“It’s amazing,” Kelsey murmured, unable to take her eyes off the twosome on the lawn. “I’ve never seen this side of him.”
He swung his niece around to the ground, growling and nibbling on her toes. The curly-haired child squealed again. They made a striking pair, him so dark and masculine, the child all gold and pink, her fair-skin flushed with excitement.
“I’m throwing you a steak on the grill, Jared,” Mike Hastings, Jared’s brother-in-law, called out.
“Fine,” Jared managed to say, his chubby companion apparently trying to climb his face.
Kelsey sat in the shade trying to sort through her myriad impressions of Jared’s family. The guy at the grill was married to Jared’s only sister, Carla. Carla was a lawyer of some sort, pregnant now with her first child.
The tyke on Jared’s back belonged to his younger brother, Brian. They had another child, a boy who was currently pestering his father to go swimming later.
Then there was his father and mother, a more hip, retired version of Ward and June Cleaver. Kelsey had always loved reruns of that show. It had been nothing like her own life, of course, but she’d liked the parents’ loving, even-keeled style.
Apparently Jared had lucked into a real life version.
“We’re so glad to finally meet you, Kelsey,” Jared’s mother, Mary said, resting her hand briefly on Kelsey’s. “I’ve thought for some time that Jared was seriously interested in someone, but he never said a word, typically.”
“It must be quite a shock to have him just show up like this with me,” Kelsey said, pondering the woman’s words. His mother had thought he was seriously involved with someone? Had he been?
“Oh my, no. We weren’t surprised,” Mary denied, smiling. “Jared called us the night he proposed to you.”
“He did?” Jeez, the man was good. Calling home was exactly what a man who’d just successfully proposed would do.
“Yes. We’re very excited that he’s found someone special even if he hasn’t talked about you before,” his mother said comfortably. “He’s always played his cards close to his vest, if you know what I mean, so his father and I have learned never to be surprised by whatever he may do.”
“Yes,” Kelsey agreed whole-heartedly. “Predictability isn’t one of his characteristics.”
“I’d almost given up on his remarrying,” Mary said, her voice low. “He felt so responsible for the divorce that he made himself a promise he’d never marry again until he was sure it would last.”
“Of course,” Kelsey said automatically, trying to keep the surprise off her face. Jared had promised himself not to divorce again? If that was true, it didn’t make sense for him to be in this arrangement with her.
Then again, she mused as his mother chatted, maybe he’d given up on that goal. Perhaps it had been uttered long ago in his distress over the end of his first marriage. Or maybe he’d told his mother something to keep her from matchmaking.
“Jared’s a man of his word,” his mother said. “I expect you’ve discovered that. He really struggled when the marriage to Marianne fell apart.”
“Yes,” Kelsey said, trying to sound like she knew something about the subject.
“I see that he’s given you grandmother’s ring,” Mary said, gazing fondly at the ring on Kelsey’s hand.
His grandmother's ring?
“Ummm. It’s beautiful,” she said, stunned at this piece of information. He’d never said anything about the ring being an heirloom.
“Of course, Tom’s mother was still alive when we got engaged, so Tom bought me my own ring. But I’ve always admired it.”
“I love it,” Kelsey said in complete honesty.
Jared’s mother leaned closer. “You needn’t worry that Marianne wore it. Jared’s grandmother had only recently died and left the ring to him when they got engaged. I expect he didn’t give it to Marianne out of respect.”
“Oh.” Kelsey felt a sudden, irrational triumph that she’d managed to snare Jared’s grandmother’s ring when his first wife hadn’t. Crazy, really, when she only wore it on loan.
Still, this new side of Jared didn’t add up. He was marrying her only temporarily, yet he’d given himself hell for his first divorce and committed to never divorcing again. And he’d given her an heirloom engagement ring?
Kelsey couldn’t make sense of him.
Jared got up from the lawn, slinging his niece over his shoulder. “This rambunctious child is hungry. I hear her tummy growling.”
“I’m the one in the feeding department tonight,” Brian Barrett claimed, taking possession of his wiggly daughter.