One Night With You (9 page)

Her smile told him that she understood all that he didn't say. “I love you, too,” she said. “Let's go inside.”

As he walked up the stone walkway holding hands, Amy came around the side of the house.

“Hello, Amy,” they said in unison.

“Hi, Mr. Reid and Miss Kendra. My mommy is in the shower, and my daddy is changing my baby brother's pants. He spilled milk all over the place and on his pants. Come with me. The front door is too heavy for me to open.” She walked up to them, shook their hands and started around to the side of the house. “We're going to have a nice barbecue brunch. You can smell what my daddy's roasting. And it's always good.”

Kendra hadn't expected such an adult nine-year-old. “I'm happy to meet you, Amy,” she said.

Amy had been walking ahead of them. She stopped, and with a mercurial smile said, “Thank you, Judge Kendra.” She opened the screen door. “We're going in here.”

They entered an airy room that seemed to be a family room. “My daddy will be down in a minute,” she said. “I'm going upstairs and let him know you're here.”

At that moment, a four-year-old boy charged into the room. “Be nice, Marc,” Amy said, “and keep the guests company while I get Daddy.”

Marc walked up to Reid and rested his hands on Reid's knees. “I could show you my airplanes, Mr. Reid, but I'm not supposed to bring them in here.” He looked at Kendra. “My daddy said you were bringing your sweetheart. Is she your sweetheart?”

Reid pulled the child between his knees and patted his shoulder. “Yes, she's my sweetheart, and you may call her Miss Kendra.”

The boy gazed at Kendra. “Nobody said you were so pretty. Do you have any little boys and girls?”

“Thank you, Marc, for the compliment. No, I don't have any children yet, but I'd be happy if I had a little boy like you.”

“I'm sorry,” he said, wearing a sad expression, “but I belong to my mommy and my daddy. Maybe they will find a little boy for you.”

“Don't worry, son,” Marcus said, laughing, as he walked into the room. “They know how it's done.” He opened his arms to Reid in a brotherly embrace and then gazed down at Kendra. “You can't imagine how happy I am to meet you. I'm so glad you came.” He looked at Reid and winked. “She's lovely. Excuse me for not being down here to greet you, but seconds before you got here, Todd decided to try his strength and knocked a half-gallon bottle of milk all over himself and everything around him. And would you believe the little rascal clapped his hands and laughed?”

And so began one of the most enjoyable afternoons Reid remembered having spent. As he'd expected, Amanda and Kendra found that they had much in common, but what he hadn't anticipated was the joy that Kendra seemed to experience with the children, all three of whom seemed attracted to her.

Two-year-old Todd seemed fascinated with her, and when she opened her arms he crawled into her lap and made himself comfortable. Reid wanted badly to hear what she was saying to the child, but she was sitting too far from him. When it seemed that the boy had gone to sleep, he suspected that she had been singing to him.

“I hope you love barbecued everything,” Marcus said to Kendra. “I already know that this brother will eat anything that isn't nailed down. Well, almost anything. Look, I have a boat at the pier down at the end of Bay Street. I haven't been on her since last October, but if you come down at the end of May, she'll be ready to sail. It's good fun. I'll take my brother and his family along, and we'll have a great time.”

“I'll look forward to it,” Reid said to Marcus. Amanda lifted a pile of dishes and started toward the house. “Let me help you with that, Amanda,” Reid said to her when he noticed that Marcus was rescuing Marc from a fence. He took the dishes inside, cleaned them and put them into the dishwater.

“You're handy in the kitchen, Reid,” she said. “I consider that a good sign.”

“Thanks. I figure that as long as I eat, I should know my way around the kitchen. So I learned to cook and to clean up after myself. I got that from my father.”

“Kendra is a lovely woman, a down-to-earth loving and tender person, and you are blessed to have her in your life.”

“I know, and I'm going to do all I can to take care of our relationship. She…she's precious to me.”

“I can see that, and you're precious to her.”

“I'm going back out there and see if I can pry her away from Todd. The kid has taken my woman.”

“Which is interesting,” Amanda said. “Todd always refused to go near strangers. But she radiates love. Take good care of it.”

“I intend to.”

“I hope you'll visit us again soon, Kendra,” Marcus said when they stood to leave. “We've enjoyed having you and Reid with us.”

“Yes,” Amanda said. “I want us to be good friends, Kendra.” To Reid, she said, “Remember to take care of what's precious.”

“Bet on it. Thank you both for a wonderful afternoon.”

He let a minute pass after driving off before he said to Kendra, “Do you want children? When I saw Todd curled up in your lap wrinkling this beautiful suit while you coddled him as if he were the most precious thing you possessed, I got a lump in my throat. I hadn't thought about you and children. I guess I thought that didn't seem compatible with being a judge.”

“You didn't think about it at all, I suspect,” she said. “Yes, I love children, and I want some.”

He glanced at her with his peripheral vision. “Hadn't you better get busy?”

She didn't look toward him, but kept her gaze straight ahead. “With whom do you suggest?”

“Hey, I didn't mean to pull your chain, baby. If you want to get started, I'll be the last to complain.”

“Back up, Reid. I don't think you meant for that comment to head us in this direction. I've always thought it best to raise children in a marriage, and since I'm not married, I don't have children. By the way, you don't have any. Don't you want a family?”

“Yeah. I want a family. Myrna didn't want children, but she didn't let me know that until after we married. As I got to know her, I realized that it was a good thing she didn't want them. Children need dependability in their lives, and they need it from both parents.”

They talked about their lives growing up, their parents, her sister and the brother with whom he'd lost contact. “What does he do?” she asked him.

“He's a state assemblyman, and it didn't suit him to have a brother accused of designing a shoddy building that collapsed and ruined the lives of possible future constituents, such as when he runs for president.” He heard the bitterness in his voice and couldn't stop himself. “He's another reason why I want vindication. Nobody deserves the pain he gave me. He was my only living relative, and he wasn't there for me. I'm over it now.”

“It doesn't hurt anymore?”

He shrugged. “I suppose it will always hurt, Kendra, but I feel as if I can love him again, and that's a load off me.”

“What about…Myrna? Do you feel as if you can love her again?”

“That's not remotely possible. I need to love my brother. He's my brother, my own blood and our parents would be sad at the way things are between us now. Myrna made God and me a promise that didn't mean one thing to her. She's no longer a part of my life, and she doesn't have the power to make me happy or sad. My rare thoughts of her elicit nothing but anger at my own stupidity. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes. Sorry I brought it up.”

“Here we are.” He parked in front of her house. “I'm not sure whether I should go in with you.”

He sat there for a minute. “Come on, I want to check things out for you.” He did and walked back to the foyer where she waited for him. “I'll see you Thursday night at rehearsal.” He opened his arms because he couldn't stand to leave her without holding her and loving her.

“None of the heavy stuff, love,” he said. “Just let me feel that you love me.”

To his amazement, she eased her arms around his shoulders, stood on tiptoe and kissed his eyes, cheeks, lips, neck and then, with her hands cupping his face, she parted her lips over his, took him in, sucked the tip of his tongue and released him.

He stared down at her, his heart racing like a spooked Thoroughbred. “You make me feel as if I could harness the moon and hand it to you. How did I ever live without you?”

She stroked the side of his face in a loving gesture and contented herself with saying nothing, as if her silence would preserve his words for all time. Suddenly, she rested her head against his shoulder.

“I'll be glad when we don't have to hide the fact that we see each other.”

He hugged her to him. “I want that more than anything. Sleep well.” He left, because he couldn't risk staying longer. After their first time, he wanted to wake up with her in his arms, and he didn't want to expose her to gossip by creeping out of her house at daybreak. And he didn't want to sign in at a hotel or a motel under a false name in order to protect her. Not that he hadn't thought of it, but what if there was a fire or another catastrophe? He couldn't take the chance.

The next day, he called Philip Dickerson. “Is the bay getting warm enough for a swim?” he asked his friend after their greeting.

“I doubt it. I haven't been down there yet, but it should be pleasant in another three weeks. Why don't you come down for a few days? We're anxious to hear how things are going with you.”

“Couldn't be better, at least for now.” He brought Philip up to date on developments in his work. “I'm hard at it fourteen hours a day, but I'm glad for it. Getting used to reporting to a boss and getting his approval of what I've done is tough, but I guess it's not the worst that can happen. Jack Marks is a brilliant architect, and he has confidence in me.”

“I knew that all you needed was a chance. But remember that man doesn't live by bread alone, friend. Have you found anyone who takes your mind off your problems?”

“Yeah. Off my problems and my work, too.”

Philip's laugh reached him through the wire. “She must rival the Venus de Milo. Don't you dare come down here without her.”

The following Thursday night at rehearsal, he breezed through his scene with his stage daughter, pampering her as usual. “Now run upstairs to your room and study like a good girl,” he said to her in his role as Don.

“Tonya, didn't I tell you not to wear that T-shirt again? It's three sizes too small,” Kendra said in her role as Lissa.

“Daddy said he didn't see anything wrong with it.”

“Oh, he did, did he? Take it off this second.”

Don put his newspaper aside and looked at Lissa. “I don't like your contravening me when I tell Tonya she can do something or she can have something. Lately, you go against me every time. She's young, and this is the only time she'll ever have to find herself, to know who she really is.”

“Oh, please,” Lissa said. “She'll have the rest of her life to confirm that she's a slut. Whoever heard of a father giving his sixteen-year-old daughter permission to walk around with her nipples showing and half of her breasts hanging out? Tonya, get up those stairs and take off that shirt. This second!”

“Look, baby. Do you want our daughter to be an old maid? She's got it, and she should take advantage of it. That's what you did.”

“I did not.”

“You did so, and I sucked your nipple into my mouth on our second date.”

“That's not true.”

He grabbed her arm. “It is, and it's all I've ever had to do to get inside you. Tell me I'm lying.”

“She can hear everything you're saying.”

“She can't. I heard her close her room door.” His hand brushed across her left breast, and he gazed down into her face. “Do you want me to prove it?” She swallowed hard and tried to back away from him. “I'll be inside you in a minute.” His hand reached for the V-neckline of her blouse.

An expression of terror settled over her face. “Reid, for goodness' sake!”

He backed away from her, alarmed at what he'd almost done.

“Hey, what happened there?” Mike asked them.

Reid dropped his body into the nearest chair and shook his head. “I got carried away. I'm sorry, Kendra, I'll try to keep it between the lines.”

“You do that,” Mike said. “We have to remember that Kendra is a judge.”

Reid glared at Mike. “I remember that as well as you do, and I have as much concern for her reputation as you do.”

“I didn't mean to jerk your chain, man,” Mike said, “but neither you nor I want Kendra to back out of this role. The two of you fit like Tracey and Hepburn.” He looked at his watch. “It's nine-thirty. Let's wrap it for tonight.”

Later, as she drove home, he said, “I wonder why we get these roles confused.”