The Best Bride (68 page)

Louise drew in a deep breath. “I was seventeen when I caught your daddy's eye. Earl Haynes—” she paused and
smiled “—well, let's just say he was better-looking than all his sons put together. Oh, some might say I was exaggerating, but that's how I felt about him. He was a handsome man. Charming. He came to the high school to talk to the senior class about drinking and driving. A couple years before, a teenager had been killed in a car accident. Ever since, the adults had taken underage drinking really seriously.”

She brushed her short blond hair away from her face. Hannah noticed her earrings were beautiful and unique. A tiny teapot dangled from one ear, while a cup and saucer sparkled from the other.

“He made his presentation to each of our history classes. I was right in front of the room. I remember thinking he was older, but so handsome. He had a smile that made me melt like butter on a hot griddle.” Her face flushed. “I'll admit that I was just seventeen and innocent, but I knew his reputation and I knew he was married. In class, I couldn't stop looking at him and I had the feeling he'd noticed me, too. That afternoon, when I walked home, he was waiting for me at the house. Sitting bold as you please, right there on the front porch.”

She shrugged. “Mama worked in a bar at the edge of town. She left right before I got home from school and didn't get back till after midnight. I'd always been a good girl. Never got into trouble. Until then. There was that whole big empty house with no one in it but me and Earl. I just couldn't resist him.”

She took a last drink of coffee, then rose to her feet. “The affair went on for some time,” she continued. “Until after I graduated from high school. For a long while, I didn't think anyone knew, then I started to hear the whispers.” She moved to the kitchen sink. “I was so embarrassed. I wanted to stop, but I loved him. Or thought I did.
And he said he loved me. So I continued to see him. Then I found out I was pregnant.”

She ran the water and washed out the cup. Instead of facing the room, she continued to stare out the window. “My mother found me crying in my room one night. She wanted to know if Earl had dumped me. It was the first time I realized my mother knew what was going on. She told me later that the bar had had some trouble with its liquor license. Earl could have shut it down at any time. He told my mother he would have, too, if she interfered.”

Louise turned back to Hannah. “She needed that job. She didn't have any other skills. I found out later that she was sick. She died of cancer a few years after that, but back then, the symptoms were starting. She couldn't chance being laid off. So no one stopped Earl. Not even me.”

Hannah didn't know what to think. She hadn't thought about the circumstances of her conception. An older married man taking advantage of a young woman. The notion left a bad taste in her mouth.

“This is a small town,” she said slowly. “There must have been a lot of gossip.”

“Plenty. Once I knew I was having a baby, I left. I never told Earl why. I just said I was tired of it and that I was moving on.” Her mouth twisted down. The bright fuchsia lipstick that had seemed flattering a few moments ago now stood out garishly against her pale skin. “He begged me not to go. Said he loved me. I didn't believe him. I knew his reputation. I knew that what I'd done was wrong, but I was finally going to make it right. I went to one of those homes for unwed mothers. They took care of everything. I learned to type and do office work. Their agency found a nice couple to adopt you.” Tears welled up in her eyes. She raised her chin and blinked rapidly. “They were a nice couple, weren't they?”

Hannah nodded. “Very nice. Lovely people.” Her throat started to tighten.

“I'm glad. Really. It was for the best. I know it was. The only thing is…” A tear slipped down her cheek. She brushed it away and sniffed. “The only thing is, they wouldn't let me hold you. They said you were a healthy little girl and they took you a-away.” Her voice cracked. “I thought that was wrong. They should have let me hold you.”

The simple story had been acted out by thousands of women thousands of times all over the world. Innocent girls seduced and left pregnant gave up their babies every day. This shouldn't be any different. Yet Hannah found herself fighting tears. Her anger faded, drained away by sadness.

“Tell me about them,” Louise said. “The people who adopted you. What are they like? Are you a close family? Did you tell them about my letters?”

“I…” She wasn't sure what to say, then decided the truth would be easiest. “They were killed in a car accident when I was four.”

Louise gasped and covered her mouth.

Hannah shrugged. “There wasn't any other family. I was raised in foster homes.”

“No,” Louise murmured. Tears spilled onto her cheeks. “Oh, no. Hannah. No. I can't… Oh, that's so wrong. It's so unfair.”

Louise crossed toward her. Hannah didn't remember standing, but suddenly she was in her mother's arms. They were both crying, Louise with great choking sobs and Hannah silently.

None of it had been fair, she thought grimly. Not what happened to Louise and not what happened to her.

“I'm so sorry,” Louise apologized tearfully. “This is all my fault.”

Hannah drew in a deep breath and straightened. She brushed her tears away and tried to smile. “It's no one's fault. It just happened. I turned out fine.”

“But I wanted more than fine for you. I wanted the best.” She moved to the counter, tore off a paper towel and handed it to Hannah, then took one for herself. “I wish I'd known. I would have come for you. All those wasted years.”

“We're together now.”

Louise wiped her face and offered a shaky smile. “So we are. You're right. That's what's important. We can't do anything to change what happened.”

They both returned to the kitchen table. Hannah fought against unfamiliar emotions. She hadn't believed she could be affected by details from the past. Nor had she expected any of it to matter to her. Obviously she'd been wrong.

“I'm glad you wrote to me,” she said impulsively.

Louise leaned back in her chair. “It was your brothers' idea. As soon as they found out about you, they wanted me to find you. I'd thought about it for a long time, but I'd been afraid. They gave me the encouragement I needed.”

“I'm surprised they were so willing to have a stranger invade their lives. And under such difficult circumstances. It can't be easy for them to think about the past.”

“Probably not.” Louise smiled sadly. “They're sweet enough not to blame me completely. They know what their father is like. I wasn't the first woman he…well, there were plenty of others. Still, they're happy to meet you, although your being female complicated everything.”

“Why? What difference would that make?”

“I think I'll let them explain about that.”

Hannah decided not to pursue the matter. She had other, more pressing questions. She sorted through them in her
mind and found the one that concerned her the most. “Are you very ill?”

Louise raised her eyebrows. “Ill? No. Why?”

“In your letter you said we should get together while there was still time. At first I assumed it was because you were old and frail. But that's obviously not it, so I decided you must be sick.”

Soft laughter filled the kitchen. Louise smiled broadly. “I'm disgustingly healthy. All I meant by that was that we'd wasted so much time already. Twenty-seven years apart. I didn't want to go another day without knowing my daughter.”

She stretched out her arms, sliding her hands across the table. Hannah hesitated for a moment, then placed her palms on top of the other woman's fingers. They clasped hands.

“I'm so glad you came,” Louise said.

“Me, too.”

Hannah was pleased to find that she meant it. Things were working out better than she'd hoped. She liked her mother. Now that she understood a little about the circumstances of her birth, she could see that Louise hadn't had many options about her child. The anger was still there, but it was fading. She had a whole family to meet and be a part of. Until they found out the truth.

Her good spirits faded quickly, squashed by the weight of her lies. Nick. What was she going to do about him? What was there to say? She cleared her throat to try.

“About Nick and me,” she began.

“Oh, he's wonderful,” Louise said. “Very good-looking. Of course, the women in our family do have an eye for handsome men. Sometimes much to our regret. But in your case, you chose wisely. He cares about you. That's obvious in the way he looks at you.”

Hannah shifted uncomfortably. Great. Her mother applauded her taste in men. What would happen when Louise found out Nick was nothing but a common thief and that her only daughter was a liar? As for Nick caring about her, well, Hannah didn't know what Louise saw in his gaze. Lust, maybe. If he watched her at all, it was to make sure he knew where she was so she wouldn't run off without paying him.

“Now what about Nick?” Louise asked.

Hannah forced herself to smile. She couldn't tell the truth just yet. It would spoil everything. “I'm glad you like him,” she said lamely.

“Me, too. I'm so pleased he's staying with you while you're here. We'll be able to spend lots of time together.”

Another burst of conscience tightened her chest. Another lie. Nick would be getting his “phone call” tomorrow and heading back to Southport Beach. At least then Hannah would be able to draw in a breath without worrying about what he was going to say or do. But instead of feeling relief, something oddly like regret filled her as a tiny voice whispered she might actually miss Nick when he was gone.

* * *

“Where did you go to college?” Travis asked.

Nick lowered the measuring tape and made a note on the paper he'd placed on the windowsill. He turned to face the man who would have been his half brother-in-law if he and Hannah were really married.

“University of California at Santa Barbara,” he said because it was true. He had a four-year degree, in economics of all things. It hadn't done him a damn bit of good when he'd first joined the Santa Barbara Police Department, although all those business courses had come in handy in the past year.

While working the scams necessary to bring down the
bad guys, he'd actually bought and sold land, planned subdivisions and made a presentation to Southport Beach city planners about a shopping center he wanted to develop.

He remeasured the top of the window, wanting to get it right. When he'd double-checked the pencil marks on the pale yellow walls, he reached for a hammer.

Behind him, Travis and Kyle smoothed the wallpaper border that they'd applied halfway up the wall. Its circus animals danced across the paper. Pudgy lions played trumpets, the giraffes had trombones, and hippos in tutus waltzed with zebras in top hats. Craig was installing cream-colored miniblinds while Jordan supervised everyone's work.

The baby's room was good-size. Maybe fourteen by sixteen. Under normal circumstances, it would have felt spacious, especially empty of furniture. But with five guys in it, all moving around and trying to work, the space seemed confined. It had taken Nick a couple of minutes to figure out he was here to be grilled. The casual questions had started a couple of hours ago and so far hadn't let up.

He didn't mind. If Hannah had been his sister, he would have done the same thing.

After making a small hole in the plaster with a nail, he pulled it out and tapped screw anchors into place. Next he lined up the brass bracket with the marks on the wall and secured it in place. There were three lengths of fabric in the closet. Jordan had explained that Holly wanted miniblinds to keep out the light, then fabric matching the border print would be draped around the windows. Nick had a vague idea of what it was all going to turn out like, although he'd never understood how women could take some cloth, tie a couple of knots and make the whole thing look like it was out of a magazine photo shoot. But he did know how to install brackets.

“How long has Hannah been a cop?” Jordan asked.

“Since she graduated from college.”

Kyle stepped back to admire the wallpaper border and grinned. “That proves she's a Haynes. Except for that traitor there—” he motioned to Jordan “—we're all cops.”

“I know,” Nick said.

Craig finished screwing in the supports and bent down to grab the last miniblind. “That doesn't make you nervous, Nick, does it?”

“Being surrounded by Glenwood's finest?” He shook his head. “Not me. My conscience is clear. I sleep like a baby at night.”

Except for last night when he had lain awake knowing Hannah was only a few feet away. He'd tried to relax, but questions about what she'd worn to bed and how she would look sleeping had kept him tossing and turning on the too-short sofa.

“It shouldn't bother him,” Kyle said. “After all, he's married to a cop.”

“That's right. Hannah keeps me in line.”

Kyle measured the distance from the bedroom door to the closet, then called the number to Travis. “Hannah is the first girl born to the family in four generations.”

Nick tapped a screw anchor into place. “That's unusual.”

“Maybe, but it's true. Our father is one of six brothers. His grandfather is one of five, and his great-grandfather is one of eight boys.”

“But you four have daughters.”

“Not me,” Craig said quickly. “At least not yet. Jill is going to have a girl.”

“Holly and I don't have children yet,” Jordan added. “But hers will be a girl, too.”

The four brothers exchanged a look, but Nick didn't
know what it meant. There was some kind of secret in the air. He wasn't sure if he should pursue it or not. Then he decided if they wanted him to know, they would tell him.