Thrown for a Curve

by Sugar Jamison

  “Did he tell you that?”

  Magnus laughed and kissed Cherri’s cheek. “My boy? Talk to me about something? Don’t be daft, girlie. I can see it in his face when he looks at you.”

  “I found a box of his ex’s things,” she blurted out, not sure why she was confiding in her father-in-law. “He got rid of them. But sometimes I wonder if she’s the one he wished he could have married.”

  “No.” Magnus shook his head. “Serena was what Colin thought he wanted. He grew up poor in County Cork, with a pop like me who could never get his arse in order. He always went for girls he thought were better. Who he thought were posh, but those girls never did it for him. That’s why I’m glad he married you. He may not have wanted to love you but he needed to love you. Don’t let some slag from the past make you doubt his commitment to you.”

  “You really think so?”

  “He may treat me like a stranger but I know my boy. Trust me, the lad’s done for. Promise me something, lass?”

  “What?”

  “You’ve got to be a little understanding when it comes to an O’Connell man. We’re not an easy lot. I’ve messed up when it comes to him. I was a shit father sometimes, and I failed him when he needed me. So don’t blame him too much if he doesn’t feel like yapping about what’s going on in his head. He don’t know how, lass. But he’s a good man and I’m proud of him. And he’s trying his best to do right by you. Old Magnus tried to help you out, though.” He nodded. “I told the wanker if he don’t treat you right, you’d be out the door.”

  “I wouldn’t!”

  He nodded. “If he don’t treat you right you should. But I just said that to give him a little scare. When a man really loves a woman, he’ll do all sorts to keep her.”

  “You seem so sure.”

  “Of course I’m sure! If you weren’t married to my boy I’d have you for myself. You’re a beauty. I don’t usually like them expecting, if you know what I mean, but I’d make an exception for you.” He squeezed her, patting her behind. “I’m glad my boy inherited my taste in women.”

  “He did, now get your hand off my ass.”

  He removed it quickly. “Sorry, lass. Force of habit.”

  * * *

  Colin walked into his kitchen, the plastic bag of frozen custard he had purchased for his wife in his hand. He was supposed to be back sooner but he got stuck in line behind some jackass buying lottery tickets. He wanted to surprise her with a little treat to tell her he was sorry. He’d been stuck in his head for the past couple of days replaying the conversation he’d had with his father. Maybe Colin had been a little hard on him.

  “I don’t usually like them expecting, if you know what I mean, but I’d make an exception for you. I’m glad my boy inherited my taste in women,” he heard his father say. All he saw was Magnus’s arm wrapped around Cherri’s waist, his hand resting on her bottom.

  Not again. Not with Charlotte.

  Magnus had been right about one thing: Colin had never really loved Arabella. Even after catching his father shagging her, he never felt like he wanted to kill him. But seeing his father coming on to his wife was a different story.

  Before he could think he flew at his father, slamming him into the counter and knocking Cherri out of the way. “My wife.” He punched his father in the jaw. “She’s pregnant, you arsehole. And she belongs to me, you greedy fucking bastard.”

  “What the hell are you going on about?” Magnus ducked as Colin swung at him again. “I ain’t after your wife.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Pop. I heard what you said. I’ve watched you gawk at her since you’ve been here. You keep your damn hands off my wife or I’ll break them.”

  “Colin, you dumbass.” Cherri grabbed his wrist. “Magnus was not coming on to me. It’s not what it looks like.”

  “No, it wasn’t what it looked like the last time, either. Right, Pop? My eyes were lying when I came home to find you fucking my girlfriend in the kitchen. What’s your excuse this time? Trying to save me from being happy? If I’d stayed out ten minutes longer I would be walking in on the same scene all over again.”

  “You asshole!” Cherri flew at him with both fists. “I would never cheat on you. Never! How could you think that of me?” She landed a sharp blow to his chin and then pinched the hell out of his chest. “With your father, you bastard! With anybody? I love you, Colin O’Connell, but sometimes I could smash your brains out.”

  She went to attack him again but he grabbed her arms and forced her into a chair, kneeling before her. “Stop it, love. You’ll hurt the baby.” She kicked him, catching him right in the gut. “Oof.”

  She loved him.

  “The baby’s fine. Your wife is royally pissed off. I’m the one you should be worrying about. Stupid jerkface asshead. Why are you laughing?”

  She loved him.

  “Because”—he let out a loud chuckle—“you said you love me.” She’d finally said it. He’d known she did or at least had always suspected, but hearing the words come out of her mouth made him feel as if his heart had burst in his chest.

  She loved him.

  “Did I say that?” She tried to smack him but he was quicker than her and caught both her wrists. “I take it back. I take back this whole marriage thing, too. I can’t spend the rest of my life with a big idiot.” Her eyes filled with tears, and that stopped his laughter dead. “I can’t believe you don’t trust me. I can’t believe you think I would sleep with your father.”

  “Aw, love. Please don’t cry. I trust you. I just don’t trust my father. He slept with my first real girlfriend. I’m sorry, darlin’, but a man has a hard time getting that image out of his mind. And you don’t know how afraid I am of losing you sometimes. I’m waiting for the day you say Enough of this bugger and walk out on me.”

  “Well, I won’t, you ass, even though I should, but I love you. I’ve loved you forever and I probably always will. So stop looking for excuses to get rid of me.”

  “Say it again,” he said, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

  “What? How much of a stupid jerk you are?”

  “No, that you love me.”

  “I love you. I. Love. You.” She poked him in the chest with each word. “Hasn’t anyone said that to you before?”

  He shook his head. “Nobody who ever meant it. I’m sorry, love.” He pulled open her robe and pushed up her nightgown to pepper kisses across her belly. “I’ll work on not being such an enormous wanker.”

  “Your father wasn’t trying to sleep with me. He was telling me how lucky you were to be married to a smart, beautiful, talented, far-too-good-for-you woman.”

  He looked up to see that his father had already gone. “I’ll talk to him later.” He went back to kissing her heated skin. “We’re going to look like an episode of Jerry Springer tomorrow. Me and Pop all black and blue. You barefoot and pregnant.”

  Cherri ran her fingers through his hair. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that your father slept with your girlfriend? No wonder you’re so screwed up.”

  “Why do people keep telling me that?” He looked up at her to find her smiling down at him.

  “I love you, Colin. I’ll keep telling you that, too.”

  He stood up, gathering her in his arms and kissing her until she had no air left. “Bed,” he managed just before he dragged her upstairs to finish what he’d started.

  CHAPTER 26

  Oh no, not my baby.

  Cherri rubbed her belly as she walked into the shop. She was getting huge. Her feet were no longer visible, and that was a major thing. She always thought her feet were enormous, but it didn’t matter to her that her behind was spreading or that sometimes it took her two tries to get out of a chair. She was happy. Quitting her job had been the best decision she had made, not only for her marriage but for herself. She got to paint all day. She got to be in the same room as her husband. It made her giddy. Sometimes she would laugh for no reason, and Colin would just look at her and smile. He told her she was in
the giggly phase of her pregnancy and that he loved it. She loved it, too. It beat the hell out of crying.

  He was staring at the computer screen when she approached the office. The bookkeeping software was up. She was just about to tell him that she had updated the accounting last night when the phone rang. He absently pressed the SPEAKER button as he scrolled down the screen.

  “Stone Barley Restorations. How can I help you?”

  “You picked up this time.”

  Serena.

  The speaker didn’t need to be identified for her to know who it was.

  Colin’s face changed. Surprise then hurt then anger passed over it. And then an emotion that she couldn’t name. She stood there frozen, knowing she shouldn’t stand there silently. But she couldn’t make herself move. She needed to hear this conversation.

  This woman kept popping up in their world, like a cold that wouldn’t go away. She was worse than that. She was a threat to their marriage.

  “I told you the last time that I’m married now,” he said in a furious whisper. “I don’t need to hear your apologies. It’s done.”

  “But it’s not done for me, I—”

  “Charlotte is pregnant.”

  “Charlotte?”

  “Cherri. My wife. We’re done, Serena. I don’t want to hear from you anymore.”

  “So you’re telling me that you’re stuck because your wife is pregnant. You know that doesn’t matter to me—”

  He gently set the phone back on the receiver, hanging up on her.

  Cherri backed out of the doorway quietly. Colin had done the right thing. He had hung up. He had told her not to contact him again, but for some reason she couldn’t help but feel lost. Grief almost.

  He told Serena they were done because she was pregnant. Not because he loved her. Not because he wasn’t in love with Serena anymore. She’d told him she loved him. She told him a hundred times a day but he never said it back. They were friends. They were happy together. They enjoyed each other, but they were not in love. They didn’t marry the way most couples did. They didn’t have a good start. She kept forgetting that. She had been so happy lately that their earlier problems seemed to have slipped from her mind.

  “Cherri, lass.” She ran into Magnus on her escape from the shop. “What’s wrong with you, girl? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Nothing.” She shook her head. She was dangerously close to tears, but there was no point in crying. It wasn’t going to change anything. “I’m not feeling well.”

  “Does Colin know? I’ll fetch him for you. We can’t be having you ill when you’re carrying me grandlad.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Don’t tell Colin. I think I just need to lie down for a while.”

  Magnus shook his head. “I’ll just see you to your room. Can’t have you collapsing.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I do. You’re me son’s love. I’d do anything for you.”

  * * *

  “I think a present might be in order,” Colin mumbled as he stared at the books for their business. By some unspoken agreement Cherri had taken them over and done a hell of a job. Not only had she brought in a substantial chunk of business with her painted furniture but she did all the little rubbish things he hated doing, like the books and the supply ordering. That alone was worth marrying her for.

  His happy, pretty, giggly wife. It had been so easy to hang up on Serena. She hadn’t changed. Still driven. Still unable to take no for an answer. The things he’d originally liked about her were the things he now couldn’t stand about her. They’d broken up because she destroyed his trust by cheating on him and now she saw nothing wrong with breaking up his marriage, ripping his tiny family apart. She made him feel stupid all over again. Stupid for thinking he could possibly love her in the first place.

  She was so different from his wife, whose simplicity and kindness made his world brighter. He didn’t know if he told her that enough. He wondered if she had any idea how much she meant to him.

  “Lad.” His father came from the office, a serious frown on his face. “Go see to your wife now. I just saw her outside and she was damn near hyperventilating. I put her to bed but you need to get your arse up there and see to her.”

  “What?” His heart jumped up and lodged itself in his throat. “What happened? Is she okay?”

  “Nothing happened as far as I can tell but you need to put your foot down and order her to stop working. It’s not right to make a pregnant lass work so hard.”

  “I don’t make her work at all. I want her to lie around all day and grow my baby but the daft girl doesn’t listen.”

  Magnus shrugged. “You’re her husband, son. You need to take care of her.”

  He nodded and headed for the door, but before he opened it he turned to his father once more. “I’m sorry I tried to kill you the other day.”

  “Aye?” A smile bloomed on his face. “I’m thinking every lad tries to take his pop once. I just wish you’d tried it when you were sixteen. I really could have kicked your arse then.”

  “If you’re wanting to stay with us, it’s okay with me. Charlotte would like that.”

  “And you?” His raised his brow.

  “You’re cheap labor. I’d be dumb to turn you out.”

  Magnus grinned at him. “Go see to your lass.”

  “I am.” As he opened the door, his father called to him. “Yeah, Pop?”

  “I love you, lad.”

  Colin stayed rooted to his spot for a moment, surprised at how he felt hearing that from his father. “Oye, you’ve become a sentimental bugger in your old age.”

  “Nah, but I’m about to move in so I figured I’d say it now so when I do something to tick you off you’ll not be so mad at me.”

  “Smart old man. Oh, and Pop?”

  “Yes, lad.”

  “I love you, too.”

  He walked out before his father could say anything in return and headed toward his wife. He took the stairs two at a time till he reached their bedroom. She was under the covers, her long body pulled into a tight little ball. He worried about her. The past few weeks he had been seeing the pregnancy take its toll. She was a strong girl but they were due to have a big child. At their last sonogram they could clearly see the baby stretched out taking up as much space as possible. Part of him swelled with pride to see their strong healthy baby, but another part of him felt guilty. Cherri never planned on being a mother so soon. He knew she loved him. He knew that she was going to stay but he sometimes still wondered if she wished things were different.

  “Love.” He gently pulled the covers away from her face and crawled in beside her. “Pop said you aren’t feeling well. You know I get as panicky as a lass on her first date whenever you don’t feel well.”

  He pulled her toward him to see that her eyes were red and watery and her face pale. Something had happened.

  “Charlotte?” He cupped her face, stroking her puffy cheeks with his thumb. “What is it, my love? Please.”

  “I love you.”

  He wasn’t sure what had brought this on, but he leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. “I know, and I thank my lucky stars for it every day.”

  “When I married you I planned on it being forever.”

  “Yes, love. It will be.”

  “I’m perfect for you.”

  He couldn’t help but smile down at her even though she was clearly distressed.

  “You are. Why do you think I married you?”

  “Because you knocked me up.” She wrapped her arms around him, her belly preventing him from getting as close as he would like. “But you didn’t have to marry me. You’re not stuck.”

  He pulled slightly away from her, jarred by what she said. “What’re you talking about? What happened?”

  “Your…” She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “What? Tell me.”

  She stared at him for a long moment, her words seeming stuck. “Why does she keep calling
you?”

  His stomach dropped. “I don’t know. To fuck with my head. I don’t need that from her. I’ve already got you taking up my remaining brain cells. I don’t have any space for her.”

  She just stared up at him. Her sadness seeping into him.

  “You know I want nothing to do with her.” He didn’t know how to reassure her. He didn’t know how to prove to her that she was it for him. “I want to show you something.” He left the bed and went to his dresser, pulling out a packet of papers. “I’ve made you a partner.”

  “What?” She took the papers from him and scanned through them. “You’re giving me half your business? Why?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not good with words, love. But I wanted you to know that there’s no going back. If you own half my business it’s like you own half of me. This shop is my life and I want you in it forever. You gave up your job to be here with me. I had to give up something to be here with you.”

  “Colin…” She looked up at him. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “I did. You’re my partner, love. I just wanted to show you that.”

  She shut her eyes, but the tears still dripped down her face.

  “I just have one condition. You have to agree to let my pop stay here with us.”

  “Excuse me?” She sat up. “You made up with your father?”

  “He’s good around the shop. It might not be so bad to keep him around. Is that okay with you?”

  “Of course, Colin. Of course. He’s a good man.”

  “Good, because I’m going to let him have the run of my shop for a few days. We’re going away.”

  “We are?”

  “Yes, there’s a little house on the beach in Cape Cod that has our names on it. I would take you someplace tropical, love, but I don’t want you flying when you’re this pregnant. I promise to get you there someday.”

  “You know you don’t have to take me anywhere. I’m happy right here with you.”

  “What a lovely thing to say, lass. Now get your stuff. We’re leaving in an hour.”

  * * *

  They had gone to Cape Cod and come back. Cherri had progressed into her sixth month of pregnancy and then out of it. The summer came. Magnus and Colin along with some contractors began to turn the basement into a lush apartment for Magnus. The two men were getting along the best they had in their entire lives and Cherri … She worked on her baby’s bedroom. She had a little over a month to go and she was starting to get antsy. She wanted to meet her baby. She wanted to see the thing that had been growing inside her for so long.