“I think I hate it when my question is answered with a question. I also think that my business is none of your business!”
“Want to know what I think?” Jake asked, suppressing a smile at the way MacKenzie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him, a look he was quickly beginning to recognize. “I think you need to rein in that attitude of yours before you give that kid indigestion.”
“Screw you!” MacKenzie silently mouth and then looked down at the baby as though checking whether she had reacted to her curse word.
Jake laughed at her automatic reflex to her bad language. Just then a telephone began to ring. The sound startled the baby who immediately began to cry and sent both MacKenzie and Jake into a flurry of action in an attempt to locate the ringing phone.
Since MacKenzie had her hands full, Jake rifled through a stack of clothing piled on top of the phone and snatched it up. Paying no attention to who was calling, his only intent, to stop the harsh sound that filled the room.
“Hello?”
“Who the hell is this?”
“Jacob Kingdom. Who the hell is this?”
“This is Carlos Ernesto.”
Jake had immediately known it was Carlos from the first word he had uttered. However, he took a form of perverse pleasure in rankling the man. “It’s Carlos,” Jake said as he handed over the phone to MacKenzie.
The polite thing to do would have been to leave the room so MacKenzie and Carlos could speak privately. Jake didn’t feel particularly polite so he stayed exactly where he was. He also chose to ignore the dagger glances MacKenzie shot his way.
By the end of the conversation, Jake was pleased he hadn’t left. He learned much more from the one-sided conversation than he ever could have done by questioning MacKenzie. Carlos had neither asked about MacKenzie’s health nor had she mentioned the birth of their daughter.
Moments passed before she finally looked in his direction, when she did; Jake was waiting for her. Holding her gaze, he watched her as emotion after emotion passed across her face.
“Don’t say anything.” MacKenzie at last tossed in his direction.
About what?”
“About anything!”
“Do you still love him?” Jake wanted to know.
“I thought I just told you not to say anything!”
“I’m not very good at doing what I don’t want to do, MacKenzie.”
“Ya don’t say!” MacKenzie responded sarcastically. “You won’t go away when I ask you to, and when I ask you not to say anything, you go right ahead and do exactly that, ask me questions that are none of your damn business!”
“Why is that such a difficult question? You just gave birth to his child and when he called you, you didn’t even mention it, why?”
MacKenzie was silent for so long Jake knew he’d pissed her off, so much so that she had retreated into silence. It certainly wasn’t the first time she had behaved in this manner with him, and somehow he didn’t think it would be the last.
“Would you please help me out of this sling?”
“MacKenzie...”
“Not now, Jake, please. I can’t do this now. I just want to get the baby settled and then I need to sleep.”
Jake felt like an absolute heel for pushing her when she had been through so much during the course of the day. As he drew closer to the bed, he noticed two things about MacKenzie: One; she broke eye contact with him, and two she ran her tongue across her lips as though she were nervous.
Whether her nervousness stemmed from the fact that he had asked a question she would rather not answer, or because he unnerved her, Jake was unsure. What he was sure of, however, was that the answer to his question was very important to him. He was also sure that he would get his answer, one way, or another.
Once Jake had released her from the folds of material he had constructed, MacKenzie moved away from him so quickly he couldn’t help but be pleased. She was aware of him, and for now, that realization was enough.
His task complete, Jake took a seat and watched as MacKenzie settled first the baby and then herself all without once acknowledging his presence.
“Is it still snowing?”
Jake rose, parted the blinds and was confronted by the snowfall that had yet to abate.
“It’s still going strong.”
“I like it when it snows,” MacKenzie murmured.
“Do you like the snow even when it holds you captive?”
“That was kinda dumb, right!” She said with a small laugh.
“Dumb, no, funny as hell, yes. Plus, it made me feel all fuzzy inside that you thought I was a match for the elements.”
“What are you talking about?” MacKenzie asked with a frown.
“There was a blizzard outside yet you hold me in such high esteem as to suppose I had the power to control nature.”