Page 17 of Johny
“No need,” Johnny assures me. “I had Adam buy me car seats while I was away.”
My heart stuttered, and another protective chipfalls away at his words. Here’s a man that has never had children but is seemingly completely comfortable with my daughter drooling all over him, and he’s taken their safety into consideration when he asked us out for the day. That he’d bought the car seats weeks ago had me realising that he’d not only been thinking about me while he was away in Ireland, he’d also thought about my children.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice thick with tears that I didn’t seem to be able to stop from welling up.
“Nope, no crying. Not today. Today is for fun. What do you say, Jackson?” Johnny looks down at Jackson, who’s nodding, but his eyes are on me. Blinking rapidly to stop the tears, I smile down at Jackson reassuringly. “Johnny’s right,” I tell him. “It’s a sunny day. It’s a good day to have some fun. What do you say we go and check out your new car seats?”
How we’d managed to have a conversation for this long with the kitchen being so busy was beyond me, but it seemed that everyone was working hard to ignore us and for that I was grateful.
“Thank you, Maggie,” I say, looking from Jackson to Maggie, who’d gone back to doing whateverit was that she was busy with, but there was a small smile curving her lips.
Tilting her head to look at me, she smiles and winks, “No thanks necessary, you go ahead and have a good day.”
Taking that as her telling us to get a move on, Johnny and I shuttle my two out to the garage and get them settled in their new car seats. Walking towards where I’d left the cooler box and my bag earlier, I go to pick them up, but Johnny beats me to it and loads them up alongside his. Waiting until he’s closed the back of the vehicle, before snaking my arms around his waist as he turns around. Standing on tiptoes, I press my lips to his in a soft kiss that deepens before turning soft again. “Thank you for thinking of my children,” I whisper against his lips.
“Of course,” he replies, “they’re yours and if this goes where I hope it’s going, they’ll be mine and O’Sheas know how to look after our own.”
With those words rattling around in my head, he helps me into the car, buckles me in, and shuts the door. I’m quiet because he’s given me a lot to think about, but I like where it’s going. It’s time my head and my heart synced up. Because I had a feeling if I let this man slip through myfingers, I’d regret it forever.
It doesn’t take too long to get where Johnny is taking us. I smile when I see he’s taken us to Hayling Island; not only is there the beach but there’s also a funfair for the children.
“What do you want to do first? Beach or funfair?” Johnny asks, turning in his seat to Jackson.
Jackson’s eyes swing to mine. “You decide,” I encourage him.
“Beach please,” he replies.
“Beach it is,” Johnny says, getting out and coming around to my door. Once he helps me out, he leaves me to help Jackson out of his car seat, then goes around to unbuckle a still sleeping Emy and gently manoeuvring her out of the vehicle. While he does that, I open the boot and take out my bag with the picnic blanket and their swimming costumes.
“Leave everything else,” Johnny tells me. “I’ll come back for it once you’re settled into a spot.”
“Okay,” I agree, taking hold of Jackson’s hand to follow him to the beach. It doesn’t take us long to set up. Johnny places Emy on the picnic mat I’ve put down, shading her face with his hat before jogging back to the car. I can’t help butwatch as he jogs away, muscles bunching in his legs. Who’d have thought that under those suits he was so built. I wasn’t the only one watching–a few other ladies had turned to eye him as he jogged past them.
“Lucky lady,” an older woman who’d stopped to watch him says and winks at me before continuing on with her walk.
A giggle escapes at her words. I’m beginning to see what everyone has been telling me. Deciding that I needed to stop worrying about everything and take it one day at a time.
Turning back to Jackson, I help him into his swimming costume and spray sunscreen on him. By the time I’m done, Johnny is back and has set up an umbrella to shade Emy. Stripping his shirt off, I gulp at the six-pack he has on display, not that he seems aware that I’m ogling him.
Turning to Jackson, he picks up a bucket and asks, “Do you want to come with me and look for shells?”
Jackson looks at me for permission. Nodding with a smile at him, reassuring him that it’s okay. He doesn’t say anything, just takes the hand that Johnny holds out to him. I watch thetwo of them walk away, and they are about ten feet away when Johnny turns and winks at me. Blushing slightly at the look he sends me. I guess he wasn’t unaware of my ogling.
It turns out to be one of the best days I’ve had in months. It takes time, but Jackson slowly warms to Johnny, and my heart sings with happiness. Emy doesn’t take any work at all, she makes it clear that Johnny is her favourite and he’s loving it. It’s hard to believe that no one’s snapped the man up.
Lucky for me!
CHAPTER 8
JOHNNY
I’d not known what to expect when I’d arrived at Crow Manor, but it wasn’t Maya’s tear-stained face. The ugly dread that had curled its way through me had made me feel both murderous and nauseous. Was this it? Was she trying to build up the courage to tell me that she didn’t want this?
The relief I’d felt when she’d assured me that it wasn’t anything important. I’d still not liked that she’d been crying, though, even if Maggie had reassured me. That and the fact that Emy had remembered me and had made it clear that she wanted me to pick her up and had then promptly fallen asleep on me. My heart melted right there and then I knew it was too late for me. I was a goner.
Not only for her mother but for her too.Considering she was a miniature of her mother, it didn’t surprise me, and neither did the way Jackson was acting. I’d expected him to be a little more hesitant. He was older, and I had a feeling he understood more than everyone realised. But I wasn’t one to give up. I’d win him over eventually.
I’d settled Maya and a sleeping Emy on the beach under the shade of an umbrella and had taken Jackson down the beach to look for shells. I could remember doing this as a child with my Da and I’d loved it. He’d always taken us one at a time to look; it had been his time with each of us just to touch base and see how we were. With that in mind, I’d done the same with Jackson and had slowly drawn him out ofhisshell. What I’d realised was that while he was uncertain of me, some of it was just his personality. He thought before he did anything. It wasn’t something I was used to in children; none of the children that our crew had were like this. The only other child I’d seen that behaved this way was Avy and Hawk’s son, Kaleb.