When she faced Slade, she felt better prepared to carry on a conversation. He moved back to the doorway, his left shoulder cushioned again against the wooden frame. Slowly he lifted the mug to his lips and sipped, his gaze never leaving hers.
She swallowed several times, sure that if she spoke, her voice would come out a squeak. “I hope you made a large pot of that,” she finally said, and was pleased to note the strength in her words.
“Yes. I can get you some.”
“No, I’ll get dressed and be in the kitchen in a few minutes.”
When he left, he pulled the door closed and Tory hurried to throw on her new black jeans and a white blouse. After stuffing her feet into her tennis shoes, she headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She entered the kitchen ten minutes later.
Slade had a cup of coffee poured for her and sitting on the table next to him. He tossed aside the newspaper and watched her cross the kitchen and sit in the chair opposite him. She slid the mug toward her, cupping her hands around it and bringing it to her lips. The strong brew slipped down her throat, giving her system a jolt of needed caffeine.
When she felt fortified with coffee, she rested her elbows on the table and said, “We need to discuss what we’re going to say to Mindy about our situation. I gather by her question this morning you haven’t said anything to her about why we got married.”
“I told her we wanted to create a home for her, which is the truth.”
“Yes, but she thinks we share a bedroom.” Tory took another sip of her coffee. “She wasn’t here when you moved in your things.”
“I suppose you’re right.” His brow furrowed. “I hadn’t thought to say anything to her. I don’t want her to worry about us being a family.”
“Still we need to say something to her about why we aren’t sleeping in the same bedroom.”
“I could always say I snore.”
“Do you?”
He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know. Carol never said anything about it.”
“After our breakfast with my family, maybe we’ll be able to talk with Mindy, together.”
“Okay, together.”
The smile he sent her doubled her heartbeat. He made the word together sound like a promise of things to come. She downed the rest of the coffee. “I’d better check on the horses before we leave.”
“I was down there a while ago. Gus has everything under control. He came early so you wouldn’t have to do anything today.”
“But—”
“Tory, he wanted to do something special for you since you got married yesterday, so he’s putting in some extra time.”
She couldn’t remember when she hadn’t needed to go to the barn and take care of the horses. She wasn’t sure she knew what to do with the leisure time.
“Relax. We’ll be leaving for town in a few minutes anyway. Why don’t you read the paper?” Slade slid a section toward her.
“When did I start getting the newspaper? I never have time to read it.”
“I started its delivery today.”
“Oh” was all she could manage to say. She wondered what else in her life would change because of this man.
* * *
“Gus—spect-ing—me.” Mindy stuffed the rest of her turkey sandwich into her mouth, her cheeks ballooning.
“You aren’t going anywhere, young lady, until we’re finished with lunch.” Slade downed the last of his iced tea.
Putting her hand to her mouth, Mindy mumbled something and pointed to the sack with Tory’s lunch inside.
“Tory can wait a few minutes while you chew your food properly.”
His daughter picked up her glass of milk and took several gulps. “I—told—Tor-ee—I’d—bring—uh—lunch.”
“And you will, after you and I have a little talk.”
“But—Dad-dy—” A pout formed on her mouth.
“What?”
“Can’t—we—la-ter?”
“When? I can’t seem to get you to sit long enough even to eat.”
Mindy pushed away her empty plate and leaned one elbow on the table, resting her chin in her palm. Her pout grew.
He really was tickled his daughter had a renewed interest in life, but she hardly stopped long enough to say hi to him. He’d been trying for the past few days to have a heart-to-heart with her about his marriage to Tory ever since he and Tory had discussed it on Saturday. He’d come home today from work just so he could before the afternoon riding lessons began. And now he felt as though he needed to hog-tie his daughter to get her to listen. Maybe he and Tory could make sure they rose before Mindy and went to bed after her. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem, but every once in a while his daughter got up in the middle of the night.
“I wanted to explain why Tory and I aren’t slee—” Hold it! That isn’t the way I want to tell Mindy. Heat suffused his face as he thought of all the potential questions he could get from Mindy if he had continued. He wasn’t ready for a discussion with his daughter of how babies were made. Truth be told, he never would be. Isn’t that what mommies do? Sweat beaded his brow. “I mean why we aren’t sharing a bedroom.”
“That’s—kay.”
He sagged against the back of the chair. “It is?”
“Tor-ee—plain.”
“She did?” Couldn’t he come up with more than two-word questions?
Mindy grinned. “She—hogs—the bed.”
He almost said, “She does?” but thankfully stopped himself before the first word came out. Sweat rolled down his face. He brushed away the salty trail. This father-daughter talk wasn’t going the way he’d planned. But then he’d really not had this planned out. He’d come into this discussion with one thing on his mind: to get it over with as quickly as possible. He didn’t want his daughter to know the real reasons
