His voice throbbed with barely contained rage. Whatever else might be true, Katie recognized that Luke considered Robby as much his as if he had made Betty Sue pregnant. There could be no disputing the love he felt for his son. She knew from being raised by her aunt that the bonds formed by day-to-day parenting were as powerful as any connection through biology alone.
And now Tommy was threatening that relationship. She could understand Luke’s outrage. What she didn’t comprehend was why Tommy would wait all this time to stake a claim to his son. Or exactly where she fit into this.
“Why would Tommy turn up to ask for custody after all this time?”
Luke’s mouth twisted. “Money, why else?”
“I don’t understand.”
“He doesn’t want Robby, not really. He expects me to pay him off to stay out of Robby’s life.”
Kate felt sick to her stomach. “Surely you’re wrong. Not even Tommy would turn a little boy’s life upside down just so he could get a payout from you.”
“He doesn’t think it will come to that, of course. I’m sure he’s convinced I’ll settle with him to keep Robby from ever finding out the truth.”
“Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t,” Katie said.
“If I thought that would be the end of it, I might have,” Luke admitted. “But it wouldn’t. It would be the beginning. Every time Tommy needed cash, he’d be back making his threats again. I want it over with here and now. I want a judge to put an end to it. Somehow I’ll make sure that the truth doesn’t hurt Robby.”
It took every bit of strength Katie had left to voice the fear that no amount of rational tap-dancing around it could silence. “Could you lose custody?”
Luke finally met her gaze evenly. “With you in court beside me, there’s far less likelihood of that. What judge would take a boy away from a happy, whole family and turn him over to a drifting single father?”
Katie swallowed hard against the bile that rose in her throat. There it was, the whole truth, spelled out plain as day. He’d wanted a wife to take into court. Any woman would have done.
Yet Luke had handpicked her to be his son’s mother, not because she was so special, but because he had guessed that she was the one woman on earth who couldn’t deny him anything. She was his insurance in court. The last of her illusions about their marriage shattered like so much spun glass.
Worse, she knew that even knowing the whole bitter truth, she couldn’t walk away. He’d chosen well. Katie would stay by his side. She would see to it that he didn’t lose his son to his ne’er-do-well brother.
And, if there was a God in heaven, Luke would never know what staying cost her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Katie?”
Luke had to repeat himself twice before she finally looked up. The desolation in her eyes was almost his undoing. If there had been any other solution to his problem, he would have released her from her commitment to him on the spot. Something deep inside told him, however, that if he gave her up now, he would regret it the rest of his life. With circumstances as they were, he could only vow that he would make it up to her someday if only she would stick with him. He hoped that promise would be enough.
Though why she should believe anything he had to say at this point was beyond him.
“Katie,” he began again now that he had her attention.
Apparently guessing that he was about to offer more empty words, she cut him off. “Don’t worry,” she said tersely. “I’m not going to walk away now.”
A sigh of relief shuddered through him. “Thank you. I knew I could count on you.”
“Good old Katie,” she muttered under her breath.
Luke heard the hint of resentment in her voice and regarded her warily. “What was that?”
She shook her head. “Nothing,” she said wearily, then added more briskly, “What do we need to do to get ready to fight Tommy?”
“For starters, we have to be sure that no one guesses that this is anything less than a perfect marriage,” he said slowly, watching her closely.
“Meaning?”
Her cold, impersonal, matter-of-fact tone worried him. He would almost have preferred to have her shouting at him. This docile acceptance was thoroughly out of character. He felt personally to blame for having drained all of the spirit out of her.
Or perhaps it was simply exhaustion. She had a right to be physically and emotionally tired after what she’d been through. By tomorrow she’d probably be screaming at him at the top of her lungs. Ironically, for once he had a feeling he’d welcome the change in her mood.
In the meantime, though, he recognized that this was definitely not the time to mention that Mrs. Jeffers had found a new boarder whose arrival would necessitate making new sleeping arrangements for him and Robby. He was determined that at least to all outside observers, he and Katie would appear to be typical newlyweds. If they were sharing a room, no one would know for certain what went on behind the closed door. If they weren’t in the same bedroom, who knew what people would make of it.
“Maybe we’d better talk about it in the morning,” he suggested. “I’ve given you enough to absorb for one night.”
“I think I’d rather get everything out in the open now,” she countered in that same flat tone. “Come on, Luke. Lay it all out on the table so I know exactly what I’m up against.”
Luke was literally saved by the bell. The front door chime was being punched with a great deal of what he recognized as childish fervor. Robby, no doubt, but what the devil was he doing back here tonight? Torn between gratitude for his timing and panic, Luke jumped up. “I’ll get it.”
When he opened the door, he wasn’t exactly surprised to find Robby and Peg on the threshold. Still, his whole body tensed. He knew it would have taken some sort of major calamity for Peg to intrude on them.
“Well, hi,” he said with forced cheer. “I wasn’t expecting you two back tonight.” He studied Peg’s expression for some hint about why they’d returned.
“I had a call from your brother,” she explained.
Her tone gave away nothing, but Luke knew at once the call must have shaken her or she would never have come back to the boarding house.
“Really?” he said, his tone just as bland. “What did he want?”
“He said he was planning to arrive in Clover tonight and hoped to see...” she glanced down at Robby, but said “...you. I thought you’d probably want Robby to be with you when he arrives.”
“What on earth made him call you?” Luke muttered, though nothing Tommy did should startle him after all these years of seeing his brother’s canniness in action.
“Obviously someone here in town is keeping him up-to-date on Robby’s whereabouts,” Peg replied. “Any idea who that might be?”
Luke shook his head. “I can’t imagine who would be in touch with him.”
“What about your ex-wife?” Katie said from behind him. “Or her parents?”
Luke had been so absorbed in digesting Peg’s news that he hadn’t even been aware that Katie had joined them in the foyer.
Robby, who was clutching his favorite fire engine and a ragged teddy bear, seemed to pick up on the adults’ tension. “Is Mommy here?” he asked, looking up into Luke’s face.
“I don’t think so, sport. When you talked to her last week, she was still in Seattle, remember?”
“Oh,” Robby said flatly, clearly disappointed, but trying valiantly to hide it.
“Maybe you’d better be getting to bed,” Luke told his son. “Why don’t I take you up and see that you’re settled in?”
“What about...” He hesitated, his sleepy, blue-eyed gaze fixed hopefully on Katie. “I don’t know what to call you now that you and Daddy are married.”
Luke’s breath snagged in his throat as he waited for her response. There was only the faintest pause and a quick glance at Luke before she knelt to be at Robby’s level. Her mouth curved into a smile that Luke wished desperately she’d turn in his di
rection.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” she admitted. “What would you like to call me?”
“Daddy calls you Katie.”
“Except when he’s mad,” she confided. “Then he calls me Caitlyn.”
Robby grinned. “He calls me Robert when he’s mad at me. And his face gets all scrunched up. Sometimes I think he’s gonna ‘splode.”
Katie chuckled, glancing up at Luke. “Yeah, it does look that way, doesn’t it?”
“I had no idea I was so predictable,” Luke commented. He looked at his son. “So, what’s it going to be, sport? Do you know what you want to call Katie?”
Robby hesitated. “I guess I should call you Katie,” he said with obvious reluctance.
Luke could see the disappointment on his son’s face and realized that Robby really wanted to have someone in his life he could call Mommy, even if it wasn’t his real mother. At the moment, though, loyalty to the absent Betty Sue kept him from admitting it.
“You know,” Luke said lightly. “Whatever you decide tonight doesn’t have to be your final choice. You can always change your mind.”
“Absolutely,” Katie agreed. “You call me whatever you feel comfortable with and anytime you want to change it’s okay with me.”
Robby nodded. “If you make me eat spinach, I’ll probably call you Caitlyn.”
Katie laughed, and for a minute the tension in the hallway seemed to ease. Peg was watching her niece with Robby, tears gathering in her eyes, and a smile on her lips. Truth be told, Luke was a little misty-eyed himself.
“Will you read me a story?” Robby asked Katie.
“It’s a little late for a story,” Luke protested. “Besides, I’ll bet Peg already read you one.”
“Two,” Peg confirmed.
“But I’m going to bed all over again,” Robby countered reasonably.
“Obviously he’s picked up your negotiating skills,” Katie said. “Come on. I’ll read you a very short story.”
“Something scary?” Robby asked hopefully as the two of them went up the stairs together. “I really like stuff about goblins and monsters and stuff.”
“Hey, I’m not reading something that’ll keep me awake all night,” Katie retorted. “I was thinking more along the lines of, say, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”
“That’s baby stuff,” Robby argued indignantly.
As Luke watched them climb the stairs side by side, a deep sense of satisfaction stole through him. It was going to work out just fine, he told himself. Katie was the perfect mother for his son. Whatever her own misgivings about their arrangement, she would do her best for Robby.
And, he thought with a renewed sense of conviction, she was the perfect wife for him, even if it was in name only at the moment.
“Luke?”
Peg brought him back to the present.
“Let’s go into the living room,” he suggested and led the way. When they were settled, he gazed into Peg’s worried eyes. “I’m going to handle Tommy.”
“How?”
“In court.”
“But how will you deal with him if he shows up here? Maybe it’s time you told Robby the truth, so he won’t hear it by accident. It would be just like that brother of yours to blurt it out without thinking.”
She was absolutely right. He’d known that. It was what had brought him racing back to Clover this afternoon. Luke groaned and buried his face in his hands. “God, what a mess! If only I’d known six years ago...”
Peg waved off the statement. “Would you have done anything differently?”
“No,” he conceded. “I did what was right. I wouldn’t have given up having Robby in my life for anything.”
“Well, then, that’s what you have to keep in mind. It’ll give you the strength to do whatever it takes to keep your son with you.”
“I’ve asked a lot of Katie.”
“Then she knows,” Peg said with a relieved expression. “Good.”
For a moment his confidence in his plan wavered. “Am I asking too much?”
“Has she complained?”
He shook his head. “Not nearly as bitterly as I expected.”
“Well, then, that should tell you something. You’ve thrown her a curve, but Katie’s strong. More important, she loves you.”
“I’m not sure I even understand that kind of love,” Luke admitted candidly. “Maybe she’s just resigned to her fate.”
“Nonsense!” Peg reached over and patted his hand. “You’ll just have to let Katie show you the way, won’t you? Besides, anyone who’s made the sacrifices you have for your son surely does know all there is to know about love and commitment.” She stood. “I think I’d best be going. You two have plans to make. If you need anything, Luke, you give me a call. That’s what family’s for.”
Luke regarded her ruefully. “Maybe some family,” he noted dryly. “Others just seem bent on causing trouble.”
When Peg had gone, Luke drew in a deep breath, then went upstairs to the room Katie had set aside for him and his son. He found Robby sound asleep, but Katie had remained curled up on the room’s second twin bed, a pillow clutched in her arms, her gaze fixed on the boy opposite her. There was something so tender, so wistful in her expression that Luke’s throat clogged and he felt the sting of tears in his eyes.
Suddenly he thought of all that he’d denied her—all that he’d denied both of them—by walking away six years earlier. Would he ever be able to make amends for all of that? Before he could start yet another apology, Katie glanced up and met his gaze.
“You’re so lucky,” she whispered, absentmindedly brushing at an errant tear. “He’s a wonderful boy.”
“I wish...” he began, but then didn’t know how to finish.
Somehow, though, Katie seemed to read his mind. She reached for his hand. “So do I, but the past doesn’t matter. We can’t change it, anyway. We’ll just have to go on from here and do the best we can.”
I love you, Luke thought with a sense of wonder, though he couldn’t bring himself to say the words aloud. How much would it mean to say it after all he’d done to Katie, all he’d asked of her? Besides, wasn’t he the one who didn’t believe in love? Perhaps what he felt was simply gratitude.
Gazing down into Katie’s eyes, however, he wondered how long he could go on disbelieving in love, when he was living day in and day out with a woman who epitomized love’s shining radiance and generous, accepting heart.
* * *
For all of their worrying the night before, Tommy had never shown up. Katie and Luke had stayed awake for hours listening for the doorbell and talking about inconsequential things, avoiding any of the real issues on their minds. It had been nearly dawn before they’d finally conceded that Tommy wasn’t coming and had gone upstairs to their separate beds.
As Katie had lain awake in hers, she had briefly regretted the edict that had banished Luke to a room several doors away. Then she had reminded herself of precisely how he’d manipulated himself back into her life.
All things considered, Katie thought she had handled Luke’s explanations about Robby rather well, in a mature, dispassionate sort of way. In the end she supposed it didn’t really matter that the child wasn’t Luke’s. She supposed she could even admire him for taking responsibility for Tommy’s irresponsible actions all those years ago, despite the way it had messed up her own dreams.
It was the fact that Luke had lied to her or, to be more precise, had left major gaps in the truth when he’d proposed, that irritated the daylights out of her. That was what kept her awake, seething with all the unspoken charges she wished she’d leveled at him when she’d first learned the whole truth. She’d been too stunned to get into it the night before. Now, though, she recognized that if she didn’t get it all out of her system eventually, she’d wind up with an ulcer. Sometime after dawn she resolved to tell Luke exactly how she felt.
Now at their late breakfast, faced with the opportunity to confront him, she was suddenly le
ss certain. Compassion welled up inside her. He looked so exhausted, so anxious about what the day would bring. He couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from his son, as if he feared what might happen if he so much as blinked.
Not until Robby was safely away from the house, on his way to the park with a very protective Mrs. Jeffers who had been briefed about Tommy, did Luke seem to let down his guard and relax. Faced with a choice between biting her tongue until the entire crisis was resolved or getting everything out into the open, Katie finally plunged in. More secrets and silences wouldn’t help anyone at this stage.
“You know,” she said, idly pushing her uneaten egg around on her plate. “You can’t even have a decent business relationship with someone who picks and chooses which truths he’s going to share.”
“I never lied to you, Caitlyn,” Luke said.
She suspected he had deliberately used her given name the way he always did when he wanted to make a point or, as she’d told Robby, when he was furious with her. Katie couldn’t imagine what he had to be angry about. At this moment she didn’t give two hoots how angry he was or why.
“No,” she agreed as she stood and began clearing dishes. “You didn’t lie. You just neglected to mention a few significant things. Any other little bombshells you intend to drop?”
“About my past?”
His blas;aae attitude had her gnashing her teeth. “About anything, dammit.”
Suddenly he looked guilty as sin, a look she found extremely worrisome.
“Actually there is one thing I’ve been meaning to mention,” he confessed. “I started to get into it last night, but you looked beat and then Robby and Peg showed up.”
“What’s that?” Katie asked warily. In a desperate attempt to keep busy, she searched the refrigerator until she came up with a grapefruit. Cutting out all those little sections ought to keep her hands occupied so that she wouldn’t be tempted to use them to strangle Luke, whatever he had to reveal.
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