0-69 in 5 Minutes (20 page)

“
Now, honey.” Mom moved to
her side and guided her to a dining room chair.

“
You are. That’s why you
don’t want us together.” Suddenly, her hope vanished. If Noah
couldn’t have children, then she wasn’t pregnant. Pain stabbed her
heart. She wanted his baby. Wanted him to light up about her
carrying his child like he had lit up about
Bambi…
Bambi!
The
bitch wasn’t pregnant. At least not with Noah’s child. “I got to…”
She tried to stand up.

“
You’re not going anywhere
until the shock wears off.” Her mother forced her to stay
seated.

Bree handed her a glass of water. “Take a
drink. You’re as white as a ghost.”

She took a sip and sat the glass on the
table.

“
Are you feeling better?”
Bree asked. “Because now is the perfect time to tell you my news.”
She beamed and squealed. “You don’t have to worry about Erin. I’m
pregnant.”

“
Hallelujah.” Her mother
wrapped Bree in a hug. “Are you sure? How far along are you? Have
you seen a doctor?”

They both laughed and danced around. “I’m
about five weeks. This is so exciting. We have to make sure this
baby is perfectly healthy.”

“
Don’t worry about that.
When I tell Dad, he’ll make sure you have the best of
everything.”

While the two of them planned and schemed,
she grabbed her purse.

“
Where are you going?” Mom
asked.

“
We’re going to get my
man, Noah, back.”

They stared at her like she’d stepped off a
UFO.

“
Come on. I’ll tell you in
the car.”

* * * *

Before Noah had his shoes off, Sadie met him
at the door.

“
Did you have a good
drive? Clear your head?”

He ignored her question. “Thanks for staying
with her, sis. Where is she?”

Sadie crossed her arms and gave him the
mother stare. “She locked herself in her room upstairs. As long as
I’m here, she refuses to come out. Not that it bothered me one
little bit.” She tapped her foot. “You’re not getting off so
easy.”

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair.
“Can I at least get in the door before you start the third degree?”
He squeezed past her, grabbed a cola from the fridge and sat down
at the long, wooden kitchen table.

Pulling out the chair diagonal from him, she
sat down. “You’re in the door now, so let’s talk.”

“
I don’t want to do this,
Sadie.” He popped the can open and took a swig. If Bambi wasn’t in
the house, he would have bought a six pack. However, he couldn’t
chance her drinking any.

“
Do what? Have this
conversation or babysit that spoiled brat up there?”

Both!
“Have this discussion.”

She drummed her nails on the wood. He
instantly thought of Val and her long gorgeous nails. But Sadie’s
insistent ranting dragged him back to reality.

“
I’m sorry to tell you,
little brother, but we are going to have this talk. Now! I can’t
come running over here every time you need to do
something.”

“
I’m sorry. It won’t
happen again.”

“
That’s not what I mean.
Nothing you do or say will stop her from using if she wants to.
Addicts will use you to get what they want.” She reached across the
table and took his hand. “Pregnant or not, you can’t save
her.”

“
So I should turn my back
on an innocent child? I thought you of all people would understand
how I feel.” He drained his soda and stood to leave. “I got a car
to work on. Since I’m home now, you’re off duty.”

“
She’ll make you
miserable. And no matter what happens, none of this will bring
Molly back.”

He stopped dead in his tracks. “I’m not
going there.” His voice boomed and came out harsher than he
intended. But it had been hard enough listening to the medium. Not
a day went by that he didn’t think of Molly; what she would look
like, what color of eyes she’d have, to know the sound of her
laugh. He grabbed his keys.

“
Where are you going
now?”

“
To get a drink, and get
the hell away from you.”

“
Noah, for God’s sake,
please listen to reason.”

He spun on her. “Reason?
Don’t tell me there was a reason Lori had a car crash that killed
our baby. Damn it, Sadie!” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “I
didn’t even get to hold Molly in my arms. She was gone before they
even preformed the c-section. I couldn’t do anything to prevent her
death. I have to keep
this
baby safe.”

“
Then call the cops. Have
them arrest her for drug use. They’ll make her clean
up.”

“
You don’t know that, and
I don’t want my child born in jail. What if they put her in foster
care and I never get custody?”

“
Noah—”

“
I have to get out of here
before I lose my temper.” He released his grip on her and slammed
out the door.

Dust flew behind a car barreling down the
gravel road in front of his house. Realization struck as the car
turned into the driveway. He knew the car. Knew the driver. Knew
those legs.

Val!

Chapter 16

God, she looks hot!
He couldn’t recall a simple white tank top and
matching skirt ever having this effect on him before. The skirt
skimmed her knees, showing off her toned calves, and sent his blood
racing. Wooden blue and green beads hung low on a leather necklace,
and a leather belt accentuated her small waist. Reminding him just
how good she felt in all of those places. Of course, she could’ve
worn a floral muumuu, and he wouldn’t care.

He willed his body to walk instead of run
toward her. Three weeks seemed like an eternity. Heat coursed
through his veins, however, there’d be no willing his dick to heel.
He wanted to bury himself in her here and now, Bambi be damned.

“
Val.” Her name slipped
from his lips in a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

“
I need to talk to you,
Noah. Don’t worry, I told them the whole story.”

Them?
He looked around and saw Bree and Judith a few steps behind
her. Christ, he hadn’t even noticed them. Not good, considering he
was about to pull her in his arms and caress every inch of her
glorious body.

Before he could respond,
the front door slammed open and Bambi rushed out, Sadie following
close behind.
Hell!
His temple started to pound.

Bambi wrapped her hand
around his arm. “You’re not welcome at
our
house.” She stroked his bicep.
“Tell her to leave us be, so we can raise
our
child.”

“
Oh God, you are a
bitch.”

He glanced at Bree. Lord, now that was a cat
fight waiting to happen. Ignoring Bree’s comment and the nasty
glare from Bambi, he chose to address Bambi’s remark. “That was
rude and uncalled for. Apologize.”

“
I will not! She wants to
break us up and ruin our chance to have a happy family.” Bambi
whined and pouted.

It wouldn’t work this time. He held no love
in his heart for her anymore. The baby, yes, but not for the
empty-shell-of-a-person carrying his child.

“
Funny you keep
saying
‘our’
as
in yours and
Noah’s
.”

Val’s words brought him back to the present
situation.

Bambi moved a step forward, but he kept a
firm grasp on her arm. Val would never fight a pregnant woman, but
Bambi wouldn’t give a damn. Headstrong and plain stupid, she’d
pounce on anyone.

“
And just what the hell
does that mean? Or do you not know where babies come from?
Prude.”

“
Oh, I know where babies
come from.” Her brows rose. “And according to this…” She took a
manila envelope Judith handed her and waved it at Bambi. “Your baby
didn’t come from Noah. He’s sterile.”

“
What?” Not only had the
word slipped from him, but from Bambi and Sadie as well.

“
I’m sorry, Noah. I didn’t
want this conversation to take place like this, but I had to tell
you. Either she’s not pregnant or it’s not your baby.”

He released Bambi and started to pace. It
couldn’t be true. No way. He stopped walking and ran his hand
through his hair. “But how…” He didn’t finish his question. Guilt
flashed all over Judith’s face. Somehow she’d conducted a test.
That woman was capable of anything. He stared at her and cleared
his throat. “I guess you had a hand in this?”

She smiled.

“
Of course,” he muttered.
“Can I see the test?”

Val handed him the papers. Disbelief washed
over him. It couldn’t be true. What about Molly? He knew she’d been
his. No injury or accident following the loss of his first child
came to mind to explain it.

Pain stabbed his heart and he felt his
throat close. His gaze traveled to Bambi’s stomach. He wanted to be
a father. Wanted a baby to hold in his arms and protect from harm.
Hope vanished before his eyes.

“
Baby, you can’t believe
that lying prude.” Bambi moved next to him. “We made love. It’s
your baby!”

He doubted the test. Mistakes were made all
the time. But the impatient look in Bambi’s eyes and her tone of
voice brought back too many bad memories. She was lying. This was
the uncomfortable situation the medium had explained mere hours go.
His instinct told him the test was wrong, but his heart wanted to
be free of her. He’d get another test later to deal with his doubt.
After he had the truth from his ex.

“
It says I can’t have
children. It can’t be my child, Bambi. Whose is it?”

She looked down and shuffled her bare feet
in the dirt. “Yours.”

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look
up. His anger boiled under the surface. “Don’t lie. Tell me whose
child it is, damn you.”

“
Tyler’s!”

Releasing her, he jerked away. “You lied to
me! You were pregnant when you showed up. Weren’t you?”

“
Yes! I was. I needed a
place to stay, and I knew you wanted a baby.”

“
So you used me.” He took
a breath to calm himself. “This is the last time you lie to me. The
last time you set foot on my property. It would serve you well to
get your shit and leave.”

“
Noah—”

“
Now!” He stormed off
before he lost his control, headed for the car he needed to fix.
Behind him he heard Sadie and Bree making plans to get a taxi and
Judith taking a phone call.

What a
day
. And it was only half over.

Gravel crunched behind him and he turn to
see Val following.

“
Noah, wait.”

He continued walking. Let her follow if she
wished, but he needed to put distance between Bambi and
himself.

“
Please. Can’t we talk
about this?”

“
I don’t know what to
say.” He opened the hood of the Taurus and pretended to work.
Truthfully, concentration escaped him at the moment. His thoughts
on Molly. Lori had been a virgin the first time they’d made love.
After that night, they’d been inseparable. When she found out she
was pregnant, they ran off and got hitched. Both of them barely
nineteen.

So what had happened? He thought harder but
nothing explained it. Not even a minor incident came to mind. He
slammed his fist down on the front fender.

“
Noah.”

Shit, Val.
Wrapped up in his thoughts, he’d forgotten she
stood waiting. “I’m sorry. It’s been a bad day.”

She touched his arm. “No, I’m sorry. I never
should have blurted it out.” She pulled her hand away and crossed
her arms. “It’s just that when I saw her touching you, I got…so…so
jealous. It doesn’t excuse anything. And I’ll understand if you
want to press charges against my mother.”

Press charges?
That thought hadn’t crossed his mind. He shook
his head. “No. I’m glad the truth came out about Bambi. But, Val.”
He took her arms and pulled her close. “That test can’t be
right.”

“
I know how bad you want a
child, but…”

He placed a finger over her lips. Electric
volts shot through his veins. Soft and sexy lips begged to be
kissed. Kiss them he would, but he had to clear up this infertility
myth first.

“
I know for a fact the
test is wrong.”

“
What?”

“
Where to start?” He let
her go and started to pace again. “Bambi’s not my first wife. When
I was nineteen my girlfriend, Lori, became pregnant with my child.
We rushed out and got married. At eight months along, she had a car
wreck.”

“
Oh, my! What
happened?”

A lump formed in his
throat. The words lodged and he had to force them out. “Our
daughter didn’t make it. It tore our marriage apart. Lori was in
pain and her mother jumped in, talking her into divorcing me. A few
months later we ran off again and remarried. But we never got past
losing our baby. The second time,
we
decided to end
things.”

“
I’m so sorry. I didn’t
know.” A tear trickled down her cheek.

“
Neither does Bambi, so I
kept that information to myself until she told me the
truth.”