She laughed. “Nope. I was just thinking that you’d be lucky if those big blobs of dough even cook all the way through.”

“Oh. Now you want to insult the cook. Well, don’t you come near my cookies when they’re done, either. You’re all banned. Just stick to your little nice perfect cookies and leave the original, fantastic cookies to me.”

“Fine with us,” she said as she took the cookie sheet and placed it in the oven.

He and the boys worked on filling another cookie sheet with dough while she took the first batch out of the oven and placed them on the rack to cool down.

When she walked back over to pick up the next cookie sheet, she laughed. “Who knew you could make them properly.”

Smiling, he shrugged his shoulders. Standing and handing the next cookie sheet to his wife, he said, “Well, I figured you guys weren’t ready for my unique style. So, I decided to make cookies the boring way.”

“Well, thank goodness. These just might be edible.” Laughing, she took the cookie sheet from his hand.

Joining in her laughter, he placed a blob of dough on her cheek.

Putting the cookie sheet down and wiping her face, she gave him a menacing look. “Oh! I know you don’t want a food fight, because you won’t win. I’ll have you know I was queen of the food fight in Mrs. Miller’s fifth-grade class.”

“Woooo, I’m so scared, I’m shaking,” he said before he smeared another piece of dough on her other cheek. Backing away, he admired his artwork.

“Oh! Now it’s on!” Grabbing a handful of dough, she approached him.

“Okay. Okay. I was only playing. Can’t you take a joke? Ha, ha. Right, boys? Tell Mommy I was only playing.” He backed farther away from her slow and calculating approach.

“Oh, no! Mommy’s gonna get you, Daddy,” little Carl chanted.

“Get Daddy, Mommy, get Daddy,” Terrence screamed playfully.

“Hey, you guys are supposed to be on my side. Us Harrington men need to stick together.”

“Not today, buddy. You’re going down.” Taking a giant leap, she raised her dough-filled hand.

As soon as she raised her hand, Carlton grabbed it and the dough plopped on the ground. “Oh, no, food-fight-queen, looks like you’ve lost your weapon.” He let her arm go and pulled her close to him, holding her close by keeping his arm around her waist. Using his free hand, he wiped off the remaining cookie dough from her cheeks.

Something about holding her so close and touching her face made his head tilt, and before he knew it he kissed her.

Her lips felt so soft. Even though he’d vowed to himself to take things slow this time, he couldn’t help intensifying the kiss. When her mouth opened, he took that as a welcoming and allowed his tongue to examine her sweetness. It had been too long.

He pulled her closer and the moan that escaped her lips made his hands shake.

“Oh-oh, Daddy bite Mommy. Look, Daddy bite Mommy!” Terrence exclaimed, his little eyes wide with disgust.

“He’s not biting. He’s giving mommy a kiss, a yucky grown-up kiss,” little Carl explained.

“No kissy my mommy!” Terrence climbed down from the chair he sat on and grabbed Latonya’s leg.

Carlton made a mental note to have a nice long talk with both his sons about interruptions.

Backing away, Latonya was careful not to step on Terrence, who was still clutching her leg. She softly nibbled her lower lip as she stared at Carlton. Her eyes narrowed and then she pursed her lips ever so slightly.

Carlton swore if she did one more thing with her lips he would kiss her again. He mentally kicked himself for not following his plans to take it slow.

“Something is stinking.” Wrinkling up his nose, little Carl frowned.

“Yeah, something stink-stink,” Terrence added.

Latonya turned away from him and rushed to the oven to get the burning batch of cookies before the house caught on fire.

Jillian will never allow any of us into the kitchen again, Carlton thought as he walked over to help Latonya get the cookies out of the oven. As he studied the charcoal circles that were supposed to be cookies, he couldn’t help but start laughing.

Latonya looked up at him as she tried to pry the cookies off the sheet and rolled her eyes before busting out laughing herself.

Hearing her laugh again made his heart pound with possibility.

As the elder Harrington stood outside the kitchen door watching his grandson and his family laughing and enjoying themselves, he wondered how long it would last. After all, the girl had already so much as admitted that she planned to leave Carlton.

The girl still hadn’t told Carlton about his role in making her leave. The elder Harrington knew there had to be a catch. She had to be holding it over him, waiting until the right moment. He knew the day Carlton brought her home that she would be the reason for him losing his grandson. And he had been right.

It didn’t even seem worth it to try to break them up again. Carlton was already too taken with the girl. Clearly he would forgive the woman anything. The man was just like his father in that regard.

He had watched her with the boys. She did seem to be a good mother. He couldn’t begrudge her that. She clearly loved the children. But it wasn’t really the children he worried about. It was Carlton.

“What are you doing out here, Mr. Harrington? Why don’t you go in?” The nanny, Pamela, snuck up on him and almost caused him to have a heart attack.

“Why are you sneaking up on people?” the elder Harrington snapped. He was getting tired of these women forgetting their place! “I just stopped by for a visit. They look like they’re having a good time. I didn’t want to interrupt.” He started walking off down the hall.

“Mmm-hmm.” Pamela eyed him suspiciously as she followed him.

Taken aback, he turned and faced the woman. She was an attractive woman from the Caribbean who usually knew her place. That she would deign to question him or imply anything about his actions was not acceptable! “What are you mmm-hmming about?”

“Well, I know it’s not my place, but I just have to speak my mind. I know you don’t care for Latonya. But she really is a lovely woman, a great mother. Before that horrible misunderstanding she was a loving and devoted wife.” She hesitated only briefly as she spoke. “I guess I’m saying that if my son were to bring home a woman like Latonya, it wouldn’t bother me a bit that she wasn’t a Trinidadian. She’s a good woman.”

Her audacity outraged him. “What are you talking about, woman?”

“Well, I know that she felt like you couldn’t really accept her because she is a black American and—”

Indignant, the elder Harrington snapped, “And you should mind your business!” There was a time when the help knew their place! They didn’t speak their minds on family issues of no concern to them.…

“I care about those boys and they need their mother, even if she barely lets me do the job I’m being paid for.” The Trinidadian woman gave him a harsh glare. “And I think that not liking her because she’s African-American is just ridiculous.”

“Well, I don’t care much for Trinidadians, either! Truth be told, most Trinidadians have a penchant for singing their words instead of speaking them,” he said lashing out with one of the petty island insults he knew she would take offense to.

Far from backing down the way he intended her to, she narrowed her eyes. She came back with a little insult of her own. “Well, I think most Bahamians are way too conservative and carry all that early British influence way too far, but that’s neither here nor there. The little rivalries that islands have against one another have nothing on the way some of us get on when we deal with our brothers and sisters over here.”

Since there didn’t seem to be any getting away from the woman or her opinions, he offered, “For the record, my problems with the girl only have a little to do with her being an African-American. I just never thought she was the right woman for my grandson.”

Pamela’s eyes widened, and she stared at him as if he were senile. “Don’t you see the way his eyes light up when she enters a room? Can’t you see that even though he broke her heart, she is still here because the vows she took to that man mean something to her? The family she built with him means something to her. You’d have to be a blind old fool not to see that even though their love has been tested they are still trying to make it work.”

His shoulders arched up in defiance, but her words had made their mark. There was no way he would admit it to her, however. “You’re right. It really isn’t your place! Good night.” The elder Harrington walked off feeling sufficiently chastised. By the help no less!