Page 51 of Forever Mine

Chapter 18

I’d stayed up half the night talking to Scott and Saturday morning descended like a flood. I got up early, made breakfast for Mom and the girls, laundered Angel’s uniforms, and completed housework Mom said she hadn’t managed to do—although I told her it was okay not to do anything. Then, I dropped off Mom and Renée and did my shopping with Angel in tow.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and now she was doing homework while I flipped through a magazine. At least, that’s what I was doing before Scott called.

He’d been working since early this morning and then drove to Ocala—a four-hour trip—to see his brother and parents.

We’d now been talking for fifteen minutes and I wondered what his brother was thinking about him coming for a visit and then settling in for a video chat.

I paid attention when Scott said my name. “Where did you go just now?”

“Sorry, my mind wandered.”

“Good thing.” His eyes smoldered as he stared at me. “You know what I want to do right now?”

I laughed, “With that look in your eyes? Yeah, I think I can make an accurate guess.”

“What d’you want to do, Uncle Scott?”

I sucked in a deep breath that turned into a cough. Angel had gotten up and was leaning over the back of the sofa.

“Hey, Angel. I just wanted to give your mommy a hug.”

“Maybe I can give her one for you until you come back.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Give her a kiss for me, too.”

Angel grabbed me around the neck and smacked her lips against my cheek. “I love you, Mommy.”

I stroked her chin. “I love you, too, honey.”

Scott’s eyes were soft when our gazes connected.

I waited until Angel went back to her homework before I said another word. My comment emerged in a half-whisper. “When you have kids around, you learn to be careful with what you say.”

Scott chuckled and swiped the hair off his forehead. “Stop acting as if she didn't take you by surprise, too.”

My answering grin said all he wanted to know. “Yeah, but that's your fault for chatting me up and taking my mind off what's happening around here.”

Someone spoke to Scott, and he looked away from the phone. “Olivia, come and meet Vaughn.”

His image shifted on the screen and in the next moment a cute, olive-skinned girl with huge brown eyes waved at me. Her wide smile revealed a gap where her front teeth should have been. “Hi, Vaughn.”

“Hey, Olivia, how are you today?”

“I'm good.” She wrapped one arm around Scott's neck. “Uncle Scott came to see me and Mommy and Daddy today. He said you're in Jamaica.”

“That's true.”

“He also said you have a little girl just like me.”

Her missing teeth made her super-cute. I smiled back at her as I answered, “That's also true.”

Olivia fidgeted and bumped Scott’s hand. Her pink tee shirt with a ‘Daddy’s Girl’ logo came into focus when he got the phone right side up. In a shrill voice, Olivia asked, “Can I see her?”

Scott tipped his head to the side. “As long as Vaughn is okay with it.”

Craning my next toward Angel, I called her over.