The Daddy Pact

by Kristy K. James

  Her mood not improved one bit, Jess turned around and headed for the apartment. Maybe she would read. Yeah. She could lose herself in a story for hours. It was a good way to avoid thinking, and to forget, at least temporarily, her problems.

  A bit chilled, the warmth that greeted her was a welcome relief. She quickly shed her outerwear, and headed for the kitchen to whip up a batch of hot cocoa. Chocolate and a book. The combination would make for a relaxing, stress-free afternoon.

  The thought came from left field as she stood at the stove, condemning her for the way she’d behaved the night before.

  In the same way Phillip Bentley couldn’t take a lick of credit for the wonderful man Frank had grown up to be, neither could Daniel Mulholland be blamed for the fact that his brother was a murderer.

  Yet that’s exactly what Jess had done. Held an innocent man responsible for a crime he hadn’t committed. Emma was right.

  He’d come out of compassion, and she’d treated him horribly. Maybe she didn’t want his help, but that was no excuse for the awful things she’d said. Filled with shame, she knew she owed him an apology.

  Turning the burner low, Jess glanced at the cupboard under the sink. The cupboard where she kept the wastebasket. The wastebasket where she’d thrown his business card – after crumpling it into a little ball. After she’d slammed the door in his face.

  She bent down and reached in, taking the card out, and smoothing it as best she could. Wiping a spot of butter from the corner, she wondered how one apologized for such behavior. More importantly, how did one work up the nerve to make the call in the first place?

  She closed her eyes so she didn’t have to look at his name, and said a prayer that it might be gone when she opened them. Nope. Still there.

  Darn.

  CHAPTER 4

  “Mulholland Real Estate,” a pleasant female voice said, once she forced herself to pick up the phone and punch the numbers in. She didn’t know if she could go through with this. “Hello?”

  “I... I’d...uh...like to speak with Daniel Mulholland please.” Not true, but the ball was rolling now.

  “I’m sorry. He’s not available. If I could have your name and the number where you can be reached, I’ll have him return your call shortly.”

  “Oh. I...uh...” Jeez. Could she work up the courage to do this again?

  “It won’t take long,” the voice said, then laughed. “I promise.”

  “All right.” Might as well get it over with. “My name is Jess Bentley, and he can get hold of me at-”

  “Mrs. Bentley? Could you hold for just a moment please?” Before Jess had a chance to answer, she found herself listening to some upbeat classical music, though it ended almost as abruptly as it had begun.

  “Mrs. Bentley?” This time the voice was deep and masculine, and she recognized it as belonging to Daniel Mulholland. Apparently, he was now available.

  “Mr. Mulholland. Your secretary said you were busy.” She should have just written him a note, because this was harder than she thought it would be.

  “It’s all right. Nothing that can’t wait.”

  “I really don’t want to bother you,” she murmured, trying to delay the inevitable.

  “It’s no bother. I told her to put you through immediately if you called.”

  “You’re sure? I can wait for a more convenient time.” Now that she had him on the phone, she wanted to be rid of him in the worst way. Apologizing was a humbling experience, and she’d yet to do it.

  “Mrs. Bentley, I’m glad you called. I’m especially happy you’ve given my offer some thought. I meant what I said. I want to help.” He sounded so sincere, Jess almost hated to disappoint him.

  “That’s not why I called.”

  “No?”

  “No. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry – about the things I said.” There. She’d done it.

  “You’re sorry?” That seemed to stun him. “Believe me, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

  “That’s kind of you to say, but we both know I was out of line.” She toyed with the phone cord, waiting for him to accept so she could hang up, get a big mug of cocoa, and read the day away.

  “If our positions were reversed, I’m sure I’d feel the same way.” She remained silent, and he asked, “Do you have everything you need for your baby?”

  “Not yet. The doctor just told me yesterday, but my friend and I are going shopping for a few things tomorrow. To be honest, I don’t even know what I’m going to need.” She heard him chuckle.

  “Neither do I, but I’ll find out for you.” He hesitated a moment before saying, “I’ve opened a charge account for you at Sear’s.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” Jess gasped. Lord but the man was stubborn.

  “I’ll do whatever I can to make sure your baby has everything your husband would have provided.” His tone was cajoling, trying to talk her into accepting the things he insisted on giving her.

  “Mr. Mulholland, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but believe me, it isn’t necessary.”

  “Well, why don’t we discuss it over coffee? Better yet, lunch. It’s quarter to eleven. I can pick you up in say, half an hour?”

  “But...”

  “I’ll see you then.”

  Jess heard the quiet click, and could only stare at the receiver, wondering if the man had a hearing problem. Or a mental deficiency that prevented him from understanding that she didn’t want anything from him. Slowly, she hung up the phone, a startled scream escaping from her when it rang before she’d even moved her hand away.

  “Jess, it’s me,” Emma said quickly. “Don’t hang up. I want to apologize for what I said earlier. I don’t want to lose our friendship over this, so I could care less what you say to the man. I’ll support you in whatever decision you need to make, just don’t be mad at me, okay?” Only Emma could manage to say so many words in one short breath. “I’m sorry.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t be,” Jess said with a smile. “You were right.” Having expressed it to the man in question made it easier to say it again to the person who’d been by her side since she was ten years old. “I’m the one who should be sorry, Em.”

  “What?”

  “You were right,” she repeated, laughing at Emma’s surprise. It wasn’t often she admitted outright to being wrong. “As a matter of fact, I just hung up from apologizing to Mr. Mulholland.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Completely.” She told Emma about their conversation, right up to the end. “So would you call him for me? Tell him thank you, but I’d really rather he not come. Please?”

  “No. I think you should go.”

  “Emma.” Like a child, Jess stamped her foot.

  “Jess, listen. The man is determined to help you, so let him. Honey, anything he does will stretch the money you have, and postpone you having to go to work. If you can’t accept it for yourself, do it for the baby.”

  And so Jess found herself changing into a pair of black slacks and a soft white sweater. It wouldn’t do to go to a business lunch looking like a slob. And this was a business lunch. Nothing more.

  ~~~~~

  “So you’ve got yourself a date, eh?” Dan turned the speakerphone off and looked up. Jon Rambo was sitting on the edge of his desk, all six and a half feet of him. He was rolling up the blueprints they’d been going over before Jess Bentley’s call. “Think she’ll actually go out with you?”

  “I hope so. But not because it’s a date. It’s not. I just want to help her.”

  “It would serve you right if she sends you packing. You can’t bully someone into going out with you. And if she does go along with it, it does qualify as a date, you know. Man picks up woman, takes her out for a meal. Yeah, that’s a date.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you,” Dan said, scowling.

  “That’s because you know you wouldn’t win.” Jon slid the papers into a cardboard tube, and glanced back at him. “I hope she does go, for your sake
. I’ve never understood why you feel like you have to fix whatever anyone else screws up, or why you feel like you need to fix Bruce’s mess, but at least now you’ll be happy. Happier.”

  “I don’t fix everything.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you,” he said, repeating Dan’s words. “All I stopped by for was to show you these. Sam’s a genius, and we’re going to make a fortune off this subdivision. After he dropped them off this morning, I called Cal. He’s even going to part with some money to get in on this one.”

  “Sam’s always been a genius, Einstein. And I think Cal regrets not investing in the last deal. He knows how much he lost. But right now, I’ve got more important things to worry about. Hey, I don’t suppose you know anything about babies?

  “Oh right. I don’t know the first thing about them, and I never intend to learn either,” Jon said, backing toward the door in a hurry. Dan laughed at his appalled expression.

  “Coward. All I wanted to do is pick your brain for a minute.”

  “My brain? About what?” His hand was on the knob now. “Babies?”

  “What babies need.” Jon snickered at that, opening the door and inching out into the hall a few steps.

  “Have fun, Dan. This is going to be like the blind leading the blind. I almost wish I could be there to see it.”

  Dan scowled again, but Jon was already gone. And he was running out of time. What did babies need?

  ~~~~~

  Sitting on the couch to slip into her knee high snow boots, Jess couldn’t help but dread the next hour or so. Lunch with a man. Anyone seeing them might assume they were a couple, even though they weren’t. Far from it.

  But just the act of getting ready for the meeting brought back memories of real dates with Frank, fancy restaurants, mom and pop diners, picnics in the park, fast food in the Jeep while parked out on Airport Road watching the planes take off and land. Would there ever come a time when she didn’t miss him?

  Feeling the sting of tears, she pushed those thoughts away, walked to the bathroom to brush her hair, and tied it at the nape of her neck with a black ribbon. As an afterthought, she applied a light coral lipstick. Funny, but she looked almost normal again. Just in time, too. The peal of the doorbell announced his arrival.

  Capping the tube and replacing it in the drawer, she hurried to the coat closet, and then reluctantly, to greet her escort.

  ~~~~~

  “I see you’re ready,” Dan said with a smile. He’d had doubts that she would even come, let alone open the door looking this lovely.

  “You did say half an hour.”

  “So I did. Here, let me help you with that.” He held the gray dress coat while she slipped her arms inside, waiting patiently as she buttoned it. Lovely? No, she was downright beautiful, with the white fur collar brushing her delicate jaw. “Ready to go?”

  “Just let me get my purse.” It only took her a moment to retrieve it from where it sat next to the ugliest chair he’d ever set eyes on. “Ready.”

  As they walked along the landing, Dan put his hand against the small of her back, mildly surprised when she didn’t protest. Perhaps she realized that his only motive in touching her was to prevent a slip that might result in injury to her or the baby. Heaven forbid another tragedy befall this woman.

  She was such a tiny thing, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulder. Too bad her husband wasn’t here to look after and protect her. But for Bruce, he would have been. He took a deep, quiet breath, when someone caught his attention.

  “Mrs. Bentley?” a man asked, standing halfway down the stairs. A second guy stood near him, holding a camera. Obviously reporters, Dan was glad he was here to shield her from them, as much as he could with them blocking their way. “Is it true that you’re expecting your dead husband’s child?”

  “Leave her alone,” Dan muttered, putting his arm around Jess, and elbowing past the men. She hid her face against his side, apparently trusting him to get her safely away. He wouldn’t let her down.

  “Is it also true that you went to the police station yesterday to kill Bruce Mulholland?”

  Dan’s step faltered for a moment before he urged Jess to hurry. The reporters wouldn’t give up, hounding them every inch of the way to his Lexus.

  “Detective Edward Winslow was quoted as saying you were suicidal. Is that true?”

  He wasted no time getting Jess in the passenger seat, and himself in the driver’s. Then they were speeding away, with any luck before they could be followed.

  He wound his way through the maze of a nearby subdivision just to make sure. After discovering she liked Mexican food, he headed in the direction of the Chi-Chi’s on the west side of town.

  “Is it true,” Dan finally asked. “What he said back there?”

  “Yes.” Hands clasped tightly in her lap, he noted that she stared intently out the window, and watched the passing scenery. The Grand River, snow covered in places where it had iced over already, Deepdale Cemetery, looking cheerful under its brilliant white blanket, and all of the fancy houses, owned by some of the city’s wealthiest residents.

  “I see.”

  “If you want to take me home, it’s all right. I tried to tell you that you didn’t need to help.”

  “Why would I want to take you home?” he asked, zipping around a car driven by an elderly man, who was creeping along at all of fifteen miles an hour.

  “Because, if Detective Winslow hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed your brother.” Instead of being angry, as she probably expected, he laughed softly. From the corner of his eye he saw her glance at him in surprise and he said,

  “That same thought has crossed my mind a number of times lately. No, I meant the suicidal part.”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” she said, echoing his sentiment. He reached over to cover her hands with his, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t begin to imagine how much pain she must have been in to consider ending her life.

  “Please don’t do that. I realize this is a terrible time for you, but you must think of the baby.”

  “Oh don’t worry, I won’t,” she assured him, sounding embarrassed. “I was just really upset about- Well- I didn’t find out about the baby yesterday until after I went to the station. I won’t be that stupid again.”

  He squeezed her hands gently before returning his own to the steering wheel. Thank God. She’d been in his thoughts constantly since he’d met her last night, and it shocked him how much her admission scared him. He vowed she wouldn’t have reason to consider anything like that again. He’d see that her future suffering was minimal. He didn’t know how, but he would find a way.

  ~~~~~

  “Have you decided what you’d like, miss?” a perky blond waitress asked. They’d been given ample time to look the menu over, but Jess still seemed hesitant. “Do you need a few more minutes?”

  “I....no.” She rattled off the name of a meal Dan didn’t remember seeing, and smiled when he ordered the same. He sure hoped she knew what they would be eating, because he didn’t have a clue. Not bothering to write it down, the waitress walked away, promising it wouldn’t be long.

  Jess kept her hands folded primly in front of her, while Dan fidgeted with his napkin, rolling and unrolling one corner like it was the most interesting thing he’d done all day. He hadn’t expected the situation to be quite this awkward, and now that he’d convinced her to at least talk to him, he wasn’t entirely sure what to say.

  Commenting on the lively Spanish tunes being piped into the room from speakers mounted on the walls amounted to dull conversation, as would any reference to the distinctive, cheerful decor.

  He was a realtor, for heaven’s sake – a successful realtor who owned his own business, and dealt with the public on a daily basis. Surely he should be able to come up with something to say.

  “So you like Mexican food.” Smooth, Dan, he thought, really smooth. She nodded her head, a tense smile curving her lips. He took a sip of Coke, sw
allowing hard. “I talked to my secretary before I left. Gert has five kids, and about ten thousand grandkids.” She chuckled at the exaggeration, and Dan felt an odd sensation in his stomach. Probably hunger pangs. He hadn’t eaten any of the pizza at Sam’s house last night, and nothing yet today. He reached for a tortilla chip from the basket the waitress had brought out, and scooped up a little salsa. These would have to do for now.

  “She didn’t mind?”

  “Not at all.” He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket, and recited from the list she’d written out. A crib, high chair, changing table, playpen, bassinet, bathinette, diapers, kimonos, sleepers, heavy blankets, receiving blankets, crib sheets, spit up rags... “What are spit up rags?”

  “I have no idea. But all that?” Dan smiled at her wide-eyed stare.

  “You said it. Who would have thought that such tiny human beings would need so many things?” He reached in the same pocket and withdrew a long wallet, pulled out a Sear’s charge card, and slid it across the table. “If you don’t mind having me tag along, I can meet you and your friend there tomorrow, and arrange to have everything delivered next week.”

  “Oh, you can’t,” Jess started to protest, but he raised his hand to stop her argument.

  “Don’t say it. I mean to do this for you, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “I wasn’t going to argue,” she assured him with a smile, a real one this time. He hoped their food was done. Soon. “Emma convinced me I really do need some help. But she also reminded me that children aren’t allowed in my building.”

  “So you have to move,” he said, trying to remember what rental units he had listed.

  “Yes. It doesn’t make much sense to have anything delivered, when it’s just going to have to be moved again anyway.”

  “Good thing you’re talking to me then. Don’t worry about the apartment. I’ll have another one lined up by the end of the day.”

  ~~~~~

  Nothing like taking over, Jess thought mildly. He reminded her of a caged bull, impatient to get moving, to charge ahead with all of the plans he made during the meal. To her surprise, she wasn’t particularly put out by it.

  Less than twenty-four hours ago, she’d practically hated the man. Now it was a relief to let him take on some of the responsibilities she might otherwise have to deal with on her own. And he didn’t seem to mind at all, deciding first one thing, then another. She couldn’t have stopped him, even if she’d wanted to. Well, she could have, but it was just easier to let him do whatever he wanted. At least for a little while. She was so tired of handling everything on her own.