McCallum Quintuplets by Kasey Michaels Page A

Madeline held out her arm, stared at the bracelet, Maggie asked, “Tell me. This friend? What did he buy you last year, if you knew him last year?”
    â€œOh, we’ve been friends for fifteen years,” Madeline answered, her ears sort of buzzing, snatches of things Ian had said to her last night coming into her mind, confusing her, beginning to delight her.
    â€œFifteen years?” Adam chuckled. “Sort of a slow starter, isn’t he?”
    â€œAdam, stop it,” Maggie told him, playfully slapping at his arm. “Come on, Madeline, tell us. What did he give you for your birthday last year?”
    â€œA food processor,” Madeline mumbled into the cowl neckline of her angora sweater, risking another mouthful of angora.
    â€œWhat? I didn’t hear that.” Maggie prodded her.
    â€œA food processor, Maggie. She said he gave her a food processor,” Adam said helpfully.
    â€œA food processor? And now a diamond bracelet?” Maggie gave Madeline a quick hug. “Oh, I’m so happy for you!”
    Madeline vaguely heard Maggie through the buzzing in her ears, over the loud pounding of her heart. “Um…thank you,” she said. “But it’s not like he’s said anything yet. He just gave me the bracelet.”
    â€œSee? I said slow starter, didn’t I?” Adam said, earning himself a very stern look from his wife.
    â€œMaybe we interrupted him?” Maggie asked, walking alongside Madeline on their way to the elevators. “Did we interrupt you last night, Madeline? It wasn’t quite midnight, so we could have, couldn’t we?”
    â€œHmm?” Madeline knew Maggie had said something, but she hadn’t really heard it. She held out her hand to Adam, then to Maggie, mumbled something about seeing the two of them on their next visit to the unit. Then she walked into the elevator, not realizing that the doors closed with both Maggie and Adam still standing in the hallway, watching her, smiling as they watched her.
    She had to go home. She really, really had to go home, although how she got there would remain a mystery to her for the rest of her life.
    â€œIan!” she called as she banged on his apartment door, then tried the doorknob and, finding the door unlocked, went inside, slamming the door behind her. She stuck out her tongue, removed yet another bit of angora fuzz, rubbed it between her fingertips. “Ian Russell, where are you?”
    He appeared at the mouth of the hallway that led to his bedroom, hopping as he tried to get his second leg into his jeans. “What? Maddie? What’s wrong? Is the building on fire? Are you hurt?”
    Just look at him. Maddie tried not to smile as he pulled up his jeans, zipped them, sucked in his already flat gut as he closed the button. His chest was bare, which would probably make this easier, and his hair was still damp from the shower. “You had something to say to me?” she asked, walking to the couch, stepping out of her shoes as she went, then sitting down, making herself comfortable.
    â€œWhat?” Ian came around the couch, stood in front of the coffee table. “ Now you want to talk? Dammit, Maddie, I used to think I understood you.”
    â€œThat goes both ways, Ian. I used to think I understood you, too.”
    â€œYeah, well,” he said, raking a hand through his hair, obviously searching for words, any words at all. “So did I. But not lately. Lately, I just think maybe I’ve lost my mind.”
    â€œOh, well, that’s flattering,” Madeline said, feeling more confident by the moment. She didn’t know why and didn’t want to examine the why of any of it, but Adam and Maggie McCallum’s words had opened her eyes to a whole new world of possibilities.
    When she put those possibilities together with a few things Ian had said last night—words about how he hadn’t just gone wild because of a tangerine blouse but