by Abby Gaines
Until last night. When she’d put the pieces together and realized the truth about Clark’s Deli…realized what no one else in his family had. Lucas had panicked. Kissed her to…distract her or shut her up maybe. Whatever it was, he’d forgotten to do it out of his mission-focused side, and somehow another part of him had got involved. A deeper part.
A part she wasn’t supposed to see. No one was.
It had rattled him sufficiently that he found himself talking to the dog as they jogged along the promenade shortly before 7:00 a.m.
“I made a mistake,” he told Boo. “But that’s okay, I can fix it. Number one, we don’t talk about Clark’s. Not ever.”
Boo’s tongue lolled.
“We pull back on the PDAs,” he said. “For today at least. Just so there’s no confusion.”
Boo was slowing down, which usually meant an imminent toilet attempt. Lucas slowed to a walk while Boo investigated various patches of grass.
“I’ll keep things impersonal,” he said as Boo squatted. Last night, after John and Cathy left, Merry had offered to talk to Dwight today about recommending Lucas’s retest. He’d told her to forget it. He was pretty sure Admiral Tremaine would come up with the goods, and he didn’t want to be beholden to Merry. He was also pretty sure she’d offered then only because she’d been thinking about the whole Clark’s thing, and he didn’t want her mulling over that. His personal stuff was beyond the scope of this mission.
Boo straightened up, having left a marble-size deposit for Lucas to pick up. “Useless,” he muttered.
When they arrived back at the cottage, he gave the dog some water. “You’re out of dog food,” he said to Merry as he walked into the kitchen. Which was as impersonal a greeting as anyone could want.
“We can stop at the grocery store on our way home,” she said.
Fine by him, so long as she didn’t make any smart-ass suggestions as to which store that should be.
He registered that she looked fresh and pretty with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and a slick of gloss on her lips. Her chunky, cable-knit cream sweater seemed cozy, touchable.
“I’ll go shower,” Lucas said.
* * *
THEY ARRIVED AT THE MARINA around ten, pulling up at the same time as Stephanie and Mia.
Dwight’s boat, the Aegis, was moored near the end of the first pier. It was one of the biggest boats John Wyatt had built: forty-six feet of high-performance cruising yacht.
The casual observer would see a single hull, painted white and topped with a deck of strip planking cedar and a wooden cabin. Lucas, from his vacation work with John and his degree in marine engineering, knew that the hull was made with two cold-molded diagonal layers of mahogany treated with epoxy resins, that the cedar planking was finished with fiberglass and epoxy, and the internal structure was comprised of bulkheads and longitudinal girders. Despite the classic look of the outside and the almost cozy warmth of the teak cockpit, the yacht’s underwater hull profile was modern as could be. It was that structural beauty that impressed Lucas the most.
Dwight and John had come on ahead to get the boat ready, which meant the rest of them had only to step on board.
Which they would do as soon as Garrett and Rachel arrived.
Garrett wasn’t known for his punctuality, but Rachel must be good for him—they roared up in his black BMW M5 just ten minutes late. Not bad, considering they’d driven from Manhattan.
“Congratulations, both of you.” Garrett clapped Lucas on the back, then kissed Merry’s cheek. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer pair. Even if I didn’t realize you were the marrying kind, Lucas.” He grinned at Merry with the teasing of long acquaintance.
“About as much as you were,” Lucas said. He still wasn’t the marrying kind, but when his brother had fallen for Rachel, Garrett had lost the bundle of hang-ups he’d been carrying around. Putting a ring on Rachel’s finger had become his all-consuming goal.
As Lucas understood it, she’d needed a bit of convincing that his brother was for real. But there was no sign of those doubts now. Garrett couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she hugged Merry, and when she stepped back, she clasped his hand tightly.
“Good luck,” she told Merry. “Given that Lucas is a Calder male, you’ll need it.”
“I’m way less of a jerk than Garrett,” he said.
Merry didn’t look convinced. But Rachel said, “That wouldn’t be hard.”
“Dammit, woman, I’m going to have to shut you up again.” Garrett planted a firm kiss on her mouth, his hand sneaking around to caress her butt. Which, from where Lucas stood, wasn’t half as cute as Merry’s. He groaned inwardly. That unplanned kiss last night had left him fantasizing about her mouth, about that full lower lip. He already thought about her breasts way too much. He didn’t need to add Merry’s butt to the list.
Dwight cleared his throat. “You two, there are young eyes on you.” He nodded toward Mia, who was clinging to his trouser leg.
Since Dwight took every opportunity to discreetly grope Stephanie, regardless of their daughter’s presence, Lucas didn’t think his father had much of a case. Garrett obviously agreed, going by his grin. Lucas hadn’t seen his brother this relaxed before, not in their dad’s presence. But it seemed that what Stephanie had reported was true: Garrett and Dwight had bridged some of their differences when Mia was born, and now they were…not friends, but there was mutual respect and goodwill. And the promise of something warmer in the future.
John cast off, and Dwight motored out of the marina. As soon as they were clear of the bay, they rigged the mainsail. The light wind dictated that the other sail should be the genoa, rather than the jib.
While Garrett showed Rachel around the boat, taking a suspiciously long time in the bow stateroom, Lucas chatted with his father and John in the cockpit.
Stephanie called them to lunch at noon. Merry’s dad insisted on manning the cockpit while the rest of them ate, but accepted Dwight’s offer to swap halfway through.
They ate in the main cabin, some standing, some sitting. Dwight opened a bottle of sauvignon blanc, then went around filling glasses.
Rachel put a hand over her glass. “Not for me, thanks.”
Stephanie’s attention swiveled to Rachel, and her gaze sharpened. She cleared her throat significantly.
Garrett laughed. “We’re going to have to tell them, Rach.”
Stephanie didn’t wait to hear the actual words. “You’re having a baby! That’s wonderful!”
She and Dwight pelted the expectant parents with questions. Grinning, Garrett held up his hands. “Rachel’s three months pregnant, and no, we didn’t plan it. It’s a happy accident.”
“Didn’t Dad give you the birds-and-bees talk?” Lucas asked.
Dwight rubbed his chin. “You know, I’m not sure I did.”
“I knew it all already.” Garrett smirked. “Anyway, we’re thrilled.”
“It’s great news,” Merry said. “Congratulations. It’ll be lovely for Mia to have a—a niece?”
There was a moment’s silence while everyone contemplated that oddity.
“Or a nephew,” Rachel agreed.
“If you and Merry get moving, there could be a cousin, too,” Garrett suggested to Lucas.
“Lucas and Merry don’t want to be thinking about a baby just yet,” Stephanie said. “Next year is fine.”
“Spoken like a true grandma-to-be,” Garrett said.
Stephanie’s eyes shone with tears, but she waved away Dwight’s solicitous inquiry. Lucas guessed she was moved by Garrett’s willingness to call her a grandma. For so many years, he’d refused to acknowledge she was part of the family at all.
Since Garrett and Rachel hadn’t visited in a while, the conversation centered on their news. Dwight took a convincing interest in Garrett’s work—he was chief creative officer at a top Madison Avenue advertising agency—which suggested their father no longer scorned it the way he used to.
Rachel sat next to Garrett
on the sofa, and he held her hand on his knee. Lucas had noticed they held hands often. They seemed to have some kind of bizarre “chicken” game going, where one of them would grab the other’s hand and they’d see who let go first. He found it irritating to watch.
The sound of Mia crying came from the aft cabin, where she’d been put to bed.
“That’s a full diaper if I ever heard one,” Stephanie said.
She went to change the baby. A couple minutes later she emerged from the cabin, Mia in her arms. “Lucas, just the man I need. Can you take your sister?” Without waiting for an answer, which would have been no, I can’t, she thrust Mia at him.
He took the baby out of reflex. “What do you want me to do with her?”
“Just hold her,” Stephanie said, “while I make her some lunch.”
Lucas held Mia under her armpits, the rest of her dangling, which even he could tell wasn’t quite right. But when he wrapped an arm around her, she let out a squawk.
“What’d I do?” he asked, alarmed.
Merry patted her hip. Right; Stephanie usually carried Mia on one hip. Lucas made the shift without dropping his sister, which he considered a victory. He wondered if he could put her down, but guessed she might not be steady enough on her feet in a moving boat.
Mia whimpered; he was doing something wrong again.
“Uh, hush little baby,” he said, remembering a snatch of a lullaby from goodness knows where. He jiggled her a bit.
“Her name’s Mia,” Dwight said.
“I know her name, Dad.”
“I’ve never heard you use it,” he mused. “You don’t take much interest in your sister.”
“Actually, Dwight,” Merry said, “Lucas talks about Mia all the time.”
What was that about? Dwight looked gratified. He jerked a nod at Lucas that might have been halfway to an apology.
“Dwight, have you inquired about a retest for Lucas yet?” Merry asked. That’s what it was about. Despite the fact that Lucas had told her not to, she was suddenly determined to get involved. Did that have anything to do with what she knew, or thought she knew, about Clark’s Deli?
“I’m still thinking about it,” Dwight admitted.
Lucas considered Admiral Tremaine a more likely ally, but if his father wanted to help, he wouldn’t argue. He wouldn’t beg, however.
“Don’t you think Lucas needs more balance in his life?” Dwight asked Merry.
She snorted. “Lucas wouldn’t be Lucas if he was more balanced. I like my men all or nothing.”
Dwight liked that answer, Lucas could tell. All or nothing—that was the choice he’d given her when he’d agreed to stay on in this marriage. She’d chosen all. But he hadn’t really been offering her that much. Couldn’t imagine actually offering all to a woman.
Still, even though he knew it was just pretend—or maybe because he knew it was just pretend, so he didn’t need to worry—having Merry go to bat for him with the same kind of unswerving loyalty he’d seen her show John over the years was strangely warming.
“Maybe you’re right,” Dwight said as Stephanie came to get Mia for her lunch. “Lucas, let’s you and I talk some more about this.”
* * *
THE REST OF THE DAY PASSED quickly; they moored back at the marina at four-thirty.
“We need dog food,” Merry reminded Lucas as they pulled out into the traffic. She cupped her hands over her nose and mouth and puffed warm breath into them. The temperature had dropped significantly, and her nose was cold.
Today had been lovely. Dad had seemed his old self, and she’d been relieved not to have Cathy along. With Garrett and Rachel announcing their pregnancy, Lucas’s prediction that they would divert attention from him and Merry had come true.
Things between her and Lucas had been…interesting. She’d seen a different side of him last night, one that intrigued her. Today, he’d started off distant and defensive, but now, as he pulled into the SaveMart parking lot, he grinned at her and said, “Your nose is red.”
Okay, not the most flowery of comments. But his tone was friendly and didn’t betray any intention of solving the problem of her cold nose. He seemed more relaxed, and she liked that.
Maybe she and Lucas really could get back to normal when all this was over.
In the entryway to the store, Lucas wrested a shopping cart out of the line. “Anything else we need besides dog food?”
“Apples,” she said.
Fruit and vegetables were in the first aisle; Lucas put a bag of Red Delicious apples in the cart. Merry grabbed a head of broccoli and some tomatoes in passing.
The next aisle was cereals. Lucas headed for the granola. Apricot Crunch was his favorite, she’d noticed, and they were out of it at home. She chose oatmeal for herself.
“What else?” he asked.
“Dog food is aisle eight,” she said. “Then milk. Butter. Eggs, too.”
Lucas’s attempt to find a laxative-laced dog food failed—predictably—so Merry had him heft a large sack of Boo’s regular brand into the cart.
In the dairy section, she pulled two bottles of two percent from the cooler and found a tub of butter.
Lucas swung the cart down the next aisle. Personal products.
“I need toothpaste,” she said.
As she browsed the options for tartar control and whitening, she realized tampons were alongside. Better get some of those, too, since her period was due—
Six days ago.
Couldn’t be. Merry calculated again. Same result.
No way. She was so regular you could set a clock by her.
Besides, she hadn’t had sex in— Not since her wedding night.
We used a condom. There were parts of that night she didn’t remember, but she definitely recalled the moment of panic when it had seemed Lucas wouldn’t go through with it. Then her fortuitous recollection of those old condoms in her purse.
Just how old were they? And how old was too old?
I’m never late. Never.
“Merry?” Lucas grasped her arm. “You’re white as a ghost. What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MERRY WISHED INSTANTLY that she could take the words back.
There was still a faint chance she might be wrong.
“What do you mean?” Lucas asked. If she’d turned white, so had he. “We used protection.”
She couldn’t bring herself to mention the age of the condom. Maybe that wasn’t even an issue. “I’m six days late. I’m never late. Never.”
He glanced around, a hunted expression on his face. “Can something else cause that? A virus?”
She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “I think for some women…maybe stress has an effect.” Never before for her, but there was a first time for everything.
“There you go.” Relief raised his volume. “You’ve been under phenomenal stress the past few weeks. No way are you pregnant.”
A woman choosing deodorant turned to look at them. Heck, it could be someone Merry knew.
It wasn’t. “Can you talk more quietly?” Merry asked.
Could Lucas be right?
Next to the tampons sat the pregnancy test kits. She picked one up.
“We used protection,” he said again.
She let out a slow breath. “Do condoms have an expiration date?”
Lucas swore. He snatched the kit from her hand and tossed it in the cart. “Let’s go.”
Neither of them spoke on the way home. All Merry could think was, Pregnant. A baby. Pregnant. If she was pregnant—and she just knew she was—what would she do? Keep it, of course. Anything else wasn’t an option for her. But raise it…how?
At her dad’s place, they carried the shopping inside. Lucas fed Boo while Merry put the groceries away. Finally, all that was left on the table was the pregnancy test.
Merry picked up the box and read the instructions. The process appeared as simple as she’d assumed it would be
.
“Do it now,” Lucas ordered.
She wished she could tell him to get lost. But the kit promised accurate results “any time of day.” Great.
Without another word, Merry walked upstairs to the bathroom and did what she needed to do.
Paced to the door and leaned against it, out of sight of the stick, waiting.
Lucas knocked, making her jump. “Are you done?”
She unlocked the door and let him in. “I guess it must be ready by now.” She picked up the stick.
A blue plus sign.
“You’re pregnant,” Lucas said, watching her face, not the test.
She nodded.
He took the stick from her, examined it. “How accurate is this thing?”
“Ninety-nine percent.” She quoted the number off the pack. “Any error is more likely to be a false negative than a false positive.”
He set the stick carefully back on the counter.
Feeling as if her legs might give way, Merry sat on the edge of the tub.
“I assume,” he said, “it might be Patrick’s.”
Her head jerked up. “Patrick and I hadn’t had sex in a few weeks. Not since before my last period.”
“Why not?” Lucas asked.
Which was so not his business…and yet it was. “He was at a convention in Denver, then stayed on to spend some time with his parents,” she said. “We were both busy when he got back, so…” She spread her fingers on her knees and stared down at them. Her engagement ring, which had also served as her wedding ring, was their only adornment. “Besides, we always used Patrick’s condoms. Which were probably newer than mine.” She lifted her head. “The other condom—there were two in my purse. We can check the expiration date.”
Lucas jumped at the chance to do something, anything, that might take control of this situation.
He tossed the testing stick in the trash, which for some reason made Merry wince, then led the way downstairs.
