Chapter 11
The telephone rang at 7:00 a.m. Maya had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, but the sound woke her instantly, and even as she rolled over, covered her head and decided to ignore it, she heard her mother's voice from downstairs as she answered the call. But when she spoke again, Vidalia's tone made Maya's eyes blink wider, and all thoughts of sleep vanished.
"Exactly where do you get the nerve to call my home and ask me something like that, mister? Don't you dare call here again!" There was a bang, no doubt the sound of the phone being slammed back into its cradle.
Maya got up, tugged on her industrial-sized bathrobe and went into the hall barefoot. She was halfway down the stairs when the phone rang again. And by the time she got to the bottom her mother was slamming it down just like before.
"What is it, Mom? Who was that?"
Her mother looked at her as Maya crossed the living room. The angry look on her face immediately eased, and she replaced it with a false smile. "Nothing for you to worry about, hon. Just some kid playing pranks on us, is all."
Her mother was lying, trying to protect her. She knew that. Maya reached the kitchen, eyed the filled coffeepot and longed for some real caffeine, and the phone rang yet again.
She snatched it up before her mother could.
"Hello, is this Maya Brand?" a strange voice asked.
"Who wants to know?" She walked to the coffeepot, took a mug from the tree and filled it.
"I'm Ben Kylie, a reporter for the Herald, ma'am. Do you have any response to the story in this morning's Daily Expos??"
"I don't read trash, Mr. Kylie, so I have no clue what story you mean."
She eyed her mother, who was sending her a look of pure worry.
"You mean?you haven't seen it?"
"No, I haven't. And I'm very busy today, so if you could get to the point?"
"Sure. The point is the Expos? says you're carrying the child of Cain Caleb Montgomery III, as the result of a drunken one-night stand last spring. It claims you yourself are the illegitimate progeny of a bigamist with connections to organized crime and a barmaid, and that your family's main claim to fame is that you have a sister who poses nude for men's magazines. Is this basically accurate?"
Her mouth had fallen open as the man spoke, and now she drew the phone away from her ear to stare at it in disbelief.
A firm, warm hand took the telephone from her, and she looked up through welling tears to see Caleb standing there. "Ms. Brand has no comment at this time. However, rest assured that her team of lawyers are even now preparing their libel suit. I would be extremely careful about what I printed if I were you." He clicked the phone down, held it two seconds, gently unplugged it from the wall jack. His eyes met Maya's. "I'm sorry. My God, Maya, I'm so sorry."
She held his gaze, even though hers was swimming now. "Did the Daily Expos? print what that man said it did?"
"I?what did he say?"
"Don't avoid the question, Caleb. You know what he said. Have you seen the story or not?"
He licked his lips. "Yes."
"And do you have a copy with you?"
He shook his head side to side, hard. Too hard.
She held out her hand.
"No."
"Fine. I'll go to the general store and buy my own copy." She reached for the door.
"Maya, for crying out loud, you're barefoot and in your pajamas!" her mother said, reaching past her to press a palm to the door.
"So what, Mom? You afraid the neighbors will talk?" Her voice broke just a little with the irony.
"Look, it doesn't matter what that rag sheet said or didn't say, Maya. All that matters is how we respond to it."
Maya sank into a chair at the kitchen table, lowered her head onto her arms. "If it doesn't matter, then why won't you let me see it?"
Her voice sounded muffled, even to her. But he could hear her. She knew he could.
"Maya?try to understand." He sat down in the chair beside her, and his hands closed on her shoulders. "You're carrying my babies. I want to protect you from this kind of garbage. I want to stand between all that ugliness and my family."
Very slowly, she lifted her head. She knew her eyes were probably wet and red, and her hair was likely sticking up all over. She hadn't even showered yet this morning. And yet he looked at her with kindness, tenderness, and caring, in his eyes.
"Isn't that what a father is supposed to do?" he asked her.
"It's what a mother is supposed to do, too, Caleb." She sat up a little straighter. "Thanks for reminding me of that."
"Well, hallelujah," Vidalia said, smiling. "I wondered where my daughter was hiding for a minute there."
"She's back, Mom." Maya sent her mother a loving smile. Then turned to face Caleb again. "I'm Vidalia Brand's eldest daughter. I need to see the newspaper, and I promise you, I'm not going to fall apart when I do. No matter what it says."
Caleb lifted his brows and turned to glance at Vidalia. She gave him a nod. Looking as if he thought better of it, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a folded-up tabloid newspaper. On the front page was a photo of Maya and Caleb walking into the clinic, obviously taken the day before. The headline said Front-Running Candidate's Dirty Little Secret.
She lifted her chin, folded the paper back up. "I'm going to shower and put on some decent clothes. I'll take this with me."
"Maya, don't worry. We're going to fix this. I promise."
She looked at Caleb, so strong, confident, sure of himself. "You really do care about these babies, don't you?" she asked. Because it was suddenly so crystal clear to her that he did.
He held her gaze. "I didn't know it was even possible to care this much, Maya."
She smiled a bit unsteadily. "I know the feeling."
"Do you need help?with anything?"
She shook her head. "My sisters are still upstairs. I'll, um?call them if I need them." Then she frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Mom, if Mel catches any reporters snooping around, there's going to be trouble."
Her mother looked worried, then looked at Caleb. Good Lord, why was everyone suddenly turning to him for answers? They'd got along just fine without a man forever!
"No reporters will be near the place. I was on the phone half the night getting things set up. We've got security men stationed out front. No one's going to get past them. My top aid is on his way here with my legal team. They'll help us formulate our response. And by the time you get out of the shower, Maya, you'll have a new private telephone number."
She tilted her head. "You work fast."
"I've been in this game a while."
She got to her feet, but before she turned to go, he stopped her, placing his hands tenderly on her swollen belly. "I'll make it all right?for all of you. I promise."
She laid her hands over his. "I honestly believe you'll try, Caleb."
He was looking very deeply into her eyes just then, and there was something else. "All this?all that's been happening?there hasn't been time to talk about?anything else."
She lowered her head. "What else is there?" And before he could answer, she turned and hurried away.
By the time she came back downstairs, dressed in her prettiest maternity clothes, back throbbing and clenching in protest, Maya's home was crawling with strangers. Men with radios and headsets sipped coffee and munched on crumb cake in the kitchen, and the dining room table was surrounded. Mel, Selene, Kara and Vidalia lined one side of the long oak table, while three men in dark blue suits lined the other. Caleb sat at the head, and the chair to his right was empty.
"I'm telling you, Caleb," one animated man in his late twenties was saying. "I can spin this thing into solid gold, for both you and Ms. Brand."
"She's not going to like it, Bobby," Caleb said.
"What won't I like?"
Everyone looked up to see her. The men rose, and Caleb pulled out the empty chair for her. "Gentlemen," Caleb said, "meet Maya Elouisa Brand, the mother of the heirs to the Montgomery fortune."
She blinked in surprise. "That's a far cry from my former title-'the slut who destroyed the Montgomery-legacy.'"
"Thank you," the impeccably dressed, almost boyishly good-looking Bobby said.
She frowned at him. "Why are you thanking me?"
"For the compliment on my work. 'Mother of the heirs to the Montgomery fortune.' That's mine. It's what I do," he explained. "You're status is soon going to be the American equivalent of royalty, Ms. Brand. I'm the best spin doctor in the business. And you?well?." Shaking his head, holding his palm up toward her, he smiled. "Hell, with you to work with, this is going to be a cake-walk."
She frowned. "I'm afraid I don't follow." She went to her chair, took it, and the men sat down.
"Well, look at you. You're gorgeous. And you have that clean, natural, healthy look about you."
"I'm not sure whether to thank you or offer to let you check my teeth," she said.
Bobby smiled even harder. "Perfect. Wit, too. You're perfect."
"Perfect for what, Mr?.um??"
"Bobby McAllister. Just consider me your new right-hand man."
She glanced at Caleb, who looked uncomfortable, and then at her mother and sisters, who sat there wide-eyed and uneasy. "So what is this plan I'm not going to like?" She looked to Caleb.
He reached out, took her hands and drew a deep breath. "Believe me, this is not the way I would have?gone about this, given the choice, Maya. But?" He paused, looked at the men around the table, then at Vidalia. "Maybe it would be better if I could speak to Maya alone."
"Good thinking, son," Vidalia said with a smile of encouragement. "The family room is empty."
Caleb drew a breath so deep it made his chest expand. Then he blew it out again, got to his feet and reached for Maya's hand. Frowning, she took it and let him help her up. "This better be good, Caleb," she told him. "Getting up out of a chair is no small effort, you know."
He shot her a look and a slight smile. A nervous one, though. And he kept hold of her hand as he led her through the doorway to the left, into what they called the family room. It held a wall of bookshelves, a sewing machine and several baskets full of half-finished projects, a writing desk, and an air hockey table. A smaller table in the corner held a propane burner and a double boiler. Strings tacked to the walls like miniature clotheslines had hand-dipped candles suspended from them to dry. And in yet another small alcove, a TV/VCR combination sat near a rocking chair.
Caleb stood in the center of the room, looking around at the odd collection and smiling.
"It's?" Maya began.
"No, no?let me. The sewing stuff is yours. My crafty, talented baby-quilt maker. The candle making setup has to be Selene's. Actually, I'm surprised it's not a Ouija board or something."
"Mom makes her keep that in her room."
He smiled. "The air hockey has to be for Mel. And the books and television must be Kara's."
"She lives for fantasy," Maya said.
"The desk is your mother's."
She nodded. "Getting to know this family fast, aren't you?"
"I hope so." He walked to the most comfortable chair in the room, turned it slightly and nodded at her to sit on it.
She did. "What's Bobby's brilliant plan, Caleb?"
He stood in front of her for a minute. Then, finally, he took her hands in his and dropped down to one knee. "Maya?"
"Oh, come on-" She tugged her hand against the grip of his and wished he wouldn't say what she thought he was going to say.
He held on tighter and said it anyway. "Let's get married."
She closed her eyes. "That's got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life."
He licked his lips, lowered his head. "Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for, Maya."
"Caleb, we barely know each other!"
"Maya, you're having my kids. Two of them. And?and, hell, if I had to choose a wife today, I can't think of anyone I'd rather marry than you."
"If you had to. The point is, you don't have to."
"No. I don't have to. And neither do you. But if you'll just listen to my argument here, I think you'll see that it's the logical thing to do."
"The logical thing to do would be to get up off the floor, Caleb."
He frowned at her, but got up. Pushing a hand through his hair, he turned and paced away, then paced back again.
"So, present your case, already. I can't wait to hear this."
"Okay. Here it is. Marrying me will be the difference between you being seen the way Bobby described you out there and the way that tabloid rag did. It is the difference between you being the most notorious member of your family or the envy of every woman in town. It's the difference between those babies you're carrying being legitimate or illegitimate. Between them being snubbed or respected as?practically as princes. And it will be the difference between our story being a dirty little scandal or a classic American fairy tale."
She pursed her lips. "And it will make the difference between you winning or losing the senate race."
He gaped at her. "My God, I don't even know if I'm going to run! Maya, that is the last thing on my mind, I swear to you."
She narrowed her eyes on him, not sure she believed that. But she did know he cared for the babies. Deeply.
"I?I don't know, Caleb. This is?this is very sudden and I?well, I don't-"
"Is there someone else?"
He asked the question so suddenly she almost hurt her neck snapping her head up. "Someone else?'' she asked. "Are you out of your mind? Have you looked at me lately?"
He muttered something that sounded like, "In my sleep," but she couldn't be sure. "You're beautiful, smart, sexy as hell."
"I'm a heffalump."
He smiled then, broadly, widely, and came back to her. He ran a hand over her hair, cupped her cheek. "You're beautiful. Tell me there's no one else."
She rolled her eyes. "There's no one else."
"Then why not me? Maya, I can give you everything."
"I don't want everything." She bit her lip, sighed heavily. "I want to live here, not in Tulsa or D.C. or wherever you'll end up if you win this thing."
"You'll be able to do that. I promise."
"Yes, I imagine I will." But where would he be? She didn't voice the question. "I don't want my kids getting their hearts broken, Caleb. I don't want them giving their whole hearts to a father who's going to walk out on them and leave them bleeding. I can't do that to my babies."
His eyes widened, and they seemed wounded, way down deep. "That's what your father did to you, didn't he, Maya?"
She closed her eyes, nodded. "I really did love him. And Mom?God, she still feels some kind of misplaced loyalty to the man. But he was cheating on her, cheating on all of us, and it hurt me, Caleb. It tore my mother apart, and it broke my heart. He was never around when we needed him, and we never knew why until he was dead and gone." She lifted her eyes to his, knowing they were tearing up again. "I know it almost killed my mother. But she was a strong woman. I was just a little girl, and I can't even begin to tell you how the truth ravaged my whole world. Everything I knew, believed, had been a lie. Now I'm the mother. And I'm strong, and I can take anything this world can dish out. But I won't subject my kids to that kind of heartache, Caleb. I won't let you hurt my children the way my father hurt me."
He stood there for a moment. Then he sank to the floor again, just sitting down in front of her chair. He drew a deep breath and sighed heavily. "I've been meaning to explain some things to you. So much has happened that it just keeps getting pushed aside, but I can see now that it's important."
He looked up at her. "When I came out here that night last spring, I was running away from who and what I was. I told you that but I didn't explain it to you. Not really. I was running from what was expected of me. When I saw you in the bar that night all I could think was whether a woman like you would give a guy like me a second look-without the name, without the legacy. And then?you didn't recognize me. You didn't know who I was
. And you?you liked me anyway."
She tilted her head to one side, studying him, seeing sincerity in his eyes. "Yeah, well?what's not to like?"
"I'd never had that before, Maya. Everyone in my life wanted something from me. No one just wanted me?for me. And I needed that so badly that night. So I didn't tell you my real name. It was stupid, and I've regretted it ever since."
She lowered her head. "And yet?you left that night. You said you'd stay?and then you left."
"Just like your father did," he said softly. He lifted a hand to her cheek, and she closed her eyes at his touch. "I got a call that night. My father had a stroke."
Her eyes flew open, met his, saw the truth there.
"You can check it out. Hospital records-hell there was even a piece in the paper about it. I rushed home?and I decided to stop running from my destiny and live it. I didn't contact you again?because I was afraid of what you'd think of me. Running out on you, lying about who I was. I figured I'd already blown any chance I might have had with you. I figured you were better off without me, anyway."
She sighed, shook her head. "You're such an idiot, you know that?" But she said it softly. "If only you'd called."
"I know. I know. I screwed it up?badly. But there was something between us that night. I know there was." He put a hand gently on her belly. "I think?there's something between us now. Something more than just the babies. And I think we owe it to them, and to each other, to find out what."
"Finding out what is a far cry from getting married, Caleb."
He nodded. "I know. But?marriage is just the legal part of this. The paperwork part of it. It's got nothing to do with what's really happening here."
She averted her eyes, felt her cheeks heat all the same as she asked, "Then? you're talking about a? a marriage in name only. Just for the sake of the babies."
"No," he said. "Not necessarily. Unless?that's what you want."
She couldn't look at him, couldn't answer him.
"Listen, let's do this. Let's get married, officially, on paper, for the record. For the kids and the press and the public. But between you and me, Maya?let's just take this one day at a time. See where it leads." He took both her hands in his. "I can promise you this, Maya. I'd walk through fire before I'd hurt these babies. I swear it on my mother's grave."
A tear finally fell onto her cheek and rolled slowly down. She wanted to believe him more than she had ever wanted anything. But she was so afraid he would let her down. All the same, she knew his solution made perfect sense. "Okay, then," she said. "Okay."
"Yes!" someone shouted.
Maya and Caleb both turned their heads sharply. The door was opened just a crack, and Selene smiled sheepishly at them and, backing away, pulled it closed.
A second later it burst open again, but this time it was Bobby, in his extremely expensive suit, who appeared, smiling and rubbing his hands together. Maya could almost see his mind clicking away behind his eyes like some high-tech piece of equipment.
"It's agreed, then?" he asked. "That's great. Listen, neither of you talks to the press. Not yet. We'll go the righteously indignant route for today. Of course, I'll arrange a couple of leaks. Get people wondering. Then we'll grant some lucky reporter an exclusive. Meanwhile, we need to get our story in place. So?" He paused there, probably because Caleb was frowning at him, and finally Bobby glanced at Maya. "I'm sorry. Um?congratulations, Ms. Brand. I don't mean to come on like a steamroller here."
She wasn't sure what he meant to come on like, but she was thinking more bulldozer than steamroller. "I'd just as soon leave the plotting to the two of you, if that's okay," she said. "Maybe you could just fill me in later?"
Getting to his feet, Caleb nodded and gave her a nervous, encouraging smile. "We'll handle everything. Just don't worry. It's not good for the babies."
She nodded, and hurried-as much as a woman her size and shape could hurry-out of the room. Her sisters and her mother were waiting in the dining room, all of them on their feet, all of them grinning ear to ear, and only her mother's eyes shadowed by a hint of worry.
"I guess you already know the big news," she said.
Vidalia came forward then, pulled her close and hugged her tight. "My baby. Are you sure this is what you want to do, hon?"
Forcing a brave expression, she pulled away just enough to look her mother in the eye. "I think it's?I think it's the right thing, Mom." And then she waited for the reassurance she needed to hear right then.
"No you don't, girl," her mother said. "You're scared to death. But, honey, I think you're doing the right thing. I do, Maya. I honestly do."
"Oh, yes, of course you are!" Selene chimed in, coming closer. "You wait and see. It might not seem perfect right now, but?oh, it will be."
"It better be," Mel said, eyeing the closed family room door. "He hurts you or those babies, and I'll personally kick him in the-"
"Melusine!"
Mel frowned at her mother, then sent Maya a wink. "But don't worry. I think he might be an okay guy."
"I think this is the most romantic thing in the world!" Kara said, wiping at her eyes.
"There's nothing romantic about it, Kara. We're doing what's best for the babies. That's all."
"Landsakes," Vidalia said, slapping her hand to her forehead. "Do you have any idea how much there is to be done? Why, there's the dress, the church, flowers and food-and here we are standing around! Do we even have time for invitations? These babies could come at any moment!"
A Brand of Christmas Page 28
