A Baby For Emily

If Dillon was equally aware of her he gave no indication.

Taking the yellow legal pad, he divided it into two columns with a vertical line down the center and scrawled Assets at the top of one side and Liabilities at the top of the other.

“Okay, this first document is a short-term bank loan for ten thousand dollars that he took out just last week,” he said, recording the outstanding balance in the liabilities column.

For the next couple of hours they went through every piece of paper and document in the folder. There were numerous personal loans with various banks around town. Most, according to Bob Larson’s records, were used to pay off Keith’s bookie, but in recent months it appeared that Keith had taken out loans to pay off earlier loans.

“Larson was right about one thing,” Dillon commented tersely. “Keith was operating just one step ahead of disaster. His finances were a juggling act.”

There were at least four credit cards that Emily had known nothing about, all with astronomical balances. An examination of the charges showed he’d purchased several luxury items for a woman—perfumes, jewelry, flowers, a fur—none of which had come to Emily. There were charges for restaurants and nightclubs and tickets to theater productions that she had not attended. In addition, the sailboat was only half paid for and there were the mortgages on the house, the beach house and, most galling of all, on Keith’s little love nest.

When they were done Dillon’s face was grim and Emily felt as though she’d been kicked in the stomach.

“Dear Lord. It’s worse than I thought.” She stared at the figures on the pad, feeling sick. The liabilities column stretched almost to the bottom of the page, and the total was staggering. The only items listed in the assets column were the house and her car, a three-year-old Cadillac that Keith had been badgering her to trade in on a new one for the last six months. Thank heaven she had resisted.

“Damn,” Dillon spat. “What the hell was he thinking? He made an excellent living but he’d been trying to live like a billionaire.”

Groaning, Emily lowered her face into her hands. “You know Keith. Self-denial was never in his vocabulary.”

“Yeah. We have Mother to thank for that. She spoiled him rotten his whole life. By the time he was in his teens he was sure the world revolved around him. To tell the truth, I was amazed when he had the self-discipline to stick it out through medical school and his internship and become a doctor. If he hadn’t loved medicine so much he would never have done it.”

Unable to sit still any longer, Emily bounded out of the chair and started pacing the kitchen. “There’s only one thing to do. I’ll have to sell the house.”

“Whoa. Wait a minute. There must be another way.”

“Really? What else do you suggest? Our savings and investments are gone and there’s not enough in my household account to make the next mortgage payment.”

“What about the clinic? Surely Keith has some money coming from there.”

“A half-month share in the profits maybe, but that’s all. The partnership agreement states that if a partner dies, his share in the clinic is split among the other doctors.”

“I see.” Dillon raked his hand through his hair. “Look, why don’t you let me pay off your creditors and the mortgage.”

She stopped pacing and shot him a horrified look. “No. Absolutely not. I won’t hear of it.”

“Dammit, Emily. I can’t let you give up your home. You love this place.”

“Actually…I don’t.” She smiled wanly at his shocked expression. “Keith’s the one who insisted we buy this house. He wanted something that shouted, ‘I’ve made it.’ I’ve never liked this house nor have I felt truly at home here. It’s too big and too stiff and formal. I wanted something cozier and warmer.”

“I see. The trouble is, though the value of this house has risen a good deal since you bought it, even if you sell for top dollar the profit you’ll make won’t be enough to pay off all of Keith’s creditors.”

“I’ll sell Keith’s Porsche, too. And the sailboat and the beach house. And if I have to, I have some jewelry I can sell.”

“Like hell, you will,” Dillon growled. “Before it comes to that I’ll personally go to every bank that loaned Keith money and pay it back myself, whether you like it or not.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” she snapped back. “It’s my jewelry, and I’ll do with it what I please. You don’t have anything to say about it.”

“Dammit, Emily, I hate the thought of you selling your jewelry.”

“Why? I have no intention of wearing any of it ever again.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

She turned to him with glacial eyes, her face set. “Because your brother gave me every piece.”

Dillon stared at her, his chest suddenly tight. What did that mean? That she didn’t want anything that was in any way connected to Keith? If so, did that include the baby? And him?

The latter would come as no surprise. He even expected it. Especially since she’d never been fond of him anyway. He also looked enough like Keith to be a constant, unwanted reminder of her faithless husband.

She claimed to want the baby, but had she been telling the truth? It made him sick to even think that she might reject the child she carried because she believed it was Keith’s.

No. He refused to think that. Not Emily.

“I see,” he said finally. “All right, then. If that’s how you feel.”

He picked up a document from the file. “This is the insurance policy on the condo. Luckily it will cover the cost of rebuilding. I checked.”

“You can’t be serious. I’m not going to rebuild that place.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have any choice. The covenants in that complex require that you rebuild, and the other owners will insist on it. But look on the bright side. You can probably sell it for a tidy profit.”

“Fine. The sooner the better,” she muttered.

“Also there’s the Lexus that Keith bought for his lady friend. The loan papers on the car are in the file. It was purchased in Keith’s name, which means you can sell it.”

This time Emily answered with a bitter look and continued pacing.

Using a fresh sheet of paper, Dillon did some quick calculations. “If my estimates are right, if you sell everything we talked about, you may have enough to pay off all Keith’s creditors, but just barely. There won’t be much left over.”

“It doesn’t matter. Just as long as I get free of these debts.” She sank back down in the chair and closed her eyes.

“Don’t start feeling too relieved. You still have a major problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“You and the baby have to live.”

“I know,” she replied wearily. “I’ll just have to get a job.”

“Doing what? You haven’t held a job since you graduated from college and married Keith, and you never finished the work required to get your teacher certification.”

“That’s because Keith insisted that I stay home. He didn’t want a working wife.”

“I know that. I wasn’t criticizing, just stating facts.”

Emily sighed. “At the time Keith claimed that he wanted to spoil me and make up for the ‘pillar-to-post’ existence I had known for most of my life. I came to realize that he thought having a working wife would somehow diminish his status.”

A bitter chuckle escaped her. “Oh, he knew just which buttons to push to get his way. He made me feel, for the first time in my life, that I was cherished and loved. So naturally I complied with his wishes and became the pampered, stay-at-home doctor’s wife that he wanted. What a mistake that was.”

“Yeah, I know,” Dillon muttered. He had told his brother at the time that he was being unfair to Emily. She’d worked hard to become a teacher, putting herself through college with a series of menial jobs, and she deserved the chance to attain her goal. However, Keith, being Keith, had merely laughed and brushed aside his concern, saying that as the wife of a prominent doctor she would have financial security and social standing, and that was much better than being a low-paid, unappreciated teacher.

“Still, regardless of the reasons, you’re not qualified to teach,” Dillon persisted.

“Then I’ll get a job in an office somewhere. I have a college degree. That has to count for something.”

“That’s true. Except you’re going to find that there are few companies that will be willing to hire a pregnant woman.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Maybe. But that’s how it is.”

Emily gritted her teeth and looked away. She knew he was right, but that only made her feel more helpless and angry. “I’ll find something,” she declared stubbornly. “If worst comes to worst, I can always go back to waiting tables.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” he snapped. “You have no business being on your feet all day, hefting heavy trays of food. You have a baby to think of.”

She glared at him. “Don’t you think I know that? I am thinking of the baby. As you pointed out, we both have to eat and have a roof over our heads.”

Frustrated, Dillon ground his teeth and studied her mulish expression. It was clear that he wasn’t going to dissuade her about getting a job. And he knew better than to offer to take care of her, though he could easily afford to do so. She’d probably heave something at his head if he suggested it.

“All right. All right. If you’re determined to do this, after you’ve had a few weeks to adjust and take care of personal business, like finding another place to live and selling this house, then you can come to work for me.”

Chapter Four

“What?” Emily gaped at Dillon, shocked and just a tad angry. She wouldn’t allow him to pay her bills, so now he thought he could just create a job for her out of thin air? Oh, no. Not on your life.

“Thank you, but no. I couldn’t possibly work for you.”

“Why not? I’m not suggesting that you operate a crane or rivet steel beams twenty stories above the ground. I’m offering you an office job. That way you at least won’t be on your feet all day.”

“I appreciate the offer, Dillon, but I won’t take charity—not from you or anyone.”

“What are you talking about? I’m offering you employment.”

“Oh, please. Giving me a fabricated job doesn’t make it any easier to take. It’s still charity.” And, she added silently, I don’t want to be indebted to you for my livelihood.

“That’s it? You think I’m featherbedding, just to provide you with a living?”

“In a word, yes. For some reason you seem to feel that you’re responsible for me. Frankly, I don’t understand why you would feel that way now, when for the past seven years you’ve barely acknowledged my existence.

“Maybe you’re feeling guilty for what Keith did, or maybe it’s some misplaced sense of family responsibility. Whatever the reason, I will not be a leech or a burden.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Dillon said in a voice like ice. “My on-site office assistant is snowed under with work. She’s been nagging me for months to hire someone to help in the construction office.”

“Then why haven’t you?” she challenged.

“Because I haven’t had time.”

“Oh, please. Surely you have a personnel department for that sort of thing.”

“That’s right. But Gert’s been with me from the day I started my business, so she rates special treatment. She asked me to hire her next assistant and I told her I would. She trusts my judgement a lot more than Personnel’s. The site office is small and the staff there needs to be especially compatible. The last three people Personnel hired to assist Gert nearly drove her crazy. I thought she might strangle the last one.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “It sounds like this Gert person is the problem.”

“Oh, she’s plainspoken and brusque and she doesn’t suffer fools for a second, but she’s got a heart of gold. If Gert takes a liking to you, you’ve got a friend for life.”

“What makes you think she’ll like me?”

His vivid eyes flickered over her. “Trust me, she’s going to love you. And make no mistake about it, if you come to work for me, you’ll earn every penny of your salary. If you don’t, Gert will boot you out of there in a New York second, just like she’s done all the others.”

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