One Daddy Too Many

by Debra Salonen

  “I told Maya that Ian was moving because he has a new job waiting for him. In her mind, men who work wear suits. And ties.”

  “Even gaudy polka-dot ones?”

  “Her current favorite colors.”

  “And is Ian going to be okay with this?”

  She shrugged. “I think so. Moving to Reno doesn’t mean he’s totally out of the picture. That’s what this road is about, I’d guess,” she said, pointing to the squiggly line her daughter had drawn.

  He scratched his head. “Would you prefer he stayed here?”

  “No. I’m glad he’s going to Reno. The distance is close enough that Maya can visit relatively easily, but not so close that we’re in each other’s faces all the time.”

  “You’re going to give him generous visitation rights, then?”

  She flopped on her back and pulled the loose end of the bedspread over her entire body. “I finally realized that Maya shouldn’t have to suffer because I want to punish Ian for cheating on me and ruining my life. I know in my heart he didn’t plan to abduct her. He acted on impulse and then couldn’t undo what he’d done. He says he loves Maya and wants what’s best for her. That’s one of the reasons he’s leaving.”

  “It is?”

  The covers moved so he knew she was nodding her head.

  “How so?”

  “He knows that I want to be with you. If he’s around, Maya will never have a chance to…um…” The last word was too muffled for him to hear.

  He tossed the painting over his shoulder and dove under the covers to face her. In their ecru-colored cocoon, he made her meet his eyes. “Maya won’t have a chance to do what?”

  “Bond. With you.”

  His throat tightened. “Is that what you want? For your daughter and me to bond?”

  “It’s the only way we’ll ever be a…family.”

  His wishes were answered, but…“Kate, what if I’m not…good enough to be Maya’s stepfather? My dad didn’t set the best example. I can’t guarantee—”

  She let out a small cry and tears filled her eyes. “You’re you, Rob, not your father. Just like Maya isn’t me. Or Ian. She’s herself. And I know her life would be blessed to have you in it.”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The truth was so simple, yet profound. “She’s an amazing kid. Head-strong, like her mother, but compassionate, too. I’m head-over-heels crazy about her.”

  He pulled the covers down and took in a lungful of fresh air. “My dad’s pregnant,” he said.

  Kate looked stunned. “Well, that’s not something you hear every day.”

  He rolled over and half pinned her to the bed, then kissed her nose. “You know what I mean. I’m not supposed to tell Mom. Haley wants to do it in person. I wouldn’t be surprised if they flew down next weekend.”

  She went stiff.

  “What’s wrong? You know my dad. You like him, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I even read his book. It made me laugh because it was so tongue-in-cheek. No wonder it’s a bestseller. I wish everyone could look at themselves with a bit more humor. No, that’s not what I was worried about. It’s…um…well, your mom.”

  “You’re afraid she’s going to be upset. Why? She adores babies and she and Dad are—” He stopped. The look on her face was so torn he nearly stopped breathing. “What?”

  “She made me promise not to tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “That would be telling.”

  He swore and rolled over to reach for the phone. He quickly punched in his mother’s cell number. It rang five times before a familiar voice said, “Leave a message. I’ll call you back if I feel like it.”

  “Mother. This is your son. Your son who doesn’t like to be kept out of the loop. Now, I’m going to torture Kate until she tells whatever bloody secret it is she’s keeping unless you call me right back.”

  Kate sat up and crossed her arms. “Hey, I love your mother. I don’t like secrets, but if she tells me something and asks me not to mention it, I’m going to respect her wishes. Even if that means you don’t—”

  He smiled at her. “Kate, Mom knows I’m kidding. I respect and appreciate your loyalty toward her. My feelings for you aren’t going to disappear just because you’re keeping her confidence. Now, we’d better get moving.”

  Kate smiled suddenly. Loyal. Of course, she murmured under her breath as she reached for her clothes. “Now I know why I needed your truck. I have to buy you a house-warming present.”

  “I haven’t bought the place yet.”

  She stopped dressing long enough to kiss him. “My Gypsy sense tells me you will.”

  He didn’t really have time to argue. He had to meet the real estate agent in forty minutes and it was probably a thirty-minute drive across town.

  As he shoved his feet into his sandals, he looked at Kate, who was tucking in her shirt and made a decision. Although this wasn’t the romantic moment he’d planned, he walked into the bathroom where his travel bag sat open beside the sink. A small tube that had once carried a popular painkiller was tucked inside. He quickly returned to where Kate was sitting and went down on one knee. “This is for you,” he said, presenting her with the tube.

  “I don’t have a headache, but thanks anyway.”

  “Look inside.”

  She unscrewed the top and held it to the light so she could see inside. Her brows knitted. “What…?” Impatiently, she turned the container upside down and a ring fell onto her lap. A large diamond ring in an antique setting.

  “It was my grandmother’s. I had the stone appraised before I asked Serena to marry me. The jeweler called it rare, almost perfect.” He took a breath and let it out. “I guess I should have known then that she and I weren’t meant for each other because I couldn’t bring myself to give it to her.”

  He looked at Kate and added, “You can pick out a new setting. Something more fashionable.”

  Her unplanned intake of air got caught in the middle of a swallow and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Tears flooded her eyes. Her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

  “Kate?” Rob said in concern. “Breathe, honey. You hate it?”

  She shook her head.

  “You like it?”

  She nodded, with passion.

  “Then, you’ll marry me?”

  Kate didn’t answer right away. She felt a rush of emotions too complicated to identify independently, but she knew the predominant one was love. She was just about to say yes when his cell phone rang. He picked up the little silver phone. “Hi, Mom,” he said. “I’m a little busy. I’ll call you—”

  Kate braced for what she knew would be a blow. Jo had shared her secret with Kate, but only on the vow that she wouldn’t tell Rob. “I don’t want him changing his plans for me,” she’d insisted. “He has to live his life. He can’t be expected to hover around his dying mother. Not when she brought this on herself.”

  Kate had argued that cancer—if that’s what the surgeon found when he took a biopsy of her lung tissue—wasn’t something handed out in retribution. Yes, Jo had been a lifelong smoker, but they both knew people who smoked who didn’t wind up with lung cancer.

  “Yes, she’s here. Looking quite lovely, actually. But she’s holding Grandma Brighten’s engagement ring and won’t put it on her finger. I’m not sure what that’s about. Do you want to talk some sense into her? Convince her not to pass up a sterling catch like your son?”

  Laughing at whatever his mother said in reply, he handed her the phone. “I’m going to finish dressing,” he said softly. “We really do have an agenda.”

  Then he pressed a quick kiss to her lips and went into the bathroom.

  “Jo?”

  “Kate?”

  “He asked me to marry him.”

  “I told you he was mad about you.”

  Kate smiled. “You and Mother should open a fortune-telling shop together.”

  Jo laughed, until a cough cut her off.

&nbs
p; “Jo, he needs to know about the results of your X rays. He’s talking about buying a house. That means he’s staying in Vegas, so you don’t need to worry that he’s giving up San Francisco because you’re ill.”

  “But, darling girl, this is a happy time for you both. I don’t want to be the downer in your life.”

  Kate jumped to her feet. “Stop playing the martyr, Josephine. Talk to your son or I will.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rob looked in the mirror and smiled. She hadn’t said yes, exactly, but she hadn’t said no, either. He picked up a brush, but before he could get one stroke through his hair, the door opened and Kate handed him the phone. “Talk to her. I’ll be outside.”

  “Mom?”

  “Son. You do know that Kate is rather pushy, don’t you?”

  “Only with people she loves.”

  After a few seconds, Jo said, “Yes. I guess that’s true. Okay, then, I’ll tell you what I know—which isn’t much. There are a couple of spots on my lungs. Showed up in the last bunch of X rays. I’m seeing an oncologist on Monday. He’ll decide if we run more tests or do a biopsy.”

  Rob froze. The information didn’t fit into his brain right at first. Cancer? His mother? No. Of course it was possible, but…no. “What time on Monday? I’ll take you.”

  “See? I knew you’d do this—change your whole life to try to help. That’s why I didn’t tell you sooner. There’s nothing you can do, son.”

  “You’re wrong, Mother. I can hold your hand and take notes and do research about your options. I can and will be there for you. If you thought otherwise, you don’t know me very well.”

  She sighed. “I do know you. That’s why I swore Kate to secrecy. I didn’t want to turn your life upside down. Or postpone your wedding.”

  “She hasn’t actually said yes, Mom. Heck, we haven’t even been out on a real date yet,” he added, with a chuckle. The thought had occurred to him on the plane. He needed to woo his new fiancée and was looking forward to it.

  “So, where are you?”

  “At the coffee shop on Sunrise.”

  “Stay put. Kate and I will pick you up in ten minutes. I’m going to buy a house, then Kate has a stop to make. When we’re done there, we’re all going to go back to Yetta’s and discuss this matter, okay?”

  He didn’t give her time to argue. His mother could be stubborn, but so could he.

  KATE PACED from the sports car to the truck and back. I bet I’ve spent half my life pacing. She still carried Rob’s ring. She wanted to slip it on her finger but couldn’t. Not until she talked to her daughter. How would Maya take this news? So much change, so fast. Too fast?

  “Are you ready? We’re picking up Mom on the way. I don’t think she should be alone to stew about things.”

  She followed him to the pickup truck and climbed into the passenger seat. “How’s she feeling?”

  “I didn’t ask. If I know her, she’s writing her obituary.”

  The thought made Kate’s heart ache. She adored Jo. They made a great team. She couldn’t imagine having a more perfect mother-in-law.

  “Um…Rob…I…” She played with the ring, turning it nervously. “I can’t…we can’t…do this. Not right away. I think I should break the news to Maya after she’s had time to adjust to Ian leaving.”

  “But I thought you said she accepted the fact that I was part of your lives now. She made that picture.”

  “I know. And I think she’ll be happy once she has time to assimilate all the changes, but you’re still…new.”

  Rob took a deep breath. He didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his chance to establish a strong relationship with his future stepdaughter.

  “No problem. We’ll wait until you think the time is right. Same with our wedding date. I’m prepared to be flexible—as long as it’s sometime this month.”

  “What?” she squawked.

  He winked. “Just testing.” Looking over his shoulder as they backed up, he said, “Next month, then.”

  She tugged on her shoulder belt to get some extra room and leaned across the console between them. “You’re crazy, but in a good way. Are you going to tell me what happened in San Francisco?”

  He filled her in on the meetings, the PR people and why he turned down the “offer of a lifetime.” “I had an epiphany. Isn’t that a cool word? Dad and I did our golfing thing, but this time we actually talked. About life. Love. The mistakes parents make. I finally realized that I would make mistakes as a parent. Not necessarily the same ones my parents made because I’m not them. But nobody is perfect and that’s okay.”

  Her hand was warm and comforting on his thigh. Her smell made him feel content, complete. “I’m glad to hear you say that because we both know that I’m a mess. And talk about a bad parent, I nearly lost my daughter twice in one week.”

  “Not true. You said yourself Ian acted on impulse. He would have come back sooner or later and Maya was never in any real danger. And what happened at the pool was probably a good thing.”

  She sat back. “How do you figure?”

  “You know that Maya had been acting very cocky around the pool. I think she’ll be more respectful in the future. And the other kids will learn from her close call.”

  Kate didn’t speak for a few minutes. “You never cease to surprise me—especially when it comes to kids. When Maya first met you, she said you didn’t like children. She’s usually very astute about people.”

  “She was probably right. At the time.”

  “What?”

  “When I first got to town, my office was in chaos. My senior staff member is a guy that everyone likes. He’s a gem, but his personal life is a mess. His wife had just left him with their three kids. He brought the little demons to work with him half the time. To be fair, those kids had just had their world turned upside down, but a law office isn’t a day care center.”

  “And because you’re a compassionate guy, you tried to help him and the kids and got burnt out.”

  “Something like that.”

  “So, what did you do?”

  “Organized a job-sharing situation. Another colleague needed time to care for her elderly mother. Now they work in tandem with their combined client list and do some of the work from home.”

  “Sounds like a perfect solution.”

  He touched the blinker. “We’ll see. So, where are we going after we buy the house?”

  She gave him a saucy grin. “To buy you a dog.”

  Rob turned so sharply, he bounced over the curb. “A what?”

  ROB STOOD as far back from the chain link pen as possible. He hadn’t been able to convince Kate that buying a dog before he closed escrow was a bad idea. To his surprise, his mother had jumped on the bandwagon and even volunteered to dog-sit until Rob moved into his new home.

  The smell and noise coming from the various pens was overwhelming.

  “Do they all bark?” he asked the clerk who was accompanying them. He had to shout to be heard.

  “Not all,” the woman, a Kathy Bates lookalike, said. “Poppy—over there against the back wall—is very quiet. We don’t know much about her background. Part Jack Russell and beagle, maybe with a little whippet or minigreyhound in the mix.”

  Rob stepped closer so he could put one eye up to the fence. “She’s bigger than the rest.”

  The clerk—Rosie, he saw her name embroidered on her smock—nodded. “We had her in with the larger dogs but she was miserable. She’s a bit timid and one or two of the more aggressive ones picked on her.”

  “Nice coloring,” his mother said.

  Rob gave the animal a second look. A short coat that was mostly white with soft, irregular brown blotches, like a pinto pony. Her nose was dainty and very black. All four feet were white. “Poppy,” he called.

  Her ears perked up and she looked at him. He whistled softly. All the dogs—except Poppy—rushed the fence, yipping and pushing each other in anticipation of a treat or petting. His gaze remained fi
xed on the elegant little dog on the far side of the pen. She stood up with great dignity and slowly walked toward him.

  Jo knelt beside the pen and put her fingers through the holes. Poppy sniffed politely a few seconds, then let out a little moan that seemed to say, “Thank God you’re finally here.”

  Rob looked at Kate who had a funny look on her face. When their gazes met, she nodded, then put her hand on his mother’s shoulder and said, “It looks like love at first sight, Jo.”

  To Rob she said, “I’m sorry. I think I got it wrong.”

  “Huh?”

  “I thought we were supposed to come here today to buy you a dog, but it looks like this pooch is totally stuck on Jo. And vice versa.”

  Completely baffled, Rob put his hands on his hips. “What are you talking about?”

  “Mom woke me up this morning and told me I needed to take you to buy a dog. She hasn’t been that specific about one of her visions in months. Usually she talks about dreams that don’t really make any sense. But she was definite about this. She practically pushed me out the door.”

  He still didn’t get it. “But she couldn’t have known Mom would call and we’d pick her up. That just isn’t possible.”

  Jo, who rose stiffly, let out the first laugh Rob had heard since he’d returned. She put her hand on his arm and gave it a strong squeeze. “Yetta’s visions don’t always make sense to the rest of us, son. But if you’re wise, you don’t argue with her. Some things simply were meant to be.”

  “I SIGNED the final papers today,” Rob said, sliding a large silver key across the tablecloth between them. “We own a house.”

  Kate was sitting across from Rob at a table near the door to the kitchen. Two weeks had passed since his proposal. A hectic, scattered time fraught with fear—they still didn’t have a definitive diagnosis on Jo’s condition—and private joy. She’d shared the news of their engagement with her mother and Jo, but no one else. Her first concern was Maya. She didn’t want to rush the child into a change she wasn’t ready for.

  “You own a house,” Kate repeated. “How did you manage to make it happen so fast? Banks take forever to process loans.”