She reached nervously into Julie's pocket and found an old knit cap with a faded Barbie patch. The remnants of a glittery silver pompon hung by a few threads at the top. She yanked it on over her hair. He pulled her to a flagstone path that led to the woods. She could feel the anger rolling off him.
"You weren't going to tell me," he said.
"There was no need. But I'm going to tell them! You should have done that when Dan showed up and spared yourself a long trip."
"I can just imagine his reaction. This isn't my fault, Dan. Your perfect little sister-in-law raped me. I'm sure he'd have believed that."
"He'll believe it now. I'm sorry you had to be… inconvenienced this way."
"Inconvenienced?" The word was a whiplash to her. "This is a hell of a lot more than an inconvenience!"
"I know that. I-"
"This might be an inconvenience in your rich-girl's life, but in the real world-"
"I understand! You were a victim." She hunched her shoulders against the cold and tried to fit her hands into the pockets. "This is my situation to deal with, not yours."
"I'm not anybody's victim," he snarled.
"You were mine, and that makes me responsible for the consequences."
"The consequences, as you call them, add up to a human life."
She stopped walking and looked up at him. The wind snatched a lock of his hair and slapped it against his forehead. His face was rigid, his too-handsome features uncompromising.
"I know that," she said. "And you have to believe that I didn't plan any of this. But now that I'm pregnant, I want this baby very much."
"I don't."
She winced. Logically, she understood. Of course he wouldn't want a baby. But his anger was so fierce that she crossed her arms protectively over her waist. "Then we haven't got a problem. I don't need you, Kevin. Really. And I'd very much appreciate it if you'd forget all about this."
"Do you really think I'm going to do that?"
To her this was personal, but she had to remember this was a professional crisis for him. Kevin's passion for the Stars was well known. Phoebe and Dan were his bosses and two of the most powerful people in the NFL.
"As soon as I tell my sister and Dan what I did, you'll be off the hook. This won't affect your career at all."
His eyes narrowed. "You aren't telling them anything."
"Of course I am!"
"Keep your mouth shut."
"Is this your pride talking? You don't want anyone to know you were a victim? Or are you that afraid of them?"
His lips barely moved. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know the difference between right and wrong! What I did was wrong, and I won't compound it by bringing you any further into this. I'm going back inside, and-"
He caught her arm and gave her a shake. "Listen up, because I'm jet-lagged and I don't want to have to say this more than once. I've been guilty of a lot of things in my life, but I've never left behind an illegitimate kid, and I don't intend to start now."
She drew away and clutched herself tighter. "I'm not getting rid of this baby, so don't even suggest it."
"I'm not." His lips tightened into a bitter line. "We're getting married."
She was flabbergasted. "I don't want to get married."
"That makes two of us, and we won't stay that way for long."
"I won't-"
"Don't waste your breath. You screwed me over, lady, and now I'm making the calls."
Normally Kevin enjoyed the dance club, but now he wished he hadn't come. Even though his confrontation with the Calebow clan had taken place yesterday afternoon, he still wasn't fit to be around other people.
"Kevin! Over here!"
A girl with glitter on her eyelids and a cellophane dress called to him above the noise. They'd dated for a couple of weeks last summer. Nina? Nita? He no longer remembered or cared.
"Kevin! Hey, buddy, come on over here and let me buy you a drink!"
He pretended he didn't hear either of them and made his way back through the crowd in the direction he'd just come. This had been a mistake. He couldn't deal with friends now, let alone fans eager to talk about the championship game he'd lost.
He claimed his coat but didn't button it, and the cold air of Dearborn Street hit him like a fist. On his drive into the city, the car radio had announced that the mercury had dipped to three below. Winter in Chicago. The valet spotted him and went to get his car, which was parked in a prominent space less than twenty feet away.
In another week he'd be a married man. So much for keeping his personal life separate from his career. He handed the valet a fifty, then slid behind the wheel of his Spider and pulled away.
You have to set an example, Kevin. People expect the children of clergy to do the right thing.
He shook off the voice of the good Reverend John Tucker. Kevin was doing this to protect his career. Okay, so the idea of an illegitimate child made his skin crawl, but that would bother anybody. This sure as hell wasn't some leftover preacher's kid thing. It was all about the game.
Phoebe and Dan weren't expecting a love match, and the fact that the marriage wasn't going to last long wouldn't surprise them. At the same time, he'd be able to hold up his head around them. As for Molly Somerville, with her important connections and her careless morality, he'd never hated anyone more. So much for marrying the silent, undemanding woman Jane Bonner loved to taunt him about. Instead, he had a snooty egghead who'd take big bites out of him if he gave her the chance. Luckily, he didn't intend to give her one.
Kevin, there's right and there's wrong. You can either walk through your life in the shadows or you can stay in the light.
He ignored John Tucker and accelerated onto Lake Shore Drive. This had nothing to do with right and wrong. It was career damage control.
Not quite, a small voice whispered inside him. He shot into the left lane, then the right, then the left again. He needed speed and danger, but he wasn't going to get either on Lake Shore Drive.
A few days after Phoebe and Dan's ambush, Molly met Kevin to take care of the wedding license. Afterward, they drove separately downtown to the Hancock Building where they signed the legal papers that would separate their finances.
Kevin didn't know that Molly had no finances to separate, and she didn't tell him. It would only make her look loonier than he already thought she was.
Molly tuned out as the attorney explained the documents. She and Kevin hadn't said a word about what role he'd take in her child's life, and she was too dispirited to bring it up. One more thing they needed to work out.
Leaving the office, Molly gathered her courage and tried once more to talk to him. "Kevin, this is crazy. At least let me tell Dan and Phoebe the truth."
"You swore to me you'd keep your mouth shut."
"I know, but-"
His green eyes chilled her to the bone. "I'd like to believe you can be honorable about something."
She looked away, wishing she hadn't given him her word. "These aren't the 1950s. I don't need marriage to raise this child. Single women do it all the time."
"Getting married won't be anything more than a minor inconvenience for either one of us. Are you so self-centered you can't give up a few weeks of your life to try to set this straight?"
She didn't like the contempt in his voice or being called self-centered, especially when she knew he was doing this only to keep himself on good terms with Dan and Phoebe, but he walked away before she could respond. She finally gave up. She could fight one of them, but not all three.
The wedding took place a few days later in the Calebow living room. Molly wore the winter-white midcalf dress her sister had bought her. Kevin wore a deep charcoal suit with a matching tie. Molly thought it made him look like a gorgeous mortician.