Smiling, he got up and scooped the boy out of his crib, pressing a kiss to his soft cheek before grabbing fresh clothing for him and carrying him quickly and quietly out of the room.
He slipped down the stairs and grabbed the diaper bag from its place by the door. It didn’t sound like Evangeline had woken up, so he would just change the baby downstairs and then maybe she would sleep a while more.
It’ll give me time to think…
But as soon as Leo was dressed and taking his bottle, he heard soft footsteps in the hall, and there was Evangeline.
She wore jeans and a soft gray sweater, but somehow, standing in the hallway with a nervous expression in her bright green eyes, she was more beautiful to him than any woman he had ever known.
“Hi,” she murmured.
“Good morning,” he told her, remembering himself and shifting his eyes back to the baby.
Now more than ever he had to be aware of his behavior.
It sounds like you really like that guy, and the baby too, her brother had said.
He would have loved to hear those words in any othercircumstance. But Evangeline was vulnerable, more than he had known. He needed to keep that in the front of his mind.
“Um, I was wondering if we could go somewhere today,” she said.
If she had been anyone else he wouldn’t have noticed that the pitch of her voice was slightly higher than usual, like she was nervous.
Does she know I overheard?
But maybe it was just that he’d left and not come home until after she was asleep. Thinking back on it now, he knew it had been wrong to leave her with Leo like that.
But at the time, his emotions had gotten the best of him.
“Of course,” he told her. “Wherever you want. Sorry I left you on duty so late.”
She nodded to him, her lips pressed together as if she were trying to stop herself from asking him where he’d been.
That was for the best because he wasn’t going to tell her anyway. Nothing had come of it.
“I’ll start some coffee,” she said, hurrying to the kitchen.
Later that morning,they headed out. Flurries floated down from a gray sky that looked as soft and pale as a kitten’s belly.
Instead of going east toward the village,they headed west, further into farmland, past red barns and fields with golden stalks peeking up through the blanket of snow.
“Why this park?” Grayson asked Evangeline.
She shrugged, her eyes fixed on the view out the window.
So the mystery would stay a mystery. Leo was too little to have a preference about a park. A walk around town or even up and down the driveway was usually enough to engage his senses and give him the fresh air that put color in his cheeks and helped him get a good nap.
Driving an hour out into the country in the wintertime to visit a different town park felt excessive to Grayson. But if it filled the day and melted the awkwardness between them, it was a small price to pay.
He leaned forward and turned the radio on, knowing the Christmas music always made her smile, and usually made her sing.
Darlene Love belted out a plea for her baby to come home for Christmas through the speakers.
“Youwantto hear me sing, huh?” Evangeline said, turning to him with a teasing smile that he felt in his chest.
He nodded slowly and she laughed, her eyes sparkling.
“You asked for it,” she said, bursting into song.
