His Secret Child (15 page)

Caleb locked the door on his Main Street card shop, laced two fingers through his key ring and whistled as he walked down the sidewalk toward his car. The day was gloomy and overcast, with gray clouds swirling around in the sky. It was only early September and already autumn was sending out feelers.

The day might look rainy, but Caleb's spirits were bright and sunny. Nothing—absolutely nothing—could bring him down off the emotional high he was on.

He slid behind the wheel of the Porsche, then checked his jacket pocket to make sure the little velvet box was still there. He hadn't planned on seeing Sheila until tonight—he'd even made plans to take her into Nashville for the evening. But she'd called him a couple of hours ago and asked him to meet her at the garage this afternoon.

"We need to talk," she'd said. "I have something very important to tell you."

Her voice had sounded oddly strained and even sad, but whatever was bothering her wouldn't amount to a hill of beans once he popped the big question. No matter what was worrying her, she'd forget it in a minute once he asked her to be his wife.

The realization that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Sheila Vance had come to him slowly during the past few months.

With each passing day, time with her became more precious to him—so precious that the thought of a future without her scared the hell out of him. Sometime when he hadn't been watching, Sheila's sweetness and honesty and genuine love had possessed him completely.

No matter where he went or what he did in the years ahead, he knew one thing for sure and certain—he wanted Sheila and Danny with him.

Caleb removed the tiny box from his pocket, flipped open the lid and gazed at the ruby and diamond ring. A large marquise-cut ruby glistened like rose-red fire in the center of a circle of small diamonds. He'd bought the ring and made plans for their evening when he'd made a secret trip to Nashville two days ago. He wanted this evening to be perfect. A night Sheila would never forget.

Strange how the right woman could change a man's whole life, he thought as he closed the lid and returned the box to his pocket. He'd never thought of himself as a husband and a father. Not until Sheila and Danny had opened his eyes to the truth—true happiness came from loving and being loved.

He was one lucky SOB to have found a woman like Sheila. And Danny was a bonus. A son who practically worshiped the ground he walked on. Life was good. Better than he'd ever thought it could be after the boating accident.

When his career ended, he thought he'd lost everything. He'd been wrong. He might never be a star athlete again, but as long as he had Sheila and Danny, he'd never be lonely or unhappy.

"I want to be alone with Caleb," Sheila said. "But I need you close by. I don't know if I have the courage to go through with this, but if I do tell him the truth, I have no idea how Caleb will react."

"You're doing the right thing," Mike told her. "You should have done this years ago."

"Don't scold me now. Don't tell me what I should have done and why I should have done it. Finally being honest with Caleb is hard enough without playing what-if games."

Mike gave his sister a reassuring hug. "It's going to be okay. Trust me. No matter how Caleb reacts initially, you'll find a way to make him understand that what you did, you did for him."

"Did I, Mike? Was I really trying to protect Caleb's dream of a career by not burdening him with a wife and child, or was I protecting myself from the chance Caleb would reject me and my baby?"

"Now who's playing the what-if game?"

Sheila had told herself for the past twelve years that she had kept Danny's paternity a secret in the beginning for Caleb's sake, so that he didn't have to give up his dreams. And to a certain extent, that was true. But in those quiet, dark moments of total honesty, she had admitted to herself that she had been afraid that if she had confronted Caleb with the truth, he might have chosen baseball over her and their baby. Now, neither she nor Caleb would ever know what choices he would have made.

Glancing out the window, Sheila saw Caleb park the Porsche and open the driver's door. "He's here," she told Mike.

"I'll speak to Caleb on the way out, then I'll lock the front door and put up the Out To Lunch sign. That should give you two all the privacy you need."

"Stay close, okay? My instincts tell me that when this is over, I'm going to need my big brother to lean on."

He tapped beneath her chin with his index finger. "Maybe we've both underestimated Caleb Bishop. I guess we'll find out today just what he's made of."

Mike nodded and said hello to Caleb on his way out of the office.

Sheila stood, smoothed the pleats in her black slacks and laced her fingers together in front of her.

Caleb came over, put his arms around her and kissed her. "Don't you look pretty this afternoon."

"Thank you. I've been wearing a little makeup to work for the past few months and I've bought a couple of new outfits."

"I wasn't talking about the makeup or the clothes." He nuzzled her neck. "I'm talking about you."

She smiled shyly. "Caleb, we're going to have a very serious talk and I don't think I can concentrate as long as you're so close."

He released her, stepped back and plopped down in her swivel chair. Grinning at her with that cocky, seductive smile, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Is that better?"

She nodded. "Much. Thanks."

"Okay. What's so urgent and so serious that it couldn't wait until tonight?" he asked. "I've made some pretty special plans for us tonight, you know."

"Caleb, we need to talk about Danny."

He stared quizzically at her. "Danny? I thought everything was fine with Danny and me. We're best buddies and—"

"You're more than best buddies."

"Are you still worrying about the fact that Danny might see me as a substitute father? Because if that's the problem, I think I have the perfect solution."

Sheila paced the floor.
Give me the strength and courage to do this. And please, let me say all the right things.

"You can't solve the problem I have, except by listening to me and trying to understand," she said.

"Didn't you hear what I said, honey? I've got the solution to all our problems, but I want to wait until tonight and do this right. After all, I've never done this sort of thing before and—"

"Caleb, what are you talking about?" She had never known Caleb to ramble the way he was doing. What was he trying to tell her?

"I'm talking about you and me and Danny and the future and my being more to Danny than just his best buddy." Caleb ran his left hand into the inside pocket of his jacket. "But I don't want to propose to you in the garage. I want—"

"Propose to me!" Sheila felt as if all the air had been knocked out of her. Had she heard him correctly? Had he said
propose
to her?

"Yes, propose." He shot up out of the chair, grabbed her around the waist and whirled her around the room. "But I'm not going to do it here and now. I've got a romantic evening planned for us. The Finches have already agreed to let Danny spend the night with them. We're going to drop him by their house on our way to Nashville and then pick him up in the morning."

"A marriage proposal?" Sheila's mouth gaped open; she pulled away from Caleb and stared at him with wide, round eyes.

"Now that you know my secret, can't any discussion about my relationship to Danny wait for later?"

"No!" She screamed the word, her voice louder and stronger than she had intended.

"Why not? Unless you want me to go ahead and propose to you right here and now. But this won't be a very romantic memory to share with our kids and grandkids, when they ask about—"

"Caleb, will you please shut up!"

He walked over to her, knelt on one knee and clasped her hand in his. "Sheila Hanley Vance, will you be—"

She jerked her hand away. "Stand up, dammit!"

"Honey, what's wrong?" He stood, then pulled her into his arms. "Why are you crying?"

"I—I had no idea you were planning to propose to me." She spoke so softly he barely heard her.

He tilted her chin upward, then wiped away her tears with his fingertips. "If you think you're surprised, you should have been around when I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, that—"

She covered his mouth with her hand. "No. Wait. Please, don't say any more. I have something to tell you. Something I should have told you twelve years ago."

She stepped out of his embrace and faced him boldly, despite the fear raging inside her.

He breathed deeply, exhaled, and locked his gaze with hers.

"I thought we'd put the past behind us," he said. "I thought we'd buried all those ghosts and started out with a clean slate."

"Danny was eleven years old this past March," she said. "I've been holding my breath all these months, afraid Danny would mention his birthday or that you'd ask about it."

"I don't see what Danny's birthday has to do— March? Danny was born in March?"

"Yes. Six months and two days after I married Daniel Vance."

Caleb's face paled. He balled his left hand into a tight fist.

"You were pregnant when you and Dan got married."

"Yes."

"But not pregnant with Dan's baby."

"No."

"Then Danny is … Danny is—"

"Your son."

Caleb felt as if he'd been poleaxed. The pain hit him in the gut, then spread through his body and throbbed inside his head.
Your son. Your son. Your son.

Danny was his. God in heaven, he should have known. Every time he'd looked at the boy. Every time he'd watched him playing ball. Every time he'd caught Sheila staring oddly at the two of them together. Damn fool that he was, he'd dismissed his suspicions as ridiculous notions. He had trusted Sheila in a way he'd never trusted another soul. She was the most honest woman he'd ever known. She never would have lied to him.

"You lied to me! You let me think— What about Dan Vance? Did he know? Or did you lie to him, too?"

"Dan knew. He found me crying one day and asked what was wrong. I don't know why, but I just blurted the truth and he … he was so kind and understanding and … He offered to marry me and take care of me and my baby."

"Our baby," Caleb said. "You let another man claim my son. How could you have done that?"

"I didn't have any choice," she told him. "You didn't love me or want me or—"

"I had a right to know. I should have been the one to take care of you and Danny. I would have married you."

"Would you have? Would you really have married me and given up your chance to play college baseball? Given up your dreams to be a major league player someday? Danny and I would have ruined all your plans and destroyed all your dreams. Believe it or not, Caleb, I loved you too much to deny you the fulfillment of those dreams."

She held her hands out to him pleadingly. He glared at her. His jaw clenched.

He wanted to strangle her. Damn her for playing God with their lives! "If you loved me so much, how could you have denied me my son?"

"I honestly thought I was doing what was best for all of us. You didn't love me. Daniel Vance did. And you would have hated me and Danny if I had asked you to give up your chance to play college baseball. If you'd been saddled with a wife and child—neither of which you wanted— you'd have had to find a full-time job. We didn't have anyone who could have helped us. We were both a couple of poor kids with poor families."

Thunder rumbled through the sky. A bright flash of lightning streaked across the western horizon. Only then did Sheila realize it was raining.

Wild, crazy thoughts raced through Caleb's mind as he assimilated all the information. "Maybe you're right. I'm not saying you are, but maybe … I was a self-centered kid back then and I hadn't given you any reason to trust me."

A tiny ray of hope filled Sheila's heart like summer sunshine.

"I didn't want to ruin your life. You didn't mean to get me pregnant. You'd used a condom. You'd tried to protect me."

He stared at her, his eyes glazed with a fine mist. "Why didn't you tell me when I came back to town last spring? Why didn't you tell me the truth after you and I started dating and Danny and I became—" Caleb swallowed hard "—best buddies."

"I didn't trust you," she admitted. "I couldn't take a chance that after I told you the truth about Danny—that you are his biological father—that you would love him enough to … to—"

"What did you think? That I'd say I don't care that Danny is really my son? I don't have room in my life for a kid? You've done a great job raising him without me, so neither of you need me now? Is that it? You were so sure twelve years ago that I didn't want you or Danny that you kept him a secret from me. So why should you think things are different now? That I was different?"

"Caleb, please … I do believe you're a different kind of man now. If I didn't believe that, I never would have told you about Danny today."

Caleb raked his left hand across the top of Sheila's desk, sending papers, folders and adding machine crashing to the concrete floor. He cursed a blue streak.

Sheila stood helplessly, paralyzed with pain, and watched Caleb storm out of her office.