Baby By Christmas (The McIntyre Men Book 5)

by Maggie Shayne

  “That’d be a start. Right after I beat him into the dirt for getting my baby sister pregnant and then deserting her.”

  Logan cringed. He wanted to come clean. At the same time, the part of him driven by the instinct of self-preservation wanted to make sure Adam never found out the truth. “Maybe the guy has a good excuse.”

  “Like what?”

  “Maybe he doesn’t know.”

  Adam sighed and tossed back the rest of his beer. “You don’t understand small-town life. Everyone in this town knows everyone else’s business. There are no secrets here.”

  “There’s been a lot of gossip and speculation, but no one in town has any idea who the father is,” David interjected.

  “What was the speculation?”

  “Nothing worth mentioning.”

  “Come on, Dad. I just want to know what people are saying. Small-town gossip can hurt. Allie’s going through enough.”

  David sighed. “A few people mentioned Ethan Wyatt. He went on a few dates with your sister last winter, but it didn’t amount to anything. Carter Avery’s name came up, too. He spent some time at the studio getting pictures of his boys done. Nothing romantic happened between them, but people saw his car at your sister’s a few times right before she let the cat out of the bag.” David shrugged. “Like I said, it’s nothing worth mentioning. Best if we just leave it alone.”

  Adam scratched his chin, looking like he wasn’t entirely convinced. “Maybe I need to have a talk with Ethan and Carter.”

  “Absolutely not,” David said. “Listen to me, son. I want to know who fathered my grandchild as much as you do. I want to find out why he hasn’t been here. But interrogating half the town is only going to embarrass your sister. She doesn’t need that stress. You know better than anyone how dangerous that can be. Keep your mouth shut and leave Allie alone.” He tossed some cash on the table, squeezed his son’s shoulder and headed for the door. “See you at the house later,” he said on his way out. “Afternoon, Vidalia,” he called before he left.

  “Afternoon, Dave. You have a baby yet?”

  “Not yet. Due date’s today.”

  “First ones are always late,” she told him “Don’t hold your breath.”

  He left and she went back to wiping down the bar.

  The look on Adam’s face had changed. He didn’t look angry anymore; he looked ashamed and Logan wondered what had just happened between father and son. You know better than anyone how dangerous that can be. Had he had a baby? Had he lost one? There weren’t too many other ways to interpret David’s words.

  Adam drained his beer and ordered another one. For the next hour, Allie’s big brother drank like someone with a reason to. He didn’t do much talking, and Logan spent most of the time in his own head, trying to figure out the best time to tell his friend the truth. Now was definitely not it. Not while Adam was slowly getting wasted. Not in the middle of a very public place. And not in a place where everything they said and did would immediately be reported back to Allie.

  That comment about stress had made Logan think. He had no experience with pregnant women, but if stress was dangerous, didn’t he owe it to Allie to make her life as stress-free as he could until the baby came? There wasn’t much else he could think of to do for her, but that, at least, should be easy.

  “See that guy out there?” Adam suddenly broke his silence, pointing to a tall, lanky fellow standing outside the bar’s wide windows. “That’s Ethan Wyatt.”

  Logan shook his head. “You heard what your dad said. Allie only dated him a couple times.”

  “Allie doesn’t tell Mom and Dad everything. It wouldn’t be the first time she dated someone without them knowing. In high school she dated a kid for six months after telling us all they had broken up. The guy was a loser. And Ethan’s no better. I always hated him.”

  Logan considered that for a second. He stared at the tall man with the easy smile, who stood outside the bar, and wondered if Allie’d had some kind of relationship with him. The thought made his stomach roll and he recognized the feeling as pure, green jealousy. He shouldn’t feel it, he didn’t know why he was feeling it, but he didn’t have time to ponder it, because Adam was out of his seat and crossing the barroom towards the door.

  Logan caught up fast, catching the door before it had time to swing closed.

  “Hey, Adam. Welcome home,” Ethan Wyatt said. “How’s your sister?”

  Adam didn’t even respond. Instead he swung a big fist at Ethan and knocked him flat to the ground.

  Logan’s jaw dropped. In the five years he’d known Adam, he’d never seen him start a fight. Sure, he was a soldier and he did his job. And yeah, he’d jump into a brawl if he felt it was warranted, but this was something else altogether.

  Logan grabbed his friend and kept him from hitting the guy again.

  “What the hell, man?” Ethan pushed himself to his feet. “I thought we were friends. What the hell?” He wiped the blood from his lip.

  Something about the way he said it made Logan think he knew exactly what this was about.

  “Guess I just figured you had it coming,” Adam said. He stopped straining against Logan’s hold and after a second, Logan let him go.

  The bartender peeked her head out the door. “Everything all right out here, Adam?” she asked.

  “Fine, Vidalia. Go ahead inside.”

  The guy, Ethan, brushed himself off. “So, is this about Allie? Or Riley?”

  Adam lunged forward again, and Logan grabbed his shoulders. Ethan ducked backwards, just out of reach. “I can tell you for a fact, I’m not responsible for Allie’s situation. I took her out exactly two times and didn’t get farther than a g-rated kiss at the door.”

  “And what about Riley?” Adam asked.

  “Not my story to tell. You’ll have to take that up with your wife.”

  “Ex-wife.”

  Logan hadn’t seen the woman approach. He’d been too focused on keeping Adam from decking the stranger again. But he did see the expression on Adam’s face change. His anger disappeared, and the tension in his body left, like he’d gone weak.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Riley?” he asked, his voice quiet, but kind of quivering underneath.

  “One of the benefits of divorce is that I don’t have to explain my actions to you anymore,” she replied with ice in her voice.

  “Not like you ever did,” Adam muttered.

  The woman—Riley— placed a hand on Ethan’s jaw, and looked at the blood dripping from his chin. She was small, slender, pretty, and wearing a high-end suit that didn’t really fit the dusty streets of this small Oklahoma town. She had dark brown hair as sleek as a mink, and sparking green eyes that narrowed on Adam. She was at least a foot shorter than him, but didn’t look one bit intimidated. “You hit him?”

  Adam gave her a wry smile. “I don’t need to explain myself to you, either.”

  “I was wrong about you a lot of times, Adam, but I never thought you were a bully. Guess it’s a good thing I got out when I did.”

  Adam’s jaw tightened. “Guess so.” Without another word, he turned and walked slowly back into the bar. And Logan was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get him out of there anytime soon.

  * * *

  Allie stirred the bowl of cookie dough in front of her, longing for a cup of something with a lot of caffeine. The decaf she’d been sipping wasn’t doing the trick.

  She yawned and pushed the mug away from her in disgust. It had been a long night, followed by a long day. Logan had retreated to the living room after breakfast, and she had tried hard to ignore him, but it wasn’t easy.

  He had spent most of the morning playing with Jack and Cassie, talking football with her dad and charming her mother with the funnier stories about his time with Adam in Afghanistan.

  Her family loved him. He fit right in, and she knew that if any of them found out he was the father of her baby, they’d be browbeating her to marry the man before he changed his mind.
r />   For all she knew, he’d already changed his mind. He hadn’t mentioned his ludicrous proposal again.

  It had been a relief when Adam suggested they go to the OK Corral to watch football and grab a beer, even though the idea of Adam and Logan and her father spending time together made her nervous. She could only hope that Logan would keep their secret a little bit longer.

  She stirred the cookie dough with more force than was necessary, thinking about the infuriating man. She should be happy. She knew that. He had stood up for her with her family. It was sweet in an overbearing kind of way.

  But she thought about how he had told her that marriage was her best option. She thought about how her family had fawned over him, and she felt the need to use his head for batting practice. The man was frustrating, and what was worse, she found it hard to concentrate on anything else when he was around.

  She’d been so focused on Logan that she had somehow volunteered to babysit without even realizing it. Angie and her mom had decided to finish their last-minute Christmas shopping and she’d offered before she could think it over. And to her surprise, her sister agreed.

  Allie didn't mind sitting with the kids. She was happy she could help Angie. Her sister hadn’t left the kids much at all since Jeff’s death, and not ever with Allie. Allie had done her fair share of helping in other ways. She picked Jack up every day after school, and filled Angie’s grocery list at least once a week. She cooked meals in the evening. But every time Allie volunteered to watch the kids, Angie had found a reason to say no.

  So when Angie finally let her babysit, she couldn’t refuse. Her sister had finally decided to trust her. This was major. So she agreed happily, even though she really could have used an afternoon to herself. She had to figure out what she was going to do about Logan wanting to be in the baby’s life and wanting to tell her brother the truth.

  God, it was a lot.

  The television in the next room was playing some animated movie about dragons, and from her spot at the kitchen island, she could see Jack watching from the couch, bouncing with excitement as the dragons took flight. His sister lay next to him, curled up and napping.

  Allie finally had a few quiet moments to herself, and as it turned out, the last thing she wanted to think about was Logan Edwards. She wanted to think about Christmas. She grabbed her phone off the counter, clicked through to her favorite Christmas playlist and let holiday classics calm her nerves and fill her with that magical feeling.

  She relaxed and sang along while she scooped the cookie dough into balls and placed them on the baking sheet. It was working. She was already feeling a little calmer.

  The front door opened and she jumped. Her eyes scanned the living room, thinking first that one of her small wards was escaping. Angie had made a point of telling her what a handful Cassie could be.

  She glanced into the living room, but couldn’t see the front door from there. Cassie was still asleep, and Jack was now zooming through the room with his arms outstretched, pretending to fly. Then he stopped, and said, “Hey! What’s wrong with Uncle Adam?”

  That brought Allie into the living room in time to see Logan with Adam’s arm around his shoulders, walking him into the den. “He’s really sleepy, Jack. Nothing to worry about,” Logan said.

  They vanished into the den, and in a second, Logan came back out and pulled the door closed behind him.

  She sighed and returned to her cookies, but a second later, a tingle on her spine told her that Logan had come into the kitchen.

  “Where’s Dad?” Allie asked. She could feel the tension creeping back into her body. He was a walking, talking stress trigger and she wondered why she’d ever agreed to let him stay.

  “Your dad went home, and I just deposited Adam in his bed.”

  “Yes, I saw that.”

  “He …might have had a little too much to drink.”

  “Because of me? Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve driven one of the Wakeland men to drink.”

  “Maybe about you at first, but not the last few hours.” Logan crossed the room and took a seat at the kitchen island facing Allie.

  “Riley?” Allie asked, not really needing the confirmation.

  “Yeah. She showed up at the bar. I didn’t think she was still around. How’d you know?”

  “Riley is the only woman who can make my brother crazier than I can. Is he okay?”

  Logan sighed. “I guess. He got wasted and punched the guy she was with. He heard this Ethan character was the last man you were involved with, so…” Logan didn’t say more, but Allie felt the need to explain.

  “Involved is a strong word. We went out a couple of times. It was before I met you. Anyway, I broke it off after two dates when he cajoled me into a goodnight kiss and then tried to ram his tongue down my throat. Jerk.

  “Oh.”

  “If there had been anything between Ethan and me, or anyone and me, I never would’ve invited you to my room that night.”

  His eyes were sharp and discerning and Allie couldn’t look at them for long. It felt like he could see too much.

  “Your brother punched the guy and it was my fault, Allie. If I had just told him the truth to begin with—”

  “Adam has been looking for a reason to punch Ethan Wyatt for years. It has nothing to do with us.”

  “That’s not what it felt like.”

  “Well, there’s a reason. Riley served him with divorce papers the day he got home from a deployment. I was just a kid and I loved Riley, which is probably why no one told me any of this then. But I guess Adam tracked her down. He wanted to talk to her. They’d been through a lot and he wasn’t ready to give up. But when he knocked on the door, Ethan answered.”

  “And you dated the guy?”

  “If I had known that, I never would have gone out with him. Angie told me after I dumped him.” She thought of the two of them, seeing them in her mind’s eye, laughing together, crazy in love. “Riley and Adam were something special. We all thought it would last forever, and I don’t think he ever really got over her. He hasn’t been serious about a girl since. So him socking Ethan truly wasn’t about you. Or us.”

  “That’s not the point. It’s not right.”

  “Did you tell him?” Allie asked, dreading his answer.

  “Not yet. Adam probably wouldn’t remember even if I had.” Logan sighed and ran his hands through his short hair. “Your dad’s a great guy, Allie, and Adam’s my best friend. Every minute I spend with them without saying something feels like a lie.”

  Relief washed over her. She wasn’t ready for them to know. She wasn't ready for the pressure that would put on her. She wasn’t ready for the meddling or the number of people who would be giving her their opinions on what she should do.

  She needed to figure this out for herself and for her baby before she had everyone else’s opinions swirling around in her head. She grabbed the cookie sheet and turned to place it in the oven.

  “What stopped you?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Your dad said something. About how stress wasn’t good for you. About how dangerous it could be. I don’t really know anything about pregnant women, but I figured telling them would probably be the most stressful thing I could do to you. And Adam was already so mad, I thought it would only make things worse.

  “I want to figure this thing out, Allie. And I’m guessing that once they know, they’re gonna want me gone. I can’t blame them, but there’s a lot we still have to work through, and there’s not much time…” He trailed off. “I guess I just didn’t want you to have to deal with the fall-out on your own. I’ve got thirteen days left here. We might as well use them to solve this together.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “I can’t keep it from them forever,” he said, looking tense. “I know you think it would be better if I took the easy way out, but I can’t do that. This is temporary. Just until we come up with a solution we can both live with.”

  Logan’s hands were resting on the kitc
hen island and Allie placed a hand on top of one of his. Hers immediately tingled from the warmth of his skin. But she ignored that. “You’re a good guy, Logan. I know you’re trying to do the right thing. But you’re not thinking clearly. Let’s say we do tell everyone you’re the father. Then what?”

  “Then I help raise my baby. It’s not that complicated.” She could see his pulse ticking in his throat, and his fist clenched under her hand. But she needed him to understand why this wouldn’t work.

  “How many bases have you been stationed at?” Allie asked.

  “A few. What’s your point?”

  “Do you know how often military families move? The average is something like every three years.” Allie gentled her tone. “So the best-case scenario is that you’d be really involved with this baby for a few years. He or she would get attached, and then you’d be gone.”

  He pulled his hand away from hers. “It wouldn’t have to be that way.” She could see his mind working. Trying to find other options.

  “What then? We split the time? Send our baby back and forth across the country? And what about when school starts?” Allie had spent most of the night thinking about this. There was no good option. At least none that she’d come up with.

  “Damn it, Allie. Why are we even discussing this? It’s not an issue now. When and if it is, we’ll figure it out.”

  “By then it will be too late. I don't want to see my baby hurting the way Jack and Cassie are hurting.” Allie pointed toward the living room where Jack sat on the couch, once again engrossed in his TV show.

  “It’s been over a year, and Jack’s still waiting for his daddy to come home. No one can convince him that it’s not gonna happen. He goes to bed every night and tells his mom that tomorrow is going to be the day his father comes back. He can’t accept it. And that’s almost better than the alternative, because once it finally sinks in…once he gives up hope, that little boy is going to be a completely different person.”