Spring Fling Kitty: The Hart Family (Have A Hart Book 3)

by Rachelle Ayala

  “I say Elaine’s the stronger head,” Cait said, always voicing her opinion. “But Larry, you were just telling us who the mystery woman is?”

  “I’m not interested.” Connor grabbed another beer and stomped out of the kitchen. Couldn’t a man have peace in his own castle?

  Oh, right. This wasn’t his castle, but his father’s. As soon as he married Elaine, he was going to start his own family and be king of his own castle.

  “Seriously?” Cait’s voice piped from the kitchen. “Her name is Nadine Woo? I wonder if she’s related to Elaine.”

  Connor shut the door and slumped on the futon that served as his bed.

  Nadine Woo, huh? In a city full of Chinese surnames, it had to be a coincidence—except his body beeped and buzzed like an overactive Woo detector, and he couldn’t stop his fingers from browsing to Facebook and stalking Nadine Woo—if only to make sure she wasn’t connected to his fiancée.

  Chapter Five

  Nadine texted her father before marching into his posh office in Nob Hill. He was a pain management doctor who spent his time sticking long, pointy needles into people and prescribing pain pills to his legions of patients. Because the pills were controlled substances, patients were required by law to be seen and reevaluated monthly to get their prescriptions refilled, which meant Nadine’s father, Dr. Gerald Woo, was always busy and his waiting room was stacked three deep.

  “I’m sorry,” the harried receptionist said. “Daughter or not, he can’t see you right now. We close in fifteen minutes, but as you can see, he has many people waiting.”

  “He never has time for me,” Nadine grumbled, as she looked for an empty place to sit. Maybe speaking to her father was a mistake. After all, he was no longer enamored with her mother, and Nadine was the embarrassment of the family, only half-Chinese and according to her grandparents, too tall to get a man.

  I’m not too tall for Connor Hart.

  Ugh, why was she thinking about him when her entire life was turning upside down? There was no way she’d move with her mother to Tennessee or anywhere outside of San Francisco. She was born at San Francisco General Hospital and she would die in San Francisco. The problem was—she had no means of paying the kind of rents needed to stay in the Bay Area. Which meant she needed a job—a well-paying job like her half-brother and half-sister had.

  Nadine picked at the paint on her fingernails and glanced at the clock. The patient flow was brisk, but her father wasn’t going to be free anytime soon. Besides, she already knew what he’d say. Get a job.

  But then, artists starved, and that was reality. She thumbed another message to her father. Nadine here. Please call me. I need your help.

  She browsed to Dr. Emmeline Lu Su’s website and stared at the young woman, only a few years older than her. What a witch, going after a married man, and not just any married man, but a man who already had a wife and a mistress. To top it all off, she was Elaine’s friend. How could she do something so heinous?

  Nadine wondered what Elaine had to say about this. Surely, her half-sister would fight tooth and nail for her own mother who was about to be displaced.

  The problem was Elaine barely tolerated Nadine, and Michael was slightly better only because his friends thought Nadine was hot and always asked him to set them up with her. Not that she ever agreed to go. The only reason they were interested was because they wanted tall children.

  A text message jingled on Nadine’s phone. It was from her father. You don’t need my help. It’s time you get a job and grow up. Your mother and I are through, and I don’t owe you a place to stay.

  Wow. Brushed off. Maybe she should be thankful he took the time to text her between patients. Sheesh. Nadine’s cheeks were hot as she stared at the dismissive message. Eff him.

  What was that saying again? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? It was time for the Woo kids to get together and defeat Emmeline Lu Su, their common enemy.

  Nadine texted Elaine and Michael. It’s about our father and that woman. Let’s get together and strategize.

  Her cell phone exploded with return texts.

  Elaine: How do you think you can help?

  Michael: Best defense is a good offense.

  Nadine: I’ll tell you in person. You free right now?

  Elaine: I have some time.

  Michael: I’m on call. Why don’t you two meet and let me know what to do?

  Elaine: Sounds good. Ramen or banh mi?

  Nadine: Ramen. Meet you at Low in an hour?

  Elaine: Low Ramen it is.

  A long bus ride later, Nadine was outside Low Ramen, a small hole in the wall restaurant serving Japanese noodle soup with all the accompaniments. The Sunset district south of Golden Gate Park was full of Asian eateries, and Nadine alternated between the Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches and pho beef soup, Chinese hot pots and dim sum, Thai angel wings and pad thai, and Japanese sushi and ramen. Living so close to all these yummy restaurants meant she never had to cook—a gravy train that was ending with her mother’s departure.

  “There you are.” Elaine snapped her fingers. “You’re lucky I called ahead for reservations. What took you so long?”

  “I was at Dad’s office, but of course, he won’t talk to me.” Nadine towered over her sister by almost a foot. She hid a smile because she had a good view of Elaine’s white hairs sprinkled on top of her head. At least she didn’t have dandruff. Such were the perils of being tall and always looking over people’s heads.

  The waitress shuffled them to a table which was uncomfortably close to the other customers. The mostly Asian clientele didn’t seem to mind sitting elbow to elbow with other noodle gobblers, and the place was a cacophony of slurping and shouting to be heard above the din.

  “What’s your big idea?” Elaine asked after the waitress took their orders. “Aren’t you leaving with your mother?”

  “Not in a million years.” Nadine cupped the hot genmaicha tea and sipped the toasty flavor. “How’s your mother doing?”

  “She’s devastated and went back to China. What can you expect? At least with your mother, we all knew Dad would never marry her.”

  “Why’s that?” Nadine’s gut churned with a dull dread. Had she and her mother been duped all along by empty promises?

  “Sorry to say, he didn’t need to buy the cow to get the milk. He even got a bonus kid out of it. But Emmeline’s playing her cards. She’s not letting him sleep with her until she gets the wedding ring.”

  “What? And why is Dad so interested? Emmeline’s a butt doctor. Dad’s practice is way more lucrative than hers.” Nadine slid back as the waitress put her noodle soup in front of her. She’d ordered the shio black tonkatsu ramen with the super savory broth and the melt-in-the-mouth pork chasu. Seaweed, bamboo, and scallions were included, as well as a fried egg.

  “Are you naïve or what?” Elaine dipped a soup spoon into her bowl of spicy red miso ramen with extra garlic chips and sliced wood ear tree fungus. “Dad’s not grading her on degrees or what field she’s in. She’s a trophy for an aging man. Half his age. Relatively pretty, although it pains me to say it, and fertile, or at least she appears to be.”

  “You mean he wants another family?” Nadine knew she, of all people, had no right to feel betrayed, but the pain of being shoved aside for a younger model stabbed through her belly, despite the creamy smooth flavor of the broth and the chewy texture of the salty noodles.

  “We have to stop him,” Elaine said. “My mother’s willing to look the other way as long as she stays married to Dad. What a loss of face for her if she were cast aside. You said earlier you had a plan.”

  Nadine tamped down the urge to fight for her mother too, but truly, what was there to contend for? Crumbs? Her mother had finally made a stand and was going home with enough money to buy a farm south of Nashville. Who knew? Maybe she could finally have her dream come true of becoming a country gospel singer.

  “I do have a plan.” Nadine leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. She didn’t know
Elaine well, but she did know her sister was a tough contender and this time, their interests were aligned. “We three, me, you, and Michael should make Dad so worried about our personal lives that he has no time to deal with Emmeline.”

  “That might work.” Elaine scratched her chin, tilting her head in a pensive pose. “At least for me and Michael, since we’re his successful ones. But what will you do to get his attention? He’s already disappointed about your career choices. I guess the only thing that could get worse for you is if you went to jail.”

  “No, I’m not going to jail. He won’t bail me out.” Nadine gritted her teeth, controlling the urge to rip Elaine a new one.

  “Fine. No jail.” Elaine twirled the noodles around on her chopsticks. “How about if you got involved with a married man and got pregnant? That ought to make Dad get an ulcer.”

  “Would he really care?” Nadine’s heart flopped like a flaccid fish. “What if he disowns me?”

  “He’ll care,” Elaine reassured. “You’re his flesh and blood. Why do you think he put you in the will and forced my mother to agree?”

  That was news to Nadine, but she put the thought aside to ruminate on later.

  “What about you?” Nadine relished the warmth of the soup. “Wouldn’t he be more worried about you if you were to be pregnant?”

  “He won’t.” Elaine avoided Nadine’s gaze and picked at her food. “You don’t know a lot about me, but I’m unable to have kids.”

  “Oh, well, I’m sorry.”

  “So am I. If I were to be pregnant, he’d be ecstatic.”

  “Is there nothing you can do to make Dad worry?”

  Elaine tossed her head back and laughed. “I already am worrying him. He wants me to marry a doctor, but I’m engaged to a fireman.”

  Nadine’s breath stuttered at the mention of fireman. “What’s wrong with a fireman?”

  “Nothing if I just want to have fun, but according to Dad, there are guys you have fun with and guys you marry. Maybe I could start planning my wedding.”

  “That would worry him sick, right?” Not that Nadine saw any reason to worry. Firemen were heroes, and their father should be proud of a son-in-law who saved lives.

  “Probably. But would it stop him from divorcing my mother and marrying the tramp butt doctor?”

  “You could threaten suicide!” Nadine snapped her fingers. “Aren’t you his favorite?”

  “That would be Michael, his only son.”

  “Great. Then you marry the fireman, Michael could be suicidal, and I’ll pretend to be pregnant. We got this nailed.”

  “You’re brilliant.” Elaine raised her hand for a high five. “Maybe you’re not a lost cause after all.”

  Grinning in triumph, Nadine returned the slap on Elaine’s palm. For the first time in her life, Nadine felt accepted by her elder half-sister. Maybe after all this was over, and they’d rescued their father from the clutches of the evil Emmeline, the three of them could be real siblings.

  “There’s only one problem,” Nadine added. “I can’t shove the pregnancy in his face if I’m gone to Tennessee. Dad is evicting me and my mother so Dr. Enema Loose Stool’s mother can live there.”

  “Then you’ll have to come live with me,” Elaine said. “My fiancé insists on living at home with his parents so you won’t have to move out until my wedding. Hopefully Dad and Emmeline will be ancient history by then.”

  “Wow. That’s so kind of you.” Warmth bubbled through Nadine’s chest. Her sister wanted her to live with her? They would be able to catch up on sisterly things and grow to be good friends, too. Maybe she could even be maid of honor, now that Elaine’s supposed best friend Emmeline Lu Su, was out of the running.

  Nadine crossed her fingers under the table. She’d turned a corner on fate. If Elaine’s fiancé knew Connor Hart, she could have her chance to thank him in person after all.

  The universe was looking out for her.

  Chapter Six

  “Connor, darling.” Elaine poked her head into Connor’s office at the fire station. It was Monday morning. He had a pile of paperwork waiting for him, but he hadn’t seen Elaine all weekend because she was on-call.

  Cinder, his Dalmatian puppy, bounced up from under his desk and wagged her tail, wanting to be petted.

  Elaine passed her hand barely over the puppy’s head, not enough to satisfy her, much less give Cinder the belly rub she really wanted.

  “Come on in.” He picked up a pile of folders from the visitor’s chair and dropped it on the table. “Hard weekend?”

  “Not too bad. I didn’t get called in so I caught up on some reading. Had to study for my recertifications. How are your parents doing?”

  “Same old meddling. They and my sisters, each with their opinions.” Except this time, they struck out on the matchmaking. Once they found out the tree hugger was Elaine’s half-sister, they gave up. Thankfully, attention had turned to Jenna and Larry’s wedding plans.

  “They still don’t like me?” Elaine wound her arms around his neck and rubbed his back. “I’m tired of waiting for their approval. I’m going ahead with planning our wedding.”

  “Sure, whenever you want.” Connor tried not to grunt. Weddings were for women, and he hadn’t expected Elaine to make a big deal out of it. But then again, one only got married once. “Just tell me when and where to show up and I’m on it. Have you decided where we’ll live?”

  “I’m looking at a few houses in Noe Valley. Conveniently located between UCSF and San Francisco General. I have admitting privileges in both places.” Elaine gave Cinder another half-hearted pat. “We’ll need the room for our family.”

  “Family? You mean to start our Grey and Goldie project right away?” Connor had read up about Elaine’s condition of premature menopause. By now, her ovaries no longer produced eggs.

  They’d missed that window ten years ago when she was first diagnosed. Back then, Elaine hadn’t told him what was wrong, only that she wanted to rush into marriage at age nineteen and start her family immediately. He’d been ready to quit the Fire Academy and elope with her—the whole nine yards, when she’d called it quits.

  “Of course.” Elaine propped herself on his lap. “Once the grandkids are here, your parents will be overjoyed. It’s not like your sister Cait’s making any progress in that department.”

  “Brian doesn’t want children,” Connor admitted. “But don’t you think it’s too soon to go into the entire donor egg and IVF cycle? You’re so busy with your practice, we barely have time together.”

  “We have quality time.” She kissed his lips, smiling. “But we’re both turning thirty. Besides, IVF is frustrating and expensive, so I’m not doing that gig.”

  Elaine was right on that point. In vitro fertilization involved a lot of planning and had a high failure rate, not to mention the amount of hormones she would have to be pumped with to sustain a pregnancy.

  “Are we adopting then? That’s another merry-go-round of paperwork and waiting,” Connor said. “If we go to China, it might be faster.”

  “Actually, neither.” Elaine put both hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes. She had the exact expression of a cat that had swallowed a canary. Okay, so she had something up her sleeve and wanted to make him beg for it.

  He gave her behind a squeeze. “What are you thinking of now, Dr. Brilliant?”

  “I have a half-sister I never told you about,” she announced. “She’s young and healthy, and right now, she needs to piss off our dad. Actually I do, too. Remember I told you my father’s divorcing my mother because of Emmeline?”

  “Uh, yes, your former best friend.” Connor avoided asking about Elaine’s half-sister by focusing on her traitorous ex-bestie, although his heart raced at the mention of the tree hugger he now knew as Nadine Woo.

  “Right, who was helping herself to my father while pretending to be my friend.” Elaine’s brows drew into a scowl. “The plan is to make my father so worried about all three of us, me, Michael, and Na
dine, that’s the half-sister, so Dad would have no time to go forward with the divorce. Michael’s going to be suicidal, I’m going to be marrying you, and Nadine’s going to be pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?” Connor snapped to attention, then quickly deflected. “Michael’s suicidal?”

  His stomach rumbled low and growly, and he felt Cinder tuck herself against his legs to comfort him. Idly, he rubbed the fur around her neck. Somehow Elaine’s personal problem centered around marrying him, whereas those of her sister and brother were much more serious.

  “Pfah.” Elaine exhaled. “Michael’s going to threaten suicide and our mother’s going to be the only one who can console him. Meanwhile, that half-sister I told you about? My father’s evicting her and her mother from their apartment because Emmeline’s mother needs a place to stay close by. How unfair is that?”

  “Yes, unfair,” Connor echoed. He’d learned long ago to let Elaine talk while he ruminated on her thought process. Her mind worked at hyper-speed and she jumped to conclusions before he’d even formulated a question.

  “I spoke to Nadine yesterday about faking a pregnancy, and I even offered her to move in with me, but now I have a better idea. If she were really pregnant, my father would be a cruelhearted jerk to evict her, right? After all, she’s his flesh and blood and that would be his first grandchild—illegitimate, but still a Woo grandchild.”

  “Sure, he’d seem heartless,” Connor mumbled nonchalantly. Not that he should care whether a woman he’d just met and was lightly attracted to—okay, so his body was violently attracted to her, but she was off-limits—was pregnant or about to get pregnant.

  “Right, and we can kill two birds with one stone.” Elaine’s eyes widened as much as they were able to.

  “Wait, which birds?” What had they been talking about before the digression to Elaine’s parents’ marital problems?

  “The Goldie and Grey birds.”

  “Huh?” Connor’s hand stopped petting Cinder, and she raised a whine, her tail slapping against his leg.