“Of course she would. She’s female and she’s pregnant. She obviously cares about you or she wouldn’t have put up with you and your horrid shenanigans for the past three years.”
“The only reason we got into bed in the first place is we were both too drunk to know any better,” Shane said flatly.
He heard his mother’s fast intake of breath. “Shane Jacobsen! This is your worst atrocity yet. If I were there I’d…”
Shane grimaced. Okay, telling his mother he’d been drunk hadn’t been a good idea. But it had just sort of slipped out. And could his morning be any worse? In less than fifteen minutes he’d just learned who’d left the hickey on his neck, and that she’d been lying to him about everything for over a month. And topping it off was the fact that she was pregnant.
“Mom,” Shane said slowly, “you’ve always acknowledged to the world that I’m your wayward prodigal son. So what happened to the truth? Work that angle again. You know, we forgive him and all that jazz. Dad’s always milked it for what it’s worth. You know, prodigal son messes up again. You know, a lesson in forgiveness.”
“The prodigal son realized his mistakes and corrected them,” Sara shot back. “And we do not milk you for the good of our ministry! But God calls us to lead by example, and your father and I would just prefer it if you would exhibit some godly behaviors now and then. Is that too much for parents to ask? It’s like everything that you do is only to spite us.”
Silence descended, and Shane heard his mother’s agitated breathing. Finally she spoke. “Shane, this isn’t about your father and I having a world-renowned ministry. Yes, your indiscretions reflect badly on us, but we can take that type of a setback. Yes, your father can use this to show how to forgive. Because he does, after all, forgive you. You are our son and we both love you very much. Families are not perfect, not even ours. It will not tarnish his reputation permanently and, yes, after a while the gossip will die down. He will still lead by example. But Shane, the end result is the same. You’ve fathered a child. You are responsible for creating a life. You need to do the right thing by Lindy. We love you, Shane, but we will expect nothing less.” Silence and then, “Okay, Elise. I’m coming. Did you hear what I said, Shane?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I will call you later tonight to see what is happening. Goodbye, darling.”
And with that, the phone in his hand went dead. Shane set the receiver back on the base unit and flipped on the television again. He had only to wait about three minutes before the news anchor informed the world about his current indiscretions.
Shane sighed. If he’d had any other father in the world. But he had been fated to be none other than Blake Jacobsen’s son, the Blake Jacobsen who prayed with world leaders and who held audiences with the Pope.
And once again Shane had failed. Well, he could look at it positively. He’d succeeded in being the screwup up that he’d always been. He’d done something that his parents had probably always dreaded—maybe even expected—would happen one day or another.
Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Shane, he told himself as he headed for the shower. And this was one time that he didn’t want to be a victor.
“SO YOU’RE DOWN to only one week?”
“Just one,” Lindy replied. She pressed the washcloth to her mouth, wiping away the remnants of leftover toothpaste. “Although, unlike work, the doctor says I can have at least five more weeks of this wonderful morning sickness.”
Tina peered at Lindy’s face. “Well, you shouldn’t be sick any more today. You’ll be fine.”
Lindy gave her friend a wan smile. “Except that now I’m running late.”
Tina shrugged. “So? What’s he going to do, fire you?”
“Ha-ha, Tina. I know there is no love lost between you two, but Shane has nothing to do with my paranoia about being late. You know I hate being late for anything and I have to stop and put gas in the car. I’m driving on fumes.”
Tina blinked but refused to concede. “Well, get a banana or something when you stop. You’ve got to keep up on your nutrition.”
“Yes, Mother,” Lindy said with a wry smile. Between Tina and Shane, she was well looked after. The smile faded from Lindy’s face, and she shook her head to clear the disturbing thought that in one week Shane wouldn’t be around any longer. She gave herself a quick mental pep talk. She had to remember that leaving Shane was for the best.
Ten minutes later, Lindy knew why she never bought gas in the morning. The lineup was terrible. As she waited to pay for her purchases, she glanced at the newsstand. Nothing of great interest there, unless she counted some local politics on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Suddenly, the headline in the local edition of the National Tattler caught her attention.
“Oh, my God.” Lindy stepped out of line and went over to the newsstand. Her hand shook as she lifted the tabloid from the rack. “No. No,” she whispered.
But her solemn plea remained unanswered. In large black letters, the Tattler screamed out to the entire St. Louis community the news that she was pregnant. The only saving grace was the fact that the paper didn’t have a picture of her to go with the photograph of Shane and his parents.
“Are you in line?” Lindy turned to see a woman waiting beside her, coffee cup in hand. The stranger glanced at the tabloid. “Oh, he’s cute. Hmm. Knocked up his PA. Lucky girl.”
Lindy’s hand shook. “Go ahead,” she said. Paper in hand, Lindy stepped behind the woman.
“Do you want a bag?” the cashier asked Lindy.
“Y-Yes,” Lindy stammered as the man proceeded to pack her purchases—a bottle of water, a banana, and a package of Hostess Ho Ho’s, bought for the medicinal purpose of calming Lindy’s nerves. The ensuing credit-card transaction took only a moment, and then Lindy found herself on autopilot, driving to Shane’s.
Surely he hadn’t seen the tabloid yet, she rationalized. But then again, there was a good chance that someone in his family had. The Jacobsens were notorious for having their public relations staff scour the press for any mention of the family that might be unsavory, and this article was front page.
As she pulled through the electronic gates, she knew she now had no choice. She had to talk about it. Hopefully she’d get to him before someone else did. Clutching her bag of goodies like a lifeline, Lindy stepped out of her car, opened the door to the pool house, and walked inside.
She knew immediately that he’d seen it. Maybe it was his posture. Maybe it was his way-too-casual attire. Maybe it was the seriousness of his expression. Whatever it was, his words confirmed her fears.
“Hello, Lindy,” Shane said. “I think we need to talk, don’t you?”
SHE’D SEEN the article. Shane knew this even before he saw the telltale newspaper sticking out of the brown paper sack. Lindy looked shell-shocked, and obvious guilt crossed her face. Once he’d thought she could never hide her feelings from him. Now he knew that Lindy had multiple layers, and that maybe he’d only seen a few of them.
She was late for work, and he’d spent the past half hour contemplating exactly what he wanted to say to her, what arguments, what chastisements.
But as her eyes brimmed with tears and her lips quivered, a rare feeling of possessiveness filled him, and all he wanted to do was to take her into his arms. Whether he was prepared for it, or liked it, this woman was the mother of his unborn child. They would be linked forever.
And he had to admit she was beautiful. Certainly she wasn’t like the gorgeous women who had once adorned his arm, but Shane suddenly realized that Lindy had something those women would never have. Lindy had inner beauty. She had class, an innate style that was all her own.
And even better, he liked her. Even now. Shane drew himself up. Yes, things could be much worse. If he had to be in this unfortunate situation, at least it was with Lindy.
“I know about the baby,” he said quietly. Her brown eyes widened. “My mother called me first thing this morning to give me the third degree. Not quit
e a pleasant way to wake up, I assure you.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Shane bit his lower lip. “Did you ever plan on telling me?”
“I—”
“You didn’t, did you?”
Lindy looked at her feet. “No.”
“Aw hell, Lindy!”
Her refusal to tell him about the baby grated. “You just planned on running away, didn’t you? No wonder your haste, your insistence on being professional only. Didn’t you even want to ask about my health? You think I’m such a playboy, weren’t you worried about whether you could have caught something else?”
Lindy didn’t say anything.
“No answer? How about you, are you clean?”
Mortified, Lindy flushed bright red. “Yes! How dare you ask me that?”
“Dare? Easily. You’ve kept a lot from me. But at least you’re okay.” Shane took a moment to calm himself. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m in excellent health, with a clean medical chart.” His voice was slightly bitter. “And, since I know about your pregnancy, what are we going to do about it?”
“I don’t know,” Lindy said. She lowered herself into a living-room chair.
Immediately, Shane was concerned. He had no experience with these things. Was she sick? “Are you okay?”
Lindy’s hands shook as she pulled the bottled water out of the bag. “No. No, I’m not okay. Don’t you understand? Nothing will ever be okay again. I didn’t plan on this. I certainly didn’t expect my life to be on the front page of the National Tattler.”
“Actually, we’re only there because of my parents,” Shane said as he watched her take a sip of water. “In fact, we even made it onto CNN. I’m sure we’ll be more fodder after my parents issue a statement.”
Lindy’s hand shook so much she almost spilt the water. “Oh, no.”
He took no delight in her discomfort. “Oh, yes.”
“Shane, I’m so sorry.”
She was sorry. More words. Trying to find space to think, Shane paced the room. “I can tell you’re sorry, Lindy, but that doesn’t change the fact you kept all of this from me. I came to you and asked you who I’d been with. You lied to me, Lindy. You lied to me about that, and about being pregnant. You even lied about the real reason for quitting your job and going to Jacobsen.”
“I didn’t know I was pregnant when I accepted the job,” Lindy said.
Shane shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters right now is what we’re going to do about it. And for once in my life, I’m going to do the right thing. You are going to marry me.”
“I can’t,” Lindy said.
Shane stared at her. Had he heard her correctly? Surely she hadn’t said… “What do you mean, you can’t? You’re having my baby!”
Lindy took a long sip of water and Shane watched her swallow. He’d never noticed the graceful curve of her neck before. Her brown eyes flicked toward him for a moment before she glanced away.
“Just because we’re having a baby doesn’t mean we have to get married,” Lindy replied. “We don’t love each other, Shane. A child needs parents who love each other, not parents who were forced together because birth control failed.”
He felt his precarious control slip. Why was she being so difficult when the solution was so simple? “Look, Lindy, a child deserves two parents. I was raised by nannies. I know!”
“Shane, I understand your position, but no. I can’t marry you and that’s final.” She was pleading for understanding without backing down. “We both live in the same town so we’ll work out some sort of visitation schedule.”
He stared at her in disbelief. “I never thought you could be so selfish.”
Her lips quivered slightly. “I’m doing what’s best for the child. We would drive each other crazy if we were married. You know it, and I know it. We’d both wonder if we had missed that one great love of our life because we’d been trapped by circumstances. I can’t marry you and allow you—I mean either of us—to lose that opportunity.”
Great love of his life? What was she talking about? Love was a fairy tale. “This is a child we’re talking about, not an opportunity. So what if we miss some great love. Isn’t our child supposed to be that anyway?”
She raised her chin stubbornly. “Perhaps. But once that child is grown and out of the house, then what? We’d be stuck with each other. We’d have grown apart during the years. We’d probably hate each other. Is that a solution? I don’t think so.”
“I’m not having some other man being a stepfather to my child,” Shane said. “Absolutely not.”
“I don’t like the idea of some other woman being a stepmother either,” Lindy admitted.
“So we get married and eliminate that possibility,” Shane declared. It was all so logical. Why couldn’t Lindy just agree that doing the right thing was best for all of them, especially the baby? He had a sudden insight.
“If this is about your parents and their divorce, that won’t happen to us,” he promised. “I know they’re miles away and you hardly talk to them, but we won’t hate each other like that. Ever. And I promise never to cheat on you.”
“That’s all fine and good, but Shane, I don’t want to be like those couples who each have their separate interests because they’re so unhappy at home. They don’t cheat on their spouses, but they don’t spend any time with them either. They’re like roommates. I don’t want that. When—rather if—I ever get married, I want to get married because I’m so in love with the person that he is my complementary better half.”
That again. Good grief. He drew a frustrated hand through his hair. “Love is a silly idea that romance novelists make up so they can sell books. It doesn’t exist, Lindy. It’s a choice, not an emotion. If it was an emotion, I’d have found it.”
“You don’t have emotions,” Lindy retorted.
Despite himself, Shane winced. Did she really think that badly of him? Her next words confirmed his fears.
“Seriously, I’m sure you don’t like to hear this, but I really don’t think you’re capable of any deep, emotional feelings. It’s simply not in you.”
“Fine. Think what you want.” Disconcerted by her outburst, Shane stopped pacing. “Look, Lindy, I’m trying to do the right thing here. I don’t think that we’d be bad together. We’ve worked well together professionally. And we had phenomenal sex.” He saw her look. “Oh yes, Lindy. I’ve got every bit of my memory back. I can tell you exactly what sounds you made when I did certain things to you.”
“Enough,” Lindy said. She tossed her hands in the air, causing water to splash out of the bottle she still clutched. “That doesn’t matter, either. The answer is no, and it’s staying no. I’m not marrying you and that’s final. Tell your parents it’s me that’s refusing you. That should get you off the hook. Heck, I’ll tell them if you want.”
“My parents aren’t the reason I’m asking you to marry me. I want to marry you. I want our baby to have both parents.”
“The baby will, just not in the same household.”
Shane exhaled. When had she gotten so headstrong? Had he ever known her at all? “That solution is not acceptable.”
“It will have to be.”
“I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn about this.”
“Me? Being stubborn? You’re like a dog with a bone. You’ve got it in your mind that the only solution is to marry me and that’s the way it’s going to go.” Lindy stood up. “Well, let me tell you something, Shane Jacobsen, I’m a woman who can stand up to you. Your charm has never worked on me. I’m not marrying you and that’s final. In fact, I don’t even want to be here today. Or the rest of the week. If you don’t mind, I can’t stay here until Friday.”
“You’re being childish, Lindy.”
“So sue me.” And with that she walked to the door, threw it open and started. Grandpa Joe stood there, a concerned look on his face.
“Good morning, Lindy,” he said. He looked past her an
d locked eyes with Shane. Shane groaned.
“Good morning,” Lindy replied, and then with a curt “Excuse me,” she stepped past him. Seconds later, Shane heard her Grand Prix fire up and roar down the driveway.
“Another spat?” Grandpa Joe said as he walked in and shut the door behind him. He gave Shane a be-mused smile. “And here I thought you had a way with the ladies.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes,” Shane snapped. “And if you came to gloat, criticize or offer advice, don’t bother. I’ve heard it all from my mother. I asked Lindy to marry me, and she said no.”
As Grandpa Joe pursed his lips, his brow also furrowed. “I see.”
“I’m sure you do. You have a way of seeing just about everything. What is that called? Clairvoyance? Precognition? Maybe you keep a tarot reader on speed dial?”
“It’s called intuition,” Grandpa Joe said. “And my guess is that your mother won’t take this news about Lindy very well.”
“I’m sure she already has the wedding planned, complete with the reporters in seats of honor so that the shine returns to Blake Jacobsen Ministries.”
Shane reached out to inspect Lindy’s bag of purchases, where the package of Ho Ho’s and a banana lay forgotten. “Great. If this stuff is any indication, she didn’t eat much this morning.”
“So do you want to marry her?”
Did he? “I don’t know. I just learned about this whole situation less than two hours ago. But yes, I know it’s the right thing to do.”
“Besides that, do you want to marry her? It’s also the right thing for you to come and work at Jacobsen Enterprises, but you’ve managed to avoid that responsibility so far.”
“This is different. There’s a human being at stake here. A baby. Babies need two parents who will be there. Not like my parents who were always somewhere else. That’s not going to happen to my son or daughter.”
Grandpa Joe shrugged. “Lindy wants to work. Her career is important to her. She’s not going to be a stay-at-home mom unless she chooses to be.”
“So? I’m talking about single parenting, not staying at home. Let her have her career. I’m rich enough that neither of us has to work. If she wants, she can be the corporate hotshot and I can be a stay-at-home dad.”
About Last Night... Page 7
