AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His anger seemed to wash away, and something warm and fuzzy rose up to take its place. Only for a moment. But it was there. He lowered his head to hide his amusement from her and tried very hard to regain his anger and indignation. He kept trying, right through the cheesecake and coffee. But the way she tasted the chocolate syrup on the tip of her finger weakened his resolve. And the whipped cream that stuck to her upper lip annihilated it altogether.
She was angry. Okay, he figured she had a right to be angry. He’d lied to her. And now he was back, and she was afraid. Protecting her babies the way a mother bear might protect her cubs from anything she perceived to be a threat to them. That wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, if anything, he ought to appreciate it. It meant she cared deeply about her babies. His babies. It meant she would be a great mother to them, protect them with everything in her.
He just wished she didn’t feel they needed protecting from him.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Terror was an ice-cold feeling that made him shiver more than the freakishly chilly wind. Twins. God, twins. Just like he’d been. The cruel joke of the name he’d inherited from his father still twisted in his gut like a blade. And the old man’s words echoed like a curse. About how he’d been the stronger, and how he must always do whatever he must to survive.
Hell, he knew, with the rational part of his mind, that a child in the womb couldn’t cause premeditated harm. Couldn’t even harbor an ill thought. But it dug at him, ate at him. Always had.
And now he was the father, and dammit, there were two babies. Twins. He was scared to death. What if something happened to one of them? What if only one survived?
Standing stock-still in the cold, damp night, outside the boarding house. There were white candle bulbs burning in every window and a huge festive wreath on the front door. He blinked at the unfamiliar burning sensation in his eyes, the odd tightening of his throat, the hitch in his breathing.
He still didn’t know who the hell had sent the photograph. It suddenly seemed like the least important thing in the world. What he did know was that he had to stay here until his children were born. And he had to do everything in his power to make sure they were both strong and healthy. Protected and safe. Cared for, provided for. And those jobs didn’t belong solely to Maya Brand. They belonged to him. Because he was…their father. The idea made him stand a little straighter, square his shoulders, lift his chin. All of a sudden he felt…omnipotent.
“Going to stand outside all night or go on in?” a small voice said from behind him.
Caleb turned to see the youngest Brand sister standing there staring up at him. Silvery Selene, with her huge mystical silver-blue eyes and her elfin features. She wore a red hood with a scarf attached and a black wool coat.
“I’m going in,” he said. “You?”
She nodded at him. “Me too. I want to talk to you.”
He shrugged and led the way up the front steps and onto the glass enclosed porch that stretched the entire breadth of the house. On the large mat in front of the door he heeled off his boots, then shrugged out of his coat and hung it on a nearby hook. Selene did likewise and looked around.
“This is nice, what Ida-May’s done out here,” she observed.
“It’s cozy.” Despite the early darkness and chilly temperature, it was pleasant. And private. Moonlight spilled down over the quiet little town, and he thought it had an almost enchantingly picturesque appeal. He went to the small round table in the corner, pulled out a chair. “Is this good for our…talk?”
“It’s fine. At least it’s warm in here. It never gets this cold for this long here. It’s bizarre. We had record rainfall this summer. I could never have imagined what winter would bring.” She came to where he was, sat down in the chair he held.
Caleb took his own seat across from her. “So,” he said.
She drew a breath, licked her lips. “I’m not sure how to begin.”
“Well, maybe I can help. You’re about to ask me what my intentions are toward your sister.”
She lowered her gaze. “That’s…not what I came for…but since you brought it up…are you at least going to stick around a while?”
“At least.”
Her gaze rose slowly, locked with his. “I have a confession to make, Caleb. I…I’m the one who made you come back here.”
That shocked him into silence faster than almost anything could have. Not only that this innocent-looking baby of the family would resort to sending photographs that could destroy his career in unmarked envelopes, but that she would then come to him to admit it.
“I think you would have come anyway. In fact, I’m almost sure of it, but I couldn’t take the chance I might be wrong. It was wrong to make you come back, I know that…and yet…I’d do it again. I’m sorry, though, if it messed up your life.”
He closed his eyes, drew a breath, then opened them slowly. “That photograph could have ruined me, Selene. You could have just called me, you know. Anything a bit more discreet than—”
“What photograph?”
He frowned. Huge silvery eyes blinked innocently at him. “What do you mean, ‘what photograph?’ The photograph that landed on my desk yesterday—the one of your sister, her belly out to here, with the word ‘congratulations’ scrawled across the back.”
Her eyes grew even wider, if that was possible. “Caleb…I don’t know anything about any photograph. I just…gosh, I mean, I didn’t think it would manifest likethat! I’m sorry.”
Caleb frowned, because she made no sense. He gave his head a little shake, but that didn’t help. “Selene, if you didn’t send the photo, then what did you mean when you said that you were the one who made me come back here?”
