Not, Gabe thought realistically, given the chore he had ahead of him.
MAGGIE COULDN’T say why—she only knew she was compelled to find out the truth.
The moment she got back to her beach house, she went upstairs to the bathroom in the master bedroom, and took the home pregnancy kit out of the cabinet.
Minutes later, she knew the results of the test.
She didn’t have the answer about what to do next.
Fortunately, she had the whole evening ahead. Not sure what she should be feeling at that moment—happy, upset, relieved, discouraged, overjoyed—she sat on the edge of the tub for a while, trying to absorb the momentous turns her life had taken over the course of the last few weeks, then went back downstairs to make herself a cup of tea. And that was when she saw Gabe coming up the steps of her deck with Luis, Enrico and Manuel, their entire families, and the whole Deveraux clan right behind him.
Maggie took one look at their very determined expressions and knew Gabe had done the impossible—he had gotten every single one of them on his side.
She crossed her arms in front of her and braced herself for whatever it was that was coming next.
“We want you to come back to the party,” Grace Deveraux began.
Tom Deveraux nodded. “The food will be ready soon. And we want both of you there to enjoy it with us.”
Enrico, Manuel and Luis and their wives backed up Gabe’s parents. “We mean it, Maggie. We all decided we would give you about fifteen minutes to clear this up on your own. Then we’re coming back—and giving the two of you a joint counseling session if necessary.”
Maggie’s jaw dropped. She turned to Gabe in astonishment. “You agreed to this?”
“I not only agreed—I instigated it.” He turned to all those gathered behind him. “Okay, I think I can handle it from here.”
“Fifteen minutes, tops,” Chase warned them both with a grin.
Mitch nodded as he linked hands with his wife Lauren. “Then we’re all coming back.”
Amy’s eyes twinkled optimistically as she smiled. “One way or another, you two, we are celebrating your marriage tonight!”
The families trooped off.
Deciding it would be undignified to argue with Gabe in front of everybody, Maggie leaned against the waist-high wooden enclosure on her deck, and folded her arms in front of her contentiously. “I can’t believe you did that,” she said.
“I can’t believe I waited an hour before I did that,” Gabe said right back, as their families disappeared from view. He gave her a smile so wicked it made her heart race as he closed the distance between them, and continued in a low, supremely confident voice, “Marriage, as you know, is not something to be taken lightly. And even if you didn’t mean your vows at the time you made them,” he reminded softly, as he took her all the way into his arms, “you did mean them later.”
“How do you know that?” Maggie asked, as she tilted her face up to his.
Gabe’s blue-gray eyes softened seriously as he smoothed the hair from her face, and traced her lower lip with the pad of his thumb. “Because I saw the way you looked at me, and I felt the way you kissed me and made love to me.” He paused to search her eyes. “Tenderness like that doesn’t come out of nothing, Maggie. Tenderness like that comes from the deepest recesses of the heart.”
“I admit I have feelings for you,” she said hoarsely, knowing it was now or never. If she was ever going to have a future with Gabe, she was going to have to let her guard down. Forget about the possibility of being hurt or abandoned and trust Gabe to be everything she had ever thought him to be, whether he said the right words at the right time or not. Because, bottom line, words didn’t make a man. Actions and character did. And of those, Gabe had plenty of both.
“I have feelings, too,” Gabe interrupted, before she could continue telling him all that was in her heart.
“I know you desire me,” Maggie said thickly. Just as potently as I desire you.
Gabe frowned. “I’m talking about more than that, Maggie. I’m talking about love. Admiration—”
Maggie stopped moving, thinking, breathing, and just blinked in raw amazement. “What did you say?” she demanded incredulously.
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer yet, until they were touching in one electrified line. “That I love you, Maggie. More than I ever imagined I could love anyone.”
“Oh, Gabe.” Maggie wreathed her arms about his neck and went up on tiptoe. She touched her lips to his. “I love you, too.”
They kissed again and again, until both of them were nearly overcome with emotion.
“Tell me there’ll be no more walking away from each other,” Gabe prodded, still holding her in a way that left no doubt about the depth of his commitment to her. “Tell me—from this moment on—that you’re willing to give this marriage your all. In good times and bad. No matter how confusing or tense things get. Tell me you’ll stay with me and help us to work things out.”
Her heart overflowing with love, Maggie kissed Gabe back, until she was sure he understood how much she adored him, too. “I promise, as of right now, I am every bit as committed to this marriage, and to our love, as you are,” she said softly. Then stopped for another blissful kiss. “But Gabe—?”
“Hmm?” All the tenderness she had ever dreamed of radiated in his low, sexy voice.
“One more thing.” Maggie swallowed hard as she splayed her hands across his chest. “About the baby we were trying to have—” she started in a voice that shook.
Mistaking what she was about to say, Gabe silenced her with a finger to her lips. He looked down at her, eyes serious. “Listen to me, Maggie. I want to have a family with you more than anything in the world. But if it doesn’t work out, if we find out we can’t get pregnant after all, we’ll adopt. And we’ll have our family that way. The important thing is for us to love each other and be together,” he said firmly. “In the end, that’s all that matters.”
“Oh, Gabe,” Maggie said as the wistfulness of her dreams translated into the reality of the present, “I want that, too.”
They kissed again, chastely this time.
Gabe’s eyes were dark, intense as he tightened his grip possessively on her waist. “And I promise—from now on, I’m putting you—us—first,” he told her solemnly. “No more filling up the hours with endless good deeds. I still plan to be one of the good guys, but as for my heart, and my soul, they belong only to you.”
“And mine belongs only to you,” Maggie said, just as confidently, as she felt all her dreams come true, at long last. “But about that family—” she began tremulously once again.
Gabe stopped, looked into her eyes.
“I just took the test.” Maggie swallowed around the growing lump of emotion in her throat. “Your gut feeling was right,” she said, her eyes misting with tears of happiness. “We are going to have children together. I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, Maggie,” Gabe whispered, all the joy she felt reflected on his face. They hugged each other fiercely, then indulged in a long, steamy kiss that left them feeling glowing and alive, and very much man and wife. Eventually they headed back down the beach to Chase’s house and the party in their honor.
Gabe sighed contentedly as he wrapped an arm around her. “It looks as if three of us Deveraux offspring now have found the loves of their lives. Only one of us is left to be matched up.”
“Amy,” Maggie said, as she thought of Gabe’s spirited baby sister. Like Maggie, Amy was a very successful businesswoman, but not so fortunate in her romantic life.
Gabe tightened his grip on her waist and slanted her a glance. “Think she’ll be matched up soon?” he asked Maggie thoughtfully.
Maggie smiled, wrapped her arm about his waist, and snuggled even closer to his side. “I really hope so.”
“In the meantime, we’ve got a party to attend.”
As they neared Chase’s beach house, Maggie and Gabe saw Harlan Decker drive up. Maggie and G
abe met him at the edge of the drive.
“Sorry to interrupt the party,” the casually dressed private detective said, as he paused to put out his cigar, “but I’m looking for your aunt Winnifred.”
Figuring this had to be about Jane Doe’s identity, Gabe caught his aunt’s attention and waved Winnifred over. Winnifred radiated excitement as she swept across the lawn to join them. “I take it this means you found out what I wanted to know,” Winnifred surmised happily.
Harlan Decker nodded matter-of-factly, opened the manila file in his hands, and withdrew a photo of a young woman with long red hair. “Is this the girl you saw on the deck?” Harlan asked.
Gabe and Maggie nodded. “That’s her, all right,” Gabe said with satisfaction. “Did you find out who she was?”
Harlan shot them a sober glance. “Her name is Nicole Hyatt. She’s the granddaughter of the housekeeper who took care of your Jane Doe in a secluded location until the grandmother died, then Nicole took over on a part-time basis. But Nicole’s been struggling with it because Nicole’s in college and hasn’t been able to be there to take care of your Jane Doe, the way her grandmother once did.”
“Why didn’t she simply notify Jane Doe’s family?” Maggie asked.
Harlan shrugged. “Jane Doe forbade it, and Nicole Hyatt felt she had to honor that. If someone else discovered it, however…well, Nicole felt that would be okay. You have to understand. Nicole was pretty desperate. And she wants Jane Doe to be well taken care of by someone who can give the old lady the time and attention she warrants.”
Gabe paused, absorbing that. Although the reasoning was a bit convoluted, it all sounded honorable thus far. “Did Nicole tell you who Jane Doe was?” he asked curiously.
“I’d already figured that out on my own, by the time I talked to Nicole,” Harlan said.
“How?” Winnifred interjected, amazed.
Harlan opened the manila file again and took a handful of pages. “I took the newspaper photo of your Jane Doe and used my computer to reverse the lady’s age. Here she is at ages sixty, fifty, forty, thirty and twenty.” As Harlan talked, he handed over the photos one by one. “Look familiar?” he said, as they reached the last photo of a beautiful dark-haired woman.
Winnifred looked down and caught her breath. “Oh, my heaven!” she gasped, laying her hand across her heart.
“I take it this means you recognize her?” Gabe asked his aunt.
Winnifred nodded, then announced in a low voice that shook, “Our Jane Doe is none other than Eleanor Devereaux! Eleanor isn’t dead, after all!”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7795-7
MY SECRET WIFE
Copyright © 2002 by Cathy Gillen Thacker.
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◊Too Many Dads
ΔWild West Weddings
††Brides, Babies & Blizzards
*The McCabes of Texas
†The Lockharts of Texas
**The Deveraux Legacy
My Secret Wife Page 18