Heartsong Cottage (23 page)

You don't know that he'll consider it good news. He might consider it to be another blow on top of this one.

Well, she darn sure wasn't going to tell him right this minute no matter what, so no sense crossing that proverbial bridge.

“Nic Callahan is an excellent veterinarian,” she assured. “She will do her best for Soupy.”

“I know.”

Shannon kept her arms around him, offering the unspoken comfort of a hug. Eventually, they returned to their seats though Daniel kept her hand clasped firmly in his. He began to talk, telling stories about Justin and his puppy, more than once bringing tears to her eyes.

They both looked up at the squeak of door hinges. They stood. Daniel's grip on Shannon's hand grew crushing. “She's alive,” Nic said, stating the most important words first. “I'm cautiously optimistic.”

While Daniel released a heavy sigh, Nic described a litany of injuries and repairs, finishing with, “We will keep her here for a day or two and keep a close eye on her.”

“Can I see her?” he asked.

“Sure. Come on back.”

While Daniel spent a few minutes with his dog, Shannon visited with Lori Murphy about her semester and plans after graduation. “Nic has offered me a partnership,” Lori explained. “There's a need for a large-animal vet in the area, and we could cover for each other. I don't know if I'm ready to move home to Eternity Springs.” With a sheepish smile, she added, “The guy I'm seeing likes the city, so if we're still together then…” She shrugged. “If not, well, I don't know. It's hard to find Mr. Right in a town the size of this one.”

“I don't know,” Shannon said, her gaze drifting toward the door through which Daniel had disappeared. “I can count quite a few happy-ever-afters around here.”

“That's what my mom is always telling me. She just wants me to come home. I still have some time to figure out what I want to do.”

The clinic's telephone rang and Lori excused herself to answer it. Listening to the one-sided conversation, Shannon gathered that the teen who'd hit Soupy had called to check on her condition. Daniel entered the room and gave Shannon a crooked smile. “You ready to get out of here?”

“Sure.”

After waving a good-bye to Lori, they stepped out into the bright sunshine to find Lucca Romano shooting a basketball toward the hoop suspended from the Callahans' garage. Seeing them, he held the ball. “She's okay?”

“So far so good,” Daniel replied.

Lucca breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “Good. Holly is a mess over this whole thing.”

“No need for that. It wasn't her fault.”

“I told her that and Hope told her that, but she's feeling responsible.”

“Is she still at the park? I'll talk to her.”

“Hope tried to take her home. She wanted to go to church instead. Taking it straight to the source.”

“St. Stephens?”

“Sacred Heart.” Daniel glanced at Shannon. “Do you want to come with me? Or, I could meet you somewhere later. If you want to bail on me entirely, I'd understand. I haven't exactly shown you a good time.”

“I don't bail, Daniel.” Well, unless her life was at stake. “Let's go see Holly.”

“Thanks, guys,” Lucca said.

The walk to the church took less than five minutes. Daniel opened the door and they stepped into stained-glass peace. Standing at the back of the church with her toddler in her arms, Hope Romano turned at the sound. Her anxious expression eased somewhat when she spied Daniel's and Shannon's faces.

“Soupy is okay?” she asked softly.

“So far, so good. Lucca said the Squirt could use a little reassurance.”

Hope nodded toward the front pew where her daughter knelt with her head bent in prayer. Shannon stayed at the back of the church with Hope while Daniel made his way up the aisle and took a seat next to Holly. As the two spoke quietly, Hope said, “Forgive me for being nosy, but Daniel is a special friend, a special man. I want so badly for him to be happy. The two of you looked … close … this morning. Celeste says he's rented a cabin through mid-November. He's never visited Eternity Springs for so long before. I heard that he took you with him to pick up Soupy. It makes me wonder if this thing between you two might be serious?”

Serious as prenatal vitamins
. “Are you asking if we're sleeping together?”

“I'm not
that
nosy.” Hope set her squirming son down to toddle around the back of the church. “But since you brought it up…?”

“We're in church.”

“Want to step outside?”

Shannon wanted to sidestep the question. She watched Daniel hand a handkerchief to Holly and observed, “He loves your daughter, doesn't he?”

“Yes. She loves him, too. We all love him. Daniel is as good a man as I've ever known. He has the heart of a warrior and the dedication of a knight in shining armor. But he's also the loneliest man I've known.”

“So, before you met Lucca, you and Daniel never became an item?” The possessiveness behind the question surprised even Shannon.

“No. Always friends. Good friends. We understood each other's pain.” Hope took a hymnal away from her son and slotted it back into the holder on the back of a church pew. “You do know he has a significant anniversary coming up soon?”

Ten years since the murder of his son. “Yes.”

Hope's gaze flickered back to the front of the church. “My hope has been that once he gets past it, he'll finally be able to fill his life with something besides work. He needs light in his life. I think you could be that for him, Shannon. You won't find a better man.”

“I know that.” Daniel and Holly stood, exited the pew, then started down the aisle hand in hand. Shannon saw the tracks of tears on the girl's face and her heart gave a twist. Holly smiled tremulously and said, “Daniel says Soupy will be okay, Mom.”

“I heard, baby.”

“I was so worried.”

“We all were worried.”

“Pets are family, and Daniel needs his family.”

Hope touched his arm. “Yes, he does.”

He does,
Shannon silently agreed.
And I have one to give him.

Standing in the back of the church where she'd first laid eyes on this tragic but big-hearted man, Shannon knew a sudden peace. Call it fate or destiny or God's hand at work in their lives, this pregnancy had been meant to be.

She was in love with him. Head over heels, birdsong and butterflies and perfumed rose petals crazy in love.

He was her second chance.

And you are his.

*   *   *

As they left church, Holly asked Daniel if he intended to return to the festival. “I sure do,” he told her. “I have a stack of tickets to use, and Shannon and I are going to win the three-legged race.”

“Mind if we stop by my house first?” Shannon asked. “There's something I need to do.”

“Sure.” He gave Holly a good-bye hug and Hope a kiss on the cheek, then they went their separate directions. Daniel was honestly glad to have the reprieve. Everyone would ask about Soupy, and he'd just as soon not retell the story a dozen times. Plus, he found the idea of spending a little time at Heartsong Cottage right now soothing. His nerves were frayed. “I could use a nap.”

“I could be talked into that.”

“Oh, yeah?” He took her hand. “Are we talking a nap or a
nap
?”

“I could so make a joke about the three-legged race here, but I'll do my best to refrain.”

He laughed and bent to give her a quick, hard kiss. “I adore you, Ms. O'Toole.”

Her gaze jerked toward his and she stared at him intently. “I think you're pretty wonderful, too.”

Something in her voice—a note of solemnity—made him think it hadn't been an offhand remark like his had been. She thought he was wonderful? Was this relationship becoming something more than casual for her?

It is for you.

Daniel sucked in a breath. Whoa. He needed to think about that one.

Or did he, really? No “becoming” about it; that horse had left the barn. He cared for Shannon, more than he'd cared for anyone since Gail. Maybe—just maybe—he'd made his choice at that crossroads without even knowing it.

At home at Heartsong Cottage he started kissing her before she even got the door shut, and their lovemaking had a depth he might have found disturbing had the day's events not already laid his heart open. When it was over and she lay limp and sated upon his chest, he trailed his thumb slowly up and down the ridges of her spine. “You are precious to me, Shannon.”

She lifted her head, stared down at him with those whiskey eyes of hers, and said, “I feel the same way, Daniel. You have given me more than I dared hope for.”

When he opened his mouth to speak, she rested her finger against it. “I need to say something. Tell you something.”

The flicker of nervousness that entered her eyes gave him warning. As she rolled off him and reached for her robe from the foot of the bed, he braced himself. Something was up.

He sat up, struck by a sudden thought. “Is it Soupy? Did Nic text you or something? Is my dog dead?”

“No, Daniel. Your dog is not dead. This has nothing to do with Soupy. It's me. Us. All of us. Three of us.” Her lips fluttered with a tremulous smile. “You're going to be a father.”

At first, the words didn't penetrate his brain. “What?”

“I'm pregnant, Daniel. We are going to have a baby.”

The news hit him like a punch to the gut, and words he never dreamed he'd say to her flew from his mouth like bullets. “You bitch.”

 

Chapter Twelve

The words Daniel spat and the accompanying fury that leaped into his face had Shannon taking a physical step away. He threw back the covers and shot from the bed. “You miserable bitch. Damned if you didn't have me well and truly snowed. This was a setup from the start. What happened? Whoever he is dumped you? Or do you even know who the father actually is?”

As he grabbed his jeans off the floor and shoved his feet into the pant legs, Shannon gasped at the vitriol spewing from his mouth. What had just happened? She'd known he might not be happy about her news, but this rage took her breath away.

“Shame on me for being so damned gullible. Guess no man is immune to a pretty piece of ass turning on the—”

“Whoa!” she interrupted, finally finding her voice. “Stop right there. I don't know where this temper tantrum is coming from but you have no call to speak to me that way.”

“No call? No call! You try to foist your bastard off on me and—”

Whap
. Her slap against his cheek was an instinctive reaction. “Don't you ever use that word again when you're talking about our child.”

For a long moment he stood there fuming, a muscle tic at his temple. He yanked his belt hard. “It's. Not.
Our.
Child!”

“Sorry to wreck your world, Garrett, but she darned sure is too our child. By this point she has a heart that beats and would undoubtedly be broken if she could hear you right now.”

“Let it go, O'Toole.” He scooped his shirt up off the floor and jammed his arms through the sleeves. “You outsmarted yourself when you picked me for your patsy.”

“Why are you saying that? You are not my patsy! The condom obviously failed!”

“For somebody, but sure as hell not me. I'm not the father of your baby. I can't have any more children. I didn't want any more children after my son died and my wife died so I got myself snipped.”

“What?” Everything inside her froze.

His laugh was a vicious, unamused sound. “Gotcha, sweetcheeks. I had a vasectomy. You're gonna have to find some other sorry sap to peddle your lies to.”

Shannon's mouth dropped open. A vasectomy? Daniel had had a vasectomy? So
that's
what this was about!

And his immediate response is that I'm lying?
Not only the first response, but also the second and third, too. As he shoved his feet into his shoes, Shannon's own temper kindled. His next words threw gasoline on the fire. “I'll be sure to warn all my friends around town that they'd better keep their dicks in their pants around you because you are on the hunt. That is, if you're not already porking another guy as a backup.”

“That's it. Leave my house, Daniel Garrett. We're not done—our baby is due in May—but I will deal with you another time.”

Renewed fury shot across his expression at her dismissal. “Haven't you listened to a word I said? It can't be my kid!”

Her chin held high, her shoulders back, Shannon sailed from her bedroom to the front door. She flung it open wide and demanded, “Get out.”

“As fast as I possibly can.” He shot through the door, his long legs eating up the front sidewalk.

Her bitter voice chased him. “One more thing, Mr. Hotshot Detective. Google is your friend. I suggest when you crawl back into your cave you put a few minutes into investigating the instances when vasectomies grow back together.”

Slam.

Shannon leaned back against the door, breathing like she'd run five miles, her heart ripped open and bleeding. That jerk. That clueless idiot. That slimy son of a swamp rat. Angry tears pooled in her eyes and she furiously blinked them away. He didn't deserve her tears.

Why do the men in my life cause me nothing but grief?

She shoved away from the door and stormed around the room spitting curses and invectives and every insult she could squeeze past the lump of anger and pain in her chest. She even gave in to the childish desire to throw something and grabbed a pillow and sent it sailing. Twice. When the first wave of fury subsided, she switched on the shower, adjusted the temperature to near scalding, and stepped beneath the steaming water to wash the musky scent of him from her skin.