Garrett shook his head at that. “If it means giving him up, then Jenny won’t do it. Even I can see that.”
“Of course she won’t,” Michael said grimly. “But it’s tearing her heart out. She made that promise on his deathbed, and then when it came to the crunch, she couldn’t keep it. She couldn’t abandon her baby to Gloria.”
“There’s no blame in what she’s doing.”
“She blames herself. And this child is partly Peter’s, no matter how much I want him.”
“And?” Garrett paused, but the question was already half answered. “You really want him?”
“I want him-and I want his mother-more than anything else on God’s earth,” Michael said simply. He hesitated, but his heart was exposed for all to see, and there was nothing left to do but explain. “Before Jen, I thought I’d cut myself off from everything. You know more than most that I’ve tried hard enough. But she needs me, Garrett, and she’s so darned proud. She’ll take my offer of an identity and she’ll spend the rest of her life trying to pay me back, but I don’t want payment. I want her! She must see it. She’s just filled with love, aching for love.”
“Have you told her how much you want her?” Garrett’s voice was suddenly urgent, and it made Michael blink.
“No,” he said slowly. “How can I? It’ll put more pressure on her. It’d be like insisting that if she lives with me, she has to love me, too. In her position she’ll say yes just to please me.”
“It’s not possible that she loves you?”
“Of course she loves me,” Michael exploded. “She’s so kindhearted she’d love anyone. Look, until I get rid of the ghost of this Peter, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting anywhere near her, and how can I get rid of a ghost?”
He paused at a sound. “What…” There was a scrambling at the French windows, and a low voice speaking urgently.
“Shh, you dumb mutt. You want to wake everyone in the house?”
“It’s Shelby,” Garrett said, his eyes creasing with laughter as he crossed to open the door. Shelby came bursting into the room, her auburn hair damp from the rain and her running shoes squelching with water. “What on earth are you doing here?” he started to ask, and then stopped dead as he saw the dog at her side, and the dog caught sight of Michael.
It was as if Socks were drowning and Michael was the only lifeguard for miles. He launched himself at Michael, leaping right off the ground and catching his shoulders with his huge paws.
Michael was left with nowhere to go. He stood enfolded in soggy dog while Socks licked and whined and wriggled out his loneliness and frustration at being abandoned.
There was a stunned silence from Shelby and Garrett, and there was not a lot Michael could say, either.
“Mmff…” he finally managed to get out, but it didn’t make a heap of sense. Shelby grinned. She’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt, which were mud-spattered. She wiped wet hands on her jeans and looked at Michael and Socks with affection.
“What do you think he’s trying to say?” she asked Garrett, and Garrett chuckled.
“Thank you very much for bringing me my dog?” he suggested. “Yeah, that must be it.”
“Mmff…” said Michael.
“Yeah, that’s definitely it.” Garrett grinned. “Good thought, bringing him here, Shelby. You wanted to keep the family together.”
“Actually,” Shelby said carefully, “when I got home there was a message on my answering machine from Michael’s neighbors. Several messages, in fact. They’d been looking for him all over. I bet when you get home there’ll be messages on your phone, too. Seems Socks was howling the place apart. So what could a girl do…”
“But reunite brother and dog,” Garrett finished for her. “Gee, I hope Megan has a decent floor cleaner.” And then he frowned at another tap on the window. He turned, and there was Lana, signaling to be let in, her arms piled high with baby clothes and nightwear. “Lana…”
“Hey, it’s a family reunion.” Lana entered, dumped the clothes on a chair, then looked at Michael. Her face cleared. “So that’s where he is.”
“Where did you think Mike would be?”
“I meant Socks,” Lana said cheerfully. “I might have known he’d get himself here.”
“You been looking for him?” Garrett queried, and Lana gave him a grin that matched Shelby’s.
“There were five messages on our phone when Dylan and I got home,” she said. “Five! All complaining about Socks and demanding that someone in the family do something. So I left Dylan holding the baby and went to fetch him. Missed him by inches.” She smiled happily at her sister. “Guess that was you, huh? Got there before me and rescued Socks. You always were the lucky one.”
“So I get the dog hair and muddy paw prints all over my passenger seat,” Shelby said morosely. “As well as dog slobber on my windshield. While you get to carry baby clothes.”
“I figured while I was there I might as well bring them over,” Lana said virtuously. “And besides, I wanted to see…” She turned to look at Michael, and it was very clear what she wanted to see.
“Mmmfff,” said Michael, and they all burst out laughing. Finally Garrett took pity on his brother and went over to haul the adoring mutt onto the floor. Socks immediately shook his wet self from stem to stern, spraying everyone. He looked adoringly at his master and then flopped down, exhausted, at his feet.
“What a dog!” Garrett said admiringly. “Now no one needs a shower.”
“Speak for yourself,” Shelby said darkly, wiping mud from her nose. “Ugh. Anyway, enough of mutts. Michael, how’s Jenny and the new little one?”
“Asleep.” Michael cut his reply short, and Shelby stared, laughter fading.
“There’s nothing wrong, is there?”
“No, but…”
“But he doesn’t know if she loves him,” Garrett finished for him, and Michael glared.
“Butt out.”
“Of course she loves him.” Lana ignored Michael entirely. She was talking only to Garrett and Shelby.
“She’s called her son Gary,” Garrett told them.
“Gary?” Shelby’s mouth dropped open, and her voice was shaky. “Gary,” she quavered. “Oh, Michael, that’s lovely. She must love you to bits.”
“But Jenny promised her husband on his deathbed that she’d allow his son to be brought up as a little earl,” Garrett continued, ignoring Michael’s dark looks. “So she’s going through all sorts of conscience barbs trying to come to terms with bringing him up here in the States. Seems that’s getting in the way of her relationship with Mike.”
“You mean she can’t love Mike because she’s broken a promise to her dead husband?” Shelby frowned over this one.
“That’s crazy,” Lana said, but Shelby shook her head.
“No. I can see that. Too much has happened too fast to Jenny. Widowed, pregnant, remarried, hounded by her mother-in-law, changing countries, worrying about money, giving birth, getting to know Michael… Her head must be spinning off her shoulders.”
“So he should just give her time?” Lana demanded.
“Hey, excuse me,” Michael said in a voice that boded ill for the fate of his siblings. “This is my love life we’re talking about.”
“Of course it is,” Shelby said kindly. “So shut up, Mike, and let us get on with it.” She swiveled to face Garrett. “So Michael definitely loves her?”
“Of course he loves her.” Garrett tossed a laughing look at his younger brother. “You ever seen someone so besotted as our Mike?”
“Nope.” Shelby grinned. “Can’t say I have. You, Lana?”
“Not me.” But Lana was thinking fast. “This is tricky, though, Garrett. Jenny can’t take Gary back to England. I’ve met Gloria. She’s a horror. But if Jenny’s feeling so guilty, she just might.”
“No!” Michael said, but he was ignored.