Honor

unwilling to admit how much he was hoping Lacey would be among those getting off. When she emerged behind a group of nurses, he spotted her at once, astonished at how youthful she looked with her honey-blond hair skimming her shoulders, her cheeks tinted pink from the March winds.
She started toward his room, then noticed him out of the corner of her eye. She turned his way, a smile spreading slowly across her face.
“I like the fancy new pajamas,” she said, grinning at the outrageously expensive pair Brandon had brought him from a British collection made with Halloran fabrics.
Kevin would never have worn them if the only alternative hadn’t been one of those indecent hospital gowns. In fact, as he thought back, the last pair of pajamas he’d owned had had bunny rabbits on them and he’d been going to sleep with a pacifier.
“What’s wrong with them?” Brandon demanded. “This is one of the finest cottons we make. Do you have any idea what they charge for these things?”
“Settle down, Dad. I’m sure Lacey is truly awed by the quality.”
“Awed isn’t quite the word I had in mind,” she teased. “I think I saw a pair just like these in some forties movie with Claudette Colbert. Or was it Katharine Hepburn?”
“Okay, enough, you two,” Brandon grumbled. He shot a pointed glance at Kevin. “You could be walking up and down these hallways with your bottom bare.”
Kevin sneaked a look at Lacey, whose lips were twitching as she fought the urge to laugh. She refused to meet his gaze. Brandon sniffed.
“Think I’ll go off and leave you two alone. It’s obvious you don’t need me around anymore.”
“Goodbye, Dad.”
Lacey gave him a peck on the cheek and murmured something Kevin couldn’t quite hear. From the amusement that immediately sparked in his father’s eyes, Kevin had a hunch it had something to do with the damned pajamas.
When she finally turned back to Kevin, her expression was as innocent as a new baby’s.
“What’d you say to him?” Kevin demanded.
“That’s our secret.”
“I thought secrets were taboo in a healthy marriage.”
“Some secrets are taboo. Others add spice.”
“You and my father have a secret that’s going to add spice to our marriage?”
She grinned at him impishly. “You never know.”
He regarded her indignantly. “You know, Lacey Halloran, it has occurred to me that locking myself away in a house on the Cape with you could drive me nuts.”
“Not my fault,” she claimed innocently. “It was your idea.”
“And you intend to make me pay for that, don’t you?”
“The regimen I have planned for you will make basic training seem like child’s play.”
He watched the play of light on her streaked blond hair and the sparks of mischief in her eyes. “What does Linc have to say about this plan you have?”
“Who do you think gave it to me?”
She waved several booklets without allowing him to catch a glimpse of the titles. He had to take her word for it when she flipped through them.
“‘Cholesterol Management.’ ‘Triglycerides and You.’ ‘Exercise for the Healthy Heart.’ ‘The Low-Fat Diet.’ And my favorite, ‘Heart-Friendly Fruits and Vegetables.’ I can hardly wait.”
“I could still go to Jason’s, you know. Sammy’s beginning to look like a saint compared to my wife.”
“I hear he has the newest video game. You very well might want to reconsider,” she said agreeably.
He stopped where he was and framed her face with his hands. He could feel the heat climb in her cheeks. “Not a chance, Mrs. Halloran. Not a chance.”

Chapter Six
The promise of long, quiet, intimate days on Cape Cod with Kevin terrified Lacey. It was possible—likely, even—that their expectations were entirely different. Anticipation and worry made the drive from the hospital to the Cape seem longer than ever.
What if Kevin only intended to lure her back, but hadn’t thought beyond the challenge of the chase? she worried, when the first deadly silence fell.
She had little doubt that he could seduce her, that he could scramble her emotions and turn her best intentions to mush. Even in the worst of times, she had responded all too easily to his touch. The loving had been wonderful, but toward the end it hadn’t been nearly enough. Now it would be a short-term solution at best.
A trip like this was what Lacey had been longing for, but now that Kevin had made the commitment to spend time with her, she wondered what would happen if they couldn’t recapture what they had lost. In a last-ditch desperation, were they pinning too much on this time alone? Was she expecting something from Kevin that he couldn’t possibly give?
As she clutched the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity, her thoughts tumbled like bits of colored glass in a kaleidoscope, leaving her hopelessly confused.
Beside her, Kevin had settled back in the seat and closed his eyes, no more anxious to continue the struggle for nervous, meaningless small talk than she was.
With a bone-deep sorrow, Lacey couldn’t help noticing the contrast to other trips they had made, times when the car had been filled with laughter and quiet conversation as they made the transition from their harried life-style in Boston to the relaxation of Cape Cod. Then even the silences had been lazy and comfortable. The anticipation had been sweet, not mixed with a vague sense of dread as it was now.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally pulled into the driveway of the rambling old house with its weathered gray shingles and white trim. A few hardy geraniums bloomed in the window boxes, the splashes of red against gray reminding her of an Andrew Wyeth painting she particularly loved.
She vividly recalled the precise moment when she and Kevin had first come upon this place, choosing it over all the others they had seen because of its haphazard wandering over a spectacular oceanfront piece of property. Later in the spring there would be daffodils and tulips everywhere and the scent of lilacs from a bush near the kitchen window.
Lacey glanced over and saw