Cry Uncle (36 page)

Having been stalked by a killer in her recent
past, Pamela exercised caution and slid the chain lock into place
before she cracked the door open and peered out.

The flowers were roses. The delivery man was
Jonas Brenner.

“
Hi, Pam,” he
said.

He looked remarkably tan compared to the
sun-deprived citizens of Seattle. His hair was the wondrous tawny
shade she’d remembered, thick and much too long. His eyes were the
marvelous blue she’d fallen in love with. His earring was the same
dangling ornament he’d worn at their wedding: a tiny gold
heart.

And then there were the roses, three of them.
Red.

Pamela released the chain and opened the door
wider. “Come in,” she said, feeling unexpectedly awkward. She had
to remind herself that Joe was her husband. But her life in Key
West seemed so far away, so alien to her life in Seattle. He didn’t
belong here.

He stepped inside. He had obviously groomed
himself carefully for this visit. His cheeks were freshly shaven,
and he wore his khaki trousers and a crisp white shirt. As he
handed her the flowers, he gave her an intense scrutiny. “You look
awful,” he said.

She ought to have been insulted, but she only
smiled weakly. Leave it to Joe to opt for blunt honesty. She did
look awful, and she knew it. “I’ve had a long day,” she explained,
crossing to the credenza to find a bud vase.

“
Today was your first day of
testimony, wasn’t it?”

She had phoned him a few days ago to let him
know, in the vaguest terms, what was going on. She’d talked for a
few minutes about the trial and asked how Lizard was doing. Joe
hadn’t told her he missed her, and she’d tried to convince herself
afterward that it was just as well.

Answering his question with a nod, she
crossed to the wet bar to add water to the vase. Then she set the
flowers on the coffee table. Three was an unusual number—roses
usually came singly or in dozens. Staring at the graceful trio of
buds made her think of the Brenner family: Jonas, Lizard and
Pamela.

Except that the Brenner family was no longer
a trio.

“
Would you like a drink?”
she asked, the perfect hostess.

Joe continued to stare at her, his smile
contradicted by the frown pinching his brow. “You really look
terrible, Pam.”

“
Thanks,” she said, forcing
a laugh. “I’m so glad you traveled all this way to tell me. Where
are you staying, by the way?” She’d be damned if she would put him
up for the night, not when he was standing in her living room
criticizing her appearance.

“
Are you sick?” he
persisted.

“
Seriously, Jonas—why are
you here?”

“
To see you,” he answered
simply. “This is some swanky place you’ve got.”

“
Thank you.” That was
exactly what it was: a swanky place. Elegant, sterile,
swanky.

“
It wouldn’t survive ten
seconds with Lizard in it,” he remarked, appraising the
glass-topped tables and the modern sculptures.

“
Did you bring her with
you?”

“
No. She’s staying with
Birdie.” He eyed a chair, and Pamela indicated with a wave that he
ought to sit. She lowered herself back onto the couch and brushed
her hair out of her face. “I’m worried about you,” he
admitted.

“
I’m safe,” she assured him.
“No more hit-men are after me. I know I look like hell, but as you
said yourself, I’ve been testifying all day, sharing a courtroom
with Mick Morrow. I—”

“
No,” Joe cut her off. “I’m
worried about
you
.
The one time you called, you talked about everything but us. When I
got off the phone, I just had this—I don’t know, this premonition
that you weren’t coming back.”

Pamela studied him in the clear light from
her halogen floor lamp. He appeared apprehensive. “A
premonition?”

“
Damn it, Pam—I don’t want
to force you into anything, but we’ve got to talk. You’ve been gone
a week, and Lizard’s been moping, and I...” A helpless laugh
escaped him. “I’ve been moping, too. I don’t know—I didn’t think
this was the sort of thing we ought to talk about on the phone. So
I came to Seattle to ask you, are you coming back?”

Beg me to and I
will
, she almost said. “I don’t
know.”

“
Maybe the Seattle climate
isn’t good for you. You look so pale.”

“
I’m not pale.”

“
Have you been having
nightmares about that ass who attacked you at my house?”

“
No.” She’d been having
nightmares about how she was going to straighten out her
life.

“
Then what is it? What’s
going on?”

“
I told you: the trial, the
testimony—”

“
Trials and testimony don’t
make you pale.”

“
I’m pregnant,” she
said.

The first movement of the symphony chose that
moment to end, leaving the living room in stunned silence. Joe’s
eyes grew bright with astonishment. “You’re kidding.”

“
No. I’m not.”

“
You mean, from that time on
the screened porch?”

“
That was the only time
there was,” she pointed out.

“
Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“
I was going to,” she
hedged. “After the trial was behind me, and...” Damn it, Joe was
being so honest. He deserved equal honesty from her. “Maybe I
wasn’t going to tell you. Our marriage wasn’t a love match, Joe. We
both got what we wanted from it. We had agreed from the start that
we would get a divorce as soon as you had Lizard free and clear and
I was no longer running for my life. Well, you’ve got Lizard, and
Mick’s going to be convicted this time, and I’m not going to force
you to remain in a marriage that was never meant to be.”

He practically flew out of his chair and dove
onto the couch next to her. That she’d kept the news from him—she’d
only just gotten medical confirmation two days ago—didn’t seem to
matter to him. That she’d chosen not to pressure him to accept a
responsibility he might not want carried no significance. He hauled
her into his arms, onto his lap, and kissed her with such vehemence
she couldn’t breathe.

He was grinning when he pulled back. “We’re
having a baby? I can’t believe it! Man, how many parties can we
hold at the Shipwreck? My pals are gonna start getting sick of
them.”

“
What party?” His kiss had
shaken her deeply. It was full of passion, full of exuberance—full,
perhaps, of male pride. But where was the love? “Jonas, this
baby—”

“
Our
baby,” he whispered reverently.

Evidently he wasn’t thinking of all the
implications, all the obligations. “We didn’t plan it, Joe. It was
an accident. I’m not going to hold you—”

“
You’re damned well going to
hold me,” he retorted—and in fact she was holding him at the
moment. If she let go, she might tumble off his lap and onto the
glass-topped table, breaking it. “When are you due?”

“
March.”

“
Wow.” He kissed her again,
more tenderly. His lips caressed her mouth, her cheeks, her brow.
He skimmed one hand down her body, tracing the curve of her breast
before he came to rest against her still-flat abdomen. “Oh,
Pam...are you still allowed to have sex?”

“
Allowed? You mean, because
I’m pregnant?” She hadn’t even thought to question the doctor about
that. Sex hadn’t seemed a very real possibility until Joe had
walked through her door.

“
Later,” he murmured,
kissing her lips again, so sweetly, so softly she felt herself go
sweet and soft inside.
Why later?
she wanted to ask.
Why not
right now, this instant?

No. Just because he could turn her on with a
few kisses didn’t make everything right between them. They wouldn’t
have sex this instant, and they wouldn’t have it later. Not unless
they’d worked a few things out.

Joe was apparently already working things
out. “You’re gonna have to give up that bedroom at the end of the
hall, you know. We’ll need it for a nursery.”

“
Slow down, Jonas.” She
eased out of his arms and shoved herself to her feet. Joe still
hadn’t even hinted that he loved her. How dare he rearrange her
living space? “What makes you so sure I want to go back to Key West
after I’m done here? This is my home, Joe. This
swanky place
, as you call it, is my
home.”

He surveyed the spacious, impeccably
decorated room and snorted. “You really want to live here? Lizard
would hate it.”

Pamela couldn’t argue with that. “Maybe.”

“
It’s so...so cold,” he
concluded. Then, reading her dissatisfaction, he switched gears.
“But we can work it out. I’m sure there are bars here. I could get
good money if I sold the Shipwreck, and maybe I could find an
establishment to invest in here. Or I’d tend bar for someone else.
I mean, it’s awfully rainy here, and I bet the beaches can’t
compare to what we’ve got—to say nothing of the fact that you can
probably only go swimming about two months out of the year. But at
least you wouldn’t have to worry about Lizard running around
bare-ass. She’d be too cold.”

It wasn’t just Seattle’s climate Joe was
talking about, Pamela realized. It was her condominium, chilly in
the absence of a child, in the absence of noise and havoc and
love.

“
You’d rather live in Key
West than Seattle, wouldn’t you,” she guessed.

Joe grew solemn. “I’d rather live with you,”
he said. “Where doesn’t matter.”

“
Do you mean
that?”

He gathered her hand in both of his and
pulled her back onto the sofa next to him. This time he didn’t kiss
her, but simply held her hand sandwiched between his. His thumb
traced the thick gold band he’d placed on her finger less than
three months ago. “Until you left, I wasn’t sure,” he admitted.
“But once you were gone, Lizard and I could hardly function. The
house felt different. It felt empty.” He sighed. “I didn’t want to
do a number on you, so I tried to pretend I didn’t mind your being
gone. I figured you were glad to be rid of me. I’m no bargain.”

“
Who would want a bargain
for a husband?” she teased gently.

“
But...” He let out a long,
pensive sigh. “Truth is, I’m a selfish guy. And Lizard is a very
selfish kid. And we need you. Both of us.” He sent her a meek grin.
“Me more than her.”

“
It’s nice to be needed,”
she conceded. When he didn’t speak, she averted her eyes, willing
him not to see her disappointment. “Being needed isn’t enough,
Jonas.”

He slid his hand under her chin and guided
her gaze back to his. He was smiling, but it was the most earnest,
soulful smile she’d ever seen. “You want to hear me say I love you?
Of course I love you. I thought that was obvious that night on the
screened porch.”

“
What happened on the
screened porch wasn’t love,” she argued. “It was sex.”

“
It was a hell of a lot more
than sex,” he shot back, his eyes straying to her still-flat
abdomen. “As it turns out, it was more than even I realized. But
Pam...” He lifted his gaze to her face once more. The amusement in
his gaze was gone, replaced by ardent sincerity. “I fell in love
with you when you lit into me about Lizard. You cared as much about
her as I did, and I realized that nothing else mattered. You were
the woman for me. Making love was only my body telling you what was
in my heart.”

This time it was Pamela’s idea to snuggle
into his lap, to cover his mouth with hers and kiss him, deeply,
passionately, her lips telling him what was in her heart. He
responded with pleasure, with arousal, with love.

“
You want our baby?” he
murmured once they’d come up for air. He cradled her cheeks in his
hands and peered intently into her eyes.

“
Yes,” she swore. “Do
you?”

“
More than just about
anything.” He kissed her again, a light, sweet kiss. “How much
longer do you have to stay in Seattle? I want you home.”

“
I want to come home,” she
sighed. “Just a few more days of testimony, and then they’ll let me
leave.”

“
I could stay a few days,”
he told her. “I could even meet those wonderful in-laws you tell me
I’ve got.”

“
We could exchange vows in
my parents’ church.”

“
If you want to.”

“
I want to,” Pamela said,
resting her head on Joe’s strong, firm shoulder. It wouldn’t have
to be the formal white wedding she’d always dreamed of. She’d
already had a wedding—a strange, funky, wonderful wedding. And when
all was said and done, a wedding wasn’t as important as the
marriage it created.

She closed her eyes, feeling contented for
the first time since the doctor had told her she was pregnant,
since the D.A. had told her Mick Morrow’s trial was going forward,
since she’d fled Seattle for Key West so many weeks ago—since she’d
been old enough to imagine falling in love. She couldn’t really say
her life was under control—but having her life under control no
longer seemed terribly important.

“
You think the church
organist can play
Stand By
Me
?” Joe asked.

“
If she can’t, we’ll sing it
ourselves.”

“
Yeah,” he agreed, then
kissed her lips and tightened his arms around her. “We’ll sing it,
and then we’ll go home together.”