“When the baby comes and it’s a delicate little girl, you’re going to regret those words,” Kathleen told him.
Richard merely shrugged. “So Melanie keeps telling me. I’d better get back in there before she climbs up on the ladder and tries to hang a strip of paper herself. She does that every time my back is turned. I finally had to turn off my cell phone and stop taking calls from the office.”
“It’s after seven. Why were you taking calls, anyway?” Ben asked.
“This was earlier. I took the afternoon off,” Richard explained. “I thought I could get this all done during Melanie’s afternoon nap. Naturally she wasn’t the least bit tired today. And then I ran into a little problem with the actual papering.”
“I could order the pizza,” Kathleen offered generously. “Ben could help you.”
Ben scowled at her. “You don’t win, if you’re the one who plants the idea in his head.”
Richard stared at them, clearly confused. “You two have some sort of bet going?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ben assured him. “I’ll order the pizza and be right in. I can’t wait to see what you’ve accomplished so far.”
Richard shot him a look filled with pure venom, then hightailed it back to the nursery.
“I love what imminent fatherhood is doing to my big brother,” Ben said, watching him with amusement.
“I wouldn’t do too much gloating, if I were you,” Kathleen advised. “If Destiny has her way, you’re heading down this same path.”
She set off after Richard, leaving him to contemplate a future that not only included a wife but babies. His heart did a little stutter-step, but the effect wasn’t so bad. Once again, there was none of the expected panic at the idea.
Then he remembered what it was like to lose someone and his resolve to remain unattached kicked right back into high gear.
Forget the daydream about a house filled with rambunctious little ones. It wasn’t going to happen. There would be no wife filling the kitchen with the aroma of pies and cakes and bear claws. No Kathleen, he thought a bit despondently.
Dammit, for a minute there, the idea had held an astonishing appeal. No doubt that had been his hormones trying to rationalize what they wanted.
He picked up the phone and called for pizza, one loaded with everything, the other plain. Melanie didn’t need heartburn adding to her woes. She had enough to contend with just enduring her doting husband.
En route to the nursery, he stopped in the kitchen and picked up a few cans of soda, then went upstairs to find both women sitting side by side, feet propped up and instructions tripping off their tongues. He was amazed that Richard hadn’t bolted by now. He pulled up his own chair and was about to sit down when Melanie scowled at him.
“I don’t think so. Maybe you can line up the stupid stripes. Richard doesn’t seem to have an eye for it,” she said.
“Hey,” Ben protested. “I’m just here as an artistic consultant.”
“Not anymore,” his sister-in-law informed him. “You’re on the team.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re male and you’re a Carlton. I want all of you to pay.” She grinned at him. “And I want Kathleen to win that bet.”
Ben frowned at her. “If I didn’t love you so much, I would not let you badger me into doing this, you know.”
Melanie beamed at him. “I know. Now, please, help before we run out of paper.”
Ben took a look around the room to see what was left to be done. So far Richard had only managed to successfully hang a half-dozen strips, not even enough to finish one wall. A very large pile of soggy, tangled paper was testament to earlier failed attempts.
“Are you sure you’re going to have enough, as it is?” he asked skeptically.
Melanie gave him a smug smile. “I bought extra, since Richard insisted he was going to do it.”
Ben noticed that Kathleen was taking in the friendly byplay with an oddly wistful expression on her face. To his surprise, she struck him as someone who was used to being left out but who desperately wanted to be part of things.
“You know,” he said mildly. “I hear that Kathleen is amazingly adept at hanging wallpaper.”
Kathleen’s gaze immediately clashed with his. “I never said any such thing.”
Ben shrugged. “Pictures, wallpaper, how different can it be?”
She gave him a look brimming with indignation. “You can’t be serious.”
“You saying you can’t do this?” he asked.
“Of course I can,” Kathleen retorted. “But I never told you that and I most certainly never compared it to hanging pictures in my gallery.”
He held out a roll of paper. “Care to show us how it’s done?”
She gave him a suspicious look, but she accepted the paper and stood up. Winking at Melanie, she walked over, looked at the wall measurements Richard had jotted down on a board straddling two sawhorses, spread out the paper, cut it, smoothed on paste and had it on the wall in about five minutes flat. Richard stared at her in awe.
“My God,” he murmured. “What are your rates?”
Kathleen chuckled. “No charge. Actually I did the bedrooms in my house one Saturday afternoon. It was fun.”
“Fun,” Richard repeated incredulously. He turned to Ben. “She thinks this is fun.”
Ben kissed the tip of her nose. “I knew there was a reason I brought you along tonight.”
“And here I thought it was because you couldn’t resist my company,” she said.
He shrugged. There was little point in denying it, not even with his brother and sister-in-law paying avid attention to the entire exchange. “That, too,” he said. “Tell me what you need and I’ll help. Richard, you and Melanie can go and wait for the pizza.”
“I thought you were buying,” Richard complained.
“Hey, you’re getting two free workers, one of whom actually appears to know what she’s doing,” Ben retorted. “You can pay for the damn pizza.”
“Seems fair to
