Chapter 9 #2
Two peas in a pod, Jacob thought, pleased that he’d been able to dig up the expression. The same coloring, the same bone structure, the same frank, measuring looks. Taking the initiative, Jacob stepped forward and offered a hand.
“Mr. Stone.”
Since one arm was still holding his daughter—a bit possessively—William stuck the phone in the back pocket of his jeans before he shook Jacob’s hand.
“Hornblower,” Sunny continued, enjoying herself. “Jacob Hornblower. Cal’s brother.”
“No kidding.” The handshake became more enthusiastic, the smile more friendly. “Well, it’s nice to see you. We were beginning to think Cal had made up his family. Come on in. Caro’s around somewhere.”
He released Jacob but kept a firm hold on Sunny as he led the way through the foyer into the living room. Jacob got the impression of bold colors mixed with pastels. And, again, elegant. A simple, timeless elegance.
A few pieces of glittery crystal, gleaming antiques and, of course, what he now realized was Caroline Stone’s stunning art. If Jacob was surprised to find her woven masterpieces so casually displayed on the walls, he was speechless to see another spread on the floor as a rug.
“Have a seat,” William was saying as he walked thoughtlessly over what Jacob considered a priceless work of art. “How about a drink?”
“No, nothing. Thank you.” He was staring at an ornamental lemon tree in the window. His own father nurtured the same type of plant.
“You’ll have to have tea,” Sunny said, patting Jacob’s hand as she sat on the sofa beside him. “If you don’t, you’ll hurt Daddy’s feelings.”
“Of course.” He glanced up at William again and caught his narrowed-eyed, speculative look.
The phone in William’s back pocket rang. He ignored it. Recognizing the gleam in her father’s eye and wanting to delay the questions for the time being, Sunny dropped the banana peel in his hand. “I’d just love some, Daddy. How about Oriental Ecstasy?”
“Fine. I’ll take care of it.”
He disappeared through a doorway, the phone still shrilling in his pocket.
Sunny chuckled and put her hand on Jacob’s again. “I suppose I should warn you . . .” She tilted her head, curious. Jacob was gawking—she couldn’t think of another word for his expression—at one of her mother’s wall hangings. “J.T.? Would you like to tune in?”
“Yes. What?”
“I was going to warn you, my father’s nosy. He’ll ask you all kinds of questions, most of them personal. He can’t help it.”
“All right.” He couldn’t resist. Rising, he walked over to the rectangle of cloth and ran his fingers over the soft material and bleeding colors.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s very beautiful.”
She got up to stand beside him. “She’s become a very well respected artist.”
Respected was a mild word for Caroline Stone. Her work was found behind glass in museums. It was studied and revered by art students throughout the settled universe. And he was here, running his fingers over an exquisite piece of it.
“She used to sell blankets and things for grocery money.”
“That’s a myth.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Nothing.” He dropped his hand, shoved it into his pocket.
For the first time since he had stepped off the ship he felt totally disoriented.
These were people he had learned about from study disks.
Historical figures. Yet he was here, in their home.
He was in love with their daughter. How could he be in love with a woman who had lived, and died, centuries before he had been born?
Panic. He tasted it. Turning, he gripped her arms. Reality, solid and warm. He was holding it in his hands. “Sunny.”
“What’s wrong?” He was so pale, and his eyes were so dark. “What is it?”
He just shook his head. There was nothing he could say. No words he knew to explain it. Instead, he brought his mouth down on hers and let her flavor chase away the fear.
“I love you.”
“I know.” Moved by the desperation in his voice, she lifted a hand to his cheek. The urge to soothe and ease was still new to her. “We’ll both get used to it eventually.”
“Hello.”
They drew apart to see Caroline standing in the doorway.
Her dark, straight hair skimmed her shoulders.
Beaded columns swung at her ears. There was a small smile on her face, a quietly lovely face that was animated by large, amused eyes.
She was wearing a baggy man’s shirt, trim denim pants and beaded moccasins. In her arms she held a gurgling baby.
“Mom.” Sunny dashed across the room to hug both woman and child.
She was taller than Caroline and had to bend slightly to give her the same enthusiastic kiss she had given her father.
Laughing, she took the baby. Then, holding him above her head, she began to turn in a circle.
“Hi, Sam! How’s it going? Oh, you’re getting so big! ”
“He has his sister’s appetite,” Caroline pointed out.
Grinning, Sunny planted the giggling baby on her hip. “J.T., this is my mother, Caroline, and my brother, King Samuel.”
“J.T.” Caroline’s artist’s eyes had already seen the resemblance and made the connection. “You must be Cal’s brother.”
“Yes.” The sense of unreality came back as she crossed the room. Rather than offering a hand, she kissed him.
“We were hoping we’d finally meet some of Cal’s family. He’s very proud of you.”
“Is he?” A trace of resentment came through in his tone.
Caroline noticed it, let it pass. “Yes. Did your parents make the trip with you?”
“No. They weren’t able to come.”
“Oh.” The disappointment in her eyes was brief but sincere. “Well, I hope we can get together one day. Where’s Will?” she asked Sunny.
“Making tea.”
“Of course. Please, sit down. You’re an astrophysicist?”
“That’s right.” He settled back on the sofa, with Caroline Stone opposite him and Sunny on the floor with the baby.
“J.T.’s into time travel at the moment.”
“Time travel?” Caroline smiled and crossed her slender legs. “Will’ll go crazy. Though I think parallel universes are his current interest.”
“What happened to reincarnation?”
“He’s still a staunch disciple. He’s convinced he was a member of the first Continental Congress.”
“Always the revolutionary.” Sunny tickled her brother’s belly as she smiled up at Jacob. “My father likes to pick controversial subjects so he can argue about them. Oh, look! Sam’s crawling!”
“A newly acquired skill.” With two parts pride and one part wonder, Caroline watched her chubby, towheaded son pull himself across the rug. “Will’s already taken a caseful of videos.”
“I’m entitled,” William said as he wheeled in a tea cart. “As I remember, Sunny went from crawl to walk to run so fast we hardly had time to blink.”
“And you recorded it all on that secondhand movie camera.” Caroline rose, stepped over her son, and kissed Will before she helped him with the tea.
“So . . .” William had already gone over his list of questions in the kitchen. “. . . did you just get into Portland?”
“This afternoon,” Jacob told him, and accepted his cup of tea.
“You were looking for Cal when you tracked down Sunny.”
“That’s right.” He sipped, trying to resolve himself to the fact that he was drinking Herbal Delight with the man who had invented it. “He’d given me the—” coordinates nearly slipped out “—directions to the cabin.”
“The cabin?” The teacup paused on the way to William’s lips. “You’ve been to the cabin—with Sunny?”
“We had a hell of a snowstorm last week.” Sunny laid a hand lightly on her father’s knee. “Lost power for a couple of days.”
“Together?”
She managed to keep her expression bland. “It’s hard to lose it separately in a space as small as the cabin.”
Amused, Caroline watched her son crawl over Jacob’s feet. “It’s a shame you missed Cal and Libby. I hope you plan to wait until they get back.”
The baby was chewing on his pant leg. After setting his teacup aside, Jacob reached down to set Sam in his lap. “I’ll wait.”
“Where?” William wanted to know. Sunny dug her fingers into her father’s knee.
“Did you know that J.T.’s experimenting with time travel?”
“Time travel?” Fascination warred with paternity. Paternity won. “Just how long were you two together in the mountains?”
Jacob let Sam gnaw on his index finger. “A couple of weeks.”
“Really?” His eyes narrowed, and he laid a proprietary hand on Sunny’s shoulder. “I suppose the snow kept you from making more suitable arrangements?”
Sunny rolled her eyes. Caroline sighed. Jacob ran a hand over Sam’s fine, pale hair.
“The arrangement suited me well enough.”
“I’ll bet it did.” William leaned forward, then hissed as Sunny dug again, shooting for the worn denim at his knees.
“Did you know, J.T., that my father absconded . . .” She liked the word, enjoyed rolling it off of her tongue. “. . . with my mother when she was sixteen?”
“Seventeen,” William corrected.
“Not quite.” This from Caroline as she sipped her tea.
He shot her a look. “You were only a couple months shy. And that was entirely different.”
“Naturally,” Sunny agreed.
“It was the times,” William muttered. “It was the sixties.”
Sunny kissed his sore knee. “That explains everything.”
“You had to be there. Besides, we wouldn’t have had to elope if Caro’s father hadn’t been so interfering and unreasonable.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Sunny fluttered her lashes at him. “There’s nothing worse than a father who pokes his nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
He caught her nose between his two fingers and twisted. “Watch it.”
She just grinned. “Tell me, is Granddad speaking to you yet?”
“Barely.”
“Except when they make fools of themselves over Sam,” Caroline put in. “He’s almost forgiven us for the fact that you and Libby weren’t around for him to spoil when you were babies. Would you like me to take Sam, J.T.?”
“No, he’s fine.” The baby was playing with Jacob’s fingers, gurgling to them and sampling one occasionally. “He looks like you,” he murmured, turning to Sunny.
Her lips curved. She couldn’t have explained how it made her feel to watch him cuddle a baby on his lap. “I like to think so.”