Deep in the Heart (26 page)

She shook her head, fighting not to laugh. When the cookie sheet was on the potholder on the cabinet, he turned and caught her expression.

“
What?”

“
You. Is there anything you can’t do? You cook. You throw parties. You clean yogurt off of curtains.”

“
I’m a man of many talents.”

“
I can see that.”

“
Is that ready?”

“
As it’ll ever be.”

“
Dinner time!”

When the food and plates had been transferred to the table, and Peter and Izzy were settled in their seats, Keith sat down and watched Maggie sit across from him. There was no describing that feeling. It filled him all the way to the top with a happiness and a peace he couldn’t remember ever feeling. It was so different than sitting here with Dallas. That felt empty and awkward. This felt real. More real than anything he’d ever experienced. “Maggie,” he said, watching her.

She smiled at him and held her hands out to the children on either side of her. Two little hands in hers, two in his, and she bent her head. “Dear Father in Heaven, we praise You for all the wonderful things You have graciously put into our lives. Help us never to take them for granted. We love You and we praise You. Amen.”

His amen was husky. It was just so hard to get enough air in for the words to sound normal. Reaching across the table, he picked up Peter’s plate and started filling it as she filled Izzy’s. “So.” He had to clear his throat to get more out. “Are we going to church tomorrow?”

She was intently filling the plate and didn’t so much as glance at him. “I brought their clothes, and I told Inez we might.”

So she’d thought they might as well. Something about that sent his spirit soaring. If this could just all be for real. That was the one and only thing that could make this feeling any better.

A movie. Popcorn in the living room. It was like the life Maggie had always dreamed of having but never thought would come. The kids sat on the floor in front of the television. Maggie sat on one side of the couch, and Keith sat on the other.

“
I didn’t know you were a Nemo fan,” she said teasingly.

“
I told you, I’m a man of many talents.”

“
Cool. I think I’ll bring Barney over on Monday.”

He smiled as he put a now-shower cleaned arm over the couch back. She did the dishes. He took a shower. It all felt so normal. The only thing she would’ve asked now was that he could be sitting beside her, with that arm around her. Something told her that would feel even better than this did.

“
I don’t know. I might draw the line at Barney.”

“
I don’t blame you. He even gets on my nerves.”

“
Shhh.” Peter said. “The movie’s starting.”

Keith laughed softly. “Shh,” he mouthed to her. “Behave.”

“
Me?” she mouthed back. “You behave.”

“
I didn’t start it.”

“
Oh, yeah? Well, I’m going to finish it if you don’t watch it.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You’re getting very brave.”

Heat flamed to her face. Why did he have to look so handsome? It was getting harder and harder to keep her heart from going on little trips with her in his arms as the world slipped by. She grabbed a pillow, anchored it to her chest, and pointed at the television. “Watch the movie, and behave yourself.”

The only good thing that could be said about the bathroom by the time bath time was almost over was that water could be cleaned. The floor was covered in it. Maggie, too, was covered in suds and water from Izzy splashing bubbles and rubbing them all over the white and gray marble tub sides. By the time Keith brought Peter in, the bathroom was awash in water and suds.

“
You look like a scrubbing bubble,” Keith told her, scraping a small handful of suds from her hair.

“
It’s not my fault,” she said as Izzy started pounding on the water again, sending suds in 70 directions at once. Maggie tried to wipe them off her face with her sleeve, but it was unclear how successful she was. “Iz. Ugh. Come on. Stop that.”

“
I take it the bubble bath was a hit,” he said from his position on the floor where he was removing Peter’s clothing.

“
You could say that.”

Once again Izzy started squealing and whacking the water. Suds flew in all directions.

“
Grr. Okay, you. That’s enough fun for one night.” Maggie stood and grabbed a towel; however, still sitting in the tub, the child was covered with suds from every angle. “Oh, great. Now how are we going to get you cleaned off?”

“
Here.” Keith stood and reached up to release the removable showerhead. “You pick her up. I’ll hose her off.”

Seeing no better way to do it, Maggie did as instructed. “Okay, but you be careful with that.”

He grinned. “Me? I’m always careful.”

“
Uh-huh. Yeah, right. Well, you remember that.” She lifted Isabella who was even more slippery from the suds than she normally was. Holding the child up, Maggie shrank back so he wouldn’t get her completely soaked as he angled the water at the child. Isabella squealed and kicked. “Hey, now. You’re hard enough to hold onto when you’re not doing that.”

The spray from the hose drizzled up onto Maggie’s glasses. “Hello. Now I can’t see.”

“
Oh, here, let me fix that.” Keith angled the hose around Isabella so that it sprayed Maggie’s arm higher, drizzling water all over her.

“
Hey! Are you kidding me? I’m not the one taking a bath here!”

“
Isabella,” Keith said as if he was mad. “You shouldn’t get Maggie all wet like that.”

Isabella squealed and kicked, and on the floor Petter giggled. Maggie’s heart lifted at the sound even as she fought to be mad at him.

“
Finished.” Keith shut the water off. He stepped back, but Maggie was still covered with water droplets and holding a dripping wet, kicking baby.

“
Hello. Some help here. Towel please.”

He laughed as he pulled the soft taupe towel up from her knees. However, when it was in his hand, he stopped as he looked at them. “Who should I dry off—you or her?”

“
Let’s start with her.” Maggie turned, and Keith covered Isabella in the towel.

“
How you ever manage to do this without me every night is beyond me,” he said with a wink.

“
Yeah, it’s completely unbelievable.” But she wasn’t mad. She was having the time of her life. She took Isabella, wrapped in the towel, in her arms.

“
Oh, here. You’re wet.” He put his fingers on either side of her glasses and removed them.

“
I wouldn’t know why.” She rubbed her face in Izzy’s towel. Then she lifted her face for him to replace the glasses.

When they were on, he gazed at her. “Perfect.”

The moment froze, and it was as if suddenly she couldn’t move. Her breath filled her throat as she gazed into his soft hazel eyes.
Move!
her brain screamed, but she couldn’t. It was as if her body had short-circuited. “I’ll… I’ll just go get her ready.”

“
Yeah. I’ll give Pete a bath.”

However, neither one of them moved. His eyes held so much that she couldn’t get enough of them. Hope, happiness, an offering of a life different than any she had ever lived. Then Isabella kicked in Maggie’s arms, and Maggie’s attention dropped to her. “Okay. Okay. Let’s go.”

As Maggie walked out, Keith watched her. That was it. Her. That’s all he ever wanted. Every second he was with her confirmed that fact, and every second he was without her was spent wondering how long it would be before they could be together again.

Shaking off the thoughts, he bent down and swept Peter from the carpet. “Come here, you. It’s your turn.”

Isabella was asleep on her little pallet on the floor. Peter was tucked into the big bed. Maggie stepped over to the bed, and Peter’s gaze drifted to her.

“
Where’s Keith?”

“
Oh.” The question took her off-guard, and she glanced back at the door. “I don’t…”

“
I’m here,” Keith said, pushing the door to gently. “You didn’t think I’d miss prayers, did you?”

Maggie couldn’t get all the emotions lined up in logical order in her heart. It would’ve all been so easy if he had just not been Keith Ayer, and minus the hat and the bandana, it was hard not to notice that he was. Pushing those thoughts away, at the bed she knelt on one side, and her heart flipped over when Keith knelt on the other. He reached across the mattress for her hand, and with her heart doing somersaults through her, she laid her hand in his. Strength and safety flooded through her spirit as he held her hand, his thumb gently stroking her knuckle.

Praying under these conditions was more than she could do. Just to get a word out was impossible. Closing her eyes, she willed her mind to stay with her. “Dear Lord, please be with us tonight. Keep us safe, and help us all have a good night sleep. Please keep all the boys and girls in the world safe, and help them all to have a good night. Amen.”

The two amens blended together, and they yanked tears to her eyes. She sniffed them back and pushed up to her feet. Anchoring her gaze on Peter, she smiled lest it betray her by following Keith up and around the bed. “Get some sleep.”

Peter nodded and snuggled down into the covers. She put her fingers to her lips, kissed them, and put them on his forehead. “Good night, sweet prince.” She was careful not to trip on Isabella on her way to the door where Keith was already waiting. Ducking, she stepped past him and out into the hall.

Her steps took her to the door of her room. Spending more time with him than she had to was dangerous to her heart and to her sanity.

“
You going to bed?” he asked, sounding strangely disappointed.

She had her arm anchored to her middle. “I’d better if we’re going to get to church tomorrow.”

He looked as if he was going to protest, but he just nodded. “Okay. See you in the morning.”

As absurd as it sounded, Maggie was a little disappointed he didn’t stop her. But then, that was nuts. She went into her room and pulled her little duffle bag from the floor. The only piece of clothing she had bought on her disaster of a shopping trip was a decent pair of pajamas. She pulled them and the matching robe out of the bag and put them on. The soft blue satin slid across her skin. How life had changed in the last month.

Ready for bed, she climbed into the low-rise sleigh bed. Her prayers slid through her with no effort. Her parents, Mrs. Malowinski, the kids, the Ayers, and then his name as it always did, found its way into her mind. “God, please help me find a guy as nice as Keith. That’s all I ask.” She laid there, replaying the evening in her mind. Start to finish it had been perfect.

Her mind traced over Peter and Izzy sleeping in a strange house, and concern drifted through her. Peter wasn’t the most tranquil child on the planet. He probably hadn’t slept outside his own room ten nights since he’d been alive. She had this horrible vision of him lying there all night, listening to the scary sounds of a strange house as she had in each new house she slept in when she was a child. And he would do that, too, lie there all night, scared out of his mind and never come get her. That was the kind of kid he was.

She listened to the sounds in the house to see if Keith was awake. However, the hum of the dishwasher was the only one. Slowly, quietly, she swung her legs out of the bed and grabbed her robe. It wouldn’t hurt to check on Peter once more. She went to the door and slid it open. She looked up and down the hall. Nothing. A step and she was in the hallway. Two more and she was at the children’s door, her hand securing her robe at her stomach. Softly she twisted the knob and pushed it open.

So she wouldn’t have to risk making noise to get it open again, she left it ajar an inch and stepped into the room. Isabella, thumb in mouth, lay on the floor. Her little eyes were closed with the dreams behind them. Maggie smiled at the sight. Then she stepped twice more and found Peter, too, already asleep. To her, that could only mean one thing—that he felt as safe here as she did. That thought slid through her.

Grateful tears swept over her heart. Peter deserved to feel safe. They all did. She let her hand brush the comforter as she turned, intending to head back to the door, but the glow at the window stopped her. Intrigued, she stepped over to it, trying to determine the origin of the soft glow in the nighttime sky.

The thought hit her. The party. Yes, it would be going on up on the hill beyond. The break in the yard trees allowed the glow to be visible only in pieces but it was there just the same. Thoughts and memories swarmed through Maggie, and she pulled her arms to her chest to deflect them. One hand rubbed slowly up the other arm as she stood there, lost in yesterday, gazing into it as if it was right there in front of her.

Keith was on his way back to his room from getting a drink when he noticed that the kids’ door wasn’t shut. That was odd. His first thought was Peter. Maybe he had already gotten scared and had gone to find someone to make it better. However, with a glance, he realized that Maggie’s door was shut tight. Something wasn’t right, but he decided to check it out before he bothered her.

With the lightest touch on the kids’ door, it opened, and there in the pale light of the window stood Maggie. The waves of hair, the curves—there was no one else it could be. His heart snagged on the sight. There was something so intimate about it, as if she knew no one knew she was there. For a moment he thought about leaving before she knew he was there, but then he heard the soft sniff of overwhelming ache, and concern traced through him. Wanting not to scare her but to help just the same, he stepped into the room and over to where she stood. “Maggie?”