Adopt-a-Dad

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JENNY WOKE to flowers. Flowers as far as the eye could see. There were flowers by her bed and there were flowers on the blanket box at her feet. Vases and vases of them. By the window there were stands-maybe a dozen stands-and every one had a vase with maybe thirty blooms in it. Their smell was all around her.

The window was open. There were more flowers in the gardens beyond the terrace, and the smell of rain-drenched flowers was everywhere.

There was the faintest murmur beside her, and Jenny looked down to see her son stirring in his sleep. His tiny fist was just touching his rosebud mouth, and his bottom lip was trembling. Her son! Gary. With one wondering finger she touched his cheek. His eyelids fluttered open, his face turned momentarily toward her, and he stared at his mother with a look that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

And then Gary Richard Lord decided it wasn’t time to stir yet. He had more important things to do. Like sleep.

“He’s a real sweetheart,” a voice whispered, and Jenny’s eyes flew to the door. Katie was standing there. Katie, the nurse who’d been with her every moment of her labor.

It was true, then. It had all happened.

“I thought it must have been a dream,” Jenny said wonderingly, and she winced when she moved. “Well, maybe not. Maybe it really is real.”

“You feeling sore?”

“Like I’ve been steamrollered.”

“He makes a great little steamroller.” Katie looked at her small charge. “He has the best set of lungs in the state. Ford and I have decided it’s just as well he was born here. Maitland Maternity would have given him his marching orders for disturbing the peace.”

“I think I did my own bit of yelling last night,” Jenny said ruefully. “I sure messed up the party.”

“Well, that’s a heap of nonsense,” Katie told her, smiling. “Megan hasn’t had such an exciting party for years.” She eyed Jenny closely. “You really hurting?”

“Only when I laugh.” Jenny’s eyes drifted to the couch at the side of the room. Katie saw where she was looking and she shook her head.

“Abandoned,” she said mournfully. “That’s what happens to the women of the tribe after they’ve produced the son and heir. You’ve been deserted by the man you love. He’ll be off handing out cigars and practicing his chest puffing.”

“But I don’t-”

“Hey, he’ll be back,” Katie reassured her. “I bet he’s gone to get more flowers. As if these aren’t enough. He’s been gathering them for hours. Where he’s gotten them all from, I don’t know.”

“Michael brought all these?” she asked in amazement.

“I sure did, and you deserve every one of them.” Michael’s gruff voice came from across the room, and she turned her head on her pillows. Her husband was coming in through the French windows-and yes, he was carrying more flowers.

“Holy cow, you’d think it was a wedding.” Katie grinned.

Michael dumped the flowers on an armchair and crossed the room to take Jenny into his arms and kiss her senseless before she could remember a single reason he shouldn’t.

Jenny didn’t have the energy to fight him. Well, maybe she did, but she didn’t even try. She lay back and let herself be soundly kissed, and just for a moment she let herself believe this was how it should be. Her wonderful, beloved husband kissing her after the birth of their child. What could be more perfect than this? One baby plus one husband.

Plus a ghost.

Peter was still there, and as Michael finally released her, he saw the echoes of her past lingering in her eyes.

“Jen?”

“Michael, your flowers are wonderful,” she said softly but quickly, as if to make things more formal. “I… Thank you. But how did you get them? You haven’t stripped Megan’s garden?”

“Your son snores,” he said, smiling into her eyes with a look that made her heart do back flips. “There was no way I could sleep. Katie stayed in calling distance, so I went rose hunting.” He grinned. “There’s not a garden on the street left untouched.”

“You stole them!” That shook her. She sat up and fixed him with the same look she’d used when he was trying to impose his will on her as a secretary. “Michael Lord, are you nuts? You’ll be arrested.”

“I left twenty bucks and a thank-you note in every mailbox,” he told her virtuously. “There was no way I was waiting for the florists to open.”

“You’re still nuts.”

“But nice nuts?” he asked hopefully, and she chuckled, then withdrew imperceptibly. He saw it, and didn’t take things further. He had a plan, and it involved a bit of careful persuasion. Plus a lie or two. Pushing things wouldn’t work.

“Jenny, I’m here to take your Gary Richard away for a bit,” he told her. Then, at her startled look, he turned to Katie. “Tell her, Katie.”

“Jenny, Megan wants you to stay right where you are for a few days,” she told her. “We think it’s best. If you’re happy to do that.”

“Of course. But Megan-”

“Megan thinks it’s just wonderful,” Megan said, coming into the room as if on cue. It was still before nine in the morning. It had been three before Megan had slept the night before, but she looked as immaculately dressed and as fresh as if she’d had a full night’s sleep. “As CEO, I should be telling you to get yourself into Maitland Maternity, but we’re big enough now to cope with losing the business of one mother and babe.”

“So you’ll stay here?” Michael said to Jenny as he eyed his aunt doubtfully. They’d clued Katie in on what was going on, but Megan didn’t know.

“Of course, I’d love to stay here. If it’s okay.” But there was a furrow between Jenny’s eyes. “But why do you need to take Gary away?”

“Ford wants to check him,” Michael said promptly-a bit too promptly, and Jenny’s frown grew. She knew this man.

“But last night Ford said he was okay.” Her eyes flew to her son, and panic flared. “There’s nothing wrong?”

“Of course there’s nothing wrong,” Katie said reassuringly, but Jenny was still suspicious.

“Then why?”

“I imagine Ford wants his bilirubin levels taken for jaundice, and a heel prick for thyroid function,” Megan volunteered, and all eyes veered toward her. Good grief, Michael thought. What was she going to say? Had she guessed?

“I don’t understand,” Jenny said.

“I don’t suppose you do, child,” Megan told her graciously. “But all newborns are required to have their bilirubin levels taken, though your little Gary doesn’t look jaundiced to me, and their heel test needs to be done for thyroid malfunction. They’re simple tests that take only a few seconds, but they need to be done in a hospital with the right equipment. I imagine Ford would be unhappy about delaying it.”

Michael held his breath. He looked at Katie-and saw she was holding hers. Was Megan really saying this?

“Will you be long?” Jenny asked, still looking at her tiny son. “Can I come with him?”

“There’s no way you’re going anywhere,” Megan told her sternly. “And it takes all of ten minutes to get to the hospital. An hour at most for the test-that’s if there’s a wait-and back here by a little after ten. You’ll have the little one back by then, right, Michael?”

Michael, stunned, could only nod.

“Of course. And I’ll take the best care of him.”

“I know you will,” Jenny whispered. “It’s only…” She looked at her tiny son, and her eyes welled. “I don’t like to be away from him for a minute.”

“An hour only,” Michael said softly, and bent and kissed her on the lips.

“MEGAN…”

“I don’t know what you’re doing and I don’t want to know,” Megan told him as Michael carried Gary out of the room after Jenny had fed him. “What I don’t know I can’t tell. You just get him back in an hour. You promise?”

“I promise.”

“And Michael…” Megan’s eyes creased into a smile.

“Megan?”

“Good luck.”

THE HOTEL was the grandest in Austin. Michael had guessed she’d be here, but he’d phoned first to make sure. “Certainly,” they’d said at seven this morning. “Her ladyship is booked to the end of the week.”

He’d half expected-feared-that she’d gone back to England, which would have made it so much harder. Now, though, everything that should be said could be said. Right now.

But not alone. He wasn’t a fool. Michael remembered the thugs, and he remembered Gloria’s threat of a private jet. Gary was too precious to risk.

So he waited in the foyer as planned, and two minutes after he arrived, Garrett and Lana and Shelby came through the revolving doors to meet him.

“She let him go! Well done.” Lana was first to reach him, and her eyes devoured the newborn Gary. He was so swaddled in his blankets, all she could see was one pink nose. Michael was taking no risks at all. “And Ford said it was okay to bring him?”

“Ford met me at Megan’s. He’s given me the all clear, and he’ll cover us if Jen starts asking questions. But we only have an hour.”

“So let’s do it,” Garrett said. He looked at his three siblings and grinned. “Four Lords and one baby Lord against one old lady. Poor old lady.”

THERE WAS NOTHING poor about Gloria. Garrett hadn’t met her. He did the knocking while Michael stayed in the background.

Michael had paved the way with a call.

“Gloria, it’s Michael Lord, and I’d like to talk to you. There are things you and I need to discuss.”

He almost saw the curve of satisfaction play on Gloria’s mouth as she’d taken in what he said. She’d be expecting some sort of proposition. A request for money.

Every man had his price. That was the way she worked, Michael knew, and she wasn’t to know the Lords had a different set of values entirely. Like absolute loyalty.

So she’d given him her room number, and Michael stood back while Garrett faced her, Shelby and Lana flanking him.

“What on earth…” Gloria’s breath whistled in as she saw the group by the door. “I don’t know you.”

“I’m Garrett Lord,” Garrett said smoothly. “I’m Michael’s big brother. Gary’s uncle, in fact. And these are Michael’s sisters, Lana and Shelby. Gary’s aunts.”

Gloria stared at them, contempt mixing with confusion on her face. Behind her, in her luxury hotel suite, Michael caught sight of her two lackeys solidly behind her. They weren’t thugs for hire by the hour, then. She had them at her beck and call-and she must have summoned them fast at Michael’s phone call.

He was right, he thought. He’d have been a fool to bring Gary here alone. How would she react now, with Gary surrounded?

She was confused. “I don’t know any Gary, and I have nothing to discuss with Michael’s-” Then she caught sight of Michael. Her voice stopped with a sharp intake of breath as she saw what he was holding. She took an involuntary step backward, and her jaw dropped about a foot.

“We’re here to introduce you to your grandson, Gloria,” Michael said gently, taking a step forward to stand beside Garrett. “Gary Richard Lord was born last night, and we’d like to know what you intend to do about it.”

SHE INTENDED NOTHING. Not yet. For a long, long moment Gloria couldn’t speak at all. She stood, totally flummoxed, while her hirelings came up behind her, looking almost as confused as she was.

“Aren’t you going to invite us in?” Garrett said at last. He was sizing up the group before him and acknowledging Michael’s wisdom in setting this up. Last night he’d thought it was stupid, bringing four people to face this woman. But one look at the thugs behind Gloria and he knew that Michael had done the right thing.

If he had come here on his own, they could simply have relieved him of the baby and disappeared.

Not now. Not with four of them. Lana and Shelby had power dressed for the occasion, and the Lord siblings looked every bit as formidable as the thugs behind her ladyship. The only way they could reach Gary was to draw guns, but then they’d be involved in a shoot-out with four U.S. citizens. No matter how desperate Gloria was, she wouldn’t be that stupid.

So the thugs had nothing to do but stand aside. Gloria did the same, and the four Lords-and baby-entered the suite without a protest.

It was like something out of a bad play, Garrett thought grimly, but by the look on Michael’s face, he knew this was deadly serious.

But there was no threat. Not now. There was just one old lady’s reaction to watch, and so much depended on this.

“Jenny gave birth to your grandson this morning,” Michael said softly, and Lana walked forward and lifted the covers from Gary’s tiny face. “Would you like to see?”

“I…” Gloria looked as if every ounce of air had been sucked out of her. Suddenly she seemed old-defeated. “Why should I?”

“Because he’s your grandson,” Michael said. “Because he’s Peter’s son, and I assume you loved Peter. Jenny’s called him Gary Richard. Richard is for your husband.”

“Richard.” There was a sharp intake of breath. “I don’t believe it.”

“What don’t you believe?” Michael’s voice was quietly insistent, and his eyes didn’t leave her face. Everyone else had faded into insignificance now. For Michael there was only this woman in the room. Everything depended on the next few minutes. His future. His love for Jenny.

No way could Gloria realize that!

“I can’t-”

“Look at him,” Michael said, and he took two steps forward so Gary was almost touching Gloria’s black cashmere cardigan. She took a step backward, then another. She did look just like Wallis Simpson, Michael thought suddenly, and wondered whether that was the image she aimed for. A woman who swayed men’s emotions.

“Look at your grandson,” Michael said again, and pressed Gary forward, as if he would entrust her to hold him.

Gloria didn’t take him, but she did look down.

Gary’s hair was so red, Michael thought ruefully, and wondered for the sixtieth time whether it had been crazy to bring him here. But…

“Dear God,” Gloria said, and her face crumpled as she saw the tiny child. Her hands flew to her cheeks, and she stared, while the icy mask of self-control and vicious intent faded to nothing.

There was only awe.

“Richard had red hair,” she whispered finally. “My Richard.”

“Peter’s father?” Michael frowned. Jenny hadn’t said that. It hit him with a pang. Last night, Jenny’s words had been like a gift to him. If she’d known the red hair came from her dead husband’s family…

But Gloria was shaking her head. “My Richard,” she said again. “Not Peter’s father. Peter’s brother.”

Another silence. The air was thick with it, and suddenly Shelby couldn’t bear it.

“Hey, I need a cup of tea here,” she told everyone loudly. “There’s a kitchenette through here, right? You don’t mind if I make one, do you, Gloria? I’ll make one for you, too. You English always want tea. You two-I need help.” And before Gloria’s hired men could say a word, she’d taken an arm apiece and marched them to the other room.

“I know when I’m not wanted,” she told them as she propelled them forward. “I’ll bet you do, too. You look like the sort of guys that can take hints real well. Speaking of which… Garrett! Lana! Come!”

And Michael was left alone with his son and Gloria.

And with the silence.

“You want to hold him?” he asked, and he proffered the baby as if he was the most precious thing in all the world.

“You mean it?” She looked at him in disbelief.

“I mean it. If you want.”

“I do…oh, I do.” And Gloria gathered Gary into her arms and burst into tears.

“HOW COME…” Michael asked, when he figured Gloria could speak again. He’d pushed her into an armchair and found a tissue or two to mop the flood. “How come I never got to hear about this Richard? About Peter’s brother?”

Gloria looked at him, then at Gary. She could scarcely keep her eyes from him.

“Peter didn’t know about his brother,” she said. “No one did.”

Michael frowned. “I don’t understand. You want to run that past me again?”

“I had a baby before Peter,” she whispered, almost as if she was talking to herself. “In those days…well, a baby that hardly made it through the delivery was hushed up. Not spoken off. Especially in a family like ours. He… Richard lived for a day, and he was just perfect, but then he died while I was asleep. It was my first sleep after having him. I went to sleep thinking I had the most beautiful little boy in the world, and when I woke up they’d simply taken him away.”

“Why?”

“Because he was dead,” she said flatly, and the bitterness was still there after all these long years. “So they took him. I don’t even know where they buried him. ‘Never mind, dear,’ they said, ‘there’ll be another.’ And I was expected to get on with it. My mother burned everything. Every single baby thing. Start again, she said. She told me I shouldn’t even think about him.”

Michael stared at her, then looked at Gary. No! His heart simply balked at the thought. How would he feel now if that happened to Gary? How would Jen bear it?

How must Gloria have felt?

Maybe the lady wasn’t quite as bad as she was painted, he thought, a sick feeling churning his gut. Maybe there were reasons she acted the way she did.

“So then you had Peter?”

“He was my replacement baby,” she said bitterly. “Everyone said that. Have another one to replace it. It! Like replacing a broken cup. So I did, but he didn’t-replace him, I mean. The pain…it never went away.”

No. It wouldn’t. Unaired and unacknowledged, it had simply festered, like a canker. Michael saw that as clearly as any psychologist would, and he saw why Peter could never have been satisfactory. Poor Peter!

“And now I have a grandson who looks like him.” Gloria’s voice was choked. “I can’t bear it.”

“What can’t you bear?”

She lifted her tear-drenched face to his. Her mascara had run, causing two black rivulets to stream down her wrinkled cheeks. She was looking older by the minute. “I can’t bear that I can’t have him,” she whispered.

“You can.”

She stared. “You’re saying you’ll give him to me?” An incredulous hope flared in the woman’s eyes, extinguished almost as soon as it was lit.

“Of course I won’t,” Michael said flatly. “You’re his grandma, not his mother. Jenny’s his mother, and to all intents and purposes, I’m his father. You’ll have to accept that as fact, and we can go from there.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean you’re giving no middle ground,” Michael told her, his voice gentle again. “You want him all or not at all. But Jenny doesn’t want him to grow up without knowing you.”

The woman looked at the sleeping baby, and her face twisted in pain. “I can’t believe that.”

“After the way you’ve treated Jenny, neither can I,” Michael said frankly. “But this little boy has an English heritage. He needs to learn about it.”

“You only want my money!”

“There is no way Jenny or I will touch any money that has any connection with you,” Michael told her flatly. There was no joy to be gained in letting her think she had any control. “But if you want access…”

“You’d let me have him part-time?”

“You could visit him here,” Michael told her, “while Jenny and I are present. And if we were invited, then maybe we’d bring Gary over-stay awhile, so Gary could get to know what he’s in for. Maybe a month or so every year.”

“What, all of you?” The thought was clearly repulsive.

“It’s all or nothing,” Michael told her, and he stooped and lifted the white-wrapped bundle from her arms and held him close. “Jenny and Gary and I…we’re a family. You accept us all or you don’t accept any of us. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it, but that’s the way it has to be.”

“I don’t-”

“Think about it before answering,” he said urgently. “Think of what you’re losing if you refuse. Jen wants to do this-for Peter’s sake.” There was no point in saying he hadn’t mentioned this to Jenny. “Jenny’s staying here.” He handed her a card with Megan’s address on it. “If you want, go and see her and see if you can rebuild a few bridges before you lose everything. I’m sorry, but that’s all I have to say to you. Think about it. Garrett! Lana! Shelby! Let’s go.”

And he whistled up his siblings and marched them out of the hotel room before she could say a word.

“HOW’D IT GO?” Garrett asked curiously as the elevator doors closed behind them.

“Who knows?” Michael’s face was grim.

“We heard what you said.” Garrett grinned and shrugged. “There wasn’t a lot of tea-making going on in the kitchenette. There were five pairs of ears flapping so hard they’d almost have powered the kettle on their own. It’s true. She loses everything if she doesn’t agree.”

“The only catch to that,” Michael said grimly, “is so do I.”

“YOU HAVE A VISITOR.”

Jenny laid down her correspondence. Half the world seemed to have sent her cards and baby gifts. She looked up as Megan peeped into the room.

“You’re not asleep!” Megan exclaimed. “Heavens, child, you know those were doctor’s orders. Sleep, sleep and more sleep for the next few days.”

“I’m fit as a flea,” Jenny said soundly. “If I didn’t think Michael would fuss more than you, I’d be out of here in a minute.” She smiled to take any offence from her words, and Megan smiled back. But Megan knew enough to sense why Jenny had agreed to stay. This gave her a few more days of time out, away from Michael.

“So are you up to visitors? I said I thought you were asleep, so you have a ready-made excuse.”

“No, it’s fine. But who…”

“I think you might have to see for yourself,” Megan told her, and whisked herself out of question range.

Two minutes later, she ushered Gloria in and closed the door behind her.

THE LAST FEW TIMES Jenny had seen Gloria, all she’d felt was fear. As it was, her hands went down to clasp Gary, who was sleeping tucked into the bedclothes at her side. She lifted him and held him against her breast in the age-old gesture of a mother protecting her young. Gloria saw-and she winced.

“My dear…”

That was a change. Gloria had only ever addressed her with silky-smooth disdain or vindictive dislike. Jenny’s eyes widened, and she suspected a trap.

Gloria sighed. She didn’t attempt to approach the bed, just regally took a seat on the chair, carefully smoothing her tailored black skirt over her silk stockings.

“There’s no threat to you from me,” she said softly. “Your husband brought me here. He’s waiting outside to drive me back to my hotel, and tonight I’m returning to England.”

“Michael brought you here?”

“He did.” The older woman’s face creased into a tired smile. “He came to see me a few days back, to introduce my grandson. His son. He’s quite a young man, your husband.”

“I…yes.” There was no answer to that one. Jenny was poleaxed.

“I came to agree to his proposal and to ask that you accept mine,” she said.

“I don’t understand.” How on earth had she gotten her voice to work? It was beyond her.

“Michael told me you wouldn’t,” Gloria went on, and then paused. “I can see I need to explain.” For the first time her voice faltered. She took a long look at the baby in Jenny’s arms, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I intend to start at the beginning, if you’ll listen…”

So, while Jenny lay back in stunned silence, Gloria told her what she’d told Michael. She told her story calmly and rationally, without any of the pain Michael had heard, but there was no way Jenny could miss the suffering behind the words. And when she fell silent, there was a much different feeling in Jenny’s heart from the fear that had been her first reaction to this visit.

“Oh, ma’am.”

“No,” Gloria said strongly. “Not ma’am. I should never have made you use that. My name is Gloria. I know I’ve never let you use it, but I wish it now. If you will. What I’m saying…what I’m telling you is not an excuse for what I’ve done. I don’t have one. I was hurt, so I hurt everyone around me for such a long time. I’ve done much damage, and I can’t undo it. It wasn’t until I saw your baby that I realized. I’ve poisoned most things. All I’d like to do now is try to salvage something from the mess. For Peter’s memory. And for Richard’s.”

She paused, but then held out her hand to stop Jenny from interrupting. The gesture was imperious. Gloria might be sincerely sorry, but the noble blood in her family background had bred a haughtiness she probably wasn’t even aware of herself.

“I would very much like to keep in contact with you all,” she said firmly. “Not just with my grandson, but with you and with your husband, too, and with any children who might follow. With that in mind, I’d like to write. I’ll write once a week, and there’s no need for you to write back. Photographs will suffice. I’ll pay for any postage and processing. I’d also like very much to be present at Gary’s christening, but if that’s not acceptable, then I’ll understand.” She paused, and she finally took her eyes from the baby and looked at Jenny. The haughtiness faded.

“Your husband says he’ll pay for an extended holiday in Britain each year, but I’ll fight him on that one. I’ll do the paying.” She almost sounded humble. “It would be my honor-my absolute privilege-to have you all stay in my home. As you know, the estate is huge. It’s my sorrow and shame you were never invited there while you were married to Peter, but we have guest apartments to spare. Come, and bring as many friends as you want. Make it your home. Your…your home away from home.”

“And at the end of our stay?” Jenny asked, her voice hushed in shock at what she was hearing. “You’d let us go again?”

“If I can’t bear to let go, then I’ll lose you completely,” Gloria whispered, and it was as much as Jenny could do to hear her. “I don’t think I could bear that. I’ve been so stupid. I’ve lost so much already.”