Jacqueline Diamond – I Do! I Do! (страница 8)

“Thanks.” The assistant ducked out, then stuck her head in again. “By the way, there’s press all over the front steps, and Abby and Megan Maitland are out there, too, so make sure you’ve got lipstick on.”

Press? And Megan Maitland, the family matriarch who had founded Maitland Maternity nearly twenty-five years ago and still served as its CEO? This was getting more and more complicated.

Gina needed help. “Katie, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need to talk to Mason.”

She was on the brink of confiding her decision to turn down his proposal when Susan bustled over. “So these cuties are leaving us, huh? We’re all going to miss them, not to mention that heartthrob uncle of theirs. How’d you let him slip through your fingers, Gina?”

She didn’t know how to answer, even though the question was meant in jest. Fortunately, Katie intervened. “Don’t make assumptions, Sue!”

“Just stating the obvious.” The nurse bustled off to take care of her own charges.

The possibility of having a private conversation with Katie had vanished, Gina saw, when Elly Maitland appeared outside the glass partition and waved to them to hurry. She would have to figure out what to say to Mason by herself.

Was it possible he assumed he already knew her answer? Last night, Gina recalled, he’d brushed away her objections and insisted that a sham marriage made perfect sense. Perhaps, overnight, he’d convinced himself that his logic was so irrefutable that she couldn’t possibly say no.

The last thing she wanted was a painful public confrontation with Mason. She preferred quiet discussions that preserved everyone’s self-respect. They simply had to find a moment together.

WALKING THROUGH THE LOBBY toward the hospital’s front entrance, Mason saw Dr. Abby standing outside talking to half a dozen reporters and a camera crew. Beside her, beaming, stood the proud figure of Dr. Abby’s mother, Megan, head of Maitland Maternity.

The press gathered around them weren’t nearly as numerous as he’d expected. He hoped they wouldn’t be as obnoxious as he’d feared, either.

“…demonstrate one of the reasons I established this clinic,” Megan was saying. At a well-publicized sixty-two years, she had a vigor and presence that dominated the scene. “Getting babies off to a healthy start is the most important job in the world.”

“Here’s Mr. Blackstone now,” Abby said. “He can tell us about the twins from his perspective.”

The moment he reached Dr. Abby’s side, an attractive woman thrust a microphone toward Mason. He didn’t watch much television, so it took a moment to place her as Chelsea Markum, a local reporter who specialized in gossip and human interest stories.

“Mr. Blackstone, who’s going to take care of the twins while you’re working on the ranch all day?” she demanded.

Did she have to ask that question right off the bat? “I’ve made arrangements for them to be well cared for, and I’ll be spending every possible moment with them,” he said.

“Taken care of by whom?” she asked.

“I’m not at liberty to…”

From the corner of his eye, he noticed a taxi pulling to the curb. The instant the wheels stopped, the doors flew open and two people hurried out.

Even if she hadn’t been his sister, his attention would have gone first to Margaret. She was a striking woman, tall, with vivid dark coloring. Stuart, stockier and blander, could have been cast as a lawyer in the movies, as in real life.

“Just in time!” Marge called, striding toward him. “Where are my little darlings?”

The camera swung toward her. Chelsea Markum frowned. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Margaret Blackstone Waldman, the babies’ aunt.” The knot of reporters parted and his sister marched through their center. Her husband, who had stopped to pay the cabbie, rushed to catch up. “Stuart and I will be taking them home with us to Dallas.”

Mason struggled against a flare of anger. He loved his sister, but right now he could cheerfully have stuffed her into a box and mailed her to Siberia.

Leaning forward, he spoke into Chelsea’s microphone. “I’m afraid you’ve caught us in the middle of a family disagreement. My sister and I are both offering our homes to Lily and Daisy. But as you may be aware, I’ve been the one who’s been supervising their care and bonding with them.”

Margaret snatched the microphone from Chelsea’s hand. Mason could have taken it back, but he was loathe to stage a tug-of-war in public. This entire situation was undignified enough already.

“I’ll give my brother credit for good intentions,” she said. “But babies need a mother as well as a father. Stuart and I can provide both. Not to mention our experience in raising three children of our own.”

A stir among the press and the crunch of small wheels behind him told Mason that the babies had arrived. Turning, he saw Gina standing behind one of the bassinets, staring at Margaret and Stuart. She must have guessed who they were, even if she hadn’t heard their comments.

Her lips parted in dismay. In the sunlight, the translucent clarity of her skin made her look even younger than she was. He wanted her so much, he nearly forgot where they were.

“Mr. Blackstone?” Chelsea pressed, having reclaimed her microphone. “How do you respond to your sister’s points? She tells us she has parenting experience, which I understand you don’t. Furthermore, you never answered my question about who was going to care for the girls while you’re working on the ranch.”

“I’ll tell you who.” Marge, who had worked herself up into what Rance used to call a “bossy fit,” seized the mike again. “He’s got a housekeeper, a perfectly competent woman. She never had children of her own, though, and she’s certainly not the twins’ mother. That’s who’s going to take care of these girls if my brother has his way. Is that the mark of a man who loves his nieces? I’d say he was thinking more of himself than of them.”

The unfairness of this remark brought gasps from several people, including Dr. Abby, who had witnessed Mason’s devotion over the past two months. Megan Maitland glowered. But what could she or anyone else say?

“That’s not true.”

Gina’s sweet voice carried over the crowd with surprising strength. Before anyone else could react, and no doubt before Margaret even figured out who had spoken, Chelsea snatched back her microphone and hurried over. “What makes you say that, Nurse?”

“I’m the one who’s going to take care of Daisy and Lily,” Gina announced. “Mason and I are getting married.”

Chapter Four

She hadn’t meant to say that. Until a minute ago, Gina had had every intention of declining his offer.

However, as Katie had pointed out yesterday, she couldn’t help flying to the defense of people she cared about. And after hearing for herself how ruthless Mason’s sister was, Gina had made the only move that could preserve his right to the girls.

On Mason’s face she saw relief. If only he would put his arms around her and tell her that he cared about her, she would feel so much better. However, she reminded herself, he had proposed a practical arrangement, and she’d just agreed to it for practical reasons.

Her statement rang in her ears, through the buzz of congratulations from Katie and Abby and Megan Maitland. It took a moment to realize that Chelsea Markum was asking another question.

“When did this come about?” the reporter said.

“Very recently. We weren’t going to announce it quite yet.” Gina wasn’t exactly lying. “Mason and I got to know each other over the past two months. I’ve been the primary-care nurse for Lily and Daisy.”

She could hear reporters’ pens scratching, and besides, the camera had captured every word. There would be no going back. She swallowed hard, a little afraid of the events she’d impulsively set into motion.

“Well!” Even the imposing Margaret, who looked as if she normally brooked no opposition, seemed at a loss for words, “This is a surprise!”

“I wish someone had told us sooner,” her husband grumbled. “I’m missing an entire day’s work.”

“Stuart!” his wife reproved. “Just because—that is—we don’t know anything about this young lady. Or how qualified she is to take care of our nieces.”

“You’re doubting the qualifications of a neonatal-care nurse?” Chelsea Markum asked. “Mrs. Waldman, how much experience do you have with premature babies?”

“That isn’t the point!” Margaret blustered, and stopped, unable to define exactly what the point was.

“I’d like to know more about the upcoming nuptials,” said one of the print reporters, finally getting a word in edgewise. “When and where are you two going to be married?”

Oh, help. “We hadn’t discussed…”

Margaret butted in headfirst when Gina hesitated. “Exactly my point! Who’s going to care for the girls in the meantime? Obviously, my kid brother hasn’t thought far enough ahead to plan his wedding. Why, it could take months!”

“We don’t need anything formal. I don’t have any immediate family,” Gina said wistfully. She’d always dreamed of a big wedding, with lace and flowers and lots of friends and relatives. It was hardly appropriate under the circumstances, though.

“Nonsense!” When Megan Maitland spoke, everyone else hushed. “Since there’s no time to arrange for a facility, they’ll be married at my mansion. The grounds are beautiful, and it’s high time we used them for such a joyful purpose!”