Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set

by Misty Reigenborn

  Luke stepped in because he could see his wife felt a little uncomfortable with the question. “He does. “ He squeezed Kimber’s hand. “Third time’s gotta be the charm babe. If we have another one, they’ll be the picture of you.” He winked at her.

  Kimber laughed, though to Luke’s ears it sounded a little strained. “I hope so.”

  Alexis climbed onto the seat beside her mother and looked at her baby brother. “He’s so pretty.”

  Luke chuckled. “Boys aren’t pretty.”

  Alexis gave her father a child’s look of disgust. “He’s my baby brother and he’s pretty.”

  “Okay sweetheart. He’s pretty.” He turned back to Juliana. “Thank you so much. If you ever want us to take Bunny, we will. You have been a huge help.”

  Juliana smiled. “Maybe a few months down the road. My daughter isn’t quite the angel that yours is.”

  “Oh, ours isn’t always an angel either. I guess we’d better get home. Thank you again Juliana. Bye Bunny.”

  Bunny waved, and tugged at her mother’s arm, not interested in looking at the baby since she was an only child. Juliana and her husband had had trouble conceiving after she’d had Bunny. “Bye. C’mon Mom.”

  Juliana smiled. “Yes honey. Take care Kimber. Congratulations.”

  Kimber offered her friend a tired smile. “Thank you. Bye Bunny.”

  “Bye. Bye Alexis. Bye baby.”

  Juliana took one last look at Halden, and then took Bunny’s hand and walked back to the house.

  Luke strapped Alexis into her car seat. “Ready to go home princess?”

  “I’m not a princess Daddy.”

  “Yes sweetheart. Let’s go home. Mommy needs a nap.”

  Luke checked to make sure the straps were secure on both his daughter and son’s car seats and then shut the door quietly. He got behind the wheel of the car and drove them home. Home had never looked quite so good.

  He let Kimber rest and even talked Alexis into taking a nap. When Kimber woke up, and had changed and fed Halden, she said that she was going to call Paul so he handed her her cell phone, brushed a kiss against his sleeping son’s forehead and went to retrieve Alexis so that she could help him fix dinner, or so that he could fix dinner while he let her pretend to help.

  Paul

  Paul looked at the screen of his cell phone and hid a sigh. He’d hoped that it was Sierra calling him. Of course he always hoped that it was her that was calling him, but it had been even more so since they had made love. It was Kimber.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi Paul. It’s Kimber. I had the baby and there is good news, but we’re not trying to read too much into it.”

  “Okay.”

  “He has Luke’s eyes and darker hair. We wouldn’t really have known for sure even if he did have blue eyes since I have them too, but he has Luke’s eyes just like our daughter does.”

  Paul breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s great. I guess we still want to do the DNA test just to make sure though huh?”

  “Yeah. It’s probably for the best. We looked into it and figured that it would probably be easiest if you gave your sample up there and had them send it to the lab down here and then you can come down and hear the results in person if you want to. If Halden is your son, I would think that you’d want to see him.”

  “Of course. It shouldn’t be too big of a deal. I looked into it some too. There hasn’t been much else on my mind since Luke told me.”

  “Yeah, there hasn’t been a lot else on any of our minds since then I don’t think. It will be a relief to know one way or the other. How’s your son? He had a birthday didn’t he?”

  “He did. He is huge. He’s walking and the time has just passed so quickly you know. Of course you know-you have a daughter. Is she four, five?”

  “She’s four but she’ll be five before we know it and then a damned teenager before we know it.”

  “Yeah. Scary thought. How’s the baby? You said his name is Halden?”

  “He was a little early of course, but he was 7 pounds and 5 ounces so I hate to think of how big he would have been if he would have been born on my due date. He’s doing very well, took right to the breast and always seems to be hungry.”

  “It’s good that you decided to nurse. Sierra didn’t nurse Nathan long, but she planned to go back to work right away.”

  “How does she like staying home with your son? I know that I’ve loved being able to spend more time with Alexis.”

  “She loves it more than she wants to admit.”

  “Yeah. Um, the baby’s name right now is Halden Elijah Stone. I know that you said we could name him whatever we wanted and that it didn’t bother you if he had Luke’s last name, but if he’s yours, I want you to know that Luke is okay with him having your last name. He’s the one that brought it up.”

  “I’m still okay with him having Luke’s last name. Halden Elijah is a nice name. I’m still at work so I should probably let you go. It shouldn’t be a problem to start my vacation as soon as the results are in. I already talked to my boss about taking the time off, so once it’s all said and done, it shouldn’t be more than a week at the latest before we’ll be able to get everything worked out and be down there.”

  “Okay. Thanks Paul. Take care.”

  “You too. Bye Kimber.”

  “Bye Paul.”

  Paul hung up the phone. He wanted to call Sierra immediately, but he was supposed to be working and he thought that he probably shouldn’t have taken as long to talk to Kimber as he had.

  The first thing he did after his work day was over was call Sierra though.

  She picked up on the third ring and gave him a distracted “Hello.”

  “Baby, I have great news.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  He thought that she sounded less than thrilled. “Honey what’s wrong?”

  “Nathan has an ear infection and he’s totally miserable.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Sierra let out a frustrated sigh. “We just got back from the doctor a little while ago. It’s not like I wasn’t going to tell you. What’s your news?”

  “Kimber had the baby. He has Luke’s eyes and darker hair.”

  “That’s great. I guess you’re still going to take the test though, just to make sure?”

  “Yeah. You’re still going with me to hear the results aren’t you? When can I come home?”

  “Paul, no. It’s wonderful that the baby is most likely Luke’s. You had sex with her once and he’s her husband and likes sex so he probably did it with her way more often before she got pregnant, so we always knew that there was a better chance that the baby was Luke’s anyway. But just because Kimber had the baby and we have even more reason to think that he’s not yours doesn’t mean that you can come home. I’m not going to get my hopes up and then have them come crashing down around my ears if the baby is yours.”

  “Sierra.”

  “Don’t Sierra me. Our son is miserable and I can’t do anything to make him feel any better. He’s asleep now, but he’s probably going to wake up crying before I know it because he’s in pain. The medicine is helping some, but he’s still miserable. I want my little man to feel better.”

  “I know baby. You are such a wonderful mother.”

  “And you’re a good father Paul. Much better than you give yourself credit for. I can’t stand to have my heart broken again. I’ve told you that I can’t be your wife if the baby is yours. And I still feel that way. It is going to hurt like hell if I have to walk away from you for good, but it’s all I can do. It’s the only way that I feel like I can handle the situation and feel okay with it. I know it sucks. This is definitely not the way I wanted our marriage to go, but we can’t turn back time. If the baby is Luke’s you can come home. We can start counseling and we can have lots of sex. We are going to have lots of sex, because I never want to feel like I’m not attractive to you again and I never want to feel like you’re neglecting me either. If I ever th
ink for even a minute about wanting to go find Luke because you’re not making enough love to me, I will divorce you.”

  “That really puts my mind at ease Sierra.”

  “Luke is the only man that I would ever think about cheating on you with. You are the man that I was meant to be with. I love Luke, I find him attractive, and I’m not going to lie to you and say that my body wouldn’t enjoy it if we made love. But I’m no longer in love with Luke. I am in love with you. You’re a pain in my ass sometimes and sometimes I still worry that you’d still like me to be a little more Susie homemaker than I’m ever gonna be, but you’re my man. I would love to be able to say that you’ll always be my man. But I can’t lie to you. We’ve both lied enough. So no Paul, you can’t come home until I hear with my own ears that Kimber’s baby is not yours.”

  Paul sighed. “I knew as soon as we moved in together that you were never going to be Susie homemaker Sierra. You’re doing great with Nathan and the house always looks nice. You still can’t cook but I don’t care because I can. I’m sorry that I’m a pain in the ass sometimes. I find you so desirable. It still scares the crap out of me. I get an erection so often when I’m around you that I feel like a walking hard on.”

  “You’re a man Paul. You shouldn’t be embarrassed by your sexuality. It’s okay for you to put a move on me. Or it will be if this all works out and you come home. I don’t think I would be strong enough to stay away from you if we had sex again before all of this is over and done with. And even if you think you can take us being together for a little while and then breaking up again, I can’t. I need you to understand and respect that.”

  “But I get nervous sometimes that you don’t want to have sex.”

  Sierra sighed. “Paul, I enjoy sex. If I’m not in the mood, chances are pretty good you can get me in the mood. If I’m really not in the mood, I’ll tell you. I’m not shy about that either. Sometimes I wonder if you realize that you married me and not some shy girl with a low sex drive.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Quit being sorry okay? Just fix it. When all of this DNA test bullshit is done and over with and we know for a fact that Luke is the father of Kimber’s baby, we are going to leave Nathan with your parents or my mother and Timothy and spend three days straight exploring our sexuality together. You’re taking your whole vacation when it’s time to hear the results aren’t you?”

  “Yes. Making love to you for three days straight sounds wonderful.”

  “Yeah. How do you think I feel? I need to let you go Paul. It looks like Nathan is going to wake up.”

  “Do you want me to take him?”

  “Just come and get him tomorrow like you planned. I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for letting me know about the baby.”

  “You’re welcome. Bye Sierra. I love you. Call me if you need anything.”

  “I will. I love you Paul. Bye.”

  Paul hung up his phone and sat down on the edge to the bed. He felt tears prick his eyes. He’d thought that Sierra would be overjoyed with the news and that he could go home. Now he knew he would be counting down the days until the DNA test results were back even more than he’d thought he would before.

  He got up and grabbed a beer from his fridge. He popped the top and took a drink, not looking forward to another long empty night without his wife and son.

  Kimber

  It broke Kimber’s heart when they had to draw Halden’s blood for the paternity test. She hated to think that she put her son through even a few minutes of unnecessary pain because she had been too bent on revenge and too horny to think about using a condom when she’d had sex with Paul.

  But luckily it was over quickly and he quieted when she held him to her and was soon asleep after he had had his fill of her milk. Luke had a funny expression on his face when he walked out from giving his blood and she felt dread in her heart.

  “Are you okay Luke?”

  “Yeah. Let’s get out of here. Anything remotely resembling a doctor’s office or a hospital turns my stomach.”

  Kimber let out a relieved laugh. “Okay.”

  She put Halden in his car seat and they went to the car and returned home after retrieving Alexis from Bunny’s house.

  Even though things were good in her house, that they had gone back to being the happily married couple they’d always been before the indiscretions had started and Luke was a wonderful father to both Alexis and Halden, Kimber knew that she would feel on edge until the results of the DNA test were in.

  Paul

  Paul felt strange having his blood drawn for a paternity test. He had been screwed around on in high school, and had not liked the feeling at all, especially when he’d ended up with an STD in the process, so he’d never imagined having to take a DNA test to determine if he was the father of a child. Paul was not the kind man to have to take a DNA test, or at least he’d never imagined himself to be.

  But he had certainly screwed up where his tryst with Kimber was concerned. He didn’t think that he would truly be able to forgive himself for the pain that he had put his wife through until she had forgiven him. He knew that she wanted to and sometimes thought that she missed him as much as he missed her, but he knew that Sierra was going to stand her ground and not let him come home until the test proved that he was not Halden’s father. Paul didn’t blame Sierra, but it didn’t mean that it made the time without his wife and son hurt any less.

  The days seemed endless to him as he waited for Kimber’s phone call to say that the results were in. Nathan was growing so quickly that Paul felt like he had missed half of his son’s life. He knew that he might have felt that way even if he were still living with his family since he worked so much, but it hurt to think that his indiscretion meant that he missed even more of seeing his son grow.

  Sierra certainly wasn’t stingy when it came to visitation. She let him take their son overnight or for a few hours every time he asked her. He took Nathan as much as possible because he knew his wife worked hard and needed a break. He knew that Sierra had tried to spend less money since he’d been living apart from them too. It wasn’t as if she had ever spent excessive money, but he knew that she was budgeting even tighter while still making sure that Nathan had everything he needed and he loved her even more for it.

  Sierra

  Sierra felt a little like she wanted to crawl out of her skin as the days passed between the time Paul submitted his blood for the paternity test and when the results were in. Every time she saw Paul she saw more hope on his face and it broke her heart a little.

  She missed him so much. She missed the way he smelled and the feel of his arms around her. She missed the sound of his laughter because he could be so serious and it always sounded so beautiful. She missed watching him care for their son, because he was such a wonderful father once he had let go of his insecurities over doing something wrong or not being a perfect father.

  Her heart was filled with hope too, but she tried not to let herself feel it too much. She’d always known that even if her husband had been dumb enough to have unprotected sex with Kimber around the time she got pregnant, that Luke was much more likely to be the baby’s father. It had made her heart soar when Paul had told her that the baby had Luke’s eyes but she hadn’t been able to let him know that because she really didn’t think she could take it if their hopes were brought down even further on the unlikely chance that Halden belonged to her husband.

  So she tried not to think about it too much, though it was always there at the back of her mind. She put herself fully into taking care of the house that had always seemed too big to her but seemed even bigger without Paul to share it with her. She marveled over her son. She made casual inquiries about teaching jobs, because she wanted to go back to work. She loved caring for her son, but she felt a calling to teach the children of others.

  Still the days passed slowly as she waited for the call. She had fought with herself over going with Paul to hear the results, but she had come to the decision that she want
ed to be with him. She wasn’t sure she could have taken the waiting anyway, and the part of her that was filled with the hope of getting her marriage back on track wanted to see his face when the announcement was made that the baby was Luke’s. Her hormones wanted to be with him so that they could make love soon after too.

  Kimber

  Kimber hung up the phone. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She was almost 100% positive that Halden belonged to Luke anyway, but she knew that the results of the DNA test confirming it would make them all feel so much better. The results were in.

  She looked at Luke who was playing a game in the living room with Alexis. “They’re in. I guess I need to call Paul.”

  Luke looked up at her. “Yeah. How long do you think it will take them to get everything together and come down here? They live a ways away don’t they?”

  “Yeah. Eighteen hours or something like that. Do you think Sierra will want to come with him?”

  Luke shrugged. “I would think so. We’ll leave the kids with Mom and Dad when we go in. Or we can leave them with your Mom I guess.”

  “Your parents are fine. I’ll have to make sure to pump plenty of milk for him.”

  Kimber went into the living room. Halden was asleep in the bassinet. She brushed a kiss against his forehead. She moved to her daughter. “I’ll be right back baby girl. Then maybe I can play with you and Daddy huh?”

  “Where are you going Mom?”

  “Mommy needs to make a phone call.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  Alexis turned back to the game board in front of her. She concentrated so hard. The look on her face reminded Kimber so much of Luke.

  Luke squeezed her hand. “It’s gonna be good news babe. I can feel it.”

  “I hope so. Do you think we should take Paul and Sierra out to lunch afterwards? I mean, we’ll definitely need to talk if the results don’t turn out the way we all hope they will, but I thought it might be nice either way.”