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The doorbell had never been such a welcome intrusion. “There’s Chad,” Leigh said quickly, going to the door and all but falling into his reinforcing arms. Now she wasn’t the only soldier to fight the battle at the front.
“Hi,” he said, catching her to him and, not caring that her parents were watching, kissing her thoroughly.
“Hi,” she responded when he released her. Her eyes warned him to prepare himself. He winked at her. Taking his arm, she pushed him forward. “Mother, Father, this is Chad Dillon. Chad, my parents, Lois and Harve Jackson.”
He turned to Lois and acknowledged the introduction with a nod of his head. Leigh’s mother didn’t extend her hand to be shaken. “Mrs. Jackson, I’m pleased to meet you. I hope Leigh has your recipe for potato salad. I ate some of yours here once. It was delicious.” He leaned forward to whisper, “Even better than my own mom’s, but don’t ever tell her I said so.”
Completely taken aback, and not knowing quite how to respond, Lois Jackson sputtered, “Well… th… thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too,” she said with more civility than warmth.
Chad turned to Harve. He was smiling on the young man who had managed to fluster his wife. “Sir,” Chad said, shaking Harve’s hand firmly. When the introductions were over, Chad knelt down to speak to Sarah, whose chubby, lace-bordered legs were pumping with excitement at the sound of his voice.
Leigh saw her mother taking in Chad as a skeptical insurance assessor would a wrecked car. Chad lacked nothing in the manners and grooming departments. That he was arrestingly handsome was apparent at a glance, and that he knew how to dress took only a little longer to determine. His camel-colored slacks fit him in a way only custom tailoring could achieve, and the cut of his dark brown coat had the unmistakable hallmarks of a noted French designer. Beneath the coat he wore a cream-colored cable-knit turtleneck sweater that accented the darkness of his hair.
He stood and rubbed his hands together in a gesture that was achingly familiar to Leigh. “I hope Leigh extended my invitation to lunch.”
“Yes, thank you, Chad,” Harve said before Lois could open her mouth in either acceptance or refusal.
“Then is everyone ready?” Chad asked.
Leigh could almost pity her mother as surprise after surprise unfolded, the first of which was the Ferrari. Leigh thought her mother’s eyes would pop out of their sockets at the sight of the gleaming blue sports car.
“Say, Chad, that’s some car!” Harve exclaimed as they trooped down the sidewalk.
“You’ll have to drive it sometime,” Chad offered graciously.
“I’d love to.” Leigh was surprised at her father’s enthusiasm, for he always drove a conservative Buick himself.
“I’m sorry it won’t hold everyone. Do you mind following us?” Chad asked.
“Not at all, not at all.” Harve steered his awestruck wife toward their car while Chad helped situate Leigh and the baby in the Ferrari.
When they were on their way, Chad glanced toward her. “Well?”
“They were adamantly opposed to the whole idea until you came in. Potato salad, indeed!”
He grinned. “Hell, I could tell right off I needed to come up with something terrific and ‘I can see where your daughter gets her good looks’ is such a cliché.”
Leigh laughed. “I’d say you scored points with your cleanliness, your clothes, and your car.”
/> “Cleanliness?”
“I think I mentioned that day you left me in the hospital that you were dirty from working on an airplane. I think that’s how they expected you to show up today.”
“You’re not playing fair, you know.”
“Why?”
“On a day when I have to be on my best behavior, did you have to wear a dress that clings so seductively to your beautifully rounded breasts, your slender waist, your compact little fanny, and your long, slender legs?”
“Chad,” she cried softly, “if my mother heard one thing that even sounded like breasts or fanny coming from you, she’d have palpitations of the heart.”
“What about your palpitations?” he asked slyly. His hand, which had been resting lightly on her thigh, moved up between her breasts to cup the left one, seemingly to count her heartbeats. “Lub dub, lub dub.”
Feigning indignation, she squirmed away from him. “My palpitations are fine, thank you. Please keep both hands on the steering wheel where my mother can see them.”
They both laughed and then Chad moaned a soft curse. “This is going to be a helluva long day.”
Leigh was sure whatever reservations Lois and Harve Jackson retained about their prospective son-in-law dissolved the minute they saw his house. She would have given a month’s wages to hear what was being said in the Buick as they pulled to a stop in Chad’s driveway.
