Tempting Fate

by Lisa Mondello

  “I'm sorry, I must have missed something. I thought you wanted to talk.”

  She swung around to face him. “I like baseball, too. And if we're going to go completely nuts and get married, even if only for convenience sake, I think we should at least have one or two things in common or we'll drive each other crazy. Don't you think?”

  “I suppose you're right.”

  She smiled. “Good. I don't want to agree to anything until we know for sure this is something we both can live with.”

  She went to the desk and picked up the pie, handing it to him. A smile so wide stretched across her face and touched her brilliant sapphire eyes. There was something about her freckled nose and sunshine face that made Jonah's heart stop. He reached for the plate and found it warm as the mellow feeling kindling inside him.

  “I'll see you then,” she said.

  As Maggie spun through the office door, Jonah couldn't help but feel that luck was finally on his side. She hadn't said yes, but this was a start.

  * * *

  They’d barely talked through the game. Frustration coupled with impatience tumbled inside Jonah as they walked out of the stadium after the game, into the crowded street toward his parked car. Maggie hadn't uttered a single word about marrying him and he wondered, with regret, if she'd suddenly changed her mind. Although he'd enjoyed Maggie's company immensely, perhaps she didn't feel the same.

  They ate dinner at a local restaurant and talked about generalities, the city, and movies they'd seen. Maggie seemed content just laughing and enjoying the cool summer evening.

  It was the first time Jonah had seen her wearing something other than her waitress uniform. Tonight she'd worn a coral sleeveless sundress that hung loosely to her mid-thigh. She left her dark hair down, letting it spill across her shoulders. Every once in a while she'd flip a lock of hair behind her ear, only to have it break free and fall back against her cheek. Her hair was much longer than what it originally appeared when up in a ponytail. And infinitely more tempting, making him long to bury his fingers in it.

  For the moment, Jonah tried to enjoy just being in Maggie's company. He didn't want to think about the fact that he had only seven more days to produce a wife to his grandfather.

  When coffee was served after dinner, she said, “I read an article about you in the newspaper. It was pretty impressive.”

  Jonah shrugged. “So you believe I'm not some deranged person who just fancies asking total strangers to marry him?”

  She pursed her lips and teased, “I didn't quite say that. I still can't believe you want to marry someone you don't even know.”

  Her face suddenly grew serious. Jonah's heart stopped.

  “I do think we should talk a little more, though,” she said quietly, nervously flipping a packet of sugar with two fingers onto the linen tablecloth. “There are some things that need to be said before we can go any further.”

  “Right. I can get down on one knee, if you'd like?”

  It took a second for his quip to register fully, but when it did, Maggie laughed, her bare shoulders shaking back and forth with the motion. “Hey, no one is stopping you.”

  He pushed out from his chair and stood next to her by the table, oblivious to the people in the crowded restaurant.

  “Not here though,” Maggie said, panic mixing in with her laughter.

  Maggie was silent as they drove back to the tenement. She sat fidgeting with her fingers and staring out the window. He wished he knew what she was thinking.

  As he pulled up to the curb on the quiet street, she took a deep breath and suddenly appeared nervous. The soft glow of the lamppost sprinkled light on her rich brown hair and blue eyes, making them luminous.

  “I'll do it,” she finally blurted out. “I'll marry you.”

  “Not that I'm not overjoyed that my problem is solved, but what was the catalyst for this change of heart?”

  She blew out a quick breath and smiled sweetly, cocking her head to one side. “I had a good time tonight.”

  He shook his head, chuckling.

  “No, I'm serious,” she said. “People never seem to put stock in that fact that you can be in love but not enjoy being with the person you're married to. I think that is important. Don't you?”

  “I suppose you're right.”

  “We don't love each other,” she said softly.

  He didn't know why, but the way she said it made the whole arrangement feel absurd. He'd never believed in love at first site. Working with the street kids had thrust in his face how badly relationships can destroy people. Still, part of him wished that such a thing as love and devotion existed. It wasn't as if he'd had the opportunity to see a decent loving relationship first hand, given the fact he'd lived in boarding schools and his parents traveled so frequently in his youth. He hated to admit he'd developed a cynical crust after all these years.

  “We seem to get along. At least we can become friends, and that's a start,” she said.

  She quickly glanced up at the top floor to her apartment. When he followed her gaze, he saw that the lights were on.

  “I'd ask you to come up so we can work out the details but I live with my mother and for sure we wouldn't have any privacy.”

  “This is private.”

  She turned in the seat to look straight on at him and drew in a short breath. “Okay, here's the deal. My mother is the only family I have, and I can't imagine leaving her here in Boston to go live in another country.”

  “We won't be living in England.”

  “Then where?”

  “I have a house just outside the city. We'll be living there. You'll be no more than a limo ride from your mother.”

  She sighed as if relieved. “I know you said that you'd compensate me for helping you-”

  “Of course, I'll pay you-”

  “It sounds so seedy when you say it that way.”

  He puffed his cheeks and ran his hand over his head, resting it at the back of his neck. “I hadn't thought of it. Catherine was very up front about the money and never had-”

  “I don't want your money,” she insisted. “I mean, I have to admit that it's appealing in some small way, but that's not why I'm doing this.”

  “I peg your pardon?”

  “I'm not doing this for the money.”

  Jonah stared at her. The words didn't sink in any better the second time around. Her soft sapphire eyes held a determined fire that he found endearing. “Why on earth would you agree to a marriage a man in name only?”

  “Bingo. I want your name.”

  She held his gaze fiercely and he realized she was serious. He swallowed hard. “What's so wrong with your name that you'd marry just to change yours?”

  She gave a nervous laugh. “Anything is better than Bony Bonelli.”

  “Bony Bonelli?”

  “It was a childhood nickname I always hated. But, I'm not doing this for me actually. The truth is I want it for my baby.” Maggie nibbled at her bottom lip. “I'm pregnant.”

  # # #

  Chapter Four

  “I realize this must be quite a shock.”

  “You could say that,” Jonah blurt out, expelling a burst of air from his lungs and then dragging in a cleansing breath.

  “Like I said, I don't want your money or anything else from you. Just acknowledgment that you are this child's father, your name and possibly later...” Maggie let out a staccato breath and rushed on. “You see, I didn't have a father growing up, in any way, shape or form. I knew his name, but I didn't share it, and he never attempted to see me. From what my mother told me he vehemently denied that I was even his.

  “I know what it's like to be teased at school every Parents' Day or school function, being the only kid left standing alone. Oh, my mother and my grandmother were always there, but...it wasn't the same. A kid whose parents were divorced had an excuse. They didn't get teased as much as a child with no father at all. I can't bear to think that this baby will go through that pain.”

 
Jonah's mind began to race. Had she actually said she wanted him to be this child's father?

  Keeping the family's estate had been in the forefront of his mind. When he'd concocted the plan to marry Catherine out of convenience, somehow between the thought and the implementation the idea had gotten colossally complicated.

  Give away his name to a child that wasn't his? Not really his? And then what? He certainly couldn't proclaim a child as his own and simply walk away. Have a nice life kid. Call me when you're eighteen and there's no chance in the world that I can screw your life up anymore. No, he could never do that.

  “The baby's father is...?”

  “Not in the picture,” she said with a frown, a hint of sadness reflected in her eyes. “In fact, I don't think he's in the continental United States, anymore.”

  Jonah cleared his throat. “Did you...does he know about the baby?”

  A soft sigh escaping through Maggie's lips. “I told him. But he's...well, let's just say that Keith's not what you look for when you want stability.”

  “He knows you're having his baby, and he just took off on you?”

  She nodded and Jonah swore under his breath, shaking his head as he looked out onto the narrow street ahead.

  He'd seen this countless times at the Haven House. Kids turned to the streets when no one at home gave a damn. It never ceased to amaze him how anyone could turn their back on their own flesh and blood.

  He snapped his attention back to Maggie. “Where is he?”

  Her eyebrows knitted together and she smiled wryly. “What are you going to do, beat him up for me?”

  “Of course not. I just wondered how out of the picture this...the father of the child is.”

  “Alaska. At least I think he's still in Alaska. He may have gotten tired of working on the gas lines and gone back to Colorado to work as a Ranger again. He doesn't come back to Boston very often.”

  “Are you in love with him?”

  Maggie's eyes became as wide as saucers, and glowed as bright as a deer's eyes trapped by a car's headlights. It didn't seem like such an odd question to ask given their current discussion. He hadn't even given it a second thought. And now the answer she gave was something he suddenly felt was paramount if they were to discuss this arrangement any further.

  She wanted him to give her baby his name. If she was in love with another man who may come into the picture and complicate matters, like with Catherine and Derek, he wanted to know about it now.

  “You don't have to worry about me leaving you stranded at the last minute,” she answered quietly. “Keith and I are...were only friends.”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip and stared out the window, clearly uncomfortable. If there wasn't so much at stake for both of them, he'd have kicked himself.

  “I've offended you. I'm sorry. I had no right to pry into your private affairs.”

  “Yes, you do. I know what I'm asking of you, and I'm fully aware of what you expect of me. I think it's best that there are no misunderstandings if we are actually going to go through with this agreement. You have a right to know all about this baby.”

  Twisting a strand of hair between her fingers, Maggie took a deep breath and started and stopped twice before she finally spoke.

  “I grew up here in this tenement, with just my mother and my grandmother. Three generations of Bonelli women. Let me tell you, it wasn't always a picnic. I'm not very much like my mother, but my grandmother and I had a very close relationship.”

  She stared out the window up at the top floor apartment for a few quiet moments. Jonah couldn't help but reach across the space between them to grasp her hand. It felt tiny in hand and it didn't surprise him that she was trembling. She turned, giving him a weak smile, her eyes glistening with moisture.

  “It was right after my grandmother died. Keith was a good friend of mine in high school. We'd never been romantically involved. Just good friends.

  “It was an incredibly crazy time for me. For my mother. I'd quit college to help work at the coffee shop while my grandmother was sick. Mom was a mess. She needed me emotionally and I had to be strong for her to get through it all. You have to understand, my mother has been alone since my father left. My whole life it was just the three of us and now I'm all she has left.”

  Envy stabbed deep and hard at Jonah's heart, making him feel raw. For all the wealth he'd had in his life, he'd never had the kind of commitment and affection Maggie seemed to have.

  “Mom was having a hard time functioning on a daily basis just trying to run from work to the nursing home. Toward the end the stress was so bad, I was afraid she'd have a nervous breakdown.”

  From the light shining down from the porch, Jonah could see the moisture that had brimmed in her eyes had spilled over and a lone tear now trickled down the side of her cheek. She cleared her throat and swiped the stray tear away with one quick movement.

  “What about you?” he asked softly.

  She lifted her shoulder just slightly. “I held up pretty good through the funeral and a little while after. Things seemed to get back to as normal a mode as they could without my grandmother around. Then one afternoon after I'd closed the coffee shop I was looking at some notes my grandmother had made in a notebook. You know, just some old recipe scribbled in her handwriting. She'd doodled a little smiley face in the corner and wrote 'Maggie Pie's favorite'. She use to call me that.”

  He couldn't help but smile, imagining the scene of a young Maggie hanging over the counter in her school uniform, helping her grandmother make pie.

  “Before I knew it all that backed up emotion came pouring out. I missed her so much and had held it in for so long. Keith was there. I don't even remember why he was in town. Like I said, he was an old friend and he knew my grandmother. He used to hang out at the coffee shop after school with me sometimes and sweep up just so my grandmother would give him a slice of pie. I got the obsession to feed people from her, in case you were wondering.”

  They both chuckled for a moment, but Maggie's expression grew sad as the laughter faded.

  “Keith's not father material, if you know what I mean. In many ways, he's still a kid himself. Probably always will be.”

  Irritation crept through him. “That doesn't relieve him of his responsibility to you and the baby,” Jonah insisted, being careful to keep his tone even.

  “You mean marry me?” Maggie chuckled softly. “He didn't ask and quite frankly, part of me was relieved. It would never work out and we'd end up hating each other because of it. I can't marry a man I don't love.”

  Jonah tossed her a questioning glance.

  “This is totally different,” she insisted.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “You said it yourself, this is a business arrangement. You get your house, and my child will have a legitimate name.”

  “Either way, Maggie, your child will have a perfectly fine name. Yours.”

  Maggie shook her head, unconvinced. “You just don't get it. Society may be more open to women having children out of wedlock, but kids...well, sometimes they can show no mercy. I remember what it was like. I don't want my child to go through that kind of pain.”

  He shifted in the leather bucket seat of the BMW so he was facing her squarely. He wasn't exactly sure how this situation could possibly work, especially given his history.

  “You're asking me to be this child's father.”

  “In a way. For a year anyway. That's something he can take with him for the rest of his life. That's worth much more than money.”

  Jonah shook his head, trying to clear it. Trying to understand how this could possibly benefit both of them without creating a huge problem in the end.

  “It's not that simple. I can't just walk away from a child once I've taken responsibility for him.”

  She sighed. “Look, I have no illusions this will be a permanent arrangement for us. I don't intend to trap you in any way. After the year is up, we'll go our separate ways.”

  Jonah leaned
his elbow on the steering wheel and rubbed his jaw. “And what about the child? Have you really thought about how this will affect him or her in the end?”

  Maggie reached for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her touch was warm and friendly, but the sudden contact was electric.

  “If we can become friends, maybe later, if this baby wants to write you or call to say hi, you won't turn him away.”

  His whole body stiffened, and his voice held a hard edge as he spoke. “I would never do that.”

  Maggie was unfettered. Instead, she seemed relieved. “That's good. In fact, it's great because that's all I'm asking for. I'll take care of explaining everything when he's old enough to understand.”

  Jonah ran his hand over his head and stared out into the street. “It just doesn't seem as simple as it sounds.”

  “Maybe not. But in the end, we'll both have what we want, won't we? You'll have your family home in England and my baby will grow up not having to make excuses and wild stories about a why he doesn't have his father's name. He won't be teased about being...”

  She drew in a deep breath as if it ached her to say the word. He wondered how many times Maggie had suffered hearing that very thing said to her as a child and decided it must have been often enough for the pain to dig deep inside her. Deep enough that she'd trade a love for a marriage without it.

  “I just want my baby to know he has a father that cared. At least for a little while. Even if it is only to send a birthday card and a picture once in a while. He won't have just checked out. You don't know what it's like to grow up not knowing. To think that you've been left behind as if you didn't even exist.”

  If she only knew.

  “But Maggie, your baby does have a father.”

  “Yeah, one that doesn't want him.”

  “Even if he doesn't want to be in the baby's life now, surely as time goes on--”

  “Oh, you mean like my father? Believe me, it's not going to happen. As soon as Keith heard I was pregnant he arranged to leave town. He told me directly he was sorry, but he couldn't handle it. He'd gladly step aside if someone else steps in to claim this baby.”

  Her eyes were so sad when she spoke that it nearly split Jonah's heart in two.