“Umm, that sounds nice.” She knew that at any other time, before their conversation of earlier that day, he would have invited her along, but she sensed that he was too wary to do so for fear she would get the wrong idea about things.
“You’re welcome to come with us if you like.”
Now she knew he was only asking to be nice. “Thanks but I need to go home and do laundry.”
He nodded. “Have you heard from Sage?”
His question made her smile. “Yes, and I think when she sees Gabe tomorrow at his grandparents’ anniversary party, they will work things out between them. At least I hope so.”
Parnell leaned back in his chair. “He loves her.”
“I know,” was her reply, thinking how it would feel to have a man love her as much. “And she loves him. She was just trying to be cautious, not run him off.”
Parnell chuckled. “Trust me, she didn’t run Gabe off. He was just putting distance between them, giving her time to adjust to his feelings. Sometimes it’s best that way.”
“Yes, you’re probably right,” she said quietly, wondering if he had a reason for saying so. She slowly stood. “Like you said earlier, it’s getting late. I’m going to call it a night. Goodnight, Parnell.”
He stood. “Goodnight Rose.”
* * *
Parnell watched as Rose left the room. He had apologized but for some reason he felt it still may not have been enough. He rubbed his hand down his face, still feeling pretty bad about things. He would never, ever intentionally hurt her. She had come through and helped him out; just minutes before he was about to order plane tickets to take his daughters back home to his parents. And even now Rose was still helping him. She had agreed to watch his girls for three weeks until Mrs. Summers returned, and now with the elderly lady’s decision to remain in Florida permanently, he was virtually back where he’d started. But thanks to Rose, he wouldn’t be having a panic-attack over it.
He couldn’t help but think of how things had been for him over the past three weeks, how much peace and calm that she had brought into his life. He was able to go to work each day knowing his daughters were well cared for and would be there when he returned. And he no longer came home to a messy house since Rose was an extremely neat and clean person. Mrs. Summer’s replacements either spent too much time watching soaps every day instead of cleaning or just didn’t give a royal damn. More than once, he’d come home from a hard day at the construction site only to spend the majority of the night once the girls had gone to bed, doing household chores since he refused to let his daughters live in an unkempt place. His mother had been a stickler when it came to cleanliness and she had passed that trait right on to him. He couldn’t help but notice that Rose was now helping in passing it on to his girls. She was teaching them the importance of putting their toys away after they finished playing with them. And making a game of it was teaching them the ritual of dusting. They were both proud of the feather dusters Rose had bought for them in their favorite colors.
A part of him wished he could do something for Rose . . . something other than what she’d asked for in her proposal. When he had married Becky, he had married for love, and he couldn’t see getting married a second time for anything less than that. But he would admit that the thought of having another child had crossed his mind more than once. He and Becky had always planned on having a big family, at least four kids. Both of them had been their parents’ only child and had missed out on the experience of having siblings. Being told they were having twins at the first try had been nothing short of a blessing since multiple births weren’t common in either of their families.
He didn’t know a lot about Rose’s childhood but he could certainly understand her wanting a child of her own. And she was great with kids and would definitely make some child a wonderful mother. He thought about what she had shared with him, regarding that divorced guy she’d gotten mixed up with, and how she had gotten attached to his young son. That had to have been hard on her and just to think the guy up and married somebody else less than a year later. What a jerk. The good thing as he saw it was that Rose, by her own admission, was no longer involved with men, who as she’d put it, meant her no good. He was glad she had made that decision.
He turned his attention to the activities he had planned for the girls on tomorrow if the weather improved. He had been sincere when he’d asked Rose to join them, although he certainly understood if she felt uncomfortable in doing so. If he was conscious of the heated chemistry that often flowed between them then he was certain she was aware of it as well.
It was one of those indefinable things in life that was better left ignored.
* * *
“But Daddy, why can’t Rose come with us?”
Rose reached down for her overnight bag, trying to ignore Joya’s stubborn wail. Both girls were routinely mild-mannered but once in a while, Joya, the older of the two, would attempt to try everyone’s patience. Like she was doing now.
“Sweetheart, I’ve told you. Rose needs to go home and do laundry.”
“But why can’t she do her laundry here?”
Parnell glanced over at her and Rose knew from the look on his face that he needed her help in making his daughter understand. Sighing deeply, she crossed the room where Parnell sat with his daughters on the sofa. Now she wished once she’d awakened that morning and seen the snowing had stopped, that she would have left before Parnell and the girls had gotten up. Doing so would have avoided all this drama Joya was determined to play out.
“Come here for a second, Joya,” she said softly, calling out to the little girl. She watched as Joya scrambled out of her father’s lap. Rose was not surprised when LaToya followed on her oldest sister’s heel over to her. She smiled when both girls stood in front of her, gazing up at her expectantly. Joya’s eyes were filled with tears and Rose swallowed the lump in her throat. She remembered the tears that had been in Little Mark’s eyes the last day she had seen him and his father had unceremonious announced to him that she was leaving and wouldn’t be coming back.
She hunched down to be eye level with the girls and took a tissue out of her jacket pocket to wipe Joya’s eyes. “You ladies know you’re going to have me to yourselves from Monday through Friday, right?”
Simultaneously, both little girls bobbed their heads up and down.
“And you know Saturday and Sunday is your dad’s time to spend with you. Right?”
“Yes, but why can’t you spend Saturday and Sunday with us, too?” Joya was asking.
“We see you at church on Sundays,” LaToya piped in. “We be wanting you to go home with us then, too. And now we want you to go to the zoo with us today.”
Rose smiled, deciding not to correct the girls’ use of improper grammar like she usually did. “I know, sweetie, but like your dad said, I need to go home and do laundry. I have a lot of clothes to wash.”
“But you can use our washing machine and we can help,” Joya said. She quickly turned to her father. “Can’t she use our washing machine, daddy?”
Parnell glanced over at Rose and she had a feeling that he wouldn’t be much help. He proved her right when he said. “Yes, she can use our washing machine.”
Rose couldn’t help but shake her head and grin. The look she gave Parnell all but called him a traitor. “But all the dirty clothes I want to wash aren’t here.”
“Then go home and get them and come back,” LaToya implored, like it was as simple as that.
“Or you can go home and wash your clothes after we come from the zoo,” Joya tacked on.
Rose looked at the girls desperate expressions, and then she glanced over at Parnell, trying to garner from his features if he preferred not having her come along. She was surprised to see the huge smile that suddenly touched his lips when he said. “It seems my daughters are making it tough for you to say no, Rose. I think Joya’s suggestion might be a good one. Would you mind waiting to do laundry after our zoo trip? The girls would really like for you to come with us.”
She didn’t say anything for a minute. She knew the girls wanted her to come along but what about him? As if he read her thoughts, his smile widened when he said, “And I would love your company as well.”
Five
“Thanks for deciding to come Rose.” Parnell leaned over to whisper in her ear as they made their way around the Siberian tigers’ cage at the Alaska Zoo. The thirty acre facility that had a variety of native wildlife species such as bears, wolves, the musk oxen and reindeer seemed like the place to be on this particular day. A number of families had decided to take advantage of the better-than-usual weather and spend a day at the zoo. This wasn’t huge by ‘big city’ standards, but Parnell thought the attractions were very rewarding. After a night of snow it was nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors.
Rose glanced over at him. “You don’t have to thank me, I’m enjoying myself.”
He really hoped that she was. The girls were on their best behavior and had been excited about her decision to join them. They had taken the time to eat lunch at one of the restaurants before Joya and LaToya had talked them into going to watch an attendant feed the seals.