He laughed at himself as much as at her. ‘‘It’s not the flight that bothers me, Belle. It’s the destination.’’
‘‘Why? Are you afraid your sister-in-law will ask you to deliver her baby?’’
‘‘Not hardly.’’ He inhaled deeply, then exhaled in a rush. ‘‘I’m afraid my father will be there. I haven’t seen him since he faked a heart attack and almost got me and Torie killed.’’
‘‘Well.’’ Her eyebrows shot up. ‘‘I haven’t heard that story.’’
He waved a dismissive hand. ‘‘It’s not worth wasting my breath over. Suffice to say, when the day was done, none of his sons wanted anything to do with Branch Callahan. He’s still a real sore subject with me, so we don’t talk about him. I don’t know if the others have anything to do with him now or what. I didn’t think to ask Torie when she called.’’
‘‘You aren’t exactly rational when it comes to your father, Callahan. You do realize that?’’
He heard the echo of her mother’s voice in his mind.
Forgive your father. Make peace with your past to go on with your future.
‘‘Yeah, I realize it.’’
‘‘Just how sick to your stomach are you? Think you’ll throw up in my bird?’’
‘‘It’s my brother’s bird.’’
‘‘Not when I’m the pilot.’’ She slipped her arm though his and tugged him toward the helicopter. ‘‘How old is your father?’’
‘‘Mid-eighties.’’
‘‘Is he healthy?’’
‘‘I haven’t a clue. I told you we don’t talk about him.’’
‘‘He was healthy last time you saw him?’’
‘‘Healthier than me, considering my ass was shot up.’’ He shrugged and added, ‘‘He walks with a walker. Was goofy over a new little ankle-biting dog he owns.’’
‘‘A walker, hmm?’’ Her lips twitched. ‘‘Tell you what, Callahan. If that big bad bully is there, I promise I’ll protect you.’’
‘‘You think this is funny.’’
‘‘No, actually, I think this is sad.’’
Personally, Mark thought it was pathetic. ‘‘Let’s go get this over with. How long does it take to have a baby, anyway?’’
She slanted him a look and in a tone as dry as West Texas in August said, ‘‘I wouldn’t know.’’
Mark winced
. Way to go, dumb-ass.
The flight to Brazos Bend took less than half an hour, and as Annabelle brought the bird down with a deft touch on the helipad beside Matt and Torie’s home, Mark spied the Callahan welcoming committee gathered on the lake-house porch. Luke and Maddie, Matt and . . .
‘‘Torie? They’re letting her walk around? Outside? Shouldn’t she be in bed if she’s in labor? What the hell is Matt thinking? What if she has the kid standing up?’’
‘‘Why are you asking me all these baby questions?’’ Annabelle snapped. ‘‘Which reminds me . . . you’re off the hook, Callahan. I’m not pregnant.’’ She flipped switches with sharp, angry movements as she shut down the bird.
While the rotors slowed, he hesitated, wondering how to respond to that. Should he tell her that her parents already spilled those particular beans, or should he keep his mouth shut? ‘‘Annabelle . . .’’
She blew out a sigh as she went through the procedure to shut down the helo. ‘‘I’m sorry. That was unkind of me. It’s your turn for neurosis. Is your father here?’’
‘‘Look, we’ll talk about this later, okay?’’
She closed her eyes, gave her head a little shake. ‘‘Introduce me to your family, Callahan. I’m curious to meet them.’’
Mark knew for a fact that his brothers and their wives were more than curious to meet Annabelle. When he called to tell them he was on his way, he mentioned he’d be bringing company. He hadn’t expected the welcoming committee. He’d figured they would all be inside pacing the floor while Torie did the baby thing. To find everyone—including Torie— on the front porch waiting left him more than a little uneasy. He didn’t see Branch anywhere, thank God. If he’d spied the old man standing on the porch with the others, he would have taken control of the stick and lifted this bird off the ground the minute Annabelle set her down.
They exited the helicopter and started toward the house. His brothers and their wives met them halfway with Torie waddling in front of the others. ‘‘Mark!’’ she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him in a hard hug. ‘‘You made it.’’
‘‘Apparently in plenty of time.’’
‘‘Yeah.’’ She pouted like one of Maddie’s twins. ‘‘My contractions stopped. It’s looking like it was a false alarm.’’
Before he could comment on that, Maddie stepped up to Mark and gave him a quick kiss. ‘‘I think she was just waiting for you. Mark, introduce us to your guest.’’
He stepped back, widening their circle to include Annabelle, then gestured toward each person as he introduced them. ‘‘Annabelle Monroe, meet the Callahan clan. The fat one here is Torie—’’ He took her punch to his arm with a grin. ‘‘She’s Matt’s wife.’’
Torie said, ‘‘Welcome, Annabelle. Did I see you flying that helicopter? That’s so cool! It makes me downright jealous. I’ve been trying to get Matt to teach me how to fly and he totally refuses.’’
‘‘That’s because the last time you sat copilot in a chopper, Shutterbug, you shot me.’’ Matt winked at Annabelle and said, ‘‘Hi, Annabelle, I’m Matt. After our adventure in Hawaii, I feel like I know you, but it’s nice to finally meet you.’’
‘‘
Finally
being the applicable word,’’ Maddie interjected, shooting Mark a chastising look.
‘‘The sweet-talker is Maddie, my brother Luke’s wife.’’
Maddie’s smile was warm and her brown eyes gleamed with pleasure as she said, ‘‘We’re so glad you came.’’
‘‘Welcome to Brazos Bend, Annabelle,’’ Luke said.
‘‘This isn’t Brazos Bend,’’ Mark insisted, the detail being a sore spot with him.
Maddie and Torie each slipped a hand through Annabelle’s arms and began to usher her toward the house. Mark winced to hear Maddie say, ‘‘Torie and I debated how to play this. Then we decided to lay our cards on the table. We are curious as can be about your marriage to Mark, but we’re not going to pepper you with questions. However, any details you care to send our way we’ll be happy to listen to.’’
‘‘Thrilled to listen to,’’ Torie added. ‘‘It’s possible we could be of some help to you. If anyone on earth understands the trials and tribulations of being involved with a Callahan man, it’s Maddie and I.’’
‘‘That said, we want you to be relaxed while you’re here. You won’t need to worry we’re going to launch a nosiness sneak attack.’’ Maddie patted Annabelle’s arm and added, ‘‘Though we’ll listen if you want to talk.’’
‘‘We’ll definitely listen,’’ Torie agreed.
‘‘Don’t you have a baby to deliver or something?’’ Mark called out.
Torie glanced back over her shoulder. ‘‘My plan is to become distracted from every twitch in my belly so that I relax. I’ve decided I’m too tense. Once I relax, labor will resume.’’
Maddie sighed and spoke an aside to Annabelle. ‘‘Thus speaks a woman who hasn’t been through labor yet and doesn’t quite get that she has absolutely no control over the timing of it.’’
‘‘Hey, what does it hurt for me to think positively?’’
Annabelle smiled wanly, then glanced back at Mark as if hoping for rescue. He abandoned his brothers and stepped toward the women. He knew his sisters-in-law and he owed Annabelle his support. Had he known he would be bringing her into the lions’ den, he’d have prepared her for it. As it was, dumping her into a coffee klatch with Maddie and Torie was like dropping her into a hot LZ with no backup.
Moving up beside Maddie, he asked, ‘‘How are the girls? Are they here?’’
‘‘They’re fine. They’re wonderful. They’re little demons like their daddy. They’re asleep in the nursery. Breaking in the baby’s bed.’’
‘‘I’m second-guessing that decision,’’ Luke said. ‘‘Samantha is liable to chew through the crib slats by morning. We had to switch to a metal bed for her. Maddie gave birth to a chipmunk.’’
It provided a fine distraction. As they entered the cabin and she led them upstairs, Maddie rattled out a rundown of his nieces’ latest antics. As always when he greeted the little ones, Mark had to brace himself. His first sight of the twins invariably gave the old knife in his heart a twist. It had gotten easier as they grew older and didn’t look so much like the photograph in his wallet. Still, that first glance was always a What-Could-Have-Been kick in the gut.
Tonight was no different. As he walked into Torie and Matt’s nursery and spied Maddie and Luke’s little girls, that old wave of grief rolled over him. When one of the twins lifted her head from the mattress and aimed a smile their way, he nutted up and smiled back.
The baby climbed to her feet and said, ‘‘Da Da Da Da.’’
‘‘Shush, Kitty-Cat. You’ll wake your sister,’’ Luke said, moving toward the crib. Catherine lifted her arms and her father picked her up. When he turned back toward the doorway, Annabelle gasped.
Mark looked at his identical twin holding a brown-eyed, redheaded little girl and knew exactly what Annabelle was thinking.
Well, shit.
That could be our little girl.
Emotion rolled through Annabelle, a cold combination of pain and confusion and anger. The need to escape overwhelmed her and she backed away from the door’s threshold, bumping into Mark, brushing against Maddie. She needed out of there
now.
She turned and rushed downstairs headed for the cabin’s front door. She vaguely noted Matt and Torie sharing a look of concerned surprise as she rushed out into the night and took the first path she came to. She wanted to run, to exercise her body, to exorcise her demons, and she wished she wore sneakers rather than sandals.
‘‘Annabelle!’’ Mark called from the porch.
She picked up her pace, not caring where she was going as long as it was away.
She followed the twisting stone pathway lined by solar lights that threaded through a stand of trees and sloped gently downward. Emerging from the trees, she saw that the trail ended at an elaborate boathouse. Security lights illuminated an attached swim dock that included a diving platform with a rope swing and a slide. Beyond the boathouse stretched a black empty expanse of water. Perfect.
The heels of her sandals clacked against the metal walkway as she crossed onto the dock. She halted at the edge, breathing heavily, tension pounding through her blood.
‘‘Why did I come here?’’ she muttered. ‘‘I shouldn’t have come to Texas. Why do I keep putting myself in this position? I’ll never get over him. I’m such a fool.’’
Hearing Mark following behind her, she did the only thing she could. Annabelle kicked off her shoes, tugged off her shirt, and shimmied out of her pants, then executed a racing dive into the lake. The cold shocked her system and when she surfaced, she gasped in a breath.
‘‘Dammit, Annabelle!’’
She struck out in a crawl, kicking hard and digging her strokes deep as she swam parallel to the shore, fleeing the haunting image of Luke Callahan and his Catherine. Fleeing the pressure in her chest. Fleeing Mark. She swam in fifty-stroke laps over and over until the water’s chill seeped into her bones and cooled her temper, and the exercise drained her of tension and despair.
She drifted in the gift of a dark, numb void until a thought bumped her like a shark beneath the surface. Something about that scene up in the nursery was wrong. What was it? The brown-eyed, redheaded baby in ‘‘Mark’s’’ arms could have been her child, their child. True. But what about the picture didn’t fit?
Annabelle pulled up, treading water, reaching for the knowledge that seemed to hang just beyond her reach.
Mark interrupted her. ‘‘Annabelle? I threw a boat cushion and it’s at your six, probably five strokes away. If you don’t go get it, I’m coming in after you.’’
She wanted to growl at him, but the fatigue in her muscles told her to cooperate. She turned and spied the white square and swam toward it. She tucked the buoyant pillow beneath her breasts and rested, floating beneath a star-filled sky as suddenly, brilliantly, the answer flashed like a comet.
She didn’t crave that baby.
It was true. Seeing that sweet little girl with her own hair and eyes in the arms of a man who looked exactly like Mark was a shocking sight, but it didn’t break her heart. It hadn’t shot arrows of longing into her soul. She had not looked at little Catherine and silently wailed,
She should have been mine!
Instead, she’d run. Why?
Could it possibly be that despite what she’d been telling herself for years, what she had wanted from Mark wasn’t a child?
She blew out a breath and gazed back toward the boat dock, where she could see her ex-husband standing there watching her, no doubt ready to dive to the rescue if he decided she needed it.
What she needed was to think this through.
She looped a hand through the strap on the boat cushion and rolled over onto her back. Moving her arms and legs just enough to remain afloat, she gazed up at the starry sky while staring deeply into her own soul.
Until she’d realized her regular-as-clockwork period was late, she had been perfectly happy with her childless state. Growing up, while her sisters gazed into their futures by planning their weddings and choosing names for their babies, she’d imagined herself as everything from a dolphin trainer to an archaeologist to an astronaut. She’d planned trips to Tibet and studied the ecosystem of the rain forest. When she and her sisters played house, Lissa and Amy argued over who got to be Mommy. Annabelle always wanted to be the daddy who went off to work flying airplanes or driving race cars or spying on foreign governments.
Babies had never been on her radar until the calendar introduced the idea. But from the moment she had shared the possibility with Mark and he’d reacted so violently against it, she’d been convinced that she wanted a child . . . his child . . . more than anything else.
It wasn’t true.
‘‘You’ve been lying to yourself, Monroe.’’
In that moment, she finally saw the truth. It wasn’t the
baby
she had wanted from Mark. What she’d wanted was the commitment the baby represented.