The Party (5 page)

“I am…but he never should have died. He
should be here with me. He should be with Nate doing his
internship, and we…we should have children.”

“It’s no good to think that way,” Connor
argued. He pulled away to cup her face in his hands. “You have to
move on. Travis would want you to be happy—to find someone else to
make a life with and to become a mother like you’ve always dreamed
of.”

At his mention of motherhood, Emma’s breath
caught. An idea—a somewhat crazy notion for someone like her—had
been flickering within her for months. As much as she tried pushing
it aside while rationalizing that it couldn’t or wouldn’t work, it
continued to grow. “Connor, if I asked you do something for me,
would you?”

His dark brows shot up questioningly. “Why do
I feel I should probably say no?”

“Please?”

“What is it?”

Hesitating, she drew in a deep breath. She
wasn’t sure if she could actually come out and admit it. Finally,
she found the courage to ask, “Will you have a baby with me?”

Jerking his hands from her face, Connor shot
off the couch. “Excuse me?”

“You’re the only man in the world I love. I
want you to give me the child I’ve always wanted—I want you to be
my baby’s father.”

Connor’s eyes bulged. “Emma, you do recall
that I am very
gay
and in a relationship with a man that I
love. I can’t…” He raked his hands wildly through his hair. “I
wouldn’t even know how to begin to do
that
with you.”

At his bewildered expression and his words,
Emma couldn’t help laughing. “I’m not asking you to sleep with me
to conceive the baby.”

“You’re not?”

Emma shook her head. “No, of course not. I
meant that I wanted you to be my sperm donor—like in a clinic and
all, not a bedroom.”

Staring at her in shock, realization finally
dawned on Connor, and he let out a long, exaggerated breath.
“Oh…thank God.”

“But thanks for letting me know that having
sex with me would be the greatest nightmare of your life,” Emma
joked.

With an apologetic smile, Connor sat back
down with her on the couch. “Don’t be offended, Emmie Lou. You know
the ‘no women for me’ ship sailed a long time ago.”

“Hmm, yes, I believe I had something to do
with that back then as well.”

Connor winced. “I just thought if I tried
making out with a girl, I’d know once and for all if I was really
gay.”

Emma laughed. “And I’m glad I helped you
figure it out.”

With a grin, Connor said, “If I remember it
correctly, I did get it up for you.”

“Oh, ew!” she cried before covering her face
with her hands. She immediately thought back to Connor’s fifteenth
birthday party. All their other friends had left, leaving them
alone in his parents’ basement. Although girls were crazy about
him, Connor never settled down or dated much. Instead, he preferred
flirting with them and hanging out with Emma.

After sneaking half a bottle of his dad’s
Jack Daniels, he tearfully confided in Emma that he thought he
might not be attracted to girls at all. He begged her to let him
kiss her, to make out with her to see if he really was gay.
Considering she’d never gone past first base with anyone, she was
more than a little reluctant. Emma peeked at him through her
fingers and shook her head. “I can’t believe you were the first guy
to feel me up.”

Connor chuckled. “I do believe I did a little
more than feeling you up. I’m pretty sure I dry humped you into
oblivion that night until I came in my pants!”

Emma smacked his arm playfully. “Ugh, I can’t
believe you remember all that.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t just the fact I was making
out with my best friend that was a major turn off. It was that to
finally… come I had to fantasize about a dude.”

Rolling her eyes, Emma said, “Once again,
thank you so much for reminding me of that fact. It’s totally not
given me a complex or anything in my extreme dateless state!”

“Oh come on, Emmie Lou, you had half the male
population jonesing for you back in the day, and if you got your
head out of your ass and back into the dating game, you would see
that straight dudes everywhere want to bang that hot bod of
yours.”

“Yeah, they want to bang me. They just don’t
want to get to know me or have committed relationship. Once they
find out I’m old-fashioned and won’t have sex right off the bat,
they run away.”

After an awkward silence, Connor sighed.
“This is where you bring up the baby part again, right?”

“I can’t believe you would act so surprised
about it all. You know how much I want a child—how I’ve always
wanted a big family. I’ll be thirty in a few months. It’s not now
or never time, but it’s getting close.”

“So why not find some dude to settle down
with and have kids. You know, get on Eharmony or something like
that. I mean, surely Nate has to know some eligible men to hook you
up with.”

Emma huffed with frustration. “I’ve not had
an actual relationship since Travis, and I’m not sure if there’s
really anyone else out there for me.”

“But you haven’t even tried. I mean, with
your mom’s cancer and her dying, you shut down for so long. Maybe
it’s time to really put yourself back out there again,” Connor
argued.

Shaking her head, Emma said, “Aren’t you
listening to me? I want a baby. All my life has been loss and
death.” She brought her hand to her abdomen. “I want life growing
within me—a part of me and my parents.”

“Em—”

Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I have so much
love to give a child. Please, Connor.”

He grabbed his wine glass and downed the
remaining contents. He then rose off the couch to stumble back into
the dining room. Emma watched as he snatched the last wine bottle
and refilled his glass. When he came back to the doorway, he shook
his head. “But why do you need me? Why can’t you just go to a sperm
bank and pick out a sample from a Brad Pitt with a 170 IQ?”

“Because I don’t care about Brad Pitt looks
and high IQ’s.”

Connor snorted. “Thanks a hell of a lot. You
sure don’t know how to sweeten the pot, do you?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I
meant. I was thinking way past superficial things, but while we’re
on the subject, yes, you will bring the most excellent DNA to my
baby, both in looks and in intelligence, okay?”

“Whatever,” he grumbled before taking another
long gulp of wine. He flopped back down on the couch beside
her.

“Connor, don’t you see the bigger picture
here. If I can’t have a baby with someone I’m romantically in love
with, I still want it to be with someone I love. I know you’re a
good and decent person, and you would be such a good father.” When
he didn’t say anything, Emma leaned closer to him. “And think about
your parents. Besides Grammy and Granddaddy, my baby wouldn’t have
grandparents, and I know that yours are amazing to your sister’s
kids.”

“That’s true,” he murmured, still not meeting
her expectant gaze.

Emma sighed. She knew she had just thrown him
for a loop, and it was going to take him awhile to process
everything. “Look, I’m sorry that I brought it up.” When she
started to rise off the couch, Connor grabbed her arm.

“Okay.”

She furrowed her brows at him. “Okay
what?”

He exhaled noisily. “Okay, I’ll be your baby
daddy or sperm donor or whatever.”

Emma’s chest constricted, and she almost
couldn’t breathe. “Really?”

Connor nodded. “Yeah, why not.”

“But are you sure? I mean, you don’t need
more time to think about it?”

“Nope. Let’s have a baby.”

Emma squealed with pleasure before throwing
her arms around Connor’s neck and squeezing him tight. “Oh my God!
I can’t believe you’re really going to do it!” She pulled away to
kiss both his cheeks. “I love you so very much.”

“I love you too, Emmie Lou.”

She nuzzled her head against his neck. “But
what made you change your mind?”

“Travis.”

Emma jerked her gaze up to meet his. A grin
curved on Connor’s lips. “It was like I could almost hear him
telling me to do it—to make you happy since he couldn’t.”

A mixture of happy and sad tears pooled in
her eyes. “I can never thank you enough for doing this. I can’t
imagine being happier than I am at this moment.”

He rubbed his thumb across her cheek. “I
think the day we find out you’re good and knocked up will beat this
one.”

She smiled. “Or the day our baby is
born?”

Connor nodded. “And if it’s a boy, I wanna
name him Travis—Travis Connor Montgomery.”

“I would like nothing more, especially for
the baby to have your last name.” She titled her head at him. “But
what if it’s a girl?”

“Travisina?” Connor suggested.

Emma giggled. “No, I don’t think so.”

Connor laughed. “We’ve got time to work on a
girl’s name.”

“As long as he or she is healthy, I don’t
care what we have.”

He pushed away from her to grab up their wine
glasses. “Let’s drink to our future child.”

“To our baby,” Emma said before toasting with
Connor.

***

Aidan swept through the front doors of the
Commerce Country club. He nodded at a few of his fellow colleagues.
His fingers went to adjust the tie on his tux. He had barely been
in the damn thing for thirty minutes, and it already felt like it
was choking him. Spotting his best work buddy, Blake, he weaved in
and out of the couples to meet up with him.

“Well, hello, Fitzy, how goes it?” Blake
asked.

Without a response, Aidan jerked the glass of
Scotch from Blake’s hand and downed it in one fiery gulp. “Hmm,
that bad huh?” Blake asked with a smirk.

“Sorry man. I’ve been in family hell all damn
day.”

“The Baptism thing?”

Aidan nodded. “That was at noon, but then
there was a party at my sister’s house.” Aidan shuddered as he
thought of how he had gotten corned by each of his sisters
throughout the afternoon. Although they hit him at different times,
their message was a unified one. He was thirty-two years old, and
it was time for him to settle down and carry on the family name. It
had been a living hell. “I just escaped an hour ago.”

Blake furrowed his brown brows. “You mean,
there wasn’t any good booze at the party to at least take the edge
off?”

“Yeah, but if I had started downing it like a
lush, that would have just given my sisters more ammunition to give
me shit about. Not to mention my dad would have joined in on the
tirade as well.”

“Then I guess it’s time you started drinking
heavily. Why don’t you head on over to the bar and get us both
another Scotch?” Blake suggested.

“I may make it two for me and one for you,”
Aidan grumbled.

“Pace yourself buddy. The night is
young.”

Aidan bobbed his head and once again weaved
in and out of the crowd. He was almost to the bar when someone
jostled into him, causing him to lose his footing for a moment. He
whirled around to see a vision before him. He had seen and screwed
beautiful women before, but she was something altogether special
and enticing. Her alabaster cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and
she was hiding her face behind a shroud of her fiery auburn hair
that fell in waves down her bare back. And damn if she wasn’t
wearing an emerald dream of a dress that hugged her ample curves
like a second skin. He loved red heads, but most of all, he loved
red heads in green. Something about the color brought out every
perfect feature they had.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked.

She nodded her head furiously. “I’m so sorry.
My heel got caught in the carpet for a second. That’s why I bumped
into you.”

He gave her his best sultry smile. “No harm
done.”

“Once again, I’m sorry,” she said.

Before he could stop her, she spun around and
headed for the other side of the room. As he watched her retreating
form, he shook his head and fought the urge to adjust himself with
the heat pooling below his waist. Now there was an interesting
development. She was just the kind of woman he would enjoy taking
home and ensuring she screamed his name over and over when she
came. The shy guise she had going on stoked his interest because he
could pretty much bet that with the color of her hair, she had a
fiery personality to match it.