The Baby Surprise

by Brenda Harlen

  “This is Paige,” he continued. “And the little girl she’s holding is Emma.”

  Hayden shifted her attention from the baby to Zach. “She’s yours.”

  It was a statement, not a question, but Paige felt compelled to interject. “We’re still waiting for the DNA results from the lab.”

  “She has Zach’s eyes—Crawford eyes,” Hayden pointed out.

  She reached out a hand, as if to touch the little girl’s cheek, but Emma turned away, burying her face against Paige’s shoulder.

  Hayden’s hand dropped back to her side, and when she looked at Paige now, her own blue, blue eyes were as hard and cold as ice. “Why would you deny it? You obviously got pregnant to trap my brother—”

  “Hayden,” Zach interrupted sharply.

  The blonde shifted her annoyance to him.

  “Paige isn’t Emma’s mother.” He spoke again before she could.

  But the furrow that creased her brow suggested that his words added to rather than detracted from his sister’s confusion. “Then why is she here with you?”

  “Emma’s mom was killed in a car accident several months ago, and Paige has been taking care of the baby since then.”

  “Oh.” There was both embarrassment and apology in Hayden’s voice now. “I’m sorry,” she said to Paige. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

  “It’s okay,” Paige assured her. “I didn’t realize that Zach hadn’t explained who I was.” She shot him a glance that let him know she wasn’t pleased by that fact.

  “Zach didn’t explain anything. He just said he was coming home,” she explained. “He didn’t mention that he was bringing anyone with him, and when I saw the baby, well, I just assumed—obviously mistakenly—that she was yours.”

  “Olivia, Emma’s mother, was a good friend of mine.”

  “I’m guessing there’s a story here,” Hayden said.

  “And one that I don’t intend to repeat more than once,” Zach told her. “So you’re going to have to wait until we get home to hear it.”

  “How about a preview?” his sister asked, taking one of the suitcases from him and starting toward the exit.

  “No,” he said firmly.

  Paige, carrying Emma, struggled to keep pace with him. Although she could understand his sister’s curiosity, she had her own concerns.

  “You didn’t tell anyone we were coming?” She whispered the question behind Hayden’s back.

  “It wasn’t something I felt comfortable trying to explain to my parents on the phone,” he admitted.

  “So we’re going to show up at their home unannounced and uninvited?”

  “It’s my parents’ home—I don’t need to be announced or invited.”

  “What about Emma and me?”

  “You’re my guests,” he said simply.

  “Unannounced and uninvited guests,” she muttered, more convinced than ever that coming to California had been a mistake.

  Paige’s apprehension increased throughout the drive.

  Within a few minutes, Emma had fallen asleep, leaving Paige to her own thoughts. She watched the countryside as it passed outside the window, but she was too worried about how Zach’s mother and father would react to their arrival to fully appreciate the beautiful scenery.

  She didn’t even realize they’d turned off of the highway until she spotted the sign that announced Stonechurch Estates Winery. Farther down the long, winding drive was a stunning two-story stone building with dozens of gleaming windows and wrought-iron balconies surrounded by gardens already spilling over with colorful blooms.

  “Is that where you grew up?” she asked Zach and Hayden, thinking it looked more like a five-star hotel than anyone’s home.

  Hayden chuckled as Zach half-turned in his seat to respond to her question. “No. That’s the château, as my mother likes to call it.”

  “To the rest of us, it’s the winery,” his sister informed her.

  “That’s some winery,” she mused.

  “The building also houses the tasting bar, wine boutique and gift shop, café and three private event rooms,” Hayden continued. “Outside the gift shop, although you can’t see it from this side, is an enormous pergola that shades half a dozen picnic tables. We get a lot of tourists who like to eat their lunch—either purchased from the café or brought from home—outside.”

  “Don’t get her started,” Zach warned. “The winery is her baby now.”

  “And not a surprise I sprang on Mom and Dad,” Hayden teased.

  Zach shot her a quelling glance.

  The knots in Paige’s stomach tightened.

  In retrospect, Zach would have to agree with Paige that springing a baby and the baby’s guardian on his parents with no warning might not have been the best idea he’d ever had. However, his mom and dad responded to Emma precisely as he knew they would—they fell in love with her at first sight.

  They were a little more reserved with respect to Paige. Of course, Hayden didn’t help the situation any when she blurted out the introductions.

  “Zach brought company,” she announced to their parents. “The baby is his. I’m not sure if Paige is, but she’s not Emma’s mother.”

  “Well, thanks for clearing that up.”

  Hayden grinned unapologetically in response to her mother’s dry remark.

  “I’m Kathleen,” Zach’s mom said, offering her hand and a smile to Paige.

  Paige shifted Emma’s weight slightly to shake her hand, then that of the man standing behind her. “I’m Justin.”

  “Paige Wilder,” she told them. “And, as Hayden already mentioned, this is Emma.”

  At that, Emma opened her eyes and glanced around. Then she let out a huge yawn, and her lids drifted shut again.

  “She’s beautiful,” Kathleen said softly.

  “And she’s definitely not a newborn,” Justin commented, looking questioningly at his son.

  “Any chance we could get a cup of coffee?” Zach asked.

  He knew he was going to have to answer their questions—and face their wrath—and he desperately wanted a hit of caffeine before he had to do so.

  “Hayden,” his mom began.

  “I’m on it,” his sister acknowledged, already moving toward the front door.

  “Why don’t you come on into the kitchen while the men unload the luggage?” Kathleen suggested to Paige.

  Paige cast him a worried glance, as if she was afraid she’d have to face the inquisition alone. “I should help Zach with the bags.”

  “I’d say you already have your hands full,” Kathleen noted, indicating the baby in her arms.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” Zach assured her.

  With a last desperate look, Paige followed his mother into the house, and Zach followed his father back to Hayden’s car.

  Kathleen Crawford led Paige through the front door and into an enormous foyer with numerous entrances into other rooms and a wide, curving staircase that led to the upper level. She headed down the tiled hallway and into an enormous kitchen that looked as if it could be photographed for a spread in a decorating magazine. Several of the glossy mahogany cupboards had glass doors that displayed what she imagined were the everyday dishes. Solid wood chairs were set around an oversize table on which sat a lovely glass bowl filled with apples so green and so shiny Paige couldn’t tell if they were real or decorative.

  “What a gorgeous kitchen,” Paige told her.

  “We remodeled last summer, and I have to admit I’m pleased with it,” Kathleen said, “But I’ll warn you that other parts of the house are still works in progress.

  “The original foundation of the home was laid nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. Of course, there have been several additions put on since then, and we’ve done a lot of updating and remodeling, but there’s still so much yet to do.”

  “I love old houses,” Paige confessed. “They have so much character.”

  “A dozen or so years ago, when we were building the château
, Justin and I talked about building a new house, too, but neither one of us had the heart to tear this one down.”

  “I wouldn’t, either,” Paige told her, then exhaled a silent sigh of relief when she heard heavy footsteps in the hall.

  A moment later, Zach and his dad stepped into the room.

  “I just got a message from Emilio,” Justin said to Hayden. “Asking if you could check in with him when you get a chance and before the three-o’clock tour, if possible.”

  She glanced at her watch, swore softly.

  “Hayden,” her mother admonished.

  “Sorry,” she muttered automatically. Then, to her father, “Do I have to go now?”

  “Why are you asking me?” Justin countered, as he settled himself at the table. “You’re the CEO now.”

  His daughter sighed. “I hate when you pull out the CEO card, because then I feel like I have to live up to the title.”

  “That’s why we gave it to you,” her father admitted.

  She filled a mug from the freshly brewed pot and carried it toward the back door. “It was nice meeting you, Paige,” she said over her shoulder. “And I’ll look forward to hearing all of the details later.”

  “I’m not telling you anything,” her brother answered, pouring coffee into the other four mugs she’d taken out earlier and set on the counter.

  “Yes, you will. Because if you don’t, I’ll make up my own version,” she warned just before the door closed at her back.

  Justin shook his head. “They’ve been like that with each other since they were children,” he told Paige.

  “They’re still our children,” his wife reminded him. Then she turned to her son. “And speaking of children…”

  Zach took the mugs to the table and, while they drank their coffee, he explained the situation as he’d become aware of it, with Paige filling in the occasional detail and some of the history and his parents interjecting with questions every now and again.

  By the time all of their inquiries had been satisfied, Paige was yawning.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized, trying to stifle yet another yawn.

  “Emma had a rough night,” Zach explained to his parents. “So neither Paige nor I got much rest before we had to head out this morning.”

  “She’s teething,” Paige explained.

  “So you two are—” Justin cleared his throat, as if he was uncomfortable even asking the question “—living together?”

  “No,” Paige responded quickly, firmly. “Zach has been staying with me so that he could spend some time getting to know Emma.”

  “Oh, well, I guess that makes sense,” Kathleen said, looking to her husband for confirmation, although she didn’t sound entirely convinced herself.

  “I’m living in Pinehurst, New York, right now,” Paige explained. “Which is a significant distance from where Zach lives. He’s been sleeping in the spare room so that he doesn’t have to drive back and forth all the time.”

  “So it’s just an arrangement of convenience,” Zach’s father concluded.

  “Yes,” Paige assured her.

  “So who has custody of Emma now?” Kathleen asked.

  “I do,” Paige told her. “Because Olivia named me her legal guardian and the father was listed as unknown on her birth certificate, the court had no reason not to approve my application.”

  “And what will happen when you get the DNA test results?”

  “We’ll figure that out then,” Zach said.

  His mother didn’t look happy with that response, but she only said, “I can show you to the guest room, Paige, if you want to rest before dinner.”

  “I would love to,” she said gratefully.

  “Do you want me to take Emma?” Zach asked.

  Paige knew he was simply offering to look after Emma only while she caught a quick nap, but his choice of words rekindled the terrifying fear that had only recently started to ease.

  Spending time with Zach and Emma, she’d actually begun to hope that they might find a way to work together. But being here with him now, with his family, made her realize that he didn’t need her help. And that he probably wouldn’t want it, either.

  “No, I’ve got her,” she said, and followed his mother back through the kitchen to the foyer and up that winding staircase she’d admired.

  “This used to be Jocelyn’s room,” Kathleen explained. “We redecorated when she moved out, but that was quite a few years ago now. There’s another guest room down the hall that was redone more recently, but this one is closer to the nursery and I thought you’d prefer to be near Emma.”

  “I would,” Paige agreed. “And this is beautiful, really.”

  “It has a great view, anyway,” Kathleen said, moving across the room to the window. “That is, if you like looking at grapes.”

  Paige smiled. “I do, thank you.”

  Kathleen moved back to the door, hovered there for a moment. In the end, all she said was, “Let me know if you need anything,” and then she was gone.

  Paige didn’t manage to squeeze in much of a nap before Emma woke up from hers and demanded her attention. But it had revived her enough so that she was happy to explore the backyard with the toddler. Zach must have been watching for them because only a few minutes after they’d ventured outdoors, he came to join them.

  He gave them an impromptu tour of the grounds, including some history of the area, a discourse on the life cycle of the grape and a crash course in the process of making wine.

  Later, they had a quiet meal with just his parents since Hayden had an important business dinner she couldn’t miss. Her recent bouts of crabbiness apparently forgotten, Emma was her usual charming self at dinner, and Paige could tell that both of Zach’s parents were immediately enchanted by her.

  On the whole, Paige thought the day had gone better than she’d anticipated, but when she settled back into bed later that night, she acknowledged that her feelings about Zach Crawford were now more confused than ever.

  The first day, when he’d shown up at her door in uniform, she’d been sure she knew exactly who and what he was. But she’d been looking at him through her own experience and prejudice, and she’d finally begun to realize how very wrong she’d been.

  He was a military man, but unlike her father, there was so much more to him than just that. He was a family man—a son, a brother, an uncle. Maybe a father. Emma’s father. And the more time she spent with him, the more she was beginning to realize that having Zach for a father might not be a horrible experience for Emma. In fact, he’d been nothing short of wonderful with the little girl.

  Sure, he had a lot to learn, but he was tackling the challenges of fatherhood with enthusiasm and determination. He wasn’t afraid to admit that he didn’t know everything, and he wasn’t too proud to ask for help. And when Paige watched him with Emma, her heart just melted.

  He was interested and attentive and patient, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with her. And Emma absolutely doted on him. Once she’d gotten over her initial trepidation, she’d fallen head over heels.

  Paige couldn’t blame her. What experience did the toddler have that would enable her to resist his effortless charm and easy affection? Paige herself had all kinds of reasons for being wary and even she wasn’t completely immune to Zach.

  The kiss they’d shared—the way it had singed every nerve ending in her body—proved that. And if she hadn’t been hyperaware of him before that kiss, she certainly was now.

  But Zach hadn’t made a move since then. Maybe he’d only been curious, and that single kiss had been enough to satisfy his curiosity. It had only piqued hers.

  If he could make her feel so much with just the touch of his lips to hers, what would happen if he ever really touched her? If he ever made love with her?

  She shoved those questions—and the almost-painful yearning—aside and pushed out of bed.

  Although she hadn’t heard a peep from the baby monitor, she decided to check on Emma. It was
the little girl’s first night in a strange place, in an unfamiliar bed, and she wanted to ensure that she was settled in okay.

  Paige was reaching for the doorknob when she remembered being caught by Zach in her pj’s once before and detoured back to get her robe. Her heart pounded with the memory as she shoved her arms in the sleeves and wrapped the belt around her waist.

  Using the light in the hall to guide her, Paige tiptoed into Emma’s room, only to confirm that the baby was tucked in with her favorite blanket and sleeping peacefully.

  She had just turned back to the door when Zach stepped into the room.

  “I thought I heard Emma stirring,” he explained.

  “It was probably just me,” Paige told him. “She’s fine.”

  “Can’t sleep?”

  Can’t stop thinking about you, Paige thought, but of course, she didn’t speak the words aloud.

  “Just feeling a little restless,” she said instead.

  “Want a glass of wine to help you settle?”

  “No,” she responded quickly. Too quickly.

  He smiled knowingly, and she knew then that he hadn’t forgotten about the kiss. When his gaze dropped to her lips, she knew that he was thinking of kissing her again.

  She took a step back—a retreat that was as much emotional as it was physical.

  “I’m afraid that I may have given you the wrong idea,” she told him.

  “About what?”

  “My reasons for agreeing to this trip.”

  “You made it clear that you’re only here because I wanted my family to meet Emma.”

  “That’s true,” she acknowledged.

  “But I wanted my family to meet you, too,” he told her.

  She was surprised by the statement, and more than a little unnerved by the way he was looking at her. “Why?”

  “Because you’re the most important person in Emma’s life right now.” His gaze caught hers, and even through the shadows, she felt the heat of his stare, causing an answering warmth to spread through her veins. “And because you’re important to me, too.”

  “Because of Emma,” she said.

  “For a lot of reasons I’m not entirely sure I understand myself,” he told her.