Caitlyn suddenly appeared and snuggled close on his other side. She regarded her sister eagerly. “Did he say yes?”
“No,” Carrie said sorrowfully. “Not yet, anyway.”
Caitlyn stared up at him. “How come? We did a good job in Grandma Megan’s wedding to Grandpa Mick. Everybody said so.”
“You did a fabulous job,” he agreed. “But I’m not planning to get married.”
Both girls blinked at him, their expressions shocked. “Not ever?”
“Not ever,” he confirmed.
“But you and Heather have a baby,” Carrie said, puzzlement written all over her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be married to have a baby?”
“That’s certainly the way it should be,” Abby said, joining them. “Right, brother dear?” The look in her eyes dared him to say otherwise to her impressionable nine-year-old girls.
Connor was so far out of his depths he wanted to bolt, but how could he with his nieces staring at him with such earnest expressions?
“Your mother is absolutely right that people should wait until they’re married to have children,” he said eventually, then regarded Abby with a touch of defiance, “or at least until they’re old enough to understand the responsibilities that come with being parents.”
“But you have a baby and you’re not married, so isn’t the baby illegal?” Caitlyn asked worriedly. “That’s what someone at school said.”
“It was that dumb Tommy Winston,” Carrie added. “He called Jimmy Laughlin illegal, ’cause he doesn’t have a dad. You don’t want Mick to be illegal, do you?”
“Not illegal, illegitimate,” Abby corrected, her gaze commanding Connor to talk his way out of this.
Connor drew in a deep breath. “What’s important is that your cousin has a mommy and a daddy who both love him more than anything in the whole wide world,” he told them, hoping that would put an end to it. He should have known better. These were the girls who’d asked why so incessantly it had nearly driven everyone in the family berserk.
“But if you don’t live together and be a family, how’s he supposed to know that?” Again it was Caitlyn, the little worrier, who asked.
“You don’t live with your dad, but you know he loves you, right?” Connor explained.
“I guess,” she said after several seconds of thoughtful deliberation.
Connor scrambled to reassure her. “And you know that all of us, your aunts and uncles and your grandparents, we love you, but we don’t live in the same house with you.”
Carrie’s expression brightened. “That’s true.”
“Well, that’s the way it is for little Mick. He lives with his mom, but I see him as much as I can so he’ll know how much I love him, too. And he has all of you in his life, so he’ll always be surrounded by lots of love.”
“Will he get more presents?” Carrie asked. “Me and Caitlyn get lots and lots of presents because we have a dad and Trace, too.”
Connor hid a smile. “Sometimes it works that way.”
Apparently satisfied at last, they stood up. “I want ice cream,” Carrie announced.
“Me, too,” Caitlyn said, right on her heels as they raced toward the kitchen.
Connor glared at his big sister. “Thanks. I know you put them up to that.”
“Actually, I didn’t. They caught wedding fever all on their own and figured out you and Heather were their best bet.”
“But you knew we weren’t,” he charged.
Abby shrugged. “Not necessarily. Things change. You could come to your senses any minute now.”
“Bite me,” he said cheerfully, then sobered. “By the way, I hope you’re not planning another blind date for Heather. She’s not interested.”
Abby merely smiled. “Like I said, things change.”
His heart thudded dully at the glint in her eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means that life isn’t static, little brother. Heather might have said no last time, but who knows what tomorrow might bring?”
“Abigail, do not start messing in my life!”
She grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Heather, however, as you very well know, is her own person.”
Before he could decide whether throttling a meddling big sister would be considered assault, she sashayed off. Not five minutes later, when he saw her huddled with Heather, his temper stirred, but he managed to bite his tongue. Seething, he left the house before he could do or say anything that would be way too revealing about the state of mind he was in where the mother of his child was concerned.
* * *
Heather knew exactly what Abby was up to. She’d seen Connor’s sister obviously taunting him, then making a beeline straight across the room in Heather’s own direction. She had no idea what the two O’Brien siblings had been discussing, but it had sent Connor storming from the house. Now Abby was trying to persuade Heather she needed to go after him.
“Why?” she asked, studying Abby with blatant skepticism. “Are you meddling again?”
“Who me?” Abby asked, all innocence. “I’m just worried about my brother. Something’s on his mind this weekend.”
“He had a tough couple of weeks at work,” Heather said.
Abby seemed to take great comfort in her response. “Then he’s talked to you about it?” she said eagerly. “That’s progress.”
“He mentioned a few things,” Heather admitted, immediately realizing her mistake. “I’d hardly call that progress.”
“Of course it is,” Abby said. “It just proves when the chips are down, you’re the first person he thinks of. You’ve been with him all through law school and the bar exam. You know how difficult it is. He came to you because he knows you’ll understand.”
“What’s your point?”
“That everyone needs a special someone who really gets what they’re going through. It’s good that Connor has you.”
“He doesn’t have me, Abby,” she said patiently. “Not anymore.”
“You wouldn’t be there for him if he was going through a crisis?” Abby asked, feigning shock. She shook her head then. “I don’t believe that. Whatever else has happened, I know how deeply you care about him.”
“Connor’s not going through a crisis,” Heather said, though she did wonder a bit about that. He’d certainly seemed shaken by some of the things he’d discovered recently. “He’s just seeing a few things from a different perspective.”
“A
