Chapter 42

When the car pulled up in Faith's driveway, neither she nor Richie moved. Neither wanted to be the first to open a door and get out. Getting out meant getting back to real life. Faith sighed and looked over at Richie, "can't delay the inevitable, right?" He smiled at her but she could see a hint of sadness in his eyes. He didn't want to go home to his empty house anymore than she wanted to get out of the backseat of the car. He reached over and took her hand before she could open the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." It was a statement more than a question. Faith nodded, "okay." She opened the door and he followed her out. The driver had gotten her bags out of the trunk and Richie helped her to her door.

Faith had no sooner gotten the door open and she and Richie had stepped inside when Hannah came tearing across the street. "Mom!" She flung herself at her mother. Faith hugged her and laughed. "Hannah, did you miss me?" Hannah nodded her head against her mother, "I couldn't wait for you to get back." Faith pressed Hannah away from her, "glad to know I was missed. Were you good for Ms. Betty?" "Yes" Hannah huffed. She turned to go back out the door and that was when she noticed Richie. "Hi Richie" she smiled at him, unsure if she should hug him or not. He crouched down to her level and she took a tentative step toward him. He opened his arms and she rushed him. "Thanks for bringing my mom back." He smiled at her, "you didn't think I'd leave her behind now did ya?" Hannah shook her head and hugged him again.

Faith watched the interaction between her daughter and Richie and felt tears prickling her eyes. Hannah missed her dad and hadn't had any male influence since. It warmed Faith's heart to see her daughter reach out to him and to see Richie so accepting of her. It was never easy taking on someone else's kids and to see how easily Richie accepted Hannah made her love him that much more.

She was wiping a tear from under her eye when Hannah ran off and Richie stood and looked at her. "What's wrong?" Faith shook her head, "nothing." He pulled her close, "you don't cry for nothing Faith, what's the matter?" She looked up at him, "the way you were with Hannah, that was just so sweet. Thank you." Richie hugged her and rested his chin on her head. "You don't have to thank me darlin'. Hannah is a sweetheart, like her mother. I like her and, I think she likes me too." Faith laughed against his chest. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she does." She pulled away from him, "your car is waiting." He scanned her face and locked on her eyes, "he can wait a bit longer." His mouth found hers. The kiss they shared was full of love and longing.

As they pulled apart, Richie kept his arms around her and looked down into her face, "don't over do tonight Faith. Take it easy." He knew she wouldn't, but he felt he had to say it anyway. "I won't over do Richie, I promise." He chuckled, "why don't I believe you?" She smiled at him, "all I'm going to do is unpack and make dinner." He eyed her carefully, "promise?" Faith made an X over her heart with her fingers, "cross my heart." He grabbed her hand and kissed it, "okay, I guess I can go now. I'll call you later." She watched him go before heading across the street to relieve Ms. Betty of Hannah duty.

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The next morning Faith cleaned her house from top to bottom and had sat down on the couch to rest a bit before tackling the laundry. She closed her eyes and was dozing lightly when her phone rang. "Hello?" her voice was a bit groggy. "Faith, did I wake you?" It was Richie. He glanced at the clock, it was late for her to be sleeping. Faith rubbed her eyes and gave a slight laugh, "actually you did." This worried him, "are you all right?" She sat up, "I'm fine. I cleaned the house and when I sat down I must have dozed off. Stop worrying about me." She heard him sigh, "I thought you were going to take it easy." She smiled, "I said I would last night. I didn't say anything about today." He laughed, "well, you got me there. Anyway, do you and Hannah want to come over today? Ava's here and I thought maybe we could tell the girls about the baby today."

Faith thought about it for a minute, "I guess that would be okay. What time should we come over?" Yesterday he thought. "Whenever you are ready. We will be here all day. Oh, Ava has been bugging me about Hannah staying the night, you know kind of a sleepover thing. What do you think?" Faith pretended to give it great consideration. "Well, what about me, do I get to spend the night too?" He gave her a husky laugh, "now that's a sleepover of a whole nother kind." She laughed, "I can just imagine." He cleared his throat before continuing, "you know, why don't you guys just plan to stay here until your birthday?" He had something in mind and having her at his house would make it all that much easier to pull off.

Faith sounded hesitant when she answered, that was four days of her and Hannah imposing on him. "Are you sure you want us there for that long?" He smiled into the phone, "Absolutely." "Well," she hedged, "as long as you're sure. I guess we will see you in a little while." They said their goodbyes and Faith went to get ready.

When Richie closed his phone he sat and thought about the conversation. Maybe I should just ask her to move in here. True, they had only known each other for two months, but, just in the short time she had spent here prior to his birthday, he had gotten used to her being there. It was too quiet now. He liked having her in his bed, waking up with her, going to sleep with her, sharing the quiet moments together. He liked having time to himself, but he didn't like being alone. Sighing, he got up and went to find Ava and to give this idea a bit more thought.

When Faith and Hannah arrived, Ava managed a hello for Faith and then dragged Hannah off to her room. Richie watched the girls disappear up the stairs and dragged Faith into his arms. "I missed you darlin'" his lips met hers in a hungry kiss. Faith pulled back, "I missed you too, but if you keep kissing me like that the girls are likely to see way more than they need to." He pulled her close to him and she could feel how much he missed her. "You're right. Okay let's get your stuff upstairs and then we can go cool off in the pool, how's that?" She agreed and followed him up the stairs to his room. She changed and when they got outside the girls were already in the pool.

As the afternoon waned Faith and Richie took a breather and stretched out in the lounge chairs while the girls splashed around in the pool. Faith was watching the girls and Richie was watching her. Her hair was wet and slicked back off her face. Drops of water clung to her tanned skin. She looked relaxed and happy. His hand snaked out and grasped hers, lacing their fingers together.

She looked over at him and smiled. Damn he looks good enough to eat. His broad chest was all tan and he had drops of water clinging to him. His hair was wet and messy and his eyes were aglow. She shook her head and willed herself to stay in her chair and not jump over onto his with him. He caught her eye, "what are you thinkin' about darlin'?" She smiled wickedly at him, "things that the girls aren't old enough to know about yet." His eyebrow winged up, "Really? We can have an adult only swim later and test them out." She lowered her voice, "what I have in mind does call for at least one of us being wet, but has nothing to do with swimming." He groaned, "you better just cool it right now missy." She looked him up and down, staring at his very obvious erection, "I think you are the one who needs to cool it." He looked down at himself and tried to rearrange but was having no luck. "See what you did, now what am I supposed to do?" She laughed at him, "go jump in the pool?" He shook his head at her and rolled his eyes before getting up and doing just that.

While they were all playing in the pool, Faith put her wrap on and went in the house to start dinner. Richie wandered in a short while later and she put him to work. She made him turn right around and go back out and start the grill. When he came back she sent him right back out again with the chicken. When he came back a third time she opened her mouth and he held up his hand and stopped her. "Faith, I just want something to drink." She laughed, "I was just going to ask you that." He grabbed a soda and headed back outside to get the girls.

After they were finished with their dinner and before the girls could go running off, Richie and Faith told the girls about the baby. The girls looked at each other and then at their respective parent, "are you going to get married?" Richie looked at Faith and then back at the girls. "We haven't talked about it, why?" Ava piped up, "well, if Faith's having a baby, shouldn't you be married?" She looked at her father, "you love her don't you?" Hannah looked at her mother, "you love him too, right?" Faith answered this time, "yes girls, we love each other, but that doesn't mean we have to get married." She looked over at Richie, "right?"

Richie looked at the girls, "Faith is right, just because we are having a baby together doesn't mean we need to get married, right now." He glanced and Faith and saw her eyebrows raise at that last statement. They talked with the girls for a few minutes more and then, satisified with the answers to their questions, the girls went to watch a movie.

Faith was rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher when Richie came up to her, "what's wrong?" She had been quiet after they talked with the girls and he knew something was bothering her. She repeated his statement, "we don't have to get married right now. What was that supposed to mean?" He looked at her, "just what I said. We don't have to get married right now. Maybe one day down the line, but not now."

She turned from him and started wiping the counter. "Look Richie, I love you but I don't know that I am ready to even talk about getting married. Hell, we haven't known each other all that long." Richie took the sponge from her and turned her to face him. "Look Faith, I am not ready to talk marriage either, but I do know that one day I will be and hopefully, if I am really lucky, I will be talking about it with you. For now can we just leave it at that?" Looking into his eyes she could see that he meant what he said. "Okay." Richie smiled at her, "good, now while the girls are watching a movie, how about we go shower the chlorine off and you can tell me why one of us will be wet later and why it has nothing to do with swimming."