She’d even called together the congregation of the Sinful Children of God and told them how very sorry she was that Reverend and Mrs. McCamy had died in the fire at their home. She wove the same tale, telling them that Reverend McCamy had been consumed with getting Sam, no one really knew why, and then told them the scene of his final disintegration, his complete mental breakdown, and his suicide. There was a lot of grief, a lot of questions, but most of them seemed willing to let life move on, fast.
She sighed, thinking about her home. Gone, nothing left at all. She had no idea what she was going to do yet and was still just too tired to think about it coherently.
“I think it’s a good idea, Katie, what we talked about.”
She jerked up. Miles was talking about marriage, she knew that even though neither of them had said another thing about it since early Thursday morning. She said, “It’s a huge thing, Miles, a really huge thing.”
“You lost your house.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking about that.”
“I’ve got a house, a really big house, and there’s lots of room, for all of us. It’s colonial. Do you like colonial?”
“Yes,” she said, nothing more, and continued not to look at him.
Miles looked over at Sam and Keely, who were sitting on the living room floor, their jeaned legs spread wide, rolling three red balls back and forth between them. They were evidently trying to keep the balls inside their legs.
“You hit it too hard, Sam!”
Sam said, as he batted a ball back to her, “Pay attention, Keely.”
“My God, he said that just like I do,” Miles said. “This parent thing, it’s scary when your kid mimics you. Say yes, Katie.”
“Say yes to what, Mama?”
Suddenly both small faces were concentrated on them. Miles shrugged at Katie who sighed and nodded. “Okay, what do you guys think of Katie and me getting married? Not that she’s said yes yet. That way you’d be brother and sister and you could stay together.” And that, Katie thought, was the primary reason for getting married, and not a bad reason, really. At least both of them would be motivated to make a happy home for their children. Sam would be hers. And that kiss, she’d felt it all the way to her size nines. The man was potent. That made her smile, but it fell off her face pretty fast. Married, after knowing a man a week.
No, not married. Remarried.
Katie had sworn she’d never get married again as long as there was enough breath in her lungs to say no. It was simple, really, she couldn’t trust herself to choose wisely. Just look at what she’d brought home the first time-Carlo Silvestri, a weak, spoiled jerk whose father had paid her a million and a half bucks to get out of his life. Hmm. At least that was a pretty good trade-off. Carlo’s father had saved the pulp mill and a lot of people’s jobs. And of course, Carlo had given her Keely-she’d put up with a dozen jerks for Keely.
The fact was, bottom line, she didn’t know Miles well. Not even a complete week, and those days had been filled with nonstop fear and violence and adrenaline rushes so extreme that Katie was ready to swear that her blood sugar had plummeted to her toes because there hadn’t been a life-and-death crisis since the McCamy house burned down, its two occupants with it.
What was a woman with no house to do? Marry a man who did have a house? A colonial?
It was funny if you looked at it a certain way. She’d saved a little boy, his dad had come to town, lots of bad things had happened, and now he wanted her to marry him. Truth be told, it was the children who’d started it. She’d wished now that they hadn’t heard Sam and Keely talking on the porch, but of course that was what her mother had intended.
Then again, she couldn’t forget those minutes in her kitchen. Fact was, she’d wanted to jump him; he’d felt just that good.
Both children were staring from Miles to her and back again. Sam said slowly, “You guys going to get married?”
“As I said, Sam, she hasn’t said yes yet. So, what do you think? Keely?”
“Mama, I’ve given this a lot of thought and I think it’s a really good idea.”
“Keely, Miles only told you two minutes ago, not all that much time to think about it.”
Keely slid a glance at Sam, who grinned like a kid who’d just copped an early look at his Christmas presents.
“Keely and I talked about it,” Sam announced. “And we think it would be okay.”
“This is the way to go, Mama. We’re right about this.”
It was Miles and Katie’s turn to stare, both at each other and at their children. Miles said slowly, “How can you be so sure? You kids didn’t even know each other existed until last Saturday afternoon.”
Both children gave them a look like, So what’s your point?
Miles felt pumped, ready to take on the world. He knew to his soul that he wanted to do this. “Katie, what do you say? Let’s do it. No reason not to.” Knew even deeper that making love with Katie, watching her laugh and love his son, was the right thing.
Katie jumped to her feet, startling everyone. “Okay, guys, listen up. This is a huge decision for all of us. I’m going to think what this would mean before I commit to anything, you hear me? Sam, your father is going to be doing some heavy-duty thinking, too. You and Keely will have to be patient, and not pressure either your father or me into this.”
Yeah, right, Miles thought, looking at his son.
After the most delicious spinach lasagna Miles could remember, sauteed winter squash, and a Caesar salad, hot dogs and chips and a token salad for Sam and Sean, Savich handed Miles a cup of coffee, black, no sugar. “Sit down, Miles. You still look pretty wrung out.”
“Nah, not really. Promise me you made the coffee, Savich.”
Savich grinned. “Oh yeah. I’ve taught Sherlock just about everything I know, but coffee still defeats her.”
Sherlock called out from the kitchen, “Did I hear my name being maligned?”
“Not at all,” Miles called back. “You make a mean salad, all that feta cheese you add makes it really good, but, and I have to be honest here, you just don’t have the same knack with coffee that your husband has, which is amazing since he rarely drinks it.”
“No one said you had to be honest,” Sherlock said, coming into the living room. She handed Savich a cup of tea, fresh-brewed.
“Thanks.” He took a sip, closed his eyes in bliss.
“I like your pirate face, Miles,” Sherlock said, “with all those little tape pieces. It’s sexy.”
“You never said my back was sexy,” Savich said.
She actually shuddered. “No, but I will once I stop shaking.” She added to Miles, “He’s much better, but it’s going to take another week before he can stretch without worrying his back is going to break open.”
Savich and Sherlock sat across from Miles, listening with half an ear to Sean talking a blue streak to Sam, not much of it comprehensible, but Sam seemed to understand enough. He was rolling blocks to Sean, then helping Sean roll them back to him. They were in the designated kid part of the living room, where toys and chaos could reign without adults tripping over a stray ball and breaking a neck.
Sherlock looked sleek in black slacks and a black lace top, her curly red hair flying about, her eyes blue as a summer sky. Miles saw Savich grinning at her like a fool, sighed, and thought yet again of Katie.
It had been nearly a day and a half since he’d seen her. Those thirty hours felt like a decade.
“They’re still getting lots of rain in eastern Tennessee,” Miles said. “I’ll tell you, it kept me real alert flying out of Ackerman’s Air Field, what with the rain coming down so hard. They’ve got several storms lined up with little respite in between. Katie and her crew were up to their noses in mud and downed wires, not to mention all the accidents, the odd cow bawling in the middle of the road, mail soaked because some kids poked holes in some mailboxes.”