They all ate much too quickly, anxious to put an end to the charade of cheer they tried to maintain. Jason had barely put his last bite of food in his mouth, when Dana stood up and grabbed his hand. “Let’s take a walk.”
Startled, he simply stared at her. “Before dessert?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. With a shrug, he left the table and followed her from the room.
Kevin glanced across the table, his expression rueful. “I’ll bet they can’t wait to get back to Boston.”
Lacey nodded. “I can’t say that I blame them.”
He hesitated, then finally looked straight into her eyes. “Do you want to leave, too? Was all of this a mistake?”
A sigh of regret shuddered through her as she thought about the question. “No,” she said at last. “But I think we were expecting too much. We need to talk—” When he started to speak, she held up her hand. “No. I mean really talk. And we can’t do that if I’m terrified of upsetting you.”
“Is that really the problem?”
“It is a lot of it,” she admitted. “Every time I think that I’m ready to bring everything out into the open, I remember the way you looked in that intensive care unit. I caution myself to wait, just a little longer, just until Linc pronounces you fit again.”
“Is that what you meant this morning when you said it was too soon for us to make love?” Kevin asked, his expression oddly hopeful.
“Yes. Then you took it wrong and the next thing I knew we were shouting. If only we could do this calmly and rationally, but unfortunately there’s too much hurt and anger.”
She couldn’t miss his sigh of regret at her words. “What’s going to happen to us, Lacey?” he said.
“We’re going to survive all this,” she said with sudden certainty. “If we can face it, if we can finally begin to be open and honest about our feelings, then we’ll survive. We just have to be patient.”
“Not one of my virtues, I’m afraid.”
“No,” she agreed with the beginnings of a smile. “But maybe it’s time you learned a little about patience, for more reasons than one.”
He reached for her hand and this time she took it and held on tight.
“You’re the best reason I can think of, Lacey,” he said quietly. “The very best.”
Lacey felt her heart climb into her throat. “Maybe we should make a pact.”
“We seem to be doing a lot of that.”
“But this one could be the most important of all.”
“What, then?”
“Could we pretend, just for a few days, that everything is okay between us? Maybe that would take the pressure off. As it is, we’re too demanding of ourselves. Every conversation turns into some sort of cross-examination or psychoanalysis. Maybe we should just forget about all the problems and just be ourselves, have a little fun. We can save the serious talk for later.”
Kevin looked skeptical. “Isn’t that a little like hiding from reality?”
Lacey laughed. “It’s a lot like hiding from reality, but so what? Nobody’s on a timetable here, right? There’s no law that says we must resolve every last problem by a certain date, is there?”
“I guess not,” he said slowly. “I don’t suppose this plan of yours includes moving back into the master bedroom?”
She stood up and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Don’t push your luck, pal.”
“Medically speaking, you mean?”
His arm curved around her waist and tumbled her into his lap. Lacey gazed up into eyes that were suddenly filled with laughter. Serenity stole through her then, for the fist time in days.
“Medically speaking,” she confirmed softly just before Kevin’s mouth settled over hers in a kiss that was filled with tenderness and promise.
That was the way Jason and Dana found them, still at the kitchen table, still wrapped in each other’s arms.
“This is an improvement,” Jason commented approvingly from the doorway.
“Jason,” Dana muttered urgently, tugging on his arm. “Leave them alone.”
Lacey laughed. “Too late,” she said as she stood up. “How about a game? Scrabble? Cards?”
“Cutthroat Scrabble,” Kevin said with a hint of his old enthusiasm. They had spent many an evening engaged in just such battles before the age of video games.
Jason looked from his father to Lacey and back again, then nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll get the board.”
“And I’ll get the snacks,” Dana said.
Jason groaned. “Don’t let her, Mom. The only things she likes these days are pickles and brownies.”
Lacey patted her son’s cheek. “Don’t worry. We’re fresh out of both.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Jason retorted. “I’m relatively certain that’s what she brought out here in that extra suitcase.”
Kevin stood up. “Maybe I ought to get the snacks.”
This time it was Lacey who groaned.
Kevin grinned at her. “Calm down, my love. There’s enough celery and carrot sticks in the refrigerator to feed an army, to say nothing of one pregnant lady, one recuperating man and two nervous nellies.”
The first word Lacey played on the Scrabble board was joy. It might not have earned as many points as some others she could have made, but it was definitely the one that best summed up the way she was feeling as she was surrounded by her family once again.
From the warm, tender expression in Kevin’s eyes when he caught her gaze, it was a feeling he understood—and shared.
Chapter Twelve
Having Jason and Dana around did indeed take off the pressure, Kevin realized on Sunday. Witnessing his son and daughter-in-law’s happiness spun a web of serenity around all of them.
Slowly he and Lacey had relaxed. Like old friends rediscovering shared interests, their laughter came more easily. And the looks they exchanged were filled with open awareness, rather than carefully banked accusation.
When they stood in the driveway to say goodbye, his arm curved naturally around Lacey’s waist. And when Jason’s car was out of sight, it seemed just as natural that their hands met and laced together.
“Feel like a walk
