Texan's Baby (14 page)

Andy had pulled off to the side of the country road in order to take the call. He gave an apologetic look before holding the phone out to her. “It's for you.”

“Why would that be for me?” She stared at the cell as if it were a bomb about to detonate, scooting back toward the door behind her. If she could crawl out the window to get away from that thing, she would.

“It's Mr. Hill. He asked to speak to you.” Andy paused when she balked. “You want me to take a message?”

“Would you?” Her eyes pleaded again.

Andy nodded.

“Tell him I'm busy with Mason, but we'll be back soon,” she said, realizing Dawson was most likely checking up on her to make sure she didn't disappear on him again. That hurt.

Andy said a few
uh-huh
s and
yes, sir
s into the phone before he ended the call and navigated the sedan onto the winding road.

“Sorry. We had a fight.” It wasn't exactly a lie. She was pretty sure they were about to have it out when she got home. Or maybe Dawson would be too upset with his mother to be mad at her.

Alice would most likely spin the whole story to her advantage. And then what would happen after? The pressure to have Mason tested would be enormous. Melanie had planned to discuss the issue with her pediatrician. She'd been waiting...no... Dawson was right last night. She'd been too scared to bring it up.

She'd been ignoring the fact that a remote possibility existed that her son would be anything but perfectly healthy.

The pressure on her chest while thinking about it now was like a bull sitting on her ribs. Her thoughts were heavy and it was like a thick, dark cloud had settled over her brain.

Mason was in the backseat making raspberry sounds. Seeing him, knowing he was okay calmed her below panic levels.

He was such a happy boy.

And she prayed that he would stay healthy, too.

Chapter Sixteen

Dawson was fuming by the time Melanie returned to the lake house. She could tell based on how red the base of his neck had become. She had to give him credit. He held it all inside as he greeted them.

She'd intentionally stayed away until his parents had gone, lying to herself by saying that she was giving them time to talk. Actually, she was being a coward because she wasn't ready to face Alice just yet. And especially not after what had happened between her and Dawson last night.

Tensions thickened between them while they played with Mason, fed him and then put him down for his afternoon nap.

“Where'd you go this morning?” Dawson demanded. He had every right to be mad. She'd done the same to him when he up and disappeared at her apartment last week.

“To breakfast with Andy.”

Dawson's eyes sparked with anger. “Oh, it's Andy now?”

“What?” Was he jealous?

“Never mind. Why did you take off like that with Mason?” Dawson said, moving into the kitchen, and she realized that was the farthest point from Mason's room upstairs.

“Because it was awkward, okay?”

“You can't just run away every time things get tough, Melanie.” A muscle in Dawson's neck bulged. Not a good sign. And he'd scored a direct hit with her.

“Hold on a second. I thought you would want time alone with your folks to explain what was going on.”

“One look at Mason and they figured it out, Melanie.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. Really? Seriously? Had Alice played it as though she didn't know about Mason?

“I'll bet they did,” came out on a huff.

“What's your problem?” Dawson said, the muscle throbbing.

She could appreciate that she'd left him in an uncomfortable position to defend himself in front of his parents. And she could further acknowledge that it would be difficult to face Alice alone. The woman had scared Melanie half to death with her threats. But for Dawson to ask Melanie what
her
problem was, well, that was just ridiculous.

“That's not a serious question.” She shook her head. “What did your mother say?”

“That she can't wait to get to know her grandchild.”

Melanie balked. “I bet.”

“What does that mean?” he asked, looking hurt in addition to being angry.

“I don't know what kind of game she's playing, but your mother does not want to spend time with Mason.”

“What's your problem with her? What has she ever done to you to make you so bitter?” Dawson asked, incredulous. His mother really knew how to play him, which was odd considering that she hadn't been all that concerned about her son after Bethany died.

Melanie didn't respond. Couldn't respond. Anger filled her as she thought about the things Alice had said to her.

“Every time I bring her up, you have a reaction,” he pressed.

“Leave it alone, Dawson.”

“What? The fact that you hate my mother? Why should I? She's Mason's grandmother and she's going to be part of his life,” Dawson said. “I know she isn't perfect, but she's excited to be a grandmother.”

“Oh, that really does it.” Melanie fumed. “Excited to be a grandmother?”

“That's the exact word she used.”

“I didn't realize there'd be a snowstorm blowing through this morning to blind you, but you need to open your eyes, Dawson.”

“To what? The fact that you can't stand my family? How can we have any kind of future together if that's the case?”

“I like your family just fine, Dawson. Or I did. Right up until the time your mother ran a pregnancy test on me when all I thought I had was the flu.” She regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth. She hadn't intended to tell Dawson this way. His relationship with his parents had been so broken when Bethany died. They'd managed to repair enough of the damage to have a bond and she shouldn't take that away no matter how frustrated she got or how horrible his mother had behaved.

Dawson whirled around on her so fast she had to take a second to catch her breath. He would never hurt her, she would never have to worry about that, but she'd knifed him in the chest with her betrayal, and the hurt in his eyes nearly brought her to her knees.

“You went behind my back with my family?” he managed through gritted teeth. “What else have you been hiding?”

She deserved that. “Nothing. And I didn't want to tell you like this.”

“Then how, Melanie? How did you intend to lie to me and break my heart again? Did you wait until I fell for you again on purpose? So you could rip my heart out and stomp on it? Again?” Dawson's fist pounded the tile countertop.

Tears stung the backs of her eyes as his image blurred in her vision. All she could do was be honest, put her cards on the table and hope that he understood.

“She threatened me. She told me that she'd take my child away if I told you about the pregnancy.”

“I don't believe you,” he said through clenched teeth.

Melanie kept going. “Said that I would be trapping you into a life of misery, especially if the baby inherited the disease.”

“She would never say something like that,” he seethed.

“That's the real reason I left Mason Ridge. I didn't want you to hate me and I knew you'd never be able to let it go if Mason inherited the disease, and it would destroy you.”

“Even if she said that, and I don't for one minute believe any of it's true, why wouldn't you let me decide for myself?” he asked with hurt all over his tone.

She didn't have a good answer for that except that she remembered what Bethany's sickness and death had done to Dawson and couldn't force him to go through it again with his own child.

“After everything we've been through together, that's how little you thought of me when you knew me better than anyone else in the entire world?” he asked.

“I do know you, Dawson. And your mother said every last word of what I just told you,” she said, defensive. Melanie should've been honest with Dawson, that part was true, but she'd be damned if she'd allow him to go on thinking his mother would never do something like that and this was all her fault.

Dawson looked at her. The hurt in his eyes robbed her breath.

Had she done all this for Dawson? Or had a big part of her been afraid that she'd end up just like her parents...in an empty marriage?

“You're a liar.” He walked toward the door without looking back, pausing as he filled the frame. “And if it weren't for Mason, I'd never want to see you again.”

He left.

If Melanie could move, she'd drop to her knees. She couldn't. Instead, she stood there rooted to the kitchen floor for what felt like an eternity, stupidly wishing she could take it all back and start the day over. Hell, she wished she could go back and change all her bad decisions.

She couldn't.

If life had taught her one thing, it was that there were no do-overs. People made mistakes. Period. Wallowing in them wouldn't do any good.

Hurting Dawson hadn't been part of her plan. None of this had. She hadn't expected to be scared by his mother and pushed away. She hadn't expected to be stalked by a psychopath. And she sure as hell hadn't expected to reunite with the one man she loved. Loved?

That part was true enough. There was no use denying it. Being in his arms last night was the first time she'd felt truly alive since she disappeared from town.

Melanie could admit now that she'd committed serious errors in judgment. She'd give almost anything to correct them. Dawson would never forgive her. Between his mother and her own messed-up parents, Melanie was beginning to believe she would never be able to open herself up to another person again. How on earth had everything gotten so twisted?

When two hours had passed and he still hadn't returned, she packed up both her and Mason's things.

Andy had to call it in, but he was able to get permission from Randall to take her to another safe house.

Because Melanie couldn't stay in that house any longer. Not with the way her heart felt as if it would explode right out of her chest.

She scribbled a note for Dawson to let him know that she and Mason were moving to a safe house and that she'd be in touch to make visitation arrangements as soon as this ordeal was behind them.

And then she walked out the door.

This time, she looked back and her heart wanted Dawson to be standing there more than she wanted to breathe.

He wasn't.

And she had no idea when he would return.

* * *

D
AWSON
CIRCLED
THE
lake again, trying to walk off his anger. He'd learned at a young age that anger made everything worse and yet he couldn't stop himself. It was Melanie and he would've thought, would've liked to believe, that she knew him better than that.

He'd come down hard on her. It had only taken forty-six laps for him to calm down enough to realize it.

If what she'd said about his mother was true, and Dawson didn't want to believe it could be, then he owed her an apology.

They had a lot of work to do if they were going to make this...whatever
this
was...work. He thought they'd made strides toward being able to talk about difficult subjects and being able to depend on each other, so he'd overreacted.

If what Melanie said was true, then his mother should be the one to receive his fury. And he had every intention of sitting the woman down and talking to her about why she would pull such a stunt.

So much made sense about Melanie's actions after she'd learned that she was pregnant. And he'd been a first-class idiot with the way he treated her. He could only hope that she'd give him another chance.

As he was walking back toward the lake house, the first thing Dawson noticed was that Andy's sedan wasn't parked out back. Didn't that put a searing-hot branding iron through Dawson's gut?

He reminded himself to calm down even as his instincts had his feet moving faster toward that door.

Dawson broke into a run.

He didn't stop until he was inside the lake house. He called out for Melanie, but the place was quiet—too quiet because Mason should be wide-awake right now and running around. That boy was a flurry of activity, excitement and nonstop energy.

His absence pierced Dawson somewhere deep in his heart with painful stabs of loneliness.

The place felt so empty without Mason, without Melanie.

Dawson searched the upstairs, confirming what he already knew.

There was a note taped to Mason's crib.

I'm truly sorry for all the pain I've caused you, Dawson.

I never intended to hurt you. You're my best friend and I've missed you beyond belief. You should know up front that I have no intention of keeping your son away from you. He needs you as much as you need him. Seeing the two of you together, the bond you've already formed, makes it that much harder to walk away right now. But until this is over, it's not safe. Mason is not safe.

As soon as Sprigs is caught, we'll be back. I wish I could tell you where we're going. I don't even know. But I'll do anything to keep our son safe until this is over and we can set up a normal routine—whatever “normal” means anymore.

Love,

Melanie

Dawson hadn't cried since Bethany died. Until a tear broke loose and streaked his cheek just now. He choked his emotion back and told himself to take a minute to toughen up.

He fished his cell phone out of his jeans pocket and called Melanie.

She didn't pick up and, on some level, he'd expected that.

His next call was to Randall.

“Where is she?” Dawson didn't bother to hide his anger.

“I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that she and Mason are safe,” Randall said, an apology laced his tone.

“Send someone to pick me up,” Dawson said. “Take me to them.”

“I would if I could,” Randall said. “That's not possible right now. I know you would never want me to jeopardize the safety of Ms. Dixon or your son.”

Randall had that much right.

But Dawson had every intention of taking matters into his own hands.