"Do you want to grab something and go sit on the beach?" Caleb asked.She looked across the road to the park abutting the sandy beach. "Sounds good. It's not too cold." Dressed in jeans and a thick, cable-knit sweater in sky-blue, she wasn't feeling the chill wind cutting off the sea.
Caleb pulled out the car keys from his jeans. "Why don't you go get the picnic thing you put in the trunk and I'll grab something. Meet you over there." He pointed to a sunny spot. "Any preferences?"
"You choose." Taking the keys, she paused for an instant, then stood on tiptoe and quickly kissed him on the mouth before walking away. Such a small action but something she'd never have done before, believing public gestures of affection to be "inappropriate." Sometimes, she hated her grandmother, but she didn't want to think about that today.
Reaching the place where they'd parked the car, she opened the trunk and grabbed the picnic set she'd put in there months ago in the vain hope that Caleb would get the hint. That he'd remembered was a very good sign, she thought, locking the car. The small basket contained plates, eating utensils and a thin blanket to sit on.
She got to the beach before Caleb, her mind on the last time they'd done this. It had been the weekend after he'd won a big case three years ago. With a smile, she remembered him completely burning everything on the barbeque because she'd distracted him with her tiny, flame-red bikini-it had taken her hours to work up the nerve to expose the outfit he'd teasingly bought for her months before. They'd ended up eating meatless burgers because the isolated beach they'd gone to was too far from any shops. And for once, she'd known she'd pleased her husband.
Flicking out the blanket, she sat and put the basket on one edge to keep it from lifting in the soft breeze. As she waited for him to arrive, she people-watched. From the inline skaters on the sidewalks to the families in the park, the area bubbled with energy.
One mother was throwing a ball to her laughing toddler, both of them wildly amused by the child's antics. Vicki found herself grinning along with them until her eyes fell on the man she guessed to be the father. He was sitting nearby but with a cell phone to his ear and an open briefcase beside him. Now and then, the woman would look over at him as if inviting him to join in the fun but he seemed barely aware of her or the child's presence.
A shadow fell across the blanket and a second later Caleb joined her, holding a pizza carton, cans of soda and what looked to be a foil-wrapped loaf of garlic bread. "What's got you so interested?" he asked.
"Nothing." She looked away but he'd already followed her gaze. Neither of them said anything as she opened the pizza box, propping the lid to keep the breeze from blowing sand into it. While she unwrapped the garlic bread, Caleb popped the cans of soda.
They'd both started to eat when Caleb spoke again. "Is that what you're afraid will happen with us?"
She couldn't be anything but honest. "Yes. But you're trying, honey, I know. I mean, we have this whole weekend."
"One weekend in a couple of months isn't going to cut it, is it, Vicki?" Those clear hazel eyes were so intense she felt as if he could see into her soul.
"A young child like the one over there might not notice so much," she said quietly. If he was willing to talk about this, she couldn't back away. "But a child who's going to school, who's playing on the soccer or hockey team definitely will."
Putting another slice of pizza on his plate, she took a sip of soda before admitting something so painful she preferred not to think about it. "I missed my parents every single day that they weren't there. I wasn't much into sports but I used to play the flute in the school orchestra."
She let herself remember the fading notes of memory, let herself remember the girl who'd looked out into the audience with such hope every single time. There was so much she still couldn't bear to face, but for the sake of their unborn child, she'd confront this particular hurt.
"Once in a while, we'd stage a concert. Grandmother would attend but she wasn't like the moms and dads who came with their video cameras, ready to record every moment, embarrassing their kids but showing them they were loved.
"She came so it couldn't be said that Ada Wentworth was neglecting her grandchild." She reached out to touch Caleb's cheek in a fleeting caress. "I don't want our child to feel like that, like an obligation. I don't want her to think that you're only in the audience because I forced you to come, that you'd much rather be at work doing something important."
Caleb put down his plate and linked his hand with hers, pulling her to sit close beside him. His face was turned toward the sea but she knew he was concentrating very hard on her words. "Work is part of who I am," he said. "I could never sideline it totally."
"I know that." She wished she understood why it was so important to him to keep striving to be better than the best. She knew it had something to do with his family but he'd always refused to talk about that part of his past. All she knew was that he had something to prove and he'd let no one stand in the way of that goal. Not even his wife.
Beaten by his stubborn will, she'd never pursued the issue but perhaps the time had nearly come-it was no longer her happiness alone on the line. "I don't expect you to push your work aside. All I want is for you to make room in your life for our child. Real room, not a moment here and there."
He didn't say anything else, but he'd listened. And while it wasn't enough, it was a start.
The sensual awakening that had begun on Friday night continued to develop throughout the weekend. It wasn't so much the physical pleasure they learned to give each other that was so important, but the emotions driving their desire to please each other. This time, they were determined to get it right. In bed and out of it.The only sour note came as they were about to have coffee after dinner on Sunday night. Feeling supremely relaxed from the workout her husband had given her mere hours before, Vicki was smiling as Caleb went to pick up the phone.
A second after he answered, her smile disappeared. "Yes, Lara, of course it's me."
She put down the sugar bowl and walked over to join him. Touching his shoulder, she held out her hand for the phone. His gaze met hers and he shook his head. She knew why. Lara was probably going on and on and he didn't want to stress Vicki out.
His need to protect her didn't frustrate her, not now that she'd learned to stand up for herself when necessary. It had become a cherished gift, a sign that she was important to him.
Without warning, she grabbed the phone out of his hand and put it to her ear, slapping a palm on his chest to hold him off. Lara was in mid-rant. "Lara, this is Vicki."
A pause. "Why are you on the phone? Where's Caleb?"
"He wanted me to tell you the happy news." Vicki was furious at Lara for destroying their weekend, her temper hanging on by a very thin thread.
"What?"
She scowled up at Caleb when he tried to reach over her to get the phone. "I'm pregnant. Isn't that wonderful?" Caleb raised an eyebrow at her tone, no longer attempting to snatch the receiver.
Another pause, and Vicki had the impression Lara was conveying the news to someone else. "Congratulations. Did you just find out?"
"No. We've known for a while."
"Thanks for telling us." Sarcastic.
Vicki smiled and made her tone so sweet, it was this side of cutting-she'd learned the rules of polite savagery from the best. "The thing is, Lara, you never ask about us when you call so we don't get the chance to share our news."
A small pause, as though Lara were deciding if her usually well-mannered sister-in-law was being bitchy. "Look, give the phone back to Caleb."
"I'm afraid he's unavailable." She leaned against him and wrapped one arm around his waist. His fingers started to play with the strands of her unbound hair, a silent statement that the call was now in her hands.
Buoyed by his support, she continued, "He's busy earning money to support our child. We really have to start saving for college from the start, don't you think?" A very long pause and in the background, harsh whispers. Her fingers tightened on the receiver. She knew exactly who was prompting Lara.
"He's my brother." The subtlest of threats.
"And he's the father of my child," she said softly, letting herself luxuriate in the feeling of something she'd barely dared to acknowledge before-Caleb's loyalty was hers, now and for always.