s a massive, intimidating monster.”
She smiled at him and shook her head. She wondered how a grown man, a physician of all things, could be intimidated by a simple grocery store.
“Are you sure you want to shop with Lilly and me? She loves the grocery store. It’s more fun than any playground I can take her to.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I hate grocery stores; maybe she can teach me a thing or two.”
An hour later, Lilly and Julia met Ethan in front of Frank’s ready to start the day. Despite all that had happened the night before, both of them had recovered and she looked forward to spending the day with Ethan. Waking up in Ethan’s arms erased much of the ugliness of previous night. They still had a lot to deal with and a lot to talk about, but for once, she was optimistic about the future.
As Julia and Lilly waited for Ethan to park the monstrosity he drove, Julia couldn’t help but think of his parents. If their relationship progressed, Ethan would have tell his parents about her and that thought made her physically ill. She avoided all conversations having to do with his parents. But she couldn’t do that for long and she didn’t want to. She wanted to feel brave enough to tell him everything so they could go into the future with nothing between. She wasn’t there yet. Sooner or later it would come to a head, though, and there would be no delaying the inevitable. For now, she wanted to enjoy one day, just one day together without drama.
Ethan got out of his truck and came toward her Honda CR-V. He strode toward her looking all kinds of sexy. The man made an art out of wearing jeans and t-shirts. He opened her door, pulled her out, and gave her a deep, passionate kiss that left her wet, breathless and clinging to him in the middle of the road. Her hormones spiked and if they weren’t in the middle of the street and didn’t have Lilly, she would have held him hostage as her love slave in bed. When she opened her eyes, he was grinning. The rat knew exactly what he was doing.
She shook her head and leaned against her car catching her breath as Ethan tackled the web of harnesses holding Lilly secure in her car seat.
“How the hell did you get her into this medieval torture device?”
“Torture device? It’s just a few buckles and straps.” Julia laughed. “I’m sure you can figure it out.”
Julia stood back and watched him flounder. It was entertaining watching him pull at the harnesses and get absolutely nowhere. Meanwhile, Lilly looked like she was about to hit him over the head with her giraffe. After a few minutes, Julia took pity on him.
“Push the big red button, Eth. She’ll do the rest. If you can’t get her out, how on earth are you going to get her in? That takes real skill.”
Muttering under his breath—that Lilly was more secure in the seat than a racecar driver—he followed Julia’s directions and depressed the red button. In an instant, Lilly pushed the straps aside over her shoulders and reached for him.
“Out, pu-weese.”
Ethan shook his head and lifted Lilly and George into his arms and out of the SUV.
Julia enjoyed dressing her daughter up. She didn’t spend anything on herself, but Lilly always got the best and looked like a little doll everywhere they went. Today the child was dressed in a sporty pink and white striped rugby Ralph Lauren dress with a Peter Pan collar and matching bloomers with white ruffles. She had a sparkly pink and silver hairband holding back her curls and equally sparkly sunglasses perched on her little nose. She was edible.
Lilly made a complete recovery overnight and was happily into everything possible at breakfast. Ethan used his charm on the same waitress that served them the last time they ate at Frank’s. He secured Lilly a coloring book and crayons. More importantly, their meals came out in record time. As they chatted and ate, Lilly decided to test her boundaries. Halfway through breakfast, after she’d been told by Julia several times she couldn’t play with the glasses of water on the table, she reached across the table for Ethan’s. Quickly, he pulled it out of her hands before it could spill.
“Lilly!” Julia admonished her, but Ethan shook his head. Julia let him take over, interested to see how he would handle the situation.
“Lilly, the water on the table is for drinking and not for playing with. Your mama told you no earlier. The answer is still no.”
Lilly gave him her best innocent, big-eyed, pouty-lipped look and said, “Pu-weese, E.”
“No angel. These are not toys. You can color instead.”
“No.”
“Okay. No it is, but if you want to go shopping with us and not home, you will listen. Got it?”
After a second of looking between Ethan and Julia, Lilly smiled an angelic little smile and said, “Kay.” Then she went back to coloring like nothing happened.
“Okay, baby whisperer, that was impressive. Where did you learn that trick?”
“
Super Nanny
of course. It’s where I get all my good material.”
Chapter Eleven
An hour later Julia and Ethan arrived at Food-Feast in separate cars so they could each go home afterward, unload their groceries, and prepare for the week. Unlike Ethan, Lilly knew how to free shopping carts from the chains. The ransom was a mere quarter pushed into a slot on the cart’s handle and bingo, the chains dropped. Ethan had lived in two other states and travelled to many more and yet he never saw anything like it. He had no idea what the purpose was because when shoppers were done utilizing the cart, they got their quarter back when the chain was placed back into the slot on the cart. It was a mystery to him why the market tortured its patrons in this manner.
At Frank’s, Julia asked him what he needed from the store. He stared blankly at her and mumbled, “Ah, everything.”
“What do you mean everything?”
“I mean I have coffee and beer at the house and, of course, running water. That’s it.”
“Ethan, you’ve been at that house for at least two weeks and you only have coffee and beer? What have you been eating?”
“I go out to eat or grab food and bring it home. I hate shopping and frankly grocery stores of this magnitude freak me out.”
“Sweetheart, what do you mean they freak you out?” she asked, trying not to laugh, but failing.
He didn’t care. She called him sweetheart again, the word flowing effortlessly off her lips. He smiled at the sound of her happy laughter; that too was music to his ears.
“Baby, it’s not nice to laugh at someone with my type of disability. We can’t all be perfect like you.”
“Okay, tell me about this disability you have and I’ll see what I can do to help you.”
“It’s simple. I get lost and confused in stores that big. I’m used to shopping at small neighborhood grocery stores, not stores the size of an entire mall. Who needs so many choices?”
After she listened to him complain while barely keeping a straight face, she promised to help him if he kept track of Lilly who loved to shop and refused to sit in the cart. That was easy. Ethan picked Lilly up and placed her on his shoulders. He and Lilly followed Julia around and placed whatever they liked in the cart, half of which Julia took out when she thought he wasn’t looking. He told her to put whatever she thought he needed in the cart because he needed everything. Other than some sports drinks and coffee, Ethan let her choose everything because frankly he didn’t care what they bought. He was in it for the pure joy of being with them, not the food.
After a while, when it was obvious by Julia’s harried expression and her clipped answers he and Lilly were getting on her last nerve, Ethan took Lilly to explore the store. Every few minutes they returned with a new, very cool item and begged Julia to buy it.
Guava juice.
Ugly fruit.
Canned sardines. Lilly thought the can was pretty and shiny.
Julia considered each item, frowned, rolled her eyes and firmly shook her head refusing to buy it. When they both begged, “Pu-weese,” in unison, she relented and scowled at Ethan. Each time, she told Lilly Ethan was misbehaving and he wouldn’t be allowed to come shopping with them again. All in all, it was a fun outing for everyone.
It wasn’t until they were at the checkout counter their sunny day turned stormy. Ethan was helping Julia place all of their groceries on the belt, when they Lilly screamed.
“Mama, Mama. No.”
Ethan turned and saw Lilly on the floor behind them, scooting away from a well-dressed, blonde woman who was attempting to grab her arm. He dropped the item in his hand and went to Lilly. He scooped her up before the woman had a chance to touch her. Ethan had no idea who she was or what she intended to do with Lilly, but he wasn’t about to let her get away so she could terrorize another child. He held Lilly to him with one arm and grabbed the woman’s arm with his other hand.
“Get your hands off me. I wasn’t going to hurt Lilly. I was trying to help her up off the floor.”
Before he could say anything or process the woman called Lilly by her name, he felt Julia next to him.
“It’s okay, Eth. Let her go. This is Carla, Matt’s wife.”
Ethan released Carla and tried to comfort Lilly who held on to him like her life depended on it. She trembled in his arms. In his mind there was only one reason a child reacted this way to an adult she knew and the thought of it sickened and enraged him.
“It’s okay, Lilly. Shh, Angel. I’m here. Your mama’s here and everything is going to be okay. You’re safe.” Ethan whispered to Lilly as he stared daggers at Carla who rubbed her arm and looked at him in bewilderment. She was a petite woman in her twenties who looked remarkably like Julia. Matt certainly had a type.
“Who on Earth are you? How dare you lay a hand on me.”
“Calm down, Carla. This is Ethan, my…”
Ethan heard the hesitation in Julia’s voice as she searched for the right word to describe their relationship.
“I’m her boyfriend,” he said for her, “and I wouldn’t have had to touch you if you weren’t terrorizing Lilly. Do you want to explain why a child who knows you so well is scared of you? She is trembling in my arms.”
“Ahh, so you’re the infamous Ethan my husband told me about. Well that explains everything. I have nothing to say to either of you. As for the little brat in your arms, I have no idea why she behaves the way she does except to say she runs wild and is completely undisciplined. I was trying to help her up. My mistake. Next time, I’ll let her roll all over the dirty floor. She’s no longer my problem anyway.”
“Carla, she was never your problem and never will be. We’re done here,” Julia said.
Julia turned away from Carla and looked at Ethan. “Can we finish checking out, please? It’s almost time for Lilly’s nap.”
Ignoring Carla altogether, Ethan gathered Julia in his arms and kissed the top of her head, knowing Carla was watching them.
“Sure, beautiful. Let’s get home and put our girl down.”
Ethan followed Julia home although she insisted he didn’t need to. By the time they got to the house, Lilly was asleep. As Julia put her down for a nap, he brought in Julia’s groceries. He heard Julia coming down the steps and went to her. Ethan hated to leave, but she was right, he had much to do before tomorrow. It was going to be a busy week learning the hospital and getting to know his new colleagues on staff. But before he left, he wanted to make sure his girls were okay.
“How’s our girl?”
Ethan noticed Julia’s soft smile every time he referred to Lilly as theirs. Every time he held her, played with her, or kissed her, Julia’s face softened and that smile melted his heart. He wanted Julia to know how much he wished Lilly were theirs, but it wasn’t the right time. Anyway, it didn’t matter Matt was her biological father. If Ethan had his say and things went as well as he hoped they would, one day he would make Lilly legally his.
“She’s fine. Asleep. You know that woman must have done something to her for Lilly to behave that way. I feel terrible she was so scared. I wish she could talk to me and tell me what happened.”
Ethan reached for Julia. He brought her to him and held her close, breathing her in and rubbing her back.
“I know, Jules. I wish she could tell us what happened too. We’ll have to watch her for any usual behavior. It’s probably just the trauma of yesterday. It’s still fresh, but in time she’ll forget it.”
“I hope you’re right.” She hugged him and laid her head on his chest. “You’ve got to go and empty all those groceries before something goes bad.”
“Yeah, baby. I guess I do and I have to get ready for the week. Will you two be okay tonight?”
“Sure, we’ll be fine. We’re used to being on our own. Having you here is an added bonus and a blessing.”
Ethan looked into Julia’s eyes. He saw sadness creeping back in. He didn’t want to leave her. Spending time with her and Lilly came naturally. They were the family he wanted and Julia was the woman who roamed his dreams and held his heart. It was amazing how attached he was to them in such a short period of time. At times it felt like he and Julia had never been apart. Talking to her and being with her was easy and so, so good.
“Jules, you’re not alone, not anymore. I’m a phone call away and I’ll call you before I go to bed tonight. Okay?”
“Okay, Eth.”
“How about we do lunch tomorrow?”
Julia stiffened in his arms. Surprised, he looked down at her, raising an eyebrow.
“No lunch?”
“Ah, no. Lakes is like any other hospital. It’s a gossip mill and I don’t want to be the new topic of the day. Can we keep our personal life at home, until we know for sure where we’re headed? Please?”
He gazed into her troubled eyes and understood what she was asking. She wanted to be viewed as a professional, not another hospital affair to be gossiped about. He was okay with that, but he wasn’t okay with her not sure where they were going. He had to give her time, to have patience.
“Okay, Jules. No new hospital romance for the gossipmongers. We’ll keep it all business at work, but not because I don’t know where this is going. I do and so do you. Now, I’ve got to go. Bye, baby.”
Before she could say anything he kissed her hard, wet, and long so she wouldn’t forget him or the way he felt about her anytime soon. He drove home knowing he had plenty to do to get ready for the next day, but unhappy to be leaving Julia with time to think and time to doubt. Before he left he suggested Julia call Lexi and tell her what happened with Matt and Carla. It was time to get some expert advice. Lexi had plenty of colleagues who specialized in custody cases. Julia told him that’s what she intended on doing as soon as she put away the groceries.
Ethan kept busy all afternoon, first putting away the groceries, then doing laundry at the local Laundromat since he hadn’t figured out where or how he could hook up a washer and dryer in his mansion. After the laundry was done, he made his way back home and folded it, utilizing the laundry basket as a dresser. He had no real furniture and it was becoming a problem he would have to rectify soon. Finally, he started sorting the moving boxes until he found what he needed to take to his new office tomorrow. He loaded those into his truck and then called it a day.
It was almost 8:30 p.m. by the time he showered and changed for the night. He got himself a beer and although he had every intention of cooking, he settled for a sandwich instead. He checked his phone throughout the day and he hadn’t received any phone calls or texts from Julia. He itched to call her, just to hear her voice, but now he was worried about calling and waking up Lilly. He sent her a text, asking her to call when she was free. A minute later she texted back saying she’d call him as soon as she got off the phone with Aimee.
Ethan knew what that meant. If Julia was chatting with Aimee, it was going to be a while. He used the time to call and check on his parents. His father was already asleep and he spoke to his mother. He was tempted to tell her about Julia, but it didn’t seem like the right time and he thought he should talk to Julia before they advertised their relationship to the world.
Ethan sensed Julia still had some unresolved feelings where his parents were concerned. He couldn’t blame her. His parents were a handful back then, especially his father. When he was a kid he had no idea how to handle them. He ran interference between Julia and them on a regular basis, but it was never enough. He was caught in the middle never satisfying them or Julia. But that was in the past. He learned to handle them a while back and they now had a healthy respect for one another. He wanted them all to work out any old feelings that still lingered and put the past to rest once and for all.
Ethan didn’t like the world his parents lived in, where everything revolved around money and social standing. He tried to live in that world with Alyssa and that experiment was a colossal failure. Now he accepted their world was all they knew and all they wanted. They did their best, which often fell short, to accept his “lifestyle,” as they called it. That was their way and while he didn’t like it, he accepted it. He knew his parents loved him and wanted him to be happy and he hoped they would understand Julia made him happy. He wasn’t naïve enough to think they’d all fall in love, but he’d be happy if they came to a place of mutual respect and understanding.
Ethan was in bed wide-awake waiting for Julia to call, when she put him out of his misery an hour later.
“Hey, beautiful. How was the rest of your day?”
“Hi. I’m sorry I lost track of time talking with Aimee. Is it too late? Are you in bed?”
Julia sounded anxious. He wondered what that was about.
“Jules, it’s fine. It’s not late and I am just lying around. Is everything okay?”
She sighed. “Yes, everything’s okay. I was worried you’d be angry because I didn’t call you back right away.”
“Baby, I’m not angry at all. Why would I be? I’m glad you have Aimee and the rest of your girls to talk to. Now tell me, what did Lexi say? Did you get to speak to her?”
“Lexi is going to give my information and my entire file, including all the dirt she has on Matt, to an attorney that deals in child custody matters tomorrow. She was glad I came to my senses, as she puts it. She said not to speak to Matt’s attorney myself if he calls, but to give him her number.”
“Okay, that’s good. So how is Lilly?”