The Baby Bet: His Secret Son (The Baby Bet #5)

by Joan Elliott Pickart

  “’Kay,” Noel said. “But baby Ryan is the only other one that’s little. I don’t think Aunt Hannah and Uncle Ted will let you borrow him yet, ’cause they just got him. This is terrible, just terrible. Where are we going to get a baby for you?”

  “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” Kara said, still smiling. “Getting a baby is something I need to do for myself. But I certainly thank you for being concerned about it.”

  “Maybe Teddy will let you borrow his dog, Scooter,” Matt said. “Scooter is pretty cool.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Noel said to her brother. “Scooter isn’t a baby. He’s a dumb dog that ate Sarah’s shoe just last week. Teddy said it was Sarah’s fault ’cause she left her shoes on the floor, but Sarah said that she was three years old and she could leave her shoes wherever she wanted to, and then Scooter ate it and…No, Aunt Kara doesn’t want to borrow Scooter.”

  “No, I don’t,” Kara said in mock seriousness, “because I sometimes forget and leave my shoes on the floor.”

  “Well,” Noel said with a dramatic sigh, “I just don’t know where we’re going to get you a baby. My mommy said that she wished that you had a husband and a baby, and that Uncle Richard had a wife and a baby, so that everyone would have someone to love that was their very own. She said that was ’portant.”

  “Yes, it is,” Kara said quietly. “It’s very important, but it takes some people longer than others to find that special person to love. And sometimes, well, sometimes, a woman like me might get a baby to love, but not have a husband, too.”

  “No kidding?” Matt said, frowning. “No, that wouldn’t work. Then the baby would only have a mom, but there wouldn’t be a dad for it. That’s not a good idea, Aunt Kara. There has to be a dad to do men stuff with. Joey told me that’s what it’s called, what he and Uncle Jack do together—men stuff. I do men stuff with my dad. Even Noel does men stuff with our dad sometimes. That’s ’portant, too.”

  Out of the mouths of babes, Kara thought wearily. It was as though Matt was echoing what she’d heard from Andrew on the subject. Whenever he’d spoken of the baby in the nursery being adopted, Andrew had placed great emphasis on that special little guy having a mother and a father, a complete family.

  No, no, no, she wasn’t going to start reexamining her decision to adopt the baby. She’d thought it all through and she knew it was the right thing to do. She wouldn’t allow Andrew’s opinions or those of a seven-year-old boy to jangle her, cause her to question her intentions.

  “Well, if I had a baby, but no daddy for him,” she said, “I could borrow daddies from the family, Matt. You’d loan my baby your daddy once in a while, wouldn’t you?”

  “I guess,” Matt said, not sounding entirely certain. “Maybe. Sometimes.”

  “Wait! Wait!” Noel said, jumping up and down.

  “What! What!” Kara said, laughing.

  “Well, you see,” Noel said, stopping her imitation of a pogo stick, “we all came over here tonight ’cause Grandpa is going to ’plain about our new uncle Andrew. We have a new uncle, Aunt Kara. I don’t think you know that, but we really do.

  “Anyway, he got lost or somethin’ when he was little, but now he got found and he’s our uncle. He doesn’t have a wife and a baby, either. I asked my mom if he did and she said he didn’t. So! Our new uncle Andrew can be your husband and the daddy for the baby you’re going to go find someplace. There. It’s all fixed.”

  “I…” Kara started, then inwardly fumed when sudden tears filled her eyes.

  “Come on, Matt,” Noel said, “I want to watch the video. It’s getting to the good part where Ariel gets her voice back and can marry the prince guy.”

  “Dumb, dumb, dumb,” Matt grumbled, but followed his sister across the room.

  Kara leaned her head against the wooden slats of the rocker, moving the chair slowly with one foot.

  It’s all fixed, she thought dryly. Right. She’d just up and marry Andrew Malone, and there they’d be—Andrew, Kara and the precious miracle over in the hospital nursery, who was waiting for a nurturing home and parents to love him forever. There they’d be—a complete family.

  Kara sighed.

  Oh, the sweet innocence of being seven. Noel had it all figured out now, and to her, that was that. A done deal. Aunt Kara would marry this new uncle Andrew, and all would be right with the world.

  Well, at least she knew that Andrea and John planned to welcome Andrew into the MacAllister family, given that they had already told their children about their new uncle. She could only hope, for Andrew’s sake, that the remainder of the family embraced him that quickly and warmly.

  Providing, of course, that Andrew returned to Ventura to take his rightful place within the family.

  And if Andrew did come back? What would that mean for her? She would have a lover, a no-demands, no-commitments affair with Andrew Malone?

  Why did the image of that suddenly seem so empty, so hollow, so incredibly sad? She should be experiencing a rush of joy and anticipation at the mere idea of Andrew returning to her, but…

  Kara lifted her head and swept her gaze over the room, drinking in the sight of the beautiful children gathered there.

  They were all so loved, she thought. And they each had a mother and a father, were part of a unit, a family. They’d welcome her baby, her son, she knew they would, as would their parents, but her baby would have no father to call his own, could only borrow one on occasion from the MacAllister clan.

  The memory of Andrew holding the baby in the nursery flitted through Kara’s mind, and she smiled.

  How marvelous they had looked together, she thought. The big strong man and the tiny child, who was held so safely in those powerful arms. Andrew would make a wonderful husband and father, be there for a wife, a son, a daughter, through the good times and bad.

  They could weather whatever storms came their way, because they would stand together, an unbeatable force. Their home would overflow with love and laughter.

  Fresh tears filled Kara’s eyes and she sighed again, this time in sorrowful defeat.

  There was nowhere to hide now, she thought miserably. Andrew had managed to chip away at her protective wall, brick by emotional brick.

  She had shielded herself from love, from the frightening risk of losing her heart to a man, because she had been held fast in the iron grip of the past, in the clutches of a boy, Rick, who should have been dismissed from her mind years before.

  She had brought that nightmare to the surface and was free of it for all time. It was over at long last.

  But now she stood alone, vulnerable, exposed to heartache and loneliness. The truth was before her in crystal clarity, refusing to be ignored.

  She was in love with Andrew Malone.

  Two tears spilled onto Kara’s cheeks and she dashed them away before any of the children saw that she was upset.

  She was so foolish, she thought. She’d fallen in love with a man who never intended to love anyone, who wanted no part of a serious relationship, who didn’t need a wife and family to be complete, fulfilled.

  She was in love, truly in love, for the first time in her life, and she was consumed by the ache of a heart that was shattering into a million pieces.

  She had planned to tell the family tonight about her hopes to adopt the baby, since everyone was gathered together. But she didn’t have the emotional fortitude to do it this evening. Her news would have to wait until another time, because she was a breath away from bursting into tears over her own stupidity, and lack of sophistication, and starry-eyed dreams about a future with Andrew.

  A future that would never become a reality.

  Because Andrew Malone did not and never would love her as she loved him.

  Chapter 14

  Just before eight o’clock that night, Andrew opened his apartment door to admit a beaming Clara, who had been announced by the doorman on duty downstairs. Clara breezed past Andrew, and he caught the heavy mingled odor of liquor and expensive perfume.


  Clara dropped the armload of newspapers she had been carrying onto the coffee table and clasped her hands beneath her chin, smiling at Andrew as he walked forward slowly to stand by the end of the table.

  “You beautiful clever boy,” Clara said. “You outsmarted those high-and-mighty MacAllisters, didn’t you? Oh, I am so proud of you, Andrew.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Clara,” Andrew said wearily.

  “Don’t be modest, dear,” she said, settling into a chair. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Robert MacAllister faked a heart attack when you confronted him at that ritzy party in order to create a smokescreen, a means to keep you away from him, unable to make your demands.”

  Andrew shook his head and sat on one end of the sofa, frowning at his aunt.

  “Please continue,” he said dryly, waving one hand in the air. “This is fascinating.”

  “Well, it’s easy to see what Robert did,” Clara said, “and, of course, with his money and power he was able to get the doctors to release phony medical updates on his condition and all that nonsense. But you put that marvelous mind of yours into action, didn’t you, darling? Yes, you certainly did.”

  Clara jumped to her feet and riffled through the newspapers, finally grabbing up the tabloid and holding it in both hands to show Andrew the picture of him and Kara in the lobby of the hospital.

  “You seduced Kara MacAllister,” Clara said, her eyes dancing with excitement, “to get inside the MacAllister family that had circled the wagons around their mighty leader.”

  Andrew struggled to keep his rising temper in check as Clara dropped the paper and returned to her chair. She crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap.

  “Tell me everything,” she said. “What did you settle for? Money? Oh, how delicious. I know you’re quite wealthy, but a person can never have too much money. Or did you decide to go for a permanent place within the MacAllister family? That’s what I’m hoping you did. That’s where we belong.

  “We’ll move to Ventura and be part of high society, where the MacAllisters belong. Oh, I can hardly wait. Tell me, Andrew. What did you get?”

  Andrew narrowed his eyes. “The truth. That’s what I got, Clara. The truth about what really happened between my mother and Robert MacAllister that long-ago summer.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Clara said, frowning. “You knew the truth before you left here. Robert took advantage of your sweet innocent mother, then abandoned her when she discovered that she was carrying his baby. What more could you possibly need to know?”

  “Knock it off, Clara,” Andrew said, lunging to his feet. “I realize why what I said is going right over your head. You don’t know what the word truth means. You’ve told so many lies over the years that you probably can’t separate fact from fiction any longer.”

  “What are you raving about, dear?” Clara said, raising her eyebrows. “Facts are facts. Sally raised you entirely alone with no emotional or financial support from Robert.”

  “Because he didn’t know I existed!” Andrew yelled. “Robert MacAllister had no idea that my mother was pregnant when that summer camp ended. She didn’t know at that point, either, as far as that goes.

  “You fed so many lies to me, Clara, kept them coming, festering inside of me. I never questioned what you were saying, never figured out the timetable of the ending of camp and when I was born. My birth date makes it impossible for anyone to have known that my mother was pregnant when the camp was over.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Clara smoothed the material of her skirt over her knee and averted her eyes from Andrew’s angry stare. “Sally most certainly did know she was pregnant. Some women can tell very early on, and Sally was one of them. She was even having morning sickness while we were still in those mountains.”

  “You just don’t quit, do you?” Andrew said quietly, shaking his head. “Clara, I know the truth. I know about the devious stories you concocted, then told to my mother and to Robert. Lies. All of them were lies. Both Robert and my mother believed you and felt betrayed and used by the other.”

  “That’s not true!” Clara shouted. “The MacAllisters got to you, didn’t they? They brainwashed you with a farfetched fairy tale, then sent you packing empty-handed. My God, you’re as gullible as your mother was.”

  Clara took a deep breath, then pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks.

  “I’ve got to calm down,” she said. “Yes, all right, I’m fine now. It’s not too late to salvage this situation, Andrew. You simply drive back down to Ventura and inform Robert MacAllister that you’ve thought it all through and you’re no longer buying his phony explanation that he didn’t know that Sally was pregnant. Yes, that’s the ticket. Thank goodness one of us is thinking clearly.

  “You can threaten to give the press all the juicy intimate details of what took place between you and that—whatever her name is—Kara, the MacAllister woman you seduced. Oh, it’s perfect and it will do the trick. I know it will.”

  “You couldn’t stand it, could you?” Andrew said, his voice low and steely edged. “When you realized that a fine young man had fallen in love with your sister, with sweet innocent Sally, you became incensed, made up your evil mind to destroy what those two had together, because you couldn’t bear the thought that someone loved Sally and no one loved you.”

  “That’s absolutely crazy,” Clara said, meeting Andrew’s gaze again. “I was attempting to protect my poor little sister from—”

  “I know what you did,” Andrew hollered. “You shattered loves and lives that summer, sentenced my mother to a lifetime of loneliness and me to growing up without a father. Admit it, Clara. Damn it, for once in your liquor-drenched life, would you tell the truth?”

  “I won’t listen to any more of this malarkey,” Clara said, getting to her feet. “When you come to your senses and realize that the MacAllisters have twisted your mind with their lies, I’ll accept your apology for these terrible accusations. Then I’ll help you make plans to rectify the situation in Ventura, get what is coming to us…to you.”

  “Sit down,” Andrew said. “You’re not leaving here yet.”

  Clara did as he asked, the color draining from her face.

  “I don’t like the tone of voice you’re using with me, Andrew. I deserve some respect here,” Clara said, her voice not quite steady. “I am your aunt, the one who raised you after our beloved Sally died. I’m willing to forgive you for falsely accusing me of things I certainly didn’t do, but I demand that you speak to me in a pleasant manner.”

  “How do you live with yourself?” Andrew said, dragging a hand through his hair. “Actually you can’t, can you? You drink to drown the guilty memories of what you did so many years ago.

  “I want you out of my home and out of my life, Clara. You’ve done enough damage to last three lifetimes, and I never want to see you again. As gentle and loving as my mother was, she might have forgiven you, but I’m not Sally and I will never forgive you.

  “Actually I feel sorry for you, Clara. You’re pitiful. You don’t have a clue how to be happy, and you can’t bear it when people around you are. That’s sick. It’s sad and it’s sick.”

  “Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!” Clara shrieked, getting to her feet. “I was the beautiful Malone sister. I was so pretty and outgoing, had men flocking around me from the time I was a young teenager. I was the one who turned heads, who deserved to be loved, not your mousy little insipid mother. She didn’t even wear makeup or know how to dress properly.

  “Robert MacAllister should have fallen in love with me that summer. I spotted him the first day of camp and made up my mind that he would fall in love with me, that I would become a MacAllister, have everything their world offered. Me. It was supposed to be mine, all of it. Sally stole what was rightfully mine!”

  Andrew nodded slowly. “And so, eaten alive by jealousy and rage, you set out to destroy what Sally and Robert had together.”

  “Y
es!” Clara curled her hands into tight fists at her sides. “Oh, they were so gullible, the two of them. They believed every word I said, even allowed me to comfort each of them in turn. I also managed to keep them apart so they couldn’t possibly talk it through, realize that what I had told them was all lies. I had brains along with my beauty, you see, Andrew. I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.”

  “But you couldn’t stop there, could you?” Andrew said. “When I was growing up, you’d get me alone, poison my mind against my father, cause me to vow never to love because look what love had done to my mother.”

  “I was afraid you might convince your mother to tell you who your father was,” Clara said, a frantic edge to her voice. “Afraid you’d seek him out and discover the truth. Afraid Robert might make a place for you in his life before you were old enough to understand that I deserved to be right beside you when he did. I do deserve that, Andrew. I do. I do.

  “When you became a man, you were so independent, moved through life as though you didn’t need anyone special, anyone close to you. I was terrified that if I told you your father’s identity, you’d shrug and dismiss it as unimportant, do nothing to get what was rightfully ours—yours.

  “Then the story came out in the newspapers regarding the MacAllister reunion, and I was so furious about how much Robert had that I threw caution to the wind and decided the time had come for you to know who your father was. I was right to do that, Andrew, I was. You went there, to Ventura, confronted Robert and…But now they’ve turned you against me. It’s not fair. It’s not.”

  “Ah, Clara, you’re so pathetic,” Andrew said, fatigue in his voice. “I don’t have the energy to be angry at you anymore, I guess. It’s pointless. You need help, professional help. I’m just grateful that my mother never learned what an evil sick person you are. She loved you, Clara.”