CHAPTER ELEVEN

CONFUSED, VAUGHAN LOOKED over at Kensey, who’d just dissolved into a mass of tears on the floor next to where he stood.

He cast his glance Kelly’s way. She sat at the table, a bunch of spreadsheets in front of her. And she smirked behind her coffee cup, not moving to intervene.

“What’s the problem, Miss Kensey?” Vaughan asked.

She answered in a rush of gasping sobs and hiccups so of course he had no idea what she’d said.

“She says, what if the girls in her class say corduroy is dumb?” Maddie explained. “And she doesn’t like mustard on both pieces of bread.”

He had zero idea how to deal with the pants issue, though he got out another piece of bread, this time with no mustard on it. The week before she’d had school lunches so he hadn’t made her a lunch yet.

But Kelly spoke, interrupting the process. “Kensey, get up off the floor immediately. Go upstairs and clean your face. You will have mustard on both slices of bread today. You will come down, apologize to your father for this behavior and get it together.”

Kelly’s tone caught his attention as quickly as it got Kensey’s. Not angry, but full of command and not an inch to be given.

Kensey sniffled, hauled herself up and ran out of the room.

Vaughan, undeniably impressed, finished up with sandwiches for both girls’ lunches. Maddie patted his arm once he handed her a lunch bag.

“She’s a handful, Dad. You gotta be tough with her.”

Kelly had to cough to hide the laughter Vaughan also fought against.

“You’re an artist. You know how you guys are. Temperamental. But she’s like a kitten.” Maddie turned to Kelly. “Right, Mom?”

Kelly blushed, shaking her head and giving in to her laughter. “Kensey likes shiny things. Sometimes you just kind of shake something pretty and it breaks the spell and she gets back on track.”

“Oh, and artists need to be handled that way?” he teased Maddie.

Maddie gave him a serious nod. “Yes. We’re all quite individualistic. We’re snowflakes, Mom says, but not special snowflakes because special snowflakes think the rules don’t apply.”

“Your mom is very wise.” And way better at this parent thing than he was.

Kensey came back down and her attitude had shifted. She hugged Vaughan and apologized. He would have told Kensey it wasn’t necessary to apologize, would have if they’d been at his house. But he didn’t countermand Kelly, knowing that would be a disastrous thing.

“Will you both walk us to the bus stop? It’s my first day back.” Maddie gave those eyes Vaughan had no idea how to refuse.

“I was thinking of driving you both. You’d rather go on the bus?” Kelly had gotten up to pin Kensey’s hair back from her face.

Maddie nodded. “My friends are on the bus. I won’t roughhouse or anything. I promise.”

The doctor had told them at the appointment just a few days before that Maddie would be fine to return to school by week’s end, and here they were. But she seemed so small. So fragile. Maybe she should be driven. What if she got jostled and hurt?

Everything seemed to scare the hell out of Vaughan, but Kelly had seemed to handle it perfectly so he’d leaned on her.

“We can all walk together, if that’s cool with your dad.” Kelly kissed Kensey’s head.

“Yeah, I’d like that.” He looked at the clock over the stove. “Okay, ladies. Bathroom break and then we’ll go.”

The girls headed off and he moved in close to Kelly. “Hi.”

She smiled. “Hi.”

“I’m impressed with how you mother them. I feel like a total amateur.”

“You love them. That’s the biggest thing. You just have to be tougher sometimes. You’ll learn. They’ll still love you. It’s going to be okay.”

“I’ve made so many mistakes already.” Sometimes that shook him. Made him wonder if he had it in him to do this. But then he looked at his ladies and he knew it was worth the effort.

“Everyone makes mistakes. I sure do.”

He kissed her quickly but stepped back when he heard thundering feet coming back downstairs.

* * *

IT WAS THAT FEELING, that sense of fitting in a place that was distinctly unique. Not Hurley, but something more.

“I’m heading out,” he told Kelly as they returned home. “You sure you don’t want to come along?”

“Uh, yeah. Totally sure. I’ll handle picking the girls up so if you want to spend more time with your brothers, you can.”

He took her hands. “I’ll be back. I swear to you.”

She took a breath and then shrugged. “I can’t do anything but trust your word.”

He kissed her. Right there in the driveway. He pulled her close and showed her how much he’d missed her. Of course when he broke the kiss, he, too, was nearly panting and totally not wanting to go anywhere but upstairs back to her bed.

“That’s a down payment. Tonight we fuck in my room. I have plans. And because it’s even farther from the girls, I’ll happily make that growling grunt you seem to like so much.”

She shivered, blowing out a breath. Her eyes were clear when she smiled. “All right, then. I have very high standards so I’ll hold you to that.”

The last thing he wanted to do was get in his car and head away. But she had work and he had to get moving so he could return in plenty of time for dinner.