“Oh, sure.” Christy sounded downright evil. “There’s nothing better than a baby born at Christmas. That won’t make the season uncomfortable or anything. I mean … I can barely walk on the ice as it is.”
“Well … .” Maddie had no idea what to say to cheer up Christy. She’d never seen her friend this down. “It’s still a baby. You have to be at least a little happy about that.”
Nick was almost afraid to hear Christy’s response, but when the energetic redhead raised her eyes he saw something else living in the depths of her tortured orbs. He was almost certain it was fear.
“I am kind of happy about having a baby,” Christy hedged, making sure to avoid John’s pointed stare as she folded her hands in her lap. “I’ve had some time to think about it and I’m not as upset as I was. Sure, I still have to get used to it, but it’s not the end of the world.”
“I never thought it was.” Maddie patted her knee. “I’ll help you. We can start planning a nursery. We can buy clothes. Oh, are you going to find out the sex of the baby beforehand?”
“We haven’t decided yet.” Christy finally shifted her gaze so she could pin John with a dark look. “We have a lot of things to discuss.”
Nick didn’t miss the chill settling over the table. As much as he didn’t want to insert himself into whatever was going on between Christy and John, he felt a desperate need to ease the tension. “Does someone want to share with the class why you’re looking at my brother as if he’s Satan himself?”
“Not really,” Christy muttered.
“Definitely not,” John agreed.
Nick slid Maddie a sidelong look. “I don’t suppose you could use your magic to read their minds, could you?”
Maddie was flabbergasted. “I don’t have magic.”
Nick was amused. “What would you call it?”
“I … not magic.” Maddie was adamant. “It’s just a family trait that’s been passed down for a few generations. It’s a peculiarity. It’s not magic.”
Nick wasn’t even remotely convinced. “If that’s what you need to tell yourself, fine. I’m not in the mood to fight. I think we can only take one family fight at the moment. I’m still dying to know why these two will barely look at each other.”
Even though she didn’t consider herself a busybody by nature, Maddie was eager to figure out why John and Christy weren’t the happiest people on the planet as well. Still, she wasn’t comfortable invading her friend’s mind. She’d never been able to do it at will anyway. It was always something that sort of happened. “Christy will tell us when she’s ready.”
“That will be never,” John supplied. “We’ve agreed not to talk about it.”
“No, you agreed not to talk about it,” Christy snapped. “I merely gave in because I was hungry and was afraid I would starve to death at the rate we were going.”
“You had two lunches today,” John argued. “How can you possibly be hungry?”
Christy’s eyes filled with fire as Maddie grabbed her arm to calm her.
“She’s eating for two now, John,” Maddie pointed out. “She needs food to sustain herself. You just said yourself that her iron is low.”
“That doesn’t mean she needs four meals a day,” John muttered.
“And here we go.” Christy was beside herself. “He thinks I’m going to get really fat and he’s upset about it.”
John rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t go there. I said nothing of the sort.”
“He thinks I’m fat,” Christy said. “In fact, do you know what he said at the doctor’s office today? He asked the doctor if I was allowed to exercise while pregnant. Can you believe that?”
Maddie pursed her lips. “Well … .”
“I asked him that because I was curious,” John said. “If you need bed rest, then I want to make sure you get it. If it’s better for you to get exercise, I want to make sure you get that, too. I don’t know what to expect. This is new for me.”
“Oh, really?” Christy drawled. “I thought you were an old pro.”
“Okay, let’s take a timeout here, huh?” Nick held up his hands to get everybody’s attention, making a T to show he meant business. He was clearly at the end of his rope when it came to the fighting. “I don’t understand why you guys are so worked up. You’re having a baby. It’s not as if we just got word that the nuclear holocaust is heading this way. What gives?”
“Ask your brother,” Christy gritted out, folding her arms across her chest as she stared out into the sea of faces littered around the diner.
“I will.” Nick kept his voice pleasant, but just barely. “John, would you like to tell me what’s going on here? I thought after this afternoon you were going to make things better, not worse.”
“I thought that, too.” John rubbed at the back of his head as he sipped his water. “After our talk, I was feeling better. I wasn’t as terrified as I was earlier.”
“Why would you possibly be terrified?” Christy challenged. “I’m the one who has to push a bowling ball out of my body. I’m the one who has absolutely no idea if I’m doing this alone or with a partner. I’m the one who is going to get so fat you’re going to be grossed out.”
Maddie’s heart pinched when Christy’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sure everything will be fine.” She risked a glare at John as she rubbed her friend’s back. “I can’t believe you said that to her. I mean … that’s terrible.”
“I didn’t say that to her,” John protested, his temper ratcheting up a notch. “She’s making it up in her head.”
“Oh, so now I’m crazy!” Christy threw up her hands in defeat. “I don’t see how you manage to put up with me.”
“See!” John extended a finger, frustration evident. “She makes things up in her head. I didn’t say that.”
“You did, too.”
“Stop that right now,” Nick hissed, forcing a smile when a few curious heads turned in their direction. “You’re causing a scene. I don’t like scenes. I want to know what happened today to completely derail both of you. It has to be something serious.
“When John left my office earlier, he was adamant about being a good father and doting on you, Christy,” he continued. “He was looking forward to the doctor’s appointment and at least half the fear he was feeling when he first stopped by had disappeared. So … what gives?”
“I was looking forward to the doctor’s appointment,” John said. “What you said made sense. We’re happy. Adding a baby to our lives isn’t going to ruin anything like I initially worried.”
Christy shifted her eyes to Maddie. “Can you believe him? He thinks I’m going to ruin his life.”
“I don’t think that’s exactly what he said,” Maddie hedged.
“You need to get your ears checked if you didn’t hear him,” Christy groused.
“And I think you need to take a chill pill,” Nick shot back. “What did the doctor say about chill pills? Are you allowed to take those because I think you need an entire bottle right about now.”
“Oh, well, good,” Christy muttered, lifting her nose in the air. “I should’ve known you would take your brother’s side. Men always stick together no matter how buttheaded they are.”
Nick opened his mouth to say something harsh, but Maddie shook her head to cut him off. She understood that Christy was a mass of moods – fear, excitement, nervous energy, hope, and worry all warring for supremacy in her head – and if Nick picked a fight with her, she was liable to explode all over him.
“I don’t think that’s what Nick was doing.” Maddie kept her voice low. “I get that you’re upset and … terrified.” Maddie touched her hand to Christy’s forehead and frowned. “Wow. You really are terrified, aren’t you?” She knit her eyebrows. “I can feel it. You’re afraid that you’ll get fat and never lose the baby weight. You’re afraid the baby will kill you when it comes out. You’re afraid that John is more fun than you and the baby will like him better. Oh, and you’re afraid that John doesn’t love you and w
ill run the first chance he gets. You poor thing.”
Maddie threw her arms around Christy as the redhead burrowed her face into Maddie’s hair. Nick and John exchanged a dumbfounded look, John being the first to speak.
“Did she just read her mind?”
Nick shrugged. “That’s a very good question. I thought you said you couldn’t do that, Mad.”
“I didn’t read her mind.” Maddie refused to raise her voice even though her anger was growing with each passing moment. “I can’t control it that way.”
“I think you just did,” Nick argued. “What else can you see in there? Can you see a way for John to make all this better?”
“I … don’t know.” Maddie stroked Christy’s head, her gaze momentarily falling on Marla across the way. She hadn’t even seen her enter the diner. “What is Marla doing here again? Doesn’t she know how to cook her own dinner?”
Nick bit back the urge to laugh. That was rich coming from her since this was their second night in a row at the diner, too. “I don’t know.” He watched as Marla said something flirty to her dinner companion. “She’s with Steven Wilkins, though. That seems a bit … odd.”
“Who is Steven Wilkins?” John asked, thankful to be able to change the subject. “Am I supposed to know that name?”
“Mildred Wilkins’ nephew,” Nick supplied. “He stopped in the station earlier. He asked about a hotel. He must have found one … and somehow ran into Marla.”
“They look like they’re on a date,” Maddie noted as she rocked a sobbing Christy to offer comfort. “I shouldn’t be surprised because Marla works fast but … come on. That guy has been in town like three hours. She must have her skanky girl radar pointed at the town limits so she can get first dibs on newcomers.”
Nick’s eyebrows flew up his forehead as amusement washed over him. “Wow, Mad. That was catty. You’ve been ramping up the cattiness where Marla is concerned lately – which I admire – but that was a good one. I didn’t know you could be that catty.”
Maddie made a feral growling sound in the back of her throat but her smile told Nick she was teasing him. “Now you do.”
“Yeah, well, I feel I should warn Steven about Marla, but he’s a big boy,” Nick said. “If he wants to hang out with her, that’s certainly his business. I can’t stop him. He doesn’t have a lot of money, though. I’m not sure why Marla would be interested in him.”
“Maybe she’s interested in what she thinks he’s about to inherit,” Maddie countered. “I mean, as Mildred’s only living relative, doesn’t Steven get the house and contents?”
“True.” Nick stroked his chin. “I don’t think that house is worth all that much. Two hundred grand at the most.”
“In this area, that’s a lot of money to some people,” Maddie noted. “He would probably get it all in the form of an insurance payout and land sale, too. That means cash. Marla might realize that.”
“I guess.” Nick leaned back in the booth and crossed his ankles. “I’ll track Steven down tomorrow and give him a heads-up about Marla and her rascally ways. I’m not sure how he’ll take it, but he’s going through enough I don’t want him to struggle with anything additional.”
“That’s probably not a bad idea.”
“He asked to see Angel, by the way,” Nick added. “He said he probably won’t be able to recognize her, but there’s always the chance that he might know who she belongs to if he sees her.”
Maddie tilted her head, considering. “Do you think that’s a good idea? Angel doesn’t like men.”
“I have no idea. I’m leaving it up to the social worker.” Nick shifted his eyes to his brother, who appeared just about as unhappy as one person could possibly look as he watched Maddie console Christy. “Don’t worry. I’m sure this is just hormones and whatnot. Things will get better.”
“I don’t see how they could get much worse,” John grumbled.
“I agree,” Christy sniffed. “He completely ruined things today.”
“How did he do that?” Maddie was legitimately curious.
Christy jutted out her lower lip. “I don’t want to say. It’s totally embarrassing.”
“I can’t help fix it if you don’t tell me what it is,” Maddie prodded.
“I don’t want anyone to know.” Christy’s voice cracked. “It’s too embarrassing.”
Amused despite himself, Nick pinned his brother with a mockingly severe look. “What did you do?”
“I was trying to be nice,” John protested. “I thought she would think it was romantic.”
“Oh, I’m almost afraid to hear this story,” Nick said. “You didn’t suggest some wacky sex thing, did you?”
“Of course not!”
“Then what was it?”
“Now I don’t want to tell you.” John folded his arms across his chest. “I think we should be done talking about this for the day.”
“I think so, too,” Christy said. “It’s too embarrassing. It’s the absolute worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Oh, it can’t be that bad.” Maddie touched Christy’s forehead again and her eyes went wide as she got a glimpse of the source of Christy’s misery. When she turned on John, she was furious. “You proposed at the doctor’s office?”
John’s face went slack. “How did you know that?”
Maddie ignored the question. “You proposed while she was in stirrups and without a ring?”
“Oh, geez.” Nick slapped his hand against his forehead. “Tell me that’s not true.”
“I was trying to do the right thing,” John protested. “I wanted Christy to be happy. I thought marriage was the obvious next step. I mean … we have two houses. We need one house … and one bed to share … and one baby room.
“You told me to figure out exactly what I wanted and that’s what I did,” he continued. “The second I figured it out, I thought Christy should know.”
“But … she was in stirrups, man.” Nick was horrified on Christy’s behalf. “Who taught you how to propose to a woman?”
“Hey.” John turned belligerent. “We can’t all be Mr. Romantic like you.”
“I guess not.” Nick fought hard not to laugh as he met Maddie’s gaze. “I’ll bet I’m looking really good to you right about now, huh?”
Maddie nodded without hesitation. “You have no idea.”
“This is not my fault,” John complained. “The world is conspiring against me.”
“Yes, that must be it,” Maddie said dryly. “It’s everyone else and not you.”
“It is.”
“Whatever.”
Fourteen
Nick woke early, although he couldn’t immediately figure out why. Maddie was curled against him, as was her way, and she was clearly still in dreamland.
The morning light filtered through the window enough to allow Nick to glance around the room and when his eyes fell on his open door he found John standing there staring at him.
Nick barely managed to bite of a bitter curse and he held up a finger to keep John from saying something before carefully rolling away from Maddie. He was glad she opted to sleep in a tank top and shorts so she wasn’t bare and exposed, but he tucked the covers around her anyway before padding toward the door.
He shoved John through the opening and directed him toward the stairs, running a hand through his hair as he descended.
“What are you doing?” he hissed when they hit the main floor. “How did you even get inside?”
“Maude.” John’s answer was simple. “I was going to wait until you guys got up, but Maude was doing something on the side of the house when I pulled up and she let me in.”
Nick instantly turned suspicious. “What was she doing on the side of the house? I told her to get whatever she had hidden in that flowerbed out of there during our trip to Detroit. She promised she would because Maddie is intent on planting flowers this year and I don’t want to have to arrest my future wife’s grandmother.”
“I have no idea w
hat she was doing.” John’s eyes were red-rimmed, shadows dogging them as he heaved out a sigh and sank into one of the chairs Maddie had positioned around her small shop at the front of the house. “Does she ever get customers in here?”
“Some,” Nick answered as he took the other chair. “I’m going to suggest closing the shop and just doing readings and stuff at festivals, but I haven’t worked up to it yet.”
“I can’t imagine you would like having a store in your house.”
“Well, as you’ve probably noticed, it’s rarely open. The store was Olivia’s baby, which is the only reason I think Maddie hasn’t closed it yet. I don’t get the feeling she likes running the store.”
“If she closed it you could actually use this space for a living room, which is what it was designed for.”
“I’m well aware what we could do with the space,” Nick snapped. He wore nothing but his boxer shorts and his discomfort regarding John’s appearance out of nowhere was obvious. “Now is not the time to bring it up to her. She’s on edge. When you’re dealing with a woman – this goes for all women, mind you – you have to pick the appropriate moment to spring something on them.”
John groaned as he closed his eyes. “I knew you were going to bring that up.”
“Please,” Nick scoffed. “You’re here at the crack of dawn because you need to talk. You were going to bring it up yourself.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know.” Nick rolled his neck until it cracked. “Do you want to start with how stupid it was to propose when your girlfriend was in stirrups – and, for the love of everything holy, never describe the scene to me – or do you want to jump right to how you’re going to fix it?”
“I honestly don’t know.” John’s smile was rueful. “I didn’t mean to do it the worst way imaginable. I really didn’t. I just decided it was what I wanted … and that it was probably what Christy needed ... so I did it. I didn’t think about the ramifications until she was already screaming at me.”
Nick’s expression softened. “Believe it or not, I think you had her best interests at heart. Just out of curiosity, what did the doctor say?”
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