Dead Giveaway (Stillwater Trilogy #2)(95)
Author: Brenda Novak

"Can he come in?" she asked, looking up at him with such earnest hope he couldn’t have refused even if he’d wanted to.

"Sure." Clay could see the three-month-old Labrador retriever he’d bought jumping up against the house, trying to reach the humans he’d spotted through the window. "It appears he likes you, too."

"Is he yours?" Whitney asked. "He has a bow around his neck."

Clay moved to the door. "That’s because he’s a present."

Allie glanced over at him, but it was Whitney who asked, "For who?"

"For you." He let the puppy in and she squealed in delight. Amid the licks and yelps and giggles of their mutual admiration, she managed to calm down enough to turn to her mother. "Can I have him, Mommy? Can I have him, please? Huh, Mommy? Please, oh, please, oh please! "

"I’m sorry, honey," Allie said gently. "But we can’t have a dog at the rental house. The landlord won’t allow it."

Clay bent down to Whitney’s level and petted the puppy while he talked. "See, that’s the thing," he said. "You can have him, but you and your mom would have to move in here with me so you could help take care of him."

"We would?" she asked, suddenly leery. "What about Boppo?"

"Boppo?"

"Grandma McCormick," Allie supplied.

"She’d probably stay at the rental house," Clay said.

"By herself?"

He offered Allie a hopeful smile. "Unless she moves back with your grandpa."

Whitney kept her eye on the wriggling puppy as if she feared he might disappear. "But Boppo wouldn’t like it if me and Mommy moved in with you, would she?"

"Not at first," he agreed. "But she’d get used to it, and she wouldn’t mind nearly as much if your mommy and I got married."

"Married?" Whitney breathed.

This was where Clay feared he’d run into opposition. "How do you feel about that?"

"You’d be my new daddy? "

"You wouldn’t have to think of me that way unless you wanted to," he said. "We could be friends, until we get to know each other better."

"So we’d live here and be friends and then I could have the puppy?"

Allie was far too quiet. But he’d plunged in wholeheartedly, and it was too late to back out.

"That’s right," he said. But he knew Whitney would have much more than that. She’d have everything he could give her.

"Okay!" She made the decision that easily, and it wasn’t a moment later that she was rolling around with the puppy, squealing as he licked her face. "He likes me!"

"You could’ve warned me," Allie murmured, looking a little shocked. "I sort of expected us to take things a bit slower."

"Why? I already know what I want." He ran his thumb along her jawline. "Don’t you?"

She met his gaze. "Yes, but–"

He slipped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck, hoping to encourage her to forgive him. "I’ll be a good dad."

She seemed more exasperated than upset. "I know you will, but…you bribed her!"

"I have a bribe for you," he promised.

She pulled back to stare into his face. "A wedding ring?"

He grinned. "That, too."

Epilogue

Clay held Whitney’s hand as they strolled behind Allie, who was pushing their cart, in the PigglyWiggly. He’d felt Beth Ann’s eyes following them since they’d walked through the door, could almost hear her whispering when she turned to speak to Polly, who worked in the deli section right next to the bakery. He had no idea what she might be saying–what was there to say?

He’d been married to Allie for six months, and they were the best six months of his life. Although they saw Beth Ann at church each Sunday, he hadn’t spoken to her, didn’t miss her in the least. But she always reacted to their presence.

"Daddy, can I have a doughnut?"

Clay looked down at the little girl who’d brought him to his knees in the first few weeks of their acquaintance. Although he’d wanted a child, he’d never expected to love one this much.

"I don’t think so, babe," he said. "You had ice cream earlier. And it’s almost time for dinner."

"What if I only eat half of it?" she asked. "Or save it for tomorrow?"

He knew he should say no. But she was giving him the dimpled smile he couldn’t resist.

"Please, Daddy?"

She probably thought "please" was the magic word. But it was the "Daddy" that got him.

"Listen to your father," Allie said, preoccupied with her shopping. But Clay had spoken at the same time–and already succumbed. "Okay. If you save it."

Stopping, grocery list still in hand, his wife turned to face him. "You’re giving in to her just like that?"

"Don’t I always?" he said with a grin.

Shaking her head, Allie chuckled. "Who would ever have thought you’d be such a pushover?"

"You?" Pulling her to him, he stole a kiss. He knew she wasn’t really annoyed; she loved the way he treated Whitney. She was ready for another child, especially since she’d decided to be a stay-at-home mom for a while. But he was the one who’d chosen to wait, so that Whitney could have a solid year, at least, alone with them.

"You’ve got to stop spoiling her," Allie said, halfheartedly.

"You get the milk and eggs, and we’ll meet you at the checkout," he said so she wouldn’t have to go to the bakery with them.

Frowning, Allie glanced BethAnn’s way, confirming the fact that she was more opposed to the other woman’s proximity than to Whitney’s eating a doughnut. "Okay, but don’t let Beth Ann poison it," she muttered for his ears alone.

He squeezed her arm, then led Whitney toward the display case that held the cakes and doughnuts.

When Beth Ann saw them coming, she stopped whispering and straightened to her full height. She’d also unbuttoned the top two buttons of her uniform–as if it was so hot in the store she simply couldn’t keep her clothes on. Even though it was the dead of winter…

Clay had no trouble ignoring her cle**age. He squatted in front of the glass, more interested in enjoying Whitney’s excitement over her treat. "Which one do you want, half-pint?" he asked.

"The long one. The one with brown frosting."

"We’ll have a maple bar," he said to Beth Ann, rising.

Beth Ann reached into the case, pulled out a maple bar and put it in a sack. But when he tried to take it from her, she wouldn’t let go. "How’ve you been?" she asked, her eyes hungry enough to make him pity her.