by Tina Leonard
Sara thought about that for a moment before shaking her head. “Let’s just carry on as we planned. Sam left. Sam will have to adjust. If Maddie wants us to leave, that’s different, but she might feel we’ve abandoned her in her hour of need.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way!” Franny was aghast. “My daughter did feel deserted when Sam left the country. Although I’m sure he’d rather have stayed if they could have worked matters out. If he’d felt that she wanted him to stay.”
“For the sake of these precious grandchildren, we must act as if nothing’s changed. Even if everything has changed, from the decor to…well, you know.”
The two women shared a conspiratorial glance. “Everything could change back,” Franny said thoughtfully. “Maybe we haven’t seen the last of the Brady-Winston miracles!”
“You said that right before you turned the fountain on,” Sara reminded her. “We rigged that the wrong way.”
“Well, the second time is supposed to be the charm.” Franny brightened considerably, jade-green eyes identical to her daughter’s glowing with mischievous intent. “This time, the plumbing is sure to work just fine!”
Chapter Two
“I feel like I’ve been hit by a two-by-four,” Sam muttered as he stared at the two babies in matching bassinets in the bedroom he had once shared with his wife. “I’m a father!”
Maddie smiled as she stood beside him. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
His almost-ex wife was beautiful. The tiny, writhing potato sacks with appendages he could only call astonishing. “I don’t understand how you did this. How could you not have told me?”
He turned from the babies to the woman he’d been separated from for nine months. Was there a woman on the planet who could make him feel the emotions Maddie made him feel? Love, anger, desire, admiration—they all mixed together when he thought about her.
Unfortunately, right now anger was high on his emotional thermometer.
“Dr. Mitchell Maitland called one day to discuss a new, experimental procedure he thought might work well considering my age, and our history,” Maddie told him.
Her cheeks pinkened a bit, but Sam told himself to ignore that particular trait he’d always found charming.
“I’m sure it’s not too hard for you to understand that I leaped at the chance. And when I learned the procedure had been successful and that I was expecting, I didn’t want you to come rushing back to America just because I was pregnant.”
“Rushing back! We tried for five years to have children! Damn right I would have rushed back.”
Maddie shook her head. “But what if it had just been another disappointment?” She lowered her gaze. “I couldn’t tell you, Sam. I just couldn’t.”
He could feel his wife’s pain. He’d felt it for months himself. The worst part was wanting a child—and wondering if he was the reason it wouldn’t happen.
He reached to tip her chin up with a finger. “I would have wanted to be with you.”
“I know. But anything could have happened, Sam, anything! And I…”
Her words drifted away, but her meaning did not. Sam took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Maddie,” he said. “I should have called you. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone to France.” He hesitated, knowing that wasn’t even the beginning of what needed to be said. “We should never have separated. I think these babies are a sign we should have stayed together.”
“I don’t know,” Maddie murmured. “I kind of think we needed some time apart.”
Sam grunted, reaching into a bassinet. The baby boy looking out at him had his blue eyes but Maddie’s hair color, the fiery hue of sunshine-dappled maple wood. When he touched the tiny fisted hand, the baby wrapped its fingers tightly around his, surprising him. A fierce protectiveness rushed into Sam’s chest. “I’m not leaving you again.”
“Sam.” Maddie’s tone forced him to look at her. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…I don’t want to be the way we were.”
He didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Married?”
She nodded. “I mean, I know that technically we are, because we never actually filed with the court for divorce, but we did live apart for nine months. I feel like we aren’t married anymore.”
He held up a palm. “Don’t say divorce to me right now.”
“I’m not. But I don’t want us to live together, either.”
Shock filled him. “These are my children! You’re my wife! Where else would I live?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes filled with pain. “You’re welcome to come by as often as you like, of course.”
He stared at her, disbelieving. “When were you going to tell me about the babies, Maddie? If your brother hadn’t called me, would I ever have known?”
“Yes!” Her face was stricken. “I would have told you. I meant to tell you.”
“I should have been there. For you. For them.” He glanced at the babies, their little heads poking out of matching blue T-shirts. “For all of us,” he murmured.
They were chubby-cheeked infants, blissful in their innocence. One had gone to sleep quite contentedly. The other sleepily blinked his eyes at his new world, which wasn’t quite in focus.
Surprise, surprise.
And now Sam and Maddie had what they’d always wanted. Actually, had what they’d wanted times two.
But she didn’t want him. Or their marriage.
Okay. Three was a crowd, but four made a family.
He was going to romance her socks off until she clearly saw that Mommy needed Daddy, babies needed Daddy—and a wife needed her husband by her side.
To love, honor and cherish, for better, for worse.
“MARTIN, LISTEN.” Sam rolled his eyes as he stared at the ceiling. Talking to his lawyer required having a better handle on the chaos that had become his life; his grip had slipped disastrously. “I know you didn’t know I was planning on having children. The point is, I have them, and I need you to draw up a will that includes them.”
“I heard you, Sam. And as your lawyer, I have to advise that you have appropriate tests run before you assume Maddie is correct about your paternity,” Martin insisted. “Don’t get your butt in a sling just because you’ve let the guilt squeeze be applied to your heart. Think with your wallet.”
“My wallet pays your salary,” Sam reminded him.
“And I earn my salary by protecting your interests,” Martin retorted. “I’ll do anything you instruct me to do, Sam. And you know how much I like Maddie. It damn near killed me to have to think about drawing up divorce papers. You know that! She’s like everybody’s kid sister.”
“Not mine.”
“Okay, half the male population sees her in a kid-sister light. The other half would kill for just five minutes to kiss the lace of her underwear.”
“I will assume you are in the first category, unless you want your head removed from your shoulders,” Sam said dryly.
“Definitely, buddy,” Martin answered hastily. “But that’s what I mean. I hated to see you lose her, especially when I know there are multitudes of clowns just waiting for a babe like her. But now I’m telling you to cover your bases. Not that Maddie’s lying. What if the test tubes got scrambled in the lab or something?”
“What are you saying? That my kids could have problems and I shouldn’t provide for them?”
“I’m saying don’t you want to know for certain that this Maitland clinic got your genes mixed with Maddie’s before you take the serious step of changing your will?”
Sam digested that for a moment. “No.”
“Why not?”
“It wouldn’t really matter to me, Martin. Maddie and I talked about adopting kids at one point, anyway. The process was long and arduous, and we didn’t make it through many of the steps before…” Before he’d snapped under the pressure of not being able to give his wife what she wanted. And now she’s done it, without me. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved. What difference would adopted children or my te
st-tube results make? She loves them. And so will I. “Why should I have tests to establish paternity? Just to find out those aren’t my babies? Call me a dreamer, Martin. I don’t want to find out they’re not mine. I’d rather assume I’m just chock-full of egg-seeking, healthy, tough, indestructible sperm. Do you mind?”
Martin sighed. “You know, your ego is skewed. Most men would need to know that their money wasn’t being used to take care of another man’s progeny. You? You just want to get Maddie back.”
“I want to believe I can have progeny,” Sam growled. “Ego cost me my wife. Smart men learn from their mistakes.”
“I know,” said Martin. “That’s why I keep you on as a client, even though you don’t listen to a word I say. You’re a good man, and a lawyer ought to have one good client who isn’t looking for a loophole.”
Sam frowned. “Speaking of loopholes…”
“Oh, boy,” Martin said. “Don’t make me cry, Sam.”
“I may not be the hero you think I am. Get out the tissues. I haven’t been feeling very heroic lately.” Mainly, he felt like he’d let his sons down by not being present at their birth. I shouldn’t have left Maddie to her own devices. I let my pride overrule my heart.
“I’ve known you since high school. It’s tough to suffer any illusions about a guy who used a jock strap as a slingshot in the locker to defend me from the A-string army. I became a lawyer to protect you from any and all litigation your bad humor got you into from that day forward.”
“It was only a few overdeveloped knot-heads who needed to be taken down a peg. You could have used your own jock strap if it had been bigger.”
“Great. Always the personal jibes about the short, skinny guy,” Martin complained.
“But you don’t owe me your life from that day forward,” Sam told him gently. “I merely want one simple thing.”
“Name it,” Martin said, as always.
“I want to find out how I keep Maddie from dipping into my sperm savings in the future. I have rights in this matter, and I want them exercised. I know she wants more children. Four was always her dream number. I just don’t want my name in the father slot on her future lab experiments.”
Martin coughed, and it sounded like whatever he was drinking spewed everywhere. “You really are giving up the hero role, aren’t you, buddy?”
“Yeah. I still want it friendly and easy, the way you managed to work out the specifics of our separation.”
“Kid-glove detail.”
“Exactly.”
“Why do I have a bad feeling Maddie isn’t going to want to be my stand-in little sister after this?”
“Maddie believes I only want to be here for the sake of the children. She’s never going to be convinced that I want her for her, and that I honestly believe we belong together. Any future children are going to have to come from our physical—”
“I think I get your drift,” Martin interrupted. “I’ll get right on it.”
MADDIE STARED AT her mother and Sara, who’d come in to help her with diaper time. Then she burst into tears.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Franny demanded.
“I don’t know. I’m weepy for some reason.” Maddie touched the toes of her babies lovingly, each touch a miraculous sensation she cherished. “I think seeing Sam again has me off balance. This should be a happy day, and yet he’s angry with me. I expected him to be upset, but I didn’t realize how strained we would feel.” It had been so much better when she and Sam had enjoyed a happy marriage. To see him again after nine months had been a shock to her system. His anger had been heartbreaking.
Each grandmother took a child in her arms. Franny shooed Maddie toward the bathroom. “Take a shower. You’ll feel so much better if you do. A good warm shower will wash all those worries away.”
“All right.” Maddie sighed and went to get some fresh clothes. She was in between sizes. Her pregnancy clothes were too big now, and her regular clothes didn’t fit. She pulled out another pair of elastic shorts and a sleeveless top that would cover a nursing bra. “At least this gives me the illusion of working toward my normal body size.”
Franny eyed her over the sleeping baby in her arms. “Don’t rush yourself. I know you’re feeling tense with Sam right now, but I’m sure he finds you attractive just the way you are.”
“Men always think of your body the way it was before the baby,” Sara assured her. “At least Severn always says he still sees me as the girl he fell in love with.”
“Maybe that’s the trouble. Sam’s not in love with me. He’d live with me again, to give the children a proper family. But any deep feelings we had went out the window during our marriage.” Even though this had been a fact for a long time, Maddie still found it wrenching.
“He didn’t seem angry to me awhile ago,” Franny said. “Although I did hear him raise his voice a bit when he was on the phone.”
“Must have been about the wine company merger,” Sara guessed.
“I think he was talking to Martin,” Franny said with a frown.
“Oh, well. That explains it. He always yells at Martin.” Sara shook her head as she finished diapering a baby. “It’s not a normal legal relationship those two have, that’s for sure. I don’t yell at my lawyer. He’s too…uninvolved for me to yell at. I say what I want, and he does it.”
“Well, Sam never did what anyone wanted him to,” Franny asserted. “And Martin merely does his best to advise Sam, who is usually intractable, and I mean no insult to you and Severn. Sam is Sam and I’m sure he had Martin’s head in a vise for good reason. Now, dear, I’m positive Sam is simply trying to come up to speed on the fact that he’s a father, and he’s not angry with anyone.”
Maddie wanted to believe Franny’s words, yet was painfully aware of the wounds their marriage had suffered. “Mother, haven’t you ever heard the old saying there’s no going back?”
“Nope. Haven’t heard that one. I have heard that the second time’s the charm,” Franny said brightly.
“I don’t know. Something’s not right,” Maddie murmured. “We’re not on the same track anymore. Sam and I used to be compatible. We were very comfortable with each other. We’re just awkward now.” She glanced up at Sara and Franny. “Out of whack.”
“Out of whack?” Sara repeated.
“Not on the same wavelength,” Maddie clarified. “I have a funny feeling Sam called Martin about the babies.”
“Maybe he wanted to brag,” Sara suggested.
“Not if he was yelling. And that’s what makes me nervous. Sam never yelled before. He’s a very civilized person.”
“Well, Martin could drive a body to yell,” Franny pointed out.
“Custody agreements can’t be instated at this point, can they? Since the babies came after our separation?”
“Oh, Sam wouldn’t want to take the children away from you,” Sara said. “He wouldn’t think it was right for a mother and her children to be separated.”
“Well, they’re not just her children,” Franny said slowly. “As much as she thinks she did it on her own, she did require help. And that help was Sam’s doing. Reckon he has some rights where the boys are concerned. Maybe he just wants to know for sure, and that’s why he called Martin.”
“Oh, dear,” Maddie said. “I wouldn’t want my babies going to France for their visitations.”
“I’m sure Sam would let you come along,” Sara exclaimed. “Wouldn’t that be fun? The two of you and the children in such a romantic place?”
“You’re not helping,” Maddie said gently. “Sam and I do not want to take trips together.”
“Sam and I don’t want to do what?” Sam asked as he entered the room after briefly knocking.
“Don’t want to go to France together,” Maddie explained.
“No. We wouldn’t want to do that,” he concurred. “I just told Martin to rescind the offer to Jardin Wineries. I need to be here with the boys.” He looked fondly into the baby blanket Sara held and spoke soft gib
berish to his son.
Sara and Franny both sent triumphant smiles at Maddie, before quietly exiting the room.
“Glad we got that all straightened out,” Maddie grumbled, not glad at all for some reason. In fact, now she felt grouchier than ever. Sam being around all the time meant he’d be underfoot all the time. She’d expected him to pop in and then pop out of her life.
It appeared he planned on staying. Her heart rate elevated, the blood singing through her body in giddy anticipation.
“And I also instructed Martin to draw up a will that includes my children. I want to make certain they’re taken care of should anything ever happen to me.”
Maddie’s blood stopped cold. Here she’d been thinking about Sam trying to obtain custodial rights, and he’d been thinking of the children’s well-being. “Oh, Sam,” she said. “You are a good man.”
“Not really.” His expression was a trifle sheepish. “I was just explaining to Martin the difference between a louse and a hero.”
“You’re not a louse.”
“Sometimes I am. You’re just seeing everything in a rosy light because you’ve just been through the miraculous process of birth. Amazing that little fellows like these can grow from…” He shook his head in silent, awed admiration as he stared over at his sons.
“I think I’m the louse,” Maddie said sadly. “I was thinking all kinds of bad thoughts about you when they told me you’d been on the phone yelling at Martin.”
“I yell at Martin when he aggravates the hell out of me, which he does frequently. He wants me to have the babies’ DNA matched to mine, in case there was a screwup in the Maitland blender.”
“Oh.” Maddie’s brows rose. “I would be very surprised if Maitland made a mistake such as that.”
“I told him it wouldn’t matter to me, anyway. You had those children, and you love them. They have my name on the birth certificate. If they’re not born from my cells, then it’s no different than if we’d adopted. Martin understands this now.”
“Oh, Sam.” Her eyes sparkled at him. “You have no louse potential at all.”
