Desperately Seeking Daddy Read online

  “You nasty-minded snake!” Heller spat. “Don’t you dare talk to him like that!” Meanwhile Jack shook his head, sighed and got to his feet, pulling up his jeans. Heller’s eyes widened. She knew exactly what he was going to do, and she was suddenly frightened for him. “Jack, darling, don’t do anything you’ll regret. He’s not worth it, Jack, and…and you’re already hurt!”

  Carmody didn’t have sense enough to know what was coming. He swayed and looped an arm around Heller’s shoulder to steady himself, taunting, “Whazza matter, Jack? I shpoil your party? And I bet it took all dish time to get ‘er dish far, didn’ it? She’s a cold li’l bi—”

  “That’s it,” Jack said calmly, cutting off the other man with a hand clamped around his throat. “Time you figured out that you’re not welcome here unless invited first.” Without further preamble, Jack lifted Carmody off the floor and tossed him, literally, head-first out the door.

  Heller gasped as Carmody flew over the stoop and landed with an “oof” on the ground. Jack calmly stepped out and descended the stairs, limping far less than Heller expected. She knew then that he was livid, despite the outer calm. She ran after him, arriving just as he picked Carmody up out of the dust by his shirt front.

  “Now then,” he said, his voice rumbling low in his chest, “do not—and I repeat do not—ever again just open the door and walk into Heller’s house.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do!” Carmody snarled, wiping dirt from his eye with the back of his hand.

  “Oh, but I can,” Jack replied. “It’s really very simple. I’m in. You’re out. And from now on you’ll either behave like a gentleman in Heller’s presence or you’ll answer to me. Do you understand?”

  “Understand this!” Carmody snarled. Heller screamed as his foot swung out and connected with Jack’s swollen knee.

  Jack clamped his jaws together, keeping his own scream behind his grinding teeth. Then he shook himself and smiled coldly into Carmody’s face. “I see that you need further instruction. Lesson number one, having a weakness and being weak are two different things. Let me demonstrate.” So saying, he doubled up his fist and drove it into Carmody’s abdomen.

  Carmody gasped and doubled over, but as he straightened up, he kicked again at Jack’s knee. Jack caught his foot and flipped him onto his back like so many rags in a bundle. He had just picked up Carmody again, obviously intending another “demonstration,” when Punk hurled herself at him, fists flailing.

  “Let go my dad! Let go my dad!”

  Shocked, Heller felt a bump against her side and looked down to find Cody rubbing his fists against his eyes sleepily. “What’s happening?” he croaked. “Somebody screamed.”

  Heller groaned and threw her arms around him, calling to her daughter to stop. “It’s his own fault. He burst in drunk and insulted Jack and me.”

  “I don’t care!” Punk sobbed. “He’s my daddy!”

  Jack had frozen, but he suddenly released Carmody and stepped back. “She’s right,” he said, pushing a hand through his hair.

  Carmody stumbled and fell.

  “Daddy!”

  He pushed himself up to his feet, growling, “Shtop that screeshing!” He wiped a hand over his face, weaving side to side, and grumbled, “Damn kids’re always screeshing.” With that he stumbled off into the darkness.

  Punk stood where she was, her little face ashen and strained, and then she crumbled into sobs. Heller immediately started forward, hugging Cody to her side. “Oh, Punk, don’t. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. He’s just too drunk to know what he’s saying.”

  To her surprise, Jack waved her back. Then he bent and scooped her little girl into his arms. Limping badly now, he carried her to the steps and sat down. “I’m sorry, honey,” he said, pushing back her hair and wiping tears from her face. “I shouldn’t have let him make me mad. Your mom’s right, he was too drunk to know what he was doing. I had no business roughing him up.”

  Punk sniffed and astounded Heller by cuddling up in his lap. “My dad’s pretty much no good,” she said in a trembling voice.

  Jack seemed to think that over, then he said, “That may be true, but he’s still you’re father, and sometimes it can be nice being his little girl. Try to concentrate on those times, okay?”

  Punk slowly nodded her head. Looking up into his face, she asked, “What’s it like to be your little girl?”

  Jack shrugged. “I don’t know because I don’t have a little girl of my own. I can tell you this, though, I wouldn’t name her Punk like she was some street tough looking for a fight.”

  “It’s not my real name, you know,” she said wistfully.

  Jack smiled gently. “I figured. Why don’t you tell me your real name? Maybe we can find something else to call you.”

  She sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap primly, saying, “It’s Rosalie Evangeline.”

  “That’s a beautiful name!” Jack exclaimed.

  She leaned against his chest and frowned. “But it’s too long!” she insisted.

  Jack tucked her comfortably into the crook of his arm, saying, “Well, maybe we can shorten it up some. How about Rosie?”

  Punk screwed up her face.

  “No? Okay, then what about…” He smiled as inspiration struck. “Angel. Short for Evangeline.”

  Her face took on a look of awe. “Angel,” she breathed.

  Jack grinned. “You like that? Then from now on, you’re Angel to me.”

  She sighed, sounding for all the world like a girl smitten with a new hero. Then suddenly she snapped around and looked directly at her mother. “You better marry this guy quick, Mom.”

  Heller’s mouth fell open. Cody jumped up and down, clapping his hands and laughing. Jack hugged “Angel” and grinned at Heller. “Yeah, Mom,” he agreed, “quick.”

  Heller had to close her mouth before she could speak. “After what happened here tonight,” she said in wonder, “you still want to marry me?”

  Jack cocked his head. “Why wouldn’t I? I still love you.”

  Heller lifted a hand to cover her pounding heart, too touched to speak.

  Jack calmly set Angel on her feet and motioned to Cody. Cody came forward eagerly, pulling his mother along with him. “Son, take your sister into the house.” His eyes were on Heller. He stretched out his leg, testing it, grimaced and reached for her hand in the same instant that Cody moved to grasp his sister by her shoulders and ease her away. Jack pulled Heller down onto his lap and gathered her close.

  “When are you going to understand?” he said. “I love you, and nothing’s going to change that.”

  She framed his face with her hands. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Then marry me,” he said, “because if you don’t I will be hurt.”

  “Jack.”

  “Heller, I’m never going to be happy without you. I can’t even go back to the way I was before I met you, and I think that you and the children need me. Anyway, I hope you do because I need you to.”

  Heller sighed, giving in. She was too tired to fight him anymore. She just didn’t have the heart for it. “You know we do,” she whispered.

  Smiling, he pulled her head down onto his shoulder and kissed her. Slowly she lifted her arm and slid it around his neck, at the same time letting go of all her worries. She would make him the best wife possible, she vowed silently. She had no doubt that he would be the finest husband in all the world. He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth and his hand up her side and around to cup her breast. A giggle alerted them both. Jack dropped his hand as Heller jerked upright. They both turned to find Cody and Angel grinning at them.

  Heller swallowed a gasp. “I heard Jack tell you to go inside.”

  “It’s well past your bedtime,” he said in his best principal’s voice.

  “Now go,” Heller added.

  The children ran beside them and up the steps, giggling, but on the stoop they paused and looked at one another. Cody stepped forward, p
ut his hands on Jack’s shoulders and leaned over to give his mother a kiss, veering off at the last moment to smack in Jack’s ear. Surprised, Jack laughed and jerked his head around, causing Angel’s kiss to land between his eye and the bridge of his nose. Giggling, she ran into the house, a beaming Cody right behind her. Jack chuckled and called out, “Don’t wake the baby.” Shaking his head, he said to Heller, “I love them, too, you know.”

  She nodded, smiling happily. “I know.”

  He pulled her head down onto his shoulder again. “Listen, I’ve been thinking. I’ve got enough money in the bank to buy us a house, just pay for it outright. That way, everyone could have his or her own bedroom, and you wouldn’t have to work.”

  “Not work!” Heller exclaimed. “Do you mean it?”

  Jack smiled. “Sure, why not? Wouldn’t you like to stay home with the kids?”

  “Oh, Jack, I’d love it! They’re growing up so fast. It’s like I’m missing everything.”

  “Well, that’s decided then. Unless you’d rather go to college.”

  “College!” She sat bolt upright. “How do you know about that?”

  “About you wanting to go? Your mother told me.”

  Heller frowned. “I just bet she did.”

  “All right, so she isn’t in favor of it. That doesn’t mean you can’t go if you want to.”

  Heller stared at him. For the longest time she’d wanted to go to college, knowing it was the only way to ensure a better life for her children. She hadn’t counted on Jackson Tyler. How could she have? She trailed her fingertips over his face. “I think I’d rather have another baby first,” she told him softly.

  He looked for a moment as if he might cry. Then he closed his eyes and put his forehead to hers. “Oh, Heller, thank you! I love you so much!”

  “I love you, too,” she said, putting her arms around him and laughing happily while he kissed her ear and her throat and her collarbone.

  Suddenly he lifted his head. “I won’t love our baby any more than I love our other kids. You know that, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I know that.”

  He squeezed her so tightly she thought her ribs would break. Then his mouth was on hers and his hand was sliding beneath her shirt.

  Suddenly a wail filled the air. Groaning, they pulled apart, got up, and climbed the stairs side by side. Jack was chuckling before they got through the living room. “I think I’m going to put a lock on our bedroom door,” he announced.

  Heller laughed. “Think it’ll help?”

  “Maybe a nanny,” he muttered.

  Heller saw the light beneath the bedroom door and shook her head. “More like a warden.”

  He straightened his face with some effort and thrust the door open. The two older kids were standing beside Davy’s bed, trying to pat him into silence. Davy was on his feet, howling like a banshee, not a tear in his eyes. Jack looked at the older two and said, “I thought you were going to try not to wake him.”

  “We did,” Cody said, but Angel leaned forward and whispered in Davy’s ear, her hand cupped around her mouth. The wail shut off abruptly. Suddenly Davy turned and hurled himself at the foot of the crib, his arms flung out in a bid to be picked up. “Daddy!” he cried.

  Jack’s mouth fell open. His gaze fastened on Angel even as he absently plucked Davy from his bed. “Did you tell him to call me that?”

  She shrugged. “Carmody doesn’t pay him any attention, anyway. He wasn’t even around when he got borned.”

  Jack shot a look at Heller. His eyes had a liquid shine to them. He cupped Davy’s head in his big hand and kissed his forehead.

  “Can we pick out the new house?” Angel asked tellingly.

  Jack laughed. “We’ll pick it out together.”

  “I hope the new baby’s a girl,” she said. “Then it’d be even.”

  “Baby!” Heller and Jack exclaimed in unison.

  “Well, you said you were going to have another baby,” Cody explained defensively.

  “Not for a long while yet,” Heller said briskly.

  “Yeah,” Jack said, his voice choked with laughter. “We have to get married first. Then it’ll take at least nine months.”

  “At least,” Heller reiterated. Then she looked at Jack and they both burst out laughing. Davy laughed, too, though it was obvious he didn’t have the slightest clue about what was funny.

  Jack caught his breath, wiped his eyes and pulled Heller to him, one arm about her shoulders, the other holding Davy. She slid her arms around his waist. “Okay,” Jack said, “it’s obvious no one’s feeling particularly sleepy right now, so we might as well talk this over and set a date, an early one.”

  The older two hurrahed and bounced up onto the bottom bunk. Davy clapped his hands together, his wiggling brows betraying his confusion. Jack chuckled and walked over to the bed. Keeping one arm around Davy, he turned around, sat down and hunched over, easing himself beneath the upper bunk to lean on one elbow, then waved Heller over to join them. She didn’t have nearly so much trouble fitting between the beds as he did. She just sat down on the edge of the bunk and scooted back so that she was nestled in the curve of his body. Davy grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled himself into her lap.

  Jack pretended to glare at him. “Traitor.”

  Davy giggled, certain this was all in fun, too. Heller hugged him and said to Jack, “Now you know how it feels.”

  He chucked her under the chin, smiling. Angel threw herself down on her stomach, head supported by her fists and declared, “I want to be a bride girl.”

  “You mean a flower girl,” Heller said, leaning forward to tap her on the end of the nose. Everyone laughed.

  In the silence that followed, Cody said, “I think putting up that ad was the smartest thing I ever did!”

  Jack reached out to ruffle his hair, his eyes finding Heller’s. “And the smartest thing I ever did was answer it.”

  Heller smiled, feeling the warmth of his gaze flow over her. “I think you’re right,” she said, her voice sounding breathless and husky. “I think we ought to set an early date.”

  Jack’s hand curled around hers where it lay against the bed.

  They laughed and made plans until the dawn peeked over the horizon, brightening the room. Davy had long ago fallen asleep on Heller’s shoulder, and Cody was yawning wide enough to turn himself inside out. Angel crawled up to the head of the bed and laid down upon the pillow, her hand patting Jack’s shoulder.

  Chuckling to himself, he slid out onto the floor and straightened, groaning with stiff muscles and various cricks. Heller pushed up beside him, swaying with exhaustion but smiling. He ushered her over to the crib and helped her lower Davy into it. She covered him while Jack went to give Cody a boost onto the top bunk and help him pull up his covers. Heller covered Angel, and together she and Jack walked out into the hall. He pulled the door closed and directed her toward her own bedroom, his hand resting in the small of her back.

  “Heavens, I’m tired,” she said, covering a yawn with her hand.

  “Me, too, babe.” He opened the door and they went in together. “We’ll grab a couple hours of sleep then get busy. We’ve got a lot to do.”

  Heller smiled and plopped down on the bed. Kicking off her shoes, she crawled over into the middle of the bed and stretched out. Jack followed, leaving his shoes beside hers. He slid an arm beneath her head and rolled to his side, curving his other arm possessively about her waist. She snuggled against his big body, sighed and closed her eyes.

  “I don’t think I told you,” he said, “I have a king-size bed.”

  “Ah,” Heller sighed, and together they drifted off to sleep.

  Jack was dreaming of having Heller in that big bed of his when a loud noise jerked him awake. He rolled over to find Fanny Swift waving a smoking cigarette. “You little idiot!” she screamed. “I told you he was only after sex!”

  Heller opened her eyes a crack and moaned. “Mother, what are you doing here?”
>
  “Carmody told me what he walked in on last night!” she huffed.

  Jack sucked in a breath of air in an attempt to clear his head, coughed and waved away the cigarette smoke. “Put that thing out!”

  “Don’t get smart with me, lying there in my daughter’s bed!”

  Jack surged up onto one elbow. “For your information,” he said, “your daughter won’t make love with me until we’re married. That’s been her position all along.”

  “Married!” Fanny gasped.

  “That’s right, married,” Jack said smartly. “If you’d open your eyes, you’d see that we were sleeping fully clothed on top of the covers. Now get out of here. I won’t have you walking in anytime you please, upsetting my family.”

  “Your family!”

  “Yes, his family,” Heller said, lifting up onto her elbows next to Jack. “He loves us and takes care of us,” she added, “which is more than Carmody has ever done.”

  “But Carmody fathered your children!” Fanny gasped, her bright orange lipstick clashing with her orange body suit.

  “No, he didn’t,” Heller said stubbornly. “He planted them. Jack fathers them.”

  Fanny looked as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The cigarette between her fingers, meanwhile, had burned down to the filter. Suddenly she yelped, dropped the glowing butt onto the floor and stomped it out with her platform sandals.

  “Mother!” Heller lurched up into a sitting position.

  “It’s all right,” Jack said soothingly, looking over the edge of the bed. “It’s out. There’s a spot on the floor, but we’ll be moving soon, anyway.”

  “Moving!” Fanny bleated.

  “Yes, moving,” Heller said, folding her legs into a pretzel shape. “We’re going to buy a house.”

  Fanny was clearly astounded. “A house?”

  “With four bedrooms,” Heller informed her smugly, “and new living room furniture, a dining suite, and a king-size bed.”

  Fanny scoffed. “Yeah, right, and when are you going to manage that…in time for the kids to go off on their own?”

  “Today, hopefully,” Jack said, crossing his ankles with admirable nonchalance. “Since we’re paying cash we won’t have to worry about things like credit checks and loan approvals.”