A Part Of Yesterday

By:  Lara

Chapter One

Patricia sighed as she closed the last of the spiral notebooks. “I had totally forgotten that you kept a journal about how…about Jord…I mean, about that summer.” She blushed at her awkwardness.

Lara laughed as she folded laundry. “It’s okay, Patricia. You can say his name.”

Patricia carefully sat on the corner of the bed, trying not to knock over a pile of socks. “Lara, I just can’t believe you never called him and told him. All those months when you struggled alone…”

“And I just can’t believe we continue to have this conversation every other month!” Lara teased, hanging up what seemed like endless pairs of jeans.

Patricia didn’t smile. “What happens when the twins start asking why they don’t have a daddy like all their friends?”

Lara tried to play it cool. “For your information, they have started asking, and I told them that he’s very busy and doesn’t have time for us right now.”

Patricia raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not a complete lie!” Lara protested.

“I’m not going to argue with you about this.” Patricia stood. “My mom will be dropping Ashley off soon, so I’d better go.”

Lara walked her to the door. “Patricia, after that wonderful month, I heard absolutely nothing from Jordan. Nothing. When I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t just run to him. I wanted him to call because he wanted to, not because he felt obligated.” She looked around the apartment. “I haven’t done too bad for myself. You were lucky. You had Alex, even if it didn’t all work out.”

“Okay, okay.” Patricia threw her hands up in defeat.

“Besides, why didn’t you ever call Danny? Or Jon?” Lara said meanly.

“That’s different. Danny and I parted as friends. We knew nothing would come of that summer. Jon…well…we’re not going there.” She looked at her watch. “Gotta run. Forgive me?”

Lara smiled and hugged her. “Of course. Don’t forget. Monday night at seven.”

Patricia rolled her eyes and groaned. “I cannot believe you conned me into going to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner!”

“Come on, you know you’ll love it. The twins did so well first and second marking period that I couldn’t say no. And they just love playing with Ashley!”

“Don’t use my daughter as your alibi!” Patricia warned. “You just want another adult along to keep you sane!”

Lara laughed. “You’re’ right!” She glanced at the clock. “Oh, I better go, too. I have some briefs I need to rewrite.”

“It’s Saturday. Don’t you ever rest? Those big bad attorneys can do without their best paralegal for a few hours on a Saturday!”

“The more I get done today, the better chance I have of actually leaving the office on time on Monday.” She gently shoved Patricia out the door. “Now, quit nagging me and go pick up your kid!”

“Fine, fine. See you Monday.”

Lara shut the door behind her friend and hurried to change. Even though it was Saturday, she didn’t want to look like a total bum when she went into the office.

She threw on jeans and a Penn State sweatshirt, and quickly pulled her hair into a ponytail. As she headed for the door, she once again checked the clock. 2:15. Her 22 year old niece, Jenna, had taken the twins to lunch and a movie, and they wouldn’t be back until four or five.

As she walked to her car, she tried desperately to get the conversation with Patricia out of her mind. She always tried to make it seem as if Jordan Knight was past history, but truthfully, she missed him so much it hurt, even after almost 9 years.

Her mind wandered as she drove. They had only had a few months together, but Jordan was her one true love, and she could never forget him. The last time she had seen him was the summer’s end, in 1990. He promised he’d call every week, and visit as often as possible. The calls dwindled, and he never visited. The last phone call came on her 18^th birthday, in November of ’90. She was four months pregnant by then, but still hadn’t told him. She wanted to share the news with him in person. He promised to come for Christmas, but the holidays came and went without word for him. Lara’s New Year’s resolution for 1991 was to make a life for herself and her baby, a life without Jordan Knight. In April of 1991, she delivered twins: Nathaniel Joseph, and Jordan Elizabeth.

As Lara exited the highway, Joe McIntyre’s new solo hit came on the radio. She had to smile. Joe had tried to keep in touch, and he had called and written often. She finally stopped communicating with him in 1993. She was afraid he’d want to visit, and then he’d find out about the twins and tell Jordan. In his last letter to her, Joe gave his mother’s phone number, saying she could always reach him there, if she ever needed anything. There had been many times she could have used his help, but pride kept her from calling. She had struggled on her own, with the help of her mother and sister, and friends like Patricia. They watched the twins while she did clerical jobs during the day, and took paralegal classes at night.

As she pulled into the parking lot of the law firm where she worked, she realized how lucky she had been. She had a great job she loved, a nice home, and two great second graders she loved more than life itself. No, she didn’t need Jordan Knight and all his money. She was doing just fine without him.

She dug her keys out of her large bag and let herself into the large three-story building that housed her employer, one of the largest general practice law firms in the city of Harrisburg.

As she walked to her desk, she noticed that a few of the attorneys were in, but she didn’t see any other paralegals. Her willingness to come in for a few hours on the weekend was one of the reasons she had come so far so quickly.

She stopped at the vending machine to pick up a few Cherry Pepsis, then hurried to her desk. Fifteen minutes later, she was typing away at her PC. When she stopped to check a few facts in a case dictionary, a framed picture caught her eye. She smiled and picked it up to study it more closely. It was a picture of the twins at six years old, with their younger cousins, Andrew and Grace. The contrast between her twins and her sister’s children always amused her. Andrew and Grace were blond with bright blue eyes, while Nathaniel and Jordan had the dark hair and eyes of their father.

She frowned and returned the picture to its spot on the desk. Maybe they did need to know who their father was. Maybe Patricia was right. Maybe…

“Penny for your thoughts, or is it a nickel now, with inflation?” A voice shook her out of her reverie.

She looked up to see Steve Turner standing in the doorway. One of the firm’s newest attorneys, Steve often requested Lara as his paralegal, and they worked well together.

He leaned his 6’4” frame against her doorway, and tried to look stern. “I thought I forbade you to come in here today!” His green eyes twinkled at her.

“I thought you were going skiing!” She shot back. “Besides, I have plans Monday night, and need to be out of here on time.”

“How are the rascals?” He asked with a smile. Steve knew automatically that any special plans always involved her family. Having recently split from his wife, he assumed she had gone through a similar situation. No one knew the identity of her children’s father, except for her family and Patricia.

“Hyper. Noisy. Adorable,” she said proudly.

He laughed and was about to speak when he saw her face suddenly fall. Steve turned to see Christopher Kline behind him. He didn’t know Chris well; he worked in bankruptcy law while Lara and Steve dealt mainly with domestic relations, but he could see that Lara was not at all pleased to see her fellow paralegal.

“I’ll let you get back to work. Give the twins my love.” Steve sent her a meaningful look. “If you need anything, I’m right down the hall.”

“Gotcha,” she said, waving as he turned back down the hall. She sighed. “Afternoon, Chris. What’s up?”

“Nothing.” He sat, uninvited, in one of her chairs. He always found a way to have conversations with her, and it unnerved her. She had complained to Patricia about it many times.

“He’s always lurking around corners, waiting to pounce. I don’t’ know when he gets any work done.”

“Tell him to back the hell off,” was Patricia’s advice.

“Is there something I can help you with, Chris? My kids will be home soon, and I have a lot to do.”

“I was wondering what your plans were for tomorrow.”

She inwardly groaned. She could tell he had been working up to this for weeks, and hadn’t been looking forward to it.

“I’m sorry, but my friend Dan is taking the three of us to the Baltimore Aquarium tomorrow.” She nervously ruffled through some files.

“How about next weekend?” He pressed. “I really want to get to know you, Lara. I’ll even take your kids out.”

She put the files down with a slap. “Contrary to what you may think, Chris, my kids are not the key to a date with me. Basically, I don’t date. All I have time for is my job and my kids, okay?” Her eyes flashed angrily. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to get this stuff done.”

He stood. “Your loss.” He left.

She felt like screaming. She counted ten, then turned back to her computer. She punched the keys angrily. If it wasn’t for Jordan Knight, she wouldn’t be alone in the first place. If it wasn’t for Jordan Knight, she wouldn’t be afraid of every man she met, thinking they were out to break her heart. If it wasn’t for Jordan Knight…she wouldn’t have the two most precious things in her life.

She shoved Jordan Knight and all men in general out of her mind and got to work. 

When she pulled into her apartment parking lot at five minutes after five, she saw Jenna’s car. She hurried up the three flights of stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator.

“Sorry I’m late!” She called as she flew in the door. Jenna, Nathaniel, and Jordan were at the kitchen table, playing Go Fish.

Jordan ran to her mother and gave her a big hug. “I’m winning, Mommy!” She ran back to the table.

“Good, sweetie.” Lara turned to Jenna. “Thanks so much. I got a lot done today.”

“No problem.”

“So, what movie did you see?”

“Prince of Egypt!” Jordan announced happily.

“Again?” We’ve seen it, Aunt Patricia took you, and you saw it again today?”

“She sang all the songs the whole way through, Mom, even when I asked her to stop,” Nathaniel said reproachfully, glaring at his sister, who stuck her tongue out at him.

“Jordan! Stop it!” Lara scolded. She smiled at her son. He looked so much like his father it sometimes hurt her to look at him. He acted a lot like his Uncle Jon, however, with a serious and quiet demeanor. He watched over Jordan as if he were a lot older, instead of younger by two minutes. Jordan was a perfect mixture of her mother and father. At almost eight years old, she already had a passion for anything musical and a flare for the dramatic.

“What do you want for dinner?” Lara asked Nathaniel. He suddenly looked guilty, as did Jenna.

“We’re…we’re not hungry, Mom. We had nachos and candy and popcorn.”

Lara looked at Jenna, who shrugged. “I’m sorry! It’s not often I get to spoil them.”

“Okay, okay. I forgive you. But when one of my kids wakes up at three am with an upset stomach, you know who I’m calling!” She turned to the twins. “Say goodbye and thank you to Jenna.”

As they smothered their favorite cousin with hugs, Lara went into Jordan’s bedroom. The apartment had two bedrooms, and each of the twins had one, while she slept on the sofabed in the living room. She kept her clothes and accessories in Jordan’s room.

As she took her hair down and brushed it, she saw the letter from Joe peeking out from a corner of the top drawer of the dresser. She couldn’t bring herself to throw it out. It was one last tie to…

“Mommy!” Jordan burst into the room, her dark braids flying out behind her. “Can we play Sega?”

“Is your homework done?” Lara asked as she led her daughter back out into the living room.

“Aw, Mommy, it’s just some coloring!” Jordan complained.

“Too bad. Uncle Dan is coming early tomorrow to pick us up, and we’ll probably get back late. Sit down at the table and color, while your brother cleans his room.” She looked pointedly at her son, who made a face but went back to his room.

Lara got out her briefs and sat by Jordan to keep an eye on her. Like she herself was, Jordan was easily distracted.

“Mommy, why don’t you marry Uncle Dan?” Jordan asked suddenly. Lara’s head snapped up.

“What in the world made you ask that?” Lara asked, trying not to laugh.

“Well, I’ve been thinking. He loves you, and is always making those gushy eyes,” she said earnestly. “And he’d be a great daddy.”

Lara’s hands started to shake, as they always did whenever either of the twins mentioned the word “daddy”. “Well, we’re not getting married, and that’s that!” She snapped. “Now, finish your homework so you can play Sega!”

She stood up and went into the bathroom to hide when the tears came. Dammit, Jordan Knight, why did you ever have to be born? 

Sunday passed uneventfully, as the twins ran through the Aquarium, with Dan and Lara lagging not too far behind. They held hands, as they always did, but after Jordan’s remarks the night before, Lara had begun to wonder if it was such a good idea. Did he really stare at her?

“Dan, why aren’t you dating anyone?” She asked suddenly. He looked surprised.

“Um, too busy, I guess. Maybe I’m waiting around for you.”

“Stop it! I’m serious.”

“So am I.” His grey eyes gazed into her blue eyes. She blushed. She was saved by her son.

“Mommy! Mommy! There’s a special shark room!” He said excitedly.

“Oh, good,” she said faintly. She hated sharks.

Dan laughed, once again her best friend. “Go on down to the lounge. We’ll meet you there.”

She sat at a small table in the back, only half paying attention to a nearby television. She perked up when she heard the phrase “Ex-New Kid on the Block”. It was an interview with Donnie Wahlberg, about his new movie, “Southies”. There were many clips of all the guys, and tears rolled unnoticed down Lara’s face.

“Mommy, we bought this for you!” Jordan ran up, waving something in Lara’s face. It was a pencil with a hammerhead shark eraser on top.

“That was so nice of you, sweetie,” she said, hurriedly wiping away the tears.

“Are you okay, Mom?” Her son looked concerned and serious. The spitting image of Jon, she thought.

“Yes, honey, just tired. Let’s go home.” The twins wailed in protest. “Fine. We can stay here longer, or you can go to Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow with Aunt Patricia and Ashley.”

“Okay,” they agreed. Nathaniel took Lara’s hand, and Dan swung Jordan up onto his shoulders.

As the twins slept in the back seat on the way home, Dan said softly, “It’s one of them, isn’t it?”

“One of who?” Lara’s mind had been on all the work she had waiting for her back at the office.

“One of those guys in that group. That summer you told me about up in Boston. One of those guys is…” Lara’s silence told him he was right. He quietly exploded. “Why isn’t he here with you? Where was he when you were practically starving? He has all that money, why are you living in a two bedroom apartment?”

“Dan, enough!” She snapped. “He wasn’t here because he doesn’t know! I never told him!”

“What?” He was shocked.

“He was supposed to come visit right after I realized I was pregnant, but I never heard from him again.” She started to cry. “And I wasn’t going to get him just to get his support. I love him so much, but I want him to want to be with me.”

Dan reached over and squeezed her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“No one knows, except my family and Patricia. “I don’t want anyone’s pity.”

“I love you, do you know that? If you’d just give me a chance, I could make it all up to you.”

She smiled through her tears. “Yes, I know. And I love you, too. But it just wouldn’t be right.”

They held hands the rest of the way home.

 

Chapter Two 

 

The next day, Lara worked through her lunch so she could get out by five. She only ran into Chris once, and she found an excuse to quickly get away.

She was in the shower when Patricia and Ashley arrived. The children ran to play in Nathaniel’s room.

Patricia sat on the toilet. “How was your day out with Dan?”

“Fine. We saw sharks.” Lara wrinkled her nose at the memory as she wrapped herself in a fluffy blue towel. She peered at herself in the mirror. “Ugh! I’m breaking out! Can you grab my Oxy stuff out of the top dresser drawer?”

“Your servant, milady,” Patricia grumbled, but she got up. “You know, Dan is a real sweetie. He’s done so much for you,” she called over her shoulder.

“Why don’t you go out with him then?” Lara called back.

“Redheads aren’t my type.” Patricia found the astringent, and began to shut the drawer when an envelope caught her eye. She saw the return address and gasped. “Joe McIntyre!” She glanced at the bathroom, and quickly opened the letter. She read it hurriedly. It was dated 1993, and it was obvious from its contents that Joe had known nothing about the twins. “I’m gonna check on the kids!” She yelled. She ran out to the living room and grabbed her purse. As she scribbled down Joe’s number, she told herself that it was for Lara’s own good.

She hurried back to the bedroom, shoved the letter back into the drawer, and went to the bathroom with the Oxy. “Here you go,” she said.

“Are they behaving?” Lara asked as she blow-dried her hair.

“As much as can be expected. I’ll wait in the living room.” 

It seemed to Patricia as if the night lasted forever. She finally brought Ashley home and practically forced her into bed. She pulled Joe’s number out of her purse and stared at the phone. She finally picked it up and dialed. A woman’s voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. McIntyre, you don’t know me, but I’m an old friend of Joe’s. My name is Patricia, and I really need to talk to him. Is there any way I can get in contact with him?”

The woman paused. “Oh, I guess it’s all right. He’s here right now. One moment.” Patricia heard her grumble, “How many girls did he give this number to?”

“Hello?” A male voice said. Patricia was struck dumb for a moment. That voice reminded her of so much…of Danny…and of Jon. “Hello?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Joe, this is Patricia Remington. I mean, you know me as Patricia Kingsley. Do you remember me?”

“Of course I remember you! Patricia! How are you?”

“I’m fine. Listen, Joe, I’m sorry to bother you, but I found your number at Lara’s house. Something important has happened, and I really need your help.” She groaned inwardly. She hated begging Joe McIntyre for anything.

“Lara? She stopped writing to me years ago! Is she all right?” He was instantly concerned. Patricia realized that something really had happened between Lara and Joe that summer. She just wondered how much.

“She’s fine, Joe. I know it’s a lot to ask, but is there any way you could fly down here for a day or two? I need to talk to you in person.”

“I would fly to the ends of the earth to help her!” Joe declared. “We’re in luck, though. I have to be in Philadelphia on Wednesday for a record promotion thing. I could be in Harrisburg by tomorrow night.”

Patricia was relieved. “Thank you so much, Joe.” She gave him directions to her house from the airport. “I’d better warn you, though. It’s going to be a real shock.” 

Joe’s plane landed at five Tuesday evening, and he impatiently tapped his foot as he waited to rent a car. Why had Patricia called him like this, out of the blue, after almost nine years?”

He grabbed the keys and ran out to the lot. He dug the directions to Patricia’s house out of his carry-on bag and headed out onto the highway.

Meanwhile, Patricia was just as impatiently pacing the living room floor. Where was he? She had sent Ashley to Alex’s for the night so she and Joe could be alone.

Finally, a strange car pulled into her driveway. She sighed and threw the door open.

A good-looking young man walked through the carport. Patricia gasped. Was this Joe? He was gorgeous! Blue jeans hugged his legs and hips, while a blue button-down shirt brought out the beautiful blue of his eyes.

“Patricia? Wow, you look great!” He hugged her. She snapped out of her state of shock.

“Uh, thanks, Joe, uh, so do you.” She let him in.

“This is a nice house,” he said politely. “Do you, uh, live alone?”

“No. I have a five year old daughter, Ashley.” She moved to the fridge. “Do you want a beer?”

“Um, sure,” he replied, surprised. She handed him a bottle, then made herself something a lot stronger. They sat at the kitchen table. She took a long gulp of her drink.

“There’s no easy way to start this, Joe, so I’ll just…oh, wait. I have an idea.”

She went to her bedroom and came back out with a large photo album. She put it down in front of Joe, and opened it to somewhere in the middle. “Start here.”

“Is this your daughter? She’s beautiful.” He looked through the pictures, noticing that two older children often appeared with Ashley. They had dark hair and eyes, like Ashley and Patricia. “Are these your kids, too?”

“No, Joe, they’re not mine.” She pointed at them. “This is Nathaniel. This is Jordan.” She slowly turned the page. “Here’s their mom.” On the page were Glamour Shots taken of Lara about two years earlier. Joe gasped and froze. He touched one of the pictures tenderly.

“She has twins? That’s great. Call me an idiot, Patricia, but I don’t get why you had to call me about it.”

Patricia sighed in exasperation. “Joe, look at those children. Think about their names. They’ll be eight in April.”

“Eight? That means…” A look of recognition washed over his face.

“Finally!” She exclaimed.

“So, uh, that means the father is…” He said uncomfortably.

“Jordan, of course. Look at the boy. He looks so much like Jordan and Jonathan.”

He was visibly relieved. “Oh. I thought…I thought maybe…” He couldn’t finish.

“That they were yours?” She said softly. He nodded.

“I could never forgive myself if all these years I had two wonderful children and Lara had to raise them on her own.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Patricia mused. “I went to the doctor with Lara once, and she asked all kinds of questions about blue eyes and brown eyes. She also named her son Nathaniel Joseph.”

Joe blushed, then grew thoughtful. “Wait a minute. Why hasn’t Jordan said anything? Why isn’t he here with her?” He exclaimed. “She’s raising them alone? He is such an asshole!” He jumped out of his chair.

“Calm the hell down, Joe,” Patricia said. “He doesn’t know. She never told him. He stopped calling. He promised to visit and she planned to tell him then, but he never showed.” Her voice was angry. “For some stupid reason, she still loves him. She didn’t want him to be with her just because she was the mother of his children.”

Joe ran his fingers through his hair. “Patricia, this has all got to end. Someone has to tell him, whether Lara likes it or not. If nothing else, he should be financially responsible.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling her for the last eight years!” She exclaimed.

“Okay. I have to go to Philadelphia tomorrow, but on Friday night, the five of us are getting together at Jon’s. I’ll figure something out.”

“Uh, how is Jon, by the way?” She asked casually.

“He’s fine,” Joe said, smiling.

“That’s good,” she said, taking her glass to the sink.

“He’s not married yet, you know. He’s only dated a few girls, and they all seem to have long dark hair and dark eyes.”

Patricia stood at the sink with her back to him, remembering a pair of gorgeous hazel eyes. She sighed.

“Patricia, what happened between you two?” Joe asked gently.

“We were young and moved way too fast. We fought about something stupid.” She smiled. “It’s ironic, actually. I told him he couldn’t clean up all of Jordan’s mistakes, and he wouldn’t admit it.”

“Well, when he finds out about this, he’s going to go ballistic.” Joe stood. “I’d better get going. I need some time to sort this all out.”

Patricia walked him to the door. “Thanks so much for coming all the way down here, Joe.”

“I’m really glad you called, Patricia. I’ll try to find a way to get Jordan down here, or something.”

He smiled down at her. Once again, she was mesmerized by his eyes. He kissed her cheek, and was gone.

She stood by the door, spellbound. Why was Joe McIntyre, the New Kid Who Needed No Disguise To Be Icky (as she had always called him) turning her to mush? Because Joe McIntyre grew up into one sexy 26 year old, she told herself. She sighed and went to take a shower.

 

Chapter Three 

 

As Joe pulled his black Cherokee into Jon’s driveway, he realized that he had no clue what to do or say. He hadn’t realized Jordan had just let Lara drop like that. After that summer, he had seen Jordan with different girls, but he had assumed that he and Lara had argued.

He rang Jon’s doorbell. He was the first to arrive.

“Joey-Joe! Great to see you, man!” Jon hugged him.

Jon’s house was pretty much a mansion stuck in the woods outside of Boston. A fire crackled in the living room fireplace, and smooth R&B music was playing on the CD player.

“Can I get you anything?” Jon asked.

“A good strong drink,” Joe replied, leaning on the mantle by the fire.

“I didn’t know you drank the heavy stuff.”

“It’s been a rough week,” Joe said.

Jon handed him a glass and they sat on the sofa.

“Jon, have you heard anything from Lara or Patricia?” Joe asked suddenly. Jonathan looked surprised.

“Well, Patricia and I didn’t exactly part on good terms, and I haven’t spoken with Lara since she and Jordan broke up.”

“So they really did break up?” Joe said.

“Well, I guess so. I always assumed they did. Any time I tried to ask him about it, he changed the subject. Why? Are you planning to call her up after all these years? You always did have a crush on her,” Jonathan teased.

“No. I was, uh, curious.”

“Besides, Lara and Patricia are probably happily married with ten kids by now,” Jon continued.

No, Lara is unhappily unmarried with twins, Joe thought to himself.

The doorbell rang again, and Jon let the rest of the guys in. There was a lot of hugging and back slapping, as they hadn’t seen each other for a while. As they went to the dinner table, Joe studied Jordan closely. He couldn’t believe that Jordan could be so cold and cruel, but he also knew that Lara wouldn’t lie about something so serious.

He totally ignored Jordan at dinner, talking mostly to Jonathan and Danny, whom he hadn’t seen in a while. Every time he looked at Jordan, he wanted to strangle him.

After dinner, they moved back into the living room. Jordan and Donnie started to talk about some girls they had met at a club recently, and Joe couldn’t take it anymore.

“Jordan, how come you never have Lara up to visit? We never saw her after that summer.” He smiled weakly. “Are you hiding her from us somewhere?”

Jonathan looked at him strangely. What was all this about Lara?

“No,” Jordan said sharply. “We don’t talk anymore. It just didn’t work out.”

“Maybe I should call her,” Donnie said thoughtfully.

“Shut up, Donnie!” Joe and Jordan yelled.

“Why didn’t it work out?” Joe continued.

“Because it just didn’t, Joe, okay? Lara and Patricia were great girls, but it just wasn’t meant to be, right, bro?” Jordan turned to Jonathan, who remained silent.

“Jordan, when the hell did you turn into such an asshole?” Joe said, standing up. Jordan stood also.

“Joe-Bird, what is your problem? I was twenty years old. I was having some fun!”

“I don’t think she saw it that way, Jordan. And twenty is old enough to be responsible for your actions.” He turned to Jonathan. “You’ll think this is weird, Jon, but call Patricia. Fix that silly argument and at least become friends again.” Joe walked over to Jordan. “Before this goes any further, there’s something I gotta do.” He punched Jordan in the jaw.

“Joe!” Danny yelled as Jon ran over to help the fallen Jordan. Joe shrugged off the hand Danny put on his shoulder.

“Look, Jordan, I may be the youngest, but I’m not the baby anymore. If you ever valued our friendship, and if there’s a shred of decency left in you, you’ll be at Logan Airport tomorrow at seven am sharp, no questions asked.” He turned to Jon. “And you should come along, too. Plan to be gone until at least Monday.” He went to the door.

“I’m free this weekend,” Danny said, amazed.

“I’m not missing this for the world,” Donnie agreed. 

Joe paced back and forth, checking his watch for the hundredth time. He had gotten permission to use one of the Sony private jets, and it was fueled and ready to take off at 7:05.

Please, please, Jordan, show up, he thought to himself. At two minutes to seven, he saw four people walking towards him. He sighed with relief.

“Danny, Donnie, what are you doing here?” Joe asked.

“We had to make sure Jordan was safe. That’s a mean right hook you got, Joe-Bird,” Donnie said.

Joe looked at Jordan. His jaw was bruised. “I’m really sorry, Jay. My temper got the best of me.”

“I hope this little mystery trip of yours is worth it,” Jordan grumbled. But he shook Joe’s outstretched hand.

“Oh, it will be well worth it,” Joe promised, as they walked to the plane.

As soon as everyone was settled, Joe went to a seat far in the back. He used his cellphone to call Patricia.

“This better be damned important!” A sleepy voice answered.

“Patricia, it’s Joe,” he whispered.

“Joe who? And why are you whispering?” She mumbled.

“Joe McIntyre. And I’m whispering because I’m on a plane to Harrisburg with the guys.”

“What!” Patricia sat up, wide awake. “All of them?”

“Yes. And they don’t know where they’re going, or why.”

“Oh, my God!” She whispered. Jonathan was coming!

“The only problem is, now that we’re on our way, I don’t know what to do next,” Joe admitted.

“Okay.” Patricia tried to think. “Bring Jon, Danny, and Donnie to my house. I’ll give you directions to Lara’s Her kids have piano lessons, which is perfect. It’s probably best if we don’t lay it all on Jordan at once.”

She gave him directions to Lara’s house from her house. After he hung up, she jumped out of bed. She called her mom. After ten minutes of begging and cajoling by Patricia, Mrs. Kingsley agreed to come and pick Ashley up.

Patricia took the quickest shower of her life. She woke Ashley, and threw together a bag of her things. Before she knew it, her mother was at the door.

“Patricia, what is going on?” Her mother demanded, as Patricia helped Ashley into her coat.

“Mom, please don’t ask me any questions. It’s a long story, and I don’t have the time right now. I packed some extra things, because she may have to stay tomorrow, too.” She kissed Ashley. “Be good.”

Mrs. Kingsley started to say something, but thought better of it. “Call me later,” was all she said as she led her granddaughter out the door.

Patricia hurried back to her room, and stood in front of her closet. What should she wear to see Jon?

 

Chapter Four 

 

Joe’s mind was racing frantically as the jet landed in Harrisburg. What was he going to do next?

“Joe, when are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Jonathan asked.

“As soon as I know what’s going on,” he replied. The other guys looked at each other.

The pilot had called ahead, and a rental car was waiting. The guys piled in.

“Jon, I’m gonna drop you, Danny, and Donnie off at a friend’s. Don’t worry, they know you’re coming.” Joe’s hands gripped the steering wheel. “Jordan, you and I are going somewhere else.”

“Joe, where the hell are we?” Jordan demanded.

“Harrisburg,” Donnie answered, reading one of the interstate signs.

“Harrisburg?” Danny repeated, a light bulb going off in his head. “This is where…”

“Lara and Patricia lived,” Jonathan finished.

“Don’t ask, okay? Just do what I say, and everything will work out for the best,” Joe pleaded.

“I don’t believe this,” Jordan mumbled to himself. 

Patricia brushed her hair one last time and studied herself in the mirror. She wore black jeans and a nice emerald green blouse. She looked good, but not as if she had gone out of her way to look good.

She heard car doors slam, and then the car drove away. There was a knock at the door. She checked her hair one last time. “It’s open!” She yelled.

“Anybody home?” She heard Donnie yell. Taking one last breath, she slowly walked down the hall to the kitchen.

“Hi, guys,” she said in what she hoped was a normal voice. Donnie’s face lit up.

“Patricia!” He grabbed her in a bear hug and whirled her around. She laughed. Some things never changed.

Behind Donnie stood Danny. When Donnie finally put her down, he was quick to scoop her into a huge hug.

“God, Patricia, you look fabulous!”

He was as muscular and fine as ever. She wanted to tell him it was nice to see him, but no words would come as she looked over his shoulder and saw Jonathan, who stood uncomfortably by the door. Donnie and Danny exchanged a look.

“Come on, D. I’m sure there’s a TV in the other room,” Donnie said. He and Danny went into the living room.

Patricia and Jon just looked at each other. Then at the same time, they each said, “I’m sorry.” They stopped, and just looked at each other again. Jon finally spoke.

“Patricia, I’m so glad to see you. I thought if we ever met again, you’d throw something at me. I sure deserve it.”

She took a step closer. “Jonathan, I could never stay mad at you! Especially not for nine years!”

He smiled and pulled her into his arms. “I’m so glad you don’t hate me. I thought you were happy being with Danny, and then when he told me it didn’t work out between the two of you, it seemed too late to call and apologize.” He pulled back to look at her. “You were right, you know.”

“I was? About what?”

“Jordan. I was always trying to protect him, picking him up whenever he fell. He’s changed a lot. I mean, I’m glad I’m not performing anymore. It was great being a New Kid, don’t get me wrong, but I’m really happy with a life outside of that.” They sat at the table and held hands. “Jordan is only happy when he’s performing, or writing, or recording.”

“Jon, tell me honestly. What happened between Jordan and Lara?”

“I really don’t know, Patricia. I think he truly loved her, but just wasn’t ready to be tied down. One of these days he’s gonna wake up and realize what he lost.” He looked her in the eye. “How about you, Patricia? Are you happy?”

“I’d have to say yes. I was married for a while, but it didn’t work out. I do have a great daughter, Ashley.” She got a picture for him to look at.

“Wow, Patricia, she’s pretty! She looks just like you!” Patricia blushed. Jon grew serious. “I’m so glad we’re friends again, Patricia. Would it be okay if I called or wrote sometime?”

“I’d really like that,” she told him. He smiled. “I think we should go into the living room, Jon. There’s something I need to talk to you all about.”

Danny and Donnie were watching an infomercial. Danny turned off the TV when he saw Patricia and Jon enter the room.

“So, are you guys together again?” Donnie asked curiously.

“No, nosy, just friends again,” Patricia told him.

“Guys, Patricia has something to tell us. But first, I want to ask her something.” Jon turned to her. “Patricia, do you have any idea what’s up with Joe? He’s been acting really odd, and then he takes off with Jordan without any explanation.”

“He punched Jordan in the face last night,” Donnie told her.

“What?” She burst out laughing. She couldn’t help thinking that Jordan deserved it. When they all stared at her, she quickly swallowed her laughter.

“Yes, Jon, I don know why Joe’s acting so strangely. It all has to do with what I need to tell you.” She and Jon sat on the sofa. “I don’t know how much you all know about what happened that summer after you went back on tour. I was still in high school, and Lara was planning to go on to college. I pretty much went on with my life, losing contact with you all.” She and Danny smiled at each other. They had worked through all their problems years before. “Lara was still in love with Jordan, and he did call, at the beginning.”

Donnie nodded. “I swear, his two best friends were the post office and the phone company!”

“Well, for some reason, he stopped calling. He had promised to come visit for Christmas of ’90, and called on her birthday to verify that. It was the last time she heard from him.”

Danny gasped. “I didn’t know it ended like that! I thought they fought.”

“So did I,” Jon admitted.

“I didn’t know Jay was such a jerk!” Donnie said in disgust. “She’s better off without him!”

“I’m afraid it gets worse.” Patricia took Jon’s hand and looked at him. “I’ve tried to see Jordan’s side in all this. I’m sure the last thing he wanted was to be tied down to a little seventeen-year-old from nowhere. He just did a bad job of breaking it to her.” She suddenly jumped to her feet. “But I also think he’s an asshole, and when I see him, I’ll punch him in the face, too!”

“All because he dumped her?” Danny was confused.

“No, Danny, not because he dumped her. When he called her in November of 1990, she was already four months pregnant. In April, Jordan Knight’s twin son and daughter will be eight years old. Lara has raised them on her own. No one knows who their father is, except her family, me, and now you guys.”

The three men were silent, as what she had just said sunk into their heads.

“You mean…I have a niece and nephew?” Jon whispered. Patricia handed him a picture of Lara and the twins.

“Their names are Jordan Elizabeth and Nathaniel Joseph,” she told him.

“He looks just like Jay did at that age,” Jon said, as he passed the photo to Danny.

“He acts just like you, though,” Patricia told him with a smile. “He’s shy and serious, and very protective of his family. She is outgoing and dramatic.”

“What a fucking prick!” Donnie exclaimed. “Why the hell hasn’t he been here for her?”

“This is the one part that isn’t Jordan’s fault, Donnie. He doesn’t know. She was going to tell him when he came to visit, but he never came. Her pride wouldn’t let her call.”

“Then how…” Danny began.

“She had been in contact with Joe for a few years, and he gave her his mom’s number. I found that letter earlier this week, and decided to take matters into my own hands.”

“That was so sweet of you, Patricia. Lara’s really lucky to have a friend like you,” Jon told her, giving her a hug.

“I just hope she sees it that way. Right now, Joe is driving Jordan to Lara’s apartment.”

 

Chapter Five 

 

“Joey, where are we going?” Jordan asked.

“Into the past,” Joe told him, checking Patricia’s directions.

“What? Joe, will you quit this James Bond 007 shit and tell me what’s going on?”

“No, Jay, I won’t,” Joe said simply, and continued driving. 

Lara put a dark blue ribbon around her daughter’s ponytail. “There you go. All done. Now, go watch TV and wait for Grandma.”

“Why can’t you drive us to piano, Mommy?” Jordan asked.

Lara sighed. She had already explained this four times. She thanked her lucky stars that Nathaniel wasn’t so persistent. He was already at his lesson, which was from ten to ten-thirty.

“I told you, Jordan. I want to paint the bathroom, and it’s easier if you guys aren’t underfoot. Don’t you want to go to lunch with Grandma after piano?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “Okay, I’ll go,” Jordan said, as if there had been a choice.

“Thank you.” Lara kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Go watch TV.”

Lara went into the bathroom and began to paint the wall above the sink. After a few minutes, she heard the faint beep of a car horn.

“I’m going, Mommy!” Jordan yelled.

“Wait!” Lara ran out of the bathroom to kiss her daughter.

“You have paint on your nose,” Jordan told her.

“Oh well, it’s only the beginning,” Lara said, trying to wipe it off, but only making it worse. “Have fun with Grandma.”

Jordan skipped out the door, forgetting to close it as usual. Lara decided to leave it open, in case the paint fumes got too strong. 

“This is it,” Joe said, pulling into an apartment complex. He turned to Jordan. “Now, please remember, we are doing this for your own good. For both of you.”

“Whatever,” Jordan replied as they got out of the car.

“It’s apartment 3D. We might as well take the steps,” Joe said.

As they reached the second floor, they were almost run down by a little girl.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” She said politely.

Joe gasped as he recognized Lara’s daughter from the picture he had seen at Patricia’s. Jordan smiled down at the little girl.

“That’s okay, honey.” She smiled back, and continued on down the stairs. Joe couldn’t help but notice how similar Jordan’s smile was to his daughter’s.

They arrived at apartment 3D. The door stood wide open, and music poured from a room in the back.

“Do me a favor, Jordan. Stay here a minute, okay?”

“Fine,” Jordan huffed, leaning in the doorway.

Joe knocked, but no one answered. “Hello!” He yelled loudly. He took a step into the apartment.

Lara came out for a second can of paint, and saw a strange man standing in her doorway. She started to scream, then looked at him closely.

“Is it…Joe?” She said. He smiled and walked towards her. Her face lit up. “I’d hug you, but I have more paint on me than I put on the wall!”

“I don’t care!” He hugged her tightly.

“Joe, I’m so happy to see you! But how…”

“Patricia called me.” He released her.

“Patricia? But how…why…” she looked over his shoulder at the man in the doorway. Shock registered on Jordan’s face as he saw who it was. Lara took one look at him, and fainted dead away. Joe caught her before she hit the floor.

“Oh my God!” Jordan ran over. They began fanning her and lightly slapping her cheeks. They heard steps at the door.

“Mommy, you forgot to give me…MOMMY!” Her daughter shrieked, running over. She started to hit Jordan. “What did you do to my mommy?”

“Nothing, sweetie, I promise. She just passed out. She’ll be okay.” Jordan sat and pulled the daughter he didn’t know onto his lap. She leaned over Lara anxiously.

“Mommy, wake up!” She sobbed.

 

Chapter Six 

 

Lara’s eyes fluttered open, and she saw her daughter sitting on Jordan Knight’s lap. “Get your hands off of my child!” She snapped without thinking. Jordan pulled back as if she had slapped him. Her daughter looked at him with fear in her big brown eyes. Lara sat up quickly.

“Come here, sweetie, I’m sorry.” She took her daughter from Jordan. “What are you doing back up here?”

“You forgot to give me the money for my piano lesson,” she sniffed, drying her tears.

“You’re right. I did forget. Joe, hand me my purse, please?”

“How much is it?” Jordan pulled out his wallet.

“Well, nothing changes, does it?” Lara said savagely. “The first to pull out their wallet wins.” She wrote out a check and kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Now, run on down to Grandma. I’m sure she’s having a fit right now.”

“Mommy, who are these men?” The child asked as they stood up.

“This is Joe, and this is Jo…Mr. Knight,” Lara said, catching herself. “This is my daughter, Betsy,” she told the men.

The little girl scowled. “Oh, Mommy, I hate that nickname!”

“Promise me you won’t say anything about this to Grandma, okay? I’m fine, and we don’t want her to worry. Pinkie swear?” She held out her little finger. Her daughter took it solemnly. To her, this was the equivalent of swearing on a stack of Bibles.

“Okay, Mommy, I promise.” She gave her mother one last kiss, smiled at Joe, gave Jordan a wary look, then ran out the door. Lara closed it behind her, and glared at Joe.

“What the hell is he doing here?” She asked angrily.

“Patricia and I thought…”

“Oh, Patricia and you thought? So, now it’s some kind of conspiracy to ruin my life?”

“Lara, he needs to know!” Joe shouted.

“Will the two of you stop talking about me like I’m not here?” Jordan finally yelled in exasperation.

“Lara, Patricia is worried about you, and so am I. You’ve got to settle this.” Joe turned to Jordan. “You’ve got a lot to answer for. I’m going down to the car. We’re not leaving until the two of you talk!” He stormed out.

Lara and Jordan stood in silence. She had dreamed of the day she’d see him again, but she wasn’t as happy as she always imagined she’d be. He was just as sexy, but his face had lost the boyish sweetness that Joe’s had retained. Jordan looked tired and confused, which was exactly how she was feeling.

“Please, sit down,” she said finally. He sat on the sofa, and she collapsed onto a nearby chair.

“I’m sorry we burst in on you like this. I had no idea what was going on.” Jordan moved to pull a Barbie doll out from under one of the sofa cushions. He smiled. “So, you have a daughter.”

“Yes, and a son,” she said nervously. “They’re twins.”

“Wow,” he said simply. “I never had children.” The words chilled her to the bone. Did that mean he wasn’t interested in children, or just hadn’t found the right woman, or…

She stopped thinking as he slowly moved to sit closer to her. “I guess one of the reasons Joe brought me here was to explain what happened that fall.” He took her hand, which was shaking. “Lara, I really did love you. It wasn’t a lie. Part of me still does love you. I just couldn’t deal with all the stress of touring as well as worrying about what you might see and hear on TV. It was just easier to let it all go.”

“You could’ve just told me that, Jordan. It would’ve hurt, but I would’ve got over it.” By then she was crying, crying tears of anger and hurt that had had almost 9 years to build up. “I’ve spent the last eight years thinking I did something wrong.”

“No, it wasn’t you, I swear.” He caressed her face. “Why didn’t you just move on, and find someone else? Why didn’t you just forget about me?”

She pulled away. “Number one, I loved you with every part of me. There was no easy way to just ‘forget you’. In normal circumstances, yes, I could’ve eventually forgotten you. But number two, it’s kind of hard to forget when every day of my life, I see little pieces of you!” He looked at her in confusion. “I see your tenderness in the depths of my son’s deep brown eyes. I hear your talent every time my daughter sits down at the piano and picks out her own melodies!” He stared at her in disbelief. She yanked a picture off the wall and tossed it to him. “I call my daughter Betsy because her middle name is Elizabeth. Her first name is Jordan, and her brother is Nathaniel.” She continued to cry angry tears.

Jordan tried to swallow the lump that was forming in his throat. “You mean, these are…I have…”

“And don’t ask why I never told you! I was planning to tell you on the Christmas you never showed. It was obvious that you wanted nothing to do with me, and I wasn’t about to call and tell you after all that.”

To her surprise, Lara saw tears forming in Jordan’s eyes. “Oh, God, Lara…I…I don’t know what to say. You mean…you’ve raised them all alone? All these years?”

“Yes, with help from friends and family. Patricia’s been telling me for years that I should call you, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t call you just to get money from you. I also couldn’t risk you breaking my heart again. I couldn’t let Jordan and Nathaniel get to know you, and then have you change your mind and walk out on us.”

He pulled her into his arms. She could feel him sobbing. A great weight began to lift from her shoulders.

“Sorry will not even begin to explain how I feel,” Jordan finally said. She wiped the tears from his face. “If I’d only known. In all honesty, though, you were all probably better off without me. You were a lot more mature at seventeen than I was at twenty. I was not ready to be a father.”

She smiled. “You know, I was never really mad at you for not being there for the twins. I knew that was all my doing. I just felt like you had played with me for that month.”

“I wasn’t playing with you, Lara, you must believe that! I really cared about you. I was so stupid to have let you go.” He gently held her face in his hands. “But now we can change all that.”

“I don’t know, Jordan. You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Patricia and Joe. I don’t want you to be interested in me just because I’m the mother of your children. We’re two totally different people now,” Lara protested, not wanting him to know that there hadn’t been any other man since the last time she had been with him.

“Let’s see if that magic we had is still there.” He bent his head down and kissed her.

Lara felt the kiss in her knees. She was confused. Was she still attracted to him? Was she attracted to the memory of him? Or was she just lonely?

“So, do I need to break anything up in here?” They heard Joe’s voice in the hall. They pulled apart, blushing. “Well, that’s not quite what I meant,” Joe said, also blushing.

His heart sank when he saw Lara in Jordan’s arms. He wanted her to be happy, but he couldn’t help feeling that Jordan was no longer the person that could make her truly happy. Jonathan had been partially right when he said Joe had a crush on her. But it was more than a crush. Joe had fallen in love with Lara that very first day, when Jordan and Jon had brought her and Patricia to Donnie’s house. The time they had made love was burned in his memory, and no girl since had taken her place in his heart.

She came over to hug him. “Joe, thank you so much. It feels so good to get this all sorted out.”

“Yeah, man, now I understand what last night was all about.” Jordan rubbed his jaw. When Lara looked at him strangely, he added, “Joe took it upon himself to defend your honor by punching me in the face.”

Lara looked at Joe in amazement, touched by his action.

“Yeah, well, uh, I’m glad you are working things out. I’m gonna call Patricia and tell her to bring the guys over,” He said.

“You mean everyone’s here?” Lara said.

“Ask her to bring some lunch over. I’m starving!” Jordan said.

“I’m gonna go clean myself up.” Lara ran to her daughter’s room to grab some decent clothes, then hurried to the bathroom, hoping the paint fumes wouldn’t asphyxiate her. She quickly scrubbed the paint off her face and arms, and changed into black jeans and a blue blouse. She ran a brush through her hair, and decided not to fuss with it.

“Patricia and the guys are bringing pizza,” Joe told her when she came back into the living room.

“Cool,” she said, pulling some photo albums off a shelf. She sat next to Jordan. “I thought you might want to see these,” she said to him.

“Oh, yes, I would!” He said excitedly. He put an arm around her as she began to page through the albums.

Joe felt uncomfortable. He sat at Lara’s old piano and began to fool around. Soon Patricia, Jon, Danny, and Donnie burst through the door. Donnie pounced on Lara, and she gave him a big hut.

“You look good enough to eat!” He exclaimed, kissing her hard on the mouth.

“Wahlberg, enough,” Jordan said quietly, so that only the three of them heard. Lara felt a small spark of anger. Jordan Knight had no right to bounce back into her life after nine years and take possession of her! So she gave Donnie a long, deep kiss.

“It’s nice to see you, too, Donnie.” She hugged Danny, and turned to Jonathan. “Hey, Uncle Jon,” she said softly.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he hugged her.

“Stop it, Jon. This was nothing you could have prevented,” she whispered back.

“Man, I’m starving. Let’s eat,” Jordan said.

They spread the pizzas out on the small kitchen table. Patricia handed out cans of soda to everyone. Jordan came to stand beside her.

“Hey, Patricia, how’ve you been?”

“Jordan,” she replied coldly, unable to forgive him.

“What’s the problem?” He asked. She pulled him into a corner of the kitchen.

“Jordan, Lara may have welcomed you back with open arms, but I’m not going to. You acted like an immature shithead nine years ago. And if you hurt her, or those kids, you’ll have to answer to me and a few other people!” She returned to the group.

Jonathan quickly pulled a chair out for her. He stood close by. Danny sat on her other side. Jordan and Lara sat across from them. Donnie sat on the kitchen counter, and Joe hovered behind Lara’s chair.

Lara smiled. “This is so great. It reminds me of that very first night at Donnie’s house.”

“You mean the night you dropped pizza down the front of your white blouse?” Patricia asked meanly. Lara stuck her tongue out at her, and the guys all hooted and yelled.

“We remember that, too!” Danny laughed. “Don’t stick it out unless you intend to use it!”

“Ha ha,” Lara said. “Donnie, can you grab me some napkins, just in case?”

“She hasn’t looked this happy in ages,” Patricia whispered to Jon. He smiled and patted her leg, sending chills up her back.

They heard voices in the hallway. Jordan ran in the door, followed closely by her brother.

“I won!” She shrieked, tossing her piano bag onto a chair.

“You cheated!” Nathaniel protested. Lara got up from the table.

“What have I told you two about running up the stairs?” She demanded. Nathaniel immediately looked guilty.

“That we shouldn’t do it ‘cause we might fall,” he replied. “Sorry, Mom.”

“Aunt Patricia!” Jordan yelled, running over to her.

“Jordan Elizabeth, please put the piano bags away,” Lara said. Her daughter sighed dramatically, but did as her mother told her.

Lara returned to her seat by Jordan, who just stared at the children. “Give them a while, okay, Jordan? This will be a big shock to them,” she said quietly.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, perfectly content to just watch them. His daughter flew back into the room and climbed onto Patricia’s lap.

“Hello, Joe. Hello, Mr. Knight,” she said.

Nathaniel came and stood by Lara, staring at the man who had his arm around his mother. “Mom, who are all these people?” He whispered.

“Well, that’s Jon, and Danny, and Donnie…” she pointed.

“And that’s Joe and that’s Mr. Knight,” her daughter finished.

“How was piano?” Lara asked him.

“Okay. Grandma took us to Friendly’s for lunch,” he told her.

“And I had a chocolate milkshake!” His sister announced. “And guess who is going first at the piano recital next month?”

“Who?” Jordan finally found his tongue.

“Me! My teacher says I play better than most ten year olds!” She bragged.

Lara whispered something in her son’s ear. He ran to his room and came back with a large book. He brought it over to Jonathan.

“My mom said you would like to see this. It’s a book about plants and flowers,” Nathaniel said shyly. “My Uncle Dan gave it to me. I can’t have a garden here, but he lets me have one at his house.”

“Could you show it to me?” Jon asked gently. Nathaniel nodded, and to the amazement of Lara and Patricia, he climbed up onto his uncle’s lap.

“I don’t like gardens. There are a lot of bugs in gardens,” his sister announced.

“Won’t your brother kill them for you?” Danny said, amused.

“Nope. He sits and watches them. Would you kill them?” She smiled down at him. Everyone laughed.

“What a flirt! Just like her mom,” Donnie teased. Lara gave him a look. Jordan climbed off of Patricia’s lap and came to stand by her father. He smiled at her. Lara could feel his nervousness.

“Do you play the piano?” Jordan asked, still a little wary of him.

“Yes, I do,” he said, trying not to laugh.

“He sings, too,” Lara told her.

“Sing something,” their daughter demanded. Jordan went to the piano. He fooled around a bit at the keyboard. His daughter came to sit beside him on the piano bench. Nathaniel soon climbed off of Jon’s lap and came over to stand on the other side of the bench. Jordan began to sing “I’ll Be Loving You Forever”, and the other guys soon joined in, sounding like they had never stopped singing together. Lara’s eyes filled with tears as she watched her son and daughter gaze up at Jordan adoringly. At the end of the song, Nathaniel said, “You should be on the radio!” Everyone laughed.

“Thank you very much,” Jordan said, looking down into brown eyes so like his own.

“Nathaniel, Betsy, come sit by me for a moment.” Lara moved to the sofa, and nodded at Jordan. The kids sat on either side of her, and Jordan sat in front of them on the floor.

“I wanted to talk to you about your names,” Lara began. “The reason I’ve been calling you Betsy, Jordan, is because your daddy’s name is Jordan, too.”

“I have a boy’s name?” Jordan said in horror. She could think of nothing worse.

“No, it’s a boy’s or a girl’s name,” Lara told her. This was not going the way she had planned. She started again. “Guys, what do you think of Mr. Knight?” She motioned to Jordan.

“I think he sings real good!” Nathaniel declared.

“Me too, but he made you mad earlier when he was holding him, so maybe I don’t like him,” Jordan decided.

“Well, I was very surprised to see him. I hadn’t seen him since before you were born. And because of things that happened then, I was very angry with him. Today, while you were at piano, we talked about it, and I’m not so angry about it anymore.”

“Oh.” Jordan considered this. “Then, I guess I like him.”

“Well, Mr. Knight’s first name is Jordan, and one of his middle names is Nathaniel.” She watched the children intently as they studied Jordan closely.

“Just like us,” Nathaniel said slowly.

“I named him after you, because he’s your daddy.”

The room was silent.

“Why didn’t you ever come home before?” Nathaniel finally demanded almost angrily.

“Honey, he…” Lara began.

“No, let me.” Jordan drew his son and daughter into his arms. “Mommy was right to be angry with me all these years. Before you were born, I did something real dumb, and made her mad. I haven’t talked to her since then. I didn’t even know about you. But, now I do know, and if it’s okay with you, I’d like to get to know you better.”

“That would be great!” Jordan yelled, hugging him. Nathaniel just smiled and hugged him also. There wasn’t a dry adult eye in the apartment.

Jon gave Patricia a hug. “Thanks so much for calling Joe, Patricia. I think a family might be exactly what Jordan needs.” She just smiled, enjoying the familiar feeling of his arms around her. Too soon, he blushed and released her.

“Sweetie, do you mind if we call you Betsy? Two Jordans are very confusing,” Lara said to her.

“Sure, Mommy. But I have a question. Where do our middle names come from?”

“Well, I always liked the name Elizabeth, and Joseph is for Joe, over there, because he was…a good friend to me.” Everyone looked at Joe, who blushed.

“There’s someone else you need to meet.” Jordan stood and led the children to the table. “This is really your Uncle Jonathan. He’s my older brother.”

“Cool!” Betsy exclaimed, hugging Jon. Nathaniel smiled happily. He had already come to like Jon very much.

“But now you’ll need to buy a bed, Mommy,” Betsy said suddenly.

“Why?”

“Because both you and Daddy can’t sleep in the sofabed. It’s too small!” Nathaniel observed.

It was Lara’s turn to blush fire truck red. “Well, you see, uh…”

“I won’t be sleeping here all the time, N.J. I live far away, in a city called Boston. But I’ll come visit, and you guys can come see me. You need to meet your Grandma Knight, and your aunts and uncles and cousins.” Jordan turned to Lara. “Speaking of which, would you mind if I called my mother? She’ll be so excited to hear about all this.”

“Go ahead,” she replied, still trying to digest everything. She sat the table. Betsy was talking to Donnie and Joe, while Nathaniel discussed his book with Uncle Jon.

“Speaking of sleeping, we need to find a motel,” Danny realized.

“I can put some of you up at my house,” Patricia replied.

Jordan returned to the table. “If Lara doesn’t mind, I’d like to stay here,” he said, feeling a bit shy. “I can sleep on the floor.”

“No. Nathaniel’s room has bunk beds. You can share with him. Anyone else? I have a great Veggie Tales sleeping bag for rent,” Lara joked.

“Um, I’ll stay here,” Joe volunteered. Lara smiled at him. She had hoped he would stay. She wanted a chance to talk to him later.

“Good. Let’s move our bags from Joe’s car into Patricia’s.” The guys all went down to the parking lot.

“I should be angry with you. You had no right to go through my mail!” Lara said to Patricia.

“Hey, I didn’t ‘go through your mail’. That letter was in the same drawer as your Oxy, remember?” Patricia retorted.

“Yes, but you did open the letter and read it,” Lara reminded her. She smiled and hugged Patricia. “Thank you so much, Patricia. He really seems to want to be a part of their lives.”

“What about your life?” Patricia asked. Lara looked away.

“I don’t know, Patricia. It’s great to see him, and he still turns my insides to Jell-O, but I am just so confused. It would be great if we could someday be a real family, but I want it to be for all the right reasons.”

“He does seem sincere, though it pains me to say it,” Patricia admitted. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Oh, don’t worry. This is not something I’m going to rush into,” Lara told her.

The guys came back upstairs. Joe and Jordan put their bags in Nathaniel’s room.

“Mommy, can we take Daddy down to the playground?” Betsy asked. A kind of shock went through Jordan as he realized that every time one of the twins said Daddy, they meant him.

“And Uncle Jon, too?” Her brother added, including his new favorite person.

“If they want to go.”

“Let’s all go,” Danny said. They all went out the door again.

 

Chapter Seven 

 

“I’ll be right down!” Lara called after them. She began to clean up the pizza boxes, but soon she just sat down on a chair. She felt so overwhelmed by everything that had happened in a few short hours.

“Hey, Lara, do you…” Joe burst through the door. He saw her sitting at the table with her head buried in her arms, and rushed over. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yes, Joe, I’m fine. I’m just trying to figure everything out.”

“I don’t have to stay here tonight, if you’d rather be here alone with Jordan.” He softly brushed her hair away from her face.

“But I don’t know if I want to be alone with Jordan!” She said without thinking. “I mean, not that I’m afraid of him, but, oh, nevermind.”

“Lara, I…” Joe stopped himself. He couldn’t tell her how he felt. Not yet. She was too confused over Jordan. He took her hand. “Leave this stuff. Let’s go outside and play,.”

She grabbed her coat and they went down to the apartment playground. Jon was pushing Patricia on a swing. Danny and Donnie were hanging upside down from the monkey bars, and Jordan was chasing his son and daughter around the jungle gym.

“What do you think is going on with ‘Patty and Jon?” Joe said to Lara as they watched everyone.

“I don’t know. I think she kinda forgot how attracted to him she once was.”

“Looks like they’re both remembering,” he observed, as Jon helped Patricia off of the swing.

Nathaniel ran over to them. “Mommy, come play with us! We’re playing tag!” He started to pull her hand.

“Come on, Uncle Joe!” Lara said, grabbing Joe’s hand.

Soon, everyone was playing tag. When one of the kids was It, everyone ran slowly, but when an adult was It, the guys took the game seriously.

At one point, when Patricia was It, Jordan and Lara accidentally collided, falling to the ground. “Isn’t this great? Just like old times,” he said, laying beside her. He moved to kiss her, but she pulled away. “Why won’t you give me a chance?” He asked angrily.

“Because you broke my heart, Jordan. Just because you’re the father of my kids doesn’t make everything okay!” She stood and walked away.

Joe stood across the playground, watching them. He didn’t notice Patricia come and tap him on the shoulder. “You’re It, Joe!” She said. He ignored her. “I said, you’re It,” she snapped.

“Oh, yeah, okay,” he mumbled.

Jonathan snuck around the apartment building to hide from Joe. As he rounded the corner, he saw that Patricia was already there.

“Great minds think alike,” he said, startling her.

“Jon!”

He stood and looked at her, and desperately wanted to kiss her. As he slowly moved towards her, she swallowed nervously.

“Patricia, would you mind if I…”

“No, not at all,” she murmured as his lips met hers. He was the first to pull away.

“I’m sorry, Patricia. I told myself I wouldn’t do that. It’s just that everything feels so right with you.”

“I know, Jon. I feel it, too. But things are so different now.” She remained in his arms.

“Let’s just take it one step at a time, okay?” He said. She nodded, lost in his beautiful hazel eyes.

They heard Betsy shriek, and quickly pulled apart. “Uncle Jon! Aunt Patricia! Help! Donnie’s after me!”

“Well, I guess this game is over,” Patricia said. Jon gave Betsy a piggyback ride back into the building.

“Let’s all go out for dinner tonight,” Donnie suggested. “Someplace really nice, to celebrate being together again.”

“Yay!” Betsy yelled.

“No, honey. I think Uncle Donnie meant just the grownups,” Lara said.

“Aw, man! Why?” whined the usually content Nathaniel.

“Because we just want to relax and do grown up things,” she told him.

“Okay,” he sulked.

“I want to go! Why can’t we go!” Betsy wailed, stomping and causing a scene. Lara sighed, embarrassed. Jordan took Betsy’s arm gently but firmly.

“Jordan Elizabeth, that is enough! You heard what your mother said, and that’s final,” Jordan told her sternly.

“I don’t care what you say! You weren’t my daddy ‘til today, and I hate you!” Betsy yelled, running off to her room. Jordan sat down in a chair, heartbroken. Lara squeezed his hand sympathetically.

“Don’t take it personally, Jordan. She usually throws a tantrum a day.”

“My Ashley is the same way,” Patricia told him.

Nathaniel hugged his father. “Don’t worry, Daddy. She doesn’t hate you. She always says she hates Mom, too.”

Jordan smiled and hugged him back. “This daddy thing is rough!”

“Can we stay at Aunt Sandi’s tonight?” Nathaniel asked Lara eagerly. Aunt Sandi and Uncle Ron’s was even better than going out to eat.

“Why don’t you bring me the phone and we’ll call her.”

“So, any suggestions on where to eat?” Jon asked Patricia.

“How much money are you all willing to spend?” She teased.

Nathaniel brought Lara the phone. She dialed the number but let him talk. “Aunt Sandi? Hi! Mommy is going out with Aunt Patricia and Daddy and their friends, so can me and Betsy stay over?”

Lara heard an excited squawk come from her sister’s end of the phone. “Let me talk to her, sweetie.”

Meanwhile, Patricia and Jon went to check on Betsy. She lay sniffling on her bed. Patricia stood by the door while Jon sat on the edge of the bed.

“Betsy, it really hurt Daddy’s feelings when you said you hated him,” Jonathan began.

“But it hurted me not to go out to dinner!” She pouted.

“You know, Daddy and I and our friends haven’t seen Mommy and Aunt Patricia for a really long time. We’re gonna talk about people, places, and things that you know nothing about. Wouldn’t that be boring?”

“Maybe.” She slowly sat up, fear in his eyes. “Daddy won’t leave again because I said I hated him, will he?” The anxiety in the little girl’s voice made Patricia’s heart harden against Jordan Knight even more.

“No, I’m sure he won’t.”

Nathaniel burst into the room. “Betsy! Guess what? We get to go to Aunt Sandi’s for dinner, but we’re not sleeping over ‘cause Aunt Sandi’s busy early tomorrow. And guess what else? Daddy will be here when we wake up tomorrow!” He gasped for breath. Betsy was delighted.

“Wow! Aunt Sandi’s!” She turned to Jon. “I’d better go say sorry to Daddy.” She and Nathaniel ran out of the room.

Patricia smiled at Jonathan. “Wow. Have you ever thought about going into politics? You’d make a great ambassador.”

He laughed as they returned to the living room. “No, I don’t think that’s for me.”

The group was trying to decide where to go for dinner. Jordan was having a hard time paying attention, because his children kept talking to him and showing him things. He looked to Lara for help.

“Kids, we really need to talk to Daddy about tonight. If you can’t find something quiet to do, you’ll have to leave the room.”

The children consulted one another, and decided to do a puzzle. As they went to the box of puzzles, Lara turned back to the group. “Okay. So have we decided anything.”

“Nope,” Donnie said, leaning against the wall.

“If money’s no object, how about the Hotel Hershey?” Patricia suggested. Lara’s mouth dropped open. AUTHOR’S NOTE: THE HOTEL HERSHEY IS AN ULTRA-EXTRAVAGANT HOTEL WITH AN AWESOME DINING ROOM. YOU CAN’T EVEN GET IN WITHOUT A TIE OR NICE CLOTHES.

“The Hotel Hershey? Well, I…no. We can’t.”

“Why not?” Joe asked.

She was interrupted by a shout from her son and daughter. They carried a big puzzle box over to the table.

“No way!” Danny said in disbelief. They had found one of Lara’s old New Kids on the Block puzzles.

“You were on a puzzle! Wow!” Nathaniel stared at the men in awe.

“Before you were born, they were a singing group,” Lara told the kids.

“You mean like the Backstreet Boys?” Betsy said, very impressed. Lara and Patricia burst out laughing. The guys looked insulted.

“Yes, exactly like the Backstreet Boys,” Lara replied as they sat down to do the puzzle.

“Anyway, why can’t we go to his hotel place?” Joe asked.

“Because it’s way too expensive,” Lara told him.

“Not to be rude, but, hello, they were the New Kids,” Patricia pointed out. “And when was the last time you went somewhere really nice? Probably nine years ago, when we all went to Tavern on the Green!”

Lara blushed, showing the truth of Patricia’s remark.

“Okay. It’s settled. That’s where we’re going.” Donnie picked up the phone book to call and try to get reservations.

“Is there anywhere we could go dancing after dinner?” Danny asked.

Betsy looked up from the puzzle. “Dancing, too? No fair!” Looks from her parents silenced her.

“Wanda’s is best, I guess,” Patricia looked to Lara for confirmation. Lara stared back at her.

“Whatever you say, Patricia. I haven’t been out in ages.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE: WANDA’S IS A DECENT NIGHTCLUB HERE IN HARRISBURG. NOTHING BIG TIME, BUT GOOD MUSIC.

Donnie hung up the phone triumphantly. “We have a reservation for seven-thirty.” He winked at Lara. “It helps to know people.”

“Who do you know at the Hotel Hershey that could get us a table?” Patricia demanded.

“No one. I know me. And since the girl taking reservations just happened to recognize my name…” he smiled proudly. The other guys groaned.

“What time is it?” Lara asked.

“Four,” Patricia promptly replied. Lara gasped.

“I have a lot to do in three hours! I hate to kick you guys out…but…”

“We get the hint,” Jonathan teased as the group stood.

“I guess we’ll come meet you at Patricia’s a little after seven?” Jordan said. Jon nodded.

“Say goodbye to everyone,” Lara told Betsy and Nathaniel. Betsy ran to everyone, giving hugs. Nathaniel hugged only Jon and Patricia.

“You’ll come back tomorrow, right?” Nathaniel asked his uncle anxiously.

“Of course. I promise,” Jon said solemnly.

The group left.

“Jordan, how long will it take you to get ready?” Lara asked him.

“Next to no time. Why?”

“Because I was wondering if you’d like to help Nathaniel with his bath,” Lara offered. Jordan started to decline, but when he looked down into the hopeful eyes of his son, he couldn’t refuse.

“What about me?” Betsy pouted.

“I thought he could help you pack your bag to take to Aunt Sandi’s after you take your bath.”

“Okay!” She bounced up and down.

“No playing tonight, because Daddy, Joe, and I have to shower, too,” Lara told the children. She went into the bathroom to start Nathaniel’s bath water. Jordan followed her.

“We could save time and water by showering together,” he suggested.

“Jordan…” she began.

“Relax! I’m kidding!” He said, taking her in his arms. “Can I at least give you a hug?”

“Of course,” she said, welcoming the still-familiar feel of his arms around her.

“Lara, I want to thank you. For everything. For raising our son and daughter to be such great kids. For not punching me as soon as I walked in the door. For giving me a chance to make up for all I’ve done.” He hugged her hard.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered. He gazed down into her eyes.

“Is it okay if I kiss you?” He whispered back.

She could only nod, mesmerized by his chocolate brown eyes. He gently kissed her, then tightened his hold on her, kissing her passionately. She responded automatically, like it was only yesterday since they had kissed the last time.

Nathaniel poked his head in the door. He turned to loudly whisper to his sister. “Mommy and Daddy are kissing!” They both giggled.

Lara and Jordan drew apart. “In here, young man,” she ordered. Nathaniel came into the bathroom, smiling broadly. She turned to Jordan. “Call me if you need anything. He does pretty good on his own. You just need to supervise.” She quickly escaped to the living room.

Joe was moodily staring at the TV, not really seeing it. Lara sat next to him.

“This day has been so weird,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

“You can say that again,” he replied.

“Thanks for staying over tonight. I feel…better with you here.” She sighed wearily.

“We haven’t gotten to talk much. Why did you stop writing to me?” He asked.

“Because I thought you’d ask to visit, find out about the twins, and tell Jordan.”

He moved to look at her. “Lara, if you would’ve wanted me to not tell anyone, I would’ve kept my mouth shut.” He looked hurt. “You could’ve trusted me.”

“I’m sorry, Joe. I was just so afraid he’d find out.” She looked at Betsy, who was happily working on the puzzle, starting with Jordan’s picture first. “I don’t know why. He really seems to have grown up.”

“Maybe you were afraid he’d hurt you again,” he said slowly.

“I won’t let him,” she said firmly, standing. “I’m gonna go check on them.”

She quickly got Nathaniel out of the tub, and Betsy into it. While Jordan helped them pack, Lara jumped into the shower. She came out of the bathroom wearing a purple kimono, with her hair wrapped in a towel, just as her sister knocked on the door.

“We’ll pick you up later, after your asleep,” Lara said, kissing her children. They hugged and kissed her, hugged and kissed Jordan, said goodbye to Joe, and left with their aunt.

“You guys argue over the shower. I have to get ready.” Lara disappeared into Betsy’s room.

“What do you say, Joe-Bird? Shall we flip for it?” Jordan pulled a coin out of his pocket.

Joe came to stand before him. He stared at Jordan for a long moment, then said, “No, Jordan, you go ahead. But before you do, let me tell you something. If you hurt Lara and those kids…if you break her heart again, I will never forgive you, got that? If I find out you played with her, I will personally find you and beat the living shit out of you. Understand?”

“Yeah, Joe, whatever.” Jordan looked at Joe strangely, then went to the bathroom.

Lara quickly blew her hair dry, then stood in front of the closet. She had no clue what to wear. She was so nervous about going out to dinner, and she didn’t know why. Probably because the nicest place I go out to is McDonald’s, she thought. She pawed through the closet. Something caught her eye, and she yanked the hanger out of the closet. It was an outfit that she had totally forgotten she owned. A knee length, gauzy skirt with a matching sheer-sleeved blouse. It was midnight blue, her favorite color, and perfect for dinner and dancing. She put it on, hoping it still fit. It fit perfectly. She sat down in front of Betsy’s mirror to do her hair and makeup. To her dismay, the phone rang.

“Can someone get that, please?” She yelled.

Joe’s hand poked the phone into the room. “It’s some guy named Dan.”

She groaned and took the phone. “I don’t have a lot of time,” she said.

“Hello to you, too,” Dan replied. “Who answered the phone?”

She sighed. “I might as well tell you everything. Patricia went behind my back, called one of the New Kids, and they all came down.” She paused. “Jordan came down, and I told him, and the twins, that he’s their father. They’re so happy.”

“How about you? Planning the wedding yet?” He said bitterly.

“Dan, I don’t need this right now. No, I’m not back together with him. My main concern is helping him get to know the kids better.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just…I guess…I’m…”

“Jealous?” She asked with a smile.

“Yes,” he grumbled. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will,” she promised. “I gotta go. We’re all going out for dinner. I’ll call you later this week.”

She hung up, and finally got her hair and makeup done. Joe and Jordan were in front of the TV. Jordan didn’t notice her come into the room, but Joe did a double take.

“Wow. You look fantastic!”

“Thanks,” she said shyly, looking at Jordan. He stood.

“You are beautiful,” he said, kissing her cheek. “Let’s go!”

 

Chapter Eight 

 

They went down to Joe’s rented car. Lara quickly sat up front with Joe. She didn’t feel comfortable sitting in back with Jordan.

When they got to Patricia’s everyone was in the living room, except Jonathan.

“He was first in the shower and he’s still not ready!” Danny complained.

“Patricia, you look really nice,” Jordan said politely, trying to break the ice with her.

“Thanks,” she replied. She had on an emerald green silk strapless pantsuit with a matching green jacket.

Donnie came over to Lara and just looked at her. “What?” She finally said. “Has my face gone green or something?”

“You look so gorgeous. Will you save me a dance?”

She started to laugh, then realized he was totally serious. “Sure, Donnie, no problem.”

Jordan went to bang on the bathroom door. “Today, GQ, we’re hungry!”

“Fine, fine.” Jonathan opened the door. He had on a stylish black suite with a light green shirt underneath. Even Lara drooled as he walked up the hallway.

“How ‘bout me, Lara, J, and ‘Patty go in ‘Patty’s car, and the rest of you go with Joe?” Jon suggested.

“But we don’t know where we’re going,” Danny pointed out.

“It’s easy.” Patricia started to give Joe directions.

“Wait. Nevermind. I’ll just ride with them.” Lara went out and climbed into the backseat of Joe’s car before anyone could protest. Donnie hurried to sit next to her. Everyone else piled into the cars and they left.

“Just go straight on this road ‘til it ends,” Lara told Joe as he pulled out onto Route 39. Donnie put an arm around her and pulled her close. “What is up with you?” She said, laughing.

“I just missed you. You and Patricia are so much fun.”

“You could’ve called or written,” she pointed out. “Joe did.”

“Well, Joe had a lot more free time after the group broke up,” Donnie said.

“Hey!” Joe said, insulted.

“And it’s nice not having Jordan waiting to pounce on me every time I talk to you,” Donnie continued.

“Well, maybe they’ll get back together now,” Danny said from the front seat.

“I’m not so sure about that,” she said. Joe’s heart leapt. “I’m not ready to jump into all that again, though he seems to think he can just take up right where we left off. Right now, I only love him as my friend, and as the father of my kids.”

Joe thought, Good, at the same time Donnie said it out loud. “J’s like my bro, but I don’t think you are right for each other anymore,” Donnie told her.

They pulled up in front of the restaurant and parked.

“Wow! You were right, Patricia. This place is really nice,” Joe said as they walked in.

Donnie walked up to the hostess. “Hi. I called earlier to reserve a table of seven. The name is Wahlberg.”

The girl took one look at him and gasped. “It really was you! Follow me, Don…I mean, Mr. Wahlberg.” She led them to a table, practically tripping over her own feet.

Joe and Donnie quickly sat on either side of Lara, forcing Jordan to sit at the end. Patricia found herself between Danny and Jonathan, which she didn’t mind one bit.

Jonathan ordered a bottle of champagne, and when it arrived, he proposed a toast. “This is a double toast. First of all, to Lara, the mother of my niece and nephew. You’ve done a great job of raising them, and I look forward to getting to know them better.” He turned to Patricia. “And to Patricia, who has forgiven me for all the stupid mistakes I made in the past. You’re still as beautiful as the day we met almost nine years ago, and I look forward to getting to know you all over again.” Everyone clapped, and Patricia turned fire truck red. Lara sent an amused look that said, “How can you say no to all that?” Patricia kicked her under the table.

They were well into their second bottle of champagne when Lara spotted someone across the room. She excused herself and went over to the table. A man was sitting alone.

“Mr. Turner, don’t tell me you’re out for dinner alone on a Saturday night,” she said. Steve Turner turned to face her.

“Lara! No, I’m not alone.” He looked uncomfortable. “My, uh, date is in the restroom.”

“Your date! That’s wonderful!” She squealed in a whisper.

“Who are you here with?” He blushed and changed the subject.

She pointed to the group. “It’s a very long story, but the guy in the dark blue suit, he’s Nathaniel and Jordan’s father.” It was her turn to blush.

“What?” He asked in amazement. “You have a lot to explain on Monday, young lady!”

She said goodbye and returned to her table.

“Who was that?” Joe and Jordan asked at the same time. They glared at each other while everyone pretended not to notice.

“One of the attorneys at the firm. He’s like a big brother to me.”

They finally finished their meal. Lara and Patricia insisted on driving, because they had had the least to drink.

“Don’t expect too much from this club,” Lara warned Joe, Donnie, and Danny as they went back onto the road. “It’s not some big Boston club.”

“As long as there’s kickin’ music and fly girls, I’ll be happy,” Danny said from his seat next to Donnie in the back.

“What about Patricia?” Donnie asked.

“Patricia is fine, and she’s my homegirl, but Jon is all over her. I’m staying away from that this time!”

They soon arrived at Wanda’s. Joe paid everyone’s cover, and by a miracle, they got a table. Patricia soon saw some friends, and took Jonathan over to introduce him. Danny went onto the dance floor alone, but soon had a girl on each side. Joe excused himself to use the restroom.

Jordan and Donnie kept whispering about some slutty looking girls on the dance floor, but stayed at the table, drinking beer. Lara soon had had enough. She downed her sloe gin fizz, asked the waitress for two more, and said to Jordan, “Look, just because we had sex nine years ago, and I had your kids, doesn’t mean we’re attached at the hip. If you guys want to go talk to those ho-bags, go ahead.”

Donnie stared at her. “Sweetie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Donnie. I’ve been alone for nine years. I can handle sitting here by myself.” She looked pointedly at Jordan.

Jordan slammed his beer down on the table. After giving her a look that had “bitch” written all over it, he went over to the girls, followed by Donnie.

Lara took another large swallow of her drink, reminding herself that she had to stop at four. She still had to get her kids. Why did Jordan Knight have to look so fine, but act like such an ass?

Joe returned to find her alone at the table. “Where is everyone?”

“Danny’s out on the dance floor, Jon and ‘Patty are somewhere, and Jordan and Donnie are talking to a couple of whores,” she said bitterly, chewing on some ice from her drink. Joe stared down at the empty glasses on the table.

“He left you here? I’ll go get him.”

“No, Joe, I told him to go. Leave him alone.”

Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna” came on. She stood. “This is kinda our theme song, Joe. Wanna dance?” She flirted.

“It’s not really a good song to dance to,” he began, but she was already dragging him out onto the dance floor. Before he knew it, she was in his arms, pressed tightly against him.

“I’m glad we came out tonight. It’s been so long since I had a good time.” She put her head on his shoulder.

“I think you’re drunk,” he observed. She looked at him.

“Nope. Not quite.” She stared into his blue eyes. “There was a time I thought the twins might have been yours, you know.” He swallowed as she continued. “If they would’ve been I would’ve told you. Even though you were just a kid like me, I trusted you.”

He thought of how she hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about the twins when they were born, but said nothing. He continued to hold her. He then said, “Tell me the truth. What’s up with you and Jordan?”

“Why?” She countered.

“Because I need to know!” He snapped. She stopped dancing and stared into his eyes. She saw anguish…and love.

 

Chapter Nine 

 

“Oh, Joe, I’m sorry. I…I’m so..confused. I didn’t know…” she stammered. He lowered his lips to hers and gently kissed her. She remembered another kiss years earlier, just as soft and tender.

“My turn! My dance! You promised!” Donnie said cheerfully as another slow song came on. Joe pulled away and took off into the crowd.

“You always had the worst timing!” Lara snarled at Donnie as he wrapped his arms around her.

Jonathan led Patricia onto the dance floor. They had both had a few more drinks and were almost holding each other up.

“Thanks for the toast earlier,” she told him.

“I meant every word of it. You still are one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever met.” Before she could protest, he kissed her passionately.

“Jonathan, wait! I…” she stammered. He caressed her back through the silk of her outfit.

“Patricia, we’re both decent, good human beings. We work hard, and take care of the people we love. I’d never pressure you, and don’t want to confuse you, but one last time, for this weekend, let’s be in love again. Let’s go back to the time before we fought, and then finish this thing right.”

She stared at him. She wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms all night. She wanted to take him home and…

“Patricia, I know what kind of girl you are, and I’d never take advantage of you,” he said, the alcohol making him braver by the minute. “But all I can think of is taking you home and making love to you until the sun comes up.”

She pulled back, shivers crawling up and down her spine. All she could say was “Okay”, as Danny claimed her for the next song.

Lara unwrapped herself from Donnie’s arms. She desperately needed to sit down. Joe was in love with her! Apparently, he had been in love with her all these years. She didn’t know what to think. Someone grabbed her hand.

“Jordan, I don’t…”

“Just one dance,” he begged. She saw sincerity in his brown eyes and relented.

“What happened to your new friends?”

“You were right. They were hussies. That’s not what I want.”

“What do you want?” She regretted the words immediately. He slid his hands down and rested them on her backside.

“You.” He began to kiss her neck. “I still remember how you taste…how you feel…”

She moaned without realizing it. “Jordan, I can’t. No matter how much I want to.”

He pressed close against her. “Do you feel how much I want you? Say yes.” He nibbled on her earlobe. “This place is a hotel, right? We’ll go get a room, and…”

She pulled back. “No, Jordan! I’m not like that! I’m not one of your little groupies! No matter how much you turn me on, I just can’t do it like that!” He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her long and hard. She had no choice but to hold on to him. “Why, Jordan, why me? Why now?” She finally asked, hurt written all over her face. He didn’t answer, but started to lead her out of the club.

“I just want to talk,” he said when she resisted. They sat in the lobby. “I thought I had forgotten all about you. Time and again, I thought I had replaced you.” He didn’t notice her wince as she thought of all the other women he must have had. “But when I saw you this morning, with paint on your nose, everything came rushing back.” He caressed her cheek. “I want to make it up to you.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. “Jordan, I never could forget you. I had two reminders every day of my life. I thought I was still in love with you, but now I see that I was just in love with the memory of you. And even though I am very attracted to you, and even though you were the last man I was ever with, sex isn’t going to ‘make it up’ to me.”

He thought about all of this, then said, “Wait a minute. You said ‘the last man’. If I was the last man, wasn’t I the only man?”

“I don’t think this is the time…” she stood. He grabbed her arm.

“I know I was the first, but who else? Wahlberg?”

“No, I never did anything with Donnie! Jordan, this was nine years ago! Can’t you just…”

“Joe,” he said suddenly, letting go of her. “I remember. You guys avoided each other like the plague by the end of the summer.” He looked her in the eye. “Nathaniel’s middle name is Joseph. You thought that maybe…”

The tears ran down her face as guilt washed over her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Well, it’s obvious that Nathaniel and Betsy are mine, regardless. I forgive you, Lara, and I forgive Joe.” But he still looked shocked. He went out into the parking lot.

Lara walked through the club and out onto the deck, not even noticing the cold. Joe followed her, noticing how pale she was.

“Lara, what are you doing out here? It’s freezing!” He took off his suit jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

“Jordan found out about us,” she said without looking at him.

“About what? About what happened nine years ago?” He tried to make her feel better.

“Yes, Joe, but that doesn’t make it sound any better!” She turned on him angrily. “I cheated on him, and that’s not something a decent person does! It doesn’t matter if it was nine days ago! I cheated on my boyfriend!” She turned away again. “He says he forgives us, but I know it’s only because he feels guilty about deserting me.”

Joe was frustrated. “This is just like something from high school!” He then finally said what he had been thinking ever since Patricia had called him. “Lara, I love you. I’ve loved you since we were seventeen. I love your smile, your laugh, your personality, your body, everything. One day you’ll realize that we were made for each other!” She stared at him, mouth open. “Jordan already knows that if he hurts you, I’ll kill him. Please don’t put yourself in a position for him to mess with you. You don’t belong with him. You belong with me!” He stood shivering in front of her, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Let’s get the others, Joe. I need to pick up the kids.”

Lara drove Patricia’s car while Joe drove his. They dropped Jon, Patricia, Danny, and Donnie at Patricia’s, then headed back to Lara’s sister’s house.

“You’ll probably have to hold one of the kids,” Lara told Jordan.

“That’s fine,” he said quietly.

Everyone was asleep, but Lara had a key. Joe picked up Nathaniel, and Jordan carried Betsy. Nathaniel never budged, but Betsy said, “Hi, Daddy,” and fell back asleep.

They drove home in silence. Joe and Jordan carried the children into their rooms, and Lara tucked them in. The adults met up in the living room.

“Jordan, I…” Joe began.

“Not right now, Joe. I’ve had too much to drink, and I don’t want to do anything I might regret later.” He slipped into Nathaniel’s bedroom. Lara followed.

“Jordan, I don’t know what to say,” she whispered. “I never meant to let it slip out like that.” She got an extra pillow out of the closet and placed it on the top bunk.

“I don’t want to discuss this, Lara. Like you said, it was years ago. Now, I think it’s best if I just get to bed.” He was weaving on his feet.

Far from sober herself, she refused to let it drop. “No, we’re talking about it now!” She snapped. “I made a big mistake, and I feel awful about it. It only happened once, not that it makes a difference. But I don’t want to act like we hate each other. The kids will notice. Please, try to forgive me, like I’ve been trying to forgive you.” She leaned against the wall, thankful that Nathaniel wasn’t a light sleeper.

Jordan slowly walked over to her. He took her hands and pinned them to the wall above her head. She gasped. “You’re right, Lara, we are two totally different people now,” he whispered in her ear. “I was a boy then. Now I’m a man, and I can show you things that will make you forget Joe McIntyre.” He kissed her, his tongue probing her mouth. She moaned and clutched his shoulders. One of his hands wove through her hair, while the other opened the buttons on the front of her blouse. His fingers found her breast under her bra and began to softly caress it. “Let me make love to you,” he pleaded, biting at her ear. He slowly started to raise her skirt.

“Oh, yes. God, yes,” she murmured, unable to resist. It was then they heard screaming. They froze.

“It’s Betsy!” Lara hurriedly buttoned her blouse and ran out.

Joe stood by Betsy’s door, not wanting to go in. “She just started yelling!” He told Lara. She went in.

Betsy was having a nightmare. She thrashed about in her bed. Lara sat beside her. Jordan soon came in and sat on the other side. Lara put a hand on her daughter’s cheek.

“Sweetie, wake up. It’s only a dream,” she said in a soothing voice. Betsy continued to sob. Jordan pulled her into his arms and held her tight.

“Betsy, wake up.”

The child suddenly awoke and looked around fearfully. When she saw who was holding her, she began to relax. “Oh, Daddy, it was awful! There was a big monster chasing us! Chasing you and me!”

Lara slipped out of the room. Joe was sitting on the sofa. “Is she okay?” He asked.

“Yes, it was just a nightmare.” She got out the sleeping bag and a pillow. “You could sleep in Nathaniel’s room, on the floor.”

“No, I, uh, think I’ll stay out here. Jordan would probably stomp on me in the middle of the night.” He looked at her. “Your, um, shirt…it’s not buttoned right. You, um, missed one.”

She blushed and turned away to finish buttoning. “I’ll go check on them.” She peeked in the bedroom door. Jordan was singing to Betsy, who was almost asleep again. Lara returned to the living room.

Joe had pulled out the sofabed for her, and was unrolling the sleeping bag.

“I have Barbie if you don’t like Veggie Tales,” she said softly. He smiled.

“No, Veggie Tales are fine.”

She then realized she had forgotten her pajamas. She tiptoed back into Betsy’s room and pulled a Tigger nightshirt out of a drawer. She left and Jordan followed. They stood outside the door, waiting to make sure Betsy was truly asleep.

“You handled that like a pro,” Lara whispered to Jordan.

“I didn’t do much but hold her and sing. Is parenting always that easy?”

She smiled and shook her head. “I’m afraid not.

He looked at the closed door. “I guess she’s okay now.” He looked Lara in the eye and blushed. “About what happened in the other room…I’m sorry. I kind of took advantage of you. We couldn’t have done anything anyway, with N.J. in there. I think I was kind of trying to prove something. Not that I’m not attracted to you!” He was quick to add.

“Well, I was kind of taking advantage of you, because it’s been so long,” she confessed. They looked at each other for a long moment, then he gave her a big hug.

“If you ever decide it’s what you want…” he whispered in her ear. He gently touched her cheek. “Good night, Joe,” he said, glancing in his friend’s direction before entering Nathaniel’s room.

Lara stood where he had left her, feeling as if she could not move. She hated his new hair, was annoyed by his cocky attitude, and sometimes felt as if she had never known him. But he still had the ability to turn her world upside down.

“I’m going to get ready for bed,” she told Joe. She willed herself to walk to the bathroom. After closing the door, she leaned against it and sobbed.

 

Chapter Ten 

 

“Point the way to my room, ‘Patty. I need to crash,” Danny complained as they entered Patricia’s house.

“Well, there’s a bed upstairs, a bed downstairs, and a sofa.” She tossed her keys in the general direction of the kitchen table, not even caring if they missed. Was Jon serious or did she have some kind of drunken hallucination?

“Well, I’m a light sleeper, so I’ll go downstairs,” Danny replied.

“And I need to fall asleep with the TV on, so I’ll take the sofa,” Donnie offered.

“Cool! I get the bathroom first.” Danny went down the hall.

Patricia busied herself getting the beds ready. Danny and Donnie thanked her, and went to their beds. She assumed Jon was in his room. She went to the bathroom and did her usual go-to-bed stuff. She went into her bedroom, shut the door, then went to turn on the bedside lamp. Jonathan was stretched out on the bed. She gasped in surprise. He sat up.

“Do you want me to go?”

“No! Um, not if you don’t want to. You just scared me, that’s all.”

He stood in front of her. “We don’t have to do this, Patricia. I just…you’re just so…” he stammered. She quickly lit some candles and turned off the light.

“Quiet, Jonathan. The past is gone, remember? We never fought. We are just like we were in 1990, except with all those years of experience.”

Jon took off his jacket as she kicked off her shoes. He helped her out of her jacket, and then pulled her to him. He gently kissed her, and began to unzip her top as she unbuttoned his shirt. What started tenderly became more intense as they pulled at each other’s clothes and fell onto the bed.

“You feel just like I remember,” he murmured as he explored her body. She didn’t speak. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would scream with delight. Suddenly, he stopped.

“Patricia, I…I never expected this to happen. I…uh….I don’t have any…uh…” she could sense his blushes.

“It’s okay, Jonathan. I have some in the jewelry box on the nightstand.”

He quickly grabbed a condom and placed it close by. They then proceeded to drive each other crazy until they couldn’t stand it any longer.

“There’s never been anyone but you, Patricia,” he gasped as he thrust inside of her.

“Oh, Jonathan!” She could barely speak as she wrapped her arms around him.

“I hope you have a few more condoms in that box. I plan on pleasing you in every way I know how.”

She stifled a shriek by covering his mouth with hers, wondering if she could survive a night full of passion as intense as this. 

When Lara came out of the bathroom. Joe was already asleep on the floor. She knelt beside him. She tenderly caressed his cheek. “Oh, Joe, what am I going to do?” She whispered. She climbed up onto the sofabed. She was tired, but too much was running through her head. Joe slowly sat up, startling her.

“Joe! Did I waken you?”

“I head the sofabed moving, that’s all.” He leaned his head on the bed. “Lara, I hope I didn’t embarrass you earlier.”

“Don’t worry, you didn’t. It wasn’t like I wasn’t confused to begin with.” She reached for his hand and held it. “I just don’t want to lead you on.”

“I’ll be fine.” He kissed her fingers. “And I’ll always be here for you, whenever you need me.”

“Thanks, Joe. Hey, why don’t you sleep up here? It’s more comfortable, and I…I trust you.’

He paused, then climbed up beside her, bringing the sleeping bag with him. “It’s just best, I think,” he explained, climbing into the sleeping bag. She fell asleep with his arms around her. 

At around 7:30, Nathaniel tiptoed out of his room just as Betsy came flying out of hers. They stopped short at the sight of their mother sleeping next to “Uncle” Joe.

“It’s Uncle Joe!” Nathaniel whispered.

“He’s not our uncle! Only Uncle Jon is our uncle!” His sister snapped.

“What about Uncle Dan?” He quietly pointed out.

“Oh.” She stopped to consider that.

Joe opened his eyes and saw the twins staring at him. “Good morning,” he whispered. They continued to stare. “Why don’t you come up here and wake Mommy?”

“Okay!” The twins scrambled up and lay on either side of their mother.

“Mommy, wake up!” Betsy bestowed kisses all over Lara’s face. Lara moaned and put a pillow over her head.

“Mom, get up. We have to get ready for Sunday School.” Nathaniel gently poked her in the ribs.

Lara sighed and uncovered her face. “You’re not going to Sunday School today. I thought you might want to stay home this once, since Daddy is here.”

“Cool.” Nathaniel snuggled closer to Joe, much to Lara’s surprise.

“Can we wake up Daddy?” Betsy asked. Lara and Joe exchanged looks, knowing what a bear Jordan was in the morning.

“I don’t think so, sweetie. Daddy likes to sleep late,” Laura told her.

“Oh. Why are you in bed but in a sleeping bag?” Betsy turned to Joe.

“Because…I’m not married to Mommy, so I don’t think I should sleep under the covers with her.” Not yet, anyway, Joe thought to himself.

“Oh.” Betsy, for once, was silent.

“Can we watch TV?” Nathaniel asked.

“Sure.” Lara handed him the remote, and he soon found the X-Men.

“Great! I love the X-Men!” Joe exclaimed. Lara sent him a look. “No, really. I always read the comic books when I was a kid.” She rolled her eyes and got up to go to the bathroom.

On her way out, she snuck into Nathaniel’s room to peek at Jordan. She stood and stared at him, remembering. She used to remember his sleeping face all the time, when she was pregnant. When the twins kicked and kept her awake, she would pace the floor and remember all kinds of things: the way he laughed, the dimples in his cheeks, the softness of his skin. She sighed unconsciously. What had happened to the boy she had loved?

He stirred and opened his eyes. “Hi there,” he said sleepily.

“Hi! I was just, uh…”

“Watching me? That’s okay,” he said smiling. “Are the kids up?”

“Yeah. They’re watching X-Men, with Joe.”

“Come up here and sit for a minute. I promise, you’ll be totally safe, unless you don’t want to be.” He smiled devilishly, then laughed. She climbed up to the top bunk. They held hands. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“I thought you, or you and Jonathan, might want to go do something with the twins,” she suggested.

“That would be great. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go to the mall. I know that gifts don’t take the place of being a dad, but I’d like to spoil them.”

“That would be fine. That way I could finish painting the bathroom.”

He played with her fingers. “Lara, we have to go back to Boston tomorrow morning. I’d really like to come visit any time I have to spare.”

“Of course, Jordan. I want the kids to get to know you.” She thought for a moment. “In two months, on April sixth, the twins turn eight. It would be a great present for them if they could come meet their other family in Boston.”

“That would be fantastic! There’s plenty of room for all of you!”

“Jordan, I’ll bring them, but you and I can only be friends now. I might be convinced to fall into bed with you, but I know I’ll never be able to fall in love with you again.”

He slowly nodded. “I understand.” 

Meanwhile, Joe was going crazy out in the living room. He knew that if anyone could manage to make love on the top level of a bunk bed, it was Jordan Knight. He could just imagine Jordan slowly pulling the nightgown over Lara’s head, his hands slowly reaching out to…

“Daddy!” Betsy shrieked. Joe saw Lara and Jordan come out of the bedroom. As the twins ran to hug their father, Joe hurriedly got up off of the sofabed.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” he said. He went into the bathroom.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Lara asked Jordan.

“Pancakes!” The twins shouted.

“Pancakes, I guess,” Jordan said with a smile. “Can I help?”

“No, go hang with your kids.”

“Mommy slept with Uncle Joe last night,” Betsy announced. Jordan’s eyebrows raised, and Lara wondered if there was a company that made muzzles for children.

“But he was in the sleeping bag because they’re not married,” Nathaniel added. Lara wished she could sink into the floor. Jordan just laughed and went to watch TV with his kids.

By the time Joe was out of the shower, breakfast was on the table.

“Hey, Uncle Joe, guess what?” Betsy said as she struggled with the syrup. “Daddy and Uncle Jon are taking us to the mall, and we can have anything we want!”

“Within reason,” Lara was quick to add, looking pointedly at Jordan. “Remember please, Jordan, that we live in an apartment. Please don’t buy ponies or Siberian Huskies.”

“Does Uncle Jon know about this?” Joe asked.

“I’m gonna call him soon. They’re probably all still sleeping.”

 

Chapter Eleven 

 

Danny crept up the stairs. Donnie was awake, watching Sesame Street.

“Morning, D,” Donnie said. “’Patty and Jon are still in bed.”

“Of course they are,” Danny replied, flopping into a chair.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Donnie sat up.

“Don, he was all over her last night. They’re probably passed out cold now ‘cause they were up all night.”

“Figures. Out of all of us, Jon is the one that gets lucky!” Donnie said in mock disgust.

“Hey. Don’t say it like that. Patricia’s not the kind of girl you just ‘get lucky’ with!” Danny snapped.

“Sorry, man,” Donnie apologized as the phone rang. He answered it. “Hello? Oh, hey, J. No, he and Patricia are still in bed.” He smiled. “Yeah, that’s what we think, too. I’ll find out.” He walked down the hall to Patricia’s room and knocked. “Jon? Jordan’s on the phone!” He heard a sleepy moan come from the bedroom. “Jon?”

“Okay!” Jon yelled.

“Later, J.” Donnie hung up when he heard Jon pick up.

“What, Jordan?” Jon mumbled. Patricia was curled up tight against him, still fast asleep.

“I’m taking the kids out shopping and thought you might want to tag along.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jon said, trying to ignore his splitting headache. “When?”

“Well, it’s ten now. How about eleven-thirty?”

“Okay.” Jon hung up before Jordan could say anything else. He gently played with Patricia’s hair, enjoying the feeling of her naked body next to his. They had been up until five, making love again and again. “Patricia,” he whispered.

She opened one eye. “Hey, Jonathan.” She rolled over to look at him. He softly caressed her cheek.

“I hope you don’t regret…” he began.

“Absolutely not,” she answered. “It was unbelievable.”

He looked relieved. “Good. Jordan called. We’re gonna take the kids out for a while.”

“Okay,” she said, looking forward to a few more hours of sleep. He gave her a long sweet kiss.

“Here’s something for you to dream on.”

He got up and went to get ready. Patricia sighed and buried herself under the covers. Life was good. Confusing, but good.

When Jon got out of the shower, Danny and Donnie were sitting on the bed in the guestroom.

“What do you want?” Jon asked, drying his hair.

“What happened last night?” Donnie asked bluntly. Danny gave him a dirty look.

“What he means is, are you and ‘Patty back together?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Kinda.” Jonathan pulled on jeans and a Boston University sweatshirt. “J and I are taking the kids out, and Patricia’s gonna be sleeping for a while. You two will have to amuse yourselves.”

“Fine,” Donnie snapped, realizing that he would get nothing more out of Jon. He found Lara’s number in the phone book and called.

“Hello?” Lara answered.

“We’re bored!” He whined. “Jon’s leaving, Patricia’s sleeping, and we don’t have a car!”

“God, you’re worse than my kids!” She laughed. “Hold on.” He heard her speak to someone. “Okay. Jordan will follow Joe over to Patricia’s and then Joe will bring you back here.”

“Good. Thanks.” He hung up and turned to Jon. “We’ll be amusing ourselves at Lara’s.”

“Good. Now leave me alone so I can get ready!” 

Lara quickly helped the kids get ready. She told Jordan, “The kids know the way to all the stores. They both know our phone number, just in case.”

“We’ll be fine, Mom,” Nathaniel said. “We’ll take care of Daddy and Uncle Jon!”

“I know you will. Give Uncle Jon a hug for me.” She kissed each of the children.

“Where’s mine?” Jordan asked devilishly. She kissed him on the cheek.

“Well, I might as well give you one, too,” she said to Joe. She kissed his cheek, and added a hug. He blushed.

“I’ll be right back with Donnie and Danny.”

“Behave, Betsy and Nathaniel. Do what Daddy and Uncle Jonathan say.”

They left. She cleaned up the breakfast dishes and went to change clothes. She put on some old sweats and decided to turn on some music. She put Dave Matthews, George Michael, and Brian Setzer in the CD changer.

She hummed along as she got out her painting equipment. The phone rang.

“Hello? Oh, Mom, hi. What? Slow down! Oh…you talked to Sandi?” She sat down. “Will you just let me…can I…okay, fine. You talk.”

She was still listening when Joe returned with Danny and Donnie. She motioned for them to keep quiet.

“Mom, can I please say something? I am not getting back together with Jordan Knight!”

Joe’s heart did cartwheels, but he casually flipped through the TV Guide.

“Yes, I do still love him,” Lara continued. “But not like I did at seventeen. We’ll always be close, but not like that.” She suddenly looked at Joe and laughed. “No, I didn’t hit him, but someone else did.” Danny and Donnie laughed. She soon hung up and turned to the others. “Sorry about that. My sister told my mom that Jordan was in town, and I had some explaining to do.”

“That’s okay!” Donnie said cheerfully.

“I really have to finish the bathroom. I’m sorry I don’t have anything to entertain you,” she said.

“We’ll be fine,” Danny told her.

“I really have to check in with my manager, and also reserve the jet for tomorrow morning. Can I make some long distance calls?” Joe asked. “I’ll reimburse you.”

“Sure.” She went back to the bathroom and started to work. Soon Joe came into the room and shut the door.

“I wouldn’t close that, unless you want a paint fume high,” she joked. He didn’t smile.

“We have to be at the airport at seven tomorrow morning,” he said. She nodded and kept on painting. He took the paintbrush from her. “Lara, is there any chance you’ll let me in? I love you so much, and it’s not just brotherly love.” He put the brush in the sink and wrapped his arms around her. “Let me prove it.”

Before she knew it, his mouth was on hers. His tongue touched hers, and electricity shot through her body. She moaned and put her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He was the first to pull away.

“Don’t you see? I want you, but not just your body. I want to be everything to you: brother, friend, lover. But I can wait for that.”

She couldn’t speak for a moment. “I’ll be bringing the twins to Boston in April. Will you be there?”

“Definitely,” he promised. He took her face in her hands. “I need one thing from you, Lara. I said I’d wait for you, and I will. But I’m still a human being, with feelings. Promise me you won’t let Jordan seduce you, no matter how hard he tries.”

“I promise,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be just another one night stand to him.”

“Thank you,” he said softly, hugging her.

 

Chapter Twelve 

 

Patricia woke up two hours later with a splitting headache. She threw on a robe and went to find some aspirin. As she dug through the medicine cabinet, she called Lara. She was surprised to hear Donnie answer the phone.

“Why are you answering Lara’s phone?” She asked rudely.

“Because Lara has been locked in the bathroom with Joe for the last ten minutes, Mary Sunshine.”

Patricia felt nauseous at the thought of Lara alone with…Joe. She pushed the thought from her mind. “Well, can you get her, please?” She found the aspirin and quickly swallowed some.

“Sure!” He walked to the bathroom, feeling like all he had done that day was answer other people’s phones and knock on closed doors. “Lara, Patricia’s on the phone.”

Lara thrust her hand out the door and took the cordless phone. “Hello?” She said, wrapping herself in Joe’s arms again.

“Lara, what are you doing locked in the bathroom with Joe McIntyre?!” Patricia shrieked, momentarily forgetting she had an awful headache.

“Painting,” she replied, gasping as Joe whispered nasty things about paint in her other ear. “Can you hold on, Patricia?” She put down the phone. “Joe! Stop it!” She was blushing.

“What?” He said innocently, sitting on the edge of the tub. She gave him a dirty look.

“Sorry, Patricia. I should ask you what happened last night with Jonathan!” Lara retorted.

“It’s none of your business!” Patricia snapped. “So, what’s up for today?”

“Just hanging out, I guess. The guys leave tomorrow at seven. Wanna come over?”

“I’ll end up there eventually.” Patricia hung up and started a hot bath.

“She’ll be over later,” Lara told Joe. “She has a massive hangover, and also was up all night playing around with Jonathan.” She started painting again.

“What? Did she tell you that?”

“No, I just know.” She sighed. “Joe, can you please get out of here? I only have this little bit to do, and you keep distracting me!”

He stood behind her, putting his arms around her waist. “I’m distracting you?” He whispered onto her neck. She shivered.

“Out…Joe…now…” she mumbled. He kissed behind her ear and left.

Patricia finally showed up, wearing jeans and an old sweater. Lara was cleaning paintbrushes while the guys played Sega.

“Hey, Patricia!” Danny got up off the floor to hug her.

“Not so loud,” she said, slowly sitting on the sofa.

“Have a good time last night, ‘Patty?” Donnie asked meanly.

“Don, shut up,” Danny told him, smacking him on the side of the head.

“Wahlberg, you’re just jealous because you didn’t hook up last night,” Joe said.

“Why? Did you?” Donnie turned on him. Joe blushed, glanced at Lara, then looked at his shoes.

“No, not exactly,” he said softly.

“Stop fighting and turn on MTV,” Patricia ordered, finally removing her sunglasses.

Danny turned on MTV. There was nothing good on, so he switched to The Box. Jordan’s video was on.

“Hey! It’s J!” Donnie yelled. He grabbed the remote from Danny and turned up the volume.

Lara quietly walked in from the kitchen, her eyes never leaving the TV. Jordan looked so sexy. He was dancing with some slutty girl, whom Lara tried to ignore. She knew that if he ever sang this song to her, she would do whatever he asked, regardless of what she had promised Joe.

“Whoa,” Patricia said when the video was over. “Goodbye, New Kids.”

“Why don’t you do videos like that, Joe?” Danny asked.

“Because it’s not his style,” Lara replied before Joe could answer. She stood behind the sofa and played with Joe’s hair. “He doesn’t need to do all that.” She smiled down at Joe, who took her hand and kissed it.

“I think I feel sick.” Patricia went off to the bathroom.

The phone rang. “No, let me,” Donnie said, as Lara went to answer it. “Donnie Wahlberg, Operator.”

“Donnie? Why are…never mind,” Jordan said. “Put Lara on.”

Donnie handed it to Lara. “Hello?”

“Here. Someone has a question for you.”

“Mom?” It was Nathaniel. “Can Daddy and Uncle Jon take us to the movies?”

“If they want to. What movie?”

He paused. “Prince of Egypt.”

“Again? Do they know you’ve seen it a million times?”

“Yes, Betsy told them.”

“Okay, but let me talk to Daddy again.”

“Do you mind if we all go to the movies?” Jordan asked.

“No, but do you realize that they’ve seen this movie a million times?”

“So? It’s what they want to see. It’s not for another twenty minutes. Do you all want to meet us?”

“No, that’s okay. Have fun.” She hung up and turned to the group. “They’re going to the movies.”

“What are they seeing?” Joe asked as she sat down beside him.

“Prince of Egypt.”

“Again?” Patricia said as she returned from the bathroom.

“I know, I know.”

Patricia sat on the floor next to Danny. He threw an arm around her shoulders and began to absentmindedly play with her hair. She felt like melting into the floor.

They spent the afternoon lounging around, watching TV and talking. Jordan, Jonathan, and the kids came home around three. The men’s arms were full of shopping bags.

“We had the best time!” Betsy shouted.

“I bet you did,” Lara said, staring at all the bags.

“There aren’t any ponies or Siberian Huskies,” Joe pointed out.

“Lara, can I speak to you for a second?” Jordan said.

“Sure, I guess so.”

She followed him into Betsy’s room, trying not to notice the jealousy written all over Joe’s face. They sat on the bed.

“First of all, I want to thank you for letting us take the kids out today. They are so great. We had a wonderful time.”

“I’m glad, Jordan. It’s just too bad that you live so far away.”

“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”

“I am not moving to Boston,” she said before he could continue.

“But there are tons of apartments there! Or I could buy a new house, and give you a whole wing, just for you and the kids!”

“Yeah, like that would work,” she said under her breath, thinking of how hard it would be to resist the charms of Jordan Knight if they lived in the same town, let alone the same home.

“And there are so many law firms where you could work. People in Boston sue each other day and night!”

She sighed and reached out to take his hands in hers. “Jordan, I know how much you want the kids to be near you. But you’re hardly in Boston anyway, and soon you’ll start touring. The kids are happy in their school, and they have friends and family here.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “I had to try.” He took a deep breath. “I have another idea, and you can’t refuse.”

“What?” She asked warily.

“Jon and I talked about some things this afternoon. Sometime soon, he’s gonna come down and help you look for a house, and I’m gonna buy it for you.” She started to protest and he put a finger on her mouth to shush her. “Just listen. We may not have the relationship we used to, but I still care about you very much. You shouldn’t have to sleep on a sofabed. And I want our kids to have a nice house, with a swing set, and maybe a pool.” Lara laughed, but he was serious. “All these years, you’ve been raising them alone. I know money and material things won’t make up for how I acted, but I really want to do this for you. Please?” He gave her his puppy dog look, and all at once, she remembered why she had first fallen in love with him.

“Okay,” she relented. His face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Great! Thank you!” He hugged her, then pulled back. “There’s one more thing.” He pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She opened it with shaking hands. Inside was a blue topaz and diamond tennis bracelet. Blue topaz was her favorite stone.

“Jordan! You shouldn’t! I can’t…” she was speechless. He took it out of the box and fastened it around her wrist.

“You deserve this, Lara. You deserve much more than this. You’ve been through so much. I treated you so badly, and yet you’ve allowed me into the twins’ lives without hesitation.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Lara, for everything.”

She hugged him and burst into tears. “I’m so glad we’re friends again, Jordan.”

Meanwhile, Jon had dragged Patricia into the kitchen.

“What?” She said, laughing. He silently handed her a jewelry box. Inside were emerald and diamond teardrop earrings, with a matching pendant necklace. “Jonathan…I thought we…”

“Patricia, I know that after this weekend, we’ll just be very close friends who had some great times together. I just want to let you know that I’ll always love you in a special way, and that if you ever need anything, all you have to do is call.”

“Thank you, Jonathan.” She hugged him.

 

Chapter Thirteen 

 

Everyone had a wonderful time for the rest of the afternoon. Lara called her mother, and asked if she would mind taking the kids to school the next morning.

“But why?” Her mother wanted to know.

“Because I know they’ll have a tough time saying goodbye to Jordan, Mom. If there’s going to be a scene, I want it to be tonight, not tomorrow before school.”

“Okay,” her mother sighed. “I’ll be there in an hour.”

Jordan and the twins were sitting on the sofa.

“You promise you’ll call?” Betsy asked.

“At least once a week. And I’ll try to visit as often as I can. Uncle Jon will be down here a lot, too, looking for your new house.”

Lara went into Nathaniel’s room to pack his school clothes. Patricia followed her.

“So, what’s up with you and Jordan?”

“What’s up with you and Jonathan?” Lara fired back.

“We’re good friends who are extremely attracted to one another.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay…what’s up with you and…Joe?” Patricia could hardly say it. Lara sat on the bottom bunk.

“That one’s not so easy. It’s like all of a sudden he’s all I can think about. He’s loved me for years, Patricia, and he wants to take care of me.”

“Well, doesn’t Jordan want to do that, too?”

“Yes, but for all the wrong reasons. He feels he has a debt to repay. Joe truly wants to make me happy.” She stood.

“Well, that’s the most important thing, I guess.” Patricia paused. “But Joe?”

“You must admit, he is pretty fine,” Lara pointed out.

“True, he did grow up right,” Patricia agreed.

Soon, Lara’s mother arrived. She was very cool towards Jordan, but he turned on the charm and she soon began to warm towards him.

“Go ahead. Say goodbye to Daddy and Uncle Jon,” Lara whispered to the twins.

Nathaniel silently hugged his uncle and cried, while his sister wailed in Jordan’s arms. Lara turned away, unable to watch. Her mother finally pried the children away and led them out of the apartment. Jordan quickly went to the bathroom and shut the door. Jonathan wiped away a few tears.

“Okay, this is way too depressing,” Donnie announced. “Let’s play a game or something.”

“Great idea,” Lara said, getting Pictionary out of the closet.

“Cool!” Jon said. They were setting up the game when Jordan came back into the room. Lara patted the seat next to her.

‘That was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” he whispered. She smiled.

“You’ll see them again soon. And believe me, there will be times that you will be glad to see them go!”

Jon, Patricia, and Danny were on a team against the others. Each team won a game, and Patricia’s team won the third.

“We are just damn good, that’s all there is to it,” she announced, giving Danny a hug.

“Oh, please,” Lara said, earning a dirty look from them.

“Joe, what ungodly time does our plane leave?” Jordan asked.

“Seven.”

The guys groaned. “Couldn’t you do any better than that?” Donnie complained.

“Well, Donnie, since it’s not my plane, I have to take what I can get!” Joe snapped.

Jon stood. “Well, I guess we should go then. We still have to pack.”

Everyone helped clean up. Donnie hugged Lara.

“It was great to see you, Lara. Please, he keep in touch.” He held her tightly.

“I will. I promise.”

She hugged Danny, and Patricia gave Joe a very quick hug.

“Patricia, when will you forgive me?” Jordan asked, grabbing her before she could resist.

“When you prove you aren’t out to use Lara and break her heart again,” she replied, pulling away.

“You don’t have to worry. It’s not like that,” he insisted.

Lara was getting a big hug from Jonathan.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you soon,” he said. “Start thinking about what kind of house you want. If worse comes to worse, we can build one.”

“I don’t know why I’m letting him do this,” she said.

“He feels guilty, Lara. Milk it for all it’s worth.” She stared at him and he laughed. “He’s my brother, and I love him, but he acted like a dickhead. He should pay somehow.”

Finally, everyone finished their good-byes, and the group that was leaving left.

“Wow. I just realized that I get to sleep in a real bed tonight,” Lara said, flopping onto a chair.

“Well, soon, you’ll have your own room, with a king-sized bed, if you want,” Jordan replied, stretching out on the sofa. Joe looked at him questioningly. “I’m buying a house for Lara and the kids,” Jordan told him. Joe stared at Lara, who blushed.

“I’m gonna, uh, get my pajamas on.” She headed for Betsy’s room.

“I get the shower first.” Jordan went to the bathroom.

Joe knocked on Betsy’s door.

“Come in!”

Lara wore a robe over her nightshirt. She was brushing her hair, and refused to look at Joe.

“He’s buying you a house? Do you know how that makes you look?”

“Excuse me, Joe?” She stood up so fast that the chair fell over. “How it makes me look? In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have money coming out of my ears! I raised these kids on my own for eight years. Pardon me if I act a little selfish when their father asks to support them and give them a real home!” She was livid. “How it makes me look? I guess you really don’t trust me, do you, Joe?” She sighed wearily. “Go away. Get the fuck out of this bedroom.”

He walked out, slamming the door behind him. God, that was stupid! He had sounded like a real asshole! 

 Jordan was out of the shower, so Joe went in. He turned on the cold water and let it run over him.

Lara knocked on the other bedroom door. Jordan yelled, “Come in!”

He was packing his small overnight bag. “Is it okay if I call a certain time every week? Like maybe around seven on Sunday nights?”

“That sounds good. But I won’t tell them, so they won’t be disappointed if you don’t call.”

He froze. “I will call, Lara. And if I can’t call on Sundays, I will call on another day.”

“I’m sorry, Jordan,” she said sitting on the floor. “This weekend has really stressed me out.”

“That’s okay.” He sat beside her and put his arm around her. “Patricia really has it out for me, doesn’t she?”

“You have to understand something, Jordan. She’s been here through everything the past eight years. I cried for a week when I found out I was pregnant; Patricia handed me tissues. When I realized you weren’t coming back or calling, she helped me tear all your pictures down and burn them. She bought me cute baby things. When I thought I was going crazy, she would call and offer to baby-sit.”

“So, I’m the bad guy who caused all the problems, and that’s why she hates me?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, that makes sense, I guess,” he said. He thought for a moment. “You burned my pictures?”

“I was upset. And besides, I needed some kind of closure.” She stood. “I need to get some sleep.”

He got up also. “Lara, I’m really glad Joe brought us down here. Not just because of the kids, though that was a great surprise. I’m just so happy that I got to see you again, and apologize, though you’ll probably never be able to forgive me.”

“Jordan, I have forgiven you. All that was a long time ago. We’re different now.” She hugged him. He slowly pulled back, and gently kissed her. To her surprise, she really didn’t feel anything.

“It really is over between us, isn’t it?” He asked finally.

“I’m afraid so.” She kissed his cheek. “Good night, Jordan.”

“Good night.”

She left the bedroom. She could hear the shower running. She wasn’t mad at Joe, as much as hurt by what he had said. She climbed into bed and soon fell fast asleep.

She awoke around four to the sound of thunder. She loved thunderstorms, but really needed her sleep! She sighed and threw back the covers. Maybe a drink of water would help.

She tiptoed out through the living room to the kitchen. Joe was asleep on the sofabed. She quietly poured herself a glass of water and went to look out of the sliding glass doors. She wanted to go out onto the balcony, but she knew it was freezing outside. She watched the rain hit the window and shivered.

“Cold?” Joe whispered in her ear as he wrapped a blanket around her. She jumped a mile into the air.

“No, thank you, I’m fine,” she snapped, though she made no attempt to move. He turned her around.

“Lara, I’m so sorry about what I said earlier. I didn’t mean for it to sound the way it did.” He sighed in frustration. “I just care about you so much, and I got so freakin’ jealous when he said he was buying you a house. I’m just afraid he’ll steal you away from me before I even have you.”

“That’s okay, Joe. It just really hurt my feelings,” she told him. He wrapped his arms around her.

“I would never intentionally hurt you,” he whispered as he kissed her. The blanket soon fell to the floor as they pressed tightly against one another. Her fingers curled in his hair as his hands roamed over her back. He was the first to pull away.

“I think you’d better go back to bed,” he said, burying his face in her hair. “I don’t want it to be like this.”

“Okay,” she replied, turning her face up for one last kiss. He kissed her so tenderly, so gently, that her knees threatened to give. “Good night,” she whispered, finally breaking away. He remained at the window as she returned to her room. 

The apartment was very quiet the next morning as Lara got ready for work and the guys finished packing.

Lara came out of the bedroom dressed in a smart violet suit that had a short skirt.

“Wow!” Jordan said, his mouth full of Cocoa Krispies. “I didn’t know lawyers looked that good.”

“I’m not a lawyer, Jordan, I’m a paralegal,” she said, pouring a glass of apple juice. She sat next to Joe.

“That was some storm last night, wasn’t it?” Jordan went on.

“Yeah, it sure was,” Joe replied, squeezing her knee under the table.

They finished breakfast and Jordan went back to Nathaniel’s room. Lara followed.

“Jordan, this is the only time I’ll say this. The twins are so young. Their hearts break very easily. Please don’t…”

“I’ll call,” he interrupted. “I’ll call and I'll visit. I don’t make the same mistake twice. I want to be part of their lives.”

“Okay.” She hugged him.

“Take care of our kids, and yourself,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir!”

She returned to the living room, where Joe was folding up the sofabed. She took one look at him and started to cry.

“What? What is it? What did Jordan say to you?” He exclaimed, taking her in his arms.

“Nothing! It’s not Jordan, it’s you! I miss you already!” She sobbed.

“I’ll see you again in a month. And if it’s okay, I’d like to call you, a lot.”

“Please call,” she sniffed. She took a deep breath. “Okay. I need to go to work.”

“I’ll call soon,” he promised. She quickly got her things together and left, before she broke down again. 

Patricia stood in the doorway of the guestroom as Jon finished packing.

“I’ll be back soon, to help Lara start looking at houses. Could I call you?”

“I don’t know, Jon. I…”

“We’re friends, right? Friends call each other when they come into town.” Jon walked over to her. “Patricia, you are a very important part of my past. I know we can never go back to the way things were, but I’d just like to be close again. I’d like to drop by when I’m in Harrisburg, meet your daughter, take you to a movie…is that too much to ask?”

“No,” she admitted.

“If sometime I’m here and you want to drag me off to your bedroom, that’s great. But if it never happens again, I’m okay with it.”

She laughed and hugged him. “I’ll miss you, Jon.”

She went out to the kitchen, where Donnie and Danny were waiting for Jon.

“Are you gonna come visit us in Boston, ‘Patty?” Donnie asked.

“I’d like to. It’s hard, with my daughter and everything.”

“Bring her along. She can play with my son, Xavier,” he told her.

“You gotta come, Patricia. We have some of the best clubs!” Danny said.

“Okay. I’ll try,” she said, hugging him.

They heard Joe pull into the driveway. Jon came hurrying down the hall. He gave Patricia one last hug and kiss, and they left.

 

Chapter Fourteen 

 

The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Jordan kept his word and called once, or even twice a week. Lara hadn’t heard from Joe, though she had called him twice. She tried not to let it bother her, telling herself that he was busy with his new album.

One Saturday morning in early March, she was awakened by a knock on her door at seven-thirty. She threw on a robe and angrily answered it.

Jonathan stood in the hall, surrounded by boxes. He smiled shyly.

“I’m sorry it’s so early, but I was told I had to have this all set up by nine, or I was in big trouble.”

“Jonathan!” She yelled, shocked to see him. “Come in!”

He lugged six huge brown boxes into the apartment. She shut the door.

“What are you doing here? What is all this?”

“I was going to call and come down next week, but he said this had to be done today.” He started unloading boxes.

“Who? What is this?” She demanded.

“I can’t tell you who, but they want you to have a computer by nine this morning.”

“Oh, my.” She sat down as Jon began assembling the computer on the kitchen table. It was top of the line, with a laser printer, scanner, Internet modem, and digital camera.

Nathaniel stumbled out of his room. His eyes opened wide. “Uncle Jon?” He said, his face lighting up. He ran over to hug his uncle. He stood nearby as Jon finished hooking up the computer.

At around 8:15, Betsy walked into the living room. “Wow! A computer! Oh, hi, Uncle Jon.”

Jon flipped on the computer at 8:45. “All I know is that you are supposed to be in front of this thing at nine,” he told Lara.

“Okay, whatever.” She sat at the table.

“Come on, Uncle Jon. We’ll make you breakfast,” Betsy said. He looked at Lara.

“You’ll be fine. You’ll get toast, pop-tarts, or cereal.”

Jon and the twins sat down in front of the TV. At nine, the computer came to life. Joe’s face appeared on the screen. Lara gasped.

“Believe it or not, this is live, Lara. I can’t see you, but I hope you can see me.” Lara burst into tears. “I hope you don’t mind this little gift. I take my laptop everywhere, and so does Jordan, so now you can talk to us all the time. I’m sorry I haven’t called, but right now I’m in LA for my record premiere. I promise that when you come to Boston next month, I’ll be there.” Lara sniffed, happy he couldn’t see her blubbering. “I’ve installed everyone’s phone numbers, pager numbers, and email addresses in the address book of this system, so you can reach any of us whenever you need us.” He sighed. “Well, it’s six am here, and I need coffee.” His blue eyes stared into hers. “I love you.” The screen faded to black.

Lara sat and sobbed. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.

“Are you okay?” Jon asked.

“Yes,” she whispered, blowing her nose.

“Why are you crying, Mom?” Nathaniel asked.

“Because Uncle Joe bought this computer, and…because I miss him.”

“Oh. Can Uncle Jon come with us when we go for lunch with Grandma today?”

“No, Uncle Jon and I need to start looking at houses today,” she told her son. She turned to Jon. “Can you keep an eye on them while I get dressed?”

“Sure.”

She quickly showered, then dressed in stretch pants and a double XL Phillies sweatshirt. As Jon showed the kids the computer, Lara got their clothes ready as well.

“Come on, Nathaniel, let’s go. Grandma will be here any minute to take you to piano.”

When her mother arrived, Lara asked if she could come and get the kids after lunch, since she didn’t know how their house hunting would go.

“Sure,” her mother sighed. She left with the children.

Lara had prepared a list of available homes from ads in the paper and real estate guides. As they drove to the first house, Jon said, “So, is Patricia around today?” He tried to act uninterested.

“I’m sorry, Jon, she’s not. She’s kind of seeing this guy, Adam, and they’re in the Poconos this weekend. She’s gonna be sorry she missed you.”

He sighed and said nothing.

The first three houses were not anything close to what Lara wanted. One was too big, one was too small, and one was in a less than desirable neighborhood.

“We’ll look at two more, then stop for lunch,” Jon suggested.

They drove through the suburbs of Harrisburg. Suddenly, Lara yelled, “Stop, Jon!”

He screeched to a halt. “What? What is it?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just saw that out of the corner of my eye.” She pointed to a farmhouse set back from the road. There was a “for sale” sign at the end of the driveway. “Jon, I love this house!” She exclaimed.

“Lara, you haven’t even seen inside yet,” he pointed out.

“I don’t care. It’s already everything I always wanted.”

He pulled out his unlimited range cellphone. “We’ll drive up to the house. While you look around, I’ll call the number on the sign and try to get someone to come show us around.”

Lara was out of the car before Jon had it completely stopped. The house was beautiful. There was a front porch that wrapped around the front and left side, and large maple trees shaded the front yard. A gazebo sat on the right side, and the backyard was huge.

“Luckily for us, a real estate agent is in the area and will be over soon,” Jon said.

“Oh, Jonathan, this is the house of my dreams!” Lara said.

“It hasn’t been lived in for a while, Lara. The inside could be a wreck.”

“So? Jordan said money was no object,” she reminded him.

The real estate agent arrived and let them in. Lara took off up the staircase. There were five bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom, and a giant attic. The master bedroom had its own bath and walk-in closet. Downstairs, there was a big living room, dining room, study, screened-in breakfast room, and a huge kitchen.

She found Jon and the agent talking in the kitchen. Jon took one look at Lara and smiled.

“I know. You love this house. I can see it all over your face.”

He excused himself and led Lara out into the dining room.

“Don’t say no, Jon,” she pleaded.

“I’m not saying no. The upstairs has to be rewired, the insulation needs inspected, and you might want a mall bathroom installed down here.” Her face fell. “But otherwise, I think it’s a great house.”

She shrieked and hugged him. “Thank you! When can we move in?”

 

Chapter Fifteen 

 

Work on the house progressed quickly, and Lara spent all her time looking for furniture. The week before she was supposed to take the twins to Boston, the house was at least livable.

That Saturday was moving day. The twins were everywhere at once, but Lara was too busy to care. At around five, all the big furniture was in place. The twins were unpacking their toys in one of the spare bedrooms. Lara collapsed onto the sofa in the living room, too tired to get up when the doorbell rang.

Patricia soon walked in carrying pizza boxes. “You don’t answer the door anymore?”

“Not when it’s that far away.” Lara sniffed. “Is that dinner?”

“Yes. See how good I am to you?” Patricia put the boxes on a table.

“Nathaniel! Betsy!” Lara hollered. “Dinner!”

She forced herself to get up and go to the kitchen. She poured milk for the twins and sodas for Patricia and herself. She grabbed napkins and plates and took everything to the living room.

“Wow! Pizza! Thanks, Aunt Patricia!” Betsy said.

“So, when do you leave for Boston?” Patricia asked.

“Our plane leaves at eight tomorrow morning. I wish you’d reconsider and come along.”

“Maybe next time.”

“Patricia, Jon knows all about Adam. I’ve told him that you guys are pretty serious, and he understands.”

“That’s not why I’m not going!” She retorted, giving Nathaniel a napkin.

“Sure it isn’t,” Lara replied.

“Besides, I wouldn’t want to interrupt your little rendezvous with Joe,” Patricia smirked.

Lara glared at her, discreetly motioning to the twins. They waited until the children returned upstairs.

“I don’t want them to be confused,” Lara said.

“No, I think you’re confused.” Patricia carried the empty boxes out to the kitchen.

“I am confused. Except for that one little fling all those years ago, I’ve always thought of Joe like a brother.”

“Exactly when and where did this ‘little fling’ occur?” Patricia sat at the kitchen table.

Lara blushed. “Um, at my sister’s house, that day when Jordan yelled at me ‘cause he was jealous.”

“Oh, like that narrows it down.”

“The first day I wore that blue bikini.”

“Oh. That day.” Patricia remembered. “So, what do you feel for him?”

“I don’t know. I considered him just a good friend, and then he kissed me.”

“Good kisser?” Patricia asked.

Lara sighed. “I felt it in my toes.”

“Definitely a good kisser.” Patricia stood up to leave. “But what about Jordan? You’re sure there’s nothing there?”

“Pure sexual attraction, maybe. I won’t lie, he’s one of the finest men I’ve ever seen, and he still turns my insides to butter. But I need more than that.”

“True. I’ve realized that about Adam. This all started as a fun, recreational sex thing, but I really care about him. I want it to develop into something better.”

“Have you told him that?”

“No.” Patricia opened the front door. “Tell everyone I say hi, and call me when you get back next week.” 

The next morning was frantic. Lara got the kids into the car, and they arrived at the gate ten minutes before the flight began to board. She had been up since five, and the kids were extremely hyper. She wanted to pull her hair out.

“Jordan Elizabeth, sit your ass down in that chair and do not move until I say so!” She said sharply. The twins froze and stared at her. She almost never swore in their presence. Betsy’s bottom lip quivered, but Lara made herself ignore it. She couldn’t wait to drop the kids off at Jordan’s, and have some time on her own.

Their flight was called. She stood and gathered their bags. “Come on, guys. That’s us.”

They boarded and she got them settled in. Nathaniel had won the window seat on the way to Boston, and Betsy had it on the way back. Her children were so angelic on the flight that Lara couldn’t believe they were hers. Halfway through the flight Betsy forgave her, and started asking questions.

“Are Grandma and our aunts and uncles nice?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never met any of them.”

“I bet they are. Daddy’s nice, and Uncle Jon is nice,” Nathaniel observed.

“Why aren’t you staying with us?”

“Because I want you to spend time with Daddy. I’ll have my own vacation, but still be nearby if you need me. Daddy got me a room at a very nice hotel.”

The plane landed, and it took all Lara had to keep the kids from running through the tunnel. “Daddy!” Betsy shrieked, pulling away.

Lara saw Jordan, who threw open his arms for the twins to hug him. He released them and hugged her.

“You look dead on your feet already. I’ll drop you at your hotel, and take these rugrats off your hands!”

The four of them drove in one car. The twins talked nonstop from the airport to the hotel. Lara began to get nervous. “Are you sure you’ll be okay with them?”

“Lara, we’ll be fine. Besides, my mom will be around the whole time.”

She hugged and kissed the twins. “Be extra good for Daddy and Grandma. I’ll call tonight.”

“Okay! Bye, Mom!” They said, eager to go meet their new family.

 

Chapter 16 

 

Lara lugged her suitcases to the front desk and gave her name to the clerk.

“What do you mean, there’s no reservation? Jordan Knight reserved this room weeks ago!” Lara exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, Miss. There is no reservation under your name or Mr. Knight’s name, and we have no available rooms.”

“I see.” Lara turned away from the desk, tears filling her eyes. Some vacation this was turning out to be!

“Can I help you, young lady?” A voice said behind her. Lara whirled around.

“JOE!” She threw herself into his arms.

“Let me guess. There isn’t a room reserved for you, and the whole place is booked solid.” He bent to pick up her bags.

“This is all your doing, isn’t it?” She realized as they walked out.

“I couldn’t let you stay here.” He led the way to his car.

“But Jordan said this is the best hotel in Boston!”

“It is. But I know somewhere better.” He opened the door for her.

“Joe, I’m not getting in this car until I know what’s going on!”

“We’re going back to the airport, getting on a plane, and after that…you’ll just have to trust me. And don’t worry about the twins. Jordan knows all about this, and he has the number where we’re going.” He got in on the driver’s side. “Just relax and start to enjoy your vacation, okay?”

“Okay,” she sighed, trying to relax. “I’m sorry. I’ve never been kidnapped before.”

They parked Joe’s car at the airport, and boarded the record company’s private jet.

“Wow! This is really nice!” Lara looked around the plane.

“Would you like something to eat or drink?”

“No. My stomach is a bundle of nerves right now. Tell me about your CD. How’s everything going?”

He told her about the process until the plane landed.

“You have to wear a blindfold until we get there,” he told her.

“What? Joe, this is ridiculous! I feel like an idiot!” She exclaimed as he tied a scarf over her eyes.

“Just be quiet and do it anyway, okay?” He carefully guided her off the plane, across the landing area, and into a parked car. “Trust me,” he told her again. The drive was short, but it seemed like an eternity to her. He finally turned onto a bumpy road.

“I get it. You’re taking me out into the woods to rape me,” she joked.

“Only if you really want me to.” He saw her blush under the blindfold, and laughed.

He finally stopped the car. When he helped her out, she smelled salt air, and heard waves crashing. “The beach!” She said happily.

“Not just any beach,” he said dramatically, pulling off the blindfold.

She gasped. “Oh, Joe…” she was speechless. They stood in front of the beach house where they had all stayed nine years before.

“I thought you would enjoy this more than a hotel in downtown Boston.”

She hugged him. “This is wonderful, Joe. Thank you so much. Are you…will you…you’re gonna stay here, too, aren’t you?”

“If you want me to.” He kissed her cheek and handed her the key. “Go on inside. I’ll get your bags.”

She slowly opened the door. The house had been recently cleaned and aired. Memories rushed back as she walked through the living room: hide-and-seek, polka-dancing around the room, the night she and Danny fought, causing her to run out into the storm…

She walked down the one hallway to the room where she had slept. It was here that Jonathan had accused her of cheating on Jordan, before she had really cheated on him. She shook that memory from her head and wandered back out to the living room.

“The memories just keep flooding back,” she told Joe.

“I know. I felt the same way when I brought my stuff down yesterday.” He paused. “You know, if staying here is a problem, I can get you a room at the hotel.”

“No, Joe, I want to stay here,” she insisted.

“Great!” He smiled in relief. “Do you want your old room?”

“Sure.”

He took her bags down the hall. She went over and looked out the huge windows. It felt weird being alone in the house with Joe, but it felt good.

“So…what do you want to do? I’ve totally cleared my schedule, and I’m yours all week.”

Lara pulled her mind out of the gutter after that comment. “Um, I know it’s too cold to swim, but could we walk on the beach?”

“Of course.”

They picked their way down the stone steps and walked out onto the private beach. They left their shoes at the steps and rolled up their jeans. They held hands as they walked along the water. The waves seemed to play tag with their feet.

Joe was quiet and thoughtful. Lara tugged on his hand. “What’s wrong, Joe?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about how unfair your life has been. Your life should have always been relaxed and carefree, like we are now, not stressful and full of so many responsibilities.”

She pulled away. “I hate pity, Joseph McIntyre. I don’t need you to feel sorry for me! It won’t change anything!”

“Please don’t get mad.” He stopped walking. “I just think of how easy the last eight or nine years have been for me, and Jordan, and for all the guys. Even after the group broke up, we still had way enough to get by on.”

“And I don’t begrudge you any of that. The only perfect birth control is no sex at all, Joe. I knew I was taking chances that summer.” She gently touched his cheek. “That’s all in the past. Let’s worry about now.”

He smiled. “You’re right.”

They turned back and started up to the house. “I’d like to take you to dinner tonight. There’s a new place that just opened. I saw it when I got here yesterday.”

“That sounds nice.”

They went in the house and Lara unpacked while Joe made some phone calls. When she finished, she stretched out on the bed. It was only eleven-thirty, but she felt like she had been awake for days. She soon fell asleep.

Joe came down the hall to her room. The door opened, and he saw her asleep on the bed. She looked so young, almost like she did the first time they had stayed in the house. He smiled, then went back to the living room to make more calls. 

He returned to the room hours later. He hesitated before sitting on the edge of the bed. He gently moved some hair off of her face. “Lara…sweetie…it’s time to get up.”

She stretched as her eyes fluttered open. “Hi, Joe.” She smiled sleepily. “What time is it?”

“Quarter of four.”

“What?” She sat up quickly. “I’ve been asleep for four hours? I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be. I figured it’s probably been a long time since you had an uninterrupted nap.”

“True.” She caught sight of herself in the dresser mirror and groaned. Her hair was standing up in ten different directions, and she had sleep wrinkles on her face. Joe laughed.

“I also figured you’d want to call the kids before you started getting ready for dinner. The number’s out by the phone.”

“You’re so thoughtful.” She kissed his cheek. He blushed and stood.

“I’m …uh…gonna go shower.” He went to his room while she went out to the phone.

“Hello?”

“Jordan Knight, how dare you let Joe kidnap me!”

He burst out laughing. “Hi, Lara. So, were you surprised?”

“That’s putting it mildly.” She paused. “It felt kinda strange, being here after all these years. Memories are everywhere.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “I’ve never been able to come out there since that summer. It was too hard. I guess I knew all along how badly I’d treated you, and I didn’t want to face it.”

She took a deep breath. “Jordan, I guess you know something might be happening between Joe and me, and…”

“Might?” He interrupted. “Lara, that boy is head over heels in love with you! I will always love you in a special way, and I still think you’re one of the sexiest girls I’ve ever seen.” She blushed. “But I think you and Joe could really have something special. He can give you so many things I just can’t give you. I think you should go for it.” She smiled sadly, thinking of how things had been the first time she had been in that house. Jordan seemed to read her mind. “Sometimes I really miss you, Lara. I miss how happy we were all those years ago.”

Joe wandered out to the balcony in front of his room, just in time to hear her say, “I miss you, too, Jordan.” He slowly backed into the room and sat on the bed. He didn’t hear her finish. “But it’s all for the best.” She wiped away a tear. “So, how are my kids?”

“Our kids,” he corrected her gently. “Their aunts and uncles are having a field day with them.”

“They’ll be ready to get rid of them by Sunday, believe me. Give them big hugs for me, and I’ll call later this week.”

“Give Joe a big hug for me,” he teased.

“Jordan Knight, you are awful!” She exclaimed, laughing as she hung up. She decided to call Patricia.

“Lara! I didn’t expect to hear from you! What’s up?”

“You will never guess where I am!”

“The nicest hotel in Boston?”

“Nope. Better. The beach house!”

“The beach house?” Patricia shrieked. “With who?”

“Joe. He and Jordan collaborated and he kidnapped me.”

“Oh,” Patricia said. “Well, tell him hi.”

“JOE!” Lara yelled, breaking Patricia’s eardrum. “Patricia says hi!”

“Hello, Patricia!” Joe called back.

“It is so weird being here, Patricia. It’s so…”

“Quiet?” Patricia suggested.

“Yes, quiet, and just strange.”

“So, what’s up with you and Joe?”

“Nothing…yet. Listen, I gotta go. He’s taking me out for dinner.”

“Well, I say go for it. I guess he’s okay after all.”

“Wow, I guess I have to go for it, if you gave your blessing!” Lara said.

“Ha ha. Call me when you’re home.”

Lara hurried back to her room to take a shower. She quickly dried her hair and pulled it into a french twist. Luckily she had packed a few nice outfits. She put on a sea green tank dress with a matching short jacket, and beige sandals. Joe was already in the living room when she was finished. He wore a tan silk shirt and black dress pants. He stood and stared when she came into the living room.

“What? Am I overdressed? Underdressed?” Lara asked nervously.

“No. You’re dressed fine. It’s just that every time I see you, I realize how gorgeous you are.”

She turned beet red and for once had nothing to say. She grabbed her handbag and they went out to the car. Finally allowed to see the car, Lara realized it was a blue BMW. “You rented a BMW?” She asked in awe. “I’ve never even been IN a BMW!”

Joe laughed. “Only the best for you. I want this to be a vacation you’ll never forget!” They zoomed up the gravel driveway and onto the road. “So, how’s Jordan?” Joe asked calmly.

“Fine. I don’t think he realizes what a handful the twins are. Everything is still a novelty, so they’ll behave for a while. Once they realize that a dad is pretty much like a mom, they’ll go back to their misbehaving selves.” She paused. “Jordan said he hasn’t been back to the house since that summer.”

“I don’t think anybody has, really. Donnie might have brought a girl here once or twice, but for everyone else the memories were just too strong.”

“That’s what Jordan said. We agreed that we miss those times, and that things were great back then, but it’s all in the past now.”

Joe wanted to jump up and down, but he stayed outwardly calm. That’s what you get for eavesdropping, he told himself.

Soon they pulled into the parking lot of a small restaurant. It looked like a café/coffeehouse/bar. Even though it was a Sunday night, the parking lot was full. By some stroke of luck, they got a table. The room was dimly lit, with a large candle on each table. Their booth was along a side wall, not far from a small stage. On the stage was a black grand piano, where a man wearing a tuxedo was playing soft romantic music.

“Would you like a drink?” A waiter approached the table.

“No, thank you, I…” Lara began.

“A bottle of your best champagne,” Joe told him.

“Champagne?” Lara said as the waiter left the table.

“Why? Don’t you like it? I can change the order,” Joe said quickly.

“No, I love it. I just wondered what we’re celebrating.”

He took her hand. “It’s our first date.” She sighed happily. He was so sweet.

As the evening progressed, Lara realized that she hadn’t felt so relaxed in a long time. “It’s going to be hard to go back to the real world if the whole week is going to be like this,” she told him. Before Joe could reply, the pianist spoke into a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have been informed that we have a true celebrity in our midst this evening. A celebrity from Boston.” Joe groaned and turned deep red. Lara laughed. “Joey McIntyre, would you mind honoring us with a song?”

The other diners clapped and cheered. “Go on, JOEY,” Lara whispered.

He slowly stood and went to the piano. “Thank you, everyone. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not sing anything from the new album. Instead, I have something I’ve been working on for the last month or so. It’s called A Part of Yesterday.”

The song was a slow ballad about a girl the singer just couldn’t forget…a girl from his past who continued to haunt him and was part of everything he had become in the present. The chorus was about the singer’s dream of the future, and that he hoped the girl who was “a part of yesterday would complete all his tomorrows.”

By the end of the song, Lara was sobbing. Joe returned to the table, but she couldn’t speak. He quickly paid the bill, took her hand, and led her out to the car.

 

Chapter Seventeen 

 

Joe started the engine and pulled out onto the road. Lara was still sniffling. “Can we just keep driving?” She finally asked.

“Sure, but we might get lost. I don’t know the area very well.”

“Let’s go there.” She pointed to a sign that advertised a ‘Scenic Overlook.’ He followed the signs and they soon drove through some woods into a clearing. The overlook was deserted. A full moon graced the sky, illuminating the ocean below. They got out of the car and went to the safety railing. They were both silent for a few moments.

“You’re angry about the song,” he finally said miserably. “I embarrassed you.”

“Is that what you think?” She stared at him. Just thinking about the song made her start to cry all over again.

“Well, you were crying, and you didn’t say anything…and now you’re crying again!” He turned away from her.

She walked around to face him. “Joe, I couldn’t say anything! No one has ever done anything like that for me before! Angry? How could I be angry? Not only do you buy me a computer so I can always reach you, but you kidnap me for my first true vacation in ages, and then I find you’ve written a song about me!’ She was sobbing again. “I just…I’ve never…oh, just kiss me so I can shut up!” She turned her face up to his, and he pulled her into his arms. He gave her a quick kiss and simply held her. “You mean you’ve really felt this way for all these years?” She finally asked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, I thought you were still with Jordan, and then you stopped writing.” He rocked her gently.

“I was pretty confused.” She pulled back to look at him. “Joe, I want you to know that Jordan and I are totally finished. We love each other as close friends, but nothing more than that.”

“I see,” he replied, unable to stop a big smile from covering his face. She laughed.

“Well, don’t look so upset about it.” She grew serious, gently caressing his cheek. “I could be falling in love with you, Joe McIntyre. I’m just so afraid.”

“I won’t rush you, Lara, but I would never hurt you. I love you so much.”

“That’s what Jordan said,” she replied as they walked to the car. He stopped walking.

“Just what all did he tell you?”

“Just that you were head over heels in love with me, and I should go for it.” They got into the car. She waited until they were out on the road to continue. She looked at him slyly. “He also said I’m one of the sexiest girls he’s ever seen.” She saw his hands tighten around the steering wheel and laughed.

“Well, I definitely agree with him there,” he said finally.

They pulled up in front of the beach house at around ten-thirty. Lara realized she wasn’t even tired as they went inside. “Are you sleepy?” She asked him.

“Not really. Why?”

“I’m not, and I wondered if you wanted to jump in the Jacuzzi with me. I could drown or something, and I might need mouth to mouth,” she flirted cautiously.

Inwardly, Joe’s mouth fell to the floor. On the outside he remained calm. “I don’t know…can I trust you not to take advantage of me?”

“I’ll behave as much…or as little…as you want me to,” she said provocatively.

“That’s what I was hoping,” he said over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs to his room.

Lara’s mouth dropped open as she went to her room. She hadn’t acted like this in years, but it was coming back pretty damned quick. She dug threw her bags for her new suit. As she found it, she heard the Jacuzzi come to life. She hurried pulled on the suit. It was a dark green bikini that Patricia had convinced her to buy. “You never know who’ll be sitting around the pool at that fancy hotel,” Patricia had insisted. “Maybe Ben Affleck or Matt Damon!”

Lara left her hair up, and slowly walked out to the living room. Joe was adjusting something on the Jacuzzi, and didn’t see her come in. When he finally looked up, he did a double take and almost fell into the water. “You, uh…that really, um…wow.” Joe stuttered. She blushed and walked closer.

“Is it okay if I get in?”

“Sure. I was just adjusting the lights.” He turned off the living room lights and turned on the underwater Jacuzzi lights.

Lara sighed as she sank into the warm bubbling water. “This is the one thing my new house is missing. Maybe when we get the pool I’ll have a hot tub installed, too.” She tried to relax her airplane-cramped muscles.

“Come here.” Joe climbed in. She moved to sit in front of him, and he began rubbing her neck and shoulders.

“Oh, that feels good,” she murmured. She unconsciously began to lay back against him. He unconsciously stopped massaging and began caressing. She put her head on his shoulder. He gently kissed her neck and behind her ear. His hands trailed down her sides to her waist. She moaned and pressed back against him. She could feel how aroused he was and it took everything she had to make herself sit up and turn around.

“I’m sorry,” he said immediately.

“Why are you apologizing?” She asked with a smile.

“Because you…because I…because it seemed like the right thing to do,” he replied, looking very boyish.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Joe,” she sighed. “I should be the one apologizing. I feel like I’m teasing you.” She sat beside him and he put an arm around her.

“There’s not denying that I want you…badly,” he added with a smile. “But not until you’re ready.”

She gently kissed him. “Thank you, Joe, for everything. For today, for my vacation, for being so patient.” She gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. “I’m gonna go to bed now.” She kissed him again. “Good night.”

 

Chapter Eighteen 

 

As Lara drifted off in her room, she tried to make sense of the emotions swirling around in her head. Did she truly love Joe? Did she just love the attention he gave her? Was it all just sexual, since she had been alone for so long? What was she afraid of?

She put on her favorite nightgown, a midnight blue satin chemise, and climbed into bed. She began to toss and turn. She even tried sleeping with her head at the foot of the bed, a trick that had worked in her youth. She sighed and got out of bed. She needed to talk to Joe and get herself some peace and quiet. She walked up to Joe’s room. He had left his door open in case she needed anything.

Lara stood at the bed, watching him sleep. He wore only silk boxers, and her eyes were riveted on the smooth muscles of his hairless chest. Her fingers ached to caress him. She sat at the edge of the bed. “Joe,” she whispered. He wakened instantly.

“What? What is it? Are you okay?” He sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Do you need something?”

She took his hand and stood, pulling him up with her. She slowly unpinned her hair. It fell in dark waves past her shoulders. She watched him swallow deeply. “I need you, Joe.”

His eyes traveled the length of her body. “Lara…you don’t have to do this. I can wait…”

“I don’t want to wait. I’ve been waiting for eight years. But that’s not why I’m here. I came to you because I love you, Joe McIntyre. I want you to show me how to love you.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly trailed his fingers down her arms. Goosebumps appeared all over her body. “I’ve waited so long,” he said huskily. “I don’t know whether to attack you or take my time enjoying you.”

She smiled. “I don’t care. We have all night.”

He wove one hand into her hair and wrapped the other arm around her waist. He pulled her to him and began giving her long, deep kisses. She moaned and felt her legs go to jello. He kissed a path from her ear to the valley between her neck and shoulders. He gave her one last out.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

She pulled back and looked him in the eye. “Do you want me, Joe?”

“God, yes,” he groaned.

“Do you love me?”

“With all my heart.”

“Then you’re not taking advantage of me.” She blushed a little. “I must remind you, however, that it has been a long time for me, and that I was a kid when something like this happened the last time. I don’t think…”

“Shh,” he whispered, running his hands over her body. He kissed her shoulders and neck, moving the thin straps of the nightgown aside, but not pulling them down. His hands found her breasts and gently stroked them. She felt as if all oxygen had left her body. He sat on the edge of the bed but left her standing in front of him. He began to suck and nibble on her breasts through the satin. She grabbed his head and shoulders to keep from falling over. His hands moved over her back and bottom, tracing down the back of her legs. He slowly pulled her underwear down and she kicked it aside.

Joe stared into Lara’s eyes as he allowed his hands to roam freely underneath the nightgown. He touched her everywhere except the one place she wanted most for him to touch. Finally she couldn’t take it anymore. She pulled him up to stand in front of her. She kissed him hungrily, unable to get enough of him. He moved to stand behind her and pressed tight against her body. She gasped as she felt his hardness against her backside. His hands moved over her body again, but this time the movements were rough, almost harsh. She clutched the sides of his boxers as he grabbed her hair and pulled her head to the side. He savagely bit and sucked on her neck. She cried out, but not in pain.

“This is going to make that first time a memory,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve been with women since then, but in my heart each one was always you. Now I can do everything they taught me, but it will be so much better because I’ll be doing it to you.” He grabbed the nightgown and yanked it over her head, turning her around so he could look at her. She blushed and wouldn’t look him in the eye. He gently turned her head towards his. “What is it?”

“I haven’t been with anyone since…for a long time,” she said shyly. “I guess I’m a little self-conscious.”

“Don’t be.” He led her to the bed and gently laid her down. “You are absolutely beautiful.”

She clutched the sheets as he began to explore her body with his hands and mouth. He tenderly kissed her breasts and stomach, and then skipped down to her feet and toes. When he slowly sucked on each toe, she thought she would jump out of her skin. He kissed up her thighs, stopping inches from the most sensitive part of her. She felt Joe’s warm breath on her and squirmed. Her knuckles were white around the sheets she clutched in her fists. He smiled and finally caressed her wet lips with his tongue. She moaned, feeling dizzy. He slowly used his tongue and fingers to explore her until she could feel nothing but his touch. He pulled away and she whimpered. He moved to lie beside her. Her eyes fluttered open.

“You are a tease!” Lara hissed. He smiled angelically, but sucked in his breath as she trailed one finger down his chest. She outlined his erection through the silk of his boxers. She smiled just as angelically. “I can tease, too.”

She slowly leaned against him until he was flat on his back. She began to rub the smoothness of his chest as she nibbled on his ear. She leaned across his torso and trailed her long hair over his skin. She smiled as she watched goosebumps appear. She traced designs across the crotch of his boxers. The silk strained across his hardness, and she heard him gasping. He pulled her up to face him.

“But I wasn’t done teasing you yet!’ She said innocently.

“I don’t care,” he growled, pulling off the boxers.

As his naked body pressed against hers, Lara felt as if she had died and gone to heaven. His skin was baby soft, but she could feel the muscles ripple under her fingertips. His mouth found hers and he greedily kissed her. She sucked on his tongue as her hands moved to caress his rockhard penis. He groaned and flipped her onto her back. Pinning her hands above her head, he said, “You have two options. I can take my time, or I can do this the way I’ve been dreaming of ever since I walked into your apartment a few months ago.”

“Any…way…you…want…” she gasped.

He thrust inside of her and she moaned in pleasure. He didn’t move, but remained motionless inside of her, enjoying the feeling of her tightness surrounding him. He held her wrists with one hand, and reached down to wrap her legs around his waist with the other hand. He drove into her again and again. She desperately wanted to touch him, and she struggled against his hold. He finally released her hands and she raked her nails down his back. She grabbed his backside, pushing him deeper inside of her. He cried out as she dug at the skin of his back, but the sounds were cries of ecstasy. He pulled at her hair as his mouth bit at the softness of her neck.

All of a sudden, Lara felt as if she were falling. Her body went numb, and she could feel nothing but his hardness pulsing inside of her. The most intense orgasm of her life sent shudders through her body as she called Joe’s name. She felt him pour into her, and he whispered, “I love you,” in her ear.

He lay over her for a moment, then moved to stretch out next to her. She wrapped herself in his arms and fell asleep with her head on his chest. A few hours later, the feeling of Lara’s shivering body next to his awakened Joe. He reached down and pulled up the covers. He watched her for a few minutes before falling asleep once more.

 

Chapter Nineteen 

 

Lara woke around ten the next morning. Her face was tight against Joe’s soft chest, and his arms held her firmly. She slowly and carefully moved back to lay her head on a pillow. She looked at him for a long moment, then stretched. His eyes opened.

“Hi,” she said shyly. He said nothing, but leaned to give her a soft kiss.

“Good morning, Beautiful,” he finally said. She stared into his clear blue eyes for a long moment. He reached up and brushed some hair from her cheek. The tenderness of the action touched her, and tears leapt to her eyes. “What? What is it?” He worried that she was regretting the night before. She smiled through her tears.

“I’ve just never had anyone treat me the way you do. You’re so kind, so sweet…”

“I wasn’t all that sweet last night,” he remembered, blushing. She smiled and moved closer.

“I don’t remember complaining.”

He didn’t smile back. “I didn’t want our first time together to be like that. I wanted it to be romantic and sweet and…”

She silenced him with a kiss. “Joe, rarely does something like that work out when you work so hard planning it,” she said, remembering her first time with Jordan. “But last night was absolutely incredible. I’ve never felt anything like it. We have all the time in the world to be sweet and romantic.”

“It was really that wonderful for you?” She nodded. “Good, because that’s how it was for me, too.”

They lay silently in each other’s arms for a while, occasionally kissing. Joe gasped suddenly.

“What?”

He slowly sat up. “It’s way too late to worry about it, but, we, um, didn’t…we didn’t use anything.”

“I didn’t bring anything anyway,” she told him.

“I figured that, but I do have some, right over there in that bag.”

“Oh, so you were planning on seducing me,” she teased.

“No, I was hoping to make love to you,” he corrected. “I should have stopped.”

“Oh, well,” she said, totally unconcerned.

“You’re not upset?” Joe asked, surprised.

“Hell, no. I trust that you’re clean, and I know I am.”

“But what if…”

“What if, Joe? If that’s what’s in the cards for us, then in nine months I’ll have a baby with beautiful blue eyes.”

“And this time you’ll have someone to help and take care of you,” he told her. Giving her a big hug, he got out of bed. “You stay here. I’m gonna make us breakfast.” He kissed her forehead and left the room.

Lara stretched and looked around the room. She saw Joe’s cellphone, and decided to call Patricia at work. “This is Patricia. How may I help you?”

“Oh, please. Like YOU could help anyone.”

“Shut up!” Patricia said, laughing. “What are you up to?”

“Still laying around in bed. Joe’s down making us breakfast.”

“You’ve just had the best sex in your life, haven’t you?” Patricia asked slyly.

‘What makes you say that?” Lara exclaimed, sitting straight up in bed.

“I can hear it in your voice. “Joe’s down making us breakfast” were your words, but your voice said that he’s been making more than just breakfast.”

“PATRICIA!” Lara shrieked, blushing furiously.

“Am I right?” Patricia persisted. Lara was giggling too hard to answer. “I thought so. Well, I won’t ask if he was any good, because I really don’t want to know. But I thought you said you thought of him like a brother!”

“Not any more.” Lara finally composed herself. “Patricia, I think I’m falling in love with him. He is so thoughtful and generous, and totally unselfish. Why didn’t I notice all this when we were here nine years ago?”

“Because back then Joe was still an icky baby and Jordan was a sexy hunk of a man. Now Joe has grown up to be a nice, responsible, sexy hunk of a man.”

Lara laughed at her friend’s logic. “I don’t know why I was so stupid, but now I am so happy!”

“Good…you deserve it.”

They said goodbye and Lara began to doze off. She awoke when Joe walked into the room carrying a tray. “Damn, Joe!” Lara said, staring at the tray. There were two plates of eggs and toast, as well as one bowl of oatmeal, a bagel, a few individual boxes of cereal, two kinds of juice, milk, and coffee.

“I wasn’t sure what all you liked, and I was hungry!” He handed her the tray and climbed into bed next to her. He turned the TV on to VH-1.

She gave him her eggs, took a glass of apple juice, and started on the oatmeal. “I woulda been happy with a chocolate poptart!” She told him.

“Don’t think this is gonna be an everyday thing. It’s just for this one special morning.” He leaned over and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. She grabbed the remote and changed it to CBS. “What’s wrong with VH-1?”

“Nothing. Price is Right is on. I never get to watch it.”

Joe rolled his eyes and drank some coffee. He soon was bidding against the contestants, yelling at them. “That’s ridiculous!” He exclaimed. “There is no way baby clothes are that expensive.”

“If they come from Baby Gap, they are,” she informed him. She climbed out of bed. “I’m gonna take a shower. What are we doing today?”

“I thought we’d just stroll around the shopping area,” Joe suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Lara bounced out of the room and down the stairs. She decided on a burgundy tshirt and black bib overalls, then started to hum as she turned the water on. Yes, she had had incredible sex the night before, but she just felt relaxed and happy.

She climbed into the huge shower stall. “Don’t you ever wish you were someone else…you were meant to be…the way you are exactly…” she sang as she shampooed her hair.

“I can’t even get away from myself in the shower!” A voice behind her exclaimed. Lara screamed and dropped the shampoo.

“JOE! You scared the hell out of me!”

“I missed you,” he pouted, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Joe, if you don’t leave me alone, we’ll never get out of here!” Lara said, laughing as she tried to squirm out of his arms.

“Is that so bad?” Joe asked, nibbling on her ear.

“Joseph McIntyre, when did you become such a pervert?” She exclaimed.

“The first time I saw you.” He turned her around to gaze into her blue eyes. “I knew I wanted to be everything to you…to do everything to you.” He looked at her with such love in his eyes that her legs quivered. He tenderly kissed her. “I’ll leave you alone now.” He stepped out of the shower and left the bathroom.

 

Chapter Twenty 

 

They drove to the downtown shopping district. They walked through the area where people re-enacted the Revolutionary War era, and remembered the first time they had been there.

"You guys looked so hot in those tight knee pant things," Lara said, laughing.

"I still can't believe you and Patricia talked us into dressing up in those clothes!" Joe said, putting an arm around her. "If I remember correctly, your dress was a little…revealing, wasn't it?"

She blushed, remembering how that dress had caused three local men to pounce on her and Patricia, and how a fistfight had ensued. "I still have that dress somewhere, I think. I couldn't fit into it NOW, of course."

"Oh, please!" Joe said in disbelief. They walked through the quaint little shops, buying souvenirs for the twins and Patricia. "Let's go for a ride," Joe suggested, pointing to the carriages for rent.

Lara pulled back, remembering the carriage ride with Jordan all those years ago. Dammit! She yelled at herself. You're not with Jordan now…you're with Joe, who loves you and treats you like a queen.

Joe looked at her closely. "Are you okay? We don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, Joe. It's fine. Let's go."

Joe paid the driver and helped Lara up into the carriage. As they clip-clopped down the cobblestone street, he turned to face her. He smiled but his eyes were serious. "I need to talk to you about something."

"O….kay," she said, her heart sinking. She had known all along that it had been too wonderful to last.

"I love you very much, Lara, and I want to be with you forever." He played with her left ring finger. "However, I do know that it is too soon to talk about anything like that." He looked into her eyes. "I just hope you realize that I'm gonna be touring and traveling all over the country. Maybe even overseas. It won't be easy. But I don't want you to think for one second that I'm gonna go on the road and forget about you." He sighed. "I know that being here has kept Jordan on your mind, but you have to realize that I am NOT Jordan Knight. I am a man who has thought about you and loved you for years. Now that I have you, I am not going to do anything to lose you."

Lara threw herself into his arms. "Oh, Joe! I love you, too! I thought you were gonna say that you changed your mind and you didn't love me anymore, that I drove you absolutely crazy and you didn't want to see me again!"

Joe pulled back and took her face in his hands. "Lara, if anything, I love you more." He tenderly kissed her.

When the carriage finished its tour and returned to where they had started, it was almost two o'clock. Neither Lara nor Joe was hungry, so they continued shopping.

"I'm going in here." She pointed to a bookstore.

"Okay…I'll be there in a minute."

She found a whole section of first edition books and soon forgot about Joe. When he returned twenty minutes later, she was seated on the floor, surrounded by stacks of books.

"Are you buying all of those?" He asked, laughing.

"No. I'M not rich," she pointed out. She narrowed her choices down to four books, then headed for the register.

Joe knew better then to outright offer to buy all the books on her piles. He remembered how she used to yell at Jordan for trying to buy her. He went over to a clerk who was standing nearby. "Did you happen to notice the books she particularly seemed interested in?" Joe asked him. The man stooped to inspect the books on the floor.

"Um, these, I think." He pulled out about ten books.

"Will this cover them?" He handed the man a large bill.

"Yes, sir!" The clerk said in amazement.

"Can you send them to this address?" Joe scribbled down the address of the beach house.

"Certainly, sir!"

Joe joined Lara at the register, and they walked out of the bookstore together. As they walked to the car, he handed her a small box. "I picked this out for you."

"Thanks, Joe," she said, opening the box. She gasped and stopped walking. In the box was a small seashell pendant on a gold chain. The seashell was made entirely of diamonds. Joe stood patiently by the car as Lara slowly walked towards him. She opened her mouth, shut it, and then opened it again.

"Joe…I…"

"Remember the seashell you made into a pendant that summer? I still have it." He unlocked her door and held it open.

"Joe…" she was still speechless.

"I have finally found out what it takes to keep you quiet!" Joe teased as they drove back to the house.

"Oh, shut up!' Lara finally snapped. He laughed. "I can't take this, Joe."

"Why not? It's not like I can't afford it. You gave me a seashell, so I'm giving you a seashell."

"It's not quite the same thing, Joe!"

"Just take it, please? It will be a special reminder of our week here," he pleaded.

"Okay," she sighed, glad he had convinced her. It really was a beautiful necklace. She fastened it around her neck.

They pulled up in front of the house and lugged all their bags inside. Lara noticed a box on the front porch. "What's that?"

"I don't know…why don't you open it and see?" When she opened it and saw the books, she squealed with delight. She found Joe in his room and hugged him. "You're not mad?"

"No! That was so sweet of you!"

"Well, you used to say that Jordan was trying to buy you, and I…"

"I've grown up a lot since then, Joe. And I can't see you trying to buy me."

"I'm glad you like them." He held her close.

They spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy, just watching TV and talking. At around seven, Joe went out to cook some steaks on the grill, and Lara called the twins. Jordan put them on speakerphone.

"Mommy!" Betsy shouted, then proceeded to talk nonstop for ten minutes. Lara laughed until her sides ached.

"Wonder who she gets THAT from?" Jordan said in the background.

"Ha ha," Lara replied. "How are you , Nathaniel?"

"Good. We went to Uncle Jon's house today. It's on a mountain!"

Jordan picked up the phone. "So are the two of you behaving yourselves?"

"No," she replied.

"Good. Do you guys wanna come up for dinner tomorrow?"

"Let me check with Joe." She walked out onto the patio. She gave Joe a big kiss, then said, "Jordan wants us to come up to Boston for dinner tomorrow."

"Sounds good. We'll drive up and stay over, then drive back Thursday morning."

"Joe says cool," Lara told Jordan.

"Great! You can meet my mom!"

"Your mom? I don't know," she said nervously as she went back into the house.

"What's the big deal? It's not like we're still together."

"But I'm the mother of her grandchildren."

"And that's exactly why she'll love you. Believe me, she's totally on your side. She has given me hell a hundred times since I told her about the twins."

"Good," Lara replied, liking her already.

"Besides, it's not like you're meeting Joe's mom."

"Don't make me nervous again!"

They decided on dinner at seven and said goodbye. The night wasn't too cool, so Joe and Lara sat at the picnic table in back of the house. "Jordan wants me to meet his mom," Lara said as they sat down to eat.

"Nervous?"

"A little. I've been raising her grandchildren for eight years. She might not approve of how I've done."

"You've done a fabulous job." He picked up her hand and kissed it.

"I'm actually more nervous about meeting YOUR mom," she said, watching him closely.

"I can't wait for you to meet her! She's gonna love you!" Joe said, smiling. "She's known for a long time that a someone special had the key to my heart, though I never told her the whole story."

"So now she'll find out that the someone you love is a girl who was pregnant at seventeen." Lara pushed her plate away, no longer hungry.

"What does THAT have to do with anything?" Joe asked.

She stood. "Joe, most mothers do NOT look favorably on their baby boy getting involved with a twenty-six year old mother of eight year old twins!"

He tried to take her in his arms, but she refused to let him do it. He firmly held her face in his hands. "Lara, listen to me. She knows all about you because of that summer, and also about the letters we wrote. When I tell her everything that's happened, JORDAN is the one who will look bad, not you." She didn't respond but seemed to relax. "Now, sit down and eat! I didn't grill all that food for my health!"

They sat back down and finished their meals. Joe had put a small radio on the table, and the local top 40 station started three hours of continuous love songs. When Lara stood to take her dishes into the kitchen, Joe grabbed her arm. He took the dishes out of her hands and put them on the table again. "Dance with me," he said, pulling her into his arms.

"Do I have a choice?" she asked, laying her head on his shoulder.

They moved in silence for a while, then Joe asked, "What's going to happen after this week?"

Lara stopped dancing. "What do you mean?"

"These last few days have been magical. What happens when we go back to our real lives?"

"Nothing's gonna change, Joe. I'll still love you." She cupped his face in her hands. "I know it won't be easy. You'll be away a lot, and I have two children who are, basically, my life." She softly kissed him. "But I want to try and make this work."

 

Chapter Twenty-One 

 

About an hour later, Lara came into the living room wearing a purple satin tshirt and shorts. “How many sets of pajamas and nightgowns do you have?” Joe teased.

“This is all I brought along,” she told him.

He felt nervous. The night before had been so spontaneous. He wanted nothing more than to make love to her again, but he wasn’t sure what she wanted. “Well, uh, I guess I’ll go change, too,” he finally stammered.

“Don’t bother,” she said quietly, reaching for his hand. She led him up the stairs and down the hall. She stopped at the room that had been Patricia’s. She felt a twinge of meanness. It would be her own private revenge, making love to Joe in Patricia’s room, after all the nasty things Patricia had said about him. She turned on the bedside lamp. Joe took her in his arms.

“I love you so much,” he told her, letting her hair trickled through his fingers. “Tonight I’m gonna take my time showing you.”

He seemed to spend hours caressing and kissing her body. Everything he did was slow and gentle and loving. When they finally fell asleep, Lara felt peacefully exhausted. 

“Are you sure about this?” Patricia asked Danny as he struggled with the keys.

“Of course! Joe-Bird and Lara will be so surprised to see us!”

You can say that again, Patricia thought. He finally opened the door and they tiptoed into the beach house. Danny had called her that evening and begged her to come to Boston. Always happy for any excuse to get away from her boss, Patricia dropped Ashley at her mom’s house and hopped on the next plane. Danny still had a set of keys for the beach house, and he convinced Patricia that it would be fun to surprise Lara and Joe. It was almost three in the morning when they arrived at the house. They had driven down from Boston.

“Wow,” Patricia said as they snuck into the living room. “Lara was right. The memories really do rush back.” She looked at the Jacuzzi, where she and Jonathan had first made love, and sadness washed over her. “I’m really tired, Danny.”

“Right. We’ll surprise them in the morning. Do you want your old room?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll get your bags. You go on up.”

Patricia yawned as she climbed the stairs. She opened the door, turned on the light, and screamed. Lara sat up and also screamed, clutching the blanket to her chest. “What are the two of you doing in my bed?” Patricia demanded as Danny ran up the stairs.

“What are YOU doing in Massachusetts?” Lara shot back.

“Hey, Dan,” Joe said, sleepily rubbing his eyes.

“Joe, I, uh, I didn’t know that, um, you guys were…” Danny turned bright red.

“No, but Patricia did!” Lara yelled, ready to die from embarrassment.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d be laying around naked in MY bed!”

“Hello, it hasn’t been YOUR bed for nine years!”

“Ladies, can we please fight about this later?” Joe asked.

“FINE!” Patricia stomped out and unconsciously headed for Jonathan’s room. She slammed the door.

“I am REALLY sorry, guys,” Danny said.

“It’s okay, Danny. We’ll see you later,” Lara said.

As Danny left the room, Lara and Joe tried to settle back into bed. “You know, when we wake up we’re gonna laugh about this,” Joe pointed out.

“Take a walk, Joe,” Lara said sleepily, using the old phrase Patricia had coined whenever Joe had talked to her. She was still too embarrassed to find any humor in the situation. 

The next morning, Joe woke up around ten-thirty. He kissed Lara on the forehead, then went downstairs to make coffee. Danny wandered into the kitchen about fifteen minutes later.

“Joe-Bird, I am so sorry for walking in on you like that! I had no idea you guys were here.”

“Of course you didn’t, Danny. It’s okay,” Joe replied.

They sat at the kitchen table. “Man, being back in this house is weird,” Danny said.

“Tell me about it,” Joe said. “At first it was really uncomfortable, but we soon learned to ignore it.”

“So I noticed,” Danny teased. Joe blushed.

They sat at the table chatting and drinking coffee until Lara wandered in around noon, wearing one of Joe’s tshirts and a pair of his sweatpants.

“Morning,” she mumbled. She sat next to Joe and put her head on his shoulder.

“Lara, if I would’ve known that you and Joe were…that you’d be…” Danny stammered. Lara took pity on him.

“It’s okay, Danny. You didn’t know. Patricia, however, has some explaining to do.” She stood, kissing Joe’s cheek. “I’m gonna go for a walk.”

She went out the back door and picked her way down the beach. She walked for a while, then sat down a few feet from the water’s edge. She thought about Joe as she stared out at the waves. She didn’t like to admit it, but she had fallen head over heels in love with him. It was like nothing she had ever felt before, not even with Jordan. Joe truly cared about her, and wanted nothing more than to make her happy. She knew that if she gave the word, he’d marry her in a heartbeat. There was so much more to consider, however. She wanted the twins to get to know him, and hoped it wouldn’t confuse them too much. She also wondered if he had considered the fact that he’d be getting a ready-made family. She sighed and stared at the waves.

Patricia came into the kitchen twenty minutes later, and found Danny sitting alone at the kitchen table. Joe had gone up to take a shower. She avoided Danny’s eyes as she got a glass of juice. “Okay…okay…I am sorry. I knew that Joe and Lara were…together…but I did NOT know, however, that they’d be in MY bed. I thought we’d surprise them this morning.” She looked at him guiltily. He laughed.

“It’s okay, ‘Patty. I believe you, and Joe forgives you. Lara, on the other hand…”

Patricia waved her hand in the air. “Oh, puhleeze. She’ll get over it.”

Danny raised his eyebrows, but simply said, “They’re going up to Boston tonight. Jordan’s mom is having them over for dinner. Joe called up and asked if we could come, too. I hope it’s okay.”

“Sure it is,” Patricia replied, wondering if Jon would be there.

Danny stood. “I’m gonna go shower. We have to be at Marlene’s around seven, so we’ll leave in a few hours. Joe and Lara are gonna stay in Boston overnight, and you are welcome to stay at my place if you want.”

“Cool.” Patricia frowned as she saw Lara walking up to the house.

“Uh-oh.” Danny followed her gaze. “I’m outta here.” He went to his room.

As Joe got out of the shower, he heard loud female voices coming from downstairs. He smiled, figuring Lara was really letting Patricia have it. He thought the whole situation was hysterical. He didn’t care who knew what was going on between he and Lara. As a matter of fact, he wanted the whole world to know. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. If he could only get her to say yes…

 

Chapter Twenty-Two 

 

“You know, you really should forgive her,” Joe remarked as he and Lara drove to Boston. “She didn’t mean anything.”

“The hell she didn’t!” Lara muttered, staring out the window. “She knew exactly what was going on between you and I.”

“But she had no way of knowing we’d be in that particular bed,” Joe pointed out.

“True,” she grudgingly admitted. “Patricia’s always had something against you, Joe. I guess I just don’t want to hear her putting you down.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m a grownup, Lara. I can handle it. Besides, Patricia has been a good friend to you all these years. She cares about you. Once she realizes that all I want is to make you happy, she may actually learn to like me.”

“Don’t count on it,” Lara mumbled. 

“Damn!” Lara gasped as they drove through the gates of Jordan’s large home.

“Pretty something, isn’t it?” Joe asked. “A little too much for my taste.”

“Yeah,” Lara said quietly, uneasiness swirling around in her stomach. How in the world could she ever compete with something like this? For the first time, she felt a fear of losing her children to their father. She sedately followed Joe up the sidewalk, and fidgeted as he rang the bell.

“Mommy!” A voice screamed as the door opened. Two bodies shoved past Joe to hug Lara.

“Oh, Mom, Daddy’s house is awesome!” Nathaniel informed her. “He has a movie theater in the basement!”

“Really?” Lara tried to smile.

“And a studio, too!” Betsy announced. “We got to sing on a CD and…”

“Betsy!” Her brother yelled. “That was supposed to be a surprise!”

“Oh, yeah!” Betsy clapped a hand over her mouth.

“So you like it here at Daddy’s?” Lara asked.

“Yeah, but he’s grumpy in the morning. He doesn’t let us run in and jump on the bed like you do,” Betsy told her.

“I missed you, Mom,” her son whispered. “There have been lots of people here.”

“Those are your aunts and uncles and cousins,” Lara reminded him, relief washing over her. “You’ll get to know them, and then they won’t be so scary.”

“Tonight it’s just gonna be Grandma Putnam and Uncle Jon,” Betsy said, taking Lara’s hand and pulling her through the large foyer.

“And Uncle Joe, Uncle Danny and Aunt Patricia,” Lara added. Joe had walked ahead of them into the living room.

“Aunt Patricia? Cool!” Betsy yelled.

“There you are!” Jordan stood as the three of them entered the living room. “Hi, Lara.” He gave her a hug. A small woman who had been sitting next to him slowly stood. “Lara, this is my mother, Marlene Putnam. Mom, this is the one I NEVER should have allowed to get away.”

Lara blushed. “Pleased to meet you,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Marlene pulled her into a huge hug.

“Oh, you sweet girl!” She whispered into Lara’s ear. She pulled back to look at the younger woman. “I’m so sorry about how my son treated you.” Lara started to speak, but Marlene motioned for her to remain quiet. “I am sorry that we missed out on so much of Betsy and Nathaniel’s lives, but I understand why you couldn’t call…I don’t blame you. Men can be so undependable.” Marlene glared at her son and his friend. “I hope that you will allow the twins to visit often…there are more than enough people here to babysit whenever you need it.”

“Thank you,” Lara said, tears leaping to her eyes.

“I’m hoping to get her to Boston as much as possible anyway, Mrs. P,” Joe told her. Lara blushed again.

“Where are Dan and Patricia?” Jordan asked.

“They got a late start,” Joe told him.

“They’re lucky she’s alive at all,” Lara said sharply as Nathaniel and Betsy pulled her out of the living room for a tour of the house. 

“Hi, everyone!” Danny called out as they walked into the living room an hour later.

“Hey, Dan,” Jordan said. “Hiya, Patricia.”

“Hey,” Patricia said softly as she and Lara glared at each other.

“Okay, you two need to just make up and get over it,” Marlene said sternly. Joe had told the whole story while Lara and the twins walked through Jordan’s house.

“Yes, ma’am,” Lara said meekly. Patricia nodded.

“I’m Marlene, Jordan and Jonathan’s mother. I hear you were almost my daughter-in-law all those years ago,” Marlene said to Patricia.

“Yes,” Patricia said simply.

“Where is Jon? I thought he was coming for dinner, too?” Joe asked Jordan.

“He’ll be here. Let’s all sit down a while.” Everyone moved into the dining room. Patricia grabbed Lara’s arm and held her back.

“You didn’t tell me he was coming!”

“Well, we were too busy bitching at each other for me to tell you anything!” Lara hissed. “Besides, I didn’t know, anyway.”

“Do I look okay?” Patricia smoothed down her emerald green silk blouse.

“You look great,” her friend told her.

Just as Marlene was bringing out the last of the vegetables, Jonathan came running into the dining room. “Hey, everyone. Sorry I’m late. Hi, Mom.” He kissed his mother on the cheek.

“Hi, Uncle Jon!” Betsy yelled.

“Hey, Patricia,” Jon said softly as he sat opposite her at the table.

“Hi, Jonathan,” Patricia replied, trying not to stare at how good he looked. 

“Oh, man, Mom, that was incredible,” Jordan sighed, pushing his plate away. “I am stuffed.”

“Grandma, couldn’t you teach Mommy to cook like this?” Betsy asked.

“Betsy!” Lara said, horrified.

Marlene laughed. “Betsy, I have been cooking a lot longer than Mommy has. I have learned a few tricks.”

“Let me help you clean up,” Patricia said, standing.

“No, you kids go out and visit in the living room. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll help, Grandma,” Nathaniel said.

“Me, too,” Betsy chimed in, grabbing her plate. Lara stared at them.

“What have you done to my children?” She asked Marlene, who laughed.

The other adults went into Jordan’s den to relax. “This house is amazing,” Patricia remarked.

“Yes, it is. I love my new house, but it’s nothing like this. I can’t believe Betsy and Nathaniel will wanna come back home,” Lara said almost sadly. Joe gave her hand a squeeze.

“Oh, puhleeze,” Jordan said, rolling his eyes. “All I’ve heard is, ‘Mom does it this way’, and ‘Mommy NEVER does that’.”

“Really?” Lara asked, pleased.

“Not that I don’t love having them here,” Jordan said quickly. “But I’m learning really quick how lucky they were to have a mom like you.” Lara blushed.

They all chatted until Lara started to yawn about an hour later. “Looks like someone was up a little too late last night,” Patricia said slyly.

“No, I always yawn after I’m rudely awakened from a sound sleep,” Lara retorted.

“Mommy, can we stay in the hotel with you and Uncle Joe?” Betsy skipped in from the kitchen where she had been coloring with her brother and grandmother.

“Jordan Elizabeth Bruner, what in the world are you still doing up?” Lara asked sternly.

“Grandma said we could stay up cuz there was someone else coming that she wanted us to meet,” Nathaniel said, following his sister. “CAN we stay at the hotel?”

“No you most certainly cannot,” their father answered. “Uncle Joe and Mom are on vacation and they don’t need you around being silly.”

“We’re never silly!” Betsy retorted. Jordan made a face at her, making her giggle.

“Someone else?” Jordan and Joe looked at Jordan strangely. He shrugged.

“Don’t look at me…Mom was in charge of this little shindig.” The ringing of the doorbell interrupted his words. “Excuse me,” he said, going to answer it. “Hey!” They heard him exclaim. A small woman with snapping blue eyes followed Jordan back into the room.

“Mom!” Joe shouted, running over to hug her. “What are you doing here? I thought you were out of town this week!”

“I got back early, and Marlene had left a message that you’d be here, so I thought I’d stop by.” She turned to look at Lara.

“Oh, Mom, this is Lara.” Joe reached back to hold Lara’s hand as she stood. “This is the girl I was telling you about. Lara, this is my mom.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. McIntyre.” Lara held out her hand. She had never been more nervous in her entire life.

“Pleased to meet YOU,” Mrs. McIntyre said, looking Lara over. Nathaniel came to hide behind Lara.

“Mom, who is that?” He whispered.

“That’s Uncle Joe’s mom,” Lara told him. Mrs. McIntyre stared at her.

“This is your son?”

“Yes, Mom…remember I told you about the whole thing with Jordan having a son and daughter? Well, Lara is their mother. Mom, this is Nathaniel, and this is Jordan, though we call her Betsy.” Joe motioned to the children. Betsy gave her most winning smile, but Nathaniel continued to hide behind Lara.

“I see,” Mrs. McIntyre said simply. “So, Joseph, tell me what you’ve been up to since I saw you last.” She took her son’s hand and led him to a sofa, leaving Lara standing in the middle of the room.

“Come on, Mom.” Betsy started to tug on Lara’s hand. “I want you to see the pictures I drew.”

“Me too.” Nathaniel took her other hand, and Lara allowed her children to drag her out of the room before she cried. 

“I’m sorry about that,” Joe said as they drove into the city to their hotel. “I cannot believe she acted that way.”

“It’s okay, Joe,” Lara said for the thirtieth time. “It’s fine. I figured this would happen.”

“I didn’t. I mean, I thought she might interrogate you or something, but I didn’t think she’d act like such a witch.”

“Joe…please…let’s not talk about it, okay?”

“I’m going to call her tomorrow and make her apologize to you,” Joe continued as if Lara had never spoken.

“Joe, no…DON’T!” Lara finally yelled. “Just let time take its course, okay? You can’t force her to like me. I told you this would happen…I’m used to the strange looks and rude behavior that comes from being a teenage mother. I promise it’s okay.”

Joe pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. “I’ll tell you one thing, Lara. I love you…and one day I’ll convince you to marry me. Nothing my mother or anyone else says or does can change that one damned bit…do you understand?” Lara nodded meekly. “Okay…I’m tired. Let’s go in to bed.”

 

Twenty-Three

Three Months Later 

 

“Yes…yes, Mom…I KNOW, Mom…I’m gonna say something to him about it today,” Lara promised. “Look, Mom…I gotta go…long distance and all. Bye.” Lara sighed as she hung up the phone and flopped onto a chair. Did mothers never change? She was in Boston for a weekend that Joe was actually in town, and she had called her mother to tell her she had arrived safely…big mistake. Lara’s mother was watching the twins, and she had taken the opportunity to tell Lara that she was sick and tired of being the last minute babysitter. Why in the world didn’t she just move to Boston and be done with it? “Because I’m afraid,” Lara said out loud to herself. She knew how much Joe loved her. She could feel it deep down. But she still had this strange fear that he would leave her just like Jordan had. She looked around the apartment and sighed.

Joe had decided that if Lara was going to be making regular trips to Boston, she should have a place to stay. She didn’t feel comfortable staying at his house, so he had rented a small efficiency apartment for her. The reason she didn’t feel comfortable about staying overnight in his house was that his mother still had not voiced any kind of approval about their relationship. She was hardly civil to Lara, and she knew it was killing Joe. He refused to let his mother sway him, however, and continued to talk about how one day soon he was going to make it official and propose. Lara had yet to see the ring, but she was in no hurry. They were young. Betsy and Nathaniel had grown to love Uncle Joe almost as much as they loved Jordan, and she was happy that they, at least, were all getting along.

Lara looked at the clock. Four-thirty. She sighed again. Joe’s flight wasn’t due in from Los Angeles for another forty minutes, and then he had a good twenty-minute commute from the airport. She got up to grab a soda from the fridge, and noticed the answering machine light was blinking. She pushed play.

“Hey, Joey, how are ya?” A female voice asked. Lara froze. “I just wanted to say that it was great seeing you again last night. Just like those old crazy times, huh? Too bad you had to get up so early to leave this morning…I was sorry to see you go. Nina loves ya, baby.”

Lara stared at the phone, a sob building in her throat. Nina…his ex…the one he had been with all those years off and on. She grabbed her purse and ran out the door. She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to leave. 

Jordan groaned as the phone rang at seven. Why did telemarketers always seem to call at dinner? He was just eating a cold roast beef sandwich in front of the TV, but it was the principle of the thing. He answered it with a cold, “Hello?”

“Is this Jordan Knight?”

“No, this is his butler. Who wants to know?” Jordan asked guardedly.

“My name is Mike…I work at Terry’s in the city.”

“Yeah, I know it,” Jordan said warily. Terry’s was a bar and grill downtown.

“I got a lady here who’s had a bit too much to drink and I don’t want her driving home. She says she ain’t got no money for a taxi, and you’re the only person she knows in the city.”

“What’s her name?” Jordan jumped to his feet.

“Lara something.”

“I’ll be right there.” 

Jordan made his way through the smoky room over to the bar. “You Mike?”

“Yeah,” a burly man behind the counter answered. “You looking for the lady?” Jordan nodded. “Over there.” He pointed to a corner table where Lara sat, staring at her empty glass dejectedly.

Jordan walked over. “Lara…hey sweetie.”

“He won’t fill my glass anymore,” Lara pouted. “He’s so mean. I told him I could give him the money later.”

“Let’s go to my house. I have all you can drink for free.”

“Goodie!” Lara’s face lit up. “Let’s go.” She struggled to her feet, and Jordan half-carried her through the room. He stopped at the bar and slipped Mike a twenty for his troubles.

Jordan managed to get Lara out the door and into his car, praying she wouldn’t decide to get sick on the way home. She laid her head on the window and sighed. “Wanna tell me what’s wrong? Where’s Joe?”

“I don’t care where Joe is,” she muttered. “Fuck Joe…I never loved him anyway…only wanted his money.”

“Lara!” Jordan gasped. “What are you saying?”

“Nothing…leave me alone,” she snapped. Jordan said nothing more as they drove onto his large estate and he parked in his garage. He helped her out of the car but she pushed him away as she stumbled into the house. He led her upstairs.

“You need a hot bath. Go into my bedroom and grab a robe while I run the water,” he ordered. She meekly obeyed and soon came back out in his favorite black robe. He sighed. She looked so lost and alone…and so sexy. “I’m gonna wait outside until you’re done,” he told her.

“Don’t. I don’t want to fall asleep,” she said. “You put tons of bubbles in…I’ll hide under them.” She slipped the robe off before he could look away, and he couldn’t help but look a long moment before finally glancing away. She smirked. “Besides…it’s not like you haven’t seen it before.” She sank into the bubbles with a sigh.

“Tell me, Lara,” he said gently.

“There was a message from Nina on the machine when I got to the apartment,” she whispered. Jordan’s mouth fell open. “Sounds like they had a great night last night.”

“No, Lara, I’m sure you misunderstood,” Jordan began.

“Too bad you had to get up so early this morning to leave…I was sorry to see you go,” Lara recited. “No misunderstanding that…”

“Oh, baby, I’m sure it’s a big mistake.” Jordan reached over and stroked her hair. “Joe loves you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she said wryly. “You men are all the same.”

“Don’t even start that shit,” Jordan said. “We are not.”

Lara sighed and said nothing. She closed her eyes, feeling sleepy. “I should get out of here. I feel…awful.”

“I guess you do, if you were drinking as long and as much as I think you were,” Jordan said. “Let me find you a towel.” He got up to get a towel from the linen closet and froze with it in his hand. He heard someone thumping up the steps. He went out into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. “Joe?”

“Sorry,” Joe panted. “I wouldn’t have just come in but you let the door open downstairs. That’s pretty dumb.” He tried to catch his breath. “I can’t find Lara, Jordan. I can’t find her anywhere, and there was this message on the machine…I’m sure she heard it.”

“Look, Joe, let’s go downstairs and talk about this.” Jordan nervously glanced at the bathroom. Joe blushed.

“Oh, man, do you have someone here? I’m sorry,” Joe said.

“No, it’s fine.” Jordan started shoving him towards the door.

“Jordan? Who’s out there?” A female voice called from the bathroom. Joe stared at Jordan, then marched over to the door.

“Joe, wait,” Jordan said, but Joe threw the door open. Lara gasped as the cold air hit her.

“What the hell is going on here?” Joe demanded. Lara slowly stood, trying not to fall.

“Joe, go home. Go home to Nina,” she said, swaying.

“Will you cover yourself?” He snapped, grabbing the towel from Jordan and trying to cover Lara’s torso with it. She smacked him.

“Do NOT fucking touch me, okay? It’s not like Jordan hasn’t seen me naked before…he saw me a lot more than you did.” She smirked.

“Lara…” Jordan said weakly.

“Shut up, Jordan,” she said angrily. “Joe…please go away. I never want to see you again. You’re a lying sack of shit and I hate you!” She screamed.

“Will you let me explain?” Joe said.

“Joe, don’t. She’s drunk and she won’t listen to you. The bartender called me to come get her because she mentioned my name. I thought she needed a bath and she asked me to stay so she wouldn’t fall asleep. I swear that’s all that happened. Let her stay here and sleep it off.”

“Fine!” Joe said angrily. “Nothing happened between me and Nina, Lara. I will explain it all to you tomorrow.”

“Don’t bother.” Lara leaned on Jordan to get out of the tub. “Nothing you have to say can change it. You slept around on me…and I never want to see you again.”

 

Twenty-Four 

 

“Lara, don’t put me in this position, please,” Jordan said tiredly, wrapping his hands around his mug of coffee.

“I think you’d like any position I put you in,” Lara teased as she yawned. She glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning, and she just couldn’t go to sleep. She knew she’d hear that message over and over until she went crazy.

“Don’t tempt me,” he warned her. “You know what I mean…I hate being in the middle of this.”

“Then I’ll leave!” She shouted, jumping to her feet. She still wore his long robe, and she kicked it out of her way. “I’ll go to a hotel. Thanks for nothing. I thought you were my friend, Jordan.”

Jordan grabbed her arm. “Will you sit down and shut the hell up?” He snapped, sitting her back down. She was quite sober by now, but she still was acting like a child. He knew that she was hurting, but he could think of no way to calm her down enough to get her to go to sleep. “You’re acting like an infant.”

“Wah,” she said, pouting, then smiling. She yawned again.

“Come on.” He stood and held out his hand. “You’re going to bed.”

“I am not sleepy,” she said, yawning so big her head almost cracked open.

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, tugging at her hand. He led her up the stairs to his bedroom. “If you don’t wanna sleep, then just lay down with me so I can sleep.”

“I can be alone, Jordan,” she pointed out.

“I don’t want you to be. I don’t want you to do something totally dumb.”

She rolled her eyes but said nothing. Her eyes grew big when she saw his king sized bed with black satin sheets. Suddenly she felt shy. She wondered how many women had graced this bed before her. Jordan stripped down to his boxers, and Lara did her best not to stare at his muscular chest and smooth stomach. He pulled back the sheets and patted the mattress. She looked down at the robe, not really wanting to sleep in it.

“Hold on,” he said. He went to a dresser drawer and pulled out a huge Abercrombie & Fitch tshirt. “Put that on.” He went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and she quickly tugged the shirt over her head. It fell to just above her knees. He poked his head out of the bathroom. “You might want to come brush your teeth, too,” he said around his toothbrush. “You’re sporting some nasty booze breath.”

“Screw you,” she retorted, but she took the new toothbrush he held out to her. 

Jordan left a small light turned on, but otherwise the room was dark. Lara felt as if she had to whisper. “There’s something I haven’t told you,” she said.

“Oh, now what,” he moaned. She smacked him. Tears began to creep down her cheeks.

“I think I’m pregnant, Jordan. I think I’m carrying Joe’s baby.” She began to sob and he pulled her into his arms. He felt her tears wet his chest as he stroked her hair.

“You have to talk to him, Lara.”

“I can’t. I can’t listen to his lies.”

“How do you know they’re lies?” Jordan asked her. “Do you think Joe would throw away years of loving you on some little piece on the side?” Lara sniffed but said nothing. “And do you really want to be as low as I was, just leaving without any kind of explanation? And even if you and Joe never make up, he needs to know about the baby BEFORE it’s born. I think I know a little something about that.”

“Stop making sense,” she mumbled against his chest, and she felt him laughing. He kissed the top of her head.

“You knew better then to get trashed if you thought you were pregnant,” he said, pinching her arm.

“I know,” she sighed. “I just wanted to forget it all.”

“Well if you ever feel like doing something that stupid again, just call me instead, okay?”

“Okay,” she promised. She sighed and snuggled closer to him. Suddenly it felt like the ten years had never passed. It was so comfortable just being next to him.

Jordan swallowed deeply, wondering if he could move away from Lara without her noticing. She was having an amazing effect on him. He could smell the bubble bath scent that still clung to her skin, and the sight of her legs sticking out from under his tshirt had given him the most painful erection he had experienced in a long time. She suddenly moved back to look at him, her blue eyes glistening in the dim light.

“Thank you,” she murmured, reaching up to touch his cheek. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied. He turned his head and kissed her palm before he could stop himself. His eyes widened. “Oh…Lara…I’m sorry…”

“Shhh,” she said, snuggling close again. One of her fingers traced his lips before she tilted her head to kiss him.

Everything inside of Jordan told him to resist…to pull away…but he couldn’t. His arms somehow wound around Lara’s waist, and he pressed his body to hers. She moaned against his lips, and he felt that damned erection spring to life again. Her lips moved from his mouth to his cheek to his neck as one of her hands slowly trailed down his chest. Her fingers traced the outline of his cock through the silk boxers.

“Oh…God…Lara…” he moaned, telling himself to make her stop. All he was capable of was arching off the bed as one fingernail traced his head. Suddenly her hand slipped inside of the boxers and grasped him as her mouth encircled his nipple. Precum oozed from his head as he panted for breath. “Lara…we need to…”

“Absolutely,” she agreed, pulling away to take off the tshirt. Before he could react, his boxers were at the foot of the bed and she was pressing herself next to him again.

“Oh…God…no…” he moaned as her soft skin was against his. His hands roamed across her back, moving around to cup her breasts and toy with the nipples. He rolled her over so her body was pressed down on top of him, and she moved her midsection seductively, rubbing their most sensitive parts together.

“Say you don’t want me, J. Say you don’t want me and I’ll stop. Make me forget,” she begged, sliding up so her wetness teased his throbbing cock.

“Fuck, yes, I want you,” he growled, his teeth digging into her shoulder. She moaned loudly. She was just starting to spread her legs apart to take him in when the phone rang.

“Don’t answer it,” she pleaded, but he sighed and reached a hand out for the phone.

“It’s three in the morning. Is this important?” Jordan barked as Lara planted sweet kisses on his chest.

“J, it’s Joe.”

“Joe?” Jordan sat up suddenly, almost knocking Lara off the bed. “What is it?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I’m sorry for wakening you.”

“No, I was up,” Jordan said, looking down into Lara’s blue eyes. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to apologize…and to see how she is. Is she okay?”

“Yeah…she’s fine…she’s in bed,” Jordan said truthfully. Lara sighed and got up, pulling on the tshirt as well as the robe. She smiled at him sadly and left the room.

 

Twenty-Five 

 

Jordan didn’t sleep at all that night. He wanted to go find Lara, but he knew it was not a good idea for him to be anywhere near her. He knew she loved Joe, even though she was hurting, and they had almost jeopardized any kind of future she and Joe might have. He stayed in his bed, staring at the ceiling until the sun started to creep in under the blinds. 

Lara sat on a chair in one of Jordan’s guestrooms, watching the sun rise over his large backyard. It was a perfect backyard for children…lots of green grass and sloping hills. She sighed, wondering what her life would have been like if he had never deserted her. Would he still have gone on to release a solo album? Would they even still be together? She sighed. 

Joe sat at the dining room table of Lara’s small apartment, staring at the path the rising sun made on the floor. His hands encircled a mug of hot coffee, but he didn’t drink it. He almost forgot he had made it. He couldn’t believe all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

When he had run into Nina at that party in Los Angeles, he had been happily surprised. Their last breakup had not been pretty, and he was afraid that any time he met her, she’d want to slap his face. Instead they had a decent conversation, and ended up leaving the party to have a late night breakfast in a twenty-four hour diner. She had wanted to go dancing after that, but he had told her that he had many things to do the next morning before returning to Boston. He knew she wanted more, but the evening ended with Joe giving Nina a chaste kiss on the cheek. He could never cheat on Lara…he loved her way too much. The engagement ring he had picked out in Los Angeles had been burning a hole in his pocket the entire time he was in California…and now he might never get the chance to give it to her. He wanted to believe Jordan when he said that nothing had happened, but the sight of Lara standing naked in Jordan’s bathtub, not even caring who saw her, was enough to make him doubt his old friend. 

Lara wandered downstairs at around seven, unable to sit in her room for a minute longer. Jordan was already in the kitchen making coffee. “Hey,” she said softly.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at her. She sat at the table and he poured them each a cup of coffee. He sat down across from her.

“Look…Jordan…I am really sorry about jumping all over you last night. It was wrong to put you in that position and I’m sorry.”

He put his hand over hers. “No, Lara…it wasn’t all your fault. I could have very easily made you stop…but I didn’t want you to.” Tears filled Lara’s blue eyes and splashed down her cheeks. Jordan walked around the table to kneel in front of her. He took her in his arms as she sobbed on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’ll work it out.”

“I don’t WANT to work it out with Joe,” she said savagely, pulling back to glare at him. “He’s a lying piece of shit and I hate him!”

Jordan took her face in his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye. “You do NOT hate him, okay? You’re gonna listen to every word he has to say, do you hear me?” She attempted to nod. His thumbs caressed her cheeks. “You guys are so lucky to have each other,” he said in a quieter tone. One thumb moved down to lightly rub her bottom lip and she flickered out her tongue. They both moaned. “Go call him…call him now before I make a big mistake.”

 

Chapter Twenty-Six 

 

Joe jumped as the phone rang. He grabbed it before the last tones rang through the silent apartment. “Yes? I mean…hello?”

“I’m ready to listen to you,” a woman’s voice said, then hung up. Joe leapt out of his chair and went to find his shoes. 

“No…you gotta do this for me,” Joe yelled into his cellphone as he sped to Jordan’s house. “I mean it…I need this favor bad…put it this way…my future is hanging on this. Dammit…just sit by your phone until I call!” He angrily pushed ‘end’ and shoved the phone into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

The gates to Jordan’s driveway were already open, and he squealed up the drive and parked in front of the house. He ran to the door, then stopped before he rang the bell. He smoothed back his hair and took a few deep breaths. He needed to calm down before he gave himself a heart attack. He closed his eyes, opened them, then rang the bell.

Jordan opened the door. “Hey, Joe,” he said softly, giving him a wan smile. Bags under his eyes gave away the fact that he hadn’t slept all night. “She’s back in the sunroom. I have coffee back there for you.”

“Thanks, J,” Joe replied, following Jordan into the hallway. “Jordan…I need to apologize. I know you’d never…”

“Don’t…don’t say it, Joe,” Jordan said quickly. He didn’t need to hear his friend say that he knew Jordan would never hit on his girlfriend…because he knew the truth. “It’s okay…really. I understand.”

“Okay…thanks.” Joe took another deep breath.

“Go get her back.” Jordan gave Joe a gentle shove in the direction of the sunroom. 

Lara was staring out at the pool behind the sunroom when Joe walked in. She wore one of Jordan’s Boston University sweatshirts, and a pair of his shorts. Her hair was pulled up into a sloppy ponytail, and Joe thought she had never looked more beautiful to him. She heard his step and began to pour coffee. She automatically added a half spoon of sugar and pushed the cup across the table. After pouring herself a cup, she finally turned around to face him. The circles under her eyes matched Jordan’s. “Sit down,” she said softly. He silently sat and played with the coffee cup. “Talk,” she ordered.

“I would never cheat on you,” he said. He had planned a dramatic poetic explanation, but those were the words that fell from his lips. “I love you too damn much…have loved you too damn long…to chance it all on something like this.” His blue eyes met hers. “I could never hurt you that way.”

“How did she get that number?” Lara asked, and Joe knew it was an appropriate question. Her family had it, his family had it, Patricia had it and the other New Kids had it. That was all.

“I’m not quite sure,” Joe said truthfully. “I didn’t give it to her. She might have called like Donnie or Danny or something, and they gave it to her without thinking. I will most definitely find out.”

“I see,” she said simply. He watched a tear splash down into her coffee. “She said…she said you had to leave early in the morning…”

“We had breakfast together after we met at a party. She wanted to go out and I said no because I had to get up and get things done before coming home,” he explained quietly.

“I see,” she said again. She stared at him. “Do you still love her?”

“No! Of course not…I love you,” he said earnestly.

“I see.” Pause. “Did you sleep with her?”

“Fuck no!” Joe exclaimed, jumping up so quickly that coffee sloshed out of his cup onto the table. He grabbed a saucer and flung it at the wall. It shattered into a hundred pieces, making Lara jump. “Do you think I’m just some walking dick that gets it wherever he can if his girlfriend isn’t around? Sorry, Lara…but I’m not Jordan.”

“Don’t say that about him!” Lara said angrily, jumping to her feet as well. “He’s not like that at all!”

“Why are you defending him?” Joe asked. “What happened last night?”

“Nothing happened…he was a friend that took care of me! And this isn’t about Jordan…this is about your ex-girlfriend who SOMEHOW got your private number and left quite an incriminating message! Tell me, Joe, did she even know about me?”

“I mentioned you, yes,” he replied, trying to calm down.

“Oh, you MENTIONED me! How thoughtful of you!” Lara shouted. “Thanks for stopping by, Joe…I’d appreciate if you left now. I’ll be by the apartment later to pack my things.”

“No. We are NOT going out like this,” Joe snapped. “Sit the hell down and shut up for five minutes.” He grabbed her shoulder and pushed until she sat down.

“Touch me like that again and I will scream until Jordan comes in here and beats the shit out of you!”

“Ah, yes, Jordan, the ‘knight’ in shining armor,” Joe said sarcastically, punching numbers into this cellphone. He thrust it in Lara’s face. “Listen before you talk.”

Lara angrily swiped the phone from his hand. “This is Lara. Who’s this?”

“This is Nina,” a woman said on the other end. Lara gasped, then glared at Joe. “I’m not even sure why I was supposed to wait for this call, but he ordered me to sit by the phone until he called me.”

“I’m listening,” Lara said.

“Okay, I guess you’re his girlfriend, right? Well, let me tell you…nothing happened between Joey and I in LA. Nothing has happened since we broke up. We accidentally ran into each other and went out for something to eat. Then he went home. I have been bitter towards him for a long time because of our breakup, and this was the first time we have really talked since then.”

“I see,” Lara said, repeating her mantra of the day.

“Actually, I feel like I know you already. He mentioned you about a zillion times.”

“Oh, he did?” Lara said.

“Yes…believe him, Lara. Nothing happened between us. We are completely done.”

“Thank you for taking the call, Nina. You didn’t have to do that.” Lara hit ‘end’.

“She told you, didn’t she? She told you we didn’t do anything,” Joe said, falling to his knees before her. “Lara, I love you. I love you more than anything. I want you to marry me.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He opened it with shaking hands. Lara stared down at the diamond and blue topaz ring. “Please…be my wife.”

Lara reached one index finger out towards the box, then pulled it back. “I can’t. I can’t do it, Joe.”

“What? I thought you believed me!” Joe felt as if she had punched him in the stomach.

“I do…but this fight we just had makes me wonder if we’re right for each other after all.” She shoved some stray hair from her face. “I need to think about it.”

“You need to…” Joe laughed a wry laugh. “Okay…whatever…think all you want. I waited ten years…I guess I can wait some more.” He snapped the box shut and jumped to his feet. “I’ll be at my house. Feel free to go back to the apartment. I won’t bother you.” He stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Jordan came running into the sunroom a moment later.

“Well? Did you two lovebirds make up?”

“I believe him. I believe he and Nina didn’t do anything. But I don’t like the way we just fought.” She began to pace. “He proposed.”

“AND?”

“I said I needed to think about it.”

“You needed to…are you fucking crazy?” Jordan screamed.

“Jordan, I don’t need that right now.”

“I don’t care! What you need is a good ass whipping, you stupid wench! Joe is one of the greatest guys in the world and you said NO?” Jordan walked over and picked Lara up. He threw her over his shoulder as she screamed in protest.

“Put me down, you Neanderthal!” She screamed, beating on his back.

“Not until you wake the hell up.” He started towards the sliding glass doors at the end of the room. Neither of them heard Joe walk back into the room to retrieve his forgotten cellphone. He stopped short at the sight of the woman he loved flung over Jordan Knight’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He hurried after them, but Lara was too busy punching Jordan to notice.

“Jordan…let me go…I’m pregnant for God’s sakes…did we forget that little thing?”

“No, I didn’t…and it’s for that reason that you are gonna accept his proposal. You love Joe, he loves you, and your baby needs its father. Now either tell me you’ll say yes, or I’ll drown you.”

“You’ll WHAT?” Lara screamed as she flew through the air into the pool. Jordan dove in after her, fully dressed. She surfaced sputtering and coughing. He grabbed her before she could escape.

“Say it…say yes.”

“Jordan, this is ridiculous! Let me go!” Lara thrashed and kicked.

“No…you stupid brat. Say it!”

“Go to hell!”

“Will you two STOP?” Joe finally bellowed. Both of the people in the pool froze, then looked up at the man they hadn’t even noticed. “You are both acting like children! Jordan, let her go!” Jordan slowly let Lara go and she swam to the side, pulling herself out of the pool. Joe stared at her. “Um…were you planning on mentioning this baby anytime soon?”

“I just found out yesterday,” she replied softly. “I was gonna tell you when you got back last night.” Joe walked over to kneel beside her, placing a hand on her wet stomach.

“You’re really having a baby? My baby?” He whispered. She nodded, unable to keep from smiling at the wonder on his face.

“Yes…your baby.” She sobered. “Bet your mother is gonna LOVE that. Like she doesn’t hate me enough already.”

“She doesn’t hate you, Lara. And if she hated you because of this, then she can hate me too.” He rubbed her stomach. “Because this is MY baby, too. OUR baby.” He looked in her eyes. “I love you so much, Lara. Please forgive me for all the awful things I said and insinuated. Marry me.”

“Yes…yes, I’ll marry you,” she said, throwing herself in his arms.

“Finally,” Jordan grumbled, going into the house to dry off.

 

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Six Weeks Later 

 

“You’re sure I don’t look like a heifer?” Lara said, spinning in front of the mirror. The white wedding gown flowed around her legs as she spun.

“You do NOT look like a heifer,” Patricia said for the tenth time. “And if you did, it’s too damn late now. You are the skinniest damn pregnant person I’ve ever seen. That totally isn’t fair.” She smoothed down her emerald green bridesmaid’s gown. “I’m going out to check and see if they’re ready. I’ll be out in the hall.”

Lara stood alone in the Sunday school room, staring at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe it was her wedding day. Things had been thrown together quickly, and Joe’s mother had surprisingly done most of the work. They had told her of the pregnancy and wedding together, and of course Kay McIntyre had flipped. Joe finally stood up to her, telling her that if she didn’t accept Lara, their child, or her stepgrandchildren, she could just not accept him as her son any longer. Lara had been shocked at that, and had tried to stop him. She quickly learned, however, that her husband-to-be’s temper was as bad as any Irishman’s could be. Kay had finally taken a long look at her, and realized that if her son was willing to fight for this woman, she must be worth it.

“Hey…are you decent?” Jordan poked his head in the door. He gaped when she turned around. “Wow…you look amazing,” he whispered. He was very handsome in his black tux.

“So do you,” she said, smiling. He held out his arm.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she sighed, grabbing her bouquet. He led her to the back of the sanctuary. Betsy, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Patricia and Joe were already at the altar. Lara’s mother stood as a sign for the congregation to stand, and when Joe caught sight of Lara his face lit up like the sun.  

This girl of yesterday…woman of my dreams…the girl of yesterday…still a dream it seems…each night I kneel and pray…that the girl of yesterday…will be the woman of all my tomorrows…

The End

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