The Texan's Surprise Baby
Page 5
Would he have anything like that when he reached their age?
He glanced toward the family compound and thought about slipping over to see if Hannah was awake. But, no. She needed her rest, and she wouldn’t appreciate it if anyone in her family saw him making a late-night call on her. She was going to have to face telling her family the truth eventually—soon—but that wasn’t the way she’d want to break the news to them.
He wished he understood better why she was so hesitant about revealing that he was the father of her child. He could understand that she’d be embarrassed about the awkwardness of the situation. But was there more to it than that? Was she worried about any claims he would make on their child? Had their one night together been so unsatisfactory for her that she’d bolted the next morning and was now sorry there was any reason for him to remain in her life? How was he to know if she wouldn’t talk to him?
The glow of several campfires flickered through the trees from both the RV and tent campgrounds. A few cars passed, as did a couple on bicycles equipped with headlamps and reflector tape. As he strolled through the resort, Andrew made mental notes of areas that could use a little more security lighting—without overlighting the campgrounds of course—and a few places where he would recommend installing discreet, closed-circuit cameras.
Outside Cabin 5, three men were rather loudly arguing outside on the porch. Andrew knew an alcohol-fueled conversation when he heard one. He hoped this one didn’t get so rowdy that a sleepy guest in a neighboring cabin would feel the need to report it to management, disturbing the Bell family. He knew the Bells were accustomed to those late calls, but he was sure they appreciated the uninterrupted nights.
“I’m telling you that girl on the beach was interested in me until you clowns ran her off by acting like fools. If I meet someone tomorrow, I want y’all to back off, you hear?” one of the men demanded loudly.
Another snorted mockingly. “Come on, Bill, she hardly looked twice at you. You think every woman you pass falls for you and most of the time you’re wrong. Like with that pregnant girl in the office yesterday.”
Andrew’s steps slowed dramatically.
“Hey, you think she wasn’t checking me out?” the first man asked. “If I was in the mood to tap a preggo, you can bet she’d be all over it. You didn’t see a ring on her finger, did you?”
Andrew’s fists clenched slowly at his side, even as the jerk’s companions guffawed.
“Hell, Bill, you really are delusional. Pregnant or not, women who look like that don’t go for guys like us. You better be content with Steffie and stop chasing the hotties or you’re going to end up alone, dude.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Stu. Ever since Camille dumped you, you’ve been—”
“Hey!” Someone from Cabin 4 called out from his own front porch. “Could you guys keep it down? We’ve got kids trying to sleep in here. Don’t make us call management.”
“Yeah, okay, sorry.” One of the men called back. “C’mon, guys, let’s get some sleep. We’re going out early to fish, remember? The three of us. Bros before...well, you know the rest.”
The thought of that man—any man—hitting on Hannah made Andrew scowl as he stalked back to his room. His expression must have been forbidding. The frumpy redhead in the room below his jumped and gave a little gasp when he appeared out of the darkness. She must have just gotten back from a vending-machine run. She nearly dropped the canned soda in her hand when she saw him.
Trying to smooth his expression, he gave her a nod and kept walking. One way or another, he promised himself, he would be talking with Hannah tomorrow.
* * *
Chaos descended with a vengeance Thursday afternoon. A neighboring resort suffered a catastrophic septic-system malfunction, shutting the place down for the weekend at a minimum. Frantically dealing with disappointed vacationers, the owners referred as many as they could to the Bell Resort, sending the rest to other facilities along the lake. Every available RV pad and tent site at Bell Resort was filled, as were the cabins and motel rooms. Even the overflow area behind the boat storage was filled to capacity. The grill, convenience store and marina buzzed with activity. Every member of staff was almost running trying to keep up.
Leaving her cousin Lori to work the front desk, Hannah volunteered to run errands in town that afternoon. She visited the bank and the post office, dropped off some dry cleaning, then stopped by the locally owned pharmacy her family patronized to pick up prenatal vitamins for herself and prescriptions for several family members. She parked in a shady corner of the almost-empty little lot so her car wouldn’t be quite so hot when she climbed back into it.
“Hello, Hannah. How are you today?” the pharmacist behind the counter asked with a welcoming smile after she’d been greeted by his two longtime employees. Short, round and mostly bald, his kind dark chocolate eyes gleaming in a polished ebony face, Luther Duquesne had served this community since Hannah was in grade school. He’d always had a lollipop for Hannah and Maggie when they’d come in with their mom, offered to them from a big glass jar filled with colorful treats. Even if he hadn’t been one of the nicest men she knew, for that reason alone, Hannah would always have a soft spot in her heart for him.
Plugged in as he was to the community, he already knew about the disaster at the Lake Oaks Marina, so he and Hannah chatted about that for a few minutes while he checked her out. “Tell your grandpa this is his last refill on his blood pressure medicine. He needs to go see his doctor this month.”
Hannah nodded. “I think he has an appointment, but I’ll make sure.”
“Before you go...” With a flourish, he presented her with an orange lollipop. “I seem to remember this being your favorite flavor.”
She laughed and accepted the treat. “Thank you, Mr. D. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”
He winked at her. “I plan to be around to give a lollipop to that little one of yours. You take care, you hear?”
“I’ll do that, thanks.”
Carrying the bag of meds and her lollipop, she left the little pharmacy with a smile. That smile faded when she approached her car and saw the back left tire was flat. Her good mood vanished completely when she saw the front left tire, also flat. With a sinking heart, she walked to the other side of her car. Both tires on the right were pancaked. Visible punctures in all four tires provided an explanation, and the long ugly scratch in the paint from the front right fender to the back of the car called further attention to the vandalism.
Someone had intentionally done this.
Chapter Three
Stunned, Hannah turned in a slow circle, looking for a possible culprit, but it was time for the pharmacy to close for the day and hers was the only car left in the little lot. She saw no one else within view who might have done this. The shaded corner in which she’d parked wasn’t particularly visible from the street. It wouldn’t have been difficult for someone to walk past, swiftly slash her tires and scratch her paint and rush away without attracting attention. What she could not understand was why anyone would have wanted to do so. A random act of maliciousness? Wannabe tough-guy juvenile delinquents showing off for friends? Or—she swallowed hard—had her car been specifically targeted?
“Hannah,” Luther called out from the door of the pharmacy, “are you all right?”
“Flat tires,” she responded, trying to keep her tone light. “Go ahead and close up your shop. I’ll call someone from the resort to come get me.”
Frowning, he approached her, studying her tires with a shocked expression. “This is deliberate?”
“It seems to be.”
“But who would do this?”
She wished she knew. With a shrug, she gave the only explanation that made any sort of sense to her. “Just some bored kid whose idea of fun is destroying other people’s property, I guess.”
Looking angry that this had happened at his store, Luther turned in a slow circle, much as Hannah had, looking for possible cul
prits. “Have you called the police yet?”
“I hadn’t even thought of calling the police,” she admitted.
“Want me to call them for you?”
“No, I’ll take care of it. I’m sure they’ll have questions for me.”
He nodded. “I’m going inside to help the ladies close up, but I’m not leaving until someone has come for you. Why don’t you come inside and get out of this heat? I’ll get you something cold to drink while you wait.”
“Thank you. I’ll make some calls first and then come in.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Mr. D.” Taking another look at the ugly scratch on the side of her car, Hannah swallowed hard before turning her attention to her phone.
* * *
Andrew took one look at Hannah’s car in the pharmacy’s small parking lot and ground out a curse. If his instincts were correct, this was more than just a random act of vandalism. And his instincts were almost always reliable.
Even though it was past the closing hour posted on the pharmacy door, he could see Hannah standing inside, looking out at him. She opened the door as he approached. “Hello, Andrew.”
He studied her intently. Her expression was carefully shielded, but he saw the distress reflected in her deep green eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, of course. I was inside when it happened. I never even saw anyone.”
“Did you call the police?”
“I filed a report. Not that it will do any good, because there were no witnesses. And I’ve called for a tow truck. It should be here any minute.”
He nodded. “We’ll follow the tow truck and I’ll wait with you at the body shop until your car is fixed. If they can’t get to it today, I’ll take you back to the resort and we can pick it up tomorrow.”
Hannah nodded, then turned to speak to someone Andrew couldn’t see inside the pharmacy. “A friend is here to give me a ride, Mr. D. Thanks for waiting with me.”
“You take care,” Andrew heard a man’s voice reply. Hannah joined Andrew outside, and a friendly looking man locked the door behind her, nodding a greeting to Andrew through the glass before turning off the Open sign.
Hannah glanced up at Andrew. “I wasn’t expecting you to be the one to come get me.”
He shrugged. “Everyone else was busy with that influx of new guests, so I volunteered.” He’d known he wouldn’t have been her first choice, but no one else had seemed to find it unusual that he’d volunteered his services. He turned with Hannah toward her car. “You didn’t see anyone who could have done this? No one walking or running away, even someone who seemed an unlikely culprit?”
“Several cars drove by, but I didn’t see anyone at all on the sidewalk,” she answered. “Trust me, I tried. Whoever it was either ran off before I came outside or hid while I was looking for them.”
“You said you called the police. Did they mention whether there’s been a rash of car vandalisms in this area recently?”
She shook her head. “Luther Duquesne—the pharmacist who waited with me—said this is the first he’s heard of. He and the other pharmacy employees park in the back lot, but none of their vehicles were touched. Mine was the only one in this front lot, because it was almost closing time.”
“Do you know anyone who would have specifically targeted your car?”
He noted the slightest hesitation before she shook her head. “I’m sure it was just a random act of meanness.”
“Probably,” he agreed. “But what name popped into your head just now when I asked?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
“You thought of someone. Who?”
Hannah sighed in resignation. “Okay, for just a second I wondered if it could have been—”
“Hannah,” he urged impatiently when she hesitated again.
“My ex-father-in-law,” she muttered, “Chuck Cavender. I ran into him and his wife earlier this week, and he still blames me for everything that happened to Wade.”
“Wade is the only one to blame for everything that happened to him,” Andrew said bluntly, angry at the thought of anyone placing responsibility on Hannah for her jerk of an ex-husband’s behavior.
He knew for a fact that Hannah had done everything she could to hold her ill-fated marriage together. She’d been a hell of a lot better wife than Cavender had deserved, not that the bastard would ever admit it. For the most part, Andrew preferred not to think of Hannah with Wade—or anyone else, for that matter, he admitted privately and uncomfortably. “Do you have any reason to think Cavender might have done this? Did you see a vehicle that might have been his, either here or at one of your other stops this afternoon?”
She shook her head. “I really can’t see him following me around or skulking in parking lots waiting for a chance to vandalize my car. He’s more open with his disdain than that. It wouldn’t surprise me if I ran into him and he made ugly accusations where other people could hear him, but doing something like this, in secret, without having the satisfaction of seeing my reaction? Doesn’t seem likely.”
A tow truck arrived while Andrew contemplated her rationale. The car was delivered to a shop, where Hannah was informed that it would be late the next day before she could pick it up again. Fortunately the scratch wasn’t too deep and could be buffed out with rubbing compound rather than requiring repainting.
“I’ll bring you back tomorrow,” Andrew assured her when they were back in his car. “I’m sure everyone else is going to be snowed under with it being the start of a weekend and so many guests to juggle.”
Fastening her seat belt with a snap, she said, “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon. I’ll have to pick up the car after that.”
“Then I’ll take you to the doctor first.” He was pleased to have the excuse to do so. “Didn’t you say you’re going to find out the baby’s sex tomorrow?”
“Yes,” she admitted, perhaps a bit reluctantly. “But—”
“I’d like to be there. Maybe we should tell your family about us tonight, before the doctor’s appointment.”
He could almost feel the waves of panic coming from her side of the car. “Um, not tonight,” she said. “Everything’s been so crazy at the resort today and everyone will be busy and tired.”
He flipped the turn signal and turned the wheel, guiding the car into the empty parking lot of a bank branch that was closed for business for the day. Parked at the back of the lot, the car was partially hidden from the main road by the drive-through lanes. He left the motor running so the interior stayed cool as he unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face her. She wasn’t looking at him, but down at the hands she held in a white-knuckled clench in her lap. She seemed braced for a lecture and something about her closed, defensive posture made his chest tighten.
Reaching out to lay his right hand over both of hers, he spoke quietly. “You should tell them when you’re ready. They’re your family. You’ll know when the time is right.”
He didn’t find it particularly gratifying to see a hint of suspicion in the look she gave him, as if she were attempting to figure out if he was trying to manipulate her in some way. Once again he felt a wave of disgust at her duplicitous ex-husband for leaving her so wary and distrustful.
“Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you,” he assured her. “Just let me know what you need from me.”
He saw her throat work with a hard swallow, but he didn’t give her a chance to speak before he continued, “It must have seemed to you that I swept back into your life and immediately started pushing you. That was not my intention. I have to admit I was rattled and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle everything. Maybe I should have called before I just showed up, but most of the things we need to discuss seemed better handled face-to-face.”
He thought he saw a softening in her eyes when she looked up at him then. “I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did,” she said quietly. “I should have called you sooner.”
“True.”
“So?”
She drew a deep breath. “So, we take it from here. If you’d like to accompany me to the doctor tomorrow before we pick up my car, you’re welcome to come, even though I’m sure Mimi will be much too pleased about it. For now, we’ll tell everyone it’s your way of helping out while everyone else is so busy this crazy weekend. Later, when things have settled down and after I have a doctor’s report, we’ll figure out a way to tell them you’re my baby’s father and then we’ll deal with their reactions. When do you have to go back to Dallas?”
“I should be back in the office Monday,” he admitted reluctantly, thinking of all the work that had piled up in his absence. He’d been trying to handle some of it from his hotel room the past couple days, but there were a few things he had to attend to in person. “I can come back next weekend, if that would be a better time for you. You, um, do want me to be there when you break the news, right?”
“Well, because I’m sure your brother is going to be around, you might as well be, too.”
Her wry rationale wasn’t exactly heartwarming, but he nodded. “Just let me know when you’re ready,” he repeated.
“Thank you,” she said in little more than a whisper.
He realized he was still holding her hands, leaning quite close to her over the car’s console between them. Her gaze was still locked with his, and he was momentarily trapped in liquid emerald. Despite all that had happened between them, all the uncertainty ahead, she still took his breath away. She was so beautiful, with her long-lashed eyes and full, sensuous mouth, her heart-shaped face framed in thick, dark, glossy hair. But it was more than her beauty that had always drawn him to her. He admired her courage, her dignity, the proud spirit her experiences had bruised but not extinguished.