Apparently the dispatcher caught the urgency in her voice, because he said, “Sit tight, ma’am. I’ll do what I can.”
Ten minutes later the truck pulled up outside and the driver came in.
“Is there something wrong, Ms. Dugan? Was there a problem with the shipment?”
“Yes, you could say that,” she said. “I need you to take all of this back to Mr. Carlton, please.”
“Now?” he asked incredulously, then took a good, long look at her face and nodded slowly. “No problem. I’ll be happy to do it.”
She dragged out her checkbook. “Name your price.”
He shook his head. “It’s on me, ma’am. Headquarters is out that way, anyway.” He grinned at her. “Besides, I read that stuff that was in the paper about the two of you. I figured this might have something to do with that. I want to see the look on Mr. Carlton’s face when all of this lands right back on his doorstep.”
Filled with a sudden burst of expectancy, Kathleen found herself returning his smile. “Yes. I’m rather anxious to see that myself. In fact, I’ll be right behind you.”
Ben Carlton was not going to toss potentially thousands of dollars in paintings at her and convince her she’d won. Until they were together—truly, happily-ever-after together—neither one of them would have won a blasted thing.
15
Mack and Richard converged on the farm twenty minutes after Ben had sent the shipment of paintings off to Kathleen.
“Why didn’t you ever call me back yesterday?” Mack demanded.
“We’d have been here sooner, but I didn’t want to leave Melanie alone at the house,” Richard said. “Beth’s there now, watching her like a hawk, I hope. Melanie keeps trying to slip out to finish her Christmas shopping. I swear that baby is going to be born in an aisle at some boutique.”
Ben chuckled. “Bro, I think you’re fighting a losing battle. If Melanie wants to shop, you should know by now that you’re not going to stop her.”
Richard raked a hand through his hair, then stopped himself. “Yeah, I’m beginning to get that,” he admitted with evident frustration. “I swear to God, though, I’m going to be bald by the time this kid gets here.”
“It’s not going to be much longer,” Mack soothed. “Beth predicts a Christmas baby.”
Richard’s eyes immediately filled with panic. “Christmas is tomorrow. That means Melanie could be going into labor right now. First babies always take a long time, right?”
Mack looked at Ben and rolled his eyes. “Do you have your cell phone?”
“Of course,” Richard snapped impatiently.
“It’s on?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop worrying,” Mack advised. “We’re here to solve Ben’s problems, not to watch you panic over contractions that haven’t even started.”
“Just wait,” Richard said grimly. “One of these days the two of you are going to be in my place, and I’m not giving you one single shred of sympathy.”
“I will never be in your place,” Ben said wearily, then almost immediately regretted it because both of his brothers turned their full attention on him. He should have been grateful for the temporary distraction from their obvious mission and kept his mouth shut.
“Do you want to be where I am?” Richard asked. “Remember, I was where you are for a very long time, but I’ve got to tell you that nothing compares to where I am now.” He shrugged. “Okay, maybe not right this minute, but generally speaking being married to Melanie is the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Same here,” Mack said. “Beth is incredible. Destiny’s got her faults, but when it comes to picking the right women for us, she nailed it for Richard and for me. Do you really think she made a mistake in your case?”
Ben thought about it, really thought about it, for the first time. Truthfully, he knew that Destiny hadn’t made a mistake. And if he were being totally honest, he realized that the prospect of having a family wasn’t half as scary as it had once been.
“No, there’s no mistake,” he admitted.
“Then what are you going to do about it?” Mack asked. “You’re not going to accomplish what you want sitting around out here. The woman I presume you want to have a family with is probably packing her bags for Providence right about now.”
“Providence?” Ben echoed. “Why?”
“Destiny says Kathleen is going to spend the holidays with her family,” Richard told him. “She’s worried she might decide not to come back.”
Ben couldn’t imagine such a thing. Kathleen would never close the gallery she loved and move back home. “That’s just Destiny trying to get me all worked up,” he said confidently.
“You willing to take a chance that she’s wrong?” Richard asked, just as his cell phone rang. He jumped as if he’d been shocked, fumbled to get it out of his pocket, then dropped it.
“Good grief, man, she’ll have the baby before you get yourself together,” Mack told him with a shake of his head. He picked up the phone and handed it to Richard.
“Yes? Are you okay?” Richard demanded when he finally answered the phone.
The color immediately washed out of his face. “I’m on my way,” he said, turning the phone off and jamming it back into his pocket. “The baby...” He dragged his hand through his hair again. “My God, the baby’s coming. I have to get home. We have a plan. How are we going to follow the plan if I’m not even there?”
“Beth is there,” Mack reminded him. “She’s a doctor.”
“But the plan,” Richard protested. “It was all written out so we wouldn’t forget anything.”
“Melanie knows this plan, right?”
“Sure, but—”
Ben stared at the sight of his cool, unflappable brother basically falling apart in front of him. Mack immediately took charge.
“Forget the damn plan,” Mack said. “Let’s just go.” He steered Richard toward the car.
“I’ll follow you,” Ben said.
Mack nodded toward the driveway and the plume of dust that was being kicked up. “You might want to reconsider that, pal. Looks to me like company’s coming.”
“Company?” Ben echoed blankly, then saw a familiar delivery truck
