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Unexpected Babies
Anna Adams
THE TALBOT TWINSA troubled marriage, an unexpected pregnancy, a terrible accident. Any one of those flings would be hard to handle. Cate Talbot Palmer has to face them all.Cate has decided her marriage is over. Much as she loves her husband, she can no longer live with him. But after she tells him she's going–and before he can even start to win her back–an accident robs her of her memory.Amnesia is frightening: Everyone knows you, but to you, even family members–including your identical twin–are strangers. You have to trust others for your memories and take too much on faith.Then again, maybe amnesia's the perfect opportunity to start over….
Her foot twitched beneath the blanket
Alan went back to her bed. “Cate?”
Her eyelids fluttered. For a horrified moment, he was afraid she couldn’t open her eyes. “Cate,” he said again, “wake up. Uncle Ford, why didn’t you shout at her before?”
“Shall I try again?” Uncle Ford struggled to his feet, maybe to lean closer to Cate’s ear. He might have yelled at his niece, except Dan appeared at his side to help him—or maybe to hold him back.
Alan flashed his son a grateful smile and took Cate’s hand. “Wake up. Please, Cate.” Asking for things didn’t come naturally, and that had been a sore spot between them. But he’d beg freely if he had to. Finally Cate opened her eyes and held them open. He didn’t dare look away. Something different in her expression bothered him—some level of detachment.
She studied each person around her bed. Nothing that made her the Cate he loved was in her gaze. She eyed her aunt, uncle, niece and son with the same strange, dreamy look until she focused on Alan again.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Dear Reader,
Imagine this: You open your eyes and find yourself in a hospital bed, surrounded by strangers who look like a close-knit family. You don’t know your aunt or uncle, your niece or even your twin sister. Worse, you don’t recognize your own son, and when the man who seems to be in charge claims he’s your husband, you realize your own name is a mystery.
This is only the start of Cate Talbot Palmer’s dilemma. Soon she discovers she’s pregnant with twins, but that she hasn’t told her husband, Alan—and she can’t remember why. Add to that the tales people recount of the wild Talbot clan she hails from, and you have the kind of family story I love. Cate must figure out who she really is and learn the truth about her marriage. No longer the “good” twin, or the woman who never rocked anyone’s boat, she wants to live life fully. Her struggle to recover her identity brings upheaval to her family and her marriage.
I hope you enjoy this story of learning to trust a loving stranger.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, please write to me at annaadams@superauthors.com.
Sincerely,
Anna Addams
Unexpected Babies
Anna Adams
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Sarah Greengas, Sharon Lavoie,
Jennifer LaBrecque, Amy Lanz, Carmen Green,
Wendy Etherington, Jenni Grizzle, Karen Bishop,
Theresa Goldman and Michele Flinn—
thank you for reading my unpolished pages.
And to Paula Eykelhof and Laura Shin. Thank you
for the chance and for all I’ve already learned from you.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE (#u2f7a278a-d942-5998-803f-0f53a5b8c736)
CHAPTER TWO (#u76e04e40-7f4b-5d92-969f-cfb696d6f415)
CHAPTER THREE (#udc25f967-ae49-5fa6-8791-03ef839925dd)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u5668c74a-4696-5aec-b286-a217f1132264)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
CATE TALBOT PALMER opened her car door and stepped into the sand-blown street that paralleled the beach. Above the small, stucco building in front of her a metal sign rattled like faint thunder in the wind off the ocean. The sign read Palmer Construction, Leith, Georgia.
Her husband, Alan, was inside at his desk. Nearly two hours late for the burned five-course dinner she’d abandoned on their dining room table.
Cate ran one hand across her stomach. The stench of dry, overcooked lamb mingled with ocean salt. She swallowed, her throat almost clenching she felt so nauseous. She’d suggested a special dinner tonight because she’d finally decided to tell Alan the secret she’d been keeping. Thank God she hadn’t told him before.
She’d waited for him, staring at a bottle of sparkling grape juice she’d set on the table between their plates as a hint. She’d memorized that bottle while she’d opened her eyes to the facts. She and Alan had both kept secrets for the past sixteen weeks, only she’d been desperate enough to pretend she didn’t see what Alan was doing.
Late nights at the office, fierce silences at home, see-through excuses for the cell phone he’d practically strapped to his hand. Most women would suspect an affair, but Alan Palmer had a different problem.
His mother had left him and his father when he was ten because his dad couldn’t give her the material things she’d wanted. As a result of that longago abandonment and the way his father had used him as a confidant during the divorce, Alan tied his worth to his success with Palmer Construction.
He’d do anything to provide for Cate and Dan, their eighteen-year-old son, but he kept his emotional distance, afraid to risk the kind of pain he and his father had barely survived. His need to protect Cate had pushed her away, because she wanted a husband who would let her help him solve his problems, not pull away when troubles came.
She sprang from a long line of Talbots who’d failed at marriage or any relationship close to that kind of commitment. She and Alan had tried to create the family they’d both craved in their childhoods. Instead, they’d created an emotional divide.
She felt as if she’d already raised Dan on her own. She’d made up excuses for Alan’s absences, for his distraction when he showed up late at one family gathering after another. She couldn’t start that over again. This time, if she raised a child alone, it would be because she no longer lived with her baby’s father.
A car passed her. She knew the driver. Another mom whose son was about to graduate from high school. Cate pasted a smile on her face. After today she wouldn’t have to pretend everything was normal.
Wind from the car blew her hair across her face, and Cate brushed the strands out of her eyes. She refused to wait for Alan to tell her what was wrong with the business. Hurting from the pain of another betrayal cost her more than knowing the truth. She’d make him tell her.
Squaring her shoulders, she marched across the street to the office. Her legs felt like jelly. She opened the frosted glass doors that were engraved with the company’s name.
The moment she stepped inside, the temperature dropped. Even in mid-May, the South Georgia heat made air-conditioning a requirement. Cate swiped at perspiration on her forehead. Her hand trembled in front of her eyes.
She’d offer Alan a chance to explain because she still didn’t want to leave him. When they were good, they were very, very good.
Alan’s voice murmured from the office area. For a moment she hoped he had a late appointment with a client. Then she recognized a tone she always dreaded hearing. She couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he was in trouble.
Her anger simmered as every excuse Alan had given her in the past few weeks repeated in her head. She wouldn’t have kept her own secret if she’d trusted him.
Not that she could give him all the blame. She’d stayed. She hated feeling dependent, and her relationship with Alan made her feel dependent rather than stronger. When they were bad, they were unbearable.
Striding past models of the buildings and homes the company was contracted to build or renovate, Cate tried to imagine why her husband had decided his success here meant more than their marriage.
She passed empty offices. Her twin sister, Caroline, who worked as an interior designer for the company, had already gone home.
Alan’s office lay at the end of the hall. The air conditioning’s whisper cushioned the sound of Cate’s feet on the Berber carpet. Suddenly, John Mabry, Leith’s chief of police, leaned into Cate’s view, his bulk bending the frame of his chair as he crossed his arms behind his head.
“I know,” he said on a hefty sigh. “A trained cop had no business losing Jim Cooper in the men’s room, but I didn’t train the cops who work the Newark airport. Just chill, Alan. We’ll find him and your money before you have to shut your doors for good.”
The carpet’s warp seemed to rise up and trip Cate. Jim Cooper was their CPA, an oily man who always stood too close, tried to talk too intimately. She stumbled to a halt, flexing her fingers against the creamy, patterned wallpaper. The truth came as no surprise, but hearing it in plain words felt like a near fatal wound.
“What if we’re already too late?” Alan asked. “I’m working my creditors now as if I were the criminal.”
“What?” Mabry said in a sharp tone.
“With my banker’s help.” Alan placated the other man. “But I don’t do business this way, and I don’t like knowing my employees may be working on borrowed time.”
The scream in Cate’s head must have translated to some kind of sound. John Mabry turned to her, surprise widening his eyes. She pulled her hand off the wall. Nearly twenty years of pretending her marriage was healthy had honed her skills. She’d pretend nothing was wrong. Next best thing to acting as if Alan had talked to her about the problem.
“Hey, John.”
“Evening, Cate.”
Alan’s chair squeaked. After a few muffled steps, he came around the door, tall, dark and clueless. “Is something wrong with Dan?”
Startled at his unexpected question, Cate searched tanned features that had thinned over the past weeks to an ascetic sharpness. His problems in this office had distracted him. He’d forgotten their meal and his promise to come home early. Naturally, he only expected her to show up if something was wrong with their son.
“Dan’s fine.”
A father’s fear haunted his eyes. Alan loved the idea of family. He truly loved their son—as much as she did.
“I came because you’re late,” she said.
He turned a wary gaze on the police chief. “John…”
Mabry pried himself out of his chair. “I’ll get back to you later, Alan.”
Cate watched the other man leave. With each step he took toward the front of the building, she braced herself to face the reason for her husband’s guilty expression.
“Cate.” Taking her arm, Alan forced her to look at him before she was ready.
She shook him off. “Don’t.” All she wanted was for him to tell her she was wrong. “Why was John here?”
“Please believe I wanted to tell you.” He took her hands again. Heat throbbed from his callused palms.
She splayed her fingers over the undersides of his wrists, where his pulse tapped an alarm. A measure of calm came to her despite confusion that had become familiar. “Something’s happened. Again.”
He tightened his hands, but he couldn’t seem to answer her. She studied his face, intent on every nerve, every shadow of guilt that flitted behind eyes that knew her both too well and not at all.
“This time was different, Cate.”
“You always say it’s different, but it never is.” The future yawned in front of her like a hungry mouth. “You keep problems from me because you think I’ll leave if the business goes sour.”
Sweat beaded on his upper lip. He didn’t look well, but she couldn’t spare him any more of her empathy.
“I would have told you.” He released one of her hands so he could wipe the drops of moisture off his mouth. “I had to make sure I knew how much trouble we’re facing.”
“I don’t trust you.” She flattened her free hand over her belly, tracing the mound she couldn’t hide much longer. She wouldn’t expose another child to a part-time father. “I can’t go on the way we are, and you can’t change. You never would have told me about Jim. You planned to clean up the mess by yourself.”
“I haven’t told anyone except Mabry and the bank. Jim Cooper embezzled from the business accounts. He stole from every company he worked for. We’ve all lost money, and we’re trying to find Jim before he knows we’re looking for him.”
She fought to control her anger, but reason hadn’t worked with him in the past. “First, you should tell the employees if they’re in danger of losing their jobs. Second, I don’t work for you, and I’m not a newspaper reporter. You have no right to keep me in the dark. I’m your wife, and I have an equal share in this business. I turned myself into a stay-at-home mom for Dan, not because I’m not intelligent enough to be part of this company.”
“I never said you weren’t bright enough to understand the business, Cate.” He frowned, deep lines leaving furrows between his nose and mouth. “John told me the police had tracked Jim to the Newark airport.”
“That part I understood. You’re obviously worried, and I’m sorry, but I don’t know why you won’t let me help you.”
“What could you have done?”
“I don’t know, but you never gave me a chance. You prefer to suffer alone.”
“I’m supposed to protect you and Dan.”
“Please don’t start that old story again.” She freed herself from him. “I’m not like your mother. I don’t need a house or a car or clothes that impress our neighbors. If the business burned to the ground, I’d want to help you rebuild, but you wouldn’t turn to me. You want to protect me, but Dan and I can’t count on you if something goes wrong in this office.” She spun blindly toward the reception area. She had one thought—to escape this building without him—but he kept pace with her as if she were crawling.
“Where are you going?” His stunned tone hurt most of all.
