His Hired Baby

by Jacqueline Diamond

  Amazing how much he was still learning at the age of thirty-two. Now, he couldn’t wait to get Kate home and finish their discussion.

  For heaven’s sake, why did they have to hit traffic on a Sunday? They should have zipped over to her house in five minutes, but, ahead, emergency lights flashed at the intersection. Apparently an accident had gridlocked the cars on Safe Harbor Boulevard. Sitting on a cross street, Tony glanced around to see if he could back up and turn around.

  No room to maneuver. Irked, he drummed his palms against the steering wheel.

  “What’s the hurry?” Kate asked.

  “I have this whole…” I have this whole thing mapped out. An agenda. An organized case to present to a one-woman jury.

  “This whole what?” she pressed.

  Instead of a direct answer, Tony heard himself say, “Brady left a toy car in the sunroom.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, no, that’s not the point.” Even though he was going about this all wrong, he plowed ahead. “When I saw it this morning, I felt like he ought to be there with me. He belongs in my house.”

  “Brady?” Kate asked uncertainly.

  “That stuffing you made for Thanksgiving. It’s delicious, all those flavors blending together.” He knew he was rambling on, but was unable to stop. “I ate some cold for breakfast, pacing around the deck. Remember what a great time we had out there?” The traffic inched forward. Ahead, a cop was waving vehicles across the boulevard, and Tony tapped the gas a little too hard. He braked inches from the next car’s bumper.

  “I’ll be happy to give you the recipe.”

  “For what?”

  “The stuffing.”

  “I don’t want the recipe, I want you,” Tony blurted. “Oh, rats.” Did the cop have to halt them now?

  “You do?” she asked breathlessly.

  He tried once again to organize his thoughts, but now that he’d opened the floodgates, out they spilled. “You belong with me. At your place, my place, the middle of the street, the hospital lobby, wherever. You’re the sunlight on my face, the air that I breathe.” How could something so maudlin be true?

  “That’s poetic,” Kate murmured.

  “I’m never poetic. I’m not sure what I’m talking about.” Tony grimaced as a fire truck dislodged from its spot on the boulevard ahead of them, opening a gap at last. Now where was that officer? It appeared he’d abandoned them to a signal light stuck permanently on red.

  “Quit staring at the signal and talk to me,” Kate urged.

  “I love you.” He hadn’t approached this right. Tony gestured behind him. “If you look in my briefcase, you’ll find my copy of the surrogacy contract. I planned to hand it over before I brought this up, along with a check for the rest of what I owe you, so we could start with a level playing field. I’ve done it backwards. If you’ll give me a chance…”

  “I love you, too.”

  She’d spoken without hesitation. She hadn’t tried to bargain, despite the fact that he’d put her in a perfect position to demand whatever she wanted.

  Because she’s Kate, not Esther. How insane that he’d spent years with a woman who calculated every move. “You’re nothing like my wife,” he marveled. “I mean, my almost ex-wife.”

  “I know I’m not a high-powered attorney or anything. I’ll never have a prestigious job or impress people.” The words trembled in the air.

  She’d misunderstood, and then—blast it—the signal went green and he had to shoot forward or risk getting stuck here for another eternity. Tony needed to focus on his driving, to protect his precious cargo. “Can we finish this discussion at your place?”

  “Sure.” She bit her lip.

  Wishing the car had wings instead of tires, Tony tapped the gas pedal again and finally, finally made it through the intersection.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tony seemed so agitated and then, for the rest of the short drive to Kate’s house, he stopped speaking entirely. She hardly dared to trust her rising hope.

  He’d said he loved her, and made that poetic declaration about the air he breathed and the sunlight on his face. But then he’d started talking about the contract and she was afraid he’d regretted his words.

  In the rear seat, Tara appeared contented with her first taste of the outside world. For this moment, the three of them formed a family. If only they could run into another traffic jam so Kate could treasure this moment a little longer.

  Too soon, they stopped in front of her house. From the porch, a flock of pink balloons bobbed on a tether, while in the yard a pink placard declared: “Welcome, baby girl!”

  “Did you do that?” she asked in surprise.

  “Sneaked over this morning,” Tony said.

  “It’s great.” What a sweet touch.

  “Nothing fancy, but the only store I found open was a pharmacy, and they had a limited selection.” He switched off the ignition. “Let’s get back to what you were saying about her majesty Queen Esther.”

  Kate’s stomach tightened. “I didn’t mean…”

  “You outshine her in every way.” Tony spoke low and earnestly. “I don’t just love you, Kate, I admire you. I admire your strength, the way you anchor your family. The way you’re willing to yield when it’s called for, or stick up for what’s right. The way you think of others while staying true to yourself. You’re the toughest, most loving woman I’ve ever met. I can’t draw lines between us anymore, because you and the kids are everything to me.” His eyes shone with emotion.

  Kate could scarcely breathe. “Oh, Tony.”

  “I’ve got… Hang on.” He snagged his briefcase from the floor behind her seat.

  “We don’t have to deal with the contract right now.”

  “There’s this other thing.” From inside the case, he retrieved a long jeweler’s box. Not the right shape for a ring, she noted with a tiny trace of disappointment.

  He took out a house key. What was that doing in a jeweler’s box?

  “Let’s start with this.” He pressed it lightly into her palm. “That’s to my house. I know you don’t want to live there while I’m still married to Esther, but I’d like you to come and go as you please. Bring Brady swimming. Cook in my kitchen. Hang around.”

  The point of this whole production was to give her a key to his house? Kate felt a twist of dismay. “Honestly!”

  “Also, there’s this.” He tilted the box to reveal a gold chain with a pendant in the shape of a smaller key, sparkling with diamonds. “The key to my heart. I’ll buy you a ring, of course, but it’ll be a few months before we can get married. If you’ll marry me. Will you, Kate?”

  For some reason, the only words she could muster were, “Who says you aren’t poetic?” Then she realized he was staring at her anxiously, as if the whole world hung in the balance. Which, indeed, it did. “Yes.”

  “That’s yes you’ll marry me?”

  “Yes, I’ll marry you, you crazy man.”

  When he kissed her, Kate got lost in the taste of him and the way his arms closed around her. You outshine her in every way…. You and the kids are everything to me. She would savor those words for the rest of her life.

  A squeak from the rear seat recalled them to the present. Grinning, Tony escorted her and Tara inside and returned for their belongings. What a lot of stuff they’d brought home! Soon the living room overflowed with flowers, Kate’s overnight bag, sample packages of disposable diapers and baby lotion, hospital discharge papers and, dropped on the coffee table, the surrogacy contract.

  “I’ll feed it through the shredder,” Tony said as she curled on the sofa with a cup of tea he’d fixed in the microwave. Tara dozed contentedly in the family bassinet that had once sheltered Kate and Mary Beth. Tony had arranged for the Ellroys to drop it off on their way to church.

  “Are you kidding? I’m saving the contract for Tara,” she teased. “It’s a priceless artifact.”

  “You already have a copy.”

  “I’m k
eeping that one for my own records.” Catching his hesitant look, she added, “If you’re worried that I’m going to use it against you someday, I’ll shred it, I promise.”

  He sneaked a peek at Tara before replying. “If not for that agreement, she wouldn’t be here. And we wouldn’t be here together. Let’s have it bronzed.”

  They both chuckled.

  Tony took her hands gingerly, so as not to spill the tea. “Tell me again that you’re going to marry me.”

  “I’ll marry you ten times over.”

  “What made you fall in love with me? At the beginning anyway?”

  She tried to figure that out. “I think it was cutting your hair.”

  He regarded her with surprise. “What did my hair have to do with anything?”

  “I’m an expert on hair. I know exceptional quality when I see it.” Setting the cup down, she nestled against him. “When did you first decide you loved me?”

  “Yesterday.”

  Now, that was strange. “I didn’t see you yesterday. What inspired you?”

  “My brother.”

  Kate was torn between amusement and skepticism. “Leo?”

  “He told me to marry you. And he was right.” Tony looped his arm around her. “I hope it’s okay with you if he’s my best man. He was best man at my last wedding and that didn’t turn out so well, but on Leo’s behalf, I should point out that he thoroughly disliked the bride. And he’s quite fond of you.”

  “What kind of wedding would you like?” she asked dreamily.

  “The kind that lasts for the rest of your life.”

  “We’d have to eat an awful lot of cake,” she pointed out. “And I might get tired of wearing the same dress for years and years.”

  “You can take it off at night,” he promised.

  Outside, Kate heard her son’s and mother’s voices, followed by a light tap at the door. Since neither she nor Tony was inclined to stir, she called, “Come in!”

  A key jiggled in the lock, and Irene peered in. “Everybody decent?”

  “And comfortable,” Kate said.

  Brady ran to her. “Look at what Uncle Ray gave me.” He held up a toy airplane.

  “May I see?” Tony examined it solemnly. “That’s a fighter.”

  “It’s an F-22 Raptor.” As if he’d done it a thousand times, Brady climbed onto Tony’s lap and began showing him the features.

  Irene went to the bassinet and collected her granddaughter. She settled into an easy chair close to Kate, and the two women exchanged warm glances.

  There was no way her mother could miss the happiness Kate felt radiating from her. She didn’t have to say anything yet about their engagement. There was plenty of time to break the good news to the people she loved.

  She planned to savor each word and each reaction. Perhaps by the time she finished informing the entire world, she’d believe it herself.

  TONY’S COLLEAGUES expressed amazement when they learned that the attorney who was such a stickler for crossing t’s and dotting i’s had tossed aside the surrogacy contract. “I wish I’d taken bets,” Jennifer told him the week after Tara’s birth. “I’d be a wealthy woman.”

  “You’d have won my money for sure,” he conceded.

  Tony changed in other ways, too. The hospital seemed to get along fine without him taking home a pile of paperwork every weekend, he discovered. Instead, he barbecued outdoors, helped Brady sound out letters in storybooks and occasionally played pool with Leo, despite the guy’s bad habit of winning.

  In his spare time, Tony had a new hobby: watching Tara. He loved seeing her nurse as Kate crooned to her, or, on a blanket, waving her hands and arms in a manner that surely presaged Olympic-quality gymnastic skills. As the weeks passed, her cooing turned into words that to the uninitiated might sound like “goo ga,” but to her daddy indicated she was already preparing to deliver a verdict from the bench.

  Sometimes, as he held his daughter, he felt his sister’s presence. It wasn’t anything he could prove, just a shimmer of awareness that told him she was at peace, and that she forgave him.

  As for Esther, the two of them signed their settlement agreement and submitted it to the court. In a few more months, he’d be free.

  WHAT ON EARTH was Kate going to do about the photographs?

  Although she wouldn’t be moving to Tony’s house until after the wedding, Kate started right away planning how to pack. Now, while waiting for him to drive her to her six-week checkup, she stood in the living room studying the framed photos on the end table.

  The teddy bear covering Esther’s image made her smile. But what about that shot of Quinn on his motorcycle, his face alive with excitement? Quinn had already died once, far too young. It seemed cruel to put away his image.

  And I’d miss him.

  She was still mulling the subject when Tony arrived. He’d insisted on taking off work, since Kate couldn’t drive until receiving Dr. Rayburn’s okay.

  After greeting her at the door, he studied her thoughtfully. “Something’s bothering you.” Tony had developed a remarkable knack for reading her moods.

  “It’s silly.” Kate picked up the diaper bag. “Let’s put Tara in the car.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Brady, is there?” he persisted. “He’s doing okay at school, right?”

  “Absolutely.” In fact, Tony’s frequent bedtime reading had inspired her son to work harder at sounding out the alphabet, with the result that he could now read quite a few words for himself.

  “Then what?”

  No sense arguing that they’d be late, because they’d allowed extra time. “I was just wondering, after we’re married, where I should put that photo.” She pointed to the display.

  “Much as I like the teddy bear, I don’t think we need to keep Esther’s image around, even covered up,” Tony teased.

  She smiled. “Not that one. I meant Quinn.”

  He glanced at the photo. “Aren’t you keeping a scrapbook for Brady?” Kate nodded.

  “That’s the perfect place for it,” he said.

  Between the pages of a book? How confining for her daredevil first love, yet it was a logical decision. Kate tried to ignore her twinge of disappointment.

  At the medical center complex, Tony accompanied her and Tara into the maternity clinic. In contrast to the last few visits when her enlarged abdomen had reduced her pace to a waddle, Kate strode briskly to the check-in desk, and then to the elevator.

  A couple of nurses paused to exclaim over the baby. The sight of their pink uniforms reminded Kate that not so long ago she’d expected to be starting classes soon. Now, with a newborn to care for and a wedding to plan, she’d decided to delay nursing school until fall. Thanks to Tony’s help, she didn’t have to return to the salon, either.

  She would never set the world on fire like Esther. But the only fire she cared about was the one blazing in her fiancé’s eyes.

  Her good fortune was brought home in Dr. Rayburn’s office when she noted a trace of sadness underlying nurse Lori Ross’s cheerful manner. She had to be hurting over her recent breakup with Dr. Sellers. It was too bad that caring for younger siblings had soured Lori on having kids of her own.

  “You’re in good shape,” the nurse said as she weighed Kate. “Just a few more pounds to go. You’re still breast-feeding, right? That should help.”

  “She swims and works out, too,” Tony added.

  “At your pool? I’m envious. You’ve got such a gorgeous place.” Despite the teasing note, her comment reminded Kate that Lori had planned to hold her wedding reception at Tony’s house.

  Well, maybe she and Jared would work things out. Stranger things had happened. Some of them to me.

  In the examining room, Dr. Rayburn shook their hands. “How’s our girl?” he asked, beaming at Tara.

  “Passed her one-month checkup with flying colors,” Tony said.

  “Great. And how’s Mom doing? Any soreness?”

  “Happily, no,” Kate said.
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  Dr. Rayburn ran down a list of possible complaints. Then, while Tony took the baby for a walk, the obstetrician examined Kate and pronounced her incision healed. The thin red line would soon fade, he advised, and her earlier blood tests had come back normal.

  “I’m delighted at how things worked out for you and Tony,” he said as he tapped his notes into the computer.

  “I can’t help feeling that Tara was meant to belong to both of us,” Kate admitted.

  The doctor helped her up from the examining table. “She’s a blessing. That’s what makes my job so rewarding.”

  Alone in the room as she dressed, Kate thought about how different her life had become from that day three months ago when she’d learned of Esther’s departure. She’d gained a daughter and a man she loved beyond measure. He’d become a second father to Brady, too.

  Tony popped in with the stroller. “I didn’t mean to be gone so long, but I got to talking to another dad. His son was born just a few days before Tara.”

  “You wanted a son initially,” Kate recalled, fastening her jeans. “You were looking forward to playing baseball.”

  “I can play with Brady. Tara might enjoy it, too, when she’s older.” He cleared his throat. “That reminds me. I’ve been thinking about what we discussed earlier.”

  She slipped on her shoes. “What’s that?”

  “Quinn’s picture.”

  The name quivered through her. Trying for a neutral tone, she said, “Oh?”

  Tony glanced at Tara, then back to Kate. “You’d like to keep his photo on display, or you wouldn’t have mentioned it. And you know what? He gave us Brady, and he helped shape the person you’ve become. He deserves a place of honor, not being shut away in a scrapbook.”

  Relief surged through her. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, but on one condition.”

  Uh-oh. “What’s that?”

  “That you pitch the shot of Esther and me. I wouldn’t want her to sneak out from behind teddy some dark night and give us all a fright.”