Accidental Family

by Fasano, Donna

  Her heart went out to him. Seeing him in such a state of nervous agony only reminded her again how much she'd come to care for him. She loved this man, and she'd do anything to save him from suffering all this uncertainty.

  "Mr. Myer will see you now." The secretary's soft voice broke into her troubled thoughts.

  Robin felt as though she floated into the inner office. The tenebrous shadows of apprehension wrapped her in a strangling cloak. She opened her mouth and struggled to take a deep breath.

  Jonas introduced her to the smartly dressed man standing on the other side of the desk, but Robin's overwrought emotions let the man's name slip right out of her brain like water in a sieve.

  Tom Myer, the nameplate on the desk pronounced. She stared at the narrow, bronze-colored strip and chanted the man's name over and over, hoping that she could overcome this panic that welled in her with sudden fury. She felt like a volcano that was just about to erupt.

  "I want to tell you right away," the lawyer rushed to say. "The insurance company faxed me over the weekend."

  Through a thick haze of emotion, Robin sensed that he was extremely excited. She was relieved that he focused his attention on Jonas, because until she could get herself under control, she didn't think she'd be much good at discussing the insurance situation or the legalities of Tony's custody. Absently she reached into her pocket for a tissue.

  "Sit, sit," Tom instructed.

  The leather underneath her felt cool against her bare legs.

  "They're anxious to settle," Tom told Jonas. He grinned. "They're asking for assurances that you won't sue at a later date."

  She glanced at Jonas as he nodded at the lawyer, but his jaw muscle remained taut. Tom's conversation seemed to fade into the background as she looked at the man she'd married.

  There had been so many things she'd learned about Jonas during their time together. He could be irritatingly witty; in fact that was his great talent, attested by his success as a syndicated journalist. And she was certain his cutting humor would push his book toward success. But she had seen the gentle, kind side of him, too. She twisted the tissue in her fingers, remembering all the times he had been supportive and giving. And she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loved Tony.

  She realized in that instant that she could never do anything that would hurt Jonas and Tony…the two men in her life who had totally captured her heart.

  Yes, before this moment she'd decided that if push came to shove in a battle of who would raise Tony, she would do everything in her power to shoulder Jonas out. But had she really thought it through completely? With Jeff gone, Jonas was the closest thing Tony had to a father-figure now. They adored one another. Could she really bring herself to tear the two of them apart?

  Suddenly, her throat went cottony dry.

  Who did she think she was? she wondered. Did she honestly believe she could come barging into Brenville and take Tony away from the only family he had left? Tony hadn't even remembered her, for God's sake. If it hadn't been for Jonas, the child would probably still be screaming in utter fear of her.

  "Just give me a few more weeks," she heard Tom tell Jonas. "I need more negotiating time."

  Robin stared down into her lap, the tissue lay torn to shreds on the fabric of her skirt. She couldn't do this anymore! She couldn't sit here like a meek lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Not when the futures of the two people she loved most in the world seemed to be dangling so precariously.

  "I want to talk about this progress report," she blurted.

  She hadn't given in to the urge to stand, but she had scooted to the very edge of the smooth leather chair. Fine pieces of the paper tissue fluttered, unheeded, to the carpet.

  The office went so quiet it was eerie. Tom's bushy gray brow had risen with surprise. Robin didn't dare look at Jonas, not with what she was about to say.

  "Jonas and I are... are having a problem with our marriage." There, the blunt statement was out. A strange, oddly sick sense of relief roiled high in her chest. There was no turning back now that she'd begun.

  "Robin."

  Jonas's voice held a burr of warning. But she ignored it. She was doing this for his own good.

  "I don't think our relationship is going to last," she said to the lawyer. "But I want you to know that Tony will be well cared for."

  "You see," Robin went on, "the magazine I work for said I couldn't keep my job unless I'm willing to travel. And my job is my life."

  "What are you talking about?" Jonas asked her.

  "I can't imagine being stuck at home with a small child."

  He shifted his body toward her. "Robin," he said, reaching out and touching her forearm.

  But she refused to look at him, gruffly brushing off his hand.

  She stood up abruptly. She knew that if she didn't say it now, she never would. "I plan on filing for divorce. And I want to sign over custody of Tony to Jonas."

  "What the hell?"

  Hearing Jonas's outburst, she nearly lowered her guard and turned toward him, but she held firm and stared straight at Tom Myer.

  "Well," the lawyer said to her, "I don't mind saying that I'm just a little confused."

  "Robin, we need to talk."

  "Be quiet, Jonas," she snapped.

  She sensed the heavy shield he raised against her. She heard the rustle of his suit jacket fabric as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  Tom opened a folder that lay on his desktop. "It seems that we have a mighty big problem here. Jonas dropped off this letter to my secretary late Friday, and in it, he tells me that he has also decided against being responsible for Tony. It looks like neither one of you wants the poor child."

  "Oh, but I do!" The words gushed from her. "But..." She finally glanced at Jonas's closed-off expression then back at the lawyer. Her tone was weak as she said, "But so does he." She made a feeble motion to point at Jonas as she eased herself back down to sit on the very edge of the seat.

  Tom spent several moments looking from Robin to Jonas and back again, his silent questions filling the awkward silence.

  "Let me get this straight," Tom said finally, "you two are married, you've been living in the same house for weeks, yet neither one of you knows what the other is doing."

  Robin looked down and began picking at the pieces of the shredded tissue fibers still stuck to her skirt. She was too embarrassed to look the lawyer in the eye.

  Then Jonas spoke. "I guess we owe you an explanation."

  The look on Tom's face displayed the opinion that he agreed wholeheartedly.

  "This is my fault," Jonas began. "I coerced Robin into marrying me because I needed help with Tony until I finished the book contract I'd recently signed…"

  "But I allowed myself to be coerced." Robin started her spiel over Jonas's words. "I needed Jonas in order to…"

  "Hush, Robin," he demanded harshly. "Let me talk."

  Jonas, too, was now on the edge of his chair. "You see, Tom, because the judge is concerning himself with the insurance money..." He paused. "We became worried about this progress report she's requesting," he told the lawyer. "If it's going to jeopardize Tony's custody, we don't want any of the money. We don't want the state to take him from us."

  "Jonas, wait just a minute." Tom leaned toward them, resting his elbows on the desktop. "The settlement with the insurance company has absolutely nothing to do with the judge's request for a progress report."

  Robin felt her eyes blink stupidly.

  "I thought I'd kept the issues separate in my letter," Tom went on. "I purposefully made the paragraph about the progress report short so it wouldn't worry you. You see, the court just wants to know how things are going. Anyone who is granted custody of a child must fill one out. It will take us all of ten minutes. Several reports will have to be filed. It's just a precaution taken by the Orphan's Court."

  Jonas groaned softly. "I feel like an idiot. I read about the money and the report, and I panicked."

  "So did I," Robin said, wanting
to take her share of the blame.

  After a moment, he heaved a sigh. "You may have wanted to save us some worry by keeping the paragraph short, Tom…" his chuckle held little humor "…but we evidently filled in some imaginary missing pieces by reading between the lines."

  The lawyer shrugged. "There was nothing there to read."

  "I guess we see that now," Jonas commented.

  Questions plagued Robin ever since Jonas's letter had been mentioned. They swirled around in her brain until she was dizzy. She needed some answers. Now.

  She turned to Jonas. "Can we talk?" Her question was quiet and utterly polite.

  Tom jumped up from his chair. "I think that's a good idea," he said. "I'll go over to the conference room and catch up on a few phone calls. Take your time." As he spoke he rounded his desk and made his way to the door of his office.

  Before the door latch had even clicked closed, Robin said, "Why'd you do it, Jonas? Why'd you write that letter? Why didn't you tell me what you were doing? I thought we'd promised to be honest and up-front with each other."

  "That was your promise," he said pointedly. "I promised you I'd make everything okay. And I did what I thought would…fix the problem.."

  "But you were going to give up custody of Tony."

  "So were you." There was a hint of accusation in his tone. "So much for being honest and up-front."

  "I would have told you what I was going to do, but I didn't know I was going to do it until after the words were out of my mouth."

  He reached over and covered her hand with his. "I have to admit, I was worried there for a minute."

  Her gaze held a silent query.

  Jonas nodded. "When you first spoke up about wanting a divorce, I thought you were lobbing the first bomb in our custody war."

  "You had nothing to worry about," she assured him.

  "I know that now. What I'm dying to know is why." He grasped her fingers tighter. "I know you want to raise him as much as I do. Why'd you offer to give me custody?"

  She glanced down at the back of his hand. "You two love each other. You deserve to be together. Tony needs you."

  "You did it for Tony, then," he murmured.

  She lifted her eyes to his face and saw what she thought was a fleeting disappointment, and she felt bewildered.

  "I'd hoped there was another reason."

  There was a quality in his voice that made her pulse quicken. "Another reason?"

  "Yes," he said. "But if there wasn't, then I need to just keep my proposition to myself."

  "Proposition? What proposition?" She felt like a mimicking parrot. "What are you talking about?

  He slid to one side of the seat until his knees pressed against hers.

  "Seeing as how we're both willing to give up our rights to Tony," he said, "when we both want those rights very much, don't you think that means something? Something significant? Don't you think there must be some other reason we're willing to surrender what's most important to us?"

  "Some other reason?" The question sounded breathy and lame to her. Her heart pounded.

  "Besides doing it for Tony's sake, I mean?"

  Her tongue darted out to moisten her dry lips, and she searched his face. She waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, she realized that he was waiting for some response from her, some sign to tell him she was open to following him along the road he was heading down.

  "Maybe," she whispered. "Maybe there is some other reason."

  A tiny spark of jubilance flashed in his eyes. An infectious happiness that had her lips curling into a gentle smile.

  His whole demeanor changed. She could see the tension easing from his shoulders. She watched as the worry seemed to melt the lines in his forehead. He was once again the confident man she'd fallen in love with.

  "So," she urged him, "tell me about this proposition of yours."

  "Okay. I propose that we raise Tony together," he said. "But there's a catch."

  Curiosity arched her brows. "Oh?"

  "Mmm-hmm," he said. "I say we raise Tony together, live in the same house, but as man and wife." He rushed to add, "As true man and wife, I mean."

  She wanted to slide into his lap and hug him to her. She wanted to shout, "Yes!" to his proposition. But she decided not to just yet. Not until she'd gotten the chance to do something she'd been dying to do.

  "I don't know," she said, perfectly deadpan.

  His smile faded.

  "How do I know what kind of husband you'll make?" she asked. "I mean, we've only lived together as co-guardians of Tony. How do I know if we can make it as a married couple? Maybe we should agree to a few progress reports. You know, just for the first few months, it might be a good idea."

  She couldn't have astonished him more had her ears grown pointy and she'd sprouted wings. It was all she could do to keep from snickering. She had wanted to poke fun at him ever since he'd left her splayed across that mountain of lemons in the grocery store. Dear Lord, but this felt good! "But then," she went on, reaching up to tap her chin with her index finger, "I do know that you're awfully good in bed."

  His green eyes widened, and at the same time, her face flamed red-hot. She couldn't believe she'd actually had the nerve to say that. But seeing his surprise was hysterical.

  "Well, I'll be damned. You're teasing me." His tone was filled to the brim with incredulity.

  She finally gave in to her urge to laugh.

  "I can't believe it," he said. "You choose today to find a sense of humor?"

  Robin knew her eyes were glistening merrily.

  Jonas seemed to realize suddenly the topic on which she'd chosen to jest. His smile disappeared completely.

  "I'm not certain I like being the butt of your jokes," he told her.

  "Is that so?" she asked. She stood up, took a half step, and then planted her bottom firmly in his lap. The feel of his hands as they slid around her waist was delicious.

  "You may as well get used to it," she said. "Because I've spent weeks taking lessons from the best."

  "The best, huh?" he murmured, tipping up his chin so he could nibble on her earlobe.

  "The best," she repeated softly.

  She turned her head and kissed his mouth. His lips tasted sweet, delectable, and she was overcome with the feeling of starvation. It felt as if she'd wanted this forever. Wanted to taste his kiss, feel his hands on her body.

  "I love you," he whispered softly against her lips.

  Those three little words were the most beautiful ones she had ever heard. "I love you."

  They got lost in the heated energy that pulsed around them. His fingertips grazed her breast and she parted her lips, inviting him to deepen the kiss.

  There was a quick knock at the door and Tom poked his head into the room.

  "Oh," he said, "I guess you two have worked things out." When he didn't get an answer, he straightened, turned to his secretary and murmured, "Maybe we should take an early lunch.''

  Once the door had closed softly, Jonas pulled back and gazed into Robin's face.

  "Tell me something," he said. "When you joked earlier about my prowess in the bedroom, was it a joke you meant, or a joke you didn't mean?"

  She thought it was so sexy to see that tiny hint of uncertainty in a man she knew to be extremely self-confident.

  "Tell you what…" she kissed him softly on the cheek "…I'll let you know as soon as we get home."

  Epilogue

  "Why did I let you talk me into this?"

  Robin pushed herself from the front seat of the car and stood on the curb until Jonas had unbuckled Tony from his car seat.

  She placed her hand on her very pregnant belly. "I'm fat," she pronounced miserably.

  Jonas kissed her mouth. He put a protective hand on top of the one she had on her stomach. "You're beautiful," he said.

  He carried two-year-old Tony in one arm and held Robin's hand in his, and all together they started off toward the little church up the street.

  Suddenly she
lamented, "I'm waddling down Main Street like a duck."

  Tony's eyes lit up. "I could have a duck!"

  "No," Jonas said patiently, "you can't have a duck. In about two weeks we're going to have a baby."

  The child's bottom lip pooched out. "I want a duck."

  "I don't understand why he doesn't understand," Jonas whispered to Robin.

  "Our first mistake was in trying to explain it to him at all," she said.

  Tony had spent the past three months shouting out randomly the things he'd much rather have other than a baby. She wasn't worried, though; she knew Tony would understand everything once the new baby arrived. Until then, she and Jonas would have to continue to explain what they could in the best way they knew how.

  Her nephew had grown like a weed over the past ten months. And she still marveled at how quickly he learned.

  Even though she felt uncomfortable now that she was in the final stages of her pregnancy, she knew she had never been happier in her life.

  She reached up and fingered a longish lock of Jonas's silky hair. He needed to have it cut again. If it wasn't for her reminding him every few months, she was sure he'd probably let it grow until he tripped on it. She smiled gently. That was okay with her, she loved him just the way he was.

  The gentle wind tugged at the veil she had pinned to her hair and she absently raised her hand to steady it.

  "A white veil," she muttered. She looked down at her pretty, flowered maternity dress. Jonas had wanted her to wear a white gown when they repeated their vows in front of Reverend Walsh, but she'd stood firm and had only relented by wearing the snowy and billowing headpiece he'd picked out. She chuckled at the memory of how he'd argued with her.

  "There's nothing virginal about a pregnant bride," she said to him now.

  "Remember," he told her, a twinkle of humor in his eye, "the state already considers you an honest woman. Our quickie wedding was completely legal. We're only going to repeat our vows to the minister."