Wife Wanted. Christine Rimmer
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turned to see Toby hovering just inside the front door, his little mouth quirking shyly upward in response to Natalie Fortune’s greeting, his small hand resting companionably in the ruff of the Saint Bernard, which stood at his side.
Rick was stunned. His son had actually smiled.
Her ridiculous platform shoes clumping with each step, Natalie tramped right around Rick and across the hard-wood floor of the foyer to Toby, where she dropped into a crouch. The big dog took a hint from his mistress and plunked down on his hind quarters. Together, Natalie and Toby petted the dog.
“I see you’ve already met Bernie,” she said.
Toby nodded.
“And I’m Natalie. What’s your name?”
“Toby. His name’s Toby,” Rick supplied quickly.
Toby reached out shyly and touched one of the bangles on Natalie’s dress. A silvery laugh escaped her. In a vamp’s voice, she said, “You like? Come zeez way, my darlink.” Taking Toby by the hand, she rose. The Saint Bernard trailed behind as she led the boy back into the parlor, circling around the bemused Rick for the second time.
At one end of the sofa lay a huge old steamer trunk, its lid flung back, various articles of clothing spilling out. Natalie led Toby right to it.
“This trunk was my grandma Kate’s,” she announced. “It belongs in the attic.” She pantomimed wiping her brow. “Don’t ask me how I managed to get it down here. Boy, was it heavy!” She groaned. “And how I’ll get it back up is another thing.” She shrugged. “I’ll think of something. Later. But for right now, Bernie and I have been having fun. I found this fabulous dress in there.” She looked down at her bangles and beads and then up long enough to grant Rick a wink. “Not to mention these incredible shoes. And some of my grandpa Ben’s things are in here, too.”
She knelt by the trunk. Toby stood to her left, and the Saint Bernard dropped to his haunches on her right. “You see, Toby, this house was my grandma and grandpa’s ‘second honeymoon’ house.” She began pulling things from the trunk. “When they’d been married a long, long time and two of their kids were pretty much grown, they bought this house across the lake from their big mansion.”
She pulled out a flowered scarf, a wide-brimmed pink hat and a black patent-leather clutch purse, all of which she set on the floor. “Do you know why they bought it? I’ll tell you. They bought it because they realized they’d grown apart over the years and they needed to find each other again. This house was the perfect place for that. It was simple and quiet and comfortable and they both fell in love with it. And they hoped that they might fall in love with each other again when they stayed here.”
She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And do you know what?” Toby was watching her, his small face rapt. “They did find each other again. Nine months after they spent one beautiful week here, my grandma had another baby.”
Natalie began dressing the Saint Bernard in the things she’d pulled from the trunk. “It’s true.” She slanted the wide-brimmed hat just so on the dog’s head. “After one short stay in this house, Grandma Kate had my aunt Rebecca, who is only a few years older than I am.” Natalie tied the flowered scarf around the dog’s neck and stuck the purse in his mouth. Then she clapped her hands in delight and declared, “He looks great, don’t you think?”
Toby actually nodded. The dog thumped his heavy tail.
Natalie looked up and caught Rick watching her. She flashed him a quick grin, then rose and advised Toby, “Go ahead without me. Bernie loves to play dress-up.” Bernie managed to bark in agreement without dropping the purse from his big, droopy jaws. “I’m going to show your father the house.”
She moved out from behind the trunk. “Ready for the tour?”
Captivated, Rick heard himself say, “Sure.”
She marched past him in her silly, glittery shoes. He fell in step behind her, but couldn’t resist one backward glance at his son, who was trying on a World War II army helmet and ducking to avoid Bernie’s affectionate tongue.
Natalie led him to the foyer and up the stairs first, explaining that the house had been thoroughly modernized four years before, that the kitchen had been remodeled and a bath and a half added.
“Now all the windows are double-paned.” She smiled over her shoulder at him. “And you’ll even have air-conditioning, for those hot summer days.”
Rick listened to her little sales pitch, but his mind was on what had happened in the parlor. As they reached the top of the landing, he couldn’t help remarking, “You have a way with kids.”
She shrugged her padded shoulders, and the beadwork on her dress glinted in the buttery sunlight that spilled in the window over the stairs. “Kids and dogs. What can I say?”
“Next you’ll be telling me you’re a kindergarten teacher.”
“First and second grade, actually. I teach at the school in town.”
“Town?”
“You came out from the Cities, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if you keep going on the road you took to get here, you’ll come to Travistown, around the far end of the lake. Population three hundred and forty. We have our own school, though a few grades always get combined, and we have a market, a hardware store and a couple of gift and clothing shops. And Walleye Property Management, of course.”
“Right. Bud Tankhurst is one of the agents there.”
“Bud Tankhurst is the only agent there. He owns it and he runs it. His wife, Latilla, does the books for him.”
“I see.” Her eyes really were the biggest, brownest eyes he’d ever seen. And her face was…familiar.
Her smooth brow furrowed. “Is Toby all right?”
Rick tensed. “What do you mean?” He knew he sounded defensive.
She leaned against the banister. “I mean, is something bothering him? He seems…too quiet. I don’t think he said a word just now.”
Rick looked away. He’d been in this woman’s house for ten minutes, max. She was a stranger. But she didn’t feel like a stranger. She drew him. And in ten minutes, she’d already accomplished the impossible: She’d made his little boy smile.
He met her eyes once more. “Both Toby’s mother and his maternal grandmother died several months ago. A car accident. Toby was in the car when it happened.”
Natalie made a small sound of distress.
“Toby hasn’t spoken since the accident.”
“Oh… I’m so sorry….”
“His mother and I were divorced. And I…hadn’t seen Toby in a while. That’s why I’m interested in this place. Toby’s doctor says Toby’s making progress, but that he would get better even faster if we had more time together, just the two of us. Time for Toby to learn for certain that he can trust me. And time for me to get to know him better. Does that make sense?”
Those big eyes were full of understanding. “Yes, it does. Perfect sense.” She came away from the banister. “Let me show you the rest of the house.”
He thought that he could stand here talking to her forever, but all he said was “Yes, that’s a good idea.”
She pushed the doors open on two small bedrooms and showed him the bath the rooms shared. “These will go with the rental.”
He looked across the hall at two closed doors. She caught the direction of his gaze and explained, “That’s my bedroom, a bath and a sitting room. There’s a master bedroom and a study downstairs, so I was hoping that maybe we could just leave my private rooms out of the arrangement—if it’s only going to be you and Toby.”