Page 127 of Nobodys Baby But Mine (Chicago Stars 3)

When they were naked, he surprised her by reaching for his jeans. She propped herself up on one elbow and watched him withdraw a bedraggled pink bow from the pocket, its pom pom loops flattened almost, but not quite, beyond recognition.

“You kept it,” she said.

He leaned forward to nuzzle her breast. “At first I had the idea of making you eat it, then I was going to tie you up with it while I let those rats nibble on you.”

“Uhmm.” She lay back and did some nibbling of her own. “What are you going to do with it now?”

He muttered something that sounded like, “You’ll think it’s stupid.”

“I will not.”

He drew back and gazed at her. “Promise you won’t laugh.”

She nodded solemnly.

“You were the best birthday present I ever got.”

“Thank you.”

“I wanted to give you something back, but I’ve got to warn you that it’s not half as good as my present. Even so, you have to keep it.”

“All right.”

He draped the pink bow around his neck and grinned. “Happy birthday, Rosebud.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“I swear, Jane, this is the craziest thing I ever let you talk me into. I don’t know why I listened.”

Cal had listened because he’d been jumping through hoops this past month trying to please her as she grew bigger than a house and grouchier than a bear. Even now, she wanted to bash him over the head, just on general principles. But she loved him too much. So she settled for snuggling into his big arms instead.

They sat in the back of a black stretch limousine heading for Heartache Mountain. The trees that lined the road were splashed with October’s colors: yellows, oranges, and reds. This would be her first mountain autumn, and she’d been aching to see it, as well as get reacquainted with the friends she’d made before they’d had to leave Salvation. Cal and his family had dragged her to every important function, and it hadn’t been long before the townspeople’s resentment toward her had disappeared.

As the limo neared Salvation her anticipation grew. Cal had ordered the car because the hamstring injury that had him sidelined for the next few weeks also kept him from driving, and he wouldn’t let her behind the wheel until after the baby was born. It was probably just as well. Her back was killing her from those awful airline seats, and she felt too crummy to concentrate on the mountain roads. She’d been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for several weeks, those practice contractions that lead up to the real thing, but they’d been worse than normal this afternoon.

He kissed the top of her head. She sighed and snuggled closer. If she’d needed anything more to convince her of Cal’s love, these past few weeks had done it. As her pregnancy had advanced to its final week, she’d become demanding, moody, and generally bitchy. In response, he’d been unendingly affectionate and obnoxiously good-humored. Several times she’d tried to prick his temper just for the challenge of it, but instead of rising to the bait, he’d laughed at her.

Easy for him to be so happy, she thought sourly. He wasn’t the one carrying around a thousand pounds of future Olympic athlete and Nobel laureate. He wasn’t stuck in this oversize tent of a dress with a stupid Peter Pan collar; an aching back; nagging, unproductive contractions; and a pair of feet she hadn’t seen in weeks! On the other hand, he was sidelined for the next few games, so he wasn’t exactly on top of the world. Still, his injury was the reason they were able to fly home to Salvation in the middle of the season.

She reached down to rub his thigh. It wasn’t his hamstring, but it was the closest thing she could comfort. Her eyes filled with ever-ready tears as she thought of the pain he’d been in on Sunday when that ignorant cretin who played for the Bears had sacked him on fourth and two. Cal had been playing a glorious game up until then, and if Jane could have gotten her hands on that Neanderthal after the game, she would have taken him apart.

Kevin had pretended to be sympathetic when Cal had been helped off the field, but Jane wasn’t fooled. Kevin reveled in every moment of playing time he could get, and she knew he would make the most of the next two weeks while Cal was out. If she weren’t so annoyed with him, she’d be proud of his progress this season. Even Cal was proud of him, although he’d never admit it.

Sometimes she thought Kevin spent more time at their house than he spent at his own. They had sold her home in Glen Ellyn and settled in Cal’s condo until they decided where they were going to live permanently. For some reason, Cal had insisted on participating in every decision about paint color and furniture purchases, right down to throw pillows. He and Kevin had assembled the baby’s crib together, and put up bright yellow shutters in the sunny second-story bedroom that was to be the nursery.

Even Kevin didn’t know that Cal was going to announce his retirement at the end of the season. Cal wasn’t entirely happy about it, since he still didn’t know what he would do with himself, but he was tired of fighting his injuries. He also said he’d learned there were more important things in life than playing football.

“Women are not supposed to fly when they’re nine months pregnant,” he growled. “It’s a wonder they didn’t arrest me for bringing you on that plane.”

“They wouldn’t have dared. You celebrities can get away with anything.” She gave him the pouty lip that made her feel so deliciously like a bimbo. “Yesterday I realized I couldn’t stand the idea of having our baby in Chicago. I want to be near family.”

He was a sucker for the pouty lip, and he nipped it between his own before he went on with his complaint. “You could have decided that a month ago, and I’d have sent you out here while it was still safe to travel.”

“Then we’d have been split up, and neither of us could have stood that.”

It was true. They needed each other in more ways than they could ever have imagined. Not only had they found passion together, but they’d found contentment, as well as an energy that had spilled over into their jobs. Cal was well on his way to breaking his all-time passing record, and her work had never gone better.

Just after they’d returned to Chicago, she’d been awarded the Coates’ Prize in Physics for a paper she’d done on duality. Unbeknownst to her, the rumors about the prize had been circulating for we

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