The Brass Ring by Susan Crose

Author:Susan Crose [Crose, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scan; CR; Loveswept # 264
ISBN: 9780553219074
Publisher: Bantam Classic & Loveswept
Published: 1988-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

"I don't believe it!" Doris McGuire exclaimed. Sitting on her antique sofa, she stared across the room at her daughter. "Parker, and some, some girl?"

"That's what she claims," Shawna said.

"She's lying!"

"Who is?" Malcolm McGuire opened the front door and shook the rain from his hat, then tossed the worn fedora over the arm of an oak hall tree in the foyer. "Who's lying?" he repeated as he strode into the den and kissed Shawna's cheek. "You're not talking about Parker, are you?"

"Indirectly," Shawna admitted.

"Some young girl claims she's pregnant with Parker's child!" Doris said, her mouth pursed, her eyes bright with indignation. "Can you believe it?"

"Hey, slow down a minute," Malcolm said. "Let's start at the beginning."

As Shawna explained everything that had happened since she'd first met Melinda, Malcolm splashed a stiff shot of Scotch into a glass, thought twice about it, and poured two more drinks, which he handed to his daughter and wife.

"You don't believe it, do you?" he finally asked, searching Shawna's face.

"Of course not."

"But you've got doubts."

"Wouldn't you?"

"Never!" Doris declared. Malcolm's face whitened a bit.

"Sometimes a man can make a mistake, you know," he said.

"He was engaged to Shawna, for goodness sake!"

"But not married to her," Malcolm said slowly.

"Dad?" Did he know something? She studied the lines of her father's face as he finished his drink and sat heavily on the edge of the couch.

"I have no idea what Parker was up to," Malcolm said. "But I warned you that we didn't know all that much about him, didn't I? Maybe he had another girlfriend, I don't know. I would never have believed it before, but now? Why would she lie?"

Why indeed?

"But let's not judge him too harshly," Malcolm said. "Not until all the facts are in."

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation," Doris replied.

"Of course I do. Now, tell me about Parker. What does he have to say?"

"Not much." Shawna told her parents about the scene in the hospital room.

Malcolm cradled his empty glass in both hands and frowned into it. Doris shook her head and sighed loudly, though her back was ramrod stiff. "He'll just have to submit to a paternity test—prove the child isn't his and then get on with his life."

"Maybe it's not that simple," Malcolm said quietly. "He has a career to think of. All this adverse publicity might affect it."

"We're talking about the man Shawna plans to marry," Doris cut in, simmering with fury, "and here you are defending his actions—if, indeed, he was involved with that . . . that womanl"

"She's barely more than a girl," Shawna said.

"Eighteen is old enough to know better!"

Malcolm held up his hand to calm his wife. "I'm just saying we should all keep a level head."

Now that she'd said what she had to say, Shawna snatched her jacket from the back of a wing chair. "I think Dad's right—we should just low-key this for now."

"The girl is pregnant!"

"I know, I know. But I've decided that what I'm going to do is try and help Parker through this.

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