An Unlikely Father. Cynthia Thomason

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СКАЧАТЬ gaze snapped to his and panic gripped her. Just what had he heard? The really big news nobody knew but her and Donny? “Oh, yeah, heard what?”

      “About Donny leaving.”

      She relaxed, spooned up another piece of cereal.

      “Pet was over last night,” Finn continued. “She told me the rat left the Lionheart without even telling you goodbye.”

      The efficiency of Heron Point’s gossip trail didn’t surprise Helen. Claire’s aunt Pet had been Finn’s special companion for six years. She worked in a café in town and heard every bit of news that circulated around the small community. Besides that, she claimed to have psychic abilities, a talent that Helen had witnessed on more than one occasion. Pet probably knew about Donny leaving town before he’d thrown the first pair of socks into a suitcase. “It’s certainly no secret,” she said, adding to herself that she’d better avoid Pet or this pregnancy might register on a psychic radar screen.

      “I’m sorry, Helen. I know you fancied yourself having some sort of future with that guy. But I knew he was bad news.”

      She concentrated on a slice of toast which she’d already smothered with three layers of jelly. “So you told me—many times.”

      “Ha! As if I can tell you anything. But I keep trying, at least. What kind of job is singing, anyway? Fly-by-night if you ask me.”

      “With Donny it’s more like fly-by-day, but it doesn’t matter. You won’t catch me extolling his virtues any longer. I’m not sure he ever had any in the first place.”

      “So why did he take off?” Finn asked. “Did you and him have a fight?”

      She pressed a hand over her stomach, a gesture she’d repeated quite often the last twenty-four hours. “Actually, no. I think Donny was finding Heron Point a little too crowded.”

      “Too crowded? What the hell’s wrong with that man? We’ve got room to breathe in this town. This is a paradise for anyone who doesn’t like cramped spaces.”

      Helen smirked. “Yeah, well for some men, even the addition of one more person can be intimidating.”

      Finn was silent a moment. “I guess I know what he means there. I’ve been thinking about the invasion of the Anderson clan myself. First, Jack Hogan…”

      Helen paused, her spoon hanging from her hand. “You still don’t like Jack?”

      “I don’t want to, but he’s okay when you get to know him. I guess I’ll have to tolerate him living here.”

      “Now that he’s chief of police, I suppose that’s very generous of you. I think he might arrest you if you tried to have him tarred and feathered.”

      He went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “But that other one, the fella that knocked the headlight out of the truck…”

      Helen dropped the spoon against the side of her bowl but didn’t bother correcting Finn’s version of the accident. “What about him?”

      “He’s an Anderson. That’s a whole different story.”

      She leaned forward. “You know, Pop, if you ever hope to get any sympathy from me about this whole secretive thing you’ve got against Anderson Enterprises, you’ve got to give me a little more to go on. I talked to Ethan Anderson awhile last night. He’s not so bad. He’s kind of nice and polite. And cultured. He’s not like the men around here. He cares about more than the arrival of the next beer truck.”

      Finn propped his elbows on the table and stared at her over his clasped hands. “You’re not getting any ideas about him, are you? I can’t see my daughter with an Anderson.”

      She practically laughed out loud. “Yeah, Pop, I’m just his type. I plan on letting him sweep me off my feet and whisk me out of this town with diamonds on my fingers.”

      “Don’t even talk like that, Helen. I know I don’t have much control over what you do, but I’d fight to my last breath to keep you out of the clutches of an Anderson.”

      She stood and carried her dishes to the sink. “For heaven’s sake, Pop, will you please tell me what this is about? I can’t even imagine how you know these people.”

      He wheeled away from the table. “I suppose I’ll have to tell you if you’ve got your sights set on this fella.”

      “I do not have my sights set on him! Nothing could be further from reality than me with Ethan Anderson.”

      “Well, good.”

      “So you’ll tell me?”

      “We’ll see.”

      “Fine, but not today. I’ve got a lot on my mind that requires a good bit of thinking. As curious as I am about this little intrigue of yours, I’ve got my own problems to take care of for now. Not to mention six accountants from Tampa.”

      Finn looked out the door to the porch. “Here comes Rusty. He’s a good boy. Wish he was more your age.”

      “You’re hopeless.” Helen waved out the door to the kid who served as her mate on the charters. “Be right out, Rusty. You can check the rigging on the lines.” She kissed Finn on his forehead. “Is there anything you need before I go?”

      “I’m good.”

      “Okay, but here’s some advice. If you’re so anxious to matchmake, why don’t you think about working on yourself? Pet’s a fine woman, in case you haven’t noticed.”

      “I’ve noticed. Quit pushing me.”

      “Ditto for me.” Helen scratched Andy behind his ears, grabbed her coffee and her heavy-duty sneakers and headed out the back door.

      “Don’t forget to collect from those bean counters ahead of time,” Finn called after her. “They’re obsessed about getting their money’s worth. I don’t want them reneging if they don’t catch anything.”

      “Right.” Helen walked toward the Finn Catcher. It was true what she’d told Finn. She had some serious thinking to do. Three or four charters a week barely kept the business in the black. She certainly couldn’t support another mouth on what she currently brought in. And what if she couldn’t keep up the strenuous work demanded of her when she was in the last months of the pregnancy? And what about when the baby was born? What would she do with an infant if she had to spend hours every day out in the Gulf? Leave it with a sixty-eight-year-old man in a wheelchair who nodded off when the wind changed direction?

      The only way she could rationalize having this baby was if the charter business suddenly picked up. And that wasn’t likely to happen. Things hadn’t changed in Heron Point since she’d been born, except to maybe get worse.

      Unless they were about to change now….

      Helen hopped onto the boat deck. She stared out over the Gulf while Rusty chattered about tackle and bait, wind speed, and all the things that should have mattered this morning but suddenly didn’t. Her thoughts were on Ethan Anderson. Everybody in town seemed to think the reopening of Dolphin Run, and Ethan and СКАЧАТЬ