2

      Wade told himself he was stopping by Castle’s almost every afternoon for a slice of whatever homemade pie Cora Jane had on the menu, but the truth was he was here because it was usually served with a mention or two of Gabriella. Hoping for tidbits of news about a woman he hardly knew, a woman who’d held herself aloof from him, was pitiful. No question about it. But given his lack of a social life of any kind since the deaths of his wife and baby, he considered this unrequited fascination to be progress on his long road to recovery.

      He’d taken two bites of today’s excellent peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top when the kitchen door opened and Gabi herself walked through it, then came to a dead stop. Wade came close to swallowing his tongue at the sight of her. She was every bit as beautiful as he’d remembered. She was also very obviously pregnant, a situation not even her loose-fitting T-shirt could hide. If anything, on her petite frame, the shirt only emphasized the baby bump.

      Now that was a turn of events he hadn’t anticipated. His heart thumped unsteadily as too many memories came crowding in, memories of Kayla at this stage of her pregnancy, the way she’d glowed, the excitement they’d shared. It had been such a blissfully happy time, only to be shattered by tragedy and inconceivable loss.

      He dragged his thoughts away from the dark past and drank in the sight of Gabi, who despite her natural beauty couldn’t hide her bone-deep weariness. A natural protectiveness kicked in. Before he could stop himself, Wade was already considering ways to take care of her. It was ironic, really, since of all the women he’d ever known other than his sister, Gabriella was the most independent and capable. That didn’t seem to matter to this knight-in-shining-armor side of his nature.

      Then he was struck by another, far more disturbing thought. Had Gabi gotten married? Surely that was something Cora Jane would have mentioned, rather than encouraging Wade’s interest in her with a litany of less-than-subtle hints. Nor could he imagine why Cora Jane hadn’t mentioned the pregnancy to him, since she knew perfectly well he’d been hanging around not for pie, but for scraps of information about her granddaughter. Was it possible this was going to be news to her, too?

      He noted that Gabi still hadn’t budged. Her eyes could be adjusting to the dim lighting, but it seemed to him she was actually reluctant to step into the dining room. He guessed she wasn’t looking forward to seeing Cora Jane. After she’d hesitated for what seemed like an eternity, she finally drew in a deep breath, then walked briskly into the room, an expression of grim determination on her face.

      “Looking for Cora Jane?” Wade inquired when Gabi would have walked right past him.

      She gave a startled little gasp, then managed a halfhearted smile. “Wade! I didn’t see you there.”

      “And I wasn’t expecting to see you today, either,” he said, then cast a pointed look at her tummy. “Guess we’re both full of surprises. Who’s the lucky daddy?”

      She visibly flinched at the question. “Unfortunately, the daddy doesn’t consider himself to be all that lucky. Haven’t seen him since I broke the news.”

      She said it blithely, as if the man’s irresponsible behavior was no big deal, but Wade detected the hint of hurt in her eyes.

      “The man’s a fool,” he declared with feeling. “You know that, don’t you?”

      “There’s a growing consensus about that,” she admitted.

      His gaze narrowed. He might as well ferret out the whole truth here and now. There’d been mention of a boyfriend back in August, but when the man had never shown his face, Wade had been as skeptical about the relationship as her sisters clearly were. They’d been pretty outspoken on the subject, though usually out of Gabi’s hearing. While he’d worked on custom cabinetry, he’d kept one ear tuned to their conversations, especially whenever Gabi’s name came up. Okay, sure, there were rules about eavesdropping, but come on, this was Gabi and he was just a little bit infatuated with her. Was he supposed to tell them to lower the volume a notch?

      “Were you in love with him?” he asked, keeping his tone neutral and his gaze on her face.

      He saw the surprise in her eyes before she slid into the booth opposite him.

      “You know you’re the first person to ask me that.”

      “Seems like an obvious question to me,” he said. “Or did your family know better all along?”

      She smiled at that. “I think they did. Samantha said she knew he was a jerk when he wasn’t here helping out after the storm. I’m not sure why I was still making excuses for him then. I imagine on some level I knew he would never really fit in.”

      Wade nodded. “So, what’s your plan? Before you try to deny having one, remember that the word around here is that you started making plans in grade school and never lost the habit.”

      She chuckled. “Actually, it was high school, but point taken. Amazingly, though, I’m still figuring things out. I got hit with too many unexpected changes all at once. A baby, the discovery that my significant other is a jerk, losing my job.”

      Wade whistled. “You lost your job, too? Talk about a trifecta, and not the winning kind.”

      “My boss wasn’t impressed with my moral character.”

      Thus that weariness he’d noticed, he concluded. Wade was surprised she looked as good as she did with that many blows all landing at once. He suspected she’d come to Sand Castle Bay to spend time with the family and heal, but this might be his one and only opportunity to show her that not all men were idiots.

      “You know what you need?” he declared, impulsively seizing a moment that might never come his way again.

      “Aside from a plan?” she asked wryly.

      “That’ll come,” he said with confidence. “You need dinner and a movie. It’ll take your mind off everything. How about tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up at six, unless you’d like to go for an early bird special. I remember when Kayla...” He tripped over the mention of his wife’s name, shifted gears. “When Lou was pregnant,” he corrected hurriedly, “all she wanted to do was sleep.”

      “Lou? Your wife?”

      He laughed at the disapproving expression that accompanied her question. “Not all of us are jerks, sweetheart,” he said, glad he’d not opened the whole sad tale about his wife. “Don’t you remember Louise, my big sister? She has five kids now, all of them little hellions, which if you ask me is exactly what she deserves for all the grief she gave me when we were kids.”

      Her expression brightened. “Of course I remember Louise. Five kids? Wow! I thought she