The Baby Magnet

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Marie murmured and crossed the street to him.

“Hey, hey,” she said and rubbed the child’s back soothingly. At the same time she pushed the child up and against Luke’s chest. The pained look on his face became even more pronounced.

“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Marie crooned. “Daddy’s got you. Everything’s okay. Daddy will fix everything, won’t you, Daddy?” When Luke didn’t speak up quickly enough to suit her, Marie poked Luke in the ribs as a prompt to answer. It was her feeling Daddy shouldn’t have to think quite so hard before responding.

“Ouch! What’d you do that for?” He glared at her. Damned woman had been a pain since the moment he’d run—scratch that—she’d run into him.

Marie glared right back and gestured to the sobbing toddler. The noise level had dropped but people were still staring and they were still only a few decibels below eardrum shattering.

“Oh, right.” Luke cleared his throat. “Marie’s right, Carolyn. Dad’s got the situation under control.” He wished. “You can stop screaming. It’s not going to change anything, after all and if you’ll just stop and think for a minute I’m sure you’ll realize—”

Marie reached up and snatched the baby right out of his arms and hugged her to her breast. “Oh, for God’s sake. Come here, sweetie. Let Auntie Marie hold you.” Marie wrapped her arms snuggly around the baby so she’d feel secure, rested her cheek on the top of little one’s head and began to rock in place. “Shh, shh, Auntie Marie’s got you now and she won’t let anything happen to you.”

Luke rolled his eyes and muttered, “Oh, brother.”

Marie sent him an evil look and mouthed, “Go get the blanket you bought.”

“What? I can’t hear you. Carolyn, you’ve simply got to pipe down before you permanently damage our hearing. Now, what did you say?”

Marie refrained from kicking him in the shins. Barely. Very softly she instructed, “Go and get the baby blanket you bought.”

“You’re still mumbling,” Luke complained. “Did you say you wanted the pink blanket? What for? Marie, look at her. She’s all red and overheated. The last thing she needs is a blanket. She must be getting heavy. Let me take her back.”

She finally blew up. “So you can make her cry again? The blanket’s a comfort thing, you dolt! You probably had one yourself at her age. Or maybe you didn’t and that’s what’s wrong with you. Now would you just quit arguing and go get it?”

Luke backed away and made a calming gesture. “All right, okay, I’m going, see? But I’d just like to point out I’m not the one who made her cry again. If you were all that good with kids you’d know not to yell like that. It upsets them.”

Marie ground her teeth. For two cents she’d hand the child off to him and sit back to watch the show. Unfortunately they’d all be sharing the same car for the next hour and the screaming was already grating on her nerves. “There, there, sweetheart, I’m sorry. It’s just that men are such morons, sometimes your only option is to cut loose.” Marie continued to rub Carolyn’s back while she vilified all men in a soft croon. “You’ll see. Someday you’ll come to me and say, ‘Auntie Marie, I remember back when I was no more than two and you told me all about men. You were right, Auntie Marie. They are dolts.’ Now let’s go down to the car, all right, honey? I’ll introduce you to another of the species. Homo Sapiens Adolescenti, an absolutely pitiable group. The worst of the worst. You remember that when you’re sixteen and don’t have anything to do with them, okay, sweetheart? Save yourself all kinds of grief.”

By then they’d reached the car. Luke had finished unwrapping the blanket. He held it out to her.

“Just drape it over her,” Marie directed. “Make sure the satin touches her cheek.”

“Right. But I still say she’s going to suffocate.” Luke carefully covered his daughter, arranging the folds just so. “How’s that?”

Carolyn snuffled twice then turned off the spigot altogether.

Marie sighed. “Wonderful. In another hour or two the birds may even feel safe enough to begin chirping again.”

Luke reluctantly grinned. “Yeah. It was pretty scary, wasn’t it? I’ve got to run back in and get her car seat. I’ll be right back.”

“Coward,” Marie said, but she smiled and snuggled Carolyn while they waited.

Carolyn had so exhausted herself with all the carrying on, that she conked right out within minutes of the car being in motion. Blessedly, she slept the entire trip through.

“Well, that’s done,” Luke said as he pulled into his own driveway. “I think I’ve got enough time to make arrangements to get my car towed in and get a loaner. Tomorrow you can take me over to pick up a rental.”

Marie sighed. She supposed it would be mean-spirited to say no. The accident had been their fault, after all. “Sure. I guess.”

“Call your insurance agent when you get home. We’ll exchange insurance information and stop by the police station when I see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Right.” Man, she really didn’t want to do this. Besides having the personality of a prickly pear, Luke was a reminder of a painful period in her life. “Twelve o’clock?”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

“Right.” Marie put the car into Drive while she waited for Jason to get back to the car after helping Luke in with Carolyn’s stuff. She wanted out of there just as quickly as possible. She had a feeling that the longer she stuck around Luke Deforest, the worse off she’d be. And the effect he seemed to have on her was only the half of it. Luke Deforest was trouble with a capital T.

Chapter Two

Instead of sliding into the passenger side, Jason came around to the driver’s side. Marie sighed. She should have known.

“Scoot over, Marie. I’ll drive now.”

Only over her dead body. “Sorry, Jason, but I’m driving. One accident per day is about all I can handle.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. You can’t be serious.”

But Marie stood firm. She’d reached her quota of adolescent-style thrills and chills for the moment. It was either stand firm or flip out. Marie knew which one she preferred. “No. I’m afraid there’s no negotiating this one.” Ha, there was a misnomer if ever there was one. More like gross intimidation wouldn’t get the adolescent his way this time. Unfortunately for Jason she was too numb to be properly cowed by the prospect of one of his scenes. “I’m driving,” she assured him firmly. “Jump in and let’s go before Luke comes out to see what’s wrong.”

That threat worked. Luke was twice his size and not happy with the accident. Jason knew he’d gotten off easily. He still had all his appendages, was still breathing, wasn’t he? He moved. Not particularly graciously, but he moved.

He also scowled. He stomped around the front of the car, slapping the hood with his fist as he circled in front of it. He slammed the door when he got in and immediately began complaining. “Man, one little mistake and everybody’s all over you. Like I already told you, this wasn’t my fault. If Dad would just buy me a decent car none of this would have happened. He can keep this boat for all I care, but you could talk him into getting me something cool. I know you could.”

Marie rolled her eyes in resignation. Jason was on a roll. She was in for a good half-hour sermon on why Jason needed a new car, preferably a sports model with a trunk big enough for a mega stereo system complete with something called a subwoofer. Marie had asked around. It seemed that this subwoofer thing was for the hormonally impaired. It magnified bass sounds. It was what made your car shake when you were stuck at a red light next to some testosterone-challenged adolescent whose entire vehicle shuddered on oversize tires while emitting low boom boom de boom sounds. Allowing that thing into her house or car would be tantamount to dying and going to hell. She’d be permanently stuck at a red light that would never turn green, at least not for her.

No way. Not a chance.

Marie had never had an inclination to indulge in alcohol before but she was seriously thinking about taking up drinking. If she was declared unfit wouldn’t somebody else have to take over the job of seeing Jason through until her grandfather was back on his feet? Didn’t the Red Cross deal with disasters? Surely Jason qualified. There had to be somebody. Anybody.

When Jason showed no signs of letting up, Marie decided to break into his diatribe. “Even though the accident was clearly Luke’s fault for having the poor judgment to be behind you when you decided to back up, it’s your insurance premiums that will go up,” she informed him grimly as she gently eased the car into traffic. “You’re going to have to study a bit harder next semester. A 3.0 gpa will get you a good student rate and help counteract what just happened.”

Jason only shrugged. “The light’s changing. Better slow down.”

The attitude and running commentary on her driving put her back up. She’d rather deal with Luke Deforest—Why did her thoughts keep coming back to Luke? He wasn’t as blatantly handsome as Wade had been. No, his attraction was more insidious. It sneaked up and got you on a subconscious level. Rotten male. Marie tapped the brakes. “I know what color the light is and I’m serious here. For your information, teenage boys and girls in their early twenties have the highest rates. You can’t afford to make it any worse by messing around with your grades.”

“No skin off my nose,” Jason informed her. “Dad’s going to have to pay whatever it costs anyway. I sure don’t have the dough. That pittance of an allowance you talked him into doling out doesn’t cover more than a pack of chewing gum. You really fell down on the job there, Marie.”

Marie snorted as the light she’d stopped for changed and she again accelerated. “You buy mighty expensive chewing gum is all I can say. Like twenty dollars a pack. And maybe I could have talked him into more but I didn’t and I won’t. Twenty dollars is plenty for somebody your age.” She almost had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from telling him about how little she’d gotten when she’d been his age. It would make her sound too old. Too much like the parents who lectured their ungrateful kid about how they’d walked four miles each way barefoot through the snow to get to school, uphill both directions and furthermore, they’d liked it. Marie refused to permit herself to fall onto the wrong side of that generation line. She’d much rather be on the eye-rolling side even though the temptation was severe and she faithfully checked her hair every morning ever since her grandfather had shattered his hip to make sure none of the strands had grayed overnight.

But Jason wasn’t done yet. “You just don’t get it. I mean, were you ever young? It’s like totally demeaning to have to ask my niece for money, you know. None of the other guys have to do anything so lame. Their parents don’t give them stupid curfews of eleven o’clock on the weekend. They can stay out as late as they want and they all get however much money they want.”

“Yeah, right. Sure they do.” Marie turned a corner. She felt oddly bereft as she lost sight of the street Luke lived on. “Give it up,” she advised. “It’s not going to happen. The plan is, I’m going to discuss this with Grandpa and I’ll advise him to pay the equivalent of the cheapest insurance rates. I think he’ll listen, too. That means you’ll have to fork over the difference between that and whatever the actual charge is.”

“I don’t have any money,” Jason repeated slowly as though Marie were mentally slow and couldn’t grasp simple concepts. “No moola, get it? Zero dinero. Zip.”

Marie turned off onto another side street. They were almost home. Thank God. Maybe she could escape up to her room for an hour or two. “Guess you’ll have to get a job, huh, Jase?”

“I’m not sixteen yet,” Jason informed her smugly. “No one will hire me.”