“Here, here,” several voices echoed and Lilly gulped her champagne. She squeezed Robert’s hand and prayed that tonight he would stay all night.
Just as Willy began to drift off while Delilah rocked him, the doorbell rang. She scowled at the intrusive sound. She knew it couldn’t be Benjamin because he didn’t ring the doorbell. He just walked in as if he owned the place. Oh wait, she reminded herself. He
will
own the place.
Carefully shifting Willy to her shoulder, she put him down in his crib. The doorbell rang again and she snarled, rushing through the foyer. She looked through the peephole and blinked in shock.
Nicky Conde stood outside her door, shifting from foot to foot. Delilah tried to imagine why Willy’s mother would be there, and none of the reasons that came to mind were good.
Her stomach twisting viciously, she reluctantly opened the door.
Nicky bit her lip. “I made a mistake.”
Word to the wise: Don’t go into a catfight with long hair and acrylic nails. You’ll lose both.
—D
ELILAH’S
D
ICTUM
D
elilah stared at the girl in disbelief. “Which mistake would that be?” It seemed to Delilah that Nicky had made one mistake after another. Getting pregnant by Howard Bradford, abandoning her baby, taking off to be a model in Paris.
“I want Willy back,” Nicky said.
Nicky’s statement hit her broadside. Delilah had expected a request, something along the lines of money, but not this. “Excuse me?”
Nicky sniffed and her eyes filled with tears. “I was crazy to go to Paris. I missed Willy the whole time. I thought I could leave him with you, but I couldn’t. I love him too much.”
Delilah felt as if she’d been hit with a concrete block. “But what if you change your mind? He’s not a ping-pong ball. He’s a baby.”
“I know he isn’t,” Nicky said. “I won’t change my mind. It’ll be different this time.”
“How?” Delilah demanded, an odd, but strong panic seizing her. Outraged that Nicky felt she could waltz into her condo and pick up the baby as if Delilah had merely been a temporary baby sitter, she grappled with her feelings of anger and shock. “How will it be different? You’re still not even twenty years old. You’re still alone.”
“I’m not alone. I called my mama and she said we could live with her. I’m going to go to the community college and get a nursing degree.” She chewed on her lip again. “It’s not really about the money because Howard gave me a bunch of money for Willy. I forgot to tell you before because I was in such a rush.”
Forgot my ass
, Delilah thought, anger rising inside her. “You signed all custody rights over to me. I can’t give him back to you. You might change your mind again.”
“I told you I’m not gonna change my mind. I’m his mother,” she wailed. “He should be with me.”
Delilah felt ripped in half. Two weeks before she would have gladly given Willy back to Nicky, but now … Now she couldn’t imagine it. He was a part of her. She couldn’t possibly let him go. She had begun to visualize what he would look like as he grew older and the things they would do together.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. This is happening too quickly. I’m going to have to think about it.”
“What do you mean you’re going to have to think about it?”
“I mean, you dumped this baby on me over three weeks ago like he was a toy you’d gotten tired of playing with. And now you’re popping up saying you want to play with him again. You signed the guardianship for him to me. That means you asked me to make all the important decisions about his life. I have to think about this. I can’t make an instant decision. This is too important.”
Heart-wrenching fear crossed Nicky’s face. “You would really consider not giving him back to me even though I’m his mother.”
“Nicky, I have to think about what’s best for Willy.”
“But I’m his—”
Delilah held up her hand. “I know. I need to sleep on this.”
Nicky took a shaky breath. “Well, can I at least see him?”
Delilah felt pulled in ten different directions. She felt protective of Willy, but Nicky was his mother. Willy had burrowed his way into her heart in no time, so she could imagine how much Nicky must have missed him. “He was just falling asleep, so you’ll need to be quiet,” she said and led the way to the room she’d converted into a nursery for the baby.
Nicky looked into the crib with longing eyes. “He’s grown,” she whispered in surprise. “And look at his Santa pajamas.” She extended her hand and lightly touched his back. She wiped her cheek with her other hand.
“You should go,” Delilah said, a horrible knot of dread forming in her chest. “We can talk tomorrow.”
Three hours later, after she’d nearly paced a hole in her carpet and could stand the feelings clawing though her no longer, she knocked on Benjamin’s door.
Dressed in partially fastened jeans, he stared at her, his eyes squinting against the light. “What’s up?”
“I’m sorry I woke you,” she said, incredibly uncomfortable. She hated asking for help.
He shrugged. “What do you need?”
“I, uh—” She swallowed, fighting the impulse to run back to her own condo and endure her torture all by herself.
“Is it Willy?”
“Sort of,” she confessed, lacing and unlacing her fingers.
“You want to come in?”
“No. I need you to come over to my place,” she said, nearly choking on the words.
He nodded. “Let me get my key,” he said and disappeared for a moment. When he returned, he pushed his arms through the sleeves of a shirt. “Is this going to involve another middle-of-the-night drive?”
Delilah shook her head and they walked down the hall to her condo. He opened the door for her and followed her into the den. She felt him studying her. His gaze was so calm, so steady. So strong. Everything about him said
I can handle anything
.
Her emotions reacted like a volcano, erupting inside her. To her horror, she burst into tears.
Everything blurred after that. She felt sobs wracking from her and tried to squelch them, but couldn’t. Benjamin pulled her against him and she buried her face in his chest. He was warm and strong and she could count on him. At least, at this moment.
She felt him rub her back the same way she rubbed Willy when he was upset. She was so confused she didn’t know what to think. She took several deep breaths and finally quieted. Still not trusting herself to speak, she remained encircled in Benjamin’s arms, breathing in his scent.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m ready when you are.”
Delilah took another deep breath and pulled away slightly. “Nicky showed up tonight.”
“Who’s Nicky?” He loosened his arms just a little.
“Willy’s mother.”
She felt him look down at her. “What did she want?”
“She wants Willy back,” Delilah said, hating the tremble in her voice. Embarrassed by her crying jag, she mentally gave herself a shake and told him the rest of the story. The
real
story, without revealing Howard’s name. He quizzed her about her previous inconsistencies and she had to come clean, but she still didn’t tell him who the baby’s father was. Benjamin had his own strange connection to the Bradfords through Lilly now.
Sometime during their conversation, he led her to the couch. He listened intently and waited until she stopped. He tented his fingers. “Do you want me to tell you your legal options?”
Delilah nodded.
“You can give Willy back to her and keep the papers she signed and tell her that you’ll be watching to make sure that she takes care of Willy.”
Delilah frowned. “But—”
“Or you can take her to court and have a messy, expensive, long, ridiculous court battle after which time you will still end up giving Willy back to her and she’ll never let you see him again.”
“But she signed those papers.”
“But she only abandoned him for three weeks. The court would consider that an aberration and require her to get counseling and be under the supervision of a social worker with a heavy caseload who will put this priority at the bottom of the list.”
“But she signed him over to me,” Delilah protested. “She dumped him at my door and went to Paris.”
Benjamin heard the longing in her voice, saw the despair she was trying to hide. “You went and fell in love with Willy, didn’t you?”
She opened her mouth in surprise. “I, I—” Her face crumpled. “I did.”
He felt a surge of sympathy and pulled her into his arms. “Oh, Delilah, you poor thing.”
“I’m not a poor thing. I’m just a stupid thing,” she protested, but her voice was wobbly. “He was such a little pain in the ass. How did he become so important to me? I don’t want to give him back. He’s my baby now. I would rather cut off my arm.”
Benjamin tightened his arms around her. “You’re not stupid, but you’ll have to give him back.”
She sighed, her breath sweet against his neck. “This sucks.”
He smiled. “Yeah, it does. You want me to stay the night?”
She sighed again. “No. If I had sex with you again, you would be so blown away, you wouldn’t be able to think straight enough to teach class the next day.”
“Promises, promises,” he said, but each day he was unwinding another of Delilah’s secrets, and each day she left him wanting more and more.
Lilly was in a horrid mood.
Robert had
not
stayed with her last night. He’d said his father said it wouldn’t look right. She bared her teeth as she jerked a brush through her hair. Looking closer into the mirror, she scowled. Was that a fever blister erupting on her mouth?
She wouldn’t be surprised. To say she was stressed would be an understatement. Plus she was premenstrual. Give her a gun and she had enough frustration and energy to bring in the FBI’s ten most wanted criminals. Dead, of course.
She took a deep breath and resolved to take her energy to the spa. She wouldn’t get a soothing massage or facial. She would give Delilah hell and hopefully push her closer to the edge. Lilly still wanted that woman out of her life. Out of Houston if she could manage it.
Her doorbell rang and she glanced at the clock. Who could it be? It wasn’t even seven
A.M.
Maxine raced downstairs and barked. Shrugging, Lilly walked to the front door and looked through the peephole. A man. No one she recognized.
“Hush,” she said to Maxine, stroking the dog’s head. She pressed the intercom button. “Who do you want to see?”
The man lifted his head and looked the door up and down as if he were trying to find the speaker. “Lilly Bradford. I knew her father.”
“How did you know him?”
“Oh, I knew Howard for many years,” he said in an affectionate tone.
Something about the way the man looked put her off, but the mention of her father reminded her how much she missed him. She could talk to the man on the front porch. She wouldn’t let him in. She opened the door and stepped outside with Maxine’s breath steaming up the storm door.
“I only have a moment. I have an early appointment this morning. I’m Lilly Bradford,” she said, extending her hand. “And you’re?”
“Guy Crandall.” He smiled and the gesture somehow combined oily nervousness. “Your father and I had a special arrangement. I knew things about him no one else did. I knew he had a son.”
Lilly blinked and jerked her hand away from the man. “My father didn’t have a son.”
“Yes he did, but I figure with your engagement to a politician, you probably wouldn’t want that news to get out. I can make sure of that,” he said. “For a price.”
Stunned, offended, she grasped for a response. “You’re insane.”
He laughed. “Not insane. I just want to be paid.”
Disturbed and ready to slam the door in his face, Lilly put her hand on the doorknob. “This is ridiculous. If you keep spouting these lies, I’ll have my attorney call you.”
“Not so fast, Miss Lilly White,” he said, wrapping his hand around her wrist like a snake.
Sickened by his touch, she jerked away again. “Don’t ever touch me.”
“Just pay me. Listen, if you don’t believe me, go ask Delilah Montague. She knows the whole story.”
Everything inside her turned completely red. Delilah Montague was behind this sordid story. She shouldn’t be surprised.
Delilah told Maria the perfect nanny that she wouldn’t need her to take care of Willy anymore. She decided to take the morning off and spend it packing all the things she’d bought for Willy. She cried at the oddest things. The cloth diapers she’d cursed. Strained peaches. Willy loved peaches. His baby cookies.
She had hardly slept during the night, but Willy was still peacefully sleeping in his crib. When he awakened, she would feed him the last time. Lord help her, she was maudlin.
Her doorbell rang, followed by a loud knock. Surprised at the early time, she quickly flitted to the door. Benjamin walked in with his key, so she knew it wasn’t him. Glancing through the peephole, she was stunned to see Lilly Bradford. She quickly opened the door.
“Lilly,” she said, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.
“You slut,” Lilly said, fire darting from her wide blue eyes. “You tricked my father into getting you pregnant and—”
“Pregnant?” Delilah echoed, backing away from Howard Cash Bradford’s irrational daughter.
“Well it sure as hell couldn’t have been immaculate conception if you were involved,” Lilly said and gave her a shove.
Stunned by the move, Delilah gaped at her. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“I was told my father has a son and you’re at the bottom of it, you white-trash slut …” Lilly ranted as she shoved Delilah again.
“You’ve gone crazy,” Delilah said, shoving her back. “I didn’t have your father’s baby!”
“It had to be you,” Lilly shouted. “He wasn’t involved with anyone else half as trashy as you!”
Watching in disbelief as Lilly lifted her hand in a telltale slapping motion, Delilah reacted instinctively. She grabbed Lilly’s hair and jerked it hard.
Lilly screamed. “You bitch. You—”
“What is going on here?” Benjamin asked from the doorway.
“She tricked my father into getting her pregnant,” Lilly said hysterically, still trying to slap her.
Keeping a firm grip on Lilly’s hair, Delilah dodged Lilly’s hand. “She’s insane. I never had sex with Howard. He was impotent.”
Lilly shrieked. “He couldn’t have been impotent. He was a womanizer,” she screamed, her face red with fury. She swiped her perfectly manicured nails across Delilah’s arm.
“Ouch!” Delilah cried, kicking Lilly’s shin and pulling her hair harder.