A Baby by Christmas. Linda Warren

“He can’t be yours. He can’t,” she cried desperately, not even recognizing her own voice.

      He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

      A sob left her throat.

      “It wasn’t intentional. I met Sherry years ago.”

      “She was a drug addict.” Her words sounded more accusing than she’d intended.

      His jaw tightened and he picked up his socks from the floor. “I’m going to the farm. I’ll give you some time to cool off.”

      She bit her lip. “You can’t leave. We haven’t talked.”

      “Maybe tomorrow.”

      “You’re not coming back tonight?”

      “No, I need time to think.”

      She waved a hand. “So you’re just…leaving?”

      “Yes,” he replied woodenly.

      “That won’t help.”

      He watched her for a second. “As I said, we both need some time right now. You’re upset and I’m in a state of shock. I don’t want to say anything I’ll regret later.”

      “Fine,” she snapped, astounded by how much his words hurt her.

      He nodded and walked out.

      “Jake…Jake…don’t go.” But no one heard her plea. Painful silence echoed through her and she started to cry. The future was so bright and now… She caught sight of Derek’s picture. Derek wouldn’t hurt me like this…never. With Derek’s picture in her hand, she curled up on the bed. More tears followed.

      After a while, she wiped her eyes and sat up. What was wrong with her? She was overreacting—dramatically. The boy probably wasn’t even Jake’s and she’d spoken impulsively and selfishly. Now she’d have to spend the night alone. She stared at the photo in her arms. A picture wasn’t much company in the middle of the night and she’d gotten used to having Jake in her bed.

      Please don’t let the boy be Jake’s, she prayed.

      JAKE SLEPT IN HIS OWN BED for the first time in months, but it wasn’t the same. He kept reaching for Elise. She had a habit of snuggling into him, and then he’d wrap his arms around her. He could almost smell her perfume, her feminine scent. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a glass of milk and a banana. He sat at the table in his underwear and took a look around the room. Everything was new and shiny. Mistakenly thinking Elise would want to live here, he’d had the farmhouse completely redone. The house had belonged to his grandfather and had a wraparound porch and lots of mullioned windows for air circulation. But Jake had installed central air and heat years ago. Still, the house retained the ambience of older days. He’d painted it inside and out, put on a new roof and given it a makeover that included new appliances, enlarging the master bedroom and adding its own private bath. There’d been only one bathroom in the house and Jake had also installed a bath in the utility room. He put as much white as he could in the house because Elise liked it, but there was a lot of natural wood, which he kept. The result was very rustic with a modern touch. He’d done everything for Elise.

      He ran both hands over his face. They’d gotten married in such a hurry and it had seemed logical to live in Elise’s house because it was close to the university, as Elise had pointed out. Her days were full with teaching, and her summer schedule had already been planned with graduate students—he saw very little of her except at night. Of course, he was occupied harvesting a corn crop and watching over his planted cotton, too. Both their lives were so busy and they’d never talked about where they would eventually live. Was he crazy to think she’d ever come here?

      He’d certainly hoped that she would, because all he could see in his future was Elise and he knew he’d fallen…His whole body jerked as the thought ran through him like an electrical shock. In love with her. Love? What the hell did he know about love? Not a thing, he answered himself. He knew that it hurt and he was feeling a lot of that, plus a few other emotions that left a hollow ache in his belly, not to mention his heart. Was this love? How did it happen? And when?

      Maybe it was that first time he looked into her blue eyes or when he’d kissed her or made love to her. Made love? Oh, God, he was making love and she was having sex. He recognized the difference. Painfully.

      Somehow his feelings had deepened between that first look and the many heated encounters. Now what? He wasn’t familiar with this type of love, but it was a powerful feeling. That was what all the irritation was about. Elise didn’t love him. If she did, she would’ve tried to be supportive about the possibility of his having a son. Instead she was blaming him for an indiscretion he wasn’t even aware he’d committed. A son? He could have a son. The realization threatened to overwhelm him, but he couldn’t dwell on it or the what-ifs. First, he had to have the truth.

      He heard a noise and saw Wags, his dog, coming through the doggy door. Wags rested his head on Jake’s thigh and Jake rubbed his ears. Wags was a medium-size, yellowish-brown Labrador retriever mix. Mike, his foreman, had gotten him as a puppy and given him to Jake. Wags wagged his tail constantly, as he was doing now, hence his name.

      “Where you been, boy?” Jake asked, continuing to stroke him. “Out chasing rabbits?”

      Wags growled.

      “What are you gonna do if you ever catch one?” Jake laughed.

      Wags barked.

      He got up and opened a can of dog food and spooned it into his dish. Wags gobbled up the food, his tail working overtime. “Life is pretty simple for you, isn’t it, boy? No responsibility, no worries, or guilty conscience. Just basic primal needs.”

      Jake returned to the table; Wags followed and curled up beside his chair. His thoughts turned to Sherry. She’d been friendly, helpful and outgoing, and he was attracted to her energetic personality. His room at the hotel had a water leak in the bathroom and she’d quickly arranged a move to a suite, even though the hotel was crowded. To make up for his inconvenience, she offered to buy his dinner. He assumed she’d meant the hotel would pay for his dinner, but when he went down, she was sitting at his table. He didn’t mind. She was pretty and good company. Being away from home, he found it pleasant to have someone to talk to.

      When they returned to his room, she began to rip off his clothes and he knew she wasn’t the woman he’d thought she was. But he didn’t do much resisting. Later in the week, he found her in the bathroom doing cocaine. He didn’t want anything else to do with her and told her so. She called him a few names and that was the last he’d seen of her. Could she have already been pregnant? They’d used a condom and she’d said she was on the pill, so there was no way she could have gotten pregnant. No way. The little boy had brown eyes and hair and Jake’s name was on his birth certificate. Those facts kept torturing him.

      He sighed tiredly. No, he wouldn’t do this to himself. Tomorrow he’d take the blood test and wait. The results would determine the rest of his life—a life with or without Elise.

      CHAPTER TWO

      THE NEXT MORNING JAKE WOKE up to the smell of bacon frying and knew he was home. Wags was asleep on his mat in Jake’s room. When Jake rolled out of bed, Wags trotted into the kitchen, enticed by the smell of food. Jake hurriedly dressed, trying not to think about Elise and how it felt to wake up with his arms around her.

      Aunt Lavina stood at the stove—a short, thin woman with permed gray hair and blue eyes. She was his father’s sister and Jake had always called her Aunt Vin; everyone did. She’d never married or had children and when Althea left, she came to help raise Jake and she’d been at the farm ever since. She’d worked as a secretary for years, but now she was retired.

      “Morning, Aunt Vin.” Jake kissed her cheek.

      She raised an eyebrow at him. “The honeymoon over?”

      He was well aware she was referring to the fact that he’d slept in his own bed last