“Hi, sweetie, come on in!” Madison said, pulling away from Kyle.

Kyle stood. “Hi, munchkin.”

She glared at Kyle.

He hunkered down to her level. “Your mommy was having a nightmare.”

“Were you sleeping in here?” she asked him.

“I’m in the guest room down the hall.”

“No, you’re not. You’re right here.”

“I was sleeping in the guest room down the hall. Then your mommy had a nightmare.”

Carrie Anne glanced at Madison, then nodded gravely and looked back at Kyle. “She has a lot of awful dreams.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” Madison murmured.

Carrie Anne was still studying Kyle. “Are you going to marry Mommy?”

“Carrie Anne!” Madison gasped, stunned.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, Mommy. He’s not really your brother,” Carrie Anne said. “That’s what Lindy told Daddy. Daddy’s worried because he said you were supposed to have your own little girl, Kyle, and he doesn’t want you thinking that you’re my daddy or anything like that. He told her that he liked you a lot, though, even if the only thing wrong with him was that he wasn’t you.”

Madison bounded out of bed, lifting her daughter up in her arms. “Carrie Anne, you know you’re not supposed to listen to grown-up conversations, and you should never repeat things that Daddy says. Remember how I told you earlier that I didn’t want to hear what Daddy and Lindy were talking about?”

Kyle rose, standing before her. He was trying to hide a very amused smile.

“I guess I should go back to the guest room.”

Carrie Anne nodded solemnly. “You can’t sleep in here unless you’re married.”

“I know that,” Kyle said. “And you know what? I like your daddy, and I did lose a little baby girl a long time ago, so it’s nice get to spend some time with you. I don’t think he minds that. I’ll ask him next time we talk.”

“Go ahead,” Madison murmured. “Because I’m going to kill him!”

“Who? Daddy?” Carrie Anne asked, concerned.

“No. I mean…You know what? I’m going to make some hot chocolate. How’s that?”

“I’ll start the water,” Kyle said. “And I’m going to want Kahlua in mine!”

He left the room. Madison set Carrie Anne down. “Now, you, young lady!”

Carrie Anne frowned, her little face puckering. “I’m sorry, Mommy, what did I do?”

“Oh…” Madison groaned softly. She hugged her daughter to her chest. “So, you think maybe Daddy plans on marrying Lindy?”

“Maybe.”

“You know, Daddy comes down here a lot. I bet he’s been getting to know her for a long time, making sure she’d be a good stepmother before he decided to introduce you to her.”

“Daddy would do that, wouldn’t he? Make sure that a stepmother would like me? Stepmothers can be really bad, you know. Like in ‘Snow White.’ And ‘Cinderella.”’

Madison laughed softly. “Daddy loves you more than anyone in the whole world. He would always think of you first. And so would I.”

“Then it’s okay.”

“What’s okay?”

“If Daddy marries Lindy. And if you marry Kyle.”

“Honey, you know, Kyle really lives near Washington. He’s here to work, but when he finishes, he—”

“Hey, water’s boiling! Where’s the powdered stuff?” Kyle called from the kitchen.

“I’ll show you!” Carrie Anne cried out, running from the bedroom to help him. With a sigh, Madison followed.

Carrie Anne chattered as they drank. She began by telling Kyle about her friends in kindergarten. Then she told him about the great movie he had missed.

And he was good with her. He listened. He didn’t pretend to listen, he really listened. When he asked her what she thought about the movie, he really wanted to hear answer.

Sipping her hot chocolate, listening, Madison was sorry again. His wife and child should have lived. He would have been a good father.

Finally she broke in. “Carrie Anne, you have to get some sleep.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

“Want to sleep with me?”

“No.”

She kissed her mother. Then she kissed Kyle. Madison walked her back to her bedroom. When Carrie Anne was tucked in, Madison went back to the kitchen, only to discover that. Kyle had returned to his own room. She did the same.

It was a very long night.

Saturday morning, Madison decided to get artistic with breakfast.

The coffee was already made when she woke up, and when she tapped on Kyle’s door, she discovered that he was busy at his computer, which he’d plugged in on the desk near the window. “Sorry to interrupt. Thanks,” she said, and lifted her cup of coffee to him.

He nodded briefly, looking at her.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“It’s all right.”

“I’m going to make Carrie Anne breakfast. Want some?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll send Carrie Anne to tell you when it’s ready.”

She told herself that she didn’t need to impress him with her domestic skills—or lack of them. She wasn’t really a great cook, but the things she could prepare, she did well. She decided to make French toast, strawberries with hand-whipped cream, omelettes with peppers, mushrooms and onions, fresh juice…and in the end, she broke down and fried bacon. She loved bacon, though she almost never indulged.

Carrie Anne helped her set the table in the breakfast nook. It was a pretty spot at the rear of the kitchen, overlooking the screened-in pool and patio. She had invested in her house as her first big expenditure after her divorce, thinking a new home was the way for her to begin a new life. She still loved the house, even if it sometimes felt awfully big just for her, Carrie Anne and sometimes Peggy. A young couple with a baby had had the house custom-built before discovering the husband was being transferred to Toronto, and they had thought of all kinds of wonderful little details. The breakfast nook was one of them. It had a bay window that overlooked the bubbling spa end of the pool. It was pretty and peaceful.

“Wow!” Kyle said, arriving with Carrie Anne. He was in denim cutoffs, sandals and a black tank top decorated with the name of a popular rock band. A lock of his dark hair fell over his forehead, as if he’d been running his fingers through it while deep in thought. He absently repeated the gesture, looking at Carrie Anne, the breakfast table and Madison, behind the counter. “Carrie Anne, do you have breakfast like this every morning?” he asked seriously.

“Oh, no. I usually have Cheerios and Mommy eats stuff with raisins in it.”

Kyle smiled. “Well, then, this is special.”

“I’m feeling restless, I guess,” Madison murmured. She looked reproachfully at her daughter. “And we do cook on weekends. Always.”

“Always?” Kyle asked Carrie Anne.

She smiled happily and shrugged. They had become coconspirators.

“Sit down and eat and quit torturing me,” Madison advised. As she was pouring juice, the phone began to ring.

Carrie Anne ran to the counter, then stood by the phone. “Can I answer, Mommy, or should I let the machine get it?”

“Ah, so you usually do screen your calls,” Kyle murmured, helping himself to food.

“And you don’t?” Madison said, indicating that Carrie Anne should answer the phone.

“Hello?” Carrie Anne said into the receiver. She smiled right away and looked at Madison. “It’s Auntie Kaila. She wants us to come over. She says she knows Kyle is here, and she thinks he should quit working so hard and come over this afternoon to swim and have a barbecue. Uncle Dan is home, and he wants to cook. Can we, Mom, can we?”

Madison hesitated. “Kyle may need to work.”

“If I’m needed, they’ll call me. I put in a dozen hours yesterday. I wouldn’t mind an afternoon in the sun.”

“Mommy?” Carrie Anne said hopefully.

“Sure. Tell her to give us time to eat, clean up and get some stuff together. What does she want us to bring?”

Carrie Anne turned studiously back to the phone. “Aunt Kaila, what do you want us to bring?”

She listened and turned back to Madison. “She said to bring ourselves.”