His Valentine Triplets, page 13
Rafe sighed. “We’re digging up the dead.”
“Bad idea,” Judah said. “I vote no.”
Creed shook his head. “Nothing good can come of this. Fiona told me once that it was just an old sewer pipe that she and Burke had covered over. Trust me, you do not want to hit a sewer pipe.”
Rafe blinked. “He has a point.”
“Go on, Rafe,” Pete said. “You’re the thinker in the family. Figure out the best place to start, and go for it. Pick the head or the feet.” He grinned at his brother.
“It’s not a body.” Rafe felt himself breaking a bit of a sweat just thinking about all his brothers’ advice, which ranged from “just do it” to “let sleeping dogs lie.” “Hell, what have I got to lose?”
“That’s right,” Sam said. “Keep thinking those snively thoughts, and then just whale away on that dirt.”
Rafe took a deep breath. “Stand back,” he said, and with a great thrust he tore into the dirt scar, then jumped back.
Chapter Twelve
“Damn,” Sam said, “that was anticlimactic. I was half expecting an oil gusher. Weren’t you expecting something dramatic like that?” he asked Jonas.
“At least a banshee to come screaming out of the hole,” Jonas agreed. “Keep digging, Rafe.”
“Why is it always ‘keep digging, Rafe’? You guys are capable of a little dirty work, too.” Rafe went for another shovelful, feeling more confident now that the ground had been disturbed. Over and over he thrust, building up a nice pile of dirt beside the hole.
“I bet it’s nothing,” Creed said. “Probably just dirt that wasn’t filled in properly when the house was built.”
When the shovel made a sudden thud on impact, Rafe froze.
“Uh-oh,” Pete said, “that sounded like wood.”
“A wood box,” Judah said. “That can’t be good. Rather coffinlike, wouldn’t you say?”
“That’s it,” Sam said. “Just fill in the hole, put it all back, and let’s remember that we love our wily aunt and would never tell anyone that she kept coffins in the basement.” He mopped at his brow. “I feel like I’m watching an old movie. Remember that one with the two crazy little aunts who kept bodies in the basement? I always knew Fiona reminded me of someone.” He looked around at his brothers. “I need a whiskey something fierce. Anybody care to join me?”
Rafe leaned the shovel against the wall. “This time I agree with Sam. We fill it in and leave it.”
“Now?” Jonas demanded. “Right when we’re having our finest Indiana Jones moment?” Squatting, Jonas brushed at the dirt with his palm. Plain pine wood appeared under his fingers, and Jonas wiped his hands and stood. “You know, I think I’ll throw my vote in with these other two chickens.”
“I’m good with that,” Pete said. “I’m pretty sure nothing underground needs to come out.”
“We’ll just ask her,” Judah said, pushing some dirt back into the hole with his boot. “Did any of you geniuses ever think of that?”
“I did, but no one ever listens to me.” Rafe filled the hole in, then smoothed it over. “Listen, there’s only one solution to this tangle. You guys finish up, okay? I’ve got something to do.”
He heard murmurs of protest as he left, but uncovering the wooden footlocker thing had cleared his brain. They’d spent too much time living in the past.
It was time to think only of the future—whether Julie agreed or not.
RAFE BANGED ON HER DOOR twenty minutes later, making enough racket to raise the county. “Julie! We’ve got to talk!”
The door was opened by a small elderly woman whose blue eyes sparkled behind polka-dotted glasses. “Hello, Rafe.”
“Hello, Mrs. Abernathy.”
Two more faces appeared behind her. “And Mrs. Waters, Mrs. Night.” Rafe took off his hat. “Is there a Books’n’Bingo Society meeting I’m interrupting?”
“Not today.” Corinne Abernathy opened the door. “Julie’s asleep. She told us not to let you in. So you’ll tell her that the door was open and you thought it was all right to pop in for a quick visit.”
“Thanks.” Rafe nodded. “What’s going on?”
“She’s been put on complete bed rest.” Nadine Waters smiled at him. “Don’t worry. It’s pretty normal with triplets.”
Rafe gulped, his heart rate jumping. “She was fine when I last saw her.”
“Yes,” Mavis Night said, “but she started having some cramps. The doctor gave her a shot and told her she’s to stay absolutely still for the next three months.”
Rafe blinked. “Are the babies all right?”
“They’re fine,” Corinne said, “as long as she does what she’s told.”
Rafe looked at Corinne. “I’m surprised Julie would let you in, considering what happened with Sabrina and Seton.”
“Don’t you worry about my nieces,” Corinne said airily. “Julie knows her father can be a pip.”
“I don’t think she knows that,” Rafe said. “We’d been discussing her father, and—”
“I know all about it,” Corinne said, brushing his words away. “Fiona had a right to protect her family, and Seton and Sabrina were only doing their jobs. They didn’t know Julie then.” She smiled at him. “Julie forgives easily.”
“She doesn’t forgive me,” Rafe said, pretty torn up about it.
The ladies all smiled. “Probably not,” Corinne said. “Julie’s asked us to be her daily help. Not all at once, of course. One of us will be here every day. You’ll have plenty of time to consider how you’re going to get your family under one roof.”
“Any advice?” Rafe was open to suggestions that might help.
“We don’t do advice,” Mavis said.
Rafe looked at them. “Can I see her?”
“We wouldn’t advise it at the moment,” Nadine said. “That’s the only advice we have.”
Rafe shook his head. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go up there and talk to her. I’ll say you three were in the garden and had no idea I had come in the door. Deal?”
Corinne nodded. “Five minutes only. This is a serious situation.”
“I know. Thanks.” He went upstairs to Julie’s room, slowly opening the door. “Julie?”
“Go away.” She tossed a pillow his direction. “You and your family are bad news.”
“Probably.” Rafe approached the bed, noting her tired face and pale skin. “How do you feel?”
“Scared.”
He pulled a chair up next to the bed so he could sit for a second. “I saw the ladies in the garden, but they—”
“I heard the whole thing. There’s no rug on the stairs and sound travels, particularly your deep voice.”
“I had to see you.” Rafe picked up her hand, which felt cold to him. “Julie, I’m sorry about everything.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” She turned her gaze away.
Rafe took a deep breath. “Julie, marry me.”
That got her attention. “Are you crazy?”
“Yes. Julie, listen. It doesn’t have to be a forever thing. It doesn’t have to be a romantic thing. But let’s get married so that the babies will have the best start we can give them.”
She raised her brows. “Marrying you is the best start?”
“Yes. I know you don’t have a whole lot of reason to trust me right now, but we need to do this for the children.”
“Not really. And don’t start with the father’s-last-name machismo. Jenkins is a fine last name, a better last name in this town than Callahan.”
“Julie, think about it.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I promise to give you a divorce as soon as you want it.”
“I don’t want to get married.”
“I know. But just consider it. We can have the judge come marry us here.”
Julie shook her head slowly. “Even if I wanted to marry you, which I don’t, no woman wants to get married in her nightgown, Rafe.”
Even if Julie got dressed, she wouldn’t want to be married in her bedroom. This was a problem, because there was no way of getting her up and down those steep stairs. “I have to go,” he said. “I know this wasn’t the most romantic proposal, but it comes from my heart.”
“You just want Rancho Diablo. And to stick your finger in my father’s eye.”
“No,” Rafe said, “trust me, I could not care less about any of that. The ranch—heaven only knows what will happen with that. I don’t even care anymore. I care about you and these children, and that’s my job.”
He got up to leave. Julie’s eyes followed him as he went to the door. “Julie Jenkins, you’re never going to believe this, but I’ve loved you ever since you drew those fifty red hearts on my face in indelible ink.”
A brief smile tried to flit across her face, but she wouldn’t let it. “You’re right, I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Julie asked.
Rafe thought about the box he’d unearthed. He thought about his brothers, and their aunt, and realized it was all too complicated to explain right now. “Nothing, except I realized I couldn’t live in the past. There’s nothing back there that matters. So I’m hanging my hat on the future.”
It was true, whether Julie wanted to believe it or not. He put his hat on and departed, leaving his heart in her hands.
JULIE WAS ASTOUNDED BY Rafe’s proposal. As she listened to his boots clomping down the steep wooden staircase, she thought about everything he’d said. Did she want to marry him?
“Not exactly,” she murmured. “Not just because I’m pregnant.”
Her father would be furious. He’d probably have a stroke.
But a lot of what Rafe said made sense.
Secretly, Julie knew the truth of what was in her heart, what she wouldn’t tell a soul.
She got out of bed and went to the window, pushing it open to look down at Rafe, who was walking to his truck. “Hey!”
He glanced up at the window, did a double take when he saw her standing there. “Get back in bed, damn it!”
He disappeared, and a moment later she heard his boots thundering on the stairs before he burst into her room. She dived into the sheets, covering herself up to her neck.
“Have you ever heard of a cell phone?” he demanded. “I have one in my pocket at all times. Don’t get out of this bed again unless it’s necessary.”
“It was necessary. Don’t tell me what to do.”
He glared at her, and she glared back.
“Well, I won’t say I didn’t enjoy the sight of you in your nightie bellowing at me from the window,” Rafe said. “I just prefer that the whole neighborhood doesn’t enjoy said experience.”
“Anyway,” Julie said, ignoring him, “I accept your proposal. Not that I forgive you in the least for what you and your family did to mine, but I accept your proposal, considering my children.”
“You do?” Rafe sounded shocked, and Julie felt smug that she’d surprised him so much.
“On one condition,” she said.
“Anything. Name it.”
“Two, actually.”
“Whatever. The moon and the stars. Just get on with it.”
Julie smiled. “You put the divorce agreement in writing. Have Sam draw up the papers stating that you promise to divorce me without any Callahan shenanigans as soon as I pick a date after the births.”
“Why Sam?”
“I’m well aware that Sam is a fine lawyer,” Julie said. “I know that if he draws up the papers, they’ll be airtight.”
“Great,” Rafe said. “You trust my brother, but not me.”
“Sam’s ethical, even if he is a Callahan. I’m hiring him to do this job, and I know he’ll do it right. Plus, as your brother, he’ll pound you if you try to weasel out of the divorce.”
“All right,” Rafe said, not sounding happy about it. “What else?”
“I’m not getting married in my bed.”
His brows rose. “I can’t do much about doctor’s orders, Julie.”
“You’ll figure something out.” She smiled. “Aren’t you supposed to be the genius in your family?”
“Yeah, but…” He glanced at her stomach, then outside her room. “Why’d you buy a two-story?”
“I wanted this house, Rafe.”
He put his hands up at her cool tone. “All right. Let me think for a moment. A small adjustment to your house would have to be made.”
“Small? How small?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to have to think. You’ve presented me with a Gordian knot. And yet I’ve always loved a puzzle, my bountifully plump turtledove.” Rafe glanced at her. “I accept all the terms. Do we have a deal?”
After a long moment, Julie nodded.
“Good.” Rafe bounded over to the bed and gave her a nice juicy kiss on the mouth before she could gather her wits to protest. “One week from now, you will be Mrs. Rafe Callahan. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?”
Julie looked at him. “I’ll always be Judge Jenkins, Rafe.”
“Sounds good to me.”
He strode from the room. Julie watched him go, a little startled that he’d given in so easily. She sank back on her pillows. It was the right thing to do, the practical thing to do. Everyone would be astonished, and happy for her—except her father. She couldn’t think about that right now. Rafe had come to her, smelling faintly of earth, and with a dark smear of mud across one cheek, and she’d known that his proposal had been born of the moment. Something had been bothering him.
Both of them knew that the past would always be between them. There was no changing that.
The hardest part of being in love was falling in love with the absolutely most wrong man for her. And yet she’d always had a thing for Rafe Callahan.
She’d have to give him up as soon as the babies were born, though. There was no way to make the past right, because it was too deep, too strong.
May seemed a long way off.
THE NEXT DAY, RAFE CAME into Julie’s room looking like a man with a lot of secrets.
“Why are you grinning at me?” Julie asked, her radar already up. “That’s how you used to smirk at me in court, and it never failed to annoy me.”
“That’s okay.” Rafe pulled the wooden chair next to her bed and handed her a box. “I can put up with my little woman’s moods.”
Julie glared at him. “What’s this?” she asked, her gaze moving from his handsome face—which she could have looked at for hours, not that she’d ever admit that—to the gold-wrapped box.
“A small token of my affection.” Rafe continued smiling at her as if he’d won bingo. “Very small. But expressive.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Not true. You want my name, which I’m giving you gladly.”
“No,” she said. “Let me remind you I’m keeping my name. Your name is for my children.”
“Our children. Open.”
She was excited to have a gift, though she wouldn’t swell his head by telling him. “There’s nothing in here.”
“There’s not?” Rafe peered into the box, pretending to be surprised. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not sure,” Julie said, becoming aware that Rafe was having a small laugh at her expense. “Perhaps to you.”
He kissed her hand. “I must say I adore you, Julie Jenkins. I love it when you try to act all stiff and schoolteachery, and then go little girl on me.”
“You’re an ass,” Julie said, setting the box on her bedside table.
He handed her another box, this one more delicate than the other. “An even smaller token of my affection.”
Julie looked at him. “Why do you go to all this trouble?”
“Because you’re so cute when you’re annoyed. I always thought that when we were in court. I could sit there for hours watching you purse your lips as you deliberated.”
“All right, cowboy, enough with the flattery.” She tore into the box, finding a jeweler’s box inside. “Now you’re just being cruel. This is a Callahan prank, right?”
“You’ll have to open it to find out.”
He was incorrigible. Still, Julie opened the box. She gasped at the heart-shaped diamond ring nestled in velvet. “Oh, my goodness!”
“Yeah,” Rafe said, “that’s what I said when I saw the price tag.”
She stared at the ring, practically afraid to touch it. “It’s…ostentatious, don’t you think?”
Rafe grinned. “Yep. Just like my lady.”
Julie raised a brow. “How do you figure?”
He leaned back in the wooden chair, pleased with himself. “Well, three babies right off the bat impressed me. So I told the jeweler to make it three carats, one for each baby. If you can’t find a stone that size in that shape, then make a diamond band for it.”
Julie shook her head. “This is too much.”
“Don’t you like the ring?” Rafe looked worried.
“I do. What woman wouldn’t?” She closed the lid, fighting temptation. “But we’re not really going to be married, except on paper. And we’re getting divorced. I don’t need a ring like this, Rafe.”
He patted her hand. “I never realized you’re a thinker, too.” He smiled at her, his eyes kind. “This will be good for our children.”
Julie was dying to try on the ring. “It’s a lot of money to spend—”
He pulled the ring from the box and slid it on her finger. Checking it from every angle, he seemed to decide it suited him. Then he pressed her hand to his lips, making her heart jump like crazy. “Don’t worry, angel cake. It’s not real. A pretend ring for a fake marriage. Pretty smart, huh?”
