Read Online Still the One by Robin Wells - Free Book Online Page B

find someone new—after all, she was only thirty-five, young enough
     to remarry and maybe even have a family—but the thought of another man replacing Paul in her life made her chest tighten.
     Katie was her living tie to Paul, the daughter she’d always wanted. If Katie moved on, the memory of Paul would grow fainter
     and more distant. She wasn’t ready for it. “Who was she with?”
    Dave looked away, as if the topic made him uncomfortable, then looked back at her. “A couple of people.”
    So maybe it wasn’t a man, after all. Still, Dave had that bad-news look about him. “Who were they?”
    “Did you know Katie has a child?” he blurted.
    Annette stared at him, trying to make sense of his words. They were so bizarre they held no meaning. She couldn’t have been
     more confused if he’d spoken in Swahili. “A child?” she blankly echoed.
    Dave’s head bobbed. “A daughter. A teenage daughter. Katie had her out of wedlock when she was seventeen. She gave her up
     for adoption.”
    “No,” Annette breathed.
    “Yes. I met her. Then Katie sat me down and explained it all. The girl—her name is Gracie—looked up her birth parents after
     her adoptive parents died. She found the father, and he brought her here so he and Katie can share custody of her.”
    Annette’s head swam. “You’re kidding.” But she knew from the expression on Dave’s face that he wasn’t. Her fingers tightened
     on the sheet. “Who—who’s the father?”
    “A man named Zack Ferguson. He lives in Las Vegas. Apparently he made a name for himself as a professional poker player.”
    “A poker player! How on earth did Katie know him?” A larger question formed in her mind. “Did—did Paul know?”
    Dave nodded. “Katie says she told him about the baby when they were dating.”
    “So Paul knew.”
    “Apparently so. And it didn’t make a difference to him.”
    Annette’s thoughts bobbed up and down like a fishing cork in high seas. “Why didn’t he tell us?”
    Dave lifted his shoulders. “Probably because it was none of our business.”
    “Not our business? Of course it was our business!”
    “Think about it, Annette. Most young men don’t give their parents a rundown on the sexual history of the woman they decide
     to marry.”
    “A child is more than sexual history.”
    Dave’s mouth pulled tight. “Yeah. But Katie gave her up for adoption.”
    “Still, it’s a child.”
    “Yes, but Katie had no contact with her.”
    “Still…”
    “I was kind of outraged at first, too,” Dave said. “It takes some time to get used to the idea. And then, after the shock
     wore off, I looked at it this way: If she’d had an abortion, would that have been our business, too?”
    Annette supposed not. Dave had a point. But still…
    Dave fidgeted. “There’s more.”
    Good Lord in heaven. “What more could there be?”
    “The daughter—Gracie—well, she’s pregnant herself.”
    It was almost too much to take in at once. Annette stared at him. “My God. How old is she?”
    “Seventeen.”
    “The same age Katie was when she had her?”
    “Yeah. But this girl looks more like thirteen.”
    “Wow.” Annette flopped back against her pillow. “How—how is Katie?”
    “In shock. This all hit her out of the blue.”
    “Good heavens.”
    “She’s coming by this evening to tell you, but I thought I’d give you some advance warning.”
    “A daughter,” Annette said wonderingly. “Katie has a daughter.”
    Dave nodded. “And she’s about to have a granddaughter.”
    “She’s going to be a grandmother at thirty-five?” Annette tried to wrap her mind around the concept. Grandmothers were her
     age. Katie was young enough to be having a baby herself. “Does the girl look like Katie?”
    “Yeah. But she kind of looks like her dad, too.”
    “You’ve seen him?”
    “Yeah.”
    Anger and something that felt oddly akin to jealousy rushed through Annette. Paul should have been the father of Katie’s child.