Hunter had reached the living room by then and he half fell, half sat in the middle of the sofa, staring into space, thinking again, Terese is pregnant?
Could it have happened that night before he’d left? Could the blood test have detected it this early?
Maybe she was involved with someone else, someone from before they’d ever met.
But even as he considered that, he didn’t believe it. He knew she’d been hurt and that hurt had caused her to swear off relationships. He also knew Terese wasn’t the kind of woman who slept around. No, if she was pregnant, the baby had to be his.
But how could that be?
Okay, so they hadn’t used protection. And a single night without protection was enough, he admitted.
And if the doctor had said the blood test could tell early…
She really could be pregnant with his baby.
No matter how many times he repeated it to himself in his head, it still didn’t ring true.
Of all the things Hunter had thought about on his trip and the whole plane ride home, this had not been one of them. And he’d thought about Terese a lot. Almost constantly, in fact, with only Johnny running neck-and-neck with her.
He’d thought about how good Terese was with Johnny, how patient she was with him, how much she loved him and doted on him, how kind and sweet she was, and how touching it was to see her with him.
He’d thought about how much he’d enjoyed every minute he’d spent with her himself. Every minute since she’d arrived at the ranch. He’d thought about how she made his blood run faster just by walking into a room.
He’d thought about how pretty she was—whether she believed it or not.
He’d thought about how easy she was to talk to. How well she’d fit into their little family. How she’d stirred things inside him that had been dormant for a long time.
He’d sure as hell thought about that last night together and how incredible it had been.
But he’d never thought she might have ended up pregnant from that last night.
Pregnant.
Oh, man…
Hunter jammed his hands through his hair. Then he grasped the top of the cushions behind him and dropped his head back, too, to stare up at the ceiling.
Pregnant…
He’d also thought a lot about what would happen when he got back here. About Terese inevitably leaving. About how rotten it made him feel to think of not seeing her as much as he had. Or maybe not at all. But unlike the rest of his thoughts about her, he hadn’t liked that one. He’d shied away from it each time it had popped into his head. And he hadn’t come up with any idea about how to continue what had begun between them.
Now here he was, and she was gone, and all of a sudden everything was a whole lot more complicated than just trying to figure out if he was going to ask her to a movie and dinner, or to do something with him and Johnny, or to visit for a weekend here and there.
Pregnant…
Terese was going to have a baby…
His baby…
So if she was pregnant with his child, where was she? he thought, getting a little angry suddenly. Why wasn’t she here telling him that they were going to have a baby? Why had she taken off before he got home, without giving him so much as a clue about what was going on and what she wanted to happen now?
If he was going to be a father again, he had the right to know that. To know where they stood. What the hell was she thinking just to take off? What was she feeling?
That last thought stayed with him, cooling him off as quickly as his temper had flared.
What was she feeling? he couldn’t help wondering.
She had to have been as shocked as he was.
But was she happy about it?
He couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t be. At least when the surprise wore off. He’d seen for himself how crazy she was about Johnny. He knew she’d thought she would never have kids of her own and had regretted that.
So once she got used to the idea, he thought she’d probably be glad.
But what about him? How did he feel about it? he asked himself.
A baby. He was going to have a baby. A brother or sister for Johnny…
He’d always wanted more than one child. He and Margee had planned to adopt at least a second baby and maybe a third. But when Margee had died, he’d had to accept that Johnny would be the only child he ever had. And now that it seemed as though that wasn’t true, he tried the possibility on like a new pair of boots. Judging how it fit.
He didn’t hate the idea, he realized.
In fact, the longer he considered it, the more he liked it.
He and Terese were going to have a baby….
But fast on the heels of that thought, it occurred to him that there really wasn’t a “he and Terese.” And that set him back a little.
It wasn’t as if they were a couple, he reminded himself. It wasn’t as if they’d talked about a future together or made a commitment. They were just two people, connected by Johnny, brought together over Johnny, with no other ties. Except the baby they would have now.
For the life of him, Hunter didn’t know where they were supposed to go from here. He didn’t even know where he wanted them to go from here.
The ceiling didn’t hold any answers for him and he sat up straight again, staring at nothing in particular while he tried to sort out his feelings.
Where did he want them to go from here?
He knew that he’d wanted to come home to Terese as much as he’d wanted to come home to Johnny. That he’d missed her every bit as much.
He knew that coming back and finding her gone had left a hole in him, an empty spot that needed her to fill it.
He knew that the house seemed too quiet, too still, without her. That even just knowing she wasn’t anywhere on the ranch made the whole place seem a little lonely.
He knew that the thought of getting up tomorrow morning and not having her across the breakfast table from him made him feel bad. Really bad. That the thought of never having her across the breakfast table from him made him feel even worse.
And that let him know for sure that he wanted her here.
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t just want her here in the general proximity the way she’d been before. He wanted her here in his house. In his bed. In his life. Here helping him raise Johnny and having their new baby.
Only here was a long way from where Terese had come from, he reminded himself. Here was a modest but rustic ranch, while she was accustomed to a mansion, an entire estate complete with servants and drivers and gardeners and more amenities than he would ever be able to give her.
So maybe she wouldn’t want to be here.
Somehow he didn’t believe that any more than he believed she might have slept with another man.
Terese hadn’t seemed to care that staying at the ranch was such a step down from the way she usually lived. At least she hadn’t seemed to care over the short term. Would she feel differently over the long term?
He didn’t think so. Not when he recalled their picnic dinner when she’d eaten the marshmallow Johnny had dropped in the dirt. Not when he pictured her happily cooking in his simple kitchen. Not when he recalled how willing she was to pitch in, to lend a hand with Johnny or Johnny’s chores. Not when he thought of how much she seemed to enjoy the simple stay-at-home socializing they’d done with Carla and Willy.
There was just something down-to-earth about Terese, something the exact opposite of her pretentious sister. Something that let him think—or at least hope—that she might not care too much about leaving behind the perks of her wealth and social standing if he asked her to.
But what about his own vows not to let himself be taken away from Johnny by a relationship with a woman?
Taken away from Johnny—that was what Hunter had envisioned happening if he let a woman into their lives. He’d seen himself torn between the woman and his son. He’d seen the attention he might pay a woman
costing Johnny the attention that was his due. He’d seen being involved with a woman as cheating his son by dividing his time, his energy.
But that wasn’t how it had been with Terese. As much as she’d drawn his attention, his thoughts, it hadn’t been as if anything was being taken away from Johnny. He’d still done the same things he’d always done with his son; Terese had just been included, too.
And rather than Johnny losing anything, he’d actually gained. He’d gained Terese’s attention, Terese’s love and affection, Terese’s delight in him.
No, nothing about her had subtracted from his son. When it came to Terese, the truth was that she had only added to Johnny’s life. Which was probably why Johnny liked her as much as he did.
And Johnny did like her. Hadn’t he wanted to “keep” her?
Keep her…
“That’s just what I want to do,” Hunter said out loud when the reality finally gelled for him.
He wanted to keep Terese.
And he wanted to keep her for good.
For himself.
For his son.
New baby or no new baby.
Hunter pushed himself off the couch then and made a beeline for the telephone.
He couldn’t very well wake up his son and drag him with him, so he needed someone to come to the ranch and stay with the sleeping Johnny while he did what he suddenly couldn’t wait to do. He called Willy and arranged for him and Carla to come back.
Then he went up the stairs two at a time and charged into his bathroom to shower and change out of the clothes he’d traveled home in.
Wondering the whole way if there was any chance he could get Terese back here before this night was through.
Ten
“Finally! I thought you were going to make us late for our table again.”
When Eve Warwick opened the front door to the Warwick mansion it was clear that Hunter was not who she thought to find standing on the doorstep. He wasn’t thrilled to see her, either, but he had more manners than to let it show the way Eve did.
Her overly made-up face dissolved into a sneer and she said, “You again.”
“I’m afraid so,” Hunter confirmed.
“You’re making me very sorry I ever allowed an open adoption.”
“Relax. I’m not here to see you,” he informed her unceremoniously.
He’d thought about Eve as he’d driven to the Warwick estate, about the fact that if this visit accomplished what he wanted it to accomplish, he—and Johnny—would end up with Johnny’s birth mother in their life. It wasn’t a scenario that sat well with him.
But he’d come to the conclusion that the positives of having Terese in their lives outweighed the negatives of having Eve.
Besides, he’d believed Terese when she’d said she seldom saw her sister even though they shared the same house, that Eve traveled and only made pit stops in Portland. He had hopes that if Terese lived with him and Johnny at the ranch they could have the same kind of relationship with Eve that he had with his brother—basically a nonexistent one that involved rarely, if ever, seeing each other. And since he felt sure that was the way Eve would want it, too, he’d decided to forge ahead in spite of her.
“I’m here to see Terese,” Hunter said then, stepping into the foyer without an invitation and thereby forcing Eve to give way.
“Surely the blood bank has replenished its supply of AB negative by now and you don’t need a direct donor,” the haughty woman responded.
“This isn’t about her blood. It’s personal.”
That made Eve laugh. An ugly laugh. “Personal,” she repeated facetiously. “As in what? Something romantic? Now wouldn’t that be too droll? Don’t tell me that Plain Jane has roped herself a hunky cowboy? Just between you and me, you could do a lot better.”
“Is that so? And that would be according to you—the expert on things like that?”
Eve missed his sarcasm. “Your wife, for instance,” she said. “Your wife was better. She was a model, wasn’t she? And very beautiful, if I’m remembering correctly. After that, surely you don’t expect me to believe you’re attracted to Terese.”
Hunter tried to hold on to his temper but it wasn’t easy. “There was a lot more to my late wife than just the way she looked. In the same way, there’s a lot more to Terese. She has qualities some other people should envy,” he ended pointedly.
“Other people being me?” Eve sneered again, catching his meaning. “I don’t need the qualities Terese has. My qualities are obvious. And well appreciated.”
“And all on the surface,” Hunter added. “But me? I’ll take someone with more substance, thank you very much. So, I’d like to talk to Terese.”
“Let’s see…It’s Saturday night…Where would Terese be? Out on the town with men clamoring just to sit next to her and gaze into her beautiful face? No, that doesn’t sound like Terese. Hmm…Oh, yes, now I remember. She’s in the library. Alone as always.”
“Do you want to let her know I’m here or just point me in the right direction?”
“I’m about to be picked up by my date. The library is down the hall, third door on the left. Be my guest and surprise her.”
Hunter couldn’t surprise Terese because she was within hearing distance of the foyer and had realized he was there when he’d come into the house.
But she hadn’t left the library. Instead she’d stayed just inside the half-open door, listening to the exchange between Hunter and her sister. And wondering what to do.
Just knowing he was so near made her heart beat fast and hard and her head go light.
But she couldn’t let herself get carried away. She had to keep in mind why she’d left the ranch in the first place. She had to keep in mind that she was pregnant and that she didn’t want him to know it, didn’t want him offering a future possibly only because of it.
It was just that some of what he’d said to her sister kept repeating itself in her mind—the fact that he thought she had a lot of qualities, substance, and that he preferred substance to surface.
It would be embarrassing to have him guess that she’d been listening, though, and when she heard his bootsteps draw nearer to the library she hurried back to the leather chair she’d been sitting in, as if she’d never left it.
A gentle tap on the door announced him and the door opened all the way and there he was.
“Can I come in?”
Terese tried to look surprised. “Hunter. Where did you come from?” she said, all the while devouring her first glimpse of him in two weeks.
Tall and lean, he was wearing boots, tight jeans, a black turtleneck sweater and a denim jacket that all worked together to make him look even better than she remembered—if that was possible.
“Your sister let me in and sent me back to find you,” he said.
He stepped completely into the room then and closed the door behind him, leaning against it as if to block anyone else’s entrance.
For a long moment he just stayed like that, looking at her, studying her.
His scrutiny didn’t help put her at ease even though she wasn’t worried about how she was dressed. Her hair was pulled up into a twist at the crown of her head, and she had on a perfectly acceptable pair of gray slacks and a charcoal-colored cardigan sweater. But he didn’t seem to care what she was wearing. She had the sense that his eyes were searching for more than mere appearances.
When she couldn’t bear the silence any longer, she said, “Is Johnny okay?”
Hunter was slow to answer and even when he did he preceded it with a nod of his head. “Johnny’s fine. Sound asleep at home with Carla and Willy before I ever left the house. He doesn’t even know I’m gone.”
“And is everything else all right?” Terese asked, trying not to squirm beneath the intensity in his topaz gaze.
“No, as a matter of fact, everything isn’t all right,” he said pointedly. “I came home today as eager to see you as I was to see Johnny and you weren’t there. You were gone. Without s
o much as a see-you-around.”
“Something came up,” she said quickly—too quickly—wishing she’d thought of a good lie to go with that vague excuse. But it had been enough to get her out of the house the night before and since she hadn’t expected to see Hunter again anytime soon she hadn’t put thought into expanding it. Especially with so much else on her mind.
“I wondered if you’d had bad news at the doctor’s office yesterday,” Hunter said then. “But Johnny tells me you don’t carry the hemophilia gene.”
“No, it was good news,” she confirmed, beginning to worry what else Johnny might have told him about her doctor’s visit. And wondering why it hadn’t occurred to her that her nephew might relay what he’d heard yesterday. All of what he’d heard.
“He said you had good news,” Hunter confirmed.
And in that minute, in the tone of his voice, Terese knew Hunter knew the doctor had told her she was pregnant.
She just didn’t know what to do about it.
So she remained sitting there, very still, feeling the beat of her heart again.
“Johnny’s only four, you know,” Hunter said. “He doesn’t always get things right. So how about I tell you what he told me and you can tell me if it’s true?”
Terese couldn’t sit calmly in that chair another minute. She got up and went to the fireplace as if the fire needed checking, saying nothing to encourage Hunter.
“Terese?” he said to bring her attention back to him when she’d prodded the burning logs longer than necessary.
You’re not going to be able to avoid this, she lectured herself. You’ll just have to see it through and stick to your guns.
She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and moved to the desk, trying to draw support from it by leaning on it and holding tight to the edge with both hands hidden behind her hips in a white-knuckled grip.
Only then did she look at Hunter again and when she did she could see that he’d come with a clear purpose in mind, that nothing was going to stop him.
And she was right because he said, “Johnny told me that the doctor said you’re going to have a baby.”
For Love and Family Page 17