Delinquent Daddy (23 page)

"I love you too," Ellie said, bending down in order to get a full hug. "Eat lots of turkey for me, okay?"

"Okay—" Cassie started to answer, but then cut herself off.

She pulled back from Ellie and stared up at her mother with a slight frown. "But...you'll be eating turkey too."

Ellie bit her lip, realizing Cassie hadn't thought about what her mother would be doing while she was gone.

"You...you're going to be all alone," Cassie murmured, the truth finally dawning. Her eyes went from excited to huge and worried. She turned to Boston as if uncertain about going with him. "I always have Thanksgiving with my mom," she explained.

The look of abandonment that filled Boston's expression had Ellie stepping forward and touching her daughter's shoulder.

"Oh, Cass," she murmured on a sigh. She bent down on her haunches in front of the girl and pulled her into a hard hug. "Don't you worry about me. Go with your dad and have fun."

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"But—"

"Cassidy," Boston cut in quietly. "Go to the car. I'll be right there."

The girl frowned up at him and then turned anxiously to her mother.

"Go on," Ellie urged softly, her smile encouraging. "Trust me. You'll have fun today."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Okay. 'Bye, then...I guess."

Cassie pulled her mother into another long hug, and Ellie kissed her hair before tugging herself away. The child glanced up, a little mutinously, at her father and then whirled and started for his Infiniti.

Both Boston and Ellie stood in the entrance of the house, watching her, until she opened the passenger side door and climbed inside. Then Boston turned.

"You'll have her home by eight this evening, right?" Ellie said, trying not to look at him because she feared she might start bawling any second.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Look." He coughed into his hand. "Why don't you come with us?"

Ellie fell back a step. "Oh," she breathed, surprised, as she pressed a hand to her chest.

For a second, she was sure she'd heard wrong. But after blinking about five times, she couldn't deny the inquisitive look Boston sent her, waiting for her answer.

Then she laughed. "Boston, don't be silly. She'll forget all about me once you guys reach the party. Besides, if she does 214

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get sad, just have her call. I'll talk to her and assure her everything's fine."

He looked away for a moment as if he were thinking that option over. And then he turned back to Ellie. "Here's the deal," he started. "I want this to be the best Thanksgiving she's ever had. And I don't want her to have to worry about her mother, about calling you and making sure you're okay.

She's never been away from you for a holiday before, and I don't want that to be a problem. So, if you were there...with her...I know she could fully enjoy the day."

He paused to gauge her reaction. Ellie stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Really, Boston." She trilled out on a nervous laugh. He looked a little too serious for her comfort. "I can't go with you guys."

He frowned in confusion. "Why not?"

"For starters, your entire family is going to be there. I'm
not
spending the day with your family."

He frowned and pulled back, surprised and leery. "What's wrong with my family?"

"Well...they must hate me," she blurted out. "I didn't just keep Cassie from you. I kept her from them too. I can only imagine what they must think of me."

Boston's mouth fell open. "No," he said and then shook his head vehemently. "No one hates you. God, Ellie. Did you think Monty and Cam hated you?"

She bit her lip. "No, but I thought they were just...strange."

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He laughed. "Well, they are that. But everyone else feels the same. They're very anxious to meet Cassidy's mother. In fact, you probably would've had a few unwanted visitors by now if I hadn't warned them to stay away."

"They want to meet me?" she asked slowly, not sure if she should believe him. "But...what about Chuck E. Cheese's?

Didn't my behavior there turn them off?"

Sending her a guilty look, Boston admitted, "It turned them off me for a while. I swear, my mother was about to bend me over her knee for not getting your permission to take Cassie."

When Ellie couldn't come up with a ready response, he took her hand. "Tell me honestly," he murmured. "Do you want your daughter to be miserable today or not?"

"Of course I don't want her to be miserable." Ellie sighed.

"But I think once she gets there, she'll forget all about me, and she'll—"

Boston didn't seem to want to risk it, however. "You're coming with us."

Ellie raised her eyebrows at his authoritative tone.

He seemed to yield at her arch look. "I already felt like crap for taking her away from you on a holiday," he said.

"Now,
she's
going to feel like crap too, and I'm sure you're not overly enthused about the situation either. Therefore, you have to come along so we're not all miserable."

She stared at him, tempted.

Realizing he about had her convinced, he coaxed, "It's only one day, Ellie. You can make it through
one
day with me, for our daughter, can't you?"

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She opened her mouth to tell him it wasn't the idea of being with him that turned her off. The idea of spending Thanksgiving with him actually made her stomach tighten in excitement. It was the rest of his family she was worried about.

"Please," he said.

She melted.

Shoulders slumping, she caved. "Oh...all right."

Boston grinned immediately and tightened his grip on her hand. He took a step back as if to give her room to exit her house before him. But she frowned and looked down at herself. "Whoa," she yelped in surprise as she took in her own worn blue jeans and faded sweater. "I need to change."

"Change?" he echoed, frowning in confusion. "But you look great."

Ellie flushed, and he winced, realizing what he'd just said.

Clearing his throat, he coughed into his hand and quickly revised, "I mean, you look fine. And our family get-togethers are incredibly informal. I wouldn't be surprised if my baby sister, Cheyenne, showed up in these flannel pajama pants she likes so much. Besides," he added. "I don't particularly want to embarrass myself in front of my family. And if you looked any better, I don't think I'd be able to handle it."

Tugging with the barest of pressure, Boston started to back toward the door, urging her to join him. She probably would've followed him anywhere at that very moment. The pull of his stare was a hundred times more magnetic than the tow of his hand. He nearly had the door shut behind her before a smidgeon of reality returned.

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"Oh, wait! My keys. My purse."

Boston nodded and let go of her hand to let her escape back inside. Scurrying frantically, Ellie ran back to her room and yanked up her purse and keys. She paused at the dresser, however, and tried to fluff some life into her limp hair. Moaning in distress when the locks only flopped back against her head, she blew out a breath and gave up. There was no need for her to impress his family anyway. It wasn't like she and Boston were dating anymore.

Hustling back to the living room, she was a little surprised that he'd actually waited for her at the exit. It struck her with a sudden rush of nostalgia. He'd always waited patiently at her door when she wasn't quite ready, and like then, she was freshly amazed he hadn't left without her.

Ellie didn't take his hand again, but they walked side by side from the house, which was disconcerting in itself. As Cassie saw them approaching, she opened the passenger side door and sent a worried look from Boston to Ellie.

"What's wrong?" she said. "Did you guys have another fight?"

Boston chuckled as he reached out to rustle her hair. "No, we did not have another fight. We decided your mom should come too. Now, get in the back, kiddo. Let her ride up front."

"You're coming?" Cassie said, and her gaze darted to her mother. "Oh, wow, Mom, this is going to be so awesome."

She shot out of the car and scurried to get into the backseat.

All the while, she kept talking. "I'm going to introduce you to my grandma and grandpa and Aunt Shannon and Aunt Olivia.

There's going to be so many people there, Mom. You'll get to 218

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meet all of Dad's nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles..."

Oh, joy,
Ellie thought, a little panicked. Boston was dragging her right into the lion's den.

The trip to Kansas City was a total blur. Ellie knew her daughter was constantly chattering from the backseat. And Boston would occasionally comment. But she was too nervous to pay attention to anything they said.

She sat in the passenger seat with her hands tightly clasped in her lap, staring straight ahead out the windshield.

Boston's Infiniti was a smooth ride. It was like floating on top of a glass lake. And he had the temperature acclimated perfectly. If Ellie were in any other state beside utter dread, she would've really enjoyed this cruise in his luxury automobile. As it was, she didn't even feel the leather seats at her back or hear the low, soothing music coming through the speakers.

She was going to meet his family. His
entire
family.

Ellie had always wondered what they would be like. She used to snatch up any scrap of information he'd give her about them. Heck, she'd gone and given him her virginity the first time he'd told her about his dad's occupation, if that were any indication as to how special she found his opening up to her to be.

The more he had dodged family topics, though, the more she'd wanted to know about them. She'd been so sure he must have awful parents who were pressuring him to do well in school and get into Yale. They had to be rich and socially elite, only concerned with upholding a superior reputation.

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But then she'd been in calculus class one day and the teacher had been handing back graded tests. When he'd called out the name Montgomery Kincaid, a guy, looking astonishingly like Boston, had lifted his hand. Blinking, Ellie studied him for so long, he'd glanced her way as if he could feel her stare. Flushing, she quickly jerked back around in her seat.

From then on, she'd paid sharp attention to Mr.

Montgomery Kincaid. And it didn't take long to realize he was indeed related to Boston. She'd actually heard him mention his brother to his friend he always hung out with.

So sure he had this high-nosed snob of a family, Ellie had been shocked to realize Boston had a normal-acting brother.

It confused her that Boston wouldn't even mention him.

Today, on the way to see them again, Ellie held no such disillusions. Boston's family wasn't awful. In fact, they seemed pretty close to him. From everything she'd heard Cassie tell her, they were very involved in his life. He'd only kept them from her because she hadn't been important enough to meet them.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, realizing the only reason she was meeting them now was because she was Cassie's mother. And it did nothing to ease her anxiety. Instead of trying to be nice because she was with Boston, they were going to study her and ask themselves what was wrong with her, what had she done to lose him?

They were going to hate her.

When Boston slowed the car and pulled into a huge, elegant drive that was already packed with at least a dozen 220

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automobiles, her heart literally stopped beating for a nanosecond. When it thumped back into gear, it started again so hard, it nearly cracked her ribcage.

"Libby's already here!" Cassie cheered from the backseat.

Her daughter was out of the car as soon as Boston pressed on the brake. Feeling deserted, Ellie watched Cassie race across the lawn to where a group of kids were already gathered and playing.

Next to her, Boston chuckled. "Such enthusiasm," he said, killing the engine and unbuckling his seatbelt. He opened his driver's side door and began to exit before he realized Ellie wasn't following. Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

She sent him a panic-stricken expression. For the life of her, she couldn't control the fear. She couldn't even appear to be strong in front of him. "I can't do it," she blurted out. "I can't go in there."

"What? Why not?"

She gnashed her teeth, refusing to tell him. But the words still bubbled their way from her throat. "You know what they're going to think of me."

Boston's eyes flared. He pulled his foot back into the car and turned to her fully. "Ellie," he said calmly. "No one thinks badly of you. And no one is going to
say
anything bad to you either. Trust me. They're all more disappointed in me because I didn't stick around long enough to make sure you really weren't pregnant." Quietly reaching out, he took her hand and gave a reassuring squeeze.

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"Come on," he murmured. "I promise I won't let anyone stamp any large letters on you or call you any names."

Ellie snorted at his joke. But it helped to make her realize how much of a weenie she was being. Blowing out a long breath, she pushed open the car door.

They entered his parents' house through the back. Ellie could hear the multitude of voices as soon as Boston opened the door and stepped aside to let her go first.

"Good," he said from behind her. "We made it in time for the food. They're too loud to be eating."

They'd just entered a kitchen when a beautiful, busty yet petite blonde walked into the room. She grinned when she saw them, or rather when she saw Boston.