Anna Adams - Unexpected Babies

“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.

“I told you I wouldn’t stay if you hid anything else from me.”

“Tell me how I’m different than you, Cate. How often are you at Aunt Imogen’s or Uncle Ford’s houses? They don’t need a nursemaid.”

“They’re family, and they took Caroline and me in when Mom and Dad didn’t want us.” Her parents, both officers in Naval Intelligence, had dropped her and her sister off at Aunt Imogen’s on their way to an isolated duty station in Turkey. From there, they’d gone on to one unaccompanied assignment after another, and Cate and Caroline had remained with their maiden aunt and bachelor uncle in Leith. “They’re both alone and over seventy. I look in on them.” And they continued to give her the unconditional love she’d never had from either her parents or Alan.

“What about Caroline? You run to her and Shelly every time they try to change a lightbulb.” Her sister had raised her daughter alone since Caroline’s husband had abandoned them when Shelly was only four. Alan had never seemed to resent her attention to their extended family before, but desperation edged his tone. “You cushion them and Dan in cotton wool. I’m only trying to give you the kind of care you give our family.”

His last, self-serving point pushed Cate too far. She turned on him, but momentum carried her too close to him. His familiar, spicy scent triggered a basic need whose power had always frightened her. Wanting him so much, she felt weak and angry with herself. “Don’t look for someone to blame because you and I failed at our marriage.”

He reeled backward, stumbling into a model of the library they were supposed to refurbish. Instinctively, Cate caught his arm before she was certain whether she wanted to shove him or help him.

No, she knew what she had to do. “I stayed for Dan, but he leaves for college in a few weeks. I don’t have to pretend you and I are going to live happily ever after. Not together, anyway.”

“Cate.” His husky plea caught her unawares. He reached for her, his wedding band glowing gold in the building’s artificial light.

She arched away from him. Tears clouded her vision, but she grabbed the chrome rail on the front doors. Approaching night had strengthened the ocean breeze, and she had to lean her whole body into the door to open it.