The Paternity Test by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods [Woods, Sherryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460395462
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 1998-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Mike was very big on routine. He always had been. Growing up in his household of rambunctious brothers and sisters, order and routine had been in short supply. He had always craved it. Jane suspected that was one of the reasons he’d been drawn to the calm and serenity in her house. Now he’d taken that need for order to new heights.

By the third day of his visit, Jane was fairly sure he’d missed his true calling…drill sergeant. When he wasn’t stuffing her with food, promptly at seven a.m., noon and six with a couple of snacks thrown in at precisely two-thirty p.m. and eight, he was pushing the latest child care books on her to read. Judging from the stack he’d accumulated, she doubted there was a single title on parenting or prenatal care left in the local library.

And then there were the walks. Not the sort of strolls she’d grown accustomed to taking every afternoon, no. These were more like forced marches. By the time Saturday rolled around, she could hardly wait to get out from under his watchful gaze for a few hours while she met her friends for lunch.

When she appeared in the living room wearing her favorite maternity dress, the only outfit that didn’t make her look like a blimp, he popped up out of his chair.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m meeting Donna and some others for lunch.”

“Where?”

“At a little restaurant and craft shop in Lottsburg. I doubt you’ve ever been there.”

He looked horrified. “But I know where Lottsburg is. It’s on a back road in the middle of nowhere. You can’t drive over there by yourself. I’ll take you.”

“Mike!”

“Stop arguing. I drive or you stay here.”

“Dammit, Mike, I am not helpless.”

“No, but the baby’s due any second. What if you go into labor while you’re on that country road all alone? Or what if there’s an accident? The steering wheel could hurt the baby.” He shuddered visibly. “No, I’m going and that’s that.”

“Mike, if you’d been this bossy when we were together, I’d have thrown you out on your ear.”

“You weren’t having a baby then,” he said, as if that were explanation enough for his overprotectiveness.

Jane sighed and followed him to the car. “You’ll sit at a separate table,” she informed him as they drove.

“Whatever.”

“In fact, you could wait in the car.”

He grinned at her. “Don’t push your luck, angel.”

“Okay, a separate table will do.”

Naturally, though, it didn’t work out that way. All of the women she knew were well acquainted with Mike. They had all pretty much guessed that he was the father of her expected baby, even if they hadn’t said as much to her face. The minute she and Mike walked in the door together, the others crowded around, assuming that his presence meant a wedding was just around the corner. Jane guessed from Donna’s satisfied expression that she was the one who’d steered Mike to Jane’s apartment.

“Feeling smug?” Jane inquired, choosing a seat by her friend.

“Hopeful,” Donna replied. “He’s still around.

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