Her Old-Fashioned Husband (4 page)

She stiffened.

“Francesca.”

Damn. Full name.

“Some of the other kids had weed but I didn’t smoke any,” she told him quickly.

“Good girl. What else?”

She sniffed miserably. “What makes you think there was anything else?”

“Because you stiffened against me. Confess.”

“I
smoked a few cigarettes,” she muttered.

“Ahh. Well, I think spending the next two weeks grounded should make you regret that, shouldn’t it?”

“But Heath...” she started to protest before she thought better of it. Even she knew better to argue when her butt was aflame.

“Yes?”
he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good girl. You know what that means. Come home straight from school. No friends over. No phone or computer. You may still watch TV for a couple of hours each night provided your homework is done. How is your schoolwork going?”

“Not great.”

“Okay. Well, I want you to show me your homework each night. Bring it to me at eight each night and we’ll look at it together, all right?”

She looked up at him. “You have enough time?”

“I have all the time in the world for you, honey.”

The tight, heavy stone in her stomach eased at his words. He couldn’t replace her parents, but he wasn’t going to leave her on her own.

Although she hated to admit it, Tom had done her a favor by dragging her home. Didn’t mean she forgave him for spanking her. He had no business doing that and she had no intention of forgetting it, either.

“Let’s get you to bed.”

Instead of letting her up, Heath stood and carried her in his arms out of the study to the stairs.

The front door opened and Kent and Cam walked in. Always joined at the hip, her mother often teased that she had
twins;
they just weren’t the same age.

“What’s up?” Cam asked, looking at her in concern. He was the more sensitive of the two.

“Just putting Frankie to bed. She’s worn out,” Heath said easily. Frankie smiled at him, grateful he said nothing about her disobedience and subsequent spanking. “I didn’t expect you two home.”

“Nothing going on in the city,” Kent said grumpily.

“Well, since you’re home, how about we all go for a ride together tomorrow morning?” Heath suggested.

“All of us?” Frankie asked.

He winked down at her. “All of us, I’ll even tear Brax away from his new girlfriend.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cam said, kissing her on the forehead as he passed them on the stairs. “Bet I can whip all of your asses.”

“In your dreams, buddy,” Kent yelled after him, running past. Although, he too, stopped to brush a kiss over Frankie’s forehead.

Frankie smiled. The first real smile she’d managed since the awful day she’d heard of her
parents’
car accident.

“Everything will be okay, baby girl. You’ll see.”

Frankie looked down at the clear strip
on the pregnancy test
, desperately willing it to give her the result she wanted.
A red line appeared
.
Just one. She waited and waited. But there was only the one line.

Not pregnant.

In a fit of pure temper she threw the tester across the bathroom, watching furiously as it banged against the wall then fell to the floor. Damn thing wouldn’t even give her the satisfaction of shattering.

Like her insides were.

She slumped to the floor, her temper fading as sorrow overcame her.
It had been a whole year.

A year of no alcohol, of eating healthy, of hoping and dreaming and praying.

A year’s worth of failed tests and disappointment.

Tears ran down her cheeks.

What was wrong with her? Tom
didn’t believe there was anything wrong, he’d told her many times that some people just
took longer t
o get pregnant
.

She knew that. She was a nurse, after all. But she’d done everything right and it had been a year. A whole year. How long was she expected to wait?

Frankie ha
d begged him to take her to a specialist, for them both to get checked out. He
’d promised that after a year he’d make an appointment for both of them.

Well, a year was up.

And now she wasn’t sure she
even
had the energy to
try any
more. She was tired. Tired of being disappointed. Tired of being a disappointment.

Tom may not show it, but she knew
he
was
disappointed by each failed result.

Frankie had watched him with her best friend Ava’s little boy.
Tom
looked at Jaron like he was the mo
st precious thing in the world.
Yes, he wanted children and it had to be
a real letdown
every time she told him they weren’t pregnant.

But he didn’t show his pain, not really.

He was such an Alpha
male;
he thought he had to stay strong for her, look after her.
She’d started to get so depressed
each month
that Tom had
told her that
she wasn’t to do a test without him.

But he was away at a conference in Seattle at the moment and she hadn’t been about to wait two more days to take the test.

Frankie sighed and rubbed her cheeks.
No use crying about it,
she told herself. That wasn’t going to help a thing. Tiredly, she pulled herself up and
,
picking up the discarded tester, chucked it in the bin. Turning on the shower, she slowly undressed.
Testing the water, she climbed into the shower, hoping the hot water would ease the tension in her muscles.

Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. She wasn’t meant to be a mom, it was a thought she’d had often.
This
was the Universe’s way of telling her she’d be crap. Probably true. She was pretty selfish. She tended to be impulsive and she
could
be
really
blunt.

Yeah, maybe be
com
ing a mother wasn’t a good idea.

But Tom deserved to be a dad.

Tom was kind and patient
. He was also
breathtakingly handsome. He’d been cute as a teenager, but he’d grown more into his looks over the year
s
. His honey-colored hair went perfectly with his dark blue eyes and lightly tanned skin. Years of running had toned his long body, giving him a sleek, muscular appearance.

They’d had a rocky start. Tom was a few years older than Frankie. He was good friends with her youngest brother, Brax.
Growing up, he’
d spent so much time at her
house that
he
felt like a part of the family.
His own home life hadn’t been wonderful. His father had left his mom when he was
young and she’d remarried a man who had his own family
.
Neither of them had much time for Tom.

As Frankie had grown older, she’d started noticing how cute he was, with his gorgeous smile and cute looks. He’d never teased her the way her brothers did, instead he’d treated her like an adult.

She’d adored the ground he’d walked in.

Then her parents had died and Frankie had gone slightly off the rails. She’d gotten in with the wrong crowd. She’d started smoking, drinking. Amazingly, she’d been able to hide it from her brothers. Her oldest brother, Heath, had gained guardianship over her. Her other brothers, Cam, Kent
had moved home to help Heath for a while. Her youngest brother,
Brax had
just started college
.

The night Tom had
dragged her home from a party
had changed things for her drastically
.
Heath started to pay much closer attention to her. Both a blessing and a curse. She loved having her brother’s attention and her behavior and school work much approved.

Of course, she ended up getting spanked on a fairly regular basis until she’d settled down some. Even when she’d turned eighteen, Heath had continued to spank her if he thought it necessary. He had some very old-fashioned views, her brother.

And unfortunately, so did her husband.

Frankie still couldn’t believe she was married to Tom Sanders. After he’d spanked her that night at the party, she’d been too embarrassed and humiliated to speak to him much. Each time she’d seen him after, she’d hidden her feelings for him behind an angry mask, which had gotten her scolded plenty by her brothers.

But she hadn’t cared. She’d loved him and he’d thought of her as a child.

Or so she’d
believed
.

When she’d left
home
for nursing school she’d barely seen him.
Then a couple of years ago
he’d moved back to Hamilton
to open
up his own practice with his friend, Jeff.

Frankie had been so nervous at the idea of seeing him again that she’d spent the few months before she was due to go home for Christmas nervously shopping and partying, spending money she didn’t have.
She’d acted horribly that Christmas, existing in a state of anxiety, swinging from anger to euphoria. Her mind had been so obsessed with Tom and seeing him, that she’d
blocked everything else out
. She’d even neglected to care for Ava, forgetting entirely about her gluten intolerance. Ava had fainted from hypoglycemia and exhaustion and that was partly Frankie’s fault.

She truly loved Ava like a sister. Ava’s life hadn’t been an easy one and she was raising her little boy, Jaron, alone. Frankie was
surprised Ava still spoke to her, considering the way she’d treated her.

Frankie had tried hard ever since to put others first. She loved her family, and was extremely protective. Even when that protectiveness wasn’t ne
cessary
. When Cam and Kent had introduced their wife, Bryony, to the family, Frankie had been horrid. She’d even accused poor Bryony of being a gold-digger.

Yeah, she’d done some things to be ashamed of. So maybe this was the
U
niverse’s way of eve
ning things up. But surely the U
niverse took Tom into account? Gorgeous, kind, incredibly smart Tom.

What would he do if she couldn’t get pregnant? What if there was something wrong with her and they could never have children? Would he leave her?

If she couldn’t get pregnant then she
should
do the right thing and leave him.

Feeling as though her heart were breaking into small pieces, Frankie finished up her shower, put on her fluffy pajamas and traipsed down to the living room to watch television. She looked at the time. Eight. She supposed she should eat, but she wasn’t much in the mood. She flicked on the television.

The phone rang.

“Hello,” she said tiredly.

“Hello, Frankie?” Tom asked.

Frankie immediately smiled, the knot in her stomach easing. “
Hey, honey
,” she said warmly. “How are you? How’s the conference going?”

She was so proud of Tom. He’d been asked to present a paper at this conference. He often had hospitals headhunting him, but he was happy to stay here in his own practice. He and his partner, Jeff, had a
busy
practice, people came from miles around to them, even if there were other medical
center’s
closer.
Frankie wished she could have gone with them, but she couldn’t take any time off work.

“The conference is going well. Gave my paper today, it seemed to be well received. You sound tired, Frankie.”

“Just a bit,” she admitted, knowing if she told him how truly exhausted she was, he’d worry.

“Hmm, why don’t you
call in
sick tomorrow and rest?”

“I can’t do that, Tom,” she said shocked he’d even suggest it. “I’m not sick. I can’t lie. You’d blister my butt if I ever suggested that.”

Tom sighed. “I know, but I’m worried about you, sweetheart. When I left you looked pale and tired, now you sound exhausted. I wish you’d consider giving up
your job
.”

“
But I like nursing. Besides, w
hat would I do all day?” This wasn’t a new conversation. Tom often suggested she give up working.

“You could take up a hobby. I know you love photography.”

“That wouldn’t keep me busy all day. You
just
want a 1950s housewife.”

Tom sighed. “I don’t want you to be something you’re not, honey. I don’t want a 1950s housewife to bring me my slippers and do my housework. But I do like the idea of taking care of you. I just want you to be happy and if you’re honest with me and yourself, you know you’re not happy at wor
k.”