Love Under Two Benedicts(37)

She jerked at that and turned her widened eyes to him and then Steven.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Steven said. “We do love you. Totally and completely. We lied about this being just physical for us.”

“Oh.” Kelsey looked as if she didn’t know what else to say.

Matthew smiled because that one word conveyed volumes.

“And we’re not going to let you hide from us emotionally anymore,” he said to her. “You’re not the kind of woman who can give herself in sexual abandon to anyone she doesn’t love, so don’t go and try telling us you don’t love us. We know you do and have from the start.”

“You’re kind of macho all of a sudden,” Kelsey said. He looked at her face and couldn’t read any real anger there. Confusion, yes. And, if he wasn’t mistaken, he could see hope in her eyes as well.

“Honey, I’m from Texas. We invented macho.”

Kelsey shook her head and chuckled just a little. “So I’m beginning to discover.”

She sat quietly for a moment, still inhaling shakily.

Matthew reached down and twined his fingers with hers. Steven did the same with the fingers of her right hand.

“We want you to share them with us,” Steven said. “Sean and Philip, too. You loved them both, and they’re a part of you.”

“Can you do that, baby? Can you share them with us?” Matthew asked.

When she met his gaze, he kept his level, hoping she could see the love he held for her shining in his eyes.

She met Steven’s gaze as well. He knew they were asking for a greater intimacy than she’d been prepared to give them. To his way of thinking, it was time.

“Yes, all right. I’ll…I have a picture album. It’s in storage. I’ll get it.”

“Thank you.” Matthew kissed her, keeping the caress light.

Steven turned her face to him and gave her a gentle kiss as well. She responded to them both as she had from the first, sweetly and with unlimited heart.

“Do you want us to ask Adam to come back tomorrow?” Steven asked. “He won’t mind.”

“No. He’s here now. Let’s see what he has to say.”



* * * *



“I don’t understand,” Kelsey said just a few minutes later. “Are you telling me she knew me? That she left Benny at my restaurant on purpose?”

Adam handed her the note, and she read it, the same words he’d just finished reading aloud to them all. The message, written on plain white paper, the penmanship poor, was short and to the point.

I read about your place in the paper and about how you lost your boy. You have a kind face, and I think you could come to love my Benny. I’ve got no work, and I can’t feed him. And Deke doesn’t like him much. I worry sometimes that he’ll get mad and start beating him, too. Benny will be safe with you.

“That poor woman.” Kelsey looked up, focusing on Adam and then her men.

“We got a pretty good description of her and the man she was with. I dusted the letter for prints and got a partial, and I’ve sent it off. We have an idea of the make and model of the car they were in, though no plate number, of course.”

“No, that would be too easy,” Matthew said.

“We questioned Benny last night, but all he told us was his name,” Adam said. “Can hardly blame the little guy. He was terrified, still fighting off the drug he’d been given. We’ll try again tomorrow. He’s only little but he likely knows his last name, at the very least. Anyway, I thought it might help, understanding why his mom thought she had to leave him.”

“I’ll be in the office first thing in the morning,” Matthew told Adam. He turned to look at Kelsey. “You’re off tomorrow, and Steven will be here, but we need to think about Tuesday, in case we don’t find Benny’s mom right away.”

“I bet Mom would be happy to come babysit,” Steven said.

“That’s what I was thinking. Kelsey?”

She couldn’t deny they’d have to make some sort of arrangement for the little guy if they still had him on Tuesday. “Maybe she could come for coffee tomorrow,” Kelsey said. “Then Benny could meet her.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Adam got to his feet. “Oh, before I forget...” He left the front parlor and went to the entrance hall. Scooping up a box, he handed it to Kelsey. “Shirley sent that over. It’s a baby monitor with three different receivers. She said the instructions are inside the box, along with new batteries.”

“Perfect! I’ll have to call her and tell her thanks in the morning,” Kelsey said.

Matthew and Steven both wore such confused looks, she laughed. “I know he’s not a baby, but with this we’ll hear him if he wakes up.”