Christmas in Cupid Falls (14 page)

She stopped at a cluster of people and they congratulated both Linc and Kennedy on the tree lighting. As they continued walking down Main Street, Linc said, “I wanted to talk to you about some ideas I have—ideas about how Cupid Falls can help my company, and Lincoln Lighting can help the town. I know it’s a crazy time of year, but any chance you can find some time for me?”

“How about lunch on Monday?” Kennedy offered, mentally trying to juggle her day in order to make it work.

“That’s perfect. I’ll meet you at the restaurant at say, noon?”

“Sounds great.”

He guided her farther down the street.

Mal didn’t think of himself as a jealous man. He’d had serious relationships in the past and he’d never minded when someone he was dating talked to another man. But watching Kennedy talk to whoever that Adonis wa
s . . .
well, he minded.

The man reached out and touched her arm and she smiled at something he said.

“Malcolm,” Clarence’s wife, Joan, called.

He waited, still watching Kennedy and her new guy mingle with the crowd.

“Malcolm,” Joan called again.

He turned. “Yes, ma’am?”

“We know what you did, and no one’s happy about it. Make it right. Kennedy deserves better.” She humphed and stormed away.

Joan was the grand total of people who’d talked to him this evening. But the fact he was being shunned suddenly had an upside. As he followed Kennedy and the new guy, the crowd parted like toast under a knife.

Kennedy and Adonis were talking to May as he approached from behind Kennedy. May took one look at him, sniffed, and said, “I’ve got to go, Kennedy.”

May glared hard enough in his direction as she left that Kennedy turned and shot him a questioning look.

Mal shrugged.

Kennedy sighed and said, “Malcolm, I don’t think you’ve met Lincoln Gates. Linc, this is Cupid Falls’ own Malcolm Carter, Esquire. He lives in Pittsburgh now and is a rising star in the legal world. He’s home for a visit. A brief visit,” she added, looking at him pointedly.

“Not all that brief,” he said as he shook Lincoln’s hand. Maybe he shook it a little too long, a little too hard, because the man gave him a quizzical look that seemed to say,
what did I do to piss you of
f
?

Mal glanced at Kennedy and then back at Lincoln, who had an
oh, I see
look, then gave the merest shake of his head to say he wasn’t interested in Kennedy.

That very unaccustomed feeling of jealousy faded and he said, “Call me Mal,” with more friendliness.

Linc nodded. “I’m Linc.”

“Lincoln Lighting?” Mal asked. He remembered his grandfather and mother talking excitedly when the new company bought the long-vacant furniture plant. And Kennedy had mentioned them in her speech.

“Guilty,” Linc said.

“My grandfather has nothing but nice things to say about you,” Mal told the guy.

“Your grandfather is . . . ?” Lincoln asked.

It was unusual to find someone in Cupid Falls who didn’t know his family. “Pap Watson at the—”

“The Center,” Linc finished. “We’ve been in talks.”

“Talks?” Mal tried to remember what, if anything, his grandfather had said about Lincoln Lighting, but other than talking about the new plant and new jobs, he drew a blank. “What kind of talks?”

“Talks he said I need to take up with you since you officially own the business, at least that’s what Pap said. I have a meeting with Kennedy on Monday. Maybe you’d like to join us? I can tell you what I want to suggest for your business.”

“I’m sure I can make it.”

“Great,” Linc said. “Kennedy and I have talked about the Center. It’s aptly named. It seems to be at the heart of the community. People have celebrations there. There are events like today’s craft show and the dance in a few weeks. I could use your help.”

Mal couldn’t help but notice that Kennedy was frowning. Maybe Linc didn’t think there was anything going on between them, but maybe Kennedy did—or maybe she wished there was something between them.

Mal turned back to Linc. “When on Monday?”

“Lunch at the restaurant at noon.”

“I’ll be there.” He noticed that Kennedy’s frown deepened.

Linc looked from her to Mal, then back again. He seemed to know he was missing something, but Mal could see that Linc couldn’t decide what.

“Nice meeting you, Mal. See you both on Monday,” Linc said, obviously giving up trying to figure things out. He turned and melted into the crowd.

“So what was all that about?” Kennedy asked Mal when Linc moved out of earshot.

He tried to look innocent. “What?”

“There was more machismo between the two of you than there are frogs at Joan’s house.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Fine.” She started to walk down the block, so he followed. He thought about offering his arm, but he wasn’t sure she’d take it, so he settled for simply walking beside her.

Mal glanced across the street. He couldn’t help but notice Clarence talking to Linc, then Linc looking in his direction and scowling.

Kennedy must have noticed it as well because she asked, “And what is going on with you an
d . . .
well, everyone?”

They walked past the Miller family, and all of them, right down to thirteen-year-old Violet, scowled at him.

“It’s Cupid Falls,” he said as if that explained everything. “And Clarence—”

Before he could say
guessed
, Kennedy interrupted him. “Let’s go right to the horse’s—or frog’s, as the case may be—mouth.”

She headed toward Clarence.

“What is going on?” Kennedy asked Clarence.

Clarence swept his hands wide. “A fine start to our holiday season, Mayor. That’s what’s going on. Everyone’s talking about what a wonderful job you’ve done.”

“You know what I mean, Clarence,” Kennedy said. She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t sound the least bit angry, but Mal was sure that Clarence knew she was annoyed, every bit as much as he did.

“Don’t make me get Joan,” Kennedy added. “What is going on with you and the entire town toward Malcolm?”

“
I . . .
”

“Clarence,” Kennedy prompted.

Clarence looked at Mal. Other than Joan hollering at him and Linc talking to him, it was the first eye contact anyone in town had made with Mal since the craft party.

“Fine,” Clarence said, glaring at Mal. “We don’t like how he’s treating you. We know he’s the baby’s father, and we all think he should step up and take responsibility.” The old man turned to Mal and said, “You can’t simply knock up our mayor and then abandon her. We won’t put up with it.”

“Clarence, it’s not like that,” Kennedy said.

“From where I’m sitting it is.”

“He—”

Mal sensed she was about to try and save him. “Just let it go, Kennedy.”

“I won’t let it go,” she said. “Listen, Clarence, Malcolm offered to marry me. I said no.”

“Then he didn’t offer right. When I asked Joan to marry me, she said no. So I sent her a frog—her first frog. It was sitting on a toadstool and had a sign that said, ‘Kiss me. I could be a handsome prince in disguise.’ Then I asked again. She still said no. I sent her another frog and kept asking. Eventually I wore her down.” He looked at Mal. “Sometimes women need to feel you’d go the extra mile for them.”

Mal nodded, accepting advice from Cupid Falls’ unlikely Romeo.

“Clarence,” Kennedy said, “I’m so glad you wooed Joan. And now I know who actually started her collection. Next time you complain about it, you won’t get any sympathy from me. But no amount of frogs will change my mind about Malcolm. We’re both working together to give this baby two loving parents.”

“He just ain’t tried hard enough,” Clarence insisted. “Being a father isn’t about making a woman pregnant. It’s being there for your kid. It’s sitting up with them when they’re sick or have nightmares. It’s taking them to games. It’s being there for their mother. I ain’t seen much of you until recently.”

“Malcolm didn’t know—” Kennedy started again.

“Kennedy, it’s fine.” He didn’t need her to save him from the town’s ire. He understood their anger. And the truth of the matter was, they couldn’t be more mad at him than he was at himself.

Kennedy shook her head at him. “Let me explain, Malcolm.” She turned to Clarence. “He just found out. And since he has, he’s been here. He worried I’d done too much today, so he made me take a nap, then fixed me dinner before we came here tonight.”

Clarence snorted. “But he’ll be going to go back to Pittsburgh. He’ll be leaving you and the baby all alone here in Cupid Falls. I don’t know how you can do that,” he said to Mal. “We all saw the way your father neglected you after your mom divorced him. I’d have thought you’d be the last man to do something like that to your own child.”

The old man turned back to Kennedy. “Mayor, don’t you worry. We’ll all be here to support you and the baby. You won’t be alone.” He shot Mal another dark look, then stomped off.

“Well, two mysteries solved. I now understand Joan’s frog obsession and I understand why everyone is treating you like you have the plague. I’m sorry you’re taking heat over this, Malcolm. I’ll tell them all how it really is and try to get you off the hook.”

He was touched that his public shunning bothered her. “It’s fine, Kennedy. I’m a big boy. I can take it.”

“You’ve never been an outsider,” she said. “I’m not sure you have any inkling about what you’re letting yourself in for. But I’ll try to put out the truth.”

“What is the truth?” he asked.

“The truth is, you’ve asked me to marry you and I’ve said no. The truth is, you’ve done everything you can to help me since you found out. You’re still going shopping with me, right?”

“Right.”

“Tuesday night?” she asked.

He wasn’t sure why they were talking about shopping for baby stuff right now, but he said, “Sure.”

“Well, there you go. I know I’m not an expert on men, but rumor has it they don’t go shopping willingly. You obviously care and you’re taking responsibility. But let’s face the facts, it took two of us to make this baby. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. Your father was right, I could have made an effort to tell you sooner. To be honest, I was glad you kept putting off coming home. It gave me an out. That’s on me. I’ll be sure to spread that little fact around. That will definitely tell everyone how hard you’re trying since you found out.” She smiled at him.

Despite his frustration, he laughed. “I d
o . . .
care, that is. And I am trying.”

“Well, that’s enough for me,” she told him with a smile.

Mal decided the whole town could shun him forever if only Kennedy would keep smiling at him like that. He extended her his arm and she took it, wrapping hers through his, and he realized how right it felt there. “I want to be a better father than my father was.”

“I have no doubts that you’re going to be a good father. I know I selfishly hoped you’d find out about the baby and simply leave it all to me. That would have been easiest on me. That was selfish of me, because it definitely wouldn’t have been best for the baby. I’m going to have to learn to think in those term
s . . .
what’s best for the baby.”

“What’s best for the baby,” he said softly, “would be us being married.”

“No,” she said. She wasn’t certain about much—well, about anything, really—but she knew that much was true. “Marrying for the sake of a baby never works.”

“We’re compatible. My grandfather adores you. We have a foundation for building a good working relationship.”

“Maybe. And maybe I’m not quite done with my selfish streak, because I want more than a good working relationship with the man I marry.” She patted his arm. “So don’t listen to what Clarence said. You will be a totally different father than yours.”

“How do you know?” he asked.

She looked up at him and truly smiled. “I know because I am a great judge of character. And your character has shown in everything you’ve done since finding out about the baby.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She tightened her arm a bit. “Now come walk with me down Main Street. Let’s admire the lights and decorations. Rumor has it that Tavi covered up the restaurant’s window in order to work on some surprise decoration.”

They strolled down the street together in silence for a while. Well, he was silent, but Kennedy got pulled over by people again and again as they walked.

He was happy to sit back and watch her. She knew everyone’s names and chatted easily with everyone.

As the crowd thinned, he finally asked, “So what was with the legend of the falls in your speech?”

Kennedy almost jumped with surprise as Malcolm spoke again. He’d been so quiet. She’d tried to draw him into conversations with people, but he’d been silent other than the most casual greetings. And everyone seemed pleased to pretend he was invisible.

She was going to have to do something about the situation tomorrow. What, she wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t fair that he was the target of everyone’s ire.

When she’d first found out she was pregnant, she’d expected comments. She’d expected the town to revolt against having an unmarried, pregnant mayor. But all she’d ever received was their support.