Stepping Up: Book Six in the Who's Your Daddy series (6 page)

Chapter Eleven

“Another
delivery, sis.” Spring tiptoed into Summer’s bedroom and placed the large vase of roses next to her bed. “These are more beautiful than the last bunch.”

Summer quickly glanced at them and shut her eyes tight to stem another flow of tears. Vance was sending flowers and other gifts to the house daily and it was getting tiring. “Take them away, please.”

“Why? They smell so good and really brighten up the room. Why do you have the shades drawn in the middle of the day?”

“And why are you here pestering me instead of running the diner?”

“Because the daytime cook has things well in control and I needed a break. You know it’s after lunch so there are only a couple customers there.”

Summer struggled to sit up and placed her feet on the floor. It was well past two o’clock and she’d only been out of her room once, to check on their father and grab something to eat. “I swear this boy is going to be ten pounds when he’s born. And he’s taken up residence right here,” pointing to a spot on her left side.

“Leave my nephew alone,” Spring joked. “Looks like he doesn’t have a lot of space in there.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Summer said while lovingly stroking her expanding belly.

“So,” Spring started hesitantly, “Have you spoken to Vance lately?”

“Nope.”

“You haven’t even called to say thank you?”

“Nope.” Summer pulled on her ratty robe which at this point failed to come close to closing around her. “And I don’t intend to, either. He made his bed, now he has to lie in it.”

“Looks like both of you were in that bed, together,” Spring pointed out while waving at her belly. “You two need to get back together, for my nephew’s sake.”

“Plenty of women raise children on their own. I’m no one special.”

“But the thing is, Summer, you don’t have to. Give Vance a chance to explain what happened.”

Summer turned toward her sister and narrowed her eyes. “Have you been talking with him?”

Spring averted her gaze and suddenly found a grouping of lint to pick off her pants. “You know what, I’d better be getting back to the diner for the dinner rush. See ya’”

“Not so fast, missy. Have a seat.” Sumer bit her tongue while her sister sat on the bed. Spring never could keep a secret and it would only take a few questions to get the whole story tumbling out. “Spill it.”

“Well, Vance came by the diner yesterday and we had a talk.”

“Go on,” Summer said while tapping her feet on the carpeted floor.

“He explained to me how things went down with his job and how he couldn’t tell you he worked for the bank.”

“You don’t say. Did he tell you why he couldn’t open his mouth and disclose his connection to the bank?”

“Well, he said something about getting into trouble at work and also getting into trouble with you, too if he fess up.”

“He’s certainly in trouble with me, that’s for sure.” Summer waited a beat before continuing. “So, is his job in jeopardy because of this?”

“He’s not sure. He said something about having a meeting with his boss today.”

Summer’s heart skipped a beat thinking about how Vance may lose the new position he loved because of his relationship with her. For a nanosecond, she considered calling him up and letting him know she was in his corner, but squelched that idea immediately. This was something he got himself into. It was up to him to get out.

“So what are you going to do, Summer?” Spring looked at her expectantly.

“Not a thing. I need to concentrate on keeping the diner open and keeping myself healthy. This baby is depending upon me.”

“For what it’s worth, here’s my opinion.”

“Oh boy!” Summer sat down on the bed next to her sister and braced herself for Spring’s pearls of wisdom.

“The man is obviously head over heels in love with you, despite his missteps lately.”

“That’s putting the situation lightly.”

“But Summer, it’s obvious that he’s sorry and doing his best to make up for what he’d done wrong. Give him a chance. If not for you, then for my nephew. He’s going to need a father.” Spring took Summer’s hands in hers. “You have to admit, we’ve had the greatest father in the whole wide world. Don’t deny that opportunity to this baby.”

Summer rolled her lips inward and looked into her sister’s eyes. “I’m not making any promises, but I will agree to talk with him if he stops by.”

Spring squealed and wrapped her arms gently around her sister’s neck. “You won’t regret doing this.”

Summer blew out a loud breath and once again stood up. As she walked out the door, she threw over her shoulder, “I hope not.”

“Glad you could make it, Ryan.” Vance walked into his boss’ office and took a seat across from him. He’d been summoned upstairs for a meeting. A meeting he had no idea was planned or what it was about.

“Nice seeing you again, sir,” Vance replied, trying his best to keep a tremor out of his voice. In this place, a meeting with the big man usually ended poorly for the employee.

“Let’s get to the point, shall we?” Frank Peters leaned back in his oversized executive chair and eyed Vance with an assessing gaze. “Tell me why you transferred out to LA and then requested to come back here within a year. And also what happened in the lobby a few days ago?”

Vance began to fidget then remembered where he was. Fighting nerves, he returned his boss’ stare and took a deep breath. “I left because of a situation I put myself in, here on the job.”

“Go on.”

“I take full responsibility for my foolishness, sir. What I did was fall in love with a  bank client.”

Mr. Peters let out a laugh which Vance quickly joined in. “Well, son, if that’s a reason to run, I’d suppose a lot of us would be out of here.”

“Really?”

“I think your situation is not that unusual. Love happens when it happens. We have no control over it.”

“But I haven’t finished my story.” Vance paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. “This woman’s business was, or is, in trouble, and I was assigned to begin possible foreclosure proceedings. After getting the file, I decided to stop in one evening and check the place out.”

“And let me guess. You fell for the owner.”

Vance bowed his head sheepishly. “Yes.”

“And let me guess, you never told her who you were, right?”

“That’s correct, sir. When I realized how deeply in love I was, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. The only way I could see getting out of the situation was to transfer out to the west coast.”

“Why’d you come back, if I may ask?”

“I finally owned up to me feeling s and knew I couldn’t live without her. I came back with the intention of telling her everything and seeing if we could start all over.”

“So were you able to do that?”

Vance shook his head. “There was a slight complication which I was unaware. Before I left we had a one night affair which led to her pregnancy.”

“You did what?” Mr. Peters roared.

“Yes, I know. But I’m not going to say I’m sorry about the baby. I proposed to her after she finally forgave me for leaving in the first place.”

“So what was the little scene in the lobby a few days ago?”

“That’s when she found out about my connection to the bank. She wasn’t happy.”

“I suppose she wasn’t.”

Vance leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Sir, I’ve sent her flowers and gifts but she won’t talk to me. I’m at a loss at what to do next.”

Mr. Peters smiled and shook his head. “Well, as a married man who’s found himself in the dog house quite a few times over the years, I can tell you that the best way to apologize in this instance would be to give a her a little time so she can miss you.”

“But that’s the problem, sir. I don’t have much more time. The baby’s due in the next week or so.”

“That certainly is a complication. Have you gone out to see her?”

“Of course, but she won’t let me in the house.”

“Have you been to the diner?”

Vance shook his head. “I don’t want to upset her and I knew showing up there will send her over the edge.”

“I’d say you don’t have much of a choice at this point, Ryan. You’ve got to get her back.” Peters stood, signaling the end of the meeting.

Vance stood and reached across the desk to shake Mr. Peter’s hand. “Sir, you’ve been a great help.”

“Well, I don’t know how much I did, but if talking about the situation helped, I’m here when you need me.”

Vance turned and headed to the door, unsure of his next move. As he grabbed the door knob, Mr. Peters yelled for him to stop. “Yes, sir?”

“I forgot to give you this.” He walked up to Vance and handed him an envelope. “Even though you didn’t stay out in LA as long as we wanted you to, you did a hell of a job while you were there. Here’s a little bonus to show our appreciation. And welcome back.”

“Thank you.” Vance exited the office and got on the elevator before opening the envelope. His mouth dropped open at the numbers written on the check. Damn!

Chapter Twelve

Her
back aching, Summer tried to reach around to give it a quick rub. Nowadays, with the size of her belly, she really couldn’t do much reaching. The baby should be putting in an appearance soon. Her due date was in exactly one week and while she looked forward to her son’s birth, just thinking about the delivery made her sad. She wouldn’t have Vance in there with her.

The last flower delivery was well over a week ago, and he hadn’t even attempted another stop by the house. Maybe she should have given him more time to explain himself. At least her mind wouldn’t be filled with all kinds of terrible theories about why he did what he did. There had to be a good reason for his actions, right?

“How you doing out there?” Ginny bellowed, rousing Summer from her funk.

“I’m good.”

The cook rounded the corner and gave her a pointed stare. “You need to be at home resting. I can tell you’re in pain.”

“I’m fine,” Summer lied through her teeth. “Anyway, I’d rather be here working than bored at home.”

“I’m quite sure you won’t be bored at home. You need to put your feet up and store some sleep in the old reserves. When little Harold gets here, you’ll be wishing for time to rest.”

Summer scrunched up her nose and vigorously shook her head. “No child of mine is going to be named Harold.”

“How about Lester? Leroy? Leonard?”

“Um, no to all.” Truthfully, Summer did not have a clue as to what she’ll name the baby. She and Vance had kicked around some, but never agreed on the perfect name. Since he was now out of her life, she supposed that it was all up to her to decide.

“Well, from the looks of it, you don’t have much time left to pick something. My pop was named Harold. Always thought that was a strong name for a young man. Think on it, okay?”

Summer gave her a quick nod and just as swiftly relegated the name to her mental dust bin. Her son will have the perfect name, whatever it may end up to be.

Another look at the clock let her know that it was almost closing time. Before she could stop herself, her gaze wandered over to the front door and the bell. She missed the way her heartbeat speeded up when he walked through the door. Only Vance did that for her.

With a heavy sigh, she headed for the kitchen so she could help Ginny clean up. Maybe she was right: Summer was bone tired and needed to get ready for the birth. Spring had offered to take over both shifts. With Ginny and Amy helping, it was a possibility.

“Hey Ginny. Let’s get out—” As the words slipped out of her mouth, the bell above the door tinkled, indicating they had one last customer. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was. Vance.

He stood by the door, waiting for her to say something, anything. Had he made the right decision waiting until closing time to speak with Summer? Maybe he should have come during the day, when she was at home.

Taking a cleansing breath to fortify himself, he stepped forward and thrust yet another bouquet of flowers in her direction. He smiled when she slowly reached out and plucked them from his trembling hands. She looked good, damn good. Pregnancy suited her, made her even more beautiful if that was possible.

“How are you feeling?”

She licked her lips and dropped her gaze to the floor. “Alright, I guess. The baby has been really active lately.”

“Can I, I mean, do you mind if I touch your belly? I want to feel him.” Cautiously, Vance moved a little closer and placed his hand on the top of her swollen belly. He smiled when his son immediately kicked. “You’re right. He is moving around a lot.”

“Especially when I’m trying to go to sleep.”

“I’m sorry, Summer. For everything.”

“Let’s sit down and talk, okay.” She awkwardly took a seat at the counter and he hopped up on the one next to her. “Let me start by saying I overreacted. I shouldn’t have given you the ring back.”

“Thrown the ring at me,” he said with a wry smile. “You have quite an arm. Hopefully our son will take after you in that department.” They both laughed at his remark.

He took her hand in his and rubbed it against his face. “Does this mean we’re a couple again? I promise never to keep anything from you again.”

Tears began to roll down Summer’s cheeks and Vance quickly whisked them away with the pad of his thumbs. “I love you, Summer Hughes.”

“And I love you, too.” Vance helped her off her stool and gathered her into his arms.

“Bout time you two made up,” Ginny boomed from the kitchen. “Now both of you get out of here before I start to cry.”

“I think we need to do what the lady tells us to,” Vance said as he ushered Summer out the front door. “We’ve got a wedding to plan.”

As they reached his car, Summer grabbed her belly and let out a little cry. “I think our son may be telling me we need to make a stop by the hospital.”

“Now?” Vance said with a note of panic in his voice. He quickly helped her into his car and turned the engine over.

“I’d have to say your timing was perfect, Mr. Ryan.”

With a smile as wide as the Monongahela River, Vance stood at the alter awaiting his bride. The pair decided to wait a couple months after their son’s birth to actually get married. If it was up to them, they would have simply gone to the district magistrate for the ceremony, but Summer’s father insisted they have a church wedding. It had been madness getting everything in order, but with the help of a lot of people, they were able to pull it off.

Vance’s heart swelled with love thinking about how much he treasured Summer. And to think he could have lost her because of his actions in not telling her the whole truth. But today, none of that mattered. Today, Summer was going to become his bride.

Suddenly, the music cued the arrival of the bride and her father. Despite his failing health and difficulty walking, Mr. Hughes would have it no other way than to walk his first born down the aisle. Tears leaked from Vance’s eyes as he watched Summer slowly make her way toward him, her gaze locked on him. She was simply beautiful.

As Mr. Hughes handed Summer off to him, he leaned close to whisper “Take care of my girl” in Vance’s ears. All Vance could do was nod yes, not trusting his ability to speak. Then he tucked his soon to be wife’s hand in the crook of his arm and turned to face the minister.

“And does anyone wish to speak—” Before the minister could get the words out, little Wade Ryan let out a shrill cry, making everyone laugh. His auntie quickly thrust a pacifier in his mouth, which quieted him down for the moment.

Soon, the ceremony was over and the newlyweds rushed over to little Wade and carried him to the entrance of the church. “I love you, Summer, with all my heart.”

“And I’ll never let you forget that, Mr. Vance.” They both kissed their son before heading to the waiting horse drawn carriage and their happily ever after.