Wanted: Father for Her Baby: Keeping Baby Secret / Five Brothers and a Baby / Expecting Brand's Baby. BEVERLY BARTON
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Leenie, even care about her deeply, he wasn’t fool enough to fall in love. Never again. Once had been one time too many. Okay, so Leenie was as different from Rita as night is from day. It didn’t matter. Love was no guarantee of happiness. And what could start out as a wonderful relationship—like he’d thought his marriage to Rita was—could turn out to be very wrong. There were too many unknowns between two people. He had seen a lot of promising relationships end up in the gutter, a couple battling it out in the divorce courts. He and Leenie were too smart to make forever promises, to risk not only messing up their lives, but Andrew’s too. Wasn’t the kid better off with two parents who liked and respected each other and shared the responsibilities of raising him than parents who’d been madly in love and ended up fighting over who was going to get custody of him when they split?
Frank turned out all the lights, except the one lamp in the corner of the living room. He removed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Sawyer Mac-Namara’s private number. He could easily wait until morning to call his boss, but now that he’d made his decision to keep things friendly but not committed between Leenie and him, he wanted to forge ahead with his plans to become acquainted with his son. He needed some time off, some time to spend with Andrew. And during that time, he and Leenie could figure out how they wanted to handle their joint parenthood. Right now, with Andrew a baby, he probably needed Leenie more than he needed Frank. But as he grew older, he might need Frank more. He could suggest to Leenie that they take things a year at a time and see how things worked out as their son matured.
Sawyer answered his phone on the third ring. “Mc-Namara here.”
“Yeah, it’s Frank Latimer.”
“I spoke to Moran earlier and then to Kate. I’m glad to know everything worked out and you were able to take the baby home to his mother. Kate tells me that the child is well.”
“Andrew is fine, now that he’s with his mother.” Frank paused for a moment, then made his request. “I need some time off. A week, maybe ten days. Leenie…Dr. Patton and I have some things to work out about Andrew. And I’d like a chance to get to know my son before I head back to Atlanta and go out on another case.”
“A week, even two, can be arranged,” Sawyer said. “And if you need more time—”
“Ten days, tops.”
“Good thing I hired Geoff Monday. He can pick up some of the slack and fill in for you and Kate until you’re both back on the job.”
“Kate’s taking time off, too? Why? I thought she’d be flying back to Atlanta tomorrow.”
“She asked for a leave of absence for personal reasons. I figured she might have told you what those reasons were.”
“She hasn’t said a word to me.”
“Okay. So, we’ll see you back at the office in a couple of weeks.”
“A week to ten days,” Frank corrected.
“Fine. A week to ten days. Good luck, Frank. I hope you and Dr. Patton can come to an amicable agreement about your son.”
“Thanks. I see no reason why we can’t. Leenie is a reasonable woman. And being a psychiatrist, she knows how important it is for a child to have two parents who have an amicable relationship.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out, at least from your point of view.”
“Yeah. I do.”
After he finished talking to Sawyer, doubts started creeping into his mind. Maybe Leenie wouldn’t be cooperative, maybe she wouldn’t like the idea of sharing Andrew. After all, she hadn’t let him know she was pregnant, hadn’t informed him after Andrew was born that he had a son. If Andrew hadn’t been kidnapped, would she have ever told him about his child’s existence?
Rubbing the back of his neck as he stretched, Frank groaned. He was tired and sleepy. And confused. He needed a good night’s sleep. Then in the morning, he’d be able to think straight.
As he walked down the hall, he noticed Leenie’s bedroom door stood open. He couldn’t resist peeking in on her and Andrew. He stopped in the doorway. His gut clenched when he saw Leenie, in her pink silk gown, lying in bed, her long hair fanned out on her pillow, and Andrew, in his blue terrycloth pajamas, cuddled against Leenie’s chest. Mother and child.
His son.
His woman!
Damn, why couldn’t he stop thinking of Leenie as his. These past few days he’d become much too possessive of her. How could they build separate lives if he kept laying claim to her?
Face the facts, he told himself. Eventually Leenie was going to start dating again. There would be other men in her life. Other men in Andrew’s life, whether he liked it or not. No! He didn’t want other men parading in and out of his son’s life. But who was to say that Leenie wouldn’t find one special guy and get married. It could happen. And then Andrew would have a stepfather.
He had to stop doing this to himself. Don’t start making decisions based on what ifs, he told himself.
As he watched Leenie and Andrew sleeping, he was so drawn to them that he couldn’t resist the temptation to be near them. It wasn’t as if he was invading her privacy. She’d left the door open, hadn’t she? She’d probably expected him to check on them before he turned in for the night. Leaving the door open the way she had was an invitation, wasn’t it?
Frank walked quietly into the room, not stopping until he reached the bed. What would it hurt if he stayed here with them? Just for tonight. After all, it was Andrew’s homecoming. But if he lay down beside them, he might waken Leenie and God knew she needed her rest after all she’d been through. But he could not bring himself to leave. Glancing around the semidark room, he noticed the comfy overstuffed chair in the corner. He could rest comfortably there without disturbing Leenie and Andrew and at the same time, he could be with them, keep watch over them.
Frank made his way to the chair, sat, adjusted his body until he was fairly comfortable, then dragged the knitted lavender afghan from the back of the chair and spread it out over him. A tad short for his long frame, it covered him from shoulders to knees.
For quite a while he sat there, his gaze glued to the woman and infant in the bed. But finally exhaustion overcame him and his eyelids drooped. He yawned, then closed his eyes and gave in to sleep.
Andrew was crying.
It’s all right, baby. Mother’s here. You’re safe.
Leenie woke with a start. When she found Andrew wriggling against her, his little nose and mouth rooting at her breast, she sighed contentedly. Thank you, God. Thank you for keeping my baby safe and bringing him home to me.
“Hush, my darling,” Leenie whispered. “Mommy will get you a bottle. It won’t take a minute.”
She got out of bed, then reached down and lifted a whimpering Andrew up and into her arms. Just as she turned around, she noticed Frank in the chair in the corner. She gasped. When had he come into her bedroom? He roused groggily from sleep and stood.
“Is he all right?” Frank asked, his voice husky.
Leenie had left the door to her room open, hoping Frank would come to her—come to her and Andrew and be a part of Andrew’s homecoming. Apparently she’d fallen asleep before he’d joined them.
“He’s fine. Just hungry.” How was it that a man who needed a haircut and a shave and whose clothes always looked as if he slept in them could be so damned attractive? she wondered. And in the middle of the night, no less. “I have several bottles in the refrigerator. I’m taking Andrew with me to get one and warm it in the microwave.”
“You stay here,” Frank told her. “Let me get Andrew’s bottle.”
“All right. Thank you.” Leenie began walking the floor with her whiny little boy. “But hurry, will you? Your son won’t be patient for long. He wants what he wants when