Page 24 of Unwanted Vows

“I was afraid that Grandfather might do something ugly to her if I admitted I was seeing someone.”

“Uh-huh,” Pops Quinn said. “Sounds like an excuse to me.”

Andrew blushed an even deeper red, if that was possible. I almost felt sorry for him. He swallowed and said, “I felt like such a heel. Here was this beautiful, intelligent woman on one hand. And on the other, somewhere in the world was a kid who wasn’t even grown up yet who was expecting me to marry her. It was all just too, too much.”

The people around the table were silent for a few minutes, as if they were deciding whether to be sympathetic toward Andrew, or critical.

Catriona gave me a meaningful look as if she understood all parties involved, then interrupted the silence. “Meanwhile back in the States…”

I heave a sigh. “Three months passed. I realized that I was going to have a baby. I called the number Andrew had given me. It was reported as ‘out of service.'"

Catriona looked a little scandalized. “It took you three months to call him back?”

I scowled at her, defensively. “I was doing practicums. I was busy.”

Leland elbowed his wife. “Not everyone has their love life foremost in their minds.”

Catriona elbowed him back. “So?”

Mimi Quinn gently chided them. “No squabbling in front of the children. When you couldn’t reach Andrew, what did you do then?”

“I reached out for help and support from Family Services. This led to my eventual arrival in Rhodri Aims office. Mr. Aims said he would be glad to adopt the baby if a test showed that it was Andrew’s. The only catch was, I would have to give him up and have no contact with him afterward.”

“Did you know he was a boy?” Andrew asks, as if that somehow mattered.

I shake my head. “At that point, he could have had six toes on each foot and three heads. But he, she, or it, was mine, and I had no intentions of handing my baby over to anyone else.”

“What did you do?” Andrew inquired.

I smile. “I relied on my girlfriend network. I called Kate.”

“We were roommates as undergrads,” Kate explains. “I called my aunt and uncle, because I knew they would come up with a good plan for her. While we were getting things set up, my brother, James, drove to New York and brought Maddy to Spindizzy in Kansas.”

Andrew says, “Thank you for being there for her.” He reached over and squeezed my shoulder.

“Careful,” I squeak, surprised at his response. “I need that arm.”

He relaxes his hug, but doesn’t let go. Illogically, I don’t want him to. I’m still feeling angry, but there is something safe about his presence.

“That’s quite a story,” Richard says, before the adult explanations can get too deep. “I think it leaves out a few things, but sounds like we have most of the important parts.”

Charles put in, “Now, to the next thing. Paul, Cece, how did you and Isabel manage to get yourselves kidnapped?”

Paul looks at Cece, Cece looks at Paul. Cece says, “I messed up.”

“Just how did you mess up?” Charles prompts gently.

“Julia and Mom were busy with the babies. All the big kids were putting together this great big puzzle. It was boring.”

“Uh-huh,” Charles says. “So what did you do?”

“We went down to the edge of the orchard. There were oranges all over the ground. We started picking them up,” Cece says.

“I peeled one and we each had a section,” Paul added. “It didn’t taste very good.”

“Bergamot oranges,” Pops Quinn explains. “The rind is used for flavoring, the fruit has a sour bitter flavor.”

“Anyway,” Cece picked up the story, “that guy, Jason Wintergreen, walked up out of the orchard, and says, ‘hey, kids, your grandpa wants you.’”

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