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He was well aware she was referring to the fact that he’d slept in his own bed last night and he avoided the question.
“Mmm, that smells good.”
Aunt Vin gave Wags a piece of bacon, then set a plate of eggs, bacon and homemade biscuits in front of Jake. “I knew this was going to happen. Any woman who isn’t interested enough to even come here and see the beautiful work you’ve done to this house is not good enough for you. I’m glad you’ve finally realized that. The only interest you had in her was making the bedsprings sag.”
Sex had been a big part of their relationship. Hell, it was the only relationship they had. They hadn’t built any type of foundation to sustain the news they’d received yesterday.
Ignoring her words, Jake bit into a biscuit. At Elise’s, they usually had muffins and fruit in the mornings, and now the big breakfast seemed too much.
“I’ve got bingo tonight, so you’ll have to fix your own supper. I’m not missing bingo.” She put the frying pan in the sink. “Some woman’s been calling. Did she get you?”
Jake put down his fork. “Yeah, I talked to her.”
“I just hope Mattie isn’t there tonight. She always manages to win. I believe she’s cheating and I wish I could catch her.”
Aunt Vin was on another channel as usual—at times it was hard to keep up with her.
“So what did the woman want?” she asked abruptly.
Jake wondered how much to tell her, but then made the decision. Aunt Vin was like a mother to him and he had to share this with someone. He told her about Ms. Woods and Ben. Aunt Vin just stared at him.
“A son? You could have a son?”
“Yes. I have to take a DNA test and then we’ll know.”
She clapped her hands. “Oh my, there hasn’t been a child in this house for years.” She looked down at Wags, who was begging for more bacon. “Isn’t that great, Wags?”
Wags growled.
“Aunt Vin, you’re not listening to me. I said might. I have to take a test, so don’t start planning anything.”
“Okay, okay, don’t get riled up,” she said, giving Wags another piece of bacon.
“I just want you to be aware of what’s going on.”
Aunt Vin smiled. “Oh, now I see. That’s why the fancy lady kicked you out. She’s not happy with this development.”
“Please don’t call her that,” Jake said, hating that Aunt Vin didn’t like Elise. But Elise hadn’t made any effort to get to know her, either. Still, Jake found himself defending his wife. “And no, she’s not happy. No woman would be.”
“Well, well, well,” Aunt Vin murmured, pouring him more coffee. “This should be interesting, but you can count on me. I raised you and I can raise another boy.”
Jake stood and hugged her. “I know, and thanks, but like I said, please don’t start making plans. We have to wait before we do anything. Now I have to find Mike and then go to the lab.”
“Will you be sleeping here tonight?”
He turned at the door. “I’m not sure.”
“You’ll be sleeping here,” she muttered under her breath as he walked out the door, Wags right behind him.
Wags missed him at nights, but there was no way he could take a dog to Elise’s. Elise didn’t even know he had a dog. So whenever he was at home Wags followed him everywhere he went.
JAKE TALKED TO HIS FOREMAN, Mike, to go over which cotton fields were scheduled to be harvested today. It was late September, one of the busiest times of the year, and he needed to be here, but he had no choice—he had to go. He had good people working for him so he left things in their capable hands.
The lab work was easy and simple, as Ms. Woods had said, a few minutes out of his day that could change the rest of his life. Driving home, he started toward Elise’s, then realized she’d already have left for the university. He should’ve called her this morning, but he wasn’t sure what to say. Maybe by tonight she would’ve cooled off and they could talk without tempers flaring.
When he got back to the farm, he picked up Wags and drove to the fields. Wags loved to ride in the truck with his head stuck out the window. The machines were already picking cotton, which would be stored in a module to be taken to the gin a little later. Right now the goal was to get the cotton out of the field. The corn had been harvested in July and so far he was having a good season. The weather was always a deciding factor in his business. It could make or break him.
His office was attached to a big barn that housed most of his farm equipment. After he checked with Mike and found they were on schedule, he headed there. Wags curled up at his feet as Jake tried to focus on paperwork that had piled up on his desk, but he couldn’t concentrate. He kept thinking about Elise. He wished he’d called her, then he’d know what kind of mood she was in and maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to get some work done.
At noon, his brother Beau stopped by. Beau was a lawyer, single with dark good looks that made him popular with women. They’d had very little contact when they were growing up. Beau was eight when Althea left and the battle lines had been drawn—Beau and their mother against Jake and their father. Joe McCain had refused to let Jake have anything to do with them and that was the way it stayed for years. When Jake was twenty-five, Joe passed away and Beau came to the funeral. He and Jake started talking, getting reacquainted. Since then, Beau had been on a crusade to bring Althea and Jake back together, but so far Jake had resisted all his efforts. He couldn’t forget the hurt she had caused him and his father.
“Hey, Jake,” Beau said, throwing himself down in a chair. “How’s business?”
Jake lifted an eyebrow. “Busy.”
“Yeah, I saw the machines in the field. Looks like you’re having a good year.”
“Yep, even the shortage of rain didn’t hurt. Irrigation took up the slack.”
Beau looked around the office. “It’s strange coming back here. I feel as if he’ll walk in at any minute and yell at me to do something. I was always frightened of him.”
“We have different memories of our father,” Jake replied with a somber face.
Beau eyed him speculatively. “Just like we have different memories of our mother.”
Jake leaned back in his chair. He didn’t want to discuss their parents; that was the past. He was more concerned with the present and Elise and the DNA test.
“What are you doing here, Beau?”
“Aunt Vin wanted some advice on her will. She’s leaving everything to you, which is no secret, but I think she just wanted to make sure I didn’t feel hurt. I told her that by the time she dies, she’ll have spent it all on bingo, anyway.”
“Yeah, it’s an obsession with her.” He glanced at Beau.
“Are you sure you’re okay with her decision? I tried talking to her, but—”
Beau held up a hand. “I’m fine with it, Jake. Besides, I’ve only gotten reacquainted with Aunt Vin in the past few years.”
Silence stretched for a moment, then Beau slipped in, “Aunt Vin said you slept here last night.”
Jake’s eyes caught Beau’s. “Don’t pry into matters that don’t concern you.”
“Ah.” Beau crossed his legs. “Something is wrong.”
It certainly was, Jake thought, but not in the way Beau meant. How much had Aunt Vin told him? Not much, Jake guessed; that was why Beau was fishing for information. Well, if the boy was his, it wouldn’t be a secret too long, but still, he wasn’t good at confiding and the last person he wanted to know was his mother. And he couldn’t trust Beau not to tell her.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Jake replied in a cool tone.
“Come on, Jake, I’m not stupid,” Beau kept on. “Something’s wrong or you wouldn’t be sleeping at the farm.”
“If there is, it’s between Elise and me.” He’d never told Beau why he and Elise had gotten married so quickly. His relationship with Elise was private.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop prying.”
“Don’t you have an office you should be in?”
“Sure do.” Beau stood. “If you need to talk, you know where to find me.”
“I won’t.”
Beau frowned. “Why do you have to be so hard and unforgiving?”
“That’s just me” was the quick answer.
“No, it isn’t. It’s just a front to hide your emotions.” Beau took a breath. “For God’s sakes, why can’t you talk to her?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not? She’s your mother.”
“Not anymore.”
“Sometimes, Jake, you make me so angry.”
“Close the door on your way out,” Jake said, then went back to his paperwork.
“One of these days, Jake, you’re going to need someone, and I hope to God that person’s not as hard as you are.”
Jake tried to shut out Beau’s words, but he couldn’t. All he could remember was a ten-year-old boy who cried himself to sleep wanting his mother—a mother who’d deserted him without a second thought. That might be hard for Beau to understand, but he wasn’t the one left behind. Jake refused to see Althea under any condition; that was a vow he’d made to himself when she walked out of his life—the day she abandoned him to start a new life with Andrew Wellman. That kind of betrayal he couldn’t forgive and neither could his father. A heartbroken man, Joe McCain died way before his time.
Jake had never met his half brother, Caleb, the child of Althea and Andrew Wellman, nor did he want to. Caleb was now almost twenty-eight, but Jake still had no desire for any type of relationship. He realized that was a flaw in his nature, but he couldn’t get around it. The pain from the past was always with him, and even though Caleb had nothing to do with it, he represented part of that betrayal.
Jake reached for his hat. If he had a son, he’d never be able to walk away from him. He’d never do to a child what his mother had done to him—even if it meant losing Elise.
THAT EVENING JAKE DROVE TO Elise’s house, unable to stay away any longer. Her car was in the garage, so he knew she was home. At the door he started to pull off his boots, then changed his mind. He wasn’t doing that anymore. He wondered if he should knock but decided against that, too. He used his key, as always.
Elise was sitting on the bed staring at Derek’s picture but thinking about Jake. She’d thought about calling him all day but wanted him to make the first move. He was the one who’d created the turmoil in their lives, so he had to make it right. She heard the back door open and jumped to her feet. It had to be Jake. She glanced at herself in the mirror and straightened her blue suit.
“Elise,” she heard him call.
She slowly made her way to the living room. Jake was standing in the middle of the room with his hat in his hand. He wore his customary jeans, boots and cotton shirt and he looked so handsome. Just seeing him made her heart beat a little faster. Now he’d tell her that the boy wasn’t his and everything would be okay. They’d have their baby as planned.
“Hi,” he said softly.
She noticed him looking at her hair, which was pinned up. She wore it like that to work. She thought it gave her an added edge of maturity, but Elise knew Jake liked her hair down—he enjoyed taking it down.
“Hi,” she replied, her heart beating so fast now she could barely breathe. They had to resolve this situation; that was all she could think.
“We have to talk,” he said.
“Yes.” She sat on the sofa and he took a chair.
“I had the test done this morning,” he told her, placing his hat on the end table.
“But you still don’t have the results?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I need to tell you how I feel.”
Elise leaned back and grabbed a decorative pillow for support.
“My mother walked away from me when I was ten years old. I would never do that to a child. If the boy is mine, I have to take responsibility.”
God, she knew that. She knew Jake. This nightmare was not over.
“What about our plans for a baby?” She had to have an answer to that question. It had been with her day and night.
Jake drew a deep breath. “We have to wait for the test results before we can go any further.”
“Our lives have changed,” she had to say. “We have this tension that wasn’t there before.”
“Yes, and I apologize for that, but this has been a big shock.”
“I’m having a hard time dealing with it.”
“I can see that.”
“So where do we go from here?”
Jake swallowed. “If the boy is mine, you’ll have to ask yourself a big question. Can you raise another woman’s child?”
Another woman’s child.
Suddenly she felt a deadweight in her arms and fear clogged her throat, her senses, her thinking. How did she explain to him what she was feeling? She had a hard time understanding it herself.
Jake was taking in the expression on her face, looking like he’d been punched in the chest. He swallowed again. “I suppose the DNA test will decide our future.”
She stared at him. “Have you considered that I might be pregnant?”
“Yes,” he said, and looked away. “We’ll have to wait about that, too. So I’ll stay at the farm until this is resolved. It’ll give us the time we need.”
“Yes,” she muttered, squeezing the pillow so tight her fingers were numb.
He walked over and kissed her cheek. She felt cold and didn’t respond to his touch. How could she? He straightened and picked up his hat.
“I’ll call when I get the results.” Then he walked out of the room.
ELISE’S HAND WENT to her cheek. She could still smell his aftershave. She closed her eyes and her body started to tremble. Placing both hands over her stomach, she prayed a baby was growing inside her. If she had Jake’s baby, he’d come back. They would be together, but that didn’t make the other problem disappear. It only made things worse. God, she was losing her mind, just like her mother and sister, Judith, had said. And she was losing Jake.
She wiped a tear away and tried to understand what she was feeling. A little girl’s blue face swam before her eyes and that old fear gripped her, just as if it were yesterday. Then the memories came flooding back.
