Be My Baby Read online

  It felt normal.

  That was good, because nothing had felt normal with her since he’d picked her up yesterday.

  “Come on, Katie. Let’s see if I’ve mastered the art of bundling a baby.”

  He concentrated on feeding Katie’s wiggling appendages into the proper openings of her snowsuit. She gurgled and seemed pleased with his attempts.

  Mac purposely concentrated on Katie, and ignored Mia as she put on her multiple layers. Even with them all on she didn’t look as if she’d be warm enough. She looked stiff and uncomfortable.

  The woman needed a coat.

  A real winter coat.

  Something long, so even her knees would stay warm.

  Didn’t she know she lived in Erie? It was cold and snowy for at least half of the year. How could she not be prepared?

  “There, we’re done,” he said when he clicked the car seat’s last buckle into place.

  “Me, too,” Mia said, looking well-stuffed into her layers.

  “Shall we go? The car should be warm.”

  “I didn’t hear you go out.”

  “Automatic starter.”

  “Oh, I was just thinking about that yesterday. When I get my new car I want an automatic starter and a seat warmer. Four-wheel drive even.” She gave a little wistful sigh.

  Having seen Mia’s jalopy, Mac hoped that new car was on the near horizon. Hers was on its last lug nut.

  “Come on,” he said, opening the door.

  The cold arctic air hit him like a fist. He called, “Shut the door, would you,” over his shoulder to Mia as he hurried to the car, wanting Katie safe and warm inside.

  He’d attached the seat to the base in the car, and climbed in the front about the same time as Mia did.

  “Why don’t you just give me your address? Leave your car at the firm. Even though it’s better out, I don’t like the thoughts of you driving. I’ll pick you up for work on Monday.”

  He expected her to argue, but she surprised him by saying, “Taking me straight home is a great idea, but don’t worry about picking me up. I’m on Donovan’s way. I’ll give him a call.”

  “Fine,” he said.

  Of course, it was fine. Going to collect Mia on Monday would be out of his way. He was going to have to deal with getting the baby ready and didn’t need one more thing to do on his morning list.

  Yes, that was fine.

  But that same odd feeling swept over him.

  Mac was thankful that the roads still required a great deal of concentration. It didn’t leave time for small talk. He was pretty sure he and Mia had had enough of that to last them months.

  He drove to her apartment building and put the car in Park. “Thanks again. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

  She gave him a small smile. “You’re welcome. I hate to say this, but truly, it was my pleasure.”

  “I…” he forgot what he wanted to say. The words just faded as he looked at Mia smiling. It was dazzling, robbing him of the ability to put a coherent string of words together. Making him want to—

  Before he knew it, he’d leaned over and was kissing her. A soft, tender kiss, inviting her to claim more, but not insisting.

  A kiss that waited, willing to break off, but hoping for so much more.

  Mia’s lips softened, sinking into his, lingering, tasting.

  It was Mac who broke it off, pulling back.

  “Um, thanks,” he said.

  Mia sat there a moment, looking dazed. A look of shock quickly replaced it. A faint pink hue crept into her cheeks.

  “You’re welcome. Goodbye,” she called as she opened the door, and fled, slamming it in her wake.

  Mac watched her run into the small, run-down apartment building.

  What the hell had he just done?

  Three hours later, he still hadn’t figured out what on earth had possessed him to kiss Amelia Gallagher.

  Katie was napping. He’d put her in the crib and had the monitor volume cranked to the highest setting. He could hear each soft inhale and exhale.

  Listening to Katie breathe he tried to think of something other than Mia and the kiss.

  THE KISS.

  He’d started thinking of it all in capitals.

  Kissing Mia. Who would have thought?

  That small kiss had left him wanting more…more than kisses. He wanted—

  The phone rang, interrupting his highly inappropriate fantasy.

  “Hello?” Maybe it was Mia. Maybe she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss either.

  “Hi, honey,” Mrs. Z. said, her voice cheery.

  Not Mia. Of course it wasn’t Mia. He was sure she’d forgotten all about him the moment he pulled away from her building.

  “Hi,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “I just called to see how you made out in the storm. We’ve got about three inches here, so driving’s a mess. But hopefully it will all be cleared by Monday.”

  “Things here are…well, interesting at the moment, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the storm pretty much closing down the city.”

  “Interesting how?”

  “Well…” he launched into the story of how he’d come to have a baby, about Mia’s help. He left out the kiss, but stuck to the rest of the story, including the fact that he needed to find a home for Katie. Mrs. Z. just listened.

  Listening was one of the things Kelley Zumigala did best.

  “Well, I’d say you’ve been busy,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Do you think you’d help me?”

  He hated to ask for help. It had galled him to have to ask Mia. It was a bit easier to ask Mrs. Z. He knew she’d say yes, that she’d do whatever she could for him.

  “What do you need, honey?”

  “Maybe an opinion, when I narrow down some potential parents for Katie?”

  “You know I always have an opinion and sharing them is a pleasure, much to Chet and Sal’s dismay.”

  He laughed.

  They all bristled under the weight of Mrs. Z.’s opinions on occasion, but truth be told, he’d never known her to be wrong.

  “Thanks, I knew I could count on you.”

  “Now, about this Mia?” There was a hint of plotting in her tone. She was always trying to find him a girlfriend.

  “No way, Mrs. Z. If you saw us together you’d know that there’s absolutely no way Mia and I could ever have a relationship.”

  He wasn’t going to tell her about the kiss.

  It didn’t mean anything.

  He’d kissed women before, and would again. Although at the moment, the only woman he wanted to kiss was Mia. And that was plain crazy.

  “I didn’t say a word about a relationship,” Mrs. Z. said. “Not a word.”

  And Mac wasn’t going to say a word about that kiss. He wasn’t going to think about, wasn’t going to speak about it. It was a freak incident brought on by too much stress.

  And he was over it.

  He had a baby to worry about. Why he’d probably forget all about THE KISS tomorrow.

  “I’ll call you next week,” he said.

  “Sure. I’m anxious to hear what else you have to say about this Mia.”

  Nothing, Mac thought as he hung up.

  He wouldn’t have anything else to say about her.

  He was done thinking about her…about her and THE KISS.

  Chapter Five

  “Mia,” Mac yelled, as he rushed into the office Monday morning.

  He didn’t bang the snow off his boots again, but this time Mia hardly noticed. Her attention was focused on the car seat in his hands.

  She’d missed the baby yesterday and worried how Mac was doing with her on his own.

  She’d wanted to call and check on them both—had picked up the phone at least a dozen times, but each time she’d replaced the receiver, the call unmade. She felt awkward…almost shy.

  She’d always had a lot of feelings regarding Mac.

  Anger, annoyance, frustration…but n
ot shyness. In one weekend their relationship had shifted. Not just because she’d really spent time with him.

  Their relationship had altered because Mac had kissed her.

  She spent Sunday trying to busy herself around her apartment: doing laundry, talking to her brothers, cleaning…but whatever she did, whoever she spoke to, her thoughts kept circling back to one fact, Mac had kissed her.

  And she’d kissed him back.

  That was the most disturbing part, the kissed- him-back part.

  What on earth had she been thinking?

  She hadn’t been thinking, that was the problem.

  Being with Mac for almost twenty-four continuous hours had obviously fried her brain. That was the only explanation she could come up with. Otherwise she would never have kissed him back.

  Never.

  Now she’d had a full Mac-free day and her mind was working fine and she realized the kiss meant nothing, but still she felt odd as he rushed in with Katie in her seat.

  Mia didn’t like it and decided she’d ignore it.

  Yeah, she’d ignore feeling shy, just like she planned to ignore the fact he’d kissed her. And she especially planned to ignore the fact she’d kissed him back.

  She forced a smile—a non-shy-smile—and said, “Hi, Mac,” then kicked herself for forgetting to call him Larry.

  He didn’t seem to notice as he said, in a rush, “I’d arranged for Leland’s daughter Brigitta to take care of Katie today while I was at court, but she called this morning and said her kids are all down with the flu, and I don’t want to take the chance of Katie getting sick, so…”

  He paused, letting the question hang unasked.

  Mia could have forced him to actually make the request, but instead said, “I’ll watch her. I missed her yesterday.”

  “You don’t mind?” He sounded surprised.

  “Of course not. Katie and I are buddies. I’m doing it for her,” she added as an afterthought. The last thing she wanted was for Mac to think she was doing it for him.

  “And you know Mr. Wagner,” she continued, “he’s all about family. Given the special circumstances, he won’t mind her visiting the office today.”

  “What won’t I mind?” Leland Wagner asked, as he came out of his office. He was a man who wore his years with ease and grace. Gray hair and a ready smile. He was the reason the firm felt more like an extended family than a business.

  Leland Wagner was the heart of Wagner, McDuffy, Chambers and Donovan.

  “You won’t mind if I watch Mac’s baby while he’s at court, right?” Mia asked.

  “Not my baby,” Mac said, sounding horrified at the very idea.

  “Don’t get nervous, Mac,” Leland said with a chuckle. “I talked to Brigitta this morning and she told me the whole story. She feels awful about letting you down. She also told me about what you’re going to do for the baby. Of course I don’t mind. You know that we believe in family here. And what could be more family than a baby? She’s welcome to visit until you can make other arrangements for her.”

  “Thanks,” Mac told Mr. Wagner, before turning to Mia. “Listen, all her stuff’s in the diaper bag. You know the drill as well as I do.”

  He glanced at his watch. “I’ve really got to run, or I’m going to be late.”

  “Go,” she said, taking the car seat from him. “I think after this weekend, I can handle anything.”

  “Thanks, you’re the best.” With that, he flew out of the office.

  “This weekend?” Mr. Wagner asked, after Mac had raced out of the office. “Brigitta didn’t say anything about this weekend being significant to you and Mac.”

  “Oh, it was nothing. Certainly nothing of significance,” Mia assured her boss, feeling her face warm.

  There was no way anyone could know about Mac’s kiss, but still, she didn’t want to talk about any of their time together.

  She busied herself getting Katie out of her car seat and tried not to notice the speculative way Mr. Wagner was studying her.

  “I just helped out with Katie a bit this weekend,” she added, hoping that would end Mr. Wagner’s inquiry.

  “You helped out Mac? On purpose? And you both survived?” Mr. Wagner laughed, then murmured, “Well, will wonders never cease.”

  “Come on, Mac and I aren’t that bad, are we?”

  “The two of you are an office legend. The way you fight and carry on. There’s generally only two reasons why people are at odds like that.” He waited a beat and when she didn’t respond he said, “Aren’t you going to ask what they are?”

  “No.” She had Katie unbuckled, and began unzipping her snowsuit. “But I bet you’re going to tell me anyway.”

  “Of course. That’s one of the perks of being senior partner…of just being a senior. You get to talk and everyone else has to listen. Now, as I was saying, there’s generally only two reasons why two people behave the way you two do. Either they don’t like each other—”

  “Yep, that’s the one.” Mia lifted the de-coated baby and kissed her forehead. “Hey, you.”

  Katie smiled and gurgled happily.

  “—or…” he said slowly.

  Mia looked from Katie to her boss. Mr. Wagner was grinning.

  “Or, they do like each other, but don’t want to admit it. So they spend their days haranguing each other to try to cover the attraction.”

  “There’s no covering of attraction between Mac and me. We are definitely the first one. We don’t like each other. But it just so happens we both do like Katie,” she punctuated the statement by giving the baby another kiss on the forehead. “So we’ve called a truce.”

  That’s what Mac’s kiss had been, a mark of truce. Nothing more. Which didn’t quite explain why it had featured prominently in her dreams. But Mia wasn’t going to question the reason, to dig any deeper.

  The kiss was a truce. A symbol of their unity. Nothing more or less.

  “If you say so,” Mr. Wagner said, his tone implying that he didn’t quite believe her. But he didn’t press. Instead he cooed at Katie. “Oh, isn’t she a beauty. What’s her name again?”

  “Katie. Katie O’Keefe.”

  Mia gave the baby a tiny squeeze. How on earth was Mac ever going to let her go? If Katie were hers, Mia could never give her up.

  “Katie Cupcakes,” Mr. Wagner practically cooed, “would you like to come see Grandpa Wagner?”

  He held out his arms and Mia handed the baby over.

  “Be careful,” she warned. “She squirms. She also crawls and is getting pretty good at the whole sitting-up thing. Although she’s better at the falling-down part.”

  “I’m an expert at babies,” he said.

  Leland Wagner looked like an expert, holding the baby on his hip, chucking her chin with his free hand. “She can squirm all she wants and I won’t drop her.”

  “Okay,” Mia said, still watching him like a hawk.

  “How about I take her around the office to meet everyone?”

  “Really, she’s fine with me. I don’t want to put you out. You’re being so nice to let me keep her at all.”

  “That’s not it, you’re nervous I’ll drop her. Nervous about letting her out of your sight. Don’t worry, I won’t take offense. All my girls were the same way when they had their babies. Overprotective. They forgot I raised them all right. But never fear. I promise, I’ll bring her back shortly, safe and sound.”

  There was nothing Mia could say after that. She smiled and nodded, but couldn’t help feeling anxious as he walked up the stairs with the baby.

  It was ridiculous. Mr. Wagner had far more experience with babies than she did.

  Katie was fine.

  But still, a sense of unease settled in the pit of Mia’s stomach. It had to be that she was anxious about the baby. After all, it wasn’t as if she had anything else to be anxious about.

  A mental image of Mac flitted through her mind, but she blocked it out quite firmly.

  Mr. Wagner was wrong. She didn’t feel
anything at all for Mac, except a bond of common goals because of their mutual affection for the baby.

  That was all.

  Nothing more.

  Nothing less.

  But even as she thought it, she wasn’t quite sure she believed it.

  Mac had to force himself to concentrate on the hearing, his thoughts kept drifting back to Mia and the baby. He called during both breaks to check on them.

  His excuse was Katie, but in reality, he just wanted to talk to Mia. He’d wanted to call her all day yesterday, but didn’t have any excuse then.

  He wasn’t sure why he had this sudden need to talk to Mia, to be with her.

  All he knew was that the house had seemed empty without her. Much to his surprise, he handled Katie’s care just fine. As a matter of fact, the baby was a delight. Filling the house with laughter and gurgles.

  Even when Katie was sleeping there was the gentle sound of her breathing over the monitor.

  She made the house finally feel lived-in.

  Mac had bought the Glenwood house five years ago. It had been a comfortable place to live, but suddenly it was more than just a place. With the baby there it had somehow come alive.

  And it wasn’t just Katie.

  Somehow during her short visit, Mia had left an impression on the house. Warming it, altering it. He’d missed that on Sunday.

  At four-thirty he finally left the courthouse and walked the few short, cold blocks back to the firm. Back to Mia and Katie. His heart felt unbelievably light.

  “Hey, how’re my girls?” he asked as he walked into the office.

  “Shh,” Mia said as she nodded behind the elaborate antique desk that Sarah Donovan had installed when she remodeled the office. “She fell asleep about an hour ago. She was totally exhausted. You can blame Mr. Wagner. He spent the better part of the afternoon showing her off, visiting everyone in the office.”

  Mac laughed. “She was okay then?”

  “Like I told you both times you called, she was more than okay. Katie was great. She’s got to be one of the most laid-back babies ever. She helped me greet clients as they came in. Everyone’s fallen in love with her.”

  The clients weren’t the only ones who’d fallen in love with the baby. Mia had lost her heart to Katie O’Keefe. She didn’t say it, but Mac could see the emotion in her eyes.