Royce (11 page)

“Shame on you, Annamarie. That poor girl.”

“Now see here—” Royce snapped at Bobbie.

“No, you see here. That girl just lost her mother, her best friend and the only person who’s ever really loved her all in one shot. Then she finds out she’s having a baby by a near stranger. You can’t tell me that when you go to tear apart a business that you don’t write down every single option, weigh all the options, and discard the ones you know won’t work?”

“Yes. But this isn’t a building, it a kid. And it’s—”

“If you tell me that it’s your kid, I will walk out that door and never return. It’s not ‘your’ anything. It’s the both of yours.” Bobbie stiffened as anger seemed to pour from her. “No wonder the poor girl is thinking adoption is better. Just listen to the lot of you. You sitting there in that big chair of yours as if you haven’t a care in the world telling everyone that you’ve no plans to marry the woman who is going to have your child. And you.” She turned to his mom. “What did you expect her to do? Offer you tea and crumpets and be thrilled she’s going to be a part of the exalted Hunter family? If she’s smart she’ll run as far and as fast as she can from all of you. She lost her mother, got pregnant, and you come and congratulate her.” Bobbie slammed out of his office. Royce was speechless. But before he could regain his tongue and fire her, his mother spoke up.

“She’s right. All of it. Even the tea and crumpets remark.”

“Mom, I doubt you expected Kasey to make you a cup of hot tea and whip out some cookies for you. Or anything else.”

“Yes, I did. Not literally, mind you. But I did expect her to be thrilled that she was having a Hunter. I also expected…well, to be honest, I expected her to be impressed. But she wasn’t. She made no excuses. Hell, son, she wasn’t even too happy about me being there at all much less in her house.” She stood up. “But I’m going to do everything in my power to make it up to her. Starting with leaving her alone until she’s ready to ask
me
for help.”

“You’ll see the baby, Mom. I won’t let her keep it from you. And if she tries to put it up for adoption, I’ll—”

“You’ll what, Royce? Brow beat her? Steal the baby away from her as she’s giving birth? Do you honestly think that’s what you want? A child torn apart because you hate his mother so much?”

“I don’t hate her. I just don’t… You want me to marry her, don’t you? Give the baby a father who doesn’t want him?” Royce felt a sharp pain in his heart when he said that. He unconsciously rubbed the bruised area.

“No, I don’t. You’re so right in not marrying Kasey. It would be a major mistake even for you to make the offer to her.” His mom opened the door to his office to leave.

“Mom, where are you going now?”

“To try and figure out how to repair the damage that I inflicted on an innocent woman and her child. Try to make at least some form of friendship between us so that neither she nor my grandchild will hate me.”

Chapter 11

Daniel put down the phone and leaned back in his chair. Royce was going to be a father. Daniel had not seen that one coming. He still had a hard time believing it even after the second blood test confirmed it. Then the talk with Kasey—man, that was one pissed off chick.

He’d called her earlier to ask if she would mind going to see one of their doctors. He tried to explain that it was just to be positive, that doctors made mistakes all the time. But she wasn’t buying it.

“And this doctor, because he’s a Hunter-approved physician, he’s above making mistakes, is that what you’re saying? That only people handpicked by the rich are perfect?”

“No, I’m saying that I’d like for you to have it verified that you are indeed pregnant. So long as I get a report back from someone of authority saying yes, you had a test, and yes, you’re pregnant, I don’t care much who you see. I’m just trying to make it easy on you by making the appointment with a doctor I know. Plus, that way I can make sure the bill is paid.” He knew the moment he’d said it, he’d screwed up again.

“Because as a regular person, a poor person, I don’t pay my bills is what you’re implying. I’ll have you know that I pay all my bills, Mr. Hunter. I may not pay them all up front like you people do, but they do get paid,” she practically snarled at him.

If his mother hadn’t came in before he’d called Kasey and told him what had happened between the two of them, he might have snarled back. But he knew mostly why she was mad and didn’t really blame her.

“Feel better?” he asked her. She didn’t answer. “I find it’s better to snap at the one who pissed you off, but I know that at times, like I’m sure it is for you now, it’s not really feasible. Also, I use a punching bag, also probably not an option for you at the moment. I could bring you Royce and hold him down for you. Then you could wail on him all you want…just so long as I get a hit or two in on my own, you understand.”

“And what about your mom? You going to hold her down for me as well? It could be a big day for the Hunters.”

“Nah. With her, you’re on your own. Don’t tell her I told you this, but she scares the shit out of me.”

Her laughter made him smile. “Thank you, Mr. Hunter, and if you’d like to start over, I think I can be nicer to you.”

“You’re very welcome, Kasey. And please call me Daniel.” He picked up the list again. “I have a list of obstetrician-gynecologists for you. None of them have my approval because I don’t usually deal with that sort of thing. But none of these have been under any investigation, nor have they been sued that I can find. Do you have a pen and paper?”

“Wait, I have a list of possibilities here. Read me your list and I’ll go from there.” He waited until she had her list. He knew she had one; his mother had told him she’d seen it too. He read off the names and she had all he had but one on her list as well. He had been impressed.

After she told him which two she was going to check into and gave him the one she’d see today, he told her he’d make the appointment but not pay the bill. She agreed to go in and have the test done as soon as she heard back from him.

“I’ll have to wait on my uncle to come and get me. I still can’t drive yet and he isn’t home until after one today. I suppose I could call a taxi, but they’re so expensive and I need to save my money.”

Daniel thought about suggesting he’d send a car, but knew that she’d refuse. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to have Royce wait. Cooling his heels was just what Royce needed about now.

And now he had it confirmed. Kasey Marie York was going to have a baby. And next week, she’d have her due date and a full exam from a doctor of her choice.

Daniel realized that he couldn’t wait to find out, couldn’t wait to watch her grow large with his niece or nephew. And he couldn’t wait for Royce to figure out what a fucking idiot he was.

He buzzed the idiot’s office and smiled when he answered. “She’s pregnant. The doctor said she’s slightly underweight, but that was probably due to the extra stress. He said everything in her blood work came back just fine.”

“Who is her doctor and how can I reach him? When is she going to see him again? I will want to be there so I can make sure she follows his instructions to the letter.”

Daniel thought about taking a deep breath before he answered his brother. Or even stopping to count to ten. But he did neither. He just said what he wanted. “And you care why? I mean, you’re a bottom line sort of guy, right? I understand that. But so long as the end product is how you think it should be, shouldn’t that be enough for you?”

“What the hell is that suppose to mean?”

Daniel grinned again. Yeah, he needed a good fight and it looked like Royce was going to give him one. “The baby will be here and you, my dear, stupid brother, will be just as you are right now. Single, wealthy, and free to do whatever you want whenever you want. While Kasey can’t.”

“Why is everyone treating me like I’ve done something heinous to her? I made an error in judgment and now I’m going to be a father. It was just sex. I got caught up in the moment and forgot to use protection. How does that make me the bastard and her the injured party?”

Daniel burst out laughing without a bit of humor. “Wow, Royce, is that what you’re going to tell your child? ‘Sorry about your luck, kid, but I forgot to wrap my cock before I stuck it in your mother and you were the result of my lapse in judgment.’ I’m sure you’ll get father of the year.” He slammed down the phone and left his office. If he stayed for one minute longer, he might decide to go and find Royce and beat the living shit out of him. Once for him and then again for Kasey.

~~~

Kasey told her uncle that she was pregnant. He’d been so angry at first. Not at her, but that the “boy” he’d called him, wouldn’t marry her. She’d tried to explain that she wouldn’t marry him for all the money in the world and that seemed to make him madder.

“What would your mom say? She’d be mad and you know it. She wanted the best for you and you being a single mom wasn’t something she’d want for you.”

“No, probably not. But she’d understand. And that’s all I’m asking you to do. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I know that whatever I do will be right for me and not for anyone else.” She put her arms around him in a big hug. “I’m not asking you for help, Uncle Jay—”

“Well, you’re going to get that anyway. Now, sit your bottom down and eat. I don’t want to hear you aren’t hungry either.” He put enough food on her plate for ten people and told her to eat. They were just about halfway through dinner when he looked up at her. “You going to tell me who the father is or do I need to guess? I’m thinking it’s that Hunter boy, but you tell me if I’m wrong.”

“No, it’s Royce Hunter. We had…it was right after I was hurt.” She looked down at her plate, suddenly embarrassed. “He doesn’t want me. He doesn’t want anyone to be his wife. I’m not even sure he wants this baby.”

Uncle Jay looked away. She could see that he was angry with her. Or so she thought. “Want me to talk to him? Actually, I’d really like to beat his ass. Will you let me do that for you? Please?”

She laughed at the pleading tone in his request. She’d almost feel sorry for Royce if her uncle wanted to go after him. But she shook her head. “No. You’d lose your job and then where will I be? If things get bad, I might have to come and live with you.”

He brightened at that. “Why don’t you? You can have your old room and I could redo that room next to yours. It’s too small for anything but the storage room we’ve been using it for. I could knock out the wall and make it into a nice nursery for you and the little one.” He looked shocked for a second. “Holy hell, I’m going to be a great uncle.”

Kasey starting laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes, you are. And Suzy will be a great aunt. But I can’t move in just yet. I need to…we need to get Suzy ready for this and me moving in might mess up her routine. You know how she is.”

Uncle Jay nodded. “And she might hurt the baby. I never…you did, though, didn’t you? She might not mean it, but she could. You’re right. We’ll have to work our way up with that.”

Suzy spent most of her day in school. Even at her age, she needed the structure of doing the same thing every day and that included going to school. It also gave Uncle Jay a break and she was with someone who watched her very closely. He could work and not worry about her and she had her friends to play with.

Suzy was older than Kasey’s mom had been and even Uncle Jay. She’d never been in a home and as far as Kasey knew, it had never been discussed. When her grandparents had died before Kasey was born, first her mom then Uncle Jay had cared for her. When Leah had been diagnosed with her brain tumor years ago Suzy had moved in with Uncle Jay and Leah had stayed in the house she’d rented Kasey’s whole life.

At five-thirty when Suzy was dropped off from school they took Kasey home. And Kasey went to lie down and take a nap. She hadn’t slept well the night before, not at all if she was honest, and she was tired. She needed to be up early the next morning because her phone was being installed and she had over two hundred pages to correct before Friday, which gave her three days.

Her nap ended up being fourteen hours long. She woke refreshed and rested. At just after eight-thirty the phone serviceman knocked on her door and she told him where she wanted the jacks. When he left at just a little over an hour later she pulled out the phones she’d picked up cheap.

Her cell phone was too expensive to use for everyday since she paid by the minute, so having a house phone was going to save her money. She called and gave the number to her uncle and then the school where Suzy went. She didn’t know anyone else that would want it or that she talked to all that much so she went back to work on the papers. She didn’t even think of the time passing until someone knocked on her door and she saw that it was just after two in the afternoon. She nearly went back to her little table when she saw who it was.

Opening the door she blocked Royce from coming in. “I don’t want to see you. I’m having a really good day and you’ll just fuck it up.”

“I want to see what you found out at the doctor’s. My brother thinks it’s funny to keep any information I may need about you from me.”

Kasey decided that she really liked his brother. “I don’t know what information you think you might
need
about me, but I don’t have any to give you. I don’t have a doctor’s appointment until…until later, and it’s really none of your business anyway.”

She still had the door blocked and he looked around the hall at the lady who came out of her apartment. “Can I please come in? This is really stupid to have a conversation out where everyone can hear us.”

“No.”

He looked ready to explode and she wanted to smile. But she was afraid if she did, he really would have a fit. When he pulled out his wallet, she stiffened. If he pulled out even one dollar, she was going to shove it up his nose.

“I have some phone numbers for you. Just in case. I put all my brothers’ there and my mom’s too. You have the office number, I guess. Anyway, call me when you need something.”

She took the card and put it in her pocket without looking at it. “And what is it you think I’ll need from you, Royce? I think I’ve made it perfectly clear what I want, and in case I didn’t, I’ll tell you. Nothing. Not one thin red penny. I have a lot of decisions to make and—”