Tea and Destiny

“I left her figuratively holding her finger in the dike. Other than her hysterical scream, she keeps a pretty cool head in a crisis. This could have been a lot worse.”

“She’s used to it. The tub overflows about twice a week.”

Melissa and Tommy, who’d seemed tongue-tied until now, began chattering enthusiastically about splashing through the water. Unfortunately it had become their favorite form of recreation. Ann had a suspicion they were secretly delighted every time the blasted tub overflowed. Hank listened to their excited stories and shook his head.

“Hasn’t it occurred to you to call a plumber?”

It had. She’d dismissed it as too costly. She was not about to admit that to him. “The thought has crossed my mind, but I thought I could handle it myself.”

“If you handle it any more effectively, you’ll have to replace all these wooden floors.”

His sarcasm set her teeth on edge. “Mr. Riley, may I remind you that you are a guest in this house. I do not need you to come in here and start telling me how to run my life or fix my house.”

“Any more than I need you telling me what to eat,” he retorted, matching her hands-on-hips stance. She had to admit he was better at it than she was. He was also grinning, which was not one bit like what she felt like doing.

“Okay,” she snapped back. “Eat what you darn well please.”

“I will.”

“And I’ll fix my own darn tub.”

His smile widened. Then to her amazement, he backed down so fast it left her head reeling. “As you like,” he said pleasantly. He waded off through the water, leaving her gaping after him. She was left with a throatful of angry words and no target at which to spew them.

“Where are you going?” she shouted at his retreating back.

He turned around and shot her a lazy, carefree grin. “I thought I’d have a beer. What about you? Want one? I could pour it while you’re working on the tub.”

“Go to…”

He halted her in midsentence by gesturing toward the suddenly silent, wide-eyed children standing beside her. “Tsk, tsk, Annie. No swearing in front of the children. Isn’t that what you told me?”

As he disappeared from view, she wondered exactly how traumatic it would be for the kids to watch her take a shotgun to their houseguest.

Chapter 2

Ann was horrified. The serene, in-control woman she had always thought herself to be did not yell at the top of her lungs in anger. She did not consider using a shotgun to settle an argument. For that matter, until this afternoon, she’d never lifted a butcher knife except to slice a turkey. What was Hank Riley doing to her?

Bewildered and still fuming, she felt a tug on her skirt and looked down into Tommy’s dark, troubled eyes. She was promptly overcome by guilt on top of everything else. She knew how much violence Tommy had endured in his first three years in war-torn Afghanistan. For the two years that he’d been with her, she’d tried very hard to protect him from irrational outbursts. Even with seven very different people in the house, she’d been able to maintain an atmosphere of relative calm. Her own temper was blessedly even.

Until today, she reminded herself. In less than an hour Hank Riley had shaken her normal aplomb to its very foundations. That made her very nervous. She knew perfectly well that any man who aroused that much fury could probably arouse an equal amount of passion.

When hell freezes over, she declared, just as Tommy tugged again and asked in his softly accented voice, “Is he the plumber?”

“No, he is not the damn plumber,” she snapped irritably, then immediately felt contrite. She hugged the dark-haired boy who was watching her with eyes that were far too serious.

“Sorry, baby,” she said to Tommy as Melissa happily singsonged, “Bad word. Bad word.”

Ann considered uttering a whole string of them. Instead she patted the child on her blond head and admitted, “That’s right. That is a bad word and I don’t ever want to hear any of you using it. You two go on to your rooms and put on some dry clothes.”

“Want to swim,” Melissa protested, her face screwing up in readiness for a good cry.

“You will not swim for an entire week if you two are not in your rooms by the time I count to three,” Ann said very quietly.

They recognized the no-nonsense tone. Melissa’s pout faded at once. Tommy was already scampering down the hall, favoring the leg that had been shattered two years ago by guerrilla gunfire. Ann sighed as she watched them go. Another crisis averted. Barely.

“Ann.” Tracy’s plaintive voice reached her. “I can’t stay like this much longer.”

“Oh, good heavens!” She ran into the bathroom and found Tracy exactly as Hank had left her, with her finger stuck at an awkward angle in the leaking faucet.

“Didn’t the man even have sense enough to cut off the water?” she grumbled, turning back toward the door. The man in question was standing in her way, arms folded across a chest that could have blocked for offense on the Miami Dolphins.

“The water’s off,” he said, apparently unperturbed by her scowl or her denigrating comment.

“Oh.”

She glanced at Tracy. “You can let go now.”

Tracy shook her head. “That’s just it. I can’t. My finger’s stuck.”

With an impatient, you-should-have-known glance in Ann’s direction, Hank stepped through the remaining puddles and sat down next to Tracy on the edge of the tub. Using a bar of soap, he worked Tracy’s finger loose from the faucet. Ann was astounded by his teasing reassurances. She was even more startled by his gentleness. When Tracy’s swollen finger was freed at last, he wiped it with a damp cloth, inspected it for cuts, then thanked her.

“You did a great job. Without your quick thinking, this could have been a lot worse.”

Tracy beamed. Ann felt an odd fluttering in her chest. She hadn’t seen a smile like that on the girl’s face in all the years she’d lived there. Usually Tracy was far too quiet and unresponsive, except when she was taking care of the littlest kids. Her inability to get through to Tracy worried her. The ease with which Hank had astonished her.

“Honey, are you okay?” Ann asked, kneeling down in front of her, oblivious to the fact that her skirt was dragging in the puddles.

Tracy turned the radiant smile on her. “Sure.” She held out her hand. “Not even a scratch.”

“Great. Would you go check on Melissa and Tommy for me? After that try to get Paul and David to start cleaning up the kitchen. It’s almost time to start dinner. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Sure, Ann.” She looked hesitantly at Hank. “Are you sticking around?”

“Yep.” He shot a challenging look at Ann. “At least through dinner.”

When Tracy had gone, Ann got to her feet and quickly began mopping up the floor, her soaked skirt slapping soggily against her legs. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look at Hank, who was still perched on the edge of the tub fiddling with the faucet.

“You were very good with her,” she finally conceded. “Thanks.”

He didn’t look up. “She seems like a good kid,” he murmured, then began working a snakelike device down into the drain.

“Beware of calling an eighteen-year-old a kid. That’s an offense considered on a par with listening to phone calls or denying use of the car.”

“Umm.” He gave a tug on his probe, which emerged with a small plastic dinosaur. Ann recognized it as one of Tommy’s collection from the zoo. Hank shook his head, tossed the toy aside and went back to poking around. “Sounds like you know her pretty well.”

“I know teenagers pretty well. I’m not so sure about Tracy.”

“She’s not yours?”