She glanced over her shoulder at her mom in a rocker with her swollen feet propped on the edge of the mattress. Nikki settled on the remaining patch of bed, next to her mother's puffy toes. "Are you sure you don't want me to keep him up at the apartment so you and Dad can have the run of the house?"
Rena patted her rounded stomach. "I'm not so sure we'll be doing any running, but we may take you up on the babysitting service for an afternoon sometime soon. For tonight, I think Jamie needs routine and to be near his daddy."
She totally understood and agreed. "People say kids are flexible, but I see in the classroom all the time how they thrive on structure."
"There's so much about the military way of life that's not normal for kids, I've always tried to keep what I could constant."
"I turned out okay for the most part." Other than a dead ex-boyfriend.
"I hope so." Rena nudged Nikki's hip with her crossed feet. "We're certainly proud of you."
"Thanks. I'm trying my best, even if I screw up."
All that water retention in her mother's toes tugged at Nikki's heart as she thought of the grief she'd brought during an already stressful time. She may not have actually wielded whatever bashed in Gary's skull, but she'd been on a self-destructive path for months.
Could she trust her judgment to have magically improved now? "I'm sorry I've caused you and Dad so much heartache the past few months."
Her mother studied her through perceptive eyes, taking a slow swallow from her glass of ice water while a couple of trucks growled along the deserted night road outside. "Do you want to tell me what happened to send you into such a tail-spin last spring?"
"Not really. Sorry." Telling would only make her mother upset with Carson when their relationship was about to become public. Really public, if the frozen tension on her father's face was anything to go by.
She should say something to her father before bed, even though she and Carson had discussed speaking with her father in the morning. Her mother wouldn't be surprised. She must suspect from how much time Carson had been spending around the house.
Had she known before? That "Mom Radar" was a spooky, perceptive thing.
Nikki refused to fidget like a kid. She was an adult. She didn't need her parents' permission, but she didn't want to make things tough at work for Carson or her dad. "I should let you go so you and Dad can enjoy your reunion."
Rena showed no signs of budging from her comfy spot. "I can talk a little while longer. Your father's busy for the moment anyway."
"Busy?" Uh-oh. Premonition trickled down her spine like the beads of condensation on her mother's glass.
"He's out on the porch waiting to talk to Scorch."
"Sir, huh."
The sardonic words from an obviously pissed off papa echoed across the lawn as Carson opened his truck door in the Price driveway. Looming on the porch, J.T. pinned him with a shotgun-father look as piercing as any bullet, illuminated all too clearly by the lamppost.
Carson finished stepping from his truck, not at all surprised to find J.T. waiting for him. They'd both known he would come by, an unspoken agreement.
At least the irate father hadn't made a scene at the squadron in front of everyone, because Carson damn well wouldn't have stood for Nikki's name being tossed around. As if she hadn't already been through enough gossip lately.
Thank God, her father apparently felt the same.
But now, after all the welcome-home partying was done, there was no more evading the question that had dogged the man's eyes throughout the evening.
"About that 'sir' thing..." Carson climbed the front steps, meeting J.T. face-to-face. "You caught me unaware. My nanny ingrained in me young to respect my elders."
"Elders?" Biceps flexed inside his flight suit. "You're really not getting on my good side today…sir. And I'm thinking it's important to you to be on my good side."
No-damn-kidding. Nikki was tight with her family, one of the many things he respected about her, and he refused to cause friction in the Price household. "I don't want to cause your daughter any grief and if you're upset that would upset her very much."
A vein pulsed in J.T.'s temple, a bad sign from such a usually laid-back guy. "Is there something going on with you and my baby girl?"
Baby girl?
Carson exhaled a long stream of cloudy air. He was definitely too old for this. But then he was dating a much younger woman, and hell, he wished his own parents had given a crap about his sister. He searched for the right words, the whole tongue-tied feeling completely alien for him, but then choosing the right words had never felt so important.
J.T. stepped closer, nose to nose and apparently more than a little miffed at Carson's extended silence. "Sir, I'm finding it hard to remember you're an officer. I'm finding it even tougher not to kick your ass off my porch."