Not Quite Mine (Not Quite #2)(42)
Author: Catherine Bybee

“She’s yours, isn’t she?” Dean asked.

“Yes. No. Well, not quite mine.” That had to be the most screwed-up answer to a question ever.

“Which is it?” Dean’s question was soft.

Katie placed a plastic liner into a bottle and filled it with formula. A pot was already on the stove to boil so she turned it on. “Legally she’s mine. At least as far as we can tell.”

“I don’t understand. How can you not know?”

“It’s complicated, Dean.”

Dean turned toward the living room and watched Savannah on the swing. “She’s grown. It’s Savannah, right?”

“Yeah.”

Dean removed his cowboy hat and tossed it on table. It was his way of saying he wasn’t leaving any time soon. “I could use a beer.”

Katie opened the refrigerator and handed him one.

He finished half of it in one swallow. His shoulders slumped and he blew out a long-suffering sigh. “She’s why you’ve been so worn out, why you’re not at the hotel?”

“Yeah. Monica let us stay here until we work things out. I couldn’t exactly parade an infant around without everyone knowing about her. Daddy would blow a gasket and Jack…I don’t even know what Jack would do.”

“I don’t get it. You need to start at the beginning, darlin’, cuz I’m lost. You have a baby that may or may not be yours. When I looked for you at the hotel, they said you were out…late at night. They rambled off a list of names trying to come up with mine. Is everything a lie?”

I had to lie.

Guilt for her deception made her fidget. “I’ll tell you everything, Dean.”

“Why do I hear a but in your voice?”

“But you need to promise me you’ll keep this between the two of us. For now anyway.”

His eyes narrowed again. “Are you in trouble?”

“No. Nothing like that. Promise me, Dean. Before I tell you anything you have to promise you’ll keep silent.”

He placed his empty beer bottle on the counter and covered her hand with his. “I promise, now spill. What the hell is going on?”

Chapter Seventeen

The entire time Katelyn told her crazy-ass story she moved about the room fussing and feeding Savannah. She fed, burped, and cleaned up the baby’s mess without so much as a frown. Katie didn’t even seem to notice the patch of wetness that missed the cloth and soaked into her dress shirt.

Dean watched in utter fascination and attempted to wrap his mind around the story Katie told. Babies left on doorsteps and fabricated documents giving custody of a child to a stranger. The whole thing was out of a soap opera yet it was actually happening to someone he knew. Someone he cared about.

“I’ve hired a private investigator to locate the real mom. You met him. Patrick Nelson.”

“Patrick?” He couldn’t remember a man by that name.

“Ben Sanderson. You remember. Older gentleman.”

“The old guy. Right.” What a relief that was.

“He’s not that old.”

“Too old for you,” he told her.

She grinned for the first time since he entered the apartment. “Jealous, Dean?”

“Damn right. So let me get this straight. You’ve spent every night possible right here with Savannah and Monica and only a handful of nights crashing at the hotel?”

“Yeah.”

“No guys. You’re not seeing anyone?”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Like I have time. Oh, wait…this is a jealous thing. You were worried I’d been sleeping around?”

“That’s what you wanted everyone to believe.” He certainly had. Considering their past…her past, the lie was easily believed. Yet somehow, someway, he knew something was wrong, and Jack had been one hundred percent correct. Katie hadn’t been acting normal because nothing about her life was normal. The party girl everyone knew was at home playing house. Alone.

“I wasn’t,” she said plainly. “Well, except last night…with you.” She paused. “Listen, about last night—”

Dean held up a hand and stopped her. “No About last night conversations yet. We’re not done with this one. So you hired a PI and you’ve found out what?”

“Nearly nothing. I’m expecting a call from Patrick any day. We’re baffled. You and my doctors were the only ones to know about my inability to conceive so Patrick is digging into anyone who works in the doctor’s office. I’m not the first rich woman who’s had a baby left on her doorstep I’m sure. But this felt personal. Like the woman knew me.”

“But you don’t know her?”

“Not a clue.”

“Wow.” He was equally relieved and concerned. Relieved that Katie wasn’t sleeping around with another man, not to mention she had a damn good explanation for her odd behavior. He was concerned that the baby’s mother would show up and take Savannah away. Or worse, accuse Katie of taking her.

“Wow. It’s a lot to take in.”

“Tell me about it.” Katie glanced down at Savannah who was content to sit in her lap playing with a colorful rattle she could hardly hold.

Katie leaned down and kissed Savannah’s nose. “You’re the most precious thing ever. Aren’t you?”

Dean swallowed hard. He didn’t consider himself an emotional sap but seeing a woman with her baby made his heart swell. He’d thought of this moment well over a year ago when they’d learned of Katie’s pregnancy.

Then after the miscarriage, Katie acted distant…broke off everything between them. Watching her now, he asked himself if maybe everything Katie did then was a defense mechanism. Her way of coping with the loss. Here he thought she’d been a selfish child when clearly that wasn’t the case.

There was no mistaking the bond between Katie and Savannah. Deep in his heart he’d believed that, all those months ago, Katie was as into becoming a mother as he was about being a dad. Seeing her like this, with a child in her lap, made him remember their quiet moments, their honest moments.

“You’ll never let her go, will you?” Dean asked.

Katie shook her head. “Not without a fight.”

“So why look for the mother at all?”

Katie met his eyes and blew out a breath. “Wouldn’t you? If someone left a child on your doorstep, wouldn’t you wonder who the parents were? Not to mention the legal reasons.”