Daddy Next Door (Hometown Reunion)

by Ginger Chambers

  Raine smiled. Where the wall hanging for the Olsen baby had had the pertinent birth information embroidered inside colorful balloons, this one was in keeping with the newborn’s Irish heritage. Large green shamrocks proclaimed the arrival of Brendan Pierce O’Conner, born on April 10 of that year and weighing in at a respectable seven pounds six ounces.

  “That’s wonderful, Mom!” Raine said. “What a great idea.”

  “I’m thinking that for our baby I’m going to use teddy bears, and if it’s a girl, they’ll be wearing frilly pink tutus.”

  “You’re already planning that far ahead?”

  “I can’t help but think ahead. I’m going to enjoy being a grandmother, Raine.”

  Raine looked away. She wished that she could be as enthusiastic. That she could look ahead to the baby’s birth with excitement and joy. But circumstances wouldn’t let her. Not yet.

  “What’s the matter, honey?” her mother asked.

  What wasn’t the matter? Raine thought. She was tired of fighting everything. Tired of fighting herself. Tired of worrying about the future. Her placid outlook about her relationship with Gabe had received a severe jolt. She wasn’t sure of anything anymore—which path to follow, or even if it was a viable route and not an illusion.

  “Does it have something to do with Gabe?” Marge guessed when she didn’t answer.

  Raine bit her bottom lip and shook her head, denying it at the same time as her body language offered confirmation.

  “I know something is wrong, Raine. I’m not being nosy, I’m trying to help. Has he said something, done something?”

  Again Raine shook her head.

  Marge made a frustrated movement.

  “Mom...” Raine choked. “I’m not sure...” Her throat closed again, stopping her from going on.

  Marge leaned forward to take her hands. “Not sure about what?” she prompted.

  “He kissed me,” Raine whispered tightly.

  Marge became very still. “And?”

  Raine shrugged. “That’s it. He just...kissed me. But I wanted to kiss him back!”

  Marge didn’t belittle the importance of what Raine had told her. A kiss might be a small thing in another relationship, but between Raine and Gabe...

  “Well, you are friends,” she said carefully.

  “It wasn’t that kind of a kiss.” Raine closed her eyes. She didn’t know why she was telling her mother this.

  “On occasion, I have wondered,” her mother confessed softly.

  Raine’s eyes opened. “You what?”

  “Well, he has always watched over you. Done things for you, taken you places...all the time you were growing up.”

  “Mom!” Raine was suddenly indignant. “The way you make it sound—”

  Marge wasn’t deterred. “I saw his face one time when you came back for a visit, then had to leave again the next day. He came with us to the airport, remember? And when you walked away he looked so...” She shrugged, unable to find the proper word.

  “No, Mom.”

  “He was always asking after you.”

  “Mom! Stop it! I’m not going to listen to this!” Raine jumped up from the chair.

  Marge folded her hands in her lap, frowning. “That would explain so much,” she murmured, uttering her thoughts aloud.

  “Mom, I’m leaving. I’m going back to Gabe’s house.”

  “But that doesn’t explain your reaction, does it?” She looked up at her daughter, her brown eyes soft with love and curiosity.

  Raine caught her breath. Unerringly, her mother had cut straight through to the crux of the matter. It wasn’t Gabe who had the problem, it was Raine herself! But she didn’t believe for one second what her mom had intimated about Gabe. It was an idea that had just occurred to her, and she was speculating about it out loud. She did that a lot.

  But there was no denying what Raine had told her: that she had wanted to kiss Gabe back. “It’s—it’s what you said the other day,” Raine said desperately. “Serendipity. Or—or gratitude! Look what he’s doing for me! I’m not in my normal state of mind. My hormones are raging! I fall asleep at ten p.m.! I cry at the drop of a hat!” She paced across the room, then spun back around. “I don’t know why I bothered to come over here,” she cried dramatically. “I could have stayed at home and been just as miserable!”

  “Why are you miserable, Raine?” her mother asked, again cutting to the core of the matter.

  Raine lifted her hands in frustration and hurried out of the house.

  * * *

  SHE COULDN’T SETTLE down at all that afternoon. She wanted to go out somewhere, but she didn’t know where. She also didn’t want to be alone, yet didn’t want to be with anyone.

  She ended up taking a nap, only to be awakened by a knock on the kitchen door. It wasn’t the family knock.

  Frowning, she straightened her blouse and slacks and ran a hand over her hair. Who could it be? Gabe hadn’t warned her to expect anyone.

  She opened the door without checking, her New York caution having been tempered by the far less dangerous atmosphere of Tyler, and found her mother standing on the doorstep. Her face was drained of color, her eyes huge with a recent shock.

  “Mom?” Raine questioned, alarmed.

  “Raine?” Her mother’s throat seemed to be extremely dry. “There’s someone...” She swallowed. “There’s someone at my house. He says—he says his name is Joel Hastings!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A HOST OF THOUGHTS raced through Raine’s mind. But the dominant one was Joel...here? She stared blankly at her mother.

  “Raine...Raine!” Her mother tugged on her sleeve. “He’s the baby’s father, isn’t he? Isn’t that the name you told me?”

  Raine nodded, still unable to speak.

  Marge ran a hand through her hair, mussing it but not caring. “Oh, God, Raine. What should I do? Do you want me to send him over here? Or—or maybe it would be better if you came to our place. I didn’t tell him where you were, just that I’d get you.”

  “I—I’ll come,” she said.

  “Thank goodness Gabe is at work today,” Marge said as she tugged on Raine’s sleeve again, this time to get her to move. “I don’t even want to think about what would happen if he... And George is still off playing golf. He should be gone for at least another hour. He usually has dinner with his cronies afterward.”

  They moved across the yard, through the hedge, then across the other yard. Raine functioned as if she were in a daze. She let her mother guide her into the other house and through it to the cozy living room.

  A man stood up. Joel! Dark and sleek and masculinely beautiful. He was dressed in a casual silk suit that Raine knew cost almost as much as her mother and George had paid for the renovation of their house. From a center part, his hair fell in loose black curls to his shoulders. When he moved, it was with pantherlike grace.

  “Lorraine...” he said, his dark gaze fixed only on her.

  “Joel,” Raine returned tautly. She didn’t rush over to him as he seemed to expect.

  His gaze was intense, then it broke away to include Marge. “Your mother has been so kind to let me wait here for you. But Lorraine, if we might talk in private?”

  If anything, Marge’s stance became more obstinate. She planted her feet firmly in the carpet and crossed her arms. She wasn’t about to budge, not unless it came at her daughter’s request. Raine’s heart swelled with love for her.

  “It’s all right, Mom,” she said. “It might be best if we talked on our own.”

  Marge’s arms slowly unfolded. “You’re sure?” she asked.

  “I’m positive.”

  “Well,” Marge said, “I’m just going to be in the next room. You call out if you need anything.” And for good measure she gave Joel a h
ard look before she left.

  Joel was amused at her mother’s protectiveness. A smile tugged at his lips. “Your mother is a tiger when it comes to someone she loves. I see where you get it.”

  “I’m not a tiger, Joel,” Raine denied.

  “I seem to remember a few times when I called you that.”

  “Joel!” she exclaimed sharply. She didn’t need any oblique references to their past lovemaking. “Let’s get directly to the point. What do you want?”

  His eyes widened. “Why you, of course.”

  Raine’s knees wobbled. He still had the power to unsettle her.

  He continued, “You must admit that your news came as a surprise. That’s why I—”

  “I told you I was going to a doctor,” she interrupted, “and I told you why...what I was going to check for.”

  “Still, it was a shock. It wasn’t something we planned.”

  “I didn’t plan it either, Joel,” she said.

  “Have you done as I suggested?” he asked quietly.

  “No.”

  His eyes narrowed. “So you’re determined to have this baby?”

  “Yes.”

  He continued to look at her. “Then I’ll marry you,” he said.

  Raine couldn’t believe what she’d heard. This wasn’t the Joel she knew, the man she was intimately familiar with. Her Joel wasn’t at all shy about expressing his disregard for the institution of marriage. Freedom was a living thing to him, as necessary to his everyday life as his devotion to the dance.

  “Lorraine,” he said somewhat impatiently. “Did you hear what I said? I want to marry you!”

  “Why?” Raine asked.

  “Because when you left...I missed you.”

  “You mean, you want to be a father?”

  “If that gets you back, yes!”

  Raine shook her head. First he wanted her, then when she got pregnant, he wanted her but not the baby, now he was willing to take them both? “It’s too late for that, Joel.”

  “It’s never too late!” he exclaimed. “I love you! I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I want you to come back. And if it’s what you want, we’ll transform our little nest—fill it with baby things. Tricycles, bicycles...bats and balls. The park is just across the street. I’m quite good at baseball, did you know that?”

  “I’m married, Joel,” she said quietly.

  “And football. I detest it, but I can teach—” He broke off. “What did you say?”

  Raine repeated softly, “I said I’m married.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  She showed him her ring.

  Joel paled. “But it’s my baby,” he said.

  “Yes, it is. But the last time we talked, you didn’t want it. You told me to get rid of it. To sweep it out of the way. Out of sight, out of mind! So I left.”

  “Lorraine—” he caught hold of her arm “—this has to be some kind of mistake. I want you! I love you! I was...stunned, that’s all. I wasn’t thinking right. I didn’t mean...”

  “It’s far too late.”

  “Who?” he demanded angrily. “Tell me who this husband of yours is. I’ll have a talk with him and—”

  She pulled her arm away.

  “No!” he cried. “I won’t accept this!” For the first time since she’d met him Joel wasn’t the master of his universe.

  Marge shot back into the room, fire in her eyes at the sound of his raised voice. “Do you need help, Raine?” she demanded.

  Joel turned on her. “Are you behind this?” he demanded. “Did you arrange for Lorraine to marry...whoever the country bumpkin is? Do you realize the damage you’re doing?”

  “Don’t talk to my mother like that, Joel,” Raine warned him.

  He swept a thick curl of hair away from his face. “I’m going to get you back, Lorraine,” he promised.

  “And I’m going to show you to the door.” Marge lifted her arm and pointed the way.

  “Lorraine!” Joel protested.

  Raine turned her back.

  He came up close behind her, but didn’t touch her. “All right,” he said tightly. “You seem determined to make this difficult. And, yes, maybe I deserve it. But I’m not going to go away. Not until you agree to come back with me. I’m staying at a place not far from here. Timber something-or-other. It’s an Addison hotel, thank God. At least your little backwater can do something right!”

  “Goodbye and good riddance,” Marge murmured as she closed the front door behind him.

  Raine sank to the couch and covered her face with her hands. She didn’t know what she thought about anything at the moment. She had never expected Joel to come here, to say what he had. Once she had hoped, but now...

  Her mother stroked her bright hair. “He’s handsome in a flashy kind of way, but his manners could certainly use some polishing. What did you see in him, Raine? No, never mind. People don’t always stop to analyze things before they fall in love.”

  Raine lowered her hands. “There’s more to him than what you saw. He can be sweet and funny. He can!” she insisted at her mother’s doubtful look.

  “What is he?” Marge asked. “An actor?”

  “He’s a dancer...a choreographer. He designs all the dancers’ movements on stage.”

  “Is that how you met him?”

  Raine nodded. “He’s very well-known.”

  “He thinks a lot of himself.”

  “So do other people.”

  “Still...” Marge watched her carefully. “What are you going to do?”

  Raine looked away. “I don’t know. What if what he said is true? What if, deep down, he was afraid, confused...and now he’s not? He can be selfish and vain, but he can also be very vulnerable. I wouldn’t have cared for him otherwise. Do I have the right to keep him and his child apart?”

  “What about Gabe?”

  She groaned. “Mom...I don’t know.”

  “What about the way you feel about him?”

  “It was purely a figment of my imagination.”

  “That’s not what you thought earlier.”

  Raine groaned again.

  Marge straightened. “Well, at least you’re going to have some time to think about it. Gabe won’t be home until tomorrow morning.”

  * * *

  THE KEY TURNED in the front-door lock. Next, the door swung open, then shut. Gabe was being careful to mute every sound. But Raine was already awake and waiting for him on the couch, curled against an arm, a crocheted throw spread over her legs.

  Not seeing her, he moved across the dimly lit room and was about to enter the hall when finally she stirred. “Gabe?” she said softly, not wanting to startle him.

  He wheeled around, automatically narrowing his gaze. “Raine?” he questioned.

  She stood up, draping the throw over the back of the couch. She was fully dressed. In fact, she hadn’t changed for bed last night because she hadn’t thought to go there. Not even her recent urge to go to sleep early had overtaken her.

  “Gabe, we need to talk,” she said levelly.

  He stood so still he might have been a statue. “What about?” he asked.

  “Have you had breakfast?” she said, closing in on him.

  “At the station. Raine, what is it? You look—”

  “Come with me,” she said, and brought him to sit beside her on the couch.

  “I’m not sure I like the looks of this,” he murmured gruffly.

  Raine took a breath and said, “I have something to tell you. Joel is in Tyler.”

  At first he seemed unable to place the name, then recognition dawned. “The Joel?” he demanded.

  “He came to Mom’s yesterday evening.”

  “How did he know where
to find you?”

  “I didn’t exactly keep the fact that I’m from Tyler a secret. People knew. So did he.”

  Gabe sat forward. “What does he want?”

  Raine hesitated before answering honestly, “Me.”

  “Well, he can’t have you.”

  “Gabe—”

  “Don’t ‘Gabe’ me! After the way he’s treated you? Does he think he can just waltz right in and whisk you away? Take you back to New York so he can start treating you badly all over again? You should have more sense than that, Raine. What are you? A glutton for punishment?”

  “I didn’t say that I—”

  He ran a hand over the back of his neck, his expression tight. “I really thought you had more sense, Raine. What does your mother say?”

  “My mother thinks I have enough sense to make up my mind myself!”

  “I want to talk to him. I want to tell him exactly what I...”

  Gabe heard himself rant on and on, a wild reaction to a mortal pain. He was going to lose her! No matter what he did, no matter what he said, she was going to go away. With that Joel from New York.

  It had been Gabe’s greatest fear all along.

  “No!” she said. “I don’t want you to do that, Gabe. It wouldn’t be productive.”

  “I don’t want to be productive. I want to knock his block off!”

  “Gabe!” She tried to calm him. “This isn’t like you.”

  “How do you know?” he challenged. “How do you know I don’t knock somebody’s block off every chance I get? Twice a week, if I feel like it!”

  She giggled unsteadily, and he relented. Raine’s well-being was his prime concern. What he felt didn’t matter. When he looked at her closely, he could see the signs of her distress.

  He forced himself to take several long, deep breaths. “All right,” he said after a moment. “Let’s start over. You say he’s here. Where?”

  “At Timberlake Lodge.”

  “How long is he going to stay?”

  “He says until I agree to go back with him.”

  “And how long will it take before you do that?”

  “Gabe, I never said—”

  “All right, all right.” He sighed again. He’d thought he’d had to face some hard things before in his life, but they were nothing compared to this!