grin on her. She’d known she was flirting with danger, but the excitement of it was irresistible. She couldn’t believe that a man like him was interested in Candy Carpenter’s only daughter and for once she silenced the practical voice that warned her to run far, run fast. Instead, she’d run straight into his arms for a magical month.
Then he’d simply said it was over and he was deploying for a year. After that, she’d buried her pain behind an it-serves-me-right attitude and figured she got off with a cheap lesson. Mostly she believed that until she found out she was pregnant and had made the mother of all mistakes—pardon the pun. But that didn’t mean she was like her mother. She took care of herself, all by herself. And that’s the way she liked it.
“We were together a long time ago,” Kate said. “And a lot has changed since then.”
“Yeah.” Shadows slid through his eyes as he nodded. “You had my baby.”
“And I wouldn’t trade him for anything,” she said fiercely. “I love that child more than I ever imagined it was possible to love anyone. Everything I do, every decision I make is for him.”
“Okay. But I’m back now. If I’d been here…”
What would have been different? He’d dumped her. So what if it had taken her a while to let him know he was going to be a father? The decision was huge. Her own father had skipped out before she was old enough to remember him and Kate had often wondered why he’d bothered to marry her mom in the first place if he didn’t plan to stick around. Joe had just done the not-sticking-around part up front.
Finally she said, “It’s okay, Joe. It’s not your fault you couldn’t be here for J.T.”
“But I’m here now.”
“Yeah.” And they needed to talk about what that meant. Real soon. But she wasn’t ready yet.
“I want to do the right thing, Kate.”
“What does that mean?”
More importantly, did she really want to hear this?
The uneasy feeling grew in her chest until she had trouble drawing in air. J.T. was hers. She could take care of him, support him, raise him to be a good man. She didn’t want or need anyone’s help for J.T. to be healthy and happy. If she didn’t let anyone else in, the chances of keeping him happy went up. If she did it herself, she would know it was done right because she would always be there for him.
She looked at Joe and braced herself. “Define the right thing.”
“We should get married.”
Chapter Two
Kate was just taking a drink from her iced tea and nearly choked. “Don’t you know it’s not nice to make a joke when someone’s drinking?”
Joe wasn’t being funny. He was dead serious, although he hadn’t intended to propose. If he’d planned it, there would have been flowers and candles, not harsh fluorescent lights. And the food would be better than flame-broiled cardboard with a shot of cholesterol. But now that the thought was out there, it felt right.
“I’m not joking. We should get married,” he said.
“No, we shouldn’t.” She stabbed at the ice in her cup with the straw.
“Why not?”
“Do you really want me to start? The thing is, I only get a half hour for lunch,” she said.
Irritation knotted inside him. He didn’t remember her being this sarcastic. But then, all his memories were from before he’d told her they were over. She probably had reason to give him a hard time. Likely it’d be a good idea to let her get this out of her system.
“Take your best shot,” he said. “Give me one good reason why it would be wrong.”
“Just one?” she said, staring at him.
“For starters.”
“Okay.” She nodded thoughtfully. “Here’s one. We hardly know each other.”
“So marriage will give us a chance to get acquainted.”
“Oh, please,” she said. “That’s just stupid.”
“People do it all the time.”
“Not this person.” She twisted the dangling strands of her ponytail around her finger. “My life is all in place. Why would I want to turn it upside down?”
Speaking of upside-down life, he’d spent a whole lot of time in dark cellars, caves and God knows where else thinking about the baby. Her letter had said she was having a boy, right after she’d admitted she’d considered not telling him at all. That she was okay with raising the child alone and not to feel any obligation to be involved. Be well and happy. Kate, she’d signed the thing. He was well, but he hadn’t been happy for longer than he could remember.
Scratch that. He’d been happy when he was with her. But more important than either of them was his son.
“What about the baby?” he asked.
“What about him?” she answered, her eyes flashing. “J.T. is perfect. I’m taking care of him just fine.”
“In your letter you said you were okay with raising him alone, but—”
“I am,” she interrupted. “Although I don’t really remember what I said.”
He remembered. He’d had it with him when he went down, hid the paper and read it so often he’d memorized every word while he’d been detained.
“You’re looking pretty intense,” she said warily.
“Just thinking.” He leaned his forearms on the table. “Wouldn’t you like some help with the baby?”
“I don’t need help. Not from you.”
“I’m J.T.’s father.”
“That’s a fact. And here’s another one. You dumped me.”
“I didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“Okay. But your gut instinct was to walk away from me. Now I’m supposed to believe that I’m the woman of your dreams because I had your baby?” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t think so.”
“I was being deployed. It wasn’t fair to ask you to wait.”
“You didn’t ask. You didn’t give me a chance to decide if I wanted to wait for you. You just assumed and didn’t give a rat’s behind about how I felt. It was selfish.”
Was that hurt in her eyes? He’d walked away because it was better for him, so he’d take responsibility for the selfish part. But he hadn’t meant to hurt her. He’d been doing what was best for both of them.
If best was not being able to forget her, then his strategy had been a rousing success.
