Heiress's Baby Scandal

by Janice Lynn

  “Why?” he asked, turning the lock.

  She almost winced at the sound of the lock clicking into place. Why? Ha, did he really have to ask why she’d want to leave?

  “Because I don’t want to be here any longer.” Truer words had never been spoken. She wanted to be far away from the Triple D ranch and Texas.

  His hands on his hips, Ty stood just inside the door, staring at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. “Because of what just happened downstairs?”

  “Because I want to go home, Ty. I want to be back in the city, back at Angel’s.” Back where she belonged. “I don’t like it here.”

  “This is my home.”

  “Yes, and hasn’t it been a lovely homecoming for you?” She hadn’t meant to be sarcastic or to say anything derogatory. Lord knew, he got enough of that from his father. But the words had slipped out before she could stop them.

  His lips tightened. “With the exception of my father, yes, it has been.”

  Exactly. The rest of his family had been quite lovely. She shouldn’t have said what she had. Shame filled her. Shame and frustration and the overwhelming need to be in her own environment, to have time to process all the things that had happened over the past few days, over the past few weeks since Ty had rescued her at the ribbon-cutting.

  Her entire life had turned topsy-turvy.

  Her life would never be the same again.

  She was going to be a mother, to have Ty’s baby.

  “Well, good for you.” She forced a tight smile to her lips, pretended she wasn’t falling apart on the inside, because really she wanted to be strong. “I’m glad that you have had a good visit, but I want to go home.”

  He stared at her as if he was looking at a stranger. “We’re not supposed to leave for another two days, Ellie.”

  “Don’t call me that!”

  The name did her in. Emotions were battling within her and hearing him call her that when the single word could bring her so far down or so high up thanks to him was just too much.

  “But—”

  “No buts, I’ve asked and asked you not to call me that, but you’re just like your father. You think you know what’s best for other people so you do what you want anyway. Even when that person has asked you repeatedly not to call her that.” Over twenty years’ worth of frustrations and hurt spewed forth all at once. “Well, guess what? I don’t like it, so don’t!”

  “What’s wrong with you, Eleanor?”

  The way he enunciated her name grated on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. “Nothing.”

  “Is this about the pregnancy? It’s normal for you to feel emotional.”

  Emotional? Yes, she felt emotional. Overflowing with emotions. All of which centered around the man staring at her as if he wasn’t quite sure what to think.

  “Sure, I’m probably just hormonal.” She actually felt hormonal. She felt overwhelmed. Sad. As if every nerve ending in her body was in motion.

  He raked his fingers through his hair, leaving dark tufts in disarray. “I don’t understand what’s going on, why you’re doing this.”

  She glanced at the open suitcase on the bed. “I’m packing my bags so I can go home. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be with you. I just want to go home. Now.”

  He flinched almost as if she’d struck him. His lips tightened to a thin line. He sighed, seemed to come to some decision. “Fine, I’ll have Harry fly you to the airport. If he can’t because of the rodeo, I’ll fly us there.” At her look of alarm, he added, “It’s been a while, but I have my pilot’s license. Harry and I took lessons at the same time during our teens and have flown since.” He paused, stared straight into her eyes. “You’re sure this is what you want?”

  At the moment, leaving was the only thing she was sure of. She needed to be moving, to be taking action, to soothe the anxiety rising within her that was threatening to go into a full-blown panic attack, to get home to where she could dissect the emotions rushing through her.

  “Get me home, Ty.” She wanted to be as far away from Texas as she could possibly get. New York sounded just about perfect.

  She watched walls slide into place as he shielded his emotions behind an expression she’d never seen on his face before. One almost of indifference.

  “Fine.” He sounded as if he couldn’t care less, that what she did didn’t matter to him and he’d just as soon she leave as stay. “You want to go home. I’ll get you home.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ELEANOR SAT ON Ty’s bed, uncertain about what she needed to do. He’d disappeared more than thirty minutes ago, saying he’d be back for her when the plane was ready. She’d finished packing and had been sitting on the bed ever since.

  A light knock sounded on Ty’s door. Much lighter than Ty would have done. Not that he’d have knocked to enter his own bedroom anyway.

  Although she didn’t want to face anyone, she refused to show any remorse over her confrontation with Ty’s father. She’d meant every word.

  “Ellie,” Ty’s mother called through the door. “May I please come in? Please.”

  Taking a deep breath, Eleanor crossed the room, opened the door and moved aside for the woman to enter.

  When inside the room she looked as uncomfortable as Eleanor felt.

  “I suppose you think my husband is terrible.”

  Eleanor didn’t speak. Really, what could she say?

  “He isn’t. He was just raised a certain way and sees the world in black-and-white with no shades of gray.”

  “Ty being a doctor isn’t a shade of gray.”

  His mother smiled, surprising Eleanor. “I heard the two of you argue. I wasn’t intentionally eavesdropping. I came to find you, to tell you how happy I am Ty has a strong woman like you.”

  Eleanor wanted to laugh. Her, strong? Ha. Ty’s mother had her confused with someone else.

  “So the fact that even now you defend him, well, it makes this mother’s heart sing with joy.” Then she surprised Eleanor even further by wrapping her arms around her. “Please reconsider leaving. My son loves you. Stay and talk this out with him.”

  Eleanor reeled at the woman’s words. “Ty doesn’t love me.”

  She supposed the woman might think that as he’d brought her here when he’d never brought a woman home. Then there was the whole thing of being pregnant with his baby.

  “Has he not told you?” Then his mother frowned. “Have you told him how you feel? That you’re in love with him?”

  “I don’t love Ty,” she denied, but even as she said the words, she realized that she did.

  That perhaps on the night he’d rescued her at the ribbon-cutting she’d fallen hopelessly in love with Ty Donaldson.

  Standing just inside the open door of his bedroom, Ty recalled exactly why he’d been taught not to eavesdrop.

  He flinched at the words that stopped him cold.

  Hearing Ellie say she didn’t love him cut straight through his chest, right to the soft center of his heart.

  Hell, he was making a habit of eavesdropping today and nothing good had come out of it yet.

  Squaring his shoulders, he cleared his throat.

  Both women spun toward him.

  “Ty!” Ellie gasped, her face flushing, her eyes bright, guilty. Guilty because she didn’t love him and he’d heard her say so.

  Thank God he hadn’t poured his sappy heart out to her earlier.

  “The plane is fueled up and Harry is going to fly you to Houston. I’ve booked you a seat on the first available flight back to New York.”

  Her gaze dropped, then she nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Ty,” his mother said, stepping toward him, “I was just trying to convince Ellie to stay. Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”

  “Her name is Eleanor and, no, I don’t think her staying is a good idea at all.” Never would he be accused of forcing a woman to be with him when she’d so plainly said she didn’t want to be.

  His mother le
t out a loud sigh. “You’re as stubborn as your father.” With a shake of her head she hugged Ellie. “For whatever it’s worth, I hope you change your mind and decide to stay. This family needs to heal and you started that process today. Please don’t leave without seeing it through.”

  Heal? His mother thought what had happened between him and his father had been healing? Wrong. The confrontation had been like ripping the scab off a deep wound. Nothing more.

  Looking torn, Eleanor hugged his mother back. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home.” She hesitated. “With the baby, I’m sure our paths will cross in the future. Please take care.” Then she turned to Ty. “I’m ready to go.”

  She reached for her suitcase, but Ty beat her to it.

  “No way am I letting you carry that.”

  “I’m pregnant, not an invalid.”

  He shrugged. “Makes no difference. You’re not carrying it.”

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Ty’s mother stopped them.

  “You can’t leave without saying goodbye to William. He’d be heartbroken.”

  Yeah, well, his nephew wasn’t the only one who was going to be heartbroken when Ellie left.

  “He’s in the pool. I’ll go get him if you’ll wait?”

  Eleanor nodded.

  She and Ty stood in silence, then she sighed.

  “We should have just walked out to the pool instead of her having to drag William inside.”

  She nodded, sure he was right.

  “Ty!” His mother’s scream echoed through the house.

  Both Ty and Eleanor took off toward the door that led out to the pool.

  What met their gazes made Eleanor’s stomach tighten into a nervous ball.

  Ty’s father was in the pool, holding a lifeless little body to his chest but apparently frozen with fear and unable to move further.

  Ty immediately jumped to action, crossing the distance and jumping into the pool.

  “Give him to me,” he demanded of his father.

  His pain-filled eyes dropping to the lax body of his grandson, he did so.

  Ty took William, prayed he wasn’t too late, assessed him while carrying him from the pool.

  As best as he could tell, there wasn’t any trauma or neck injuries. God, he hoped William hadn’t dived into the pool, injured his neck, been paralyzed and drowned.

  But his nephew had drowned.

  No heartbeat. No respirations.

  A pain unlike any Ty had ever experienced slashed across his chest, but he drew on years of experience with dealing with medical emergencies to move automatically.

  “Oh, Ty,” Ellie cried, as he laid William’s tiny body on the concrete and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

  Ellie pulled her cell phone from her purse, dialed 911 and realized she had no idea what Ty’s address was.

  “The Triple D Ranch,” she told the emergency worker. “We’re at the Triple D Ranch.”

  Behind her, Ty’s mother gave the address and Ellie carefully repeated it to the voice on the other end of the phone line.

  She handed the phone to Ty’s mother and bent beside him, meaning to help him with the CPR, but her gaze caught on Ty’s father.

  The man still stood in the pool. She didn’t think he’d budged since he’d handed William over to Ty.

  Worried that more might be going on than just shock, she called out his name, but he didn’t even look her way.

  Kicking off her shoes, Ellie went into the pool to Harold Donaldson.

  “Mr. Donaldson?” She touched his arm.

  He jumped, seeming to come out of the trance he’d been in. He glanced around, his eyes landing on where Ty was working on William.

  “I didn’t know what to do,” he began, his voice trembling.

  Despite her differences with the man, her heart squeezed with compassion. She put her arm around him. “Come on. Let’s get you out of the pool.”

  Ty counted compressions in his head, gave a breath at the appropriate times and prayed. In his mind, he prayed and prayed and prayed.

  But nothing happened.

  No lub-dub of William’s heart.

  No gasp of breath or sputtering or cough.

  Nothing.

  He couldn’t let this happen. Couldn’t not revive William.

  Couldn’t ever forget the pallid color on his father’s face, the pain in his father’s eyes as he’d taken William out of his shaking arms.

  Never had Ty seen a weak link in his father’s armor. Never had he seen the man not know exactly what to do.

  His father was a man of action, a decisive man who never questioned, just did.

  Ty gave another breath.

  Nothing.

  The longer he couldn’t revive William the less likely he was to be able to.

  How long had the boy been in the pool? How long had his father just been holding his lifeless body?

  From the corner of his eye he saw his mother go to his father, wrap her arms around him and start talking to him. He saw Ellie reassure herself that nothing more was wrong with his father than fear, then she moved to him, knelt next to where he desperately tried to save William.

  “Let me help.” She didn’t wait for him to answer, just bent and gave William a breath, counted his compressions out loud and repeated the breath.

  And a miracle happened.

  Nothing could convince Ty that anything short of a miracle had happened.

  Because William coughed.

  Weakly at first, then stronger as his lungs cleared the water.

  “Oh, Ty, he’s alive.”

  At Ellie’s exclamation, Ty’s mother cried out and his father sank to his knees.

  “Harold!” His wife sank down next to him.

  “Check him,” he ordered Ellie, not willing to leave William’s side but afraid the stress of what had happened might be affecting his father’s heart.

  William’s eyes opened, he coughed more. Deep, rattling coughs that shook his tiny frame.

  Ty turned him, beat on his back, trying to assist in clearing the fluid.

  “Uncle Ty?”

  Ty let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  Stepping out of the house, Harry and Nita took in the scene before them.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Eleanor could recall very few times of sitting in a hospital waiting area. At least, from her current point of view as an anxious family member waiting to hear news.

  Family member.

  She wasn’t really family.

  But the baby inside her was William’s cousin, was a part of this family.

  She glanced at Ty. He sat slumped over, eyes closed. He’d barely said a word to her since they’d followed the ambulance to the hospital. His mother had sat in the front seat next to him and she and Nita had shared the backseat of the king cab Triple D pickup. Harry had ridden in the ambulance with his son and father.

  When they’d arrived, Ty’s mother had been allowed to stay with her husband while he was checked over just to make sure his reaction had only been one of stress. Harry and Nita were both with William. Which left Eleanor and Ty alone in the emergency room waiting area.

  Ty opened his eyes, caught her watching him. His expression tightened. “I’m sorry you missed your flight.”

  “Really? You think I’m worried about my flight?”

  “I thought you were all set to get out of Texas as quickly as possible.”

  Eleanor’s eyes closed and she prayed for strength to see her through the rest of this stressful day. “I thought you were upset with me and I panicked.”

  “Why the hell would I have been upset with you?”

  “Because of what I said to your father.”

  “When you defended me? Hell, darlin’, I thought you were great. Brilliant. I didn’t want you to leave.”

  “You weren’t upset?”

  “At you? Never,” he answered without hesitation. “My father is a different sto
ry altogether. Hell, we’ll both just leave. I’ll go back to New York with you.”

  “But the rodeo—”

  “The rodeo was just an excuse to get me home,” he interrupted, sitting up in his seat. “My mother hoped my father and I would work things out, but that’s never going to happen. We’re too different. He is never going to understand me and I quit trying to make him understand years ago.”

  He stood, moved next to where she sat.

  “Thank you for trying, though, Ellie.”

  Ellie. He’d called her Ellie.

  That’s all it took for the dam of emotions to break loose within Eleanor. She’d been holding them at bay so staunchly, trying to be strong during all the afternoon’s drama, but hearing the nickname destroyed all her resolve.

  Because when Ty had called her Eleanor earlier, she’d hurt. Deep down hurt.

  Because she wasn’t Eleanor.

  Not with Ty.

  She was Ellie.

  Not Jelly Ellie, but Ellie, the woman who stole Ty Donaldson’s breath.

  Because when he looked at her, said her name, that’s exactly how he made her feel. As if she really did steal his breath.

  Just as he was looking at her right this moment.

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He touched her face, brushed away tears that she hadn’t realized had fallen. “I’m sorry, Ellie. Sorry you had to deal with my father. Sorry you want to leave. Sorry you don’t love me.”

  The last one had her looking up at him. “Why would that matter?”

  He gave a soft laugh. “What my mother said earlier was right.”

  He knew she loved him? “But how?”

  He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “How could I not?”

  She supposed he saw the truth in her eyes every time she looked at him, every time she’d kissed him, touched him.

  Because she did love him. Even now the way she felt about him was probably shining in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Ty. I didn’t mean it to happen.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  Perhaps not, but she didn’t want him feeling sorry for her. Which apparently was what was happening. He’d overheard what his mother had said and was taking pity on her just as he’d done at the ribbon-cutting.