One Man and a Baby Read online

  Ashley nodded. “Okay. But I still say you would have used the attraction.”

  He walked into the nursery, laid Ruthie in the crib, kissed her forehead and was running down the steps again within seconds. “I can’t and neither can you. Since our attraction is mutual, neither one of us has an advantage. But even beyond that there’s something else you need to think about.”

  Obviously not believing him, she crossed her arms on her chest.

  Rick shook his head. “There’s something more important you need to consider in this little attraction of ours and that’s how it’s going to play in town.”

  She frowned. “Our being attracted?”

  “Do you really want everybody gossiping that you’re prancing around in front of me in your underwear?”

  “Two of the three times you saw me in ‘underwear’ I was actually wearing a nightgown. The other time, you walked in on me.”

  “But today I didn’t. Today you were prancing and I have a feeling you hadn’t intended to stop there. Once you had me rattled you were going to continue teasing me in front of Toby and anybody else who got within hearing distance. To embarrass me and to keep me rattled. But your game would have backfired.” Recognizing from the expression on her face that she wasn’t getting what he was telling her, he combed his fingers through his hair. “Everybody in this town thinks I’m an opportunist, con artist.”

  “Which gives me an advantage.”

  “Which makes you look like an idiot who didn’t learn her lesson from the opportunist she married if you as much as flirt with me. That’s why the attraction has to come off the bargaining table as much as Ruthie had to come off.”

  She frowned and studied his face for a few seconds. “You’re taking our attraction out of play for my benefit?”

  He rolled his eyes and headed for the door. “I’m doing this for me, too. Do you think it’s fun to be called an opportunist?”

  Her frown deepened. “Wow. I never thought of it that way. I guess that when my husband was taking ten million dollars of my trust fund I never realized how much it would hurt him to be called an opportunist.”

  “Exactly my point. I don’t want your money. I’m not an opportunist. And you really don’t want anything to do with the likes of me. So, neither one of us needs the gossip.” He caught the doorknob. “Thanks for watching Ruthie.”

  She took a breath. “I’m not sure I know what I’m doing.”

  “My mother’s only a phone call away. She would have kept Ruthie, but my dad pops in and out of the house all day, and she didn’t want him to discover her.” He caught her gaze. “She said that even if you don’t call she’ll stop by around ten or so to check on things.”

  Ashley nodded.

  “I’ll be back for lunch.”

  In only a few minutes of caring for Ruthie, Ashley realized it did not take a genius to figure out how to perform the basics for a baby. First, there were bottles in the refrigerator. Second, there were directions on the box of rice cereal. Third, all one had to do was test out a baby’s strength and level of body control to know how to keep a good hold on her in the little baby bathtub. By the time Rick’s mother arrived, Ashley and Ruthie had bonded and were watching reruns of soap operas on a satellite channel.

  “Oh, she loves the soaps!” Elizabeth Capriotti crooned, setting a red and white cooler on the floor so she could take Ruthie from Ashley’s arms. A medium height woman with brown hair and soft green eyes, Elizabeth looked too young to be the mother of the guy currently competing with Ashley.

  “I wonder if she got her love of soaps from her mom?”

  Elizabeth cringed. “Who knows what she got from her mom. I’m hoping the people who claim nurture beats out nature are correct,” she said, settling Ruthie on her left arm so she could take her cooler to the kitchen and set it on the table. “I brought lunch.”

  “You didn’t have to!”

  “I know, but Rick feels guilty about asking you to watch Ruthie. I figured if you could tell him I brought lunch it might alleviate some of his guilt.”

  Ashley laughed. “You’re a good mom.”

  Frowning, Elizabeth turned from the table. “I don’t think anyone’s ever told me that.”

  “That’s because most of us take our mothers for granted.” Ashley had been a model child, always working to please her parents. Yet, after her mother’s death, she remembered a hundred times her mother had done things for her that she hadn’t properly acknowledged. She had long ago forgiven herself, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt to sometimes recall the times and ways she’d taken her mother for granted.

  Elizabeth’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry. I forgot you lost your mom.”

  “That was years ago,” Ashley said, brushing aside Rick’s mother’s concern because she didn’t want people to feel sorry for her. “But the sentiment is still true. Everybody takes his or her mother for granted.”

  “I guess,” Elizabeth said, handing the baby back to Ashley so she could open the cooler to pull out the sandwiches and drinks. “But in the end, it all balances out. There’s a great deal of satisfaction in mothering.”

  Ruthie cooed and Ashley shifted her on her arm. “Yeah. I’ve been watching Ruthie about three hours and already I understand that.”

  “You look good with a baby. You’re going to make a good mother yourself.”

  Ashley laughed. “That will be the day.”

  Elizabeth turned from the table. “You don’t want to have children?”

  “I don’t want to have a husband.”

  Elizabeth looked aghast. “You don’t?”

  “I see you’ve forgotten my other life trauma. My huge mistake of a marriage.” She cringed. “A girl doesn’t lose half her trust fund without getting skeptical of men.”

  “I hear you,” Elizabeth agreed and turned back to the table. She pulled a pie from the bottom of the cooler, lifted the lid off the plastic container and sent the mouth-watering aroma of freshly baked apples and cinnamon into the air. “I baked this this morning.”

  Ashley groaned in ecstasy. “That smells heavenly.”

  “It’s Rick’s favorite.”

  “As I said, you’re a good mom.”

  Busy fussing over the pie, Elizabeth said, “Right about now Rick needs some good mothering.”

  Ashley glanced at Ruthie. “It couldn’t have been easy to have a baby dumped on his doorstep.”

  “If that had been how it happened, Rick might have been okay. But it wasn’t. Jen showed up at his apartment with the baby and made it seem she was back.”

  “Back?”

  “Back in Rick’s life.” Elizabeth sighed. “Rick adored her. I’m not a hundred percent sure why. From the stories he tells she made him miserable.” Elizabeth went back to arranging the food on the table. “Anyway, she arrived at his door one night, with the baby, and told him leaving had been a mistake and she wanted them to be a family. He was ecstatic. So, when he woke up alone with the baby, and then found the note that all but threatened legal action if he tried to come after her or money for Ruthie, the blow was devastating.”

  “Because he hated her accusing him of wanting her money?”

  Elizabeth shook her head sadly. “No, because he loved her. God knows why.” Finished with arranging lunch, she reached for Ruthie again. “He did a lot of growing up when Jen left him the first time. He realized he couldn’t bum around on the rodeo circuit forever and finished the degree he had started before he lost patience and more or less ran away.”

  Ashley laughed. “He ran away from college?”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “He was bored. And immature. So he bailed out. But when Jen left him with the baby, he didn’t run. The decisions he made this time were correct.”

  “You mean coming home?”

  Elizabeth nodded, then kissed Ruthie. “To family.”

  Ashley smiled, but inside her heart melted. This was the difference between mothers and fathers. Elizabeth wanted her son to come home. He was in trou
ble, so she wanted to circle the wagons around Rick to help him. Conversely Ashley’s dad was tossing her out of his life, backhandedly telling her to get her own life. Forget about family. Forge an identity—and not necessarily at the farm—then visit.

  “Anyway, he bounced back the first time Jen hurt him. He’ll bounce back this time, too.”

  Ashley smiled and nodded, but she understood what Elizabeth was saying. He would rebound more quickly this time because his family would help him.

  “That’s why his father and I were so grateful when your dad gave him this job. Ben doesn’t know about Ruthie,” Elizabeth said, referring to her husband. “We’re more or less keeping her from him. Because of his heart attack last year we don’t want him overstressed. He just thinks Jen came back into Rick’s life then dumped him again. He knows Rick took a real blow to his self-esteem.” She paused to laugh. “But Ben’s no dummy. He’s easily figured out that Rick finished his degree hoping Jen would come back and that Rick spent the year she was gone working toward “deserving” her. When she left him the second time it was like saying that no matter what Rick did he wasn’t good enough. So even if this job is only for three months while your dad’s away, Rick needed the stamp of approval your dad gave him. Not only saying that he was good enough to run his farm, but also that he’s good enough to train his daughter.” She smiled at Ashley. “It means a lot.”

  Ashley nodded, a small wave of guilt rippling through her for wanting the job that was so perfect for Rick. But she refused to fall victim to it. As far as she was concerned, Rick had many more advantages than she did. He had family, people who cared about him, and experience. He could get a job with a snap of his fingers. Ashley had to prove herself at Seven Hills. No one else would give her this kind of chance.

  “The job means a lot to me, too.”

  “And that’s why Rick’s going to see to it that you’re trained right,” Elizabeth said, smiling at Ashley as if she didn’t know Ashley and Rick were competing for the job. Which confused Ashley. It didn’t make sense for him not to tell his parents that he had a very good shot of getting this job permanently and a good shot at staying in Calhoun Corners permanently. It almost appeared as if he were preparing them for his leaving.

  “Anyway, I have to get back home to whip up lunch for Ben so he doesn’t ask what I’ve been doing all morning.” She planted a noisy kiss on Ruthie’s temple, causing Ruthie to giggle and slap her with a rattle. “I’ll see you later, sweetie.”

  She handed Ruthie to Ashley again, waved goodbye at the front door and left.

  Ashley was still thinking about the conversation that night as she drove to the diner for dinner. She didn’t want to get too optimistic and think deep down that Rick believed she was going to win their competition, but that was what it seemed. Why else would he let his family believe this job was only temporary, and not tell them he and Ashley were competing.

  Pushing open the glass diner door she said hello to Ellen who looked up from the cash register. “Hey, what’s up, sugar?”

  “I had an easy day today.” Having cared for Ruthie for the past fourteen hours, Ashley wasn’t a filthy, smelly mess when Rick returned from his day’s duties. So instead of heating a frozen entrée, she had decided to treat herself to supper in town. “And I thought I’d celebrate by having dinner with you.”

  “Then let me set you up at the counter so we can talk.”

  “Great.” Ashley slid onto a stool as Ellen put a place mat and silverware in front of her. “What will it be?”

  “I see beef stew is today’s special,” Ashley said nodding at the chalkboard beside the door to the kitchen. “That sounds good.”

  “One bowl of stew coming up.”

  The bell above the door rang and as Ellen shifted to put in Ashley’s order, Ashley turned to see who was at the door. Rayne Fegan entered.

  Wearing loose jeans and a sleeveless cotton blouse and with the bangs of her blond hair falling over the thick lenses of her big-framed glasses, Rayne wasn’t exactly attractive. But Ashley didn’t think she wanted to be. She had been one of the geeky girls a few grades below Ashley in high school, and Ashley remembered that she liked being the supersmart daughter of the editor of the Chronicle. Even in high school Rayne knew she had the power of the press behind her.

  When she saw Ashley her eyes lit up and she headed for the stool beside Ashley’s.

  “Mind if I sit here?”

  Ashley knew why she felt uncomfortable having Rayne sit beside her. Her dad, the editor of the Calhoun Corners Chronicle supported Mayor Capriotti’s competition. His biggest contribution to Auggie Malloy’s effort was making the mayor look bad in editorials and Rayne was the one digging up dirt for her dad to print.

  And Ashley knew Rick’s secret. Worse, it had already almost slipped out once at Janie Alberter’s dress shop.

  Nonetheless, not wanting to alert Rayne that Ashley might know something worth printing, Ashley said, “Please, have a seat.”

  “What’s new at the farm?” Rayne asked, sliding onto the stool and grabbing a menu from the holder beside the salt and pepper shakers.

  “Not much.”

  “I heard your dad hired Rick Capriotti.”

  “Only temporarily. My dad’s taking sailing lessons in the Bahamas. When he comes home, Rick moves on.”

  Rayne laughed. “Right.”

  Ashley glanced at her, not sure if she was trying to egg Ashley into saying something to defend Rick or if Rayne merely wasn’t a fan of the Capriotti family as a whole since her father clearly wasn’t. Sticking to the facts to keep herself out of trouble, Ashley said, “He’s actually training me to take over.”

  Rayne laughed again. “And you believed that. Jeez, Ash, we all thought you learned your lesson when you lost your trust fund.”

  The jab would have hit its mark, except Rick had warned her that any relationship between them would cause this kind of snide remark. Prepared for it, Ashley felt nothing. Not even a ripple of unease.

  Ellen walked out of the kitchen, holding a steaming bowl of stew. “Here you go.”

  Rayne put the menu back in its holder. “That looks good. I’ll have a bowl of stew, too.”

  Ellen nodded and walked away. Ashley picked up her fork and started eating.

  “Rick’s back for a reason,” Rayne said. “I can feel it in my bones. From the fact that you’re not talking much, I’m guessing that you believe just as I do that while he’s pretending to train you, he’s actually getting his foot in the door with your dad to take the job himself.”

  “And what if he is?” Ashley asked quietly. “Even if he and I are in a full-blown competition for this job, what difference does it make?”

  “I talked with Bert. He told me the two of you were competing and that from the way you were behaving when you came to pick up a part it was clear you wanted the job. It makes me angry that Rick thinks he can stroll into town and run you off.”

  Ashley sighed. “He’s not running me off. I have the edge of being heir to the farm. Even if he wins this round, and my dad makes him manager when he comes home in February, eventually I’ll inherit Seven Hills and then there won’t be any question of who’s boss.”

  “Except your dad is what? Forty-five? Forty-six? He could live another forty years. If you don’t win this fight and your dad hires Rick, you’ll watch him doing your job for forty long years. Is that what you want?”

  Ashley struggled not to close her eyes in frustration. Not because Rayne was badgering her, but because everything Rayne said was true. Her dad was too young for Ashley to count on inheriting the farm. When her dad returned in February, if she wasn’t prepared, Rick would get the job. And what would she do for forty years? Sit back and watch her competition living the life she wanted? Act as Rick’s hostess on the farm? Have everybody believe Rick had pulled a fast one on her to steal her job away?

  Still none of this was Rayne’s concern and Ashley wasn’t about to let Rayne bait her. “Regardless of what happ
ens, it’s none of your business.”

  “It is if you and I strike a deal.”

  Ashley looked at her. “Why would I strike a deal with you?”

  “Because you want to run that farm and from what I hear Rick has you shoveling manure. He has absolutely no intention of giving up the manager job at Seven Hills. But if public opinion suddenly swung against him, such as, if you found out that he was fired from his last job or something, my dad could put it in an editorial, and just like the last time public opinion swung against him, Rick would run.”

  Ashley snorted a laugh. From her talk with Elizabeth that morning Ashley knew that “running” was the last thing Rick wanted to do. He had a family who longed to nurture him. If he left Calhoun Corners it would only be to find work. If he got the job at Seven Hills, he would stay forever. The only way he’d run would to be to protect Ruthie. But that was what Rayne was saying. Rick wouldn’t leave the comfort of his family without a good reason and Ashley knew how to push him. All Ashley had to do would be drop one little hint about his secret—even something as small as Jen Martin’s name—and Rick would be out of her hair.

  Rayne caught her arm. “Ashley, something is going on with this guy. All my reporter’s instincts are screaming. What if he’s fleeing from an arrest or something? Do you really want him running your family’s farm? You’re the person in the position to find out what’s going on and once you do, he’ll leave and you’ll be the one managing the farm.”

  Except she wouldn’t have beaten Rick for the job. She would have tricked her way into it. She’d be no better than her ex-husband. And she was better. She was a hundred times better. She didn’t cheat, lie, steal or make promises she didn’t keep. She’d promised not to tell anyone about Ruthie and she wasn’t going back on her word.

  No matter what the cost.

  “My dad doesn’t hire anybody he doesn’t first check out. I’m sure he investigated everything from Rick’s credit rating to his potential arrest record. You’re not going to find anything in Rick’s past that my dad doesn’t already know.”