She smiled. “No. That was a good ‘hmmm.’ You gave all the right answers.”
“You suppose your parents would mind if you spent the night with me?”
“Get serious.”
He motioned to the gate of the Botetourt Street garden. “Want to do some necking in the garden?”
She peeked over the red brick fence at a Doberman. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“This is tough.”
“What’s the plan for tomorrow? Will you be bringing Timmy over in the morning?”
“Yes. Everyone’s driving to Washington to be tourists.” His eyes lit up. “No one will be here all day! We could have a sexfest.”
“As much as I’d like to, I can’t just leave my parents to have a sexfest. Besides, you work tomorrow.”
“You could bring Timmy back to my house at six. We could have a short sexfest.”
Megan wasn’t sure she wanted a short sexfest. The more Pat dragged his feet and evaded proposing, the more she wanted to get married.
Chapter 8
Megan let herself into Pat’s dark house and unbundled Timmy. She set him in the walker, made a fire in the fireplace, and lit every light she could find.
“It’s a drizzly, dreary night,” she told Timmy. “We’ve got to zap a little cozy into it.”
She made a pot of coffee and set it on the kitchen table. She didn’t want to drink it. She just wanted to smell it.
“Better. Much better. I think we’ve succeeded in the cozy department.”
She snitched a piece of turkey from the fridge and started Timmy’s supper heating.
Ten minutes later Pat came home. “This house is so nice. It’s miserable outside, and my house is all warm and-”
“Cozy?”
“Yeah. Cozy.” He pulled Megan to him and kissed her hungrily. This wasn’t such a bad arrangement, he thought. It was like rent – a family. He was getting all the benefits of a warm house and warm bed without paying the price of everlasting responsibility. He was chagrined to find it not entirely satisfactory. Deep down, he wanted everlasting responsibility.
“Are you here for a short sexfest?”
She pushed him away playfully. “Crickey, Pat, not in front of the baby. All you think about anymore is S-E-X.”
“It’s not all I think about, but I have to admit, it’s been at the front of my mind a lot lately.”
Megan had similar mind problems. Especially after being kissed like that. Good thing Timmy was clattering across the floor in his walker, she thought, because she was putty in Patrick Hunter’s hands. Timmy was a loud reminder that there were important things to be discussed.
“Maybe we should be talking instead of sexfesting.”
Pat nodded in agreement. So much for rent a – family, he thought. Besides, she was right. They’d procrastinated long enough. Maybe if they talked about their relationship, they’d find a solution. At least they’d know where they stood.
They both groaned at the knock on the door. “What are the chances that’s your mother?” Pat asked. “She’s probably come to tell us she’s hired a hall and a caterer.”
Megan had to smile. At least Pat knew he was being railroaded and could joke about it. That put him one up on Steve and Dave. She opened the door and gasped. It was Tilly Coogan.
The young girl frantically looked around, saw Timmy, and ran to him. She lifted him out of the walker and hugged him and kissed him. She turned to Megan with tears streaming down her face. “I’ve missed him,” she said simply.
“Mum, mum, mum,” Timmy shouted.
Megan reached out to Pat for support. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d convinced herself Tilly wouldn’t be back. She’d been thinking about marriage… adoption. She’d learned nursery rhymes and bought books on child rearing. She knew how to play eensy weensy spider. How dare Tilly Coogan come back to claim her baby after abandoning him?
Megan felt her temper flare and just as quickly dissipate. Tilly hadn’t abandoned Timmy. She’d temporarily entrusted him to the care of her pediatrician.
Megan was left with a painful emptiness in her chest where the anger had been. She noticed a young man standing in the doorway. “Are you with Tilly?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said softly.
Tilly wiped the tears away with the heel of her hand. “I’m sorry. It was rude of me not to make introductions. It’s just that I’ve been so lonesome for Timmy. I knew he was in good hands, but I’ve still been awful lonesome.”
She kissed Timmy on the top of his downy head and pointed to the young man, now awkwardly standing beside her.
“This is Timmy’s daddy, Leonard Bell. Lenny, this is Dr. and Mrs. Hunter.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Leonard said shyly. “It was very nice of you to take care of Timmy. I’m sorry to have caused everyone so much trouble.” He stared, wide – eyed, at the little boy. “Til, he’s beautiful.”
Tilly beamed. “I’ve done a good job of bringing him up. He knows all kinds of things, and he’s healthy, too. You’re going to be proud of him, Lenny.”
Megan thought if Lenny got any prouder he’d explode. “So,” she said, making a supreme attempt to still the tremor in her voice, “what’s going on here?”
Tilly took a deep breath and closed her eyes, as if what she was about to say was so wonderful, she couldn’t believe she was saying it. “We’re getting married.”
Lenny looked affectionately at Tilly. “I guess we owe you folks some explanations. Tilly and I have been sweethearts ever since seventh grade. I asked her to marry me when we graduated from high school, but she said no. She said we were too young to get married, so I got myself into a snit and went and joined the Navy.”
“Then I found out I was pregnant,” Tilly said. She fumbled with the collar of Timmy’s terry – cloth pajamas. “I thought I was being so smart, saying we shouldn’t get married until we grew up more, but I wasn’t smart enough not to get pregnant. When I found out about the baby, Lenny was halfway around the world. I couldn’t go to him anyway. We’d had a terrible fight.”
She moved into the reassuring arm Lenny held out to her. “I felt I was an embarrassment to everyone. I couldn’t bring myself to have an abortion, and I didn’t want my mom and my grandma to know I was pregnant… so I left. I said I was going north to get a job.”
She raised her chin a fraction of an inch. “I think I did pretty good, too. I waited tables until I was ready to deliver, and then afterward I tried to make money typing term papers, so I could be home with Timmy.
“Two weeks ago I got a phone call from Lenny. My mom gave him my cell phone number. He said his ship had finally come home and he still wanted to marry me. Can you imagine? After all that
