LUCI (The Naughty Ones Book 2) (105 page)

“Why would you be?”

Kevin shook his head again. “I think that stems back to my father. Maybe it had something to do with why he left.”

That made sense. If I were a man whose wife gave birth to another man’s child eight months after our wedding, I think it might be an issue for me. Clearly it had been for John McGraw.

Kevin finished the last stitch.

“Well, if you can do that, I think childbirth will be a breeze.”

“I certainly hope so.”

He wrapped the finger in a piece of gauze then began to clean up. “The baby moving well?”

I nodded. “For a couple of days now.”

“Are you getting enough sleep? Enough to eat?”

I gestured toward the door. “Do you think I could do otherwise with him around?”

Kevin smiled. “He’s pretty intense, isn’t he?” Then he chuckled. “I can just see it now. If that kid’s a girl, he’ll be out buying guns before she’s three to fend off potential suiters.”

I laughed, too. “I’m sure he will.”

Grant knocked on the door again. “Everything alright in there?”

“Fine, babe.” I stood and opened the door, holding up my bandaged finger. “All fixed.”

He pulled me against his chest and kissed me. “Good.”

Kevin just shook his head.

We moved out to the balcony after Kevin had his mess cleaned up. Grant opened the wine and poured the two of them a glass, handing me the good old standby, apple juice. I watched them kid around with each other, wondering if we had more than one child, if they would get along as well as the two of them. I hoped so.

The intercom sounded as we were sitting there, listening to the meat sizzle on the grill. Grant excused himself to see who was waiting for entrance from the doorman. Kevin glanced at me, concern etched into his face as it had been on his brother’s earlier.

“Tread carefully, Addison,” he said. “Grant’s biological father is a sensitive subject for him.”

Before I could answer, Grant returned with a little wink meant only for me.

Angela was here.

“Be back. Pregnancy bladder.”

Kevin smiled, watching me go without question. Instead of the bathroom, however, I went to the elevator to head Angela off.

“Don’t be mad,” I said as soon as the elevator doors opened.

“What’d you do?”

“Kevin’s here.”

She shook her head, turning back to board the elevator. I snagged her sleeve and made her turn back around.

“Just talk to him. Please.”

“I don’t know what to say to him. He made himself clear before.”

“But he loves you, Angela. And you love him.”

“I can’t.” Tears filled her eyes. “We said things…”

“Just, stay. Have dinner with us. You don’t have to say two words to him.”

She looked at me. “I know what you’re doing, but you just…you weren’t there.”

“But I was.”

I turned and Grant sort of shrugged. He and Kevin were standing behind us. Kevin’s eyes were glued to Angela’s. It was like I wasn’t even there.

I slipped around him and grabbed Grant’s hand, pulling him back out on the balcony. We could see them talking, could even hear a word every few sentences. But not enough to know what they were saying to each other. But when Kevin drew Angela into his arms, it was pretty obvious that they were working things out.

“Looks like we might be eating alone,” I said.

Grant settled down on the arm of my chair and shrugged. “I could think of worse things.”

I waited. I debated. I argued with myself. It was getting to the point that Grant could tell there was something going on with me. He kept asking if taking care of my dad’s house was too much. And it was so much. But that wasn’t what kept me distracted and made me slip out of our bed in the middle of the night, my head too full for my body to get comfortable.

A month passed. The furniture was removed from my dad’s house.

Another month and the papers and personal effects slowly followed, each marked for its final destination.

Another month and the house was cleaned, ready to be put on the market for sale.

One more month and it was sold, the money following everything else into the trust for the baby. This was going to be one very wealthy baby someday, even if things went south for Grant and me.

Four months and I was huge. It was more than a beach ball. Maybe a blimp would be more appropriate for a description. I was so big that I couldn’t even walk straight. Grant wouldn’t let me go to the project sites anymore. And when I walked through a store, people were constantly trying to get me to sit down, even strangers. It was becoming a joke around the office. They tried not to invite me to meetings that were going to last longer than an hour because they knew I couldn’t sit still that long. If my bladder didn’t force me up, the pressure on my back did.

I was absolutely miserable. And I had this unresolved thing hanging over me that I felt an urgency to take care of before the baby was born. I told myself it was about the baby’s genetic heritage. But I didn’t quite believe it.

It was a secret. And I hated that Grant still had secrets from me.

I finally broke down and called Billy.

We met at a diner halfway between the project site and the office. He stood when I came waddling into the diner, my belly barely confined in the billowy top I was wearing.

“You look ready to pop,” he said.

“I wish I was. But the doctor says at least three more weeks.”

“Well, I guess you have to let the little buggers cook as long as possible,” he said, kissing my cheek lightly.

I carefully took a seat in the chair he pulled out for me, a little embarrassed when he had to pull the chair even farther back so that my belly would fit. And then he settled across from me and slid the menu across the table to me. I watched him as he made his choices, wondering if there was something about him that I could see in Grant. The knowledge of their relationship changed the way I looked at him. And, suddenly, I became aware of things about his expressions, about the way he moved, that were very familiar. But was that because I knew him so well—or thought I did—or was that because he was Grant’s father?

We both ordered the same hamburger. I couldn’t seem to get enough red meat in these final months of pregnancy. Grant joked that the baby would be born with a hamburger in his or her mouth. I was sometimes afraid he was right.

“You look good,” Billy said after the waitress took our orders.

“I feel like a cow.”

“You shouldn’t say that. I’ve always thought pregnant women were the most beautiful women.”

“I’m sure your wife appreciated that.”

“Yes, well, she’s blessed me over and over again with children for a reason.”

He winked and I blushed. It was like walking in on your parents having sex. Just weird.

“How’s Grant?” he asked.

“Excited. Scared. Worried.”

“He loves you.”

I nodded. “I love him, too.”

Billy smiled. “That’s the first time since that summer I’ve heard you say that.”

I tilted my head slightly. “You were the only one who was wholeheartedly behind us that summer.”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I get a kick out of young love.”

“Did you know what my dad did? Did you know he was going to do it?”

The playfulness left Billy’s face. “I didn’t know beforehand, no.”

“But you knew.”

“I did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t my place.”

I nodded, my eyes still working over his face, still searching for something, though I was no longer sure what it was.

“Did he find out you were his father? Was that why he left?”

Billy reared up like something had stung him. He looked out the window, his expression totally unreadable, what I could see of it. And then he focused on me again, his dark eyes like steal on my face. That’s when I saw it, when I saw the undeniable truth in his eyes, in his features, in the face that was so much like my husband’s.

“You should go talk to him about that.”

“I’m talking to you.”

“It’s his business, Addison. If he didn’t want you to know—”

“He has his secrets. And I think that has a lot to do with you.”

Billy’s eyes narrowed slightly, but then his chin dropped. A second later, he was nodding in agreement.

“You’re right. That’s probably my fault. Because I let that man take Jenna from me, let him marry her and treat her like crap because I wasn’t man enough to sober up and do the right thing when she told me she was pregnant.” He pressed his hands to the tabletop, staring at them with an intensity that almost hurt me. Then he looked at me and I was surprised to see tears in his eyes. “I was a drunk, Addison. Bad news. And that made me push away the first person who ever saw through the anger and the booze, to push her away and leave her to live a miserable life with a man I thought would be better for her. And by the time I realized how bad things were, it was too late. She refused to leave him.”

“And then he left her.”

“And she wouldn’t let me help her. Wouldn’t even let me give her the little bit of money I was able to offer.”

“But you knew about Grant. Knew where he was. Why did you not tell him who you were?”

“She asked me not to. And I couldn’t blame her. I was a mess when she knew me. It wasn’t until three years later that I met your dad, that he gave me a job and a purpose. And it was another five years before I met my wife and put my life back together with her. Jenna…she couldn’t trust the man I was before that, so she didn’t trust the man I’d become.”

“And then she died.”

“And I wanted to help them out. I did.” He glanced out the window again, memories clearly dancing on the glass for him. “But it was too late. He was so angry. So when he showed up on the site, destroyed that stuff, I thought it was my opportunity to right a few wrongs. I did the best I could, saving him from your dad, giving him a skill. And when he said he was going to run away with you, I thought it was the best thing that could happen to him. But then he came to me on the site, a picture and a birth certificate in his hand. I guess your dad had had him investigated and gave him a copy of the file. He was so angry…and when I told him my story, he just got real quiet. Then he left. It wasn’t until later that I found out he’d left you behind.”

He reached across the table for my hand. “I’m sorry. I never meant for that to happen.”

I rubbed the back of his hand affectionately. “Things worked out.”

“Thank God.”

“And now you’re going to be a grandad.”

His eyes dropped to my belly, widening. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

And then the clearest joy danced over his face and it made my heart lighter than it’d been since before Grant came marching back into my life.

I curled up against Grant as he tried to read through a contract with a new supplier. He slid his arm over my shoulders and tugged me closer.

“Put that away, Mr. CEO.”

“I will. Just a minute.”

“I want to ask you something.”

He set the contract on the bedside table and slid down on the bed a bit more so that we were almost face to face. “What’s going on?”

“We’re doing good, right? We’re happy?”

“Beyond words,” he said, lifting my chin so that he could steal a little kiss.

“I’ve told you just about everything it’s possible to know about me.”

“Probably more than you should have. I mean, that thing with you and your roommate—”

I slapped my hand against his chest. He was joking and he burst into laughter, and that made me laugh, too. But I was trying to be serious and he was making this so difficult.

“Come on,” I said.

“Okay,” he said, holding up a hand. “I’ll be serious.”

I took his hand and pressed it to my belly. “I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. I don’t want anything to threaten this life we’re building.”

His face tightened and he carefully pulled away, climbing off the bed.

“Addison, I know the hormones are—”

“Don’t blame this on hormones. This is about you keeping secrets from me.”

“I don’t see what purpose laying my whole life out on a board for you will serve.”

“It’ll show that I can trust you.”

His eyes narrowed. “You don’t trust me?”

“I want to. But I still don’t know why you left. Not really.”

“Isn’t the money enough of a reason?”

“No. Because I know you. I know that wasn’t it.” I touched my own belly as I sat up, groaning because of the deep pain that had settled in my back these last few days. No matter what I did, it wouldn’t go away. I was beginning to think I was going to be in pain for the rest of my pregnancy. “I know about Billy.”

He whipped around like I’d slapped him.

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw the investigator’s report, Grant. Did you really think my dad had destroyed it? That he wouldn’t have wanted me to see it?”

He stared at me, the wheels clearly turning in his head. “He just left it lying around?”

“No. He gave it to me when you came back.”

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me?”

“It didn’t matter by then. I thought I already knew what I needed to know.”

“But things have changed.”

“I just want to know, Grant.”

He groaned like he was the one with the back pain that seemed to want to radiate around to his lower belly. I shifted, trying to find a comfortable position, but the pain was making it impossible.

“Did you talk to Billy? Do you know that he was an alcoholic who left my mother to marry that bastard that made her pay for years for getting pregnant by another man? Did he tell you that he hit her? That when he was drunk, he would come after both of us? Did he tell you that I was afraid I would be just like that?”

There was pain in Grant’s voice. I climbed off the bed, ignoring the pain, and went to him.

“You aren’t that man.”

“I know that now. But then? Your father calls me a loser in one ear and my own father tells me how he couldn’t be man enough for my mom in the other? It does things to your head.”

“But that’s not you. You know that now, right?”

He touched my face. “I just didn’t want you to know about the dark parts of my soul, Addison. I wanted you to see me as the man who would do anything to protect you. That I’m the man who would put everything at risk just to make you happy.”

“I do see that.”

“I didn’t want this to change anything.”

“It doesn’t. It just takes away the secrets. It shows me that you’re willing to let me in.”

He groaned as he pulled me closer. “There’s no one else I want.”

That should have been the moment when we kissed and fell back into bed, making love for one of the last times before the baby came.

But the baby had other plans.

Just as he tugged me close to him, I felt something pop deep inside of me. And a gush of water that was like a bad dream that leads to a wet bed. And then searing pain that was a hundred times worse than the stitches Kevin put in my finger.

I cried out and Grant backed up. I guess he thought he’d stepped on my toe or something. I reached for him, the pain making me double over.

“Is it time?”

I couldn’t even speak, the pain was so intense. But Grant was perfect. He lifted me onto the bed, called the doctor, and had me at the hospital before I could wrap my head around the fact that I was in labor. And, three hours later, I was holding my six-pound baby girl.

“Better go buy a gun, Daddy,” Kevin joked.

“She’s beautiful,” Angela said.

Grant ran his hand over the top of her tiny head.

“Welcome to the world, Charlotte Elizabeth,” he said softly, tears in his eyes.

“Charlie,” Billy said as he came through the door.

I thought I would cry. But there was a smile on my lips that wouldn’t go away. This was my family. And it couldn’t have been more perfect.

~ END ~

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