Glenn-Stormy-Love-&-Spaghetti-on-Aisle-Eight (8 page)

surveillance since Gideon bought it.” Ivan smiled down at Seth. “Do

you honestly believe Gideon would allow anything to happen to

Micah’s best friend?”

“I’m more interested in knowing how you know it was a bomb

that destroyed Seth’s house,” Frank said. “That hasn’t been positively

determined yet.”

“It will be,” Ivan said with such conviction that Seth got a chill.

“You really think someone purposely set out to kill me?” Seth

asked.

“Actually, I believe they waited until the house was empty. Ruthie

and Lisa being here at the hospital was the perfect time to set the

bomb, especially since whoever did this knew you would be at

Ruthie’s bedside. They waited. I don’t think they expected you to go

home to change clothes.”

“Who are Ruthie and Lisa?” Frank asked.

“Uh…”

Ivan’s eyebrow rose sharply. “He doesn’t know?”

Seth flushed. “We kind of hadn’t gotten that far in our

relationship.”

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“Know what?” Frank asked as his gaze darted around, his eyes

growing guarded, which was just what Seth didn’t want. “What aren’t

you telling me?”

Seth sighed, feeling his spirits start to sink once again. He knew

this moment would come eventually. He just didn’t think it would

come this soon. He flipped back the covers and scooted to the edge of

the bed.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Frank asked. “Get back in bed.”

“I have someone I want you to meet.”

“Now?”

“Yes now.” Seth made sure his hospital gown was closed in the

back and then walked across the room. He paused at the door and

turned to hold his hand out to Frank. “Coming?”

“Where to?” Frank asked as he tucked his notepad and the stack

of disks Ivan had given him into his jacket pocket and then grabbed

Seth’s hand. “Where are we going?”

“Up one floor.”

Seth nodded to the guard outside his door as he walked past,

Frank at his side. He could hear Micah, Gideon, and Ivan walking

behind him and Frank as they headed for the elevator lobby. The

guard would undoubtedly be right behind them. Security was a must

when hanging out with Gideon and Micah Wulfe.

Seth had gotten used to it.

He felt a little funny walking down the long hallways in a hospital

gown. He even got a few strange looks. But no one tried to stop him.

That seemed a little strange to Seth. He would have thought a nurse at

least would have stopped him to ask where he was going.

Not even when they reached the nurse’s station on the next floor

up did anyone say anything to them. Seth nodded to the nurses on

duty and just kept on walking. Of course, these nurses had seen him

coming and going a lot over the last several days. They knew him.

“This is the maternity ward, Seth,” Frank whispered.

“Yep.”

Love & Spaghetti on Aisle Eight

55

“We used a condom. I couldn’t have knocked you up.”

Seth chuckled. He knew Frank was trying to break up some of the

tension they were both feeling. He just wasn’t sure how Frank would

take it when he found out that Seth really was expecting a baby.

When he reached the right door, Seth pushed the door open just a

little and peeked inside the room. The lights were down low, but he

could see that both Ruthie and Lisa were awake, talking softly.

“Hey,” he said in a low voice as he pushed the door open and

walked inside the room, “I want you to meet someone.”

“Seth.” Ruthie smiled.

Seth dropped Frank’s hand and walked over to take the hand

Ruthie held out to him, leaning down to brush a kiss against her

cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“Fat.” Ruthie laughed.

Seth grinned as he smoothed his hand gently over Ruthie’s

rounded abdomen. “How’s our girl?”

“Awake, which is why I am awake.” Ruthie smiled wider as she

ran her hands over her large stomach. “I think she’s practicing to try

out for gymnastics.”

Seth couldn’t help smiling when he felt a small kick to the hand

he rested on Ruthie’s stomach. He glanced back over his shoulder,

wincing when he saw the shock paling Frank’s face.

“This is my friend Frank De Luca,” Seth said as he turned back to

Ruthie and Lisa. “I wanted him to meet you both.”

Lisa nodded but didn’t move from her spot in the chair beside

Ruthie’s hospital bed. Ruthie eyed Frank critically, like she was

trying to decide whether to be nice to him or not.

“Hello,” she finally said.

“Hello,” Frank responded hoarsely.

“And this,” Seth said as he rubbed Ruthie’s belly, “is my

daughter, Sophie.”

Frank’s jaw dropped. “Your daughter?”

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Stormy Glenn

The closing door caught Seth’s attention, and he realized that

Micah and Gideon were leaving him alone with Frank, Ruthie, and

Lisa. While he appreciated the privacy, he could have used the moral

support.

“I want a family, Frank. Ruthie and Lisa agreed to help me get

one if I donate sperm to them in the future when they want to start

their family. We shared the brownstone together, Ruthie and Lisa

living on one side and me living on the other.”

“And you didn’t tell me this why?”

“The same reason that you didn’t tell me you were a police

detective. I wanted us to get to know each other before I told you

about Sophie.”

Seth’s hope that Frank would be accepting started to wither and

die when the man rubbed the back of his neck, his lips thinning as he

stared at Ruthie’s rounded stomach. He could see the panic in Frank’s

eyes and knew what the man was going to say before he even opened

his mouth. Seth turned away, unable to watch Frank walk out of his

life.

“Seth, I’m not sure I’m ready for an instant family.”

“I understand.” And he did, he really did. Seth didn’t have any

close family, so he planned to make his own. Frank seemed to have a

large family. He didn’t know what it was like to want something he

didn’t have so badly that he would be willing to do almost anything to

get it.

“Maybe we could…I don’t know…” Frank’s eyes darted

nervously around the room.

Seth sighed as he got to his feet and turned to look at Frank. He

kept his back ramrod straight to keep from dropping to his knees as

heartache burned through him like a raging fire. “It’s okay, Frank. I

told you that I understand. You’re not ready for something like this. I

get that. No hard feelings.”

Frank seemed almost relieved. “You saw my place, Seth. It’s not

even kidproof.”

Love & Spaghetti on Aisle Eight

57

“Frank, stop trying to make excuses. You’re not ready for this. I

told you. I get it. And it’s okay. Not everyone is. It doesn’t make you

a bad person, so stop with the guilt. We just met. It’s okay to not want

to head down this road with me.” Seth shrugged, trying to be

nonchalant when his heart was breaking. “It’s a long road.”

“I’m still going to have to—”

“I know.” Seth reached down until he felt the edge of the bed and

then he sat. “Just give me until tomorrow and then I’ll answer any

questions you have.”

“I’m sorry, Seth.”

Seth smile wobbled, but it was there. “Me, too, Frank.”

Frank opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then

closed it and spun around, walking out the door. Seth held it together

until the door closed behind Frank before he gave into the grief

welling up inside of him. He turned and buried his face in Ruthie’s

lap.

“I’m so sorry, Seth,” Ruthie whispered as she stroked her fingers

through Seth’s hair.

“Me, too.”

Seth gave himself another moment to grieve for what might have

been, and then sniffled and wiped his eyes. He didn’t have the time or

the energy to spend on someone that didn’t want him or his daughter.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he raised his head and

glanced at Ruthie and Lisa. “Did anyone come by and tell you what—”

“Gideon came by and explained everything,” Lisa said. “It’s still

all a little hard to take in, our house gone.”

“Gideon insisted that Lisa and I stay with him and Micah until we

find another place,” Ruthie added. “He said it would be safer until we

find out who did this.”

“I swear to you both, I have no idea who would—”

“Oh, honey, we know that.” Lisa leaned forward to grasp Seth’s

hand between her own. “If we thought there was anything suspicious

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Stormy Glenn

about you, we never would have agreed to surrogate a baby with

you.”

Seth sniffled again as he laid his head against Ruthie’s distended

stomach and rubbed his hand over where his child was. “Thank you.”

Ruthie patted the hand Lisa was holding. “It’s what family does

for family, Seth.”

“Yeah,” Seth whispered sadly.

He just wished his family included one more person.

Love & Spaghetti on Aisle Eight

59

Frank drew another circle on the paper with his pencil. He

couldn’t concentrate worth shit. His mind kept going back to the

sorrow etched in Seth’s face as he walked away the night before. Seth

had been heartbroken, and trying to hold it together.

Frank never felt like more of a monster than he had in that

moment, especially after everything he said about having something

special with Seth. He was running and he knew it. He just didn’t

know how to stop running.

Frank was a cop. He, more than most, knew what kind of horrible

things were out in the world. He was pretty sure a person had to be

insane to bring a child into the world, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to

be a part of that insanity.

“What has your panties in a bunch?” Nick asked as he perched

himself on the side of Frank’s desk. He was popping peanuts into his

mouth.

“Seth has a baby.” Well, he was going to have a baby.

Same thing
.

“Oh yeah?” Nick asked. “I thought he was gay.”

“He is. It was an arrangement he made with the woman that lived

next door to him at the brownstone so he could have a family. He

donated the sperm, she carried the baby. When her and her partner

decide they want kids, he’ll donate again.”

“Sounds like the way to go.” Nick popped another peanut into his

mouth. “It’s better than playing with girly bits or getting married just

to procreate.”

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Stormy Glenn

“You know how I feel about kids, Nick.” He liked them well

enough. He even adored his nieces and nephews. But kids of his own

scared the hell out of him. What did he know about being a parent?

Nick paused with his hand halfway to his mouth. “You fucked it

up again, didn’t you?”

“Did not,” Frank grumbled.

Nick rolled his eyes. “I swear you have more ways of sabotaging

your love life than anyone I have ever met.”

“Do not!” Frank protested.

“Yes, you do!” Nick snapped. “Anytime someone starts getting

the least bit serious, you give some excuse as to why the two of you

would never work.”

“He should have told me up front.”

“Like you told him up front that you were a detective?”

It wasn’t the same thing. Being a detective was a career, a calling.

Having kids was a life choice. He could quit being a detective. Seth

couldn’t quit being a father. “I’m not ready for an instant family,

Nick. I’m only thirty-two.”

“What did Seth say when you kicked him to the curb?”

“I didn’t kick him to the curb!” Frank clenched his fists, ready to

belt his partner.

“Oh. Then you plan to see him again?”

Frank frowned. “No, not exactly but—”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Nick sounded disgusted as he

grabbed the file off Frank’s desk and walked over to his own. “He’s

staying with friends?” Nick asked as he read over the file.

“Yes, why?”

Nick snapped the file closed and tossed it on his desk. “Because

you might be stupid enough to toss a sexy guy like that aside because

you’re scared, but I’m not. If he’s single, I’m going to ask him out.”

Frank growled. “Don’t test me, Nick.”

“You dropped him, remember?”

Rage clenched Frank’s jaw. “Nick!”

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61

“What?”

“Stay away from Seth.”

“Nope.” Nick grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and

pulled it on over his shoulders, making sure the collar was pressed

down. “He’s free game and I plan to get me some.”

Frank growled as he grabbed Nick and slammed the man into the

nearest wall. “Stay away from Seth!”

“Or what?” Nick’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll tell him you’re