“Stubborn. Bullheaded,” Mrs. Carey supplied.
“That about covers it,” Maggie said with a laugh, relieved to feel her emotions settle again.
“So is Jesse,” Bella said, then went on to describe life with a husband who rarely let her walk across the room without an escort. She started in by telling them how her office at King Beach had been outfitted with a resting chaise and that Jesse made sure she took a nap every afternoon.
While Maggie listened, she tried to hide the pain she felt. The envy, wrapping itself around her heart, for what Bella shared with her husband. Jesse had already come into the room twice in the past hour, ordering his wife to put her feet up, getting her a pillow for her aching back.
It was easy to imagine that Bella’s whole pregnancy had been like that. With her eager, loving husband dancing attendance on her. And Maggie couldn’t help but remember what her own pregnancy had been like. Sure, she’d had her parents and her sisters, but she hadn’t had Justice. She hadn’t had the luxury of lying in bed beside the father of her child while they spun daydreams about their baby’s future. She hadn’t been able to share the excitement of a new ultrasound photo. Hadn’t been able to hold Justice’s hand to her belly so that he could feel Jonas moving around inside her.
They’d both missed so much. Maybe she should have come to Justice immediately on finding out she was pregnant. Maybe she should have given him the chance then to acknowledge their child, to let them both into his life. But she’d been so sure she wouldn’t be welcome. And frankly, his actions over the past few days supported her decision.
But then she remembered the look in Justice’s eyes just an hour or so ago when she’d dropped Jonas into his lap. There had been an unexpected tenderness on his face, underlying the surprise and wariness. Maybe, she thought wistfully, if she’d just stood her ground long ago, things might have been different. Now, though, she’d never know for sure.
“You all right, honey?”
Mrs. Carey’s concerned voice brought Maggie out of her thoughts to focus on what was happening. She shot a look at Bella in time to see a quick flash of pain dart over her features. “Bella?”
“I’m okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It’s just that my back’s been bothering me all day. Probably just spasms from carrying around all this extra weight.”
“A backache?” Maggie asked.
“All day?” Mrs. Carey added.
Bella grimaced, then said, “I probably just need another cookie.”
“Um,” Maggie started, “just when exactly are you due, Bella?”
“Oh, not for two weeks yet.” She groaned a little as she pushed herself forward to reach for the plate on the table in front of her.
Maggie and Mrs. Carey exchanged a long, knowing look.
* * *
“You’re crazy, you know that, right?” Jesse took a long pull of his beer and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankle.
Justice shot a look at his younger brother in time to see him shaking his head in disgust. The sun was hot, the breeze was cool and the patio was empty except for him and Jesse.
Maggie, Bella and Mrs. Carey were all in the house cooing over Jonas and talking about Bella’s due-any-minute baby. He scowled to himself and took a drink of his own beer. Justice and Maggie had already legally separated by the time Bella and Jesse got together, but you wouldn’t have known it from the way Maggie and Bella had instantly bonded. They were like two old friends already, and their chatter had eventually chased Jesse and Justice out to the patio for some quiet.
At least, that had been the plan.
“Crazy? Me?” Justice laughed shortly. “I’m not the one hauling my extremely pregnant wife around when she should be at home.”
“Bella gets antsy sitting around the house. Besides, we’re only forty minutes from the hospital—and you’re changing the subject.”
“Damn straight. Take the hint.”
Jesse grinned, completely unfazed by Justice’s snarl. “Why should I?”
“Because it’s none of your business.”
“When’s that ever stopped a King?”
True, Justice thought. Never had a King been born who knew enough to keep his nose out of his brother’s business.
“Look,” Jesse said, “Jeff called, told me he’d hired Maggie, so I thought I’d bring Bella over to meet her sister-in-law. Nobody told me you had a son.”
“I don’t.”
Laughing shortly, Jesse said, “You’re so busy being a tight ass you don’t even see it, do you?”
“I’m not talking about this with you, Jesse.”
“Fine. Then I’ll talk. You listen.”
A cloud scudded across the sun, tossing the patio into shadow and dropping the temperature suddenly. Justice frowned at his brother, but Jesse paid no attention. He sat up, braced his forearms on his thighs and held his beer bottle between his palms. “I thought your leg was hurt, not your eyes.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, you dumb jerk, that Jonas looks just like you and you’d have to be blind not to see it.”
“Black hair and blue eyes doesn’t make him mine.”
“It’s more than that and you know it. The shape of his face. His nose. His hands. Damn it, Justice, he’s a carbon copy of you.”
“He can’t be.”
“Why the hell not?” Jesse’s voice dropped and his gaze narrowed. “Why can’t he be your son?”
Irritated beyond measure, pushed beyond endurance, Justice awkwardly got out of his chair and grabbed for his hated cane. Then he walked a few uneasy steps away from Jesse, stared out at the rose garden and told his brother what he’d never told another living soul before.
“Because I can’t have kids.”
“Says who?”
Justice choked out a laugh. Figured Jesse wouldn’t react with any kind of tact. Just accept what his brother said and let it go. “A doctor. Right after the accident that killed Mom and Dad and laid me up for weeks.”
“You never said anything.”
He laughed again, a sound that was harsh and miserable even to his own ears. “Would you have?”
“No,” Jesse said, standing up to walk to his side. “I guess not. But, Justice, doctors make mistakes.”
He took a drink of his beer, letting the frothy cold liquid coat his insides and put out the fires of humiliation and regret burning within. “Not about that.”
“God, you’re an idiot.”
“I’m getting awful tired of people calling me names,” Justice muttered.
“You deserve it. How do you know that doctor wasn’t wrong?” Jesse stepped out in front of him, forcing Justice to meet his gaze. “Did you ever get a second opinion?”
“You think I liked getting that news? Why would I go to someone else to hear the same damn thing again?”
Shaking his head wildly as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard, Jesse blinked at his brother and said, “I don’t know, to make sure the guy was right? Justice, you get a second opinion from vets on your cattle! Why wouldn’t you do that for yourself?”
Justice wiped one hand across his face, then took another long swallow of his beer. He didn’t like defending himself and liked even less the vague notion that his younger brother might be right. What if that doctor had been wrong? What if it had all been a mistake?
His heartbeat thundered in his chest and his mouth went dry. If that were true, then he’d let Maggie walk out of his life for no reason at all. And worse, he had a son he’d only just met.
“No, he wasn’t wrong,” Justice muttered, refusing to accept the possibility. “He couldn’t have been.”
“Why?” Jesse demanded. “Because if he was wrong, that means you’ve wasted time with Maggie, neglected your son and are the Grand Poobah of Idiots?”
Grinding his back teeth together, Justice barely managed to mutter, “Pretty much.”
“Well, here’s something else fo
r you to think about, your majesty. Even if he was right at the time, things change. But you never bothered to find out, did you? Damn, Justice. You really are—”
“—an idiot. Yeah, I know. Thanks for not saying it again.”
“Give me time,” Jesse told him with a half grin. “I’ll get around to it.”
“I’m sure. Y’know, I just told Jeff that I should have been born an only child.”
“Like you could have made it through life without us!” Jesse laughed and clapped Justice on the shoulder. “Now, you know what you’ve got to do, right?”
“I have a feeling you’re about to tell me.”
“As you like to say, damn straight. Get a paternity test, Justice. It’s easy. It’s fast. And it’ll tell you flat out if the doctor was wrong or not.”
Paternity test. It would be easier, he thought, than finding another doctor and going through testing again himself. And he’d have his answer. One way or the other. A thread of worry snaked its way through his system, reminding him that if the results came back as negative, then he’d have to acknowledge that Maggie had lied to him. And that she had another man in her life. He ignored that worry completely.
“Maybe you’re right,” he murmured.
Jesse laughed. “Hell, it was worth the drive to the ranch just to hear you say that.”
“Funny. That’s really funny.”
“This isn’t.” Jesse’s smile faded and his voice dropped a notch. “Get this straightened out, Justice. Because if you don’t, you’re going to lose Maggie, your son, everything. Then you’ll be a miserable bastard for the rest of your life and speaking as one of the people who’d have to put up with it, we’d rather not see that.”
“You made your point.” Justice had had more advice from people in the past couple of weeks than he’d had in the past five years. And he was damn tired of it.
“Glad to hear it. Now, how about another beer?”
“What the hell—”
“Justice!”
Maggie’s shout had him spinning around and nearly toppling over but for Jesse’s hand on his arm steadying him. She stood in the open doorway leading to the kitchen, and the wind swept her fiery hair into a dancing tangle around her head. “What is it?”
“It’s Bella,” Maggie called back, her gaze sliding from Justice to Jesse, who was already sprinting for the house. “It’s time.”
* * *
“How much longer?”
Maggie looked up at Justice and smiled. They’d been at the hospital for nearly five hours already and it felt like days. Funny, but when she herself had been in labor, it had seemed that time was rushing by, breathlessly. Now that she was expected to do nothing but sit and wait, time was at a crawl.
“No way to tell,” she told him, tossing aside a six-month-old magazine she hadn’t been reading anyway. “First-time babies can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days to make their appearance.”
Justice looked horrified and Maggie stifled a laugh. He’d been a nervous wreck since they first bundled Jesse and Bella into the ranch SUV and hit the freeway. Neither of them had trusted Jesse to drive. He’d been practically vibrating with nerves when he called Bella’s doctor to tell her they were headed to the hospital. Leaving Jonas with Mrs. Carey, Maggie had ridden shotgun while Justice drove and Jesse hovered over Bella on the backseat.
As soon as they had arrived at the sprawling medical center in Irvine, Jesse and Bella had been taken off to Maternity. Justice and Maggie, meanwhile, had been directed to the waiting room, which boasted the most uncomfortable chairs in the world. Short backs, narrow seats and hardwood arms made getting comfy a nearly impossible feat.
But, she supposed, comfort wasn’t a real issue, since mostly the people waiting for news from the delivery room were too nervous to sit anyway. Still, she kept giving it a shot. “Justice, sit down and give your leg a rest, why don’t you?”
“My leg’s fine,” he said, but his tight-lipped expression told the real truth. She knew he was in pain, but the man would never admit it.
“Okay, then sit down because you’re making me nervous,” she said.
He looked at her for a long minute, then took a seat beside her. A television was tuned to a twenty-four-hour comedy channel, the canned laughter and muttered conversations becoming a sort of white noise in the background. The walls were a pale hospital green and the carpet was multicolored, probably in an attempt to keep it from showing wear over the years. The scent of burned coffee hung in the air, a nasty layer over the medicinal stench of antiseptic.
“I hate waiting,” Justice muttered, throwing a glance at the door opening onto the hallway that led to Labor and Delivery.
“No kidding? You hide it well.” Maggie patted his arm absentmindedly.
Two other people, an older couple, were waiting in that room with them, having arrived just a half hour ago. The woman leaned forward and excitedly confided, “My daughter’s about to make me a grandmother. It’s a boy. His name will be Charlie, after my husband.”
“Congratulations,” Maggie said. “We’re waiting to become an aunt and uncle.”
“Isn’t it wonderful?” The woman was practically glowing as she reached out blindly and took her husband’s hand. “So thrilling to be a part of a miracle. Even in a small way.”
Beside her, Justice shifted in his chair, but Maggie ignored him. “You’re right, it is.”
“The waiting is difficult, though,” the woman admitted. “I’d do much better if I only knew what was happening….”
Whatever the woman might have said next was lost forever when a nurse in surgical scrubs poked her head in the door, smiling and asked, “Mr. and Mrs. Baker?”
“Yes!” The expectant grandmother leaped up out of her chair and would have rushed blindly at the nurse if her husband hadn’t dropped both hands onto her shoulders. “That’s us. How is Alison? Our daughter?”
“She’s doing great and said to tell you that Charlie is calling for you.”
“Ohmygoodness!” The woman turned her face into her husband’s chest and, after a quick hug, looked back at the nurse. “We can see them now?”
“Of course. Follow me.”
“What about us?” Justice demanded.
The nurse turned a questioning look on him. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s nothing,” Maggie told her, taking Justice’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “Never mind.”
“Good luck to you, dear,” the new grandma said as they hustled out of the room after the nurse.
“What do you mean it’s nothing?” Justice asked when they were gone. “We were here long before them!”
Maggie laughed at her husband’s impatience. “Not exactly how it works, Justice.”
“Well, it damn well should.” He pushed up and out of his chair again, marched to the door and looked out. Then he turned back to her and said, “I feel like the walls are closing in on me in here. I don’t think I can stay in this little room another minute.”
“I’m kind of with you on that,” Maggie said. “Let’s take a walk.”
For the next several hours, Justice and Maggie prowled the hallways of the hospital, checking in occasionally with the maternity ward. They wandered down to the nursery to look at the new babies and once again ran into the Bakers, who proudly pointed out little Charlie. They checked in with the nurses’ station to get updates on Bella, and Maggie called the ranch to be assured by Mrs. Carey that Jonas had had his supper and his bath and was now sleeping soundly. She was told not to worry and to be sure to call the minute the baby was born.
“How did you do it?” Justice asked quietly when they were once more in the dreaded waiting room.
“Hmm? Do what?”
“This,” he said, waving a hand as if to encompass the hospital, the maternity ward and all they contained. “How did you do it alone?”
“I wasn’t alone,” she told him. “Matrice was with me.”
“Your sister.” He blew out a breath. “
You should have told me. I would have been here.”
Outside, night crouched at the windows. The lights in the waiting room were dim, and thankfully, they had shut off the television, since they were the only two people in the room. Now she almost wished for that background noise so that the silence between them wouldn’t seem so overwhelming.
Looking into Justice’s eyes now, she would have liked to believe he was right. That had she called him from the hospital, he would have rushed right over to be at her side. But she knew better. In her heart of hearts, she just knew.
“No, you wouldn’t have, Justice,” she said with a sigh. “You wouldn’t have believed me then any more than you do now.”
He pushed one hand through his long black hair, scrubbed the other across the back of his neck and admitted, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I wouldn’t have believed you. But I would have come to you anyway, Maggie. I would have been with you through this.”
Something inside her eased just a little. To know that—to believe that he would have come whether or not he thought he was her baby’s father was a gift. Yet even as she admitted that, there was another voice inside her demanding to be heard.
“Do you really think I would have wanted you here if you thought I was lying to you?” Before he could answer, she added, “And do you really believe that I would have called you to watch me give birth to another man’s child?”
He watched her as long silent moments ticked past. Finally, though, he said, “No. You wouldn’t have. To both questions.” He rubbed absentmindedly at his thigh. “You really threw me hard, Maggie. Showing up at the ranch the way you did. With a boy you claim to be mine.”
God, she was tired of defending herself. Sighing, she said, “He is yours. I’m not just claiming it.”
He studied Maggie, his gaze moving over her features until she shifted uneasily under his steady regard. Eventually, he spoke. “I have something to tell you.”
“What?” Maggie held her breath as hope jumped up inside her and waved its arms and legs excitedly. Was he finally going to admit that he knew Jonas was his? That she wasn’t lying? Was he going to ask her to stay with him? Be a family?
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