A Baby in the Bargain (3 page)

GiGi had made her special grilled-cheese sandwiches and tomato-basil soup. That was what they talked about as they began to eat.

But then Jani heard the sound of the front door closing, telling her that Margaret and Louie had left, so she moved on to the subject she’d come to discuss. The subject that was absolutely not to be shared outside the circle of the grandchildren and GiGi. Not even with Margaret and Louie.

Whatever misdeeds H. J. Camden had perpetuated, the family knew it was imperative to keep it quiet. Prominence and wealth made them targets, and they didn’t want to invite trouble.

“So I told you on the phone that I finally spoke to Gideon Thatcher,” Jani said.

“How did it go?” the elderly woman inquired.

“Not well. He
hates
us, GiGi,” Jani said, wasting no time getting to the point. “Decades and two generations between when H.J.’s promises to Lakeview fizzled out and now haven’t made it any better—this guy hates us as much as if
he
was the one H.J. used to get those warehouses and factories built.”

“Well, we
are
seeking out folks who got the short end of the stick from H.J.,” GiGi said calmly.

“But maybe I’m not the best one to deal with it right now, when I’ve started with the infertility endocrinologist and the wheels are finally in motion for a baby.”

Jani could see from the expression on Georgianna’s face—which still showed glimmers of her early beauty—that her grandmother was trying to contain her disapproval of the course Jani had set for herself.

“You’ve made it clear that that’s what you’re going to do come hell or high water but I still don’t agree with the rush,” GiGi said bluntly. “I know when you had that appendectomy at seventeen and they found out you have only one ovary—”

“One unusually
small
ovary,” Jani reminded. “Which means that from the get-go my chances for having a family are greatly reduced—you and I were both told that.”

“I know that since then you’ve been scared silly that you wouldn’t be able to have a baby at all.”

“Because they made it clear there were risks, especially if I waited too long. ‘The earlier the better’
—
that’s what they said. And now I’ve turned
thirty! Thirty
and with all those years wasted on Reggie. I can’t wait any longer, GiGi!”

“Eat some grilled cheese, tell me if there’s enough garlic in the mayo,” her grandmother advised.

Jani knew that was a diversion to keep her from getting too agitated. But it was difficult
not
to get agitated over this. Until now she’d followed the traditional route—she’d tried to find the right guy, get married,
then
have a family. The route her grandmother approved of.

But that route had led to a dead end and cost her precious time. Time she certainly didn’t have to waste.

So she wasn’t going to. She’d come to the firm conclusion that she had to bypass the step of finding another man to have a relationship with. She couldn’t afford the months, the years that a relationship required to blossom, to develop. She couldn’t afford the time it took to get to an engagement, a marriage. To only
then
pursue a pregnancy and have a baby. More years could be spent on that course.

Instead she’d decided to have a baby on her own. Here and now, without a husband. That’s what she’d made up her mind to do. And that was what she was going to do. Despite the fact that to seventy-five-year-old Georgianna it wasn’t merely unconventional, but bordered on scandalous.

“I’m just saying,” Jani reasoned, getting back to her initial point, “that maybe it would be better to give this particular deal with Gideon Thatcher to someone else because so much of my energy will be devoted to getting pregnant.”

Hmm... But why did the thought of her grandmother giving this job to one of her female cousins make her feel a little jealous, a little territorial?

Jani didn’t understand it.

But it was that feeling that prompted her to add, “Maybe one of the boys would be better...”

GiGi shook her head as she took a bite of her own sandwich. “I’m looking at it this way—let’s say you
do
get pregnant—”

“I
will
get pregnant. I
have
to. It’s my last chance.”

GiGi humored her. “Yes, well. Once you do, then you’ll
be
pregnant and dealing with that without even a husband to take care of you or help you—
that
wouldn’t be a time to send you out on one of these missions, would it? Then you’ll have a baby—on your own,” the elderly woman emphasized. “I won’t be able to ask you to leave a baby in order to spend time getting to know one of these people to find out how much damage was done and how we can make up for it, will I?”

GiGi had always been sharp as a tack and that hadn’t changed with age. She’d also always been a step ahead of all ten of her grandchildren, and Jani could see that was still the case. Apparently GiGi had anticipated her arguments and prepared her rebuttal.

“So now is the
best
time for you to do this. Maybe the
only
time you’ll be able to do it,” GiGi concluded.

Jani had to laugh a little at her own defeat. Her grandmother was right—once she was pregnant and had a baby, she wasn’t going to be in any position to do something like this. So rather than continue to fight it, she supposed she might as well concede.

At least, she told herself, GiGi wasn’t trying to talk her out of having a baby on her own anymore, even if the elderly woman didn’t like the idea.

Jani just hoped her grandmother didn’t think that this project with Gideon Thatcher would keep her from pursuing the baby issue. Because she wouldn’t let that—or anything else—get in her way. She would just schedule her appointments with the infertility doctor around whatever she had to do with the oh-so-good-looking man who saw her as the enemy. She wasn’t going to cancel or postpone anything.

“Okay, you win,” Jani said over a spoonful of the soup. “But this Thatcher guy isn’t going to settle for only a park in his great-grandfather’s name. He threw that back in my face. If he agrees to let us do something, it’s going to have to be bigger. Probably a lot bigger.”

GiGi shrugged. “Fine. Do whatever it takes to find out how much damage H.J. did, and if we can do more for the Thatchers themselves to make it up to them. Whatever he wants.”

“What he wants is a Camden head on a platter.”

GiGi slid out of the breakfast nook with her empty water glass in one hand. As she passed by the side of the nook where Jani was sitting, she took Jani’s chin in her free hand, and tipped Jani’s face upward for close scrutiny the way she had when Jani was just a little girl.

“I don’t believe
any
man would want to take you apart, my darling. You make an old woman jealous.”

Jani laughed. “GiGi,” she chastised when her grandmother released her face and went to the refrigerator, “you’ve always said you were perfectly content with the way you are—that you’d rather be happy than hungry or all dolled up. Now you’ve changed your mind? Maybe because of your new old boyfriend?”

During the first of these projects to make amends, Jani’s brother Cade had put GiGi back into contact with GiGi’s first love, Jonah Morrison. GiGi and Jonah had been high school sweethearts in Northbridge, Montana, where they’d both been raised. The young couple had split up after graduation, and GiGi had subsequently met and married Hank Camden.

But now that both GiGi and Jonah were widowed and coincidentally living in Colorado, they’d reconnected, and they were seeing each other again. Dating—although GiGi complained that she was too old to call it that.

GiGi laughed as she refilled her water glass. “My
new old
boyfriend,” she repeated. “Is that what you’re all calling Jonah?”

“That’s what he is, isn’t he?”

“I don’t think a man Jonah’s age can be called a ‘boyfriend.’”

“Your new old suitor? Is that better?”

“You just tend to the man you’re supposed to be tending to and don’t worry about what to call Jonah,” GiGi advised.

“You might be
tending
to Jonah, but I’m not
tending
to any man anymore, let alone the angry Gideon Thatcher,” Jani corrected. “I’m just doing what you want me to do—trying to get close enough, often enough, to find some things out about him and his family. I’m not doing anything that might qualify as
tending
to him,” she insisted.

“Does he look as good in person as he did in that newspaper picture?” GiGi asked as she slid back into the nook with her refilled glass. “That hardhat he was wearing made it impossible to tell some things—like without it, is he bald and lumpy-headed?”

“No... He has hair,” Jani said, instantly picturing Gideon Thatcher in her mind’s eye. It was something that had been happening incessantly since she’d left him on the street the evening before, dragging her into alarmingly involuntary daydreams...

“He has very nice hair,” she went on. “Actually, that picture of him in the paper didn’t do him justice. And neither did the ones of him on his website. He has great hair—kind of a sandy-brown—”

“Is it neat and clean or does he look like he needs a haircut the way Reggie always did?”

“It’s neat and clean. But not so neat that he looks stuffy or severe.”

“Clean-shaven or scruffy?”

“Clean-shaven.” Leaving that sharply chiseled jawline and that sexy off-center dent in his chin clearly visible. Visible, and such a perfect match to the rest of his bone structure. His face was just rugged enough that he couldn’t be considered a pretty-boy—which is what GiGi had called Reggie.

“Is he a big man? He looked like a big man in that picture. Bigger than whoever that was he was shaking hands with,” GiGi commented.

“He is a big man. Tall. With broad shoulders.”
Impressively
broad shoulders...

“Stocky or lean?”

“Lean. He’s not fat in any way.”

“Scrawny like Reggie?”

“No, definitely not scrawny, either. I think he was all muscle under the overcoat he was wearing.” All muscle and masculinity...

“What about his eyes? What color are his eyes?”

“The most beautiful green you’ve ever seen—a shimmering sort of sea-green...”

And then it struck Jani that these questions were out of the ordinary and she realized that her grandmother had set a trap for her. A trap she’d fallen into by rhapsodizing somewhat about Gideon Thatcher’s appearance. And now GiGi was smiling knowingly.

“Not that I care how he looks,” Jani added in an attempt to do damage control. “He could be a troll and it wouldn’t matter. He’s just the person I need to deal with to do what we need to do. Male, female, good-looking, not good-looking, it doesn’t make any difference.”

But her grandmother was staring at her from beneath raised eyebrows and still smiling.

In spite of what Jani read in the elderly woman’s expression, GiGi said, “No, of course it doesn’t make any difference that he looks even better in person than in his pictures. I was just curious.”

“
He hates us,
GiGi,” Jani repeated, emphasizing each word for effect to warn the older woman away from whatever she was thinking.

“And that’s what we’re going to try to make up for,” GiGi concluded.

“His secretary called this morning to arrange for me to meet him for coffee after work tonight. What am I supposed to do if he just gives me a flat no on our proposal and won’t have anything to do with me?”

“He wouldn’t need a whole cup of coffee to do that, he could have said that on the phone. Or had his secretary tell you. If he wants to have coffee, I think there’s hope.”

But what exactly was her grandmother hoping for? Jani wondered.

“I suppose,” she agreed. “Although he could just want a check from us and to never set eyes on me again—what then?”

GiGi laughed. “Persuade him otherwise,” she suggested.

Jani rolled her eyes. “Easy for you to say,” she muttered.

But that was all she said on the subject. She had to get back to work and, since they were finished eating, she stood to clear the table.

As she did she was thinking about that meeting with Gideon Thatcher tonight, and calculating if she could run by her house to change her clothes before going back to the office.

Because when she’d gotten dressed this morning she hadn’t known she would end the day seeing him again.

Now that she knew she would be, she was wishing she’d worn her better butt-hugging slacks.

And the new blouse with the collar that stood high around the column of her neck but didn’t quite meet in front until the first button just barely above her cleavage.

It wasn’t a work outfit—in fact she never wore anything to work that even hinted at cleavage.

But when it came to Gideon Thatcher she thought she could use all the help she could get.

Just for the cause.

Anything to aid the cause.

Not because she cared how she looked for him...

Chapter Three

G
ideon Thatcher was late and Jani’s feet hurt.

Not only had she gone home and changed her clothes after having lunch with her grandmother, she’d also changed her shoes. Three-inch heels with toes as pointy as arrows. Like the deep purple blouse with the slit of a plunging neckline, they weren’t work shoes. But they looked fabulous so she’d opted to suffer. And luckily the coffee shop Gideon Thatcher had chosen had its own parking lot, so there was no real hike from her car.

Only he wasn’t there yet when she arrived—on time at six o’clock—so she was waiting for him at the entrance.

On her feet.

For the past twenty-five minutes.

She was beginning to think he wasn’t coming and wondering what she was going to do if he didn’t when a jazzy little sports car pulled into the lot, parked next to her car on the passenger side, and out of it stepped the man himself.

Was keeping her waiting a power play? Just another indication that he was going to be difficult?

It didn’t matter. She could handle that. It was part of what she did for work.

Handling the way he looked was something else, though. She couldn’t keep her eyes from being riveted to him as he headed for the coffee shop.

He was wearing a dark gray suit that was clearly tailor-made for him, accentuating his broad shoulders, his narrow waist and hips, his long, powerful legs.

There was no shadow of beard to mar his sexy, sculpted face. His charcoal-colored tie was still knotted tight against his dove-gray shirt collar. And if a power play was what he had in mind, he was definitely dressed for it because as he came into the coffee shop it was power that he exuded.

But he surprised her by greeting her with an apology that bore not even a hint of arrogance or satisfaction.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I had a meeting with a Lakeview city councilwoman and she was in no hurry to leave.”

Maybe the councilwoman was just enjoying the view....

Because Jani still was. In spite of herself.

“No problem,” she said, appreciating that his tardiness hadn’t been on purpose. But she also noted that his overall attitude continued to be cool and aloof. And not at all friendly.

“Coffees are on the latecomer,” he announced with no particular warmth, moving to the counter to order. “Or whatever you want...”

Jani ordered a decaf latte. While Gideon ordered a plain black coffee for himself, she took off her knee-length wool coat and draped it over her arm.

She looked up to find him watching her much the way she’d been watching him as he’d approached the coffee shop from his car.

He averted his eyes the minute she caught him at it and fidgeted just the slightest bit.

Jani did a quick check of her blouse buttons but they were all fastened; as far as she could tell, nothing was amiss, so she wasn’t sure what about the way she looked made him even slightly ill at ease.

She just hoped she didn’t look as if she were trying too hard. Or worse yet, as though she were trying to seduce him with the blouse and the shoes. And her better butt-hugging slacks...

Maybe she should put her coat back on. But she was afraid that would seem odd, so she decided she just had to weather whatever was going on with him.

When their coffees were ready they took them to a bistro table in a corner where they sat across from each other. Jani laid her coat over the third, unused chair.

“I was glad you called,” she began, opting for friendliness even if he wasn’t. “But I would have met you during business hours—I don’t want to keep you away from your wife and family...”

Yes, she was fishing. There wasn’t a wedding ring but that didn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t married. Or didn’t have kids. And wasn’t that the underlying reason she was doing any of this—to get to know the man? It wasn’t that she was curious herself....

“I’m divorced,” he said curtly, giving her no more information than that. “But I suppose you didn’t like leaving your husband home alone.”

Was he fishing, too? After all, the lack of a ring on a woman’s finger was a dead giveaway, wasn’t it? Or had he just not noticed?

She held up her left hand, showing him the back of it. “I’m not married,” she said.

But then she recalled spilling the contents of her purse the evening before.

Of course he would assume that a book about getting pregnant would mean there was a husband in the picture.

“Oh, because of the book,” she said when light dawned on her. “No, no husband. Not even a fiancé or a boyfriend currently. I’m just not letting that stop me from having a baby.”

No, no, no, she hadn’t really said that, had she? Unfiltered thoughts right out of her mouth—always a mistake!

Not that she was hiding her plan to have a baby on her own. She’d vowed that if she were going to do it, it would be without making excuses or being ashamed of it. She was going to do it proudly and joyously. The way having a baby should be.

But she was talking to Gideon Thatcher. He was a stranger and a man who didn’t like the Camdens on principle. This was not a situation where it was appropriate to talk about her baby plan.

Not that Gideon Thatcher said anything to encourage her to share more information. He was staring into his coffee cup without making any comment at all.

Then he changed the subject. “I’ve thought about the Camdens wanting to do something for Lakeview in my great-grandfather’s name.”

All business.
Good,
Jani thought, tasting her own latte and merely raising her eyebrows at him in question rather than trusting herself to say something else she shouldn’t.

“I’ve been thinking for a while about a community center there,” he continued. “Something that offers recreation, low-cost day care and preschool, and adult education to help retrain people who might want to escape working in the Camden factories and warehouses, or develop more skills to help them move up the ladder within your organization. But it isn’t in the budget, and I haven’t been able to come up with the extra funding.”

“The Franklin Thatcher Community Center,” Jani suggested.

“I have a building in mind that would meet the requirements, but it’s been out of use for over a dozen years and needs some serious repair, remodeling and even some reconstruction. Not to mention landscaping to create sports fields and a playground to serve the day care and preschool. Plus there’s staffing, operating costs—”

“But it sounds like something that would really benefit Lakeview and be nice to have your great-grandfather’s name on,” Jani observed.

“It isn’t just a simple park,” he pointed out with a challenging arch to one of his own eyebrows.

“No, but it seems worthwhile. Something good to give back to the community.” And something that was definitely going to cost...

He relaxed slightly more in his chair and seemed to reach unconsciously for his tie, loosening it, unbuttoning the collar button that had come out from hiding behind it.

Then he stretched his neck a little. His head swayed to the right, then to the left, his chin jutted forward, and for some reason Jani saw it all in slow motion.

She savored every nuance, finding every detail somehow enticing. And suddenly she felt fidgety herself.

Was that why he’d been fidgeting when she’d taken off her coat? Was it possible that he’d
liked
what he’d seen? That he’d felt enticed by it?

Probably not,
she told herself, knowing that she shouldn’t entertain such thoughts. Not with this man and not at this juncture in her life.

And yet if the way he looked and the simplest of gestures could entice her, it helped to think that she might be able to entice him a little, too. Anything that gave an inkling that he didn’t have complete contempt for her was a plus. It helped her feel as if they were on more equal territory. And she’d take whatever crumbs she could get.

“So, if it’s
worthwhile,
are the Camdens willing to foot the bill?” he asked, repeating her term with a tinge of insolence. “Including staff salaries and operating expenses until the center becomes self-supporting?” There was a challenge in his tone, as well.

Jani pretended to consider what he was asking even though her instructions were to do whatever he wanted. He
was
asking a lot, after all. She looked into her own coffee cup. Letting silence reign for a moment, she took another drink of her latte.

Then she said, “Of course I’ll have to run the actual numbers by my family, but I think a community center is a great idea and I think they all will, too.”

“In my great-grandfather’s name? Without strings attached, the Camdens won’t profit from it now or at any time in the future—in fact it could be instrumental in costing them warehouse and factory workers. And the donation will be absolutely anonymous, there won’t be a single drop of credit to your family....”

His terms and more challenge.

“Agreed,” Jani said simply.

“It’s going to cost a hell of a lot more than a park,” he warned unnecessarily.

“The money isn’t the point,” Jani said sincerely. “We just want to do something for the community that honors your great-grandfather.”

Gideon Thatcher took a turn at letting silence reign, studying her.

Then he said, “That’s some kind of big guilt you people are showing.”

Jani met him eye to eye. “I know you believe the worst, but there is another side to this that I might tell you when you’re ready to hear it.”

“Is that so?”

“It is,” she said, holding her ground calmly, quietly, but with conviction.

His great green eyes stayed steady on her for a long moment. While Jani knew he was once again gauging her motives and whether there was some hidden trap or conspiracy in this, she also had the sense that he was looking beyond the fact that she was a Camden and sizing her up as her own person.

His expression didn’t reveal the conclusion he came to, though.

“I suppose we should start with you taking a look at the building and getting an idea of what you’re signing on for.”

Was she imagining it or was there a microscopically small reduction in the hostility in his tone?

She was probably just imagining it because she wanted it to be the case.

“Just tell me where and when,” she said.

“So eager...” he muttered, still watching her and again seeming suspicious.

“Actually, I’m just trying to be cooperative,” she corrected.

He didn’t remark on that. He merely went on watching her as if to say that he’d be the judge. But Jani thought that actions spoke louder than words, and he wouldn’t be able to find fault with her actions because she was on the up-and-up.

Then, out of the blue, he said, “So you’re not married....”

“Nope, never have been.”

“But you’re not letting the lack of a husband—or even a fiancé or a boyfriend—stop you from having a family?”

“Not anymore.”

“That’s a bold move.”

Oh yeah, he was sizing her up.

She shrugged. “Sometimes it feels that way,” she admitted. “But I just started the process. I’ve only had my first visit to the doctor, and I’m taking it one step at a time.” Which was what she told herself whenever the prospect of artificial insemination, pregnancy, delivery and raising a child alone seemed daunting.

One step at a time. Take it one step at a time and you can handle it....

It was actually the advice GiGi had given all ten of her grandchildren whenever they’d thought anything was insurmountable, and it had always served Jani well.

“I suppose you
are
a Camden—you don’t need financial help,” Gideon said. “But still... Will there even be a father in the picture?” He suddenly sat up straighter and leaned farther back in his chair, held up his hands, palms out, and added, “None of my business. I’m out of line.”

“No, it’s okay,” Jani said, thinking that if she needed him to eventually open up to her, it might aid the cause for her to be open with him first. “There
won’t
be a father in the picture. There will only be me. And a baby!” she said enthusiastically.

He was looking even more intently at her, with the shadow of a frown putting a small crease between his eyebrows. “Do you think that a father in a kid’s life is just inconsequential?” he asked as if it were an issue to him.

“No! Not at all,” Jani said. “I loved my own dad dearly—I was an awful daddy’s girl. And regardless of how you think of H.J., I loved him, too—he was an important man in my life. So was a man named Louie, who was sort of a substitute father when I needed him to be. This is just...” She wanted to foster a sense of openness with Gideon but she wasn’t willing to be
too
open or go into too many details, either.

“...this is just what I’ve decided to do. A baby is something I’ve wanted forever and I’m not going to wait any longer to have one. Kids grow up in all sorts of different situations now—lots and lots of them in one-parent homes. If...” no, she wasn’t going to have defeatist thoughts “...
when
I get pregnant, I’ll just love my baby enough for it to
feel
like it has two parents.”

The crease between Gideon’s eyes deepened. It reminded Jani of the way Gigi responded to this subject.

“I know not everyone approves—my grandmother wishes I wouldn’t do it,” she said. “But things don’t always work out the way we—or anyone else—wish they would.”

“True...”

“So sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get what you want.”

“H. J. Camden’s philosophy?” Gideon said with challenge in his tone again.

I walked into that one, didn’t I?

“Family
was
important to my great-grandfather,” she said, purposely misinterpreting Gideon’s words and ignoring what he’d actually meant. “And having a family is really, really important to me, too.
That’s
why I’m not going to wait or leave it to chance anymore.”

“I can’t say that leaving things to chance has worked out for me,” he said. Then he shrugged. “Well, good luck with that, I guess.”

“Thank you,” she answered as if his wishes had been more heartfelt.