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His father shot him a pitying look. “Ouch.”
“She’d rather everyone think the father of her baby is a fucking conman than me,” he said, throwing his hands in the air.
Ulysses frowned. “What did you say?”
“WhatcouldI say?” Rafe seethed. “I told her I’d keep her secret. For now.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
Bracing his hands against the mantle, Rafe leaned into the rough stone, felt the jagged edges push against his palms and threaten to cut him. He welcomed the pain. “All I feel right now is angry.”
“Understandable. But I wouldn’t let it fester if I were you. That won’t help anyone, least of all Jane and the baby.”
Rafe snorted humourlessly.
“Whatareyou going to do?” his father pressed.
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “I know a baby won’t just magically fix everything between us.”
“No, it won’t,” his father said, his simple statement heavy with the weight of first-hand knowledge.
Rafe stared into the fire. He’d been that baby once. The one who failed to fix his father’s relationship with his mother.
“Christ,” he swore, shoving away from the fireplace and running his hands through his hair. “I moved back home because I wanted a quiet, simple life. Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
Making himself comfortable on the couch, Ulysses chuckled. “No one ever said life was easy, Rafe. And if you wanted quiet and simple, you should have stayed the hell away from Jane Melville. Too much like her mother, that one.”
“Wait, what?” He raised one dubious brow. “Mary was a hellion?”
Ulysses laughed again. “From the day she was born.” He shook his head. “How she ended up married to someone as morose as Alec Melville is completely beyond me.”
Good question.“I don’t suppose you have any advice you’d like to share?”
His father waved him off. “You don’t need an old fuck-up like me telling you what to do. Besides, it doesn’t matter what I say. You’ll just do what you always do: protect Jane.”
With a heavy sigh, Rafe sank into the armchair near the fire and pushed his damp hair out of his eyes. Jane was right. He needed a haircut. And a shave. “I don’t know if I can this time.”
“Then you’d better figure it out quick smart. This back and forth you two have going on, this push-and-pull nonsense, it can’t continue. Both of you need to grow up and make a decision. You’re either in or you’re out. With a kid in the mix, there can be no in between. In or out, Rafael. Pick one.”
Rafe stared at his feet, dug his toe into the well-worn Persian rug and traced the faded swirls of pattern. “What if the kid isn’t mine?” he said quietly. His heart hurt even thinking the sentiment, let alone saying it out loud.
“Does it matter?” Ulysses said, lifting his shoulder. “He wouldn’t be the first bastard born in this town, and he won’t be the last.” The old man leaned forwards and patted Rafe’s cheek. “And he’ll have a father who loves him regardless.”
Chapter Three
When Jane entered the Bennetts’ kitchen mid-morning, Abby and Oliver were already discussing the best way to light a wedding dress on fire.
Did they stuff it with straw like some kind of bridal scarecrow? Should they stretch it over a basic framework like the skin mask of a serial killer? Shoot it with flaming arrows perhaps?
A cavalcade of possibilities was being tossed back and forth. And most seemed to spring from Ollie’s profuse knowledge of B-grade horror movies.
“G’morning, my dear,” Ulysses said, drawing her into his arms for a hug. Snuggling against the man she considered her second father, she inhaled his signature scent, the oddly comforting smell of linseed oil and turpentine. “Cuppa?”
“Coffee, please,” Jane said, then took a seat at the large wooden table that dominated the centre of the room.
Jane had always loved The Forge, the Bennett family home. It was the third oldest building in Melville’s Cross, after the church and the town hall, and one of only a handful of original structures still standing. Plus it had the most character.
The original house consisted of the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and what was now the master bedroom, but over the years it had been modified and expanded to accommodate the ever-increasing Bennett brood.
