Soon To Be Brides: The Marrying Macallister / That Blackhawk Bride

Caitlin frowned at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the inside of her closet door.

Satisfied now? she asked herself. This was the third outfit she’d tried on. Well, she wasn’t changing her clothes again. Jeans, tennis shoes and a peach-colored string sweater. That was it. Except… maybe the blue knit top would be better because…

“You are acting like an idiot, Caitlin Cunningham,” she told her reflection, “and I’ve had enough of this nonsense. This isn’t a date, it’s a mission, the purpose of which is to complete the nursery for your daughter.”

Caitlin spun around, snatched her purse off the double bed and left the bedroom. In the living room she placed her purse on an end table and sank onto the sofa.

Matt MacAllister, she fumed, had driven her crazy the entire day. Every time she looked at the match pictures she’d placed on the corner of her desk at work, the image of Matt inched its way into her mental vision.

In a way, that made sense. She needed to get the nursery ready.

Matt was going to make it possible for her to accomplish that, so when she gazed at the photographs of Miss M., it stood to reason that Matt would trek right in front of her mind’s eye, too.

So, okay, it made sense…to a point. What didn’t compute was why when she thought about Matt she got a funny flutter in her stomach and a sharp remembrance of Matt’s strong-but-gentle arm encircling her shoulders last night. Thinking about that caused a strange heat to begin to swirl within her and… No doubt about it…Matt was driving her right over the edge.

Well, in all fairness to herself she was admittedly in the midst of an emotional upheaval because she was about to become a mother. After all these months, the hope, the dream, the prayer had finally come true. She was momentarily off kilter as she attempted to adjust to the wonderful, albeit a tad terrifying, news, and so she was overreacting to things she would normally just take in stride. Like Matt.

“Caitlin,” she said aloud, “that was nothing short of brilliant the way you figured all that out. Thank goodness that mishmash is solved.”

The doorbell rang and Caitlin jerked at the sudden noise, her heart racing as she hurried to the front door.

Matt stood on Caitlin’s front porch and nodded in approval.

Nice place, he thought. Caitlin’s home was small, as were the other houses on the block, but the neighborhood exhibited a great deal of pride of ownership. Caitlin’s cottage…now, that had a nice ring to it…was painted country-blue with decorative white shutters edging the windows. The minuscule front yard was a lush carpet of green grass, plus a tall mulberry tree. When he’d pulled in to the driveway, he’d gotten a glimpse of a wooden fence enclosing the backyard. That was good. Miss M. would have a safe place to play. Well, so far, the outside of the house suited Caitlin. If she answered the door and let him in he’d get a glimpse of the inside.

Matt pressed the doorbell and a moment later Caitlin opened the door.

“Hi,” Matt said. Oh, hey, what Ms. Cunningham did for a pair of snug jeans was something to behold.

Caitlin smiled as she stepped back to allow Matt to enter. “Come in, Matt.” Matt MacAllister in jeans and a black knit shirt was causing that funny little flutter to slither down her spine again. Darn it. “How are you?” She closed the door.

“Fine.” Matt swept his gaze over the living room. “Well, as fine as anyone could be after spending the day with an attorney who writes down everything, including what he had for lunch.” He paused. “This is a very nice house, Caitlin. I like oak furniture myself and your colors are pretty…mint-green, and what would you call that? Salmon?”

Caitlin laughed. “I think I would call those colors a mistake for sticky toddler fingers. I didn’t know when I made these selections that there would be a busy little girl living here. I’ll worry about that later. Nothing can dim my excitement about becoming a mother.”

“Good for you.” Matt wandered across the room and looked at some of the titles of the books in a tall oak bookcase. “We have similar taste in authors, except I can’t remember the last time I actually settled in and read a novel. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

“Perhaps you’ll find the time while you’re off work during this month or so Bud sentenced you to.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. I’ll be in China for a couple of weeks, then when I get back I have a feeling I’ll be on the phone more often than not with the guy who’s taking my place for now. He doesn’t exactly evoke a great deal of confidence in being able to handle what needs to be done. Man, when I think about the messes he could create while… Nope, erase that. I’m not supposed to think about it.”

“I imagine that’s impossible for someone like you to do.”

Matt turned to look at her. “Someone like me? Somehow that doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

“I just meant that you’re obviously focused on your job, dedicated to your career to the exclusion of just about anything, or anyone, else. To suddenly just shut off your mind and stop thinking about it would be extremely difficult, impossible, in fact.

“Putting thousands of miles between you and the hospital will help, but even so, I would guess that part of your thoughts will be at Mercy. You won’t be totally there with all of us.”

Matt frowned. “Is this the voice of experience I’m hearing? Have you been completely centered on your career in the past?”

“Me? Heavens no.” Caitlin shook her head. “I enjoy being a copywriter for the fashion magazine. It’s very challenging and the work is continually fresh and new, but when I come home at night I don’t think about it again until I report for duty the next day.”

“I see. The slight edge to your voice says you don’t approve of my 24/7 approach to my career 0Caitlin..”

“I’m sorry if I gave you that impression, Matt. It’s certainly not my place to approve or disapprove of the way you conduct your life. Goodness, I don’t even know you.” She paused. “I think it would be best if we changed the subject. Even better, why don’t we go have our pizza.”

“Sure, we’ll go for pizza, but let’s change the subject first. Why did you decide to become a single mother?”

“Gosh, Matt, don’t hold back, just ask me any personal question that pops into your head.”

Matt chuckled. “I’m sorry. I guess it is rather personal, isn’t it? But I’m interested in why you came to this decision. Not that you’re obligated to tell me, of course.”

“Let’s just say that I believe this is the very best choice for me…personally. End of story. Subject closed. Shall we go?”

Matt nodded and followed Caitlin out the front door.

Oh, yes, he thought. The lovely lady did, indeed, have secrets that she didn’t intend to share. So many questions surrounded Caitlin Cunningham, creating so many answers he intended to discover, one by one.

The pizza restaurant was popular and crowded, and Caitlin and Matt had a short wait before a booth became available. They decided on what toppings they wanted on their pizza and what they would drink, then Matt went to the counter to place their order.

“It’ll be about fifteen minutes,” he said, returning and sliding in across from Caitlin. “So. Have you made arrangements for day care for Miss M.?”

“I’m going to be working at home. I’ve already reached an agreement with my boss about it, and I’ve changed the third bedroom in the house into an office. Later, when Miss M. is ready to play with other children, I’ll consider day care. Even if I had been matched with an older child, I planned to stay home with her at first because she’d have so many adjustments to make.”

“Don’t you think you’ll get cabin fever working at home?”

“No, I don’t believe so. I’ll have my daughter with me, remember? Plus, she and I will be going back and forth to the magazine office to pick up and deliver work, connecting with other people. Once we get into a routine I should have a healthy balance during a given day.”

“I hope it all goes the way you have it planned. Life has a way of throwing us curves when we least expect them at times. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you and Miss M. for smooth sailing ahead.”

“That was a rather pessimistic statement.” Caitlin frowned. “Life has a way of throwing us curves? Are you referring to yourself?”

“Me? No, no, not at all. My life is set up exactly the way I want it. I’ve hit a momentary glitch with this enforced-vacation bit, but things will get back to normal for me soon.”

Caitlin nodded.

“The reason I said that about the throwing of curves,” Matt went on, “is because I just saw a woman who reminded me of my cousin, Patty. She’s going through a rough time right now and got more than her share of nasty curves, I’m afraid. I wasn’t implying that anything would go wrong with your plans.”

“Oh, I see.” Caitlin paused, then looked directly at Matt. “You know, we seem to be just on the edge of getting into arguments no matter what topic we touch on tonight. There’s a…I don’t know…a tension between us that isn’t very pleasant.

“If you’d rather not go shopping for baby supplies I’ll certainly understand. We were all on such emotional highs last evening and… Anyway, we can have our pizza and forget about the other if you’d prefer.”

Matt leaned forward and covered one of Caitlin’s hands with one of his on the top of the table.

“No, Caitlin, I’ve been looking forward to this outing all day. I’m sorry if I’ve been shorttempered, or whatever. Hey, let’s start over from right now.”

“I’ve been a bit brusque with you, too, and I apologize.” She smiled. “All right. Hello, Matt, it’s nice to see you again and I certainly thank you for your help with my grand endeavor this evening.”