Marriage by Contract Part 3. Sandra Steffen

she was beginning to believe they might all make it through the evening without incident. She wasn’t surprised that everyone seemed taken with Tony. After all, he was a doctor, which was a fitting profession in their eyes. He was also an incredibly charming man.

      “Beth?”

      The absent way she said “Hmm?” earned her a smile from her sister.

      “I’m sorry to break into your reverie, and I know Mother doesn’t think we should wake a sleeping child, but MacKenzie and I would like to be home before the children go to bed. And I’d really love to see the baby.”

      Beth started to turn toward the doorway that led to the foyer, but was stopped by Janet’s quiet voice. “I know how much work planning an evening such as this requires, and here you’ve done it with a newborn baby in the house. You must be exhausted. May I bring him down?”

      Beth nodded, and Janet walked away, the swish of her skirt as elegant as her demeanor. Janet was two years older than Beth. Their hair was a similar color, but Janet’s was smooth and manageable. She was pretty and bright and nice—the perfect Bower sister. In comparison, Beth had always felt second-rate, especially in their parents’ eyes. Her grades had never been perfect, her choice of careers a mystery to them, her divorce shameful. She hadn’t even been able to get something as simple and basic as motherhood right.

      “Look, everyone. Isn’t he adorable?” Janet called softly, practically floating toward the center of the room with Christopher in her arms.

      Beth smiled just as she did every time she caught a glimpse of that small bundle of joy. Christopher was sucking on his fist. Honestly, she couldn’t have felt more pride burgeoning inside her if he had been negotiating world peace. In that instant she realized that there was no wrong way to become a mother. It didn’t matter that her baby hadn’t grown beneath her heart. This special child had grown within it.

      She glanced at her family and was pleased to see them smiling their approval.

      “He’s a fine-looking boy.”

      “He seems very alert.”

      “He’s undoubtedly extremely bright.”

      “Just look at all that dark hair.”

      Tony wasn’t really surprised at the Bowers’ reactions to Christopher. If they hadn’t been decent people, Beth wouldn’t have turned out the way she had. She was standing next to her sister. Side by side, the family resemblance was unmistakable. Both of them had inherited their height and hair color from their father, and their poise and bone structure from their mother.

      “Beth,” Janet said, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if his eyes turned blue like yours?”

      “If his eyes are blue, they’ll be like Annie’s, not mine,” Beth said, accepting Christopher from Janet’s outstretched arms.

      “Who’s Annie, my dear?” Winston Bower asked.

      “She’s the young girl who gave birth to him.”

      Tony had never heard a more simple statement change the atmosphere in a room so suddenly and completely. The Bowers were far too polite to gasp, but they did share collective deep breaths and furtive glances.

      “You’ve actually met the birth mother?” Katherine asked.

      At Beth’s nod, her father said, “Do you think that’s wise?”

      “It would have been difficult to deliver Christopher if Annie hadn’t been present, Father.”

      “You delivered that baby?” Winston asked.

      Beth’s gaze darted around the room. She didn’t like where the conversation was headed but wasn’t certain how to curtail it. “Annie did the hard part,” she said quietly. “All Tony and I had to do was…”

      Having never had a stomach for even the most innocuous scratches and contusions, Katherine held up a delicate hand and gave her head a firm shake. “Bethany, please, you know how I react to the mere thought of…”

      “Hors d’oeuvres, anyone?”

      All eyes turned to Janet, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere holding a silver tray containing little cucumber sandwiches and stuffed mushrooms. “Do try the mushrooms, Mother. Beth made them, and they’re delicious.”

      Katherine and Winston both relaxed, accepting one of each. The topic was changed and the moment was saved. Janet smiled demurely at everyone she passed. Beth smiled in return, thinking there was something to be said for having a sister who was perfect in every way.

      * * *

      “Well?” Beth asked, moving Christopher to her shoulder for a burp. “Were they what you expected?”

      “I liked them.”

      The rocking chair they’d received from Tony’s grandmother creaked slightly, and Beth’s hand thudded quietly as she patted the baby’s narrow back. Christopher had finished his formula and was sleeping soundly, which meant the last burp wasn’t going to be easy to draw out. Since she’d learned the hard way what happened if she laid him down before he’d released it, she continued to pat his back.

      “No, really,” she said to Tony, who was lounging in the doorway on the other side of Christopher’s narrow room. “You don’t have to spare my feelings.”

      “I’m not sparing anything. I think they’re very pompous but nice in an upper-crust kind of way. They seem to have accepted your marriage and the fact that they weren’t invited to the wedding with a certain degree of diplomacy. Now I know where all that poise of yours comes from.”

      “That,” she said quietly, “was one thing I got right.”

      Christopher released a sound that was bigger than he was, eliciting a smile from both Beth and Tony. Staying where he was in the doorway, Tony said, “Oh, I think you’ve gotten a lot more right than poise.”

      The baby sighed in his sleep. Kissing his smooth, soft cheek, Beth was filled with maternal love for the child in her arms, and with longing for the man watching them from the doorway. Tony had removed his tie as soon as everyone left and unbuttoned his shirt some time later. His dress slacks were slung low on his hips, his chest and feet as naked as the longing in his eyes.

      Wondering if Christopher could feel her heart rate accelerate, she rose from the chair and slowly lowered him into his crib. “They took the news quite well, considering,” she said, referring to her family’s reaction to her sudden marriage and decision to adopt Christopher. “And they all seemed to like you. Even my mother.”

      “What’s not to like?”

      She rolled her eyes before covering the baby with a lightweight blanket. “Janet told me I’d made a wise choice. Coming from her, that was high praise. Janet is the perfect daughter, you see, and I’m her somewhat-less-than-perfect younger sister.”

      “Families are complicated. God knows, mine is. I get the feeling your mother would have preferred you to choose some nice, safe career, if you had to have a career at all. Her remarks tonight were intended to remind you of your place and social standing, and hold you there. That isn’t where you want to be.”

      Beth straightened and slowly turned. Smiling, she whispered, “Thank you for the recap.”

      “Anytime.”

      Tony pushed himself from the door frame and ambled into the room with the easy grace of a man who knew exactly what he wanted. Beth’s eyes closed dreamily, because what he wanted was her, and being wanted by Tony Petrocelli was a very heady sensation.

      Yesterday had marked the one-week anniversary of their wedding. They’d gotten off to a slow start, so to speak, but they’d made up for lost time these past few days. Sometimes their lovemaking had been as long and languid as a summer afternoon. Other times they came together like two people sharing an illicit stolen moment. Those times, their lovemaking was frenzied, their desire catching