Her Secret, His Baby

“Not currently.” He set the bowls of fruit salad on the table with a muted crash.

Strike two. “Any, uh, brothers? Sisters?”

“Only child.”

She chuckled bleakly. “You with no siblings, me with no parents. It’s like, between the two of us, we have enough puzzle pieces to make a whole family.”

“A family.” His expression darkened. “Maybe under different circumstances, we could have been. Maybe I would’ve known what it was like to teach my own son how to ride a horse, how to drive a tractor.” He stared her down, so much pain in his steely gaze that it stopped her breath. “You know what? I’m not hungry, after all. Guess I’ll head back into town.”

Garrett, wait. At least eat something before you leave. She followed him, but her protests never made it any farther than her mind. She’d made a sufficiently disastrous mess of things for one night. Given his charged mood and her own emotional unpredictability, it was probably best to let him go.

He hesitated at the door, his look almost menacing. “I’ll be in touch soon. Like it or not, we have a lot to discuss. I won’t be a stranger in my child’s life, Arden.” With that, he left.

Possibly to do online research on Colorado family law and paternity rights. He’d looked furious. Was he enraged enough to challenge her for custody?

She pushed the horrible thought away. Garrett was a good man. Yes, she’d screwed up by not telling him of her own volition that he would be a father, but the baby wouldn’t be here for another few months. She prayed that was enough time to somehow make this right.

Chapter Five

Garrett pulled over at the end of Arden’s street and texted Hugh, asking if his friend could meet him in town. Fifteen minutes later, both men were parking their vehicles outside Hugh’s favorite bar. The place didn’t look like much—the lot was gravel rather than pavement and a couple of the light poles had burned-out bulbs—but Garrett had been here before and knew that the food was good and the drinks were reasonably priced.

“Thanks for joining me,” Garrett said, his words brusque but sincere. “Feels like I’ve been asking you for a lot of favors lately. Hope I didn’t interrupt you and Darcy’s dinner.”

“Nah, she’s got book club at a friend’s and isn’t even home. For tonight, it’s just us guys.” Hugh squinted at him in the dim lighting. “So this might be a good time to finally tell me what brings you to town. Besides my obvious awesomeness.”

Garrett had no idea where to begin. The astonishment over his mother’s confession was still fresh, but now there was the tangle of Arden’s deception, too. He felt battered by lies and weighty decisions he needed to make. “What would you do if Darcy ever lied to you?”

“What, you mean like about how expensive a pair of boots were?” Hugh asked.

“No. About something major.”

Shaking his head, Hugh reached for the door to the bar. “She wouldn’t do that.”

Isn’t that what Garrett had told himself twenty-four hours ago? That Arden Cade wasn’t the kind of person who would hide her pregnancy from the baby’s father? Lord, had he been wrong. But maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. Apparently the closeness he’d felt between them during their night together had been merely superficial. An illusion. What did he really know about her?

That she’s a talented photographer and a young woman who’s lost too many people in her life, that she’s scared but already loves this baby fiercely. He didn’t want to empathize with her, but he couldn’t help admiring how she’d dealt with the deaths of her best friend, her nephew and her parents. Even though he was avoiding his own mother right now, the thought of either of his folks dying one day turned his stomach and made his flesh clammy.

The men stepped inside and waited for the hostess to find them an available booth.

Amid the bar’s many neon lights, the concern on Hugh’s face was unmistakable. “I don’t want to push, but, buddy, you look like you’re gonna snap if you don’t talk to someone.”

It was a fair assessment. “Okay, but this conversation will require some time. And definitely some beer.”

* * *

“CANNOT BELIEVE YOU’RE gonna be a daddy,” Hugh slurred. It wasn’t the first time he’d made the declaration. “I assumed it would be me before you. Since I’m, you know, actually married.”

“Hey, I figured it would be you and Darcy first, too.” Accepting reality was a cyclical process, one he’d been stuck repeating all day. It was like trying to unknot gnarled fishing line—each time he thought he was making progress, he’d have to start all over again.

“Have another glass,” Hugh suggested sympathetically. He’d gone through more than half the pitcher while Garrett, now the designated driver, was busy spilling the story. Or at least an abbreviated version of it. He got through the upsetting news of his mom’s affair, which had spawned this trip, to the secret of Arden’s pregnancy. But he left aside the issue of Will needing a kidney transplant for now. It was too much for one night.

Garrett shook his head. “I don’t think a second beer is really a long-term solution.” Considering how Justin Cade had glowered at him the other day, maybe Arden’s brothers would ultimately drop him off a steep cliff and eliminate the need for long-term plans. “Look, about Arden...I don’t think she’s really eager for people to know who the father is. The details—”

“Are her business. And yours,” Hugh said firmly. “I won’t keep secrets from my wife, but don’t worry. Darcy and I won’t spread any gossip.”

“Y’all are the best,” Garrett said, genuinely grateful. For the first time in days, he felt as if he could count on someone. Life had thrown him nothing but curveballs lately, and it was nice to be reminded that he had people in his corner. Hugh was as good a friend now as he’d always been in the past.

Garrett found himself nostalgic for the much simpler past. The present was full of perplexing psychological land mines. And he had no idea what to do about the future.

* * *

WHILE ARDEN UNLOCKED her studio early Wednesday morning, Justin impatiently shifted his weight behind her.

“Your secrecy is freaking me out,” he complained. “First you were cagey about why you needed me to drive you to work this morning, now you won’t tell me why you’ve called a family meeting.”

The three siblings had long ago agreed that Cade family meetings were never to be called lightly and that attendance was mandatory.

Arden shot him a quelling look. “Of course I’ll tell you—when the other part of the family gets here.”

Justin went straight for the coffee supplies in the corner and began filling the pot with water. “You had a ‘dizzy spell’ yesterday and a friend drove you home,” he commented. “Which friend? If it was Layla, you would’ve said so. I know there’s something you’re leaving out. You were a lousy liar as a kid, and you haven’t improved with age.”

She stood next to the coatrack, shrugging out of her jacket. “I got dizzy enough that I went to the hospital, okay? But I don’t want Colin to know, so you’d better not mention it. He does not need any extra reason to worry that something will happen to me or the baby.”

Justin was quick to agree. “My lips are sealed. Look, I’m as concerned about him going round the bend as you are. But you can tell me this stuff, okay? I’m too shallow to stay up nights obsessing over other people’s safety.”

The big faker. “No, you’re not.” The women he jilted might think of him as a heartless beast, but Arden knew there was more to him than that. Why was he so reluctant to let people see his caring side? “You’ve been a fantastic brother these past few months, and I don’t know how I would have coped without you.”

“Ah, is that what the family meeting’s about?” he asked, spinning around a low-backed chair and straddling it. “Am I getting a medal for outstanding brothership? Is there a cash award involved? Because there’s this new girl who works at the deli across from the ambulance station, and I would love to take her out for a night on the town.”

Ignoring him, she booted up her computer for the day. Given Justin’s flippant personality, he might be kidding about the girl at the deli. But if he was serious, she’d rather not know. His hit-and-run dating habits were too exasperating. She’d never seen him happier than he’d been with Elisabeth Donnelly. She understood that Elisabeth’s life had changed drastically after being named guardian of a little girl, but she believed Justin had made a grave mistake walking away from the woman he loved. A gust of wind swept through the studio when the front door opened again, and her heart jumped to her throat. Colin. While she’d decided that this conversation with her brothers was necessary, she dreaded having to go through with it. Silly, really. Wasn’t the hardest part telling them she was pregnant in the first place? Relatively speaking, explaining who the father was should be a piece of cake.

She watched her brothers exchange greetings. Colin’s hello was terse, his voice a low rasp. He had his motorcycle helmet tucked under one arm, and his rich brown hair had grown shaggy, falling across his forehead. It almost covered his turquoise eyes, which resembled hard stone in more than just color. All in all, not someone you’d want to encounter in a dark alley.

It tugged at her heart that he tried, for her benefit, to smile. Even if it was a dismal failure. “Morning, Colin.”

“You...look good. Glowing and all that.”

“Thank you.” She hugged him, trying not to be offended by how he stiffened at her embrace. The man who’d once cuddled her after nightmares and skinned knees could no longer bear to be touched.

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