Ford.
She could not, would not, lose Shane. But the little boy in that black car was very likely her baby, too.
Oh, God. Suddenly she wanted to tear Alexander from his car seat, take him in her arms and explain it had been a mistake, she hadn’t known, she was so sorry she let someone else take him home and raise him these past six months.
As tears slipped down her cheeks, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
She hadn’t even realized Liam had gotten out of his car and had come over to her. “We’ll figure this out together,” he said.
At the word together, she calmed down again and looked up into Liam Mercer’s eyes. She saw sincerity there. But the last time Shelby had trusted a man she’d ended up pregnant and alone.
Careful, she told herself. Proceed with utmost caution. Agree to nothing. Sign nothing. You’re a smart woman. Keep your head.
She was glad when Liam let go of her shoulder and opened her car door to get Shane’s car seat, busy with installing it in his SUV. They were not united. They were not anything. His use of the word together would likely only serve him. She didn’t know this man at all.
She was on her own here and had to remember that. Or she’d lose everything.
* * *
Liam’s hands had been steady on the wheel during the drive to the hospital, but inside he was a mess. Every time his mind latched on something that would make Alexander his biological son, three more yeah, but what about xyz, yeah, but remember when the administrator said socked him upside the head. Shelby had been silent for the almost hour drive, and he was glad. He didn’t want to talk about any of it. He could barely handle thinking about it.
Alexander wasn’t his son? He damned well was, no matter what a piece of paper said. That was the one thing that kept reverberating in his head. He was sure it was the same for Shelby, which made him want to be around her and never see her again at the same time.
Was the baby in the back seat, the one without the cowboy hat, his biological child?
Maybe. Probably? No. Yes. He went round and round as Shelby and Shane were ushered into the lab room to get their blood drawn. As he sat in the waiting room, Alexander playing his favorite game of squeeze Daddy’s chin, women around him commenting on Alexander’s cuteness and big cheeks, he could hear Shane crying behind the closed door. Which made him hyperaware of the timing; his tiny vein had just been pricked, a vial filling with his blood. Which would prove, once and for all, if the clinic hadn’t made a mistake with the typing. From prior visits, at that.
Hell, it was unlikely, but he was hanging on to hope. If Shelby could be Shane’s biological mother, then they could all just walk away, go back to their lives and live happily-ever-after. Liam would have one heck of a story for tonight’s dinner at the Mercer ranch.
Shelby finally came out of the lab room, holding Shane, who had a little round Mickey Mouse Band-Aid in the crook of his right arm. Liam stared at his little tear-stained face, seeing not only his own expression in Shane’s, but Liza’s, also.
He almost fell out of his chair.
“Are you all right, Liam?” Shelby asked, rushing over.
He slowly shook his head. He was not all right.
Calm down and go back to hanging on to hope. Wait for the blood results. If they still say Shelby isn’t Shane’s mother, then you’ll wait for the DNA tests. You’re Alexander’s father. You are.
As they left the hospital, Shelby told him that the lab had promised to expedite the results, based on a call from the clinic requesting it. She would know by three o’clock today.
“I want to stay with you and Shane until we know,” he said. “I need you in my sight.”
“Because you’re afraid I’ll run away with your heir?” she snapped. “If Shane is your son, then Alexander is my son,” she reminded him, her green eyes flashing.
He stared at her. “You really don’t trust me, do you?”
“I don’t know you,” she pointed out. “And I don’t trust easily. Add in who you are...”
“I told you, Shelby, I—”
“Won’t do anything to hurt me or Shane. I know. I’ve tucked that away to remind you of it when you really have to face the truth of what’s happened.”
He shook his head. “Let me change how I put it, then. I want you and Shane in my sight because I’m going out of my mind. I don’t want to be alone, but I don’t want to tell anyone about this yet. That leaves you. To be with someone who gets it without my having to say a word.”
Her expression softened. “I know exactly what you mean.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, God, I really need to head over to my shop and put a sign on the door that we’re closed for the day. The Minnow sisters are probably worried about me, and I had an appointment scheduled for ten-thirty to look through a bag of stuff.”
“Minnow sisters? Bag of stuff?”
“For Treasures, my shop. The Minnows are three elderly sisters who stop by every Friday at ten to see what I’ve added for the weekend shoppers.”
He nodded. “The secondhand store. Next to the bakery, right? My cousin Clara loves that place. I once complimented a painting of a weathered red barn in her hallway and she said she got it from Treasures. I stopped by one day to check it out but left when I realized it was a secondhand store.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Honestly, you never know what you’ll find at Treasures.”
Like dust? Falling apart old junk even its owner didn’t want? The painting had to be an exception. “Well, why don’t we head over there? We can talk there or not talk there and just keep each other occupied until the call comes from the hospital lab. I could use a few cups of coffee. At some point later I’ll drive you back to the clinic to pick up your car.”
Forty-five minutes later Liam pulled into a spot in front of Treasures. As they got out of the car, Shelby taking out Shane, and Liam taking out Alexander, he saw Shelby craning her neck to look down Main Street.
“I can just make out the Minnow sisters heading into the library,” she said. “They’re easy to spot since they always walk three across the sidewalk. They must have waited all this time for me and gave up.”
As she opened the door with an ornate gold key, he realized he actually had been in the shop once before with Clara. His cousin had insisted on dragging him along to find a present for her mother, who despite being Liam’s dear aunt, was the biggest snob alive. Liam hadn’t thought his aunt would want anything from a secondhand shop, but the next time he’d seen her, she’d been wearing the brooch that Clara had insisted she’d love. It’s antique, it’s history, it has a story, Clara had insisted. Who knows where the brooch has been, what love story it was part of. It’s so romantic!
It’s so...used, was what Liam had thought. He appreciated the shiny and new. But hey, if it worked for his cousin and aunt, all the better for Shelby, now that he actually knew the shop’s owner.
“I’ll keep the
