Almost a Family

Molly put the sack of cookies on the table and smiled gently, more conscious than ever of how precarious life could be. Sara needed her mother. If Kim had been the one killed… Molly’s smile wobbled. She would have lost a sister. Sara would have lost a mother, and then who would she have had?

“She misses you.”

Kim smiled back, a perfect beam of maternal love. “I miss her. I’m going crazy in here.”

Jason put down his cardboard tray of cups. “Any news on when we can spring you?” he inquired softly.

She shook her head. “It’s still too soon. My ribs need more time, and I’ve had major abdominal surgery. There’s no way I could look after Sara myself.”

Her eyes moistened and her bottom lip quivered. “Thank you, both of you. I know it’s such an imposition…”

“Don’t be silly. Where else would I be?” Molly chided softly.

“In Calgary, doing your job.” Kim sniffed away her tears. “I know how important it is to you.”

Molly shrugged, wishing her sister hadn’t felt it necessary to point out the importance of her career in front of Jason. “You’re important to me.”

Sara’s eyes opened fully and she sat up. Jason grinned and gave her a cookie from the sack and a sip of the cooling hot chocolate. “We’d better get going,” he suggested. “You’ve got some contraband here and then you need some sleep. We’ll come back soon.”

Molly chuckled. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep Sara away now.”

She rose while Jason shoved Sara’s arms into her jacket. “Say bye to Mom,” he told her, and she did, giving Kim a huge kiss, and then snuggled into Jason’s shoulder. Molly winked at Kim as they left.

It wasn’t until they were crossing the parking lot that Molly felt Jason’s hand at the small of her back, the gentle pressure making the skin beneath her coat tingle. She looked up at Sara; she was sleeping already, her face nestled against Jason’s neck, lips dropped open in fatigue.

He’d be a wonderful father, she thought as she stared up at him. He’d always wanted to be one, and she wondered why he wasn’t by now. He had so much going for him—he was breathtakingly handsome, had a successful business, wanted a family. What woman wouldn’t want him?

Except her, obviously. She hadn’t been ready for a family and hadn’t been willing to give up her dreams for his. Now she had everything she wanted in her life in Calgary. Right.

They reached the car and she waited while he gently tucked a sleeping Sara into her seat. He came to open her door and reached around her body to put the key in the lock, his bulk pressing against her back. For a moment, just a moment, she let herself lean back against his weight, the frosty clouds of their breath mingling together in the air. She heard him swallow close to her ear, was dimly aware of the lock springing open in her door, then shuddered at the first contact of his lips on her hair.

What was he doing? His lips, warm in the cold winter air, touched the tender skin of her outer ear. All thoughts of what she wanted evaporated as she half-turned, resting her hands on his sheepskin collar and lifting her lips to touch his.

They were soft yet commanding, and she watched with fascination as his eyelids drifted closed, the long, dark lashes resting on his cheeks. His gloved hand reached up under her hair, cupping her neck, the gesture so familiar she felt like weeping as she leaned into him and her eyes slammed shut.

He tasted of coffee and a hint of toothpaste, but more than that, he tasted familiar. For years she’d forgotten that particular flavor, but now, it was like walking straight into the past. A taste that was only Jason Elliot, and it shook her to her toes.

Then he pulled back, rele

ased her hair and heaved a huge breath.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, and his long arm reached behind her to open her door.

“Me too,” she answered quietly, sliding on to the seat as he shut the door behind her.

Sorry that it had ended so soon. And sorry that she’d come home. Everything just got a hundred times more complicated.

Chapter Three

They were both silent on the drive back. Molly had nothing to say; her lips were still tingling from the taste of Jason’s mouth on hers. She told herself they were quiet because Sara was sleeping in the back, but she was only fooling herself. She had no idea what to say to Jason at this moment. Her mind was effectively wiped clean. His hands gripped the wheel and he stared out the windshield, never glancing in her direction. His jaw, his beautiful rugged jaw, was set, hard and condemning. She wasn’t sure if he was mad at her or at himself, and she didn’t really want to find out. It was crystal clear he was angry, and she wasn’t up to getting into it.

The kiss had been more, and less, than she’d remembered.

He drove down the hill on Regent Street, then turned down King, heading along the river, dark and black in the January evening. Molly looked around her, first at the cathedral then at the stately old Georgian homes on Waterloo Row and the stretch of shoreline, commonly called “The Green”, which was not green at all now, but held an unearthly glow as the streetlights shone on the blanket of snow. When she’d been doing her undergraduate degree, she’d spent a lot of time in this part of town, going for beers at their favorite pub on Thursday nights, grabbing lunch from one of the small restaurants snuggled in between office buildings, or studying on a bench under stately elm trees. Now, driving past it in the winter dark, she felt so far removed from this town and that part of her life that she knew she had come back a stranger.

What must have been going through Jason’s mind to make him touch her in such a way? And what equal madness had made her turn into his arms, lifting her face to his like a sunflower to the sun? It solved nothing, didn’t change the past or the ways they’d hurt each other. All these years she’d thought they’d made a clean break, but twenty-four hours after her arrival home, and he’d already had his mouth on hers. It had to be simple curiosity—it was the only explanation that made sense.

When Jason pulled into Kim’s driveway, Molly said softly, “If you’ll take the keys and open the door, I’ll get Sara.” She was happy now that the little girl was between them, running interference. Having him walk her alone to the door would be too tempting, too frightening.