Quinn (The Waite Family) (18 page)

“No, not really.
I’m pregnant, I’m unemployed, and I have no home.”
Quinn looked at Alyssa when she snorted.
“Well, I am.
I can’t…you have to know I can no longer work here. Especially now.
I have to—”

“And why not?
You’ve got a job here. I refuse to accept your resignation. You have a home, even if you have to come and live with us.
The house is certainly big enough and while I can’t do a thing about the pregnancy, I can help you that way.
I’m just about eight weeks ahead of you there.”

Quinn sat there for several seconds and tried to work out what Alyssa had just said.
Eight weeks ahead…ahead of what?
When Quinn looked over at Cain it was as if a light went off.

“Christ! You’re pregnant too. Oh my God! That’s wonderful.”
Quinn got up again and hugged her sister-in-law.
“That’s so wonderful. I’m so excited for you.”

“Hey! You know I had something to do with it too.”
Cain laughed.
“I’m pretty sure she couldn’t have gotten that way on her own.”

Quinn went back around and hugged her brother, not even caring that he squeezed her too tight again.
She was so happy for them she started crying again. “I’m so happy for you both.
I don’t know why I keep crying about everything.
The kid, I guess.
You must think I’m a ninny.
Let me go and get cleaned up.” She dashed off to the bathroom before either of them could say anything.

A baby. Her brother was going to have a baby.
Quinn laid her hand over her own belly.
They would be cousins, hers and his.
She looked in the mirror and wondered if now would be a good time to tell them what she had decided.
No, not today.
It would wait until she talked with Drew.
After splashing cold water on her face, she went back into the office.

They talked until she was hoarse and felt like she needed a nap. She had wondered how Cain had gotten to the office so quickly and he’d told her he was already there. She flushed slightly when she realized how she’d made Alyssa cry.
He said he’d just come over to see her and just happened in the office when she was hanging up.

At one, she made her way to Drew’s office. She was armed with her list and her determination.
When Caroline told her to go on in as soon as she got there Quinn had a moment of panic, but shoved it down and knocked on the door. When he told her to come in she nearly bolted then, but opened the door and walked in.
It was the hardest three steps she’d ever taken.

~~~

Drew knew she was in the building. Had known since the moment she’d pulled in the lot that she was close.
He’d had security watching out for her since she’d left him on Wednesday.
He had been pacing his office since ten wondering if he should go down to Alyssa’s office and drag her back here or wait. He had waited. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d done it.
He kept thinking about what his mother had told him.

“You can’t possibly tell me that you don’t love her, Andrew.
Why, she’s all you’ve talked about for months.”

His grandda had called his parents as soon as he’d found out that Drew had been hurt.
They’d shown up not long after his grandda had told him not to marry Quinn.
She’d told him basically the same thing.
Don’t marry her but support the baby.

“I don’t.
She was just someone I wanted.
And I know you find this hard to believe, but I am over twenty-one and I have been making decisions on my own for a while now.”

“Don’t be arrogant, Andrew.
I can still ground you.” Wisely, he kept his mouth shut.
“All right, if you don’t love her then please don’t marry her.
It’s hard enough having a single parent, but it’s worse when the parents hate each other.”

Drew’s mom, Rose Dale Miller, had been raised by her father after her mom had left him for another man. Drew didn’t know his other grandda, he’d died before Drew was born, but he’d always imagined him to be a bitter, cold man.

“What does Dad say about this?
Is he fine with me having a bastard son?”
Drew had a tone and he knew his mother had heard it too.

“He’ll only be a bastard to you, apparently.
To me he’ll he my grandbaby.
And if this is the way you spoke to Quinn then its small wonder she didn’t slap you before she left.”

Drew didn’t know why everyone was taking her side.
His entire family was all for him not marrying her and her raising his child on her own.
He’d always thought of himself as a “catch,” as his grandma used to say. Apparently he was nothing more than pond scum.
Now as Quinn stood in front of him, her eyes swollen and her nose red, he felt that way too.

“Quinn. Have a seat.”

She sat in one of the chairs about two seconds before she stood up.
She slapped her hand over her mouth and dashed to his bathroom.
She was inside and the door shut before he could react.

Drew went to the door and started to knock when he heard her retching. He took a step back then another as he heard her crying as well.
He turned to his door and went to the reception area.

“Caroline!
Come quick. She’s sick.
I didn’t…Christ!
She’s really sick in there.” Panic was rising and he knew he was losing it.
But he couldn’t seem to stop it.

Caroline stood.
“She’s just nervous. That’s all.
Nerves and babies don’t mix well.” She started moving toward his office slowly, much too slowly, Drew thought.
“Why don’t you call down to the cafeteria and tell them you need a glass of tea for Quinn and some crackers?”

Drew was so grateful for something to do he snatched the phone up like it was a lifeline and he was about to take his final dip in the ocean.
As Caroline stopped long enough to tell him the extension he had a moment of complete clarity.
He loved her.
Drew was head over heels in love with Quinn Waite.

Robert hung up the phone. He didn’t have any idea how the lawyer had gotten his number, but he was going to find out.
The nerve of that guy demanding Robert own up to his responsibilities or else.
The girl had enjoyed herself, he supposed. If she got pregnant then how was that his fault?
Damn it.

Usually, he just had his mom take care of this kind of shit, but since her brat had come back she’d been pretty unreliable.
He didn’t see why he had to deal with this when he’d never had to before.
Picking up the phone again, he dialed his mother.

After getting no answer and refusing to leave her a message to call him back he called his uncle.
Uncle Samuel answered on the second ring.

“Where’s Mom?
She isn’t answering her fucking phone and she needs to take care of this issue.
I’m not dealing with this crap, it’s not my job.”

Samuel had been his father figure for a long time. When his…well, Robert wasn’t really sure what Nathan Howard had been to him, but when he’d been too busy with Alyssa, Robert had turned to Samuel.
He was the one who’d taught him how to shoot a gun and had taken him to all his martial arts classes.

“I haven’t seen her since yesterday.
She was supposed to go by and see her daughter, but I’m not sure that panned out either.”
Samuel snickered as he continued.
“The daughter is more like her mother than either of them realize in her stubbornness.”

Robert didn’t give two shits about Alyssa except in that she’d taken all their money.
They’d been just fine after the old man died until she showed up again. Now they were living in this pigsty and tripping over each other all the time.
They’d gone from a twenty-bedroom house with maid service, cooks, and all the money he could ever spend to this…hole-in-the-wall with only five bedrooms and a person who only came in to clean once a week. And no one did his laundry or cleaned up his room.
And forget cooking. They’d been eating out for the past year and he was sick and tired of it, and the cheap fast food shit.

“Somebody gave that slut’s attorney my number and the guy is hounding me for payment.
I don’t know who gave it to him, but hell is going to be paid when I find out.”
Not to mention someone was going to pay for his aggravation too.
“I need this gone.”

“I would assume your sister’s attorney gave it to him.
They know who used to pay the bills and her lawyer is slick in that he’s made it so Alyssa isn’t responsible for any of our bills or anything we might incur since she kicked us out.”
Samuel laughed.
“That’s why there is no money in the coffers.
Your
mom is taking care of that as we speak.”

While Robert liked the sound of that, he didn’t hold out much hope. His mother was an idiot as far as he was concerned.
And she wasn’t going to stand up to anyone if she didn’t have to.
He smiled when he thought about her cowering on the floor at his feet.

“Do you know what she’s doing?
I’m betting whatever it is, she’ll fuck it up.
Leaving her in charge of anything is bound to fail.” Robert went to the television, not able to find the remote, and turned it on.
At once, he was pissed again.
“The fucking cable is out again.
Who am I gonna have to kill to get some fucking service around here?”

Samuel laughed.
Robert didn’t see what was so funny when his life was going to shit and no one cared.
He wanted to throw something or hit someone.
Looking around the room, all he could see were a couple of old vases and some pictures. That’s when he got the idea to talk to Alyssa himself.
Looking at his sister’s picture with old man Howard and his mother he thought it was high time he did a little up close and personal time with dear old sis.

“I gotta go, Uncle Samuel. If that asshole lawyer calls again tell him…tell him to fuck off. Robert Howard does not pay for sex.”

“Will do.
Oh
,
and Robert.”

Robert closed his eyes, knowing he was going to hate whatever his uncle had to say next.

“The cable’s off because your mother decided getting her hair done was more important than the cable bill. And don’t expect there to be any cable in the near future either.”

Robert was almost afraid to ask. “And why’s that?”

“Your sister isn’t paying for it anymore. Or a great many other things either. She said it’s about time we got jobs and started working.
Also…”
He paused for almost too long, thought Robert.
“She said her obligation to us ends in six months according to the will from her dear old dad.”

Robert picked up the picture and threw it against the wall.
His uncle was laughing harder now and before Robert did something incredibly stupid like piss him off, he hung up the phone.

He started throwing anything he could get his hands on now.
Nothing was spared. Books were strewn about the room as pages fluttered to the floor.
The two vases that he knew were gifts to his mother from his brother Nathan shattered against the wall. As soon as he put his hands on something, it was destroyed. An hour after hanging up on his uncle, Robert was in his car speeding across town. It was high time he and his sister dear had a long talk.