Not Through Loving You

by Patricia Preston

  “Uh oh,” Stevie said when Aaron inadvertently sank the eight ball and lost the game. “There went your luck, bro. Pay up.”

  Cheree escorted two more of Frank’s friends and the groom-to-be and guest of honor, Larry Nash, into the family room where he was presented with a blow-up doll. He had a slight limp due to a recent knee replacement.

  “Everybody smile.” Frank held up his new smartphone.

  “Too bad we’re not filmmakers. We could make a geriatric version of The Hangover.” Stevie put up his cue stick.

  “You got that right,” Aaron said. “You want some pizza?”

  “Not now.” While Aaron headed to the kitchen to get the pizza, Stevie slipped out the slider that led onto the deck.

  In the den, Ralph, who was manning the TV remote control, hit a button, and the eighty-inch screen lit up with Girls Gone Wild. One porn actress jumped into a swimming pool where she was joined by a nude friend, who French kissed her. “Holy shit, look at the knockers on that gal,” Ralph said.

  “Guys,” Larry, the groom-to-be, said as he held one of the blow-up dolls. “I told Dianne we were cooking out. So what happens at Frank’s stays at Frank’s.”

  “You know it,” Frank agreed as Aaron returned with a couple of boxes of pizza and a fresh beer. He shoved aside the junk on the coffee table to make room for the pizza. He flipped open the top of a box and lifted a slice of fully loaded deep-dish pizza as the two girls in the porn movie got it on.

  Outside, Stevie stood on the back of his truck and dug a joint out of his pocket. He held it between his lips as he answered a text from a girl he’d met the other night who was demanding to know where he was. The bad thing about some women was once you slept with them, they thought they owned you.

  Sorry, babe, I can’t get out of the house. My wife’s watching every move I make.

  UR MARRIED???? YOU ASSHOLE. SCREW U!

  He grinned. Amazing how that always worked. He took a drag off the joint as a shiny red Jaguar sports coupe swung into the driveway. Was that not one fine car?

  He headed down the drive to get a better look at the sleek, low-slung Jag. Just looking at it could give you an orgasm. He took a photo of the car with his phone. The Jag probably belonged to one of Aaron’s doctor buddies, who made like a hundred bucks a minute. The driver’s side door opened, and Stevie straightened as a brunette emerged.

  Like the car, the babe was superfine. A cloud of white ribbon secured her long dark hair at the nape of her neck. She had wide dark green eyes and a slight dimple in her chin. She wore a sophisticated navy suit, matching heels, and a necklace of gold beads. All polished and professional, she looked as if she were on her way to a corporate boardroom instead of a bachelor party. She carried a small shoulder-strap bag and mini tablet.

  “Hello there.” Stevie spoke to her, and she gave him one of those uncertain smiles that women use for guys they don’t know. If you got rid of the executive clothes, released the ribbon holding back her hair, and put her in a pair of short-shorts and a bikini top, she’d be smoking hot.

  He noticed her frown at the joint he held. Oh shit. Aaron would kill him. He quickly tossed in the grass and stepped on it. “I just use it for medicinal purposes. I’ve got a bad back, you know. Sometimes I can hardly get around.” He straightened his cap and changed the subject. “You’ve got one sweet ride. That car’s superfine.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Hey, you’re fine, too,” he added quickly. “You and the Jag are like the total package. Hot car. Hot girl.” He stopped as her green eyes narrowed. “We’re having some great weather.”

  She squirmed and gave him an unsettled gaze. “Are you Dr. Kendall?”

  “Me? No.” Stevie held up his palms. “No way. Not me. Taking care of sick kids not my thing.”

  “Oh.” She took a quick glance at her computer tablet. “This is his residence, correct?”

  “Yeah, this is his place. He and my dad live here. I’m his brother, Stevie. I’m here for the summer. Are you local?” He wasn’t feeling much of a vibe, but you never know, and she had great legs.

  “I’m Lia Montgomery.” She stuck her tablet in her purse and offered him a brief smile. “I was hoping to meet Dr. Kendall.”

  Stevie decided she was way too classy for him, but she’d be perfect for Aaron. “You’ll like Aaron. He’s a cool guy. Now, he may come across as a little uptight. That’s a long story, but you just gotta roll with it and give him a chance. He’ll come around.”

  She gave him a baffled glance. “Are Dr. Kendall and his wife home?”

  “Aaron’s here, but there’s no wife. His old lady dumped him a while back. It was the pits, but hey, he’s good now. To tell you the truth, I’ve never seen him better.”

  “No wife?” the brunette repeated, her bewildered expression deepening. “You mean he’s a single man.”

  “More or less. Divorced.” Stevie nodded. “And he’s as available as they come. So this could be your lucky day.” Nothing like helping a bro out.

  She squared her shoulders. “I’m not here to get lucky.” Suddenly, she was all about the attitude. “I’m here on business. I need to talk to Dr. Kendall regarding the baby he’s planning to adopt.”

  Stevie thought for a moment about the conversation he and Aaron had just had while they were playing pool. He recalled what Aaron had told him about a social worker or somebody like that coming to check out things and how everything had to be perfect.

  He looked at the pristine brunette. Uh oh. Aaron, you’re screwed.

  Stevie cleared his throat. “J-Just a minute. I’ll be right back.” He broke into a terrified run toward the deck.

  Inside, Aaron was sitting on an end table, eating his third slice of pizza. Nothing beat a hot slice of pizza loaded with everything and an ice-cold beer. Frank and Bob were singing along with Three Dog Night on “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” while the rest of the guys were sprawled on the sofa with the blow-up dolls watching the threesome that was taking place on the TV screen.

  Stevie flew into the room from the deck. “Turn off the TV!” he cried. “The welfare lady is here! We need to hide these!” He grabbed one of the blow-up dolls and spun around like he didn’t know where to go with it.

  Frank glanced at Aaron. “What the hell is wrong with your brother?”

  Aaron had no idea when it came to Stevie. He’d always been unpredictable, to say the least. “You want some pizza? It’s good.” Aaron finished off his beer and licked at some cheese that had stuck to his fingers.

  Stevie glared at him. “Sober up, Aaron. The welfare lady’s here. Ralph, turn off the frigging TV.” The request was met with groans of protest.

  “I don’t know where the remote is, and it’s just getting good.” Ralph hunted in the crack between the sofa cushions for the missing remote.

  Stevie noticed Cheree’s red robe on the floor. “Oh, my God, where’s Cheree?”

  Aaron wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “The doorbell just rang, and she went to get the door.”

  Stevie began to babble. “Aaron, listen to me, this woman pulled up in a red Jag. I mean, the car is like really hot, and so is she. Or so I thought, but there’s like no connection between me and her.” He waved his hands back and forth. “Then she said she was here to meet with you about adopting the baby. She was like all business, dude. Like Hillary Clinton or something.”

  Frank shook his head as he cradled a blow-up doll.

  “The home study provider isn’t scheduled to be here for a couple of weeks, Stevie,” Aaron said.

  “I’m telling you, bro, she’s here early. Like now and you are up shit creek.”

  “No way.” Aaron opened another beer and turned to see Cheree in her pasties and G-string, followed by a classy brunette who had a graceful body clad in a navy linen suit.

  Her vibrant green eyes were wide with horror as her gaze tracked from the pool table and the Playboy calendar in the dining room to the men with the blow-up dolls clustered around the eig
hty-inch television that was broadcasting porn in high definition.

  “This is Miss Montgomery,” Cheree announced in her bubbly voice as all the men froze except for Ralph, who was feeling under the sofa for the remote control. “She’s here to see Dr. Kendall about the baby.”

  Miss Montgomery pressed the top of her fingers against the bottom of her nose, and Aaron came off the edge of the end table, stunned.

  “This is my brother, Aaron,” Stevie said. “He’s the baby doctor.”

  The brunette looked him squarely in the face. Stevie hadn’t lied about her being hot.

  “Dr. Kendall,” she said in a no-nonsense tone. “Let’s step outside.”

  Considering the circumstances, going outside was a wonderful idea. “This way.” He slid open one of the doors that led onto the deck. As she walked past him, he noticed that she was wearing a subtle, enticing fragrance. Despite the situation, the beer and the babe had him feeling kinda warm and fuzzy.

  On the deck that spanned the width of his home, he found himself staring at her. He liked the way her long ponytail coiled down her back as well as the perfect fit of her navy suit. Expensive. She looked well kept. He glanced at her hands. Rose-colored nails and a ruby ring that sparkled in the sunlight. No wedding band. Interesting.

  “I won’t take up much of your time,” she said curtly.

  He shrugged and tried to pull his thoughts together. “I have to apologize for the craziness around here this afternoon and what was going on inside. I’m sorry about that. My dad is hosting a bachelor party tonight, and you know how that is.”

  “No, not really,” she answered, her green eyes reflecting her disapproval of the situation. “Perhaps this should wait until you’re sober, Dr. Kendall.”

  “I’m not drunk. Maybe only halfway.” He chuckled, and her grim expression remained. She didn’t find him amusing. He cleared his throat. “But you are right. We need to do this later. I think my attorney may have gotten the appointment time wrong because I wasn’t expecting you now. I’m not ready to have the home study done today. I don’t even have the nursery set up yet.”

  “Dr. Kendall, don’t bother setting up a nursery. You’re not going to need it.”

  Her cutting remark wiped the smile off his face. “Of course I will.” He planned to have both the nursery completed and a nanny hired by the end of next week.

  “The baby is not going to spend the first day in that disgusting house.”

  Aaron stiffened. Suddenly, warm and fuzzy disappeared. “You have to understand I wasn’t expecting the home study to be done today. Let’s reschedule the home study for next Friday.” He would have to work night and day, but he could have the house ready by then, plus the nursery and the nanny.

  “I’m not here about a home study. I don’t even know what that is,” she admitted, surprising him. “I’m Candace Walker’s sister. The baby you’re planning to adopt is my nephew.”

  Her words sent a shock wave through Aaron. He leaned his hips against the deck railing, uncertain that his legs could support him as the cocky brunette faced him.

  “I came here to meet the baby’s adoptive parents. Both parents,” she emphasized. “A father and a mother. A couple who are moral, respectable people. A couple with a lot to offer in the way of a stable home and a loving environment. I’m going to be blunt, Dr. Kendall. That doesn’t appear to be you at all.”

  Slowly, a nightmare started to unfold. Some of his friends had warned him that Candace Walker, the derelict who couldn’t have cared less for her baby, might have family who would contest the adoption. But John’s birth mother had denied having any family. She had assured him her parents were dead and she had no immediate family. How was it even possible that the woman who stood before him—the complete opposite of John Aaron’s grubby birth mother—could be the baby’s aunt? Maybe she wasn’t. Something didn’t add up.

  Suspicious, Aaron pulled himself together. “You have no right to be here and no rights to the baby,” he informed her in an icy voice. “I’m his legal guardian.”

  “We’ll see.” She gave him a tight smile and a nod of dismissal. “My attorney will be in touch.” She went down the deck steps and strutted toward the shiny red Jaguar.

  Aaron ran his fingers through his dark hair. He thought of the tiny baby lying in an incubator in the NICU pod. His son. John Aaron Kendall. No one was taking John Aaron away from him. Let alone some prissy brunette who just appeared out of nowhere. He ran to catch up to her as she opened the door of the Jag, which was outfitted with all the extras.

  “Wait. We’re not finished.” He put his hand over hers on the door handle. “I’m not finished.”

  She gave their hands an uneasy glance. “Our conversation is over.”

  “No.” He crowded her between his body and the car. “It’s just beginning.”

  Chapter 2

  Lia looked into Aaron Kendall’s irate blue eyes. She hadn’t expected handsome. She had thought he would be older, bald on top, definitely glasses, reserved with an adoring chubby wife at his side. She had pictured them as a sweet couple who were thrilled by the prospect of having a son and who would give Candace’s unwanted baby the home he deserved.

  How could she have been so wrong?

  “All right. Tonight.” She needed time to think through this latest wrinkle in her life. “I’m staying at the Lansdale Hotel. There’s a small restaurant in the hotel. We can meet there.”

  She glanced at his hand that was still on top of hers. He was the kind of guy who was available because that’s the way he wanted it. Why else would he be single? He was attractive. Tall with the lean, athletic build of a man who was no stranger to physical activity.

  The deep crow’s feet on the sides of his eyes revealed that he was in his mid to late thirties. He had a little scar on the side of his chin. She wondered how he got it. She wondered why his wife had left him, and when she met his gaze, she wondered if he realized they were close enough to kiss.

  “I’ll see you at eight.” He released her hand and stepped back. The tension rolled off him in waves. “It would be good if your sister joined us as well.”

  “Yes, that would be good,” she said before she slipped inside the Jag. She let down the window. “Unfortunately, Candace is dead.”

  She left Aaron Kendall standing speechless in his driveway. Four days ago, that news had left her speechless, too, when a scruffy girl named Kelly had shown up on her doorstep with a duffel bag containing Candace’s belongings as well as a box holding her ashes.

  According to Kelly, she and Candace, along with a guy named Shane, had lived a nomadic existence for the past few years, moving from place to place over the Southwest, doing odd jobs. Lia assumed they were grifters.

  Kelly admitted that she and Candace would sometimes work street corners and make some cash on the side. It was crappy luck when Candace got pregnant by one of those nameless customers.

  A few weeks ago, after Shane finished a contract job on a Santa Fe construction site, they had headed for Nashville. Candace told them she had a half-sister who had connections in the music industry and who would probably know a wealthy couple who would like to have the baby. Candace had hoped to make a good score financially off the adoption.

  “Shit happens,” Kelly said. “Me, Candy, and Shane hitched a ride to a motel outside this town called Lafayette Falls, and Candy started having labor pains. The baby was coming early, and Candy got pissed off. She said it’d die and not be worth nothing. She said she was gonna dump it in the woods.

  “Me and Shane didn’t like that idea at all, and I told her we had to go to the hospital. She didn’t want to go because hospitals suck, but I made her go because I didn’t want no trouble with the law. You know, you can leave a baby at the hospital if you don’t want it, and you don’t get in trouble. By the time we got to the emergency room, the baby was half out. When it came out, it wasn’t breathing. He was like tiny, and I thought it was dead for sure.

  “The baby doctor at
the hospital said the baby was in bad shape and not breathing good, but he’d do everything he could to save it. Candy told him she didn’t want the baby. Then he said he wanted it, and she was all for that. Anything to get rid of it. Me and Shane were totally relieved.

  “The doctor put us up in a nice hotel for a couple of days and gave us some money. He got Candy a lawyer to talk to her about the baby and all the legal stuff. She was like, ‘I just wanna go to Florida. Show me where to sign.’ He gave her copies. They’re in the duffel bag.

  “Candy told the doc we needed money to get to Florida, so he let us have a couple of thousand, and we got a rental car and took off. That evening we stopped at a truck stop near the Alabama state line, and we met a dealer selling snowballs. A mix of pure H and coke, he claimed. Me and Shane have been clean for over two years, and Candy had been clean, too, even before she got knocked up.

  “But she said having a baby had been a downer, and she wanted to get high. I told her not to do but one hit. Either she didn’t listen or she got a batch of bad stuff. I found her a couple of hours later dead,” Kelly concluded. “I didn’t know what else to do with her ashes and her stuff. I figured you’d want to bury her.”

  Lia had sat alone that night with Candace’s ashes. She had barely known her half-sister, much less her mother. Lia was the product of her mother’s first marriage to Nashville music mogul Julian Montgomery, who had been awarded full custody of his three-year-old daughter when his marriage ended and her mother, a failed singer, returned to LA where she eventually remarried a couple of times. During her last marriage, she’d given birth to another daughter.

  By the time Candace was a teenager, she was a self-centered hellion, determined to do as she pleased. At her mother’s funeral four years ago, Lia had found out Candace, who had gotten married when she was seventeen, was now divorced and living with friends. Candace hadn’t been at the funeral because none of her late father’s family knew where she was.