What Makes A Father (HQR Special Edition)

by Teresa Southwick

  Carla pulled two paper-wrapped sandwiches and napkins from the bag. She handed one over. “I need details. A text saying ‘twins’ father showed up and DNA confirms’ isn’t much information.”

  “I haven’t had much time in the last few months.”

  “Two babies. I get it. And you’re a saint, by the way. So tell me everything.”

  Annie explained about contacting the men Jessica thought could be the father and Mason showing up last. “He’s an army doctor just back from Afghanistan. So, military and medical.”

  Carla took a bite of her turkey sub and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. “He sounds honorable to me. I haven’t known you long but I’m learning that you’re good at finding flaws.”

  Not so far, Annie thought. “You know me pretty well. I’m not holding my breath he’ll stay honorable. For now he’s good with Charlie and Sarah. Not too proud to ask for help. The first time I left him alone with them, he called his mom for backup.” Annie wasn’t sure why, but she’d believed him when he’d said he wouldn’t have let her think he handled the twins without a problem. “Florence, his mom, is fantastic. Loves kids and thrilled to be a grandmother. She has them now.”

  “Lillian’s sister is Florence. Has to be the same family,” her friend concluded. “Like I said, small world.”

  “No kidding. If Gabriel looks anything like Mason, I can see why you think you could use the exercise.”

  “He’s pretty, but a little too dark and brooding for me. Besides, he keeps reminding everyone that he’s only there temporarily.” Carla shrugged. “So the twins’ father is a hottie? It could be a reality show—Real Hotties of Huntington Hills.”

  Annie laughed then thoughtfully chewed a bite of her sandwich. “‘Hottie’ would be an accurate description.”

  “You like him.” Carla’s voice had a “gotcha” tone.

  “Why in the world would you come to that conclusion from what I just said?”

  “Good question,” Carla mused. “Maybe the way you were so deliberately aloof.”

  It was a little scary how well this woman knew her, Annie thought. They’d hit it off when working together on the branding campaign for Make Me a Match. Annie had spent some time in their office to get a feel for the dating service but the nephew had never poked his head out of his inner sanctum. Her friendship with Carla was relatively new but her assessment of Annie’s feelings about Mason wasn’t too far off the mark. Still, an attraction was no reason to be giddy. Just the opposite, in fact.

  “It doesn’t matter whether or not I like him. Men are notoriously unreliable.”

  “You know I agree with you about that.” Carla ate the last of her sandwich then wiped her hands on a napkin. “I know we’re fairly new friends and this is probably invading your privacy. Feel free to say it’s none of my business, but what’s your story? Why are you commitment averse?”

  “Let’s call it daddy issues. And before you ask, it’s both biological and step. My mother has terrible taste in men. And you already know about Dwayne.” Her ex-boyfriend. The jerk had sworn to always have her back but couldn’t get away fast enough when she’d become the twins’ legal guardian and brought them home. “I’m not going to be complacent and starry-eyed then get blindsided when Mason decides he can’t handle being a father to twins. I can only deal with one day at a time and for now he’s doing all the right things.”

  “Like what?” Carla asked.

  “Well...” Annie thought for a moment and fought a smile she knew would look tender and goofy. “Hardly a day has gone by that he hasn’t come to see them. He said he’s already lost too much time being their father and doesn’t want to miss another single moment with his kids that he doesn’t absolutely have to.”

  “How sweet is that? Certainly not the behavior of a man who’s going to abandon them,” Carla pointed out.

  “Maybe.” It was hard to argue with that assertion so Annie didn’t. “He works in the emergency room at Huntington Hills hospital and he looks so tired sometimes it’s a wonder he can stand up, let alone hold one of the babies.”

  “Wow.” Carla stared at her in disbelief. “Do you have recent pictures of the twins?”

  “What kind of mom would I be if I didn’t?” Annie proudly pulled a cell phone out of her slacks’ pocket, found the most recent photos and then handed it over so her friend could scroll through.

  “The twins are beautiful. And I say again—wow.” Carla’s eyebrows went up. “He’s such a cutie, and I’m not talking about Charlie. This one of Mason holding both babies is a seriously ‘aww moment.’”

  Annie glanced at the picture and smiled at the memory of Mason dozing off while they were on his chest. He held them securely in place with a big hand on each of their backs. The moment did have a serious cuteness quotient, which was why she’d taken the photo. “More than once he’s fallen asleep on my sofa.”

  “Oh?”

  “Down girl.” She hadn’t been able to resist snapping the picture, but it didn’t mean anything. Certainly not that she was looking at the future. One day at a time worked just fine for her. “Naps on my couch are about a demanding career, work schedule and his children,” Annie said. “It has nothing to do with me. Or us.”

  “Still, he’s not a troll and he likes kids. That’s a good start.”

  “There is no start,” Annie argued. “How can there be when he doubts my character? He made it clear that he doesn’t trust me.”

  “What does he have against you? The two of you just met.”

  “He was justifiably curious about why my sister didn’t contact him when she found out she was pregnant, about the possibility that he was a father. I got the feeling that, with him, that lie of omission extended to me because I’m Jessica’s sister.”

  “Is it possible that you’re inventing reasons to push him away? Like I said, you’re good at finding flaws,” Carla said. “Does it bother you that Jessica slept with him first?”

  “Of course not. And, as you pointed out, I just met him a few weeks ago.” Annie analyzed the question a little deeper. “And by first you’re suggesting that I will sleep with him, too. That’s just not going to happen.”

  Carla shrugged. “If you say so.”

  “You’re seeing a relationship where none exists. Is Lillian working you too hard at Make Me a Match?” Annie teased. “Maybe you can’t leave work at the office?”

  Her friend laughed ruefully. “We need satisfied customers. And they need to spread the word about the valuable service we provide if the business is going to survive.”

  “I’ll talk it up and, if I can, send clients your way,” Annie promised.

  But she wouldn’t be one of them. She had enough on her hands without falling in love. Lust was a different thing altogether and had a mind of its own. Proof of that was the vision of twisted sheets and strong arms that had been keeping her awake at night. And those arms didn’t belong to just anyone. They were definitely Mason’s.

  * * *

  Mason was at the apartment with the twins several days after his mom had watched them. Annie was putting in more hours at her office because the deadline for the high-profile campaign was approaching fast. He’d gotten Sarah to sleep and had spent the last fifteen minutes walking Charlie. Now he carefully lifted the baby from his shoulder and put him on his back in the crib, beside his sister. He held his breath, fingers crossed that the little boy was finally sound enough asleep that the movement wouldn’t wake him. No sound, no movement. Mission objective achieved.

  He looked down at them—his children—and thought for the billionth time how beautiful and perfect they were. And how lucky he was to have them. Sure, he hadn’t known from the beginning about the pregnancy and could whine about that, but it wouldn’t have changed anything. A lot of active-duty service members missed out on big family moments because of deployment. The truth was, he couldn’t ha
ve been there for their birth even if he’d known.

  So he hadn’t been able to support Annie through the shock and sadness of losing her sister. A little extra help with the babies wouldn’t have hurt, either. Somehow she’d had the strength to do it all by herself. On the other hand, he wouldn’t be going through the legal maze of securing his paternal rights now if things had been different.

  It had been a month since he’d stood at Annie’s door for the first time and he could hardly remember a life without his kids—and her—in it. He’d seen the commercials on TV for companies that facilitated meets for people who wanted a relationship. The tagline: Never More Ready to Fall in Love. Mason was the opposite of that. Never less ready for love.

  The collapse of his marriage had been a horrible warning. He found out that even if one made all the right moves and everything was perfect, it was still possible to fail spectacularly. And painfully. Because of things out of his control. He wouldn’t make the same mistake.

  That didn’t mean he couldn’t be in awe of Annie Campbell. He thought about her more than he liked, even when he was slammed with patients in the emergency room. She was quite a woman—sexy, beautiful, maternal, funny and smart. Everything a man could want. So why hadn’t a guy snatched her up?

  The doorbell rang and he swore under his breath, then checked the babies for any sign it woke them. Neither moved so he hurried to the front door, ready to chew out whoever had been stupid enough to ignore the baby sleeping sign.

  He opened the door and saw a thirty-something guy standing there. He was well dressed and nice-looking. Mason wanted to strangle him. “Can you read?”

  “What?”

  “Did you see the sign?” He pointed. “The babies are sleeping.”

  “Right. Sorry, man. I forgot.”

  “How to read?” Now he really wanted to strangle this guy.

  “No. That the babies are here.” He held out his hand. “Dwayne Beller.”

  Mason hesitated then shook hands. “Mason Blackburne.”

  “The father?”

  “Of the twins? Yeah.” Now his curiosity was on high alert. “Who are you?”

  “Annie’s boyfriend.” He shifted uncomfortably. “At least, I was.”

  “So you’re not now?”

  “No.”

  Mason felt an odd sort of relief that she was no longer with this guy. “What happened?”

  “Is Annie here?”

  “No.” He stood feet apart, blocking the doorway.

  “Do you mind telling me where she is?”

  “Yes.” They were sizing each other up. “Mind telling me what happened with you and Annie?”

  Dwayne shifted his stance uncomfortably. “Look, man, would you just tell her I stopped by?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’d like her to know that I was here.”

  Mason didn’t miss the fact that Dwayne was looking pretty irritated. It didn’t bother him at all. “I meant why don’t you want to talk about what happened?”

  “Because it’s none of your business. It’s between Annie and me—”

  “Dwayne?” Annie was almost at the top of the stairs and her eyes widened at the scene unfolding in front of her door.

  She had several bags of groceries in her hands and didn’t look happy to see the guy. That didn’t bother Mason at all, either.

  “Hi, Annie. You look good.” The ex-boyfriend had a sheepish expression on his face and glanced at Mason, who was still blocking the door. “Can I come in?”

  “Why?” she asked warily.

  “To talk,” he said. “I really miss talking to you.”

  There was hurt and disillusionment in her eyes, proof the line wasn’t working. “I don’t think there’s anything left for us to say to each other.”

  “Please just hear me out.”

  “These bags are getting heavy.” She elbowed past him and Mason stepped aside to let her through. “And you said quite enough the last time I saw you. At Jessica’s memorial service. Your timing left a lot to be desired.”

  Dwayne elbowed his way past Mason and followed her into the apartment, watching her set bags on the table. “Look, Annie, that wasn’t my finest hour. I admit it, but—”

  “There’s no but,” she snapped. “At the worst time in my life you walked out on me. That doesn’t deserve a but.”

  “No one feels worse about that than me.” The jerk held out his hand, a pleading gesture. “The thought of being a father freaked me out, okay? Two at once is a lot.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.” Her tone dripped sarcasm.

  “You were distracted and I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to be there for me. For us. But I’ve had time to think. I miss you. I can’t forget you.”

  Mason could understand that. Annie was unforgettable and this idiot had voluntarily walked out on her. The last thing he should get was a do-over.

  Fortunately she appeared unmoved by his words. “Honestly, I haven’t had time to think about you at all, what with two infants to take care of. The fact is, you never cross my mind. In case that’s not clear enough, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell I would ever consider taking you back. You abandoned me once. I won’t give you a chance to do that to me again.”

  “I wish you’d reconsider. We were good together. At home and at work.”

  Dwayne must be desperate, Mason thought. After what she’d just said it was clear she’d made up her mind.

  Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, now I get it. And the verdict is official. You’re a conniving weasel dog and I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  “Annie, please. I really need this—”

  “Oh? I needed you,” she said. “And you couldn’t get out of here fast enough then. I’d like you to do that now. Just go.”

  “Annie—”

  Mason had seen enough. He moved next to her. “The lady asked you to leave.”

  Dwayne’s ingratiating performance disappeared. “What are you going to do? Throw me out?”

  “If I have to.” Mason stared at him and knew the exact moment the moron realized it was over.

  “Your loss, Annie. Remember that.”

  “In my opinion, I dodged a bullet,” she snapped back.

  Without another word, the creep left and slammed the door. Hard.

  Mason and Annie looked at each other and said at the same time, “The babies.”

  They hurried down the hall to check on them but Charlie and Sarah were still sleeping soundly. In unison, they heaved a sigh of parental relief then quietly backed out of the room and returned to the kitchen.

  She met his gaze. “So, that happened.”

  “He’s determined. I’ll give him that.”

  “Yeah.” She closed her eyes for a moment, as if erasing any vision of Dwayne from her mind. After letting out a long breath she said, “I could have called him much worse than a weasel dog.”

  “Me, too, but that was pretty descriptive.”

  “It was a compliment compared to what I was thinking. He’s lucky I didn’t throw something at him.”

  Mason studied her face and realized he had never seen her furious. The cleansing breath she’d taken hadn’t cleansed anything. There was more. “What else did he do? Besides leave you at the worst possible time.”

  She met his gaze. “The last thing he said before bailing on me was that raising some other guy’s brats wasn’t what he’d signed up for.”

  “Son of a bitch—” Mason felt the words like a body blow. He didn’t like the guy but Annie had at one time. He couldn’t imagine the scope of betrayal she’d experienced. Now he was furious, too. “Good thing you threw him out. I’d have tossed him over the railing.”

  Surprisingly, she laughed. “That’s a very satisfying image.”

  “What did he mean about w
orking well together?”

  “He’s a graphic artist, too. It’s how we met, collaborating on a job.”

  So they had something in common, spoke each other’s language. “And when he said he needed this? Any idea what that was about?”

  “He’s employed by a rival firm. My guess is that they’re in competition for this big contract I’ve been working on. If I took him back, he’d have access to my team’s creative direction and could take steps to counter in their own presentation.”

  “So he wanted to steal from you,” he said, seething with anger.

  “That’s my guess.”

  “Prince of a guy. Just oozing integrity. Damn right you dodged a bullet.”

  “Wow,” she said. “Don’t sugarcoat it. Tell me how you really feel.”

  “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.” That was completely sincere. He would never hurt her. Not deliberately. But he couldn’t hold this back. “I just have to ask. What the hell did you ever see in that guy?”

  Her hazel eyes turned more green than gold. It was a clue that he’d crossed a line. Her next words confirmed that he’d said something wrong.

  High color appeared on her cheeks. “It’s really easy to be on the outside looking in and draw conclusions. I’ve known you, what? Fifteen minutes? Yes, we share the babies and you’re their father. Calling them brats makes him lower than pond scum. But I get to say that. You don’t get a say about my personal life, especially for something that happened before I met you.”

  “Annie, I—”

  She held up a hand. “Now is not a good time to talk. I have another bag of stuff to bring inside. I’ll get it,” she said when he was about to offer. “I’m embarrassed by what just happened and taking it out on you. I need the exercise to shake off this unreasonable reaction.”

  Without another word, she walked out the door. Mason let her go even though every instinct was pushing him to go after her. But moments later he heard her cry out just before a scream of pain. He rushed outside and looked down. Annie was in a heap on the cement at the bottom of the stairs.