The Reluctant Bride (7 page)

M
icah pushed her pillow out of the way and grabbed the ringing phone.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” said the voice on the other end of the receiver.

“Hi. What time is it?” she asked, reaching for the clock.

“Seven-twenty.”

“I like getting wake-up calls from you.” Micah sat up in bed, pulling the sheet around her. “Are you coming over later?” She glanced out the window. “It will be raining soon.”

“I don't have to wait for the rain to start, do I?” Rob asked.

She laughed and assured him she wanted to see him, regardless of the weather.

“I have some news,” he offered, the tone of his voice suddenly serious.

“Good or bad?” She tucked a few curls behind her ear as she asked the needless question.

“Not good,” he replied. “Our rainy-day plans together must be postponed.”

“But, why? I thought you had the day off—”

“I do, but Liz's father-in-law was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. She and Dan went up to Cleveland to be with him, and since Mom and Dad are out of town and they couldn't find a sitter at five o'clock in the morning, they dropped the kids off here. I have three sleeping children in my apartment.”

“Come anyway. Bring the kids. It will be fun, and it sounds like you might need help.”

“Truth is, I'm used to having one or even two of them around sometimes on the weekend. But I'm not too good with all three at once. Are you sure you wouldn't mind?”

“I'm a teacher, remember? Three children won't exactly be a challenge. And I can stay home from church this morning.”

“Heather's waking up. She just crawled off the couch and turned on the television.”

“I have plenty of stuff for sandwiches, and I think I have some grapes and cookies. We can eat lunch here.”

“I promised them French toast for breakfast, so I'd better go find the skillet.”

“Really? I didn't know you cooked.” Her teeth sank gently into her lower lip as she smiled. The
more she learned about this man, the more she liked him.

“I don't much. But the kids are easily impressed. Anyway, they like to help crack the eggs,”

“Uncle Rob, I'm hungry.”

Micah laughed softly as she heard the little girl's voice in the background.

“Got to go. I'm being paged,” he said. “See you in a couple of hours…if you're sure.”

“I'm sure. Good luck with breakfast.”

“Thanks. I'll need it.”

Micah replaced the receiver slowly and got out of bed. She needed to check her cupboards to see if she had to make a quick run to the grocery store for anything before the arrival of her guests.

“We stay with Uncle Rob sometimes,” David said with a hint of pride in his young voice that brought a quick smile to Micah's face. “And he lets us stay up real late.”

A flash of lightning drew Micah's attention to the kitchen window. Her Sunday-afternoon plans for the three young strangers in her apartment were working out easily enough, despite the rain sliding down the windowpanes.

“That's on the weekend, David,” Rob interjected. “If you stay with me tonight, you'll have an early bedtime because it's a school night.”

Rob's comments brought no response as eight-year-old
David busied himself setting up a game of Monopoly.

“Not like that.” The older boy, Nathan, objected to David's methods of distributing the money. “Haven't you ever played this game before?”

“You got any cookies?” Heather asked as she followed Micah around the kitchen watching sandwiches being assembled.

“Rob, look up in that top cabinet, please,” Micah said as she gently pulled the little girl's ponytail. “What's your favorite kind, honey?”

“Oatmeal,” Rob replied, glancing mischievously at Micah.

“I was speaking to the child,” Micah replied, faking a frown of displeasure.

“Chocolate chip!” Heather exclaimed. “Those are my favorites. Only Uncle Rob likes the oatmeal kind.”

Rob handed the package of cookies he found in the top cabinet to Micah.

“You'll be happy to know these are chocolate chip,” Micah said. “Uncle Rob is out of luck this time, Heather.”

“That's a matter of opinion,” came Rob's response. Micah handed one cookie to the little girl and glanced up at Rob with questioning eyes. Just as Rob leaned forward to kiss her, the boys had a difference of opinion themselves.

“It's my turn, dummy. I told you—”

“Hey, guys! No name-calling.” Rob's attention turned to the argument coming from the living room. “I think you need a referee in there,” he said, disappearing around the corner.

“Can I have another cookie?” Heather asked.

“Not right now, sweetheart. After lunch.” Micah looked at her small table and the four accompanying chairs. “Maybe we'll have an indoor picnic. Does that sound like fun?”

“Sure! How?” Heather asked.

“We'll spread out a sheet on the living-room floor and take all the food in there to eat.”

“Okay! I'll tell Uncle Rob.” Heather ran out of the kitchen. Micah walked into her bedroom and opened the bottom drawer of her dresser to pull out a sheet.

“Are you sure you want these wild hooligans eating on your living-room carpet?”

Rob's voice startled her, and she rose up quickly.

“They can't hurt anything,” she said. “I'll put this sheet down to cover the carpet and that will catch most of the crumbs.” She picked up the sheet.

“When you don't have enough chairs to seat the number of guests invited, you have living-room picnics.”

Heather came tagging along just moments behind her uncle. “Davy and Nathan are ready for the picnic.”

Rob and Micah both laughed, and Rob leaned over to pick up his dark-haired niece. “But the picnic
is not quite ready for them, babe. Let's go help Micah finish getting everything ready.”

“She's pretty,” Heather said as she peeked at Micah over Rob's shoulder.

“She sure is,” Rob confirmed, carrying the child from the bedroom.

“And real nice, too,” Heather added with a shy smile.

“You're pretty and nice yourself, Heather,” Micah replied, and Heather buried her face in Rob's shoulder.

Rob turned to Micah when they entered the kitchen and kissed her lightly on the mouth.

“Yuck!” David had just stepped into the room. “Kissin!”

“In a few years, you'll like it,” Rob said, smiling as he sat Heather on the floor. But the look on David's face said he doubted his uncle's words.

“Now, Micah's been very nice having us over here for lunch, so let's cooperate with her.”

“That means ‘help me,’” Micah explained as Heather looked at Rob with a puzzled expression. “Cooperate is kind of a big word, isn't it?”

“Thank you, Teacher.”

“You're welcome, Counselor,” Micah replied and picked up a couple of packages of fruit-flavored punch to pour into a pitcher on the counter. Counselor. That was the only flaw she had seen in him so far, and she refused to think about that today.

“Okay, move the board game. Nat, you missed a couple of pieces. Good… okay. Now, help me spread out this sheet. David, grab that corner. Nat, get the other one. Heather, hon, move out of the way.”

Micah added sugar to the drinks and listened to the conversation in the living room. Rain beat upon the roof and poured down the windowpanes partly hidden by yellow and white curtains. Stirring the punch, she watched the rain through the glass, knowing that when it was quiet, she could hear the drops hitting the leaves on the apple tree outside the living room window.

Then the kitchen was invaded by three miniature helpers.

The potato chips went to Heather, the plates and cups to David and the silverware and napkins to Nathan, and they all carried their assigned item to the picnic area.

“You take the sandwiches,” she said to Rob, “and I'll take the punch and the baked beans.”

Micah followed her guests into the living room and arranged everything in as orderly a fashion as possible, using her large coffee table as a buffet.

Nathan wandered over to the couch and practiced his karate chops on the cushions.

“No martial arts during lunch, Nat. Come on.” Rob steered him back to his seat on the floor.

“So, you like karate?” Micah asked, remembering Angela's concerns.

“Yep, sure do,” Nathan replied as he plopped
down in his designated spot and began munching on a ham and cheese sandwich. “But Mom don't like me liking it.”

“You try to chop up tables and stuff,” David responded, shedding a little light on the subject.

“Maybe if you were more careful about what you practiced on, your mom wouldn't mind so much,” Rob commented.

“Can I have another cookie?” Heather asked.

Micah looked over at the plate containing a sandwich with only two small bites missing. “Eat at least half your sandwich, then you may.” And to Micah's amazement, the child complied without argument.

The picnic went smoothly and within a half hour or so, the boys were playing Monopoly again and Heather was watching a cartoon video she had brought with her on the VCR. Rob and Micah cleaned up the lunch dishes.

“They're good kids, Rob. Really,” Micah added while putting the leftovers in the refrigerator.

“Yes, they are. Whenever the boys spend the weekend with me, we enjoy the time together. Heather won't come with us most of the time because we usually go boating or fishing and she's afraid of the water.”

“That's too bad. She's missing a lot of fun.”

“When you accompany us, maybe we can talk her into coming along. With you there, she might not be so afraid.”

The phone rang.

“It's probably Angela,” Micah said. “Go ahead and answer it.” She wiped her hands on a dish towel and listened to Rob's voice grow cold and impersonal with the party on the other end of the receiver.

“May I tell her who's calling?” Whoever it was, it certainly wasn't Angela.

“Scott,” Rob explained, handing the phone to her with a disapproving glance.

She hadn't heard from Scott in months. Hadn't wanted to. So why did he have to call now?

“Hello? Yes, hi, Scott. How have you been?”

“Is that Mommy?” Heather climbed down from the sofa and came running toward them.

“No,” Rob answered. “Your mom will call soon. Let's watch some more cartoons until she does.”

Scott had remembered that Micah liked stormy days. He had thought of her often. Law school wasn't going so well.

Micah spoke as politely as she could. Thanks, but no thanks. Yes. She was involved with someone else now. Scott wanted to see her anyway. Surely she wasn't so involved with someone that she wouldn't see anyone else. Her new relationship wasn't that serious, was it? Scott wanted to know.

Micah studied Rob's frowning expression where he sat on the couch with Heather cuddled up close to him. He glanced away from the television which had so captured his niece's attention and his eyes locked with Micah's for a brief, questioning moment.

“Yes,” Micah answered Scott's question. “It is serious.” Finally, wonderfully, dangerously serious.

She replaced the receiver and approached the couch, which now held not only Rob and Heather, but the other two kids, as well, while an old movie blared from the screen. The kids were so engrossed in the science fiction movie, they didn't notice when Micah leaned forward and kissed Rob on the cheek. His eyebrows rose as if to question her about the call, but she shook her head. “It wasn't important. Just a voice from the past,” she explained.

“And he'd better remain there,” Rob stated flatly.

“Shh!” three young voices chimed in.

Just a voice from the past. Micah shivered as she settled down into the space remaining on the couch cushions next to Heather. There were other voices from the past that, if they spoke, would not be so easily silenced.

The phone rang again shortly, and Nathan was off the couch in a moment's notice. “I'll get it.” Then he stopped and looked at Micah. “Can I?”

“Sure,” she answered and within seconds Nathan was talking to his mother on the other end of the line.

Rob asked Nathan for the phone. “Liz? Is everything all right? Sure…no problem. We'll be there soon. Bye.”

“Is her father-in-law okay?” Micah asked.

“Yes. They were allowed to see him for only a
few minutes, but he looked good and his condition is stable.”

Micah glanced at Heather, who had fallen asleep on the couch. The boys, however, were as awake and lively as ever.

“Let's go, guys,” Rob said. “Your folks are home and waiting for you.”

“We want to finish the movie!” David responded. “We can't go now!”

Nathan asked, “Did they land on Mars yet?”

“Nope,” David replied. “But they're gonna in a second.”

Rob and Micah looked at each other, and Micah shrugged. “There's only about half an hour left of the show,” she offered. “Why don't we let them finish it?”

So they sat down and watched the spaceship land while Heather slept soundly through a much-needed nap.

Later, getting everyone loaded into Rob's car took a while, with last-minute drinks and trips to the bathroom.

“All right, in the car, everybody. It's only a twenty-minute ride to your parents’ home. You can drink and do whatever you need to do then!”

The kids thanked her for the picnic and good time they'd had without prompting from Rob, which both pleased and surprised their uncle.

“Be careful driving,” she whispered to Rob and kissed him lightly, which brought giggles from the
passengers. “It's going to start raining again soon. I can feel it”

“Sure you don't want to ride to Liz and Dan's with us?”

“I'm sure. You go ahead, and I'll take care of a few things around here. You'll be back soon?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I will.”

She pulled her sweater around her shoulders as cold raindrops began to fall once again, and she waved goodbye to the three youngsters waving to her from the rear window of Rob's car. She laughed softly at the sight. The argument over the front seat had been so intense, Rob had ordered them all into the back.

Micah hurried into the apartment when the rain turned into a downpour. There were surprisingly few things to pick up, and the lunch dishes had already been taken care of, so she had time for a quick shower. Then she slipped into a clean pair of jeans and a soft, cream-colored shirt.