He studied her for another beat, then answered. “Hello?” After a few seconds of listening, his demeanor changed. “Yes, this is Wes Daniels.” He covered the receiver. “Family court.”
Bethany wasn’t given a chance to react. Without disconnecting the call, Wes wrapped an arm around Bethany’s thighs and hauled her off the stepping stool and out of the house. They left a bunch of confusion and amusement in their wake, but she was way more interested in the phone call and the fact that Wes wanted her there by his side while he took it.
“Yes,” he said, setting Bethany down and closing the door behind them, motioning for everyone on the lawn to be quiet. “You want to do the house visit tonight?” Wes turned in a circle while raking a hand through his hair and Bethany knew what he saw. Hours of manual labor that had yet to be completed. “Tonight is going to be hard. Is there any way we could shoot for—”
Bethany waved her hands at him. “Say yes,” she whispered. “Yes. We’ll make it work.”
Wordlessly he asked if she was sure and Bethany nodded vigorously. “I . . . Yes, tonight is fine.” He cleared his throat. “Six o’clock. We’ll see you then.”
Wes hung up the phone and reached for Bethany, but she was already on her way to him. He locked her in an embrace and they stayed that way for long moments, swaying side to side. “She says they’ll likely approve the temporary guardianship if the visit goes well tonight,” he said.
“It will,” Bethany responded. “Of course it will.”
If there was one thing Bethany knew how to do, it was charm. She might as well have majored in schmoozing in college, with a minor in sweet-talking people with clipboards. They had this in the bag. Wes and Laura were depending on her and she wouldn’t let them down.
Something was eating at Wes’s gut, but he couldn’t quite give it a name.
He sat on the couch with Laura beside him, trying to concentrate on reading her Judy Moody, but Bethany kept drawing his attention to where she bustled back and forth in the kitchen.
She was in her element arranging chocolates on a plate and lighting candles. Her hair was pulled up, diamonds winking in her ears. She wore some kind of tight black one-shoulder dress that showed off her legs. Gone was the woman who’d been streaked with paint in lost-cause workout pants that afternoon. She was so beautiful; he could barely hear his own voice over the rap of his heartbeat. There was a jangle in her nerves, too, though, and it was impossible to ignore.
He’d done enough research to know that if the court-appointed visitor didn’t approve the home as a suitable place for Laura, they could potentially appeal the decision and try again. He was going to see the guardianship through, one way or another. That’s not what worried him. It was Bethany. Their relationship was so new, and while she’d grown more relaxed and comfortable in her own skin, he could still sense her occasional panic when their new living situation turned her into a fish out of water.
She might be worrying less and less about being perfect, but this single-minded intensity she was putting into tonight reminded him of Bethany Before. He was afraid if they failed, her old insecurities might come tumbling back out.
There was an anxious feeling in his gut telling him tonight’s decision could put a crack down the center of what they’d built. Had he put too much pressure on her? He was the one who’d said they would take things slowly. Maybe he should have tried harder to find an apartment for him and Laura while he and Bethany grew stronger?
As swiftly as his worries rose to the surface, he stuffed them back down. There was only enough room for one nervous person in this house and he’d already decided it couldn’t be him. He needed to be the picture of confidence at all times until Bethany knew for certain he wasn’t budging. Until then and as long as she needed, he was a boulder without a single crack. Solid.
The doorbell rang and Laura’s head popped up. “Is that them?”
His explanation to Laura had gone like this: The town had grown suspicious that Bethany’s house really was an ice palace being disguised by magic. Someone needed to come over and confirm no shenanigans were taking place. “Yes, that’s them.” He rose from the couch and pulled his niece to her feet. “Why don’t you go grab one of those chocolates Bethany put out? Wash your hands afterward.”
“’Kay!”
Laura ran off and Wes let out a long breath, moving to the entryway and meeting Bethany in front of the door. She squeezed his hand and stepped back so he could open it, revealing a thin woman in her sixties, arms crossed, with not so much as a hint of a smile on her face. Once again, Wes experienced that ominous click in his gut. “Daniels and Castle residence?”
“Yes,” Bethany said brightly. “Please come in.”
The woman entered the house unceremoniously, her eyes seeming to land everywhere at once. “My name is Paula.” She produced a business card from her jacket pocket and handed it over to Wes. “Just go about your night normally, please. I don’t require a guided tour. I’ll have a look around myself.”
“Oh, okay,” Bethany said haltingly. “Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee?”
“No, thank you,” Paula replied, already breezing past them.
Wes stepped close to Bethany and took her hand, but it was clammy now where before it was warm. “Hey. Come read with us. It’ll be fine.”
Her smile wobbled. “It will be fine. I know.”
Wes didn’t hear a word of the story he read to Laura for the next fifteen minutes. He was only aware of the methodical footsteps moving through the house, entering and exiting rooms. Laura found a comfortable spot under Bethany’s arm and started to nod off, and it seemed like nothing could go wrong. How could there be a negative outcome to anything when his niece was more relaxed than he’d ever seen her? Bethany had been transforming right in front of his eyes, slowly but surely, into someone who could laugh when pancake batter plopped on the ground and who didn’t mind loud cartoons. She was fucking extraordinary and the kind of woman Laura could benefit from having in her life, before and after her mother returned—and he had faith that his sister could and would come back.
There was no better place for his niece, and God knew there was nowhere else he wanted to be than right there with this woman he’d lost his heart to.
So why was his pulse ticking faster and faster in his ears?
He found out when Paula returned from her tour of the upstairs. One look at her pinched features and he knew.
“Can I speak with you outside, please?”
Bethany shot to her feet so fast, she almost lost her balance, but Wes caught her hand in time and brought her around the couch to the front door. He was grateful for the gentle snores coming from Laura because he didn’t want her to hear the bad news obviously headed their way. It was already hitting him like a crowbar to the stomach, the blow sending out reverberations of numbness. How did this happen?
“I’m sorry to do this,” Paula began, hesitantly. “I don’t want you to think this is a poor reflection of yourselves or your home, but after examining Laura’s environment, I can’t recommend this as a qualified living space for a child her age. Either she’s only moved in recently or no accommodations have been made to make this house kid friendly. It looks like an interior design showroom. Really, I find the home . . . cold.” At that, Bethany flinched and Wes closed his eyes. “You’ll have an opportunity to appeal the decision and I could be sent back for another visit, but for now . . . I’m recommending the temporary guardianship be put on hold . . .”