Something's Gotta Give (Tempered Steel Book 3) (10 page)

His cell phone rang and Georgia wiggled into her car.

He looked like he wanted to argue. “Damn, it’s Sam.” He pointed a finger at her. “We’re not through here, Georgia. Not by a long shot. I don’t care what you say.”

He answered the phone with a snarl and began to walk back to his truck. Georgia started the car headed back up the hill to her home, and let the tears fall.

CHAPTER TEN

Three days later, Georgia bumped into Dixie at Grafton’s only grocery store, Rondo’s Food and Bait Shop. She still hadn’t worked out how she was going to leave town without Chance knowing, but she knew someone was going to notice the “For Sale” sign at the daycare when it went up next week. Then the gossip mill would churn.

So far she been able to hide her queasiness from the daycare kid’s parents, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she was confronted about her health. The dark circles under her eyes gave testament to her sleeplessness and she’d lost weight due to her morning sickness. Most folks were attributing it to Missy Dee’s death, but a few were beginning to ask questions.

              Planting herself in front of the grocery cart, Dixie demanded, “Have a cup of coffee with me.” Without giving Georgia a moment to protest, Dixie steered her out through the door of the grocery store and down the street to Kate’s Café.

Taking a corner table, they ordered coffee and waited in silence while a waitress filled their cups. Georgia grimaced at the covert looks they were receiving. Kate’s wasn’t exactly the best place for a private conversation, but it was certainly convenient

While Dixie doctored her coffee, Georgia looked at her. It was obvious impending motherhood agreed with her. What was that old saying about a pregnant woman radiating beauty from within? Georgia sighed as she looked down at her reflection in the stainless steel napkin holder.
Maybe the saying only applied to pregnant women who hadn’t made a total mess of their lives
.

“So when’s the baby due?” Georgia tried for a safe topic although she knew darn good and well when Dixie was expecting to give birth. All the Coalsons were counting the days and Chance had even asked her several questions about the care of newborns, helping her change the diapers of the little ones at the daycare.

“The baby’s due in late March. I’m at that awful stage-too fat to fit into regular clothes, but not showing enough to wear maternity stuff, so basically I’m wearing a lot of elastic waist pants and baggy tops.” Dixie laughed as she patted the slight swell of her belly.

Georgia tried to imagine what she would look like soft and swollen with Chance’s child. She pictured Chance standing behind her, his arms barely reaching around her, hugging her and petting her stomach with a smile. But then the image changed and he was walking away from her and their unborn child, into the arms of a beautiful woman.
No
, she shook her head,
she couldn’t take that chance.
It would be better for her child to never know his or her father, than to feel unwanted when he walked away.

But you don’t know he would walk away. You don’t know anything until you tell him. He says he loves you. You just need to believe him.

“Yoohoo, Georgia?! Come back from wherever you went. Or at least pretend to be interested in what I’m saying.” Dixie waved a hand in front of Georgia’s face.

Blushing furiously, she stammered an apology, but Dixie waved it aside. “I just wanted you to come back here, sweetie, because you looked so sad. You want to talk about what’s bothering you?”

Georgia just shrugged, and looked down at her coffee cup. “It’s been rough. Missy Dee..” Georgia swallowed the lump in her throat. It was so much more than Missy Dee’s death.

Dixie touched Georgia’s hand in sympathy. “Chance’s going through hell. Just like you.”

Georgia raised her eyes. “He looked tired when we were at the police station. Of course, I heard he was going on a drinking binge.” When she’d seen Rochelle Wilkins at church, she had taken special pleasure in telling Georgia that Chance of been drinking at Nick’s bar. She had even implied that he never went home alone.

Dixie heard the pain in her voice. “No, that’s not true. Chance hasn’t had time to do much more than work and sleep, that is, when he
can
sleep. Most of the time, he’s just working himself to death, honey, cleaning up the mess from the fire. You know the insurance company gave us the go-ahead and everyone’s been trying to restore some semblance of order over there.” Dixie saw no need to mention the week after Missy Dee’s death when Chance had gone on a real bender.

“When I checked on Angel after the attack, she said something about that.”

Dixie’s eyes took on a predatory look. “I hope the boys catch that rat bastard before the cops do. I’d like to take a few swings at him, myself, with a nail-filled two by four.”

Georgia nodded in agreement, then wished she hadn’t. The room began to spin and her stomach flip-flopped. She took a sip of the strong coffee as Dixie continued. “When he’s not working himself into exhaustion, or checking leads on Angel’s attack, he’s trying to piece together any clues that might help Lucky pinpoint the identity of that guy in Vegas. A charred matchbook isn’t exactly the most precise way of identifying the vandal.”

“I remember Chance telling me that Lucky had gone there. I guess there hasn’t been a break on that end?”

“Lucky’s found a job at the place where the match book looks to have originated, but so far no leads. But we’re always hopeful. Which is what Chance is-hopeful. He’s hopeful, honey, that you will put aside your fears, and let him love you.”

“Wow! Nice segue there Dix.” Georgia smiled softly. Dixie was adorable when she meddled. She wanted everyone to be as happy and in love as she and Mac were.

“Thank you very much.” Dixie answered primly. She covered Georgia’s hand with her own. “But seriously, honey, when we ask him how long this nonsense is gonna go on, he says that when you’re ready to believe in him, you’re going to come to him. So now I’m asking you, when are you going to fix this mess? Chance loves you. You love him. What exactly is the problem?”

Georgia pretended a keen interest in the napkin holder. “I never told Chance that I loved him, Dixie. I gave him his freedom. What man doesn’t want his freedom, right?” She shook her head sadly. “It wouldn’t have worked for us anyway, and I’m smart enough to know that. He needs someone who’s bright and beautiful. Someone who can hold her own in a crowd of rich people, who isn’t so shy and scared of saying something wrong. Someone intelligent and sophisticated.” Georgia’s eyes dropped once again to her coffee cup. “Someone who will give him children
if
he wants them.”

“Listen to me, Georgia! Did you know he fought with Sam? He only communicates with him through Angel.” Dixie demanded. “They’re barely speaking and I think it has something to do with you. What happened the night of Trudy’s break-in?”

Georgia blushed from her toes to the roots of her hair. The memories of their passionate night rushed over her.

“Oh, I see,” Dixie twinkled up at her. “So Sam has some very peculiar ideas about, well, things.” Dixie stammered. “If Chance took his advice, it was only because he was trying to help you, honey. It wasn’t his fault Sam’s, umm, uh…” Dixie struggled to find the right words as they both blushed now.

It had been beautiful, and erotic, and intense. Georgia had lost count of her orgasms. She had no idea of the ways of loving Chance had introduced her to. But then her damn nightmare had intruded and she had retreated back into her shell.

Dixie was talking and Georgia hastened to catch up to the conversation. “He doesn’t have any choice. He has been with women like you described, and they have left him cold. Why do you think he’s been with those women? He was looking for his perfect mate and he found her. He fell in love with you! He will wait forever if he has to. You said yourself he deserves a special woman. Well,
you
are that special woman, Georgia Haines. You are Chance’s soul mate.”

Georgia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Dixie noted Georgia’s slightly green pallor and frowned. “Are you alright, sweetie? I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted you to know the truth.”

Georgia opened one eye and panted. “I’m, I’m fine.  Just have a touch of the flu. Please continue.” She pushed the coffee cup as far away from her as possible. Her stomach was really jumping and the smell of the rich brew somehow made it worse. But she knew she wasn’t getting out of here until Dixie had her say. She toyed with the idea of asking for some crackers but that would probably tip Dixie off to the real problem.
Oh God why had she even bothered to get out of bed this morning?

“Chance told us about your childhood, honey.” Georgia flinched and Dixie held up her hand. “Now don’t get upset with him. He wanted us to understand your need for space.”

Dixie toyed with her spoon. “Everyone seems to think you’re reluctant to marry Chance because of your father and mother’s disastrous marriage. I think that’s only part of the problem, Georgia.”

“He
never
asked me to marry him!” Georgia stated.

“
You
never gave him a chance to!” she retorted with her usual honesty.

Dixie gripped Georgia’s hands once again. “I think you’re afraid you’re not worth loving. Your father left as a result of your mother’s pregnancy. You spent your childhood trying to make it up to her because you felt you were the reason, but you weren’t, honey. Listen to me, you were just as much a victim of your father’s selfishness as your mother. Probably even more so.”

When Georgia started to protest, Dixie again held her hand up for silence. “Your mother died when you were still a child. You spent the rest of that time trying not to be a burden to Missy Dee, hoping to make yourself as indispensable as possible to her, so she wouldn’t turn you away. She told me herself how you practically ran that foster home. You never dated or went to many school functions. You never had a true childhood. You just tried to make yourself needed and loved by everyone.”

“Honey, Chance not only wants you and needs you, he
loves
you, Georgia. Not because of what you can do for him, or what you can give to him, just because of who you are. You’re the wonderful beautiful person, full of life and sweetness, that he couldn’t help but fall in love with. You call to his heart.”

Georgia shook her head in the negative but Dixie wasn’t through.

“But you have such low self-esteem, you can’t even begin to imagine why anyone would want you just for yourself. And Chance can’t imagine why you won’t see how truly beautiful you are.”

Georgia grabbed the napkin as the tears started to roll, but Dixie continued. “Chance wants to spend the rest of his life giving you all the love you missed as a child and even more. He is never going to leave you. If he was, he would have done it by now, believe me. He would have moved on. You just have to have enough confidence in yourself and your love for him to make your happily ever after come true.”

Dixie sat back, satisfied that she had said her piece.  “And don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking of him, Georgia. Everyone and his brother knows just how much you love him. So take that first step to happiness, honey. Just call him. He’ll do the rest.”

Georgia was crying openly now. She didn’t care that the other patrons of Kate’s were staring at her. She grabbed another napkin and blew her nose. Everything Dixie had said was true. She was so scared that she shook inside. She wanted a chance for happiness and love. She had always dreamed of a man who would love her and their children with complete devotion. She had put Chance in that role when she was fourteen years old, and now that he was within her grasp, she was so afraid, so terribly afraid, to believe in happiness, simply because of his wild past.

“He’s been with lots of women, Dixie, and he grew tired of every one of them. What makes me so different? I don’t understand,” she said.

“Don’t let his past-which is highly exaggerated by the way-stand in the way of your happiness. Chance knows that the love he feels for you is unlike anything he has ever known. He’ll wait for you forever to experience it again, but sometimes we don’t have forever, Georgia. Mac and I almost lost each other due to a silly misunderstanding and lack of trust. Look at Sam and Angel. Fifteen years they’ve waited to be together. Do you want to wait that long, even longer? Don’t waste your life with worries and
what-if’s
, honey.  Fill it with love and dreams and happiness.”

Georgia smiled softly and motioned the waitress over to get some crackers. She was so happy that Sam and Angel had found their way back to each other. They were back together after a horrible misunderstanding and one truly tremendous escapade in Alton that would feed the gossip mill for months. Her friend had braved a lecherous mob in a strip club to save Sam from a drug lord. She couldn’t imagine how he had gotten involved with such a bad man, but she could hazard a guess that it had something to do with finding the arsonist. Although the criminal appeared to be lying low for the time being, the Coalsons wouldn’t rest until he was caught.

Angel was so brave. Maybe she could learn to be brave, too.

But even if Chance would take her back, there was no telling how he would feel about the baby. Her stomach rolled again and she took another deep breath. Perhaps if she put something besides the coffee in her stomach, the nausea would leave.

“So tell me, how are Sam and Angel?” Georgia tried to deflect Dixie’s watchful eyes as she bit into the crackers the waitress had provided.

Dixie took a good look at Georgia’s face. “Touch of the flu, my ass. You’re pregnant!”

“How did you know?” Georgia groaned.