“Joey Larson,” Noah whispered.
The boys had seemed to get along fairly well on the way home from their Tiger Cubs’ trip.
“What’d he do—dare you to kiss Mandy again?”
“No. He made fun of me ‘cause I don’t have a dad. He said you went with me to the museum so my....” Noah clamped his mouth shut and turned away.
“Because we’re pals and I love you?”
“No-o.” Noah buried his face in Tyler’s chest and sobbed. “He said you went with me so Mommy would take her clothes off with you.”
The things first graders knew amazed Tyler. He had no doubt where Joey had gotten his ideas from. Paula must have been flapping her gums to one of her friends in front of her child.
“I went with you to the museum because I like being with you, Buddy. It had nothing to do with your mother.”
Noah drew back and lifted his teary gaze to Tyler’s. “J-Joey said my daddy wouldn’t marry my mom ‘cause he didn’t want me.”
“No.” Tyler squeezed him tight and pulled the little boy into his lap. “That’s not true.”
“Then why?”
He pressed his face to Noah’s hair. “Your father ran away because he didn’t want any child. You weren’t even born yet. So how could he know whether or not he wanted you?”
“Well, I don’t want that man to be my dad.”
If the child felt that way without even knowing the sort of person his father was, how would he deal with discovering he’d sprung from the loins of a rapist and murderer?
If Tyler had anything to say about it, Noah wouldn’t find out—at least until he was an adult.
“He isn’t your dad, Buddy. Just because a man gives a woman a baby, it doesn’t automatically turn him into a dad. That takes love. And that man has nothing to do with the kind of person you are or grow up to be. That’s your decision. And with the right example, I know you’ll become an honorable man.”
He studied the doubt flickering in Noah’s eyes, and the words he’d uttered reverberated in his head. Luke was right. He’d spent his whole life trying to convince the world he was nothing like his old man.
All that time, he’d bent over backwards to become the person he could respect. He had nothing to prove to anyone—not even himself.
“Can’t you marry my mom and be my dad?” Noah sniffled. “I’d be really good. I promise.”
“I want to, Noah. Very much.” Tyler hugged him to his chest. “But I need some time to convince your mom I’m good enough to be your daddy.”
“You are. I’ll tell her to marry you.”
He could just imagine Annie’s reaction to her son pleading Tyler’s case. “You look as if you’re feeling a lot better. After you wash your face, if the nurse says it’s okay, do you think you can go back to class?”
“Okay.” The little boy hopped off Tyler’s lap and hurried to the sink.
After sharing the circumstances that led to the boys’ fight, Tyler managed to convince the nurse to make an exception and allow Noah to remain at school.
After he hugged Noah in the outer office and the child left, Tyler turned back to the nurse. “So how is Joey Larson? Is the boy all right?”
“I’m afraid he’s not a pretty sight, Mr. Fitzpatrick. I sent him home with a split lip and a swollen eye. He’ll probably have a shiner by tomorrow.”
“That’s a shame.”
As much as he felt bad for the boy, Tyler couldn’t help giving Noah a mental high-five. He needed to teach the child that using his fists wasn’t the way to settle a dispute, but he was still proud of the little boy for standing up for his mother.
On the way to his car, he met Paula dashing toward the school’s front door. “Whoa!” He grabbed her arm and stopped her. “Joey already left.”
“He did? I forgot to charge my cell phone, and when I got home, there was a message on my voicemail—”
“The nurse probably called Greg when she couldn’t get a hold of you. He must have picked him up.”
Paula nodded. “Can you tell me what happened?”
He’d tell her all right. Tyler lit into her, repeating all the hurtful things her son had said to Noah about his mother. “I know he didn’t come up with all of that on his own. So, in the future, when you feel compelled to talk about a person behind her back, don’t do it in front of your child.”
Paula’s cheeks suffused with color. “I’m sorry. Joey must’ve overheard Greg and me arguing last night. I never would’ve said those things if he hadn’t been throwing Annie up to me as some paragon and talking about what a good mother she’d be to Mandy.”
“You’re sounding a lot like a jealous woman who doesn’t like her husband admiring another woman. Is it possible you’re not as indifferent to Greg as you like to pretend?”
Paula blushed and shrugged one shoulder.
“Could you by any chance actually love him?”
She turned her face away and admitted in a begrudging tone, “Maybe.”
“Then maybe you should go home and tell your husband that.”
Paula turned to face him again. “He said you’re a fool if you don’t marry Annie.”
“Well, Greg and I are in agreement about that. You could take a few lessons from Annie.” Luke’s words from that morning reverberated through Tyler’s memory, and he repeated them to Paula. “Happiness doesn’t come from having the best of everything. It comes from making the best of what you have. If you love Greg, that should be enough. You don’t need the country club and a big house to be happy together. All you need is each other.”
“That’s easy for someone with your income to say,” she muttered.
“No,”—Tyler shook his head—“it’s not.” Paula had no idea how much his refusal to admit that had almost cost him.
~*~
The mattress shifted as the dog leapt from the bed and raced to the front door, barking like a maniac. Annie stumbled into the living room, rubbing her eyes and swung open the door.
Tyler stood on her front porch in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, surrounded by suitcases and boxes. “Hi.”
“What’s all of this?”
He scratched Mitch behind his ears. “I figured, if I can’t convince you to marry me and live at my house, I have no choice but to move my daughter in with you. She needs her mother.”
He wanted to give her custody of Mandy?
“That’s crazy.”
He hauled everything he’d brought into her living room and glanced around the tiny cottage. “Granted, it’ll be a little crowded, but she needs your love more than she needs my big house. We can fix your room up for her, and I’ll move the sofa bed from my study into your living room for you to sleep on. Of course, after our baby’s born we’ll have to squeeze a crib into one of the kids’ rooms.”
Annie’s mouth dropped open like a trap door with a broken latch.
He pressed his fingers over her lips. “Don’t even think about denying that you’re carrying my baby.”
“I wasn’t going to. I think you’ve lost your mind.”
“Nope. I’m quite sane. I was nuts before when I thought I had to prove something to myself and the world. You won’t marry me because you think you can’t be the wife I need. So I’m going to do whatever it takes to become the husband you need.”
“I don’t want you to be any different, Tyler.”
“Well, what do you know? I feel the same way about you. If lowering my standard of living is what it takes to convince you to marry me, then that’s what I’ll do.”
She sank down on one of his suitcases and rubbed her face. “I don’t want you to change your lifestyle for me.”
“You’ve left me no choice, sweetheart. Mandy and I can’t be happy without you.”
“But what about your career?”
He pulled Annie back to her feet and slipped his arms around her. “I’ll close my practice and get a position in a corporate legal department where I won’t have any social obligations. My income won’
t be nearly as good, but it’ll still be more than enough for us to live on. And that’s all we really need to be happy together.”
“You’re not serious?”
“Dead serious.” He brushed his lips over hers.
A man wouldn’t offer to give up everything he’d worked for in life out a sense of duty, would he? He didn’t want her just because she was pregnant.
“I need you, Annie, and I love you more than I ever dreamed I could love a woman. Your smile is the first thing I want to see in the morning, and your sighs of pleasure are the last thing I want to hear at night.”
“Oh, Tyler, I love you so much.” Her heart swelled as she flung her arms around his neck. “You’re not the only one who’s willing to change your life for the person you love. Everything you said about me was true. So I went to the library today and got a bunch of books on social etiquette and entertaining. But I can’t marry you until I’m sure I can become the wife and hostess you need.”
He kissed each of her eyelids and the tip of her nose. “I don’t want a hostess. And you’re already the woman I need as my wife. This morning I realized how misplaced my priorities have been.”
“But I don’t want you to change your life or give up your practice.”
“Then Noah, Mitch, and you will have to come live with Mandy and me. Because we’re not letting you go.”
Her throat closed up as he drew back and gazed down at her, his eyes mirroring the awe she felt. His mouth curved into the same excited grin Noah got whenever he had a secret.
“I have some presents for you.” He pulled an envelope containing the results of her GED test from one of the back pockets of his jeans.
She opened the envelope and read the report. “I scored 760 points out of 800 in math and a 740 in science. Wow. I knew I’d done well, but I never expected—”
“I’m impressed.” Tyler smiled. “But not surprised.” He pulled an application for the community college from his other rear pocket. “I knew you would do well, so I called the registrar, and she didn’t see any reason you couldn’t be admitted for the spring semester.”
“College?”
“Don’t you want to go?”
As usual, his faith in her and the depth of his love overwhelmed her. “Very much so.”
“I’ll hire a live-in housekeeper to clean and help watch the kids. They’re running a special, limited time offer right now for women who’ve recently earned their diploma.”
“Oh?” She peered at him sideways. “What’s the deal?”
“They’ll let your husband pay for your tuition and books providing you agree to do all of your studying with him.”
She stuck her lower lip out in feigned disappointment. “But I don’t have a husband.”
“Well—I guess you have a real problem.” He grinned and dug into the front pocket of his pants, extracting a small satin box. Inside was a ring set with a dazzling emerald-cut diamond. “I didn’t choose a bigger stone because I figured anything larger would make you feel self-conscious.”
He knew her so well.
“Say you’ll marry me,” he whispered. “Be my wife and Mandy’s mommy.”
“Hmmm....” She held her chin, tapping it with her index finger. “I don’t know. I’d love to be Mandy’s mother. But I understand there are some awfully cute guys at that college.”
“If you don’t agree to marry me, I won’t give you my final gift. And you can be sure I saved the best for last.”
She crossed her arms in mock outrage. “That sounds an awful lot like blackmail.”
“No, we in the legal profession prefer to call it negotiating. A smart lawyer never gives away more at the bargaining table than he’s forced to. I always hold something back in my initial offer to use as incentive to clinch a deal. Especially when I want something as much as I want you.”
She allowed him to slide the ring on her finger and cupped his cheek with her other hand. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Counselor. All of this was more than enough to convince me.”
“I wasn’t taking any chances. Will you marry me?”
“I said I was convinced before I heard you have something else.” She grinned. “Now, I think I’ll wait to see what you were about to offer.”
“So you’re gonna play hardball, huh?” He pressed his lips to her ring finger. “What if I rescind my offer?”
“But you won’t, will you?” she asked, calling his bluff.
“You know very well you have me right where you want me. Name it, Annie, and it’s yours.”
“I’ll be satisfied with the last gift you have for me. Now what is it?”
The playful curve in his mouth drooped. Tipping her face toward him, he stared into her eyes and a shadow clouded his gaze. “The last thing I have for you is actually pretty serious.”
“What?” A deep sense of foreboding knotted her stomach.
“I know how much you’ve missed your dad and what losing him did to your life.”
“My father? What’s he got—”
“I asked Luke to do some poking around, and he thinks he’s discovered who murdered your dad.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. Did she dare hope her father’s senseless death might finally be explained? “Who was it?”
“Luke’s pretty sure it was Jared O’Donnell. The police are still investigating to build a stronger case against him.”
“Jared? Oh, no.” She swallowed hard, horrified but not especially shocked. “How can I ever tell Noah his father—”
“He doesn’t need to know for a very long time. From here on out, the only dad Noah has is me. Jared was merely an unwelcome DNA donor.”
Tyler never stopped giving. She threw her arms around his neck. “I love you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
“Can I assume from your enthusiastic response this closed the deal and you’ll marry me?”
Even though there was no question about her accepting his proposal, a mischievous part of her couldn’t resist teasing him. “I don’t know.” She slanted a watery smile at him. “It sounds as if Luke did an awful lot. Maybe I should marry him instead.”
“Over my dead body.” Tyler gathered her into the crook of his shoulder. “Besides, he’s not the matrimonial type, and he’d never love you or Noah the way I do.”
That was for sure. “So what did Luke uncover?”
“He thinks Jared was involved with a ring of thieves who were running a chop shop. If you can remember anything that happened with your dad that—”
“A chop shop? You mean like a group that steals cars for their parts?”
“Right.”
She slapped her hand over her mouth. “Maybe that’s why he was so interested in my dad’s customer records.”
Tyler’s gaze narrowed. “Do you know something?”
“Right before my father was killed, I remember him telling my mom that three of his customers’ luxury cars had been stolen in less than two weeks. He seemed pretty concerned by it. I should’ve realized Jared was up to something, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time because he worked for my dad.”
“What didn’t you think anything about?”
“A few weeks before that, I found Jared rooting through my dad’s files in the office and copying down customer’s addresses. When I asked him about it, he told me my father had asked him to get them for him.”
“Did he ever handle any paperwork involved in the business? The invoices, parts ordering—”
“No. But Jared had access to the cabinet that held the customers’ keys, too. He could’ve copied them while the vehicles were in the shop and gone to the customers’ homes a few days later to simply drive their cars away.”
“That’s exactly the kind of testimony the DA needs to nail him, Annie.”
“Won’t the defense accuse me of making it all up to get back at Jared for—”
“Possibly. But I don’t think it’ll become an issue. If his attorney opens that door, it will al
low the prosecutor to point out that he drugged and raped you. No jury will look favorably on him. Nor will anyone blame you if you’re happy to see the creep who hurt you locked up.”
And she was, God forgive her. “You don’t think it’s wrong for me to be glad my son’s father is in prison?”
“No. He caused you a lot of heartache. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t want your dad’s death avenged.”
She heaved a deep sigh. “I can’t believe what you’ve done. I never thought they’d catch his murderer.”
“Well, O’Donnell is behind bars now. It’s simply a matter of convicting him to keep him there.”
“Thank you, Tyler. I don’t know how I can ever show my appreciation for all you’ve done for me.”
“You don’t? May I suggest you start by agreeing to marry me?”
She widened her eyes in mock innocence. “Didn’t I already do that?”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Oh.” She smiled. “How about that? I guess you taught me more in our tutoring sessions than I thought. I believe I’m becoming quite a good negotiator.”
“Why’s that?” His gaze narrowed.
“Well....” She shrugged. “I just got this extremely talented, high-powered lawyer to give me everything he had. And all along, I was willing to settle for his love.”
“You were, were you?” He brushed her hair back from her face. “Now that I’m familiar with your evasive tactics, I won’t be such a pushover the next time.”
“No?” She twisted his engagement ring on her finger as if she were considering removing it. “I still haven’t said yes to your proposal, have I?”
“Okay.” He held up his hands, surrendering. “You drive a hard bargain. If you’ll agree to marry me as soon as possible, I promise to concede to you at least”—he squinted, looking toward the ceiling as if he were doing a complicated mental calculation—“let’s say sixty-five percent of the time.”
“Really? Not many men would agree to such a lopsided partnership.”
“Other men don’t have as much at stake as I do.” The tenderness in his tone and gaze tightened her throat and stole her ability to speak clearly.
“I’ll tell you what,” she said, her voice rasping as she entwined her arms around his neck. “If you throw in a honeymoon at Disney World and agree to take the kids along, it’s a deal.”
The Parent Pact (Book Three of The Return to Redemption Series) Page 22