“If I did, it’s a big house. I could go to my room. As long as you keep all those pesky questions to yourself, I’ll be glad of the company.” Her expression brightened. “Tell me about the nursery. I haven’t been by to see it yet.”
Ben described the mess he and Kathleen had found on their arrival and their plans to finish it. When he described the mural he had in mind for the ceiling, Destiny’s face lit up with the kind of animation he was used to seeing in her, the kind of animation that had been sadly missing earlier.
“That’s absolutely perfect, but there’s so little time,” she fretted, then beamed at him. “I could help.”
He stared at her in surprise. “You would do that?”
“Well, of course I would. It’ll be fun. What time are we going over in the morning?”
“I’m picking Kathleen up at eight. Will that work for you?”
She hesitated as if mentally going over her schedule. “I had a seven-thirty breakfast meeting with a committee chairman, but I’ll call her and cancel first thing in the morning. I’ll make it work,” she assured him. “This is far more important.”
“Richard’s not going to be one bit happier about you being up on a ladder than he was about Melanie trying it,” Ben said.
Destiny waved off his concern. “What your brother doesn’t know won’t hurt him. He’ll be at work by the time we get there, and we’ll be finished long before he comes home.”
“Apparently he came home in the middle of the day today,” Ben told her.
Destiny stared at him in shock. “Richard left the office early?”
“It’s like some sort of cataclysmic event, isn’t it?” Ben said.
“Definitely,” Destiny agreed, then grinned. “But I can take care of that with a couple of calls first thing tomorrow, too. He won’t get out of the office till we want him to.”
“Have I told you how delightfully devious you are?” Ben asked.
“Yes, but usually it’s not with that note of approval in your voice,” she told him wryly.
“Well, I think you’re wonderful. Now we both need to get some sleep.”
“You run along, darling. I’ll be up shortly.”
“Destiny—” he began worriedly.
“It’s okay, really. I’m feeling much better. I just want to jot down a few ideas before I lose them.”
“Ideas for the nursery?”
“No, nosy. Ideas that are none of your business.”
Ben sighed, but gave up. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and noted that her color was much better now, her eyes livelier than when he’d first come in. Whatever was troubling her, she was getting a grasp on it. He didn’t doubt for an instant that whatever she was sorting through, she would triumph in the end.
* * *
The wallpapering was going a whole lot more smoothly than the painting, Kathleen thought as she took a break for a soft drink and stood back to admire what they’d accomplished so far.
The walls were almost finished, but Ben and Destiny were having some serious artistic differences over whether there should be any sort of ogre in the fairytale scenes they were depicting on the ceiling.
“I want this child looking up at happy things,” Destiny said again, facing Ben with her hands on her slender, jeans-clad hips and a defiant expression on her face.
“But real life is not all happy,” Ben argued. “And there are ogres in fairy tales.”
“That is not something a brand-new baby needs to know,” Destiny argued heatedly. “Good grief, Ben, we’re not painting a morality play up there.”
“And you’re not going to be here to get the baby back to sleep when the nightmares start thanks to your ogre,” Melanie chimed in.
Destiny nodded her agreement, her gaze clashing with Ben’s. “Well?”
“Okay, okay, you win. No ogre. But do all the animals have to look happy?”
“Yes,” Destiny and Melanie told him in a chorus.
Kathleen grinned at him. “I think you’re overruled, pal. Give it up and get another cheery character in that corner. Peter Rabbit had a lot of pals for you to choose from. And I think this one ought to be a girl. Maybe Jemima Puddleduck,” she suggested. “She’s cute. That ceiling is surprisingly devoid of feminine characters. What kind of message will that send if Melanie has a girl?”
“It’s not some damn treatise on society,” Ben groused. “Where’s the damn Peter Rabbit book?”
Melanie chuckled and grinned at Kathleen. “He seems a bit testy.”
“I’m surrounded by women,” he retorted. “Strong-minded, stubborn women. What the hell do you expect?”
“A better attitude and less cussing would be nice,” Destiny chided.
“Maybe another blueberry tart would help,” Kathleen said. “I think there’s one left.”
Ben’s scowl faded at once. “Really?” he said so eagerly that all three women laughed.
Kathleen shook her head. “It’s a good thing I woke up early and had time to bake this morning.”
He dropped a kiss on her lips as he passed by. “A very good thing,” he agreed. “Otherwise, I might have to lock all of you out of here and paint footballs and baseball bats on the ceiling just to keep my male identity intact.”
“If it’s a boy, you can do that when he’s six,” Melanie offered consolingly.
“Six?” Ben scoffed. “Four at the latest. Otherwise he’ll be scarred for life by all these happy characters. A boy needs guy stuff.” His expression suddenly turned nostalgic and he looked at Destiny. “You painted my walls with all sorts of sports stuff when you came to live with us, didn’t you? I just remembered that.”
“I thought the room needed a little personality,” Destiny told him. “Richard was perfectly content with that sterile room of his, and Mack already had his walls covered with posters, but your room was a blank canvas just waiting for some attention.” She grinned at him, then turned to Kathleen. “Not that it lasted long. Within a year or so, he painted over it and filled it with all sorts of jungle creatures. I had to take him to the zoo in Washington at least once a
