“Sweetie, called me Claudia and thank you.”

  Claudia showed them to their room. Zacari breathed a sigh of relief when she found that she wouldn’t be sharing with Keary. Now that she was inside and on the second floor, the house seemed bigger than it appeared outside. There had to be at least seven bedrooms. This was intimate to Jack.

  No one had said where Jack was, or maybe she hadn’t been paying attention. All Zacari wanted to do was get this meeting over with and get back home. Even though she was having his grandchild, Zacari hoped to just fall off of Jack’s radar and do her own thing. So far, everyone had been nice and all, but these people wouldn’t have her in their home if she hadn’t gotten freaky with Keary and gotten pregnant. Period. Maybe she was cynical, but it was how she felt.

  A knock sounded at her door which she’d closed planning to take a nap before dinner. Zacari walked across to open it. When her gaze met Keary’s green one, her heart did flip-flops, and butterflies unsettled her stomach. “Your suitcase,” he announced and held it up as proof.

  She knew better than to reach for it but rather took a few steps back to let him pass. Just before his bicep brushed across her breasts as he passed, she moved out of reach. As if it had made contact, her body heated up. Tears pricked her eyes. She wanted him to hold her and let her feel his strength and warmth.

  Neither of them spoke a word, and when Keary was ready to leave, he stopped in front of her. She stared at the wall just past him. “Listen,” he said, and she glanced up at him. “With business Jack and I agree on most things but argue it out when we don’t. I agree with his decisions ninety percent of the time. I consider him brilliant.”

  She could only imagine what he would say next, maybe confirm her thoughts that Jack had some kind of nefarious plans and that like usual he agreed with his father. “But,” Keary said at last, “you are here so we can all meet each other on a personal level, and Jack can get to know you as such. I’m sure he wants to be a part of his grandson’s life, and you come along with that.”

  She hadn’t yet let go of her annoyance at how Jack summoned her and didn’t give her a chance to decide when she would come. Keary had gone along with it as well. “You’re sure that’s what it is? Maybe it’s not that he’s interested in me because he wants his grandson to be a part of his life. Maybe it’s to get into my head and see where I am? How many times have we heard that in the meetings?”

  “Do you blame him?” He seemed to watch steadily for her answer. “One night together, and you’re pregnant.”

  “And I’m nobody.”

  “I didn’t say that, Zacari.”

  “You didn’t have to.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to you later at dinner. I just wanted to let you know I’m on your side. No one here will make you feel like you’re not welcome or you’re somehow less than we are as you seem to think.”

  He leaned forward as if to kiss her but thought better of it and walked out. Zacari shut the door behind him, careful not to slam it and let him know how this situation affected her. Anyway, her words and attitude had made that abundantly clear.

  Zacari unlocked her suitcase and pulled one blouse from the pile. Too sleepy to do more than that, she shoved the bag aside and flopped on the bed. Before she could consider all that had happened or what to wear to dinner, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Nine

  Zacari stepped from the shower, dried herself, and then pulled on a simple blouse and stretchy maternity jeans. After struggling into knee-highs, she pushed her feet into a pair of mules and left her room. Keary was just coming down the hall, and he paused in front of her.

  “Perfect timing. Are you ready?”

  She nodded. He took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Zacari looked up at him, and the encouraging expression on his face warmed her heart to him. “Thanks for staying by me in this,” she whispered.

  He drew her close. Zacari’s heart beat thumped hard in her chest. Her lips parted, drawing Keary’s eyes to them. He lowered his head. The kiss was fleeting, but it ignited a fire in her that she wanted only him to extinguish. Forget the meeting. Forget the dinner. Just let him hold her this way and make love to her.

  “We should go downstairs,” he mouthed against her cheek.

  She didn’t want to, but she let him help her down the stairs and into the living room. Jack sat on a couch holding a drink, and his wife was curled next to him. When Zacari and Keary entered, they both stood up.

  Claudia smiled. “How was your nap, Zacari? I hope you feel rested after your flight. I can only imagine how tiring it must be carrying a baby.” When she said the words, Zacari had the impression Claudia had never been pregnant before, but she didn’t detect sadness or regret.

  “Like nobody’s business,” Zacari agreed. “The more he grows, the more he seems to sit on my bladder, and I feel like I have to go to the bathroom all the time.”

  Jack’s eyes widened. “He?”

  Zacari shifted her attention to Jack. “Yes, the baby’s a boy. I have a picture from the last sonogram if you’d like so see. My…our son seems to be really proud of himself, so it wasn’t hard to find out that he was a boy.”

  Claudia laughed. “Oh yes, an O’Connor man.” Apparently she didn’t catch Zacari’s slip up or Jack’s reaction to it. Zacari didn’t look at Keary. The fact was she’d been calling her son her baby for six months while Keary wasn’t there, and breaking the habit didn’t come that easily. No doubt Jack was reading all kinds of evidence into it.

  When they were settled at the dinner table, and Claudia had laid out the delicious looking meal, Jack didn’t waste a minute getting to the point. “Zacari, you must know that I have concerns regarding the baby? Such as are you sure it’s Keary’s?”

  Claudia’s fork clattered to her plate. Keary swore, and Zacari just sat there with her mouth open. She’d heard Jack light into his executives at work. Not once did he raise his voice, and he really didn’t reprimand the lower orders. He’d talk to their supervisor and let them handle it. Jeb had once told her that was Jack’s way of respecting the chain of command and setting an example for everyone else to follow. He didn’t raise his voice now or seem unpleasant exactly. But like when she’d overheard him by chance talking to an executive about a problem, his gentle inquiries held the power to slice a person and make them feel like they’d gotten something wrong and they better fix it quick. No one’s life depended on getting the situation straight, but it felt like it. That was another of Jack’s gifts.

  “That’s not your concern. Zacari and I have cleared that up,” Keary assured him, but they hadn’t. Keary never even brought up the subject. Debbie claimed Keary would demand a paternity test.

  Jack waved a hand in Keary’s direction. “I don’t doubt you for a second, son.”

  “Meaning you doubt me,” Zacari snapped. All she wanted to do was throw her fork down and storm out, but that was like admitting she had something to hide or was doing something wrong. “With all due respect, Jack, I’m not a whore that sleeps around and doesn’t know who the father of my baby is. Now maybe I’ll lose my job for talking to you like this, but Keary’s right, it’s none of your damn business.”

  “Whoa, whoa,” Jack said. “I’m not accusing you of anything, Zacari. And what we say here has no bearing on your job. You are excellent at what you do. This time is just for us all to get to know each other, and I’m sure you’ll agree, getting all our cards out on the table is the best way to move forward.”

  She bit her lip. For all the time she’d known Jack, she couldn’t read what he was thinking or feeling. She had only her preconceived notions to go on, and it was hard letting them go with the first question like that. If Jack or Keary insisted, would she get a paternity test? Would she be offended? Hell yeah I would.

  “It’s not an unreasonable question,” Jack continued.

  “Maybe we should wait until after dinner to discuss this,” Claudia suggested. “Upsetting Zacari while she’s eating can’t be good for the baby or her.”

  Zacari smiled at Claudia, but it was pretty much too late. She’d lost her appetite. The only reason she shoveled a few bites into her mouth was for the baby. The bagel from this morning was long gone, along with the trail mix she always carried in her purse for snack attacks.

  Jack didn’t seem inclined to let the subject drop, but he gave in anyway. That was different. He always got the last word, and everyone bowed to his wishes. But this was home, and a man could rule a corporation all he wanted, but the woman he chose to marry often ran the show here. Keary found herself liking Claudia all the more. After dinner, she helped Claudia clear away the dishes, while the men headed into another room. Zacari rinsed and handed Claudia each dish as she piled them into the dishwasher.

  “Stop worrying,” Claudia said when they had remained silent for a while.

  “I’m not.”

  “You are,” she insisted. “You love him, and make no mistake if I can see it, Jack can too. For a man, he’s very perceptive. It freaked me out and annoyed the hell out of me when we were dating.” She laughed. “I thought he might be gay.”

  Zacari had at first squirmed at Claudia saying she loved Keary, but then she burst out laughing. “As if only gay men can be sensitive? I’ve never thought of Jack that way, but I guess he’d have to be to be able to read frickin’ everyone the way he does. I don’t think I’ve met anyone like him.”

  “Jack or Keary?”

  “Both.” She sighed. In retrospect, her ex-friend Pam had been so vain Zacari couldn’t share the hard stuff with her, so she didn’t know how to relate to Claudia now. And it wasn’t like the older woman was her mother-in-law. The way Claudia’s eyes shined with pride and love when she talked about Jack, she wasn’t going to admit her real feelings. For all she knew, Claudia might go back and tell Jack everything she said. “I like Keary. I admire Jack for his brilliance, but he’s not going to orchestrate me and my son’s lives like he controls everything at work. I came here this time, but I won’t be summoned again.”

  Claudia dried her hands on a towel and patted Zacari’s shoulder. “I understand. But what I was getting at saying Jack knows you love Keary is to say that while he can see it, he will evaluate whether he thinks you’re good for Keary. Do you know why Keary calls his father by his name?”

  Zacari shrugged.

  “Because they’ve always been more like close friends than anything else. They’re a lot alike.” She laughed. “Keary’s sister Karen calls Jack Daddy, but I don’t think Keary has since he was eight or nine.” She tapped her lip. “I guess you know their biological mother died when Keary was five. Maybe that’s what drew them close. Then I came along when Karen was three and Keary was seven. They’re my babies, and I love them very much.

  “Keary has his father’s temperament, never raises his voice, is kind but firm in what he wants. He has rarely found a reason to oppose his father, and if he does, they haggle it out. Keary seems satisfied that your baby is his, and he will make that known to Jack. So, you don’t have to worry. Jack will come to respect Keary’s decisions regarding this situation.”

  Zacari shook her head. “It’s funny, on the outside, it looks different. I thought Keary just did whatever Jack wanted him to.

  Claudia’s eyes widened. “A weak-willed man? Oh no no, my dear, Keary has his own mind. I’m sure you’ll see that before long. Well we better get in there before they think you ran away.”

  Zacari stiffened her back. “I’ve never run away from anyone, and I’m not about to now.”

  Claudia winked. “I didn’t think you would.”

  The two of them went to the living room where Jack and Claudia had waited before dinner. Keary and Jack stood up when they walked in, and Jack held out a hand to Claudia. She drifted with gentle grace into the crook of his arm, and Zacari’s heart ached to have the obvious love they shared. The three years she’d lived with Melvin, she still felt lonely. It was just after she caught him cheating that she realized they’d never truly loved each other.

  “Zacari,” Jack began, “what do your parents think about the baby? Are they supportive?”

  She stiffened. Keary turned to look at her. They’d never discussed her lack of family, so he didn’t know any more than his father did. Now that she knew Keary had his father, his stepmother, and a sister, she felt all the more alone. Not one single person in this world was truly on her side. She realized now that’s what had made Pam’s betrayal all the more devastating. Was she that blind to the way people were, or was she destined to be walk alone?

  “I never really knew my mother. She left my father and I when I was two. My father died of cancer when I was seventeen. As far as I know, I don’t have any other family.” At some point, she rested her hand on her belly without thinking. Zacari would show her son all the love in her heart. She’d never leave him, and she’d support him in whatever he did in life.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Jack said with a genuine inflection in his tone. “Shall we sit?”

  Jack and Claudia sat close side-by-side, but Zacari chose to put a little space between Keary and herself. She didn’t need his father to think she was weezling her way into their pockets. With that in mind, she decided to take a card from Jack’s book and be direct.

  “I know the thought that maybe I got pregnant on purpose is running through all of your heads. I can deny it, but I have no proof. My life and what I do will prove the kind of person I am.” She drew in a deep breath and found that her hands shook a little. Clutching them together in her lap, she continued. “I don’t want your money. I’ve already told Keary I don’t expect a thing from him. He doesn’t even have to be there.”

  Keary frowned. “And I told you, that I will be there. Period. You already know what it’s like for a parent to leave you. I know you don’t want that for our son.”

  She gasped. All this time, she hadn’t thought of that. How could she not? Yet, she’d only been thinking about herself and her own resolve. Of course if Keary wasn’t in her son’s life, her baby would question it at some point and feel the hurt and loss, especially when he looked around and saw other kids with their father present.

  “I never considered that,” she whispered.

  “It’s something you should think of,” Jack commented. “I didn’t raise Keary to shirk his responsibilities. You must accept that he will be a part of the child’s life. It’s the right thing to do.”

  Not because he loved the baby, but because it was right. Zacari hated these complications and the second guessing what everyone said. Her son didn’t deserve this either, but only time would straighten it all out, that and Zacari letting them know what she’d tolerate and what she wouldn’t if it got out of hand.

  Jack placed a hand on his wife’s knee, squeezed, and then stood up. “Good that part is settled.” He crossed to tea tray on wheels which she hadn’t noticed before. Several bottles of alcohol, glasses, and a bucket of ice sat on its surface. After asking Claudia and Keary what they wanted to drink, he made them and then brought Zacari a glass of orange juice.

  “Of course you don’t drink,” he said. The words didn’t even resemble a question.

  “No, I don’t. Thanks.” She took the glass and sipped from it.

  “Another point I wanted to make,” Jack continued, “was I understand you two weren’t in a relationship when this happened. You realize you and Keary don’t have to be together for you two to be involved with the child’s development?”

  Her eyebrow shot up. She clenched her jaw but didn’t say a word. Keary grunted, “Jack.”

  Jack’s smile didn’t waver. “It’s a simple question, son.” He paused waiting for her answer.

  She took her time draining her orange juice and then sat the glass down on a nearby table. When she slid to the edge of her seat, Keary rose to help her stand. She faced Jack head on since he hadn’t moved away after he handed her the drink. “I get it, okay. You’re not happy with this situation. You’re used to running the show, telling everybody where to go and what to do. You’re under the impression that you’re going to tell me in my personal life what I can and can’t do. But you are so wrong. If I sleep with your son again, I won’t be telling you about it or getting your permission. This meeting is over. I’m leaving in the morning. Claudia, good night.”

  Jack waited until Zacari was at the door and Keary had opened it before he spoke again. “I wanted to have Claudia take you shopping while you were in town. I’m sure you won’t deny my wife that pleasure?”

  Zacari stopped and closed her eyes. Earlier, she’d picked up on the fact that Claudia had never been pregnant, but with her sweet spirit and the excitement she showed about the baby, Zacari guessed the older woman would love to shop for baby items.

  “Oh, my goodness, that would be so much fun!” Claudia exclaimed. “We could do lunch afterward or before, and I know the best stores to visit in Manhattan.”

  How the heck could she say no to that? Keary moved in close to her, and his breath stirred a tendril of her hair. He rested a hand at the small of her back. “If you want to go, I will take you. You do not have to feel like you’re obligated. Whatever you want, Zacari.”

  She glanced up at him. His expression showed kindness, but was he reading her to know she wouldn’t say no to Claudia who’d done nothing to offend her? Would he go against what Jack wanted should she resist? After all, he’d come at the summons too.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’ll stay one more day.”

  “Great.” Jack approached her. “I’ll arrange for—”

  “Claudia and I can make the arrangements on our own, thanks. Good night.” This time she didn’t wait for him to say more. She hurried out with Keary at her side. He walked with her up to her room and stopped outside her door.

  “You seem determined to antagonize him.” He grinned.

  She put a hand on her hip. “Well I’m not bowing to his every wish, that’s for sure.”

  “I hope you’re not insinuating that I am.”