of love and interest in him. Like Stevie, he’d been raised by nannies and placed in one boarding school after another until he was eighteen and on his own at college. He knew all too well what it was like to be neglected and cast aside, and she could only pray he wouldn’t let the same thing happen to his nephew.
“I’m sure Denise and Phillip are both to blame,” Hope said. “But right now I’m more concerned about putting some normalcy back in Stevie’s life while he’s here in Austin.”
Drake frowned. “I don’t see where you need me to do that. The boy has rarely laid eyes on me.”
Hope raised a hand in protest. “He doesn’t know me any better than you. We’re both going to be strangers to him. And he’s going to feel frightened and abandoned. That’s why we need to try to give him a sense of security.”
Drake wearily wiped a hand over his face. “I agree the boy needs security, Hope. But I can’t see us giving it to him. We don’t even have our own house in order!”
“Okay, so we don’t. But we can pretend. That’s all I’m asking, Drake. Just for one month while Stevie is here.”
His brows puckered with confusion. “What are we supposed to pretend? That his parents really do love him? A child knows when he’s loved and when he isn’t. It would be cruel to mislead him.”
She glared at him. “Do you have to be so harsh?”
He sighed. “I’m not being harsh, Hope. I’m being realistic. I can’t help it if you don’t like the truth.”
She didn’t know why his attitude should hurt her. Drake had never been one to sugarcoat anything for any reason. He expected people to face facts, no matter how painful they were. But these past two months without him had been living hell for Hope. Her emotions were raw, and his words were pouring salt deeper into the wound.
Tears were once again scalding the back of her eyes. She blinked and swallowed, then looked away from him before she could manage to speak.
“I don’t want you to—” She stopped, shook her head, then swallowed again. “When I said we could pretend, Drake, I was talking about us. You and me. All I’m asking is that you come home for a month. And make believe you love me.”
Pretend. Make believe. Dear Lord, Drake thought, he didn’t have to do any of that. He loved Hope more than his own life. He always had. She just couldn’t believe it. She thought he was a selfish bastard. And maybe he was, Drake admitted. But that didn’t mean he loved her any less.
When he didn’t say anything, Hope stepped forward and placed her hand on his forearm. It had been too long since she’d touched him, and the feel of her left him trembling inside.
“It’s December, Drake. Christmas is coming. You know how important that is to a child.”
As a young boy, Drake remembered it being a special time for his friends. But not for him. He’d dreaded the holidays. His parents had never failed to fill the house with people he didn’t know. He was relegated to his room upstairs while the parties went on and on. Christmas morning, he and his sister were given a generous hour downstairs to open their gifts, and then the two of them were packed up to their rooms to spend the rest of the day with their nanny. But somehow the worst for Drake had been when he returned to boarding school and heard the stories of his friends’ holidays. Their fathers had played football with them, or taken them fishing and horseback riding. Their mothers had let them help bake Christmas cookies and decorate the tree. Drake hadn’t known what any of that was like, and he’d felt an outsider.
The bitterness of those memories was reflected in his voice when he spoke. “I’m not the right person for the job, Hope. I’d end up making the kid more miserable than he already is.”
Her fingers tightened on his arm as she shook her head. “If I believed that, I wouldn’t be up here right now. I wouldn’t be asking for your help.”
It amazed Drake that even after this separation, she still believed he could be a father. She was like a blue heeler who wouldn’t give up until the last cow was penned. And suddenly he wondered if a month with the three of them together was exactly what Hope needed to make her see just what a rotten father he would make. Maybe then she would realize their marriage could and would survive only if she put the idea of having a child behind her.
“If you’re worried I’ll try to keep you there once Stevie goes back to boarding school, I won’t,” she hurriedly promised. “You can return to your apartment and everything can go back to the way things are now.”
“When is Stevie coming?” Drake asked.
Something in his voice sent hope flickering through her heart. “I have to pick him up at the airport in the morning. Tess is going to run the gift shop for me tomorrow.”
Today was Thursday. He had one more day of work before the weekend. But Drake made his own hours, which were usually far more than what the Maitlands expected of him. He could take off long enough to go to the airport with her.
“I’ll move my things back tonight. Will you be home?”
Hope was suddenly so weak with relief, her legs threatened to give way. “Yes,” she said, then in spite of everything, she had to smile at the small miracle that had just happened. “I’ll be home.”
The joy on her face stabbed Drake right through the heart. Making his wife happy was all he’d ever wanted to do, and he’d tried hard to see that she’d had everything she needed or wanted. But it hadn’t been enough. He hadn’t been enough. And he’d be a stupid man to believe the smile on her face was because of him.
“I’ll be there,” he said, then pulling his arm free of her fingers, he stepped around her and headed out the door.
CHAPTER TWO
LATER THAT EVENING, on her way home, Hope decided at the last minute to stop by Austin Eats Diner. After her meeting with Drake, she’d been too stirred up to eat lunch, and her stomach was gnawing in protest.
Since the diner was on the street corner right next to the clinic, it was often filled with Maitland Maternity staff. Thankfully, Drake wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but she quickly spotted a woman with dark hair in a booth by the window.
Hope made her way through the bustling diner and slid into the seat across from her friend Abby Maitland.
“I stopped by your office before I left the building,” Hope told her. “I was surprised to find you’d already left.”
Abby was the chief ob/gyn at Maitland. It was her mother, Megan, who had founded the clinic twenty-five years ago with her late husband and was still Maitland Maternity’s CEO. The same age as Hope, Abby had been her personal physician and dear friend for many years. Recently, she had become engaged to Kyle McDermott, a local businessman, and their wedding was only a week away. Hope was one of Abby’s bridesmaids. Along with her mother and twin sisters, Beth and Ellie, Abby had been frantically planning the details of the ceremony, which would no doubt be a major social event. Nothing about the Maitland family went unnoticed in Austin, especially of late.
“I had a couple of last-minute cancellations so my schedule ended up being light today,” Abby explained. Then with a bright smile, she asked, “What’s up?”
Hope’s
