Righteous Lies (Book 1: Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (4 page)

Several hours
later, Grace stirred. She remembered being unhooked from the I-V a while back,
but the nurse told her to rest, so she went back to sleep. Hearing the rustle
of paper, she opened her eyes and saw Jack sitting on a chair, reading the
newspaper.

"You're
still here," she said. "Have you been here the whole time?"

Jack nodded.
"I talked to the doctor and he said you could leave. He's already signed
the release so we can check out whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready
now," Grace said. "While I dress, maybe you could get me a wheel
chair." She moved to a sitting position and dropped her legs over the side.

Jack stood
looking at her stomach. After a moment, he said, "Can I listen to his
heart?"

Grace was so
shocked to hear him ask, she simply nodded.

Jack put his
ear to her belly and listened through the fabric of her gown, and said, "I
hear it.
Ka
thump...
ka
thump." When Jack looked at her, a slight sheen brightened his eyes, which
caught her by surprise. To look at the man, she could imagine him wrestling a
bull to the ground and branding him, or shouting orders to a bunch of ornery
cowboys. Having an attachment to his unborn son didn't fit his outward appearance...

As they drove
away from the hospital, Jack said, "I'm glad I got to be in on what happened
today since I missed the first seven months of my son's development."

Grace batted
her eyes to stem the tears of humiliation over the whole ordeal. While Jack
held her hand during the contractions it seemed okay for him to be there, but
thinking back, she was mortified. "You should not have come in," she
clipped. "Not even my husband would have been present during my exams."

"I'm not
new to this," Jack said. "I grew up on a ranch watching everything
from mares to goats delivering their young. I turned and pulled my first calf
when I was thirteen. Being with you at the delivery won't be anything new."

Grace knew for
a fact that Jack would not be with her when she gave birth. She was about to
inform him, in no uncertain terms, when he said, "I hope you plan to
breastfeed, especially with first milk and at least the first six months. Nine
months would be better."

 
Grace glared at the man. "I can't seem to
get it through your very thick head that, just because your sperm created my
son, it doesn't give you the right to tell me how to raise him. I'll be the one
making the decisions, whether it's breastfeeding or—"

"Circumcision,"
Jack stated, as if it had just occurred to him. "It needs to be done early
on so you'll need to let the doctor know in advance, before you get to the
hospital."

"I told
you before I'm not having my baby in a hospital. I'm having him at home."

"Who put
that idiotic idea in your head?" Jack asked.

"It's not
idiotic," Grace replied. "Recovery's faster because there's no
episiotomy, and no headaches or backaches from epidurals, and the baby won't be
exposed to drugs. As for circumcision, there are conflicting views. I think the
baby should be able to decide for himself when he's a man."

"He'll
want it. It's unnecessary skin that causes problems. Which exit?" Jack
said, eclipsing the tirade Grace was about to deliver about making all the
decisions in regards to her baby, including circumcision... And giving birth at
home... And the fact that Jack would not be taking her to the hospital, or
anywhere else, after today...

"I don't
know where you live," Jack said. "Which exit do I take?"

"The next
one," Grace replied then wondered if it was wise for Jack to know where
she lived. She could find the man on her doorstep. Permanently.

Jack eased into
the middle lane of the freeway then moved at a slower clip as snow continued to
build. "The doctor said you need bed rest," he said. "Can your
sister stay with you?"

"No, she's
got a high-powered job in Seattle," Grace replied.

"Your
parents?"

"They're
in Seattle too, but they're... busy."

"Aunts,
uncles...?"

"No one's
here."

"Where are
all the people who are supposed to be with you when you give birth to my
son?"

Grace clenched
her jaws. It kept coming back to his son. "I'll have the midwife and the others
will come after the baby's born," she said. "I don't want any of them
around before because they drive me a little crazy."

Jack said
nothing, but Grace could see his jaws bunching, and his eyes narrowed in
thought.

When they
finally reached her house, instead of getting out, Jack reached into the inside
pocket of his parka, pulled out a checkbook and a pen, then scrawled out a
check and handed it to her. Grace looked at a check written out for five-hundred-dollars.
"What's this?"

"Child
support," Jack said. "Consider it my first notice of intent to claim
paternity."

Grace stared at
the check. If she took it, she'd be acknowledging Jack as her son's father, and
everything that entailed. Which meant scheduled visitation, and Jack taking her
son on weekends to cattle roundups or rodeos, or wherever Jack went when he had
time off...

When she made
no move to accept the check, or give it back, Jack looked at her, and said,
"Like it or not, you're stuck with me. You're carrying my son and I'm here
for the duration."

Grace glared at
the man. "I will not be bought like they tried at the fertility clinic,"
she said, "but I will be talking to an attorney." She slapped the
check on the dashboard.

***

While waiting
for Sam to pick him up, Jack sat on the couch in Grace's two bedroom house,
watching as she puttered around. Periodically, she stopped and took a deep
breath, and her hands went to her stomach, and he knew she was still having
contractions. He'd get joint custody of his son, whatever it took, but unless
Grace got complete bed rest he'd have no son, and he couldn't go through that
again. He also knew the child Grace was carrying had a better than eighty-five
percent chance of being a genetic match for Ricky. That alone was reason enough
to make sure Grace got the bed rest she needed to bring the pregnancy to term.

Which brought
up another subject, approaching her about giving birth at the hospital in New
Jersey where they could harvest the cord blood. But since he had no legal claim,
he'd lay the groundwork for when he did. But they'd take it one step at a time.

"Look,"
Jack said, knowing she was miffed about his attempt to square away his paternal
rights with a check. "I'll let the paternity issue go for a while, but you
need bed rest and you have no one here to look after you, so you could come to my
place. My mother lives there, and my brother and sister-in-law have a house on
the ranch, and the lodge housekeeper can look after you so you can stay quiet."

"Housekeeper?"
Grace paused on her way from the kitchen to the hallway with an armload of
dirty dish towels he assumed were intended for the stacked washer-dryer in the
bathroom.

Jack shrugged.
"It's a working guest ranch. Flo takes care of the domestic end of the
lodge. There's a bedroom off the kitchen where you can stay and it has its own
bath."

"I can't
just leave here," Grace said. "I have a job."

"Doing
what?"

"Cleaning
houses. I'm with Merry Maids."

"You won't
be doing that for the next few months," Jack said. "And what do you
plan to do after our son's born?" It came to him that, for the first time,
he'd referred to the baby as theirs—Grace's and his. Unplanned. A human error
that put his sperm into the uterus of a woman he'd never laid eyes on before
today, and who was now the mother of his unborn son. A precious gift. A son he
never expected to have, and wanted very badly.

"What
about all my stuff?" Grace asked.

Jack looked
around the modest house. "What stuff?"

"Books,
clothes, things to do. This is my home. It's where I want to be. Everything's
ready for the baby here, and I have to go to my birthing class tomorrow,"
she said as she headed down the hallway toward the bath.

"That's
what I mean," Jack called after her. "You're supposed to be in bed
and you're already planning on going out." He was beginning to get a
handle on this woman. If she thought he was bullheaded, she needed to take a
good look in the mirror.

"I have a
cat and she's going to have kittens," Grace said, as she emerged from the
hallway.

"Fine,
we'll add her litter to yours." Jack couldn't help smiling because Grace
was smiling. The first real smile he'd seen. At the clinic she'd given him a
couple of twitches, but nothing that went to her eyes. Brown eyes, he noticed.
Their son would be brown-brown. Eyes and hair. "So what's it going to
be?" he asked, as Grace passed him on her way back to the kitchen.

Grace stopped
abruptly, put her hands to her belly and let out a grunt. Then she eyed him as
if sizing him up, and said, with hesitation, "Does your housekeeper live
there?"

Jack nodded.
"She has a room down the hallway from where you'd be."

Grace let out
another little grunt, and her hand went to her belly and stayed there as she
replied, "Well, I guess I could stay for a week. Give me a few minutes to
pack my things and put Mei Ling in the cat carrier. I hope you don't have a
problem with a cat in the house."
 

"I
do," Jack said. "But she can stay in the barn with the other cats."

"Oh
no," Grace said in a firm voice. "Mei Ling's a Blue Burmese. If she
can't stay in the house, I'm not coming." She planted her hands on her
hips and glared at him.

Jack eyed
Grace, who looked as immovable as a mountain, yet was willing to stay at the
ranch but for one provision. A damn cat to scratch the furniture, and deposit
fleas in the rug, and sharpen claws on the walls. But that seemed to be Grace's
terms for getting her and his unborn son to his place. "You have to keep
the cat in your room," he said, wondering how he'd get
that
past Flo. Her only request when she
hired on was no inside pets. Which worked for him. Cats were for clearing the
barns of mice… dogs for rounding up stock. "Flo doesn't like cats, says
they scratch the furniture and hide their messes in dark corners."

"Her name
is Mei Ling, not
the cat
, and she's
litter box trained," Grace said. "And she doesn't scratch the
furniture as long as she has her scratching post."

"Then the
cat comes with a litter box and scratching post," Jack said in a plodding
voice, while wondering how Flo would welcome
that
. Not too damn well, he imagined. All he hoped now was that she
wouldn't give notice...

"Mei Ling.
Her name is Mei Ling," Grace emphasized. "As long as you think of her
as
the cat
, you won't bond."

"I don't
intend to bond with a cat," Jack groused.

"You may
not have a choice," Grace said. "Mei Ling also has two fleece-lined
cat beds—one for the bedroom and the other for the living room by the heater,
like the one over there—" she pointed to a pet bed that Jack hadn't
noticed until now, along with a catnip mouse, and a donut ring with a ball in
it, and a wooden base with a stick with feathers on the end of it...

"And her
sky room," Grace added. "It's a carpeted box with entry holes, and it
sits on a pedestal. Mei Ling sleeps in it during the day. I'll just go round it
all up."

And this was
just the beginning, Jack surmised, as he watched Grace disappear down a hallway
to gather all the cat paraphernalia. The only thing missing was the cat...

And then Mei
Ling came sashaying into the room with the haughtiness of a queen, lifting and
placing her four paws as elegantly as a ballet dancer. Her short, blue-gray
coat displayed meticulous care, and the slightly rounded belly beneath it was a
reminder that soon there would be who knows how many more of the worthless
creatures. She walked up to Jack and sat in front of him, and for a few moments
her unblinking amber eyes regarded him gravely. Then to Jack's annoyance, she
leapt onto his lap and proceeded to groom herself.

***

When Sam came
for them Grace saw him eye the cat carrier with Mei Ling staring out, then the
collection of Mei Ling's things by the front door, then Jack, and from the
looks passing between the men she knew Mei Ling was not welcome. But that was
because they didn't know her. They would soon, whether they wanted to or not.
Mei Ling had her ways.

The men collected
everything, and while Jack was outside wrestling with a small blue tarp to
cover Mei Ling's sky room that he'd tied on the top rack of Sam's SUV, and Sam
was stashing cat paraphernalia inside the vehicle, along with Grace's bags and
personal belongings, Grace stood at the living room window looking out at the
frigid, dismal day. Snow continued blowing and building, and everything was
coated in white.

After the men
finished, Jack came for Grace and Mei Ling. "The front steps are slippery,"
he said, "so I'll take the cat to the car then come back for you."

"Her name
is Mei Ling," Grace insisted, but Jack had already left with the cat
carrier.

When he
returned, Jack said, "You have everything you need?"

"I think
so." Grace stepped onto the porch and locked the door, but when she went
to negotiate the steps, Jack simply picked her up and carried her, as if it was
the natural thing to do with a pregnant woman on a snowy day. And Grace didn't
protest. Although it felt odd being carried by a man, it was also kind of nice.
She put her arms around Jack's neck and got a whiff of something spicy.
"Umm," she hummed, as the aroma of man and musk tickled her nostrils.

"You
having another contraction?" Jack asked.

"Uh,
no," she replied. "The cold air kind of shocked me."