By his side, Lili laughed, too. Judging from her loving glance, it was obvious she felt that children were a joy and a blessing, not a nuisance.
Tom realized that to strangers passing by, they must look like a normal family enjoying a picnic in the park.
Lili’s twins were cute, and he had a feeling that all it would take was a few more moments like this to make him forget Sullivan’s Rules calling for caution in male-female relationships.
Maybe the attraction was simply because he was vulnerable.
“Ah, so there you are!” Homer Eldridge beamed as he made his way over the grassy rise. “I lost sight of you for a while, but I knew that if I looked hard enough I’d find you.”
Tom smothered a groan.
Trouble had a way of following him, he mused as he tried to sit up. The picture of Lili, little Paul and him sitting together had apparently been enough to bring a smile to his father’s face. Tom hadn’t seen Homer so happy in years.
Happy was good, Tom thought with compassion as he gazed at his dad. Homer had been in the dumps ever since he’d talked himself into retiring from Today’s World, ostensibly to give Tom the opportunity to make his mark on the magazine. More likely, Tom suspected, his father had wanted to encourage him to settle down—in both his professional and personal life.
“Married with children” had become a broken record.
“Sorry I didn’t get up, Dad.” Tom explained to his father about the errant soccer ball. “I feel a little better now.
“By the way,” he added, remembering he wasn’t alone. “I guess I should introduce you to Lili Soulé. Lili is the magazine’s graphic artist. Lili, this is my dad, Homer Eldridge.”
“I remember seeing you around the magazine once or twice before I retired, Ms. Soulé,” his father said, smiling as he reached to take Lili’s offered hand. “Glad to meet you. You don’t mind my calling you Lili, do you? Especially seeing that you and Tom are friends?”
Lili blushed. “I am pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Eldridge. You may call me Lili if you wish.”
Tom’s father gestured to Paul. “Your son?”
“Yes,” Lili said proudly. “Paul is a twin. His sister is out there somewhere playing soccer. I’m afraid it was Paulette who kicked the ball that hit Tom.”
Homer glanced over his shoulder at the soccer field, which was rimmed by shouting children and cheering parents. “And the children’s father? Is he here today?”
Lili’s smile faded. “I lost my husband, Paul, four years ago in an accident,” she said softly. “Little Paul here is now the man of the family.”
Tom’s father murmured in sympathy. “And a fine young man he is. How old is he?”
“He is six,” Lili replied. Obviously wondering at the senior Eldridge’s sudden interest in her son, she glanced at Tom with a raised eyebrow. Hoping he was wrong about his father’s interest, Tom managed a shrug.
“Ah, yes,” Homer replied with a fond smile. “Still, every boy needs a father to help him along the road to manhood. Don’t you agree?”
Even as Tom shook his head, Lili nodded.
Judging from his father’s benevolent smile, Tom had a sinking feeling his dad had decided Lili and her twins would not only make a perfect family, but provide him with instant grandchildren.
In a way, Homer was right, Tom mused as a becoming flush pinkened Lili’s cheeks. Tom was a red-blooded man and Lili was definitely all woman. If only she hadn’t displayed such a will of steel and relentless determination. He knew from experience that a strong woman spelled trouble.
He was also old-fashioned enough to believe that his frat brother, Lucas Sullivan, had been right in his article on the mating game. A woman had to let a man set the pace in their relationship, or at least allow him to be a partner. Since he’d discovered the real Lili, Tom wasn’t sure she was ready to do either.
He intended to get around to marriage someday, maybe, but not yet. If his father was so set on being a grandfather, maybe there was still a chance that his sister would develop a nesting instinct, marry and provide the grandchildren.
Impatiently, he listened while his father and Lili exchanged pleasantries. The longer the two spoke, the broader the smile on his father’s face became. Not a good sign.
“Tom,” Homer finally suggested, “why don’t you bring Lili and the children over to my place for dinner next Friday?”
Tom was about to say he had another engagement when the activity on the ball fields stopped and picnicgoers broke into whistles and shouts. Slowly, he swiveled to see what had prompted the outburst. It seemed as if everyone was looking skyward, pointing and cheering. To Tom’s dismay, a small plane flew overhead, trailing a large yellow banner: HELP KEEP RIVERVIEW CHILD CARE CENTER OPEN!
A deep foreboding washed over Tom. He knew, as sure as he knew his own name, that his life was about to become even more complicated.
Chapter Three
This had to be Lili’s doing.
Today’s stunt with the plane had to be just another way to rev up her crusade to save the center. But this time she’d gone too far. It was beginning to look as if her wide-ranging imagination greatly exceeded her charm.
Gritting his teeth to hide his frustration, Tom turned to a wide-eyed Lili and gestured to the banner. “You?”
“Mais non!” To Lili’s chagrin, whenever she became agitated, she reverted to her native language. How could Tom think she’d hired the airplane? He had to know she couldn’t have afforded to do that even if she’d wanted to.
“You’re sure about that?”
Lili nodded. To her dismay, what had begun as a campaign intended solely for the Riverview Building’s tenants must surely be known to most of Chicago by now. The realization that the local papers and television stations were bound to pick up on the flyover made her knees grow weak. Judging from the look on Tom’s face, it would be a miracle if she wasn’t fired.
“Any idea who is behind it?” Tom demanded between clenched teeth. “If I do find out who did it…” He left the sentence unfinished, but his threat was clear.
Lili’s blood ran cold as the airplane flew out of sight. She was innocent, but she had the feeling that the brains behind this caper belonged to one or both of her friends, Rita and April. And it was only a matter of time before Tom found the culprit.
Her lips were sealed.
She sensed Tom’s frustration in the rigid way he held himself. Whatever he was thinking couldn’t be good.
It wasn’t only her own job on the line, she realized as she gazed up, to discover the plane had reappeared. Her campaign might come back to bite her friends, as well.
“What’s all the shouting about?” Tom’s father asked.
Wordlessly,
