The Texas Tycoon's Baby(33)

“At least you’re not giving him grief.”

“Why should I? I saw right away how he looks at you.”

A flash of tiny fireworks lit her up inside. “What do you mean?”

“Please, Mina. He can’t take his eyes off of you.”

The fireworks continued in her, turning into the kind that zoomed and circled their way into the sky.

Her mom patted her on the shoulder, then removed her arm from around her. “He might be going through some significant troubles, but you can’t tell it. He carries himself well. I like that. He gives me a good mom-feeling.”

“He carries himself that way in public. But when he’s out of it…” She thought of the night he’d come to her, a broken man.

“He lets you see him when his shields come down?”

“Yes.”

“Then it sounds as if you don’t have too much work to do with him besides waiting for his mind to catch up with his heart. And, unlike Michael, I can tell Chet’s heart is with you.”

It was about the last thing she expected her mom to say.

Wasn’t her mom going to warn her, point out all of Chet’s shortcomings in order to save her the sorrow?

Mina stuffed her hands in her skirt pockets. “I expected this to be harder, introducing him to you.”

“Why?”

She sent her mom a caustic glance.

Her mother seemed taken aback. “Are you that worried about our stamp of approval?”

“You haven’t ever been shy about giving it.”

“Mina.” Her mom sounded surprised. “You’ve always been so independent, as if you didn’t mind so much what we think.”

That’s because she’d trained herself to feel that way for a long time, ever since she’d overheard her inebriated uncle at that barbecue.

It’d have been a shame if that little girl hadn’t been born, he’d said to a cousin who hadn’t known anything about the family secret as they’d lingered over beers. He’d gone on to explain how Lorna and Ewan had gotten the news one day and they’d decided to keep Mina, as if she’d been some kind of package delivered to their door by mistake and they’d warmed up to the contents enough not to send it back.

How could Mina ever tell her mom how that had felt? Nobody even knew that Mina had overheard while climbing under the nearby tables, playing hide-and-seek with the other kids. And she’d carried the secret with her for years, trying to please her parents, half afraid that they would, somehow, send her back.

She’d gone on to please everyone else, too.

A mix of anger and sadness crept up her throat as she thought of her child. He or she would grow up knowing they were wanted through and through, no matter what happened with Chet. It’d taken this accidental pregnancy, her own baby, to dredge up all her old feelings, but maybe that was a good thing.

Maybe it would force her to solve some of her own issues before her child was even born.

Needing some alone time, Mina began to walk back to the patio. “I’ve always cared what you thought, Mom.”

“Mina.”

Her soft voice stopped Mina, and she glanced back to find her mother’s eyes teary.

“Don’t listen to what we have to say,” she said. “Because no matter what you decide, we’ll be there to support you, not to give you more grief. Surely you know that.”

Mina wondered if that would be the case even if they knew that their superstar daughter had been silly enough to have gotten pregnant when the father might not even love her.





Chapter Seven




Dinner at the Fergusons’ went by without another hitch for Chet, mainly because Ewan kept training a fatherly “watch what you say” gaze on Katie and Amy for the next couple of hours.

Instead, Chet enjoyed talking about the cruise that Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson were going on—a long jaunt to the Caribbean. He liked how there was a teasing sense of adoration between everyone in the family, and he got the feeling that they would go to war for each other if it came right down to it.

And that was what really struck him. They’d go to war for each other, not against each other.

After the meal—and after a crash course that Mina held for her father for his new e-book reader—Chet and Mina were on the road to Duarte Hill and Florence Ranch again, where Chet just wasn’t sure there would be the same loving atmosphere.

Outside the limo windows, darkness made the white fences into ghostly tracks along the road. Mina sat across from him, watching the scenery go by, a thoughtful expression on her face—one that just about wrenched Chet’s heart because it turned the tips of her mouth down instead of up.

“Your family’s good people,” he said. “I’m glad you brought me along tonight.”