Queen (32 page)

"I don't see why I couldn't go to town with her," Will grumbled as he stood at the window, watching the Blazer disappear around the curve in the road beyond the house with his beloved Queenie behind the wheel.

"Because she didn't need help today," Cody said. "Besides, as soon as Donny and J.J. come downstairs, I have something I want to ask you guys."

"I didn't use your razor, Dad, honest."

Cody laughed. So that was what had happened to the last of his shaving cream.

Will slumped onto a chair. He'd told J.J. they would get caught, but J.J. had been so certain that no one would notice they'd borrowed the razor, especially since it was minus a blade. They hadn't taken into consideration explaining how a full can of shaving cream had suddenly gone empty.

"J.J. did it, too," Will added, and sighed.

"That's not what I want to talk about," Cody said, and gently tugged a lock of his son's hair before walking to the foot of the stairs. "Hey, you guys, hurry up. We've got to talk."

When Cody came back into the room and sat down on the couch, Will moved to sit beside him. Cody grinned as he hugged his son and then started a wrestling match that soon evolved to the floor.

"I thought I told you kids not to do that in the house," Donny said. He grinned at his father's expression as he caught them in the act of rolling beneath the coffee table. "Just practicing for when I'm a parent," he added.

Cody got to his feet, allowing Will to have the last punch, and then settled back onto the couch, motioning for the others to find a seat.

"How come I miss all the fun?" J.J. asked, and flopped onto a chair beside the couch, sorry that he'd missed out on the roughhouse tumble. It was his favorite thing to do with his dad.

"Listen," Cody began. "I have something serious I need to talk to you guys about."

Donny frowned. He knew that the guy who'd bothered J.J. at school had been arrested. Surely something else hadn't come up that his father hadn't told him about.

"Like what?" Donny asked, and waved for his little brothers to be quiet.

Cody leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and stared intently into three pairs of matching blue eyes, very much like his own. They were so dear to him, and what he did in his life affected them as well. Yet he couldn't bear thinking about his life without Queen in it. God… what if they don't go for this?

He took a deep breath and then blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "How much do you remember about your mother?"

The question shocked all three boys. It wasn't something they thought about often. It had been more than three years since she'd been missing from their lives. There were lots of things that came to mind… and, surprisingly, plenty of things that didn't. Silence filled the room as they considered the question.

"Donny, what about you?"

Donny bit his lip and tried to ignore the odd pain around his heart. Now that he was growing hair on his chest, he'd come to the mistaken conclusion that he shouldn't want to cry.

"Well… lots of things. Like her favorite foods, and how she used to laugh herself silly at Chevy Chase movies, and how she hated to cook and was always trying to talk you into taking us out to eat… just stuff." He shrugged. "You know."

Cody nodded. "Will, what about you, son? What do you remember most about Mom?"

Will's mouth trembled, and he looked everywhere but at his father's face. "Sometimes…" He took a deep breath and then let everything fall out, as if it were something that had been bothering him for a long, long time. "Sometimes I forget what she looked like." His expression was at once distressed as well as apologetic. "But I remember things we did. And I remember always going with her to the base to get you when you'd come in from a mission. And… I remember when we all went to the zoo and Donny threw up in the gorilla pit."

Donny rolled his eyes. Why did they always have to remember the bad stuff?

Cody smiled gently. He hadn't realized how much Will had been bothered by the fact that his memory of Claire was fading.

"It's okay that sometimes your memory is a little fuzzy. You know that, don't you? Remember, you were only seven when she died," Cody said.

Will nodded, relieved that he wasn't in trouble for forgetting something as important as his mother's face.

"J.J., what about you?" Cody asked. "Do you remember anything at all about your mother? And… if you don't, don't feel bad. You were only four when she died."

"I remember!" he crowed. "I remember that she smelled good. And that sometimes she would rock me when I was sick. And I remember her hair was short and curly and she wore red lipstick. I remember her lipstick real good."

Cody pulled J.J. into his lap and scooted Will beneath his arm. His gaze caught Donny's intent stare, and he swallowed nervously, at that moment almost afraid of his own children and their possible reaction to what he was about to say.

"So… sometimes do you miss having a mother? You know that your real mother can't ever come back… but do you wish that there was someone else who would take care of you like she did?"

Will shook his head. "No! Not anymore!"

J.J. shrugged. "Me either. Not anymore."

Cody's heart dropped. Oh, God, I was afraid of this, he thought.

"But why not?" Cody asked. "Wouldn't you like to have someone who would be here when you get home from school and who would take you places when I was busy? And what about the special days like birthdays and Christmas… a lady does those kinds of things lots better than me, right?"

Will gave his father a disgusted look. "But we don't need that, Dad. Not since we have Queenie. I don't want anyone else but Queenie." His chin jutted out, making him look like a smaller version of Cody when angry.

"Yeah, Queenie takes real good care of us. We don't want anyone else," J.J. said, and did his best to imitate Will's defiant stance.

Thank God!

Donny grinned and leaned back on his chair. "So… Dad… when are you going to just spit it out and get your misery over with?"

Cody would have glared, but he was so damned happy at what they'd just said, he didn't quite know how to show it.

"So you think you know what's on my mind?" he asked Donny.

"Oh, heck, Dad. I've known what was on your mind since day one. Remember, she's quite a 'babe.'"

Cody laughed and hugged his sons. "So, what you guys are telling me is that you'd have no objections if Queen lived here forever."

"Right," the younger ones echoed, wondering what all the fuss was about. They couldn't understand why the meeting had been necessary. As far as they were concerned, she was already here forever.

"Absolutely none," Donny added.

"And you wouldn't care if I asked her to marry me?"

Will thought about it for a moment while J.J. sat and watched to see where Will and the wind blew. Whatever his brother said was usually fine with him.

"Does that mean she'll still read us stories, and tuck us in, and bake really good stuff while we're at school?"

"In spades, buddy," Cody said. "In spades."

Will grinned while the others laughed. He wasn't sure what that meant, but it sounded like a "yes."

"Okay, here's the deal," Cody said. "In a little while, Colonel Macon is going to be here. He's going to take you guys into Snow Gap and help me set up a surprise for Queen. What do you say? Think you can handle that?"

"Yes!" they cried, and this time even Donny was excited about the prospect. He liked surprises, and he loved Queen. It was about time things began to happen around here that were good things.

"Then go get changed," Cody said. "Put on some decent clothes, something that you would wear to school. I'll give you each some money when you leave with Colonel Macon. But don't spend it on yourself. This is for Queen. Today is her birthday, and she thinks we don't know it. She'll be really surprised when I bring her into town tonight and meet you guys and Dennis at the restaurant, right?"

"All right!"

The idea of spending money, even if it wasn't on themselves, was exciting, as was the fact that they were going to be in on a surprise.

Within the hour Dennis had come and gone, taking Cody's sons with him. Cody stood in the center of the big, empty house and listened, realizing for the first time how Queen must feel when they were all off on their own pursuits. It felt a little lonely, but also peaceful at the lack of noise. Will she care to spend the rest of her life this way, he wondered, always waiting for people to come home and make work for her to do?

Will my love be enough to get you through this, lady?

He could only hope.

Queen turned first one way and then another, staring at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of her closet door, and smiled in satisfaction. She looked fine.

Actually she looked more than fine, but it was beyond her fragile ego to see what an elegant woman she'd become. For the first time in her life, she looked the part of her given name—Queen. The cranberry-red wool dress did what it was meant to do. It was a showcase for her femininity as well as her style.

She tugged at the low-cut neckline and then fiddled with the sleeves that grazed her wrists, checking one last time to make sure no slip was showing. The shoes she'd spent so long picking out complemented the outfit to perfection. Best of all, the heels were high enough to bring her eye level with the man who'd stolen her heart.

She could hardly wait to see his reaction.

"Here goes nothing," she said, grabbed her purse and coat, and left her room.

She'd been surprised upon returning from Snow Gap to learn that the boys had gone to town with Dennis. The surprise had turned to excited anticipation when Cody had offhandedly remarked that they were going out to dinner tonight to discuss the project. It would give her the opportunity to wear her new dress.

Of course, she had no idea that they were on to the fact that it was her birthday. She'd never told them, and no one had asked.

All day she'd been fighting a terrible case of the blues, trying not to think of how much she missed her sisters or that this was the first birthday without them.

Tears threatened as she remembered how each year Diamond would insist on baking a cake. And then she smiled, remembering that it was always an unmitigated disaster. Diamond could sing like an angel, but she couldn't cook worth a darn.

A true gambler's daughter, Lucky would always insist that the cake must have the exact number of candles or it would be bad luck. Last year they'd laughed and teased as they'd crammed twenty-eight tiny wax candles on top of Diamond's culinary mess and completely obliterated the top of the cake. This year she would be twenty-nine years old… one year away from thirty… and it would pass without notice.

She took a deep breath. It was time to let go. The past as she knew it no longer existed.

She paused at the top of the stairs and smoothed down her skirt, suddenly nervous about Cody seeing her in something other than the familiar blue jeans and sweaters. And then she remembered his smile, and the way his eyes turned dark like a summer thunderstorm just before they made love, and knew that no matter what she wore, his favorite outfit would always be Queen as nature made her.

Cody heard her footsteps above as she came down the hallway and paused at the top of the stairs.

She'd come that far alone, and he was going with her the rest of the way. He bolted from his chair and into the hall, intent on making a big deal of escorting her down the stairs. He wanted her to know how important and special she was to all of them.

But he didn't get far. When he looked up he had to hold on to the banister for support at the vision he beheld above him.

"Oh, honey."

The way in which he whispered her name and the look on his face was enough impetus to get her down the stairs. "Do you like it?" she asked, a little unsure, a lot desperate for approval from the man who was her whole world.

Cody took her purse and coat and hung them both on the end of the newel post. He wanted to touch… to feel… but was afraid to mess up the creation.

"Like it? Lady… you take my breath away."

His hands skimmed the soft fabric and then across her skin, testing the differences in textures as well as the differences in his woman. He leaned forward, closed his eyes, and inhaled. "And you smell fantastic."

"It was a sample of White Diamonds. They gave it to me in the store when I bought the dress. I was saving it for something special."

"Am I that something special?" he asked, and grinned at the blush that crossed her face.

"Well, I was hoping I'd see those boys in Donny's class who think I'm such a 'babe,' remember?"

Cody laughed aloud and then couldn't resist. He whisked her off her feet, whirling her around and around in the center of the hallway, and then watched in fascination at the way her hair billowed out behind her like a fan of autumn leaves and the way the dress molded to her body like a second skin.

And what he would later remember was that not once had she told him to stop, claiming that he was messing up her hair or her clothes. She was a far cry from the perfectionist that Claire had been. He considered himself a twice blessed man.

"Cody, put me down," Queen finally gasped. "I'm getting dizzy."

"Good, then I can take advantage of you," he said, and nuzzled the curls at her neck, inhaling again the wonderful scent of Queen and the perfume.

"Advantage? I'll say. I'm seeing three of you. I don't know which of you to hold on to."

This is it, he thought. Now is the time.

His fingers curled over the small jeweler's box in his jacket pocket and, without removing the box, slipped out the ring and held it between his fingers. "Maybe if you see three of this, you won't say no," he said.

The smile on her face disappeared. Everything seemed to stop, including her heart. Twice she reached out, and twice she let her hand fall back, not believing what she saw, afraid that if she touched it, it would disappear.

"Cody?" Panic filled her voice. She was afraid to hope.

"I love you, Queen Houston. Why do you find this so hard to believe?" He cupped her cheek with his hand.