Undeniably Yours (5 page)

His mother swung her legs off the side of the lounger so she could sit up straight. “I didn’t realize you were seeing her.”

“We’re not really seeing each other. We just
saw
each other that once, more or less. But I guess the…well, the dates and all…she took a test. She’s due at the end of June.”

“And you’re sure it’s yours?” His father was always the practical one.

“I’m sure, Pop. She’s not really a big fan, so I doubt she’d tie herself to me for the rest of her life if it wasn’t mine.”

Mary made a
tsk tsk
sound that made him want to grind his teeth. “You didn’t sneak away in the middle of the night, did you?”

“No, Ma.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat that was probably his pride. “She snuck out. Didn’t even leave a note.”

“What are you going to do?” they asked at the same time.

He shrugged. “My insurance won’t cover her, even if we got married. The baby will be covered, of course, as soon as it’s born.”

“Married?” Leo shook his head. “I may be old, but even I know having a baby’s no reason to get married anymore.”

“We’re not. It only came up because her mother had a history of miscarriages and she wants a good doctor so if my insurance would’ve covered her, it would have been worth it.”

“Surely she could get some kind of assistance,” Mary said.

“Probably, but then she’s limited to what doctors they’ll pay for her to see. And she doesn’t need assistance, Ma. She has me.”

Her eyes warmed. “You’re okay, then?”

“I am.” He was, and he was sure Beth would come around, eventually. “To be honest, even though it’s something neither of us planned—and yes, Ma, we used protection, not that it did any good—I’m more than okay. I think I’m a little bit happy about it.”

“And Beth?” she asked.

“She’s…Beth wasn’t really thinking about settling down, so a surprise baby’s tougher on her, I guess. But she wants to keep the baby and we’re going to do this.”

Leo raised his glass. “Congratulations then, son.”

“Thanks, Pop.”

He was surprised when his mother got up and walked over to hug him. “You’ll let us know if she needs anything. And we’ll have you both over for dinner soon. When she’s ready.”

“I love you, Ma.”

“I love you, too. Now where does Beth live? Is it a nice place for a baby?”

“I haven’t been there, but I get the impression it’s not very nice. She rents cheap places because she likes to move around, not places for raising a child. And she doesn’t have a lot of money, so it’s probably not great.”

Leo snorted. “We’ll fix the hell outta that, son. Don’t you worry.”

“She has tomorrow off.”

Beth pulled the covers up over her head, but the knocking didn’t stop. It was cold and her cheapskate landlord wouldn’t turn the heat up until November first and whoever was at the door could just come back later. Like in the spring when it wasn’t too damn cold to put her feet on the floor.

Then the phone rang. She snaked her arm out from under the warm covers and snatched the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hey, answer your door.”

“No.”

Kevin laughed in her ear. “Come on. It’s even colder in the hallway than it is outside. Ma’s already complaining.”

Beth bolted upright in the bed, the covers falling to her waist. “Your mother’s here?”

Great. At least if it was cold enough, maybe her baby’s grandparents wouldn’t be overcome by the eau de cat piss. Way to make a great impression.

“Pop’s here, too. Answer the damn door.” Then he knocked again, just in case she didn’t get the point.

“How did you find out my address?”

“I traded Celtics tickets for it. And I’m not telling you who.”

“I hope whoever got them enjoys the game, but go away.”

“Come on, Beth. They were really good seats.”

“Not cool, Kevin,” she said into the phone before she hung up on him.

He knocked louder. Dammit, he was going to upset the neighbors. And if they complained and she got evicted because of a disturbance, she wouldn’t get her deposit back.

Beth sighed and hopped out of bed, pausing long enough to pull on her old, fuzzy bathrobe before unlocking the door. She left the chain on and opened the door a crack.

“Stop knocking,” she hissed.

“Let us in and I won’t have to knock.”

“You can’t just drop in unannounced this early in the morning.”

He leaned in close to the crack and eyed her attire. “Beth, it’s eleven o’clock.”

“Oh.” Sleeping in on her days off was her sole luxury, but eleven was pushing it, even for her.

When he knocked again, she jumped back away from the door. “Cut it out!”

“Let us in!”

Since the cold was emanating in from the hallway, she closed the door and slid the chain off before opening it again. Kevin walked in, followed by his parents, and she closed it again. Then all she could do was watch as they emptied the contents of several bags from the local home-improvement store onto the card table she pretended was a dining room set.

“Okay,” Leo said in that loud voice of his. “We got the lead test, the mold test, the radon test.”

“Smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors,” Kevin added, stacking up a pile of small square boxes.

“How are you feeling?” Mary Kowalski asked her.

A little lost, since she had no idea what was going on. “Fine, thank you. How are you?”

“I’m so excited,” she said, and then she threw her arms around Beth. “Another grandchild!”

“You told her?” Beth accused Kevin over his mother’s shoulder. “It’s bad luck to tell too soon!”

He shrugged. “Trust me, it’s worse luck to keep secrets like that from my mother.”

“There’s no GFI outlet in the kitchen?” Leo was making himself at home, looking around. “Is that even legal? Holy crap, you don’t have a couch! Who doesn’t have a couch?”

“Kevin, can I talk to you for minute?” When he looked around, as if looking for a private spot, she sighed.

“One room and a bath?” he asked.

“If you say the whole word bath
room,
it’s technically two rooms. We can talk in the hall.”

“What are you doing?” she asked when they were chilly, but alone.

“An old building like this has all kinds of potential problems. We just want to make sure it’s safe for the baby.”

“You don’t think I can keep the baby safe?”

He raised an eyebrow at her tone. “Of course I do. But this kinda stuff—testing and whatnot—that’s guy stuff.”

“Guy stuff.”

“Yeah.”

“And what am I supposed to be doing? Knitting him a blanket?”

“Him? You think it’s a boy?”

She sighed. “You totally missed the point.”

“Okay, look. Your place is—”

“Mine,” she interrupted. It wasn’t much. Nobody knew that more than she did, but it was hers and she’d be damned if the Kowalskis were going to just bulldoze right over her.

His crestfallen expression made her feel guilty. “Sorry. Maybe I’m overstepping. If you say I am, I must be. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. I mean, don’t I get to do
anything
before the baby’s actually born?”

That was so sweet she melted a little on the inside. “This is new to me, too, Kevin, but—”

“You can’t stay here.”

“What?” Did he mean while they were doing the tests? “Where am I supposed to go?”

“The apartment across from mine. Holy shit, it’s cold in this hallway.”

“Back up, Kevin. I just woke up and your father’s yelling at me because I don’t have a couch and—”

“Why don’t you have a couch?”

She sighed. “Because I could only bring things I could get up two flights of stairs by myself.”

“Nobody helped you move?”

“No.”

“That’s why you can’t stay here.”

“Because I don’t have a couch?”

“No, because you’re alone with nobody else to help you out. I think I can see my breath, you know.”

She was going to kick him in the shin. Hard. “I didn’t know anybody when I moved here. I do now, so if I decide to buy a couch I don’t want or need, I’ll call a friend to help me carry it up.”

“I want you to move out of here and live in the apartment across from mine.”

Whoa.
One hell of an ambush before coffee. “Sure, because you just hand out empty apartments at random.”

“You’re not random. There are apartments over Jasper’s. Paulie lives in the big one on the second floor. I’ve got one of the two on the third floor. The other one’s empty. And furnished, so all you need is clothes and food.”

“I can’t do that.” She shoved her hair back away from her face. “I can’t just move into your building, Kevin.”

“Why not?”

That stumped her for a few seconds. Because…she just couldn’t. There was Kevin across the hall, for one thing. It was bad enough her new pregnancy hormones seemed to be causing some pretty steamy dreams. Seeing him every day?

Even thinking straight was beyond her right now. She was supposed to be saving her money for a bus ticket and a new start, not diapers and a minivan. Not thinking about moving into a fully furnished apartment that could end up being a
home.
Home meant building relationships with people who would want to know where she was and what she was doing. Home meant hovering.

Albuquerque. That was the dot on the map her eye kept landing on.

She could still go. There was time to escape the New England winter and start a new life before she even started showing. Sure, it was harder for a pregnant woman to find work, but she’d manage.

But even as a part of her was mentally leaving town, another part of her recognized those days were over. And the man standing in front of her was a big reason why. The only way she could have disappeared would have been not to tell him and she couldn’t live with that. So now she was stuck.

She jumped when Leo jerked open the door and waved a discolored cotton swab in Kevin’s direction. “We got lead paint.”

Her stomach dropped. Lead paint? Weren’t there laws governing that sort of thing in apartment houses?

But that probably required somebody to report it and the people who rented apartments there were people who didn’t have a lot of residential choices. But lead paint…that was so dangerous for the baby.

“Jesus, it’s cold out here,” Leo said. “And whose cat’s pissing in the hallway? This place should be condemned.”

He closed the door on them and Beth would have laughed if there wasn’t a hot ball of shame in the pit of her stomach. The Kowalskis were one of those perfect Cleaver family types and they probably didn’t get she lived there by choice, not necessity.

Sure, it was a shithole, but it was
her
shithole.

“I’m sorry about him,” Kevin said. “He’s not trying to be offensive. He’s just…honest. This is no place for you, Beth. I can borrow my brother’s truck and we could have you moved today.”

Tears of frustration shimmered in her eyes and she blinked them back. It was too much, too fast. He was bulldozing right over her. But to knowingly spend another night in an environment that was toxic to the speck of baby she was carrying? “How much is the rent?”

“We can worry about that later.”

“No. We can’t.”

“Fine.” He gave her an amount that was less than what she was paying and she shook her head. “Beth, come on. You get the
mother of my child
discount. You know I wouldn’t charge you any rent at all if I thought you’d let me get away with it.”

“I don’t sign long-term leases. I only rent month to month.”

“I can live with that.”

She wasn’t sure she could, but she didn’t have a choice. “Okay, but only because of the lead paint.”

His grin lit up his face, making her feel warm despite the temperature in the hall. “You might wanna get dressed then because I’m about to unleash my mother and she’ll have anything not on your body packed before I get back with the truck.”

***

He was almost right. There were still a few things left to pack by the time Kevin got back to her building with Mike’s truck. Most of it was packed in garbage bags. No points for style. They just wanted Beth out of there.

So that’s what they’d done, so efficiently that his parents were gone by suppertime. He’d worry about trading vehicles back with Mike later. Beth still had a few odds and ends left to unpack but she was more or less home. And judging by the sigh of contentment as she sank onto the cushions, she really liked the couch.

“I have to call the utility companies,” she said. “And the phone company. But I’m not going to worry about it right now.”

“Oh, the phone. There’s one here. An unlisted number and we mostly just had it so whoever was staying here could use it. Mike and Joe and the rest of them have cellphones, but not Pop. If you want you can just give that number out to your job or whoever instead of trying to get yours switched over.”

She started to speak, but he held up his hand. “And every month I’ll bring the bill over and you can write me a check.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay. It sounds easier than trying to get my number switched over here, especially since I still have to deal with the landlord. Since I left without notice, I probably won’t get my deposit back.”

“Actually, we ran into your landlord downstairs while were carrying some bags down. Wanted to know who was moving. He wasn’t very happy, but Pop had a little chat with him about lead paint and other health hazards and he’ll be sending the check to this address. As soon as you get it and it clears, we’ll find out who does housing inspections and turn his ass in.”

She didn’t look quite as happy as he’d thought she would. “Thank you.”

“No problem. So, you want to go out and find some food? We could go downstairs and grab something or we could go somewhere else.”

“I don’t think so. I appreciate everything you did today—more than I can say—but I think I’ll stay in.”

“You don’t have any food. Nothing worth eating after a day of moving, anyway. And we could catch a movie, or stop by the video store and rent one.”

Judging by her expression, she was about to shoot him down. “Kevin, I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

He couldn’t quite wrap his head around those words. “We’ll see each other all the time, since we live across the hall from each other now. Plus, there’s that whole
you’re having my baby
thing.”

She blew out a breath and folded her arms across her chest in a defensive way. “I mean, see each other like…a relationship.”

“You mean no more sex.” That sucked. Maybe it was a hormonal thing and she’d change her mind in five minutes. A man could hope.

“No.” She blushed and shook her head. “Well, yes, I mean no more sex. But more than that. No more dates. We’re just going to be neighbors who happen to be having a baby together.”

He was surprised by the disappointment that resonated through him. Most guys would jump at the chance to be off the hook with a pregnant lady. “I don’t get it. I thought we had a good time. And not just the sex part.”

“I did have a good time, but…I can’t explain it.”

“Can you try, because I’m not really sure what I did wrong here.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just a little overwhelming. I know you’re trying to help, but…” She shook her head, as if struggling for the right words.

“You’re carrying my baby, Beth, and if you thought I was going to let you go through this alone, with nothing but a lumpy old mattress in a house that smells like cat piss, you don’t know me very well.”

“I don’t know you at all. That’s the point.”

“I still don’t get it. I think I’ve handled this whole thing pretty damn well.”

“You have. You really have. And now you’re trying to take care of me, but I take care of myself. I don’t really do relationships and you’re a little…suffocating.”

“Suffocating?” What the fuck was she talking about now? “How the hell does wanting you and the baby safe make me a bad guy?”

“You’re not a bad guy. You’re a great guy, actually.” Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled out onto her cheeks. She dashed them away with an angry swipe of her hand. “It’s just…too much and I’m so overwhelmed and I…I…”

“Come here.” He sat on the couch next to her and pulled her into his arms. “No kinky stuff. Just a neighbors–who-happen-to-be-having-a baby-together hug. See? Not even copping a feel.”

She laughed against his shirt with a hiccupping sound. “It’s just…you’re being so wonderful about this baby and you actually seem happy about it and you’re so together and I’m just a mess.”

“I am happy about it. But I’m not the one carrying the baby—you are. And maybe my life’s more settled and ready for a baby than yours is.” He leaned back against the couch, taking her with him. “I’m sorry I’m coming across as pushy. It’s just the way I am—if something needs to be done, I do it. If somebody in my life needs something and I can provide it, I provide it. But I’ll try to back off…some.”