by Jane Toombs
Since he’d met his twin, he hadn’t suffered through his dream of searching through endless fog, making him believe Talal was what he’d unknowingly been looking for all along. But he couldn’t fault his grandparents—they’d been sure what they did was the best for all concerned. It still blew his mind to realize he had relatives in Kholi. His Grandmother Zohir was an unknown quantity, so he was unwilling to pass judgment on her, though he had a hunch he wouldn’t have cared much for Grandfather Zohir.
“Marhaba!” Talal exclaimed.
Deciding this was an Arabic greeting, Zed said, “Hello to you, too. Come on in.”
“Are you so certain, then, I’ll do the right thing?” Talal asked.
“You’re welcome in my home under any circumstances,” Zed assured him. “Which doesn’t mean I’ll always agree with you.” He gestured toward the living room. “Karen and Jade are in there.”
“And the boy?” Taking a nap.”
Jade, still standing, took a step toward Talal as he entered the living room. Seeing she was about to burst into impassioned speech, Zed said firmly, “Sit down, sis. We need to listen to Talal, not to you.”
She subsided into a chair, scowling.
Zed indicated a chair for Talal but his brother shook his head, so Zed also remained standing, one foot on the raised hearth. Karen, on the couch, hugged herself as she eyed Talal uneasily.
Bracing himself with his cane, Talal glanced from one to another of them and said, “I’ve come to see my decision was not the best one to be made. It won’t work. Do not mistake me—I have every intention of following through on my plans to legally prove that Danny is my son. But I’ve changed my mind about taking him to Kholi.”
He shifted position, his gaze meeting Zed’s for a long moment, then traveling to Karen. “My brother and I talked this over yesterday at Lucky Joe’s. After we parted company, it became clear to me there’s no reason I can’t share custody of my son with the two people who mean the most to little Danny—Karen and Zeid.” He smiled at Karen, who offered him an uncertain smile in return.
“What do you mean by share?” she asked.
“The two of you are in love,” Talal replied, “and soon will marry. My position involves much travel and it’s obvious you two, a loving couple, will give Danny a far more stable, caring home than I can provide at present. My son couldn’t be in better hands than he’ll be with you two raising him. I will, of course, take him to visit Kholi when he’s older and can understand he belongs to two countries. In the meantime Zed will be Daddy Z and I will be Daddy T. In time, as he matures, he’ll be told the truth. I hope the three of you will visit Kholi when Danny does.”
Striding to his brother, Zed reached for his hand. Talal drew him closer and hugged him. For a long moment they stood clasped in each other’s embrace, then Zed stepped back. Clearing his emotion-clogged throat, he choked out, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Karen, hovering, eased between them to give Talal a hug and a quick peck on the cheek. “I misjudged you,” she murmured. “I should have known Zed’s twin had to be one of the good guys.” Wiping at her damp eyes with the back of her hand, she said, “I need a tissue,” and left the room.
Jade hadn’t moved. Since she was seated far enough away that she couldn’t overhear, Zed saw his chance to set his brother straight. Keeping his voice low, he said, “You’re right about Karen and I getting married, but it’s not a love match on her side. It’s purely for Danny’s sake. Don’t you remember me telling you that yesterday?”
“I know you told me you love her,” Talal said. “Have you ever said those words to Karen?”
Zed shook his head. “What good would it do?”
“Zohirs have an overabundance of pride, but none of us are fools. Swallow your pride. Tell her.”
At that moment Karen reentered the room.
“Now!” Talal ordered, raising his voice so that both Karen and Jade couldn’t help but hear him. “In front of witnesses.”
Embarrassed by his brother’s insistence, not seeing an easy way out and suddenly feeling maybe he hadn’t put it quite right the first time, Zed crossed to Karen and took both her hands in his.
“Karen,” he said. “I love you. Will you marry me?”
She stared blankly at him, speechless for endless moments.
“Karen,” Talal prompted, “it’s your turn.”
Flinging her arms around Zed’s neck, she cried, “I love you with all my heart. I’d never consider marrying any other man.”
Oblivious of anyone but Karen, Zed kissed her, long and thoroughly, hardly hearing the plaintive voice from the nursery.
“Dada!” Danny cried.
“Don’t move,” Jade said. “I’ll get him.”
Zed released Karen, keeping his arm around her waist as he watched Jade return carrying Danny. Instead of coming to him, she walked directly to Talal. Danny gazed at Talal. “Da?” he said, doubt in his voice.
“Hello, Nimr,” Talal said gently. “Don’t be confused. You’re Tiger to Zeid and Nimr to me, one and the same word in different languages. Soon you’ll learn you have two different fathers who, in a way, are also the same.”
Danny twisted in Jade’s arms, searching until he saw Zed. “Dada!” he cried.
Jade handed him over to Zed and marched up to Talal again. She smiled at him and said, “Adamses have their pride, too, so I got a double dose. I’ve never liked admitting I was wrong but, just for you, I will this time. I’m ashamed of all the names I called you. Since I’ve known Zed all my life, I should have realized the exact same combination of an Adams and a Zohir couldn’t be all bad.” Talal smiled wryly. “So you’ve forgiven me?” She nodded. “You’ve proved to me beyond the shadow of a doubt that long-lost brothers can be as lovable as well-known ones.” Rising on her tiptoes, she kissed him first on one cheek, then the other. “Welcome to the family,” she murmured.
Two and a half months later Talal, his cast finally off, returned in time to stand up as best man for Karen and Zed’s wedding, creating a sensation among the guests. Since few of them had seen him, the remarkable resemblance startled many.
At the reception following the ceremony, Karen smiled when she overheard an older woman say to her husband, “All I can say is I hope she’ll be able to tell one from the other when it comes time to take off for the honeymoon.”
Zed looked down at her and grinned. “Think you can tell us apart?”
“For as long as he has to use that cane, anyway,” she teased, positive that if Zed had a dozen clones she’d still be able to pick him out. “Danny isn’t the only one who knows the difference.”
As she said the words, she looked over at Talal, who was seated on a bench holding Danny. Ignoring the interested glances of more than one attractive woman guest, Talal dangled a brightly colored clown that balanced on a pole. The toy obviously fascinated Danny and Talal was completely preoccupied with the boy’s reaction to the clown. Karen smiled to see how trustingly Danny cuddled against him. Who said babies weren’t good judges of character?
Epilogue
After a dry autumn, snow fell on December fifteenth, turning the brown fields of the Adams’ ranch sparkling white. Standing at the kitchen window, Karen said, “I hope the snow stays until Christmas.”
“More’s on the way,” Zed assured her. “You know this will be our second Christmas together, but our first Nevada one.”
She nodded. “A real family Christmas this time. With my folks and brother Steve, plus Jade and Talal.”
“Tal,” Danny crowed, toddling across the kitchen, pulling behind him the wheeled camel Talal had sent him.
Karen turned to him, “Yes, Tal. Auntie Jade, too, and Uncle Steve.”
Danny frowned, obviously unable to place Steve.
“Never mind,” she told him. “It’s been a while since the wedding so you’ve forgotten. You’ll get to know Steve all over again after he gets here. And your grand-parents.”
“Tal,” Da
nny repeated. He paused, turned around and patted the camel’s head.
“Smartest kid in the universe,” Zed remarked as he unhooked a banana from the holder and began peeling it.
“Nana,” Danny said, dropping the string of the camel and making for Zed. “Me nana.”
Zed broke off a chunk of banana and handed it to him. “You know,” he said to Karen, “for a while there I thought Jade and Steve were going to hit it off. Maybe at Christmas….”
She shook her head. “I noticed some chemistry between them but nothing else. You need that elusive something else.”
He crossed the kitchen and put his arms around her. “Want to show me about that something else?”
Karen smiled up at him. “Here and now? What will Danny think?”
“We can get started, anyway,” Zed murmured, kissing her, long and slow and deep.
She snuggled closer, losing herself in his embrace even as she tried to calculate the hours until Danny’s nap time. An insistent tugging at her skirt distracted her, causing her to break free and look down.
“Me kiss!” Danny insisted. “Me kiss.”
Zed laughed ruefully, picked him up and kissed him. “If you keep interrupting, Tiger, you’ll continue to be an only child.”
Karen leaned over to kiss Danny, then whispered in Zed’s ear, “Want to bet?”
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YOURS TRULY
Love when you least expect it.
Where the written word plays a vital role in uniting couples—you’re guaranteed a fun and exciting read every time!
Look for Marie Ferrarella’s upcoming Yours Truly, Traci on the Spot, in March 1997.
Here’s a special sneak preview….
1
Morgan Brigham slowly set down his coffee cup on the kitchen table and stared at the comic strip in the center of his paper. It was nestled in among approximately twenty others that were spread out across two pages. But this was the only one he made a point of reading faithfully each morning at breakfast.
This was the only one that mirrored her life.
He read each panel twice, as if he couldn’t trust his own eyes. But he could. It was there, in black and white.
Morgan folded the paper slowly, thoughtfully, his. mind not on his task. So Traci was getting engaged.
The realization gnawed at the lining of his stomach. He hadn’t a clue as to why.
He had even less of a clue why he did what he did. next.
Abandoning his coffee, now cool, and the newspa-per, and ignoring the fact that this was going to make him late for the office, Morgan went to get a sheet of stationery from the den.
He didn’t have much time.
Traci Richardson stared at the last frame she had just drawn. Debating, she glanced at the creature sprawled out on the kitchen floor.
“What do you think, Jeremiah? Too blunt?”
The dog, part bloodhound, part mutt, idly looked up from his rawhide bone at the sound of his name. Jeremiah gave her a look she felt free to interpret as ambivalent.
“Fine help you are. What if Daniel actually reads this and puts two and two together?”
Not that there was all that much chance that the man who had proposed to her, the very prosperous and busy Dr. Daniel Thane, would actually see the comic strip she drew for a living. Not unless the strip was taped to a bicuspid he was examining. Lately Daniel had gotten so busy he’d stopped reading anything but the morning headlines of the Times.
Still, you never knew. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings,” Traci continued, using Jeremiah as a sounding board. “It’s just that Traci is overwhelmed by Donald’s proposal and, see, she thinks the ring is going to swallow her up.” To prove her point, Traci held up the drawing for the dog to view.
This time, he didn’t even bother to lift his head.
Traci stared moodily at the small velvet box on the kitchen counter. It had sat there since Daniel had asked her to marry him last Sunday. Even if Daniel never read her comic strip, he was going to suspect something eventually. The very fact that she hadn’t grabbed the ring from his hand and slid it onto her finger should have told him that she had doubts about their union.
Traci sighed. Daniel was a catch by any definition. So what was her problem? She kept waiting to be struck by that sunny ray of happiness. Daniel said he wanted to take care of her, to fulfill her every wish. And he was even willing to let her think about it before she gave him her answer.
Guilt nibbled at her. She should be dancing up and down, not wavering like a weather vane in a gale.
Pronouncing the strip completed, she scribbled her signature in the corner of the last frame and then sighed. Another week’s work put to bed. She glanced at the pile of mail on the counter. She’d been bringing it in steadily from the mailbox since Monday, but the stack had gotten no farther than her kitchen. Sorting, letters seemed the least heinous of all the annoying chores that faced her.
Traci paused as she noted a long envelope. Morgan Brigham. Why would Morgan be writing to her?
Curious, she tore open the envelope and quickly scanned the short note inside.
Dear Traci,
I’m putting the summerhouse up for sale. Thought you might want to come up and see it one more time before it goes up on the block. Or make a bid for it yourself. If memory serves, you once said you wanted to buy it. Either way, let me know. My number’s on the card.
Take care,
Morgan
P.S. Got a kick out of Traci on the Spot this week.
Traci folded the letter. He read her strip. She hadn’t known that. A feeling of pride silently coaxed a smile to her lips. After a beat, though, the rest of his note seeped into her consciousness. He was selling the house.
The summerhouse. A faded white building with brick trim. Suddenly, memories flooded her mind. Long, lazy afternoons that felt as if they would never end.
Morgan,
She looked at the far wall in the family room. There was a large framed photograph of her and Morgan standing before the summerhouse. Traci and Morgan. Morgan and Traci. Back then, it seemed their lives had been permanently intertwined. A bittersweet feeling of loss passed over her.
Traci quickly pulled the telephone over to her on the counter and tapped out the number on the keypad.
* * * * *
Look for TRACI ON THE SPOT by Marie Ferrarella, coming to Silhouette YOURS TRULY in March 1997.
eISBN 978-14592-7333-7
NOBODY’S BABY
Copyright © 1997 by Jane Toombs
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Dear Reader
Dedication
Other books by
Jane Toombs
Dear Reader
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven<
br />
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
Preview
Copyright