Drive-By Daddy: Drive-By Daddy / Calamity Jo

“All right.” Her mother looked Tom’s way. “Just look at all that trouble he’s having, Darcy Jean. I told you it was a nasty piece of furniture. Myself, I got a blood blister on my thumb, trying to deal with it.” She held it up for inspection.

Warmed, despite herself, by her mother’s past attempts with the crib, as well as by every bit of support, emotional and financial, she’d unstintingly given in the past several, trying months, Darcy hugged her mother and then eyed her own infant daughter. She rubbed a finger lovingly over the child’s soft forehead. “I appreciate your war injuries, Mom. And I’m sure Tom appreciates your encouragement now.”

“I do,” he said. “And I’m doing fine over here.” Pieces of crib and tiny bits of necessary hardware littered the carpet around him. “Be done in a jiffy.”

No, he wouldn’t. That much was obvious to Darcy. Because, using one hand to hold up two ladderlike side-slats that threatened to collapse onto one another at any second, he picked up a screwdriver from the tool box Margie had presented and…lost his grip on his handiwork. The slats slowly, gracefully banged together and then backwards against the wall.

Darcy jumped at the sound and felt her mother do the same. She glanced at her baby. Surprisingly, Montana slept on. Darcy exchanged a what-do-you-know look with her mother. Then she heard Tom mutter something under his breath—something, no doubt, that was probably best left unheard. Darcy took pity on the man. “You don’t have to do this, Tom. I’m sure you hadn’t planned to sign up for crib construction when Mom had you tracked down and told you to come out here today.”

Tom turned to her. So did her mother. They spoke as one. “What do you mean—”

“Darcy Jean, I never—”

“She didn’t—”

“I went to the hospital—”

“He went to the hospital—”

“—and they gave me directions—”

“—and they gave him directions out here—”

“I hope you don’t mind—”

“They’re not supposed to do that—”

“Never mind.” As amused as she was overwhelmed with their denials, Darcy held up a hand. “Okay, I’m sorry.” She turned to her mother. “You really didn’t coerce him into coming out here?”

“She didn’t.”

Darcy’s heart took a thrilling leap as she turned to Tom. “She didn’t?”

His blue eyes regarded her sincerely. “No. Like I said, I came out here because I wanted to. I went to the hospital, where I was told you’d just left. Then the nurse at the desk gave me directions here. She said she wasn’t supposed to do that, but me being who I am and seeing how I’d helped deliver Montana…well, you know the rest.”

“Yes. I read about it in the newspaper,” Darcy said drolly. “Didn’t I, Mother?”

The older woman’s eyes widened…guiltily. But she recovered beautifully. “Do y’all smell something that’s soured?” She bent over the sleeping infant in her arms and sniffed at her. “Phew. I think this child has christened her diaper.” She stood up. “I’ll just take her in the living room and change her there where all that stuff—” She began her retreat from the room. “—they gave you at the hospital is and then I’ll—” She exited the room and took a sharp turn to her left, heading up the hallway. “—do something else, I don’t know what. It’ll come to me.”

Darcy waited a moment, giving her mother a chance to leave, and then turned to Tom. “Is she a piece of work, or what?”

“Museum quality,” he assured her, adding a wink to his words.

“She means well. Underneath that busybody exterior is a heart of gold. Even if she does go a bit far sometimes.” Warmed by his wink, and itching to stroke his face, his jaw, his neck…Darcy felt self-conscious now that she was alone with him in her bedroom, knowing he’d sought her out on his own. That knowledge had done nothing to settle her reawakening libido.

Hunkered down on a knee, with a screwdriver in his hand, looking like an open invitation, Tom smiled back at her. “She goes a bit far? You’re talking about me being Bachelor Number Two, right?”

Darcy put her hands to her suddenly too-warm cheeks. “You poor man. Yes. She thinks I need a man and Montana needs a father. Well, one who wants to stick around, I should say.”

Tom regarded her silently. Darcy thought maybe he was going to declare himself. An accompanying thrill raced through her, one she couldn’t quite put a name to. Good thrill or bad thrill? But Tom saved her from having to explore that feeling. “I see. So who was Bachelor Number One? That skinny man in the shiny suit?”

“You mean Vernon?” Darcy laughed. “You make him sound like a mobster. Which is probably the most exotic thing that’s ever been said about him. But yes. Vernon. Who lives with his mother.”

Tom seemed to be enjoying Darcy’s discomfort a little too much. “Any other competition I should know about?”

“Unfortunately, I won’t know until she trots them by. But for now it’s just you and Vernon.”

“Good. I think I can take him.” Tom’s gaze slowly traveled over her face. “How’re you doing, Darcy? I mean really.”

The genuine concern in his voice disconcerted her. “We’re not talking about my bottom again, are we?”

Amusement sparked in his eyes. “No. But we can, if you like.”

She shook her head. “I don’t like.”

“I didn’t think so. But what I meant was…you look tired.”

“Great.” Darcy made an ineffectual swipe at her hair, trying in vain to brush back her tangle of shoulder-length curls. “Will the day ever come when I look presentable again?”

“You look just fine right now.”

Darcy scoffed. “Yeah, me and my leftover maternity clothes. Yuck.” She pulled at them. “And I look tired, too, remember?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it. Hell, you have every right to be tired. You just had a baby a few days ago…well, I guess you know that.”

Darcy dramatically shifted her stitched-up nether-region on her bed. “Good. We’re back to my bottom. Finally.” Then, belatedly, she realized how that sounded and to whom she was speaking. The man had been right there and had seen everything. “I mean, I…” She gave up. “Oh, the heck with it. You’re right. I am tired. Very tired. It’s been an exhausting day so far. For me and for Montana.”

“I expect it has. It’s hot outside. That’ll sap your strength. And then there was that long drive out here. You probably could both use a good nap about now.”

Something inside Darcy grew soft. Had there ever been a more sympathetic soul on the face of the earth than this man? Just his way of talking, so slow and calm, and his constant concern for her, was enough to make her want to crawl into his lap. And put her arms around him and her cheek against his chest so she could hear his heart beating and then just lay there against him and soak up—

“Darcy? Did you hear me?”

Blinking, embarrassed, she snapped back to the moment. “Oh. No. I’m sorry. I didn’t. What did you say?”

“I said I closed the deal today on my grandfather’s land.”

Darcy froze. She felt as if she’d just been slapped. “Oh, you did? Well…that’s great. Good for you. I guess that means…you’ll be going home soon.”

Distractedly twisting and turning the screwdriver around in his hand, he stared her way and nodded. “It does.”

Darcy looked down at her lap. She couldn’t imagine why the thought of him leaving upset her so much. But it did. It made her want to cry and left her feeling alone and scared. Immediately, she chastised herself for being so silly. She looked up at him. He was studying her. Darcy tried a smile, but it wouldn’t quite hold. “So. When are you leaving?”

“I don’t know. There are some details to see to and some papers to be drawn up and signed. I figure about the middle of next week.”

This was Friday. “Wow. As soon as that?”

“Yep. As soon as that.” He casually tossed the screwdriver into the tool box. It clanked against several other metal pieces and sounded unusually loud to Darcy. She watched Tom turn back to putting the crib together. “I got a good price for the land. The developers want to turn it into a golf course.”