“Oh, you’ve got magic fingers, Theo. If you weren’t marrying Wills, and if I weren’t already married to his father, I’d snatch you up.”
“Sorry, too late.” I grinned and dug my thumbs into the ball of her foot. It was nice to be appreciated.
She gave a relieved sigh, but then she bit her lip, looking concerned. “Sweetie, did it ever bother you?”
“That Dad fell in love with you?” Wills slid an arm around her shoulders and urged her to lean back against him. “Are you kidding? I started pushing him to ask you to marry him almost as soon as you moved in. We had a housekeeper’s suite in the house in Seaford,” he told me, “but since Alice had one of the upstairs bedrooms, we decided to rent it out.”
“And I was lucky enough to get it.”
“Yeah. Do you remember the night Dad knocked down the jerk you’d gone out with?”
“Yes. Jack had come this close to kissing me.” Her thumb and forefinger almost touched. “And when he didn’t, I was certain I’d ruined things, so I called…. Good grief, I can’t even remember his name! Talk about a mistake.”
“Dad had made you cry.”
“Jack did? What did he do?” It was fascinating, listening to stories of when my lover had been a little boy.
“Nothing. He was just trying to be adult about the whole thing.” Jill sent a rueful smile in my direction. “I was twenty. I thought if Jack didn’t want me, I’d just find someone who did, but Luke…that was his name! Luke got grabby. It was a good thing your dad was there.”
“Yeah.” There was nothing rueful about Wills’s smile; it was hard and gritty. “Twoey and I were there too.”
“Twoey had the sweetest nature,” Jill told me. “Most of the time she just looked like a big, dumb mutt…”
“But not then. She was ready to tear his throat out.”
“My protectors.” She patted the hand on her shoulder. “I seem to recall you were holding a baseball bat.”
“You bet. We were ready to help Dad, especially after the jerk landed a punch. He knocked Dad down.”
“Yes, and Jack told me to call 9-1-1. Luke was such an—” She cleared her throat and changed what she’d been about to say. “—such a dope. He thought your father wanted the police for backup.”
“I remember.” Wills grinned at me. “What Dad actually wanted was an ambulance for him. He beat the living crap out of him.”
“And then dumped him on the front seat of his car to sleep it off.”
Wills grew serious. “But still, Dad made you cry.”
I swallowed a smile. My lover could be stubborn when he wanted to.
“Wills, you have to remember he was twenty years older than me.”
“He still is.” He turned to me. “I was so angry with him for scaring off the one woman I’d known would be perfect for both of us.”
She tugged on his hand. “Listen to me. He didn’t want anyone—including me—to think he was taking advantage of me.”
“Okay, fine, but he made you cry. I told him if he couldn’t love you he’d at least better not scare you off, because I was going to marry you. I’d loved you since you were my babysitter, and I wanted you as part of our family any way I could get you.” Her eyes welled up with tears, and Wills’s expression became panicky. “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t mind me.” She waved toward the tissue box on the night table, and Wills pulled a few out for her. “It’s being pregnant. Lately I’ve been crying at the drop of a hat.” She held out her arms and waggled her fingers, and Wills hugged her, taking care not to squeeze her too hard. “The child of my heart,” she said softly. “I’m so glad. You’re getting a real gem, Theo. Treasure him.”
“I do.”
“You’re not supposed to say that until the wedding,” Wills teased.
“I can’t wait. I have to say it.” I met his gaze. “Until the end of my days.”
“Ah, Theo…” He rose and pulled me into his arms.
Jill cleared her throat. “Now tell me. What will you two be wearing?”
* * * *
So it turned out we got two surprises that Easter, and we wound up with one and a half extra guests we hadn’t been counting on.
But as Wills was fond of saying…and as I was coming to realize with his family…the more the merrier.
Easter with Wills’s family was amazing.
Celebrating Greek Easter with my family the following Sunday…not so much, although it didn’t start that way.
We sat around in the living room. Faster was sprawled across my lap, leaving hairs on my trousers—not that I minded. Miss Su did that as well—and I scratched his ears. Wills, who sat beside me, was talking food with Ma. He didn’t cook beyond nuking a mean frozen dinner, but he knew good food. He’d loved looking through the binder of his Mom’s recipes that Jill and Alice had put together for his birthday, and he and Ma talked about Greek versus Italian dishes.