“When you were in the shower,” Dani admitted in a tiny voice. “He said he had to go see his father and he’d be here later.”
“Did you tell him we were going to church?”
Dani shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mommy. He made me promise to tell you, but I just forgot. Don’t be mad at me.”
Kelly reached over and rubbed her daughter’s cheek with her knuckles. How could she not forgive her? Dani didn’t have a mean-spirited bone in her body. And she was obviously contrite. There was, however, a lesson to be learned here.
“I’m not mad,” she reassured her. “But Jordan is another matter. You made a promise to him and you didn’t keep it. How do you propose to handle it?”
Blue eyes, filled with dismay, gazed up at her. “I have to ‘pologize, huh?”
“I’d say so.”
“Is he going to be really, really mad?”
“Oh, I think Jordan is a fair man. He’ll listen to what you have to say. Go on, now. Run and tell him what happened.”
With obvious reluctance, Dani unhooked her seat belt and slipped out of the car. Kelly hid a grin as she watched her daughter crossing the yard, her gaze fixed on Jordan. No criminal heading for the hanging tree had ever walked at a more halting pace. She paused at the bottom of the steps. From the car, Kelly could hear her hesitant greeting.
Jordan’s rocker stilled as he listened to the stammered apology. Kelly slowly left the car and went to join them. As she approached, she didn’t dare risk a glance into his eyes for fear they’d both start chuckling.
“I see,” he said quietly when Dani concluded her explanation for breaking her promise. “Will it ever happen again?”
Dani shook her head emphatically. “Never. I really, really promise. Cross my heart. Next time I’ll even write it down, if you’ll show me how to spell your name.”
Jordan held out his hand. “Then that’s good enough for me. Apology accepted. And I’ll teach you to spell my name later on this afternoon.”
Relief spreading across her face, Dani bolted up the stairs and flung herself into Jordan’s arms. After a startled look at Kelly, he picked the child up and hugged her. A wistful expression passed across his face as Dani’s arms wound tightly around his neck.
In that instant, watching the two of them with a lump in her throat, something inside Kelly shifted. Suddenly she began to envision possibilities that she’d been staunchly denying for weeks now. If Jordan could accept Dani as his own, if he could love her child as she did, then perhaps his feelings for her didn’t really matter. If she could guarantee Dani’s happiness by giving her a father, then perhaps she could live with no more than Jordan’s affection for herself.
“So, where have you two been?” Jordan inquired after Dani disentangled herself and received permission to go to the barn to check on the kittens as soon as she’d changed her clothes.
Kelly propped herself against the porch rail. “Church.”
“You didn’t mention anything about that yesterday when I told you I’d be back this morning to help with the fences.”
Kelly shrugged. “We’ve always gone to church on Sunday, before doing any work. Besides, I thought you’d probably change your mind.”
“Because?”
“Because of last night.”
He nodded slowly. “I’ll admit what you said in the car took me by surprise. It never occurred to me that you would think I intended our marriage to be anything less than the real thing. That’s not the way I do business.”
Kelly frowned. “Business?”
He had the good grace to wince. “Sorry. Force of habit. I spend an awful lot of time negotiating deals. The terminology is ingrained.”
She tried to cling to the pragmatic way she’d felt only moments ago, but his attitude grated. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t like being viewed as part of a business deal, something acquired with no more emotion than he might display when gobbling up a new company for his corporation. Maybe marrying Jordan for Dani’s sake wouldn’t be so smart, after all. She’d have to think about it long and hard, far longer than it appeared he was inclined to give her.
“I’m going in to change,” she said, heading for the door.
“Kelly?”
“Drop it for now, Jordan.” Still holding the screen door open, she glanced back at him. There was an oddly forlorn expression on his face she didn’t know how to interpret. “Stay for Sunday dinner, if you like. We’ll work afterward.”
He brightened at once. “Fried chicken?”
She grinned at his enthusiasm. The way to this man’s heart had always been through his stomach, no doubt about it. “Always,” she assured him.
“You know something?”
“What?”
“It’s really good to know that some things never change. Fried chicken on Sundays is one.” He paused, his gaze fixed on her. “You’re another. Please don’t ever go and change on me, Kelly.”
She thought about that remark the whole time she was changing clothes. A few minutes later she met Jordan in the kitchen. He was already setting the table for her, just as he had whenever her mother had invited him to stay for Sunday dinner years ago. He’d even taken out the good china, just as he’d been instructed to do back then.
“Another old habit?” she teased.
“Exactly.” His gaze settled on her. “It feels right being here, Kelly.”
She nodded, unable to say anything. Having him here felt too darned right to her, too. It was a dangerous sensation, a trap she didn’t dare fall into. Nostalgia was no reason to get married.
Getting a grip on her emotions, she put him to work peeling potatoes next. As she prepared the chicken, she watched him closely. Despite his expressed contentment at being there, there was something quiet and distant about him that was out of character.
“Jordan, what’s going on with you?” she asked eventually.
He glanced up from the mound of potatoes forming in front of him. “It’s Cody.”
Kelly’s heart thumped unsteadily as she imagined
