Father to Be by Marilyn Pappano

Author:Marilyn Pappano [Pappano, Marilyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780307817266
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-04-03T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

On Saturday the circus came to town.

Well, not exactly the circus. Carnival, Kelsey supposed, was a more appropriate description for the assemblage on the empty field behind the high school. She’d jogged by there early that morning and watched as burly men in sleeveless shirts that showed their tattoos set up the rides and booths. She’d even earned a whistle from a man with a dark and wicked smile. She’d stick to the safe, respectable type, thank you.

Ten hours later, as she walked through the gate and her gaze lit immediately on J.D., she faced an inescapable fact. Safe and respectable could, depending on its package, be far more dangerous than all the dark, wicked smiles in the world.

He was standing in front of a game booth with the kids. He wore shorts and a T-shirt, like the majority of the men present, and a Chicago Cubs cap pulled low over his eyes. He looked like any other father out with his family. All that was missing was the mother.

Kelsey turned away, heading off down one side of the midway instead. She felt funny coming to a carnival alone. Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by couples, families, friends, and there she was, by herself. But she had friends, and when she ran into them, they would invite her to join them.

Just as J.D. would have invited her to join them.

She stopped to watch a teenage boy trying to win a prize to impress a pretty teenage girl. The prize was small—a little pink bear—but his success earned him a kiss, and not the chaste peck on the cheek she would have given at that age. The pretty girl put a lip lock on the boy that brought catcalls from their friends nearby.

“Would you ever have dreamed of kissing a boy like that in public when you were her age?”

Kelsey turned to find Maggie McKinney and her husband standing beside her. “I wouldn’t have dreamed of kissing a boy like that in private when I was her age,” she replied.

“Me neither. Of course, at her age, I wasn’t even allowed to date.”

“Which probably explains why you were married just a couple years later,” her husband added dryly. He extended his hand. “Ross McKinney.”

“Kelsey Malone.” They shook hands, then Ross immediately reclaimed his wife’s hand.

“Are you enjoying the carnival?” Maggie asked.

“I just got here. Haven’t even had a chance to sample the cotton candy.”

“It’s wonderful, but don’t take my word for it. Try the candied apples too. And the sausage with sweet peppers. And the big pretzels.”

“And don’t forget the antacids,” Ross added. “That’s where we’re headed now—home to the antacids and to rest.”

Maggie scowled at him. “I don’t need to rest.”

“Right. You walk funny for the hell of it.”

“Jeez, you break a bone or two …”

“You broke your hip and your leg. It took you months to learn to walk again. You—”

Maggie laid her fingers over his mouth. “All right,” she said softly. “Quit frowning like that, and I’ll go home with you.

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