Their Child?: Lori's Little Secret / Which Child Is Mine? / Having The Best Man's Baby

Was it possible?

Could he, just maybe, want more from her than her support while he got to know his son? Deep down, did he have some faint intention of trying to make it work between them, after all? Did he want her with him, at his house, at least a little bit for her own sake?

She wondered—and then she put that tiny hope away. It didn’t matter. Not right then. Right then, her lies and her betrayals stood high as a fortress wall, thick and impossible to scale, between them. He didn’t trust her—with valid reason. He had disconnected from her. And any dreams she might have finally admitted to having about the two of them…

Well, this didn’t look like a situation where dreams were all that likely to come true.

What mattered now was that Tucker and Brody should have their time together; her job would be to do all she could to make that happen.

She said, “We’ll move in tomorrow.”

“All right, then,” he agreed. “Let’s get through the summer. We’ll worry about the rest of it when fall comes around.”

Chapter Twelve

That evening, after Brody was in bed, Lori sat her parents down at the kitchen table and told them that she and Brody would be staying at the Double T for a while.

“You don’t seem all that happy about it,” her father remarked with a frown.

“It’s what Tucker wants, to have some time with his son.”

“And what about you, Lori-girl? What do you want?”

“Right now, I just want to do my part to make sure they get the time together that they need.”

Her mother asked, “And you and Tucker?”

Okay. Maybe she couldn’t quite banish that thin flame of hope that she and the father of her son might find their way to each other, at last. But it was just that: a hope. Nothing more. “Mom, there is no me and Tucker. Not now, anyway.”

“But do you think that you could—?”

“Enid.” Heck scooted his chair closer to his wife and threw an arm across her slim shoulders. “It’s Lori’s life. We gotta learn to step back and let her live it.”

“I know. It’s only—”

He pulled her closer and chucked her under the chin. “Let it be, now.”

Enid wrinkled up her nose at him—and conceded, “Oh, all right.”

Lori got up, went around the table and planted a kiss on her father’s beard-rough cheek. “I love you, Daddy—Mama, you, too…”

Heck beamed up at her. “Now, that there’s exactly what we like to hear.”

Lori told Brody the plan the next morning at the breakfast table.

“All summer?” Brody frowned and scooped up another spoonful of Cheerios. They were alone in the Billingsworth kitchen. Heck had headed for his dealership and Enid was grocery shopping.

Lori set down her coffee cup and smiled her brightest smile. “Until the end of August. Two whole months, almost, at the Double T. You can ride that pony every day, and swim. And eat lots of barbecue. And then there’s Fargo. Tucker and I know how you feel about Fargo…”

Brody chewed and swallowed. “But I told Dustin and Adam that we’d be home next week.” The two boys, Brody’s best friends, lived down the street from them in San Antonio.

“You can call your friends and tell them you’re staying here for the summer, after all, but that you’ll be back as soon as school starts.”

Brody wasn’t going for it. “Mom. We were gonna build a tree fort in Dustin’s backyard. I bet they’ve already started on it. And I’d miss soccer camp—and what about soccer practice? That starts at the beginning of August. And what about Disneyland? You said we could probably go to Disneyland, in July…”

Somehow, she hadn’t expected all these objections. She saw now that she should have come at this a little better prepared.

She thought of Tucker’s angry eyes, thought of what he’d have to say to her if she blew this, if she had to lay down the law and drag her son out to the ranch, sulking and surly the whole way. Since Tucker didn’t trust her, he’d assume that somehow she’d poisoned Brody against the idea of a summer at the Double T. Good gravy, life got difficult when the father of your son had you branded as a liar.

And wait a minute…

She shouldn’t be so negative. She should remember that her son was a reasonable kid and they could work this out between them. She reminded him, “I thought you liked it at Tucker’s.”

“I do. I like it a lot. And I’ve been a little sad, to think I won’t see Fargo anymore.” He blinked and added hastily, “And Tucker, too. I really like Tucker—but a tree house, Mom. And Disneyland.”

Shamelessly, she bargained, “You could build a tree house out at the ranch. And have the new friends you’ve made here at Gramma’s out to visit whenever you wanted. I know they have soccer camp around here somewhere, too. We can arrange for you to go to that. And I don’t see why we can’t still go to Disneyland—” with Tucker, she reminded herself “—and Tucker might even want to go, too.”

More chomping of Cheerios. Then, “I’d still miss the beginning of soccer practice, though…”

He sounded less resistant. Didn’t he? She sipped from her coffee and answered him frankly, “Yes. I’m afraid you would miss a practice or two.” She sipped some more, giving him time to think it over a little.

He slanted her a glance, looking so much like his father that he took her breath away. “Maybe I could invite Dustin and Adam to come visit me out at the Double T.”

She gave him a slow smile. “You know. I’ll bet that could be arranged. We’d have to talk it over with Tucker, though.”

“Oh. Yeah. I mean, it is his house.”

“Exactly.”

Another bite of Cheerios. And then another. And finally, “Okay, Mom. Let’s do it.”

Relief poured through her. “Great.”

He pointed his spoon at her. “Don’t even think about it.”

She sat back, widened her eyes. “What?”

“Rubbing my head and telling me you love me.”

Busted. “But I do love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, but don’t get all gooey, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay.”

“And Mom?”

“Hmm?”