House Calls: Callaghan Brothers, Book 3 (22 page)

And then there was the packing issue.  Luckily, he’d double-checked her overnight bag; otherwise she would have found herself with four shirts, two bras, and no pants or underwear when she went to change that night.  She tried to laugh it off, saying that with Michael around she was so used to going without clothes the thought of having to wear them all day was rather foreign to her.  To prove her point, she’d lifted her skirt to show him that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.  That distracted him for a little while, as he’d had the sudden urge to bend her over the bed and investigate her claim thoroughly.  But again, the moment Aidan’s limo had arrived, the unease began to resurface.

In the back of the limo, the atmosphere had been tense.  It was subtle, really, but it was there.  Several times Michael caught the furtive little glances between the two women when they thought he wasn’t looking.  The rest of the time, Lexi had gone out of her way not to look at him directly.  When she spoke with him, he had the distinct impression her focus was on the top of his head rather than his eyes. 

Kind of like Taryn was doing right now.

Michael mentioned this to Ian, but his brother didn’t seem quite as concerned at the time.  As the day progressed, Taryn retreated into the shadows several times for texting.  And while behind the bar, Taryn seemed distracted enough that he’d had to repeat himself on several occasions about the simplest of things.  By mid-afternoon, even Ian began to suspect something as well.

“You know something, don’t you?”  Michael blatantly accused, blocking Taryn’s exit to the quieter back room when her phone sounded out the tolling strains from “Hells Bells” announcing yet another incoming message.  The look she gave him was too perfect, too innocent to be believable, because Taryn didn’t do innocent. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Taryn...”

“I’d love to stay here and chat, really, but ... I’m not going to.”  A moment later, she ducked under his arm and was gone.

“Okay,” Ian said, watching her retreating form.  “Now I believe you.  Jake, watch the bar, man.  Mick and I have some research to do.”

“O
kay,” Ian said, lacing his fingers together and stretching them wide.  “Let’s see what we can find, shall we?” 

He began by pulling up the travel itinerary.  “Looks like Aidan’s private jet landed outside Benton, just as they said it would.  This log shows them being picked up in the company limo and taken right to Lexi’s penthouse.”

Next, he brought up a custom search engine, typing in several pieces of information, including Maggie and Lexi’s first and last names, cell numbers, social security numbers, a location code, and a range of dates covering their planned time down there. 

“This will search every online database in the Benton area and give us a listing of anything that references their information – appointments, reservations, etc.”

Michael was impressed.  “When did you set all this up?”

“When Lexi was hiding out in Benton,” he said without apology.  At the time Michael had thought Ian was a bit paranoid, too intrusive of Lexi’s obvious desire for privacy.  Now, he wanted to buy him a beer for having the foresight to create such an intricate – and thorough – system.

Within a few minutes a list began appearing.  The flight schedule.  The limo log.  The big corporate meeting.  The day spa.

“Wait,” Michael said when an unexpected entry popped up.  “There – Elena McKenzie, four p.m.  What the hell is that?”

Ian frowned.  Elena McKenzie was one of the specialists Lexi had seen when she was pregnant with Patrick.  She was also the one who worked with Michael to discover the most effective combination of organics to treat her.  Since Lexi’s dramatic improvement on the organic program Michael had developed, they’d been trying for a second child.  Ian’s face lit up with hope and fear.  “You don’t think she’s pregnant again already, do you?”

But as Ian’s fingers flew across the keyboard, as new information flashed upon the screen, it became increasingly clear that it was not Lexi who had been subjected to a battery of tests.

“Oh, man,” Ian said softly as he pulled up the series of ultrasound images, and Michael looked upon his son for the first time.  And he finally knew with certainty what his subconscious had been trying to tell him all along.

––––––––

M
ichael couldn’t take his eyes off of Maggie as he sat across from her at the corner table.  She was more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.  Radiant, really.

“What?” she asked self-consciously, nervously lifting her hand to her face.  “Do I have lipstick on my teeth or something?”

“No, Maggie,” he said patiently.  “I just can’t seem to stop looking at you.  You’re glowing.  It must have been a good trip.”

“It was,” Maggie agreed with a smile.  “But I think this ‘glow’ is more from my homecoming than it is a result of my travels.”

A grin slowly curved across Michael’s features.  The moment she had the front door unlocked he carried her up the stairs and spent the next several hours making love to her.  Thoroughly.  Passionately.  Possessively. 

“What can I say?  I missed you.”

* * *

“I
missed you, too, Michael.”  It was an understatement.  From the moment she left his arms to board the plane all she could think about was getting back into them again.  To have his strength, his support, as she underwent test after test, terrified beyond belief.  His calm, soothing voice, explaining everything, soothing away the fear.  As it was, poor Lexi was probably being fitted for a hand splint.  She’d stayed with Maggie through everything, holding her hand and offering support whenever she could. 

Throughout the entire trip – thirty-six hours that felt more like hundreds – Maggie had gone back and forth in her mind.  One minute she was convinced she had done the right thing by not telling him about their baby just yet.  He would have been beside himself with worry, and she didn’t want to do that to him, not with him just recovering from a near-fatal chest wound.  No, it was better that she find out first.  If there was a problem, then they would face it together.  If not, then she would not have worried him unnecessarily.

In the next minute, her heart would ache so badly she could barely breathe, and she’d be just as certain that keeping the truth from Michael was exactly the worst thing she could possibly do.  There were already some trust issues between them - all her fault of course - even though at the time she’d thought she was doing the right thing.  He wouldn’t be happy to learn that she’d kept this from him, no matter what the outcome. 

And she was feeling so close to the edge right now – Lexi said it was hormones – that she simply could not bear it if he was angry with her.  What if he decided that he’d had enough?  That he didn’t want to have to worry about whether or not she was keeping something from him?

The waiter came by with a bottle of wine.  Maggie politely placed her hand over the top of her glass as he poured some for Michael.  “No, thank you,” she said with a little smile.

“Are you sure, Maggie?  Perhaps a little wine will help you relax.”

“I’m fine.”

“Would you like a mixed drink instead?”  He lifted his hand as if to call the waiter back.

“No, no, I’m good, thanks.”

“Iced tea, then?”

“Um, no.  Maybe just some water.”

“With lemon?”

“Yes, please.”

* * *

H
e wondered again why he had not seen it before, when now everything seemed to jump out at him.  No alcohol.  No caffeine.  Maggie had even refused the coffee she loved so much, saying that she was too jittery, even though most of the time she looked as if she could fall asleep right where she stood.  Only dry toast for breakfast – she blamed it on the lingering headaches that still plagued her but were easing.  He hadn’t hounded her about it because she was eating heartily later in the day.

“You’re awfully quiet tonight,” Michael said as the remains of their meal were cleared away.  For the entire evening Maggie had been distracted, her mind a million miles away.  Several times he’d caught her staring at him, looking like she was about to say something, then her lashes would drop down and he knew that once again, she’d been unable to speak the words. 

Maggie had yet to tell him he was going to be a father.  He could sense the undercurrent of anticipation, though, and knew she
wanted
to tell him.  He was giving her every opportunity, but so far, no admission.  Her eyes were doing that swirling thing again, almost constantly now.  There was so much going on in that stubborn, proud mind of hers.  When would she learn to open up to him?  To believe that she did not have to handle everything on her own?

She loved him, he had no doubts about that.  He saw it in her eyes every time she looked at him, felt it in her touch.  His brothers told him of how fiercely she had guarded him in the hospital, how she had threatened anyone – without regard to size or gender - who dared approach him.  The thought made him smile.

Yes, she was strong and capable and smart and funny.  She loved him more than he ever thought possible.  It was what scared him most, because he knew she would protect him, and their child, without a thought to herself.  It made his own protective instincts all that much stronger, because he knew that he would do the same.

Even as he worried for Maggie, though, he could barely contain the primal elation at the knowledge he now had.  It was hard to keep the joy he was feeling concealed, even if he was unhappy that she had gone through all of those tests without him.  He should have been there, damn it.  Nothing could have kept him from her side every moment, had he known. 

But the irritation he’d felt at her silence drained away rapidly as he mentally scanned the myriad of tests she’d gone through.  Some relatively innocuous, others brutally invasive.  He hated the thought of her having to face that fear on her own, of having to face those tests.  It would have been bad enough for any woman under any circumstances, but this was his woman – a woman terrified of medical procedures in general.  God, he thought once again, she must have been beside herself.

As it was, he’d had to use every last bit of self-restraint he had not to say something, to admit that he knew of the pregnancy.  All but one or two of the tests had come back negative for any indications of a problem, a hopeful sign that all was well.  He thought she might have said something upon her return, dropped some hint at least, but she hadn’t.  Was she waiting until the last results were in to tell him? 

During those several intimate hours they had spent together upon her return he found it nearly impossible to keep his hands from her abdomen and that slight natural curve that cradled his son.  To break his mouth away from the fuller, more rounded breasts that had already begun preparing for their child.  Just knowing his child was growing inside of her had him nearly insane with the visceral need to protect and possess with everything he had, no matter what the tests revealed.  But how could he make her see that?  He thought he might have an idea.

“Maggie, I’ve been thinking,” he said slowly.  She hadn’t responded to his previous comment, once again lost in her own thoughts.  This time, however, his quiet, serious tone captured her attention immediately. 

* * *

“Y
es?” she prompted when he failed to expound.  She hoped the single word didn’t sound as trembly as she thought it did.

Michael pulled a small velvet box from his jacket and knelt beside her chair.  “Maggie, I love you, and I don’t ever want to make the mistake of losing you again.  Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Maggie gasped.  Her eyes grew wide as she gazed upon the most stunning diamond she’d ever seen.  At least a full carat, it glimmered as if it held its own source of light deep within.  The setting was just as stunning, done in intricate white gold. 

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“
You’re
beautiful,” he responded taking her left hand in his.  “Say yes, Maggie.”

“I want to,” she said quietly, her voice little more than a whisper.   “More than anything.” 

“Then say yes, Maggie.  Say you will marry me.”  His eyes, so clear and blue, implored her to.

“I – I can’t.  Not yet.”  Maggie was shocked that she was actually able to get the words out, because every fiber of her body was screaming
Yes!  Yes!

“Why not?”  There was not a trace of anger in his voice.  Bemusement, perhaps.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself to do what she must, and dreading it because it might drive the final wedge between them.  “Because there’s something I haven’t told you.  Something that might change your mind.”

“Nothing you can say could change my mind, Maggie,” he said firmly, shaking his head. 

God, please let that be true,
she prayed.  “Please, Michael.  Hear me out.”

He slowly released a controlled breath and placed the ring box on the table.  Taking her hand in both of his, he agreed.  “Alright.”

“Not here.”  His eyes pinned her with his stare; she could feel him looking right down into her heart, her soul.  She felt herself unraveling, losing the battle to stay strong.  Michael always had that effect on her, making her believe he would protect her, take care of her, ease any pain she might be struggling with.  The longer she was with him, the more she felt her natural resistance to the idea weakening.  For the first time in her life, she wanted to let herself melt into his arms and let him take over.  She only prayed she could keep it together a little while longer.

“Alright.”

B
y the time he pulled into the driveway, Maggie was a nervous wreck, her eyes shiny with unshed tears.  She blinked rapidly in an attempt to keep them from spilling over.

“Maggie, sweetheart, what is it?”  He took her hand, willing her to confide in him, needing her to, for her sake as much as his.  “Baby, come here.” 

Michael tugged gently on her arm and she slid over to him, needing his warmth, his comfort.  She blinked a few more times, letting herself look into his eyes.  The love and concern she saw there, the warmth and strength of the man she could not live without, calmed her soul.  Michael loved her.  He would always be there for her, no matter what.  The thought humbled her.