Adopt-a-Dad

“That’s just it.” Michael slammed his fist on his desk with such force that his new secretary gave a startled glance his way. “I wouldn’t mind sleeping in the same bed as Jenny.”

“Uh-oh.” Garrett grinned and rose lazily to close the door on the flapping ears outside. “I see. So sleeping in a different room is the problem. The lady’s almost nine months pregnant with another man’s child,” he said gently. “You need to give her space.”

“I love her, Garrett,” Michael said, and put his head in his hands and groaned.

Silence.

“You love her,” Garrett said at last, in a voice that sounded strange. Obviously he was having trouble taking this in.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s great.”

“Not when she doesn’t want me.”

“Heck, Mike, give her a chance. She must have so many mixed-up hormones pounding around right now. Dead husband, pregnancy, marriage…”

“You recommend patience?”

“Hey, I don’t know,” Garrett said, exasperated. “You’re asking me about women? Short of Lana and Shelby, I know nothing. They’re a breed apart. Ask Lana.”

“Ask her what?”

“What to do,” Garrett said unhelpfully. “Meanwhile, think of all the hearts you’ve broken in your time. It won’t hurt you to get a taste of your own medicine.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Garrett said expansively. “Now, why I came to see you…” He hauled a list out of his pocket and tossed it onto Michael’s desk. “Here’s a security check for you.”

“What’s this?” Michael picked the paper up and stared listlessly at the row of names.

“Possible parents. Shelby and I are working on it already, but we’d like you to give us a hand.”

He froze. “What the heck… I told you, I don’t want to know.”

“The girls do,” Garrett said. “Lana’s changed her mind since she married Dylan. Somewhere out there is our birth mother, Mike, and there’s a gut feeling among me and the girls that she’s hurting. We need to find her.”

“I don’t.”

“Mike, you’ve held yourself in that icy cocoon for too many years,” Garrett said gently. “Jenny’s chipped away at the ice, and there’s warmth under there. While you’re waiting for her to come around, use the warmth for someone other than yourself. Maybe Jenny can teach you how.”

“Jenny!”

“Yeah, Jenny,” Garrett said firmly. “If Jenny hadn’t found you-if she’d ended up destitute-maybe she would have given up her baby rather than see it starve. And if she did, would the hurt of losing her child have disappeared after all this time? I don’t think so, Mike, and neither do you.”

“Garrett, I…”

“Just look at the list,” Garrett said firmly. “Talk to Jenny about it. See what she thinks.”

“It’s none of her business.”

“If you want her to love you, you have to learn to share.” He hesitated. There was real pain on Michael’s face, and Garrett didn’t want to push it, but if the ice was cracking, he wouldn’t be the one to withhold the sledgehammer. “On Saturday night there’s a party at Megan’s to welcome Camille and Jake home from their honeymoon. It promises to be a real shindig. Fireworks, everything. Now her family’s all settled, Megan’s feeling like she’s on top of the world, and she’s showing it every way she can.”

“I’m not coming to any family party. You know I won’t.”

“Megan’ll be disappointed if you’re not there, little brother,” Garrett said, and hauled his lanky frame out of the chair. “And if we’re talking of hurting people, there’s one lady you’ll leave untouched. Hurt Megan and I’ll dust you down before breakfast. Or give it my best shot.” He shrugged and pushed the list across the desk again from where Michael had thrust it back at him. “Do what you can with that by Saturday. And bring Jenny to supper at my place first.”

“Hell, Garrett, I-”

“Treat her like family, Mike,” Garrett said kindly. “Maybe the lady’ll get used to it. Maybe she’ll even like it.”

JENNYWASFEELING part of the family, and she did like it. Every day the feeling grew a little bit stronger.

Lana came around and sorted baby clothes with her. She helped Jenny make up the crib, talked baby talk, and taught her how to change and bathe little Greg.

Shelby turned up with offerings of food. “I know that brother of mine can’t do more than open a can of beans,” she explained, “and you shouldn’t be doing any more than cooking toast in your condition.”

Garrett kept dropping in-“Just to see how my favorite sister-in-law is doing”-making her feel warm all over. And Megan came, too, just to check. One by one, all the Maitlands, curious at first and then warm and friendly, arrived at her front door and embraced her into their fold.

It was all making her feel so guilty she couldn’t bear it. Every night Michael came home and looked at her with those hungry eyes, and she wanted to drop everything and run into his arms and let him hold her forever and forever.

But she mustn’t. Because one day Michael would wake up like Peter had woken up, and he’d be trapped. And like Peter, he’d be too honorable and proud to walk away.

I promise…

How easy it had been to say those words. She held her arms over her pregnancy and hugged her unborn child as she thought things through. She couldn’t keep her promise. Even for Peter, she wouldn’t hand her baby over. But at what cost to herself?

Oh, Peter…

“YOU WANT TO GO to a party?”

Saturday afternoon. Michael finished writing and looked over to where Jen was brushing Socks. Damn, every time he was in the room she was doing something. It was almost a defense.

She looked up, her eyes a question.

“There’s a party at Megan’s tonight,” he told her. “To welcome Camille and Jake home. Supper at Garrett’s first.”

“How about you go without me?” she asked, turning her attention to a nonexistent knot in Socks’s fur. “It’s family.”

“Yeah, it’s family, so everyone expects you.”

“I’m hardly family.”

“If you can’t go because you’re feeling too pregnant, then they’ll expect me to stay home with you.” Hell, they sounded so absurdly formal. It was as if they were strangers.

“Michael…”

“Come with me, Jen,” he said urgently. He hesitated, then passed her the sheet of paper he’d been writing on. “We’re discussing this. Please. I need your support on this one.”

She sat back and read the list, then stared at him. “Names and addresses. I don’t understand.”

“They’re all the triplets born in this state in the same year we were born,” he told her. “Garrett gave it to me this week. He’s trying to find our birth mother. So far, I’ve tried to locate every person who had anything to do with the triplets on this list. I’ve been finding their current names and addresses and whether any of them could possibly be us. I’m whittling the list down.”

She stared at him, then at the list. “You did this?”

“Yeah.” He colored. “Like I said, Garrett asked me to.”

“But you said you wanted nothing to do with finding your birth mother. Why now?” She grabbed a chair leg and hauled herself up from where she’d been kneeling on the floor. Michael made an involuntary move to help her, then pulled back. He knew by now what her reaction would be.

“Why?” she asked him again, her eyes not moving from his face. She knew this was important.

And it was.