Daddy Next Door (Hometown Reunion)

by Ginger Chambers

  “Did you stay up all night?” he asked, eyeing her creased clothing.

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Then let’s both hit the sack for a couple of hours. I didn’t get much sleep last night either. There was a nasty fire in some old warehouses out by the highway. It took forever to put out.” He stood up slowly, his body stiff and sore. “Then we’ll talk. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she said softly.

  Raine followed him into the hall, but within seconds she had ducked under his arm, wrapping her arm around his waist. He stiffened, but in the end he accepted her offer of support. Because it might be the last time they would be so close?

  At the door to their separate rooms they parted. Over the past few days everything between them had been so derailed. The avoidances, the palpable tension whenever they were near each other.

  “Gabe, I—” she started to say.

  He reached out to stop her, his fingers gently touching her lips. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said huskily.

  Her eyes, bright with tears, fell away from his.

  Gabe struggled within himself, with the temptation to go for all or nothing. It would be so easy at this moment to toss caution to the wind, to loosen the bonds that had previously prevented him from taking what he wanted.

  But his love for her was too great. He didn’t want to make things worse than they already were. He didn’t want her to hate him.

  His hand slowly returned to his side and he forced an easygoing smile. “See you in a little while, Red,” he said. Then he flicked the tip of her nose with his finger and disappeared into his room.

  * * *

  RAINE STILL COULDN’T sleep. Her mind was too busy, her heart too full. She’d gotten exactly what she’d wanted a short few weeks ago. Joel had come after her, ready to accept the baby, demanding that she return to him. But now that she had it, she wasn’t so sure it was what she truly wanted. Was she that fickle? That shallow? Or had something much more portentous happened in the meantime?

  She felt as if she were trembling on the brink of discovery. As if she were standing in front of a closed curtain beyond which might be either a spectacular new world...or chaos.

  And instead of Joel, her concern was for Gabe. What he thought. What he felt. What he wanted.

  Why? Why should it matter?

  Love? The word muscled its way back into her consciousness. And once again she fled from it, afraid to admit that it could be true.

  * * *

  GABE STOOD IN front of the open window in his bedroom. In the distance storm clouds were building. It seemed an apt reflection of his life.

  Joel wanted Raine to come back to him. He was the baby’s father. Raine had been shattered when he’d rejected her. Didn’t it stand to reason that after a short period of making him squirm she would welcome the penitent back?

  Where did all of this leave him? Gabe wondered. His only claim to her was a scrap of paper—the wedding certificate that Sarah Kenton had given them upon their marriage.

  A paper marriage. With no ties that bind.

  But did Joel love her? Really love her...as he did?

  Gabe had to be sure.

  * * *

  A ROLLING CLAP of thunder awakened Raine. Her body jerked to instant alertness. The room was darker now than when she’d gone to sleep. Wind rattled the windowpanes. Suddenly, rain peppered down, sure to soak anything or anyone caught outside in it.

  Raine jumped up and hurried to the windows, to be certain none was open to the storm. She checked every one except those in Gabe’s room.

  Surely that loud clap of thunder had awakened him as well. But when she put her ear to the door, she heard no sounds of movement from within.

  “Gabe?” she called and tapped lightly on the door.

  When there was no answer she turned the knob and peeked inside.

  “Gabe?” she said again. But the rumpled bed was empty, as was the room.

  Instinctively, Raine knew where he was: at Timberlake Lodge. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Gabe had gone to confront Joel. To knock his block off, as he’d threatened earlier?

  She jumped into action. Grabbing the poncho from the hook by the front door, she raced back through the house to the kitchen door. She checked the garage, but as she expected, it was empty as well. He had taken the Explorer.

  Immediately she switched to her second plan and darted across the yards in the teeming rain. She ignored the wet tendrils of hair that fell into her eyes and the drops of rain that dribbled down her neck.

  Once again desperately in need during a storm, she rapped her knuckles against the hard wood of her mother’s back door. “Mom! It’s me. Raine!”

  But where before there’d been no answer, this time footsteps hurried through the house and soon the door swung open.

  “Raine?” her mother said, taken slightly aback.

  Raine didn’t have time for formalities. “Mom! Gabe’s gone to the lodge! Can I borrow your car?”

  Marge blinked at the unexpected request. She noted her daughter’s agitated state, then looked at the teeming rain. “No. With the state you’re in, I’d better drive.”

  Raine hugged her mother’s neck, inadvertently getting her wet. “Oh, thank you, Mom. Thank you! I’m afraid there might be a fight.”

  Marge collected her purse from the counter, called something to George, then bustled out of the house, shaking open an umbrella, which she held over their heads all the way to the detached garage. “Are you thinking that Gabe... No, Raine, not Gabe!”

  “He’s angry at Joel for what he did to me.”

  “So am I, but I’m not going to beat him up.”

  Marge opened the garage’s side door and they both piled into the Lincoln. The main door opened at the touch of a remote-control button. Within seconds they were backing out.

  “I don’t know what else to do, Mom. I told Gabe and he said he needed some sleep, then we’d talk...and when I woke up, he was gone.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Gabe, either. He keeps his word.”

  “I know! Everything’s so... Nothing is normal now!”

  From that point on Marge had to give her full attention to the road, and Raine stayed quiet so that she could concentrate.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE STORM HAD LET UP by the time Raine and her mother drove into the lodge’s parking lot. The strong wind gusts had ceased and the rain had slackened to a drizzle. They had no trouble spotting the Explorer. Marge parked next to it, and she and Raine hopped out.

  “Do you know Joel’s room number?” Marge asked.

  “He didn’t say.”

  Marge looked at her watch. “It’s only nine o’clock. He could be eating breakfast.”

  “Do you think...? No, Gabe wouldn’t create a scene in the restaurant.”

  “An angry man doesn’t always care where he is when he picks a fight.”

  They hurried in through the main doors. Marge went to the front desk, while Raine jogged on to the restaurant. All the tables were orderly and quiet, the dozen or so people eating at them the ultimate in decorum.

  She met her mother back in the lobby. “Not there,” she reported.

  “They’re not in his room, either. I tried calling on the house phone.”

  “But where...”

  Something caught Marge’s eye just over Raine’s shoulder. She frowned, squinted, then allowed a tiny satisfied smile. “Look,” she directed her daughter.

  Raine turned around. Across the lobby, in a somewhat isolated conversation area, Gabe and Joel sat talking. Neither man looked scuffed or bruised. Neither seemed to be angry.

  Raine released a long breath. She looked back at her mother and, somewhat chagrined, murmured, “A false alarm.”

  “Mayb
e we’d better get over there,” Marge suggested, “before something goes wrong.”

  The two men didn’t notice them until they were practically upon them. Gabe was first on his feet, but Joel was the first to speak.

  “Lorraine!” he said, smiling as he reached out to her. His kiss skimmed her cheek when she turned her head. “And Mother, too.”

  “Mr. Hastings,” Marge replied tersely.

  Joel’s dark eyes were proprietary as he looked at Raine. Then he turned to Gabe and said boastfully, “This is my Lorraine. The wonderful girl I was telling you about. Can you imagine her happily married to a country bumpkin and actually wanting to live in a place like this?” Joel laughed. “You can see just by looking at her that she doesn’t belong here.”

  Raine stared at Gabe. He hadn’t yet told Joel who he was.

  “I don’t remember catching your name...” Joel continued, frowning slightly. Then, not waiting for a reply, he turned back to Raine. “Have you changed your mind? Are you ready to come back with me?”

  “What do you think you’re doing, Gabe?” Raine asked, her gaze fixed on him. She wasn’t sure what she felt at that moment. She’d been so worried, and was now so stunned to find him here, acting as if nothing untoward had occurred.

  “I’m not doing anything, except having a little friendly talk with Joel, here.”

  Joel’s frown deepened. “Gabe?” he repeated.

  “The country bumpkin,” Raine explained shortly.

  “The husband?” Joel inferred, startled.

  “One and the same,” Gabe returned smoothly.

  “But you never—never said...” Joel stammered.

  “I didn’t need to. You did most of the talking.”

  Joel collected himself. He shook his mane of beautiful hair. “That was not a gentlemanly thing to do.”

  “Neither is rejecting the woman you made pregnant.”

  “Gabe,” Raine said warningly.

  The two men glared at each other. Then Joel turned again to Raine and said, “Now I can see that it’s even more important for you to come back to New York. The man’s a bully, Raine. Do you think he’ll let you resume your career?”

  “He’s worth ten of you!” Marge chimed in, coming to Gabe’s defense.

  “He’s a Neanderthal,” Joel decreed.

  “You’re good at calling people names,” Gabe said, his hands curling into tighter fists.

  Raine thrust herself between them, aware of the people in the lobby who’d paused to watch. “That’s enough!” she said with suppressed vehemence. “I’m the one who decides what I will and will not do. And I will not stand here and watch as the two of you act like twelve-year-old boys! Joel, you’re being rude. Gabe...you have no business being here.”

  “I had to see things for myself, Raine,” Gabe said, “before—”

  Raine cut him off. “I don’t want to hear any more.”

  Joel smirked. “Yes, go away, hayseed.”

  Gabe lunged forward. Raine stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. His heart beat strongly beneath her fingers.

  Raine had a hard time meeting his smoldering gaze. “Please, Gabe? Go home,” she pleaded. “I’m going to stay and talk with Joel. After that, you and I will talk...like we were going to do earlier.” She looked at her mother. “Could I borrow the car again, Mom, and you go back with Gabe?”

  “I’ll take you back,” Joel volunteered.

  Raine shook her head. “No, I want to do this on my own.”

  Marge murmured worriedly, “Are you sure? I can stay....”

  “Completely on my own,” Raine replied.

  Marge nodded. “Come on, Gabe. Let’s do as Raine asks.”

  Gabe gave Raine another long look, then he let himself be pulled away after Marge passed her daughter her car keys.

  Once they were alone, Joel reached out to bring her close. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go to my room.”

  Raine pulled away. “No, we’ll talk here.”

  Joel glanced around the lobby. It was growing thicker with people. “But there’s no privacy here.”

  “Exactly.”

  He smiled. “Is it because you’re afraid to be alone with me?”

  Raine chose the chair Gabe had used earlier. “Not at all,” she said.

  Joel perched uncomfortably opposite her.

  Raine watched him, wondering how she could have ever thought herself in love with him. She was lucky to have this moment. To be able to come to this realization. It would set her free.

  Maybe she was stronger than she had once thought. Not as strong as her mother, but growing stronger. When she’d found herself pregnant and alone, it seemed as if her world had shattered. Emotionally, she’d reverted to childhood and come running home.

  Now, seeing Joel out of his element, observing how negatively he had reacted to people she cared for, what he thought of her hometown, she realized that it was the world she had created with him that had been false. It had had all the constancy of a soap bubble. No wonder it had shattered. Except for the child...

  Raine was surprised by the sudden warmth that flooded over her when she thought of the child. Of the little girl or boy...growing up in Tyler.

  “I’m not going back with you, Joel,” she said calmly, levelly. “You’ll have to accept that. Just like I’ll have to accept the fact that I’m limited in my talent as a dancer. I’ve been in a few good shows here and there, but I was never the star. I never will be. Only a select few ever can. Once, I wanted that more than anything. Now—” she shrugged “—it doesn’t seem important. Maybe it’s the baby. Maybe because of it, I’m finally growing up.”

  “You’re a very good dancer, Lorraine!” Joel said.

  “I’m good, not great. Be honest with me, Joel. Please.”

  His eyes dropped away and she had her answer. It hurt, but in another way, it was a relief.

  “Now,” she said, “be equally honest. Do you really want this child?”

  “Of course I do!” he exclaimed, his handsome features strained. “I want you!”

  “But it would be better if there wasn’t a child,” she stated.

  His eyes slid away again.

  “I thought so,” Raine said softly. “And, Joel, that’s all right. I’m not trying to judge you or make you feel bad. You were very up-front with me from the beginning about not wanting children. Some people don’t. But it would be a mistake for me to come back to you if that’s truly the way you feel. It wouldn’t be fair to the child or to you. I want this baby. I wasn’t sure at first, but I am now. And when I have it, I don’t expect anything from you. Not money, not active parenting. The baby will know who you are, though, and what you do. And if you ever change your mind and want to come into its life, you can. I won’t stand in the way.”

  “But I love you!” he declared.

  Raine smiled, able to think of him again with some fondness since he no longer had the power to hurt her. “In your own fashion, I believe you do. For you to come here, to offer marriage...” She touched the back of her fingers to his cheek.

  The magnitude of what he’d lost and might never have opportunity to possess again was reflected momentarily in his eyes, but the introspection didn’t last. It wasn’t in his nature to be reflective. “What will you do?” he asked. “Stay with the bumpkin?”

  “His name is Gabe Atwood and he’s a very good friend.” Then, in answer to his question, she said simply, “I don’t know.”

  Joel caught her hand and kissed her fingers. “Will you let me know when the baby’s born? At the very least I’d like to know if I have a son or a daughter.”

  “Of course,” Raine promised in all good faith.

  * * *

  THE SUN WAS OUT and birds were chirping contentedly when Raine pulled in
to the driveway at her mother’s house. It was hard to realize that there had been a recent storm in the area, except for the puddles and the occasional drop of water that fell from a leaf.

  Raine put the car away in the garage, then tapped on her mother’s back door.

  “Is everything all right?” Marge asked cautiously.

  “Better than it has been in a long time,” Raine replied, handing over the set of keys.

  “And Joel?” Marge ventured.

  “Is on his way back to New York.”

  Relief washed the tension from her mother’s face. All she said, though, was “Good.”

  Raine started toward Gabe’s house.

  “Raine,” her mother called, “he’s not there. He dropped me off and said he was going for a ride.”

  Raine pulled up. “Did he say where?”

  “No, but Raine...he was upset. I could tell.”

  Raine continued to the house and let herself inside.

  * * *

  GABE PARKED THE Explorer and got out to walk across the rolling hills that skirted Timber Lake. He retraced the path he and Raine had taken the day they’d come here, during a time when he’d harbored some hope for their future together.

  He was careful not to look toward the lodge, even if he could have seen it through the thick branches of the trees. Some would say he was masochistic even for coming this close. But he couldn’t stop himself.

  He hadn’t liked Joel Hastings. But had he expected to? The man’s way of thinking and behaving—particularly his shameful treatment of Raine—was in diametric opposition to his own. The man’s selfishness, his grandiose ego might be tolerated in the world of the theater, but not in Tyler. And this was Tyler.

  Gabe’s murmured curse frightened a squirrel. The furry creature scurried up a tree and sat on a branch, flicking its tail and fussing at him. Gabe might have found the occasion funny if it hadn’t been for the fact that his life was coming apart.

  Raine now had two reasons to go back to New York—the baby’s father and the stage. And there was absolutely nothing Gabe could do about it. Richard had said to tell her the truth, but he couldn’t! The fact that he loved her paled in comparison to the life that awaited her in New York, if only she said the word.