The Bachelor's Baby. Teresa Southwick
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you’d remember me.”
How could she not? She remembered everything about him, in Technicolor detail. A piddling three hundred and sixty-five days couldn’t erase from her memory the way he’d mercilessly wielded his highintensity gaze against her. In all fairness, it wasn’t his fault she had fallen head over heels.
“I’m surprised you showed up,” he said, filling the strained silence as he nudged the brim of his black Stetson up a notch.
“We agreed to meet here at the Cheatin’ Heart after the rodeo ended, one year to the day after our first date.”
“Nine out of ten women would have blown me off.”
“I know.”
A part of her had wanted to do exactly that. There was only one reason she had come. There was something very important she needed to tell him. Suddenly she could hardly breathe. Her heart pounded so hard the blood rushing in her ears drowned out the country-western song playing on the jukebox in the corner.
Casey had spent one unforgettable night with this man. He had given her the best time of her life; but it couldn’t happen again. Tucker Smith was the first, and last, rule she would ever break.
“Can I sit down?” he asked, removing his hat. He shoved his fingers through his black hair.
“I’m sorry. Of course,” she said, lacing her fingers together to keep her hands from trembling. She sat forward on the edge of her seat.
He lowered his tall frame into the chair at a right angle to hers. “You look good, Casey. Different though.” He looked closely at her.
She had definitely changed, but was surprised he noticed anything in the bar’s shadowy interior. The lights glaring down on the wooden dance floor in the center of the room were the main source of illumination in the place. Glancing at her Laura Ashley outfit, Casey figured she did look a far cry from the woman he had met a year ago. That night she had dressed in jeans and a fringed, cotton blouse, like everyone else who hung out in the bar, down to the boots that had slid easily over the floor. Tonight, in her spaghetti-strapped floral jumper with the white, cap-sleeved T-shirt beneath, she knew she stood out like a nun in a Vegas chorus line. And her white canvas sneakers would make a heck of a squeaking noise if she got out there to dance. Not a chance of that happening again. Cheek to cheek with Tucker had been the beginning of her problems.
That brought her back to the reason she had kept this date in the first place.
“Tucker, there’s something I have to tell you—”
“I guess. A year’s a long time. We’ve got a lot to catch up on. Starting with why you never returned my calls.”
The knot in her chest tightened a notch. “I intended to. Every time I tried, you had moved on.”
He looked puzzled. “Sounds like there’s some stuff we have to sort out. Would you like a glass of wine? White, right?” he asked, starting to signal the waitress.
Nine out of ten men wouldn’t have remembered that, she thought, echoing his earlier comment about her. “No, thanks. I can’t—”
“Can’t?” He raised one black eyebrow questioningly. “Are you all right? You look like you’re about to be sick.”
“Actually, that part stopped after the first trimester.”
“That part?” His gaze narrowed as he rested his forearms on the table. His knuckles brushed her clasped hands, and she leaned back as if she’d been burned. “What are you trying to say?”
She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’ve rehearsed this over and over, trying to find just the right words, but I don’t think there are any.”
“What, Casey? Spit it out.”
“I got pregnant a year ago tonight, Tucker.”
His eyes blazed like twin blue flames. He didn’t move or flinch. He just stared at her for several moments. Finally, in an angry tone, he asked sarcastically, “And I’m the father?”
She recoiled as if he’d slapped her; she couldn’t have been more shocked if he had. She’d never expected this reaction, because deception wasn’t something she ever practiced, and no one who really knew her would accuse her of it. His accusation made her feel cheap and dirty.
Breathing hard, she stood. Her hands started to shake, and she curled her fingers into her palms. But the shivering spread straight through to her center. With an effort she kept her voice steady. “There’s only one reason I’m not going to slap your face for that remark. We spent one night together, and you couldn’t possibly know anything about me.”
“You got that right.”
Tears burned the back of her eyes, and Casey blinked hard. So much for playing by the rules. She had felt it only right to tell him face-to-face he was a father, not interrupt his life on the rodeo circuit. It was probably for the best that during her pregnancy and the birth, when she had no family support, she hadn’t known he felt like this or she would have known how alone she truly was. Always in the back of her mind was the dim fantasy that Tucker was there. That when she told him they had a baby, he would be happy about being a father.
She couldn’t have been more wrong. The truth hurt more than she’d thought possible.
“No matter what you think, Mr. Smith, I don’t lie. I thought you should know you had a child. Now you do. What you do with the information is of little consequence to me. Goodbye.”
She turned on her heel.
“Casey, wait—”
Her shoes squeaked loudly on the wooden floor, muffling the sounds behind her. The only thing that had gone right all evening was that she made it outside before the tears she’d been holding back fell, turning her into a blubbering fool.
“Don’t slam the door, Casey.”
Tucker put his wide palm on her front door when she pushed against it. If she’d been tall enough to see through the peephole, she’d never have opened it in the first place. Against his strength, there was little she could do to shut him out unless he chose to leave.
Still, a good bluff couldn’t hurt. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”
“I came to see my child.”
“Yours? That’s not what you thought last night.”
“I’ve had a chance to think.”
She glanced at the cow watch on her wrist that she’d bought a year ago at the rodeo. It showed eleven in the morning. “It’s been all of fifteen hours since you got the news. Is that enough time to change your mind? You all but called me a liar—”
“You didn’t give me a chance to say much of anything.” He held up a hand. “Not that I blame you. I’m sorry, Casey, but you have to admit that news like that comes as a shock to a man.”
“It comes as a shock to a woman, too.”
“Look,” he said, moving his body into the doorway. “Can I come in? Or would you like your neighbors to get an earful?”
“No, I don’t want you to come in, and no, I don’t want to be grist for the rumor mill in this building.”
“It’s one or the other,” he said, pushing gently on the door.
“All right.” She let him into the entry way, then shut the door after him. “How did you find me?”
“Palmdale’s not all that big. I found that accounting firm you’d told me you worked for in the phone book. Wasn’t too hard to charm your address out of the receptionist.”
Kim Delaney had the loosest lips in the world—a failing Casey planned to take up with her friend at the first opportunity.
“So