If the Ring Fits (5 page)

“You check on Logan,” Travis called after Mary Karen, though she’d already disappeared down the hall. “I’ll take care of things here.”

“Logan is asleep.” A tiny frown furrowed Erin’s brow. “He’s fine.”

“You know how mothers can be.” Travis reached into his pocket and pulled out several large bills. “Will this be enough?”

The girl’s eyes widened. “Wow. Yeah. More than enough.”

“Consider it combat pay,” Travis said. “I’m sure you earned every cent.”

“Thank you, Dr. Fisher.” Erin glanced nervously at the twins who stood staring intently at her. She tossed her bag over her shoulder, grabbed her jacket from the coat tree and inched toward the door. “Should I stick around to speak with Mrs. Vaughn or is it okay if I leave?”

“I’m going to tell Mommy you were mean to me. You
wouldn’t let me put chocolate on my ice cream,” five-year-old Connor said in an accusing tone.

“Yeah,” Caleb echoed, his lip jutting out. “You were super mean.”

“Enough.” Travis stepped forward and clamped a hand on each boy’s shoulder, not letting go even when they began to squirm. “Erin, thanks again for watching the children. I know they can be a challenge.”

The girl edged her way to the door, keeping the boys in sight. “They’ve got a lot of energy.”

“Say thank you to Erin, boys.” His tone brooked no argument. The girl had obviously gone through hell tonight. At the very least she deserved a little politeness at the end of the evening.

Caleb kicked the carpet with his toe. “Thank you.”

Travis fixed his gaze on Connor.

“Thank you,” the other twin finally echoed.

Travis stood by the door with the boys and watched until the girl was safely in her house across the street.

“I didn’t like her,” Connor said. “I’m glad Mommy’s home.”

“Where’d Mommy go?” Caleb’s gaze scanned the room.

“Your mother isn’t feeling well.” Travis had planned to head home, put up his feet and have a cool one. He had a lot to think about. But he couldn’t turn these two loose on M.K. After all, she wouldn’t be in the bathroom throwing up if it wasn’t for him. “I’ll be tucking you in tonight.”

Connor’s expression brightened. “Will you tell us a monster story?”

His twin shoved him. “T. rex story.”

Connor took both hands and pushed his brother back. Hard. “Monster story.”

Travis separated the two before the childish sparring turned into a full-blown fight then herded them to their bedroom. He wasn’t sure what snacks they’d consumed but based on how they were behaving, he’d guess the treats contained lots of sugar and caffeine. By the time he’d gotten them tucked in and made up both a monster
and
a dinosaur story, he decided he should have given Erin another twenty.

With the two finally sleeping peacefully, he went in search of their mother. He’d heard M.K. in the bathroom when he’d passed by earlier, but now that door was open, which Travis took to be a positive sign.

He found her in her bedroom, asleep on the bed, her clothes and shoes still on. Travis slipped the heeled sandals off, then covered her with the knitted throw she always kept neatly folded over a chair.

She looked so young lying there with her blond hair spread out around her face; Mary Karen was a beautiful young woman who should be worrying about nothing more important than the next party to attend.

Now, because of him, she’d be raising not three rambunctious children, but four. He set his jaw. Regardless of what Mary Karen thought, they were in this together. She would have his help, whether she wanted it or not.

T
he next two weeks passed quickly. Travis wanted to be with Mary Karen but it seemed every time he called she was too busy to talk for very long. The only time he got to see her was at the hospital. She told him she was trying to get in the nursing hours while she still could work.

His life had shifted into high gear, too. While he’d been gone, his partners had picked up the slack. Now a couple of them had taken some well-deserved vacation time, which left him to fill in for them.

Like today, it was barely 5:00 p.m. and he’d already delivered his third baby. The first two women had their husbands with them in the delivery room. The last patient had been a college student. The girl had stayed strong but he’d seen the fear in her eyes. It didn’t seem right that any woman should have to go through pregnancy and childbirth alone.

Mary Karen’s first prenatal appointment with Dr. Kerns was scheduled for next week. She’d let that little bit of information slip in their brief telephone conversation last night. He’d offered to rearrange his schedule and go with her but she’d told him not to bother.

Not to bother?
Did she ever once consider that he might want to share the experience with her? But when he’d tried to explain that he
wanted
to be there, he’d heard a crash. She’d told him Connor had broken the cookie jar and she had to get off the phone and clean it up. He’d asked her to call him back, but he hadn’t heard from her.

Travis barely noticed the staff in the halls on his way to the doctor’s lounge. Instead of the exhilaration he normally felt after bringing a new life into the world, it was as if a huge weight had settled on his shoulders. For some reason, his wife—his pregnant wife—wanted nothing to do with him.

He couldn’t help picturing M.K. in that office tomorrow, seeing her baby—their baby—for the first time on that ultrasound screen…and being alone.

When he reached the lounge he was relieved to find it empty. Though Travis normally liked connecting with colleagues, today he didn’t feel like making small talk. Ignoring the coffee and fruit that had been set out by hospital volunteers, he passed through a second door into the locker area. Though he should be thinking about his car or his fantasy football picks, all he could think about was how he’d failed Mary Karen.

While he didn’t want to harass her or make her life more difficult, he couldn’t let her go to her appointment without him. No, tonight he would call and insist—

Without warning, Travis found himself slammed
against a locker with such force it pushed most of the air from his lungs.

“You bastard.” David’s face came into view, his eyes dark with anger. “She was finally getting her life together. How could you do this to her?”

Travis didn’t need to ask what “this” was. His friend had obviously found out his sister was pregnant…and that Travis was the father. Grabbing hold of his anger with both hands, Travis shoved David back. “It wasn’t like we planned it. It just happened.”

“Don’t give me that.” Disappointment filled David’s blue eyes. “I’ve seen the way you act around her. Do you think I didn’t notice you sneaking into that bedroom with her at the Christmas party? I thought you’d be smart enough to take precautions. Mary Karen does not need another baby to raise.”

“That’s true.” In fact, Travis couldn’t agree more. But that didn’t change the facts.

“You’re taking responsibility.” David set his jaw at a hard angle. “You’re marrying her.”

Travis resisted a nervous urge to laugh. But he suppressed it, knowing if he did David would deck him. Though his friend and M.K. had done their share of arguing growing up, David loved his sister deeply and was extremely protective of her. When her ex had left town, it had been her parents and David who’d been left to pick up the pieces.

“Mary Karen and I are already married, David.” Travis tried to ignore the latch of the green metal locker digging into his back. “We were married in Vegas before I left for Cameroon. The baby she’s carrying was conceived on our wedding night.”

Surprise flashed across his friend’s face followed quickly by relief. David’s hands dropped to his side and
took a step back. “I—I didn’t know. July told me Mary Karen started crying when they met for lunch and when she asked what was wrong, Mary Karen told her she was pregnant. She didn’t tell July she was married.”

As Travis straightened, he saw the puzzlement in his friend’s eyes…and the hurt. David didn’t understand why Mary Karen hadn’t confided in him. Or why he, supposedly David’s best friend, hadn’t shared that information.

“We were going to get the marriage annulled…the whole ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ thing,” Travis explained. “The baby changed those plans.”

David’s eyes darkened with suspicion.

“If you’re married, why did you bring Kate to the party? And why aren’t you and Mary Karen living together?”

“I gave Kate a ride. That’s all. And your sister won’t let me move in,” Travis said, oddly embarrassed by the admission. “She’s worried about the boys. She thinks I’ll eventually leave her, leave them, like Steven did.”

“You’re not anything like him.” David’s tone made it clear what he thought of his former brother-in-law. “Surely she realizes that.”

“I’m not sure what’s going on in her head.” Travis blew out a frustrated breath. “Not only won’t she let me move in, she’s insisting that after the baby comes, she’s divorcing me.”

“Whoa, cowboy.” David raised a hand. “Divorce? You just got married.”

“I’m very aware of that fact,” Travis snapped.

David’s brows pulled together. “Is it you who wants the divorce?”

Didn’t his friend understand it had stopped being
about what he wanted the second he’d found out she was pregnant?

“I want to take care of her and our baby,” Travis said through gritted teeth. Though it didn’t seem quite real yet, by Christmas his son—or daughter—would be here. “I’ve tried to convince her to let me be a part of her life but she refuses. Your sister is extremely stubborn.”

“Tell me about it.” David chuckled then quickly sobered. “Listen to me, Trav. You can be charming and persuasive when you set your mind to it. Set your mind to getting back in her good graces. Convince her to let you back into her life. Don’t let her down.”

An obvious warning underscored the words, but David’s threats had no impact other than to make Travis realize it was time to pull out all the stops. December wasn’t that far away.

He knew what needed to be done. While he didn’t like to be anything less than honest, desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Don’t worry, bro.” Travis stood and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Mary Karen may not want me to be her husband right now. But she will. Trust me, she will.”

Ever since she’d been a little girl, Mary Karen had loved the beginning of summer. One of the reasons was that it heralded the arrival of the farmer’s market in Jackson. Produce vendors, as well as booths selling homemade crafts and fresh flowers, took over the downtown sidewalks every Saturday morning. Today it was lettuce, asparagus and wild mushrooms that had made Mary Karen hop out of bed extra early.

Though she did not consider herself by any stretch of the imagination to be a cook, for the sake of her
children’s health, she tried. And since she had a black thumb, that meant picking up fresh vegetables from someone else’s garden whenever she had the chance.

She brushed a strand of hair from her face with the back of one hand and waited for the grandmotherly-type to stuff the organic lettuce into a bag. A trickle of sweat traveled down her spine. When she’d gotten up, it had been a cool thirty-seven degrees outside. That’s why she and the boys had worn coats for the short morning walk. Unfortunately now that the sun was high in the sky, it had to be close to seventy.

“I’m hot, Mommy.” Three-year-old Logan pulled at her hand. “I wanna go home.”

“Just wait a few minutes more and we’ll get some ice cream.” With three-year-old Logan’s hand still firmly clenched in hers, Mary Karen struggled to pull the money out of the pocket of her jeans.

“Does Connor get ice cream, too?”

Though her twins were identical, and strangers often had trouble telling the two apart, Mary Karen had never had that problem. She could even tell by their voice which one was speaking.

“Why wouldn’t Connor get ice cream, Cal?” she asked as the bills slid from her pocket and she gave the money to the woman.

The older woman handed Mary Karen her change. “Those are two cute kiddos you have there.”

“Two?” Mary Karen dropped the change into her purse. “I think all three of them are pretty cute.”

“I only see two,” the woman said before turning to her next customer.

Mary Karen glanced down. Where seconds before three little boys had stood, there was now only Caleb and Logan. Her heart rose to her throat.

“Where’s your twin?” she demanded, her voice breaking. “Where’s Connor?”

Caleb shrugged. “I dunno.”

Mary Karen scanned the crowd. Logan pulled on her hand, trying to get loose but she held on tight. So many people. So many places for a five-year-old to hide. So easy for a child to be taken….

“Connor,” she called out over the crowd, hysteria edging her voice. “You come, right now.”

“Is this the runaway you’re looking for?”

Mary Karen whirled. Standing behind her was Travis, his firm hand on Connor’s shoulder. Tears of relief filled her eyes.

“Travis, ohmigod, thank you. I owe you big-time.” She shifted her gaze to her son. She didn’t know whether to hug him or give him a good scolding. “What were you thinking? Running off like that?”

“I saw Travis,” Connor said, not at all apologetic. “I wanted to show him my face.”

When they’d first arrived at the farmer’s market, Mary Karen had coughed up two dollars each and let the boys have their faces painted.

While Caleb had simply wanted his face colored blue, Connor had chosen to be a dog. The band-booster mom had painted his angelic face white then added freckles, whiskers and a black nose.

“I thought at first he was going to bite me.” Travis pretended to shudder. “But then he said my name, and I knew it was Connor.”

Mary Karen swallowed a laugh when her son growled and pretended to snap at the doctor. This was serious stuff. Taking off by himself could have had disastrous consequences.

She fixed her gaze on her strongest-willed son.
Though she hated playing Mean Mom, Mary Karen had three boys and only two hands. The children had to obey her. Soon, she’d have four to manage and control would be even more crucial.

“I told you to stay by my side,” she said in a firm tone. “That means you. Stay. By. My side. Have I made myself clear?”

Connor lifted his chin. “I don’t like to wait.”

“Well, sometimes we have to do things we don’t like.” Mary Karen met her son’s gaze. “You will be going to bed an hour early for the next three nights for disobeying me.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong,” Connor protested.

“You ran off.” In spite of her rising temper Mary Karen’s voice remained calm. She’d learned long ago that if she lost control, the boys stopped listening. “You could have gotten lost. A stranger could have taken you. All sorts of bad things could have happened.”

Connor’s expression turned mulish. “But—”

“One more word and I’ll make it two hours early,” she warned.

“I’d listen to her, Con.” Travis knew Connor was too young to fully appreciate the seriousness of being a child alone in this crowd. But the boy needed to listen to his mother. Though Jackson was a safe town, crime happened here like anywhere else.

M.K. was a caring mother who wanted her children to be not only happy, but safe as well. It suddenly hit him that his child would be lucky to have her watching over them. The thought—and the accompanying dip in his gut—took him by surprise. Travis shifted his gaze back to the mother of his unborn child.

He frowned. Mary Karen’s cheeks were flushed and perspiration dotted her brow. Yet her eyes were clear
and she didn’t look feverish. He studied her for a few seconds longer and decided it had to be the layers of clothing. In addition to jeans and her favorite red long-sleeved tee, she wore a jacket heavy enough for winter.

“Give me your coat.” He held out his hand to her. “You look warm.”

Her gaze dropped to Connor and the jacket he’d tied around the boy’s waist.

“I’m fine,” she said. “But I think the boys may be hot.”

“Tie mine like you did my brother’s,” Caleb said.

“Me, too,” Logan echoed.

Travis released his hold on Connor’s hand.

“Stay put,” he ordered, before turning to the other two. He quickly secured their jackets around their waists while watching Mary Karen out of the corner of his eye. Travis knew she had to be hot, too. Although it was unzipped, was keeping on the coat her way of trying to cover up her pregnancy?

Guilt sluiced through him knowing it had been his unquenchable desire for her that had put her in this position. But he would make it right. He just needed to follow his plan and convince her that he’d changed his mind, that he really did want a family, after all.

“You know I came to the farmer’s market looking for you,” he told Mary Karen. “I was hoping to take you and the boys out to lunch.”

He continued before the no had a chance to cross her lips. “A large pepperoni at Perfect Pizza? With something icy cold to drink?”

“I want pizza,” Caleb said, and his two brothers nodded vigorously in agreement.

“C’mon, M.K.,” he said in his most persuasive tone.
“Doesn’t a great big glass of iced tea sound good to you?”

Mary Karen wiped the perspiration from her face, the bag of vegetables dangling from her hand. “Okay.”

The boys cheered. Travis wanted to cheer, too. Not because of the food, but because his plan to win her over had just taken a step forward.

And it had been his experience that every success began with a single step.