shook her head. “I’m not sure my mother or father know how to boil water.”
“Different planet,” he said.
“Not necessarily better,” she muttered and looked out to the horizon. She gave a shiver.
He pulled off his jacket to put it around her shoulders. She glanced at him in surprise.
“You looked like you got a chill. I’ve been doing all the talking. How did a wealthy girl like you learn how to cook?”
“In boarding school. It was an elective and I decided it would be a necessary skill since I knew I wouldn’t be living with my parents.”
“Independent even then,” he said.
“Yes,” she said, her face solemn. “I think I was nine at the time.”
“I get the impression your home life wasn’t all that happy,” he ventured.
“It wasn’t. My parents were unhappily married. My father had a terrible temper. That may be part of the reason I’m so determined for Joel to feel safe and happy.”
“You can’t protect him from every bump in the road,” Rafe said.
“No, but I can try to keep him out of the potholes,” she said.
“Ever think you’re overprotective?” he asked.
She shot him a look that reminded him of a mama bear ready to defend her cub. “Are you questioning my parenting skills?”
“Just curious,” he said.
“Because if you are,” she said. “You don’t have a lot of experience yourself.”
“I don’t have experience being a parent,” he agreed. “But I have experience being male.”
“Plenty of single mothers have successfully raised boys on their own.”
“But you won’t have to,” he said. “I’m Joel’s father and I’m here to stay.”
She lifted her shoulder. “We still don’t know how involved you really want to be in his life.”
Her cool response irritated him. “Very involved. You need to get used to the idea that Joel will be spending lots of time with me.”
“Like I said, that’s yet to be determined.”
“No, it isn’t,” he said, putting his hand on her arm to get her attention.
She turned her head and glanced meaningfully at his hand. He removed it. “I’m not going to be an absentee father. I’m rearranging my life so that he can be in it all the time.”
“It’s not that easy,” she said. “You can’t just take over.”
“I can and I am,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“I want Joel with me. You need to get used to the idea. I don’t need your approval to get custody of my son.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you threatening me?” She bit her lip. “Tabitha said you were a bully. This just goes to show—”
“Tabitha,” he echoed in disgust. “The woman who laughed at me when I asked her to marry me.”
Nicole gasped. “You proposed?” she asked in disbelief.
“She said I was good enough for a good time, but not for anything long-term. Then she didn’t bother to tell me she was pregnant with my child. I could forgive her for that because she was so wild maybe she didn’t know who the father was.”
Nicole gasped again. “How dare you insult her when she’s not here to defend herself?”
“She lost that right when she neglected to tell me she’d given birth to my son.”
Nicole stared at him, her eyes glinting with fear and anger. “Why do you want him?” she demanded. “Is it your way of paying back my sister? Or is it some kind of ego trip?”
Offended by her assessment of his character, he ground his teeth. “I’ll tell you when you have a more open mind. Now it’s shut tighter than a jail cell.”
“Don’t underestimate me. I will do anything to protect Joel.”
“Then you may want to be smart about it. You can waste your time fighting me, or you can officially move down here and work with me.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding. Give up my life so you can control it and Joel’s.”
He gave a chuckle that sounded harsh to his own ears. “If you and I both really want what’s best for Joel, why would I need to control you?”
She gnawed her lip for a moment then gave him his jacket. “Are you going to tell me that you’re not accustomed to getting your way?”
“Only because I’m right most of the time,” he said.
“That’s arrogant.”
“No, it’s true.” He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “When are you going to stop fighting me every inch of the way?”
“I agreed to come down here. I wasn’t fighting then.”
“I wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“You don’t make it easy. You march into our lives and want everything changed this second. It doesn’t work that way. This is going to take time and trust.”
“The time to start is now. Joel is young enough that if we move forward decisively then he’ll feel secure in no time.” Rafe knew what he was talking about. He’d been several years older than Joel when he’d lost his family, and he’d never fully recovered. “This can’t be the worst offer you’ve received. Move to Miami and live in a nice house with a pool. You don’t even have to work.”
“I could have done that in Atlanta if I’d agreed to live with my father,” she said with a trace of bitterness. “You’re the same as he is. It all comes down to controlling other people to get your way.”
“This isn’t about control. This is about doing the right thing for Joel. You are the only mother Joel he has ever known. You’re the one who has rocked him to sleep, kept him fed and warm. You’re the one who has made him feel safe. Ideally, every child would have a caring father too. If you move down here, Joel would have the two most important people in his life together.”
Rafe made a good argument, Nicole thought after she’d returned to her room. She pulled the covers over her in her bed while the gentle rocking of the ocean lulled her. It would be best for Joel if she and Rafe could get along and even better if they
