A Marriage Made in Texas (The Brothers Kincaid) (18 page)

Especially not when she had a husband who treated her right. And who loved her, even though she didn’t know it.

Not that Gail seemed interested in going back to Barry. Still, the whole situation made him uneasy.

Jay walked into their bedroom after work one day shortly before Thanksgiving, and heard Gail in her closet, cussing. A wry smile twisted his mouth. Tonight didn’t look like the perfect night, either.

As he neared the closet, a pair of jeans came hurtling out and hit him in the face. “Damn it! Nothing fits!”

“I think that’s why they invented maternity clothes,” he said, leaning in the doorway and watching her with a grin. “Good aim, by the way.” He dangled the jeans from his hand. “What should I do with these?”

“Burn them,” she said, hands on hips. “I can’t believe I’m so fat.” She glanced down at herself and grimaced. “I’m only three months along. What will I look like at six months if I look like this now?”

“You’re not fat. You look great,” he said, eyeing her appreciatively. She wore only a white lacy bra which barely contained her breasts and a tiny pair of turquoise bikini panties. So maybe her stomach wasn’t flat like it had been before the pregnancy, and her waist was definitely thicker, but Jay didn’t think it hurt her looks at all. In fact, he was getting hard just looking at her.

“But maybe I should make a closer examination. To put your mind at rest.” He stepped inside and closed the closet door behind him. “You haven’t kissed me hello,” he said softly.

Gail tilted her head, considering him. “Somehow I don’t think kissing is all you have in mind.”

He pulled her into his arms. “You’re a very smart woman. I like that about you,” he said, and lowered his mouth to hers.

Her lips met his, her tongue slipped into his mouth with a slow, sensuous rhythm. Against his mouth she murmured, “The girls are home. And awake.”

“I’ll be quick,” he promised, popping her bra
open. Her breasts spilled out and he groaned, filling his hands with them. “Real quick.”

She laughed and wrapped herself around him.

“Mommy.” Mel knocked on the closet door. “Are you in there?”

Jay gave another, even more heartfelt groan. He wanted to yell. The child had perfect timing. To demolish his sex life, that is.

Gail met his gaze, her eyes dancing. “What do you need, honey?” she asked, a tremor in her voice.

“Nothing. I was just looking for you.”

Why me, God?
he asked silently, closing his eyes.

“Is Jay in there, too?”

“Yes,” he said, opening his eyes and gritting his teeth. Gail was stifling giggles, making her body vibrate against his. It didn’t help cool his raging libido one little bit. “Mel, do me a favor and scram.”

“What are you doing, Mel?” he heard Roxy say. “Why are you standing in front of Mommy’s closet?”

Great. Now both of the little angels were out there. This just wasn’t his day.

“Mommy and Jay are in there,” Mel said. “And they won’t come out. Mommy, what are you doing?”

“Silly,” Roxy scoffed with the superiority of a ten-year-old. “They’re kissing, of course.”

Now giggling uncontrollably, Gail leaned against him. Jay touched his forehead to hers. “I’m cursed,” he murmured. “I must have been an ax murderer in a previous life.”

Gail laughed out loud.

“Girls,” he said, raising his voice so they could hear above their mother’s laughter. “Scram.”

After much giggling and whispering, the noise faded away and the bedroom door slammed shut.

“Kind of a mood killer, aren’t they?” Gail asked, her eyes still bright with humor.

He unbuckled and unzipped his pants, shoved them down over his hips, taking his briefs along with them. “I’m alone in a closet with a nearly naked, beautiful woman who happens to be my wife. Nothing less than a hurricane is going to kill my mood.”

She looked down at his throbbing erection and smiled. “I can see that.”

“So. What about your mood?”

In answer, she wiggled out of her panties, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He lifted her up, sank inside of her in one fluid drive, groaning at the feel of her, warm, wet and pulsing around him. He braced them against the door, pushing inside of her and withdrawing, as slow as he could make it.

Her legs tightened around him, her arms clung tightly, twined around his neck. Her head fell back against the door, but her eyes stayed open and locked on his as he took them both deeper with each plunge. She started to convulse, and all hope of control or taking it slowly fled. With her muscles squeezing him, his vision darkening, he gave a last solid thrust and came as her eyes went blind and her orgasm ripped through her.

He didn’t know how long it was before he started breathing again. He could barely stand, probably
couldn’t have at all if they hadn’t been supported by the door. “Gail.”

Her eyes opened, blue and dreamy. “Hmm. That was really, really nice.”

“I know this isn’t the most romantic place in the world—” he began.
You’re in a closet, for God’s sake,
the rational part of his brain lectured him.
Don’t do it now. Women like romance, soft music, candlelight. You’re in a damn closet.
“But I’m really tired of waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” She looked puzzled. “Do you want to let me down?”

He shook his head. “Not yet.” He wanted to be inside her when he told her for the first time. “I love you, Gail.”

Her eyes widened. Beautiful, deep blue and filling with tears.

“Why are you crying?” Not the reaction he’d hoped for.

“Oh, Jay.” She kissed him, then drew back to look at him, smiling through her tears. “Because I love you, too.”

“I
THINK IT’S TIME
to tell the girls about the baby,” Gail said, later that evening.

Jay and Gail were sitting together on the couch, ostensibly watching TV, but in reality just cuddling. He couldn’t remember ever being as content.

“It’s up to you,” he said, brushing a hand over her hair. “But I thought you wanted to wait a little longer.” He certainly did. It made him nervous to think about their reaction. Especially Roxy’s. Things were good between them now. Why risk her getting upset?

“Well, I did, but Letty Mason made that impossible. Remember I told you she’d spread the news?”

“Yeah.” Still playing with her hair, he added, “I take it she did.”

“Oh, yeah, big time. Today at the grocery store, four people asked me if I’m pregnant. The girls are bound to hear it, and I’d rather they hear the news from us.”

“You’re right.” Unfortunately. “Are you going to tell them now? Do you want me to take a drive or something?”

“No, silly.” She pressed her cheek to his, then
drew back and smiled at him. “I want to tell them together.”

If he hadn’t already loved her, he’d have fallen for her right then and there. “You told them about the marriage by yourself.”

“This is different. We’re a family now. We should tell them together.”

It was true, he realized. Sometime in the past few weeks, they’d become a family. A different kind of family than he’d ever had before. He’d never had what Gail and the girls had given him. He didn’t feel excluded any longer. He felt as if they really belonged together now. All four of them.

But he was still nervous as hell about how Mel and Roxy would take the news.

Gail left the room to call the girls in. When she returned, she took one look at Jay and said, “It’s not an execution.”

He recognized what he’d said to her at their wedding. His lips twitched when he answered. “Then why does it feel like one?”

The girls tripped in and sat on the couch beside their mother. Jay elected to stand by the fireplace. And sweat. If he’d been wearing a collared shirt, he’d have been loosening it. As it was, there was nothing he could do to ease the tightness in his throat.

“Jay and I have something to tell you,” Gail said. She gave him an encouraging smile, then looked at the girls. “We’re going to have a baby.”

They both stared at her. After a long moment, Mel spoke. “How come you’re not fat, Mommy? When
Aunt Cat was pregnant she was humongous,” she said, holding her little arms out to demonstrate a huge belly.

Gail laughed. “That won’t happen until later. The baby isn’t coming until June.”

They digested that news for a moment. “Will we get to play with it? Like we do Max and Miranda?” Mel persisted.

“Of course. Only the baby will be your brother or sister, instead of your cousin.”

Roxy had yet to speak. Jay cleared his throat and took the plunge. “What do you think, Roxy?”

She turned to him. When she smiled, his heart tripped. “It’s okay, I guess. I like babies. Aunt Cat lets me help her with Miranda. It’s fun.”

“Yeah, but you gotta learn to change poopy diapers,” practical-minded Mel said. “That’s not fun.”

They all laughed at that.

“Do we still get our own rooms?” Roxy asked suspiciously. “Because if we don’t, I think Mel should share with the baby. I’m the oldest, so I should have a room of my own.”

Naturally, Mel protested loudly against that idea until Gail hushed them both. “We’re going to turn the guest room into a nursery for the baby. So yes, you’ll both still have your own rooms.”

“I think this calls for a celebration,” Jay said. “How does ice cream sound?”

Roxy’s and Mel’s eyes lit up. “Chocolate chip!” Roxy said.

“Chocolate,” Mel said. “I want chocolate.”

They began arguing over which flavor was best. Gail got up and walked over to him, slid her arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. “See, that wasn’t so bad.” She turned laughing eyes up to his. “And the ice cream bribe didn’t hurt a bit, either.”

“I’m a firm believer that ice cream could solve a lot of the world’s problems.”

Life is good, Jay thought. And sometimes it’s damn near perfect.

T
HE FOLLOWING
M
ONDAY
, Gail was late getting home from work, so she chose to make her standby quickie meal, macaroni and cheese. As she put the ingredients together, she thought of that first meal Jay had eaten with her and the girls, when she’d also made macaroni and cheese. She hadn’t dreamed then that in a few months she and Jay would be married, expecting a baby, and unbelievably happy.

Jay came in a little while later. “Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes,” she said, and smiled at him. “It’s macaroni and cheese, I’m afraid. I was running late.”

“Fine.” He tossed his keys on the counter. “I’m going to change.”

Puzzled, she stared after him. For the first time since they’d been married, he hadn’t kissed her when he came home from work.

A short while later, they all sat down to dinner. Excited about their upcoming vacation for Thanksgiving, the girls chattered about school. Jay didn’t
talk, but ate his meal in silence. Gail didn’t think he heard a word the girls said, which wasn’t like him. What had happened to make him so distant?

“I sold a great property today,” Gail said after the girls had run down. “The commission is my largest yet.”

Jay finally looked up, his gaze flat and lifeless. “That’s good.”

A little miffed at his lack of interest, she tried again. “I’m taking the Friday after Thanksgiving off. What about you? Do you have to work?”

“Yes.”

Something was definitely going on with him. “Did something happen at work today?”

He shot her an irritated glance. “It was work. Something always happens.”

“Is it anything you want to talk about?”

“No,” he said abruptly and got to his feet. He carried his plate over to the sink, rinsed it off and put it in the dishwasher. Then he left the room without another word.

Surprised, Gail and the girls looked at each other. “Well,” she said, for lack of anything better.

“Do you think Jay’s in a bad mood, Mommy?” Roxy asked, turning questioning eyes to her. “I think he is. He was kind of grumpy.”

“Yes, he was.”

“I’ve never seen him be grumpy like that.”

“Neither have I,” Gail admitted.

“You should go talk to him, Mommy,” Mel said.
“You always make us feel better when we’re in bad moods.”

Roxy nodded agreement.

“I think you’re right. Something’s obviously bothering him. Will you two do the dishes?” Gail asked, rising.

“Can we have cookies?” Roxy asked.

“After you do the dishes, Cookie Monster.”

Gail didn’t have far to go to find him. He’d gone out back, but instead of playing with the puppies, he was sitting in a chair, doing nothing. Except brooding, she thought.

She crossed her arms and hugged herself. “It’s chilly out here.”

“Then go back inside.”

Insulted, she stared at him. Then her sense of humor kicked in. He certainly knew how to stop conversation. “I will. To get a coat. I’ll be back.”

When she returned a few minutes later, he hadn’t moved a muscle. She took the other chair and said, “What happened at work today?”

He turned his head and glared at her. Really, she thought, there was no other word for it.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Gail nodded. “Yes, I sort of got that idea when you stomped out of the kitchen.”

“Then accept it. Go back in, Gail.”

“I can’t,” she said simply.

“Why are you nagging me about this?”

She put her hand on his arm. “Because I love you
and I’m not going to let you close yourself off when you’re hurting. Talk to me, Jay.”

For a moment he looked at her. She recognized the expression in his eyes with a start of surprise. Not anger. Grief. He was grieving something, or someone. “Tell me,” she said again. “Please, Jay, talk to me.”

He shook his head, then fell silent, apparently gathering his thoughts. “I diagnosed one of my patients with a glioblastoma today.” He glanced at her and added, “That’s a malignant brain tumor.”

“Is it fatal?” she asked hesitantly. But she knew the answer. Why else would he be so upset?

He nodded. “Virtually always. He’ll go to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and they’ll treat him, but unless a miracle happens, he’ll die.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine having to tell someone he’s dying.”

“It’s part of being a doctor. Something you have to learn to accept. And you do, because you tell yourself for every patient you lose, you’ll save one, too.”

He paused, closed his eyes and added, very quietly, “But some of them get to you more than others.”

Obviously, this one had gotten to him. “Do you know why this one is bothering you so much?”

“Yeah.” His expression grim, he looked at her. “He’s thirty-two years old, Gail. He came in today hoping and praying I’d tell him his symptoms were nothing, or at least, something minor we could treat. Instead, I as good as gave him a death sentence.”

She squeezed his hand and waited for him to continue.

“I asked him to bring his wife, so he brought her and their baby with him. His wife’s a pretty little thing. Reminds me of Cat. The baby looks like his father. He’s a year old.”

Silently, she held his hand.

“The two of them sat there, holding hands, the baby in his lap, while I explained what he had and recommended they go to Houston right away. I’d already talked to the specialist there, and I knew he’d make time for him. They asked a lot of questions. Some patients do, some of them don’t want to know anything.”

“I would want to know as much as I could,” Gail said.

He nodded. “This couple did, too. Then he asked me his odds of surviving. I knew he would ask me. You can tell which ones need to know. Just like I knew if I didn’t tell him, he’d go look it up on the Internet, and God knows, that would be worse. Besides, as his doctor it’s my responsibility to tell him. So I told him the truth. The mean survival length after diagnosis is eight to ten months.”

“Less than a year?”

He nodded grimly. “After two years, the survival rate is ten percent. So there are survivors, but damn few of them. The doctors will operate, they’ll give him radiation and chemo, but the odds are overwhelming the tumor will come back.”

“Why did you send them to Houston, instead of Corpus Christi? Wouldn’t it be easier on them to be closer to home?”

“Because MD Anderson has a neurosurgeon who’s the best in the state. If there’s going to be a miracle, this is the man who’ll make it happen. It’s also got one of the best cancer centers in the country. I want him to have the best possible care.”

“He already does. He has you.”

He smiled a little and shook his head. “I can’t do anything for him except diagnose him and send him to a specialist. The neurosurgeon’s the one who has a chance of saving him.”

“But thanks to you, he’s going to have the best shot at living.” She got up, put her arms around him and hugged him. “That poor couple. I can’t imagine what they must be feeling. What do you think they’ll do?”

“I know what I’d do. I’d go home and play with the baby and then put the baby to sleep so I could make love to my wife. And I’d do my best to forget the whole thing. At least for one night.”

“I can make you forget,” Gail said softly. “If you’ll let me.”

He smiled at her and pulled her into his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he sighed when she laid her head against his shoulder. “We’re so lucky,” he said. “We have each other. The girls.” He placed his hand on her stomach. “The baby.”

“I know. Are you feeling guilty about that?”

“Not guilty.” he shook his head. “It’s just hard, when it’s someone so young. Someone with so much to live for.”

She kissed him.

“You were right,” he said, after a moment. “I needed to talk.”

“I know.” She smiled. “Mel and Roxy told me to come talk to you.”

“Smart girls.”

“Come inside with me. Make love with me.”

“An even smarter mother,” he said, and kissed her.

T
HEY SPENT THANKSGIVING
day with Gail’s family, over at her mother’s, since it was the only place large enough to hold the entire clan. The day after that, a cold, rainy, dismal November day, Barry took the girls, since he had the day off. With Jay working, that left Gail free to do some serious planning for the nursery.

Early morning found her checking out books of wallpaper from a home improvement store in Corpus Christi, making it back home just before the storm really loosened up. By midmorning, her head was whirling. She sat in the floor of the soon-to-be nursery, leafing through book after book and listening to the crash of thunder outside. Too many choices, she thought. How would she ever decide? Jay would just have to help her. He didn’t have any problems being decisive.

The doorbell rang. Thankfully, she closed the book and went to answer it. She opened it to a blast of cold, wet air. “Barry? What in the world are you doing out in this weather? Are the girls all right?”

He walked inside, stripping off his drenched raincoat and handing it to Gail. “Yeah, it’s a real mon
soon. Believe me, if I didn’t have to be out, I wouldn’t be. The streets aren’t flooding yet, but the water’s rising.”

Gail hung his coat on the rack and he continued. “Mel’s pitching a fit about some damn PlayStation game or other. Why she can’t play with the ones we have at my place, I don’t know.”

“You’re spoiling her, Barry.” Something she’d never really thought to see, but Barry had changed since Mel’s illness. It seemed to have awakened in him feelings she hadn’t realized he had.

“I know.” He looked a little sheepish. “But it’s not that big a deal to come get it. I left them with Lee Anne,” he said, referring to his neighbor’s teenage daughter, one of the girls’ favorite sitters.

Gail sighed. “You should have brought Mel. Her games are strung out all over the house, but I guess we can start in her room. Which one did you say she wanted?”

Barry told her and followed her into Mel’s room. “Start there,” Gail told him, pointing at the TV stand. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.” She looked under the bed and pulled a large box out, filled with a variety of things, including video games.