HAVE BABY, NEED BEAU

by Rita Herron

  "I don't mean I love you, Seth. I mean, that's what you should have told Mimi."

  "But I … I did."

  "You said those words?" Alison asked.

  Seth thought back to every thing he'd done to win Mimi. The dates, the flowers, the great sex, the planning of the baby's room. "I … I guess I never actually said the words. I showed her, though. I thought that was enough."

  Hannah smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, Seth, it's not enough. Women want the words."

  Alison nodded. Wiley and Jake looked glum, but they nodded as well.

  Seth bobbed his head. "All right. I'll call her."

  The Hartwell clan shook their heads in unison.

  "Not good enough?"

  "Nope. You'll have to do it in person," Alison said.

  "Yeah, and it may take some doing to convince her, since you botched it the first time," Hannah said, a trace of disgust in her voice.

  "I wish I'd read a book on this," Seth grumbled.

  "You and your books," Hannah said.

  "Maybe you should try being a little more spontaneous," Alison suggested.

  "I did. I took her somewhere different on all our dates and bought new clothes. I even…" No, he would not admit to buying that underwear. "I even bought treats for her dog."

  Hannah pointed to the highlighted sections in the dating book. "You took her to these places, right?"

  Seth nodded, feeling lost. "I said I tried being spontaneous. I'm not very good at it."

  "He sounds hopeless," Alison added with a frown.

  "Cut the man some slack." Jake stood and patted his shoulder in a show of male solidarity. "You learn as you go, man. Take a pointer from a detective. Next time you make a plan, don't write it down. Paper trail—leaves evidence."

  "What did you do?" Seth asked. "To win Hannah, I mean."

  Jake blushed and ducked his head. "I bought her a bride doll."

  Seth frowned in thought. "You think Mimi would like a bride doll?"

  "No," Hannah and Alison both said at once.

  "Hannah collects dolls," Jake clarified. "And it had to do with that hope chest."

  "Ahh." Mimi had received baby things in her hope chest, and he'd already tried that route with the maternity clothes. Not exactly romantic. But he'd wanted to prove he'd be a good father. He suddenly had an epiphany. What about showing her that he would be a good husband?

  His parents had given him the monetary things, the education, but never the love, the affection. Had he been doing the same thing with Mimi? Committing his house, his money, but not his heart?

  Jeez. He sank onto the sofa and lowered his head into his hands. Defeat settled over him. How could he prove his love?

  Mimi didn't collect dolls. And he certainly hadn't had a role model for a loving relationship. His parents were about as loving as tree stumps.

  Alison slipped a business card from her wallet. "When you convince her, Seth, I want you and Mimi to be my first customers." He read the name of her bridal shop and nodded.

  "I have to talk to her."

  "Won't do any good now," Wiley mumbled.

  "Why not? I won't let myself believe it's too late."

  Hannah smiled. "That's the spirit."

  "She's driving to Grammy Rose's for the night," Alison said. "She was packing the Miata when I drove by."

  Wiley clucked his teeth. "I've got to talk to Mimi about that little Miata."

  "I was thinking the same thing. It's not safe for a baby, is it?" Seth asked.

  "You're not taking Mimi's sports car away from her," Alison said.

  Wiley looked chagrined again. He slung an arm around Seth. "All right. She can keep the Miata, but you'll need a good family vehicle, too. Listen, son—I can call you son, right?"

  "Well, yeah, sure."

  "Good, about time we got some men in this family to even things out." Wiley laughed. "Now, I can cut you a good deal on a Cadillac SUV. It's a real beaut, sportylike, got less than ten thousand miles. Been driven by this little old lady from Hopewell, just drove it around town. Never even taken it on the highway…"

  * * *

  Mimi blinked back another onset of tears. She'd never been more miserable in her life than she'd been this week. Damn Seth for taking her out and letting her get used to him.

  For making her fall in love with him.

  She finished packing her car for an overnight trip to her grandmother's when she noticed the message light blinking on her answering machine. She wondered if Seth had called and hurriedly stabbed the button.

  "Miss Hartwell, this is Don Wagner, the director of Scandalous, calling. We were so disappointed you couldn't join our show and really want some local talent in the production. So we discussed several possibilities and have an offer for you. We're writing a vixen redhead named Cassandra into the show and think you'll be perfect for the part. You have the face and the talent. She's going to be a pregnant stripper who slept with her best friend's boyfriend. When she has the baby, her friend kidnaps it. I won't go into all the scenarios, but we'd like you to come in Monday and discuss the details."

  Mimi's head spun as the message wound down. The director listed his phone number and gave her another wave of compliments before he hung up. The realization that she'd just been offered a lead role in the show, an even bigger part than the one she'd originally auditioned for, filtered through her brain and she felt like shouting. She couldn't wait to tell her family. To tell Seth.

  No, she wouldn't be running to Seth.

  Confusion filled her. Here was the chance she'd wanted, the chance to make it big. And she could use the income to help raise her baby.

  She sank onto the bed. Only, the part sounded as if it would take a lot of hours, and although the character sounded fun, she also sounded a little seedy. Other reservations kicked in, and her gaze fell on the hope chest at the foot of her bed. Why didn't she feel as excited as she'd expected? Who would take care of her baby when she was filming? Although she dearly loved her dad and his wacky advertisements, sometimes she and Hannah and Alison had been slightly embarrassed by some of his outlandish publicity stunts. Some actresses actually got slated as really being like the characters they portrayed. How would her child feel when he saw her acting as a stripper on a show entitled Scandalous?

  * * *

  Chapter 19

  « ^ »

  Sunday crawled by for Seth. He itched to finish the nursery, but he decided to wait until he and Mimi could pick out the rest of the room's decor together. That is, if she agreed to marry him.

  Insecurities stabbed at him, and he wondered momentarily if he would be forever messing up with her, disappointing her in some way. But his life felt empty without her, the colorless walls in his house like a mausoleum. He had never fully understood depression, except in a clinical way, but if how he'd felt the past week and a half without Mimi was any indication, he now had an inkling of its power. There was a whole lot more to life and dealing with people than what was written in books. He'd take Jake's advice on marriage—learn as he went.

  And pray his knees didn't wear out from scraping them on the ground every time he knelt to beg forgiveness. With Mimi, he had a feeling it would be often. He just prayed be could make her love him one day.

  He thumbed through the Sunday paper, reading the business section and stock reports, but he dropped the paper and various sections scattered. His gaze landed on the Pets section and he had a brainstorm. Mimi didn't collect dolls, but she did collect animals.

  He grabbed the insert and began to scan the contents.

  * * *

  Mimi leaned back in the porch swing beside her grandmother and smiled as the two of them flipped through the old photo albums, her grandmother regaling her with tale after tale of family members, including escapades from her own childhood. Mimi savored the stories and her grandmother's wit while she logged the stories in her mind to pass on to her own children.

  "This is the day each of you girls were born." Grammy Rose pointed to photo
s of Hannah and Alison and Mimi's birth pictures. Mimi stared at the photo, one hand covering her stomach. Would her baby resemble her? Seth? Would their child spend one Christmas with her, the next with Seth? One birthday at one house, the next year… And what if Seth moved on and married someone else? What if his wife didn't want their baby?

  "And here's your first birthday party. You entertained everyone with a little jig and you'd barely learned to walk. Then when you were two, you made mustard handprints on the walls for an art show."

  Mimi laughed, wondering if her own child would possess her creative spark. If so, she'd warn Seth—for his weekends with the baby.

  "And when you were five, you put on a magic show. Pulled a real live turtle out of a hat."

  Mimi noticed the frown on Hannah's face as she stood in the background. "Did Hannah always look so sad?"

  Her grandmother's smile faded. "She was a quiet one, always kept things to herself, studied all the time. But you … mercy, you were born chattering."

  "I always admired Hannah," Mimi admitted. "I wanted to be more like her."

  Grammy Rose curled a gnarled hand around Mimi's. "Yes, Hannah is special, but so are you in your very own way. We all have our gifts, Mimi." Tears glistened in her grandmother's gray eyes. "Appreciate who you are. You were always the one who made us laugh, who brought joy into our lives with your vibrant smile."

  Mimi remembered her grandmother's letter from the hope chest.

  "But you also had the most compassion for people and for animals. And I believe you're the one meant to carry on the family stories."

  "I'd love to do that," Mimi said, touched. She glanced through the album, smiling at the pictures of their father with them, her heart tugging at the obvious absence of photos of her mother. She didn't want her child to look at an album one day and feel that same absence of a parent. If she took the acting job, she'd be working long hours, maybe traveling a lot. She might even miss some of the important moments in her child's life. Like the first time she walked or talked.

  She wanted to be the kind of mother she'd wanted as a child, the type she'd never had. She wanted her child to admire her.

  Grammy tucked a loose curl behind Mimi's ear. "I know you didn't drive all the way up here to see me just to look at old photographs. Talk to me, hon."

  Mimi smiled. "Did Dad or Hannah tell you about me and Seth and the baby?"

  Grammy nodded, her solemn eyes full of wisdom. "You have a lot on your plate right now. What can I do to help?"

  "I'm confused, Gram."

  "Do you love Seth, honey?

  Mimi swallowed, her heart squeezing. "Well, yes, I love him, but…"

  "But you're afraid."

  Mimi swallowed, tracing her hand around the edges of the photo album.

  "Do you think your young man loves you?"

  "I don't know. I think so, but his feelings are all so tangled up with the baby."

  "That's the way families are, you know. Once you bring a child into it, the love is all tangled together. But just because you and Seth came at your relationship a little backward doesn't mean it can't be true love."

  Mimi nodded. "What if I disappoint him, though? His family thinks we're wrong for each other, that I'll embarrass him because I'm not a doctor or a professional."

  The age spots on Grammy Rose's hands darkened in the afternoon sunlight slanting through the porch trellis. "If they feel that way, that's their problem, not yours. Be proud of who you are, then others will see that pride and love you the same way."

  Maybe that was her problem, Mimi realized. It wasn't that Seth didn't love her, it was that she had never loved herself the way she should. She'd blamed herself when her mother left and tried to overcompensate for all the sadness in the house by joking around, but she'd never forgiven herself. And she'd compared herself to Hannah, which was ridiculous. There were all kinds of people in the world, one type no better than another. The differences sometimes complemented each other.

  Just as she and Seth would complement each other. They would each bring different things to their child and to a marriage. Seth's words echoed in her mind. You make me feel alive. And he made her feel complete.

  "Grammy, when you gave me the hope chest, did you have some kind of premonition that I would end up pregnant?"

  Grammy smiled. "Heavens no, hon. I just knew you were a natural mother, that's all." She urged Mimi to stand. "Come on, let's finish this talk while we try my new recipe."

  "Is it low-fat, Gram?" Mimi patted her slightly swollen stomach. "I do have to watch the weight, you know."

  Grammy chortled. "Pshaw. You're eating for two now. I say that baby needs a healthy dose of my pecan praline fudge cake."

  Mimi followed her grandmother into the kitchen. She could already feel the pounds rolling onto her hips.

  "You know," Grammy said as she pulled out ingredients from her old-fashioned pie safe. "I wish that little teahouse was still open. Remember the one down in Pine Hollow we used to go to when you were little?"

  Mimi placed the eggs on her grandmother's battered wooden work surface. "Yes, the one where the kids put on shows. I got up and sang Mary Poppins songs."

  "That's the one. We used to have so much fun there on Sunday afternoons. I wish there was some place like that around. I'd love to take the baby when she gets bigger."

  "She?" Mimi narrowed her eyes at her grandmother. "Are you psychic, Grammy?"

  "No, that was just a figure of speech. Reckon I'm so used to having granddaughters I don't think in terms of boys."

  Mimi laughed.

  "Anyway, I tried to get your cousin Rebecca interested, but she wants to open a bookstore in Sugar Hill."

  Mimi froze, one hand on the box of cocoa, an idea forming in her mind. Yes, that was the answer. It would be perfect. She rushed over and hugged her grandmother. "Oh, Grammy, you're brilliant."

  Grammy Rose looked stunned. "Mercy, child, what did I do?"

  "I'll explain later." Mimi tossed her apron on the counter. "Do you mind if I make a couple of phone calls before we get started?"

  Grammy shook her head, then Mimi went to set her plan in motion. Once she worked things out, she intended to have a long talk with Seth.

  * * *

  Monday morning Seth knocked on Mimi's door, ready to set his plan in motion. He'd written it all out the night before, then burned the papers in the fireplace, so he wouldn't leave a trace of evidence. It was the best he could do at being spontaneous.

  He rang again, praying Mimi hadn't totally given up on him and had decided to avoid him altogether. Finally he heard footsteps, then the door inched open. She looked half-asleep, her wild hair tousled, a satiny robe clutched to her chin.

  "Seth?"

  "I came to give you this." He knelt and picked up the box of squirming puppies. The homely little mutts had kept him up all night with their crying. He'd told himself it was good practice for when the baby came, all those night feedings.

  Mimi stared at them, then at him, dumbfounded. "You brought me puppies?"

  "Yes, because I love you."

  Her eyes widened. "What did you say?"

  "I said I love you, Mimi Hartwell." Then he brushed her lips with his, turned and sauntered away.

  He heard Mimi yell behind him, "You know I can't possibly keep them all."

  "We'll find them good homes!" he called back just before he climbed into his car and drove away.

  * * *

  Seth had said he loved her.

  What the hell was the man up to? Was this another plan he'd devised on his computer? Dropping a batch of homeless puppies off and saying he loved her, then walking away? Of all the infuriating, sneaky, wonderful things to do … and he'd said we'll find them homes, as if he planned to help her.

  He'd also said he loved her. He'd actually said it. Then why had he left?

  The puppies yelped and jumped against the box, peeing and screeching and whining. They were undoubtedly the ugliest little creatures she'd ever seen, some ki
nd of cross between a rat terrier and a boxer, with small round faces and wiry hair and stubby toes.

  "You're adorable," Mimi cooed as she cuddled them in her lap. Her mind raced over the plans for the day. How the heck was she supposed to finish the details on her new venture with four little babies who needed her? And with the memory of Seth's parting words still fresh in her mind?

  Somehow, two hours later, Mimi got the puppies settled and managed to make her meeting. After the meeting, she drove home, a woman in debt but an excited one. The space next to the coffee shop had been perfect; her cousin Rebecca had been ecstatic about Mimi's idea and planned to come the following week to start renovations. Mimi had spoken with the owner of the café, and he'd agreed to sell to her.

  She would knock out the wall between his café—no, her café—and Rebecca's bookstore and combine the bookstore and coffee shop. They would have a special-events corner for entertainment. Mimi would offer storytelling and music programs for children, even some combination family/music programs for kids and adults, as well as offer the space to Seth for his support-group sessions where she could lead the cooking activities and maybe some art classes. Seth wouldn't even need his parents' funding. She slipped into the shower, wondering what Seth would think about her new business plan.

  Plan. She actually had a career plan of her own now.

  Pride warmed her, filled her with a giddiness that made her laugh. But a scraping sound jarred her. She paused and cut off the water, wrapped a bath towel around her and tiptoed to the bedroom. She peered through the window and shielded her eyes from the bright glare of the streetlight, then spotted an airplane flying precariously low, dragging some kind of sign, lit up like Christmas-tree lights. Probably one of her father's stunts.

  She read the letters. Good heavens, the sign wasn't an advertisement for Wiley's used cars. The big flag was waving, "I love you, Mimi. Will you marry me?"

  The faint sound of music drifted from below, then a howling. The wind. Another storm brewing? A cat maybe? A screech owl?

  She scanned the ground and spotted Seth standing below the window, a portable CD player beside him. He was dressed in a black tux and held a guitar, strumming the chords off-key. A light snow had begun to fall, dotting his hair with white crystals. He looked handsome and sweet and so sexy her heart nearly burst.