Confidential: Expecting! (13 page)
Read Confidential: Expecting! Online
Authors: Jackie Braun
Tags: #American Light Romantic Fiction, #Romance: Modern, #Contemporary, #General, #Romance, #Romance - Contemporary, #Fiction, #Fiction - Romance, #Pregnant women, #Chicago (Ill.), #Radio talk show hosts, #Women journalists
“No,” she told Barry.
When Mallory rose to her feet, he asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”
To tell the father of my unborn child how much I love him. To help him through his current crisis. She wasn’t going to walk away from him now, and she certainly wasn’t going to play an active role in the effort to destroy his life.
“Mallory,” Barry shouted when she reached his door. “I asked where you’re going.”
“Home. I don’t feel well.” But she knew what to do to make herself better.
It was nine-twenty when Logan knocked at Mallory’s door. Logan was wiped out emotionally and physically, his adrenaline used up. He’d contacted Felicia and spent a couple of hours on the phone with her, and later with her parents. It made him feel marginally better that they hadn’t known Devon’s true paternity. Like everyone else, they had assumed that Nigel Getty was the child’s father. Apparently only Nigel and Felicia had known the whole truth. That she’d discovered her pregnancy after breaking off her engagement to Logan.
Nigel and Felicia had gone ahead with their wedding, both hoping the child would turn out to be Nigel’s. But almost immediately after Devon’s birth it became apparent he favored Logan. Their marriage had lasted a year. Ironically, while Nigel had had no problem becoming involved with an engaged woman, the idea of raising a son he had not fathered had proven beyond his ability. When a paternity test confirmed that Devon was
Logan’s, Nigel filed for divorce. At his insistence, the birth certificate was changed to reflect the boy’s true parentage. But neither Logan nor Devon was ever told the truth.
Logan was angry, bitter. He felt betrayed all over again by Felicia, but it was worse this time. He was a father. He had a son. And they were absolute strangers.
Weighing almost as heavily on his mind was what Mallory’s reaction was going to be to the news. Would she believe him? Would she accept that he’d had no idea of Felicia’s pregnancy when they’d parted ways? Or would she view the situation through the filter of her past and come to the same assumption Sandra had: that he’d happily walked away from his responsibility.
Just as Mallory’s father had all those years ago.
Logan tried to smile when the door opened. Mallory’s face was ashen, but her shoulders were squared. Something in her expression told him she already knew what he was going to tell her. More than anything he wanted to hold her. He needed her understanding as much as he needed her comfort and support. But he held back, waiting for some sign that she would offer them.
“I was getting worried,” she said.
“Sorry. It took a little longer than I’d anticipated.”
After his conversations with Felicia and her family, he’d spent time with his lawyer. There would not be a custody battle. Logan and his son were strangers. It would be cruel and traumatic to try to wrench the boy away from Felicia, even though Logan had every inten
tion of being an involved father. A visitation schedule would be worked out as well as financial support.
“Come in,” she said.
Stepping into the well-lit foyer, he could see that Mallory was pale and looked drawn. “You look like I feel. Everything okay?”
“The editor summoned me to his office after I returned to the newspaper.”
His heart sank. “I think I can guess why.”
“Sandra was quite gleeful about the whole matter.”
“Yeah, I got that feeling when she reached me at the station the other day and dropped the bomb.” He wondered if the shrapnel wounds would ever heal. “Mallory, about the boy—”
“You didn’t know.”
Her tone held absolutely no equivocation. And here Logan had thought he couldn’t love her more than he already did. Given her past, Mallory had every reason not to believe him. But she did. She did.
“Thank you for that. I was worried that you’d think—”
She stopped his words with a kiss. “No. I’m done living in the past, remember? They want a quote from you, by the way, and they want me to get it.” She tilted her head to one side. “Sandra said she’d give me a bit of credit in the story tagline. The editor was more generous than that. He offered to spring me from the Lifestyles section.”
“If I have to talk to someone, I’d rather it be you. And if you get your old beat back in the process that will make it worthwhile.”
Mallory frowned. “You think I agreed to do it? I just told you I’m done living in the past. My job is no longer my life, Logan. I won’t use you to get back into the newsroom. It’s not worth it.”
“I wouldn’t mind.”
“I would. I love you.”
“I love you right back.” He kissed her and Mallory smiled.
“See, no job can do that.”
As relieved as he was at the moment, Logan was also a realist. They had more to discuss, more decisions to make. He led her to the couch and pulled her down next to him.
“My life is about to become a three-ring circus,” he began. “My agent informed me on the way here that the contract for my syndicated show has been nullified.”
“Sorry.”
“I thought I would be, too. But I’m not. It wasn’t the direction I wanted to go professionally. They’ll be releasing a statement to the media since the rumors of a deal were already circulating. It’s going to get really complicated.”
“Are you trying to give me an out?”
“Just for a little while. I don’t want you to get struck by any of the mud that’s about to get flung.”
“That’s sweet, but I’m not going anywhere. We’re in this together, Logan.”
“I was hoping that was what you’d say. I need you, Mallory.” He shoved a hand through his hair, his composure crumpling. “My God, I have a son. A son. He’s
nine years old and he doesn’t know who I am, and I don’t know the first thing about him or, for that matter, about being a father.”
“You’ll be a great dad.”
He appreciated her conviction, but his voice caught when he said, “I’ve missed so much stuff that I shouldn’t have missed. Forget walking and talking, he’s already riding a bike, playing baseball. I can’t believe Felicia kept this from me all these years.”
Logan’s pain was plainly visible. Mallory’s heart ached for him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Felicia and I talked for a long time. I can’t believe she did what she did, especially keeping Devon from me even after she knew the truth. But what’s done is done. Arguing about it now won’t solve anything.”
“So what will you do?”
“Felicia was already considering returning to Chicago. Her business in Portland is failing, and now that I know about Devon she doesn’t really have any reason to remain there. After I meet Devon and get to know him well enough that he’s comfortable spending time alone with me, we’re going to work out a visitation arrangement. So part of the time it won’t be just the two of us.”
Mallory had planned to tell Logan about their child tonight, and part of her still wanted to, but it wouldn’t be fair. He had so much on his plate right now. Her news would keep. For another day or a couple weeks at most. Just until Logan caught his second wind.
Two weeks passed. Not surprisingly, the media, both in Chicago and nationally, had a field day as the story of Logan’s nine-year-old “love child” leaked out.
The tabloids and some Internet blogs questioned Logan’s claims that he hadn’t known about his son, despite Felicia’s statements supporting that version of events. Mallory could only imagine what would be written if anyone was privy to news of her pregnancy. She was still keeping it under wraps. She hadn’t even told Vicki, though her friend had raised her eyebrows when Mallory had ordered a virgin margarita at their last get-together.
Logan had to be the first to know. And he would be. Very soon.
He was returning today after a weekend in Oregon. He’d met his son for the first time yesterday. He’d called Mallory last night so full of heartache and hope that she knew she couldn’t keep the news to herself any longer. The timing might not be perfect, but it was right.
She was on her way to the airport now and she had it all planned. After she picked him up, she was going to take him back to her apartment where a candlelight dinner waited. She’d cheated on the meal, calling Luke to cater it. She wanted everything to be perfect, and her cooking skills were still iffy at best.
She spied Logan the moment he came through the gate at O’Hare. He looked tired but oddly energized. She greeted him with a hug. When she would have pulled away, he hugged her tighter and finished with a kiss that had her toes wanting to curl.
“I think you missed me.”
“I did, indeed. And it got me thinking.”
“Yeah? About what?”
“I’ll tell you when we get to my place.” He bobbed his brows.
“If you’re not too tired from your flight, I thought we’d go to my apartment instead. I have dinner waiting and a little surprise.”
“That’s fine. I have a little surprise of my own,” he said with an enigmatic wink.
The last thing Mallory expected Logan to do the moment they entered her apartment was pull a ring box from his pocket and drop to one knee. He’d said he had a little surprise for her. Talk about an understatement. The diamond winking back at her from the box appeared to be all of three carats.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked.
“You can’t figure it out? You’re usually pretty quick.” He grinned.
“You…you want…”
“To marry you.” He nodded and caught her in his arms when she sagged. They both wound up sitting on the floor. “I love you, Mallory. I want to spend my life with you. If you want to take your time answering, that’s okay. I know things are a little crazy right now and they will be for a while yet. I can be patient.”
“I don’t need to take time. Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.” She cupped his face, kissed him soundly and then sighed as he took over and lowered her onto the floor.
It was several moments before he helped her to her
feet. “Dinner smells good,” he said. “Hey, didn’t you say you had a little surprise for me, too?”
She nibbled her bottom lip, but then smiled. It was too early to feel the baby, but she swore she felt something wonderful flutter inside of her. “Yes, I do.”
Three years later
“W
E
’
RE
having a baby?” Logan was smiling as he asked the question.
“The doctor says I’m due the first week in October.” Mallory grinned in reply. “She could arrive on our third wedding anniversary.”
“That would be quite a present.” He put his arms around her and dropped a kiss on her lips. “And from your reference to the baby as a she, I see that you’re hoping for a girl this time.”
“I love the men in my life, but with you, Devon and little Patrick, there are too many of you. It would be nice to have another female in the house.”
Devon had been coming to stay with Logan on alternating weekends and holidays since he and his mother moved back from Portland six months after the story of Logan’s paternity first made headlines. The arrangement wasn’t ideal. No child custody arrangement ever was. But they were making it work.
Of course, it had been rough on all of them in the beginning. Not surprisingly Devon had been angry, hurt and confused. He’d lashed out at everyone, with his father the prime target. Even when Logan had been devastated by his son’s animosity and pain, he’d remained patient and, with Mallory’s help, hopeful that eventually the boy would come around.
And he had.
It had taken Devon more than a year before he called Logan “Dad.” Mallory thought it was apropos that the boy did so the same day Patrick uttered his first Da-Da. Things had gotten easier after that, and a real relationship had begun to form. None of the awkwardness that had accompanied their get-togethers during those first months was present now. She wouldn’t say things were perfect, but they were close.
“What are you thinking?” Logan asked, pulling Mallory from her musings.
She meant it when she replied, “That I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4473-7
CONFIDENTIAL: EXPECTING!
First North American Publication 2009.
Copyright © 2009 by Jackie Braun Fridline.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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