A Home for Her Baby

by Gabrielle Meyer

  “Please don’t quit, Piper. I know you need the job, and, more importantly, I know you want the job.”

  Just the thought of leaving made her want to weep, but it was for the best—wasn’t it?

  “We’re adults,” Max said. “Can’t we find a way for this to work?”

  Piper clasped her hands on her lap, but didn’t respond right away.

  Max took a deep breath. “I’ve thought about what I would say to you when, or if, I ever had the chance.”

  “You don’t need to say anything.” She shook her head, not wanting to discuss the past—at least, not now, not when she was still reeling from his sudden appearance in her life.

  “I made a lot of mistakes, Piper, and I have a lot of regrets, but when I look back at my life, the biggest regret I have is how I treated you.”

  She didn’t want to hear what he had to say, but she couldn’t walk away now. There was a part of her that didn’t want to forgive him. His betrayal had wounded her to her core. A simple apology didn’t feel like enough—yet what more could he offer?

  Gabrielle Meyer lives in central Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River with her husband and four young children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing fictional stories inspired by real people and events. Gabrielle can be found at www.gabriellemeyer.com, where she writes about her passion for history, Minnesota and her faith.

  Books by Gabrielle Meyer

  Love Inspired

  A Mother’s Secret

  Unexpected Christmas Joy

  A Home for Her Baby

  Love Inspired Historical

  A Mother in the Making

  A Family Arrangement

  Inherited: Unexpected Family

  The Gift of Twins

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

  A HOME FOR HER BABY

  Gabrielle Meyer

  And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

  —1 Peter 4:8

  To my daughter, Maryn. I’m always amazed by your thoughtfulness, mad organizational skills and your ability to confidently rise to any challenge. I love you, Maisy-May.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dear Reader

  Excerpt from An Unlikely Proposal by Toni Shiloh

  Chapter One

  Max Evans stepped out of his Lexus and stared up at the large Warren House Bed & Breakfast. When he left Timber Falls ten years ago, he never imagined he’d be back. The truth was, he had hoped he wouldn’t have to return. At least, not this soon. Coming back meant he’d failed, and failure was not an option. At least not for an Evans man. But Max didn’t like who he’d become, and it was easy to pinpoint when it all started to go wrong. Maybe, by coming back to where he took a wrong turn, he could backtrack and make a better choice this time.

  As long as he didn’t choose to run again. Sometimes, it was easier to walk away than face failure.

  The day was hot for the beginning of September and he had been driving for two days from Buffalo, New York. All he wanted was a shower and a place to crash inside the air-conditioned house—though he wasn’t sure it would be quite so easy. There were still a lot of details he needed to oversee before he could sleep.

  He went to the back of his Lexus and took out his large suitcase. He’d leave the rest inside the trunk and deal with it later.

  “Max Evans?” a boy asked from a neighboring yard. He and his friends were tossing a football, but all of them stopped to stare at Max.

  “Whoa!” said another. “You are Max Evans!”

  Max smiled, but didn’t encourage the boys to come over to say hi. He’d have to get used to the attention being back in his hometown, but right now, he needed some rest.

  “Is it true you quit?” asked a third boy. “If I was in the NFL, I wouldn’t quit.”

  Max didn’t want to engage them, but he couldn’t ignore them, either. “I retired,” he said.

  After playing in the NFL for six years, he’d been traded four times and suffered two serious injuries. The last one had been a concussion, shortly followed by talk of another trade. Max decided to retire before he was dropped, or before he had another injury.

  “Are you staying there?” asked the first boy, pointing at the bed-and-breakfast.

  Max glanced up at the massive house again and let the truth sink in. “I own this place.”

  “You’re my neighbor?” asked the second boy. “Whoa!” he said again. “I’m gonna tell my mom.” The boys took off toward the house, calling out to the boy’s mom as they ran.

  Max wondered if he knew who she was. Would she be happy to know Max was next door? Or would she forbid her son from talking to him? He didn’t usually care what the public thought about him, but it was different in Timber Falls, Minnesota. Here, his friends and neighbors were more like family. And he’d always cared what his family thought about him. It had almost destroyed him when he messed up and disappointed his dad—and the whole town—ten years ago the night before the championship game. If he could go back, he would have said no to the college party, the alcohol and especially the girl.

  He owed the town a state football championship title, which was the reason he’d chosen to finally return. The high school team needed a head football coach and with his recent retirement, he had all the time in the world. The school agreed to keep the news of his coaching job a secret until his arrival to prevent undue attention on the student players. Max didn’t want them to have to deal with the publicity before he could be there to shoulder the burden for them.

  The boys from next door were still loud enough to hear as Max walked up the sidewalk toward the house, a smile on his face. The whole neighborhood was like a page out of a Norman Rockwell calendar. Mature trees stretched over Third Street, their branches intertwining with the ones across the road. Up and down the street, Victorian-era homes graced the historic neighborhood. Each was painted in unique colors, boasting large windows, turrets and wraparound porches. But it was the Warren House that was the crown jewel, though it hadn’t always been this pretty. Max remembered the house from his childhood. It had been run-down and abandoned for as long as he could remember. He had ridden his bike past it almost every day on the way to Piper Pierson’s house.

  Just thinking about Piper made the smile disappear from Max’s face. She had been the one person in the world who knew him better than he knew himself, and the girl he thought he’d marry.

  Now she was the woman who probably despised him more than any other. In a town as small as Timber Falls, it would be impossible to avoid her. The likelihood of seeing her again was the one thing that had made Max hesitate to return. He’d hurt her more than anyone else that fateful night and she’d be the hardest person to face.

  But he couldn’t run away forever; at least, that’s what he kept telling himself. It was the only way to convince himself to come back to town.

  An older woman appeared at the window in the heavy front door. She waved and smiled as she turned the
knob to open it for him.

  “Hello, Max!” Mrs. Roberta Anderson wore a floral apron tied around her waist. The middle-aged woman had a few careworn wrinkles at the corners of her twinkling eyes, but that was the only difference in her appearance.

  “Mrs. Anderson.” Max grinned, happy to see a familiar face. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

  “Didn’t your mother tell you? I was hired to cook for the bed-and-breakfast.”

  “I didn’t know, but I’m happy you’re here.” On the outside, he smiled, but inside, he was cringing. What had he been thinking when he bought this rambling old house? The first time his mother suggested it, he’d laughed at the idea, but then she told him the owner was a desperate widow who needed to sell. How could he say no? He had wanted to redeem the mistakes of his past and show Timber Falls he was truly sorry. What better way than to invest in a business, and help an old widow? Besides, as the new head coach of the high school football team, he needed a place to stay—at least for this first season. The bed-and-breakfast had a third-floor apartment where he would live.

  Max walked up the steps to the immense porch and received a hug from one of his mother’s dearest friends.

  “I can’t believe she didn’t tell you,” Mrs. Anderson said.

  “My mom took care of all the details.” He winked at her. “I just signed the check.”

  She laughed and then stepped back to get a good look at him. “With my Henry gone, I needed to find a way to support myself.” Her eyes became serious behind her glasses. “If it hadn’t been for you, young man, I wouldn’t have this job, so I can’t thank you enough. It came at the perfect time.”

  “Don’t thank me.” Max wasn’t comfortable taking credit where credit wasn’t due. If his mother hadn’t persisted, he wouldn’t have bought the bed-and-breakfast. “My mom should get the praise.” After the season was over, he’d have to make a more permanent decision. Maybe he’d sell the bed-and-breakfast and move on. Maybe he’d stay. He wasn’t sure.

  She opened the door wider. “It looks like you need some meat on your bones. Since I’m living in the apartment on the main floor, you can expect a hot breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to cook for me.” Max stepped into the elegant entry hall and closed the oak door behind him. The cooler air was tinged with the smell of lemon polish, old house and fresh flowers. A vase of late-summer daisies stood on a narrow table to his left.

  “The bed-and-breakfast opens for business tomorrow,” Mrs. Anderson said as they passed from the entry hall into the spacious foyer. “I’ll be cooking for the guests. It won’t be any trouble to cook for you, too.”

  “The house isn’t open for business yet?”

  “The final renovations happened last week. Tomorrow’s the grand opening. We’re finishing up all the last-minute details now.”

  Tomorrow was also the first day he’d start coaching the Timber Falls High School team. They had already been practicing for a couple weeks, though Max hadn’t been able to come any sooner. He’d be there for their first away game tomorrow evening. It would be strange to return to the high school field after all these years.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Max asked Mrs. Anderson. “I don’t know how to run a bed-and-breakfast, but I’m willing to learn.”

  “You don’t need to do a thing,” she said. “That’s why you have a staff.”

  It was the one stipulation he’d given his mother when she suggested he buy the place. He didn’t want to deal with the day-to-day operations. All he knew was football—not hospitality. She said she’d take care of hiring a general manager and a cook and, apparently, she had.

  “If there’s anything I can do,” he said, genuinely wanting to help if he could, “just let me know.”

  “You’ll want to get settled in your apartment.” Mrs. Anderson pointed to the grand staircase. The wood railing gleamed in the sunshine spilling through the lead glass windows. An elegant floral carpet runner covered the steps and accented the painted walls. “There’s a set of steps in the middle of the second-floor hallway that lead to the third—” A timer rang somewhere deep within the house. “I hope you don’t mind finding it on your own,” she said, “but I have a pan of cookies I need to get out of the oven.”

  Before he could answer, she was gone.

  Max stood in the foyer, the opulent home spreading out before him in every direction. It was almost too much to believe that he owned the house.

  He started up the first flight of stairs, turning right at the landing, and then came to a long hall with nine or ten doors. One of the doors on the left opened and someone stepped out with a pile of white towels stacked high, covering her face. The first thing Max noticed was the tiny bump at her waist, indicating a pregnancy. She wasn’t a tall woman. She was actually quite dainty, and the pile of towels towered over her head. Was this the general manager his mother had hired? Why would she hire someone who was expecting a baby? It couldn’t be easy to run a bed-and-breakfast, even for the heartiest person.

  The lady wore a white T-shirt and a pair of denim overalls, rolled up at the ankles. On her feet she wore white Converse shoes. She was clearly unaware of his presence as she stopped at another door, balancing the towels in one hand, while turning the doorknob with the other.

  The towels wobbled and Max dropped his suitcase to rush to her side. He grabbed the towels before they toppled out of her hands.

  “Here,” he said as he placed his hands on the top and bottom of the pile, covering one of her hands. “Let me help.”

  She yelped in surprise and peeked out from behind the stack. Her large, violet-colored eyes opened wide.

  At the same moment, Max’s heart started to pound and his breath caught. “Piper.”

  She swallowed. “Max. Wh-what are you doing here?”

  He hadn’t seen her since his dad’s funeral—and even then, he’d only seen her from across the church. They hadn’t talked since that horrible night over ten years ago when she had found out he’d been kissing another girl—one he couldn’t even name. It was the worst night of his life.

  “I own this place.” He took the towels from her hands. “What are you doing here?”

  Piper’s eyes grew even wider. She wore her long dark hair in a messy bun and had a smudge of dirt on her cheek—but he’d never seen anyone as pretty as his childhood girlfriend. The passage of time had been kind to her, and she was more beautiful than ever. “You bought—?” She didn’t finish, the look of incredulity tilting her eyebrows together. “I had no idea. Your mom said the owner wanted to remain anonymous.” She let out a sigh as her shoulders drooped. “I should have known.”

  “How could you?” Max set the towels on a hall table and kept one hand on the top to steady them. “For some reason, she thought it best if both parties were anonymous. I have no idea who the old widow is, either.”

  “Old widow?” Confusion marred Piper’s pretty face.

  “The old widow who sold me the house. My mother said she was in a desperate situation.”

  Piper groaned and started to turn away from him. “How could this happen?”

  “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t quite sure what he was apologizing for, but if he knew anything, he knew he couldn’t say it enough. “Did my mother hire you and not tell you who you’d be working for?”

  “No—not really.” She looked back at him, distrust and uncertainty in her face. “She didn’t hire me. I’m the ‘desperate old widow’ you bought the house from.”

  “What?” Piper was a widow? Shock and disbelief gripped him. She’d married one of his good friends, Nick Connelly, around the same time Max’s dad died. “Nick?”

  She pressed her lips together and nodded, grief radiating from her eyes. “He died in a construction accident four months ago.”

  “Piper—” He took a step closer t
o her on instinct, but refrained from touching her. “I had no idea. No one told me. I wish I had known.”

  “If you had, what could you have done? It all happened so fast. There was nothing any of us could do.”

  Besides Piper, Nick had been Max’s best friend all throughout school. Though it had almost destroyed Max when he heard Nick and Piper had gotten married, he hadn’t been entirely surprised. After Max left, they had probably turned to each other naturally.

  He didn’t know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind. “I’m sorry for your loss, Piper. Nick was a good guy.”

  Something flashed in her eyes, but she covered it quickly. “He wasn’t perfect, but he loved me.” She lifted her chin, the stubborn spark in her eyes returning like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. If anyone could pick up the pieces of a broken life, it would be Piper.

  “I’m sure he did love you,” Max said gently. Who wouldn’t love Piper?

  She crossed her arms. “I suppose if you had known I was the owner, you probably wouldn’t have agreed to let me stay on and manage the bed-and-breakfast.” She pointed to the back of the house. “I’ll pack my things and be gone by tomorrow—”

  “No.” It was the last thing he wanted. How could he tell a pregnant widow she had to give up her job and move? Especially when it was Piper? “Stay, please. We’ll figure something out.”

  Doubt passed over her face. He didn’t blame her for not trusting him.

  * * *

  Max Evans had returned to Timber Falls. So many emotions mingled in Piper’s heart, she could hardly focus on any of them. Anger. Heartbreak. Disappointment.

  Hope.

  She swallowed as she stared at the only man she had ever completely trusted—and the one who had hurt her deeper than any other. Why would she feel hopeful seeing Max again? He had abandoned all of them ten years ago with a chip on his shoulder. Had he come home to rub their faces in his success?

  Despite her uncertainty, frustration mounted. “I’m confused,” she said as she continued to cross her arms. The hallway was wide and long, but it felt as if the papered walls were closing in on Piper. She wished she was still holding the towels; at least then she wouldn’t feel so exposed or vulnerable in front of her onetime hero. “Why are you back? Shouldn’t you be at some training camp somewhere about now? Who was the last team you were playing for? The Buffalo Bills?”