Surprise Dad (15 page)

And she went back to crying.

The banging on the door startled her. Swiping madly at her eyes, she opened it. On the stoop stood Mike, Brian squirming on his hip, smiling, burbling and trying to reach out for her.

She wouldn’t let herself reach for him. “Mike? What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to stay,” Mike said, barging through the door, “if you can love a man as stupid as I am.” He faced her. His eyes were wild, and she wondered if he realized he was still wearing his white chef’s jacket.

She was too shocked to speak. She could only stare at him.

“I was an idiot to let you walk out on me,” he said. “I sat there and let you do it because I was afraid to be any closer to you, afraid my wall would fall down—”

“Your wall? Mike, what are you talking about?” Had she hurt him so much he’d lost his mind?

“I’ve lied to you, to everybody in the valley. Brian isn’t the child of an old friend. He’s my father’s child. I haven’t told you who I really am.”

She could only listen silently as the story spilled out of him, his childhood, his time in juvenile detention, his bond with Daniel and Ian. “They’re the only people I trust, the only people I haven’t built walls against. But the wall I’d built between you and me, well, I felt it starting to crumble—until you said you didn’t want to be with me anymore. My pride took over. I refused to beg you for love.”

“Oh, Mike—” Tears overflowed her eyes. She had made the wrong decision. She knew that now, from her own misery and his. “You have my love. More love than you’ve ever had in your life. But I didn’t know how we could work this out. It wouldn’t be good for Brian to have me popping in and out of his life. Not good for us, either, so I—” She couldn’t hold back any longer, and threw her arms around him and Brian, who still clung, wide-eyed, to Mike.

“I have it all figured out,” he said, not returning her hug, just barreling on, not giving her chance to say no. “I’ll franchise the diner, so money won’t be a problem. Maury and Barney will keep the restaurant going in the right direction under new management. Brian and I will move here—” he glanced around Suzy’s tiny apartment “—and start looking for a larger place, maybe a house with a yard. You’ll go to school, I’ll take care of Brian and cook spectacular dinners for you. Every night you’ll come home to us. That’s all we want, whatever time you can give us.”

He gazed at her pleadingly. Relief that the saddest
time of her life was coming to an end, plus a fierce and passionate love for both of them welled up in her heart. “I don’t know,” she said.

“Don’t know what?” Now he looked desperate, but she hadn’t fooled Brian. He was chortling and doing his best to clap his hands.

“Don’t know if I like your plan.”

His face fell. “No?”

“No. In the first place, you can’t move in here. It’s not my apartment. In the second place, you’re not certain you want to franchise the diner. So what I was thinking…”

The way he was looking at her made her so sorry she’d hurt him that she hugged him tighter. Now that she was close enough, Brian took the opportunity to grab her hair and hang on to it as if it was a tree limb at the edge of Quechee Gorge.

They needed her, both of them, and depended on her. It was an effort not to burst into tears and throw herself at Mike’s feet, begging for forgiveness. Instead, she forced herself to sound casual, as if the conversation hardly mattered to her at all.

“We’d stay in LaRocque, and you could stay with the diner whether you franchised it or not.”

She felt the jolt that ran through him. “I found out I could arrange my classes so I’d only have to be here three days a week, and I’m sure Mom would take care of Brian while I’m gone. In fact, I think you’d have to hang her on a tree like a sap bucket to keep her from taking care of Brian.” She guessed it was her turn to talk nonstop. “When you think the diner’s under control enough for you to leave town, the two of you could be here with me, in a fairy-tale cottage with a picket fence or in an igloo. I don’t care.”

His face was so full of tentative hope that she felt that surge of love again. “Allie, are you saying…”

“Yes,” she said crossly while snuggling her head into his shoulder, “I’m saying I was wrong. I’m saying that after I’m certified, I can’t think of a place I’d rather set up a practice than in the valley. I’m saying—”

He cut her off with his kiss. With Brian’s burbling sounds in their ears, they kissed as if they’d been apart for years and had just now discovered each other again.

Mike put Brian down on the floor and surrounded her with his strength and goodness and his love for her. If anybody could make it work, they could, because they couldn’t make anything work without each other.

M
IKE HAD
a couple of questions on his mind, and as soon as he was able to let go of Allie, and as soon as they got Brian snuggled up for a nap, he decided he’d better address them before they went home to the furor of getting ready for the benefit the next night.

“Do you want another child?” he asked her, his mouth drifting over her ear.

He felt her delicious shiver. “As soon as I’m out of school, I’d love to have a baby with you.”

“What about a linebacker-sized child, right now.” He kissed her forehead and nuzzled her hair, and was startled when she leaped out of his arms.

“You want to adopt Maury,” she said breathlessly. Her eyes were shining. “Oh, Mike, I was so hoping you would. He loves you so much. He already loves Brian, and Brian worships him. Oh, yes, yes, I would love to be Maury’s mother. And Brian’s. I’ll adopt them both.”

He pulled her back to him. “I’m Brian’s brother
and his father,” he whispered into her ear. “It will be complicated.”

“We’ll work it out. Right now, you’re a daddy.”

“And about to be a husband, I hope,” he said, the idea setting off a wave of desire he’d act on as soon as he could. “One more thing,” he said. “What shall we do about franchising the diner?”

She leaned back to look into his face. Those luscious brown eyes glowed at him, and a smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “Let’s not,” she said.

“Just what I wanted to hear,” he said, and kissed her.

T
HE RECREATION
room at the center glowed with candlelight and fall color. Dressed in their best, residents of the valley filled the tables to capacity. The sounds of their conversations and laughter filled the space with warmth and friendship.

Elaine was there, with her left hand extended. Allie smiled. Her mother had paid her back big-time. Her engagement to Barney, even the fact that they’d been seeing each other, had come as a total surprise.

“Planning to run away to Vegas?” Allie had asked, teasing her.

“Not this time, sweetheart. I’ve been thinking about Barney for three years.”

Between dinner and dessert Daniel gave a short speech, thanking everyone for his or her support. Lilah spoke next, thanking the volunteers for their work. One by one, her committee heads came to the podium to thank their own volunteers.

It was Allie’s turn. Glowing inside with happiness, she took the stage, thanking her people for flowers, plants and setting the tables. While she spoke, she scanned the
room. It looked beautiful. The string quartet had only missed a few notes and broken one string. The meal had been—

Now was the glorious moment she would get to thank the most important people in her life. “Lilah, would you bring out the chefs?”

Lilah was already tugging Mike and Maury, both of them protesting, out of the kitchen. Allie observed that it was Maury who held Brian—exactly as Mike did, on his left hip.

They stood together on the dais, the four of them, while the audience gave them a standing ovation. Allie glanced at their faces. They knew. They knew they were looking at a family, and it hadn’t even been a family until yesterday.

She shook her head. Ay-uh, as Barney would say, in a small town, news traveled fast.