Child of Their Vows

“Go get the condoms, Max, before we get carried away.”

With a sigh, he pulled back, but only to take her face in his hands. “When are we going to have another baby? After the twins, you agreed we’d have more.”

She twisted away from his searching gaze. “I don’t recall—”

“Yes, you did. When you took the job with Ray you said, ‘It’s something to do until we have another child.’ That was over a year and a half ago. When, Kelly? When are we going to have another kid?”

“I don’t know. Someday. When the time is right.”

“The twins start school next year, which’ll leave you free to care for a new baby.”

“Or to pursue my career.” She rolled over, shutting him out. “Don’t pressure me, Max. I have so little that’s all my own.”

“You have your flowers.”

She snorted derisively. “Dried-flower arrangements I give away to friends—it’s a hobby. I want to contribute to the household, too.”

“You do, immeasurably. Not all contributions are monetary. And money isn’t necessarily the most important contribution.”

“Try running a household without it. If you think I spread myself too thin now, what would I be like with another baby?” He had no answer to that. Kelly felt bad at disappointing him. Now she vaguely remembered she had agreed to have more children. But that had been before she knew how important having a job of her own would become to her. “I’m sorry, Max. I know you want a son.”

His silence took on a strained quality. She turned back to him, shocked to see his face drained of color. “Good grief, Max, you’re as white as the sheets.”

“I love the girls, Kel,” he said earnestly.

“Of course you do.” He was so sweet, so silly, sometimes. “Go get the condoms.”

He left her and went to his suitcase. A moment later she heard him swear. “What is it?”

He turned to her, his open hands empty. “I bought a new box especially for this weekend. I was positive I put it in my suitcase. Now I can’t find it.”

Oh, great. Their big romantic weekend and they couldn’t make love. She glanced at the bedside digital clock. By now it was so late the hotel store would surely be shut. Max looked so disappointed and frustrated she beckoned him with a smile. “Never mind. I’m sure one night won’t hurt. Come here, lover.”

MAX AWOKE EARLY, A LITTLE tired but with a lingering sense of deep satisfaction. The night before they’d made love not once but twice—something they hadn’t done in years, not since before the twins were born.

Kelly slept on, one hand tucked under her chin. She was so familiar to him that sometimes he couldn’t see her. Mentally he traced the lines of her face, the short straight nose, the cheekbones she wished were higher, the sweetly curving mouth and small chin. Out of context, she became a stranger again. A pretty, sexy stranger.

He skimmed a finger down the bridge of her nose, and she reached up in her sleep to scratch. He waited until her hand fell away, then did it again.

Her eyes, deep brown in the half light, opened. When she saw him watching her, two small vertical lines pulled her eyebrows together. “Don’t wake me up,” she mumbled sleepily. “You know I hate being woken up.”

The pretty sexy stranger would have wanted him to wake her up. Max sighed and slid out of bed to head for the shower.

As the steaming water sluiced over him, he considered Randall. He had to tell Kelly about the boy, and he would, but not until they’d had more time to cement their closeness. Another day should be enough. A hike in the woods, a nice dinner, a Jacuzzi in the evening, followed by more lovemaking…

When he came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, Kelly was sitting up in bed, combing her fingers through her hair.

“Come here,” she said, fully awake now and smiling.

Max leaned in for a kiss. Instead of meeting his lips, Kelly rubbed her cheek over his freshly shaven jaw. “I love it when you’re all smooth and yummy smelling. Come back to bed.” She tried to pull him down on top of her.

“Later.” He yanked the covers off the bed, making her giggle and shriek. “Get up, woman. We’ve got ground to cover.”

Ravenous after the previous night, they ate enormous plates of bacon and eggs in the hotel dining room, then set off on the trail that zigzagged down the cliff beside the river. Through the trees, they could hear the roar of Snoqualmie Falls.

“I wonder how the kids are doing?” Kelly said. “I hope Nancy made them breakfast and didn’t just let them snack on junk.”

Max stopped abruptly. “We need to make a rule for this weekend—no talking about the kids or our jobs.”

“But—” Kelly began, then said “—you’re right. No kids. No jobs.”

Twenty minutes later the silence stretched. “What are you thinking?” Max finally asked.

“I’m thinking I should have done a load of laundry before we left so Beth’s judo outfit would be clean for her training session Monday.”

“No kids, no jobs, no chores.”

“But, Max, that’s our life,” Kelly protested, only half joking.

“Look at that.” He paused at the observation deck, with its view of the falls—a foaming spill of white water dropping nearly three hundred feet down the cliff face. “It’s more spectacular than I remembered.” Max took in a deep breath that made his chest rise beneath his plaid flannel shirt. “This is wonderful. Fresh air, exercise, good food, great sex…” He pulled Kelly close and breathed in the scent of her hair. “And my best gal by my side.”

She slipped her arms around his waist. “Your only gal, don’t you mean?”

He kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose and would have continued on down to her mouth.

“Max,” Kelly began, interrupting him. “Did you mean what you said last night about not wanting a boy?”

Her speculative tone and searching gaze put him immediately on guard. He’d reacted too strongly to her innocent suggestion that he wanted a son. She’d take it as a sign he was hiding something. As he was. “Why wouldn’t I mean it?”

“I’ve always wondered,” she went on, undeterred by his feeble protest, “if you weren’t a teeny bit disappointed we had all girls.”

He wanted to reassure her that wasn’t the case; hell, he wished he could convince himself. But the words stuck in his throat. The letter from Randall had brought his emotions too close to the surface for him to be able to lie.

Avoiding eye contact, he muttered something unintelligible and returned to the path that led to the river.

“Max!” Kelly hurried after him, sending twigs and small stones skittering. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“I asked you something important, and instead of answering, you stride off without a word. I want to know what’s wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong. Just forget it.”

“You never talk about your feelings,” Kelly complained. “This weekend is an opportunity to work out some of the kinks in our relationship. You can’t just walk away from an emotionally difficult subject.”

“Feelings. You always want to talk about feelings.”

He strode on. Talking about that stuff made him uncomfortable; it highlighted what was wrong with their relationship, instead of focusing on what was right. And whenever Kelly started discussing their problems, he felt he’d failed her somehow. Not that he would ever admit it.