"But I...love Jason!" That was hard to say in view of all Jason had just said to her.
"Maybe you sabotaged your relationship deliberately to save Mom for yourself, or for all of us."
"That's ridiculous!"
"Love makes you ridiculous," he said with a philosophical smile. "Let her go, Diane. Be who you are. She'd have wanted that for you more than anybody. And an important detail to remember - when you're in love, home is always with you, wherever you are. Come on inside. It's about time to go home and tomorrow's going to be a killer for all of us."
It wasn't until he opened the door that Diane remembered that Whitney had been standing there. "Where's Whitney?" she demanded in sudden alarm.
"Not sure," Tom replied. "She told me you were out here and upset. I came right out."
She hugged him quickly, then ran inside in pursuit of the child who had probably misinterpreted everything she'd heard tonight.
As Diane suspected, Whitney was nowhere to be found. She raced home and noticed the car with the Texas state seal on the door parked in front of her building. "Oh, no!" she groaned under her breath as she went up in the elevator, then let herself into the apartment.
She heard conversation coming from Whitney's room and hurried in to find Whitney packing, Anita Sanchez, her caseworker, helping her. Anita was short and slender, a lot of concern and resourcefulness packed into her tiny body. Diane had come to know Anita fairly well since taking in Whitney.
"What's happening?" Diane asked.
"Anita's found me a great place to live," Whitney said, a smile in place, though it didn't show at all in her eyes. "You don't have to worry about me anymore."
"We've had a vacancy open up at Haven House," Anita explained, coming to put an arm around Diane. "One of the girls went home. Don't look so upset. This is a responsibility you shouldn't have had in the first place."
Diane appreciated Anita's concern, but had to set her straight. "It was a responsibility I gladly undertook."
"But your situation's changed now," Anita said. "And that's all right. You're allowed to - "
"Anita, please," Diane interrupted. "I want - ''
"I heard you and Jason arguing," Whitney said without condemnation. "He's such a sweetie. I don't want the two of you to break up because of me."
"We didn't break up because of you," Diane corrected forcefully. "But because we...I..."
"Because you didn't ask him if I could stay with you. I understand that. You were going to meet him in...wherever that was...on spring break, and you wouldn't be able to do that if I've just delivered."
"Whitney, it wasn't that Jason didn't want you living with us. It was - "
"I know," Whitney interrupted. "It was that you hadn't asked him first. But if I stay, you'll always be worrying about me instead of worrying about him, and that isn't right. People in love are supposed to think about each other."
"I'm the caseworker here," Anita said, getting between them. "May I say something?"
"No." A new voice - distinctly male - turned all three women toward the bedroom door. Jason stood in the opening still wearing the suit he'd worn to dinner and looking exhausted but determined. "As the party whose motives are in question here, I think I should get to speak."
"You don't have to explain - " Whitney began.
"I think I do," he insisted, indicating the half-packed suitcase. "Judging by the fact that you seem to think you're going somewhere."
"Anita's found me a place at Haven House," Whitney said.
"Haven House?"
"It's a home for unwed teens," Anita replied.
Jason turned his attention to her and offered his hand. "I'm Jason Morris," he said. "Diane's fiance."
Anita took it. "Anita Sanchez. Whitney's caseworker. She called me here, thinking she should change residences."
"She's mistaken. My quarrel with Diane was that I'd been left out of the decision, not that she'd made it. I'm fond of Whitney, too, and if she wants to keep the twins, I think that's fine." He turned to Diane with a look she couldn't read.
Diane felt hopeful, confused and overwhelmed. "I'm not entirely sure what you're saying," Diane admitted.
Jason ran a hand over his face, then asked the caseworker politely, "Would you excuse Diane and Whitney and me for a few minutes, please?"
Anita narrowed her eyes on him for a moment, then asked Whitney, "Is that all right with you?"
"Yes," Whitney assured her quickly. "He's a very nice man."
"Then I'll be in the living room," Anita said, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
"Do you want to stay with Diane?'' Jason asked Whitney candidly.
She frowned and looked away. "Not if it interferes..."
"It doesn't."
"You were fighting."
"We were discussing," he corrected.
"You broke up!"
"No, we didn't." He turned to Diane with a look that challenged her to dispute that. She glared back at him, but didn't try to argue. "Being this close requires a lot more give and take than either of us is used to doing so far. Me, particularly. It's going to take a little time to perfect it. Do you want to stay?"
Whitney folded her arms atop the mound of her tummy. "Yes, I do."
"Then, you will." He opened the door and smiled apologetically. "But for the moment, could you go sit with Anita and give us a few minutes alone?"
She walked off with a bright smile, and Jason closed the door again.
"Now, for you," he said to Diane.
CHAPTER TEN
Diane looked uncertain but still quarrelsome as she stood on the other side of the bed from him. He knew he had to get her on his side if he was going to make her understand his position.
"I'm sorry," he said without preamble. "I think my anger was justified, but not my attack. I know that kindness and concern guide your actions with everyone."
She stared at him in surprise, apparently speechless. She cleared her throat, opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
So he kept talking. "If Whitney's going to stay with you and keep her babies," he said, "then you're going to need help."
"Suzanne said she'd - "
"I mean live-in help."
He could see in her eyes that she guessed his meaning, but wasn't certain.
"You're going to be in Noumea."
He shook his head. "I just woke up my agent and told him I was sending the check back to my publisher, and suggested a photographer I thought would do good work for them."
She blinked at him. He really liked having her off balance - even if only for a few seconds.
"You. ..what?"
He had the edge now. He took a few steps toward her, trying not to swagger. "I sent the check back. I'm staying." He grinned. "And I'm now completely dependent upon your support and Anna's good will in finding me more work."
She looked thrilled for the space of several heartbeats, then her smile folded and she whispered earnestly, "You'll hate me if you do this."
He was able to smile in the face of that threat. "Diane, I love you so much, I could sacrifice my life, never mind my book contract. I was wrong about your motives for staying home, but you were right about mine for chasing around the world. I was looking for something, but it wasn't my father. And I realized when I was driving around aimlessly tonight, seeing Christmas lights and happy groups, that it was time I stopped thinking about what I'd missed and concentrate on what I have." This question was tough. "If I still have it?"
That earned him just the reaction he'd hoped for. She flung herself at him and he caught her, feeling her tears on his cheek, her leg wrapping itself around his hip for stability.
He'd been right. This was it. He had his arms full of the love he'd been searching for.
"No!" she said firmly, scaring him into putting her down. His throat went dry and his heart slapped against his ribs.
"You can't give up your life's dream for me," she said, her small hands pinching his forearms in a sturdy gr
ip. "I won't let you. We'll get married, you'll go to Noumea, and I'll come to you in the summer when - "
He shook his head. "You don't run this relationship, remember?" he reminded quietly. "We do it together. There'll be other contracts, other opportunities to travel. But right now, this is where we both need to be."
Her mouth trembled and her face began to crumple. "Are you sure?" "Absolutely."
"You were right about why I stay home," she said, standing away from him as though offering a confession. "Tom agrees with you. He says I'm really afraid to go. That I'm afraid I'll lose the part of me that's my mother if I do."
"You're tougher than that," he reassured her, surprised that she saw herself as an extension of her mother. "You handle all the emotional, generous sorts of things that everyone else is reluctant to give. You don't borrow that from her. That's you." He framed her face in his hands and kissed her. "Except in my case, where I'm sort of getting your insights by osmosis or kissing, or something."
She smiled at him, clearly delighted that he thought they still shared things. The look in her eyes, he thought, would sustain him for a lifetime.
He heard Anita rap on the door. "Everything all right in there?" He heard it squeak open as Diane kissed him senseless. "Oh, well, yeah!" he heard Anita say as Whitney giggled. "I guess it is."
The wedding was a beautiful affair with the bride in an ivory suit, all her daughters, daughters-in-law, and stepdaughters attending her in knee-length dresses of emerald taffeta.
The groom wore a dark suit, his son serving as best man, his stepsons and in-laws making up a handsome line of groomsmen.
The church was filled to capacity. There were poinsettias everywhere, fat garlands wrapped with pearls decorating the altar and cordoning off the family pews.
There were so many well-wishers that it took an eternity for the wedding party to get to the reception. Diane was able only to wave at Jason as he slaved over his camera, and smile at Whitney, who looked beautiful if a little pale in a yellow wool dress that made her hair look like a flame.
Diane noticed that Elliott Brody, a classmate of Whitney's, and the grandson of a friend of Megan's, took her arm to help her down the church steps, and said something that made her laugh. He was a student Diane liked particularly because he was always attentive and interested.
Today Diane felt as though she were living someone else's miracle. Her father was ecstatically happy with Megan, her siblings had each found love, and she... There were no words to describe the warmth and hope that filled her, the sweetness of her life at the moment.
She spotted Tom and Claire in their wedding finery, happily arm in arm. Then she saw them look into one another's eyes and share a moment of bitter disappointment. She knew they were thinking of Whitney's twins. Then they held each other for a moment, linked hands and moved on.
They'd find another baby, Tom had assured Diane. She hoped it was soon.
Diane turned to make sure Whitney had a ride to the reception and saw her standing by herself, watching Tom and Claire walk away, her own features grim. Then Elliott caught her arm and helped her down the steps to an old red pickup.
The buffet was sumptuous, and the room looked beautiful. Guests filled the tables, stood around in knots of conversation in the middle of the room, and wandered around its edges, reading the maps, searching for spots of interest and finding them.
Megan came to hug Diane. "I have the most brilliant and wonderful group of children a mother could hope to produce, and yet you and Tom and Suzanne add another level of artistry to the mix that stuns me. I hope you're just a fraction as happy to have me join your family as I am to have you in mine."
Diane clutched her hands. "I'm thrilled, Megan. I've been a long time without a mother."
Megan hugged her again. "Promise you'll come to me if you need anything." She grinned. "Your father tells me you and Jason are getting married."
"Yes, we are. There isn't going to be a Blake left unmarried by February."
Strong arms wrapped around Diane from behind.
"Smart girl," her father said, kissing her cheek. "I do like that boy. When he was photographing us earlier, I asked him when he was leaving, and he told me he's staying with you and Whitney. But what about the book deal?"
Diane was still amazed by that. "He returned the advance," she replied.
Hugh and Megan looked astonished. "That's the kind of love that couldn't be shouted any louder in a ten-karat diamond," her father said.
"Miss Blake!"
Elliott suddenly appeared at Megan's elbow, his pale anxious face looking desperately into Diane's.
Hugh dropped his arms from her and she stiffened. "What is it?"
"Whitney doesn't feel well." He pointed toward the large double doors that led to the hallway. "I think she's having the babies."
Diane excused herself to her father and Megan, and ran toward the doors. Elliott kept abreast of her.
At the doors, he pointed her toward the corridor that led to the ladies' room. "She said something about her water something and went in there. I got Dr. McDermott."
Diane burst into the outer lounge to find Abby and Claire had already stripped Whitney of the probably ruined yellow dress and wrapped her in a man's raincoat.
Whitney was pale and breathing a little hard, though she seemed relatively calm. She reached for Diane's hand. "They're even earlier than Abby thought," she said as Claire belted the raincoat while Abby used a cell phone to tell Maitland Maternity they were on their way. "But Claire says they have every chance of being okay."
"She should know." Diane squeezed Whitney's hand. "I didn't bring my own car. I rode with Suzanne and Doug so I didn't have to ride in Jason's open Jeep in this." She held out the skirt of her bridesmaid's dress.
"Tom's already pulling our car around the back," Claire said. She and Abby were in professional mode, smiling but serious as they bustled Whitney out into the hallway.
Tom was loping up the corridor, his car idling by the open rear exit doors.
"I'll see you at the hospital!" Elliott shouted at her as she was led toward the exit, Tom and Claire on either side of her, Abby offering instructions.
Diane followed, feeling required to wave her off before finding Jason.
But he was already in the parking lot with a crowd of guests who'd heard the news from Megan and Hugh and appeared to give Whitney a rousing send-off. He photographed her surprised smile and wave at the crowd, then Abby and Claire following her into the car.
The moment the car sped away, Megan came to take Jason's camera. "Go to the hospital. We've got enough pictures."
"It's your wedding," Diane said reasonably. "These are once-in-a-lifetime shots. I'll go to the hospital, and Jason can stay and - "
Hugh turned to Jason. "Will you please get her out of here? She's always trying to make everything work out perfectly for everyone, instead of doing what's best for herself. Go. Be with Whitney."
Jason caught Diane's hand and ran for the Jeep.
Tom sat with Jason in the waiting room. "I'm glad Whitney asked Claire to stay with her and Diane," he said. "Claire's very good at what she does. Even I was amazed at how well she's handled all this, considering the stake we once had in the babies. But she wants their safety before any personal considerations."
Jason understood his amazement. Diane was continually confounding him. "Women generally astound me. My mother lived kind of a small life, but every moment of it was for me. I've seen it all over the world - women who bear enormous loads and unthinkable hardships just to raise their children to healthy adulthood. Then I met Diane, who put her own life second to the needs of a student she cared about. I don't know many guys who'd do that."
"No." Tom stretched and groaned. "I wonder how much longer."
Jason was happy to be relegated to a waiting room. Birthing rooms where everyone made a party out of childbirth had never appealed to him - not that he'd ever had the opportunity to weigh in with an opinion before.
&
nbsp; "I'm glad we can wait out here. Though those babies don't have a father here, they certainly have enough people praying for their safety and good health."
"Whitney has a lot of friends at school," Elliott said. He'd been waiting with them since shortly after they'd arrived. "They were hoping she'd have the first baby of the year so she could get all the gifts they give."
"You must be a particularly good friend," Jason observed.
Elliott shrugged. "She was nice to me. When we first moved here, none of the kids would talk to me because my family was rich. They thought I'd be stuck-up or something. But she always talked to me. Because she never had any money, she knew what it was like to be a minority." He nodded thoughtfully. "It isn't just the color of skin that makes minorities, you know."
Tom met Jason's eye. That was a profound observation for a kid. He had possibilities.
Tom downed the end of a cup of vending machine coffee. They'd been waiting almost five hours.
"Diane told me you're filing for adoption with the state," Jason said.
Tom nodded. "We're both anxious to get a family under way." He smiled sympathetically at Jason. "You're going to have a teenager and babies keeping you up nights before you're even adjusted to being married." '
Jason laughed. "Life's never what you expect, is it?" "No, it isn't."
The waiting room door burst open suddenly and Diane appeared, weary face wreathed in smiles. "We have two beautiful, very healthy, fraternal twin boys. No breathing problems. No problems at all! Come and see!"
Elliott got to his feet, but stood there uncertainly. Diane beckoned him to join them.
Beautiful, Jason decided, was a very subjective opinion. The two babies in Whitney's arms were very red, a little squashed looking, and with their tiny little mouths puckered, tongues moving in and out, bearing a remarkable resemblance to a pair of fish.
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