The Right Reason to Marry Read online

  “That’s right, I did.”

  “Grandpa told us to stay in the great room when you came, but I peeked.” Her little mouth drew down at the corners in a puzzled frown. “Who are you?”

  Otto Larson appeared from the living area. He wore a patient smile. “Coco, this is Liam Bravo. Invite him in.”

  “Come in, Liam Bravo.” She swept out an arm in the general direction of the arch that led to the downstairs living area.

  “Thank you, Coco.” He stepped into the foyer.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Liam shut the door as Coco darted to her grandfather and tugged on his hand. Otto bent close and she whispered in his ear.

  He gave Liam a wink. “Yep. Liam is one of those Bravos. Your Aunt Madison is his sister.”

  “I knew it!” crowed Coco. She aimed a giant smile at Liam, one that showed a gap where she’d lost a couple of lower teeth. “Aunt Madison is my friend and we have to be careful and not talk about her to most people because she is a movie star and she needs her privacy. But since you’re her brother, I can say what I want about Madison to you.”

  Liam made a noise in the affirmative.

  Coco Killigan chattered on. “I’m seven and I go to second grade. I have two best friends in my class and for Halloween, I will be Jewel from 101 Dalmatians.” Coco pointed at the bag of books dangling from his left hand. “You brought books. I like books.”

  “Coco,” said Otto fondly. “I think Liam’s here to talk to your mom.”

  Coco giggled. “Okay!” and skipped away through the arch into the other room.

  “Come on,” said Otto. “I’ll get Karin.” He turned and led the way into the first-floor living area, where a boy a couple of years older than Coco sat at the table with a laptop, a paper notepad and a stack of schoolbooks. Otto introduced the boy as Ben, Karin’s son.

  “Nice to meet you,” said Ben, sounding much older than his nine or ten years. He had straight brown hair and serious brown eyes.

  As Liam tried to think of what to say to him, Karin spoke from behind him.

  “Liam.”

  He turned to her. She wore jeans and a long, ribbed sweater that clung to the front of her, accentuating her enormous belly. Her wild hair was pinned up in a sloppy little bun. She wore no makeup and the shadows under her eyes made her look tired—tired and soft and huggable, somehow. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and bury his nose in the curve of her neck, find out if she still smelled as good as he remembered.

  “I wasn’t expecting you.” She didn’t seem all that happy to see him.

  Too bad. He was going to be around. A lot. She would need to get used to that. “I said I’d be back.”

  She glanced past him, at Otto. “Dad, I’ll just take Liam on upstairs?”

  “Fine with me,” the older man replied.

  She focused on Liam again and pasted on a tight smile. “This way...”

  Liam followed her back into the foyer and up to the empty top floor, where she offered him a seat in the living area.

  He took the sofa and set the bag of books at his feet.

  “So, how are you doing?” Karin lowered herself into one of the chairs.

  He had so many things to say and no idea where to start. “Uh. Good. Fine. Really. I talked to my lawyer.”

  “Well, that’s good.” She gave an uncomfortable little laugh. “I think...”

  Now she looked worried—and he didn’t blame her.

  Seriously? Deke? He had to go and mention Deke? Nothing good was going to come of telling her what Deke had said. “He, um, wasn’t helpful, but the point is I’m realizing that everything is workable. You need to know that I will provide child support—and I’ve read a little about parenting plans. We’ll get one of those.”

  “That’s great.” She sat with her knees pressed tightly together, like someone waiting for an appointment she wasn’t looking forward to.

  He leaned in. “I also want you to know I’m here for you, Karin. Whatever you need, I’ll make sure that you get it.”

  She nodded at him, an indulgent sort of nod, like he was her seven-year-old daughter, or something. He felt a flare of annoyance, that she so easily categorized him as someone she didn’t have to take too seriously.

  The annoyance quickly faded as he realized he missed her—missed the real Karin, the woman who kissed him like she couldn’t get enough of the taste of him, the one who was always ready with some wiseass remark.

  He wanted the real Karin back.

  He also wanted her to learn to count on him, to trust him, though he’d never been the sort of guy who was willing to work to gain a woman’s trust.

  But he’d never been almost a father before, either.

  Somehow, impending fatherhood changed everything. She was the mother of his child and he wanted her, wanted to be with her, to take care of her.

  One way or another, he would get what he wanted.

  * * *

  Karin wasn’t sure she liked the way Liam was looking at her. It was a thoughtful kind of look, a measuring look. It was also intimate, somehow.

  He was a beautiful man, all golden and deep-chested, with hard arms and proud shoulders. It would be so good, to have those arms around her, to rest against that strong chest. Looking at him now, in the gray light of this chilly fall morning, she couldn’t help wishing...

  No.

  Never mind.

  Bad idea.

  She and Liam weren’t a couple and they never would be.

  “So,” she said to break the lengthening silence between them, “What’s with the bag of books?”

  “Research.” He granted her a proud smile. “You know, first-time fatherhood, pregnancy, labor and delivery. All that. I’ve got a lot to catch up on and I’ve been doing my homework. I stayed up late trying to get a handle on all the stuff I need to know.”

  He was too sweet. He really was.

  She’d been awake half the night, too, feeling bad about everything. And now she sat across from him waiting for him to get thoroughly pissed off at her—that she’d gotten pregnant in the first place when he used a condom every time. That she didn’t bust to the baby when she broke it off with him and then, for all those months and months, that she’d never once reached out to let him know he was going to be a dad. He probably wondered if she ever would have told him.

  And frankly, if he hadn’t spotted her at the supermarket yesterday, she had no idea when she would have pulled up her big-girl panties and gotten in touch with the guy.

  They stared at each other across the endless expanse of Sten’s coffee table. Liam looked like he had a million things to tell her—tender things. Kind things. Helpful things.

  The man truly wasn’t angry. Not yet, anyway. He was sweet and sincere and he just seemed to want to be there for her and for the baby, to do the right thing.

  His kindness reminded her sharply of how much she’d liked him when they met up again last year. In addition to his general charm and hotness, Liam Bravo, high school heartbreaker, had grown up to be a good man.

  And right now, that just made her want to cry.

  He said, “I was thinking...”

  “Yeah?”

  “Looking back on that night in March when you broke it off, I knew there was something weighing on your mind. I should have tried harder to get you to open to me.”

  She couldn’t believe he’d just said that. “Liam. You were great. Don’t you dare blame yourself.”

  “Look, I just need to know what you need.”

  “I’m good, I promise. Everything’s pretty much ready. We’re just waiting for the baby to come.”

  He frowned in a thoughtful sort of way. “Have you been going to childbirth classes?”

  “I took the classes, yes. Like I said, I’m ready.”

  “A labor coach?�
� he asked and then clarified, “Do you have one?”

  “I have two, as a matter of fact—Naomi and Prim.” Naomi Khan Smith and Primrose Hart Danvers had been her best friends since kindergarten. Both women were married now. Naomi had two boys.

  “Prim and Naomi. Makes sense.” He’d grown up with her BFFs, same as she had. “And even though I get that you’re all set and Prim and Naomi will take good care of you, I want to be there, when the baby comes.”

  She tried not to picture him standing beside her while she sweated and groaned with her legs spread apart. If he wanted to be there, he had the right. “Yes. That’s fine. Great.”

  “So you’ll call me, when you go into labor?”

  “I will, absolutely.”

  * * *

  Liam had a million more things to discuss with the soon-to-be mother of his child. But sitting here across from her in Sten Larson’s too-quiet great room, he couldn’t seem to remember a single one of them.

  She just looked so brave and uncomfortable—and alone. Beyond being smart and good-looking and self-reliant, there was something that hurt his heart about Karin Killigan, something walled-off and sad.

  “What else?” she asked. He knew she was trying not to sound impatient, but it was obvious to him that she couldn’t wait for him to leave.

  And why stay? She didn’t really want him here, there was nothing he could do for her at the moment—and he hated the feeling that he contributed to her sadness.

  “Nothing else—not right now, anyway,” he heard himself say.

  She stood, a surprisingly agile move given the size of her belly. “Well, all right then. Come by anytime. I mean that. Or call. Whatever.”

  “Thanks.” He grabbed his bag of books and followed her down to the lower floor.

  Her little girl stuck her curly head into the foyer as Karin was showing him out the door. “Bye, Liam Bravo.”

  “Bye, Coco.”

  “Can I call you just Liam?”

  When he glanced at the silent woman beside him, she shrugged. “Up to you.”

  He gave Coco a smile. “Just Liam works for me.”

  “Okay! Bye, Liam. You can come and see me anytime.” Coco waved as Karin ushered him out the door.

  * * *

  Liam went back to Astoria and had breakfast at a homey little diner he liked. From there, he went on to his office at the Warrenton terminal and put in a half day of work.

  That evening, he drove the few miles to Valentine Bay and stopped at the Sea Breeze on Beach Street for a beer. His baby sister Grace was behind the bar. She served him his favorite IPA and asked him if something was bothering him.

  “It’s all good,” he lied and Gracie left him alone except to give him a refill when he signaled for it. He sat there sipping his beer, feeling kind of gloomy, going back and forth over whether or not to just tell his youngest sister that he was about to be a dad. At some point, he would have to break the big news to the whole family.

  Soon, actually. The baby would be here in no time at all.

  It all felt so strange. Completely unreal. He still had no clue how he was going to do it—be a dad.

  But he wasn’t giving up. Uh-uh. Karin and her sad eyes weren’t keeping him away. He would be there for her and for his kid whether she wanted him around or not.

  * * *

  “Is Liam your boyfriend, Mommy?” Coco took a big sip of her milk and then set the glass carefully down. She picked up her fork and speared a clump of mac and cheese with ham.

  Karin and her dad shared a glance across the dinner table. Otto lifted one bushy eyebrow. Karin read that look: it’s as good a time as any.

  She cast a sideways glance at Ben. He was watching her, wearing what she always thought of as his Little Professor look. Serious. Thoughtful. Ben never just burst out with things the way Coco did. He watched. He waited. He made carefully considered, responsible decisions.

  “As a matter of fact,” Karin said to her daughter, “I’ve been meaning to talk to both you and Ben about Liam.”

  “I like Liam!” Coco speared a green bean and stuck it in her mouth.

  Dear God. Where to even start? “I like Liam, too,” Karin said, trying to sound relaxed and natural and feeling anything but. “And several months ago, I...went out with him.”

  Ben’s forehead scrunched up the way it always did when some complex math problem didn’t compute. “You were dating Liam?”

  Not dating, exactly. “Uh, yes. I was. We’re not, um, dating anymore, though. But we are friends. And that’s a good thing. Because, as it turns out...” Was she blowing this? Most likely. She forged on anyway. “We will all probably be seeing a lot more of Liam because he is the new baby’s father.”

  Ben said nothing.

  Coco was incredulous. She set down her fork. “Our baby’s father?”

  “Yes.” It was official. She was a terrible mother who needed lessons in how to share awkward, confusing information with her own children. “Liam is our baby’s dad.”

  Coco frowned. “Is he going to come and live in our house?”

  “No, honey.”

  “But doesn’t he want to be with the baby?”

  “Yes. Yes, he does. And he will be here often to see the baby. And when the baby gets older, the baby will probably stay with Liam some of the time.”

  “Oh,” said Coco, and picked up her fork again. “Okay.” She stabbed herself another big bite of mac and cheese.

  Karin glanced across at her dad again. He gave her a shrug and a reassuring smile.

  Ben, who understood the mechanics of reproduction, asked the question she’d been dreading. “How come you didn’t say who the baby’s dad was when I asked you before?” He’d asked several months ago, not long after she’d made the announcement that he and Coco would have a new brother or sister.

  Because I’m a lily-livered scaredy-cat, she thought. She said, “Well, sweetheart, as I said then, I wanted to talk to the baby’s dad first.”

  “You took a long time to talk to him.”

  Ouch. “Yes, I did. I’m sorry about that, I really am.”

  Ben tipped his head to the side, pondering. “Why? Were you nervous, to tell him?”

  Understatement of the decade. “I was, yes.”

  “But now he knows and he’s happy that he’ll be a dad?”

  “I haven’t asked him that question. But he seems very determined to be a good dad.”

  Ben was still looking kind of troubled over the whole situation.

  But Coco wasn’t. “Our baby will like having Liam for a dad,” she declared. “Liam’s nice—and I finished my dinner. What’s for dessert?”

  Otto chuckled. “I think there might be a full carton of chocolate ice cream in the freezer.”

  Karin brushed Ben’s arm. “Want to go talk about this in the other room, just the two of us?”

  Ben shook his head. “Thanks, Mom. I’d rather just have some dessert.”

  * * *

  On Sunday, Karin went in to work at Larson Boatworks, the boat-building and refitting company her dad had started thirty-five years before. Karin ran the office.

  That day, her dad kept an eye on the kids at home so she could spend several hours tying up loose ends on the job before the baby came. When she got back to the Cove late that afternoon, her dad reported that Liam had dropped by.

  “Should I call him?” she asked.

  “He didn’t say to ask you to.”

  “Did he mention what he needed to talk to me about?”

  Her dad gave her a look, indulgent and full of wry humor. “I’m not sure he knows what he needs to talk to you about.”

  For the rest of that day and into the evening, she kept thinking that she probably ought to call Liam, check in, ask him if he had any questions or anything. Somehow, though, she never quite got around to pick
ing up the phone.

  Monday, her leave from work began. Her dad dropped the kids at the bus stop and then went on to work.

  It was nice, having the house to herself. She took a half hour just deciding what to wear and ended up settling on a giant purple T-shirt dress with an asymmetrical hem.

  Really, she didn’t want jeans or leggings wrapped around her balloon of a belly today, so she settled on thigh-high socks in royal blue with her oldest, comfiest pair of Doc Martens boots on her feet.

  Once she was dressed, she felt suddenly energized, so she vacuumed and dusted and rechecked the baby’s room for the umpteenth time, making sure everything was ready. Around eleven, just as she finished assembling two large baking dishes of lasagna and sticking them in the freezer to reheat when needed, she heard the doorbell ring.

  It was Liam. He had a pink teddy bear in one hand and a blue bear in the other.

  “I forgot to ask. What are we having?” He smiled that killer smile of his, and she felt way too glad to see him.

  She laughed. “It’s a boy.”

  And just like that, he threw the pink bear over his shoulder and handed her the blue one.

  The man was too charming by half. “Thank you—and I think we should save the pink one, too.”

  “Is there something you aren’t telling me?” He pretended to look alarmed. “We’re having twins, aren’t we?”

  “Oh, God, no. I just meant it seems wrong to leave it lying there on the front step.”

  He went and got the pink bear. “Fine. The baby gets two bears.”

  It seemed only right to offer, “Would you like to see his ultrasound pictures?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  She ushered him in. As he brushed past her, she got a hint of his cologne, a scent of leather and sandalwood that caused a sudden, stunning remembrance of the two of them all those months ago, naked on tangled sheets.

  He paused in the arch to the living area and glanced back at her. “Something wrong?”

  “Not a thing.” She shut the door and followed him into the first-floor living area.

  In the kitchen, she put the blue bear down on the counter. He set the pink one beside it as she went to the double-doored fridge, which was covered with family pictures and artwork created by both Ben and Coco. “Here we are.” She took the two ultrasound shots from under a strawberry magnet and handed them over. “These were at eighteen weeks.”