Her Sister's Secret Son. Lisette Belisle

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СКАЧАТЬ valuable—except to Rachel. In fact, she usually reserved them for very special occasions. Feeling bemused at the realization, she stopped, then firmly reached for a pair of solid earthenware mugs.

      She poured coffee. “Sugar, cream?”

      “Yes, please.”

      Rachel joined him at the round wooden table. Set in a cozy alcove, it suddenly felt much cozier. She lifted her cup to her lips, and took a cautious sip.

      He took a swallow, lifted an eyebrow. “This isn’t bad.”

      “What did you expect?” She needed to lighten the atmosphere, which had grown oddly heavy.

      “Not a great cup of coffee,” he countered with an easy careless smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

      Rachel suspected a lot of things came easily to Jared Carlisle, perhaps too easily. “I’d almost forgotten,” she said, searching for a safe neutral topic. “Earlier, you said you wanted to discuss something.”

      At the reminder, Jared hesitated. “It was nothing important,” he said at last. He’d almost forgotten his mission. Was he prepared to reveal his suspicions?

      His gaze returned to the drawings on the refrigerator. He could remember his own mother displaying his childish artwork. He supposed that’s what mothers did. Funny, how he’d forgotten that. But he’d never forgotten coming home from school one day and finding her gone—and no one pinned his drawings up anymore. At the time, he was seven years old, not much younger than Dylan. All these years later, he still felt a pang of regret. A boy needed a mother. Jared knew firsthand how it felt to lose one. If Dylan was his son, Rachel was part of the package.

      Turning away from that troubling thought, trying to sound casual, he said, “Raising a young boy on your own can’t be easy. Have you always been responsible for Dylan?”

      Suddenly the focus of all his attention, Rachel cautiously reached for her own cup. “Yes.” The cup was warm. She wrapped her fingers around it. Nevertheless, his next words sent a chill up her arm—straight to her heart.

      “What about Laurel?”

      Her mouth tightened. “What do you want to know?”

      He cleared his throat. “Where was she?”

      Rachel took a moment before answering. “After Dylan was born, Laurel was very unhappy. She needed to get away.”

      “So she left Dylan?”

      “She left him with me. She came to see him whenever she could.” She added a few details.

      Jared learned that Rachel’s aunt and uncle had been wonderful; they’d helped her finish college. She’d taken advantage of on-campus daycare while attending classes. Apparently she’d had no social life. Although Jared didn’t discover anything new about Dylan, he learned that Rachel had sacrificed her youth for the boy. She didn’t seem to realize how unusual that was.

      With each question, he watched her withdraw further and further. He felt like an interrogator…like an unfeeling brute pulling the wings off a fragile butterfly. And for what? So that he could take Dylan from her?

      Before making a move, Jared needed to get acquainted with the boy, to lessen the shock when it came—to know whether this odd tenuous bond he felt with this child was real, or all in his mind—or his heart.

      Jared glanced at his watch. “I should be going, I’ve still got other cases.” He pushed away from the table. He had to see Rachel again—for more than the obvious reasons. “Thanks for the coffee. Maybe we could do this again.”

      “Mmm,” was her noncommittal response. She collected the used mugs, then set them in the sink.

      As far as refusals went, hers left Jared with no room to argue. He’d heard Rachel use the same tone with Dylan, which didn’t do much for a man’s ego. Of course, his masculine ego wasn’t at stake here…was it?

      Over the next week or so, a green pickup truck could be seen parked in Rachel’s driveway with enough regularity to start tongues wagging. One day, when Mary Ellen wasn’t available to stay with Dylan, her mother volunteered to fill in. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Rachel asked when she dropped him off in the morning.

      “Not at all,” Nora insisted. “Dylan’s a joy to have around.” She was a kind, warmhearted woman, naturally friendly and inquisitive when it came to her new neighbors. The entire O’Neil family had taken Rachel and Dylan under its protective wing—for which Rachel was grateful, except when it came to answering questions concerning her personal life.

      “Have you got time for a cup of tea?” Nora said.

      Hoping to avoid one of Nora’s “heart to heart” talks, Rachel refused politely. “I’m running late for work.”

      Nora just smiled. “Mary Ellen tells me Jared Carlisle’s been spending a lot of time at your house.”

      “Just to see the puppies.” Rachel eased her way from the kitchen, down the hall, to the front door.

      Nora followed. “That’s not what Mary Ellen said.”

      With one hand on the doorknob, Rachel stopped. “What did she say?”

      “Well, I don’t know about you, but it seems like Dylan’s got a huge crush on the man. He needs a father. Seems like he’s decided Jared’s a good candidate for the job.”

      Rachel closed her eyes. “Oh, God.”

      Smiling, Nora said gently, “Maybe I shouldn’t ask, but were you in love with Dylan’s father?”

      “He’s my sister’s child, but he’s always been with me.”

      “Is that why you never married?”

      “Not really. At first, Dylan and school took up every minute of the day,” she admitted. “Then, when I finally came up for air, I discovered all the suitable men in town were taken, and the rest were too old, too young or too married.”

      Nora laughed. “Well, you could do a lot worse than Jared. The Carlisles are good people. Ira’s a little testy at times, and there was all that trouble years ago with the mother, but Jessie and Jared turned out okay.”

      Rachel shook off the urge to ask for more details. “I really do have to go….” She made her escape.

      But she couldn’t escape Nora’s words—Dylan had decided Jared would make a good father.

      Thus, a few days later, when Jared stopped by with the casual invitation, “I thought we could go out for pizza, you, Dylan and I,” Rachel balked.

      She was thinking of Dylan when she said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

      Jared raised an eyebrow. “Why isn’t it a good idea?”

      “This is difficult to put into words, but you may have noticed that Dylan is a very friendly little boy.”

      “He’s a great kid. You must be proud of him.”

      “Yes, СКАЧАТЬ