by Brenda Novak
Lisa started laughing so hard she had to sit down.
“I can’t believe you,” Macy complained. “You’ve been on his side from the beginning.”
“I’d love to see what he’s done to the liquor cabinet.”
“You know I don’t have a liquor cabinet. The most I ever drink is an occasional glass of wine.”
“Then tell him you have some Jack Daniel’s stashed away and let him knock himself out trying to find it. That would be a fitting revenge, don’t you think?”
The telephone rang, but Macy made no move to answer it. At this hour, it had to be Thad…or the hospital. Her heart skipped a beat at the second possibility, and she dived for the receiver. “Hello?”
“Macy?”
Thad. She made a face into the phone, but was actually grateful it wasn’t the hospital. “I see you’ve been in my house again.”
“You had nothing but baking soda in your fridge. How can a person survive on baking soda?”
“Okay, that’s it.” Macy set the phone on the table and marched through the living room to the front door, where she promptly removed the spare key from under the mat and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans.
“Hello? Macy?” Thad was saying when she picked up the phone again.
“I’m back.”
“Where did you go?”
“To remove your invitation to enter my house.”
He whistled. “It’s a good thing I know you like me. Otherwise, my feelings might get hurt.”
“Yeah, you sound pretty broken up.”
His laugh rumbled in her ear, and she pictured him lying back in an easy chair, watching the television she heard droning in the background. “I guess I called at a bad time. I just wanted to see if you’d like to go with me when I buy your ring tomorrow. I mean, you’re the one who has to wear it for nine months.”
“No.” He was buying her a ring? Macy hadn’t even thought about those kinds of details. Was there something she should be doing to prepare for Saturday? How far were they going to take this sham of a marriage? “I have to study for finals,” she said, letting go of some of her anger.
“So, any kind of ring is fine?”
“Just get me a cheap band. I don’t care what it looks like.”
“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“No, don’t. We can talk about whatever else we need to talk about on our way to Vegas. My mother is planning on attending the ceremony, by the way.”
“That should prove interesting. Anyone else?”
“No. She and Haley are the only family I have, besides a bunch of cousins who live in Oregon. I doubt any of them are going to want to fly down for a pretend wedding, but I had to invite my mother. Occasionally she drives out here to see Haley, not as often as you might think a grandmother would come to see her sick granddaughter, I might add, but I didn’t want her to land on our doorstep one day to find me married and expecting.”
“Right. Well, I’ll let you get some sleep.”
“I’m not going to bed yet, Thad. I’ll stay up all night, if I want to,” Macy said, bristling again.
He chuckled. “Take it easy. I wasn’t ordering you to bed.”
“Just like you’re not ordering me to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and to stay away from caffeine? Lisa and I were just saying what a good thing it is that you didn’t find the booze I have stashed away.”
“What booze?”
It was Macy’s turn to laugh. “If you had a key, you could let yourself in and find out. Good night!”
“Good girl,” Lisa said when she hung up. “I bet he’s shaking his head right now, thinking he’d better give you your space.”
“Oh, yeah? I bet he’s plotting another break-in,” Macy replied sourly.
CHAPTER SIX
AN HOUR LATER, after Lisa left, Macy called Thad back.
He groaned as he answered. “Macy? You didn’t call just to wake me up, did you?”
She piled her pillows high and laid back in her bed, pulling the comforter to her chin. “No, but there’s an idea.”
“Not a very good one.”
“Because pregnant women need their rest?”
“Because hardworking ad executives do. What is it?”
Macy fidgeted with the curly telephone cord and stared at the ceiling, noting a few cobwebs that needed to be wiped away. Everything needed to be cleaned. She hadn’t had much time for housework during the past few months. But it was eleven now, past the time to worry about such things, especially when she couldn’t unwind enough to sleep as it was. “Where do you live?” she asked him.
“Why? Are you planning some sort of revenge?”
“Maybe.”
“Then I’d like my refrigerator stocked with beer, pizza and ice cream.”
“You didn’t put any of those things in my fridge.”
“I’m not the one who looks like I’ll blow away in the next strong wind.”
Macy frowned. “Do I look that bad?”
There was a pause, and his answer when it came, was gruffer than usual. “No. You’re a beautiful woman. Surely you must know that.”
Beautiful? That soothed a small place inside her. “You didn’t answer my question,” she reminded him, changing the subject.
“Which question was that?”
“I want to know where you live. I had to tell my mother you have nice office space because I couldn’t say anything about your house. I don’t even know what part of town you live in.”
“I live on Mount Olympus.”
Mount Olympus was full of nice older homes, not nearly as old as those in the Avenues, but most of them dated back to the 1970s. A few were new, built on in-fill lots. All were pressed into the side of the Wasatch Mountains. After a heavy snowfall, it sometimes took a vehicle with four wheel drive to reach the higher streets.
“So you live in a house as opposed to a condo or an apartment?”
“Right, but can we talk about my house tomorrow, preferably when I’m awake?”
“You’re going to call me, after all?”
“No, I’m going to come pick you up so you can help select your ring.”
“I thought I told you no about that.”
“No’s not one of my favorite words. Just bring your schoolbooks. I’ll quiz you in the car.”
Macy hesitated. “I don’t know…I don’t want to leave Haley. I usually study there at the hospital.”
“I’ll bring you to my house afterward. You’ll be able to describe it to your mother in detail.”
Edna could call any day. Macy thought it best to be prepared. “Okay,” she relented. “Pick me up at the hospital at four. Since we’re going to be married, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let Haley see you hanging around a time or two.”
“Have you told her yet?”
“No.”
“Do you want some help?”
The worry of how Haley might react to the sudden appearance of a man in her life had kept Macy from saying anything so far, but time was growing short until the wedding. Perhaps the lie of their marriage would be more convincing if Thad was there to help break the news. After that stuffed bear he bought Haley, she might even be pleased. “Maybe we should tell her together.”
“Sounds like tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”
“It’s not every day you try and reconstruct your fiancé’s past in the space of a few hours.”
“I’m a simple man,” he promised. “Good night, Macy. And stop worrying, okay? Everything will be all right.”
Macy had no idea how he could say that, with Haley in the hospital, losing her battle against cancer. But he seemed so confident she was almost tempted to believe him. “Do you really think so? Do you think Haley’s going to make it?”
There was a long pause. “I hope so,” he said.
* * *
“HELLO.”
Macy looked up to see Thad standing at the entrance to Haley’s hospital room, wearing a shirt and tie and double-pleated
trousers. He was carrying a shopping bag from a retail store.
“You just come from work?” she asked, closing her pharmacology textbook.
“No, I stopped by Crossroads Mall first.” His gaze passed over her, then centered on Haley, whose small face registered pleasant surprise. “Look, Mommy, it’s Thad!”
“It is, sweetheart,” she agreed. “He told me he was going to come today.”
He approached the bed. “I wanted to see how you and Bruiser are getting along.”
“Good!” Haley announced, putting one frail arm around the stuffed bear that still shared her bed. “He sleeps with me at night and sometimes in the day, too.”
“I’m sure he likes that. I brought you something else.” Thad pulled a gift-wrapped box from the bag and set it next to her.
“Another present!” she squealed in delight. “What is it?”
“Open it and see.”
Smiling from ear to ear, she started tearing off the rainbow-striped paper, her pain and discomfort seemingly forgotten. “A baby doll! Look, Mommy, Thad gave me a baby doll!”
Macy smiled at her daughter’s excitement and Thad’s obvious pleasure at being the cause of it. “Press its tummy,” he told her.
Haley obeyed, and the doll started to suck the pacifier lodged in its mouth. Her grin lit up, and she pulled the doll to her chest and hugged it tightly.
“Now you have to come up with another name, huh, Haley?” Thad suggested.
She nodded, screwing up her mouth in concentration. “I think I’ll name her…Haley.”
He chuckled. “At least that’ll be an easy one to remember.”
She pressed the doll’s tummy, pulled the pacifier out, put it back in, pulled it out. While she was busy playing, Thad turned to Macy.
“You ready for this?” he murmured.
The palms of Macy’s hands had grown sweaty the moment Thad had walked into the room. She wasn’t ready for any of it, but Haley’s cancer wasn’t going to wait for a better solution. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
“Haley?” she said, drawing her daughter’s attention. “Do you think your baby can keep you company for a little bit while Thad and I go out?”
Haley’s brows knitted. “Where are you going? Can I come, too?”
“You know you can’t, sweetheart. The doctors won’t let you leave the hospital just yet, not until you’re well. But we won’t be gone long, and Lisa said she’d come be with you. She should be here any minute.”
“But where are you going?”
“We’re going to a jewelry store to pick out a pretty ring for me.”
“A ring?” She looked from Macy to Thad in consternation.
Thad reached out and took Macy’s left hand. “This is a special ring, Haley. It’s called a wedding ring, and your mommy’s going to wear it on this finger here.” He wiggled her third finger. “People do that when…when they get married. Do you know what that means?”
Haley’s eyes rounded as she stared up at him. “Does it mean you’re going to be my daddy?
Macy’s gaze flew to Thad’s face. He wasn’t supposed to get too close to Haley. He was only temporary. But neither of them had counted on Haley’s open heart and immediate acceptance.
The muscles in his jaw clenched. His Adam’s apple bobbed, then he cleared his throat. “Yeah, I guess that’s what it means,” he said.
Dropping the doll that had moments ago meant so much to her, Haley reached both arms out for Thad, and he bent down awkwardly and accepted her tight embrace.
* * *
THAD WAS ANGRY. He tried to hold it deep inside him, the way he’d done ever since Valerie died, but after what had just happened with Haley, it was almost impossible to bury. Why he was so upset, he couldn’t say, but judging from the way Macy wouldn’t look at him, the rigid set of her shoulders, she was angry, too.
“I’m not sure this is going to work,” he said, pulling his Lexus to the side of the road before they even reached the jewelry store. “I must have been deluding myself.”
Macy fidgeted with the pocket of the cargo pants she wore with a long-sleeved jersey. “What are you talking about? Haley needs the operation. I’ll make it work. I don’t have a choice.”
He sighed and tapped the steering wheel with his forefinger. Since the beginning, he’d wrestled with a certain amount of guilt about using Macy’s desperation to get her to do something she otherwise wouldn’t. He’d tried to justify it by telling himself what he wanted wouldn’t hurt her or anyone else. He knew he’d be a good father to their child.
But Haley’s response to him today made him face the fact that it wouldn’t be as simple as he’d hoped. A child was dying, for Pete’s sake! How could he take advantage of that? He’d lost his own child. He knew what it was like. “You might not have a choice, but I do.”
She looked at him from beneath her long, dark lashes, and Thad marked the fear lurking there, the same fear he’d feel if Haley were his child.
“So you’re going to back out? Find someone else whose situation doesn’t prick your conscience?” she asked bitterly.
“Maybe someday.” He shrugged. “Who knows? But that will take a while because I’m going to give you the money.”
“You’re what?” Her mouth dropped open and her wide eyes blinked at him.
He rubbed his chin and looked away. “I’m going to let you out of our deal, but you can have the money, for Haley.”
She turned to stare out the windshield and Thad did the same. The cars whizzed past them on North Temple. It was a wide, busy street, lined with businesses on both sides. The jewelry store where he’d planned to take Macy wasn’t far.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said at last.
“You don’t have to say anything. Do you want me to take you back to the hospital?”
Thad guessed Macy was thinking about facing Haley again and having to explain why there was no ring on her finger, because she shook her head. “Just take me home,” she said, and he started the car and merged back into the traffic.
* * *
THE HOUSE was so quiet he could hear the clock ticking over the fireplace. Normally Thad filled every room with sound, from the stereo or television, the second he walked through the door after work, but today he sat on the leather couch and just listened to nothing.
He’d packed up the majority of Valerie’s personal items, her clothes, jewelry, perfume, things like that, and stored them away in the basement, but her touch was everywhere. They’d wallpapered the living room together. She’d chosen the furniture and created a rather rustic decor, which went well with the French doors along the back that looked out on a wide deck and the mountain beyond. She’d insisted he rip out the carpet and lay hardwood floors—something he’d never done and didn’t know how to do. They’d bought the supplies and stayed up late every night for a week, figuring it out, drinking coffee, laughing at something on the television that blared over the thump of Thad’s hammer—or cursing when he made a mistake and they had to rip out half the floor. He’d taken those nights for granted, never knowing how much he’d miss them.
Coming to his feet, Thad walked down the hall and opened the door to the nursery he and Valerie had furnished. It was decorated in purple, yellow and turquoise. Valerie had painted the furniture and made the drapes. He’d painted the walls and put up the molding.
Eyeing the rocking chair sitting in the middle of the floor, he wondered if he’d ever have a baby of his own. He made a good living, but one hundred thousand dollars wasn’t a sum he could easily raise, not with the overhead he was carrying at the office.
At least the money might help to preserve Haley’s life. He prayed it would.
The telephone rang, calling him back to the living room. “Hello?”
“Thad? It’s Debra.”
His sister. “Hi, Deb. What’s up?”
“I’m making fajitas tonight. Just thought you might want to come over for dinner. Gary and his wife will be here.”
Thad almost refused. When Valerie was alive, they’d spent a lot of time with his sister and her husband, and his brother and his wife, going out to eat, playing games, seeing movies. They only lived about twenty minutes away and seemed to fit easily into the flow of each other’s busy lives. But now that he was on his own, he didn’t fit in so easily anymore. And he didn’t enjoy getting together with his family quite so much. It made the gap in his life seem wider, more difficult to fill. Still, he refused to sit home and continue wallowing in self-pity.
“Sure, what time?”
“Give me another hour.”
“I’ll be there.” Fortunately, his family didn’t know anything about Macy or his plans to have a baby, so there wouldn’t be any uncomfortable details to explain.
* * *
MACY SAT at the kitchen table and tried to focus on her studies, but she couldn’t pull her thoughts away from the check sitting in front of her. One hundred thousand dollars. Thad had written it, just as easily as though he’d made it out for a mere ten or fifteen bucks, and handed it to her as she got out of his car. Then he’d wished her well and driven off, giving Macy the impression he never expected to see her again.
She took a deep breath and let it go. He was gone. There would be no marriage, no pregnancy, no disappearing acts at the end of nine months. And Haley would have her operation—provided a donor was found. Macy should be thrilled.
Then why was she feeling so miserable?
Picking up the check, she leaned back in her chair and studied Thad’s signature. Not very legible, it was nonetheless as bold and confident as he was. Yet there was kindness in him, too. How many men would have given a woman they barely know a hundred thousand dollars to save her dying child? Possibly a few of those with money to burn. But how many would sacrifice what they wanted most in order to do so?
Thad was rare, special.
Folding her arms on the table to make a pillow for her head, Macy stared across the floor at the kitchen cabinets, remembering his notes. She’d found one more under the sink, warning her about the potential dangers of using certain cleaning supplies while she was pregnant.
With a grudging smile, she crossed to the refrigerator and stared inside it at the food. She felt guilty, and guessed that Thad regretted the day he’d met her. He wanted a baby, but that was far from what he’d gotten. One thing had led to another until he was entangled in her and Haley’s lives, despite her bluntness when they first met, the fact that she’d lied on her application, and the truth about Studio 9. Thad came off as tough and in control, but considering the exceptions he’d made for her all along, he was really a softy. A big softy.
