Wedding Rings and Baby Things

by Teresa Southwick

  “The counter. It’s exactly what I told him. He didn’t want Sammi. He wanted the partnership. If we turned up the heat, he had to get out because the bad publicity would cost him everything.”

  “If you were so sure it would work, why didn’t you let me in on it? Why would that have upset me?”

  “I was trying to give you some worry-free time with Sammi, to get to know her, enjoy her. I knew Hammond would drop the custody thing and there was no reason for you to go through all the ups and downs of the legal system. Nine times out of ten complaints are settled out of court.”

  “What if this was the tenth time? What if I’d had to face a judge? Didn’t you think I’d need to prepare?”

  “That’s why you have a lawyer.”

  “No. You have a lawyer and a friend. I have neither.”

  Mike winced. “That’s ridiculous. I’m your friend.”

  She was taking this a lot harder than he’d thought He’d figured protecting her and Sammi was the most important thing. He still thought so.

  Kelly wasn’t sure whether to slug him or hug him. But when it sank in that he’d broken the cardinal rule of their friendship, she wanted to cry. For as long as she could remember, when she’d had a problem, Mike was always the first person she’d thought of to share it with. He had always talked things over with her, too.

  When he’d injured his elbow playing ball, he’d called her right after the doctor broke the news that his career was over. When he’d had the surgery to repair the damage, he’d asked her to be there. When her mother had died, they had gone to each other. She’d comforted him first and found she’d received more consolation than she’d given.

  But now she was his wife. And he hadn’t seen fit to discuss with her anything about the custody case involving her baby. To protect her, he’d said. He’d never shown that protective streak before, at least not by keeping things from her.

  “Friends don’t stab each other in the back,” she said.

  “I was trying to keep you safe from all of it. You had your hands full with a brand-new baby. Every time Sammi sneezed, you worried about her being sick. Half the time you didn’t get more than four or five hours of sleep a night. You didn’t need to be kept awake by the threat of that jerk taking her away from you. It was never going to happen. I thought the best thing was to spare you the day-to-day ups and downs.”

  “I believe you.” He was telling the truth. She could see that. Mike couldn’t lie any better than she could.

  “I’m glad.”

  “The truth is I blame myself more than you. I went on about how this was my problem and my responsibility to deal with it. I should have demanded that Tim give me more details about what he was doing, or gotten another lawyer. It just never occurred to me that you were in cahoots with him and keeping important details from me.”

  Mike was actually being very sweet and considerate. A classic case of the wrong thing for the right reasons. And if the very foundation of their friendship hadn’t been open and honest communication, she could probably overlook this slip. But the fact was, she had married Mike against her better judgment. It had been the best decision at the time, and she’d done it for Sammi. But now everything had changed.

  Including her. This was the worst possible time to discover this, but it was as clear to her as a freshly spritzed mirror. Even Doug had seen it

  She was in love with Mike.

  His eyes narrowed with’concern as he studied her. “I only gave you four reasons why I kept it from you. Don’t you want to hear the other six?”

  “No.” She brushed past him. “I’m going upstairs to fold diapers.”

  “Do you want some help?”

  “No, thanks. I’d like to be alone.”

  “I can give you ten good reasons why you shouldn’t—”

  “I’ll be down when Sammi wakes up,” she said over her shoulder.

  She wanted to take his ten reasons and stuff them up his nose. There was only one reason why he hadn’t talked this over with her.

  She had lost him.

  Or at least she was well on her way to losing him. Because she loved him. The day they had said “I do” was the beginning of the end. Their friendship would never be what it was because of the marriage. Living with Mike had made her see that he was everything she’d ever wanted in a man.

  She stopped halfway up the stairs. Living with him? What if she didn’t live with him? Now that Doug had agreed to sign off his rights to Sammi, she and Mike didn’t have to present a united front. They could stick to the original time frame of their agreement. Four months was almost up.

  Divorce. Divide and conquer. It was her only chance. If she left, maybe she could still salvage her relationship with Mike. That was the answer, and as far as she could see, her only hope.

  Mike turned into the drive. He had just come from Tim Sargent’s office and was eager to tell Kelly the news. During the last week, she had kept her distance, a fact that was driving him crazy. He hoped his news would bring them closer, the way they’d been before he’d chosen poorly and tried to protect her. But whatever happened between him and Kelly wouldn’t change the decision he’d made today.

  He was learning a lot about this loneliness thing. The phrase lonely in a crowd sprang to mind. Kelly and Sammi lived in his house, but they couldn’t have been farther apart if she lived in Timbuktu.

  It was all his fault, a major error in judgment to keep things from her. He had even told her so. And she knew how much he hated admitting that. It was one step removed from losing. But when he had said it, her response had been, “Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons still makes it wrong.”

  He couldn’t fight her logic. He could only do his best to prove it would never happen again.

  At the top of the drive he saw a small, unfamiliar compact car. It looked like Kelly had company. He hoped whoever it was wouldn’t stay long. He couldn’t wait to talk to Kelly alone.

  He burst through the front door and called out, “Kelly? Where are you?”

  “In the living room,” she said.

  He rounded the corner and found Kelly sitting on the couch. At the opposite end, a white-haired woman held Sammi. She was trim and fashionably dressed. The baby seemed comfortable in her arms. As he descended the one step into the room, Kelly and the stranger stared at him.

  Kelly sat on the edge of the cushion, her hands clasped in her lap. “Mike, this is Sylvia Fellwock. Sylvia, Mike Cameron.”

  Her tone was businesslike and steady. There was less warmth than she used to send one of her students to the dean of discipline.

  The woman lifted the baby slightly, indicating that she couldn’t do the polite thing and shake hands. “How do you do, Mr. Cameron. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “The pleasure’s mine,” he said. “Call me Mike.”

  The woman smiled at Sammi and said, “You have a beautiful baby.”

  “Thanks.” He didn’t bother correcting her because he thought of Sammi as his daughter. He couldn’t love her more if she was his own flesh and blood. “She is beautiful, isn’t she? The spitting image of her mother.”

  Sylvia looked at Kelly, then back at the baby. “Yes, I think you’re right.”

  Mike hunched down beside them and gently stroked Sammi’s cheek as he talked to Kelly’s friend. “It’s nice of you to come by for a visit. I thought I’d met most of Kelly’s friends—”

  Kelly cleared her throat. “Sylvia answered the ad for child care that I placed in the Signal.”

  His gaze shot to hers. “Child care? You never said anything about that.” He didn’t want a stranger taking care of Sammi. What could Kelly know about a woman who responded to a newspaper ad? “Why .were you looking in the want ads, Sylvia? Have you had children of your own?”

  Kelly glared at him. “Mike, I’ll handle this.”

  “That’s all right, Mrs. Cameron. I respect your husband for getting involved. So many men let their wives take on the whole burden when they go b
ack to work.”

  Work? Kelly was going back to work? He hadn’t thought about it since they’d first discussed it, when they’d come up with the terms of their agreement. Kelly had insisted on a time limit, because she didn’t want him to put his life on hold indefinitely. She had said she was going back in September.

  Somehow he thought she would have changed her mind after the baby was born. And that was okay with him. He knew Kelly. He knew it would tear her apart to leave Sammi. Why was she going through with this? She didn’t have to. He would take care of them. Why hadn’t she talked it over with him?

  Sylvia turned her blue-eyed gaze on Mike. She looked honest and straightforward, but he’d wager Ma Barker had appeared the epitome of maternal perfection when it had suited her.

  Sylvia gently bounced the baby when she fussed a little. “I had three children, two boys and a girl. They’re grown now. The boys are married, and my daughter is away at college. UCLA.”

  “Good basketball school, but the football team could use some beefing up.”

  Sylvia laughed. “That’s just what Heather says.”

  Mike stood and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d think after raising your family you’d want to take it easy, have time to yourself. Why would you want to tie yourself down with a baby?” He glanced at Kelly and didn’t miss the hostile look she shot him.

  “I don’t need the money, Mr. Cameron. I guess I wanted something to fill my time, something useful. I love children, especially babies.” She shrugged. “I suppose I was lonely.”

  He stared at the baby for a few seconds, then at Kelly. “I can relate to that.”

  “Why would you be lonely?” Sylvia asked. “You have it all, right here.” She let Sammi’s tiny fist curl around her finger and smiled as the baby cooed.

  “You seem like a nice woman, Sylvia,” he said. Even to himself he sounded as sincere as a used-car salesman. “Kelly and I will talk this over and let you know.”

  Kelly stood up. When he met her gaze, the daggers there made him flinch. “Mike, I know you’re trying to help, but I’m handling this just fine.”

  “If there’s nothing else, Mrs. Cameron, I’ll be going.” Sylvia stood and handed the baby to Mike. He put her up on his shoulder, the way she liked, and breathed in the sweet infant smell of her.

  Kelly walked over to the other woman and shook her hand. “I’ll check out the references you gave me. You understand that I have several more people to interview.”

  “Of course. You can’t be too careful these days. Children are too precious to take any chances.”

  Kelly nodded. “I have your number. When I’ve made a decision, I’ll call you, one way or the other.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Cameron.”

  Kelly walked her to the door, and Mike stood with the baby in the living room, waiting. They had a few things to settle.

  When she returned, she folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. Her dark eyebrows pulled together as she frowned. “You had no right to take over the way you did. What was that all about?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  She stood in front of him, her green eyes sparkling with anger, and all he could think about was kissing her. Making love to her. He needed a woman, and it was time to let her know the woman he needed was her.

  There were some things to get out of the way first.

  “Why did you advertise for child care?” He patted Sammi’s bottom as she turned her head back and forth on his shoulder, trying to get comfortable.

  “I’m going back to work in a couple weeks. I need to find someone to watch the baby.” She lifted one eyebrow. “Thanks to you, I probably just lost the most qualified applicant.”

  “What was so good about Sylvia?” he asked.

  “She’s warm, experienced, and she doesn’t charge an arm and a leg, because she truly doesn’t need the money. The best part is that she has her own transportation and will come to my home so I don’t have to take Sammi out of her environment”

  Mike didn’t like the fact that she’d said “my home.” What did she mean by that? “I don’t understand why she wants the job.”

  “I suspect she would like to be a grandmother, and her sons are not cooperating. Apparently they married career women who, at the very least, are putting off children.”

  “As opposed to yourself who’s planning to let someone else raise your baby.”

  “That’s not fair, Mike.”

  He sighed. “I know. It was a cheap shot, and I’m sorry.”

  “I’d like nothing better than to stay home with her. But I have no choice. I have to work—”

  “No, you don’t,” he said.

  “If I don’t, how will I put a roof over her head, food in her tummy and clothes on her back? You don’t get anything for nothing in life.”

  Her father’s words. “Frank Walker was a wise man. I still miss him,” he said.

  She nodded. “Me, too. But he was right. And I learned how to take care of myself. I’m grateful to him for that. As long as I live, my child will not want for anything.”

  “Except for the most important thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You.”

  Instead of anger now, her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “That was low, Cameron.”

  “I’m not trying to hurt you, Kelly. I’m trying to help.”

  “Then I’m completely missing the point.”

  The baby was limp in his arms now, sound asleep. He needed his concentration for this conversation. He needed to be as persuasive and charming as Kelly always accused him of being. He couldn’t do that holding the baby.

  “I’ll explain the point as soon as I put her down.”

  “I’ll do it,” she said. There was almost a desperation in her tone and her expression as she held out her arms. She was thinking about the fact that her time with Sammi was no longer unlimited and she wanted to make the most of it. He knew how she felt. His time with both of them was ticking away. He had to figure out how to stop the clock. If she left, he would miss her like crazy.

  “I don’t mind putting her to bed,” he said. “If we hand her off, it’ll wake her up.”

  “All right,” she agreed.

  “When I come back, there’s something I need to ask you.”

  She nodded, but he could have sworn there was apprehension in her eyes.

  After settling the baby in her crib, Mike joined Kelly in the family room.

  When he came in, she stopped pacing and turned to him. “All right. Explain to me how reminding me that someone else will have the pleasure of raising my child is a help to me. And don’t say you were just being cruel to be kind.”

  “Don’t go back to work. Stay home with her, here, and let me take care of you both.”

  Her eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped. He walked over and nudged it closed with the tip of his finger.

  She swallowed. “That wasn’t part of the agreement.”

  “So?”

  “We decided to stay together four months. Time is almost up. Everything has worked out beautifully,” she said, but her lip trembled slightly. She caught it between her teeth, steadied herself, then continued. “I have Sammi and my job, thanks to you.”

  “Take a maternity leave.”

  “I don’t need a leave. I’ve been to the doctor for my final checkup and got the go-ahead for—” she looked down at her hands “—well, for going back to work.”

  “I just meant you should give yourself some time to think this over. Stay here.”

  “Four months was enough time for me to straighten out my life. There’s no reason to keep yours on hold for me any longer, Mike. The last thing I wanted was for this damned agreement to affect our friendship. If we go on like we are, I’m afraid of what will happen to us. I couldn’t stand it if—” Her voice caught, and she covered her mouth and turned her back to him.

  His life wasn’t on hold. For the first time he felt as if he was living it to the ful
lest. He had purpose and joy and contentment. He realized that without Kelly and Sammi he had no life.

  Mike moved behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She trembled, then tensed. When he tried to pull her back against him, she resisted at first. Finally, she relaxed and he rubbed her arms.

  “Do you remember that we also said the four months could be renegotiated?”

  “You suggested it. I never agreed.”

  Mike knew Kelly could be stubborn. But she was carrying it to the extreme. What was going on with her? She was afraid of something. If he didn’t find out what, he would lose her. It was time for the direct approach.

  He turned her around and held her upper arms. “Kelly, I don’t want you to leave when the four months are up.”

  She blinked. “Why? Sammi and I have put you out long enough.”

  “Why do you keep assuming the two of you are an imposition? I like having you here.”

  “I have to go, Mike.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Yes, I do. I resisted marrying you because I was afraid our friendship would be ruined.”

  “And that hasn’t happened.”

  Her gaze lowered from his eyes to his lips, and he felt her shiver. “Not yet. But if this situation goes on any longer, it could.”

  “You’re wrong. This ‘situation’ has brought us closer together.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Why not? What are you afraid of?”

  “Change, I guess. What we have is perfect, or at least it was. I want things back the way they were. I don’t want it to change.”

  So, she had noticed the shift between them, too. She had felt the attraction as strongly as he had. But for some reason she was afraid of it.

  “It’s too late, Kelly. Things between us already have changed. For the better—”

  She shook her head. “Don’t you see? I have to go back to work. I have to move out as soon as possible. I have to leave before things change more, while there’s a chance to get back what we had.”

  He hated labels, and now he knew why. They were so limiting; they boxed you in and left no place to go. There was only one way he could think of, one surefire method to break down her defenses and show her that change was a good thing. Stimulating.