Presley Ann giggled and then said, “I hate to say it out loud, but I need to get my day started.”
Kendry knew it was coming. Honestly, he wished she could stay and never leave. He could see her spending every morning sitting out in the yard, playing with Whit and the dogs and enjoying her morning tea while they drank their coffee. The way Jared flicked his gaze down to the ground told him that his brother felt some of the same emotions. But he looked up at her and gave her a crooked grin. “Do you have time to try out the tub? Looks, and smells, like the baby could use a bath, too.”
Presley Ann giggled and said, “They did a good job of marking him as part of their pack, huh? Yes, I would love to try out the tub.”
The dogs came crowding up again, seeming to want to be close to Presley Ann. Thor even pushed at him a little and got between them. Kendry took that as a good sign. She’d be safe around their home with the two guard dogs.
“Okay, pooches. Enough play time.” He threw the ball one more time and then helped her to her feet as Jared rose, holding Whit. The dogs raced off, and they walked Presley Ann up to the house.
They coaxed her to take a little time enjoying the tub on her own. Kendry undressed Whit after changing his dirty diaper and brought him in to her. Presley Ann looked like an angel with the morning light shining in through the big picture window, mounds of suds around her and her light blonde hair pinned up on top of her head. She took one look at the wrapped up soiled diaper in Kendry’s hand and said, “You changed a dirty diaper?” Her gaze was incredulous.
“Yup, I did.” Kendry said with a shrug. “We’ve changed a ton of them at Marty and Felicia’s house. Why? Does that earn us brownie points?”
She laughed as she took the baby from him and eased his kicking legs into the warm water, propped him up in her lap, and said, “Yes, as a matter of fact it does.”
“Awesome! I need to go put this in the dumpster. I’ll be right back.”
When he returned, she was just finishing bathing the baby and wetting his hair. “Can I have his shampoo?” she asked pointing at the vanity. Taking the opportunity to sit with her for a while if she’d allow it, he opened the little bottle and poured a bit in her hand, which she used to lather up Whit’s jet black hair. The baby squawked and Presley Ann giggled and squawked back. “I never get to do this with him at home. It’s nice.”
“Take a bath with him?”
“Yeah. With the two of us alone, I’m too worried about slipping in the tub and something terrible happening.” She shuddered as if thinking about it. “So this is a treat for us.”
“Us, too,” Jared said as he walked in the bathroom. He seemed unable to take his eyes off her as she sat in the tub rinsing Whit’s hair, bubbles floating out all around her. Her nipples tightened noticeably as she gazed back at him, no trace of shyness or regret in her eyes.
Jared said, “I made some breakfast if you’re hungry.”
“Starved,” she murmured as she shielded Whit’s eyes and rinsed the shampoo from his head. “Guys?”
Jared paused at the door and they both looked at her, waiting. Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink as she ladled water onto Whit’s little belly with her cupped hands.
Kendry watched as she struggled for the right words, willing to bet she was thinking of the past again.
* * * *
Maybe it was the early morning light streaming through the window. Maybe it was the intimacy of the surroundings. Maybe it was the ache growing inside her. And maybe, just maybe, it was the way they saw her as being worthy. Never being what she would’ve called a deep thinker, it was that foreign feeling that struck her the hardest.
“Thank you.” The knot in her throat made swallowing difficult and the heat in her cheeks made her self-conscious. Why did her fair skin always betray her emotions?
Jared sat at the other end of the tub. “For what?”
“For trusting me,” she whispered, putting up a damp hand to her hot cheek.
Kendry reached out and twined a lock of her hair around his index finger. “Odd choice of words, kitten.”
She laughed and said, “Only because you didn’t know me before Whit came into my life. Trusting me is a huge thing, believe me.”
Jared reached down and stroked the foot she had propped up at the end of the decadently large tub and said, “We believe in you, Presley Ann Woodworth.”
Incapable of speech, breath frozen in her chest, she gulped audibly and handed Whit off to Kendry when he reached for him and said he’d go diaper and dress him. He kissed the top of her head and left her alone with Jared, who sat there, watching her with gentleness in his eyes.