of directors for Americans for Morals, was preaching family and commitment in his latest campaign, his daughter abandoned her child to a guy most noted for being a rodeo bum?”
Not insulted by Tia’s description because it was accurate, Rick knew exactly what Rayne would do. She would sell the story to a national newspaper or magazine. Then Rick would be in big trouble. There was only one way for a man who made a career out of being a staunch supporter of family to counter his own daughter abandoning a child: rescue the child from her disreputable parents and raise the child himself.
Rick kissed Ruthie’s cheek. There was no way on God’s green earth he was going to let that happen. Not only did he love Ruthie, but Jen had told Rick a thing or two about Senator Martin after seeing her dad posturing on television one day. The most revealing of which was that he’d forced her mother to sign a nondisclosure agreement when they divorced because he had been physically abusive toward both Jen and her mother. Jen had had no reason to lie, and Rick couldn’t think why the senator would want a nondisclosure agreement unless he’d done things in the marriage that he couldn’t afford to have revealed. That also explained why Jen’s mom found it necessary to move halfway around the world to be away from him. She was afraid of him.
It wouldn’t be the first time a politician lived a double life. And, truth be told, Rick didn’t give a damn if Senator Martin preached one thing and practiced another, as long as he didn’t try to get custody of Rick’s baby.
“If you think this through,” Rick said, as his sister continued to gather toys and stuff them into the navy-blue quilted diaper bag, “there’s really no reason for me to ever tell anybody who Ruthie’s mother is.”
Tia shrugged. “For now. As long as nobody goes digging, you may never even have to bring up who Ruthie’s mother is. But you’re eventually going to have to tell Ruthie.”
“Not really. I was toying with the idea of telling Ruthie that her mom is dead.”
Tia grimaced, as she continued to gather Ruthie’s things. “I don’t know, Rick. I think that might come back to burn you. Jen could change. She could suddenly grow up and want to see her little girl and then she will look like the mom desperately trying to have a relationship with her daughter and you’ll look like the dad who lied.”
Knowing that was true, Rick said nothing.
Zipping the diaper bag closed, Tia said, “You don’t have to make any decisions today, Rick. You have two whole weeks until the election.”
“You mean two long weeks to hide her.”
“Yes, but once the election is over your secret will be safe. Whether dad’s reelected or not, Rayne will lose interest in him and have no reason to check into your life.”
“Except that she’s just plain mean.”
Tia laughed. “Hey, stop worrying. Until all this is settled, between Mom and me, you’ll always have a babysitter. And since you don’t get off work until after dark, it’s not as if you have to sneak Ruthie into the Meljac’s guesthouse. If you think about it, technically, we’re not even really keeping Ruthie a secret. We simply aren’t announcing her.”
Tia walked to the refrigerator. “I made some more formula,” she said, changing the subject as she slid the bottles into the side compartment of the diaper bag. “I also went online and found a pediatrician for you. Since I was already surfing the net I read up on what and how much she’s supposed to eat and I discovered it is okay for her to be eating the rice cereal that her mother had put in the diaper bag she left with you.”
Rick smiled and nodded, glad he’d done the right thing by guessing Jen had been feeding Ruthie the cereal since a box had been packed with her things. But inside he was anything but happy. When Jen had showed up at his door with Ruthie, he’d thought she’d come back to him because she loved him. He’d foolishly thought that becoming a mother had caused her to see how right they were for each other and that it was time for them to be a family. He remembered how joy had flooded him. He had loved her with ever fiber of his being and when she had left him the year before it had damned near killed him. So, when she suddenly appeared that night, all he could think of was being grateful for a second chance.
After Jen put Ruthie to sleep, they’d made love and he had been the happiest man alive. It had never occurred to him that she was conning him, suckering him into believing everything was fine so he wouldn’t suspect that she intended to sneak out in the middle of the night. Nothing had surprised him more than when he awakened to find himself alone with the baby. Her note had actually threatened a lawsuit if he told anyone she was Ruthie’s mom. She had so casually, calculatedly left him and their baby that anything he felt for her died an instant death.
Now, all he wanted was to raise his baby in peace. As long as Jen kept Ruthie a secret and Rick kept Ruthie a secret there was no reason for her dad to find their baby and get involved. And that was exactly what Rick wanted. Privacy.
“All packed,” Tia announced, helping him hook the strap of the diaper bag on his left shoulder since Ruthie was nestled against his right. “I’ll see you in the morning. At four or so.”
He grimaced. “I’m really sorry about this.”
“Hey, it’s not a problem. Drew gets up when you do, so I do, too. Besides, as I said, I need the practice.”
Rick smiled his thanks and left his sister’s house. Ten minutes later he pulled his pickup in front of the guesthouse for Seven Hills Farms. Ruthie pounded her rattle on her car seat, which he had strapped onto the backseat of his extended cab, and Rick turned around.
“Didn’t we talk about this?”
She cooed and gurgled and Rick shook his head, then shoved his way out of his truck and opened the back door that gave him access to Ruthie. She slapped his nose with her rattle.
“Didn’t Daddy tell you that you have to keep down the noise?”
She tilted her head in question, as he lifted her from the car seat. Perching her on his left arm, he reached inside to loop his fingers through the strap of the diaper bag and yanked it out.
Making his way up the steps of the small porch to the front door, he glanced around at the little Cape Cod house, thinking how perfect it was for him and Ruthie. There were two bedrooms on the second floor, so they could sleep in the same general area and he could hear her when she cried in the middle of the night. Gene had shown him a cozy green kitchen filled with appliances, a living room furnished with a comfortable overstuffed sofa and chairs and a den where he could put his computer and network into the farm’s system to do the books. Best of all, it was far enough away from the farmhouse that no one could see or hear what he did. A side road veered off Seven Hills’s main access route and brought him to the secluded guesthouse. He didn’t even have to pass the Meljac residence to get home.
That was another thing that had fallen into place with this job. Being so far away from the main house, there was no danger Ashley Meljac would discover Ruthie. It was clear from their meeting that morning that Ashley would like nothing better than to be rid of him. But he wasn’t going anywhere. Gene Meljac hadn’t precisely said that he was retiring, but he was showing all the signs. This time next month Gene could call, find everything running smoothly without him and realize he didn’t need to run the farm anymore. Then this job with the perfect house, far enough out of civilization where a man really could keep a secret, would be his.
He wasn’t letting some born-to-shop Paris Hilton wannabe run him off. Especially since
