SUSAN MEIER - Merry Christmas, Daddy

“Want to take her?” he asked meekly, holding Candy in front of him as if he were afraid to break her.

“You’ve got to learn to do this,” Kassandra said, then shifted Candy until Gabe was holding her on his arm. “See? Isn’t that better?”

“Yes,” Gabe agreed. He could smell Kassandra’s perfume, and that scent tripped the memory of kissing her. He’d hoped he’d blotted that out of his mind for good, but one whiff of her perfume brought it back full force. He felt those odd, wild impulses again, the ones he’d forgotten from his youth. He felt stirrings and longings that went much further and much deeper than were proper for a man who’d only really known this woman for a few hours. And, thinking about it, he couldn’t exactly say he knew her because they’d never actually held a real conversation.

“I think you should carry Candy downstairs,” Kassandra said, making her way to the door. “You could hand her to me as we step into the dining room, so no one sees that you’re not completely comfortable with her, but they’ll assume you are because you brought her downstairs.”

“Sounds logical,” Gabe said, but Kassandra was beating a hasty retreat to the door.

God, he looked wonderful tonight, she thought. She wasn’t sure if the proper name for the suit he was wearing was a tuxedo, but she could tell this wasn’t the kind of suit a man wore to the office. It was more dressy, more stylish, and so perfectly tailored, he looked incredibly sexy. Thinking about him tripped off the memory of kissing him, and Kassandra knew she was blushing. Blushing! She, a woman who’d had a baby, shouldn’t blush over a kiss. And not even a kiss, just the memory of a kiss. Good Lord, she was losing her marbles.

To keep her face hidden from Gabe, she led him down the stairway, but he had to direct her to the dining room. Exactly as they’d planned, Gabe handed Candy to Kassandra the minute they stepped into the room, but they hadn’t needed to plan that far ahead. As Kassandra took Candy from Gabe’s arms, both his parents and his grandmother rose and all three offered to take the child—before they were introduced.

Gabe made quick introductions around the table. His parents were Sam and Loretta, two tall, perfectly groomed, very attractive people in their fifties. His grandmother, of course, was Emmalee, a short, dignified woman—when she wasn’t pretending to be the maid.

Once the introductions were completed, it was obvious that Gabe’s family was having so much fun just having Candy around, that none of them was concerned about how or why she came into this world.

“Oh, Emma told us you had a baby,” Gabe’s mother said delightedly. “Isn’t she darling, Sam?”

Candy grinned broadly. Kassandra pressed her lips together to hide her own grin. “You’re going to spoil her,” she said, then laughed lightly.

“Grandparents are for spoiling babies,” Gabe’s dad announced as he beat the women to Candy and slid her from Kassandra’s arms.

“Put her in the high chair, Sam,” Loretta instructed, but Sam only smiled and shook his head.

“Babies don’t eat salad, so I’ll hold her through the first course.”

“All right,” Loretta reluctantly agreed. “But I get to feed her.”

“You feed her the peas and the awful stuff,” Emma said. “Then I’ll feed her the ice cream and she’ll like me best.”

“I’m sure she’ll like you all equally,” Gabe said, pulling out a chair for Kassandra. He took the seat beside her. “God knows, if she can like me, she can like anybody.”

“It is a bit of a shock to see you with a baby, Gabe,” Loretta said honestly. “It’s a pleasant shock, but a shock.”

“Not only that,” Emmalee interrupted, “but Kassandra’s not even Gabe’s type. She’s not bossy, or snotty, or half naked. I think our prayers have been answered, Loretta.”

Loretta took a quick, close look at Kassandra. “Why, Emma, you know, I think you’re right.”

“I’ll thank you both not to talk about me as if I’m not in the room,” Gabe muttered.

“We’ve been doing it since you were Candy’s age, Gabe. I hardly think we’re going to stop now,” Emmalee said. “Pass me a roll.

“Besides, it’s true,” Emma continued as she tore her roll apart and began to liberally apply butter. “This is the woman we’ve always wished to find in your apartment when we made our surprise visits to Pennsylvania. In fact, I’m so pleased, I swear I could cry.”

Right then and there Gabe knew all the torment he’d suffered over the past four days had been worth it. He also knew he’d do anything he had to do over the next three weeks to keep this charade going. Anything. Absolutely anything.

“That’s why I think you should get married while you’re here.”

If Gabe had been drinking something, he would have spit it across the table. Kassandra, however, reacted beautifully.

“We can’t, Emma,” she said sweetly, then patted Gabe’s hand. Grateful, he flipped his palm up, wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed lightly. “I still have eighteen months of school.”

“Eighteen months of school?” Sam asked as he paced behind Emma’s chair, patting Candy’s back as Candy noisily patted his cheeks.

“Yes,” Kassandra answered. “I’m studying to be a teacher.”

“A teacher…?” Gabe said, then realized his mistake. But he was just so surprised. From the way she’d badgered him and thrown ordinance numbers at him, Gabe was sure she was studying to be a lawyer. “Is a very wonderful choice for Kassandra,” Gabe finished, covering his faux pas the best he could. “She’s very good with children.”

“Well, I should say so,” Emma scoffed, rising from her chair. Without asking for permission or giving a word of warning, she pulled Candy from Sam’s arms. “Just look at how happy and pleasant her baby is.” Candy picked that exact moment to lean forward and rub noses with Emma. “And what a darling,” Emma cooed. “She’s so darned sweet she deserves the name Candy.” Abruptly Emma stopped herself. She glanced at Candy, then glanced at Gabe, then back to Candy again.

The room seemed to fall into suspended animation, as Gabe felt the weight of the anticipated question—how to explain Candy to his grandmother. From the look on her face, and the way she kept glancing from Candy to Gabe, Gabe believed she almost expected Candy to be his. Kassandra had given him a logical answer for that. But he wasn’t sure telling his grandmother that Candy was the result of another relationship would be quite enough to satisfy her curiosity, or placate her delicate sensibilities. He held his breath, waiting.

“You know, Gabe,” Emma said, almost giddy. “She looks exactly like you.”

He drew a long breath. “She’s not mine, Grandma. Candy’s the result of a past relationship of Kassandra’s.”

“Oh, I don’t care,” Emma blustered. “What I’m saying is, Candy looks so much like you she’ll fit right into your family—once you start one,” she added craftily. “You do plan to adopt her?”

“Yes,” Gabe said, and gave Kassandra a quick look to see how she was reacting. From the expression on her face, Gabe saw Kassandra wasn’t going to contradict him—or rescue him. She was letting him keep the ball. He felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck.

“Good. A child needs security. Though I’m sure I don’t have to explain that to you,” Emma added, smiling at Kassandra, who, to her credit, nodded, letting his grandmother have her opinions without argument—whether she agreed or not. Which was a hell of a lot more than he could say for his other girlfriends.

“And I also think it’s important that everyone in the family have the same name. So when you adopt her, Gabe, she’ll get your last name.”