Rogue

“Well, that's not going to happen,” he said matter-of-factly. “Your mother and I don't want to be married to each other, but we love each other like this. And there's plenty of room for a woman in my life, whom I don't want to marry, and all of you. You don't need to worry about it. You have my word, Daff. You won't ever be seeing me get married. To anyone. Is that better?”

“Yeah. Maybe.” She still didn't look sure. “What if you change your mind?” She had to admit, Arabella was pretty good looking, and smart and funny. In some ways, she seemed like the perfect woman for him, which was what terrified Daphne.

“If I change my mind, I'll discuss it with you first. I give you my permission to do whatever you have to, to talk me out of it. Is that a deal? But you don't need to be mean to Arabella now. It's not fair. She's our guest, and she's having a miserable time.”

“I know,” Daphne said with a victorious smile. She had worked hard at it.

“Cut it out. You can be nice to her. She's a nice girl. And so are you.”

“Do I have to, Dad?”

“Yes, you do,” he said firmly. He was beginning to wonder if Daphne was going to do this to all his women now. She had made several unpleasant remarks about her mother's friend Charles too. She seemed to want her parents staying solo these days, which was not very realistic. Blake was happy that Maxine finally had someone. She deserved a little comfort and companionship in her life. He didn't begrudge it to her. But Daphne sure did, and was willing to do almost anything about it. He didn't like seeing her behave that way. She had turned into a little bitch overnight, and he wondered if Maxine was right about the age. He sure wasn't looking forward to a lot of this. It was going to make it hard to take her on vacations, since he almost always had someone with him, and it didn't even occur to him not to.

“I want you to make an effort with her now. For me,” he admonished her, and Daphne grudgingly agreed.

The results of his talk with her weren't obvious on the first night, but two days later, she had improved slightly. She answered when Arabella spoke to her, and she had stopped making remarks about her tattoos and her hair. It was something at least. And Arabella hadn't cried about it in days. The trip had turned out to be stressful for him, which it never was when he was with his kids, and he was almost sorry he'd brought Arabella along, for her sake, not for his kids'.

He was skiing peacefully with Arabella one afternoon, and he had to admit, it was nice to get away from the children. They stopped several times to catch their breath on the harder runs, and he leaned over and kissed her. And they went back to the house that afternoon to make love. Arabella confessed that she could hardly wait till they got back to London, although she was glad to have met his children. But a little went a long way, and she felt as though she was constantly organizing things for them to do. It was also obvious that she and Daphne would never be friends. The best she could hope for was an uneasy truce, which was what she had gotten so far. It was still a vast improvement over Daphne's behavior in the beginning. But Blake didn't envy his ex-wife if this was what she had to deal with whenever her current boyfriend was around. He was amazed the guy put up with it. He suspected Arabella wouldn't have for long, if Daphne hadn't finally backed off.

For the first time ever, he was relieved to take them back to Maxine in New York. She had driven down from Vermont that day, and had just gotten home when Blake dropped them off at the apartment. Arabella was waiting for him at the penthouse, and they were leaving for London that night.

Sam immediately threw his arms around his mother with a shout of delight and almost knocked her down. And Jack and Daphne looked happy to be home too.

“How was it?” she asked Blake with a relaxed look. She could see in his eyes that it had been less than perfect, and he waited until Daphne left the room before he answered.

“Not as easy as it used to be,” he said with a rueful grin. “Watch out for Daff, Max, or you'll wind up an old maid.” She laughed at the warning. It was the least of her worries, and she'd had a great time with Charles in Vermont. She had come back relaxed and happy, and closer to him than she had been to anyone in years. In many ways, they were so much alike, they were a perfect match. Their medical careers meshed perfectly, they were both meticulous, neat, and organized. With no one else around, it was perfect. The challenge was going to be to see what happened when they were all home again.

“Did she ease up at all?” Maxine inquired about their daughter. And Blake shook his head.

“Not really. She stopped making the overtly outrageous comments she had in the beginning, but she managed to make Arabella's life miserable in every other subtle way. I'm surprised she stayed.”

“I take it she doesn't have kids of her own. That always helps,” Maxine said, and he shook his head.