Baby Makes a Match Read online

  “You could’ve told me,” Kaylie accused before abruptly shooting Bethany an apologetic glance. “I didn’t even know he was seeing anyone, let alone married!”

  Chandler seemed to struggle for an explanation before he finally said, “We decided for our own reasons to keep it quiet.”

  Kaylie turned to Bethany, saying sweetly, “Hello. I’m Kaylie.”

  Bethany trilled her fingers in a hesitant wave. “Bethany. Pleased to meet you.”

  “Come, come!” tittered Odelia, waving them all toward the parlor. “Come and see!”

  Kaylie tossed a look at Chandler as she moved to follow her aunt, muttering, “You’re lucky that was my fist and not Stephen’s.”

  Chandler sighed again and rolled his eyes, holding out his hand to Bethany. She went to him gratefully. Together they entered the parlor.

  “Surprise!”

  This time it was a group effort. The aunties stood around a tea trolley laden with a white cake decorated with spun, sugar roses and the words “Congratulations, Bethany and Chandler.” It looked for all the world like a single-layer wedding cake. Thankfully, it bore nothing so incriminating as bells or a tiny statue of a bride and groom. The cake in itself would have been surprise enough; add Garrett and the rest of the staff along with an entire shop full of baby goods, and the effect was simply stunning.

  Beside her, Chandler seemed every bit as staggered as Bethany was by the goods crammed into the room. He lifted his hands, palms out, as if to say, “What happened?”

  With a glance in Kaylie’s direction, Hypatia answered the unasked question. “We went shopping for the baby. The, ah, cake was Hilda’s idea.”

  “Oooh,” Bethany said, spying a beautiful spooled crib. That was for her baby? She rushed toward it, unable to help herself.

  The aunts had outfitted the antique reproduction with a blue, yellow and green patchwork quilt, pale blue sheets and matching tailored bed skirt. In addition, it was filled with stuffed animals and tiny clothes.

  “Oh, look!” There was a neat little sailor suit spread across a teensy pillow and next to that a wee pair of blue jeans and color-blocked, Western-style shirt.

  Chandler nudged a stuffed horse on wheels with one booted toe. “First mount,” he said with a chuckle.

  All in all, there was more paraphernalia than Bethany could ever have imagined. She’d pictured a secondhand bassinet, a few glass bottles and a small layette, and here was everything they could possibly need!

  Chandler stood in the midst of it all and spread his arms, saying to his aunts, “You know you’ve gone way overboard.”

  “Oh, but we had such fun,” Hypatia said dismissively, waving them over to the tea cart with a regal roll of her hand. “Come now and cut the cake.”

  Hilda, her thin, straight, gray-and-gold hair tucked behind her ears, produced an elegant silver server, smiling so widely that her double chins almost wreathed her face. Her husband, Chester, dressed in his usual short-sleeved white shirt and black slacks with black suspenders, produced a camera and focused it at the tea trolley, while Hilda’s sister Carol, her dull blond hair wrapped around her head in a thin braid, hurried to take small china dessert plates from beneath the cart.

  Chandler looked at Bethany and held out his hand, one eyebrow arched. Smiling, she went to him and together they moved behind the tea trolley. Hilda turned over the silver cake server. Bethany gripped it. Grinning, Chandler wrapped his big hand around hers, and they posed for the camera. They cut the first piece of the single layer, then laughingly carved out two more while Chester continued to snap photos. These first pieces were served to the aunties. A piece for Kaylie followed, then those for Garrett and the staff. Finally, they cut a piece to share.

  Carol handed them two forks, and for a moment, they stood there staring at each other. Chandler’s gaze slid to his sister. Then he looked back to Bethany, cut off a bite and fed it to her. With Kaylie there it was foolish, but Bethany couldn’t resist indulging in this one minor wedding ritual. She mirrored Chandler’s actions. He was smiling when he started to chew. Then suddenly he snatched the plate from Bethany’s hand and pretended to hold her off while gobbling it down. Everyone laughed. Immediately, Hilda took up the server to plop another piece onto an empty china plate and shove it into Bethany’s hands.

  She no longer cared what she looked like in her well-worn clothes and messy bun with her pregnant belly sticking out. She was at her husband’s side, celebrating their marriage and coming child among friends and family. It occurred to her suddenly that these dear old ladies were now her aunts as well as Chandler’s and, by extension, Matthew’s. That, too, was reason to celebrate.

  When Kaylie sought her out a little later, Bethany allowed herself to be pulled aside with only a hint of trepidation.

  “It’s belated, but welcome to the family,” she said.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m stunned, of course. This is so unlike Chandler. I mean, to marry in secret without telling anyone, and then to present us with baby and bride at once.”

  “I-It’s not what you think,” Bethany began, swamped with guilt, but Chandler was suddenly at her side, his arm sliding about her shoulders.

  “It is what it is,” he stated defensively. “It’s not like I need the family’s approval to marry.”

  “Of course not,” Kaylie said. “But what about Dad? He’s going to be hurt because you didn’t let him perform the ceremony and because you didn’t tell him the truth when you first introduced him to Bethany.”

  Chandler bowed his head. “It wasn’t my intention to hurt Dad, and he didn’t exactly give me a chance to explain anything. He just jumped to the worst possible conclusions about me.”

  Kaylie threw up her hands. “So you didn’t tell him that you were married? Yeah, that makes perfect sense.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Bethany muttered. Surely, they could trust his sister and the rest of the family with the truth. “We were only ma—”

  “Doing what was best for us,” Chandler interrupted, clamping her tightly against his side. “If Dad can’t accept that, it’s his problem.”

  Kaylie sighed. “I’m not saying he was right to jump to conclusions, but it wouldn’t have killed you to do the right thing even if he didn’t.”

  “Chandler always does the right thing,” Bethany declared, frowning. “You should know that.”

  Kaylie blinked at her. And then she beamed. “Yes. You’re right.” She turned her smile on her brother. “He does always do the right thing. Eventually.”

  “You three come have some tea,” Hypatia called just then, having seated herself in her favorite chair.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kaylie replied. She quickly leaned in and kissed Bethany’s cheek, then patted her brother’s and walked back to join the party, smiling.

  Chandler kept his arm about Bethany’s shoulders until his sister was out of earshot. Then he put his forehead to Bethany’s, lifted a hand to her belly and softly said, “This is my son, mine and yours. That’s what we agreed and that’s all anyone needs to know. Right? When and where we married is no one else’s business.”

  “You can’t blame me for not wanting her to think badly of you,” Bethany argued softly. “She thinks you lied to your father about being married!”

  “All that matters is that you’re now my wife,” he whispered, “the mother of my child, and what’s best for the two of you takes precedent over everything else. Besides, Kaylie’s too sweet to think badly of anyone, least of all one of her brothers.”

  Bethany sighed. She hated that no one else really knew what a selfless, caring thing he had done. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. Bethany closed her eyes, wishing that this marriage wasn’t just a convenient arrangement. She wanted a real marriage and real love with a real man. Like Chandler.

  Hypatia called them again, and they broke apart to eat more cake and drink cups of tea, herbal in Bethany’s case, in secret celebration of a marriage that really wasn’t. W
hy, Bethany wondered, did that always seem to be the case where she was concerned?

  A wedding, Chandler told himself again, deserved to be celebrated, even if it had to be celebrated in secret, and he blessed the aunties for seeing to it. He was glad that his sister had wandered into the midst of the thing, too, even if it had caused some uncomfortable moments. He hated not telling her the whole truth, especially because it seemed to pain Bethany, but the more people who knew, the greater the chance that Matthew’s parentage would be questioned. Chandler wasn’t worried about Widener. The man would be a fool to inject himself into the situation at this point. Bethany, on the other hand, could be publicly embarrassed without the names Widener or Carter ever coming into it, and that Chandler could not abide.

  Still, Kaylie was his sister, one of the people who loved him most in this world, and she would never knowingly do anything to hurt him or anyone else. That was the very thought in his mind when Bethany yawned behind her hand and excused herself before heading upstairs for a nap.

  “I’ll bring all this stuff up later,” Chandler told her, and Garrett promised to help.

  “I should be going, too,” Kaylie said, getting to her feet. “Stephen and Dad will be wondering what happened to me. Walk me out,” she said to Chandler.

  He cast a glance at the aunties before following his sister out into the foyer. She turned on him at once, whispering, “You don’t fool me, Chandler Chatam.”

  Alarmed, he took her arm and steered her into the library, closing the door behind them.

  “You just married that girl,” she went on. “I don’t know why you waited. Maybe you didn’t know about the baby until recently. Maybe you had to be sure that you were the father.”

  He looked her straight in the eye and said, “I am that baby’s father, and I don’t want anyone thinking otherwise.”

  “Oh, Chandler.” She hugged him. “Of course you’re the baby’s father.” She pulled back and framed his face with her hands. “And you obviously adore Bethany and your son.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that, except, “I—I just want to do what’s best for them.”

  “Naturally. Whatever held you two back, I’m glad you worked it out because she’s obviously head over heels for you, too.”

  He’d have laughed at that—if it hadn’t hurt so unexpectedly to know that Kaylie was wrong about Bethany’s feelings. “‘Chandler always does the right thing,’” Kaylie mimicked dreamily. “No wonder you love her so much. She thinks you hung the moon.”

  Love Bethany? Even as his heart clunked inside his chest, he opened his mouth to deny it, but then he clamped his lips shut again. What kind of an idiot denied loving his own wife? Besides, he wasn’t entirely sure that he didn’t love Bethany. On some level.

  Oh, who was he kidding. He was crazy about her. Not that it made one whit of difference. The marriage was what it was, what they had agreed to.

  “I—I’m sorry about Dad,” he said truthfully, turning the conversation away from his feelings for Bethany and hers for him, or her lack of them.

  “I know,” Kaylie said, “and don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me. You’ve done the right thing, and that’s what matters most.”

  “I’m not asking you to lie to anyone,” he pointed out, mentally squirming.

  She waved a hand as she got to her feet. “Of course not, but whenever anyone asks me when and where you got married, I’ll simply say that I’m not sure of the date, which is the absolute truth. You eloped, with none of the family the wiser. I’ll have to tell the rest of the family that you and Bethany are married, though, especially Dad.”

  Chandler shrugged. “I never intended to keep them in the dark indefinitely.”

  “Dad’s going to be upset.”

  “So what else is new?”

  She shook her head. “Chandler, you’ve got to make your peace with him.”

  “I know, I know, and I will. When the time is right.”

  Kaylie sighed. “I guess that will have to do. Now, I have to get home before Stephen and Dad run out of polite conversation.” She promised to tell Chandler all about the trip later and hurried off saying that she was looking for a larger house to lease for the three of them while her and Stephen’s new house was being built. “A much larger house,” she said with a cheeky grin.

  “Thankfully we’re here with the aunties,” Chandler told her with heartfelt sincerity.

  She went out, chuckling. Chandler walked into the foyer to find Magnolia there, obviously waiting for him.

  “I just wanted to let you know that we moved your things into the master suite,” she said softly.

  Chandler’s eyebrows jumped up into his hairline. “What about Garrett?” How was he to share a suite with Bethany and her brother without letting the latter know that this marriage was not all it seemed?

  “Garrett’s moved back into the carriage house,” Mags told Chandler. “That leaves plenty of room for the baby.”

  Relieved, Chandler blurted, “Thanks, but I hope we’re in our own place before he’s born.”

  “Oh, what a shame that would be,” Magnolia said, all but pouting. Chandler’s jaw dropped. Mags was the last one he’d have expected this from! She quickly recovered and lifted her chin, adding, “Odelia will be so disappointed.”

  Laughing, Chandler hugged her. “You don’t fool me, you old softie.”

  Magnolia gave him a sheepish grin. “Having a baby around could be fun.”

  Chandler headed for the stairs. “I’ll remind you of that when he’s waking up the whole household night after night.” Suddenly he wondered if he’d lost his ever-loving mind. What did he really know about being a father or a husband? Why hadn’t he just walked away? He could have at any juncture. He still could.

  “I have earplugs!” Mags called after him.

  He just laughed. He didn’t believe for a moment that she’d use them. No more than he believed that he could ever walk away from Bethany and her, their, son.

  Chapter Nine

  Staring at the hat atop the highboy dresser and the boots arranged neatly on the floor beside it, Bethany hugged herself. Why hadn’t she thought of this? Of course, the aunties and Garrett would assume that a husband and wife would share a bedroom. As far as they were concerned, this was a real marriage, a whole marriage, so naturally they’d moved Chandler’s things into the master bedroom of the three-bedroom suite. Perhaps, she thought wistfully, they ought to just forget this marriage-in-name-only business and do their best to make this work, not that she had anything to say about it. This was Chandler’s choice, and she had agreed. It wasn’t fair to try to change things now.

  She heard his footsteps in the sitting room. Funny how quickly she’d come to recognize his particular long, sure gait. Garrett’s steps were quieter, quicker. Must be the boots, she thought, smiling.

  “Don’t worry,” he said from the open doorway. “I’ll move into one of the other bedrooms.”

  She turned to find him leaning a shoulder against the doorjamb. “Garrett—”

  “Has moved back into the carriage house,” he said quickly.

  That made sense. Still…

  “If you move, everyone in the house will know that we’re not, um, together.”

  He shrugged and shook his head. “My aunts won’t say anything. Not to either of us. Maybe not even to each other. Certainly not to anyone else.”

  She doubted that Garrett would say anything, either. The sleeping arrangements between a husband and wife were a private, matter after all.

  Straightening, Chandler gave his head a jerk as he asked, “Which of the other rooms do you want to use as the nursery?”

  Her hand resting automatically atop her belly, she said, “The closest one, I guess.”

  He looked behind him as if judging the distance between doors and nodded before moving forward into the room. Bethany stood awkwardly where she was. He came to a stop mere inches from her. Lungs seizing, she looked up hopefully. For several heartbeats,
his warm brown gaze held hers. Words that she longed to say sprang to her tongue.

  I don’t want another sham marriage. Can’t we try to make this real? Give me a chance to be the wife of your heart.

  But then Chandler lifted his eyes and carefully reached around her for the hat atop the highboy. Abruptly, Jay’s acidic warning drowned out her longings.

  “You think any other man is going to want you with your crazy background and a kid in tow?”

  Feeling foolish, she quickly moved aside.

  “Only be a minute,” Chandler said, bending to pick up the boots.

  Nodding, she hurried out into the sitting room, leaving him to rummage through drawers in search of his things. He came out a few moments later, his arms full, and clumped across to the room Garrett had occupied. It took several more trips, but eventually he had all of his things out of her room.

  “That’s it,” he said, disappearing through his door once more. He was back in an instant, his arms empty. “You can take your nap now.”

  “Thanks,” she said, smiling wanly. “I will.”

  “I just might have a nap, too,” he told her, “once I get all this stuff put away. Busy day.”

  She nodded. He stood there for a few moments longer, then he returned her nod, stepped back and closed his door. Bethany went into her room and did the same. It was, perhaps, the loneliest moment of her life.

  After moving his things from Bethany’s bedroom, Chandler virtually hid in his room. He told himself that this was far more comfortable than sharing a motel room with separate beds, but it somehow felt more private. Worse, he knew that everyone in the house thought they would be sharing that one bed and that, to his shock, embarrassed him. They were adults, after all, and she was his wife, for pity’s sake. Except that she wasn’t, not in every way. And she never would be.