The Texan's Surprise Baby (Bell Family 2)

He noted the slightest hesitation before she shook her head. “I’m sure it was just a random act of meanness.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “But what name popped into your head just now when I asked?”

She lifted an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”

“You thought of someone. Who?”

Hannah sighed in resignation. “Okay, for just a second I wondered if it could have been—”

“Hannah,” he urged impatiently when she hesitated again.

“My ex-father-in-law,” she muttered, “Chuck Cavender. I ran into him and his wife earlier this week, and he still blames me for everything that happened to Wade.”

“Wade is the only one to blame for everything that happened to him,” Andrew said bluntly, angry at the thought of anyone placing responsibility on Hannah for her jerk of an ex-husband’s behavior.

He knew for a fact that Hannah had done everything she could to hold her ill-fated marriage together. She’d been a hell of a lot better wife than Cavender had deserved, not that the bastard would ever admit it. For the most part, Andrew preferred not to think of Hannah with Wade—or anyone else, for that matter, he admitted privately and uncomfortably. “Do you have any reason to think Cavender might have done this? Did you see a vehicle that might have been his, either here or at one of your other stops this afternoon?”

She shook her head. “I really can’t see him following me around or skulking in parking lots waiting for a chance to vandalize my car. He’s more open with his disdain than that. It wouldn’t surprise me if I ran into him and he made ugly accusations where other people could hear him, but doing something like this, in secret, without having the satisfaction of seeing my reaction? Doesn’t seem likely.”

A tow truck arrived while Andrew contemplated her rationale. The car was delivered to a shop, where Hannah was informed that it would be late the next day before she could pick it up again. Fortunately the scratch wasn’t too deep and could be buffed out with rubbing compound rather than requiring repainting.

“I’ll bring you back tomorrow,” Andrew assured her when they were back in his car. “I’m sure everyone else is going to be snowed under with it being the start of a weekend and so many guests to juggle.”

Fastening her seat belt with a snap, she said, “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon. I’ll have to pick up the car after that.”

“Then I’ll take you to the doctor first.” He was pleased to have the excuse to do so. “Didn’t you say you’re going to find out the baby’s sex tomorrow?”

“Yes,” she admitted, perhaps a bit reluctantly. “But—”

“I’d like to be there. Maybe we should tell your family about us tonight, before the doctor’s appointment.”

He could almost feel the waves of panic coming from her side of the car. “Um, not tonight,” she said. “Everything’s been so crazy at the resort today and everyone will be busy and tired.”

He flipped the turn signal and turned the wheel, guiding the car into the empty parking lot of a bank branch that was closed for business for the day. Parked at the back of the lot, the car was partially hidden from the main road by the drive-through lanes. He left the motor running so the interior stayed cool as he unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face her. She wasn’t looking at him, but down at the hands she held in a white-knuckled clench in her lap. She seemed braced for a lecture and something about her closed, defensive posture made his chest tighten.

Reaching out to lay his right hand over both of hers, he spoke quietly. “You should tell them when you’re ready. They’re your family. You’ll know when the time is right.”

He didn’t find it particularly gratifying to see a hint of suspicion in the look she gave him, as if she were attempting to figure out if he was trying to manipulate her in some way. Once again he felt a wave of disgust at her duplicitous ex-husband for leaving her so wary and distrustful.

“Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you,” he assured her. “Just let me know what you need from me.”

He saw her throat work with a hard swallow, but he didn’t give her a chance to speak before he continued, “It must have seemed to you that I swept back into your life and immediately started pushing you. That was not my intention. I have to admit I was rattled and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle everything. Maybe I should have called before I just showed up, but most of the things we need to discuss seemed better handled face-to-face.”

He thought he saw a softening in her eyes when she looked up at him then. “I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did,” she said quietly. “I should have called you sooner.”

r /> He nodded. “Okay, we’ve got the apologies out of the way. We’re both just playing this by ear.”

“True.”

“So?”

She drew a deep breath. “So, we take it from here. If you’d like to accompany me to the doctor tomorrow before we pick up my car, you’re welcome to come, even though I’m sure Mimi will be much too pleased about it. For now, we’ll tell everyone it’s your way of helping out while everyone else is so busy this crazy weekend. Later, when things have settled down and after I have a doctor’s report, we’ll figure out a way to tell them you’re my baby’s father and then we’ll deal with their reactions. When do you have to go back to Dallas?”

“I should be back in the office Monday,” he admitted reluctantly, thinking of all the work that had piled up in his absence. He’d been trying to handle some of it from his hotel room the past couple days, but there were a few things he had to attend to in person. “I can come back next weekend, if that would be a better time for you. You, um, do want me to be there when you break the news, right?”

“Well, because I’m sure your brother is going to be around, you might as well be, too.”

Her wry rationale wasn’t exactly heartwarming, but he nodded. “Just let me know when you’re ready,” he repeated.