Wedding Rings and Baby Things Read online

  Mike understood her wanting to do this on her own; that was the kind of woman Kelly was. He just couldn’t get over the feeling that it would be like leaving a defenseless lamb to the big bad wolf.

  “Can I just be there when you see him?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “What if I promise not to say anything?”

  She snorted. “Fat chance of that.”

  “What if—”

  “No. You can’t stay. Besides, don’t you have a football meeting tonight?”

  He started to shake his head, then stopped when he realized she was right. “Geez, with all this other stuff going on, I forgot. It’s ‘meet the coaches’ night.” He folded his arms across his chest and looked at her. “I’ll just have to miss it.”

  “You can’t. This is when you take advantage of parental enthusiasm. Dean can’t pull the volunteers out of the crowd the way you can.”

  Dean Thompson, his assistant coach, was a gifted tactician and terrific with the players. But Kelly was right. When it came to the parents, Mike was better at getting them to become involved. The program depended heavily on that. He couldn’t miss the meeting.

  “Mike, don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

  “I don’t like it,” he grumbled, as he put the other dinner in the microwave. “But I guess there’s nothing I can do.”

  “You’re sweet to worry about me.”

  He turned back to her. “I’ll tell you what’s sweet. Remember that move Jim and I taught you before your very first date?”

  She grinned. “Remember it? I got to use it that night. Do you remember who fixed me up with that octopus?”

  “Everyone’s entitled to a minor error in judgment.”

  “Minor?”

  “He was here for the weekend. He was lonely. It was supposed to be dinner and a movie. How did I know he was going to come on to you?” He looked at her. “Just promise me one thing…”

  “What?”

  “Before the jerk gets here, practice that move.”

  “I will,” she said, laughing.

  The sound surrounded him and he grinned, surprised at how contagious her laughter was. As ticked off as he’d been a minute before, he was sure no one but Kelly could have made him smile.

  When Kelly had first found out about the baby, she’d misplaced her smile for a while. Recently she’d found it, and if Hammond did anything, to make her lose it again, Mike would hunt him down and take his pound of flesh. The man would never hurt Kelly again.

  Kelly tensed when she heard the car pull up in front of her house. She knew the sound. It brought back painful memories of all the nights she’d expected to hear it, then waited in vain for Doug to show up. She remembered the flimsy excuses she’d believed because she’d desperately wanted to. She would never forget the disillusionment of learning about his lies, his other women, after she found out she was going to have a baby.

  There was nothing he could tell her now that she wanted to hear. She had nothing to say to him. Period. This should be a very short meeting. But she would feel a lot more confident if she could stop the butterflies in her stomach or the trembling in her hands.

  She opened the door as he strode up the walkway. He smiled at her. “Hello, Kelly.”

  “Doug.” She motioned him inside.

  He had the lanky good looks of a male model in a pin-striped suit. The red tie he wore was perfectly knotted at the collar of his crisp white shirt. His sandy hair was slightly mussed, and his hazel eyes held an expression that said he was glad to see her. She didn’t believe it

  She frowned at him. “What do you want?”

  “That’s pretty cold,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  “The last time we spoke, you made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with the baby or me. I have no reason to think that the situation’s changed. So I’d like to know what you want.”

  Doug looked sheepish. “I’m sorry about that, Kel—”

  “Don’t call me that,” she snapped.

  “All right. I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry about the things I said. The situation caught me off guard and I—I suppose I sort of panicked.”

  “You?” Kelly shook her head at his smoothness. He was as cool as they came. She had found out the hard way how he could lie without batting an eye. “Panicked?”

  “Believe it or not,” he said in that affable, self-effacing way that had charmed her once. “You don’t know what it’s like to hear that you’re going to be a father.”

  “That’s typical, Doug. It’s always about you. Did you stop to think how I felt finding out I was going to be a mother?”

  “That’s why I’m here now.”

  Her eyes widened and she wanted to laugh in his face, or slap it. “I’m six months pregnant. Took you long enough.” Her chest tightened with anger. “During all that time did you think about what would happen to me? Whether or not this would affect my life, my job?”

  “Has it?”

  “You bet it has, buster. I don’t have a job as of June.”

  His eyebrows pulled together and, if she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was genuinely sorry.

  “Then it’s fortunate I’m here.”

  “Why?”

  “Kelly, I want you to marry me. I want to be a father to our child.”

  Kelly’s jaw dropped. She didn’t know what she had expected him to say, but it certainly wasn’t this.

  Her reaction was knee-jerk, and she should have put it exactly where Mike and her brother had taught her. Instead, she clasped her shaking hands together and tried to control her astonishment, then the surge of anger that followed.

  “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth.”

  There was no reaction on his face, no indication whether her words had hurt him or not. “Think about this carefully. You just said you’ll be out of a job come June. How are you going to support yourself, let alone a kid?”

  A kid? The baby was just an impersonal, nuisance kid as far as he was concerned. She didn’t want him anywhere near her child, not to mention raising him. “I’ll work it out. Alone,” she added firmly.

  “If you marry me, I can take care of you both. I’m up for a partnership in the law firm—”

  “I smell a rat,” she said, her eyes narrowing. With time and distance, she had realized Doug never did anything for anyone else unless there was something in it for him. Besides, he’d never said a word about loving her. If she hadn’t been so upset, it would have been funny. Two proposals in two days. Must be some kind of record for a pregnant lady. She’d been tempted to take Mike up on his offer, but Doug’s left her cold.

  He looked down for a moment, then met her suspicious gaze. “You know the firm is very conservative and traditional. I don’t want to say that I’m not concerned about my success. But that’s not the reason I asked you—”

  “Stuff a sock in it, Doug. Of course that’s the reason.” She took a deep breath. “Now I want you to listen, because I’m only going to say this once. I should have known that a lawyer who would sleep with his client couldn’t be trusted. You’re a liar and I’d be a fool to ever trust you again. There’s nothing you could say that would persuade me to marry you.”

  He frowned, and there was a look in his eyes that sent a chill down her spine. “Then you leave me no alternative. I’ll have to sue you for custody of my child.”

  “What?” She took a step toward him, her heart pounding furiously. “Why? You don’t want this child. Good Lord, you said I should get rid of it, and if I didn’t, I shouldn’t expect any help from you.”

  “I’ve changed my mind.”

  “For your own selfish reasons. But I don’t understand how taking my baby would help you improve your standing in the firm.”

  “The only thing they like better than a stable family man is a cause. And if that cause involves a baby, they would eat it up.” His eyebrows pulled together thoughtfully. “I don’t r
ecall a recent case where a father sued the pregnant mother for his child. It would generate a lot of publicity.”

  “You’re bluffing. Why would you waste the time and effort? No judge would take a baby from its mother.”

  “He might if that mother is unmarried, unemployed and the father is well-off financially. Who do you think would be the better risk?”

  Fear clutched at her, and Kelly had never wanted anything in her life more than she wanted him gone.

  “You’re despicable. I think you should leave now, Doug.” She pointed to the front door and was angry when she saw that her hand was shaking. She lowered it to her side and steadied her voice until it was as cool and calm as she could make it. “Get out. And don’t make the mistake of coming back.”

  Doug walked over to the door and opened it. “Think about what I said, Kelly. It would be in both our best interests and the baby’s if you married me. The alternative is…Well,” he shrugged.

  Her heart pounded so hard it hurt. “If you dare try to take my baby—”

  “Just think about it,” he said.

  “Get out of my sight.”

  When the door closed behind him, Kelly sank onto the sofa. “What am I going to do?” she asked. There was no answer in that empty room.

  After the meeting, Mike made his way up the driveway in his Bronco. Everything had gone well. There were a lot of spirited parents of incoming ninth-graders who would get involved and keep the program running. And he would have them for four years.

  From the moment he left home, he had been anxious to get back, and the night had dragged. It was just past ten-thirty. Every time he had tried to slip out the door, another parent had stopped him to talk. He hoped he had said the right things; he couldn’t remember. Because his mind was on Kelly and her meeting with Doug. The man was a double-dealing, back-stabbing, lying, cheating son of a bitch and he was up to no good. The guy wanted something, and whatever he was after, Mike was certain Kelly wouldn’t like it.

  As he drove closer to the house, the headlights picked out a figure huddled on his front porch. She looked up and stood. Kelly!

  There was a screech of brakes as Mike stopped the car, then killed the engine. He threw open the door and jumped out. In three strides he was beside her.

  “What is it, Kelly? Did he hurt you? What are you doing out here?”

  “He didn’t hurt me. I just couldn’t stand to be in the same room where he’d been.”

  “Why? What’s wrong? What did he say?”

  “H-he’s going to take my b-baby—” She was shaking.

  “He’s what?”

  “He’s going to sue me for custody—” Her chattering teeth forced her to stop.

  “He’s not going to take anything. You’re cold. I’m going to take you inside and get you warm. Then you can start at the beginning and tell me what’s going on.”

  Mike put his arm around her and led her into his house. He sat her on the plaid sofa in his family room. Although it was May, the night was still cool enough for a fire, and he lit one in the fireplace beside them.

  He turned and looked at her. “If you weren’t pregnant I’d give you a brandy.”

  “If I weren’t pregnant, I wouldn’t be in this mess.” She scooted forward, closer to the flames, and held her hands out as she rubbed them together for warmth.

  “I’ll make you some hot chocolate.” When she nodded, he crossed to the kitchen and put a mug of cold milk in the microwave. After he punched in the numbers, it began to hum and he put his arms on the bar as he studied Kelly.

  Firelight flickered over her shadowed face. Her mouth was tight and her eyes drawn. She was taut and tense, strung as tightly as a high school football team before the cross town game for local bragging rights. Mike kicked himself for leaving her alone tonight. If only he’d been there….

  When the hot chocolate was ready, he took it to her and grabbed the blue-and-green afghan she’d made him that was resting on the sofa back. He spread it across her knees and handed her the cup. Then he sat down beside her. He put his arm around her and pulled her against his side. Just to warm her, he thought, although there was a part of him that noticed she felt nice there. He pushed the idea away.

  “Now, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “I told you, he wants to sue me for—” She stopped and took a deep breath, then wrapped her hands around her mug. “I’ll start at the beginning. He asked me to marry him.”

  Mike was stunned. “You said no, didn’t you?”

  “Of course.” She shook her head angrily as she thought for a moment. “I’m so stupid.”

  “For saying no?”

  “For letting it slip that I’m losing my job. He’s going to take the baby away from me because he wants a partnership in the law firm. I can’t support myself and the baby. He’s a lawyer. I’m afraid the judge will give him the baby.”

  “Honey, you’re not making a lot of sense.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking and waiting for you for hours. I’ve racked my brain for a way out. I’ve come up with something. It’s the only thing I can think of.”

  “What is it?”

  “You said if I changed my mind the offer was still open.” She looked at him warily. “Mike, I need a man.”

  “You’ve sworn off men.”

  “Only temporarily. I just need you for a little while.”

  Tears glistened in her eyes, and at that moment he would have said anything or done anything for her.

  “Are you asking me to marry you?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He probably should have been surprised, but he wasn’t. He had come up with ten good reasons why marriage would solve her problems, and he still thought it was a good idea. She had turned him down flat because she wanted romantic love someday. But Hammond had shoved her over the edge with his threats, tipping the scale in Mike’s favor. If it was just her own welfare, she would never have come to him. But her child was in jeopardy. Mike could give her what she needed most, the security of his name and the money to show that creep that he couldn’t threaten her and take the baby.

  “All right. I’ll marry you.”

  She looked into the dark circle of her hot chocolate and continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “It’s the only way. If you marry me, I’ll get to keep my job. Not only that, but in a custody hearing, surely a couple would look better than a bachelor. Especially one like Doug—”

  “I said all right. I’ll marry you.” He lifted her chin with his knuckle, forcing her gaze up to his. Wonder swirled in her eyes.

  “You will? Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “I asked you first. Remember?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you absolutely sure this is what you want to do? If you have any doubts, we can find another way,” he said.

  She shook her head. “I’m sure. Unless you’ve changed your mind,” she said quickly. “After all, Mike, this isn’t your problem. The baby’s not yours. Doesn’t that bother you?”

  He stared into the fire for a few moments. By asking him to marry her, she had made him happier than he’d been in a long time. He wasn’t sure why, and he didn’t want to question it. Because he didn’t want to think about the basic rule of his belief system: Good things don’t last That wasn’t important now. He needed to reassure Kelly that everything would work out fine.

  “Kelly, let’s get one thing straight. This baby is yours. You’re my friend. How can I not care about your child? Wouldn’t you feel the same about mine?”

  “Of course I would,” she said. “I see your point.”

  “There’s one more thing. When the baby’s born, I want your married name on his birth certificate.”

  She looked at him, and there was a suspicious brightness in her eyes. “I’ve never seen you like this before,” she said. “You’re willing to marry me so that my child won’t go through what you did?”

  “No one will ever call this kid that name. Not if I have anything to
say about it.”

  For years Mike had tried to bury the pain of a hundred childhood taunts, but he couldn’t quite hide it from Kelly. For some reason he didn’t mind that she knew.

  “Mike, you’re quite a guy. Promise me one thing?” she asked, her voice slightly huskier than normal. He hoped she wasn’t going to cry.

  “What?”

  “Promise me that whatever happens you’ll always be my best friend.”

  That was easy. “I promise that nothing will ever stand in the way of our friendship.”

  “So we have a deal?” she asked. She cleared her throat, but not before he heard the emotion that had gathered there. “We’re going to get married?”

  “We do, and we are.” Didn’t people usually shake hands or something to seal a bargain?

  As she looked up at him, her eyes big and green and grateful, something caught in Mike’s chest. Her lips were full and looked soft and sweet. Hardly realizing what he was doing, Mike lowered his mouth to hers.

  The touch sparked a warmth inside him that had nothing to do with the fire. When he pulled back, a frown puckered Kelly’s forehead, and her body went rigid as if she was trying to pull away from him. Had she felt it, too?

  It? There was no “it” to feel. They were just friends, best friends getting married for the sake of the baby. This was the right thing to do. That’s all there was to that.

  “I think we should talk about the rules,” Kelly said. She slipped sideways, out of his embrace, then sat cross-legged on the couch, facing him.

  “What rules?” he asked, crossing his arms.

  “Maybe rules isn’t the right word. This is an agreement.” Her gaze rested on his mouth for a second, and her eyes widened slightly before she looked away. “We need to agree about some things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like how long the marriage will last,” she said.

  They hadn’t even said “I do” yet and she was talking about ending it. Mike wasn’t sure why, but he found that irritating.

  “As long as there’s any threat of him taking the baby, we need to be together.”

  She frowned. “You’re right, of course, but that’s pretty vague. I don’t want you to put your life on hold for me indefinitely.”