Believe Me (Hearts for Ransom Book 3) (22 page)

They were both surprised when he slid it on, and it fit like it was made for her finger.

He stood up and balanced on his good leg so he could finally hold her in his arms like he had wanted to for so long. Then he kissed her with all the pent-up love and longing he’d been saving for this moment. She responded in kind.

“You have a very smart son,” he told her, breathing hard from their kiss.

“You mean we have a very smart son,” she corrected him.

“I want to tell you something,” he said.

She waited expectantly.

“I’m going to treat you with the respect you deserve. When I make love to you, it will be as your husband.” His serious expression suddenly changed to a grin. “So, can we have a short engagement?”

“Yes.” She nodded. Then she sobered. It was long past time that they talk openly about exactly what happened. She sat on the bed beside him so he could take the weight off his leg.

“Mason…about that night…when Zoey was conceived…”

“I’m sorry.” Hadn’t she forgiven him yet?

“No. That’s not what I mean.” She blushed. “I’ve been having these…memories, I think. And I want you to tell me the truth. What happened that night? What did I do?”

“It’s okay, Claire.” He didn’t want to embarrass her. “Let’s just forget about it. We have our daughter.”

“Please Mason,” she pled. “It’s hard not remembering something that important. At least I don’t think I remember it.”

“Are you sure you want to hear this?”

She was fairly certain she was going to be embarrassed. “Yes.”

“When I first saw you that night, it was the first time I
saw
you. You are so incredibly beautiful. So when you walked up and stood close to me while we were talking, I just couldn’t resist. I kissed you.” He looked at her to make sure she wasn’t becoming upset. She looked calm. “I expected you to slap my face, but instead you kissed me back. Then…then you turned into a…I had never seen a woman like you. You knew what you wanted, and you wanted it now. I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t stop you.”

“But you tried to.” Those were memories she’d been having. “I remember, you tried to stop me.”

He reluctantly nodded. “I at least wanted to take things slower. But if anything, you became even more…enthusiastic. I didn’t think about protection until it was way too late. I’d tell you I’m sorry if Zoey hadn’t come out of it.”

Her face was beet red, but she still wasn’t upset. “I didn’t give you time to use protection. I remember taking matters into my own hands.” Literally.

There was still one thing she needed to understand. “Mason, why? Why did you get up right after we were finished and leave like that? I woke up and saw you rushing around like crazy. Was I that bad?”

Now it was his turn to be embarrassed. “First of all, bad is the last word I’d use to describe you. Being with you that night wiped away all my desire for the…mistakes.” He reached up and brushed her hair back from her face. “And my leaving…After we were…finished, you passed out. That was the first time I realized just how drunk you were. I was ashamed of myself, Claire. I should have known you wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole if you were sober, but I fooled myself into thinking you wanted me as much as I did you. Then, when I realized you were drunk, I was disgusted with myself. I just wanted to get out of there and try to forget I had taken advantage of you.”

Her eyebrows rose. “If my memories are accurate, and I believe they are, I practically forced myself on you. I don’t feel like you took advantage of me, and I’m sorry I ever did. Please don’t feel bad about it anymore. I don’t.” She smiled wryly. “Maybe a little embarrassed, but not bad.”

He processed her words. Then a smile steadily grew on his face. “Can I ask you something, Claire?”

“I don’t think we have any secrets left, so shoot.”

“Are you going to be like that every time we make love?” he asked. “Because if you are, I’m going to need more health insurance.”

She smacked his shoulder. “You’ll just have to wait until our wedding night to find out, won’t you?”

“I’m going to increase it,” he decided, “just in case.”

She giggled. “Probably wouldn’t hurt.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

It was a long while, and many kisses, later when Claire drove home to tell her son he was a clever young man, and he was getting the father he had wished for.

Claire was excited as she turned and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Joni Rennard offered to let Claire use her employees’ discount at Rivets, a store Claire had only been able to window shop at before, and for just a little more than what she would pay for used clothes, she was able to buy herself a brand new pair of jeans and sweater. She felt like a queen.

She and Mason were going out on their first official date. Because his casted leg wouldn’t fit in her small car, and he still couldn’t drive, they were doubling with Logan and Emily. They were going to Ruby’s, a nice bar and grill that happened to be located clear across town from Trimble’s.

A wolf whistle made her jump.

“Spencer!” Her son did that? “You just about scared the whey out of me.”

“You look pretty, Mom.” He was grinning from ear to ear. “Really. Mason’s going to have every guy in the place jealous.”

She felt herself blush. “You’re just saying that because we’re letting you meet Dani at the movies tomorrow afternoon.” Mason had helped her make the decision to let Spencer treat respectable girl he went to school with, and who he apparently “liked,” to a movie, but if she had to hear how Dani “wasn’t like the other girls” one more time, she might scream. Although Claire was letting Spence drive, heaven help her, she was technically dropping him off and picking him up, so it should be a completely harmless “date.” Regardless, it was nice to share the decision-making.

“I am pretty stoked about that, but you do look really pretty, Mom.” Spencer shifted Zoey into his other arm. “After I give Zoey her bath tonight, I’m going to try that music and star machine Mason gave her for Christmas again. I think it’ll help her sleep.”

“You can try it.” So far the only thing Claire had found which consistently put her daughter to sleep was the baby’s father. Each evening during the past week, after he played with Zoey for a little while, she snuggled in his arms and fell asleep. Claire knew who was getting up with their daughter in the middle of the night after they were married.

“I’ll take my laptop into Zoey’s room and sit on the floor to see how she does.” At the mention of his own laptop, Spence’s entire face broke into a smile. “I still have a bunch of games left to try on that disc Judy gave me.”  He had looked at his laptop with disbelief on his face when he opened it. Then he launched his usual protests that they couldn’t afford something like that, and he could just keep using the computer lab at school. Claire finally told him if he didn’t just be quiet and enjoy it, she’d save even more money and buy him his own television, too. That stopped him in his tracks, and it hadn’t taken him long to boot up his new computer and check it out. She was pleased to see that he’d made good use of it every day since he received it.

There was a knock on the door.

“Thank you for watching your sister,” Claire told Spencer as she left the room. She pulled her coat on as she opened the door. Logan stood there.

“I’m too hungry to wait on Grandpa to hobble up here to get you, so I left him in the car.” Logan looked over his shoulder and waved at the car’s passengers, before turning back to Claire with a mischievous grin on his face. “Are you ready, or do you need to change your mind about the top you’re wearing at least five more times? ‘Cause I lost count after Em’s fifth one.”

Claire shook her head as she walked past him. “At this stage of pregnancy, most women worry about whether people will mistake their baby bump for a pot belly. I did.” Not that it mattered, since she had an extremely limited wardrobe.

“Can you tell I’m pregnant?” Emily’s breath was visible in the cold air.

“Will you roll up that window already?” Mason’s voice came from the back seat. “In case you didn’t notice, I’m wearing a cast on one leg. It’s drafty,
Nurse
Emily.”

Emily grinned at Claire before turning to Mason with her fists rubbing her eyes. “Oh, boo hoo, you big baby.”

Claire couldn’t help herself; she laughed. Unless she had X-ray vision or Emily thought she was showing from the shoulders up, how was she to know whether her new friend looked pregnant. And, listening to Mason bicker with Emily was just plain funny.

“If those two want to behave like juveniles, at least I have class,” Logan said loudly enough for the others to hear as he leaned down to open Claire’s door. Only the latch snapped right back.

“All right, Emily.” Logan looked at the now rolled up window, where his wife appeared not to hear him. “Unlock the car, Emily!” Her head began bobbing up and down as though listening to music.

Logan groaned and looked in the back seat. “Mason, will you please reach over here and unlock Claire’s door? My wife has morphed into a two-year-old.”

“Rubber duckieee, joy of joyzzz!”

“Mason!” Logan sounded on the verge of panic. “Come on, man, before she gets any louder. Open the door, I beg you.”

It was only when Claire leaned down, she saw the reason Mason wasn’t helping Logan. He held his stomach as tears of laughter ran down his face.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of Emily’s impromptu serenade and Logan’s beleaguered groaning, somebody hit the unlock switch.

Claire slid into the car she’d seen Emily drive—a Lexus, she thought. As Logan closed the door behind her, she turned to look at the man she loved. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He leaned over and kissed her.

“There will be no making out in the backseat of our car,” Emily announced. “It’s not fair if you guys get to make out, and we don’t.”

“Party pooper,” Mason called her. And, so another round of name-calling and teasing began—and they didn’t leave Claire out. No, she would not enter a bib-tying contest to set a world record, nor would she see if disposable diapers made effective rain scarves. It was the first time in her entire life that Claire felt a sense of belonging.

“I love you.” Mason’s softly spoken words carried across the space between them.

She didn’t care whether Emily yelled at them again; she leaned as far as she could to get another kiss. Because of the ongoing battle over which parking lot was closer, their friend evidently didn’t see them.

“I’m glad we have reservations.” Emily sounded overwhelmed by the amount of cars and line of people snaking down the block.

Logan’s forehead was full of lines. “Yeah, but even with reservations, they make you wait sometimes. Let me go see what I can do. Wait here, Mason.”

A few minutes later, Logan waved from the entrance for them to join him. Most people gave them plenty of room when they realized Mason was using crutches, but some gave them dirty looks.

“I told the hostess you’re on crutches, and she said to come straight in.” Logan took his wife’s hand as he spoke to Mason. After awkwardly maneuvering around yet more would-be diners, they finally made it to the hostess stand. Then, with little fuss or fanfare, the kind lady ushered them straight to a table.

“You about ready to get that cast off and get your hind end back to work?” Logan asked as soon as their server left with their orders.

“It’s coming off Monday.” Mason thought Abby’s silly “happy dance” might be in order. “Then, the doctor says I’ll need a few weeks of physical therapy before it’ll be strengthened enough for me to come back to work. Afraid you’re stuck with Mr. It Bites for a little while longer.”

“I thought that was you, stud!” A red-headed woman with way too much cleavage on display leaned over and wrapped her arms around Mason’s neck.

Claire’s heart fell.

Mason none-too-gently pulled her arms off him and pushed her away. “Hold up. See that woman right there?” He pointed to Claire. “That’s my fiancée. She’s the only woman whose arms I want around me, and I’m not anybody’s stud but hers. Got it?”

“Come on, Mason,” she simpered, as she tried once again to embrace him. “You know you want me. Remember when we—”

“Shut up, Starla,” he ordered, shoving her away again. “That was a long time ago. I’m a different man now.”

“You’re kidding, right?” The woman drew back and looked at Claire with disbelief.

“I’ve never been more serious, Starla, so just turn around and go back to wherever you came from. I’m permanently off the market.” She turned and started to walk away. “Hey, Starla?” She turned back toward him. “Pass it on.” He quickly turned his attention to Claire, half expecting to see her getting up to leave.

Instead, she smiled at him. “Thank you.”

He was very relieved. “I told you what I’d do, and I told you that you could believe me.”

“I do.”

Emily and Logan had to have seen the entire episode.

Emily spoke up. “You know, Claire, what you’re going to have to deal with isn’t that different from what Abby has to deal with at every ball game.”

Claire’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“Well, all those women think Brody is a good looking man they can go after. They don’t even take into consideration that he might be in a committed relationship. So they try to hit on him every chance they get.”

“What does she do?” Claire asked. She guessed she never stayed at a game long enough to see Abby in action.

Mason nearly groaned. He wanted Claire to feel secure, but he wasn’t sure if Abby was a good example for her to follow. He’d need to buy another megaphone.

“She tells the women. I mean, Brody tells them, too. He refuses to let them touch him, and he does everything he can to show them he’s in love with Abby, but Abby doesn’t take it sitting down. Once last season, she got right in a woman’s face and chewed her up one side and down the other. She had been making suggestive comments about what she’d like to do with Brody without taking the time to find out his fiancée was sitting right in front of her. In fact, the woman didn’t even know Brody was engaged.”

“Hasn’t it changed since they’ve been married?”

“Yeah.” Emily let out an unladylike snort. “Now she has her engagement ring
and
wedding band to wave in women’s’ faces. I’m not saying you have to go to the extremes she does. I wouldn’t threaten to take a woman’s eye out with my engagement ring.” She nodded toward Mason. “But you’re engaged. You have every right to tell a woman to back off.”

Claire was going to have to think about that. Mason was willing to do his part to keep other women away. He had just shown her that. Why shouldn’t she speak up? Like with the women from Trimble’s. If they came back into Butlers and started talking about old times with Mason, she could show them her ring and tell them he wouldn’t be available anymore because he was engaged to be married. In a few short weeks, he would be married. And if women persisted in talking about him, so what? Those were just words. He changed. He wasn’t that man anymore. She believed that with all of her heart.

“You’re not over there plotting to bash people over the head with a pancake turner, are you?” Mason asked. “Because that’s what Abby would do in your position.”

She gave him a speculative look. “I hadn’t thought of that, but now that you mention it, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

He shook his head. “You know what, Claire? If it makes you feel better, I’ll buy you the biggest pancake turner I can find!”

The table was full of laughter as their food was being served.

“How are your wedding plans coming along?” Emily asked Claire.

“We have the church booked, but I’m not sure where we’re going to have the reception yet.”

Emily clapped her hands. “Let us give you that for your wedding present. We’ll rent one of the rooms at the Random Ready to Run building. We’ve been racking our brains trying to come up with the perfect gift, haven’t we, Logan?”

“My wife is a woman on a mission,” Logan solemnly confirmed. “She’s dragged me to just about every store in town, but there’s been something wrong with everything we found. Please, I beg you, let us rent the room.”

Claire looked at Mason. He shrugged.

“That would be nice,” she told them. “Thank you.”

“So, who’s in your wedding party?” Emily asked.

Claire smiled at Mason. It was his turn to speak up.

“Well, there’s something I wanted to ask you, Logan.” Logan looked expectantly at him. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things and messed up our friendship, but…you’re the first real friend I had. You’re the best friend I have—that any man could have. Would you stand up with me?”