Adding Up to Marriage by Karen Templeton Page A

dizzy?”
    â€œUh-uh,” Tad said, shaking that head.
    â€œAny trouble seeing?”
    â€œI’m okay, swear. What’s for dinner? I’m starving. ”
    Smirking, Jewel slid her eyes to Silas’s. “Do whatever you think best. But instead of sitting in the ER for three hours we may as well have dinner here and keep an eye on him. Or I can call Naomi, if you want…?”
    Only doctor in probably three states who still did house calls. However… “No, that’s okay. She…” He cleared his throat. “She’s never actually said, but I can tell she thinks I—”
    â€œOverreact?”
    â€œYou can stop smiling anytime.”
    She giggled. Only for some reason the sound didn’t gratenearly as much as Silas expected. Especially when she laid her hand on his arm and those soft, sweet eyes grazed his and she said, “At least your kids will always know you care.”
    And if that wasn’t bad enough, then she got the boys— his boys—to eat pork that wasn’t bacon. With onions. And apricots. Okay, so you could barely see the broccoli for the cheese sauce, but damned if that didn’t disappear down their gullets—and not the dog’s, Silas kept an eagle eye out to be sure—as well.
    Of course, she did tell Ollie the planted broccoli spear in the rice was cute…but moments later, when a second spear appeared to keep the first one company, and Silas said, “Don’t even think about it,” and Ollie gave Silas his “testing” look and said, “Jewel thinks it’s funny!” she immediately said, “What Daddy says goes, honey. Always.”
    â€œThen how come we got to play Secret City?” Tad piped up, and Ollie went, “Aww!” and Jewel flushed and said, “Pay no attention to him, that’s the head wound talking,” and Silas decided maybe losing some control wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
    Maybe.
    Dinner over, the boys stampeded into the living room, Ollie grabbing the remote to find Nickelodeon, Tad flopping on the floor to use Doughboy as a pillow.
    One eyebrow raised, Jewel turned to Silas. “You let them watch TV?”
    â€œA half hour a day,” Silas said, waving her aside when she tried to clear the table, wanting her gone. Wanting her to stay forever. Wanting to make an appointment to have his head examined.
    Cocking hers, she listened for a moment, then snorted. “SpongeBob? Whoa. Subversive. Oh, shoot…where’s my phone?”
    Spotting the shimmying, hot pink, cutting-edge number on the counter, Silas felt the oddest sensation of…annoyance. Partly at the cutesy ringtone, but more because…because it was like being interrupted by an uninvited guest.
    â€œOver here,” he said, stacking the dishes by the sink.
    â€œThanks.” Jewel zipped over and plucked off it the butcher block counter, said, “Uh-huh…uh-huh…be right there,” then slipped it into a back pocket so tightly molded to her butt he had no earthly idea how she could fit a credit card in there, let alone a phone.
    â€œIt’s Winnie Black,” she said, her face all lit up, then vanished. For whatever reason, Silas followed her into the hall to watch her hustle to the front door to grab her purse and jacket. “Water broke, went right into hard labor—” struggling into the jacket, she yanked her ponytail out of the collar “—and it’s her third birth, so I doubt it’ll take too long.”
    â€œAnd you’re telling me this why?”
    Her hand already on the door knob, she gave him that What Planet Are You From? look. “Because I don’t want you to worry about me getting here on time tomorrow? Hey, guys! I’m leaving! Come give me hugs!”
    Didn’t have to ask them twice. No small feat considering their undying devotion to all things SpongeBob. Both kids rushed over to nearly strangle her