To Be a Dad (Harlequin Superromance) (11 page)

It was a sad story, and in a way, Dusty felt sorry for him. Stan had worked hard for years to make the National Hockey League, and his dream had been taken away from him almost before his professional career got off the ground. It would be hard to want something so much and know you were never going to be good enough to get it. But Brendon shouldn’t have to suffer because of Stan’s disappointments.

Dusty liked to think he was a better man than Stan, but he knew that wasn’t necessarily true. Up until a year ago, Dusty had coasted through life with hardly a care in the world. At least when he got a woman pregnant, he took responsibility for his actions. Stan had never spent any time with his own kid and had refused to pay child support until Teressa took him to court. He spent a lot of energy thinking up reasons why he couldn’t pay and managed to escape his financial responsibilities about half the time.

A couple of years ago when Dusty had tried to talk to Stan man-to-man about how much Teressa needed the money, Stan told him to take a hike, and that if he was so concerned about Teressa, Dusty could send her a monthly check. They’d barely spoken to each other since then.

Dusty knew he’d never renege on making sure Esmeralda had everything she needed, but it embarrassed him that he still struggled with the added responsibility of Brendon and Sarah. They were just little kids, and he knew they deserved to be loved the same as he knew he’d love his own child. Too bad love wasn’t something that could be forced. The best he could do for now was concentrate on liking Teressa’s children.

If Adam hadn’t begged him to come down to the café tonight, Dusty would have turned around and walked out the minute he saw Stan. He didn’t want to deal with him right now. Instead, he strode past the crowded table and into the kitchen.

His dark mood lifted the second he saw his soon-to-be brother-in-law, who was over six feet of solid muscle, wore a red bandana over his hair and, as usual, looked as though he was ready to rumble. Strange that was the impression Adam gave people, because the dude was just about the gentlest person Dusty knew.
Now.
Adam’s past, however, wasn’t something he cared to share with many people, and Dusty didn’t want to know the details.

Adam and Teressa were business partners, both owning a third of the café. When Adam had first moved to Collina a few months ago, Dusty had kept a close eye on him, thinking—and yeah, okay, maybe worrying a bit—that he and Teressa were going to hook up. Man, did he get that wrong. Adam was going to marry Dusty’s sister, Sylvie, in several weeks. He knew his sister was superbusy preparing for an art show in Toronto, but what was she thinking, making the dude completely responsible for their wedding?

“Hey.” Adam looked up from scrubbing the sink. “I’ve got brownies.”

Dusty pulled the chair away from the desk, swung it backward and straddled it. “How come you have the café open tonight? I thought you closed at four?”

Adam chucked the scrub pad into the sink and yanked off his bandana. “When the guys asked if they could come in for coffee, I couldn’t think of a good reason to say no.”

Dusty scowled at Adam’s hopeful expression. “Whatever you’re asking, the answer is no.”

“You don’t even know what you’re saying no to.”

“Doesn’t matter. I haven’t got a spare second for anything.”

“I promised Sylvie I’d take care of the wedding, and I know dick-all about them. And—” he raised his voice “—as my best man, it’s your duty to help. Don’t forget I’m helping you with your house.”

“Once.”

“And I babysat your kids.”

Dusty opened his mouth to say they weren’t his kids, but snapped it closed. He liked shooting the breeze with Adam and didn’t want to change the tone of the conversation. If he mentioned the kids, he’d open the door to a discussion he didn’t want to get into tonight.

Plus the man must be desperate if he was asking
him
to help with the wedding. And it was
his
little sister’s wedding they were talking about. He supposed Adam had helped here and there with renovating Dusty’s house, even though he was busy with working at the café and handling his own renovations. Bottom line, he liked Adam and was happy he and Sylvie were getting married. It had been a good day all around when Sylvie made up her mind to move home. He didn’t like to make a big deal about it, but he was crazy proud of his sister.

“Bring on the brownies. But, I gotta warn you, I haven’t a clue about weddings, either.”

Adam grinned and pulled a plate of brownies from the refrigerator. “I knew I could count on you, bro.”

Bro. As in brother. That was cool with him. He’d liked Adam from the minute he met him. He bit into a brownie while Adam grabbed a notepad and sat by the desk. “What do we do first?” Adam looked at him expectantly.

“Well...” Dusty tried to imagine what he’d want if he and Teressa got married. He’d want the ceremony to take place somewhere he loved, like his boat. And she’d wear a really hot dress with lots of cleavage. And they’d buy kegs of beer and get a band, and... He blew out a lung full of air. Sounded like a recipe for divorce.

“Where do you want to get married?”

Adam’s forehead wrinkled. “I haven’t thought about it.”

“Think about it now.” He reached for a second brownie as Cal pushed through the swinging door. “The other wedding planner. Thank God you’re here. Adam insists on wearing a baby-blue tux. I told him that’s so sixties.”

Cal hesitated by the door. “Jesus. Can I leave now?”

“He made brownies.”

“There’s beer, but Dusty’s not drinking, so I made coffee,” Adam offered.

“I can have a beer,” Dusty objected.

“I thought you and Teressa had some kind of bet about you not drinking,” Cal said as he sat down on the stool by the chopping table.

“Yeah. Sort of.”

Cal raised his eyebrows. “What’s the payoff? It must be good for you to quit.”

“I get to name our child.”

When Cal and Adam hooted with laughter, Dusty relaxed and grinned. Man, it felt good to hang out with them.

“In your dreams, little brother. You might as well have a beer. No way in hell Teressa’s going to let you name that kid. I bet she already has the name picked out.”

Dusty frowned. Maybe he should start taking this naming the baby more seriously. Everyone else seemed to.

“How many people are you inviting to your wedding?” he asked Adam to take the heat off himself.

“Me? No one. Well, you guys, but you’re Sylvie’s family. So, yeah, no one.”

They were quiet for a moment as Dusty cursed himself for asking the question. He forgot how messed up Adam’s family was.

“How’s your mom doing?” Cal asked.

“Same old, same old. She won’t be coming to the wedding. At least that scumbag who was beating on her is still in jail, but she’s not ready to try rehab.”

Dusty studied the toes of his work boots. It must be tough having a mom who was a junkie. Having lost his own mother, he knew how it felt to be overwhelmed with emotion and not know what to do with it. It could mess a person up. At least he’d had Pops to rely on. Adam’s father had been an enforcer for a biker gang, and although Adam rarely talked about his dad, it didn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out what kind of parent he’d been when he was alive.

Sarah and Brendon had no idea how lucky they were to have Teressa for their mom. She was one hundred percent there for them. It wouldn’t hurt him to pay a bit more attention to them, either. If he was going to be their male role model, he’d better start acting like he cared. It would be weird if they started calling him
Dad,
though. He didn’t feel qualified to be anyone’s father. Would he feel differently with his own child?

He dragged his attention back to the wedding. “You could have the reception here,” he said. “Or some people rent the legion. Or hey, how about the Waterside Inn? That’s a great old place.”

“They do weddings?” Adam looked hopeful.

“Sure. Rita Price told me they do the whole thing, if you want them to. She got married there last year.”

Adam’s face lit up. “That’s exactly what I need. Then all I have to do is make a list of people to invite.”

“Sylvie should help with that,” Cal said.

“She’s painting like crazy, and when she’s like that, forget it. She barely remembers who I am, let alone who to ask to a wedding. How about Anita? She knows everyone.”

Cal stood. “No.”

Silence filled the room. “You’re acting a little crazy about her lately, Cal,” Dusty finally said.

Cal glared at his brother. “Butt out.”

“Teressa said she was wearing jeans the other day,” Dusty said to see what Cal’s reaction would be. He still didn’t get what the big deal was about her wearing jeans. But he did know enough not to tell Cal that Teressa planned to ask Anita to babysit the kids so they could paint some rooms this weekend.

A soft smile lit Cal’s face. “Yeah, she showed me.”

“She’s looking good these days.” Adam said. “She’s gained weight.”

“Yeah, and I don’t want her getting worn-out again.”

“What was wrong with her?” Dusty asked. He’d asked before and had been told to mind his own business. He thought family was his business, and he liked Anita, even though she was a little too perfect for his liking. After two years, he still didn’t know if she was stuck-up or shy.

* * *

“N
OTHING
,” C
AL
BARKED
, his face closing up, then cursed himself for overreacting.

Dusty didn’t understand. No one did. Two years ago he’d persuaded Anita to leave her life behind and live with him in Collina. But not before he’d tried to fit into the frightening world her father had built for himself and his daughter. Cal had not been welcome there. At all. He’d fallen so deeply in love with Anita he couldn’t imagine living without her. He still felt that way.

So, he’d enticed her here, and damned near killed himself building a house for her good enough to replace the mansion she’d left behind. He worked hard to make sure she had everything she needed or wanted, even though she kept telling him he was all she needed, and she had more money than he’d ever see in a lifetime. Not that he’d touch a cent of it, even if it came from her mother’s side of the family. He’d thought things had been going great. And then, suddenly, they weren’t.

“It’s not good to keep things bottled up, Cal,” Dusty said. “If you two have problems, you should talk to her about it.”

Cal waited for Dusty’s punch line, but realized he was being serious. Huh. Maybe Teressa getting pregnant would turn out to be a good thing.

Anita had had a miscarriage, and she didn’t want him to tell anyone. Hell, she hadn’t wanted to tell
him
. He’d lost her for a while, thought her shutting down was a prelude to leaving him. Finally, he got her to confess what was wrong, that she’d lost a baby and had been afraid to tell him, because, selfishly, he hadn’t wanted children for another couple of years. Since her confession, he could barely stand to let her out of his sight, let alone let people make demands on her. She was so fragile and easily broken. He’d taken her away from the life she knew, and it was up to him to protect her. Even knowing he was overreacting, he couldn’t help himself.

Cal reminded himself that Dusty was trying to help. “We talk. It’s getting better. Every marriage has its rough spots, you know.”

“Don’t talk to me about rough spots. I know all about them. Speaking of which, I promised Teressa I wouldn’t be gone for more than an hour. I’ve gotta go.”

Cal was tempted to tease his brother about being kept on a short leash, but he kept his mouth shut. He was proud of how well Dusty was adjusting to being a father. Lucky man. There was a good chance he may never be as lucky.

* * *

“I
HAVE
TO
GO
,
TOO
,” Adam said. “I’ll call the inn in the morning, but I’ll probably have a lot more questions after that. And I still need a list of Sylvie’s guests to invite to the wedding.”

Adam switched off the lights as they moved from the kitchen into the dining area. “Closing time, boys,” he said to the table of men.

“How much do we owe you, Adam?” They all stood at the same time.

Dusty shoved his hands into the pockets of his old leather jacket and ignored the way Stan was eyeing him. Knowing Stan, he probably had some smart-ass comment to make about Teressa.

“It’s on the house. Have a good night.” Adam held the door open.

Dusty tensed up when Stan wandered over to him rather than following his friends out the door. “I hear you knocked up Teressa. She’s a wild one, isn’t she?”

The group of men stopped and swung around to watch. Cal stepped closer and put his hand on Dusty’s arm, but Dusty shrugged him off. “Think you can afford your child-care payment this month, Stan?”

Stan’s face turned red. “Don’t forget, Brendon’s my kid, and I can have him anytime I want.” He pushed past the other men to go outside.

Dusty blew out a breath. “I can never keep my goddamn mouth shut,” he murmured through clenched teeth.

Cal squeezed his shoulder. “I’d have slugged him. You did good, Dusty.”

Dusty looked at his big brother. “Yeah?”

“Absolutely. I’m proud of you. Now go home to your family.”

Home to his family
. A couple of months ago that had meant something entirely different. Now it meant going home to Teressa, and, yeah, okay, things weren’t entirely copacetic between them, but they weren’t all bad. Matter of fact, some parts were very, very good. Like the way she’d kissed him earlier in the week.

* * *

A
HALF
HOUR
LATER
, Teressa looked at him with exasperation. “You did what?” She obviously didn’t share Cal’s opinion of how he’d handled Stan.

“I didn’t hit him,” Dusty pointed out.

She bit her bottom lip, no doubt biting back a few choice words about how stupid he was. Tough. He didn’t regret poking at the man’s pride. “No one’s talking about you that way and getting away with it.”