This Heart Of Mine Read online

  The camera angle widened to show both detectives at the beach. In contrast to Ginger’s skimpier apparel, Sable wore a high-cut maillot. Molly remembered there’d been an offscreen friendship between the two actresses.

  The buzzer from the lobby sounded. She turned off the television and, a few minutes later, opened the door for her sister and brother-in-law.

  Phoebe kissed her cheek. “You look pale. Are you all right?”

  “It’s January in Chicago. Everybody’s pale.” Molly squeezed her a moment longer than necessary. Celia the Hen, a motherly resident of Nightingale Woods who clucked over Daphne, had been created just for her sister.

  “Hey, Miz Molly. We’ve missed you.” Dan gave her his customary rib-crushing bear hug.

  As she hugged him back, she thought how lucky she was to have them both. “It’s only been two weeks since New Year’s.”

  “And two weeks since you’ve been home. Phoebe gets cranky.” He tossed his jacket over the back of the couch.

  As Molly took Phoebe’s coat, she smiled. Dan still considered their house Molly’s real home. He didn’t understand how she felt about her condo. “Dan, do you remember the first time we met? I tried to convince you Phoebe was beating me.”

  “Hard to forget something like that. I still remember what you told me. You said she wasn’t entirely evil, just mildly twisted.”

  Phoebe laughed. “The good old days.”

  Molly gazed fondly at her sister. “I was such a little prig, it’s a wonder you didn’t beat me.”

  “Somerville girls had to find their own ways to survive.”

  One of us still does, Molly thought.

  Roo adored Phoebe and pounced into her lap the moment she sat. “I’m so glad I got to see the illustrations for Daphne Takes a Tumble before you sent them off. The expression on Benny’s face when his mountain bike slips in the rain puddle is priceless. Any ideas for a new book?”

  She hesitated. “Still in the thinking stages.”

  “Hannah was delirious when Daphne bandaged Benny’s paw. I don’t think she expected Daphne to forgive him.”

  “Daphne is a very forgiving rabbit. Although she did use a pink lace ribbon for his bandage.”

  Phoebe laughed. “Benny needs to be more in touch with his feminine side. It’s a wonderful book, Moll. You always manage to stick in one of life’s important lessons and still be funny. I’m so glad you’re writing.”

  “It’s exactly what I always wanted to do. I just didn’t know it.”

  “Speaking of that… Dan, did you remember—” Phoebe broke off as she realized Dan wasn’t there. “He must have gone to the bathroom.”

  “I haven’t cleaned in there for a couple of days. I hope it’s not too—” Molly sucked in her breath and whirled around.

  But it was too late. Dan was walking back in with the two empty boxes he’d seen in the wastebasket. The pregnancy test kits looked like loaded grenades in his big hands.

  Molly bit her lip. She hadn’t wanted to tell them yet. They were still dealing with the loss of the AFC Championship, and they didn’t need another disappointment.

  Phoebe couldn’t see what her husband was holding until he dropped one of the boxes into her lap. She slowly picked it up. Her hand traveled to her cheek. “Molly?”

  “I know you’re twenty-seven years old,” Dan said, “and we both try to respect your privacy, but I’ve got to ask about this.”

  He looked so upset that Molly couldn’t bear it. He loved being a father, and he was going to have a harder time accepting this than Phoebe would.

  Molly took the boxes and set them aside. “Why don’t you sit down?”

  He slowly folded his big body onto the couch next to his wife. Phoebe’s hand instinctively crept into his. The two of them together against the world. Sometimes watching the love they had for each other made Molly feel lonely to the bottom of her soul.

  She took the chair across from them and managed a shaky smile. “There’s no easy way to tell you this. I’m going to have a baby.”

  Dan flinched, and Phoebe leaned against him.

  “I know it’s a shock, and I’m sorry for that. But I’m not sorry about the baby.”

  “Tell me there’s going to be a wedding first.”

  Dan’s lips had barely moved, and she was once again reminded of exactly how unbending he could be. If she didn’t hold her ground now, he’d never give her any peace. “No wedding. And no daddy. That’s not going to change, so you need to make peace with it.”

  Phoebe looked even more distressed. “I—I didn’t know you were seeing anyone special. You usually tell me.”

  Molly couldn’t let her probe too deeply. “I share a lot with you, Phoeb, but not everything.”

  A muscle had started to tic in Dan’s jaw, definitely a bad sign. “Who is he?”

  “I’m not going to tell you,” she said quietly. “This was my doing, not his. I don’t want him in my life.”

  “You damn well wanted him in your life long enough to get pregnant!”

  “Dan, don’t.” Phoebe had never been intimidated by Dan’s hot temper, and she looked far more concerned about Molly. “Don’t make a decision too quickly, Moll. How far along are you?”

  “Only six weeks. And I’m not going to change my mind. There’ll be just the baby and me. And both of you, I hope.”

  Dan shot up and began to pace. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

  She could have pointed out that thousands of single women had babies every year and that he was a bit old-fashioned in his outlook, but she knew him too well to waste her breath. Instead, she concentrated on practicalities.

  “I can’t stop either of you from worrying, but you need to remember that I’m better equipped than most single women to have a child. I’m nearly thirty, I love children, and I’m emotionally stable.” For the first time in her life she felt as if that might be true.

  “You’re also broke most of the time.” Dan’s lips were tight.

  “Daphne sales are going up slowly.”

  “Very slowly,” he said.

  “And I can do more freelancing. I won’t even have to pay for child care because I work at home.”

  He regarded her stubbornly. “Children need a father.”

  She rose and walked to him. “They need a good man in their life, and I hope you’ll be there for this baby because you’re the best there is.”

  That got to him, and he hugged her. “We just want you to be happy.”

  “I know. That’s why I love you both so much.”

  “I just want her to be happy,” Dan repeated to Phoebe as the two of them drove home that night after a strained dinner.

  “We both do. But she’s an independent woman, and she’s made up her mind.” Her brow knit with worry. “I suppose all we can do now is support her.”

  “It happened sometime around the beginning of December.” Dan’s eyes narrowed. “I promise you one thing, Phoebe. I’m going to find the son of a bitch who did this to her, and then I’m going to take his head off.”

  But finding him was easier said than done, and as one week slipped into another, Dan came no closer to discovering the truth. He made up excuses to phone Molly’s friends and shamelessly pumped them for information, but no one remembered her dating anyone at the time. He pumped his own children with no more success. Out of desperation he finally hired a detective, a fact he neglected to mention to his wife, who would have ordered him to mind his own business. All he ended up with was a big bill and nothing he didn’t already know.

  In mid-February Dan and Phoebe took the kids to the Door County house for a long weekend of snowmobiling. They invited Molly to come along, but she said she was on deadline for Chik and couldn’t stop work. He knew the real reason was that she didn’t want any more lectures from him.

  On Saturday afternoon he’d just brought Andrew inside to warm up from snowmobiling when Phoebe found him in the mudroom where they were taking off their boots.r />
  “Have fun, pookie?”

  “Yes!”

  Dan grinned as Andrew flew across the wet floor in his socks and threw himself into her arms, something he generally did when he was separated from either one of them for more than an hour.

  “I’m glad.” She buried her lips in his hair, then gave him a nudge toward the kitchen. “Get your snack. The cider’s hot, so let Tess pour it for you.”

  As Andrew ran off, Dan decided Phoebe looked particularly delectable in a pair of gold jeans with a soft brown sweater. He was just starting to reach for her when she held out a yellow credit card receipt. “I found this upstairs.”

  He glanced at it and saw Molly’s name.

  “It’s a receipt from the little drugstore in town,” Phoebe said. “Look at the date at the top.”

  He found it, but he still didn’t understand why she seemed upset. “So what?”

  She sagged against the washer. “Dan, that’s when Kevin stayed here.”

  Kevin left the sidewalk cafe and began walking along the Cairns Esplanade toward his hotel. Palm trees swayed in the sunny February breeze, and boats bobbed in the harbor. After spending five days diving in the Coral Sea with the sharks that swam near the North Horn site of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, it was nice being back in civilization.

  The city of Cairns on the northeastern coast of Queensland was the diving expedition’s home port. Since the town had good restaurants and a couple of five-star hotels, Kevin had decided to stay around for a while. The city was far enough from Chicago that he wasn’t in much danger of running into a Stars fan who wanted to know why he threw into double coverage late in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship. Instead of giving the Stars the victory that would have taken them to the Super Bowl, he’d let his teammates down, and even swimming with a school of hammerheads wasn’t making him forget that.

  An Aussie hottie in a halter top and tight white shorts gave him the twice-over, followed by an inviting smile. “Need a tour guide, Yank?”

  “Thanks, not today.”

  She looked disappointed. He probably should take her up on her invitation, but he couldn’t work up enough interest. He’d also ignored the seductive overtures of the sexy blond doctoral candidate who’d cooked on the dive boat, but that had been more understandable. She was one of the smart, high-maintenance women.

  This was the heart of Queensland’s monsoon season, and a splatter of raindrops hit him. He decided to work out at the hotel health club for a while, then head over to the casino for a few games of blackjack.

  He’d just changed into his gym clothes when a sharp knock sounded at the door. He walked over and opened it. “Dan? What are you doing—”

  That was as far as he got before Dan Calebow’s fist came up to meet him.

  Kevin staggered backward, caught the corner of the couch, and fell.

  Adrenaline rushed through him, hot and fast. He shot back up, ready to take Dan apart. Then he hesitated, not because Dan was his boss but because the raw fury in his expression indicated that something was drastically wrong. Since Dan had been more understanding than Kevin had deserved about the game, Kevin knew it didn’t have anything to do with that ill-advised pass.

  It went against his grain not to fight back, but he forced himself to lower his fists. “You’d better have a good reason for that.”

  “You son of a bitch. Did you really think you were going to walk away?”

  Seeing such contempt on the face of a man he respected made his gut clench. “Walk away from what?”

  “It didn’t mean anything to you, did it?” Dan sneered.

  Kevin waited him out.

  Dan came forward, his lip curled. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t alone when you stayed at my house in December?”

  The hair on the back of Kevin’s neck prickled. He chose his words carefully. “I didn’t think it was up to me. I thought it was Daphne’s business to tell you she’d been there.”

  “Daphne?”

  Enough was enough, and Kevin’s own temper snapped. “It wasn’t my fault your nutcase of a sister-in-law showed up!”

  “You don’t even know her fucking name?”

  Dan looked as if he was getting ready to spring again, and Kevin was angry enough to hope he would. “Stop right there! She told me her name was Daphne.”

  “Yeah, right,” Dan scoffed. “Well, her name is Molly, you son of a bitch, and she’s pregnant with your baby!”

  Kevin felt as if he’d taken the sack of his life. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about the fact that I’ve had a stomachful of high-priced athletes who think they have a God-given right to scatter illegitimate kids around like so much trash.”

  Kevin felt sick. She’d told him there hadn’t been any consequences when he’d called. She’d even had her boyfriend with her.

  “You could at least have had the decency to use a goddamn rubber!”

  His brain started working again, and there was no way he’d take the blame for this. “I talked to Daph—to your sister-in-law before I left Chicago, and she said everything was fine. Maybe you’d better have this conversation with her boyfriend.”

  “She’s a little preoccupied to have a boyfriend right now.”

  “She’s holding out on you,” he said carefully. “You made this trip for nothing. She’s going with a guy named Benny.”

  “Benny?”

  “I don’t know how long they’ve been together, but I’m guessing he’s the one responsible for her current condition.”

  “Benny’s not her boyfriend, you arrogant son of a bitch! He’s a fricking badger!”

  Kevin stared at him, then headed for the wet bar. “Maybe we’d better start over from the beginning.”

  Molly parked her Beetle behind Phoebe’s BMW. As she got out of the car, she dodged a mound of dingy, ice-crusted snow. Northern Illinois was in the grip of a frigid spell that showed every sign of lingering, but she didn’t mind. February was the best time of year for curling up with a warm computer and a sketchbook, or just for daydreaming.

  Daphne couldn’t wait until the baby rabbit was big enough to play with. They’d dress up in skirts with sparkly beads and say, “Oo-la-la! You look divine!” Then they’d drop water balloons on Benny and his friends.

  Molly was glad her speech at the literacy luncheon was over and that Phoebe had come along for moral support. Although she loved visiting schools to read to children, giving speeches to adults made her nervous, especially with an unpredictable stomach.

  A month had passed since she’d discovered she was pregnant, and every day the baby became more real to her. She hadn’t been able to resist buying a tiny pair of unisex denim overalls, and she couldn’t wait to start wearing maternity clothes, although, since she was only two and a half months along, that wasn’t necessary yet.

  She followed her sister inside the rambling stone farmhouse. It had been Dan’s before he and Phoebe were married, and he hadn’t uttered a word of complaint when Molly had moved in along with his new bride.

  Roo raced out to growl hello, while his more mannerly sister, Kanga, trotted behind. Molly had left him here while she was at the luncheon, and as soon as she hung up her coat, she leaned over to greet both dogs. “Hey, Roo. Hello, Kanga, sweetie.”

  Both poodles rolled over to get their tummies scratched.

  As Molly complied, she watched Phoebe slip the Hermes scarf she’d been wearing into the pocket of Andrew’s jacket.

  “What’s with you?” Molly asked. “All afternoon you’ve been distracted.”

  “Distracted? What do you mean?”

  Molly retrieved the scarf and held it out to her sister. “Andrew gave up cross-dressing when he turned four.”

  “Oh, dear. I guess—” She broke off as Dan appeared from the back of the house.

  “What are you doing here?” Molly asked. “Phoebe told me you were traveling.”

  “I was.” He kissed his wife. “Just got back.”


  “Did you sleep in those clothes? You look awful.”

  “It was a long flight. Come in the family room, will you, Molly?”

  “Sure.”

  The dogs trailed behind her as she made her way toward the back of the house. The family room was part of the addition that had been built as the Calebow family had grown. It had lots of glass and comfortable seating areas, some with armchairs for reading, another with a table for doing homework or playing games. A state-of-the-art stereo system held everything from Raffi to Rachmaninoff.

  “So where did you go anyway? I thought you were—” Molly’s words died as she saw the large man with dark blond hair standing in the corner of the room. The green eyes she’d once found so alluring regarded her with undiluted hostility.

  Her heart began to hammer. His clothes were as wrinkled as Dan’s, and stubble covered his jaw. Although he had a fresh suntan, he didn’t look like someone who’d come off a relaxing vacation. Instead, he looked dangerously wired and ready to detonate.

  Molly remembered Phoebe’s distraction that afternoon, her furtive expression when she’d slipped into the back of the room right after Molly’s speech to take a call on her cell phone. There was nothing coincidental about this meeting. Somehow Phoebe and Dan had unearthed the truth.

  Phoebe spoke with quiet determination. “Let’s all sit down.”

  “I’ll stand,” Kevin said, his lips barely moving.

  Molly felt sick and angry and panicked. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I won’t have any part of it.” She spun around, only to have Kevin step forward and block her way.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  “This has nothing to do with you.”

  “That’s not what I hear.” His cold eyes cut into hers like shards of green ice.

  “You heard wrong.”

  “Molly, let’s sit down so we can discuss this,” Phoebe said. “Dan flew all the way to Australia to find Kevin, and the least you—”

  Molly whirled toward her brother-in-law. “You flew to Australia?”